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American's Body Found in Mexico; More Air Strikes in Gaza; The Science Behind the Hunt for Fugitives; Photo Project Helps Atlanta's Hungry; Joan Rivers Walked Off CNN Interview; Interview with Marion Barry

Aired July 13, 2014 - 16:00   ET

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: She, of course, wanted nothing to do with it. So a man who had pulled over to actually help her out is the one who called 911 for animal control.

All right. Hello again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. These stories topping our news this hour.

We begin with what would be any mother's worst fear. Mexican police think they may have found the man of an American missing for the last six months. Harry Deaver disappeared in a violent part of Mexico during a motorcycle trip. His mother is there to now try to identify the body.

Our Alexandra Field is following the developments. So after all this time, Alexandra, what will take place to try to confirm the identity?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, this is going to come down to DNA. This mother has waited a very long time for answers and she may have longer to wait. Because authorities are saying that DNA testing on the remains that have been found could take two months. That's why Harry Deaver's mother, Ann Deaver, has traveled to Mexico herself. She wants to learn anything else that she can learn at this point.

Her son disappeared back in January. That's the last he was heard from. At the time he was in the middle of a motorcycle journey from the United States with plans to head all the way down to South America. In fact, he wanted to in Brazil for the World Cup. But he was in Mexico back in January, he was headed toward a beach town, (INAUDIBLE). It was made famous in the movie "The Shawshank Redemption."

He texted his girlfriend saying that he has been escorted out of an area where it was too dangerous for him to be. That was the last time his loved ones have heard from him. Now Mexican authorities are saying that they have found his motorcycle and that they have also found remains in a shallow grave. That grisly discovery, Fred, was made about 300 miles southwest of where Harry Deaver was last seen.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. Now what? How are authorities trying to kind of, I guess, piece together details or even look more into his messages that he left during his travels? FIELD: Well, this has been really a long, slow, painful process, Fred. I spoke to Harry Deaver's mother back in January, also spoke to his girl friend. They were having a lot of difficulty because of the fact that they were here in New York and this is all happening in Mexico. They have been in contact with the embassy here. They're trying to get any authorities to help. That's why Harry Deaver's mother had in fact gone down to Mexico over the winter to try and gather whatever leads she could find. That's why she's back there again.

But really they're being told right now it's the DNA testing that will allow police to make a conclusive I.D. and determine whether or not this in fact is Harry Deaver.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Alexandra Field. Keep us posted.

All right. Moving now to the Middle East where hundreds of Gaza residents are flee their homes after Israel dropped leaflets in northern Gaza today warning residents to move away from Hamas sites to avoid air strikes. The U.S. consulate general in Jerusalem helped 150 U.S. citizens leave Gaza and get into Jordan today.

Israel says it's already hit what it calls more than 1,000 terror targets. Yet rockets from Gaza keep coming. The Gaza health ministry says at least 168 people have died in Gaza there and most are civilians.

Ben Wedeman spoke to people as they tried to get their families to safety after the warnings from Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (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 them" says Ahmed. "I do what's best for us."

He's sending his family to safer ground in Gaza City, relatively safer, that is, although he'll 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.

(on camera): Like almost everybody in this area we are leaving too. It's dangerous. There's shelling.

There's some people staying behind to basically guard their houses. But as the man back there told me, 80 percent of the people in this area have already left and at this time the deadline to leave ends in 35 minutes.

(voice-over): On the drive into 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 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. (INAUDIBLE) 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."

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.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Gaza City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: On the Israeli side of the border people are also fleeing the conflict. Diana Magnay has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This goes to the Gaza border, Kibbutz (INAUDIBLE) is just 880 meters from the fence. The explosions rip through the evening air. The deep thud of an Israeli air strike. The shorter crack of outgoing fire and the hiss as a missile streaks past us.

(on camera): We just heard a rocket go very, very close over our heads. These playgrounds aren't full of children any more. They've all moved to a kibbutz in northern Israel hoping it will be safer there. Though just Friday morning a rocket came in into the north from Lebanon.

The people tell me though it's not just the rockets they're scared of. They're scared of militants from Gaza tunneling in.

(voice-over): Benny Sela runs the security in (INAUDIBLE). Now operation protective edge is under way, he carries a gun. Like most Israelis, he has a dim view of Hamas.

