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CNN NEWSROOM

Feds Investigate Apparent Ricin Letters; Mom Jailed in Mexico Begs for Freedom; Tough Week for Disney; Adam Levine's Comment Spurs Firestorm; Adam Levine: "I Hate This Country"; Charles Ramsey Gets Speaking Deal

Aired May 30, 2013 - 09:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK: The letter was obviously referred to our anti-gun efforts.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The poisonous message? You'll have to kill me before you take my guns.

Also --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at this hail. We're going to have broken windows.

COSTELLO: Strong storms whip through Texas. The ground crew scrambling to save the Rangers Field.

Plus, from local hero to paid public speaker.

CHARLES RAMSEY, HELPED SAVED KIDNAPPED VICTIMS IN OHIO: Barbecue with this dude. We eat ribs and whatnot, listening to salsa music. I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man's arms.

COSTELLO: Charles Ramsey's words of wisdom now worth thousands of dollars.

And --

ADAM LEVINE, SINGER: I hate this country.

COSTELLO: What? Adam Levine?

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Good morning, thank you so much for being with me. I'm Carol Costello.

This morning, a frightening new spike in one of America's most passionate debates. The fight over gun control. Federal investigators are ramping up their probe of what could be deadly letters sent to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his anti-gun group. Two separate tests say it was ricin. A material so toxic, a mere pinpoint can kill within days.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick is working her sources on the story.

Good morning, Deb.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning there, Carol. What we can you is that some emergency workers actually who responded to the letters exhibited certain symptoms, intestinal symptoms that were consistent with, among other things, ricin exposure. The conclusive results on this orange-pink oily material that was in the letters is currently being analyzed by the National Bioforensic Analysis Center. The results should be back in the next day or two.

What you're looking at right there are pictures of one of the mail facilities where one of the letters was received. And that police are saying that the threats contained in the letters, Carol, make it very clear. The New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was targeted because of his vocal support of gun control. And authorities believe that the letters were written by the same person, that they were posted from the same area and they also contained similar threats.

The mayor was never in any immediate danger and in fact, Carol, he actually took the opportunity to reiterate the dangers of gun violence. Right now the JTTF and officers from the NYPD are investigating. They are in the area where the letters were postmarked -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It's just strange to me that ricin keeps popping up in recent weeks. Other letters have been sent to elected leaders. Is ricin suddenly easy to get or make? Or what is it?

FEYERICK: You know, it's not really. It's made from ordinary castor beans. What is difficult is to weaponize it in its purest form. And that's why even these letters that have contained the ricin, the trace elements of ricin, they haven't made many people sick, as you mentioned earlier, one drop -- a pinpoint could effectively kill a number of people. But right now, the ability to weaponize it, to make it so lethal that in fact it kills a number of people, that has not yet been accomplished. And clearly that's what authorities, investigators are worried about -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Deborah Feyerick, reporting live from New York this morning.

An American mother of seven has spent a week in jail in Mexico and now she is speaking out and begging to be released. Yanira Maldonado is accused of smuggling 12 pounds of marijuana on a bus during her trip back to Arizona. She insists she has been falsely accused by Mexican police.

CNN's senior Latin American affairs editor Rafael Romo is in Nogales, Arizona.

Rafael, you were the first to interview this mother? RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: That's right, Carol. We were the first outsiders with the exception of her family to visit her in prison yesterday, across the border here in Nogales, Mexico. She was very emotional. Also, she repeatedly said that she is innocent. And when I asked her how she's holding up, she told us that she's coping by reading scripture and relying on her faith in God.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMO (voice-over): Yanira Maldonado was emotional from the moment she saw us, escorted into the prison administrator's office to be interviewed.

YANIRA MALDONADO, DETAINED IN MEXICO: I'm not a criminal. I'm just here by mistake because people are not doing their work. This is not right. I need to be back with my family. I need to be out of here. I need to go home.

ROMO: Maldonado and her husband were returning by bus from the funeral of her aunt when Mexican soldiers stopped the vehicle at this checkpoint. Passengers were taken off and the bus searched. The soldiers said they found several packages of marijuana under her seat, 5.7 kilos, more than 12 pounds, and she says asked her to pay $5,000.

