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CNN NEWSROOM

Israeli Spy to Be Released After 30 Years; Wildcat in Milwaukee; NFL Upholds Four-Game Suspension on Tom Brady. Aired 2:30- 3p ET

Aired July 28, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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


[14:30:00] BROOK BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And that he is scheduled to be released from prison this upcoming November 21st. His attorney points out that this will come 30 years to the day since he entered prison.

I have CNN presidential historian, Douglas Brinkley joining me now. And Doug, great to have you on. I mean, this is something that has been fought for decades and decades and decades. My real question to you isn't whether or not, you know, you're surprised that he's being granted this parole and there's still the question of clemency, really the question of you look at how angry Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been over this potential deal with the White House and Iran. Is this a coincidence or not at all?

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: I don't think it's a coincidence. Thirty years to the day, it's been a bone of contention between the United States and Israel the past few months. People wonder if this is a low ebb in history between the U.S. and Israel in history. This shows that the United States and Israel are closely aligned and it's a great help to President Obama in trying to build a case for the Iran nuclear deal and take this issue off the table, if you like.

BALDWIN: Do you think it will be taken off the table? You think this will appease Israel over the Iran deal?

BRINKLEY: No. It's big news released in Israel, less so than in the United States. Pollard served 30 years. As I said, it's been a bone of contention since 1985 and now the president can say we are good friends with Israel, we're doing this sort of gesture. Your government has been asking for Pollard back. You're going to get him back. It helps calm the public relations waters.

Republicans have been hammering on the Iran deal saying that it's anti-Israel. By releasing him, it shows that the president is still doing diplomacy not just with Tehran but Tel Aviv and trying to keep the relationship with the United States and Israel chugging forward.

BALDWIN: OK. Let me pivot. Because I wanted to originally ask you before the news broke, I wanted to ask you about the president's comments in Ethiopia. President Obama told African leaders that he realizes his time is coming to a close in office and said if you were to run for a third term, he thinks he would win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I am in my second term. It has been an extraordinary privilege for me to serve as president of the United States. I cannot imagine a greater honor or a more interesting job. I love my work. But under our constitution, I cannot run again. I can't run again. I actually think I'm a pretty good president. I think if I could run again, I could win. But I can't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Despite his confidence, the theoretical third Obama campaign might be more difficult than the president makes it sound. Let me show you some numbers. In a new CNN ORC poll, only 41 percent of American say the U.S. economy is in good shape. You see there 59 percent describe it as poor. That's a great decline from April when 52 percent said it was good.

One possible factor in all this pessimism, new data compiled by the federal reserve bank of St. Louis is says that median family wealth has fallen nearly 5 percent since 1989. So, Doug, just sort of back to you, when you have, you know, the majority of Americans saying that the economy is not in the best shape, not to mention, as we were discussing, the Iran deal, the majority of Americans don't favor it, what do you think was behind the president's I could win again line or do you think it was in response to the fact that he was talking to African leaders about term limits?

BRINKLEY: No, I think this person feels he has some wind in his sail. It's been a good summer for him ever since the Supreme Court sided with him on Obamacare, you might want to call it a cockier attitude about himself and he's no longer painting himself as a politician.

You have 16 republicans running and Hillary Clinton has e-mail problems. He's able to say now I'm a world leader, I'm a global leader and he's talking to a global audience. And he wants to promote optimism. This is about legacy. He wants to say, I could have won a third term. That's moot, we'll never know. But this shows the president going out of backing his record not being in a defensive crouch.

BALDWIN: Sure. No, but I hear you on this summer and then you know, several wins in the U.S. Supreme Court back on the economy, he spent his first term really trying to bolster it and Americans, though, seem pretty pessimistic.

[14:35:00] BRINKLEY: I know. And I thought it was a wonderful piece CNN money has and it's worth people reading about the disparity in wealth but it's a story of America changing since 1989. We've had a series of administrations that don't seem to be able to help the middle class and the disparity, Whites in America 12 times more wealth than African-Americans.

