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Piers Morgan Live
U.S. Ready to Strike on Syria; Interview with Laura DiMaggio; Interview with Morgan Spurlock
Aired August 27, 2013 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST: So what will President Obama now do and will all the rest of the world support him?
Also, exclusive, unanswered questions about the crime that shocked America. The kidnapping of Hannah Anderson and the murders of her mother and brother. Tonight I'll talk to the sister of James DiMaggio, Laura DiMaggio. She's speaking out for the first time since the raid that killed her brother and freed Hannah.
Plus Yosemite in flames, the raging fire threatening San Francisco's water supply.
And you loved him when he supersized America, now CNN's "INSIDE MAN" Morgan Spurlock is back, going behind closed door with the biggest band since the Beatles.
And I'll ask him about Miley Cyrus and her twerking.
But I want to begin tonight with our big story. The crisis in Syria and the dilemma it presents to this country.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen is the only Western reporter in Damascus and he joins me now on the phone.
Fred, what is the latest on the ground in Damascus? Is there a sense that a military attack from the United States and other U.N. countries could be coming at any moment?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via phone): It certainly is. I mean, there certainly is a feeling a military attack could be coming very soon, Piers. I've actually been in touch with Syrian officials. I was given interviews with the country's information minister. He's quite a powerful man here.
And you have the whole day of Syrian officials are talking to you have just changed. Two days ago I was talking to some of and they were very bold. They were warning the United States, said if the U.S. attacks they would strike back. They're still saying similar things but the whole tone had just completely changed.
Now you're hearing things like the weapons inspectors, those forces still on the ground here for the U.N. Should be able to complete their work before anyone comes to any sort of conclusions. They keep talking about the U.S. not having an international mandate, about the U.S. having to explain all of this to voters in America and to people around the world.
You can sense that there is a new nervousness here. It seems as though they are opening up and they're realizing the fact that it's not really a question of if anymore. That it seems the question of when. And that certainly is causing the talk at least amongst some Syrian officials. The one I've been speaking to changed considerably and the mood had changed considerably here on the ground -- Piers.
MORGAN: Now CNN obtained this exclusive video from a direct hit by alleged chemical weapons attack. I must warn our viewers some of this video is very graphic and disturbing.
Tell us -- the latest mood, I guess, that people want to sense is what is President Assad's reaction likely to be to any strike that comes?
PLEITGEN: That's a very good question. It's probably doubtful that there will be any reaction at all. But a lot of it would depend on what sort of military action is taken. If it's limited, I doubt that there would be any reaction at all. You know what, I was here in this city when the Israelis struck a big weapons depot of the Syrian military. And a whole mountain was set on fire for several days and there was a lot of rhetoric.
But then we've never really any sort of response, any military response. The Syrian government knows well that its air force is no match for the U.S. air force. They know very well that they don't have very much in the way of air defense, even though people keep talking about them.
A lot of it is deep from the 1980s. It's very difficult to stop American planes from doing their job. So if the -- if the attack is limited, then I doubt that there would be any sort of -- any sort of answer from the Syrian government -- Piers.
MORGAN: And finally, Fred, is there massive debate on the ground in Damascus about whether it was Assad's forces that unleashed this chemical weapons attack or is it generally accepted that it was indeed from him? And there is incontrovertible evidence to that effect?
PLEITGEN: Yes, that debate has actually changed over the past couple of days, as well, and some of the video that we're seeing right now is one of the reasons. People here are seeing that there might be something more behind this than they thought.
You know, we're in the government controlled part of Damascus and people here are generally sympathetic to the government. And when I came here, the people that I spoke to, most of them on the ground, be it in the Syrian military or civilians were saying they simply could not imagine that the government would ever do such a thing as use chemical weapons.
But as more and more of these videos surface, people are starting to question things and people are wondering what exactly happened there, and people are coming to light --
MORGAN: We've lost Fred right at the end of his report there. We'll try and get him back a bit later.
Fred Pleitgen there, who is for CNN in Damascus, one of the very few Western reporters on the ground there.
So what will President Obama do about Syria and will the rest of the world back him?
Joining me now is Congressman Adam Schiff, a member of the Intelligence Committee, General Mark Kimmitt, the former director of Plans and Strategy at Central Command, Fran Townsend, CNN's national security analyst and a member of both he DHS and CIA External Advisory Boards, and "New York Times" columnist Nick Kristof.
Welcome to you all.
General Kimmitt, from a military perspective, what do you believe is the most likely military action that President Obama will take and how effective, in your experience, do you think it will be?
GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, my political judgment is that the administration will not do a lot. It's making a very narrow case that what we have here is not a large issue inside of Syria but a small specific issue of chemical weapons used which needs to be addressed, and I'm concerned that what this president will do is a small limited attack to, number one, punish -- to punish Bashar al- Assad.
