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President Barack Obama's War Strategy, No Snitching Rule, Typhoon Parma Hits Philippines, David Letterman Scandal; Can Cities Limit Gun Ownership?; Pregnant Women and Swine Flu
Aired October 03, 2009 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: We'll talk a little more about Rio and the Olympics later in this hour, but first let's talk about the war in Afghanistan where five more U.S. service members have been killed. President Barack Obama is in the process of reviewing his war strategy.
CNN's Elaine Quijano is at the White House.
The president had several meetings this week, Elaine, are more planned for the coming week?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There are, Fredricka. In fact, Wednesday and Friday the president is set to meet again with his national security team on this and they're coming really -- are on the heels of a one-on-one yesterday that President Obama had with a top commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal. This is yesterday aboard Air Force One in Copenhagen, Denmark.
We're told this meeting between the president and General McChrystal lasted about 25 minutes and White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, says the meeting itself was valuable, but Gibbs did not really give any more details than that.
Now, the president could be looking at a number of options when it comes to Afghanistan and here's just a few. The president could decide on a troop drawdown. Basically, this could mean pulling back a number of forces and having the remaining troops focus on training the Afghan national army and police. It could also mean using drones to target al Qaeda targets in Pakistan.
The president could also decide on keeping combat troop levels where they are. Right now about 68,000 U.S. forces are in Afghanistan and that would mean basically keeping the focus on going after the Taliban as part of the counterinsurgency strategy.
And finally, the president could also decide to increase the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. That's of course the strategy that general McChrystal and other top military leaders are advocating. It's been reported that the general would like to see some 40,000 additional combat troops. The president could decide to grant that request or he could decide on a much smaller figure. President Obama, though, either way, Fredricka, is going to be making this decision at a time when polls are showing that most Americans simply do not support the war in Afghanistan -- Fredricka. WHITFIELD: And Elaine, we know it's a tough decision, but do we have any idea which way the president might be leaning?
QUIJANO: We don't right now. We know is that in addition to these two meetings the president has next week on Wednesday and Friday there's going to be one more meeting and then White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, says at that time, then, once those meetings are completed they'll have a chance to actually sit down and get this strategy together.
It's very interesting, though. There are a lot of reports, as you know Fredricka, about the internal (AUDIO GAP) taking place within the administration some people not advocating more troops, others like General McChrystal (AUDIO GAP) wanting to up the number of U.S. forces. But, the debate continues obviously as each day goes by and reports of additional casualties come in that just underscores the stakes here for the president and his team.
WHITFIELD: All right. Elaine Quijano at the White House, thanks so much. We have a bad signal there, so it's not your television set. We're going to try and work it out throughout the day.
All right, in the meantime, Afghanistan will be a topic on CNN's STATE FO THE UNION tomorrow morning. John King speaks with President Obama's national security advisor about U.S. troop levels and the future of the war. That's Sunday, tomorrow, 9:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.
All right, expect Iran to come up, as well. It recently admitted building a second uranium enrichment facility and the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency is on his way to Iran. Mohamed Elbaradei plans to meet with Iranian officials, but the International Atomic Energy Agency said it's not clear if he will be allowed to visit the newly discovered site. Iran has said it will cooperate with nuclear inspectors.
Derrion Albert is being honored at a church in Chicago's south side today. Funeral services are scheduled this hour for the 16-year- old who was fatally beaten. Friends, relatives, and civil rights leaders including the Reverend Jesse Jackson and the head of the NAACP are expected to attend. Albert's shocking attack was captured on a cell phone video camera outside a community center just last month. Four teens have been charged in his death.
So many kids witnessed the beating that left Derrion Albert dead, but no one is talking, at least not to police, not yet. So what exactly is going on? CNN's Joe John shows us why it's so hard to crack the code of silence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It would seem obvious, right? If you saw this happen, if you were a witness to this murderous beating of 16-year-old Derrion Albert, you would call the police and tell them what you saw and the names of the guys who did it. Four teens identified from the video have been arrested, and three others are being sought. But, to this moment, cops tell us no one has called, no kids, no parents. Why? Call it a code of silence urban schoolchildren learn early, especially in tougher neighborhoods: Mind your own business. And that means don't talk to the police.
(on camera): The death of Derrion Albert brought an outpouring of sympathy here. It also brought quite a police presence. Take a look, one, two, three, four police vehicles near the community center where Derrion was beaten.
But the question really right now is not about police presence. It's about who's talking to the officers, why parents and children who may have seen something or heard something aren't coming forward.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People don't they don't want to get jumped.
