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NEW DAY

Severe Flooding Ahead; Silver Fire Rages in California; Manhunt for Murder Suspect; 3 Winning Powerball Tickets; San Diego Mayor Under Fire

Aired August 8, 2013 - 08:00   ET

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


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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Lord. Thank you for having somebody there to help me deal with this.

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CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Flood warnings. The Midwest bracing for more flash flooding, towns already under water. The east coast set to get soak today and out west mass evacuations as a quick-moving wildfire tears through homes.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: New lead, possible sightings overnight of the man accused of kidnapping a 16-year-old girl after killing her mother. The search now widening across multiple states. We're tracking this possible new trail.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: We have a winner. Make that three multiple tickets hitting the big numbers in last night's Powerball drawing. That $448 million prize split three ways. Where are these new millionaires?

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: What you need to know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There has to be respect towards us as women. We're not just pieces of meat.

ANNOUNCER: What you just have to see.

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ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan and Michaela Pereira.

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BOLDUAN: Good morning. Welcome back to NEW DAY, everyone. It is Thursday, August 8, 8:00 in the East. I'm Kate Bolduan. CUOMO: I'm Chris Cuomo here with news anchor Michaela Pereira.

PEREIRA: Good morning.

CUOMO: Better match. Were you one of the lucky winners? Probably not. We sure weren't. But get your tickets handy anyway. We're going to tell you where the three winning Powerball tickets were sold.

BOLDUAN: And then fighting misconceptions about medical marijuana. Dr. Sanjay Gupta traveled around the world to find the truth and is here with his results. Find out what changed his mind about the controversial topic.

PEREIRA: And new problems for pop star Usher, just days after his a- year-old son almost son almost drowned in their family pool. His ex- wife is taking him to court over custody of the children. The unfolding family drama ahead.

BOLDUAN: First up this hour, though, the National Guard has been called in to help Missouri towns hit hard by flooding. At least 15 people had to be rescued last night in Missouri after a mobile home park was swamped by flash floods. And the rain just keeps coming. Parts of the Midwest and Southeast could face even more flooding.

Indra Petersons is tracking all the severe weather for us. Good morning, Indra.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.

What a scary situation actually when they showed up to the rescues yesterday. People were on top of their rooms. They were hanging to trees because those flood waters were literally sweeping away those trailer parks. In fact two of them actually did away. The same system in the region today and it's impacted even bigger chunk of the country today.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd just seen the funnel cloud come down. I'd seen trees and debris come up.

PETERSONS (voice-over): A roof ripped off a home and trees were uprooted after a possible tornado touched down in Ohio. Parts of the country are battling severe weather and even the threat of flash flooding. A powerful storm tore through Wisconsin leaving behind a path of destruction just outside of Green Bay. One man was killed while clearing away debris.

Missouri is under flood alert. Deadly waters have reportedly claimed the life of a young boy in Waynesville and police are still searching for a woman who may be the child's mother.

Heavy rains hammered the area. Dozens had to be rescued after waist- deep water rushed into residential neighborhoods.

The governor declared a state of emergency calling in 50 National Guardsmen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to cry. That's all I could say is I want to cry. I don't know. I've never had to deal with anything like this.

PETERSONS: The floodgates were opened off the Osage River to release rising waters. Flash flooding could affect cities from Colorado to the Carolinas and even stretching up to the Northeast by the end of the week. In Missouri, on I-44, there was flooding as far as the eye could see, between 100 to 200 structures were destroyed. This submerged neighborhood could get hit again, and check out the hail in Minnesota this week.

In the Southeast, the storm has been relentless. Gilmore County, Georgia, has been hit for the second week in a row. They've already seen three to seven inches of rain and there's even more rain in the forecast. And in Birmingham, Alabama, the heavy downpours have caused flash flooding in the suburbs.

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PETERSONS: Here we go. Take a look at the current radar right now. Six-hour loop and we're talking about rain in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri and spreading to the East.

What you're looking at is the contour of the severe weather and, once again, the heavy thunderstorms over that same region. In fact, they're looking for rain all the way up towards Saturday. More heavy rain expected for them.

