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New Day Saturday

Trump Discusses Sanctuary Cities; Ilhan Omar's Speech Critiqued; Kim Jung-un is Willing to Meet the the U.S. in a Third Summit; Fisher-Price Sleepers Recalled; Child Pushed from a Third Floor Balcony at Mall of America; Riddell Pleads Guilty; Bini Arrested; Tiger Woods Second on the Leader's Board; Severe Weather Forecasted across the Some areas of the South and West. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired April 13, 2019 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They want more people in their sanctuary cities; well we'll give them more people. We can give them a lot. We can give them an unlimited supply.

POMPEO: When we see those nations engage in activities that will reduce the outflow of migration from their nations, the American people will be incredibly generous.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are women and children being held in cages. I held a 2-month-old baby. This is just as un-American as you get.

REP. ILHAN OMAR, (D) MINNESOTA: CARE was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She called it something; it wasn't even something terrible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well it's just obscene for the president to try to take that pain and make a political gain from it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think the world would be different if it was led by women?

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Of course. I don't just say that, I believe it.

(END VIDEO)

ANNOUNCER: This is "New Day" weekend with Victor Black well and Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Good Saturday morning to you. New reaction overnight to another White House reversal. President Trump confirming he is giving strong consideration to moving migrants to sanctuary cities. CHRISTI PAUL, CNN HOST: Yes, the White House told CNN the idea was

informally raised and quickly rejected. The president's twitter feed saying a video, this is another story, a video of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, one of the first two Muslim women in Congress, intercut with videos of 9/11. Now, 2020 hopefuls are rushing to the Minnesota democrat's defense.

BLACKWELL: And 80 million people under the threat of severe weather over the next couple of days. Strong tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds could sweep across several states.

PAUL: Welcome again. The president confirms that he is considering moving these detained migrants to sanctuary cities; he's confirming that. The acting Secretary of Defense says he expects to send more troops to the southern border as well.

BLACKWELL: All right, let's go live to the White House. CNN White House reporter, Sarah Westwood. Sarah, the president said when he withdrew the nomination for the next ICE Director, he wants to get tougher. We are potentially seeing some of the plans.

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right Victor. President Trump making clear that his administration is going to have some kind of dramatic response to the surge of migrants and of migrant families coming over the border illegally. CVP ICE, they are saying their system is reaching capacity along the border and at this point they are having to release some migrants into the U.S. And after White House officials insisted for much of the day yesterday that a plan to release those migrants specifically into sanctuary cities was just something that was raised informally in a meeting; it was quickly shot down.

President Trump, himself, confirmed it in a tweet and later in remarks that this was indeed a proposal that his administration is seriously thinking of doing. He said, if sanctuary cities have open arms for immigrants, he's going to give them what they are asking for. Democrats are reacting strongly to the president's proposal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying this is an idea unworthy of the presidency. Listen to the views of this dramatic policy.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TRUMP: We'll bring the illegal - or whatever(ph) you call them. I call them the illegals; they came across the border illegally. We'll bring them to sanctuary city areas and let that particular area take care of it whether it's a state or whatever it might be. California certainly is always saying we want more people. And they want more people in their sanctuary cities, we'll give them more people. We can give them a lot. We can give them an unlimited supply and let's see if they are so happy.

NANCY PELOSI, SPEAKER OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: I don't know anything about it, but again, it's just another notion that is unworthy of the Presidency of the United States and disrespectful of the challenges we face as a country, as a people to address who we are, a nation of immigrants. (END VIDEO)

WESTWOOD: Now this comes as sources tell our Jake Tapper that then head of the CVP now acting DHS Secretary was told by President Trump during a visit last week to the border between California and Mexico that President Trump said, perhaps as a joke, the context is unknown, he would pardon the CVP head if he broke laws in service of the president's goal of stopping more migrants from coming into the U.S. also as the acting Defense Secretary says there could be a surge of even more troops sent to the border to deal with the problem. Clearly, Victor and Christi the administration gearing up to really crack down on the flow of immigration into the U.S. in the weeks ahead.

