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NEW DAY

Floods Threaten Parts of Texas; Two Escaped Prisoners Still at Large; U.S. Drone Strikes Kill Terror Leaders in Yemen and Libya; Transracial Woman Gives Interview; Source: Search for Prison Escapees Goes Cold; Tropical Storm Bill Bearing Down on Texas. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 16, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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


ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.

[08:00:03] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Tuesday, June 16th, 8:00 in the east. And it's all about tropical storm Bill. It is bearing down on Texas right now. And this storm is all about rain. A majority of the lone star state under a flash flood watch, the threat of isolated tornados as well.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Some parts of Texas could see up to eight inches of rain. That's not good for the already flood ravaged state. Voluntary evacuations are underway in the city of Galveston. Ad for those who cannot get out of town, officials say stay indoors. Let's begin our team coverage with CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray. She is life in Galveston. How is it looking, Jennifer?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Alisyn, the winds have really picked up over the last hour, if you could tell. And we are in the rain. We've been in the rain for the past 30 minutes or so. Early this morning it was more off and on. Now we're experienced more of that steady rain as the bulk of this storm pushes on shore.

We are right on those outer fringes, though. It is going to make landfall just to our southwest within the next few hours. The winds should stay sustained like this at 35-40 miles per hour for the next couple of hours.

Where we're standing on Galveston Island is the seawall and this protects the city from storm surge, and good thing, because the tides are running about four to five feet above normal. We just reached high tide within the last half hour. And there's no beach. This is normally a public beach. You could see the stairs that would normally go down. Not the case today. When we got into town yesterday it looks just like this. The water has come up a little bit more. But yesterday there was no beach either. So a lot of beach erosion will be going on. They did ordered those voluntary evacuations for the peninsula just on the east side of the island. It's a long highway, it's a very low-lying area. Water is already covering the road. Emergency officials said we can't get to you if you have a problem, so get out so everyone will be OK. Like you said, Alisyn, flooding is the major concern with this. Yes, it's windy. Yes, we'll have a little bit of a higher tide, but the flooding is the major concern as you know. Houston received so much rain as well as Dallas, the Red River Valley, as Chad Myers is going to tell you, so that is the biggest concern with this storm, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Jennifer, be careful out there and keep us posted throughout the rest of the program.

So tropical storm Bill not only being felt in Texas, as Jennifer said, but surrounding states as well. How bad will it get? Let's get right to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers. Chad, tell us what the models say.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The models say that the ground is already saturated and that any rainfall that comes down is going to run off. And that's what we're going to see with this, eight to maybe 12 inches of rain as this storm lumbers toward Dallas. It's going to take almost 36 hours to get to Dallas from here. You could drive there in about five or six.

There's our Jennifer Gray, right there. Here's the center of circulation heading to Port Lavaca. It has turned left in the past couple of hours, heading towards San Antonio and Austin before it turns back off to the right. This is an area called the hill country. The hill country is an area where the land ramps up to the west. That's what's going to catch the rain.

This rain is going to get into this basin, get into these river valleys, and going to wash straight back down into the communities that were already so hard hit. Dallas, you're 36 hours away from the center, but you're probably only six hours away from the rain because the rain shield spreads out. It will be raining for 24 to 36 hours in these areas, and it's going to go to St. Louis. It's going to go to Cincinnati. It's going to rain in Indianapolis as all of this rain rides itself up across Oklahoma City into the Ozarks and all the way as far east as even into parts of Pennsylvania.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: A rainmaker to be sure. All right, Chad, thanks for watching that with us. We'll continue to stay with it.

Meanwhile, a series of dead ends, frustrating ones, for the police on the hunt for two escaped convicts in New York stat as new details emerging now about the alleged relationship between the inmates and prison worker Joyce Mitchell. Was she forced into helping them? CNN's Alexandra Field joins us now with the latest this morning from west Plattsburg, New York. Alexandra?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Michaela. It's an interesting question, was Joyce Mitchell forced or threatened or pressured in some way? And it's certainly a question that investigators are asking, but it doesn't seem to bring them any closer to finding the two fugitives who are still on the run. We've got hundreds and hundreds of law enforcement officers who are out here pursuing hundreds and hundreds of tips taking them in nearly every direction. But the concentration of the search effort is still in this area, and officials close to the investigation say they haven't seen a clear sign these men could still be around here since last week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: Closely monitored behind bars this morning, officials say former prison employ 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 trying to be as truthful, I think, as possible.

