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Tropical Star Bill Bearing Down on Texas; Source: Search for Prison Escapees Goes Cold; Jeb Bush Launches White House Bid; Are There More Accomplices in Prison Break? Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 16, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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


CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: We have team coverage all over this. Let's start with CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray live in Galveston -- Jennifer.

[07:00:09] JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Chris. I'm sure you can notice a huge difference from now versus 30 minutes ago. The wind has really picked up, as well, as the rain. We are getting some of those bands start to come through more frequently now. I'm sure the winds are up to about 25, 30 miles per hour with gusts up to 35, at least.

So, this is beginning. And we are going to be in this for the next three, four hours. This storm should be making landfall around 8 a.m. local time, 9 a.m. Eastern.

We are on the seawall here in Galveston. And this actually protects the city from storm surges. It was completed back in the '60s and has done a great job ever since. Of course, Galveston was battered by Ike in 2008.

This is going to be more of a flooding event, though. This is going to cause major flooding not only in the Houston area but Dallas and points to the north. Houston has already received more than 15 inches of rain in May. We could get another foot with Tropical Storm Bill. So that is definitely unfortunate news for all of Texas, and this will be spilling into Oklahoma, Arkansas and points north.

I was just in the Red River Valley last week. And they were saying the worst-case scenario is if we get a tropical system. Here you go. Here it is. This is Bill. And this is going to cause 10-12 inches of rain all across Texas. The hill country is really going to be watching this closely. Highway 87, just to the east of us, has been shut down. There's already flooding. That's a very low-lying area, anywhere from High Island all the way down to the Bolivar Peninsula to the lighthouse.

So folks are ready. Emergency crews are ready. We've been talking to Houston, Galveston. They say if we need to send people out, if we need to do what we need to do, because they know this is going to be a flooding event. And you can tell the winds have really been increasing over the past 30 minutes.

This is an angry Gulf of Mexico behind me. Normally, a public beach, Chris. It is now completely washed up towards the seawall. The seawall has another good six, seven feet before we reach the ocean, so definitely doing its job. But a lot of beach erosion going on here as the tide is running about four to five feet above normal. You can see that sea spray coming over a little bit, Chris.

CUOMO: What's supposed to be the shore is now three-foot crashing waves. Jen, be careful there.

Let's get to meteorologist Chad Myers, because as Jen was just telling us, it's not just about Texas. We're going to see flooding in an entire region of states here. Take us through it.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This is the area that we're worried about here. From wherever it makes landfall, probably just to the south of Freeport all the way up to Oklahoma City. That area right through there is going to be the main area of significant rainfall. That is where the rain is going to come down.

I know we have a center of circulation, and it's going to come onshore here. There's Freeport. There's Port Lavaca. So somewhere in here where there's not much going on. To be honest, this is kind of a swampy area. That's great news.

But farther to the north here, from Freeport up, where Dow Chemical has major operations, all the way up to Beaumont, Port Arthur and Galveston. Every time one of these bands that Jennifer was just in right now, every time one of those bands moves through, we're going to get winds just like she has, 40 to 50 miles per hour.

And then eventually, the storm lumbers over Dallas. But it takes 36 hours to get there. So think about the hill country: Dallas, Austin, Georgetown, San Antonio. All of these areas right here on the west side getting pushed up. All this air here is kind of a hill area, hilly country. And that's going to deal with the rainfall. And then that rainfall is going to want to walk back down right through those rivers and valleys that have so much water in them already.

Guys, back to you.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Chad. Well, somebody who's watching that forecast very carefully and closely is Judge Ed Emmett. He is the director of Harris county's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Not only are you in charge of justice in that area, but also in charge of emergencies. And I know you're quite concerned about what's going to happen there.

Judge, it's good to have you with us. What's your message to the millions of residents that are in the eye of this tropical storm headed your way?

JUDGE ED EMMETT, DIRECTOR, HARRIS COUNTY'S OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Well, the main message is just be careful. This is a rain event. There's no storm surge with it. It's not a hurricane. We don't have those kind of winds. But people need to be aware that places that have flooded before are very likely to flood again. So stay away from high water. If you don't have to go out today, don't.

