Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

$700 Billion of Your Money; Your Money, Your Questions; Five American Terror Suspects in Pakistan; Health Benefit Loophole; Obama to Talk with Bank CEOs; First Alabama Player to Win Heisman Trophy; Violence in Turkey's Street; Snapshot of Hope

Aired December 14, 2009 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, good morning, guys. And good morning to you, everybody. A very busy day in the CNN NEWSROOM today.

$700 billion of your money. Did we really get the bang for our buck? Well, an angry President Obama is demanding answers today and we will get to that story.

Also the battle over health care reform. A key senator backs away and pushes forward a major question. Will health care be there when you need it the very most?

Also, black ties and white knuckles. Look at that. Millions of Americans are facing treacherous weather and a new week may bring new worries.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins, and today is Monday, December 14th. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

This morning at the White House, the nation's top bankers have some explaining to do. President Obama wants to know how executives can rake in big bonuses while sitting on the money that was supposed to help average Americans.

CNN's White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux takes a look at the complicated issue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Barack Obama is in a tough spot. Fourteen months after American taxpayers bailed out the banks.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of, you know, fat-cat bankers on Wall Street.

MALVEAUX: The president supported the $700 billion feast that Wall Street was fed and now he is lashing out at how some are using their profits.

OBAMA: They don't get it. They are still puzzled, why is it that people are mad at the banks? Well, let's see. You guys are drawing down $10, $20 million bonuses after America went through the worst economic year that it's gone through in decades? And you guys caused the problem?

MALVEAUX: Two of the Obama administration's economic advisers also took aim.

LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: It was irresponsible risk taking that brought the economy to the brink of collapse.

CHRISTINA ROMER, DIRECTOR, W.H. COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: We know that some of the practices that happened on Wall Street did set us up for what was a very severe financial crisis and we are all still paying the price for what went on in Wall Street.

MALVEAUX: Tough talk as the administration prepares to host executives from some of America's largest banks at the White House today. Topping the president's agenda lending, not only making funds more accessible but also ramping up the speed at which loans are processed. In turn giving the economy a much needed jolt. And the sticking point, government oversight.

OBAMA: What's most frustrating to me right now is you've got these same banks who benefited from taxpayer assistance who are fighting tooth and nail with their lobbyists up on Capitol Hill, fighting against financial regulatory reform.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Suzanne Malveaux is joining us now from the White House this morning.

So, Suzanne, going forward, what exactly is the strategy?

MALVEAUX: Well, there are a couple of things. First and foremost, the Obama administration really wants to try to, if you will, shame the banks into behaving differently, into changing their behavior, and to really, you know, acknowledge in some way that there are a lot of Americans that perceive the banks as taking advantage of taxpayer dollars. That they simply don't get it.

This is really kind of a PR war if you will. There are a couple of things that are working against this administration. The millions of dollars that the big banks have paid through lobbyists to fight that legislation dealing with tougher regulations, and the other thing, Heidi, that kind of ironically that's happening here is these big banks, they're just dying to pay back the government, that TARP money, the bailout money, because they don't want to deal with all those restrictions when it comes to executive pay...

COLLINS: Right.

MALVEAUX: ... compensation and things like that. So they just want -- they want to hand the money back over to the government. That doesn't give the Obama administration very much leverage when it goes to these big bankers and says, I want you to lend more money to small businesses. I want you to make it easier for folks to get that money to release that money. They want to hang on to that money. And so there is kind of a catch-22 here that's going on with the administration. The best that the president can do now is really try to push forward, and use the bully pulpit, if you will, to try to get these guys to change their behavior -- Heidi?

COLLINS: Yes, it's a tough issue, too, as a taxpayer because when you're propping these companies up, you of course always want them to do well. You want to attract the best talent and you want them to succeed, so it becomes a really complicated issue.

Suzanne Malveaux, thanks. We are going to talk more about this next hour with someone who's actually been in the banking sector and in the financials for more than 30 years so we'll hear a little bit more about it.

Thanks, again, Suzanne.

So many people are facing tough questions about the economy and want to get some answers. Our first stop this morning, Asheboro, North Carolina. Now this small town has seen 10,000 jobs disappear over the last decade and the future is pretty equally uncertain.

