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Blagojevich Fights On; Caylee Anthony's Body Found?; Letter to Santa Reveals Stunning Secret; Adam Walsh's Killer Officially Identified

Aired December 16, 2008 - 15:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This is what is making news right now: A child's letter to Santa about a relative reveals a shocking secret. And now a man is under arrest.

The shoe heard round the world. The reporter in hot water and the Arab world is sizzling.

EDWARD GENSON, ATTORNEY FOR BLAGOJEVICH: It is just not -- it's not what people think it is.

SANCHEZ: Governor Blagojevich hires a top gun defense attorney. He is fighting, but can he win? We ask a former federal prosecutor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Certainly, there is a reference to Mary. Whoever tells you there isn't is simply being hypocritical or not very honest.

SANCHEZ: But "Playboy" in Mexico sticking to its story. They say this is not a religious pose. What do you say?

On the air and on the Net, lunchtime in Tucson, 2:00 p.m. in Kansas city, your daily national conversation begins right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Boy, we have a lot of stuff to go to. Welcome, everyone.

I'm Rick Sanchez here in the World Headquarters of CNN.

Moments ago, I was told by my producer Chris Hall (ph) that he has just received information that authorities in Central Florida are now saying for the first time in the case of little Caylee Anthony not that they can identify the remains that we have been telling you about as hers.

However, what they are saying for the first time is, on the record, that these are the remains of a little girl, which, obviously, as we have been mentioning in the past, moves the story yet a little bit closer to what many who are very close to this story have been telling us all along.

And that is that it does appear that, this time, this will be identified within the next couple of days, perhaps during this hour, as the remains of little Caylee Anthony. Now, we're going to be all over the story. It is essentially all I have at this point. We're going to try and make some phone calls, see if we can break that down.

Ashleigh Banfield is going to be joining us in just a little bit. She has been all over this story. Hopefully we will be able to touch base as well with Mike Brooks. And as soon as we get them on the line, we will see if we can take this a little further, because I know there is a huge interest in this story around the country.

But, first, this -- Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois, today digging in his heels in what may be the fight of his life, but he is not stepping down. He's not quitting. Here is some of the first video that we have gotten. He is seen here. He's leaving with a briefcase and a gym bag earlier this morning, no explanation still as to where it is he was going, but we do know this.

He has hired a top-notch attorney. He is going to fight this thing. He says he is not guilty, and his attorney says we all have it wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENSON: The case that I have seen so far is significantly exaggerated. It is just not -- it's not what people think it is. And we will have time to talk about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right. That is his attorney trying to explain to reporters what is going on.

While that is going on, there is also this. His own colleagues, politicians in the state of Illinois, both in the Senate and the Congress, have come together and formed what is essentially an impeachment committee. There it is today as they were meeting trying to come up with a way to decide whether he will be impeached, and if so how they remove him from office.

But this is obviously a sticky matter.

Let's do this. Let's go to John Fritchey. He is a Democratic lawmaker. He's member of the impeachment committee. You may have seen him there for a while we were giving you that image.

You know what is curious about this? An impeachment is essentially a trial, a case, and you are going to do this while the criminal charges are also hanging over him, but prior to. How do you balance both things?

REP. JOHN FRITCHEY (D), ILLINOIS STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Well, Rick, I think there's a couple of things to keep in mind.

First of all, the act of impeachment itself is simply the bringing of charges. Should the House vote to impeach, the actual trial on those charges would take place in the Senate. Secondly, it is the role of the U.S. attorney to bring criminal charges and prove that case.

What we are looking at is whether he has an ability to govern not only in light of the criminal allegations against him, but in light of other past actions that he has had and the fact that while he is looking at a potential of 30 years in jail, it is reasonable to believe that he can still govern the state of Illinois right now?

SANCHEZ: So, I was under the assumption you were focused only on his selling of the vacated seat by Barack Obama. What you seem to be saying now it is not just that.

FRITCHEY: No, we are looking at the totality of allegations, those in the criminal complaint which involve the selling or the attempted sale of the U.S. Senate seat, the potential shakedown of a children's hospital, and the potential attempt to co-opt the editorial board of "The Chicago Tribune."

In addition to that, there are other actions that the governor has taken over the years which bring into question how he has governed, whether he is capable of governing and whether he should be removed from office.

SANCHEZ: Then why have you waited so long to move against this guy, I mean, against Governor Blagojevich? If you knew that these things were out there, why did you wait for the feds to come in and file what amounts to an indictment before you did anything?

