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Inside Rikers Island; Schwarzenegger's Secret Child

Aired May 17, 2011 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And, yes, I am the aforementioned T.J. Holmes, in today for Brooke Baldwin.

We're going to start. We are getting some disturbing information about the growing terror threat in Yemen, CNN learning now that intelligence taken from Osama bin Laden's compound does indeed confirm he was in the loop and in touch with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

There is also evidence that bin Laden knew about potential terror attacks. We will have much more on this in just a moment.

But first, Maria Shriver has now reacted to the news of her husband having fathered a child outside of their marriage. Her husband, of course, we are talking about is Arnold Schwarzenegger, the newly former governor of the state of California.

Here now is Maria Shriver's brief statement.

And she says -- quote -- "This is a painful and heartbreaking time. As a mother, my concern is for the children. I ask for compassion, respect and privacy as my children and I try to rebuild our lives and heal. I will have no further comment" -- end quote, very short statement making it clear there she would like some time, like some time away, and would not like to be bothered.

Not expecting to hear much more from her any time soon, no denying right now you can sense the grief in those short words from Maria Shriver.

Let me bring in Casey Wian in Los Angeles for us. He has been on this story since it broke overnight.

A lot of people thought, Casey, or just wondered what was going on when they first heard of the separation in the first place, a lot of people shocked by that. Then you throw this shock on top of that one.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely.

You know, covering Arnold Schwarzenegger during his tenure as governor of California, sometimes, you had the feeling sometimes that he was acting and it turns out, he was. What we know now is that the mother of this baby is a 20-year employee of the Schwarzeneggers who left her job back in January. We do not know if the child is a boy or a girl, but we do know the child, according to Schwarzenegger, was born more than a decade ago, before he was elected governor of California back in 2003. Now, today, he released his own statement prior to his wife's saying -- quote -- "I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family. There are no excuses. And I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused. I have apologized to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry."

You know, he was a very controversial governor in California, T.J. It is hard to believe that he could pass that controversy that engulfed his administration, but he certainly has this time -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. I want to ask you about something else, but I want you to listen here. You're certainly familiar with Harvey Levin out there of TMZ. We had him on a little bit ago. I want to -- I want to you to listen and our viewers to listen what he had to say. I'm going to ask you about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARVEY LEVIN, MANAGING EDITOR, TMZ.COM: Maria has been miserable in the marriage for several years and made that very clear to people who knew her. And part of the reason was the womanizing, so it is not this one incident that set Maria off by any means, and it was also Arnold's ego. She felt ignored by him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right. We are hearing that there. And I guess it does not really matter, but it is almost like people are trying to qualify, was this a political scandal, if you will, or is this a Hollywood scandal?

And I guess it is hard to separate, but this apparently all was taking place before he got to the governor's mansion, correct?

WIAN: Absolutely.

Back in 2003, you will probably remember right before the recall election that put Schwarzenegger into office, more than a dozen women came forward with stories about how Schwarzenegger groped them on movie sets and in other places over the years.

Now, he admitted behaving badly, but Shriver publicly stood by him, basically telling people I have known this man for 25 years. He is a good man. I stand by him. Don't believe the salacious reports. There were a lot of -- there was a lot of speculation it was sort of a dirty trick by Democrats who were trying to undermine Schwarzenegger at the time.

Now, of course, apart from her marriage to Schwarzenegger, it has been a very difficult period of late for Maria Shriver. She lost both of her parents within the past year-and-a-half. Imagine this on top of that, T.J. HOLMES: And, Casey, how in the world -- it is so hard for a politician to keep anything quiet, much less the fact that there is ostensibly a 10-year-old child running around out there running around somewhere that nobody had anything idea about. How in the world did he keep that quiet?

WIAN: Well, apparently, Governor Schwarzenegger, former Governor Schwarzenegger was very good about keeping the different parts of his life very separate, his Hollywood life, his governorship, his personal life.

