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FBI Continues Search for Suspect in Colorado Bomb Plot; Bahraini Forces Reportedly Targeting Physicians; New Polls Bad News for Obama; Senator John McCain Visits Rebel Stronghold In Libya; Police Have Suspect In Bomb Plot Near Columbine; Police Nab Criminal Who Tattooed Murder Scene On His Chest
Aired April 22, 2011 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: But now, watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: It's not entirely clear who the rebels are in Libya, but Senator John McCain is calling them heroes. And he has one very serious demand as he's visiting the war zone.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.
(voice-over): A shocking revelation, government forces in Bahrain accused of targeting hospitals, attacking doctors, patients, and unarmed civilians. Amber Lyon joins with me live with the evidence.
And a high schooler fakes pregnancy. Find out how she pulled off the ultimate hoax and who knew the secret.
BALDWIN: Is this a chick flick?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
BALDWIN: I sit down with the stars of "Bridesmaids" and "Saturday Night Live"'s Kristen Wiig gets candid about Hollywood.
Plus, the best part of coming home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Hello once again. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
And before we get to anything else here, there is a major development out of Colorado I want to pass along, where the feds say someone tried to unleash terror. Take a good, long look at these photos. The FBI releasing brand-new pictures of the man they're trying to hunt down.
He's now no longer just a person of interest. He's now considered a suspect two days after someone left a pipe bomb inside a mall near Columbine High School. That bomb was discovered exactly 12 years to the day of those shootings. We have a reporter live on the ground in Littleton. We will get you that new information coming up.
But, first, this, big, big news here out of Libya today. The unexpected arrival of, there he is, Senator John McCain. Now, McCain is there. He's saying the United States needs to get more deeply involved militarily than it is right now.
CNN's Reza Sayah caught up with the senator and here is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Senator, the U.S. has been criticized in recent years in getting involved in operations and not establishing a clear endgame and achieving it. I want you to be specific in what endgame you envision.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The endgame that I envision is the departure of Moammar Gadhafi and the Libyan people being able to set up a government by themselves with the assistance primarily of the Europeans, but also the United States of America. Libya is much closer to Europe, and the Europeans have greater ties to Libya and greater interests.
SAYAH: You say the departure of Colonel Gadhafi and I will press you on this and getting more specific. What does this look like? Is this the rebel fighters raiding his house? Is he saying I give up? Can you be specific?
MCCAIN: I think it means one of three things. Either he joins Hugo Chavez in Venezuela or he goes to the International Criminal Court, which is my preference, or he joins Hitler and Stalin.
SAYAH: But how does he exit? Is he the type of man, based on what you know about hi, where he says I give up?
MCCAIN: I think it would be very difficult. And it certainly is even more unlikely today since he seems to at least for the time being fought these liberation forces to a standstill, to a stalemate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Again, that was the senator speaking today to CNN in Benghazi. And the senator is also saying the U.S. needs to get in more deeply to break this stalemate.
I want to bring in Barbara Starr for me live at the Pentagon.
And, Barbara, we're now in -- deeper in Libya than we were at the start of the week, because now we have pledged to send rebels money. It was $25 million in aid announced yesterday and also yesterday the Pentagon announcing that we're sending in these unmanned drones.
Are the drones, Barbara, seen as a game-changer, something that could break both the Pentagon and Senator McCain's word, a stalemate? Is it possible?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's really interesting, Brooke, because stalemate is the word you're hearing on all sides now, stalemate between the opposition and the Gadhafi forces, stalemate in what NATO is doing.
Would the Predators really change the game on the ground? Just look at the last 48 hours and I think it's an example of how tough it will be. The Predators have already flown, but have not fired any of their weapons because the weather is too bad, poor conditions, they can't see any targets to fire at.
We have been talking for the last couple of days about the other part of this, an escalation in NATO airstrikes. But, look, that hasn't materialized yet either. I talked to a NATO official who says the frustration is significant, that a number of targets that they thought they were going to be able to go after have either moved or dug in or Gadhafi is disguising them.
How is he disguising them? Well, his forces are now heavily mixed in with civilian populations in the cities. And the official says it's totally unacceptable for NATO to go into the cities right now from the air because they can't distinguish between civilian and military populations, civilian and military targets.
