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Judge Revokes George Zimmerman's Bail; Voting Controversy in Florida; Unemployment Rate Up
Aired June 01, 2012 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And more on the breaking news that we had just last hour. The man who admits shooting Trayvon Martin must go back to jail within 48 hours, we have learned. A judge revoked George Zimmerman's bond, saying he wasn't truthful about just how much money was at his disposal.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
MARK O'MARA, ATTORNEY FOR GEORGE ZIMMERMAN: ... use it to get him out that very day.
But on the other hand, I think Judge Lester runs a very tight courtroom, as well he should, and he was frustrated because he doesn't think that they were being as straightforward and as honest as he thought they should.
And the revocation of bond I hope is temporary. I hope that they will -- he will give us a day in court to explain George's behavior and look at all the circumstances, even the discovery that's come out to date, in determining what he's going to do about letting him back out on bond.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
O'MARA: Within 48 hours.
QUESTION: Within (MIKE)
O'MARA: I haven't even spoken to him yet, so no..
QUESTION: Did you read the motion? They talked apparently (OFF- MIKE) reported jailhouse conversations (OFF-MIKE) talking in code about tens of thousands of dollars?
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: ... certain amount of collusion between Mr. Zimmerman's wife and Mr. Zimmerman.
O'MARA: If you consider about talking about 10, 20, and 155 as being code, then maybe you're accurate.
(CROSSTALK) O'MARA: Yes, $9, right. And I have been involved myself in cases where drug dealers talk, and they talk about watermelons and things like that. When you talk about nine or ten, I'm not certain that that is so much for code for $80,000 or $90,000, that that is legitimately trying to deceive anything.
And, again, if deception was their intent, why did they disclose it to me the first day that it was discussed and why did he forward all of the money I asked him to forward the day we asked him to forward it? So, again, we will vet that out with the judge and we will have a hearing.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
O'MARA: I'm sorry?
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) chance to tell George that (OFF-MIKE)
O'MARA: Haven't spoken to him yet. About to give him to call.
QUESTION: Did he know (OFF-MIKE) that this was a possibility, and (OFF-MIKE) what was his reaction to that?
O'MARA: Sure. No reaction at all. Wait to see what the judge does both now and at the next hearing.
QUESTION: Is he watching this?
O'MARA: I presume so, but I haven't spoken to him yet.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) Is it a pretty simple process to bring him back here?
O'MARA: We will accomplish it. We're very concerned about safety still, and we will maintain that concern and we will accomplish it.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) George and Shelley Zimmerman being called liars?
O'MARA: I understand the state's position on it. I disagree with it. That's what adversaries do. I think we will get it figured out.
I think again Judge Lester was concerned with whether or not they were being as straightforward as he wanted them to. And I think he wants them to come in person and explain that to him, and we will certainly give them and the court that opportunity.
QUESTION: How long do you think it will take to get George back here? Are we talking hours? Are we talking (OFF-MIKE)
O'MARA: It sounds like I'm talking in code, but it's less than 48 hours, because that's what the judge gave us, and we're going to accomplish that.
QUESTION: Are you still significantly concerned about his security?
O'MARA: Yes. Absolutely.
QUESTION: Have you receive any death threats?
O'MARA: We have just -- they're sort of ongoing threats and concerns and complaints.
I don't know where along the spectrum they become true threats, but we're dealing with them the way we want to. Law enforcement is involved as they need to be. And they're vetting through whatever they need do. They will keep everyone as safe as we can.
QUESTION: Can I shift the question? Because in the court there was a discussion about whether this is a confession made by your client or whether it is a statement made by your client. You actually didn't let the judge answer that for you. Where are you on that? Have you listened to it and have you concluded whether it's a confession?
O'MARA: We have begun the process of analyzing the number of statements that he's given voluntarily to the police.
I don't have any -- I don't want to determine or define them as confession, statement, nuance or whatever. At the right time, we will make a decision whether or not this is subject to motions to suppress. And if they're not, then I think that they may not fall under the protection of 119.
QUESTION: Is it time for Shelley Zimmerman to get an attorney? Are you concerned about (OFF-MIKE)
O'MARA: I hadn't thought about it. I don't believe that that's going to be necessary. We will deal with it when I speak with them.
QUESTION: A lot of considerations were made for the Zimmerman family when that bond hearing happened allowing them to present themselves over the phone. Do you think that they have burned off that special consideration in light of this or not?