MALDONADO: It's a lie what they're saying. And they say they found something under my seat, but I never saw anything, they didn't show me anything. It was -- it's just amazing, all the -- what they did.

ROMO: Maldonado says authorities did not make it clear at first that she was a suspect. But she knew she was in trouble when federal agents started questioning her husband and her.

MALDONADO: I was in shock when they said that it was me they want because first they said that it was -- that it was -- it was my husband.

ROMO: Taken into Mexican federal custody, she was transferred to this state prison last Friday, where she is being held in a temporary cell away from other inmates. Family members have been allowed brief visits.

(On camera): Now your husband Gary and your children are going to be listening to this and watching you. What do you want to tell them?

MALDONADO: That I love them very much. That I'm going to -- they know that I'm innocent.

ROMO (voice-over): And that belief is also helped by a Mexican state official with extensive knowledge of the case who told CNN it would have been almost impossible for her to carry that much marijuana on to the bus without someone noticing.

MALDONADO: They have cameras in the -- on the terminal in the bus. And they haven't checked that. Why they don't check for fingerprints? I don't have -- my fingerprints are not in those package, on the package or whatever they're saying that they found.

ROMO: Maldonado says she has not been mistreated, but she's rethinking the advice she used to give friends about traveling to Mexico on vacation.

MALDONADO: I used to tell people, come to Mexico, it's not true what they're saying. I go every year to visit my family. And look what's happening to me now.

ROMO: All this devout Mormon can do now, she says, is pray.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMO: This has been an especially difficult time for Yanira Maldonado. She was coming back from her hometown in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico, where she attended the funeral of her aunt, a woman she helped raise her.

Carol, also last Saturday was her first wedding anniversary. She and her husband Gary had big plans to celebrate. Instead, she spent the day behind bars. Back to you.

COSTELLO: Rafael Romo reporting live from Nogales, Arizona, this morning.

It has been one tough week for Mickey Mouse. On Sunday, a loaded gun was found on a ride at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom. The gun owner later came to claim it, saying the weapon had fallen out of his back pocket during the ride.

Now a 22-year-old man who works at Disneyland in California is being held on $1 million bail in connection with a small explosion at the park.

Sara Sidner is following that part of the story for us from Anaheim.

Good morning.

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Yes, as you might imagine, Disneyland and the police taking this very seriously. We have to mention that this happened in Toontown, it's where some of the young kids hang out with their families. It's the place where Mickey Mouse's house is. And you can imagine parent were pretty scared when they had to be escorted out, evacuated from Toontown because of this blast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (voice-over): Disneyland's Toontown turned into a ghost town after an improvised explosive device went off in a trashcan on Tuesday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was loud. It startled us. You know, you kind of ducked and looked up and I looked a little higher than the ground to see what's going on.

SIDNER: Crowds evacuated as the bomb squad responded. Not the kind of scene visitors ever expected to encounter. Police say no one was hurt, but they did discover evidence of a small explosion.

SGT. ROBERT DUNN, ANAHEIM POLICE: When our officers arrived, they found remnants of a water bottle which is kind of indicative of a dry ice type explosion.

SIDNER: Twenty-two-year-old Christian Barnes, a bending cast member at Disneyland, is being held on a $million dollar bail on suspicision, of possessing and detonating an explosive device.

DUNN: There is potential any time this occurs for there to be injury, there is potential for someone to get injured to the point where they lose their life. And that's why the charges are so serious.

SIDNER: Disneyland officials say Barnes had the dry ice in his vending cart where he sells items that need to be kept cold. At least they say that Barnes Dry is cooperating.

(On camera): That's right. This stuff, dry ice, often used for special effects. It turns out, exploding dry ice bombs is a popular form of fun in some circles. You don't believe me? Just check out all the videos on YouTube.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to show you how to make a dry ice bomb.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: And the results what they do.

What the videos don't tell you is that creating and detonating an ice bomb is a crime. You could be charged with a felony if you're caught. Across the country in Disney world's animal kingdom, a grandmother found a loaded gun on the seat of a dinosaur ride as she boarded with her grandson.

