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Zimmerman Back in Jail; Plane Crashes Into Residential Neighborhood in Lagos, Nigeria; Governor Walker Leads Democratic Challenger in Wisconsin Recall Election Polls; US Defense Secretary Returns to Vietnam; Brazilian Landfill Closing; New Book on Walter Cronkite; Daredevil Attempts Freefall from Space

Aired June 03, 2012 - 18:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Don Lemon here. Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM.

George Zimmerman is back in jail. This is Zimmerman just today in handcuffs in Seminole County, Florida. He had been free on bond, but that freedom was revoked when a judge said Zimmerman has not been telling the truth about his finances. Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin back in February.

Let's go straight now to central Florida. Martin Savidge is there. He's been following this story since the very beginning. So, Martin, this is about lying and it's about money. Really, it's about credibility. So tell us why George Zimmerman is back behind bars today.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, and the one other thing in there, it's about one very angry judge.

It happened at 1:45. That is when George Zimmerman officially was booked back into the Seminole County jail here. And if that is accurate, then he had about 45 minutes left on the ticking clock of 48 hours that Judge Kenneth Lester handed down when he revoked Zimmerman's bond on Friday.

The interesting thing here is that there was a great deal of concern about security, and so George Zimmerman actually turned himself over to authorities 20 minutes earlier at the side of the highway. Listen to how the sheriff described how that happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF DONALD ESLINGER, SEMINOLE COUNTY, FLORIDA: George Zimmerman met two members of the sheriff's office in the area of Lake Mary at I- 4. Was placed into custody, transported to the correctional facility. He is being booked and processed. As per Judge Lester's order, he'll be held on a no-bond status.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: All right. Let me take you back now to Friday and that very dramatic hearing where the judge revoked the bond. And it was then that the state revealed that George Zimmerman, even though at his original bond hearing said he didn't have a lot of money, turns out he did have a lot of money that was in an Internet fund. And he and his wife had spoken about that money and recorded conversations the state had days before he denied having money. And that's what angered the judge. Here's the judge talking about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE KENNETH LESTER JR., EIGHTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT COURT: Mr. Zimmerman can't sit back -- and I used again the euphemism a potted palm and let his wife testify falsely before the court when he knew well in advance of that hearing the amounts of money in controversy. Nor can he allow his attorney to stand up and make misrepresentations -- not by your fault whatsoever, Mr. O'Mara. You were completely candid and honest with the court, as you've always been.

And he can't sit back and obtain the benefits of a lower bond or circumstances based upon those material falsehoods. That's what they were. So at this time I revoke his bond. Place him at no-bond status.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: That judge was steaming, and that is, of course, what brought us to today and George Zimmerman turning himself in. And I spoke to Mark O'Mara. He's the defense attorney for George Zimmerman. And I asked him what Zimmerman's attitude was like going back to jail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK O'MARA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Solemn, obviously. He's worried continually about his safety. Having to come out of hiding is a concern of his. But I think he also realizes the judge's concerns. Now that we have all had on the defense team a chance to look at all of the evidence, he understands the court's concerns. He understands the state's concerns. And we're going to address those, and say what I think needs to be said to address them with Judge Lester.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: And like before, George Zimmerman is isolated and he's away from the general population in the jail. And we simply wait to see what happens next. There's been a lot of surprises, Don.

LEMON: Yes, absolutely. And real quickly, how long is he going to have to stay in jail? Do we know?

SAVIDGE: No, we don't. We do know that Mark O'Mara plans to file another motion for bond as early as tomorrow. Will it be heard this week? We'll have to wait to see what the judge says.

LEMON: All right. And you'll be covering it. Thank you, Martin Savidge, appreciate that.

A quick refresher for you. George Zimmerman says he shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin to death February 26th of this year. Martin was walking through Zimmerman's gated neighborhood in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman told police it was self-defense. In early April, Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder. That means the potential for life in prison. And a few days later, Zimmerman posts bail and is free until today when he surrendered to police with 45 minutes left, you heard Martin say.

Zimmerman's trial is not expected to start until next year. We'll follow for you.

