Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Deadly Tragedy on Stage; Interview with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan; Obama on Education in Chapel Hill; Alleged DUI Killer Gets Lower Bond
Aired April 24, 2012 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go to the top of the hour. Hour two, welcome back, I'm Brooke Baldwin. I want to begin at New Jersey. New Jersey now dealing with its own case sort of real life "Fast and Furious." A trooper scene in what one witness here, I believe this highway is called a death race.
Take a look at this video.
You can see, this is a case -- this is actually from 2010, YouTube. That patrol unit, you see it is not chasing, it's leading a pack of Ferraris and other luxury cars just rocketing down this particular highway.
While this video is two years old, "The Star Ledger," this newspaper there, is reporting that the high-speed trooper escort happened again, as in last month.
On top of that, "The Star Ledger" reports that Brandon Jacobs, a pro football player just released from the New York Giants, was driving this luxury pack, this escort to Atlantic City.
Witnesses filed complaints with the details. They say the caravan on the Garden State Parkway was going more than 100 miles an hour en route to Atlantic City. You can see the route. Two troopers were suspended, including Nadir Nassry, pictured here. A third trooper has been transferred, reassigned.
Joining me now the reporter who broke the story, Chris Baxter, the statehouse reporter for "The Star Ledger."
Chris, my goodness, I was reading about this last night, we're talking Porsches and Lamborghinis and Ferraris. How many cars in totally and really how fast were they going? Fill me in.
CHRIS BAXTER, "THE STAR LEDGER": Well, hi, Brooke. First of all, welcome to Trenton, New Jersey. It's been a busy couple of days here at "The Star Ledger" and online at NJ.Com.
From what witnesses said, it's about 25 to 30 luxury cars. Like you said, Ferraris, Porsches and Lamborghinis, other makes. Witnesses said -- they didn't obviously have speed guns but they said well in excess of 100 miles an hour following this trooper and also trailed by a trooper, both with their emergency lights flashing. The witnesses describe really a very dangerous scene. They said drivers were struggling to get out of way. One witness even said an older woman panicked when the trooper came up behind her and almost wound up in a ditch.
BALDWIN: Wow. I want to read -- I know you talked to a number of people -- part of the complaint here. This is one of the witnesses -- quote -- "I had the great pleasure today" obviously being entirely facetious "of nearly being killed by, not one, but two, Lamborghinis traveling in excess of 110 miles per hour in a New Jersey State Police-escorted caravan of approximately 30 exotic vehicles all traveling well over 100 miles per hour."
Do we know what they were in such a rush to get to? Why?
BAXTER: No. That's not totally clear yet.
They obviously were going to Atlantic city. The attorney for the sergeant first class who has been suspended, Nadir Nassry, says that Brandon Jacobs was among them. They know each other from charitable events and they were going down there maybe to coordinate some of these charitable events.
But that's not clear yet exactly what they did in Atlantic city.
BALDWIN: Also apparently the attorney for one of the suspended troopers, I think the one you're referring to, said his client and other members of state police have done this before. We saw the video from 2010. What more can you tell us about that and were there repercussions?
BAXTER: Official channels through the state police say that these kinds of escorts are extremely rare and that they only allow them for high-profile funerals and maybe a serviceman's death and they have to be approved up the chain of command all in writing.
They claim these things are very rare. We now obviously have two instances where it appears troopers led, you know, fast sports car down some of New Jersey's major highways often through dense traffic. I think they're taking it seriously. They say they are. They're looking into it. There's been suspensions. There are looking at protocols and policies for allowing these kinds of escorts. I think it's all under review. Certainly this force is about 2,700 members. I think it's been a little bit rocked by this.
BALDWIN: Governor Chris Christie coming out with his first comments saying this is a ridiculous story, this is a dumb thing to do and he's very confident it will be dealt with appropriately. We will follow up and see if it will be.
Chris Baxter, we appreciate it, "Star Ledger" there in New Jersey.
Still ahead, tragedy on stage. An actor accidentally hangs himself in a production of "Passion of the Christ." Plus, millions of high school seniors want to go to college, but lots of them are learning the hard reality, they can't always pay for it. Time is running out for some real help. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is joining me live on whether he's preparing for a fight this summer when it comes to Congress.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We showed you the president just last hour. President Obama speaking in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on the issue of student loans. As we told you, the current interest rate on the federally backed student loans is scheduled to double actually July 1 from the current rate of 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent unless Congress acts.
