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@THISHOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA

Mom in Hot Car Death Visits Husband; Interview with Graham Nash; Fabien Cousteau Breaks Record Living Under Water; George Clooney Mad at Newspaper over "Irresponsible" Story

Aired July 9, 2014 - 11:30   ET

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


MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Interesting that his wife, Leanna Harris, finally visiting him today in jail. I think there's video of it. Obviously, you want to be a fly on the wall of that conversation. They've been watching her as well. Yet we haven't heard anything about whether she is considered a suspect, if she's going to be put under arrest. I think about that relationship, and again, there's some unseemly things there too about this relationship they had. How far into that relationship will investigators dig?

DAN SCHORR, FORMER CRIMINAL PROSECUTOR: Very, I'm sure they're looking at her to charge her if they can find anything showing she helped out. Based on the public information, it's not enough to charge her, but for an acting in concert theory, you only need a little bit, some encouragement. She may be subpoenaed to testify a trial about their conversations. There's no spousal immunity in Georgia when a child death or serious injury is involved. These may be the source of information.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good idea or bad idea for her to visit now? On the one hand, you have to be careful. But on the other, you know if she is called to testify as a character witness for her husband, you know, someone could say if you love him, why didn't you visit him in prison?

SCHORR: I think visiting him by itself is not a huge deal. What she said is the key. If she's called as a character witness, I don't think that'll help. Having your wife say you're a good father leaving your kid in a car all day to die isn't going to help him. Are they monitoring these conversations and what kind of information can they get from her?

PEREIRA: There's been some made conversation, conversation made of the fact that they had bought a new, forward-facing, let's see if I get it right, forward-facing car seat because he grew too big. 22- months old, big baby. But they used, instead, a rear facing one. A lot is being made of that. Are they trying to speak to intent here about maybe not having the baby face the front where he could be seen?

SCHORR: That's possible. All these little facts piece together the total situation. We know he was left in the car. The question is what was in the mind of the father and maybe the mother? Every piece of information goes to show his intent. Importantly though, the murder charge isn't based on intent, it's based on criminal negligence, which means a gross deviation from the standard of care a normal person would use.

BERMAN: So far.

SCHORR: So far. But that's murder based on criminal intelligence based on felony murder because of child endangerment. Prosecutors don't have to prove intent, they can later add charges that are based on intentional murder.

BERMAN: The only thing more complicated than the case in general is car seats. You never know why families use one thing or another. It should be two full years before switching from rear facing to front facing. They're trying to piece together any case they can. Along those lines, toxicology results. They tested the kid, nothing unusual in Cooper's system. Do you think that helps or hurts him?

SCHORR: They're trying to see if he was drugged, and if he wasn't, that doesn't show further guilt by the defendant, however he left his son in a car all day, we know about his internet searches. He went to the car in the middle of the day where he presumably would have seen the child and made questionable statements right after that seemingly are inconsistent with someone who innocently found out their child died. There's a lot of evidence.

PEREIRA: It's interesting to look at it from your perspective, get your take on all of this. We'll watch this case obviously on CNN.

Dan Schorr, thanks for joining us today.

SCHORR: Thanks for having me.

BERMAN: Ahead @THISHOUR, a record-breaking experiment. Living 31 days underwater for glory, but mostly science. A feat undertaken by the grandson of explorer, Jacque Cousteau.

He is a famous singer/songwriter who sang with the Hollies, oh, and maybe another group you've heard of. Graham Nash joins us in studio, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, we have breaking news into CNN. The former mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, just sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was convicted on federal corruption charges, mostly relating to kickbacks from contractors for city work. 10 years in jail, in prison for the mayor, of course we were talking about Katrina. A face many people remember from that crisis.

PEREIRA: He was found guilty in February on 20 counts, as you mentioned, most relating to kickbacks. Throughout it he denied the charges and maintained his innocence. More coming up on CNN throughout the day here.

