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Erin Burnett Outfront
Zimmerman Held In Jail Without Bail; Ford Sorry After Knocking Down Lawmaker; "I'm Not A Drug Addict"; Deadly Tornadoes Tearing Up Midwest of the U.S.
Aired November 18, 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, George Zimmerman arrested and charged.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had broken a table and at one point pointed a long-barreled shotgun at her.
BURNETT: And Toronto's crack-smoking mayor acts out again...
ROB FORD, MAYOR OF TORONTO: I didn't push her.
BURNETT: ... and again.
Plus Lady Gaga's revelation.
LADY GAGA, SINGER: I was speaking up to 15 to 20 marijuana cigarettes a day with no tobacco.
BURNETT: And her reason why could affect the way pot is viewed in America.
Let's go "OUTFRONT."
Good evening, everyone. I'm Erin Burnett. And "OUTFRONT" tonight, front we begin with George Zimmerman busted again. The former Neighborhood Watchman arrested on domestic violence charges today after, allegedly, he pointed a shotgun at his new girlfriend. He's being held without bail at the Seminole County Jail.
He was acquitted, of course, in July of murdering Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, but since then he's had multiple run ins with police. Now we want to begin our coverage here with David Mattingly, OUTFRONT, in Sanford, Florida.
David, obviously you were in that courtroom every day during the Trayvon Martin case. George Zimmerman seems to have had a lot of trouble staying out of trouble. I mean, what are all the charges and allegations here?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the one thing everyone was saying about George Zimmerman after he was acquitted was that he needed to disappear and for some reason now he has been completely unable to do that. Now he is facing some very serious charges as a result of this police call that includes aggravated assault, domestic violence and battery. The aggravated assault by itself carries eight years in prison if he is found guilty. So these are very serious charges. Right now, we are waiting for the sheriff's department to actually finish their search of the premises there. And here's what the sheriff had to say just a short time ago.
I'm told we don't have that sound. But Erin, I'm also told we do have now 911 tape recording of the call from George Zimmerman girlfriend as she called in, in a very aggravated state at the time when she was describing to authorities that George Zimmerman had pointed a shotgun at her, barricaded the door behind her. We have that 911 tape now, let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: 911.
UNIDENTIFIED CALLLER: I need police right now.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: OK, what's your address?
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: You're the one breaking stuff in my house!
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: Ma'am, what's going on?
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: He's in my house breaking all my -- because I asked him to leave. He has a freaking gun breaking all my stuff right now. I'm doing this again. He just broke my glass table. You put your gun in my freaking face and told me to get the -- out because this is not your house. Now get out of here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: And authorities say that was the voice of Samantha Shive. She is described as the girlfriend of George Zimmerman. She is 27 years old. This was her house where this altercation took place and the investigators are telling us that George Zimmerman they believe had been living at this location since August -- Erin.
BURNETT: David, it's pretty incredible. A lot of people say it makes them feel differently about what happened in July when it comes to the Trayvon Martin case. But this is only one of several incidents, right, that he's had since his acquittal?
MATTINGLY: That's right. We've compiled a list. We talked about how everyone said he needed to disappear. Well, here is evidence of how difficult it has been for him to stay out of the public eye. He was acquitted, of course, in July. The 17th of July, he surfaced almost right away as helping a family out of an overturned SUV on the expressway here in Florida.
Then later that month, July 28 he was pulled over for speeding in Texas and that's when we learned that he once again was carrying a licensed firearm with him at the time. Then, again, in September, he was pulled over for speeding here in Florida. Then in September, on September 9th, police were called to the home of his wife for a disturbance there. There were no charges filed, but Zimmerman was detained.
His wife claimed that there had been an argument there and that Zimmerman allegedly smashed her iPad in that argument. The iPad was supposed to contain evidence of the altercation that had been going on, but we found out just a few days ago that even the federal government, the federal authorities were not able to extract any files from that broken iPad.
So no charges have been filed there, but, again, this, a new chapter now for George Zimmerman and new criminal charges facing him as he stays in the Seminole County Jail again here behind me.
BURNETT: All right, obviously he's there tonight held without bail. Thank you very much to our David Mattingly, of course, who's been covering the George Zimmerman trial from the very beginning on Trayvon Martin and now these latest developments.
Well, our second story, OUTFRONT, tonight, developing story in Toronto, the mayor, sorry again. This time Rob Ford's apology came after he started running during a city council meeting and took down a lawmaker. Take a look.