For the rest of the country, it's the same front. Very slow system expected to bring heavy rain into the South and maybe right up to the North. You see not a stalled front and we'll have to monitor that whether it stalls out like the southern portion of the front. That's going to impact how much rain we have in the Northeast.

To the South, we're looking at one to two inches there, anywhere from there in Atlanta, Nashville, about two to three inches, Lexington about one to two inches. The Northern portion of that front, again, we have to talk about how fast it goes and looking for heavier thunderstorms that could cause urban flooding in some areas that don't see much rain at all. So, it's really about how fast that system goes or if it stalls and rain day after day here throughout the weekend.

So, we'll monitor it.

BOLDUAN: Hopefully, it will move through quickly.

PETERSON: That would be great.

CUOMO: So many people on the East Coast saying no more rain, no more rain, and out West they're praying for it, because new this morning, a fast-moving wildfire in California is forcing mandatory evacuations in five communities. The Silver Fire has now spread out to 6,000 acres east of Los Angeles, 500 firefighters are doing all they can, but so far, they are making little progress. Stephanie Elam is standing by with the latest.

Stephanie, I have been following your tweets. What do we know now?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris, Kate and Michaela.

What we do know is we talked to a Cal Fire official and 1,000 firefighters out here working on this blaze and 15 structures have been damaged or destroyed. They're hoping to get out there later today when the sun gets up to figure out how many of those were actually homes. Fifteen hundred people evacuated.

And we spoke to one woman who was evacuated. She said firefighters came to her aid to help her get burn out and she said she needed to went back to get her purse and her medicine. They told her she didn't have time. So, she is waiting it out in her car hoping her house is OK.

This fire is moving very fast. It started at 2:00 local time and then just grew very quickly. The fire line now about eight miles long and fire officials hoping to get back in here, once the sun gets up, make water drops so they can start on putting this fire out. But overnight, firefighters have been out there doing their best to get this fire contained which at this point is not contained at all -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Which means a critical day ahead. Stephanie Elam, great to see you. Stephanie, thanks so much.

Also happening now in California, desperate manhunt for James DiMaggio, the southern California man suspected of kidnapping a 16- year-old girl and possibly her brother after allegedly murdering their mother. An Amber Alert stretching up and down the West Coast following a possible sighting overnight.

Miguel Marquez is live in San Diego with the latest.

We're hearing of a possible sighting and also getting some new details of possibly what the relationship really was like between these folks, Miguel.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Kate. This is really raising hope this possible sightings. This was a guy considered so close to the family. He knew these kids since they were born and now these new sightings are giving hope that more tragedy could be avoided.

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MARQUEZ (voice-over): Several states on high alert this morning after possible sightings of the blue Nissan Versa driven by James DiMaggio, the massive search expanding to Oregon and Washington for the man suspected of killing a woman, possibly her son and then abducting her daughter. Both sightings on a remote stretch of highway, the first is in Alturas, California, on the two-lane Interstate 395. Hours later, a second possible sighting in neighboring Lakeview, Oregon. Police on high alert are scouring the area for any signs of DiMaggio, 8-year-old Ethan Anderson and his 16-year-old sister, Hannah.

Friends and family tell CNN the 40-year-old DiMaggio developed a worrying relationship with 16-year-old Hannah in recent years.

Angelina Amati, a friend with the Andersons, has kids Hanna's age.

ANGELINA AMATI, FAMILY FRIEND: From what I understand Hannah had a crush on a boy. I don't know if they were officially dating that's something that my girls would know. I know Hannah did say she was a little creeped out when Jim did tell her that he had a crush on her.

MARQUEZ: Hannah told her friends, she didn't want to visit DiMaggio anymore. The last time Hannah, her brother, Ethan and their mother, Christina, and the family dog were seen alive was Saturday afternoon. They left to spend the night with DiMaggio a long time family friend at his home 50 miles away in Boulevard, California.

Ethan was supposed to be at football practice 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning. He didn't make it. Later that night, DiMaggio's house was set on fire.

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MARQUEZ: Now, what we don't understand and don't know at this point is when the deaths occurred and when that fire started. In other words, we don't know how much of a lead DiMaggio had on investigators once they found the bodies in there and all of this started to unfold. There is great hope, though, across the state today and here with the Anderson family that this thing comes to as happy a resolution as possible -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Miguel, a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of waiting.

