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Tornadoes Hit Oklahoma; New Video Released of Gunman at Texas Mohamed Cartoon Drawing Contest; Interview with Dr. Ben Carson; New NFL Report on Deflate-gate Released; Will David Cameron Win a Second Term? Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired May 07, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:05] (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Debris launching into the stay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike, we have a roof that just flew through the air and I don't know where it came from.

MYERS: Tornadoes wreaking havoc let again across the plains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Large tornado north of Burden, Oklahoma.

MYERS: Residents in the heartland --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have trees coming down on me.

MYERS: -- waking up to disaster as the Red Cross and emergency personnel began combing through the neighborhoods damaged or destroyed in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw two clouds meet as one, and then we could hear the sound of a train. Our ears started popping because of the air pressure.

MYERS: For the first time in history, the National Weather Service declaring a flash flood emergency in Oklahoma City. The massive storm causing up to eight inches of rainfall in a matter of hours. The main airport in Oklahoma City shut down as employees and passenger evacuate through a pedestrian tunnel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to take shelter immediately. This is a large tornado that is continuing to grow in size.

MYERS: South of Oklahoma City the hardest hit, lightning flashing through a wall of clouds as tornadoes rip roofs off buildings, including the side of this hotel. At least three residents in critical condition after a tornado flattened a mobile home park.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got power flashes in front of me.

MYERS: The tornado emergency, including the city of Moore where just two years ago a massive EF-5 people killed dozens of people and demolished over 1,000 homes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MYERS: So here's what's changed over the past couple of days, how we just turn on this severe weather switch. The jet stream is coming like that. When that happens the Gulf of Mexico moistures comes up. The cool dry air comes in and you get a clash right over the central plains day after day. Today, tomorrow, and even into Saturday severe weather in the same areas, maybe over the same places that already have damage. You need to have your NOAA radio on, or for that matter get one of those apps for your smartphones. It even knows where you are and it will tell you what kind of warnings you have in your area. Guys, back to you.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: You keep telling us it's all about early warning, and unfortunately this is happening earlier than usual this year, so we'll stay on top of it, Chad. Thank you very much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

CUOMO: News this morning, one of the gunman who tried to shoot his way into the Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest in Texas was under FBI and police surveillance since last year. Somehow Elton Simpson managed to buy weapons and attempt that ambush.

CNN national correspondent Kyung Lah is live from Phoenix with new, never-before-seen video of Simpson, and new details that are raising new questions about his ties to terrorists and missed opportunities to stop him. Kyung, this is getting more and more troubling here.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly. And what there is certainly here in Phoenix, Chris, is a disconnect between the person, friends, and family who know the Elton Simpson they grew up with and the Elton Simpson who went on this shooting rampage. For the very first time we are seeing his personality in a 2012 video, a fundraising video for his mosque, and you get a sense of his beliefs, his fortitude when it comes to religion as well as his personality. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELTON SIMPSON: It recharged your imam as well when you come together and pray five times a day with the brothers. It provides for you a form of weaponry to go out into the real world and use that weaponry to shield you against tricks of Satan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: Friends say he converted to Islam in high school to mainly keep him out of trouble. His family supported that decision because it gave him some order in his world. And now the family of Nadir Soofi believes that it was Simpson who directed all of this, who influenced Soofi to take part in the attack. What the FBI is now trying to figure out is how much of this action was directed or inspired by ISIS. They do believe that it was something in between. Alisyn?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That is one of the big questions there. Kyung, thank you for that. Baltimore's mayor urging a full scale justice investigation into the

police department following Freddie Gray's death, this as a police investigation challenges the prosecutor's case. Let's get right to CNN's Evan Perez live for us with all of the latest. What's happening in this case today, Evan?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. The Baltimore police investigation into Freddie Gray's death could end up undercutting the prosecution's case against the six police officers. That's because the police probe doesn't support some of the most serious charges brought by the separate state attorney's investigation run by Marilyn Mosby. Sources familiar with the case say the contradictions between the two cases could actually end up helping defense attorneys for the six officers.

[08:05:04] Already there are signs of conflict in the findings between the two investigations. Lawyers for two officers are challenging part of the Mosby case that is centered on whether a knife found on Freddie Gray was legal. Mosby's investigation found that the officers had no reason to arrest Gray because the knife was legal in Maryland. But the police investigation found the knife was illegal under city code. Back to you, Chris.

CUOMO: Thank you very much, Evan. Appreciate it.

We're going to go on to other news this morning. Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson lived and worked in Baltimore for 36 years. He is heading back there to meet with community leaders to figure out what's going on, part of the assumed leadership role that a president would have, and he joins us now. Dr. Ben Carson, good to have you back on NEW DAY. Congratulations on officially entering the race. Before we get to politics, what matters more obviously is always family, and our best wishes to your mother and we hope she is doing well. We have been hearing the reports. I just wanted to say that up front.

