Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Protecting Your Skin; Bin Laden Documents; Letterman Says Goodbye After 6,028 Shows. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 21, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:31:09] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go with the five things to know for your NEW DAY.

At number one, ISIS seizing the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria putting lives and priceless artifacts at risk. This as ISIS continues to make gains in Iraq after taking firm control of Ramadi.

Back here at home, Senator Rand Paul took to the Senate floor for more than ten hours, imploring his colleagues not to renew key provisions of the Patriot Act. A vote could come as soon as today.

A suspect has now been identified into the - in the mysterious murder of a wealthy Washington, D.C., family and their housekeeper. "The Washington Post" reports authorities found Daron Dylon Wint's DNA on a pizza crust found inside the home. His whereabouts are unknown.

Crews in California cleaning up after a massive crude oil spill along the coast of Santa Barbara. Officials say up to 105,000 gallons of oil may have been released.

And David Letterman saying good-bye, giving thanks just about everyone during his final "Late Show," ending a 33-year run on late night TV. An A-list of stars delivering Dave's final top ten list.

And for more on the five things to know, be sure to go to CNN - newdaycnn.com for the latest.

Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, summer's almost here. You know what that means, skin protection time. I know you're going, oh, I know all about it. Oh, yes, what's that thing over here. No, not that there. on the other side. See, I got you. Skin protection is something you have to think about. Chief business correspondent Christine Romans is here with some shocking numbers on sunscreen use in today's "New Day, New You."

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: This really surprised me. OK, sun protection is a 5.6 billion industry, a big business, yet most Americans can't even be bothered with sunscreen. According to a new study, men, Chris Cuomo, are the worst offenders. Only 14 percent of men regularly use sunscreen. Now, women, you didn't win any awards either. Only 30 percent of women regularly use it on their faces and bodies.

Melanoma is the third most common cancer in young people. It is never too late to lower your risk. First, avoid sunburns. No matter your age, avoid a sunburn. Many people think only childhood sunburns lead to future melanoma. That is not true. In fact, your risk increases with every additional sunburn.

Next, make sure your whole body is covered. Many women just put sunscreen on their faces because apparently we care about how we look, but Melanoma is most often found lower on the body.

Finally, try to stay out of the sun during the hottest times of the day, usually 10:00 to 2:00. If you have to be out at all, where protective clothing like wide-brimmed hats and sunglasses.

You all know this. We all know this, but apparently we don't do it.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Right, because, hold on a second, what does regularly mean? I mean we slather it on when we go to the beach, but you mean every day people don't wear sunscreen?

ROMANS: Every day.

PEREIRA: But you have to reapply.

ROMANS: They don't. and you need to wear it every day on your face, every day on your exposed skin. I mean especially in the springtime we feel we're out there. We feel like, oh, finally we're going to get some vitamin D.

CAMEROTA: Vitamin D.

PEREIRA: But you have to reapply it too.

CUOMO: Yes.

PEREIRA: Because you'll sweat through it or it will sweat off or you'll, you know, swim it off.

CUOMO: The simple thing is, you multiply the number of SPF by 6 and that's the amount of duration of maximum protection from that.

PEREIRA: Nobody said there was going to be math.

ROMANS: I say I cover my kids from head to toe. Maybe it's going to be --

PEREIRA: Good call.

CUOMO: And you've got the sprays now. It's so much easier.

ROMANS: Yes, that's true.

CUOMO: You know, you tell them, shut your mouth, close your eyes, sh, sh, sh, and you're done.

PEREIRA: I love dad.

CAMEROTA: There you go.

CUOMO: And then they don't, and then they suffer. And that's life.

CAMEROTA: Simple. Do it that way.

ROMANS: And Chris laughs.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUOMO: But they're protected.

ROMANS: They are. They are. Thanks.

CAMEROTA: Christine, thank you. great to see you.

All right, well, new documents reveal Osama bin Laden's connection to ISIS. How did terrorists rise from a group once allied with al Qaeda?

[08:34:30] We'll tell you about this rift from his personal documents, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Osama bin Laden's private letters being made public. Hundreds of documents provide a look into the al Qaeda leader's focus on hitting the U.S. and his tense relationship with the group that would become ISIS. Michael Weiss is a CNN contributor and co-author of "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror. He joins us now.

Michael, great to see you.

MICHAEL WEISS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You too.

CAMEROTA: Let's start with this letter -

WEISS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: That Osama bin Laden wrote to one of his aides and it talks about the beginning of ISIS. He says, "you should ask them to avoid insisting of the formation of an Islamic state at the time being, but to work on breaking the power of our main enemy by attacking the American embassies in the African countries." You see a divide in the philosophy already.