We do know there has been an admission by a source close to Schwarzenegger that he has been providing financial support for this child since it was born, but how one of the world's most visible person managed to keep this a secret for so long has got be one of the great mysteries of this story, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Casey Wian, good on this story. I know you have been working long hours since this broke overnight. Casey, we appreciate you, as always. Thanks so much.

And to our viewers now, we do want to turn now to this other story, this other scandal we have been keeping up with for the past several days. New information coming out now this hour about the maid who alleges the head of the IMF assaulted her and tried to rape her inside a $3,000-a-night hotel room in New York.

For the first time now, we are hearing from the lawyer who represents this woman.

Our Deborah Feyerick talked to that attorney. She joins me now.

What are we getting, Deb?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., we can tell you that the woman is a 32-year-old West African immigrant from Guinea. The lawyer says the trauma of what she experienced in the hotel room is extraordinary. She has been working at the hotel for about 2.5, three years. She is there legally, having working papers.

She was assigned to clean the room on Saturday when she walked in on Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who allegedly attacked her. Listen to what the lawyer had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF SHAPIRO, ATTORNEY: Her world has been turned upside-down. This is a person who is a hardworking woman. She is a single mother supporting a 15-year-old young woman.

They live together. And she was grateful to have a job for which she could provide food and shelter for her, for the two of them. Since this has occurred, she has not been able to go home. She can't go back to work. She has no idea what her future is going to be in any respect. So, this has been -- aside from what took place in the hotel room, the trauma that has taken place in her life is extraordinary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Now, information, evidence, forensics, that is going to be going to a grand jury this week. New York City has about three sitting grand juries, so they will hear that.

We were told by the lawyer that the woman has not testified yet, she has been not been presented. We are told that she is afraid to go home, that she is not sure she is going to be able to go back to her job, how she is going to support her daughter.

Now, for Dominique Strauss-Kahn, his lawyer tells a very different story, says that the forensic evidence will not support that there was any sort of forceable encounter. He says Mr. Strauss-Kahn is going to plead not guilty. But, right now, he is in a jail cell in Rikers Island in solitary.

And you have got to think about this. This is a man who was supposed to be in Europe, the center of everything going on vis-a-vis the financial crisis, trying to figure out what is happening with the euro. Instead, he is alone, isolated, and kept from the general prison population because they are concerned about his safety. So they are keeping him in a unit that is to himself, again trying to sort out and think about what it is that happened -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right, Deborah Feyerick for us with new details out of New York -- Deb, we appreciate you, as always.

And as she was just talking about there, this man was sitting in a $3,000-a-night hotel room not too long ago. You know where he is sitting right now? One of the most notorious prisons in this country. Coming up next, an inside look at Rikers Island.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. This was the life he was used to, four- and five-star life he was used to, top-floor hotel rooms going for $3,000 a night, a multimillion-dollar home in D.C., an apartment in Paris, an American-born wife who is a big TV star in France.

But over the weekend, Dominique Strauss-Kahn traded in the cufflinks for handcuffs. Today, the head of the International Monetary Fund is just another number. He has been transferred to a jail cell inside one of the most notorious jails in the country, New York's Rikers Island.

Most of us hear that name. You see it on TV dramas all the time, maybe some of those crime movies.

But Martin Horn can give us an inside look. He is a former commissioner with the New York City Department of Correction. And he joins me now.

Sir, let me start with that. People seem to -- every time they say Rikers Island, they start by saying the notorious Rikers. Does it deserve that necessarily? Is it at this point just famous?

MARTIN HORN, FORMER NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION COMMISSIONER: I think it is just famous. I don't think it deserves to be called notorious. In fact, it is probably one of the safest jail systems anywhere in the country, certainly, the safest large city jail system when compared to the other large cities in the United States.

HOLMES: I guess a part of it as well -- and I'm glad you gave some perspective -- and you understand it better than anybody watching here for the most part, given the time you spent there -- not in the jail -- excuse me -- but as commissioner. I should make sure I make clear.

