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New Day Saturday
Global Alert for American Travelers; Obama Intensifies U.S. Focus on Terrorism; Hiring Slumps in July; Rain Could Dampen Summer Weekend; Taylor Farms Facility Implicated; U.S. Embassies to Close Tomorrow; Snowden Making Friends in Russia; Another Day of Mass Demonstrations in Egypt; FDA Issues New Warning for Acetaminophen
Aired August 03, 2013 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: You know, 21 embassies and consulates is a lot. I mean this is -- this is really sending a message that we're under serious threat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Americans, be on alert. That is the warning from the U.S. government as they plan a massive embassy shutdown and issue a worldwide travel alert.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And, hundreds of people across the U.S. sickened by the cyclospora outbreak. And new this morning, we know exactly what's responsible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM GUNN: And you look great.
BLACKWELL: Thank you. Thank you.
GUNN: Great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Yes, I really wasn't doing too bad that day. Guess who's saying I'm making it work? Tim Gunn talks fashions, politics and shares an emotional revelation on gay rights.
KEILAR: Good morning, everyone, I'm Brianna Keilar.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's 6:00 here on the East Coast. Welcome to your NEW DAY this Saturday.
Americans on the go this weekend would do well to be observant. A global travel alert is in place. Almost two dozen U.S. diplomatic posts are shutting down.
KEILAR: One senior national security official says that the terror threat appears to be much worse than it's been in a long time. So let's go now to CNN's Emily Schmidt. She's in Washington with the latest on this.
Hi, Emily.
EMILY SCHMIDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Brianna, two separate but related events are happening right now. Twenty-one U.S. embassies and consulates will be closed on Saturday. And a State Department travel alert says al Qaeda could launch terrorist attacks, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. It's a sign of a threat State Department officials say taking are taking very seriously.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCHMIDT (voice-over): Nearly one year ago, Americans saw what happens when terrorists attack a U.S. diplomatic compound. In Benghazi, four Americans died, including the U.S. ambassador. Now the U.S. government is dealing with what could be a new round of regional threats. Officials say they tracked the chatter coming out of Yemen for weeks and then it changed over the past few days. More of it. Enough that key members of Congress were briefed about the threat.
REP. MIKE ROGERS (R), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Obviously, it's serious enough that we're taking concrete steps to make sure that our personnel overseas are safe.
SCHMIDT: The State Department has taken the unusual step of issuing a worldwide travel alert to Americans abroad. The action is clear. Nearly two dozen embassies will close on Sunday. And those closings could stretch into the week.
Officials say the intelligence makes them particularly concerned about the U.S. embassy in Yemen over the next few days. Multiple sources tell CNN, al Qaeda in Yemen could be in the final stages of planning an attack.
For the past two years, U.S. drones have targeted regions of Yemen trying to eliminate the al Qaeda threat there. The threat has also been described as ambiguous, meaning it could target other U.S. or western targets across the region.
SETH JONES, RAND CORPORATION: This should be concern for the U.S. in one very important respect. It does not appear that al Qaeda, broadly defined as a number of groups, somewhat decentralized, it does not appear that this organization is on the wane.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHMIDT: This threat comes at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and only a few weeks before the first anniversary of that deadly attack on the U.S. in Benghazi. After that attack, the Obama administration was criticized for not responding strongly enough to that threat. This time, officials say, they're acting out of an abundance of caution.
Victor and Brianna.
KEILAR: Emily Schmidt in Washington, thank you for that. And also, we have just learned this morning that another embassy will be shut down tomorrow. This is in one in Basra, Iraq. And that brings the total number of closures to 22.
Now, the terror threat appears to be centered in Yemen. Coincidence or not, President Obama met with Yemen's leader at the White House this week.
BLACKWELL: Now, the intense focus on terror comes as the anniversary of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya approaches. CNN's national political correspondent Jim Acosta now.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Brianna and Victor, a U.S. official tell CNN, President Obama has been briefed on this matter. He's known about it for some time now and knew in advance of the plan to carry out these embassy closings. And earlier this week the administration was working to get members of Congress up to speed on these security matters. On Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden held a briefing for a bipartisan group of lawmakers from both the House and the Senate. That briefing, according to a separate U.S. official, covered the full range of embassy security issues, including long-term investments, and this is important here, immediate threats.
