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New Day Saturday
LeBron to Cleveland: I'm Coming Home; Israeli Airstrikes Pound Gaza; Crisis Spurs Talk of Immigration Overhaul; Mom in Hot Car Case Gets Lawyer, Leaves State; Study: Stop Sitting, Start Walking; Google Exec's Escort Linked to 2nd Death
Aired July 12, 2014 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
GARY BAILEY, SOCCER EXPERT: Adapting is very important. It's the one thing we saw Brazil not do in the semifinals.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
BAILEY: And instead of adapting to the circumstances, they got absolutely obliterated. So, adapting.
And the final thing is, team, we us, not me and I, it's us we. That's what you need.
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Amen to that.
Gary Bailey, it has been so fun to have you here.
BLACKWELL: A pleasure.
I've got actually one more question.
BAILEY: Yes?
BLACKWELL: One country, Germany or Argentina.
BAILEY: Anything can happen, but you've got to favor Germany. They're such a great team. As the team, they are the best. I think they might just sneak on the day.
BLACKWELL: All right. We've got Gary Bailey's choice, Germany. Thank you so much.
PAUL: Thanks, Gary.
BAILEY: Thank you, Victor. Thank you, Christi.
PAUL: And thank you for starting your morning with us.
BLACKWELL: Next hour of your NEW DAY starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CHEERS) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a good day for Cleveland, I'm going to say that. It's a good day for Cleveland. Manziel, LeBron, Wiggins.
JEH JOHNSON, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Not doing anything frankly is not an option because it will require us to simply run out of money.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're seeking refuge from organized crime, despicable gangs, vile human traffickers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a really unfortunate situation and it definitely casts a shadow on the sex industry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Don't even look at the clock. We're going to help you out here, 7:01 is the time. Hopefully you can just relax, get a little R&R this morning. I'm Christi Paul.
BLACKWELL: Get yourself a drink if you need it. I'm Victor Blackwell, 7:00, 7:01 as you say here, 4:01 out on the West Coast.
NEW DAY SATURDAY -- and it is a new day in Cleveland, Ohio.
And you can stretch that out to Ohio, Illinois, the entire Midwest celebrating because LeBron James -- at least the fans of the Cavs, they're celebrating his coming home -- hanging up the Miami Heat jersey, once again donning the color of the Cavaliers.
PAUL: Cavs fans, let's just say they were in the mood to celebrate, lining up to buy any kind of LeBron jersey they could, especially after they burned them all the last time. As many tickets as they could gap their hands on. Season tickets for next year reportedly sold out within hours of LeBron's announcement.
BLACKWELL: Those ticketholders are going to need the new jersey especially after burning them in 2010 when King James announced he would ditch his home state and head to Miami in search of an NBA title.
Martin Savidge has a look back at Cleveland as it welcomes back its prodigal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope he never winning anything in Miami.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Four years ago, Cleveland's anger at LeBron James spilled out into the streets.
After seven seasons as the city's favorite son, it was this announcement now infamously known as the decision that rocked Cavaliers fans.
LEBRON JAMES, NBA PLAYER: I'm going to take my talent to South Beach and join the Miami Heat. SAVIDGE: A few days later in Miami, LeBron was given a heroes
welcome. And had some brash predictions for how many championships he'd help win for Miami. The feat he failed to do in Cleveland.
JAMES: Not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven, we believe we can win multiple championships.
SAVIDGE: The Cavaliers owner perhaps channeling the rage of his team's fan base in a strongly worded letter called LeBron's move, quote, "heartless and callous" and that "cowardly betrayal". That betrayal for Ohio fans went beyond LeBron's time with the team. He was one of them, born and raised in nearby Akron. He was so dominant in high school that "Sports Illustrated" dubbed him "The Chosen One".
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Simply put, LeBron James is the best high school basketball player I have ever seen.
SAVIDGE: ESPN even made the unprecedented move of televising his high school basketball game. But his talent once undeniable, he skipped college and went straight into the NBA and was the first player chosen in the draft.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Cleveland Cavaliers select LeBron James.
SAVIDGE: And it seemed like fate when we was picked by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
His last four seasons with the Miami Heat have helped cement his legacy as the dominant player. The Heat have reached the finals every year and won two championships. But with the heat's loss in the finals this year and some of his tee teammates past their primes, there were hints that James was eyeing a return to Cleveland.
He held the league on edge, and in Cleveland, it was deja vu all over again, but this time "The Chosen One" would return, writing in "Sports Illustrated", "In northeast Ohio, nothing is given, everything is earned. You work for what you have. I'm ready to accept the challenge. I'm coming home."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Martin Savidge up live with us from Cleveland this morning. I mean, four years, there's a huge difference from Dan Gilbert what he said in that letter that he said, you know, "Our kids should not want to grow up to be this guy", and now he's telling his son, "Yes, you can put the jersey back on."
