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Body Found at Yale; Anger in America
Aired September 14, 2009 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And good afternoon, everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for Rick Sanchez.
We begin with that Yale University missing persons case. That's what it was, a missing persons case. And the last thing you want in a missing persons case is for the police to come out and say they have found a body. Well, they have. They found it close to where the young woman was last seen some six days ago.
They also found clothes. They found blood. They're still not saying officially that they have recovered the body of that missing Yale grad student, Annie Le. They're not saying that officially, even though they have come out and said they are now treating her missing persons case as a homicide, a mysterious case here.
Police now believe they do have a homicide on their hands. This now investigation continues. We want to bring in Lou Palumbo. He's a retired police officer. There he is.
Sir, thank you for being here.
And explain to us, first of all, from that law enforcement standpoint, you can't come out and say it's officially her just yet, even though all the circumstances surrounding it -- of course, a lot of people think, well, who else could it be?
So, explain to our viewers right quick just why they can't come out and officially say, yes, in fact, this is the missing student?
LOU PALUMBO, FORMER NEW YORK POLICE OFFICER: Well, they want to do is confirm it's her through, for example, DNA. I think their intent is to be as possible as they possibly can be throughout this entire investigation, and clearly identifying her first as a victim is a critical element of this.
HOLMES: Do you think they have a suspect and they're just not telling us about it?
PALUMBO: My personal opinion is I do think they have some idea who perpetrated this crime. I think there are quite a number of denominators present that would allow them to identify who this may have been.
HOLMES: Do you think -- and some of those denominators you speak of, just by a process of elimination and circumstance here, you have to have a particular kind of key card to get into this building, for one thing, so you could probably account for who was in the building and things like that. You think some of those circumstances, that is what leads you to believe they do have somebody in mind?
PALUMBO: Absolutely, T.J., along with the fact that there's a pretty elaborate camera system that recorded her entering the hall at about 10:0- a.m. the day she disappeared.
The other thing I have interesting is that they found her secreted inside of a wall. Normally, the amount of space or the easement between two walls isn't that great. We're all pretty much familiar with what we would call a water closet, where pipes would intersect and you would have turn-off valves. That's probably something similar to where she was secreted.
HOLMES: Well, does this mean as well where her body was, someone would have to have pretty good knowledge of this building? I mean, I don't know what's in the walls here at CNN. If I needed to hide anything, I wouldn't know where to put something. Did somebody have to know, have pretty good knowledge of this building?
PALUMBO: Yes, someone like an employee, for example, or someone who spent so much time up on this campus and in these buildings that they would have adequate and sufficient opportunity to learn where these spaces were.
The thing that we noticed is they didn't attempt to take this body off the property, for example, or out of the building. They left it exactly where they had planned on putting it. I don't think this was a random selection. I think this is someone that was probably being sought after.
And they just followed her and timed this. And I think what we're going to find out is, you are going to see the FBI and New Haven Police Department make an arrest on this thing relatively soon, I have a feeling. I'm sticking my neck out, saying that.
HOLMES: Yes. Well, what should police then be telling the rest of the campus community? There's a killer on the loose, I assume, if they haven't made an arrest? And do you think that person, they have them under pretty good surveillance maybe even now or have a good eye on them or think that maybe they were just after one person and nobody else is in danger?
PALUMBO: I think what the police or law enforcement probably did was, I would say, augmented their presence on the university, give everyone a bit of peace of mind, so to speak, maybe address some lighting conditions, just more presence.
But also I'm certain that they advised them. And they -- people are already aware of that this crime has been committed. It's pretty heinous, as best we can tell.
Just to discuss very briefly, part of this problem with this young lady being secreted inside of a wall, after four or five or six days of decomposition, it's in an extreme state. It's very problematic removing a body from inside two walls.
But I'm sure that they have told everyone, as the dean of the school has already mentioned, that they need to be a little more cautious. And if we go back and visit, this young lady spoke to this very topic about how to somewhat traverse the college campus inside New Haven. New Haven has got some rather tentative locations.
HOLMES: Yes.
What was going on with whoever this killer was that they did not want to leave the building with the body; they had decided to expose of the -- or -- excuse me -- dispose of the body there? Is it just as a matter of opportunity, just couldn't get the body out, or think that might have been the best hiding place at the time? Why?
PALUMBO: Yes. I mean, this is just conjecture, but, again, I go back and say to you, someone conveniently knew exactly where to secret her body.
