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Interview With Arianna Huffington; Suicide Bomber Kills Eight Americans in Afghanistan
Aired December 31, 2009 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Making news right now on your national conversation: a mass shooting at a mall in Finland.
And a suicide bomber kills eight Americans in Afghanistan, then five Canadians, including a reporter, killed by a roadside bomb there. We are on it.
SHELLEY MEYER, WIFE OF URBAN MEYER: Urban, Urban, Urban, wake up. Urban.
SANCHEZ: The 911 call that disputes what we were originally told about Florida coach Urban Meyer. You are going to hear it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me see your hands. Get down! Good girl.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't shoot. I give up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get him, girl. You can get up, boy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Don't shoot. I'm getting up.
SANCHEZ: With sniffer dogs in the news, how good are they? I am putting them to the test by making myself the target of their manhunt.
SANCHEZ: I am figuring they already got the other suspect. I'm going to see how long I can stay on the run before they find me.
Arianna Huffington wants you to take your money out of the big investment banks and put it in small community banks. She will tell us why when she joins me live.
My access becomes your access with tweets from Congressman Peter King, golfers responding to Tiger's new loss, and more on this truly national conversation for New Year's Eve, the final day of 2009.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And here we go on this final day. I'm Rick Sanchez with the next generation of news. This it is a conversation, it's not a speech, and it's, as always, your turn to get involved.
We are going to stay on a couple of big stories developing on this final day of 2009. First to Finland, by all outward appearances, a picture-book country of snow and midnight sun, a nation known for its centuries-old tradition of hunting, where there is one gun, did you know, for every three people, and hidden beneath the beautiful landscape, the highest rate of domestic violence in all of the Western Europe.
Today, there was a mass killing there. To a Helsinki suburb that's called Espoo. This is where a restraining order taken out by his girlfriend of 18 years couldn't stop 43-year-old Ibrahim Shkupolli from one final visit with her.
He dressed in black. He grabbed the .9-millimeter pistol and he went to her apartment on the outskirts of town and he killed her. Then he went hunting at a busy shopping mall where she worked. Shoppers first thought that they were first hearing a celebration as the gunman picked off a woman, then three men who were all his ex- girlfriend's co-workers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKA PETTERSSON, EDITOR IN CHIEF, FINNISH NEWS AGENCY: I have talked to the people who managed to get out, and a lot of people saw this happening. They saw a gunman, very calm gunman, walking out of the grocery store after shooting. And people first thought it was the New Year's fireworks that had been exploding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: As this gunman calmly walked away, store workers ran outside so fast they only had their pants and T-shirts to cover them in subfreezing temperatures.
Shoppers jumped off escalators. They ran for cover as police searched for the gunman. What a scene. They found him hours later at his home. He had killed himself. Finland has seen this type of violence before. Just last year, a student killed 10 people at a vocational college before shooting himself in the head.
And, in 2007, a high school kid shot seven students and the principal of his school, and then killed himself.
We are also watching developments in Afghanistan on this day, where it is bombs, not bullets, causing havoc as the year comes to a close. We have just confirmed that seven CIA employees were killed in yesterday's attack on this CIA base in Khost Province.
Now, a man strapped on an explosive vest, somehow got past the guards there, which is going to be an important part of this story, went to the base's gym, and then just blew himself up. Six more spy agency employees are wounded in the worst attack on the CIA in Afghanistan since the war started eight years ago. The Taliban is saying that they are responsible for this.
The Taliban also says that they planted a roadside bomb that blew up yesterday in Kandahar Province, killing these four Canadian troops that you see right now right there on your screen. And it also killed this woman. That's Michelle Lang. She is a 34-year-old health reporter on assignment there for "The Calgary Herald." She volunteered to go to Afghanistan to report on the soldiers and the social workers assigned to rebuilding parts of the country devastated by the war and was on her way to a story with the troops, was not going to be there long, when suddenly their vehicle was hit.
Just this afternoon, we have learned that two more French journalists and their translator are now missing in Afghanistan, all of this happening within the past 24 hours. An Afghan army colonel tells us that they have been kidnapped.
There's not much information available on this yet, but we are obviously going to stay on top of this and watch it for you very closely throughout this hour. Stay tuned.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
MEYER: Urban, Urban, Urban, wake up. Urban.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That is part of the 911 call from the wife of football coach Urban Meyer earlier this month, and from it we are learning something new about his trip to the hospital after his Florida Gators lost the SEC Championship.
We were all under the impression that there was no ambulance, that he had taken himself to the hospital.
