Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

Wildfires Hits Parts of Colorado; NSA Surveillance Program Examined; Extreme Weather of 2012 Assessed; Convicted U.S. Spy Interviewed; American Airlines to Add Seats to Planes; U.S. Open Continues; GOP Holds Faith and Freedom Conference; Boy Recovers from Traumatic Brain Injury

Aired June 15, 2013 - 10:00   ET

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

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): From CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, this is "CNN SATURDAY MORNING".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a house or I don't have a house. There's nothing I can do about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Flames have destroyed almost 500 homes and scorched an area the size of Manhattan. Now evacuees of the Black Forest fire are wondering if they have anything to come back to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does he have a relationship with a foreign government, and is there more to the story?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: He leaked United States secrets, and now he's on the run. But some think he's already working for another government.

Fewer flights, more money for bags, and now this -- what one airline is doing that may make your flight even more uncomfortable.

Good morning. I'm Alison Kosik. It's 10:00 on the east coast, 7:00 on the west. We're glad you're with us. Our top story of the morning, Facebook, it's coming clean about its role in the way the U.S. government tracks its citizens. The site says that in the last six months of 2012 it received thousands of requests for information coming from law enforcement on both the local and federal levels.

We're covering this story from every angle this morning. We've got Tom Fuentes on the government's tracking of data, Laurie Segall on the role technology companies play in tracking their users, and Rene Marsh with the response from Washington. So let's get started with Tom Fuentes and Laurie Segall. Tom, let me start with you. When you heard about the kinds of information the government is requesting from Facebook, what does that say to you? TOM FUENTES, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Morning, Alison. Well, it says they want to have available all the information they think that could help solve a case if an issue comes up later. You know, this particular program, they're not really monitoring live time in this program. They have other programs to do that and other court orders that they would seek if they needed to. But in this case they are warehousing data from the Internet service providers, from the phone companies so that later when they want to try to establish connections that someone may have, then they can go back to that data and it will still be available. It will not have been purged by the individual companies.

KOSIK: So this was just six months' worth of data from Facebook, but we learned that the NSA has been tracking Verizon for six years. Is this just the tip of the iceberg at this point? Is this one set of data that we got from Facebook or do you think there's just -- this is sort of opening up a can of worms at this point?

FUENTES: No, I think it is the tip of the iceberg. There's no reason to assume that Verizon is the favorite network of terrorists worldwide. So, you know, you have to assume that even though the information is not out that these court orders have gone out to the other major telephone companies. And separately it's a separate program for the Internet service providers.

KOSIK: Laurie, let me turn to you. I can imagine how much this puts technology companies in a real tough spot, you know, between the users and the government. So, you know, what sort of a response are you hearing from the people that you talk to?

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Hey, you know, Alison, I interview these guys all the time, these tech founders. They don't expect their companies to go big and when they do go big, they have to comply with the government. From what I'm hearing, there's a big discussion happening right now in Silicon Valley. Alexis Ohanian, the founder of Reddit, he sat down with me and he said we need to have an active discussion about where we draw the line and what we're being transparent about.

One tech founder of a major company in Silicon Valley, asked not to be named, he said this is going to be one of the most important debates of our generation and we need meaningful reform to the Patriot Act.

Then again, there's the opposite side. I spoke to an investor who said, Laurie, privacy is dead. We know this when we invest in these companies. You know, you sign this social contract when you go to these companies and you put in your data, and this whole debate is really just raising awareness of the fact that we need a little bit more transparency.

KOSIK: Do you think that this is sort of going to turn a lot of people off from being on Facebook as much, from going on Twitter and other social networking sites?

SEGALL: You know, yes and no. We always hear -- when something like this happens, people always freak out to a certain degree, but are you going to stop going on Facebook? I don't think we're going to see people turn away. But I think we're going to see people wanting to know more about the information they're sharing on a daily basis, where it's going, who has access. We all know advertisers have access to some of that information. Now we know that the government can.