BENNY SELA, KIBBUTZ SECURITY: Unfortunately here, the Hamas, the civilians, they hide behind the civilians. That's why kids die there. Here is a soldier on the front. And all the civilians in the shelters. And the other side, the civilians outside and Hamas inside the shelters.

MAGNAY: It turns the out what we heard was an anti-tank missile. It had hit a military jeep near the base next door injuring two soldiers. Israeli tanks fired back, but the rockets from Gaza keep coming.

(on camera): You can hear another one of the red alerts. There was a mortar that came over yesterday and hit that building here in (INAUDIBLE). This is the moment where you look for the nearest shelter and get inside it. Each house has its own shelter. This is our own shelter. (INAUDIBLE) says she'll spend the night in her safe room. Her husband and daughter all tucked up there together. They're sorry it's come to this.

SIDHANI RACHAMIM, RESIDENT: We used to have a good relationship with them. We had friends in Gaza who were even at my wedding. And we used to go into Gaza on Saturdays and eat humus and sit there at the beach.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most of the people there want this.

MAGNAY (voice-over): But now the call from the leadership on both sides seems more like a battle cry even as the people pray for their lives to go back to normal.

Diana Magnay, CNN, Kibbutz (INAUDIBLE), Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And Israel's so-called iron dome defense system has been credited with keeping civilians there safe. In a minute, we'll show you exactly how it works.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Israel is warning residents in parts of northern Gaza, move away from Hamas sites. It's an ominous sign of more strikes in the future. Earlier today Israeli troops went into Gaza to raid a missile launching site, according to an Israeli defense source.

Wolf Blitzer got the details from a spokesman for the Israel defense forces.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LT. CO. PETER LERNER, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCE SPOKESMAN: We utilize our special forces in order to do special missions. The site that we attacked is deeply involved with the long-range rockets that have been showering Tel Aviv, showering north of Tel Aviv, showering Jerusalem. So we thought it was necessary to utilize special forces to carry out a special mission. Indeed, they made their mission. They were able to succeed in their mission. There was impact and the conflict with terrorists there on the site. We have few scratches and grazes but nothing substantial.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the Israeli side.

LERNER: Palestinians we had air support on site as well and the Palestinian terrorists, they paid a heavier price.

BLITZER: So was this an isolated incident or will there be more Israeli, as they say, boots on the ground?

LERNER: We can expect these type of activities taking place. Special ops that happen below the radar, in and out, swift missions, quickly, concise and very precise at what they're doing to get that added value to safeguard. BLITZER: So there will be more of these operations. What about tanks, armored personnel carriers, formal invasion of Gaza as has occurred in the past?

LERNER: We're preparing that possibility. It's not something we wanted to do but in the last five or six days we have brought up the forces. Indeed there's a substantial force on the borders with Gaza. If the order is given, we are prepared for that type of activity.

BLITZER: Was that the reason that you're leafleting in northern Gaza telling folks to get out. There's a half million people there. It's almost impossible that they'll all be able to escape. What's your goal here?

LERNER: Well, the area that we've actually announced that people should leave is a lot smaller than that. It's the town of Beit Laeha. The reason being is because that has been a main staging point for rocket launching against Israel.

Now there's a lot of Hamas deeply invested in that. Obviously some sort of very energetic Palestinian commander on the ground there that thinks that he can launch rockets at Israel freely. We have to deal with that problem. That is why we're suggesting for their own good, keep away from Hamas, move out of that town because we intend to target it.

BLITZER: But you know, a lot of the civilians whether elderly, young people, they're not going to be able to leave.

LERNER: Well, we hope that they will abide by our advice. It's absolutely a necessity. The terrorists that are launching rockets from Beit Laeha are putting the people of Beit Laeha at risk.

BLITZER: What is the timeline? How much time do they have to get out?

LERNER: The leaflets were released this morning and we announced our intentions to do so late last night. There is a timeline. Unfortunately, due to the operational concerns, I can't point at the specific hour, but it is indeed we expect the people to leave.

BLITZER: Within hours, can we say that?

LERNER: I would say so, yes.

BLITZER: So within the next few hours, when you go into that Beit Laeha areas, will it be tanks, will it be armored personnel carriers, will it be from the sea, what are you talking - will it be a limited commando operation or a much more robust military operation?