And then this. You have heard about all the talk about sniffer dogs at airports after that Christmas Day terror attack? Well, I have known this for quite some time, just how capable dogs are. I go out in the woods to see if they can find me. I get a little head-start, and then the race is on, the manhunt, with me being the man hunted. I will show you how they try and track me down.
Also, don't forget that other way to participate in this national conversation. You can always call us. Here in the United States, the number is 877-742-5751. A lot going on. Stay right there. I am going to be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: There is some breaking news I want to share with you now. We have told you that the president of the United States has been keeping tabs on this investigation having to do with this attempted bomber on Christmas Day.
We have just received some relevant information that seems to give us at least an indication of what the president plans to do about this. You heard his original speech saying that he is going to review all these policies to make sure that these lists like the no-fly lists are maybe more complete in the future, and would have involved or would have had this guy's name on it.
Let me read this to you now. You ready? This just came over a little while ago. I want to read you from the bottom here. It says: "I anticipate" -- this is from the president of the United States -- "I anticipate receiving assessments from several agencies this evening and will review those tonight and over the course of the weekend."
Those are the people he has asked to report back to him on what may have gotten screwed up here. But then he goes on to say this: "On Tuesday, in Washington, I will meet personally with relevant agency heads to discuss our ongoing reviews, as well as security enhancements and intelligence-sharing improvements in our homeland security and counterterrorism operations."
So, the president says next Tuesday in Washington, he is going to meet personally with all the agency heads that are relevant to this investigation. That is news being made. As we learn it ourselves, I am sharing it with you, that just coming over while we were in that commercial break.
Now this: a big change in a story involving Florida football coach Urban Meyer. We had been led to believe that Meyer had checked himself into the hospital for dehydration as you know after his team's big loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship. But, overnight, police released a 911 tape revealing that Meyer had to be taken by ambulance instead.
This is -- well, I am going to let you listen to it yourself, this a lot more serious than what we had -- led to believe it was. Here is Meyer's wife, Shelley.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
MEYER: My husband is having chest pains.
Urban. Urban, talk to me. Urb. I see him moving. I see him moving.
911 OPERATOR: OK. So he is awake?
MEYER: Urban. Urban, talk to me, please.
Yes, yes, he is.
911 OPERATOR: Is he breathing?
MEYER: Yes. Yes, I see him breathing.
Urban, Urban, Urban, wake up. Urban.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: What a moment. And she seemed so calm, didn't she? Coach Meyer, he shocked the sports world by announcing earlier this week that he was quitting for the sake his of health and for the sake of his family.
Well, now he has revised that. He says he is going to stay with the team, but he's not going to be in that high-pressure situation he was on in the sidelines. Now, if this story makes you think about your own health and your own priorities, you are not alone. That is why tomorrow -- and we have given this a lot of thought -- I have invited former NFL coach Dick Vermeil. Remember him? This guy knows firsthand about the rigors of jobs, of anxiety on the job. He is going to join us from Key West, suddenly. He no longer coaches. Get the hint?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hands on your head!
Good girl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: How good are these sniffer dogs, huh? We are talking this week about using them to catch terrorists. Can they catch me? I am going to put them and I guess myself to the test. You are going to like this. I think it is instructive. Jon Stewart is probably going to like it, too.
And speaking of security, Senator John Ensign is on the Committee for Homeland Security. He is going to weigh in on what we should be doing at airports. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
All this week, we have been talking about the different methods that we could have used to stop Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab by detecting the explosives that he allegedly sneaked on to that plane.
Well, what we're learning and what we told you yesterday by showing you some of the pictures exactly is that there is a surefire way of detecting PETN. And it is to use something that is extremely uncomplicated and very reliable, man's best friend, seriously, dogs trained to detect a peculiar or a particular substance, like PETN in this case. It works, we have been told.
I have kind of known this for some time, because as a cop beat reporter on several occasions, I have been asked to do stories about these types of canines, and I have actually been chased by them. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good girl.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to Man Tracker 2005 in the woods of Coweta County, Georgia, where local police and state agencies brush up every year on the very techniques that could save lives, maybe their own. Among the techniques, tracking and finding a fugitive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We call it a traffic stop just like a normal traffic stop would be. At the point we get stopped, once I step out of the vehicle to make contact with the driver, you guys will bail out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: USB-589, (INAUDIBLE) command post.