Now, we should also note that over here at the White House, President Obama did have a face-to-face meeting with the president of Yemen. All of this happening as there are concerns that this al Qaeda threat may be emanating from that part of the Middle East. It is worth noting that the president, after he had that meeting with the president of Yemen, praised the Yemeni leader for making progress, he said, in the fight against al Qaeda. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because of some of the very effective military reforms that President Hadi initiated when he came into this office, what we've seen is al Qaeda, in the Arabian Peninsula or AQAP, moved it back out of territories that it was controlling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Now, during his briefing with reporters on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was asked about an uptick of drone strikes in Yemen. And here's what Carney had to say about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I can tell you that we do cooperate with Yemen in our counterterrorism efforts. And it's an important relationship and important cooperation given what we know about AQAP, and the danger it presents to the United States and our allies, as well as to the Yemeni people and people in the regions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: This is the first known big test for what is now the president's complete second term national security team. U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power was sworn in on Friday by the vice president. And all of this comes as the nation is getting closer to the anniversary - the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi last September 11th. In the days after that attack, the president beefed up security at diplomatic posts across the world. These closures, no doubt, are taking the administration's precautions to a new level.
Brianna and Victor.
BLACKWELL: Our Jim Acosta at the White House for us. Thank you.
KEILAR: One of the big issues here, we're just talking about so many countries, all the way from Bangladesh to Libya. So you've got a lot of people who are traveling this weekend.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
KEILAR: They might be worried about this global travel alert.
BLACKWELL: Yes. We have the information you need to know. CNN's Nick Valencia is at the biggest airport in the world, Atlanta's Hartsfield- Jackson.
Nick, what do travelers there think about this?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Victor.
This is the busiest airport in the world. It's usually judged by passenger volume, the amount of passengers that come through here. And domestically, for those that are traveling this weekend, you won't see any difference. It will be business as usual. In fact, the State Department tells us, even for those that are traveling internationally, you won't see any visible changes in security.
We're been here for about an hour and a half. We haven't noticed anything different from a normal, ordinary day here at the airport. Airlines also say there haven't been any cancellations or change in flight schedules.
But yesterday we caught up with some folks that were traveling internationally just to sort of gauge their reaction to this worldwide travel warning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In my experience, and they seem to take every precaution they need to. It makes sense, going especially -- it's probably more of a political move than any now it seems like than an actual present - clear and present danger.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would definitely be a little concerned, but I trust that the airports are going to do their job and protect us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think these advices are definitely just a good reminder to stay aware, no matter where I am in the world. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: So there's some mixed reaction. Some taking it a little bit more seriously than others.
Victor, Brianna.
KEILAR: Nick Valencia for us there at Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport. Thank you for that.
BLACKWELL: And these travel alerts come as the head of al Qaeda apparently is breaking his silence for the second time this week. In a 14-minute audio message reportedly from Ayman al-Zawahiri, he accuses of U.S. of plotting with Egypt's military to overthrow President Mohamed Morsy, to divide Egypt and to get rid of the Islamism leaning president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI, AL QAEDA LEADER (through translator): The crusaders, the seculars, the Americanized army, Mubarak's plots (ph) and some of members of Islamic parties, with the support of Gulf (ph) money and Americans (ph) plotting (ph), all agreed to topple Mohamed Morsy's government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: NO w, in another audio message earlier this week, a fiery al-Zawahiri said he is prepared to wage war and urged attacks on American interests.
KEILAR: We're turning now to a July jobs report. After a slew of positive economic reports, the recovery hit a speed bump yesterday with the latest report.
BLACKWELL: Yes, employers added 162,000 jobs last month. That's below expectations. And the unemployment rate ticked down to 7.4. It was 7.5. Christine Romans is here to break it all down.
Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: Victor and Brianna, we've taken 32 pages of jobs reports and we've condensed it for you here in this infographic and this is what we see. We see an unemployment rate at a four and a half year low, 7.4 percent. Jobs created, 162,000. Not quite as good as we've seen the average for the year, but it is enough to help keep inching that jobless rate lower.
Here's the trend, because the trend is what's so important. Here's the recession. Millions of jobs lost there. Trying to recover those. The most important thing is to watch this year and how well we have been doing. You want to see more than 200,000 on a consistent basis. This is enough to even the unemployment rate but not quite enough to really pull it down quite quickly.
Here are the important things to look at inside the jobs. Retail job, 46,000 of those. Leisure and hospitality, 23,000 of those. Manufacturing, only about 6,000 created there. Transportation, warehousing. And then all the way over here, professional and business services, these tend to be the jobs that pay a little bit more. You want to see more job creation in that category. That's critical.
And quickly, we talk so much about the sequester and all of those budget cuts and what that means for government jobs. The private sector created 161,000. And the public sector did manage to eke out a gain for the month.
