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American Morning
Italian PM Attacked; Financial Boot Camp; Brawling Teenagers
Aired December 14, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to this "AMERICAN MORNING" for this Monday, December 14th. I am T.J. Homes sitting in today for John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Great to have you with us this morning.
HOLMES: Good to be back.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Here are the big stores that we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
First, fat cats who don't get it, that's how President Obama describes the CEOs of the big banks that he will be meeting with later this morning. After bashing them over the weekend, he will be pleading with them in three hours to start making less and lending more. It's a tough sell after some very tough talk.
HOLMES: Also, Senate Democrats up against a new hurdle in the push for health care reform. That hurdle's name is Joe Lieberman. We will explain what is going to happen now. Our Jim Acosta is live in Washington with the new developments.
CHETRY: And Houston goes to the polls and makes history. America's fourth largest city...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNISE PARKER, HOUSTON MAYOR-ELECT: It has changed the world for the gay, lesbian, and bisexual and transgendered community.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: America's fourth largest city, now the nation's largest who elects an openly gay candidate for mayor. Annise Parker won a hotly contested runoff with nearly 54 percent of the vote. She's talking about the history and the job -- ahead this morning.
First, though, the morning after he bashed them on national TV, President Obama will be meeting face-to-face with the CEOs of some of our biggest banks. The session starts in three hours. The president's message: the American people bailed you out, and now, bail them out by lending a lot more and making a little less.
Suzanne Malveaux is live at the White House this morning. Suzanne, we're hearing some very strong language coming from the president when it comes to trying to get these banks to change their ways.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, it's part of a strategy actually to shame the banks into changing their behavior, essentially using a populist appeal to make the case that many Americans believe -- perceive that these banks are taking advantage of good, hard-earned tax dollars and that they simply don't get it. But without some real tough regulations, it is very difficult and very limited in what the president can really do.
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MALVEAUX (voice-over): President Barack Obama is in a tough spot, 14 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'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 guys are drawing down $10 million, $20 million bonuses after America went through the worst economic year that it's gone through in -- 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 the 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 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: So, Kiran, you get the sense of frustration from the president and this administration, but some of these big banks are saying that they believe they are unfairly being targeted because of their size and that the government doesn't have a right to try to break them up, per se.
Now, we know that the president is going to address this later on, but he's also going to try and get out in front of this debate, make a statement about the state of the economy overall and, essentially, once again try to paint those big bankers -- in one corner, the administration and the other and simply saying that they have got to come to the table with some different ideas and different solutions and to change their behavior.
CHETRY: Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning -- thanks so much.
Well, the president's two top economic advisers apparently weren't comparing notes apparently. White House chief economic adviser Larry Summers and senior economist Christina Romer appeared on the talk show circuit yesterday. Listen to what they had to say almost simultaneously about the state of the recession.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
SUMMERS: 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.
DAVID GREGORY, NBC HOST: So, in your mind, this recession is not over?
ROMER: Of course not.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HOLMES: So, exactly, who's right there? These are two very different opinions from the top folks at the White House who are advising the president on economic issues.
In a moment, we're going to be talking to Diane Brady, senior editor of "BusinessWeek" and our own Christine Romans. They're going to be discussing the recession and other matters that directly impact your money.
Now, we do want to talk about the battle over health care. President Obama says he's confident the Senate will pass a bill by Christmas. But a newly minted compromise by Democrats already in a bit of jeopardy. And it stands now, Senate passage is anything but assured.
Jim Acosta, that was all too well -- joining us now live from Washington -- nothing seems to be assured in this whole debate about health care.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a season of miracles, right, T.J.? That's right. You know, that health care reform compromise worked out by liberal and conservative Democrats, it's already in trouble. And it's not just the usual party holdouts who are having second thoughts this time. Even one pretty reliable supporter of President Obama is warning Democratic leaders 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 cost for most Missouri families.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if it doesn't?
MCCASKILL: Well, then, we are 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 MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY: 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 about half a trillion dollars. And then 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.
SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: 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 some things that don't belong 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 VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: But first, the question for Democrats may come down to this: can they live with a bill without a public option or without a Medicare expansion. Republicans are still betting that they won't. And, you know, T.J., Democrats had wanted to get this done by Christmas, and you can rest assured that Harry Reid has a list and he's checking it twice at this point.
