Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Wildfires Devastate Parts of California; Drone Nearly Interferes with Commercial Jet Landing at JFK; Hillary Clinton Releases Tax Returns and Health Records; Bobbi Kristina Brown's Funeral to Commence; Ronda Rousey's Fighting Career Examined; CNN Hero Provides Aid to Native American Reservation. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired August 1, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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


[08:00:00] VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: We're starting with breaking news out of California. A state of emergency has been declared. People are grabbing what they can and running for safety as nearly two dozen wildfires burn out of control. And one firefighter has now died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE MICHAEL CICCONETTI, PAINSVILLE, OHIO, MUNICIPAL COURT: Does he have a green card?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

CICCONETTI: How in the hell do I know it is even him?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: An undocumented immigrant now charged with murder. And the attack comes after police learn of his immigration status. This morning finger pointing over which agency is responsible, state or federal.

BLACKWELL: And a close call as a small drone comes within just 100 feet of the wing of a landing passenger jet, and this is not the first time, of course, this has happened near this major airport.

PAUL: We are so grateful to have your company as always. Good morning to you. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell, always a pleasure. It's 10:00 here on the east coast, 7:00 out west. CNN Newsroom begins now. And we are starting with breaking news out of California. The governor has declared a state of emergency as 23 wildfires are burning across the state. One of the largest fires in northern California, the rocky fire, we have video here you're looking at of the rocky fire. It's burned 18,000 acres. And earlier we spoke with officials about their priorities in battling these flames.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The priority is for our resources is really the people and the residence. So we're allocating a lot of those resources around structure protection, which is what you're going to see from the air where the firefighters are surrounding each home and defending the homes as the fire passes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Nearly 8,000 firefighters are fighting back flames up and down that state. And that state of emergency has allowed the National Guard to deploy nine helicopters to join in the fight.

BLACKWELL: Sadly, one firefighter has died. He's from North Dakota, 38-year-old David Ruhl was with the forest service for 14 years. And the California heat will not help those on the front lines today. Ivan Cabrera is in our CNN weather center with that part of the story. Ivan, what are they looking at?

IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, the conditions not helping. I think the best case is going to be the overnight hours when we get a little humidity. But even that it's not going to be all that much and we'll focus in on the afternoon. As you mentioned, over a dozen fires burning in California, and this is not including the smaller fires of which there are many. We are talking about the major fires which are being worked out.

And when they start burning in California we get things going out of hand pretty quickly because of the drought that we are talking about over the last four years we've had below normal rainfall in California. We have 46 percent of California is under exceptional drought. So this is going to be a problem now.

This particular fire we are fighting here, 18,000 acres have now burned, five percent containment. That is terrible here. And in fact, that 18,000 really spiked it yesterday. We got a change in the wind. And now things are moving to the south and west. And 6,100 structures are under warning as far as the potential for them being burned and firefighters are doing the best they can. And it's steep terrain out there so it is going to be quite a task over the next few days.

Look at the temperatures here. This isn't helping, upper 80s to low 90s. The humidity is going to crash through the afternoon. And when that happens as well, we get the winds picking up. Look at the temperature staying into the 90s Victor and Christie, right through the weekend.

BLACKWELL: All right, Ivan, thank you so much.

PAUL: We want to give you the latest on a developing story we've following all morning now too, this dangerous close call between a drone and a commercial airliner. This was over New York City. The mysterious drone reportedly came within 100 feet of crashing into a Delta flight that was about to land at JFK airport. CNN's Nick Valencia has been looking into this. And Nick, what have you learned thus far?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A very close call at the nation's busiest air space. And according to the FAA this happens more than 20 times per month. The latest incident happening at JFK between a commercial airliner and a drone, the plane coming down in the most critical phase of landing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A mile back there was a drone flying just on the southwest side of this abandoned airport here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was about 100 feet below us, just off the right wing.

VALENCIA: Delta flight 407 prepares to land at JFK airport with 154 people on board. The jet just 1,700 feet above the ground when the pilot spots a drone on the southwest side of the plane just about 100 feet below.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you, by any chance, get the color or type?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I was not close enough to be able to tell.

VALENCIA: Then, JFK tower warned other pilots of the possible danger flying around them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: JetBlue 943, use caution on arrival. The one ahead of you reported a drone at Floyd Bennett Field.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're watching out for it.

