Return to Transcripts main page
Erin Burnett Outfront
Secret Service Agent on the Phone When Intruder Entered White House; ISIS Leader Releases New Audio Message; Family Attorney Confirms Michael Brown's Hands Were Up; Executive Action on Immigration Could Come Sooner; Doctor with Ebola to try to Nebraska Hospital
Aired November 13, 2014 - 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 tonight, breaking news, investigators say the man who broke into the White House six weeks ago could have been stopped well before he got inside.
Shocking new details breaking about what the agent on duty was actually doing at that moment.
Plus in Ferguson a family lawyer says there is no doubt about it, Michael Brown had his hand up, surrendering, when he was shot and killed by Darren Wilson.
And new details on how the space probe touched down a comet and how the landing almost ended in a disaster.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, a major revelation tonight about the Secret Service and exactly how an intruder jumped a fence and was able to make it all the way inside of the White House. A review by the Department of Homeland Security found a Secret Service officer made a series of errors that enabled the intruder, Omar Gonzalez, to enter the president's residence in September.
You may remember that Gonzalez entered the White House, made his way to the East Room and then headed down a hallway, all before he was tackled by officers inside.
Joe Johns is OUTFRONT tonight.
And Joe, it is pretty incredible what you're learning tonight.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's for sure, Erin. This is the executive summary from the Homeland Security Department that just came out today and it gives us a number of details we really didn't know about this.
Clearly there were many breakdowns here on September 19th when Omar Gonzalez actually made his way all the way into the White House. There were communications breakdowns, there were people talking over top of each other on the radios. There were officers who couldn't see because there was construction going on here at the White House.
And there was also the question of why one individual did not unleash his canine dog on Omar Gonzalez when he was crossing the yard. And here is what they said about this. He said that a man was parked with his dog on the White House driveway when Omar Gonzalez jumped the North fence. The officer was on a call on his personal cell phone, on speaker, it says without his radio earpiece in his ear. And he had left his second tactical radio in his locker. So there is that.
They say there is more training now required for Secret Service officers who are working here on the White House grounds, including how to deal with individuals who don't appear to be carrying a lethal weapon. And there is also a question, of course, about people losing their jobs and a reduction in force here with the Secret Service.
A lot of questions tonight and this report only raises more -- Erin.
BURNETT: Bottom line, though, didn't even have, as you say, his earpiece in, Joe.
JOHNS: Right.
BURNETT: And was on a call on his personal cell phone.
JOHNS: Yes. That is correct. He did jump into action we're told very quickly. Perhaps about 11 seconds after all of this happened. But from what I can tell from the report, it was because he saw someone else running across the yard and it was not Omar Gonzalez.
BURNETT: Stunning.
All right, thank you very much, Joe Johns. We're going to have more on that in just a moment.
We have other breaking news, though, I need to share with you as well. New airstrikes in Syria with war planes pounding a major terror group called Khorasan which is a cell of al Qaeda.
Also breaking tonight, new audio said to be from the leader of ISIS, which is a huge development.
Nick Patton Walsh is OUTFRONT with why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The timing says it all. Days after he was claimed injured, even dead by Iraqi officials, an apparent audio message from Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Very much defined, less visible than the first and last time we saw him in public, July, in a Mosul mosque with full throttle.
"Erupt volcanoes of jihad everywhere," he says. "Light the earth with fire on all of the tyrant and their soldiers. They will be victorious," he says, "of holy warriors, marching until they reach Rome." And for the U.S., he says, "Between this fear, weakness and powerlessness, we see them stumbling in failure."
Big talk perhaps after some big losses and days in which U.S. officials were uncertain whether he was hit in an airstrike.
JEN PSAKI, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN: We cannot confirm if ISIL leader Baghdadi was among those present.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On Baghdadi, we cannot confirm his status at this point.
PSAKI: I don't have any new information.
WALSH: U.S. airstrikes over Kobani killing dozens of ISIS militants and Peshmerga fighters helping Syrian Kurds blunt their advance. Observers saying ISIS needs some big wins to keep its vital momentum attractive to recruits.
In one reference, perhaps aimed to date the message to near airstrikes that were claimed to have hit his convoy, he says President Obama's announcement of more advisors shows air power isn't working.
