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CNN NEWSROOM

Second Day of Contentious Testimony; Snowden in Russia; Court Guts Voting Rights Act; Manhunt Underway in LAPD Ambush

Aired June 25, 2013 - 14:00   ET

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


BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Flying from Hong Kong, the city he initially escaped to. Passengers reportedly spotted him on the flight but somehow Snowden never made it to Terminal F, as the others did. It is not clear where he went after landing, but Russia's foreign minister insisted that Snowden, and I'm quoting him here, did not cross the Russian border. Then the president of Russia confirming that the man the U.S. has charged with espionage never flew out of Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIA (through translator): Snowden is still in transit area as a transit passenger. Our special services never worked with Snowden and are not working with him today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Putin went on to say, quote, "Mr. Snowden is a free man. The faster he chooses his ultimate destination point, the better for us and for him."

Also today, another revelation on just how long Edward Snowden had been planning to expose the government. It may also explain why he took a pay cut to work at Booz Allen Hamilton. He told the Hong Kong newspaper, the "South China Morning Post," this. Let me quote it. "My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the word the NSA hacked. That is why I accepted the position about three months ago."

And the paper further reported this. Quote, "asked if he specifically went to Booz Allen Hamilton to gather evidence of surveillance, he replied, 'correct on Booz.'"

So, what does the United States do now? CNN's national security analyst and former CIA operative Bob Baer is here to help us answer that.

Bob, first to the basics, so we're all on the same page. When we're talking about where Mr. Snowden is in this -- OK. I'm being told we don't have Bob Baer. OK. So we're going to switch gears. We're going to come back. We want to bring Bob Baer in because I have a lot of questions on this transit zone and this notion of exfiltration, whether or not the CIA and some special ops team can go in and grab him in this transit zone and move forward. But we'll switch gears.

It is day two of testimony in the long awaited George Zimmerman murder trial as both sides try to recover from an explosive and somewhat uncomfortable first day that included expletives, and, oh, yes, that knock-knock joke. Testimony today is focusing on George Zimmerman's role as a neighborhood watch volunteer and his past interactions with the Sanford, Florida, police department.

Sergeant Anthony Raimando has just finished testifying he was a patrol sergeant the night Trayvon Martin was shot. Now, this officer says he arrived on the scene within five minutes after receiving the call that the shots were fired.

Let's go straight to Sanford to just outside that courthouse where we have Martin Savidge standing by.

And so, Martin, let's begin with this testimony from this police officer. Tell me what he told the court.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a very graphic and very grim basic testimony that was coming from one of these officers. He was the first responder, one of the first responders on scene. And he talks about first and foremost seeing the body of Trayvon Martin. And this was the first time the jury has seen pictures now with the trial underway of seeing the 17-year-old sprawled on the ground after he was fatally shot by George Zimmerman. So that obviously had a stunning impact on them.

And then on top of that was this testimony because there was a frantic effort on the part of this officer, aided by another one, to apply CPR to the 17-year-old and it really was very powerful as he describes the last breath that this teenager takes. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After you rolled his body over onto his back, did you again try to get a pulse?

SERGEANT ANTHONY RAIMANDO, SANFORD, FLORIDA, POLICE: Yes, sir, I did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you do that?

RAIMANDO: Same carotid area, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And were you able to get a pulse?

RAIMANDO: No, sir, I was not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. What did you do next?

RAIMANDO: I breathed for Mr. Martin, or I tried to, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a CPR technique?

RAIMANDO: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have training in CPR?

RAIMANDO: Yes, sir, I do. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. And what specially - what was your role in that - the CPR attempts on Trayvon Martin?

RAIMANDO: I was doing breaths, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: At one point that officer says that he sort of shouted out to the crowd that had gathered there, did anyone have a plastic bag and Vaseline. That was because he knew that Trayvon had this wound in his chest and CPR wouldn't work unless they could close that in some way. They found a plastic bag and they were able to do it. But, of course, Trayvon, unbeknownst to them, had been shot in the heart and was already dead at that time.

Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon's mother, listened to this. She sat stoically, her eyes straight ahead at the witness. But you could just imagine for that family just how emotional and difficult that would have been to hear.

BALDWIN: Yes, that was my next question. Just being in the courtroom and looking at those parents, seeing, I guess, their visceral reaction to this testimony and also just remind our viewers, Martin, the fact that Zimmerman's parents, they are not in this courtroom. They have been subpoenas. As it is with Florida law specifically, you know, if you are scheduled to testify, you cannot sit there and listen to other testimony, correct?

SAVIDGE: Right. And that was an emotional issue that came up yesterday.

BALDWIN: Yes.

SAVIDGE: And we should point out, of course, that George Zimmerman is saying that he shot Trayvon Martin in self-defense.

BALDWIN: Self-defense.

SAVIDGE: The defense is maintaining that he was attacked by the teen.

But you're right, the parents of George Zimmerman were there. They wanted to support their son on the first day and the judge essentially said, look, you know, because they could potentially be witnesses, they cannot listen to the proceedings, so they have to leave. They were ordered out of the courtroom. They were not happy. They wanted to show their support for their son.

BALDWIN: Martin Savidge for us in Sanford, Florida. Martin, thank you very much.

Want to take you back to where we began to the search for Edward Snowden and what the United States will do now. Remember, he is charged with espionage and more charges could be added on top of that. CNN national security analyst and former CIA operative -- there he is -- Bob Baer is here to help us answer some of that. And first we now know, you know, Bob, according on the president, Vladimir Putin, he has not left the borders of Russia. He is in Moscow. He's in this area of the airport described as the transit zone. Can you describe what exactly that is, first?

BOB BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, it's still Russian territory. I mean the Russians have complete control over this. He got off the plane from Hong Kong. They wouldn't let him pass through customers and immigrations. They're keeping him back probably in a VIP area. And - but that's definitely Russian control. I would imagine by now Russian security officers have talked to him, potentially the KGB as well. I know the Russia have denied it, but I frankly doubt that. I mean he has a lot to tell so they've probably been questioning him.

I think at this point, Putin is going to play this for all it's worth. He really doesn't like this president. He doesn't like the United States. Putin is a former KGB officer. He's furious that a couple of years ago we caught almost a dozen illegals, non-official cover officers, Russians in this country, exposed them, humiliated them, and he's never forgotten this. you know, this is speculation, but I think he's probably getting back at us and he's going to - and, as I said, is going to play this for all it's worth.

BALDWIN: So perhaps retribution. At the same time, though, you asked - they want this guy. They want to track down and have Ed Snowden obviously face the justice system here in the states. And the reason I want to just talk to you, Bob, is because of this word in the world of the CIA, exfiltration. So what I can tell -- and you're the expert - but that's when an agent, or maybe a team, you know, you go in, you swoop in, and you grab someone and you bring them home. I mean you've done many of these exfiltrations in the past. Might this work in this case?

BAER: Not in Russia.

BALDWIN: No.

BAER: The Russians have got security all over this person. They're not going to - they're going to let him go when they want to, when it serves their political interest. I can't tell you when that's going to be, but there's no way to do a rendition or to grab this guy in Russia at all. It's just not possible.

BALDWIN: What is possible?

BAER: Possible is the president gets on the phone with Putin and make -- cuts a deal. We want this guy back. We want to know how much damage he did around the world. We don't know what was in those laptops he took out, the thumb drives, where else he's stowed information. We just don't know at this point. The National Security Agency really wants to find out and see how far we've been set pack, and it could be major, major damage.

BALDWIN: Secretary of State John Kerry spoke again today to CNN talking specifically about what the U.S. is asking for from Russia. Here's what he told us. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: We're not looking for a confrontation. We're not ordering anybody. We're simply requesting, under a very normal procedure, for the transfer of somebody, just as we transferred to Russia seven people in the last two years that they requested that we did without any clamor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: What is the likelihood, Bob Baer, that the U.S. ever gets Ed Snowden home to face charges at this point?