SANCHEZ: In Georgia law enforcement terms, what you are about to see is called a "bush bomb," a routine traffic stop that suddenly turns into a man hunt when the suspects bolt. Trooper Tony Hightower (ph) says it happens more often than we think.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know why they are running, number one. It may be a murder suspect. It may be they don't have driver's license. They may have beer in the car. It may be something as simple as that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wayne, could you -- get you about two or 300 feet above.
SANCHEZ: The exercise is going to be conducted just like the real thing. There will be two suspects. The first, Phil Kirksy (ph) who happens to be a real corrections officer and experienced tracker. The second, the next person they could find, me, a television correspondent with a bit of curiosity and a willingness to not take himself too seriously.
After getting pulled, over the troopers mounted camera catches us making a run for it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's haul ass.
SANCHEZ: My handy cam recorded the getaway. The dense Georgia woods would seem to any suspect, a perfect hiding place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two white males, bush bomb.
SANCHEZ: As we run through the woods, Trooper Hightower does not give chase. Experience and training tell him that would be the wrong thing to do. His job is to set up a perimeter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. 10-4. You got 10-77?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 10-4, 911 (INAUDIBLE) county unit in the area.
SANCHEZ: He calls for more units, a helicopter and, what may be the best weapon of all, a bloodhound. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And also need any K-9 units in the area.
SANCHEZ: Back in the woods, we're still running. The feeling of being hunted creates a sensation of both desperation and confusion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the things that comes to mind right away is, you figure they're looking at you, and they got a good look at you when you tried to get out of the car. So, if you could somehow change your appearance, you might be able to throw them off. One of the keys is to just take off whatever clothes you have, and just leave it behind, and take off.
SANCHEZ: After running through the woods and into a clearing, we hear the first sounds of the helicopter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hear the chopper. We want to stay out of this clearing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, girl.
SANCHEZ: While we're looking for another place to hide, the tracking team arrives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The dog will find him within 20.
SANCHEZ: As we run, we're shedding millions of cells. Think of it as a constant trail of microscopic pieces of your own skin. It is undetectable to us, but for Lola -- she's the bloodhound -- it is easy pickings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right through there.
SANCHEZ: And she picks up our scent almost immediately. But it's a helicopter that still has us worried at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to find our way to an area over here that is covered. We think they won't be able to see us here, because there's no way the helicopter can spot us. This looks open here, but the tree cover above us might possibly block out the helicopter. This would be the best bet right here.
SANCHEZ: So the idea then is to try to hunker down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hunker down and wait it out.
SANCHEZ: That's when Phil spots the tracking team on our heels.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see the dogs coming. Get down. They are coming to us. We got nowhere to go.
SANCHEZ: What I'm going to do now is try and separate myself from the other suspect, figuring, by separating the scents, the dogs that are chasing us will get confused, and they won't be able to find me.
Heading off on my own turns out to be the right move. Phil is immediately captured.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me see your hands.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I give up!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down. Good girl.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't shoot, I give up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get him, girl. You can get up, boy. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, don't shoot. I'm getting up.
SANCHEZ: It's taken Lola just six minutes to find her first fugitive. And, now, she has picked up the next human scent: mine.
I'm figuring they already got the other suspect. I'm going to see how long I can stay on the run before they find me.
By continuing to run I seem to be able to stay ahead of the trackers, but what I can't do is run away from the sound of the helicopter blades.
They are in the woods. You know you are being hunted. You really don't know which direction to go in. You just -- your instincts will tell you, don't go in a clearing because they'll see you, and the best you can do is try and confuse the dogs so they can't pick up your scent.
Figuring if I can get away across this creek, I might be able to...
But it's probably me who is confused. I follow some railroad tracks hoping to find a way out. Instead, I spot what I think will be a decent hiding place.
I found a highway overpass. I figure if I can get a little slot underneath this thing, the helicopter won't be able to see me.
But Lola is relentless. I don't realize it but she is getting closer. Now I have hunkered down, hoping to wait them out.
Here's a little corner I'm tucked into, nothing but concrete barriers and dirt daubers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Show your hands! Good girl.
SANCHEZ: You found my spot, huh? Well, I guess this is where guys would normally hide out, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes, this and anywhere else they can. As long as we keep tracking you, and they keep you pinned down as a team effort, it's hard to get away.
SANCHEZ: My brief career as a fugitive is over. Fifteen to 20 minutes after finding Phil, Lola's nose and trainer Matt Gorely's (ph) experience proved unbeatable. Even my tricks didn't work, not even crossing the creek. I'm told it was neither deep enough nor wide enough to hide my scent.