O'MARA: I don't think they should have. I think that the judge will and should maintain the security of all the witnesses and the defendant's family in this case as a priority, and I believe that Judge Lester will continue to do that.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
O'MARA: I think it was 155 plus another 30, 185. I just don't keep the active daily track of it that I know you guys want me to.
All right, thanks very much. Appreciate the time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
BOLDUAN: All right, so right there , we were looking at a live press conference by George Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara. Let's bring in now senior legal analyst Sunny Hostin joining me from New York.
So, Sunny, this has all kind of come out just in the past hour. Explain for our viewers why the judge did this, why the judge has kind of changed his position, if you will, to say you have to give bond and then also kind of revoke bond now and say he must report in the next 48 hours?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Right.
Well, the state, the government filed a motion to revoke George Zimmerman's bond on two -- they filed a motion based on two things. One, they said that George Zimmerman was asked to surrender his passport to the judge as a condition of being released, a condition of bond.
He, in fact, did release or relinquish a passport, but that passport expired in May 2012. The government found out that he, in fact, had a second passport that did not expire until 2014. And so the state felt that he had been dishonest.
But the most important, I think, part of the state's motion was ground number two. They say that Shelley Zimmerman, George Zimmerman's wife, lied when she represented to the court that they were an indigent family and that they didn't have a lot of money to scrape together to secure bond for George Zimmerman.
Well, the state apparently got hold of several phone calls between George Zimmerman and Shelley Zimmerman. And during those calls while they are sort of speaking in code about money...
BOLDUAN: Hey, Sunny, I'm going to jump in real quick because Trayvon Martin's attorney is speaking out, Ben Crump. Let's listen in for a second.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
BENJAMIN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR FAMILY OF TRAYVON MARTIN: And we think it is the most important ruling so far in this entire case.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) you didn't think that he deserved bond and that he shouldn't have been let out. The prosecutors used the word lie, and they didn't coat it over with any sugar here.
CRUMP: Well, we think this prosecution made a very compelling case that you all can listen to for yourself, and the judge listened to that testimony, and based on the evidence before him, made a ruling that he thought was appropriate based on the law.
And it is important that we consider to make everything based on the law. Now, I will say that Trayvon's mother and father have always maintained that the killer of their unarmed son should remain in custody until they have the trial, and everybody then will be able to have all the evidence out there.
And that's a parent, that's a grieving parent saying I want the person who killed my son to be put in jail, because they have always believed if the shoe was on the other foot that Trayvon Martin would have been put in jail on day one, and he would not have been given bail. So, they have only asked for equal justice, nothing more, nothing less.
QUESTION: When he turns himself in, assuming he does, as demanded by the court, do you believe that he should have the right to make a claim for another bond?
CRUMP: Well, again, the parents have always said that they want the killer of their son to remain in custody until the trial.
Now, it would be based on the law and Judge Lester's ruling whether or not he will release George Zimmerman, but he has to look at the evidence of what has transpired at that bond hearing and what has transpired based on the evidence he considered today that the special prosecutor had presented through their office and their discovery.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) there any reaction (OFF-MIKE)
CRUMP: I'm looking forward to going to call them now.
As you would expect, they have been watching this intensely because that's their son that died here. And, you know, it's important to them for just obvious reasons, but when your son is killed and then there's all these things being said, you want to pay attention so you can defend your son's honor. And that's all these parents have been trying to do. They're doing what any other parent would have done in that same situation.
QUESTION: Did we learn anything new about (OFF-MIKE) Zimmerman today that (OFF-MIKE)
CRUMP: Well, I think it's important that one of the things you saw in there today, it was rather obvious that on the day of the bond hearing, George Zimmerman sat there and saw a parade of witnesses, a parade of testimony, right, with the sole intent of proving that he was almost indigent, right, which we know that the candor from that particular situation was not there.
Now, I think that's the one thing that came out today that was very evident, that that was not the case. And certainly it went back to case in point here that his credibility is greatly in question.
QUESTION: So let me see if I understand this correctly. You believe that if he lied about his money and his passport, then he may also be lying about what happened that night?
CRUMP: We fully expect that the special prosecutor will make George Zimmerman's credibility be front and center in this entire case.
And whatever dishonesty that comes forth by George Zimmerman, that they can prove, you can best believe it would be the issue of this case, and rightfully so. I think everybody wants credibility, and everybody wants it to be transparent.
So when you have a full, fair, transparent trial, then everybody in America can accept the outcome.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all win.
