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CNN NEWSROOM

Tornado Warning for Florida; Somber Ceremony at New 9/11 Museum; More Charges Filed Against Aaron Hernandez; Paul Anka Talks Michael Jackson.

Aired May 15, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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


JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Remember, it did lead investigators to a site where they tracked pings coming from underwater for two hours and 20 minutes. That was beyond the 30 days. It expired. They search that area. They're resetting again. A lot of people are saying, we haven't found a trace yet, something is wrong.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Doubts with the pings as well.

CLANCY: There's doubts. There's a mystery. But there's no mystery who owns the data.

BALDWIN: Jim Clancy, thank you as always.

A somber ceremony this morning at the site of the September 11th terrorist attacks. We, today, wanted to take a special look as survivors and rescuers and relatives of those who lost their lives come together in a new museum that tells the whole story of that fateful day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. Bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

The 911 Memorial Museum is filled with watches, wallets, shoes, ordinary objects now relics of America's darkest day. Just this morning, the museum hosted victims' families and rescue and recovery workers. Dozens of them on hand for the emotional dedication ceremony right there at ground zero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SINGING)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK: In the years to come, the 911 Memorial Museum will take its place alongside the fields of Gettysburg, the waters of Pearl Harbor and the Vietnam veterans memorial as our past and a sacred gathering place, a place we come to remember those who died and to honor acts of courage and compassion that saved lives and lifted spirits.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- the true spirit of 9/11, love, compassion, sacrifice, and to enshrine it forever in the heart of our nation. (SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For some, the last 38 steps they walked to freedom and to life were down a narrow outdoor staircase that led to the street. These stairs were also the last above-ground remnant found at the world trade scepter site. They became both a symbol of that terrible day and the months of pain staking recovery. Workers removed the 56-ton staircase from its concrete base as carefully as one would a sacred object from an archeological site so that it could be placed in its new home inside the museum.

(BELLS TOLLING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last column was part of the last area that was searched.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really tells the three stories, the building, destruction and clean-up effort.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As the site was cleared and the beam came to stand alone, people that were working at the site or families members began affixing the photos.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody was putting sayings and notes on the column. There was a flag flying on top of it. It was an icon on the site.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lined from floor to ceiling with smiling fathers, daughters, brothers, nieces, family, and loved ones. In the same way, we have photos in our own homes, these pictures are alive with the memories of the birthdays and weddings, barbecues and baseball games of those we lost. What you will be looking at are the pages in the chapter in our history we call September 11th.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You would be so proud of your daughter. Just amazing just like you.

(SINGING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In Boston, more trouble for former New England Patriot tight end Aaron Hernandez because he was charged today with two counts of first-degree murder in the July 2012 killings of two men outside of a Boston night club. He's still sitting in jail on a separate murder charge for the 2013 killing.

Joining me now, CNN's Susan Candiotti, who has been working the story since the very beginning. She is in Boston. And, Joey Jackson, criminal defense attorney, joining me here.

On the legal angle of that -- and, Susan, first to you -- how did these new charges come to life? SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'll tell you, Brooke, I will begin answering that question by saying this. One of the most gut wrenching parts of the story is if these accusations are true, this would mean that Hernandez allegedly shot and killed two young men outside of a nightclub in July of 2012 and then went on to play a full football season for the New England Patriots. And then a year later allegedly shot and killed Olen Lloyd just last June. Now, this 2012 double murder had been under investigation for a long time. But it broke in this way. After Oden Lloyd was murdered, authorities and investigators in Boston remembered seeing Aaron Hernandez on a surveillance tape outside that night club but didn't put it together at the time. And also got a tip that that case might be tied to the Oden Lloyd murder. That's what eventually led them to the investigation and arrest of Aaron Hernandez after they found the SUV that they saw the night of the double murder. They found it in Bristol, Connecticut, so it started to come together.

BALDWIN: All the pieces.

Joey Jackson, if this comes to be that he is guilty and played a whole season with the Pats -- back up. How do you defend this guy?

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: First of all, Brooke, the first thing we have to keep in mind is that it's an indictment. It is just an accusation. It's serious and there's reason to be concerned. But what it means is that a grand jury consisting of 23 people heard evidence and a majority, 12 of them, said, at least, you know what, there is enough evidence to move forward to trial. So what did they hear and how do you defend? It depends on what they have, Brooke. He believes they have surveillance tape showing that Aaron Hernandez was there at the time of the slaying. He followed them apparently into the club. He waited for the two people who died, who he shot allegedly, when they got out of the club. Apparently, there's surveillance of him trailing them and stalking them. And ultimately, it then gets off because you don't have the video of the shooting itself. What you have are witnesses. There were five people in the car. You're going to be relying upon identification testimony with respect to one of the witnesses who said he did it. But also, what will be important is the recovery of the weapon, which allegedly they have. They will do ballistic testing. They will test that car to see whether there is gun powder residue. All that will go into how the case is defended. Who did what, when, where, why and how, and what was the motivation. That will be what is relevant.

BALDWIN: Joey Jackson, Susan Candiotti, my thanks to you.

We have to leave it because there is breaking news in the world of weather. A tornado warning for Florida right now.