BAER: I think we will eventually one day, but right he's more or less got defector status. I mean it's not the same case as us catching the seven Russians. I mean they were officers serving here at the behest of Moscow. But this man has put himself in the hands of first China and now Russia and it may be up to him. There's no extradition treaty that would cover this.

BALDWIN: Bob Baer from Irvine, California. Bob, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon here.

Another big story out of Washington. After nearly half a century, the U.S. Supreme Court pulled the plug today on federal supervision of nine mostly southern states whose records on race relations were deem a threat to minority voting rights. So under the landmark Voting Rights Act, changes to voting laws in these nine states require advance approval by the Justice Department. But not anymore. These are the states in yellow. So Chief Justice John Roberts summarized his opinion in four telling words. Here they are. "Our country has changed." Attorney General Eric Holder says, yes, it has, but not enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: These problems have not been consigned to history. They continue to exist. Their effects are real. They are of today, not yesterday, and they corrode the foundations of our democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now from Washington is Eleanor Holmes Norton. She is the non-voting delegate to Congress representing the District of Columbia.

Congresswoman, nice to have you back on the show. I know you believe the high court got it wrong today, but let me ask you this, aren't there ways of enforcing the Voting Right Act, to name one lawsuits, without subjugating these nine states - subjecting, rather, subjecting these nine states to this intrusive, federal oversight?

REP. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON (D), WASHINGTON, D.C., DELEGATE: Yes, you're speaking of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act which applies nationwide. So you can bring a suit, and after the elections are all other, of course, you may win it.

But the reason that we have Section 5 and the formula that comes with it is that what a southern and some other states have tended to do is to make changes in laws shortly before elections. If they keep doing that and you have to go in after the fact, of course, you never catch up. So what the court did was to make the pre-clearance section -

BALDWIN: Section 4.

HOLMES NORTON: No, the pre-clearance is the one that we all -- we all fought for Section 5, which is the pre-clearance section where certain states have to pre-clear all their laws. We thought that would be struck down. Instead, they struck down the formula. Now, what that is, is a wild pitch in my judgment, but its landed right in the two chambers of the Congress because we can fix the formula. They didn't say it was unconstitutional and could not be fixed. They said the formula relied on old data and they implied that if it had been better data, then perhaps some of these states would no longer be include.

BALDWIN: Right.

HOLMES NORTON: But, of course, that belies the facts. The fact is that the formula worked and these are the very states that we had found time after time were continuing to use the -- to block the rights of minorities in the south.

BALDWIN: Right. Right. They're saying specifically it needs to be contemporary data and perhaps that something that Congress can do and can find. But I want to just play this because this is the lawyer who argued the winning side of the case. He like, who I just quoted, Chief Justice Roberts, seems to believe that this 1965 enforcement standard is out of date.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARD BLUM, DIRECTOR, PROJECTS ON FAIR REPRESENTATION: The American south long ago laid down the burden of racial disfranchisement and has integrated African-Americans and minorities fully into its public life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I think I hear you laughing. What is your reaction to that, congresswoman?

HOLMES NORTON: If that's the case, why do we have so many statutes that have been thrown out, have to be blocked and have to be pre- cleared? Yes, the south has changed. And guess why it's changed?

BALDWIN: Why?

HOLMES NORTON: It's changed because of the Voting Rights Act, which, of course, the courts has now said we must revive (ph) if it's to be - revise if it's to be useful to us. I think we can do that. And my challenge is this. I remember when we authorized this act in 2006. I've never seen anything like it before or since. BALDWIN: How come?

HOLMES NORTON: Every member of the leadership stood on the steps of the capital with every member of Congress behind them saying, we have together enacted this law. So I challenge my Republican colleagues, Mr. Boehner, Mr. McConnell, who were on those steps that day to fix this formula so that we can do what they said they wanted to do, and that is to make sure that every person, regardless of color or ethnic background, has the right to vote.