The gun owner said he had a permit to carry a concealed weapon, but told authorities he didn't realize that guns are not allowed in the park. The happiest places on earth, turning scary for some visitors until both situations were under control.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: And if you've ever been to a park, the Disney Park, you would notice that you don't really walk through any kind of a metal detector, so referring back to that gun -- the gun owners saying, I didn't realize you couldn't bring one in, they would just look through your bags. But he was not checked, his body was not checked, and the gun was left on the seat there.

As for the suspect in this case, the district attorney has not yet charged this case. They are still investigating actually. The police still looking into evidence. Really trying to ascertain what it is that this gentleman was trying to do. Was is a prank? Was it something that he intended to do harm to those in the park? They are looking into all that, and then eventually we will hear exactly what he will be charged with. But he has been arrested -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Sara Sidner reporting live from Anaheim, California, this morning.

Also this morning, an Islamic civil rights group is calling for an investigation into a fatal shooting linked to the Boston terror attacks. The concerns -- some of the reports that Ibragim Todashev was unarmed when he was shot and killed last week by an FBI agent. Investigators were questioning Todashev about his ties to bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

That interview was taking place in Todashev's Orlando home. A law enforcement source says a violent confrontation erupted and agents shot and killed him. The FBI, though, now says it's vet investigating, as it does any shooting involving an agent. But the Council on American Islamic Relations is demanding an independent probe into that death.

In just about an hour we'll talk to Hasan (INAUDIBLE), who leads the Florida chapter of CARE.

After more than a decade as the director of the FBI, Robert Mueller is leaving his post and we now know who his replacement could be. Sources tells CNN President Obama plans to nominate James Comey to replace Mueller. Comey served in the Bush administration as the acting attorney general when John Ashcroft landed in the hospital.

But Comey, a Republican, fought against a Bush White House plan for warrantless wiretapping, something that may win over Democrats.

Let's take a look at your money now. Stocks are set to open higher this morning. Shrugging off concerns over GDP numbers and jobless claims that came in worse than expected.

Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange.

Hi Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. You know how it is. Stocks keep -- can't keep going up forever. You look at the Dow it has been kind of losing its steam lately. Closing lower in three of the past five sessions. But stock futures are pointing to a higher open when the bell rings in about 20 minutes. That's despite a huge sell-off happening in Asia overnight.

In Japan, its main stock market index, the Nikkei 225 lost more than 5 percent. That's an almost 800-point drop. That's an equivalent to 800-point drop in the Dow.

The focus today on Wall Street, though, is going to be on that economic data. You mentioned those jobless claims rising by 10,000 to 354,000 and economic growth in the first three months of this year, ticked down a bit. But still not affecting stock futures -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Alison Kosik, reporting live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

TV talent competitions are make it or break it for the lucky few who get to compete. But now it appears one of the coaches on NBC's "The Voice" is facing the music.

CNN's Pamela Brown, she's in New York. Oh. I know what the controversy is, and you have to -- you have to ask yourself why did he say that?

PAMELA ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I agree. Adam Levine in the hot seat after what happened when his mike was hot, Carol. And this morning, he is pledging his allegiance to his country today after coming under fire for an unpatriotic remark. The singer's candid comment came after a shocking elimination on NBC's "The Voice." It was -- viewers across America who kicked a member of Levine's team off the show.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: America saved Amber Carrington, moves on to the top six.

BROWN (voice-over): Being kicked off a singing competition like NBC's "The Voice" is tough for the talented contestants. But this time it was the coach who seemed to take the eliminations hardest. After realizing he would lose at least one of his team members, Adam Levine made this off-the-cuff comment during the live broadcast.

LEVINE: I hate this country.

BROWN: Immediately setting off a firestorm of angry tweets.

"I think I hate Maroon 5 just as much as Adam Levine hates America," said one. Another read, Adam Levine just said, I hate this country on TV. Not a smart move, dude. Not smart at all. Levine quickly turned to Twitter himself to apologize.

KYLE ANDERSON, STAFF WRITER, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: People were calling for him to be fired from the show, and deported which I don't think is a possible thing, but he tweeted in response, the dictionary definitions of joke and misunderstanding. And it was kind of very cheeky about it.

COSTELLO: Like the Maroon 5 front man, many viewers were shocked when one-time front-runner Judith Hill was booted from the competition.

