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Judge Sotomayor Meets Congressional Members; Obama Seeks to Repair Mideast Relations; Wreckage Found Could be of Missing Flight; Suspect in Soldier Shooting Appears in Court

Aired June 02, 2009 - 13:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We are pushing forward now with the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM with Kyra Phillips.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Tony Harris, the ultimate storm.

HARRIS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Hi, everyone. I'm the nominee. Nice to meet you.

The push forward begins on the president's pick for the Supreme Court, and so does the pushback.

The president himself heading east, to the Middle East. The mission: find the button on U.S. relations with the Muslim world and hit reset.

And some unfinished business from the Maersk Alabama. Captain rescued, pirates killed. Now, booty missing. Lots and lots of booty.

Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips. Yes, now. And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

All right. Here we go. Judge Sonia Sotomayor has begun her trip through the Capitol Hill obstacle course. Confirmations to the Supreme Court and a place in history as the first Hispanic await on the other side. Of course, it won't be easy.

Today it is about meeting and greeting, smiles and hand shakes, first impressions. Then comes the questions, the debate and conversations. Sotomayor meeting with ten senators today from both parties. Majority Leader Harry Reid right there, among ten members of the judiciary committee, who will make or break her nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: As a judge you follow the law. There's not one law for one race or another. There's not one law for one color or another. There's not one law for rich and a different one for poor. There's only one law. And she said ultimately and completely a judge has to follow the law, no matter what their upbringing has been.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: CNN Radio Capitol Hill correspondent Lisa Desjardins and senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash are following the judge and the senators.

Dana, let's go ahead and start with you. Senator Patrick Leahy had good things to say about Sotomayor. Majority Leader Harry Reid calls her the total package. But there's going to be a lot of pushback, too, even from other Democrats, right?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Let me just give you a sense first, Kyra, before I answer that, where I am. I'm standing outside of a pretty blank door, but inside that door Senator -- excuse me, Senator Jeff Sessions, who is a top Republican on the judiciary committee, he is meeting right now as we speak with Judge Sotomayor.

So we're waiting for Senator Sessions to come out and give us a little bit of insight into what his one-on-one meeting was like.

This is the first meeting that she's having of the day with Republicans. So far she's only met with Democrats. And you mentioned Senator Patrick Leahy. That has been the most newsworthy moment of the day so far, and that is because it was the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy, who decided that he wanted to ensure a consult with other Democrats, that he wanted to be the one to ask her in his private meeting about those controversial comments that she made in 2001, suggesting that the richness of her experience as a Latina woman would, more often than not, allow her to reach a better conclusion than a white male.

And we heard the sound bite from Senator Leahy coming into me, Kyra. He said that her response was that she will ultimately and completely follow the law.

So they're trying to maybe clarify those remarks that they know have caused quite a stir among, especially, Republicans, and they're trying to do it from the perspective of Democrats. It will be really interesting to hear what the Republican Jeff Sessions has to say and whether he asked her about it, as well.

PHILLIPS: Well, we'll be waiting, definitely, to hear from you and him. Dana Bash, thanks so much.

As she's chasing the senators, CNN Radio's Lisa Desjardins chasing the judge. She's in D.C. covering this for us. What do you think? Does she seem relaxed to you?

LISA DESJARDINS, CNN RADIO: It's interesting to watch her, Kyra. I have a feeling the White House is very happy with her performance so far, and here's why. She is not uttering a sound. She's not even really moving her upper lip. When she walked out of that meeting with Senator Reid, and Dana can back me up on this. Anyone who saw the video might back me up, as well. She had a smile across her face that did not move.

And, you know, we all pounded her with questions. Didn't move at all. You know, she may be very well coached or she just may have an innate sense that at this point, you don't comment to the press. You keep walking and keep smiling. PHILLIPS: It's that sort of uncomfortable walk where you're smiling, saying, "OK, how am I doing?"

DESJARDINS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: "Am I doing OK?"

Well, do you think this is all the, you know, calm before the storm?

DESJARDINS: I think so. There is one fight right now, and that is over the timing of the Senate vote. Republicans are trying to push -- you know, I e-mailed you about this. It's a bad football metaphor, but they are trying to push for more quarters in this game. They want, of course, a fumble.

