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Campbell Brown
Three Women Killed in Pennsylvania Shooting Rampage; U.S. Journalists Return Home; Interview with Whoopi Goldberg; Mission Accomplished for Bill Clinton
Aired August 05, 2009 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Tonight, here are the questions we want answered.
What did it take to bring Laura Ling and Euna Lee home and free and back into the arms of their family?
LAURA LING, JOURNALIST: We could feel your love all the way in North Korea. It is what kept us going in the darkest of hours. It is what sustained our faith that we would come home.
BROWN: The freed journalists in their own words and the backstory behind this emotional homecoming.
Plus, Bill Clinton, rock star. The former president saves the day.
LAURA LING: We were taken to a location and when we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton.
BROWN: Could anybody else have pulled this off? And what is Bill Clinton's next move?
Also tonight, at least 50 bullets, three women dead. Inside the rampage in a suburban gym, a man on a mission to kill.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They turned the lights out and all of a sudden the shooting started.
BROWN: What made the shooter snap? Were there warning signs?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I kind of always thought he was a little different.
BROWN: The chilling Internet manifesto he left behind for all to see, and how one victim cheated death.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wanted to hold my breath, because I was afraid if he saw that I was breathing, he would shoot again.
And more from my exclusive with Whoopi Goldberg, Whoopi's advice for young Hollywood.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": But you better be ready for the whole picture that fame adds. And it ain't always pretty. (END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is your only source for news. CNN prime time begins now. Here's Campbell Brown.
BROWN: Hi, everybody. Those are the big questions tonight.
But we start, as always, with the "Mash-Up." It is our look at all the stories making an impact right now, the moments you may have missed today. We're watching it all so you don't have to.
And really, there was just one moment today. So many of us watched in tears this morning as Euna Lee's little girl wrapped her arms around her mother. Tonight, two young women home with their families. What a homecoming it was. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We see them exiting the plane right now. And there we see their family members, and we're hearing the cheers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's Euna in the front there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They waited 140 days for this, the joy of reunion captured by a 4-year-old skipping to greet her mother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And a big hand for the former president who secured the release of the two women after five months in captivity.
LAURA LING: When we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
LAURA LING: We were shocked, but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, President Barack Obama said he, too, was relieved.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are very pleased with the outcome. And I'm hopeful that the families are going to be able to get some good time together in the next few days.
LISA LING, SISTER OF LAURA LING: The little bit that she was able to recount about her experience over the last four-and-a-half months has been challenging for us to hear, and through it all, she has really maintained a sense of strength.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, clearly a major player behind the scenes, she spoke with her husband this morning, describing that conversation on NBC's "Today Show."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TODAY SHOW") HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: He was so relieved and so happy to be bringing these young women home. I think it's, in a way, even more personal, since we have a daughter approximately the same age. And he told me it was a very moving experience. He can't wait to get them reunited with their families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So does Bill Clinton's excellent adventure signal a thaw in relations between the U.S. and North Korea? Well, with the women safe at home, the White House is downplaying the Clinton visit and very much on-message.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We were very clear that this was a humanitarian mission.
CLINTON: A private humanitarian mission.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Private humanitarian mission. Private humanitarian mission. It was a humanitarian mission.
OBAMA: Extraordinary humanitarian effort.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was purely humanitarian.
Humanitarian.
Humanitarian.
Humanitarian.
OBAMA: Humanitarian.
CLINTON: Humanitarian.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Humanitarian mission plain and simple, plain and simple, plain and simple.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Maybe, but that was one carefully negotiated, extremely complicated humanitarian mission. We are going to have a whole lot more on this coming up.
Chilling new details first to tell you about tonight, though, the shooting rampage in a Pittsburgh gym that left three women dead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The man who turned a simple aerobics class into a massacre was 48-year-old George Sodini, a loner who had been planning his attack at a health club in suburban Pittsburgh for months.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sodini walked into the back of room wearing gym clothes. He unpacked his bags, turned out the lights and opened fire. Chaos. He fired three handguns 36 times, leaving three women dead, nine injured, before shooting himself.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leaving behind chilling words about his plot and hatred of women.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In December, he wrote he had no girlfriend since 1984, complaining, "Thirty million women have rejected me." January 5, 2009, "Every evening, I am alone."
