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Oregon Bank Bombing; Atlanta Courthouse Shooter is Sentenced; Illinois Governor Holds Tight to Seat

Aired December 13, 2008 - 11:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there everybody, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM for this December the 13th. You are running out of time to buy those Christmas gifts.
Hello to you all, I'm T.J. Holmes.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.

Let's talk about this, a deadly bank bombing in Oregon with the second law enforcement officer reported dead after trying to disarm the device.

HOLMES: Also, a story developing this morning here in Atlanta. The Brian Nichols case. He killed four people including a judge and a deputy. Why is the death penalty not on the table? He has been sentenced this morning. We have gotten the word. We will let you know exactly what happened in the courtroom this morning.

NGUYEN: Illinois's governor under growing pressure to resign. New details on what led up to the corruption scandal.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: As Betty says, under pressure to resign but right now, he is still the governor of Illinois. Monday though, we could see a start of a new chapter in this beleaguered career of Governor Rod Blagojevich. He is refusing to step down despite calls from just about everybody for him to do so. Our Drew Griffin is keeping tabs on the governor and the investigation.

Drew, he is holding on.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: So far. In fact, he even signed a bill into law yesterday morning when he went to the office. People are just kind of stunned that he is going to the office at all. I caught up with him yesterday afternoon. He had spent about three hours with his attorney talking in his attorney's office.

When he came out, I asked him the one question, T.J., everybody wants to here. Not if you're going to resign but when.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Drew Griffin with CNN. Can you say anything to the people of the state of Illinois sir? Do you have anything to say? GOV. ROD BLAGOJEVICH, (D) ILLINOIS: I will.

GRIFFIN: Are you going to resign?

BLAGOJEVICH: I will have a lot to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: T.J. he didn't say much more obviously, he got in that car and just drove away. He hasn't said anything publicly officially since his arrest on Tuesday. Yesterday, his chief of staff, John Harris, resigned. And as you said, the pressure mounting now politically that he is going to be tossed from office if he doesn't get out voluntarily. Two avenues going, the attorney general of Illinois filing a motion with the Supreme Court to have this governor removed because he is unfit and on Monday, the legislature meets to talk about a whole assortment of ideas they have for stripping this guy of his power and his office.

HOLMES: Of course, Drew, so much of this obviously is out of his hands. As he said to you there, he will speak at the appropriate time. Do we have any indications of when he might think that appropriate time will be?

GRIFFIN: No. We immediately contacted his office and said, when is that time going to be? They don't really know. They have been kept in the dark at the governor's press office as well. The governor has been going to work and trying to maintain a can kind of businesslike atmosphere there, even with this crushing investigation around him and all this political swirl calling for him to just get out.

HOLMES: Drew Griffin for us in Chicago. We know you are on it.

Thank you so much this morning Drew.

NGUYEN: Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr., says he is fighting to get his name cleared after being identified in the criminal complaint against Blagojevich.

HOLMES: He is identified as candidate number five. That's the only one of whom Blagojevich said engaged in discussions through an emissary about possibly raising money for the governor in exchange for that senate position.

During a CNN exclusive, Don Lemon sat down with him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. JESSE JACKSON, JR., (D) ILLINOIS: I presented him my credentials, a notebook, which I'm prepared to give anyone a copy of, that has my bio in it, legislation that I passed, the Rasmussen poll, the Zogby poll, how I think I can win in 2010 and how a team of Democrats because this is about the top of the ticket in 2010, can win re-election for Democrats in 2010. That's very, very important.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No discussion at all of quid pro quo, or anything like that? Was there a discussion?

JACKSON: I have nothing to offer, nothing to offer but my record of public service. That's how I have conducted myself for 13 1/2 years. I did that day as well.

LEMON: That's all you discussed?

JACKSON: That's all we discussed.

LEMON: Do you think it is still possible for you to get this job that you want?

JACKSON: Well, let me tell you what I have been doing.

LEMON: Do you think it's still possible?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hope so, we hope so.

JACKSON: Before you answer that, let me say, because I respect my wife's opinion on this. I have been fighting corruption in the state of Illinois from day one, for 13 years. The Sun Times in their endorsement of me said Congressman Jackson is the rare official who -- Democratic official who has spoken out against corruption in the state and in the city. I am the same person I was when the "Sun-Times" endorsed me for the November 4th general election fighting against corruption.