SAVIDGE: What letter?
(LAUGHTER)
SAVIDGE: Here in the city, it's like, I don't remember any letter. You remember any letter? No, I don't remember anybody burning jerseys. No, I don't remember any of that.
No, that's all ancient history at this particular point. I was awakened this morning to this incredibly loud explosion and the rumbling of the Earth, and it was like, oh my gosh, LeBron just arrived here. And it wasn't, it was the demolition of a nearby bridge. But it shows you, it's been quite a remarkable week for the city of Cleveland and the return of LeBron James.
And while many people comment on, Victor and Christi is, is that letter. And, of course, you know, there could be some debate as to how much of it he wrote himself and many believe he did. And that it captured the essence of what many people in this city in Northeast Ohio have always valued about this area. And it's that letter of his that stands out, not the one that was posted four years ago by an angry owner.
PAUL: Yes, there is definitely forgiveness alive and well in Ohio today.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
Martin Savidge there for us in Cleveland -- thank you, Martin.
PAUL: Thanks, Martin.
So, you know, when we talk about how people are ready to forgive and forget here, as he said, it's hard to forget cavaliers' owner Dan Gilbert, what he said years ago, but now saying, I'm ready to move forward. Let's actually listen to some of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN GILBERT, CLEVELAND CAVALIERS OWNER: LeBron has grown, you know, quite a bit. He's had the winning championships. He's got two kids and a third one on the way. And he's a grown man now.
And you know what? I certainly talked about the things that I was embarrassed about and apologized about that night, and he talked about a few things and we got it out of the way pretty quick.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: All right. "My future is something everyone is looking forward to," that's what he says.
Fans took to the streets yesterday screaming and yelling and singing the praises of LeBron James. But one man's gain is another man's loss. Of course in Miami, at least one fan lashed out in anger. Look at this mural. Yes, they're not happy to see him go. They blacked out his face as he's there with the other members of the team, the Miami Heat. We'll see how many of them are back next season.
All right. Let's dig deeper into this decision with Bob Finnan, the Cavaliers beat reporter at "The News Herald" in Ohio.
PAUL: What does it mean to hear James is coming back home because of his desire to give everyone there a championship? He could have stayed in Miami, made more title runs there, could have played anywhere in the world. Hey, Bob -- OK, Bob can't hear us? We're having an audio issue?
BLACKWELL: All right. We'll get Bob back. We'll get Bob back in a moments.
PAUL: We're going to get him back here in a couple of minutes.
But, it's so fun to see what is going on in Cleveland. What a big week for them, but, of course, the GOP convention going to be there.
BLACKWELL: Yes, GOP convention will be there in 2016.
We'll try to work on the audio issue with Bob Finnan. And we'll get him back, and we'll get you back.
Quick break. We'll take a moment and we'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: So, we worked out the audio issue. We were talking about LeBron James return to Cleveland to play for the Cavs. And we have with us Bob Finnan, Cavaliers beat reporter at "The News Herald" in Ohio.
PAUL: So, Bob, I want to ask you first and foremost, what was your reaction and did you expect it?
BOB FINNAN, THE NEWS HERALD: Well, I don't know if we can expect something like that. Everyone was on pins and needles for a couple of days, waiting for him to make his decision. But this might be the first time ever an athlete of this magnitude has chose to come back to Cleveland. This doesn't happen here much for us and this was a very big day, perhaps the biggest day in sports history.
BLACKWELL: So, LeBron, he's not making any championship promises like he did when he went to Miami in 2010 and counted off the possible championships. But what do you think? Does he have the roster surrounding him? Is everything possibly right lining up now for the Cavs to win one?
FINNAN: Well, it's kind of hard to predict a championship with this team. They are a contender right away because of LeBron. He's the best player on the planet. He does have a supporting cast that's pretty good. But there's -- they don't have playoff experience.
Right now, LeBron and Anderson Varejao are the only players that have even appeared in a playoff game that's on the rosters. But there's a lot of emerging talent on the team, including Kyrie Irving.
PAUL: You know, we've been talking this morning about Cleveland itself. I've from the Cleveland area and I always say the fans there are so passionate and they're so loyal. But beyond the game, what does LeBron coming back mean to the community there?
FINNAN: Well -- it means, you know, everything to the city. Just like I said before you just don't have people wanting to come to play in Cleveland, especially players like this. This team is ready to take the next step and it's goings to be a very interesting watch this year as they become one of the better teams in the eastern conference.
BLACKWELL: So, let's count this down now. The Cavs have LeBron, the Browns have Manziel. Based on what you know, much more than we know about those two teams, who wins a championship first?