Overseas now, where a massive rescue and recovery operation is under way at the scene of a catastrophic plane crash. A Nigerian passenger plane crashed hours ago in a crowded residential neighborhood in Lagos, setting three homes on fire. Emergency officials tell us all 153 people onboard were killed. CNN's Vladimir Duthiers was near the scene earlier and told our sister network, CNN International, what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR DUTHIERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The plane crashed in a heavily populated area of Lagos, where the houses are literally on top of each other. And so what we could see were just flames and pieces of wreckage and pieces of -- or just houses that had been demolished.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And as you can see partially in that video, police and fire crews are sifting through the smoldering wreckage in search of anyone who was injured or killed on the ground.

We go to Egypt now. Anger spilling over for a second day following the verdicts in the Hosni Mubarak trial. Protesters by the thousands have packed Cairo's Tahrir Square tonight. These are live pictures that you're looking at. This is tape, actually. We'll get you there live a little bit later. Upset -- they're upset by yesterday's court rulings which sparred the life -- spared the life I should say -- of ousted President Hosni Mubarak and cleared five of his aides. 84- year-old Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison for ordering the killing of protesters during last year's revolution. Two of his sons were cleared of corruption charges, but they remain in jail, charged with insider trading and money laundering.

Syria's president takes to the airwaves with a speech to lawmakers, denying his government had anything to do with last week's massacre in the town of Houla. He blames terrorists for the deaths of 100 people, including dozens of children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASHAR AL-ASSAD, PRESIDENT OF SYRIA (through translator): The political process is moving forward, but terrorism is also on the rise. They used the pretext that there were no parties. Terrorism, dear gentlemen, does not care about reform. The terror will not stop unless we force it to end. The terror is hitting all sides with no exception.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Reaction was seen in the streets. This Youtube video appears to show protests right after the Al-Assad speech, calling for the Syrian president's execution.

In New Mexico, more than 1,200 firefighters are battling the largest fire in that state's history. The blaze in the Gila National Forest started from a Mother Nature double whammy, dry conditions and lightning. It has been burning for nearly a month and is expected to get even bigger. And New Mexico isn't the only state where wildfires are raging. Huge wildfires are burning in at least eight other states. In all, more than 300,000 acres are on fire.

A governor facing a recall in the middle of his term. That doesn't happen often. And it's left a state, even families, divided. And an unforgettable moment in history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALTER CRONKITE, CBS NEWS: President Kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. Central Standard Time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Walter Cronkite. The American people may have loved him, but did other journalists? An honest look at the life and career of the most trusted man in America.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Houston, we have a shuttle. Look at that. These are pictures from KTRK, our affiliate. This is in Clear Lake, Texas. At least we have a replica of one. There it is, it's right smack in the middle of an intersection just outside of Houston, Texas. You're looking at live pictures. Now, you see in the middle of your screen, it's a little hazy. See that? This is a mock-up of the shuttle. It's not the real deal, though. It used to sit outside the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Now it is heading to its new permanent home, the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Look at that. Those are amazing pictures. Remember we said it was the end of the era when it came to the shuttle.

Meanwhile, the shuttle Enterprise is making its own journey. Crews loaded the shuttle onto a barge in New York. They did that yesterday. It will carry the shuttle along the shore of Queens and Brooklyn. Enterprise's new home will be the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum along the Hudson River. And they're getting ready for it. Man, that's going to be spectacular there along the Hudson.

All right. We're going to follow up on that. Let's talk politics now. Wisconsin voters are just days away from an historic recall election that is fueled by anger over Republican Governor Scott Walker's decision to strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights. And more than a year later, his race against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is down to the wire. Our political reporter Peter Hamby joins us now from Milwaukee.

Hello, Peter. How close is this recall election going to be on Tuesday?

PETER HAMBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. The short answer is, it is extremely close. Closer than most polls that we've seen actually say. The most recent poll from Marquette University Law School had the race at about a seven-point lead for Governor Scott Walker, the Republican. Both campaigns, though, say that the race is much tighter than that. Outside groups polling the state have it at one, 2, 3 percent lead for Walker. He does have a late advantage, but this is an extremely divided electorate, as you mentioned. There are only about 3 percent undecided voters here. It all comes down to turnout. That is a terrible cliche in politics, but in this race it actually matters. Both of these candidates are trying to get their supporters out to the polls, and Scott Walker knows the race is close based on the campaign he's running. He's running a very safe race here in its final stages, trying to make no mistakes and just kind of run out the clock until Tuesday because he does have a late advantage, most people here in Wisconsin agree, Don.

LEMON: If you remember, we were covering it and all the pictures at the capital and the protesters, and a lot of viewers probably remember that when Walker's opponents mounted this recall effort, lots of protests there, look at that. What happened to all that anti-Walker momentum?

