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Statue of Rosa Parks Unveiled; Pope Benedict XVI's Last Public Appearance; Jodi Arias's Web of Lies; The Supreme Court Tackles Voting Rights
Aired February 27, 2013 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you Carol. Hello everyone, I'm Ashleigh Banfield. You know, it takes a lot these days to get the President and senior lawmakers in the very same room. Today we can thank Rosa Parks for making it happen.
Just take a look at this live picture. As we speak, a dedication ceremony is getting under way in the U.S. Capitol. It's for a statue honoring the woman who refused to give up her seat on a city bus in Jim Crow, Alabama, circa 1955.
The nation's first African-American president is due to speak in about 40 minutes and you're going to hear from him live right here on CNN and you can follow the ceremony, start to finish, on CNN.com.
But all the dignitaries now filing into the Capitol. And, by the way, it will be a houseful, with congressional leaders who will join the president.
This is a big deal, too, because while there are many statues in the Capitol, there are almost none that are a congressional effort, so to speak. Many private groups fund major statues that are in the Capitol.
But this is a bipartisan thing and which the leaders are very proud to announce that this is something that Congress has done for one of the most important women in American history.
But we're going to begin this hour with something that may not happen again for a thousand years, multitudes filling St. Peter's Square and beyond to say goodbye to a living pope, an aged and tired and increasingly frail pope, but the first in 600 years to just give and resign the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church.
This last hurrah of the Benedict, it comes -- Benedict the XVI comes a day before he enters a life of seclusion as, quote, "pontiff emeritus," and his cardinals will be scrambling to replace him.
He assures his flock that he will still be with them in spirit, and he hopes that they don't forget him either.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE BENEDICT XVI, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH: I will continue to accompany the church with my prayers and ask each of you to pray for me and for the new pope.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: CNN's Christiane Amanpour was part of today's historic papal audience, one of the many, many thousands.
Christiane, a lot of emotion coming from this pope in his address, was that a surprise given the fact this he has been called the German shepherd?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you know, he has been one who has not really worn his heart on his sleeve.
He's very different from his predecessor, John Paul II, who was all about hugs and a lot of embracing. This pope has been much more reserved, much more intellectual, so, yes, today was a day of rare emotion.
You saw a lot of smiles as he went around St. Peter's Square in that "pope-mobile" to receive the farewells, the final farewells, really, because this was his final public audience.
He spoke about how he had so much joy, he said, in the church in his eight years of reign, but he also talked about how there had been difficult times. He said it had been fair from easy on occasion.
He talked about how the church come across, quote, "agitated waters" and it sometimes found itself facing the different directions of the wind.
And, obviously, he was talking a lot about various world crises and issues that the pope has to deal with and the church has to deal with, but, also, close to home, those scandals that have rocked and buffeted this church for more than 14 years now, most particularly, the sex abuse scandals involving priests, involving young boys who were preyed upon for so many generations and the continued effort to try to hold those accountable, those who either did it and or those who hid it and took part in shielding priests from these scandals and from accountability.
So, all that is going on at the same time, most particularly, as we await the conclave to convene and elect the next pope. Everybody's waiting. That's the next great excitement on the calendar of the Catholic Church.
And people want to see what this next pope will do in many, many different directions, but also putting a final, full-stop period before this scandal that has rocked the church for so many years, Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: And I understand that the pontiff will either be meeting with or is meeting with the cardinals.
And then it's kind of an interesting agenda that's set for him. He's going to be ferried by helicopter to his summer residence?
AMANPOUR: Well, yes, tomorrow, of course, is the final day on the throne of St. Peter, the final day where he will be pope.
And at about 5:00 p.m. Rome time, he will be taking a helicopter from St. Peter's behind me to Castle Gandolfo, which is the traditional summer residence of the pope.
He will be there, not in summer but for a few months while there's this transition period, also, his next residence, which will be in the Vatican, a converted convent. That will take some time to get ready for him.
So, he's going to be sort of out of sight, not out of mind, but out of any opportunity to have any contact, direct contact, with the cardinals and with all those who have now been tasked and will be tasked with electing the next pope.
And then, of course, at 8:00 tomorrow, that's it. That's when his resignation is effective. That is when what we call "sede vacante" takes over, the "empty seat" and, as I say, the next session of rituals starts and that is to try to elect the next pope, Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: It would be a fascinating time to be at the Vatican.
Christiane Amanpour, thank you for that.