I'm not sure which side Joe Lieberman fits, the naughty or the nice. But we may know more about that at the end of this week.
HOLMES: Well, yes, at this point, he's on the fence between that naughty and nice.
ACOSTA: Yes.
HOLMES: Jim Acosta for us in D.C. -- thanks so much.
ACOSTA: You bet.
CHETRY: Well, it's 7 1/2 minutes past the hour.
Also new this morning, Tiger Woods' camp is saying it's disappointed by long-time sponsor Accenture's decision to drop the golfer. The global consulting firm is the first major company that cut ties altogether. The statement on the company's Web site says Woods is no longer the right representative after Woods admitted to infidelity.
HOLMES: And Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will spend at least one more night in Milan, in a hospital, after being attacked at a political rally on Sunday. Police say a man threw a small statue at the Berlusconi, hit him in the face, broke his nose, broke a couple of teeth.
Doctors say Berlusconi is having trouble eating and is on antibiotic and painkillers. But they say he won't need to have surgery.
CHETRY: Also, there she is, the world's newest reigning beauty. The 23-year-old from Gibraltar is the new Miss World. She was crowned last night in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Let's see her, for goodness sakes. I'm kidding. Sorry.
HOLMES: I was I'll say that.
CHETRY: You were saying the same thing, right? I was reading your mind.
Well, she beat out 111 other finalists around the globe. Very pretty.
HOLMES: There she is.
CHETRY: It's all a big mystery.
HOLMES: There she is. OK. I don't know how I missed that last night. I usually keep a pretty tight pageant schedule.
CHETRY: On Miss World?
HOLMES: Yes. Even Miss World.
Also, speaking of princesses and the frog, "The Princess and the Frog" the movie, no problem snatching the top spot this weekend. The hand- drawn animation features Disney's first African-American princess. It took in $25 million. And the "Blind Side" and Clint Eastwood's "Invictus" rounded out at the top three.
CHETRY: All right. There you go. I guess they want to just keep a mystery still, you know? Who won Miss World?
HOLMES: I'm about to look it up there.
CHETRY: Yes, exactly. I know you are.
Well, let's talk about Mr. Ali Velshi. He is on a bus tour, the first stop: North Carolina. Ali holds a roundtable discussion, "Financial Boot Camp." He's going to be joining us to tell us about it.
HOLMES: Also, a bit of a boot camp happening at the White House today. The president talking to the fat cats, he was just talking about yesterday, the heads of all those banks.
Does it really matter how much they make? Well, they certainly think it matters how much they lend. Diane Brady and Christine Romans coming along live to discuss -- next.
It's 10 minutes after the hour.
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HOLMES: Well, "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich" is the name of the song, has nothing to do with my two guests that are sitting here that I'm going to introduce in just a second.
We're talking about New York City, live picture. Sunny and 38 degrees. It's kind of nasty yesterday with a lot of rain. But a high of 45 today. So, not so bad.
But welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
As President Obama prepares to meet with some Wall Street's -- some of the Wall Street's biggest bankers in a few hours from now, a lot of Americans are wondering exactly what we got out of that deal for bailing those banks out last fall, because CEOs are still collecting and handing out bonuses like the financial meltdown never even happened.
Back to business as usual, some would say.
Diane Brady, senior with "BusinessWeek" is here with us. Also, our Christine Romans, again, beautiful, rich maybe, but the dirty doesn't apply of these two here.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINES CORRESPONDENT: Just beautiful.
HOLMES: Just beautiful, I'll just stick with that.
Well, I was talking with you then. What can the president really make these guys do? These CEOs -- can he make them do anything? And if he can't, what is their incentive to do what the president is asking them to do, which is to get more money flowing?
DIANE BRADY, SENIOR EDITOR, BUSINESSWEEK: He's trying to use moral suasion right now. And you're right, the poll is shrinking.
HOLMES: Does that work with these guys?
BRADY: Everybody is racing to pay this money back and the main reason is they want to be able to pay the bonuses. He could do what they did in Britain, which is just put on a tax on all bonuses over a certain amount. But I think the reaction would be very strong. Basically, he's trying to use, you know, appeal to their better sides at this point.
HOLMES: Now, again, Christine, could that possible work with these -- he just called them fat cats -- I don't know if they're all going to work in the room...
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE) the president.
