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Catholic Church Scandal; Family Lost at Sea; Force Spending Cuts Looming

Aired February 25, 2013 - 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 (voice-over): Blackmail, sex, scandal. Allegations involving the Catholic Church swirl as the pope gets ready to leave. I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

(voice-over): Fresh of his soap opera, Manti Te'o says, don't judge me, this as NFL teams consider making him a millionaire.

Plus:

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jennifer, it's me!

BALDWIN: Fashion face-off, Mychael Knight, Monte Durham live in the studio today on the red carpet's best and worst.

And if your kid's got an ear infection, the game just changed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Hi, everyone. Top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

A frantic search is under way off the coast of Monterey Bay for a couple, their 4-year-old and a young cousin who are missing since their sailboat started taking on water yesterday. Every moment is critical here as the Coast Guard is searching the waters 65 miles offshore.

Dan Simon joins me now live from San Francisco with more on the search.

And Dan, what do we know at this point?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Brooke.

The search is still ongoing, despite the fact it will be very difficult for anyone to survive in those frigid waters overnight and several hours today. We just got the last radio communication between the father, the vessel operator, and the Coast Guard. I want you to listen to it now. It is very short. But you can get a sense of what is happening.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coast Guard, Coast Guard, we are abandoning ship. This is the (INAUDIBLE) We are abandoning ship. (END AUDIO CLIP)

SIMON: What the father is saying there is that he is abandoning ship. From -- basically from listening to that, that very short clip, it sounds like he's very calm in that situation, and the Coast Guard told us that they have the short bursts of communication for about an hour, and throughout the entire ordeal, the father sounded relatively calm.

We know that they didn't have any life preservers on the boat. Obviously, that's very distressing. And, like I said, the temperature of that water very cold and it would be difficult for anyone to survive in those circumstances, especially children. But they're still holding out hope. It is believed they are about 65 miles west of the Monterey area, and that's a couple of miles away from where I'm standing here in San Francisco and they got a lot of folks in the air, four airplanes, searching for this boat and a couple of boats in the water. So we will keep you updated as we get more information -- back to you.

BALDWIN: Dan Simon, thank you. We will stay in touch with you.

Also now for the second time in a week, a blizzard is pounding the nation's midsection here. Take a look. Blizzard conditions, total whiteout here have closed highways in northwestern Oklahoma, where forecasters are anticipating 26 inches of snow and in Kansas, drivers are being warned to just stay off all the roads altogether. Much of the same scene in Texas, where the National Guard is being called in to help stranded drivers.

In Amarillo so far, 17 inches of snow is on the ground. And the wind is gusting up to 52 miles per hour. First-responders are among some of those folks who are currently stranded.

Sex, blackmail, corruption, and gay abuse claims, all of this as Pope Benedict XVI enters his final days in power. A top U.K. cardinal has resigned, accused of inappropriate behavior toward four young men in the 1980s. The Vatican in damage control mode after it leaked reports here about an alleged network of gay priests blackmailed by a group of male prostitutes.

Italian media saying it is no coincidence the allegations have surfaced on the same day the pope announced his resignation.

Ben Wedeman, our senior international correspondent, following the story for us from Rome.

Ben, this is Cardinal O'Brien. He says he submitted his resignation to the pope months ago. It was only just now accepted a day after this leaked report. Talk to me about the timing. What to do we know about that?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we understand that because Cardinal O'Brien was approaching the age of 75, it is standard practice in the Vatican for him to hand in his resignation months in advance of his 75th birthday. So they actually had it -- the pope had it on his desk, so to speak, but clearly when these reports began to surface in the U.K., he must have decided it was time to accept it. Now, today, there was a press conference at the Vatican, where officials did acknowledge that the resignation had been accepted. They, however, did not want to go into the details as to why the cardinal was actually resigning -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: But then what about also this leaked dossier? What is being reported and what do we actually know?

WEDEMAN: Well, we do know that there was indeed a dossier. It was the result of an internal Vatican investigation conducted by three senior cardinals, submitted on the 17th of December to Pope Benedict.

Now, the precise details of what is inside have not been made public in any form. However, two Italian journalists, one working for the Rome daily "La Repubblica," the other for a weekly magazine, "Panorama," did have access to some of its contents, it appears.

And what we're seeing is that really a web of financial wrongdoing, the possibility that there is a network of gay priests and gay lay officials within the Vatican who could have been or may have been blackmailed by a network of male prostitutes.

Now, Brooke, I have to stress the Vatican has flatly denied the veracity of the claims in the Italian media, saying quite in unusually strong terms for the Vatican that these claims, these reports are unverified, unverifiable, or completely false.

BALDWIN: Ben Wedeman, thank you.

Once again, deadline pressure weighing on Capitol Hill. In four days, $85 billion worth of forced spending cuts are set to kick in, cuts so severe they could actually slow the growth of the economy. And they don't discriminate. I'm talking about cuts hitting public housing, education, military, much more.

