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American Morning
Obama Pledge Federal Support to Fight Teen Violence; Chicago Teen Talks About Deadly Brawl; Ready For Their Close-Up; Bankers Vs. Obama
Aired December 14, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome. It's Monday morning. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING on this Monday, as I just said.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CO-ANCHOR: Wow. Off to a good start, aren't we?
CHETRY: December 14th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
HOLMES: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. We got our names right at least this morning. Got a lot to talk to you about, the top stories we're going to be looking at in the next few minutes.
The president taking on the big banks today. He's hosting 12 CEOs at the White House. He calls them the fat cats of the financial world. Yes, those are his words. After bashing the bankers over the weekend, he'll be then asking them for some help. He needs a pretty big favor from them later this morning.
CHETRY: Also the delicate dance on health care reform, one step forward and then two steps back. A Democratic compromise that was worked out in the Senate last week may already be doomed and it could be sending senators back to the drawing board. The president, though, believes that we will see health care reform passed. We're live in Washington tracking this developing story.
HOLMES: And a lot of people probably say they could have seen this one coming, but now we have official word that one of Tiger Woods' top sponsors severing ties with him. They're the first to all- out drop him.
Ahead, Tiger Woods. We'll be talking about the brand, the billion-dollar brand. Would it all come tumbling down? It's been generating about $110 million a year for him until now.
CHETRY: We begin though with President Obama going toe to toe with big banks later this morning with very little leverage actually and even less to offer. He'll be meeting with the heads of 12 banking giants. And here's his pitch. Make less money, lend more of it to the American people. Obviously, it's a tough sell. The president tried this kind of meeting at the White House once before back in March and we all know how that went. We're following this developing story this morning.
Christine Romans with how you might be impacted by this morning's events. We begin though with Suzanne Malveaux live in Washington.
And, Suzanne, explain -- the president made a lot of tough comments over the past weekend. It looks like the gloves are coming off. How, though, does he get results?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, you're absolutely right, Kiran, the gloves are off. We heard that over the weekend.
One of the things that the president is trying to do is to shame the banks into changing their behavior. It's kind of a populist appeal, to point out that many Americans perceive that it's the big banks that are taking advantage of good, hard-earned tax dollars and being out of touch with the American people. But without any kind of real tough regulations, there's a real limit as to what the president can do.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The White House party.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): President Barack Obama is in a tough spot, 14 months after American taxpayers bailed out the banks.
OBAMA: 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's lashing out at how some are using their profits.
OBAMA: They don't get it. They're still puzzled, why is it that people are mad at the banks? Well, let's see. You know, you guys are drawing down $10 million, $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 SUMMERS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISER: It was irresponsible risk-taking that brought the economy to the brink of collapse.
DR. CHRISTINA ROMER, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ECONOMIST: 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 on 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 mostly 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)
MALVEAUX: Some of those big banks, however, believe that Congress and the administration's approach unfairly penalizes them for being so large. They don't believe that the government should have the right to seize them and to break them up, and the administration, the president is going to address the bankers' concerns but also really just try to get ahead of this debate when he's going to make a statement on the economy coming out of that meeting, Kiran.
CHETRY: Susan Malveaux for us this morning. Thanks.
HOLMES: Many of America's bailed out banks have already paid back the money we gave them to keep them in business. And while it would be nice if they'd return the favor, there's little incentive for them to start lending again. So how will today's meeting with the president impact us? Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning. That's a good point. You loaned us the money. We paid it back with interest. What do you want from us?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And here's the trouble. I mean, what leverage does the president have? These banks are frantically trying to get out from underneath the government's thumb by giving the money back. The public is saying we want our money back, so the banks are trying to give the money back and now the president has less leverage. If these banks still have our money on their books, then the president could say, look, you've got our money. Take the TARP money, lend it.
The American people want that TARP money returned. So it's a difficult catch-22. Who's going to be there? Twelve CEOs, Bank of America's Ken Lewis, he is retiring. Bank of America has had trouble finding a new CEO because it was under the thumb of the government for its pay restrictions. Now it has repaid $45 billion in TARP loans. Its small business loans, according to the Treasury Department are down five percent.
Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase, he's somebody who's on a first-name basis with the president. By the way, he used to run a bank in Chicago. He knew the president from the early days when the president was a state senator. They got $25 billion in TARP money, have repaid all of it. Small business loans also down.