PAUL: All right, Sarah Westwood. Appreciate the heads up. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Joining us now, Daniel Lippman, "Politico" reporter and co-author of the the "Politico Playbook," and attorney CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson. Gentlemen welcome back to "New Day."

DANIEL LIPPMAN, "POLITICO" REPORTER: Thank you.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good to see you Victor.

BLACKWELL: Joey, let me start with you. Let's put aside first the P.R. risk and the expense that I.C.E. leadership flagged when this plan initially came up a few months ago. Is, what the president is considering here, with sending the - the people coming in from the - through the southern border to sanctuary cities, is that legal?

[06:05:00]

JACKSON: Of course not, Victor. Let's back up and start here. The president can say whatever he wants to say. The president can wax poetic about any issue. That's his right, you know, First Amendment right. He can be provocative. He can do - he can be political. He can do something that serves, as they say, red meat to the people who rally and support him and yell about border walls and do anything he wants. At the end of the day, though, the benefit and joy of being in America is we are a country of laws.

As a result of the laws, we have to follow them and there's a number of ways, as you know Victor, that laws are created. One, of course, is by congress. That seems to be a problem, right? Because if you can't get something through Congress, then what do you do? You go to executive order, which presidents can do as long as they're not contrary or contravene Congressional authority. And then if you can't do that, then what you do is you again, come up with this scheme, which from a human perspective is horrific. Why we're demonizing immigrants repeatedly is not only distasteful, it's just horrific.

Beyond that, though, Victor, generally speaking, not even generally speaking, what happens is is that whenever there's a policy that is going to be developed, that policy cannot be arbitrary. It cannot be capricious. It cannot be discriminatory. And so when you start suggesting that you are going to have no rational basis for which to detain and otherwise, you know, keep immigrants in a position where they can go to immigration court or what have you, but you're going to do it A, to punish political enemies and, B, you want to be provocative and send them to those sanctuary cities. There's no rational relationship to what you're trying to do and therefore it's unconstitutional and unlawful and will not and cannot stand.

BLACKWELL: Daniel, let me come to you. Joey answered the legal question. Let me put to you the political question. What I don't understand is that if the president believes that sanctuary cities complicated ICE's job of finding, detaining and ultimately deporting people who come into the country illegally or those who seek asylum, why would he then want to direct the people to sanctuary cities to complicate that job?

LIPPMAN: Yes, it's a remarkable, you know, brain twist where he's just saying well, in the sanctuary cities and the blue states that welcome immigrants, we can just give anyone to them and try to see if they can handle them. It's like a taste of their own medicine, but, you know, what happens if there is a, you know, Kate Stinle-type incident where an illegal immigrant commits a horrific crime or a murder because they were a pawn of President Trump? That is going to be bad P.R. for the president as well.

I don't think he's thought through that next step implication and, you know, we should add that most immigrants are, you know, trying to follow the law. They don't want to get on police's radar. But I don't think Stephen Miller and President Trump have really thought through the implications of the real world, human implications if they release someone and then they create, you know, cause a major crime.

BLACKWELL: Well we know that statistics show and research shows that those people coming into the country, immigrants, legally and illegally, are less likely to be convicted of larceny, to be convicted of sex crimes, of murder than the native-born Americans. Daniel, let me stay with you because we've heard from the mayor-elect of Chicago about this plan that's being considered. Let's play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

LORI LIGHTFOOT, MAYOR-ELECT OF CHICAGO: We are a city that is a sanctuary city. We have immigrants from all over the world who call Chicago their home. They will continue to do that and we are going to continue to make sure that this is truly a welcoming community for those immigrants. We want them to come to the city of Chicago.

(END VIDEO)

BLACKWELL: So not really the outrage that potentially Stephen Miller and the president were hoping for.