But jail is not supposed to be like a Four Seasons, but this jail, Rikers in particular, is it exceptionally unpleasant for any reason?

HORN: I don't think it is exceptionally unpleasant, except to the extent that any jail is unpleasant.

It is clean. The inmates are healthy. By and large, with some exceptions, the inmates are kept quite safe. But being in jail is a very spartan and really very boring existence. And I think that's what gives it that sense of foreboding. It's a very stark picture. And I think your picture quite accurately portrays what most of the cell blocks look like.

HOLMES: Now, who gets to go there?

HORN: The vast majority the individuals who are in custody on Rikers Island are those who are facing charges criminal charges before the courts in New York City. It is a jail. It's not a prison. It's a holding facility for individuals who are awaiting trial.

There are a small number of people also there who are serving short sentences for minor crimes and misdemeanors, sentences of less than a year. But of the 12,000 inmates in the city's custody, probably fewer than 2,000 are sentenced and the majority of the 10,000 are people who are awaiting trial.

HOLMES: Now, why would he -- and I'm talking about Kahn -- why would he be taken there, if you will? It sounds like there is nothing exceptional about him, if you will, or his crime. It is just like he is being treated like any other criminal right now.

HORN: Well, certainly, he should be treated like any other criminal. And is the standard that the New York City Correction Department has always adhered to.

The reason he is there is because that is where everyone who is facing criminal charges go. There are a small number of cells in facilities -- a facility in the Bronx and a facility that known as the Tombs in Manhattan, but that only has about 900 -- a capacity for 900 inmates, so the vast majority of all the inmates in New York are on Rikers Island.

And the services are there. Given his age, given his notoriety, the kinds of care that he may well require is more likely available on Rikers Island than it would be anywhere else.

HOLMES: Now, give us an idea as well of what his day would be like, given that we are told there are some concerns about him. He is certainly a high-profile person at this point.

But he is being kept in some kind of isolation, not necessarily with the rest of the population. Can you describe what he would go through in his day, given that he has been separated a little bit?

HORN: Well, he is in a single cell by himself. He's in a small housing unit. There are probably no more than seven or eight cells on that housing unit. His day begins probably around 6:00 a.m., when he is served breakfast, which he will take in his cell.

And then much will depend upon the status of his case. He may then go out to court. He may have meetings in the building with his attorneys. He might get a visit. Or he may just sit in his cell by himself all day until lunchtime. And then the afternoon would be a repeat of the morning. And lights out would be at 10:00 or 11:00 at night.

He is allowed three visits a week. He can have additional visits with his attorneys. He is allowed to make outgoing phone calls, provided that he has money in his account to pay for it or if people will accept collect charges. He gets an hour a day of outside recreation if he chooses to avail himself of it.

There is a shower in his cell, so he can shower pretty much whenever he cares to. He can have possessions. He can have reading materials, books, magazines, newspapers. He can have stationary writing materials, copies of his legal papers. And he can have some personal effects, personal clothing.

The amount of material that he is allowed to possess is limited by the size of the storage lockers that are provided to him.

HOLMES: And, sir, and last thing here, and, again, people hear Rikers Island, like I said, people always say notorious first, but you think that reputation just comes from people hearing it on television, whether they hear it in a rap song or whatever it may be. But it sounds like -- and you say a lot of people there on misdemeanors, have short sentences. The roughest of the rough criminals in New York, are they here or for the most part they're not?

HORN: No, everyone who is accused and charged with a serious crime, murder, rape, the most serious crimes, will be held on Rikers Island while they are awaiting charges.

I think that the notoriety does derive much more from the attention that the press, the media has given to it. Jails are always going to be unpleasant places. And, certainly, bad things have happened. But I think that they happen far less frequently than the public imagination believes to be true.

HOLMES: All right.

Martin Horn, we appreciate your perspective, unique perspective that you have today. And, again, like you say, it is jail. Not supposed to be pleasant.

Sir, we appreciate your time today and you enjoy the rest of your day.