Our chief business correspondent Ali Velshi is joining us now to explain a little bit more.

So, Ali, it kind of seems like we're hearing stories like this in several American towns.

ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, we're in North Carolina. This is where we're starting our trip this week, but we're calling this trip "Recovery Road." We're trying to get an idea of what people are doing to make 2010 better than 2009 was.

COLLINS: Yes.

VELSHI: North Carolina is a manufacturing state. It's lost a lot of jobs. Asheboro has lost a lot of jobs. But this is a town that's sort of saying, look, we've got to change things around. The future is not going to be like the part.

This is a big tourist attraction. The North Carolina Zoo is here, and one of the things the town wants to do is translate some of its tourism that comes in for that into tourism maybe that lasts a little longer.

We had a get-together with some of the people in the town last night and here were some of their ideas. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What we're seeing is this town in the middle of a slow change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You simply have to understand that you are not going to make the same and do the same work that you did before. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're a city full of (INAUDIBLE). And something ought to come in here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We must be poised to answer as a community.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whether or not we have what it takes to get the resources into the hands of the folks that are creating jobs.

VELSHI (on camera): From my perspective we've seen this economy go from denial to crisis and panic to resignation, and I feel -- and I don't want to put words in people's mouths, but I fee like we may be pushing out of the resignation now and into the solutions.

WALKER MOFITT, ASHEBORO CITY COUNCIL: Asheboro is very fortunate. We have one of the largest tourist attractions in the state, in Asheboro, in the North Carolina Zoo. We're not very experienced in the tourism industry here but we've got some great attractions. We've got like Richard Petty Museum. If you haven't heard Richard Petty, far more famous than the zoo, no doubt.

You know, so those kind of things, we've got to capitalize on, you know? And we've got to turn that into -- from a sideline into a real industry.

How do we market that? Well, it's going to take -- we've got a government, and it's going to be our small government that's going to have to prime that pump a little bit. You know, so we're going to have to put some money into marketing and advertising and we're fortunate to have a marketing specialists expert on our city council that can help guide us with this, how to efficiently spend the money, but we're going to have to put some capital out there that may be unpopular with some folks, but we've got to invest. We've got to change the rules of the game and invest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Obviously, the issue of lending and banks and mortgages is a big deal around here. On the housing front, residents tell me things didn't -- weren't as bad here in Asheboro because they didn't have a run-up that was as significant as other parts of the country.

But when we discussed things for a couple of hours last night it really did come around to jobs and jobs creation and opportunities for people around here. The community does appear to be quite hopeful. It's been through a tough time. It's been hardened by tough times, not just this recession, but it's lost its manufacturing base over the last 10 years.

So here is a community like many that I am hoping to encounter over the next few days that's really looking to do things to change itself for the upcoming year -- Heidi?

COLLINS: Hey, great. It sounds really good.

Ali will be continuing to follow your travels, absolutely.

Appreciate it, Ali Velshi, Asheboro, North Carolina this morning.

The Senate compromise over health care reform may be in jeopardy now. Independent senator Joe Lieberman says he will oppose the legislation if it expands Medicare coverage to uninsured Americans as young as 55.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (I), CONNECTICUT: We don't know the details of this so-called Medicare buy in, but from what we know about it I'd have a real hard time supporting it because it has some of the same problems the public option had. It runs the risk of adding to the national debt of raising taxes.

It's not necessary, because the underlying bill here creates a wonderful new program of subsidies for people between the ages of 55 and 65 to buy insurance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: You know, Lieberman's vote is critical for the bill to pass. Senate Democrats that counted on his support for the 60th vote needed to pass the measure.

Missing for three nights in the freezing cold at 9,000 feet. The search begins again today for hikers stranded on Oregon's Mt. Hood. Two are still missing. Crews already found the body of a third hiker over the weekend.

The threat of avalanches forced the search to stop overnight. Ground crews couldn't take any chances in the bad weather.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT ROLLINS, PORTLAND MOUNTAIN RESCUE: You know, I have been doing mountain rescue for 12, 13 years now, and it is extremely rare that we don't put people into the field.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Rob Marciano is standing by now to give us a little bit better picture.

