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Border Fence with Mexico; Stocks Plunge for Second Day; Gandolfini Remembered; Landlords from Hell Face Prison; Race to Save Girl from Rape; Vetting the Security Clearance System

Aired June 20, 2013 - 14:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Don Lemon.

We have a major story moving out of Washington today. A deal in the works in Congress for a big, long fence along the border with Mexico, some 700 miles. Plus, a surge of border agents. In exchange for that, a possible path to citizenship for millions of people now in this country illegally.

It's happening right now. CNN's Dana Bash has been way out front on this story. She is joining us live now from Capitol Hill. Also in Washington for us is our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger.

Hello to you, ladies.

Dana, I'm going to start with you first. This is a fluid situation. So tell me what's happening right now.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're watching the Senate floor because we expect at any minute now the chief Republican sponsors of what they're calling a breakthrough on immigration will come to the Senate floor and talk about it in a public way for the first time. Those are two senators, Senator Corker and Senator Hoban.

The reason why this is so important is because conservatives all along have said that they just don't believe - well many of them say that there shouldn't be any path to citizenship at all. But some who are kind of in the middle have said, if we're going to talk about that at all for illegal immigrants, this border must be secure first. And many people, many senators, simply didn't think that what they have been debating for weeks now was strong enough to secure the border. So this measure, they say, makes the border even more beefed up. So that's what we're going to see them talking about.

This is obviously something that is very important politically for a whole bunch of reasons. But I think, in the short term, it's most interesting to look at what it has been doing to the Republican Party, because Republicans are pushing this only because they did so poorly in the last election. Mitt Romney got 27 percent of the Hispanic vote. Very low. It was a precipitous drop from the high watermark of George Bush. So the person who has really been pushing this and says it's necessary for the Republican Party to lure the Hispanic voters back is Senator Marco Rubio. And I talked to him not too long ago in the Senate hallways about his role in this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Senator, as you well know, there are a number of fellow conservatives out there who say that this is just a smoke screen and it doesn't change the fact that what they believe you have agreed to is amnesty for illegal immigrants.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: Well, first of all, anyone who is in this country illegally is going to have to undergo a background check. They're going to have to pay a substantial fine for having violated our laws. And in return for that, the only thing they get different from what they have now is they're going to have to start paying taxes. And we'll know who they are. Right now they're here already. We're not talking about new people. We're talking about people that are living here now, that have been here for -- at least since December of 2011. And the only thing they're going to do now that they're not doing is they're going to be paying taxes and undergoing a background check and paying a fine.

But beyond that we have very significant border measures that are now going to be amended on to the bill which basically says that no one can become a legal, permanent resident of the United States until we add -- until we complete 700 miles of real border fencing, until we add and double the size of the border patrol to 40,000 by adding 20,000 new agents. Until e-verify is fully implemented, an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays is fully implemented, and until a very dramatic technology plan is fully implemented.

BASH: How many votes do you think that this ultimately is going to get you? Obviously you probably know more than anybody. You've been working your fellow Republican colleagues.

RUBIO: Well, I think - I don't know the exact number, but I think it will bring a substantial number of conservatives onboard.

BASH: Enough to get to the House or even to get the House to take it up?

RUBIO: Well, listen, the house is a whole other process. I'm not in a position to tell the House what to do. They're going to have their own product, they're going to have their own views and we're going to wait for them to do their part of it and we'll see where we go from there. Our job now is to get the strongest possible legislation and measures out of the Senate.

BASH: You understand the politics of this probably better than anybody within the Republican Party. For someone like you, from a diverse state, with likely higher ambition politically, this is important. For somebody who is in a conservative, very red state, voting for something like immigration reform hurts them rather than helps them. How do you overcome that?

RUBIO: Well, I understand why conservatives are upset. They've seen all these promises in the past that haven't been delivered. That's why we're saying that nobody can become a legal, permanent resident of the United States unless these border measures pass. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: But that simply is not resonating with a lot of his fellow conservatives here in the Senate. They just had a press conference talking about the fact that they simply don't buy it. They think that this idea of beefing up the border with more agents, with the fence and more technology, is effectively just a smoke screen because they still think, at the end of the day, a path to citizenship is the wrong way to go for illegal immigrants.

One other thing I just want to mention. We talked -- you heard a little bit of talk about the House. This is kind of maybe the beginning of the end of the Senate debate, but it has a long way to go and the House is going to be a critical, critical thing because the House speaker, Republican speaker, needs to really balance the -- the idea of what's good for the party and reality has within his own caucus because a lot of people there simply don't want to do this.