Earlier I spoke with Lieutenant Glenn Giannantonio of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department Homicide Unit about the investigation. The main question was if he had any idea where DiMaggio might be or where he's headed next. Here's the answer.

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LT. GLENN GIANNANTONIO, SAN DIEGO COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: He could be anywhere at this point. We've had some hints that he may be going to certain areas. Nothing has really panned out. We had law enforcement agencies across the country following up on tips and checking on suspicious vehicles that they think may have been related to them. So far all of them have come up negative. We're still hoping that one of the tips will turn up DiMaggio and both children.

CUOMO: Has anybody come forward with any information that gives a clue as to why he did this? GIANNANTONIO: Well, it's been reported one witness said DiMaggio had a crush on Hannah. We've heard that, it was one witness that had made that statement. We haven't -- we don't have any other corroborating information to back up that as a possible motive but really we're not ruling anything out at this point.

CUOMO: Also, Lieutenant, it gives you a small piece of a puzzle as perverse it is for a 40-year-old to have romantic feelings of a 16 years old, the death, burning down of a home, there are so many other things you need to take into consideration as well, right?

GIANNANTONIO: That's right. One of the biggest questions for us is the identity of the remains that were found at the residence.

CUOMO: Yes.

GIANNANTONIO: We've been trying to get DNA from the remains. They were badly burned, which is making DNA collection very much more difficult. We're hoping to have an ID by Friday, maybe several days after that. And there is a possibility due to the condition of the body that we will not be able to positively ID the remains as well.

We're doing everything we can with the tools we have to try to locate them and what we're thinking is it may end up just being somebody from the public seeing something, calling it in and having us contact the person to bring this to a successful conclusion.

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CUOMO: The lieutenant is issuing what they call a BOLO, be on the lookout. If you have any information, you can call the numbers you saw on our screen or you can go to our Web site and get them. Remember, if you see DiMaggio, do not try to apprehend him yourself. That's what the lieutenant is asking for. He says, just call 911.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: Good advice.

Also, breaking overnight, three lucky winners will share a Powerball jackpot worth, you heard it, $448 million. Two of the winning tickets were sold in New Jersey, a third ticket in Minnesota. So, you're looking at the numbers in case you're just waking up this morning. These are the big numbers you hope you see on your night stand when you wake up.

Let's head now to CNN's Zain Asher in South Brunswick, New Jersey, where one of the winning tickets were sold.

Pretty big day over there.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kate, yes. Right now we still have no idea whether the winners were an individual or a group, but as you mentioned, three winning tickets across the country. You take $448 million, you split it three ways. What do you get? You get $150 million. Obviously, not bad at all. Two tickets sold in New Jersey. One ticket was actually sold in the shop right behind me in South Brunswick. As you can imagine, the amount of media attention has been overwhelming for this small town. This really is a tiny town, population 43,000. It's about just four miles from Princeton. Nobody has seen anything quite like this.

I do also want to say in New Jersey you are not allowed to be anonymous if you win the lottery. You have to come forward. In some states, if you don't want the whole world knowing that you just won $150 million, you can keep private. But in New Jersey, you do have to come forward.

I do also want to say that you have about a year to collect your winnings. And if you come forward today, the money will take two weeks to hit your checking account. Obviously, you can only dream -- Kate, Chris.

BOLDUAN: That's exactly right. We'll keep on dreaming, though.

Zain Asher, thanks so much.

CUOMO: All right. A lot of other news developing at this hour. Let's get over to Michaela for the latest.

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

We're watching some news out of Dallas breaking overnight. A shooting spree in Texas leaving four people dead, two victims were killed, two others wounded late last night inside a Dallas home. CNN affiliate WFAA reports the suspects identified now as Irby Bauser (ph) then went to Desoto, Texas, where he allegedly shot four other people, including two children. It's not clear if his ex-girlfriend, who he was looking for, was shot.

Developing overnight security officials in Yemen claim to have foiled an al Qaeda plot to fire missiles at the U.S. embassy in Sana'a. Meantime, local security officials say six alleged al Qaeda militants died when a drone struck their convoy in southeastern Yemen. There have been six suspected U.S. drone strikes in the past two weeks.