Here is the president taking a dig at a congressional Republican he doesn't name in the speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She said -- she had very little tolerance for people who tell me they graduate with debt because there's no reason for that. I'm just quoting here. I'm just quoting. She said, students who rack up student loan debt are just sitting on their butts having opportunity dumped in your lap.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So were are in an election year, as you very well know, and the president is tweaking Republicans on an issue that is hugely important to millions of young voters. He needs their votes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I fully support the effort to extend the low interest rate on student loans. There was some concern that that would expire halfway through the year. I support extending the temporary relief on interest rates for students.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So Romney is with the president on this one, wants to prevent the rate on student loans from doubling come the 1st of July.
And the office of House Speaker John Boehner says Boehner is willing to try to work something as well.
Got us thinking where exactly is the fight here?
I want to bring in Arne Duncan. He is the president's secretary of education and he joins me live.
Mr. Secretary, it's nice to have you back on the show.
ARNE DUNCAN, U.S. EDUCATION SECRETARY: Hi. Good afternoon, Brooke. Thanks for the opportunity. BALDWIN: Thank you. I know some folks are saying there really is no fight here. The White House wants us to think there is one simply because it's good for the president's election campaign.
What do you say to that?
DUNCAN: Again, we just need to get this done.
And I have said from day one, we have to work together in a bipartisan way to educate our way to a better economy. We would, Republicans and Democrats alike, do everything we can to keep interest rate downs. The president is out traveling the country, working very, very hard on this. The vice president and I have been out traveling the country, and going to college has never been more important, Brooke.
Unfortunately, it's also never been more expensive. And to have interest rates double July 1 if Congress doesn't act is simply unacceptable. So we have to act and we have to act now with a sense of urgency, and we should absolutely be doing this together.
BALDWIN: Do you agree though that this really won't come down to a fight and that some people are saying there is really is no ruckus over this after all, that both sides are agreeing?
DUNCAN: Well, again, it has to get done.
It's one thing to have folks sort of verbally agree. It's another thing for Congress to pass the bill, to pass this law. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us. We're still in the early innings. There has been significant opposition to this and to investing in education generally.
There are lots of folks in Congress that want to scale back in Perkins grants and Perkins loans and Pell Grants and other things. Again, education is an investment, not an expense. We have to work together on this. I think if we can pass this together, that would move the country forward in a very positive direction.
BALDWIN: Do you, as U.S. education secretary, feel comfortable being drawn into a political battle such as this one, especially as we point out in an election year?
DUNCAN: Again, I could care less about politics and ideology. I just want to see every single young person have a chance to get a great education.
So I'm going to fight for whether it's early childhood education or K-12 reform and making sure our high school students graduate from high school and graduate college and career-ready, or whether it's making sure many more young people have access to college.
Brooke, your viewers may not know one generation ago, we led the world in college graduates. Today, we're 16th; 15 other countries have passed us by. They're out-educating us, they're out-innovating us. We have to again lead the world. That's what the president has challenged us to do. We all have to do this together.
And again, at a time when so many folks are struggling to pay for college, it has to be -- college has to be accessible to the middle class and to have these interest rates double makes no sense whatsoever.
BALDWIN: So let's put politics aside.
I guess my final question, on a more personal note, Secretary Duncan, as we are in this election year, I want you to just think about this. Give me one achievement within obviously your wheelhouse being education that you feel, I don't know, proudest of from your three-plus years of office? Just one achievement.
DUNCAN: Well, there are many things we have worked extraordinarily hard on and I'm proud of.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Give me one.
DUNCAN: Top of the list would be giving an additional $40 billion for Pell Grants, $40 billion for Pell Grants, the biggest increase since the G.I. Bill. We did that without going back to taxpayers for a nickel.
We simply stopped subsidizing banks, didn't think they needed the money, put all that money into young people. That was very controversial here in Washington. Lots of folks fought that. We thought it was absolutely commonsense. We got that done.
And we have to keep fighting for that because there are people in Congress today that want to scale back Pell Grants. And I think anyone who thinks we need a less educated work force, we need folks to have less access to college, for me, as a country, that's cutting off our nose to spite our face.
BALDWIN: Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, thank you, sir. I appreciate it.
DUNCAN: Thanks so much. Have a great afternoon.
