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Search Expanded for Missing Florida Teens; Tom Brady Case Examined; Cecil the Lion's Killer in Trouble. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 29, 2015 - 06:30   ET

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


[06:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: The Coast Guard is now expanding its search for two 14-year-old Florida boys who went on a fishing trip last Friday and never returned. Authorities now searching an area stretching from Jupiter, Florida to South Carolina. Coast guard officials say they are now in a race against time. Because it's only possible for most people to survive in the water up to five days.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Former prison tailor, Joyce Mitchell, wiping away tears as she confessed that she did help convicted killers David Sweat and Richard Matt escape from that Upstate, New York prison. Now, Mitchell herself she faces prison time. As part of the plea deal she faces about two and a half to seven years.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: After serving 30 years in prison for being an Israeli spy, Jonathan Pollard is going to be paroled. Pollard is an American citizen, was sentenced to life for passing U.S. intelligence secrets to Israel. Administration official say his release set for November was not a favor to Israel because of opposition to the nuclear deal to Iran. The White House is rejecting a petition to pardon NSA Liquor Edward Snowden. 168,000 people signed that petition. Administration officials say Snowden should return to the U.S. to face espionage charges.

PEREIRA: All right, a little bit of fun and high junked of the expense of some college football champs. The Ohio State Buckeyes find victims, one of then posed as a mannequin in their facility jumping out and spooking players as they walk by. Perhaps the best reaction was the quarterback.

[06:35:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ahhh.

BERMAN: Stop, drop and roll. I was always taught that, in the face of danger.

PEREIRA: I think that's hilarious.

CAMEROTA: He's walking it off.

BERMAN: He's used to having big guys the on the offensive line protecting him.

PEREIRA: You know they are coming. Nothing like a good prank. I love that. CAMEROTA: Well, the northeast will be blazing hot today. In many

places it is expected to feel like 100 degrees. We may have to douse this next man, CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers, he joins us live from CNN center in Atlanta. How is it looking?

CHAD MYERS, METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, it looks above normal too. I know it's hot and I know its summer. People just say it's going to be over because it's summer. But if you should be 84 and you are 94 and you feel like you are going to be 97, that's when the real problems happen. In above normal temperatures in Albany, I grew up in Buffalo. There was one family in my entire neighborhood that had an air conditioner. They were the rich people. So you get the idea, a lot of people up north don't have them because you don't need them. It is hot weather, its high pressure, it's sunshine and there will be some thunderstorms across parts of the area that could give you a little bit of relief. But here are the highs for the next couple days.

New York City, 94. I can see some spots in the city to 96 degrees today. Farther out to the west, Dallas, you don't get below 100 for your high, I don't even see that for the next few days but even Little Rock to 101 today. So it's hot all across the country. Guys, back to you.

BERMAN: Well, that just that stinks. Thanks, Chad.

Tom Brady, sacked. NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell upholding the four games deflategate suspension. So is this all over? Does Tom Brady have one last minute drive to try to beat the rap or is he a cheater?

[06:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is Tom Brady a cheater?

TOM BRADY, : I don't believe so. I feel like I have always played within the rules. I would never do anything to break the rules.

BERMAN: Is Tom Brady a cheater? A whole lot of people have a different answer to that question today. That was Brady back in January denying that he had a role in deflating footballs. But the NFL now has upheld Brady's four game suspension for his involvement of deflategate scandal. The player association does plan an appeal to a federal judge.

Joining us now, Joey Jackson, he's an HLN legal analyst and a criminal defense attorney. And Mel Robbins, CNN commentator and legal analyst and a residence of the great state of Massachusetts. So, like me, we have a vested interest in this whole thing.

Joey, you know, before we get down to the nitty gritty details here, Tom Brady destroyed his cell phone or more accurately had his assistant destroy his cell phone that had thousands of text messages from the time, presumably, that these footballs were deflated. And he just didn't just destroy the cell phone, he did on the day he was being interviewed by the investigation. JOEY JACKSON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Mel, John Berman sounds like

a prosecutor this morning. Look, here is the reality. He's Tom Brady. And there could be a number of things on that cell phone having nothing at all to do with guilt or innocence, but his personal life that he doesn't want exposed. And so that's plausible explanation. Does it sound fishy? Absolutely, it does. But if I'm defending him, I would certainly ask people to consider.

We live in an age where everything, right, when you're at his level get so much attention and what if someone discover something on that phone that doesn't deal with this investigation but deals with aspects of his life that he believes I'm not suggesting that's the case but he believe that doesn't want exposed to the public. What do you do? You destroy it. A person of his stature, I don't believe it's that unusual. That's what I say about.

BERMAN: All right. Let me tell you what Goodell said even though the prior request for his text messages were discussed during that interview, neither Brady nor his council ever advised Mr. Wells that the cell phone Mr. Brady has used during the key time period has been destroyed. So not only did he destroy her cell phone, but he kept that fact secret until June.

Joey, he hurt himself by destroying the cell phone. He did not have to tell. He didn't have to turn it over. He didn't have to tell anyone what was on it. But the fact of destroying it puts him in even worse position today.