Jennifer Gray is getting ready. We'll come to her after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Let's get you to meteorologist, Jennifer Gray, who is watching now. We have a tornado spotted, Jennifer, west of the Miami Airport headed northeast?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. About a mile west of Miami Airport. It was reported about 10 minutes ago. Moving to the northwest at about 15 miles per hour. Warning for Miami-Dade until 3:00, so for the next 10 minutes or so. This is reported near the Palmetto expressway, heading to the northeast at 15. So anyone in the area need to be on the lookout, even up into the Hollywood area before it pushes off shore. 95 U.S. 1, you need to stay away from. Get into the center of your home, away from windows. The lowest interior room if you can until 3:00. A dangerous situation going on in Miami-Dade. A tornado reported on the ground about a mile west of Miami International Airport -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: I'm trying to look at the pictures. Is this the airport cam? Yes. OK. This is the airport cam. Can't see a lot with the big drops of water, here. But dark, dark skies as we are watching that in Miami.

Jennifer comes to CNN from Miami. She was saying earlier, pretty rare to have a tornado spotted in this part of the country.

Jennifer, keep us posted on what happens there.

Now to this. Do not expect a prisoner swap for Nigeria's stolen girls. Just a short time ago, the president of Nigeria rejected any deal to trade Boko Haram prisoners for more than 200 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls.

My next guest says girls are being sold as sex slaves right here in our own backyard and worldwide.

She is "Time" magazine's editor-at-large, Belinda Luscombe, author of "Bring Back All Girls," an upcoming article.

Belinda, welcome.

BELINDA LUSCOMBE, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, TIME MAGAZINE: Thanks, Brooke. Good to be here.

BALDWIN: You write here that, "The trade in humans in a thriving 21st century business. Finding people to enslave is not that complicated."

Let's talk about this. Tell me about this college graduate snatched from New York's JFK airport just a couple years ago.

LUSCOMBE: The amazing thing is, Brooke, I don't think people really realize how big the slave trade is. I think most people think it has been eradicated. The most conservative estimates they've put out there is 21 million people in some kind of bonded labor. And that is -- that's the lowest number. That's the highest that it has ever been in its history, even when slavery was legal. It happens in every country. There is no country that is free of it.

The woman who was taken from -- BALDWIN: The airport.

LUSCOMBE: -- the JFK airport was a college graduate. She had a job in a bank in Indonesia and she had applied to be a hotel worker because there had been a downturn and she lost her job. She was taken from JFK Airport. She was taken to Flushing. All of her possessions were taken away. She didn't speak a lot of English. She was held at gunpoint. She thought at first there had been a horrible misunderstanding. Then she was traded from trafficker to trafficker, some of them who were women, and from brothel to brothel. And it took her about three months to finally escape. Then she had to wonder around until she could make herself understood.

(CROSSTALK)

LUSCOMBE: It was a guy from the Navy who finally rescued her.

BALDWIN: Thank goodness. The staggeringly large numbers.

Belinda Luscombe, editor-at-large, "Time" magazine, here. We will be reading this article. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

LUSCOMBE: You're welcome.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, we need to get back to the breaking news, tornadoes. More live pictures in Miami. Tornadoes spotted on the ground in Miami. It is on the move. We have live shots, live pictures. We'll stay on this here at CNN. Stay right with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You can't not tap your feet when you listen to this. The music of the late Michael Jackson lives on. His album, Escape, is now out, raking in huge reviews. It's a compilation of previously unreleased songs. "Love Never Felt So Good" is a duet. You just saw Justin Timberlake. But did you know that Justin was not supposed to do this song with M.J. It was supposed to be with the iconic Paul Anka. Look at that old picture. So what happened?

Joining me now by phone is the legendary singer and song writer, Paul Anka.

It is so great having you on the show even though you're calling in, Paul Anka.

Can you take me back to your home studio back in the early '80s, '83, when you two wrote the song together? What the heck was that like?

PAUL ANKA, SINGER & SONG WRITER (voice-over): Yeah, it was in Carmel, California. First of all, thank you for having me on. Love watching you. I'm a fan.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

ANKA: And back in Carmel, I was residing at the time, raising a family, and Michael wanted to be on my duets album. He came up and spent a couple of weeks with me and we wrote a bunch of songs. Certainly of all the people that I've worked with during the years, he was the most different, I must add.

BALDWIN: How do you mean?

ANKA: And he was very, very talented in a different way. Because everything just came out of his brain in terms of all the parts of oh'ing and ah'ing. Not a great musician, nor am I, but we're songwriter-type musicians. But he was just very enthusiastic and magical.

BALDWIN: I heard you say he's a very emotional singer. But when you're sitting there and you're writing a song with Michael Jackson, I mean, how -- down to the just most basic level, Paul, how does that work? You write a piece, he writes a piece? How do you work together?

ANKA: Not unlike most writers, we just sit in the room and I'm at the piano and we're tossing ideas. And he'll throw a line out and then I'll embellish on it or I'll sit down and play some cords and take it to another place and give him some ideas. It's a back and forth. Success has many fathers and sitting there with him was very unique in the sense of his age and his mileage in the business. And it was a back-and-forth morphing situation.

BALDWIN: What do you think of the new iteration of the song with J.T., Justin Timberlake? You dig it?

ANKA: I like it a lot. I was never supposed to be in the duet. It was always going to be Michael by himself. Frankly, the real truth of it is, there is another song that I have with Michael.

BALDWIN: I heard that.

ANKA: That I sent in to L.A. Reed (ph), a great producer and great guy. They were going to that song. It's called "It Don't Matter to Me." And they were going to that with Michael. And somewhere in the mix they dropped that idea and pushed it over to the next album. And I heard that Justin wanted to do this song his way. So that's really chronologically what went down. But I was never supposed to do the duet, nor did I want to.

BALDWIN: So what I'm hearing is there could be more. There could be more produced from vault that we'll all be watching and waiting for.

Paul Anka, thank you so much.