HAMBY: Right. It's interesting. This is a textbook case on why recall elections are so tough. This is only a third gubernatorial recall in American history. But that was over a year ago. And Scott Walker's approval rating took a serious hit in the wake of those protests. Democrats were fired up. They're still fired up, but there are some serious headwinds that they're facing, you know, over a year later.

The economy is looking brighter here in Wisconsin. The unemployment rate has dipped. The governor's projecting a budget surplus for this year. So it's a tough road ahead for Governor Barrett to say, you know, Governor Walker -- excuse me, Mayor Barrett -- to say, Governor Walker, you know, you might have a 51 percent approval rating according to recent polls, but you should still go. Even the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board, which is no friend of Scott Walker's, said in an editorial recently that, hey, the guy deserves a chance to at least finish out his term.

So, you know, after a million signatures and a year, you know, of in- fighting, it just shows how tough it is to pull a governor out of office, Don.

LEMON: All right, Peter Hamby, thank you very much, appreciate it.

We're going to go now from a governor's race to national politics. It hasn't been the best week for President Obama. Unemployment ticked up and the stock market sank. And is his strategy to hurt Mitt Romney, is it really going to work? Also, we want you the viewer to stay connected to CNN even on the go. Make sure you grab your mobile phone and go to CNN.com/tv, and through your desktop or a laptop you can also watch CNN and watch it live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: I guess you can say this is an unforgettable week for the president, probably a week that the president would like to forget. Unemployment up, the stock market down. Bill Clinton praises Mitt Romney's business experience.

Let's talk about it all and look ahead with our CNN contributors Will Cain, LZ Granderson. They're back.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: LZ is also a senior writer at ESPN.

OK, Will, the Obama campaign says the mess Obama inherited will take time to fix. But are the American people going to buy this argument? And how many times have you been asked that question?

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know what? I haven't been asked it in a little while, actually, so I'm happy to come back to it.

I think that, no, I don't that line of argument is going to work for the Obama administration. Look, I think that everyone understands when this recession started, but after three years, they do need to see some kind of progress, they do need to see some kind of movement. They will judge President Obama on the direction they feel like this economy is going. Is it getting better? Is it getting better fast enough? That is actually a qualifier as well. And right now with those job numbers this past Friday, 69,000, what is that? It was like a third of what was expected or wanted.

I think the answer is kind of clear. Without spinning or partisanship, or ideology, that's bad, bad numbers.

LEMON: And you know what? LZ, whether it is his own creation or not, it's Obama's economy now. And that's what he's going to have to run on.

LZ GRANDERSON, ESPN: Absolutely. You know, if President Obama loses in November, it really won't be because of his policies. It will be because he's lost control of the message, and he lost control of the message fairly early.

What David Axelrod said today would have been great to have heard -- to hear from 2007 to 2009.

LEMON: LZ, lost control of -- what message? What was the message he should have controlled?

GRANDERSON: All of the messages. I mean, instead of just simply blaming W and his policies and what happened, what he needed to explain to the American people was for the previous 10 years, the U.S. created 1 percent increase in terms of private sector jobs. All the jobs that were created were public sector. Who's paying for that? We are. Had he explained that and how it's going to take more than just three years to turn around a ten-year trend, I think we'll be much more receptive to what he has to say now. But you can't come in in 2011 and say it's going to take us a long time to turn this thing around. He should have told us that way back when we elected you. Now people don't want to hear that. They just want to see a turnaround.

LEMON: I was just going to say, now people, more than anything, you know what? People want a job. And I'll say, you know how they say it's the economy, stupid? My thing is, it's employment, stupid. Can you just give me a job? That's what people are saying. And, you know, confidence is down. And I say that because -- consumer confidence as well. It dipped this week. The big drop, the biggest drop in eight months. And that sort of reminded me of another Democratic president sometimes he is compared to, and I don't know if it's fair or not, and the summer before he faced voters, it was 1979, who confronted his own crisis of confidence. It was -- and he was talking about the energy crisis as well. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: He was trying to sell it there. Did you see hand gestures and emotion? That was a so-called malaise speech. Is President Obama in danger of becoming Jimmy Carter, a president who couldn't convince Americans he could fix a bad economy, Will?

CAIN: Situationally, substantively, there are a lot of parallels here. Three years of a very, very boring to slash malaise to like weak growth over three years, and trying to convince us that we're headed in the right direction. You know, situationally it does look very, very similar.