FINNAN: Well, it's hard to predict that. The Browns are going to be vastly improved I think this year, and it's a little easier maybe to win on the NBA level. There's only five players on the court at one time. I would say the Cavs.
BLACKWELL: All right.
PAUL: All righty.
BLACKWELL: Bob Finnan going with the Cavs before the Browns.
Bob, thank you so much for spending some time with us this morning.
FINNAN: Thank you.
PAUL: We appreciate it, sir. Thanks.
BLACKWELL: We got to take a serious turn now. We're turning to the crisis in the Middle East. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I was driving. After we left that gas station, we were driving on a major street, major highway in Ashdod, not far from the border with Gaza and all of the sudden, we heard the sirens. And you know what they do, cars immediately stop right in the middle of the street.
Everyone gets out their cars, the doors are open and they run towards the closest bunker, the air raid shelters which are all over the place, especially this close to Gaza. You run in, you get inside a bunker, you wait at least five minutes, maybe 10 minutes for an all clear and then you go back to your vehicle, the doors are wide open, everyone gets in and they leave.
So, it's a pretty tense situation, I must say, especially the closer you get to Gaza and this area where I am right now is very close.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Yes, tense indeed. Of course, that was CNN's Wolf Blitzer, getting out of harm's way.
PAUL: And he's OK, which is the important thing, of course.
But this is what it looks like when a rocket does hit its target. Take a look at that. In this case, a gas station in Southern Israel.
BLACKWELL: And it looks like an all-out war zone right across the border in Gaza there. Israeli strikes turn homes into just smoking rubble. Palestinian officials, they say that 121 people in Gaza have been killed. Nearly 1,000 people have been injured.
PAUL: Let's bring in CNN international anchor Becky Anderson. She's in Jerusalem.
So, we know that Israel says it's preparing for all options, Becky. Does that mean that we are about to see Israeli ground troops go into Gaza?
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: We don't know that for sure but an Israeli official and he told me and I quote, "The goal is to bring about the end of these rockets." And he went on to say that "we won't risk Hamas going quiet only for them to reemerge."
It sounds very likely that this is going to ratchet up some. You've seen evidence of what is happening in Gaza as a result of these airstrikes. You've also seen the result of these rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel.
This is a real mess. It's 10. But the reality on the ground is something we've got to remember. Behind all of the statistics about how many airstrikes have been operated by Israelis and how many rockets have been fired by the Gazans, -- by Hamas, sorry -- is the picture on the ground. For the Israelis, thankfully nobody has been killed in this conflict to date although there have been injuries.
But nearly 1,000 injuries, and rocking on towards 200 dead in Gaza. The grime reality is absolutely awful on the ground. We were talking to the executive director, guys, about an hour ago of a hospital on the border inside Gaza. It is a hospital which is a geriatric clinic effectively. They've got patients they can't move. They monitor them all of the time.
They had four warnings from the Israelis yesterday and one rocket attack on that hospital, the executive director tells me. There is now a human shield of international activists, including an American, a Brit, couple of Swedes who are sort of providing a human shield which one assumes will be complicated for the Israelis going forward if indeed things are to ratchet up.
So, a long-winded answer to what was a very specific question, I know, Christie, which is it's unclear at present, but things certainly look as if they're ratcheting up at this point.
BLACKWELL: So, you mentioned there, this human shield around this facility trying to make it I guess more difficult for Israelis to fire into that area and you also mentioned the disparity and injuries and no deaths in Israel.
Is there international pressure on Israel to stop firing into Gaza considering that there is no Iron Dome over that area and there is no way for people to be warned?
ANDERSON: And you're making a very good point, Victor. To remind our viewers, the Iron Dome is the shield, the mobile shield that the Israelis use to shoot down any rockets that are incoming from Gaza. Nothing of that sort, of course, in Gaza itself, no shelters. When
these knock on door call comes from the Israelis, that will be a telephone call to a Gaza household, they just have to get out. Look, the international pressure has been there. We heard it from the security council during the week.
Benjamin Netanyahu said on record that he will resist any international pressure to hold operations. He says it is his responsibility to protect the lives of Israeli citizens from this ongoing rocket fire. And as long as it continues, the Israelis will continue, he says, to fight back.
So, we've heard from the international community. The U.S. expressing support for the Israelis. So, at this point, no bowing to international pressure from Benjamin Netanyahu. I think we should hear from him at least if not today, tomorrow, Sunday. It is now the afternoon in Israel here, 20 past 2:00.
So, expect more from the Israelis to come both in rhetoric and in action, I think.
BLACKWELL: All right. We'll stand by for that. Becky Anderson reporting in Jerusalem for us this morning. Thank you, Becky.
PAUL: Thanks, Becky.