JOHNS: What do you mean they don't want to get jumped?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because, if they snitch, they are just going to get beat up.
JOHNS (voice-over): And, yet, it is clear a message that it's OK not to get involved may send kids a message that crazy, senseless violence is OK. And it's not.
REVEREND MICHAEL PFLEGER, CHICAGO ACTIVIST: We have got to get to the hearts of our children because nothing, nothing excuses or justifies the actions of an individual who would beat another individual. Nothing justifies that in this society.
JOHNS (on camera): So, why is it that people don't want to talk to the police?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it's -- some call stitching, snitching. Don't snitch. It's not your business, OK?
JOHNS: Now, is that something somebody told you, or is that something you tell people?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the way of the street. You snitch -- snitches get stitches. Put it like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As my momma said, she said that the -- the kids should be burying their parents, but the parents should not be burying their kids.
JOHNS: Whatever reasons high school students on the streets may give, experts say one of the main things driving this behavior is fear, fear of what could happen if you talk to the police. It's not just a Chicago phenomenon, it happens all over the country, and it undermines the criminal justice system. What people here in Chicago and other cities are trying to figure out is, what do you do about it?
(voice-over): "Keeping Them Honest," one problem is that the heavy police presence that's supposed to provide a sense of security is often viewed in big-city neighborhoods as very temporary. Once the TV cameras leave, it's back to business as usual.
MIKE MOSEBERRY, RESIDENT OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: They know that this police presence is not going to last. It's not going to last, a couple of week or two. It's not going to last, and these kids are going to be out here by their self, and then another kid get killed.
JOHNS: Of course, it's complicated, but, if people don't feel safe and will not go to authorities, then experts say intervention is needed even before violence erupts.
TIO HARDIMAN, CEASEFIRE: Because, if people are not willing to break the code, they should be willing to step up and stop it on the front end then.
That's it right there. Derrion, somebody in the crowd should have said, you know what, I'm not going to tell on nobody, but I tell you what you I'm going to do. I'm going to stop all this mess from happening.
JOHNS: And, finally, we have checked again. So far, police say no one has come forward to report what they saw outside the community center.
Joe Johns, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: The violence problem in Chicago is a topic this afternoon at 4:00 Eastern. The entire hour devoted to examine the problem and looking at solutions. "Taking Aim, Chicago Violence." You can be part of this conversation. We're going to have a number of experts on hand from a police officer to attorneys and just regular people. So, send your comments and thoughts to my blog at CNN.com/NewsroomFredricka or Facebook. Fredricka Whitfield CNN. That's the 4:00 Eastern hour, be part of that conversation. Let's look for some solutions to end this problem.
All right, tens of thousands of people fleeing to shelters today in the Philippines. Another typhoon is hitting the country, still reeling from last week's deadly typhoon which caused the worst flooding in 40 years. CNN's Eunice Yoon is in Isabella Province, she's joining us from a disaster command center.
Describe your location where you are.
EUNICE YOON, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, I'm standing right in front of a disaster command center. This center is open for 24 hours, it's midnight right now. But the people here said that they just want to make sure that any villager who needs help will be able to receive it. Their primary role is to coordinate the relief effort and to take care of any villagers and the potential evacuees.
Now, a couple hours ago, we visited an evacuation center, which was a converted school and daycare center. There are about 200 people there, all of them families. They were sleeping five people to a room on the floor in sleeping bags, for the most part they said they were well fed and in relatively good spirits and good condition, but the problem was the lack of electricity. There have been power outages all throughout this region including in this city. In fact, just a moment ago in one of my live shots the lights actually turned out.
So these are some of the problems that people are facing because of Typhoon Parma getting so close to this area and hitting the northern most tip of the Philippines -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And evacuations -- is that even a thought?
YOON: Thousands of people have been evacuated already. And just to get a better sense of the flooding, I managed to talk to one of the people, the villagers at the evacuation center. He said that he was reluctant to leave his home, which was situated right along a river bank, until the water level had risen to the first floor in his home. That's when he decided to text message this command center to ask for help -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Eunice Yoon thank you so much for that report. We'll check with you throughout the day.
Let's check with our Reynolds Wolf.
Boy, the United States picture, you know, we've dealt with pretty severe weather over the past couple weeks but nothing of the magnitude we're seeing overseas -- tsunamis, typhoons, it just goes on.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, no question about it. You know, although our season's been pretty quiet in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, it has been very busy in the Pacific and of course, case in point with the latest storm. We've been talking about that being Typhoon Parma.