CHARLES MOFFATT, ALLEGHENY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: He's had the hatred in him. He blames everybody, his mother and everything else, society. He just had a lot of hatred in him and he was hell-bent on committing this act.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: We will have more details on this alarming case, including details on what drove George Sodini to act -- to this, rather, act of madness.
We have some very strange pictures to show you tonight from Russia with love, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as you have never seen him before on vacation in Siberia and letting it all hang out. In the U.S., we prefer our politicians covered up, but Putin's actually hoping those pictures make a global splash.
And in Iran tonight, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sworn in again as president, but that didn't stop the protests. No surprise. Iranian state- controlled television covered the occasion much differently than Western reporters. Guess it just depends on who you ask.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Almost all parliament members, including the minority factions, were attending the swearing-in ceremony.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seats left empty by reformists hinted at the recent discord.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of those empty seats belonging to lawmakers who used to support President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The seats apparently filled out with sports stars and celebrities.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ahmadinejad won a landslide victory in the June presidential election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have the opposition movement, who still insists that the vote on June 12 was rigged.
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Protesters are lining the streets, continuing to claim his reelection was a fraud.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A few pictures have been smuggled out of riot police motorbikes, but the media are banned from filming demonstrations.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On foreign policy, the president said Iran will continue its active role in the international arena.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After taking an oath, Ahmadinejad criticized the U.S. and other Western countries for not congratulating him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Iranian commentators believe it is a bad omen for future negotiations between the West and the Tehran regime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Meantime, a little White House damage control in Iran. Yesterday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called Ahmadinejad Iran's elected leader, today, Gibbs dialing it back, saying it is not for him to decide whether Ahmadinejad was actually elected or not, clearly, off-message the first time.
Closer to home tonight, a big bummer for all you "Idol" fans out there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Paula Abdul announced she's not returning to "American Idol."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that they should give Paula some money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is very much about money and it is about ego. There have been reports out there that she had been making about $2 million last season and that they had offered her a new three-year -- a new multi-year deal worth about $10 million, but that Paula wanted $20 million.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just one point. That has to be looked at in the context of how much "American Idol" is bringing in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK? That sounds like a lot of money, but they might be bringing $1 billion.
BO BICE, "AMERICAN IDOL" CONSULTANT: I don't know about money or about this and that. I think she had a career before "Idol." I don't think she's going to be hurting either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Abdul announcing her big decision on Twitter, saying she will miss nurturing all that new talent.
And that brings us to our punchline tonight. It's courtesy of Jimmy Fallon, his take on Bill Clinton's secret mission to North Korea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON": It was a great way for Obama to use Clinton that way. I think I know how he got him to go over there.
He's probably like: "Bill, look, I need to you go to North Korea for me."
(LAUGHTER)
FALLON: "I can't do it. I'm completely booked. I have numerous obligations."
"I want you to visit a women's prison."
"What time is my flight?"
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Jimmy Fallon, everybody.
And that is the "Mash-Up."
Tonight's newsmaker, Whoopi Goldberg. Yesterday, she shared her take on politics and the president, tonight, her view on hitting 50 and the real cost of fame.
Also, Bill Clinton back in the rock star spotlight. We are going to show you exactly how it all went down behind the scenes.
Plus, the must-see video, that emotional homecoming of the two Americans he helped to free.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA LING: Thirty hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea. We feared that at any moment we could be sent to a hard labor camp. And then suddenly we were told that we were going to a meeting. We were taken to a location and when we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Laura Ling and Euna Lee are safe at home tonight after an a emotional reunion with their families earlier today. We all watched it and honestly there was not a dry eye in our newsroom.
Any mother can imagine what it is like to see your child again after more than four months in captivity. Anybody can imagine, frankly, what was going on in all of their hearts and minds today. But behind all that emotion were weeks of incredibly complicated and incredibly delicate negotiations.
And here right now is a little bit of the back story of how this all went down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A senior administration official says planning had been under way for months, but that the game-changer came in mid-July, when Laura Ling and Euna Lee told their parents during phone conversations of an offer from the North Koreans: They would be granted amnesty if an envoy like President Clinton would travel to Pyongyang to secure their release.
IAIN CLAYTON, HUSBAND OF LAURA LING: Well, what we did is obviously informed Vice President Gore and obviously the State Department of the nature of that call.
CLINTON: When the message came to us from the young women themselves to their families, to former Vice President Gore, and then to the administration, that sending my husband would be the best way to ensure their release, of course we took that very seriously, discussed it.