It has stopped businesses from coming to our state at a time when the economy needs help and people need help, corruption in our state has been challenging. On this question of being in the United States Senate or not, let me be perfectly clear. While I would be honored to serve the people of this state, it is clear to me that I am in no capacity to serve them if there is a cloud over my head that seems to suggest I am involved in some unscrupulous scheme to be a United States Senator or to be anything else.

So it's very important for me to allow this process to play itself out. I need to find out and we all need to find out the truth, which is why I have encouraged everyone to fully cooperate with the United States Attorney's office and provide the good men and women of our Justice Department, all of the information and the data that they need. When the process is over, I profoundly hope that the people will give me my name back.

Right now, it's bantered about in columns and in blogs and people can say what they want to say. When it is over, I want everyone to remember that I would like my name back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: He wants his name back. Right now, we are going to go to CNN's Don Lemon who did that interview. He joins us by phone.

Don, as he tries to get that back, he's also sitting there side by side with his wife who we understand insisted on being a part of that interview. LEMON: She wanted to be there for support. She didn't really I shouldn't say insist upon it.

When I said that to you Betty yesterday, I meant, if we wanted her there, she was willing to be there and more than willing to throw her support behind her husband and I asked her why. She said, because he has done nothing wrong. Why wouldn't she? Had he done something wrong, she may not be doing that. She doesn't feel her husband did anything wrong. She is doing everything she can to support him.

NGUYEN: Absolutely. That is understandable. Let me ask you about his saying that he has nothing to do with this, no wrongdoing. So how does he explain what was read on those wiretaps of Blagojevich?

LEMON: Well, he doesn't know what Blagojevich was talking about. That's what he says. To be quite honest with you, he and his wife and a number of politicians in Chicago think that a lot of this stuff that the governor is talking about was simply made up, that it was something that he cooked up in his head.

You heard Lisa Madigan, you know yesterday she filed papers to remove him from office. They don't believe that he has the mental capacity right now to be governor. So, that said, Jesse Jackson, Jr., his wife, again, a number of other politicians believe that a lot of this stuff, according to them, was just something that was cooked up by him maybe to suggest something on the telephone.

NGUYEN: Something that was just made up, that was just fantasy?

LEMON: Yes. If you have been reading closely the papers here and watching even some of our coverage, there are people, many people, who are concerned about his state of mind and whether or not -- what drove him, if he indeed did do that. He is innocent until proven guilty. If he indeed did it, what would drive someone to do that?

NGUYEN: Go ahead, Don.

LEMON: I asked him, I said well why would the governor get some idea, Congressman Jackson, that he may be able to buy you in some way. He said, I don't know. Why would he think that someone who has been under scrutiny for years can work for the Barack Obama administration, which is something that he asked for on those wiretaps? Again, it goes to state of mind Betty.

NGUYEN: CNN's Don Lemon joining us live by phone. You are going to have much more of this tonight on your show on CNN NEWSROOM at 11:00 eastern. We'll be looking forward to that.

Thank you Don.

HOLMES: The ripple effect from this pay to play scheme, this Senate seat scandal, really an unwelcome distraction for President- elect Barack Obama who has announced another nomination for his incoming cabinet. CNN's Elaine Quijano has more now for us.

Are they still doing their best and doing a good job of distancing themselves from this whole scandal?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know I think that's sort of in the eye of the beholder T.J. But I can tell you the president-elect this morning did go ahead and make a cabinet level announcement, announcing his pick to be secretary of housing and urban development, that person is Shaun Donovan, currently New York City's housing commissioner, also somebody who has worked in HUD before as a deputy assistant secretary.

The way in which this announcement came T.J. is certainly different from past practice. Not during a news conference in which the president-elect also fielded a couple questions as we have heard him do before. But instead, released in an e-mail at 6:00 a.m. eastern time as part of the president elect's radio address. Now all of this happening on a morning where the "Chicago Tribune" is reporting that the incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel actually did have a conversation according to the "Tribune" with the embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, about the vacated Senate seat.

Now that of course is not wrong in and of itself, certainly not even unexpected. We can call you Rahm Emanuel is not commenting to CNN about this "Chicago Tribune" report.

We should also note as well though that the U.S. prosecutor in this case Patrick Fitzgerald has made very clear there are absolutely no allegations against the president-elect contained in that federal complaint from earlier this week. We should also tell you, of course, certainly a source close to Rahm Emanuel, this is something we want to emphasize as well, telling our Jessica Yellin yesterday that he is not a target at all of the federal investigation.