DR. BEN CARSON, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, I appreciate that.

CUOMO: So to Baltimore, doctor, you live there, you worked there. You understand it very well. Are you concerned by what happened to Freddie Gray?

CARSON: Well, yes, of course I am concerned about that, both as a resident of the city and as a concerned American, about things that are happening in our inner cities. But I should first of all say that I have had lots of interactions with the Baltimore police and the vast, vast majority are wonderful, wonderful people, and that's the case with police across the country.

Having said that, this young man who was relatively healthy went into police custody and ended up dead. Obviously something went wrong, you know, whether it was intentional or not, that's another issue, and I think our justice system is equipped to figure that out. But it's the appearance of hiding and not being forthright which I think has caused a lot of the rage. But, again, I want to go back to what is really happening. People, I

feel, have lost a significant degree of hope. And, you know, they see an opportunity to loot, to fill their pockets and they don't feel like they are going to get that opportunity in a legitimate way, those kinds of people are easy to manipulate. What we need to do is bring real hope back and do the kinds of things that actually allow people to be elevated out of a dependent and dismal situation and partake of the American dream.

CUOMO: You know what it's like to grow up in the inner city. You came up in Detroit and achieved many great successes. When those people that you are referring to who committed the crimes during this recent spate of unrest there, when they are called rioters and thugs, do you believe that is dismissing people who deserve a better explanation?

CARSON: Let's concentrate on the fact that the majority of people living in east Baltimore and west Baltimore are decent people. You remember the day after the rioting a bunch of the Baltimore men came out and they formed a barrier between the crowd and the police to prevent further violence. We need to concentrate a lot more on those individuals and what they are doing rather than the few who are instigators and create the trouble, I think. I don't think we can characterize the whole city or the whole community on the basis of those people.

CUOMO: The charges being brought by the prosecutor, do you believe that was the right move in the process?

CARSON: Well, I certainly recognize the fact that there is something that went wrong. Somebody did something inappropriate, and therefore she understood, I believe, that she was sitting on a powder keg and needed to do something to calm the situation down.

I look at six police officers, obviously -- and I shouldn't say obviously, but I don't think that all of them did something wrong, but probably during the arrest process, considering the kind of damage that was done to the spinal cord, some inappropriate pressure was applied to the spine by someone, and I am sure they didn't intend for that to be the outcome, but that did happen. Hopefully as the facts come out, appropriate recognition of what happened will help to calm the situation.

CUOMO: And I understand you are trying to be sensitive to the process and balancing the interests here, but it was very instructive when you came out early on because clearly you're respected for your understanding of science and medicine, saying, boy, that was a significant injury he had. It wasn't just from flopping around in the back of the van.

[08:10:13] And yet you say you don't know that anybody intended to do that to him. The prosecutor disagrees, right? She has homicide individuals there on two individuals, meaning that she believes that somebody did intend for him to be hurt in the way that wound up taking his life. CARSON: Well, I think we should ask her specifically is that her

intention, or is she simply saying I had to make charges in order to make some arrests.

CUOMO: You know she can't do that, right? The prosecutor can't say I want to calm people down so I'm going to charge these guys. That would be a perversion of justice.

CARSON: Yes, but my point being she would be the one who could probably answer that question rather than me.

CUOMO: Yes. So you see the bigger issues there. What do you do? If you're president of the United States, you know this isn't just one case. You know this is about a culture there and, as you said, a hopelessness. What do you do for the people in the east and west Baltimores of this entire country who are desperate for jobs and desperate for better and feel forgotten? What do you do that isn't being done?

CARSON: I think there are a few things that need to be done. First of all, we need to introduce the police into the community in a very pleasant, nonthreatening way early on, so when little Johnny first encounters the police officer it's a pleasant encounter. He knows him as Officer Joe. That makes a big difference.

The other thing we have to do is get business, industry, academia, Wall Street, churches, community groups involved specifically with members of the community as opposed to having big government programs that just throw money at people. We have seen over the course of the last few decades that that really doesn't work. And rather than sit around and ascribing blame to people saying you made a bad program, that doesn't matter. What matters is can we now recognize that that didn't work and let's take a different pathway. What we do know is that there are a number of community programs across the country where people get involved with the community.

CUOMO: Right.

CARSON: Those are the things that actually allow people to climb out of those situations. And there are companies who have started programs with internships where they bring the young people in and get them involved early on, give them a pathway out. It benefits everybody.

CUOMO: You are used as an example of two different things for people. Some people say see what happens when people get an opportunity even if they are in a hard situation, even if their life hasn't been perfect. Look how amazing this man became recognizing his scientific and medical potential. And then other people will look at you and say, see, they could all be like Dr. Ben Carson. They choose not to. They are lazy and criminal and violent. What do you say to people?