Yes, we've really sort of been watching the weather in the Mt. Hood area, Rob.

Looking to me like your lips are moving, but we are not hearing you. So what I'm going to do is move on for now. We're going to check your audio and come back to you, Rob, because I know you have a little bit more information for us not only on the Mt. Hood weather but also the rest of the weather across the country, so thank you, Rob.

Stranded in Pakistan on some very serious charges. Five Americans detained and refused deportation. Find out why Pakistan wants them to stay put, at least for now. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Those five Americans arrested in Pakistan, the ones suspected of trying to link up with militants groups there will not be allowed to leave. A court order issued today blocks them from being deported or handed over to the FBI.

CNN's Arwa Damon is joining us now live from Islamabad with more on this.

Arwa, good morning to you. What's the very latest on the investigation?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, according to the officials here the investigation is still on going. And what's been interesting is that in the first 48 hours after these five were detained there was quite a flow of information about their movements, about exactly what sort of intelligence the government had been able to garner from them.

Over the last few days officials have been fairly tight lipped. They are saying it's because the intelligence that they're getting is allowing them to carry out follow-on raids, try to begin to target or at least follow the movements of other individuals.

They are especially trying to track down one man who they believe goes by the name of Saifullah. They think that these five were in touched with him via the Internet and that he was the one who was helping them move through Pakistan and finally make their way to Afghanistan -- Heidi?

COLLINS: So, Arwa, I imagine that the FBI and Pakistani officials are going to have to be working pretty closely together. Is that right?

DAMON: They are, Heidi. In fact, according to Pakistani officials, it was the FBI that tipped off the Pakistanis that these five had gone missing in America and that they could show up here in Pakistan.

And the Pakistani officials are pointing to the case as being an example of how close cooperation between Pakistan and the United States can lead to these types of detentions of suspected individuals who might be carrying out some sort of an act of terror.

The Pakistanis are saying that they want to see even a closer and greater cooperation when it comes to sharing intelligence with the United States. The Pakistanis also want America to start sharing some of its technology, the drone technology, for example.

There is one thing that everybody here acknowledges in Pakistan and Afghanistan and in the United States, and that is that Pakistan is central, key to this war on terror, and without cooperation between all parties who are involved clamping down on these networks it's going to be very challenging if not impossible -- Heidi?

COLLINS: Yes. Indeed. All right, Arwa, we'll stay with you for the very latest on that. Appreciate it.

On to Italy and its prime minister recovering from a broken nose and broken teeth this morning. Seventy-three-year-old Silvio Berlusconi was hit in the face with a small metal statue. His doctors said he'll stay in the hospital for another 36 hours at least.

It happened at a campaign rally in Berlusconi's hometown of Milan. Police say the alleged attacker is mentally unstable and they have charged him with grievous bodily harm.

All right. We are going to try this one more time. Rob Marciano standing by now to talk a little bit more about the video that you are watching right now. All those icy roads. A lot of accidents out there. Some pretty nasty weather across the country.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, there are spots over the weekend, Heidi, where we had some cold air and being overrun by rain basically, so ice in places like Pittsburgh had a horrible, horrible day yesterday with slick roads, and all the way down across parts of the south as well.

And that video that you just got a brief peek of was in Washington state where western Washington had enough cold air there to do some damage as well. Bellingham and places around Seattle had just enough snow and cold air at the surface to create this sort of scene Sunday afternoon. So that's made for tough driving conditions across parts of western Washington.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: OK. We'll be watching all of it. Thank you, Rob.

MARCIANO: You bet.

COLLINS: The fallout from the Tiger Woods scandal now costing him a major sponsor. One company now severing ties with the golf star.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Checking our top stories now

NASA blasts off on a mission to map the universe. Just a few minutes ago, the space agency sent up a Delta II rocket on California. On board is the WISE infrared telescope. Over the next nine months, the WISE will scan the entire sky over earth. Now the idea is to get a better picture of what lies beyond our planet.

A major sponsor dropping Tiger Woods in light of his infidelity scandal. Accenture is the first company to end its endorsement outright. Accenture said on its Web site that after six years of working with Woods, he is no longer the right face for the company's advertising.