Because right now this nomination looks like it's more or less on track. Republicans want more time. They want to vote in September.

And out of that news conference with Senator Patrick Leahy, I asked him about the time line. He gave a little bit of news. He said he will not be having hearings this month. Hearings could be July or could be September. To be determined.

PHILLIPS: All right. Lisa Desjardins. Thank you so much, Lisa.

DESJARDINS: All right (ph).

PHILLIPS: And coming this October, CNN will present "Latino in America," a comprehensive look at how Latinos are changing America, reshaping politics, business, schools, churches and neighborhoods. Watch for it. It's this October, only on CNN.

President Obama leaves today on a four-day trip to the Mideast and Europe. First stop, Saudi Arabia. He's going to meet with King Abdullah. And from there he heads to Egypt. Thursday, he delivers a much-anticipated speech on relations with the Muslim world. That will be in Cairo.

The president will also visit a former Nazi concentration camp in Germany and then go to France for ceremonies marking the 65th anniversary of the Normandy invasion.

Well, the president will use that Cairo speech to try and stitch up the damaged relations between the U.S. and the Muslim world. They're pretty frayed on both ends, and Thursday's speech could be a big step in bridging that divide. Here's CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you listen on the streets of the Palestinian city of Ramallah, you understand the enormity of expectations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything in life needs to change between America and the United States and the Middle East, especially between Arab and Muslims.

CROWLEY: President Obama's speech in Cairo Thursday is another in a series of efforts to do just that: reset the U.S. relationship with Arabs and Muslims.

HISHAM MELHEM, AL-ARABIYA WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: He definitely is creating a more conducive environment in the Arab and Muslim world for a different beginning, for a different page. And I think that's why millions of Arabs and Muslims are going to watch every word he utters in Cairo on Thursday.

CROWLEY: They wait to hear the president's words on the area's most intractable problem: the Arab/Israeli conflict.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to deliver a message of reassurance that he means peace in the Middle East. Here in Palestine (ph), between Arab and Israelis.

CROWLEY: It is not just about Ramallah; it is key to the entire region. This from the heart of Baghdad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): His speech is for bringing the Palestinians and the Israelis together. We wish that he will be fair with the Palestinian people.

CROWLEY: Experts think in his speech the president will in some way affirm the U.S./Israeli relationship but continue to pressure Israel to stop all construction in West Bank settlements. They do not believe he will ignore, however, the Arab side of the peace equation.

STEVEN COOK, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: The president, as is his will, is likely to hold the mirror up to the Arab and Muslim world, as well, and suggest to them that incitement, the kinds of things, not recognizing Israel's legitimate right to exist in the Middle East.

CROWLEY: The speech is not just an outreach to Muslims and Arabs; it's for the folks back home. In a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, 21 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Muslim countries. More than twice as many, 46 percent, have an unfavorable view.

Better relationships could mean a more stable oil supply for the U.S. and maybe diplomatic backup while dealing with Iran. But far more than that.

MELHAM: The radicals, the anti-American groups, are using the festering -- long-festering Arab-Israeli conflict to mobilize support and to whip up anger and resentment against the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll get to Candy Crowley in just a second. Sorry we had to jump out of that piece she put together. I want to take you live to Capitol Hill and Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, who just met with Sotomayor. SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: ... both as a district judge, a trial judge, a lawyer in private practice and as an appellate judge. I think that is a good background for any judge, particularly a Supreme Court judge.

And we talked about her views on the law and other matters that I think relate to how a judge conducts himself on the bench. I committed to her, and as I've said to her when we talked the day she was nominated, that she will get a fair hearing in the judiciary committee. She'll be treated respectfully. And she will be given an opportunity to answer any allegations that are out there and that I think it's going to be a good process.

I'd like to see people say, "This is the best hearing we've ever had." And there are, you know, issues and questions, and you've seen some of the complaints in the papers. And those things will be raised, and she'll be given a chance to talk about that. So I'm kind of...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator Sessions, did you directly ask her about the comments that she made in 2001, suggesting that the experience of a Latina woman makes somebody like that better equipped than a white male?

SESSIONS: No, not directly. We talked about the idea and the concept of personal feelings and -- to some degree, you know, how that influences a decision and how it should not. And I won't go into the -- I think our conversation was one that we should -- you know, it was a confidential conversation. But you know...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell us whether or not her answer to that question reassured her about her approach?