Right now, "The Sixties." Let's talk about "The Sixties," a time of rebellion, Beatles, rock stars with long hair, bell bottoms here and there. They took the U.S. by storm. BERMAN: Yeah, obviously though, so many great, wonderful groups

beyond the Beatles stole the heart of so many Americans then, and I have so say for decades after.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, we are so lucky right now to have a legend with us in the @THISHOUR studio.

PEREIRA: With a guitar.

BERMAN: Song writer, legend, Graham Nash, who is British from England. We're talking about the British --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Did you have to say it like that?

BERMAN: I want to tell people, just to clarify, he's not actually American, although, yes, you are a citizen now.

GRAHAM NASH, SINGER/SONGWRITER: I've been a citizen for over 30 years.

BERMAN: You invaded, then stayed.

(LAUGHTER)

NASH: I wanted to be a part of this country. This is one of the greatest countries in the world. I mean, the people just want the same as we do in England. They want their kids to have a better life than they did. They want peace and freedom. I love America. I came here, climbed the nearest palm tree in 1965 and said, I'm not leaving.

PEREIRA: We were just talking to Lulu yesterday, and she was talking about the fact that she grew up with a great influence of American music. But when we think about music and the United States, we certainly think about the music that you've been part of. Such an integral part of the '60s, you probably think about it from time to time, you've lived many a decade. When you think back on just sort of a one fad of the '60s, what stands outs?

NASH: The kids of the day realized that they had a certain, power. If they all came together and spoke with one voice. It started at Woodstock to an extent in terms of half a million people and three days with very little violence. And I think that's, I think the spirit and the hope of the times was what I remember from the sixties.

BERMAN: We talks about the British Invasion, you were a member of the Hollies. But you were with the Hollies, a founder member of the Hollies, and later, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. With the Hollies, it's so interesting, listen to the music, it's poppy, sing-songy harmonies. But by the end, especially the songs you were writing, very socially conscious.

NASH: That was my, that was David and Steven and Neil Young and Mitchell's influence on me as a song writer. In the Hollies, by the time I left, we had 15 top-10 hits, but they were like make love to me in the back-of-the-car kind of songs. When I met David and Steven, and David had written about the assassination of Robert Kennedy and Steven had written, for what its worth, for the riots in Los Angeles, I began to realize there was more important stuff to say. And my song writing started to change.

PEREIRA: So today, looking at the world we live in, still many issues and crises that are happening. We also seen the confluence of technology and, you know, activism with the Twitter playing a part in which we look at the Arab Spring, even here at home we've seen people, is the passion there in our youth today as it was?

NASH: Absolutely. Don't forget, the smallest action can change the world.

PEREIRA: Right.

You were speaking about the Arab Spring. Mohammad (INAUDIBLE), who was this seller of vegetables on a cart was insulted by the police and struck in the face in front of his family and humiliated. He burned himself to death. He'll never know what he started. He started the Arab Spring. He'll never know because he's not here.

BERMAN: I should stipulate, I'm a huge fan of Crosby, Stills and Nash.

PEREIRA: I picked up on that.

BERMAN: CNN executives say to stipulate that, lay it out here. Just so we're all clear, I'm not impartial in this discussion. You have a new project out. CSNY 74.

NASH: That's right.

BERMAN: Explain.

NASH: We did 31 shows, average audience of 80,000 people. It was the first tour ever of that kind. You know, the Beatles had done Shea Stadium here in New York and the Stones had done big gigs in Hyde Park in London, but this was the first tour. We multi-tracked nine of those shows. And I spent four years of my life putting together an incredible CSNY concert. And it came out yesterday and it went straight to number one on Amazon.

PEREIRA: Congratulations.

NASH: In the first day. That's amazing.

PEREIRA: That is amazing.

NASH: That's 45 years later, for god's sakes.

BERMAN: You should think about song writing as a career.

(CROSSTALK)

NASH: No, I'm a great window cleaner.

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: OK, here's the question. Who's on your iPod? You know people always want to know who the greats are listening to.

