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Interview with NBA Superstar Kevin Durant; U.S. Pressure Won't Affect Snowden Decision; Wimbledon Round-Up; Pelosi Supports Clinton for 2016

Aired June 28, 2013 - 06:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY. I'm Chris Cuomo.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. I'm Kate Bolduan. We're here with news anchor Michaela Pereira.

It's Friday, June 28th.

Coming up this half hour: Kevin Durant proving he's more than just a star on the court. He sat down with our Rachel Nichols about why he's helping out the victims of Oklahoma's tornadoes.

But, first, let's get straight to Michaela Pereira with the top news.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Good morning, everyone.

Making headlines overnight: police were back at the home of former NFL player Aaron Hernandez looking for evidence. Hernandez has already been charged with killing his one-time friend Odin Lloyd. But now, CNN has learned he's also being investigated for an unsolved double homicide in Boston last year. It's not clear if the murders are somehow related.

A former FBI supervisor facing off today with reputed mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger's lawyer under cross-examination. That former supervisor John Morris admitted yesterday he was corrupt, that he accepted gifts from Bulger and helped protect Bulger and an associate from prosecution because of their value as informants. Bulger denies being a snitch, he is charged in connection with 19 murders.

Florida A&M will let its famous marching band play again and the parents of a drum major beaten to death in a hazing ritual are not happy about it. University officials say changes have been made since Robert Champion's death in 2011 to prevent hazing and they've lifted the ban suspension. But Champion's parents say the new measures just don't go far enough. Twelve former students face charges for that young man's death.

A Long Island man considering himself pretty lucky. Gus Vinos (ph) said a metal object fell from the sky and slammed onto the driveway, just a few feet away from him. It turns out it was this -- a pilot's clipboard filled with paperwork. Vinos says he hates to think if he or someone else had been hit. Pilots do not have to report losing items like clipboards but the FAA does want to talk to Vinos.

Alec Baldwin going off on twitter, and off twitter, after sending out a string of profanity-laced tweets aimed at a British journalist. Apparently, Baldwin was angered by a report that his wife Hilaria was sending out message o her Twitter account during James Gandolfini's funeral. Baldwin said he was going after "Daily Mail" writer George Stark, a man he described the author as a toxic Brit. He also used much more colorful language to describe stark. Hilaria also said she doesn't believe in bringing phones to funerals.

Yes, very strong language on Twitter, not for morning TV.

BOLDUAN: Just keep it off Twitter.

CUOMO: Alec is no joke. If he feels something he's going to say it. One thing I know about Alec Baldwin that's true.

BOLDUAN: He does not hide his emotions.

CUOMO: Another thing we know for sure, Kevin Durant. Good man. He's one of the best and brightest in the NBA. We know that. But he's showing a quality outside the game this sports star these days. Doing the right thing. That's what he was doing. When Oklahoma was devastated by tornadoes, he was quick to donate $1 million to the victims.

Rachel Nichols scored a one-on-one interview with the Oklahoma Thunder star, here with us this morning.

Good player, even better person.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: Absolutely, because, you know, we've seen so many negative stories around sports especially this week. So it is refreshing to hear what Kevin Durant is doing.

He's from Maryland but plays in Oklahoma and when that tornado hit Moore last month, and killed two dozen people, he was deeply affected. We talked yesterday about what he is trying to do for people there and how he's never seen anything like what he saw when he was walking around Moore.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN DURANT, NBA PLAYER: I couldn't believe that was, you know, that's the state I live in. That's 20 minutes away from our house. I couldn't believe it was that close, debris everywhere, I seen a tractor trailer in somebody's living room, just roofs gone off houses. There was just nothing there, and you can tell you have to start from scratch.

NICHOLS: You're 24 years old. How did experiencing something like that change you just as a person?

DURANT: Put everything in perspective for me. Life is bigger than the game of basketball. You know, a lot of people in our profession know that and people in Moore lost everything, they lost everything. And some stuff you really can't get back. You know, lives were lost, little kids' lives were lost, so life is bigger than the game.

NICHOLS: And there are some celebrities who right at the beginning were making donations, $100,000 range and that's great and very generous.

DURANT: Yes.

NICHOLS: You're a 24-year-old guy you just plunked down $1 million and now you have Nike who is donating $1 million in profits from your shoes.

DURANT: Well, this is my home. And I just wanted to -- I just wanted to give back. I wanted to do something that was bigger than just the normal natural disaster or something, we really can't control at all but we can control how we come together and how we bounce back from it.