"The Voice" made hill a standout. She came close to stardom prior to the show. She was hired as a backup singer for Michael Jackson. But the tour was cancelled canceled when Jackson died in 2009.

And many of the remaining contestants are country singers, raising the question of who's watching an who's voting? ANDERSON: When you get these people that are more geared toward country music, I think that tends to be more of a -- a safer option, a more kind of comfortable option for a lot of people than someone who is more of a pop voice or an R&B voice.

BROWN: After "American Idol," singers, Chris Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson went on to have very successful careers despite not winning.

(on camera): It shows that talent doesn't always come out on top of these shows.

ANDERSON: Oh, completely. It's almost never the case actually where the most talented person ends up being the victor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And CNN obtained a statement from Levine, explaining his controversial remark. It reads like this, "I love my country very much and my comments were made purely out of frustration." He goes on to say, he was, quote, "invested in seeing his artists succeed", and added, "My comments were made with my personal dissatisfactions with the results."

Carol, I think he learned his lesson on this one. When your mike is hot, you have to be careful.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Exactly. The first rule of everything in the entertainment world, the media world.

BROWN: Exactly.

COSTELLO: Pamela Brown, many thanks to you.

Coming up next in THE NEWSROOM, from Cleveland hero to media star to paid public speaker, Charles Ramsey, a new gig.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES RAMSEY, CLEVELAND HERO: I'm eating my McDonald's, come outside and see this girl going nuts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: From now on, if you want to hear Ramsey speak, it will cost you.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Twenty minutes past the hour. Time to check top stories.

Seven people were killed and one injured after a big rig trailer broke free of its cab on Wednesday near Syracuse, New York, and slammed into an approaching minivan. Authorities are trying to figure out the cause of the accident, which happened on a two-lane highway. The sole survivor is in the hospital. No one in the tractor-trailer hurt.

A U.S. Army soldier will plead guilty to going on a shooting spree that left 16 Afghan villagers dead. Staff Sergeant Robert Bales hopes to avoid the death penalty by admitting to last year's massacre that also wounded six Afghans. Bales' lawyer says Army Special Forces pumped his client with alcohol and steroid type drugs before the shooting. He also says the Army knew his client had post-traumatic stress disorder when it authorized his fourth deployment.

The Army isn't commenting on a potential deal. A hearing scheduled for next Wednesday.

Just hours ago in London, 22-year-old man accused of hacking a British soldier appeared in court. Michael Adebowale was handcuffed and his right and was wrapped in plastic. He acknowledged the murder charge. The judge then referred the case to a higher court where a bail hearing is set for Monday. A second murder suspect remains under arrest at a London hospital.

Two and a half weeks after the rescue of three kidnapped women, we're getting a new look inside the backyard of the Cleveland home where they were held captive for more than a decade. At this video shot yesterday, and you can see more junk piled up behind the home of the suspect, Ariel Castro. Spools of barbed wire and children's toys remain, and the windows are still boarded up. Castro remains in jail, facing multiple charges of kidnapping and rape.

And Charles Ramsey, the Cleveland dishwasher who helped Amanda Berry escape that home, Ariel Castro's home, is now a professional speaker. I found out exclusively, that Ramsey just agreed on a deal with Bruce Merrin's Celebrity Speakers and Entertainment Bureau. In short, if you want to hear about Ramsey's heroics, you'll have to pay for the privilege.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: When did you realize something was wrong?

COSTELLO (voice-over): Charles Ramsey, you know, the former Cleveland dishwasher who saved Amanda Berry and launched 1,000 unintentionally one liners.

RAMSEY: I barbecued with this dude. We eat ribs and whatnot, and listened to salsa music.

I knew something was wrong when a little, pretty white girl ran to a black man's arms.

My father would have whooped the hell out of me if he had found out if he had found out that I would cower out.

That's all it's about. It's about the cojones.

COSTELLO: Ramsey, that's Ramsey, who is already getting free McDonald's hamburgers for a year will now hit the speaker circuit to share his story for $10,000 a pop. He just signed with Bruce Merrin's Celebrity Speakers and Entertainment Bureau in Las Vegas.