SANCHEZ: So, no matter how many circles I did out there in the woods, eventually these bloodhounds are going to get my scent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Well, they're going to stay with it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to stay out there with them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, they never give up. That's the thing about them. They run. They run until we get tired.
SANCHEZ: Lola goes back in her cage, and if I had been a real fugitive, I would be off to jail.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a private matter between Brooke and Charlie. I know that they want the reconcile. They want to try and work on their marriage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Charlie Sheen's wife has been talking through her attorney. She says she wants to reconcile with the actor, even after telling police that he pulled a knife on her a few days ago.
And talk show host Rush Limbaugh is hospitalized with chest pains in Hawaii. We are going to tell you how he is doing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back to your national conversation.
I am now keeping a list, as you may have heard, which I will divulge every single day of what newsmakers are tweeting and what you are tweeting about. You see, what I am doing is trying to create a situation where my access becomes your access.
First up, the Don Imus show. You know Don Imus, right? In fact, let me show you how I do this. Go to the list. You can go to ricksanchezCNN, right? That's at Twitter.com, ricksanchezCNN. And you see that list right there, right? Those are different lists of very relevant and important people.
I'm going to click on the radio list and then you see the list over here. All right, now pan over to the right, all the way over to the right. See that right there? That is one that we just got. That's Don Imus and the Imus show. As you know, Don Imus and I used to work together for a long time.
Rush Limbaugh rushed to hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii, after suffering chest pains. The irony is that it's Don Imus who is filing this report using his Twitter account about a fellow broadcaster, shall we say.
What's wrong with U.S. airport security? Senator John Ensign is going to be joining me in just a little bit. He is on the Committee for Homeland Security, and he's going to taking us through this. He is next.
Also, should we pull our money out of the big banks to fix the system? Arianna Huffington is fired up about this. She says, take your money out of the big banks, put them it in the small community banks, and we will all be a better country for it. She joins me live. Stay right there. I'm Rick Sanchez. I will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
As more and more information comes out about the man accused in that Christmas Day terror attack, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, there are more questions that are being raised about how he got on the plane to begin with. It is almost a commonsense thing to most Americans by now, but is it really that cut-and-dry?
Joining me now is Nevada Senator John Ensign, who is a member of the Homeland Security Committee.
Senator, thanks so much for being with us, sir.
SEN. JOHN ENSIGN (R), NEVADA: Good to be with you, Rick.
SANCHEZ: You know, Abdulmutallab must -- I guess, when you look at it on its face, this guy probably should have been on that no-fly list, right? I mean, that is what Americans think.
Senator, thanks for being with us, sir.
SEN. JOHN ENSIGN (R), NEVADA: Good to be with you, Rick.
SANCHEZ: You know, Abdulmutallab must -- I guess when you look at it on its face, this guy probably should have been on that no-fly list, right? I mean, that is what Americans think, I imagine that's probably what you think as well?
ENSIGN: Well, certainly, by all accounts that we have heard, he should have been on a no-fly list, and we obviously will do hearings getting down to the bottom of this. But I think there is a much bigger issue here, and that is if you go back to pre-9/11, we had problems with our intelligence community. We know that.
There were all of these stovepipes and agencies didn't talk to each other. And we didn't even know about some -- we even know, for instance, about KSM's network. We didn't know about the whole -- in Southeast Asia.
SANCHEZ: So, yes, and guess what...
ENSIGN: We didn't know all of those things.
SANCHEZ: ... it is happening again.
ENSIGN: That's right. But here is one of the big reasons it is happening. One of the reasons we weren't attacked over the last, you know, eight to nine years is because we have actually been capturing and interrogating these terrorists, and the top ones so that we get information about new types of networks that are being set up.
Well, this new network that was being set up in the Arab peninsula, we didn't know about that, and that is -- one of the reasons is, is because for the last year we had stopped capturing and interrogating these high-value targets. We have to understand that we are at war.
SANCHEZ: Not only that, but two of them, according to several reports, actually had been released. We had detained them at one point, released them, and then they got over there. So, look, this is a tough, tough situation, isn't it? Especially trying to get a handle on the situation in Yemen at this point.
ENSIGN: It is, Rick. But there are some common-sense things I think we need to do as Americans. And I would encourage the Obama administration, one is, to change its policy on Guantanamo Bay. I think it is absolutely foolish. I think that the Bush administration, you know, releasing some of the people they did, they made a mistake.
I think it is a huge mistake that we close Guantanamo Bay, that we release some of these people that they are scheduling to release, because the easier ones are already released and the ones who are going to be -- you know, scheduled to be released now, the chances of them going back and getting into a war against us are much higher.
