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George Zimmerman Back in Jail; Passenger Plane Crashes in Nigeria; Protests Sweep Egypt for Second Day; Wisconsin Recall Down to the Wire; Making Sense of the Economy; Jury Selection Tuesday in Sandusky Trial; Britain Celebrates the Queen's Diamond Jubilee; Walter Cronkite Biography
Aired June 03, 2012 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Thank you for joining us.
George Zimmerman right now back in jail. This is Zimmerman just a couple hours ago 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 He had been free on bond, but that freedom was revoked when a judge said Zimmerman has not been telling the truth about his finances.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 teenager Trayvon Martin; that was back in February.
Live now to Sanford, Florida; CNN's Martin Savidge is there. Martin, Zimmerman barely made the deadline to report to jail today. I think you said when we last spoke, about 45 minutes -- he had 45 minutes left. Why did he have to turn himself in? Explain to our viewers.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is all going back to, of course, last Friday when the state introduced the evidence that seemed to indicate that George Zimmerman and his family had not been completely honest as to their finances, how much money they had, and that all weighed in to the judge's decision as to whether to set bond.
It turns out the family was actually -- had access to a lot of money. And that set up everything that happened with the judge revoking the bond and now George Zimmerman having to show up here and turn himself in. And he did it with, as you say, 45 minutes to spare.
But he actually turned himself in to authorities at the side of a highway.
LEMON: Wow.
SAVIDGE: Listen to the sheriff describe that scene.
(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: He's also being held in solitary. He won't be mixing with the general population -- Don.
LEMON: What an interesting turn. There's so many twists and turns in this case.
So happens now next for Zimmerman? Will his lawyers try to get him released again, Marty?
SAVIDGE: Will, indeed -- at least that's what Mark O'Meara wants to do. He's going to file a motion for that very action tomorrow. We don't know exactly when the judge will take it up.
But there's a more disconcerting issue here. This was brought up by the attorney that represents the family of young Trayvon Martin who was killed by George Zimmerman. And it was raised again today by Mark O'Meara, the defense attorney. That goes to the issue of credibility.
If George Zimmerman lied about money, what else could he be lying about? And this is the self-defense case in which he was the only survivor. Here's his attorney talking about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK O'MEARA, ATTORNEY FOR GEORGE ZIMMERMAN: There is a credibility question that now needs to be sort of rehabilitated by explaining away what they were thinking when they did what they did, if that's what happened, and we'll address it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: So the events of these past couple of days could come back to haunt George Zimmerman when there is a trial -- Don.
LEMON: All right. And we will be following it. Thank you, Martin Savidge, Sanford, Florida.
Now we have a quick refresher for our viewers: George Zimmerman says he shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin to death on February 26. Martin was walking through Zimmerman's gated neighborhood in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman told police it was self-defense.
Early April Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder. That means a potential for life in prison. And then a few days later, Zimmerman posted bail and is free until today when he surrendered to police. Zimmerman's trial is not expected to start until next year.
Now, make sure you stay right here -- so much to talk about in this case. Defense attorney Holly Hughes is going to join me right here in just a few minutes and we're going to talk about what this means for Zimmerman's credibility as you heard Martin Savidge there and Zimmerman's attorney talk about what this means for his credibility now and whether his lawyers can do damage control.
Darkness is hampering massive efforts to find any survivors following a catastrophic plane crash in Nigeria. A Nigerian passenger plane careened into a crowded residential neighborhood in Lagos hours ago, setting three homes on fire. Emergency officials tell us all 150 people on board were killed.
CNN's Vladimir Duthiers was near the scene earlier and he told our sister network CNN International what he saw.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS, CORRESPONDENT, CNN INTERNATIONAL: This plane crashed in a heavily populated area, 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: Right now police and fire crews 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 thousand have packed Cairo's Tahrir Square tonight, outraged by yesterday's court rulings which spared the life of the ousted president and cleared six of his aides. The 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 more than 100 people, including dozens of children. Reaction was seen in the street. This YouTube video appears to show protests right after al- Assad's 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.
Not into politics? Well, what would it take to get you involved? In Wisconsin, it took a governor and a very unpopular decision to make it personal.
And connecting the dots between politics and the economy -- which matters most? Which one -- the numbers or how good you feel?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Wisconsin voters just two days away from a historic recall election. It is fueled by anger over Republican Governor Scott Walker's decision to strip public employees of their collective bargaining right.