HORN: Quite welcome.

HOLMES: All right.

Well, it has not even been a week since Newt Gingrich announced he is running for president, but political analysts are already saying that his campaign is in some big trouble. Find out why members of his own party blasting him now. And wait until you hear which high- profile Republican called CNN to just unload on Gingrich.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right.

Republican Newt Gingrich has been in the race less than a week. Talking about the race for president here. Look at what he woke up to today, this quote from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, saying, "Many have said he is now finished." Again, that's the House majority leader, Eric Cantor, talking about Newt Gingrich.

Here's another one from conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer, just in two words: "He's done."

Our Jessica Yellin, our national correspondent, joins me here now.

Jessica, hello. And, you know, they say it is so important to get out of those starting blocks in track and field. You can lose the race if you don't have a good start. This does not look well, does it?

(LAUGHTER)

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is a bit of a rough start, I would agree.

And it was expected. Newt Gingrich sometimes has had that problem in the past. I would also say his critics are a little bit ahead of the plot at this. He did tick the base by criticizing the proposal House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan made. He made this proposal to rein in federal spending in part by overhauling Medicare.

Well, Gingrich went on air over the weekend and dismissed that plan as too radical, said it's social engineering. And now the conservative base is outraged. And even though they don't love all of the details in that Ryan plan, T.J., the bottom line is, it is almost bad form to criticize Paul Ryan within the party.

And the Republicans want everyone to rally around their effort to control spending. So it was an awkward start for Gingrich, for sure.

HOLMES: And he did not just stop there. He's also been attacked, quite frankly, on health insurance, something he said there as well. What did he say?

YELLIN: Yes, another awkward one. He basically said that the general idea of a mandate for people to buy health care is needed.

Now, that is considered almost sacrilege in conservative circles right now, because recall that the Democrats' health care plan they passed last year is based on a mandate. And Republicans are very critical of it.

Now, Gingrich has said he would repeal that new national health care law. And he reaffirmed that today. He said, if he were elected president, he would repeal it right away. But just the fact that he says he would support a mandate has outraged conservatives.

So, he's defending himself today. I'm going to play you some sound of Gingrich defending himself. But keep in mind that he was -- when he made the statement, he was reacting to a sound bite that was played on "Meet the Press" this weekend, and that sound bite was Gingrich himself speaking years ago in which he also seemed to support a mandate. Here is Gingrich.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: This is one the things where, only after it happens, do you begin to think about how to do it.

I think, if I could do "Meet the press" over, when they ran an 18-year-old clip, I should have said to him, "David, where is the rest the film?" and not allowed him to set up a question based on 12 seconds taken totally out of context. I mean, that's an example of it.

I mean, for people to go from all of that body of evidence to say, yes, but for 25 seconds yesterday, I thought you said X, that is beyond gotcha.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

YELLIN: Familiar phrase from Republican presidential politics. That was what Sarah Palin always kept saying: Stop playing gotcha politics.

HOLMES: All right. Newt Gingrich, though, this is a rough start. He's not even a week into this, but, of course, he has got plenty of time to try to recover here. But you -- the folks you need voting for you and the support you need, those are the ones attacking him right now.

Jessica, we're going to check in with you again. Good to see you, as always. Thanks so much.

YELLIN: Good to see you.

HOLMES: Meanwhile, as investigators go through all that material found in Osama bin Laden's compound, a huge discovery about what the terrorist knew about potential terror attacks and who he was communicating with. That is next.

Plus, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right, a soldier and the band Train, they get together and surprise that soldier's girlfriend. And it happened right downstairs from where I am reporting to you right now. You have got to see this one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, unfolding right now, it turns out Osama bin Laden did communicate with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, you know, the ones based in Yemen. We are finding out from ongoing analysis of materials those Navy SEALs took from bin Laden's compound.

A U.S. official who is familiar with the materials gave us this information. What we don't know yet is whether the Yemen-based terror group ever got the messages or acted on them -- something else the SEALs found as well, evidence the confirms bin Laden was pushing his supporters to attack Americans and U.S. interests in Europe late last year.