KOSIK: OK, Tom Fuentes, Laurie Segall, thank you.

The White House meantime is doing damage control. The Obama administration officials are pushing back against criticism of the government snooping on people's phone calls and Internet use. They say Americans' safety has been put at risk by the leaks. I want to bring in CNN's Rene Marsh right now. She's in Washington. Rene, good morning to you.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alison.

KOSIK: First, I was going to ask you at this point what's the reaction from the White House about these Facebook revelations?

MARSH: Well, so far at this point no reaction from the Obama administration about this particular issue. But, to be honest, it would seem the administration is OK with the release of this information because in the statements that we received from these tech companies, they say that they essentially got the green light from the government to release this information. But there are still limits to what the federal government is allowing companies like Facebook and Microsoft to reveal to its users.

Now, the thousands of requests that they've received for data information, that includes national security requests, but it also includes requests for information for other criminal activity, tracking fugitives and also includes requests for things like missing children.

Meantime, though, on Capitol Hill this week, the director of the FBI, he confirmed publicly that federal prosecutors, they're preparing a criminal case. And just on Friday Attorney General Eric Holder, well, he was asked why the United States has not arrested 29-year-old Edward Snowden and whether they even know where he is. Take a listen to what Holder had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: This case is still under investigation, and I can assure you that we will hold accountable the person who is responsible for those extremely damaging leaks. The national security of the United States has been damaged as a result of those leaks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: All right, well, the NSA, as you can imagine, they have been feeling lots of pressure from lawmakers who say that their surveillance program violates Americans' civil liberties, and now in order to pretty much prove that the method of tracking Americans' phone calls actually helps prevent terror plots, the very secret agency we know as the NSA, they may actually declassify information about specific terror plots that were thwarted. Alison?

KOSIK: OK, Rene Marsh, thank you.

Chris Boyce is one of the few people who can imagine what Edward Snowden is going through as 35 years ago he was a 22-year-old government contractor, one with access to state secrets. Then he was convicted of espionage for selling classified information to the Soviet Union. And I talked earlier with him, and he told us the government will make Snowden regret what he's done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS BOYCE, CONVICTED U.S. SPY: Eventually I believe they will get their hands on him and the Justice Department will arrange to have him convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Then he will be turned over to the bureau of prisons and they will maintain other prisoners will kill him, so they will put him in solitary confinement and that will go on for ten years. He will sit there and his mind will turn to mush. He will tough it out for a year or two, and after that he will utterly regret that he ever did this to himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Hollywood told Boyce's story in the 1985 Sean Penn story, "The Falcon and the Snowman." We're going to have more of this very interesting interview later on the show.

Another bit story we're keeping our eye on this morning, 473 homes in Colorado have been destroyed by what's believed to be the worst wildfire in the state's history. Hard rain on Friday helped firefighters north of Colorado Springs get some control over the Black Forest fire. It's now 30 percent contained. Another fire further south is now 65 percent contained.

But now lightning is being blamed for sparking a new wildfire in the western part of the state. According to the White House President Obama called Colorado's governor yesterday. He expressed condolences for the two people killed and promised federal support.

Paul Vercammen is in Colorado Springs. Paul, tell me about the conditions today.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alison, as you can see behind me, the wind has started to whip up. It's cool. The temperatures are cool, and if you look off in the distance, a couple days ago you would have never been able to see the skyline or the tree-line back there. It was completely blotted out and dark by that raging inferno. So today the good news is much cooler temperatures, wind always a danger, but the humidity is up, and that's good, because yesterday it rained a little bit and put a damper on things here. This is helping firefighters. But as the governor articulated, what happened here is this fire was just amazingly unpredictable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN HICKENLOOPER, COLORADO: You know, it is the randomness of it that's got to just drive firefighters crazy and certainly the property owners. We saw places where you could -- the fire didn't look like it hardly burned the trees and yet a house was burned to the ground, nothing but sand. Other places where the trees are all burned down and the house is still standing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And these clear skies have allowed firefighters to go into neighborhoods they had not been able to check before and to see which homes are still standing and which homes are not. And that's why that number of homes burned seemed to rise so dramatically from 100, then to 370, and now 470 homes making this the worst fire in Colorado in terms of property loss damage, Alison.