CARSON: I say let's stop demonizing people let's put on our thinking caps and figure out how we can make the tide rise for everybody, because it benefits us all. If we don't have a bunch of people who are independent, guess what, you don't have to pay so much money, and they become part of the fabric, and they may discover a new cure for cancer or a new energy source. We need to utilize all of our people. We only have 330 million. China has a billion, over a billion, so does India. We have to compete with these people. We need to develop every single one of our individuals.

CUOMO: Dr. Carson, thank you for being on NEW DAY. Congratulations on being in the race for president, and, again, the best to your mother and her health going forward. We look forward to seeing what happens when you go down there to Baltimore.

CARSON: Thank you, Chris. Appreciate it.

CUOMO: Michaela?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Chris, we turn now to deflate-gate. What did Tom Brady know and when did he know it? The NFL's report on this scandal offers no definitive answers, but there is a mountain of circumstantial evidence that the Patriots intentionally deflated footballs and that their star quarterback was aware. CNN's John Berman, who may have a horse in this race a little bit, is here with more.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: My horse is the horse racing for justice, Michaela.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: The question is when will we hear from Tom Brady about this. When will he face the public and discuss this report more than 200 pages long which says he was more probably than not generally aware that footballs were deflated before the NFC championship game.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: New details in the NFL's stunning 243-page report on deflate gate. It concludes the New England Patriots mega-star quarterback Tom Brady more probably than not was at least generally aware that game balls were deliberately underinflated. This is something Brady has more or less denied since January.

TOM BRADY, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK: I have no knowledge of anything. I didn't alter the ball in any way.

[08:15:00] BERMAN: Based on video evidence and witness accounts, the report claims that two of the team's personnel, Jim McNally, the locker room attendant, and John Jastremski, an equipment assistant, deliberately made efforts to release air from Patriots game balls after the balls were examined by the referee.

The theory: footballs with less air are easier to grip.

Inside the report, damming text messages exchanged between the two men with the talk of cash, free shoes and autographs. McNally even calls himself the "deflator", texting , "Tom sucks, I'm going to make that next ball an expletive balloon." Jastremski, "Talked to him last night. He actually brought you up and said you must have a lot of stress trying to get them done."

The report also says on January 18th, during the AFC championship game, McNally was seen on surveillance video committing a violation, taking the game balls on a sudden trip to the bathroom before bringing them to the field.

Also notable, a flurry of phone calls and text messages between Tom Brady and Jastremski after the news of deflategate blew up. Tom Brady texting, "You good, Johnny boy?" Jastremski responding, "Still nervous, so far so good, though. I'll be all right." Brady, "You didn't do anything wrong, bud." Jastremski, "I know, I'll be all good."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Yes, the deflator, not a lot of subtlety in that nickname. So, Tom Brady, he did answer questions in the investigation, he did meet with the investigators, but he did not turn over his cell phone, text messages and e-mails, and it is likely the NFL will not look too favorably upon that -- Chris.

The deflator.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: I know. I know this is tough for you, John Berman.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: You are just making it worse.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. He seems fine.

CUOMO: To many people, this is a new situation. But to others, it is only confirming what was always suspected.

John Berman, right there.

In other news, the Pentagon is set to begin training moderate Syrian rebels in Turkey and Jordan to fight ISIS this week. But the move is loaded with risks and resistance. A top Syrian opposition leader is telling our Jim Sciutto exclusively that his forces need help against the Assad regime, saying U.S. help in that fight has been, quote, "too small and too slow."

PEREIRA: Dorian Johnson, the friend with Michael Brown when he was fatally shot in Ferguson, Missouri, last summer, has been arrested. He will be formally charged today in St. Louis for allegedly possessing drugs and resisting. Johnson's arrest coming just days after he announced a lawsuit against Ferguson and Darren Wilson, claiming the man who shot Brown assaulted him.

CAMEROTA: Stories so many people are talking about today. Actress Sophia Vergara speaking out about her embryo battle with former fiance Nick Loeb. She accuses Nick Loeb of taking advantage of her and using her fame to get attention for his push to preserve the embryos.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SOFIA VERGARA, ACTRESS IN LEGAL BATTLE OVER FROZEN EMBRYOS: I don't understand why this person -- you know, I don't want to allow this person to take more advantage of my career and try to promote himself, and get press for this. He shouldn't be out there, you know, for people to give their opinion when there's nothing to talk about, you know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right. So, later this hour, we will get the other side from Sophia Vergara's ex, Nick Loeb.

So many people, guys, asked, why is he doing this? Why can't he just let get it go?

PEREIRA: Move on.

CAMEROTA: Why can't he move on?

So, he'll explain why he cannot move on and why he's so emotional about this.

CUOMO: And there is the personal part, and he is referring to him about this person, you know there is a lot of bad blood out there. But there's bigger concern about life and how it's negotiated through law.

