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Violent Clashes Between Israelis and Palestinians Getting More Intense; Colorado Hit By Deadly Storms; Germany and Argentina Face Off In World Cup Finale; Tracy Morgan Back Home After Horrific Car Wreck; More Than 300 People On Troubled United Airline Flight Are Safe; Costa Concordia Is Almost Ready To Be Refloated
Aired July 13, 2014 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The stories topping the news this hour. Gaza residents are being warned to get out to avoid this. The death toll is climbing in the Israel-Gaza conflict. And now, many are fleeing Gaza. We're there live with the latest next.
Plus, a sizzling hot car, a child left inside. Our Miguel Marquez found out that turns into a recipe for disaster very fast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's about 91 degrees outside. Inside now it's 108 degrees. We've only been in here about 15 minutes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: How often this is happening to children, coming up.
Plus, a giant cruise ship lying partially submerged in the water for more than two years now. How officials are preparing for a massive move straight ahead.
Violent bitter clashes between Israel and Gaza are getting more intense today and hundreds of Gaza residents are trying to get out. The U.S. consulate general in Jerusalem helped 150 U.S. citizens leave Gaza and get into Jordan today. That's after Israel dropped leaflets into northern Gaza warning residents to move away from Hamas sites to avoid air strikes.
Israeli says its forces have already hit what it calls more than a thousand terror targets in Gaza, yet rockets from Gaza keep coming. More than 800 have been intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome. And today, Israel intercepted two more rockets over Tel Aviv.
The Gaza health ministry says at least 168 people have died in Gaza and most are civilians. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said today Hamas is to blame.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Who is hiding in Hamas, Hamas. Who is putting people in the hospital, Hamas. Who is putting control centers in civilian residents and kindergartens, Hamas. Hamas is using the residents of Gaza as a human shield.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Netanyahu also spoke to U.S. secretary of state John Kerry today. According to the U.S. state department, Kerry condemned the attacks from Gaza and said Israel has the right to defend itself.
Earlier today, Israeli troops went in to Gaza to raid a missile launching site according to an Israeli defense source.
Wolf Blitzer has been there in Jerusalem and has the latest on the situation on the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, SITUATION ROOM: There doesn't appear to be any letup at all on these strikes and counterstrikes that have been going on between Israel and Hamas. Overnight, the Israelis are back upped the (INAUDIBLE) and that sending in commandos from the sea, going after specific Hamas targets inside Gaza, spending about a half hour there or so and then heading back to sea, getting back to their bases.
Four Israeli soldiers slightly injured in that operation. All of them managed to get back to their base OK. The Israelis are indicating that more of these operations, more of these limited command strikes, boots on the ground, if you will, going in very likely and there could be a possibility of that even more robust ground invasion.
Listen to the spokesman for the Israel defense forces lieutenant colonel Peter Lerner.
What about tanks, armored personnel carriers, formal invasion of Gaza as has occurred in the past?
LT. COL. PETER LERNER, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCE SPOKESMAN: We're preparing that possibility. I mean, it's not something we have wanted to do. But in the past five or six days, we have bolted up the forces and inside there's a substantial force and if the order is given we are prepared for that type of activity.
BLITZER: And Lerner also makes it clear that Israelis are going to continue pounding other targets including one town in northern Gaza. Overnight, the Israelis have been dropping leaflets, telling residents and civilians, get out, get out as quickly as you can because they are going to after specific targets. A lot of those people unfortunately, though, can't get out. They're stuck there.
Lerner makes it clear that the Israelis are going out and engaging in these kinds of air strikes. I pressed him as to when they might take place and he said it could be within hours. The word "hours" very significant. So the Israelis very clear they're going to step up their attack. Meanwhile, the Hamas rockets and missiles, they keep coming into
Israel including going into some of the populated areas. But Israel's so-called Iron Dome anti-missile defense system has worked exceptionally well so far. There have been no Israeli deaths in the past several days of this continuing operation.
Let's see if there's any movement toward a ceasefire. It doesn't look like any significant progress is happening right now. But I know behind the scenes there are a lot of efforts under way right now to get a ceasefire. We'll see if that can get off the ground.
Wolf Blitzer, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And stuck in the middle of this deadly Israel-Gaza conflict are civilians in Gaza who are caught between Hamas and Israel.