The White House reached out, as they said, to my husband to ask him if he would be willing to do that. There were briefings about it. But in order to manage the logistics of it, it did require communication with channels representing the North Korean government.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: But, in this case, Kim Jong Il, the ailing leader, wanted the highest possible envoy. What Kim Jong Il gets is a former president to shore up his domestic base.
LOTHIAN: The former president pressed for two things, clear communication that the mission would be purely humanitarian and that due diligence by the national security team would guarantee success.
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It speaks well of our country that when two American citizens are in harm's way, that so many people would just put things aside and just go to work to make sure that this has had a happy ending.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And when those two young reporters were finally back in the arms of their families, the hugging went on and on, almost as if they just couldn't bear to let go. Let's take a look back at what happened today and some what they said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, please help me in welcoming home Laura Ling and Euna Lee.
(APPLAUSE) LAURA LING: Thirty hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea. We feared that at any moment we could be sent to a hard labor camp. And then suddenly we were told that we were going to a meeting. We were taken to a location and when we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
LING: We were shocked, but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. And now we stand here home and free.
To our loved ones, friends, colleagues, and to the complete strangers with the kindness of hearts who showed us so much love and sent us so many positive thoughts and energy, we thank you.
We could feel your love all the way in North Korea. It is what kept us going in the darkest of hours. It is what sustained our faith that we would come home. The past 140 days have been the most difficult heart-wrenching time of our lives.
We are very grateful that we were granted amnesty by the government of North Korea and we are so happy to be home. And we are just so anxious right now to be able to spend some quiet, private time getting re-acquainted with our families.
Thank you so much.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GORE: It speaks well of our country that when two American citizens are in harm's way, that so many people would just put things aside and just go to work to make sure that this has had a happy ending, and we are so grateful to all of them.
I want you all to know, your families have been unbelievable. Unbelievable. Passionate, involved, committed, innovative. You'll hear a lot of stories, and they're looking forward to hearing a lot of stories from you.
But, Euna, Hanna's been a great girl while you were gone.
And, Laura, your mom has been making your special soup for two days now, and to everybody who's played a part in this -- and again, a special thanks to President Bill Clinton, my partner and friend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Bill Clinton certainly the hero of the day. He didn't speak at that big press conference, but we are going to have a whole lot more on what this moment means for him.
Also, tonight's newsmaker, Whoopi Goldberg.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOLDBERG: You become the next hot model, the next hot designer, you better be hot 24 hours a day, every day. You better not have a bad day, better not get a period, better not have anything that's irritating you. You better be what people expect you to be every second of the day, or somebody's going to talk about you, start to tear you down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Now some of the other must-see stories of the day. Erica Hill here with the "Download."
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Campbell.
And we start tonight with former Louisiana Democratic Congressman William Jefferson, guilty of bribery and money-laundering. A jury today convicted him on 11 of 16 corruption counts. The FBI says it caught him on this surveillance video taking a briefcase containing $100,000 from an informant's car.
Prosecutors say the bribes were in exchange for brokering business deals in Africa. Jefferson now faces up to 115 years in jail. He lost a reelection bid last year.
A woman convicted of trying to assassinate President Gerald Ford will soon be out on parole. Lynnette "Squeaky" Fromme is now 60 years old. She will get out of prison in 11 days. The former Manson family member pointed a gun at President Ford in 1975. Secret Service agents, though, stopped her from firing.
And the New York Giants' quarterback is now the highest-paid player in the NFL. Just how much money? Check this out. Eli Manning's new six-year contract is worth $97 million, which puts his average salary at just over $15 million a year. Not bad. Manning was Super Bowl MVP when the Giants upset the Patriots in 2008.
And finally for you tonight, a car and a horse on a collision course. Check out this video.
BROWN: Oh, my gosh.
HILL: Right. And if you think the car is going to win here, as you see, not so much. This was on a highway in northern Israel. The horse trying to leap over. Doesn't quite do it, as you saw, trampled the windshield. The horse apparently was only slightly injured. I think the car probably suffered more damages.
BROWN: Oh, my lord.
HILL: Only minor cuts for the car's driver as well.
BROWN: OK. That's good news. That poor horse. He looks OK, though.
HILL: He seems to be fine, which was amazing. I like how the other two are like, you know, we will just go around. Oh, sure, you try to jump it. We will meet you on the other side.
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: All right, Erica Hill with the "Download" tonight -- Erica, thanks.
