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Tom Brady Controversy; American Dentist Kills Beloved African Lion. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired July 29, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00] ISABELLA MURGIO, ORGANIZED "LIGHT THE NIGHT" VIGIL FOR MISSING BOYS: I just think that it was the weather just messed them up and - but like, in the boat, I don't know if the boat flipped right out of the inlet or what happened, but I know that they're going to come home and they're going to - they're safe.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Isabella and Matthew, we're praying along with you. Thanks so much for taking time to tell us about your friends.

MURGIO: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's get over to John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I feel so bad for them. Thanks so much, Alisyn.

Tom Brady speaks, or Facebooks, more accurately. His new response just in about the allegations he is a cheating cell phone destroyer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

At number one, the two teenage Floridians missing at sea for six days now, their search continues. Fourteen-year-old Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos, now spanning - the search is spanning, Jupiter, Florida, all the way to South Carolina.

[08:35:00] Donald Trump is standing by a top advisor after controversial comments about rape. He says he will not fire Michael Cohen who told a "Daily Beast" reporter, legally, quote, "you cannot rape your spouse." Cohen has since backed off that statement.

Former prison tailor Joyce Mitchell confessing she helped convicted killers David Sweat and Richard Matt escape from an upstate New York prison. Mitchell herself now faces a sentence of up to seven years in prison.

Secretary of State John Kerry and other administration officials heading to Capitol Hill today for another hearing on the Iran nuclear deal. So far that deal is seeing major resistance from House Republicans.

Tom Brady, he says he is disappointed the NFL upheld his four-game ban for deflategate. He says the suggestion that he replaced his phone in order to hide text messages is false and that he did it after being assured the phone would not be need.

For more on the five things to know, be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.

All right, in today's "New Day, New You," a new study highlighting the importance of sleep. Wow!

CAMEROTA: Oh, great.

PEREIRA: We need this one! Researchers from Spain and the U.K. reporting a good night of sleep doubles your chances of remembering previously forgotten information and makes it easier to recall facts we could not remember while we were awake. Scientists say more studies are needed but the new finding supports the notion that our brains actively rehearse important information while we are asleep.

So my question, John Berman, is Tom Brady lacking sleep?

BERMAN: I was saying - I was just saying, I'm so screwed. If sleep makes you remember stuff right now -

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: I'm in big, big trouble.

CAMEROTA: That explains a lot.

PEREIRA: Is that what it is?

BERMAN: Yes, indeed.

CAMEROTA: I know.

PEREIRA: Power nap.

BERMAN: On the subject of Tom Brady, yes, he destroyed his cell phone right in the middle of the Deflategate investigation. Why does he say he do it? Why does he say this is not a big, incriminating smoking gun? We'll weigh the arguments, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:40] BERMAN: New this morning, Tom Brady is defending himself in a Facebook post after the NFL upheld his four-game suspension for Deflategate. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says Brady tried to hide evidence by destroying his cell phone. Brady says this morning, I did nothing wrong.

Let's bring in CNN Sports analyst and sports columnist for "USA Today" Christine Brennen.

Christine, Tom Brady says I did nothing wrong and no one in the Patriots organization did either. Discuss.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Yes, John, he is doubling down. It's hard to believe that he wants to keep fighting like this, but he's going to. A couple of things jump out immediately. Number one, in his statement on Facebook, Tom Brady says that he fully cooperated after he was suspended, after the punishment in May. That is a key point. He never cooperated before he was suspended. So he is now trumpeting the fact that he helped out and he was a party to this and he was very cooperative. But that was after the fact. He should have done it sooner. And that is a big point of contention, why he was suspended in the first place. So that's an interesting thing, that he would throw that in there. And I think, you know, he's a day late and a dollar short.

BERMAN: He -

BRENNAN: And this - go ahead. I'm sorry.

BERMAN: He defends himself on the cell phone, right? The big thing that Roger Goodell - the Roger Goodell bomb that he dropped yesterday was that Tom Brady destroyed his cell phone during the investigation and then didn't tell him about it for a long time. Brady says on Facebook, "I replaced my broken Samsung phone with a new iPhone 6 after my attorneys made it clear to the NFL that my actual phone device would not be subjected to investigation under any circumstances." What Brady says, he said, look, this cell phone was never, never going to be part of this investigation. I made clear they weren't getting their hands on it, so who cares when I destroyed it.

