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Flooding, Large Hail Trigger Muddy Deluge; Lamar Odom Still Fighting for His Life; Inside the Nevada Love Ranch; Hacker Gave Military Data to ISIS. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 16, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:29:55] NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We should mention, Carol, as well that the family of Tamir Rice has a pending civil litigation against the city of Cleveland. Ultimately, all of these facts will be considered by a grand jury. We just don't know when that will happen -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right.

Nick Valencia, reporting live for us this morning.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department having to rescue eight people by helicopter overnight and another four by swift water rescue. Amazingly, no injuries to report. But cars were trapped and stuck for hours after heavy rain and large hail triggered massive mud slides. Listen to a driver recount his ordeal.

I apologize -- we don't have that sound. But as you can imagine, it was horrific. Highways were shut down as authorities rescued drivers. Large equipment like that, that you just saw, were brought in to move the mud. And this is just the beginning of a terrible rainy season for California.

Chad Myers joins us now with more. Good morning.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning -- Carol.

It is El Nino season and it is a big one. It may rival 1998-1999 for the amount of rain that can come down. Yesterday, right here, northern part of L.A. County is where the rain started and it rained for a couple of hours. And it didn't stop until there was two to three inches of rainfall in that flood area but even more in the Hughes Lake area.

We're not really seeing a lot of pictures out of there. But there was five or six inches of rainfall there yesterday. And it will rain again today. I-5 is still partially closed up to the north of L.A., across the Grapevine. We'll watch that with flood warnings and watches likely again today. The watches already in effect; the warnings may be coming in because it's going to rain in the same spots. This is what El Nino is going to be like. This is what we're

going to expect for the next months on end as low pressure systems are in southern California, not as many in northern California. Not as many even up into Washington and Oregon but the rain will be heavy and California needs the rain. Just don't need it all at once.

So what happened here? This was rain that came in across L.A. County. You think about Los Angeles, but L.A. County goes all the way up into the mountains. And as the moisture came up into L.A. it went up to the mountains and up toward the Grapevine. And that's where the heaviest rain fall was. Palmdale, Leona Valley and up around Hughes Lake with four to six inches of rainfall that came down yesterday and more today.

We'll keep watching it for you -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Chad Myers -- thanks so much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM -- still in a fight for his life. CNN goes inside the room where Lamar Odom was found unconscious and new insight from a woman who spent time with him there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:37:03] COSTELLO: Lamar Odom remains in a fight for his life this morning. Family and loved ones are staying tight-lipped on Odom's condition since he was found unresponsive at a legal brothel in Nevada.

Not keeping quiet however, the love ranch owner, Dennis Hof. He appeared on "NANCY GRACE" last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: What is this business about him spending $75,000 in, what, three days?

DENNIS HOF, OWNER, LOVE RANCH: He spent $75,000 and that was his number, what he wanted is two girls, 24 hours a day to take care of any of his needs from food, anything in the bedroom. I'll be here a minimum of four days, maximum of five days. I'll give you $75,000. The girls agreed to it. He put it on a credit card.

GRACE: He put $75,000 on a credit card. Did I understand that?

HOF: Correct.

GRACE: That's $25,000 a day for three days.

HOF: Well, it was four or five days.

GRACE: I didn't take math in law school. Well, hold on. $75,000 for what? HOF: Well, for 24 hours a day for two girls, and he said, I'll

be there a minimum of four days, a maximum of five days. So it's $15,000 a day, two girls.

GRACE: I'm not going to get into exactly what all that entails.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: I appreciate that, Nancy. Also this morning, stunning new insight into the final days before Lamar Odom collapsed. CNN cameras were invited inside that Crystal, Nevada Love Ranch going inside the bedroom where Odom was found unconscious. More now from Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada is about a 90-minute drive from Las Vegas. T.J. Moore is the general manager and was one of the people who tried to save Lamar Odom.

So, this is the bedroom where Lamar Odom would have been staying?

T.J. MOORE, LOVE RANCH GENERAL MANAGER: This is the bedroom where he stayed.

KAYE: She took us into the V.I.P. suite where Odom stayed, the owner's suite reserved for special guests. The rate is at least $10,000 per night. The ranch says Odom spent about $75,000 here before they found him unconscious. How did he look to you?

MOORE: He was on his back. He had foam coming out of his mouth and a little blood coming out of his nose. And I got him rolled over on his right side and he did have a bunch of fluid come out of his mouth. But I knew from previous experience that I had to get him on his side.

KAYE: Reporter: so he would have been -- was he on this side of the bed or on that side?

MOORE: He was on this side of the bed. And I was letting him know it was T.J.

KAYE: T.J. had driven Odom to the ranch on Saturday. What did you guys talk about?

MOORE: About everything -- about the brothel. We talked -- he told me about his life. He told me about a lot of the sadness -- losing his mom at an early age, being raised by his grandmother. We talked about baseball, because I'm a baseball fan.