ROMANS: When you have the president of the United States going on "60 Minutes" and calling out 12 most powerful people in the country, I mean, that is a really big deal. But does he have the leverage? I mean, Diane is right. All of these banks are racing to give their money back. And the public is screaming for it, right? Where is our money? Give us our money back.
So, now, they're giving the money back, ironically, that means that the Treasury Department, Tim Geithner, and Barack Obama, the president, have even less influence over the banks as they pay it back.
HOLMES: So, we are talking about them paying the money back. So, the taxpayer gets the money back. But what else did the taxpayer get for the loan in the first place? All right, we got our money back, but still, this was supposed to help them get on good ground and to get money flowing again. So, did the taxpayer get anything else?
BRADY: I think what's really worrying -- first of all, they've not been getting the loans that people expected. It's starting to come through and we are seeing a lot more, you know, lending to small businesses. But, in essence, they took that money to use as a cushion. So, the American people did not, in essence, get more money.
I think, the other thing is, we haven't seen more regulation. We're back to "business as usual." And for a lot of people, that's very troubling because there's no question that it was a lot of risk that put us in the situation in the first place.
HOLMES: Well, that's the thing there, Christine. Doesn't it -- in some ways -- seem odd that we got into the situation? A lot would say, yes and risky behavior, but also, it was the government at some point, trying to push, during the whole housing boom...
ROMANS: Oh, yes.
HOLMES: ... trying to tell, "Hey, loan to these folks, loan to these folks."
ROMANS: Oh, yes.
HOLMES: And now, they're trying to tell the banks once again to get money out again and the banks are trying to step back.
ROMANS: They have to be careful in Washington about pointing fingers and all this blame, because everybody's got a lot of blame to go around. But you're absolutely right. When I talk to regional bankers in particular who have a bigger part of their portfolio goes to small business, they say look, we are starting to lend like we did in the '70s and the '80s where you had a 720 credit score, you had to have money in the bank, you can have a business model that we know is going to work. We've got to know that we're going to get paid back because we're not -- we have record high defaults on loans. These bankers are scared, so even when they do have the money to lend, they are saying, they are saying and maybe they are not in all cases right, they are saying that they don't have as many qualified borrowers and they are worried about getting into the same situation as before.
HOLMES: So have we seen signs that this is loosening up, that there is more money starting to flow back to consumers for these loans?
DIANE BRADY, SENIOR EDITOR, BUSINESS WEEK: There is more money available, but I think Christine is right. Obviously one thing is the standards are higher. And the biggest issue right now for business is that consumers are not buying. They are not buying the products. They are not buying the services. So you don't have as much need to grow your business if you are just struggling to stay afloat. So that's the biggest issue.
ROMANS: And you had asked, what did we get for that taxpayer money? And I am struck, because we got something that we can't see. What we did get from that taxpayer money is we got a system that still is breathing today. Remember a year ago, Warren Buffett was just talking about this I think in the pages of the "Journal" this weekend, a year ago people were really concerned that you weren't going to get money out of your ATM machine the next day, that you were going to have a situation where the banking system actually stopped. And that would have been unbelievable. We did avoid that. We did -- taxpayers did get something for their money. We stopped an absolute calamity. But it has been painful and ugly and whenever you have the government involved in the private sector, it's going to play out with the unintended consequences I'm sure for years.
HOLMES: Well, I want to ask about this might and it might just be from a PR standpoint, something the government is doing, but what difference does it make to an American out there how much some fat cat, as the president would say, gets paid in a bonus or this or that? I mean you hear the argument from Wall Street, we've got to do this to keep some of the best and brightest in these jobs, but the government can easily come out and say, oh they get these big bonuses, and that gets all of the populist anger. So what difference does it make and what good does it do to come out and talk about these bonuses? In the grand scheme of things, isn't that just a small part of this whole equation?
BRADY: I think it is, and I think fat cats, let's face it, as political theater. He was playing to Main Street there. But I think it's just the anger. People have gone through a lot of pain. It seems remarkably tone deaf to be giving yourself tens of millions of dollars in bonuses in a year where A, you've been supported by the government, you stayed afloat because of the government, and a lot of people around you are not doing as well as you are. So I think just from a pure PR point of view, and we saw Goldman Sachs do this, you cannot be paying yourself the type of money you were getting three or four years ago.