SESSIONS: Well, we talked about it briefly. And let's just not go into that in a lot of detail.

(CROSSTALK)

SESSIONS: I did tell her that, you know, I do think that we may well talk again, and so we might get into more specific details. But I frankly haven't had the opportunity to study her record enough fairly to ask a lot of specific questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chairman Leahy said today it would be irresponsible to wait beyond -- to wait until September to hold a hearing. He said it should be earlier than September to give her a response to respond to these allegations. What are your feelings about a hearing before the August recess?

SESSIONS: I don't think it would be irresponsible. And I would urge the chairman to keep an open mind on that. We'll talk, I think, tomorrow. He called just as she came into visit me and I think we're getting together tomorrow to try to talk about that.

Also, Senator Reid, the majority leader, and Senator McConnell, our Republican leader, also will be involved in some of those discussions. The -- there's over 3,000 or 4,000 cases now that we think are a part of her 17-year record. They do need to be examined. And they will be examined. And I don't think that it's good to rush this nomination. So I look forward to talking with Senator Leahy tomorrow. I think that would be a good time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you care for a hearing in September?

SESSIONS: I think that would be a good time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A September hearing?

SESSIONS: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think it's harmful to...

SESSIONS: We've got until October 7, I believe, or 5th to -- for the nominee to take office. That's the date that Justice Souter will be departing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the anything about the conversation satisfy your concerns she might be an activist?

SESSIONS: Well, I don't know that we got into that sufficiently to discuss that. We really sort of talked about her experience over the different life adventures that she's had, both as a lawyer, a prosecutor, a judge, and an appellate judge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You talked about you're promising her, committing to her a respectful hearing in Judiciary. But Senator Leahy talked about some of the language that we've seen already directed at her from, obviously, outside the Senate. What's your take on some of the language and criticism that we've heard of her, including complaints that she may be a racist?

SESSIONS: Well, I don't think that that's the language. I -- I will not use that kind of language. I think that on some of the questions that come up, like affirmative action or those sort of questions, people who feel strongly about it use strong language. I think the right thing to do is ask what the law is and how she decided those cases and not use majority terms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But does that give you concern for the party when you see some of that kind of language out there? Is that damaging to the Republican Party?

SESSIONS: Well, the people out there are not party officials. They're not Republican officials. I mean, the Senate's the one that owes the responsibility to give her a good and fair hearing. And that's what I'm committed to doing. And I think...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did you get at -- one of your biggest concerns you voiced is that she might be an activist judge. Do you come away with this -- from this experience with her any less concerned than you were before? And how did you get at determining if she is? SESSIONS: I don't think I exhausted that question at all today. But we did generally talk about it. We talked about the fact that, within the law schools, there are doctrines I consider to be unhealthy that suggest words don't have real meaning and they can be made to say whatever you want them to say, as sort of a cynical view of law.

And I expressed my view that she -- that a judge could -- a judge who took that view could erode respect for law in the public's mind. And so we discussed the moral authority of law and judges and the need for the American people to feel that those judgments are based on the law and the facts. And she discussed that forthrightly, I thought in an effective way. But it was really not a detailed discussion of any of her comments or speeches or things of that nature.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did she say to you that, ultimately and completely, a judge has to follow the law? She used those words with Senator Leahy.

SESSIONS: Yes, she used those words. Of course, the question is what is the law? How does a judge find the law? And what approach do -- statutory construction do they utilize?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And did you ask her...

(CROSSTALK)

SESSIONS: I thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) favorable about...

SESSIONS: I was very impressed with her knowledge, her experience, her energy level. It was a delight to talk with her. I enjoyed the conversation. I think she did. She said she did. She -- she thought it was good. It went longer than we planned to go.

Thank you so much. Good to see you.

PHILLIPS: OK. Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama there. The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, who just met with Sonia Sotomayor as she goes from senator to senator, having her meet and greet as she moves toward confirmation process for the Supreme Court.

Sessions saying he was very impressed with her, but still Candy Crowley, it doesn't look like he's convinced that she's not, as what he has called her, an activist judge.