And number two, to demonstrate that chemical use will not go unanswered. However, I think it will be very limited as a result and I think everybody in the region will take away a view that America is weaker because of this.
MORGAN: Adam Schiff, I mean, if that is correct, and that seems to be the perceived wisdom about what may be coming, if it's not going to be that effective and isn't really going to dismantle the Assad regime, which is something that most people have been calling for for quite some time now, what's the point of it other than making some kind of political statement?
REP. ADAM SCHIFF, HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE: Well, I think it will be effective if the object is to deter Assad from using chemical weapons again and to deter others around the world from feeling that this is now the new norm, that chemical weapons are just another tool in the military toolbox. So I think it can be very effective and accomplishing that objective.
The president doesn't want to own this war, and neither do the American people want to own this war, so we have to be very careful not to commit to things that we aren't ready to engage in -- in the sense of getting fully involved in a civil war in yet another country by narrowly defining the mission.
I think we can achieve that objective. I think we can detour this regime from once again resorting to this kind of a brutal and terrible weapon, but it has to be a very narrowly defined mission so that we don't have mission creep and don't get entangled in the civil war.
MORGAN: And Nick Kristof, one of the problems the administration faces is the sort of fallout that continues from Iraq where the American people and the British people, for that matter, were assured that Saddam Hassan had weapons of mass destruction. It turned out they never existed. Once again, the people of America and Britain, and other countries, have been told by their leaders this man Assad has definitely used chemical weapons.
But if they don't actually produced incontrovertible public evidence to that effect, this will not have much support with the public. How dangerous is that for President Obama and indeed other world leaders?
NICHOLAS KRISTOF, NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST: Well, I think the main reason that President Obama has not been more decisive is indeed that the public -- the public has no appetite for some kind of broader international military engagement in Syria. And I think, you know, he's gotten advisers who pushed him to do that but he's resisted for that reason, and I think, as you say, that the problem is that we overreacted in Afghanistan, we overreacted in Iraq, and that has led to kind of paralysis in the case of Syria.
But at the end of the day our approach in Syria, it simply has not worked. The things that we try to prevent like the spread of the word to surrounding countries, like the growing civilian slaughter, like the steady escalation of the conflict, the radicalization of the rebels, those have all happened anyway.
MORGAN: Fran Townsend, let's talk about President Assad for a moment, because everyone has been talking very loudly about the need for him to go for well over a year now. We're now at the critical point of military action and yet that rhetoric has been reined back.
Now it's not regime change, it's a retaliatory strike perhaps, concentrated on the chemical weapons aspect of what he's done. This is all a bit of a mess, isn't it, in terms of how you sell this to an already skeptical public? Is this guy a bad guy or not? And if he is, why are we not trying to seek to change his regime?
FRANCES FRAGOS TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: That's right, Piers. And I frankly don't understand why the administration would signal that we're not looking to change the balance of power, we're only seeking to address the issue of chemical weapons.
Look, and these limited targeted strikes, the cruise missile strikes, in and of themselves, we can't expect to be much of a deterrent. Let's remember, after the East Africa embassy bombings, President Clinton sent missiles into Afghanistan and Sudan, and that did not deter bin Laden, it did not deter the Taliban, and we saw them launch the 9/11 strikes from Afghanistan where those missiles had been.
So missiles in and of themselves, once an out, isn't an effective strategy. There's got to be strategic objectives that are this age. But this alone will not be effective. I frankly and I don't understand why you would signal that before you even started.
MORGAN: Absolutely. General Kimmitt --
(CROSSTALK)
SCHIFF: Piers, can I -- can I respond to that very quickly? Because I think there's --
MORGAN: Yes, you can. You can. Go ahead.
SCHIFF: I think there is a reason why the president and the administration is being very specific about this. We don't want to give the Syrian people the impression that we are the cavalry riding in to change the course of the war, and that they should rise up against Assad and risk what we saw happened in Iraq several years ago when the Iraqis had the impression that we were going to finish the job of Saddam at the end of the Persian Gulf War.
This is not a situation where we want to risk even further slaughter of the Syrian people by giving that impression. So I think the president needs to very clear. Not only with the American people about the limited scope of this potential military action but clear with the Syrian people so they don't expect too much. So that we don't get ourselves drawn in and essentially own this conflict.
MORGAN: Right, but, General Kimmitt, again from a military perspective, the rebels will clearly see any intervention now by the Americans, the British, French and others as being a plus for them because it will be a strike against the Assad regime. So, effectively, the international community will be taking sides, won't it? I mean, there's no other way of describing what will happen.
KIMMITT: Look, the -- the international committee has already taken sides. As soon as we said Assad want to go, everybody had taken sides but a limited strike, as described by Congressman Schiff, will only result in an emboldened Iran who is convinced that they are winning inside of -- inside of Syria because this is the best and the worse that America is willing to do.
It will embolden Assad to stay in power and it will convince our allies in the region that we are an unreliable ally and that America is not serious about standing up to its commitments and its responsibilities in the region.
