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Egypt Under State of Emergency; American Response to Egypt; New Details on Murder-Abduction; A Soggy Forecast; Interview With Rep. Steve King

Aired August 15, 2013 - 08:00   ET


KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome back to NEW DAY everyone. It's Thursday, August 15, 8:00 in the east. I'm Kate Bolduan.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Chris Cuomo, here with our news anchor Michaela Pereira.


CUOMO: Good to see you as always. Coming up this hour, immigration reform. Big question mark right now, right? One thing's for sure, we know where Congressman Steve King stands. He is slamming both the left and the right. He is here on NEW DAY to make his case, and you judge for yourself.

BOLDUAN: And more and more people are taking medication to help them fall asleep, especially if you work crazy hours like we do. But how do those drugs affect your body when you wake up the next morning. A new study looks at the concern surrounding the side effects the next day. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to help us understand it better.

PEREIRA: And we have your daily dose of good stuff today. Debbie Bell (ph) was paralyzed seven years ago from the waist down. She promised herself she would walk down the aisle on her wedding day. And look at how beautiful she looked. She did it. It was captured on video and we're going to tell you her inspirational story, just ahead.

CUOMO: A truly beautiful bride in more ways than one. That is good stuff.

First to Egypt where there is a shocking amount of suffering and bloodshed. More than 500 died Wednesday in clashes between security forces and supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsy.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is condemning the countrywide crackdown on protesters. What it will do about it is unknown. Reza Sayah is following developments from Cairo.

Good morning, Reza. What's the latest?

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. You can almost feel a sense of uncertainty and dread here in Egypt and that's probably because not too many people know where this country is headed. It's 2:00 p.m. local time. It's eerily calm and quiet and it has everything to do with a state of emergency declared late last night after an awful day of violence.

The death toll now stands at a staggering 520 people. That's going to be one of the deadliest death tolls in modern history here in Egypt and it's those kind of numbers that have many describing yesterday as a massacre.


SAYAH (voice-over): For weeks, Egypt's military-backed interim government had promised to crush a six-week long sit-in demonstration in support of the ousted President Mohamed Morsy.

On Wednesday, they delivered with a ferocious crackdown. Authorities claim initially they used tear gas and water canons to scatter protesters. They say Morsy supporters fired first and they were forced to fire back. Whoever started it, the gunfire lasted for hours. Security forces steadily pushed in and behind makeshift barriers, Morsy supporters desperately held on.

At a nearby hospital and makeshift clinic, there was little room for the mounting casualties. Three volunteer doctors claimed security forces stormed the hospital and forced out the medics, effectively leaving scores of bloody bodies in government custody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They put their guns in our faces and said, you have to leave in five minutes. And we told them there are many people, many people bleeding inside the hospital. And they said it's not your business, go out now.

SAYAH: By roughly 6:00 p.m., security forces have taken full control of the sit-in. Bulldozing hundreds of tents and torching protesters' belongings. Thousands of angry Morsy supporters many of them walking wounded left in despair. For Egypt's backed interim government it was mission accomplished at a steep cost, but the fury of Morsy backers in the Muslim Brotherhood signaled a moment determined to keep fighting.


SAYAH: It's important to point out that based on what we saw yesterday, this demonstration, most of the protesters who were killed were unarmed and defenseless. Yesterday's crackdown sparked clashes and attacks throughout the country. Police stations, government buildings, even churches were set on fire. Many here in Egypt are blaming the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamists. It's difficult to verify what exactly happened with those attacks.

But what's clear, this country is divided and this conflict not over, Kate. The Muslim Brotherhood promising more demonstrations tonight and tomorrow.

BOLDUAN: Bloodshed could continue. Reza Sayah, thank you so much, Reza, for the update.

Now, the White House back here at home walking a very fine line on Egypt. So far, no change in U.S. policy following the latest round of deadly violence there. Secretary of State John Kerry, he condemned the crackdown calling it deplorable.