Walker came into office and took on the state's powerful employee unions arguing it was essential to reforming the budget. The recall drive has taken more than a year and polls show the race is too close to call right now.
His opponent is Democratic Milwaukee Mayor -- his name is Tom Barrett. The same opponent Walker defeated when he was elected in 2010.
CNN's Chris Welch has been tracking this race from the campaign trail for days. He says both candidates are doing whatever it takes to get their most ardent supporters to the polls.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This gets me in trouble.
CHRIS WELCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's not kidding. Meet Walker supporter Oriannah Paul. A former dog roomer here in Sheboygan, she's now a full-time volunteer. And in this recall battle, that comes at a price.
ORIANNAH PAUL, TEA PARTY ACTIVIST: I was walking down the street taking videos of both sides, and a woman came out of the crowd and whacked me with her sign.
WELCH: She posted it on YouTube.
PAUL: I've never seen anything like this in my life.
WELCH: Her car has been spit on and keyed.
PAUL: It says here --
WELCH: She says there's no doubt it's because of her signs.
PAUL: Where is the civility? Why can't we be amicable, have differing opinions. There's no reason for this aggressive behavior.
WELCH: Lane Hall wonders the same thing only he's on the other side of the battle. An English professor at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Hall takes issue with the governor's education cuts.
LANE HALL, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN: That disturbs me quite a bit.
WELCH: He and his wife came up with a constructive way to get their message out after dark. Cue the overpass light brigade. Dozens who get together on -- you guessed it -- overpasses with illuminated signs the Halls built in their basement.
On this particular evening, the group chose a bridge near the Milwaukee Brewers' baseball stadium just as game traffic let out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mom says I'm not allowed to say that sort of stuff.
Hall has seen the same kind of attacks as Oriannah Paul.
HALL: I was actually personally attacked and my camera was stripped from my hands, and I was knocked down.
WELCH: Neither one of these activists has much hope that this broken community will be mended once Tuesday comes.
HALL: We need a lot of healing. I'm a little bit pessimistic right now because things are so ugly and so divided. Regardless of who wins on Tuesday, it will still be divided.
PAUL: It's not going away any time soon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Chris joins us now live. So Chris, what are these groups like the Tea Party doing this weekend to get their people out to vote on Tuesday.
WELCH: Well, the Tea Party Express and another Tea Party-related group, Americans for Prosperity, have been doing a couple of bus tours this week here in Wisconsin, and their message really has been that Governor Walker's policies have worked.
So they're trying to get out. They're knocking on doors. They're holding rallies. Tea Party Express actually has a rally today. Making phone calls; they really feel like this could come down to just a few maybe tens of thousands of voters who are undecided. That could be the deciding factor in this election.
LEMON: We will be watching. Some polls say it's too close to call but others say, hey, he's in the lead. He's going to win -- they believe.
Thank you. Appreciate it, Chris.
And beyond Wisconsin, of course, it is the economy that matters most. May was the worst month in two years for the stock market, and Friday wasn't any better plus the employment rate ticked higher and consumer confidence fell. What a week.
So let's get the big picture from Anne Mathias. She's the director of research at Washington Research Group, an investment research firm. Anne, thank you for joining us.
I specifically wanted someone to come on and give us the facts, not ideology. So I'm glad you're going to do that. How are these economic numbers related? For example, is a falling market affecting consumer confidence? Can you connect those dots for us?
ANNE MATHIAS, WASHINGTON RESEARCH GROUP: Oh, yes, certainly it is. I think that the market conditions late this last week were really pretty horrific. But they represent sort of a culmination of a growing anxiety among investors. Most investors are ordinary people just like you and I are even if they're working for investment firms. I've met hundreds of them over the years.
And I think a lot of it started with the failed Facebook IPO. That was sort of held out among institutional investors as something that could maybe bring confidence back to the marketplace and get individual investors excited and confident in the market again and starting to make decisions, young people entering the work force, putting their 401(k) money into the equities markets in the U.S. It failed utterly in that regard.
I mean notwithstanding the percentage drop and the value of Facebook, just the fact that it felt like a complete failure and particularly a failure for individual investors. That started the ball rolling down the hill and the unemployment numbers didn't make it any better.
LEMON: Yes. And it's still being investigated. I don't know exactly what happened with the initial offering with the IPO.