So that's why you have a stalemate, the last 48 hours one of the biggest examples of it. So even with more aid to the rebels, the $25 million, even with the Predators, hard to see what will quickly change that situation on the ground, Brooke.
BALDWIN: But long before the last 48 hours, we have been hearing from the administration time and time again no boots on the ground, no boots on the ground, but Senator McCain is talking about sending in these American warplanes. You have talked to folks at the Pentagon. Are they there ruling that out completely?
STARR: Well, no, not completely. When NATO needs U.S. help from the air, the U.S. is going to consider those requests, we are told, as they have done with the Predators and use them.
But, again, we're talking about the challenges. You can't really solve it with airpower because you can't always see the targets. You can't distinguish between civilian and military and once again yesterday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates ruled out troops on the ground. He says the U.S. is already busy in Afghanistan, busy in Iraq, still helping in Japan and it's going to have to be, he says, the Libyan people themselves that get Moammar Gadhafi out of office, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, Barbara, thank you so much.
STARR: Sure.
BALDWIN: And now if it's happening right now, you're about to see it. Let's go. A Florida man is dead after being Tased by police officers near Universal Studios theme park in Orlando. Authorities say the man was causing some sort of a disturbance outside of a theater. He became violent when two off-duty officers tried to arrest him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. BARB JONES, ORLANDO POLICE: Tried to calm him down and at one point he grabbed the officers. They ended up tussling with him. And one of the officers ended up using his Taser.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Police say they Tasered the man before they handcuffed him. The man became unresponsive while on the ground. He was pronounced dead later at the hospital.
Ousted Egyptian Hosni Mubarak is expected to remain in custody for another 15 days. The general prosecutor's office sent a team to question Mubarak today. He's accused of being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of protesters back in January during the revolution that toppled him from power. The ailing ex-president is at a hospital on the coast at Sharm el-Sheikh and he could be moved to a prison next week, that is if he's well enough.
To Washington State. Drama plays out on the water. Look at these flames. A hydro-boat catches fire. This is Lake Washington. If you look really, really closely, you see the driver here hopping out of there, managed to escape, hopping into the water before the flames get even bigger. She swam to shore. She's doing fine. The woman says she's lucky the motor didn't explode because it would have erupted right in her direction.
Over to Indiana, the Hoosier State, where two lucky friends are now officially millionaires after hitting a $227 million Powerball Jackpot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- the computer before I went to work. So I figured if -- I always checked in the mornings, because if I hit I wasn't go to work.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Nice. The men had been pooling their money for a couple of years before they hit the jackpot. Note to self, go in with friends.
Kids in Michigan getting a little nice surprise from a famous alumnus. Kid Rock dropped by Rome High School to donate cash to the school's music program and he also had a little Kid Rock advice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KID ROCK, MUSICIAN: If you surround yourself with good people, you go far. You start hanging out with knuckleheads, you will be right in the knucklehead section the rest of your life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: We're told the school kept his visit a secret for months, but now to an even better surprise, nothing quite like it, a soldier surprising his daughter for Easter in the middle of her high school there in Florida. They had not seen each other since January. He's only back from Afghanistan for a short visit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RACHEL PIERCE, DAUGHTER: I feel relieved that he's OK. And I missed him a lot.
SPC. ROBERT PIERCE, U.S. ARMY: It's like every letter I write her, every time we e-mail back and forth, it's always, you're my whole world. Big hug, big kisses.
RACHEL PIERCE: And I'm really happy he's home.
And I love you, daddy. And I missed you.
ROBERT PIERCE: I love you, sweetie.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Awesome, awesome stuff.
From one high school to another, a 17-year-old girl manages to pull off quite a stunt. She tricks people into thinking she's pregnant. Not just for one month, two months, folks, for six months. Coming up next, we're going to hear from the girl about why she did it, who else was in on this whole thing. Wait until you hear how she revealed the truth to her high school.
Plus, police could not crack a murder case, no answers for more than four years, but then one investigator makes a shocking discovery. Flip through some pictures of gang members, find out how this tattoo on this guy's chest changed everything. That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: To say that this story caught our attention is a bit of an understatement. A high school senior in this small Washington State town fakes a pregnancy. She says she didn't do it for attention. She did it as a social experiment to learn how rumors and stereotypes can spread.
