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Erin Burnett Outfront
North Korea Makes New Threats Against U.S.; Group Blasts Restaurants For Kids' Meals; The Pope's PR Machine In Overdrive
Aired March 28, 2013 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: OUTFRONT next, the U.S. responds to North Korea's threats. We have breaking news tonight on an emergency meeting just called in Pyongyang. Tonight, I asked the Pentagon press secretary what's next?
Plus, Olympian Oscar Pistorius is still on trial for the murder of his girlfriend. Does a decision today though mean he's going to go free?
And new information tonight about the relationship between the boy who killed those children in Sandy Hook and his mother, and what she gave him for his birthday. We asked Dr. Drew what the shocking revelations mean. Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening, everyone. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, we have breaking news. Kim Jong-Un has convened an urgent military meeting at the Supreme Command in Pyongyang and ordered rockets to be on standby for firing at American targets including the American mainland and military bases in the Pacific and South Korea.
This is according to North Korean state media, which also quotes Kim saying, quote, "The time has come to settle accounts with the United States if the U.S. makes a reckless provocation." This latest move is in retaliation to the United States flying two B-2 Spirit Bombers over South Korea today.
Now this was a training exercise, but of course, it was also meant as a forceful signal to North Korea. The stealth bombers are capable of carrying nuclear loads as well as conventional ones. They flew more than 6,500 miles from Missouri to South Korea. Just for the exercise.
According to the U.S. forces in Korea, the mission, quote, "demonstrates the United States' ability to conduct long range precision strikes quickly and at will." Our Jim Clancy is in Seoul, South Korea tonight. Jim, what more can you tell us about Kim's threats against the United States?
JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's be clear here. Kim is orchestrating all of this. The rhetoric continues to flow like lava from Pyongyang, these threats. At the same time, it can be said that the U.S. has ratcheted up the tension here on the Peninsula with those flights first by B-52s and then by B-2-A-bombers. This sends a message to Pyongyang and they don't like the sound of it. Therefore, we had this statement and it actually came from General Kim Yong Cho, who is vice chief of the general's staff. And he is the one who said we have come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation.
But at the same time, it's a conditional. That is if there is a provocation then we're ready to attack in the pacific theatre to strike Guam, to strike Hawaii, to strike the U.S. mainland, and, of course, to strike South Korea.
But it's -- as I said, it's conditional on a provocation. That is not defined. It can be said that while there is probably no one left alive or very few who remember the B-52 strikes back during the Korean War.
Some of those aging generals that we always see around Kim Jong- Un, they do remember the carpet bombing that was carried out by B-52s. This is a very strong signal from the U.S. that says think again -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, thank you very much, Jim, for that tonight live from Seoul.
OUTFRONT tonight, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little. Good to talk to you, George. You know, this week North Korea's military put its strategic rocket units on combat ready status, the highest level. They said they're ready to attack all American military bases in the Asia-Pacific region and they've talked of a simmering nuclear war.
You know, your boss the defense secretary said today that, you know, I'll quote him, "We have to be prepared to deal with any eventuality." Some say that use of the word eventuality is an admission there could be war. Are you preparing for that?
GEORGE LITTLE, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Erin, no one wants there to be war on the Korean Peninsula. Let me make that very clear. That being said, North Korea has engaged recently in a string of provocations, overheated rhetoric and none of that is helpful to stability on the Korean Peninsula or the region.
And it is our solemn obligation to protect our alliance with South Korea, the South Korean people and our forces in South Korea as well as our other friends in the region like Japan.
BURNETT: Now you may reach a moment where you have to make a choice where things escalate so much that you're worried they could strike Americans and you may have to strike before pre-emptively. Is that something the United States will be willing to do?
LITTLE: I'm not going to speculate on what we may or may not do. Our desire is peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. The North Koreans have two choices. They can choice the path of peace or they can choose the path of provocation. One is better than the other for everyone involved including the North Korean military and the North Korean people.
BURNETT: Haven't they already chosen a path of provocation though? I mean, I guess, the question is they keep upping the ante and we keep taking it. Maybe this is all this country can do. How do you respond to that?
LITTLE: Well, provocative behavior is not exactly new in North Korean history. This has been something they've done for decades. So they go through the cycles from time to time and we have to deal with them.
We have to be sober, calm, cool, collected about these periods. That's what we're doing right now. And we are assuring our South Korean allies day to day that we stand with them in the face of these provocations.
BURNETT: I guess the question always, is you know, you want to be sober and calm, but mistakes can happen. The Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke a little bit about that today, about the fine line here. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: You only need to be wrong once. And I don't know what president or what chairman or what secretary of defense wants to be wrong once when it comes to nuclear threats.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: How can you assure he won't be wrong on this?