Meanwhile, as the immigration crisis unfolds, the political firestorm is heating up in Washington. President Obama wants almost $4 billion to deal with the many facets of the problem. We'll tell you what Republicans are saying to that.
BLACKWELL: Plus. this alleged escort is now charged with murdering a Google executive. But it doesn't end there. Police think she might have killed before.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: "We will send you back", that's the message a top Obama administration official just delivered at the Mexican border. Of course, he delivers that as tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants, scores of them children, keep pouring into the U.S.
PAUL: Homeland Security Jeh Johnson went to New Mexico to stress the president's call of deporting just about anyone who crosses into the U.S. illegally and to do it within a matter of days.
Now, that is not an easy thing to do, however.
BLACKWELL: Of course. As children flee gang violence in Central America, politicians agree this is a humanitarian crisis. But a gridlocked Congress is not signing off on President Obama's request for nearly $4 billion in crisis funding.
PAUL: In fact, yesterday, Arizona Senator John McCain insisted the majority of Republicans simply will not approve that money. BLACKWELL: The crisis is unfolding all along the U.S.-Mexico border,
from San Diego to Brownsville, Texas, and it's political impact stretches all the way to Washington.
PAUL: Erin McPike is there. Hi, Erin.
ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi and Victor.
Well, there is some bipartisan movement on Capitol Hill. We saw that in the last week to address the crisis that's happening. Right now, the struggle for Congress, though, is to hash out exactly what that will look like and which side will have to give in more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCPIKE (voice-over): As U.S. officials struggle to contain the flood of illegal immigrants crossing the U.S./Mexico border, the Obama administration is begging Congress for help.
JEH JOHNSON, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Not doing anything frankly is not an option, because it will require us to simply run out of money.
MCPIKE: Asking for nearly $4 billion to temporarily shelter tens of thousands of immigrants, many of them unaccompanied minors, send them home up a step up border patrol.
Complicating the issue --
SEN. BARBARA MIKULSKI (D), MARYLAND: These children are seeking refuge. They're seeking refuge from organized crime, despicable gangs, vile human traffickers.
MCPIKE: Both sides agree there's a humanitarian crisis, but leading Republicans have this ultimatum.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I've talked to a number of my colleagues who are Republican senators. We will not agree to the additional funds, the $3.7 billion, most of which is to care for these children and provide the facilities, until we can assure the American people that it's going to stop. And unfortunately, that is not in the president's request.
MCPIKE: McCain and his Arizona colleague Jeff Flake are calling for faster deportations of children caught at the border and asking for increased but conditionally aid to their countries, arguing that's the only way to drive the message the United States won't tolerate it any more.
Now, this crisis is becoming a jumping off point to restart the case for comprehensive immigration reform.
REP. XAVIER BECERRA (D), CALIFORNIA: All we have to do is get the Republican leadership in the House to say, OK, we'll finally let a vote take place, because we know that there are votes sufficient to pass a bill that would give us a common sense fix. MCPIKE: Despite some momentum on Capitol to take action, at least on
the current flair up, Democrat Congressman Juan Vargas, who represents the California border, warns --
REP. JUAN VARGAS (D), CALIFORNIA: So, everyone wants a quick fix. At the end of the day, I think the likely scenario is nothing happens.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCPIKE: Now, in addition to that McCain-Flake legislation that we talked about there in piece, also, Texas Senator John Cornyn, a Republican, and Henry Cuellar, a Democratic congressman from Texas, are introducing another piece of legislation next week.
So, as I said, there is a lot of momentum for something to happen, Christi and Victor.
BLACKWELL: Are we hearing -- I saw that we heard from a top Republican senator, of course, John McCain. What are the leading Democrats saying?
MCPIKE: Well, it's interesting what we're hearing from some of the members who represent districts along the border. There are nine border congressmen, eight of them are Democrats and on our air in the past week some of them have been quite critical of the Obama administration. Juan Vargas who we talked to in that piece on Thursday said to me that he hasn't heard much from the White House and he's been surprised by that.
BLACKWELL: All right. Erin McPike in Washington for us -- Erin, thank you very much.
PAUL: So, boy, disturbing new details are emerging now about the dad accused of killing his toddler by leaving him in a hot car.
BLACKWELL: Yes. We're going to have that for you, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: So, mortgage updates for you now. Thirty-year fixed rate dropped, 15-year rate rose. Take a look.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: All righty. Twenty-nine minutes past the hour. Hope that you are on time today, if you have to be somewhere. I'm Christi Paul.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell.
Let's start this half with five things you need to know for your NEW DAY.