And I want to point something out, if you don't mind. The one quote that everybody keeps kind of hanging onto that she made from that 2001 speech was that her hope was that a, quote, "wise Latina woman would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

A lot of people are ending at white male and forgetting the last part of that quote, "who hasn't lived that life." Now, there's a lot of people out there and lawmakers, as well, that say, well, of course, she may make a better decision because she's lived that life, versus a white male who doesn't understand the culture.

CROWLEY: Right. But I think -- and that's certainly what her supporters are pushing back with, saying, "Listen, this is sort of stating the obvious," that this really is about -- that perhaps even a white male could better understand the white male experience than a Latina, and that's -- that's what they're saying here.

What the Republicans say that they're worried about is that somehow what that suggests is that she would be an activist judge because she has that experience, that she would tend to come away from the law with a different position than someone else. So that's -- they are strict constructionists on the Republican side. They believe that the law is the law is the law, and they're worried that that's an activist statement.

I wanted to point out about Senator Sessions. First of all, as you noted, he is the top Republican on the judiciary committee. And he really said at the end why they do this round of calls. He talked about enjoying the time with her, that they spent longer than they had anticipated, that he really was impressed with her knowledge and her energy.

And that's why nominees wander around Capitol Hill, because it tends to disarm the critics. Not that they won't go ahead and ask tough questions, but that certainly it is harder to do when you know the person.

One more thing about this, and that is Senator Sessions saying that he believes the hearings can take place in September. The president has said he'd like the nominee to be confirmed by August. So there is some date line conflict here.

But nonetheless, I think overall, it sounded pretty positive, if a little fuzzy about what they talked about, coming from the leading Republican on that panel.

PHILLIPS: And he made the point, Sessions, that Souter is out come October, so someone has got to be in that spot by that time. Right?

CROWLEY: Right.

PHILLIPS: Candy Crowley, thanks for moving on from Obama's speech in Cairo and...

CROWLEY: Sure.

PHILLIPS: ... handling a little Sotomayor with me. Appreciate it.

CROWLEY: Well, next time.

PHILLIPS: There we go. It's all politics with Candy Crowley. She knows everything.

All right. We're moving along to talk about that shooting of two soldiers and the killing of them. The man -- one of the, rather. The man charged goes to court in Little Rock, Arkansas. We're going to tell you what police are saying probably motivated that attack.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, you'd think a wedding day would be enough excitement for a bride. Not so for Georgette Fogarty-Clemons. Spotting smoke from a neighbor's house, well, she took action. We're going to tell you what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Brazilian military planes are searching for a missing Air France jetliner. It spotted wreckage floating in the Atlantic Ocean. The debris could be from Flight 447, which vanished early yesterday with 228 passenger and crew on board.

Three commercial ships are expected to arrive today at the debris field. That wreckage spotted included an airplane seat, a life jacket, an oil drum and signs of fuel.

Flight 447 was en route from Rio to Paris when it encountered thunderstorms and heavy turbulence.

CNN's John Zarrella is covering the story for us in Rio. He joins us now by phone with the latest.

John, what do you know?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Well, Kyra, as you pointed out, the -- those commercial ships, there are two from the Netherlands and one from France, are the first, closest to the area. And we've been told that, in fact, that the French commercial vessel is in the area.

Now, the first thing they have been told to do is to search for any signs of life, any survivors. The water temperature out there, we're told by the Brazilian navy, is pretty good. It's warm. And the sea surface conditions are pretty good, as well. So that if anyone did survive and, in fact, if it is wreckage -- part of the wreckage debris from Flight 447, that there is a chance they could have survived in the water.

So the first order of business for the commercial ship, the French ship and the two ships from the Netherlands when they get there is to look for those signs of life and to find the debris.

We haven't gotten any update in the last couple of hours as to whether they have found anything out there. The Brazilian navy has a navy vessel on the way to that area, too. It's not expected to arrive until sometime tomorrow.

And also we understand that ministry of defense officials are meeting this afternoon and may already have been meeting with family members who are gathered at a hotel here in Rio. And of course, they would be briefing them on the latest developments, which are apparently moving fairly quickly now at this first debris field was found.

In fact, the debris field, we're told, was found in two separate locations about 60 kilometers apart. So we're not sure what was found first from the air -- from these airplanes flying at about 10,000 feet, what was found where, but at two different locations, not all in the exact same area -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Got it. John Zarrella, we'll keep checking with you. Thank you so much.