But it raises the question, T.J., when exactly is the president- elect going to lay out what specifically the staff contacts were between members of his team and Governor Blagojevich's office. Again, no accusations of any wrongdoing but the longer this is out there, the longer those questions continue to swirl, it sort of raises another question. Why is it taking so long to disclose that list of names -- T.J.?

HOLMES: Don't know when we will might see and some questions might be tossed at the president-elect. What can we glean from the fact that, like you said, the way he made this announcement was not like the others, about this cabinet post?

Maybe that means this wasn't, quite frankly, as sexy of a post as maybe the secretary of state and some of those other jobs that he's announced and some of the names that people know. Maybe that has something to do with it, with all due respect to Mr. Donovan, however.

But explain that and also, are we expecting any other announcements this coming week?

QUIJANO: It's interesting because of course we are in the midst of a housing crisis right now. So this is a very prominent post. The housing secretary is going to have a big role. Of course we all know that the foreclosure situation is really what has led to the financial crisis, not just in this country but around the world. The mortgage meltdown, if you will.

So, to make this announcement, especially in the way that it was made this morning, certainly is something that, you know, would lead you to think that perhaps a Q&A extended session, a news conference was something that the president-elect did not want to engage in at this point. We will see what happens later this week as far as the news conferences go. We do expect the energy team to be filled out.

This is something that CNN reported a couple of days ago. Dr. Steven Chu is expected to be named Barack Obama's pick for energy secretary. This is a person who won the Nobel Prize in 1997 for physics. Analysts say this is a pick that will signal that Barack Obama hopes will signal an emphasis on science and technology as he looks to craft his energy policies.

All of this is happening, as you know, T.J., as the president- elect, really tried to push this idea of green jobs and energy-saving measures as a way to boost the economy. Whether or not he will be able to push that message out there, push it past some of the speculation that continues to swirl about the Blagojevich situation remains to be seen. We do expect to hear about the president-elect's energy pick in the coming days. T.J.?

HOLMES: We will see how they decide to make that announcement. Elaine Quijano for us there in Chicago.

Thank you so much.

NGUYEN: A mysterious package outside an Oregon bank ended up being a deadly bomb. The bank in Woodburn, South Portland got a call from an unknown person yesterday saying employees should look for a bomb. A device was indeed spotted in the bushes and the bank was then evacuated. When authorities arrived, they moved the device inside the branch and then proceeded to scan it.

That's when it exploded, killing a police officer, a state bomb technician and seriously wounding the town's police chief, who went into surgery last night. There is no word why the bomb was moved inside or who may be behind that attack.

HOLMES: He killed four people while trying to make an escape attempt as he was on trial for rape but he avoided the death penalty today. Convicted Atlanta courthouse shooter, Brian Nichols, however, will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

This morning, the judge sentenced the 37-year-old to life in prison. No chance of parole. Nichols was found guilty of killing four people in that escape from the Fulton county courthouse in March of 2005. Georgia law requires a unanimous decision for the death penalty but the jury was split, nine favoring capital punishment for Nichols. And so it was not unanimous. They deadlocked. Life in prison is his sentence.

Well, for the past six months, people have been asking this question, where is Caylee Anthony? Unfortunately, police believe they have the answer now. The 2-year-old girl disappeared back in June. Now, we he may have a conclusion to this case. Police growing more confident that human remains found about a mile from Caylee's grandparents house are those of the missing toddler. They are waiting now for DNA and other tests to confirm the identity. A utility worker found the remains in a plastic bag.

Hear now, the 911 call.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, this is Orange County Utility emergency dispatch. We found a human skull.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my gosh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know. We got, is it a meter reader.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am going to let you speak right now with the representative from our field services facility. Everything is recorded. Here he is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing? A skull that we believe is human.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's the location?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is right off of Suburban and Chickasaw in the Caylee Anthony area.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HOLMES: You hear that. It just gives you chills. The 911 operator talking to the people who found the skull and they know the story and know it so well. You know what, it's in the Caylee Anthony area. The 911 operator reacted the way she did.

NGUYEN: So many people have been hoping that some way, some how this little girl would be found.

Moving on to this story. President Bush, he is poised to step in and save Detroit's automakers.

HOLMES: He might be their last hope but when will that come through? We will have the latest on the standoff surrounding the big three bailout.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Britain's prime minister is expressing his disgust that a 13-year-old boy was used to carry out a bomb that killed three British marines in Afghanistan. That attack happened in an area considered a hot bed of the Taliban insurgency. Reporter Atia Abawi joins us now from Afghanistan. I know you've spoken with several sides here and you are hearing some conflicting information. What are you learning?