LEMON: So, Dana, you're stealing my thunder. I was going to talk to Gloria. That was my question to Gloria.

And, Gloria, before I ask you - before I ask you that question, I know that there are some lawmakers now, I'm being told, that are speaking out against this bill on The Hill now.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

LEMON: And we're going to listen in. Do we want to listen in to this? Senator Mike Lee. Let's listen, Gloria, and then we'll talk.

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: Now's the time for the American people to have their voice heard. We're reaching a point where I'll be -- we'll be casting key votes and the fate of this legislation will be decided. I think it's exceedingly important and valuable that Jenny Bath (ph) and the Tea Party patriots and those guests that she has here today are heard on this issue and that the American people seize this opportunity to communicate with their senators, to share with them their views about the need for a lawful system of immigration that serves the national interest of the United States and makes life better for working Americans, not worse. As the CBO said, this bill will pull down wages and increase unemployment. It's not the kind of thing we ought to be doing. So I am delighted to be here today and share these thoughts and hear from our guests.

Jim Inhofe.

LEMON: OK. So Mike Lee and then Jeff Sessions speaking there. And you can see, listen, this is -- it's a long way from getting done here, Gloria.

BORGER: Absolutely. It really is a long way. And as Dana was mentioning, particularly in the House, where the speaker has said that he needs to have a majority of his majority of Republicans supporting some kind of immigration reform bill in order for it to get through his side. And that's -- you know, that's going to be a very tough thing for him to do. And what you see here is the real split in the Republican Party. There are the sort of more nationally minded Republicans who are looking towards the next presidential election. I -- one of them might be Senator Lindsey Graham. I love to quote him on this because he said the Republican Party is in a "demographic death spiral."

LEMON: Wow.

BORGER: What he means by that, what he means by that is younger voters and minority voters, including Hispanic voters. And as Dana pointed out early, they weren't doing so well with them. So those thinking towards 2016 are thinking about immigration reform, thinking they have to figure out a way to deal with this. Those who are thinking more locally are thinking, this isn't really popular in my district. How am I going to sell this? They understand that nationally, and we've got a little poll on this, we asked what the major focus of immigration policy should be. And you see it there. Almost 2-1 say that it should be border security.

LEMON: Border security, yes.

BORGER: So -- and that is, you know, among Democrats as well. Democrats also want to see border security, although not in as high number, obviously. So they have to do what they can. And that's what this new compromise is about that Dana was talking about. They have to do what they can to show that they're beefing up the boots on the ground at the border. That they're going to spend money on 700 miles of new fence. That they're going to do everything they can to succeed in keeping people out of this country at the border before they allow people to even start on that long pathway to citizenship.

LEMON: Right. All right. Wow. A lot to talk about here.

BORGER: It's a long way.

LEMON: We'll see you guys throughout the evening here on CNN. Gloria Borger, Dana Bash, thank you very much.

We want to move on now, because I want to tell you this. Forget about your retirement fund statement. Don't even peek at your account. It's not a pretty day on Wall Street. I'm just being honest here. Investors are still reacting to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments about a potential wind down of the Fed's economic stimulus. I want to go to Felicia Taylor. She is at the New York Stock Exchange.

So the question is, really, how bad is it, Felicia?

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's not that bad. I want to quell people's fears. I mean, as one trader just said to me, we've been trading in a range between about 200 and 250. We did reach that 250 level. But not necessarily should people be panicking about this. We have been expecting that the Federal Reserve was going to hint at when they were going to pull back quantitative easing. We knew it had to happen at some point.

And this is sort of like a trial run. He's experimenting -- not experimenting. That's probably a little bit of an extreme word to use. But he's testing the marketplace to see how it's going to react to when eventually he's going to have to pull back from stimulus.

This is not a bad thing. We've had a great, great bull run this year. You can take a look at the S&P. It's up about 13 percent. So a little bit of a pullback like this, and I'm not saying that 230 points isn't obviously a fairly significant drop, but it's not a panic selloff by any stretch of the imagination.

Don.

LEMON: Felicia Taylor, thank you. We'll check back with you.