Here is this story from our Seattle affiliate KOMO.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GABY RODRIGUEZ, 17: Oh, it was bound to happen anyways and I knew she was going to get pregnant.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rampant rumors grew as big as Gabrielle (ph) Rodriguez's belly.
RODRIGUEZ: Doesn't she know she just ruined her life?
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Seventeen and pregnant --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She did a lot of crying.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: -- is no fun for this Toppenish High School senior.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When she said pregnant, I was like, what? Are you serious? Are you crazy?
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Not nuts or pregnant. Gaby has spent most of her senior year faking pregnancy for a project on stereotypes and statistics.
RODRIGUEZ: I started wearing a lot baggier clothes, bigger sweaters, starting wearing a lot of sweats.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Then came the belly bump molded from a basketball.
RODRIGUEZ: This is where mostly everybody would feel.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Gaby's boyfriend, best friend, mom and principal were among the few in on her secretive senior project.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had to lie to my sons and my daughters.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Every day, Gaby attached her homemade bulge, and set off to class feigning depression, taking constant bathroom breaks and battling hurtful remarks about her mom.
RODRIGUEZ: My mom might have got pregnant at an early age. She made a mistake and she had to learn from that mistake, and so it did really hurt.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Even her boyfriend's parents didn't know the truth.
RODRIGUEZ: When they found out that I was pregnant, they were just like disappointed because they were just saying, oh, you know, you're going to have a difficult life now. It's going to be harder to go to college.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: During an all-school assembly yesterday, Gaby dropped the bomb and her belly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She started to take it out and it was dead quiet and a girl in the audience said, what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was just astonished. UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: The 3.8 student apologized to stunned classmates and crying teachers for misleading them in her social experiment.
RODRIGUEZ: I learned that the environment that you surround yourself in takes a major toll on your decisions in life.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Gaby doesn't plan on having children until after college.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm relieved. I already have 31 grandkids.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Can you imagine?
Next up for the non-pregnant teen, senior prom. And we hear she says she will be wearing a tight-fitting dress.
More and more people are dying, more blood is spilling as protests escalate in Syria. Plus, a new report accuses government forces in Bahrain of targeting hospitals using tear gas, beat downs to terrorize doctors and patients. You're going to hear and see the new evidence we have. Amber Lyon is here in the studio. She'll have that for us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Well, the situation in Syria has really gone from bad to worse. Thousands of protesters marched in several Syrian cities after today's prayers. Security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing at least 43 people. That's the number we have, 43. It is the latest confrontation between government forces and those protesting the al Assad regime. But even before today's marches, Amnesty International says more than 228 people have been killed since the demonstrations started last month.
And from Syria, I want to go to Bahrain. A brutal and bloody crackdown is happening on this tiny island kingdom. It's being called an international humanitarian crisis today. Bahrain here. The assault against anti-government demonstrators. Since February, protesters and unarmed civilians have been beaten, tear-gassed, tortured and detained.
And today, the American-based group Physicians for Human Rights reveals the Bahraini government's newest targets, doctors and nurses. The group says security forces have detained and tortured more than 30 doctors and medics since the uprisings began, and it calls the abuses horrific, systematic and surreal.
Joining me now Amber Lyon, who recently was in Bahrain. And the first obvious question is why target doctors and nurses here?
AMBER LYON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, that's a really good question. That's what Physicians for Human Rights went to investigate. And they say they believe that these doctors are being targeted because they are on the front lines treating the wounded civilians and protesters and they are eyewitnesses, and credible eyewitnesses at that, to what Physicians for Human Rights is calling atrocities committed by the government.
BALDWIN: What type of atrocities, what types of abuses are we talking about here?
LYON: Well, they say that doctors are being beaten, they're being detained without reason. They also say that patients are being beaten. And they say that they have forensic evidence -- this is the first human rights report to come out with forensic evidence that the government has been shooting birdshot into the villages and tear- gassing unarmed civilians.
BALDWIN: So I'm hearing you say -- you added patients in there. So it's doctors, nurses, patients. You have a response now from the Bahraini government. What are they saying?