But keep in mind these cuts weren't supposed to happen. They were the absurd last resort to force Congress to do something else. The president today urged governors gathered for a National Governors Association event to help stop the slashing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: While you are in town, I hope that you speak with your congressional delegation and remind them in no uncertain terms exactly what is at stake, and exactly who is at risk, because here's the thing.

These cuts do not have to happen. Congress can turn them off any time with just a little bit of compromise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now, chief political analyst Gloria Borger. And, Gloria, look, the country, we have been through multiple countdowns pending fiscal disaster before. Why is this time different?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I look at it this way, Brooke.

It's kind of what is the default setting that you would be going back to? When we had the argument over the fiscal cliff, the default was, OK, everybody's taxes are going to go up. When we had it over the debt ceiling, well, we knew that if they didn't come to a deal on that, the full faith and credit of the United States would be at risk.

Now we get to these forced spending cuts, also known as the dreaded sequester. What is the default on that? Well, you get $85 billion in budget cuts in discretionary domestic spending as well as in the Pentagon and there are a lots of people on both sides of the aisle for different reasons who believe, you know what, that's not such a terrible thing.

So the default setting, despite what we heard about the TSA lines and all the rest, may be pretty palatable to some. And it shows you how far the dysfunction in Washington has come since they came up with this plan a couple of years ago.

BALDWIN: Now, on the dysfunction angle, look, the last time we talked about something sort of similar was fiscal cliff, it was in December, and that was the last Congress. Now we have new members of Congress. My question now is how is the Republican Party different?

BORGER: Right. Well, this is the most interesting part of this. I think the White House made a calculation when this whole idea was hatched that the Republican Party would never go for draconian cuts on military spending.

And what has occurred in the Republican Party is that you have a group of younger members who believe in budget cutting above all else, and are willing to take the hits in the Pentagon so long as you get hits in domestic spending and so long as you don't raise taxes. And so I think what you're seeing is really very much a demographic shift in the Republican Party.

You have got lots of younger members, Tea Party folks who are saying, you know what, this isn't the worst thing that could happen. Let's do this, let's take the hit on this in the short-term, and we're going to -- it starts paving the way for more serious budget cutting.

BALDWIN: Deadline is midnight Friday. Gloria Borger, thank you.

BORGER: Sure is, yes.

BALDWIN: Taxing marijuana. Thanks to an old law targeting drug runners, entrepreneurs, a new marijuana trade can face taxes that are really high. How high? We will tell you next.

Plus, the blame game begins in the BP oil spill. Listen to this, 60 lawyers inside a single courtroom today. There is even a seating chart to keep them all straight. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS BREAK)

BALDWIN: Coming up: challenging science. Oklahoma passes a law that lets high school students and teachers -- quote, unquote -- "explore alternative theories" to the stuff in the science textbooks. So, does that mean there is no correct answer on exams anymore? We're "On the Case" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Jodi Arias is back on the stand in Phoenix, Arizona, today, for the 10th day. You know the story. She's the woman charged with murdering her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, back in June of 2008. She stabbed him 29 times and shot him in the forehead.

Arias says it was self-defense, that he attacked her. Today, the prosecution had a chance to grill her for the second day, asking her why she lied to detectives about killing him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: You were thinking more of yourself when you made this statement to this detective, right?

JODI ARIAS, DEFENDANT: I'm not sure about that.

MARTINEZ: Well, other than you, who would be sure about your statements?

ARIAS: God.

MARTINEZ: Well, God's not here. We can't subpoena him, right?

ARIAS: I don't think so.

MARTINEZ: You don't think so? Are you sure that we can't? Because it seems like you're leaving the door open for that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection. Relevance, Your Honor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: If she is convicted, she faces the death penalty.

In Oklahoma, a new law could change the way your child learns science in school. If it passes, the bill would require teachers to address theories such as evolution and climate change in their lesson plans.

The bill also paves the way for students to challenge what are called universally accepted scientific theories.

Legal analyst Sunny Hostin is "On the Case" with me in New York. And, Sunny, let me ask just you this. If this passes, be specific. How would this work?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I don't know that I can be specific.

I spent hours trying to figure this out today, Brooke. And I don't know that it is clear how it would work practically in the classroom. I mean, proponents of the legislation are saying that the way it would work would be that children aren't or would not be penalized for sort of posing these alternate theories, for challenging what they see in textbooks.

But in my schooling, I challenged often the way I challenge here on "On the Case," right? I'm one of those people. And I wasn't penalized for it.

(CROSSTALK)

HOSTIN: That is part of the educational process. So many people are saying that these -- that this is really a way to get religion into the classroom, that this is some sort of sneaky way of going about it.

