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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trayvon Martin's Parents Speak
Aired July 19, 2013 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Don Lemon. It's almost 5:30 in the morning, eastern time.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Is it me?
LEMON: No, it's just hot.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: We're now entering the dangerous day six of a dangerous heat wave that's smothering half the nation now. This morning, 23 states under heat advisory. That means the heat index will reach 105 degrees or higher. This is going to affect some 141 million Americans who've been sweating out these temperatures approaching triple digits for the better part of a week now.
Meteorologist, Indra Petersons, is live from midtown Manhattan this morning where, Indra, barely coming up, but the mercury already rising.
LEMON: Yes.
INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, I can tell you, because we've been out here every morning. There is a huge different this morning from what we felt the last several days. I mean, normally, these early morning hours, I'm like, yes, it's hot, I can tell it's going to be bad today. It's literally unbearable already. Right now, it's 84 degrees. It feels like it's in the 90s.
We're talking about 73 percent humidity. And that's actually going to be the story today. We're going to be looking at more warnings instead of advisories. Meaning, we're bumping up the level of heat today. We're going to talk about a feeling like 110 in many places. Unbelievable. Take a look. We're expecting these warnings. We're talking about Boston, Philadelphia, New York, down to D.C., even stretching into Detroit.
It could feel like anywhere between 105 and 110 degrees. So, definitely hotter in a lot of places, although, we're starting to see a change. That cold front is making its way through. So with that, the Midwest is starting to cool off first today. You're going to see those changes here as the cold front pushes through. The temperatures will eventually drop each day, of course, progressing as it moves off to the northeast.
But what that means is some rain. So, yes, we are going to cool off. But I'm not going to say it's a drastic cooling trend, because yes, temperatures will go down. When you add in all that rain, you kind of have that hot muggy feeling either way. So, heavy rain especially possible, the thunderstorm. And we could be talking about severe weather.
Just take a look between Friday, today, anywhere from Iowa all the way through Michigan and each day as that cold front progresses will be showers and thunderstorms along that cold front. Eventually, by Saturday night, heavy storms into the northeast. So, yes, definitely some severe weather in the form of heat and then severe weather in the form of thunderstorms headed our way.
LEMON: Oh, boy. Here we go. Thank you, Indra.
PETERSONS: Sure.
ROMANS: A Massachusetts State police sergeant who photographed Boston bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the moments before his captured. That sergeant is now in trouble at work. Sgt. Sean Murphy (ph) took these photos. He released them online Thursday through Boston magazine. He did it in response to the controversial "Rolling Stone" cover featuring Tsarnaev. Sgt. Murphy did not have permission to release those photographs to the public.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF JOHN WOLFSON, EDITOR, BOSTON MAGAZINE: I think he was genuinely worried about the impact on the family of the victims. And I think he was also worried that certain impressionable people might be lured to replicate that by the kind of glamorous looking photo that is on the "Rolling Stone" cover.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Sgt. Murphy was suspended from work on Thursday. He's now facing an internal police investigation. A status hearing will determine whether Murphy will remain on duty during that investigation, but obviously, these pictures much, much different than sort of that selfie as they call it, the self-portrait of Tsarnaev that landed on the front page of -- cover of "Rolling Stone."
LEMON: "Rolling Stone," yes.
Other news now, Trayvon Martin's parents say the justice system failed them and their son. Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton telling CNNs Anderson Cooper how difficult it was to hear all the negative comments about their son during George Zimmerman's murder trial, but they've sat there every day except for the final day because Trayvon couldn't speak for himself.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You all had talked ahead of time about not being there on the day the verdict came down. Why did you not want to be there on that day? SYBRINA FULTON, TRAYVON MARTIN'S MOTHER: We didn't want to be there because we were told by the court system that there were -- you couldn't do any outbursts. How could you be quiet? How could you not say anything? How could you not show any emotions? So, I think, by us not being there, it took the sting out of people seeing us react to it, because it literally broke us down.
COOPER: When you heard the verdict on television, you broke down?
FULTON: Yes. Yes.
COOPER: Did it come as a total shock?
FULTON: It came as a complete shock for me, and the reason I say that is because I just look at people as people. And I thought for sure that the jury looked at Trayvon as an average teenager that was minding his own business, that wasn't committing any crime, that was coming home from the store and were feet away from where he was actually going.
COOPER: Does it surprise you how much the jury seemed to agree with the defense's version of events?
TRACY MARTIN, TRAYVON MARTIN'S FATHER: My answer to that would be what if it was their child that was murdered, that was shot in the heart? Would they feel as though it was their child's blame to blame for their death? I think that was a very insensitive statement coming from her. From the beginning of the trial, she had her mind made up.
COOPER: You believe she had her mind made up from the beginning of the trial?
