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Late-Night Shakeup?; Bombing Plot Suspect in Court
Aired January 08, 2010 - 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, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio grilled for seven hours.
SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO, MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA: Come on after me if he thinks I'm violating any federal laws.
SANCHEZ: A federal grand jury is looking into whether his department abused its power and then retaliated against critics.
Jay Leno, in, out, in. Ted Koppel coming back? What is this, revenge of the retirees?
Terrorism expert Rudy Giuliani flat-out lies about terrorism. I will tell you what he says.
And how cold is it? It is so cold, frozen iguanas are dropping from trees. Think I'm kidding?
Smart talk, as we count down to January 18 and the premier of Rick's List, where my access to newsmakers becomes your access.
The national conversation starts right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez.
I am looking at what is a beautiful picture here of the East Room of the White House. The president of the United States is going to be coming out in the next couple of minutes, and he is going to be giving a very important statement.
If you are the president of the United States, and over the last week-and-a-half, you have been hammered by the press over the way members of your administration have handled the incident in Detroit on Christmas Day, what do you do? What do you do? Think about this.
You change the subject. That is what you do. You make sure that people start talking now about jobs and about your effort to try and improve the economy for all Americans. And that is what we expect that the president of the United States is going to attempt to do today.
Looking at the monitor, I see the president still has not come out, so let's go to the White House now with Ed Henry. He is our White House correspondent. He is following things for us.
What do we expect the president to be talking about, Ed?
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rick, he is going to be talking about spending more of that stimulus money on what he likes to call clean energy jobs to try to turn around what is an awful unemployment situation in this country, reconfirmed today with almost 100,000 more jobs lost in the previous month.
To your point, though, about changing the subject, there is no doubt this administration has been beaten up on intelligence issues in recent days, but I think the counter to that is, why change the subject back to the economy, when it is not exactly good news for this president?
Robert Gibbs, himself, was saying a little earlier today, what is good right now -- quote, unquote -- "good" is the fact that when he took office, we were losing about 690,000 a jobs a month on average. Now we are losing about an average of 69,000, so one-tenth of what we were losing, but we are not still gaining.
So, that -- so you've got to point that out. And secondly for some time now, even before these intelligence issues came up, White House aides have been saying in private to us that when the new year came in, this president was really going to in their words pivot back to the economy. He had been spending a lot of time obviously on health care and he's still doing that.
But they realize heading now into this midterm election year, they have got to get back to those pocketbook issues, because they can -- you know, and he will talk and he will walk that fine line today about, well, it is starting to get better, but he knows full well, this president, it is nowhere near where it needs to be for people to be satisfied in this country about the economic situation, Rick.
SANCHEZ: As I listen to your analysis, I can't help but think of a presidency that has to decide when it comes to talking about issues from bad to less bad.
And, you know, look, in fairness to...
(CROSSTALK)
HENRY: Exactly, changing the subject to something that is not exactly, yes, much better.
SANCHEZ: In fairness to them, I know and most people who are fair-minded would look at this and say, these are a lot of the problems that they inherited. Still, guess what? You are driving the boat now, guy. You are in charge.
HENRY: That is true.
SANCHEZ: Do we expect the president to talk at all about some of the Americans' concerns about -- and this is still something that resonates out, there. I am sure you hear it, too, Ed, that so many guys, so many of the fat cats on Wall Street, for example, are doing OK, but the rest of us, not so much?
HENRY: Oh, absolutely. They hear it every day, literally, because they have had about the bonuses on Wall Street coming back. That was a big story over the holiday season, when people, average people on Main Street are not getting bonuses and many in fact losing their jobs.
And I think also to your point just about this president inheriting these challenges, there's no doubt that he did, in terms of inheriting a recession, in terms of inheriting two wars, inheriting this terror threat.
But, as you know full well, he is now about to enter his second year in office, so at some point, the inheritance become yours. And it pretty much is his now, and that is why he is bearing down once again on this job situation, because, sure, he inherited the recession, but he now owns it, Rick.
SANCHEZ: I have got to ask you something that we have been waiting on. And, by the way, for those of you just joining us now, I am here with our White House correspondent, Ed Henry. He and I are diligently waiting for the president of the United States to come out.