BALDWIN: Speaking of education, just this morning, President Obama honored Rebecca Mieliwocki as the 2012 teacher of the year. The president called her the definition of -- quote -- "above and beyond."
She is a second-generation English teacher in Los Angeles who allows her seventh graders to film adaptations of books and write their own plays that professional actors perform.
Congratulations to her.
Now the feds. Do you remember these pictures? The feds have filed the first criminal charge in the Gulf oil spill. And the person arrested is a former BP worker. You're going to hear these allegations against him. And they involve some text messages. Plus, just in, the star witness in the government's case against John Edwards. His former aide drops some bombs on the stand today, including what the former senator's mistress did when she found out she was pregnant. Joe Johns just out of that courtroom. We will check in with him live next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: In a courtroom in North Carolina, where -- John Edwards now is on trial for allegedly using campaign donations to hide his admitted affair and his mistress' pregnancy all the while he was running for president.
The mistress in question, here she is, Rielle Hunter, on the witness stand within the last couple of hours. A former Edwards aide recounted that moment when he broke the news to John Edwards that Rielle Hunter was pregnant. According to this aide Edwards said -- quote -- "She's a crazy person."
Only, he didn't actually use the person. He used a four-letter word that starts with S-L. "She's a crazy person and there's a one in three chance that the child belonged to Edwards" -- end quote.
Let's check back in with Joe Johns. He's been covering this trial for us.
Obviously some bombshells, some racy material inside that courtroom behind you. What else did you learn from Andrew Young, the former Edwards aide?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
I have to tell you, Brooke, sitting through that testimony this morning, you get the sense that this was just a real mess. It was 2007, the middle of 2007, John Edwards considered one of the candidates who could make a viable run for president of the United States and up pops a mistress saying I'm pregnant.
Not only did she say, I'm pregnant. Apparently, according to the system given by Andrew Young today, she also told him that if she didn't speak to John Edwards immediately on that day when she was announcing she was pregnant, she's going public. She said she was tired of living a lie.
That begins the scenario you have heard so much about in the news media over the past year or two of tens of thousands, actually hundreds of thousands of dollars coming from big money donors. At least on the part of Bunny Mellon, who is one of the financiers who lives in Virginia, at least on her part, she apparently did not know what this money was being used for, writing big checks.
The money was going to try to keep Rielle Hunter happy so she wouldn't go public. Apparently, among other things, she got moved to the state of North Carolina by Andrew Young. She got a BMW. She got an allowance, $5,000 a month, sometimes up to $12,000 a month, all of this to try to keep her calm. Meanwhile, she was still meeting from time to time with John Edwards. The fascinating thing from the standpoint of the man on the stand, Andrew Young, he said John Edwards didn't really get kept up on when the payments came. He didn't want to know about it because he might have to be sworn in as attorney general.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Got it. Got it, Joe Johns. We appreciate you listening in here. I know Andrew Young is incredibly important, has prosecutorial immunity, star witness for the prosecution. This thing is just getting going.
(NEWS BREAK)
BALDWIN: James Murdoch makes some pretty candid revelations in the phone hacking scandal against his dad's media company, including a cozy meeting with a world leader.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES MURDOCH, CHAIRMAN, NEWS INTERNATIONAL: I wasn't in the business of deciding what to put in the newspapers. So it was really there. And then I was given assurances by them that sometimes proved to be wrong that I'm sure we will go into with respect to the risks that they were taking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: We're going to get more from his testimony just ahead.
And later, a worker and boss, they arranged this kidney transplant. And then the boss fires the employee. We're on the case.
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The son of Rupert Murdoch is on the hot seat. Also, a Brazilian actor is hanged during a "Passion of the Crist" production. This is all an accident. And a spectacular sky show lights up Minnesota.
Time to play "Reporter Roulette."
I do want to begin with the phone hacking scandal that's enveloping Rupert Murdoch's empire. The mogul's son James is testifying before a British that is investigating about how reporters illegally accessed voice mails of celebrities.
And CNN senior international correspondent Dan Rivers is in London -- Dan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, another difficult day of questioning for James Murdoch, first of all, about the extent of his knowledge on phone hacking.
He again really reiterated a position he had put before politicians twice last year that he simply didn't know the extent of phone hacking, that he hadn't read key e-mails forwarded to him which set out evidence that it wasn't just one rogue reporter on the "News of the World" that was involved, but, in fact, it was much more widespread than that.