KOSIK: Paul, what sort of help is available for families who have lost their homes?

VERCAMMEN: Well, some of the hotels are offering discounts. There's also county fairgrounds, and that's very important in this area because a lot of the houses if you look back over my shoulder, they're five acre ranches, they have horses, they have dogs, other animals. At the fairgrounds you can shelter with an RV and have shelter for your animals. There's 200 of them at the county fairgrounds. There's a nearby county fairgrounds where quite a few people are sheltering. So there's various opportunities. And then, of course, it's a very tight- knit communities and a lot of people are relying on family members for support.

KOSIK: Paul Vercammen, thank you.

VERCAMMEN: So will the weather bring any more relief to Colorado? Let's bring in meteorologist Jennifer Delgado in our CNN Severe Weather Center. Jennifer, what do you think?

JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Alison. You saw the clear skies out there out of Pueblo Springs. As we go through the day, we are going to start to see more moisture working in. Some of that drying air will be clearing in and we will see relative humidity values starting it fall, right now at 45 percent.

Now, I want to point out to you there is a chance that we could see some storms popping up later in the day. We're talking isolated. Now, the problem is it's not going to bring a significant amount of moisture, but it is going to be bringing some lightning. Of course, that can lead to potential for more fires to develop. But, again, right now things are nice and quiet and, of course, firefighters are working to contain those fires.

Today we're expecting highs in the lower 80s and with the winds coming in from the east-northeast right around 15 to 20 miles per hour.

The other story we're following today, the severe weather chances. Notice we have some storms out there, some of those looking really good through parts of South Dakota. Now, Chicago, a very wet day for you today, continue to see showers and thunderstorms out there. And then we add in the chance for some severe storms. Some of these storms today will be producing damaging winds as well as hail anywhere from Chicago all the way over towards Denver, Colorado, and that includes parts of Kansas as well.

Today the east coast is looking really beautiful out there. High pressures in control. Down in Florida some scattered showers out there and continue to see more showers and thunderstorms right along the boundary system. The west coast nice and sunny. Alison, the good news is high temperatures, yes, we are going to see 80s and some 90s out there, but they're actually running about five degrees below average for this time of year. So there's a positive out there. Not as hot.

KOSIK: OK, Jennifer Delgado, thank you.

Coming up, from Midwest droughts to super-storm Sandy last year, it was actually one of the worst for the record books or was one for the record books. We are going to look at how historically bad 2012 was.

And bad news if you don't think you got enough wiggle room when you fly. A major airline is going to be adding more seats to some flights. See how much leg room you could be losing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: Get ready for a new treat in the mornings. In just two days our all new morning day "NEW DAY " begins with Chris Cuomo and Kate Bolduan. "NEW DAY " starts Monday morning at 6:00 a.m. eastern. Don't miss it.

Last year was about as bad as it gets for natural disasters from the floods of super-storm Sandy to the Midwest wildfires. The cost of those disasters was the highest in 33 years and it could get even worse. Here is CNN's Alina Cho.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, floods -- 2012 was the second costliest year ever in terms of damage according to the National Climatic Data Center, more than $110 billion spread out over 11 major weather disasters, each costing more than $1 billion.

CHAD MYERS, METEOROLOGIST: That's just a number that you can't even put your head around. Weather is becoming more extreme.

CHO: The most extreme of 2012, super-storm Sandy -- $65 billion in damage. And let's not forget the human cost, more than 130 lives. Perhaps lost in the coverage, washed away by news of Sandy, was the year-long drought. The longest since the dust bowl days of the 1930s affecting more than half the country for most of the year and costing $30 billion. And remember, the drought leads to wildfires, which last year burned 9 million acres across the country. So what's being done?

