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CNN Saturday Morning News

Gunman Goes on Shooting Spree in Santa Monica, California; President Defends Government Surveillance Programs; Child Allowed in Line to Receive Adult Organ Transplant; Navy SEAL Comes out Transgender; Professional Woman Golf Player Overcame Scoliosis

Aired June 08, 2013 - 10:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's standing behind me 30 feet away and just turned and slowly panned his gun over to me and picks it up and shoots at me.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: A house of fire, a hail of bullets, and a trail of blood through the city streets. Friday's shooting rampage in Santa Monica leaves five dead, five injured, and a mystery surrounding the gunman.

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can't have 100 percent security and also have 100 percent privacy.

BROWN: Your phone, your e-mails, even your credit card records may be in the hands of the government. What the White House is saying about the secret government program.

(SHOUTING)

BROWN: A 10-year-old girl in desperate need of a lung transplant had reason to cheer this week when a judge stepped in with a ruling that could save her life. The latest efforts to save Sara, and next week's meeting that could save thousands more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Good morning everyone. I'm Pamela Brown. It's 10:00 on the east coast and 7:00 in Santa Monica, California, and we have breaking news this morning. We have a first name of a victim from the shooting in the ocean side community. His name is 68-year-old Carlos Franco of west Los Angeles. While we know his name, we're still waiting to learn the name of the man who went on a shooting rampage yesterday in Santa Monica, California. Authorities now say the suspect killed four people, including his own father and brother, and wounded five others before police killed him.

Police said the shooting spree happened at a home near Santa Monica College and then spread onto campus just 10 minutes from where president Obama was holding a fundraiser. While we don't know the shooters name police say he was between 25 and 35 years old and that he was a white male and he apparently wore black tactical gear and was armed with pistols and an AR-15 assault rifle with extra magazines. CNN's Miguel Marquez has more from Santa Monica.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A deadly rampage rolling through the streets of Santa Monica. 11:52 a.m., the first 911 call a man wearing all black clothing and tactical gear leaves this house. Inside two victims believed to be the shooter's father and brother.

JERRY CUNNINGHAM, NEIGHBOR: He was coming out of the house. The gate of the house across the street, and then I noticed that house was on fire.

MARQUEZ: The gunman jumped into a car, forcing the driver with him. Minutes later he opened fire on a Santa Monica city bus. No deaths thanks to a quick thinking bus driver.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It happened right in front of me. I was in my car and a guy on the left side of the street jumped out of a car with a big black gun and started blasting rounds at all of our cars and the buildings and the bus.

MARQUEZ: Then just minutes after that, the gunman shot up a building at an intersection in Santa Monica and forced the driver to take him to Santa Monica College, where the killing spree continued.

BETH TOPPING, WITNESS: I heard a couple gun shots and someone came running into our office and said someone had a gun and to get out. And so I instinctively ran into the hallway. And when I got out there, I saw a gentleman dressed in all black.

MARQUEZ: The incident cut a mile-long deadly path through the heart of Santa Monica from the house set on fire to the library at Santa Monica College packed with students studying for finals.

JOE ORCUTT, WITNESS: He just looked like he was standing there posing for the cover of an ammo magazine or something. It was really bizarre. Very calm. Not running around. Not yelling. Just looking around for targets very casually.

MARQUEZ: Less than 15 minutes after it started, it was over, four victims and the gunman dead.

CHIEF JACQUELINE SEABROOKS, SANTA MONICA POLICE: The officers came in and directly engaged the suspect and he was shot and killed on the scene.

MARQUEZ: His body moved from the library and taken to a sidewalk where he was finally pronounced dead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Miguel Marquez joins us live from Santa Monica, California. Miguel, we are still waiting to learn more about this gunman, his name and confirmation about his motive here. But we've learned more about the victims. The first name has been released Carlos Franco of west Los Angeles. Can you tell us or give us any more information about this victim?

MARQUEZ: Well, we know that he was the third person killed. He was parked in an SUV just around the corner from where I am. The house he came from was over in that direction. He was in a car that he forced the driver to drive him down here. She was fine. She escaped but then he got out, the red SUV with Mr. Franco was in it. He shot and killed Mr. Franco there and wounded the other passenger and we're sadly hearing this morning that one of the women who went -- the second woman who went into surgery last night, she may have expired as well so that death toll now will go up to five victims, six if you include the shooter. Pamela?