We've got some good news and bad news with this storm. The bad news of course is the devastation it is leaving in its wake, the heavy rainfall that continues to fall north of Manila. This storm is actually weakened just a little bit just over the last couple hours. In fact, right now winds sustained at 85-miles-an-hour, but gusts have been up to 105.
Now, there are two things that we can expect with this storm. One is the storm should continue to make its way to the north. The other is it's going to gain some strength once again. Once it moves out over open water the forecast brings it just north of the Philippines with winds going from 85 into Sunday night with winds 90, but then the forecast brings it moving, boom, due to the east, and one of the reasons why is because we expect a frontal boundary to extend right off the China coast and that frontal boundary is going to push this system deeper into the Pacific.
So, that's great news especially for people who happen to be in Taiwan who are watching this thing very carefully.
(WEATHER REPORT) Fred, back to you.
WHITFIELD: OK, not bad at all. Thanks so much, Reynolds.
WOLF: You bet.
WHITFIELD: All right, well, there's nothing funny about the alleged plot to blackmail David Letterman. So, who is the guy accused of trying to shake down the funnyman for $2 million?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A Chicago man charged with stalking ESPN reporter Erin Andrews faces a federal judge today. Michael Barrett is accused of secretly taping Andrews while she was nude in two hotel rooms. The FBI says Barrett posted several videos on the Internet and tried to sell them to the celebrity website TMZ.
The former fiance of "Real Housewives of Atlanta" TV star Kandi Burruss is dead after an overnight bar fight. Atlanta police say Ashley "A.J." Jewell died after suffering a severe blow to the head. Police say the fight happened in the parking lot of an Atlanta strip club where Jewell is a manager.
Police have arrested Frederick Richardson and charged him with voluntary manslaughter. He is also identified as a manager of the club. And this from Jewell's former fiance, the Atlanta Housewives star, Burruss, via Twitter, saying, "I'm just in one of those moods where I don't want to talk. I don't want to be held and told it's going to be OK. I just want to cry myself to sleep, alone."
And new details on the man accused of the alleged $2 million shakedown of late night talk show host, David Letterman. The supposed extortionist, a fellow CBS employee, now free on a $200,000 bond. CNN's Tom Foreman explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Halderman in court today charged with first degree attempted grand larceny. Prosecutors say he demanded $2 million from Letterman in exchange for what he presented as a screenplay, but what prosecutors say was a clear attempt to blackmail.
ROBERT MORGENTHAU, MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTY: The document related then that Mr. Letterman's, "world is about to collapse" about him.
FOREMAN (on camera): This whole drama, according to prosecutors, played out over the past three and a half weeks largely right here in Manhattan, within a few blocks. September 9, they say, Halderman goes to Letterman's home down here and he leaves a package before dawn. That package contains the note and it makes his demand.
Letterman calls his attorney who meets with Halderman that same day and then contacts the district attorney. Prosecutors say more meetings are arranged including one right up here at the Essex House in the south side of Central Park. Halderman is secretly recorded...
(voice-over): Then this week, Letterman gives him a fake check for $2 million which investigators say Halderman deposits.
Letterman goes to the grand jury and then last night on his own show says he told them some creepy stuff.
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": The creepy stuff was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show. Now, my response to that is, "Yes, I have."
FOREMAN: Outside CBS News, Halderman was arrested. He's pleaded not guilty. His lawyer says they will fight the charge.
GERALD SHARGEL, HALDEMAN'S ATTY: This story is far more complicated than what you heard this afternoon. It's not the open and shut case that you just heard about.
FOREMAN: Halderman is out on bail now but if convicted could wind up in prison for 15 years.
(on camera): Halderman made good money, more than $200,000 a year, according to a contract from a couple years ago, but he also had big bills. There was a divorce settlement in which he was ordered to pay almost $7,000 in alimony and child support every month.
Tom foreman, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: OK, so we're not done with this story. What is the road ahead for Letterman and perhaps even Halderman? Our legal minds are going to be with us. You know who I'm talking about. There they go. Avery and Richard will be with us right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A look at top stories, right now. Five more U.S. service members are killed in Afghanistan. Two were killed in what's described as a hostile attack in eastern Afghanistan, a third died in a nearby roadside bombing. Two others were killed in a separate roadside bombing in the southern part of the country.
And rescue crews are frantically searching for dozens of people missing in Sicily, Italy after torrential rains sparked mudslides, there. So far 21 people have been killed. The town of Messina is one of the hardest hit areas, it's on the strait separating Sicily from the mainland.