WEISS: There was always a divide between what was al Qaeda in Iraq, now we know as ISIS, and sort of core al Qaeda. The divide root is rooted in sort of the annals of jihadist theory. Bin Laden, by the late 1990s, was what was known as an advocate of the far enemy school of thinking, which was to say, go after the great infidel super power, the United States, hit its citizens, its military, its embassies around the world. Don't bother hitting the regimes and the so-called near enemy, the government of Jordan, Iraq, whatever.

The establishment of the Islamic State was deeply innervating (ph) to him and to his lieutenants because al Qaeda's sort of abiding philosophy or their strategy is, don't - don't just conquer terrain and set up shop as a kind of governing body. Recruit Muslims, do, you know, Dawa (ph), use the social outreach programs. You have to sway the population over to your side. Counter pose that with what ISIS does today, right? They blow into a territory or town and they conquer it and then they force people, through cohesion, to submit to their rule.

CAMEROTA: Let's look at a timeline -

WEISS: Yes.

[08:40:00] CAMEROTA: That helps explain how all of this evolved.

Back to 1999, this is Zarqawi, and this is bin Laden.

WEISS: Yes, this is -

CAMEROTA: Were these guys allies or enemies?

WEISS: Well, see, it's very interesting. This meeting took place in Kandahar, right, in 1999. Zarqawi went to meet bin Laden. The two of them hated each other from the very start for two main reasons. Zarqawi, it was presumed, did not show due deference to the great emir and sort of the sheik, Osama bin Laden, the head of al Qaeda. He was very arrogant and brash. He had his own ways. He also wanted to hit the near enemy. He wanted to go after the Jordanian government. He was Jordanian, remember.

The second reason that they didn't get on is, Zarqawi was a genocidal maniac who wanted to kill all of the Shia Muslims. He considered them to be no better than apostate (ph). This was an illegitimate house of Islam, we should go after all of them. That upset bin Laden because bin Laden's own mother was a Syrian Alawite. So - which is an offshoot or a schismatic (ph) sect within Shia Islam. So he took great umber (ph) to that. The importance of that - that sort of aspect of their antagonism was then later shown in 2004-2005 when in Iraq Zarqawi was doing what, blowing up Shia shrines and mosques and essentially advocating genocide against the Shia. That left a very sour reputation on the global al Qaeda brand because bin Laden was now seen to be attacking fellow Muslims. So it was very dire and he was also very upset by that.

CAMEROTA: Man, you know a lot about this.

WEISS: I mean it's amazing to think of bin Laden as sort of the moderate jihadi, but in - when you compare it to what ISIS is doing today, it's certainly the case.

CAMEROTA: I want to jump ahead in the timeline to 2010.

WEISS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: This was written by an aide to bin Laden.

WEISS: Yes. CAMEROTA: It says, "God willing, we will request information about al- Baghdadi and his deputy. We will try to ask the partisan brothers and others to get a clearer picture, with God's assistance. God willing, we will continue our efforts towards unity."

WEISS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: So they're looking for unity, but you start to, again, see a separation.

WEISS: The seeds of the divorce between al Qaeda and Iraq/ISIS and al Qaeda were planted in the marriage, essentially. But this is in - around 2010. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the current leader of ISIS, takes over the thrown. What's interesting about this is, at this time, al Qaeda in Iraq had undergone a process known as Iraqization. What had started out as a foreign fighter-led phenomenon, Zarqawi, a Jordanian, you had Egyptians and Saudis, the upper eshuweans (ph) of the organization was now dominated by native Iraqis. Many of them actually from the former Baath regime of Saddam Hussein. The fact that the head of al Qaeda - remember the patriot, the supervisory organization to al Qaeda in Iraq, didn't know who Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the new emir of their own franchise was. It tells you everything you need to know about that divorce. It was already taking place even while they were still nominal allies.

CAMEROTA: All right, let's see if I can get this to work. You know, technology is sometimes not my friend.

WEISS: Yes, it's not great.

CAMEROTA: OK, so let's look at what happens then in 2011.

WEISS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: When bin Laden is killed, then does this open the way for Baghdadi to go into Syria?

WEISS: Yes. Well, so, Baghdadi dispatched agents or emissaries into Syria around Ramadan in 2011. One of which a guy called Gilani (ph). Eventually, a few months later, established the al Qaeda franchise or the al Qaeda in Iraq franchise known as Jabhat al-Nusra. The problem is, global al Qaeda wanted Nusra to be a separate entity from what was then still known as ISI, the Islamic State of Iraq. Baghdadi had bolder ambitions, right? He was Caliphate minded. He didn't believe in nation states or, you know, these false designations. He wanted to merge the two.