But perhaps was more interesting here today was the line of questioning about the proposed takeover by News Corp. of British broadcaster BSkyB. They wanted to buy the remaining 60 percent or so of the company that they didn't already own.
That was referred to a minister here, Jeremy Hunt, and lots e- mails, about 80 e-mails revealed showing, it is alleged that their critics Jeremy Hunt was giving them some sort of inside track on that deal. Lots of back and forth between the Murdochs' staff, including their director of public affairs and a member of staff, Jeremy Hunt.
All of that is bound to cause big political ripples here, as is the revelation of cozy meetings between British Prime Minister David Cameron and James Murdoch and other News International staff, for example, in a pub in 2009, where it was agreed "The Sun" newspaper would switch its allegiance from Labor to the Conservatives, timing the announcement of that switch with a big set piece speech by the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Lots of little bits of information just showing according to their critics what a stranglehold on power the Murdochs appeared to have a couple of years ago ranging from business to politics to even to attending a pre-Christmas party at the house of the then chief executive of News International, Rebekah Brooks -- Brooke.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Dan Rivers, thank you.
Next on "Reporter Roulette" an actor in Brazil dies in this freak accident. He hanged himself during the performance of the play "The Passion of the Christ."
CNN's Shasta Darlington joins me on the phone from Brazil.
Shasta, what happened?
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a really terribly tragic story, as you said.
I'm here in Itarare, a small agricultural town. It's a few hours' drive from Sao Paulo. And this is where the accident happened. This young actor playing Judas threw a rope over the tree. He was stepping off of a fake rock that they built and basically reenacting the biblical scene.
And what police are investigating now is what happened next. All they know is that four minutes after he was supposed to have pretended to hang himself, the other actors noticed that he wasn't moving anymore. They realized he was unconscious. He was rushed to a hospital and he actually was in a coma for more than two weeks before he died on Sunday and he was buried here.
Now police are investigating to find out whether it was his safety harness that had sort of slipped up and choked him or whether this young actor, Tiago Klimeck, had accidentally tangled himself up in the stage rope or even his costume trying to make the scene more realistic.
According to one of the family members that we talked to here, he had made a few changes in the scenes to try to make it more realistic and that that might have been what caused this really terrible tragic accident, Brooke.
BALDWIN: It's horrible. I am assuming they have taken a pause on the play as the investigation is ongoing?
DARLINGTON: That's right. The audio is a little bad here, but I believe you asked about the investigation.
And, yes, it is ongoing. It could take another 30 days, they said. While they obviously had a chance to see the victim, to see -- to investigate his body and the scene itself, they're now matching up the ring around his neck with different cords to see what had actually left that ring around his neck, again, whether it was the harness, whether it was the stage rope or whether it was his own costume.
And that will probably be the deciding element here, Brooke.
BALDWIN: How awful.
Shasta Darlington in Itarare, Brazil, Shasta, thank you.
And now the dazzling light show over Minnesota's skies.
Next up on "Reporter Roulette," Chad Myers just with some really cool pictures, because that's what we like for you to do. Northern Lights.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know what? There was a little bit of a magnetic storm the last couple of nights. And Minnesota got it. Even Iowa had some brief glimpses.
BALDWIN: Purples and yellows.
MYERS: Yes, you bet. Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: Take a look. This isn't just a picture. This is actually video. This is some pretty cool stuff, some purple, some oranges, the -- I have seen this once in my lifetime.
BALDWIN: I'm assuming this is time-lapse video, yes?
MYERS: Time-lapse, yes.
BALDWIN: Yes.
MYERS: But it is this cool even in reality.
It's so amazing. I was up in Detroit Lakes, and I saw this, northern Minnesota. The only time in my life and you just stand there, you're mesmerized by it. It's just so unbelievable.
And the greens and the blues and the reds, the closer you are to the pole, the more you'll see the greens and the blues, the farther you are away, like Iowa had reds up on top. And more pretty pictures.
BALDWIN: More pretty pictures. I saw this article last night. There's this museum in Pasadena, where if you're space nerds like us, you would like to go. The exhibition's, I know, through May 6th. And you can see really through, what, almost centuries, different pictures from space.
MYERS: Yes. This is the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, off the 210. You know, it's kind of almost up there by Altadena Flintridge (ph). They have 150 images, can't call them all pictures, because some of --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: This is my favorite run, the Saturn one.
