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New Day
Nuclear Talks Through the Night; Study: Acetaminophen Not As Useful for Pain; Hot Yoga Founder Bikram Choudhury Denies All Rape Claims. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired April 02, 2015 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:32:27] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, top diplomats worked through the night to try and salvage an Iranian nuclear deal. The Iranians say progress is being made. It's still unclear, though, if an agreement will be reached and when.
Aaron David Miller is the vice president for new initiatives and distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center. He has advised secretaries of states on both sides of the aisle on Mideast peace.
You're the man to talk to. I'm -- let's use a sports metaphor here, why not. Two deadlines passed. We're in the final yards of a game and those are often the most difficult, or in my world it's like the last 10 pounds you're trying to lose. How critical is this time?
AARON DAVID MILLER, V.P. FOR NEW INITIATIVES, WOODROW WILSON INTL. CTR.: Well, let's hope so. I was thinking of Bill Murray this morning. You know, where are you, Bill Murray, when you need -- when we need you? It's -- this is beginning to resemble "Ground Hog Day" where days and night begin to merge and every day, basically, is a kind of repetition of the previous one.
I've been in negotiations where, in fact, that's the case and you're -- you're in a sense trapped. You really do want to see this succeed. You know you may not be able to and you want to keep trying. And the president clearly was the one who made it very clear to John Kerry that, forget the deadline --
PEREIRA: Yes.
MILLER: Let's see if we can get this right. The question is whether or not they can get it right. And that's -- that's, I think, the tricky part.
PEREIRA: Well, you talked to us maybe a week or two ago about the fact that you have seen that deadlines can be a good impetus in a negotiation. That they can kind of put all the chips on the table and just get it done. That -- this is a different kind of scenario now, the two deadlines passed.
MILLER: Well, it is because the structure of this negotiation is really a funny one. The Iranians really do not want to commit to detail at this stage of putting stuff on paper. And the Americans really need to, in large part because of congressional pressure, but also because, look, after 18 months, the reality is, normal human beings need to see whether or not there's something there. And the way to do that, frankly, is to commit to a six to ten page document which essentially lays out the commitments that both sides have undertaken to make this real. In the end, they're going to have to do that anyway in June.
Look, if this -- if they could produce a 10-page paper that basically laid out and convinced people this was going to be a smaller, slower, more transparent, literally easily verifiable Iranian nuclear civilian program blocking both paths to a bomb, both uranium and plutonium, with inspections anywhere at any time, I mean that's absolutely critical. They're going to have to do that at some point. If they could actually get that, then the deadline, frankly, wouldn't matter. But the deadline does because at least on our side there are political pressures.
[08:35:12] PEREIRA: Right.
MILLER: And the credibility of the negotiation really is at stake.
PEREIRA: I want to talk about the enormity of what we're potentially talking about here. This is 35 years of an acrimonious relationship between these two nations dating back to, what, the Iranian Revolution in 1979. I think we have the timeline up on our screen here. One might expect it to take a while for this to break down. Thirty-five years of being adversaries. There's been anti-American rhetoric. There are questionable tactics that the Iranians have been involved in. It should take time, should it not?
MILLER: It should and I think we have to be pretty real on what the outcome is going to be. I mean this is not a transformation. You're not going to see a fundamental change in Iranian behavior. It's still going to remain a repressive regime. I mean they're continuing to hold Jason Rezaian, "The Washington Post" reporter. They're executing probably not nearly as many people as China. It's a repressive system and it has regional ambitions that, frankly, in Iraq, in Syria, in Yemen, probably don't coincide with ours.
You know, this is a transaction. It's a business proposition. They want something. We want something. Maybe it will evolve over time into something more. But, yes, Michaela, the reality is you do not -- it's like turning an aircraft carrier around. You're not going to do it quickly. It really is going to require an enormous amount of time and investment. And they're going to have to demonstrate, in effect, that they're real and serious and credible.
PEREIRA: Well, and this is why we have come to you for a good dose of reality and you didn't disappoint. Aaron David Miller, thank you so very much.
