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American Morning
Remembering the Two Journalists Killed in Libya; Over 1,000,000 Acres Burned in Texas; Diving for Bones & Answers; Libya Urged To Protect Journalists; FAA Fired Two Controllers; Trump Nation?
Aired April 21, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI , CNN ANCHOR: They lived in war zone, photographed the heroes, and chronicled the suffering. Two award winning journalists who were killed on the frontlines in Libya. We remember them this morning and the reason they were there on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning. It's Thursday, April 21st. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Ali Velshi.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I was just going to say I was Christine Romans. She's off today. I wanted to make sure I said that. Thanks so much for being with us.
Listen, we're searching for answers in the ocean right now. You may remember the case on Long Island, they're going back in the water and back of off these beaches looking, unfortunately, for remains. Eight bodies have been found and the results are in now on more remains discovered. Jason Carol is going to be joining us with more on this real life crime drama and the search for what authorities are calling a serial killer.
VELSHI: No one is better at creating a buzz. No one potential candidate has more of it than Donald Trump right now. We'll speak to an author who has followed him for years.
We begin this morning with the White House now urging Libya to protect journalists on the battlefield after two of them became the latest casualties of Libya's civil war. Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros both came under fire on the front line in Misrata. While people are trying to flee the violence there, these journalists went in to bring the story of an alleged civilian massacre to the rest of us.
CHETRY: Hetherington sent out this tweet on Tuesday, which would be his last. "In besieged Libyan city of Misrata indiscriminate shelling by Gadhafi forces. No sign of NATO."
Tim Hetherington received an academy award nomination co-directing "Restrepo," a documentary about the deployment of a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. He also lived in places like Liberia and Sudan to chronicle other people's suffering that was too often ignored.
VELSHI: I want to show you a photo that he took. He took it for "Vanity Fair," a picture of a U.S. soldier collapsing in exhaustion in a bunker after intense fighting. It was 2007's world press photo of the year. The judges say that this image captured the exhaustion of a man and of a nation. His colleagues and friends, one of his friends, CNN's Peter Bergen, paid tribute to him last night on "JOHN KING USA."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER BERGEN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Tim was a very empathetic person. He was interested in showing war as it is, like a lot of great war photographers. Unfortunately, to show war as it is, you have to take considerable risks. There are sort of war junkies who will tell you about all the places they've been. Tim was not of that ilk. He didn't rejoice in war. He was a very modest individual, humble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And we also had a chance in the last hour to speak to the best friend of Chris Hondros. He's the American photographer of Getty images who also died of severe brain trauma hours after the same attack. He covered the hot spots going to places like Kosovo, Iran and Afghanistan.
His employer Getty remembered him this way. "Chris never shied away from the front line and having covered the world's major conflicts throughout his distinguished career and his work in Libya was no exception. We wore working to support his family and fiancee as they receive this difficult news and are preparing to bring Chris back to his family and friends in the United States. He will be sorely missed."
VELSHI: Fred Pleitgen is live for us in Libya. In Misrata, what is it like there? What happens if you get injured while reporting in Misrata and places like that?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that was certainly when I was there, one of the most devastating things that we could think of about the thing that happened to Tim was our worst nightmare scenario.
If you go out to the front line in Misrata and those neighborhoods that are being fought over, you have mortars, you have artillery flying around your head, also shooting is going on the whole time and rocket-propelled grenades are being fired through the railways and streets. This group that Chris and Tim were a part of was also hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
If you get wounded there, you're in a lot of trouble. Because, first of all, few hospitals that are still functioning there are capable of dealing with trauma. They're short on doctors and supplies. The biggest question is how do you get out of there? The only way out of Misrata is a boat trip, and that's at least 20 hours.
CHETRY: That's amazing. That gives you a picture of what happens not only if you survive the attack, but then trying to get aid after the fact.
The other thing, Fred, that's interesting that I'd like for you to touch on is the difference in covering a war like this. If you're with the rebels, the rebels clearly there are not a professional army like we have in the United States of America. So let's say you're embedded with troop in Iraq and Afghanistan, at least you're in the same risk as those troops but they're far better equipped, are they not, than the rebels?
PLEITGEN: They're far better equipped, they're far better trained. And they know how to move on a battlefield. That is really the major difference in all of this.
When I was sort of walking around Misrata with a couple of these rebels, they had no formation. They had no idea how to fight urban warfare. They walked into certain places without grounding to see whether anyone was watching them at all. One incident where these rebels sort of hop into a tank in the middle of the street and started cheering, and have rocket and gunfire coming from all directions. So that's something you wouldn't see with American soldiers.