LITTLE: The secretary is absolutely right. There is always the risk of miscalculation. We have guarded against miscalculation on the Korean Peninsula for over 60 years.
And the secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, it's their job to insure that our military is prepared to respond to any threat or contingency. We are. We hope to avoid miscalculation. We think we can. The North Koreans simply need to dial the temperature down.
BURNETT: So, you know, some people have said while, of course, there is actually bombing the United States if they don't get the capability to do that with a nuclear warhead. They do have the capability and some experts have been on this program saying they would if they could create a nuclear dirty bomb and put it in the middle of Times Square
That is something they would do if they could. How would the U.S. respond? Would that be enough for war? Would that be enough for us to respond with nuclear weapons?
LITTLE: Well, those are obviously very serious scenarios. We're not going to get into hypotheticals. The important thing is stay ahead of the North Korean threat, especially from the missile program. They've been testing more missiles and they've been growing their capabilities and we have to stay out ahead. That's why we recently announced a new missile defense policy. We're going to put 14 new ground based interceptors in Alaska to address North Korean threat. And that's in direct response to what we believe is the trajectory, literally and figuratively, of their missile program.
BURNETT: All right, thanks to you, George Little.
Still to come, Olympian Oscar Pistorius is still on trial for the murder of his girlfriend. So why do authorities say here is your passport. You can leave the country. You can drink. You can do whatever you want. Does this mean he'll be found not guilty?
Plus the new pope spent the day watching the feet of prisoners. The new humble pope is changing the rules. What about-facing the church's real problems?
And a new study reveals the kids' menu is even worse than we thought. We're going to tell you which your favorite restaurant chains scored an absolute zero when it comes to a happy meal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Our second story, OUTFRONT, could the blade runner go free? So today, a judge lifted some of the bail restrictions against Oscar Pistorius. Of course, you remember he is the South African Olympic track star who is accused of killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
He's now free to leave the country. He is free to drink. He is free to go back to the home where he shot Steenkamp. OUTFRONT, former prosecutor, Wendy Murphy and criminal defense attorney, Ann Bremner. Great to see you both as always.
Wendy, what do you make of this? You know, Pistorius could face this judge because it's judges who make the decision on guilt or innocence in South Africa, not juries. He could face the judge who says can you drink, travel, go back to your house, whatever you want. Is this the same as a not guilty verdict?
WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Well, if there is a message to be had in this decision, I'd call it a really good signal if I were Pistorius or his attorneys. You know, the problem is it's also a signal to the rest of the world. And that's what is so disturbing about this.
OK, so they want this guy to go about his business, you know, go to other countries, win races, and try to win back some of that glory. I'll tell you, he's highly likely to be booed, wherever he goes on the entire planet, whether he shows up for a race or for an endorsement or anything.
There are people in this country who know the evidence well, despite all the good PR he's getting and paying for, there are people who believe that the truth is something other and that he didn't think it was an intruder. And when he shows up anywhere hoping to regain some of that glory, if he gets booed, let me tell you, that country that is letting him go off to do this in the hopes it might restore some of that glory is going to suffer mud on their face time and time again. It will be ugly.
BURNETT: All right, Ann, does this start to look like the court is going to think he's innocent? By the way, I think you disagree with Wendy. Do you think that is the right call and not the wrong one?
ANNE BREMNER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I do think it looks like he's going to be acquitted. It is going to go to a judge. The fact of the matter is he is presumed innocent right now anyway. The case detective said there is noggin consistent in what he found in the scene with Oscar's account of what happened and claimed accidental shooting, a justifiable shooting.
MURPHY: That's humor.
BREMNER: Yes, but the other thing --
MURPHY: That is comedy, Ann. Come on.
BREMNER: Wendy this is a guy --
MURPHY: That is pure comedy.
BURNETT: Let Anne finish. There is a little bit of a delay. Go ahead, Anne.
BREMNER: I have the disadvantage of the west coast. The other thing is the detective is charged with seven counts of attempted murder while he was on duty. And that's pretty bad when you look at the lead detective and the veracity of this particular case.
The fact is there are all kinds of errors in the investigation that we already know about. He is presumed innocent. It may well be that he is innocent and he should be able to get out and play. He's gone in this case from basically being a hero to a zero.
He should be given a chance to get back up again on his feet, get back out there, make money like he does aren't country. He can't make it in his own country. He has to travel and compete. I was just thinking --
BURNETT: Allowed to make money while he's on trial for murder?