LYON: Yes, the Bahraini government just sent us a response, and they said that they are not attacking doctors and patients. And they say --
BALDWIN: They say they're not?
LYON: They're not doing it. They haven't denied arresting doctors -- as we said earlier, more than 30 doctors have been detained -- but they say they're not beating them. And they also say the reason they have an intense military presence at the hospital is because they blame protesters for taking over the hospital during the heat of the unrest.
But one thing's for sure, Brooke. There are 30 doctors right now, their families do not know where they are. They say they were violently arrested by security forces. And one of these doctors was arrested while he was in the middle of performing a surgery. Security forces stormed in and took him away, and his family hasn't heard from him since.
BALDWIN: It's hard to wrap your head around these reports.
LYON: It is.
BALDWIN: Also, though, the reports cite grave breaches in international law.
LYON: They say that they are violating the principle of medical neutrality and violating numerous international laws, and they're calling on the U.N. and U.S. to really push for an investigation. They say that even if you are in a war zone, doctors and patients should be safeguarded and that that's not happening.
They even say they documented one case where about a dozen patients were drug (ph) by security forces, PHR says, out of their beds, up to the sixth floor of this main hospital in town and tortured, and then forced to confess to things that PHR says they didn't do.
BALDWIN: So this is a report. It was just out today, so maybe it's too early, but has the State Department, has the U.N. responded whatsoever?
LYON: Due to the holiday coming up, there hasn't been much response quite yet. But one thing's for sure, it's definitely making -- creating a lot of noise and getting even more people to focus on what's going on in Bahrain right now. Because I've been on your show several times talking about this, this is not the first credible international human rights organization to come out and say that the Bahraini government is committing atrocities against its citizens, and now doctors, in this case.
BALDWIN: So you mentioned -- you and I were talking multiple times last week, and one time you sat down and you were telling me about this woman who said her husband and her father were detained in Bahrain, and she was so furious, she was on a hunger strike as a result. Here's what she told you last week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAINAB ALKHWAJA, BAHRAINI CITIZEN ON HUNGER STRIKE: All I want from the American administration -- I don't want them to save the people of Bahrain. I don't want an intervention. All I want is for them to stop supporting the (INAUDIBLE) regime who have proved now more than ever that they are corrupt, that they care only about their thrones, that they are willing to kill and torture --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: So what's the update, Amber, on her and her husband and father?
LYON: Well, that was Zainab Alkhwaja, and her father, an internationally known human rights activist, was detained. And on her tenth day of her hunger strike, when she was getting very weak, her father called --
BALDWIN: She'd been to the hospital.
LYON: Yes, she had been to the hospital for treatment. She refused an IV, though, and went back home and was lying in bed, and that's when the family was put in touch with her father after numerous human rights organizations complained. They were able to speak with him for about a minute. And he told them he wanted clothes, some mouthwash, and that he was going on trial the next day. So the next day they went in to bring him those supplies and also to see if they could attend his trial, and they say that's when they were told there would be no trial. And they haven't talked to her father since. But she has ended the hunger strike.
BALDWIN: She has?
LYON: She says now she's going to focus on raising awareness as to what's going on in Bahrain. BALDWIN: Amber Lyon, thank you so much.
LYON: Thanks, Brooke, for having me on.
BALDWIN: Back here at home, gas prices going up, President Obama's approval ratings going down. Might there also be a connection here? Also, new numbers are out showing whether Americans are optimistic about the future of the country. Gloria Borger has surprising answers. That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: It is too early in the presidential race for opinion polls to really mean very much, but there are some key numbers in recent polls that help set the stage for the 2012 race, and they're not exactly numbers the White House wants to see.
Senior political analyst Gloria Borger joins me from Washington. And Gloria, let's talk approval ratings. How's the president doing?
GLORIA BORGER CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Well, not as well as the White House would like. Take a look at this. We have a CNN Poll of Polls, which is kind of an average of all of the polls we've seen, on approval ratings, how the president's handling his job. Now that is down to 45 percent. Chalk it up to gas prices, chalk it up to higher groceries, chalk it up to unemployment, but it's not good news for the White House.