BRUCE MERRIN, CELEBRITY SPEAKERS AND ENTERTAINMENT BUREAU: He is so charismatic. I just totally adore him. His charisma just shines through and I think he has a very touching and emotional message.

He had the courage and the motivation to go and help somebody out when they were in a disastrous situation. And I really admire and respect that.

COSTELLO: Ramsey told us through his attorney and a friend he wants to take ownership of his own name. Ever since he rescued Berry, Ramsey has become a cash cow, for everyone but himself.

YouTube has dozens of Ramsey videos online, complete with advertisements. Ramsey action figures for sale online at $19.95 a piece. A Taiwanese company was selling a cheesy video game depicting a McDonald's-eating Ramsey throwing hamburgers at the alleged kidnapper. And a consortium of northeast Ohio restaurants were selling Ramsey burgers.

Ramsey says, "I never told these people they could use my name for this."

But as motivational speaker, Ramsey will use his own name -- yes, to make money, but to inspire too. And perhaps raise money for Amanda, Gina, and Michelle as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And this whole thing has been a blessing and a curse for Mr. Ramsey. He's had to hire a lawyer to protect his image and his name. And, of course, that costs money. But until he starts his new gig, remains unemployed. But Bruce Merrin tells me there is a lot of interest in hearing Charles Ramsey speak. So, we'll keep you posted.

Still ahead in THE NEWSROOM: he's hailed as a hero. The 17-year-old student who alerted authorities to a possible bomb attack in hi Oregon high school, we'll have his story in his own words, next.

(COMMERCIALBREAK)

COSTELLO: He's being called a hero. Seventeen-year-old Truman Templeton called police last Thursday and alerted them to fellow student Grant Acord's homemade bombs and his alleged plan to blow up West Albany High School in Oregon. A phone call that may have saved many lives, for the first, we're hearing Templeton's story.

He sat down with for an exclusive with CNN affiliate KATU.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMAN TEMPLETON, ALERTED POLICE TO OREGON SCHOOL BOMB PLOT: At this point, yes, I should come forward. People want to know who I am and they have a right to know.

REPORTER: They do want to know you. How does it feel when you read comments on Twitter, and Facebook, and whatnot, people are saying, I just want to thank that person, I want to know who that hero is?

TEMPLETON: It's hard for me to believe that it's me when I see it. It's just like, is this really me they are talking about? It's like hard to believe I did all this.

REPORTER (voice-over): What he did took courage nobody else at West Albany High School had. Truman Templeton is the mystery tipster, whose information helped police find six bombs, detailed plans for an attack and arrest a suspect, also a junior named Grant Acord.

TEMPLETON: The tipping point for me, I was just worried about being at school, and I thought at this point, OK, this school is supposed to be safe, secure environment.

REPORTER: Truman told me he started feeling unsafe a few months ago. He says Grant talked more openly about bombs. Showed off this manual he bought to make homemade explosives called "The Anarchy Cookbook," and even let another student into his bedroom, to see what seemed like a real bomb.

Do you feel like you saved lives?

TEMPLETON: At this point, yes.

REPORTER: So, you were so confident that there was a real danger?

TEMPLETON: Yes. And I'm glad I came forward. REPORTER: Truman set off the chain of events on Thursday afternoon, when he got home from school, and his mom noticed something wasn't right.

TEMPLETON: I've been kind of nervous, and she asked me what was going on? And I thought, you know what, I might as well come forward with this.

REPORTER: It must have taken a lot of confidence and courage to do this.

TEMPLETON: I will admit, I was very nervous.

REPORTER: Nervous but confident. Truman told his mom. She asked a law enforcement friend for advice and that's who called police.

TEMPLETON: It's pretty overwhelming but my hope is that people will follow my lead and you know, maybe more open about this kind of stuff and report sooner.

REPORTER: Now, all this 17-year-old has to worry about is dealing with his new hero status.

You're going to be a rock star in school, I mean --

TEMPLETON: It will be interesting.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: He said it will be interesting. We hope so. And by the way, the suspect, Grant Acord did appear in court on Tuesday. He did not enter a plea.

Just ahead in THE NEWSROOM, the attorney general under fire, scandals surround the Justice Department. Should he resign? Should the president fire him? We'll talk.

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