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CNN NEWSROOM

U.S. Monitoring Verizon Calls; Tropical Storm Andrea Nears Florida; Jackson's Daughter Slit Her Wrist; Interview with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan; Girl's New Chance for a Transplant

Aired June 6, 2013 - 09:00   ET

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


JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Berman.

CNN NEWSROOM with Christi Paul begins right now.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks guys.

Happening now in the NEWSROOM it sounds like one of George Orwell's worst nightmares, right, a U.S. spy agency tracking phone calls of millions of Americans.

Well, it may all be legal under the Patriot Act.

Found alive. Rescue workers reached a woman who spent more than 12 hours trapped under several tons of debris after a building demolition debacle.

Plus the rains, they're already starting. Sandbags being filled, as Tropical Storm Andrea takes aim at Florida Gulf Coast.

And Michael Jackson's only daughter rushed to the hospital after an apparent suicide attempt, all -- of course amid the Jackson family's latest lawsuit. Now see the video where Paris Jackson says she's crazy and needs help.

NEWSROOM starts now.

Well, I want to wish you a happy Friday eve on this morning. I'm Christi Paul in for Carol Costello. Thanks for keeping me company here.

This morning of course we're talking about the White House reacting to the report that a U.S. spy agency is monitoring millions of your phone calls and defending it. They call it a counterterrorism tool. Now we're talking about a secret court order obtained by a British newspaper that forces Verizon to hand over telephone records to the National Security Agency.

That includes domestic calls, foreign calls, telephone numbers, and the location, time and duration of your calls. Now some people are outraged as you can imagine, and say this is the broadest surveillance order ever issued.

I want to look at the reaction online, too. The "Huffington Post" headline today, "They're Watching." And the "Drudge Report," kind of take a snarky angle. "Can you hear me now?" But not everyone is so upset. I mean, conservative Newt Gingrich told CNN's Piers Morgan he's OK with it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: If the -- if the necessity for tracking down terrorists in the United States is that the National Security Agency limited only to counterterrorism, is gathering information, then I would support it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: CNN's White House correspondent Brianna Keilar in Washington right now.

Good morning to you, Brianna. And I know this is the first time we're seeing something that's large in the Obama administration, right?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It is, Christi. And this is getting a lot of attention here in Washington today. Let me give you a little bit of a snippet of this top secret order that was published by Britain's "Guardian" newspaper. In it, it says it is hereby ordered that Verizon shall produce and continue production on a daily basis, all call detail records or telephony meta data created by Verizon for communications between the U.S. and abroad, or wholly within the U.S. including local telephone calls.

You of course, in the past, Christi, and certainly under the Bush administration, there were a lot of questions about surveillance, generally involving a party in a foreign country. Well, this is not just that. This also extends to phone calls that would obviously originate and end here in the U.S. as well.

The -- a senior administration official responding to this this morning, and this is kind of interesting, because since this is a top- secret order at the request of the FBI, the FBI is not confirming that this is happening, they're not commenting, and the senior administration official sort of weaving through this.

Not confirming that this is necessarily going on, but talking about this document, saying that, "Information of the sort described in 'The Guardian' article has been a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats to the United States as it allows counterterrorism personnel to discover whether known or suspected terrorists have been in contact with other persons who may be in engaged in terrorist activities, particularly people located inside the United States" -- Christi.

PAUL: All right. Hey, Brianna, thank you so much for bringing us the very latest there from Washington.

But I want to bring in CNN's national security analyst Fran Townsend. And she was also a Homeland Security adviser under President George W. Bush, is a member of both the CIA and DHS External Advisory Committees, and joining us now via Skype from New York. Fran, so good to see you again. You know, we know we need surveillance. That isn't something that's new. But who decides where that line is? You know, where you draw it? Is it a dotted line?

FRANCES FRAGOS TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, Christi, people will recall during the Bush administration the controversy surrounded President Bush did this by executive order. He did it by a presidential order directing the telephone companies.