Tonight's newsmaker, Whoopi Goldberg. Last night we talked to her about politics and the president. Tonight, we're getting personal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOLDBERG: I feel like I'm seeing myself through other people's eyes in a positive way for the first time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Tonight's next newsmaker, the always-out spoken, often politically incorrect Whoopi Goldberg. I sat down with the moderator and co-host of ABC's "The View" for an exclusive interview. And true to form, Whoopi got pretty personal.
Listen to what she says about her family and career.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Let me run through your list of accomplishments, the so -- so many hats that you wear, actress, talk show host, winner of an Oscar, a Tony, a Grammy, an Emmy, children's book author.
Of everything that you have done, what was the most satisfying? What are you most proud of?
GOLDBERG: My grandkids and my daughter.
BROWN: Oh, good answer.
GOLDBERG: It is the -- I spent some time with them in Los Angeles and -- just over the weekend. And I realized as we were doing all these things -- my daughter took me out with her girlfriends. And they proceeded to get really happy. And because I don't drink, I just sat and watched them and had the greatest time with them.
My grandkids are really great. They're 20, 13 and 10. And I realized that my daughter did a really good job with her kids. She did a really good job. She was a single parent. She was a parent very young.
BROWN: Yes.
GOLDBERG: And I get so emotional now about it, because she's raising teenagers now, and she's just come out of being sort of a teenager. And, together, man, they are -- they give me -- I didn't know it before, but they give me the greatest joy.
BROWN: Do you miss acting? Do you miss movies at all?
GOLDBERG: Yes, I do. I do.
BROWN: Are you still reading scripts?
(CROSSTALK)
GOLDBERG: Scripts not -- don't come to me. I go looking for them.
BROWN: But are you still looking for stuff? Do you want to do something?
GOLDBERG: I am. I do. God bless the folks at "The Cleaner." Do you know this show on A&E? It's a fabulous show with Benjamin Bratt, which I...
BROWN: Yes.
The executive producer, Jonathan Prince, has been allowing me to come do some acting with them. And that has been one of the best experiences, because I didn't realize how much I missed it.
BROWN: Right.
GOLDBERG: I really did. And I thought for a long time -- because I just couldn't figure out who I was anymore. You hit 50 and you go, wait a minute. I got 50 more of this to deal with? What am I going to do? Who am I? Who did I turn out to be?
And so I think I have been in search. And now that I feel like I have calmed down, like I'm good at my job, I'm good with the ladies on "The View," I'm a good parent, you know, I'm a good actor, so, I feel like I'm seeing myself through other people's eyes in a positive way for the first time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: And lots more to come from our interview with Whoopi Goldberg, including her advice to young Hollywood about the price of fame from one who knows.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOLDBERG: Fame is really costly. And it doesn't just cost you. It costs your family. It costs your friends.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Back right now with tonight's newsmaker, Whoopi Goldberg. In our interview, we talked with her about life in Hollywood and she had some pretty interesting advice for young actresses just coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: You always hear women talk about actresses, talk about how hard it is when you reach a certain age in Hollywood to find good roles and it's all about young women in Hollywood. And --
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Put being black on top of that.
BROWN: There you go.
GOLDBERG: It's like, whoa.
BROWN: So you wait. You know, it's once in a blue moon that something comes along that you go, yes, this makes sense. I mean, that's obviously still the case.
GOLDBERG: Well, everything -- you know, everything is relative. You know, if you're hot at the moment, it doesn't matter how old you are.
BROWN: Right.
GOLDBERG: It doesn't matter what color you are. I am always going to work because there's always something for me to do. I will find acting jobs.
Would I like to act in big movies? Only if they're like things like "Star Trek." You know? I would have loved to have done "Secret Life of Bees" but they did it with young women.
BROWN: Right.
GOLDBERG: And, you know, that wasn't it for me now. I don't look my age, which is OK with me. But what I want will come. You know, it will come and I won't be expecting it and someone will say, oh, what about this or I'll find something and say can I do this? And someone will say yes, I'll do that but I'm not going to stop doing what I'm doing because I think I can do all of it. I'm almost positive -- almost positive.
BROWN: Let me just ask you.
GOLDBERG: Yes.
BROWN: You mentioned young women and "Secret Life of Bees." And just watching it especially recently, you see so many of these young women flame out in Hollywood. What happens? Why is it happening?