NICHOLS: Your other big news this off season was pretty splashy. You signed with Jay-Z. He's getting into the sports agent business, and you're his big NBA superstar client. What do you think Jay-Z is going to do for you that nobody else has been able to do before?

DURANT: Well, you are going to be meeting (ph) with jay-z that changes the dynamics of everything. I'm looking forward to it. He's looking forward to it. He was excited about the whole thing and that got me going right there.

NICHOLS: Are we going to get a Jay-Z/KD album soon?

DURANT: No, I'm going to stick to shooting baskets and he'll stick to rapping. So, but, you know, the partnership is going to be some good down the line.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NICHOLS: Not bad. I mean, Jay-Z is the kind of guy who could do a lot more career and Kevin Durant has said often he doesn't like being considered number two to LeBron James all the time.

CUOMO: Durant is young. He's got a lot of ball left in him.

BOLDUAN: What do you say, 24 years old?

NICHOLS: Twenty-two years old.

CUOMO: And he's been extraordinary talent. He's probably the most versatile man at that height that we've seen in the league in a long time, maybe ever.

But my question is about Jay-Z. I get he's a big rapper and big deal and we follow his whole life in the media, but what can he do as a sports agent for a guy like Durant?

NICHOLS: He's more than a rapper, he's a big mogul. And he can introduce a guy like Kevin into worlds that Kevin doesn't have access to at all on his own at all. In entertainment, in business, part of what Durant wants here. He does want to be considered a bigger sort of presence than he is now, although I got to tell you, doing what he's doing in Oklahoma I think that is going to propel him up the ranks in people's mind more than anything.

PEREIRA: It shows he has a gigantic heart. I'm moved by what he did. That is a tremendous, tremendous donation.

BOLDUAN: You just hope he keeps that perspective. Some of them do. I mean, we do hear -- the spotlight goes on the players who do bad and get in trouble but there are a lot of great players that we hear about seldomly.

NICHOLS: There's 1,700 players in the NFL alone, we're hearing about one with Aaron Hernandez. We have to keep perspective.

BOLDUAN: Kevin Durant, you're one of the guys. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thanks, Rachel.

NICHOLS: Thank you.

CUOMO: Strong point, Rachel. Appreciate it. Happy Friday.

BOLDUAN: Coming up next on NEW DAY: the latest in the Edward Snowden watch. The NSA leaker is said to be waiting for safe passage to Ecuador but that government says not so fast.

CUOMO: And a new legal twist of the woman fired from her job because her boss thought she was just too sexy and he wouldn't be able to resist her.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back to NEW DAY, everyone. Let's go around the world.

Ecuador says it won't bow to U.S. pressure as it decides whether to accept NSA leaker Edward Snowden's request for asylum. Snowden is believed to be inside an airport transit lounge in Moscow.

And CNN's Phil Black has more.

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is now day six of Edward Snowden's stopover at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport. There are still journalists there from around the world in the terminals looking for him and he still hasn't been seen. We know that officials at the airport are enforcing a 24-hour transit deadline on other passengers passing through the airport, but it appears not in the case of Snowden.

The Russia's tolerance for Snowden may be running a little thin. The consistent message from the Russian government is he's a free man. He's free to travel wherever he likes, but the sooner he does it, the better. Back to you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Phil, thanks so much. And, it's good to be queen. Britain's Queen Elizabeth is about to become a great-grandmom again and she just received a royal pay hike. CNN's Max Foster has more from London.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: This is Regent Street. It's part of the multibillion-dollar crown estate and a proportion of what's made here is paid to the queen. The estate's doing well, so the queen has effectively had a pay rise. But that money is used to cover all her official duties, state banquets, for example, and the upkeep of buildings like Kensington Palace.

And we told that Kate and William's new apartment in Kensington Palace is being renovated at a cost of $1.7 million. So, I think the baby is going to be pretty happy there, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Max, thank you. Quite a price tag.

And, from the grass courts of the old England club, Christina MacFarlane has a Wimbledon roundup.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Christina MacFarlane at Wimbledon. While it's Wednesday say (ph) it was month by a record number of withdrawals, Roger Federer losing and heavy criticism of slippery grass day four to the championship with the returned to normal with top seeds, Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic, dominating their opponents to go through to the third round of the tournament. Back to you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. Christina, thanks so much. I loved Wimbledon. Always wanted to go. I've never been.

CUOMO: I wanted Federer there. I wanted Nadal there. Maybe a little news will bring you that way --

BOLDUAN: Yes.

CUOMO: -- next year. It's a set up through news --

BOLDUAN: Let's try for that.