MYERS: And on the bottom, right there, they're calling that little white dot on the bottom of Saturn itself, that's Earth in the background of the picture, from the image taken from far out in space. How small Earth looks. Above the word history, there's a little tiny dot.
BALDWIN: That teeny, tiny little dot? In the circle?
MYERS: Yes. And they're thinking that that is actual --
BALDWIN: Oh, my goodness.
MYERS: You can see the Earth just on the other side of Saturn there. And one more here, kind of why we wanted to call them images, because they're not really all pictures. They're sometimes sent back by ADA (ph) or some by the Hubble, 150 great little shots out there. And three videos, too, as well. So I'd love to be able to get out there. But --
BALDWIN: I know. We will -- I will tweet out the link. Chad Myers, thank you so much. Major "Reporter Roulette" here.
Still ahead, Joran van der Sloot may come to the United States, and the reason involves Natalee Holloway's mother. Plus a woman says she was fired after she donated her kidney, a move that helped her boss.
And just in, news on the eavesdropping allegations against the New Orleans Saints, find out who was joining the investigation. We're on the case, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Time now for the "Help Desk," where we get answers to your financial questions. And joining me this hour, Greg Olsen is a certified financial planner and a partner at Lenox Advisors; and Lynnette Khalfani-Cox is the founder of financial -- of the financial advice blog askthemoneycoach.com.
Guys, thank you very much for being here. We appreciate it.
Greg, first question for you comes from Tom in Ohio. Tom wrote in that his pension plan has $200,000 in it but he is $25,000 in credit card debt. He wants to know if he should use money from his pension to pay off his credit cards.
GREG OLSEN, CFP, LENNOX ADVISERS: No.
HARLOW: No. Why?
OLSEN: Because the first thing that's going to happen is he's going to have to pay income tax when he withdraws from his pension plan. Then he's also going to have to pay a 10 percent penalty, depending on what income tax bracket he's in. He could have to take up to $50,000 out of the pension plan just to pay off the $25,000.
A much better idea would be to switch to the lowest interest rate credit card he could find, even if it's introductory rate. And after that introductory rate is over, six or 12 months, switch to the next lowest interest rate you could possibly find.
HARLOW: OK. All right.
OLSEN: (Inaudible).
HARLOW: Good advice.
Lynnette, your question comes from Jill in New York. She wrote in that she and her husband got a copy of their credit report and it showed three collections. She wants to know how they can pay those off and get them expunged from the report.
LYNNETTE KHALFANI-COX, FOUNDER, ASKTHEMONEYCOACH.COM: Well, she can certainly pay them off, but just paying them unfortunately doesn't mean that it automatically gets removed from your credit report. This is one of the downsides, of course, for people who want to pay off debts and sort of do the right thing.
HARLOW: Right.
KHALFANI-COX: But the fact is, under the law, negative information like a collection can stay on your credit report for up to seven years. So simply paying it off won't automatically remove it. You can certainly negotiate. You can reach out to the company that you owe and ask whether or not they would agree to delete the information from all three credit reports, Equifax, Experian and Transunion. There's no guarantee. They may just do it, though. But it doesn't automatically happen.
HARLOW: Once it's there, it's there. All right. Thank you, guys, very much. We appreciate it.
If you have a question you want answered, just send us an email anytime to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway may be coming to the United States before the summer is over. I'm talking about Joran van der Sloot. He, as you know, is in prison in Peru for the murder of Stephanie Flores, another woman there.
But his attorney says he believes his client will be extradited in the course of three months to face U.S. charges of extortion and wire fraud. A federal grand jury indicted van der Sloot after he allegedly offered to lead Natalee's mother to Natalee Holloway's remains. The information turned out to be false.
And this story really sends home that whole saying, you know, no good deed goes unpunished. Listen to this one. A Long Island woman says she was fired after she donated a kidney that helped save her boss' life, right? So she's fired.