Victor. Brianna.
BLACKWELL: Christine Romans in New York. Thank you.
Now, for so many months, the public sector was cutting so many jobs, and good to see that - only 1,000, but, still, 1,000 is better than none.
KEILAR: Yes. It's always sort of a mixed bag, you know?
BLACKWELL: Yes.
KEILAR: That's what we've gotten so used to.
But the tough job market is especially hard on the millennial generation. A new study found that a record number of young adults, ages 18 to 31, were living at home with mom and dad last year to save money. That's 21.6 million of them. That's even more than during the recession. Also keeping junior in his childhood bedroom, declining marriage rates and rising college enrollment.
BLACKWELL: Controversial slugger Alex Rodriquez is talking about the lifetime ban or suspension he could face from baseball over allegations he used performance-enhancing drugs. The injured Yankee opened up after playing a rehabilitation game in New Jersey. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX RODRIQUEZ, NEW YORK YANKEE: I will say this, there's more than one party that benefits from me not ever stepping back on the field. And that's not my teammates and it's not the Yankee fans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: A-Rod would not specify who stood to gain from banning him over the PED scandal, but he did promise to keep fighting and appeared confident that he'd return to the majors this Monday.
And make sure to stick around. More remarks from Rodriguez. That's coming up in about 30 minutes.
KEILAR: And you know -
BLACKWELL: Yes.
KEILAR: It could be a rainy weekend for some people. Not all. But, you know, if you're wondering if rain is going to spoil your weekend plans, Alexandra Steele in the CNN Weather Center to let you know where are today's hot spots and wet spots.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi.
Well, you know, what we're seeing around the country, hot spots in terms of temperatures, that's for sure. Good morning, everyone, waking up on this Saturday morning.
Kind of here's the big picture. What we've got is some rain here in the southeast, but really it is summer in the city. The first August weekend in places like Atlanta and Nashville and Dallas and Houston will be at 90s, even to 100 degrees in Texas.
But here in the Northeast, we've got a front moving through. So places like Chicago, maybe heading to Lollapalooza this weekend, a big difference from what we've seen in prior years. Temperatures much chillier. So there's the front.
Also the potential for some severe storms. And there's some regeneration of Tropical Storm Dorian. Remember, we talked about this a little while ago. Now 35-mile-per-hour wind. Here it is. It will impact Florida. But where it will go? I've got the track in the forecast as it moves up the eastern seaboard coming up in just a bit.
Back to you.
KEILAR: All right, we will certainly stay tuned for that. Keeping an eye on Dorian. Alexandra, thank you.
STEELE: Sure.
KEILAR: And coming up, a breakthrough in the hunt for the source of that stomach bug that has sickened so many people. The FDA says that it has pinned down at least one source of that parasite cyclospora.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: I love this song. Thank you, Diddy.
Hey, it's 16 minutes after the hour. A live look outside at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta. Good morning. I'll tell you, this is a beautiful city. This is just outside of CNN world headquarters in the city of Atlanta.
Looks like Godzilla took a biting out of the Kansas prairie. Look at this giant sinkhole. It opened up in Wallace County. That's the western part of the state. So, it's 200 feet across, 90 feet deep. There's the hole. And it's still growing. Thankfully, no homes nearby. We're told these things are common in western Kansas. Two hundred feet? Well, some have been miles wide, actually.
KEILAR: And I'm not standing near the edge in the case of one of those, Victor.
BLACKWELL: Stand back. KEILAR: Exactly.
Well, hundreds have been sickened in more than a dozen states. Now, the FDA confirms that it was bagged lettuce from a processor in Mexico that made diners at two popular chain restaurants sick. But the CEO of Taylor Farms tells CNN that all tests for cyclospora at his company's Mexico facility have been negative. CNN's chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta has the latest.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, we're getting some new information on what has caused the illness in at least 400 people in 16 states. As you remember, we've been talking about prepackaged, prewashed lettuce. That was a concern in Iowa. But we're now hearing specifically and directly from the FDA about produce that has come from Taylor Farms of Mexico going to the states of Iowa and Nebraska and specifically being eaten in two restaurants which are Olive Garden and Red Lobster. The FDA was able to actually look at four groups of people, four clusters of people who got sick, and figured out that they had eaten at these restaurants and figured out that they had specifically eaten produce that was infected with this parasite from Taylor Farms of Mexico.
Now, one thing I'll mention as well, Brianna, you may have heard of Taylor Farms before because earlier this year, in February, they were actually part of a nationwide recall on baby spinach. That was their Taylor Farms of Salinas, California, location. But this is the second time this year Taylor Farms has been implicated.