FRITCHEY: Well, obviously, we didn't have access to a lot of the information that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald had had, but now that we have it, though, we need to act and we need to act quickly.

You have to remember the United States Senate has essentially told the governor that they will not accept any appointment that would come from him. Because of that, not only the state of Illinois, but the entire country is without a fully constituted United States Senate, so we need to act and we need to act quickly and that is what we intend on doing.

SANCHEZ: Let me ask you a question. Many of the Republicans decided that what you should do is strip him of the power to name a replacement for Barack Obama and just hold a general election, a special election, where the voters decide somehow.

And the Democrats have apparently said, no, we don't want to do that.

Is it because you are afraid that the voters could put a Republican in where Barack Obama was?

FRITCHEY: Well, I know the Republicans would love an extra shot to try to pick up a U.S. Senate seat. The reality is this. We have had our provisions for an appointment process on the books for 38 years.

To this day, nobody has had said that we have a problem with the appointment process. Rather, the issue is with the person presently empowered to make that appointment, namely Governor Blagojevich. To the extent that we can solve that issue...

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Wait. Wait, you have lost me. You are talking in circles here. Why not have a special election to let the voters decide who should replace Barack Obama, since it appears that the governor is incompetent in his ability to make that decision?

FRITCHEY: Well, I agree with you that he is unable for a number of reasons to make that decision, but the fact of matter is, we should not change or statutes because of the bad acts of one person.

Right now, we need to focus on getting a change in the governor's office. If we get that change, we have a lieutenant governor that could assume the role of governor and make that appointment.

SANCHEZ: OK. And let him make that decision.

Well, listen, we appreciate it, John Fritchey, who is a member of this very important committee. I guess you could call it an impeachment committee. I know you guys are not doing that, but I know it is being heralded that way in the press anyway. We will keep tabs with you and we thank you, sir, for catching us up on this.

Let's do this. Let's bring in Kendall Coffey. He's a former U.S. prosecutor. He knows how these things work. You just heard a little while ago, Kendall, the defense attorney saying this thing is being exaggerated. It's not what it appears to be.

The charges are conspiracy and solicitation of bribery. You know, when you prosecutors hold these news conferences, announce all this information, it does seem very grandiose, but are they going to be able to nail this guy? Is there really enough there from what you have seen in this case?

KENDALL COFFEY, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, it may or may not be a defensible case. Still too early to say.

But let's look at -- let's compare this with another kind of case, Rick, where the prosecutors had everything they wanted, Congressman William Jefferson of Louisiana caught on tape receiving $100,000 for bribery from an FBI agent, most of that money showing up inside the freezer in the congressman's home.

That is a dream case. Talk about cold hard cash. In this one, I think the defense is going to try to portray it as a lot of trash talking inside the governor's locker room.

SANCHEZ: Exactly. Look, if you don't have money changing hands, what you have is someone talking. And you know, and I know, because you and I have worked in this biz for a long time, that that is essentially called conspiracy, hoping that you can prove that two people agreed to do something.

Have you heard anything evidentiary wise that would lead you to suspect that there's enough goods here for them to get him on that? COFFEY: Well, we are assuming it is, but let's consider what they really need.

In an extortion, you need the victim that says, yes, they were not just talking inside the governor's house. They were actually hitting up on me for money. Are any the aspirants for the U.S. Senate seat going to say that they participated in illicit discussions with somebody from the governor's office? I don't think so. Haven't heard it yet.

What will happen with "The Chicago Tribune"? Were they actually extorted by someone? Don't know. You can certainly get yourself convicted with the wrong kind of talk. On the other hand, bad talk can be also get explained sometimes by very, very skilled defense lawyers.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Well, and still, it's like they say. You can beat the rap, but you can't beat the ride. Obviously, it's all out there. He does not look good. In the court of public opinion, he looks absolutely horrible.

Let me ask you one more question, before I let you go, Kendall. Is it possible that they're holding something back, that they're haven't shown us all the goods yet? I'm talking about Fitzgerald up in the U.S. attorney's office there in Chicago.

COFFEY: Well, you would probably think so. But, on the other hand, in a case like this, where is arresting the governor and calling international attention on essentially a state of crisis, you would think whatever his best ammunition is has already been put on the table.

SANCHEZ: He's already showed it.

Kendall Coffey, one of the best U.S. attorneys around, and thank you, sir, for taking time to take us through this.

