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The Situation Room
Hannah Anderson's Father to Speak Momentarily; A "Broken" Criminal Justice System; NYPD Stop and Frisk Ruled Unconstitutional; American Pleads For Freedom In North Korea; Good Day for Law Enforcement; AOL Employee Fired
Aired August 12, 2013 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now, a kidnapped teen didn't even know that her mother and brother had been murdered until she was rescued. Now the father of Hannah Anderson is about to speak out on that rescue and on the tragedy that struck his family. We'll bring it to you live this hour.
A quarter of the world's prisoners are incarcerated right here in the United States. And the attorney general of the United States unveils a bold new plan to reform what he calls "a broken criminal justice system."
And it's bad enough when the boss says you're fired, but what if -- what if it happens on a conference call with 1,000 colleagues listening in?
I'm Wolf Blitzer.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
We begin with an extraordinary rescue -- 16-year-old Hannah Anderson safe after a harrowing week long ordeal that ended with the death of the man authorities say kidnapped her and killed her mother and her brother.
Just minutes from now, Anderson's father will speak to the news media for the first time since being reunited with his daughter. When that happens, we'll bring it to you live here in THE SITUATION ROOM this hour.
We're also learning, meantime, chilling new details from authorities about her time in captivity, including that she never knew her family members were dead.
CNN's Paul Vercammen has been working the story from the very beginning.
He's joining us now with the very latest.
What is the latest -- Paul?
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we have confirmed that FBI agents found on DiMaggio, the suspect, after he was taken down, a long gun and a handgun. The sheriff telling us off-camera he had a shoulder weapon and he fired once.
Clearly, the FBI returning with lethal force. If you've seen the video, they went into those mountains armed to the teeth with automatic weapons.
We also understand now that Hannah Anderson is in California. Her father will speak here soon, momentarily. And as you pointed out earlier, detectives telling us that Hannah Anderson had no idea that her little brother and her mother had been killed -- Wolf.
BLITZER: The FBI was able to track them down from the air and on the ground. But all of this came from a tip from some local folks out there.
Explain what happened.
VERCAMMEN: Well, these country wise folks, including a former sheriff, said it was a one in a trillion chance in this massive wilderness area. They were on horseback when they came upon this couple, a young girl and DiMaggio. And, of course, they said they just stood out there in the Idaho wilderness.
Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MARK, SPOTTED ANDERSON IN IDAHO: When we went to the lake and then they showed up at the lake and they were just like a square peg going into a round hole. They didn't fit. He might have been an outdoorsman in California, but he was not an outdoorsman in Idaho and he didn't fit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERCAMMEN: And later on that night, the sheriff, seeing Hannah's picture on television, called his sources with the Idaho State Police. And from there, Wolf, the search was on.
BLITZER: It certainly was.
All right, we're going to be awaiting this statement from the father of Hannah Anderson. We'll have it live this hour. We'll see if he takes questions, as well. A dramatic development.
Paul, stand by yourself. We'll come back to you.
Meantime, other news here in THE SITUATION ROOM, including a dramatic move by the attorney general of the United States, Eric Holder. He says America's prison population has grown at an astounding 800 percent in the last three decades and he's unveiled a bold new plan to try to reform what he says is basically a broken criminal justice system in the United States.
Our chief White House correspondent, Jessica Yellin, is joining us now.
She's got the details -- Jessica.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the attorney general says that the nation's overcrowding problem is costing the U.S. too much money, is leading to more crime when prisoners are released and it's often the result of unfair sentencing practices. So he's making changes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
YELLIN (voice-over): A major change in the way prison sentences will be handed down ordered by the nation's top law enforcement officer.
ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: With an outsized, unnecessarily large prison population, we need to ensure that incarceration is used to punish, to deter and to rehabilitate, but not merely to warehouse and to forget.
YELLIN: Attorney General Eric Holder announced the Justice Department will stop seeking mandatory minimum sentences for offenders accused of low level, non-violent drug crimes, like a small time drug courier. Instead, they'll ask to send them to drug treatment and community service programs.
HOLDER: This is our opportunity to divine, this time, our time, as one of progress and innovation. This is our promise, to forge a more just society.
YELLIN: He says he's discussed inequalities in the criminal justice system with the president for years, an issue the president addressed in emotional remarks after the Trayvon Martin verdict.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is a history of racial disparities in the application of our criminal laws.