[10:05:08] VALENCIA: Phil Derner of NYCAviation.com weighed in. Derner said without a doubt this was a close call. He explains a drone flying within 100 feet of a plane can easily get sucked into an engine or worse.

PHIL DERNER, NYCAVIATION.COM: These drones are made with aircraft aluminum, similar parts to the aircraft it is about to strike. Going into an engine can destroy an engine. Going into the cockpit window can injure or even kill a pilot.

VALENCIA: Scares like the one at JFK this happen more often than you think. The FAA reports 25 drone incidents each month. In the case of Delta flight 407, the plane landed safely. But now the FAA investigating the incident.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: The FAA puts limits on drones, where they can fly, where they can operate. They are not supposed to go above 400 feet and certainly not within five miles of a commercial airport. We just heard back for the FAA in the last 30 minutes. They said they are still investigating this incident. They are looking for the person who was operating this drone. Christie?

PAUL: Nick Valencia, we appreciate it. Thank you.

VALENCIA: You bet.

BLACKWELL: A potentially crucial clue in the missing air Malaysian flight 370 is due to arrive at a French laboratory for analysis in just about two hours now. It's believed to be a piece of a plane's wing called the flaperon. Officials are increasingly confident it's from a Boeing 777. It washed up on the remote West Indian Ocean island of Reunion, about 2,300 miles from the search zone. An Air France jet touched down at a Paris airport earlier today carrying that piece of debris. And it's now under police guard in a sealed box. It is being taken by car to that laboratory in Toulouse for analysis.

Let's get now some perspective from our experts on what the analysis of the debris could provide. Joining me now, sea operations specialist Tim Taylor. He's the president of Tiburon Subsea Research. Also joining us, aviation attorney and former military pilot Justin Green. Good to have both of you. So, Tim, I want to start with you, quickly. We know two serial numbers have been identified on this flaperon. So we should know in pretty short order if this is from the missing flight 370, right?

TIM TAYLOR, SEA OPERATIONS SPECIALIST: Yes, I would imagine they are going to dial that in. I'm not a plane expert. I'm more on the ocean side. But they do have ways of identifying this. And as soon as we know for sure, which seems to be the general consensus is that this is. But we need the hard facts to know for sure.

BLACKWELL: So, Justin, how about that? We should know pretty soon. What could we learn about how this plane went down from this single relatively small piece of this huge jet?

JUSTIN GREEN, AVIATION ATTORNEY: Victor, for the last couple of days, I have been talking to the families of the victims. And what the families want to know, number one, is this a 777 part? And, number two, is this from Malaysia Airlines flight 370. I think this part, if it is from the aircraft is going to show the investigators are correct, that their analysis that it crashed into the Indian Ocean is correct. And that, frankly, is what the families want to know.

BLACKWELL: So Justin -- I'm sorry, Tim. Time, now that this piece has washed up on to the shore, how does this change the search area? Should these search vessels move to the coast of Reunion or because this is such a light, small piece, the bulk of it would still be thousands of miles away?

TAYLOR: Keep in mind it is 500 days since the plane went down. So this find is significant that it is the first piece of the plane that has been found. But as far as changing the search area, it's not going to have that effect. If a lot more of this is found or a lot more debris is found over the course of time here and they can plug it in to their modeling, it may help them refine that area a little bit more or let them know they are on target. I think the data they are using to search now is pretty solid. This can reinforce that. But again, much -- they need to find more parts than just this. This is just one data point, and it is important to find more.

BLACKWELL: There are questions, Tim, from people online asking about the barnacles on this flaperon. Give us a range of expectations. Are there details that can be learned from the sea life that has attached to this flaperon?

TAYLOR: Yes, yes. These, obviously, they are not deep water animals. They're surface animals, coastal and tidal, and then they have a Laval stage that can find them. And they have a growth rate so you can know how long the piece has been floating. What's important I think that needs to be identified is how long was it sitting on the beach?

[10:10:03] And if the animals have been sitting on the beach and they are dead for a certain period of time, that may help them figure that out as well. This could have been sitting on that beach for months. It may not have just arrived yesterday.

BLACKWELL: Justin, what can investigators here learn from the flaperon, from the torn edge, from how this broke away from the wing?