And it's about consumer confidence, but it's also about confidence in businesses. Businesses have money they're holding on to, they're not spending it. They're not hiring people because they're not confident.
MATHIAS: Right.
LEMON: And what about this malaise factor? It brought down remember, Jimmy Carter in 1979 when he was the Democratic president looking to be re-elected in a bad economy. This is how he presented it to the American people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER 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 unity of purpose for our nation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So, Anne, it is obvious that President Obama is a more gifted speaker than Jimmy Carter, but does the current president face a similar economic puzzle? And more importantly, does President Obama have the tools to do anything about it?
MATHIAS: Well, I do think that there are some tools, but I think the malaise that we feel is much more of a global malaise perhaps than perhaps even it was back then.
LEMON: Can you say that again? Can you say that again? I think that's very important.
MATHIAS: I think that the malaise that perhaps we feel now is much, much more global than it was when Jimmy Carter made that speech.
You know, we're at the end of a 20 plus-year business cycle in some ways. China is becoming a completely different country than it was 10 or even 5 years ago when it was fueling a lot of the low cost growth here in the United States; a lot of the consumption here in the United States.
My goodness we haven't even mentioned Europe. Europe is just absolutely a tempest that has --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: China, Europe --
MATHIAS: -- boiled over its teapot. There is just difficulty and problems and structural demographic, political issues globally that the United States is really only so capable of affecting. And in many ways we're the victim. We're the sort -- we received the impact of those blows.
LEMON: And so this is a whole different ball game than the sort of confidence -- the lack of confidence faced back in 1979 and 1980.
MATHIAS: Right.
LEMON: I have to ask you this -- we have to run, I'm running out of time -- but should we brace for a bad stock market, more volatility in the coming week?
MATHIAS: I think we are going to see a lot more volatility. I don't think that corporate profits are going off a cliff. Companies have a lot of money. They can borrow at very low interest rates here in the United States. We're going to see stock buy-back and things like that. So I don't think we're at the beginning of a precipitous decline. But I do think we're going to see a lot of volatility and a lot more between now and the end of the year.
LEMON: Anne Mathias, good stuff -- just the facts.
MATHIAS: Thank you.
LEMON: No ideology. We appreciate it. I loved you coming on. Thanks. We'll have you back. Thank you.
Do you want to know what life is really like on the campaign trail? Well, this Tuesday, make sure you join the CNN election round table with Wolf Blitzer and CNN's political team. Submit your questions and get answers in real-time in this live virtual chat. And don't miss the CNN Election Roundtable. It's Tuesday at noon Eastern. Log on to CNN.com/roundtable.
A football coach facing scandalous accusations of child sex abuse on campus; this week Jerry Sandusky heads into a Pennsylvania courtroom to defend himself against those charges.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky set to walk into a courtroom and face his accusers seven months after his initial arrest. He is facing child rape charges on Tuesday.
CNN's national correspondent Susan Candiotti explains that his biggest problem may be trying to defend himself in the court of public opinion.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a riveting moment. Ten days after Jerry Sandusky was arrested on dozens of charges that he raped, sodomized and fondled young boys, he called NBC's Bob Costas. The former Penn State assistant coach denied being a pedophile, and then this.
BOB COSTAS, NBC HOST: Are you sexually attracted to young boys, to underage boys?
JERRY SANDUSKY, FORMER PENN STATE ASSISTANT FOOTBALL COACH: Am I sexually attracted to underage boys?
COSTAS: Yes.
SANDUSKY: Sexually attracted? No. I enjoy young people. I love to be around them. I -- but no, I'm not sexually attracted to young boys.
PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think that there was an intention by his defense attorney, Amendola, to humanize him to establish that he's sort of an uncle who kind of likes boys but not in a sexual way; in sort of a healthy, normal way. And I think that interview backfired.
CANDIOTTI: The case sparked shock and outrage on campus, and when the university fired head coach Joe Paterno, who has since died it set off this raucous clash.
There are ten alleged victims who were as young as ten years old. For now, none has been publicly named. Prosecutors don't know the identities of two of them.
Now it's time for Sandusky's accusers to take the witness stand. The defense prepared to attack their credibility.
CALLAN: Any humiliating, embarrassing experience in their past life that has a bearing on their believable potentially may be revealed to all the world in this trial.