KRISTOF: You know, I'm not so sure about that. Can I pipe in?
MORGAN: Yes, you can, Nick. Yes.
KRISTOF: You know, I think realistically there is very little chance politically of a sustained Kosovo kind of operation. I just don't see that as a realistic political possibility here.
Now will a short operation of a day or two or three make a difference? You know, I think General Kimmitt is right that there are real risks but on the other hand, President Assad has -- truly has kind of tested the international community. If you watch what he has done over the last couple of years, he started off by arresting protesters, then he opened fire on protests, then he began sending rockets and mortars, finally bombing rebel areas and finally bombing civilian areas, and now the gradual use -- introduction of chemical weapons.
So it seems to me that this is somebody who is a racial actor. He wants to protect his toys and I think that there is some possibility that he can be deterred. I'm not sure of it, but I do think that the present policy has essentially failed.
TOWNSEND: Piers, I think we also have to acknowledge the fact that we don't know how Assad will react to limited cruise missile strikes and in fact what he may do, because you are -- you won't be able to take out the chemical weapon stockpiles with a single strike, is that he may decide he's going to use them or lose them. Right? He may actually then -- use what's left of his chemical weapons against his population.
So there are real risks, both to the deterrent strategy to not having strategic objectives. I mean this is not without peril.
MORGAN: I've got to leave it there. But thank you very much, General Kimmitt, Republican Congressman -- sorry, Democratic Congress Adam Schiff, my apologies, Nick Kristof and Fran Townsend. I'm sure we'll talk again regularly about this over the next few weeks.
An update now on a story we brought you last night. A very sad update. The search for Jonathan Croom, he's the Arizona teenager who is obsessed with the 2007 movie" Into the Wild," and he vanished a little while ago -- about a week ago in Oregon. Sadly his body was found near his car in a rural area of the state last night. And police are investigating his death as a suicide.
His father today told CNN, "Jonathan made everyone feel like he was OK but he was hurting inside." And our deepest condolences go to all the Croom family.
Coming up, unanswered questions about the kidnapping of Hannah Anderson. I'll talk exclusively to the sister of James DiMaggio, Laura DiMaggio, speaking out for the first time live since her brother's death. That's coming next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANNAH ANDERSON, KIDNAPPING SURVIVOR: When me and my mom weren't getting along very well, me and him would talk about how to deal with it, and I'd tell him how I felt about it, and he'd help me through with it. They weren't anything bad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Hannah Anderson talking about James DiMaggio in the wake of Hannah's kidnapping and the murders of her mother and brother. Investigators are still struggling to piece together answers to the most important question -- why. Those answers may have died with DiMaggio, killed in a raid that freed Hannah. But tonight the person closest to DiMaggio speaks out, his sister Laura DiMaggio. She joins me exclusively for her first interview since her brother's death.
Laura, thank you for joining me. Obviously, a very difficult time for you and for your family, for everyone connected with this. Have you got any answers to the questions, I'm sure you've been asking yourself about what your brother is alleged to have done?
LAURA DIMAGGIO, JAMES DIMAGGIO'S SISTER: What specific answer? Specific questions would you be referring to?
MORGAN: Do you know why he did it?
DIMAGGIO: How do you know that he did it? Would be my question for you. There is no evidence. The only evidence that has come forward at this point is the fact that these two bodies were found on his property. I think there is a lot of holes in the case. There is a lot of missing information. I have yet to see any solid evidence.
MORGAN: What do you think happened?
DIMAGGIO: In my heart of hearts, I think that Hannah perhaps got herself into a situation that she couldn't get herself out of, and I do believe that my brother gave his life to protect her.
MORGAN: Do you really believe that, Laura?
DIMAGGIO: I do.
MORGAN: I mean, all the evidence points to him having left a sort of booby trapped property that set fire and killed Hannah's mother and her little brother. He then took Hannah, we know indisputably on this huge long road trip, way out of anywhere than he'd ever been before. Why would he do all this if he was a completely innocent man?
DIMAGGIO: Well, let's start with the first thing that you went over, the booby trapping of the house. I have known my brother for years. He had trouble setting his water thermostat on his -- on his Jacuzzi. My brother was one of the kindest people you've ever met in your life. He worked diligently to save animals.
He was not only a father figure and an uncle to the Anderson children, he was to many other people, as well. The kind of the man that I know him to be, it's -- it doesn't add up. It doesn't make sense and for me I need facts and I need evidence, real facts.
MORGAN: Obviously, the police are making it pretty clear that they believe he did set fire to the house.
DIMAGGIO: Right.
MORGAN: That he did commit a double-murder.
DIMAGGIO: Uh-huh. MORGAN: And that he kidnapped Hannah and took her away and he was in a shootout then with the police, which is that part of it certainly is indisputable, he was.
DIMAGGIO: Uh-huh.