Boss has kidney. Debbie Stevens says because she gave up her kidney, her boss earned a higher spot on the wait list to receive a kidney. When they both returned to work, Stevens says Jackie Brucia then became hostile toward her, leading to Stevens getting transferred to a job site miles from her home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBBIE STEVENS, KIDNEY DONOR: I was just devastated over it, partly because, well, a big part of it was because she had been treating me so badly for the months before. You know, as soon as she came back to work after her recovery, it's just -- she turned demonic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Debbie Stevens is now suing her former employer. Oh, I know, Sunny Hostin. What a story. We just thought, we never heard of anything like this. I'm sure there's all kinds of backstory, but just hearing it on the surface, does it stand up in court?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I mean, it's possible. You know, bottom line is you have an employer who's in a position of power. There's a clear conflict of interest, many would say. You know, you're using your power to get your employee to give up a body part, give up an organ.
And then you have the employee giving up perhaps the organ to perhaps get some sort of preferential treatment. And so what she discriminated against when she was pushed out, possible. And the bottom line is she has filed this complaint with the commission, I believe, the Human Rights Commission in New York. Well, the New York human rights law is very robust. It's one of the most comprehensive civil rights laws in our country. And so it protects employees that been discriminated against, perhaps by unemployment, perhaps disability, perhaps retaliated against. So it's quite possible, Brooke, that she has some sort of course of action.
BALDWIN: Let me read. This is from the ex-employer, responding, saying, I'm going to read this quote here.
"We respect all of our employees and the good work that they do. It is unfortunate that one employee has used her own generous act to make up a groundless claim. Atlantic Auto treated her appropriately and honorably and acted fairly at every turn."
So as you point out, she files this complaint with the Human Rights Commission. Is this a human rights violation?
HOSTIN: It's possible. Again, you've got the New York human rights law, very, very robust law. And it's really more about employment discrimination, people are thinking human rights discrimination. It's really more about employee discrimination on the basis of perhaps disability.
Perhaps she was retaliated against for her good deed. But you're right, it's like no good deed goes unpunished. Bottom line is, (inaudible) an employee, should you give up your organ to your employer? Probably not.
BALDWIN: Yes, yes.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: (Inaudible) friend. Wow. We'll see what happens.
Meantime, let's talk about the New Orleans Saints. There's this ton of buzz around this story. So the anonymous sources are telling ESPN that the manager of the New Orleans Saints -- he is Mickey Loomis -- bugged a suite at the Superdome so that he could eavesdrop on the coaches, you know, their plays for the next week, et cetera.
So the NFL says it had no knowledge of this. Former Saints head coach, Jim Haslett also says no knowledge. Explain here, I guess, what would be the potential crime? Let me just also say the Saints are saying, you know, 100 -- or no, they're actually saying 1,000 percent false, this story.
HOSTIN: Right.
BALDWIN: What would the crime be?
HOSTIN: Well, you know, the ECPA -- that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act -- let me say it again -- Electronic Communications Privacy Act -- prohibits someone from intercepting communications, not just eavesdropping, but intercepting communications by using some sort of device, an electronic device, mechanical device. And that's what's alleged here. But the trick here is I believe he is said to have alleged to have had this device, 2002, 2003, 2004. We know that Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Federal statute of limitations, Brooke, six -- five years.
BALDWIN: Five years for federal.
HOSTIN: Louisiana, five years. That tells me that --
BALDWIN: (Inaudible).
HOSTIN: It has probably been excluded by the statute of limitations. But you know what, about civil recourse, they've got two years from when they find out that this happened. Perhaps there's some sort of civil exposure. People don't like being eavesdropped on.
BALDWIN: No.
HOSTIN: Especially defensive coaches and offensive coaches --
BALDWIN: It's a no-no.
HOSTIN: -- from other teams.
BALDWIN: It's the crux of the game, right?
HOSTIN: Exactly.
BALDWIN: (Inaudible) out, you're --
HOSTIN: The integrity of the game. And that's what I think is really at issue here.
BALDWIN: OK. See you back here tomorrow.
HOSTIN: Yes.
BALDWIN: "On the Case." Thank you.
Now, still ahead, a young girl, she dies in a violent car crash. Police say a drunk driver is to blame in this case. But now the girl's big sister is begging to keep the suspect behind bars. You're going to hear her heartbreaking plea and what happened inside court today. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: A devastating car crash in Miami takes the life of a 13-year-old girl. Kaely Camacho died moments after she was pulled from this wreckage, and police say the man who caused the crash was drunk.
