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Video Shows Pistorius Re-enacting Shooting; Report: Baby Photos, Resumes In NSA Haul; Obama Facing Criticism From Both Sides Of Aisle; Pope To Victims: "I Beg Your Forgiveness"; Swimmer Talks About Shark Attack
Aired July 07, 2014 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She thinks she is going to be safe for 33 months. She agreed to that, and, you know, she was in the court with that, and then to have that be mistaken.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: In their short three-month relationship, court records also show Spencer gave the victim a black eye and tried to choke her. While Judge Arthur Hunter also signed a protective order to keep Spencer away from the woman, it's little consolation until he's back behind bars.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For some of these cases, it really could put the victim at very serious risk. And so, you know, we just have to make sure these kinds of errors don't happen in the future.
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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: WWL-TV also reports that Orlean's Parish District Attorney's Office did contact the court to correct the error when it was discovered and in just the last half hour, court officials responded to CNN. They confirm authorities are looking for Isaiah Spencer, but there was no mention about any change in protocol or any further details about exactly how he was let go.
So let's talk about this with criminal defense attorney, Holly Hughes. You know, my first thought, knowing this was a clerical error, I'm thinking, OK, well, we have copy editors here at CNN, right, just so we have another set of eyes. Listen, we all make mistakes.
HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Absolutely.
BALDWIN: I'm wondering with clerks, do they not have someone looking over their shoulder saying that needed an extra 3 in 33 months.
HUGHES: No, what you need to picture is, I don't know how many pleas they took this day, but on any given day when a plea at arraignment calendar happens, Brooke, you can have up to 100 cases on that calendar and maybe take 15 to 30 pleas. So everyone there is just cranking it out. They are going very, very fast. And a clerk will fill in that information, she'll pass up an order for the judge to sign. And the judge is just going to sign it and keep moving. They're not going to stop and pause and read every single detail. BALDWIN: So let's hope -- let's say when they find this guy, he was out after -- it was three months, should have been 33 months.
HUGHES: Correct.
BALDWIN: What happens to him when they catch him? Do they toss him back in because that was the proper sentence, to face other charges?
HUGHES: No, he probably will not face other charges because he didn't escape. They voluntarily opened the door and let him out.
BALDWIN: It's not like excuse me, I should be in jail.
HUGHES: Correct. He's thinking it's my lucky day and he's out. You know, he took off. So what he will do, they have corrected the sentencing sheet because what you do is you look back at the record. You know, the court reporter would have taken down what was said on the record, what everybody recommended, what they agreed to, if it was a negotiated plea. And, yes, they will have already entered a corrected sentencing sheet. When they find him, he's going back for the original sentence they negotiated and agreed upon.
BALDWIN: How often does this really happen? Because we're not talking about this too much, thank goodness.
HUGHES: Yes, that's a good thing. Not very often. And, again, consider how many hundreds and thousands of pleas might be taken in a given month, even, in a very busy courtroom, and metropolis. And you're hearing about the one or two mistakes, but bear in mind, if this happens in the opposite, and I personally know of cases here --
BALDWIN: Where instead of --
HUGHES: Where, right -- someone is supposed to get probation and they write down prison. Then that person is sent up the river, and they're serving time when they shouldn't be. And we've had cases where you've had to civilly sue the clerk's office for the mistake that they made because people have been locked up when it was intended all the time that they be on probation. So it does happen and there should be a second level of oversight. But the criminal justice system is so busy. It's so overburdened, just need more help, more eyes.
BALDWIN: No pressure on those clerks.
HUGHES: Yes, there is.
BALDWIN: Absolutely. Holly Hughes, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
Now for the very first time, we are seeing this video of Oscar Pistorius himself re-enacting what happened the night he shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. So it shows this disabled athlete walking on the stumps of his legs without his prosthetics, while pretending to aim a handgun. Pistorius is also seen with his prosthetic legs carrying his sister down a set of stairs, intended to demonstrate how he says he carried his girlfriend. But a lawyer for the former Olympian says the video was illegally obtained by the Australian television network that aired it Sunday. CNN's Robyn Curnow reports from Pretoria, South Africa.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the first time, you're listening to Oscar Pistorius re-enact the chilling screams many neighbors testified to hearing the night the athlete discovered he had shot and killed his model, girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Seven Network in Australia airing audio and footage shot months after Reeva's death.
In a play-by-play of Pistorius' version of events, he re-enacted how he ran to the bathroom door, he shot he shot through four times. Pistorius on his stumps with his hand outstretched, as if he's holding a gun. After finding Steenkamp, the athlete describes what he did next. The role of Steenkamp, played by Pistorius' sister, Emmy, hunched over the toilet just like Steenkamp allegedly was that fateful night.
