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Italian Jury Convicts American; Deadly Race Track Fire; Roman Polanski on Bond
Aired December 05, 2009 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good Saturday afternoon to you. This is CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Brooke Baldwin sitting in for Fredricka Whitfield today.
We begin this hour with a new development in this whole battle over health care. CNN has learned that President Obama will, in fact, be headed to Capitol Hill tomorrow to speak person to person here with these Senate Democrats. And sources tell us the president will try to keep these negotiations going on, a possible compromise over the so- called public option proposal.
Now, the senate debated health care again today, during this rare Saturday session, and if you caught it earlier today you know what I'm talking about, here. Tempers, they are getting very short.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: They're not too interested in seeing their --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The senator yield, the time being equally allocated both sides on this colloquy.
(CROSS TALK)
MCCAIN: I don't know what the deal was. I don't know what the deal was.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As your fellow senator -
MCCAIN: I guarantee --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can tell you the deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The senator from Arizona has the floor.
MCCAIN: I don't know what the deal was, but we will find out what the deal was just like the deals were cut with all these other -
BAUCUS: What the deal was -
MCCAIN: ... which is full of lobbyists. I can't walk through the hallway HERE without bumping into one of the lobbyist.
BAUCUS: The senator wants to hear the deal.
MCCAIN: If he keeps interrupting he is violating the rules of the Senate. I thought he would have learned them by now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Senators John McCain and Max Baucus going back and forth. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid meantime hopes to get this health care bill passed by Christmas.
A lot happening over at the Pentagon as well. They're moving ahead with President Obama's plans to boost troop levels in Afghanistan. In fact, the Pentagon official has confirmed to CNN that Defense secretary Robert Gates, he signed this order yesterday to deploy the very first wave of reinforcements. A total of 30,000 additional U.S. troops will be sent to Afghanistan by early fall. The first wave includes forces from both the Army and the Marines.
The new war strategy in Afghanistan is having this massive impact here on the Hoagland family in South Carolina. This father and four sons are all in the military. Three of them being deployed to Afghanistan. They are now in Wisconsin headed to Afghanistan in just a couple of minutes. You don't want to miss this. I will be speaking to the sole female of the family here, Mrs. Hoagland, and hear what she thinks of the president's decision.
Protesters hitting the streets of New York today. Voicing their outrage over the government's decision to hold 9/11 terror trials in civilian court in Manhattan. Look at everyone in the rain out there in support here. Several hundred people attended this rally near the city's federal courthouse complex.
And basically they're claiming that putting these 9/11 suspects on trial in New York really just right by ground zero will make the city a terrorism target and they say the cases belong instead in a military tribunal. Many of the protesters were family members of the 9/11 victims, including the sister of the pilot who crashed the plane into the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBRA BURLINGAME, SISTER OF 9/11 VICTIM: I have great confidence in the New York Police Department. They are one of the best police departments in the world really for dealing with any kind of terrorism. Yes, this makes New York city a target. It has been a target, but the main objection I have is that this turns the war on terror into criminal actions. We did that in the 1990s. We served warrants, we arrested and we brought them to trial.
Some of them - most of them, maybe 29 convictions that were tried in 1990s and still we have the 1998 bombing in Africa that killed 224 people, and then we had 9/11. We can't fight this in a courtroom. We have to recognize that this is a war and to bring the enemy, a war criminal.
The attorney general recognizes that he is a war criminal, and reward him for targeting civilians in an atrocity by giving him full constitutional rights and allowing him to rally his fellow Islamists, his fellow jihadist at the site of his greatest victory, that is going to cause grave danger to our troops who are fighting them now in the middle of this war and it will cost a grave danger to the Americans here who will be targeted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: If you will allow me to rephrase that. It wasn't the pilot actually, of course, her brother who crashed the plane. It was the terrorist. He was not behind the controls.
Not all New Yorkers agree there. Congressman Jarrold Nadler supports Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to hold the terror trials in civilian courts on U.S. soil.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JERROLD NADLER (D), NEW YORK: Every time they try to conduct a military trial, the Supreme Court - and say you don't have all the rights, all the normal constitutional rights, the Supreme Court stepped in and said, wrong, you can't do that.
During the seven years of the Bush administration after 9/11, we convicted 195 terrorists and sentenced them to long terms in prison in regular courts and managed to get three minor charges plea bargained in military tribunals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Now, the congressman's position is being echoed by some of the 9/11 families who were out there today who say it is fitting that these suspects answer charges just a short walk from ground zero.