CAMEROTA: And when it starts.

CUOMO: Right.

PEREIRA: A new frontier.

CUOMO: So, voters are heading to the polls in Britain today, to select their next prime minister. How does their decision affect you in the U.S.? Christiane Amanpour joins us to discuss.

CAMEROTA: And will deflategate take the air out of Tom Brady's playing field? Do you like that pun? Big speculation he could be suspended based on the NFL's new findings. We will ask the experts what it means for his legacy.

CUOMO: How many seasons?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:22:37] CAMEROTA: It is election day in Britain. Prime Minister David Cameron going for a second term, trying to keep his job.

So, what's the impact of today on the U.S.?

Let's bring in CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour.

Christiane Amanpour, great to see you.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: So, what is at stake today in the U.K. for the U.S.?

AMANPOUR: A lot, Alisyn, because, as you know, for years, decades, the U.S. and U.K. have had a, quote, "special relationship". On the one hand, the U.S. has been slightly concerned about the U.K.'s commitment to shouldering its burden in world, whether it's, you know, being front and center in various international crisis, that usually the U.S. and Britain are facing together or not, because actually, foreign policy has not come up at all in this election.

Now, on another issue, the U.S. is very concerned in case one of the results leads to a referendum that sees the U.K. leave the E.U., the European Union. That would not be good because the U.S. believes Europe is strong with the U.K., and, of course, the E.U. is U.S.'s largest American trading partner.

And then there's another concern at stake and that is the actual, continued nature of the, quote, "United Kingdom", because if another party wins, it may do a deal with the Scottish nationalists who want to essentially have independence and break up the United Kingdom, and that most people think might weaken the constituent parts.

So, for all of those reasons, it's huge, and there is no clear frontrunner at all after their six-week campaign.

CAMEROTA: So, you had a chance to talk about all of this with former President Bill Clinton in your sit-down interview. Let's hear what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: I know and like Prime Minister Cameron, Ed Milliband and Nick Clegg. You know, I like them all, I'm not running for anything. I can say that.

But I would rather have them fighting within a United Kingdom, I'd rather have them fighting within the E.U. The rest of Europe needs the financial strength of the U.K. and the economic growth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, Christiane, is there one of those candidates who's seen as better for economic growth?

AMANPOUR: Well, that's a very good question. David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader and the prime minister, has seen an extraordinary thing happen here, and that's the recovery after the financial crash here in Britain has not translated into an outright leading ahead in the polls.

[08:25:10] And so when most people around the world vote with their pocket books, right now, the polls do not show Cameron has that advantage. He is the party also that has promised a referendum in or out of the E.U. So, that is one issue. On the other hand, the Labour Party, Ed Milliband's party, there is a

lot of concern about what kind of deal it might make with the Scottish nationalists that might eventually lead to the break up of the United Kingdom.

CAMEROTA: OK. Christiane, let's talk about what's going on in Israel. Last night, Benjamin Netanyahu had a deadline to form his new government. So, what does this look like?

AMANPOUR: Well, from all the comments that are coming out of Israel, people are just like can't believe that this is what many people are calling the most extreme coalition in Israel's history in a long time, the weakest coalitions of leader of the Zionist Union Party, Isaac Herzog, has said this is a coalition of national failure, and others have said putting one of these people head of the justice ministry is like putting a pyromaniac in charge of the fire department.

Basically what's happened is that Benjamin Netanyahu, some said like Cinderella just before midnight, has cobbled together an alliance with very, very right-wing parties, parties like Jewish Home, Naftali Bennett's party which had the eight seats that Netanyahu needed for that 61-seat majority, a very, very slim majority in the Knesset. Apparently, no 61-seat Knesset coalition has ever lasted to four years.

Why does this matter to the United States of America and to the rest of the world? Because none of the people in the coalition want a Palestinian state, Jewish Home, Naftali Bennett's party wants more settlements in the West Bank, and this is what is causing a huge amount of concern in terms of what it might mean for foreign policy and peace in the Middle East, and people are saying that this proves what Netanyahu already said, that under my administration, there will be no Palestinian state.

Anybody who believes that Netanyahu wants to be the historic candidate to forge peace in the Middle East, many are saying, needs to disabuse themselves of that thought right now. Not ready to make that giant step towards peace.

CAMEROTA: Wow, pyromaniac in charge of the fire department. That is some overheated rhetoric to run with the theme.

Christiane, thanks so much for explaining all of that to us. Great to see you.

AMANPOUR: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Chris?

CUOMO: All right. So, this independent investigation done for the NFL says that Tom Brady was, ready, more likely than not generally aware of something about the footballs being doctored for the AFC championship game. Experts will unwrap that suggestion sandwich and tell you what happens to Brady and his Super Bowl championship team.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)