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Pro-Labor Protest At Michigan Capitol; U.S. Declares Syrian Rebel Group A Terrorist Organization; SEAL Killed In Afghanistan Identified; Google Saves $2B In Taxes Worldwide; George Zimmerman In Court This Hour; Mandela Fighting Lung Infection; Freddie, Fannie Give Fat Paychecks; NFL Bounty Decision Expected Today; Experimental "Mini Shuttle" Set To Launch

Aired December 11, 2012 - 10:00   ET

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

TED ROWLANDS, CNN ANCHOR: Stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM, the Michigan assembly is moments away from taking up a controversial right to work bill that has labor unions up in arms. We are live in Lansing.

We will also go live to Florida, where a rocket will launch the U.S. military's unmanned prototype space plane today and the mission is classified.

The world's largest search engine is also very good at not paying taxes. How Google saves $2 billion a year, legally.

And skulls and bones, could these be the remains of the inspiration behind one of the world's most recognizable paintings?

NEWSROOM starts right now.

And let's go live to Michigan, where pro-union demonstrators have gathered inside and outside the state capital in Lansing. The State House of Representatives is about to take up the right to work bill that could severely curtail the political clout of organized labor in that state. Here is what one protester had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's horrible. I think they're taking away, food off my table, and taking away my pension, my health care for my kids. I think it's that station.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Republican Governor Rick Snyder promises to sign the bill as soon as it hits his desk, making Michigan the 24th right to work state in the country.

Alison Kosik joins us live from Lansing this morning. Alison, we are expecting a big turnout there. What are you seeing so far? A lot of people behind you, obviously, people are there.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ted, the crowd certainly is growing, as the morning goes on. It's 10:00, which means that the House here at the Michigan Statehouse is in session. First, what's going to happen is they're going to have their usual opening ceremony.

Then I'm hearing that they're going to have a farewell ceremony for one of their members and then they're going to take up this right to work issue. What you're seeing out here, obviously, protesters gathering. They're chanting, they're holding signs that say, right to work is not right.

Shame on Snyder, of course, they're referring to Governor Rick Snyder, the governor of Mchigan, who is expected to get this bill, once it is expected to pass in the House, sometime this morning. He is expected to get that bill and sign it -- Ted.

ROWLANDS: All right, Alison Kosik, we'll be watching very closely as that unravels or happens in Michigan today. Historic legislation expected to be signed by the governor there in the next few hours.

Well, three weeks from today, the nation's economic recovery could tumble of the so-called fiscal cliff if Washington can't strike a deal. So with the clock ticking and the stakes so high, both the White House and Republican leaders are tamping down their fiery rhetoric.

Listen to President Obama's sales pitch for his version of a compromise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When you put it all together, what you need is a package that keeps taxes where they are for middle class families, we make some tough spending cuts on things that we don't need, and then we ask the wealthiest Americans to pay a slightly higher tax rate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Brianna Keilar is at the White House. Brianna, are meetings going on outside of the public's view? Is that your understanding?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are discussions. That is what we're told. As we understand it, obviously, the last meeting between the president and Speaker Boehner was on Sunday. But we're told by both the White House and the speaker's office that discussions are ongoing.

So, obviously, they can all pick up the telephone, and that, quote, "the lines of communication are open." This is something we're hearing over and over again. But make no mistake, there are no significant details of any progress, of any deal that has been struck.

So at this point, we know that they still are pretty far apart. The White House still demanding and President Obama said this yesterday when he was in Michigan, that the tax rates for the first $250,000 of income be preserved and then not be preserved, let the tax rates for more than that, earnings more than that, expire.

And right now, House Republicans are holding fast to their position, which is, no, let all of the tax cuts be preserved at the end of the year. At this point, as I said, we don't have details. And there's a lot more to be worked out even than on the tax rates.

How would you tackle entitlement reform, what kind of spending cuts would we see, and also, what kind of mechanism would you put in place to ensure that those big things are tackled next year. All of that has yet to be determined.

And at this point, Ted, I will tell you, I think it could be worse. They could not be talking at all, but I don't think it's to the point, certainly, where you kind of would exhale. There is no deal.

ROWLANDS: And really, technically, they have until the end of the year, but the actual timeline is a lot shorter.

KEILAR: That's right. And there are a couple of things. Congress is supposed to leave town after the end of next week. So that would be the 21st on Friday. This isn't just a process where you strike a deal and go home. This is something that would take several days.