PAUL: Yes. And number one: the death toll is rising in Gaza as more Israeli strikes pound that region. Palestinian officials now say 121 people now have been killed since Monday, more than 900 are injured. Israel says the shelling isn't going to stop until Hamas rocket
attacks on Israel, on their targets cease. Israel's prime minister says all options are possible. That apparently could include a ground offensive.
BLACKWELL: Number two: Secretary of State John Kerry will remain in Kabul for additional meetings. This, of course, is an effort to resolve Afghanistan's disputed presidential election. Kerry made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan. He got there on Thursday to meet with the candidates.
Both sides accuse the other of massive fraud in last month's vote. Now results, final results at least are expected to be announced later this month.
PAUL: Number three: the CDC says federal government laboratories in Atlanta improperly sent potentially deadly pathogens to other laboratories. This happened apparently five times over the past decade, and included anthrax, botulism, and the bird flu virus.
Now, officials say no one became infected. No one was ill and all the organisms were disposed of safely.
BLACKWELL: Number four: he's going home. King James announced yesterday he would be returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the '14/'15 season. No details yet on the size of the deal. But that doesn't matter to the fans who say they are just glad to see him come home. And, of course, they hope that he could bring them an NBA title.
PAUL: And number five, if you live in New York, good morning to you. Weather is good for you. Don't forget to watch the sunset this evening, though. The Manhattanhenge sunset, as it's called, happens when a setting sun lines perfectly with the manhattans street grid. Look at that. The result is a stunning glow of light across the city.
BLACKWELL: You don't get sun much on those streets. So, you got to just -- this is the day you'll see the sun.
The weather is not looking good for some of us, though. Storms are likely for much of the Midwest.
Let's go to Jennifer Gray who's here to give us some details.
PAUL: Hey, Jen.
BLACKWELL: Jen, who's getting hit?
JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys. The bullseye, the Midwest for today, we're going to see storms anywhere from Des Moines all the way through Chicago, could see large hail, damaging wind your main threat, can't rule out the possibility of isolated tornado. We go through tomorrow, little more populated areas are going to be in the center for the storms, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, on into places in New York, especially Upstate New York could see large hail and damaging winds. So, we're going to be watching that. The big story the past couple of days has been this air that's going
to come in from the north. It is going to drop temperatures across a large part of the country. We are going to take a significant break from summer. On the flip side of that, though, that means much warmer than normal temperatures in the West and especially the Pacific Northwest. We could see temperatures in the low 90s for the next five to six days.
But look at these low temperatures, Monday morning in Marquette, 45 degrees their average this time of year, 55. We'll see temperatures in the 50s starting out in Chicago, and then high temperatures in the 50s in Marquette. We'll see temperatures in the mid-60s in the Minneapolis, 70 for you in Chicago, dropping to 69 on Tuesday. Can you believe it? Not really affecting the Northeast much.
We'll see temperatures drop to the upper 70s, that would be a nice relief for you in New York City on Wednesday. Your average temperature up 84.
But like you mentioned, the Manhattanhenge, guys, what a cool thing if you're in New York. Make sure that you go out and check it out tonight, last night as well, we have some cool Twitter pictures. And tonight, around 8:25, go out there and check it out, it should be really neat.
PAUL: All righty. Love it. Jennifer Gray, thank you.
GRAY: All righty.
BLACKWELL: All right. Let's turn now to the latest development of the death of a Georgia toddler left in a hot car. PayPal now says it will refund all of the donations to a fund-raising campaign that had been set up for the Harris family before the case became so controversial.
PAUL: Also this week, the child's father Justin Ross Harris was fired from his job at Home Depot. As for the child's mother, Leanna Harris, she has hired her own lawyer and left Georgia.
Let's talk about this with Mo Ivory. She's an attorney and radio host. And defense attorney Jose Baez, who I'm sure you remember from the Casey Anthony case.
Thank you both so much for being with us.
Jose, I want to start with you first. I mean, you were involved in one of the biggest cases we've seen in the U.S. One of the most polarizing cases and you won. If you were part of Justin Ross Harris' defense right now, what would be your biggest concern in terms of what you see as the biggest obstacle for him at this point?
JOSE BAEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I think the biggest concern right now is having him convicted before he's had his day in court. I think that's a huge concern of the defense at this time. And I think that's something they should be looking out for throughout this ordeal. So, that's step one when you're answering a case like this, is that
your client is already presumed guilty despite the fact that this man may have been an excellent father throughout this child's life and with one sad, tragic accident or mistake, his life has been turned upside down and he's under the microscope and being criticized heavily for a lot of his conduct, some of which may be explainable, some of which may not be.
BLACKWELL: Mo, we know that Woodstock police, Woodstock, a small town outside of Atlanta, they're now in communication, having contact with the Cobb County detectives who are leading the investigation, to find out if any of these conversations, the sexting, if there was any improper involvement in their community. We know that he went to a park there, according to the detective.