The FDA is says they're monitoring all leafy greens that are coming in from Mexico and conducting an environmental inspection down at the Taylor Farms of Mexico location.
As we get more information, Brianna, we'll bring it to you. Back to you.
KEILAR: Sanjay, thank you for that.
Darden Restaurant Group, which owns Olive Garden and Red Lobster, released a statement saying, quote, "Iowa and Nebraska health authorities have said this is not an ongoing outbreak and the product is no longer in the food supply in those states. The health and safety of our guests is our top priority and it is completely safe to eat in our restaurants."
BLACKWELL: And the possible al Qaeda threat terror plot is prompting a global alert. We'll take you around the world to look at possible targets.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Good morning, New York City. The sun coming up over Lady Liberty there as the city wakes up.
Let's go around the world now.
In a matter of hours, U.S. embassies in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia will start shutting down as a precaution for a possible al Qaeda terrorist attack. CNN's senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon, is at the U.S. embassy in Cairo.
Arwa.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Beyond this wall is one of the roads that leads to the U.S. embassy in Cairo. Normally, it would have been open on a Sunday. It is a working day here but it is going to be closed. The Americans are not taking any chances.
This embassy has been attacked by angry mobs in the past. On September 11th of last year, for example, when people were incensed over the release of a film that insulted Prophet Muhammad. And that, of course, was the very same day that saw a coordinated strike on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that left the ambassador and three other Americans dead. And the United States most certainly does not want to take any chances that that could be repeated.
Brianna.
KEILAR: Arwa, thank you for that.
And let's head now to Israel, where the U.S. embassy is on alert there. It is not shutting down, though. CNN's Vladimir Duthiers is in Tel Aviv.
Vlad, what's up?
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, the terror threat that is directed at embassies around the world to close on Sunday doesn't affect the Tel Aviv embassy of the United States, which is right behind me here. But I can tell you that they are still remaining vigilant.
Check this out. These little tabs here on the cars indicate that embassy security has been through this parking lot to insure that these cars don't have bombs. And they do that on a regular basis. Look at the one behind me here. Again, another tab here, meaning that embassy staff is coming through here, checking out this place to make sure that there are no bombs in these vehicles.
Brianna.
KEILAR: Vlad, thank you.
And our senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is in Moscow with an update on what's going on there.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, still no sign of NSA leaker Edward Snowden , but we do know this, that he's left the Moscow airport and he's now in a secret location somewhere here in the Russian capital, staying, we're told, with American expatriates he met online during his period of hiding. His Russian lawyer says security is now high on Snowden's agenda. He believes that American intelligence officials, furious at the Russian move, are still chasing him down, even here in Moscow. Brianna.
KEILAR: Matthew Chance in Moscow.
Victor, back to you.
BLACKWELL: The accusations are piling up against the San Diego mayor, Bob Filner. Now a ninth woman claims he sexually harassed her.
Plus, a pain reliever that you probably have in your medicine cabinet is prompting a serious warning of potentially fatal side effects. It's 6:25 here at CNN world headquarters. Stay with us as we begin your new day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Bottom of the hour now and welcome back, everyone. I'm Brianna Keilar.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Here are five things you need to know for your new day.
Number one, police in Arkansas have arrested the mother of an inmate who broke out of a detention center last week. Glenda Estell. She's charged with helping her son Derrick Estell. He escaped Sunday through a reception window at the jail and then got away in, well, a getaway car.
KEILAR: Hmm.
BLACKWELL: That's what you do with a getaway car, apparently.
KEILAR: Yes.
BLACKWELL: He was facing charges including aggravated robbery and breaking and entering.
KEILAR: Number two. Fallen NFL star Aaron Hernandez is declaring his innocence from behind bars. In a letter to a fan, the former New England Patriots tight end says he is not guilty of murder. The gossip site TMZ published the letter, and in it Hernandez writes that when he's exonerated, quote, "all the people who turned on me will feel like crap."
BLACKWELL: A ninth woman is accusing San Diego Mayor Bob Filner of sexual harassment. Emily Gilbert, she's a Marilyn Monroe impersonator. She says the 70-year-old inappropriately touched her at a fundraising event in December. Now, on Monday, the mayor will take a two-week hiatus from work for what he calls intensive counseling.
KEILAR: A lot of people calling for him to resign. We'll see how long he can hold on there.