YELLIN: According to Holder, the U.S. holds an astounding 25 percent of the world's prisoners. Our federal prisons are 40 percent over capacity and the nation spent $80 billion on the prison system in the year 2010. All of which may explain the unusual bipartisan support for ending mandatory minimum sentences that ranges from Tea Party Republican Rand Paul --
SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: Some argue with evidence that our drug laws are biased, that they are the new Jim Crow.
YELLIN: -- to the ACLU, which hailed Holder's announcement as a crucial effort to end wasteful and harmful federal prison overcrowding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: Wolf, the attorney general has mandated these changes using his power as a federal official. But there's also support in the U.S. Senate for further changes that would give judges more discretion in their own sentencing.
Now, among the senators who support revising these laws are Tea Party favorites Rand Paul and Mike Lee, who are joining with some of the president's allies. As you know, bipartisan coalitions like that could possibly get something done even in this gridlocked down -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes, you would think, as Senator Rand Paul, joining Senator Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, a liberal and a conservative. On this issue, they're united. But there are opponents, as well. So we'll see where that goes. YELLIN: Sure.
BLITZER: All right, Jessica, thank you.
The attorney general also voiced outrage at the racial inequities and punishments handed down across the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOLDER: We also must confront the reality that once they are in that system, people of color often face harsher punishments than their peers. One deeply troubling report, at least in February of this year, indicates that in recent years, black male offenders have received sentences nearly 20 percent longer than those imposed on white males convicted of similar crimes. This isn't just unacceptable, it is shameful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Strong words from the attorney general.
Joining us now is our CNN justice reporter, Evan Perez.
He broke the story last week about this latest initiative.
Why are they doing this now?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is, you know, the Obama presidency's second term legacy building. This is a chance for the attorney general, Eric Holder, who is probably leaving office in the next few months, and for the president, to do something that I think they want to be remembered for. This is something that the president and the attorney general apparently have been talking about for several years.
So you see, I think, an effort here on the part of the attorney general, Eric Holder, to leave office, perhaps, with something other than Fast and Furious to be remembered by --
BLITZER: Yes --
PEREZ: -- and for the president, obviously, this is a big deal in the African-American and Hispanic communities.
BLITZER: It's a huge deal. I was a little surprised, by the way, that Eric Holder made the announcement instead of the president of the United States. You've covered the Justice Department and you're new to CNN. You used to work at "The Wall Street Journal." Were you a little surprised that the president let Eric Holder do this, as opposed to the president himself making the announcement?
PEREZ: I think it's one of those things that I think the president and the White House wanted to make sure that the attorney general gets some kind of press coverage, something that he can be remembered for, other than some of the scandals --
BLITZER: That's an excellent --
PEREZ: -- as you and I (INAUDIBLE) --
BLITZER: -- an excellent point.
PEREZ: Yes.
BLITZER: But if this goes through and it's still a big if -- does that mean the DEA and the FBI, they can have -- free up their resources to do other stuff?
PEREZ: Well, yes, exactly. I mean the -- you have, you know, obviously, crime is down across the country. However, Chicago, Philadelphia. There are other places that are -- they're still having terrible spasms of violence every weekend.
So the DEA, the FBI and other resources can be put toward so-called hot spots to be able to fight those issues.
BLITZER: And presumably, some of the huge amounts of money that are spent --
PEREZ: That's right.
BLITZER: -- could be freed up for other purposes, as well.
PEREZ: That's right. That's right.
BLITZER: Evan Perez, our newest member here in the CNN family.
Welcome to CNN.
PEREZ: Thank you.
BLITZER: This will be an excellent ride for you and for all of us.
After five million stops, half of them involving searches, a federal judge ruled today that the New York City Police Department's controversial stop and frisk policy is unconstitutional. The decision came in a five year old class action lawsuit which finally went to trial this spring.
Let's go live to CNN's Nick Paton Walsh.
He's in New York right now. He's not in Beirut. He's not in Islamabad.
He's in New York right now covering the story -- Nick, tell us what's going on.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it's a huge symbolic move against the police policy which has been loathed by many black and Latino New Yorkers, ruling as unconstitutional something which they've avidly complained about for over a decade.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH: Leroy Downs was sitting on the step outside his own home, just like this, when it happened.
LEROY DOWNS, FRISKED BY NYPD: The officers drove past me, went up the street, reversed, came back, jumped out and they approached me.
WALSH: What did they say their reason for that was?
DOWNS: You look like you're smoking weed. And then I was -- I said to them, I said I'm on a -- I'm talking on the cell phone. And then, you know, they cursed at me and said get -- you know, get against the fence, and started pushing me toward fence and commenced to searching me.