HOLMES: And Christine, finally here, it is going to be enough for these CEOS to go into the White House today and to say thanks, Mr. President, we appreciate the loan?
ROMANS: I think it's really remarkable the president is making such a public show of all of this. And I wonder, where is the Wall Street creativity? I mean, they should have been trying to figure out ways to push back on this PR problem from months ago. I mean in large part, a PR problem for them and I give the Wall Street CEOS an "F" for trying to get ahead of that and finding ways that they can try to get out there, have some new programs, some new lending, some new initiatives at least to satisfy people and show that look, we get it. We get it that we are an important part of the American economy and we are an important part of the process of the recovery, and we are going to help. They have done very little to do that. Goldman did something little, a $500 million little, it was a rounding error.
BRADY: And that they get it that in fact you helped us.
HOLMES: Well maybe we will all be surprised and see something come out of this meeting today. Diane Brady, Christine Romans, good to see you. Always good to have you around. Kiran?
CHETRY: Thanks so much. Well still ahead, Houston mayor Annise Parker, she's now the country's -- Houston actually becomes the country's biggest city to elect an openly gay mayor. It was a tough fight, a big, big runoff election that she ultimately emerged the victor. We're going to hear from her still ahead, 19 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Twenty-one minutes past the hour, welcome back to the most news in the morning. Topping our political ticker now, President Obama is giving himself a pretty good report card. Sitting down with Oprah Winfrey, the president said that if he had to grade himself on his first year in office, he would give himself a solid "B+." Why not an "A+?" Well, the president says he hasn't reached his goals on health care reform and job creation.
HOLMES: Also President Obama talking about the now infamous White House party crashers. That interview with "60 Minutes" last night, the president was asked how did the Salahis get into his state dinner for India's prime minister?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You must know what happened. Can you share that with us?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that what I know is what everybody knows, which is that 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 from a policy perspective this was the most important thing or even the fifth or sixth even 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 again, right?
OBAMA: Yes, that's why it won't happen again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, the director of the Secret Service has admitted White House security procedures were not followed. Three officers have been put on leave.
CHETRY: And Houston is now the country's biggest city to elect an openly gay mayor. Annise Parker winning a run-off with nearly 54 percent of the vote. Parker says that she hopes her victory will change how the world looks at her city. And also, she's getting ready to work for the people of Houston.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNISE PARKER, HOUSTON MAYOR-ELECT: I know what this win means to many of us who never thought we could achieve high office. I understand. I know what it means. I understand because I feel it, too. But now let us from this moment begin to join as one community. I understand that for many people I am 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 am ready to lead the city, and Houstonians are 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: All right, well Parker takes office of course on New Year's Day.
HOLMES: Also, of course, many people in the country are familiar with the story of Derrion Albert, the Chicago teen that was caught on video being beaten. He died there in Chicago. Well, I talked to one person who participated in that fight that day. His brother is now actually in jail, even though you can see his brother striking Derrion Albert. We will explain why he says his brother, he doesn't think, should be in jail at all, nobody should be charged in that crime.
CHETRY: Well, we look forward to seeing that piece. It really sheds some light on a situation where you say how can there be two sides to this? It's very interesting to hear it.
HOLMES: There is a different side.
CHETRY: Also, we're following extreme weather. Icy roads in many parts of the country, we are not even necessarily into the official start of winter yet and there you see, the cars rolling off the roads in some cases due to the ice. No match for Mother Nature. Rob Marciano takes a look at where we could be seeing some of the most dangerous conditions out there.
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HOLMES: It's 27 minutes past the hour. Some of our top stories this morning, one story developing out of Iran. Iran's foreign minister says three U.S. citizens held in Iran on charges of espionage will stand trial. The trio was detained in July after entering Iran from northern Iraq. Iran claims the Americans had "suspicious aims." Their families maintain they were hiking and strayed across the border accidentally.
CHETRY: A court in Pakistan says five suspected American terrorists cannot be deported until their case is reviewed by judges. The police say the five Muslim men were attempting to join forces with militants in the northwest tribal regions of Afghanistan with plans to eventually fight in Afghanistan.. The students have family roots in the Northern Virginia and D.C. area. HOLMES: Also Admiral Mike Mullen, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is in Afghanistan. He arrived earlier this morning for a series of meetings with the Afghan government on the president's new war strategy. His visit comes as the first wave of troops are set to deploy to the war zone this week.