The embattled leader who has admitted to smoking crack says he was just trying to get to his brother who at the time was trying to get the crowd to stop taunting him. And even though late tonight Ford was stripped of even more powers as mayor, he is still not backing down.
His Canadian TV show "Ford Nation" airs tonight. He has a new reality TV show. Right before that, our Bill Wier, who as you know has been covering this story from the beginning caught up with Rob Ford and had a chance to actually speak with him and some of his supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A lot of people are worried about Rob Ford these days, worried that he'll never leave office, that his appetites will kill him. But do you know who's not worried? Rob Ford.
MAYOR ROB FORD, TORONTO: I'm not an addict. I'm not an alcoholic. I'm not a drug addict.
WEIR: And in the heart of "Ford Nation," they believe him.
ROSE, ROB FORD SUPPORTER: People can set up him too, you know that.
WEIR (on camera): You think he may have been set up.
ROSE: Yes.
WEIR: Well, he admitted to smoking crack.
ROSE: Maybe he just gets fed up of everything. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you purchased illegal drugs in the last two years?
WEIR (voice-over): Sure, he may be a pariah on the floor of city council and a punch line on "Saturday Night Live."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa, that's a lot of crack!
WEIR: But out of this suburban housing product, he is no pun intended, a rock star. He may be a fiscal conservative downtown, but out here, they say he's the bleeding heart they call when the eviction notice comes.
COUNCILLOR DOUG FORD, BROTHER OF ROB FORD: Everyone keeps saying Rob is a conservative. He's a huge, massive social liberal. He loves Obama.
WEIR: Councillor Doug Ford invited us here and when his little brother showed up, we saw why. Almost everyone was thrilled to see him.
(on camera): These folks love you, but do you realize how you're perceived around the rest of the country?
FORD: They can make fun of me. They can laugh al at me all they want. These people don't know Rob Ford. These people know me. I was born and raised here.
WEIR: Why did you decide to finally admit that you had smoked crack?
FORD: I'm not going to run around and be phony and be blackmailed. You don't trust what the "Toronto Star" -- I was sick of all of the allegations and all the -- excuse my words. That's all it is. I drank too much. I smoke some crack sometimes. What can I say? I made a mistake. I'm human.
WEIR: Can't you see why some would question your judgment?
FORD: Just lie about it? Just hide?
WEIR: That would you do it in the first place.
FORD: They said do you smoke crack and are you a crack addict? No, I'm not a crack addict. Have I? Yes, I have. I haven't smoked crack in over a year.
WEIR: That's semantics.
FORD: Typical media. You all are the same. You can spin it any way you want.
WEIR (voice-over): At this point, he tries to calm his brother, which as he's seen isn't easy.
FORD: Do you smoke crack? No, I don't. I don't like people attacking my integrity.
WEIR (on camera): Couldn't you be more effective if you were a little healthier?
FORD: I'm trying to lose some weight. I'm working out.
WEIR: Why not seek some addiction specialist just to make sure?
FORD: I'm not an addict. You guys can stir it. You can tell me whatever you want. These people know that I'm not. This is the thing. I don't look at myself as the mayor. I look at myself as the normal, regular person. You know, that's enough.
WEIR: One more question and this is the one that really gets it for me. I know a lot of people who would party their brains out.
FORD: Yes.
WEIR: But they're parents. I'm sure you're insulating your children from what's going on?
FORD: Absolutely. I'm the best father around. I'm straightforward with my kids. I don't walk away from any one. I'm sick of these people. They're perfect. They don't do nothing. Get out of here they don't do nothing. They're the biggest crooks around.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: All right, so you had a chance to be face-to-face with him. What do you make of today's development, the late development we just had, which is the city council has voted to strip him of his power?
WEIR: I'm surprised that he got three supporting votes. The vote was he and his brother and three our council members. Maybe it's because he compared this vote to Saddam's invasion of Kuwait and vowed an equivalent of "Operation Desert Storm." These guys now think that they can run enough "Ford Nation" populist to unseat all their political enemies. They're not just talking about surviving this. They're talking about annihilating their enemies politically.
BURNETT: On that front, there was the TV show that we've been talking about, this new reality show --
WEIR: Reality show is probably the best. It's a talk show. It's a studio version of their radio show. They were given one hour tonight. If it gets huge numbers, you know, we'll see, sort of the Fox News equivalent of Canada, which doesn't do all that well up there. His brother thinks he should be taking some time off and resting, and yet, they've gone on this blitz. So who knows what is next. Who knows?