GOLDBERG: Well, because I think because they're hot. People don't recognize that they need the experience to stay hot. You know, just because you're hot doesn't mean you're going to be hot in the next thing. And also, it's a lot of pressure, man. If you're like 22 --
BROWN: Do we -- are we -- I mean, you guys talk about them and chew them up on "The View." We chew them up on this show.
GOLDBERG: Not me, I don't chew them because I've been there.
BROWN: Yes.
GOLDBERG: You know, and I know how hard it is. You know, when you suddenly are presented with everything that you ever dreamed of, you want to do everything.
BROWN: When you're still a child basically.
GOLDBERG: When you're still a child and you want to do everything. And you want to go everywhere and you want to meet everyone and you want to try everything. And you get the opportunity to go everywhere all the time, every second of the day. And some folks, they're just not prepared for it.
BROWN: Right.
GOLDBERG: And because we, as a society, don't say, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute...
BROWN: Right.
GOLDBERG: ... you're really good, but you got to take a break. Because once you take a break, we don't let you come back. See? So people feel like they have to stay on that treadmill. And some people are just sociopaths and are going to flip out. You know? That's just the way it is.
It's like, you know, you never know who you're going to get. But sometimes, man, you know, people don't stop and say, hey, are you OK? Because they're supporting their entire family, or they're supporting everyone around them and they have entourages and no one says, you know, you're paying for all this. And this money may not last because no one sits down with the -- you remember when you went to school they had the big circle, and then they had the -- you know, this is what a half looks like. And then this is what goes into quarters.
Well, no one says, OK, here is your paycheck. OK? Now you think you're making $1 million, but here's actually how it works out. Half of that is going to go to the government. So really, you only have $500,000.
Now, you have to take 10 percent of that...
BROWN: And pay your agent.
GOLDBERG: ... and pay your agent and then another 10 percent and pay your manager. And then there's, you know, all the people that work for you just in business. The business folks, the people that take care of the -- and if God help you, if have you a nanny, if you have a nanny and you have rent, and a mortgage? So you're making about four cents when you get down to it.
Now people always say, oh, that's not true. You know, you people who make money -- but people have no idea what that actually means or what the costs of that is, or what the cost of fame is because fame is really costly. And it doesn't just cost you. It costs your family. It costs your friends. There is the downside that people only see what they want to see when they look at fame. That's why people want to be on TV. They want to be famous. They want to eat a bug or, you know, do this or do that. But, man, you have to keep that up.
So if you become the next hot model, the next hot designer, you better be hot 24 hours a day, every day. You better not have a bad day, better not get a period, better not -- better not have anything that's irritating you. You better be what people expect you to be every second of the day, or somebody's going to talk about you. Start to tear you down. And if you can take it, you'll survive.
If you can take it, it's a consequence. But you better be ready for the whole picture. That fame adds, and it ain't always pretty.
BROWN: Words of wisdom from Whoopi Goldberg.
GOLDBERG: Words of experience.
BROWN: Oh.
GOLDBERG: Wisdom? No.
BROWN: Where did it come from?
GOLDBERG: Experience, yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Whoopi Goldberg, everybody.
Tonight's other newsmaker coming up -- Bill Clinton. Back in the spotlight. A look at the former president's hero moments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LISA LING, LAURA LING'S SISTER: We had a sense that the government had agreed to send President Clinton, for which we were grateful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Former President Bill Clinton back in the rock star spotlight this week after swooping in to help free Laura Ling and Euna Lee from North Korea. And when Mr. Clinton made his way down the steps of the jet that brought them all home today, the crowd gave him a hero's welcome, including a big hug from former Vice President Al Gore.
Even before they landed, newspapers hit the streets praising Clinton's seemingly instant diplomacy. He didn't do it alone but few believe it would have gotten done without him and certainly not as quickly.
We want to bring in right now CNN's political analyst Roland Martin. He's down in Tampa, Florida tonight. And Los Angeles radio talk show host Stephanie Miller with us. And here in New York with me, senior political analyst Jeffrey Toobin. Welcome guys. Stephanie, let me start with you on this. I was so moved watching this tape this morning of them getting off the plane. I don't anybody who wasn't. You've been talking about it with your listeners all morning long as well. What were they telling you? What were you hearing?
STEPHANIE MILLER, HOST, "THE STEPHANIE MILLER SHOW": Listen, Campbell. I know we're only supposed to cry like AT&T commercials, but I had men in the studio with me weeping openly. And men, as you know, are only supposed to cry when something heavy falls on them. But I think it was impossible to be human and not -- and watch this and not shed a tear as an American.
