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Battleground Florida; Log Cabin Republicans Endorse Mitt Romney; Romney Speaks in Ohio
Aired October 25, 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: Top of the hour. Thank you for being with me. I'm Brooke Baldwin. As President Obama gets ready to cast his vote in Chicago, Mitt Romney is expected to speak live any minute, both men hitting swing states at a fever pitch, and picking up some key endorsements along the way.
But before we get to all of that, we have to talk about a hurricane here, Hurricane Sandy. Take a look at some of these pictures, thanks to you, our iReporters. This is, wait for it, Dominican Republic taken earlier today. More than 100 people had to be evacuated.
Just look at the water level there. It tops the tires.
Sandy being blamed on two deaths, one in Jamaica and the other in Haiti.
And then there's Cuba. Sandy slammed into southeastern Cuba early today, a Category 2 hurricane with winds hitting 110 miles per hour.
The question now is when and where will Sandy hit the U.S. coast?
(WEATHER UPDATE)
BALDWIN: Now Mitt Romney, Mitt Romney coming up soon, stop two on his jaunt across Ohio.
The latest information we have right now is that Mitt Romney should be speaking in about eight minutes here at 3:10 Eastern time in Worthington just outside of Columbus. Meantime, President Obama, here he is, this afternoon on a sunny day. This is Richmond, Virginia. And today the president's brandishing a new endorsement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was proud and humbled to learn that we have Colin Powell's support in this campaign.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: I'm grateful to him for his lifetime of service to his country both as a soldier and a diplomat. And every brave American who wears this uniform of this country should know that as long as I'm your commander in chief we will sustain the strongest military the world has ever known.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Here we are. This is another huge travel day for the president. You see this map? See Chicago on the map? That, as you know, is the president's hometown, where he's flying in soon to vote.
Brianna Keilar live with me now in the Windy City.
Hang on there, Brianna Keilar, because the president unlike the rest of us doesn't have to stand in line to vote on Election Day. Why, oh why is flying into Chicago to vote early?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, because he's trying to bring awareness to early voting, which is a big strategy for his campaign in getting their base to turn out. He's here and this is the first time that a president has done early voting.
Why's he doing it? Well, it's not really for voters in Illinois, I have to be honest. It's because early voting is under way, has been for a while in Ohio and it gets under way this weekend in Florida. This is him kind of bringing some awareness to this is the way you can get out and vote.
Now, historically, Republicans, Brooke, have concentrated more on absentee voting and Democrats relying on this early voting. So this also -- and you will hear this a lot of Democrats today -- they're saying we're doing pretty good with early voting. That's because it does tend to be Democratic voters who are casting the ballots this way.
You're looking at the Romney campaign that's really to say, oh, no, no, they don't have momentum. We're doing pretty good with absentee voting and also some early voting. So, it's all about claiming the momentum at this moment here 12 days out from Election Day and also trying to turn out the vote.
BALDWIN: How about some endorsement momentum? We have been talking in the show about General Colin Powell endorsing him and didn't ask for it but it's a great endorsement for the president. And as we're hearing today the president will be hitting the trail next week with another heavy hitter. Tell us about that.
KEILAR: That's right. Next week he will be campaigning with Bill Clinton on Monday. He's gotten a lot of support of Bill Clinton. He's been out in battleground states, especially in the Rust Belt trying to help out with white male voters that President Obama has some trouble with.
But this is the first time that we have seen them together actually -- or we will see them together at rallies. They have done some fund- raising together. So, we will be seeing that and also as you mentioned Colin Powell's endorsement today. This is something that, remember, President Obama got in 2008 as well. Caused a lot of waves because, of course, Colin Powell was secretary of state under President George W. Bush.
He said this on CBS this morning and he said he still is a Republican, but he also clearly agrees with Democrats on a lot of issues as well, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Brianna Keilar for us in Chicago -- Brianna, thank you.
And in these final days before the 6th of November, how are voters taking it all in? To help answer that, CNN is taking a battleground bus tour in a couple of swing states.
