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Steve Kelly is Interviewed about the Syed Case; Marilyn Mosby is Interviewed about the Syed Case; Producer Prices Rose Faster Than Expected; Florida Remains in Recovery Mode; Garrett Reisman is Interviewed about Tom Cruise May Perform Spacewalk. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired October 12, 2022 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

STEVE KELLY, ATTORNEY FOR HAE MIN LEE'S FAMILY: Perspective. If Mr. Syed did not kill Hae, then he should not be in jail and a grave injustice has been done here. But they just don't feel that they have enough information to make that judgment, and they don't feel that they were - they don't feel they were not included in the process. And it seems to me pretty clear that no one was interested in allowing this family to ask the hard questions because, you know, that would have interfered with the process that had been sort of preordained.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well -

KELLY: So, you know, this is a - this is a jury verdict that is more than 20 years old.

BERMAN: Understood.

KELLY: It's been affirmed by numerous courts.

BERMAN: And I know -

KELLY: And so --

BERMAN: I know how painful this has been for the family. And one thing that is clear is Hae Min Lee is gone. The family will never get her back. And this has been so difficult on them in so many different ways for decades now.

Steve Kelly, thank you so much for being with us.

KELLY: Thanks for having me.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's bring in Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby with some reaction here to what we just heard.

Can you just address, first off, some of his concerns there. He says he's concerned this is a fringe lab. Shoes are not normally tested. And this is evidence. It's not evidence, it's a characterization of evidence. What do you say to that? MARILYN J. MOSBY, STATE'S ATTORNEY FOR BALTIMORE CITY: It's just --

that's not the case. And, unfortunately, I have so much empathy for this family. I mean, imagine believing that this is the perpetrator of the individual that killed your loved one for 23 years, and then having that scar ripped off, right? It's a wound that's been ripped from them. And so I empathize with them.

But the reality of the situation is this, you know, when we couple the fact that this latest round of DNA, and we've done two rounds of DNA, and the latest DNA, skin cell testing, it shows and excludes, Adnan Syed. When you couple that with the fact that you had an attorney general's office that sat on exculpatory evidence and relevant evidence of two alternative suspects, one of whom threatened to kill this beautiful young woman and had motive to kill this beautiful young woman. When you think about the fact that they utilized, you know, cell site evidence to convict Adnan Syed that wouldn't stand up in court today, when you think about the investigators who cleared one of the suspects, who, through polygraph, faulty polygraph tests, when you consider the detective in this case who has a history of misdeeds and has been implicated negatively in another exoneration out of my office, when you consider the alternative suspects that were also the individuals that have a history and a pattern of sexual abuse against women and you have to couple that and consider the fact that it calls into question the integrity of the conviction.

KEILAR: So, let me ask you about the alternative suspects. Was there DNA on the shoes?

MOSBY: So, I can't talk about the specifics because this is still an open and pending investigation. And what I can say is that we are going to do anything in our power to fight for this - this family.

KEILAR: OK, but let me -- I want to ask you something - I understand -- you said here a couple weeks ago, if it comes back -- if the DNA comes back inconclusive, I will certify that he's innocent. It's not inconclusive. You said if it comes back to two alternative suspects, I will certify that he's innocent. I mean, it seems, in a way, that you sort of - it seems clear that perhaps that is the case, right?

MOSBY: That appears to be the case. And I know that it's very difficult for this family. But we also have to consider Adnan Syed and his family.

KEILAR: No, it appears - it appears to be the case that alternative suspects' DNA is on the shoes? I mean because you sort of - you are saying now you're not going to say it because it's pending, but you kind of gave us the road map here a couple weeks ago when you interviewed with the CBS affiliate in Baltimore.

MOSBY: So, what I said was that there was still pending DNA. And regardless of what was going to happen -- we did two rounds of DNA in this - in this case. The first round did not produce any sort of results. The second round of DNA did. It came back on the same day that the victims and the attorney general were attempting to stay the case. They were attempting to set aside the matter so that we couldn't make a decision one way or another. Justice delayed is justice denied. This man has been excluded. The DNA has come back. And so, again, we

offer every sort of resource and counseling. We provided the motion and a copy of the motion to vacate prior to anyone else receiving it. We provided cell phones. We've offered counseling services. I spoke - I personally reached out to Mr. Kelly because I can't reach out to the victims themselves. They're represented by counsel. And he didn't want to hear about the substance as to why we dismissed this case.