As you know, Woods recently announced an indefinite leave from golf to work on his marriage. And we're actually talking about this on our blog today. Tiger Woods, that is. Our question for you, if you were one of Tiger Woods' sponsors, would you keep him or drop him at this point?

Just go to CNN.com/heidi and let us know what you think.

Meanwhile, a loophole that could put an annual cap on your health benefits. We told you all about this on Friday in the CNN NEWSROOM, and after the White House saw some of our reporting they are now taking action.

Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining us now with more details on this.

So Elizabeth, good morning to you. Refresh everybody's memory for a minute and talk to us about this loophole.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a really scary situation.

COLLINS: Yes.

COHEN: Imagine you're diagnosed with cancer You have hundreds of thousands of dollars of bills in front of you and at some point, as you're getting treated, your insurance company says you're done, we're not paying any more money, you have hit your annual limit.

So what the Senate health care reform bill does is it says, you -- an insurance company is not allowed to impose an unreasonable annual limit. But as you might guess that word "unreasonable."

COLLINS: Very subjective.

COHEN: Very subjective and has a lot of cancer patients and others worried. Who gets to decide what unreasonable means?

COLLINS: Yes, and it reminds me of when we're talking about the breast cancer screening and so forth because no one could really say what was going to happen with the insurance company.

COHEN: Right.

COLLINS: This is the same type of deal. So now that we've talked about this here, what are they doing?

COHEN: Well, what happened after CNN's reporting on your show and other shows on Friday on CNN, the White House met with cancer patients and agreed to close that loophole. So that's the latest that we've heard is that congressional staffers and White House staffers have agreed to close that loophole.

COLLINS: OK, so they have agreed to close the loophole -- is there paperwork on that? Is there some sort of way to verify that yes, indeed, it won't be in there?

COHEN: Yes, that's one of the problems here is that I know some people might say, promises, promises.

COLLINS: Yes.

COHEN: So I want to see it in writing, and it's not in writing yet. But I think it is important to note that President Obama has really stuck his neck out on this issue, several times he's talked about it. Let's listen to what he had to say recently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or in a lifetime. We will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses, because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they get sick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So that's what President Obama had to say earlier this year. He said the same thing several times throughout the year, so one would think that that would mean that he might fight hard for this because he has been so definite about it.

COLLINS: Yes. All right, well, we will be watching closely. Obviously.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.

And small business owners helped bail out the banks with billions in taxes, right? But banks aren't exactly lining up to give out loans now. The president is meeting with 12 CEOs and asking where is the gratitude?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.

COLLINS: President Obama taking on bank executives today, but Wall Street is taking it in stride. We are expecting a modestly higher open.

Stephanie Elam is at the New York Stock Exchange now with a look ahead at that.

Hi there, Stephanie Elam.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi. Yes, financial stocks could be under pressure today if you take a look at all that is going on today, as the president is expected to push several top bank CEOs to support financial reform and free up credit.

But as you mentioned, Heidi, overall we are expecting a higher open. Investors around the world are breathing a sigh of relief because Abu Dhabi provided a $10 billion lifeline to Dubai.

You may recall that fears about Dubai's ability to repay its debt actually sparked a global selloff the day after thanksgiving. So this is giving some people a lot of soothing thoughts today. Some of Dubai's loans were due today.

Meanwhile, here at home, Citigroup has reached a deal to return $20 billion in TARP money to the government. Citi became one of the biggest recipients on bailout money after it received $45 billion. The repayment will free Citigroup from some restrictions on executive pay even though the Treasury will continue to own a large stake in the company.

And we're also watching shares of Accenture today. The global consulting firm ended its relationship with Tiger Woods over the weekend. Accenture is the first major sponsor to cut its ties with the golfer since his infidelities surface a few weeks ago. After six years with Woods, Accenture plans to immediately transition to a new ad campaign.

And on Wall Street, the surprise lifeline for Dubai, is giving stock a little bit of a boost. We'll take a look at the early numbers here. We are expecting to see things in the green as we get going here. We are waiting for our numbers to come in. And apparently I'm having a little bit of a tech issue, because I can't see the numbers, Heidi. But I will keep my eyes on that. I'm going to turn around.