Ben Wedeman is live for us now in Gaza city. And he has seen it all there.
Ben, what is the latest this evening there?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka. We just heard a very large blast just to the south of here. As far as the civilian situation goes, it's important to stress that people aren't actually leaving Gaza except for foreign national -- there's a big boom out there.
Basically they're moving from one part of Gaza to another. Now, we were in the northern part of Gaza where indeed those Israeli leaflets were dropped and they said in no uncertain terms you must leave that area for your own safety. And most people, indeed, are leaving.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WEDEMAN (voice-over): The clock is ticking. It's time to go. Israel ordered the inhabitants of this area in northern Gaza to leave by 2:00 p.m. Sunday. Hamas told them to stay put.
I don't answer to that, says Ahmed (ph). I do what's best for us.
He is sending his family to safer ground in Gaza city, relatively safer, that is. Although, we will stay behind. Luckily, he caught a taxi to take them away. And not a moment too soon.
These children have heard the crash of shelling and air strikes for days now. But it still terrifies them. This is the third time in the last five years Ahmed's family has had to flee their home.
Like almost everybody in the area, we're leaving too. It's dangerous. There's shelling. There's some people staying behind basically to guard their houses, but as the man back there told me, 80 percent of the people in this area already have left. And at this time, the deadline to leave ends in 35 minutes. On the drive in to Gaza City, empty streets and rubble from the
Israeli air strikes. By taxi or mostly by foot, the people fleeing the north are heading to the United Nations schools, more than a thousand in this school alone. Food has yet to be provided. The only source of sustenance, a water tanker.
This woman and her family of 15 fled their home at 2:00 in the morning.
We told the kids get up, get up, she tells me. We walked all the way here. This baby needs milk, but we don't have any. We have nothing. Not even safety.
But there's little to do here but wait until the fighting stops and they can go back to their homes, if they're still there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WEDEMAN: And according to the U.N., more than 10,000 people have fled their homes in the last few hours. If there's an Israeli ground incursion, we can expect many more to do the same -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Ben Wedeman, thanks so much.
All right. Parents everywhere need to take special care in hot weather to avoid the kind of tragedy that we saw in the Atlanta area, a child being left in a sizzling car. Why it's more common than you may think.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A scary crash in Indiana this morning as a greyhound bus and car collide. Officials say at least one person is dead and more than a dozen hurt. A spokeswoman for gray hound says the person who died was not on the bus. It's not clear yet how the crash happened. The bus was going from St. Louis to Dayton, Ohio.
Colorado got hit by some deadly storms this weekend. Lightning strikes killed two people in separate incidents at rocky mountain national park.
Meteorologist Jennifer Gray joins me now with more on this -- Jennifer.
JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Fred, it's been a deadly couple of days with rocky mountain national park. Two people have died and as many days, 13 more injured. A lot of storms have been rolling through there in an area that is especially dangerous when it comes to lightning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRAY (voice-over): It's a popular outlook known for is breathtaking view but now rainbow curve in Colorado's rocky mountain national park, it's also a place where dangerous weather can strike.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We didn't see the bolt. It was just a white flash.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It felt like something hit me in the head and I lost my vision and hearing for long as ten seconds.
GRAY: Park officials say a bolt of lightning hit and killed a man at the site. Mary Iverson and her son, Dan, were just a few feet away.
MARY IVERSON, RESIDENT: And we turned around and kind of assessed the situation there and, you know, went over to the man that was down and started doing CPR on him until help came. His t-shirt and stuff was burned from the lightning.
GRAY: Saturday's fatality comes one day after a hiker, a 42-year-old woman from Ohio was hit by lightning and killed off the trail park Strain (ph) ridge road at elevations is of more than 11,000 feet. The area borders the tree line and that exposure makes it dangerous.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were trying to move quickly down the crossing trail to the trail head but that trail was completely exposed. It's completely above tree lines so there is no safe place.
GRAY: Park officials are urging any visitors to check weather conditions and take precautions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It could have been any one of us, so I'm feeling pretty lucky.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRAY: And here's a look at the preliminary reports for lightning fatalities for 2014. We have had 11 so far. Of course, no surprise, Florida topping that with four fatalities during the past year. We have also seen those two in Colorado. The only two have been the ones that died yesterday and Friday -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. Jennifer, thank you so much for that.