BREMNER: Well, the fact is he is presumed innocent. And the only thing is he is safe to be at large and will he flee? Those are the only things you look at. Sure he's going to go on trial for murder. The fact is he may not be guilty of murder.
Think of that note, that saying now winning takes care of everything. I think we saw that with Tiger Woods. He may get back up to where he was. It may well be this is an accident and tragedy and he may be acquitted. BURNETT: There is a guilty or innocent verdict. And then there is the minds of the people, which is really ultimately what matters. O.J. can testify to that, Wendy.
MURPHY: Yes. It's good to use that example both -- there are things about our heroes that we do give them special treatment. This country is, you know, shouldn't be holding itself up as the bastion of great legal systems. We do indulge the wealthy and powerful.
O.J. is a good example when you have a lot of money and you're an athlete and people adore you. The evidence just goes woosh right past the jury, even if it's not a judge and you walk free. Look, Ann said let the guy go out and play. Are you kidding me?
This guy executed a totally innocent woman, execution tile, boom, gun to the head. He's not allowed to go out and play. He can be presumed innocent and restrained so that the country understands that justice is not frivolous. The country of South Africa has a huge problem with violence against women, huge.
And the message now because he is so famous is we don't really give a damn about women's lives in South Africa because even when people just get executed, as long as they're female and the guy is a hero, we let them go out and play. That's your message, Ann? I don't believe that. I can't believe you just said that.
BURNETT: Ann, final word. I have to given that.
BREMNER: Thanks so much. It's a dangerous country. He's had prior burglaries. This is a case where he is presumed innocent. It appears he is innocent. The only reason he's out there over the world press is because of who he is. And so in my mind he's getting far worse treatment by the media, by people, you know, talking on the air and things like that because of who he is.
If he was just somebody, somebody on the street that had -- we just had one in Seattle. Somebody shot a burglar in their house. Nothing happened. Nothing happened. They thought it was a burglar. It was her husband. Nothing happened.
MURPHY: Just read the evidence. Read the evidence.
BREMNER: Next time -- read the evidence.
MURPHY: I have read the evidence. I read it all.
BURNETT: Thank you both. We'll see you both soon.
Well, it is official. Kid's meals at restaurants aren't healthy. So the Center for Science and the public interest looked at all the meal possibilities that you can get for a child at the most well known chain restaurants in the United States. They found 97 percent of the nearly 3,500 possibilities did not meet the nutritional criteria for 4 to 8-year-olds, shocker.
While some restaurants had one or two good options, not a single meal at McDonald's, Popeyes or Hardees met the standards. They do say they're healthy though. Of course, that's just when you use the CSPI's guidelines. You might say, you no he what? They're anti-fast food, anti-McDonald's. They're biased.
So we checked in to what the National Restaurant Association, the group that lobbies on behalf of the restaurants say is the right number. Surely that would lead to a different result, right? Well, that brings me tonight's number, 91 percent.
That's the percent of kid's meals at restaurants that don't make the National Restaurant Association's grade for healthy. Ouch. The CSPI compared the meals specifically to NRA's kids live well program and, yes, 91 percent of the meals failed. There is nothing happy about that headline.
It's been 100 days since the Newtown massacre and no new gun laws have been passed, did President Obama wait too long to do anything about it?
Plus, the pope tries to clean up the church's image, but is he ignoring the real problem?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Our third story, OUTFRONT, the pope's PR push. We have noticed that Pope Francis acted differently from his predecessors. Today, he went to a juvenile detention center in Rome. You can see him there. He washed and kissed the feet of a dozen young inmates, both male and female.
And obviously that is important because previous popes have only washed the feet of priests as a way to re-enact Jesus dressing up as a servant to wash the feet of his disciples. Pope Francis appears to be different in other ways, too.
You may remember he chose to ride in a Volkswagen instead of the official Vatican limo. He is staying in a guest house instead of moving into the Grand Papal Apartment and he is also choosing a fisherman's ring made of silver that was coated in gold rather than a ring made solely of gold.
So what difference if any are these moves for real? Is this image? OUTFRONT tonight, Father Edward Beck, host, of "The Sunday Mass," and a CNN contributor. Father, good to see you.
FATHER EDWARD BECK, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good to be here.
BURNETT: Obviously, this is sincere from his heart of but yet, it is all catalogued on video and certainly the Vatican likes someone, you know, every news anchor saying that this is a person of such humility and so humble. I mean, this is benefiting them from PR perspective in a big way.
BECK: You know, like a cop to that, they would be PR if you he hadn't been exactly the same in Argentina. I mean, he didn't live in the palace. He lived in an apartment. He did go to the prisons to wash feet. He didn't do it in the church.