LIPPMAN: No, I think many sanctuary city mayors would be happy to take more immigrants. It's just the fact that this president is cruising through red lines of politicizing agencies like DHS and DOJ and saying well, let's not actually look at what the law says and what is fair, politically and morally, but let's just try to, you know, create havoc even though, as you pointed out, most cities want to welcome immigrants because they are the ones who are often coming up with the great business idea. Look at Silicon Valley, thousands of people who from other countries have started great companies.

BLACKWELL: Joey, I'm trying to decipher if this - or discern if this was just knee-jerk retribution or if this was a plan that was - that was coming to fruition or coming to some shape.

[06:10:00]

Because if people are relocated to these sanctuary cities across the country, would their next appearance in court be in those cities, near those cities or would they be expected to travel from Chicago, Seattle, New York, cities across the state of California back to the area where they were first processed along the border?

JACKSON: Well Victor what you have done is you've asked a rational question to a very illogical and irrational knee jerk type of response in terms of punishing illegal enemies. The fact of the matter is that again, I don't see, in answering your question, it would presuppose if the policy went into effect and took place, and I just don't think that's going to happen.

At the end of the day, again, there has to be rational basis for which a policy is developed and for which one moves forward and it can't be just predicated upon what the president wants. Right? Remember that no matter what, at the end of the day, there are checks and balances, there are independent branches of government; there's a court system to go to and so I just don't see that we'll have a situation where you dump immigrants into sanctuary cities and you say, okay, we know we caught you in one location, which is a thousand miles from it, you have to come back. I don't see that occurring. To the extent there's no rationality to it, to the extent it's illogical, to the extent that there's just no legal justification, I just don't see it ever taking shape.

BLACKWELL: All right, we'll see if we hear from republicans on this plan. Joey Jackson, Daniel Lippman, thank you both.

LIPPMAN: Thank you.

JACKSON: Thank you Victor.

PAUL: North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un says he's open to a third summit with the U.S. now, however, he is saying there are conditions. Speaking before the Supreme People's Assembly in Pyongyang, he said the U.S. must stop, quote, "it's current way of calculation in order to continue the talks." And he added, if the U.S. does not change their approach, the prospects or problem solving will be, quote, "dark and very dangerous." Now he'll give the U.S. until the end of the year to decide how they want to proceed.

BLACKWELL: Democrats are coming to the defense of Representative Ilhan Omar after President Trump tweeted a video which some are saying insights hatred towards her. PAUL: And a chair in millions of American homes is recalled. This baby sleeper is linked to the deaths now of more than two dozen children. What every one of us who has a newborn needs to know.

BLACKWELL: Also a man in Minnesota is charged with attempted homicide after police say he threw a 5-year-old child from a third floor balcony in a shopping mall. Coming up, what we are learning about the suspect.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:15:00]

PAUL: Sixteen minutes past the hour right now and this morning, there are many democrats, including many 2020 presidential candidates defending Congresswoman Ilhan Omar after President Trump tweeted an edited video which some say is inciting hatred against her. So I want to give you the background here. March 23rd, Representative Omar gave a speech at the Council of American Islamic Relations. Go ahead and listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

OMAR: Far too long, we have lived with the discomfort of being a second class citizen and frankly, I'm tired of it and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it. CARE was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties. As an American member of Congress, I have to make sure that I am living up to the ideals of fighting for liberty and justice. Those are very much rooted in the reason why my family came here.

(END VIDEO)

PAUL: So, that is, in its entirety. The problem is, President Trump only used a portion of his speech in her tweet, specifically the words, "some people did something" in what could be seen as an attempt to show her minimizing the September 11th attack. Now the president's words, we know they matter, particularly when he has 60 million followers on twitter. Yesterday, Bernie Sanders called the president's attack disgusting and dangerous. Elizabeth Warren called it shameful. Beto O'Rourke said we are stronger than this president's hatred and Islamophobia.

Daniel Lippman is back with us as well as CNN's Sarah Westwood. I thank you both again for being here. Daniel, I just want to get to you first. I mean this is coming off last week when a New York man was arrested and charged for threatening to kill Omar. Was the president irresponsible in putting this out there knowing, I would think, I mean, he's smart enough to know the backlash he could face.