BROWN: No, absolutely. And, Stephanie, just to the point we heard Laura Ling say, you know, that when she and Euna Lee were called in to that meeting and they didn't know where they were going or what was happening, they walked into that room and then they saw President Bill Clinton standing there, then it hit them. You can just imagine that moment.
MILLER: I know, Campbell. Do you think they were so flustered they went, oh, my God -- big dog. Or -- but, you know, I think many of us as women can sympathize. Hillary Clinton as the wife did all the hard work and then the guy got all the credit. But that's OK because it's a happy ending.
BROWN: It is indeed. Jeff, let me ask you, you got to think that he just relished his role in this to a certain extent. Can't you picture him on the plane on the way home?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: You know, it's just a perfect Bill Clinton moment because, you know, it had drama, it had excitement. And it had a happy ending, unlike some things in his life. This really was a 100 percent success. It's going to be hard to top this. But so what? Might as well enjoy it while you can.
BROWN: Roland, what did you think?
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think, look, this is the importance of having influence. You know, I think back to, of course, when you look at the role that President Jimmy Carter has played when it came to monitoring elections across the world. I think back to when in the '80s when President Ronald Reagan was in the White House, many Latin American countries did not really look to Reagan for leadership but they looked at Speaker Jim Wright for leadership.
And so when you have an individual who has the kind of relationship as the person across the table will respect, then you take advantage of that.
And so it is smart on this administration's part. It was smart for Secretary Clinton. It was smart for all of them to recognize that it's not always the present occupant in the White House who can have some influence. You take advantage of all the people as your disposal. And I hope it does a moment where we do something with Saudi Arabia, we called on President George H.W. Bush to get his input.
BROWN: And, Roland, to Stephanie's point, you know, about the secretary of state doing so much of the work behind the scenes to bring this moment about. Do you think he eclipsed her a bit?
MARTIN: No.
BROWN: Or was this just a perfect moment of team Clinton working in sync?
MARTIN: First of all, without the involvement of President Barack Obama, without the involvement of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, none of this is even possible. Again, the point for an administration's standpoint is you want those two young women home. So it does not matter.
Look, President Ronald Reagan didn't necessarily like the fact that Reverend Jesse Jackson went to Syria to get Lieutenant Goodman out. But when that officer came home, there was a celebration at the White House. That's what's most important. Not egos. The actual success rate of bringing those two women home. That's the most important.
BROWN: Bill Clinton, Jeff, though, did tarnish his reputation somewhat during the campaign. Certainly his relationship with Barack Obama paid a price. Has everything been patched up? Are we turning a page here?
TOOBIN: Well, I think we're certainly turning a page. The past is not going away. It was a rough moment -- a rough long series of months for Bill Clinton in that campaign. He was never entirely comfortable. He was never as successful campaigning for his wife as he was for himself.
But, he has stepped into a role that seems like it will be a good one for him, helping out where he can in these discrete individual missions. He can't be the person to do Middle East peace. That's too complicated. That's too big and long a job. But these discrete missions I think is a perfect opportunity for him.
BROWN: Do you agree with that, Stephanie?
MILLER: You know, I think that this really works perfectly though, Campbell. I mean, yes, I understand what Jeffrey's saying but I think this is the diplomacy we didn't see during the Bush years where there was no, you know, bluster. There was no cowboy diplomacy. There was no swaggering from the Obama administration.
They did this very quietly. They laid the groundwork, so did Hillary Clinton at the State Department. And then, you know, they understood international politics enough to let Kim Jong-il save face. And to me it's a win-win. We get our American journalists back, they get a couple of photos. And maybe we'd laid the groundwork for some real talks about nuclear disarmament. To me, it's a win-win.
TOOBIN: Maybe we have and maybe we haven't. I think we need to, you know, have a certain degree of skepticism about Kim Jong-il who is clearly a madman, who starved his own people, who was engaged in this mad quest for nuclear weapons. That problem is still very much there, but it's hard to think that the problem hasn't been a little closer to being solved by the way this all worked out.
MARTIN: Again, Campbell, you use all your --
BROWN: Yes.
MARTIN: You use all your weapons. And so you take advantage of it. I thought President George W. Bush could have used his father more in gathering international support for the war in Iraq. He said I chose to seek the higher power, meaning God. He wouldn't consult his father.