Then you have that entire support system. If you get wounded in a place like Iraq and Afghanistan, you are very likely to have a helicopter come pick you up. Of course, the U.S. has pretty much perfected getting casualties off the battlefield. You have none of that support system in an area like Misrata, obviously. You don't have the first aid that you get once you get wounded you are not moved to another hospital that can treat t you any better. So it really is a difference of night and day. One of the dangers that journalists are facing, when you get wounded, what happens then?
VELSHI: There are three western journalists being held captive now in Libya. So that's another set of problems altogether, the fact that they're not really abiding by accepted treatment of journalists on the front lines.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, the FAA taking steps to address the apparent crisis in the nation's air traffic control system. Two controllers have now been fired. They are ones who slept on the job. One worked in Miami, the other at the McGhee Tyson airport in Knoxville. The FAA and the controllers union agreed to changes including more time off for controllers between shifts.
Government officials say that one possible way to improve the performance of air traffic controllers is putting them in the cockpit so they get a chance to see how their communications impact a working flight crew especially during landings and takeoffs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL RINALDI, NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION: It really is so valuable for air traffic controllers to see that teamwork that's happening and why we shouldn't give them a different instruction that they're not expecting.
RANDY BABBITT, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: I had controllers on board. It was a two-way dialogue, and it helps both parties understand some of the work environment that the other is operating in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The initial program was scrapped ten years ago because of security measures after 9/11.
VELSHI: The president is in Reno today wrapping up a three-day town hall tour all about the economy. The first stop was at t a college in Virginia where students were told that spending cuts would not include that.
Yesterday in Palo Alto President Obama got to hang out at Facebook's headquarters with CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He took questions from a small audience in the hall and a bigger one online. That was broadcast live on the social networking site. The president used the opportunity to sell his budget plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My question to kind of start off is what specifically do you think we should do and what specifically do you think we can cut to make this all add up?
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've made cuts in every area. A good example is Pentagon spending. We've reduced the Pentagon budget by $400 billion. We think we can do another $400 billion. We've got to look at spending on non-security issues as well as defense spending.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: President Obama also did some reelection fundraising in San Francisco last night. The chairman of salesforce.com hosted a dinner at his home with guests paying more than $35,000 each to dine with the president. I'm thinking that's not the president of saleforce.com home unless he has a huge hall in it.
CHETRY: With a podium and working teleprompters.
The roommate of the Rutgers University student who committed suicide last fall has now been indicted on hate crime charges. There is a lot of debate among legal experts whether this would actually happen. It has. You may remember 18-year-old Tyler Clementi posted a good-bye message on Facebook before leaping to his death from the George Washington Bridge in September.
VELSHI: Dharun Ravi was indicted yesterday. He was accused of using a web cam to spy on Clementi during a same-sex encounter and then he streamed it online. Clementi's suicide It sparked that national debate that you're talking about, Kiran. Experts say technology has compounded this problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROF. DOROTHY ESPELANGE, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: As we see bullying going into kids using technology, we can see that they can reach their audience, larger audience in a faster amount of time. Any rumor that's being spread or footage that's being taped can be distributed on a mass level. And the reality is that you can't escape from this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Ravi was indicted on 15 counts including bias, intimidation, and invasion of privacy.
CHETRY: BP has filed a $40 million lawsuit against the maker of the rig. BP's suit says that Transocean is to blame for the failure of every single safety system on the Deep Water Horizon.
VELSHI: Police in long island are headed back to the waters looking for clues in the search for a suspected serial killer. Eight bodies have been found on the beaches since December. Tested bone fragments are in now. Investigators say they're not human. They came from an animal.
CHETRY: Oklahoma has just become the fourth state to pass a law banning late-term abortions. Governor Mary Fallon signed it yesterday. It outlaws abortions after 20 weeks and forbids coverage by insurance companies. Exceptions can only be made if a mother's life or health are at risk.
And former pitching great Roger Clemens is accused of lying to Congress about alleged steroid use. Clemens attorneys are trying to get the case thrown out. They're claiming that lawmakers are -- it is lawmakers? Yes. They were refusing to turn over internal documents from their investigation.
VELSHI: This iPhone story has got our interest. It turns out your iPhone is tracking your every move. Researchers say Apples iPhone and iPad consistently records your whereabouts, and then that information is there. It has got to do with location-based applications. But so far there's no evidence that the location data is being sent to apple or other company. Researchers are testing android phones to see if they record the same information. You can turn off the location services on your phone. I use a Blackberry. You can disable it on a blackberry.
CHETRY: But if you use it for things like maps, you have to have the location on or you can't use it.
VELSHI: Like a GPS. If you're looking something up, you don't have to have a location service. But a lot of new offerings is based on the fact that if it knows your location, it can give you the best information depending on where you are.
We'll bring you more on the fires in Texas. A couple of firefighters died overnight. These fires are pretty serious. Since they've started burning a couple of months ago, they've really hit almost all of Texas. Different parts of Texas have all at some point been involved in this.
