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NEW DAY

Alex Rodriguez Apologizes to Yankees; Political Fallout from Netanyahu Speech; "American Sniper" Murder Trial Begins Today

Aired February 11, 2015 - 06:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Foreign fighters streaming into Iraq and Syria to join up with ISIS, this according to U.S. intelligence officials. They say there are 20,000 people from countries around the world joining the terrorists. The number includes at least 3,400 from Western nations.

Today, President Obama expected to send Congress a formal request for the use of military force to fight ISIS.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: To the pivotal Ukraine peace talks now, European leaders meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin, trying to broker an enforceable cease-fire. President Obama is calling Putin ahead of those talks, urging him to accept a peaceful resolution.

Now, all of this happening as violence intensifies in Ukraine. At least 19 Ukrainian shoulders have been killed in just the last 24 hours. Four people were killed when shells hit a bus station in Donetsk.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: A 46-year-old man arrested for allegedly killing three young Muslim students, reportedly execution style. Police say Craig Hicks shot a family inside their condo in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. We're told two victims were in their 20s, the others, just 19. At this point, it's not clear what led up to the shooting.

CAMEROTA: And the Powerball jackpot now sits at nearly half a billion dollars, $485 million to be exact. But they cheat a little bit. That's just the cash value of under $330 million.

PEREIRA: Still good.

CUOMO: Uncle Sam.

CAMEROTA: It's OK.

PEREIRA: You know, come on.

CAMEROTA: You get the prize would be the third largest in the history of the game and the fifth largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history. Lottery officials point out that the chance of winning a Powerball jackpot is one in 175 million.

PEREIRA: Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

PEREIRA: Where's the guy that bought our tickets?

CAMEROTA: Isn't that peculiar? Phil, who bought tickets for everybody for a week, has vanished. He has absconded with our money and tickets.

PEREIRA: Curious, or is it?

CAMEROTA: Yes, where is he?

CUOMO: One out of 175 million, that's still saying I got a chance.

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: All right. Speaking of a guy who may get another chance, A- Rod is sorry to everyone. He never apologized to the Yankees front office, but that changed, too.

Andy Scholes is here with this morning's "Bleacher Report".

What can you tell us about A-Rod? Is he back?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, apparently, A- Rod wants everything to go back to the old days at spring training when it starts later this month. That's why he requested a closed- door meeting with the Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner, just to try to clear the air. In the meeting, A-Rod reportedly apologized for his use of performance-enhancing drugs and for the hostile nature in which he attempted to defend himself.

A-Rod and the Yankees released a joint statement about the meeting, saying, "There was an honest and frank discussion on all of the issues, as far as the Yankees are concerned, the next step is to play baseball in spring training."

Now according to ESPN, the Yankees told A-Rod they want him to clear the air with the media before spring training gets going. They also said they plan on disputing all of the home run bonuses that are in A- Rod's contract.

The Kentucky wildcats' unbeaten season was in jeopardy last night in Baton Rouge. LSU went on a 21-2 run in the second half to take a six- point lead. But the Wildcats, like they've done all year coming through in the clutch. Karl-Anthony Towns, the jump hook, that gives Kentucky the lead, they hold on to beat LSU, 71-69, they're a perfect 24-0 on the season.

Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler has a brand new ride, thanks to Tom Brady. Brady won a truck for earning MVP honors in the Super Bowl. But he says he was giving it to Butler for saving the game with that miraculous interception. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALCOLM BUTLER, PATRIOTS DEFENSIVE BACK: Words can't explain how -- how my life has changed and how good things have been happening to me. So, I'm very overwhelmed.

REPORTER: Are you a truck guy?

BUTLER: Oh, yes, I think I am now.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: So, new truck, trip to Disneyland and he was a presenter at the Grammys. Not a bad time to be Malcolm Butler, huh, Michaela?

PEREIRA: Well deserved, Mr. Butler, that and more. We wish him all the success.

All right, Andy. Thanks so much.

The White House and Democrats are not happy about it, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu going ahead with his planned speech before Congress next month. Ahead, we're going to take a look at the potential for fall-out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is coming to Congress. What will he say? Who will be there? Democrats are promising to boycott that speech.

And will it mean something to Israeli/U.S. relations? To negotiations with Iran? To nothing?

Let's bring in CNN political commentator, Republican consultant and Sirius XM host Margaret Hoover, and CNN political analyst and editor- in-chief of "The Daily Beast," John Avlon.

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

CUOMO: So, he comes. He says he has to come. There is an existential threat to his country. It's not about politics. But the moment that Benjamin Netanyahu alight in front of Congress and gives his speech -- what is the fallout?

JOHN AVLON, THE DAILY BEAST: I think right now, you're beginning to see the Bibi backlash.