ISIS, which was the Islamic State of Iraq in el-Sham (ph), meaning Syria or the Lavant (ph), essentially was his power play against al Qaeda to say, we don't care what you think anymore, I'm running the show here.

CAMEROTA: Very quickly -

WEISS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: We have only a few seconds. Do you believe the news reports today, Reuters is reporting that ISIS is in control of half of Syria?

WEISS: I would say that they have firm control of more than a third of Syria. When we say half of Syria, there are ungoverned spaces that ISIS has sway and influence. Does it mean that they have an active military presence that they're controlling it? I think that's a bit of an overstatement.

CAMEROTA: Michael Weiss, thanks so much for all the expertise.

WEISS: Sure. My pleasure.

CAMEROTA: Great to talk to you.

Let's get over to Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, something different, men are calling this the end of an era. David Letterman signing off as host of "The Late Show" last night. Comedian Gilbert Gottfried is here. We're going to talk to him -- Good morning, dear. That's you. Yes, it is. Yes, you look good.

[08:44:17] We're going to talk to him about Letterman's legacy and so much more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LETTERMAN, LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST: Paul and I have been doing the show 33 years, and that's 6,028 shows.

Earlier today, we got a call from Stephen Hawking. And he, bless his heart, had done the math because he is a genius and stuff, and 6,028 shows, and he ran the numbers and he said it works out to about eight minutes of laughter.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER & APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Way more than eight minutes, I swear. After a record 6,028 shows, David Letterman signed off as the host of "Late Show" for the last time. One of the 20,000 guests, imagine that, that were interviewed on his show, comedian Gilbert Gottfried, who is here now with us, was one of them. About eight times. He actually wrote a great op-ed piece for CNN.com about his experience with Letterman.

I was thinking about the math of doing it eight time. What an incredible experience to be invited the first time, but then to be invited back.

GILBERT GOTTFRIED, COMEDIAN: (INAUDIBLE). It's very odd. Now Letterman is still alive, right? Usually I get invited to CNN to talk about -- now, they were a friend of yours, and they are dead now, right? We'll, sadly, miss the passing Of David Letterman --

CAMEROTA: We talked about this earlier, that he got a chance to be a guest at his own funeral and he got to see what everybody would say about him last night.

GOTTFRIED: Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's the greatest thing in the world, to be dead --

CAMEROTA: To be alive after your funeral.

GOTTFRIED: Yes.

CAMEROTA: right.

GOTTFRIED: That would be a bad thing.

CUOMO: I like you better with the new 'do, I think, there.

GOTTFRIED: Oh, geez!

PEREIRA: You haven't seen this for awhile, huh?

GOTTFRIED: Oh my god.

CUOMO: Got a little bit of the fro working. I think it works.

GOTTFRIED: Oh, geez.

PEREIRA: He looks good, too.

GOTTFRIED: That's when I was still with the Jackson 5.

(LAUGHTER)

Yeah. Oh, wow.

CUOMO: What made it different going on with Dave?

[08:49:54] GOTTFRIED: I always liked -- what I liked about Letterman was there was always, like, kind of a nasty undercurrent with him. What I remember is one time seeing a little kid on the show with an invention, and the little kid was there with glasses and a really awkward-looking kid, and the kid was going, well, I invented this pill dispenser because grandpa was missing his medication, and Letterman goes, and it seems like he is not the only one in the family missing his medication.

(LAUGHTER)

I thought, if you could be on there insulting a little kid, then I am a fan.

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: It's so interesting. We have been talking so much, and it does make it sound like we are speaking at his funeral, it's such a weird thing. We were talking about how much he meant to the insomniacs and the night owls and people like us that watched him, but he had a very different and significant sort of place in the world of comedians. Every comedian has been talking about how much they were either influenced or even benefited from his generosity.

GOTTFRIED: Yeah, well, he never lent me (INAUDIBLE) - So he's never been that generous. He hasn't been paying my rent all these years. But he did have me on all those times. That was great exposure when I would be on Letterman.

CAMEROTA: But you say he was mean and mischievous -

GOTTFRIED: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- as a host. And so was that sort of - could it be an unpleasant experience to go on?

GOTTFRIED: It was weird because he could definitely zing you. That was what was always fun about watching that. It's like he would always have something that he could insult you with and just totally destroy you. But that's what made him fun to watch.

CUOMO: Is it romanticizing him to say that that made him unique, that that is not how it is out there anymore? That they are more into the sketches now and a little bit softer comedy, less offensive?