There have been many of these bills proposed in the past. They have failed for -- I would say really because U.S. courts have made it very clear that these creationist rules are really religious based and not scientifically based and that there is no place for that in the classroom at this time. And so I suspect that it may not pass, it may not go all the way, but if it does, they're going to have a really difficult time, I think, practically rolling it out in our classrooms across our country.

BALDWIN: OK. I suppose if you challenge something, you prove your theory, maybe that will be acceptable to teachers. We will see if this actually passes merit in Oklahoma.

Let me talk about the Supreme Court here, this rejection of an appeal in this drug case, and what caught our attention is that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, she used her comments on the case to speak out about what is being described as racially insensitive remarks by the federal prosecutor. She accused this prosecutor who she did not name of fanning the flames of fear and prejudice.

And my question to you, Sunny Hostin, is how unusual is this for a Supreme Court justice to use remarks in this kind of way, basically put someone in their place?

HOSTIN: It is very unusual. A lot of times, the Supreme Court decides not to take appeals and they don't give any reason for their decisions whatsoever, Brooke. They're silent on it.

The fact that not only that she sort of made these statements, Justice Breyer signed on to them also, but what she specifically addressed was the issue that a federal prosecutor -- and I was a federal prosecutor, so I'm very surprised that this federal prosecutor said this -- in questioning in Texas said, "You got African-Americans, you got Hispanics, you got a bag full of money, does that tell you a lightbulb doesn't go off in your head and say this is a drug deal?"

So, basically equating the fact there were people of color involved in a transaction would lead someone to believe that it was a drug deal. So, really, really statements that oftentimes are not heard from federal prosecutors, and she wrote, "I hope to never see a case like this again."

And I would agree with Justice Sotomayor. I hope to never see a case like that again.

BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin "On the Case," Sunny, thank you.

HOSTIN: Thanks.

BALDWIN: Coming up, Manti Te'o at the NFL scouting conference interviewing with the pros. But can he shake that whole fake girlfriend thing? That's the question. We're going to go live to Indianapolis right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Near the bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Sports, technology, health, international news, we're hitting it all, right now, beginning with skier Lindsey Vonn showing off the leg injury from her spectacular crash during the Super G at the world championships. Here she was. She was talking to "Today Show" host Matt Lauer showing him her lovely scars. As she has her ACL, MCL leg fracture all sort of repaired, will not, she says, will not keep her from the next 2014 Olympics in Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDSEY VONN, OLYMPIC SKIER: Honestly, in a worst-case scenario, if I trained a week before the Games, I would be fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Manti Te'o faces the biggest job interview of his life, the NFL scouting combine. A lot of questions about the Notre Dame linebacker's potential stock in the big league after he was scammed into falling for a nonexistent girlfriend.

Te'o talked about the hoax in front of a horde of reporters. Look at this crowd. As he was at the combine, been a hot topic with, of course, the NFL scouts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANTI TE'O, FORMER NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL PLAYER: They all just want to know, they want to hear from me what the truth was, and they haven't really said anything about it affecting me. Some guys just, you know, we just talk. I briefly describe for 30 seconds and the next 14 minutes is just all plays and just getting down to business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Rachel Nichols in Indianapolis for me, where Manti Te'o did his on-field workout today.

So, Rachel, the question is, what are tears taking more into account? Is it the catfishing of his past or how he looks at the combine?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, going into this event, a lot of people were looking at both, thinking, OK, how is he going to handle questions about this?

The actual incident of him and the girlfriend and finding out it was fake, teams aren't as concerned about that. Teams, you have to remember, in the NFL, regularly have to deal with should they have players on their team who have off-field scenarios and most of them much more serious than having a girlfriend who doesn't turn out to be real. We're talking about DUIs, battery charges, things like that.

As the general manager of the New York Giants, Jerry Reese, said, I have seen players with a lot more issues than this issue.

So it is not per see the fact that this all happened. It is how he handled it. And that press conference that you guys just showed, all around the league, there was really the resounding feeling afterward that he was confident, comfortable, that he took responsibility for his actions.

And they were really watching to see how he would do in front of that horde of media because it was unpredictable and they wanted to make sure that when he was under pressure, that he was going to be just as relaxed as he was in the one-on-one interviews that we have seen him in. So that all went pretty well for him on Saturday.

Today has been a little bit more difficult. As you mentioned, he's been on the field. He didn't bust out. He didn't have a very poor performance, but he's been remarkably average across the board. There is a lot of scouts and G.M.s that would like to see him run faster, jump a little bit higher and further.

So I think that is something that is now going to become the evolving story with him, is, is it going to be something that knocks him out of the first round of the draft, but not going to be something that knocks him down too far entirely.

BALDWIN: Remarkably average, not a ringing endorsement here for the linebacker from Notre Dame.

Rachel Nichols, thank you. We will see you week in Indianapolis.