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, (I) NEW YORK CITY: This is urgent work, and it must begin now.

CHO: Just this week New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a $20 billion plan to build flood walls, levees, and upgrade the city's building codes. New York City suffered $19 billion in damage post- Sandy, and Bloomberg says the forecast by midcentury is that a similar storm could cost nearly five times that, $90 billion.

BLOOMBERG: We can do nothing and expose ourselves to an increasing frequency of Sandy-like storms. We could abandon the waterfront, or we can make the investments necessary to build a stronger, more resilient New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: And CNN's Alina Cho joins us from Seaside Heights, New Jersey. Alina, how far along does the rebuilding seem to be?

CHO: Alison, very far. They've come a long way in six-and-a-half months. In fact, you know, this entire 16-block boardwalk has been rebuilt. You can still smell the fresh wood. And 85 percent to 90 percent of the businesses have reopened. Many of them are open right now. The beach is packed.

And we're told that some of the kiddy rides will come back some July 4th weekend, and that is key because that is what will bring the families here after the beach hours at night. And of course that's great news for businesses.

Another important note is that it costs about $6 million to $7 million to rebuild this area of the boardwalk. That's actually half of the annual budget of seaside heights, but as one official said to me, this is our lifeline. I mean, 75 percent of our revenue comes from this boardwalk. And so after Sandy, rebuilding this area was priority number one. Alison?

KOSIK: Let me ask you this, how worried are people about the next massive storm, you know, what Mayor Bloomberg was talking about?

CHO: That's right. I mean, we hear all the time that the storms are only going to get bigger, stronger, more devastating. They have taken some precautions here. You know, the second time around when they rebuilt this boardwalk, the pilings are deeper. They go down 25 feet instead of 18 feet. There are hurricane straps that connect those pilings, and the wooden planks here on the boardwalk are two-by-six instead of two-by-four. They're bigger and presumably stronger. But as this official said to me, listen, at the end of the day, there's not much that you can do about Mother Nature. Let's just hope we don't have another storm like sandy for another 100 years.

KOSIK: Exactly. CNN's Alina Cho in seaside heights, New Jersey, thanks.

One major airline is adding more seats to some flights, and more seats means even less leg room. So just how many inches of wiggle room could you lose, one inch, two inches, 2.5 inches, three? I'll tell you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: Well, well, well, if you thought that seat on your last flight was pretty tight, listen to this. American Airlines says it plans to squeeze more seats into the coach section on many of its planes, including their 737 and MD-80 fleets. No word yet on how many seats will be added or when, but experts are saying flyers could lose upwards of an inch of wiggle room with the change.

Travel industry veteran Mark Murphy joins me now. He's also the author of "Travel Unscripted." So, Mark, earlier this year us airways, American Airlines, they merged creating the world's biggest carrier, and this is their first move in addition to, of course, raising their flight change fees. So, I mean, is this just more of a sign of a bad things to come?

MARK MURPHY, AUTHOR, "TRAVEL UNSCRIPTED": It's going to get more uncomfortable for all travelers. A few years ago it was 34 inches of pitch, the space between the seat in front of you and your seat. Now it's down to 30, 31 inches and they're going to shave it more. I think you'll find when 85 percent of domestic air travel is controlled by four major airlines, you will have more of this. And it's part of the path to profitability for the airlines and what they're trying to do to private profitability after years and years of losses, late 1990s to the early 2000s. Of course, every time there's a hiccup, they have some issues.

KOSIK: OK. So the smaller seats, passengers, are they still going to be paying the same to travel?

MURPHY: You're probably going to be paying more to travel.

KOSIK: Yes.