ATIA ABAWI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, did arrive in Afghanistan today on a surprise visit. His first stop was Hellman Province where the majority of the British troops stationed in Afghanistan are in Hellman at the moment.

This coming a day after four royal marines were killed in (INAUDIBLE) district in the province. Three of them by a reported 13- year-old boy suicide bomber. Prime minister Brown did express his disgust about this report during a press conference held with President Karzai later in Kabul. Let's listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GORDON BROWN, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: For the Taliban to engage in such cowardly behavior that means that a 13-year-old young boy is used to kill British troops is something that will offend public opinion not just in Afghanistan and Britain but right across the world. My thoughts are with the families of all of those who have suffered this grievous loss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABAWI: As you said, Betty, we have been talking to separate sources. A Taliban spokesperson told us, it wasn't a 13-year-old boy. They are saying it was a 26-year-old man who did explode, sorry, set himself off, in front of this patrol that was going on a routine mission. He also said there is no need for them to use children. He says, they have plenty of men offering to kill themselves in the name of their cause -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Goodness. All right, CNN's Atia Abawi in Afghanistan for us today. Thank you.

T.J. --

HOLMES: Help is on the way for America's struggling automakers, we think. They hope. The Bush administration now poised to step in and act. Although, a senior White House official said, no action really expected over the weekend. CNN's Kate Bolduan is going to be working through the weekend even though there might not be any action.

Kate, help us understand this. The automakers went and begged Congress for help. Congress didn't act. So the White House now going to have to step in.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's now gone full circle back to the White House, back in the White House courts to see what to do about the struggling auto industry. Two senior administration officials tell CNN that President Bush is thinking about possibly this weekend or next week tapping TARP funds to help the struggling automakers. This all comes after weeks of debate and negotiations on Capitol Hill that broke down over Republican demand for auto worker wage cuts. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN (voice-over): From shock, to placing blame for the Senate's failure Thursday night to agree on an emergency loan for the auto industry.

SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD, (D) BANKING CHAIRMAN: No matter what they came back with, unless it was everything, the Republicans, that handful wanted, this deal was not going to go forward.

BOLDUAN: Democratic lawmakers including Senator Chris Dodd are putting the fault squarely on Republicans, suggesting the GOP is putting the burden on the backs of auto workers. The president of the auto workers union agrees.

RON GETTELFINGER, UAW PRESIDENT: They thought perhaps they could have a two-for here maybe, pierce the heart of organized labor while representing the foreign brands.

BOLDUAN: The UAW is pointing to geography as a reason for the collapse in negotiations. More than a third of the senators, both Republican and Democrat, voting against the bill, come from southern, nonunion states where foreign auto companies have plants. Republicans are firing back.

Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, the lead negotiator for Senate Republicans, suggest the UAW, a large voting bloc for the Democratic Party, is the cause of the breakdown.

SEN. BOB CORKER, (R) TENNESSEE: The only way a bill is going to pass out of the Senate and the House on the Democratic side was for the UAW to say, we release you to vote for this. I hate to be so blunt but that's politics, OK?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Now, this all comes back to the sticking point of a date to reduce wages for auto workers. Republicans wanted a date certain in the next year. But Democrats and auto union leaders said no. Insisting they wouldn't make the change before union contracts were up in 2011. Now a senior White House official told me this morning that right now the White House is reviewing data on the automakers financial situation before they really consider the options for helping automakers -- T.J.

HOLMES: But aren't they running out of time? Haven't the automakers been screaming, that we're going under if we don't get this money in weeks?

BOLDUAN: GM and Chrysler they have both painted a very dire picture of what would happen in the next month or so or maybe even less if they don't get any funds. The White House, they are working and considering what they have out there. But as Republicans have said, if you just throw money at this problem, they fear that this would cause an even greater problem and it would just be wasted money and that's why the White House says they're taking caution to really look into how they're going to do this before they just move ahead.

HOLMES: Yes, throwing money at the problem. A lot of money has been thrown around up there in Washington lately. A lot of Americans wish some of that money would be thrown their way right about now.

Kate Bolduan, we appreciate you once again this morning.

BOLDUAN: Of course.

NGUYEN: Shaken and stirred, it's an ice storm keeps a firm grip on New England.