MORGAN: Many people watch this and they understand why --
DIMAGGIO: Is it indisputable? Is it really?
MORGAN: That he was in a shootout with police?
DIMAGGIO: Right.
MORGAN: You don't believe that, either?
DIMAGGIO: Well, I know one thing for sure. I was in touch with the FBI and the U.S. Marshals and San Diego PD that entire week. They know that my brother and I were best friends, and we were all that, you know, we had left in our family, in our immediate family.
They know that -- they could have flown me to Idaho in a moment's notice. I could have been there in three hours and I could have talked to him, give me a mega phone and I would have talked to him straight out of there, and he could have come home and had a trial as he deserves as anyone in this country deserves --
MORGAN: But Laura -- what was he doing there with Hannah?
DIMAGGIO: In Idaho?
MORGAN: Yes. Why was he with this young just-turned-16 girl? I mean, that's not what a man of his age should be doing?
DIMAGGIO: Fair enough.
MORGAN: Have you answered that to yourself?
DIMAGGIO: I know that he thought of Hannah as a daughter. I know that the wilderness up there, it is some of the most beautiful terrain that you'll ever see in the world, and that's one of the things that my brother and I enjoyed doing together, doing separately. You've heard Andrew Spanswick speak about how they went to Yosemite. My brother and I went to Mount Whitney. That's what we enjoyed doing. The outdoors.
MORGAN: You were -- you were very close to James?
DIMAGGIO: Yes.
MORGAN: How close?
DIMAGGIO: He was my best friend. He was my brother. He was my father. He was everything to me. He was the person that I called if I had a question about life, love, career, anything. He was my first -- first person that I called. He was my best friend. MORGAN: Is part of your reaction to this, do you think, a sense of denial? I've got to put that to you that you just don't want to believe that your brother could be capable of such a monstrous act as the police believe he committed?
DIMAGGIO: Well, again, we're coming back to -- I'm still seeing no evidence, no -- the sheriffs -- the San Diego sheriffs have basically said that the case is closed.
MORGAN: Well, the police report, of course, said that he tortured both Christina and Ethan, Hannah's mother and brother.
DIMAGGIO: Right.
MORGAN: That he set fire to the house and burned them as well, to death. And that he kidnapped Hannah and took her away. I mean, these are things the police have made very clear from their point of view happened.
DIMAGGIO: Well, where is the evidence?
MORGAN: If it wasn't him, who was it?
DIMAGGIO: I don't know. That's what I want to find out.
MORGAN: He's the guy who took Hannah to the middle of nowhere. What other explanation do you have?
DIMAGGIO: Do you believe everything a 16-year-old tells you?
MORGAN: You think she's just lying?
DIMAGGIO: I'm not going to speak to that.
MORGAN: You know Hannah Anderson, you know the family well.
DIMAGGIO: I do.
MORGAN: Do you believe that there is a reason why she wouldn't be telling the truth? Do you think she went --
DIMAGGIO: I know that the Hannah Anderson that I saw a few nights ago on the TV is certainly not the girl that stayed in my home three weeks prior to them disappearing.
MORGAN: What do you mean? What do you mean?
DIMAGGIO: I remember very vividly telling my brother, she's trouble. She's going -- I said, you need to watch out for that one, she's trouble. She was -- you know, came into my home, was very gracious. She didn't -- you know, say thank you once. She had on extremely heavy eye makeup, just wasn't -- wasn't the -- just didn't strike me as a -- I don't know. I don't want to bash anyone. It's certainly not my intent.
(CROSSTALK) MORGAN: But if as you believe she was trouble, then it may well be that your brother became infatuated with her, with this young woman --
DIMAGGIO: Well, I know that she -- I know that, you know, Jim did express at that time that he was -- she stated that she was, you know, very upset with her mother. She blamed her mother for her father moving to Tennessee. It was, you know, didn't -- didn't appear to me -- it did concern me at the time.
MORGAN: I mean, look, there'll be people watching this who'd be saying come on, Laura, you've got to face facts.
DIMAGGIO: Uh-huh.
MORGAN: We understand that you're his only surviving sibling. We're going to get in after the break into the background of very troubled upbringing you both had and break close relationship.
DIMAGGIO: Right.
MORGAN: But in the end if it's the police saying all this stuff, and they are absolutely convinced that there is no doubt that your brother was a double-murderer and torturer and kidnapper, it may be that you have to face the reality that he just flipped, that he became obsessed with Hannah.
DIMAGGIO: Right.
MORGAN: That he planned this road trip with her.
DIMAGGIO: Right.
MORGAN: That he cracked up, that he set fire to this house and he disposed of the two people, then expose his story. Whatever it may be, that he just became somebody that you wouldn't recognize as your brother.
DIMAGGIO: Well, I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. When they can show me evidence, than I will deal with it at that time.
MORGAN: Let's take a short break. We'll come back and have more of this because I wasn't expecting you to say some of this stuff, and I want to go over it in more detail with you.