NASH: The truth is, for the last four years, I've been involved in our music.

PEREIRA: Good for you, yeah.

NASH: We just, I've been recording CSNY for 40-odd years. And we just won the right to, those things did not, the record company did not own them. They owned the albums that we delivered and were paid for, fine, but our private recordings, they finally figured out that we own them. I've been devilling into this --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Rediscovering them in a way.

NASH: Absolutely.

BERMAN: You've been in the Hall of Fame twice, not once, but twice. Seems like every decision you made worked out perfectly. However, if you could go back to the time of the British Invasion and tell a little bit younger Graham Nash what to do differently, what would your advice be?

NASH: Not so much cocaine.

PEREIRA: I'd say that's solid advice.

NASH: Good advice.

PEREIRA: But you seem like you've weathered it all well.

NASH: I still have a brain. I was never an addicted person. I took -- when David was in the depth of his drug madness, you try various things, tried taking no drugs, more drugs than David, and it didn't work. Until he walked barefoot into the FBI office in Miami, that's when I knew that he had chosen life over death. And that was great.

BERMAN: So many of your dear friends go, including one of your closest friends, David Crosby.

NASH: Absolutely. But he's alive and kicking.

PEREIRA: He sure is.

BERMAN: Graham Nash, I can't tell you what a privilege.

NASH: Thank you.

PEREIRA: I don't to want embarrass them, but crew guys have been excited. They play music, although they act like they don't know how to now.

NASH: Thanks great.

PEREIRA: Stop by and say hi to them before you head out.

NASH: Absolutely, thank you.

PEREIRA: Graham, thanks for joining us. What a delight.

NASH: Thank you.

PEREIRA: CNN's original series "The Sixties" returns with the invasion we lost but loved every minute of, the British Invasion. Watch CNN and set your DVR for the Beatles, Stones --

BERMAN: The Hollies.

PEREIRA: Hollies, so many bands that took America by storm. Tomorrow night, 9:00 p.m. eastern. We're going to talk with another British singer tomorrow @THISHOUR. Petula Clark is going to join us, 11:00 a.m. eastern.

BERMAN: Ahead for us @THISHOUR, resurfacing for air. The grandson of Jacque Cousteau breaks a world record. We will speak to him about this underwater adventure.

George Clooney, in a new op-ed, slamming British tabloids. What got him riled up? We'll take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Just imagine for a second living for an entire month underwater. That's what Jacques Cousteau's grandson did. He did it in this experiment in Key Largo, Florida.

BERMAN: He lived underwater in this Marine lab, about the size of a school bus, pretty decked out underwater school bus, hot water, air- conditioning, and internet access. Still, you're underwater. I mean, you're still underwater.

Joining us to talk about this experience, the man himself, up for air, good, clean outdoor air.

PEREIRA: He didn't grow gills, I said.

FABIEN COUSTEAU, MISSION 31 EXPEDITION LEADER: Good to see you both. It's almost like living in New York City, except that your neighbors are fish.

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: I suppose there wasn't a lot of fish on the menu. All jokes aside, this was a big deal. You wanted to bring awareness to conservation. Did you feel like you were able to succeed?

COUSTEAU: I think we had goals of reaching 331 million people, and as of the metrics of June 15th, at least as far as suppress concerned, we've reached over 500 million people.

PEREIRA: Impressive.

COUSTEAU: On that level, it was a success and hopefully on the science it will be, we did three years of science and data collection in just 31 days.

PEREIRA: Amazing.

BERMAN: What supervised you about being underwater for that long?

COUSTEAU: What surprised me is how I and my team were able to adapt and be able to live down there comfortably in a very tight environment as you can imagine, because most of the time we spent out in the water to go explore. More importantly than that, I felt almost secluded and kind of became our own little community down there. And we didn't really pay attention to what was going on topside.

PEREIRA: Besides the cramped space, I understand that, at one point, the air-conditioning decided not to work.