Now after the reauthorization of the Patriot Act passed by Congress and with Congress' approval and understanding, there is the ability to go to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, something I worked with and supervised, the attorneys in the Justice Department when I was there. And you have to do a court order and you request from the court, which reviews your reasons for it and your -- the legal basis for it, what it is you want.

Let's be clear, under this court order, all they are getting is -- as Brianna said, is the meta data, that is who called who, those the numbers, the duration, the locations of those phones. They're not authorized to collect the content. They're not authorized to listen to the content of that phone call, and, in fact, if for some reason they develop additional probable cause, they have to go back to the court and seek the court's permission to actually listen to the content.

They use the telephony data, the meta data, in order to sort of identify associations and affiliations. And I think that's probably why you hear the senior administration official saying it's played a critical role in counterterrorism operations. That shouldn't be a surprise.

PAUL: Well, do they -- do they have a responsibility I guess on some level to tell us? I mean, we know that it's secret in the sense that they are looking for terrorism. But when you look at this broadness as a whole, and is Verizon the only -- is Verizon the only company that is giving this? So should we assume that maybe it's even broader?

TOWNSEND: Yes, I mean, I think, look, we haven't confirmed -- you know, because the U.S. government is not confirming the court order, we don't know for sure, but certainly if they are doing this with Verizon, you've got to presume that they're doing it more broadly with other telecommunications companies.

The other thing is just because the order -- this one order has leaked now, this was a program going back to the time of the Bush administration, there was the reauthorization of the Patriot Act, and frankly, I have -- we should have no reason to believe that there was any interruption in this critical program, including from the time of President Obama's election. And so this has been -- I think based on everything we do know, we understand that this has been a critical tool, but I think you're right. I think people must understand that this is likely broader than "The Guardian" story reports.

PAUL: All right. Fran Townsend, so good to have you with us. Thank you for taking the time.

You know, more than 12 hours after being trapped in a Philadelphia building collapse, a 61-year-old woman is pulled out alive. Well, kudos to the guys you see there who were working fearlessly to try to find people there.

We're talking about Myra Plekam in this case. She was found in the rubble just before midnight. We do know that six people died when this building that was being demolished came crumbling down on top of a thrift store that was next door. So witnesses say it was just jarring to see the damage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAUDE DAVIS, WITNESS: And I heard this great big crack, and I looked, and I seen the building crumble. Oh, it was painful. Oh, my goodness. And I thought about all of the people in there, they couldn't get out of there. And I screamed and hollered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Fourteen people, though, did survive that collapse.

And, again, thanks to all those crews there who worked so hard.

Tropical Storm Andrea bearing down on Florida, poised to make landfall a little bit later today. The storms already pounding the coastline, though. Take a look at some of the latest video we've been getting in. Heavy rain that spawned at least one tornado we know.

CNN's George Howell joins us on the phone from Clearwater Beach, Florida.

So George, kind of give us some semblance of what the conditions are like right now. How are you doing?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure, absolutely, Christi. We see winds definitely pick up out here. Winds anywhere from 60 miles per hour. They can gust up to 70 miles per hour but what we understand according to the National Hurricane Center, the storm will not get up to hurricane strength.

Mainly what we're seeing here, it's a rainmaker, torrential rainfall. It comes and goes. And you see these bands come across the area a few hours back. It was a big heavy band that had some tornadic activity.

Keep in mind, we've been talking about tornadoes a lot. Especially in Oklahoma. These tornadoes are not nearly as strong. But definitely tornadoes can be associated with these bands. Another big band right now here in the Tampa area and it will stay like this for some time. For the next several hours. Just a lot of rain and localized flooding. Nothing major at this point. But definitely a lot of rain today.

PAUL: OK. Well, hope it continues to be nothing major. We know the folks down there certainly know how to handle it. Thank you so much, George Howell.

HOWELL: Thank you.

PAUL: Stay safe to you and your crew there.