PEREIRA: Well, and the fact is, you're right, and it's important to put that in that category. There isn't the strong wind associated with, but also we know that just a short time ago, parts of Texas were very hit hard by very dangerous and deadly flooding. You're concerned, obviously, that the damp grounds are going to be only made worsened by Tropical Storm Bill.

EMMETT: Well, the damp grounds, a lot of the river basins are already full. A lot of the watersheds are approaching being full. So, we can't handle a lot more rain. It's -- we live on the Texas Gulf coast. It's a low-lying area. So the good news is, this is -- seems to be mainly a daytime event, unlike the Memorial Day flood, which was at night.

PEREIRA: We know it only takes about six inches of moving water to knock somebody off their feet. We also know that floods are the primary cause of weather-related deaths. Have you been finding that people are heeding your urging to stay home and stay out of the way?

[07:05:10] EMMETT: Well, they really are. Because if there was a good thing from the Memorial Day flood, is the fact that it got everybody's attention. And tragically, people died in that flood. And so I think we're getting a lot better response to the message of do not drive in the high water. Turn around, don't drown.

PEREIRA: Yes, sadly, 23 people lost their lives. Thirty-seven trillion gallons of rain fell in your state in May. That is just incredible. Really tough spring for Texas. Talk to us about evacuation plans. Are there any under way or any plans for that to happen for Harris County? We know that there have been sort of voluntary evacuation orders for Bolivar Peninsula.

EMMETT: The voluntary evacuations with Oliver was because the peninsula gets cut off with basically minimal flooding. There are no evacuation plans for Harris County. Typically, we evacuate for storm surge, but not for a rain event like this.

PEREIRA: What is your top priority today, sir?

EMMETT: People's safety. Making sure that people are safe. For example, we've had law enforcement go out and barricade the underpasses that we know are going to flood in advance so that we don't have the situation we had on, like Memorial Day, where people drove into them.

PEREIRA: Yes. Well, let's hope it is not that kind of situation as Tropical Storm Bill makes its way to Texas.

Judge Ed Emmett, director of Harris County Homeland Security and Emergency Management, we hope you don't have those merges to deal with this time around. Thanks so much for joining us today.

EMMETT: Thank you very much.

PEREIRA: Alisyn. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to another top story, the

search for those two escaped convicts out of New York. After 900 leads, there's still no sign of Richard Matt and David Sweat. But there is new information this morning.

CNN's Alexandra Field is live with the latest developments from upstate New York. What do we know, Alexandra?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Joyce Mitchell, the woman who was supposed to drive that getaway car, according to authorities, but never showed up. Why did she change her mind at the last moment? Why did she ever play along? Well, investigators are now looking at the possibility, asking the question, was she forced? That as they uncover new details about the escape plan, including a possible plot to kill that was never carried out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (voice-over): Closely monitored behind bars this morning, officials say former prison employee Joyce Mitchell is calm and cooperative, as we learn more about her alleged deep involvement with fugitives Richard Matt and David Sweat.

ANDREW WYLIE, CLINTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It's apparent that she's -- you know, she's trying to be as truthful, I think, as possible.

FIELD: A source with detailed knowledge of the investigation tells CNN Mitchell had a sexual relationship with Matt and, in the past, she had been investigated for having an inappropriate relationship with Sweat.

JOHN CUFF, FORMER U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE DIVISION HEAD: They'll exploit someone. They'll see a weakness in someone, and they'll use whatever they can to befriend them.

FIELD: This as officials say she had been sneaking both men certain supplies, like glasses with lights on them, beginning over a year and a half ago. She claimed she had no idea back then the tools were going to be used to help them dig out of the maximum security prison.

WYLIE: She was told by Matt that they were using those to stay up late at night to paint pictures or to read.

FIELD: Sources also say the escapees planned to kill Mitchell's husband, and that she was aware, but it's unclear she knew the exact details.