BROWN: And I know that officials have been tight lipped about giving information about this gunman. Can you give us anything else, anything? We know that the two people killed in the home were the brother and the father. Anything else?

MARQUEZ: Yes, I think it's tough for investigators. There are nine different crime scenes in this rampage. There are six or seven different locations where this person opened fire throughout Santa Monica. So there's a lot of information for them to get together. They do know obviously the name of the suspect and as I understand it they either served warrants last night or perhaps prepared those warrants to be served today at different locations. They want to check out and know everything about this person before they release more information.

We do expect a press conference coming up. What do know the house where it began is the father and brother of the shooter. And what led the shooter to the school is not very clear. When he carjacked that car, he did direct her to the school, but it's not clear why he came down here to the library, let some people go, but shot others. It's very unclear what his target was or why he was doing this, Pamela.

BROWN: We hope to learn more about a motive at this press conference at 1:00 p.m. eastern today. Miguel, thank you so much. Keep us updated.

Joe Orcutt heard bullets buzzing by his head after he came face to face with the gunman. We spoke to him last hour about what he witnessed. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ORCUTT: When I was at the end of this corridor leading to Pearl Street where the car had gone into a brick wall, I started thinking where is this gunman at? I turned around and looked back to where I had just come from, he was 30 feet away right in front of me. By that time the whole area cleared out and he's at one end and I'm at the other end. We looked at each other for a second. He spun around fairly slowly and aimed his gun at me. I dove to the left of me and hid behind a building and he shot and I could hear this whiz go by like a bee or something. It all happened really, really fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: That was Joe Orcutt who came face to face with the gunman and locked eyes with the gunman. He has an unbelievable story to tell.

And more news just in this morning, this time out of Afghanistan where three American soldiers have been killed in what may be another case of an insider attack. A NATO official says someone wearing an afghan military uniform turned his gun on the soldiers. These kinds of attacks have plagued NATO forces in Afghanistan ahead of the 2014 drawdown.

The eyes of the world are on South Africa. Civil rights icon Nelson Mandela is hospitalized for a lung infection. The infection keeps recurring and it did so last night. The former South African president was rushed to the hospital before dawn when his condition deteriorated. His wife is with him we're told. A presidential spokesperson says the 94-year-old Mandela is now breathing on his own and that he's receiving the best care to ensure he gets better. Officials are not releasing many details they do say that Mr. Mandela is in serious but stable condition.

A pregnant actress in Texas accused of mailing ricin laced letters to President Obama and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, and now we're getting a look at her mug shot. This is Shannon Richardson. CNN's national correspondent Susan Candiotti joins us now from New York. Susan, we know the suspect is an actress from Texas. What else is the FBI saying about this woman?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In a moment you'll see her publicity photos as well. Authorities say this was one troubled marriage. And if the charges are true, you've got a wife who went to some bizarre lengths to get back at her husband and frame him.

Shannon Richardson is also an actress, a stage actress, Shannon Rogers also her name, and in court papers she's charged with setting up her husband, accusing her of writing and sending letters tainted with ricin to President Obama, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and the mayor's director of a gun control group Michael Blaze.

She's charged with planting evidence in and around the house, creating ricin research on her husband's computer, putting together a Tupperware container with ricin ingredients inside, even scattering caster beans used to make ricin in the trunk of her husband's car.

She allegedly mailed the letters in Texas and then drove to Shreveport, Louisiana and met with the FBI to accuse her husband of sending the ricin letters. They read in part, "You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. Anyone who wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional god given right and I will exercise that right until the day I die. What's in this letter is nothing compared to what I've got planned for you."

Now the FBI interviewed her husband. He blamed his wife. It was he said/she said. And she allegedly told the FBI her muss ma husband made her do it. On Twitter, the former executive producer of the hugely popular show "The Walking Dead," where Richardson once appeared in a minor role, wrote this, quote, "Some actress from "The Walking Dead" sent ricin letters to the prez? Never heard of her. Anybody know what role she played?" He gets an answer from the producer of "The Vampire Diaries" who says "If she played an equivalent role to what she supposedly played on "Vampire Diaries" she was third background from the right or something." Sadly, Pamela, this case plays like a made for TV movie, but of course it's a real life drama.