CANDIOTTI: Also expected to testify, a key witness to one of the alleged rapes. Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary, then a graduate student, who says he saw Sandusky in a locker room shower one night with a young boy.
Prosecutors say Sandusky met his alleged victims through his charity for disadvantaged children, The Second Mile.
Sandusky has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. Will he take the stand to defend himself? And what else might be revealed at trial?
A recent defense motion raises the possibility prosecutors may bring up other allegations of abuse to help establish a pattern. Sandusky's lawyers have lost several attempts to delay the start of the trial. As for the alleged victims, they're anxious, their lawyers say, but ready to go forward.
Susan Candiotti, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: It's amazing, fascinating that interview with Bob Costas. Remember that? I've forgotten about that.
George Zimmerman, back behind bars tonight. A judge says he lied about money to get a lower bail. How will his defense team try to clean up this mess?
And hold on. It's me and more of me. There's a little bit of delay -- there it is right there, CNN.com/TV. Make sure you grab your mobile phone and go to CNN.com. And you can also watch live -- on the go.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Welcome back, everyone.
Pay attention to this. I'm sitting here with Holly Hughes, a criminal defense attorney, probably grateful now that she is not George Zimmerman's attorney. I'm being serious tonight --
HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Right.
LEMON: -- right, because his case has taken a really messy turn.
Here's the story just briefly. Zimmerman turned himself in today to police in Sanford, Florida who threw him back in jail.
Here's why. A judge says Zimmerman lied when he said he was broke and got a relatively low bail amount, $15,000. It turns out Zimmerman and his wife have been raking in quite a bit of money from online donations. Right -- a lot of dough. How much do we know, in the hundreds of thousands of dollars?
HUGHES: Yes. We're up over $200,000 right now.
LEMON: Oh, ok.
So when a judge lets a suspect out on bail, there is a presumption that the suspect will follow some rules. He'll stay where he's supposed to stay. He'll stay out of trouble.
Why would he -- that's what I don't understand. There was new evidence coming out. You saw the blood on the head, there might have been a scuffle, that appeared to be in George Zimmerman's favor. Why would -- what was he thinking?
HUGHES: Because he didn't think he was going to get caught. That's the short answer, Don. He thought that if he let his wife testify, well, we don't really know about the money, and if he didn't disclose to his lawyer what was going on before that bond hearing that he could just have plausible deniability.
LEMON: He's facing murder charges.
HUGHES: Yes. But doesn't it tell you where his mindset is? I can skate? I can just kind of convince them that I'm telling the truth?
He shot himself in the foot because, let's face it, the defense has to bring a motion in this case. The motion is the "Stand Your Ground" motion. That's argued to the judge; that's not argued to a jury. So the judge is going to be the one who decides credibility. Guess who the main witness has to be?
LEMON: It's George Zimmerman. That's it. Is this going to come down --
(CROSSTALK)
HUGHES: George Zimmerman.
LEMON: -- isn't this supposed to be compartmentalized? But this judge is going to preside over portions, a number of --
HUGHES: Of course.
LEMON: Yes.
HUGHES: And he's going to preside over that motion. He is the sole judge of credibility there. And let's face it. He wouldn't be a very smart judge if he discarded what he already knows about George Zimmerman's propensity to lie.
LEMON: Can his attorney O'Meara dig him -- dig his client out. This is a hole, right, that he's dug himself into. Can O'Meara get him out of this?
HUGHES: Absolutely.
He can, because Mark O'Meara is a fantastic attorney. What I think we're going to see. He's going to re-file for bond. He's going to say, all right, Judge, given everything that's happened, let's set another bond. It's going to be a much, much higher bond.
LEMON: Are we jumping to conclusions here. Maybe there's something that we don't know. Maybe he -- I'm just devil's advocate -- maybe he didn't know. How should he have handled the financial --
HUGHES: Well, here's what makes me think he did know. Because who set those things up? And remember this, his brother, Robert Zimmerman, was all over the news.
LEMON: Ok.
HUGHES: He was willing to talk to everybody.
LEMON: Right.
HUGHES: Prior to that bond hearing, suddenly he's unavailable for the bond hearing.
LEMON: All right. We've got to go, we've got to move on, but they're going to try to use this, right, in the trial next year? This is going to come out? Probably?
HUGHES: It may or may not. There's going to be a motion in limine to keep this out as irrelevant evidence.