So he's consistent with who he was. The Vatican PR, as far as I'm concerned is really bad. So if they suddenly stepped it up and able to do it this good, I think you have given him too much credit. I think it's the man --
BURNETT: It's the man that they can't control.
BECK: I think that's what it is. Do you know that mass is supposed to be in the Basilica, this Holy Thursday mass --
BURNETT: Where he is washing the feet, right.
BECK: So they printed 4,000 tickets. They gave 2,000 out and then he says by the way, we're not going to do that. I think he's driving them crazy.
BURNETT: Because he's not doing what they want.
BECK: Exactly.
BURNETT: That's amazing. What about the significance of washing the feet of men and women? When we talk about all these issues of women's issues with the church, especially in developed countries and things like that.
BECK: Well, he broke his own liturgical norms and rules. The norms say you only wash the feet of men because the disciples, the apostles were men so he goes and he washes the feet as pope for the first time two women, not only that, one of them Muslim and another Muslim as part of the group so interfaith including women.
You know, St. Francis his patron said "Preach the gospel always and when necessary use words." In other words, your actions should be do what get it done. So he's doing it by including women and other faiths in one action. This is a smart man who knows what is important, I think, in his ministry as shepherd.
BURNETT: Which fits with Francis, which is the name that he chose and he went to build the church and all the kindness he did to those who had nothing. That is a wonderful thing. People say this is wonderful. We also need you to address the pedophilia, the sex scandal, the corruption, the Vatican finances, these very serious issues. Will he do that?
BECK: I think he will. Remember, he's been pope two weeks. So you have to give him a break. He's done a lot in two weeks to change the image.
BURNETT: Fair point.
BECK: To change the image of the papacy. Notice the prison he went to was not an adult prison. It was a youth prison. He knelt before youth asking for forgiveness as he watched their feet. It's all symbolism. More specifics will follow, but I think we have to look at what he's done thus far and see it as amazing. BURNETT: All right, Father Beck, thank you very much.
BECK: Thank you.
BURNETT: Still OUTFRONT, police out with new details that reveal more about the relationship between the Newtown murderer and his mother. Some of the stuff is just shocking and Dr. Drew will be with me next.
And then faced with too many patients, one doctor made a deadly and stunning decision.
What will Mark Zuckerberg's tax bill for 2012? Take a guess. You're wrong.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Welcome back to the second half of OUTFRONT.
We start with stories we care about where we focus on our reporting from the front lines and we begin with a developing story.
A former American soldier has been arrested and charged with illegally using a rocket propelled grenade on behalf of an al Qaeda affiliated group in Syria. The FBI says 30-year-old Eric Harroun crossed into Syria in January and fought against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces and then posted the photos recordings online. He is alleged to have been fighting with the al Nusra front, an al Qaeda-linked group.
Earlier I asked the Pentagon Press Secretary George Little whether he is concerned about al Qaeda recruiting American military personnel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE LITTLE, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: That's always a concern when terrorist networks in that part of the world or elsewhere seek to recruit Americans, whether they're in the military or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Harroun, a native of Phoenix, served in the Army from 2000 to 2003.
CNN has crunched the numbers with three California CPAs and they estimate, get ready for this one. Please sit down. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's 2012 tax bill will be around $1.1 billion. Well, that's because Zuckerberg exercised a stock option. He purchased $60 million of -- 60 million, I'm sorry, Facebook shares, and that the IRS treats that as ordinary incomes. So, he pays a lot of money on it.
Tax expert Martin Sullivan says that billionaires have tremendous stock portfolios they hold on until they die, because they don't want to pay the bill. But that's a bigger tax bill than some nation's annual gross domestic product.
You know what, California? With people like Zuckerberg in your grips, it's pretty sad that you ever had a budget problem.
All right. Could Barbara Walters be getting ready to retire? Several media outlets are reporting that after a 50-year career, she's going to call it quits next year.
CNN's Howard Kurtz tells us Walter is such an icon. It's hard to imagine television without her. Maybe she's not sure either. A source tells Kurtz that Walters will step down May 2014. She wants to announce it on her own terms.
I remember seeing her once at a restaurant about a year ago and she looked amazing.
It has been 602 days since the U.S. lost its top credit rating. What are we doing to get it back?
Well, stocks wrapped up an impressive first quarter today. The S&P 500 at a new high. It hasn't been at this level since 2007, just past that level.
Investors, though, are still very worried. They're watching Cyprus. Little Cyprus.
And now to breaking news in the Aurora theater shooting case. This just in, prosecutors have just responded to an offer from the defense team for the accused shooter James Holmes to plead guilty to the shootings that killed 12.