LERNER: I think we'll have to leave that for the operation itself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And there are growing fears Israel and Hamas are edging toward an all-out war. According to the Israeli military more than 800 rockets have been fired from Gaza just in the past week. Nearly 150 of those have been intercepted by Israel's sophisticated defense system called the iron dome. So how does it work? Here's CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Just as Hamas has improved the range of the rockets that it's firing into Israel, Israel has substantially improved the performance of its iron dome missile defense system.

So much so that the Israeli authorities are now claiming 90 percent success in neutralizing the threat of missiles from places like Gaza and those aimed at places like Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and Haifa.

How does the system work? Well, there's three key phases. The first one is detection. Any time rockets rise up and head toward Israel, high tech cameras and radar systems and computers start looking at them, figuring out how big they are, how fast they're moving and importantly where they are headed.

Because simultaneously, the analysis and targeting phase is entered here. That means if they know that some of these are headed off, for example, into the sea or some of them are headed into rural areas that they're not going to hit anything, they will just let them go. They don't care. Let them fall to the ground, but if they spot one of them headed toward buildings or a city or a place where people would likely be hurt. Then the third phase, the destruction phase is key.

That means that these computers and radar systems reach out to batteries of missiles on the ground in Israel and they launch them automatically sending these missiles out here that are each about 10 feet long racing toward the incoming threat. Each one of the defensive missiles has about 24 pounds of high explosive on them.

When they get close enough, they blow up, obliterating everything in that air space. This is not cheap. This system was originally developed by an Israeli defense company, but the United States has kicked in about $235 million to expand the iron dome. By the way, each of these defensive missiles costs about $62,000.

But the goal here for both Israel and the United States is to make the system even better at intercepting bigger missiles further away at higher altitudes. You know what that's all about. That's making sure that maybe this system can become a defense system for both countries against more robust enemies in the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Tom.

A year ago we met the young lady on the phone with Trayvon Martin just before he was shot to death in Florida. She testified in the George Zimmerman trial. What Rachel Jeantel said she'd change about that experience and how her life has changed in the last year, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The sole survivor of a shooting rampage that claimed the lives of her parents and four siblings mustered up the courage to speak at her parents' memorial service. Fifteen year old Cassidy Stay seen on the left side of the family photo there suffered a fractured skull when a bullet grazed her head. She pretended to be dead until the alleged suspect, her aunt's ex-husband, left, then she called 911. Cassidy has been hailed as a hero for telling police where the gunman was headed next. At the memorial she quoted her favorite movie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASSIDY STAY, SHOOTING VICTIM: In the "Prisoner of Azkaban," Dumbledore says that happiness can be found even in the worst of times if one only remembers to turn on the light. I know that my mom, dad, Bryant, Emily, Beckett and Zach are in a much better place and then I'll be able to see them again one day. Thank you all for coming and showing your support for me and my family. Stay strong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Police found the suspect, Ronald Lee Haskell, near her grandparents' house. They arrested him after a chase and three-hour standoff.

In the moments before Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in Florida back in 2012, he was on the phone with a friend named Rachel Jeantel. George Zimmerman went on trial and was acquitted in the shooting death of Trayvon one year ago today. Well now a year after that acquittal, David Mattingly sat down with Jeantel and found out how Trayvon's death and the trial has had lasting effects on her.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rachel Jeantel was on the phone with Trayvon Martin when his fatal encounter with George Zimmerman began. A year ago we watched as she made no secret of her feelings during a combative cross-examination of the defense in Zimmerman's trial.

Today I find her working hard to put the past behind her and to deal with lingering regret.

(on camera): Were you blaming yourself when George Zimmerman went free?

RACHEL JEANTEL, FRIEND OF TRAYVON MARTIN: A little bit.

MATTINGLY: Did you think you should have said something different? Or acted differently?

JEANTEL: Yes, act different.

MATTINGLY: You think the jurors didn't take you seriously?

JEANTEL: Yes. They judge how they talk, how they look, how they dress.

MATTINGLY: And they were judging you?

JEANTEL: Yes.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): And that was the beginning of an astonishing turnaround in Rachel Jeantel's life.

(on camera): What sort of issues did she have to deal with?

RON VEREEN, ATTORNEY: Post-traumatic stress. She was suffering from post-traumatic stress.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Ron Vereen is a Miami attorney who organized a support group he calls the village, providing Rachel with counseling to deal with the grief of losing her long-time friend and intense tutoring to overcome problems in school.