But we have yet to hear from President Obama directly. He's on vacation in Martha's Vineyard.

And that is where CNN's Dan Lothian is as well with much more on this side of the story.

Do we expect any hint that we could hear from the president today?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So far, no indication that President Obama will come out before the cameras and comment on the situation in Egypt. Right now, Secretary of State John Kerry has been the face of this issue coming out yesterday, talking before reporters, condemning the violence, calling for restraint and calling on the interim government to respect the rights of the Egyptian people.

White House deputy spokesman Josh Earnest saying that the U.S. will continue to hold the interim government accountable for the promise that it made to speed up that transition to a civilian Democratic government. So, pressure coming not only from the U.S. but also the international community. The question is: what will happen next?

We do know ongoing conversations between U.S. officials and Egyptian officials, and the delay in a shipment of F-16s to Egypt. But, perhaps the biggest thing that the U.S. has is that aid of more than $1 billion to Egypt while there's been a lot of pressure to have that pulled back.

The administration so far, the Obama administration, saying it is under review. The White House also refusing to call what happened in Egypt a coup saying it has been determined it is not in the best interest of the U.S. to do so -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Dan, thank you very much for the reporting.

Let's get some analysis now and bring in Mona Eltahawy. She's an Egyptian journalist and commentator. She, herself, was arrested and assaulted in 2011 while covering the revolution. She is joining us from Cairo.

Mona, can you hear us? Thank you for being with us.


CUOMO: Let's start with the situation on the ground. What do you know what day-to-day life is like for people? Are they able to get food? Is anybody able to work? What do we know?

ELTAHAWY: Well, we have been under curfew since last night because yesterday the Egyptian regime declared a state of emergency for the next month and announced a curfew for Cairo and 13 other provinces throughout the country. Last night, it started at 9:00 p.m. to give people some time to go home, but tonight it's expected to start a bit earlier around 7:00 p.m. And this is a real problem especially for the working poor who do not have the choice to stay at home. For example, those who run 24-hour food stands, those who need to get to restaurants and hotels. This is going to be a huge problem and, frankly, I don't see how we are under curfew for the next month.

People who are around the sit-ins who were so violently and disturbingly broken up yesterday had complained that their lives were turned upside down and I had relatives not to leave those neighborhoods. But I say, it's not to justify what happened because what happened yesterday was unconscionable, and I absolutely condemn what happened. Just as I condemn the burning of churches across the country.

And we have to ask in the midst of all of this, where are our security services, and why do security services know only one thing and that is to beat and to shoot to kill?

CUOMO: Mona, let me ask you -- this is a confusing situation for Americans because on the outside, it seems that the U.S. supporting the military, but the military deposed a democratically elected leader. What are the feelings towards the U.S. on the ground that you're seeing?

ELTAHAWAY: Well, I can tell, I can safely tell you that most camps in Egypt do not like the United States very much, and, basically, for the same reason. And that is the United States has a long history of supporting dictators in Egypt as it does in many other countries in the name of stability and at the expense of people and freedom.

Now, what happened with Mohamed Morsy is, yes, he was voted in last summer, almost a year ago. But I think we need to move beyond the specialization (ph) of the ballot box because for many of us in Egypt he became an authoritarian in the way Mubarak was an authoritarian and did not want him to turn into a 30-year dictator.

But I also must emphasize that we also do not want to return to military rule. General Sisi, our defense minister, and who holds the utmost responsibility for what happened last night must understand that just as we ended the military junta after we got rid of Hosni Mubarak, we'll stand up to him, as well because our revolution was not for military rule, it was not for Islamist rule, our revolution was for freedom and dignity, and we will achieve those things.

CUOMO: Mona, thank you very much. Please, keep us informed about what the situation is for how people are able to live their lives in the midst of all of this. We'll be back to you. Appreciate the commentary this morning on NEW DAY.