Jim Spellman has been going through the documents.
And, Jim, what have you learned? I know you haven't had a lot of time. But what have you learned?
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me set the stage very quickly for you, Erin. A couple of weeks ago, James Holmes was in court and expected to enter a plea. He said, "I'm not ready. We will not enter a plea." The judge entered a plea for them of not guilty.
Monday, the prosecution in the hearing right behind me here will announce whether they're going for the death penalty or not. So, yesterday, the defense put out a document saying that we are ready to accept an offer that takes the death penalty off the table.
So many of us read that and we thought something's cooking here. We could have an -- we could have a deal in the offing. The prosecution today filed a very nasty, very, very harshly worded document saying, we are not in any way ready to accept a plea. We don't have any of the information we need. And this thing you did yesterday defense by filing this is really nothing more than a publicity stunt.
It just blasts them saying not only is it improper, but grossly improper. There's been a gag order through this whole trial. And seriously, the most observed gag order I've ever witnessed in a trial. They say they violated this gag order on purpose by filing this thing yesterday. There is nothing more than a way to generate pretrial publicity.
So stay tuned. We'll see what happens Monday if they actually show up. If they do say they're going for the death penalty, a lot of things change in the case, Erin. It will be much harder at that point for them to do a plea deal.
So we'll have to see what happens. But I have to tell you, I read hundreds, maybe thousands of pages of documents in this case. This is a different tone than any of the rest of them. Almost a personal, nasty tone, Erin.
BURNETT: Wow. All right. Thank you very much, Jim Spellman.
And now our fourth story OUTFRONT: insight to a mass killer. Connecticut authorities have released new information today about Adam Lanza. He's the man that killed 26 in Newtown, Sandy Hook Elementary School in December. Now, what they have revealed is that the destruction of the school took less than five minutes. Another way of putting it is this: 26 lives gone in 300 seconds.
Investigators also shared what they found in Lanza home. Sixteen rounds of ammunition, gun safe in Adam's bedroom and a holiday card from Lanza's mother Nancy that included a check which police say was earmarked to purchase a gun.
So what does this tell us about Adam Lanza and his mother?
OUTFRONT tonight, Dr. Drew Pinsky, the host of HLN's "Dr. Drew on Call."
All right. Great to see you.
Now, when you look at the state police inventory.
DR. DREW PINSKY, HLN'S "DR. DREW ON CALL": Yes.
BURNETT: I mean, there were samurai swords. There were books from the NRA on shooting and then this check to buy a gun.
PINSKY: Yes, for arms. For guns. Yes.
And it was stunning. When you really look at the list of the materials found in that house, the amount of knives that jumped out at me. And also, some very bizarre books about how to live with Asperger's, how to make your brain be happy. Clearly, this was a very disturbed kid.
BURNETT: So there were books about Asperger's, which, of course, we've never been able to confirm that he had that or not.
PINSKY: Well, but all the evidence seems to suggest he had something like that. Not to say in any way that Asperger's patients are going to become violent. But sometimes it's a liability for having empathy. I mean, he flips into another state, clearly, a second problem, like a psychotic state or an agitated state where he was believing and thinking that normal brains don't. I want everyone to think about this. When you try to understand what happened here, do not try to make sense of it in the way our brains would. He's an in an altered state.
Just like the Aurora shooter. It's interesting. On the heels of that --
BURNETT: That's right.
PINSKY: -- it's a very different kind of psychotic state, an agitated psychosis. But again, thinking is the problem when they're in those states.
BURNETT: So, is there any scenario -- we talked about Nancy Lanza and people who knew her. And they said well she -- he wanted to go into the military. She realized he couldn't. She encouraged this obsession with guns because she wanted to be close to him.
PINSKY: Yes.
BURNETT: Is there anything that would make it OK for him to have given him a firearm? I know hindsight says no. But at the time.
PINSKY: Absolutely not. I mean, this is one of the more serious problems of this case. I spent the afternoon looking at Nancy.
And when you really kind of get the sense of how she was dealing with this young man, she was in denial about this kid's case. She was taking him to multiple different schools. She was saying, I can never give up on my kids. Please don't touch him. He has strange reaction when you touch him. He's a great kid.
Now, this kid was very disturbed. I suspect we'll find out she probably was given very specific directions about mental health professionals which she did not take, one of which was get the guns out of there.
BURNETT: Wow.
All right. Let me ask you a question about because I spoke to some of her friends right after the massacre when we were up in Newtown and asked about the access to the guns, because it looks like as the police said, there was a safe in his room. I asked if she would ever let him have the guns and here's what her friends said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Do you think she is the type of person who would have had the guns around the house or they have been locked up?