Lawyers for a Amanda Knox plan to appeal her murder conviction. Family members visited Knox, in fact, this morning in prison after an Italian jury convicted the 22-year-old American of murdering her British roommate. She was sentenced to 26 years in prison.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDDA MELLAS, AMANDA KNOX'S MOTHER: Amanda, like the rest of us, is extremely disappointed, upset about the decision. We're all in shock. We're all heartened by the court not only from the people of Perugia, many Italians, people from all over the world have been sending us messages of support all through the night. And you know, the media has been, you know, supportive. Amanda got great support when she came back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And Amanda Knox's aunt also says the jury made the wrong decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANET HUFF, AMANDA KNOX'S AUNT: All they did. They listened to the media lies that were put out there. They didn't listen to the facts and go on the facts. That's all they were supposed to do, and they didn't have the courage to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: CNN's Paula Newton has more from Perugia, Italy.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, what a day here, really. The contrast of the two families, you have the Amanda Knox family emerging from a visit with their daughter in prison saying, look, she's innocent, we will fight. Clearly shattered by the fact they had to leave her behind in that prison.
And then you have the Meredith Kercher family saying we're satisfied with this verdict, but at the same time saying look this isn't a time for celebration, this isn't a time for triumph. This is a tragedy and they wanted people to remember that Meredith Kercher was a vibrant British exchange student and that they still miss her.
Now, the next phase here is the appeals process. How does that begin? The jury releases its written motivations, reasons for why they reached this verdict within the next 60 days. After that the appeals process starts, and that's when we start to get to the issue of reasonable doubt. What are those reasonable doubts and how they can be exploited by the Knox defense. We really don't expect a hearing of substance for several months. This entire thing will go on perhaps for as long as it's gone on so far, another couple years, maybe even longer, Brooke, it's not unheard of. Brooke.
BALDWIN: Paula Newton for us in Perugia, Italy. Paula, thank you.
More now from the family of the murder victim. Meredith Kercher's brother says the verdict was just.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYLE KERCHER, BROTHER OF MEREDITH KERCHER: We're very satisfied with the prosecution of here case together they worked very hard for. It has reached a climax as it were. If it's not the ultimate climax for now because of course I'm sure there will be some, you know, ongoing appeals and so on, which, you know, I'm sure will be discussed later.
But ultimately, you know, we are pleased with the decision, pleased that we've got a decision, but it's not a time - it's not a time for celebration at the end of the day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Under Italian law, the jury actually has 90 days to submit an explanation of how it reached its guilty verdict.
A few Americans actually have more at stake in Afghanistan than Bonnie Hoagland. The North Carolina mother has four sons - four and her husband, all of them serving in the military. She will join me next to share her thoughts on the president's Afghanistan plan.
And Roman Polanski trades a Swiss jail cell for house arrest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Dozens of horses, two racetrack workers dead following this early morning fire that really just swept through this massive horse barn in Ohio. Happening in the town of Lebanon, and reporter Mark Bruce of CNN affiliate WHIO, is following the story for us there on the ground. Mark, bring me up to speed here and check my numbers. I'm hearing 65 horses and two people killed, correct?
MARK BRUCE, REPORTER, WHIO: We actually now have a new number here this afternoon. 43 horses, two people killed here at the Warren County fair grounds. We are between Cincinnati and Dayton, and this is home for the Lebanon raceway, a harness racing track. I want you to see what's left of barn 16. there is really nothing left. This was a barn that held those 43 horses that are now gone as well as two people.
You can see there are people right there now just kind of trying to sift through this football-sized barn, little left of it as these owners are trying to account for their horses, many of which sit still charred in this rubble. Crews actually had to bring in heavy machinery today to move the debris of this barn as the fire still smoldered.
A passerby first called 911 at about 5:00 a.m. this morning. Investigators say the fire could have started as early as 2:00 a.m. It took dozens of firefighters to fight it. They could not save the 43 horses that were inside and the two people as well. Fire marshals from here in Ohio have not identified a cause. Those two adult males inside have not been identified either.
This comes as a really hard time is hitting the horse racing industry here in Ohio, Lebanon Raceway, and really all horse racing tracks that are feeling quite a crunch from other tracks in other states that have video gambling which we do not have here in Ohio. Owners here in Lebanon have actually told us that this track could go bankrupt.
Now the owners having to deal with this loss of their horses and these people and these horses are really more than just horses. They're very personal. The owners of these horses do not do this for money. This is just a real personal love for them and now they have lost a lot of them. If you can come back out live we can just tell you what's going on. It's really a very sad day here. This is a very rural community in between Cincinnati and Dayton that has a very long horse history.