GREEN: There are a lot of things they can learn from it. In the analysis that has to be done and will be done in the coming days, they can find out whether the airplane broke apart in flight. They can find out how the airplane hit the water. Was it a high velocity impact if the flaperon was still attached to the airplane? And they can also rule out or potentially rule out an inflight explosion or rule in something like that. This is one piece of the puzzle. If you remember TW-800, the investigator ultimately pulled almost every part out of the ocean and put the airplane back together. What's most important is to find the rest of the airplane. What's most important is to find the black boxes and the cause of the crash. And that's going to probably take some time.

BLACKWELL: All right, Justin Green, Tim Taylor, thank you both for your expertise and giving us insight into what this investigation will look like over the next several days.

GREEN: Thank you, Victor.

PAUL: Speaking of insight, healthy and wealthy -- Hillary Clinton releasing tax returns and medical records, and more of her e-mails are out as well. We have a new look at the 2016 Democratic front-runner for you. And next hour, Bobbi Kristina Brown is going to be laid to rest. I talked to Pastor Marvin Winans, the man that delivered the eulogy at her mother's funeral. And he had an awful lot to say. I'll share that with you. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:00] PAUL: It's 15 minutes past the hour right now. And Hillary Clinton's campaign is opening up this morning about her money and her health. According to new documents Clinton and her husband Bill they paid $43 million in federal taxes since 2007. And in a declaration of her personal health, her doctor says, quote, "She is fit to serve as president."

In the meantime there's a new batch of Clinton's e-mails during her time as secretary of state that have been released as well. So let's break this down with CNN's Sunlen Serfaty. Sunlen, so I mentioned the $43 million in federal taxes that they pay. That broke down to $141 million earned in that eight-year period. What else have you learned this morning?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christi, there certainly is certainly a lot to digest in these new disclosures. First of the medical release. Clinton's doctor out with a summary that shows that all the issues from the health scare she had in 2012, that blood clot which gave her a concussion, the doctor said all those issues have been resolved. But she still does take blood thinners he says daily as a precaution.

The campaign also releasing, as you said, the last eight years of her tax returns showing that together Bill and Hillary Clinton earned over $140 million total over the course of that time. They paid $57 million in federal, state, and local taxes with a combined overall tax rate of 45.8 percent in the last year. And they donated a total of $14 million to charity during that period.

The campaign of course here though clearly eager to show they are trying to be transparent as polling suggests her trustworthiness is an area of vulnerability, especially as questions continue to swirl over her use of her private email server.

But they are also here trying to draw a contrast with other candidates like Jeb Bush who has released 33 years of his own financial records. And so we are starting to see Clinton really start to take some jabs at Bush. Here is Clinton in Florida on Friday. She didn't mention Bush directly but she did use his Right to Rise Super PAC by name.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I don't think you can credibly say everyone has a right to rise and say you are for phasing out Medicare or for repealing Obamacare. People can't rise if they can't afford health care.

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: They can't rise if the minimum wage is too low to live on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And the two addressed the same audience on Friday. And afterwards, Bush, well, he didn't respond or take on Clinton directly. But his communications director, Tim Miller, he did, tweeting this, quote "Clintonesque move to pass over a chance to unite in favor of a false, cheap shot when you have no record of accomplishment to point to." Christi, this could really be a little preview if both go on to become their party's nominee of course with some fierce political battles ahead.

BLACKWELL: Yes, very good point. And let's talk about these 2,000 pages of e-mails from the time she was secretary of state. Those we know were also released. What was notable there?

SERFATY: I think notable first and foremost was a lot of black words. Those were redactions that were taken out. We know that was from dozen of the e-mails that were released yesterday. They found sensitive information, not classified information but sensitive information they did not want to release as part of this.

We do know because there has been so much controversy around there, there is a team at the State Department, a 12-person team working to review these e-mails, that the latest group of them released because of the measures put in place a few weeks ago. But there were some interesting, colorful moments coming out of those emails, giving us an insight into that. She asked her chief of staff from 2009 to give her the e-mail, to have her borrow the book sends which gives tips on how to e-mail. It was certainly an interesting insight.

PAUL: Little tidbits there, little nuggets all the way around. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: All right, so we learned a lot there. Let's talk about Hillary Clinton and the 2016 race with CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. Good to have you back with us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, Victor, good to be here.