I said this to you guys a moment ago, that you can't understate how bad that speech was by Jimmy Carter. And President Obama doesn't put out bad speeches like that. He won't go on national TV and underperform.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I have to say, I have never seen him that animated, President Carter that animated, but it also -- when you are looking at it in history, it looks forced, didn't it?

CAIN: Oh, absolutely.

GRANDERSON: Yeah, yeah. LEMON: So is that a fair comparison, LZ?

GRANDERSON: Yes and no. It's fair, as Will said, in terms of the situation. Yes, that's very fair, but I don't think anyone is going to look at President Obama, anyone who's fair anyway, going to look at President Obama and think of Jimmy Carter, especially when you think about the other things that happened besides the economy. And that would be, of course, the hostage situation.

I don't think anyone views President Obama as weak on foreign policy, the same way they viewed Jimmy Carter, and that also played into it. And then you have to look at who he's running against. Jimmy Carter was running against an actor, basically, a salesman, who is very, very good at getting his message across very forcefully.

LEMON: Aren't they all salesmen?

(CROSSTALK)

GRANDERSON: Yes, but Romney is a different sort of beast. Yes, but Romney is a different beast. He's not a very, very good actor in terms of getting in touch with everyday people. Reagan was.

LEMON: All right, I want to move on, I am going to go through this one quickly. We want to talk about the recall election in Wisconsin. Just quickly, Will, national implications if, whether or not Scott Walker wins or loses. There is national implications and we'll see it in November, right? Depending on what happens?

CAIN: It's probably the death throes of the unions, at least that's the national implication. The unions put all they had into this fight. It doesn't look like it's going well for them. The Democrats at the national stage knew this wasn't going to go well and they didn't get into it. President Obama hasn't been there and I don't think he's going to go.

LEMON: I want to go on to this because I thought it was amazing. W back at the White House this week for his official portrait hanging. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You will now be able to gaze at this portrait and ask, what would George do?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You know, it was -- you know, love him or hate him or whatever, he was funny and it was just interesting to see him in that setting. Yes? LZ?

GRANDERSON: Yes, absolutely. He has the luxury now to be able to make fun of himself. And I guess that is nice to see in retrospect.

LEMON: All right, guys. Thank you very much. It was funny. We call them Bushisms. He had a lot of one liners. And then we went back on the Internet here and looked at all those, you know, the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing, all those.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: It was funny. You miss it, yeah? You miss it. "The Daily Show" and the comedy writers miss him, too. Thank you guys, appreciate it.

Want to know what life is really like on the campaign trail? This Tuesday, make sure you join CNN for the election roundtable with Wolf Blitzer and CNN political team. Submit your questions and get answers in real time in this live, virtual chat. Don't miss the CNN election roundtable Tuesday noon Eastern. And log on to cnn.com/roundtable.

And a historical change for the military. A new defense strategy means more focus on one part of the world and more military cooperation with a country that might surprise you.

But first, this. Each week, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta profiles innovators from all walks of life and all fields of endeavor. The program is called "THE NEXT LIST," and next Sunday he talks with Taylor Wilson, who is looking to the future of physics and nuclear science. He's 18.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAYLOR WILSON: My name is Taylor Wilson, and I am an 18-year-old applied nuclear physicist. When I was 14, I built my first fusion reactor. Became the youngest person in the world to ever produce nuclear fusion.

At first the reaction I get from everybody, even now is oh, you're just a kid, you can't do nuclear science. You don't really know what you're talking about. But I don't think it's too long after I start talking to them that they start to realize that, yes, maybe he can do these things.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he's one of those people that will change the world in some way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Coming up on half past the hour, we're going to get a look at the headlines for you. First stop, George Zimmerman no longer a free man. Again, the man who says he shot teenager Trayvon Martin to death in self-defense surrendered to police in Sanford, Florida, today. A judge revoked his bail saying Zimmerman lied about how much money he had. His financial situation determined his bail amount. Zimmerman's legal team says they'll seek another bond hearing tomorrow.