JACKSON: I would agree with that. Although, look it's all about what you focus on. If you are a commissioner, whether you're a judge, jury and executioner of a very flawed process which doesn't in my view allow a due process you can say that's what they bargain for. That's what the collective bargaining agreement says. But at the end of the day, it's a process that's flawed. And one person who appoints the commission. Another person, right, whose the same person, oh by the way decides that commission what they wrote, the Wells report is accurate.

And by the way, you don't like my decision, I'm going to be there, again, to decide what I decided in the first place was correct. It's a very flawed process. You can focus on the cell phone. If I'm defending him, I'm focusing on the process, the lack of due process and the fact that this needs to go to federal court where the impartiality are lack thereof of that commissioner needs to be uncovered, discussed and evaluated.

BERMAN: But the Goodell decision in someday, more thoughtful than the Wells report itself. The Goodell report yesterday came out with some better legal reasoning the first time around.

Mel, let me ask you this. I will turn this way to speak to you Mel and give a much bigger picture right here. The player's association is going to appeal. We're going to put this before a federal judge. They are probably going to pick a federal judge they think will rule in their favor. They put a statement saying, the NFL violated the plain meaning of the collective bargaining agreement. That is what they say. Will they get this appeal? Will this judge issue an injunction that will let Tom Brady play? What kind of case does Brady have?

MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR: You know, John, first of all, I feel like I should offer you my condolences this morning. And Joey Jackson, it sounds like Hillary Clinton should be hiring you based on your arguments about destroying e-mail and keeping things personal and private.

But I think that unlike Peterson, Rice and Greg Hardy who just had their decisions by the NFL either overturned or reduced, John, I think Brady is going to have a much harder time. There's a couple reasons why.

[06:45:00] First of all, under Article 46 of the collective bargaining agreement, Goodell actually has wide latitude to hear appeals of player conduct policy violations. Secondly, given what Goodell is saying in terms of the fact that Tom Brady destroyed evidence, he's in direct violation of actually, quote, cooperating in an investigation. And third, this is conduct that was on the field, which the NFL has a huge vested interest in policing, unlike Rice, Peterson and Hardy, where those were allegations where their conduct violated off the field.

And on top of it, their arguments were much more straight forward. Rice for example said, hey, you punished me thrice. Peterson said you are retroactively punishing me. And now, you know, what is Brady saying that my due process was violated in fact he have lawyers. He didn't even call the two guys involved in deflategate as witnesses at the appeal hearing.

So I think that while they may file an appeal they are going to file an appeal it's not going to go anywhere, John.

BERMAN: No? Doesn't look good for Tom Brady. Tom Brady frankly doesn't look good. Mel Robins, Joey Jackson, thanks so much for ruining my day. Michaela?

PEREIRA: We are going to support you through this, we are going to support you through this. All right.

An American dentist is wanted in Zimbabwe for hunting and killing a protected lion. This story has sparked all sorts of international outrage. Could he face poaching charges? We'll discuss it after the break.

[06:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: An American dentist could face poaching charges in Zimbabwe for killing a beloved lion. A task force in Zimbabwe claims that Walter Palmer of Minnesota paid at least $50,000 to hunt and kill the lion named Cecil who is being tracked in studies by researchers at Oxford University. Let's bring in CNN's David McKenzie, he is live from Lion's Rock, South Africa. Tell us more, David.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Yes, this has sparked outrage across the world. The doctor, Walter Palmer is accused of, with his professional guides, pulling this lion, baiting it out of National Reserve neighboring Zimbabwe, bringing it out and then killing it with a bow. Tragically, the lion wasn't killed, they stalked it for another 40 hours, according to conservationist and then killed it. This is causing outrage because they believe it is illegal. Authorities are looking for the dentist from Minnesota. He's effectively gone to ground. He put out a statement saying, as far as he was concerned, it was legal to shoot the lion.

Effectively, he's blaming his guides, who are in a courtroom today facing charges in Zimbabwe. This put a focus on the issue of trophy hunting. To put it in perspective, lion populations in Africa have plummeted by more than 90 percent in the last several decades. Conservationists say they should ban this practice outright.

Michaela?

PEREIRA: I want to discuss all of this. David, thank you so much for bringing that. I want to discuss it with a large predator expert for Animal Expert, a face familiar to many of you, Dave Salmoni, he joins us from Toronto. Boy, Dave, we were just talking a moment ago about how this outraged people all over the world. I know you do a lot in terms of conservation and education as a large predator expert. Why is it there is this allure, do you think? I'm struggling to understand this allure of big trophy hunting.

DAVE SALMONI, LARGE PREDATOR EXPERT, ANIMAL PLANET: You know, I never understood the allure of going out and shooting a big trophy. You have to believe it's rooted in someone's ego. Look how big of a deal I am, I can pull a trigger and make an animal die. It's a sport I never understood. It's an ego I don't understand. The damage it does to the conservation, the damage it does to population is pretty serious.