Now, number four, Ariel Castro has been moved from a Cleveland jail to a maximum security prison in Grafton, Ohio. He'll be kept in isolation, at least for now. a judge sentenced Castro to life plus 1,000 years on Thursday. He held three women as prisoners in his home for almost a decade.
BLACKWELL: Number five, a federal grand jury wants to know if the government's largest security background check for - rushed its review of NSA leaker Edward Snowden. That's according to "The Wall Street Journal." Now, it reports federal prosecutors and the FBI are looking into whether the firm, U.S. Investigation Services cut corners in clearing Snowden for hire.
The government - the government, rather wants travelers to keep their eyes and ears open this weekend. An uptick in chatter indicates that al Qaeda is up to something.
KEILAR: In response to the terror threat, the Obama administration is shutting 22 embassies and consulates tomorrow. And it's a really big area. CNN's Tom Foreman is looking at the region that's covered.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, Brianna, just look at this map, and you can see what the problem is. There's just so much territory to talk about, places like Algeria and Libya, Sudan, not South Sudan, even though we've highlighted it here. All of this territory where maybe an attack might come. How do you guard so much with so many potential targets? What about places like Yemen? This is a likely target because intelligence chatter has heard it talked about as a potential attack site. There have been previous protests and attacks there. There have been U.S. drone strikes. All of that makes it a probable area to look at. But it doesn't prove that that is the target. In fact, you can look at other places like Afghanistan and say it also has reasons that terrorists might want to strike there. 60,000 U.S. troops, military bases and outposts all over the country. U.S. aid pouring in there, $4.6 billion a year. That could make it an attractive target. And what about wildcards like Jordan, up here by Syria, much smaller U.S. presence. Still that might make it easier to hit. There's a squadron of F-16 fighter jets there that might be attractive to terrorists or Patriot missiles. All sorts of things in all sorts of places. That's what we're talking about. And that's why this is so difficult. We don't really know, even into this chatter, what might be hit. That's why we have this generalized warning, not just in these areas, but around the world for Americans to be extra vigilant. Brianna, Victor.
BLACKWELL: And Basra, Iraq, added to that list. Tom Foreman, thanks.
KEILAR: Now, we are taking it back to Cairo now, the Egyptian capital is on edge. Supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsy tried to storm a media compound yesterday. And Egypt's military best government says it's time for the protests to end. CNN's Reza Sayah is there in Cairo.
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Friday in Egypt another day of mass demonstrations. Tens of thousands of supporters of the ousted President Mohamed Morsy back on the streets here in Cairo and other cities throughout the country. Their demands remain the same. They reject the current military-backed interim government. They want the former president reinstated again. The demonstrations are mostly peaceful. There were clashes between protesters and police in a neighborhood in western Cairo. In the meantime, Washington continues to push the two sides in its conflict to sit down and reach an agreement. Washington special envoy to the Mid-East Bill Burns in Cairo to see what he can do to end the conflict. Brianna.
KEILAR: Reza, thank you. And back now to the U.S. where the FDA has just issued this new warning about the potentially fatal effects of a very common pain reliever.
BLACKWELL: Yeah, the agency says the potential dangers of acetaminophen still outweigh the risks. Our Rene Marsh has the latest. Renee.
RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Brianna, Victor, there's a good chance you have acetaminophen right in your medicine cabinet, it's a common ingredient in many over the counter and prescription pain relievers. Now, the FDA is warning the ingredient has caused rare and potentially fatal skin rashes. Here are the numbers: from 1969 to 2012, there were 107 cases, 67 resulted in hospitalization. And 12 people died. Now, the two most serious forms of the skin reaction linked to the medication are Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis. Now, they can lead to hospitalization and cause death. Initial signs include flu-like symptoms followed by rash, blistering and extensive damage to the skin. Complications from the reaction can even cause blindness, as well as damage to internal organs. Now, a third variation of the rash is less severe, and it resolves itself within two weeks of stopping the medication. The FDA is now requiring warning labels on all medications containing acetaminophen. Now, the FDA is also saying, look, this is very rare. They still believe that the benefits of this medication far outweighs the rick. Brianna, Victor.
KEILAR: Rene Marsh. Thank you for that. Scary, though ...
BLACKWELL: Yeah.
KEILAR: ... even though they say go ahead and still take it.
BLACKWELL: Because so many people have that in the medicine cabinet.
KEILAR: Sure.
BLACKWELL: That's one of the basic stuff (ph) items.
