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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Remembering James Gandolfini; Wrestled To Death?; Wildfires Burn Through Arizona; TWA Flight 800 Documentary Backlash; Shooting in Louisville; Prancercising Into Our Hearts
Aired June 20, 2013 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Tony soprano, the crippled head of a New Jersey crime family -- I'm sorry New Jersey crime family. You know, it's a part that Gandolfini played for six seasons. He won three Emmys. That show's creator, David Chase, calling him a genius. That's not an overstatement.
Chase said, "Anyone who saw him even in the smallest of his performances knows that. He is one of the greatest actors of this or of anytime." Gandolfini is survived by his wife, his son, and tragically, a nine-month-old daughter. An autopsy planned for tomorrow.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Startling allegations to tell you about this morning against a teenager asked to baby sit his young sister. As Nick Valencia tells us, the sister is now dead. The brother is in custody. He's charged with killing her.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADLOURDES DESVALLONS, MOTHER: I really don't know why. That's my question, I don't know why.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shocked and stunned, the mother of a five-year-old girl killed by her 13-year-old half- brother. The boy, a reported fan of professional wrestling, that world of choreographed body slams, thrown elbows, and choke holds. The mother had left the teen to babysit. Authorities say the teen told them he used to child to practice those wrestling moves.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He slammed on the bed, slammed over his knee, elbowed and things of that nature and pounded upon, suffered significant internal injuries and obviously succumbed to those injuries.
VALENCIA: The sheriff's office said the boy told them he knew TV wrestling was fake and during the interview with his mother present appeared to take pride in what he was doing and showed no remorse.
The World Wrestling Entertainment, a professional wrestling organization that televises its matches issued this statement, "The facts of this case clearly point to a lack of parental supervision. It is illogical to conclude that the repeated brutal and ultimately fatal beating of a five-year-old little girl could be confused with imitation of WWE action seen on TV." UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in the indictment.
VALENCIA: The case is reminiscent of that of Lionel Tate (ph) in 2001. The Florida teen was convicted of using wrestling moves that killed six-year-old Tiffany Yunick (ph). Although his sentence was later voided because he wasn't mentally evaluated before the trial, at the time, 14-year-old Tate was the youngest person in the U.S. to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Back in Louisiana, the 13-year-old, if convicted, would be younger. He's been charged with second-degree murder. His mother will not be charged.
Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Such a sad story.
All right. President Obama back in this country this morning --
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): returning from his trip to Ireland from the G-8 summit in Germany where he gave a speech at the Brandenburg Gate. The president insisting the NSA surveillance programs were effective in foiling terror plots there and here in the U.S. He's promising to declassify more information about these programs and share more success stories with the public.
BERMAN (voice-over): Right now, Arizona's first major wildfire of the season is winning the battle against hundreds of firefighters trying to contain it. The dozy fire is still spreading near Prescott, Arizona. Officials say it's now grown to 7,000 acres. The fast moving flames forcing the evacuation of nearly 500 homes. It is zero percent contained right now.
ROMANS: In California, fire crews are making progress against a wildfire burning close to a main route into Yosemite National Park. Cooler temperatures, higher humidity have helped these firefighters almost completely stop the fire or forward (ph) progress. Some 1,000 evacuees have been allowed now, John, to return to their homes.
BERMAN: And this looks a lot more ominous than it turned out to be. To me, it looks incredibly ominous, but it's a waterspout, spotted in Grand Isle, Louisiana. The National Weather Service reports some of just minor damage, including a downed power line as this spout stayed mostly over the water. But it really just is a stunning picture.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (on-camera): Our Indra Petersons to check with big weather picture for us. And, Indra, good morning. You got your eyes on a tropical storm in Mexico. INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We forget, right? It's hurricane season. Some kind of -- we had Andrea brought us some rain about a couple of weeks ago, but now, we are still watching Berry. Now, notice where berry is. Right off the coast of Mexico, expected to make land fall in the next few hours right northwest of Veracruz (ph), Mexico. Pretty light tropical storm. Tropical storm about 39-mile- per-hour winds. Only about 45 miles per hour.