So, it's funny to me that he gets up here and he says that they're blindsided. Well, you should talk to your attorney because I reached out to him, and we - I attempted to speak to him, and he refused to acknowledge why substantively we had - we were compelled, in the interest of justice and fairness, to dismiss this case.

[08:35:05]

KEILAR: Yes, and you made it clear that he has been excluded, Adnan Syed, by which you found with DNA. So that is certainly out there now.

Baltimore City States Attorney Marilyn Mosby, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

MOSBY: Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: A key inflation report has just been released. Christine Romans will break down the numbers, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Just in, a key inflation gauge. The September Producer Price Index report just released.

CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans here with the numbers.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, John.

Inflation is what drives markets. The Fed, the economy and the global conversation. This number, factory level inflation over the past 12 months up eight and a half percent. That's less than the prior month when we saw that rate, 8.7 percent.

But here's the surprise. Month over month, from August to September, prices grew a little faster than many economists had expected, up 0.4 percent. The prior month had been down. So, that - you've seen prices falling month on month, and now they've ticked up again.

[08:40:04]

Let's look at the year-over-year picture because I think this is what we've been really trying to zero in on, are we seeing signs of peaking in the inflation story. In terms of the annual producer of price inflation, you are seeing those signs of peaking here. Eight and a half percent is the number we're looking at right now. It is off those worst levels of the summer. But still, really zeroing in on that month-over-month number, which was a little hotter than expected, probably driven by gas prices. As you know, gas prices have been rising again.

Consumer prices, John, those come tomorrow, along with the official COLA increase, Cost of Living Adjustment, for Social Security recipients. So, big news for millions of people comes tomorrow in more inflation data, John.

BERMAN: A big raise for Social Security.

ROMANS: That's right.

BERMAN: Christie Romans, thank you very much.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

BERMAN: We'll see you tomorrow.

All right, crews rolling on to Sanibel Island for the first time since Hurricane Ian destroyed the bridge, the causeway connecting the island to mainland Florida. A look at Florida's recovery, next.

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[08:45:08]

KEILAR: This morning, much of Florida remains in recovery mode nearly two weeks after Hurricane Ian devastated parts of the state. More than 6,000 customers are still without power while hundreds of homes are still submerged.

CNN's Nadia Romero has more from Ft. Myers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRITTANY BOWIE, HURRICANE IAN SURVIVOR: I'd consider it kind of like band-aids over bullet holes.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): That's how Ft. Myers mother of eight Brittany Bowie describes the Hertz Arena shelter, still housing evacuees two weeks after Hurricane Ian hit southwest Florida. The American Red Cross runs this ice rink turned refuge that's usually home to the Florida Everglades ice hockey team. Bowe says it's cold all of the time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) cold in here because it's cold all the time (ph).

ROMERO: Even showers are ice cold. And there's limited food and resources.

BOWIE: There has been a couple overdoses. A lot of heavy alcohol use. There's been a lot of fights. A lot of dinners turned into peanut butter and jelly.

ROMERO: Bowie says she hasn't heard from a caseworker the Red Cross promised would help. BOWIE: Can you help us out at all, you know, just what should we do

next? I mean, you know, wait to hear back. They really don't have a plan for, you know, any of us at the moment.

ROMERO: The American Red Cross did not provide CNN with an on-camera interview, but in a statement acknowledged some challenges, reading in part, our feeding vehicle loaded with meals was delayed in reaching the arena due to clogged roads and heavy traffic. To help avoid further issues, we moved a mobile kitchen to the Hertz Arena so that meals can be prepared onsite.

Also stating, we have already helped 16 families that had immediate needs move into more sustainable housing situations.

Snowbird Thom Delforge feels lucky his homeowners insurance may cover some of his repairs.