BRENNAN: Yes, what a coincidence though that it happened to be that day or the day after. I don't think, as I said a moment ago, a day late, dollar short. This - the narrative now, John, that Tom Brady destroyed a cell phone is so out there, it is such a part of our culture already. And now to be saying this, it's almost laughable. It's oh, yes, yes, right, we get it now. And maybe the big news is he switched to an iPhone, right? You know, shocking headline.

I just think it falls short. I think it diminishes him. It makes him look smaller. I understand he has his fans, of course, many of them, and a lot of people who are saying that Roger Goodell went over and far above and beyond what he should, even though who gave Roger Goodell this power? The union gave Roger Goodell this power with the collective bargaining agreement.

But I - I just think, this is big news today. This is -

BERMAN: Right.

BRENNAN: Tom Brady with a long, long Facebook post. People should read it. But I think it just looks kind of ridiculous that that's the day that he decided to switch? I don't know, it just - it doesn't fit for me.

BERMAN: You know, playing devil's advocate here, Christine, because I have to admit, I mean I'm a Patriots fan, but I largely agree with what you're saying. Brady says yes the - you know, the players and the union gave Goodell this power to be the arbitrator, but the union, in a collective bargaining agreement, also gave Brady the power not to turn over his cell phone. It did. Flat out. It did not have to be part of the investigation. He did not have to turn it over. That is clear.

Now, he goes on to say also in this, he says, "I have never written, texted, emailed to anybody at any time anything related to football air pressure before the issue was raised at the AFC championship game in February." If you parse that statement, he says before the issue was raised at the AFC championship game in February. So he may have texted people after it was raised. He may have texted people a lot after it was raised. And, in fact, we know there were a furious number of exchanges between he and the two guys who were involved in this.

BRENNAN: Well, that's right, 10,000 text messages apparently. And if it's afterwards, then, of course, that statement falls short. And the other part of this, going back to what was originally asked of him before the punishment was announced in May, he was given the opportunity by Ted Wells and the NFL to give up a list of his text messages. He didn't have to give over his phone. He was asked to participate and cooperate. And that they could even go through the phone and just give out the ones that were pertaining to Deflategate. And he refused to do that. So now he's saying all of these things, but the reality is, he blew it. He blew it by not cooperating.

BERMAN: Yes.

BRENNAN: And if he had come clean, John, in that press conference in January and said, you know, I made a mistake, he would have had a fine and this would have been over in January.

BERMAN: Well, yes.

BRENNAN: What a big mistake this is. But this is about his reputation and it's taking a big hit.

[08:45:00] BERMAN: Look, he had that opportunity in January. Probably had the opportunity several times after that as well. And even if he does win on appeal, and that seems a little bit less likely today -- I think you're right, Christine, that the image is tarnished probably forever.

Christine Brennan, thanks so much.

BRENNAN: John, thank you.

BERMAN: Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, John. An American dentist killed a beloved, protected lion in Africa, yet he insists that he did nothing wrong. We'll ask a wildlife expert about the case that has sparked outrage around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: The killing of a prized African lion sparking international outrage. American dentist Walter Palmer is now wanted by Zimbabwean officials by killing the lion that is known as Cecil. Conservationists say the avid hunter lured the lion outside a park and killed him. Palmer says he relied on experts to make sure the hunt was legal.

Joining us to discuss is animal expert and host of ABC's "Ocean Mysteries," Jeff Corwin. What a pleasure to talk to you, Jeff.

Let me read the statement, first of all, because I know we want to hear from Walter Palmer. This is in part what he had to say.

"I relied on the expertise of my local professional guides to ensure a legal hunt. I deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion."

[08:50:04] What are your thoughts on his statement? Do the guides share some of the responsibility here? Or is it his job as a hunter to do this ethically and legally?

JEFF CORWIN, HOST, ABC'S "OCEAN MYSTERIES": Ultimately, it is the hunter's responsibility to know all the relevant game laws and hunting regulations wherever you are. I have a fishing boat. If I take some friends out fishing here in the waters where I live and they don't have a fishing license, they're held accountable. So every individual has to be held accountable for their own actions.

Now, he did go over there, and there is a level of dependency he has in a new area with this experience but he ultimately needs to be accountable for his own actions.

PEREIRA: Well, we learned a little bit of detail, that they lured the animal outside of the park, they shot it with a bow, they took 40 hours to find it, it wasn't dead, they killed it and finished off the animal. But they also tried to destroy the tracking collar. It was being tracked and researched by Oxford University researchers, as far as we know. And they tried to destroy that. I mean, at that point, that's -- What do they call it? Adverse-inverse blame right there, is it not?