MARTIN: No doubt. No doubt.
COOPER: As you know, the juror B-37 and I assume the other jurors as well didn't discuss race in the jury room. She clearly does not believe that race played any role in the profiling of Trayvon Martin at any level in this case. What do you think of that?
FULTON: I think that's a joke because he clearly said in the 911 calls that it was a Black teenager, an African-American teenager. So, that was the profile. Trayvon had every right to be in that community. I don't understand why she wouldn't see that, but then again, there's the disconnect. There's definitely a disconnect.
COOPER: Do you think if George Zimmerman had been Black, he would have been allowed to go free that night after shooting somebody?
MARTIN: Absolutely not. That's ridiculous. If the roles were reversed and Trayvon Martin shot George Zimmerman, he would have been arrested right there on the spot, hour one, minute one, second one, if he wasn't shot because a Black man have a gun, it's a different ball game.
COOPER: What change do you hope to effect? FULTON: The change we hope to effect is with the laws. We want to make sure that any teenager that's walking down the street can feel safe, that they won't be killed and that they will make it home safely. Another thing we hope to accomplish through the foundation is to connect families that are victims of senseless gun violence.
God wanted us to be the spokesperson. So, hopefully, we can find some positive, some bright side out of all of this.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: The justice department has now placed a hold on evidence from that murder trial. That means the gun Zimmerman used to shoot Trayvon Martin will not be returned to him. Meanwhile, protesters in Florida finally got to meet with the governor there, Rick Scott. He's calling for a day of unity Sunday, but he's refusing demands for a special legislative session to repeal the state's stand your ground laws.
LEMON: Tomorrow marks one year since the Aurora movie theater massacre. Twelve people were killed. Seventy injured in the shooting. Services are planned over the next few days for survivors and family members of the victims. Several families who lost loved ones in the Newton, Connecticut school massacre also expect to be on hand. James Holmes is accused in the massacre. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
ROMANS: The city of Detroit filing for bankruptcy. Mayor Dave Bing announcing that decision Thursday saying years of fiscal instability led to the move. But he's expressing hope that his once proud city will turn its fortunes around.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE BING, MAYOR OF DETROIT: One of the things that I want to say to our citizens is that as tough as this is, I really didn't want to go in this direction, but now that we are here, we have to make the best of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Wow. And I got to tell you, a 16-page bankruptcy filing from a city. So rare to see. It says who's the debtor, city of Detroit, Michigan. It's just really rare to see something like this. The Motor City facing more than $18 billion of debt. It's now the largest American city in history to file for bankruptcy. At its midcentury high, Detroit had nearly two million residents down to just 700,000 today.
And Don, it's just something you see companies go through bankruptcy. You see people go through bankruptcy. A big city like Detroit, you know, a city so powerful and important to American history like Detroit, just something. I wish them the best. They say they're going to be paying their bills. They will be paying their bills, but reorganizing those debt is what they hope to do.
LEMON: And let's hope they do it fast. Very quickly. New York congressman, Peter King, considering a run for the White House. The 11-term Republican says after surveying the field, he doesn't see anyone focusing on what's important to him, national security. King calls Chris Christie and Jeb Bush solid candidates and says he doesn't want to see the Republican Party defined by conservatives like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.
ROMANS: All right. Officials still don't know what started a massive fire at an Indiana fireworks store. It broke out Wednesday night at Windy City Fireworks in Rochester, Indiana. Wow! It's 40 miles south of South Bend. Firefighters had to battle flames. They had to battle exploding bottle rockets. Spectacular-looking fire. Fire and fireworks, a reminder, it's a deadly combination.
LEMON: Well, coming up, fire fight in California, thousands of acres destroyed as flames move closer to a popular resort town.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Helicopters now battling the massive mountain fire just east of Los Angeles. It's 23,000 acres. This fire threatening the resort town of Idyllwild, which is under a mandatory evacuation order. Crews hope to take advantage of cooler temperatures and rising humidity overnight to try to get the upper hand in steep, rugged terrain. There is some good news to report.
People who live in two areas, Apple Canyon and Bonita Vista are being allowed back in their homes. Even the mountain fire barely, barely 15 percent contained. Let's take a look at what's coming up on "New Day" this morning. It's almost time. It's almost time.
LEMON: And there they are. Chris Cuomo and Kate Bolduan join us.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, guys.
LEMON: Good morning.
BOLDUAN: Good morning, guys. Great to see you.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Always, always a pleasure. Now, you've been talking about this morning the pictures of the Boston bombing suspect, the photographer, the cop who took them. He released them. He said this is the real guy. This isn't the glamorized version. This is what you should really be putting out there, but now he's in trouble. And we're going to tell you why.