Here's the track, though. It's expected to go west. It's only moving west at five miles per hour right now. So, what it's expected to do is just kind of die out once it makes its way over Mexico, but not before heavy amount there. We're talking three to five inches of rain and some of the elevations we're talking about, 10 inches of rain.
So, definitely heavy rain expected for them. As far as the rest of the country, we're talking about warming up especially in the northeast and mid-Atlantic, and even down to the south. Temperatures expected to go above normal as we head in through the weekend. Love that. We're not seeing the rain anymore, but unfortunately, on the west coast, we keep talking about this.
The fire threat. It remains. Temperatures expected to stay warm throughout the weekend and stay dry. And of course, we could start to see some winds pick up by the beginning of the week out towards Yosemite.
BERMAN: So, a nice weekend out here, at least.
PETERSONS: Beautiful here.
ROMANS: Thank you, Indra.
BERMAN: A former top FBI official is firing back at claims of a cover-up in the downing of a TWA flight, TWA flight. Jack Kallstrom (ph) headed the FBIs investigation of the crash, and he told Jake Tapper on "The Lead," they were very thorough. He does not buy the argument from six former investigators that the NTSB the special report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they felt that way back then, they could have come to me. I was someone desiring to get to the bottom of this thing, believe me. And I had a reputation for not, you know, not pushy footing around. Yet, it seems like they've comfortably waited until they had their pensions before they became whistleblowers. So, I think it's a bunch of bull crap.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Jack Kallstrom (ph) not happy one bit. In a new documentary, the retired investigators claim the NTSB pushed the line at the crashed was an accident and ignored evidence of an explosion outside of the cabin. Flight 800 went down in 1996, killing all 230 people on board. ROMANS: Kallstrom saying it was offensive to the families, this documentary and these six investigators offensive to the families (ph).
BERMAN: He's mad.
ROMANS: Yes. He's very mad.
All right. The controversial Christian ministry that's focused on trying to cure homosexuality is shutting its doors. Exodus International's leader announcing Wednesday the group will despond (ph) and reform as a new organization. Allen Chambers (ph) apologizing to those he said he's hurt writing on the Exodus website that, quote, "friends and critics alike have said it's not enough to simply change our message or website. I understand why I am distrusted and why Exodus is hated."
Several affiliated ministries have already broken away from the group over its no longer preaching that all guys can become heterosexual.
BERMAN: Another big name Republican is backing gay marriage. Alaska Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski, saying it's the right thing to do, because it keeps the government out of personal lives and encourages the forming of stable families. She's the third seating Republican senator to announce support for gay marriage joining Ohio's Rob Portman and Mark Kirk from Illinois.
ROMANS: Tennis star, Serena Williams, is responding this morning to some controversial comments she reportedly made about the Steubenville rape case. "Rolling Stones" quotes William saying the 16-year-old rape victim, quote, "shouldn't have put herself in that position," unquote.
But in the statement on her website, Williams announced she plans to apologize to the girl's family saying, quote, "What was written, what I supposedly said is insensitive and hurtful and I, by no means, would say or insinuate that she was at all to blame.
"Rolling Stone" is standing by the interview. The author (ph) telling Poynter.org the conversation is on tape. And you remember, two men have been convicted in that rape case.
Coming up, a pool party turning toxic. One man in a coma. Look at this. Others hospitalized. Terrifying. The rescues caught on camera, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Authorities in Louisville continuing to investigate a deadly shooting.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): Someone opened fire at a condominium complex. Three people, including a young girl and the shooter were killed. A fourth person is in the hospital with life threatening injuries. This happened toward the end of the day. There were lots of people around. Many of them at complex's pool.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This man and his son or nephew came running through the gate, panicked and out of breath. And they just kept saying, somebody call the cops, somebody call the cops. The little boy said my mom's been shot. And, shots were fired. Shots were fired. They panicked. They wanted to get away from whoever. It's just crazy, because nothing like that has ever happened around here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Police are calling it a domestic incident but aren't explaining the connection between these victims.