WALSH (voice-over): The police found nothing on Downs, no guns or drugs.
DOWNS: They're going to search you and it is what it is. And if you resist, you know, they say, oh, why are you stop -- you know, you could be charged with resisting arrest.
WALSH (on camera): And when you talk about it, you're still like -- you seem to shake a little bit.
DOWNS: Yes. Yes, I know.
WALSH: Why?
DOWNS: Because I've been through so much of this throughout my life, you know. And I'm just like -- that's why -- one of the reasons why I took part in this, because I just want it to stop.
WALSH (voice-over): But New York's mayor and police commissioner say police have to continue to stop people just like that to save lives and reduce crime. They plan to appeal the ruling.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK CITY: We go to where the reports of crime are. Those, unfortunately, happen to be poor neighborhoods and minority neighborhoods.
RAY KELLY, COMMISSIONER, NYC POLICE: There were 7,363 fewer murders in New York City compared to the 11 years prior to the mayor taking office. And if history is any guide, those lives saved were overwhelmingly the lives of young men of color.
WALSH (voice-over): Today a federal judge said police reasoning didn't add up. Police stopped 4.4 million people from 2004 to mid- 2012, 87 percent of them black or Latino. Just 12 percent were charged with crimes.
The reasons given for the stops -- so-called furtive movements, being in high crime areas or having a suspicious bulge.
The judge found the searches unconstitutional and noted one NYPD official said, "It is permissible to stop racially defined groups just to instill fear in them." The tactic did instill fear in David Ourlich, who was sitting here when he was surrounded by nine officers who rushed him with guns drawn. They, too, found nothing.
The judge's rulings made him weep.
DAVID OURLICH, FRISKED BY NYPD: It's just hard to explain. I'm I think, actually, there is something I'll say. I think it's a really good picture of what's going on in society. I mean this is a big thing for New York, but as far as America as a whole, it shows the polarization of people of color in this country, as how we're viewed.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
WALSH: Now, Wolf, the judge ruled that police will have to have an independent monitor to watch how this process is phased out. And she even said some police would, in fact, have cameras monitored -- mounted upon them to assist in surveillance. And police, of course, say they will appeal this verdict.
But tonight, there is, of course, a significant legal judgment. But many people watching around in New York, on the streets, to see if that actually causes police behavior to change at all -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Nick Paton Walsh in New York for the next couple of weeks reporting for us.
Thanks very much, Nick, for that report.
Coming up, Hannah Anderson's father speaking out for the first time since her extraordinary rescue. You'll hear him live this hour right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Up next, though, an American sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea. He's now in a hospital there, in failing health. I'll speak to the sister of Kenneth Bae.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: An American sentenced to 15 years in hard labor in North Korea has been moved to a hospital after a serious deterioration in his health. Kenneth Bae is pleading for his freedom and is asking for a prominent American to help get him out. CNNs Paula Hancocks recently got a rare behind-the-scenes look inside North Korea. She's now in Seoul, Seoul Korea.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We've seen Kenneth Bae working in a North Korean labor camp. Now, we see him in a Pyongyang hospital.
KENNETH BAE, AMERICAN IMPRISONED IN NORTH KOREA (through translator): I broke the law the DTRK law, so, that's why I'm in the labor camp. I think that a high level U.S. official should come and bring me back to the U.S. I think the official should come and apologize on behalf of the U.S. government to get early release. This is my request to the U.S. government.
HANCOCKS: Kenneth Bae was sentenced in April to 15 years in a labor camp for what the regime calls hostile act to bring down the governments. His family says he is a tour operator with a missionary background. Bae was visited in Hospital Friday by a Swedish diplomat. Sweden represents U.S. interest in the country as the U.S. has no diplomatic presence.
Bae's health is deteriorating. (INAUDIBLE) the pro-North Korean group based in Tokyo that spoke to Bae in hospital says he has a spinal injury, lumbar and cervical pain and gallstones. His sister tells me he has lost 50 pounds since being detained in November. Bae says he is concerned that his health will deteriorate again once he is returned to the labor camp.
Over the weekend, Bae's family held a prayer vigil for him in the hometown of Seattle. 281 candles were lit on Saturday, one for each day Kenneth bay has been held in North Korea.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been incredibly difficult. It's been -- just there's absolutely nothing we can do really. You know, we can do everything we can to try to raise awareness, to send him letters and write letters to people who can, to have the power to really advocate for him. We don't have that. So, we're just trying to do everything we can to spread the word and appeal to those who do have the power to bring him home.