LOUISE, MARK AND JOHN TAMBASCIO, FRIENDS OF NANCY LANZA: Absolutely not. She is far too bright for that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PINSKY: We don't want to make Nancy another victim here. It's a very sad situation when you have a kid with severe, severe neurological and mental health problems.
But anyone out there if you're dealing with this, please take direction from the mental health professionals. They know what they're talking about. You and I talked before the program. I told parents many times, please get a conservatorship over your kids if you can't get them to comply with what they need to do. Parents never do that.
BURNETT: Yes. You said they won't do it. But they need to do it.
PINSKY: They're afraid of compromising the relationship. Boy, you've got to be a parent first with kids.
BURNETT: So, let me ask you this question because people have been talking about this.
Nancy Lanza, if she were alive right now, would she be considered a conspirator just because she hadn't taken care -- is this something she could have prevented? I mean, this a tough question but --
PINSKY: It's a very tough question.
BURNETT: -- a lot of people are wondering.
PINSKY: I don't think anyone would take it to that extreme. It doesn't go there typically when parents are struggling with difficult kids. It really doesn't go there. In fact, it goes to -- here's where it goes, it goes to the doctors and physicians, and the doctors are responsible for not having taken more action on these people.
BURNETT: That's who takes the blame?
PINSKY: That's who takes the blame, yes.
BURNETT: All right. Dr. Drew, thank you very much. Good to see you.
And tonight on "Dr. Drew on Call," "Jodi Arias: Surprise Drama", a special tonight at 9:00 Eastern on HLN.
Well, lost and found, extreme addition. A Georgia woman is finally getting her Hawaii vacation photos back after five years.
Can you imagine? You go out in the middle of the night, you know, on one of those awesome underwater things. You have an underwater camera. She loses it while scuba diving in Maui. She wrote it off as lost.
But recently the camera washed up. It looks like the B-2 bomber path that I showed earlier in the program. But this is Taiwan. That's where it showed up 5,200 miles away. And now, she's preparing for another trip to pick up her camera and meet the man who found it and actually tracked her down.
Lindsay Scallan is OUTFRONT with me tonight. Lindsay, this is an amazing story. All right. Who found your camera?
LINDSAY SCALLAN, LOST CAMERA IN 2007: A man named Douglas Ching (ph). He found it in Taiwan on February 13th which is their Chinese New Year. They were just walking along the beach and it washed ashore covered in seaweed and barnacles. He took a look at it, kind of curious what it was, and realized that it was a camera. And then he took it home and saw that all the pictures were intact.
BURNETT: I got to say, by the way, whatever brand of camera you got, I think you're going to get an endorsement deal. I think you're going to be able to make money on that. If they haven't offered, I'm going to be your agent and recommend that.
But let me ask you --
SCALLAN: I appreciate that.
BURNETT: This is like a message in a bottle. Every kid casts it off and wonders if it will ever come ashore. This actually just happened. So, how did he figure out it was your camera. You didn't have your phone number on it or anything, right?
SCALLAN: No, no phone number, no name. It was simply, he reached out. After he saw the pictures were from Hawaii, he reached out to Hawaiian authorities and they got in touch with the media. And channel there called Hawaii News Now and put out the story saying help us find the owner of this camera, posted some pictures that were on there which you're seeing now. And it went on the web.
A friend of mine from high school happened to see it. And contacted me on Facebook saying, Lindsay, it looks like finally somebody found your camera. Here's the link. You might want to look into it. And so I did.
And it was my camera. Those were my pictures. I was absolutely blown away. All this happened just out of nowhere on Sunday morning.
BURNETT: I mean it is just pretty incredible. I mean, that this would -- when you think of all the bad things that happen on this planet, this is a really good story of people going to all this to find out what happened.
Were you surprised that someone would go through all of that effort?
SCALLAN: Absolutely.
BURNETT: You have met it guy?
SCALLAN: I'm looking forward to it very much. It's just amazing that a complete stranger on the other side of the world would take such an interest in getting these lost memories back to the owner. And there's not too many people in this world that would take the time to do that or even care about it. BURNETT: No, there aren't. It's pretty amazing. And he's not actually going to just send you the camera. You're going to Taiwan in June. I believe you're getting a free flight, right, on China airlines. I mean, this story gets better and better for you. They could have just mailed it to you.
I mean, what's going to happen in Taiwan?
SCALLAN: Well, they're flying me and a companion out there on early June. Round trip, all expenses paid, food, hotel, the works. And they're going to tour me around the country. I'm sure there is going to be a lot of press. I'm going to meet him, his family.
