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Pope Says Goodbye; Rosa Parks Honored in D.C.; Supreme Court Examines Voting Rights Act

Aired February 27, 2013 - 15:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and the clock is ticking on this so- called crisis they created.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

(voice-over): History in the making. The pope says goodbye. But he's spending his final hours admitting it's been tough.

Plus, Titanic, the sequel, a billionaire re-creating the world's most famous ship, down to its very last detail. But it's kind of creepy.

And:

TWYLA DEVITO, BARTENDER: He said I'm going to have to fire you because it is bad for business to have a bartender that will call the cops.

BALDWIN: Why? Because she thought a woman was too drunk to drive home. We're "On the Case."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Hey, everybody. I'm Brooke Baldwin, top of the hour.

Take a look over my left shoulder here as we're watching very closely the Dow inching toward that historic high from October of 2007, right now at 14073. That high was 14164. We're watching, we're watching for you.

Meantime, battling tears, a dad begs Congress to consider a ban on assault weapons. He is Neil Heslin. He lost his son Jesse when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School back in December; 26 people, including 20 children, were killed. Heslin's emotional testimony today before the Senate Judiciary Committee stirring a heated debate over background checks. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL HESLIN, FATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM: On the morning of December 14, Jesse stopped -- stopped at Misty Vale Deli. He got his favorite sandwich, sausage, egg and cheese, on a hard roll. And he ordered me one. He always -- would always do that. I would get a coffee, and Jesse would get what he called a coffee, but it was a hot chocolate. We proceeded to the school. It was 9:04 when I dropped Jesse off, the school clock. Jesse gave me a hug and a kiss at that time, said, "Goodbye. I love you." He stopped, and he said, "I love mom, too."

That was the last I saw of Jesse as he ducked around the corner. Prior to that, when he was getting out of the truck, he hugged me and held me, and I can still feel that hug and that pat on the back. He said: "Everything's going to be OK, dad. It's all going to be OK."

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: It looks to me like we ought to start enforcing the law that is on the books because when almost 80,000 people fail a background check and 44 people are prosecuted, what kind of deterrent is that?

I mean, the law obviously is not seen that as important. If it is such an important issue, why aren't we prosecuting people who fail a background check? And there are 15 questions there. They're not hard to understand if you're filling out the form. I'm a bit frustrated that we say one thing, how important it is, but in the real world we absolutely do nothing to enforce the laws on the books.

Now, let's talk...

EDWARD FLYNN, MILWAUKEE POLICE CHIEF: Just for the record, from my point of view, Senator...

(CROSSTALK)

GRAHAM: How many cases have you made?

(CROSSTALK)

FLYNN: No, it doesn't matter. It is a paper thing.

(CROSSTALK)

FLYNN: I want to stop 76 -- I want to finish the answer. I want to stop 76,000 people from buying guns illegally. That's what a background check does. If you think we're going to do paperwork prosecutions, you're wrong.

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: President Obama wants to require background checks on all gun sales to close a loophole for private transactions. He's also calling for a ban on semiautomatic firearms that mimic military assault rifles.

No one has seen this in, oh, 600 years, a final goodbye from a living pope. This massive crowd cheered for Pope Benedict's today in St. Peters's Square. He got personal, recalling his rocky tenure filled with moments of joy and difficult times when -- quote -- "The lord seemed to be sleeping."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE BENEDICT XVI, LEADER OF CATHOLIC CHURCH: I will continue to accompany the church with my prayers and I ask each of you to pray for me and for the new pope.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The pope took a final spin in the popemobile, waving there to the huge crowd before him. And now part of the pope's retirement plan also includes ditching his trademark red shoes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FATHER THOMAS ROSICA, VATICAN PRESS SECRETARY: He will wear a simple white cassock without the mozzetta, I think it is called, the little cape on top, a simple white cassock.

A very important point are the shoes. They will no longer be the red shoes that you have seen him wear, but he's chosen to keep brown shoes that were given to him on his recent trip to Mexico in Leon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: When you're a pope, the shoes make the news. The pope's selection of red leather loafers actually won him accessorizer of the year from "Esquire" magazine. That was back in 2007.