It's the first full weekend of August, here's the question -- will it start out with rain like the rain we had in July? Let's bring in meteorologist Alexandra Steele in the CNN weather center. So, what are we looking forward to here? We are hoping to look past.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, METEOROLOGIST: You are right. Well, it was incredibly wet in July for a lot of the country, from the southeast to the northeast. First full weekend in August, as you said, Victor, and we've got more rain. But it's spotty. What we've got here is this kind of rain train. So, waking up, good morning, Cincinnati. Pittsburgh, rain for you. Unfortunately, it's really going to stick around because it's just runs. And the rain is just training over the same area. So, I-70, I-80, New York as well. A different scenario though, here from Springfield towards Wichita. From Kansas to Missouri, we've got more thunderstorms developing. Here's where we could see the potential for severe weather. Maybe an isolated tornado, more winds and hail, and potentially four to six inches of rain with kind of some heavy down force that might come. That's between today and tomorrow. So, that's kind of the weekend as an aggregate.
High temperatures in the Deep South, finally, it's summer in the south. Unfortunately here, though, all of Texas, 100-plus degree temperatures. 97 is the average. But not only today, tomorrow and Monday, but straight through Friday in Dallas. Temperatures will stay at about 103. So ridge of high pressure in Sconston (ph), Texas, and it's not moving. Here in Atlanta Georgia, you are not going to see a lot of rain, a pretty sunny summer sultry weekend. Humidity will be high, and temperatures will be warm. So, finally we're kind of shooing the rain for some sunshine. But what we've got in the upper Midwest, cold front moving through behind it. Temperatures below average here in the upper Midwest. Chicago, 80 today. Down to 70 on Monday. Should be in the low 80s. Boston below average. New York as well. A lot of that because of the clouds and the showers around. High temperatures here again, Minneapolis as well, temperatures there below average. So, pretty nice. Though the farther north you go, the better off the weather will be. Also, we're going to talk about Dorian. Not a tropical storm. It has regenerated. It will bring rain to Florida, but we'll talk about its path coming up and who will be impacted along the eastern seaboard or not. That's coming up.
BLACKWELL: All right. Alexandra Steele, thank you.
STEELE: Sure.
KEILAR: Now, have you heard of that lifetime ban or big time suspension that Alex Rodriguez may be facing from major league baseball? Well, the controversial slugger said despite of it all, he will be back with the Yankees on Monday. We have details next on "New Day."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Will controversial slugger Alex Rodriquez be back with the new York Yankees on Monday?
BLACKWELL: Despite reports, he's facing a suspension or ban from the game of baseball for allegedly taking performance-enhancing drugs. The injured star is confident he will be back with his team this Monday.
KEILAR: Now, check out what he had to say after playing in a minor league rehabilitation game last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe you'll be with the Yankees come Monday?
ALEX RODRIGUEZ, NEW YORK YANKEES AND BASEMAN: Absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe you're the team feels the same way?
RODRIGUEZ: Who's the team?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your team, the Yankees. Do you feel like the Yankees ...
RODRIGUEZ: And I hope so. I hope so. I love being a Yankee. I love my teammates. I have a lot of brothers in that clubhouse. We won a world championship. The plan is to win another one. And I'm excited to get back there and compete and keep fighting. I had a great time tonight playing it. I felt good. I felt - my work was here before the game and my body's beginning to react the right way. I think the farther I get away from the surgery the more productive I'm going to be. I think I'm going to be better in six months, I think I'm going to be better in 12 months, but I do like the way the Bostonian jumped off my back - boss (ph) coming off my throwing arm.
As far as other legal stuff, to me, it's been confusing, I mean the one thing that I've gotten from so many people, so many fans, some teammates, they're like, what is going on? I think there's a lot of people that are confused. A lot of people who don't understand the process. There's a lot of layers. I will say this, there's more than one party that benefits from me not ever stepping back on the field. And that's not my teammates and it's not the Yankee fans. I think we all agree that we want to get rid of PEDs. That's a must. I think all the players, we feel that way. But when all the stuff is going on in the background, and people are finding creative ways to, you know, cancel your contract and stuff like that. I think that's concerning for me. It's concerning for present, And I think it should be concerning for future players as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: That was the talk in New York, actually all of last week. And people are wondering, is he going to negotiate? Is he going to wait for the sentence, or whatever it is and then appeal? So, we'll see what happens here.
KEILAR: And he's being so cryptic.
BLACKWELL: Yeah.
KEILAR: Now, what is he talking about?
BLACKWELL: Who is this other party?
KEILAR: That may benefit from him not playing ...
BLACKWELL: Hopefully we'll get some answers. Let's talk about golf. Tiger Woods came close to making history last night.