CUOMO: Let's stay with some sports also.

BOLDUAN: OK.

CUOMO: NBA draft last night always a big deal for guys like me, but last night, big deal for everybody, because very unexpected picks going on and some real shocking trades, so let's bring in Andy Scholes. He's got more with this morning's "Bleacher Report." Tell us the news my friend and Happy Friday.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: hey, good morning. Happy Friday to you, too, guys. Well, yesterday, we talked about how there was no clear number one pick this year in the draft and how no one really knew what the Cleveland Cavaliers were going to do with that first pick. But even with all the uncertainty going on, no one could have predicted this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Cleveland Cavaliers select Anthony Bennett from the Toronto, Canada and University of Nevada Las Vegas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: The Cavs shocking everyone with the pick of Anthony Bennett out of UNLV. Bennett, the first ever Canadian to go number one was projected to be a top ten pick, but even he was surprised when he heard his name called. Kentucky's Nerlens Noel ended up falling to sixth in New Orleans Pelican but he has been traded along with the first round pick to the 76ers for Jrue Holiday.

Now, the Sacramento Kings picked Ben McLemore out of Kansas with a seven pick in last night's draft. And check it out, guys. These fans are going to get to watch him for free all season. Now, a recent fan event, the Kings offered free season tickets to anyone who could make a half-court shot and five of fans were made it, guys. Five different people.

BOLDUAN: Five different people?

SCHOLES: And look at that guy threw it over his head like that --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: I love that. Man, that would be awesome. I don't think I would ever make a half-court shot.

CUOMO: Tossed it over his head. Andy, that was unorthodox but it worked.

SCHOLES: Sure did.

CUOMO: Good stuff. Good stuff. All right. Andy Scholes, appreciate it. Have a very good Friday for you, OK?

SCHOLES: You, too, guys.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Andy.

CUOMO: Two hands over the head.

BOLDUAN: Can you believe it?

CUOMO: No. No, I can't believe it, actually, but it happened and good luck to all of them. Enjoy your tickets.

Coming up on NEW DAY, yet another leak, and this time, it's a retired U.S. general getting grilled for it. We're live at the Pentagon with the details just ahead.

BOLDUAN: And a woman fighting back after she was fired because her boss found her too irresistible and said he risked his marriage by working with her. Hmm? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": New England Patriots star and tight end, Aaron Hernandez, arrested for murder yesterday. Hernandez is now being investigated for two more murders. You know what, he could break O.J.'s record. Man, these guys are so competitive.

CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "CONAN": Despite a week of being called a racist, her whole week, Paula Deen's new cookbook is already on Amazon's best-seller list. Did you hear that? Already on the best- seller list, yes. As a result, Rachael Ray just declared she's not crazy about Mexicans.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Tough one. None of it is subject matter you want to joke about, but I think I got to give it to Leno.

BOLDUAN: I'm not giving it to any of them. They will make a joke about anything. That is for sure.

CUOMO: That's their job. We are not in that business. We are kicking off 30 minutes of commercial free news, and we're going to start our political gut check. Let's get the scoop out of the nation's capital.

BOLDUAN: Yes. First, the highest profile Democrat to get behind a Hillary Clinton 2016 run, but, she's not calling it an endorsement. CNN's chief national correspondent, John King, is here to take a look at these headlines. So, this might kind of surprised me a little, but not the endorsement, but the fact she said it's kind of a non- endorsement endorsement. I can't even say it, endorsement.

Let's listen to Nancy Pelosi and what she said in this "USA Today" interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D) MINORITY LEADER: I think so. I think so. There's a great deal of excitement about the prospect that she would run. We don't understand why she wouldn't. When she -- If Secretary Clinton were to run and we think she ran she would win, I believe that she would be the best prepared person to enter the White House in decades.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: But John, then she goes on to say, I'm not making any endorsements right now. Why?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Because Kate and Chris, she's a politician. You're dead right on that point. She has to be careful, because she's the leader of the House Democrats, but that little piece of sound right there is very telling and very priceless. Let's do the priceless part first.

She would be the best prepared person to enter the White House in decades. Take that, Barack Obama. That's the leading Democrat in the House telling you that she thinks Hillary Clinton is way more qualified than the current president of the United States to enter the White House, a little bit of a dig there at the current president of the United States, but why is it telling?

Democrats are looking at 2016 now. History tells you the Republicans win in 2016, because when you have a two-term president, the other party almost always wins in our history. George H.W. Bush, the only person in our lifetime. Ronald Reagan served two terms. George H.W. Bush beats Michael Dukakis. As Democrats look at the early 2016 field, if they take Hillary Clinton out, a lot of them think they probably lose.