DIMAGGIO: OK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: Back with me now is Laura DiMaggio, the sister of James DiMaggio, the kidnapper of Hannah Anderson. This is her first interview since her brother's death.
Obviously you have a --
DIMAGGIO: Piers, can I stop you? MORGAN: Yes.
DIMAGGIO: I would like to throw in there just -- I would like to remind you that at this point my brother is still a suspect. He is not a killer. He is accused, and again, it is alleged. So I would just like to --
MORGAN: I mean, I understand that. Obviously I have to throw it back at you.
DIMAGGIO: Right. Fair enough.
MORGAN: And this is on behalf, I'm sure, of everyone watching saying, look, the police have been very firm in their reports from this and their public statements that they have little doubt that your brother was a double murderer, was a torturer and was a kidnapper. So I understand why you as his sister seem to defend him.
But I have to put it to you again that it sounds...
DIMAGGIO: Right.
MORGAN: ...to me like you're slightly in denial.
DIMAGGIO: Well, and I understand where you're coming from on that. I certainly do. How, you know, San Diego Police have not -- they refuse to return any of my calls.
FBI refuses to return any of my calls. No one will speak to me. No one will give me any information. No one will release any of his property to me.
I've largely been, you know, left out of the loop and completely ignored through this whole process. And if -- if there is evidence, I think that as, you know, the last remaining, you know, immediate family member of James, that I am -- I think that they could share a little bit of that with me.
MORGAN: Tell me about the upbringing you had with James, because it was very tormented both with your mother and your father. What is the reality?
We've heard lots of rumor and conjecture about it.
DIMAGGIO: The reality is that we stuck together a lot. We did have trying times. We also had a lot of happy times together, Jim and I.
We made our -- we made our own life. And he took care of me a lot.
MORGAN: Your father -- he went to prison. I think it was over a strange incident involving an ex-girlfriend, the way he ended up...
DIMAGGIO: Correct.
MORGAN: ...at the ex-girlfriend's house and then effectively seem to kidnap her daughter...
DIMAGGIO: Right.
MORGAN: ...and for that, he went to prison. He later committed suicide. And James lost his life on the anniversary of your father taking his life.
Do you think that was linked in some way?
DIMAGGIO: No, I -- I think that, you know, in many ways, they're very different situations. My father was on drugs. And my father was a drug addict for years.
My entire life that I knew him, he was on drugs. As soon as, you know, after he left the military. And we're not just talking about, you know, marijuana or something like that.
He was, you know, on some very heavy drugs. My brother was not a meth addict. So I think you're talking about two totally different situations, although I do understand and can see the similarities and...
MORGAN: You -- you had a sort of...
DIMAGGIO: ....situation (ph).
MORGAN: ...a -- a pact with your brother after your parents died that you would never leave the other one alone.
DIMAGGIO: Right.
MORGAN: Tell me about that.
DIMAGGIO: No smoking and take care of yourself, watch out for yourself. Don't do anything stupid. We agreed that we would stick around for each other for a really, really, really long time, as long as we possibly could until we were old and gray and that we would never leave each other alone.
We had -- we had already lost so much.
MORGAN: You must feel very alone now.
DIMAGGIO: I miss him very much -- very much. He -- he was the center of my world.
MORGAN: Did he ever, Lora, give any sense to you of being very damaged by what had happened in his upbringing that could possibly explain what happened? And I don't want to prejudge you.
You're right.
DIMAGGIO: Right.
MORGAN: The police investigation will have to conclude and everything else. All the evidence at the moment points towards him being guilty of heinous crimes, ones that you just can't believe your brother is capable of.
But was there anything in his behavioral pattern over the years where you thought potentially one day, he could crack up?
DIMAGGIO: You know, the only thing that I could say to that is that Jim was very quiet. He never spoke about our childhood, whereas, I was opposite.
I was always, you know, on every anniversary or birthday. Jim, mom would have been, you know, whatever age today, what not.
And he'd say Lora, you know, stop living in the past. Stop living in the past. And he was very quiet about everything, never spoke about it.
On his birthday, he'd pretty much turn off his cell phone and kind of, you know, go work and eye (ph) on the property or something like that. He was always just very quiet.
I don't know that he ever grieved or dealt with anything that we went through as -- as children or in his teenage years. You know, obviously, when...
MORGAN: Could it all have just been building up, building up? I mean, is it a possibility?
DIMAGGIO: Certainly is a possibility -- anything is a possibility...
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: You have to consider that.
DIMAGGIO: ...yes, absolutely. Anything is a possibility.
MORGAN: That he just -- that he just may have completely flipped...
(CROSSTALK)
DIMAGGIO: It's certainly a possibility. But it's very hard to believe that someone who was just so genuine and so dependable every single solitary day just woke up one day and decided, you know, I'm going to do this.