And today our chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi, and CNN contributor John Avlon are in Florida.
Hey, guys.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: All right, Brooke.
Yes, we are in Orlando and, you know, we have been traveling through Florida looking at the economy here, talking to people about what their questions are for the candidates, particularly those people who haven't decided.
And, John, this is an unusual economy in Orlando. It is decidedly better than it was during the worst of the last four years. But for a lot of people who haven't seen their home prices fully recover or haven't got that job, they're not feeling it. They're telling us it's not better.
JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: That's right. And, look, it's always what's happening to you. That's the best barometer of the economy.
But this is really a microcosm of the challenge President Obama faces. Unemployment rates at 8 percent, roughly where it was when he took office here in Orlando.
(CROSSTALK)
AVLON: But after he took office, you had that lagging indicator take impact and then all of a sudden things off a cliff in that initial period, so unemployment spikes. And it is really in low double digits for months and months and months. Now it is back.
VELSHI: Yes.
AVLON: It's back to where it was. There are absolute signs of improvement, but people look and saying, we may have been through the worst of it, but we're not better than we were.
VELSHI: We're not better than we were.
The question, are you better off than you were four years ago, that's a tough question. Property values, this place obviously depends on tourism a great deal because of the theme parks around here, including Disney. Big housing market. That's what everybody said crushed Orlando.
We heard somebody say yesterday 2006 was the absolute best year for this place. Started to slow down 2007 and 2008 more and then 2009 went off a cliff. But they're building houses here at a faster rate each month than they have been the month before for months.
AVLON: And selling them on spec, which is unbelievable. Orlando is one of the ultimate symbols of the housing bubble and then all of a sudden it's coming back and coming back in a big way, but again the recovery is not evenly dispersed.
So while some areas are booming, some folks sitting in an underwater mortgaged home are saying, look, where's my relief?
VELSHI: The question is do you tie this to a federal election, do you tie this to a presidential election? This is a regional concern but it is one that's shared by people around the country. When you're not decided about who you're voting for, can something that Mitt Romney says or Barack Obama says change these voters' minds?
AVLON: In an election this tight, every little bit matters. Of course, Florida comes down to 537 votes in 2000.
Here's what interesting about the Orlando area. In 2004, Orlando was split 49-49, tight, tight, tight. Obama wins by the area by 20 points in 2008.
VELSHI: Right.
AVLON: Huge landslide. Clearly, that is not going to happen again.
VELSHI: Right.
AVLON: The question is whether that goodwill gives him a cushion, along with a growing population, an increasingly diverse population.
And here in Orlando area, the Hispanic population is not predominantly Cuban, but Latin American.
VELSHI: Which means they may be more apt to vote for Obama than Romney.
AVLON: Exactly right. Exactly right.
And so that's just one indication of how diverse really the Hispanic population is not only across the United States, but particularly in Florida.
VELSHI: We're three days into this trip and still hearing the same concerns from a smaller, smaller pie of undecided voters, smaller piece of the pie.
They want specific answers about how their life or the economy generally in the region and in the country is going to be better in four years. What they're not sold on is the idea that it is going to be better in four years if you vote for me. They want to know specifically how.
Brooke, we will continue on with our trip and we're going to hit one more stop in Florida and then we're heading north.
BALDWIN: Ali Velshi and John Avlon, gentlemen, we thank you. We will see you in North Carolina. That's your next state here.
Coming up next, a group of gay Republicans finally endorses Mitt Romney despite Romney's views on gay issues and we will speak live with the group's director about why and the backlash now facing them.
Plus, the incredible story here behind the CIA's hunt for one of America's most wanted terrorists. And listen to this. This involves a triple agent, a bride and a suitcase full of cash. Don't miss this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: A national gay and lesbian Republican group endorses Mitt Romney for president despite Romney's view that same-sex marriage should be illegal.
Log Cabin Republicans say they're Americans first and point to Republican principles like limited government, free markets, low taxes and individual liberty.