CRUMP: And everybody, everybody wins when it's transparent and it's fair.
And that's all they -- I think all the lawyers in this case, the special prosecutor, the defense team, certainly we as representatives of the family, and certainly the mother and father of Trayvon Martin want it to be a fair trial. They -- and they are really concerned about can their son get a fair trial? That is important issue with them.
BOLDUAN: I want to get out of this now. We're looking at a live press conference in Sanford, Florida.
That was the attorney for the Trayvon Martin family.
I'll bring back in Sunny Hostin.
Sunny, sorry to cut you off there when we wanted to just get to that press conference real quick.
So, what do you make of this now? It's not surprising obviously that Trayvon's family would like to see George Zimmerman in jail until they at least get to trial and beyond that, of course. But you see there that their attorney is kind of making the case of using this to set up their case going forward, this credibility question, almost saying that he was lying in order to get bond.
HOSTIN: Yes.
I mean, it is an issue now, right, because the government alleged and obviously the judge agreed that George Zimmerman knew when he let his wife the rest of his family members represent to the court that they were, in fact, indigent and it would be difficult to put together enough money to make bond, and that was their argument in terms of getting the judge to give them a reasonable bond.
And we know that the judge gave them a bond of about $150,000, which means they had to put down about 10 percent. Well, George Zimmerman and Shelley Zimmerman, according to jailhouse phone call records, were talking a lot on the phone about money that had been transferred from George Zimmerman's PayPal account, money he had raised on that Web site, The Real George Zimmerman, and had transferred about $135,000 into a credit union account.
And so the judge felt that that -- that he had been lied to, and that does call into question now George Zimmerman's credibility, as well as his wife's.
BOLDUAN: All right, Sunny Hostin, thanks so much. Sunny, and we will talk to you soon.
Just to recap real quick for our viewers, this is a judge in Seminole County,Florida, has revoked bond for George Zimmerman, who is facing charges relating to the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a case we have been following closely and a new development here today.
We will have much more of course on that to come.
So, we do have a lot of -- a lot more news to cover in the next little while. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN (voice-over): Thousands of people in Florida being purged from voter rolls. The state says it's just doing its duty, but the Department of Justice says they're violating the law.
Plus, the war in Wisconsin. It's mayor vs. governor, and today a former president steps in.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You have a choice here, and the choice I think is pretty simple.
BOLDUAN: And a milestone for a monarch. London gears up for a major celebration as Queen Elizabeth marks 60 years on the throne.
Brooke Baldwin tells us what's in store at this weekend's diamond jubilee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: For the last three weeks, the Obama campaign has been working tirelessly trying to prove that presidential candidate Mitt Romney cannot in their view create jobs. They were just on Romney's trip in Boston attacking his record of creating jobs as governor, as well as attacking his time at Bain Capital.
Then last night, former President Bill Clinton, a huge voice of support for President Obama, said this about Romney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: There's no question that in terms of getting up and going to the office and, you know, basically performing the essential functions of the office, a man who has been governor and had a sterling businesses career crosses the qualification threshold.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: And you better believe the RNC and Republicans jumped for joy at this one and took his words straight to the bank.
An RNC spokesman sent an e-mail out this morning saying -- quote -- "Yet another high-profile Democrat who is clearly uncomfortable with Obama's negative attacks on free enterprise."
But how big of a gaffe is this? Listen as President Clinton finishes his sentence last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: But they had dramatically different proposals, and it's my opinion anyway that the Obama proposals and the Obama record would be far better for the American economy and most Americans than those that Governor Romney has laid out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: So let's bring in chief national correspondent and anchor of "JOHN KING, USA," John King.
So, John, how off-script do you think President Clinton was there? Because Republicans are jumping all over this.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: If you're the Obama campaign, he was 100 percent off-script. If you're Bill Clinton, you're 100 percent showing your political DNA on two fronts.
Remember Inauguration Day for Bill Clinton back in 1993, Fleetwood Mac, 'don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow"?
Bill Clinton fundamentally thinks it is a mistake for any politician to look in the rear-view mirror. So, he thinks it's bad strategy to be going after Bain Capital. Maybe mention it. Maybe go after the record as Massachusetts governor. But as he said there in that second clip you played, what do you want to do if you win a second term?
What has Governor Romney proposed? What would President Obama do? Let's have a clash of ideas about the future. That is, number one, Bill Clinton's DNA. He thinks it's a waste of time to look backwards. He always has. He always says elections are about the future.