What's the impact of that investigation and all of the salacious elements on the main objective here?
MO IVORY, ATTORNEY: Well, I mean, going to Woodstock and finding more out about the sexting and the activity that he may had had there, whether the person that he was communicating with was underage or of age, this is all apart of collecting the evidence.
So, every -- if they find something that's outside of their jurisdiction in Cobb, they're going to go to that place and figure out if he has any connection. So, it's all about the fact finding right now. It will impact what happens at trial and what will be introduced, what will allowed to be introduced.
So, I do agree with Jose. I mean, he comes from a very defense background and I obviously feel that this man murdered his child. But I do understand what he's saying that he is presumed guilty right now by the court of public opinion. But that is not the court that is going to be trying him. So, we do have to sit back and continue to talk about what we're finding. But we do have to wait for the trial to know what exactly we're going to find out about what the totality of the case will be about.
PAUL: OK, let's talk a little more about that, because Mr. Baez, there are three points I think that this people have heard that are hard to erase. You can't unring a bell, as they say. That he exchanged nude photos with women the day that his son died, that he viewed Web sites that advocated against having children and other Web sites that detail how people die in hot cars.
If that is all admitted as evidence, how do you sever that image of this man with the image of a loving father?
BAEZ: Well, it's very difficult. But I can tell you, I don't think the sexting has anything to do with this case. In fact, all it's -- the only purpose it would serve would be to tarnish this man's image in front of the jury.
Whether that was a decision that sexting has something to do as to whether he decides to kill his child, I don't see the correlation there. I realize the prosecutors will try and make that. I think what they need to do -- the defense will need to, first, probably have this man evaluated both psychologically and neurologically. We don't know if he had any neurologic conditions that may impair his memory.
If he's the type of individual who loses his keys all of the time, has possibly left the child in the car before and probable has this some type of issue where he's extremely forgetful, and you can show patterns of that, it might make it much more reasonable for someone to conclude that, look, this is an individual who forgets things all of the time and perhaps this was an accident.
IVORY: OK.
BAEZ: I think the statement from the wife at the day care center that he left the child -- he must have left the child in the car might go to reinforce that.
BLACKWELL: You know, I wanted to ask a question but your facial expressions tell me you don't buy that.
IVORY: Right. I mean, Jose, with all due respect, I mean, this is the biggest garbage aye ever heard. That he could just be forgetful. He didn't forget to sext six women while his child was dying in the car. I mean, he didn't forget --
BAEZ: What does that have to do?
IVORY: Well, it goes to his mind frame. It goes to the activity that was taking place on the day that his child was frying inside of a car. So, absolutely, it was going to be --
BAEZ: But that has nothing to do with his --
IVORY: It all has to do with what he -- what the activity was going on in his life and why that could be crucial to why he wanted to get rid of his child.
BAEZ: Absolutely not.
IVORY: I think it absolutely matters. I disagree. I think --
BAEZ: There are single fathers throughout this country who love their children and just because he's a bad husband has nothing to do with whether he's a good father. So, every single father hates their child as well as their ex-wife.
IVORY: No, no, but you walk out of the car after your child had just had breakfast three minutes later, and you automatically in 10 minutes sexting six women. Come on. At no point does it dawn on the job, oh my gosh, I think I might have left my child in the car. It's going to be important.
BLACKWELL: Jose, let me ask you this --
BAEZ: You don't know this man. You don't know this man. We're sitting around here acting like we know him and we know what --
IVORY: No. We are sure learning about him, but we don't know him, but we are sure learning a bunch of things about him.
BLACKWELL: Jose, let me get to this -- if this has nothing to do, as you say, with the question of if he intended to leave his child in the car and we would not be talking about this if this weren't released in open court, why don't they just waive the probably cause hearing and move to band. Do you think the defense attorney knew about all of this because there's no discovery before P.C.?
BAEZ: Well, I think they wanted to see what the prosecution's hand was. And anytime you get to see the prosecution's case ahead of time, it helps you prepare for it. So, strategically, I think it was an important decision to have that type of hearing, to be able to see what you're dealing with.
BLACKWELL: So, do you think the defense attorney knew about all of this?
BAEZ: I think there's certainly a good chance that he did. I mean, you have access to your client. And if you're doing a thorough job, you're going to ask your client about all of these things and hopefully, your client is being honest with you. If not, it's going to be a valuable lesson to teach your client, basically hitting him over the head saying see, look what happens when you don't tell me everything.
So, it's extremely important to the defense of a client.
PAUL: All righty. Mo Ivory and Jose Baez, I didn't even get to talk about Leanna. I mean, I was -- wanted to get in that, too, we didn't have for it.
Maybe we'll be able to work it in somewhere. But thank you both so much.