Checking other top stories that we're following, we have just learned that President Obama is inviting congressional leaders to the White House on Friday. That's the day the $85 billion in spending cuts are set to kick in.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell says it will be a chance to discuss how the leadership -- or how the leaders and the president can, quote, "keep our commitment to reduce Washington spending."
Overseas, a worker shot in Switzerland shot and killed two co-workers before killing himself at a lumber plant near Lucerne. Seven people were seriously -- were wounded, six of them seriously, but there's still no word on what the possible motive was here.
A winter storm spreading snow from Missouri to Maine is making a huge mess in Chicago and the upper Midwest and driving is treacherous. Another 150 flights out of Chicago have been called off today after more than a thousand cancellations yesterday.
You can excuse Chuck Hagel for being a little bit late on first day of his brand-new job. The former Republican senator first had to be sworn in for his job as secretary of defense at a private Pentagon ceremony, that step coming after a pretty tough confirmation fight in the Senate.
A round-trip mission to Mars is in the works. The group Inspiration Mars Foundation is to send a man and woman to fly by the Red Planet in 2018. The mission would be a 501-day mission.
It's the brainchild of Dennis Tito. If you remember that name, he was the first space tourist. Tito is holding a news conference a couple of hours from now. Even after 11 days on the witness stand, Jodi Arias' story continues to change. It is a remarkable murder case, a trial you don't seem to be able to turn away from. We're covering it, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Top stories, there's new dramatic video of that balloon crash that killed 19 people in Egypt, caught on a cell phone. Look at these images.
Officials now saying that the investigation into what went wrong here could take at least two weeks.
This terrible crash happened when gas canisters on the balloon had exploded. They had been out sight-seeing, reportedly, around the pyramids. Remarkable pictures.
The U.S. Coast Guard is calling off the search for a California couple and two young children, and, believe it or not, they're saying they think the report of their sailboat sinking is possibly a hoax.
The search has been under way off San Francisco since Sunday, but nothing has been seen, nothing has been recovered.
First, a list of prominent Republicans, now, dozens of big corporations are coming out to back same-sex marriage. Apple, Nike, Facebook, Cisco and others are supporting briefs filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.
They're urging the court to strike down Proposition 8. That's California's same-sex marriage ban. Those companies say they believe that bans on gay marriage can wind up hurting business and employee recruiting, as well.
Day 11 on the witness stand for Jodi Arias was all about, what else, sex, lies, but also some big contradictions.
Prosecutors ripped into Arias' story of her relationship with an ex- boyfriend, Travis Alexander, and her reasons, she says, she needed to kill him in self-defense.
But she defiantly declared that she is innocent of first-degree murder.
Our Randi Kaye has all of the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If Travis Alexander was so dangerous and so abusive to Jodi Arias, then why, prosecutors want to know, was she sending him text messages, calling him an amazing friend and telling him she loved him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Miss Arias, you are still under oath. Do you understand?
JODI ARIAS, ACCUSED MURDERER: Yes.
KAYE: In court, she was questioned about one text sent in April 2008, just two months before Arias supposedly killed Alexander in self- defense.
JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR, MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA: Well, you've been telling us before that he was mean. Do you remember telling us that?
ARIAS: Yes, he was also that.
MARTINEZ: And you've been telling us that, in addition to being mean, he was somebody who physically abused you, right?
ARIAS: Yes, he did.
MARTINEZ: That doesn't seem to correspond, does it? You've given us two versions, correct?
ARIAS: Of what?
MARTINEZ: Of Mr. Alexander.
KAYE: And the contradictions continued. Prosecutors played clips from Arias' 2008 interview with "48 Hours" where she gushed over Alexander.
ARIAS: He was a light and he had so many -- he brightened a room when he walked in. He literally brightened the room. It almost seems like the world is a darker place now that he's not in it anymore.
KAYE: Again, she was asked to explain.
MARTINEZ: According to that particular excerpt and your statement, he was great guy, right?
ARIAS: Yes.
MARTINEZ: And he was a great guy, it appears, to everybody that seemed to come in contact with him, correct?
ARIAS: Yes, it appears.
KAYE: And there's more. Why, if Arias was so disgusted after supposedly catching Alexander masturbating to child porn, did she continue to date him and have sex with him, sex that at times involved Pop Rocks and Tootsie Pops.
MARTINEZ: So, you think somebody who masturbates to pictures of little boys is beautiful on the inside, right?