BOLDUAN: Now to chilling new details leading to the kidnapping of Hannah Anderson. Newly released search warrants a gruesome scene inside the home of James DiMaggio, who we are now learning was shot five times by the FBI.

CNN's Casey Wian is in Los Angeles with the very latest.

Good morning, Casey.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate. You know, it's hard to imagine that the story of Hannah Anderson's kidnapping could get any more disturbing with the release of the search warrants they have. They reveal that before her mother and younger brother were killed, they were tortured.


WIAN (voice-over): Grisly new details are surfacing in the alleged kidnapping and murder case of suspect James DiMaggio. According to these newly released search warrants, DiMaggio tortured and killed his best friend's wife and 8-year-old son and shot and killed the family dog.

Police also say they found a crowbar and what appeared blood on the ground next to Christina Anderson's body. The 40-year-old DiMaggio then allegedly set his house on fire and kidnapped the couple's 16- year-old daughter, Hannah who the documents say he spoke with 13 times on the phone earlier that day.

The FBI rescued Anderson on Saturday and killed DiMaggio during the confrontation. An Idaho coroner says he was shot at least five times.

BRETT ANDERSON, HANNAH'S FATHER: As for my daughter, the healing process will be slow. She has been through a tremendous, horrific ordeal.

WIAN: Now home, Anderson has quickly taken to social media to help cope with her pain, most recently posting these pictures to her Instagram profile, the first glimpse of her after the harrowing ordeal. She writes, "God gives his toughest tasks to the strongest soldiers."

She also posted this picture of her mother and brother writing, "My two beautiful angels." She dedicated this post to them, the piece of paper reading, "In the clouds, I'll meet you again. Rest in peace."

The posts hit the social media sphere three days after her rescue, leading some experts to question her public catharsis.

WENDY WALSH, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Listen, this is a 16-year-old who is totally traumatized. So, she's not thinking. Sometimes in a numb state, you're doing things that you don't really consider the consequences.

WIAN: But others say social media is in fact a good outlet for Anderson.

STACY KAISER, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: There's a ton of research that says when someone that be through a traumatic experience, it's helpful to talk and share their story.

WIAN: Anderson has also shared her story on answering anonymous users' questions. A user asked, "Why didn't you run?" He would have killed me. Are you glad he's dead? Absolutely. (END VIDEOTAPE)

WIAN: Now, that account has been disabled but Hannah Anderson's Instagram account is still active. In fact, there was a new posting on it as recently as last night. It was a photo of herself, her father, her mother and younger brother next to a Christmas tree and the caption next to that photo, I want to read it to you.

"Dad is not taking this very well. None of us are, but please watch over him. I'm all he's got left. Even though you're gone, we're still a team. Love and miss you."

Very disturbing words from a young girl trying to deal with the aftermath of an incredible tragedy -- Chris and Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. Casey, thanks so much for the update this morning.

CUOMO: There's a lot of other news developing at this hour. Let's get right to Michaela for that.

PEREIRA: All right, guys. Good morning. Good morning to you at home.

The NTSB says there was no distress call from the cockpit before a UPS plane crashed Wednesday near the airport in Birmingham, Alabama. The pilot and co-pilot both killed in that crash. Investigators have yet to retrieve the data recorder from the still smoldering wreckage. They will review those tapes as soon as they are pulled from the plane.

Army Private Bradley Manning apologizing for his actions saying he hurt people and his country when he leaked more than 700,000 pages of classified documents. He made that statement during the sentencing phase of his court-martial. Manning was convicted last month on 20 counts, including violating the Espionage Act. He is facing up to 90 years in prison.

The stuntman who you might recall dressed up as James Bond parachuted into the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games, he's been killed in a tragic accident. Forty-one-year-old Mark Sutton was participating in a wing diving event in Switzerland when his suit failed and he slam under into the ground. Wing divers jump out of helicopters or planes wearing special flight suits with arms that act like wings.