THOM DELFORGE, FORT MYERS RESIDENT: How long is it going to be to have just the rubbish picked up. I've got a tree on the back of the house, too. You can see just barely the top of it. That's got to get -- I've got a hole in the roof. We're going to kind of patch that. And I know it's going to be difficult for - I am so much better off than so many people. However, you know, it has to be repaired. And - but contractors are going to be very difficult to find.

ROMERO: Entire neighborhoods in distress, as residents rip out their soiled and moldy belongings. Christian organization Samaritan's Purse says they'll say in southwest Florida for six months or longer to help homeowners in need.

TODD TAYLOR, SAMARITAN'S PURSE MANAGER FOR U.S. DISASTER RELIEF: Over these past two weeks we have seen a lot of work. You can drive down the streets. I was over in Arcadia a couple of days ago. I was driving through here today. You see piles of debris on every street, and that's a sign that recovery is beginning.

ROMERO: Mud and muck remain in what's left of Greg Anerino's Sanibel Island home. Saturday, he met with a FEMA representative. But through his homeowners and flood insurance -

GREG ANERINO, SANIBEL ISLAND RESIDENT: They gave me some money right up front to get started for - for -- to - to living expense and food. So it worked out really great.

ROMERO: A temporary bridge to connect Sanibel and Captiva Islands to the mainland is now open to emergency crews, and state officials say it will be open to the public by October 21st. But Anerino won't return to Sanibel Island for good.

ANERINO: You're going to go to an island that God forbid, here comes another storm, you know, and then you're done again. You do the same thing over again. No, I'm not going to do that.

ROMERO: But some don't have many options.

Back at Hertz Arena, Bowie wonders about all the money Americans have donated to Hurricane Ian victims.

BOWIE: They say, oh my goodness, a million more has been sent. And then you get peanut butter and jelly at night and it's like, where is it going? So where is all the funds going? You know, that's my honest question.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMERO: So, Brittany Bowie, who you heard from there, says that she had her wedding anniversary, a one-year wedding anniversary with her husband inside Hertz Arena as storm victims. She says that they need basic things like toiletries, clothes, food and school books for their children.

Now, there are signs of recovery. Certain islands being opened up again for people to access their homes and businesses. We're seeing the lights turned back on in most of the area. And we're also seeing those contractors get back to work.

Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, but when will it end?

Nadia, thank you so much for that important report.

Tom Cruise could soon go where no civilian or stunt man has gone before. For a spacewalk.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: Open the door! Open the door!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I'm trying.

CRUISE: Oh, my God!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Hanging off the side of a plane, scaling the tallest building in the world, Tom Cruise has thrilled audiences by performing his own stunts in movies and soon he could take his talents to outer space. Cruise is hoping to become the first civilian to perform a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. This is a stunt that is part of an upcoming movie that will be shot partially on the ISS, if you can imagine that.

Joining us now is Garrett Reisman, he's a former NASA astronaut who has actually done what Tom Cruise is hoping to do. He's performed three real life spacewalks outside the ISS.

All right, just, what is your reaction to this, that this is going to happen, Garrett?

GARRETT REISMAN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, you know, I hope it does. This has been on again and off again for a while. And I certainly hope that it comes to fruition.

You know, when NASA started the commercial crew and commercial cargo program, it was with the attention of attracting new revenue streams from private -- the private sector so that the U.S. taxpayer doesn't have to fund 100 percent of the bill for all these human space flights.

[08:55:06]

And this is a good example of that. So, I do hope it does happen.

BERMAN: When I read this, my first reaction was, wait a second, "Moonraker" wasn't real? That wasn't real, that it hasn't been done before?

Look, Tom Cruise, anyone who was in "Days of Thunder" we think can do almost anything, but what's the concern about a civilian performing an EVA (ph) spacewalk?

REISMAN: Well, you know, I think Tom's got a few things going for him. I think, you know, first of all, when they film this, he's not going to be doing a very complex spacewalk. It's not like he's going to be fixing the Hubble Space Telescope or building the International Space Station. So, the task should be relatively simple. And he's got a lot of natural athleticism that you can see that's kind of just obvious.