MURPHY: Which is the irony. Airfares are going up. One of the reasons airfares are going up is because capacity cuts have been put in place. So you have fewer aircraft flying, jamming more people into those existing aircraft. And then if you have a situation where a flight gets canceled, there's nowhere to move those people, so sometimes you're stuck in a city for the night. We just had the issue here on the east coast with those storms a couple days ago, and it was completely disruptive. And it's hard to get those people on their way again. So it's going to get a little more challenging.

KOSIK: So for American Airlines 737 fleets, you say that the airline could pull in upwards of $4,000 a flight?

MURPHY: Yes. I think it's a little bit higher than that, could be as much as $5,000 per flight. I'm making that assumption based on them adding two rows of seats which would be 12 seats on those -- on that equipment, the MD-80 and the 737. If they do that, that's at full capacity an extra $5,000 or so per day based on the average airfare. You basically extrapolate that out across 400 of those planes flying a couple times a day, and the impact to the bottom line of American Airlines could be $2 million additional profit daily. That's at full capacity.

KOSIK: So here is the big worry. Could American Airlines be the leader? Are other major carriers going to follow this move? MURPHY: Well, a lot of them have already been doing it. Southwest came out with thinner seats so they could put more seats on. Everyone has been squeezing the coach class. They have premium economy seating, which gives you basically what you used to have but now you got to pay an extra $30, $40 for that space. So what they're doing is they're saying if you want the cheapest seat, you're going to the back. If you want to pay a slight premium, we will hit you with those fees and $36 billion worth of fees were collected just last year by the airlines.

KOSIK: It is amazing. Mark Murphy, thank you.

MURPHY: Thanks.

KOSIK: A room full of some of the biggest stars in the GOP. The Faith and Freedom Conference happening right now, but what's more interesting is the big GOP star who is not showing up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: Welcome back. I'm Alison Kosik. Here are some stories making headline this is hour.

Take a look at this remarkable new video CNN obtained of the Castro brothers in Ohio. These are the first moments the brothers were in police custody about six hours after three girls went missing, escaped from Ariel Castro's home last month. The suspect Ariel is there in the center, and he appears pretty emotionless throughout the tape. But his brothers, look at them, who had no part in the alleged crimes, they seem visibly upset with their brother. There's no audio with this that you're looking at, but at one point look at Onil. He has some sort of physical outburst, deliberately running head first into a glass wall. Not once, but he does this twice.

Earlier this week Ariel pleaded not guilty to 329 charges of murder and rape. Meantime, authorities are conducting DNA tests on evidence to determine if any additional victims may have been held inside his Cleveland home.

Investigators are examining what's left of an outdoor deck at a popular sports bar in Miami trying to figure out how it collapsed into the water on Thursday night sending some patrons to the hospital with critical injuries. We're also hearing some of the 911 calls that were made the night of the accident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miami-Dade County police and fire. Where is the emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm at Chucker's Bar and Grill and a deck just totally and completely collapsed. There's at least 100 people in the water right now. Other people are going to save them, but it's horrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And about 100 people were on the deck when it collapsed.

Police in California say the suspect in the Santa Monica shootings left a farewell note apologizing for killing his father and his brother. But he did not explain why he went on that rampage a week ago. Five people were killed. Police also say John tried to buy a gun in 2011 but was denied because of a Justice Department notice. They say he used gun parts to build a gun that is illegal to own.

Edward Snowden stunned the world this week when he revealed he's the person who leaked details of government snooping on America's Internet and phone use. The 29-year-old former government contractor is believed to be hiding out in a safe house in Hong Kong where some are hailing him a hero. Now there are concerns Snowden may defect to China.