International correspondent Becky Anderson joins me now live from Rome.

And let's just, on the lighter side here off the top, Becky, explain to me this long tradition behind the red loafers.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're coming to me for all things sartorial about the Holy See this evening.

This is the tradition that dates back to ancient Rome when only the emperor, the empress or the pope could wear red shoes. The sense is of the sort of glory of everything ancient Rome. And, you know, in fact, Princess Diana ended up wearing red shoes as well. But it is the pope, as I say, and only the very most important of those running this country and indeed that being the state Vatican City behind me.

You're absolutely right to say he's, though, chosen as he moves on -- one assumes that the new pope, whoever that will be, will be in those red shoes once again -- he will be wearing brown loafers. It is a lovely little story. In Mexico, in Leon, a little town in Mexico, he was given a pair of brown loafers, which he absolutely adores and says that's what he wants to wear going forward -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: So, sartorial items aside, Becky Anderson, let's talk privacy, because Pope Benedict said -- he actually said it today that a pope has no privacy. How difficult do you think being pope of a leader of 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide was for quite a private man?

ANDERSON: Yes, it's been, I think, very, very difficult. This wasn't a man who was particularly comfortable in front of crowds. Today, we saw him at St. Peter's Square in the popemobile there, and he looks frail, he looks old, but he seemed to be enjoying himself.

But John Paul II is very much more of sort of engaging pope, I think, and not as much as a private man as Benedict XVI is. He will leave here tomorrow around this time by helicopter, and he will go to Castel Gandolfo, which is a summer residence of the pope. And from there, he will actually come back to the Vatican in his retirement. He will be into isolation. He's chosen that for himself at what was a nunnery.

It's what they call the Vatican sort of garden cottage, as it were, and it's not particularly comfortable, I'm told. I haven't been in, but it is somewhere he can spend his twilight years as it were, and he's 85 years old, let's remember that, in peace and reflecting on where he is, who he is, and how far he's come.

Today was very much an occasion of reflection for the 100,000 or so people who were here, Brooke. It was absolutely amazing. We were up there, right at Vatican City there and it was a sense of quiet, even though there are over 100,000 people there, so I say, a time of reflection and peace for so many of the faith -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: And history being made and now less than 24 hours from now, where you are in Rome. Becky Anderson, my thanks to you.

Back here at home, we talked about this last hour the automatic blunt- force spending cuts set to kick in on Friday. Today, the White House confirmed the president is going to meet on Friday with the top four leaders of Congress. That whole idea, meeting right at the deadline, appears to strike some as ironic.

After all, what can they really do with such a late hour? In fact, take a look at this. This is a guy, in the White House press corps, just couldn't quite get his head around this whole concept. I want you to watch him question Jay Carney, the White House press guy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: The meeting occurs after the sequester begins. It's not before.

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The sequester begins I believe midnight on the 1st of March. So --

QUESTION: Right, but it happens after.

CARNEY: Well, actually it happens before, because it happens midnight --

QUESTION: But the meeting happens after these things begin.

CARNEY: No. It begins midnight, March 1 -- so the meeting happens before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was Major Garrett, CBS News.

The meeting is set for Friday, as you heard, hours before the spending cuts are set to kick in. And then I hope we're all clear on that. By the way, it is the usual suspects, Boehner, Pelosi, Reid, and McConnell. They will all meeting with the president.

Gloria Borger with us now talking yesterday about needing a shovel before the storm here, joining me now, our chief political analyst.

Gloria, it is kind of hard to avoid the suspicion that this meeting serves a bit of a political purpose.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Shocked.

BALDWIN: Shock-face. Am I being a little cynical here?

BORGER: No, you're not.

Look, you're not at all. They could meet today. They could meet tomorrow. They could have met last week. I mean, look, they all know that this is coming. This is not a surprise. And I think it is sort of for public show, unless they're going to come up with some miraculous short-term deal. And, OK, maybe they can. There is this much of a chance of it, but maybe they could come up with a deal to kick the can down the road, and deal with all of this at the end of the month.