BERMAN (voice-over): All right. Talk about the right place at the right time. A one-year-old boy is alive and well this morning after falling into the arms of a stranger. Not just any stranger. The boy crawled out of the apartment window in Brooklyn, climbed on to a fire escape and he fell onto the awning of a frozen yogurt shop, apparently, bouncing toward the street, but a passerby was there and made a quick move and caught him.
Now, the person who caught the baby may have been in her blood. The passerby, Christina Torre, the daughter of baseball great, Joe Torre, the former manager of the New York Yankees, a former fantastic baseball player, MVA, was an MVP catcher and third baseman. Joe Torre says he is proud of his daughter. You know, for all the catches and all the plays he made, she may have made an even more important catch right there.
ROMANS: Absolutely. Good for her. What a New York story, too.
All right. The fog you see over the swimming pool, a really bad idea. This came from liquid nitrogen poured into the pool at the event for the drink company, Jagermeister, in Mexico. So, this liquid nitrogen goes into the pool. It creates this toxic cloud, sickening at least eight people, leading to frantic rescues in the water. You can see them dragging people out. One person left, Berman, in a coma from this.
BERMAN: That is awful. Like an awful idea. Goodness. You know, you hope they're all OK. That's all I can say.
All right. We have some other video to share you right now. Crazy stuff from Russia. A subway in St. Petersburg on the move despite the doors being open.
ROMANS: Oh my!
BERMAN: Look at that. You know the crazy thing is the passengers, they're like whatever. Not all that fazed by it. They got a little bit closer to take a look, but they just kept going. No one is screaming. All very normal. I would not put my head out. I'd be careful about that.
ROMANS: Wow!
BERMAN: Kind of amazing picture right there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (on-camera): All right. Let's take look at what's coming up on "New Day." It's something you've never seen before. A subway in New York with the door open. Kate Bolduan, Chris Cuomo are with us now. Hi, guys.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How are you doing there? Some video you're looking at.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, I'm even more scared to use the subway.
(LAUGHTER)
CUOMO: Wouldn't happen here in New York. That's for sure. OK. A little somber here this morning, same reason you were. Tough news, the passing of actor, James Gandolfini, obviously known as Tony Soprano, but as we're learning what made him great went far beyond his acting. We'll be talking to cast mates and friends of his to learn about the man that they're going to miss so much.
BOLDUAN: And another story we're watching closely, guys, is the FBI admitting of using drones inside the U.S. You're seeing some drone video right there. What else don't we know about the government surveillance programs? You can be sure there are many lawmakers asking that same question. We're going to have a live report and try to figure a little bit more about this.
CUOMO: We got a different shocker for you as well. Paula Deen cooking up serious controversy accused of being a racist. We're going to look at her court deposition that is taking over the internet right now. We'll find out why. How about that? That's the show. And then we got John Berman who is beloved and respected by many.
BERMAN: By some.
CUOMO: Far and wide (ph).
BERMAN: Many maybe taking it far. I should tell you, guys, I'm bringing snacks today. I don't want to reveal too much.
BOLDUAN: All righty.
BERMAN: But I'm bringing snacks. That's the tease for you.
BOLDUAN: You're now invited back twice.
(LAUGHTER)
CUOMO: John, did you sign the little waiver yet about letting us use that photo of you for the end of every day on "New Day?" BERMAN: Yes. If you did not see the show yesterday, there was remarkable sequence involving Fabio who apparently is going to pick me up in a photo of me that, unfortunately, appeared several times.
BOLDUAN: And I know you're thinking, Christine, why didn't Fabio pick me up. I know.
ROMANS: I'd rather see Fabio -- I'd rather see John and Chris fight over Fabio. That's what I'd like to --
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: He's mine. He's mine, I say.