She wasn't particularly large in stature. We have found out she's 4'11'', 90 pounds. You could probably fold her up and stuff her into a number of locations, one of which this individual was obviously aware of. He did not go into that building and spontaneously stumble upon this closet, this water closet, whatever this gap is in between two walls.
I think it was probably more problematic, depending on the hour that she was actually murdered -- and we will be able to determine that through the autopsy -- to take her out of that hall. For example, if she walked in at 10:00 a.m., T.J., and by 11:00 she was dead, I don't know if he could have exactly slung her over his shoulder and walked out of that building.
HOLMES: All right, Lou Palumbo for us, retired police officer, again, friend of the show here, the Sanchez show, sir, we appreciate you.
Some tough, tough details coming out about this. And, again, her wedding day was yesterday, the day that they actually found the body, just some horrible details here.
But, Lou, we appreciate you, as always. Good to see you.
PALUMBO: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LISA DESJARDINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I have got a question. I have got a question, everybody. I have got a question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: She's got a question. She was trying. That's CNN's Lisa Desjardins. She was covering the protests in Washington over the weekend. Not the greatest reception from the crowd. They were there trying to get their message out, but a lot of people think we're seeing maybe too much of this in politics these days. We can't just disagree. We have to get upset and we have to get rude.
Is that the case?
Well, at least our politics doesn't exactly look like this. Hopefully, we don't get to this point. What You're seeing here are riots in Germany after far right and far left protests. You will see this coming up in our "Fotos."
And President Obama gives a major speech on the economy today. His new plan is to protect you from credit companies. Ali Velshi is going to join us next. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Hello again, everybody.
We are covering several stories here this hour. One, we just talked about, the unfortunate story of the Yale grad student who police believe they found her body now, after she was missing for almost a week. Her wedding day was yesterday, the day that they indeed found her body, they believe, inside of a wall, where she was last seen on campus.
We're getting some of your comments so far. As always, here on Rick's show, you can interact with him on his blog, on Twitter, on Facebook, and on MySpace.
Go to some of the comments we have over here. One first says: "Murderers come in all races, all walks of life. Just because it's Yale doesn't mean it's crime-free. Sad, but true."
Also, one under it says: "So horrible what happened to that Yale student. Did it have anything to do with what he was researching in the lab?"
And one more under that says: "T.J., my prayers go out to the family of Annie Le. She is God's loving hands now. May the family find strength and solace."
And again so many details to that story still yet to come, but it just certainly get at people, this young woman disappeared like she did, there was video of her, and just the idea that her wedding day was yesterday. We will continue to follow that story, of course.
Move on to another one. Don't know if you saw this over the weekend. This -- quote -- "proud member of the angry mob" -- end quote -- that was one of the signs at Saturday's Tea Party Express rally in Washington.
Anger seems to be a new substitute sometimes for political dialogue. It was on display, you may remember, at several of the town hall meetings this summer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SHOUTING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Baby killer. Abortion murder, and Howard Dean is a baby killer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: There's -- I mean, people are passionate on a lot of sides. Nothing wrong with that passion, but sometimes it can cross the line.
And some anger surfaced, not just at these town hall meetings and out at rallies, but surfaced last week in Congress, when Joe Wilson, Representative Joe Wilson, interrupted the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The reforms -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.
REP. JOE WILSON (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: You lie.
(AUDIENCE BOOING)
OBAMA: It's not true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Yes, the two words heard around the world, huh? Wilson has since apologized to the president. He refuses, however, to apologize on the House floor.
His outburst, however, has actually made him a hero to a lot of conservatives. This is him signing an autograph in Washington on Sunday. Also, he's raised, he says, more than a million in campaign contributions in less than a week.
Of course, anger works both ways. Wilson's Democratic opponent has also raised more than a million dollars since those two words were uttered last week. A lot of rage as well at Saturday's Tea Party rally we were just mentioning. Signs portrayed President Obama as the Joker, you know, the psychopathic arch criminal in the "Batman" movies.
Others called Democrats communists or fascists. One side suggested that health care reform should be buried along with the late Senator Edward Kennedy.
Democrats not the only targets from conservatives angry at what they call the mainstream news media. Take a look here at what happened when one of ours, CNN's Lisa Desjardins, tried to report from Saturday's rally.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DESJARDINS: This crowd is not just here about health care, but they're here about a lot of issues that they're obviously upset about.