A 5-year-old boy hospitalized this morning with a serious leg injury after falling from a children's roller coaster at New York's Coney Island. He met the height requirement, but apparently, he crawled under the lap bar and tried to get off the ride before it stopped. The boy was riding with his 7-year-old sister who suffered a minor injury.

You might recall Michael Jordan getting much deserved respect when we showed you a viral video 50-year-old NBA legend looking as good as ever, coming in for a dunk. We just wanted to point out he's not the only NBA old timer who has some moves. Dr. J still keeping office hours at 63 years of age. Dr. J isn't challenging Michael Jordan. We should tell you the clip is from back in June, but the NBA put it on their YouTube Channel for all his fans to see to say, yes, still got it. Never lost it.

CUOMO: Sixty-three. You see how good he looks?

BOLDUAN: I know.

CUOMO: Holy cow. I remember the first time I met Dr. J. I shook his hand. It was like his hand went all the way up to my forearm.

PEREIRA: And you are a big fellow for that to happen.

CUOMO: Not compared to him. So elegant on the court and off.

BOLDUAN: Difficult to say when you're that size to be so elegant, right?

CUOMO: With the big hand and the ball coming around the backboard. Made my dreams as a kid. Made my dream as a kid. Great for the doctor. >

All right. On the weather, the numbers don't lie when it comes to this wetness. Record rainfall across the country this summer and shows no signs of letting up. The forecast calls for more heavy rain in the southeast and along the eastern Gulf Coast. Severe thunderstorms expected in the central and southern plains.

How do I know? CNN meteorologist Indra Petersons told me so.

So, what is up with the sogginess?

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I mean, literally will not stop. I feel like a broken record. We were talking about this in June. Heavy rain. Yes, kind of unusual. By July, we were starting to get used to it. It was record breaking rainfall all of July. August, same thing already setting records and we're not even at the half wavelength (ph). Take a look.


PETERSONS (voice-over): In Charleston, South Carolina, the rain has been relentless. Check out this video of a cyclist struggling to get through the flooded downtown streets. Georgia, Tennessee, and Arkansas have seen flash flooding this season as storms continue to drench the south. For many places, it has been the wettest summer on record. In just July, Miami Beach got a whopping 18.5 inches of rain.

In Ft. Lauderdale, they saw nearly 15.5 inches of rainfall. In Hutchinson, Kansas, it poured for a week straight. Just look at this road that buckled and collapsed. In Wichita, this mini-van needed a boost after stalling out in the flooded street. In fact, Kansas broke 144 rainfall records in the first week of August alone. And they're not alone. Chattanooga, Tennessee, has already seen more than four inches of rain this month. That's more rain in the first two weeks of August than they usually see in the entire month. Philadelphia is having its soggiest summer yet. Last month, they set an all-time record for rainfall in a single day when storms dumped eight inches in just six hours.

And the northeast is reeling from severe thunderstorms from just this week. In Newark, Delaware, torrential rain shut down roads while high winds downed power lines and snapped trees.


PETERSONS (on-camera): We're still talking about rain. Here's current radar right now. And you can tell, line of storms still kicking through the area, thanks to a stationary front, but we're going to be adding even more moisture to that. The reason for it is actually some development into the tropics. All of this tropical moisture is expected to now combine with the stationary front already in place.

What does that mean? Well, anywhere from two to five inches in of rain in the forecast. With just the stationary front alone, you combine the two. And we're talking about literally flooding potential and extremely high, rainfall even as high as eight inches as we go through the weekend.

So, I want to say it again, turn around, do not drown. I do not want to stand here on Monday and talk about people having tried to drive through these flood waters. Two feet of water is all it takes to take your car away.

BOLDUAN: Thanks so much, Indra. Thank you for that update.