And Log Cabin Republicans executive director Clarke Cooper now joins me.
And, Clarke, nice to see you. Welcome.
I'm sure there's a myriad of reasons as to why, but I want you to give me reason number one your group endorsed Mitt Romney for president.
R. CLARKE COOPER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LOG CABIN REPUBLICANS: Well, it is the economy.
And it's not just an imperative as far as looking at the future of this country. It's a moral imperative. We are truly as a nation really at the brink or the edge. This is not hyperbole. We have fiscal issues of great concern. So, regardless of orientation, regardless if one is gay or straight, everyone is impacted or should be concerned by the economy, the economic growth of our country and actually opportunity to create jobs.
And Governor Romney as president will be -- he is the man to remove the barriers, the regulatory barriers and actually increase access to jobs, increase the economy as far as its strength, not only home, but abroad as well.
BALDWIN: So I hear you, economy the number one reason. But my question then is back at the Republican Convention in Tampa your group took out this full-page ad in the newspaper there, "The Tampa Trib," advocating marriage equality.
But now you're endorsing a candidate who not only opposes marriage equality. Mitt Romney wants to write an amendment into the Constitution that would define marriage as between a man and a woman. Roll the clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have long I think from the beginning of recorded time defined marriage as between a man and a woman. That happens to be the view that I share.
My preference would be to have a national standard for marriage that says that marriage is between a man and a woman. And then each state would be free to determine what benefits they might choose to provide under domestic partnerships or whether or not to have domestic partnerships. That could be stated on a state-by-state basis, whether there would be hospital visitation rights or similar types of benefits.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Clarke, I don't know how personal this is for you, but did your group choose the economy over their personal values?
COOPER: No, not at all. We're multifaceted individuals.
And so people like myself and the organization surely not only do we want the right to marry. We're actually fighting for it. We advocate and lobby for the Repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. This is no secret. Governor Romney and I disagree on this one particular issue.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: But this is one particular issue here that if he's elected, that's at least four years in which your fight will not materialize.
COOPER: I wouldn't agree with that.
Look at what's happening in the courts. Five out of the eight federal rulings on DOMA, The Defense of Marriage Act, have come from Republican-appointed judges. The action that's happening on the marriage front is in the court. It is not in Congress.
And when it comes to Congress, you know, one of the most senior advocates for Governor Romney, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and one of our biggest advocates and allies in Congress, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, was the first Republican to sign on for the repeal of DOMA.
So, it's not just Log Cabin that doesn't see eye to eye with Governor Romney. There are other Republicans. Ted Olson, who is also a Romney adviser, he too is working with Log Cabin Republicans to actually roll back DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act.
But we all do agree -- but we all do -- what I agree, Ted Olson, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and others do agree that as far as for the future of the country, for the good of the United States, it is Governor Romney that needs to be elected president in November.
BALDWIN: What about this then, Clarke? If you're not -- if you say you're not moving backwards, then just tell me this. There's reports that Romney secured your group's endorsement because he privately promised you or your group that he would support the passage of a major gay rights legislation, it's ENDA, ending workplace discrimination. Is that true?
COOPER: What is true is that we have had a lengthy conversation with the campaign and of course the governor.
BALDWIN: What did he say?
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Well, I can tell you what we talked about was as president he certainly wasn't going to walk away or roll back what's in place. There's certainly room and opportunities for workplace nondiscrimination.
As an employer, as a businessman, the governor certainly can appreciate from his time at Bain Capital and as governor that discrimination in the workplace is unacceptable and he said that. He was very clear about that discrimination in the workplace was not acceptable.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Did he promise you? Was there a promise made that he would...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: I'm not going to put words in the governor's mouth, but I will tell you that we did discuss tangible opportunities to combat workplace nondiscrimination.
This is something that he's been steadfast on and consistent on from his time in the private sector as well as governor of Massachusetts.
BALDWIN: OK. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin Republicans, thank you. We appreciate it.