The sole survivor of a shooting rampage that claimed the lives of her parents and four siblings mustered up the courage to speak at their memorial service. 15-year-old Cassidy Stay, seen in the left side of this photo, suffered a fractured skull when the bullet grazed her head. She pretended to be dead until the alleged suspect, her aunt's ex-husband left and then she called 9/11. Cassidy has been hailed a hero for telling police where the gunman was headed next. And at the memorial she quoted her favorite movie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASSIDY STAY SHOOTING VICTIM: And in "the prisoner of Azkaban" Dumbledore says happiness can be found even in the darkness of times if one only remembers to turn on the light. I know that my mom, dad, Brian, Emily, Becca, and Zack are in a much better place and that I'll be able to see them again one day.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: Boy. Police found the suspect Ronald Lee Haskell near her grandparents' house. They arrested him after chase and three-hour standoff.
All right. Many of us have been riveted by the Justin Ross Harris case, the Atlanta area father facing charging now after his toddler died in a hot SUV. Well, police have charged him with murder and the toddler's mother, though not a suspect, has hired a defense attorney. That case is just one in a disturbing trend this time of year.
Here's CNN's Miguel Marquez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): It's happened again, this time El Paso, Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With reference to the 911 unknown problems.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have an issue, a 2-year-old female.
MARQUEZ: A 2-year-old left in the parking lot of family's home, reports the child left to suffocate overnight. Autopsy being conducted on the little girl before possible criminal charges filed. And it keeps happening.
At least 20 incidents involving 26 children, two died raising the number of children killed from heat stroke this year to 16. All of these cases in the few short weeks since most of the nation was laser focused in the sickening case of 22-month-old Cooper Harris in Georgia. The child left by his father, Justin Ross Harris, who spent the day working at home depot, having lunch with friends and sexting women, all while his son spent seven hours strapped into the car seat, scratches to his face, abrasions on the back of his head, the child apparently struggling to survive the heat.
Joseph Scott Morgan is a forensic scholar and former investigator.
JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, FORENSIC SCHOLAR/FORMER INVESTIGATOR: You still have a child that's strapped in a car that's exposed to extreme heat, that I can assure you no adult would be able to endure. I certainly couldn't endure it.
MARQUEZ: Cars can heat up very quickly even in cooler temperatures. It's 91 outside. Inside, only been in here about 10 or 15 minute, it is 108 degrees. I can tell you I'm sweating through my shirts already. I'm sweating just about everywhere. These cars can go from uncomfortable to deadly very fast. And then there's this case out of Washington, D.C.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you leave her in a car?
MARQUEZ: 29-year-old Teresa (INAUDIBLE) charged with abandoning her severely disabled mother in a car on a day when temperatures rose to 95 degrees. Police found and rescued her after she was trapped in the vehicle for 16 hours. Police say she suffered from severe dehydration and was sitting in her own urine and feces. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why was she covered in urine and feces? Can you
tell us what happened?
MARQUEZ: As unimaginable as leaving a child or anyone in a car seems, experts say there will be more cases as temperatures across the country continue to rise.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. Miguel Marquez, thank you so much.
Incidentally, at least one company is marketing a sensor attached to the car seat that warn as driver if a child is left in the car.
All right. The world cup is about to hit a fever pitch with Germany going up against Argentina in the final and we're monitoring all the action from CNN.com world cup global fan zone. Didn't know we had that. Well, we will take you inside the action. Yes. There's a lot of action going on there right now. Hopefully there'll be action when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: OK. Germany and Argentina in the world cup final and we're monitoring it all from CNN.com's global fan zone.
Joining me right now Andy Scholes from the "Bleachers Report" and money tech correspondent Laurie Segall.
You are in the fans zone, Laurie. Let's go you do first.
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: I am here, Fredricka. Lots of excitement here. You hear people yelling every time there's almost a goal. And they are monitoring all of the social media. Everything happens on line, they're looking at it. Here you can see data visualizations all over.
Now, I want to take it to Andy Scholes. He is here. Her has got some details.
Now, everything is kind of happening on the field. But we are seeing -- bursting in explosion online. Talk to me a little bit.
ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Yes, we certainly are, Laurie. You know, we're 21 minutes into the game. And Argentina has had some great chances to score in this game so far. And you know, they would love nothing more than to win the world cup on their arch rivals Brazil. It is home turn. That would be a great story line for them.