Well, Air France has been flying relatives of 228 passengers and crew to Paris. They're gathering to wait for definitive word on the state of that flight.

We just learned that there was a third American on the flight. The statement department -- State Department, rather, says that the unidentified person was of dual nationality. Now, earlier, the U.S. consulate said that there were two Americans on board, Anne and Michael Harris, who moved from Texas to Brazil last summer, where he worked as a geologist for an energy company.

People from at least 30 nations were aboard the plane.

And we're learning more about the Muslim man accused of shooting two soldiers at a military recruiting center and his possible motive. One of the soldiers died in yesterday's attack, and CNN's David Mattingly is in Little Rock, where the suspect appeared in court this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The police report spells it out all in black and white. This 23-year-old alleged shooter told police he knew exactly what he wanted to do when he pulled up at a military recruiting office here in Little Rock yesterday. He told police he wanted to kill U.S. soldiers and that he would have killed more if he had the chance.

He opened fire on the two soldiers who were standing outside a recruiting office, killing one and wounding the other. Abdul Hakim Muhammad allegedly gave police a videotaped statement, saying he was a practicing Muslim, retaliating for what the military had done to Muslims in the past.

He appeared in court under heavy guard this morning, surprisingly pleading not guilty. Authorities here say they believe he acted alone and was not part of a bigger terrorist plot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Muhammad, previously known as Mr. Bledsoe, did convert to Islam some time previously in his life. At this point, it appears that he specifically targeted military personnel, but it doesn't appear to be a wider conspiracy or, at this point in time, any indication that he's part of a larger group or a conspiracy that goes further.

MATTINGLY: Everyone now digging into Abdul Hakim Muhammad's past, trying to find out why he turned violent. He has gone through a couple name changes. He used to be known as Carlos Bledsoe.

The Islamic community here in Little Rock is not large. Only about 300 people, we're told, gather to worship every week at the Islamic center. The president of that center tells us they have never heard of this person, but he is now charged with one count of capital murder and 16 counts of a terrorist act.

David Mattingly, CNN, Little Rock, Arkansas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now, we don't often hear of attacks on military recruiting centers here in the U.S., but it happens a lot in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. We're going to find out more about that in the next hour.

It may be the great high seas caper. Missing: 30 grand from the Maersk Alabama. Remember that ship that got hijacked by pirates? Our Pentagon correspondent is searching for clues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, the new Atlantic hurricane season is under way. So, what's it looking like that out there, Chad Myers?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLGIST: Can you tell it's muggy? Can you tell it's humid?

PHILLIPS: I can tell it is here in Atlanta, that's for darn sure.

MYERS: Can you tell it's summer as we get just like a spotted cat radar later on today? Right now the rain is up to the north. But all of this will fill in with those summer-type thunderstorms.

What else happens in summer? You bet, hurricane season. The hurricane season though, that we're speaking about right now, we will see that develop in the Gulf of Mexico, and also south of there into the Caribbean.

This is what we expect to happen in June or July. Any areas of origin will be in this very warm water of the Gulf of Mexico, or all the way down toward Belize. We don't typically get storms to fire up out here like Andrew did in August, because the water here is just not warm enough.

This is where the water is more shallow and the sun is just beating on this all day long and all night long basically in some spots because now we're getting longer days, as well. Not quite to 12 hours in some spots. But, obviously that water getting warmer.

Ana, Bill, Claudette and Danny and Fred and Grace and Henri -- those are the names. Now, I found this just interesting. Just now, I just actually noticed that what do you think the odds are that Peter and Rose get together and become Pete Rose -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: That's a great baseball player. He ended up having a few issues though, as time rolled on. Maybe we shouldn't get into that. Or, his book.

MYERS: I know he has. But, there you go. In Denver and Boston, you have 30-minute airport delays at this point. But, everybody else is doing very well, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: It's like a puzzle. You always figure something out. First it was the storm named after Tony, now it's the baseball player. Let's find out what's next.

Thanks, Chad. All right.

Well, a day in court for the man suspected of killing an abortion provider. Was he a fanatic? His former wife speaks out.