No one knew it at the time but when 19-year-old Rachel took the stand she was barely able to read and write beyond the level of a third grader. She often pushed back when tutoring took four to six hours a day.

(on camera): During the trial, I saw what happened when somebody gets on your bad side. I don't know if I would ever want to be on your bad side.

JEANTEL: No, you don't want to cross.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): But her tutors didn't give up and neither did Rachel. These photos taken in May marked the moment their work paid off. Rachel donned a cap and gown and collected her high school diploma.

VEREEN: She credits what has taken place since what happened in the courtroom to Trayvon Martin, all the good things. The fact that she's graduated, she said "well I kept my word to Trayvon that I would do this."

MATTINGLY: She's also keeping a promise to herself, by having the last word for people who criticized the way she talked and acted on the witness stand.

(on camera): They're implying that you're not very smart.

JEANTEL: Yes. You can't say that. You can't judge a book by a cover.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): She's had to do a lot of growing up and learning how to take responsibility for her actions. Rachel Jeantel says she believes George Zimmerman should do the same.

(on camera): What do you say to George Zimmerman right now?

JEANTEL: He know he did wrong and you got to admit up to it. To me you're not a man. George Zimmerman, you're not a man. That's still a little boy with a grown body.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): We attempted to contact George Zimmerman through his attorneys but there's no reply. Rachel Jeantel still has a lot of work of her own ahead of her. More growing, more tutoring and plans to go to college. There are several careers she's got in mind. But after her experience there's one line of work she can definitely rule out.

(on camera): Let's set the record straight. I'll ask you straight out.

JEANTEL: Straight out.

MATTINGLY: Do you want to be an attorney?

JEANTEL: No.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): David Mattingly, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And CNN gets unique access to a New York Police Department forensic lab. We'll show you the state of the art equipment and how officers are using it to solve cases. The science behind the hunt, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Here are some of the big stories crossing the CNN news desk right now.

Actor and comedian Tracy Morgan is back at home after being released from a rehab hospital center. He continues to recover from a 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. Morgan is suing Walmart over the incident.

The federal government has doled out billions of dollars to people who don't deserve it. The money included payments for tax refunds and unemployment benefits to social security and Medicare coverage that weren't legitimate according to a government watchdog agency. The mistake cost American taxpayers $106 billion last year.

Wow, sudden rush of hail the size of golf balls! Pouring down on folks visiting a beach in Russia. A sunbather shot this video after the weather went from over 100 degrees to just 70 in minutes triggering this violent storm. Some folks screamed and ran for cover as the hail intensified there. Reportedly there were no injuries, thankfully.

All right. TV chef Buddy Valastro, better known as the Cake Boss, and his wife had to be rescued from a boat that got lost in heavy fog there in the New York Harbor there. Valastro posted an Instagram photo, that one, right there of the incident. Authorities received an emergency call for help after Valastro's boat nearly collided into another boat in that dense fog.

A rescue crew found them and towed the boat to safety. Valastro says he wants to thank his rescuers by, of course, baking them a cake. All right. John Walsh has helped law enforcement capture more than

1200 fugitives over the years. But technology is also playing an ever increasing role in the search for suspects.

CNN's Alexandra Field has been digging into the latest technology at the NYPD crime lab and she has the science behind "THE HUNT."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The hunt is on for the most wanted among us. In our global era, the challenge seems broader than ever.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It's a lot different than it was in the 1920s and '30s, when you had John Dillinger or Bonnie and Clyde commit a crime in one state and it was a big deal for them to just cross state lines. That's what's changed over the years, the -- you know, the ability to travel all over the world fairly easily and economically.

FIELD: But along with the emergence of the worldwide manhunt, the science behind chasing criminals has evolved, too.

LOU PALUMBO, DIRECTOR OF ELITE INTELLIGENCE AND PROTECTION AGENCY: You can run, but you can no longer hide.

FIELD: From your image captured virtually everywhere down to your fingerprint, scientific and technological advancements have given investigators more sophisticated tools to work with. Our cameras take you inside the NYPD's closely guarded forensic crime lab, a front line for catching criminals. Better developing techniques in the fingerprinting field show detectives a clearer picture, so do evolving computer programs adding greater detail to tracing ballistic evidence.

Advances in DNA analysis are widely considered the most meaningful step forward towards solving more crimes. But the forensics are just pieces of the increasingly elaborate puzzle.

