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NEW DAY

Jobs Added in July; Poison and the Power Couple; CNN Hero; Is Huma Blaming Herself

Aired August 2, 2013 - 08:30   ET

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


CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The story about -- what's coming on with the jobs reports, we're going to want to talk about this morning also, right?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We've got big numbers that are going to be coming up.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Christine Romans is here with some of that.

So we, of course, we're kind of in the holding period.

ROMANS: Right.

BOLDUAN: We're waiting for them to get in your ear right now.

ROMANS: I got the number. I do have the number.

CUOMO: You have it?

BOLDUAN: Oh, good. So what's the latest?

ROMANS: It's 162,000 jobs created, 7.4 percent is the unemployment rate. So, a mixed message. You've got an unemployment rate that slipped 7.4 percent. That's going to be the best we've seen in months. But 162,000 jobs created, though, is a little shy of what Wall Street economists had wanted.

CUOMO: Of what they expected (ph).

ROMANS: We've had an average job creation this year, you guys, of about $200,000 a month. So this shows that in the month, you didn't have quite as many people hired, but you had the jobless rate tick down. One of the reasons why the jobless rate could have ticked down is because people pop out of the labor market, right, so they stop looking. So we're going to be looking into this.

The U-6, the underemployment rate, that's a number that's not budging too much here and you still have less than 12 million people out of work and looking. The question here is the quality of the jobs versus the quantity of jobs. And this is what I've been really worried about. I have been worried about the fact that so many of the jobs created in the second quarter are bartenders, part-time hotel cleaners, leisure and hospitality, maybe not any benefits. So we'll closely watch that. Dow futures have just turned lower on this. We had record highs in stocks yesterday. We'll see if this is something that upsets the market a little bit today.

CUOMO: That's the whale watching effect, right?

ROMANS: Yes.

CUOMO: The street looks at the number and they want a big number. When they don't get a big number, they turn away. But the quality of that number is what will assess the economy over time.

ROMANS: Right. Right.

CUOMO: Is that what you're saying?

ROMANS: So you want to see the 7.4 percent. You know, you wanted that. We had 47,000 jobs created in retail, trade. And I'm going to break through all of these numbers for you and let you know how they break out. But 162,000 is the headline number, 7.4 percent unemployment rate. Futures ticking down just a little bit this Friday morning.

BOLDUAN: All right. So you see the breaking news on the bottom of your screen. New July jobs report out.

Christine, thanks for breaking it down.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

CUOMO: All right, thank you for that.

Now, we want to tell you about the latest in a murder mystery involving a husband and wife, both esteem specialists at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. After Dr. Autumn Klein suddenly died in April by cyanide poisoning, police investigators honed in on her husband.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO (voice-over): Robert Ferrante remains behind bars this morning, awaiting his trial. Prosecutors accuse the 64-year-old medical researcher and professor of poisoning his 41-year-old wife, Dr. Autumn Klein, with cyanide. Klein, seen here in this Discovery Channel video, was the chief of women's neurology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. A rising star in her field.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was so kind, compassionate and caring. I could not imagine anyone wanting to murder her.

CUOMO: But after a three-month investigation following her death, authorities charged her husband with criminal homicide. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment this week.

A source tells CNN. the prosecution will argue that Ferrante mixed cyanide with the Creatine Klein took. According to the criminal complaint, he told her the supplement would help her get pregnant. The police search warrants say Ferrante allegedly prepared five grams of Creatine for his wife to take in the morning and evening by mixing it into a sugary drink or putting it on her toast.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: People have said it's a circumstantial evidence cases so it can't be strong. In fact, circumstantial evidence cases can be extremely strong because they don't rely on eyewitness testimony.

BLITHE RUNSDORF, NEIGHBOR: Stunned is too little a word for how we feel about this. And the thing that I think bothers most of us is, what's the motivation?

CUOMO: One possible motive, police allege in the affidavit that Ferrante thought his wife might be having an affair.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Joining us now from Pittsburgh is Dr. Robert Ferrante's defense lawyer Bill Defenderfer.

Boy, Bill, first off, didn't leave you much choices of employment with a name like that. You had to become a defense attorney at some point.