There was actually a parade of horses, a Christmas carriage parade going on today that is still going on. So a very sad day here not only for the lives of these horses but also the two people here that were working to gather more information just exactly what did happen to them.
BALDWIN: Sure.
BRUCE: That's the latest here.
BALDWIN: Sure. So the parade is going on, I understand the race has been canceled, at least some good news. Mark, you're reporting 43 horses. That is much better than the 65 we heard before. Mark Bruce reporting there live for us from Lebanon, Ohio. Mark, thank you.
When President Obama announced his new Afghanistan strategy earlier this week, he had Bonnie Hoagland's full attention and here is why. Hoagland's husband and four sons are in the military. Two of these sons and her husband are getting ready to ship out to Afghanistan. Bonnie Hoagland is joining me live now from Charlotte, North Carolina.
Wow, Bonnie. I want to first salute you as being the sole female in this family of four men, three of whom are en route to Afghanistan via Wisconsin, and I guess I just want to ask you, I'm sure you're so proud of them but do you go to bed at night at all worried?
BONNIE HOAGLAND, HUSBAND & SONS DEPLOYING: Yes. Every day, every night just kind of worried and up on edge to when and where they will be going and when they'll be back.
BALDWIN: Do you know where they'll be heading?
HOAGLAND: No, and I don't know exactly when they will be leaving. I just know they will be going to Afghanistan.
BALDWIN: What about, tell me about your other son who had been in Afghanistan and is now back home or is in is it South Carolina? Recovering from injuries from Afghanistan.
HOAGLAND: My fourth son, he is in Ft. Benning, and he had just returned from Iraq and will soon be deployed over to Afghanistan also.
BALDWIN: So four - every man in your house headed to Afghanistan at some point, we just don't know when. I want to ask you, I'm sure you did listen to the president earlier in the week and from what I have read, you agree with the president that the mission in Iraq was misguided, but you disagree with the president in what regard?
HOAGLAND: In the regards of how I feel like that is, I just feel like when we went to Iraq, it was - we should have been focusing more on Afghanistan to where that is where our main fight should have been to take care of this. We wasted a lot of time there, and we should have been focusing where they were attacked from.
BALDWIN: I'm sure you have heard the president is calling for the surge of about 30,000 troops, but you say it's not enough.
HOAGLAND: Yes, I feel like that's not enough to get our soldiers home and that's all soldiers, to get them home to where they can be home with their families. We need to send more troops in order to get the job done that we're looking to get done.
BALDWIN: I saw the dog tags around your neck. Obviously your husband and your three sons are near and dear close to your heart. If they were listening now from Wisconsin, do you have a message for them?
HOAGLAND: I'm hoping they're listening. I'm not sure, but every one of them, I'm very, very proud of them. I'm proud of the other soldiers that - and families that also are enduring the same that my family is enduring.
BALDWIN: Any idea when they might be coming home or is that just too far ahead to look?
HOAGLAND: Hopefully sometime the end of next year is all we know. We're not really sure exactly when.
BALDWIN: And what's just - what's the biggest challenge for being the sole - the female, the mother, the wife, what's the biggest challenge for you?
HOAGLAND: Just trying to make it from day to day. You try not to focus too much on a lot of the news. You try to keep yourself busy, talk to other families, soldiers' families that are also in the same shape you're in. You just try to help everybody that has someone there.
BALDWIN: Well, Bonnie, like I said, I salute you and, of course, your family for serving for this country. Bonnie Hoagland for us from Charlotte, North Carolina. Thank you.
HOAGLAND: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Now that President Obama has laid out his plan, get an in depth look at what's happening in Afghanistan. You can watch I- reports from all around the world and read blog posts. All you have to do is go to cnn.com/afghanistan, and you can also get first-person accounts from the region as well as charts on U.S. troop levels throughout the years. Again that's at cnn.com/afghanistan.
More than 65 years after the end of World War II, a small but very determined group continues to hunt for Nazi criminals. We will tell you about them and about their story thanks to two of our own CNN producers.
And also ahead, a movie as current as the war in Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know what I did to get back to you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know what I did? To get back to!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Checking today's top stories. This racetrack fire just outside of Cincinnati in the town of Lebanon has killed two people and scores of horses. It was a predawn fire at the Lebanon Raceway, broke out in this barn the size of a football field. Investigators trying to figure out what caused this thing, but today's races have definitely been canceled as a result.