COLLINS: OK, turn around. Can you see it?

ELAM: Yes, I can. We are on the up side by 19 points on the Dow. So there you go. I had to show you the back of my head.

COLLINS: That's all right.

ELAM: So NASDAQ is up 0.50 percent, I'm hearing from my producer, so there we go. We got the numbers.

COLLINS: OK. Very good. Modest up, that's exactly what we expected. All right.

ELAM: Exactly true.

COLLINS: We'll come back to you a little later. Thank you, Stephanie.

ELAM: Thank you.

COLLINS: Small businesses are considered critical, of course, driving engines for economic recovery, but business owners are still struggling to get loans. So why are the banks holding back? Well, that's one of several questions the president is asking as he meets with the CEOs of 12 big banks at the White House this morning.

Christine Romans is joining us now from New York to talk a little bit more about.

COLLINS: Hey, there, what is the president going to be telling them? And what can the American people actually get from these bankers today? CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, first of all, it's just so rare to have the president of the United States calling, you know, the most important leaders of one of the most important industries and giving them a good old-fashioned talking to. And that's what's going to be here today, talking.

We're expecting him to talk about small business lending, consumer lending and financial reform. I mean, millions -- up to $300 million has been spent by the financial services industry to fight the president's plans to try to get new regulations in place so that this kind of a crisis can't happen again. So the president is going to sit down with these folks and talk to them about what he thinks needs to be a partnership between Washington and Wall Street to get the economy moving again.

It's because, look, we helped you with TARP money, we helped you when you led the global economy to the brink, now you've got to do something and start helping the American people in the recovery. You're going to see 12 bank CEOs, Citigroup -- you just heard Stephanie talk about Citigroup paying back $20 billion of its TARP money. Vikram Pandit is the CEO there.

You're going to see Bank of America. Bank of America paid back $45 billion just last week.

Look, there's a trend here. The banks that can't are trying to get out from under the government's thumb. Look, the government is telling them how they can pay people. These banks are rushing to try to give the bank back.

Ken Lewis, Bank of America, they paid that $45 million. Look at the small business loans. Loans for all of these companies are down over the past year. They are paying out less in loans. JPMorgan, this is run by a guy named Jamie Diamond, who actually is on a first name basis with the president. Both spent some time in Chicago together at the same time. Small business loans down slightly there. This is according to Treasury -- Treasury audits.

Goldman Sachs, its CEO, Lloyd Blankfein will be there. They have repaid their $10 billion in TARP money. Their small business loans are down as well, although, they have just recently launched a $500 million five-year initiative, at least to try to appear like that they are helping part of this problem.

But, you know, look, the president -- he faces a tough situation, because as these banks, Heidi, pay the money back, that means the president and Tim Geithner, his Treasury secretary and others, have less leverage over the banks at the same time.

COLLINS: Exactly. Exactly. And it's funny when you first started, you said, you know, it's very unusual that we see a president giving a talking to the bankers. Of course, it was very unusual in the very beginning that there would be bank bailouts to start with.

ROMANS: Yes.

COLLINS: So the whole thing reminds me how we talked about it. Unprecedented.

Meanwhile, what do the American people get out of all of these? The TARP money?

ROMANS: Well, one thing is, you know, what can the president today do or say, and deliver to the American people after this is all said and done to say, look, now the banks are onboard, now they do get it.

It will be interesting to see whether he will be able to tell us now the banks get it, and this is what they are going to do. The second thing, a lot of Americans feel like we got nothing for our TARP money. They're not lending as much as they used to, or they did certainly during the boom in the bubble. You know, where people are struggling. Homes are not being modified, their loans as quickly as consumer advocates would like.

But I want to point out that we did get something from that TARP, from that bailout. Something that you can't see, feel or touch, and that is -- we still have a system. That was designed so that the whole thing didn't come tumbling down around us.

COLLINS: Exactly. Yes.

ROMANS: That didn't happen. Now was the painful aftermath as we try to clean it up and deal with the unintended consequences. So it's complicated.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: Yes, we talked about that then, too, of course. You know, if we are going to do this, then we have to be prepared for what the consequences or what the cleanup, if you will, is going to look like certainly.