BILL DEFENDERFER, DR. ROBERT FERRANTE'S DEFENSE LAWYER: Well, thank you, Chris. How are you?

CUOMO: I know you get it a lot, but it's our first time talking so you had to give me that -- that joke. Now let's get down to business.

DEFENDERFER: Yes, it is -- it is Defenderfer, but that's -- I certainly understand.

CUOMO: Oh, good. See, good, I'm glad you corrected it, because that's what I thought it was.

DEFENDERFER: You're welcome.

CUOMO: It's the control room. You can never trust management. It's good to have you here.

DEFENDERFER: Thank you.

CUOMO: Let's talk first about what you don't want to discuss right now and why. You don't want to talk about what your client thinks about what killed his wife or why he bought the cyanide. Explain why you don't want to discuss that?

DEFENDERFER: Well, Chris, in terms of defending the case, you know, we don't even have any of the discovery. We have, at this point in time, we have literally what you guys have. There's a preliminary hearing that's going to be coming up in about a month and a half, September 23rd. That may even be delayed. We don't receive discovery for a good period of time after that. So for as a defense attorney to ever allow a revelation of what the defense is at this point would be -- would not be wise.

I mean my client -- I can tell you, my client is adamant he had nothing to do with the cause of her death.

CUOMO: OK.

DEFENDERFER: At this point, we're not even prepared to concede that she passed away from cyanide. You know, and I certainly understand that what's in the affidavit and what all these allegations consist of.

CUOMO: Right.

DEFENDERFER: But we're absolutely proclaiming his innocence. I mean I have a guy who -- a great family man, loved his wife. The one witness you put on of why, we totally agree. There is no why and there was no motivation for him to do something as crazy as that.

CUOMO: All right, so look -- let's look at some of the behavior here. Prosecutors say that your client fled to Florida in the aftermath here and insisted on a fast autopsy. Does he deny those assertions?

DEFENDERFER: Well, the assertion that he fled to Florida, I love the adjectives. When Dr. Ferrante, obviously, when the suspicion cloud, if you will, was surrounding him here in Pittsburgh, keep in mind he was only here for a couple of years, as well as the hospital put him on leave. In terms of staying here, he requested -- he actually communicated with me, do you think it would be all right if I go visit my daughter, quite frankly, in California, not in Florida. And I said, of course, you know.

But I kept in touch with the district attorney's office. Obviously, I have a very close relationship with them. And in terms of him leaving and, again, no charges being filed. You know, he's just a person of interest as people say. I turned, as a good faith gesture, I gave the prosecutor his passport. I said, keep in touch with us. I said if, in fact, there is going to -- if, in fact, this is going to result in an arrest, certainly give me a call and we'll turn him in right away. He went to --

CUOMO: So you're saying he didn't flee? You're saying he didn't flee?

DEFENDERFER: No, he was down in --

CUOMO: But what about the quick autopsy, the cremation? You know, that's been very suspicious, that why did it all get done so quickly?

DEFENDERFER: Well, I mean, you know, it -- again, in terms of -- there's not only that, the quick autopsy, there's a number of other things in the affidavit that we're well aware of that we have to answer. And as I told your producers, we intend to answer all of those in court.

CUOMO: And the affair. We say that we don't know why, but prosecutors say the why is an affair and your client didn't like it. What has he told you? Was there an affair?

DEFENDERFER: Well, first of all, we're not going to reveal what he told me. CUOMO: OK.

DEFENDERFER: And in terms of whether or not there was an affair, that's something, obviously, again, that will -- I'm sure will come out in court.

CUOMO: All right. What do you know about whether or not, when it comes to the texts and about the Creatine, there's this curious turn in this story, as you're well aware, that there were these text messages between your client and his wife about maybe getting pregnant using Creatine. Does your client have any --

DEFENDERFER: Well, the --

CUOMO: Peer studies or any kind of science to back up this theory about Creatine and pregnancy?