Investigators say the possible murder of her husband, Lyle, was one of the reasons why she got cold feet and backed out of being their getaway driver. But officials say they can't imagine Matt and Sweat would go through something so elaborate and so meticulous to then rely on one person to get them out of town and that they may have always had a better plan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: Last week, there was a whole lot of confidence that authorities were closing in on these two suspects somewhere in the area here near the prison. This week, a growing sense from many involved that these fugitives could be nearly anywhere. But searches do continue. We're watching officers. We're checking every car as they come through this checkpoint right now.

We're also hearing from one person who is close to the investigation who says there has been no clear sign that these two men are in this area since last week, when bloodhounds hit on a possible scent around here -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Alexandra. Thank you very much.

We do have some breaking news for you. A deadly balcony collapse killing five people, injuring eight others. This happened overnight in Berkeley, California. A fourth-floor balcony collapsed in an apartment building. Police say the survivors' injuries have a big range. Some are really serious. Some are life-threatening. It's not clear what caused the collapse yet. We're going to bring you more details as they become available.

PEREIRA: A top al Qaeda leader killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen. The terror group releasing a video confirming the death of Nasir al-Wuhayshi in an attack last week. He was the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and second in command globally. The U.S. is still seeking independent confirmation. Officials say if it is true, this is a significant blow to al Qaeda's leadership.

CAMEROTA: Well, he's No. 11 on your presidential score card, if you're playing the home game. But Jeb Bush hopes to be No. 1 in the hearts of Republican voters.

After months of build-up, the former Florida governor making his candidacy official Monday, declaring himself the most qualified to lead and addressing what could be a primary challenge, and that's his name. CNN's Dana Bash is live in Washington with more. Good morning, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Jeb Bush addressed something that has really become painfully obvious to him and his now campaign over the past six months as he has failed to break out of the pack or even scare people out of the pack, that he's going to have to earn it. His mother, Barbara Bush, was looking on. And as she was, she made it clear that he's not entitled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE; Not one of us deserves the job by right of resume, party, seniority, family or family narrative. It's nobody's turn. It's everybody's test. And it's wide open. Exactly as the contest for president should be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So, one of the enduring questions about Jeb Bush is people who watched him over the past six months is whether or not he's got the fire in the belly. Well, yesterday's speech was quite energetic. They made it into very much of a campaign rally so they could look -- make the candidate look like the guy who actually wanted it. He gave a pointed speech, political -- very political at times, calling out Hillary Clinton by name and not-so-veiled references to some of his Republican opponents.

He also made clear he's going to be a different kind of candidate, Chris. Speaking in Spanish, as he does fluently, saying explicitly he's going to reach out to all of the Americans and campaign all across the country in doing so. But of course, one of the lasting and lingering questions he's going to have to answer over the next year or so is whether or not he can grab hold when a lot of Americans just want somebody different.

CUOMO: It will be very interesting. I wonder if, in the wake of what we're seeing with the NAACP there in Spokane, maybe Jeb can say he actually is Latino. And would that make a difference for his fate going forward? He's not a Bush; he's a Latino. That's going to be the new takedown. We'll see who can track that down.

Why not? It's an open question.

All right. How about this? You're going to talk about politics, let's talk about animals. See this momma bear? She sneaks into a New Jersey backyard with her cubs in tow, pries open an outdoor fridge. The homeowners say the bear opened four cold drinks. She did not say if it was of the adult variety. She was then walking away from another nearby home with a bottle of hot sauce.

PEREIRA: The family hidden inside with their cell phone. In Los Angeles, in Glendale, there was a bear that was making the rounds became known as meatball, because he would fish for left-over meatballs in the garbage of one family.

CUOMO: What do the choices mean to you, four drinks and hot sauce? What did they need?

PEREIRA: They needed condiments.

CAMEROTA: I think they need a full drink after drinking the hot sauce.

CUOMO: I have friends who put hot sauce in Coronas, by the way.

CAMEROTA: That is good.

CUOMO: Don't think that was a confirmation they were going for.

PEREIRA: Don't drink in front of the baby bears.