Number two, where did Bill Clinton come from? He was the former Arkansas governor. George H.W. Bush called him the failed governor of a small state. But before he could challenge President Bush, he had to challenge his own party, Kate. He was among the founders of the Democratic Leadership Council, which after Walter Mondale lost 49 states, they formed this new group saying the Democrats can no longer be so cozy with the unions, so hostile to business.
They can't be identified as the tax and spend party. Go back to Bill Clinton's speeches in the early 1990s. He promises a pro- business environment in a new Democratic Party. That's what he believes he did as president, and if you talk to people he talks to privately, what you heard there publicly was parts of his concern, that he thinks this president is drifting too far to the left.
Yes, he likes him. Yes, he wants him to win reelection, but he thinks he should be more pro-business. BOLDUAN: And just this morning, Romney is smiling at Clinton's compliment I guess today when he spoke to CNBC. He said -- in his words, he said, "I think Bain Capital has a good and solid record" and goes on to say, "I was happy to see President Clinton made a similar statement today and called my record superb."
There's no surprise he was going to take that and run with it, right?
KING: No surprise he would jump on it.
Look, the Obama campaign won't let up. But remember again the Clinton economy, 22 million jobs during those eight years. He left office with a balanced budget. A lot of voters look, even some Republicans and many independents, look back at the Clinton years from an economic standpoint and said, boy, I wish we had that now. So, if Bill Clinton says nice things about you, guess what? Mitt Romney is going to say thank you, thank you, thank you, and thank you.
BOLDUAN: And we may be seeing that in an ad for Mitt Romney sometime soon.
KING: I wouldn't doubt that at all, probably by the time we wake up tomorrow.
BOLDUAN: Exactly.
John King, anchor of "JOHN KING, USA." You can John tonight at 6:00 Eastern. Don't miss it.
We will talk to you soon, John.
KING: Take care, Kate.
BOLDUAN: Thank you.
So very different story, chilling 911 tapes in the Seattle cafe shootings and one man's actions have police calling him a hero.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: When bullets started to fly at a Seattle cafe Wednesday, we are now learning about a hero who Seattle police say faced down a gunman and saved two, maybe three lives.
Listen as police describe his actions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASST. CHIEF JIM PUGEL, SEATTLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: He was sitting next to the suspect when the suspect started shooting, and the suspect had two guns.
The hero picked up a stool and threw it at the suspect, hit him, picked up another stool as the suspect is shooting and now pointing at him and hits him with another stool. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Seattle police won't identify the man. They refer to him only as only Lawrence.
But listen as I read a quote Lawrence gave police that they posted on the Seattle police online blotter. This is what motivated him. This is quoting him. "My brother died in the World Trade Center. I promised myself if something like this happened, I would never hide under a table."
It's pretty amazing stuff. Seattle police are also now releasing 911 calls from Wednesday's shooting spree, including this one made from the cafe's bathroom.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's been a shooting. Somebody came in and shot a bunch of people. I'm hiding in the bathroom.
911 OPERATOR: Hold on, sir. How many people?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need help right away.
911 OPERATOR: OK. Just a second. Did you see the person that did it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I did not. I was in the back, so they didn't get me.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: You can just hear the fear in his voice. And another harrowing call came into the 911 operators a short time later, this one from a woman witnessing a carjacking, same gunman as the cafe, different Seattle location.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm calling 911.
911 OPERATOR: Nine-one-one. What are you reporting?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Man with gun assaulting woman on -- oh, my God, he just shot her. Oh, my God, he just shot her.
911 OPERATOR: OK. OK. OK. Are you at 1119 Eight Avenue?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. He's in a parking lot. He's stealing a Mercedes, black Mercedes. He's getting in the car. He just shot her.
(CROSSTALK)
911 OPERATOR: OK. What does he look like? Is he white...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, white.
(CROSSTALK)
911 OPERATOR: Hold on, ma'am.
(INAUDIBLE) man just shot a female 1119 Eight Avenue. He's getting into a Mercedes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Black Mercedes.
911 OPERATOR: OK, ma'am. I'm going to bring the medics on the line with us, OK? Hang on for me.
(CROSSTALK)
911 OPERATOR: Yes, a woman is shot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, she's down.
911 OPERATOR: Stay on the line with me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A shooting.
(CROSSTALK)
911 OPERATOR: OK. Stay on the line with me.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God.
(CROSSTALK)
911 OPERATOR: We're responding to 1119 Eight Avenue. A man shot a woman.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just ran over her.