Pistorius' spokesperson issued a statement explaining that in the run up to the trial, they hired a company to help the defense team visually map the events of that night, with the intention of assisting his legal team to prepare for the case. Airing the material, Pistorius' spokesperson says is a breach of trust and invasion of the family's privacy. It's unclear if this footage will impact Pistorius' ongoing murder trial.
GERRIE NEL, PROSECUTOR: He, with intention to kill, shot the person behind the door.
CURNOW: The special also re-airing surveillance video of Pistorius and Steenkamp kissing at a local convenience store. Footage captured ten days before she died and on the eve of her death on Valentine's Day, 2013, the Australian network showed surveillance videos of the athlete's girlfriend smiling when she arrived at the main gate of his estate before she was killed that night.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Robyn Curnow from Pretoria, South Africa for us.
Coming up here in CNN, new revelations about exactly what kind of data the NSA is taking from private citizens. I am talking about resumes, baby pictures, workout selfies. We'll tell you what else they're collecting, coming up.
And later for the very first time, Pope Francis comes face-to-face with victims of the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. I'll talk to a victim of sexual abuse by a priest and get her thoughts on the pope's apology. Is it progress or is it merely a photo op?
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BALDWIN: If you want to pass your resume to the NSA, well, they actually may have it already because resumes are among the personal items intercepted by the government supposedly in the fight against terrorists, according to a story in today's "Washington Post." Now the "Post" is reporting it is privy to 160,000 intercepted transmissions provided by whistle blower, Edward Snowden.
And according to "The Post" the vast majority intercepts involve people not at all considered as targets of any investigation. Laurie Segall is back with us, our tech correspondent, in studio. So if the NSA is trying to catch the big fish, the big terrorist, as it were, are these just the inadvertent minnows caught in the net, so to speak?
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: Interesting minnows, I will say. And if you look at it, it seems what we learn from this report the NSA might have cast a wider net than we thought. And, of course, a lot of the information they did get was very valuable to national intelligence. But it's the other information they also got that has people, you know, a little bit up in arms.
BALDWIN: How wide?
SEGALL: Yes, we're talking about 90 percent of the information they did get wasn't necessarily their target and let me get into what the information was. We're talking baby photos, like toddlers in bathtubs, fitness selfies, women posing in bikinis, medical records, resumes, academic transcripts of school children all in this wide net. So I think people understand that there is a responsibility here, and that the NSA has a job to do.
But other people were a bit alarmed and say, look, you see that our information isn't relevant. Get rid of it. The NSA has publicly said that it's very difficult for them to just get rid of this information. It's oftentimes stored, in the system. The reason is, one analyst might not know if it's relevant to another analyst -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: So with all this new information coming out in dribs and drabs and at times much bigger than that from Edward Snowden, I'm curious if Americans are taking more steps to protect themselves.
SEGALL: You know, I think they are and I think there is this push towards awareness and privacy. And I've covered start-ups for a while and it used to be what's the new app, location, social networking and now I'm getting all these pitches for encryption apps, apps to protect yourself and protect your communications.
One app is called "Wickr" and it's very extreme. The founder, her name is Nico Sell, a hacker herself. And I talked to her and asked her, I said, what did the Snowden revelations do to the market? Listen to what she said.
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NICO SELL, FOUNDER, WICKR: I think it was the best thing that's ever happened to society. I still don't think we're paranoid enough, right? To me the NSA is just the tip of the iceberg and I'm glad we all know about it right now because we've opened our eyes a little bit. But a greater threat to me and my friends and family really are the data brokers out there selling list of erectile sufferers and rape victims for 7 cents a piece. So I think we've started to open our eyes and our world is in a better place and that's going to help us all.
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SEGALL: You might notice that she is wearing sunglasses and she says it's because of facial recognition. She is very paranoid. She is very well respected in the hacker community. And her app is legit, funded $30 million recently by get this, the lead investor in Facebook. So if that doesn't say anything, I don't know what does.
BALDWIN: She says we're not paranoid enough.
SEGALL: Right.
BALDWIN: Laurie Segall, thank you so much.
SEGALL: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Drivers got an unexpected fireworks show Sunday afternoon after a fire broke at a fireworks warehouse out. This was outside of Knoxville, Tennessee. Take a look. Not a lot of beautiful colors. Just a lot of black smoke here. Here is another vantage for you. Firefighters obviously had to be very careful with this one because as the fireworks were exploding, they were shooting out of the building.