Massive recovery efforts under way at the scene of a fiery plane crash in Nigeria. Passenger jet careened into a crowded residential neighborhood in Lagos, setting three homes on fire. Emergency officials say all 153 people onboard were killed. Searchers are scouring the rubble for those injured or killed on the ground as well. Same city square where Egypt's revolution erupted just last year packed again tonight, this time with protesters outraged over a judge's ruling that spares 84-year-old Hosni Mubarak from the death penalty. Egypt's toppled leader was sentenced yesterday to life in prison for ordering the killing of protesters during last year's uprising. Mubarak's two sons were cleared of some charges, but both remain in jail on insider trading and money laundering counts.

What a sight in London as more than a million people lined River Thames to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The royal barge with the queen and royal family on board was joined by about 1,000 vessels for the river pageant. The diamond jubilee celebrates the queen's 60 years on the throne. The last diamond jubilee was in 1897, for Queen Victoria, Britain's longest serving monarch, by the way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD DAWSON, HOST, THE FAMILY FEUD & ACTOR: Survey said! Yes!

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Doesn't that bring back memories? The guy who kissed everybody all the time. Richard Dawson, a long-time and original host of "The Family Feud," has died. His son announced Dawson passed way last night in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer. Dawson hosted "Family Feud" from 1976 until 1985 and again in 1994 and 1995, and was known for the good-luck kisses he gave female contestants. He's also appeared on a lot of different game shows. Richard Dawson, 79 years old.

Something pretty cool happened in Vietnam today. It was the first time an American defense secretary visited the country since the end of the Vietnam War. But Leon Panetta's stop was more than just a little friendly hello.

CNN's Athena Jones reports, this is a visit with much deeper ramifications.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made a trip to Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay, once a U.S. military base, a visit heavy with symbolism.

LEON PANETTA, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I'm the first United States secretary of defense to visit Cam Ranh Bay since the war -- to recognize the 17th anniversary of the normalization of relationships between the United States and Vietnam.

JONES: The event is a sign of America as growing military relationship with allies in the key Asia/Pacific region, part of what U.S. officials call a rebalancing with the area in the face of a rising China. Panetta traveled to Asia to explain the new U.S. strategy first announced this past winter.

PANETTA: We're going to revoke us on the Pacific because this is an area where we confront many challenges.

JONES: Among the major issues, disputes between China and other nation over maritime rights in the South China Sea, a vital shipping route, accounting for an estimated $5.3 trillion in trade each year. A crisis in the area could hurt the U.S. economy.

The new strategy will mean a shift in how America deploys its military resources. More troops have begun rotating through the region. And, by 2020, about 60 percent of the U.S. Navy's warships will be in the Pacific, compared to 50 percent today.

DR. ANDREW BENNETT, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: The ships so far is not great in terms of really changes in fundamental deployments, but symbolically, it's really important that U.S. is pulling closer to countries like Australia and the Philippines and having joint maneuvers with these countries.

JONES: The U.S. and China are engaged in a delegate dance in the region, a fact that Panetta seemed to acknowledge.

PANETTA: We in the United States are clear-eyed about the challenges. Make no mistake about that. But we also seek to grasp the opportunities that can come from closer cooperation and closer relationship.

JONES: The U.S. hopes to enhance military-to-military cooperation with China, a country where defense spending is surging.

BENNETT: China still far below the United States in terms of military capability. But the trend line is clearly closing that gap.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Athena Jones live in D.C. this evening.

Athena, this U.S. shift to the Asia/Pacific region is under way in Australia.

JONES: That's right, Don. An attachment Marines arrived in Australia in April to conduct training and exercises. They'll also be able to rapidly deploy around the region to help out with natural disasters or security at sea. Over the next several years, the U.S. is planning to increase the size of military exercises, the number of them, and also the number of visits to ports all across the Asia/Pacific, including in the Indian Ocean.

Back to you, Don.

LEMON: All right, Athena Jones, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

JONES: Thanks. LEMON: What a dump. When it comes to trash, this landfill is one of the largest in the world. Now a massive effort is under way to recycle a massive amount of trash.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It is not every day that you talk about trash. Landfills overflowing with 34 years of garbage, a staggering 8,000 tons of trash every day and now the landfill on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is closing.

CNN International's, Azadeh Ansari is going beyond the headlines.

LEMON: Azadeh, 34 years means that is a lot of trash.

AZADEH ANSARI, CNN INTERNATIONAL DESK EDITOR: Tht definitely is. When you think about Brazil, Don, you think about the grand carnivals and the beautiful rain forest. But this is a not flattering side of the country that not a lot of people know about. It is also the home to one of the largest open-air landfills in South America. And it's actually -- if you look at a grand scale, on a global scale, it holds the largest volume of trash that's brought into there. If you were to take this area, as we can see here in the pictures, if you put 243 football fields and you filled those football fields each with trash, that's how much trash this landfill can hold.