COFFEY: Hey, thank you, Rick.

SANCHEZ: From the inside, as they say.

A child writes a letter to Santa in school, and in the letter that child says that someone, a relative, has been physically abusing her. She asks Santa to help her stop this. Police have now been called. It is an amazing story. We will bring it to you on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: All right. Let me bring you up to date on a couple of things.

First of all, we have been receiving information from authorities down in central Florida that they have now concluded that the body of that child that was found in central Florida which everyone has been reporting to possibly be the remains of the little girl that has been missing now since June or July has been identified now as a little girl, not that they are saying at this point that it is Caylee Anthony, but that it is the remains of a little girl, which moves the story a little bit closer.

We are going to be talking with Ashleigh Banfield about this in just a moment.

But, first of all, moments ago, we were able to catch up on a story that was a big part of my reporting as a young reporter in South Florida for many years. It is the story of little Adam Walsh, and how one day he disappeared at a shopping mall, at a Sears store.

For many years, people have tried to figure out how to put this mystery together. Finally, police in South Florida have concluded it was indeed Ottis Toole, case closed, a man who was willing to decapitate this little boy.

His father has obviously gone on to become very famous on television. Today, he spoke about his son's story. We recorded that . We want you to see it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": For 27 years, we have been asking, who could take a 6-year-old boy and murder him and decapitate him? Who? We needed to know. We needed to know.

And, today, we know. The not knowing has been a torture, but that journey is over. And a lot of horrible memories in this police department looking for that little boy. And now I think it is only fitting that it end here in this police department.

And there are a lot of good people here today. I always -- for years, I tried to convince myself that justice was -- justice delayed was not justice denied. And I don't know how you have done it for all these years, but we are blessed with these three beautiful children. That little girl right there, that big girl probably saved our lives, because she was born a year after Adam, when we were spiraling into hell.

And those two boys are a blessing, too. We are lucky to have them. And Reve and I have had some very, very rough and rocky times.

But you always never left focus of who the real victim was. You never lost focus. You never didn't drive this train, Reve, that that little boy was the real victim. There is a lot of people to thank in Chad Wagner this chief right here. I have been through several chiefs. Both of us have. We have been through several detectives. And this is not a look back and this is not to point fingers. This is to let that rest.

The Hollywood Police, it is a different group. Mark Smith worked this case very hard for years. Chief Wagner made the decision to end our pain. We believe for years that Ottis Toole -- Ottis Toole killed Adam. And a couple of guys who were with us all the way, and they are here today, too. Kelly Hancock, sitting right over there, he was assistant district attorney for Broward County. And he has helped me and advised me all these years pro bono and said, "I believe in my heart that Ottis Toole killed Adam." He said: "I have put guys on death row in Florida with less evidence. Some day, we will convince the Broward County State Attorney's Office that Ottis Toole did it."

And Kelly is here today.

And Reve and I thank you, Kelly. You are an honor to your profession. He is a private attorney now, and a really wonderful one, but this man never gave up helping us.

And Joe Matthews sitting next to him, Joe Matthews was an active detective, homicide investigator and polygrapher 27 years ago hired by the Hollywood Police Department to polygraph Reve and I for hours and hours. And he was the first one that told the then chief: "I know the Walshes didn't have anything to do with this. I know that this direction of this investigation is the wrong direction."

And he was fired from that job by that chief back then. And he has never stopped looking for Adam's murderer. He put this case together. He has traveled the whole country pro bono. He has interviewed hundreds of people and he's worked closely with the Hollywood Police to come to this conclusion. That is a real man right there. That is a cop, a retired cop, who never gave up.

Our heartfelt thanks to all the people that have helped us over the years. We have had so many good people help us, look for Adam, changed laws. Reve created the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children out of our grief. And we didn't do it alone, did we, Reve?

We had lots and lots of good people who helped us, lots of people here in South Florida. This is where it all started, our home base. We still have great love for South Florida. Some of the best laws in the country, some of the biggest changes were started right here in South Florida. These are the people who looked for Adam the hardest.

So, the not knowing is almost as bad as the murder, but today is a good day. Today is a wonderful day. We can end this chapter of our lives. It is not about closure. You see that picture of that little boy? We will always be the parent of that (INAUDIBLE) little boy.

It is about justice. And for all of the other victims who have not gotten justice, I say one thing. Don't give up hope. Don't give up hope.