And police are making arrangements for a Tennessee mother to be reunited with her son. They found the newborn who was snatched three days ago in Alabama. He is in good shape. His mother says he was taken by a woman claiming to be an immigration agent. We'll get another check of the top stories in about 20 minutes from now. All right, let's talk more about the David Letterman case. This time we'll look at the big picture, not just Letterman and what Halderman might be facing, but anybody else who may be having I guess relations at work. So, that's why we'll bring in our Avery Friedman and our Richard Herman in a moment, but first here's CNN's Brian Todd.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He dropped a bombshell on his "Late Show" on CBS.
LETTERMAN: What you don't want is a guy saying, oh, I know you had sex with women, so I would like $2 million or I'm going to make trouble for you.
TODD: Robert "Joe" Halderman, a producer for CBS' "48 Hours," has been arrested and charged with attempted extortion. He pleaded not guilty. But could David Letterman himself also be in trouble?
LETTERMAN: I have had sex with women who work for me on this show.
TODD: What does the law say about workplace trysts?
DEBORAH KATZ, SEXUAL HARASSMENT ATTY: The question is whether the romances were unwelcome to the women he was having them with. If there was a consensual relationship, then he's not in legal trouble for sexual harassment. It's poor judgment, undoubtedly, but not legal trouble.
TODD: To date, no claims have been publicly made regarding Letterman by any employee. Indeed, he recently married a former employee of the show. But a psychologist gives this warning...
JEFFREY GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Even if these women said, OK, I want to be involved with you, David, the fact is that he is a powerful person, he is the boss, and maybe even subconsciously, they are giving in to his sexual advances because it could be a quid pro quo situation, or a situation where they may feel that if I don't do this, then I won't be able to move up in the ranks. So, that's not healthy.
TODD (on camera): Deborah Katz says CBS or Letterman's production company could undertake an internal investigations into the show's workplace environment. When we asked about that a CBS spokesman declined to comment. A spokesperson for Letterman's company said it has a written policy on harassment and David Letterman did not violate it
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: OK, can you tell, I can't wait to talk to our legal guys about this? Let's turn to them right now. Avery Friedman a civil rights attorney and law professor.
Good to see you.
AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTY: Hi Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And Richard Herman a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor, as well.
Good to see you.
RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTY: Hi Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right, well, you know, what's interesting here, Richard, you say what's not so shocking here is that David Letterman would have sexual relations with his co-workers, but maybe the real shocker here is that this type of extortion would even be attempted by someone he worked with.
HERMAN: It's inconceivable, Fred. And you know, the fact that Letterman went directly to the district attorney's office, so they basically set up this Halderman with a series of meetings, recordings, you know, it's very difficult to cross examine a recording, but I will tell you this and just heed my words, the attorney representing Halderman, Gerald Shargel, he and I have never lost a case together. So, he's a very formidable attorney.
FRIEDMAN: OK.
HERMAN: Very formidable.
WHITFIELD: So, this is interesting. Then what might be up his sleeve then? I mean, if you've got alleged recordings, possibly even some sort of imagery, that I hear reportedly may be part of the evidence, then how in the world would you be able to defend Halderman? And there is an exchange, right, of a dummie check of $2 million.
FRIEDMAN: Yeah. I mean, I love the idea -- I'm sure Richard has people giving him $2 million checks all the time, but the reality is that what kind of individual actually was thinking that, I mean, you know, not cash, not you know, anything else, but an actual check. I mean, what in the world was Halderman thinking? The fact is that from a prosecution perspective, the U.S. attorney, despite Richard and Mr. Shargel's perfect record, I think there is a problem with this case and I think the U.S. attorney is likely to do very well here.
WHITFIELD: OK, Richard.
HERMAN: It's a state case and, you know, it's not over.
FRIEDMAN: Oh, you're right.
HERMAN: It's not over. It's the very beginning of the case. A lot of things are going to come out, here. Let's not jump to the conclusion yet. OK?
WHITFIELD: Well, what about what we just saw in the prior piece? When we talk about sexual harassment, we talk about possibly, you know, some real power grabbing here, potentially. Might David Letterman be looking at some potential cases of any of these women who may have said, you know what, the only way for me to get ahead -- all ready Avery, you're shaking your head no way -- in order to get ahead it meant I have to sleep with David Letterman. Might there be a case like that in the making?
FRIEDMAN: Well look, I actually represent -- I've represented women for decades against employers who have engaged in this sort of behavior, but there's nothing here, at least at this point that we know, that suggests anything other than consensual behavior. CBS has said that's the case. His production company has said that's the case. Unless there's some surprises here, Fredricka, I don't expect to see that in this case.
WHITFIELD: OK.