LEMON: Gracious.

ANSARI: And on a daily basis, that is 8,000 tons. That is no joke.

LEMON: Yes.

ANSARI: And that is 70 percent of Rio's trash comes into this thing since the '70s.

LEMON: Goodness.

ANSARI: And it closed literally a few hours ago.

LEMON: Then why this landfill? Why is it closing? Where is this garbage going to go?

ANSARI: Excellent question. This is something that's been in the works for a few years. The driving force behind all this --

(CROSSTALK)

ANSARI: -- you have the U.N./Rio-Plus 20 summit coming in on environmental sustainability and then also not to mention the 2014 World Cup and then the 2016 Olympic games. But the Brazilian government is saying there's alternative ways to handling this trash and what we want to do is find more sustainable ways that are not as harmful to the environment. As you can see, it does lead into the bay there, and there is a lot of pollution that can have ramifications for -- on a grand scale, more or less.

LEMON: I'm amazed at how big those buzzards are.

(LAUGHTER)

They're as big as those people there. Unbelievable. Is that the first -- look at that! That is not the first time this received international attention.

ANSARI: It's not. There is a film in 2010 that was Oscar-nominated film called "Wasteland" that got a lot of attention on this area because of the workers that work there. And these scavengers look for recyclable items.

LEMON: Wow.

ANSARI: It is a whole industry, a whole economy built around this landfill. So the question is, OK, so the government wants to reallocate the trash elsewhere.

LEMON: They're going to lose jobs?

ANSARI: They're going to lose jobs. The other question is, you can't change a generation, like decades of behavior overnight.

LEMON: Right. Oh, yes.

ANSARI: So what happens? We'll have to see.

LEMON: Fascinating stories.

Thank you, Azadeh.

ANSARI: You're welcome.

LEMON: Appreciate it. Appreciate it.

Another fascinating story, Walter Cronkite, one of the best known newsmen in history. But did you know that President Kennedy got testy with him over an interview? That and more fascinating details about the legendary newsman straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Millions of Americans welcomed him into their living rooms each night to hear his news and tag line, "that's the way it is." Legendary anchorman, Walter Cronkite, defined what a journalist was through his 19-year heyday at "CBS News." He reported on the most profound moments in the '60s, '70s and '80s.

A new book by Douglas Brinkley details what made Walter Cronkite tick, and why so many Americans, even presidents considered him the most trusted man in America. I asked Douglas Brinkley, why write this book about Cronkite now?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, AUTHOR: I grew up watching Walter Cronkite, like so many millions of Americans. He is an icon. And a few years back, "The New York Times" reporter, David Halberstan (ph), mentioned to me, before he passed, that Cronkite was the most important journalist to the second half of the 20th century. It kind of took me back a little bit. I always thought of print reporters being the most significant. But when you really look at what Cronkite did, taking us through the McCarthy era and space with John Glenn, all the way to going to the moon with Neil Armstrong, really going after Nixon during Watergate, and famously the Vietnam War, we lived in Walter Cronkite's Cold-War era. And his papers opened up at the University of Texas, so I had a trove of material, cooperation of Walter Cronkite's family and friends, so I took on the book.

LEMON: The book is not all glowing about Walter Cronkite. He was human, just like the rest of us, even though, you know, we make him out to be an anchorman super hero.

BRINKLEY: It's hard to live up to being most trusted man in America. That was what he was dubbed by 1972 from a Quail (ph) poll and the CBS publicist ran with it. Walter Cronkite was trusted. His integrity factor was extremely high. But I write in the book about some moments, really was kind of the old boy's club back then. A time when politicians and journalists interacted in a different way than they do now.

By the time Cronkite became anchorman at CBS in 1962, people were getting their news from the evening news of Walter Cronkite. And it almost became a ritual. You got home from work, 9:00 to 5:00. You relaxed a little and then you watched Cronkite and then have dinner. And so his impact is immense. Things like civil rights, gay rights, the women's movement, the environment and the '60s and '70s, Cronkite insisted all the stories be covered in a very real-time and important way. You can't think about something of the birth of Earth Day or, you know, why the images of Bull Connor in the south and the horrors of Jim Crow were brought into everybody's living rooms. It's because Cronkite, as managing editor of CBS, insisted on it.