CHETRY: And some controversial changes to ways that Ticketmaster charges prices for certain events you want to go to. We're going to explain what's going on there. It's 12 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
Wildfires have now burned more than 1 million acres in Texas. And firefighters are hoping to get a break over the next few days. The forecasts are for slightly cooler weather and higher humidity.
CHETRY: Which is what they need.
VELSHI: What they need is a good dose of rain.
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: The latest from the CNN weather center indicates a threat of dry thunderstorms which could start more fires. I mean, honestly, dry thunderstorms. These guys cannot catch a break.
CHETRY: No. It's just -- so that rain comes from storms, but storms can also bring lightning that can ignite more fires.
It's a tough situation out there, Jacqui. It's also proving deadly unfortunately. Taking a turn where a few firefighters actually have died while trying to fight this fire. Very unpredictable as they're out there on the front lines.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, fire creates its own weather from time to time. And with these winds changing from different directions, you know, the fire moves one way and then all of a sudden, it moves another way. So, it's really hard to even, you know, set backfires to try to get this thing to burn itself out.
Now, you can see the radar tried to kick up a little something in the overnight hours. That quickly fizzled out. And we think we're really just focusing on central and northeastern parts of Texas for that potential of that rain. And that's where the higher humidities are.
West Texas is just as bad as ever. Red flag warnings are flying there and the humidity down between 5 percent to 15 percent. We're talking 30 percent. It's critical. So, just to give you an idea of how bad it is and how dry things are.
Now, all the moisture here across parts of the Southeast at this hour. Showers and thunderstorms lingering on through. A very slick commute for a lot of you, give yourself a little extra time this morning and watch out for the lightning.
Severe thunderstorms may develop later on today across parts of Texas, including Dallas, out towards Oklahoma City, even into Kansas City.
You guys are going to be drying out into the Northeast. But it's going to be on the breezy side. So, watch out for some airport delays, New York and up towards Boston.
Staying cool across the North, staying warm across the South -- and speaking of warm, tropics, guys. Take a look at that. It's April. We don't think it's going to develop into anything, a very low chance. But tropical storms have happened in April before. So, it's rare, but it can happen. We're keeping an eye on them.
CHETRY: Oh, yes, when you see that formation, you start to think, hey, hurricane season. Little early for that.
JERAS: It's coming.
VELSHI: June, right? June 1st is what we're talking about.
CHETRY: We have to get through spring. I mean, we can't even -- thanks, Jacqui.
(CROSSTALK)
JERAS: -- through tornadoes.
CHETRY: I know. Exactly. All right. We'll check in with you a little later.
Meanwhile, you know, there are a lot of people that say Trump isn't really running for president and this is the ultimate publicity stunt. But he says he's very serious about it. We're going to talk a little bit more with someone who's covered Trump for many years.
VELSHI: Yes, somebody who really does know a little bit more about this.
Also, we're going to talk about housing. Are we going to get a double dip? Or is it time to buy a house right? We'll talk about that this half hour coming up as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. We are back.
Stephanie Elam is with us. She is minding your business this morning.
Good morning.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Do you ever go to Ticketmaster to get tickets to any events?
VELSHI: I find the whole process -- it got offensive to me a few years ago. So, only when forced to. But --
ELAM: How did they get offensive?
VELSHI: Just ridiculous charges.
ELAM: Oh, yes. Well, that
VELSHI: They charge you whether you pick up the ticket or --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: All they want to do is see Justin Bieber in concert. VELSHI: I know I have to once in a while, but I don't tend to like it.
ELAM: Yes. Well, you know, the thing is about is now they realize that for a lot of people, the pricing has gotten so crazy. So, now, they're just looking to do a thing called dynamic pricing. And with this basically, they want to scalp -- well, I'll just say this, they want to leave scalpers in the outside if they do this.
What will happen is they'll show high demand, tickets that have high demand, they'll see, hey, all these people want it, guess what? The price is going to go up.
Now, let's say just there's not so many people who are so interested in those tickets. The prices will go down.
The idea here being that this way, venues will be able to book more seats, because, obviously, there will be different pricing. But it will be more like buying a plane ticket. The person next to you probably paid a very different price than what you paid.
And this will allow them, it allows promoters to do a better job of really feeling out different markets. Maybe Cleveland has a bigger demand for a band and maybe San Francisco not so much. So, just an idea there of what they planned on doing.
VELSHI: I'll tell you, I'm troubled by the excess and superficial charges, but I'm not sure why that's a problem, because you're going to pay more for certain concerts than you are for other concerts. So, why not manage that yield?
ELAM: Exactly. And thing is, you know, I think the most recent one that I've heard about is Prince doing this 21 days in L.A. You got all these people who are like going crazy for those tickets. Those are going to be high demand, higher cost tickets.