ROMANS: Yes.

COLLINS: All right, we're going to talk about a lot more.

ROMANS: Still cleaning up. Yes.

COLLINS: All right. Thanks, Christine.

All this talk about bank loans and bonuses suggests there's got to be some money floating around, doesn't it? Are we finally saying good-bye to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression?

Some experts seem to think so, but the White House isn't exactly breaking up the champagne.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: It will take time. A year ago the question was, would we have a depression. Today, everyone agrees that the recession is over, and the questions are around how fast we'll recover. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In your mind, this recession is not over?

CHRISTINA ROMER, CHAIR, WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Of course not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Romer, there, who you saw at the end says the unemployment rate will have to be reduced by half to about five percent before she considers the recession over.

The recession is definitely having an impact on holiday spending. And that means there may not be as many gifts under the tree. According to a new CNN Opinion Research Poll, nearly half of all Americans say they plan to spend less for holiday gifts than they did last year. Twelve percent say they will spend more, 39 percent say they will spend roughly the same amount as last year.

Fifteen touchdowns, a shot at the BCS championship and the season just keeps getting better for Alabama's Mark Ingram. He is talking to us about his Heisman trophy win. I understand he has got it with him, too, so stick around for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Here is a look at our top stories now.

The crew of a cargo plane seized in Bangkok with tons of weapons from North Korea will be held in Thailand for 12 days for further investigation. The plane was seized during a refuelling stop in Thailand. The five men aboard were denied bail in court today. They could face up to ten years in prison if found guilty.

Iran will put three American hikers on trial for espionage. That's the word from the country's foreign minister. The three were detained in Iran on July 31st. And their family say they were hiking in Kurdistan, but strayed over an unmarked boarder into Iran by mistake. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has asked the Iranian government to show compassion in this case.

Eight Iraqi soldiers wounded in two separate roadside bombings. One blast happened in central Baghdad. The other in northern part of the capital. This comes after bombs killed at least 127 people in Iraq last week. The parliament wants answers about the surge in violence. Lawmakers are calling top security officials to testify today.

It was the closest vote in the history of the Heisman trophy. That's 75 years. But in the end, Alabama's Mark Ingram ran away with it. And his amazing season isn't over yet.

Mark Ingram is joining us now live from New York. And I see that you have the trophy right there in front of you.

Mark, first off, congratulations. How do you feel this morning?

MARK INGRAM, HEISMAN TROPHY WINNER: I'm feeling pretty good. It's been an exciting week and a special moment for me and my family.

COLLINS: Oh, I imagine.

Did you get any sleep last night?

INGRAM: I got a little bit of sleep, probably about, like, four hours or something like that.

COLLINS: Probably even less on Saturday, when it was announced.

Listen, let me ask you, I know that you were pretty emotional after they called your name. Just wondering, take us back to Saturday night for a moment. What were you thinking?

INGRAM: I was just really excited when he called my name. And I just got up and I hugged all the contestants, and then I saw my mother crying, and it just made me break down. And I couldn't pull it together for a while. It was just a collage of all the emotions that happened in my life, and I was really excited. And it was a special moment for me.

COLLINS: I know. There is something about seeing your parents cry. Isn't it? It always makes you kind of lose it.

We were watching you live and watched the whole thing go down. We also know that, of course, this is the first Heisman for the University of Alabama. What does it mean to you to be the guy who brought it home?

INGRAM: It's a real honor to do that for the university. All of the championships that we have won, all of the victories and all the all-Americans and all the great players and coaches that have come through there, and it's kind of always been a void in our tradition of our program. There has never been a Heisman trophy winner. And it's just a great honor to be able to do that for my teammates and my coaches. The past players, and all the alumni and just everybody involved with the Alabama family.

COLLINS: Yes, yes, obviously. We are looking at some of the plays here, too, throughout the season. Unbelievable season that you had. I know you are getting ready for the BCS.

Listen, I know it's not been an easy road for you either. Talk a little bit with us if you would about your dad. He has been to the Super Bowl, but now there are tougher times for him.

How does this making you feel at the time in your life, a real high point for you?