BURNETT: It's gotten a little hard to watch in some ways. All right, Bill Weir, thank you very much. And of course, there's more of the interview. You're going to see the entire interview with Mayor Ford and Bill Weir at the top of the hour on "AC 360" so please stay tuned for that.
Still to come, Obamacare on life support, but does Vice President Joe Biden really believe it can survive? His words to God's ears later.
Plus deadly tornadoes devastating the Midwest, we'll take you to one of the communities hit the hardest. We will be live there in just a moment with an incredible story.
And a man falls from the upper deck during a Buffalo-Bills game. Why is he the one in trouble?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Our third story, OUTFRONT, is the deadly tornadoes tearing up the Midwest of the U.S. at least seven people killed, more than 200 injured, after dozens of tornadoes just suddenly touched down in five states, the storms left a path of destruction from Missouri to Wisconsin, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people.
Officials even had to evacuate the Chicago Bears Soldier Field until the storms passed with tens of thousands of people there. Take a look at the size of the tornado shot by CNN I-Reporter Anthony Corey.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)
BURNETT: You hear him praying. That's incredible, this picture. Washington, Illinois suffered the most severe damage, Ef-4 tornado which is the second most powerful rating touched down destroying as many as 400 homes. And when I said destroyed, I mean destroy completely and utterly leveled. And that's where our Ted Rowlands is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just before the tornado hit, 78-year-old Mary Kail got a call that she thinks saved her life, a call from her daughter-in-law Sue.
MARY KAIL, TORNADO VICTIM: Sue rang my cell phone and asked if she could come to the house.
ROWLANDS: Sue was with her 10-year-old daughter. Lindsey. Just minutes after they arrived, so did the tornado.
KAIL: And I could see the tornado was starting to come down and then debris started flying. And so, we quick ran in the house, grabbed flashlight, got downstairs to the basement. Nancy was crying. And she wanted to know if she was going to live or going to die.
ROWLANDS: When it was over, Mary says she was buried in debris.
KAIL: Hot water heater, the copper pipes and all different things like that. And the water softener, those parts were all on me. ROWLANDS: And a concrete piece of her house which was ripped apart by the tornado was on her leg. Mary says without Sue, she'd have been trapped.
KAIL: She's my angel. I don't know how long I would have been there. Because I couldn't have moved that concrete block myself.
ROWLANDS: Mary lost so much blood that when she finally got to the emergency room her heart stopped.
KAIL: And all of a sudden my legs felt like they were paralyzed. And I hurt something terrible. And then I guess my heart stopped. I kept praying. And they put the paddles on me, and I snapped out of it.
ROWLANDS: Throughout it all, Mary said she prayed. In the end she needed a blood transfusion, had a broken nose and a lot of bruises. 10-year-old Lindsey also had some bruises and a pretty good knot on her forehead.
KAIL: Lindsey's the one I feel sorry for. She'll never forget that. I still can't believe it. I still can't believe. I've never been in a tornado before. I never want to go through one again, ever.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS: And Erin, Mary obviously a fighter. She did not think it was her time to go, obviously. She fought through this. Now she has to deal with the new reality. And that is she's like hundreds of other people here in Washington. She has nowhere to go. No home. She's going to stay with relatives until she figures that out. But obviously happy to be alive.
BURNETT: Yes, of course, amazing story, miraculous.
Thank you so much to Ted Rowlands. He was on the ground as we said there in the hardest hit area by those storms.
Well, still to come, the civil war in the Cheney family. The former vice president's daughter are squaring off over gay marriage. And they are not doing it over the thanksgiving table, they are doing in front of all of us, publicly.
Plus, Caroline Kennedy, she starts her new job as America's ambassador to Japan. Wait until you see the pomp and circumstance about that. We will go to Tokyo, live. And we ask this question, did she earn her new title or did she buy it? A special OUTFRONT reports.
And three million people displaced during the super typhoon in the Philippines, dramatic new images if the devastation just coming in tonight of when that wave surge hit the Philippines. That's coming up. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Our fourth story OUTFRONT. Camelot takes Japan. So, the Kennedy political dynasty continues with Caroline starting her new role today as the American ambassador to Japan. Kennedy says she is proud to carry on her father's legacy of public service. But some are angry, saying she doesn't have the diplomatic credentials to take on the job and that she got it as a favor from President Obama.