Crews had to shut down the neighboring I-75 Interstate for almost an hour. Fearing the fireworks would shoot into traffic. Fourteen different fire departments and more than 65 people responded to this fire. Thank goodness, no injuries were reported. No word exactly how this fireworks fire began.
Coming up, for the very first time for Pope Francis, he's coming face- to-face with victims of the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. My next guest is the director of SNAP. This is a group for victims of priest abuse. We'll get her thoughts on the pope's apology today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: President Obama facing criticism from both sides of the aisle here for his handling of the immigration crisis. Republicans as well as Democrats are demanding that President Obama do something to fix the situation along the border.
Jake Tapper is all over the story for us today. He's our chief Washington correspondent and host of "THE LEAD." Jake Tapper, what exactly is that something they want him to do?
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Enforce the border and also there is a lot of questions right now posed by Democrats about why it's taken the Obama administration so long to face up to this crisis. Take a listen to this sound bite from Congressman Henry Cuellar from Texas, a Democrat who appeared with Candy Crowley on "STATE OF THE UNION" yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. HENRY CUELLAR (D), TEXAS: It would be nice for him to come down to the border, but with all due respect, I think he still wants that behind. They knew this was happening a year ago. Last year, and again they're just over -- they're not reacting fast enough at this time.
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TAPPER: Combine that with comments made by the Democratic mayor of Murrieta, California, Brooke, which is where all those busloads of illegal immigrants have been taken. And the mayor very critical of the Obama administration, saying they are not enforcing the security at the border, causing this crisis.
BALDWIN: So we know the president, just quickly, Jake, we know the president is going to Texas, I believe, it's Wednesday for a fundraiser. Do we know yet if he is going to the border?
TAPPER: As of now, they are not, and when the White House was asked about this today and how the optics look bad, there is this major crisis going on, on the border, President Obama going to that state to raise money, but not going to check out what's going on with this crisis, Obama administration spokesman, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary said that they are not concern about the optics. The important thing is that President Obama knows what the situation is and is well aware of the problem.
BALDWIN: OK, Jake Tapper. Thank you, sir. We'll see you in 12 minutes on "THE LEAD" from Washington.
Meantime, Pope Francis said the words today that a lot of Catholics have been waiting for. Bishops will be held accountable for failing to protect children from sexual abuse. But some groups say this is not enough. They want action against these bishops who protected priests who abused those children. They have a huge issue with the covering up. Here's what he said earlier during a private mass with six victims of church sexual abuse.
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POPE FRANCIS (through translator): I beg your forgiveness also for the sins of omission on the part of church leaders who did not respond adequately to reports of abuse made by family members, as well as by abuse victims themselves. This led to even greater suffering on the part of those who were abused and endangered other minors who were at risk.
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BALDWIN: The pope has tried to move the church past the scandal, but testing his ability to lead. Becky Ianni is the director of SNAP. It's an acronym for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and was herself the victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a priest. She joins me from Washington. Becky, welcome.
BECKY IANNI, ABUSE SURVIVOR NETWORK DIRECTOR: Thank you. BALDWIN: The Vatican says this is a first for this pope. This is a very significant move. I certainly read comments from your group, saying, no, this is merely PR. Why?
IANNI: Well, you know, Pope Benedict met with victims and now Pope Francis is meeting with victims. And while I hope the victims find healing from this, no matter how many victims he meets with, that's not going to protect children.
BALDWIN: I read a quote from a Vatican spokesperson anticipating a number of groups saying and this is what he said, there is a body of opinion that's never been interested understanding the church's intention with these meetings. Those who understand see and listen to what the pope did and said today we'll know without a doubt that it wasn't a public relations event. The real question is what would SNAP like to see happen? Punishment, the cover-up, you tell me.
IANNI: You know, as a victim and also a leader in SNAP, I would like him to attempt action. We heard a lot of things. We heard a commission has been set up and policies. I would like to see the pope today take action. I would like to see him punish a bishop for covering up abuse. Start with Bishop Finn in Kansas City who is convicted of endangering children.
BALDWIN: When you look at the pope, this hope and he is hugely popular and he is almost, you know, deconstructing stereotypes of what popes have been in the past, if he doesn't find a way to end this scandal, Becky, do you think anyone will?
IANNI: I think we have to keep having hope. I think the people who are going to end this are victims who speak out, they are going to be law makers who change the law. They are going to be prosecutors and so forth. Those are the people who will make the changes. Will the church change? I don't know. They haven't yet. We can hope they will. I think Pope Francis can give us that hope if he takes some action. If he turns over all of the Vatican documents about abuse to secular authorities. If he punishes bishops --
BALDWIN: Define punish. What would you like to see?