911 OPERATOR: OK. Stay on the line with me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're all broken up. I have got 1119 Eight Avenue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Correct in the parking behind -- yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the parking lot?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, and the guy just took off in the car.
911 OPERATOR: What direction did he leave, ma'am?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What direction did the car leave? He took off on Seneca (ph) on...
911 OPERATOR: East or west?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he go towards -- did he go towards I-5? Which direction?
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He took off on...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So did we have a car hit a pedestrian?
911 OPERATOR: Sir, we had a female shot and then that person ran the female over with a vehicle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. So we have a shooting?
911 OPERATOR: Yes, correct.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Wow, that's tough to listen to.
Before the shooting ended, five people would be dead, including the gunman.
Let's turn to the economy now. Slowly, Americans are returning to work, and it's the slow part that has some economists worried.
Plus, very, very different story, Justin Bieber in Paris. I'm sure you already knew that. He looks great now, but last night, well, you will hear more about the Bieber blackout straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: The jobless rate is up. The East Coast may start the weekend with hail and even tornadoes. And Justin Bieber knocks himself out -- but don't worry, only for a few seconds. Time to play "Reporter Roulette".
We begin with the latest jobs report. Unemployment rose to 8.2 percent with just 69,000 jobs created last month. CNN's Alison Kosik has been following all this.
So, Alison, is there any bright spot in this very dismal jobs report?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kate, you have to really dig deep to find anything bright in this report. You know what that bright is? It's coming from that unemployment rate moving higher from 8.1 percent to 8.2 percent. It's not all bad, because what it shows is that more people actually got back into the labor market to try to find a job. In fact, 629,000 people got back into the workforce. And what it means is that they're feeling a little better, like they have a better chance of getting a job.
You know what the problem is? The problem is they're chasing fewer jobs. We found out that only 69,000 jobs were added to the economy last month. That number stunned traders. It's the reason you're seeing stocks tank right now, the Dow falling 264 points. Guess what? The Dow has erased all of its gains for the year, Kate.
BOLDUAN: I guess we'll just have to take what we can get on this fine Friday. Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange. Alison, thank you.
Next, on "Reporter Roulette," severe weather is predicted to hit the southeast and mid-Atlantic states. Meteorologist Chad Myers joining me. Hey, there, Chad. So what's the latest?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's moving over Washington, D.C., now, not tornado warnings but severe thunderstorm warnings for Washington, D.C. Up towards Adelphi, Maryland and the like, maybe up toward Greenville (ph). This is an area of thunderstorm activity that could produce winds to 50 to 60 miles per hour.
There's the storm right there, moving north up into the northern half of D.C. And also eventually into Maryland. Go a little bit farther to the north here, we will find more of the weather that we were talking about earlier, these pink boxes, still looking at tornado warnings there, not seeing any tornado warnings, in fact, no tornadoes proper.
We're watching WJLA's helicopter shot here, looking for something, but all they're doing now is flying into the rain, back toward D.C. We'll keep you advised if anything falls out of the sky.
BOLDUAN: Keeping an eye on that as I will be heading to the airport. Chad Myers, thank you so much.
MYERS: You're welcome.
BOLDUAN: Next up, pop star Justin Bieber gives himself a concussion. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" Kareen Wynter is live from Los Angeles. Kareen , Kareen , what did he do?
KAREEN WYNTER , CNN CORRESPONDENT: He got a little concussion, Kate, that's right, but he has kept a good sense of humor about what happened. And it's really quite bizarre. He bumped into a wall of glass -- this happened during a concert, but all concerned fans out there, they shouldn't be too worried. That's because Bieber performed again in Paris earlier today, this time from a balcony. You got to check out this video posted on YouTube of Bieber singing his hit song "Boyfriend." Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER: Kate, I know you couldn't get enough of that. Well, The Bieb, he explained how the glass wall incident happened at TMZ, telling the website he was actually walking off stage and he didn't realize there was a glass wall between him and the railing. So as he reached for the railing, he hit his head. Poor guy. But safe to say, look at him, I think he's on the mend. He'll survive.
BOLDUAN: I think he's OK. I think Bieber fans can sigh a big sigh of relief. Kareen Wynter, thank you so much. That is today's "Reporter Roulette."