Filmmaker Roman Polanski out of jail on bond and he's spending his first full day under house arrest in Switzerland. Polanski will remain at his Swiss chalet until authorities decide whether to return him to the U.S.. He faces sentencing in Los Angeles for having sex with a 13-year-old girl some 32 years ago.
If you have a can of Slim-Fast in the house, toss it in the trash can. The makers of Slim-Fast say the premade shakes may be contaminated with some kind of microorganism, harmful bacteria. So what are they doing, they're recalling 10 million cans. The FDA stepping in, investigating here. The recall extends to all Slim-Fast premade shakes regardless of flavor or sell by date.
Well, it's the weekend, and it means the perfect time to head to the movies. Coming up we'll be talking to our film critic Ben Mankiewicz about one film in particular that is now officially out if you're a George Clooney fan. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Snow in the south. Could it be? Oh, yes, it is. You're looking at it. Some places in the south definitely getting hit hard by some of the flakes really turning into some snow building up here. Take a look at this. This is really coming down there in Knoxville, Tennessee. Up to five inches they say could fall before it's said and done. And even along the Blue Ridge Highway, even more snow.
Take a look at this. Man it has really been coming down there at the White House. Pretty pictures. Looks like almost a greeting card. Karen Maginnis, you agree with me and it's beautiful to look at but I guess I'm already getting chilly thinking about it.
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. And the wind is blowing pretty good, too. We got right around 25 to 30-mile-an-hour winds being reported, and some higher gusts as we go through the evening as that area of low pressure that's just off the coast right around the Delmarva Peninsula is going to be moving up the coast.
The snow is coming down a little more lightly, however the forecast is still keeping three to five inches of snowfall in the forecast. I want to point out the delays that are taking place, and that northeastern corridor does include that Washington, D.C.. It looks like the arrival delays decreasing just a little bit, right around 25 minutes, but as that weather not so bad right now, but we could see that stretch out a little bit as we go through the evening hours and the snow begins to accumulate a little bit.
Newark, Baltimore, also Philadelphia. Those are some of the delays that we're looking at on the hour from one hour to an hour and a half. Some of the delays that are being reported right now. Let's go ahead and take a look at what's happening across that northeastern corridor. As I mentioned, an area of low pressure lies just off the Delmarva Peninsula. That's going to be traveling just off the coast. It throws that moisture back onshore, and, in fact, it will be down south or down east in coastal sections of Maine I think that we'll see the heaviest snowfall as it travels right along the coast.
This is going to be some of the most significant snowfall that we see, the first significant snowfall. As I say it's going to be the first plowable snowfall of the season right around Boston. We could see a couple of inches of snow. New York City, maybe on the order of an inch or so. It's going to be kind of slushy and wet. So drive carefully.
Some of these further to the south, Washington, D.C., not as significant snow event, but nonetheless a little troublesome if you are driving along some of those roadways. And those airports definitely affected not so much because of the snow but the visibility is a problem. Big snow event taking place across the west, especially from the wind river, the bitterroot, the bighorns down to the San Juan and Sangre de Cristos. Could see higher peaks, Brooke, between 10 and 20 inches of snowfall. Back to you.
BALDWIN: Wow. We are seeing some serious snow and, Karen Maginnis, it is exciting but perhaps if you get sick of seeing the snow fall, in your neck of the woods, you can head into the movies and let's talk movies since it's a Saturday and it's kind of a nice way to spend your evening, isn't?
Film critic Ben Mankiewicz, he is also the host of "Turner Classic Movies," joining me now from Los Angeles. Be, I'm kind of excited especially with this first movie that we're going to talk about because it's up in the air. It's already getting some Oscar buzz. Before I get your reaction. Let's go to a clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To know me is to fly with me. This is where I live. I run my card, the system automatically prompts the desk clerk to greet me with this exact statement.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pleasure to see you again, Mr. Bingham.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This kind of systematize friendly touch keeps my world in orbit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: All right, Ben. I'm a George Clooney fan. I think I'm going to see this one. So it's already getting a lot of buzz?
BEN MANKIEWICZ, HOST, "TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES": Yes, it is getting a lot of buzz. I don't quite entirely know what buzz means and when I attempt to predict who is going to take home an Oscar nomination, I'm as wrong as I am when I bet on football, which I do for recreational purposes only. Nonetheless -
Of course, right? This is a terrific film, no question about it. George Clooney, who I'm a fan of as well, a little bit of a man crush on George Clooney. He plays a guy named Ryan Bingham.