PEREIRA: Well, specifically talk to us about that with regards to Cecil. He was being studied by Oxford. He had been tagged. They were doing research and tracking him. He was beloved, as well, because he was famous for the beautiful black mane that he had.

SALMONI: This type of trophy hunting has a lot of effects. The initial effect obviously is trophy hunting, you are removing the best genetics from the population. Cecil was the biggest and strongest at the time and now his genetics are gone and all his cubs will probably be weeded out of the population.

PEREIRA: Explain that to me. Explain that to us real quick.

SALMONI: So what happens is now that his tribe doesn't have a new dominant male. A new dominant male will come in and kill Cecil's cubs so that those females will come to eustress and then that new male will be able to impregnate those girls and get his genetics into the population.

The last part, the biggest part, in my opinion, that impacts with Cecil is the fact that he's a dynamic animal. He's an animal they spend their lives going on that one Safari. Cecil was that male. He was calm with the Safari vehicles. Guests could take that picture and fall in love with him and that place. That's how we get people interested in conservation. Show them how majestic the species are and say hey, we need you to help.

PEREIRA: Dave, let's talk about Dr. Palmer, this dentist from the United States here. He's released this statement. I want to read it in part to you. I hired guides and got they secured all proper permits. To my knowledge, everything about this trip was legal and properly handled and conducted. I had no idea the lion us took was known a local favorite, was colored and was part of the a study. I relied on the expertise of my guides. I regret it resulted in the taking of this lion. Do you buy it? We have learned, since, back in 2006, he did kind of a similar thing. Hunting a bear illegally and lying to the feds about it torts the fish and wildlife. He got probation and a fine.

[06:55:00] SALMONI: Looks like he's got maybe less of a story than Tom Brady has these days. I feel like, you will see the collar. Especially if they were there. He knew it was a collared animal. That, I don't believe. When you bait an animal for kilometers, he will know that occurred. Assuming he's not stupid, he will see where the bait comes across the fence line. They went in, had an animal, a carcass, ragged it to an area where it's legal to hunt.

PEREIRA: They were said, the hunter apparently, I don't know if it was Palmer or his guide, they tried to destroy the collar, which exposed them. We know they are in court. The hunter and landowner are in court. They maintained they do more for conservation than others. That stumped me. I don't understand that line of logic.

SALMONI: They suggest all the money this doctor would have spent goes back to conservation. It is false. The other thing they talk about is something they try to call sustainable hunting. This is not sustainable hunting. Hunting predators doesn't have a level of sustainability at all. What you are doing is taking the biggest, the strongest and removing it from the population. We have found over the last 20 years, trophy hunting has taken the average size of a male and reduced it by 30 pounds and taken all the big, large manned males, and taken them out of the population. They are, effectively, changing what a lion is.

PEREIRA: We humans. We do like to disrupt, do we not? Dave Salmoni, thanks so much for joining us. Great to have you and your expertise with us. I know you have an opinion. Tweet us using the #NewDayCNN. You can post your comments as well on facebook.com/newday. We are following lots of news today. Let's get right to it.

CAMEROTA: Two teenage boys lost at sea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are having that discussion of when we should suspend the search. We want to find them, desperately.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joyce Mitchell, tearful in court and taking responsibility.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She got in over her head and she's paying the price now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was caught up in the fantasy and excited bay different life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president is all the way in Africa and talking about your remarks. He's worried about who he's going to turn the keys of the White House over to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's sad. He should stay on point and do the job he's over there for, not be talking about me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: While pushing the deal Secretary Kerry got.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not presuming any such thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We stand for America. You represent America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congressman, I don't need lessons from you about who I remember sent.

ANNOUNCER: This is "New Day" with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

PEREIRA: Welcome back to your "New Day." Chris is on assignment, Mr. Berman is here. The search for two missing Florida teens is growing more separate by the hour. It is day since the 14-year-old, Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos went missing on a fishing trip. The coast guard says it's only possible to survive up to five days.

CAMEROTA: Authorities expanding the air and sea search the size of Ohio from Florida up to South Carolina. Let's get the latest from Alina Machado, she is live from Jupiter, Florida. What is the latest Alina?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Rescuers have been searching for the two missing teens. So far, the coast guard searched more than 30,000 square nautical miles but still have not found Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen. There were last seen leaving the area Friday. Their boat was found near Cape Canaveral on Sunday. The search area continued to move north with the coast guard focusing on an area 100 nautical miles from the Florida coast and the Georgia Border. Authorities saying the situation for the boys is growing more and more dire by the minute. Their families, though, are very hopeful.

PAMELA COHEN, PERRY'S MOTHER: We just feel very, very confident they will be able to stick through this. They know that we are coming for them and we will get them.

MACHADO: The coast guard has started the decision process. They have started talking about when to stop the search. So far, they have told us they are not there quite yet. The families have already raised more than $133,000 so they could fund private searches for a while. Alisyn?

PEREIRA: OK, Alina, thanks so much for that update. Later this hour, we will speak to the president of Austin Stephanos' school about what his school is doing to stay turned for that.