A deadly high-speed accident caught on camera. A bus driver missing his exit pulls it into reverse and tried to back up, but the bus gets hit by behind by a speeding truck. The impact, as you can see, sent the passengers flying. The bus driver himself was sucked right out of the window as the bus rolled over and skidded 165 feet. Ten passengers also thrown from the bus. We're told the truck driver was killed in that accident.

Swastikas and shocking anti-Semitic slurs found on a statue of baseball great Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese in Brooklyn. Now, "The New York Daily News" offering a $10,000 reward to find those responsible.

Workers at Cyclones Stadium tried to scrub it clean, but that graffiti would not come off. So, instead they covered the base with a black tarp.

Oh, Stephen Colbert, not happy when electronic dance music stars Daft Punk canceled a scheduled appearance. He took it out to dance. He invited a few friends to dance along, to get lucky by Daft Punk. Their hit song, oh, yes, you see Hugh Laurie, you see Matt Damon, you see Charlie Rose.

Ladies and gentlemen, Henry Kissinger makes an appearance along with Jeff Bridges, Jimmy Fallon. All of them take part in the fun. Even the folks, the judges at "America's Got Talent" get involved. He does some high kicking himself.

CUOMO: He's got some moves, too.

PEREIRA: Score, Colbert, one. I would say Daft Punk, zero.

There's Henry Kissinger. On the face, it's so great.

BOLDUAN: I was looking at Colbert. Oh la la. Oh la la.

PEREIRA: I just think he is a funny guy. And there's Matt Damon.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: Hey. Hey, Matt. How's it going? So Matt Damon, he didn't bring that to NEW DAY.

BOLDUAN: Well, in Matt's defense, I did not ask --

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(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: But next time.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: It was so fun because he was really upset that they canceled. There were some sort of thing about when they could appear and when they couldn't.

BOLDUAN: Contractual.

PEREIRA: Yes, exactly. And so, he's like, oh really? Well, I'm Stephen Colbert.

BOLDUAN: Who needs that (ph) punk?

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: He seemed really upset.

PEREIRA: Big smile on his face the entire time.

BOLDUAN: That's how you win.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: Smile.

CUOMO: Funny guy.

BOLDUAN: Coming up next on NEW DAY, embattled San Diego mayor, Bob Filner, is keeping a low profile these days with new accusation of sexual harassment from 11 women. The leader of a veterans group is here, and she wants to see Filner thrown out of office.

CUOMO: And a frightening accident becomes a custody fight. Usher's ex-wife says their son should be in her custody after he got sucked into a pool drain. We'll bring you the latest.

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BOLDUAN: Welcome back to NEW DAY, everyone. More than a dozen women now have come forward with sexual harassment accusations against the embattled San Diego mayor, Bob Filner. We introduced you exclusively to two veterans who say Filner harassed them and the response to their stories have been overwhelming, but the person we haven't heard from yet is Mayor Filner, himself.

CNN's Kyung Lah has more.

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KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The chief of staff for San Diego mayor, Bob Filner, refused to answer CNN's questions. Overnight, we learned the mayor is also dodging a deposition in the city of San Diego's investigation. Filner, who began a two-week treatment program on Monday, is, quote, "unavailable for deposition on August 9th," writes the psychiatrist in the signed note submitted to the court.

A judge delayed the deposition until next month, prompting this angry reaction from the city attorney. "Mr. Filner does not want to testify under the penalty of perjury and will use every means to avoid having to do that. We can delay it, but he can't stop it." City, state, and national leaders are calling for Mayor Filner to resign. A steady drum beat growing louder.

A CNN exclusively interviewed these two retired veterans, both raped while in the military. They allege Filner sexually harassed them at support groups at welcome (ph) the ten-term congressman and former chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's got to stop. There's got to be some respect towards us as women. We're not just pieces of meat.

LAH: He even left a voicemail for Aldana Lewis Fernandez (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your newly favorite congressman, Bob Filner. You know, the one who fell in love with you with your (ph) last speech.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's about accountability. He needs to be held accountable, because there's more and more women coming out.

