CNN.com - Transcripts

Return to Transcripts main page

NEW DAY SATURDAY

Tracy Morgan Critically Hurt In 6-Car Crash; Obama Defends Taliban Swap For Bergdahl; Walking In Restaurants With Rifles; Lawmakers Slam President On Bergdahl Trade; Lawmakers: Obama Broke the Law; Hurt in Six-Vehicle Crash; Chasing History: The Triple Crown Quest; "The Fault in Our Stars"

Aired June 7, 2014 - 08:00 Â ET

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

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Comedian and former "" star, Tracy Morgan, we know is in intensive care in a unit there at a New Jersey hospital right now.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: State police tell us the limo bus that he was on collided with the tractor-trailer along the New Jersey turnpike about 1:00 a.m. There is at least one fatality. CNN national reporter, Nick Valencia is tracking the latest on this story from many different angles. Nick, I wonder, I asked the officer if alcohol was a factor. He said no. But is there any cause yet?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL REPORTER: No. We're still trying to determine that cause, very preliminary information coming out. We're still beginning to piece together all the details. Six-car accident on the New Jersey turnpike about 1:00 a.m. Tracy Morgan was traveling with several others in that limo bus.

As Victor said, you're looking at it right now. According to Sergeant Greg Williams with the New Jersey state police that limo bus overturned after it was involved in a wreck with two tractor-trailers and an SUV. Again, to reiterate, one person confirmed killed. Seven other hospitalized. Tracy Morgan in critical condition.

Let's have you listen to what Sergeant Greg Williams of the New Jersey State Police Department said about the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. GREGORY WILLIAMS, NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE: Six-vehicle accident. Two tractor-trailers involved. Comedian/actor Tracy Morgan was involved. He is in intensive care at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick. Looks like two tractor-trailers, limo bus, SUV, limo bus overturned. Tracy Morgan was in the limo bus, but he is alive. He's in intensive care at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick. Preliminary right now that possibly one fatality.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VALENCIA: Here is what we do know about where Tracy Morgan was last night. He was scheduled to perform at a casino in Delaware and earlier, we saw a comedian alongside Tracy Morgan who actually opened for Morgan last night, they performed in front of a crowd of about 1500 people and it went well, posting on his Facebook page they had a great night and went off in a luxury car. We don't know if he was in that vehicle, but we tried to make contact with him to see sort of how Morgan was last night, glean any more information from that.

PAUL: Just to reiterate, these are some of the first pictures from the scene this morning. Let's bring in Nischelle Turner who is joining us via phone. Good morning you to. Morgan is so well known in Hollywood circles. I looked at his Twitter page today. He's got almost 3 million followers. Tell us more about him.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yes. Good morning to you, Christi and Victor. Not a great way to start our Saturday morning. You're right. Tracy Morgan one of the funniest guys in Hollywood. In fact, he is on tour right now as part of the stand-up comedy tour. He was performing last night in Delaware as part of this tour. He is scheduled to perform tonight in Charlotte, North Carolina, as part of this tour but, of course, we expect that not to happen.

You know, Tracy is an Emmy-nominated actor for his work in "30 Rock" and also for NAACP Image Awards. He spent a lot of years with the cast of "30 Rock" because he first started with" " kind of where he met and got a really great relationship with going so when she developed "30 Rock" she wanted to bring him on. Of course, he was so funny on that show.

He's also apparently in the process of creating a new show, working on a new show right now, the title hasn't been announced, but it is apparently with the crew from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." So he is doing work. He always said stand up is his first love like we see with so many comedians. That's why after "30 Rock" wrapped he decided to go back on the stand-up comedy tour.

By all accounts, the tour is going very well as his standup has evolved. Tracy has had a bit of a tough road in Hollywood, too. He had a drinking problem a while ago. He did stop drinking after getting a dui a few years ago. He talked a lot about the fact that he was proud that he was very sober and that he was living this entirely different life and lifestyle now.

I remember a few years back at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City he passed out and people didn't know why. It was because he is diabetic and the altitude got to him. He got very sick there. So he definitely has had a hard road going. And now, you know, there's a lot of prayers and good thoughts going out to him for being critically hurt in this car crash.

BLACKWELL: His health has been a concern for some years. Now we know he is in intensive care again at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick. Nischelle Turner, Nick Valencia, thank you both. We'll continue to follow this and bring the viewers the latest as soon as we get it.