Well, a lot of you out there visit us daily at the CNN Center here in Atlanta. It's not every day that a soldier gets a little help from a Grammy Award-winning band to propose to his girlfriend.

Now, before I show this to you, I have not seen it either. This happened downstairs at the CNN Center in the atrium, just downstairs from where I am sitting right now, happened in front of a lot of people. And I am told that this will shed a tear, no matter what.

So, let's watch this one together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, seriously, you have got to say...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): I will.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Say I will.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we are on CNN, please say, "I will."

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): I will. Oh, marry me.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: I was wondering what was going on when I went down to get Chinese food for lunch yesterday. Is that what was happening?

No, that's a nice moment. That is very cool. But, again, this was right downstairs here at the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, right here where we are.

We want to say thank you to "The Bert Show." The radio show "The Bert Show" actually gave us a heads-up, helped us arranged that shoot so we could be there for that. So, that was very cool stuff.

Well, no matter what you are doing out there, not matter what your job may be right now, or if you are actually looking for a job, your pay is pretty important to you.

In our special focus in-depth, America's job hunt, we look at how some industries pay and what goes into your check.

Alison Kosik, you have my full attention. She joins us from the New York Stock Exchange.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: How do people -- you know, it is kind of a curious question we don't think that much about, but how do people determine what you are worth, how much you should get paid, how much this profession gets paid vs. That one?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's not a random figure. You know, go figure, T.J.

There are three factors that go into it. We talked with an analyst at PayScale.com saying the most important, your education, your experience or skills and your location. So, if you live in those cost of living -- where the cost of living is really high, in California and New York, you also have to consider that.

Now, what we did is, we pulled out some industries to look at more closely. We started with the legal sector. You know, when most people hear that, they think of those six figures. And that's because of the higher education you need. And, of course, many lawyers do make those six figures. But the pay really runs the gamut. You know, there is the entry- level law clerk, who makes, you know, about $30,000, a paralegal making about $55,000. And no, you don't have to go to law school for those careers. You only need a bachelor's degree, T.J.

HOLMES: OK, so what about the careers that don't require as much education?

KOSIK: Yes, you don't need an advanced degree to make a decent living and look at the retail sector, and those are the buyers who make in the $50,000 range. And another area that you don't need as much education is hotel and restaurants. You could be a waiter or line cook to make only about $20,000, but you can work up to executive chef or hotel manager, and the median pay jumps up to $50,000 and you could get upwards to $65,000.

So the theme is edge case and time, but if you start out with a higher education, you will have a higher salary that you can carry through, throughout your career. T.J.?

HOLMES: OK, we hear that from a lot of people all of the time, and that is important. but a lot of people stop working in a particular field, and go back to school to get back in, and then try to get that pay up, so what is the better way to go? Should you stick in that field, and get the most experience and eventually your pay will go up, or go back to school a good way to go?

KOSIK: Well, T.J., the more education, the more you will be paid, but in this economy, not everybody has the money or the time to go back to school, so if you are in that situation, sure, look at the skills, and if they are transferable to another high-paying job, go for it.

A lot of tech jobs are that way, from a programmer to working in the IT department or do something different. TV people switch to PR and public relations all of the time, and of course, if that does not work, switching jobs, then work the system at your current job. Take on more responsibilities and learn something new, and show that you are valuable and more than one way. Walk up to your boss and say, what can I do for you? You know. Just do that and see what their response is.

HOLMES: Yes, I will try that this week, Alison, and get back to you.

(LAUGHTER)

KOSIK: OK. I will be waiting.

HOLMES: Alison Kosik at the New York stock exchange. Thank you.