(On camera): You really can't escape the cameras. They are virtually everywhere. Windows that can capture potential crimes, and with evolving facial recognition technology, they could be used to capture more suspects. But even without all those cameras, we know we are all leaving our very own well-marked digital trail.

(Voice-over): From electronic data embedded in many of our digital images to our cell phone records, electronic banking transactions and all that social media activity, it's the indelible diary.

FUENTES: They had not planned in advance about being a fugitive and don't have literally hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash, false identities, possibly false passports that can enable them to travel around the world, having the means and the ability to cross borders, they're going to have a huge problem staying a fugitive for a real long time.

FIELD: The search net is wider, sometimes global. But our communications are making suspects easier in some ways to find. Law enforcement officials say advances in the way they can now communicate with each other makes it even tougher to hide.

PALUMBO: We're inventing new ways to talk to each other, to communicate with each other, to be more efficient, to exchange information in general.

FIELD: Alexandra Field, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. You don't want to miss "THE HUNT" with John Walsh. It premieres tonight 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

A mayor who saw his fair share of scandal is opening up about his life and about the successes in politics as well and civil rights. Marion Barry wants people to know who he is and what his legacy should be. He joins me live from Washington next.

But first, it's time to honor those making a difference in their community. Today a simple hashtag on Instagram is now changing lives in Atlanta.

Here's CNN's Chris Cuomo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY (voice-over): Photographer Tim Moxley had an aha moment on Instagram in 2012.

TIM MOXLEY, #WELOVEATL: I was noticing that, you know, there were certain photos that told, you know, a bit about people, a story about people's lives in the city.

CUOMO: He brainstormed with fellow photographers and they created their own hashtag.

MOXLEY: Weloveatl is a hashtag that we started on Instagram for asking people to proclaim their love for the city, show a little bit about their lives in the city.

CUOMO: They showed some of the photos in an art gallery but when people continued to submit to the hashtag, they came up with a new plan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had the idea to buy a bread truck and turn it into an art gallery. Kind of a food truck for photography.

MOXLEY: We hang the photos in the truck and sell the photos and we donate all the money to the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

CUOMO: #weloveatl has helped families across north Georgia.

JULIE BRYANT FISHER, ATLANTA COMMUNITY FOOD BANK: We have been fortunate enough to be partner with WeLoveATL. And since that time that's brought us more than $7600. So for us at the Atlanta Community Food Bank, that equates to 30,000 meals.

CUOMO: Who would have thought a hashtag could do so much good?

AARON COURY, #WELOVEATL: We're bringing kind of art and culture and charity together. And we hope that it starts to spread all over the country because we love the idea of celebrating your city. That what we've realized throughout this project.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Oh, what a week it has been. Perhaps you saw my seven- minute interview with comedian Joan Rivers last weekend, which didn't end quite like I expected. She walked off the set. And something else I didn't expect. The mileage that moment, hers, mine, ours, would get.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD (on camera): Joan Rivers, what a pleasure, you look so fabulous. And I am so underdressed.

JOAN RIVERS, ACTRESS: Oh, you're not underdressed. It's hot and it's a steamy summer weekend. That's a nice way to put it.

WHITFIELD (voice-over): It started out as a nice light-hearted --

(On camera): What is it about the year 2013 that you focus on in this --

(Voice-over): Compliment-filled interview.

(On camera): You have been, you know, a trailblazer in so many different ways.

(Voice-over): With iconic comedian Joan Rivers, out with her 12th book. "Diary of a Mad Diva."

(On camera): For example, You write this. "I'm back in L.A. for a minor cosmetic procedure."

RIVERS: We're taking all that skin off the table and we made another little person that walks right beside me. I am never lonely.

WHITFIELD (voice-over): Still lots of humor. Then the tone changed.

(On camera): Even with your fashion critiquing, while it's very mean in some ways, people --

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERS: It's not mean. It's not mean.

WHITFIELD: Really? It's not mean? RIVERS: It's not mean. You can -- it's not mean. I tell the truth.

I'm sure I said the same things that all your viewers say to their friends, sitting next to them on the couch.

WHITFIELD (voice-over): Just four minutes into the chat.

(On camera): Do you feel like there are boundaries ever? You know, even if it makes you feel uncomfortable.

RIVERS: Let me tell you --

WHITFIELD: Or offend people or what?