Germany is now the favor in this game. But right now, the social media would been monitoring it all. And Argentina has twice as many mentions right now on twitter than Germany. So it's very interesting. It might be because they've had better chances to score. But that's where they are right now.
And of course, the world cup, it's been a phenomenal on social media so far. Just earlier this week, in the Germany/Brazil game, it blew any sporting event we've seen so far away in terms of tweet in mention. There was 35.6 million tweets during that Germany-Brazil game. And Germany was just destroying Brazil in the field. It was just incredible. That's way more than we saw in the super bowl.
So that's how many are getting into the world cup and jumping on social media to really join in the discussion. And if you are joining the discussion with that, make sure use the #CNNworldcup because we'll be following what you are saying and posting pictures and videos and all the reaction throughout the day.
SEGALL: Wonderful.
And I also, Fredricka, I want to take you to Anna Gonzalez. She has been monitoring everything happening online.
Anna, can you give us an update, what is happening?
ANNA GONZALEZ, CNN.COM SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER: Yes. Well, I want to get your opinion on this. Do you think that social media is -- how many social media mentions can actually predict the winner?
SEGALL: I have no idea. What do you think?
GONZALEZ: Because if they do, it is going to be Argentina because we are seeing that like, maybe we should say, the top two trends right now on Twitter have to do with Argentina. If you also look at chart beat which helps us manage like key words that are being used online right now Argentina is much bigger than Germany. But if you look at facebook, facebook is the only place where Germany is winning right now. So, it looks like the social odds are in Argentina's favorite right now. But we want to keep seeing your photos and seeing your celebrations so please keep sending them with the #CNNworldcup.
SEGALL: Wonderful.
And Fred, I want to let you know that here at CNN, we take the world cup very seriously. If you look behind me, Chris here, our setup operator, he's actually wearing leader hosen. So obviously, we are getting in the spirit as well. Take a look over there. You can see he's pretty excited about the game. It's under way. Please join in the conversation. #CNNworldcup. We're going to be watching it throughout -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: That's very fun. I like the getup back there.
So bottom line in terms of the world of, you know, social media, it looks like facebook against twitter as we see Argentina against Germany. That's interesting that the two have kind of, you know, made their picks by way of their followers.
All right, Thanks so much, Laurie. Very fun. Appreciate it in the fan zone.
So you want to follow all of the latest world cup news at CNN.com/worldcup. All right, also as the crisis along the Mexico border gross, we'll
take you live to the Texas border and hear just how dire the situation is for those trying to make their way into the U.S.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Here are some of the stories crossing the CNN news desk right now.
Actor comedian Tracy Morgan is back home after being released from a rehab hospital center. He continues to recover from that car crash that left him critically injured last month. Officials say a Walmart truck rear-ended Morgan's limo on the New Jersey turnpike. The crash killed his friend and injured two others with him. Morgan is suing Walmart over the incident.
In Australia, U.S. secretary of state John Kerry is engaged in damage control. Today, he met with Germany's foreign minister to try to smooth over strained relations over the latest reports that the U.S. spying on Germany. Kerry called the two countries, quote, "great friends that will continue to work together." Nevertheless, Germany is kicking out the CIA as station chief in Berlin.
And NASA is sending international supplies to the space station, a supply rocket launched this morning from wall of Island Virginia. More than 3,000 pounds of food and cargo are on board. It is expected to arrive and dock at the space station on Wednesday.
All right. Did you get a look at this? The super moon last night. These are some of the amazing pictures that you sent us. Our best I reports. A Super moon is larger and brighter than an average full moon. It happens when the moon becomes full on the same day that its orbit is closest to earth. A NASA spokesman says they happens about once a year. Beautiful.
And perhaps it would be a beautiful thing, right? Bill Cosby may have a new sitcom next year. A Hollywood reporter says the legendary comedian is developing a new family comedy. He will star in the show and play a father of three married daughters who have children. It has been more than 20 years since the original Cosby show ended its run on NBC. And guess what? We might be able to see this new show as early as next summer.
In Washington this week Congress will continue to weigh President Obama's request for help with the border crisis. He wants almost $4 billion to help boost and overwhelmed border patrol and straighten programs to deal with thousands of illegal immigrants.
The head of the house appropriations committee has already said that amount is too much. But as the political battle escalates, federal law and local enforcement try to stem the tide to people trying to crossing over into the U.S.