We are at the bottom of this hour, and more misery with the Mississippi. Coming up next, a man who knows a thing or two about a disaster or two, General Honore. He just took a chopper tour, and he will be with me next live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, we have been calling this a slow-moving disaster along the Mississippi River. Levees protecting millions of people from floodwaters holding up pretty well for the most part right now, but Louisiana's governor is warning folks that they need to stay on the alert. The planned flooding is expected to save New Orleans and Baton Rouge, but other communities could get swamped. They will actually.

Let me bring in the retired general and CNN contributor Russell Honore. General Honore, what did you see?

LT. GEN. RUSSELL HONORE (RET) CNN CONTRIBUTOR: What I saw was spectacular, the water running by the Mississippi River. And the decision by the army corps to open up Morganza and the Bonnet Carre is important to get control of the Mississippi.

T.J., this is a $300 million a year impact on the United States, because the river is still open to commercial traffic, and because of the Bonnet Carre being open and the Morganza being opened, they have slowed the water down enough to allow the Mississippi River to remain open. That being said, then we flew over to Louisiana. Over.

HOLMES: And actually, you are giving me an idea, and help our viewers understand this as well, exactly where were you on this tour? We are trying to give people a good perspective that water has been diverted and trying to keep it away, and does it look like from what you saw it will be able to save Baton Rouge and New Orleans?

HONORE: That is correct. The river is cresting as we speak. Our current projections from the corps of engineers, those two cities levees will not be challenged by high water.

But what will continue to be a threat is the continuous pressure on the levees, and you could have a danger of boiling point that might happen on a sand boil that could cause a problem. But right now the corps and the National Guard has a lot of reconnaissance looking for those spots and repairing them quickly.

There is still some danger down there in the Morgan City area. The water will crest two feet lower than projected from 11 to 9 feet. That is good news. Up around cotton springs, still an issue, because there's much infrastructure around the springs that is built outside of the levee protection. Again, I say it was built outside of the levee protection, and that area is still vulnerable.

HOLMES: General Honore, these pictures are amazing as we are talking to, and I know we will be talking to you more throughout the day on CNN. Thank you is much, general.

After stirring the political pot, Donald Trump is not running for president. My next guest says Trump showed America just how scary the political system has become. In fact, he called Trump's stunt a "house of horrors." He is joining me after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: An international prosecutor says troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi are systematically raping women as a weapon of war. This is the same prosecutor who announced yesterday he wants a warrant to the Libyan leader's arrest of crimes against humanity. He said Libyan officials went so far as to allegedly issue troops sexual enhancement drugs like Viagra to gang rape women stopped at checkpoints.

Also in Libya, overnight in Tripoli, two facilities are burned. They are both government facilities. One of them was the headquarters of the Tripoli police force. Witnesses the buildings were bombed from the air and they heard jets flying overhead before. Nima Elbagir is joining me from Tripoli. Nima, hello to you. NATO is not confirming a whole lot, so what have we been able to put together about these airstrikes?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., still in the hours of daylight, we heard really, really close explosions next to where we are at the hotel, and we discovered that the compound, the Gadhafi compound had been hit five times. This is the second time in less than a week that compound had taken a direct strike from NATO.

And in the early hours of this morning, we heard three more explosions, and we were taken to the scene of those explosions, those strikes, and we were told that one is a police security building, internal police building that dealt with investigations, and one was the ministry for popular oversight which deals with anti-corruption.

There was one building that was ablaze and then a specific part of the building hit. Later NATO not specifying which one of the strikes related to, but they said that the third one of the high- ranking Libyan officials to be spoken about by the ICC, that they had hit one of his command and control centers, T.J.

HOLMES: And can you tell us, we are talking about Tripoli there, and the all-important capital city of Misrata getting so much attention there. What is happening there?

ELBAGIR: Well, NATO also said they managed to fend off an attack by a Gadhafi boat heading towards Misrata. There is this constant power struggle to control the two access points to Misrata, the airport and the port. As you can appreciate, that would hugely undermine Gadhafi's forces to maintain the pressure on Misrata, if the rebels managed to successfully hold onto the ports.