Kyung Lah is OUTFRONT tonight in Tokyo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Making her first visit to a Japanese minister, a throng of cameras greeted new U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy before she even entered the room. Since the moment she landed in Japan, her every movement has been captured by a captivated nation with (INAUDIBLE) to diplomatic job often dismissed as dull.
(on camera): For President Obama to send her here, what does that mean to Japan?
TOMOHIKO TANIGUCHI, COUNCILOR, PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE: Well, to simply put, it is going to be, it is the best gift heaven could only give Japan.
LAH (voice-over): Unless you think the prime minister's rep speaks in hyperbole turn on the Japanese television. The Kennedy style, her history, her direct line to the White House, all dissected and analyst. But critics say beyond the Kennedy glam her job is a crucial one. Japan's is the world's third largest economy and fastest growing region. Japan is increasingly sparring with China and sits just close to North Korea, a continuous threat to global stability.
DAVID ROTHKOPF, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, FOREIGN POLICY: She does not have experience with Japan. She does not have experience with Asia. She does not have any track record with any of the essential issues we're dealing with there. So, you know, that means she's not prepared to play the leading role in Japan on those issues.
LAH (voice-over): But it is the young Caroline, the child of the president who was assassinated 50 years ago that Japan remembers. President Kennedy had been planning to be the first U.S. president to visit Japan, but he was killed before he could make the journey. The very first live television broadcast carry by satellite into Japanese homes, the very first images of America-Japan saw was a nation and two children mourning the president they never met.
TANIGUCHI: I was small, 6-years-old, but I remember how stunned and awed and frozen the faces of my parents, elder sister and my grandparents were.
LAH (on camera): What is it like to see his daughter fulfill his journey?
TANIGUCHI: Well, it is, it cannot be timelier than it is now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAH: They have brought those two children.
She will be brought in, Erin, officially as the ambassador in the eyes of Japan through a formal ceremony. She's going to be drawn through the streets of Tokyo via a horse-drawn carriage. And this is a ceremony that's usually, you know, ignored by the Japanese people. This time, Erin, a small crowd is expected to gather -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Kyung, thank you very much. And something to be said for pomp and circumstance.
Everyone let us know what you think about that. Obviously, it does play an important role when it comes to diplomatic relations.
Well, still to come, the Obama administration has set some very lofty goals for the Obamacare site. We will explain why Joe Biden believes they will need divine intervention to reach them, his words to gut today for you.
Plus, three million people displaced by that super typhoon in the Philippines. Tonight, the first images, these are new images of the devastation as that storm surge struck. I'm trying to say that six times fast, but these are unbelievably powerful to watch.
And a fan falls from the upper deck during a buffalo bills game. Why he is the one in trouble tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: And welcome back to the second half of OUTFRONT on this Monday. Is the Obamacare Web site living on a prayer? Vice president Joe Biden speaking with health insurance volunteers about healthcare.gov today said quote, "The truth is we're going to fix it, God willing."
Well, you know, sometimes you need God. This comes as the Obama administration said that it expects 80 percent of people to sign up for Obamacare to do so via Healthcare.gov by the end of the month, which obviously would be a significant achievement.
Well, with nearly 4,000 dead and 3 million displaced in the Philippines, video today from a drone today shows the scale of that destruction. This is just -- just give a moment to pause and look at this. This looks like what you might imagine something might look like after a nuclear war.
Tacloban City, as you can see, nearly leveled. This was a city of a quarter of a million people. The continued presence of bodies lining the streets in bags is a grim reminder of the utter devastation.
We also have new footage shot by an aid worker that shows how strong the storm was. This was just showing the surge as it struck and came in, washing away homes, trees, lives. That aid worker and five others did manage to make it out alive. Well, a Buffalo Bills fan who fell from the upper deck of the Ralph Wilson Stadium has been banned from attending future games. Let's show you the incident here. There's the fan in the upper left as you can see, looks like he's skating down. And then he tumbles over the side, falls on top of another man signature on the second level, which miraculous that he was able to be OK. The man he fell on, though, experienced a head injury.
The Buffalo Bills released a statement saying, "We continue to work diligently to eliminate individuals who violate our fan code of conduct."
And now, our fifth story OUTFRONT: Gitmo. So, the whole situation continues to unfold. With the president saying he wants to shut it down, detainees could be headed to a prison near you. That's if the Senate votes this week to pass some of the loosest restrictions yet on the transfer prisoners from Gitmo to the United States mainland for detention, for trial, or for medical care.