INGRAM: My father has always been a great influence on my life. And I love him to death. And, you know, it's difficult that he is not here right now, but he is here in spirit. He is in my heart and I am in his heart, and that's all that matters. You know, I love him. He's had a great impact on my life, and that's what matters.

COLLINS: Have you had a chance to speak with him since Saturday night?

INGRAM: I haven't talked to him since I won the trophy, but I'm sure I'm going to hear from him pretty soon.

COLLINS: Yes. I understand that he was actually watching at a big screen in prison right now for tax fraud, but he was able to watch the ceremony and he was able to get -- to see you receive this huge, huge award.

You are also the third sophomore now in a row to get the Heisman. What do you think that means as far as the career that you have ahead of you? Finishing up college and so forth.

Does this put more pressure on you? I mean, it's kind of a big honor this early on?

INGRAM: It is a great honor. And I'm sure it does put a little bit more pressure, but I'm not too worried about that. I'm just going to go out and work as hard as I can every day and help this team win games and help this win championships.

I'm going to just go out every day and try and get a little bit better as a player and better as a person every single day. So the pressure is not going to bother me at all. I'm just going to keep stay in focus.

COLLINS: Yes, very good. Well, I know that you were competing against four other unbelievable football players. And, again, as we say, a very, very close vote. So I have to say, because I took notes here when I talked to my 8-year-old major football fan, Riley this morning, he said to tell you personally, congratulations and good luck in the BCS.

INGRAM: Well, tell him I said thank you.

COLLINS: I will do that. All right, Mark, again, congratulations.

INGRAM: Thank you.

COLLINS: Let's take a moment now to get over to Rob Marciano.

How about that? Did you see it? Did you see the trophy?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I did. I did.

COLLINS: Can you do the move?

MARCIANO: That's about all I can do. Standing still, I can do that move. Congratulations to Mark. He seemed like a nice young man. It's good to see a tailback win.

COLLINS: That's right.

MARCIANO: We've had a string of quarterbacks take it home in the past few years, and certainly, good luck on the national championship. (WEATHER REPORT)

MARCIANO: Heidi, back over to you.

COLLINS: Yes, all right, Rob, well, stay in touch. Thank you.

MARCIANO: You bet.

COLLINS: Protestors attacking security forces in Turkey; police coming down hard with batons and tear-gas. Why a court decision has led to so many days of violence.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Global warming and heated tempers. Here is the latest from the United Nations climate talks now as protests flare outside the gathering in Copenhagen, Denmark. Divisions are bringing negotiations to a halt. China, India and more than 100 developing nations have blocked talks. They're demanding that rich countries discuss much deeper cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions.

The talks have already been faltering over a long-running dispute between rich and poor nations. President Obama and more than 100 other world leaders are due to arrive at the conference later on this week.

Police and protesters clashing in the streets of Turkey; just the latest sign of tensions coming to a boil in that country. Our Ivan Watson is standing by live in Istanbul with the very latest now.

Ivan good morning to you. Tell us about the protest, what's happening at this point?

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Heidi, ethnic tensions have been bubbling over here in Turkey, most recently in the south eastern city of Diyarkbakir where several 100 Kurds have been clashing with police today. With police firing tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd.

Here in Istanbul on Sunday just a few blocks from where I'm standing now we also had running battles between rock throwing Kurdish demonstrators and police. And more ominous for this country which is a NATO military ally of the U.S. and an applicant to join the European Union; more ominous we saw crowds of Turkish ultra nationalist picking up guns and clubs and joining in the fray, battling with some of this Kurdish demonstrators.

These riots have been erupting in Turkish cities and towns across the country for more than a week now -- Heidi.

COLLINS: So Ivan, as most people know or remember there's been a very long time conflict between Turkey and then its Kurdish minority. Is there a possibility or fears that this is all bringing about sort of reigniting of that conflict?

WATSON: Well, that -- that is the fear here. There's been a war here for more than 25 years between Kurdish separatists known as the PKK and the Turkish state. More than 40,000 people killed in that conflict. Many thought that perhaps those days were behind them.