We are in a war against radical Islam. We have to understand that. And we have to use all of the tools necessary -- interrogation. We have to use all of our intelligence tools. We have to use...
SANCHEZ: No, there is no question.
ENSIGN: ... our military, everything that we can do along with Homeland Security to keep our country safe.
SANCHEZ: You make a good point. And as a member of the committee, it is certainly something that we know that you have been looking into.
Listen, I have got to ask you this question since this is your first formal interview on CNN, it behooves me to ask you. And look, I know this is a very difficult thing for you. And I appreciate you being on here and doing this interview and I know you have always been as much as you can be an upright guy.
But you are under, it seems to me that you're under an -- well, let me ask the question. Are you under an investigation right now by the Senate Ethics Committee and/or the Justice Department?
ENSIGN: Well, you know, we -- I will let those folks speak for themselves. You know, Rick, I've been dealing with health care reform. My state has over 12 percent unemployment rate, we have two wars going on, these latest terrorist attacks. There are so many other bigger issues. I have commented all I needed to comment on those kinds of things. I was elected to do a job as a senator.
SANCHEZ: Well, but hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, I have got to stop you there, because if there is a possibility -- here let me show the viewers what we're talking about. This is a picture of you and Doug Hampton. This is from The New York Times Web site right here.
And the question has to be asked, Senator, did you help him to get a job because you felt bad for him or because you had been sleeping with his wife and you wanted to get him out of the way?
ENSIGN: Listen, Rick, I have commented all I was going to comment on that. And I -- you know, we told you when we were going to come on here that I'm going to be focused on health care, I'm going to be focused on the economy. My state is hurting right now as badly as any state in the country. And I'm focused on doing everything I can to help Nevada.
SANCHEZ: But here is the problem with that, and I understand that.
ENSIGN: And that's what I'm going to focus on.
SANCHEZ: No...
ENSIGN: So I am not going to answer your question. You can it all of the ways you want to ask it, but I'm not going to answer your question.
SANCHEZ: But here is the problem. There is a law that says that someone who is an aide for a senator like yourself has to wait one year before they start lobbying. There is reason to believe, Senator -- in fact, a lot of reason to believe here that Doug Hampton, who was your aide, was lobbying within that one year.
If that is the case, sir, that is an illegality, and something that you own an explanation to your constituents about if you had any involvement in either that lobbying or helping him get those lobbying gigs.
ENSIGN: Right. Rick, that -- first of all, that is his problem, that is not my problem. But at the same time I'm not going to answer any of the questions, because I am focused on doing my job right now. All of that stuff will take care of itself over time. We have said we will cooperate with any investigations, and -- but at this moment, I'm just going to focus on being the best senator that I can be for my state.
SANCHEZ: By the way, you just said though that that was his problem and not your problem, but doesn't it become your problem if you arranged meetings for him to A, get those jobs, and then B, set up meetings after he had the lobbying jobs with people that he would be lobbying? Wouldn't that -- wouldn't that kind of link you somehow to this?
ENSIGN: Rick, I know you want to get into this, and I have told you before that I have spoken all I need to speak on this. And everything will take care of itself over time. I have -- no question, I have made statements in the past that I will fully cooperate, have in the past, and will continue to cooperate with any investigations that go on. But I really need to just focus on doing my job. Rick, there are some serious problems, and people are really hurting out there with unemployment, with health care. We -- this health care debate is one- sixth of the economy. I'm going to be going out around my state doing town hall meetings, trying to raise awareness of what is in this bill. I believe this bill is terrible for the country.
And that's what people in Nevada keep telling me, that they want me to do, is they want me to focus on doing my job, and that is what I'm going to do.
SANCHEZ: And I think that's -- well, and I think that's important, sir. But I also think that as citizens, we do get a level of frustration when we see any kind of malfeasance from the folks like you who represent us. And it just seems that it is fair for a journalist to ask a standing senator of the U.S. Senate how he would explain to his constituents, and here is your opportunity to explain to them, how it is that you are in a situation where someone who worked for you a year before they had been out of that office or out of that job, started lobbying? And there is...
ENSIGN: Rick, I have answered those questions. All you have to do is to go back to my statements. I have answered all of those questions, and all of the -- no question in my mind. When all of the investigations, you know, go forward and everything, that it will be proven that exactly what I said.
SANCHEZ: Did you arrange...
ENSIGN: That I did nothing illegal. I did nothing unethical.