I know you've heard about Michael Jackson's only daughter. Well, she is recovering this morning after an apparent suicide attempt.

CNN's Miguel Marquez is following this from Los Angeles.

Miguel, what -- how is she doing first of all this morning? Do you know?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, that's the bottom line here, Christi. A family spokesperson says that Paris Jackson is doing fine and she is at the moment getting the help she needs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ (voice-over): A cry for help is how some family sources are describing a possible suicide attempt by Paris Jackson. Paramedics rushing to the Jackson family home. A suicide hot line counselor called 911 after getting a call from Paris.

Frightening moments captured in this dispatch transmission played by "Entertainment Tonight."

UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: Calabasas, female, 15, OD'd on 20 Motrin and cut her arm with kitchen knife.

MARQUEZ: 911 responded to Jackson's home at 1:27 a.m. Wednesday morning for the possible overdose and a cut to one wrist.

PARIS JACKSON, MICHAEL JACKSON'S DAUGHTER: Hello. This is my face. It's kind of a shocker, but, yes, this is what I look like.

MARQUEZ: A week ago, Jackson released this "how to" makeup on video. In it, she's funny, even silly.

JACKSON: What is she doing there? What? What?

MARQUEZ: And a 15-year-old with great natural beauty at times acts like any other teenager. Unsure of herself.

JACKSON: Yes. I'm pink in the face because I have acne. I am so crazy. I need serious help. I'm crazy. I'm crazy.

MARQUEZ: Hours before the 911 called Jackson twitted, "I wonder why tears are salty." And quoted the Beatles. "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as though they are here to stay."

ALAN DUKE, CNN PRODUCER: Paris is a very sensitive and dramatic child. A teenager, 15 years old, the emotions that come with that.

MARQUEZ: Jackson along with her grandmother Katherine and her siblings are suing concert promoter AEG for the wrongful death of her father. Twice, she's been questioned.

KEVIN BOYLE, JACKSON FAMILY ATTORNEY: Paris Jackson was asked intimate details about her father and her father's death. It was a very intense situation.

MARQUEZ: A tough situation for any kid, tougher yet for one who has spent so much of her life in the spotlight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: And a family spokesperson says that 15-year-old is very sensitive, which is tough to be a 15-year-old for any kid, it's particularly tough when you lose the person closest to you, that is, naming Michael Jackson -- Christi.

PAUL: No doubt. All right. Hey, Miguel, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

MARQUEZ: You got it.

PAUL: Just ahead in the NEWSROOM, technology may be the way forward, right? Some schools, though, are being left behind and it's all because of their Internet connection. Well, the secretary of education is joining me next with a plan to fix that problem, the question is, who's going to pay for it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: All right. Let's take a look at the top stories of the day.

Investigators believe a mechanical failure is what sparked that deadly fire in San Francisco Area Bridge last month. This is according to KGO TV. But officials say air springs in the back of the limo, remember the story, ruptured and that's what set in motion a chain reaction that led to the fire. Five women died in that car. Remember, they were headed to a bridal shower.

Six people suffered minor injuries when a woman crashed her minivan through the front window of a Westchester, Ohio Taco Bell. Look at that thing.

OK. This happened on Tuesday afternoon. And police say the 36-year- old woman who is driving the minivan may have been experiencing a medical emergency.

A thunderstorm ripped through Lubbock, Texas, Wednesday, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Look at this stuff. Winds so strong, they knocked down power lines, threw a mobile home into the road. A local hospital with part of its roof torn off. Patients had to be moved pretty quickly. And so far, there have not been any reports of injuries, thankfully.

And talk about a retirement plan. Yes, 84-year-old Florida woman came forward yesterday as the sole winner of the record-breaking $590 million Powerball jackpot. Gloria Mackenzie has opted for the lump sum payment, which means she's going to take home $270 million in cash. That, of course, is after taxes. But congratulations to her.