Once a deal is reached, there would have to be a bill written. This is something that takes a few days. Then it would have to go to the floor, the whole legislative process there taking a few days as well. You almost look at it as a several-day process from when a deal is struck until the whole thing is actually finished and buttoned up.

So, obviously, December 21st, when Congress is supposed to head home, when the president is supposed to head to Hawaii on his Christmas vacation, all of this could slide. The real deadline is the end of the year, but they really need to strike a deal by Christmas.

And even doing that, have been waiting as long as that is something that could really roil the market. So it's also important that they do it before then -- Ted.

ROWLANDS: Yes, well, hopefully this threat of missing their vacation will push them to work harder.

KEILAR: It works sometimes.

ROWLANDS: Yes, absolutely. All right, Brianna Keilar for us this morning at the White House. Brianna, thank you.

This morning, some calming words on Syria amid fears that the crumbling regime there could unleash chemical weapons on its own people, just days after the U.S. and other countries warned embattled President Bashar Al Assad against such action.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says Syria may be backing away from that threat. Here is what Panetta said earlier this morning aboard a flight to Kuwait City.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LEON PANETTA, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We haven't seen anything new indicating, you know, any aggressive steps to move forward in that way. But we continue to monitor it very closely and we continue to make clear to them that they should not, under any means, make use of these chemical weapons against their own population.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: And here's an example of just how murky the divisions are in Syria. Washington is declaring one group of rebels a foreign terrorist organization. According to federal documents, the group is nearly another name for al Qaeda in Iraq.

This morning, we know the name of the Navy SEAL killed during a raid to rescue a kidnapped American doctor in Afghanistan. The SEAL is identified as Petty Officer First Class Nicolas Checque. The 28-year- old Pennsylvania native died over the weekend.

Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins us now with more on Petty Officer Checque. He was a member of SEAL Team Six, the same elite unit that took out Osama bin Laden -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ted. Well, the U.S. military says the remains of Nicolas Checque now back in the United States, they say, back on his way to his family. No details of the funeral have yet been announced by his family.

This 28-year-old petty officer first class had been a ten-year navy veteran, had worked with SEAL Team Six, also known inside the Navy as the special warfare development group, one of the most elite, covert counterterrorism teams in the United States military.

They were called in to action over the weekend in Afghanistan, in Eastern Afghanistan, to rescue an American, Dilip Joseph, who'd been kidnapped by the Taliban. His life was said to be in danger.

The SEALs were ordered in. This young Navy SEAL giving his life for another American he did not know. His high school wrestling coach and his principal are remembering the young man they met in high school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICH GINTHER, WRESTLING COACH: Worked hard every day, never complained. Those are things I remember. I remember his senior year, him basically telling us what he was training for and it was going to get into the Special Forces.

MICHAEL CHOBY, ASSISTANT VICE PRINCIPAL, NORWIN HIGH SCHOOL: You know, it's scary to hear these kind of stories. But what a testament to the kind of man billed himself to be for these kids who are here, aspiring to be in the military.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: His hometown in Pennsylvania, remembering this young Navy SEAL. Dilip Joseph, the doctor, also is said to have been roughed up by the Taliban during the time he was held and is said to eventually be on his way back home to his family and his work in Colorado -- Ted.

ROWLANDS: All right, Barbara Starr, thank you. Barbara from the Pentagon this morning.

Well, a global banking giant will pay nearly $2 billion as part of a record payment to the U.S. government. The payment is part of a settlement that resolves HSBC of accusations of money laundering for Mexican drug cartels and terror-linked groups in Saudi Arabia.

And you might want to turn to Google for the next time you're looking for tips for legally saving money on your taxes. According to "Bloomberg News," the world's second largest search engine saved $2 billion in taxes worldwide by shifting billions of dollars into tax shelters in Bermuda.

Maribel Aber is live at the Nasdaq market site. Maribel, this is most of Google's pre-tax earnings that they were able to shelter.

MARIBEL ABER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ted, you're right there. It's about 80 percent of Google's pre-tax profits last year. You know, we've heard some of this before. And here's the thing, Ted. It is legal.

But Bloomberg is now attaching some specific dollar figures to this and first off, why Bermuda? Well, you know what? That country doesn't have corporate income taxes. So it's a big savings for Google. And as you can imagine, the uproar over this is growing.