LEMON: Thank you Holly.
HUGHES: Yes.
LEMON: Appreciate it.
Hey, it's coming up on half past the hour. I want to get you a look at some of your headlines right now.
Massive recovery efforts under way at the scene of a fiery plane crash in Nigeria. A passenger jet careened into a crowded residential neighborhood in Lagos, setting three homes on fire. Emergency officials say all 153 people on board died. Searchers are scouring the rubble for those injured or killed on the ground right now.
The same city square where Egypt's revolution erupted last year is packed again tonight, this time the protestors 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 line the River Thames to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The royal barge with the Queen and the royal family on board was joined by about 1,000 vessels for the river pageant. Diamond jubilee celebrates the queen's 60 years on the throne. The last time diamond jubilee, by the way, 1897, Queen Victoria, Britain's longest serving monarch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD DAWSON, HOST "FAMILY FEUD": The survey said -
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Richard Dawson, a long-time and original host of "Family Feud" has died. His son announced Dawson passed away last night in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer. Dawson hosted "Family Feud" until 1976 to 1985, and again in '94 and '95 and was known for the good luck kisses he gave female contestants. Richard Dawson was 79 years old. Man, he is an original.
High speed rail is billed as the next great mode of transportation in America, but a CNN investigation has uncovered one project that is already bleeding money and is more like a slow ride to nowhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Los Angeles to San Francisco by train in just a couple of hours - sounds good, doesn't it? The idea of a 200-mile-per-hour train, high speed train barreling through the Golden State also sounded good to California voters, and so they approved the multi- billion dollar rail line between LA and San Fran but you know what? What they're getting instead? Fresno to Burbank, slower with fewer stops. CNN's Drew Griffin reveals how this plan got off track.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN (voice-over): It sure looks like the future. An animated version of California's high speed rail, and it sounded really cool, too. L.A. to San Francisco at more than 200 miles an hour. No planes, no cars, no fuss. That's why Californians voted for it back in 2008, passing a $10 billion bond measure for a train that was projected to eventually cost $34 billion.
Keeping them honest, it's now four years later. Not a single track has been laid and a bombshell report was dropped on California's taxpayers last fall. Their $34 billion train would actually cost closer to three times the estimated amount.
LISA SCHWEITZER, PRICE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY, USC: The new business plan put the cost estimate at about 98 to 118 billion.
GRIFFIN: It was a shocker. Three times the estimated cost, and guess what, you, the federal taxpayer, might be on the hook for a big chunk of it. We'll get to how that's possible in just a moment.
But in California, the sticker shock cost yet another change in accounting, a big turnover with California's high speed Rail Authority Board, and yet another re-thinking of just where the train will go and how fast and how much it would cost.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, we are releasing the revised plan.
GRIFFIN: A new route, a new slower speed and a new cost estimate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First, beginning next year, we will commence construction here in the valley.
There is no question that the costs have gone up.
GRIFFIN: Dan Richard is the new chairman of California's high speed rail authority and co-author of "That Report" that sent the high speed rail plan, well, slightly of track.
DAN RICHARD, CHAIRMAN, CALIFORNIA HIGH-SPEED RAIL: That report was a draft. It was meant to engender comment. It did that quite successfully, and we're looking at how to revise the plan and strengthen the plan and go forward.
GRIFFIN: But that is also very troubling, it turns out the latest plan could be for a much slower train, not actually the high speed futuristic cartoon California voters approved four years ago. More of a hybrid that goes slower, makes a few more stops and doesn't quite deliver the L.A. to San Francisco promise of just a few hours. And that's not the half of it. This is about to become really political.
California's high speed rail has won one huge backer, President Barack Obama, and that is where you come in. The administration has pledged $3.5 billion in stimulus money, also known as federal tax dollars, and that's just so far. Now California admits it will need even more, tens of billions of dollars more from federal taxpayers to finish it. But first you have to start, and that's where it really gets dicey. The foundational segment, the first stretch of track, will cost at least $6 billion alone, and under the new plan will connect Fresno to Burbank. It won't go anywhere near San Francisco and in the process will dissect generations old dairy farms, not orchards and towns that don't want it.
JOHN TOS, ALMOND FARMER: We want them to stay off the land. It is not our intention to allow this to happen through our property. We farm here for a reason. The tranquility of it all, this is farming country, and we want to keep it like that.