But, first the video happening now on the Hill. This is the of course Sonia Sotomayor, as she's going from senator to senator working on a lot of hand shakes, smiles and conversation as she works her way up to the confirmation process to the Supreme Court. Just now stepping in to the office -- or this actually just happened a couple minutes ago, she was actually moving into the office of her own home state of New York. She's meeting with Chuck Schumer, Senator Chuck Schumer, from New York. So, we're following her every move.

We're going to take a quick break, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: High seas mystery has the U.S. Navy pretty baffled right now. Missing? 30,000 bucks from the Maersk Alabama. If you recall, that was the ship Captained by Richard Phillips when it was commandeered by pirates off Somalia in April. Burning question now, who's got the booty?

Our Chris Lawrence is hot on the trail. He joins us now live from the Pentagon. All right, Chris. What are the theories?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the Naval Criminal Investigator Service -- NCIS -- is looking at a number of things, Kyra.

Here's the gist of it. You know, this was the money that the pirates stole. It came right out of the Maersk Alabama's safe. And the reason we know this is that the U.S government has brought -- is bringing federal charges against that one remaining pirate. So, there is a criminal complaint on record.

In that complaint an FBI agent says that the four pirates put a gun to Captain Rich Phillips head, walked him to the safe, forced him to take out about $30,000 in cash, which they then distributed among themselves and got into the life boat. So, according to the government's complaint against this pirate, the money was in the life boat. But, when you look at evidence -- the list of evidence that was recovered from the life boat, AK-47's, ammo, cell phones, radios -- no mention of the money. So, that's the question. Where is the $30,000?

PHILLIPS: OK. So from the Navy's investigation, the money was last seen, or maybe not necessarily seen but apparently taken to that life boat with the pirates.

So if that is indeed the case, it left the Maersk Alabama and the last time that $30,000 was apparently seen was on the life boat?

LAWRENCE: Exactly. So, you've got a number of theories. The money could have been tossed overboard. Someone could have taken the money.

What the NCIS is going to do now is they're being very, very thorough. No one is being accused of anything at this point. What this is, is they are going step by step asking anyone who may have had contact with that money, or may have knowledge of where that money is. That can include the crew of the Alabama, the crew of the U.S.S. Bainbridge, which is where the S.E.A.L.S. were and the S.E.A.L crew them themselves.

PHILLIPS: Got it. All right. So right now everybody's under investigation.

Chris Lawrence, we'll follow it, thanks.

He has been tapped to take command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. But first, Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal has to clear today's confirmation hearing before the Senate Arms Services committee. He's not expected to encounter opposition but Senators are taking lots of questions about his plans to reshape the Afghanistan conflict. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says that McChrystal will provide fresh thinking and fresh eyes for the war effort.

And here's another nominee announced today. That's Republican Congressman John McHugh of New York. He's the President's pick to be Secretary of the Army. McHugh as served on the House Armed Services committee for the last 16 years. The President is praising him for patriotism, his pragmatism. He'll need the Senate's approval for the job.

Well, we've all then seem on the road. Those gas guzzling Hummers made by General Motors. Well, they won't be carrying the GM brand any longer. One day after filing for bankruptcy protection, GM says it has signed a deal to sell the Hummer brand. A person with knowledge of the deal tells CNN that the buyer is a Chinese industrial company and for now, General Motors' Shreveport, Louisiana, plant will keep building Hummers until at least next year. GM says that selling off the Hummer could save 3,000 U.S. jobs in manufacturing, engineering and at Hummer dealerships.

A bankrupt GM means thousands of workers are out of a job. The company is shutting down a dozen plants but factories in Kansas City, Kansas, and Warren, Michigan, are safe for now. Those workers know that they dodged a bullet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIP ALLISON, GM WORKER: We want to keep building cars. We want to keep making money and we want to keep surviving.

GERTRUDE FOSTER, GM WORKER: It's been a long time coming but I have seen a lot of changes in my lifetime in General Motors. And it's like -- it's just an unseeable situation. You don't know what's going to happen. It's hoping we will be going to the better.

GERRY GILLESPIE, UNION CHIEF: You've got assembly plants, stamping plants, power train plants and service, parts and service plants.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pretty much everything?