DEFENDERFER: Well, keep in mind, they're both doctors, as well as they were both very much trying to have a child. They were, from all accounts that I've seen, they were very much in love and wanted to have a child as up to, as you know from your reporting, the date that she went into the hospital. And both being doctors, they believed, obviously, that Creatine may help promote or somehow improve the chances of her getting pregnant.

CUOMO: All right. But in terms of the Creatine thing, you don't know where that came from, as to why that would be the way to do it?

DEFENDERFER: Again, you're getting to -- that's one of the -- that's one of the many things and assertions that's in the affidavit that I'm -- that, you know, I'm well aware of that we need to answer those things at trial and we certainly will.

CUOMO: All right, Mr. Defenderfer, thank you very much for joining us today.

DEFENDERFER: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: I hope to speak to you again as we get into the case.

DEFENDERFER: All right, thank you.

CUOMO: All right.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Chris.

In the central African nation of Cameroon, there are only two doctors for every 10,000 people, if you can believe it. But this week's CNN Hero is a surgeon who devotes his personal time to bringing medical care to the remote jungles of his country for free.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

: For a country like mine, people like to dream, to dance, to enjoy their life. But with poverty, they cannot enjoy their life. To go to the village is a pleasure. If I can help two or three people, that would be great. I saw my father ill for 23 years. Before he passed away, he asked me, you see how people suffer to see a doctor? Please, if you graduate to be a doctor, help people.

My name is George Bwelle. I bring free surgery and help the people of poorer (ph) area (ph).

They can live 60 kilometers around and they come on foot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): So are you also (INAUDIBLE) the operation?

We are starting by long (ph) consultation. And in afternoon, we have a list of patients that we are going to operate.

We need our generator because in the village there is no light. We start doing operations till Sunday morning. And we are doing around 40 surgical operations for free. We leave our address to all the patients that if there's any problem they can come back to us.

BWELLE: I help people and they are happy.

I'm bringing (ph) back to give them opportunity to restart (ph).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Opportunity is what they need. Two doctors for every 10,000 people in Cameroon. It's just amazing what he is doing. More people need to do that. Thank you so much.

CUOMO: The need is great.

BOLDUAN: That's absolutely right.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, Anthony Weiner's sexting relapse. Why friends of Huma Abedin tells "People" magazine she blames herself for her husband's mistakes. And can other women relate? We'll have that conversation coming up.

CUOMO: And there's an old saying, a man is never so tall to when he stoops to help a child. One Marine lived that and it is the good stuff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back to NEW DAY, everyone.

Does Anthony Weiner's wife blame herself for his texting scandal? That's the subject of a very, very interesting new article in the August 12th issue of "People" magazine and it comes as many are still speculating wither Huma Abedin made the right decision by supporting and standing by her husband and sticking with his campaign. It's also the subject of a very good new article on cnn.com. Joining us now to talk about that is CNN digital correspondent Kelly Wallace, who covers women's issues for us. Kelly, it's great to see you. Thanks for coming in.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks for having me.

BOLDUAN: So this is exactly kind of the title of the piece that you put together, is Huma Abedin blaming herself? And when you're asking this question, you spoke with women across the country to get their thoughts and their insights and their feelings towards it. What was the reaction?

WALLACE: Well, it's so funny, Kate, because last week we did a story and asked women, do they think she's making the right decision by sticking with Anthony Weiner? And you had a tremendous disagreement between women. But in this one, women are pretty united. They feel so sad to think that she might be blaming herself in part, but they'd also say, Kate, it's so common. Many women say that some of them have been in that same situation where their husband was cheating and that they said, could I have done something? Could I have done something more? So they say it's so sad and it's so common. But they also say, it's not her burden to carry. They say it's really her husband's issue and he's the only one, quote, "who can fix the infidelity."

BOLDUAN: And at the same time everyone agrees no one knows what's going on inside a marriage except for the two people involved in that marriage.

WALLACE: Right.

BOLDUAN: But as you and I were talking before we even came out, this is a conversation that a lot of women are having together. What does it say? Do people feel like they can -- you say they can relate to her but then they also feel that it's a bit removed because it's a woman who is in such a public position with a husband who is in a very public position trying to run for mayor.