It's -- it's very difficult to believe. Now, you know, I also want to say that I'm not in any way excusing, you know. I'm not saying that he didn't have any part in it.
But what I'd like to know is I'd like to have factual evidence of what exactly his part in it was. And, you know, when I have that evidence, I'll go -- I'll go from there.
MORGAN: You were pretty critical of Hannah Anderson, a lot of people on Twitter. And if you want to give me a view of this, tweet me @piersmorgan but a lot of people on Twitter reacting quite angrily to that, saying, you know, you can't attack a young kid, a 16-year-old girl who has been kidnapped by your brother who is a man nearly three times her age, regardless of anything else.
You can't go after a young kid like that.
DIMAGGIO: Right.
MORGAN: What is your reaction?
DIMAGGIO: Well, they have a right to their own opinion. And I have a right to mine.
MORGAN: You -- it's sad that you were trying to get DNA evidence to explore a theory that James had had a relationship with Hannah's mother and that may -- he may even be the father of Hannah or indeed Ethan or both. Is that true?
And if so, why did you do that?
DIMAGGIO: To this day, I have not asked the Andersons. You can ask the Anderson family. I have not asked the Andersons for any DNA.
MORGAN: And do you intend to?
DIMAGGIO: We'll see when the time comes.
MORGAN: James left all his money not to you, as he originally planned to but to the maternal grandmother of Hannah.
MORGAN: Correct.
MORGAN: Was that a surprise to you?
DIMAGGIO: No, it was not.
MORGAN: His argument, apparently, was that he believed she was best place to take care of the kids...
DIMAGGIO: Right.
MORGAN: ...should something happen to their parents.
DIMAGGIO: Right. I mean, correct. You know, I remember speaking to him about it. It was never -- my children don't need it. I don't need it.
And I want nothing more than -- you know, I have so much respect and love and deep, deep, deep respect in my heart for my brother that I want nothing more than for his wishes to be honored. I've heard people say that, you know, I'm upset about that, that he left them a hundred thousand dollars. It's really...
MORGAN: You've spoken to (ph)...
DIMAGGIO: ...could -- could not be further from the truth.
DIMAGGIO: You've spoken to...
(CROSSTALK)
DIMAGGIO: It's (ph) not correct...
MORGAN: ...to Brett, Hannah's father. That was after she was found safe.
(CROSSTALK)
DIMAGGIO: I called him and let him know.
MORGAN: And how that was conversation between...
DIMAGGIO: It -- it was -- it was very nice. I've always been, you know, Brett was my brother's best friend. In a sense, they were like brothers.
My brother, you know, took on his family as his own. And Bernice was, you know, very much so a maternal role -- you know, role model in -- in his life.
And she helped him out when no one else would.
MORGAN: Did Brett -- did Brett believe that James had done all this?
DIMAGGIO: So that was...
MORGAN: Did he tell you that?
DIMAGGIO: I think he was a little -- he was a little surprised. But, you know, I just called him because I wanted to let him know that, you know, this was in place for him, not to worry.
You know, he -- he certainly has enough to worry about. My deepest, deepest, you know, condolences. My heart just breaks for Brett. Really, it does.
MORGAN: Well, it's -- it's an awful situation for everybody involved.
DIMAGGIO: It is.
MORGAN: And I appreciate you coming on, Lora. I know it's difficult for you and you didn't want to do this. You're perfectly entitled to have your opinion to this.
It was your brother. And I hope that you find some peace from all this.
DIMAGGIO: Thank you.
MORGAN: Now, we've got a statement from the -- from the family, from the Anderson family. "No one in the Anderson family or associated with the Anderson family has received a request for DNA from Mr. Spanswick or indeed Lora or anyone else.
Brett and Tina Anderson did not meet Mr. DiMaggio until the sixth month of Tina's pregnancy with Hannah and Brett Anderson's DNA was used to identify the body of his dead son, Ethan Anderson.
This is a difficult time for both families. We wish Ms. DiMaggio privacy and peace as she begins her healing process.
Lora, thank you very much.
DIMAGGIO: Thank you.
MORGAN: Coming next, CNN's inside man, Morgan Spurlock -- he's tackled the fast food industry and guns and medical marijuana. Now, he's here to talk about his new blockbuster. I'm not (ph) even (ph) surprised, one (ph) day (ph) mayhem (ph), and a bit of Miley twerking (ph).
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: To twerk or not to twerk -- that is the question that Miley Cyrus has got the whole world asking.
I ain't (ph) glad (ph) to talk to you about it. We have the Morgan Spurlock, who has just made a movie about One Direction.
Morgan, how are you?
SPURLOCK: Great. How are you, man?
MORGAN: So you're -- you're now the world's pop expert because you made this movie that the entire world's teenage force is clamoring to watch. And so what is -- what is your reaction to the great twerking controversy involving Miley Cyrus?