Alina Machado has more from the Rio Grande River. ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, there's a significance
presence in this area by law enforcement. And yet, as you are about to see, keeping up with what's going on here isn't easy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MACHADO (voice-over): This is the Rio Grande. Nearly 1,900 miles long and now the battle ground of an immigration crisis hitting the U.S. It's where a flood of undocumented immigrants are crossing into Texas every single day. We wanted to get a firsthand look, so we headed out on a boat with Johnny Hart who has lived on the river for more than three decades.
JOHNNY HART, TEXAS RESIDENT: It's just a routine deal when we are out here touring the river that we see many crossings.
MACHADO: It didn't take long for us to find a path used by undocumented immigrant to cross the river. A man in the heavy brush even appears to hide from us.
HART: It's mainly adults that we see. Lately in the last several months it's been women and children.
MACHADO: You've seen them all on this river.
HART: Yes.
MACHADO: On rafts.
HART: Yes.
MACHADO: U.S. law enforcement boats, whether state or federal, are never too far away. But when they are, we see this, people on rafts hurrying to cross the river. In this case, they seem to be headed back to Mexico after a drop-off on the U.S. side. While we can't say for certain what they're up to, it's clear the men on the rafts are not happy to see us.
We wanted to see where those rafts were coming from, and just a few feet away look what we saw on the U.S. side. Several border patrol agents, two vehicles, and four people who appeared to be detained.
Not long after a bus shows up, perhaps suggesting more than just four were now in the hands of U.S. border patrol.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACHADO: Locals describe the situation here as a constant battle of wit between Mexican smugglers and U.S. authorities. They say what we saw on the river they see every single day -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Alina, thank you so much.
Well, let's take a closer look at what is actually happening on the border. Jose Antonio Vargas is in the McAllen, Texas along the border with
Mexico. He is the founder of the group, Define American, A Pulitzer prize winning writer and in 2011 revealed his status as an undocumented immigrant in the United States.
So two weeks after this very issue and your personal plight and all in light of your film "Documented" which aired on CNN, what are you seeing in McAllen, Texas?
Well, I mean, it was really actually fascinating listening to the report that you guys just did. I wonder what would happen if you guys would have interviewed the undocumented immigrants that are actually living in this border area of McAllen.
JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS, FOUNDER, DEFINE AMERICAN: So, you know, I'm the most privilege undocumented immigrant in America, right?. Everybody, everyday, someone just detained. People are getting detained in the border and I'm talking to you. And I'm stuck here. Like I got here on Thursday. We actually got here to document what is happening with the refugees, the Central American refugees for these young children at one of the shelters here in McAllen. And because I don't have pieces of -- I don't have any I.D. besides of my Filipino passport, it's going be hard for me to actually get out of here at some point when I decide to get out of here in the next couple of days. So if you talk to the undocumented residents, the people that actually live here, they're stuck.
WHITFIELD: What are you finding from them?
VARGAS: Well, they live basically -- they are basically confined in a 45-mile radius. There's a checkpoint -- if you ever wondered hour secure and safe the border is, come down here.
WHITFIELD: Yes. I've been to McAllen, Texas, actually. I have been there so I'm familiar with the city. But then, as it pertains to this plight, and this you know, this situation where a number of people are coming across the border, in many cases Central America, but they're from Mexico as well. And then blending in some living there in McAllen, Texas, what are you finding from the people there in terms of whether they feel like this journey has kind of, you know, opened to their experience to new opportunities, if it's enlightened their lives or if they feel like the word you used "stuck."
VARGAS: Well, I mean, again, I think -- OK, first of all, I met a woman named Tania Chavez, right, who's 28-years-old. She's been here since she was 14 years old. She has two Master's degrease. She's undocumented. She lives here. She can't leave the area. She hasn't left this area in years, right, because there's check points everywhere she goes, right? So that is what we are talking about.
WHITFIELD: And what is she expressing to you that she wants?
VARGAS: This is why we need immigration reform to happen. This is why we need President Obama, right, and an executive action when he decides to do at the summer to thing as boldly and as big as he possibly can. But Fredricka, this is a really important point. I think the media is
largely conflating two issues here. We have a humanitarian crisis with the Central American children and I've been to the shelter. I've met some of the kids. We were talking about the young people. We actually released a video from Define America. This young American when she was eight, 9-year-old, what she walked in there, right, her ponytail, there's a piece of plastic holding her ponytail together. There's people showing up with no shoes, right?