BOLDUAN: Yes. We're also going to tell you what Trayvon Martin's parents are now saying. I mean, it's just shy of a week since a jury acquitted their son's killer. They speak with CNN in a very, you know, an emotional interview, understandably emotional. They're still grieving their son's loss and getting over the verdict.
CUOMO: And, another wrinkle. The congressman story, the one who was tweeting this bikini model during the "State of the Union," first, it was, "No, it's OK. It's my daughter." Then, there was a DNA test says not his daughter. Now, there's more, and we're going to tell you about it.
LEMON: A bikini model you were trying to explain to us earlier in the week?
ROMANS: There's more. I can't imagine what the twist could be on this.
BOLDUAN: That's why it's called the tease, Christine.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: I have been teased right into the next three hours. Well done. Well done.
LEMON: All right. Thanks, guys.
ROMANS: All right. Coming up, the NBA's Brooklyn Nets unveiling some big name additions, including a couple of likely hall of famers, so will this be the team to beat in 2014?
LEMON: Hmmm.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Tiger Woods in the hunt at the British Open. And this morning, he's back on the course.
ROMANS: Andy Scholes joins us now for this morning's "Bleacher Report." Good morning.
ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Hey, good morning, guys. Well, Tiger looking to win his first major in more than five years this weekend. And right now, he's three shots back of the lead as he plays in round two of the open championship. Tiger's already won four tournaments this year at an up and down first round yesterday. His day got off to a terrible start right here.
He hits his first shot way left. He salvaged the hole with a bogey. And on a back nine (ph), Tiger rallied with four birdies to end the day at two under.
Now, here's something you rarely see while watching golf. Thomas Bjorn hitting out of the rough on the first hole yesterday. His shot, check it out. Pow! Right into the camera. It shatters the lens. In the broadcast, they said that's an $80,000 camera. Luckily for ESPN, they had a replacement lens on hand. The camera was able to continue the round.
Well, for the first time in his career, Paul Pierce can no longer call himself a Boston Celtic. Pierce along with Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry were officially introduced yesterday as the newest members of the Brooklyn Nets. The trio was acquired by the Nets in a blockbuster deal with the Celtics last month. The move gives Brooklyn, on paper, one of the best starting five in the league.
Well, the number story in line up section of BleacherReport.com today is about the buzz being back in Charlotte. Yesterday, the NBA board of governors approved the Charlotte Bobcats request to officially change their name back to the Hornets. The team will still be the Bobcats this season, then they'll make the change for the 2014-2015 season.
And guys, it's great to see those old pinstriped Charlotte teal and purple jerseys back. It's definitely one of the best NBA jerseys ever. Probably the best in the 1990s
ROMANS: Why are they changing the name back?
SCHOLES: Well, the Charlotte fans, you know, they never really liked the whole Bobcats thing. Since the New Orleans Hornets change to New Orleans Pelican, the Hornets was available again, and they jumped on the chance to get it back.
ROMANS: All right. Well done. Andy Scholes, thank you.
LEMON: Thank you.
ROMANS: Next, we're taking you to Comic-Con.
LEMON: Comic-Con. Look at the pair. Looks like Christine in the make-up room.
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back at 53 minutes past the hour. Taking a look at the top CNN trends on the web this morning. Mystery solved. The Russell's law firm in London admits it's responsible for revealing the author of the detective novel, "The Cuckoo's Calling," and it's really J.K. Rowling.
One of the firm's partners apparently told his wife's friend and she told the "Sunday Times of London." Rowling said to be very disappointed. Her novel, which was hardly selling under the pseudonym, Robert Galbreith. It now, of course, tops Amazon's best- seller list.
LEMON: Speaking it to a woman anything, she'll spread it to everybody (ph).
ROMANS: Oh, please. I'll kill him in the break (ph). Go ahead.
LEMON: The nerds have taken over San Diego's convention center. Comic-Con 2013 is now underway. The four-day convention is expected to draw 125,000 visitors this year. Many of them dressed like their favorite comic book and sci-fi characters. Fans also get to rub elbows with stars of their favorite shows like Kit Harington from "Game of Thrones."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIT HARINGTON, ACTOR, "GAMES OF THRONES": Coming to places like Comic-Con make me realize the show's impact. It's hilarious. There's a whole load of throne-shaped pedicabs (ph) going around which I'm desperate to go on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Comic-Con had humble beginning to when it started back in 1970. Less than 150 people attended the first one, but now, it's hailed as the largest convention of its kind in the world.
And to check out other top CNN trends, make sure you head to CNN.com/Trends.
ROMANS: Finally this morning, no matter what you think of them, reality shows are a reality except when they're not real. Jeanne Moos explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Which of the following is not really a real reality show?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Duck Dynasty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meet the Tanners.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Long Island Landscapers.