All right. Let's face it. Things have changed, right, since we went to grade school. So, the thing is: now, kids have computers and e- books, and they can take classes via Skype, a whole new world of technology. But a lot of schools have a big problem. They don't have high speed broadband or wireless, which limits the possibility for these kids.

So, the White House unveiling a new program called ConnectED. It aims to upgrade connectivity for schools and library. It's going to help teachers, they say, keep pace with changing technology and it wit will help teachers and student take advantage of things like e-books and upgraded software.

So, for more on this, I want to bring the U.S. secretary of education, Arne Duncan, who joins us from the White House lawn.

Mr. Duncan, thank you so much.

I want to talk to you about the fact that we know less than 20 percent of educators say that the school's Internet connection meet their teaching needs. But this sounds like a massive project. What's it going to take, first of all?

ARNE DUNCAN, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: First of all, good morning, Christi.

This is an amazing opportunity for our nation's schoolchildren. And the president challenged all of us to work together and figure out how we get broadband access, high speed to virtually every school across the country. This is fantastic for students.

We want everyone to have access to advanced placement classes, foreign language classes, to have online tutoring. It's a great way to engage students in their own learning.

And we want to empower teachers. And teachers are looking for more here. And so, there's going to be some hard work ahead of us. We, along with the FCC, have to take a look at what we're doing.

But think about the opportunities both for students and for teachers if we can get this right over the next four, five years, open literally a new world of opportunity.

PAUL: I have to think people listening to you say, "Yes, that sounds great." Here's the question. Who's going to pay for this? There are a lot of rural schools. I went to a little rural school who can't afford this.

So, where is the money going to come from?

DUNCAN: Now, schools can't begin to do this by themselves. So, the FCC has had a fantastic program, called E-Rate, which has funded a lot of that over the past 15, 17 years. That program hasn't been updated in the while. We think there are some deficiencies there. So, the FCC is going to take a very close look and if we need to make small additional investments as we move forward. That's the right thing to do for children, for our country and ultimately, for our country's economic competitiveness.

So, we're going to leave no stone unturned and figure out, how to get this right as fast as we can. It would be very, very clear, this is simply a question of whether we as a country are going to be a leader, or going to be a laggard? Other countries like South Korea are already ahead of us. We need to catch up, and catch up as fast as we can.

PAUL: So, when you talk about the economics of this and you ask that question, you know, where are we going to prioritize? Are we going to prioritize education, you mentioned one place where money will come from. But certainly that can't cover the cost?

DUNCAN: Well, we think it could. Again, we think there's some real efficiencies within the E-Rate program, and if we have to have a slight increase in fees for a short period of time, we're prepared to look at that.

But this is the best investment we can make. We want to keep good jobs in the country and we think our children are smart, as talented, and creative as entrepreneurial as children anywhere in the world. We just need to level the playing field for our student and for our teachers as well.

PAUL: Are you hoping that, you know, people in the private sector, that companies might step up and help either monetarily or even with product.

DUNCAN: Absolutely. That's a great question and for us to be as effective and efficient as we want to be, we need great public/private partnerships. It's a huge opportunity for the private sector to step up. We want to make sure every child, whether it's in the inner city, whether it's in the rural community, or a remote community or Native American reservation, that they have access to knowledge and the chance to learn 24/7.

The idea that you just sit in your desk six hours a day, five days a week, nine months a year to learn simply doesn't make sense anymore.

PAUL: All righty. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, thank you for taking the time to be with us.

DUNCAN: Thanks for the opportunity.

PAUL: Appreciate it, Secretary.

All right. Still ahead, renewed hope for Sarah Murnaghan, the 10- year-old. I know you know her, with cystic fibrosis. She could get the lungs she so desperately needs now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PAUL: This is just one of those stories that kind of rips at you. A 10-year-old girl with cystic fibrosis -- well, I'm happy to tell you, she is one step closer to getting the new lungs that her family says she so desperately needs to live.