Wells Fargo, $25 billion, have not repaid their money yet. Goldman Sachs, that CEO, Lloyd Blankfein. Look, I mean, many people say that Goldman Sachs, you know, is public enemy number one. People look at how much Goldman Sachs is earning right now. Billions of dollars and get furious. $10 billion in TARP money, they repaid back -- repaid that. But as Kiran notes very often, Goldman Sachs got money through AIG.
CHETRY: They will never have to pay back.
ROMANS: They will never have to pay back and that has been a big bone of contention.
CHETRY: And they're paying $700,000 per employee this year. That's the salaries?
ROMANS: Now Goldman has done some things. They've launched a $500 million small business initiative that many people say is like a rounding error for a company like Goldman Sachs. They have a women employment, a women business initiative as well that actually gets a lot of, you know, solid press and following from people who watch that. But look, this is the bottom line. The president can brow these bankers today, but can he bring something home for you and I? Can he really increase lending?
These banks will tell you that they're being told by regulators who were asleep for 10 years that they need to build up their capital positions, and they shouldn't be lending money to people who can't pay it back. So the bankers will tell you we don't want to be rushing out there and spending hard-earned money, you know, taxpayer money or money that the taxpayers helped us a year ago.
CHETRY: Right.
ROMANS: We don't want to be, you know, be throwing money after bad.
CHETRY: But here's the other problem and this has to do with the mortgage modifications, right? Obviously the president is going to be needing to talk to them about that, as well as we've seen foreclosures rise.
ROMANS: Right.
CHETRY: Bank of America, I had to look at this. I was going to give you this as a "Romans' Numeral."
ROMANS: Roman numeral?
CHETRY: They have made after, you know, back and forth, back and forth, and all of the situation that has to do with, you know, all these people going in foreclosure, they've made -- Bank of America has finished up just 98 permanent loan modifications -- 98.
ROMANS: Yes. And here's another statistic for you. A quarter of all the loan modifications that the government has pushed through its program, a quarter of those people are already behind again. So the other side of that is do we want taxpayer money to be thrown, again, thrown into something that is almost impossible? It's very difficult to modify a loan and help people get back on track.
So you're right. That part of the equation, the foreclosure mitigation part of the equation, we still haven't gotten that figured out yet. That's what the president will be pushing these CEOS to try to fix today. HOLMES: You know, and some argue this whole meeting is just for show any way. He can't get anything done.
ROMANS: Some people think that it is political theater, yes. But you have a president at a boiling point summoning the nation's top CEOs to Washington and he goes on "60 Minutes" and says, you are fat cats and I'm sick and tired of it, that's a very big deal. I mean, to be a CEO and know that the president is so ticked off, that's very, very rare.
HOLMES: All right. Christine Romans, we will see you again.
ROMANS: Sure.
HOLMES: Christine Romans this morning.
CHETRY: She's raring to go at six, seven here in New York.
Other new stories, a court in Thailand approving a 12-day detention for the crew of a plane found carrying 35 tons of war weapons from North Korea. Now, this plane was seized over the weekend during a refueling stop in Bangkok. Investigators found 35 tons of war weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles, rocket-propelled grenades. Officials say they believe they were loaded in North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions.
HOLMES: And Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, take a look at him. Looked like he went 12 rounds with Manny Pacquiao in here, but actually he's just got hit in the face by a statue. He's recovering this morning in a hospital in Milan after being attacked at a political rally.
Police say a man, you see in the slow motion here, he's going to get clocked here in a second. Yes, he got hit in the face with a statue, broke his nose and a couple of teeth. The alleged attacker is in custody today. Police say that man has a history of mental illness.
CHETRY: Holiday shoppers holding out for just the right deal, may get their wish this week. So far shoppers have been cautiously spending, but as we head into the last shopping weekend before Christmas, analysts say retailers could see discounts up to 75 percent off in the stores.
HOLMES: And Senate Democrats, they thought they were closing in on passing a health care reform legislation. Got a new hurdle now. Jim Acosta tracking the story live for us this morning from Washington. It is nine minutes after the hour. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Twelve minutes past the hour.
New violence this morning erupting on the streets of Turkey. Hundreds of Kurdish protesters hurling fire bombs and rocks at shacks (ph) and homes in Istanbul yesterday. Eighty people were detained after police used tear gas to break up the crowds. It was the third straight day of street violence after Turkey's highest court banned the country's largest pro-Kurdish political party for supporting violence and being linked to a terror group.
HOLMES: Rescuers in Oregon will decide in a few hours whether to resume the air search for two missing climbers on Mount Hood. They say time is critical after two days of nasty weather and avalanche threats. The crews found a third climber dead on Saturday. His camera was also recovered, and rescuers say they're using the images to help pinpoint the climbers' location.