GRIFFIN: USC's Lisa Schweitzer, a skeptic, says the High Speed Rail Authority Board is doing everything it can to rework numbers and routes to justify spending tens of billions of dollars on a train that be a huge economic blunder.
SCHWEITZER: Every infrastructure project has the potential to be another Solyndra, right? Whether it's high speed rail or whether it's a bridge to nowhere, right? The construction cost can over run like that and especially here in California where our permitting and approvals process is tough.
GRIFFIN: Has all this have California rethinking its plans? Absolutely not says Rail board chairman Dan Richard and for one reason. They've already got the promised three billion of your tax dollars in federal stimulus. California may not get another dime from President Obama, but it has no intention of giving back the three billion already promised or the billions more from California voters.
DAN RICHARD, CHAIRMAN, CALIFORNIA HIGH SPEED RAIL: So let's be very clear on this point. We have $6 billion to build the foundational segment.
GRIFFIN: Even if that foundational segment turns out to be a high speed rail, well, to nowhere.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: CNN's Drew Griffin reporting.
OK. You're going to want to hear this. Next, how a personal trainor and nutritionist and an on-call nurse can be yours for the right price, which is free.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: How would you like a nurse, trainer, nutritionist all in the palm of your hand for free? It has been estimated there are 40,000 health apps which collectively could haul in more than a billion dollars in 2012. That is a lot of money. Tech reporter Alejandra Oraa, did I say it right? Did I get it right? CNN in Espanol is here - it's your first time.
ALEJANDRA ORAA, TECH REPORTER: It is my first time in CNN domestic, yes.
LEMON: And you're speaking English.
ORAA: My first time ever, not speaking English but on TV.
LEMON: On TV. You're going to be great.
ORAA: Thank you so much.
I heard you're very nice, very laid back.
LEMON: I don't know about that.
ORAA: I've seen you on TV here, so I feel comfortable with you, Don.
LEMON: You've got some very good information here. Almost all of these apps you're talking about are free. Your first one helps motivates us to exercise.
ORAA: Absolutely. This is personally my favorite app. It's called Nike plus GPS.
LEMON: Turn around. There we go.
ORAA: Here.
LEMON: This way.
ORAA: This is what I'm learning.
LEMON: What is it called?
ORAA: It's call Nike Plus GPS. So you can see on this application, I've used it a total of 16 times. I run 78.63 miles those 16 times. What I like about it is an application that's been out for a while, however, there are little features that a lot of people don't use so I want to show it to you. The first one, let's see history, right? This is a list of every single run I've done. If I click on the number and I look -
LEMON: So it basically keeps you honest, right?
ORAA: Absolutely, yes.
LEMON: You get to chart your progress by doing it, which most people probably don't do. ORAA: It's a little bit hard to actually do that when you're running by yourself, but you can see how much you've been running for all that time. When you go back home, you have something that's called play tag, which is basically you can invite somebody who is on this application, and what they can do is they can run with you, although they're not right next to you, so whoever runs the most wins the prize.
LEMON: Yes, it's like the person I'm playing on line for my card game which is mostly what I do.
ORAA: Yes, it's kind of like a game, exactly.
LEMON: It's mostly what I do.
So listen, tell us about - there is another one. There is another app for the supermarket that can help you out in the supermarket. So what is that one?
ORAA: It's called Fooducate. I wanted to actually show it to you. This is on the Ipad. I want to show it on the iPhone right here. I brought a water bottle. What you can do is you have to scan the bar code right here.
LEMON: Cool. All right.
ORAA: Scan the bar code right here. One, two, three, it shows you the product. After it shows you the product, it tells you the grade the product has. It has an A minus, which means you are allowed to buy it, it's going to be good for you.
LEMON: I like that.
ORAA: It's actually really cool.
LEMON: What's the name of it again?
ORAA: It's call Fooducate.
LEMON: Fooducate. OK.
ORAA: It's free. That's actually pretty good too. And let's say you scanned something that you don't like or it might have a C minus because of the grade or you don't like that it has C to F, from C to F. It gives you an alternative to buy.
LEMON: OK.
ORAA: That might taste the same.
LEMON: All right. and the last one here could be good for anyone even though it's not trying to get in shape. What is this one about?