ARIAS: I don't think that aspect of him is beautiful at all. I think it's sickening.
KAYE: Sickening, yet still, in court, even though Arias maintains Alexander abused her, she told the prosecutor he was hard to say no to.
MARTINEZ: In fact, the way you described it was that he's somebody that you could not stay away from sexually, right?
ARIAS: Yes.
MARTINEZ: And he described you as his kryptonite, right?
ARIAS: Yes.
MARTINEZ: And, so, it was a situation that you were mutually attracted, right?
KAYE: On the stand, Arias tried to play down her sexual prowess, but the prosecutor challenged her. Listen.
MARTINEZ: So, are you saying that you did that even though you didn't want to?
ARIAS: Yes.
MARTINEZ: And did you tell him that?
ARIAS: No.
MARTINEZ: Did you think that he was a mind reader and would know that you didn't want to do that?
ARIAS: No.
MARTINEZ: And one of the things that you said that was kind of striking about that was that when he was performing oral sex on you that he said -- you said he sure knew what he was doing.
Do you remember saying that on direct examination? Do you remember that?
ARIAS: Yes.
MARTINEZ: Well, doesn't it take one to know one?
KAYE: He challenged her again with this.
MARTINEZ: You were the one that had the K.Y. or brought it into the relationship to make it better, right?
ARIAS: To facilitate our activities.
MARTINEZ: Sure. And that would make them better, if it facilitated your activities, right?
ARIAS: Yes.
MARTINEZ: And, yet, you're telling us that. And on the other hand, you're telling us, well, I felt like a prostitute. Which one is it? KAYE: Even during moments like that here in court, Jodi Arias never lost her cool. At times, she'd bite her lip, even look to the jury for some sort of approval. And when she didn't like the direction of the questions from the prosecutor, she simply lost her memory.
MARTINEZ: How is it that if it just happened, you can't even remember what you just said?
ARIAS: I think I'm more focused on your posture and your tone and your anger, so it's hard to process the question.
KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, Phoenix, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BANFIELD: And our legal panel is going to untangle some of this very strange web of testimony and lies in just a moment, but first I want to get you back to Washington, D.C., where we've been watching this event all morning long. The unveiling of the statue of the statue of Rosa Parks. You can see the president and the leaders of Congress. There you have it.
(BEGIN LIVE FEED)
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the statue of Rosa Parks.
(APPLAUSE)
(END LIVE FEED)
BANFIELD: It's a great moment, especially at a time when we can't agree on Capitol Hill. We've got congressional leaders from both parties, both sides of the aisle represented with the president with Rosa Parks featured behind them, 9 feet tall, 2,500. And that is on a black granite pedestal you can't see right now. Spectacular image. This was authorized by Congress in 2005 which was shortly after Rosa Parks died. So great moment of her unveiling the statue. Again, I mentioned it at the top of the show. It bears repeating. This was a congressional effort. It was not a private funding of the statue, which is often the case for many of the statues on Capitol Hill. This was a public venture and a public moment for the woman who triggered the modern civil rights movement. We will be right back after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: If you just heard what went on in the courtroom at that Jodi Arias trial yesterday it certainly seems like the prosecution is looking to punch a few holes into the stories that Ms. Arias has been telling all the way along since her arrest. A couple of very smart clever ladies joining me on this one. "In Sessions" correspondent Beth Karas is with me and CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin. Both join me live now. Beth, I want to begin with you. Jodi Arias' story, at least to this courtroom, is that she killed Travis Alexander in self- defense because among many things he was an abusive pedophile, and yet messages are being read she sent to him calling him beautiful on the inside and a true amazing friend. That has to hurt.
BATH KARAS, CORRESPONDENT, IN SESSIONS: Yes, indeed. The prosecution is trying to juxtapose her writings which heap all kinds of praise on him, whether it's her private journal entries or text messages to him or what she had to say in the book at his memorial. Nothing about any sort of abuse or any pedophilia. These allegations the prosecution believes are absolutely a lie.
BANFIELD: Sunny Hostin, a lot of times prosecutor has to tap dance very carefully in how much they beat up a witness on the stand and here you have this very sort of demur looking, quiet-spoken young woman who's just an extraordinary liar. Can the prosecutor do anything he wants here? I mean does he have carte blanche to rip her to shreds or does he have to watch it?
