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Britney Spears Can Hire Her Own Attorney; FBI Botched USA Gymnastics Abuse Probe; Slow-Moving Storms Soak Midwest; Tennessee Stops Outreach to Children; A CNN Original Series on Jerusalem. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 15, 2021 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:33:24]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Developing this morning, a Los Angeles judge granting Britney Spears the ability to retain her own attorney in her legal battle against her father after she said that she wanted him charged with conservatorship abuse.

CNN's Chloe Melas live in Los Angeles with more.

This is a fascinating turn of events here in the free Britney story that we have been tracking here. It's also a wonder why it didn't happen sooner, Chloe.

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: It only took 13 years, right, for Britney Spears to finally get, Brianna, an attorney of her choice. I was in the courtroom in an incredibly emotional two-hour hearing. And Britney is one step closer to finally terminating this conservatorship.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELAS (voice over): A ground-breaking moment for Britney Spears. For the first time in her 13-year conservatorship, the singer is able to hire her own attorney.

CROWD: Hey, hey, ho, ho, the conservatorship has got to go.

MELAS: Now representing Spears is former federal prosecutor Matthew Rosengart, who addressed cheering fans outside the Los Angeles courthouse.

MATTHEW ROSENGART, BRITNEY SPEARS' ATTORNEY: We feel that today was a big step in the interest of justice, not only in terms of Britney Spears, but in terms of this conservatorship, shining a light on what's happened here, and larger issues nationally in terms of conservatorships and how they operate.

MELAS: The decision by Judge Brenda Penny comes after the resignation of Spears' court appointed lawyer Samuel D. Ingham earlier this month. Exactly three weeks after Spears' bombshell testimony, she addressed a packed courtroom virtually.

[06:35:02]

Spears spoke for about 20 minutes during the nearly two-hour long hearing, sobbing at times, saying that she wanted to charge her father with conservatorship abuse and telling the court she has serious abandonment issues.

The singer's father, Jamie Spears, has been the coconspirator of her estimated $60 million estate since 2008. He did not respond to CNN's request for comment.

The Grammy Award-winning artist also calling the conservatorship f-ing cruelty and a reference to her conservators saying, quote, I thought they were trying to kill me.

ROSENGART: Pursuant to Britney Spears' instructions, we will be moving promptly and aggressively for his removal. The question remains, why is he involved? He should step down voluntarily as that is in the best interest of Britney Spears.

MELAS: Aside from Spears' father and mother, Lynne Spears, attending the hearing virtually, Spears' conservator of her person, Jody Montgomery, said via her attorney that she plans to stay on overseeing the pop star's medical issues. Britney Spears ending her testimony by saying, quote, if this is not abuse, I don't know what is. I want Jody's help to get back into the real world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MELAS: Right after the hearing, Brianna, Britney took to social media and she posted a video of herself doing cart wheels, riding a horse, saying that she feels blessed that she has new and, quote, real representation, referring to her new attorney, Matthew Rosengart. She also used the #freebritney, which is major validation for the free Britney movement.

Brianna.

KEILAR: Chloe, thank you so much for that.

And it strikes me as I'm watching your story there, video after video that we are seeing of Britney Spears there, she was under this extremely, still is, controlling conservatorship that's really just kind of unprecedented for someone in her situation.

Chloe Melas, thank you.

Oh, go on. Yes, please.

MELAS: I was just going to say, I mean, it's something that her mother, Lynne Spears, said in court filings, Brianna, that she has made hundreds of millions of dollars. She had a Las Vegas residency. She was on the "X Factor." Conservatorships are primarily used for the elderly or those who can't provide food, clothing and shelter for themselves. And her mother has argued in petitions that I've obtained that, you know, Britney is able to care for herself pretty much on her own. So maybe she does need a care plan in place and a conservator of the person to help her with medical issues, but that moving forward, to end this conservatorship is really in the best interest of Britney.

KEILAR: Yes. We're learning so much.

Chloe Melas, thank you.

MELAS: Thank you.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: To a scathing watchdog report says the FBI botched the sexual abuse investigation of disgraced USA Gymnastics Dr. Larry Nassar. The inspector general of the Justice Department says the bureau failed to interview victims in a timely fashion, made false statements and did not properly document complaints.

Jean Casarez here now with the details.

Jean, this is just a mess from the beginning.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a long time coming. We knew this was going on, but the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General has found that senior officials with the Indianapolis FBI failed to respond to Larry Nassar allegations with the utmost seriousness and urgency that the allegations deserved and required.

It was 2015, and USA Gymnastics went to the FBI field office in Indianapolis, which is where USAG is based, and they told the special agent in charge that office, Jay Abbott, and a supervisor special agent in the Indianapolis field office, that three gymnasts, they had reported being sexually assaulted by Larry Nassar.

Through its three-year investigation, the office is now confirming that the FBI only did a limited follow-up on these initial allegations of assault by Larry Nassar. They did not formally open up an investigation or fully document their activities.

Additionally, Indianapolis FBI later said they had referred the case to the Lansing, Michigan, FBI because so many gymnasts trained and they attended Michigan State University. But the report states they did not do that.