And I suppose, if there is an underlying theme at this point, it would probably be changing the subject at this point. We all want to know what is going on with the health care reform legislation. And it seems like suddenly we are entering a quiet zone on that. Can you bring us up to date on what is going on with that?
HENRY: Yes, the negotiations really just sort of starting behind the scenes. That's why, you are right, it has been pretty quiet in terms of the public debate.
What is going on is that now, basically, the House negotiators have to get together with the Senate negotiators to work out the differences in their bills. A big one, for example, will be the fact that the House Democratic bill has a public option. The Senate one dropped that. So, they have got to work out those differences.
And there has been some controversy kicked up in the last few days, because Democrats have basically signaled they are not going to include Republicans in those talks. They're not going to have sort of what is called a formal conference committee. They're going to sort of work it out amongst themselves.
And the other issue that has kicked up some controversy is the fact that you will remember the president as a candidate promised to open these negotiations to C-SPAN cameras.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
HENRY: That has not exactly happened. And those promises of transparency is something that has fired up some of the critics as well, Rick. SANCHEZ: Seven times, he said he was going to do that and still they haven't done it. We have been hearing it, and hearing it, and hearing it.
By the way, I am just curious. And my producers are saying we have got to take a break. And I will. But, listen, is there a chance, since the Democrats are in charge of these negotiations, that they can go in there and sneak in a lot of stuff in that the Republicans say they weren't willing to do? How much tomfoolery can go on during this -- during these so-called negotiations before this thing is a bill?
HENRY: When you go into the so-called smoke-filled rooms on Capitol Hill, you can do all kinds of tomfoolery, if that's what they want to do.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
HENRY: And we don't know that's what they want to do. Well, of course, we have seen it before. You add all kinds of things.
But the bottom line is, it's going to see the light of day at some point and have to go public. And so Democrats behind closed doors can add perhaps whatever they want, but at the end of the day it still has to get 60 votes in the Senate, as we saw through this process.
And so if they add things that not just the Republicans would be opposed to, but the independent Democrats like Joe Lieberman or some of the moderate Democrats like Ben Nelson of Nebraska, it's sort of going to be a pointless exercise to sort of add things that are not sort of going to pass muster and pass the smell test once it gets through, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Yes, that's interesting. It will be fun to watch that.
All right, Ed, now my producers are yelling. And, obviously, I'm blaming it on your for using that extra minute-and-a-half. So...
(LAUGHTER)
HENRY: It is my fault.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: I am used saying that at home, too.
Senior White House correspondent Ed Henry joining us now. And we appreciate it.
We will get back to you as soon as we hear from the president, Ed. Stand by.
Meanwhile, let's get a break in. Let me tell you what else we're going to be doing for you, though. The man accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, he is arraigned in Detroit. We have got the pictures. That's next.
Also, have you seen Jon Stewart's sketch about the White House budget director, Peter Orszag? Ladies man. I swear, this is funny. You have got to watch.
Don't forget the other way you can join our national conversation. Just call us here in the United States and say, hey, Rick. The number is 877-742-5751.
I don't know why I am so fired up. Maybe because it is Friday. Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right.
As we come back, just a programming note. We are expecting the president of the United States to come out any time now. Then again, yesterday, he was supposed to come out at 2:30. Then he was supposed to come out at 3:00. Then he was supposed to come out supposed to come like more like 4:15, ended up coming out so much later. Maybe we should have asked Ed Henry about that as well.
Regardless, here we are again waiting on the president of the United States. He is going to have a statement any moment now. And when he does, you are going to hear it and see it here live on CNN.
Meanwhile, movement today in the case of the wannabe airline bomber. You see that SUV arriving at the federal courthouse in Detroit just a couple of hours ago? We are told that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in that Chevy Tahoe. He is the suspect who tried to set off a bomb stashed in his underwear to blow up a plane on Christmas Day. He is in front of a judge today and has pleaded not guilty to some heavy, heavy charges.
Let me list some of them, just some of them: attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, willful attempt to destroy an aircraft, and also attempted murder. He could spend the rest of his life in prison. Here is the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At this stage in the review process it appears that this incident was not the fault of a single individual or organization, but rather a systemic failure across organizations and agencies.