Take a look at this. The president was doing better back in January. In January, his approval rating was 52 percent. So you see that the approval rating is now down 7 points. He ticked up in January after the lame duck session. People thought that Congress had done pretty well, and so he was doing all right. But now back on the downslide. They're not happy about it because when people in the country don't like you, they don't like you.
BALDWIN: Well, that was before the old gas prices hit that $4 mark, as well.
BORGER: Yes. Exactly.
BALDWIN: What about something else with these polls? You know, do Americans think the country is going in the right direction? How do Americans feel?
BORGER: Well, they don't. And that's a real problem because when Americans are pessimistic, they tend to blame it on their elected officials, most notably, the president of the United States. And in a new CBS News poll that was released today, there's a question called "right track or wrong track," are we heading on the right track or the wrong track. And as you see --
BALDWIN: Wow.
GLORIA: -- 70 percent of the people -- that is really bad, and that is up 12 points since February. It's up to the highest "wrong track" of the Obama presidency. And so that's not a good sign, either, because when people are pessimistic and unhappy, they tend to say, You know what? Let's give the other guy a chance.
The problem is for the Republicans right now is that they don't have another person running against Barack Obama yet, so it's kind of hard to measure how that would shake out. And of course, you know, it is a little early.
BALDWIN: Well, that is the direction of the country.
GLORIA: Right. Right.
BALDWIN: But what about the direction of the debt ceiling? That's a little something you know something about. I mean, what do the polls say, raise it or not?
GLORIA: Well, this is what's so interesting. Every politician you talk to in leadership, the president of the United States, the secretary of the treasury -- they all say -- they use words like "insane," it would be insane not to raise the debt ceiling. It would be a huge problem for the United States internationally. But when you ask the American public, Do you support raising the debt ceiling, 63 percent said no. And that includes half of Democratic voters. So they've got a lot of talking to do to voters out there.
BALDWIN: That's interesting that you say that, interesting message. Gloria Borger, thank you very much from Washington.
BORGER: Sure.
BALDWIN: As we're talking about the president, let's get this straight. President Obama said that America will play a more minor role in Libya. But now the U.S. is giving millions and millions of dollars to the rebels there, sending predator drones into the warzone. And today Senator John McCain is in Benghazi showing support for the opposition.
So how deep is the U.S. into this civil war? We will take you there live to Libya, next.
Also, police say someone wanted to carry out and actor terror inside a mall less than two miles from Columbine high school. But now as the manhunt continues, investigators are releasing new, much clearer pictures of this guy they want to talk to. That is straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The feds release new pictures of the possible suspect in that Colorado bomb plot, and Senator John McCain makes a surprise appearance today in Libya. It's time to play "Reporter Roulette".
I want to begin with Reza Sayah there in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. Reza, we heard from the senator and we know he's hailed the rebels as a hero. You pressed him today. You spoke to him about how to topple the Gadhafi government. What did he tell you? SAYAH: Well, he really energized the opposition when he came here and restated Washington's position that Colonel Gadhafi must be removed from power.
But when we asked him, what is that going to look like, how is he going to be ousted from fire, are they going to raid his complex and arrest him, perhaps, or simply going to say, I give up. Senator McCain was very frank and said it would be difficult. And that's why we asked him about the possibility of a political solution between the opposition and the regime, and here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAYAH: Based on the difficulty that you acknowledge, isn't time to consider a political solution. The Libyan foreign ministry has come out and said we can do an interim government with all things on the table, including the removal of Colonel Gadhafi. Isn't it to time to consider that if it will establish a cease-fire and end the killing of civilians.
MCCAIN: First of all, the international government has made it obligatory that Gadhafi and his family leave before there are any chances for a settlement. I guess --
SAYAH: But your mission is to end the loss of civilian lives, and that would possibly establish a cease-fire.
MCCAIN: Colonel Gadhafi when he was outside of this city said he was going to go house and kill every person that he could. I just saw the ship that came in from Misrata filled with wounded, young men who are dying as we speak. There's no doubt what Gadhafi will do to his own people about his own people if he has the opportunity to do so. That's not a settlement. That's a massacre.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAYAH: Many in the U.S. as well as the international community are very concerned about where this conflict is going and how it's going to end and he doesn't believe he's going to be a political solution with Colonel Gadhafi still in power. He's going to go back to Washington and continue to press the Obama situation to do more here in Libya.