HANCOCKS (on-camera): The U.S. government has called for Bae's released on humanitarian grounds. And there are still rumors that the former U.S. president, Jimmy Carter, may travel to Pyongyang to lobby for his release. A claim that has not had a direct denial, but based on the all concern that his deteriorating health may mean the time is running out for a positive outcome.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And Terri Chung, Bae's sister is joining us now from Seattle. Terry, thanks very much. First of all, as far as former President Jimmy Carter going to North Korea trying to bring your brother out of there, have you heard anything and anything specific on that front?
TERRI CHUNG, SISTER OF KENNETH BAE: No, we have not. We have just heard that, you know, there was a miscommunication regarding his possible private mission to North Korea, and that he has no immediate plans to go to North Korea. BLITZER: You have received some letters from your brother, and we all assume the North Korean government allowed those letters to come out. Tell us a little bit more about his condition. You say he's lost 50 pounds. I think he has diabetes as well. Is he getting insulin?
CHUNG: He does have diabetes medicines that we have been sending him. So, he has diabetes. He has other chronic conditions such as he's developed kidney stones and also enlarged heart and some severe back pain that seems to have been causing him significant trouble, which I think led to his hospitalization, among other -- along with his other symptoms.
BLITZER: So, he's now in a hospital in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. Do you believe he's getting good treatment?
CHUNG: We hope so. We know that he's been moved to a hospital and we hope that that's getting him the medical care that he needs.
BLITZER: What else does he need, do you think, in addition to medical care? Is he getting letters, for example, from you, as far as you can tell?
CHUNG: It seems to be the case. He refers to things that we have told him in the letters. So, I think he is getting the letters. I'm not sure how quickly, but he does seem to be getting the letters. And also, that he's incredibly just grateful for the support of the letters that have come in from strangers, that two journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling has set up for Kenneth -- letter for Kenneth a Gmail. So, he's been getting those as well. And I think that's been an incredible support for him.
BLITZER: Is there anything you -- I was in North Korea about two and a half years ago, and I know they got CNN International there. If they're watching us right now, is there anything you want to say to the North Korean government?
CHUNG: We would say we are -- we understand that Kenneth has been convicted of crimes under your laws and we sincerely apologize on his behalf. We know that he only had the best of intentions for North Korea and we beg for your mercy, and we plead for you to please let him come home to his family. We are extremely concerned about his health, that his healthy is initially failing, and we're really concerned. We just beg for your mercy to grant him amnesty and allow him to come home.
BLITZER: Well, let's hope he does come home soon. Terri Chung is the sister of Kenneth Bae. Terri, thanks very much and good luck.
CHUNG: Thank you for having me.
BLITZER: Coming up, the father of Hannah Anderson is about to speak out for the first time since the dramatic rescue of his daughter over the weekend. You're going to see it live. That's coming up right here in the SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Happening now, Hannah Anderson's father breaking his silence for the first time since her extraordinary rescue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER (voice-over): The news conference just minutes away. When it happens, we'll go there live, you'll see it, you'll hear it.
Plus, former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, in the spotlight as speculation grows about 2016. You're going to hear from her live in the next hour.
And you're fired. A former AOL employee gets the axe from his boss in a very public way, with 1,000 co-workers listening in.
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in the SITUATION ROOM.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Just minutes from now, we're going to take you live to the father of Hannah Anderson. He's speaking out for the first time since her extraordinary rescue and weekend captivity with the man police believed killed her mother and her brother then kidnapped her.
CNNs Paul Vercammen once again is in San Diego. He's getting ready to set the scene for us. They should be walking out momentarily, Paul. I think the sheriff of San Diego County, the FBI agent in charge as well as the dad.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. All three of them going to address the media here. This is one of those moments where we might as well play some show and tell and never mind any poster (ph) whatever might get in the way. Go ahead, Mike. Go show to the left here. This is where the father will exit, and you can see there's quite a conglomeration of people over here.
And then, if you come back over to the right, Mike Love, you can see all the media as well as quite a few high-ranking detectives and others anxiously awaiting the word from Brett Anderson, from the sheriff, and from the special agent in the FBI. You know, Wolf, in our business, this happens sometimes. You have eight days here where you're getting the information piecemeal.