"Soon the Jews and crusaders will be forced to send their ground forces to their deaths," he says. "Obama has ordered the deployment of 1500 additional soldiers under the claim they are advisors because the crusaders' airstrikes and constant bombardment to the Islamic state," he says, "have not prevented its advance nor weakened its resolve."
After months as a U.S. military prisoner in Iraq and now with a $10 million price on his head, the rage is palpable, universal declaring Allah ordered all to jihad without making exception for anyone.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH: Erin, in many ways, what's remarkable about this message is unbound sense of global ambition. This is a militant leader caught up in all of local battles that aren't going particularly well at the moment in Syria and Iraq. But he's not justifying them, he's instead talking about how some militant groups in Egypt and Libya have pledged allegiance to the Islamic state and how he now accepts those, saying the caliphate is now expanding.
Perhaps that's the point of the message to show that he has not cowed in any way, and certainly not sound like a man who may have been killed or injured just six days ago -- Erin.
BURNETT: Absolutely not. Thank you very much, Nick Paton Walsh.
And OUTFRONT now, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Republican Congressman Mike Rogers.
Good to have you with us, Chairman. Appreciate your time. U.S. officials were asked repeatedly this week if Baghdadi had been killed or wounded in airstrikes. No one seems to know anything. Now this audio appears to be Baghdadi alive. You've been briefed.
Do you have any further information on whether he was injured or even present during that airstrike?
REP. MIKE ROGERS (R), CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Well, I mean, again, obviously without seeing a body, it does take some time, especially when you don't have intelligence folks right there in the mix. So it's going to take some time. This is not unusual. We've seen this before in remote areas where strikes have occurred. So they are going through all their processes to check all their sources of information to see if, in fact, that was true.
I have not seen anything as of today or right now that would confirm that that's his voice. It may be. There was a lot speculation that he may have been wounded but is still alive. And the fact that it's audio and not video may lead to the confirmation of that assessment.
BURNETT: Right. Absolutely. Obviously, we should note, obviously, even though it was audio and not video, he's sort of a reclusive guy. We actually hadn't seen a message from him -- a direct message since July.
Even a failure, though, of the intelligence system, the days after these strikes, that, again, repeatedly we were told U.S. officials citing Iraqi intelligence. That they thought he was dead then they thought maybe he was wounded. But is it a problem that nobody appears to know what happened?
I mean, Iraqi intelligence is the one who targeted this convoy, said he was there and killed him. You would think that they would know.
ROGERS: Well. not necessarily. So remember, this is in some certain areas where there are no Iraqi troops, there are no Peshmerga troops, certainly there's no American troops or intelligence collectors. So it does take some time. And so again, this is not unusual that you would see somebody who was at least believed to be killed or believed to be part of a strike. And then it takes time to make sure that there is, again, other sources.
So you have human sources and other collection methods that you would use to try to figure out is he dead or not.
BURNETT: Yes.
ROGERS: And this is not completely unusual. The fact that the Iraqis came out so early, we've also seen that before where they are very aggressive about saying he was there and he's dead. We always take that with a grain of salt. We give it a little time and a little space.
BURNETT: Right.
ROGERS: And I -- I think, you know, again, what we're going to determine is, is probably going to be closer to that truth point of wounded but still alive.
BURNETT: Right. And interesting point about Iraqi intelligence. They had, you know, within the past month or so talked about a possible attack on New York or London subways which American intelligence then said was not -- was not accurate.
But what about Baghdadi himself? Because when you are somebody that doesn't appear very often and then all of a sudden there are reports that you are killed but you're not killed and you put out a release. You know, it sort of harkens back to the days of Osama bin Laden and how he used to do that.
Is this something that actually is going to empower Baghdadi, give him more of a cult-like status among his followers?
ROGERS: You know, I don't think so. So he's risen to that level of stature of where he is today and they'll continue to play this great cat-and-mouse game of where he is and where he isn't.
The whole goal here has to be, can you diminish a couple of things? Their command-and-control, their ability to resupply themselves or logistics, and really stop the momentum of them able to take new land. And you see a little bit of this in his conversation where he ends up talking about other al Qaeda affiliates or jihadist affiliates who are declaring allegiance to the Islamic state.
And we've seen that, by the way. About out of the 21 or so al Qaeda affiliates we track, about half of them have pledged some sort of allegiance to the Islamic state.