CUOMO: Bibi backlash sounds good.

AVLON: And here's why, look, I mean, support for Israel has been the core of bipartisan American foreign policy for decades, especially in Congress. Support for Israel is sacrosanct. When all of a sudden, Boehner makes a backchannel invitation to Bibi, right before the election, knowing there's bad blood between Obama and Netanyahu, which hasn't translated to support, military support for Israeli, but is in a personal factor, that polarizes the situation even further. The White House has cover based on diplomatic standards, we don't have foreign leaders to the United States right before an election.

If enough Democrats sit it out, if enough Democrats sit it out, not only does it hurt that relationship, it could have impact at home as well.

CAMEROTA: And Democrats are threatening to boycott the speech, Margaret.

HOOVER: There are some Democrats who aren't going to go. Listens, I'm -- first of all, the support for Israel in the Congress is not diminished. There is still incredibly strong allegiance and respect and quite frankly, sort of mutual -- strategic interests between Israel. So, that's not diminished.

This is personality, like President Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu don't like each other. The well is totally poisoned, the same with Boehner. So, they kind of went around them. And it has -- there has been fallout, there has been backlash, as a result for Boehner frankly and for Republicans, because we were about to see a sanctions bill move, pushed by Senator Menendez and pushed by and supported by Democrats, a bipartisan bill for sanctions that's completely eroded mostly because of this what appears to have been a stunt.

Now, it's not that there isn't a real argument. It's not that there isn't a serious threat facing Israel or the United States and that Bibi Netanyahu isn't the right person to make that. He probably is, but the way he went about doing that has put Democrats and Republicans in a really difficult position and has sort of tainted the way we are perceived, and this entire speech is perceived as we go into what is and would be a very important speech. I come around to the fact that the way this was done was probably negative.

BERMAN: Look, Bibi's guys say there was some deception in terms of the invitation. They thought both sides wanted him, that everybody was on board.

HOOVER: Now, they're pointing fingers, right? Like, maybe they didn't know that this is a way --

(CROSSTALK)

AVLON: There's damage control. But as Margaret points out, sometimes the stunt ends up eroding the substance. And that seems to be the case here.

CAMEROTA: Why is there so much bad blood between these two?

HOOVER: I mean, look, I'm really sympathetic, I mean, I sort of understood it when it happened. Like anybody who has tried to negotiate with the president over the last six years, not many people have come away with feeling decently satisfied.

So, I can sort of understand why the well is a bit poisoned. At the same time, we're leaders of the free world. We just need to be grown- ups.

AVLON: Yes. But there wasn't a lot of love between Bubba and Bibi back in the 1990s, either. So, reality check here.

HOOVER: There is a philosophical.

AVLON: There maybe a philosophic divide. But I think it's important to contrast whatever the personal relationship is with the unprecedented funding that's gone to Israel during the Obama administration as well.

CAMEROTA: All right. Let's talk about what's going on in Alabama. There are about a host -- about gay marriage, there are a host of county officials at dozens, in dozens of counties there who are defying a federal court order to begin issuing marriage licenses.

HOOVER: They're marrying people in three of the four counties in Alabama. They're waiting for one county, it's Mobile County, who is not issuing. There are some judges in Mobile County who are not marrying people.

Look, what's interesting about this is -- this is going to be decided by the Supreme Court. You have sort of a rift in the gay rights community. Some of them saying taking the order from the Supreme Court who weighed in, you know, supremacy clause, federal court rules, saying you know essentially this is going to be settled, everybody is going to be able to get married.

Frankly, if you're in the 13 states that can't get married, go ahead and start planning your weddings now, which there's another side of the gay rights community that's worried, that being presumptive about what the Supreme Court is going to do is actually really dangerous play and that's what President Obama did in his comments.

CUOMO: Where's the indication from anything we've seen --

HOOVER: You never want to -- you just never want to assume and presume what the justices are going to do.

CUOMO: But they've laid out already in decisions that they see this under equal protection.

HOOVER: They have also split the question raised to the court in three different ways, which some people think means that they may parse their decision and not arrive at final resolution on the question of the constitutionality of marriage.

AVLON: Does anybody think we're going to see a Brown v. Board style unanimous decision? I don't think that's in the cards. What's fascinating is now, you're beginning to see red state executives have a desperate last pushback. And you saw in Kansas with Sam Brownback just yesterday undid an

executive order dating from Kathleen Sebelius' time that remove equal protection for gay and lesbian state workers, totally unnecessary, at that time when his state has really been suffering from a lot of bad decision that he had a hand in. And this really fascinating conflict in Alabama, which both, Roy Moore against the governor, against the federal court.