CHETRY: Toyota unveiling its latest innovation. The carmaker says it will have affordable plug-in hybrids on the market by 2011. A plug-in version of the Prius is already being made available to governments and businesses. Toyota plans to introduce about 600 of them in Japan, the U.S. and Europe starting this month.
HOLMES: Well, a good solid B-plus. That is how President Obama is grading himself for his first year in office. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, he said that could improve to an A by creating jobs and getting health care done. The president also telling CBS' "60 Minutes" he expects a health care reform bill to be on his desk sooner than people think.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are now that close to having a bill that does all the things that I said, and most experts said, needed to be done when we started this process.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think it's going to pass?
OBAMA: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think it's going to pass before Christmas in the Senate?
OBAMA: I think it is going to pass out of the Senate before Christmas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to be involved in that process?
OBAMA: I've been involved the whole time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: However, this morning, there are new hurdles in the Senate. Jim Acosta live for us in Washington following it for us.
Jim, good morning. It seems like every time they clear one hurdle there's a new and taller hurdle just down the track.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and I think that hurdle is named Joe Lieberman. The president may want to give him a call this morning. That health care compromise worked out by liberal and conservative Democrats, it's already in trouble, T.J., and it's not just the usual party holdouts or having second thoughts. Even one pretty reliable supporter of President Obama is warning Democratic leaders they may have to come up with something else.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): Just days after Democrats thought they were closing in on a compromise to pass health care reform in the Senate, the party's delicate coalition of 60 votes started cracking once again.
SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: I have to be assured that this is going to bring down the deficit and it's going to bring down health care costs for most Missouri family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if it doesn't?
MCCASKILL: Well, then, we're going to have to go back to the drawing board.
ACOSTA: Back to the drawing board after a group of 10 liberal and conservative Democrats agreed to strip the public option out of the Senate bill and add a provision allowing 55 to 64-year-old Americans to buy into the Medicare program for seniors. But before the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office could weigh in on the cost of the so-called Medicare buy-in, the grumbling had begun.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (I), CONNECTICUT: I think this Medicare buy-in is frankly another way to try to get to a single-payer, government-controlled health care system. And I and Senator Nelson think that would be bad for our country and for the people of our country.
ACOSTA: Even party loyalists are skeptical. A letter signed by some of the most liberal senators in Washington, including names like Leahy and Feingold objects to the Medicare buy in because of the program's lower reimbursement rates for doctors. Add to that, Republican complaints that Medicare is going bankrupt.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNEL, (R) MINORITY LEADER: Medicare of course is already unsustainable, it's going broke in seven years, and the bill itself, the core bill purports to cut Medicare by half a trillion dollars. And if you expand Medicare and put even more people on it you make it even more unsustainable.
ACOSTA: What do Democrats want this holiday season? Try more votes in the senate.
The reason it's so difficult is because every single Democrat and independent has to vote for it, you see? Because the Republicans are withholding all of their votes.
ACOSTA: And getting those votes will come at a price. LIEBERMAN: It's frankly time to start subtracting somethings that's don't belong in there. And if we did that, I think this week we could get more than 60 votes, including some republicans and that's what it ought to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA (on camera): He's calling the shots on this one. The question for Democrats may come down to this, can they live with a bill without a public option and without an expansion of Medicare? Republicans are still betting that they won't, and, T.J., they wanted to get this done by Christmas. You heard the President saying they'll get it done by Christmas. Make no mistake Harry Reid is making a list and checking it twice at this point.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, that's pretty ambitious of the President, asking Santa for that for Christmas.
ACOSTA: I think so.
HOLMES: Jim Acosta this morning thanks so much buddy.
KIRAN CHETRY: CNN ANCHOR: 11 days. The clock is ticking.
Well a big sponsor cuts ties with Tiger Woods. Is this the beginning of the end of the $110 million a year brand? 17 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News In The Morning. Consider this, Tiger Woods makes ten times as much money off the links as he does on them. So if you do the math, it basically boils down to $110 million a year sponsorship empire. But those sponsors are now growing skittish after he acknowledges infidelity. How the Tiger Woods brand is taking a beating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Boy, looks like that Tiger Woods is having some trouble, huh? They say he may no longer be on the box of Wheaties. And I was thinking, well, my god, if he's actually this active --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK SNAIL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So this is what it's come to for Tiger Woods. From global icon revered for his dominance on the golf course to the butt of jokes on late night television for his alleged affairs. With his image suffering, many wonder if he has the ability to be an effective corporate pitchman.