BURNETT: Which --
ROGERS: So he is still in pretty good shape and it's still something we have to work on but you need a more comprehensive strategy if you're going to contain him.
BURNETT: Pretty incredible that half of the al Qaeda affiliates that you're hearing briefings on have pledged in some way to ISIS.
I want to show again, though, the video of Omar Gonzalez, the man who broke the White House security and got in, as we've reported, and you've seen this. Ran across the White House lawn, got in, got into the East Wing, got all the way to the family's residence.
I don't know if you just heard the reporting that we have now, but -- that the Secret Service agent outside was actually on a phone call when Omar Gonzalez did this. He was on a personal phone call, didn't even have his Secret Service earpiece in.
That is shocking, isn't it?
ROGERS: Well, to me it's grounds for termination. If this is your assignment, this is your job, you have an -- this is an incredibly serious work that they do. Any deviation from what is procedure during your course of work hours is grounds for termination.
I -- you know, I don't know all of the facts, but everything that we're seeing clearly tells me that they've got to turn, and if they don't, this is only going to lead to more problems. They have a bit of a cultural problem brewing in the Secret service that they need to get a handle on. It is a great service with very committed people and I think if
they're going to stand up for those people they need to have very tough, I think, consequences for what happened on that particular day.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Chairman Rogers.
ROGERS: Thank you.
BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, in Ferguson a lawyer for the family says Michael Brown definitely had his hands in the air surrendering when Darren Wilson shot him.
And breaking news on immigration. Details tonight on when the president plans to take executive action.
And these sailors attacked in Turkey. Bags thrown over their head. The father of one of the sailors feared the worst. He talks OUTFRONT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight Michael Brown's family attorney comes out swinging, definitively saying Brown had his hands up when he was killed by Officer Darren Wilson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN CRUMP, MICHAEL BROWN JR.'S FAMILY ATTORNEY: There is evidence that shows Michael Brown had his hands up. Yes, no doubt about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Also today the family's private pathologist Dr. Michael Baden testified before the grand jury after being called in at the 11th hour.
Our Sara Sidner is OUTFRONT in Ferguson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The grand jury looking into the case that has spawned more than three months of daily protests in Ferguson, Missouri, is a step closer to a decision. Thursday the 12 jurors heard from Dr. Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist who was hired by Michael Brown's family to perform one of three autopsies on the unarmed teenager who shot and killed by Police Officer Darren Wilson.
Dr. Baden, who has a history with high profile cases, including a re- investigation of the JFK assassination and the O.J. murder trial, wouldn't say anything about his testimony here when he left. But the family attorney who hired Baden did talk.
CRUMP: There is evidence that shows Michael Brown had his hands up. Yes, no doubt about that. And that is not in regards to his testimony, that is in regards to what we know based on our review of all of the opinions.
ANTHONY D. GRAY, MICHAEL BROWN, JR.'S FAMILY ATTORNEY: It appears by Dr. Baden's appearance today, that we are probably getting to the end of the witness list.
SIDNER: So far most of the evidence that has leaked out of the grand jury has favored Wilson's version of events, including eyewitness testimony and Wilson's own story, saying Brown reached for the officer's gun through the window of his patrol vehicle. But the witness with Brown that day said Brown was trying to pull away.
The official autopsy leaked to the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" in October said Brown's right hand had gunshot residue on it.
Whether forensic evidence indicates Brown reached for the gun is in dispute. Then there is the question of how far away Brown was from Officer Wilson when Brown was killed. And what that says about whether or not Wilson feared for his life. Those are some of the issues the grand jury has to consider.
While the Brown family attorney spoke in Missouri, Officer Wilson's attorney spoke to CNN from St. Louis about whether the police union supports his use of force and Wilson's version of events.
NEIL BRUNTRAGER, ATTORNEY FOR DARREN WILSON: You know, the answer is, they don't. Obviously they are interested in their members and making sure their members are safe. You know, in terms of taking a position on anything else, you know, their position is that, look, justice is a process, they support the process.
SIDNER: But it is a process Brown's parents and protesters don't trust.
