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Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien

Diamond Jubilee; Interview With Dan Kapanke

Aired June 05, 2012 - 08:00   ET

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

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SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome, everybody.

Our STARTING POINT this morning: a historic day in London. The queen's diamond jubilee is at its peak right now. We have all the festivities from the palace this morning.

Plus, could it be a dry run for the November election? The polls opened seconds ago in Wisconsin and voters decide whether the Tea Party-backed Republican governor should stay or go.

Jealousy, fighting favoritism, a new book says it's all happening inside the White House. We're going to talk to the author this morning of "Kill or Capture".

It's Tuesday, June 5th and STARTING POINT begins right now.

(MUSIC)

O'BRIEN: That's Bob Dylan, "Hurricane." It's from Daniel Klaidman's playlist. He's the author of "Kill or Capture" and we're going to be talking with him about his new book in just a few minutes.

We'll take you back to our panelists.

We've got Penn Jillette joining us this morning. He's the author, very nice -- yes, it's the jubilee.

PENN JILLETTE, COMEDIAN: Above the pearls, below the crown.

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I do it's a little bit more --

JILLETTE: Above the pearls, below the crown.

O'BRIEN: Margaret Hoover is giving tips on the official royal wave this morning.

And Will Cain is CNN contributor and columnist for TheBlaze.com.

Nice to have you all with us.

Our STARTING POINT this morning is in fact this -- the diamond jubilee for Queen Elizabeth II this morning, with the main, a formal service of thanksgiving in St. Paul's Cathedral, culminating four days of celebration marking the queen's 60 years on the throne. Now, later, there's going to be a carriage procession that will go right through the streets of London.

And then we have that again, the wave -- the royal family wave from the palace balcony to the crowds below.

CNN's Brooke Baldwin and Piers Morgan are live for us at Buckingham Palace this morning.

How does it feel? Are people just incredibly excited? I know the weather has been pretty awful.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I see sunshine and blue skies.

PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST: I'm seeing soldiers. What's going on is great here, Soledad. There are guys preparing for the big procession. These are some of the queen's personal guard and people forget in America, these guys aren't doing this as a bit of --

BALDWIN: This is not pomp and pageantry.

MORGAN: No, these are real soldiers.

BALDWIN: Active soldiers.

MORGAN: Most of them on active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. So, they are proper soldiers. This is a huge day for them when they do their procession in front of their queen.

So, attention and excitement building by the hour. The weather at the moment is OK.

BALDWIN: Knock on your head. Hear that, Soledad. So far so good.

O'BRIEN: We're happy to hear that.

So, walk me through what will happen today. We showed a moment ago live pictures of a luncheon. We know the ceremony at St. Paul's happened first and you see pictures of the queen because the prince is ill and hospitalized and she's been going through all of this by herself. It's a little solemn.

MORGAN: That was sad actually. I was saying to Brooke earlier, I thought that's a sad image of the queen walking into the cathedral on her own. I can't remember the last time on any ceremonial occasion the queen had to do that.

BALDWIN: We were having a conversation with the royal spokesman for the queen from '88 through 2000. And just to think, you know, he said, ultimately, it would have been her decision to walk alone up the St. Paul's Cathedral steps. And again was we watch the video of her walking inside Westminster hall where she's holding this luncheon right now. The guest list is 700 people.

She is alone. We did hear once the big carriage procession begins and she comes down to Mall, back here at home to Buckingham Palace, she will be sharing a carriage with her son, the prince of Wales, Prince Charles, and duchess of Cornwall, Camilla. So, she won't be alone in the carriage. Thus far this morning she has been.

O'BRIEN: Looks like an amazing ceremony. We're excited to watch it as it unfolds. Thanks guys for the update. We're excited that you'll be covering it starting at 8:30 this morning Eastern Time.

MORGAN: We are very excited.

O'BRIEN: Good. Us too. Let's get to the headlines. Zoraida has that.

(CROSSTALK)

JILLETTE: No, I love England. We play over there al the time. I don't think a king and queen is a groovy thing.

O'BRIEN: You don't think just the ceremony is an interesting thing to see?

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Rearranging decks on Titanic as E.U. falls, as the U.K. is not member, but their banking is exposed, let's have a pageant.

O'BRIEN: She's celebrating her 60 years on the throne.

JILLETTE: I was born in the USA. That's all I'm saying.

CAIN: Me, too.

O'BRIEN: Zoraida? How do you feel about the queen today?

ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: I think I'm going to agree with the guys on this one. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Soledad. I did enjoy the church service. I thought it was fantastic. Music was great. It's beautiful. But it's a lot of money to spend.

JILLETTE: I'm going to get busted for not being a monarchist?

O'BRIEN: I have not used the word monarchist. Nor are you being busted.

JILLETTE: You like men in hats.

O'BRIEN: I thought the pageantry was quite lovely and I love to know what headlines are. Anybody?

SAMBOLIN: Here we are. Less than 30 minutes from now, jury selection will begin in the trial for former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky has pleaded not guilty to charges he sexually abused ten boys over 14 years. A judge denied a request from Sandusky's attorneys to delay the trial. The judge in the case has ruled the identities of those alleged victims will be revealed during the trial.

President Obama getting some campaign help from Bill Clinton right here in the Big Apple. The Democratic duo kicking off a night of fund-raising that included a gala in Waldorf Astoria with Bon Jovi headlining. They raised more than $3.5 and Clinton telling Obama supporters, a defeat for Democrats in November would be calamitous.

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BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The Romney Republican plan is austerity and more unemployment now and blow the lid off later just at the time when we are worried about high interest rates. What's the difference here? Shared prosperity versus continued austerity and high unemployment.

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SAMBOLIN: Mitt Romney has been laying low. No campaigning yesterday and just one campaign stop today in Texas after finishing a massive fund-raising swing through California.

Actress Kevin Costner and Steven Baldwin set for a court showdown today. They are duking it out over millions of dollars connected to a deal to create oil spill cleanup technology. Costner and his partners developed technology and when the massive spill happened in the Gulf of Mexico back in 2010, Costner signed an $18 million deal with BP to help clean up that mess. Baldwin and a New Orleans businessman claim they were squeezed out of millions when they sold their shares in that company.

And a first look at Lindsay Lohan as Elizabeth Taylor. This is the first official photo for the upcoming Lifetime movie, "Liz and Dick". "True Blood's" Grant Bowler is playing Burton. The film will focus on a tumultuous relationship between the famous Hollywood couple. The film is expected to air in November.

Wow. That really looks like her.

O'BRIEN: For all her drama, she's a good actor. I think she's a good actor. So, I would watch that.

SAMBOLIN: I agree. She looks amazing.

O'BRIEN: The drama is outweighing the acting. It needs to flip-flop to the other side.

This morning, we're talking about what's happening inside the White House. A screaming match between David Axelrod and Eric Holder is just one of the stories in a new book called "Kill or Capture" -- capturing what's going on inside the Obama White House. The presidential adviser and attorney general at one point coming face to face after a cabinet meeting back in 2009.

Author Daniel Klaidman writes that Axelrod says this, "'Don't ever, ever accuse me of trying to interfere with the operations of the Justice Department.' Axelrod warned Holder after confronting him in the hallway. 'I'm not Karl Rove.' The two men stood chest to chest. It was like a schoolyard fight."

White House staffers caught in the crossfire averted their eyes."

According to the book, senior advisor Valerie Jarrett squeezed between them, broke it up and everyone back to their offices.

Daniel Klaidman is a special correspondent for "Newsweek" and also "The Daily Beast."

A lot of this book is like a page turner of drama and intrigue going on inside the White House, much around a lot of the decisions to kill or capture or send drones, et cetera, et cetera. Talk about that almost physical confrontation between Axelrod and Eric Holder.

DANIEL KLAIDMAN, AUTHOR, "KILL OR CAPTURE": Well, I think it's borne of exactly what you just talked about. What I tried to do in this book is kind of lay the human dimension of national security decision making.

These people are facing sort of wrenching choices, whether it has to do with security, values, or politics and principle or in the case of the attorney general, independence versus loyalty. They are very difficult choices that they have to make.

We all remember no drama Obama during the campaign governing is a much different proposition. You actually have to make the choices and --

O'BRIEN: And having the people you hired to do the jobs having brawls in the hallway don't help with the sense that it's all going well.

KLAIDMAN: Exactly. But in this particular case, what was going on is in mid-2009, early 2009 really, the White House was obviously preoccupied with the economy. We were still deep in recession. They were trying to push health care.

Meanwhile, the attorney general is doing his job. He's trying to fulfill the president's promises on some of these hot button counterterrorism issues. And so, there is an inevitable clash here.

And, you know, I was surprised how personal it got, the level of tension and animosity. But in some ways, you know, there may be something healthy about battling it out.

JILLETTE: It seems if you are making the decision to kill people with drones, they should at least be screaming. I can't imagine a decision that important and if it were done with no drama, I would be horrified.