HERMAN: Fred, it was a mutually beneficial relationship. One of the women involved here, allegedly involved here, also received graduate schooling in law as a result of this, so there was a lot of upper mobility, here. It was consensual, like Avery said. I agree with Avery. I don't see any illegality here at all.
WHITFIELD: OK.
FRIEDMAN: But we have a while to go honestly.
WHITFIELD: Yeah, we do. This is really the beginning stages.
Let's talk about another case, we're talking about Tennessee and Japan are two of the areas that involved, here. Christopher Savoie, this man who lives in Tennessee but is a naturalized citizen in Japan. His ex-wife Noriko Savoie goes off to Japan, takes the two children and this husband, the man actually had sole custody of, but now he's in jail in Japan. How might the State Department get involved since Japan already has statutes on the books that say, the guardian that has possession of the child in this country is the one who has the right to have possession of this child -- Avery?
FRIEDMAN: Well, the problem here, your question is what can the State Department do? Well, the only thing I think they can do other than trying to comfort Christopher is to urge Japan to join in in executing a treaty which we have been a party to since 1980 and that is an international treaty concerning children being abducted.
It is really terrible that Japan is not a party to that and as a consequence of that, Fredricka, Christopher has very, very few rights here.
HERMAN: And the fact that Japan is not a party to that agreement gives us insight on where this is going. This is outrageous. This is tragic. This is almost as tragic as the one in Brazil, there. I mean, it's just unbelievable -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: Yeah, the difference is this father is in jail. You see him staying in jail for a while? HERMAN: Yeah. I see him staying in jail for a while, right. There's a lot of publicity there. They'll prosecutor him, he did it for the love of his children. But, you know, again, they're not a party to the treaty and as far as Japan is concerned, he has no rights to these children.
WHITFIELD: Right.
FRIEDMAN: This is terrible and Richard is exactly right.
WHITFIELD: All right, Richard, Avery, thanks so much. We have other cases, too. We'll get back with you in a few minutes.
WHITFIELD: OK. Let's talk about the Olympics. Rio. Getting ready. In Chicago, well, they're going back to work and they've got a lot of work ahead of them, but could the Windy City's failed bid at the Olympics blow back into the president's face?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Better prices and fewer crowds make fall a great time to do some international travel. Aisha Teshpar (ph) has some deals to keep you on the go.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AISHA TESHPAR (ph), CNN CORRESPONDENT: A fabulous vacation may fit in your budget this fall.
CHRIS MCGINNIS, EXPEDIA.COM: You'll find the lowest prices during the first two weeks of November and then during the first two weeks of December.
TESHPAR (ph): Mexico is one destination that's cheaper top visit this year.
MCGINNIS: Fares are down about 30 percent to resorts like Puerto Vallarta and Cancun.
TESHPAR (ph): There are also bargains in Europe.
MCGINNIS: In Amsterdam, you can get a package deal for 33 percent less than you paid last fall. London, which is always a big favorite, is down 32 percent, and Rome is down 26 percent.
TESHPAR (ph): But know how much to spend.
MCGINNIS: People in most major cities should be able to fly to Mexico during the fall for about $300 or a little bit less than that. Now, to get to Europe from the East Coast during the fall, you'll pay as little as $400 to $600 roundtrip, and from the West Coast about $500 to $700.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: The president is said to be taking Chicago's Olympic defeat in stride after going to Copenhagen and making a personal appeal. But how will it affect his clout at home and abroad? CNN's Ed Henry looks at that.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The president burned tons of jet fuel and political capital to fly seven hours to Copenhagen and offer his grand vision for America hosting the 2016 Olympics.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The nation that has been shaped by people from around the world wants a chance to inspire it once more.
HENRY: But then came Chicago's less than inspiring finish.
JACQUES ROGGE, INTL. OLYMPIC COMMITTEE PRESIDENT: The City of Chicago, having obtained the least number of votes, will not participate in the next round.
HENRY: A sharp blow delivered by the International Olympic Committee while the president was still mid air on his way back to Washington.
OBAMA: Although I wish that we had come back with better news from Copenhagen, I could not be prouder of my hometown of Chicago.
HENRY: A turn of events that left the President's Senior Advisor David Axelrod struggling to explain what happened to his clout on the international stage.
DAVID AXELROD, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: I don't view this as a repudiation of the president or - or the First Lady. I think that there are politics everywhere and there are politics inside that room.
HENRY: But it's hard not to see it as a rebuke, especially after the emotional pitch from First Lady Michelle Obama, her voice cracking as she recounted her late father's struggle with multiple sclerosis.
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: My dad was my hero, and when I think of what these games can mean to people all over the world, I think about people like my dad - people who faced seemingly insurmountable challenges but never let go.