BROWN: I would say so. Obviously a troubled marriage, the husband filing for divorce. It appears, Susan, that she was trying to frame her husband and now these are some pretty serious charges she faces, right?

CANDIOTTI: Exactly. Sending ricin letters allegedly to the president and the mayor and a third person as well, if she is found guilty, Pamela, she faces up to 10 years in prison.

BROWN: It's so bizarre. I know you have been following this story. Second time a person has been accused of setting up someone else of sending those letters. Susan Candiotti in New York, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

One mom's fight to save her daughter has turned into a national debate over organ transplant rules. We'll talk to a congressman who is a surgeon, by the way, about his involvement in this case and why he is suggesting that one of President Obama's cabinet members could be responsible if the young girl dies. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: We've learned this morning 10-year-old Sara Moynihan is not doing good. We introduced you to Sara two weeks ago. Janet Moynihan's latest Facebook post with her mother tells the story right here. At 3:20 this morning she wrote, "Sara's numbers, heart and oxygen, don't look good. Stressing but believing our good news will come soon in the form of new lungs." Hopeful there. Later she says, "Sara is still doing bad, worse actually."

The news comes as the group that sets national rules for lung transplants is planning an emergency meeting on Monday. In that meeting they'll review and possibly change a policy that puts children at the very end of the waiting list for adult organs no matter how sick they are. Earlier this week a federal judge gave little Sara and another child Javier Acosta equal access to adult organs. It also comes on the heels of a hearing on Capitol Hill that put Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on the hot seat. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: The worst of all worlds, in my mind, is to have some individual pick and choose who lives and who dies. I think you want a process where it's guided by medical science and medical experts. What I've also done is look very carefully at the history of the rules around lung transplants and organ transplants.

REP. TOM PRICE, (R) GEORGIA: I'm going to reclaim my time. It simply takes your signature. A study I know you have ordered and I appreciate that. But a study will take over a year. This young lady will be dead. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And that was Congressman Tom Price of Georgia who joins us now. Obviously this is something you're very passionate about, Congressman Price. You have not only are a congressman but also you were an orthopedic surgeon for 20 years, if I'm not mistaken.

PRICE: Correct.

BROWN: It seems like in that hearing you were basically telling Kathleen Sebelius, look, you're responsible for Sara's life.

PRICE: The principle is we want patients and families and doctors to make medical decisions and not Washington D.C. in this instance all of the doctors involved, all of the surgeons involved, the hospital said they can technologically do a transplant if a donor became available. The family wants it. The patient wants it. The only thing that stopped it was a waiver from Secretary Sebelius. So that's why I gave the presentation I did because, again, we want patients and families and doctors making these decisions and not Washington D.C.

BROWN: On that note, now people are saying this is really sparked an interesting debate, just like what you were talking about. Also the big question, does this create a new scenario of winners and losers. If these children are now put on the adult donor list, does that mean someone else will lose out so that another person does get a lung?

PRICE: All that we asked for and all the family was asking for is to have Sara have the opportunity to get on the list. Six, eight, ten years ago when the rules were formulated, the technology wasn't there to be able to make a child of Sara's size would be technologically receive an adult lung. That's changed, and that's why the doctors and scientists and surgeons and transplant surgeons involved said it was a good opportunity for Sara if a donor became available. We didn't ask for her to go to the front of the line. We just asked to be considered with the other individuals on the list.

BROWN: It's much more rare to receive a child's lung, much more common to have an adult lung available.

PRICE: Yes, because the donors who are eligible especially in children under the age of 12, most of those individuals die because of some other disease so they aren't even eligible to be a donor.

BROWN: What do you have to say to someone, congressman price, on that adult donor list and now has to compete with children like Javier and Sara. What do you say to that person?

PRICE: Everyone from a clinical status depending on how severe their illness is, everyone ought to be treated equally. And this is only fair. Again, if the physicians involved and surgeons involved and the transplant surgeons involved and family and institution and hospital is capable of doing this and they all believe the patient would be eligible for it, if they were an adult, then there isn't any reason not to treat everybody equally. BROWN: Just looking through the numbers. Right now almost 1,700 people are on a waiting list for new lungs, 162 of them are in the Philadelphia area where Sara and Javier are. Does that mean the judge's ruling gives them a better chance of transplants given how dire the situation is with Sara as we just heard?