Although, it shows that African-Americans and Hispanics and Asians are gaining better access to money in our society. But this is a president that is probably not happy with the way that the economy is. He feels he got us out of the great recession but the economic indicators and the discontent of Americans about their economy not forging forward is, I think, one of the Achilles heels of the Obama years and seems unlikely to be solved in the next year.

BALDWIN: Doug Brinkley, appreciate it.

Their eyes are not playing tricks on them. That's what dozens of people living in Milwaukee are saying about this wildcat. Maybe it's a lion, some kind of creature that's been roaming around their neighborhood. Some people are worried, are the sightings even for real? There seems to be proof, though, this cell phone video shows some kind of wildcat trolling the streets.

I don't know what this thing is. Even police say that they have seen it. So where is it? What is it? Joining me now, I have Karen Sparaconi, she is the executive director for the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission. Karen, nice to have you on.

KAREN SPARACONI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MILWAUKEE AREA DOMESTIC ANIMAL CONTROL COMMISSION: Thank you.

BALDWIN: I know last weekend you were out and about with police, wardens to try to find this creature. You guys don't actually know what you are looking for. All of the big lions and cats are accounted for in the zoo. What do you think it is?

SPARACONI: We honestly still have no idea. We went into this thinking it was a wild animal and every once in a while we'll have a wild animal venture up north down into the suburbs. The last one was a bear that we caught and brought back up north where it belonged.

But as the days have gone buy and the sightings have continued, we had a Milwaukee police officer who was familiar with the African mammals who has spent some time in Africa who saw it Friday night. He seems convinced that the animal is a juvenile African lion.

That's the premise that we're going under right now, that it's a juvenile African lion that was an exotic pet that for whatever is out and about out of its housing.

BALDWIN: OK. So you do think it was an exotic pet. I was just on a Safari last week. First time I saw lions in person. I'm wondering, if that was in Africa, how the heck would you have an Africa juvenile lion in Milwaukee? You're saying this was someone's pet?

SPARACONI: Yes. It's a big industry. Exotic animal breeders is a big industry and that's a very big demand for large cats. They are bread mostly in southern and western states. We just checked on the Internet the other day and there's a litter of white tiger cubs available for adoption and Wisconsin does not have current restrictions on bringing those animals into the state and owning them.

While there's local ordinances here in Milwaukee, there's no state regulations on their care, upkeep or what can come in. So we do believe that it was a privately purchased animal kept by a resident in Milwaukee that somehow it escaped or the person was overwhelmed and let it out knowing that authorities would capture the animal, hoping to get it to a sanctuary.

We think the person at this point, especially with all of this Hoopla around this situation, is Afraid to come forward due to financial and legal consequences of what's been going on.

BALDWIN: That's an excellent word. Hoopla. I mean, every article I read on this. But at the same time, Karen, you could just bring this home for me, what is it like in Milwaukee right now? Tell me about the calls that you've been getting from people who think they have seen this thing. Tell me about that.

SPARACONI: Yes. It's insane. It's been really off the charts. I run a humble little animal control with dogs and cats mostly and this Milwaukee lion has a Twitter handle, two separate Facebook pages, we have calls -- most of the calls come in for sightings go to 911 but we're getting calls from people that are afraid, rightly so, people should always be cautious especially when there's potentially a lion running around the neighborhood.

BALDWIN: Can you blame them, Karen?

SPARACONI: No, absolutely not. This does not normally happen and it's an unfortunate consequence of people that take on animals that they should not, that are so cute as cubs and they bottle feed them and bond with them. It's intoxicating to have a wild animal like a lion or tiger living in your home with you but unfortunately they do not stay small and they get quite big and they are hard to feed and there's no way to give them any quality of life in a private residence, especially in a city like Milwaukee where people have postage stamp property.

[14:40:00] BALDWIN: I hope you find this lion and I hope it's OK and you're able to place it somewhere safely and maybe not in the home. Karen, thank you so much in Milwaukee.