BLACKWELL: So let's talk first about this National Urban League appearance. Not the speech that at least the Bush people who are waiting in the wings expected. Pretty fierce criticism there. What we heard was a tepid response. Did it land properly? And why now?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, a couple things to think about here. One is that one of the Democrats in 2012, Barack Obama faced the largest deficit among white voters of any winning candidate ever. Mitt Romney won a higher share of white voters than Ronald Reagan did in 1980, and he still lost. And the reason he lost is because Democrats have held such a dominant position among the growing population of minority voters.

And what you saw from Jeb Bush, the fact that he appeared there at all and delivered that message was that he wants to contest that. He may be the strongest Republican since his brother, George W. Bush, in terms of being in a position to dent the Democratic dominance among minority voters.

[10:20:00] And what you got in those speeches was a fascinating preview of if these two are the nominees the kind of argument they will have about the best way to improve on something that really I think both parties are increasingly agreeing, which is that America is not doing as well as it used in providing a ladder for people born near the bottom to get near the top. Upward mobility has broken down. You saw Hillary Clinton talking about government programs as a way to accelerate that ascent. And you saw Jeb Bush talking about the private sector. So I thought it was a fascinating preview of what we may hear a lot of a year from if they end up being the two finalists.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about the disclosures, $141 million made since 2007. Any measurable, substantial impact to the Clinton campaign and her narrative? BROWNSTEIN: I think this goes to the heart of the problem that she

faces. As you noted, she has a lot of issues, voters questioning her honesty and integrity. I think that is survivable if they believe that she cares and will fight about people like them. But on the that front she has never scored as well as Bill Clinton did. Her empathy, the share of Americans who say she understands my life and cares about people like me is not as high as it was for him.

And I think one of the reasons is because they are now seen as figures of wealth. I mean, most Americans have seen Hillary Clinton only in a succession of powerful positions -- first lady, senator, secretary of state, and now of course all of this money that the family has made in the last several years. I don't think people begrudge them the money. I think it causes them, though, to question whether she understands the way people today are living. And, that, I think, is the core challenge she has to get over. She has to convince Americans she understands their lives and she has solutions relevant to their challenges.

BLACKWELL: Ron Brownstein, always good to have your insight. Thanks so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

PAUL: Christi?

PAUL: The burning death of a Palestinian toddler has prompted more protests, more violence this morning, and that has led to the death of yet another young man.

Plus, an undocumented immigrant facing murder charges after a violent crime spree. Now there is this huge debate about who is to blame for this guy still being on the streets.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:25:56] BLACKWELL: It's 25 minutes after the hour now. And hundreds of Palestinians attended a funeral for a teen allegedly shot dead by Israeli troops during clashes in the West Bank. The teen was taking part in protests after a Palestinian family's home was attacked and burned, killing a toddler and critically injuring at least three other relatives

PAUL: Take a look at this and you will see how the United States has seen a tail of two extremes this year. NASA released this animation showing rainfall accumulations in the United States from January 1st to July 16th. Look at this. California under raging wildfires right now, and nothing but drought across the west. Meanwhile, drenching rains in the eastern half of the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. MARK FEDOR, MIAMI COAST GUARD: This one was particularly painful because a lot of the people that were out there searching have kids about the same age.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The Coast Guard now says it suspended its search for two missing teen boaters. But the 14-year-old's families are not giving up hope. They say they will use a Go Fund Me campaign to continue to look for them. They collected almost $375,000 in four days to support that search. The boys went missing at sea July 24th. Their boat capsized. It was found Sunday dozens of miles off Florida's Atlantic coast.

PAUL: President Obama will have to wait longer to announce the biggest free trade deal in history. Trans Pacific Partnership negotiators failed to reach an agreement in the recent round of talks for a deal would include 12 countries and 40 percent of the world's economy, mind you. They have yet to set a date for the next round of negotiations

Outrage in Ohio today, an undocumented immigrant held on a $10 million bond after a violent crime spree. Now people want to know why police reported him to the feds and yet nothing was done about it.

BLACKWELL: And the hunter is now the hunted. A representative for the dentist who killed Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe has reached out to U.S. officials, and outrage is growing. We have got the latest here coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:31:11] BLACKWELL: This morning, we are learning new details about a story we have been reporting for hours now. An undocumented immigrant is accused of murder. This after authorities in Ohio became aware of that person's status but did not detain or deport him.