We may learn more in about the next five minutes than we knew for eight days as they begin to reveal more about the successful rescue of Hannah Anderson, how she never knew that she had been kidnapped by Mr. DiMaggio, and we'll probably learn much more about how the FBI took him down. CNN confirming that he had both a handgun and a long gun and that he fired once. And we're going to go ahead and look over here to the right and see if they're now exiting.
BLITZER: Looks like they're walking over. And so we'll hear -- there you see Brett Anderson. He's the father of Hannah. He's there as well. And, I assume Bill Gore, the San Diego sheriff, will speak first. Maybe they're about to the introduced by a communications specialist there. And Daphne Hearn, the special agent charge in the San Diego FBI office will speak as well. You know what, let's listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sheriff Gore will being speaking and then FBI assistant special agent in charge, Rob Howe, will make a statement. I'd like to introduce Brett Anderson.
BRETT ANDERSON, HANNAH ANDERSON'S FATHER: Thank you and thank you all for coming. I would first like to thank all of the branches of the law enforcement involved in their quick actions and professionalism in all aspects of this investigation. I would also like to thank Mary and Mike Young (ph), Mark and Crista John (ph) for without you, who knows how long this would have gone on.
My family and I are eternally grateful. As a family, we offer a special thank you to our local sheriff department and the individuals from them and the FBI who have been by our families from the beginning for their tireless efforts. I want to thank all who spread the word, shared their hearts and thoughts through social media across the country.
Because of you, this reached across and beyond the U.S. have no doubt that this made -- did make a difference. Though relentless, I would also like to thank you, the media. All of your coverage, keeping the issue alive and helped with bringing my daughter home. As a country, there are many missing children. And though some of them -- sorry -- some of you might find the amber alert annoying, please, pay attention, keep your eyes open, let's bring those children home.
No one should have to go through this. Now, it's time for us to grieve and move on to the healing process. I respectively ask you to give me, all of our family and our friends, the respect and time to allow this to happen. As for my daughter, the healing process will be slow. She has been through a tremendous, horrific ordeal. I am very proud of her and I love her very much.
She is surrounded by the love of her family, friends and community. Again, please, as a family, give us the time to grieve and heal. Thank you.
SHERIFF BILL GORE, SAN DIEGO COUNTY: Hi. I'm Sheriff Bill Gore. I want to thank you all for being here and add my thanks to those of Brett's for your outstanding coverage of this terrible abduction and crime. It's clear that had it not been for the media coverage that the hikers up in Idaho would have never known that the two people they saw along the trail were Hannah and Dimaggio.
I want to emphasize that during the law enforcement interviews with Hannah, it became very clear to us, very clear, that she is a victim in every sense of the word in this horrific crime. From the time of her abduction in Boulevard to her recovery in Idaho by the FBI's hostage rescue team, she was under extreme, extreme duress. It was also during the interview with Hannah after her recovery up in Idaho that she was first told about the deaths of her mother and her little brother. Also during the interview with Hannah, she revealed that Dimaggio had a rifle and that he fired at least one round prior to being shot and killed by the FBI hostage team riflemen.
This investigation continues. We'll be conducting more interviews, we'll be reviewing the crime scene results from the Boulevard fires, from the car recovered in Idaho and from the camp site at Lake Morehead. We're continuing this investigation so that we can answer all the possible questions that result from this type of horrific, horrific crime.
Our primary concern, however, is for the well being of Hannah Anderson and her family. As Brett has stated already, they've experienced a horrific ordeal and tragic loss. We would appreciate your help in giving them that time to heal and to grieve.
Thank you very much, and I'll turn it over to assistant special agent in charge Rob Howe from the FBI, who will make a few brief comments, and then we'll answer a few questions -- as many as we can, before ending. Go ahead, Rob.
ROB HOWE, FBI ASSISTANT SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Thank you, Sheriff. On behalf of the FBI family, let me just say that we offer our condolences and our deepest sympathies to the Anderson family for the tragedy they have endured and suffered this last week. We also echo the sheriff and Mr. Anderson's statements they need the time to grieve and to get back to a somewhat normal lifestyle without most of the interruptions we have presented to them.
And I would also like to say that the FBI very much appreciates the law enforcement partnerships that we have throughout the country. Not just here in San Diego, but it's the partnership we enjoy here with the San Diego sheriff's department that allow us to bring our resources to bear whenever state, local and regional resources aren't enough. We're very proud of the relationship that we have here and we are very happy we were able to bring this to the ending that we did. Thank you.