BALDWIN: I like it when people admit that.
MANKIEWICZ: I totally can admit that. I'm very comfortable with myself there. He plays a guy named Ryan Bingham. He's a professional downsizer which means he just travels around the country 322 days a year on the road, which means he regrets spending 43 days at home and he goes around the country going to businesses and firing people because the people who run those businesses don't have the courage, the gumption or know how to do it themselves. And it's a pretty powerful movie.
But in the process, of course in this sort of cruel world he lives in, he leads a very sort of emotionless life without real connections to anyone. He finally makes a connection with a terrific actress, Vera Farmiga and the story is whether he's sort of going to let her into his world which takes place at 37,000 feet. Anna Kendrick by the way also terrific in the movie, she is also in the "Twilight" movie. She plays a woman who tries to sort of re-do the business and make it even more remote by firing people over the internet. But it is a terrific, terrific film. I'm sure, one other quick point, 25 people in this movie were actually fired from their jobs, and they are --
BALDWIN: So they can empathize.
MANKIEWICZ: Clooney actually fires them. Yes, you know, it adds some authenticity and power to the movie.
BALDWIN: OK. So that's up in the air. What about this movie "Armored." What do you think?
MANKIEWICZ: "Armored" is about sort of six guys who are -- they're armored car officers and they devise not surprisingly a plan to have a heist, to steal 42 million bucks. You see Laurence Fishburne, Matt Dillon, Jean Reno but Columbus Short is the guy we identify within one of the six develops a conscience and is in a standoff with the others. You know, there's not much to this film except it was sort of surprisingly tense, it's also short which I admire in a movie whereas I would give up in the air -- I give this a C plus. It's not bad. It's not what you think it will be.
BALDWIN: OK, maybe not a must-see. What about the movie "Brothers"? It's a simple title, its complicated issues really facing this family. This marine presumed dead in war. I'm definitely hooked by the trailer that I have seen. Let's take a look at this clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Because of you!
(INAUDIBLE)
BALDWIN: So, Ben, some big names in this one and, I mean, that's some serious acting. I want to see this one. MANKIEWICZ: Yes. No. Look, and that's what sells this movie is terrific performances by, you see, Tobey Maguire with Natalie Portman in a very emotional scene. They're married. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Tobey Maguire's brother. I think a lot of people may thought, they already were brothers.
BALDWIN: They look related.
MANKIEWICZ: They look related, similar career paths. The performances are very strong and when Tobey Maguire goes missing and is presumed dead in Afghanistan, he's actually been captured by the Taliban. Jake Gyllenhaal, he's sort of no good brother starts to bond with Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire's kids, and then of course, it turns out that he can see Tobey Maguire is not dead and eventually he escapes or is freed by the army, by other marines sort there in Afghanistan and it's about his readjustment and dealing with the significant emotional trauma that he underwent in Afghanistan. The performances are great. There's something that sort of just missing that doesn't feel quite right. This is an actor's movie and everybody delivers, especially Portman and McGuire, but I would call this film sort of in the end, good but not great. It is emotionally draining. I'd give it a B minus, but I mean, it's worth seeing for nothing else and for the performances.
BALDWIN: So, like don't have plans to go out after the movies and have drinks. You're going to want to go home and just ...
MANKIEWICZ: Or go out and drink heavily after the movie. Also a possibility.
BALDWIN: OK. Final movie "Everybody is Fine," what do you think?
MANKIEWICZ: Well, speaking of drinking heavily.
BALDWIN: Oh, no.
MANKIEWICZ: "Everybody is Fine" is a great title except for I would make one small change. I would say, "Everybody is not Fine", or perhaps everybody is incredibly sad. You know, the posters and the ads for this movie and make it seem like Robert De Niro, who by the way delivers a terrific performance as he did last year in just what happened, a reminder if everybody has forgot what a great actor De Niro is. He plays a widowed father and he's having big family weekend, but his kids -- his four kids, they don't show up.
They all cancel, so he sets out around the country to go see them, and you think maybe a heartwarming holiday story, but quite to the contrary, in fact. This is a sad, sad, sad movie about a dysfunctional family that cannot connect and it pretty much stays sad throughout. The ads and the posters very, very misleading on this one, and in the end there was something that didn't seem genuine about these family members. There was Drew Barrymore, Sam Rockwell, Kate Beckinsale, play his kids.
BALDWIN: So, final grade? MANKIEWICZ: I am going to give this one a C at best.