PRICE: No, because, again, there's an objective criteria that's utilized to determine the clinical status. How sick is the potential recipient who would be receiving the donor lung? And Sara and Javier just gets on that list. In fact, we learned yesterday that Sara moved to the top of the list because of the severity of her illness and Javier is somewhere down on the list because he isn't as ill right now. So there's a process that we go through. It's scientists and physicians and transplant surgeons who are involved in all of this. It ought not be Washington D.C. That's the point we were trying to make.

BROWN: And on that note, what do you make the transplant board to do at the emergency meeting on Monday?

PRICE: I think it's absolutely imperative that we listen to the science, listen to the professionals involved. The rules, we need to be flexible and nimble in our health care systems. We don't need to have arbitrary rules. The rules that ought to apply are that patients and families and doctors ought to be making these decisions and not Washington D.C.

BROWN: We'll have to see what happens on Monday. Congressman Tom Price, thank you for being here. Appreciate it.

They are two of the most powerful leaders in the world and they're about to come together to talk about forging a new model for U.S./China relations going forward. That's next. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The leaders of arguably the two most powerful nations in the world are coming together again this afternoon for the second day of talks. President Obama sat down with China's new president Xi Jinping in southern California yesterday. Xi called the meeting "to chart the future of China/U.S. relations." Obama went on to say "A peaceful and prosperous China is good for the U.S.," but that, quote, "areas of tension are inevitable."

While the issue of cyber-security is expected to be on the agenda for the two leaders, President Obama is fighting critics at home for the government's controversial surveillance program. Chief White House Correspondent Jessica Yellin has more on the high tech debate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Obama unapologetic about revelations about high tech government snooping.

OBAMA: My assessment and my team's assessment was that they help us prevent terrorist attacks. YELLIN: He says the government is just gathering phone numbers and duration of calls and insists the program to capture Internet messages as they flow through the U.S. targets only foreigners. But it's opened him up to criticism and jokes President Bush faced when the surveillance programs first came to light in 2006. Remember this?

STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: If anybody needs anything else at their tables, just speak slowly and clearly into your table numbers. Someone from the NSA will be right over with a cocktail.

YELLIN: There are similarities then. Bush then --

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We do not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval.

YELLIN: Obama now.

OBAMA: If the intelligence community wants to listen to a phone call, they have to go back to a federal judge.

YELLIN: No wonder the left-leaning "Huffington Post" mocked him as President George W. Obama. In a 14 minute Q and A President Obama repeated 20 times that his surveillance program is subject to oversight by Congress and the courts.

OBAMA: The programs are subject to congressional oversight and congressional reauthorization and congressional debate. That's also why we set up congressional oversight. We have congressional oversight and judicial oversight.

YELLIN: But all that is discussed behind closed doors, never subject to public debate until now.

JONATHAN TURLEY, LAW PROFESSOR, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: It's a chilling thought to rely on Congress to protect our civil liberties.

YELLIN: It should come as no surprise that President Obama supports these surveillance programs even though he said this during the 2008 campaign.

OBAMA: There should always be somebody who is watching the watchers.

YELLIN: He voted to reauthorize government eavesdropping in 2008 and signed an update to it last year. It's more than a little ironic all of this is coming to light just as the president prepares to meet with the leader of China and press him on that country's Internet attacks.

OBAMA: As critical as two of the largest economies and military powers in the world that China and the United States arrives at a firm understanding of how we work together on these issues.

YELLIN: Already the two countries have agreed to discuss rules of the road for cyber-security going forward. The two presidents will meet again for several hours on an estate in the California desert.

Jessica Yellin, CNN, traveling with the president in Palm Springs, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And coming up, a community in shock after a gunman opens fire, killing his father, brother, and two others at least. A live report from Santa Monica just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Welcome back, everyone. Thanks so much for being with us on this Saturday morning. I'm Pamela Brown. Here are some stories making headlines this morning.

Three American soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, and it may be another case of an insider attack. The soldiers were gunned down in the eastern part of the country. A NATO official says someone wearing an Afghan army uniform turned his weapon on the American soldiers. These kinds of attacks have plagued NATO forces in Afghanistan ahead of the 2014 drawdown.

A critical hearing in the George Zimmerman murder trial is under way this morning. A judge has to decide if voice analysis of the 911 calls will be allowed at trial. This is the last hearing before jury selection begins on Monday.