WALLACE: I think you said it so perfectly. Because I think it's one thing they can sort of relate but then they say, oh, my goodness, I can't imagine one having to deal with my husband learning about this then having to deal with this public scrutiny the media spotlight.

And you know there's also that angle about, you know, her relation to Hillary Clinton being a trusted aide and what Hillary Clinton has gone through. You know some women have been speculating are there political motivations here for her. A lot of women say they don't believe that. They believe that very strongly she is doing this based on a deep you know feeling in her core that she wants to protect her son. She wants to hold her family together for her son. And that I think is something a lot of women can relate to.

BOLDUAN: That I think is also the big part of the conversation. Is the role that, the role that children play into these types of tumultuous periods in a relationship. How do women -- what were women reacting? And Huma Abedin says the reason she decided not to leave Anthony Weiner is because of her son, Jordan.

WALLACE: And she also said according to this "People" magazine article again according to you know family members that you know she blames herself in part because she was focusing so much attention on her newborn son around the time when he returns to sexting and that really struck a core with a lot of women Kate.

You know we all know when we have a child it's a big juggling act, of course and you don't take care of yourself and maybe you don't always sort of focus on the person in your relationship. But people say, you know, you got to get the support from your family and friends and that you -- it takes two in a marriage to take care of that child. So it shouldn't be all on herself that she thinks it's her responsibility.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely not but being in such a public position and being a very strong and successful woman in her own right, she's not depending on her husband she's been a -- she's had a very successful career already. Were any women, I don't know, critical of her for setting a poor example and I know I'm going to take heat for even asking the question but --

WALLACE: Now you're not. I mean, you know. You didn't know you did. I mean I had women in the stories that I did for CNN.com last week who were very strong about this, Kate. Who said that you don't show strength by standing with a guy like this, you show strength by walking away.

At the same time I heard from some feminists who are kind of angry basically that women were having this conversation in the first place because they said we shouldn't be questioning her. Is she doing the right thing or is she doing the wrong thing.

BOLDUAN: The focus is on the wrong person.

WALLACE: The focus is on the wrong person, the focus should be on Anthony Weiner. So there's a lot in the soup on this story for sure.

BOLDUAN: Still a conversation having outside of this set so we should have it on set, as well.

WALLACE: Definitely.

BOLDUAN: It's great to see you Kelly.

WALLACE: Thanks for being here and congrats on the show.

BOLDUAN: Thank you very much. A great article on CNN.com. You should take a read.

WALLACE: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right so we're dealing with some tough stuff here.

BOLDUAN: Very tough.

CUOMO: So that means it's time for "The Good Stuff" for the rest of you, ok.

BOLDUAN: I agree.

CUOMO: Ok today's edition, a Marine proving you should never leave a man behind, even if that man happens to be nine. Marine Lance Corporal Miles Kerr was taking place in a 5k race while on leave to show solidarity with his comrades. He even did it in combat boots and his basic dress uniform pants. That's when he noticed a little boy struggling to keep up.

All right, that's who you're seeing there, nine-year-old Boden Fuchs he had fallen back and lost his family and wanted to quit but he saw Corporal Kerr and asked, "Sir, can you run with me?" And that's exactly what Kerr did, seeing the boy all the way through to the end. When Boden wanted to walk, Miles kept him running. And even after crossing the finish line Miles made sure Boden was reunited with his family.

His fellow Marines who ran the race with him and thought he had injured himself because he was taking so long gave Miles an informal citation calling his actions in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Marine Corps. Miles won something else that day, the slowest time in his age group.

BOLDUAN: Who cares?

CUOMO: The ultimate proof that nice guys really do finish last, right? It's good. Of course he finishes first with Boden and his family and all of us because he put the kid first and that's what the good stuff is all about.

And let us keep telling these good stories. Tell us about the good stuff in your life and your community. You can tweet us you can go to Facebook or you go to our Web site.

BOLDUAN: I love it -- favorite part of the show.

All right coming up next on NEW DAY and here is Chris's favorite part of the show. Whenever we can talk about "Sharknado" we're going to see --

CUOMO: Only because it's real.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: "Sharknado" might have changed our lives forever.