We've got breaking news out of the NFL. The league moments ago revealing whether Tom Brady's punishment for Deflategate will be upheld. But in this announcement they also reveal new information in the case and his cellphone. That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:45:00] BALDWIN: OK. Breaking news here. We are now learning the NFL has decided to uphold the four-game suspension for Tom Brady here of the New England Super Bowl winning, the week of Deflategate which we covered for weeks and weeks. This is a big deal that we have this conclusion. I have CNN sports anchor Rachel Nichols with me.

It's a big deal that, a, they've upheld his four-game suspension but, to me, the real nugget of all of this is the cell phone news.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. One of the big bones of contention in this entire investigation was talking to Tom Brady, what evidence was he going to give them in terms of his testimony and physical evidence would he give them. Other people involved with the patriot printed over their cellphone.

The NFL doesn't have subpoena power. They can't force you to hand over your cell phone. Tom Brady said he didn't want to do it. So the NFL they said, give us anything relevant. Go through the text messages yourself. He and his lawyers decided they didn't want to do that. That's what we knew before today.

Just minutes ago, the NFL added the little detail that, according to them, Tom Brady ordered the cell phone that he had used for the four months prior to being called by investigators, he had ordered it destroyed.

BALDWIN: Wow.

NICHOLS: And that cell phone, again, according to the NFL, had sent more than 10,000 text messages. Now, maybe they were all to Gisele. We have no idea. But we don't know what was in those text messages. But what we do know is we know for a fact -- because I myself heard it from Brady's agent, that they did not give the phone over, they did not go and give the text messages to the NFL as they asked and now it goes much further. He destroyed the phone.

BALDWIN: No. No. No. He himself ordered it to be destroyed?

NICHOLS: Do you think that's in the entourage, a phone destroyer? We're making light of what some people say is a crazy situation and the fact that, according to the NFL, he not only didn't freely give evidence but went so far out of his way to destroy evidence with the major thing that they cited today in upholding his suspension.

BALDWIN: And the twist of this, which is important to remind everyone, it was the game against the Indiana colts in which the Deflategate happened.

NICHOLS: Four games back after -- where will he come back? He will play the Indiana colts in Indianapolis. Of course, that's still an if. Even though he's been suspended, even though that suspension has been upheld, the real issue now is, will Tom Brady and NFL association, the players association take the NFL to court in they have said loudly, for the past week and a half, if that suspension is upheld, we will go to court. We will sue you. We will cause all kinds of discovery where the NFL's private e-mails, maybe the e-mails of some of the owners are asked for in discovery, it's going to be embarrassing, they have threatened.

We'll see what they do. The NFL has called Tom Brady's bluff and the player associations' bluff. This is the most powerful sporting figure, Roger Goodell, fighting against the most successful quarterback of this century. This is the heaviest of heavyweights. We've never seen anything like this, ever.

BALDWIN: Can you stay with me? I want to bring in a voice who we happen to have on for an entirely different segment. This is a former head coach of the Texas revolution but he was drafted -- you played for the pats in the late '90s. I think this predated tom Brady's QB. But as a patriot and patriot's fan, you're hearing this like everyone else for the first time. Your reaction?

DEVIN MYMAN: I tell you, ordering anything to be destroyed in any given case across America, you know, that's tampering or whatever it is, that doesn't look good. But, you know, once again, like I've said from the beginning of the situation, who really cares if the ball is really deflated? That's somebody really looking for either, you know, a story or something. So it's really mind boggling for me.

BALDWIN: Well, the whole bit about the PSI, that is important because there are policies in place precisely to prevent something like that, you know, but bottom line, the whole thing about evidence pampering, yes, is a big deal. I'm also wondering about pats fans. They were talking about the free Tom t-shirts. If you're a diehard pat fan, right?

[14:50:00] MYMAN: Right. Yes. I think, you know, with him being suspended and doing all of the different things that's taken place with this past season alone, just everything that is going on and for his name to be out there like he was just speaking up about how powerful he is, I know he may fight it but if he gets suspended four games, there's so many guys that have been suspended for so many different reasons and NFL in each part of the league, take it and keep moving.