Now to that political firestorm over the release of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for five top level Taliban detainees. It will no doubt heat up on Capitol Hill again this week as it was last week. PAUL: Right. President Obama insists this prisoner swap was the right thing to do. He is defending his decision not to tell Congress about it before hand, defended it actually in an interview with NBC News. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The main concern was that we had to act fast in a delicate situation that required no publicity. By definition you don't do prisoner exchanges with your friends. You do them with your enemies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also coming to the support of her former boss on the Bergdahl prisoner swap. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I think this was a very hard choice, which is why I think my book is so aptly named. If you look at what the factors were going into the decision, of course, there are competing interests and values. I mean, one of our values is we bring everybody home off the battlefield the best we can. It doesn't matter how they ended up in a prisoner of war situation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It doesn't matter?

CLINTON: It does not matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Bergdahl was in the hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. We're learning some alarming details, though, about what he went through from those five years. A U.S. official tells CNN that the sergeant was physically abused. He's suffering psychological trauma, and was locked in a cage after he tried to escape his captors.

PAUL: We are covering this story from every possible angle, CNN's Erin McPike is with us from Washington right now.

BLACKWELL: And CNN's Martin Savidge joins us from San Antonio, Texas. Martin, I want to start with you. Sergeant Bergdahl will be flown to the San Antonio military complex there in Texas. Any indications of what will happen once he arrives?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor. A lot of people wonder why San Antonio. San Antonio and the U.S. Army South is tasked with the job of bringing back all soldiers that have been held in captivity. Fortunately in recent conflicts there haven't been that many, but of course, Bowe Bergdahl fits into that category. Right now he is in Landstuhl, Germany.

They are working to medically and mentally stabilize him. You go through three phases. One, get him into friendly hands. That happened last weekend. Two, get him to a regional medical center to be checked out. That's going on right now. Three, bring him here, because here they specialize in everything it takes in every way to bring you home both mentally and physically.

Your question, Victor, no timetable has been set. No word on when he will come here. We know his personal recovery team, as they're referred to, is in Germany ready to receive him and bring him here, but they haven't got the green light.

PAUL: Martin, quickly, a lot of people are wondering why he hasn't been reunited with his parents yet. Have you gotten word as to why that is being delayed and when it might happen? SAVIDGE: Well, we don't necessarily know if it's being delayed. He does have access to a telephone and access to speak to his parents. We're told if his parents wanted to go there they could indeed do that. Let me just point out. After decades of experience the military has had all the way back to World War II with returnees it is the with family that turns out to be the most emotionally overwhelming, which is why it is so carefully handled.

It's been studied for decades. So, it'll happen not plane side rushing into the arms of family. It'll happen probably inside of a hospital room here and the first meeting is only going to be for a few minutes because the returnees have said, it is so intense, so emotionally powerful, they can only take it for that time. They step out for a couple hours and then they come back. It's a very slow process to come home.

BLACKWELL: Let's go to Erin at the White House now. Erin, we know senators has got a classified briefing about Sergeant Bergdahl's time and the swap this week. We'll see hearings on Capitol Hill this week. Who should we expect to see?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, it is first going to start on Monday afternoon with another briefing but for House members. And that briefing will be led by deputy national security adviser to the president, Tony Blinken. He's been on our air in the past week and he'll be joined by two, high ranking Defense Department officials, as well as a State Department official, and an intelligence official.

Then on Wednesday what we're going to see is a hearing in front of the House Armed Services Committee that's led by Buck McKeon who has also been on our air in the past week and has been critical of this deal. The person they're calling to testify is Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel who is going to have to defend them. We're going to be seeing a lot of this activity on the House side this week -- Victor.

PAUL: All righty, Erin McPike and Martin Savidge, we appreciate you both. Thank you.

Coming up at the top of the hour, we're going to hear from former NATO supreme allied commander, retired Marine Corps General James Mattis, the former head of the U.S. Central Command. He's also been pretty critical of President Obama's decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by 2016. BLACKWELL: That's right here on CNN at the top of the hour on "SMERCONISH" right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you bring your gun to a restaurant, do calmly inform the other patrons that you are there just to eat and not to shoot anyone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when you bring your gun to a restaurant, don't be black. Because -- even if you tell them you're not going to shoot, they're probably not going to believe you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: I'm sorry. I know it's not supposed to be a funny subject, but that's funny.

BLACKWELL: Comedy is often rooted in truth. That was "The Daily Show" this week. A humorous spin on a story that a lot of people just don't find funny at all.

BLACKWELL: You may have heard by now about the group called "Open Carry Texas." They're these young men armed with rifles and they walk into restaurants like Chile's flaunting their firearms to advocate what is already legal in Texas, openly carrying long guns.

BLACKWELL: Now they're moving from restaurant chains to retail chains, and Target is their newest, well, target.