I am less interested in passing out blame than I am in learning from and correcting these mistakes to make us safer, for ultimately the buck stops with me. As president, I have a solemn responsibility to protect our nation and our people, and when the system fails, it is my responsibility. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: I should have mentioned that was the president on Memorex. That was yesterday.
Here is what he said, systematic failures. That's the quote. Nobody gets fired, at least not now. He wants improved screening, improved intelligence gathering. And as long as he is president, he says, he won't -- quote -- "hunker down." I'm not quite sure what that means, by the way, won't -- quote -- "hunker down."
Doesn't hunkering down actually mean becoming defensive, becoming strong?
Oh, and one more thing about Detroit. This may be an example of questionable timing. Roger, let's show them. You see that car, this SUV truck, whatever it is? Chrysler in Detroit unveiled it today in advance of next week's big auto show. What's it called? It's called the 2010 Dodge Nitro Detonator. Detonator? That's right, Detonator. Probably not the wisest choice of names in this current climate, especially around Detroit. Too late to change the name, though, not that they are inclined to do so anyway.
The controversy might actually help Chrysler move a few cars, who knows.
All right, here now the president. We showed him to you on Memorex. Here he is live.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
OBAMA: Before I announce a significant new investment we're making in clean energy, I want to give an update on a matter of concern to every American. That's our employment picture.
The jobs numbers that were released by the Labor Department this morning are a reminder that the road to recovery is never straight and that we have to continue to work every single day to get our economy moving again.
For most Americans, and for me, that means jobs. It means whether we are putting people back to work.
Job losses for the last quarter of 2009 were one-tenth of what we were experiencing in the first quarter. In fact, in November we saw the first gain in jobs in nearly two years.
Last month, however, we slipped back, losing more jobs than we gained, though the overall trend of job loss is still pointing in the right direction.
What this underscores, though, is that we have to continue to explore every avenue to accelerate the return to hiring, which brings me to my announcement today.
The Recovery Act has been a major force in breaking the trajectory of this recession and stimulating growth in hiring. And one of the most popular elements of it has been a clean energy manufacturing initiative that will put Americans to work while helping America gain the lead when it comes to clean energy.
It's clear why such an effort is so important. Building a robust clean energy sector is how we will create the jobs of the future, jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced.
But it's also how we will reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign oil, a dependence that endangers our economy and our security, and it is how we will combat the threat of climate change and leave our children a planet that's safer than the one we inherited.
Harnessing new forms of energy will be one of the defining challenges of the 21st century, and unfortunately right now the United States, the nation that pioneered the use of clean energy, is being outpaced by nations around the world. It's China that has launched the largest effort in history to make their economy energy efficient.
We spearheaded the development of solar technology, but we've fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in producing it.
And almost all of the batteries that we use to power our hybrid vehicles are still manufactured by Japanese countries or in Asia, though, because of one of the steps like we're taking today, we're beginning to produce more of these batteries here at home.
Now, I welcome and am pleased to see a real competition emerging around the world to develop these kinds of clean energy technologies. Competition is what fuels innovation.
But I don't want America to lose that competition. I don't want the industries that yield the jobs of tomorrow to be built overseas. I don't want the technology that will transform the way we use energy to be invented abroad.
I want the United States of America to be what it has always been, and that is a leader -- the leader -- when it comes to a clean energy future. And that's exactly what this clean energy manufacturing initiative will help us do. It will help close the clean energy gap that's grown between American and other nations.
Through this initiative, we're awarding $2. 3 billion in tax credits for American manufacturers of clean energy technologies -- companies that build wind turbines and produce solar panels and assemble cutting-edge batteries.
The initiative we're outlining today will likely generate 17,000 jobs, and the roughly $5 billion more that we'll leverage in the private sector investments could help create tens of thousands of additional jobs.
At the same time, this initiative will give a much-needed boost to our manufacturing sector by building new plants or upgrading old ones. And we'll take an important step toward meeting the goal I have set of doubling the amount of renewable power we use in the next three years with wind turbines and solar panels built right here in the U.S. of A.