John Berman is taking it on.

CUOMO: Wichita, Kansas 1979.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: "Sharknado" is here and the guy dives into the --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CUOMO: It's that time of the morning -- the man with his own music here for the award of the day. I have my hand ceremoniously on this pillow in honor of Michaela.

BOLDUAN: We don't even have -- we don't even have a theme song and Berman has a theme song.

CUOMO: Carefully here.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORESPONDENT: You know it's very exciting.

BOLDUAN: What do you have?

BERMAN: I know you guys like to think you have some moves here but this guy, this guy has been doing it for decades.

CUOMO: Oh yes.

BERMAN: Let us put (inaudible) here of Dick Van Dyke dancing.

BOLDUAN: I mean --

BERMAN: He's amazing. He's 87. Dick Van Dyke there he is, folks. He is --

CUOMO: That's it.

BERMAN: -- eternal. Also eternal --

BOLDUAN: What?

BERMAN: Sharks. As you might know one of the biggest films of the summer the documentary summer hit "Sharknado" based on a true story.

BOLDUAN: Oh my gosh.

CUOMO: There it is.

BERMAN: A couple of really creative folks have created pretty much the best tumbler ever based on a simpler theory that there's one thing that makes every movie better. It's sharks. So check this out, this is "Mrs. Sharkfire."

CUOMO: That's it.

BERMAN: We have "Sharkless in Seattle." "Sharkspear in Love" "Sharktanic" and my favorite "The Sharkerhood of the Traveling Pants." Right it's incredible stuff.

CUOMO: Yes it's good.

BERMAN: I couldn't decide on a winner today between the shark stuff and Dick Vandyke, so I decided to combine the two. So to Dick Vandyke in a dumper of toddler people I present the "Sharky, Sharky Bang Bang award."

BOLDUAN: Yes. "Chitty-chitty, Bang-bang".

BERMAN: Check out the movie poster for "Sharky, Sharky, Bang, Bang" starring Dick Van Dyke. We don't have.

I could have gone with Sharkypoppins, also.

BOLDUAN: But "Chitty-Chitty, Bang-Bang" was a better movie.

BERMAN: In case you're wondering what this show would look like sharkified. I bring you "Sharky Day". True story. They wouldn't change the NEW DAY graphic. Apparently there's some people that you can't mess with the graphic.

CUOMO: You know it's good. But I like that I still have hair.

BOLDUAN: You know our first names are shark, you noticed -- Shark Bolduan.

CUOMO: I like it. As long as I have hair, I don't care what I look like.

BOLDUAN: My hair is still there.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: We shouldn't joke around, though, people know from Iowa 1977 when the first Sharknado happened. Lives have changed.

BOLDUAN: It's not real. It's not real.

CUOMO: You like how we started the chain saw first. I saw they start it --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: And I said I don't know how you start a chainsaw inside a shark.

BOLDUAN: This is what we talk about in the commercial break. They actually believe it happened.

CUOMO: He's running at it.

BERMAN: Do you need a tissue?

CUOMO: You see. You just ruined the dream. Thanks for killing the dream, Kate. We'll be right back.

BOLDUAN: I'm a dream killer. We'll be right back.

CUOMO: What's next?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back, everyone. Tomorrow, make sure to tune in to "NEW DAY SATURDAY". They're going to be talking with none other than "Project Runway's" Tim Gunn about what else -- politics. Find out his pick for New York's next mayor.

CUOMO: And it's John Berman. That is all for us here on NEW DAY for JB, for Kate, for Mickey, in absentia. That's it for us.

Back to Carol Costello, "CNN NEWSROOM". And have a great weekend, Carol, if I don't see you.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: He's talking about politics?

CUOMO: That's all you get.

BOLDUAN: He can talk about anything.

CUOMO: I'm thanking you, I'm saying have a good weekend and you go right to the politics.

COSTELLO: I know, I was so stunned by that comment, I couldn't get off it. But have a great weekend.

CUOMO: Carol Costello is all news all the time.

BOLDUAN: We'll take it. You know it.

COSTELLO: I do. "NEWSROOM" starts now.