HOLMES: The northwest prepares for its own blast of winter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: If you live in the northeast and you haven't stepped outside today, you may want to reconsider that.

HOLMES: Just don't step outside is that the best way to go right now Reynolds?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I would say, maybe. If you have a good enough coat though, it is going to be beautiful. We can only show you what's happening out there. We have a shot of New York. Let's see Central Park, it looks pretty good.

NGUYEN: That's not bad.

WOLF: Not at all. A lot of the ice and a lot of the mess has moved down to the Atlantic. However, you still have all kinds of issues in the northeast. A lot of shattered trees, a lot of power outages. What was the number, guys, over a million people without power at this time?

NGUYEN: Over a million without power.

WOLF: The big problem that you have with a situation like that, is people are going to do everything they possibly can to stay warm. So they will bring in those space heaters. You have the issues with carbon monoxide poisoning, it's really a scary time. We have been really logged in on parts of the northeast, I want to show you parts of the northern plains, the pacific northwest because that's where the next big blast of winter is going to arrive.

Let's begin in the Pacific Northwest where we have watches, warnings, advisories in effect all across the landscape. Especially in the highest elevations of your mountains into the cascades. We have a good chance of seeing some snowfall there. That snowfall could be especially heavy. You will notice in the highest places, the peaks will be right about here where it happens it will be shaded in purple. The highest places, that's where some of your coolest air is locked in.

Where you have that cold air and you have that moisture coming in from the pacific. That combination, you get the snow. Snowfall totals could be in excess of a foot, maybe as much as 20 inches of snow in a few locations. That coupled with the strong winds are going to give you some whiteout conditions on parts of I-5 possibly into this mountain passes. When this winds surge through, they get compressed right through those hills and those ravines and that causes those winds to accelerate. Certainly be advised of that.

Any one in a high profile vehicle say along 84, maybe even 90, a semi truck, could have some issues back towards Spokane where we'll seeing some scattered showers there too. Snow showers mind you.

Another big issue we're going to be dealing with, in parts of the northern plains, we have something interesting. A nice frontal boundary but to the north we have a lot of cold air locked in. That cold air is going to come crashing south like an avalanche. Take a look at what we can expect later on today into tonight and tomorrow on it goes. A lot of cold air is going to be surging through. That coupled with the wind, is going to make it just unbearable for many people. We're talking about 30 to 50 degrees below zero is what it's going to feel like.

You think about this part of the country, the issues that you have now only people, but with livestock in the Dakotas back into parts of Wyoming into Nebraska. It's going to be just a tremendous mess for a lot of people. So certainly if you can avoid going outside, I'm telling you, the northeast is going to seem like just a tropical paradise compared to what we're going to be seeing here, especially over the next 24 to 48 hours. To give you some temperatures that you can expect in terms of day time highs into Sunday, take a look at this -- 40 for Boston; New York, 44; 47 in D.C. So you're going to be well above normal.

At least above freezing in this part of the world, including parts of the Great Lakes. Dallas, 75 into your Sunday; 74 for Houston. But then you look up at Billings -- poor Billings, Montana, the daytime high on Sunday is going only to 10 degrees below zero -- below the zero point. It is going to be unbearable. That is one of the spots where you are going to have the strong winds where it is going to feel like it's 40, 50, maybe even 60 degrees below zero.

Very quickly, one last thing. I know today is a big travel day, a lot of people heading off maybe on a vacation, maybe trying to get home, it was a long week and you decided to stay over and fly home today from work. In San Francisco, you have got a 15-minute delay at this time. Atlanta, about 30-minute delay up by Hartsfield. No better reason I could make to go get some coffee, sit there and watch CNN for the rest of your morning and afternoon.

Back to you guys.

NGUYEN: See, that's why we like you. That's why we keep you around because you're good for so many different things, aren't you?

Thank you.

So, snap inspection? Defense Secretary Robert Gates makes a surprise visit to U.S. troops. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he doubts the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan will exceed the number in Iraq. He did speak about the war in Afghanistan today while making an unannounced visit to Iraq. Let's go live now to CNN's Michael Ware in Baghdad.

What a surprise there for the troops.

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Betty, the Secretary of Defense said his trip had been weeks in the planning.

However, obviously security meant that that was kept a close guarded secret. He said that this was meant to be his farewell tour as secretary of defense but that was until President-elect Obama asked him to continue as Secretary of Defense.