[08:05:00] 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 weakness in someone and they 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 off ago. She claims she had no idea then the tools were going to be used to 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 if she knew the exact details. Investigators say the possible murder of her husband Lyle was one of the reasons 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: Just last week bloodhounds hit on a scent in the woods around here that had investigators thinking they were on the right trail. They also found food wrapper and tracks that they believed might lead to the fugitives. They contributed to some confidence that authorities would be closing in on them. But as this search continues, we're hearing from more people involved with the investigation who are raising the possibility that these two fugitives could be well outside of this area, that they could be just about anywhere. That said, Chris, they've still got this roadblock set up behind me and we note they're still hundreds of law enforcement officers participating in this search. They are looking at every car passing by. And we're told this checkpoint will stay here at least through today. Chris? CUOMO: And Alexander, we're going to have the Clinton County sheriff on. He has his deputies involved in that search, and there is a lot about what's going on and is currently holding the women involved in this plot. So we're going to talk to him about the latest details.

We also have breaking news for you this morning. Five people have been killed, eight others injured after a balcony collapsed in Berkeley, California. You're taking a look at the scene right now thanks to our affiliate KRON. This happened overnight. A fourth floor balcony collapsed at this apartment building that you're looking at. Police say the survivors' injuries are really bad, from serious to life-threatening. Officials also confirm Irish citizens are among the dead. It is not yet clear what caused the accident. We'll stay on it.

CAMEROTA: A south Al Qaeda leader killed in a U.S. drone strike, this after an air strike took out another high ranking terror leader in Libya. CNN's Barbara Starr is live for us at the Pentagon with all the details. Good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Al Qaeda in Yemen announcing Nasir al-Wuhayshi, their leader, killed. Yemeni officials say it was a U.S. drone strike. The U.S. still not absolutely confirming it, but already a successor to him, Wuhayshi, has been appointed. Al Qaeda in Yemen is top of the U.S. get list because that group has vowed to attack the United States. They have succeeded in trying to put bombs onboard airliners.

So this is a big get for the United States to deal this kind of blow to Al Qaeda in Yemen even though already they are trying to regroup with a new leader.

It raises some really interesting questions. We have this attack. Just yesterday we were talking as you said another intelligence success by all accounts. U.S. teams in an air strike in Libya taking out Mokhtar Belmokhtar. Again, the U.S. hasn't officially confirmed it, but they are saying they were responsible for the air strike. They knew he was in Libya, and they went after him.

Another one, Abu Sayyaf a couple of weeks ago, we were talking about U.S. army Delta Force, they got Abu Sayyaf in Libya. There have been some not successes. Some failures in recent months. We had the killing of Warren Weinstein, the American hostage, in a drone strike in Pakistan. The U.S. didn't know he was there. And two hostage operations also didn't work out, an attempted rescue of U.S. hostages in Syria and another one in Yemen. Michaela?

PEREIRA: All right, Barbara, thank you so much for that. Back here at home, the teens severely injured in the shark attacks off the coast of North Carolina are recovering. They both lost limbs in separate attacks. People in the area understandably are on edge. CNN's Tom Foreman is live in Oak Island, North Carolina, where it all happened, with the very latest for us. Tom?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Michaela. All up and down this beach people are thinking about those two teenagers and they're wondering about what is out in the water right here. The attacks happened just a very short distance from where I'm standing right now. And authorities have been on high alert watching the water to see if there's any sign of a rogue shark out there that's actually attacking human beings. The problem is they don't know what kind of shark was responsible for these attacks. They don't know if it was the same shark that attacked both teenagers, although they think it might be.

[08:10:00] One of the real concerns that they are talking about, though, is right behind me right here, piers along here where people fish. Nothing in the world wrong with that, but there is some concern that over time as people have thrown bait into the water it has drawn even more sharks into this area which is naturally prone toward sharks, and that's creating some higher degree of danger, although shark attack remain relatively rare. In fact they're quire rare.

But one of the big surprises in all of this is authorities saying that shortly after the attacks when they flew over with helicopters, they saw two seven to eight foot sharks in the water not far from the attack sites. The sharks were seen separately. They don't know if those sharks were responsible for it, but they know they're out here. And a lot of people are hesitant to get into the water. Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Tom, appreciate the reporting on that.

So Rachel Dolezal, she is out at the NAACP on TV, of course. Appearing on NBC's "Today" show, Dolezal, who is white by most definitions, says she considers herself black and takes issue with critics comparing her look to black face.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you an African-American woman?

RACHEL DOLEZAL, FORMER PRESIDENT, NAACP SPOKANE CHAPTER: I identify as black.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You identify as black. Let me put a picture up of you in your early 20s, though. When you see this picture is that an African-American woman or a Caucasian woman.

DOLEZAL: That's not in my early 20s.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a little younger, I guess.