KEILAR: This was after playing one of his greatest rounds of golf ever. And Jeff Fischel is here with the "Bleacher Report" and that. Hi, Jeff. JEFF FISCHEL, BLEACHER REPORT: That's right, guys. Don't let anyone tell you Tiger doesn't have it anymore. People look at the majors, sure, he hasn't won one of those in five years. But if you just focus on that, you're ignoring how well he's playing overall. And yesterday, at the WGC-Bridgestone, it looked like he would shoot the magical 59. It's only been done four times ever in pro-golf. Tiger was 900 through 13 alls (ph), which is just ridiculous. He needed two birdies on the final five holes. He did not get it. Ended up with a 61. He was asked afterward, if he was disappointed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIGER WOODS: Disappointed? Absolutely not. 61's pretty good.
(LAUGHTER)
WOODS: I'm not bummed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FISCHEL: That matches his best round ever, by the way. Riley Cooper is taking time away from the Eagles after his racial slur at a recent concert surfaced. The wide receiver has released a new statement saying the last few days have been incredibly difficult and acknowledging what he did was inexcusable. He'll be meeting with counselors and says he'll make it right. Eagles coach Chip Kelly says Cooper will be allowed to return to the team. But Kelly says, this is an important lesson for all the players.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIP KELLY: I think we all should watch what we say, whether it's a racist comment or a sexist comment or a sexual orientation comment, is because your words have impact. And when you say them, people listen, and it can hurt people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FISCHEL: This is the great baseball, the Angels' J.B. Shuck running out of room in the left field corner. Leaps into the crowd. He's gone, he disappeared. They find him, and he found the baseball in his mitt. It's a catch. Permitting the whole run. Teammates love it. Watch again as he dives in. He actually landed on some pretty hard concrete. But I guess when you make a catch like that, you just don't feel it for a while. You just bask in the glory of one of the great catches of the season, no doubt. Saving a two run homer, and the Angels would win the game by two runs, guys.
BLACKWELL: Now, see, if that happened at every baseball game, I'd go to them.
FISCHEL: Are you saying you don't go to baseball game?
BLACKWELL: I certainly don't go to baseball games. I wait for that seventh inning stretch, I stretch and then I sit back down. But if that happened, and everyday I'd be there. (LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: But I really - I wanted him to pop back out with like a beer and the ball.
(LAUGHTER)
FISCHEL: Yeah, that would have been a more impressive move.
KEILAR: Right?
FISCHEL: Give a little sip, hand it back.
(LAUGHTER)
FISCHEL: Maybe steal some popcorn.
KEILAR: Right?
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKWELL: Please tell me with that last name he is branded like aw Shucks or something like that?
(LAUGHTER)
BLACKWELL: There is got to be like something that goes with that last name.
FISCHEL: We'll suggest the nicknames to him.
BLACKWELL: All right. Thanks, Jeff.
FISCHEL: Jeff, thanks so much. Now Raven Symone has some big news. And it may come as a big surprise for some people. We've got the tweet that has everybody talking.
Plus, Tim Gunn making it work.
BLACKWELL: Yes, the fashion mentor tells me about his passion for the arts and how it helped him become the man he is today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Most of us remember Raven Symone as Olivia, the youngest member of the Cosby family. But she's all grown up and she has -- there she is. She has some big news. She suggests, she doesn't say it explicitly, but she suggests that she's gay in a tweet sent last night. Here's the tweet "I can finally get married, yeah, government, so proud of you."
KEILAR: The governments that she may be talking about belong to Minnesota and Rhode Island. Both of those states began granting same- sex marriages this week. Hundreds of people turned out for midnight ceremonies across both states. And in Minneapolis, the mayor wed 42 couples on the steps of city hall at midnight on Thursday. BLACKWELL: Most people recognize Tim Gunn from his Emmy-nominated role on the hit reality show "Project Runway." But his commitment to the arts is really personal, it helped him live his truth as a gay man in an age when it was not always popular. I spoke with Gunn about the evolution of being gay in America and his work to ensure that it gets better.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Tim Gunn, he's the impeccably dressed and incredibly fair fashion mentor on lifetime's "Project Runway." And there's that trademark line of advice.
TIM GUNN, "PROJECT RUNWAY": Make it work. Make it work.
BLACKWELL: But beyond the style, he's a passionate advocate for gay rights, especially marriage equality.
GUNN: As a nation, we just - we have a responsibility to each other, and to say it's not correct to take away people's rights.
BLACKWELL: So, when the decisions were made on DOMA and Prop 8, your question then was?