RIVERS: Life is very tough. And if you can make a joke to make something easier and funny, do it. And maybe you take the worst thing in the world and make it funny, it's a vacation for a minute from horror.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And people love to laugh. I mean, clearly that's why people love you.

(Voice-over): But there was no love and laughter in reminding her about animal rights activists who crashed Rivers' New York book signing two days earlier.

(On camera): You knew that there would probably be animal rights --

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERS: You know, this whole interview is becoming a defensive interview.

WHITFIELD: No.

RIVERS: Are you wearing leather shoes?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

RIVERS: Shut up.

(LAUGHTER)

RIVERS: You know what I mean? I don't want to hear -- you're wearing fur.

WHITFIELD: I'm not an activist.

RIVERS: You're wearing leather shoes. You're eating --

WHITFIELD: What I'm saying--

RIVERS: You're eating chicken. You're eating meat. I don't want to hear this nonsense.

WHITFIELD: Interview over.

RIVERS: Stop it with, and you do this and you're mean and you're the -- you are not the one to interview a person who does humor. Sorry.

WHITFIELD (on camera): Are you serious?

(Voice-over): It was the beginning of something else. That walk-out moment was everywhere. More than 14 million results from a Google search. Going viral. Making headlines from the "Washington Post" all the way to Australia.

"The hypocrisy of a comedian who dishes but didn't take it. The news reporter who pushed buttons."

Immediately fodder for jokes minutes after it went to air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said I promise I won't walk off the set.

WHITFIELD (on camera): Oh, thank you, thank you for that. We'll try to keep it nice and amicable. I appreciate that. No shark bites for me.

JOY BEHAR: You know this -- I can't, you're not dealing with a comedian correctly.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Do you really want to do that?

BEHAR: I'm leaving -- no, I want Fredricka Whitfield to interview me.

(LAUGHTER)

Where is she?

LEMON: Please don't walk off.

WHITFIELD (voice-over): And conjecture from the ladies on "The View".

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But the three of you guys are all comedians. And so for you guys to talk to Joan is probably a lot easier for her. You guys speak the same language. And so you asking her the same questions probably comes off a lot differently.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what I said.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, let's give her a break. Let's give her break because the hot lights must have been melting her face off.

GOLDBERG: Joan will take a lot. It takes a lot for her to snap like that. So I -- and I also -- having watched it, I just thought -- I would have -- you know, lighten up a little bit, Fred.

WHITFIELD: To Joan Rivers herself helping to keep it alive on "Access Hollywood."

RIVERS: I think she should save us money because we put her on the map.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At least a thank you note or something.

WHITFIELD: And with David Letterman.

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": I watched it. And it didn't seem to me like she was that tough on you.

RIVERS: She was asking negative questions.

LETTERMAN: Negative questions.

RIVERS: It's a funny book.

LETTERMAN: Right. Talking about the book.

RIVERS: Talking about the book.

LETTERMAN: And what kind of questions was she asking that were negative about your -- though you're wearing a fur coat.

RIVERS: You're wearing fur.

WHITFIELD: That moment between Rivers, the 81-year-old comedian, TV show host and entrepreneur, and me, the news reporter.

LETTERMAN: This woman, this news anchor person --

RIVERS: A serious anchor person.

LETTERMAN: Yes. Yes.

RIVERS: Serious.

WHITFIELD: She wouldn't talk any further with me, but had lots of fun welcoming, if not inviting, this fresh material at every chance. And along the way, revealing something else that got under her skin during our chat.

RIVERS: How old are you?

WHITFIELD (on camera): Not yet. I'm near 50. How about that?

RIVERS: Well, I'm sure you've had your Botox. Every woman --

WHITFIELD: I've done nothing yet.

RIVERS: Well,. Whatever.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Not that I don't need it. But you know.

RIVERS: No, no, you look good.

WHITFIELD: I'm a chicken. RIVERS: She claimed that she had nothing. I don't like when a woman

says to you, I've done nothing. They're 49 years old. They're talking through the part in the hair. She's done something. I've done nothing. So that ticked me off. The woman has hemorrhoids behind her ears. I mean, she's been pulled.

WHITFIELD: She thought that I was being dishonest and that's what made her mad. And she said that on "Letterman" last night. So, you know what, it's the best compliment I could ever get so that's OK, coming from you, Joan Rivers.