CRUMP: Here is the problem. When you have a grand jury, they only have one voice in there, and that is -- historically they are going to do whatever the prosecutor wants them to do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER: But this is an unusual case. And the prosecuting attorney's office has said time and again that they are going to show this grand jury all the evidence that they have to present, so that they can make a decision with all the voices that they can bring into the grand jury. So that they can look at all the evidence and make the decision whether or not to indict -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Sara, thank you very much.
And now I want to bring in our legal analyst, Mark O'Mara, forensic scientist Lawrence Kobilinsky, and CNN commentator LZ Granderson.
Mark, let me start with you. We now know members of the grand jury were the ones who asked to hear from the Michael Brown family pathologist, right? It wasn't the prosecutor who made that decision. The jury asked.
Why would the grand jury ask for him now at the very end, at the 11th hour?
MARK O'MARA, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, they just probably have a question, maybe some confusion about the other autopsies that they got. Maybe one particular question, maybe one particular jury.
I like the idea that we have an activist grand jury who's asking the prosecutor to go get more witnesses, go get more evidence, because we really want them to make a complete analysis of all of the evidence before making a decision so I'm encouraged that they're doing it this way.
BURNETT: All right. So, Dr. Kobilinsky, and this issue of autopsies, right. We know that there was an official autopsy then there was of course the autopsy from the family, where now the pathologist is testifying for the grand jury.
You heard Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Michael Brown's family saying there is no doubt about it. Michael Brown's hands were up in surrender when he was killed. You have looked at both autopsies. The official and the one from the family.
Is there anything to suggest that Brown had his hands up in surrender?
LAWRENCE KOBILINSKY, FOREIGN SCIENTIST: It's a complicated issue, believe it or not. Because I think both autopsies indicate the same thing, exactly where the wounds were, how many rounds were fired, the fact that the right side of the arm sustained four rounds. There is a lot that is the same in all these autopsies.
The question whether his hands were up can be argued different ways. I can tell you that the wound to the forearm had an entrance on the back of the forearm. It is what we call the dorsal side. And the exit was on the ventral side. So that if --
BURNETT: And that would indicate your hands are up.
KOBILINSKY: Right.
BURNETT: This way which is not in surrender, that is the opposite of what is surrender would be.
KOBILINSKY: That is -- that is correct. It's inconsistent -- it's inconsistent with this. So with respect to that, I think it's more likely than not that the hands were down.
Now on the upper arm, that's another issue. I think that can be interpreted different ways. I don't think there is anything clear-cut about whether the arms were up or down with respect to those wounds.
BURNETT: All right. So you're saying up or down, no answer, but you do believe in terms of whether they were this way or this way. You do get an answer. You're looking at it this way.
KOBILINSKY: You did.
BURNETT: So, LZ, to that point, I want to replay again what Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Michael Brown's family attorney, said to reporters this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUMP: There is evidence that shows Michael Brown had his hands up. Yes, no doubt about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: You just heard what Dr. Kobilinsky said. Yes, hands might have been up. Again, the point is, you know, which way they were facing. What is -- what is, though, the right thing for Benjamin Crump to be saying given how passionate people are, given that frankly his word is fact to a lot of people right now.
LZ. GRANDERSON CNN COMMENTATOR: Well, I think before -- you know, we talk about the attorney, we need to talk about the voices that we heard prior to the attorney getting involved. There were several witnesses, you know, within the first 24 hours that talked about seeing Michael Brown run away.
Now it's true, if your hands are held up in certain way like this, the bullet will come this way. But if you're running away, then it's quite possible that you're arms is facing in the opposite direction and that would help explain why the bullet -- why the autopsy came out the way that it did.
I'm not a professional in this area. No one, I would think, would protest this professor's area, we're going on a smell test and a sight test. And if all the witnesses within the 24 hours said they saw him with his hands up and started running away, then it seems to me --
BURNETT: Well --
GRANDERSON: It will make sense why you have a bullet coming in through the other way.
BURNETT: All right. So, Mark, to this point. They're -- obviously the official autopsy, both autopsies leave open this question of the hands up or down. But if their -- so far a lot of people have said that the official autopsy does support Darren Wilson's case, at least in one significant thing, which is that there was a struggle inside the car for the gun.
There are also, as LZ, is pointing out, look there were witnesses who completely support Michael Brown's side. There also were seven or eight witnesses that reportedly support Officer Wilson's account of what happened.