Put simply, this initiative is good for middle class families. It is good for our security. It is good for our planet. Over 180 projects in over 40 states will receive these tax credits. One of them is TPI Composites, Inc., which is based in Newton, Iowa -- one of America's leading wind turbine manufacturers.
Because of these tax credits, TPI Composites will not only be able to expand an existing facility in Newton, they'll not only be able to build a brand new facility in Nebraska, they'll also be able to hire over 200 new workers. And it is my hope that similar stories will be told in cities and towns across America because of this initiative.
In fact, this initiative's been so popular that we've -- we have far more qualified applicants than we've been able to fund. We received requests for roughly three times as much in funding, $7. 6 billion, as we could provide. And that's why as part of the jobs package on which I'm urging Congress to act, I have called for investing another $5 billion in this program which could put even more Americans to work right away building and equipping clean energy manufacturing facilities here in the United States.
You know, in the letters that I receive at night, and many of you know I get about 10 letters a night that I take a look at. I often hear from Americans who are facing hard times -- Americans who've lost their jobs or can't afford to pay their bills. They're worried about what the future holds.
I am confident that if we harness the ingenuity of companies like TPI Composites, if we can tap the talents of our workers and our innovators and our entrepreneurs, if we can gain the lead in clean energy worldwide, then we'll forge a future where a better life is possible in our country over the long run. That's a future we're now closer to building because of the steps that we're taking today.
Thank you very much, everybody.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Is another overall stimulus needed?
SANCHEZ: It is funny how some of the reporters there continue to try and press the president as he walks away. He seemed hell-bent on coming out, making his statement.
Yesterday, the focus, as you know, was everything having to do with national security and some of the problems with national security. What we are having now is a president who wants to change the subject and talk about the economy, which is exactly what he did, as expected.
All right. We have got a lot of news coming your way, including, take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARPAIO: ... telling me how to do my job enforcing state laws. Come on after me if he thinks I am violating any federal laws.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Everybody's favorite sheriff, or is he? Joe Arpaio is back. Arpaio is now making headlines on this day. And, this time, it is because a federal grand jury has been impaneled to look at potential abuses of power by his department and also revenge tactics used by his department against its critics. Where have you heard that before? Sounds kind of Kafkaesque, doesn't it? All right, we're going to get into that.
Also, the weather is so cold across the nation. How cold is it, you ask? It is so cold, iguanas are dropping out of the trees in Florida. I am from Florida. I have seen iguanas, but I have never seen iguanas, at least frozen one, drop out of trees. Chad Myers is going to take us through this and the rest of the country. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: You are going love this. What is not to love? This is easily the biggest image boost for skinny, geeky guys with glasses since Robert Carradine dressed as Darth Vader landed the hot cheerleader in "Revenge of the Nerd."
You know what I'm talking about? Here, let me help you. Peter Orszag, he's the nation's budget director, budget director. And, to look at him, you would think that he's not exactly a ladies' man, a baby daddy
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART")
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART": The OMB director had a baby with this lady, a beautiful shipping heiress, just weeks before he got engaged to this other beautiful lady who is a news reporter.
I guess OMB stands for the Office of Managing the Booty.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: Ladies, put your husbands to bed and hide your ovaries.
(LAUGHTER)
PETER ORSZAG, DIRECTOR OF OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET: Good morning. Non-defense discretionary spending as a share of the economy...
Good morning.
This budget is changing course. Like in the GPS system, it is recalculating the route.
(LAUGHTER)
ORSZAG: Good morning.
STEWART: I interviewed this guy. He's got has the "Kavorka."
What are we doing so differently that is freaking people out that believe we're losing our capitalist society? What is that?
ORSZAG: What we're doing is, we are returning to the tax rates that were in place in 1993. That's apparently...
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: What a story. And, you know, I am joined now, by the way, because to be a meteorologist, an accomplished meteorologist, you have to be a bit of a nerd. So I have invited our own expert nerd out here, Chad Myers, to take us through this.
Does it make you proud to see a guy like this who is an accountant scoring with the ladies?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I didn't realize that is what you thought of me.