CHETRY: Well, the Obama administration is pledging federal money to support a recent surge in teen violence after the 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 teenagers have been charged in that murder. I sat down with the brother of one of the suspects for an "AM" original series, "Walk In My Shoes." Here now is one part of it, and some of this video, we do want to warn you, is a bit disturbing.
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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 Derrion Albert beaten to death by a mob of teens, a killing so senseless and brutal, it strikes a nerve across the country.
ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: This nation was 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, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A wake-up call to a startling reality, for 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 in Chicago, including Derrion Albert.
VASHION BULLOCK, FOUGHT IN BRAWL THAT KILLED DERRION ALBERT: I have regrets ,like I wish I would have just stayed home that day.
HOLMES: Vashion Bullock was one of the kids who took part in the Chicago brawl.
BULLOCK: One of the kids through a rock at my brother, and so I approached the boys and I said why are you throwing rocks.
HOLMES: But Vashion says what the public sees in these images and what he saw that day are two different stories. In his world, he say, fighting is about survival.
HOLMES (on camera): Tell me, though, in the few years that you were there, how often were you getting in fights?
BULLOCK: Every two weeks, something like that.
HOLMES: Every couple of weeks?
BULLOCK: What do you mean by fights? Fist fights that would go on the whole day, or just an altercation?
HOLMES: Either way. Some would say just a little altercation, that's still a fight. If you are getting into it every couple weeks, that's a lot.
BULLOCK: You can only walk away for so long.
HOLMES (voice-over): Nobody seemed to walk away that September afternoon when Darien Albert was murdered.
HOLMES (on camera): Let me get to this point about Darrien -- 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. He used to come in the back in the lunchroom and sit with us.
HOLMES (voice-over): But Darrien would also hang with kids Vashion didn't get along with, a simmering tension that would come to a head.
BULLOCK: How long can you be friendly if somebody is messing with you?
HOLMES: We will ask Vashion what was going through his mind that day, how he could have participated in a fight that shocked the nations, and why he does now think his brother should be in jail as one of the four teens charged in the killing of Darien Albert.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: That's a good point. And Bruce on the floor here helping us out. He made a good point -- if you have to qualify it -- I jumped out at him to hear him say, are you talking about a little fistfight, or a big thing? They have to qualify what kind of fight it is.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I took it to mean, also, whether he means verbally, is there some back and forth yelling or actual fist flying. The fact of the matter is that's a reality for so many school kids. You have to worry about fighting for your life to go to school.
HOLMES: Literally trying to get to school every day. And how can you learn in that environment? We wonder why some of the students don't do so well in the neighborhoods. Nothing is wrong with the kids at all. The surroundings are the problem. So you have to fix that first.
CHETRY: And the question is what about the parents and what about the teachers and school administrators, what are they trying to do?
HOLMES: Well, there are programs. We will show more pieces of this series coming up tomorrow, but some programs are working to actually put programs in the school to give kids something to look forward to, to tell them that there's something more to life, that there's something to reach for.
And if they you get the kids in the mindset, that they have something on the line, something to lose, something at risk, then you can cut down on some of this behavior. But some of those things are working.
But coming up after the break, though, we will show part two of this particular series, and you will hear from him and explain why he doesn't think anybody should be charged in the death of Darien Albert.
Stay with us. It's 33 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: It's 36 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Before the break, we introduced you to Vashion Bullock. He doesn't deny in a brawl that actually killed a high school student in South Chicago back in September.
He has watched the fight video. He's seen himself standing in the middle of the mob. But he says that what happened on the streets that day is completely different from what you saw and what was presented in the news.
HOLMES: We will let him explain it now. Here now is the rest of my interview, part two of our "A.M." original series "Walk in my Shoes." And we want to warn you, again, some of the video you are going to see is disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: It shocked the nation. For 17-year-old, Vashion Bullock, this brawl was only a step removed from his everyday reality.
HOLMES (on camera): What happened that day that had you end up in the middle of it.
BULLOCK: One of the kids threw a rock at my brother. So I approached the boys, why are you all throwing the rocks?
HOLMES (voice-over): For weeks, Vashion says tension was brewing between two rival factions at Chicago's Finger 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 those bricks and brought them. They picked up bottle and brought them. They ripped the railroad tracks up just to fight.