And new information on a deadly building collapse in Philadelphia. City hall sources tell CNN that a crane operator working to demolish a building had marijuana and pain medication in his blood. He could face manslaughter charges. During the demolition a four-story wall fell on a Salvation Army Thrift Store and six people died.

And now to California and the shooting rampage yesterday in Santa Monica. We now know the name of one of the four people killed yesterday. Authorities say 68-year-old Carlos Navarro Franco of west Los Angeles was driving an SUV when he was shot to death. Three other people, including the shooter's own father and brother were killed, and five more were wounded. In the end police killed the gunman, but we still don't know his name.

CNN's Miguel Marquez is in Santa Monica this morning. And Miguel, do we know anything more about the gunman at this point?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We do know that authorities clearly know who he is. They either served either warrants last night or prepared them and will serve them today on several different locations. We also know that whatever started this, it started in the house of relatives where he set it on fire and we believe killed his father and his brother in that house. And then came to Santa Monica College. Mr. Franco, who was killed, was the third victim in this shooting. He carjacked a woman right outside of the house and directed her down here. We talked to somebody who saw him as he left the house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the first thing I noticed was smoke coming out of the house across the street, and then he had a bag laying in the street. And he kind of glanced up at me and then he walked over here to this corner, this intersection and he pointed the gun at a woman in a gun and told her to pull over, which she did. And then the woman behind her in the car, he waved her through with a gun and she kind of hesitated. She kind of slowed down and he just fired three or four shots pointblank into her in the car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: We understand that woman he shot whose car he shot into was injured but not killed and she's doing fine. It gives you an idea of the randomness of this. The woman who was speaking there also talked about a bag. Police say that bag came with him down here to Santa Monica College. They believe there were more guns. He had an ar-15 type assault weapon, one handgun and perhaps more ammo and guns in that bag. No explosive devices that we can tell so far. They are really trying to piece this together.

But to give you a sense of just how big this is and difficult it is to get pieces together, nine different crime scenes occurring over 15 minutes in six or seven different locations where this individual shot up different areas of Santa Monica. Pamela?

BROWN: Miguel, we're still waiting to hear about a motive. We know that the gunman killed his brother, his father, but we don't know why he then went elsewhere.

MARQUEZ: That is obviously the big question that police want to get to and understand why and that's why they will be serving these warrants for a couple of reasons. They want to figure out that motive and figure out if there's anybody else involved and figure out if there's anything else to be worried about coming out of this.

Clearly if it pans out that the father and brother were in there, we don't think there was anybody else in there, then something clearly triggered him there. Why he came down to the school isn't clear. I should mention, I'm afraid more bad news. A fifth victim may have died from this person's rampage. She went into surgery at Ronald Reagan UCLA last night, and we understand -- we don't have it confirmed but we understand she may have expired during the night.

BROWN: That death toll may go up to five, not including the gunman. Miguel, keep us posted. I know there's a 1:00 p.m. eastern time press conference today. Please keep us updated and thanks for all your hard work out there.

Privacy or security is the big debate taking place across the country when it comes to the government monitoring your phone calls. Is the revelation a game changer for the president? We'll look at the politics of privacy up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Welcome back, everybody. A live look from Newark, New Jersey, where Cory Booker is expected to announce his candidacy for the U.S. Senate. This of course would be for the New Jersey seat vacated by late Senator Lautenberg. We'll bring that you when this happens at 11:00 this morning.

Privacy issues have been front and center in Washington this week, most notably with the revelation that the federal government is tracking millions of phone calls. They say they're not listening just tracking who you're talking to, where you're calling from, and how long you're on the phone. The government has also reportedly tapped into the servers of nine major Internet companies like Facebook and Google. And here's the president's take.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: You can complain about Big Brother and how this is a potential program run amuck. But when you actually look at the details, then I think we struck the right balance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And joining us now on that note to discuss the political side of these revelations, our CNN contributor Maria Cardona and Amy Holmes, anchor of "Real News" on "The Blaze." Welcome, ladies.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.

BROWN: Maria, I want to start with you. Are you unsettled by this or the cost we pay for safety from terrorism?