So, this is more pressure on her to get in because they want to keep the White House in their hands. So, this is not just idle chatter. Democrats taking an early look at 2016 and don't think so much of the rest of the field, they want her to run.

BOLDUAN: And as you well know, Republicans also taking a look at 2016. In the Senate yesterday, 14 Republicans joined the Democrats to vote for this immigration overhaul, but let's take a look at just some of the key no votes in the Senate. You have Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Rob Portman, those are, you know, some of the potential 2016 contenders, John.

Do you think -- how do you think immigration plays for Republicans in 2016, because we know after 2012 they had some work to do.

KING: And so, the leadership of the party, Kate and Chris, says we have to deal with this problem. We need to pass this bill so we can start to rebuild our support in the Latino community, right? That's what they say. But what does this vote guarantee? A couple of those guys are going to run for president. Marco Rubio is likely to run for president. Marco Rubio voted yes. He's in the Gang of Eight. He's out there. He's for this bill.

So here, you have Ted Cruz, the Tea Party guy, to the right of Marco Rubio on immigration. Rand Paul has given some hints he wanted to support a bill votes no, to the right of Marco Rubio on immigration. Rob Portman is the stunner here. He's from Ohio. He worked for George H.W. Bush, then he worked for George W. Bush. He supported George W. Bush's immigration policy.

He was just in New Hampshire not that long ago, testing the waters for 2016. Here's a moderate Republican voting no. What does that tell you? It tells you the base, the hard core right base of the Republican Party still doesn't like this bill, and it guarantees this will be a flashpoint in the 2016 presidential primaries for the Republicans. And I'll give you two words to tell you how that worked for them last time, self-deport. BOLDUAN: That's exactly right, John King. Al right. John, thanks so much. We'll talk -- have a great weekend. We'll talk to you next week.

KING: You, too.

BOLDUAN: Wait for it.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: That music means it's time for the "Rock Block."

PEREIRA: So connected you two. I love it.

BOLDUAN: Quick roundup of the stories you'll be talking about today. We have Michaela.

PEREIRA: Happy Friday.

BOLDUAN: Happy Friday to you.

PEREIRA: And to all of you as well.

First up, in the "Dewnver Post," controversy in Colorado. Hundreds of people expected to carry unloaded guns in a local town's Fourth of July parade as protester will come days after tough new gun laws take effect there.

In "The New York Times," NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is about to become the first manmade object to leave our solar system. Voyager is now entered the heliosphere, the very edge of our sun to reach.

And, from "The Seattle Times," he spent 12 years building a replica of one of the first planes to fly around the world. This weekend, Bob Dempster (ph) plans to re-enact the 1924 flight in his Seattle 2 aircraft.

CUOMO: I love it. Beautiful way to commemorate history.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Very good. All right. Time now for Christine Romans. You've got all the business news we need to know, don't you?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I do. Futures are higher this morning, guys. The last day of the second quarter despite all the craziness over the last few weeks of the technical term we're in better shape than you might have thought. The Dow up three percent. The NASDAQ up four percent for the quarter. The S&P up nearly three percent. You'll see it in your 401(k).

This 21-year-old kid just pulled off the biggest initial funding round ever in Silicon Valley history. We're going to show him to you. $25 million. Some of the biggest names in venture capital are interested in his new mobile app, mobile payment app called Clinkle. All right. That's what it's called and gotten 25 million bucks. Biggest initial funding round ever. All right. CEO pay back to prerecession levels. That means they earned 273 times more than what the average worker earns. Thirty years ago, CEOs earned just $38 for ever dollar the average worker made.

BOLDUAN: All right. Christine, thanks so much.

Let's go to Indra Petersons in the weather center with what you need to know before you head out the door this morning.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's the weather of extreme, but I think we know this by now. It's kind of like this roller coaster pattern with flooding out towards the east coast and extreme heat on the west coast. We'll be setting records in both areas, one for flooding and, of course, definitely high temperatures on the west. Let's start with the flooding. Severe weather, we're looking at moist gulf air and a slow cold front.

That's the key. When it's slow, we're talking about heavy rain and the flooding run all up and down the east coast and on the west, we talk with the dome of high pressure. These temperatures, I mean, they're higher than you normally see in ten years, 128 possibly as high as 130 in some of these high deserts.

BOLDUAN: No, thank you, but thank you, Indra.

PETERSONS: you're welcome.

BOLDUAN: We're now at the top of the hour, which of course means it's time for the top news.