Coming up a little bit later, too, this morning at 10:00, we're going to be speaking live to two friends of accused father, Justin Ross Harris. So when we talk about not knowing this man, hopefully they're going to help us know a little more.
BLACKWELL: Yes, as much as we can.
PAUL: All righty. Thank you both so much.
So, this is disturbing too but in a totally different way.
BLACKWELL: How about if you stand up right now?
PAUL: If you work at a desk, have you heard this, all day, you've got to watch our next story, because apparently sitting can be more harmful that you think, specifically for you waistline. If you're going to the gym, if you sit too long, it doesn't even matter.
BLACKWELL: Erases all of the work. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: An American Airlines plane flying from London to Dallas made an emergency landing last night. The plane was diverted to Tulsa, Oklahoma. An American Airline spokesman tells CNN an engine problem was to blame, but would not be more specific. No customs agents were working in Tulsa, so when the plane touched down, 230 passengers were left sitting on the tarmac for about four hours before a replacement plane could pick them up.
PAUL: Ouch!
Talking about sitting all day, if you sit at a desk for work all day or, you know, on the couch for that matter, who knows, a jaw-dropping new study may encourage you to shake it up a little bit.
BLACKWELL: Yes, listen to this, according to the study published by Mayo Clinic Proceedings, that just two hours of sitting, two hours, cancels the benefits of 20 minutes of exercise.
PAUL: Come on.
BLACKWELL: Yes. So do the math. Even if you spend an hour and 20 minutes at a gym, a full day of sitting at work puts you right back where you started.
PAUL: That's depressing. Dr. Dave Montgomery, cardiologist at the Piedmont Heart Institute here in Atlanta joins us.
OK. So we know we probably because of work sit too much but come on. I mean, I suite my tush off in spin class for an hour. Are you telling me I have to go for two to make it matter?
DR. DAVID MONTGOMERY, PIEDMONT HEART INSTITUE: Yes, it's unfair, isn't it?
BLACKWELL: Yes.
MONTGOMERY: But, you know, everybody should listen to this. And even those people who exercise, this is changing the game for us, isn't it?
What we've understood over the last decade or so is that the shift in perspective about exercise is that there's a real distinction between too little exercise and too much sitting. As you know if our society, a large number of Americans are actually sitting for a lot of time. So, you know, 50 percent, 60 percent of our waking hours. If we assume that Americans will sleep for eight hour, 50 percent to 60 percent of that time you're sitting, right, screen time, writing, meetings.
And we know now that that causes real cardio-metabolic problems, heart disease, diabetes, obesity.
BLACKWELL: So, all right. I used to work out before the show and then come and sit and do this show for five hours all for not, I guess. So, what can -- I mean, I can't pedal while I'm at the desk. But what
can people do if they can't avoid the sitting?
MONTGOMERY: You know, there is this whole community afoot of treadmill desk people. Not everybody can do that.
PAUL: Yes.
MONTGOMERY: But you don't have to do, right? There are different things you can do right here at the desk. In between breaks, you can actually get up because it's the breaks in the sedentary period of time, that 60 percent to 70 percent of time that Americans are having that is going to reduce your cardiac metabolic risk.
So, the things that you can do, you know, go over to your coworker's desk, as opposed to sending a text or an email, go the long way to the rest room.
But stuff like people who write for example, I've got to sit at a desk. Well, you know, there's an app for that, if you will. You can use a voice dictation app on your phone to write a paragraph or two, send it to yourself for editing. A lot of us do social media at work. We're not supposed to but we sometimes do.
PAUL: I don't know what you're talking about.
MONTGOMERY: All right. But not you, not you. So you might say, OK, if I'm going to take a quick break, I'll stand, because even standing adds on to the amount of calories that you're actually taking. One minute of light exercise, standing, light walking actually can decrease your extra calories.
PAUL: All right. So, if I'm sitting for an hour, if I know that I'm going to be sitting for three hours, and I get up and take a two- minute walk, that's helpful.
MONTGOMERY: I think that -- yes, multiple times.
PAUL: I want to talk about this big study out that found that the lack of exercise is the main culprit for America's obesity epidemic, not overeating. Did it surprise you?
MONTGOMERY: I did a little more digging and over that same period of time, believe it or not, the amount of fast food that we eat -- that's sort of intuitive. The amount of fast food that we consumed over that same period of time is about the same. And that sort of goes against what people are thinking.
The thing I want to point out here is we've got to make a distinction between population based data like this and data, you know, in an individual person.
PAUL: OK. Because while on a population level we're not eating more calories per se over the 20 years -- if you go further back we are over that 20-year period and we've redesigned our environment so that we don't move. On an individual level your weight is still the balance of the amount of calories and the type of calories that you take in and the amount of energy you expend in exercise and activity. That cannot be overstated.