CARDONA: Honestly, Pamela, I think like every American when I found out about it, of course it's unsettling, and I think it sparks the debate that we absolutely need to have. Since then I've learned a lot more through press reports but also talking to members of Congress on both sides of this and to the White House. And I think we need to take a step back and really look and listen to what the president said.

And let's remember this is not wiretapping. This is not warrantless wiretapping which is what President Obama, then senator Obama, was railing against during the campaign. These are programs that do have oversight by members of Congress who have known about this for the last seven years. And this is not the government listening to conversations. It's not even tracking the phone calls. It is gathering information so that they can connect the dots. They can look at trends. They can look at patterns that actually have worked to disrupt quite a few plots that would have been deadly. Like a former CIA chief of staff said, this is work that's no less than looking for a needle in a haystack. You have to have the haystack in order to be successful.

BROWN: Amy, I know you have an opinion. Chime in.

AMY HOLMES, ANCHOR, "THE BLAZE": The haystack seems to be the entire American public and that's where the objections are coming from. President Obama says you can complain about Big Brother. Those complaints are coming from both sides of the aisle, both ends of the political spectrum. You saw "The New York Times" editorial saying the president has lost credibility on this issue.

But I think also the president faces another political problem with these revelations. This is the same president who only a few weeks ago gave a speech at national defense university expressing his exquisite sensitivity to the civil rights of foreign terrorists wanting to bring them to U.S. soil and give them civilian trial. Meanwhile, he tells us just this week that he has no qualms about this massive surveillance program on American's phone calls.

I agree it's not monitoring the content, but yet we have another report about yet a separate NSA surveillance program called Prism that does actually potentially get into content and all the while this is top secret. If this is a benign no big deal it's been going on Bush did it, if that's the case, why is it a secret? I do think we need to have a very public debate and understand a lot more clearly and fully what the surveillance program is all about because it has huge implications.

BROWN: As the president said, you don't want to broadcast to the terrorists what the strategy is in the intelligence community.

HOLMES: I mean, clearly --

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Here's a question on that note. How is this different from Internet companies mining your data for advertising?

HOLMES: There's a huge difference. Internet companies can't throw you in jail, investigate you, arrest you, prosecute you and take away your liberty. That's the big difference between the private sector using this information for commercial purposes versus the government surveilling you, which apparently admittedly it's doing and doing in secret.

CARDONA: Again, let's look at the facts. This is not surveillance of any American. This is focused on foreign agents, on foreign nationals who actually have a history of terrorism. And then if those connections do get to somebody who is an American citizen, the national security agents have to go back to the FISA court, talk to the judges, and look at what evidence they may have against the foreign agent who is making a connection to an American citizen and get a warrant to look at that to look at that.

Now, look, I agree with Amy. I agree with Amy that this is something that we absolutely have to learn more about. We have to debate this from a public policy standpoint. And this is where I think that the president said he welcomes that debate.

So the administration is in a position that I think is helpful for the American people. They have to give more information about these programs. The president was right. We can't have 100 percent security and 100 percent privacy. We have to find that balance, and the American public has to feel comfortable with that balance.

BROWN: Two things. The report say --

HOLMES: Senate Democrat Ron Wyden says the surveillance is on tens of millions of Americans. And we also know that this administration is looking to investigate the leakers of these stories. So clearly the president does not welcome an open debate. It was in secret.

CARDONA: He does.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: This is a hot button issue. So many people have an opinion about this, privacy versus protection. Thank you for the lively discussion. The debate will continue.

Meantime, a Navy SEAL living a lie as a man now out of the service and with a new lease on life. We'll hear from the warrior princess up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: He was an elite member of the Navy SEALs and now she's a warrior princess. This is Chris Beck before and then this is Kristen Beck now. She says living life as a woman was impossible while living the life of a SEAL. Now Beck is out with a book about her experience. Anderson Cooper has her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Christopher Todd Beck enlisted with the military in 1990 with the dream of joining the U.S. Navy SEALs, the elite unit with a reputation for being one of the toughest, the fittest, and most secretive forces in the U.S. military.

Beck realized that dream serving for 20 years with the SEALs in some of the most dangerous battle grounds around the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan. A former Navy SEAL who new Beck says he had a stellar reputation among his comrades. By the time he retired from service in 2011, Beck had a long list of medals and commendations, including the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

But for 20 years while beck was fighting for his country, he was also fighting an inner battle, a battle over his gender identity. Chris Beck wanted to live his life openly and honestly as a woman, which is what he started doing after he retired in 2011.