And the Taiwanese government has recently contacted me that they want to invite me to be an official guest of the country and a diplomat here in Atlanta is supposed to be contacting me soon.
BURNETT: That is just -- it's an incredible story.
Now, before we go, do you remember the company that made the camera?
SCALLAN: It is Canon. It was a Canon Powershot with an underwater case.
BURNETT: Wow.
You know what? I think everybody should buy a Canon Powershot underwater case, because that memory card went 5,200 miles and five years and that is incredible. Your story is great. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful time.
SCALLAN: Thank you. I appreciate it.
BURNETT: All right. Still OUTFRONT, the president says it's shameful that no gun control legislation has come to pass. Why is that? Is he the one to blame?
Plus, an intensive care unit overflowing with patients. A doctor needed more beds. What officials say she did to free up space is horrifying. We have a special report.
And then our "Outer Circle," some fashion advice from Richard Quest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: We're back tonight with tonight's "Outer Circle", where we reach out to our sources around the world.
And tonight, we go to Brazil. A doctor there has been charged with killing seven patients in order to free up beds in the hospital's intensive care unit.
Shasta Darlington is in Sao Paolo and I asked her if the death toll could actually be even higher. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, prosecutors definitely think that this death toll could rise. In fact, the chief prosecutor already told Brazil's TV Globo that he is linked to the doctor, Virginia Soares de Souza to at least 20 deaths and they're investigating a total of 300. Now, he said that he has evidence that she and her medical team actually killed these patients to empty out hospital beds, as outrageous as that sounds. She was the director of the intensive care unit at the evangelical hospital in a southern Brazilian city of Curitiba for seven years until she was arrested in February.
And they say they believe that she and her team administered muscle relaxants to terminally ill patients and at the same time reduced the oxygen supply, making it impossible for them to breathe. So, it looks like this is really just the beginning of an investigation, Erin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Thank you very much.
And now to England, where today, men and women wore hats to raise awareness for brain tumor research. Of course, though, as you know, sporting hat is a fashion trend that's making a comeback. It's always a special part of being British. Our Richard Quest gave me a few tips which, believe me, I would need, on the proper way to dawn a hat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: Erin, since it is national wear a hat day in Britain, I thought it was best to give you some guidance on the correct way to wear head gear.
First of all, always put on from the front. Not the back. That way it will sit properly. And it should rest just an inch or so from the eyebrows. Then you'll be able to give it that little rakish turn which will give an air of debonair sophistication, because when all said and done, hats are back in fashion.
And you know what they say? Here's your hat, where's your honey -- Erin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: I love him.
OUTFRONT -- our fifth story OUTFRONT: missing the moment. So, in the days following the Newtown shooting, the White House quickly pushed for new gun control measures. So far though -- nothing has happened. Nothing.
And today, President Obama voiced his frustration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Less than 100 days ago that happened and the entire country was shocked. The entire country pledged we would do something about it and this time would be different.
Shame on us if we forgot.
I haven't forgotten those kids. Shame on us if we forgot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. The shame on us. But shame also on the president for not making sure something got done right away.
OUTFRONT tonight, liberal radio show host Stephanie Miller and our contributors Reihan Salam and David Frum.
David, let me start with.
The president angry and upset. Certainly many in the country share his frustration and his anger. He was with the mothers of gun violence victims. He was, of course, scolding lawmakers.
But did the president do everything right here? After all, the window to get something done after a tragedy is, as we all know, perhaps wrongly but the way the world is the way it is, it's a short window and he didn't do it.
DAVID FRUM, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Let me descend from that. I think I said on your show and I said a number of times that for the president to inject himself in the debate was the mistake. The president was not going to be able by leadership to make things happen. In fact, there's a lot of evidence that when the president inserts himself, he polarizes opinion. People who like him rally to what he's doing but people who don't like him who might not have an opinion about the underlying measure.
And in any case, the measures the president has been proposing aren't that likely to be effective. Gun change will come when we have a citizens movement that causes -- helps Americans realize that the gun in your home is not a source of security but a source of insecurity. The change happens with the citizens and it will form into a citizens movement like Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
BURNETT: All right. And, Stephanie, though, David raises interesting points but what's happened at least in the few months since Newtown has been the opposite. Forty-seven percent of the public now supports stricter gun laws. That is down 10 points from immediately after Newtown. After Newtown, the American public was in shock and anger.
And something could have happened and it didn't. The president formed a task force headed by Vice President Biden, that took a month, they talked about recommendations for a few weeks. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid finally introduced a bill last week. It didn't even have an assault weapons ban in it. Did they go about this strategically the wrong way?