GORE: Let me add the FBI, as is their normal procedure, is conducting a shooting investigation up in Idaho. So there won't be any real details coming out about exactly what happened in the confrontation. And I'm sure when the investigation is complete, that will be -- those results will be released.
I want to echo also what Rob said about the type of relationships and the type of investigative work that was done here. It's something that you rarely see, I think, on this level where you have federal -- and that's not just the FBI but the U.S. Marshal Service, Customs and Border Protection, the Idaho State Police, the California Highway Patrol, the sheriff's department in Valley County and Ada County in Idaho and then Fugitive Task Force, specifically here in San Diego County that left no stone unturned in trying to find Dimaggio and Hannah and bring them back.
So, with that -
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you tell us some of the things that went on during Hannah's capture? (INAUDIBLE)
GORE: No. We're not going to discuss that out of respect for Hannah's privacy and her need to heal and get through this tragedy.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you tell us how she's doing today and where she is?
GORE: She's - Hannah's back in San Diego with family members, and she's doing as well as can be expected after the terrible ordeal she's been through.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you have any motive? (INAUDIBLE)
GORE: No, I'm not going to discuss any motive or any of the specifics. We're still -- the investigation is still ongoing, and we have people interviewed, crime scene results to be examined and evidence to be reviewed that we recovered in the car up in Idaho and from the crime scene in Lake Morehead.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sheriff, did Hannah ever try to escape?
GORE: I'm not going to go into any details about that.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: No, she was -- I can't make it clearer. She was a victim in this case. She was not a willing participant, and she was under extreme duress from the time she left Boulevard until the time she was recovered in Lake Morehead, Idaho.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: No. I mean, the report from the four hikers on horseback in Idaho was the key event that took us in the area, led us to the discovery of the vehicle and then the subsequent discovery of them camping by Morehead.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: As reported by the two couples that saw them along the trail, they had backpacks, they had supplies they took in with them, although the people from Idaho thought they were not really prepared for the wilderness they were in up there in Idaho.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How was Hannah unaware that the rest of her family (INAUDIBLE)?
GORE: You have to look at the size of the complex in Boulevard. There are several buildings up there and she was unaware of what happened, that her mother and her brother had been killed.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: The FBI interviewer and forensic interviewer in Idaho did the interview with her and explained to her and revealed to her about her mother and brother's death.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: I'm not going to go into any type of details on that, but she was under duress the whole time.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do we have a time in Idaho when the Amber Alert went out up there?
GORE: The Amber Alert had not been put out in Idaho until after the four campers up there came across them on the trail. Subsequent to that -- I think that would have been Thursday the Amber Alert was released in Idaho. We'd done it in California, Oregon and Washington, up into British Colombia but not into Idaho.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: We're still in the process of putting all that investigative material together.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE). Can you give us a sense if Dimaggio was trying to booby-trap the campsite and how many agents returned fire?
GORE: I don't have the results of the crime scene investigation in Idaho that's being done -- probably being done still as we speak. I do know from the interview of Hannah he did have a rifle, and he fired at least one shot. Beyond that, that will come out in the FBI's shooting team investigation they're doing up there.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: She was in the close proximity to Dimaggio when he was shot and killed.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How close?
GORE: I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Was the rifle fired at the time of the confrontation with the FBI --
GORE: Approximate time. At least one shot was fired, possibly a second, and he was shot and killed shortly thereafter. As far as we know, Dimaggio fired his weapon first.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: I don't know. I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What about the cat? Supposedly there was a gray cat with them that the horseback riders saw?
GORE: Yes, that was his cat.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did they recover the cat?
GORE: I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: We're not ready to release the results of that yet.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) How long were they prepared to stay out there?
GORE: I don't have that information. Sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: We've had that reported to us what she supposedly said under her breath as the four hikers drove off. I don't know, and I'm not sure we know what she meant by that. If she was asked that specifically, I haven't heard those results.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sheriff, was she sexually assaulted?
GORE: I'm not going to discuss any details of her abduction beyond the fact that she was under extreme duress.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you think Dimaggio was headed to Canada?
GORE: I'm sorry?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you think Dimaggio was headed to Canada?