MILLER: Thank you, Michaela.
PEREIRA: Alisyn. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Michaela.
What do we all do when we have back pain or joint pain? We pop a Tylenol. That turns out might not actually help your symptoms. We have a surprising new study to tell you about. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be here. That's straight ahead. Stick around.
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[08:40:50] PEREIRA: All right, in today's "New Day New You," raise your hand if you pop a Tylenol when you have back or joint pain. Yup. Well, it turns out it might be a lost cause. A new study finds that pain relievers containing acetaminophen don't work as well as we think. Let us ask the doc, CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Say it ain't so. We've been doing the wrong thing? What's wrong with this acetaminophen stuff?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's not really the fault of the consumer because, you know, this -- taking Tylenol for back pain has been something that's been recommended for years. It's part of clinical guidelines. And I'll just preface by saying this, back pain is one of the most common reasons people go to an urgent care clinic. It's a huge issue. We use billions of doses of Tylenol every year.
So they looked at these studies, looked at three big studies and tried to figure out just how well Tylenol works for back pain and also the arthritic pain in knees an hips.
PEREIRA: OK.
GUPTA: And what they found, pretty important here, is that they found it really worked no better than a placebo. So really hardly any effect at all from Tylenol. Now, that's going to surprise a lot of people.
PEREIRA: Yes.
GUPTA: And there are people who are going to swear by it, say, look, I get relief from Tylenol. I understand that. It may be more placebo effect. But when you look at these studies, the actual impact of Tylenol seemed to be close to nothing. And there's also the concern that Tylenol could have other side effects. So, risk-reward, the conclusion really based on the study is, for back pain, knee pain, hip pain, don't use Tylenol.
CAMEROTA: So what pain reliever are you supposed to use?
GUPTA: Well, you know, look, first of all, we use a lot of pain relievers in this country. I will tell you that just a stat, 80 percent of opioid usage in the world is consumed in this country. We are 5 percent of the world's population. We use 80 percent of the world's pain pills. So my point is that we take -- we jump to the pill pretty quickly. There are other options if a pill is absolutely mandatory, anti-
inflammatories such as ibuprofen, for example. But those can cause problems as well. Those can cause gastric -- you know, stomach bleeding. Simple -- simple exercise, simple weight loss. If you lose one pound of weight, you take about four pounds off of your knees in terms of the load you actually have on your knees. So you get an idea of simply doing other things besides going to the pills can have impact. It's not easy. People are like, I want pain relief now. I get it. I'm a surgeon. That's what patients often come to us for. But there can be a lot of other non-medical, non-invasive options.
PEREIRA: He's making that face over here. What's the face?
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, I mean, you've got to parse this a little bit, right? I mean it's not all pain relief that acetaminophen doesn't work for. You're just saying that it's like backs and hips and knees or something like that they looked at it?
GUPTA: Yes.
CUOMO: I mean you know how these studies -- these studies sometimes, you know, they lay out a little bit more impressively until the next one, you know?
GUPTA: Well, look, you know, like I said, back pain is one of the most common reasons people go to the hospital in the first place, so I think that's part of the reason they looked at that. But you're right, I mean, headaches, for example, toothaches, things like that, it's not to say that Tylenol has no -- acetaminophen has no benefit. It's also good for reducing fevers, especially in kids.
But they were looking at this particular issue. And, Chris, I think I'm making a larger point about how much we take in terms of pills in the first place and these noninvasive options. Yoga can be a good thing. I know it's come under fire a little bit today on the program, but yoga can be an option for back pain as well.
CAMEROTA: Good symmetry. Good symmetry there.
PEREIRA: See. Thanks.
GUPTA: (INAUDIBLE).
CAMEROTA: Thanks, Sanjay, for our team.
GUPTA: I'm watching.
PEREIRA: Impressive. He is.
CAMEROTA: That's (ph) coming up. You really must be. All right, thank --
CUOMO: Now I understand why Sanjay tells me whenever I say something hurts, he's like rub a little dirt on it, you'll be fine. Now I get it.