DOLEZAL: I'm 16 in that picture.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is she a Caucasian woman or a African-American woman?

DOLEZAL: I would say visibly she would be identified as white by people who see her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But at the time were you identifying yourself as African-American?

DOLEZAL: In that picture during that time, no. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your parents were asked this question this week

and they didn't have any trouble answering it. Here's what they aid. "She's clearly our birth daughter and we're clearly Caucasian. That's just a fact." Your father went on to say "She's a very talented woman doing work she believes in. Why can't she do that as a Caucasian woman which is what she is?" How do you understand that question?

DOLEZAL: Well, first of all, I really don't see why they're in such a rush to whitewash some of the work that I have done and who I am and how I've identified. And this goes back to a very early age with my self-identification with the black experience as a very young child.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When did it start?

DOLEZAL: I would say about five-years-old.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You began identifying yourself as African- American?

DOLEZAL: I was drawing self-portraits with the brown crayon instead of the peach crayon. And the black colored hair, and, you know, yes, that was how I was portraying myself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So it started way back then, Rachel. When did you start, and I'll use the word, you can correct me if you don't like it, when did you start deceiving people and telling them you were black when you knew their questions were pointed in a different direction? When someone said to you back then, are you black or white, and you say I'm black, you didn't say "I identify as black." You'd say "I'm black." When did you start deceiving people?

DOLEZAL: Well, I do take exception to that. It's a little more complex than me identifying as black or answering of question of are you black or white. I was actually identified when I was doing human rights work in north Idaho as first transracial. And then some of the opposition to some of the human rights work I was doing came forward and started, the next newspaper article identified me as being a biracial woman. And then the next article when there were actually burglaries, et cetera, was this was happening to a black woman. And I never corrected that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why didn't you correct it? You knew it wasn't true.

DOLEZAL: Well, because it's more complex than being true or false.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: What a fascinating conversation. I mean, this is mind- blowing and, of course, provocative stuff. Isn't it interesting, Chris, who is giving me the hairy eyeball, to live in a time when people are identifying themselves -- I think of Bruce Jenner with transgender issues, and now her with transracial issues.

PEREIRA: I think they're very different.

CAMEROTA: Listen. They identify themselves as different than we see them. That's an interesting proposition.

PEREIRA: This is the first time we've heard her say that, because I don't know that to be true. I'd like to know more about that. Because to a lot of people it's as though she's just appropriating a lifestyle, a culture, a racial identity. And the fact is she's told a lot of lies about other things.

CUOMO: Bruce was dealing with something very openly as a man that he didn't feel -- he wanted to be different. He wanted to be something else. This is about subterfuge and hiding and dancing around it by saying, well, it was the press accounts that said I was trans-race, whatever that means.

[08:15:04] And then, it went black --

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Or we are more accustomed to what Bruce has gone through that we've never seen anything like this before?

PEREIRA: Clearly, this is a young woman who's struggling with identity, and it does make me terribly sad that she's struggling with that, and I hope she finds some answers for herself.

CUOMO: Fascinating and interesting are other words for bizarre and strange, and somebody who wants to be something is open about that. It doesn't come only out when they're caught. That's part of the dynamic here.

CAMEROTA: Maybe. But I mean, this is the first time we've heard her speak. I think it's very interesting to hear her rationale for all of that.

CUOMO: I don't know if we actually heard. It's just that it's complex. I think complex is getting out of the situation --

CAMEROTA: What do you think? We'd love to hear your thoughts on this. You can find us all on Twitter.

Meanwhile, back to our top story, the hunt for two escaped convicts in New York continues onto day 11. The sheriff involved in that investigation will join us live with an update.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: We know what they look like, but we don't know where they are. Are they in, these two escaped convicts, upstate New York? Did they go to another state? Are they in another country? Richard Matt and David Sweat still avoiding police despite all these leads and all these men looking for them for 11 days on now.

So, let's check in with Sheriff David Favro. He is up there in Clinton County. He's got his deputies on it. He's holding Joyce Mitchell, the woman who has been involved in this, the allegation say.

So, let's check in. [08:20:00] All the leads -- we know about the manpower, Sheriff. What

can you tell us about how you think this is proceeding?

DAVID N. FAVRO, SHERIFF, CLINTON COUNTY, NEW YORK: As of right now, there's not an awful lot of new information. There hasn't been an awful lot of physical information indicating whether they're here or whether they're outside the area.

I think people need to understand that we have to exhaust all available local resources for two reasons. One, in hopes to be able to capture them locally before they can get outside. And secondary, to make sure that we provide the most secure community we can for our local people. We have law enforcement counterparts in other counties throughout the state and throughout country that are ready to respond and deploy assets upon any possible leads that will take us outside this area.