HENRY: And the Olympic defeat is hardly the only challenge for the president. Even before he left Copenhagen, Mr. Obama met aboard Air Force One with General Stanley McChrystal, huddling on how to deal with the deteriorating war in Afghanistan, and upon his arrival back at the White House, the president was grappling with more bad news Friday - unemployment rose to 9.8 percent.
OBAMA: Today's job report is a sobering reminder that progress comes in fits and starts. HENRY: Top White House aides are confident the stimulus is working and will turn the jobs picture around early next year, but that's far from a certainty, and the president is still facing an uphill battle in his push for health reform. A loss in that battle would be far more devastating than the defeat here.
Ed Henry, CNN, Copenhagen.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: A prosecutor does a big flip flop in the Roman Polanski child sex case. He says he lied, spicing up the story for a documentary. We're going to ask our legal minds if it's a bombshell or no big deal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Still reeling from typhoon Katsana, the Philippines once again getting slammed by another - once again, rather, getting slammed by another typhoon named Parma. Tens of thousands of people have fled the coastline for higher ground. Last week's storm killed 246 people.
And the UN thinks 4,000 people may still be buried under debris after two earthquakes struck Indonesia this week. People are using hammers, chisels and bare hands to simply dig through the rubble. At least 540 people have been killed and the death toll is expected to go even higher.
And police in Atlanta make an arrest in the death of A.J. Jewell. He is the ex-fiance of Kandi Burruss, one of the stars of the reality TV show "Real House Wives of Atlanta". Jewell died overnight following a fight with a co-worker at a strip club where both men are managers.
Well, it's a bombshell rocking the high profile case of director Roman Polanski, now sitting in a Swiss jail and fighting extradition to the US. A former prosecutor in the US is now saying that he lied about influencing the judge in Polanski's child sex abuse case and that admission could kill Polanski's claims of trial misconduct.
Here now is CNN Entertainment Correspondent Kareen Wynter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: It's yet another bizarre twist in one of Hollywood's most notorious sex cases.
DAVID WELLS, RETIRED ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Where he had sexual intercourse with...
WYNTER: A retired Los Angeles prosecutor now at the center of the more than three decade old Roman Polanski case, one head ties to only in the beginning.
TOM O'NEIL, IN TOUCH WEEKLY: It's shocking that someone of his rank and his importance in this case would do such a thing.
WYNTER: That former prosecutor, David Wells, who, again, was not involved directly in the Polanski case later on, was seen here in the 2008 HBO documentary "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired."
Wells initially told the film maker he coached then Presiding Judge Laurence Rittenban on the case. That would have violated ethical standards, but the claims opened the doors for Polanski's attorneys, who pushed to have the case dismissed, alleging judicial misconduct, that his fate was already sealed before he could be sentenced.
WELLS: And what I told him was - I said, "You know, Judge, you've made so many mistakes, I think, in this case..."
WYNTER: Now, that very same David Wells who took credit for those back-door judicial dealings says it was all a lie, like this story in the film where Wells claims that he counseled Rittenban on Polanski's sentence.
WELLS: He says, "Well, what am I going to do? What should I do?" And I said, you know, what you should do is send him up for a 90-day observation.
WYNTER: Wells worked in the California courthouse where in 1977 the famed director pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. Polanski fled the country the following year to avoid sentence. The fugitive director was arrested Saturday in Switzerland, but Wells, a former prosecutor who's now changed his tune, has also joined Polanski in the spotlight.
Well, some wonder, was he lying then? Is he lying now? And what could his motivations be here?
O'NEIL: Wells thought he could get away with what he believed was a little lie at the time because the judge is no longer alive, and as this steamrolled and the stakes increased, Wells had a moment of conscience and said, "Oops! I lied."
WYNTER: Kareen Wynter, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. So let's dig deeper with our legal guys, Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor, back with us, and Richard Herman, a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor.
OK, gentlemen. So, Avery, you first. Roman Polanski - he says there was judicial misconduct. This admission from David Wells, might this compromise that?
AVERY FRIEDMAN, LAW PROFESSOR: Well, I - I think, on some level, it does. The difficulty is that he has obviously been a fugitive for decades and, mind you, is that, get a good lawyer - ultimately, he is coming back, Fredricka. He is coming back. He has already pled. The question is, good lawyers will raise those sorts of issues. It's his only shot. If not he'll spend the rest of his life in jail.
WHITFIELD: And so, Richard, how easy or difficult might it be for this extradition to actually take place? If it's going to happen, why is it taking so long? I realize it's only been a week, but we're talking about a case that's 30 years old.