LAH: There are now multiple investigations and at least one civil lawsuit. Filner remains the sitting mayor of San Diego, getting treatment at an undisclosed location out of the public eye.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

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CUOMO: And the accounts get a lot worse than what you heard on that voicemail. Now, eight of the women accusing mayor, Bob Filner, are members of the National Women Veterans Association of America. Tara Jones is the president of that organization and is fighting to get Mayor Filner removed from office.

She joins us now from San Diego. Thank you very much, Ms. Jones, for joining us on NEW DAY. Appreciate it.

TARA JONES, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL WOMEN VETERANS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA: Good morning. Thank you, Chris, for having me.

CUOMO: Now, let me ask you. Thirteen women are now involved against this man with allegations. Have you ever heard of anything like this?

JONES: You know, we are outraged. We, as women of military sexual assault, we are outraged. We are really bothered by the fact that he is continuing to serve as the mayor of San Diego. And there has been no special session or no special hearing to have him administratively removed or put on administrative, you know, leave until this investigation is complete as well as the outcome to due process.

And so, we are outraged. We are completely frustrated, agitated. He's tainted our city as a whole, and we need him out of the mayor's office. It is a public safety issue.

CUOMO: Now, no woman deserves this kind of behavior, but when we think about the women who are in your organization, do you see this as especially wrong that a man who was seen as an advocate for female veterans and what they have endured and then they come home and he does this. Do you see it as especially wrong?

JONES: He certainly chose the wrong group of people. You know, we are outraged. Me, myself, personally, I'm just so frustrated by knowing that someone who was a senior ranking member for the Department of Veterans Affairs Committee, U.S. congressman for over 25 years, and to become mayor and to try to target, to use National Women Veterans Association, our nonprofit, as a playground for his behavior.

Yes, we want justice. We demand justice, and we rallied the nation to get behind this.

CUOMO: And especially when he was keenly aware that a lot of these same women had suffered abuse already, right?

JONES: Exactly. Exactly. This was certainly not a group to target upon, to prey upon just like a sexual predator. We're outraged and we need the nation to support us in our efforts.

CUOMO: Now, what's your best guess as to why he's still in office? I mean, in a day and age when we hear about different type of sex scandals and politicians, it seems like every day, we never heard of anything like this. How do you explain his still being there?

JONES: Well, its called what we call rate (ph) politics. You know, everything is divided. You know, everything is about which political party. Rape is rape. We all can come together on this issue. IT doesn't matter whether you're in the mayor's office or whether you're in Congress or Senate.

We, as a nation, this is not 1862. This is 2013, and that's why we need the nation to get behind this. And of course, Chris, your support, as well.

CUOMO: And obviously, you know, you do need due process. You mentioned that we have to have the allegations proved out. It does have to be a process, but it should be a quick one. Explain to us what "please resign" is. What your message is to your fellow Americans and what your message is to Mayor Filner?

JONES: Well, "please resign" is our message of fighting back and seeing, you know, you do not define San Diego County. You do not define this nation. "Please resign" is a campaign that we're holding every Friday until he is out of the mayor's office. That we have T- shirts that say "please resign."

We request companies, private organizations, other women around this country to join together with us that every Friday we will have these shirts worn in the workplace to say, hey, this is not our workplace. We don't tolerate that type of behavior and we certainly don't endorse that behavior from any government entity just as well as our military branch is a service.

Our military has stepped up and is doing a great job to minimize sexual assault within the branches and the same way they're doing it. It's obvious that we need to have to have the mayor's office to do the same and the city council.

CUOMO: Ms. Jones, thank you very much for your work on behalf of women's veterans. We know that you understand the issues of abuse there very well and personally and I'm sorry that I have to meet you under these circumstances in dealing with this situation. But I appreciate your voice in this. Thank you for coming on NEW DAY.

JONES: And I appreciate you, as well. Thank you so much for supporting us.

CUOMO: Kate, over to you.

BOLDUAN: Chris, thank you.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, singer, Usher is facing a big custody battle now as his son recovers from a pool accident. Family drama in just moments. Also, Dr. Sanjay Gupta taking on a controversial topic and offering an apology. Why? We'll talk about medical marijuana, coming up.

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