CORWIN: Here is the thing. If you're bow hunting, you are probably no more than 40 yards away from your target. So, you know, the idea that this individual would not have any knowledge that this animal had a radio collar on would be false to me because you would be able to see it. It's not like he's taking a shot from 500 yards away.

PEREIRA: Good point.

CORWIN: Also, you know, this was Cecil. Cecil was an iconic symbol of one of the most important and prestigious national parks in Zimbabwe. A 13-year-old master lion headed this pride, people from around the world came to see this animal. So I also doubt that the local guides would not be aware of the history with this amazing lion.

PEREIRA: That's a very, very good point. In terms of this Walter Palmer -- and he is sort of being seen as a poster child for this big- game hunting and the trophy hunting, -- we have learned that he has gotten into this kind of trouble before. Here in the United States back in 2006, he actually risked a whole lot. He could have faced prison time. He ended up getting probation and a fine. He shot a black bear -- a bear -- I shouldn't say black bear -- it was a bear -- outside of a zone that he had a license for and then he lied to fish and game agents about this. Does there need to be more repercussions for people who do this, in your estimation?

CORWIN: I believe everyone needs to be held accountable. In the United States, we have very specified hunting regulations. Each state has its own hunting regulations. It's on the onus of anyone within that region to follow the local fishing and hunting laws. So yes, people need to be held accountable.

Oftentimes, though, when people are found guilty of stuff like this, they -- the penalties tend to be pretty low. So it's unlikely that someone who commits these crimes are going to face the penalties that they should.

In Zimbabwe, by the way, if you're caught poaching -- and yes, even if you have a hunting license and you're legally hunting -- if you violate the laws, that is considered poaching. If you draw an animal out of a protected region like a national park with bait, that's considered illegal. In Zimbabwe that's a 15-year prison sentence.

PEREIRA: It shows you how seriously they're taking conservation efforts. Can you give us a brief primer, we've got about a minute left, on why it is that these lions are disappearing. Why are there numbers going down so drastically?

CORWIN: Well, unfortunately, African lions today are in a lot of trouble. This is a species that, just a few decades ago, was pushing over 100,000 animals. Today there are only 25,000 wild African lions left. Habitat loss, but mostly human/animal conflict, primarily from livestock and agriculture and, of course, this -- diseases like feline AIDS and climate change.

PEREIRA: Right.

CORWIN: This is a perfect extinction storm that's taking out one of our planet's most iconic predators.

PEREIRA: I was just watching how beautiful they are. In fact, we had a CNN Hero last year who one of her jobs, one of her goals was to get hunters there to be conservationists to protect these majestic beasts. Really a tremendous effort.

And Jeff, we appreciate your expertise on this today. Thanks for talking about it with us.

CORWIN: Thanks a lot.

PEREIRA: And if you want to, at home, get in on the conversation with us, tweet us using #newdaycnn. You can also post your comments on facebook.com/newday.

Alisyn? [08:54:50] CAMEROTA: OK, Michaela. Do you believe in miracles? You

will after you see today's "Good Stuff." That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: So we do a lot of good in "The Good Stuff," but we have an extraordinary version today, OK? An extraordinary operation for an extraordinary little boy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZION HARVEY, FIRST DOUBLE HAND TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT: When I was 2, I had to get my hands cut off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: That is 8-year-old Zion Harvey. That wasn't all. A severe infection also took his legs. They required two organs be transplanted. This brave little man has taken it all in stride.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARVEY: Some of my classmates, they don't mean to say mean things to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: There is a miracle, though, to this story for Zion. It's going to get me. Doctors at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia performed the world's first double hand transplant on a child. A 10- hour operation will soon allow Zion to do everything any other child can do, including his personal goal, he says, of playing on the monkey bars. He says his new hands at first felt weird, then good, and then he, of course, called out everyone who helped him through it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARVEY: I want to thank you guys. Thank you for helping me through this bumpy road.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: That's what I'm saying.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh.

PEREIRA: Zion, you are fantastic. Tremendous work on behalf of all of these doctors.

CAMEROTA: Hand us the tissues.

PEREIRA: I know.

CAMEROTA: That's a beautiful story.

(CROSSTALK) CAMEROTA: All right. On that note, time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello. Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, he is such a cutie! Thanks for sharing.

PEREIRA: Isn't he?

COSTELLO: He is. Have a great day.