WHITFIELD: People understand, you know, the measure of the crisis and what's on their backs.
VARGAS: What's on their backs.
WHITFIELD: But in terms of executive order as you speak to that, whether the President is going to carry that out or whether there is a measure that Congress can agree upon or work on what is the hope of the executive order from that measure in your point of view, from the point of you.
VARGAS: Well, again, I don't want to conflate the two issues. So the first thing is let's talk about the Central American refugees, right? What are we going do with these kids? Rick Perry has been going around the state. This is the same Rick Perry that three years ago that said you don't have the heart if you don't want to provide, you know, tuition, in-state tuition for undocumented students in Texas. Where is Governor Perry's heart when it comes to these refugee children? Do we really want to deport them, right? Is the only action, is the only legislative action this Congress is going to do is deport children? Is that what they're going to do?
So outside of that it's what's happening to people like me, the 11 million undocumented people in this country. Our lives are in limbo. You're on the border. You're literally stuck here. What's going to happen to us? What kind of action can President Obama do to make sure we can alleviate the struggle of the people who are here who are only contributed. I not a national security threat. Tania who's lived there since she was 14, she's not a national security threat.
WHITFIELD: So the question remains what will be done.
VARGAS: What will they do. I think we've had way too much rhetoric, I think we have way too much political ping-pong going on here, and we're conflating the two issues and we're never coming up with a solution. How is it that Governor Perry can blame President Obama on not enforcing the law when it's the same President Obama who has deported nearly two million people in five years.
WHITFIELD: Well, therein lies part of the contradiction.
VARGAS: There's the problem.
WHITFIELD: Jose Antonio Vargas, thanks so much for bringing your point of view from McAllen, Texas. Appreciate it.
VARGAS: Thank you. Thank you for having me. WHITFIELD: All right, neither have announced that they're actually
running for president, you just heard Jose bringing up the Texas governor. But a war of words now is heating up between two possible candidates. The story coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Hard to believe but midterm election are right around the corner and sparks are already flying between two Republicans who could face off in their party's 2016 presidential primary.
Texas Governor Rick Perry who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination in 2012 wrote an op-ed in the "Washington Post" in which he takes Kentucky senator Rand Paul to task for his views on foreign policy.
Erin McPike is joining me now from Washington from the White House lawn there.
So, Erin, what was said?
ERIN MCPIKE, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, Rick Perry basically said in that op-ed that Rand Paul has been misguided in his approach to U.S. foreign policy, that we should be taking a noninterventionist approach to some of these conflicts abroad. He said he was curiously blind to the threat posed by the radical militant group ISIS in the Middle East. Rand Paul has said that he wouldn't send his son into those conflicts. Well, here is how Rick Perry responded to that on CBS this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: I understand as well as anyone the concept of putting our young people in harm's way. We need a strategy that's sound. We need a strategy that when we say we're going to do something, we do it. And our allies again can trust us and our enemies fear us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCPIKE: Now, as part of this back and forth, a Rand Paul adviser also responded. His name is Doug Stafford. And he said 60,000 children just invaded Texas and their governor has time to write an op-ed in a Washington newspaper miss characterizing Senator Paul's foreign policy. Perhaps, you should concentrate on the invasion of his southern border. Obviously, that's referring to some of what's going on in Texas and the comments that Rick Perry has made recently.
Now, we know that immigration will be a big issue in 2016. But also in that primary, the direction that the Republican Party chooses to take on foreign policy will be a big issue there -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right, Erin McPike at the White House. Thanks so much indeed.
John Walsh has helped law enforcement capture more than 1200 fugitive over the years. And in a few hours his new CNN original series debuts. A preview next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: John Walsh, the driving force behind America's most wanted is teaming up with CNN for a new original series called "the Hunt." It premieres tonight at 9:00 on CNN. Each week Walsh will examine unsolved crimes hoping our viewers will help catch fugitives. Walsh's own soul-crushing loss is what compels him to fight for justice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN WALSH, CNN HOST, THE HUNT: Obviously Adam's murder changed my life forever it. It was a real horrible wake-up call that there weren't the resources that there are now to find missing children.