He does got one challenge he's going to have to overcome, and I speak from experience on this, and that is he, like me, I think is a little vertically challenged. I don't know if you can tell on television, but I'm only about five and a half feet tall or a little less. And that was actually something I had to overcome. When I first told a veteran and rather tall astronaut that I was interested in doing a spacewalk, he laughed in my face. He said, what are you like four foot what? He's like, you'll never do a spacewalk. You know, it's impossible. But I overcame that and I think Tom can, too. I got a lot of help from my training team and the people that make the suits and eventually I ended up doing three spacewalks. And I think Tom will be OK.

KEILAR: All right, your advice to him as one of the rare people who's done this before, what would you tell him?

REISMAN: Yes, don't look down. No, my advice would be that to really take the preparation seriously, and especially all the safety protocols. I mean, it is a risky thing. Doing a spacewalk is the next most dangerous thing we do after launching and coming back through re- entry. So, it's not something to be taken lightly.

BERMAN: Do you think - do you think they'll even get the shots that they want? I mean, you know, you can do - you can fake do this in front of green screens and in studios and whatnot. Will it even look as amazing as I'm sure the experience really is?

REISMAN: I think they'll do a good job of conveying that. And I think, you know, it will be very interesting because I work now -- I'm in Hollywood. I've gotten Hollywood. I work as a technical director for a show on Apple TV called "For All Mankind." And we work really hard with the stunt guys and the VFX guys to get it just right, but it's hard. It's really hard. At the end of the day, you have an actor on - on -- in a harness suspended by two wires and it's not the same as being out there and doing a real spacewalk.

So, I'm really interested to see the footage that they get. I think if, you know, if this all happens, it's going to be pretty cool.

KEILAR: If anyone can tell the difference, Garrett, it's going to be you. I mean when you see spacewalks in other movies, like "Gravity," what are the things that you look at and you say, no, that's not - that's not what it looks like when you're up there?

REISMAN: Yes, so like "Gravity" got, you know, the basic laws of physics completely wrong. So there were lots of issues with that movie. But the look and feel of doing a spacewalk actually was captured in that movie I think better than any other depiction I've seen so far. They really used the IMAX (ph) and the 3-D to great effect to capture that -- what it's like. So, yes, I think that's the best we've done so far, but, you know, this has the promise to be even better

BERMAN: I noticed you didn't mention "Moonraker" because it was so realistic. I appreciate that.

REISMAN: That's a classic.

BERMAN: And it's -- all the training will be in a pool, you imagine?

REISMAN: Yes, so the majority of the training is in the pool. There's a lot of classroom things. You have to learn about the suit and all the suit's systems and what could go wrong and what to do if something is malfunctioning on the suit and how to operate the suit properly. And then -- but then most of -- really the training is done in a giant pool. We have a huge pool in Houston called the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. It's 200 feet long, 100 feet wide and 40 feet deep. We could fit most of the space station in there. And when you float around in there, you know, in the suit to combine your weight is about 500 pounds. So you can't walk around on land and practice, you have to get in the water and float. And then it feels kind of like you're up in space. And that's the best training environment that we have.

KEILAR: Unbelievable that we're going to see this.

Garrett, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

REISMAN: Oh, my pleasure, Brianna. It was great to be back with you.

BERMAN: All right, the Supreme Court, today, takes up a case concerning whether Andy Warhol infringed on a photographer's copyright when he created a series of silk screens of Prince. A U.S. district court ruled in favor of the Warhol Foundation saying the use of the photograph with no permission and no fee constituted fair use. But an appeals court reversed the decision.

KEILAR: And, before we go, we want to introduce you to two new members of the NEW DAY family. This is Milo, his dad Jimmy is our floor manager. Milo was born Saturday, bright and early, at 6:47 a.m. Mom, dad and big sister Sophie are all just over the moon with this new addition to their family. So, a huge congrats, Jimmy and Moog (ph).

BERMAN: All right, and let me introduce you to Evan Theodore Maser.

[09:00:04]

Look at him watching television there. Senior producer Ali Hedges Maser (ph) says that baby Evan was born right on time last Thursday weighing in at 7 pounds 13 ounces. Look at that face. We're told the hobbies mostly include lounging and binge watching TV with his parents, which is noble. Ali, congratulations to you, Mike and baby Evan. We're so happy for you.

KEILAR: Congrats, Ali.

BERMAN: CNN's coverage continues right now.