PAUL: Yes, exactly. Understandably a lot of patrons and parents say, look. I'm scared straight about this. The gun control group, "Moms Demand Action," successfully lobbied Chipotle and Starbucks to issue statements that they no longer welcome guns in their establishments and now they are urging Target to do the same thing.

BLACKWELL: Joining us to talk about this now is Toy Henderson. He is a member of "Open Carry Texas." It's good to have you this morning. You know, I'm not in for the shouting back and forth. I'm really trying to understand here. The point here and how you get to that end by walking into a Target, Chipotle, Chick-Fil-A, with this semiautomatic rifle strapped to your back.

TOV HENDERSON, MEMBER, OPEN CARRY TEXAS: Well, I see this entire situation as very, very simple. I continue to hear about the feelings of people who see firearms. I want to talk about the feelings of moms who want to be armed so they can protect their children. I want to talk about my wife who needs to be armed so she can protect my children from being in a situation where she cannot protect them.

Because we all know good and well that gun control when it comes to signs, criminals don't read signs. They don't care if the sign says you may not carry in this establishment. We've seen that time and time again that whenever law-abiding citizens are not armed and not able to protect themselves they become victims and quite often they die.

So this situation really is not just about people's feelings at seeing a gun or knowing people are armed. Let's talk about they don't know are armed, the criminals. No one talks about the criminals who you can't see are armed. I want my wife to be armed. I want her to be able to protect my children.

I want to be armed so I can protect my family. It is a simple concept and there are millions of moms and dads across America feel the same as me. We want to be empowered to not be victims.

PAUL: You're right. I am a parent. I get that on a very real level. We will do whatever we can to protect our kids, but this is something that's already legal in Texas. So a lot of people are looking at this and saying, what is the point? I wanted to ask you from a parent's perspective because you said you're a parent.

If there is a parent who has a small child in one of these establishments and comes up and says, you know what? I know you got your rifle here, but that's really scaring my child, making me feel threatened. What do you do in that instance? Do you leave? Do you take the gun away?

HENDERSON: We have not been in that instance. That's the whole thing. Every time we've gone to a restaurant we have been invited in. We respect private property rights every bit as much as we respect our rights. PAUL: What would you do if a parent came up and said, this really makes me uncomfortable and is scaring my child?

HENDERSON: I would explain to them the same thing I'm explaining to you right now. I would explain, look, there are people armed around us all the time, concealed carrying. Some legally, some illegally and the fact of the matter is we don't know where those people are. We can't see them. It doesn't change the fact they're armed. We continue to run into the same situation over and over where armed assailants walk into gun free zones and they gun down victims and there is no one there who is able to stop the attacker.

All that we see is a situation where they become victims and they die. No one wants to talk about those people. No one wants -- everyone wants to talk about the feelings of these people who see guns, but no one wants to talk about the victims who were not given the opportunity to take down the attacker. That's why we continue to see mass killings happen in gun free zones like Fort Hood, like the massacre October 16th, 1991 in Texas.

That's why we continue to see Newtowns, Columbines, we continue to see these things happen because there are not legally armed, law-abiding citizens able to take down these evil people. We continue to do the same thing over and over. It's insanity.

BLACKWELL: Let me get in here about this NRA statement. I guess a reversal is the kind way to say it. On the 30th of May they condemned what you were doing calling it, quote, "dubious, weird, and downright scary." This week after threats from your group and I'm sure a lot of your supporters to withdraw your and their support the NRA has retracted the statement saying they now support you. Do you buy the explanation that their rebuke was a mistake and came only from one staffer's opinion, or do you think they felt some pressure?

HENDERSON: I can't get into the mind of the National Rifle Association, but what I can say is groups like the National Rifle Association and "Gun Owners of America" and other gun organizations have stood behind us in trying to get open carry legislation passed in the state of Texas and, yes, whoever wrote that did make a mistake.

Look, this is what I keep telling people. You can't control everyone inside your organization. We've made plenty of mistakes. The National Rifle Association has made plenty of mistakes. What we all learn is it's not about the mistakes you make, it's about how you react to them.

I'm sure you guys as reporters, as correspondents, you make mistakes and sometimes you have to go back and correct those issues because no one is trailers nz christchurch perfect. As an organization, we're learning just like the National Rifle Association is, but I do have confidence they're going to stand behind us all the way to the finish line when we get open carry legislation passed in the state of Texas.

PAUL: OK. Well, Tov Henderson, we are so grateful that you talked with us this morning. Thank you. Again, he is with the "Open Carry Texas." We want to bring in now, and, Tov, glad to have you with us, Shannon Watts is with us now. She is the founder of the group "Moms Demand Action," so first of all, I want to get your reaction to what Tov said.