But maybe, you know, if like the three of us on a ukulele and a banjo and a guitar, no one is going to watch.
CHETRY: That would be hot.
VELSHI: That would be hot. What are you talking about?
(CROSSTALK)
ELAM: You know, just something like that.
Always the markets -- looking nice yesterday, big rally. Take a look at that -- up 186 points, earnings looking good. Apple coming out with super strong numbers yesterday, too.
So, if you look at that, it's all good. And I know, Ali, this is something that you really, really want to talk about because your business head popped out this morning about the U.S. dollar.
VELSHI: Yes. It's take a hit. We all said this would take a hit, 15-month low against the euro.
ELAM: Yes.
VELSHI: Good for tourism coming to the United States. You see a lot of people.
ELAM: And you see them all over the place in New York City.
(CROSSTALK)
ELAM: It's going to hurt Kiran in about eight days.
VELSHI: That's right. London is not going to go so far.
Thanks, Stephanie.
ELAM: Sure.
CHETRY: All right. Well, still ahead, we're talking about the latest on this dive team there in Long Island. They're searching for more human remains as fears continue about a serial killer there.
Twenty-four minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back. Twenty-seven minutes past the hour right now.
Police divers on Long Island are heading back into the water as they continue to look for clues in the search for what authorities say is a serial killer on the loose.
VELSHI: Let me bring you up to speed on what we know so far. Eight bodies have been found along the shore beaches since December. Tests results from bone fragments that were found last week are in and they are not human.
Jason Carroll joins us now to tell us what is going on, whether they got any lead, any closer to cracking this thing.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, one thing I can tell you for sure, the medical examiner that is in the process of trying to identify those -- you know, those remains, we do know what -- they have a better sense of what that entire process is like. And, in fact, you know, we wanted to get more of a sense of, you know, what the medical examiner is going through in terms of trying to identify the victims in the Long Island case.
And what we found is doctors have the process down to a science.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): The analysis under way on remains of victims of a possible serial killer in Long Island. Four bodies still remain unidentified.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please keep in mind that this is not an episode of "CSI."
CARROLL: Cases and shows like "CSI" or "Bones" -- far from reality.
DR. LAWRENCE KOBILINSKY, JOHN JAY CRIMINAL JUSTICE COLLEGE: What you see on television is obviously entertainment.
CARROLL: Dr. Kobilinsky, professor of forensic science, and Dr. Richard Li, associate professor, both at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. They don't need much to do their job.
KOBILINSKY: I would say about the size of an inch, an inch and a half.
CARROLL: All that's needed for them to extract DNA, enough to possibly identify a victim.
KOBILINSKY: We certainly can extract DNA from a bone like this.
CARROLL: They took us through the process. Clean bones brought to their lab will be made into a powder.
(on camera): So, we start with this device right here?
DR. RICHARD LI, JOHN JAY CRIMINAL JUSTICE COLLEGE: Right. You can use either the commercial blender.
CARROLL: So, this is just a commercial blender? Because honestly, this looks similar to what I think a lot of people may have at home.
(voice-over): Another device here works better.
LI: It's called the freezer mill.
CARROLL (on camera): The freezer mill?
(voice-over): Liquid nitrogen is poured into the mill, a bone fragment encased in a tube deep inside for deep freezing.
KOBILINSKY: I'm sure kids have seen different things put into liquid nitrogen. It freezes instantly.
CARROLL: The sample brittle enough to blend into a fine powder. They use chemicals to break down the powder even more.
(on camera): Usually, this part of the process happens overnight, right? For the sake of television, we'll move on.
(voice-over): Dr. Li extracts a small amount of the mixture, and on to a another lab for the final process where the DNA is refined for the result.
(on camera): Do you in some ways feel like you're detectives, too, because in a way, you're trying to find out who a person is from just a small fragment.
KOBILINSKY: I feel very much like a detective. Loved once are lost. So, the analysis of the skeletal remains are critical and very important to the families.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Now, when we were out there at John Jay, we went through the entire process in a few hours. But reality is, it takes several days or more to come up with a profile. So, in the case of Long Island, the medical examiner will take their DNA profiles from the victims and try to match them to the unidentified people that they already have in their system.
And it's probably, you know, a good bet that they probably have already come up with some sort of DNA profile.
CHETRY: Right. That's fascinating.
VELSHI: And as we've discussed and as you checked, talked to the detectives about, they probably no more than we know that they know.
CARROLL: Absolutely.
CHETRY: And so far they've positively identified four -
CARROLL: That is correct as well.
CHETRY: And they were all prostitutes, unfortunately, who advertised their services on Craigslist, right?
CARROLL: And so most likely what they're going to be doing is they're going to look at some other people who are missing.