People worldwide are mourning the death of actor James Gandolfini from an apparent heart attack in Italy. The 51-year-old Gandolfini turned the mobster stereotype upside down with his portrayal of Tony Soprano, a conflicted mobster who saw a therapist. A gangster prone to panic attacks. A man who understood beauty and brutality.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES GANDOLFINI, ACTOR, "THE SOPRANOS": You know why we're here. So any doubts or reservations, now is the time to say so. No one will think any less of you. Because once you enter this family, there's no getting out. Because family comes before everything else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: A "Sopranos" co-star says Gandolfini was an incredible friend and actor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK VINCENT, ACTOR, "THE SOPRANOS": Jim is -- was a very humble guy. And he had no airs about him. And he just -- he did what he had to do and he put it all out there and that's not - that's what I think made him great. He was - he was as down to earth as anybody could be. He would do anything for you. If you asked him to do you a favor or you needed something, he was right there. And it's a tragic loss that we have -- we lost this guy because he's a great, great actor and a great friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, in real life, Gandolfini is being remembered as a gentle giant. He once described himself as a 260 pound Woody Allen. I want to bring in now Barbie Nadeau. She is in Rome.

So, Barbie, how are people reacting in Rome to Gandolfini's sudden death?

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, people are shocked here. You know, they really consider him one of their own. His mother was born and raised in Naples. And he really, you know, exemplifies this Italian-American persona. He did it well. And the Italians always, I think, thought that "The Sopranos" certainly, with, you know, what their Italian cousins were doing in the United States. It was not something that necessarily reflected the culture here. But he was very well loved and respected as an Italian descendent.

LEMON: And people are wondering, Barbie, what he was doing in Italy. Vacationing? Working on a project?

NADEAU: Well, he was in Rome for the last two days with his 13-year- old son going around Rome. He's been in Italy tabloids here. Photos being taken, things like that. On his way to Sicily to be presented with an award at the Taormina Film Festival, which was to take place on the 22nd of June, that's Saturday. He -- two hours before he died, he spoke to the director of the film festival, told him he was so excited to bring his son so Sicily to show some more of his Italian roots and heritage to his son. And two hours later he was dead.

LEMON: All right, Barbie Nadeau in Rome. Thank you, Barbie. We appreciate that.

Coming up here on CNN, an amazing catch by the daughter of one of baseball's biggest names. Christina Torre, daughter of the former Yankee manager Joe Torre, was in the right place at the right time. We'll tell you what she did.

But first, landlords from hell. Have you ever had a landlord that you just couldn't get along with? Well, you won't believe what one tenant had to put up with -- some tenants had to put up with. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, listen up. This one is for anyone who has ever rented a home or an apartment. It's about a California couple who have admitted to trying to drive out their tenants. You won't believe what they did. It is so awful, they're headed to jail. CNN's Sara Ganim introduces us to the landlords from hell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forget landlords raising rent. The tenants at this San Francisco apartment complex say they were stalked, bullied and harassed like you wouldn't believe.

KELLY BURKE, ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: He actually saw the saw coming up trying to saw through.

GANIM: Saws, threats, false police reports. This is how far Kip and Nicole Macy went to try to get their tenants to move out.

GEORGE GASCON, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: They actually cut a large hole in the living room. The defendants soak the victims' bed and clothes and electronics with ammonia.

GANIM: That's not all. Over two years, prosecutors say the Macys glued door locks, cut phone lines, shut off utilities and even had one tenant's windows boarded up while he was inside his apartment. But probably the worst thing they did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They want to make it crawl up. GANIM: Prosecutors say Nicole Macy asked a building inspector which beams to cut to make the apartments structurally unsound. They even threatened this man, a property manager, who was also living there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They told me that if I come to the business then they will shoot me.

GANIM: Kip Macy's attorney says branding them landlords from hell is unfair. She says they were naive about eviction laws.

LISA DEWBERRY, KIP MACY'S ATTORNEY: Not saying - and they're not saying that their behavior was appropriate. They regret their behavior.

GANIM: The Macys were indicted in 2009 but they fled to Italy. They were extradited back to the United States last month, ending a saga the prosecutors said sounds like the plot line of a horror movie.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: My goodness. Well, I never - Sara Ganim, this is unbelievable. Where are these landlords now?

GANIM: Well, Don, both defendants pled guilty to pretty serious charges, two felony counts of residential burglary, one felony count of stalking, one felony count of attempted grand theft. Now, the plea deal calls for them to be formally sentenced to spend four years and four months in state prison.

Don.

LEMON: My goodness. All right, Sara, thank you very much for that.

Two people are dead after what police are calling a major explosion at a Canadian fireworks plant. It happened today near Montreal. The smoke from the blast could be seen for miles away. Residences and businesses near the plant had to be evacuated after the explosion, just as a precaution, though. We'll update you as we get more information here on that story on CNN.