BALDWIN: OK. All right. Ben Mankiewicz, thank you for that. I think "Brothers" is definitely on my list. Thank you.
BALDWIN: A ray of hope here on the jobs front. Last month you saw the numbers here. The unemployment rate fell to 10 percent. Only 11,000 jobs were cut. That is the lowest monthly loss since December of 2007. Also this week business and nonprofit leaders met at the white house to talk about ways to jump start the economy and create jobs. President Obama urged the participants to think big while republican leaders blasted his administration's economic efforts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER: You look at all of these policies that are being proposed and the tax rates that are so uncertain, it's no surprise to any of us that employers continue to do nothing.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We cannot hang back and hope for the best when we've seen the kinds of job losses that we've seen over the last year. I am not interested in taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to creating jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Small businesses are on the front lines of the economic crisis, and CNN's Kate Bolduan talked to some of the folks facing tough choices every day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DENISE D'AMOUR, OWNER, CAPITOL HILL BIKES: Is it just you here today?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): Denise D'amour opened capital hill bikes in 2000.
D'AMOUR: Our first expansion was really to open up that back room where we had a lot of our accessories, pumps, helmets.
BOLDUAN: You outgrew your space. When economic times were good, D'amour needed to expand to make room for the booming business, a small business owners dream.
D'AMOUR: Then came the perfect storm of the recession, the lack of cash. We couldn't support this real estate any more.
BOLDUAN: D'amour cut payroll from 20 to eight employees. She even tapped into her retirement fund to keep the business afloat but frozen credit and limited access to cash is forcing capital hill bikes to close its doors. Small businesses across the country are facing the very same painful decisions. ADP, a payroll processor, estimates companies with fewer than 50 employees cut another 68,000 workers last month. It's something President Obama is trying to show he's tackling head-on hosting a jobs forum Thursday and promising new ideas to kick start hiring once again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We are constantly looking for more ways that we can push the banks and the credit markets to get money into the hands of small and medium-sized businesses.
BOLDUAN: Seven hundred and thirty million dollars of stimulus money went to the small business administration to unlock lending markets. But small business owners on the front lines say they need more help.
RYAN FOCHLER, OWNER, DOG PAWN'N CAT CLAWNS: The lack of capital is just completely stunted our growth and has prevented us from even hiring even more people than what we, you know, currently have.
BOLDUAN: Until that happens, Ryan Fochler says, for his pet daycare and grooming company, the credit crunch is like working with his hands tied behind his back. Back at capital hill bikes Denise D'amour is proof that doesn't work for long and she hopes Washington is listening.
(on camera): What would you say to them about your situation and what you need?
D'AMOUR: What we need ready access, easy access to cash, to support some cash flow through the hard times.
BOLDUAN: Democrats on Capitol Hill are already considering a jobs package of sorts to include more direct lending to small businesses among other measures, and President Obama is expected to lay out his specific ideas for spurring job creation in a speech scheduled Tuesday. Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Also this week, house democrats announced a plan to use money intended to bail out banks to pay for new jobs bill. How about that?
Well, you just saw him a second ago talking movies. Guess what? Ben Mankiewicz is about to be back with the latest movies out on DVD. We will help you sort through the good, the bad, and the must-see.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMY ADAMS, AS JULIA POWELL "JULIE AND JULIA" MOVIE: She changed everything. Before her it was frozen food and can openers and marshmallows.
CHRIS MESSINA, AS ERIC POWELL "JULIE AND JULIA" MOVIE: Don't knock marshmallows.
MERYL STREEP, AS JULIA CHILD, "JULIE AND JULIA" MOVIE: When you flip anything, you've just got to have the courage of your convictions, especially if it's a loose sort of mass like -- oh, that didn't go very well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Checking our top stories now. In Manhattan angry voices aimed at the justice department. Several hundred people gathered in the rain today to rally against plans to put five major terror suspects on trial in New York. Among those demonstrators, people who have lost relatives and friends in the 9/11 attacks. Opponents say the trials could make New York a terror target, and the suspects should be tried instead by a military tribunal.
In the Italy, the parents of Amanda Knox say they are disappointed and shocked, shattered really by the American exchange student's murder conviction. Victim's family members say they are satisfied with the verdict. They say it was just. Knox was given a 26-year sentence for the killing of her former roommate, a British exchange student. Knox's former boyfriend got 25 years. Knox could have received a sentence of life in prison. Both plan to appeal.