COOPER: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Speaking of Mitt Romney, right-wing waiting for him now. Any minute now, we should be seeing him here. We talk so much about the significance of the mother of all battleground states, Ohio. That's precisely where this crowd is gathered. This is Worthington, Ohio, just outside of Columbus.
We will take a quick break. As soon as we see Mitt Romney, we will take him live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Well, if the polls are accurate, a huge sea change under way in the Massachusetts race for Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat. You know the race. We have reported on this so many times. Democrat Elizabeth Warren against Republican Scott Brown.
Now, this race has been very contentious, at times venomous. Take a listen here of this now infamous exchange from one of their debates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Senator Brown voted in lockstep with all of the Republicans. And just to put icing on the cake, he voted against unemployment insurance extensions 16 times for people who were out of work.
SEN. SCOTT BROWN (R), MASSACHUSETTS: Senator?
WARREN: Senator Brown has made it clear where he stands.
QUESTION: Go ahead, Senator.
BROWN: Thank you.
First of all, she's obviously misstating the facts. These were a rejection by both Democrats and Republicans, Professor. It wasn't a -- if you're going to comment on my record, I would at least have you refer to it.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Excuse me. I'm not a student in your classroom. Please let me respond, OK? Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Ooh, like I said, contentious.
And now for the sea change I talked about. Here's the latest poll of likely Massachusetts voters. You see here, this one now shows Warren leading Brown by five points, 48 percent to his 43 percent. This is a complete turnaround from the poll taken just three weeks ago in which it gave Brown a four-point lead.
What's happening today in Massachusetts?
Let's find out. Let's go straight to Boston to a reporter who's been covering this race I know from top to bottom. He's Andy Hiller with our Boston affiliate WHDH.
Andy Hiller, welcome to you.
You know, when you go from a four-point lead for one candidate a five- point lead for the challenger, something's going on. What is happening there?
ANDY HILLER, WHDH REPORTER: Well, there's a couple of things that's happening and I'm certainly not going to deny that Elizabeth Warren is ahead.
However, I would point out that the poll that you quote, the WBUR poll that was taken last month, was a little bit outside all of the other polls. The truth is we are not seeing a big opening here. We are seeing a trend which we have seen really for months and the trend is to Elizabeth Warren and it is away from Scott Brown. And the poll today shows that and a lot of other polls show that, too. BALDWIN: One part of this race I know is that the incumbent here, Senator Brown, he is getting a Wall Street support, that the Center for Responsive Politics is reporting nearly nine out of 10 Wall Street dollars spent in Massachusetts campaign here going to Brown.
How's that playing, how will that play with voters there?
HILLER: Well, there's a couple of things about campaign money. The first thing is Brown and Warren made a very unusual agreement, which was not to let any outside groups have any negative campaigning.
So here in Massachusetts we have not seen all of the super PAC ads for either one of them. In terms of money and where it's coming from, they both criticize each other, but they both have more than enough money to make all of the messages on television that they want to. And I don't think anyone will say when this is over that money was an issue.
BALDWIN: I want to play a little bit more of that debate here and then we will talk. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And for the union workers listening and watching, I'm a union member. There's only one person in the race who has been fighting for union issues and that's me. She had an opportunity to side with the little guy. She had an opportunity to side with the little guy and actually work and once again when the lights weren't shining and the people weren't watching, she made a choice to side with the large conglomerate and actually got paid another five-figure salary to deny the health care benefits for...
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Final point on this.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: ... who negotiated the settlements.
WARREN: Let's be clear. Senator Brown is the one who is not working with the unions.
The unions have endorsed me. The asbestos workers said I was on their side, not Senator Brown. The coal workers have said I was on their side,not Senator Brown.
(CROSSTALK)
WARREN: And he can't change the facts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Andy, what are you hearing there? Is that Brown sort of portraying -- she mentioned the little guys. Is he the defender of the little guy, where you have Elizabeth Warren known for standing up to Wall Street?
HILLER: Well, the whole thrust of the Brown campaign is that Elizabeth Warren is not who she says she is. She says she is an advocate for consumers. She says she is fighting for the middle class.
But Brown will tell you that she teaches one Harvard course and gets paid $375,000. She lives in a million dollar house. And, therefore, he believes that she is a phony. That is the issue that links with her claim of Native American heritage. That is the argument he's made throughout, but as he's made it, because he has had such a reputation as such a nice guy, his negatives have gone up as he's attacked her, and right now the balance appears to be that he's been hurt more by his negative campaign than she has because her favorability has come up and has now captured his and that's a big problem for Brown.
BALDWIN: What a race that is to get to cover there in Massachusetts.
Andy Hiller, enjoy it, 12 more days to go here. We appreciate you there live in Boston, WHDH.
And now to this. This little girl who I know so many of you have been following, the one who was shot point-blank in the head by the Taliban, she is about to see some very special guests as she recovers in the U.K.
Plus, we are on the ground in Pakistan with this exclusive look at how the brutal attack happened.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Some very special people are on their way now to see the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating education for girls.
She is Malala Yousafzai. And now her father, her mother and other loved ones -- in fact, this is her dad talking her -- flew to Birmingham, England, today to visit her in the hospital for the very first time since she left Pakistan.
Malala asked her father to bring her school books. And police are making headway in their investigation in to Malala's shooting.
So, we sent CNN's Saima Mohsin to Swat, Pakistan, to get the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Terror returned to the streets of Swat when the Taliban targeted the 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai and her friends. As the teenager makes slow and steady progress in hospital, I traveled to Swat to find out what's happening to track down the men who tried to kill her.
MOHSIN: This is the school van that Malala Yousafzai and her friends, Shazia and Kainat, were traveling in when they were attacked. Authorities have told CNN that one of the gunmen came to the front. He asked the driver to stop the vehicle.
The other one -- there were two -- came to the back and jumped on board where Malala, Shazia and Kainat were sitting right there. He asked for Malala by name. And then he shot her.
Now, I've been speaking to a senior police official involved in the investigation. He didn't want to appear on camera. But he has told me that they have six people in custody, all believed to be facilitators in some way to have carried out the attack, all of them local men from Swat.
MOHSIN (voice-over): And police want to question this man, Atta Ullah Khan.
MOHSIN: Now the police official tells me that the main suspect is a young man named Atta Ullah Khan. He's just 23 years old and studied for a bachelor of science in physics at this college, Jahanzeb College in Swat. He then went on to study for a master's of science in chemistry, too.
Now his family, they're from down the road, Mangalore Village here, they have been arrested, too. His mother, his brother and his fiancee are all being questioned.
MOHSIN (voice-over): Police tell me the family aren't involved in the attack in any way and it's not clear whether Atta Ullah Khan is alleged to be the plotter of the attack or the gunman who shot Malala Yousafzai -- Saima Mohsin for CNN in Swat, Pakistan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Quick reminder here. We are awaiting Mitt Romney. He is set to -- are these live pictures? All right. There he is. Ready for the crowd in Ohio. He is in a city just outside of Columbus. That Romney bus pulling into town, cue the music. Let's get a break in. We'll see him in just a moment.
Also coming up next, a meeting that was more than a year in the making. We will tell you why it brought tough guy actor Christian Bale to tears.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Ohio, Ohio, Ohio. We -- hitting it home why this is so, so important here to this election. Case in point, again, here you see Mitt Romney. All these candidates in Ohio. Here he is in Worthington, Ohio, just outside Columbus. Let's eavesdrop.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FORMER GOV. MITT ROMNEY, R-MASS., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He wants to talk about protecting characters on "Sesame Street" and --
(LAUGHTER) ROMNEY: -- and then word games, silly word games and, of course, he spends a lot of time attacking me.
Attacking me is not an agenda for America's future and that's why his campaign is having a hard time.