GORE: I don't know. He was familiar with that area of the country and had been up there - so - no, in Idaho.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: I didn't say it was planned. I think that was will come out as we do more investigation. We don't think this was a spur of the moment thing, but I'm not prepared to go into details of why we believe that.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: As has been reported extensively in the media, she was not a stranger to his house. A lot of people would go over there. So for her to go to that residence was not unusual. It was after she arrived there that some of these horrific crimes took place.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Was she there when the fire started? (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: A matter of hours from the time they thought they saw the tent from some aerial surveillance until FBI teams were inserted into the area and made their way towards the campsite.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: I'm sorry?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What can you tell us about the (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: Not prepared to talk about that yet. Sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: Her mother? I can't -- we can't tell you that. Don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: Not that I'm aware of. Okay. Okay.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: We're doing -- a lot of investigation remains to be done, a lot of people to interview. Comparing what we learn in interviews with results of crime scene investigations and searches of cars up in the Idaho area. We have a long way to go on this to determine exactly a timeline, what happened, why it happened as best we can. We might never know some of these answers. I think that's important to realize now. When you get a completely irrational act like we've seen here with two murders and a kidnapping, sometimes you're not going able to come up with a rational explanation of what happened.
Go ahead. Last one.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you characterize the mood of your department through this long ordeal?
GORE: I think everybody is gratified that we've obviously got Hannah back alive. We're sad for the loss of Christina and Ethan. It's a tragedy. But as far as Hannah being recovered, that was a good day for law enforcement all over the country. And I thank you again, the media, for all your help in helping us locate her. With that I will -- last --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).
GORE: I think there will be ways with any new technology, there are always ways to improve it. I think it worked. One of the things I'm aware of from my own alert that I got on my iPhone is that the alert pops up and then after you've read it, it's gone. So you can't just go back in like would you a text message and look at it again to determine what that license number was if you see the car. And I think those are some of the things they're working on, to make it retrievable in your iPhone or smartphone, so if you think you see something, can you refresh your memory of what you saw.
With that, thank you very much for being here. Appreciate it.
(END OF LIVE PRESS CONFERENCE COVERAGE)
BLITZER: So the San Diego County Sheriff, Bill Gore, wrapping up a news conference with the father, Brett Anderson. His daughter was found alive. She is okay -- the dad Brett Anderson saying it was a horrendous ordeal that she went through, he's very proud of her, I love her. The sheriff insisting, saying she was a victim, she was under extreme duress during this ordeal.
Let's get some analysis right now. Joining us, the psychotherapist Robi Ludwig. Also, Mark Klaas, whose own daughter was kidnapped and murdered back in 1993. He's the founder of the Klass Kids Foundation.
Robi, first to you. This poor 16-year-old girl must be going through hell right now. She was kidnapped by a 40-year-old man who supposedly was a very close friend of this family.
ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: I'm sure she is having a range of emotions, including survival guilt, post-traumatic stress, maybe even a feeling of betrayal. This was a man who was befriended by the family and confused her by saying he had a crush on her. So I'm sure she's even blaming herself, which is very unfortunate because, again, this is not her fault at all.
BLITZER: Do you have some advice for this young woman, this 16-year- old, Mark?
MARK KLAAS, FOUNDER KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Oh, yes, absolutely, Wolf. She needs to stick with the love of her family and she needs to find counseling. It's going to require a long time for her to get over the trauma of the last week. Everything in her life is different today than it was, say, eight days ago. Absolutely everything. It's been turned upside down. She now has to deal with the new normal.
BLITZER: And she's --
LUDWIG: Exactly.
BLITZER: And her dad basically says to the news media, thanks for helping find our daughter but at the same time saying this is the time they want their privacy, which I assume is pretty smart. Right, Mark?
KLAAS: Oh, absolutely. I remember when we were going through a similar situation when we found out that Polly had died. And we had a great relationship with the media but all of a sudden it was just -- the loss was so overwhelming.
Now Brett has had this loss but he's also had this entire week of not knowing what's happening with his daughter. So I think that the array of emotions that he's gone through, I think he needs a few moments to sit back, collect himself and try to process what's happened.
BLITZER: And do you have any advice for this young woman, Robi?
LUDWIG: Absolutely that she should know that this is going to take time, she needs to speak to a counselor who she can trust and share her feelings with, that it may take her a while to trust herself but as long as she's around loving family, she should try to get back to her schedule as soon as she feels comfortable. Time can heal and it may take her a while to figure out why this has happened, if she ever figures out the why. But to find the purpose in it so that she can move forward because it is possible to move forward in a healthy way.
BLITZER: I want both of you to stand by, if you don't mind. We have more to discuss.