On Capitol Hill, no weekend off for U.S. senators. They are working on this health care overhaul bill. Democratic leaders are hoping to pass this bill by Christmas. In fact, we just heard today President Obama plans to drop by Capitol Hill tomorrow we're hearing around 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time to rally these democratic senators.
A lot of DVDs coming out next week just in time for the holidays. Three big ones. We're talking about "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince," "Julie and Julia," and "Public Enemies."
So, Ben is back. Film Critic and Host of Turner Classic Movies, Ben Mankiewicz moved so far. Joining me again from Los Angeles to talk about these, and Ben, this is the final "Harry Potter," correct?
MANKIEWICZ: No, no, no. There's a whole other book they haven't done and they're turning that book into two movies. I think its "Harry Potter Goes to Camp." If I'm not mistaken, it's the last one. This is "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" but there are two more movies coming base on the ...
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: I'm sorry, I am not hip on my Harry Potter. I apologize.
Mankiewicz: Well, that's interesting because I think for people who aren't big Harry Potter fans of the book this is the best movie so far. And I don't know whether Hardcore, Harry Potter fans will agree. But as sort of Harry and Hermione and Ron have gotten older, I think this movie is a little better. They are older, they're more aggressively dating, and this movie is set a little bit more in the real world. Director David Yates, this is his second one.
He's also doing the last one. It looks great as they all do, but again because this world is set a little more in the real world, a little less in the wizard world, I thought it really worked well. I gave it a good review when it came out. I'm giving it a B plus now. I think it's a really solid film and a dark horse now that they are ten nominations for Oscar. If any "Harry Potter" movie will ever get nominated for an Oscar, it will be this one so far. It will get some nominations I suspect. Most "Harry Potter" movies have been completely shut out.
BALDWIN: OK. Let me move on "Julie and Julia," we have a clip. Then let me get you to react.
MANKIEWICZ: Sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMY ADAMS, AS JULIA POWELL "JULIE AND JULIA": If I really wanted to learn to cook, I could just cook my way through Julia Child's cookbook. I could blog about that. I have a copy, I stole it from my mother last time I was in Texas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And Ben, this is a true story, is it not?
Yes. This is sort of half the movie set in the late '40s, early 50s, Julia Child in Paris and then Amy Adams who plays Julie Powell works for the City of New York who decides in a year to make all 524 recipes in Julia Child's book and write about it. Now, I told you I had a little bit of a man crush on George Clooney, I also had a woman crush on Amy Adams, but in this film that half of the film, the Amy Adams half of the film really does not hold up to the Julia Child Meryl Streep part of the film.
BALDWIN: OK, so that's the...
MANKIEWICZ: Meryl Streep is just terrific. Amy Adams' character less so. I don't think this film is really worth seeing. And I gave it a c.
BALDWIN: OK. Give a C, last, last one, "Public Enemies" you got ten seconds, bottom line, worth it?
MANKIEWICZ: Good biopic. Good gangster film. Johnny Depp as always is terrific. Directed by Michael Mann. I gave it a B. Go see it, enjoy it, especially if you like gangster films, but I will warn you everybody in the movie looks alike. Apparently, white guys who wore hats in the 1930's.
BALDWIN: All right. Ben Mankiewicz, there you go. Enjoy your Saturday night. Thank you.
MANKIEWICZ: Yes, you too. Thanks Brooke.
BALDWIN: Hunting down those who committed unspeakable acts during World War II. They devoted really their lives to bring in this work criminal to justice. And we will introduce you to one of the last Nazi hunters.
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BALDWIN: All right. We are getting breaking news here out of the Atlanta mayoral race. It has been hotly contested here. It's been between Kasim Reed and Mary Norwood. And it's significant had Mary Norwood won, she would have been become the first White Mayor in Atlanta in three decades. We're just now hearing the certification of the voting results indicate that it is Kasim Reed who has won the most votes. We're also hearing the possibility of a recount of the votes from Mary Norwood. But again Kasim Reed winning the Atlanta mayoral election.
In Germany, Retired U.S. Autoworker John Demjanjuk stands trial for war crimes. The charge here, helping murder thousands of people, mostly Jews, during World War II. Now, ever since these dedicated groups of people have really devoted their lives to bringing those who carried out the holocaust to justice, and CNN, two of our own producers here, profiled one of the last remaining what they're called Nazi hunters. We will talk to the producers of that documentary, about you first here, another piece of this documentary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EFRAIM SUROFF, SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER: A strong sense of justice and --
It sounds that I'm just, you know, special unique person and all of a sudden, Bingo. I'm going to be a Nazi hunter.