RICHARD HERMAN, LAW PROFESSOR: You think it's going - you think it's long now? It's going to take a long time, Fred, and I - I disagree with Avery, with all due respect, he's never coming back. They are never going to release him from Switzerland. No way...
WHITFIELD: Really? But then, why would they arrest him in the first place?
HERMAN: They arrested him, but because of our laws here and the fact that he's a fugitive, he has no appellate rights, he can't bring an appeal on his sentence or anything -no way they're going to release him. They're not - they're not going to be bound by an extradition treaty with the United States and they are not going to release him.
FRIEDMAN: What? They're going to keep him...
WHITFIELD: All right. So, Avery, you know, one of the arguments that his attorney - Roman Polanski's attorney is actually making is - wait a minute, Switzerland unlawfully has apprehended him or arrested him. He should have - he was an invited guest to the country for this film festival - that he should have been told or instructed that there were potential repercussions that would take place because of this, you know, outstanding, I guess, sentence. Does - is he owed that, at least, by the - by the country? I mean, by that, would, I guess give him a safety net?
FRIEDMAN: Absolutely not! I mean, the United States has been trying to get their hands on this guy - I think they've tried nine separate times. And, frankly, I think the attorneys who raised those issues back in July essentially taunted the government, saying, look, you really haven't made a very sincere effort to get a hold of Polanski, so why don't you just drop the whole thing? That's what did it. As soon as Polanski started getting, you know, even more arrogant and making himself - putting himself at risk by going public, Fredricka, I think he did himself in and I - I disagree with Richard. I think he's on his way back to the United States.
WHITFIELD: Wow! Sooner rather than later?
FRIEDMAN: Yes.
HERMAN: Fred, you know, you got to - you got to just look at a snapshot here. This man pled guilty to providing Quaaludes and alcohol to a 13-year-old girl. He raped her. He pled guilty to it. He had a 42-day evaluation. It was going to be a sweetheart deal. The last minute, the judge said, no, I'm going to put you back in prison for another 40 days - 40 days! And based on that, he took off and hasn't been here since.
They tried to get him in Israel. They've tried - they made many attempts to bring him back to the United States. He's in a - he's in a hole right now, and the best thing they can do is fight - to fight this extradition, don't bring him back here because if he gets back here, he's going to be prosecuted, big time.
FRIEDMAN: And he's - Richard, he's coming back. He's coming back.
HERMAN: I don't think so.
WHITFIELD: OK. All right, real quick, there is an interesting case that's going to be before the US Supreme Court, maybe as early as next year. They're still arguing - and this involves Chicago. This is the case: McDonald versus Chicago, where at least one resident of Chicago says I want the right to bear arms in my home. Right now ban on hand guns.
Talk to me about where this case might be going, Avery - and the precedence is there was a DC case and hand guns are now permissible to law abiding citizens in Washington, DC.
FRIEDMAN: Right. Well, what that - what that case did not do, Fredricka, is apply the law to state and local hand gun regulation. And the question that the McDonald case that you identified will - will be addressed in the Supreme Court is whether or not that Heller decision that applies to federal law will apply to state and local. That's the simple answer (ph).
WHITFIELD: Right, because that's a federal city - Washington is a federal city and that's...
FRIEDMAN: Exactly, right.
WHITFIELD: That's why it's different. Richard, do you see Chicago perhaps being able to use that DC case as the path toward it, too, being able to lift that ban?
HERMAN: Well, they're going to try to and they're going to try to allege the statute is unconstitutional, and if that's the case it'll go back down for trial in Chicago, which, if hand guns are released in Chicago, this will fit into your 4:00 session today, Fred, where you're going to address violence in Chicago.
WHITFIELD: We are indeed. Thanks so much for that tease, because that's exactly where we're going at 4:00 Eastern time today. Richard and Avery, thanks so much. I know Avery, you're going to join us again in that 4:00 Eastern hour and talk about - a little bit more on where that case might be going. We're also going to try and get to the bottom of what many people from the city, the police department, as well as the community level are saying what needs to take place in order to stop this spate of violence taking place.
Josh Levs is also going to be weighing in right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The violence in Chicago - a real problem for the entire country, and the US Supreme Court will be taking up a case from Chicago about gun ownership in your home. In our 4:00 Eastern hour today we'll be getting answers to a lot of your questions, and that's the focus for one full hour, "Taking Aim: Chicago Violence." We're going to really delve into a lot of topics as it pertains to what's taking place in that city right now.