Sandor Guillen is charged with vehicular homicide and DUI manslaughter. But just a couple of hours ago, a judge did lower his bond and this family, they are heartbroken. They wanted him to stay in jail. Her older sister, in fact, took to Facebook with this emotional plea just a couple of days ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BREEANN MARIE CAMACHO: And when I got to Ryder Trauma Center, my parents told me that she passed away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Police say a Land Rover going in excess of 100 miles per hour slammed into the minivan she was riding in. You can see just with the impact of this collision, it's now sort of split in half. Police say Sandor Guillen got out of his vehicle and left the scene.
I want to bring in CNN's John Zarrella, who is following this story for us from Miami.
And, John, I want to talk, because she took -- this big sister took to Facebook, pleading for the judge not to lower the bond. The judge lowered the bond today and it's actually pretty stunning to look at how high the bond was for this kind of charge, correct?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It was a record initially of about $1 million, the initial bond.
And when they first went to court and got that $1 million, what they did was the prosecution argued that, look, this guy has considerable assets, he's also a flight risk because he's from Nicaragua originally, and when you look at the list of charges that he was facing, vehicular homicide, DUI manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident causing death, leaving the scene of an accident causing injury, driving without a license causing death and injury, there was considerable reason for the initial bond to be placed at $1 million.
But his attorney argued in court today, a courtroom, in fact, packed with friends and relatives of the little girl who was killed, the defendant's attorney arguing, look, $45,000 is the normal amount that you would put as bond for the kinds of charges that he faces.
In the end, the judge going ahead with a $205,000 bond. And still, he's going to have to raise enough money there to meet that bond, the 10 percent, in order to meet that bond. So we don't know whether he's going to get out of court anytime soon, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Yes. Just to see this four-minute or so, you know, piece on Facebook from this big sister, it's heartwrenching, to say the least.
John Zarrella, thank you.
And (inaudible).
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We caught the president, just about an hour or two ago, speaking on the campus of UNC/Chapel Hill, talking about potentially these interest rates rising, and waiting and watching for Congress to act come July 1st.
After he spoke, he stepped away from Carmichael Arena on the campus at Chapel Hill and actually sat down with Jimmy Fallon in an interview. And some news was just made that turned a little bit of the -- not the video yet, but the verbatim around. I want to go with Peter Hamby in Washington, with a little bit of news that the president made, talking to Jimmy Fallon. Peter, what did he say?
PETER HAMBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And Brooke, we believe these are President Obama's first comments on the unfolding Secret Service scandal from Colombia. As you said, Jimmy Fallon made a little bit of news tonight. Let me read to you what the president said when asked about the Secret Service scandal.
He said, quote, "The Secret Service, these guys are incredible. They protect me, they protect Michelle, they protect our girls. They protect our officials all around the world, 99.9 percent of them every day, they put their life on the line. They do a great job. So a couple of knuckleheads shouldn't detract what they do. But what these guys were thinking, I don't know. That's why they're not there anymore."
So Obama basically praising the Secret Service but portraying this group of agents as some bad eggs. Again, Brooke, these are his first comments since the scandal broke in Colombia. So it will be interesting to watch tonight and see what --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Right again. Right. It's tonight, Jimmy Fallon. Since I have you here, Hamby, we're going to slide in a little "Political Pop" story. I read this article in the "Chicago Tribune" about Blago in prison, who apparently wants to teach a little Shakespeare?
HAMBY: He does. The Trib talked to his attorney, who went to visit him and said Blagojevich is in great spirits. He is washing dishes in the kitchen. He wants to teach Greek tragedy and Shakespeare in the library at the prison.
Brooke, I think our viewers should actually go read an article I read recently, also in the "Chicago Tribune," a former Missouri state senator who went to federal prison on a campaign finance charge. Listen to a bunch of advice for Blagojevich going to prison.
BALDWIN: No way.
HAMBY: And -- yes, it's really good.
Jeff Smith is his name. He said to Blagojevich to do a lot of these things. He should read a lot. He should teach. He should work out -- Blagojevich, excuse me, is apparently running four or five miles a day.
BALDWIN: Got a nice color and a tan? HAMBY: He does, he does. But the lawyer sais that he's kind of a popular figure in prison. People call him Guv, you know, kind of backslapping now. If you read Smith's article, his advice for Blagojevich, his advice was, hey, you're a politician, but resist those political urges. Lay low.
You don't want to have a big name and reputation in prison, kind of observe when you first start there, so we'll see if Blagojevich sticks to that advice. But it's worth checking out, Brooke.
BALDWIN: All right.
HAMBY: (Inaudible) that piece.