Our Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gitmo's future could be decided this week in a crucial vote on Capitol Hill, and some of the prison's guards would welcome its closure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is their biggest way to act out, is throw feces at guards.
LAWRENCE: It happens almost every day, the evidence stuck to cellblock ceilings. And along with the splashing comes a vulgar, verbal tirade.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The most common one is (EXPLETIVE DELETED), whore, slut. They'll say things like I'll (EXPLETIVE DELETED) all over your face. They'll say, oh, you've had (EXPLETIVE DELETED) on you, you've been disrespected and nobody wants you. You're trash now.
LAWRENCE: But many of the detainees say they're innocent and being held indefinitely without trial.
Pop singer Esperanza Spalding released a new video, urging voters to get behind an effort to close Gitmo.
The song is aimed at a Senate bill considered this week which would loosen restrictions on transferring detainees. Congressional opposition has blocked President Obama from sending most detainees back to their home countries or prisons in the U.S.
SEN. KELLY AYOTTE (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: It seems to me that we're losing opportunities to gather intelligence.
LAWRENCE: Senator Kelly Ayotte wants to keep Gitmo open. She got the FBI director to admit his investigators prefer long interrogations, like the kind that can happen there. JIM COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: More flexibility, better for us.
LAWRENCE: But James Comey also said housing terrorists in a super max prison like the one in Colorado would not make the surrounding community more dangerous.
COMEY: I don't know any threat around that facility. We've housed in that facility some really bad people for a long time.
LAWRENCE: A bigger concern is what happens if detainees are sent back to their home countries?
Since Guantanamo Bay opened more than a decade ago, 603 detainees have been transferred. Intelligence officials confirmed more than 60 percent of them, 100 in all, returned to terrorist activity. But of the recent transfers since 2009, the number is much lower, about 5 percent.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Now, Chris, this has been obviously a tough situation for the president. And there's a lot of other things going on that he's dealing with, with Healthcare.gov, the most glaring at this time.
Is this a fight he can't win? A fight he should be fighting now?
LAWRENCE: Well, the folks on Capitol Hill say the votes are going to be pretty close, Erin. It's going to be tight. The president certainly has less political capital and less trust than he did before this bungled health care rollout.
But just this afternoon, White House spokesman Jay Carney publicly reiterated the administration's desire to try to close Gitmo, but he used the rationale of it draining resources and tighter budgets, not too much on the humanitarian grounds but saying, look, this costs a lot of money, referring to the fact that the Pentagon spends about $2.5 million per prisoner every single year.
So, he's trying to appeal to maybe some of the Republicans who are more fiscally minded to say, look, this may not be something we can't afford to keep open for the long term.
BURNETT: All right. Thanks very much. Appreciate it, Chris Lawrence. Those numbers are pretty stunning.
LAWRENCE: Yes.
BURNETT: And now our sixth story OUTFRONT: Cheney family feud.
So, the daughters of former Vice President Dick Cheney are publicly clashing over the issue of gay marriage. Liz Cheney going for a Senate seat in conservative Wyoming. Her younger sister Mary, of course, as you maybe aware, he's married to a woman.
The sisters' latest spat began this weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIZ CHENEY (R), WYOMING SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I do believe in the traditional definition of marriage.
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS: Your sister Mary, who is married to a woman, put out this post. She said, "For the record, I love my sister," you, "but she is dead wrong on the issue of marriage.
CHENEY: Yes. Listen, I love Mary very much. I love her family very much. This is just an issue on which we disagree.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Mary Cheney then responded with another post on Facebook saying, "Liz, this isn't just another issue that we disagree. You're just wrong and on the wrong side of history."
That's the kind of thing you might think, all right. If you happen to have that disagreement in your family, you might have a phone conversation about, you might sit down about it, you might not go to FOX News and Facebook and talk about it to the world.
So, the question is, is this just a public airing of dirty laundry or a calculated political move?
OUTFRONT tonight, CNN political contributor Ana Navarro, and our chief political analyst Gloria Borger.
Well, Ana, let's get straight to it. Public airing between two sisters that somehow went awry and is now in the public sphere or a calculated move to have this debate in the public eye?
ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: I really think we've been watching too much "Scandal" or "House of Cards" if we think this is a calculated move. I don't know a single political analyst that would recommend family drama as a good political move to win an election.
BURNETT: Even if it highlights your stance on gay marriage, in a state that went 69 percent for Mitt Romney?