Right now, they're chanting, "Tell the truth." They have been talking a lot to me about what they think CNN should air. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: She had a bit of a tough time out there. She was trying her best. She got to her reports for the most part.
But some people that, as a society, that we are just getting plain rude these days, and not when it just comes to our politics. I assume you heard by now what Serena Williams said at the U.S. Open. We will be talking to an image-maker who was actually there.
Also, speaking of rude, did you see what Kanye West did to a teenager at the Video Music Awards? We're talking all about it next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right.
Serena Williams, she apologized again today, kind of an updated apology, for what she said in front of a national television audience that was watching the U.S. Open tennis tournament. When the lineswoman called a foot foul on Serena Williams, she responded like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A foot fault, and that...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fifteen-40.
(BOOING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. Well, for those of you who didn't see that, didn't hear that, what she said was, "I will take this 'blank' ball and shove it down your 'blank' throat."
And she wasn't saying yellow ball, if you know what I'm getting at here. She ended up losing the match. And then, afterwards, she has a press conference,, and she released then what she called a sincere apology today.
It said: "I need to make it clear to all young people that I handled myself inappropriately and it's not the way to act -- win or lose, good call or bad call -- in any sport, in any manner.
Marvet Britto, entertainment publicity specialist, and was actually there when this happens.
OK. Was the mistake the first mistake she made, of course, in her reaction? But when you're in the middle of a heated competition, things happen sometimes. But afterwards she seemed so cool, calm and collected at the press conference. Why didn't she take that opportunity to go ahead and apologize? Was that the first big mistake she made? MARVET BRITTO, ENTERTAINMENT AND BRAND STRATEGIST: I think in the heat of the moment that probably would have been the best place to do it. It's where the action and the transgression took place.
But I think Serena plays with so much fire, so much emotion, that she probably was still shocked by what took place. She was surprised. Having been there, she really didn't know what was going on. And the exchange was very heated, but I think that this isn't typical behavior of Serena.
She's normally much more diplomatic. So I think all athletes do play with a certain level of fire, and none of them enjoy bad calls.
HOLMES: I guess what have you seen in the reaction to this? Have people been a little too, I want to say -- maybe I shouldn't say too hard, but nobody's saying at all that what she did OK. But why is it that this is striking such a chord with people?
Is it because it's Serena, who normally doesn't behave like this? Is it because we're seeing a woman use such language, when we're used to seeing maybe a McEnroe or other guys get heated in professional competition?
BRITTO: Absolutely. Serena's pedigree has not been built on such behavior. So, it was shocking and surprising.
Connors, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, they were -- they built careers on that. And so they were celebrated for the bad behavior. With Serena, it was unexpected. But it wasn't something that I think we will ever see from her again. I think she made a mistake. And I think she shouldn't be, you know, vilified and hung out simply because of her emotion.
I think that we should accept her apology and move past it. It's not her character. It's not what we're used to seeing from her. And I think she just made a poor mistake during the heat of competition.
HOLMES: This next one, I hate to even show the video. It makes me cringe, Marvet, every time I see it. But let's go ahead and take a look at this moment from the MTV Video Music Awards last night. Look and listen to what Kanye West did.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAYLOR SWIFT, MUSICIAN: I sing country music, so thank you so much for giving me a chance to win a VMA Award. I...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
KANYE WEST, MUSICIAN: You know, Taylor, I'm really happy for you. I'm going to let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Oh, Kanye. You know What, Marvet? We're used to seeing things like this maybe from celebrities. And certainly this is not Kanye's first run-in with some kind of controversy or doing something people thought was foolish. But is he getting more of a backlash now? Because he did this to what is a 17-year-old child, a baby who was having her big moment. And he hijacked it.
BRITTO: Absolutely.
He robbed, he stole a very important moment, a moment that she can never get back. It was a cowardly, immature act. And while we're not spiced, I think many of us who know Kanye are certainly quite disappointed. Taylor is a child. She's someone's child.
And he now has the new name snatch the mike, which isn't a great name to have in this industry. It was very immature of Kanye. And it was something that wasn't his place. It was not his place to voice his opinion. The voters voted, and she won.
HOLMES: Marvet, is it possible that this was intentional, that he did this to get this stirred up? He has a big appearance tonight on "The Jay Leno Show." I'm sure people might be watching that tonight as well. Any way possible that this was intentional to get this stirred up and get us all talking today?