There were no amber alerts. There was no national center for missing and exploited children. There was no age-enhanced photos. There was nobody who knew where sex offenders were. I didn't know that my son had been grabbed by a serial pedophile who roamed the United States grabbing children and knowing that the minute that he grabbed the child and hurt the child, all he will need to do is cross the county line and he was safe. Because law enforcement didn't exchange information.
And he was somewhere outside of that little town. He was 120 miles way, part of him was thrown in a canal. So when I was feeling so badly for myself, couldn't work, our house was slipping into foreclosure, all the things that happen to crime victims, we forgot who was the real victim. Adam was the real victim. He was the one who was kidnapped and decapitated. Maybe we can do something in his name. So that's what we've been doing for the last 33 years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Courageous. This Sunday, CNN welcomes John Walsh and the new CNN original series "the Hunt." Walsh picks up right where he left off with "America's Most Wanted" tracking down bad guys. The premiere episode features a California man, Shane Miller, suspected of killing his wife, Sandy, and two children. But Walsh says the violence didn't come out of the blue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM BOSENKO, POLICE: Sandy Miller ended up going to a local women's refuge to seek safe harbor and she took her children with her. We took out domestic violence report. Our detectives learns that Mr. Miller did had an extensive arrest record and a federal offense record in which he was sentenced to federal prison.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When Sandy came in to our office, she appeared very tired. The girls were very tearful, red-eyed, exhausted. They'd had a long morning trying to get down the mountain to come here. She said Shane had been very agitated for about three days. She'd had hardly any sleep. She said Shane had assaulted her, tortured her, choked her, threatened her with guns. You know, he was threatening to kill her whole family. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: There's one detail about Shane Miller that investigators say makes him so elusive. Deputy U.S. Marshal Brandon McMullen told me why Miller has been able to evade capture so far.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRANDON MCMULLEN, DEPUTY U.S. MARSHAL: He's pretty well known be a survivalist type. He grew up in the woods. (INAUDIBLE) is home for him. He's a marijuana cultivator so he's somebody who's obviously very comfortable in the woods.
But along with this case, you know, everyone that we've talked to, whether it be friends, family members, acquaintances, anybody who has run into him have said that he's a creepy guy, scary guy, he is very violent. So he's just sort of the type who's -- he's definitely somebody that we wanted to get off of the street and that is, you know, willing to do violence if it's going to keep him out of jail.
WHITFIELD: So he is profiled in "THE HUNT," this new show involving John Walsh. How do you hope this program broadcasting this crime that he is alleged to have carried out will help in facilitating his capture?
MCMULLEN: Well, in this case, you know, he's somebody who can stay out in the woods for a long period of time. But especially now, it's been over a year. He's going to need supplies. He's going have to come back in and actually have contact with some people. So we're hoping THAT being on a show like "THE HUNT" is going to bring him back into the news and get his face out there, so if he does come in and try to buy something or steal something, hopefully somebody comes in contact with and help us find him.
WHITFIELD: "America's Most Wanted" with John Walsh helped promote more than 1200 arrests. How were you hoping "THE HUNT" might be an extension of that or something even bigger or broader?
MCMULLEN: The U.S. marshals have obviously had a long relationship with "America's Most Wanted" and John Walsh. And again, with "THE HUNT," we are hoping that just like the "America's Most Wanted" did, this will bring his face back out there and get him pushed into an area where he might have otherwise might not have been seen. We put out flyers and we talk to a lot of people, but more people watch this kind of TV show than they do, you know, look for a flyer. So hopefully, this is something where they see him and somebody has seen him recently or seen him at all and they're able to supply some sort of information.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, more than 300 people on board a United Airline flight are safe, but a bit rattled, after the plane was forced to make an emergency landing on a tiny remote island in the Pacific Ocean. CNN's Alexandra Field describes the terrifying ordeal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An emergency landing for 348 people, cell phone video captures their arrival on the kind of island you don't usually visit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Midway is not an island that has hotels and things. It's just a diversion airport.
FIELD: The moments before touchdown terrifying united airlines passengers.
KAREN VON MERVELDT GUEVARA, PASSENGER: We were all thinking of people at home and our own little ones we had with us. We had a family next to us with a 3-year-old and a real tiny baby.