SUNNY HOSTON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think you always have to watch it because you never want as a prosecutor want to offend your jury. This has been going on for quite some time. She's been on the stand for as long as I think I can remember a defendant being on the stand. And this prosecutor in the court of public opinion and on social media, Ashleigh, has been taking quite a hit. I mean there are many that believe that he's being a bit too difficult, that his cross- examination is sort of all over the place. I think there certainly is a method to his madness because his entire examination is about the fact she cannot be trusted. Her version of events cannot be trusted and he's testing each and every bit of it. I've about got to tell you, I think at this point he's been given so much to work with, there tends to be diminishing returns at a point and she has been on the witness stand for a long time. I'm not sure that she -- he needs do much more to prove his point.
BANFIELD: And, Beth. I also enjoy seeing videotape of people who do television interviews before they actually end up in trial. It never fails to amaze me, but Jodi Arias sat down with CBS and did a 48-hour story and had the hair and makeup and lighting and the whole nine yards and it's been played in court where she says the world would be darker without him in it referring to Travis Alexander. When the jury sees that kind of a thing up there on the big screen. It's got to be very powerful to them.
KARAS: No question about it. And she's giving these interviews months after she was arrested. She's had another four years to think about things. She's changed her story to self-defense after the 48 hours interview. So, again, it's another juxtaposition of she's saying one thing on the stand and she said something else outside. So these media interviews -- and it's not just the CBS interview. There was also "Inside Edition" and local media are coming back to haunt her. Her words are what will do her in.
BANFIELD: There's nothing like being able to sit in a courtroom and be able to watch somebody knowingly lie right there on tape in front of you. It's -- I don't know. I hate to say it because I love the TV interviews. Don't get me wrong. But for defendants it's the worst thing in the world. HOSTIN: Lawyers don't like it.
BANFIELD: Do they ever hate it. Best advice ever. Shut your mouth. All right, ladies, ladies thank you so much, do appreciate it. Beth and Sunny live for us today.
We're also following the trial in detail. Sometimes I can't bring you the details. Even some of the most supportive testimony I can not read it to you because it's too dirty. We'll bring you the very latest the best we can, though, on this trial every single day.
The right to vote. Undeniably one of our most cherished ideals, but how far should the government go to protect it? The Supreme Court is going to take a very hard look. We are live at the Supreme Court for you, and there's the court waiting to find out more about this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: In New Zealand police had to fire shots to scare away a shark that was attacking a swimmer, but sadly it was too late to saving the swimmer. A 12 to 14-foot great white shark was spotted by air moments after killing a man at a popular beach near Aukland, New Zealand. A witness said there was blood everywhere and that other sharks apparently joined in on the attack. Needless to say that beach is closed.
A House vote could come today to vote on the Violence Against Women Act. The Senate has already passed its version of the legislation. The main sticking point is whether to broaden the 1994 landmark law. Some House conservatives said they would rather not add programs to treat victims in same-sex relationships or those on Indian reservations.
The timing is accidental but the very day that the president dedicates a statue to Rosa Parks in the U.S. capital, a landmark piece of civil rights legislation is actually on trial right across the street from all of those clapping members of the audience.
Just last hour the Supreme Court heard an Alabama case. It's a case that claims the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has outlived its usefulness. Alabama is one of several states and also parts of other states with such a history of voting rights repression that they have to pre-clear - get clearance from the federal government for any changes in their voting laws or their election procedures. Most of the areas are in the south but if you look at the calendar, you can see that Alaska is covered and parts of California are covered and then New York City. Look at that.
My colleague Joe Johns is actually in the courtroom right now and he's been listening to arguments. He's going to join me and talk about the significance of it and how the arguments went. First he went to the town that calls itself the heart of the heart of Dixie.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: Calera, Alabama, in the heart of Dixie, population just under 20,000. Eight years ago Ernest Montgomery was elected as only the second African American to serve on the Calera city council. At that time he represented the mostly black part of town tucked between the railroad tracks and the interstate.
ERNEST MONTGOMERY, FMR. CITY COUNCILMAN, CALERA ALABAMA: I think because of our past, we have to accept, you know, the way times were.
JOHNS: Four years ago the city council redrew voting lines. Montgomery lost re-election by two votes.
MONTGOMERY: They added four large subdivisions which was predominantly white to my district, which diluted the district from a 67 percent African American district down to about a 28 percent.
JOHNS: But the U.S. Department of Justice stepped in an helped Montgomery get his job back.