BRITTO: Absolutely not.
HOLMES: No.
BRITTO: Those kind of, you know, actions are definitely spur of the moment. You could tell, Beyonce was shocked. Taylor was shocked. He snatched the mike from her hand. He was escorted out of the building. So, I don't think he got all dressed up with his girlfriend to go to a show to be booted.
I think that it was poor judgment on Kanye's behalf. And it wasn't something that anyone should ever do for publicity. He lost a lot of fans last night.
HOLMES: But will he be forgiven as long as he keeps putting out number-one hits? Is anyone going to stop wanting to work with him? Is anybody going to stop downloading that music?
BRITTO: You know, ultimately, they say a hit record change things, but I think, ultimately, your character and integrity should speak for you.
And Kanye is making a lot of missteps when it comes to displaying just cocky behavior. I think the best behavior for him is to just really let his music speak for him. And that was a really poor act and poor judgment that he exercised on someone that, you know, really isn't in his league.
So, to be honest with you, I don't know how quickly he will rebound from this. He should use a public platform and apologize, the same public platform he used to humiliate Taylor Swift.
HOLMES: But nobody at this point is going to think it's sincere, are they? What can he do besides shut up for a while and keep making hits that's going to repair his image?
BRITTO: That's really all he can do at this point. I think overall Kanye is a good guy. I just think he lets his emotion cloud his judgment.
Last night, he exercised poor judgment. I think today he's embarrassed by it. I understand last night he was embarrassed by it. And I would have liked to see him come out with Taylor and apologize. But certainly he has to do something in a large platform to really fix that error of his way.
That was really poor judgment and something that I think and hope that his team members around him, you know, is really calling him on. That was really not the way for a man to act, a gentleman. And she's a baby. And, again, that's what we have to remember.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Last thing here quickly. From politics to this foolishness we saw last night, what's wrong with us? Are these just big incidents and maybe they're getting more coverage these days, or are we getting to more of a culture that just we don't care about anything but ourselves, and we don't care who we have to disrespect or put down to get what we want?
BRITTO: T.J., I think the sickness is really deep. And I think there's some inner issues that people are suffering with. And I think they're becoming more vocal, more vocal and really having their displeasure be voiced.
And I think it's wrong in many cases, and it's not the right situations to do it, and I'm really not sure why people are so tense, and so emotional and really vocalizing it. But I hope that we will get back to a place where respect and common respect for each other and love can be really displayed and shown. But, right now, we're seeing a culture that is running wild with its behavior, particularly in the industry.
HOLMES: Well, we appreciate you showing us some love today.
Marvet Britto, we appreciate you taking the time. Good to see you. Thank you so much.
BRITTO: Thank you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The kid appears to be carrying something over (INAUDIBLE) the vicinity. They have positioned themselves...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, we have shown you these kinds of things before, insurgents discovered planting explosives, American aircrafts watching this happen. They confirm what they're doing. Then they blow them up. This one ends a whole lot differently. You're going to see it coming up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Also, the president gave a major speech on the economy just a couple of hours ago. Part of it outlined a new layer of consumer protection. So, how will critics react to a little more, what, government? Ali Velshi will walk us through it. He's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, everybody, welcome back here.
A lot of you are, of course, been talking about probably in your offices today, to your friends, and probably last night as well over the weekend about what we saw with Kanye West certainly last night taking the stage and taking moment away from a child, essentially, a teenager, Taylor Swift, who just won her first VMA Award, and also Serena Williams who has apologized for her behavior and going off on a line judge at the U.S. Open this weekend as well.
We will show you some of the comments that have been coming in. Up first here, let's go to Cinderella Lady up there. It says, "Maybe Serena Williams and Kanye West can take some anger management classes together."
There's an idea.
Also, another says: "I don't think it matters if she used profanity, but she physically threatened someone on the court. And that is where the problem is" -- making a reference there essentially to her saying that she would shove the ball down the throat of the line judge.
A lot of people thought that actually amounted to a threat that she made against that particular judge.
Might be able to pull up a couple more comments here. A lot of people talking about the Kanye West incident. Somebody here saying: "That was horrible. Could have wrote his displeasure on his blog or Twitter. In the first place, it was her moment, not his."
Also, one under there saying: "Seen enough of Kanye's inner child. Needs to display the grown man, before he's in time-out, like a child. No more award shows for Kanye West."
Again, this is not the first time he has acted out at an awards show.
Move on here and we talked about the president. Yes, we go from Kanye to the president. Don't know how we do that. We're going to try it here.
Growing the government, the president today announcing his proposed new agency. It is the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The president told Wall Street types in New York today that this new office will watch over how banks and mortgage lenders deal with investors.
Now, listen to the president explain why it's needed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're proposing the most ambitious overhaul of the financial regulatory system since the Great Depression. But I want to emphasize that these reforms are rooted in a simple principle: We ought to set clear rules of the road that promote transparency and accountability.
That's how we'll make certain that markets foster responsibility, not recklessness. That's how we'll make certain that markets reward those who compete honestly and vigorously within the system, instead of those who are trying to game the system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: That's the president today speaking at Federal Hall in New York. CNN's Ali Velshi joining us to break down more of the president's speech and why today's date is key to his plan. He's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Welcome back. Let's just go right to this. Let's show you what's happening here in this video. Take a good look. This is an emergency landing. Now, you don't -- now you know it's an emergency landing.
What's happening here? This is in Germany -- Stuttgart, Germany. This just happened a few hours ago as well. This is one of those faulty landing gear situations where the pilot has to put the thing down very carefully. We see a lot of these that end, thankfully uneventfully. But this one had a few events surrounding it.
The airport had time to put down some of that protective foam. The passenger plane slid to a stop on its belly. There were 73 passengers onboard. One was hurt. And again, we're told that person very minor, very light injuries. So this ended well. And congratulations to that pilot.
Well, it was one year ago today. Maybe you didn't know it and didn't feel it really then. You're probably feeling it now. That was the day that the massive investment company and private bank, Lehman Brothers, tipped over, crashed. Their bankruptcy remains the largest in U.S. history.
And at the time, a certain Illinois senator was working hard to be elected to the White House. You remember. The polls were pretty close. He was behind in a lot of those. The debate was still about war, bringing the troops home.
Well, after Lehman Brothers fell, it became about the economy. And that really is what helped President Obama -- now President Obama in a lot of ways -- then candidate Obama -- really gain his footing in the election and would go on to victory. He remembered that day today. He spoke on Wall Street today.
Ali Velshi was listening and listening closely.
Ali, my man, always good to see you. I know you were listening closely. So for folks who maybe didn't see it and maybe might read it later, still help them understand what jumped out at you as maybe the one, maybe even two things, but certainly maybe a one thing that really jumped out as the most important thing he said today?
ALI VELSHI, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president was making the point one year away that while it doesn't feel like the crisis that it was last September, October, November, in fact, there is nothing in place that would stop a crisis like that from happening again. There are still companies that are too big to fail. And there are still not enough protections for consumers from somebody in the government overlooking the entire system.
So he wants to -- he illustrated his rules for the road. But he says we need to have some rules for the financial sector, including the implementation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. He's talked about this in the past, but really someone who's out there protecting the interests of consumers from predatory lending, from bad practices.
Number two, he says he wants companies -- financial companies -- not to be able to shop around for a regulator. You know, a lot of companies would go into the line of business that they felt would be less governed than another. So he wants proper regulation out there.
And the other thing that's stood out to me was the ability to control companies that are too big to fail or the ability to get in there early before they're too big to fail because that's what we saw a lot of last year, companies that were deemed too big to fail having to get a whole lot of taxpayer money. President Obama wants rules before these companies get too big to fail to be able to get in there, maybe break them up or do things like that. And he was making the point that it might be a year ago, T.J., but this is still the kind of thing that can happen again.
HOLMES: Let's get to this Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
VELSHI: Yes.
HOLMES: That sounds like something that's supposed to be out there helping you and me. It also sounds like some other people that government is about to get a little bigger.
VELSHI: Yes.
HOLMES: About to have some more control.
VELSHI: Yes.
HOLMES: Get into that a little more for us and tell that mom and dad out there sitting, watching how this is about to help them. VELSHI: Right. So these right now are -- I wouldn't call them vague. But they're still outlines of proposals that are going through. There's no bill that's been presented. The idea is that there's no one out there -- we talked about the fact that mortgages were getting out of control. There was a subprime crisis.
People were getting sold exotic loans. But there was actually nobody in the government who sits there and looks at all of these things and says, there's a problem brewing, and we're going to be on the hook for it in two years if we don't deal with it. So somebody who looks at rules that protect consumers. You know, consumers should largely be protecting themselves.
But, you know, you might have got the mortgage that wasn't suited to you, T.J.
HOLMES: Yes.
VELSHI: But you do that once every five, 10 years. The mortgage sellers do it every day. So it's unclear what it would be. But you're absolutely right. The difficulty here is that all of this is regulation. All of this is rules in an environment where a lot of people say, get the government out of my life and my hair. The president is reminding us it wasn't the government that caused the collapse on Wall Street a year ago. It was private companies.
HOLMES: Now, how are people -- I mean, I haven't looked this early at the markets today. I don't know what the numbers are. But not just in terms of numbers -- I know you talk to people after this thing.
VELSHI: Sure.
HOLMES: Just, I guess, what's the mood of investors, people down there on Wall Street who are listening to the president and they think maybe he's about to step into their realm a little more?
VELSHI: Yes.
HOLMES: I mean, how are they reacting to the speech?
VELSHI: No, investors are -- I mean, look, the market's OK today. It was a little bit lower. It's picked up a little bit of steam, probably not much in reaction to the president. But the reality is investors, professionals investors don't ever like more government regulation. They would like less.
They feel maybe they dodged a bullet, that six months ago, eight months ago when this was a really hot topic, these things were announced and nothing was ever done with them. Now the president's there to say, let's get this done.
Unclear whether the will is still there to do it, whether the moment has been lost because we're just not all as mad at Wall Street as we were a year ago and six months ago. The president trying to drum that up and say, we've got to fix this. He did say, by the way, he wants to work with financial firms, with investment firms. He doesn't want impediments. He just wants some rules.
HOLMES: Last thing here -- you mentioned that they're too big to fail.
VELSHI: Yes.
HOLMES: Are we done with those days? Or at least the president trying to get us in that direction? Are those days going to be gone, that there will no longer be a company that the government deems is too big, too large, too massive to let it go down?
VELSHI: I don't think we're done with them. There are companies now that are bigger than they were in 2007.
HOLMES: (inaudible)
VELSHI: So we have not solved that problem. We don't have a way to deal with it. So if there's another Lehman Brothers today -- there isn't as far as we can tell. But if there were, this same discussions would have to take place. Do we bail them out, don't we bail them out? Who's going to save it? We do not have the authority to go in -- the government doesn't have the authority to go in and deal with it.
Now, whether you think the government should have that authority or not is a philosophical question. But the reality is everything that has happened up until now could happen again.
HOLMES: Well, I guess we could have wrapped it up with that line at the beginning of this segment.
VELSHI: That's right. Quick hit.
HOLMES: Right. We went through all of that just to hear you say we're in the same boat, Ali?
VELSHI: Yes. Yes.
HOLMES: All right. Ali V., we appreciate you, as always. Good to see you, buddy.
VELSHI: See you, T.J.
HOLMES: Now, this here -- this is what's happening. When police managed to keep right-wing activists and left-wing activists separated while the left-wingers turned on the police. This is ahead in our photos of the day.
And we told you about the registered sex offender who was trying to become an ordained minister. He's done it. But should he have been allowed to? The question is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: Well, now we're going to follow-up on a story Rick was telling you about last week. But still, I want to share some of the comments you all have been sending in about some of the things we've been talking about so far this hour.
We've been talking about people behaving badly, some of the behavior we've seen over the weekend. Of course, everybody talking about Serena Williams, how she went off and cussed out a line judge at the U.S. Open. And, of course, Kanye West last night taking the stage and taking the microphone from a teenager who was having the moment of her life. Let's go to some of your comments over here on Rick's Twitter.
One says, "No, no, T.J., Kanye expressed the biases in award voting against people of color well-known and finally documented." Maybe a reference there to the fact that Taylor Swift beat out Beyonce in that category of best female video. For those of you who don't know, Beyonce then won for best video of the year outright a little later in the show. And also VMAs are voted on by the people, just want to give some context there.
Also, one other says, "She was wrong for cursing a line judge," talking about Serena here, "cursing a line judge, but not wrong for showing emotions during the match. If she were male, it would be OK." Finally, one under there saying, "Everybody has a bad day. She apologized. It cost her the match and a fine. Drop it."
Let's go to the left, the other board here. This is some folks coming in on my Twitter page, someone saying that, "Maybe it has something to do with names beginning with W, Wilson, Williams, West." Wilson there as in Joe, who was screaming at the president, you lie, last week. Serena Williams, Kanye West -- let's see if you're onto something.
And one more under there from Linda says, "I think he was drunk." Talking about Kanye here. "I think if he can't hold his liquor like a man, don't drink. I think he behaved abominably." And again, there's debate now whether or not people should be allowed to drink at those award shows. Apparently, reportedly, you're allowed to drink on the red carpet and at your seat. So a lot of drinking may have been going on. We will see what happens maybe next year.
Let's turn, again, to a story I said Rick's been following here. This is about Mark Hourigan. He was ordained a minister at a Louisville church yesterday. There he is. Now, he was a guy who was ordained a minister. Why is this a big deal? Why are people talking about it? It's because this man is a registered sex offender accused of molesting an 11-year-old boy 10 years ago.
There was a demonstration outside the church. Critics say Hourigan should not be in any position of authority. The church says Hourigan has paid his debt to society by serving more than four years in prison. So it is now official. This registered sex offender has now become an ordained minister.
Well, I've got some video we're going to share with you of cattle. You've seen cattle before. You've seen cattle stampede before. But maybe in a store? Stay with us for las fotos del dia.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, I want to pass along some news we're just getting here to the CNN newsroom about a terrorism investigation in New York. This is according to the Associated Press, that law enforcement investigators there have raided two homes -- excuse me. I should say raided more than one at least, not sure how many, but a couple of residences in New York, specifically in Queens as part of a terrorism investigation.
And according to the AP, they are now preparing to brief Congress about this investigation. Not sure what that could mean for this. But this is part of a joint terrorism task force. Again, just getting this word in from the Associated Press about this terrorism investigation that has now resulted in the raiding of a couple of residences in New York. We will continue to follow that story, bring you the details as they continue to come in to us.
Moving on here -- some people now believe in karma. Good things happen to good people. Bad things happen to bad people. Sometimes karma acts slowly. Sometimes it boomerangs pretty quickly. And that's where we start with the photos of the day.
I love that. I didn't know you all had the music. Very nice. We're going to show you some surveillance video from U.S. aircraft in Afghanistan. They spot insurgents planting IEDs. They confirm it. Then they blow them up. That's how it usually goes.
This one is a little different. Listen and watch closely.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've positioned themselves on the opposite side of the motorcycle from the friendlies that suffered the IED attacks. And they're definitely digging in the road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that a kid? (EXPLETIVE DELETED). The kid appears to be carrying something over into their vicinity. He's handing them something. And they're digging in that road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, go away, kid. Go away, kid. Go away, kid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The child brought something to those two individuals that appear to be digging in the road, handed it to them and (INAUDIBLE) at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never mind. It just detonated by itself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They just blew themselves up. They apparently just blew themselves up.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Well, we can save our bombs for the day because they blew themselves up. That's video being released today. We were just getting a look at that. So that was pretty self-explanatory.
Let's move on to the foto de jour number two of the day. Take a look. Now, this is in Hamburg, Germany. Left-wing demonstrators gathered to protest a rally by a far-right group. Police kept the two sides apart. But after the rally, the left-wing folks decided to fight it out with police instead. Listen.
OK, we're told here that 60 people detained, 12 police officers were injured. And again, to continue with las fotos ya boo boo. That's if you speak Congo. I'm just switching up the languages here today, folks.
This one not about death and destruction. It caused a little confusion, a little chaos. But what you're seeing here, yes, cattle running around a convenience store. They were part of a parade that was going through this town in Washington. It was part of a festival they were having there and dipped out.
Now, the other part that got us is that the cowboys -- they didn't just walk in there to try to get -- and round up the cattle. You need your horse to do that. And so, yes, they went right into the store with the horses to get them out. Just some of our photos of the day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Now, we want to go now to our Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.
Barbara, I understand you've got some information now on a guy apparently, the U.S. government would like to take out of the mix. And it appears he may have been taken out.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, T.J. You know, you don't hear much about the war on terror from the White House these days. You don't hear those words. But today it looks like there was a major victory. U.S. forces have apparently killed a major Al Qaida operative in East Africa. This is Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. He has been on the FBI most wanted list for many years for the attacks against the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania back in 1998 as well as other attacks.