HOLMES: 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 are holding planks.
HOLMES (on camera): So your brother comes over and does what?
BULLOCK: Swung on one of them. He was fighting with him. He had to protect himself and me, because I am his little brother.
HOLMES: Are you telling me your brother was simply defending himself and you with whatever was around and whatever?
BULLOCK: I got hit in the back of my head and he got hit in the back of his head with a stick.
HOLMES: Did Derrion, as far as you, was he ever part of the group that was jumping you?
BULLOCK: I am not going to say he was fighting me because I couldn't tell?
HOLMES: So you assume he was over there trying to fight you and your brother?
BULLOCK: No, I am not 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.
HOLMES (on camera): So from what you see in that video, what do you see your brother doing to Derrion?
BULLOCK: 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.
HOLMES (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: Well, but 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 with two hands that could have been swinging on anybody. HOLMES (voice-over): After the video was released, Vashion's brother Eugene was taken into custody, one of four teens charged in the killing of Derrion Albert.
BULLOCK: I think they should let all of them go, because it was just a fight. Fights happen daily.
HOLMES (on camera): But for the police and for our justice system, that is not good enough. Your brother picked up something and hit a kid, and the kid died.
BULLOCK: What about the things they picked up and hit me? Where are they at?
HOLMES: Don't you think he should be held accountable for Derrion's death?
BULLOCK: No, not accountable for the whole thing, because it was a mistake. Nobody wanted him to die. Nobody meant for him to die. It was just a fight. Fights get taken out of hand.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Wow. Some people will hear that thing "What's wrong with this kid?" The thing is he lives a different reality, and there's no way we can understand what he says every day.
But his point there is that you don't see the whole video, you just see him on the ground and getting hit and kicked. His argument about why nobody should be charged is that this happens to him constantly, fights just like this, maybe not with the weapons all the time, but sometimes they are there. We do this and see this every single day, and oops, somebody got killed. But this happens every day.
It's sad to hear it and unfortunate to go through it, but my goodness.
CHETRY: And where did this happen in terms of when school was out?
HOLMES: When school was out, not far from this little demarcation line, if you will -- these kids stay on this side and these kids stay on that side, and they were close to that mark. And it was somebody something as simple as somebody throwing rocks at his car ends up him getting out of the car with his brother, and a kid got killed.
CHETRY: But what I was getting at is so often we hear schools say it doesn't happen on school property. It just seems, what can be done about it? All of these kids are attending the same school, they're in the same circles. And even if it happens five or ten feet away from the school, why can't be more to be done to control what goes on in these areas?
HOLMES: Some schools have. They have little old ladies volunteering to go stand on street corners around the school to try to protect kids.
But a lot of these kids have a long trek. I went with one kid you will see it later in the week on the series. He gets on a bus and a train and then had to walk a bit. And he changed up his route to find a safe passage to get to school.
So they try, they go out of their way. But they are constantly going through these impoverished neighborhoods, gangs, guns, drugs, and it's just a test to try and get home.
It's really eye opening. I literally walk a couple kids to and from school. And when you see what one young lady has to do at night to get home by herself -- she tells me "You are walking too slow" while we're doing the interview. This is not the neighborhood to be lollygagging around.
So we'll be sharing that later in this series, and also kids just explaining why they fight, why they have to do it. And also doctors talking about the teenage brain. They essentially have a gas pedal and no break at that age, and that's why they act out sometimes.
CHETRY: Well, we look forward to seeing more. Good stuff.
Still ahead, scary moments for the prime minister of Italy. Silvio Berlusconi attacked while he was shaking hands in a crowd after a rally. He was hit in the face and pretty badly injured. In fact an update to his condition today, we'll have that.
Plus Rob Marciano checking the extreme weather still ahead. It's 43 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: And it's 45 and a half minutes after the hour. You are getting in the Christmas spirit maybe?
HOLMES: Not quite.
CHETRY: Maybe not. All right. Well, in Boston, Mass. it is mostly cloudy and 37 degrees. A little later the sun is going to come out, 40 degrees for a high.