And 35 years ago Chris Boyce found himself backed into a similar corner. Boyce was also a government contractor with access to state secrets. In 1977 when he is just 22, Boyce was arrested then convicted of espionage for selling classified information to the Soviet Union. Hollywood told his story in the 1985 Sean Penn movie "The Falcon and the Snowman." Chris Boyce is now out of prison and working on a book that's expected to come out this summer, "The Falcon and the Snowman, American Son." In his first TV interview in almost 30 years, Chris Boyce shared what Snowden may be going through.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOYCE: I assume he's feeling a whole lot of fear, a gnawing fear, tension, stress. I read the other day that he had disappeared out of his hotel, but he certainly hasn't disappeared from the Chinese police. They'll be watching his every move. If I was him, I wouldn't trust the Chinese, and I would not be surprised if at some point they didn't extradite him back to the United States, sell him in effect for some political concession. And when and if that happens, his life -- if he thinks it's stressful now, it will just go further and further down the drain.

KOSIK: So what do you think, what length is Snowden going to right now to stay out of sight?

MURPHY: I probably think that all of his movements and activity are controlled now by the Chinese government. He can no more hide in China I think than my wife's French poodle. I don't really think he can go into fugitive, you know, complete fugitive status in China like I did and hide. The government there will have complete control over him.

KOSIK: So I want to know this. I followed your story. What drove you to share state secrets with the Soviet Union? And if you could do it all over again, would you have done it? Would you do it again?

MURPHY: No, I would not. I grew up in a different time than Snowden. I grew up with a huge love of the American republic. You know, it was a country that at one point that, you know, sent its armies out to free other people. But in my youth as I started to grow up, I watched the Vietnam War and the assassinations and Nixon's impeachment and the race riots, and I just always assumed that the government -- the federal government was becoming worse and worse. And, of course, my perspective was flawed.

But I don't know -- I think that Snowden is motivated to protect the interests of the American people. I know that there might be some narcissism and e egoism involved in it but I think he's primarily motivated to show everyone all the crawly things under the intelligence community's rocks. And I think that it's in the interest of the American people that he had done this.

KOSIK: So do you support Snowden in what he's doing?

MURPHY: Yes. I think that what he did was correct. But I realize that what's -- they're going to indict him. The federal government will have task forces to get him. Eventually I believe they will get their hands on him, and the Justice Department will arrange to have him convicted and sentenced to life in prison, and then he'll be turned over to the U.S. bureau of prisons, and they will maintain that other prisoners will kill him, so they'll put him in solitary confinement, and that could go on for 10 years, and he will just sit there and his mind will turn to mush. And after about -- he'll tough it out for a year or two, and after that he will utterly regret that he ever did this to himself.

KOSIK: So what do you think about "The Falcon and the Snowman," the movie based on your life? Is it an accurate portrayal of what you and Dalton Lee went through?

MURPHY: Yes, and it was very surreal actually to be brought out of solitary confinement myself and to sit down with the actors that portrayed me and watch the film in a room with federal bureaucrats and wardens and officers of the government. And as each scene unfolded in the film in front of us, to feel the fury and anger of the bureaucrats around us watching it, sitting there with us, and --

KOSIK: So was there a satisfaction then that you felt in watching that?

MURPHY: Yes, but it was also very strange. Everything about my life then had become strange. I hadn't seen the sun in, you know, years, you know. But it was as bizarre and surreal a moment in my life as I ever could have imagined. I would still be sitting in that -- in jail, in solitary, in prison were it not for the legal wizardry of my wife, but that's another story.

KOSIK: All right, Chris Boyce, thanks for your time.

MURPHY: All right, good day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: And again that was Chris Boyce who was convicted of selling secrets to the Soviet Union in the 1970s, and this was his first TV interview in more than 25 years.

Still ahead, we're going it take you live to D.C. where some of the biggest stars in the GOP are gathering. The Faith and Freedom Conference happening right now, but we're also going to tell you who is not there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: All right, golf fans. Good news. One of the greats, Phil Mickelson, could be on the merge of finally winning his first ever U.S. Open. Lefty, who has come in second place a record five times, is still looking for his first ever win at this championship. Shane O'Donoghue live in Pennsylvania with more. Shane, let's talk Tiger Woods. The top ranked golfer in the world is just four shots off the lead himself. Can he make up the difference?