BALDWIN: Still, we keep hearing from the administration no boots on the ground. Reza, thank you.
And from Libya to Littleton, Colorado. The FBI hunt for the culprit behind the failed pipe bomb plot. Ted Rowlands has new pictures. I tell you what, the photos today compared to yesterday, they are much more clear. Are authorities any closer to figuring out who this guy is?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we just checked in and nothing new there. They're still asking for the public's help and identify this suspect. They are calling him a suspect now and that's a big difference and now with the new photos they are calling him a suspect. These pictures were taken in a bus and shortly after the fire in the bomb scare, they say that this guy is now a suspect which means they desperately want to talk to him and as of this hour he has not been identified by the FBI.
BALDWIN: Ted, I understand that you actually have some canisters. Were these pieces of evidence? What do you have?
ROWLANDS: Yes, I do. We talked to the guy that actually found this report of the smoke and went in and saw the flames. And you know we were told that they were propane tanks. These are what they were. They were propane canisters, and he identified them for us. They were not these ones. The ones that were involved with this have been shipped to Virginia.
But it gives you an indication of how someone could lug in canisters into a mall without being seen. They are relatively small and could have gotten them in there. He also had a pipe bomb filled with black powder and started a black fire, apparently. So that gives you an indication of what the device was that was on fire when it was put out.
BALDWIN: And the fact, let's not underplay this, the fact that it happened on the 12-year anniversary of the high school massacre. Are police thinking that it's a mere coincidence or do they think it's more?
ROWLANDS: Well, officially they are not saying, because they don't have any proof that it is more, however, there are not a lot of pipe bombs in malls in Littleton, Colorado, two miles from columbine. It was the anniversary. Clearly it is something that is a possible motive. You talk to people in this community, they absolutely think it was the motive, and understandably they are unnerved about that.
BALDWIN: Ted Rowlands, thank you so much. That's you "Reporter Roulette" for this Friday.
Now a brutal police beating caught on video, and now a jury will decide their fate.
Plus, police could not serve a murder case. And then investigator started flipping through pictures and made a shocking discovery and it has everything to do with this guy's photo and more importantly, his tattoo. Sunny Hostin is on the case. That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: I want you to take a good long look at this tattoo. There it is. When investigators saw this, it looked strangely familiar. The picture the tattoo depicted on this test is a crime scene, an unsolved murder all the way back from 2004. So the guy in the picture with the tattoo was convicted of the murder depicted on his chest, so cold case solved.
Sunny Hostin is on the case. And Sunny, how did police even get this admitted as evidence years and years after the fact? SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Isn't that something? It really is just cold casework. Just dog it police work. Tenacious police work. Basically, this detective never forgot about it. Detective Kevin Lloyd worked the case in 2004 and never forgot about it. Saw a picture of this gentlemen, if we can call him a gentlemen, and saw that tattoo and something sort of clicked.
They have then put a sting together, Brooke. They had an undercover officer go into the prison cell with him. They bragged about the crime. Fast forward to trial. This picture comes in and the jury got to listen to him brag about the jailhouse tape and resulted in a conviction. It was really just good, darn police work.
BALDWIN: So kudos to the investigator, but I kind have been saying, file this one away in the stupid criminal file. Is this an example of how dumb some crooks and criminals can be, or a testament to these killings that they would take pride in, or both?
HOSTIN: I think it's a combination of both, actually. I used to think when I was a prosecutor could the criminal be that stupid? It's a combination of the basically putting a confession, tattooed a confession.
BALDWIN: And everything at that liquor store?
HOSTIN: Down to the Christmas lights. But you can't make sense of crazy. These are sociopaths. A lot of this is the sociopathic mind that you just can't make sense of.
BALDWIN: I can't believe this. Case number two, this one is from Seattle that involves claims of excessive police force. This is video from the Seattle police video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get over here. Put your hands on my car. Don't reach in your pockets. Put your hands on my car. Do it now. Give me your hands. Give me your hands. Get on the ground. Get on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The tape doesn't lie. It goes on for several minutes. They are saying over and over again stop resisting and the suspect is saying, yes, sir, I'm sorry sir. A federal judge has ruled a civil lawsuit against the city and police should be decided by a jury.