IANNI: I think he needs to publically denounce and demote a bishop, any bishops who are complicit covering up these sex crimes of children.
BALDWIN: What else?
IANNI: I think that they need to, as well, they should -- every bishop should have to publish the names of all credibly accused priests on their websites. Instead of fighting to release the document, every bishop should turn over the documents whenever an abuse case comes up in whatever country it is.
BALDWIN: For you though personally as a victim speaking -- I know you are a leader in SNAP, you have that hat on, but as a victim, what do you want? IANNI: Someone asked me what I would want if I spoke to the bishop, what would I say? I would say it is nice meeting, but could you do something to protect a child? So that what I experienced as a child won't happen to someone else. I think I speak not only for myself but other victims. We don't want our suffering to be in vain. We want what we went through never to occur again. I ask myself every day, what can I do to protect victims? I want the pope to ask that and then I want him to take action on it.
BALDWIN: Becky Ianni with SNAP, thank you so much. I appreciate it. We will see if action is taken.
IANNI: Thank you so much.
BALDWIN: A seven-foot long great white shark sinks its teeth into the torso of a swimmer and he is OK. Here he is trying to swim away. This is the video. Coming up, hear him in his own words describe what it's like to go eye-to-eye with a great white. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: There is a desperate search under way to find a U.S. Marine's pregnant wife missing for some nine days in the California desert. The search for 19-year-old Erin Corwin centers on her home in 29 Palms, California and Joshua Tree National Park. That's where police believe she was heading when she disappeared. Her husband, Jonathan Wayne Corwin, reported her missing the following day. CNN's Nick Valencia talked to the woman's missing mother who called this last week an absolute nightmare.
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LORE HEAVILIN, ERIN CORWIN'S MOTHER: It just doesn't seem real. I'm cooking in her kitchen and she's not there right now. Her ring tone on my phone is a horse neighing and galloping. I would give anything to hear that ring tone right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Since her disappearance, search teams have combed this area on foot and searched by air they have not been able to track down the woman's whereabouts. Police say her disappearance is suspicious and homicide detectives are taking the lead in this case.
People usually go to air shows, try to get a close-up look at the cool planes. Some people in a show over the weekend got a look at an F-16 that was probably a little too close. Yikes. Watch it again with me. That was a close landing. The air show was in England. The spectators apparently were on this public road near the runway. No word on why the jet came so darn close.
From that close call to another one. This is Barcelona, Spain. Two huge planes come dangerously close to colliding. You see the one in the air thinking about landing. This is an airbus jet on the ground taxiing across this runway as this Russian 747 was preparing to land. You can see it again. The pilot of the Russian plane barely missing the other jet. Unclear how this happened. Airport officials told a Spanish newspaper there was never any danger of a collision.
Call it bad luck or call it bad timing. A long distance swimmer off the coast of California swam into the path of an already-agitated shark and lived to talk about it. Here is CNN's Michaela Pereira.
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STEVEN ROBLES, BEATEN BY SHARK: I really thought that might be it. I thought I might be dying.
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY" (voice-over): Still recovering from the bite marks cut into his body, long distance swimmer, Steven Robles, describes his terrifying encounter with a great white shark over the holiday weekend.
ROBLES: It's this burning sensation going on the bite marks like a jelly fish sting that just keeps penetrating deeper and deeper.
PEREIRA: Officials say a seven-foot long juvenile shark had become agitated by a fisherman's hook when it attacked Robles who was swimming near the Manhattan Beach Pier in Southern California.
ROBLES: We saw each other. It did a sharp left turn and lunged right at me. It didn't even hesitate.
PEREIRA: His desperate cries for help all caught on tape.
ROBLES: It bit right onto my torso. I'm sitting here staring at this shark eye-to-eye just right there. I could feel the vibration of this entire shark gnawing into my skin.
PEREIRA: Robles said he acted on instinct fighting for his life.
ROBLES: I grabbed his nose with my hand here, tried to pull it off of me. Fortunately, the shark released itself.
PEREIRA: The attack sent nearby swimmers scrambling for safety.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shark! Get out of the water!
PEREIRA: Robles knows he is lucky to be alive, incredibly escaping with flesh wounds and a punctured artery in his hand.
ROBLES: It was just the scariest thing you can imagine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: He says before the attack he was actually planning on another long distance swim. Now that this has happened, he says he may never swim in the open water again. Can you blame him?
I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me. Stay right here with us at CNN. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper" starts right now.