Our Poppy Harlow has ways to improve your credit score, coming up ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: A good credit score can get you good deals from buying a car to buying a house, so how do you boost your credit? Poppy Harlow has today's "Help Desk".
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there. Good to see you. Well, we're on the "Help Desk" today and we're talking about building your credit. Very important. Got two experts to help us do that.
Ryan Mack, president of Optimum Capital Management and Stacy Francis. She's a financial adviser and president of Francis Financial.
All right, Ryan, we got this e-mail from Bree in Washington. Bree wrote in, "I'm thinking about getting a credit card to help build my credit score. Until now, I have only used a debit card. How do pick a card? "
RYAN MACK, PRESIDENT, OPTIMUM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: Well, essentially, with her situation, 15 percent of your FICO score is your length of credit history. And debit cards do absolutely nothing, despite what a lot of celebrities might want to have you think. They do absolutely nothing in terms of building your score.
So what we want to do is go to websites like bankrate.com and help you select a card. Avoid preapproved offers. Preapproved really don't mean anything. Making sure that you're using your card responsibly, maybe getting a secured card to get yourself started on the right track. And then making sure you're analyzing all the fees, the total cost of the card and understanding exactly you're reading the fine print and rereading the fine print.
BOLDUAN: Yes, absolutely.
And probably asking friends and things what success or no or not that they've had with different cards. What do you think about a lot of these starter cards that are loaded with fees oftentimes? How hidden are those, how careful do you have to be?
STACY FRANCIS, FINANCIAL ADVISER: You do have to be careful. I would ask you to bring out your magnifying glass, because that's what it's going to take to see all the fees. But really what it comes down to is that if you pay your cards on time, you're not going to be subject to those fees. So just make sure that you're being fiscally responsible, that you are using the cards appropriately and you're paying them off and then you shouldn't have any fees.
HARLOW: Yes, and look at the rewards you can get, because credit cards are competing, whether it's miles or cash back. They're competing so get the most if you're going to get one of these cards.
Thank you both. If you've got a question, just send us an email any time to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN (voice-over): The pomp, the pageantry, the flags, the flotilla, going on and on, the royalty's rehearsal. It's all fit for a queen's jubilee. And we're about to hear from our Brooke Baldwin, who is there having a blast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: We're tracking some pretty scary weather out of the D.C. region. You're looking at live pictures from our affiliate WJLA. Welcome to live TV, as that picture just went down. But there you could see some pretty scary clouds, looking at some radar pictures here.
We hear from the FAA there is currently a ground stop in effect for all of the Washington airports, Dulles, Reagan as well as BWI. We are tracking that scary weather going through the northeast right now. We'll bring you updates as we get that.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
If you thought the recent royal wedding was something, Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee just may outdo it this weekend. Sixty years on the royal throne, she is the second largest serving British monarch. That's a pretty amazing title. Brits aren't alone when it comes to their love for the Queen.
Yes, we took a poll. Americans love her, too. Our latest CNN ORC poll shows the Queen with an 82 percent approval rating among Americans. I know a few presidents that would love to have that kind of approval rating, and that's up from a low of 47 percent around the time of Princess Diana's death in 1997.
As for the other royals, you ask, right now Prince Charles is at 57 percent and his wife, Camilla, is at 36 percent.
Our own Brooke Baldwin is in London for the festivities. I love that we had a poll on this. I absolutely love that. So, Brooke, why --
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: When in doubt, take a poll.
BOLDUAN: Exactly. So why do you think Americans are so in love with the Queen?
BALDWIN: I think it's the whole story. It's so romanticized for Americans especially with this -- I don't know, (inaudible) rejuvenation of the monarchy. You talk to people over here as well in London and they say really it was the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate who really re-energized the monarchy now.
And so much was about the royal wedding last year. But I tell you what, walking around the streets of London as I have, really, the last 24 hours, people here say basically if you thought the royal wedding was a big deal, this is an even bigger deal. Sixty years on the throne, only one other queen can claim that, and that was Queen Victoria in the 19th century.
BOLDUAN: So you mentioned the duke and duchess, speaking of them, we saw some pretty awesome Twit pics that you sent out from your stay. I think we should put those up. Do you care to share?
BALDWIN: Let's share, shall we, Kate? I don't know what we'll begin with. You tell me. Are we looking at --
BOLDUAN: I think we're looking at you -- oh, with the duke and duchess themselves. What are you doing?