COUSTEAU: Yeah, joking aside, the air conditioner, when it goes on the frits, which it did, it gets 100 percent humidity, 98 degrees in a very small little tube if you will. And it was cooler to go jump in the water in the ocean than it was to sit in that particular place.

BERMAN: How important was this for you personally? You know, your grandfather set up a lab himself. What did it mean for you?

COUSTEAU: It was a really, really complex endeavor. Took two years to do. A lot of folks didn't think it could happen. And besides all that, it did, and it was a huge success. To me, the success, not only of making it happen, but being able to connect the world in real time for the first time in an expedition was phenomenal. Beyond 31, such as the Florida Ocean Learning Center that we're going to be building to continue in that particular --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: One of the things it you wanted to do was talk to school children, any of the kids that got to Skype with you, I'm sure that was the highlight of their school year.

COUSTEAU: It was the highlight of my time down there. They're energy was so amazing.

PEREIRA: It's infectious. It reminds you of the importance of what you're doing. Get them fired up about conservation as well and let them understand the world below them often times.

COUSTEAU: Maybe some of them will be aquanauts in the future.

BERMAN: Aquanauts.

PEREIRA: Tell your boys about it. I think.

BERMAN: Sounds dramatic.

It's great to have you back with us.

PEREIRA: Great to have you back above sea level.

Ahead @THISHOUR, he rarely responds to tabloids, but George Clooney is now slamming a British paper over what he is calling an irresponsible story.

BERMAN: Plus, the surprise breakout star from ESPN magazine's body issue. A lot of people got naked here, very, very naked. We'll tell you why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: George Clooney's mad. Oh, he's mad. The actor/director wrote a scathing op-ed fighting back at "The Daily Mail."

BERMAN: Really beyond upset after that online paper published an article saying his future mother-in-law does not approve of his engagement with her daughter for religious reasons.

We have the dream team here --

PEREIRA: We do, don't we.

BERMAN: -- To discuss the fury, entertainment correspondent, Nischelle Turner; and senior correspondent, Brian Stelter.

Nischelle, what did Clooney say about this?

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: A lot. This is interesting, because Clooney does not talk about his personal life much. He will talk if you see him on the red carpet. But if you ask about his personal life, ask his reps, never any comment. For him to come out and write this op-ed, it's a big deal.

I think the part that really made him upset was because they said in their religion, they joked about sometimes the bride being killed. That I think set him off because of his fiance. Here's what he said in response to this article in "The Daily Mail." He said, first of all, "None of the story is factually true. Amal's mother is no Druze. She has not been to Beirut since Amal and I have been dating, and she is in no way against the marriage. But I'm, of course, used to 'The Daily Mail' making up stories. They do it several times a week and I don't care."

He then goes on to say, "But this lie involves larger issues. The irresponsibility of this day and age to exploit religious differences where none exist is at the very least negligent and appropriately dangerous. We have family members all over the world. And the idea someone would inflame any part of that world for the sole reason of selling papers should be criminal."

And George Clooney is not playing when it comes to this. But I think "The Daily Mail" was responding because they're saying, OK, we're taking it down.

PEREIRA: They did. They said they'll investigate and look into it.

Do you think, Brian, this be will have any impact on how they conduct business, on how they do their story telling?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT & HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: In two words, unfortunately not. But to see them delete the article within hours, that almost never happens --

PEREIRA: Shows the power of George Clooney.

STELTER: Says more about George Clooney than it does about them. If the article was about any of us, they wouldn't take it down right away. In this case they should take it down if anybody was maligned in this way. It's interesting they say they'll investigate this and yet they've already apologized.

(CROSSTALK)

TURNER: We take Mr. Clooney on his word that this story is inaccurate so we're going to take it down.

STELTER: They say the journalist talked to one person who had also talked to other people so this was like a terrible game of telephone.