PAUL: The suspect in the latest case, Juan Razo, he's accused of killing a woman, attempted rape and getting into a shootout with police. Listen to some of what the judge said during Razo's arraignment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CICCONETTI: I can't set a bond high enough. I cannot set one high enough. So I'm just going to set it at $10 million. Somebody, we don't know who he is, why he is in this country, why he is here illegally, and why he allegedly committed a murder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: OK, so we want to get the latest on this case from CNN's Sara Ganim. So Sara, what are local and federal officials saying about the release of Razo just weeks before this murder?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi and Victor. Yes, there's a bit of finger pointing going on between authorities in Ohio over whether or not this man could have been detained several weeks before he went on the crime spree.

Let's start with what happened, though. On July 27th, he is accused of trying to rape his 14-year-old niece in a park. And then as police begin to look for him, they get reports of two women being shot, one who was hit in the shoulder in the same park, and another woman who was found shot to death in her home. She was a woman who worked for our local mayor, worked for the city for 30 years, very beloved woman.

You heard him say in court and his lawyer that he was illegal. It turns out the bigger question is that authorities there knew this because three weeks prior on July 7th he was approached by the police after a report of a suspicious vehicle. He begins to get very nervous. He is sweating. He is not making eye contact. He tells the police officer he doesn't have any identification and that he is illegal.

This is the sheriff's department that has detained him at this point. They call customs because they believe that they have the authority to deport him or to detain him because of his illegal status. But what happens is customs gets on the phone with him. He doesn't admit that he is illegal at that point. And there is back and forth among customs and the sheriff's department about whose job it was to make sure that was followed up, that there was some sort of follow-through whether or not he should have been detained at that point, about 20 days before this crime spree. I want to read to you what customs and law enforcement have said about that. Do we have it for you guys?

PAUL: Yes, there it is. "Without such a determination the agents had no legal basis to file a detainer to hold the subject, although he agents offered to meet with the deputies on site and interview the subject in person. The offer was declined and the subject was released." So yes, you are right, Sara. That is definitely the big issue in this case. Where does the blame fall, if any, and how it can be fixed? You can imagine what this woman who died, what her family is thinking right about now. Sara Ganim, we appreciate it so much. Thank you.

GANIM: Of course.

BLACKWELL: All right, so let's continue this conversation now with defense attorney Scott Bolden. The suspect in this case, Juan Razo, has no license, as you heard, no identification, no passport, anything there. Considering the legal issues at work in this case, aside from the back and forth between local and federal authorities, how does an attorney start to build a defense for this client?

A. SCOTT BOLDEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Very simply, if you read all the reports, it is clear that Razo has a lot of issues.

[10:35:00] The big question is, is he mentally competent, or are we going to put together a defense that indicates he is not guilty by reason of insanity? That starts by interviewing the client. Can he appreciate what he is involved in? Can he appreciate the difference between right and wrong? Does he have an impulse that he can't control? And that can only come by consenting with a psychotherapist conferring with the government.

And then lastly, is he here illegally or not? Ultimately, the government could deport him or try him here. And most likely he is going to be tried here. The first thing I am looking for is whether he is mentally competent to stand trial. And can we put on a defense by reason of insanity, that he's not guilty by reason of insanity?

BLACKWELL: Scott, you bring up a really interesting pont. HOLA, a Latina outreach organization based in Ohio, says it is not a case about legality in the country. They say that this is about a person's adult mental illness. They say that he has a history of mental illness here. Obviously, that's something that's going to come up as this proceeds.

But we heard from the judge here saying he couldn't set a bond high enough. He reached the number $10 million. Is it typical to have this type of emotion from a judge at this phase of the process?

BOLDEN: It is a very emotional case. Mr. Razo stands innocent until proven guilty notwithstanding. But there is a lot of evidence against him, one. And two, it's a very frustrating case. And judges are human. He was stopped three weeks before, first. Secondly, three weeks later, he has killed a person. He has tried to rape a 14-year- old girl. And he has attempted to murder someone else whether he is mentally ill or not. Now, we have reacted. Now, we are trying to solve the crime when all of this could have been prevented.

Remember, this stop was on the street. Razo's father was with him. And while he had admitted he was an illegal alien to a police officer. The called the Border Patrol. The Border Patrol says we can't give him a detainer because he hasn't committed a crime.