LIPPMAN: Yes, he doesn't seem to care that much about such a backlash. It looks like he's playing with matches here. This is the third video that was made by someone on the internet who we don't even know, that he tweeted out. You know, as someone who Trump said I have fake sources last night for a story I did on his -- what he was like on his Mt. Vernon visit. My twitter feed came alive a bit. And so, I can only imagine what Congresswoman Omar is going through right now. She probably can't even look at her notifications for what they say to her.

PAUL: Sarah, what do we know about where this video did come from? I mean you mentioned it came from -- from somewhere else. What do we know about how this was produced? Who produced it? What the intention was?

WESTWOOD: We know republican groups including American Action Network have been pedaling edited versions of this video in the form of digital ads. They are trying to elevate Ilhan Omar as the face of the Democratic Party.

This is also a part of a strategy President Trump pursued in the past which is that he likes to elevate the most controversial among the democrats to suggest all democrats share extreme views, that all democrats support socialism, all democrats want to, as you put it, potentially minimize things like 9/11, the threat of terrorism. That's been a strategy for as long as I can remember with President Trump.

This sort of plays into he's elevating Congresswoman Ilhan Omar perhaps to a position she doesn't even deserve just to take a swipe at the Democratic Party in its entirety. For example in the past, he's used her comments about Israel to paint all the Democratic Party's anti-Jewish. Not a fair attack, but it's something President Trump has done previously.

PAUL: I want to listen to a couple tweets here that are coming to her defense. Candidate and mayor Pete Buttigieg saying I served overseas and risked my life in the struggle against such terrorism but it can only be defeated - fully defeated if we have leaders at home that diffuse its capacity to sow - diffuse its capacity to sow hate, hate against Islam or a number of others. The president today made American smaller.

Amy Klobuchar - Amy Klobuchar wrote, "Someone has already been charged with a threat on Congresswoman Omar's life. The video the president chose to send out today will only insight more hate. You can disagree with her words, as I have done before, but this video is wrong. Enough."

Why? Who you answered it in part, Sarah, but Daniel, why do you think President Trump has her so clearly on his radar?

LIPPMAN: He thinks he can make political hay out of her and elevate AOC as well as Rashida Tlaib as basically representing the entire Democratic Party and, contrary to some of Omar's comments on Israel in the past, most democrats are happy to defend her on this. They viewed the backlash against Muslims after 9/11 as something that was shameful and remember, six days after 9/11, President Bush said at an Islamic center that we should not fear our Muslim American friends that they should be able to go out in public wearing a head scarf if they want, without thinking they could get targeted by people angry about 9/11.

You know, he was very clear that it was very important that the country not lump, you know, all of our American - millions of American Muslims with a small group of terrorists who came from primarily Saudi Arabia. So far, we haven't seen, it's hard to imagine President Trump going to a mosque and trying to commune with them to urge ...

PAUL: Right.

LIPPMAN: ...Americans to be, you know, not fearful of Muslims.

PAUL: Sarah are you hearing any conversations about the RNC's point? They characterized her words in saying "somebody did something" as downplaying terrorism, again. Is it a fair characterization that Representative Omar down played terrorism?

WESTWOOD: Well certainly, that is the message that republicans want to use to get this message across. Now we should be clear, it's not clear where the video came from, but certainly edited versions have been used by republican groups. We should note that what Representative Omar said in that clip isn't even necessarily accurate.

CARE was actually founded in 1994; it wasn't founded after 9/11 like claimed in the video. But this has been a message from republicans for years now that because democrats have really focused on the nuance of as Daniel mentioned, not lumping all American Muslims in with a small group of radicals, that they are somehow not as tough on terrorism. President Trump ran on trying to draw that distinction and so this plays into the republican's messages as we head into the election that they are the ones who are tougher on terrorism.