My question to you is, if the case for Officer Wilson is so strong, given the public passion about the case, why didn't the prosecutor bring it to trial because if the system work, the jury would return a not guilty and some would have more confidence in the system? So why not?.
O'MARA: Well, because nobody should get charged with a crime just to benefit society. For any other reason than to maybe address somebody's concerns. You should only be charged with a crime if in fact the grand jury believes you committed a crime. When he deferred from doing the prosecution decision himself to the grand jury, you now have to trust them.
You have to remember that Ben Crump is a great, zealous advocate for his client. He's not really bound by a dispassionate review of the facts. He's saying what he believe to be said appropriately on his client's behalf. So that's not fact, though it is going to be interpreted as fact.
BURNETT: Right.
And LZ, that's my point I'm making, right? Ben Crump's doing his job but there are people who will see that and they will get -- they will get very angry. He has the ability to have people lose faith in the system even though that may not be at what he's intending to me.
GRANDERSON: Well, it would seem to me that Ben Crump's job is to defend his clients, but also to defend his clients' (INAUDIBLE). He's a lawyer. He's not going to sit here and risk his credibility just because he has this one client.
BURNETT: Right.
GRANDERSON: So if he's saying this publicly, there must be something that he believes -- it's credible to support the things that he is saying but he's also -- and I've spoken to him. He's also very passionate, and this is another part of the conversation, about there being any sort of response to an indictment or non-indictment, it being a peaceful protest.
BURNETT: Right.
GRANDERSON: It's also important to note he's using his voice for good if you will as he's also trying to argue for his client using the facts that he's presented and that he knows.
BURNETT: All right. Well, thanks very much to all three of you. We appreciate your time tonight.
And OUTFRONT next, breaking news, details on when the president will take executive action on immigration. That report coming up.
Plus the U.S. sailors attacked on an Istanbul street. Tonight the parents of the key man there in the center of this speak out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Breaking news out of Washington tonight, we're learning President Obama could take executive action on immigration as early as next week. We've been told by the end of the year. Obviously this is much accelerated. This is of course sure to set up a major battle with Republicans.
Our chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash is OUTFRONT.
Dana, you know, look, he said I'll do it by the end of the year, if I need to. Doing it next year, I mean, that is a big salvo.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, we're told just to be clear it could be as early as late next week and we should also say that our Jim Acosta is being told at the White House that the president won't make any decision on content or timing until he comes back from Asia, which is going to be this weekend.
But let me tell you what I'm told from an administration official about the working plan for this executive order. It would direct immigration agents to allow illegal immigrants whose children are American citizens to be able to stay here legally. Obtain documents to do so. And also protect illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, the so-called DREAMers.
And also, Erin, they made clear anyone convicted of a crime would also have to leave. And again, just underscore the timing could be as early as late next week, but also could be a little bit more -- a little bit later than that.
BURNETT: Right. Obviously, the rhetoric as early as next week designed to get Republicans to sit up, which they will.
BASH: Exactly.
BURNETT: How are they going to respond? Even if he said, I'm willing to do it later, or even next week is sure to make them so angry that compromise becomes more difficult.
BASH: Absolutely, Erin. I was on Capitol Hill all day today. There were meetings going on behind closed doors across Capitol Hill, among Republicans, trying to figure out how to counter and really negate any executive action.
And the leading idea is to use the main power that Congress has, which is the power of the purse, to defund the implementation of any of this new immigration policies that the president would do by executive order.
But get this, Erin, the funding for the government, runs out December 11th. So if Republicans want to use a bill to keep the government running, which they have to do before December 11th, to defund immigration, like they did with Obamacare last year, it could spiral into another government shut down. And I can tell you that's why Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid told our Ted Barrett today that he wants the president to wait until that funding is done until he issues that executive order.
BURNETT: Right, right. Oh, wow.
Thank you very much, Dana Bash.
BASH: Thank you.
BURNETT: And now to the three American sailors who were assaulted on the streets of Istanbul yesterday. They were on leave for the day from the USS Ross. They were dressed in civilian clothes and unarmed. They were then verbally and physically attacked. All of this happening in broad daylight.
Mark Anthony Craddock Jr. is the sailor you see here, the one surrounded by those attackers, and then a bag placed over his head. His parents Mark and Deanna (ph) join me OUTFRONT.