SPURLOCK: I think that the fact that you and I are actually having a conversation about it has proven that she accomplished everything she's set out to do. It's like people love to think, oh, it's terrible.
It's so amazing. It's awful. It's like where are the parents in this? We're talking about it. It's -- it's absolutely unbelievable.
MORGAN: Also, this whole thing about twerking being a new form of dance, I've been going to the Caribbean for about 25 years.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
MORGAN: And if you go to any nightclub in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, whatever, they've been doing this for decades. It's been called bump and grind...
(CROSSTALK)
SPURLOCK: Bump and grind? They (ph) support (ph) like a little booty-shaking -- booty-shaking? (CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: So I've been -- I've been twerking since I was 15.
SPURLOCK: I believe it. I've seen you. It's -- it's impressive. It's like -- we need a little booty shaking now and then. There's nothing wrong with that.
MORGAN: Well, also, if you Rihanna was doing it or Lady Gaga, no one would care simply because it's Miley. And we still want her to be little Montana, you know, little 10-year-old, whoever it was.
And it's like, come on, get real. She's a 20-year-old young woman.
SPURLOCK: And all I can...
MORGAN: And she's doing exactly the same as Beyonce or Lady Gaga or Rihanna...
SPURLOCK: That's right.
MORGAN: ...any of them.
SPURLOCK: And all I imagine is Billy Ray Cyrus is like sitting back home with like a printing machine going with money coming out or going, yes, look at that. Honey, here it comes, more money.
It's like this is...
MORGAN: Well, he was supposed to be -- Billy Ray was supposed to be on the show to explain his daughter's behavior. But...
SPURLOCK: Yes, Billy Ray, you've got explaining to do. He's got some explaining.
MORGAN: Yes. I'm not sure he's quite worked out what his explanation is yet. So we've decided to postpone it. We are going to get the first interview.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
MORGAN: I know he's watching.
So Billy Ray, good evening. And when you're ready, we will talk about this.
But the interesting thing about pop phenomena is (ph) that (ph) you've -- you've immersed yourself with One Direction. They're a great bunch of guys.
SPURLOCK: They are.
MORGAN: I have had the pleasure of meeting them a few times.
SPURLOCK: Yes. MORGAN: And you've done this, you know, documentary on them. What did it tell you about the world of pop, and of marketing and promotion and the kind of stunt that Miley pulled here?
It's so important, isn't it, to the brands of these young pop stars?
SPURLOCK: Well, I think -- I think the biggest thing you've hit on is that it is a machine. There is a tremendous amount of work that goes into being a pop star.
And a lot of that is visibility, that everything that these guys do in One Direction, every time they -- they say something, they do something, it becomes front-page news as is happening with Miley Cyrus. And that is part of what continues to keep this machine going.
And you know, these guys, you know, luckily, have not had the kind of, you know, strip down to their skinnies (ph) yet or you know, twerked on stage. They are just incredibly handsome, charming guys.
I think Miley is in -- in a different shift because she's having to look -- have people look at her in a very different way. She wants to get beyond being this innocent little teenager.
Now, she wants to get into being an adult pop star. She wants to compete on like the same scale of a Rihanna or a Lady Gaga.
And the fact that you and I are talking about it proves that she is accomplishing that.
MORGAN: Well, I just thought there's been so much hot air spoken about it. I mean, I wasn't remotely offended.
SPURLOCK: No, neither...
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: And maybe, it's because I've seen it and watched it. I just thought (ph) what is all the fuss about, really? I mean, it was a little bit of a naughty dance.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
MORGAN: But why shouldn't she? She's not 15. She's 20 years old.
SPURLOCK: Well, and but -- but it's also an incredibly calculated moment. You know, it's like people like to think that like the wardrobe malfunction was a mistake.
Oh, this whole thing, you know, Robin Thicke, you know, everybody is so upset about it, her PR people. But most of them of them said, the (ph) person (ph) in this whole thing is probably that foam finger who is like, I didn't plan on any of this.
MORGAN: Well, the most upset person will be Lady Gaga. SPURLOCK: Yes...
MORGAN: She had a similar outfit...
(CROSSTALK)
SPURLOCK: Yes, and Lady -- Lady -- Lady Gaga is like you stole -- Lady Gaga is like you stole my gig. What are you doing, Miley Cyrus?
Get off the stage.
MORGAN: Let's have a little break. We're going to come back and talk a little bit more about your "One Direction" movie, which is terrific and also want to get your view on the bigger international story...
SPURLOCK: Sure.
MORGAN: ...even bigger than "One Direction" -- of Syria because you've traveled around all that region. And I'm sure you've got a pretty good perspective on it.
That's after the break.
SPURLOCK: Absolutely.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: Breaking news tonight out of Fairfield in California, where firefighters are battling a raging seven-alarm fire. It's already destroyed several buildings.
At the same time, the rim (ph) fire continues to scorch Yosemite Park, hundreds of thousands of acres burning in and around the park. Officials now say, it's the seventh largest fire in California history.