BALDWIN: Oh, of course. Right. As we all are working on our big exclusive with Queen Elizabeth, who, by the way, has never once in her 86 years on this planet ever once given a sit-down interview, I thought, well, the closest I think I'm probably getting to the royal family is at -- this is a huge toy store on Regent Street, Hamleys Toy Store. It's this world renowned store.
And they have -- if you can see this picture, now you can't probably tell, but they're all Legos. They're all Legos. So you see Kate and William, and then on the front of the toy store, if you want to go through some of the pictures, there was just one picture --
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BOLDUAN: I see a T-shirt (ph) --
BALDWIN: -- (inaudible). The Queen, Queen Elizabeth and then if you look at the T-shirt, go back to the T-shirt picture, because, I tell you what, you walk around London right now, and every single window, there's something Jubilee, there's something Diamond Jubilee, and what you can't tell. You see the T-shirt with the mustache on the Queen. And then below that you see the pint-sized Queens. Instead of having like a bobblehead Queen, the right hands are actually like stuck in a permanent waving position.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: I know you've been practicing.
BALDWIN: People here are having fun with it. They're having fun. It's a big party. It's the Jubilee.
BOLDUAN: So have you gotten some tips on the perfect wave, the perfect royal wave?
BALDWIN: I have a feeling Piers Morgan will have a little something to say about that once I finally bump into him. I can tell you that it's not this. It's more of like a this thing. It's not like elbow-elbow, wrist-wrist, it's just like a graceful, regal, hello.
BOLDUAN: Far better than I could ever pull off, Brooke Baldwin. You're already royalty in my mind.
BALDWIN: Thanks.
BOLDUAN: All right, Brooke. We will be watching you. Thank you so much. Have a good time at the same time.
BALDWIN: Yes.
BOLDUAN: The big event is this coming weekend, and we plan to bring you all of the incredible festivities live from London. Join our Brooke Baldwin along with Piers Morgan for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, a royal celebration. CNN's live coverage begins Sunday morning at 11:00 Eastern. It could be, should be quite a show.
So the Feds step in after some Americans are stripped of their voting rights, but the state involved says it just wants legal citizens at the polls. We'll have more on that coming up.
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BOLDUAN: The Feds have now officially joined the fight against a voter purge in Florida. Election officials there have been going through names and eliminating those who they say are not U.S. citizens, but advocates from minority groups say American citizens are also getting ousted.
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SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLA.: In the year 2012, here we are taking people's right to vote away from them? I thought we settled this in all the civil rights era back in the '50s and '60s.
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BOLDUAN: The Department of Justice has sent a letter saying Florida has to stop the purge now because it may be violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965. CNN Espanol's Adriana Hauser is live in Miami for us.
So, Adriana, the Florida Division of Elections, they've been obviously dealing with this and pushing forward with this purge, but have they stopped the purge?
Actually, Kate, they have not. They have simply said that they are reviewing this letter. But let's explain the controversy. Florida recently began a purge of potential non-citizens registered as voters and they're doing this by cross-checking names with records from the Department of Motor Vehicles. Thousands of letters were sent to potential non-citizens asking them to submit proof of citizenship.
In the letter, the DOJ argues that the state did not notify the government as dictated by federal law. It also says that Florida is violating a provision that prohibits removal of voters from rolls less than 90 days before an election. And Florida, as you know, will hold its primaries on August 14th.
After receiving the letter, Chris Cate, spokesman for the Division of Elections said, in a statement, and I quote, "The bottom line is we are firmly committed to doing the right thing and preventing ineligible voters from being able to cast a ballot. We hope the federal government will recognize the importance of accurate voter rolls and support our efforts," end of quote.
Kate, critics argue that these records are not accurate and that the process disproportionately affects minorities, specifically Hispanics and therefore some are welcoming the decision by the DOJ.
BOLDUAN: Adriana, did --
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MARIA RODRIGUEZ, EXECUTIVE COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM, FLORIDA IMMIGRANT COALITION: The numbers clearly show that 58 percent of those purged were Latino, despite the fact that we're 13 percent of the eligible voters, and so we welcome the Department of Justice affirmation that this is illegal and it violates our right to vote.
HAUSER: Kate, the Division of Elections recognizes that the process they implemented has limitations. It says it has asked the Department of Homeland Security for access to its records in an effort to have more accuracy when identifying potential non-citizens, Kate.
BOLDUAN: And, Adriana, this isn't just how they're going about it or how they're handling this. This isn't just paranoia, right? I mean, U.S. citizens have been removed from the voter rolls there.