GRAHAM HALES: What you're looking for with these endorsements is a degree of predictable, i.e. we understand the person and we can see how it's going to work out. But they also need to be interesting. We've gone past the point where Tiger Woods is interesting and a lost his role model persona and the way people held themselves up to seeing Tiger Woods as a great person is eroding fast.
SNAIL: And the dominos are starting to fall. Gillette announced they won't air commercials with Woods or use him for public appearances for now. And Accenture, the global consulting firm announced they're severing ties.
RICK HORROW, CEO, HORROW SPORTS VENTRUES: I'm not surprised by the decision relative to Accenture but I'm surprised with the language. If you look at his statement, their statement, they say he is no longer the right representative for the advertising. First corporation that really came out and basically hit him right between the eyes.
SNAIL: Meanwhile EAsports and Nike are two company that's continue to stand by Woods.
HORROW: What's in it for Nike is the perpetuation of somewhere near the $800 million of annual sales. Now Tiger is the reason Nike is as prolific. If you substitute other endorsers it's not the same. This is unprecedented. This will make every marketing textbook in every case study all across the world.
SNAIL: Woods has decided to take an indefinite leave of absence from golf. But when he does return, the PGA Tour and television networks will also need to decide if he'll still be the cover boy for the tournaments he plays in.
DAVID DUSEK, DUTY EDITOR, GOLF.COM: The great Tier Woods initially makes his return into the PGA Tour, it will be very difficult for the folks to -- who run the tour to put him in PSA's and have him be the face of the PGA tour. If he starts winning, if he starts winning major championships again in 2010, then certainly that will change. But right off the bat, I think it will be a little bit of a stretch for Tiger Woods to really be sort of the flagship person or the brand, if you will, for any major organization. I think right now he's simply too hot a commodity for somebody to put out in front and say, this is the person that represents us and all of our values.
SNAIL: "Forbes" magazine touted Woods as the first athlete to surpass the billion-dollar mark in career earnings. With nearly 80 percent of it reportedly coming from his role as a pitchman. Only time will tell if he'll make another billion as fast as he made the first. Patrick Snail, CNN Atlanta.
CHETRY: It's been in the next hour of "American Morning," two experts on image, advertising and public relations. We'll be joined by Evan Tracy of the campaign media analysis group. And you just saw him in this group, David Yusik, he's a deputy editor of the sports illustrated golf group. We'll be talking to both of them about whether or not this is a beginning of a trend of sponsors walking away or whether Tiger can rehab his image and keep these lucrative sponsorships.
HOLMES: And also this morning, forget about the test you have to take when you get to school, talk to some kids who are worried about the test trying to get to the school. Yes, we're talking about walking in my shoes, an "am" original series. The trek some kids have to take, the dangerous trek that can be deadly sometimes. We'll show you with some kids with Chicago in particular dealing with getting to and from school. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: 26 minutes past the hour . Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Admiral Mike Mullen, a chairman of the joint chiefs of staff arrived in Kabul earlier today. He begins a series of meetings with the Afghan government on the President's new war strategy. Meanwhile, here AT home, President Obama is rejecting criticism that he shouldn't have said he'd begin to draw down some of the 30,000 troops to Afghanistan by the summer of 2011. Here's what he told CBS'S "60 minutes."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Why set a deadline? I mean, Senator McCain, most --
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: And the answer is that in the absence of a deadline, the message we are sending to the Afghans is, it's business as usual. This is an open-ended commitment. And very frankly, there are, I think, elements in Afghanistan who would be perfectly satisfied to make Afghanistan a permanent protecterate of the United States in which they carry no burden, in which we're paying for a military in Afghanistan that preserves their security and their prerogatives. That's not what the American people signed on for when they went into Afghanistan in 2001, they signed up to go after Al Qaeda.
CHETRY: Well, but for the 30,000 additional troops headed to Afghanistan, the fight is a lot more complex than just good guys versus bad guys. Our Barbara Starr travel to Eastern Afghanistan to find out in this "am" original.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Here in Eastern Afghanistan, can you see this produce market is thriving. In search and activity though is actually on the rise, here, still it's not keeping U.S. troops off the streets.
STARR(voice over): We are in the town, and Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Ben Ungerman heads a reconstruction team here.
COLONEL BEN UNGERMAN, AIR FORCE: Our goal is the same as everybody else's goal in Afghanistan.