CAMEROTA: But people say this smacks of 1963 and it harkens back to George Wallace at the school house, you know, locked doors? Is that going overboard?

HOOVER: As President Obama even said, and as the first African- American president, he's the right person to say it's not a perfect parallel.

AVLON: It's not a perfect parallel.

HOOVER: It's not a perfect parallel. You know, we don't have a legacy of slavery with the gay community in this country. It's just not a perfect parallel.

But what's interesting about this is, the justices need to see that the country is ready for this before they legislate sweeping change in marriage, and if they're seeing judges holding out in the South. If they're seeing governors repealing gay rights in Kansas, they're going to, they may fear the country is not ready.

CUOMO: I don't know why you would shade it that way, there's nothing that the court has done to support that. This is not about where the American people are. This is about equal protection.

HOOVER: I hope you're right. I mean, I work on the Republican side of the aisle on gay rights, but I don't want to be presumptive about what's going to happen, but there is backlash in the form of Religious Freedom Restoration Act which John just pointed out.

CAMEROTA: We have to go.

HOOVER: All right. We're out.

CAMEROTA: Luckily, you'll be back.

(CROSSTALK)

AVLON: -- later, yes.

CUOMO: Sadly, we won't have many opportunities to discuss this.

CAMEROTA: Yes, thanks so much, guys.

All right. "American Sniper" is a huge box office hit. Now, the trial is about to start for the man accused of killing Chris Kyle, the real life "American Sniper." We're live at a courthouse in Texas for today's opening statements.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: The man who killed "American Sniper" centerpiece Chris Kyle and a man named Chad Littlefield goes on trial in just about three hours from now. Marine veteran Eddie Ray Routh is that man.

Now, his lawyers are planning to mount an insanity defense based on his PTS.

Ed Lavandera is live in Stephenville, Texas, with the latest.

What do we know?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning Chris, opening statements scheduled to begin this morning. It will be Chris Kyle's wife, Taya Kyle who will be one of the first witnesses to testify.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): This morning, a jury of ten women and two men will begin hearing testimony in the murder trial of Eddie Ray Routh. He's accused of killing "American Sniper" Chris Kyle and his friend, Chad Littlefield.

The killings happened two years ago inside this countryside gun range. Kyle and Littlefield met with Routh to help the former marine battle issues of PTSD.

Journalist Laura Beil documented Routh's mental health struggles in a book. She says Routh's mother was the one who reached out to Kyle, desperate to get his son help.

LAURA BEIL, AUTHOR, "THE ENEMY WITHIN": She told him about her efforts to get him care. And at the end of the conversation, he said I'm going to do everything I can to help your son.

LAVANDERA: Routh admitted killing Kyle and Littlefield to his sister shortly after the murders.

SISTER: He said he killed two guys, they went to a shooting range, like he's all crazy. He's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) psychotic.

LAVANDERA: Routh also recounted the killings to police in a videotaped confession. Routh's lawyers are expected to build an insanity defense of the accused killer of the beloved Texan, Chris Kyle, who's reached legendary status with the release of the blockbuster film "American Sniper". Routh spent time in and out of the V.A. for mental hale health issues, the details of that treatment will be a key part of his defense -- treatment that included a variety of prescription drugs.

After Routh left the military, he performed part-time work like mowing lawns.

For Tim Xeriland, he remembers Routh as quirky and weird.

TIM XERILAND, EDDIE RAY ROUTH'S FRIEND: He was much more of a Forrest Gump type of character than he was a serial killer. I would say towards the end before all of this happened, he was a lot more jumpy, a lot more -- he seemed to be nervous.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And, Chris, Taya Kyle has questioned whether or not PTSD is really at the heart of why Eddie Ray Routh killed her husband and Chad Littlefield, and prosecutors will be poking holes in that defense as well. In court documents, prosecutors are saying that Eddie Ray Routh had a history of abusing drugs and alcohol. Even on the day of the murders and that's more to blame than the PTSD -- Chris.

CUOMO: That's going to be complicated. And as we know, Ed, at trial, you only know what can you show. That's why we're going to try to figure out both sides right now.

Let's bring in commentator and legal analyst, Ms. Mel Robbins, and HLN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney, Mr. Joey Jackson.

For the purposes of this discussion, lady and gentleman, let's split it, OK?

Mel, you take why it is not an insanity situation.

And, Joey, you take why it is.

And I'm going to let you go first, Mel. What are the biggest reasons why PTS will not make it here as a defense in this situation?

MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR: Well, the biggest reasons, Chris -- and good morning, Chris and Joey -- are the actions of the defendant himself. Right after the shooting, what did he do? He didn't stand there and continue to rage with serious mental illness. He did what somebody who knows what they did was wrong would do. He jumped in Kyle's car, Chris Kyle's car, and he fled the scene.