And this note to our viewers, at the of the hour, like father, like son. There are eerie similarities between the man said to have kidnapped Hannah Anderson and an incident involving his father decades ago. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: We're back here in THE SITUATION ROOM. We just heard from the father of Hannah Anderson, the 16-year-old woman who was abducted, held in Idaho and freed after James DiMaggio was shot by authorities who were hunting for him.
Let's go back to Paul Vercammen. He was at that news conference with the sheriff, San Diego County, the FBI agent in charged as well as the dad who spoke out emotionally about his daughter.
And you've been covering this from the beginning, Paul. Tell us a new answer to what did you learn during this news conference that made us all a little bit more knowledgeable how it all came down?
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, one thing is, is that the sheriff said that Hannah Anderson had no idea about that massive fire that erupted on DiMaggio's property, and perhaps the reason for that, that a sprawling three-acre spread. And later on revealing again, as we confirmed on CNN, that she had no idea that her little brother and her mother had been killed.
We also need to turn to Brett Anderson, the father. And just heart wrenching. He's lost his wife. He's lost his son. And he reiterated to everyone here that the healing process is going to be slow for Hannah. He thanked the news media and he thanked the sheriff's detectives as well as the FBI where their dogged pursuit in this case and saying it couldn't have been done without the help of everybody -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes. Very emotional stuff. Robi Ludwig is psychotherapist. She's helping us better appreciate.
This young 16-year-old, Robi. She's lost her mom, as we just heard, Christina, her mom, her little brother Ethan. She's now been saved. Fortunately. She's going to have a tough time going forward.
LUDWIG: Yes. This is going to be a lifelong process of healing because it's going to take time for her to make sense out of everything that happened. And I think what's different about this abduction case is that she also is going to have survival guilt, surviving her mother and little brother who are now dead. She might blame herself. And very often, people blame themselves because they want to take control of what feels like a very out-of-control situation. So she's going to have to grieve and really take care of her emotions, be around very supportive people right now to get through this tough time.
BLITZER: And one thing we learned, we knew this already, Mark, and you've been involved in this, those AMBER alerts. They really do work, as irritating as they can often be, they do help save lives.
KLAAS: There's no question about that. I wish that they would do a few things. I wish they would lighten up the criteria because my daughter would not have qualified for an AMBER alert. And I also wish that they would put it back in the hands of the jurisdictional authority. Because otherwise once you start bumping it up into a bureaucracy, a lot of time gets wasted just deciding whether or not the alert should be activated. But obviously in this case it worked perfectly.
BLITZER: It certainly did. All right, Mark Klaas, thank you. Robi Ludwig, thanks to you as well.
We're going to have much more on this story coming up here in THE SITUATION ROOM at the top of the hour, including like father, like son. Eerie similarities between the man said to have kidnapped Hannah Anderson and the incident involving his father decades ago.
Also up next, an AOL employee gets fired by his boss in a very public way. We have the videotape.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Painful enough being called into your boss' office and told you're fired. Now imagine that same conversation with a thousand of your co-workers listening in.
Here's CNN's John Berman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, "THE APPRENTICE": You're fired.
JOHN BERMAN, ANCHOR, CNN'S EARLY START (voice-over): It may be Donald Trump's favorite expression.
TRUMP: You're fired. You're fired.
BERMAN: But they're the two words you never want to hear from your boss.
TIM ARMSTRONG, AOL CEO: You're fired. Out.
BERMAN: One former employee of Internet giant AOL just got the axe in a very public way. One thousand people listened in as his boss gave him the boot.
ARMSTRONG: Abel. You're fired. Out.
BERMAN: AOL's CEO Tim Armstrong fired an executive during a conference call set out to outline drastic cutbacks and layoffs. Abel Lenz, the creative director of AOL's local news network Patch, reportedly tried to take a picture of Armstrong and it didn't end well.
ARMSTRONG: Abel, put that camera downright now. Abel, you're fired. Out.
BERMAN: Later on the conference call, Armstrong is quoted as telling employees, we can't have people that are in the locker room giving the game plan away. Lenz tweeted, "No comment," and also this photo inside a bar.
But at least Lenz was told he was being let go. One restaurant owner in Winter Park, Florida, texted his staff to tell them they would no longer have jobs.
"I unfortunately need to inform you that I have been forced to close Barducci's effective immediately."
Being fired just isn't easy.
TOM CRUISE, ACTOR, "JERRY MAGUIRE": I'm not going to do what you all think I'm going to do, which is flip out.
BERMAN: No matter who's listening.
ARMSTRONG: Abel. You're fired. Out.
BERMAN: John Berman, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