KLAIDMAN: There's another dimension in the chapter in this book I write about. Two key people at the State Department, one at the State Department, top lawyer at the State Department and top lawyer at the Defense Department, they are kind of on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum.

O'BRIEN: Harold Koh --

KLAIDMAN: Harold Koh, that's right, at the State Department and Jeh Johnson. And they are at loggerheads throughout most of the Obama first term.

Harold Koh is a revered human rights lawyer and here he is in the middle of these kill meetings weighing in on whether people should be killed or not.

O'BRIEN: You talk about baseball cards. Was that literally like baseball cards, was it more like a PowerPoint of baseball cards?

KLAIDMAN: They were PowerPoint slides. They will come to you from the Pentagon literally minutes before these meetings take place. These are security videoconferences.

You know, you might get a half hour. Baseball card has a picture of the target, the suspected terrorist. On the back it has the supporting intelligence and you sort of study these cards and then you get on these big meetings and you sort of decide can this person be killed and do we have legal justification to kill this person? Is it the right policy?

And, you know, Harold Koh said at one point, you know, I used to be a law professor and here I am involved in killing. I used to memorize the names and faces of my students, bright eyed idealist who wanted to use the law to try to make the world a better place. Here I am memorizing my government's target list.

CAIN: As someone who is openly not a supporter of President Obama, I actually appreciate that he's seeking to take on the moral weight of these killings and personally looking over this.

Let me ask about this concept, which is actually the title of your book, "Kill or Capture". You have a quote that says, "The inability to detain terror suspects was creating perverse incentives that favored either killing or releasing terrorists."

Was that tension? Where are they going to kill or release terrorists? We cannot bring them in. Has that always been debated at high levels? What's going on with that dichotomy?

KLAIDMAN: That certainly was being debated. Look, the reality is that in most cases it's extremely difficult to capture these people. They are in places in Pakistan where we can't go or in Yemen and Somalia where we can't go or have chosen not to be on the ground there.

But at the same time, they were always facing this huge dilemma. What if we do capture someone and they wanted to, because if you capture people, you get the intelligence. It's like the compounded interest in terrorism, builds on itself.

CAIN: It's an on incentive where it is easier to kill someone than capture them?

O'BRIEN: It's much easier to kill them.

KLAIDMAN: And that weighed on the minds of a lot of people.

O'BRIEN: Let am ask you a question before we let you go. You talked about talking about no drama Obama and as decisions are being made about kill or capture or air strikes, how -- did he celebrate after you hit a target? Was it a sense of a tremendous burden to have hit a target? Was it a sense of let's move on and get the next guy?

How would you describe the president's demeanor? Not much is known about his reaction after these things.

KLAIDMAN: It's very interesting. This is a time heading into the campaign where the campaign would like to portray the president as this steely commander who goes after terrorists unflinchingly. He does have that decisive side. We saw it in the killing of Osama bin Laden.

It's much more complicated than that, and in some ways more reassuring, I think. He turns these issues over and over in his head and there are some instances in which he wondered after a killing, my God, did we do the right thing? Did we get the right person? Was this person actually a demonstrable threat against the United States?

O'BRIEN: The book is called "Kill or Capture." Daniel Klaidman, nice to have you with us this morning. We certainly appreciate it.

KLAIDMAN: Thanks for having me.

O'BRIEN: We've got to take a short break. But still ahead this morning: total recall.

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O'BRIEN: Polls opened in Wisconsin just a few minutes ago, and voters are trying to decide whether or not to recall the Republican governor, Scott Walker and replace him with Democrat, Tom Barrett. Many say today could be a predictor of what happens come in November in the presidential election.

And it is an expensive race, $63 million spent. More than $18 million on ads alone. Dan Kapanke is a former Republican Wisconsin state senator. He was recalled last year. He's also supporter of Governor Walker. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for talking with us. What do you think of this recall?

DAN KAPANKE, (R) FORMER WISCONSIN STATE SENATOR: Well, listen, it's a landmark day here for us in Wisconsin. It's a big day, obviously, and there's a lot at stake here and cautiously optimistic that, at the end of the day, the voters will make the right decision and continue the path of fiscal responsibility and economic growth here in the state of Wisconsin set out by Governor Walker and Lt. Gov. Kleefisch. O'BRIEN: So, for you, the right decision would be supporting Governor Walker. When you were recalled, what exactly happened? Do you look back and regret some of the decisions that you made that led to you being recalled?