SHANE O'DONOGHUE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I definitely think he can. He understands of what it takes to win a U.S. Open more than anyone because he's won it three times. And it's significant for tiger because obviously he wants that fourth which would place him alongside the greats in terms of U.S. open history, Jack Nicklaus, Bobby Jones, and the amazing Ben Hogan.

But Phil Mickelson, you know, it's his to win. It's Tiger's to lose because there's so much importance based on jack's record and tiger's chasing of that, but for Phil Mickelson this is massively significant. The fact he's going to turn 43 tomorrow, Alison, I think that's a major part of it. The fact it's Father's Day and there's going to be a lot made of him traveling home to San Diego during U.S. Open week to attend his 12-year-old daughter's graduation from primary school. So there's a lot at stake here and it's really now the business end of the tournament as about four or five players, but Tiger Woods is very much in it. So is Rory McIlroy. But really it's about Philly Mick here in Philly.

KOSIK: Shane O'Donoghue, thank you.

A room full of some of the biggest stars in the GOP. The Faith and Freedom Conference happening right now, but what's more interesting is who is not showing up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: I've got a programming reminder for you. In two days or all new morning show "NEW DAY" begins on Monday 6:00 a.m. with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, Michaela Pereira. If you can't watch it, DVR it.

Happening right now in Washington, you are looking at live pictures from day two of the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference where some of the biggest stars of the Republican Party are maybe laying the groundwork for 2016. Last hour we saw Texas Governor Rick Perry, later this morning former presidential candidate Herman Cain takes the stage, and the big headliner, Sarah Palin.

CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser is live at the Faith and Freedom Conference. Paul, Sarah Palin, she seems to be the big star today, maybe no coincidence, she's back on FOX News this week.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes a lot of people here at this conference still big fans of Sarah Palin even though she's been out of politics for a long time. This is fourth year they've held this conference. It's one of the largest gatherings, Alison, of social conservatives around the country. Former Alaska governor is going to be here around noon eastern. She had a big conference, big speech earlier this year at C-PAC, another conservative conference.

And again, she's still very influential with social conservative voters, and they make up a base of the Republican Party. Now, earlier this morning we can Rick Perry, Texas governor, speaking as well. He's one of a number of people who may want to run in 2016. We have Senator Rand Paul, Senator Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, as well as former Florida governor Jeb Bush, all here all speaking at this conference maybe thinking about 2016 and a race for the White House.

KOSIK: Maybe the bigger story today maybe not who is there but who is not speaking at the conference?

STEINHAUSER: Exactly. And that is Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey. He was invited to come here to speak here to this crowd, and I am whispering because we're very close to the stage, by the way. But instead he decided to go to Chicago and he teamed up with Bill Clinton last night at the Clinton Global Initiative. And some people here are a little upset with that, and that may hurt him if he decides to run for the White House on the Republican side in 2016, Alison.

KOSIK: I understand Donald Trump spoke last night and went after Hillary. How was that received?

STEINHAUSER: Yes. It was interesting. Donald Trump again, somebody who thought about running last time around and he's making waves maybe about running this time. He kind of laid out what could happen for the Republicans in 2016. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP: We have to be very, very careful. The Republicans cannot have a death wish. The Republicans can win the next election. The next election is going to be tough. I really believe it's going to be Hillary. But Hillary can be beaten, and the Democrats can be beaten.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: Tell you, Alison, 2016 is a long way away, but among these people in this crowd, maybe not so much.

KOSIK: Paul Steinhauser, thank you.

STEINHAUSER: Thank you.

KOSIK: Remember her? Malala Yousafzai, a girl in Pakistan shot in the head for just wanting to go to school. There may be echoes to her story in new information we're getting of a terrifying scene unfolding right now in Pakistan. But this time there are many more victims. We'll have a live report coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KOSIK: A traumatic brain injury almost killed Ryan Boyle, but his faith and his bicycle helped keep him alive. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has his remarkable story in this week's "Human Factor."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Like a lot of nine- year-old boys, Ryan Boyle loved to ride around and pop wheelies on his bike.