(APPLAUSE)
ROMNEY: He really, in all these debates, now four debates, including the vice presidential debate, they have not been able to define an agenda to get this economy going, to defend an agenda. In fact, the president's out of ideas and he's out of excuses and that's why in November you're going to make sure and vote him out of office.
(APPLAUSE)
ROMNEY: Because this is a defining election, this is a big choice election; this will make a difference for not only the country but for your family.
The choice you make will have a big impact on how America's families live. If you're a senior, for instance, or if you're caring for a senior in your family and that senior needs a medical specialist and you pick up the phone and you call the receptionist at a doctor's office, you're going to be told time after time I'm sorry.
We're not taking more Medicare patients because, after ObamaCare and the cuts in reimbursement rates -- $716 billion in cuts in Medicare -- we're not taking new Medicare patients. Half of America's doctors are saying they won't take new Medicare patients. That's what happens if we are -- reelect President Obama.
If, instead, when we elect me President of the United States we're going to get rid of ObamaCare and restore our promise to our seniors.
(APPLAUSE)
ROMNEY: And your mom or your dad or you yourself are going to be able to get the doctor you want to get an appointment with. And then, let's say you're in your 40s or your 50s and they're your prime working years. And you've been expected to put away some extra money, perhaps for your retirement or perhaps to help your child with school. And yet somehow this job market hasn't been very kind to you.
I was speaking with a man from Waukesha, Wisconsin, just the other day and he told me that he had a job at $25 an hour plus benefits, but now he doesn't have that job anymore. All he can get is one with $9 and no benefits. And he's wondering how to make ends meet.
The president doesn't have a plan to get America working again. We have a five-point plan I'll tell you about in a moment that's going to get more jobs and more take-home pay and that's what America needs and that's why we're going to get elected.
(APPLAUSE) ROMNEY: You might have a college senior or a high school senior graduating this year. And if they're coming out of -- I got a few of them here. You're coming out of college, why, I got some good news and some bad news. The bad news, all that education is over -- excuse me; that's the good news. All right? And the bad news is you probably got, well, maybe $10,000 or $20,000 or more in student debt.
BALDWIN (voice-over): Mitt Romney here about to hit on education, mentioning that five-point plan we've heard from him before. Again, just to hammer home the importance of Ohio, not only 18 electoral votes, talking to a guest from "The Columbus Dispatch" last hour, really speaking to the fact that the state of Ohio is a microcosm with the cities, urban, rural.
No Republican has gone on to win the White House without winning Ohio. If you want to keep watching Mitt Romney, you can. Go to CNN.com/live.
But coming up next, the meeting that brought actor Christian Bale to tears, a meeting more than a year in the making.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Talk about an emotional moment here. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN (voice-over): You're going to see "Batman" actor Christian Bale. He's presenting this human rights award to the blind Chinese activist. He was prevented from visiting in China just last year. Take a look.
The activist there, who he's hugging tearfully here, his name is Chen Guangcheng. And he was under house arrest this time last year. Christian Bale tried to visit him, was confronted, roughed up by Chinese security. We caught the whole thing on video. Take a look.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to get out of here. Once again, we have been stopped. We've been stopped right here. And as you can see, they're pushing Christian here. We're just trying to leave peacefully. We are trying to leave peacefully.
BALDWIN (voice-over): That's only part of how Christian Bale and Chen Guangcheng came to share a stage and a hug just this week in New York.
Want to bring in Richard Roth to share more of this just pretty amazing story.
And first, just remind us, Richard, why Chen was under house arrest.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He is a self-taught lawyer. He started at an early age. Blind, challenging the authorities in China, which -- a group that doesn't exactly look kindly on human rights fighters.
He was protesting and representing people who were against forced sterilizations, late-term abortions. He was thrown in jail for 51 months and then in house arrest, physically abused and other cruelties to him and family members.
BALDWIN: And so, here he is, this blind man -- and remember we covered extensively his escape. How did he get away?
ROTH: He got over a 7-foot fence, despite 'round-the-clock security just before the visit of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Then he says he fell down maybe 200 times, made it through eight lines of defense, was picked up by another activist, taken to the U.S. embassy.