I really was more or less headed to becoming an academic. What changed things enormously, will it change the course of my life was that I met Simon Wiesenthal and the American government started investigating Nazi war criminals. I think I have a strong sense of justice, and here seemed to be something that can be done against the evil of the holocaust. You can't bring a single Jew back to life who has been murdered, but you can try to make the people who are responsible of the crimes pay for them.
Take a look at this list. This is the list of those people who are going to be annihilated. It's every single Jew in Europe, including the Jews in turkey, in Sweden, in the Neutrals, Switzerland. You see? Here. Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, the European part of Turkey, Ireland, England. Every single Jew.
We're going to look at the future. The most pressing problem that we face in terms of the future of memory is the threat of holocaust distortion and deflection. And there's no better place to look at that problem than in the lovely Baltic republic of Lithuania.
We're on our way to a country where there's considerable guilt but very little willingness to admit it and to deal with it. The minute that it was clear that no Lithuanian would ever be punished for his crimes during the holocaust by independents, then they really went to work to try to rewrite the history books and create the false equations between the communism of Marxism. It's time for a serious fight. In 2002 we began operation last chance in Burma (ph). The idea behind operation last chance was to try and find Nazis we did not know about. We received more names of suspects in Lithuania than any other country in the world.
BALDWIN: Well, joining me now, the directors, and producers of this documentary Gena Somra, here in Atlanta and Farhad Shadravan, a live in Dubai and wow, Gena, let me start with you. I mean, this guy is all the way in Jerusalem.
How did you stumble across this story or maybe the story found you?
GENA SOMRA, DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER: He started something called operation last chance where they wanted to try and find some for the last remaining Nazis and we came across the story when he was looking to try to find Airbert Heim. And that was crossing the wires in BBC about, you know, looking and try to find this man. So, I contacted him and I said, you know, it would be great to sort of find out what makes you tick, I mean, what makes you keep doing this so many years after sort of most of the public has kind of moved on from trying to hunt these Nazi war criminals from the very reason that we're having the debate about Demjanjuk, is it too old, is it too sick? What makes someone still be this passionate about it 30-plus years on.
BALDWIN: And Farhad, how did you get involved in this? Gena kind of found this guy and found the story. Farhad, you two teamed up.
FARHAD SHADRAVAN, PRODUCER: Yes. I got a call from Gena, and we discussed the film and ways to do it, and I had some background in cinema direct sort of cinema, which is a not found sound process where you sort of follow, and it's character-driven, so you follow the character and you sort of trust the process that through that character, the story will develop and your job is to simply document that development. So we went on I would say a historical field trip with a crime that revealed a lot of buried stories that I thought were very, very interesting.
BALDWIN: And Farhad, you're being modest, but I know you have 20 years in documentary experience, and why cinema verite in particular in telling the story?
SHADRAVAN: I think that many stories are better served unfiltered. If a person or the character can tell their own story and through their discussions and their discoveries and their travels, you can let that story unfold, then I think it's the most unfiltered sort of grassroots purist sort of way to tell the story, and it's something that I find very exciting because when you get back with something like 70 or 80 hours, you start to discover the story yourself almost for the first time, and so the film is made through their own words and no commentary and no track and no analysis from anyone else.
BALDWIN: And the purest sense I guess you could say, 30 seconds Gena, you spent a lot of time in Lithuania. What is that country playing us?
SOMRA: Lithuania had a personal tie -- which we found out. He was the most passion, he was our subject and it was because his great uncle was murdered there, and out of -- in the World War ii period, they lost the highest percentage of Jews in all of World War II. 96.4 percent of the Jewish population and mostly through the local collaboration. This was people being shot and killed one by one, 212,000 people were lost. There's only 5,000 Jewish people remaining in Lithuania and it used to be considered the Jerusalem of the north. So this entire group of people gone, and yet it's something that most of us don't know about.
BALDWIN: And now we do. Now we do. "The Last Nazi Hunter" Gena, Farhad, thank you both. We look for it at some point here on CNN.
SOMRA: Thank you so much.
SHADRAVAN: Thank you Brooke.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. Don Lemon coming up next. He will talk to the man who appears to be the next mayor of Atlanta. Stay with us for that.
Also thousands of Americans headed to Afghanistan. During the 7:00 Eastern hour, we will have one soldier's story. And then at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Choreographer Debbie Allen will be joining to Don to tell him why she took 12 students from Los Angeles on a trip to the Middle East. All of that and more as CNN NEWSROOM continues.
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