VELSHI: Yes.
CARROLL: Who may or may not have been prostitutes. What they'll do is hopefully they have a DNA sample from them. And if they don't have a DNA sample from them, a relative. That's also how they can identify.
CHETRY: That's amazing.
And I like how they say this is not an episode of "CSI." A lot of hard work. I mean, a lot of real time.
CARROLL: It's real science.
CHETRY: Yes. All right.
VELSHI: Jason, thanks very much.
CARROLL: You bet.
CHETRY: Top stories now.
We're continuing to follow the latest development in Libya. Libyan rebels now say they have control of a key border crossing with Tunisia. A Tunisian news agency says that some of Gadhafi's soldiers including a general have actually turn themselves in, given themselves up to Tunisian authorities.
Libya now being urged by the White House to try to protect journalists on the battlefield after photojournalist Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington were killed covering the fighting in war-torn Misrata. They were hit by rocket-propelled grenades. They believe three other journalists were also wounded in that attack.
The FAA firing two air traffic controllers who were sleeping on the job in a tower while on duty. Two of the controllers have not been identified. One of them worked in Miami, the other in Knoxville, Tennessee.
VELSHI: All right. Donald Trump has got deep pockets and a name recognized around the world. Perfect for a presidential candidate, right? The businessman says he's considering a run for the nation's top spot. And he's taking swings at everyone along the way. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: There's a real question about the birth certificate.
In terms of Libya, I'd do one thing. Either I'd go in and take the oil or I don't go in at all.
I know lots of folks in China, they think we're the dumbest son of a bitches in the world.
My net worth is many, many, many times Mitt Romney.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So we're joined now by investigative journalist and "New York Times" best-selling author Christopher Byron. He's known for his in- depth exposes on celebrities like Martha Stewart and Christopher has actually followed Trump and interviewed Trump for several years, and has gotten past the public persona. Knows the true Donald and his money trail. Good morning, Christopher. Thanks for being with us.
CHRISTOPHER BYRON, AUTHOR: Good morning, folks. Thank you.
CHETRY: So you have met him and you've talked to him at length many times.
BYRON: Face-to-face, the actual man, yes.
CHETRY: Do you think this is a ruse? Is this just a ruse?
BYRON: I think he's backing himself into a corner here. I don't think he wants this to come out where it's coming out.
CHETRY: What do you mean by that?
BYRON: This is the third time he's pulled this joke. In '87 he said he was considering running for president. In 2000, he said the same thing. And it was a money making stunt every time. Now the polls, he's played to a kind of dangerous fringe in public opinion, this bit with the birthers and my friends the blacks and all that. I think he's got his poll numbers are up in a way that he may not be able to back gracefully out of this.
VELSHI: You've written a great opinion piece for CNN. You say is Trump playing us for suckers? But there's some appeal he's got here.
BYRON: Oh, sure.
VELSHI: He's -- there are some Tea Party people taking him very seriously. What could happen here? Because you mentioned that the last few times he's toyed with this, he's found some other reason not to run for president.
BYRON: A last-minute escape hatch.
VELSHI: Yes.
BYRON: Well, look, I think the best -- I think what he was hoping for all along was to get his ratings up on his "Celebrity Apprentice" thing which is up for renewal right now. I think they're going to announce it next month. And if he pulls that off, there are a million ways he could have backed out of this. But suppose they don't renew it, then what has he got -- he has no excuse not to produce a net worth statement and get into these primaries.
CHETRY: But we're all assuming that he doesn't want -- you seem to be assuming that he definitely doesn't want to run. Why are you so sure that he -?
BYRON: He wouldn't want to tell anybody what he's really worth. I mean, he brags incessantly about it. But the reality is nobody knows whether he's got cross-town bus money. You just don't know. There's buildings all around this neighborhood with his name on it. He doesn't own any of them. Those names are licensed. So he's got an act that he's been very successful with, and I think the easiest way to keep it going is not put out a net worth statement.
VELSHI: There's actually a lot -- one of the things you've done, we really do try and figure out what Donald Trump is worth. He's got some way of making that very difficult even for guys like you who make a business out of figuring out, getting through things that most journalists find too hard to figure out. What have you found out about what Donald Trump is as a businessman?
BYRON: Well, mostly the biggest single part of his business is licensing. It's not real estate development. He's got a line of vodka, he's got a line of diet pills.
CHETRY: He has chocolate, tea, steaks.
BYRON: All that kind of stuffs. And he puts his name on it. He's kind of like a Pierre Cardin kind of guy. He's got his name on socks and underpants, the whole thing. Now, when you take his real estate and look at that very carefully, there's less to that than meets the eye, a lot less. CHETRY: All right. Well, listen, this is very interesting. We were wondering -- we reached out to Donald Trump. And we just heard from our producers in the control room that he is indeed on the phone right now.