But what happened just last Friday was Turkey's highest court it banned the only Kurdish political party with lawmakers in the Turkish parliament, banned that party, the DTP and that has ratcheted up the tensions right now.

The two leaders of that party, they've been stripped of their seats in parliament. And we saw a speech from one of those leaders right now saying that the Turkish state just doesn't want the Kurdish minority in this country to have freedoms. It doesn't want to recognize their identity or their language.

So this is a very ominous sign for stability in this strategically placed country, right next to Iran and Turkey...

COLLINS: Right.

WATSON: ... and Syria and Europe -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes very important in all of that, obviously.

All right, Ivan Watson, thank you.

We do have an awful lot going on this morning. Our crews are in place to bring it to you. I want to check in with some of our correspondents now beginning this morning with Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. Hi there, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Hey, Heidi. Well, later this morning President Obama is meeting with the nation's biggest bankers after calling them fat cats. He is pushing them to lend more money to small businesses and to back up on their bonuses. But the bankers are fighting back. I'll have more of that at the top of the hour.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: And we're going to follow up on that as well. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. The big banks, Heidi, getting a lot of criticism for not lending enough, but is it fair? We're also going to dig in to those small business lending numbers. We're also going to tell you what power the president really has and what he doesn't have over these bank CEOs. That's all coming up at the top of the hour.

MARCIANO: And I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center. Icy conditions over the weekend. A little bit warmer today. But that has let the fog and at the moment though, over a half a dozen airports reporting some big delays. Right at the airports and if you're driving through it, it's not all that safe. I'll talk about that plus next cold surge of air coming down from Canada in the next hour -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes all right, thanks so much, guys.

Also ahead, we're going to be talking to Annise Parker, the first openly gay Mayor of a major U.S. city. Does she step into the job feeling a different kind of pressure?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Whether battling long-term illness, homelessness or just down on luck, a photographer from Nashville found a way to put smiles on the faces of people despite their situation.

Here now, CNN's Susan Candiotti.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one. Awesome.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are moms and dads trying hard to make ends meet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Give me a little smile.

CANDIOTTI: They are mother and son trying to get a troubled life back on track.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, guys. Here we go.

CANDIOTTI: They're a family worrying whether their son will live to sit for another portrait.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody smile.

CANDIOTTI: Bringing them all together on a single day is Nashville photographer, Jeremy Cowart. He calls it Help Portrait.

JEREMY COWART, FOUNDER, HELP PORTRAIT: We just want to show people that they are beautiful, that they are valued. It's really, really happening so far.

CANDIOTTI: And it was happening for Amanda, who's disabled and raising three kids alone. Volunteers did her hair and make-up for the shoot.

AMANDA: Always wanted professional make-up.

CANDIOTTI: What was it like?

AMANDA: It's like being queen for a day.

COWART: It's great.

AMANDA: Oh, my God!

COWART: That's fun.

CANDIOTTI: Jeremy Cowart came up with the idea over the summer. And before you know it, word spread mainly over the Internet to more than 50 countries, including the Netherlands and Italy; more than 6,000 pros volunteering their time and talent. And in nearly every state, photos -- first-class photos. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cheese.

CANDIOTTI: Taken and printed for free.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is just something special for them. And that makes me happy; when I can give something -- something as simple as smiling at a picture to something else.

CANDIOTTI: In Tennessee the Carter family wanted a portrait to include Barrett, who's recovering from cancer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're just thankful for each picture that we have taken. You never know when it's going to be the last.

CANDIOTTI: In New York, 18-year-old Hansel Morata (ph) on probation for drug charges is in a rehab program. He's trying to turn his life around and wants his mom to have a photo to show her he means it.

HANSEL MORATA: It's going to make me feel positive, you know? Looking at myself smiling and my mother smiling; I haven't seen her smile like that in a long time.

CANDIOTTI: Nor these young people in a program battling low self-esteem.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really awesome to see them smile especially some of the girls that don't really like smiling anyway.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Look at that.

COWART: It's a reminder to me that photography is a very special gift. It's not something that we should take for granted.

CANDIOTTI: From the looks of it, no one this day took it for granted; in about 30,000 portraits and at least that many smiles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're welcome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I appreciate it.

CANDIOTTI: Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Love that story.