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: I told my mom I was going to be a doctor. She thought, oh, you will get all kinds of girls. And I said, I wanted to be a media urologist. But when I put it down on my application, it came out meteorologist.
SANCHEZ: Meteorologist.
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: Now I am doing the weather.
SANCHEZ: I love that.
MYERS: Isn't that crazy?
SANCHEZ: You've been using that for a while, haven't you?
We're going to get you in just a minute, because we know what is going on out there.
By the way, that was Orszag, the budget director/ladies man.
SANCHEZ: Iguanas in Florida blasted by cold weather, falling out of trees, an indication of just how cold our national weather is. I don't think I have ever seen anything like this. Chad is going to pick up that conversation as well. And Rudy Giuliani says there were no terror attacks during the Bush administration, none, only during the Obama administration. What the hell is he talking about? You are going to hear it for yourself. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Now it is time to show you some video that I want to share with you. I think it is significant. Take a look at this.
We have just gotten this exclusive picture of the man believed to be the bomber who blew himself up inside a CIA base in Afghanistan, killing seven CIA workers. There is an amazing story behind this guy. I don't know if you got a chance to read "The New York Times" today. They have got their whole bio on him. Unbelievable.
A former intelligence official tells us that he's a Jordanian doctor. His name is Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi -- there's a mouthful -- who was acting as a double agent. Jordanian and American apparently agents thought that he had turned away from his extremist views, and they were using him to try to hunt down al Qaeda big wig Ayman al-Zawahri, who you know is the guy who started the Muslim Brotherhood and is Osama bin Laden's number-two guy.
They were wrong about al-Balawi. When they brought him into the CIA base last week, they didn't search him. That is how much they trusted him. Oops. The bomb went off inside the gym, killed seven members of the CIA, and countless others were injured.
Now this. When something strange happens, really strange, something inexplicable, what do you usually say, I mean, most of us, right? We say, well, that was kind of weird, right? But then it happens again. And it is a really strange thing that you can't explain. And then what do you say? You say something like, well, maybe there is something going on here. Maybe there something we should look into.
That is kind of where we are today. So, let me show you something, because now it is happening over and over again. And I keep seeing it on television and in the print media and on blogs. And it is strange.
Here is the first one.
This is Dana Perino, former press secretary under George W. Bush, seeming to somehow forget that 9/11 ever happened, at least that it even happened under George W. Bush's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA PERINO, FORMER WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: All of their investigations, I don't know all of their thinking that goes into it, but you know, we did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term. I hope they're not looking at this politically.
We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: "We did not have a terrorist attack during President Bush's term." Is that a slip of the tongue? We can't be sure, because the obvious error went unchallenged and unquestioned by FOX News' Sean Hannity.
So, what, Dana Perino does not remember 9/11? That is kind of weird, right? But it is fast becoming a common theme among Republican strategist.
And now there is this, one of the top Republicans, the guy we associate with 9/11, the guy who was there on the ground when it happened, and how in the world can he forget about 9/11? I mean, if anybody should remember 9/11, it's this guy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI (R), FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: What he should be doing is following the right things that Bush did. One of the right things he did was to treat this as a war on terror and we had no domestic attacks under Bush, and we have had one under Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: No domestic attacks under Bush. First Dana Perino and now Rudy Giuliani trying to tell us that our country was never attacked under the Bush administration. That is not one, but two big slips of the tongue.
And let's remember Rudy Giuliani was mayor of New York City during 9/11. And then ran for president, invoking 9/11 so often that someone famously said that he couldn't uttered that he couldn't utter a sentence without saying "9/11."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI: Well, what he should be doing is following the right things that Bush did, and one of the right things is to treat it as terror. We've had no attacks under Bush, and we have had one under Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: "We've had one under Obama." Think about that. It's the other thing that Giuliani said in that statement about terrorism. Terrorism is apparently only taking place under Obama. That is exactly the exactly the type of partisan statements that Americans tell me every single day on Facebook, on Twitter on my e-mails, on phone calls, on "Hey, Rick!" that you are just sick and tired of.