BERMAN: You see the response George Clooney was able to get. What do you think other big celebrities are thinking now? Clooney's done this, he's fought back --

(CROSSTALK)

TURNER: -- the first time we do see celebrities fighting back. About a year or so ago, saw Tom Cruise fight back against a published story saying he had abandoned his daughter. He's saying that's the line you don't cross and I'm suing you. They settled. He won that because he did not abandon his daughter. So there are some celebrities who draw lines. When these tabloid papers cross them, they do take action.

There is something else that came out of this story, guys, that's kind of buried in this. George Clooney finally confirmed he's getting married.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: I thought I just missed it.

TURNER: No, he said my fiance.

(CROSSTALK)

TURNER: We know George Clooney getting married. PEREIRA: How about that?

BERMAN: There is an official response from "The Daily Mail," right?

TURNER: Yeah, there was an official response. We were talking about it, how they said this was not a fabrication, they are going to investigate this. But they do believe George Clooney when he says this was all a lie. So they're going to take --

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: -- taking it down. There's a term for this called sources going direct. Sources have more power to go direct to the public. Writing an op-ed for "USA Today" by George Clooney is an example of that. He could have gone on Twitter or Facebook and done this. We'll see more examples of this, of celebrities and ordinary people going direct if they feel they've been wronged.

TURNER: Clooney says, look, my dad's a newsman, I get it.

PEREIRA: He understands the importance of good journalism.

TURNER: Absolutely. He says he gets it all, but there are certain lines you don't cross. When you mess with his soon-to-be-family, he doesn't like that.

BERMAN: Professors --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: You quoted academia here so why not.

TURNER: He's the man. I'm just the girl standing --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: I want to show you some pictures blowing up on the interweb. The old interweb is just a flurry today. The ESPN body issue. I am so stoked.

BERMAN: This picture right here you may recognize that man. Usually, you probably see him with clothes on.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Texas Ranger Prince Fielder. Everyone talking about it. Just 5'11", bared it all. He did it for a reason. Fielder said being big does not mean you cannot be athletic.

PEREIRA: Nischelle, you can pick up six different covers of the magazine.

TURNER: I want that one.

(LAUGHTER) PEREIRA: Besides Fielder, you'll see Michael Phelps, venues Williams, Marshawn Lynch, Jamie Anderson, the man who is the best name in the NBA. That issue hits newsstands Friday.

You're against it, I'm for it.

BERMAN: No, no. I think -- its naked people. It's naked athletes who are being naked.

PEREIRA: Way more than that. Don't be ashamed of your body, John --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Articles to go along with the naked people --

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: More diversity to go along with the "Sports Illustrated" swimsuit issue.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: That's a very good point. Prince Fielder --

(CROSSTALK)

TURNER: It's celebrating the body.

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: It does make us all want to go to the gym.

PEREIRA: Heading there right now.

BERMAN: Celebrate bodies with a little bit clothing.

PEREIRA: Now, a funny moment on late night TV, courtesy of David Letterman.

BERMAN: Watch this from last night and then we'll show you how our own Fredricka Whitfield inspired this bit of comedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(APPLAUSE)

JOAN RIVERS, COMEDIAN: So -- so where you from? I'll just take over. Talk to me.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That was Joan Rivers being funny, at least then. Before, not so much. Because this moment was inspired by an appearance on CNN "NEWSROOM" with Fredricka Whitfield where Joan Rivers just walked off. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOAN RIVERS, COMEDIAN: I made people laugh for 50 years. I am put on earth to make people laugh. My book is funny. I wear fur that was killed 15 years ago. I work for animal rights. Stop it with, and you do this, and you're mean and you're that. You're not the one to interview a person who does humor, sorry.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Are we serious?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Apparently, Joan Rivers was serious. Fredricka can interview anyone because she asks great questions --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: One of the nicest people in the business, Fred is. So a very odd moment. Some people thought it was a publicity stunt for her new book. Comment on our Facebook page, tell us what you think.

BERMAN: But very funny last night.

PEREIRA: That's it for @THISHOUR. I'm Michaela Pereira. Thank you for joining us.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman.

"LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts like right now.

PEREIRA: Now.