Mr. Trump, can you hear us? Mr. Trump, good morning. You know we're talking to Christopher Byron right now who I know you talked to many times. The question on whether or not you're serious about a presidential run in 2012.
What's your response?
TRUMP: I was just listening to the show, actually. And I'm very serious, number one. And number two, in terms of holdings, I have many, many buildings that I own in Manhattan alone if you look at Park Avenue and 59th Delmonico Hotel, Trump Tower, 40 Wall Street. Many, many jobs that I've built many, many jobs all over and we're building all over the world or we're partners or we're licensing all over the world.
So, you know, it is wonderful what Christopher says. Christopher has made sort of a living off me just going around, but I haven't spoken to him or seen him in years. He really doesn't know anything about my statements because he's never seen my statements. Certainly, I haven't given him access to my statements. So he really has no idea but he's able to get on television by saying he knows something about me.
VELSHI: But you're on television with us now. Can you answer that question about your net worth? What are you worth?
TRUMP: Yes, I'm worth -- well, "Forbes" says $2.7 billion. I can tell you that's a very low number. It's much more than that. And if I decide to run, which I very well may surprise people, but if I decide to run, I will give a net worth statement, essentially. As you know, we have to fill out very detailed forms for the federal government.
And I think people will be extremely impressed. Not only is it much high are than that, but I'm extremely liquid and I have very, very little debt. So it's going to be a very impressive statement and people like Christopher will be very, very disappointed.
CHETRY: All right. Well, I want to ask you about -
TRUMP: Although he did say some fairly nice things also. I was watching. He did say -- so for that, I thank you, Christopher.
CHETRY: Go ahead, Christopher.
BYRON: Well, back at you, Donald. How come Deutsche Bank says you're worth $765 million? Why is that?
TRUMP: That's only for a few assets, Christopher.
BYRON: OK. TRUMP: We were in litigation with Deutsche Bank which, by the way, settled very much to my favor, as Deutsche Bank will tell you, you didn't say that. But we were in litigation with Deutsche Bank. And they looked at a few assets. And in order to do a loan, they have to have a net worth of at least a certain amount. So just by looking at a few assets they came up with that number.
CHETRY: All right.
BYRON: But you can put people like me in the shallow water immediately just by putting out a net worth statement? Why wait until (INAUDIBLE)?
TRUMP: Christopher, if you were listening, you'd understand that if I decide to run, and I may surprise people, if I decide to run, within 30 days, I have to file. But I would do it better than that. Because you're allowed 30 days, and then you're allowed another 45 or 60 days.
VELSHI: 60, yes.
TRUMP: If I decide to run, I would put out -- I would do that disclosure statement the day I decide to run, which would be some time prior to June.
VELSHI: Let me ask you this, whether it's $765 million or $2.7 billion or as you say, a lot more than that, how is this helping you relate to everybody out there who you're trying to relate to?
TRUMP: Yes, that's a very fair question because it really doesn't matter as long as you have enough to buy a meal and take care of your family, it really doesn't matter. And I fully understand that. But what I'm doing is I'm showing people -- this country is terribly run. Way, way too much debt. They don't know what they're doing. Wars in Libya that nobody even knows what's going on over there. Many, many problems.
What I'm doing is showing people, a truly great company. When you see my statement, you will see a really great company. Low debt, lots of cash, tremendous net worth, great assets. I think Christopher would say I am a location maven. I have among the best locations in Manhattan.
CHETRY: All right. I want to ask you one question. So you're basically making the argument that you would run the country much like you run a company and that you're showing when it comes to that you have your fiscal house in order. But I want to ask about something else. This is a recent CNN poll among Republicans candidates, who should be the Republican choice for the nominee in 2012. We did this poll earlier in the month. You were basically tied for first place with Mike Huckabee.
Many people say it's because of your wading into the whole birther debate. Do you wish that -- do you take back the questions about whether Barack Obama was born in the United States? TRUMP: I don't believe that's the reason I'm doing so well in all of the polls. There's another poll where I'm up 11 points on Huckabee -- or on Romney. I don't believe that. I think the reason I'm doing so well in the polls is that because people know I'm a smart guy, I'm a good business guy.
CHETRY: Yes, but you can't get out of the gate in a general election if you're questioning whether Barack Obama was born in America. You won't win.
TRUMP: Oh, I don't think that at all. I think there's a real question as to whether or not and frankly 75 percent of the people in the Republican party are really doubting whether or not he -- they have very big doubts. So, you know, there are a lot of people.
I don't know why he doesn't just show his birth certificate?
VELSHI: You know what?
TRUMP: I'd much rather run man to man. Why doesn't he just show his birth certificate? But the reason I'm up in the polls isn't that.