SANCHEZ: Did you arrange a meeting...
ENSIGN: And that will be -- that will absolutely be proven.
SANCHEZ: Well, you are saying you set -- see, but now you are bringing me back in. You're saying you have answered all of these questions, I'm not sure that is true, Senator.
ENSIGN: Go back through the records and see my statements.
SANCHEZ: Did you -- did you set up a meeting -- arrange a meeting for Hampton to meet with the new transportation secretary?
ENSIGN: Rick, go back to my statements, you will see exactly what I have said on the record. And go back through them. If you will do your research, you will see that my answers have been very clear. And we will cooperate with any investigations that come forward.
And in the end there is no question in my mind that in the end everything will be answered in its fullest, we will cooperate, and I think, you know, based on the facts that the Ethics Committee would clear me, and I will be able to go on being a senator.
SANCHEZ: The New York Times reports that you reached out to the following people about hiring Doug Hampton: Maurice Gallagher Jr., CEO of Allegiant Air; Bob Andrews, a financial industry executive; Sig Rogich, a prominent Republican; and consultant Paul Steelman , who is a casino architect and developer.
And Steelman says -- and just answer this if you could, Steelman says -- he tells The New York Times that you, quote, you "mentioned Doug Hampton and asked if the developer might have business for him as a lobbyist or consultant."
Did you meet with Steelman and ask him to get Doug Hampton a gig -- a job as a consultant?
ENSIGN: Rick, I will applaud you for your efforts, but I told you before, I have answered the questions that I'm going to answer, and I go back...
SANCHEZ: All right.
ENSIGN: ... to my statements. That I have done nothing ethically or illegal in this matter, and in the end, it's absolutely we feel that we will be completely exonerated.
SANCHEZ: It is my job to ask the questions, sir. And I thank you for appreciating my persistence. And, Senator, I wish you the best of luck. Thanks for coming on, sir.
ENSIGN: Thank you very much. And happy New Year.
SANCHEZ: All right. Likewise.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BROOKE MUELLER, WIFE OF CHARLIE SHEEN: My husband had me with a knife, and I'm scared for my life, and he threatened me.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: The painful 911 call on Christmas Day from Charlie Sheen's wife about the actor. I am going to tell you what she is saying now that has some eyebrows raised. That is next.
Also, don't forget the other way to participate in this "National Conversation," you can call anywhere in the United States at 877-742- 5751.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Updates now on a couple of personalities that we have been following. First, Rush Limbaugh. Chest pains interrupted the radio talker's vacation and sent him to the hospital. This is in Honolulu, Hawaii. Now hospital sources telling CNN that Limbaugh was admitted in serious condition. The official line from "The Rush Limbaugh Show" is that he is resting comfortably and getting good medical attention. Again, that is from "The Rush Limbaugh Show," that is not the official word from the hospital.
Fill-in host Walter E. Williams says Limbaugh's pains were, his words, "like a heart attack coming on." Now we don't know if Limbaugh has actually had a heart attack. That is important to note. That's what we heard his fill-in say today. More tests are being done, we understand. It's the latest on the list of Limbaugh's health problems.
You'll remember he lost most of his hearing in 2001 because, he said, of an inner ear disease. He had an implant to restore it partially. Back in 2003 he also went into rehab for an addiction to painkillers. We wish him well.
Here is another story we are following that we possibly could have predicted, it is the latest in this drama between actor Charlie Sheen and his wife Brooke. They are following a familiar pattern set time and time again by fighting couples who call the cops to report domestic violence, that's right, they want to get back together, reconcile, put it all behind them, it was Brooke Sheen this time who called police to the couple's vacation getaway in Aspen, Colorado, last Friday, sending Charlie to jail for his latest mug shot.
Remember this? It's part of her 911 call that we played you yesterday.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
MUELLER: My husband had me (INAUDIBLE) -- with a knife. And I'm scared for my life and he threatened me.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: What a difference six days makes. Charlie Sheen's lawyer is asking a judge to drop a restraining order, and Brooke's lawyer is telling the Associated Press they are very much in love. They want to try and work things out again.
Should Americans take their money out of all of the big banks and put them into smaller ones since the large ones are not lending? Arianna Huffington is going to be here to take us through that argument. It is like a move for her. There is Arianna now, she will join me next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
We have got some breaking news I want to share with you now. Some information -- oh, my mike fell off? Got it right now. Sorry about that. You see this little thing. It goes right there. Thank you.