PAUL: Daniel, 15 seconds left, I want your perspective on that as well. Should she have been more precise about trying to delineate 9/11 and Muslim communities in America?

LIPPMAN: Of course she should have been more clear. I think she would add that it was President Obama, Barack Obama, who killed Osama Bin Laden, a number of years ago, not any republican president.

PAUL: Sarah Westwood, Daniel Lippman, thank you both so much for being here.

LIPPMAN: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: More than 4.5 million infant sleepers are being recalled. Consumer advocates say that the Rock 'n Play sleepers is linked to the deaths of more than 30 children. Coming up, the recall that parents need to know about.

[06:25:00]

Plus, witnesses say a child was either thrown or pushed from the third-floor balcony at the Mall of America. What police are saying about the suspect taken into custody.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: All right, coming up to the bottom of the hour now and this is an important safety alert every parent, every grandparent, aunt, uncle needs to know about. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is ordering the immediate recall of 4.7 million Rock 'n Play sleepers.

PAUL: That just tells you how many people have these rockers in their homes. The Fisher-Price product is linked to the deaths now of 30 babies in the last ten years.

(BEGIN AUDIO)

KEENAN OVERTON, FATHER: I looked up and I found him in a standing position, but face down in the chair.

(END AUDIO)

PAUL: Keenan Overton describes finding his son's body just three days before Christmas.

(BEGIN AUDIO)

OVERTON: His face was on the back of the seat and he was already passed away.

(END AUDIO)

PAUL: Five-month-old Ezra Overton died while in a Fisher-Price Rock 'n Play sleeper. He is one of 30 deaths the Consumer Products Safety Commission now links to the same product. The inclined sleeper was once a favorite among new parents. Now the Commission is recalling all 4.7 million units from stores.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's pretty scary when you hear the warnings that other parents have had such tragedies happen.

(END VIDEO)

PAUL: The CPSC says the danger comes from infants rolling from their back to stomach or side while unrestrained. They recommend anyone with a Rock 'n Play immediately stop using it and contact fisher-price for a refund. The recall brings a small relief to Ezra's parents.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

EVAN OVERTON, PARENT: I just really want them to take into account all the parent's stories and all the families who are grieving and just save other people's heart ache.

(END VIDEO)

PAUL: Now for more information about this recall, you can contact Fisher-Price at service .mattel.com. Click on "recalls" and "safety alerts" there or this is the number to call, 866-812-6518. You can do so from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

BLACKWELL: When I first read that number, 30 babies, I thought it was a typo.

PAUL: No.

BLACKWELL: If there could have been 30 children who lost their lives over that decade(ph). PAUL: Yes.

BLACKWELL: We have details coming in about a suspect who police say threw or pushed a 5-year-old child from a third floor balcony at the Mall of America outside Minneapolis. Investigators say this man, Emmanuel Aranda, ran from the mall but he was arrested a short time later inside the mall's transit station. He's charged with attempted homicide.

PAUL: Now that young boy is in the hospital with life threatening injuries. Emergency crews were seen performing CPR on that child inside the mall. Police say they do believe there was no relationship between the suspect and this child.

Well, the man who is paid to pose as high school students and ace SAT's and ACT's in the college admission scam is pleading guilty to two charges, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering but of course he is now in the company of 13 wealthy parents who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy fraud charge last week.

BLACKWELL: Meanwhile actress Lori Loughlin along with 16 others are facing new charges. So who is this test expert here? CNN's Bren Actress Lori Loughlin and others are facing conspiracy charges. Who is this expert here? CNN's Brynn Gingras has more.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's the literal brains behind the largest college admissions scheme in U.S. history. Mark Riddell in court Friday, telling a judge he is guilty on two federal charges. The Harvard graduate appearing to take the proceedings seriously, studying paperwork before making the plea.

In court documents, prosecutors say Riddell earned $10,000 each time he would oversee a student taking a college entrance exam, change their answers or, in at least one case, take the test for them. The money paid by William Singer, the convicted mastermind behind the scheme, earned Riddell nearly $240,000 over 8 years.