So for over a year, nothing was done on allegations against Larry Nassar because the only law enforcement agency that knew about him was the FBI in Indianapolis. And they did nothing.

And during that year, the report states, more than 70 young athletes were allegedly sexually assaulted by Nassar. John Manly, attorney for the vast majority of Nassar's victims, tells me that at this point 120 young women were allegedly sexually assaulted from 2015 to 2016 while the FBI was silent.

The inspector general confirms in his report the materially false statements were made by an FBI supervisory special agent during the interviews that the field office provided incomplete, inaccurate information to response to internal FBI inquiries and they did not forward the allegations on to FBI agents or local agents in Michigan.

[06:40:10]

The attorney for former Indianapolis field office special agent in charge, John Abbott, tells CNN, Mr. Abbott has received and reviewed a copy of the report. Mr. Abbott thanks the law enforcement officers and prosecutors who brought Larry Nassar to justice. Mr. Abbott hopes the courage of the victims of Nassar's horrible crime find peace.

The report does state, however, the Department of Justice declined prosecution on two personnel in this matter last year. The FBI has demoted one, is waiting for a response from the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility, the other retired.

Attorney John Manly is calling now for criminal charges to be filed. He says that there has to be accountability. And he tells me that otherwise what you're telling the FBI field offices, you can do whatever you want.

Now, John, the big question is why, right? Why would they hold this? These three minors said they would talk back in 2015 to the FBI. First of all, they only talked to one. They did not talk to all three. Just a couple of handwritten notes.

But here's what's also in the report, which is interesting. The head of the field office in Indianapolis was just about to retire. And it talks about in that report a meeting at a bar that he had with the head of USA Gymnastics. He wanted a position with the U.S. Olympic Committee that was open right then. And the report states he knew that the head of USAG would put in a good word for him.

What does that have to do with all of this, John? Because there has to be a motive, right?

BERMAN: I've got to say, such a disservice to all of these young women. They were not served by justice. Justice did not serve them well.

Jean Casarez, thanks so much for being with us.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

BERMAN: We should note that the FBI says they're implementing the inspector general's recommendations, writing in part, as the inspector general made clear in today's report, this should not have happened. The FBI will never lose sight of the harm that Nassar's abuse caused. The actions and inactions of certain FBI employees described in the report are inexcusable and a discredit to the organization. The FBI has taken affirmative steps to insure and has confirmed that those responsible for the misconduct and the breach of trust no longer work on FBI matters.

All right, concern about a coup. A plan for mass resignations. Comparisons to Hitler. All of the stunning new revelations about Trump's final days in office, coming up. KEILAR: Plus, Tennessee's former vaccine manager says she was sent a muzzle, a dog muzzle, in the mail days before being fired. We are live in Nashville, next.

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[06:47:09]

KEILAR: A slow-moving storm system is set to soak the middle of the country today. So let's get now to CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray.

All right, what are you keeping your eye on here?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Brianna, it's basically this front that's draped right across the mid-section of the country, producing severe weather, like we saw last night, but also continuing to produce some very heavy rainfall. Flooding potential definitely there.

This weather is presented by Carvana, the new way to buy a car.

So, yesterday we had 28 tornado reports, almost 70 wind reports and 10 hail reports, all part of the same system. You can see it running through Chicago, draped all the way as far back as The Plains. And so that's going to continue to just inch to the east throughout the day. Could produce as much as 4 inches of rain around Chicago and the surrounding areas this morning and then, once again, seeing some more rain this afternoon.

Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Jennifer, thank you so much for that.

BERMAN: So fueled by the delta variant, coronavirus cases are up in nearly the entire United States. Thirty-five states have increased more than 50 percent in the last week. The key to stopping this, getting more Americans vaccinated, particularly in the states where the vaccinate rates are low. But in Tennessee, not only did they fire their top vaccine official, they're halting all adolescent vaccine outreach regardless of the illness. We're talking about like measles, rubella, basic stuff.

CNN's Martin Savidge live in Nashville.

Martin, this seems like burying your head in the sand or even worse.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Yes, no question that the political battle over the coronavirus vaccine and the Tennessee Department of Health continues to heat up now with threats of investigations and threats of a different sort arriving in the mail.

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SAVIDGE (voice over): The Tennessee Department of Health is stopping all vaccine outreach for adolescents, even for vaccines not related to COVID-19. According to documents obtained by CNN, the halt includes ending everything, from COVID-19 second dose reminders and HPV shot reminders, to kindergarten vaccination surveys.

DR. ALEX JAHANGIR, CHAIRMAN, DAVIDSON COUNTY, TN, BOARD OF HEALTH: Of course I'm worried. I think the science has shown for decades now, you know, we don't -- we don't see rubella, measles and so forth in schools and kids. We have healthy children in America. And the reason we have that is there has been a robust immunization program now for multiple decades.

SAVIDGE: Just this week, one of the state's medical directors was fired. Dr. Michelle Fiscus says it was over an argument about vaccinating children against COVID. She claims it all began when she shared a memo of Tennessee's policy which allows some children between the ages of 14 and 17 to get medical treatment, including some vaccines without parental consent.