BALDWIN: Devin, thank you. Rachel, final question to you. It's four games. How does that sit with you as far as fairness?

NICHOLS: Well, if he really did order his phone destroyed in an investigation.

BALDWIN: Yes.

NICHOLS: This is a message that the NFL has to send not just to Tom Brady but to all of its players. The NFL, again, does not have subpoena power. It's a key issue in in this. They can't force the players to do anything. The only thing they have is a big stick and saying what we can control is you getting on the floor and playing. This is a message to all players across the NFL, all word is law, no matter what. It will be interesting to see if it stands because, again, the NFL players association has said we don't like that idea. We're going to take you could court. We'll have to see if that file that. It will come in the next 24 hours because they want to fire an injunction so Tom Brady can get on the field while this is being decided. More to come. It's a big chess game.

BALDWIN: More on the breaking news. We'll be right back.

[14:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right. Back to our breaking story here, we've covered this for quite a while here. The Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots, have been in the is midst of a battle over Deflategate. Tom Brady's four-game suspension has been upheld and to take it a step further, according to the NFL -- because, as Rachel Nichols, who we will bring in right now, has pointed out over and over and Christine Brennan as well, because the NFL doesn't have subpoena power and say, hand over any evidence that you have related to this each with Deflategate, and so what's the bit about the cell phone?

NICHOLS: Right. They asked him to give over the cell phone. In fact, they ask everybody involved with the patriots organization who they questioned to give over their cell phone.

BALDWIN: We want to see your communications.

NICHOLS: We want to see your communications. But the NFL cannot legally require you to give it to them. So one of the points of contention in this investigation was, did you cooperate or not?

BALDWIN: Yes.

NICHOLS: And what they can do is take away games as part of a suspension if you don't cooperate. There's two kinds of not cooperating and the NFL made that distinction today. One thing is just saying no which is what we although and what his lawyer said a couple months ago. There's a difference between saying no and actually going out of your way to destroy evidence.

And the NFL has claimed in their press release today that Tom Brady destroyed the cell phone that he had been using for the four months prior to when he was questioned by NFL officials and then on that cell phone, during those four months, there were 10,000 text messages that the NFL would have liked to have known the contents of.

Again, we don't know what was in the text messages. Tom Brady is a very famous guy. He's got a very famous super model wife. He leads a very private life, which is maybe why he didn't want to turn over his cell phone. The NFL made an allowance for that. They said, great, you don't want to give us your cell phone, you don't want the messages to Gisele to be public, you give us anything that you see relevant and Tom Brady and his lawyer decided they didn't want to do that. Perhaps not to set the precedent for future players.

BALDWIN: They didn't want to do that but...

NICHOLS: They basically said, you don't cooperate and you really don't cooperate by destroying evidence, we're going to throw the book at you.

BALDWIN: And Christine Brennan, let me bring your voice in here as well. Not only did they discover that Tom Brady destroyed his cell phone, he had his cell phone destroyed. And again, the issue is these four games -- upholding the four games of suspension. What's your reaction?

CHRISTIN BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: You know, Tom Brady had an opportunity to help out, to participate. Think of all of us in our workplace, if we were asked, you know -- we need this for an employee or a co-worker and you don't participate, how many of us keep our jobs?

If you look at it through that way, it become as little clearer because to the average American that this is a problem and I think he's destroyed his cell phone, he actively participated in doing bad things and made it difficult to find out what they wanted to find out. I think even more people who are not on his side, especially as he goes forward in the court of law.

BALDWIN: OK. Let me bring Rachel back in. It's important to point out, sort of like at this 30,000-foot view, you have Roger Goodell, Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, Goodell was presiding over the appeals hearing, wasn't he?

NICHOLS: Right. This is another issue with the players association. The way things are set up, the players association has no one to blame but themselves. This is collectively bargained. They agreed to this but they agreed the NFL office could punish a player and the person who could hear an appeal, if a player thought it was unfair is Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL.