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Will Democrats Reprimand Republican Congressman?; Interview With Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich
Aired September 15, 2009 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Your national conversation for Tuesday, September 15, 2009, begins right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez with the next generation of news. This is, as you know, a conversation, not a speech, and as always it's your turn to get involved.
We have got several stories that are developing this hour, including that search that we have been telling you about.
Let's put those pictures up there. You see the search that's going on now. There's news coming out of this. It's been going on for the last hour or so at the home of kidnapping suspect Phillip Garrido and his wife in California. And we're going to be all over that for you in just a little bit.
But, first, at this hour, the U.S. House of Representatives may be reprimanding one of its own. Republican Joe Wilson of South Carolina, now infamous for shouting "You lie" to President Obama during a joint session of Congress, may be smacked down of sorts by his own colleagues. It's called officially a resolution of disapproval.
Here what at least one congressman disapproves of. This is Hank Johnson, who is a Democrat from Georgia. He's addressing this matter just about an hour ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. HANK JOHNSON (D), GEORGIA: It did not help the cause of diversity and tolerance with his remarks.
If I were a betting man, I would say that it instigated more racist sentiment, feeling that it's OK. You don't have to bury it now. You can bring it out, talk about it fully.
And so I guess we will probably have folks putting on white hoods and white uniforms again and riding through the countryside intimidating people.
And, you know, that's the logical conclusion if this kind of attitude is not rebuked. And Congressman Wilson represents it. He's the face of it. And that's why I support the resolution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Guys in white hoods, and he's the face of it, strong words, as strong as we have heard yet.
We're going to replay that for you in just a little bit. By the way, Congressman Johnson went on to say that this whole thing would never have happened if President Obama were white. That's what he said. We're drilling down on this resolution.
Also, we have got some new information that we have learned about Congressman Wilson himself. That's coming up in just a few minutes. So, stay right there.
But, first, back to the story I just mentioned a little while ago.
You know the names, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, right? That's a convicted sex offender and his wife who are accused of kidnapping a little girl back in 1991 and then holding her captive for 18 years. Well, police today are searching the Garridos' home. Their minds are on a couple of other unsolved disappearances.
First, let me let you listen to just a little bit of what police said probably about 15, 20 minutes ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. KURT VON SAVOYE, DUBLIN, CALIFORNIA, POLICE DEPARTMENT: ... cannot say that the Garridos are with certainty suspects in this case, but certainly we have been unable to eliminate them as suspects in the case. Phillip Garrido was not in custody at the time of Ilene's disappearance and in fact had been released only a few months prior to Ilene's disappearance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Mike Brooks is good enough to join us now. He's been following up on this story. This thing doesn't seem to have an ending.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: No, it doesn't.
SANCHEZ: How deep is this hole?
BROOKS: We don't know. Who knows? They're talking now, Rick, about two more abductions, one of a 9-year-old girl in 1989, and one of a 13-year-old girl in 1989.
Now, the reason they're back at the property, apparently from witness statements and everything else that they were able to find...
SANCHEZ: Let's look at that property, by the way, because we have got some pictures that they have been taking over the last hour or so. And you said this looks like what? BROOKS: It looks like a Superfund site. If I was one of the FBI evidence response team members or one of the other crime scene investigators, I would be out there in a Tyvek suit. You don't know what you're going to find.
We see dogs. I have been watching, Rick. They have been out there raking along the fence line of his property and also an adjacent property. But getting back to the two girls, apparently there was a similarities, apparently, of the lookout of what witnesses of a vehicle that was involved in the 1988 and 1989 abduction, very similar to the description of the car that's there on the property that they were also able to link to Jaycee's case.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
BROOKS: And I tell you what. If I'm an evidence technician, I have got that car back at the lab. I'm going over that. They make special forensic vacuum cleaners, hairs, fibers, trace evidence, because, Rick, look now at the technology we have on DNA that we did not have years ago.
So, if they do have any DNA, even touch DNA, DNA we can get from just touching something, they might be able to glean some evidence from building that car and also from other buildings on that site. And we don't know also what the interviews they have been taking, what people have told them about other girls they may have seen on the property.
SANCHEZ: It is just amazing to think about all the things that could be buried, all the secrets, maybe even parts of bodies that could be buried right now in that man's backyard.
BROOKS: Oh, yes.
SANCHEZ: It's amazing. It's a crypt of sorts and it's probably what this whole story is going to end up revolving around. How do they monitor this place, by the way? How do they secure it? What's to keep somebody from going in there?
BROOKS: Most likely -- I can't say for sure -- most likely, they have had, since they haven't technically released it as a crime scene, because of the plethora of evidence that could be there in other cases that they were investigating, they probably have kept officers there to keep people out of the backyard and out of the house.
But you and I talked about this. Right from the beginning, we said we haven't heard the end of this and there could be other cases involved, and now we're hearing this 1988 and 1989 case.
SANCHEZ: It's not even a surprise, not even a surprise.
BROOKS: Could be more. We don't know. No, not a surprise at all.
SANCHEZ: Stay on that. And stick around, because I might want your take on this next story. What in the world is going on right now with those terrorism- related raids in New York City? Listen to who's now involved in this, the CIA, the FBI, the NYPD. An apartment is raided in Queens. What did they find? And what's the threat? At the bottom of all this, that's what you want to know.
All right, that's the apartment right there. It's in Flushing Meadows, Queens. That's where authorities knocked down a door yesterday with search warrants, bombs, and for bomb parts. And several people from Afghanistan have been taken into custody. But what exactly were they doing?
We were told that Congress was going to be briefed, and we're trying to get that part of the story covered for you.
But first let me bring in our investigative reporter, Drew Griffin, who has been looking into this.
Drew, what -- it almost seems like we were told yesterday that there was some kind of very important raid and investigation going on, and the information was so important that Congress was going to be briefed on this. And since then, it's really been a big question mark. What have you found out?
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Let me tell you why, and I just got off the phone with one of my sources.
These investigations are always touchy and I'm glad Mike Brooks is here. Do you watch them and wait? Do you jump in and get them? There's indications now we're getting that maybe one of the organizations involved did jump the gun on this and move too quickly, which is why it didn't come together quite the way they thought it would.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Who are we talking about though? Who are these people whose homes they raided?
GRIFFIN: These people are, as far as we know, Afghan nationals who are described to us as being part of a cell that had a target in mind, and that the information was is that they were planning a somewhat large 9/11-type attack, or at least this was what the plan was.
And there was information that there may have been either bomb components or parts or devices that would have been in these locations where the raids took place.
SANCHEZ: That's alarming.
GRIFFIN: That is quite alarming, which is why you saw the manpower, which is why you saw the rush job on this, which is why that perhaps one of the agencies jumped quickly, because the word we're getting was the FBI in fact was spooked, spooked by this.
SANCHEZ: Possibly too quickly? Is that what you're...
GRIFFIN: Well, let's bring in the cop, because that is the way these things go.
How long do you sit on it?
BROOKS: It's very difficult, especially when you're gathering intelligence.
And what we have just heard -- Drew and I have been working our sources on this. I used to be a member of a joint terrorism task force in Washington for six years.
SANCHEZ: Right.
BROOKS: It's very difficult to go ahead and as we said pull the trigger and go ahead and execute these search warrants. But they usually do that when they feel that evidence could be destroyed, that officers and possibly the public's lives could be in danger.
One of the other things I find very interesting, Rick, is they put out a bulletin, just late yesterday, called ongoing terrorist interests in homemade explosives. And it goes on to talk about -- basically, it starts out, in light of the ongoing investigation in New York City.
So we're talking about basically two types of explosives, triacetone triperoxide, TATP, and HMTP, hexamethylene triperoxide diamine.
SANCHEZ: Right. I'm glad you had to say that and not me.
BROOKS: They are the explosives used that we saw back in 2005 in the London subway bombing. And if you remember the shoe bomber, Richard Reid, he was trying to light his tennis shoe that had been hollowed out.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Are your sources saying they have found that...
(CROSSTALK)
BROOKS: No.
(CROSSTALK)
BROOKS: ... looking for, this -- and that's one of the things they could be looking for.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: But here's what I want to know, guys. Come on. We don't want another case where our government ends up looking like they got egg on their face, arresting guys that really were doing absolutely nothing. (CROSSTALK)
BROOKS: No one has been arrested, though.
SANCHEZ: Well, then why are we talking about this? And why is this such a huge...
(CROSSTALK)
GRIFFIN: Why are we talking about this? Because you have got 30 agents barging up the stairs of an apartment building in Queens. It's not like you're going to hide this.
BROOKS: Right.
SANCHEZ: But you're here telling me now we cannot actually verify that they have been able to nail anyone or find any explosives?
BROOKS: This is still an ongoing investigation, Rick. And you just can't get a search warrant. You have to have probable cause and it has to be signed by a judge. So, you can't just get a piece of paper and say I I'm going to go look up -- I'm going to go to this guy's apartment because we think there are weapons or explosives there.
It has to be signed. There was an ongoing investigation. There was one target, one particular target, my sources tell me, that they were looking at that flew from another part of the United States to New York and then may be back there now.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Do both of your sources seems to say in this case -- and I know you have -- and I'm certainly not asking you to reveal any of them -- but do both of your sources seem to indicate at this point that this is the real deal, that there's something going on here that eventually we're going to find out about?
(CROSSTALK)
GRIFFIN: Mike, I don't know about you, but they said that this was the real deal. This was not informant-based or some of the other kind of investigations we have seen you're familiar with, those we have covered in Liberty City, Miami, and all these places.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Lackawanna, Miami...
(CROSSTALK)
GRIFFIN: This was the real deal. They had concrete evidence that this going on. And in fairness, so they broke off cell and that cell scattered, OK. Maybe that is a good thing. Maybe that is a good thing.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Sometimes you're right.
GRIFFIN: In the end.
SANCHEZ: You're absolutely right.
Thanks to you.
And thanks to you.
We will stay on top of this story.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Meanwhile, this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOE WILSON (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Last night, I heard from the leadership that they wanted me to contact the White House and state that my statements were inappropriate. I did.
I'm very grateful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right, that's what he said right after, the following day.
Now, is Congress about to discipline Joe Wilson, and who really is Joe Wilson? What are his ties, for example, to white supremacist groups?
Rod Blagojevich, shakedown artist or typical politician? Now his former adviser has apparently died. Some are suggesting suicide. We're tracing that down.
And here's this question. Did it have anything to do with the scandal that's surrounding Blagojevich? The former governor is going to join us here live later in this show and I'm going to obviously ask him those most difficult questions.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Congress is considering a smackdown of Joe Wilson, an official reprimand for his admitted incivility. It's called a resolution of disapproval for, of course, this.
There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This too is false. The reforms the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.
WILSON: You lie.
(AUDIENCE BOOING)
OBAMA: It's not true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Boy, the president was really taken aback by that, you can tell. At the time, we didn't know what it was then. Since we have found out.
It's not about Wilson's behavior, though. It's also important to fact check these stories. Why was he angry, for example? Did the president of the United States actually lie? Will illegal immigrants be part of health care reform? These are important questions.
And there's also another part of this story, the part that says that when you thrust yourself into the public by calling the president of the United States a liar in public, you open yourself up to an examination of your past. Oh, and when your past involves membership in the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which has known white supremacists in its ranks, if not its leadership, then your 15 minutes of fame gets extended, as in after this commercial break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: A baby has just been rescued and there it is. These are pictures just in to right now. They're from Oklahoma, just outside of Oklahoma City. This is in Moore, Oklahoma.
There's been an Amber Alert that has been issued for this child that was apparently abducted from the home. The baby is 1-year-old Bo Shannon. Now, these live pictures we're looking at, by the way, this is from KWTV. We thank them for the picture.
They have been searching for 27-year-old Antoinette Shannon, who is believe to driving a 2004 Chrysler Sebring. The suspect is said to be off of medications and the child is considered to be in danger throughout the day. But here's the good news.
Well, the picture tells us the good news. The child has been found, the child has been rescued. The child is now in the arms of that police officer. Again, 1-year-old Bo Shannon has been rescued, and there's the picture as we look at it from just outside Oklahoma City. We will stay on top of that for you.
Meanwhile, we're waiting for the House of Representatives to vote this afternoon on a resolution of disapproval against Congressman Joe Wilson. He's the one who shouted "You lie" during the president's address to Congress on health care last week. He apologized to the president, but Democrats want him now to apologize again for violating the decorum of Congress itself.
Wilson did make a statement on the House floor today, but it wasn't an apology. It was another criticism of the president's health care proposal. He claims that the proposal would provide health care for illegal immigrants. That's his complaint.
Well, guess what? We found that Wilson voted back in 2003 for something very similar that may have actually done what he's accusing the Obama administration of doing now.
So, let's get to the record, shall we? According to opencongress.org, Wilson voted for the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003. Why is that important? Here's why.
That act included a provision that does reimburse hospitals for treating illegal immigrants. It's important to note. Again, Wilson voted for that version which was under a Republican administration at the time, but is complaining now about coverage for illegal immigrants under a different administration. Just thought you would want to know.
Again, Democrats in Congress want to reprimand Wilson, not for that, but for his outburst. Here again, is a representative. His name is Hank Johnson. He is convinced -- and listen carefully to his words, because they're rather strong. He is convinced that Wilson should be reprimanded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNSON: It did not help the cause of diversity and tolerance with his remarks.
If I were a betting man, I would say that it instigated more racist sentiment, feeling that it's OK. You don't have to bury it now. You can bring it out, talk about it fully.
And so I guess we will probably have folks putting on white hoods and white uniforms again and riding through the countryside intimidating people.
And, you know, that's the logical conclusion if this kind of attitude is not rebuked. And Congressman Wilson represents it. He's the face of it. And that's why I support the resolution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That's why he supports a resolution.
We should let you know that not all Democrats in Congress are supporting the resolution, though. Some say you should just let it go.
Here's some other information on Wilson that may be salient to this story. As it turns out, Wilson has been a member of a group called the Sons of Confederate Veterans. They want to conserve the history of the Confederate soldiers.
But here's what else we found out about them. Their leader up until 2006 was the editor of a neo-Confederate magazine that depicted slaves in pictures as happy. Slave traders, slave traders they depicted as benevolent. The Southern Poverty Law Center says the Sons of Confederate Veterans has been -- quote -- "largely dominated by racial extremists since 2002."
Then there's that all-important issue that has been for the most ignored this week. What about the congressman's accusation that the president was lying? This too is important. We have looked into this and we want to fact check this for you. Listen again to what the president said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.
WILSON: You lie.
(AUDIENCE BOOING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right, that's the argument. Again, here's Wilson backing down on the lack of civility, but not backing down on the accusation that the president lied. Let's listen to this again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILSON: Last night, I heard from the leadership that they wanted me to contact the White House and state that my statements were inappropriate. I did.
I'm very grateful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: OK. Is he right? Well, we checked and we found that there were amendments that included illegal immigrants. There were, were, keyword there. They were defeated. So, they're no longer there.
So, what is in this bill in question now, one of the bills? What is the exact wording of HR-3200 as it pertains to health care coverage for illegal immigrants?
Let's put it up -- quote -- "Nothing in the provision shall allow federal payments on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States." By the way, that's Section 246, if you want to look for it yourself.
That wording overrides anything else in the bill. So, when you come to Section 152, for example, that says that all health care and related services covered by this act shall provided without regard to personal characteristics, yes, that may be true of big people or Asians or tall people or little people, but not illegal immigrants. Why? Because Section 246 says except as otherwise permitted by this act.
And where is it otherwise not permitted by this act? Well, let me read it to you again. Let me take you back to Section 246. Nothing shall allow federal payments on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.
Now, let's be really complete about this. Will illegal immigrants still be treated in hospitals, for example, even if they don't get coverage? Will they be treated when they're injured, for example, or sick? We checked our files and we found that the president of the United States did answer that question when asked by talk show host Michael Smerconish.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Everybody who's listening out there, when you start hearing that somehow this is all designed to provide health insurance to illegal immigrants, that is simply not true and has never been the case.
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: What is their fate, if I might ask? Because there's a 1986 law on the book that says, if show up at an E.R., you've got to be treated?
OBAMA: Well, that will continue, because we don't want a situation in which some child, even if they're an illegal immigrant, shows up at an emergency room with tuberculosis, and nobody's giving them treatment, and then they're going back to the playground and playing next to our kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: So, rather than just sit back and say, oh, my God, did you hear what he said, we decided that you should know the facts of this story.
By the way, was Congressman Wilson uncivil or maybe worse? Many both sides of the aisle agree that he generally was. But this is the more important question? Was he also wrong? The facts in this case as we have seen them and looked into them seem to indicate, yes, he was. And that may be even more important.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN BALDWIN, ACTOR: Since baby Stevie has become the Jesus freak, it's not easy. But here's thing.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Do they call you a Jesus freak?
BALDWIN: No. No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Stephen Baldwin wants you to know if you can't pay your mortgage, neither can he. And he shares a few other tidbits with us about his family. He says he wants to, by the way, pay his mortgage, get out of foreclosure. So, what's the issue? I'm going to ask him.
And then there's Kanye West. He is trying to explain to what the hell he was thinking when he decided to have his own moment of incivility at the MTVs.
Oh, and don't forget, Rod Blagojevich, former governor of Illinois, he is going to join me live right here in 20 minutes. Stay with us for that and the after-show.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back.
I don't know if you have heard, but Kanye West called Taylor Swift today to apologize.
And well he should have, most would argue. You know that's for interrupting Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards. In a rambling interview with Jay Leno last night, West admitted his behavior was rude. So this morning, Taylor Swift was asked about the incident. Here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER: My overall thought process went something like, wow, I can't believe I won, this is awesome, don't trip and fall, I'm going to get to thank the fans, this is so cool. Oh, Kanye West is here.
(LAUGHTER)
SWIFT: You know, I'm not going to say that I wasn't rattled by it. But I had to perform live five minutes later, so I had to get myself back to the place where I could perform.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: After the break, we're going to be hearing from another celebrity. Stephen Baldwin is going to tell us what it was like to face bankruptcy, just like so many other Americans. Stay right there, and don't forget about Blagojevich. That's fun to say.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Got a couple of comments here on that Joe Wilson story we reported to you just moments ago. Let's go to the Twitter board if we possibly can as part of our national conversation. "Joe Wilson is full of it and is very disrespectful toward President Obama. People will always remember what he said." And then right under that -- OK, great, I lost my place, I have no idea how I did this, but it was done in all sincerity. All right. We'll try it again. Oh, there it is, go back, go back, my bad, there it is: "Wilson could take a lesson from Williams and West." I suppose he's referring to Serena and Kanye, who apologized several times for being rude, most would argue, and most have on this show that they were.
Thanks for coming back, I'm Rick Sanchez. Actor Stephen Baldwin is going through exactly what many Americans are going through, really, foreclosure and bankruptcy. And he's experiencing the same roadblocks that many of you are and trying to get out of it.
I mean, this is a deep hole. This is a unique perspective, from one of the Baldwin brothers, no less. Somebody we don't usually consider just an average American, but in this case, given what he's going through, maybe he is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: I'm hearing from so many Americans, Stephen, that they're trying to do what they can to work with the system and the system is shutting them out.
STEPHEN BALDWIN, ACTOR: Well, it's -- that's what's scary, Rick, to be honest with you. You know, you have all of this bailout stuff going out. I'll give you an example, I go to my mortgage company and I turn around and I say, look, I'm at this percentage of interest rate when I bought the house 10 years ago, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.
Here's the numbers, everybody thinks I've got this going on, but I'm really kind of struggling so can we just do this because I don't have to have any problems, I don't want to go into foreclose? Blah blah blah blah.
They look at me and go, no. I just said, but wait a second, did you receive any bailout money for my situation? We're not telling you. So you have a dysfunctional situation here.
SANCHEZ: So you're willing to deal with them?
BALDWIN: Oh, I had to.
SANCHEZ: In good faith?
BALDWIN: Absolutely -- listen, I have said to them and anybody else I owe money to, I want to pay you, but let me structure it in such a way that I can do it and not say something and not keep a promise that I want to make for the future.
Which is what -- unfortunately, which is what happened to a lot of people. They're saying, you know, you have mortgage companies, the IRS, all of these people saying, no, no, we want you to do this. And it's really not something that people can do and they're committing to it and then nine months later they break that commitment and it's a problem again. What I want to say to people is this, don't try to go it alone, really ask for help, seek counsel, do what you've got to do to ensure for the best future you can have in the next three to five years because it's going to get better.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Part of a deep conversation as well. When I asked him how did you get in this situation to begin with? I mean, owing $1 million here, $1.4 million. I also talked to Stephen about what his brother Alec Baldwin said about his born-again status and his conservative politics, which he is quite proud of, by the way. This is a great interview, we're going to show you both parts of that interview later on in this week and also you'll be able to see it on my blog at cnn.com/ricksanchez.
All right. See that?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That's not me talking now, that's somebody else. That's a bus rolling down the street completely engulfed in flames. What? Stick around, it's just one of many parts of "Fotos."
Also, remember this guy? The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George W. Bush, he got a hero's welcome today when he got released from prison. Well, that's interesting. We're going to share that story with you.
And a man named Chris Kelly is dead, most people wouldn't know who he is except now he's being put together with another big story. He was a close friend and fundraiser of Rod Blagojevich. Rod Blagojevich, as in former governor of Illinois. Did it have, this death, this possible suicide, anything to do with the Blagojevich scandal? Well, I'm going to ask the former governor because he's going to be right here in just a little bit. He's going to be joining me live. This promises to be an electric interview.
And the after show will continue at 4:00 on cnn.com/live, at cnn.com/live with the Blago-meister (ph). Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back.
Look, they're celebrating in Baghdad. Why are these people happy? They're friends and loved ones of this man. All right. Let's show the video once again. You've probably seen it plenty of times. That man right there -- no, this is new video, look at that. He spent nine months in jail for throwing his shoes at then-President George W. Bush. He is Muntadhar al-Zaidi, and today he walked out of that Baghdad prison wearing shoes, we can only presume. He was sentenced to a year, but authorities let him out today for good behavior. Al-Zaidi claims that he was tortured in prison. His brother says al-Zaidi is leaving Iraq tonight on a private plane to Greece for medical treatment. Do you think he'll go back to Iraq? I don't think so.
There's the video that you probably remember of the day that he actually will never forget. That's part of the story that we have been following for you today. By the way, when we come back, we're going do introduce you to the former governor of the state of Illinois, who has got a lot to say, I mean a lot to say.
Stay with us, we'll right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Is it really much ado about nothing that all my colleagues in the media were feigning shock and horror that Serena Williams, a professional athlete mind you, got mad and cursed during a sporting event? Oh my goodness. Guess what? Today there's another one that tops "Fotos."
Oh, my God, Roger Federer cursed at the chair umpire after he disagreed with his opponent last night at the U.S. Open Championship. Here's the exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's considering a challenge, it's too late now. Shouldn't be allowed that much time.
(CROSSTALK)
ROGER FEDERER, TENNIS PLAYER: I wasn't allowed to change (INAUDIBLE) 10, every time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This review reveals that it was out.
FEDERER: Do you have any rules in there? (INAUDIBLE) show him your hand, OK? Don't tell me to be quiet, OK? When I want to talk, I talk, all right? I don't give a (expletive deleted) what he said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: An athlete gets mad and curses at an official. Next, what bears do in the woods. Do I make my point?
All right. What do you when you're a bank vice president with access to an oceanfront mansion on Malibu that your own bank took over? Can anybody say, "par-tee"? That's what Wells Fargo Senior Vice President Cheronda Guyton is accused of doing. "Hey, I know a great place for a party, it's a $12 million home that nobody is living in right now," one problem, Mrs. Kravitz (ph), you know, the lady next door, she wondered why somebody was living in the home on the weekends and throwing big parties. Wells Fargo now says the party is over and they are firing Guyton. Speaking of fire, or fuego, look at this. Have you ever seen anything remotely resembling this? This is a bus rolling down a highway. Oh, it's on fire. An amateur cameraman captured the moment of this out of control bus in Fo Shan City, China. It's like the movie "Speed" without the really bad acting. Except in this case, there was nobody on board because the driver got out and got everybody else out just in time.
He is accused, among other things, of trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat. And that's just one of the charges. I'm going to go one-on-one with former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, that's next.
Oh, and Wolf Blitzer has some announcements to share today. We'll be back with him as well. Stay with (sic).
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SANCHEZ: About a year ago, we created something new, it was the marriage of mainstream and new media. We call it our own "National Conversation." And now we're taking it even a step further. Beyond Twitter, beyond MySpace, beyond Facebook. I'm inviting all of you who want to come to Atlanta and visit us and be on TV and be a part of this show, be on the air, to do so. It's called "Inside the Conversation." It's a tour that they have started here at CNN.
If you want to do it, all you've got to do is call this number to get the facts and the information, and we'll have . Call 877- 4CNNTOUR, 877-4CNNTOUR. We'll be happy to have you here.
And guess who I'm going to now. The "Blitzmeister," Wolf Blitzer. If I could hug you right now, after watching what your football team did last night, that debacle where they lost a game they should have won, I would, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: It was so sad. The bills were up by 11 points, the Buffalo Bills, with five minutes to go, and the New England Patriots won. What -- what's wrong with this picture?
SANCHEZ: It's called shooting yourself in the foot. Hey, I understand you're going to join this whole social media craze now.
BLITZER: I'm following in your footsteps, Rick. Guess what?
SANCHEZ: What?
BLITZER: Say what.
SANCHEZ: What? What have you got? Que?
BLITZER: I'm on Twitter as of yesterday. I just started tweeting, and it's -- it's a lot of fun.
SANCHEZ: That's fantastic. Did you tweet about the game, by the way?
BLITZER: I didn't tweet about that. I did tweet about ZZ Top, I got a -- ZZ Top came to see me yesterday here in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
SANCHEZ: Do we have that picture?
BLITZER: We've got a picture that's up there as well, so we're just starting right now. If people want to read my tweets, very easy. They can just go to twitter.com/ -- here's what you got -- oh, there's the picture right there, /wolfblitzercnn, you've got to type wolfblitzercnn, all one word, twitter.com/wolfblitzercnn. And you can start reading all of my tweets.
SANCHEZ: That's fantastic. All right, man. Love you like a brother. Appreciate it.
BLITZER: It's all your fault.
SANCHEZ: Bills and Dolphins, back next week, don't you worry.
BLITZER: I love the Dolphins, I love the Bills, but the Bills a little bit more.
SANCHEZ: Figured you'd say that.
All right. Rod Blagojevich is going to be joining me in just a little bit, and you can expect that there will be some fireworks when he and I confront each other about his accused shenanigans, shall we say. There's a lot to talk about, not to mention breaking news about Chris Kelly. We'll have that. Stay right there.
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SANCHEZ: Welcome back. Rod Blagojevich as governor screwed up. Why? Well, he says that if he had made himself a United States senator, which he was allowed legally to do by the way after Barack Obama won the White House, everything would be different today. That's what he says. That's what he wrote in his book that I read last night. But he didn't do that. What he did do, that's today's "Breakthru."
Let's begin with the accusations. They were shocking the first time, and they make the governor look like a nasty shakedown artist, as described here by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.
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PATRICK FITZGERALD, U.S. ATTORNEY: This is a sad day for government. It's a very sad day for Illinois government. Governor Blagojevich has taken us to a truly new low.
He attempted to sell a Senate seat, a Senate seat he had the sole right under Illinois to appoint to replace President-elect Obama.
Governor Blagojevich and defendant John Harris, his chief of staff, schemed to send a message to The Chicago Tribune that if the Tribune Company wanted to sell its ball field, Wrigley Field, in order to complete a business venture, the price of doing so was to fire certain editors, including one editor by name. There's a hospital, Children's Memorial Hospital, believing that is getting $8 million, but its CEO has not coughed up a campaign contribution, and the thought that that money may get pulled back from Children's Memorial Hospital is something that you cannot abide.
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SANCHEZ: Joining me now from New York, Rod Blagojevich.
Mr. Blagojevich, thank you for being with us, sir.
ROD BLAGOJEVICH, FORMER ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: Thanks for having me, Rick. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: All right. First, let's talk about Chris Kelly. He was your adviser, he just died over the weekend. Lots of stories floating around out there. What can you tell us?
BLAGOJEVICH: Well, Chris was a very good friend of mine, and I'm feeling a very deep sadness deep inside because he took his life and left behind three little girls and a wife. He had done some things wrong unrelated to me. He was involved in some issues at O'Hare Airport in the Daley administration.
He went to court. He acknowledged his wrongdoing. And as a result he was about -- on the eve of apparently beginning a jail sentence. It's -- it appears that there's a pattern emerging, and that is that my accusers were not satisfied with the jail sentence that he had in those cases, and they were putting pressure on him, offering possibly to reduce his sentence, I've been told by lawyers, if he would lie about me.
He chose to tell the truth, refused to lie about me, accepted his wrongdoing and his responsibility, and then sadly he took his life. And it was something...
SANCHEZ: Wait a minute, are you saying or intimating that the pressure put on him by Fitzgerald and his gang is what led this man to take his own life?
BLAGOJEVICH: I don't know the answer to that. I'm simply putting together facts as they have emerged through published reports and things that have been told to me by lawyers.
I know, for example, the kind of pressure that prosecutors put in place, and this one in particular. There's a fellow by the name of Tony Rezko who did some wrong things, a mutual supporter and former friend of both President Obama's and mine...
SANCHEZ: Which you say in your book, you wish you had never met him.
BLAGOJEVICH: Now that I know who he was, I do. He wrote a letter to a federal judge saying that those prosecutors were pressuring him to lie about Barack Obama and about me. He wrote in that letter that he would not do so and that neither one of us were involved in any wrongdoing.
But then he was convicted of crimes that I didn't know about or President Obama didn't know about and as a result was put in a jail sentence, I'm told again by lawyers, for 23 out of 24 hours a day where they got him to change his story, and now to make some false accusations against me.
And what is really troubling is this pattern with that prosecutor at that press conference you just alluded to where he takes snippets of conversations from secretly recorded taped conversations, misleads the public, mutilates the truth when he says he was stopping a crime spree before it happened when in fact the morning before on those very telephones I directed my chief of staff who my first choice for the Senate was.
And it was a routine political deal that was going to create 500,000 jobs, expand health care for thousands of people...
SANCHEZ: That's Madigan.
BLAGOJEVICH: ... and not raise taxes on people.
That's correct.
SANCHEZ: Yes. I get it. I get it. Look, I've read every word of your book last night. I was careful to see -- I'll take you to page 175. You say: "This prosecutor," I imagine you're talking about Fitzgerald, right?
BLAGOJEVICH: Yes.
SANCHEZ: "This prosecutor is so concerned about his own standing that he willfully conducts investigations and prosecutions that cause great injustice. The same prosecutor is the one who accused me of trying to sell Barack Obama's seat for personal gain. But that accusation is completely and entirely false."
So here we've got Fitzgerald, who our viewers just heard moments ago, saying you were trying to sell his seat, and I hear you here accusing this prosecutor of making all of this up, and further, if I move on in this book, by the way, and I don't want to take up too much of your time, but you go on to say, if anybody was trying to get the seat sold, it was the other side trying to get you to sell it.
BLAGOJEVICH: Well, the book is truthful. Everything I wrote in the book is truthful. I want to say something to you, Rick, and it's very important. Someone is lying here. Someone is lying here, and it's either a crime spree selling a Senate seat for financial gain, and that is flat out false, or it's what I just said.
The truth is in taped conversations. I believe everyone should hear those tapes. I've advocated that since January. My accuser, who took conversations from those tapes, is the one who went to court preventing me from telling you what's on them and preventing you, the media, from hearing it. SANCHEZ: But it sounds like everybody was coming to you and trying to do a deal. Listen to this, this on page 179. Marilyn Katz you speak of: "She indicated that if I appointed Valerie Jarrett to the U.S. Senate, the Obama people would help me raise money from their network of contributors across the country," which is interesting.
"The fact remains," you write, "that people approached us about campaign contributions if I appointed them or the person they were supporting."
You're turning the whole thing around in this book and saying, look, people were doing deals with me, I wasn't shaking people down. It was more like they were shaking me down. Do you stand by that?
BLAGOJEVICH: You're absolutely right I stand by that. I didn't shake anybody down. And in addition to that, everything I wrote in that book is truthful. People approached me or aides of mine and suggested some fundraising opportunities if I considered the candidate they were supporting for the Senate.
Now that conversation was related to me by my chief of staff at the time. I told him I didn't want to follow up. I write in the book that she called my wife and wanted to have lunch with her. And I told my wife...
SANCHEZ: That's -- let me hold you for just a moment, Governor, because we're going to continue. Everyone who is watching and wants to see the continuation of this interview, go over to cnn.com/live.
Here's Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
BLITZER: Rick, thanks.
Happening right now, he accused the president of lying. Now Democrats want Joe Wilson to pay. They want to smack him with a penalty, but Republicans say it all smacks of political payback.
Chief assertions. The commander-in-chief says the economy is improving because of his policies and the Fed chief says the recession is now likely over. Does that ring true for you?
And disturbing the dead. A cemetery is accused of dumping remains to resell grave sites, and a former worker shockingly tells CNN what he did.
I'm Wolf Blitzer in CNN's command center for breaking news, politics, and extraordinary reports from around the world. You're in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