(Voice-over): Truth be told it's now right up there as one of the most talked about interviews ending abruptly with an exit. Now getting lots of laughs from the very comedian who didn't find any humor in it one week ago.

RIVERS: I've walked off one show already this week.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. So now hopefully we can put all of that fun behind us. New week now and new hope that the next time Miss Rivers and I connect, there will be no mixed messages.

All right. Coming up next, we're going to talk to another author out with his memoir. Marion Barry, you know him as the former mayor of Washington, D.C., now councilman. We have him live. There he is in D.C.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In a city full of big and influential names, it's hard to have just one name come to mind when you say Washington, D.C. But when you think about the city itself and the local politics, there is no question. Former Mayor Marion Barry is synonymous with D.C. from his start in the civil rights movement to being a hands-on councilman and mayor to the infamous drug bust in 1990 that changed everything.

Now Barry, a D.C. city councilman, wants you to know all of it from his perspective. His new book "Mayor for Life: The Incredible Story of Marion Barry Jr." is out on shelves right now. And right on page one he says, "Most people don't know me. They don't know my work ethic and they don't know me as a person. They know me from 10-second sound bites."

Joining me right now to tell us more is former Mayor Marion Barry.

MARION BARRY, FORMER WASHINGTON MAYOR: Good to see you.

Thank you, Fredricka. I'm glad to be here. Thanks. I watch you from time to time.

WHITFIELD: Oh, good, I'm glad you check in from time to time. So this comes across as amazingly honest, revealing, very personal. This is a journey through your civil rights movement, your D.C. political career, the drug bust, as I mentioned, the fall, the hurt, that you and many experienced, the climb afterwards. And I really am kind of simplifying here but you say, you know, quote, "I want people to gather the truth from me rather than from a T-shirt." Elaborate.

BARRY: First of all, I wrote this book so I could describe me. Everything's written about me but not by me, and so this book starts at the beginning of 1936 when I was born to a sharecropper's son.

WHITFIELD: In Mississippi.

BARRY: My mother went to the third or fourth grade. I lived in a house without any running water, without any lights. It's an overcoming book. Everything I've tried to do, I've tried to be an example as to how you can overcome and how you can educate people. You know, and people don't know how hard it was growing up. It was tough growing up. I grew up without hardly any money.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: And you said it was your mom, your mother is the one that taught you courage from the very beginning.

BARRY: My mother taught me courage because she was a domestic, and in the south, domestics go in the back door and the domestics are called by their first name. My mother said to white people after you get through with the work ethic by what you do, I'm not going through the back door. I'm good enough to take care of your kids, cook your food, clean your house, clean after your dog, I'm going enough to come through the front door. And by the way, my name is not Maddy, it's Miss Cummings.

And that was a rare thing. She lost a lot of jobs because of that. But that was just the beginning of my life in terms of going forward.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

BARRY: I'm 78 years of age. I've had a rich life. Not just 15- minute sound bite, but when you say Washington, D.C., everybody knows. When I came here in 1965, Washington was a sleepy southern town. No high rises, no anything. No new buildings on Pennsylvania Avenue except the FBI building. Look at Washington now. I laid the foundation.

WHITFIELD: And you -- and you really do feel like --

BARRY: For all of Washington.

WHITFIELD: Yes. You can take the credit for that because you came as a visionary. Now what's remarkable and a lot of people don't realize that when you did come to Washington, D.C., you were a civil rights, you know, fighter, you know, foot soldier, and it was being part of the, you know, snick that brought you to Washington. But you say and you write about it, you didn't really set out to be a politician.

BARRY: I didn't start --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: But politics became part of your life once Washington opened something up for you. What was that?

BARRY: I have no role models about politics. In Memphis where I grew up from age 8 until I finished college, there were no black commissioners, no black mayors, no black anything. It was run by all white people. I had no role models, but I got in the civil rights movement, I started seeing the world on a much broader scale. I saw Africa much differently. I saw human rights much differently.

So when I came to D.C., I came here to raise money and lobby the Congress. I couldn't wait on that because too many problems here. As I said, all of downtown, our neighborhoods have been transformed because of my blueprint. I appointed Herb Miller, he was living downtown, do that. But more importantly I brought hope to the hopeless.

WHITFIELD: And that really is your legacy. You know, Washingtonians know that, they experience that, you know, it's remarkable in your book you talk about many governors and mayors think about five or six dreams that they want to carry out. But yours, you know, might thought they might be impossible, but you said I want to do something to those underserved communities. I want to try and help young people who can't get jobs get them.