HAUSER: You are correct, Kate. Thousands of letters were sent out, but let's focus on one of the counties most affected, and that is Miami-Dade. According to the Miami-Dade Department of Elections more than 1,600 people were flagged as potential non-citizens, and this is a county with a very large number of Latinos.
More than 300 have already proven their citizenship, so it goes to show you that the process has identified some people that are legitimate voters.
BOLDUAN: Adriana Hauser with CNN Espanol in Miami for me. Thank you so much, Adriana. So cancer deaths are decreasing in this country, but cases of cancer are soaring elsewhere and American influences may be partly to blame. We'll have more on that.
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BOLDUAN: We so often hear about cancer deaths declining here in the United States, so we did a double take when we heard this news.
A new study predicts cancer cases worldwide will soar by nearly 75 percent by the year 2030, 75 percent, really amazing. The current rate, based on figures from 2008, is 12.7 million new cancer cases a year, but this study predicts that in 2030, new cases will rise to 22.2 million a year.
With me now -- with this is one of the study's co-authors, Nathan Grey. He is also with the American Cancer Society, the global -- I always mess these up, the vice president of global health. There we go.
NATHAN GREY, VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL HEALTH, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: That's right.
BOLDUAN: Thank you so much. So first, Nathan, these numbers are really astounding when you look at it. Why the projected rise in cancer cases?
Well, some of it just has to do with the fact that the world's population is growing and aging. More people means more cancer and that's a big driver, but unfortunately, there are other issues, and the biggest issues are exposures, chronic exposures, lifelong exposures sometimes to cancer-causing agents like tobacco, like cancer-causing infections, like overweight and obesity, increasingly.
BOLDUAN: And when you're talking about those cancer -- that's kind of westernized issues that maybe are moving beyond the West.
GREY: Absolutely. And, frankly, it's been happening for a long time. I'm glad you brought that up. When we think about problems in low- and middle-income countries, we think about HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB. And these are huge issues. These are big issues.
At the same time we've seen exploding numbers of cancer cases, and not just cancer, heart disease and diabetes as well.
BOLDUAN: So I've got a graphic that I want to see if we can throw up. This has to do, a graphic showing that cancer deaths in the United States are dropping, and you can see that the decline started back really in the 1990s, if you take a look at that.
And we've seen cancer deaths drop by 18 percent since that time. So what do these developing countries, these developing regions, what do they need to learn from the United States, in order to stop this projected increase in cancer cases?
GREY: Yes. Well, we're really pleased to see those rates going down and the American Cancer Society has been working very hard to make this happen.
What we need to see this happen in low- to middle-income countries is -- especially policymakers, people in general, but policymakers to start to take action to prepare their countries for these growing numbers of cancer cases.
They can pass laws that will restrict tobacco use. They can bring in programs to immunize people for human papillomavirus, for hepatitis and they can begin to think about increasing rates of overweight and obesity, which is happening everywhere in the world.
BOLDUAN: But when you think about it, if it comes down to economics, if you will, developed nations have more money; developing countries do not. Is it too expensive for them to take on this challenge or are there inexpensive ways that they can try to fight this trend?
GREY: There are inexpensive ways. We can't do everything in developing countries that we can do here, but some of the things I just mentioned, policy changes. If you raise taxes on cigarettes you actually have money come into the government. So it's a win-win for everyone involved.
Vaccines, very low cost. They can make a big, big difference. So there are steps we can take now that can begin to make a big difference and over time we can build in other interventions that will help down the road.
BOLDUAN: You watch this closer than so many people, and we see this number, 75 percent is really astounding. How concerned are you? Is this one of those, the cliff is coming, it's a major issue if we don't wake up now?
GREY: It is a big issue. It is significant. In terms of the impact on human lives, on families and communities but also economically, because the costs of people not being able to work, lost productivity, the cost of direct medical treatment, all these things are huge, so lives lost and economies in ruins, it's a big deal.
BOLDUAN: And a lot of -- and education, educating the populations, right?
GREY: Yes, Oh, absolutely. I mean, that's a big step, that's a big step towards people beginning to realize that we're dealing with a very complex issue here. People tend to think black and white, HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria. That's all we need to think about.
BOLDUAN: All right. Nathan Grey with the American Cancer Society, thank you so much.
We're out of time. It's been a busy day. That's all for me up. Going to toss it over to my friend, Wolf Blitzer, in "THE SITUATION ROOM".