KAPANKE: Oh, absolutely not. It was the right decision then, and I feel more so even today because we have data in that the decision we made back in 2011, the results are in, and we saved taxpayers over a billion dollars. Our real estate property taxes last December were flat.

We have projected surplus at the end of this two-year biannual budget, and we're paying our bills. Quite frankly, the cooking jars here in Madison were empty. We had --

O'BRIEN: There's a but in that sentence, sir. Forgiving me for interrupting you, but the but is and you lost your job.

KAPANKE: Well, certainly. But I lost my job standing for something, and I was standing for the people fiscal responsibility and the future of this country and the state and its residents.

O'BRIEN: What do you think the message is, before I let you go, to lawmakers today out of what happens in Wisconsin?

KAPANKE: Well, I think the message is that the times dictate tough decisions. And we want our elected officials to do the right thing and worry about the future and not just about the next election. That's what the message should be.

O'BRIEN: Dan Kapanke is a former Wisconsin state senator. I know he's going to also be running for re-election at some point. Thank you, sir. Appreciate your time this morning. We'll see how this race goes. Obviously, something we're all watching.

End point is up next. You're watching STARTING POINT. We're back right after this break.

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O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Before we let you go and hand off to the live coverage of the queen's diamond jubilee, we're going to have a moment to chat a bit. What do you think is going to happen today? All the polls are showing, in fact, that Governor Walker is going to keep his job, that he will survive this recall election. I mean, it's tight if you look at certain polls, but I think, consistently, he's been ahead.

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think evidence is in favor of Walker keeping his spot, especially since as you said --

O'BRIEN: I get that I'm asking a very bias panel here.

HOOVER: President Obama didn't get involved directly in this race other than his tweet. And I think they made a specific calculation that it wasn't worth the loss for President Obama to get in and then have the loss by Democrats.

O'BRIEN: Mayor Barrett said, turnout, turnout, turnout is really what's going to determine it. You don't think --

JILLETTE: That means we're going to lose. I don't know. I know Obama knows more than we do and has got more riding on it and him deciding not to actually do the push is a pretty good sign that it's not going to go.

CAIN: Look, you said this. I think it's even worth reinforcing. You're asking three people who come from at least the right side of the political spectrum to some degree, to some degree.

JILLETTE: OK.

O'BRIEN: Right-ish.

CAIN: So, whatever I say, you can filter through that prism. And I will say this --

O'BRIEN: As we do every morning, Will.

(LAUGHTER)

CAIN: As you always do. Wisconsin carries national implications because what it represents is a politician in my mind taking on very difficult choices and responsibilities. Will the voters resent that or appreciate that? We will find out by the end of the day.

O'BRIEN: And I think it's a national referendum, really, because of the aftermath as well where I see it as more of a national referendum. What happens? What is impact of a governor who does that and do people say, oh, this is something that we support or something we don't support and how does he survive or not survive and what will that mean for the national election.

JILLETTE: And maybe, they'll elect a queen, and then, we can have some pageant.

O'BRIEN: Well, you know --

HOOVER: Speaking of queens --

O'BRIEN: I do like the pageantry. I won't lie to you.

JILLETTE: Who doesn't? Who doesn't like a tuba?

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: You know, these are the pictures that we're looking at which are those ceremonies. There you go. You got them up on our screen. This is going to be the wrap-up day for the diamond jubilee, and Piers Morgan and Brooke Baldwin are covering it for us live.

So, at this moment, we're going to hand over our coverage to them as they take us through the rest of the day of celebration. Diamond jubilee -- Piers.

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MORGAN: Welcome to London. Day four, the final day of the queen's diamond jubilee celebrations. Sixty glorious years on the throne, and it all comes down to this, now, the great procession. The horse drawn carriage procession, honked them out, to the palace surrounded by the finest infantry military the queen has.

Just minutes ago, the queen arrived at Westminster hall for lunch with the royal family and other invited guests. At the end of the lunch, will speak, will propose a toast for the queen, and the national anthem will be played.

BALDWIN: Also today, the queen and the royal family attended a church service at St. Paul's Cathedral, and one somber note to today's incredible festivity, certainly, one of the biggest days of the queen's 60-year reign as the fact that her husband, Prince Phillip, the duke of Edinburgh is not with her.

He has fallen ill. He was not at the big concert last night at Buckingham Palace. He is not here today. And so, many, many pictures we've talked about this as we've seen her walking solemnly up those steps into St. Paul's Cathedral, and by herself, as he's fallen ill in a hospital, as they say, in London because of his bladder infection, which is take a listen to Prince Charles speaking about his father just last night.