And then he immediately went and confessed. And not only to his sister, but later on he admitted he knew what he did was wrong. And that's a critical piece. Because in the state of Texas, you not only have to show serious mental illness, but you also have to show that the person that committed the murder didn't know what they were doing was wrong. And this defendant said that he did.

CUOMO: Right. And now, just so people at home get it, non-lawyers get it, because you hear that and you said how could you not think that shooting somebody is wrong? When people are of severe mental defect, they often think they were liberating somebody's soul or this is the way of getting somebody into heaven. They have this, you know, totally backward idea of what the act means.

But what would be the main line of defense here as to why this man was not someone who could appreciate the nature and consequence of his actions?

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Exactly. Good morning, Chris, good morning, Mel. And Mel states it out very well for the prosecution. But the defense I think is going to invert this. You're dealing with someone, and that is Mr. Routh, who had serious psychiatric issues and those issues, Chris, were brought about through his service to this country. They were not self-inflicted. In other words, this is a person who defense will argue, who has committed to his country very much, and as a result of that, his dream and aspiration was to join the military, to be part of the process, to be a part of the solution.

Unfortunately, in serving in Iraq and doing the job he did on behalf of mankind, he unfortunately got this post traumatic stress disorder. This is real, I don't purport to know what a person who is on the front lines goes through in seeing their friends who were wounded, in seeing their -- people they come to love and to bond with, who are seriously injured, who are missing limbs and then, of course, going on a humanitarian mission in Haiti.

What did this do to him? Well, apparently, we know based upon his psychiatric history that it affected him in a very critical and significant way. In fact, his family pleaded with the hospital, don't let him out. He has problems.

CUOMO: And they're saying the V.A. didn't take him in.

JACKSON: Exactly. And he was in there, that is the hospital for quite some time and he was released days before this happened. He didn't know right from wrong, so will say the defense.

CUOMO: Yes, Mel?

ROBBINS: You know, it's a very, very heart-tugging story that Joey just told. But the bottom line is, is that it doesn't necessarily matter what he saw, what happened to him before. What matters is what happened at that gun range. And what happened immediately following, because he may have post-traumatic stress and he may have been hospitalized twice, which he was. But that doesn't prove that his mental illness was so severe when they went to the gun range that he didn't know right from wrong.

CUOMO: And also PTS is not a recognized --

ROBBINS: It's pretty clear after the tragedy.

CUOMO: Now, PTS isn't a recognized defense, because so many people who struggle with it are not violent and not insane.

JACKSON: Well, let's address it this way, and Mel's right, because the critical issue is what happened at that time.

But we all, Chris, are a product of a story. We didn't wake up today and become the person we are. It's critical, if you want to know who I am is to know where I came from. Very much at issue will be who he is and the treatment he received and what he needed, what was going on through his mind, and the things that he said, the paranoia that his own family talked about, that he was under. Now, to the extent that PTSD in and of itself, post-traumatic stress, is not recognized. It's recognized as much as how it affects your brain. How it affects your life. How it affects your actions. How it affects your, the what you do. And do you appreciate the nature of what you do. And that's what will be at issue.

CUOMO: I hear you. We're going to leave it there, Mel.

ROBBINS: Yes, Joey is correct, but --

CUOMO: I got to leave it there, Mel, because --

ROBBINS: There's also alcohol and drugs in his system, Chris. That's also going to diminish the ability to plead insanity.

CUOMO: And insanity is very rare. I think going into it we have to believe that the best bet is that this will go to sentencing, not to whether or not they get a guilty verdict on this man.

JACKSON: Mitigation, right.

CUOMO: We'll see. Let's let the trial happen. But thank you for helping us set the table on it. Mel Robbins, Joey Jackson, as always.

JACKSON: Pleasure, Chris.

CUOMO: This is a big story. There are many of them this morning. So, let's get to them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Peace is not something you wish for. It's something you make.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The world wants to be more like Kayla.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She was an outstanding young woman. And a great spirit and I think that spirit will live on.

ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Let's not forget in whose hands this woman died.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you kidding me? Brian Williams just got suspended for six months?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did he say that might not have been accurate on his new show when he's working as a journalist?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's revolutionized the news or satire or whatever it is, in an unbelievable way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jon Stewart is a more relevant news figure on the cultural landscape than Brian Williams.

JON STEWART, DAILY SHOW: I thank you for watching it, for hate- watching it, whatever reason you were tuning in for. ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and

Michaela Pereira.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to NEW DAY. We have breaking details emerging about the desperate attempts to rescue American aid worker, Kayla Mueller, killed in ISIS captivity.