Richard Reid, which was amazingly analogous to the Abdulmutallab incident happened in the Bush administration. We are going to be hearing more from Giuliani today. My colleague Wolf Blitzer is going to talk with him at 5:00 p.m. in "THE SITUATION ROOM." By the way, my access to your access. I am referring to "Rick's List." My list brings you the most relevant and pertinent tweets. What we do is we look for things that people say on any given day and I will bring them to you every day at 3:00.
On the list, Jeffrey Feldman. We find this guy fascinating because he is a political author and blogger at the Huffington post, and he writes a book called "Framing the Debate." He tweets, and we will share it with you this.
It says "No domestic attacks under Bush? Rudy Giuliani must have put his dusty old toupee in the spot where his brain used to be." Jeffrey, that is not nice.
Most of the nation is under a cold freeze and it is not going away any time soon. And Chad Meyers is going to be take us through it in a little bit, including iguanas dropping from trees.
MYERS: Safely, safely dropping from the trees.
SANCHEZ: They do like a double somersault on the way down?
MYERS: I don't know, but they landed OK.
SANCHEZ: We have tape. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: By the way, we just got a statement from Rudy Giuliani after that story that we just did where we appeared -- no, didn't appear, we are puzzled by what he says regarding there not being any terrorist attacks during the Bush administration.
You got it? Here it is, by golly, fresh news as we make it. Chad, can you hold for a minute to talk about the weather?
MYERS: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: Here we go. Through his spokesman, Rudy Giuliani has clarified the remarks that he made this morning on GMA, "Good Morning America" retarding terrorist attacks on the United States under Presidents Bush and Obama.
The mayor's spokesman says that the remark didn't come across as it was intended. So he is walking this back. And that "Giuliani was clearly talking post-9/11 with regards to Islamic terrorist attacks on our soil.
Whatever the mayor meant, it is not what he said. All of you who have pointed out that I should have pressed him on that misstatement in the moment are right. My mistake, my responsibility," this coming from some Rudy Giuliani spokesperson.
So again, Rudy Giuliani, interestingly enough, just we finished that story we get this information from Rudy Giuliani's folks saying, I know that is what I said, but not what I meant. He does not come out and apologize, but at least he is making clear that that is not what he meant to say. Good for him. Good for him.
MYERS: Yes.
Let's talk about the weather.
(WEATHER BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Coming up next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell me how to do my job enforcing state laws. Come on after me if he thinks I am violating any of the federal laws.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is no stranger to controversy, is being investigated, and wait until you hear why. You knew he was being investigated, that is old news. Let me update this tease for you. Are you ready? A federal grand jury has been impaneled now to consider the evidence against Sheriff Joe Arpaio. That's better.
Also, don't forget, the other way to participate in this national conversation so call us in the United States. The number is 877-742- 5751.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Big stars, elaborate sets, and lots of lighting. In Hollywood, making a movie takes money. But at Warner Brothers headquarters, their focus is on green of a different kind.
From the front seat of her solar powered golf cart, Shelley Billik is driving the studio's environmental charge.
SHELLEY BILLIK, V.P. OF ENVIRONMENTALISM, WARNER BROTHERS: You can imagine when you do make television shows and films, you have a lot of material.
BALDWIN: Shelley's job is to look behind the scenes and find ways Warner Brothers, which, like CNN, is owned by Time-Warner can reduce its impact on the environment.
Her latest project, Stage 23. It's believed to be Hollywood's first green south stage, with fly ash in the concrete, sustainably harvested lumber on set, and energy efficient lighting from above.
BILLIK: The perimeter lights, the house lights, the catwalk lights. We have some cooling technology that uses nighttime cooling for the data rooms. So we're really focused on reducing the energy use.
LEONARDO DICAPRIO, ACTOR: We face a convergence of crises all of which are a concern for life.
BALDWIN: Sometimes this green message takes center stage on the silver screen in documentaries like Leonardo DiCaprio's "11th Hour" and the movie "Syriana." According to WB, "Syriana" was the first film to be climate neutral by investing in renewable energy.
KYRA SEDGWICK, ACTRESS, "THE CLOSER: For me I try to have the smallest carbon footprint that I can.
BALDWIN: Even stars like "The Closer's" Kyra Sedgwick are playing lead roles in reducing their environmental impacts. On the set, her crew has barred plastic water bottles, they eat off biodegradable plates, and recycle old strips.