STARR: What is it? To press the Afghan government here to crackdown on corruption so a real economy can take hold and there's no toehold for the Taliban. There has been progress. Village elders have signed agreements promising to renounce terrorism. But now, since the summer, U.S. troops are increasingly being targeted here by local Taliban. UNGERMAN: Since then, we've seen quite the increase, IED's placed in roads, mostly unpaved roads. They're trying to dissuade development and threaten the government and people, and frankly they're trying to get us out of here.
STARR: Ungerman tells us recent IED's have nearly tripled in size. Up to 150 pounds of explosives. Even these mine resistant vehicles can't survive. There have been so-called night letters of intimidation. There is a shadow Taliban government here. Suddenly, as the colorful taxis and crowds go by, we get a first-hand look at how quickly a typical day for U.S. troops here can turn potentially to trouble.
(on camera): Even as we are in this market though, we are getting some word from the U.S. troops here, there are some folks who may want to cause trouble, so we've been asked to pack up and start moving away from the marketplace.
We've gotten the word there's a few bad people we don't want around us.
STARR (voice over): An Afghan security officer arrested the soldiers that potential insurgents had been spotted. Everyone moves back to the armored vehicle. It's another reminder the insurgents hide among the people, and the biggest challenge simply may be knowing who's who. Barbara Starr, CNN, better long, Afghanistan.
CHETRY: It's just unbelievable when you see the kind of situations that our troops are facing there, and, of course, the Afghan people.
HOLMES: And you know, it sounds like they're going to be doing it for quite some time. Some progress being made but very little stories of success right now.
CHETRY: That's right, and Barbara Starr is trying to bring us some bright spots. Meanwhile, half past the hour, a quick check of your top stories. President Obama called Tareq and Michaela Salahi's ability to slip into the White House state dinner last month a screw up. And says it won't be repeated. Appearing again on 60 Minutes, the President pointed the finger at everyone involved.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These people should not have gotten through the gate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you unhappy with your social secretary?
OBAMA: I was unhappy with everybody who was involved in the process. And so it was a screw-up. Now, I don't think that from a policy perspective, this was the most important thing, or even the fifth or sixth most important thing that happened this week, although it got the most news.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you angry when you found out about it? OBAMA: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seriously angry.
OBAMA: Yes. That's why it won't happen again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There you go. Well, the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee voted last week to subpoena the Salahis to testify before the panel January 20th.
HOLMES: Reports say Citigroup close to an agreement with the government to start repaying $20 billion in bailout money. The deal will allow Citigroup to raise $10 billion by issuing new stock. Also on the table, the possibility of the Treasury selling some of its -- one-third ownership of that bank. The government received a 34 percent stake in Citigroup after converting an additional $25 billion in bailout funds into common stock.
CHETRY: Well, Houston is now the country's biggest city to elect an openly gay mayor. Annise Parker won a runoff with nearly 54 percent of the vote. Parker says she hopes that her victory will change how the world looks at her city and that she's ready to get to work for the people of Houston.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNISE PARKER, HOUSTON MAYOR-ELECT: I understand that for many people I'm a symbol. But things that make me a good role model for my community are also what make me a good representative for the city of Houston. And I have had now 12 years of on-the-job training to prepare me to take over the reins in America's fourth largest city. I'm ready to lead the city, and Houstonians are all in this together. So a good bit of my speech last night was about acknowledging history, but focusing on the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And Parker beat out former city attorney Jean Locke in the hotly-contested runoff election. She was serving before that as city comptroller and now takes office as mayor the first of the year.
Well, the Obama administration is pledging federal support to fight a recent surge in teen violence. You may remember that brutal beating death of a 16-year-old Chicago honor student back in September. Attorney General Eric Holder says it was a wake-up call for the country.
HOLMES: Four teens charged in that murder. I sat down with the brother of one of those being held. It's part one of our "AM Original" series, "Walk in my Shoes."
We want to give you a warning here. Some of the images you're about to see are disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (voice-over): Teen violence, it's a problem just about everywhere. In California, a crowd watches a 15-year-old girl gang raped after a high school dance. Five of the six suspects are teenagers.
In Florida a 15-year-old suffers second degree burns over 80 percent of his body when five teens set him on fire in a dispute involving his failure to pay them $40 for a video game. And in Chicago, this violent image captured on a cell phone camera. 16-year- old Darien Albert beaten to death by a mob of teens. A killing so senseless and brutal, it strikes a nerve across the country.
ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: This nation was shocked. Shocked.
HOLMES: All the way to the White House.
HOLDER: It was a stark wake-up call to a reality that can be easy for too many to ignore.
HOLMES: A wake-up call to a startling reality. Where, according to the most recently released CDC figures, on average, 16 young people are murdered each day in the United States.