BALDWIN: Send me the article via Twitter and I'll retweet you. Peter Hamby, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
(Inaudible) we're moments away with Wolf Blitzer. Let's get a quick sneak peek. Wolf, what are you working on today?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Among other thing, we're going to get the latest on the investigation in the Secret Service prostitution scandal. Darrell Issa, the congressman who's the chairman of the House Government Oversight Committee, he's going to be joining us live in our 4:00 pm Eastern hour.
In our 5:00 pm Eastern hour, Joel Osteen, the very, very popular minister out from Houston, he is here in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Got a lot of questions to talk to him about. I know he has got a lot of people who love him, very popular TV show every Sunday.
So we're going to talk about what's going on in this nexus between politics and religion. So that's always, always interesting. I know you'll be watching. How do you like the president at your alma mater today?
BALDWIN: I love it. You -- look at you again with that Carolina blue tie. Coinkydink, Mr. Blitzer, or not?
BLITZER: I know you're very passionate about the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. You love that school, don't you?
BALDWIN: I love it. I love it. It was special to see him there, and I also spoke with his --
BLITZER: (Inaudible), by the way.
BALDWIN: I hope they do. I love them back.
Wolf, thank you. We'll see you at the top of the hour.
In just a couple of minutes, though, we should let you know that Apple -- Apple is expected to make an announcement that could send a ripple through the markets. Wall Street is on the edge. We're going to take you there and check some numbers next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: I know a lot of you are waiting to see if Apple can outdo itself and post another record-breaking quarter and it could use some good news because Apple's stock, if you have some, you've been watching, I'm sure. It's been on this two-week slide.
I want to bring in Felicia Taylor. I know you're following the announcement there at the New York Stock Exchange. What, exactly, are we expecting to hear from Apple?
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we could get a surprise, but not necessarily in a good way. We're used to seeing certainly blowout earnings from Apple. They have, you know, topped the charts in 19 out of the last 20 earnings seasons. It constantly beats expectations and sets records. So the bar is very high.
Last time Apple had quarterly sales of nearly $47 billion. It was a record for the entire tech industry. This time, though, of course, Wall Street is worried that iPhone sales might be slowing and here's why. It's pretty simple.
AT&T said its iPhone sales fell 43 percent last quarter. Verizon saw iPhone sales fall 24 percent. So we have got growing competition from Google's Android phones and that's responsible for the slowdown. People are simply getting used to Apple's schedule. For example, it frequently rolls out new products in the summer.
So some people are holding out for a possible iPhone 5 and that's still an unknown. So we simply don't know yet. And there has been some profit taking in the stock. Apple's stock is now down about 2 percent to trade at about $560. We've seen it top $644 a share, which was its all-time high.
BALDWIN: So is this the time when people have that Apple stock? I mean, this is -- they always say don't panic, don't panic, right?
TAYLOR: Yes, yes, definitely don't panic. This would not be a time to sell out. I mean, expectation -- even if it's a slight disappointment, the street may exacerbate it a little bit and just sort of blow it out of proportion. This is still a very strong company.
There's no question that they have the technology out there and their sales will continue to ramp up. It just may not be at the scale that we've seen. That doesn't mean that they're going into losses at all and frankly, a lot of analysts out there are looking for the stock to reach $700 a share in very short order.
So all things are probably going to be good for Apple but we'll find out in just a few minutes' time.
BALDWIN: (Inaudible) a few Apple iPhones in recent months. I feel like I'm helping Apple out in my little way. Felicia Taylor, I really appreciate that. Thank you so much.
And since we are there at the market, let's take a quick look at the Dow as we are approaching that closing bell, guys. Let's go ahead and throw up that number -- you can see right there at that 13,000 mark as the closing bell is about to happen. We'll be looking for that announcement.
Meantime, football fans, quick note before I turn things over to Wolf Blitzer. We have just learned University of Arkansas now has a new head football coach. He is John Smith. So he is the one who gets the job.
He worked as a special teams coach for the Razorbacks -- there he is -- during the 2009-2011 seasons. He was coach at Weber state and he replaces Petrino as head coach, who was ousted there not too long ago.
And that does it for me, I'm Brooke Baldwin, here at the World Headquarters in Atlanta. Now to Washington, my colleague, Wolf Blitzer. "THE SITUATION ROOM" begins right now.
BLITZER: Brooke, thanks very much.