Last week, a U.K. Parliamentary Committee criticized Google for moving money to Bermuda. And again I have to say, Ted, this is perfectly legal and this is all because of loopholes many countries have in their tax codes. Amazon and Starbucks have also been under fire for this.

Just last week, Starbucks folded to public pressure and it said it would pay an additional $30 million in taxes in the U.K., but the company stressed that it did nothing wrong.

And as for Google, we reached out to them, no comment. But Ted, Google did tell Bloomberg it complies with all tax rules -- Ted.

ROWLANDS: Yes, you know, people will hear this and we hear it every year. GE was in the news last year and it's astounding to people that they're not paying taxes. Are regulators in any country doing anything about this?

ABER: Well, see, here's the thing. Since it's legal, what it boils down to is really this. It's up to governments around the world to change their tax codes. I mean, last week the European Commission recommended that countries create pa blacklist of common tax havens and also encourage them to change laws to curb tax abuses.

The U.K. has held hearings and issued reports on this. And it's spending millions to hire special investigators just to look into this. The U.K. and U.S. governments have a new agreement to share more information on taxable incomes, but any major crackdown, Ted, is going to take a change in legislation.

ROWLANDS: All right, Maribel Aber, thank you.

The U.S. could launch a mini unmanned space plane in just a few hours and the cargo is classified. We'll have an update from Florida coming up in just a minute. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROWLANDS: And checking our top stories right now. In Sanford, Florida, George Zimmerman is back in court for another hearing in the Trayvon Martin case. Zimmerman, who claims he killed the teen in self-defense, says he still fears for his safety and would like more travel freedoms. His attorneys also want a list of people who can allegedly I.D. Zimmerman and Martin on the 911 call from the night of the shooting.

New details on the health of former South African president, Nelson Mandela, four days after checking into a hospital, the government says the 94-year-old is battling a lung infection. The civil rights icon has not appeared in public in more than two years.

Here's a story sure to stir some taxpayer outrage. A government watchdog says mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac doled out some massive paychecks, despite being propped up with your tax money. The payout, get ready for this, $92 million for the top 90 employees and that, apparently, does not include the CEOs.

Today former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue is expected to announce his decision in Bounty Gate. Tagliabue was brought in to hear the appeals of four players accused of participating in a program that paid money for injuring opponents. His decision could affect whether two current New Orleans Saints, linebacker Jonathan Vilma and defensive end Will Smith get to play out the rest of the season.

Vilma was slapped a full-season suspension while Smith was suspended for four games. Those players have been able to play, however, while their appeals process goes on.

The Air Force is expected to launch its third secret experimental space plane today, it's unmanned, reusable, it's a mini version of the space shuttle that will take off from Cape Canaveral. But no one knows what it is carrying, not even John Zarrella, who knows everything, knows what's inside that shuttle. But he joins us now from Miami. Why so secret, John?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ted. You know, I'm not sure I want to know what's inside this one. Yes, it's called the X-37B, and this is the third orbital test flight of this unmanned vehicle.

It flies up at the same altitude as a space shuttle, about 200 miles, circles the earth, and can be commanded to autonomously return back to earth. Now, it has created a tremendous amount of speculation as to what it is doing up there, the last one that returned to earth earlier this year was up for 469 days, just orbiting. There have been all kinds of speculation about the fact that perhaps it is a satellite-killing machine, perhaps it is an on-demand reconnaissance vehicle, as some call it, in other words, a spy satellite. The Air Force says it's none of that.

That basically it's been up there as a test bed, and they are testing everything from heat shields, thermal protection systems, avionics, all advanced seals, for instance, high-temperature seals. And you can see in that video, one of those X-37Bs right there.

But no one knows how much money has been spent on this, clearly, billions of dollars. And no one knows -- well, some people do, but very few, know exactly what the X-37's purpose is.

You know, Ted, one space expert said in an article I was reading that perhaps its entire purpose is to keep the Chinese wondering what its purpose is and that's it.

ROWLANDS: Well, I guess that would be a good purpose, depending on how much money we're spending for it.

ZARRELLA: Yes.

ROWLANDS: Do you know how much these missions cost?

ZARRELLA: No, they don't.

ROWLANDS: No disclosure on that?

ZARRELLA: No disclosure on how much the Pentagon is spending. And originally, this was supposed to fly inside the space shuttle and it was a part of a NASA program, turned over to the Defense Department in the early 2000s.

Then the Air Force took it over, development costs have -- you know, some numbers that were out there were up around $500 million, but clearly it's well beyond that now.