VELSHI: Donald -
TRUMP: The reason I'm up is because I'll protect this country against China and all the others that are ripping us off.
VELSHI: Let me ask you this, the great part about a guy with your resources that you were able to deploy people to go and find out what is actually going on with Barack Obama's birth certificate. What did you find?
TRUMP: Well, we're looking into it very, very strongly. And at a certain point in time I will be revealing some interesting things.
VELSHI: You got anything though? You got anything? Even if you don't tell us what it is, have you got something that suggest Barack Obama might now be born in the United States?
TRUMP: I just told you we're looking into it very, very strongly and you'll be very surprised.
CHETRY: This is the other thing though, why wade into that debate if you do have a good argument about our country being lost, about questioning our foreign policy, about questioning our fiscal policy, why not run on that? Why bring it -
TRUMP: I think my strength is -- it's a good question. I think my strength is jobs, the economy and protecting our nation from OPEC, China and all these other countries that are ripping us off. That's my strength. The problem is every time I go on a show, as an example, this morning, the first question you asked me is about the birth certificate.
So I go on a show, I want to talk about how we're going to salvage our self from losing $300 billion this year from China, and the person always asks, Mr. Trump, let's ask about the -
CHETRY: Because it's a nonstarter.
VELSHI: It's a ludicrous discussion, Mr. Trump. It's just a ludicrous discussion. So if you don't want it handled, let's get it on the record right now that you believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States. I promise you, after this, no one at CNN would ever ask you that question again.
TRUMP: I wish I could say. I wish I could say that with certainty. It's possible that he was. But there's a big question as to whether or not he was. There are too many things -- when I started this two months ago and I heard about it for years but when I started it two months ago, I thought he was. Every day that goes by, I think less and less that he was born in the United States. He possibly was, but I want to get rid of the word "possibly."
BYRON: Look, Donald, let me just switch gears slightly for a second and ask you something that you said yesterday about this 25 percent tariff on imports from China.
TRUMP: Yes.
BYRON: How much thought have you actually given to that? Wouldn't there be an enormous impact on inflation the day after that thing was put in force? Everything in this country is imported from China now.
TRUMP: Yes.
BYRON: All prices will go up 25 percent.
TRUMP: The problem is, as you know, China is ripping us left and right with a manipulation of their currency. If they didn't manipulate their currency where we were competing one on one, I would say absolutely, I wouldn't even think about the tax. But they make it impossible for our people, our companies to do business to compete. As an example, I build a building. When I build a building, half of these products are coming from China. It is very hard for companies to compete. So I would impose that tax if they didn't stop manipulating their currency.
BYRON: But are you saying the only way to fix the currency issue with China is to shoot ourselves between the eyes and create 25 percent inflation the day after this thing -- isn't there a better way to do it?
TRUMP: The problem is we're losing $300 billion this year plus. Last year we lost $275 billion to China. I mean, give me a break. How bad do you want us to do? China is ripping us and they're laughing at our leaders. And I know many of the top people in China, they cannot believe what they're getting away with. We have no leadership, we have a weak leadership. And all I'm saying is if they don't stop manipulating their currency so that our companies can compete, then I would absolutely impose the tax. When they think that tax are going to be imposed, you know what's going to happen? They're going to stop manipulating their currency. VELSHI: Well, there is that danger, as Chris says, we've done the numbers on this. It could send prices on everything we buy in the United States way up. But look, those are the conversations that we'd like to have with you. If you would like to come on and settle the birther issue, we can get down and talk about this -
TRUMP: You have to stop asking me about a birth certificate.
VELSHI: You got to stop talking about where the president's born if you don't want us to ask you, Donald Trump.
TRUMP: You've got to stop asking the questions.
VELSHI: We'll stop asking you the questions when you stop saying that President Obama can't prove that he is born in the United States? Deal? Is that a deal?
TRUMP: That's fine with me.
CHETRY: One other quick question before we go, do you know when this investigation in Hawaii is going to wrap up? When can you give a definitive answer? Yes or no?
TRUMP: Why don't you ask me about OPEC? Why don't you ask me -- here we go again.
VELSHI: You're not investigating OPEC.
TRUMP: Why don't you people stop talking about -
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: If you investigate OPEC, we'll ask you about OPEC, how is that?
TRUMP: A lot of people would be very happy. My strength is OPEC. My strength is jobs and China. Why don't you focus on that?
CHETRY: Well, it's because what I'm -- what I was trying to explain --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Here we go again. I can't believe you just asked another question on the birther.
CHETRY: Well, I just don't understand how you think you're going to get out of the --
TRUMP: That's OK. Don't be embarrassed.
CHETRY: -- gate.
TRUMP: Don't be embarrassed.