In Chicago, 12 public school students have been killed in the last four months, including Derrion Albert.
VASHION BULLOCK, FOUGHT IN BRAWL THAT KILLED DERRION ALBERT: I've got some regrets. I wished I would have just stayed home that day.
HOLMES: Vashion Bullock was one of those kids who took part in the Chicago brawl.
BULLOCK: One of the kids had thrown a rock in my brother's car, so I approached the body. I'm like, why are you throwing rocks and stuff at the car?
HOLMES (on camera): Who is this on the ground?
BULLOCK: That's Derrion.
HOLMES (voice-over): Vashion says what the public sees in these images and what he saw that day are two different stories. In his world he says fighting is about survival.
(on camera): Tell me, though, in the few years you were at Fenger, how often were you getting in fights?
BULLOCK: Like every two weeks, something like that.
HOLMES: Every couple of weeks?
BULLOCK: No. What you mean by fights? What I'm talking about is like fistfights when I go home for like the whole day. Or are you just talking just an altercation?
HOLMES: Either way. Some would say just a little altercation, that's still a fight. And if you get into it every couple of weeks, that's a lot.
BULLOCK: Right. You can only walk away for so long.
HOLMES (voice-over): No one seemed to walk away that day. That September afternoon when Derrion Albert was murdered.
(on camera): Let me get to this point about Derrion. Did you know him beforehand?
BULLOCK: Yes.
HOLMES: From school?
BULLOCK: Yes.
HOLMES: How well did you know him?
BULLOCK: I didn't know him like that. All I know is he used to come sit in the back of the lunch room and come sit with us.
HOLMES: But Derrion would also hang out with kids Vashion didn't get along with. A simmering tension that would come to a head.
BULLOCK: How long can you be firm with somebody messing with you?
HOLMES: We'll ask Vashion what was going through his mind that day. How he could have participated in a fight that shocked the nation. And why he does not think his brother should be in jail as one of the four teens charged in the killing of Derrion Albert.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Amazing to talk to him and hear. We all saw those images. That video of Derrion. The whole country saw that. But to hear a kid who was there, to see more of the video. Actually, it's about a two-and-a-half, three minute video. Mostly the clips that people have seen are just those last moments that Derrion was hit and he was on the ground, but there's so much more to the story.
And you're going to hear from Vashion after this break, and hear him explain what was going on that day. What was going through his mind. And again, why he doesn't think anybody should be in jail charged with murder. It's 36 past the hour.
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HOLMES: Welcome back, everybody, to the "Most News in the Morning."
Before the break, we introduced you to Vashion Bullock. And he doesn't deny fighting in that brawl that killed a high school student in south Chicago back in September.
He's watched that video. He has seen himself standing in the middle of that mob. But he says what happened on the street that day is completely different from what you saw in the media.
Here now, part two of my interview in our "AM Original" series "Walk in my Shoes."
And, again, we want to warn you that some of the video is disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (voice-over): It shocked the nation. But for 17-year-old Vashion Bullock, this brawl was only a step removed from his everyday reality.
(on camera): What happened that day that had you end up in the middle of all that?
BULLOCK: One of the kids had thrown a rock in my brother's car, so I approached the body. I'm like, why are you throwing rocks and stuff at the car?
HOLMES (voice-over): For weeks, Vashion says tension was brewing between two rival factions at Chicago's Fenger High School. Fights between the teens were nothing new, really, but on this day some kids came with makeshift weapons.
BULLOCK: They brought those weapons to the fight. They picked up some house bricks and brought them. They picked up those bottles and brought them. They ripped the railroad tracks up just to fight.
(VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (voice-over): The video shows a shirtless Vashion with his brother, Eugene Riley, standing next to him, both empty-handed, as another teen whacks Vashion with a wooden plank. When the brothers appear again, they're holding planks.
(on camera): So your brother comes over, and does what?
BULLOCK: He was fighting with me. He had to protect himself and me, because I am his little brother.
HOLMES: You're telling me your brother was simply defending himself and you at the time with whatever was around and whatever the other side was using.
BULLOCK: Come on. I got hit in the back of my head, he got hit in the back of his head with a stick.
HOLMES: Now, did Derrion, as far as you know, did he ever -- was he ever part of the group that was jumping you?
BULLOCK: I ain't going to say he was fighting me, because I couldn't tell.
HOLMES: So you assumed he was over there trying to swing on you and trying to fight you and your brother?
BULLOCK: No, I ain't assuming, I know for a fact.
HOLMES (voice-over): But authorities have repeatedly said Derrion was nothing more than an innocent bystander, on his way home from school, caught between two rival groups.