You remember there was that big diplomatic controversy over his presence there and then he was finally allowed to fly here to the United States.
But he never met Christian Bale, the man who, along with CNN's Stan Grant and a camera crew from CNN tried to get to his provincial home, where he was under that 'round-the-clock house arrest.
BALDWIN: So then now, Richard, back to Christian Bale, obviously he holds Chen in very high regard and I just want to play it. This is what he said about him at that award ceremony.
CHRISTIAN BALE, ACTOR: He represents the people of China, the people that I met. He represents their hopes, their aspirations and their desire to be free from corruption and tyranny. He is a symbol of what an individual is capable of no matter how humble his or her origins. He is, in my opinion, a giant among men.
BALDWIN: He is Chen Guangcheng. He's -- where is he now? Is he at NYU?
ROTH: He is NYU Asia law school, School of Law and he said to the crowd that he noticed that American lawyers succeed by speaking up, that the squeaky wheel gets -- the squeaky wheel gets the grease, he said, but limited English, Christian Bale speaking for him, still worried about an older brother who's been put in prison and held without any information now since his arrest and since Chen's freedom.
BALDWIN: Richard Roth, thank you.
A former biker, a mail order bride and a briefcase full of cash add up to this amazing tale of deception and intrigue. A triple agent -- details of how he brought down a top Al Qaeda leader. Stick around. You just have to see this story to believe it.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We are about to show you really the ultimate tale of terror and intrigue. It involves a triple agent, a mail order bride and a suitcase full of cash and the death of one of the most wanted men in the world -- this guy, Anwar al-Awlaki, the American who turned to terror, became a driving force in Al Qaeda. CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson weaves it all together for us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet Agent Storm.
MORTON STORM, AGENT: (Inaudible).
ROBERTSON: Morton Storm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a very likable person. And he seems to me like a chameleon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has really been a double or triple agent, so to speak.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): A former biker, he became a militant Islamist, visited Yemen several times and befriended a man who would become one of Al Qaeda's most wanted: cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Then he changed sides and turned secret agent. Storm says he worked for the CIA and Danish intelligence services.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's such an unusual story because it is so rare that two services completely mishandle, misjudge him.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): In the movies, James Bond never gives up his secrets, but Storm is telling it all to the Danish newspaper, "Jyllands-Posten."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He called our main number and got -- and started to explain his story -- we were a bit scared that this could be some kind of a weird trap. We did set up the first meeting one night in a -- on a dark parking lot.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): A story that includes his part in a CIA plot to track down al-Awlaki by finding him a young blonde European wife.
ROBERTSON: Storm says he was paid a quarter of a million dollars to set up al-Awlaki's wedding. He describes meeting a man he calls a CIA agent at this hotel in a Copenhagen suburb June 9th, 2010. He says the agent gave him a briefcase. It was locked. He asked for the combination. The agent told him 007. Storm says he opened the case. Inside he found $250,000 in cash.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): To back up his claims, Storm not only had a photo of the case of cash but this matchmaking moment.
ANWAR AL-AWLAKI, TERRORIST (through translator): This recording is done specifically for Sister Alina (ph) at her request. And the brother who is carrying this recording is a trustworthy brother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible). And I just want to tell you that right now I feel nervous and this is very awkward for me. So I just tape this just to see that you can see how I look.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I watched these tapes of video marriage proposals from an Al Qaeda leader and this woman's answers, I thought, well, this story is impossible to deny.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Storm says the CIA sent him to Vienna to meet Amina (ph), the Croatian convert to Islam. He gave her a suitcase with a secret tracking device in the handle and got her to Yemen to meet al-Awlaki. He has hotel bills to prove it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are paid by a company that we know is a Danish Secret Service company.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): And there is more. Storm hoarded a trove of documents, including secret coded communications with al-Awlaki, even this, a photo, he says, that shows him with his intelligence handlers in a hot tub in Reykjavik. His revelations, however, are not to everyone's taste.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It brings danger to, I think, Denmark. It also exposes the very secret, the very essence of intelligence services, and that is means and methods. They never discuss means and methods.