ROWLANDS: All right, John Zarrella for us this morning in Florida. Thank you, John.

ZARRELLA: Sure.

ROWLANDS: We're continuing to monitor developments in Michigan where lawmakers are getting ready to vote on a controversial right to work law. This is a live look inside the capital. We're going to take you there as the vote gets ready. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROWLANDS: We are getting some new video in of the protests going on in Lansing, Michigan, that we've been watching all morning. Take a look. These are protesters inside the rotunda of the State Capital Building that have gathered to protest against the legislation, which is being pushed through the right to work vote in that state, as we speak. Outside the statehouse, there are thousands of people who have gathered there as well. You're looking at a live shot from our affiliate, WDIV. Their chopper shows thousands of people who are outside, presumably not able to get inside because of capacity issues.

There are also things going on inside the actual chambers. There you see a lawmaker at the podium there, as lawmakers get ready to vote on this very controversial legislation.

Lori Higgins is with the "Detroit Free Press." She is on the phone and joins us now from inside the state capital. Lori, paint a picture for us. A lot of people there, give us a sense of what's going on.

LORI HIGGINS, "DETROIT FREE PRESS" (via telephone): Well, I'm in the basement of the building, and you guys can see the live shot, but I'm hearing a lot of stomping from the ground floor.

Outside the building, there are thousands of people. A lot of them are carrying sig signs. I think a lot of them are here, knowing that this bill is going to pass, but they feel like they need to get their voices heard and send a message to the lawmakers.

ROWLANDS: Is there anything really that would stop this from going through? The governor, Rick Snyder, has said he'll sign it as soon as it hits his desk. Are you expecting this to be law by the end of the day?

HIGGINS: That's the expectation that that the house will concur with the bill that the Senate passed last week. The governor has given an indication that he will sign it.

ROWLANDS: The images that we are seeing are reminiscent of what we saw in Wisconsin a few years ago. In Michigan, like Wisconsin, a lot of people feel as though this was done quickly and in a way that didn't allow full participation. What's been the biggest beef? Is it the actual legislation or the way that it is being rammed through?

HIGGINS: I think it's a combination of both, but I think that the latter, the fact that this is being pushed through the lame-duck session has really angered a lot of people, particularly since our governor, Governor Snyder, has been pretty neutral on this issue up until now and has says it's not been on his agenda.

And then last week he said it was on his agenda. So a lot of people feel like this is being rammed through, that they haven't been given an opportunity to give their thoughts on this and have a voice in this. There have been no committee hearings and the bill passed within a matter of a couple hours last week.

ROWLANDS: In Wisconsin, we saw tens of thousands of people coming out on a daily basis, a lot of emotion, a lot of anger. But there weren't a lot of safety issues. There weren't a lot of problems in terms of violence or fighting between factions.

I know that state workers were sent a memo yesterday to be vigilant and keep your cell phones on and don't walk alone. Is there a concern for safety there, or what are you seeing in terms of that?

HIGGINS: I think that officials are being cautious right now. There haven't been any major problems, last week when they were voting on this. There were a handful of arrests, people who were trying to rush into the chambers.

But those were eight people out of hundreds of people who were out here at the capital last week. So far today, there have been no major problems, as far as I can tell. People are being pretty orderly. There are a lot of people, but there's a very strong state police presence.

ROWLANDS: How many people would you estimate? I know it's very difficult to know where people have come from, but how many people have come from out of state? Obviously these are not all residents of Michigan. These are folks from other states that are standing in solidarity. Do you have any feel for how many folks are coming from out of state here?

HIGGINS: It's hard to say. I know I spoke one of the marshals who's handling the crowds here for the unions. And she said the very first bus that rolled in this morning was a bus full of people from Maryland.

We've seen license plates from Florida, from Wisconsin, from Ohio. They're coming from all over. But at this point, it's really hard to say how many of the thousands of people here are from outside of Michigan.

ROWLANDS: All right, Lori Higgins from the "Detroit Free Press" from inside the state capital in Lansing, Michigan. We also have Alison Kosik outside the state capital in Lansing. We will be following this as it unfolds in Michigan. Stay with us. We're going to take a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROWLANDS: And checking our top stories, we're keeping close tabs on the Michigan capital this morning. The legislature there is about to pass an historic bill that could drastically curb the political power of organized labor. Hundreds of pro-union protesters and supporters have turned out to voice their disapproval.