Thank you, Chief. Thank you for having the guts to do this.

Thank you. God bless you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: It is a heck of a moment to watch John Walsh talking about something which has really has taken such a part of his life. There has not been a conversation that he and I have ever had on the air or off the air where the name Adam Walsh doesn't come up, a little boy who suddenly disappeared one day, and then went on to send chills down the backs of parents all over the country.

You think about this.

I'm joined now by Ashleigh Banfield, by the way, from truTV, one of the best hosts over there.

Ashleigh, you and I have both talked to John Walsh, interestingly enough, in the past, but it is not talk about talking about John Walsh. What it is about is -- I know how you feel about your kids because we e-mail each a lot about our children. And you know how I feel about mine. I cannot being to imagine what it would feel like as a father -- and I'm sure you would say the same thing as a mom -- to go through something like this. The thought of it scares me.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, TRUTV ANCHOR: Well, and you just don't want to think about it -- 27 years, though, Rick, I'm just -- it is so heartbreaking to see the pain and anguish in John's voice after this long.

You know, Ottis died in prison, and you would think that that would be some kind of closure. But I think you and I ask that question as journalists all the time. What kind of closure do victims of crime ever get? And I think we just witnessed, not a lot, especially when it is the case of a child.

SANCHEZ: And we have another case that is going on in central Florida, interestingly enough, and now we are getting information that while they may not be releasing the information about verifying that it is in fact the body of little Caylee Anthony, that they are coming a little closer to doing so. What are you hearing about this?

BANFIELD: Well, there were a couple hearings -- there was a hearing today for a couple of different motions that Casey Anthony's defense team -- they are seeking relief from the court from a lot of things with regards to this investigation.

They really, in a way, Rick, want to put the cart before the horse. They want access to a lot of what is going on in this investigation before we ever actually get the final determination that these are little Caylee's bones. But here is what happened.

It may have been a slip of the tongue. It may not have been. The attorney representing the sheriff's department in Orange County said in court -- and let me actually read the words, so that I don't misconstrue anything -- "What we will not do is, we will not release photographs of the skull of this little girl then to be broadcast all over the news before the body has even been identified, before parents have even been identified."

And that is the attorney for the sheriff's department, Ann-Marie Delahunty. We just saw it happening live. She actually referred to the bones and the skulls of that being of that of a little girl. So, that is the closest we have come -- at least it's the first time anyone has ascribed a gender to find, to this corpse's find.

And, again, let me reiterate, it may have been a slip of the tongue. It may have been something. But this is the attorney for the sheriff, not the prosecutors, not the defense team, the sheriff's department.

SANCHEZ: Yes. It looks to you, and I know you follow this case very closely. Your gut is telling you at this point what, Ash?

BANFIELD: Well, it is weird.

Rick, you and I have been on these cases for years. I work at Court TV, former Court TV. We follow trials.

SANCHEZ: Right.

BANFIELD: We're now "In Session." This is what we do for a living.

And rarely do we see this much activity in a courtroom before we even have a body identified.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Yes. And that's got to mean something.

BANFIELD: You would want to think it would mean something, but you ever want to finalize until you have absolute definitive results.

So, that is all we're really waiting on now. But here is the deal. What is weird about this, Rick, is that the defense attorneys have made so many relief efforts, that they have sought efforts for so much relief before we even know what we are dealing with here. And the sheriff's department has even said in court I am not taking manpower away from my active crime investigation to satisfy your needs for later on which could be ending up being obviously evidence issues in a courtroom.

The defense is being so cautious to try to preserve everything they can, but the sheriff has to still actively deal with this crime scene, five days of combing through this. And they are not done yet.

SANCHEZ: Well, you are as plugged in as anybody. So, we expect that if there's anything that happens during this hour, we will be able to get it from you.

We're going to have you, Ashleigh, if you would, stand by.

There is this other story. Imagine this. A little girl is asked by her school to write to Santa. She writes to Santa. And in that letter she says that what she wants most from Santa is for one of her relatives to stop abusing her and her little sister sexually.

A counselor at the school gets the letter, immediately calls authorities. And you are not going to believe what happens after this. We have got the rest of the story as well. And as we leave you, let me read you this one from MySpace. One of you watching our newscast right now was quite touched by that moment: "The Walsh news conference made me cry, seriously. I am so happy to that they finally got the police to say that Toole did it."