Riddell was so good he would boost scores high enough to impact a student's admission into an elite school, but not too high to where it would raise any red flags. In court documents, Singer boasts about Riddell saying he is, quote, "his best test taker and could nail a score, he's that good." Riddell served as a key cooperating witness in the government's year-long investigation, playing a major role in the takedown of many parents allegedly involved including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Hoffman.

Authorities say Riddell proctored Huffman's oldest daughter's test which, in part, led to the actresses announcement that she would plead guilty earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lori. Lori. Lori.

GINGRAS: (voice over) Meanwhile Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli say they are not ready to admit to any involvement in the scheme a source close to the couple tells CNN. That source goes on to say they're hoping to let their case play out in the justice system.

OLIVIA JADE GIANNULLI: Hi, it's Olivia Jade.

GINGRAS: Loughlin and Giannulli are accused of paying $500,000 in bribe money to get their daughters into USC including their youngest, Olivia Jade, a social media influencer with nearly 2 million YouTube subscribers.

OLIVIA JADE GIANNULLI: I don't really care about school.

GINGRAS: She staying off social media because she is getting inundated by hateful comments. A source close to the 19-year-old telling CNN, she is embarrassed and devastated by the allegations against her parents, so much so she is barely speaking with them. Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.

BLACKWELL: Julian Assange faces extradition to the U.S. So what could be next for the man who revealed government secrets to the world? We'll talk to a director of a documentary about WikiLeaks. That's coming up next.

PAUL: And listen people, buckle up. Large tornadoes, damaging hail -- nearly 80 million of you across the southern U.S. are in the path of what you see there and those are some violent storms this weekend.

[06:35:00]

We have the latest on where that's going. And be sure to join Dr. Sunjay Gupta. He is journeying across the world to find the secrets to living better for the mind, the body, the soul and he's with us later this morning as well. All new CNN original series, "Chasing Life," premiers tonight at 9:00 Eastern only here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: I want to bring some(ph) new developments in the Julian Assange case. An associate allegedly close to the WikiLeaks founder has been arrested in Ecuador. Ola Bini is a Swedish citizen. His lawyers claiming irregularities in his arrest here saying that police did not read him his rights or translate from Spanish when taken into custody.

[06:40:00]

Now Sweden's counsel general in Ecuador has visited Bini and says he's confused, he's shocked, he's sad. All of this, of course, after his arrest.

BLACKWELL: And today, some British lawmakers are saying that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange must be extradited to Sweden, if the country makes a request it. Assange has evaded a trial in Sweden on sex assault charges which he has denied. He was arrested in London on Thursday as we know after seven years of being hold up at the Ecuadorian embassy there. The U.S. has requested his extradition on the charge of conspiracy. A documentary has been made on WikiLeaks and Assange called, "We Steal Secrets; the Story of WikiLeaks." Here's a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was the biggest leak in the history of this particular planet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am the editor of WikiLeaks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We help you get the truth out.

If you get this material, give it to us, no questions asked and you will help you change history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scared the hell out of a lot of people. How are we going to stop it? How far has it gone already?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sort of aiding (inaudible)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wearing a bullet-proof vest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He'd been trained in evasive tactics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This idealist became something else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uncomfortable now.

(END VIDEO)

BLACKWELL: Joining me now is the director of that documentary, Alex Gibney. Alex, good morning to you.

ALEX GIBNEY, AMERICAN FILM DIRECTOR: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: So, I want to talk about WikiLeaks and some elements of this case, even the case out of Sweden in a moment. First, we saw Assange being carried out of the Ecuadorian embassy on Thursday, this long beard and of course the reports of the erratic behavior during his seven years there. Reconcile what we saw on Thursday and the reports coming out of the embassy with what you learned about the man in preparation and research for your documentary.