U.S. officials familiar with what have happened tell us that in the last several hours, U.S. special forces fired on a car in Southern Somalia killing at least four people. And they now strongly believe, based on their intelligence, that it was a hit that indeed killed this man.
One official tells us U.S. special forces actually landed on the ground in Somalia to take the body away for positive identification. Why? They've tried to get him before, thought they had him and failed. So this time it was worth it to take a very considerable risk to put U.S. boots, U.S. troops on the ground in Somalia in a very high-risk, high-tech operation, take the body away. They are awaiting positive I.D., T.J., but they do believe they got him this time.
HOLMES: And real quick -- they knew who they were after. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. But this time they -- it sounds like they knew who they were targeting. They knew who was there. And they think they got the guy.
STARR: You hit the key point. There was intelligence over the last several days. They had been watching this very carefully and had set up the operation.
HOLMES: OK. OK, all right, Barbara Starr. Again, they got somebody on that most wanted terrorist list. I'm sure they're happy. We're waiting on the confirmation. But we appreciate you getting that to us as soon as you got it. Thanks so much, Barbara.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. Good morning. Watch yourself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, he raised money for former Governor Rod Blagojevich, now indicted former governor. But does the death of Blagojevich confidant Chris Kelly have anything to do with the case?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, when all eyes were trained on Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich earlier this year waiting for him to make his next move, anticipating maybe in the next outrageous news conference, we weren't necessarily focused on this guy, Chris Kelly, a friend of the governor's. There he is. He raised money for the governor's -- ex- governor's campaign. His name also appears in that felony corruption indictment against Blagojevich. And now police are investigating his death over the weekend.
Our Drew Griffin from the CNN special investigations unit joins me now from Chicago.
Drew, what do we know?
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT: It's a twisted tale. Let me tell you: Fifty-one-year-old Chris Kelly, a roofing contractor -- he just didn't raise money for Blagojevich. He was a real close confidant, along with Tony Rezko. Remember that name, T.J.
HOLMES: Yes.
GRIFFIN: And Kelly and Blagojevich all wrapped up in that corruption case where allegedly they tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat of Barack Obama. Well, Kelly has also pled guilty in two other cases. He was supposed to go to prison this coming Friday for eight years. And he was caught in the middle of what to do in that Blagojevich case: Help the prosecution with their case against Blagojevich or sit on the defense table with Blagojevich and fight the federal government. Today in New York City Rob Blagojevich said his friend was under extreme pressure by the U.S. attorney's office here in Chicago to lie. And that's what may have led to this apparent suicide. Let's take a listen to what the governor said.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
ROD BLAGOJEVICH, FORMER ILLINOIS GOVERNOR ... unprecedented way he was getting pressured, which appears led to his decision to take his own life and deprive his little girls of their father. And it's just a shocking, shocking turn of events.
(END VIDEO)
GRIFFIN: U.S. Attorney -- no comment. FBI -- no comment. We should point out, though, that Chris Kelly did plead guilty. He was going to prison. He also was recovering from surgery. And it was his girlfriend that apparently found him in his vehicle supposedly overdosing on some kind of medication - T.J.?
HOLMES: All right, lots of twists and turns when it comes to Rob Blagojevich there. Drew, we appreciate you. We know we're going to be hearing from you plenty again on this special report. And Governor Blagojevich will be a guest of Rick's tomorrow right here 3 o'clock here in the CNN newsroom.
But for right now, thank you for being here. Time for me to hand it over to Wolf Blitzer in the Situation Room.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Rick, thanks very much. Excuse me, T.J., thanks very much. Happening now on this the anniversary of a financial nightmare, President Obama warns Wall Street of what he will and will not tolerate. Also, on the same day she was to get married, police believe they found a Yale graduate student's body stuffed in a wall. The search for a missing bride-to-be is now a search for her killer. Is an arrest coming? Stand by.
And could your cell phone give you brain cancer? A group puts out a disturbing list of what it considers to be dangerous cell phones. Yours may be on that list. And Congress right now is looking into this.
I'm Wolf Blitzer at CNN's command center for breaking news, politics and extraordinary reports from around the world. You're in the Situation Room.
President Obama has a warning on the anniversary of the biggest bankruptcy in American history. Lehman Brothers' failure sparked events that threatened the nation with another depression. And now on this anniversary, President Obama says he's determined to never see that happen again.