A federal judge, we know now, has blocked a rule that keeps Sarah Murnaghan and other children under the age of 12 off the adult transplant list. And that's given Sarah and her family and whole new hope that their prayers are going to be answered soon possibly.

Jason Carroll has been following the story from New York.

So, Jason, let me ask you, first of all, how is she doing?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, she had a rough last night and the night before. But Sarah Murnaghan's parents said as soon as she got the news, literally everyone in the hospital room there, they were thrilled, jumping for joy.

You know, her parents basically say, Christi, all they ever wanted was a fair chance for their daughter and they say, now, they finally have it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CHEERS)

CARROLL (voice-over): This was Sara Murnaghan's reaction after getting word a federal judge has temporarily helped her win a victory, the battle to save her life.

In the late stages of cystic fibrosis, she desperately needs a lung transplant, having been on the children's donor list 18 months.

Wednesday, her parents filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services to get her included on the adult list. Current policy prevents children under 12 from being on the list.

But late Wednesday, Judge Michael Baylson issued a ten-day restraining order directing the department to immediately cease application of the under 12 rule as to Sarah Murnaghan so that she can be considered for receipt of donated lungs from adults.

FRAN MURNAGHAN, SARAH'S FATHER: What the judge is allowing to happen today is allowing her to be on equal ground with the other folks, I mean, adults.

CARROLL: As Sarah became sicker over the past few weeks, the Murnaghans appealed to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to change the policy. Sebelius said it was not within her power to immediately change it.

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, HHS SECRETARY: The worst of all worlds in my mind is to have some individual pick and choose to live and who dies. I think you want a process where it's guided by medical science and medical experts. CARROLL: Secretary Sebelius also saying there are 40 adults currently in Murnaghan's region in need of a transplant. But the Murnaghan say Sarah is so sick, it's likely she'll still be at the top of the adult list.

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey says federal guidelines have to ensure fairness to both children and adults.

SEN. BOB CASEY (D), PHILADELPHIA: It's difficult but you've got to be able to work within the rules but also to make the case when you believe that children could be adversely impacted by a policy.

SARAH MURNAGHAN: I lost two teeth!

CARROLL: Time for Sarah still running out, but the Murnaghans now believe she has a fighting chance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: And, Christi, we want to point out that we continue to reach out to Secretary Sebelius as of late last night. Her spokesman says she is still not available for an interview at this time.

As for Sarah Murnaghan, again, her parents say they feel confident she will be at the top or at least somewhere near the top of the donor list and time is really of essence here to try and fin some sort of match within the 10-day period. The family spokeswoman telling me this morning that Sarah has not been doing well -- Christi.

PAUL: This story, this is one of those that just rips me up. And I know a lot of other people, too, because we know Sarah is not the only one. There are other families.

CARROLL: Right.

PAUL: So, my question is, I know that this court order injunction pertains only to Sarah and we're hoping the very best for this family. I'm wondering if you've heard any reaction from other family who are waiting as well, and maybe hoping the same thing could happen for them?

CARROLL: Well, I think a lot of people out there are waiting to see what happens with this particular case, with Sarah Murnaghan's case. And again, there's no guarantee, even now that she's been moving to this adult list, that she will, in fact, get this transplant in time.

There's still a lot of variables at work here during this 10-day period, trying to find a match, blood type. All sorts of factors weigh in here. And as you heard Secretary Sebelius point out, there's still 40 other adults who are very sick within that same region -- Sarah Murnaghan in a six-state region in the Northeast -- that are also waiting for a lung transplant as well.

And so, I think the main point here, there simply aren't enough organs to go around for anyone, whether you'd be an adult or a child.

PAUL: Yes. Boy, this one really hits home, certainly keeping that family in our thoughts and prayers. Thank you so much, Jason Carroll.

CARROLL: You bet.

PAUL: Yes. We are grateful.

Up next: Racial profiling, wannabe cop -- learn why George Zimmerman's lawyers want those and several other phrases banned from his trial.

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