Now, Secretary Gates mentioned how crucial the phase right now was in the war in Iraq. As he explained why he reopted to continue serving under the new administration as the boss of the defense forces. When he was talking about this, he also said that the mission in Iraq was not yet over, that America's enemies remained resilient and that it was vital to end the game here in Iraq. The secretary also said while troop numbers in Iraq will come down, he was heartened by the fact that President-elect Obama had already indicated that he'll be listening to his commanders on the ground in the war here as to the timing of that withdrawal.

So an unexpected visit by all of us from the secretary of defense as he sits down today at Balad Air Base just north of the capital of Baghdad talking with his top commander's here on the ground -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right, we do appreciate it. Michael Ware joining us live from Baghdad on that unexpected trip.

Thank you, Michael.

HOLMES: He is a Republican but Colin Powell went against his party. He voted for Barack Obama. Not just voted for him, he publicly endorsed him. President Bush's former secretary of state pulls no punches as in what's ailing the grand old party.

He talked about all of this in an exclusive interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENERAL COLIN POWELL, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: The Republican Party has to now start listening to the African-American community and the Hispanic and Asian and other minority communities and see what's in their hearts and minds and not just try to influence them by Republican principles and dogma.

I think the party has to stop shouting at the world and at the country. I think the party has to take a hard look at itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: You can see that entire interview with Colin Powell tomorrow on "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS." That's the former secretary of state's first interview since the election. Again, that's Sunday afternoon, 1:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

NGUYEN: Well, they are not ladies who lunch but ladies who launch. There is a difference. Hear from a woman who is trying to get struggling women back into business.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: With the economy in a recession, many people worried about losing or maybe finding a job. Is it really a good time to launch a business? Our guest Traci Long thinks so. She's with ladieswholaunch.com, an online resource for women entrepreneurs.

All right, I see you smiling there. I see all of this hope in your eyes but my goodness, we are in a recession, is it really a good time to start investing in a new company?

TRACI LONG, LADIESWHOLAUNCH.COM: It is a great time to start investing in a new company, actually. The key is to be creative and innovative and not buy into that "R" word.

NGUYEN: Well, it's a fact, OK. Your suggestions for doing this and doing it the right way in order to get a return on that investment shall we say is the organic approach.

What is that?

LONG: Well, with ladieswholaunch.com, we really encourage that you find a way to start moving forward. By doing that, be accessible, go and take advantage of on-line tools and resources but also, connect with organizations in your community and connect with other like- minded entrepreneurs who can provide services, exchange services, keep you motivated, keep you connected to your vision and take one step at a time to move forward. Don't feel like you have to do everything at once.

NGUYEN: Here is something that I find really interesting. You say it's called side launching, what it is essentially is transitioning from your full-time job into this new entrepreneurship.

Is that something that you really want to let go of right now, if you have a full-time job, shouldn't you hang on to it?

LONG: That is a great point. Actually what we think about side launching and transitional launching, it gives you more of a comfort level and it's another one of those ways of being creative and innovative in being able to move forward with your business concept.

We have for example one of our members in our community who wanted to start a graphic design business. So she is doing graphic design for clients on the side while she is still maintaining her full-time job, which gives her financial security and keeps her health care benefits. While she is building her base for her clientele for her graphic design business, she is able to do that on the side and then ultimately transition with a timeline.

We recommend that you implement a timeline and a task line in which that you can achieve your ultimate success. You might say, OK, I know I can't leave my full-time job right now but what are things going to look like for me 16 months from now, 18 months from now?

NGUYEN: I am going to skip to the last one. It goes back to that first question. Instead of investing in the stock market right now, go ahead invest in yourself, invest in this business. There is a lot of risk in that. So how do you curtail some of that risk?

LONG: What we are finding is that you can do some creative marketing for yourself, you can align yourself with media opportunities and you can provide services, position yourself as an expert in situations that you can also work with people who may have, for example, we have someone in our community who is starting a business and her mother was so excited about her business concept and so skeptical about her retirement investments, that she is utilizing a portion of her retirement funds in investing in the business and actually getting a good return that way. She feels safe and secure because the idea and the business concept she feels right now is a strong investment for her.

NGUYEN: You said that was the lady's mother.

LONG: Yes, it's actually her mother.

NGUYEN: Thank goodness for moms out there.

LONG: They went to the workshop together, actually, the ladies that launch workshop and she was so inspired. I think that what you said at the beginning is offering hope and inspiration but also, tools and resources for business and for life.