We got some information just a little while ago that I wanted to share with you. This is urgent, coming in moments ago from us. This is the Associated Press reporting a federal judge has just dismissed all charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards charged in that deadly Baghdad shooting.
We bring this to your attention because we had originally filed the first report saying they had been charged. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina said Thursday the Justice Department has overstepped its bounds and wrongly used evidence that it was not allowed to see.
So again, charges against the Blackwater Worldwide security guards, charged in that deadly Baghdad shooting, dismissed. CNN now confirms a report coming in from that federal court. Once again, we will follow up on that.
Now this. For banks in the country, Wells Fargo, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, and the Bank of America, finance wonks call them the big four. That's their fair nickname. Those four banks control about 40 percent of all the deposits in this country. Those are also the companies that are deemed, quote, "too big to fail," too big, in fact, that we had to bail them out with our own money. That is the problem.
Blogger extraordinaire Arianna Huffington says, you know what, that is just not acceptable. She uses George Bailey to make her big bank/small bank comparison. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE")
LIONEL BARRYMORE, "MR. POTTER": George, I am going all out to help in this crisis. I have just guaranteed the bank sufficient funds to meet their needs. They will close up for a week and then reopen.
JAMES STEWART, "GEORGE BAILEY": Just took over the bank.
BARRYMORE: I may lose a fortune, but I am willing to guarantee your people, too. Just tell them to bring their shares over here, and I will pay 50 cents on the dollar.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Arianna is saying, look, folks, move your money. Put it in small community banks, it will make for a better America.
By the way, before you and I start talking about that, because I haven't caught up with you in a long time, did you get a chance, moments ago, to see my interview with John Ensign?
ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, THEHUFFINGTONPOST.COM: Unfortunately, I arrived just as you were finishing. But I love the intensity. And I completely agree with you just from what I watched at the end that something needs to be done.
SANCHEZ: Well, I am just thinking, I mean, it was his first interview on CNN. We looked at the record to see if he had sat down for an interview before. So I thought it would behoove me as the first person to have a chance to talk to him to ask him these questions, because it looks to me -- and I know you have covered this extensively on your blog, look, I have got Barbara Boxer here who says, you know, she heads part of the committee telling CNN that there is a preliminary investigation of Ensign's actions that she wants to look at all aspects of this case.
Candy Crowley just sent me some information a little while ago that says that the Department of Justice is also investigating this matter. That was is in The New York Times and it was also reported by Politico.
So, it does seem to me, does it not seem to you, that this thing is really not behind him yet, right?
HUFFINGTON: Well, of course, it is not. What is amazing, Rick, is how long it is taking. Because the Senate is a club, they really still protect their own, I mean, they should have acted much faster, and I think the same applies to the House and Congressman Rangel.
You know, it is the same thing, where there is this corruption scent coming out of Congress. It explains why so many people have really decided that they don't trust either the House or the Senate. I mean...
SANCHEZ: Yes. And Democrats and Republicans, by the way, because it...
HUFFINGTON: Exactly...
SANCHEZ: ... happens on both sides.
HUFFINGTON: ... Democrats and Republicans, yes.
SANCHEZ: Yes. All right. Let's get back to the issue that I am fascinated by, and that is the one that you've been pushing because it's really a populist theme. Your idea is, and I want you to explain it to our viewers, that if we can, we should take our money out of the big guys' banks and put it in the little guys' banks. Why?
HUFFINGTON: Well, first of all, it is an idea that we came up with -- Rob Johnson from the Roosevelt Institute with Gene Jarecki, the filmmaker, who did the marvelous movie that (INAUDIBLE), but it feels like a movie, that you showed a little excerpt from.
And the idea is that at the moment, we have these "too big to fail" banks that basically have been bailed out by the taxpayers to tune of billions of dollars. On top of it, they have government guarantees and they get next to zero financing in the loans that they get. You know, zero percent interest, which then they use to engage in that kind of derivatives trading, which is basically like casino gambling.
SANCHEZ: It seems unfair. It seems like a huge advantage, doesn't it?
HUFFINGTON: Huge advantage compared with the smaller community banks. And on top of it, Rick, as you alluded to, they are not lending. Remember originally when we were told we had to bail them out, the main reason given was that so they could start lending again so that Main Street would prosper. And not only are they not lending, but if you miss one credit card payment they actually put your interest rate up to sometimes 29 percent, which is real usury. They are not actually doing what they can to prevent foreclosures through loan modifications. They are not acting in the public interest. They are doing extremely well. And Main Street is suffering, you know, record unemployment and record foreclosures.