So Sunny, looking at the video, what do you see going on here?
HOSTIN: You know, I guess it depends on who is looking at the video, because the plaintiff in this case is saying this is excessive force. The police department is saying, no, he failed to comply. Whatever these things that this police officer did are completely appropriate.
When I look at it, you know, I am not sure. I am actually not sure and that is why I think this federal judge decided this is something that goes to the jury because it's a question for the trial a fact because no one, Brooke, is really certain as to who to believe even though we see what we see on that video.
BALDWIN: The judge says he found evidence to support the claim that Seattle has quote, "a local custom of allowing police abuse." What do you make of that?
HOSTIN: Well, he did find that, but he also found that a jury could possibly agree that this officer was within - within bounds when he did what he did here.
So I think what the judge said and I do have the decision here, he says it could go both ways. Yes, there could be evidence of abuse, but yes, there could be evidence or a jury could find that what happened here wasn't excessive and wasn't appropriate.
So interestingly enough, this is the case that is going to go to the jury. Let them decide.
BALDWIN: Like you say, it all depends on which set of eyes are looking at this video. Sunny Hostin, we'll be watching that one. Thank you and have a good weekend. Now this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Is this a chick flick?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
BALDWIN (voice-over): That's a no. Feisty funny ladies there. I got to sit down with "Saturday Night Live" Kristin Wiig and her co- star from the upcoming movie "Bridesmaid" and they got candid about everything from Hollywood to which politicians and celebrities are most fun to poke fun of.
Kristin Wiig even has some choice words for the media. Do not miss my interview with these gals. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: You know her as the hilarious target lady on "Saturday Night Live" or maybe you know as just kidding the nerves, just kidding travel correspondent Judy Grimes just kidding.
You got that if you watch SNL. Anyway, I'm talking about Kristen Wiig. She is way more than just "Saturday Night" comedy on the small screen. She is in the big screen now starring in a film she actually co-wrote. First movie she's ever written. I talked to her and her co-star about the funny new flick "Bridesmaids," take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Can you be beautiful and funny and be out there, i.e., you know, eating the restaurant in your movie and getting a little thick, you know, like do people want to see that?
KRISTEN WIIG, ACTRESS, "BRIDESMAIDS": It seems so ridiculous to me like why not? It's like this whole thing of women can either be one or the other and that's just not fair. It doesn't make sense to me.
WENDI MCLENDON-COVY, ACTRESS, "BRIDESMAIDS": And truthfully, women when they get together, this is not a tea party situation most of the time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to apologize. I'm not even confident on which end that came out of.
MCLENDON-COVY: When they talk about sex, OK, we can go there. We get medical with the information and we talk about our feelings. We're worst than men, I think.
BALDWIN: I think women how they talk in our own circles, why don't we see that in the movies?
WIIG: There's no vanity for this one. She will take it all the way and you just know like you've been in that situation before. Do you have like a test of how when you know a joke will fly like audible laughter?
MCLENDON-COVY: You never know. I mean, that's what is so scary about a table read, is because a scene will come up and we are on the floor and it could be totally silent and no one gets it or there could be something that we stuck in there and that maybe has the biggest laugh of the day. It's like you can't you have no idea how people are going to receive it.
BALDWIN: Who are the gifts that keep on giving?
WIIG: Sarah Palin?
MCLENDON-COVY: Yes, Glenn Beck, Charlie Sheen, Larry King? Just kidding.
BALDWIN: Do both of you have young women come up to you? I mean, do they recognize you on the streets and say, because of you I want to be?
WIIG: Because of you I don't want to be.
MCLENDON-COVY: I mean, I don't know.
BALDWIN: You haven't noticed that?
MCLENDON-COVY: No, no.
WIIG: Well, I think it happens to you more than you realize.
BALDWIN: You're being modest?
WIIG: She's being modest. MCLENDON-COVY: I mean, they do, but they don't say that they don't want to be, you know, amazing. Yes, they do.
BALDWIN: Do you think maybe your movie could be the beginning of more funny women?
WIIG: I will say that having a movie with a lot of women in it is rarer than it should be. I mean, it's like as soon as there's a cast, it becomes like a chick flick or a girl movie.