BLACKWELL: Well, you took me on bit of a ride there because I was down and I'm back up. I'm back up.
Cardiologist, Dr. Dave Montgomery, thank you so much for coming in.
MONTGOMERY: My pleasure. Thank you.
BLACKWELL: And helping us working for --
PAUL: Yes, thank you, sir.
MONTGOMERY: Thank you.
PAUL: OK. This is another story we have been talking a lot this week. The alleged prostitute charged with manslaughter in the death of the California Google executive. It doesn't stop there. The investigators taking a new look at the death of a nightclub owner in Georgia that is eerily very similar that they say this very woman is connected to.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: Fifty-two minutes past the hour right now.
And the bizarre death of a Google executive on a yacht is raising new questions about the nightclub owner on the other side of the country.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Each man had links to this woman, Alix Tichelman, a 26-year-old alleged frustrated who according to police injected a Google executive with heroin and then drank wine on his yacht as he died.
CNN's Laurie Segall has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When Dean Riopelle died from a heroin overdose last September, it appeared to be a tragic accident.
His girlfriend called 911.
DISPATCHER: OK, and why do you think it's an overdose?
ALIX TICHELMAN: Because there's nothing else it could be. I know that --
DISPATCHER: OK. Accidental or intentional?
TICHELMAN: I think, oh, definitely accidental, accidental.
SEGALL: That was the story from Alix Tichelman and the case was closed, until the police in California announced this week that the model-turned-prostitute had been arrested in connection with the death of Google executive Forrest Hayes, a 51-year-old father of five. Police say he, too, died of a lethal amount of heroin, that they believe was given to him by the 26-year-old Tichelman.
Georgia authorities reopened the Riopelle case because the circumstances were too similar to ignore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The similarities were the deaths of the two men by heroin overdose and the common denominator being Ms. Tichelman. In both cases, the individual seemed to have died from the overdose on what appears to be their first time in using heroin.
SEGALL: Alan Vine told CNN's Erin Burnett he was a friend of Dean Riopelle.
ALAN VINE, FRIEND OF DEAN RIOPELLE: Back when me and Dean used to play music together, I used to smoke weed and, you know, I used to party a little bit, and he was always saying, dude, that's not the way to go.
SEGALL: Vine says he was shocked to learn of the heroin overdose, given Riopelle's lifestyle.
VINE: You need to do right, be health conscious and, you know, just -- it's not the way to go. He always preached that to me. When I heard that he died of a heroin overdose, I was immediately no freaking way.
SEGALL: Tichelman moved to California, working as a prostitute. She surfaced in Santa Cruz. In November, she joined Hayes on his yacht. Investigators say surveillance cameras showed Tichelman doing absolutely nothing to help the distressed Hayes after injecting him with the heroin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was callous that in gathering her thing, she was literally stepping over the body.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SEGALL: Pretty unbelievable story there. You know, she is charged with felony manslaughter. She's going to appear in court next week. And the bail is set to $1.5 million. So, a lot of folks waiting to hear what they come up with. The story keeps getting more and more interesting.
PAUL: Well, you spoke to a friend of Riopelle, the first man in Georgia. What do they say about him?
SEGALL: She was shocked to hear about his death from drugs. I said was he a drug user. And she said absolutely not. He really cared about his kids. He was a family man.
You saw, he had those pictures of monkeys and he actually got rid of them because he wanted -- he was scared that they could do something to the children. And she just said that he was a really loving guy and that, you know, he actually considered asking Alix to marry him. And he said that's the bad idea because they had a very tumultuous relationship, that it'd been almost violent sometimes, and he had spoken about her addiction to heroin.
PAUL: Wow, all right.
BLACKWELL: Wow.
I'm surprised. We look at the photograph and the gentleman who just spoke -- I mean, the characters here. I mean, the pirate thing. So many questions.
PAUL: Bizarre.
BLACKWELL: So many questions.
Laurie Segall, thank you.
SEGALL: Thank you.
PAUL: Thanks, Laurie.
Well, for thousands of undocumented immigrants, a harrowing and dangerous journey across Mexico ends with a welcome mat at the U.S. detention facility. So, what's it like, especially for children inside one of these federal centers? A key member of Congress has been trying to find out. He joins us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard about it. We ran over here. We booked it, man. We heard. We ran as fast as we could. We're going to make it, dude. We got a championship. We're going to win the finals. I don't care. LeBron is the man, dude. He did it, dude.
TICHELMAN: I think my boyfriend overdosed or something, like he's -- he won't respond.
UNDIENTIFIED MALE: The similarities are basically, you know, the two deaths -- the deaths of the two men by heroin overdose.