RYAN BOYLE, SUFFERED TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY AT AGE NINE: I would always ride my mountain bike.

GUPTA: He was riding a friend's big wheel when a freak accident turned his life upside down.

BOYLE: I slid down the driveway backwards into the road and into the path of a speeding pickup truck. It hit me in the back of the head at 30 miles per hour.

GUPTA: Boyle's injuries were catastrophic, broken arm, pelvis, femur, shoulder, six broken ribs, and a devastating traumatic brain injury. Doctors doubted he'd even live through the emergency surgery.

BOYLE: My neurosurgeon said to my parents when I came out of surgery that I operated on him as if he had a chance.

GUPTA: Boyle did have a chance. Two months later, he woke up from a coma.

BOYLE: A neurologist took a look at me. He has said I am optimistic that Ryan will regain enough strength in his right hand to type. My parents just shot back, oh, no, he'll be running and riding his bike.

GUPTA: Obviously, his parents knew best. Boyle went from being unable to speak or walk to eventually riding a stationary bike during his therapy sessions. As he struggled to understand what had happened to him, being able to ride became Boyle's salvation. That was then. This is now. Boyle is thriving as a college freshman and just like when he was growing up, his bike is always nearby.

BOYLE: I am on my own bike team. It's actually the first para-cycling team in the country.

GUPTA: And he's not done yet. Boyle hopes to represent Team USA in the 2016 para-Olympics. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: Remember this, a group of teens made headlines for stealing from celebrities, including Paris Hilton? They stole jewelry, clothes, and beauty products just to be close to fame. If you were to sum it up with one word, it would be obsession, at least that's what the director of the film "The Bling Ring" calls it. Margaret Conley has a new look at the movie about that Hollywood crime spree.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god.

MARGARET CONLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paris Hilton's expensive and expansive closet raided in a glamorized movie version of real life crimes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police are investigating the connection of the Hollywood Hills burglaries.

CONLEY: For nearly a year a group of southern California celebrity obsessed teens targeted the Hollywood homes of their favorite stars and stole more than $3 million worth of cash, clothes, jewelry, art, and even underwear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just think we wanted to be a part of like the lifestyle, the lifestyle that everybody kind of wants.

CONLEY: This stolen lifestyle story has now been made into a film by academy award winner Sofia Coppola. "The Bling Ring" is based on a brazen crime spree that took place in 2008 and 2009.

SOPHIA COPPOLA, DIRECTOR, "THE BLING RING": It seemed so out of hand compared to things we did when I was a kid and so timely just about our obsession with kind of pop culture and reality TV.

CONLEY: For the bling ring, that pop culture obsession was the powerful motivation for their theft according to psychotherapist Stacy Kaiser.

STACY KAISER, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: They wanted to wear the things celebrities were wearing. They wanted to be in the homes that the celebrities were in. And it made them feel like they would have a chance to become famous if they were connected to that famous stuff.

CONLEY: The teens used social media to track the celebrities they targeted, sometimes burglarizing them repeatedly.

PARIS HILTON, CELEBRITY: I was just really upset and mad that these kids had done this to me and I felt so violated and what they did was so wrong. So watching it was just very bizarre to know that that was real life.

CONLEY: In real life the bling ring's crimes caught up with them, well, sort of. Four defendants served brief jail sentences and the others were placed on probation. And will the bling ring movie give those responsible for the movie the spotlight they were craving all along? The filmmaker hopes not.

COPPOLA: I wanted to make it seductive enough that you understood how they got into this world, but then you want to make it clear we don't want to be encouraging.

CONLEY: A provocative look at extreme celebrity obsession.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've spoken to all the victims. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Really? What did Lindsay say?

CONLEY: Margaret Conley, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: We have much more ahead in the next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING, which starts now.