GUNN: Oh, I was exhilarated. I mean I was thrilled about it. I suppose that had the Supreme Court come down stronger and more forcefully, that - that would have been a lot of backlash. What I'm demonstrating is a little bit of impatience. I'd like this to move forward a little quicker.
BLACKWELL: You've seen how the country has changed in its views of equal rights. Describe for me the change over your live time?
GUNN: As a teen, I didn't know what I was sexually, but I knew what I wasn't. I knew I was not a heterosexual man. But when it came to gay role models, I mean we had Paul Lynde on "Bewitched." we have the mincing, prancing decorators on "The Doris Day" movies. I mean it was so limiting and so - things that people would laugh at.
BLACKWELL: He shared his struggle for a message for the Trevor project "It Gets Better" campaign.
GUNN: As a 17-year-old youth who was in quite a bit of despair, I attempted to kill myself. And I'm very happy today that that attempt was unsuccessful. It will get better. I promise.
BLACKWELL: Tell me about 17-year-old Tim.
GUNN: Desperately unhappy. It was just painful. And I didn't see hope. I didn't see a future for me. Certainly nothing appealing. And there was a very serious intervention, and I was hospitalized for a long time. I resisted at every single bit of help people were giving me.
BLACKWELL: When were you convinced that it was OK to live your truth? GUNN: It was during my experience as an art student. When you study art and design, it is -- if you're doing it well, you're delving into the depths of who you are. And that can be very painful. But it's also very revelatory. It led to graduating and having a studio and it eventually led to teaching the discipline, because I do love it so much, and I do believe in it so profoundly, and a few things get me as exhilarated, the seeing a young person to have a kind of epiphany about who he or she is.
Go, go, go. Do it.
Work, work, work.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: One of the more candid conversation that I've ever had in front of a camera, but it was also fun.
KEILAR: Yeah, that is an amazing interview.
BLACKWELL: Yeah.
KEILAR: I mean he's just so honest and you can tell, emotional and also trying to speak out to help others.
BLACKWELL: Now, after the interview we actually did some shopping. And he put this together.
KEILAR: Ooh!
BLACKWELL: Yeah, he put this together for me. I saw this green and pink paisley tie, and I was like, Tim, please do something with this. So, he picked the shirt and he's like wear with gray, and then put like the white pockets (inaudible)
KEILAR: Why did he say gray?
BLACKWELL: I don't know, but when Tim says wear gray ...
(LAUGHTER)
BLACKWELL: ... you wear gray.
(LAUGHTER)
BLACKWELL: So, there is so much more. We actually later in the show, we have more of the interview with Tim Gunn. Including why he made a surprising personal choice for the last three decades. We'll talk about that.
KEILAR: Wait. You got to give us a hint, you have to give us a hint on this.
BLACKWELL: It has to do with being happily single, as he says he is.
That's the hint. KEILAR: You'll want to stay tuned, people. That's all I'm going to say.
BLACKWELL: Certainly.
KEILAR: You're going go, say what?
BLACKWELL: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
BLACKWELL: Actually 31 years.
All right.
KEILAR: Single. Think of ruminate on that.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
KEILAR: All right, now American embassies and consulates across the Arab world getting ready to shut their doors. This is a new threat from al Qaeda. We're going to talk about how it's impacting American travelers. We have a live report at the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: All right. A minute before the top of the hour. Here's something everyone can relate to. You know, sometimes, I just don't feel like going home to cook.
KEILAR: Yes.
BLACKWELL: So you get the takeout.
KEILAR: Yeah, maybe some Thai food.
BLACKWELL: Yes, or maybe some calamari as I had last night. This bear knows what we're talking about. This is security camera video from the Edelweiss restaurant in Colorado Springs. This bear is like, you know what, I know there's some stuff in here. I'm not just going to go through the dumpster. I'm going to take this dumpster with me.
(LAUGHTER)
BLACKWELL: There's schnitzel there, there's got to be some, you know, another German food there, I can't think of another German food. But it's probably really good, because the next day, the bear went back and stole another dumpster.
KEILAR: Hey, it worked. Right?
BLACKWELL: Yes.
KEILAR: You do what works.
BLACKWELL: And you eat well. KEILAR: Delicious, schnitzel.
BLACKWELL: Schnitzel. Yes.
KEILAR: Wonderful, dumpster schnitzel.
(LAUGHTER)
BLACKWELL: I've had better, though. Listen, you take what you can get sometimes.
KEILAR: Right? And thank you for starting your morning with us.
BLACKWELL: We've got much more ahead on the next hour of NEW DAY SATURDAY starts right now.