This is what a smart president does. If you can't go in as the official administration, you send someone like President Bill Clinton to do the job. Smart move on all sides.
BROWN: And certainly this president has not shied away from bringing in people regardless of his relationship with them or whatever tension may exist for the better good of what the goals they are trying to achieve.
TOOBIN: Maybe Bill Clinton will be a czar.
MILLER: Are there any czar openings?
MARTIN: I hope President Obama uses President George H.W. Bush for something as well.
BROWN: All right. Roland, Stephanie and Jeff, thanks for your time, guys. Appreciate it.
MARTIN: Thank you.
MILLER: Thank you, Campbell.
BROWN: In just a few minutes, a gunman at a suburban gym fired 36 bullets. He killed three women. We're going to talk about what. What may have triggered his murderous rage?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He complains about he's never spent a weekend with a girl. He's never vacationed with a girl. He never lived with a woman. He's maybe had sex a few times in his life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Today, we started getting clues as to why a gunman walked into a health club near Pittsburgh last night, turned out the lights and started shooting, killing three women, then himself. Turns out he'd been planning the attack for months, even going to the gym several times to rehearse. This chilling details coming from his own blog. He's identified as George Sodini. He also wrote of his anger and frustration toward women saying he hadn't had a girlfriend in 25 years. This is how he dealt with that rage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Horror at a health club in Pittsburgh. A gunman opens fire killing four and wounding at least nine others.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A man walks in with a duffel bag, apparently a member of the club. He goes into an aerobics room where he opens fire with several handguns apparently that were found beneath his body.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ABC news has learned the shooting suspect is 48- year-old George Sodini of Scott Township, Pennsylvania. According to disturbing writings, Sodini apparently posted on the web, this horrific crime is something he'd been planning.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I want to take you back eight months ago. He writes, "Many of the young girls here look so beautiful as to not be human (ph)." December 24th, "no girlfriend since 1984." He's talking about himself, how he doesn't have a girlfriend. It's a constant theme with this guy.
"Who knows why? I'm not ugly or too weird. No sex since July 1990."
December 29th, he writes this -- "Thirty million women reject me."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: We're going to bring in right now Amy Schaarsmith who is covering the case for the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette." She's there on the ground. And in Washington, criminal profiler Pat Brown joining us as well.
Amy, I know you've really been digging into this. Tell us a little bit about what you found out about what you found out about this guy, about Sodini, what his life was like.
AMY SCHAARSMITH, "PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE" STAFF WRITER: Well, you know, reading the blog and as we try to talk to people who knew him, although there are a few that we found so far who knew a lot, he paints a picture of an incredibly lonely man. I mean, just a miserable person as he describes himself who really felt like he, as he puts it, had no power or control over making his life any better no matter how hard he worked or what goals he set. And that seems to have built to a point where he took it out in this way.
BROWN: Pat, you know, to do what this guy did, he sounds like a psychopath to me. Technically, is he? I guess, what's his profile?
PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: You named it, Campbell. Well, he is a psychopath. And I wouldn't put a lot of stock in his blog. And this is what I think has gone wrong. This is his blame blog. This is his justification for what he was doing. A lot of the stuff he says is probably a pack of lies as psychopaths or pathological liars like to spin things to make themselves look like victims. We don't know.
Let's say he lost his job next week, he might have a new blog out there. It says everybody's out to get me. I hate all people at work. I've always worked hard in my life, I don't get any respect. That might have been his complaint of the week.
This one happened to be all the women are refusing to have sex with me which we don't even know if that's true. We don't know if he really didn't have some sex during those years. And if he didn't, why not? What was his problem? Couldn't he go out and exactly maybe find a lady of his own age, maybe a woman who wasn't looking like a cheerleader?
Couldn't he have gotten a Russian wife? Gone to an escort service? I mean, he made his choices and now he's complaining about all of them.
BROWN: He was targeting women, though, Amy. And I know you've got some information that Sodini had apparently been warned in some form or fashion before about his behavior with women.
SCHAARSMITH: Right. He's a member or was a member until 2006 of a church, Tetelestai (ph) Church in Plum. And in 2006, apparently he was warned by the pastor there that his attentions to a particular woman in the congregation were becoming overbearing, not rising to the level of being criminal but certainly something that made her uncomfortable and he was warned off at that point. He stopped attending the church.