And I can't even imagine what you all must think when you see that video, before you even saw it, though, I believe you got a call from Mark. What did he tell you?
MARK CRADDOCK, SR., FATHER OF U.S. SAILOR ATTACKED IN TURKEY: Well, he called yesterday morning and he said, dad, I just want to let you know, that something has happened and I'm OK.
And I asked for details and he couldn't give me details and he had to hang up immediately.
So, at least we knew he was OK but we had no other information than that when he first called.
BURNETT: So, Deanna, did you get a better sense of what happened literally from this very frightening video we're seeing with your son right there in the middle?
DEANNA CRADDOCK, MOTHER OF U.S. SAILOR ATTACKED IN TURKEY: : Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. It is very scary.
BURNETT: Oh, it must have been terrifying. Go ahead, sorry, Mark.
MARK CRADDOCK: It's OK. We went online just like everybody else did, once we found out. We really didn't know our son was involved from the call. He's called like that before and didn't want us to worry if we saw his ship mentioned or anything like that.
So, we went online and saw that there were three sailors that were attacked. And still at that time, we didn't know that it was him. We had no idea until later when we pulled up one of the videos and saw it and were just -- our heart stopped when we saw that it was terrifying.
BURNETT: Oh, my gosh. I can't believe that is how you found out. I don't think anyone would have expected that.
When -- I want to play -- I know it is hard to hear but obviously he's OK. So, you know he's all right. I want to play one part of this sound bite when they spoke to your son directly. I'll just play it for our viewers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we define you as murderers, as killers, we want you -- we want you to get out of our land.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Mark, when you hear that and your son is serving his nation overseas, how did that make you feel? MARK CRADDOCK: When we first saw the video, obviously we were
frightened and angry all at the same time. You see things like this on TV and I know everyone says this, but until it is someone that means something to you, it really doesn't -- it really doesn't take effect. But when we saw our son being talked to that way and pushed around and then that bag placed on his head, it was -- I don't even know how to describe it to you, Erin. It was awful.
BURNETT: Deanna, you must have -- despite being afraid, been incredibly proud of how your son handled this, that he didn't escalate it, that he didn't fight back when he himself must have been terrified.
DEANNA CRADDOCK: Very proud. He makes me a very proud mother.
BURNETT: I know he'll be glad to hear that and watch this when he hears you say that.
Mark, there were 12 Turks allegedly involved in this attack. And here is what we know about this here at CNN, according to a Turkish news agency. We know there were 12. We know that they were charged but they were released, pending a, quote-unquote, "investigation".
Does that anger you that this is a key ally to the United States?
MARK CRADDOCK: It could be easy to be angry at the individuals that did this, but, you know, with our faith we really don't feel that way. In a way, we feel sorry for them. We would like to see their life changed and turned around where they don't feel like it's necessary for them to do something like this.
And to be honest with you, Erin, our faith is what's keep us strong the whole thing, given us peace to know our son is OK.
BURNETT: And you've spoken to him again and he knows you've seen the video and he knows that you know everything is OK?
MARK CRADDOCK: No. Well, like I said, we got to talk to him yesterday morning just for a moment. And then the only other contact we've had with him was social media and that was just one quick, "I'm OK, just want to let you know that. We're heading back to -- heading back to our port" and that was it. That is all of the information we've had from him.
BURNETT: Wow. My goodness. And that is so hard because now you have seen the video and haven't been able to talk to him about it, but at least you know he is safe and we appreciate you sharing your feelings with us tonight.
Thanks to both of you.
MARK CRADDOCK: You are very welcome.
DEANNA CRADDOCK: Thank you.
BURNETT: And OUTFRONT ahead: 13 women die from a surgical procedure from a quote, "sterilization camp" -- doctors paid for the operations performing up to 300 sterilizations in one day.
Plus, new details on the space probe and the comet making a connection. How close, though, did it come to complete and utter disaster? We'll ask Bill Nye.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: It was a space mission ten years in the making, 310 million miles from where I'm standing right now, plus or minus a couple thousand. The probe reached comet 67P, as it's called, but the landing did not go as planned according to this rocket scientist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN PIERRE BIBRING, PHILAE LEAD SCIENTIST AND PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: We landed finally, while almost vertically, one foot probably in the open air -- open space, I'm sorry, there is no air around. Open space, two feet still on the surface.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. I'm glad he had sense of humor about it, one just foot hanging out there. That might be scary, though.