Gary Tuchman's live for us there in Groveland, California, with the latest on the rim fire.
Gary, bring me up to speed with how this fire is doing.
TUCHMAN: Well, Piers, ever since this fire started 10 days ago, it has continued to grow. It is now the largest fire in the Sierra, Nevada mountain ring (ph) in California ever in recorded history.
Two hundred 87 square miles have been burned. That's the equivalent, almost twice the size of Las Vegas, Nevada. Now, the good news so far, nobody has been killed.
That's obviously very important. It's an amazing fact, considering how big this fire is. In addition to that, there have been no serious injuries.
However, the latest numbers we have, 31 homes have been destroyed. And there's still a lot of danger.
We're standing right outside of Yosemite National Park right now. Six percent of the park has been singed by fire.
But it's not the part of the park where tourists go. They're hoping to keep that part of the park pristine, keep the fire away from the park where the tourists go. Piers?
MORGAN: It's been pretty wild (ph). Gary Tuchman, thank you very much indeed.
I want to bring back documentary and filmmaker and CNN's inside man, Morgan Spurlock.
So Morgan, I want to play a little clip from this "One Direction" movie. Let's have a little look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STYLES: As soon as someone tries to tell us what to do.
(UNKNOWN): There (ph) were (ph) normal one please, honey.
STYLES: It's like having five rowdy (ph) boys in class at school.
(UNKNOWN): Harry, please, my darling, just go to the extension (ph), enough of you. Come on now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SPURLOCK: They look even more handsome on your TV show, I've got to tell you.
MORGAN: Well, they're great guys. And they're taking America and the world by storm. There's no question of that.
I mean...
SPURLOCK: Yes.
MORGAN: ...they're getting the kind of crowds we haven't seen since The Beatles. I'm surprised, I guess, of many people, as to why you made the movie because you're a guy that we know likes Metallica and Foo Fighters, music like that.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
MORGAN: You've done pretty gritty hard-going documentaries. Now, you're pop (ph) doing a pop movie, although albeit, a very good one.
SPURLOCK: Right.
MORGAN: Why did you do this? SPURLOCK: To have the chance to make like a blockbuster, a -- a documentary blockbuster, a film that would appeal to such a major -- major audience was something I was really excited about. And who wouldn't want to make a film of (ph) a band who are at this kind of core zone of their career, this moment, as we are about to go into a room with them and see them explode into becoming a global phenomenon.
I mean, that's the road and the journey we went on. And to be able to capture that with cameras is a really -- it's -- it's a rare opportunity.
MORGAN: Well, it's a terrific movie. I haven't actually seen it yet. But everyone will have -- who have seen it says it's absolutely brilliant.
So congratulations on that. Let's turn quickly as we can...
SPURLOCK: Thank you.
MORGAN: ...to -- to Syria because you've made movies about this region. You've traveled around this region.
SPURLOCK: Yes.
MORGAN: What do you make of what is happening here?
SPURLOCK: I mean, and the biggest thing for me is you want to make sure that all the information you're getting is accurate. You want to make sure that before we act, we get, you know, we get real people on the ground who are verifying and justifying everything that we're hearing.
You know, you've got to get U.N. security inspectors in there. There is such -- it -- it is such a pressure cooker. When you travel around the world, there's already such judgments about the United States.
The last thing you need is to -- is to make a mistake and -- and -- and make the wrong decision.
MORGAN: I mean, I -- I said earlier to the panel, one of the problems, and you will know this from having traveled that region is...
SPURLOCK: Yes.
MORGAN: ...there's so much distrust after what happened in Iraq...
SPURLOCK: That's right.
MORGAN: ...that when governments around the world say, this bad guy has bad weapons and it turns out he hasn't after there's been a full-blown invasion. The trust goes, doesn't it?
SPURLOCK: And -- and it goes immediately. And -- and we've spent such a long period of time trying to regain that trust.
All it takes is one little thing like this to certainly ruin it in instant. And we -- we just can't afford that right now.
MORGAN: Well, Morgan, I've -- I've only been working with CNN for about a month. I've already talked to you about marijuana, about drought, I think about "One Direction," about Syria.
So you can come back anytime because you're a man of all trades.
SPURLOCK: I am here when (ph)...
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: I've talked to you about anything.
SPURLOCK: Whenever you need me, I'm here to twerk whenever you like.
MORGAN: I like this whole idea of the two Morgans going at it on a regular basis.
SPURLOCK: That's good.
MORGAN: Thank you very much. Morgan, I really enjoyed talking to you as always. And the movie is released -- a wide (ph) release in America on Friday, command (ph) anyone who likes One Direction, which is probably the entire population of America to go and see it on Friday. Good to talk to you.
SPURLOCK: Thanks, Piers.
MORGAN: And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: That's all for us tonight. "Anderson Cooper" starts right now.