But then what happens, and I have read the police report. Through a PSA number in Ohio they identify and confirm it is Razo. They confirmed his birth date. And what the local police don't do, the sheriff's office, they don't call immigration back and say, listen, can you or can you not confirm that he is an illegal immigrant? And while you can't do a detainer hold because there has been no crime, transfer us to someone who can do a notice to appear before an immigration court to determine whether he has a green card or whether he is on hold or whether the petition has been approved.

None of that was done and he walks away. Three weeks later we have a crime spree that is devastating to the family, devastating to this country, and now he is in the criminal justice system after the fact.

BLACKWELL: And there have been some, one of them Harry Houk, a law enforcement analyst we had on this morning, and we discussed is being in the country illegally not crime enough to detain him? But apparently it was not in this case. Scott Bolden, defense attorney, always good to talk with you.

BOLDEN: Thank you for having me.

PAUL: Friends and family of Whitney Houston's daughter are gathering right now to say goodbye to her. We are going to hear from a good friend of the family just in a little bit. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [10:42:06] PAUL: Friends and family of Whitney Houston's only daughter are gathering right now in fact here in Georgia to say goodbye to Bobbi Kristina Brown. She died last Sunday about six months after she was found face down and unresponsive in a bathtub in her home.

I had the fortunate opportunity to speak with Pastor Marvin Winans, who is a family friend who delivered Whitney Houston's eulogy two years ago and who knew Bobbi Kristina from the time she was born. And he spoke about this tragedy and what he's hoping all of us can learn from it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARVIN WINANS, PASTOR AND GOSPEL SINGER: As I reflect on Bobbi Kristina as a little girl, I remember, because Whitney would come by our church every time she was in Detroit, and one day she had little Bobbi Kristina with her. And, you know, being this child of privilege, she just had her way and the nanny was there and she was just walking around and they were trying to get her to do something in the back. And she sort of was defiant. I looked and I said, hey, hey, hey. She stopped. She just froze.

And I remember the nanny saying, can I get your voice on tape, because she has never stopped? And Whitney was there, and the next thing you know, we were at the piano, me and Bobbi Kristina, and my brother Bebe is her godfather. She said somebody is going to be jealous. I said, please. I got this. Just knowing her as a little girl and then seeing her grow up, it's just very tough, very tough.

PAUL: Very tough for you now you mean to see what's happened.

WINANS: Yes. You know, I think this becomes sort of a signal to parents. We have to recognize that we have to live a life that is a model for our children, because children will mimic our behaviors. We have to exhibit the kind of behavior that we want our child to have. And I think that's the message, the overriding thing that I think about coming out of this tragedy.

One of the last conversations I had with Whitney was about Bobbi Kristina. And I'll keep that private, but she loved her daughter. And when I first heard it, I was just so saddened by that. And I thought what irony that she is in a coma much like her mother. I know my sister, Cece, has tried to be there for her. I know Sissy has tried to be there for you.

[10:45:04] And so you never know what goes on in the hearts and the minds of individuals. And so I just thought, another loss again, which is why I want to make this plea to parents that at a certain time in your life, you have to recognize when you are holding a child in your hand, when you have given birth, then there are behaviors that you have to change in order for that child to have the best possibility of fulfilling their destiny.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Profound reminders there from the pastor. And that funeral is scheduled to begin in just about 15 minutes.

BLACKWELL: All right, let's turn now to what could soon be legal wranglings between the U.S. and Zimbabwe. A representative for Cecil the lion's hunter has now reached out to U.S. officials. You see him on the left. This is the dentist, Dr. Walter Palmer. But where is Palmer? And will the U.S. extradite him to Zimbabwe?

Also, a big battle tonight for Ronda Rousey. Here is a question. It has been raised before. Should she also fight a man in the future?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:00] PAUL: All right, here is a look at some of the other stories that are making headlines right now.

BLACKWELL: A representative for the dentist who allegedly illegally killed Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe has now reached out to U.S. authorities. Dr. Walter Palmer went into hiding after there was international outrage. It is ongoing, actually, I shouldn't "was," in response to his killing. Zimbabwe has already started extradition proceedings against him. There's even a White House petition requesting his extradition that has nearly 200,000 signatures.