Chris Beck is now Kristen Beck. She's currently on hormone replacement therapy and feels like she's becoming the person she was always meant to be.

It's been a long journey for Kristen to get to this point. She's written a book about her experience called "Warrior Princess" hoping to help others. The book comes nearly two years after the Department of Defense repealed its "don't ask, don't tell" policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. Transgender men and women are still banned from service. The 20-year decorated veteran would not be allowed to serve in the military as she lives her life today.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BROWN: And Anderson also sat down with Kristen Beck for an exclusive interview and asked Beck how hard it was to keep the desire to be a woman bottled up.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: It's got to be so -- sad to think that for 20 years you have to -- you have this incredible bond with these people you are fighting with and you want it to be the closest bond imaginable, and yet you can't really let yourself be yourself.

KRISTIN BECK, FORMER U.S. NAVY SEAL: It's definitely tough. It's strength and honor is one of the ones we do when we shake hands. We shake hands and say "strength and honor." And that's still what I gave true. I gave true brotherhood. I did my best, 150 percent all of the time. And I gave strength and honor and my full brotherhood to every military person I ever worked with.

And I feel that pretty much any transgender person that is in the military right now, and there's a lot of them right now that are probably doing service. They are doing the same thing, and you would never know that they were transgender or anything. It's just too bad because they are doing a great job and nobody even knows it.

COOPER: What would have happened if you had said to some of the SEALs you were serving with that this is who you are?

BECK: It's probably very similar to some of the support I'm getting right now, but it would have been only a few of them that would have accepted it and said you're my brother and I've never seen you do anything wrong and totally honorable, and it's good to go, and they might have accepted it, and maybe half and half, maybe less. I don't know. That's a chance that if I took it, I might be dead today.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And for more on the story, be sure to check out CNN.com, certainly an amazing story there.

And be sure to stay with us. In just a few minutes from now, we expect to hear from Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker. He's expected to make a major political announcement in a possible Senate run. We'll be right back.

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SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: At age 28, Stacy Lewis is living the life.

STACY LEWIS, 2012 LPGA PLAYER OF THE YEAR: It's been fun. I just play golf every day for a job. That's not too bad.

GUPTA: She's been golfing since she was eight years old mostly for the love of the game. Was there a point in your life that you knew you were really, really good at golf?

LEWIS: Probably in college was kind of the time that I said I could maybe do this as a professional.

GUPTA: But it wouldn't come easily. In middle school Stacy was diagnosed with scoliosis, a major curvature of the spine.

LEWIS: I wore a back brace for six-and-a-half years 18 hours a day.

GUPTA: She only took it off to play golf, but it didn't work. She had to go under the knife.

You scheduled the surgery. Do you remember what that day was like?

LEWIS: I thought I was done playing golf. They took out one of the ribs to do a fusion and had to move all of the organs, lungs, chest tube, all that kind of stuff.

GUPTA: It took doctors five hours to insert rods and screws into her spine and then several months of rehab.

LEWIS: I couldn't bend or twist for six months, so the doctor let me chip and putt a little bit.

GUPTA: Slowly but surely her game started to come back. Her swing even got a little better.

LEWIS: When your hands are low like that, you tend to hit it left. When my hands got high, I started to hit it to the right, which is actually a better shot for golf. It actually worked out pretty good.

GUPTA: Today she's at the top of her game.

Do you pinch yourself every now and then?

LEWIS: It's strange. I definitely as a kid didn't aspire to be in this position but it is cool just to see the hard work pay off.

GUPTA: It has paid off indeed. She's reportedly made close to $5 million in winnings. Lewis also knows it's not forever.

LEWIS: I don't know how long I'll be able to play golf. I just feel very lucky to be doing what I'm doing, and why not enjoy it.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: We'll take you live to New Jersey at the top of the hour. Moments from now we're expecting Newark Mayor Cory Booker to make a political announcement. We believe he'll throw his hat in the ring for the special election to fill Frank Lautenberg's Senate seat. Booker has already talked about exploring the idea of a Senate run in 2014 before Lautenberg's death earlier this week. Governor Chris Christie ordered an October special election to fill that seat, but the primaries will be in August.

And we have much more ahead in the next hour of CNN SATURDAY, which starts right now.