BALDWIN: What about -- and I think I know your answer, but I just have to ask. You know, the critics who have said, look, we - you know, as a nation we've elected Barack Obama, the first African-American president, and we re-elected him. Why is this necessary in these nine states in 2013?

HOLMES NORTON: Well, you know - well, you know, the court cited voter turnout. And, of course, we had voter turnout in no small part because we had the first black man running for president. But the fact is that voting -- voter turnout is not the only basis to judge whether or not the southern states and other states are engaging in practices to keep people from voting. I mean what are we to do about the Alaskan natives, for example, who found that their voting place had been changed before an election so that the only way you could get there was by sea or by air. Voting after the fact won't deal with that, and yet that was done with this formula in place in Alaska.

Well, it's a challenge to us. Could have been worse. Section 5, the pre-clearance section, could have been found unconstitutional. This is a majority that I believe wants to do that. But since its given us a chance to fix the formula, that's what we should do now and as soon as possible.

BALDWIN: Sounds like you accept the challenge, congresswoman. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, a please. Thank you so much.

HOLMES NORTON: My pleasure.

BALDWIN: And, as you can tell, a huge hour in news, including this.

As Paula Deen loses millions, her fans and her sons defend her against charges of racism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBY DEAN, PAULA DEEN'S SON: It is not in my vocabulary. It's definitely not in my brother's vocabulary. It's not in my mother's vocabulary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: First Paris. Now Michael Jackson's oldest son set to testify.

Plus, thousands of inmates getting ready to leave their cells because of this potentially deadly airborne fungus.

And, a plane carrying more than $1 million lands without the cash. The feds on the hunt in a possible airport heist.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Paula Deen, she may be sitting on millions and millions of dollar, $17 million to be precise in profits last year, but how much will her admission to using the "n" word cost her culinary empire. With the Food Network's announcement that it would not be renewing its contract with the celeb chef, now QVC's reviewing its relationship. Now Smithfield Foods cutting ties. This has to be taking a bit of sting - there's this FaceBook page here in support of Paula Deen now with more than 375,000 likes.

And we have now just confirmed that orders for Paula Deen's upcoming cookbook have surged on Amazon. Her sons, this morning, speaking exclusively with Chris Cuomo on CNN's "New Day," saying support has been pouring in for their mother since her deposition where she talked about her usage of the "n" word. Since that went public, Bobby and Jamie Deen insist that racism allegations against their mother are character assassination that started out as extortion. Here they were.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE DEEN, PAULA DEEN'S SON: My mother would never teach Bobby and I anything other - we're obviously a product of our environment. We care very much about our community. I'm raising two buys right now. This is ridiculous. It's completely absurd to think that there's an environmental of racism in our business. And it's really disrespectful to the people that we work with. We have strong, educated men and women of character that have been with us for five, 10, 15, 20 years. To think that they would allow themselves to be in this position is simply baloney. It's ridiculous.

BOBBY DEEN, PAUL DEEN'S SON: We were raised in a family with love and of faith in a house where God lived. And neither one of our parents ever taught us to be bigoted towards any other person for any reason. And this is so saddening to me because our mother is one of the most compassionate, good-hearted, empathetic people that you'd ever meet. And these accusations are very hurtful to her and it's very sad. And, frankly, I'm disgusted by the entire thing because it began as extortion and it has become character assassination. And our mother's not the picture that's being painted of her.

J. DEEN: Let me tell you a story, Chris. When I was a young man in 1975, before I had my tonsils taken out, Henry Aaron was my first sports hero growing up. In 1974, he broke Babe Ruth's home run record by hitting 715 home runs. Before I had my tonsils taken out, I was obviously - I was seven years old. I was very nervous. My parents gave me Hank Aaron pajamas. And when they gave me these pajamas, my mom and dad told me the story of the challenges that "The Hammer" faced in his pursuit of this record. They told me that he's a man of character and the challenges that he overcome because of his color was unacceptable. This is a lesson that my mom and dad taught me when I was seven years old and it's a lesson that I've carried throughout my life of inclusion and to treat everyone fairly and by their character and by their own merit. And under no circumstances should you ever judge anybody for any other reason. CHRIS CUOMO, HOST, CNN'S "NEW DAY": Any chance that others come forward and say, well, I've heard her same the same thing, it was like that in the restaurant where we were, it was like that on the show, those types of allegations?