All right. Coming up next on NEW DAY, he called them drug mules and say -- some of them drug mules and say they bring violence to this country. Congressman Steve King is fighting any moves to give undocumented immigrants legal status. But despite huge blowback from some members of his own party, he is not backing down. We'll have the congressman on next to talk about it.

CUOMO: And this story is almost unthinkable. Imagine a doctor telling you you have cancer and you have to go into treatment, chemotherapy, and then find out you never had it. What would drive a physician to lie like that? Prosecutors say the answer is simple. We'll give it to you when we come back.


BOLDUAN: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

Just before Washington cleared out for August recess, Congressman Steve King, a Republican from Iowa, made waves comparing undocumented immigrants, some undocumented immigrants, to being drug mules. Listen.


REP. STEVE KING, (R) IOWA: For everyone who's a valedictorian, there's another hundred out there that they weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.


BOLDUAN: House speaker, John Boehner, really criticized that remark calling the remark offensive and wrong. The Iowa congressman not backing down on his stance on immigration, especially as we're entering the heat of this debate taking his message on the road. Now, you see here, picture of a rally from reporters covering a rally from this week near House majority leader, Eric Cantor's Virginia district.

Let's talk about this and more with the congressman joining me now from Des Moines. Congressman, it's great to see you. Thanks so much for taking the time this morning.

KING: Good to be on. Thanks for having me on, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Of course. I want to get right to -- you have discussed in the past and defended your remark of the sound bite that we just played, but I do want to get to kind of where things stand right now. You're not backing down. You're not budging.

You're taking your message of fighting against immigration reform on the road and, most recently, taking it straight to Eric Cantor's backyard in Virginia, near his district. Very far from your district in Iowa. Why go directly there? Are you trying to pick a fight?

KING: No, I'm not about challenging our leadership. In fact, the statements that have been released by them has been by their staff. There's no audio or video of either the speaker or the leader making a critical comment of me. And I said when they invited me to go to Richmond, I said I'll go, but I'm not going to do -- I'm not going to go into Eric Cantor's district.

I'll carry the message because it's important to be delivered and be delivered to a number of states across the union. So, it was just simply that and I want to deliver the facts here. This debate has gotten so distorted and out of proportion. And I said the valedictorians who would be the beneficiaries of the Dream Act, tugged at my heartstrings, too.

That was the statement right ahead of the clip that you ran. And so, you know, my heart, my heart bleeds for them, as well. But the debate became about those who have the most merit rather than the typical. And so, I illustrated those that have the least merit and there would be a lot of people who have been smuggling drugs across our border who would be legalized under this act. They're very good at fraud. They've proven that in the past.

BOLDUAN: Well, let me make one thing clear. I know that you say that the staffs are releasing this statement, but I can assure you that Speaker Boehner and Eric Cantor, they do disagree with those remarks. They have made that clear. And if that's the case, but if you are right and you clearly -- you believe in your message and you believe in fighting against immigration reform.

If you're right, then why are most, if not all, top Republicans, top leaders in your party trying to run away from your statement and your comments as fast as they can?

KING: Well, first, I suspect that they have not seen the video clip in its entirety. So, they operate also off the staff's recommendations and, perhaps, approve a statement. That's how I envision it, although we haven't had a conversation. The next is, last year, almost everybody in my conference would have agreed with me on this immigration issue.

And this year, it seems as though after the presidential election, a spell has been cast over a good number of Republicans and they seem to think the presidential election was about immigration. I'd ask them, find me that debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama that addressed immigration. I don't remember it, I can't find it.

The election was about jobs and the economy, not immigration. But yet, some Republican strategists and leadership have decided, let's just go ahead and debate immigration for 12 months. And then we'll see if we can --


KING: Pardon me?

BOLDUAN: What spell are they under now then? If you think they would have agreed with you in the past, but they are under some spell now. I'm not trying to be cute. I really am wanting to understand why you think they changed their view then?