ROBERTSON: So far U.S. officials here in Denmark have offered no explanation about Morton Storm's claims and certainly no acknowledgment of the CIA agents he claims to have met, Michael (ph), Alex (ph), Jed (ph) and George (ph).
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Storm says his final mission was to take a USB thumb drive to Yemen for al-Awlaki -- inside it, a CIA tracking device. He handed it off to an Al Qaeda courier. Within weeks al- Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone strike.
ROBERTSON: A week after al-Awlaki was killed Storm was angry with the CIA. He felt they had let him down. Danish intelligence agents convinced him to come to a meeting here, the Marienlyst Hotel on the 7th of October 2011.
Storm was recording the meetings. He met with a CIA agent named Michael (ph). Michael (ph) told him, "President Obama knows about you, but important people are aware of what you are doing and we are grateful."
STORM: It's against your honor as American, as the super power of the world.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): The recordings reveal Storm wanted credit for killing al-Awlaki, but Michael (ph) told him a parallel operation was responsible. The meeting was a watershed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They lost control over him. And they now have to sort of sweep up the mess that he's left behind.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Now Storm is in hiding. CNN has been in contact with him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He realizes, of course, that he's in danger. But he also strongly believes that he's been in danger for years. And his analysis is that going public is not worsening his security situation.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): But his life as a double agent is surely over -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Copenhagen, Denmark.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Nic Robertson, thank you. Fascinating story there.
We are five minutes away from the Wolf Blitzer and your "SITUATION ROOM."
Wolf, long time, no talk. How are you?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: You don't call, you don't write. I never hear from you anymore.
BALDWIN: Whatever. I --
BLITZER: What's going on?
BALDWIN: I know we're 12 days away from your version of the Super Bowl. What -- are you ever able to get away from politics?
BLITZER: We're doing a lot of a practice, practice -- we're rehearsing.
BALDWIN: I know you are.
BLITZER: You know, it's complicated Election Night, all the states coming in, Electoral College stuff, so we're trying to make sure it looks pretty, it looks smart, looks really, really good. So I'm working hard on that.
BALDWIN: Good deal.
BLITZER: And I've got a day job, too, my little "SITUATION ROOM" show --
BALDWIN: So I heard. It's not so little.
BLITZER: (Inaudible), you know.
BALDWIN: It's kind of a big deal.
BLITZER: It's a three-hour show.
BALDWIN: What do you have coming up?
BLITZER: David Axelrod, he's one of the political heavyweights working for the Obama campaign, the president's re-election. He's joining us. We have lots to talk about, including that very bad word that the president used in describing Mitt Romney in that "Rolling Stone" magazine interview.
What was going -- did you see that (inaudible)?
BALDWIN: Oh, yes. We won't repeat it on TV.
BLITZER: Yes. We're not going to say what that word is, but I asked what's going on. I asked David about that. We have that. We have got all of the day's political news.
And, you know, there's news happening involving Sandy right now, too. I know you've been covering it. This could be bad news in the middle of next week for parts of the Eastern Seaboard. So we're watching this hurricane that's developed in the Atlantic Ocean.
BALDWIN: Yes. Could be -- could be very bad news in just a couple days.
Wolf Blitzer, thank you. And we will see you in just a few minutes.
Before we go here, Wall Street on edge right now because, in a matter of minutes, Amazon and Apple release their earnings reports. But despite what happens, some positive news on the economy. That's next.
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BALDWIN: There is a new report out today. It shows fewer people lined up at the unemployment office last week -- first time claims down 23,000, now at 369,000. Folks, that's late 2007 levels.
Quick check of the big board. There we go, closing bell. Dow closing just above that 13,100 level. Amazon and Apple both releasing their results after this bell.
Thanks for watching. Wolf Blitzer is next.
Hey, Wolf.
BLITZER: Brooke, thanks very much.