PAUL: And look at this stare-down. Are they going to laugh at what they are yelling at each other? Is it all real? I don't know. Those two fighters are going to battle in tonight's UFC 190 pay purview in Brazil. Both fighters undefeated. According to ESPN, Rousey is promising to give her challenger to the most devastating loss she has ever seen.

BLACKWELL: So we've been asking all morning should Ronda Rousey at some point fight a man? The reaction has just poured in.

PAUL: I had the same reaction a couple of these people did about the image of that, could be very negative.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: Here is the thing. She is 11-0 professionally. She's an Olympic medalist in the 2008 Olympics. And the questions surrounding tonight's fight against Correia isn't whether she will beat her tonight but how quickly she'll beat here. Her last three fights were a total of 96 seconds, guys. So she has dominated this sport so much that people are wondering should she be fighting a man? That's how good she is to find enough competition.

We asked, and here is what you guys had to say. "What are we really saying by having her fight a male? Social implications beg to ask is it OK in a UFC arena but not at a bar?" That's a great point.

Jean said "It will only be taken seriously if she fought a male who can really fight, like a top 10 bantamweight, or it is just a stunt." Terrence said "A man fighting Rousey would probably just let her win. Men know not to hit women." "That's what's wrong with the world now. Women think they can beat a man. Stay in your lane." Rick said "It is utterly ridiculous for Ronda Rousey to fight a man. Why would she? Forget it." And lastly, Luke with a comment "When the man destroys Rousey he'll be viciously attacked by the same people who called for the fight. Lose-lose for the guy."

So this is a highly debatable topic that we've had all morning. The responses came pouring in. We love having you on the show as always. Thank you for participating, and we'll see tonight how quickly she gets the job done against Correia.

BLACKWELL: Theoretically it would work. But at the end of the fight where you have Rhonda taking a couple of blows to the face, bloody nose, swollen eye.

PAUL: That's not an image you want kids to see.

WIRE: She said that herself in an interview. She said, I think I could be the man. But if it were to go the other way it would be a bad image. With all that's going on, she mentioned football and the domestic violence. So it was a great point by her.

PAUL: Thank you.

Listen, we are learning some details about a dangerous close call between a drone and a commercial airliner. This is over New York City. We have reporting this all morning. It involves Delta. Now JetBlue says it too had a close call yesterday. Nick Valencia is working this story. We will have the new details at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: More than a million Native Americans struggle with soaring unemployment, high rates of suicide, and sometimes third world conditions.

PAUL: This week's CNN hero, Rochelle Ripley, she is keeping a family promise to bring some of those resources to South Dakota.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROCHELLE RIPLEY, CNN HERO: My grandmother was full blood Lakota. My grandma was my world. She asked me if I would promise to go home and help our people when I grew up. The Lakota reservations are very isolated. The spirit of the people is alive but they struggle with the conditions tremendously. We have extremely high rates of suicide, addictions. Food often is in very short supply, unemployment. Health issues are another huge challenge.

I formed a group to keep a promise to my Lakota grandmother to help her people. We are almost to the first door. There you go. You're at the front door.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At first I was traumatized because I was blind and all my electricity outlets and stuff were no good and we could have had a house fire.

RIPLEY: We are doing as much as we can to make her house safe for her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is even more newer in here. I can't see it but I feel it.

RIPLEY: We've been teaching how to eat healthy on a very limited budget.

I'm going to give you a couple of these.

We have a medical team. We work collaboratively with the tribe everywhere we go. We get in everything from beds to food.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is a blessing to our reservation. We call her Vaoka (ph) That means you are helping people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are all children of this earth and we need to work together so that everyone has a chance of having a decent life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: If you know someone who should be a CNN hero, we would love to hear about it. Let us know, CNNHeroes.com.

BLACKWELL: That's it for us this morning. Always a pleasure to spend a Saturday with you.

PAUL: Absolutely. Make some great memories. Randi Kaye is up next for Fredricka Whitfield.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: It is 11:00 on the east coast. I'm Randi Kaye in for Fredricka Whitfield. Newsroom starts right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

KAYE: Breaking news, we're now getting word of two separate terrifyingly close calls over New York's JFK airport as drones fly dangerously close to a JetBlue airliner and a Delta flight.

[11:00:01] The drone reportedly coming within just 100 feet of a Delta jet from Florida just as it was about to land at New York's JFK International Airport.