LEMON: I want to get to his relationship with Edward R. Murrow. Murrow thought -- correct me if I'm wrong -- that, in some ways, news should be a bit more canned, a bit more methodical and thought out. And then when the conventions came around, Walter sort of relished in it. I wonder if that was the advent of 24-hour news.

BRINKLEY: I think that's spot on. In 1952, Walter Cronkite covered the Democratic and Republican conventions. Murrow didn't want to do it. He thought there were going to be too many -- going to be infomercials and it was beneath the dignity of a serious journalist. I write in my book about the rift between Murrow and Cronkite that dated back to World War II.

But once the cameras came in and captured Stephenson for the Democrats and Eisenhower in '52, everything changed. The cameras did turn conventions into infomercials and it did lead to kind of a birth of 24-hours news broadcasting. And Cronkite, in '52, taught a seminar on how to talk on television to politicians and how to apply makeup properly and things, and two of his students were Sam Rayburn and John F. Kennedy. And from '52 onwards, you just see television news and special events reporting, which Cronkite was the master of, like walking us through the Kennedy assassination or taking us through, you know, the "Apollo 11" mission. He would go marathon for days. He was known as the iron pants -- became his nickname within CBS culture.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALTER CRONKITE, VETERAN CBS NEWS ANCHOR: President Kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. central standard time, 2:00 eastern standard time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: I remember getting these glasses, right? I never thought about it. I just liked the glasses. And my colleagues sort of called them my Cronkites. And I picked up that name. But it's interesting when you see him with those glasses just talking about the death of John F. Kennedy, taking them on, looking at the clock. That was his moment. And that is probably the iconic moment in journalism, and the next I think will be 9/11.

BRINKLEY: Everybody knows that clip. I'll tell you, he came in that day, it was a normal Friday. A lot of people had cut out for the weekend. Others were having long lunches in New York. He brought cottage cheese and pineapple, sitting around the newsroom. He was an old United Press Wire Service guy. He always would hear the hum of those machines. He got a shooting in Dallas, and then he ran with it. He didn't just announce that to the nation in that famous scene with the glasses and looking at the clock, but he had to continue all weekend long. He had to report on, you know, Lee Harvey Oswald, who he was. And then, of course, Ruby killing him, and how did Jackie Kennedy handle the death and then the funeral. So I call him like a rabbi or a pastor in chief. He held her hands and in a communal way through that long tragedy of the Kennedy assassination.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: More on the legendary Walter Cronkite in our next hour, including why President John F. Kennedy became testy with him over an interview, and why Cronkite encouraged Bobby Kennedy to run for president. It's in our next hour here, right here on CNN.

A daredevil attempts to break the speed of sound with the longest, highest free fall ever, all the way from the edge of space.

And we want our viewers to stay connected to CNN even on the go. Grab your mobile phone and go to CNN.com/tv. If you're on a desktop or a laptop, you can also watch CNN live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Could be another first in the history of space. A popular daredevil is attempting the unimaginable, a jump, not from any place on earth, but from many miles above the earth.

CNN's Brian Todd has his story from the Air and Space Museum in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's base jumped from the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio --

(MUSIC)

TODD: -- and from the Petronis (ph) Towers in Coalla Lampour (ph). How do you top that? How less, by skydiving on the edge of space.

(on camera): The moment is well at hand. Are you afraid of dying from this?

FELIX BAUMGARTNER, STRATOSPHERE JUMPER: Dying has been a part of my life. As a base jumper, you always face death on every base jump. Therefore, it is important that you do your homework.

TODD: Later this summer, Austrian daredevil, Felix Baumgartner, will attempt the longest and highest free fall ever, from about 125,000 feet above sea level. That's more than 22 miles. If he pulls it off, he will also break the speed of sound.

Nobody has every gone outside a plane or space craft to fly at more than 690 miles an hour.

(on camera): Some of the more tense moments of this mission will be when Felix Baumgartner steps out of that capsule and into the stratosphere. At that point, the only thing protecting him from certain death will be this helmet and this high-pressure space suit. This is similar to those worn by U-2 spy plane pilots, but those pilots about 50,000 feet closer to earth than Felix will be.

(voice-over): There's only one person alive who can fathom all this, retired Air Force colonel, Joe Kittinger, the man whose record Fearless Felix will try to break. Kittinger jumped from 1,200 feet in 1950.