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PRINCE CHARLES: The only sad thing about this evening is that my father couldn't be here with us because unfortunately he has taken not well. But ladies and gentlemen, if we shout loud enough he might just hear us in hospital.

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: A pretty special moment there last night, Prince Charles making a great speech and invoking the name of his father. He's in hospital. He's OK we believe. A sad moment I thought earlier as the queen walked in on her own. I can never remember that happening in 60 years of these events she always had Prince Philip. Hopefully later the family will be with her in the carriage. She won't be alone for much longer. It will be an exciting day. The concert was great. I don't think Prince Philip would miss that.

BALDWIN: Perhaps he heard the shouts. You saw them. I saw them. I have never seen anything like this, the pomp, the pageantry here among the different members of the armed forces. So let's just take a listen for a moment. Take a quick listen.

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(MUSIC) (END VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: Fantastic scenes there last night right behind us. Rocked the house, madness on the roof. Let's go to Becky Anderson live in the crowd behind us. Becky How is it down there?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a good mood down here. I think some of the people are a little tired. Some of them may have been here since last night. They are determined they will have a front row seat for the next couple of hours and it will be fun, pomp and pageantry and parties and picnics. My friend has come up for the day from south London.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Southeast London.

ANDERSON: That's important when you are in London. What are you looking forward to most?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm looking forward to the carriage and royal family on the balcony.

ANDERSON: No kisses today you realize? You might like to be up there with one of the princes some day? Thank you very much indeed. You have been hanging around for some time. Where are you from?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Manchester.

ANDERSON: What are you looking forward to most?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seeing the queen. It's been great. The weather has been really, really kind today. Excellent day.

ANDERSON: Good stuff. And you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm really glad I'm here, very exciting.

ANDERSON: Everybody getting ready for what's going to be the next couple of hours. A little quiet down here but we'll get this crowd growing as the hours go on. They are watching marching bands and entertaining people here before we get the queen driving down the mall in the carriage procession. It will be absolutely fantastic. Piers?

MORGAN: Thanks, Becky. It will liven up as session time goes near. A short break, and when we come back, more action from the palace.

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MORGAN: Welcome back to London. I'm Piers Morgan along with Brooke Baldwin. And we're bringing the final day of the queen's diamond jubilee. We've been joined by a fabulous list of guests here, our very own Max Foster, welcome to you all. Max, what are we going to see today?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: You're going to see -- it's a cliche, but pomp and pageantry. A thousand members of military lined up, bands from all of the services. 1902 --

BALDWIN: Do we know for sure that's the one they are riding? With possible rain, this may change.

MORGAN: The weather is variable. We don't know what will happen. At the moment it feels OK.

FOSTER: There's a backup plan. There's an Australian state coach with a roof they'll pull out if it does rain. It's reminiscent of last year.

INDIA HICKS, PRINCESS DIANA'S BRIDESMAID: I've been in one of those. I do know we won't get the coronation carriage because it moves too slowly. That's only for when the queen is crowned. We won't see that today.

BALDWIN: What does that feel like when you are coming up with all of these people who have come from not just around London but the commonwealth and world to crane their necks to see the Queen?

HICKS: It's extraordinary to think that you are being pulled by horses. It is a Cinderella moment. My mother tells a very funny story of coming from the common wealth with the queen and falling behind in the carriage. Because the man had their backs and they had to remove top hats when they passed. My mother would say now, now, as they would take top hats off.

(LAUGHTER)

HICKS: What's extraordinary today is to see them come out on the balcony and remember that the only time the queen has ever felt a member of the public was on V.E. Day when her father stood on that balcony in 1942 and said papa, let me go down to the crowds. She was taken down with guardsmen and she was about 19. Her sister was 14. They went down and watched her father and mother come out on the balcony. Only time she's been --

BALDWIN: To disguise herself to be around the people.

MORGAN: Prince Philip is not here and we can appreciate what he brings to most of these parties. He's always been there. Watching the queen at St. Paul's cathedral without her husband was a very strange thing.

KATIE NICHOLL, ROYAL EDITOR, "MAIL ON SUNDAY": She did look really quite distracted and sad and that journey she had to make from her London residence all of the way to St. Paul's on her own albeit with a lady in waiting but it's a difficult journey. She put on a brave face at the concert, but in the back of her mind and all of the members of the royal family, there will be concern, of course.

MORGAN: We're looking at pictures.