Well, the European Space Agency released a new black and white images on the second day of the mission, which is pretty stunning.
Bill Nye is the executive director of the Planetary Society. He joins me with the money and power of the mission.
So, I want to start here with one of the first pictures taken from the surface of 67P. Again, just everybody, you're looking at this. It is 310 million miles away.
BILL NYE, PLANETARY SOCIETY: It is a piece of the primordial solar system. This is before planets had formed, probably 4.6 billion years ago. So, this surface has been largely untouched all that time.
So the premise of the bit, as we say in comedy writing, is to get a piece of it and to understand it and see what it is made of. Are there amino acids with the two oxygens? Are they just there?
BURNETT: So, to me this looks like any old rock and to you this is not any old rock.
NYE: To the geologists, every rock tells a story.
BURNETT: Right, which they do. Every rock tells a story.
So, now, let me show this and I know you'll talk about the video.
NYE: Just that we're descending. This is actually coming down, touch a little bit more aggressively. There we go.
BURNETT: OK.
NYE: So, this is actual --
BURNETT: That is a free fall for what, seven hours. They just dropped it out of space.
NYE: And when it hit the surface, it bounced. The thing has these mechanical arms or legs.
BURNETT: They are called harpoons or something.
NYE: Well, the harpoons are going to go vertically. But the idea is they have a little springiness, they are mechanism like an umbrella. So, the thing bounced off into space and came back down again, came down and did it again. And the reason it can go so high and yet it comes back, surprising as it may seem, everybody out here has gravity. The rock and the spacecraft have --
BURNETT: Just enough, because it could have missed.
Now, here is the thing though, when we look at the lander. Here it is with the one --
NYE: This is the representation -- yes. Here we are, stuck, with one leg.
BURNETT: Can it do it's job with one leg up?
NYE: Well, so, now, it gets risky, because although it is just really seriously a beautiful graphic, it is partially in the shade. It landed in a crater where there is a lot of shade. So the batteries can last, they say, about 60 Earth hours. And then without sunlight, it will not recharge. So, now, you got to make a decision.
BURNETT: Here is the size of comet 67P, 2 1/2 miles long. So, my question to you is, if you land in a shady part, if you land the shady part of earth, the earth resolves, right, so you get a sunny day. Does 67p revolve?
NYE: Very slowly, very slowly. And my understanding from what I've read, it is in a situation where the axis is not being presented to the sun. Can you imagine if you are at the North Pole and you don't get to spin into sunlight every day?
BURNETT: Right.
NYE: So, it is in an undesirable place and people have to make a decision. There you are a rocket scientist, or rocket engineer, and you've been working on this thing for ten years. So, it's getting some data. Do you take a chance and try to operate the drill and have it push the thing back off the object and then fall back down?
Now, if you like to worry about things, you are in a great situation here. This is 2 1/2 miles wide. If this object came in to the Earth at 20 kilometers a second, it's pretty fast, 30,000 miles an hour, it is trouble. So with one day, humans will have to make the rendezvous and give it a nudge.
BURNETT: Pretty incredible.
NYE: There's a lot going on out there. It's the European Space Agency and they do this because they know it raises the quality of life. The optimism and the expectations of society and they're going to make discoveries.
BURNETT: Well, let's hope they do.
All right. Bill, thank you so much.
NYE: Thank you, Erin.
BURNETT: And next, breaking Ebola news coming up. A doctor with Ebola headed to the United States. Plus, a doctor arrested in a mass sterilization drive, 13 women dead after surgeries that were done in assembly line fashion.
Plus, we'll turn the cute meter all the way up with Jeanne Moos with a baby who dances until she drops.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Breaking news: CNN is just learning a surgeon infected with Ebola will be flown from Sierra Leone to University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. The man is a Sierra Leone national, married to an American citizen. He'd be the third patient with Ebola to be treated that hospital.
Meantime, a surgeon is under arrest for the deaths of dozens of women. He sterilized them in government sponsored procedures in India. Dr. R.K. Gupta operated on the 83 women in just six hours. It sounds horrific. It's nearly three times of number of surgeries India's government recommends and let's emphasize the Indian government supports sterilizing women.