BALDWIN: Is this a chick flick?
WIIG: No. If it's a movie with a lot of chicks in it, it's a chick flick or a girl comedy. We just consider this to just be a comedy.
BALDWIN: Do you have any like one horror story like wedding horror story? I mean, all of us ladies can sort of relate to your movie I think.
WIIG: I've been in weddings and know all of the stuff that goes on and all of the rules and have tos and all of that, which is kind of what we were addressing and shedding light on.
Because in the very beginning, when he wrote the script, he's like, you've got to do all of this stuff? So I think I don't really know what it means. It's like, you're not just asked to be in a wedding. You have to do stuff. It's like homework. You have to pay a lot of money.
BALDWIN: A lot.
WIIG: Yes, it's a lot of money.
MCLENDON-COVY: It's expensive and time consuming. Spas and --
WIIG: I don't know you but I love you that much.
BALDWIN: What ultimately do up want people to get out of the movie?
WIIG: I want people to stop writing articles that headlines are women funny. I don't know. It's like, you know, you think about there are so many women are out there making people laugh and that are writing and that are doing things and truthfully, they have been for a very long time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Funny ladies, thank you for both coming on. "Bridesmaids," by the way hits the theatres, May 13th.
Coming up next, he admits to having an affair with staff member, the wife of his chief of staff and then investigators found that his parents paid them nearly $100,000. Well, now Senator John Ensign says he is calling it quits even though he still under investigation. But does leaving Congress mean he is in the clear?
Joe Johns has the scoop and plus he's going to show how Mr. Rod Blagojevich is getting poetic. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We are now learning a little bit more about why Nevada Senator John Ensign has resigned so suddenly. Apparently, Senate Ethics investigators were getting reading to grill him.
Joe Johns has been digging on this with the "Political Pop." And Joe, does this mean that Ensign would then be off the hook from these investigations by leaving the Senate?
JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You would think so, but this is turning out to be a very unusual situation, Brooke. Normally or at least a lot of times when a member of Congress who's under investigation resigns, that investigation ends up getting dropped, but it doesn't look like this is happening right now.
John Ensign has basically been under investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee for more than a year and a half. It started with what appears to be a really messy situation in his office, kind of tabloid fodder frankly.
Ensign has an affair with a Senate staffer married to another Senate staffer, his chief of staff and this $96,000 payment gets made from Ensign's family to the husband of the woman. So the instant question is whether it was hush money or severance or just what was that $96,000?
Ethics Committee, that's where they come in. Even the Justice Department decides not to prosecute, but the Ethics Committee brings in an outside counsel working on the case. So Ensign finally this week throws in towel, announces a retirement and trying to make it go away, but not necessarily yet.
The two top senators on the Ethics Committee issued a statement saying they are going to finish work on this. And that Ensign made the right decision so more to be told.
BALDWIN: OK, so not necessarily yet. What is Ensign saying about all of this?
JOHNS: Nothing actually. Today spoke with his lawyer, Rob Walker, and Walker said he has no comment. Ensign did issue a statement yesterday said he didn't believe he has violated any rule or standard of conduct in the Senate and he's supposed to leave the job May 4th. So just a few days away, actually.
BALDWIN: OK. I am a bit of a Shakespeare fan. I'm an ex- English major so this pits my interest. Rod Blagojevich waxing poetic. Was it Henry the Fifth yesterday? JOHNS: Yes, he's known actually for quoting Edison and that was something he did right after he was impeached, but this time it was a little Shakespeare. So let's just listen and will come back to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, he who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Not too bad to hear. Today, he who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother. That is from Shakespeare's St. Chrispin's day speech to motivate the troops in the battle against the French 100 years war. Maybe it's a message to his lawyers. I don't know.
No matter what you say about the former governor of Illinois, still projecting himself as a man of letters though when you read the indictment material, some of the words he's known to use are not repeatable on TV.
BALDWIN: Not so - not so poetic. Is that right, Mr. Johns?
JOHNS: That's for sure.
BALDWIN: OK, we'll leave it there. Joe Johns, thank you so much. We'll see you back here on Monday.
That does it for me here in Atlanta. Now to Candy Crowley in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Candy.