NGUYEN: Very key.

LONG: We really do need to think about moving forward in this challenging time.

NGUYEN: Traci Long, ladieswholaunch.com. Thanks for your time today.

LONG: Thank you.

HOLMES: We turn now to a story that a lot of people have had an eye on for the past six months or so. Where is two year old Caylee Anthony? Authorities think they may have that answer and it's not good. They are now searching her grandparents' home, actually. That is where they found the body of a toddler just this past week. That body matches the description of 2-year-old Caylee.

Jessica Sanchez now with our affiliate, WKMG, on the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JESSICA SANCHEZ, WKMG REPORTER (voice-over): The Anthony family's entire home was fair game to crime investigators overnight and they appear to have been thorough in their search for evidence. Four vacuum cleaners and two pesticide tanks were among the items confiscated. The rest were hidden in four boxes and seven paper bags, though one appeared to contain a pillow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a lot left to do.

SANCHEZ: Even at 1:00 in the morning, homicide detective John Allen was answering phone calls while also rummaging through the Anthony's home, having been thrust into the middle of one of the nation's most riveting investigations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am pretty tired.

SANCHEZ: Sergeant Allen has had many sleepless nights while trying to solve the mystery behind the disappearance of Caylee Anthony, but this night could possibly be the most rewarding with a big break that came only hours earlier. A utility worker discovered a child's skull Thursday in a wooded area less than half a mile from the Anthony home. It had been wrapped in duck tape and placed in a plastic bag.

Detectives are hoping the evidence found there can be linked to evidence found inside the Anthony's home and hopefully put an end to the six-month-old mystery.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Little Caylee's mother, Casey, still behind bars right now. She was arrested and charged with first-degree murder that happened months after her daughter disappeared. She could face life in prison if she's convicted. Prosecutors say they will not seek the death penalty.

How do you go from living in the White House? Where do you move after you live in the White House for eight years? What house will be anywhere close to that?

NGUYEN: Let's just say it's not a starter home. I am talking about the first family and I sat down with Laura Bush to get a read on what that's going to be like, life back in Dallas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: For eight years, she has called the White House home but next month Laura Bush moves back to Texas and steps into what she calls her new normal. I spoke with the first lady about that this week when we sat down for a one-on-one interview in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Talk to us about moving back to Dallas. What is going to be your new normal, something that you refer to as the afterlife? LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY: We are going to have a normal life, a normal house and everything. But the president is going to build his presidential library and archives in Dallas at Southern Methodist University. With it, he is going to build a freedom institute. With this freedom institute I hope that I am going to have the chance to continue to work with women in Afghanistan and to work on all the issues that have to do with Burma, and the transition to democracy in Burma, but it's been a wonderful privilege for me.

I've been very, very honored to have the chance to represent the people of the United States as I've traveled around the world, and get to live in the White House, and represent the people of the U.S. Now President Bush and I are looking forward to moving on to the next part of our life, and that will be a normal life, back at our home in Dallas, where we lived 14 years ago, when we moved into the Texas governor's mansion.

NGUYEN: Which doesn't have a cabana as it's been reported.

BUSH: Yes, exactly. There's no cabana or servants quarters or those other things I read about.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: But it does have a wet bar, some 8,500 square feet.

HOLMES: A wet bar. Was she excited about the wet bar?

NGUYEN: She was a little excited about the wet bar. But you know, just think about where she's moving to. You're leaving the White House. I don't know if it gets any better than that. Moving to only 8,500 square feet.

HOLMES: Come on.

NGUYEN: Which is nothing in this neighborhood when you compare it to say Tom Hicks, the owner of the Texas Rangers, he has a home that's worth $32 million, Mark Cuban, $17 million. So this is quite a neighborhood.

HOLMES: What's the square footage on those guys' homes?

NGUYEN: Tom Hicks his is 29,000 square feet.

HOLMES: Oh wow.

NGUYEN: So 8,500 is really nothing.

HOLMES: They went to having the nicest house in D.C. to just being one of, not even the nicest house on their block in Dallas.

NGUYEN: You know what? That's all they need and she says it's beautiful and I believe it. $2 million for that thing, so it must be pretty nice.

HOLMES: All right, well, Alina Cho is here filling in for Fredricka, and she sent us an e-mail earlier on this story, "What's wrong with that house." She said it's too small.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm just telling you, my New York apartment could fit into one of those bathrooms probably. My kitchen if I'm lucky.