(on camera): So from what that -- you see in that video, what do you see your brother doing to Derrion?
BULLOCK: I see him fighting. He hit him with a stick. It was a fight.
HOLMES (voice-over): Derrion was still on the ground when Vashion's brother, Eugene, delivered a final blow.
(on camera): I know it's your brother, and I know you love him. But do you think it was necessary to take it that far?
BULLOCK: They brought those weapons to the fight. That's what people are not understanding.
HOLMES: But if Derrion was down, why do you think your brother had to go after and hit this kid who clearly wasn't a threat anymore at least.
BULLOCK: He was another body, another body with two hands that could have been swinging on anybody.
HOLMES (voice-over): After video of the brawl was released, Vashion's brother, Eugene, was taken into custody. One of four teens charged in the killing of Derrion Albert.
BULLOCK: I'm just saying like, they should let all of them go because it was just a fight. Fights happen daily.
HOLMES (on camera): But, you know, for the police and for our justice system, that ain't good enough. Your brother picked up something, hit a kid, and the kid died.
BULLOCK: What about the other people that picked up the weapons and hit me? Where are they at?
HOLMES: Don't you think somebody should be held accountable for Derrion's death?
BULLOCK: No, not accountable for the whole thing, because it was a mistake. Ain't nobody want him to die, ain't nobody meant for him to die. It was a fight. Fights took out of hand, not intentionally, just because.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: And that may sound outrageous to some people to hear a kid died and you hear this kid that he doesn't think anybody should be in jail. But for him, that is his everyday reality. We do this, we see this every single day, and they're part of this every single day. Just this one fight, somebody happened to get killed. That is his mentality. That's his logic. That might be hard for other people to understand, but it's hard for us to put ourselves in his world.
CHETRY: Right. Which is why you're calling it "A Walk in My Shoes." But what is the home life like? What do his parents say to him about what you're supposed to do and not supposed to do?
HOLMES: Well, a lot of parents -- anyway, we got more of the series coming up in the couple days. But a lot of parents we talk to as well, telling the kids, you've got to stand up for yourself. You can't run, you can't walk away. And I heard this so many times even from parents, you can't be no punk.
I mean, it's something that sounds so silly, but you can't be no punk. It's really about some of these kids, the currency they have is not like some kids in suburbs, where it's about what jeans you're wearing, what car you drive, their only currency sometimes is their reputation. That's all they have to fight for, and they will fight for it, and sometimes somebody gets killed over it.
CHETRY: It's a real tragedy in so many ways.
HOLMES: Yes. But I got another part coming up tomorrow as well. We're going to be looking more into it. And the teenage brain as well. Some people, some doctors say, there's a clear explanation for why kids act out like this.
CHETRY: All right, we look forward to that part as well.
Meanwhile, cold weather across parts of the country making roads icy, slowing down travelers. We're going to be checking in with Rob Marciano for a look at extreme weather across the country. Still ahead.
It's 44 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: There you go. It's about 13 minutes until 7:00 here in New York, and you practically have the Wollman ice rink there in Central Park to yourself if you want it ahead out there hardly anybody compare that to, let's say, the Rockefeller Center Rink when the tourists are in town, and boy, there's not really anywhere to move. Right now, it's 41 degrees, going up just five degrees to 46, but, at least, it's expected to be mostly sunny today.
Time to fast forward through the stories we'll be seeing on CNN, at 11:10 a.m. Eastern, President Obama is meeting with top banking executives. He wants to get them to step up lending and also to get behind legislation to overhaul Wall Street regulations. Also be prepared for long line to the post office. The postal service expects today to be the busiest mailing day of the year with more than 830 million cards, letters and packages that need to be processed; that's about 40 percent more than a typical day.
Also, NASA will try to launch its new infrared telescope into orbit this morning. The launch window is from 9:09 to 9:23 a.m. Eastern. The WISE telescope visits call will create a map of the universe. It's something that will be more detailed than anything we'll ever see, so maybe we'll answer the age-old question about UFOs.
HOLMES: Can you explain that technology one more? The telescope, it does what again?
CHETRY: It's going to map the entire universe, T.J.
HOLMES: It's going to map the entire universe.
CHETRY: How cool is that?
HOLMES: Let's go to much simpler maps, I think. Rob Marciano, you got a few maps at your disposal there, in Atlanta. Good morning to you, sir.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys. Hope you had a great weekend. Yes, maps are always a good thing, be it of outer space or a little bit closer to home. Temperatures today, a little bit warmer than they were over the weekend.