And in the end you take credit for the 100,000 jobs that young people got and increasing minority contracts in the city from 3 percent to 47 percent. So people associate you with those, really with those accolades in large part. You think people have forgotten that in Washington or people outside of Washington don't know that?

BARRY: People outside of Washington don't know that. But in Washington, I have worked hard for the people and I'm beloved by the people. A "Washington Post" poll showed 81 percent of black people look up on me very favorably. And 52 percent of all the people look upon me favorably. And now the only close person in Jack Evans from Ward Two, a white person, he's at 35 percent.

And so I didn't get elected because of my name. I got elected because I work hard for the people. I've produced tangible results. 100,000 young people. That's a lot of young people to give jobs to.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

BARRY: Everybody knew that I was a job czar. And also they knew I would fight for the underdog. I would fight for the tenant, welfare mother. I'd fight for the disabled, I fight for gay and lesbian rights. I do all of those kind of things. And people don't -- they just see the sound bite of the Vista, let me put that right away.

First of all, I've not been convicted of anything at the Vista. Nine of the juries said I was --

WHITFIELD: And this is the Vista Hotel. This is the 1990 drug bust.

BARRY: Yes. Right, right. Set up by the FBI and been proven that way. And nine out of the 12 jurors voted to acquit me on all charges.

WHITFIELD: And you write in this book very frankly, you draw that correlation that all of those things that you did for the underserved community and, you know, assisting in a large way to the black community, you draw a real correlation between that and the design of this drug bust.

BARRY: Right. I also don't want to be known as just working for the underserved. I've created a strong black middle class in Washington, D.C. I've created people like Bob Johnson who got the franchise for the BET cable, I helped him get that. And then I also --

WHITFIELD: And putting that building on Rhode Island Avenue. I remember that very clearly.

BARRY: Yes. Got the city to lease all that land out on New Jersey Avenue, New York Avenue where they located for a dollar, got them started. Same thing as (INAUDIBLE). I can name -- I made more millionaires who were black than anybody in this country. Anybody in this country. By giving them opportunities.

WHITFIELD: And it is all in your book. It really is an inspirational book, it is very personal and very revealing. "Mayor For Life: The Incredible Story of Marion Barry Jr."

BARRY: It's true. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

BARRY: People can order this book by Amazon.com. Amazon.com.

WHITFIELD: Fantastic.

BARRY: All over the country, you ought to buy it, read it. They say it's easy reading. Omar Tyree did a heck of a job of writing the book with me. And so I just feel great.

WHITFIELD: All right.

BARRY: And God has been so good to me.

WHITFIELD: We were so glad you were able to be with us and share your story. And we appreciate it very much. And congratulations on your book.

BARRY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Good to see you.

BARRY: Amazon.com. Amazon.com.

WHITFIELD: All right. We will be right back --

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: We will be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: OK. The excitement is building for a scoreless final right now. But guess what? Something tells me because Miguel Marquez is coming up now in the NEWSROOM there's going to be a happy ending to this game depending on whether you're rooting for Germany or hey, Venezuela. Argentina, sorry.

(LAUGHTER)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I'm about to have a heart attack watching this game, Fred. I've got to tell you. And I got to tell you, it's right over here as well so I'm really sneaking peeks.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: I haven't had a chance to see any of it.

MARQUEZ: It's been very, very distracting.

WHITFIELD: Well, that's how --

(CROSSTALK)

MARQUEZ: Well, you got set up. These guys are taking care of me here. That's the difference, you know.

WHITFIELD: Really? OK. Well, that it. So it's really exciting when there's no score?

MARQUEZ: Oh, my god. These guys are killing each other. It's unbelievable. It's just run, run, run. It's the most amazing game ever.

WHITFIELD: OK.

MARQUEZ: I'm literally going to -- my heart is going to pop out of my chest at any moment now.

WHITFIELD: No, please, let's not let that happen.

MARQUEZ: That would be bad.

WHITFIELD: That would be bad. Yes, that would be pretty nasty. But you know what, you have fun with it. And now, I get a chance to watch the game and get into it.

MARQUEZ: Go get it. They're still playing.

WHITFIELD: OK. Well I'm out. Bye, Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Take care.

WHITFIELD: Ciao.