SHANNON WATTS, FOUNDER, "MOMS DEMAND ACTION": Well, what you just heard was a creation by the NRA leadership. All that paranoia, all that fear, all those inaccurate statistics, none of that is true or happening. You know, I have a right as a mother in this country to take my children to Target and know they'll be protected from people who think that they are somehow vigilantes. These guys may not have had a background check. There is a 40 percent chance they haven't. They don't have to have a license. They don't have to have any training. Is that the person you want standing next to you and your child at the checkout line at Target? I don't.

BLACKWELL: I think it is often easy especially for people in this seat and in media to easily kind of dismiss what Tov just said, but I want to challenge you on something, Shannon. Wayne Lapeier, Executive Director of the NRA, after Sandy Hook, said the only thing that stopped a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun and I think essentially when he says he wants his wife to be able to carry, he wants her to be the good person with the gun.

Is there an example in which maybe school shootings or mall shootings or these public facilities where that has been wrong, where this bad guy with a gun has been stopped in any other way by something other than or a person other than a law enforcement officer with a gun or him killing himself? WATTS: It's never happened. Data shows it doesn't happen. Data shows that actually a gun in the hands of a woman is more likely to be used against her or by one of her family members to commit suicide. We had an example just the other day in Seattle of a mass shooter who was taken down. He intended to be a mass shooter. He was taken down by a student with pepper spray.

You know, Congress and the leadership of the NRA believes that we should put students and teachers on the front lines and yet they don't allow guns in the halls of Congress or even in the headquarters of the NRA. It's time for women and moms to stand up in this country and say even though we're the majority of the electorate.

But a minority in Congress and in our state legislatures, we are going to have a role in shaping these policies. This madness will stop and it will stop when women and mothers say, enough. We will not sacrifice our children for the profit of the gun lobby.

PAUL: So, Shannon, we know that your group started this Twitter campaign called "Off Target." Have you realized that had any real impact thus far?

WATTS: Absolutely. You know, we believe that very shortly we'll see Target make some kind of announcement based on the pressure we're applying online and off line, because our moms are, so to speak, up in arms. We are not going to allow companies where women are 80 percent to 90 percent of their customers have policies in place trailers nz ltd that actually endanger our children.

If you see these pictures, it's very alarming that they're allowing people with assault rifles inside their store. This is clearly not meant to defend themselves. You know, they're not going to be met with armed resistance in the baby toy aisle. This is meant to create intimidation and fear.

There's got to be a stop put to it. It starts with American businesses saying, just like smoking or proper attire, we're going to have a gun policy. We're not going to allow these extremists to show up at our door step.

PAUL: Shannon Watts founder of the "Moms Demand Action," thank you so much. Great conversation between the two of them.

BLACKWELL: Never enough time though.

PAUL: I know. Never fails.

BLACKWELL: Shannon, thank you. We're back in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: It appears the White House is paying a heavy price for Bowe Bergdahl's freedom. The POW's rescue has morphed from this crafted, feel good moment in the Rose Garden at the White House when his release was announced to now, something the president has to talk about every time he is in front of the microphone. PAUL: Administration officials say they anticipated some criticism over the terms of the trade, but they've been pretty taken aback by the personal attacks on Bergdahl, himself. The full incident has left the president in a pretty uncomfortable position.

Let's talk to CNN political commentator, Ryan Lizza about this. He is also Washington correspondent for the "New Yorker." Ryan, it's so good to have you with us.

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning. Thanks for having me.

PAUL: Thank you. So these men we know were top ranking Taliban leaders.

LIZZA: Yes.

PAUL: A lot of people are looking and thinking, how can you, President Obama, guarantee that they're not going to plan attacks on the U.S. again?

LIZZA: I think the truth of the matter is he can't. Right? A prisoner exchange is a prisoner exchange. We don't get to control these guys anymore. We don't get to keep them locked up. We have a one- year deal it looks like. We don't know all of the details of the deal but from what has been revealed, for one year, the Qatari government will make sure they don't travel outside of the country and there are a few other restrictions on them.

But after that, as far as we've learned so far, they can do what they want. That is the nature of a prisoner swap, right? You don't get to control these guys anymore. The president the other day was relatively honest. He said, look. Yes, there is some danger they could threaten the United States down the road.

So, you know, he believed it was worth it to get Bergdahl back and, yes. I think this is probably one of the most controversial and difficult decisions he's had to make as president.

BLACKWELL: You know, there are people who say, yes, absolutely the president broke the law here by not notifying Congress 30 days in advance. Some people in the gray area there.