CAMEROTA: Let's take a look more at our prison break story in upstate New York. We know the leads are going nowhere. Those two convicts are still on the run. How can police bring those men in safely? We're going to ask it to a former federal prisoner. He disputes some of what officials say went down in that escape.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW WYLIE, CLINTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We've done our investigations. There's other people that may be -- that may be arrested based on the information that we continue to receive on a daily basis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That was Clinton county district attorney Andrew Wiley, suggesting that the prison investigation may lead to more arrests.

[07:17:38] Here to continue this conversation is Larry Levine. He's a former federal inmate who served time in 11 different prisons over ten years. He's also now the director and founder of Wall Street Prison Consultants, specializing in federal sentence reduction.

Larry, thanks for being on. You were in 11 different prisons. What were you in for?

LARRY LEVINE, DIRECTOR/FOUNDER, WALL STREET PRISON CONSULTANTS: Narcotics trafficking, securities fraud, racketeering, obstruction of justice and machine guns.

CAMEROTA: So you don't learn a lesson very quickly?

LEVINE: Well, it's not a matter of that. The Federal Bureau of Prisons moved me around a lot, because I wasn't a disciplinary problem; I was a management problem. They didn't like the fact I was helping the inmates with legal work and administrative issues.

CAMEROTA: OK. So you know a lot about the prison system, and you take issue with some of the narrative that has come out of this investigation. For instance, you do not believe that these two inmates sawed their way out of the Clinton Correctional facility. What do you think happened?

LEVINE: Absolutely not. If you take a look at the cuts on those steam pipes, they're too even. They're too neat. They wouldn't have had time to really do that. I mean, there's reports coming out now that they stole or they borrowed some power tools from outside contractors.

If you look at the amount of time they would have had to have done that, because there's accountability on these tools, they would have had to have done it during the day while the tools were freely available. But during the day, they would be at their jobs. They would be working. They wouldn't be inside the walls cutting things.

CAMEROTA: OK. LEVINE: And at night, the tools would be checked back in, and they

would be locked down. So, the time line that's being put forth by the district attorney, it doesn't work.

CAMEROTA: OK.

LEVINE: The tools would not have been accessible to them at night.

CAMEROTA: So your -- your belief is that somebody on the outside helped them, starting from the outside in. Now, what -- what would be the motivation for somebody to help these two guys?

LEVINE: Money. Maybe they Are going to do something for someone on the outside. I'm not real sure about that. They're master manipulators. But behind the wall, inside the cell, they have the catwalk area.

Again, look at the cuts. Somebody goes and prepares these cuts for them. The one at the other end, where they popped out near the manhole...

CAMEROTA: Yes.

LEVINE: ... I mean, if you go with the theory that the government is putting on, these guys would have had to have cut this from the inside. There's no way they made a perfect hole to get out of that pipe from inside the pipe. It didn't happen.

The manhole cover that was, what, 15 or 20 feet up? I mean, that thing weighs 150 pounds. There's no ladder in there. Somebody would have had to have climbed on somebody's shoulders and pushed up on it. They would have broken the person's back.

So it's more likely they had help on the inside. And then on the outside, there was somebody out on the street that had already opened that manhole cover up, maybe put a chain ladder down or a ladder down. They jumped out of it, got in a car and drove off. And what, seven or eight hours later, the prison realized they were missing. It takes time.

CAMEROTA: You know, Larry, there's another theory you have that I find very interesting. And that is what happens once they came out of that manhole cover, if, in fact, their ride didn't show up, so Plan "A" didn't work. You have an idea of how people can get out of town fast. What is it?

LEVINE: Well, I mean, she's lucky she didn't show up, because they probably -- she's a weak link in the whole system. If it had been me, I'd have killed her, got rid of her quick. You know, she's unreliable.

CAMEROTA: Yes, but your theory -- I'm talking your theory about at the gas station, that what you would have done.

LEVINE: OK, the gas station. The bloodhounds tracked them to a gas station. And they lost the track there. These guys, again, had it been me, I would have jumped in the trash Dumpster, waited there. They probably already had a schedule, because they did have help on the outside coordinating. I'm sure this lady brought them in secure cell phones.