NATO has been saying they have been repelling persistent attacks on that. We are also hearing that seven rebels have been killed. We're working to confirm that. And it does feel that as NATO is ratcheting up the pressure here in Tripoli, the government is trying to transfer that pressure on to the rebels, T.J.

HOLMES: Nima, we appreciate you as always. Thanks so much.

Meanwhile, there is word that the U.S. is trying to speed up direct talks with the Taliban. Could that mean that U.S. troops could be leaving Afghanistan sooner? That answer is straight ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, officials in Pakistan accused NATO aircraft of entering their airspace and triggering a fire fight. It's a serious allegation they say happened just a few hours ago. A NATO jet and two helicopters allegedly responded to ground fire after they reportedly crossed into Pakistan from a base in Afghanistan.

Two Pakistan troops were reportedly hurt. A NATO spokesperson said the coalition is aware of an incident on the border, that NATO aircraft were fired upon, and they are now looking into it.

Turning to Kennedy Space Center, one of NASA's crew shuttles are in space and another is on a slow roll now. Check it out. This is the shuttle Atlantis on track to make the final flight in July to the international space station. Atlantis has launched some 32 times, the first time in 1985.

A bomb threat as Britain's Queen Elizabeth makes an historic visit to Ireland. Somebody put a bomb on a bus headed for Dublin. This is the queen and her husband that you are seeing there meeting with Ireland's president. She is the first British monarch to visit an independent Ireland. She will be there for four days.

Let's turn to Wolf Blitzer joining us with the latest on the Political Ticker.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": T.J., thank you very much. A lot is happening at CNNpolitics.com. A lot of focus and attention on John Kerry who held hearings today on U.S.-Pakistani relationships, what is going on in Afghanistan. He just came back literally overnight from a visit from Islamabad. He is really a diplomatic trouble shooter.

And that is raising lots of speculation if the president is reelected and if -- these are two big ifs -- if secretary of state Hillary Clinton doesn't want to serve in a second state. My own assessment is that he would probably would. The administration is using him a lot in the U.S. and Afghanistan and he has a much higher profile.

Speaking about the Middle East, the president was in the oval office meeting with Jordan's king Abdullah. The president reiterating his support for a two-state solution, Israel along a new state of Palestine. He said it's more important than ever that the negotiations resume between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Even before that meeting, he will be delivering a major speech of the Middle East on Thursday at the state department. A lot of us anticipate that in that speech the president will get tougher with Syria and Bashar al Assad putting up pressure for the sanctions.

Here are a couple key question. Will the U.S. formally call for Bashar Assad to step down as it did with Gadhafi in Libya was concerned. We'll wait anxiously to hear what the president of the United States says in that speech on Thursday. We'll, of course, have live coverage here on CNN. A lot is happening always at CNNpolitics.com. T.J.?

HOLMES: All right, let's go back to that first story that you had. You said your gut, your instinct would be that John Kerry would be in that line. Why would that be the case? This is a guy who probably knows just as well or better than anybody up there on Capitol Hill international affairs.

BLITZER: I always thought this was his dream job. Obviously he wanted to be president of the United States. It didn't work out for him in 2004 when he was the Democratic nominee. But ever since he was a young man and came home from Vietnam and went into the United States Senate, foreign policy, foreign affairs, international relations has been his passion.

I know he was interested in being secretary of state when president Obama was elected, but the president went with Hillary Clinton for that job. He became chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As long as the Democrats have the majority in the Senate, he'll remain the chairman of that important committee.

My own gut tells me he would certainly be seriously considered by the president if, in fact, the president is reelected and if Hillary Clinton decides she doesn't want to serve a second term. When I interviewed her in Cairo, she told me she definitely did not want to serve a second term as secretary of state, told me she wasn't going to run for president again, she didn't want to be defense secretary if Robert Gates left. She gave me four no's when I asked all of those questions. But this is a free country. People can always change their minds.

HOLMES: Indeed, Wolf. Thank you. Wolf is coming up in just an hour in "THE SITUATION ROOM."