BALDWIN: They are celebrating 65 years of marriage this year. He is to be 91 years of age next Sunday. And he was in hospital during Christmas time for a heart scare. HICKS: He was. He had a heart scare. It was literally just before Christmas. It couldn't really have come at a worst time. The one thing about the duke is we must remember he's 90 as well. He's incredibly robust and in very good health. He would hate that this has happened. He's the queen's greatest supporter.

(CROSSTALK)

MORGAN: I don't think they would have been standing that long if they hadn't wanted to. I think that the Duke not being here, when you were a bridesmaid for Princess Diana, he was there all the time. He's like this figurehead without people acknowledging it.

HICKS: His greatest success is he's been the queen's support. Without him, they wouldn't be the phenomenal team that they are.

BALDWIN: Do you think that he perhaps went to the hospital almost kicking and screaming, just didn't want to have to leave his wife on this tremendous day in her 60 years?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He would have been deeply disappointed. They are British about it. The queen says we get on.

MORGAN: I don't think he would have minded missing all of the performances. Let's be polite. Let's take a short break, we'll come back and talk more about what's coming. It's going to be a very exciting afternoon. The good news is the weather is holding for now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORGAN: Welcome back to London. Day four, the final day of the queen's diamond jubilee celebrations. Straight to Richard Quest, who is live at Trafalgar Square. Richard, I am feeling the odd drop of rain.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, thank you very much. He said with great British pragmatic delight. I'm in Trafalgar Square. Me and a couple of a thousand of my closest friends have all joined. This has been queen central today because she's gone that way. Then she went that way. And she's still got to go that way. So every time she's gone anywhere from St. Paul's or to Westminster or to the palace, she's had to pass by. Piers, this is really quite a party atmosphere. I have to tell you every time the national anthem is played, the flags come out. The atmosphere is quite extraordinary.

MORGAN: It looks great. Also more flags than I can remember even ten years ago at these royal events. There's definitely a sense of patriotic fervor. Let's go to Zain Verjee. She is down on the mall talking with crowds. What's it like down there?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the scene right before the queen arrives for the jubilee procession. You are looking good and decked out here. How do you feel today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fantastic. Isn't it brilliant to be British?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Proud. Proud as punch.

VERJEE: I feel British and I'm not really British with all of this pomp and pageantry. People are so excited here, aren't they?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Britain is the only country that does pomp and circumstance like this.

VERJEE: You guys have just met today and you look like you're best mates and you coordinated outfits.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a telepathic thing. We're dressed for the occasion. We thought we would meet up.

VERJEE: So many people are having a great time out here. Do you think the queen is enjoying herself?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I watched her on the telly last night and there was a little smile on her face.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She knew I was coming that's why.

VERJEE: You guys are putting a smile on so many people's faces here. We've been seeing flags and tents pitched up there and people are just waiting to have a fabulous time. Amid the deficit and recession and bad news, bad weather, the queen still gives people hope and that's why people are out in full force today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll see you again in 60 years.

VERJEE: I don't think I'll look like her in 60 years. All right. A picture with the Americans. Lucky me.

BALDWIN: That is Zain. Zain is flanked by some gentlemen wearing red, white and blue. These are pictures of the square as Richard pointed out she's going back and forth and back again so the queen today in her procession will pass the square three times and look as we begin to pull out. All of the people standing around Trafalgar Square just for the chance of craning their next. I'm wrapping my -- I'm trying to wrap my head around this idea of all these thousands, potentially a million people coming out to hopefully see the queen. Richard, is that ultimately why people are there to hopefully wave back and perhaps in gratitude for her 60 years?

QUEST: Yes. You have Trafalgar Square which leads down Whitehall where the queen is coming from. The reason so many people are here is because what will happen is after the queen goes past, they will open up and everyone from here will start to flow down. These are the people in many ways that will be going up that you'll see when they come to have balcony wave. It's a carefully choreographed maneuver to get this number of people down the mall safely but they have done it numerous times and by the time it is finished, there could be up to a million people on the streets of London.

BALDWIN: Wow. QUEST: As we're now looking, the various bands of the household regiment later to be joined by the mounted bands of the household cavalry playing along the route. This of course the jubilee weekend. This is CNN's live coverage. Live in London.

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MORGAN: Welcome back to London. Live pictures as we await the preparations for her majesty's ceremonial procession. We have mounted bands of the household cavalry mounted regiment lining up ahead of the sovereigns procession, escort, which we'll see in the next half hour. We remember the glorious fireworks of Buckingham Palace less than 24 hours ago.