FIELD: Mechanical issues delayed United Airlines flight 201 from the start. After 3 1/2 hours it was cleared for takeoff. The plane left Honolulu and was headed to Guam, but three hours into the flight over the Pacific Ocean, the pilot was suddenly forced to reroute to a remote island because of a strong electrical odor.
DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Any time there's anything going on in an aircraft that's abnormal with smells, with smoke, anything of that nature, particularly when you're halfway across the ocean, it's of great deal of concern and it has to be responded to immediately.
FIELD: In order to make a last-minute landing on the island, aviation experts say the pilot would have had to dump fuel before reaching the runway. Passengers became more alarmed approaching the island because of turbulence.
GUEVARA: After that 40-foot drop it got really silent in the cabin. People prayed. I mean, we all prayed. I prayed. There's nothing wrong with that.
FIELD: Midway Island, known for the battle of midway in World War II, was once the home of a naval air station. Recently used for other emergency landings including a Delta Airline flight which touched down there in 2011. United airlines says it's still investigating the mechanical issue that forced the pilot to divert.
SOUCIE: This smell would be a smell from a spark, a wire that had come loose, a wire that had arced against the airframe of the aircraft, something along those lines.
FIELD: The aircraft, a Boeing 777 is the same type of plane as the missing Malaysia Airlines flight and the same kind of plane that was involved in last summer's Asiana crash in San Francisco. The NTSB says that crash was caused by pilot error. Aviation experts consider the 777 among the safest planes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice to step on the land. FIELD: United passengers spent seven hours inside a gymnasium on the
island waiting for united to send in another plane after a harrowing ride.
Alexandra Field, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And now we're closing in on the final chapter in the Costa Concordia saga. It began when the ship capsized more than two years ago killing 32 people and leading to charges against the captain. Well now in the midst of his trial for manslaughter and abandoning ship, the Costa Concordia's almost ready to be refloated.
Here's Erin McLaughlin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been almost ten months since the Costa Concordia was pulled upright. In a maneuver hailed as one of the greatest engineering feats in maritime history.
NICK SLOANE, COST CONCORDIA SALVAGE MASTER: A relief because it's been a struggle a bit of a roller coaster.
MCLAUGHLIN: Now the Costa Concordia is finally ready to float again. It's a phase that engineers say is just as tricky and dangerous, the next chapter in a tragic story.
It was January 2012 when the massive cruise liner carrying thousands of tourists struck some rocks off the Italian island of Giglio.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). I looked and said this is it. We're going to swim or we're going to die.
MCLAUGHLIN: Thirty two of the people on board were killed that night. The body of a 33-year-old waiter has never been found. The captain, Francesco Shchettino is still on trial. He denies the charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship. He insist the disaster was not his fault alone.
Last week, Italian police released this video. It shows staircases, seating areas and a reception desk. The extent of the Costa Concordia's sunken, mangled interior.
If all goes well, it's soon to be above water. Some 30 metal boxes have been fitted to the ship's sides. The plan is to pump the boxes with compressed air to refloat the decaying Concordia. One deck at a time.
Erin McLaughlin, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And now, some good news. A mystery man walked into a California grocery store on a mission. He didn't need milk and eggs. He was actually looking for something else. In Concord, California, a man waited at the register. He waited until the clerk scanned every item from a random customer, and then paid cash for it. He did it several times, in fact spending over $600 on about half a dozen shocked shoppers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE FLORES, STORE MANAGER: We have people hugging him, people were asking him if he won the lottery. Like if he had a good job. But he didn't really want to give any information.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Very nice. A store surveillance camera did capture the mystery man in action, but the store says they're actually going to respect his wishes to remain anonymous. Some shoppers were disappointed that they missed out on the grocery giver, but they say they still left with a cartful of appreciation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BREAMS, SHOPPER: Of course it breaks my heart that I wasn't here and didn't reap the rewards, but really it's pretty amazing and kind of makes you have faith in humanity again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wish there were more people who had that kind of, you know, joy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So nice.
And then, you got to see this to believe, a woman had some car trouble and then actually had to pull her vehicle over to the side of the road in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And this would be why. It is because of this, a seven-foot 20-pound (INAUDIBLE) that was actually curled up inside under the hood. When she opened up that hood, this is what she founds wrapped around her engine. She, of course, want to nothing to do with it so a man who had pulled over that actually helped her out is the one who called 911 for animal control.