NAVARRO: Erin, I suspect that the same people who oppose gay marriage also oppose family infighting. I think it's unseemly.
Look, I think it cut to the bone. It's a personal issue for Mary Cheney. She's got children. She's got a wife.
I think it's hard to reconcile for a sister, your sister saying on national TV, I like you, I love you, I love your family, but I don't believe in the institution of marriage that you are engaged in. That would -- would that not upset you?
BURNETT: It would be -- yes, of course it would. Of course it would. I wouldn't talk about it on TV, but everybody has their own way of handling it.
Gloria, you know the Cheneys. What's your take on the situation?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, these sisters are close. They've always been close. And I think Liz Cheney is stating a view that she has along with her father, which is that this is an issue that should be left up to the state. She personally does not support gay marriage.
This is now not news to Mary Cheney. I think there's a little of, you know, why are you shoving it in my face sort of thing. Look -- she has been attacked by a Conservative Political Action Committee in the state of Wyoming on the question of not being conservative enough on the issue of gay marriage. She was asked a question on Sunday. She answered the question.
But if I were either of the Cheney parents who kind of tried to break it up and sort of sided with Liz, I think I'd feel pretty bad about it.
BURNETT: And the Cheney parents did weigh in. Back in 2000, of course, Dick Cheney said that people should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want. He has stood by that.
And today, he issued this statement about his daughter, saying, "This is an issue we have dealt with privately for many parents. We are pained to see it become public. Since it has, one thing should be clear, Liz has always believed in the traditional definition of marriage. She has always treated her sister and her sister's family with love and respect, exactly as she should have done. Compassion is called for even when there is disagreement about such a fundamental matter, and Liz's many kindnesses shouldn't be used to distort her position."
I guess you have to assume this statement was read to both daughters before.
NAVARRO: I don't know what you assume. I think you assume that it is true, they are pained. One thing we know about the Cheneys is that they have been very supportive of both, their daughters. We've seen them, you know, in their history.
So I think that for any parent, the public airing, much so at this level of an internal family dispute, has got to be painful.
BORGER: Look, I think that statement by the parents was written for conservatives in the state of Wyoming, because what it said was that her many kindnesses shouldn't be used to distort her position. Well, who are they talking to? They're talking to the conservative PAC that's running these ads in Wyoming.
NAVARRO: You know, Gloria, I don't know if you agree, but I think this strikes, you know, where the vulnerability is, how genuine is Liz Cheney being? Because she's got the issue that also, Mary Cheney's wife would say that she's a carpetbagger, she's got to deal with that issue.
Is she a genuine person from Wyoming? Is she a genuine person against same-sex marriage? So, that's the core issue that the opponents are going at and they've struck a nerve.
BORGER: Well, but here's the issue -- here's the issue that Mary Cheney raised politically in one of her Facebook posts about her sister, which is you're trying to unseat an older established senator because you say it's time for a change. You need new blood.
And she said to her, well, if you really want to do that and unseat an established senator with new blood, why are you thinking like it was 30 years ago on the issue of same sex marriage, and that the Republican Party needs to move on this issue?
And, by the way, I would say about Dick Cheney, Dick Cheney took on his own running mate in 2000 and said, look, I disagree with him on this. I think this is an issue that should be left to the states. There should not be a constitutional amendment.
So, their father has been very much in the forefront on this, so, I would say in the Republican Party in a way.
BURNETT: Thanks to both of you. And I have to say, I would love to be, you know, a turkey on the table at that Thanksgiving.
BORGER: At Thanksgiving.
NAVARRO: I don't want to be around them with forks and knives.
BURNETT: They got to work that out.
All right. Thanks to both of you.
BORGER: Sure.
BURNETT: Well, still to come, Lady Gaga discusses the dangers of marijuana. She actually says she was addicted to pot. You may be scratching your head saying, how is that possible? We've all been told it's fine. That's why it should be legalized.
Well, Dr. Drew comes on to talk about whether Lady Gaga's claims add up or not.
Plus, the chilling video of the plane crash in which 50 people lost their lives, what investigators can learn about what caused the crash.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: And we are back with tonight's "Outer Circle".
We go to Russia now where investigators are combing through pieces of a Boeing 737 which crashed into the ground last night. Officials say no one survived, 44 passengers, six crew members killed.
And we have new video into CNN tonight from Russian television stations which show the moment of impact.