And, you know, who knows. But at this point, I have to tell you, talking to senior administration officials, they're dug in on this, and they believe they have public opinion on their side. They believe it will continue on their side. They believe this is what the election was about, that the American public wants to have what they call a balanced approach, which includes spending -- spending cuts and tax increases. And that's the White House story and they're sticking to it. And they're not moving off of it.

BALDWIN: Now, irony of ironies here, the fact that Senate Republicans, they're working on this plan that would empower the president to target these cuts, as opposed to having them take effect indiscriminately. But the White House is saying thanks, but no thanks. What's the deal there?

BORGER: Yes. There are many ironies, as you point out. First of all, the Republicans who don't trust this president very much suddenly want to give him the authority to actually decide what should be cut and what should not be cut within a certain framework.

So there are Republicans like John McCain who say, why don't we just go home? Why would we give this added authority to the president? And then in talking to senior administration officials, they are saying -- quote -- that it is a "cynical device," and it is a "complete sham." And the reason they believe that, as one put it to me, is, look, it is like telling somebody, OK, we know you have to cut two of your fingers off, but you get to choose which ones. Not much of a choice.

BALDWIN: OK. Gloria Borger, my thanks to you.

BORGER: Sure.

BALDWIN: And while Gloria was discussing, Washington leaders back and forth at one another. They are standing together today, look at this, to honor civil rights icon Rosa Parks. There he is. He was speaking earlier, President Obama, and you also had congressional leaders and more than 50 of her relatives gathering there at the Capitol to unveil this bronze statue of her.

She stands 9 feet tall. She is the first black woman to be honored with a statue there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Rosa Parks' singular act of disobedience launched a movement. The tired feet of those who walked the dusty roads of Montgomery helped a nation see that to which it had once been blind.

It is because of these men and women that I stand here today. It is because of them that our children grow up in a land more free.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Parks broke the law back on December 5, 1955, when she refused to give up that seat to a white passenger on a crowded bus, as the president mentioned in Montgomery, Alabama.

Actually in Atlanta, back when I was in high school, I stood in line to actually get to meet her. Got her autograph, Rosa Parks, incredible.

Now this here. This will give you the creeps. Was it fantasy or did a New York police officer really intend to kidnap, to cook and eat women, including his own wife? Gilberto Valle is on trial now accused of doing precisely that. Prosecutors, they had this FBI agent read aloud evidence of these e-mails and the chats between officer Valle and a buddy of his making their case that Valle considered and conspired with people online to kidnap a woman.

The agent said that he directed his buddy to a video of a female friend clad in a bikini, saying -- quote -- "I would like to have her arm on a barbecue" and -- quote -- "I'm dying to taste some girl meat. White girls seem the most appetizing to me," this man allegedly said.

His wife ratted him out to the FBI. She was actually the first person to testify against him this week.

Deborah Feyerick, she's been in the courtroom today.

Deborah, just hearing that makes my skin crawl. What's the latest on this one?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, one thing that really stood out today -- and this is not usual in federal court, but the judge was not happy with either side.

And he reprimanded both the prosecutors and defense lawyers, saying that the information was just dribbling out, all things that should have been taken care of before trial only now being made public. And he was talking about the testimony of one of the women today who is set to testify. She's one of the supposed victims. But we did hear more of the e-mails between Gilberto Valle and another man, a 35-year- old from Pakistan who describes himself as a butcher, whose killed goats in the past and who keeps getting kicked off this fetish Web site where they met for taking the fantasies too far.

The e-mails are exchanged over about a nine-month period, and it starts in January. At first, the cop is a little bit tentative. But then he gets into it, talking about hog-tying a woman, putting an apple in her mouth, talking about using the foot for soup and eating the tongue. He expresses concern also that if he uses chloroform to knock out one of his victims, he's worried that maybe it will ruin the taste of the human flesh.

Going through these e-mails, Brooke, there's a lot of repetition in the conversations. Prosecutors also looking at a data expert who testified to say that in fact somebody did access a criminal database searching for the name of at least one of the supposed victims, but the defense made clear, Brooke, that, yes, the name came up, but there were never any addresses that came up in the search as well.