More comments like those in just a moment. Stay with us. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: It is starting to appear like this thing is getting real close to being confirmed. We are referring to the case of Caylee Anthony that is taking place in central Florida.

We were talking with Ashleigh Banfield moments ago.

Now I understand we have John Couwels, our own CNN producer who is there following the story. And he's joining us now by phone.

John, what are you learning?

JOHN COUWELS, CNN PRODUCER: As Ashleigh had said previously, before the break, that the sheriff's attorney, Ann-Marie Delahunty, had said that she was discussing during a emergency hearing that was called by the defense attorney how releasing photos of the skull of a little girl, basically revealing the sex of the remains that were found last week in the home where the missing little girl, Caylee Anthony, was found last week in a forest area.

During the hearing, the defense attorney was asking the judge for the right to have photos of the crime scene, since the judge in the hearing last week denied their request for them to be on scene while the crime scene investigators with Orange County, FDLE, and the Orange County Medical Examiner's and the FBI comb through the area and they carefully search it.

Jose Baez was also -- was concerned that the area was going to be completely desecrated, that it was no longer going to be a crime scene, but an excavation site.

SANCHEZ: Contaminated, you mean?

(CROSSTALK)

COUWELS: Yes.

The judge decided to deny them on those two counts, on those two requests. And also he had a request -- filing the request to the judge for the right for a second autopsy.

But the judge said that would be moot until the fact that there is a positive I.D. But the sheriff's attorney did give us another clue of who these remains possibly belong to.

SANCHEZ: John, this is amazing. Just given -- our viewers are listening to you and they're watching these pictures. The buzz, the commotion, the activity, the amount of people who are now involved with this development that is being reported over the last four or five days is -- is -- is -- is stunning. It would lead one to believe that, if this is not the confirmation, boy, I will tell you, I don't know what else it could be.

COUWELS: Well, like Ashleigh said, prior, it is unusual to have this many, you know, hearings and stuff before there is an actual trial, but the judge even did say today in the hearing that it was unusual that there is a body to be found once that there has been a charge of murder filed against an individual. It is all unbelievable.

SANCHEZ: It is almost like they are doing it backward. Let's go back to Ashleigh Banfield. Ashleigh, I understand you have something to add, some of this information to add on the information coming in now on the Caylee Anthony case.

BANFIELD: I just want to add to what you're saying and that's the attorney for the medical examiner spoke about this issue of damaging any of the remains and I want to be clear that Linda Kenny Baden (ph) was on a teleconference call and she is an expert in forensics and there was a lot of talk being thrown around about desecration and maceration of the bones. Here is what they want to do. The medical examiner wants to take a three inch piece of bones from these remains and macerate, grind it all up to do toxicology tests. So that is what they're trying to ...

SANCHEZ: You mean for DNA?

BANFIELD: No, for toxicology. I think they want to look to see if there are any poisons that might lead to cause of death.

SANCHEZ: Oh, I see.

BANFIELD: And that is not manner of death. Manner of death you have to look for other issues, but toxicology will show if there are soft tissues, the toxicology through the bone would have to be through a maceration process, so clearly if you are trying to destroy something in the process of testing it the defense has a right to be apprised of that and that is what Linda Lenny Bodkin was talking about with regard to the desecration and maceration so now we at least know that the toxicology tests will be going forward and the three-inch piece of bone will be destroyed possibly before the defense gets a chance to know.

SANCHEZ: Well, let me tell you, you don't have to be Batleby Jones to figure this thing out. But if they have that many arguments and that many investigators going through that many scenes and that many forensics experts talking about maceration and all the other things, they have something, they may not be releasing it to us now but one gets the feeling they are close to saying something important about the case. And if they do we are certainly going to be having it for you.

Ashleigh stick around, we have to get a break in, but when we get back, I want your reaction about this story that is coming out of Pharr, Texas, about a little girl who wrote a letter to Santa, and as a result of that letter to Santa a man has now been arrested. You are not going to believe what police are saying she was doing.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez here in the World Headquarters of CNN.

As we continue to follow the developments coming in now out of Central Florida the Caylee Anthony case. I also want to tell you about this story, this one is coming out of Pharr, Texas. It is one of those stories that seems to be a bit of a stunner.

A little girl is asked in her school to write a letter to Santa. She writes in that letter the following. "I wish that my relative would stop touching me and stop touching my sister." She writes that in the letter. As you might imagine, counselors and officials at the school see the letter and take it upon themselves to call the authorities. They call the police there from Cesar Chavez Elementary School in Pharr, Texas, and since then, there has been a major arrest by police in this case.