They got in the trash Dumpster, waited. Trash truck picked the Dumpster up. Boom, there's no landfills in the middle of nowhere where the prison is at. So the trash truck took that Dumpster potentially hundreds, maybe thousands of miles away.

They may have even put it on the back of a flatbed train that could be, you know, thousands of miles away. I think that the government is putting on -- I don't want to really call it a smoke screen. They can't pull all that law enforcement out of the local area, or people will think that they're doing nothing. But they're saying, well, gee, they could be here or they could be thousands of miles away. Yes, no kidding.

Right now, they don't really know what to do. They're gasp -- you know, grasping at straws.

CAMEROTA: Larry Levine, you have interesting theories. Very interesting to talk to you. We'll see what investigators come up with today. Thanks for being on NEW DAY.

LEVINE: Glad I could be here.

CAMEROTA: If you have any information about the escaped inmates, please contact the U.S. Marshalls tip line. Here's the number: 1-800- 336-0102.

Let's get to Chris.

CUOMO: All right. We have been watching Tropical Storm Bill. It is spiraling toward Texas. It's now making landfall. The big problem here is going to be floods. These are the latest pictures. And we'll give you the latest on that situation in just a second.

Also, Donald Trump, he's saying this is the big day. Everybody wants to watch. It's going to be all over social media. The question is, what is it? Is he going to run for the White House? John King will dive in on "Inside Politics."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:27:20] CAMEROTA: Tropical Storm Bill charging towards Texas. Some areas could see up to eight inches of rain prompting severe flooding. And voluntary evacuations are under way in the city of Galveston.

Let's get right to CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray. She's live on the ground in Galveston with the latest. What are you seeing, Jennifer?

GRAY: Yes, Alisyn. We are seeing the angry sea behind me. This is the Gulf of Mexico. We are right here along the sea wall in Galveston. This protects the city from the storm surge. And it's been doing that over 50 years. And we are looking at the storm's surge come up a little bit. It is

now high tide right now. And seas are running -- the tide, rather, is running about four to five feet above normal. So what's normally a beach, not the case this morning.

Of course, the water is crashing up against the seawall. It has been doing so ever since yesterday.

So, we are going to continue to see conditions like this for the next several hours. It is expected to make landfall in the next two hours or so. And then, it will slowly start to back off.

We have had off and on rain. We have had periods of very high wind. And then the winds will slack off a little bit, like they are now. But just about 20 minutes ago, the winds were blowing at about 35 miles per hour. We could see winds here as high as 45-50 miles per hour.

But the big story with this storm is going to be the flooding, because Texas has already received more than 15 inches of rain for May, and now it is June. And we could see another foot of rain with this, Michaela. So it is something to watch, not only in the Galveston area, but maybe Houston, Dallas, all the way up to portions of Oklahoma, Missouri and even points north from that, Michaela.

PEREIRA: Likely to go down in the history books as one of the wettest year on record for a while. All right, Jennifer. We'll be watching it with you throughout the day. Time to turn to "Inside Politics" on NEW DAY with Mr. John King.

Haven't talked to you in a while. How you doing here?

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: It's a big day, Michaela. Great to talk to you on the big decision day. We've got a big one here. We're going to go "Inside Politics," and I might get a little snarky about this one. With me to protect me and share their reporting and their insights, CNN's Maeve Reston, Bloomberg's Margaret Collins.

I'm a little snarky, because it's the Donald's day. Donald Trump says today he's going to tell us if he's going to run for president in 2016. Now, he toyed with running in 2000, and in 2008, and in 2012. In 2014, he said he might run for New York governor.

Let's just go back to 2011-2012, when the Donald, who likes to treat the presidential nominating process as a personal PR machine, said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REAL ESTATE MOGUL: Well, the question is, am I going to run for president? I will make that decision sometime prior to June.

I am giving it serious, serious thought.

I've decided that we are going to continue onward with "Celebrity Apprentice." We're going to continue making lots and lots of money for charity. I will not be running for president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Wait, wait, he promoted -- he promoted his show when he said he wasn't running for president. Do we expect the Donald to actually jump in this time?