SANCHEZ: Can you stick around? Because we have got to get a break in. But I want to ask you a question because I polled my staff this morning. We had a big discussion about your blog. And we were talking about it. And they said something interesting that would make them fearful of doing what you want to do -- or what you want them to do. I'm going to take you through that when we come back and I want to get your answer to it. Can you stick around?
HUFFINGTON: Of course.
SANCHEZ: Arianna Huffington with us. We'll be right back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez here on the Sanchez show with Arianna Huffington. It is almost the New Year. I wanted to get her reaction to what's going on. And she is almost bull-headed about the idea that it is time we, Americans, get together and show these guys, these big investment bankers on Wall Street, that we have some power as well.
But there were some folks I was talking to on my staff. And I alluded to this earlier, Arianna, who were saying, you know what, I'm a little afraid to do that. I almost feel like if I have my money with the big guys it is going to be safer since they are getting all the advantages and I'm afraid to put my money in with the little guys. What do you say to people who counter your argument with that?
HUFFINGTON: I can understand that. And that's why we partnered with Institutional Risk Analytics. And so if you put your zip code, if go to the Web site, moveyourmoney.info, and put your zip code in, it will give you a list of all the local banks that have actually gotten an "A" or "B" rating, which means a really good rating, a safe, solvent bank.
And on top of it, these are all FDIC-backed banks. So they have the same advantage that the big banks have in terms of government guarantee of their solvency, and of course deposits, actually.
SANCHEZ: You know, this reminds me -- as I hear you talking, and -- you know, and I hearken back to some of the folks who, by the way, were rightfully involved in some of these movements like, you know, the tea party movement, for example, who are just sick and tired of too many people taking them for granted.
Will this year or maybe this decade that we are going into be the decade of Americans kind of taking things back? Being more populist? Holding politicians, for example, and big bankers accountable? Do you think so?
HUFFINGTON: I absolutely think so. And that's why we want to start the New Year in the right way. That's why this is our New Year's resolution, to take our money out of the big banks that are "too big to fail" supposedly, to politically well-connected to really be reformed, and to put them in local community banks which can lend again and really give the same benefits that Wall Street has to Main Street.
And I believe that this is the moment to do it. People have become resigned that it is not going to happen from Washington. And if you think of it, Rick, none of the great reforms in this country have ever happened from Washington.
One of my favorite stories is Martin Luther King...
SANCHEZ: Bottom-up.
HUFFINGTON: ... you know, meeting in '65 with Lyndon Johnson. Lyndon Johnson saying, you don't have the votes for the Voting Rights Act. And they took to the streets.
Well, now, we can do it our way. We can actually make these banks smaller.
SANCHEZ: And I think that's a heck of a suggestion. And I think it is something that very possibly could become a trend. It is the bottom-up as opposed to trickle-down that we have all followed for so many years.
Arianna Huffington, have a great and happy New Year.
HUFFINGTON: Thank you. You, too, Rick.
SANCHEZ: All right.
And this, Sydney, Australia, happy New Year. A taste of how they are already celebrating around the world, "Fotos" is next.
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SANCHEZ: Well, we are still stuck on Thursday here in the United States. But 2010 has already arrived on the other side of the world and is headed our way fast. Get ready. We are celebrating it now in "Fotos."
(VIDEOTAPE OF NEW YEAR'S CELEBRATIONS)
SANCHEZ: Happy New Year to our friends in Taiwan. And everyone there is going ooh, ahh, ooh. You know the drill.
Next video, Sydney Harbor, at midnight Australia time. In just a few minutes, Moscow will be doing the same. Then Saudi Arabia. Then Nairobi, Kenya. They are all going to look like this. All of those places say happy New Year right at the top of the hour. Now I like to get close to people, but come on, this is a little ridiculous, isn't it? Rush hour on the Tokyo subway is not for the claustrophobic or the timid. Those guys in the hats, they are professional pushers. That's right. That's their job. Look at them. Their job is to cram commuters like with Godzilla-like force right into those subway cars. I mean, look, I'm never going to look at sardines the same way again. This is amazing.
And I can tell you that this was a very serious and long-held tradition of New Year's Day in Romania, but it's probably just an excuse for a bunch of people to run around in bear suits. It's one of those good luck ward-off evil things that has survived generations. Hey, maybe appearing "Las Fotos del Dia" will be a new tradition for them as well.
Here now is Suzanne Malveaux. She with a little dance from "Fotos" takes you right into "THE SITUATION ROOM."
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Rick.