MOOS: Well, actually, there were three impostors. Meet the Tanners is seemingly about a family obsessed with tanning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who use my oil? It is empty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whoa, young lady.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your vitamin C level is spiking. Just sit down. We have rules (INAUDIBLE). If you sass me (ph), you go to the shade.
MOOS: Meet the Tanners got burned in reviews.
(on-camera) What do you think?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ridiculous.
(LAUGHTER)
MOOS: What do you think?
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fantastic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't watch it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think I'm related to some people like that. (LAUGHTER)
MOOS (voice-over): But it turns out there's nothing to not watch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meet the Tanners, Sunday at 8:00 p.m.
MOOS: The fact that you thought this was a real show says a lot about the state of TV. This is an ad for public broadcasting's New York affiliate, channel 13, a campaign called "TV gone wrong."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought it was real.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought it was real. Absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought it couldn't get worse than the Kardashians.
MOOS: There's also something fishy about clam kings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What business you got talking about my family's clams?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when it comes to being the best --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you feel my clam?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These two aren't shocking around.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would definitely watch it.
MOOS: And there's one more unreal reality show.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This Thursday on the season premiere of "Long Island Landscapers."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's do flamingos this one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flamingos, elegant bird.
MOOS: The supposed (ph) were dreamed up by ad agency CHI in Partners New York. The creative sat around dreaming up over the top fake reality shows.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's one of the things where all we try to do is make each other laugh.
MOOS: They try to strike a balance between two over the top and believable, some ideas were rejects. Like the one --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Called red neck rabbis. And the tag line was "they're quite unorthodox."
MOOS: These bunch of kids had a definite favorite. "Meet the Tanners."
(CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED KID: I would watch this, definitely.
MOOS: But "Long Island Landscapers" didn't make the cut.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: No.
MOOS: The fake reality shows are meant to make the real ones seem like more boo boo, less honey.
Jeanne Moos, CNN --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here comes Honey Boo-Boo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clam Kings.
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Wow!
LEMON: Somebody would watch that.
ROMANS: Somebody would -- I think it's very clever by the (ph) television people to put a TV gone wrong hash tag. That's very clever.
LEMON: Yes, but some of the ones on that are on, I thought they were spoofs like the ones were
ROMANS: The Honey Boo Boo one?
LEMON: Yes.
ROMANS: Yes.
LEMON: Yes. There's one where --
ROMANS: But we're on TV at five o'clock in the morning --
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: I saw a talk show, though, where they were doing one on Honey Boo Boo, that's how I know about them. And they caught -- you have to catch your and throw it on someone.
BOLDUAN: We're listening.
LEMON: -- when you break wind.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: Let's give this to Cuomo and Bolduan now.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: Thanks, guys.
CUOMO: I like that Don is believing that if you don't say it, people won't know what you're talking about even though you're on TV.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLDUAN: I will tell you, they did steal one of our lines because we often say to Chris when he's been bad, you sass me, you go in the shade.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLDUAN: We do often say that.
CUOMO: I get a lot of shade on this show.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Cold, scary.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Take it away.
CUOMO: TGIF you good looking people. It is now almost the top of the hour, and you know what that means here on "New Day," it is time for the top news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: Captured. Stunning new images, the surrender of the Boston bombing suspect. A sniper scope trained on his forehead. The cop who took them now under investigation. We'll tell you why.
BOLDUAN: Extreme heat new warnings for some of the country's biggest cities as the heat wave gets even hotter. And imagine being stuck on the tarmac in 106 degrees with barely any air-conditioning.
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bankrupt. Detroit now the biggest U.S. city ever to declare bankruptcy. Millions of residents fearing (ph) what comes next. We're live in the Motor City.
CUOMO: Your "New Day" starts right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is "New Day" with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to "New Day." It's Friday, yes it is, I said it, July 19th, six o'clock in the east. I'm Chris Cuomo.
BOLDUAN: Say it ain't so. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. We're joined by news anchor, Michaela Pereira.
PEREIRA: Good morning, everyone.
BOLDUAN: We have a lot coming up this morning, including protests against the George Zimmerman verdict. They're expected to ramp back up this weekend with rallies planned across the country, this, as overnight, the Florida governor talks to protesters who've been staging a days long sit-in at the state capitol. But he's not telling them what they want to hear.
CUOMO: Also, a lot of reaction from the exclusive report we had about that congressman caught tweeting the swimsuit model. He thought she was his daughter then turned out it wasn't. She is not his daughter. But, now there's another. You'll never believe. What he said to a female reporter, we'll tell you about it this morning.
PEREIRA: Also ahead, she was one of scientology's more high profile members, along time member, in fact. But now, TV star, Leah Remeni has left the church. Her sister is now opening up about why. So, what exactly went down at Tom Cruise and Katie Holme's wedding that may have driven her to leave. We'll discuss that coming up.