[10:40:07] KAYE: How was his demeanor?

MOORE: He was relaxed. He was very comfortable. I was really surprised because he was so easy to talk to. It felt like -- it felt like I had known him for a long time. KAYE: T.J. says Odom told her he wanted to have some fun. That

fun, she says, included taking sexual enhancement supplements, sold here in this souvenir case.

Is this where you would also sell -- I know the ranch sells herbal Viagra?

MOORE: Yes. This is where do that.

And they were actually good until 2016 and '17, but I have pulled them from the case.

KAYE: Turns out CNN has learned it is neither herbal or Viagra. Back in his V.I.P. suite, Odom picked out the women he wanted.

For most people you don't do the lineup in the actual suite but for him you did the lineup in here.

MOORE: For him, that was his preference.

KAYE: So he requested that?

MOORE: Yes.

KAYE: What -- sat on the couch and lined the girls --

MOORE: He sat on the couch and the ladies lined up right here all the way across in front of him. I introduced the ladies. I said, this is Lamar, ladies. Please introduce yourself.

KAYE: T.J. says Odom hung out in his suite with two women he chose but also in the Love Ranch's bar, where T.J. says he played YouTube videos and talked. And some time after leaving that bar, Lamar Odom collapsed in his room.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Crystal, Nevada.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Still to come in the newsroom, the feds say a frequent Fox News guest is a phony. Why he's now facing the possibility of decades behind bars.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:46:09] COSTELLO: Are the names, addresses and phone numbers of more than 1,000 U.S. service members and federal employees in the hands of ISIS? Authorities arrested a 20-year-old hacker who they accuse of not only stealing all of that sensitive information, but then handing it over to the terror group.

CNN justice correspondent, Evan Perez, live in Washington with more. Good morning -- Evan.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning -- Carol. The Justice Department is calling this case a first of its kind. That's because it brings together cyber crime and terrorism charges. Ardit Ferizi (ph) is citizen of Kosovo and he's been living in Malaysia. The FBI says that he gathered the personal data of 1,300 U.S. military members and passed it to ISIS terrorists. Now this includes home addresses, photos, phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

Ferizi used this Twitter handle, called "The Directory" and the FBI says that he regularly communicated with ISIS members and was offering his computer expertise to them.

Among those he passed information to was this man, Juneid Hussein (ph). He's an ISIS hacker and propagandist. He was killed in a U.S. airstrike in august and Hussein and other members of the so-called cyber caliphate posted some of the military members' information on the Internet. They called it a kill list.

Malaysian police say they arrested Ferizi about a month ago, after being alerted by the FBI. The U.S. is going to seek his extradition back to this area -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Evan Perez reporting live for us this morning -- thank you.

To Texas now where flames are threatening more than 150 homes. A state of disaster has been declared in one county as a wildfire rages. The Hidden Pines fire now burning 4,400 acres. 38 structures have been destroyed, most of them homes. 400 families have been evacuated as a precaution. The fire now 25 percent contained.

The French train hero Spencer Stone now recovering at home following last week's stabbing attack. The hospital where he was being treated releasing these pictures of Stone with his doctors and nurses. You might remember the 23-year-old was left in critical condition after being stabbed outside a Sacramento bar. Just months earlier, he was hailed a hero for thwarting a gunman on a Paris-bound train.

And it's an historic day in the (inaudible) U.S. Airways makes its final flight nearly two years after merging with American Airlines. At the top of the hour, Flight 1939 will depart from Philadelphia, making stops in Charlotte, Phoenix and San Francisco before landing back in Philly. The stops represent major US Airways hubs and former headquarters and the flight's name is nostalgic as well, 1939 is the year the company first began operating.

For those of you who watch Fox News, Wayne Simmons was a familiar face, a guest who offered insight into the workings of the CIA. But all that changed yesterday when Simmons was arrested and his ties to the CIA questioned. For more on this story, Brian Stelter joins me.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

This is a really shocking story and it cuts to the heart of what we do here on TV about credibility. When you're on TV, it confers credibility. It confers legitimacy. And Wayne Simmons is the kind of guest that was a familiar face on Fox. Often (inaudible) a former CIA operative. I think we can show him on here - on air here. He'll be

introduced as a former CIA analyst or former CIA operative. But the government says he was making it all up. The charges came down yesterday. He was indicted by a federal grand jury and arrested yesterday, accused of falsely claiming he worked for the CIA for 27 years, from 1973 to 2000. he's accused of using that false claim to actually get a government security clearance, which he did, and then worked as a defense contractor, which he did, which by the way, raises questions for the government. That raises for the federal government about why he was able to pass that.

A (inaudible) we just talked a couple of minutes ago. He's reported that there were some questions over the years. The CIA would get calls, checking out this man's credibility. But it's sort of a tough situation because they oftentimes won't confirm that someone actually worked for the CIA.