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: He clearly likes me better. Let's live it there.
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: We have a show to finish up here. You guys got to get ready for yours.
CUOMO: Thank you, guys.
BERMAN: The news continues.
And coming up, the Bruins, you know, they scored five goals last night. They scored five and they lost in an overtime thriller. This is a truly magnificent series. We will show you all the twists and turns in the "Bleacher Report," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All right. The Chicago Blackhawks pulled even in the Stanley Cup finals last night, thrilling overtime win over the Bruins. High score.
BERMAN: Very high score.
ROMANS: Just a five (ph). Wow!
BERMAN: Andy Scholes, explain it to us in this morning's "Bleacher Report."
ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Yes. Good morning, guys. On the previous two games combined, Chicago managed to score only one goal. You know, but they broke through in a big way in game four. And this game pretty much a must win for the Blackhawks, and they played like it. Chicago came out the aggressor. They led 1-0, 4-2, and 5-4. But each time the Bruins, they just found a way to fight back and tie the score.
A total, 11 goals, like you said, were scored in this game. And for the third time in this series, they need overtime to decide the outcome. In the extra period, defense man, Brent Seabrook would come through with a winning goal for the Blackhawks. This series now tied at two. Game five back in Chicago on Saturday night.
Well, tonight, it's winner take all between the Heat and the Spurs in game seven of the NBA finals. The odds are stacked against the San Antonio Spurs in this one. In the past 35 years, there have been five game sevens in the NBA finals and the home team has won every single one of them.
In game six, the Heat needed an amazing comeback in the final seconds to force overtime. It was a comeback that many Heat fans missed because they gave up on the team and left the arena. And Miami forward (ph), Chris Bosh, has a message to those fans who left early.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS BOSH, MIAMI HEAT CENTER: For all the guys who left, you know, make sure you don't come to game seven. We only want the guys who are going to stay in the building for the whole game, you know? And you know, you never give up. People gave up on us. You know, they can stay where they are and watch the game at home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Tip off tonight is at 9:00 eastern. Well, Tiger Woods didn't look like himself this past weekend at the U.S. Open, and now, we know why. Tiger announced yesterday that he has a left elbow strain and is forced him to withdraw from this weekend's AT&T national tournament. In a statement released on his website, Tiger said he would be ready for the British open which begins July 18th.
All right, guys. Well, some professional athletes are really, really attached to their numbers. And apparently, Darrelle Revis is one of them. According to ESPN, Revis paid Mark Baron $50,000 for the number 24. Revis was traded from the Jets to the Buccaneers this off season and then he signed a six-year deal for $96 million. You see there Revis on the left. And guys, apparently, he can use that $50,000 he spent to get the number 24 as a tax write off. I'm not sure how that exactly works, but --
BERMAN: Really?
ROMANS: Business expense.
SCHOLES: Clearly, it's a business expense.
BERMAN: The financial journalist right here explaining it all to us.
ROMANS: That's creative.
BERMAN: You know, I should have made Cuomo pay more --
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: -- when I sold him my number. All right. Andy Scholes, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
ROMANS: All right. coming up, YouTube prancersing sensation turned music video star. The woman behind these graceful and side tony (ph) moves opens up about her newfound fame.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Admit it, she pranced into your heart, didn't she? The newest internet star who pranced into John Berman's heart with her interesting exercise style. Jeanne Moos says she seems to be adjusting well to her newfound fame.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet Prancercise. A big star like John Mayer turns the prancercise lady --
JOANNA ROHRBACK, FOUNDER, PRANCERCISE: So let about romancercising (ph)
MOOS: Into the leading lady on his new single.
(SINGING) My love didn't cost a thing.
MOOS: It's natural to wonder, hold your horses, how did that happen? Joanna Rohrback says her understanding is that Mayer saw her original prancersice video with the volume turned down while he was working on his song.
ROHRBACK: He saw that my movement synchronized with the song very well.