Josh Levs, you've already been hearing from people. We have on our blogs as well as on our Facebook pages, right?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, all over the place. And you and the legal eagles were just talking about how timely this is, right? And as you're saying, we've got the big case and also we just keep hearing these stories about Chicago, plus a lot of people following the Olympic decision, did the violence in Chicago have something to do with it?
Let's just take a look at where you can weigh in. This is the blog right here. We're asking you what's going on in Chicago. And if we zoom way in, I'll just show you some examples of what we're getting. Alex writes us, "It's called war, deadly video game images, gangster rap, daddy in jail, parents on crack and drugs..." He gives us this whole list. You can just see a lot of things.
Mavismurrow saying, "This city can't protect their children and they want the Olympics?" We got Brian saying, "Instead of fighting wars across the seas, let's send troops into our cities to get rid of all gang activities."
We're following Facebook too, seeing a lot of comments coming here. Let's just go right to this screen so everyone get to see where to weigh in. First you got Fred's information, cnn.com/newsroom - that's the NEWSROOM blog. Also, she's up on Facebook, and you got her e-mail address.
And then the next screen is my stuff. You have the same blog cnn.com/josh, my Facebook page, Josh Levs CNN, and Twitter.com/joshlevscnn. I'm literally following all of those, Fred, pulling together lots of questions and comments to toss at our experts in that 4:00 hour today.
WHITFIELD: Yes, and among those experts, we really have a - a phenomenal panel. One man, a police officer for Chicago, there for - a veteran of 18 years, but he lost his 16-year-old son to violence in the streets. He's going to be joining us, as well as an older man who is a Chicagoan who is at the heart of that case that's going to the Supreme Court who says I want to be able to bear arms in my home.
So all of that, 4:00 Eastern hour. We want you to join us.
All right, let's talk about the swine flu. Coming up, some people are more vulnerable than others. And they're still waiting on a vaccine.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now. Violence claims the lives of more US troops in Afghanistan. NATO says five Americans were killed in separate attacks across the country. Two were killed in an incident in Eastern Afghanistan, a third died in a nearby road side bombing, two others were killed in another road side bombing in the south.
And devastating mud slides in Southern Italy have claimed the lives of more than a dozen people, but with dozens more missing, the death toll is expected to rise. A torrential downpour on the island of Sicily two days ago triggered the landslides, and many roads are so badly blocked that some towns are only accessible by foot or by sea.
And most healthy people don't necessarily have to worry too much about swine flu, but there is one group that is especially vulnerable, and the vaccine is still not available to them. CNN's Kitty Pilgrim reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For pregnant women, flu season can be deadly, and swine flu vaccine is not yet available. The CDC says the first shipments of the vaccines should be going to some states early next week, but that will only be the nasal spray version, and the spray cannot be used on pregnant women because it contains a live vaccine.
Pregnant women will have to wait for the flu injection and it may be several more weeks before that is available.
DR. ANNE SCHUCHAT, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: Twenty-eight pregnant women in the US have died so far from the H1N1 influenza. These are really upsetting numbers, I know...
PILGRIM: Dr. Jacques Moritz is the director of Gynecology at Roosevelt Hospital in New York. He was shocked by the death rate for pregnant women and is urging all his patients to get the swine flu vaccine as soon as it is available.
DR. JACQUES MORITZ, DIRECTOR OF GYNECOLOGY, ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL: It looks like H1N1 or the swine behaves differently in pregnant women. It makes kind of sense because of the immune system - the immune system in pregnant women is very depressed. We were very, very surprised with that death rate, because we don't have women dying in pregnancy.
We're dealing with young, healthy women that are pregnant. That's what we deal with, as obstetricians. So to hear that, first of all, a hundred people with flu had to be hospitalized in an intensive care and 28 of them died? That's a huge number.
PILGRIM: Another startling admission, scientists at the CDC reviewed autopsy reports from 77 fatal cases of swine flu and found about a third of those deaths had also traces of pneumonia. So now the CDC is recommending that people at high medical risk also get a pneumonia vaccine. That means some people will be taking three vaccines this fall.
Kitty Pilgrim, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. The violence problem in Chicago is topic number one this afternoon in the 4:00 Eastern hour, the entire hour devoted to examining the problem and looking towards solutions. We're calling it "Taking Aim: Chicago Violence."
You can be part of this conversation. Join our phenomenal guests that are going to be with us. Send your questions and comments to weekends@cnn.com or to Facebook, my page there, Fredricka Whitfield CNN, or to my blog, cnn.com/newsroom/fredricka.
Stay with CNN throughout day for other late breaking news. We hope you join us throughout the day.
"YOUR MONEY" starts now.