CHETRY: I'm not embarrassed. I don't know how you think you can get out of the gate, get anyone to vote for you, even if every single Republican you claimed doesn't believe --
TRUMP: Excuse me, you just said at the beginning of this show that I'm leading in all the polls.
VELSHI: All right. We'll let's -- hopefully we put this all behind us and we are able to talk about all those other things, which Americans are very interested in talking about.
Donald Trump, thank you for calling in.
TRUMP: Thank you very much.
VELSHI: We appreciate you calling in and clearing a little bit of that record.
Chris Byron, thank you for coming in and I think causing Donald Trump to call us. We appreciate having you there.
It's worth of a read of Chris Byron's piece on CNN.com.
All right. Forty-five minutes after the hour. We'll be right back, though. Lots of news for you.
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CHETRY: Forty-seven minutes past the hour. A lot going on this morning. We want to let you know what you need to know to start your day.
Libyan rebels now say they have control over a key border crossing in with Tunisia and that Gadhafi's soldiers are reportedly fleeing to avoid being captured.
Japan declaring everything within 20 mile of the crippled Daiichi nuclear power plant a no-go zone. And starting today, no one is allowed to enter. Yesterday residents were seen driving into the evacuation zone, grabbing whatever they could. Now they are threatening fines for people who do it.
Wildfires have now 1.4 million acres of Texas. More than 1,800 firefighters from 36 states are battling the flames this morning and they could get assistance from mother nature. Forecast is calling for cooler temperatures and higher humidity over the next few days.
Space shuttle Endeavour will launch next week. President Obama and his family will be at Cape Canaveral for liftoff. Endeavour is commanded by Mark Kelly. When his wife Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was told she could be there, she is reported to have said, awesome.
Well you're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING will be back in just 60 seconds.
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(WEATHER REPORT) CHETRY: Still ahead, you know, of course, there are hand models, right? I mean, there are certain things that make a hand more sexy than other hands and we'll tell you what they are.
Also the major league baseball with a very controversial move, actually seizing control of the L.A. Dodgers. We'll tell you why. Still ahead.
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Six minutes until the top of the hour. Now that --
VELSHI: That looks like New York.
CHETRY: That is New York. That is a beautiful shot of Central Park, Columbus Circle down there and the beautiful high-rises. All of them named Trump. No, I'm kidding. OK, let's not start that again.
VELSHI: Sixty-two degrees, going to be 77. Guess what? Surprise, surprise. There will be rain later on today.
CHETRY: At least it is going up to 77.
VELSHI: Yes. All right. You can still get a pack of peanuts on most planes. You remember last year the Department of Transport proposed a series of measures to protect people with peanut allergies. One option was a complete peanut ban. But the agency says there's a 12- year-old law actually that blocks them from tampering with the peanut policy. That's sort of the government speak that gets people a little confused.
CHETRY: Right. They're spending time passing laws about peanut policies on airlines.
VELSHI: Right. Some airlines did it on their own. They developed their own peanut policies. Some no longer serve peanuts. Others -- and again I didn't understand this one very well, but they say they create peanut-free buffer zones. You said, that if you call and tell them that you're going to have somebody with a peanut allergy on a plane, they'll --
CHETRY: Seat them differently, right, I guess.
OK. Well, if you want to figure out how sexy a guy is, don't look at his face. Apparently all you need him to do is hold out his hand --
VELSHI: Do this.
CHETRY: No. You need your whole hand out. OK, there you go, because otherwise --
VELSHI: OK, let's do it.
CHETRY: And a new study says that women are more likely to find guys attractive if their ring fingers are longer than their index fingers. So if their index fingers are shorter. VELSHI: See? Mine's totally longer.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: So I'm not attractive, according to the British science journal?
CHETRY: No. You're attractive. It was published in a British science journal and it may be an indicator of testosterone levels.
VELSHI: Whatever.
There's another provocative story that's got a lot of folks talking this morning. It's about sugar. Is it toxic? A lot of people think too much sugar is bad for you, but a "New York Times" Sunday magazine cover story suggests it may be as dangerous as cigarettes and alcohol, and it's a risk factor for heart disease, high blood pressure and many common cancers. Now, one of the reason for sugar's toxicity -- possible toxicity -- is the way the human body metabolizes the fructose in it.
CHETRY: So you're not just referring to sugar, but high fructose corn syrup, all of those things that have high amounts of fructose.
Anyway, when it comes to sugar, how much would be too much? We're going to talk about all of this with Dr. Ian Smith. He's VH1 "Celebrity Fit Club," he's an author, he's a doctor, he's written several books. And he says that, you know, you don't have to be on a diet to lose weight and be healthy. So he's going to be joining us, coming up in 20 minutes.
VELSHI: The effortless weight loss solution. I'm waiting for that. Ian's a great guy. It's about 25 minutes from now, about 20 minutes from now.
Top stories right after the break.
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