KING: I know. I say that because I say no spell has been cast over me and it doesn't seem to be logical or rational to me that this is the right thing to do. They seem to think that in order to slow the decline and the loss of the Hispanic vote, which I recognize happened, although, you might argue that Mitt Romney arrested that decline, George Bush claimed 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004.

John McCain achieved 31 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2008. So, that decline only went another four percent out of (ph) Romney, but they seem to do that calculation that we should sacrifice the rule of law by granting amnesty on the alter of -- what they believe is politically expediency for the purposes of opening up a conversation with a demographic group of people that I think are just as blessed as all the rest of us.

And we should treat them as God's children, all of us, and not do identity politics. So, I don't understand it or I wouldn't explain it in that way.

BOLDUAN: I want to ask you a couple of more questions on this, obviously. You are talking about Republican strategist who've kind of come up with this message, and they think that they need to bring on more Latino vote after the 2012 election. Ana Navarro, she's a Republican political analyst. We should say that she is a friend of the show. She really didn't mince any words with you over the weekend.

You were on "Meet the Press" and you both sparred back and forth. I mean, she used words like mediocre congressman with no legislative record and it kind of went on and on from there and you guys went back and forth. It was quite heated moments. And I think one of the questions that Ana is asking and I just want to make sure we ask it to you is that your comments, maybe not your -- put your message aside.

But your comments, they come across, she thinks, some others think as a veiled bias against Latinos. Do you just not like Latinos?

KING: Well, I think it's pretty clear that Ana didn't veil her bias against me. She didn't address a single fact that I delivered. She simply hurled accusations and baseless allegations. And with regard to the statement of mediocre congressman, my staff listened to that and they pointed out to me, that according to Jeff Flakes' analysis, that I have offered -- I'm a third in the number of amendments offered in Congress over the last decade.

And of those, I've had the highest level of passage of those amendments. And so, if you look at objective data that came out Jeff Flake's, now Sen. Flakes' (ph) office, I might be the most effective congressman in there rather than a mediocre congressman there. But I put out all series of facts and she answered none of them and neither did any of the panel.

So, we have a debate here that's going on. They have an agenda. They're for open borders. They're for amnesty. They might say they're for border security. That's a means to get to the end of this perpetual and retroactive amnesty. I'm putting out facts on what it cost this country from a financial standpoint.

What it costs us from a rule of law standpoint. They're not responding to that at all. They won't debate in that arena. I'm going to stay there. I'm not calling anybody names. I'm obeying Reagan's 11th commandment, they are not.

BOLDUAN: I don't want to linger on this too much, but you said Ana Navarro didn't answer any of your questions and you didn't really answer mine either.

KING: Right. OK. Try again.

BOLDUAN: That your comments come across as thinly veiled bias against Latinos.

KING: If people interpret it that way, I'd like to have them explain it. My statement was very narrowly defined. Not even just to drug smugglers, but drug smugglers who are habitual, professional drug smugglers who are in physical shape to carry 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. That's what I described. And, it's amazing to me that anyone can interpret anything in there that has to do with race or ethnicity. I will say that 80 to 90 percent of the illegal drugs that are consumed in America come from or through Mexico, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. That's what I'm speaking to here and I'm laying out something that I think is just completely logical. And I will tell you that my constituents come up and talk to me continually, and they say, you're right. Keep speaking the truth.

And I'm going to keep doing that. The data that I put out here is factual. The violent death rate in the country south of us are greater all the way down to Argentina and Chile. And, when you bring in young men from many civilization especially if they have drugs with them. you know you're going to have more violence. It's a demographic fact, Kate.


You may not like all of it, but when it comes to immigration reform, if you don't get on board with something, then President Obama is going to take this out of your hands and is going to go alone on this through executive orders, through executive actions. What do you say -- what do you want to say to Marco Rubio?

KING: Well, first, Marco Rubio is a friend. I personally like him and if I speak in disagreement, I will speak towards a Gang of Eight rather than Marco Rubio.