GIBNEY: Well, in a way, it would be sadly consistent with some of what I learned about Julian Assange, while much - while many things he did, particularly early on, to me were impressive and terribly important. There was a quality about him that was, you know, to put it kindly, somewhat unhinged and I think we saw that, in addition to the results of being locked up in a room for seven years.

BLACKWELL: Yes, the judge, on Thursday, called him a narcissist. There have been some - some write about him having this messianic idea of himself. And Jack Shafer who is the senior media writer for "Politico" wrote this that Julian Assange might have already won - let's put it up on the screen.

"If the case plays out as expected, he'll first get a platform in Britain to argue to a worldwide audience that it's all a political setup. And if he loses that round, and the case does come back to the United States, he might well get the government to serve him up by law the kind of massive document haul he loves." What's your take? In that context is this partially a win for Julian Assange?

GIBNEY: I don't think you can see it as a win for Julian Assange but Julian Assange has tried to p lay the martyr card in the past. I think people should keep in mind here that, really he sought refuge for the Ecuador embassy in order to avoid going to Sweded on sexual assault charges. That's one thing that's being lost in all of this. You know, I'm concerned frankly about the nature of the U.S. indictment because I think it may impinge on press freedoms. But the focus, I think, at the moment should be on this idea that he jumped bail in the United Kingdom because he didn't want to go to Sweden to face rape charges.

BLACKWELL: And do we know if those charges will be resurrected and he obviously denies the charges, but how much of a threat he thinks those charges could be to his -- his freedom?

GIBNEY: Well, there is some consideration, apparently, in Sweden about resurrecting one of the charges. Another one of the charges can't be resurrected because we are past the statute of limitations as I understand it in Sweden for the one charge, but the charge from one of the women is under consideration being resurrected.

BLACKWELL: Let me pull that thread that you mentioned just a moment ago, the indictment out of the U.S. and you agree with I hear, some of the people who maybe are supporters of Julian Assange. Some people are agnostic on the man that that is an infraction on press freedoms. Talk about that a little bit.

GIBNEY: Look, the actual charge relates to hacking. That is to say a series of chats in which Julian Assange is trying to work with Chelsea Manning to solve, figure out how to solve a password in order to be able to hide Chelsea Manning's identity, if she were to go in and locate more documents.

So, on the one hand, it's a very specific charge but the way that charge is manifested and the way it is talked about is within a larger conspiracy and the larger conspiracy relates to normal press functions like speaking to a source or negotiating various issues between a source and a publisher. So, that's the concern here is that the conspiracy, while the charges are specific in terms of computer hacking, which is not, you know, a projected activity for journalists, the larger conspiracy is set within a context of activities that are customary for journalists to do and we don't want those criminalized.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and the suggestion that there will be more charges coming maybe related to this or maybe related to the 2016 election. We'll see. Alex Gibney, thanks for being with us this morning. GIBNEY: Thank you.

PAUL: Well a passenger on an American Airlines flight displayed some very strange behavior. He allegedly touched the faces of several fellow passengers. I'd just imagine what you would do if somebody came up to you on a plane and touched your face...

BLACKWELL: Obvously.

PUAL: ... and sprayed something from a spray bottle at them. Flight crew members then requested law enforcement meet them at the gate as they landed to deal with the disruptive passenger. While waiting for the door to the jet way to open, the man opened the service door on the opposite side of the aircraft and jumped out. He was caught and he was taken into custody.

BLACKWELL: All right, Tiger Woods is near the top of the leader board at the Masters, but narrowly avoided catastrophe to get there. Andy Scholes is live in Augusta this morning. Andy, good morning to you.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS COMMENTATOR: Victor, good morning. Tiger Woods having a great second round here in Augusta. It was almost derailed by the gallery. Coming up, what Tiger had to say about the scary moment.

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[06:50:00]

PAUL: Tiger Woods finds himself up there on the leader board at the Masters, one shot back, entering play this weekend. Can he do it?