CAMEROTA: It does work.
GUPTA: Toughening you up, Chris.
CAMEROTA: Right. All right. Thanks.
CUOMO: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: Thanks so much, Sanjay.
So, coming up, in our CNN exclusive, six women accuse the creator of hot yoga of sexual assault. Wait until you hear his response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIKRAM CHOUDHURY, FOUNDER, BIKRAM YOGA: Lots of (INAUDIBLE) they commit suicide because I will not have sex with them.
CAMEROTA: Wait, you're saying that students of yours have committed suicide?
CHOUDHURY: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[08:44:46]
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CAMEROTA: He's the yoga guru with an empire built on sweat Thanks to his signature hot yoga method. But some of Bikram Choudhury's former devotees now claim he took advantage of that devotion and sexually assaulted or raped them. Choudhury's response to the allegations for the first time in the second part of our exclusive interview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: There are these six women, three are Jane Does, three who have used their names. Five of them say you raped them, one says sexual assault. Did you actually have sex with any of these women?
CHOUDHURY: First thing is, no, of course not. And I said before, if I want to have sex with the women, I don't need to attack them or rape them or abuse them or assault them. There are millions of women in the world as a volunteer.
CAMEROTA (voice-over): Bikram Choudhury has built a yoga empire with his unique posture sequences done in rooms set to 105 degrees for the ultimate workout with maximum sweat. But his business is threatened after six women have come forward saying they were sexually assaulted or raped by the man they considered their guru.
SARAH BAUGHN, ALLEGES BIKRAM CHOUDHURY SEXUALLY ASSAULTED HER: I just remember I was terrified. I was paralyzed.
CAMEROTA: Sarah Baughn is one of the six women. She says she was left alone with Bikram one late night during a teacher training course. When she tried to leave, she says Bikram cornered her.
BAUGHN: When I reached the door he was there. He was only in his boxers and a T-shirt.
[08:50:00] And he pushed himself up against me and he held me up against the door and he just started kissing all over my chest and my body. And he had pushed himself into me very hard.
CAMEROTA (on camera): And so how did you escape?
BAUGHN: It was all pretty fast, but it felt like it was -- it took a long time. But I got the door handle down enough and it just cracked open enough that I was able to reach around with this.
CAMEROTA: Sarah Baughn, one of your students, she's one of the students using her name. She found herself alone with you. The moment --
CHOUDHURY: Wait. Wait. That's not truth.
CAMEROTA: You were never alone with her?
CHOUDHURY: No. I never meet alone with anybody, ever. I'm very careful about it.
CAMEROTA: So here's the story. The story is that the moment the door closed behind this staff member, Sarah rushed towards the door with her shoes in her hand, at which point Choudhury attacked her, pinned her against the door, and sexually assaulted her.
CHOUDHURY: Not truth. It's not truth. I don't do that. I don't have to.
CAMEROTA: He says that the accusations are not true. He says that he never assaulted or raped anyone. He says that he made it a practice of never, ever being alone with any of his students.
BAUGHN: He's a person that has based a lot of truths on a lot of lies. He's built an entire empire on how he tells everybody the truth. I feel sorry for a person like that.
CAMEROTA (voice-over): Choudhury repeatedly denied assaulting the accusers, or even having consensual sex with them. But when we asked him about sex with other students, his answer was confusing.
CHOUDHURY: Yes and no.
CAMEROTA (on camera): What does that mean?
CHOUDHURY: But not the six of them.
CAMEROTA: So you have had sex with some of your students?
CHOUDHURY: It's other way. It's other way.
CAMEROTA: So to be clear, you did have sex with your students? CHOUDHURY: Yes and no. I said before. I have no intention to have
sex with any of my students or any women. Sometime student, they commit suicide. Lots of them, in their mind, they commit suicide because I will not have sex with them.
CAMEROTA: Wait. You're saying students of yours have committed suicide?