Sumnina Udas is OUTFRONT from the town where the atrocity happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUMNINA UDAS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The victims keep arriving, more than 120 women hospitalized, some in critical condition. Thirteen have died after having their fallopian tubes tied in a government-organized mass sterilization drive.
This is where it happened, an abandoned government building.
(on camera): A temporary camp was set up in this government hospital which has been vacant for the past seven months. The caretaker here says a sterilization drive used to be held here in this room, twice a month. But as you can see, it has been sealed off by the government because an investigation is now under way.
(voice-over): Dr. R.K. Gupta was arrested on charges of negligence and attempted culpable homicide in the deaths of a dozen women who had undergone sterilization operations. Investigators say he operated on 83 women in six hours. The procedure was free, and the government even offered $23 as an incentive, a little more than a week's salary for some in this part of the country.
Families here in the village in India are outraged and grieving. Three women volunteered for the procedure. Two of them died.
"My wife had severe pain and started vomiting the day after the surgery. I took her to the hospital. She died half an hour later. It is very difficult for me," he says. "I have three very young children."
Investigators believe the antibiotics and painkillers distributed at the sterilization camp may have been tainted. Today, they raided pharmaceutical plant that supplied the medicines.
SONMANI BOHRA, COMMISSIONER, BILASPUR DISTRICT: This is a medical negligence in the sense that 83 numbers of operations in a short duration. So, I think the whole norms and procedure and the standards of doing all these operations, I think those were violated.
UDAS: Hygiene levels in the camp and the quality of the equipment used is also being questioned and confiscated by police as they wait the results of the autopsy reports.
"I was given a urine test, blood test, blood pressure test and then the surgery. After that, I took painkillers and antibiotics. I'm not sure who to blame, the doctor or the medicines," she says.
Of the $23 she was supposed to receive as payment, she only got $10.
India reported in 2012 it had sterilized 4 million women that year, more than any other country in the world. The government says it is an effective way to curb the country's fast growing population.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
UDAS: Erin, Gupta's arrest is one of several measures taken by authorities in response to those deaths and the growing public outcry, but Gupta maintains he is innocent and merely a scapegoat in what is a much wider issue.
We actually spoke to Gupta several times before he was arrested and he says as far as he was concerned, all safety procedures were taken care of, he says he's performed some 50,000 sterilization surgeries in the past 30 years and actually recently awarded by the state government for doing exactly that. But he did mention there is a huge amount of pressure here on doctors to perform as many of these surgeries as possible. And that's what activists say is just that, it is one of the many flaws in India's growing population growth.
BURNETT: Sumnina, thank you very much. Just an absolutely horrific story.
Jeanne Moos is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Here's my son Nyle. He loves to wiggle to the song "No More Monkeys".
Here is Jeanne Moos with more busting moves.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Who can resist a dancing baby? Whether it is dancing with Ally McBeal or dancing to sell bottled water that when the baby is real, and she's boogying to musical birthday card featuring the hamster dance. Prepare to be smitten by Acadia Jamison. Not so much by her moves, just by her stops and starts.
The card was from her grandma for Acadia's first birthday.
LIANA NICE, ACADIA'S MOM: Yes, actually -- it is quite well-loved at this point, you can see.
MOOS: The hamster inside is hanging by a threat.
(on camera): When I was one, they didn't have musical birthday cards. Try dancing to this.
(voice-over): But Acadia could single-handedly boost the musical card industry with her joie de vivre. Though the opposite of joie de vivre is also going viral.
Who ever thought of movie called "The Chipmunk Adventure" could be such a tearjerker. This is the second time that almost 3-year-old Reagan Loofer had seen it. The part where a baby penguin is reunited with its family really got to her.
Reminds us of Marie Lynn Leroux (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No way tomorrow --
MOOS: She was dubbed the emotional baby for the way she repeatedly reacted to just this one song her mom used to sing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to wake up missing you --
MOOS: Now, a year later, her mom says she still gets emotional when she watches this video.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just a song.
MOOS: Don't try telling that to Acadia. Sometimes when her parents are in the other room, they hear the card opening.
NICE: She'll be sitting in there going at it.
MOOS: When you put her on TV, she went at it, all right.
NICE: She loves it.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wake up missing you --
MOOS: -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: That one's great.
Anderson starts now.