You see the plane coming down like a fireball. Then you see that horrible explosion, nose first crash into the tarmac. I asked if investigators had any leads on what caused the crash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Erin, Russian authorities say they are maintaining a wide investigation to try and determine the cause of this crash. They have confiscated documents and fuel samples from Tatarstan Airlines and they say they are considering the possibilities of both human error and mechanical failure. Clearly, the pilot was in trouble in the minutes leading up to this crash. He was having difficulty getting the aircraft safely on the ground. He had aborted one landing and was coming around for a second when the accident happened.
Russia has a terrible record for air safety, but accidents like this here usually involve old Soviet era aircraft. In this case, it was a 23-year-old Boeing 737. Boeing is sending a team of people to assist Russian investigators as they work to determine precisely what went wrong -- Erin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Our seventh story OUTFRONT: a marijuana milestone.
So, today, Washington state let its residents legally get in on the business of growing weed. The application to grow, process or sell pot is now available online and rest assured despite pot entrepreneurs flooding the site, the city tells us there were no glitches with this Web site.
And while it could mean a fortune for some, for others, it could present new challenges. In fact, Lady Gaga recently spoke about the dangers of pot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LADY GAGA, MUSICIAN: With marijuana, you know, I actually decided to speak about this, because although I do think it is the best of the drugs to choose from, in terms of, you know, when you're playing around and experimenting, I just want young kids to know that you actually can become addicted to it. And there is this -- there is this sentiment that you can't, and that's actually not true, because I had been addicted to it. I was smoking up to 15 to 20 marijuana cigarettes a day, with no tobacco.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Dr. Drew Pinsky is the host of HLN's "Dr. Drew on Call" and he's OUTFRONT.
Dr. Drew, that's pretty amazing. I mean, she is really confident of what she is saying. I mean, is she right?
Because the whole argument on legalizing pot has been, well, it's not addictive.
DR. DREW PINSKY, HLN HOST: Oh, no, that's silly. I mean, it would be medical -- it would be malpractice to say that cannabis isn't addictive. And anybody that has experienced it actually been addicted to it, knows how profound that addiction is.
And, of course, Gaga is speaking from experience. And God bless her for pointing out exactly that, which it is a relatively safe drug, which for some people can be profoundly addictive. And, you know, it's easy to tell when you're addictive when you just love it more than anything else, it's all you think about, it's what you're going to do.
The sort of difficult thing about marijuana addiction is some people, even though they are addicted, can do fine with it for many, many years before they start to have difficult. But eventually, the high starts wearing off, people start smoking a lot more to try to get that high back, and that's when they descend to difficulties.
BURNETT: And so, you're saying -- your point was, 15 to 20 marijuana cigarettes a day that did not have nicotine in them. So, she's making clear it wasn't the nicotine.
PINSKY: Right. That's right.
BURNETT: There is no way you would be smoking that many a day if you weren't addicted, right?
PINSKY: Well, that's right. And, of course, she I'm sure had trouble stopping, and that's how you really know you're in trouble.
But I find -- one of the comedic aspects of cannabis these days that I get is that, you know, cannabis is a plant, it's a natural herb. You know, you hear all these all the time. Has everybody forgotten that tobacco is a plant, they say the evil tobacco, the real concern about legalizing cannabis is that we're going to see big cannabis, just way we've seen big tobacco, and that's what people need to watch out for.
BURNETT: So, what I'm curious, though, is the mix messages we've been getting, you know, Dr. Drew, because you're saying this and I think a lot of people are scratching their heads and saying wait. I've just been told the marijuana is not a problem, not addictive and not a gateway drug. The former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, who's on CNN couple of years ago, quote, "Marijuana is not addictive, not physically addictive, anyway."
Why are we getting such mixed messages on this?
PINSKY: It's so bizarre to me -- the political energy around cannabis is such that we can't be truthful or rationale about it. And listen, I've been treating cannabis addiction for 20 years. And when people are addicted to cannabis, cocaine and alcohol, the drug they have the most difficult giving up is cannabis. It's extremely addictive for some people.
And I think that's what people get confused a lot. It's not very addictive for many people. It's a small subset of people with the genetic potential for addiction. But for them, it is really tough. And you only need to talk to them, they'll tell you how tough it was.
BURNETT: But there was woman in Hawaii I saw last week. She spoke to "Associated Press" about tourists leaving next to here. She said they were smoking pot all the time and that -- you know, they were, you know, teenagers and they had medical marijuana licenses. But that is what we are talking about here, you know, in places like Washington state and other states.