HOLMES: Welcome, good to have you here from New York.

CHO: Good to be here, my friends. We've got a lot coming up at the top of the hour.

You guys have been talking about this as well. Our Drew Griffin got an exclusive interview with the embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Drew will join us live at the top of the show so stay tuned for that.

We're also going to have the latest on the Caylee Anthony case. A lot of people have been following this one, a utility worker found a skull inside a plastic bag. Police increasingly believe that those skeletal remains may be those of Caylee. We're going to talk to our legal eagles about that and what that means for the mom, who is charged with murder.

And "Planet in Peril." Did you guys see this, Anderson Cooper, Sanjay Gupta, Lisa Ling literally traveled the globe, all ends of the earth to bring you these eye-opening reports? That's Lisa Ling's report in Nigeria, where there's a real battle, a real fight over oil. Lisa Ling will join us live in the noon eastern hour, she went to Costa Rica, Chad, Taiwan, Nigeria, collectively between Anderson, Sanjay and Lisa they traveled to 11 countries on four continents.

Lisa, as you know Betty, I don't know if you met her, T.J., but she is as beautiful in person as she is engaging and intelligent on television.

NGUYEN: And just as passionate as she is on television.

CHO: She is.

NGUYEN: She really cares about these problems.

CHO: A lot of people remember when she left "The View" and thought she had a really cushy job but she was really, really very committed to journalism, hard-hitting journalism and she has traveled the globe, you have to be brave to do this job, to be involved with "Planet in Peril" and she certainly is, she and Anderson and Sanjay. So, we'll talk to her live in the noon hour as well.

NGUYEN: Looking forward to that.

HOLMES: Good to have you here in Atlanta.

CHO: Thank you, glad to be here.

NGUYEN: Heading to Barack Obama's inauguration? Do you have the tickets, what about the hotel room because if you don't, those rooms are going fast. HOLMES: What's the word, the estimate now, 4, 5 million something expected up there possibly for the inauguration.

NGUYEN: Outrageous.

HOLMES: We're going to show you a place where you can stay in extreme style but you might have to deal with a drive.

NGUYEN: Right.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Many people are excited about President-elect Obama's inauguration and they want to be a part of it, right?

HOLMES: Everybody does.

NGUYEN: Of course, but places to stay in the D.C. area, that's hard to come by.

HOLMES: Unless you got dollars. Imagine spending 50 grand a night.

NGUYEN: $50,000?

HOLMES: A night. Samantha Hayes looking at what you'd get for that kind of money.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAMANTHA HAYES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Castleton Farm is a ways away from Capitol Hill, but this 550-acre Virginia estate may offer the most luxurious accommodations for the presidential inauguration.

There's room for up to 50 of your closest friends in homes scattered around the estate's grounds. There is an indoor pool and Turkish steam room, a bowling alley, an exquisite art collection, and even though this is considered horse country, this farm even has its own camel, Omar.

The owners are offering their estate for $50,000 a night, and who might they be? Maestro Lauren Maazel who recently led the New York Philharmonic on a high-profile trip to North Korea. His wife is actress Dietlinde Turban-Maazel, whom we met in New York City.

DIETLINDE TURBAN-MAAZEL, ACTRESS: When I found out just a week ago that there's this housing need for the inauguration time, I figured we could actually share this beautiful place with people who need to find a place to stay.

HAYES: The money will go toward teaching young artists through their own foundation.

TURBAN-MAAZEL: And we're very excited about this because we're working with young artists. It's part performing and part learning and all in one, and to mount that obviously funds are very much needed and fund-raising is difficult especially now in these difficult times.

HAYES: But she thinks they'll have a taker soon.

TURBAN-MAAZEL: We already got some individual calls, and I expect from everything that's out there now, from newspaper articles, corporations that we've talked to, travel agency packages and stuff, I expect there will be some response.

HAYES (on camera): Maestro Maazel is his seventh and final year with the New York Philharmonic and through his foundation he will be hosting a music festival this summer for young artists.

Samantha Hayes, CNN, Castleton, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: I got about 100 bucks, 200 bucks.

HOLMES: Put it all together.

NGUYEN: We're going to need a lot of friends.

HOLMES: And it's just one night. I thought you'd get it for the weekend.

NGUYEN: No, one night only. Alina Cho may be able to help us out. I mean you got a little cash, don't you?

CHO: It's dwindling, after all of my Christmas shopping, you know, nothing left.

Thank you so much, T.J. and Betty.