But, you know, something that definitely points to, you know, inappropriate behavior, going over the line.
BROWN: Right.
SCHAARSMITH: And in this case, you know, there was no relationship with the women in his class. I mean, he obviously was angry toward women in general and did pick a class in which there were no men at that time.
BROWN: Pat, there are also many references to him planning the killings and then putting them off. He actually said he planned to do this last summer but wanted to stick around to see who won the election.
Another time he says that he just chickened out. I mean, again, if you believe what he was putting in these blogs, is that something that's common, that's sort of like attempt and change your mind, or whatever? I mean what do you take from that?
P. BROWN: Actually that is quite common. We're talking about a big plan here. Let's say somebody worked all their life and they get bored with their job and they say I'm going to join the Peace Corps. But you still have to quit your job, you've got to change your life, you've got to make this big, huge move. And, you know, it's going to be something permanent.
Well, he knew this was going to be permanent because he knew he's going to commit suicide doing it. So, yes, he had to build up that courage to the day where he said, oh, this is what I really, really want to do. So I'm not surprised that it took him a while to get there.
Once he got all those fun things out of the way like watching the election, he decided now's my moment. Now I'm going to become infamous and he got his big thrill out of this fantasy building up, and then finally carrying it out knowing he would go down in history.
SCHAARSMITH: Not only that, if I can just jump in for a second.
BROWN: Yes, go ahead.
SCHAARSMITH: I mean, you know, one thing that was sort of amazing as I read his blog was that, you know, he was so hopeless and so despairing about the future, yet he kept getting all these breaks. So he had a date in May with this woman he met on the bus in March. You know, and yet decided that that wasn't -- that was not going to be any kind of good direction for him, that he -- that wasn't going to work for him, that he was needed to stay focused and not let this good thing kind of get him off track.
You know, he was pretty certain he wouldn't survive. He survived two layoffs at his company. He didn't think he'd survive a third. He actually got a promotion and a raise in July, late July, a couple weeks ago. So, you know, even that was not enough to make him think that life is --
P. BROWN: Do you see how many of the lies he's telling though? This is the spin he's put on. You can't trust a psychopath to tell you the truth.
BROWN: Right.
P. BROWN: So a lot of this stuff we're going to find out is a bunch of garbage.
BROWN: Yes. A horrible story. We are going to be finding out a lot more about all this.
Pat Brown joining us as well as Amy Schaarsmith. Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.
P. BROWN: Thanks, Campbell.
SCHAARSMITH: Thank you.
BROWN: Tomorrow night we want to tell you at 8:00 p.m., a major CNN primetime event, our national report card on President Obama. He is about to hit his second 100-day mark. How is he doing? We'll take an exclusive look.
Coming up next, a special sneak peek. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: This week marks the end of President Obama's second 100 days in office. And the question is, how's he doing?
Well, we've been reaching out through the network of CNN to find out what you think. Tom Foreman here with a snapshot for us. Tom, what do you got?
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, more than a million people already have gone to CNN.com, Campbell, and they've cast their grades for the president for the second 100 days. And take a look at it, not so hot on certain issues like when you look at the economy overall, all of this green that means C's. The purple means D's or even lower. So not so good on that, especially in a place like California. New York where he did very well, that's still a C.
You move to the question of health care reform, it gets even worse. A lot of C's out here. California, New York strong hold, still C's and a lot of failing grades in here.
Of course, the president is not alone when you look at some of the other numbers here. Congress, boy, they get failing grades across the board here.
The media, us, failing grades across the board. Overall, the president does a little better. He's basically in the C's all over. But anger over these programs back here when you look at the economy, when you look at health care, that's what's spurring that sound we've been hearing out there, Campbell, angry, angry folks. They would like the president, don't like his programs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want a --
ALL: Silence (ph) no more.
ALL: Just say no. Just say no. Just say no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a lie.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: A lot of that anger is showing up as people vote online, give grades for the second 100 days. But you can still get on it. Go to CNN.com and cast your vote if you want to see something different.
BROWN: And, you know, a lot of talk about whether or not that anger is manufactured. But you look at those, and it's not a scientific poll, it looks like people are not --
FOREMAN: More than a million people -- a lot of people out there saying they're not very happy.
BROWN: All right, Tom Foreman for us. Join us again tomorrow night, 8:00, for the CNN "National Report Card." I will see you then.
Have a great night everybody. "LARRY KING LIVE" starting right now.
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