SEDGWICK: These are called sides, and basically there have their lines on them. You can see mine of highlighted. And instead of using fresh, virgin paper for this, what we do is use sides, what we do is use paper that's already been used for scripts.
So we, you know, as you can see, you can read the other lines from, you know, an old script, and it's not -- it's all recycled and used paper, recycled by us.
BARRY MYERS, CEO, WARNER BROTHERS: We think in the long run it is good for business.
BALDWIN: Warner Brothers CEO Barry Myers says green investments pay off long term and advises even the smaller studios to follow suit. Shelly Billik says the challenge is changing a culture, but anyone can help play a part.
Brooke Baldwin, CNN, Burbank, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. It is beginning to get deep for Joe Arpaio, the controversial sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, that's around Phoenix.
Arpaio, a frequent guest on this show, is the subject of a federal grand jury investigation now officially into alleged abuses of power, and a lot of folks who watch us were appalled when I showed you this video showing one of Arpaio's detention officers being caught red-handed pilfering a document from a defense attorney during open court behind her back.
A lot of you said that this is something right out of the Soviet Union.
Well, Arpaio not only defended this, saying that the officer was doing his job, Arpaio publicly ordered him to defy a judge's order to make a public apology. That is all she wanted him to do was apologize, he would not even let her do that. We don't know if this particular incident is under investigation by the grand jury, which is examining alleged abuse of power and retaliation against supposed enemies. Arpaio may have been arresting people that he didn't like on trumped up charges according to some of the reports that are coming out. It sounds almost Stalin-esque, doesn't it? We will follow it for you.
An irate customer is caught on a surveillance camera. Now, I'd had one of those days, but I have never done something like this. You are going to see this as it plays out, and we will have it for you.
And then millions of viewers want to see how NBC plays out Jay Leno's possible move, he is in, he's out, he's early. Now he may be going back to late, in fact, he is going back the late.
And don't forget to visit me right here in the studio in Atlanta. We can have this national conversation together with you here on set participating in the newscast. Just go to CNN.com/tour for more details if you want to pay us a visit. We are glad to have you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: What did we do in this business before we had surveillance cameras? For one thing, it would have been hard to do "Fotos del Dia."
South Carolina's the place for one of the dumbest robbers we have seen in quite a while. This guy tries not once, not twice, not three times to drag an entire ATM machine away with his truck before the chain breaks.
Then he puts it in reverse, tries half a dozen more times to try and lift the machine into the truck bed. You wait long enough, and even police officers will eventually drive by and get amused by what you're doing. They did, and they arrested him.
To Kansas City now. You know the McDonald's motto "I'm Lovin' It"? Apparently this woman is not. When a store clerk wouldn't refund her order, she trashed the place. Maybe she liked the old motto -- so did I remember it? You bet you. "You deserve a break today." Right? Did I get that? Got it.
To Georgia now, don't mess with this man, he's extremely protective of his merchandise, even though it's not even his. This serial robber hits the same target over and over again. He just fills up his cart and walks out the door. And when he's approached by security, he pulls out a weapon. Guess what? He still hasn't been caught, still on the loose.
We're told it may have something to do with poor ratings for Jay Leno at 10:00 p.m. that is cause a programming shake-up against at NBC. So what does Ted Koppel have to do with all of this? I will explain, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: Welcome back. Talk about a big-time screw up. This is about the same scale are when Coco-Cola dropped its original formula in favor of new Coke. People hated the new stuff so much Coke was forced to go back to the original three months later.
We're talking about NBC moving Jay Leno to primetime and giving the "Tonight Show" to Conan O'Brien. There's a lot of talk that NBC is going to do a 180 and either cancelling "The Jay Leno Show" or move him back to his old timeslot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE JAY LENO SHOW": I thought I'd start off wishing happy birthday to Katie Couric. It's Katie Couric's birthday today. And she left NBC for another network. I've got to give her a call and see how that's working out.
(LAUGHTER)
As you may have heard there's a rumor floating around we were canceled. I heard it coming in this morning on the radio. So far, nobody said anything to me. But Kev, if we did get canceled, it would give us time to do some traveling.