BLACKWELL: Andy Scholes is live from Augusta National for us this morning. Andy, the question, can he do it?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: That's -- everyone is hoping this is finally going to be the year Tiger wins a Major, after not winning one since 2008. I tell you what, the second round we had yesterday may be one of the best ever. Tiger is just one of the many names that's at the top of that leader board. I'll tell you what, Tiger, he had an eventful second round here in Augusta. On 14, he was in the trees, and he's hitting out of the trees and he did it magically, but a security guard running in slips, clips Tiger's foot. Luckily Tiger wasn't hurt there; he ended up with a birdie on 14. Then on 15, Tiger had a long birdie at ten. He nails it. Gives the patent Tiger first bump and after that round, Tiger talked about the scary moment on 14 and being just one shot off the lead.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TIGER WOODS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: It happens. I have been run over by galleries(ph) before. It's all good. It feels good to be back in contention in a major championship. This is my third in a row that I've put myself there. So, look at the board. We are bunched together. Look at myself and Phil, we are on the older side and we understand how to play this golf course and it is advantageous. (END VIDEO)

SCHOLES: All right today's the days meanwhile, one of the five golfers tied for the lead, Day being in the lead rather incredible. I watched him warm up on the putting green on Thursday and when he went to hug his kid, he threw out his back and he was in a ton of pain. He was able to play through it Thursday and then before yesterday's round, they said his wife gave him needed motivation.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

JASON DAY, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: I was kind of moping a little bit in the bath and said, it's the Masters, you need to suck it up. So, I can't complain about it too much because I said earlier, she birthed three children and I haven't. She is a lot stronger as a person maybe with regards to pain and I hit a little white golf ball around a course.

(END VIDEO)

SCHOLES: Yes, day one of the five golfers on top of the star-studded leader board. The first time ever in any Major that five guys that all have won a Major before share the lead after any round. Nine guys within one shot of the lead right now guys and the weather is going to cooperate today because there's a small chance of thunderstorms. Sunday, however, could be a different story.

PAUL: Yes, thank you, Andy. You're helping us go into our next segment.

BLACKWELL: Yes, because we've got to talk about these violent tornadoes, the large hail and damaging winds that are expected across the southern U.S. today and tomorrow. The details on the timing of the severe weather outbreak when we come back.

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BLACKWELL: More than 100 million people across the country are under severe threat this weekend. Violent storms are raging across the U.S. They have the damaging winds and the large hail. These tornadoes are expected, too.

PAUL: Meteorologist Ivan Cabrera in the CNN weather center. And Ivan, I mean this - this threat has significantly expanded today from what we were talking about yesterday.

IVAN CABRERA, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christi good morning. No question about it Victor. This is one of those days I think we are going to be under the gun for severe storms, the likes of which could produce violent tornadoes. Not the news you want to hear on a Saturday but I have to tell it to you. I'm going to get specific here on which areas are going to be impacted here.

Now if you're watching this from Shreveport, Jackson, Dallas, I know there are thunderstorms right now right on top of your head. Those are not the ones that we're talking about as far as the severe potential and the tornadic potential later on this afternoon and evening.

Western Texas, however, St. Angelo down toward Del Rio, that's where we continue to have a severe thunderstorm watch and a tornado watch until 9:00 a.m. That is round one. It is the second round I'm concerned about. That's the one later this afternoon from about noon to 8:00. See the bulls eye here? Yes, nearly 40 million of us are in this particular area but I want to focus in on the 7 million or so that are in that bullseye in Louisiana because I think that's where we have the potential to have what we call long track tornadoes.

My goodness those are tornadoes that drop from the sky and go for miles, specifically 25 miles plus and they will do that with ferocious winds. Noon to 8:00 for this area as everything continues to move to the east. We'll continue to track this for you because it's not just the only day today. By tomorrow, the threat will continue and move further to the east, diminish a bit, but today from noon to 8:00, we have to watch it closely. Guys?

BLACKWELL: Ivan Cabrera, thank you so much.

CABRERA: You bet.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TRUMP: They want more people in their sanctuary cities, we'll give them more people. We can give them a lot. We can give them an unlimited supply.

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