CHOUDHURY: Yes.
CAMEROTA: They've threatened to commit suicide? Or they really committed suicide?
CHOUDHURY: Threatening and died, yes.
CAMEROTA: Because you rejected them?
CHOUDHURY: Yes.
CAMEROTA (voice-over): Choudhury claimed these encounters took place before he was married, but when we asked for evidence, his attorney advised him not to give us names.
(on camera): You're saying you didn't have sex with them because you wanted to have sex with them?
CHOUDHURY: No. No.
CAMEROTA: You had sex with them as a public service, you're saying?
CHOUDHURY: Well, that is your word. You could say that.
CAMEROTA (voice-over): All six accusers have filed civil lawsuits against Choudhury in Los Angeles Superior Court. The Los Angeles District Attorney declined to pursue criminal charges without explanation.
Choudhury's lawyer has a theory on the accusers' motivation.
ROBERT TUFOYA, BIKRAM CHOUDHURY'S ATTORNEY: I believe it's financial. I truly do. I believe -- and I can't say towards the women, because I really don't know. But I know lawyers.
CARNEY SHEGERIAN, SARAH BAUGN'S ATTORNEY: We ended up with the first of these clients and when she came forward and went public, it attracted other people and the other five plaintiffs to also have a modicum of confidence to discuss what happened to them.
CAMEROTA: Choudhury vows to clear his name.
CHOUDHURY: Somebody has something good to offer to this country, or to the world. They make me one (ph) today after making me like I'm your daughter, I'm your son. You took me one hand, you stabbing me on my chest like this and killing. Slow poison. That's what you are doing to me.
CAMEROTA: Sarah Baughn said she, too, wants the truth to come out.
(on camera): What do you want to see happen?
BAUGHN: I don't want to be afraid of him anymore. I wish he would just tell the truth and stop doing this. That's it. I don't even hate him. I get mad at him, but mostly because he's lying. And he's hurting people and this stuff that he's teaching is really good stuff, but he's hurting people and hiding behind this good stuff so people don't believe that he's capable of hurting people. He's got to stop lying behind it. And he's got to stop doing this to people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: Look, clearly pain on both sides. You've seen him cry. You've seen the alleged victims cry. Clearly, this has caused a lot of pain for a lot of people.
PEREIRA: It really has.
CUOMO: So from painful stuff, let's go to the good stuff. The internet ridicules a family that can't fix their van. Will that stand? Not if the Good Stuff has anything to say about it. Check this story out next.
[08:55:00]
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CAMEROTA: I love willie nelson.
CUOMO: Me, too. But not for this.
PEREIRA: There's our Willie.
CUOMO: For the Good Stuff. The internet can be a toxic place. The end, have a good day. No, but it also can be a land of blessings. Witness both. We have a mother of 5 in Muscogee, Michigan. She recently had an accident, lost her driver's door. Didn't have the money to fix it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEVIN BEEMAN, BULLIED FOR DRIVING WITHOUT A DOOR: We just couldn't get it so we just had to drive without the door.
I'd look over and they were taking pictures. So I'm like, OK, well, that's fine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: No door. Why were they taking pictures? For a bad reason. They went viral, popping up in mean-spirited jokes, making fun of the van and the people in it. And you who did that, you stink. But not everybody was laughing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't beat somebody when they're down on the ground like that. Instead of looking down on them, try helping them up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: How about that? That's exactly what James Barber did. Just a stranger, saw the posts, decided it was wrong. And the right thing to do was to help. He fixed the van out of his own pocket.
PEREIRA: How about that.
CUOMO: Yes, Mommy (INAUDIBLE) says she can't wait to pay it forward.
PEREIRA: I love it.
CAMEROTA: That's great.
PEREIRA: That's some good, good stuff.
CAMEROTA: There, that'll show the internet bullies.
[09:00:01] That's great. All right, on that note let's move on to "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello. Good morning, dear.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEWSROOM": Good morning and thanks so much.
"NEWSROOM" starts now.