[10:50:03] So, he was able to use this credential, which the government says said he made up, in order to be appearing on Fox, talking about terrorism; be an analyst in these cases.

Now, he hasn't commented. We haven't heard from Simmons. We have heard from Fox. Fox News says that he was never paid as a contributor. He was never actually on the payroll of Fox so they're declining to comment.

But this is a big red flag not just for Fox but for television in general. The people that we choose to book on television, the people you and I sit and talk with on television. It's a reminder that we have to vet these people, have to check them out. Doesn't mean mistakes don't happen. that people don't slip through the cracks. But because this man appeared on Fox so many times, it's definitely a cautionary tale.

COSTELLO: Well, not only did he appear on Fox many, many times, he said questionable things as well which should have sent up red flags with Fox.

STELTER: Let me give you an example from just this year. Back in January he talked on Fox News about how he alleged there were 19 Muslim terrorist training camps in the United States; Islamic training camps for terrorism. That was widely debunked. There wasn't proof of that. There wasn't evidence of that. But because he it said and because the banner on the bottom of the screen there said former CIA operative, it's the kind of thing that can be believed by people, can be taken seriously, can get attention.

COSTELLO: Yes, but if you're a news organization, don't you say, that sounds kind of fishy, maybe we better check things out. And then did they have him appear after?

STELTER: Yes, I think you're right about that. You know, he did make several other appearances on TV and radio on Fox programs since that back in January. He actually was appeared on the network off and on for over a decade. Not a regular guest but I would say a recurring guest, someone that is a familiar face to viewers. Although it involves Fox, I think it is something that involves

television news more broadly. This idea that the guests that we put on television, most of them are legitimate, are accurately describing their credentials.

Nonetheless, it's the jobs of the producers, the journalists and the anchors to really be sure that we're talking to the people we think we're talking to. It's a crazy story.

COSTELLO: Brian Stelter, thank you so much.

STELTER: Thank you

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, we all know Ellen's got moves like Jagger. That's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:56:12] COSTELLO: Quick check of top stories for you at 56 minutes past. The U.S. now expected to hit the debt ceiling on November 3rd, two days earlier than anticipated. So says Treasury Secretary Jack Lew who's urging Congress not to wait until the last minute to take action, the so-called x-state when the treasury won't have enough money to pay what's due. It would likely happen later in the first half of November.

Showtime's hit series "Homeland" hacked. Arabic street artists were hired to help give the series an air of authenticity. Instead they spray painted the background with graffiti critical of the show. The group slipped in slogans that translate to "Homeland is racist". And "Homeland is a joke and we're not laughing".

Somebody from the show finally caught it. Actually, no one from the show caught it. Some member of the audience did. The show's producer says he regrets not catching it, but has to admire the act of, quote, "artistic sabotage".

From celebrities to politicians if you're appearing on "The Ellen Show", one thing is for sure you're going to shake your groove thing. Who had the best boogie down? Here's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: First he loosened up backstage and then 74-year-old Bernie Sanders made his entrance on Ellen to the beat of Disco Inferno.

We don't know if Bernie had a burning, burning desire to dance but he did it in what "New York Magazine" has called the requisite trial by dancing, encouraged by Ellen. Barack Obama did it back when he was first running for president.

Michelle Obama has done it.

She's done it not once, not twice, but three times. Ellen even sells a CD called "I'm going to make you dance jams".

She's made CNN's Wolf Blitzer dance. But occasionally there is someone who is able to resist the siren call of Ellen. John McCain opted to walk rather than dance onstage. So did Joe Biden, the Vice President even whispered in Ellen's ear -- and though Hillary Clinton resisted any impulse to boogie down back in 2007, last month Ellen managed to lure her into learning the Whip Nae Nae during a commercial break.

Politicians are becoming more like the movie stars we expect to dance. Though Ellen had to use a $20,000 check for charity to seduce Matt Damon into the Whip Nae Nae.

MATT DAMON, ACTOR: That's all I know.

MOOS: When Ellen asked Bernie Sanders what song he would sing to in a karaoke bar, he chose "Staying Alive". Too bad we have no polling data that indicates whether public displays of dancing help a candidacy stay alive.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And a check back on Capitol Hill to what's happening there, live right now. Just about 45 minutes ago Huma Abedin, a top Hillary Clinton associate, entered through that door. You'll see her soon, I think. She's already inside, right? Is she already inside the door? She's inside.

She's now being interrogated by committee members and they're trying to figure out what exactly went down in Benghazi and what Hillary Clinton knew and when she knew it. There you see Huma Abedin earlier this morning walking into that room. The testimony has been going on now for just about 45 minutes.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: If you are a close friend of Joe Biden, you might have received an e-mail overnight with big news about a presidential run, countdown to decision day. It's on.

Happening now, parts of Bethlehem up in flames --