B. DEEN: I can't imagine that happening.

J. DEEN: I mean, but on the other hand, what do you think, Chris? Do you think people are going to take this opportunity to come out and try to get their piece now? I mean for every - you know, we have so much local support here, so many friends that have come forward and spoken out for our family. It's just much like as many people would complement you, times 10 would complain about -- we've been in the service business for 25 years and so many people enjoy it but there's always one person that's going to be most vocal about their disappointment for one reason or another.

So what are the chances of somebody else coming out behind this? I would say pretty good. It's just part of the price that you pay when you're in -- you know, you have a high-profile, you know, business or, you know, the television shows or whatever that mom might do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Coming up next hour we'll have much more on this fallout from the Paula Deen controversy and ask the question, can she ever recover from this. Let me know. Send me a tweet. I'm ready your tweets here on that interview @brookebcnn.

Developing right now, police officers in Los Angeles on alert today after someone opened fire on veteran detectives outside a police station. One investigator calls this attack extremely unusual. Right now the shooter's still at large. We'll take you live to Los Angeles, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In central Los Angeles today, an all-out search for the gunman who ambushed a pair of police detectives early this morning. The officers, part of this undercover burglary task force, were about to drive through the gate at the Wilshire Police Station when someone came up behind them and just started shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CMDR. ANDREW SMITH, LOS ANGELES POLICE: One officer was injured on his head with either a graze wound from a bullet or fragments from the vehicle that the bullet struck -- when the bullets struck the vehicle. The other officer received an injury to his hand. Both officers have been treated and released at the hospital. They're back here at the command post and they're helping us try and identify three individuals that we've detained that are possible suspects.

BALDWIN: I want to go straight to Los Angeles to Stephanie Elam.

And, Stephanie, talk about a brazen attack on two officers outside a police station.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's amazing, Brooke, that both of these officers are already back here, already taking a look at the suspects that have been rounded up so far. We know about three so far that they've pulled in here to the command station to try to get a handle on who this shooter may be. But imagine sitting in your police vehicle and having gunshots come from behind you at around 4:30 in the morning our time.

That is what happened to them. They were able to return fire. Not sure whether or not the suspect was wound, but this person did get away on foot and ran. They didn't see him get into a car. And that is the reason why they've cordoned off such a wide perimeter here, about 25 blocks, so that they could narrow down where this person could be. They've taken to foot. They've got people walking through the streets, officers walking through the streets. They've got four canine teams and also all together about 200 officers here, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And, Stephanie, what are people in the community saying?

ELAM: Obviously people have been frustrated because the area that's cordoned off is so huge, so a lot of people having a rough time getting to work. Keep in mind, this affected the morning commute for a lot of people getting to the city, to get to wherever they needed to go for work. But also a lot of people just very concerned about where this person could be. They're asking people to stay locked down in their homes while this search continues. And, obviously, talking to Commander Andrew Smith from the Los Angeles Police Department, he also pointed out that obviously the person to do something like this is someone that they want to find fast. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CMDR. ANDREW SMITH, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPT.: Anybody who's willing do this and take on two armed police officers outside of a police station is obviously a very dangerous person. We want to do everything we can to get this individual in custody so we can keep our community safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: And the other thing that they are looking to do, they are going through the surveillance video around the police station and also from surrounding businesses and homes hoping to get an I.D. on what this person looked like so that will help them track him down, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Stephanie Elam, thank you so much, in Los Angeles.

Coming up, moments ago in this George Zimmerman trial we got our first look at the evidence, including clothes and the infamous iced tea can. This as the officer who was first on the scene responding to the shooting that night describes what he say. And Trayvon Martin's father actually walked out of this courtroom. We'll explain that to you next.

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