So defense lawyers still have their shot to cross-examine the content of the e-mails that were exchanged online. And, again, they're saying, look, this was dark. This was a fetish, but this was not something that was really going to happen. Obviously, prosecutors saying, no, there was a conspiracy and it was clearly ramping up, a conspiracy to kidnap at least one of the alleged targets, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Deb Feyerick, thank you very much for that one.

Coming up, a bartender fired for calling the cops when she saw someone leave that bar drunk. We're "On the Case" on that one here in just a moment.

But, first, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says you actually don't have to go to Atlantic City to gamble anymore. We will tell you what that is all about next.

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BALDWIN: And this story, this is one for my beer drinkers out there. Actually, let's be clear, a certain kind of beer drinker. If you're a fan of Budweiser, you like the Michelob or any product made by Anheuser-Busch, listen up. A new lawsuit claims you're not getting what you pay for. Coming up, we have our resident beer expert to explain to me what is going on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Listen to this one. This Ohio bartender is told she's bad for business. Why? Because she called police on a drunk guy who insisted on driving himself home.

Want you to listen here to what Twyla Devito said two days after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TWYLA DEVITO, BARTENDER: He said I'm going to have to fire you because it is bad for business to have a bartender that will call the cops.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not very pleased by that. Here we have a person that is trying to do something right, and ends up getting punished for it.

DEVITO: I stand by what I did. And I will do it again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, you heard that right. She was fired for what a lot of people are saying doing the right thing. Police actually tracked down this driver. He was a little over twice the legal alcohol limit. They arrested him and charged him with drunk driving.

Defense attorney Joey Jackson "On the Case" with me today.

Joey Jackson, good to see you here.

JOEY JACKSON, LEGAL ANALYST: How are you, Brooke?

BALDWIN: I'm great.

Does the law require bartenders -- doesn't it require them to report people who are incredibly inebriated?

JACKSON: Well, here's the problem. This is more of an issue of morality than legality, because if you look at it, it is an employment at will issue. What does that mean? It means that most states, in fact, almost every state in America, you're an employee at will. And so you can be hired or fired for any reason or no reason as long as it is not predicated upon discrimination.

Only Montana, Brooke, requires that there be some meaningful purpose. They call it the wrongful discharge statute, but otherwise she could be terminated. So, I mean, there is -- to the extent that she did report this issue, she reported it to the police and reporting it to the police, I think her employer took just a little bit of offense to it, although minds will disagree...

BALDWIN: And fired her.

JACKSON: Exactly -- as to whether it was proper or improper.

BALDWIN: Next case, my friend, the U.S. Supreme Court taking up Voting Rights Act here once again. Lawmakers, civil rights activists, they have been rallying outside the courthouse trying to keep this law in place. And the question today though really is the Voting Rights Act still necessary to prevent discrimination or is it just this outdated concept from the civil rights movement? What do you think?

What is the likelihood that the highest court will declare this unconstitutional?

JACKSON: Therein lies the issue, Brooke. You could certainly argue it is certainly necessary. It addresses issues that have been systemic and longstanding in history. And, remember, it has limited applicability because it applies to nine states, primarily Southern, and then there are six other states throughout the country, certain localities in those states that it covers.

But the essence of it, Brooke, is that the argument is they're saying, listen, the South has changed. The country has changed. You don't need us as states to go to the Department of Justice to tell us how we should have our districts, how we should structure them, how they should be, where they should be. We should be able do it all on our own.

And since the formula that Congress was relying upon in 2006 when they passed the statute related to data of 1975, they're arguing it is a different world. So, if anything, what the Supreme Court may do is say, listen, Congress, you're certainly empowered to do this, but update your data a little bit to ensure that those states affected still need to be -- still need to have the oversight that they did in the past.

BALDWIN: Joey Jackson, thank you, sir.

JACKSON: Pleasure, Brooke. Good to see you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, a huge announcement for the music industry. Instagram makes its mark. A space tourist wants to send people to Mars, and Kanye West getting a load off his had mind -- all of that next.

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