CUOMO: Now, you've been quoted as saying earlier that you're basically 50-50 on whether or not they're still in the area or not. That's reasonable when you're not working on any leads.

Two big questions: the first one is, Sheriff, do you believe that the coordination between the marshals and the troopers that we see behind you and the local deputies like yours, is that working or is there some infighting going on?

FAVRO: I don't think infighting is an appropriate term for that. Are there some areas that need to be improved? Yes. I do believe there are. Those are discussions we should have after we get these two back in custody.

The people in the road, the people in the woods, the people who are doing the hands-on work are doing a wonderful job. There's a lot of behind the scenes investigations that are going on. They're doing a wonderful job. Everybody is putting 100 percent effort into this manhunt and into this investigation.

There's always things that need to be improved as with this. And I'm sure those will be discussed at an appropriate time.

CUOMO: You've got Joyce Mitchell in custody. What is your take on her involvement here? Do you think it was about her being in love with these guys? Or do you think it was them drawing her in and then scaring her into helping them?

FAVRO: That would have to require an awful lot of speculation and theory. Everybody is different. So, to get inside the mind of somebody and know exactly what they were thinking, she probably doesn't even know at this time, you know, what the plot was.

I honestly don't think she was plan A. There's been a lot of people that said, well, if she didn't show and got cold feet, they probably went to plan B. I think she was plan B. I think they didn't put this much time and effort into such an elaborate escape and take so long to plot this together without getting some assistance and having a good solid plan for once they did get to freedom. CUOMO: Do you think her husband was involved?

FAVRO: I haven't had any direct contact with him. And I haven't been informed by any of the investigators that they have any information regarding the involvement.

CUOMO: And how about the last big question, which is, it couldn't have just been Joyce Mitchell. So many are saying they had to have others helping them inside, outside. Does that seem likely to you as well?

FAVRO: It certainly does. I mean, all bits of evidence and information and logic would point to that direction. I can't conceive how these two people could put together such an elaborate escape route and have the understandings and thoroughly follow through with the mechanics of this elaborate escape without having multiple people involved.

CUOMO: Sheriff Favor, we know you're very busy up there. Thank you for checking in with us. We'll talk to you again.

FAVRO: Thank you for your help.

CUOMO: Mick?

PEREIRA: All right. Emergency officials busy in Texas as well. Tropical Storm Bill bearing down on the Lone Star State. Severe flooding now a major concern. We'll bring you a live report, just ahead.

CAMEROTA: And three top terrorists killed. What this means for the fight against terror, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:27:43] CUOMO: OK. Tropical Storm Bill now onshore in Texas. The storm is the potential straw to break the camel's back, putting the majority of the already-soaked Lone Star State under a flash flood watch. Also, a threat of isolated tornados.

Let's get to CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray live in Galveston. She has the latest.

It's been changing behind you all morning. It started as beach and now it looks like real crashing waves there.

GRAY: Oh, yes. You bet, Chris.

We have had steady rain and steady winds for the past hour or so. And like you said, this is normally a public beach behind me. No beach. The tides are running about four to five feet above normal. The high tide occurred in the last half hour or so.

And you can see how high the water is. This sea wall is a 17-foot wall that protects the city from storm surge. You can see with the tides running about four to five feet high, it's definitely coming high up on the wall, but still a good six or seven feet protection there.

So, of course, doing its job, we know Galveston got battered very hard in 2008 by Hurricane Ike. This one is going to be different. It's going to be more of a rainmaker. The flooding is the biggest concern with this storm. We know Houston area got 15 inches of rain in May, could see an additional foot from this storm alone.

And so, flooding is a major concern. In fact, Highway 87 just to the east of Galveston Island, right around Bolivar Peninsula, ordered voluntary evacuations. That's a very low lying area, basically one road in, one road out. Flooding already occurring along Highway 87,.

And emergency officials said, you know what, we won't be able to get to you. If something happens, we won't be able to get to you, so get out while you can. And so, a lot of folks did that, of course, in Galveston. Schools are closed. Obviously the beaches are closed.

If this thing is going to push inland for the next several hours, it should be downgraded to a tropical depression later today. But the flooding is going to be the main concern with this, Chris. The creeks, the rivers, all filled to capacity with all the flooding during the last month.

And so, Alisyn, we are going to see any additional water, bad news for Texas. This is not only going to wreak havoc across Texas, it's going to mean the same thing for Oklahoma, Missouri and points north, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Jennifer, thanks for all those warnings for everyone watching this morning.

Also, some news this morning that al Qaeda has confirmed that their number two leader was killed in a U.S. drone strike. Nasser al- Wuhayshi is the head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.