Coming up, federal agents race against time to save an 11-year-old girl from a child predator who posted on the Internet that he wanted to rape her. The feds only had one small clue. How they used this to track him down. An amazing story. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We want to go to Detroit now where a jury has been unable to reach a verdict in the case of a police officer who shot a little girl during a raid. Officer Joseph Weekley was charged with involuntary manslaughter and careless discharge of a firearm causing death. Seven- year-old Aiyana Stanley Jones was sleeping on her couch in May of 2010 when officers raided her home looking for a suspect. Officer Weekley's gun went off, shooting Aiyana in the head. Well, a TV crew for A&E's documentary style TV show, "The First 48," caught the raid on tape outside of Aiyana's home. And a clip shown to the jury shows a device explode and then a gunshot.

(VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Officer Weekley testified Aiyana's death was a tragic accident.

OK, so sit tight and watch this. I guarantee, you've never heard anything like this story. This next story has really blown up online. It's been read more than 1 million times in just the last 24 hours on cnn.com. It's about the race to save a girl, not from a fire or an illness, but from a danger much more sinister. A child predator. And all federal agents had to go on was a blurry picture of a road sign. Pay close attention. Here's CNN's Isha Sesay.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This picture shows a sleeping 11-year-old girl blurred to protect her identity. In the backseat of a car, she has no idea what's being planned for her.

PATRICK REDLING, CHILD EXPLOITATION INVESTIGATIONS UNIT: Predators who trade and produce child exploitation material and trade it online, they think they can do this anonymously.

SESAY: Special Agents Patrick Redling and Jim Cole work for Homeland Security Investigation's cyber crime center outside Washington, D.C. It's their job to find the victims of online child pornographers and hunt down the predators.

JIM COLE, CHILD EXPLOITATION INVESTIGATIONS UNIT: He was posting images that depicted her sleeping. And he was doing things like pulling her underwear down. And it was progressing. And so we were extremely concerned for her welfare. Also the advice that he was getting from others really varied in range from everything about drugging her to really brutally attacking her.

SESAY: The agents knew they didn't have much time. So they began looking at the image for clues.

COLE: We started out with several things, and we initially were looking at the road sign here. It really looked to most of us who looked at it like it was Highway 203. There was a Highway 203 that did run east to west in Kansas. And when we got there, the agent from Kansas called me and said it's not Highway 203. We just drove the whole highway. The sign's not there.

SESAY: So Cole began a frantic boots on the ground search crisscrossing the state along every highway that started with a "2."

COLE: At the very end of the highway where it t-ed into another highway, we found the sign. I jumped out of the vehicle on a very busy highway and almost got hit by a car. And then taking my camera out and just taking multiple shots of the area, knowing that that would be important later on.

SESAY: From there, Cole called the local sheriff's office who helped identify the home where the abuse was taking place by a backyard pool. The girl was rescued before the rape occurred and the suspect was arrested. Already in the first six months of 2013, HSI agents have rescued 337 child victims and they've arrested 964 alleged child predators.

REDLING: Our agency has a lot of resources that we put towards this particular mission.

SESAY: Special Agent Redling has focused on fighting child exploitation for 13 years. A father of four, it's obvious this work carries added meaning.

REDLING: I don't want to - I don't want to think about what it would be like if this component of our agency didn't exist.

SESAY: It does. So let that be a lesson to child predators who think they can hide behind the veil of a computer screen.

Isha Sesay, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Well, officers say the 11-year-old girl is now safe with her parents. It turns out her predator was a 16-year-old boy. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve four years in a juvenile facility.

Up next, a hearing is about to begin on Capitol Hill prompted by Edward Snowden's leaks on the NSA's surveillance tactics. New questions about people with access to top levels of security, falsifying their background checks and getting away with it. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Happening right now. I want to get you live to Washington where a Senate hearing is into -- about to go into the system now. About to get underway here. It's going to decide who gets to access the government's most secret security details. And you can probably guess why lawmakers have called it, called this hearing. Edward Snowden, 29 years old, a high school dropout, was not even working directly for the federal government when he revealed documents that shows the National Security Agency is tracking American calls and overseas Internet activity. The inspector general for the office of personnel management is going to testify about how contractors, like Snowden, and federal employees get security clearance.

Patrick McFarland will also talk about how flawed the system is. He found one woman who did credit checks, made up details in 1,600 reports. He also learned 20 employees have either been convicted or will plead guilty to falsifying background checks.

So I'm going to go now to CNN Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence. There he is. We said we'd get you to Washington and now we're there.