GILLESPIE: It's everything. That's the whole ball of wax. This is a tragedy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, GM's downsizing plan calls for 20,000 job cuts by the end of the year.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the pervert down the hall? New tenants find some features not listed on their apartment's lease.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, apparently some pervert started his own neighborhood watch in Denver, Colorado. If you live in an apartment or condo, you're going to have to see this.

Three roommates move into an apartment. It's got a mirror in the shower. They figure well, the old tenant used it to shave, only it fogs up. They investigate and find this. A perfect view into their bathroom from a maintenance closet. They call police. They start packing up to move, then one of the girls notices that her bedroom mirror looks pretty funny, too. Yes, more two-way glass. According to the tenants, police say that they can't do very much since they didn't catch anyone peeping.

And now the What's the Update on a story we first told you about two months ago. That's when the body of Minister James Hines was exhumed for an investigation. For years, rumors had swirled around his South Carolina town that the funeral home severed the six foot five man's legs to fit him in an undersized coffin. Well, we've just found out that funeral director Michael Cave and his business have had their licenses revoked over this case. Cave also has to pay $2,000 in fines and fees. No comment yet from him or from Ruth Hines, the poor minister's widow.

Smoke pouring from a house. A car drives by and stops. You're never going to guess who jumped out and saved the day. Well, we started digging yesterday morning and now we're pushing forward on an outrage story out of Texas. Listen to this. A disabled Vietnam vet shows his Marine Corps pride, right here on his ride. And then he gets a letter from the homeowner's association ordering this veteran to remove his Marine stickers or he'll be find. Well, we got Frank Laris (ph) and his lawyer and a homeowner's board member live next hour.

Now a story that's going to make you smile. It's the wedding day for Georgette Fogerdy-Clemens (ph). Could you imagine anything more exciting? Well, apparently it wasn't enough. And this adventurous tax accountant in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Just after saying "I Do" still decked out in her wedding gown she passed a neighbor's house when she spotted smoke. Well, the car stopped, she jumped out and immediately landed in mud -- high heels, big white dress, and all. But that didn't stop her. Reaching the house she pounded on the door and yelled for folks to get out and here was their reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOWELL ETTELBERG, FIRE VICTIM: My first instinct was to get my dog outside and then I just see the bride running up and she's yelling, your house is on fire.

SUSAN SCHNEIDERMAN, FIRE VICTIM: As I was coming out of that and I'm looking at her and she's in this wedding gown and I couldn't believe -- it just seems awfully bizarre and surreal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, as for the bride, they're my neighbors she says. I just couldn't live with myself if I didn't do anything.

Well, there she is for your consideration, senators. Judge Sonia Sotomayor taking the first steps towards Supreme Court confirmation. Smiles, handshakes, pleasantries. Will the gloves come off a little later?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, we're learning more about the man who allegedly walked into a church and gunned down a Kansas abortion provider. Scott Roeder remains in a Wichita jail on suspicion of murdering George Tiller, one of the few doctors who still performed late-term abortion. Roeder may be formally charged when he appears in court later this afternoon.

His former wife says that Roeder first got involved in anti- government groups more than a decade ago and eventually became very anti-abortion. She said she divorced him to, quote, "Protect myself and my son." Roeder's brother said he had suffered from mental illness from time to time.

Dr. George Tiller's Wichita clinic is a little bunker in the battle over abortion.

CNN's Gary Tuchman visited it and also got hometown reaction to the doctor's killing. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): George Tiller was a doctor. He was also a warrior. He had been shot once before, had been threatened countless time, had his clinic bombed. He rarely did TV interviews. He was vehement in 1991.

GEORGE TILLER, DOCTOR: I have a right to go to work. What I'm doing is legal. What I'm doing is moral. What I'm doing is ethical. And you're not going to run me out of town.

TUCHMAN: Out of necessity the abortion provider had elaborate personal security, but not when he went to church.

DAN MONNANT, GEORGE TILLER'S ATTORNEY: I couldn't believe that someone in Kansas would assassinate Dr. Tiller for the things that he believed in.

TUCHMAN: Dan Monnant was a close friend and also Dr. Tiller's attorney and he's stunned.

(on-camera): Do you think Dr. Tiller was scared?