STEPHANIE MILLER, LIBERAL RADIO HOST: Well, you know, Erin, I don't think so. I'm sorry, David, I think that point is ridiculous. You look at just background checks. Over 90 percent of the American people agree with the president that we should at least get background checks done.
Ninety-two percent? David, you have been in politics. What gets 92 percent? Puppies, free money, sex with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt or both of them, depending on your preference?
FRUM: Basically --
(CROSSTALK)
MILLER: I mean, why can't we get this done? And this is Democrats' fault, too. It really is.
This is not the president's fault. He could not have spoken more forcefully about this at the State of the Union. I think the American people, 80-sometihng percent are behind other gun control measures.
I mean, this is ridiculous that we can't get something done. And I won't keep buying the fact that the president's for it, people will just be against it. Well, they need to get over that and get something done for the American people, so we don't have another one of these tragedies.
BURNETT: Reihan, what our point? Stephanie says most people are in favor of background checks. Absolutely true, 97 percent of Democrats, 87 percent of Republicans. But yet when you ask again, the poll number I just cited, do you favor stricter gun regulations over all? Forty-seven percent say yes, that is down 10 points from immediately following the shootings.
I ask again, why couldn't they have gone ahead and done the things that were popular, do it, do it, do it? And now, they're sitting there saying you didn't do it. Well, the "you" was them.
REIHAN SALAM, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I don't necessarily agree with either Stephanie or David, but I think Stephanie was misunderstanding part of David's point, which is that when you have broad support for a specific measure like universal background checks, what you saw is that there were some Republican senators like Tom Coburn who is a very strong defender of gun rights, who was saying that gosh, maybe we should expand gun background checks. That's a measure that we can work on, except presidents, whether it's Bush or Obama or anyone else, tend to polarize debate.
So the question is do you leave it in the hands of the Senate?
Now, another problem is that a number of senators like Dianne Feinstein focused on an assault weapons ban which is a measure that was actually very polarizing, in contrast to a measure like universal background checks which are even supported by majorities of NRA supporters.
BURNETT: Yes.
SALAM: So, the real tricky issue right now is that you're having a cleavage with a large number of wealthy Democratic donors saying that we really care about background checks, we're going to put pressure on Democrats to do this, but a handful of red state Democrats who still feel vulnerable to pressure from the NRA. And that's something that is part of why it makes sense for the president symbolically, but it might not necessarily make sense for the Democrats as a whole to kind of push this issue and keep it at the forefront.
BURNETT: But, David, isn't this a place where courage is required? The American people clearly favor -- let's just take background checks. I know we can go through item by item and not everyone agrees but that's one where almost everybody agrees in this country. And why can't lawmakers get it done?
FRUM: They can't get it done because to answer Stephanie's question of a minute ago, when 90 percent of the country expresses an opinion in favor of something, it's probably because it's a low salience issue they haven't thought a lot about.
And I think one of the things that is dangerous is if you do the things people agree about, you're going to miss the question are we doing things that will make any difference?
Here's my question about background checks. The typical murder in the United States is not like these terrible mass casualty shootings. The typical murder happens between two people who know each other or it's between spouses or boyfriend/girlfriend. At the moment, the person buys the gun, they may be able -- they will probably certainly be able to pass the background check.
The relationship was intact then. It was only after the gun was purchased that the relationship fell apart.
So I think -- let's think about things that will make a difference.
BURNETT: That's a very fair point. Well, thanks very much to all three of you. We appreciate your time.
The essay is OUTFRONT next. Tonight, a castle in the sky -- the most expensive property on this planet.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: The city state known as Monaco famous for its beaches, casinos, Formula 1 races and Grace Kelly is a playground for the rich and famous and it's getting richer. The city state's latest residential building is called the Odeon Tower, 558 feet tall. It's going to be the first high-rise in Monaco built since the 1980s when skyscrapers were banned by Monaco's Prince Rainer. The crown jewel of the building is a sky penthouse. It's 35,000 square foot, five-story apartment with floor to ceiling windows in every room and a giant water slide into a pool on the roof. It's been called a "castle in the sky", which is appropriate since Monaco is a principality.
The Tour Odeon is such a big deal that it needed the approval of the current monarch, Prince Albert, to begin construction. We think there's a reason Prince Albert approved the building. He could be the only person in the building who can afford it. The penthouse is said to be the most expensive property in the world with a price tag of $380 million.
So I wanted to see if Prince Albert really could pay that. So, I did what anyone would do. I Googled Prince Albert. Why don't you do that? And see why it ruined my day.
Anderson Cooper starts now.