DR. MICHELLE FISCUS, FIRED TENNESSEE TOP VACCINE OFFICIAL: So I put it into a memo, sent it to those providers to answer the questions that they had asked. And what resulted was some blow-back with accusations that I was actually trying to subvert parental authority and target children.

[06:50:08]

SAVIDGE: A week before her termination, Fiscus says she received a suspicious package with this dog muzzle inside, delivered to her state office.

FISCUS: At first I thought that was a joke and contacted a few friends. I said that they obviously didn't know me because they sent me a size 3, which is for beagles, and I'm obviously a pit bull, which requires a size 6.

SAVIDGE: The American Academy of Pediatrics calling Dr. Fiscus' termination the most recent example of a concerning trend of politicizing public health expertise. And now a number of state legislatures also want answers from Governor Bill Lee about the firing.

STATE SEN. JEFF YARBRO (D), TN STATE MINORITY LEADER: It's not just embarrassing, it is actually dangerous to our livelihood as a state.

SAVIDGE: Some Tennessee doctors also asking the Justice Department to investigate Lee's handling of the pandemic.

DR. JASON MARTIN, CRITICAL CASE PHYSICIAN: I'm pleading with the Justice Department, launch an investigation into Governor Bill Lee's reckless misconduct that is endangering the lives of Tennesseans, lives that me and my colleagues took an oath to protect.

SAVIDGE: Only about 38 percent of Tennesseans are fully vaccinated. And with the threat of the delta variant and a large spike in coronavirus cases in the state, largely fueled by young, unvaccinated people, health experts are urging individuals here and across the nation to get the vaccine to slow the spread of the virus.

DR. CHRIS T. PERNELL, PUBLIC HEALTH PHYSICIAN: Whenever a variant is more contagious, that means you're going to get more cases. We don't want to take that chance. We don't want to play that game of Russian roulette with our children.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Dr. Fiscus says that she does not want her old job back, wouldn't take it even if it was given to her. In fact, she says she is so disappointed in Tennessee after years of working in public health, she plans on moving out of the state.

John.

BERMAN: I've got to say, playing games with children's lives. That's what it's come to.

Martin Savidge, thank you so much for your reporting. Thank you for being there.

KEILAR: Yes, she's not alone. We're bleeding public health officials in this country.

Three thousand years, three major faiths, one city in order to understand the conflict in the Middle East today, you have to know the complex story of Jerusalem's past. And now the new CNN original series "Jerusalem: City of Faith and Fury" look at how six epic battles for Jerusalem have shaped the city of God into the coveted capital that it is today.

Here's a preview.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first time I went to Jerusalem, I thought it was probably one of the most beautiful places I'd been to on earth. But when I was on the ground, and I started to see the tensions between everyone, I felt as though this was a city of contradictions. A city that had much history, but a city that also had a lot of sorrow and a lot of pain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jerusalem, besides its religious significance, is the center of national aspirations of two communities, the Israeli community and the Palestinian community. That adds another layer of complexity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's impossible to imagine fixing the present and building a better future for Jerusalem without understanding the many stories of its past.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And joining us now is Oren Liebermann, he is currently CNN's Pentagon correspondent but he recently spent six years the Middle East as our Jerusalem correspondent. This looks fascinating. I found going to Jerusalem to be incredibly

instructive and, obviously, learning about the conflict and how that informs what goes on today. But you are sort of bringing it to us.

Tell us what we can expect.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, I've told people it doesn't matter if you believe or what you believe, it is a city that's absolutely worth visiting to see the power it has on people and the influence it's had on history. It plays a major role in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. And at different times, and a few thousand years of history, the different religions have controlled the city.

But it's not just that significance, it has a political significance as well. It's essentially one of the founding problems of the United Nations. We see it on our screens all the time. And that significance isn't likely to diminish. It's biblically important. It's religiously important. But it's a part of the future as well when it comes to prophecy and, of course, the national aspirations and the religious aspirations of so many people.

KEILAR: It even informs what we've seen recently. I think that's why this is coming at such an essential time with what we've seen here between the Israelis and the Palestinians just in 2021.

LIEBERMANN: There is -- there is a biblical or at least a historic grounding to all of these conflicts, a claim to the city. So many people, so many religions, so many nations believe that they have a part of the city. They want a part of the city. Perhaps not controlling it through governance, but in controlling its fate in influencing its fate in deciding what role the city plays for everybody.

[06:55:03]

And that is part of what makes it so contentious. You have these three religions living so close together and that adds to the tension that could lead to a spark that we've seen play out all too many times.

KEILAR: It is a beautiful city and it is a fascinating subject. And we certainly look forward to it, Oren.

Be sure to tune in, the all-new CNN original series, "Jerusalem: City of Faith and Fury," premiering Sunday night at 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.

This is a white stack (ph) moment. The gospel of the furor. The stunning, new reporting, that is a quote, about a potential showdown between the military and former President Trump.

BERMAN: Plus, why did a Russian hacking group suddenly vanish online? I'll ask the Homeland Security secretary coming up.

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[07:00:08] BERMAN: It's all tied up.