MOOS: Next thing you know, Mayer's crew was shooting her prancercising to "Paper Doll." It's been a surreal ride for Joanna. Imagine seeing yourself spoofed by a horse. By a family. By a lady walking her dog.
ROHRBACK: It's been very chaotic to be honest with you, Jeanne. I just can't seem to get a handle on everything.
MOOS: Joanna calls the reaction to her rhythmic exercise routine inspired by horses overwhelming but thrilling. Prancercise is even spawn (ph) Twitter. Her tweets get pretty jumbled. When you shift to a gallop.
(on-camera) Now, I'm not especially proud to say that I was one of the first news people to prancercise publicly.
I'm channeling my inner horse. It's exhausting.
(voice-over) Maybe my colleagues in the news business should have known better than to follow in my prancercise steps. On the "Today" show, it was almost a prancercise collision between the hosts, on HLN news now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's time to prancercise. Let's go. MOOS: Anchor, Mike Galanos, led what amounted to a prancercise flash mob. And on the KTWO morning show in Casper, Wyoming, a fitness trainer gave her critique.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's a prancing on to the scene. So, what are you looking at right now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just a lot of flailing around right now is what i see.
ROHRBACK: Nobody is really doing it, you know? They're imitating what they think is prancercise. They aren't doing the actual movement.
MOOS: Tell that to the unicorn. Let's face it. We all look as graceless as donkeys compared to the princess of prancercising.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: At CNN, we have serious respect for Joanna Rohrback and the efforts she is making toward, you know, bringing horses into exercising. She won her award of the day on "New Day" yesterday.
ROMANS: That's right. Chris Cuomo and Kate Bolduan here -- you know, she's 61. I mean, I think it's important that she's 61 and in fantastic shape. It's obviously working for her, guys.
BOLDUAN: Absolutely.
BERMAN: Let's turn to you, guys. What do you have coming up on "New Day?"
BOLDUAN: Well, first, we were actually kind of talking about and joking a little bit, not really even joking, but when I was working out yesterday, I actually was thinking about prancercise. I did not prancercise, but we were -- she's always in my thoughts.
BERMAN: Denial there. We did note the denial. You did not prancercise according to Kate Bolduan.
CUOMO: I've always taken it seriously. When I started prancercising in 1990, not as many people knew about it. And I think that it's really through the form that you get the full feel for it.
BOLDUAN: Do you think you deserve a little credit for this?
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: I'm more of a disciple. I'm more of a disciple. I'm the court behind the horse.
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: It's in your heart, guys. It's in your heart. BOLDUAN: Yes.
CUOMO: Tell them what we have. We have to get away from this right away.
BOLDUAN: We need to get run away from this or prance away from this right away.
There's a lot of news that we're going to be getting to in the next few hours. The story you've been following for us, John, actually, on that Patriots football player who was reportedly interviewed by police after an associate of his was murdered. There's a lot of sketchy details still, but raising a lot of questions as well.
CUOMO: And also, we have some video that is going to make science touch your heart. Take a look at this. This little boy, deaf. He's a toddler. But right now, what you're hearing is him hearing his father's voice for the first time. The moment was caught on tape. The science of it is fascinating, how they were able to make this little boy hear again. So, we're going to bring in Sanjay Gupta. He's going to tell us all about the medical breakthrough. Really amazing story.
BOLDUAN: Really amazing story. But of course, first, it is the top of the hour, which means it's time for the top news.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: This morning, actor, James Gandolfini, has died, after an apparent heart attack at the age of 51. We'll have all the breaking details.
BOLDUAN: The tributes are pouring in for "The Sopranos" star. We talked to those who knew him best, his "Sopranos" co-stars, and celebrate his amazing and groundbreaking career.
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: New details on the government's use of drones in the U.S.
That Patriots' player reportedly interviewed by police about a murder.
And Lebron one on one with our Rachel Nichols, an interview you have to see.
CUOMO: Your "NEW DAY" starts right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is "New Day" with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