GOTTFRIED: Yes, it's totally -- What is so strange now is that one time, the most important news items were like Letterman, Leno and Conan, and now it's - All that's over with. It's like Leno is gone, Letterman is gone and I don't know what channel Conan is on, right?

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: We can't laugh at that. He's on a Turner channel.

(CROSSTALK)

GOTTFRIED: Oh, well then it's the biggest show on the air.

CUOMO: There you go.

GOTTFRIED: Yes. You know they have been spelling my name wrong on CNN?

CUOMO: Uh oh.

CAMEROTA: Is that right?

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Glad we caught that.

CUOMO: Put up his name. They're out there scrambling in the control room right now, just freaking out on Google. How is that?

CAMEROTA: Two T's?

GOTTFRIED: Yes. Yes! They corrected it. I called in and said, you know -

PEREIRA: Did you call in?

GOTTFRIED: -- there are two T's, it's not with a D.

CUOMO: We left the Senator on the rocks in Maine this morning, so it was good that we got -

GOTTFRIED: Right now - on the bottom of the screen, you know, President Lincoln has been shot?

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: Right on time.

CUOMO: Jerry Gottfried. Everybody loves him.

PEREIRA: Jerry. Everybody loves Jerry. What was some of your favorite parts of the goodbye last night? You, obviously, watched it with the same kind of eyes, except for you've been there. You've sat on that couch, you've been there to see the whole show kind of take place. What did you enjoy the most?

GOTTFRIED: Well, I recorded it. I didn't watch the whole thing yet.

PEREIRA: He watched it this morning.

GOTTFRIED: But, you know, not knowing about something has never stopped me from talking about it.

(LAUGHTER)

Hey, did you hear there as a big flood in India? No, but I'll talk about it. I'll be on the air. Fine.

CAMEROTA: Perfect table guest.

CUOMO: You think he did it right last night? Was it the right kind of show?

GOTTFRIED: Yeah. Yeah. I thought Letterman always had a nice touch of both - he could be sensitive at times, he didn't get carried away with that, or very little he'd show real -- but then other times, there would be that -- the nastiness I liked.

CAMEROTA: What do you remember most about your appearances on there?

GOTTFRIED: Oh, god, I just remember I would go on, I'd like do a set and there was a great crowd, he'd be a great host, and then I'd sit down on the panel with him. It was not like --

CUOMO: That's a very vivid memory you have there.

GOTTFRIED: Yeah! (Laughing) There was a camera --

CUOMO: Really stuck with you, huh?

GOTTFRIED: I think I was wearing a blue jacket. I had pants on, as I remember.

PEREIRA: It was a big day. Big day.

GOTTFRIED: I did have shoes at the time. Letterman, he had hair.

CAMEROTA: So did you.

GOTTFRIED: I - Yes -

CUOMO: Easy. Easy.

GOTTFRIED: I think there was cheese and crackers backstage.

CUOMO: Nice.

PEREIRA: Well, the tributes are paid in (ph) and we know the folks at home are tweeting. You can tweet us if you want to carry on. Your thoughts on maybe some of your favorite moments as well. Use the #newdayCNN.

[08:55:06] CUOMO: He's killing himself.

PEREIRA: He's killing himself.

CAMEROTA: That is fantastic. Also post your comments on Facebook.

GOTTFRIED: I think Dave had a cup of coffee.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Gilbert Gottfried, his name is finally spelled right on CNN.

GOTTFRIED: Or maybe he said he doesn't like coffee.

CUOMO: The mundane is memorial.

GOTTFRIED: Yeah, I guess.

CUOMO: Gilbert will do a whole set on it for you.

GOTTFRIED: He may have put cream in it if he was, in fact, having coffee, which he might not have been.

CUOMO: As if it were needed, we'll have more "Good Stuff" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: This "Good Stuff" is so good, Gilbert Gottfried had to stay for it.

PEREIRA: Of course.

CUOMO: And as often happens, the best also comes from the worst that life brings us. So 2010, Deputy Sam Brown, killed in the line of duty, fast forward five years, his department decides to auction off his squad car for charity. Bidding on it is Sam's son Tanner. But get this, he winds up getting out-bid. This guy didn't know who he was bidding against or whatever and he winds up beating the guy's son. A local rancher, Steve Wells, he says, no, he goes the full length, $60,000, to get the car and he gives it to Tanner. The money goes to the charity COPS, or Concern of Police Survivors.

[09:00:02] So a happy ending anyway because this rancher stepped up and let this family have something that obviously matters more to them than anything else.

PEREIRA: You got something to say, Gilbert?

GOTTFRIED: Well, that's the scary thing with me.

PEREIRA: You always have something to say?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

>