Now that medical marijuana is legal, I believe, in 20 states, isn't that going to mean more abuse?
PINSKY: Well, I'm not sure that's true. Listen, in the last few years, since it's been -- cannabis has been medicalized in California, I have not treated one single drug addict who didn't have a prescription for marijuana. It's -- so, no one is asking a question, when somebody comes in for a prescription, are you a drug addict? Of course, the drug addicts aren't going to be forthcoming with it, either.
But it's -- I don't think it is significantly affected my patients. It's just such a sham, though, that all of my patients who are drug addicts have a prescription for the marijuana. And sometimes marijuana is -- oftentimes, is not their primary drug. They just use it incidentally, but I find it bad medicine that no one says, are you a drug addict, or really looks into that, or checks their urine. That's the thing they should be doing.
BURNETT: That's very much to you, Dr. Drew. It's pretty incredible statistic there.
Well, a major milestone for America tomorrow. The 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address. On November 19, 1863, Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to dedicate the cemetery at the field where four and half months earlier, 51,000 soldiers lost their lives, during the battle that turned the direction of the civil war in favor of the north. Fifteen thousand people were in attendance to hear Lincoln's 272 words speech.
And this year, the speech is being celebrated across the nation. And project by Ken Burns invites Americans to record themselves reciting the speech, including former presidents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For score and seven years ago --
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT: Our fathers brought forth on this continent --
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: A new nation, conceived in liberty.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: And dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Tomorrow, the address will be celebrated during a celebration at Gettysburg, where Jim Getty, the country's most popular Lincoln impersonator, will recite the speech which he has been doing since 1977.
Which brings me to the number: $100 million. The town of Gettysburg tells CNN that it expects to bring in that much money this year, thanks to the 150th anniversary festivities, including the annual reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg. Even though civil war reenactment may seem quaint to some, they are a booming industry. Gettysburg is the most popular reenactment location in the United States, but there are reenactments staged all across this nation. Thirty thousand active Civil War reenactors are in America today.
And OUTFRONT next, bringing the Internet where it has never gone before.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: And tonight, an "IDEA" that's taking your Internet connection to a place it has never been before, deep under the sea. That's right. So if you need to send an urgent e-mail while snorkeling, it's very close to being a reality. And it could change the world.
Jason Carroll is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These days, you may find wireless Internet at some of the most remote places on the planet, on your flight, even in space, where you won't find it -- at least not yet -- deep under water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These devices can communicate under water wirelessly.
CARROLL: Tommaso Melodia and University at Buffalo researches developed technology they say will create a deep sea Internet -- an idea initially fodder for late-night laughs.
JIMMY FALLON, COMEDIAN: A Wi-Fi network that can work under water.
Well, Time Warner is trying to develop a Wi-Fi network that can work.
(LAUGHTER)
CARROLL: Of course, Fallon on means Time Warner Cable.
Regardless, to Melodia, it's no laughing matter. It's been eight years of hard work.
Melodia hopes the technology will improve tsunami detection, natural gas exploration, pollution monitoring, and security surveillance.
But will it work?
We went out to Lake Erie with his research team to test the science behind it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you communicate wirelessly in air, you do that through electromagnetic waves. When you communicate wirelessly in water, you do that acoustic waves, basically, sound.
CARROLL: It sounds a bit like how dolphins communicate, they use sound waves, these modems will use the same techniques to talk to each other.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's trying to communicate to this guy.
CARROLL: Modems transmitting data from under water to a modem on the surface, and to a laptop or cell phone anywhere in the world.
(on camera): Did you give them names?
TOMMASO MELODIA, HEAD RESEARCHER & ELECTRICAL ENGINEER AT THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFALLO: We did for a specific experiment, in which we have one of the yellow spheres called Alice, the ones that will communicate with Bob.
CARROLL (voice-over): Then, it's into the water.
(on camera): So what happens now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, Alice will send a message from under water, and transfer this data to the Internet.
CARROLL (voice-over): After a few moments a message, first via laptop --
(on camera): Welcome CNN.
(voice-over): Then, the mobile.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the message I was waiting for.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So when everything works, we're kind of like whoo! We got it.
CARROLL: Today, Lake Erie, soon, they hope, the Internet will finally go where no Internet has gone before.
For OUTFRONT, Jason Carroll, CNN, Buffalo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: And thanks to Jason and thanks to all of you for joining us.
Anderson starts now.