Check out some of this video coming into us from Western Pennsylvania, cold, dense air locked into the valleys and then moisture coming over the top of that, so there were number of traffic accidents because of slick roadways, icing conditions.
And boy, that was some dramatic stuff, definitely want to get out of the way when a car is spinning out of control and doing so downhill. I suspect because the cameras were already there that this is a favorite spot for this kind of action.
All right. Warmer today, though, and because of that, we've got a problem with fog this morning, so that's going to be the travel issue. Up and down the I-95 corridor, starting with the Baltimore through D.C. and then down towards the Atlanta area. Look how expansive these dense fog advisories are a cross the South as well and then back towards the upper coastline of Texas, so be careful out there.
Visibilities at times will drop below a quarter of a mile. If you're traveling by air, that will slow down the airports at Atlanta, Charlotte, D.C. also, Houston and Chicago. We'll see a little bit of fog and low clouds and rain in the morning and then another rain and snowstorm moving into the Seattle area, and I should note that that will hamper conditions for the rescuers out there looking for those two missing climbers on Mt. Hood.
All right. Another drive of cold, arctic air will come in and replace the mild temperatures today across the East and then more rain across parts of the South today. 71 in Dallas, 63 in Memphis, and 47, as you guys mentioned, not a bad looking day for New York City to go out to the various rinks that are open for this holiday season.
CHETRY: There you go. You know how Rockefeller Center gets so crowded, and you're almost moving in like one big throng. You can't even, you know, do your triple axles as you love to do.
MARCIANO: I like to do my triple axles in Bryant Park.
CHETRY: Right.
MARCIANO: Because it's free down there.
CHETRY: Exactly. Much better. Rob, thanks.
HOLMES: He's not kidding.
(LAUGHING)
CHETRY: I'm sure. Did you see his triple so yow cow (ph), it's amazing.
(CROSSTALK)
Holmes: I'm just going to smile and act like I know what that is.
(LAUGHING)
CHETRY: It's a bunch of flips in the air and then they land, which is all about more amazing. I can do the flip part, but landing, no. The worldwide event that shining spotlight on those in the one picture at a time. It's a great initiative just in time for the holidays. We'll explain what's going on.
Also, there's a new hurdle in health care negotiations. Democrats compromise may be dead in the water. Jim Acosta reports. Fifty-one minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Fifty-four minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. You know, glamorous is not a word often used to describe those in need, struggling with addiction, or fighting cancer, but for one day, in almost every state in America and in 58 countries, that all changed. On Saturday, the less fortunate were treated to a free professional portrait by hundreds of volunteer photographers around the world. CNN's Susan Candiotti introduces us to some very special people ready for their close-up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNKNOWN MALE: Two, one. Awesome.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are moms and dads trying hard to make ends meet.
UNKNOWN FEMALE: Give me a little smile.
CANDIOTTI: They are mother and son, trying to get a troubled life back on track.
UNKNOWN MALE: All right, guys. Here we go.
CANDIOTTI: There are family worrying whether their son will live to sit for another portrait.
UNKNOWN MALE: That looks awesome. 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; they are valued, and 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 makeup for the shoot.
UNKNOWN FEMALE: Always wanted professional make up.
CANDIOTTI: What was it like?
UNKNOWN FEMALE: It's like being queen for a day.
COWART: It's great.
UNKNOWN FEMALE: Oh, my god, that is!
COWART: That's fun.
CANDIOTTI (on-camera): 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.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Including the Netherlands and Italy. More than 6,000 pros volunteering their time and talent, and then nearly every state, photos, first-class photos, taken and printed for free. In Tennessee, the Carter family wanted a portrait to include Barret (ph), who is recovering from cancer.
UNKNOWN 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.
HANSEL MORATA (ph): 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: More of this young people in a program battling low self-esteem.
UNKNOWN FEMALE: It's really awesome to see them smile, especially some of the girls that don't really like smiling anyway.
UNKNOWN FEMALE: All right, look at that.
COWART: It's a reminder to me that photography is a very special gift. It's not something 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.
UNKNOWN MALE: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
CANDIOTTI: Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
CHETRY: Cool.
HOLMES: Very cool. Susan Candiotti. I appreciate bringing that story to us. Coming up here, don't go too far. The president, he was calling them names over the weekend, and today he's --
CHETRY: Fat cats.
HOLMES: He's having them over to the house.
CHETRY: Yes, right.
HOLMES: See how that goes. He's meeting with the CEO's of 12 giant banks coming up in a few hours. We'll tell you what it means for your wallet in 90 seconds.
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