JOE KITTINGER, RETIRED AIR FORCE COLONEL: I know exactly who he reminds me of.

TODD (on camera): What is it?

KITTINGER: He's going to be awed by being at the altitude and that view he's got. He's also awed by the responsibilities he's got. Most of the people on the ground have been working their rear ends off for 35 years with the goal of getting him down. And it's hostile up there. You don't want to have to hang around if you don't want to.

TODD: Like Kittinger, Baumgartner will taken to the stratosphere in a capsule pulled by a helium balloon. It's a massive undertaking called the Red Bull's Stratos Project.

(on camera): Your first time here, you're like a child in a candy store.

BAUMGARTNER: Yes, I was amazed.

TODD: As Felix, Joe and I move around the Air and Space Museum, Felix says the space suits scare him.

BAUMGARTNER: If you compare it to my suit, I'm not sure I would have done this in the olden days with that kind of equipment.

TODD: Kittinger is now a consultant in the project, who is in Baumgartner's ear on the test jumps.

(on camera): How important is hearing his voice going to be when you're up there?

BAUMGARTNER: It's extremely important. Because this is what I feared on my last test jump when I was going up. Sometime we lost communication for a couple seconds, and immediately, you can feel how lonely you feel. I want to hear that voice because I'm so used to this. Every time we have been practicing on the ground, Joe was talking to me. I'm used to the voice and it makes me feel safe.

TODD (voice-over): A mission that will obviously be tough to top, and it doesn't look like Felix Baumgartner is going to try to. He says, after this jump, he will pursue his long-time dream of becoming a helicopter rescue pilot. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: That is type A (ph).

Next, it's not a royal wedding, but it's pretty close for the United States.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. Houston, we have a shuttle, or at least the replica of one. And there it is, smack in the middle of an intersection. It is just outside Houston, Texas. Can you imagine driving down the street, and you're like, oh, wait a minute. What's that? That's a new car, isn't it? A big one. It looks like it's from the '70s. This is a mockup of a shuttle. It is not the real thing. It used to sit outside the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Now it's heading to its new permanent home, the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

And in the meantime, another shuttle -- we're talking about the shuttle "Enterprise," making its own journey. How cool is that? Look at it on water. It's kind of weird to see it there. The shuttle is being floated down the Hudson River as we speak right now. A journey along the shore of Queens and Brooklyn. "Enterprise's" new home will be the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum along the Hudson River. Let's linger on that. Let's linger on that.

Is this a live picture? Where is it? Oh, there's the live picture right now. It's so cool to look at this. Obviously, we know from the shuttle landings and the shuttle launches, it's amazing. And you know what? American -- people love to watch the launches and the landings. We knew that. But I know that because the ratings would go up. Every time there is a launch and a landing, ratings would spike. There is the shuttle "Enterprise." It's going to be at the air and space museum on the Hudson River in New York City. Beautiful pictures there.

All right, Vice President Joe Biden's daughter has tied the knot. 30- year-old Ashley Biden married Dr. Howard Crane at a private ceremony in Delaware yesterday. The vice president's daughter is a social worker in Delaware. It's a beautiful dress, right? The groom is a plastic surgeon. About 200 guests gathered for a reception at the Biden family home. Best of luck to them.

We go now to the big stories in the week ahead. From the Pentagon to Hollywood, our correspondents tell you what you need to know. We begin tonight with the secretary of defense as he travels across Asia this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I'm Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon where, next week, the military will mark the 68th anniversary of D-Day, honoring the surviving veterans of World War II. But the big news is Defense Secretary Panetta traveling all week in Asia, meeting with his counterparts from Japan and South Korea. With the war now winding down in Afghanistan, the Pentagon has put a premium on moving assets and making the Asia/Pacific area a priority.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I'm Paul Steinhauser at the CNN political desk. California, New Jersey, New Mexico, Montana and South Dakota hold primaries on Tuesday. At the end of the week, progressives gather at Net Roots Nation (ph) in Rhode Island while conservatives meet up at a Midwestern version of the Political Conservative Action Conference in Chicago.

A.J. HAMMER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I'm "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" A.J. Hammer. Here's what we're watching this week. Reality star and former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner, Kendra Wilkinson, is back on top. We'll catch up with Kendra about her latest reality TV show. And we're going one on one with the biggest stars of daytime TV as "Showbiz Tonight" gets ready for the day-time Emmy's right here on HLN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)