HOLMES: And Rob Marciano, keeping an eye on things and a lot of things actually going on. There is a bit of a weather situation going on behind you from coast-to-coast.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I mean, it could continue the Christmas theme. We're getting towards that time of year and people are starting wanting a white Christmas. And there is a decent chance that you in New York and maybe Boston folks might have some snow on the ground, by the time -- I don't want to say that for sure, but if I can go out a little of a limb I think the pattern is setting up to where at least it will be cold enough over the next week and a half across the east, where that may very well be the case.
Right now it's pretty mild. But another chunk of arctic air will be rolling down across parts of Canada where they're seeing record- breaking low temperatures. All right, from the Pacific Northwest, we've got another storm rolling into the Portland and Mount Hood area, they hope to continue that search for the missing climbers that were lost over the weekend, avalanche danger maybe very well be high again today.
Minneapolis to Chicago: some light snow and light rain across the south today after heavy rain but some of that heavy rain at the lower levels of the atmosphere, a lot of moisture so we've got some fog advisories in some of the spots here.
As a matter of fact from the Texas/Mexico border all the way up to D.C., we've got some fog issues. So that's going to slow down not only travel along ground but also in the air. Atlanta and Charlotte and D.C. and Houston will probably see some delays at the airports because of that.
But temperatures in New York City, once the sun comes up, it's 46 degrees, not too shabby. Enjoy guys, back to you.
CHETRY: Yes, we can't complain, we're not the ones who have the car slipping and sliding all over the roads like that video from earlier. There's nothing you can really do, for ice, can you?
MARCIANO: No, no, it's a helpless feeling for sure. And obviously this happens a lot in this particular spot because the news cameras were there and they just waited. And there were a few injuries, not necessarily here, but much of Pittsburgh was at a standstill yesterday morning because of this. It is warmer today so that is all melting promptly.
CHETRY: Right, it's so deceiving, though, because you're not seeing a lot of snow and you think you can make and it's just that black ice and it will just get you every time.
MARCIANO: Be careful out there guys.
CHETRY: Yes.
MARCIANO: No ice expected in New York.
CHETRY: That's good.
HOLMES: All right, thank you, Rob.
CHETRY: Thanks Rob.
MARCIANO: Thank you guys.
HOLMES: Now, we're talking about the -- I heard the president make comments about that security breach at the White House with those party crashers getting in. Well, the Secret Service seemed to think that was bad. Wait until you see the security lapse over in Italy that had their Prime Minister, bloodied, broken nose, broken teeth and in the hospital.
Stay with us, its 48 minutes past the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: And welcome back to The Most News in the Morning.
Italy's Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, will spend at least one more night in the hospital after being attacked at a political rally in Milan on Sunday. Berlusconi was struck in the face by a statuette and he suffered a broken nose, a couple of cracked teeth.
Paula Newton, live for us in London. He looked like and sounds like he's in pretty bad shape. So fist, just what is the update? How he is doing?
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: You know the doctors say that look, he is calm, he's been resting, he can eat on his own. But he has a fairly significant injury. You can imagine a blow to his face. I mean, look at these pictures, this hand came out of nowhere.
But it actually threw what was a fairly substantial religious statue right into his face. I mean, just absolutely out of nowhere. The Prime Minister fell back a little bit and all the blood -- I mean, they are saying that he lost quite a bit of blood.
Doctors saying he'll stay in the hospital for at least until tomorrow night and maybe even until Wednesday. The person in custody a 42 years old Massimo Tartaglia, he has a history of certainly psychiatric health.
But what's been really interesting T.J., is how this whole thing has been politicized. You know some people say because of the political scandal that the prime minister had this coming.
Security officials say that in the first instance they say there was no breach of security and they followed all the right protocol. I don't know how they can say just from looking at this video. That's in the first instance.
And in the second, they are saying all the hate mail that the prime minister is getting on his web site some of it appearing on this social networking sites, saying the prime minister had it coming to him.
They are now try to take down those sites, again, saying that it's just inspiring this whole atmosphere of hate and they say that's what led to this incident in the first place -- T.J.
HOLMES: Well, that was a heck of an incident. I'm not used to seeing world leaders like this, battled and bruised. Paula Newton with the update for us from London. Thank you so much -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, well, still ahead, Ali Velshi's bus tour. The first stop: North Carolina, where Ali hold a roundtable discussion, financial boot camp. Joining us in a minute.
Fifty-two minutes past the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: This is the most rap in the morning.
CHETRY: You know every time Ali Velshi disappears on us for an extremely long period of time and then returns, this is his theme song.