ORAA: This is like having a doctor in your pocket. It's the best thing ever. It's called itriage. It gives you your personal information, your medical history. You can actually link your insurance and your medical history here in the application. You have a really cool app here because you have a body - I don't know if you can see it well - you can touch any part of this body that would, "hurt you." Let's say our hand hurts, right? So it finds any type of pain that you might have.
LEMON: And you would sort of zero in on it and it gives you advice.
ORAA: It might give you an explanation, after all the symptoms, you can actually turn it around, you can change the genders. Another cool thing that it has, it brings you hot lines. Suicide hotline, the police hotline, poison control, advice lines for people that might actually be important to have nearby when you're moving to a new place or whatnot.
LEMON: What's the name of the Web site again?
ORAA: iTriage.
LEMON: iTriage. You can look it - we'll link it on our blog at cnntv.com/don. We'll put it on - what's your twitter?
ORAA: Alejandraoraa.
LEMON: And you shouldn't worry about speaking English.
ORAA: Are you sure?
LEMON: I'm not being sexist. I don't think people are even listening to what you're saying. I'm sure they are.
ORAA: We'll put subtitle next time.
LEMON: They don't really care because you are quite an attractive lady and you are also very smart.
ORAA: Thank you.
LEMON: I mean that in all kindness. And thank you again. Join us more here.
ORAA: My pleasure.
LEMON: Yes.
ORAA: And you should also join us in Espanol.
LEMON: I don't speak Spanish very well. Three years in college.
ORAA: Well, how about every time I come here after you're done with the show, 10 minutes of Espanol, you and I. You like that?
LEMON: All right. Let's do it. We'll see. I'm off the air in a little bit.
ORAA: All right.
LEMON: Ten minutes a day. Thank you.
ORAA: Thank you for having me in your show. Bye-bye.
LEMON: Good stuff.
I like that last one a lot. This is what I usually do on my iPad.
ORAA: That's your card game.
LEMON: That's my card game. It's spades.
ORAA: I like that. All right.
LEMON: Houston, we have a shuttle now. Thank you, Alejandra. Or at least a replica of one. There it is, right smack in the middle of an intersection just outside of Houston. This is a mockup of a shuttle, it's not the real deal. It used to sit outside the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Now it's heading to its new permanent home, the Johnson's Space Center in Houston. Meanwhile the shuttle Enterprise, it is making its own journey. The shuttle is being floated down the Hudson River as we speak, journeying along show. (INAUDIBLE) and Enterprise's new home will be at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum along the Hudson River. Earlier we had a live shot. It's very beautiful. Look at that. How cool.
All right. It is an honest look at the life and career of the most trusted man in America, I'm talking about legendary journalist Walter Cronkite. Next hear why President John F. Kennedy became testy with him over an interview and why Cronkite encouraged Bobby Kennedy to run for president against Lyndon B. Johnson.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Prominent anchors like Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather have criticized White House Correspondents' Dinner and other cozy relationships between journalists and politicians. And I asked Douglas Brinkley, the author of the new book "Cronkite" whether close relationships between veteran anchorman Walter Cronkite and U.S. presidents was an issue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, AUTHOR "CRONKITE": No, it wasn't. I mean Cronkite tried to stay objective. But the truth is you all have biases, you have favorites. He got very close to Dwight Eisenhower because Cronkite had covered D-day as a wartime correspondent, World War II. So just had a good amiable relationship. Eisenhower always seemed to do well with Cronkite.
John F. Kennedy's relationship with Cronkite was quite testy because Kennedy wanted to do a do-over on an interview like we're doing now. Cronkite said no and Kennedy was miffed. But he became very close to Bobby Kennedy. I write in the book that in 1968, Walter Cronkite even urged Bobby Kennedy to run for president, Kennedy being a New York senator at that time, and challenged Lyndon Johnson for the democratic nomination because Cronkite had gone to Vietnam and was sick by what he saw about the Johnson administration and lied to the American people and called the war, a stalemate. Many people are questioning why would Cronkite such a serious journalist urge somebody like Bobby Kennedy to run for president. Is that ethical? And the answer was Vietnam tore the country apart and Cronkite stayed in the middle from '65 to '68. But once he went in-country, looked around, his sense of being a humanist transcended him being an anchor.
WALTER CRONKITE: It seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate.