KEVIN EUBANKS: That would be wonderful, man.
In fact, I understand FOX is beautiful this time of year. Beautiful, beautiful this time of year.
EUBANKS: It really is.
(LAUGHTER)
LENO: Hey, Kev, what does NBC stand for?
EUBANKS: What's that?
LENO: "Never Believe your Contract."
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: He's laughing about it, but there's a lot of seriousness involved in this, certainly for a lot of people that may be involved if they do this big switcharoo. Kim Serafin is with "In Touch Weekly."
Hey, Kim, how are you?
KIM SERAFIN, SENIOR EDITOR, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": I'm good. How are you. You didn't play my favorite part of his monolog last night when he said we're probably no cancelled. It's my experience that NBC doesn't cancel show unless they're in first place.
(LAUGHTER) So that was a hit back at the fact that he was in first place at 11:30 and they cancelled his show.
SANCHEZ: I'm hearing now they're in negotiations that these things are actually being discussed and it's probably going for come to fruition. I just read that in "New York Times" not long ago. What do you know?
SERAFIN: That's right. That's right, big article in "New York Times," TMZ also reporting it last night. This is all breaking last night that apparently, according to reports, Jay will go off the air once the Olympics starts in February and then will come back after the Olympics at 11:35 again, back in his old spot.
Of course, that brings up the question what to do with Conan O'Brien who has "The Tonight Show." Apparently the reports are that they want to negotiate to give Jay that 11:35 spot, but it will possibly be only be a half hour show, then Conan would come on again at 12:05 to 1:05, and then Jimmy Fallon.
And then apparently, also, according to the reports, Conan would get to keep the name "The Tonight Show," although it wouldn't really be "The Tonight Show" because it would start at 12:05 and Jay would still have the 11:35 show is what the reports are saying.
SANCHEZ: You know what it sounds like to me? It sounds like they have a whole bunch of people on the contract and they have to squeeze them all into one place, so they're just going to diminish their time. I'm doing the math here. Mama didn't raise no fool.
SERAFIN: They have a lot of good people.
SANCHEZ: Yes, but they've got to put them somewhere.
By the way, I mentioned "The New York Times." "New York Times" writer Brian Stilter is sending some tweets. We picked them off "Rick's List" and we want to share them with you.
"This quote from last September is coming back to haunt Jeff Zucker -- "We're going to judge on 52 weeks." It's been 17 weeks. This is anything but business as usual. This is a retreat from what was heralded by NBC as a transformational move." He tweeted that to me just a little while ago. You agree with him, this makes the brass not look so good?
SERAFIN: This was either going to be a huge success or a huge failure. This was going to be a risk. NBC knew it was a risk. Putting Jay at 10:00 p.m. was obviously going to save money. It doesn't cost as much to produce Jay's show at 10:00, like it does to produce "Law & Order SVU."
But Leno had that number one spot at 11:35. Conan has not been beating David Letterman. In fact David Letterman has been getting about 2 million more viewers a night that Conan in that "Tonight Show" spot, so it didn't really work out as they had planned it. Yes, maybe it's money-saving, but people are not tuning in. they're getting about 5 million viewers, and apparently the affiliates are upset, because what's happening is Jay's on at 10:00, not getting agreed ratings, then the affiliates' news comes on around the country, not getting great ratings, and then of course that hurts Conan going to his 11:35 show.
So it's really just a domino effect that's bad for everyone.
SANCHEZ: Yes, in fact, you know, I'm just thinking about something else as I hear you talking about this. You know, anybody who came up in my business has a hero, and certainly one of mine was Ted Koppel. I thought he had retired, but it sounds like Ted Koppel is maybe coming out of retirement.
He is going to take George Stephanopoulos' old gig on Sunday mornings and kind of be like a Brinkley, a senior statesman who comes on and asks the big questions. How likely is that to happen?
SERAFIN: That would be interesting. It's funny, because if you're reading the "New York Times" in the paper today, it's right below the story about Jay Leno, saying Ted Koppel is coming back to replace George Stephanopoulos or is in talks to do that this week. So bringing back the late night world into that, into the political world.