LIZZA: Yes. BLACKWELL: Do you believe that there will be some formal consequence on Capitol Hill for the president?

LIZZA: I don't know. Look, there is no doubt the law says you have to tell Congress 30 days before you remove someone from Guantanamo. It's very hard for me to look at that law and I think a lot of legal commentators have made the same case and say he did not break that law. He did not follow the letter of that law. They have a very artful, sort of legalistic explanation for why they were allowed to do this, but the letter of the law says 30 days and they didn't follow it, no doubt. The only thing Congress can do frankly is impeach him, right, if the president breaks the law. The only thing, only recourse Congress has is impeachment. I don't think that's going to happen. Certainly not with the Senate in Democratic hands. But it makes it very, very difficult for the president moving forward to do this again.

If he wants to get Guantanamo prisoners out of there, he's going to have to work a lot more closely with Congress. I think politically it's going to be more difficult because there's so much outrage among Republicans, but more quietly among some Democrats over this deal.

PAUL: Well, and that's the part of what I wanted to ask you about, too. Do you think or is there talk that perhaps there was an ulterior motive of some sort for President Obama to release these men? Because from day one --

(CROSSTALK)

LIZZA: Yes.

PAUL: -- he's wanted to close Gitmo anyway.

LIZZA: Absolutely. There's been pressure on the President to find a way to get these prisoners -- I think there's about 160 left now. And so there's been pressure to find some avenues to get them out. Now, these five prisoners under international law I think most people agree were P.O.W.s. So we had a very clear legal authority to keep them locked up but in another year we're going to be out of Afghanistan and then the pressure would be to treat P.O.W.s under international law as no longer allowed for us to keep them. So in other words these five prisoners were the ones most likely to have to be given back to their host country, their home country after the war is over.

So you could -- so I think some people in the administration said, you know what? We were going to have to get these guys out of there once the war is over in a year anyway. Why not get something in return? I think that is one justification that they had. You know, if we're going to have to get rid of these guys anyway let's get Bergdahl back. So that is not sitting really well with Congress because I think you have some folks in Congress who didn't believe they were P.O.W.s.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

LIZZA: And didn't believe that they ever had to be given up.

BLACKWELL: Yes there are some who just believe they're enemy combatants and what do you do with them? Ryan Lizza --

LIZZA: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- thank you so much for unpacking this for us. LIZZA: Hey, thanks for having me, guys.

BLACKWELL: And the breaking news we're following this morning, actor Tracy Morgan involved in this terrible accident. PAUL: Rushed to a New Jersey hospital. We know at this hour he is in critical condition after this six-car crash. We're going to let you know what we know that has happened so far this morning. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Thirty-five minutes past the hour right now -- so glad to have you with us. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Let's get you up to date on that breaking news we have been following.

Actor Tracy Morgan is in intensive care at a New Jersey Hospital, he was rushed there after being involved in a six-vehicle crash.

PAUL: Reporter Marcus Solis from our New York affiliate WABC is at the hospital. Robert Wood Johnson University in New Brunswick, where we know Tracy Morgan is as well -- Marcus.

MARCUS SOLIS, WABC: And the comedian was on his way back from a standup comedy performance in Delaware when the limousine bus he was traveling in was involved in that multi car pileup in the New Jersey turnpike. It happened after 1:00 this morning near Cranberry Township. Straight away a particularly dangerous part of the New Jersey turnpike where vehicles are known to speed. There were several vehicles involved, as many as six, including a Wal-Mart truck that may have rear ended Morgan's limo. One person inside of the limo was killed. Three others including Tracy Morgan brought here to Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center in New Brunswick.

Now, Morgan is 45 years old. Of course, best known for his many seasons as a regular on the sitcom "30 Rock." He was in the midst of a comedy tour and it performed last night at the Dover Downs Hotel and Casino. He had a performance scheduled for tonight in Charlotte, North Carolina, which has been canceled. Again, comedian Tracy Morgan in intensive care as a result of a multicar pileup on the New Jersey turnpike that has also left one person dead.

Marcus Solis, New Brunswick.

PAUL: And we'll obviously we're getting information slowly but surely this morning as comes in to us and we'll continue to keep you posted throughout the morning as well.

BLACKWELL: Certainly will.

Tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union came to a head in the '60s with the Cold War, of course, add in Vietnam and the Cuban missile crisis and you have the world on the brink. That's the focus of tonight's installment of CNN's original series "THE SIXTIES".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN F. KENNEDY, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A supreme national effort will be needed to move this country safely through the 1960s. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seven minutes past 1:00 this morning, a man went