LEMON: I want to talk about this whole idea of liberal and conservative when it comes to news. We hear so much about it now, especially with the advent of cable news and people being on the right and people being on the left. Was Walter Cronkite considered a liberal in those days and did people know about that and was he criticized for it?
CRONKITE: He was not considered a liberal until 1968 with Vietnam, and then he was classified as a dove. And then the Nixon crowd - I listened to all the Nixon tapes with people like Chuck Collison and others going after Walter Cronkite. Cronkite had become so popular, he was seen as the patriarch of liberal media. Nixon crowd never laid a grub on Cronkite, the American people decided long ago they liked Uncle Walter, and so he survived all of that on Nixon.
More than that after Woodward and Bernsteins' "Washington Post" nobody took a back page story about a third rate burglary at Watergate seriously. Cronkite did. He sent out reporters to investigate and then on Cronkite's half an hour broadcast, which with commercials was 23 minutes, he ran a 17-minute piece backing up Woodward and Bernstein. And that's what turned Watergate into a big story. So in a way, Cronkite outlasted and outdrew, if you like, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, and by the time, you know, the country was trying to heal with Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, Cronkite was a bigger star, celebrity, more respected than even the presidents of the United States of that era. His last time he did a big election was 1980, Reagan won, and again, Cronkite was a buddy with Reagan. They shared the same sense of humor and they both began sports broadcasting in the midwest. So Cronkite had different personal friends but Reagan he did well with and Eisenhower well. They were Republicans, yet he was personally - FDR, new deal, democrat, liberal.
LEMON: He was loved by America, but was he necessarily loved by the men who followed him and the men who preceded him?
BRINKLEY: There was a great deal of animosity between Murrow and Cronkite. It dated back to a broken handshake agreement Cronkite had made with Murrow during World War II, worked for CBS Radio in Stalingrad and then had wiser thoughts about it but Murrow held a bit of a grudge. And then Dan Rather succeeded him in 1981. Cronkite was for Rather, thought he was a great investigative reporter, but within a year, their relationship soured terribly and it got very, very bitter, at least from Cronkite's perspective. He just thought Rather should be canned and fired. And so it's not a great story there.
But, you know, Rather, to his credit, is kind of just took the kicks of Cronkite and just kept doing his job at CBS and doing it well.
LEMON: Hey before I let you go, any big surprises in this book?
BRINKLEY: Many. I mean, I talk about Cronkite secretly meeting with Daniel Elseburg to deal with the Pentagon papers. A deal with a group - a gay raider interrupted the broadcast of Cronkite, angry that gay issues were not being covered on CBS. Cronkite had to go to court with this guy, Mark Segal is his name, he runs the gay newspaper in Philadelphia, and Cronkite tapped Segal in the courtroom on his shoulder and said "Why did you do that?" They got to talking and Cronkite decided he was right and started running gay events on the nightly news and Segal became one of his closest and dearest friends and Cronkite became a spokesman for AIDS awareness and emceed big benefits with Elton John and the like. So there are all sorts of surprising stories in the book.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Thanks, Douglas Brinkley. From Douglas Brinkley to country music superstar Tim McGraw and how he is giving back to veterans.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: This weekend Tim McGraw is kicking off his "Brothers of the Sun" Tour along with Kenny Chesney. The hugely successful country music star is also giving back. He is partnering with veterans groups and Chase Bank to give away 25 homes to wounded veterans on this tour.
CNN's Fredricka Whitfield talked with him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Why is this so important to you to help kick off your tour in 25 cities, 25 cities where mortgage free homes would go to vets?
TIM MCGRAW, COUNTRY SINGER, ACTOR: You know, it's just when this was all kicked around, and we were trying to decide if it was all going to come together, i couldn't think of anything better. My sister was - is a veteran of the first gulf war. My uncle was a Vietnam veteran. My grandfather was a World War II veteran. Some of my best friends. See how families sort of come together and survive those sort of times, and then when you see soldiers come home that are wounded and they can't sort of get their lives together and things are not going right, to sort of have - it's that freedom for a soldier to have that. To come back from being wounded and given everything that he's had, for us to be able to live in our home, to be able to get in our car and to drive around and go to our jobs. And to have that sort of sense of freedom and that sort of sense of security for their family, I can't think of anything better for a wounded soldier to have.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: For more on that, cnn.com/fredricka. I'm Don Lemon at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. See you back here at 10:00 Eastern.