HOLMES: That's his song. I had no idea.
CHETRY: It's 55 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to The Most News in the Morning. Ali Velshi, yes he's back. Back on the bus, that is.
The CNN Express hitting the Recovery Road all this week to see if Americans are buying into claims that the recession is over.
HOLMES: Ali in Asheboro, North Carolina with the first part of his series this morning. Hello there, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: T.J. when you're around I always have to have a better ride than yours so I'm -- this is my ride, as you know, the CNN Express.
We are going from North Carolina down to Florida this week. It's called Recovery Road because we are looking for solutions. You know, I think over the last year, we have seen different phases that Americans have gone through.
First there was denial about whether this was really a recession and then there was full-blown panic and then there was resignation about what was going on and now, we're in recovery mode. People are doing things for themselves.
Interesting story here in Asheboro; not the biggest of towns, and obviously North Carolina is a big manufacturing state -- or was; lost a lot of jobs. This is an area that is home to the North Carolina Zoo. We met a woman last night who worked for over 20 years at the zoo and then lost her job, but had decided she wants to retrain into one of those fields that we constantly talk about as doing well and that field is education.
It's a partnership between a local community college and many of the universities that are farther out. They're actually able to give people their degrees right here in this town. Great for mid career people who are trying to hold down a job and train in something else.
Listen to a little of my roundtable conversation with the citizens of Asheboro last night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
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 are city (INAUDIBLE). Something ought to come in here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We must be poised to answer as a community whether or not we have what it takes to get the resources into the hands of the folks that are creating jobs.
VELSHI: From our perspective we have seen this economy go from denial to crisis and panic to resignation. I feel -- I don't want to put words in peoples' mouths, but I feel like we are pushing out of the resignation now and into the solutions.
LORRAINE SMITH, STUDENT: You have to get out there and do what it takes to find that job, and if that means moving to a new place which was not possible for me, I had plenty of job offers, but not here, and then going back to school may be your best option.
We are fortunate, because we have a terrific option here.
VELSHI: You have a lot of universities in a larger area but it would not have necessarily been practical for you to go too far out to go to school. But these universities have partnered to provide education right here in your community?
SMITH: Right here in our community. It saves people the commute. This is really set up for people in this community looking for retraining.
VELSHI: This issue of retraining is a big deal though, because for a lot of mid career people, they lose their jobs, and it disorients them, and for a long time they are waiting for that job to come back or something to change.
You had to make some decision at some point to say I'm going to have to go after something different?
SMITH: You can sit around and wait, but I think -- what is it -- God helps those that help themselves?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: And that's the issue. That's sort of the feeling we are getting on the road. It's early days. But we're going to be talking to people whether it's people retraining or small businesses who are trying to succeed or people who have been trying to take advantage of the stock market that we are in; people who are making the decision that it's up to them to do something that is going to make 2010 more successful than 2009.
The other thing we're doing T.J. and Kiran is we are getting a sense of how people are spending the holidays. How they're spending their money on the holidays obviously. There is some polling that we have out today on that.
But maybe people are going down the basics on that front too as well, saying that they can't control the housing market, they can't control the stock market, they can't control the job market but they can control themselves their lives and their spending.
HOLMES: All right. Ali Velshi, be careful out there on the road, buddy. We'll be talking to you again soon.
CHETRY: Oh, you don't have to worry about him. He loves it. He loves being out there. He is like best -- for every community he goes to he leaves and he's your new best friend. That's Ali.
HOLMES: Well, he's a nice guy.
VELSHI: I enjoy being out here.
HOLMES: All right Ali. Thanks. We'll see you when you get back buddy.
CHETRY: We miss him though. We forget what he looks like when we don't see him for so long.
HOLMES: I can't forget what he looks like.
CHETRY: Ali is, by the way, going to be with us everyday this week for his Recovery Road series. Tomorrow he'll be reporting from south of the border, a roadside landmark in South Carolina.
You know south of the border, you have the signs every quarter of a mile the entire way down.
HOLMES: Yes. We will continue the conversation on today's stories. You can go to our blog at cnn.com/am.
CHETRY: Great to have you with us today, T.J. Thanks for filling in.
HOLMES: It is very good to be here.
CHETRY: And meanwhile the news continues with Heidi Collins. Good morning Heidi.