MONNANT: If Dr. Tiller was scared, I never saw it for a moment. I saw his fear for his patients. I saw his fear for his family. I never saw him flinch about himself.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): In 1991, five years after a pipe bomb exploded outside his clinic -- no one was inside -- thousands of protesters converged at Tiller's office for seven weeks of demonstrations. More than 2,500 people were arrested.

Two years later, Tiller was shot in both arms while driving out of the clinic parking lot.

MONNANT: But despite all that, he refused to yield women's rights to scare tactics.

TUCHMAN: Instead of running, Tiller dug in. Security is elaborate at the clinic. A moat, tall fences. It was like working under siege.

(on camera): Dr Tiller's office here in Wichita, looks like the fortified buildings and the bunkers that I've seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Because in essence, his office has become a bunker. There are no windows whatsoever. It looks like a military installation. No trespassing signs throughout the property. Cameras like this one keeping an eye on the steady stream of protesters who've come here through the years.

And what kind of things do they do? Well, it gives you an idea if you look at the curb. One protester recently wrote, "Babies killed here" in chalk, and the message continues on the curb down the street. (voice-over): Randall Terry is the founder of anti-abortion group Operation Rescue.

RANDALL TERY, FOUNDER, OPERATION RESCUE: The thought of him leaving his life with blood on his hands for having killed so many thousands of children and not having been prepared to meet his maker is a dreadful, terrifying thought.

TUCHMAN: Dr. Tiller's friends do their best to ignore the words of people like Randall Terry.

NICKI GAMBLE, ABORTION RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Underneath all these individual actions, there is a conversation and a dialogue that goes on about abortion that hasn't been very healthy or respectful. Because I worry that that's another potential killer on the prowl.

TUCHMAN: In Dr. Tiller's hometown there are many people horrified about what happened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't believe in abortion. But I don't think nobody has the right to take a life.

TUCHMAN: Though not everyone agrees.

(on camera): How do you feel about what happened to Dr. Tiller?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he got what he deserved. I really do.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): And at least for now, Dr. Tiller's clinic is closed.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Wichita, Kansas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: The Tiller had faced violence before as an abortion provider being shot and wounded as we mentioned. Another abortion provider spoke on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" last night about violence and the anti-abortion community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. WARREN HERN, AUTHOR, "ABORTION PRACTICE": The important point I would like to make is that the assassination of Dr. Tiller was not the act of a lone, deranged gunman acting alone. This is the result of 35 years of anti-abortion harassment and terrorism and hate speech and rhetoric and harsh names and exploitation of the abortion issue as a political issue to get power. And this is the inevitable result of this kind of hateful behavior by the anti-abortion movement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: So, just what is late-term abortion?

Here's CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, no surprise, this is one of the more charged issues in medicine. A lot of people coming down on both sides of the issue, starting with the terms. Even the term "late-term abortion" is not a term where there is consensus.

But, let me try and explain the debate to you a little bit this way. It really comes down to the viability of the fetus. Most people know that a normal pregnancy typically lasts 40 weeks. There's also pretty good consensus that prior to 22 weeks, that's about more than halfway through the pregnancy, a fetus is not viable. Then there's consensus that around 27 weeks that if the fetus were to be born, it would be viable.

What is the gray area, just as you might guess, is that time space in between -- between 22 and 27 weeks. And I can tell you, again, after having spoken to lots of doctors on this, there's simply not an agreement in the medical community whether it's ethical to perform an abortion during that time frame.

I also want to give you just a little bit of context here in terms of the numbers of abortions that have been performed around that time frame. If you look overall, across all abortion, only about 1.3 percent abortions happen after 21 weeks. 88 percent of abortions happen before 13 weeks. The type of abortion that does happen late is often something where the cervix is dilated, the fetus is removed, sometimes medicines or chemicals are injected into the womb, as well. So, that's typically what you're talking about when you're talking about late-term abortion.

Now, if you look across the land and look at how laws stand right now, it's variable from state to state. For example, there's 24 states that you can see in red, that the courts have said the states can restrict abortions once the fetus becomes viable. Eight additional states prohibit abortions after a certain number of weeks. Generally 24 weeks, and you see those in yellow. And in five states, the cutoff for abortion is the third trimester and you see those states in green.

As I said, it's one of the most charged issues in medicine, it is not going away it's going to continue to be debated certainly for some time to come.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)