I decided a long time ago while we first heard about the story that I didn't want to tell you about the name of the relative, because then you can figure out who he is, then the people in the small community are going to figure who this girl is. And we prefer you don't do that. If you want to see that it is probably going to be all over the Internet, but we at CNN are not going to show you the picture and I'm not going to give you his name.

Only to tell you this, it turns out that the report that we received five minutes before we went on air, that it is the little girl's stepfather who is being accused of crimes. Ryan Holeywell is with the "Monitor", the newspaper who first raised this story, and he is joining us now by phone to bring us up to date. Ryan, are you there?

RYAN HOLEYWELL, "THE MONITOR": Thanks for having me on.

SANCHEZ: Thank you. Is that right, stepfather?

HOLEYWELL: Stepfather, correct. And actually, the latest development in this case is that just before I got on the air with you all, he was re-arraigned on the second count for molesting this little girl's sister.

SANCHEZ: So as we understand it, from some of your reporting, there's an allegation that he would sneak into their bedrooms at night?

HOLEYWELL: Yes, that is what the original girl told investigators, and apparently, this happened over a four-year period. And she is only nine, so you can imagine how awful that is.

SANCHEZ: I prefer not to imagine it, but ...

HOLEYWELL: Yes.

SANCHEZ: But the parents, did they know? Any reaction to them?

HOLEYWELL: We haven't been able to track down the family, but from the police investigators that I have been talking to, sounds like no other family members are going to be facing any sort of charges, because it doesn't seem like they had any idea that this was going on.

SANCHEZ: Was he living -- Ryan, was he living at the house? Is that how he was pulling it off? Or allegedly pulling it off?

HOLEYWELL: Well, the investigators I talked to today said it doesn't seem like at least right now he has not been living at the house most recently.

SANCHEZ: But somehow he would find his way into allegedly the bedroom in the night?

HOLEYWELL: Yes.

SANCHEZ: It does make you wonder how he was able to do that and maybe a lot of people living at the house at the time.

HOLEYWELL: Right. Who knows?

SANCHEZ: You don't want to be judgmental. What are the charges? What is this guy being hit with?

HOLEYWELL: The charges he is faced with at least for the first little girl, and I don't have the details of the second one quite yet, but the charge on the first little girl is called continuous sexual abuse of a child, and this is sort of interesting because this is a new charge that the state legislature created a year ago.

SANCHEZ: That's interesting. Let me stop you, Ryan. Thanks so much for the information. Ashleigh Banfield, are you still with us.

BANFIELD: I'm still here.

SANCHEZ: I never heard of that. Continuous molestation of a child. Is that part of Jessica's Law?

BANFIELD: It is actually. Good point that you make. This is something that the Texas legislature sort of redrew is a series of different changes to the penal code in Texas reflecting Jessica's Law. Jessica, I know you'll remember, Rick, you covered the story, Jessica Lunsford was not only held against her will several days and repeatedly molested by John Evander Couey but then buried alive behind his trailer with her little blue dolphin, and Jessica's Law began in Florida and began to sort of spider out throughout the country and Texas adopted some of these laws.

So this is a serious charge and carries with it I believe 25 to 99 years. But let me be really clear about this, the molestation alleged in the probable cause complaint to have been happening over the course of four years at night while the child slept. So obviously ...

SANCHEZ: And it took a letter to Santa to bring it out, which makes us all think about how often, and I don't mean to editorialize here, but as a dad, talk to your kids and get in their heads.

BANFIELD: Because you know what is amazing, Rick, this is how a lot of the information is oftentimes gleaned. It's how investigators sometimes start the cases not because someone calls in a tip, but because children, themselves say something at school, and these counselors and these teachers are the ones to actually look at it seriously and not assume that this is a silly game, but they look at it seriously and go ahead and they let the authorities know again you can have the probable cause and these kinds of charges that carry with them extraordinarily strict penalties.

SANCHEZ: Ashleigh Banfield, as usual, we thank you. Let us know if anything changes in the case of Caylee Anthony.

Meanwhile, as we go to break, let's take the MySpace comment that came in while you were watching this newscast. This is interesting note, because we tussle here with this kind of stuff here as we make decisions.

"I understand why you don't want to show this man's face, but I do think it is important to show a molester's face, because you don't know who is watching, and he could have done this to another helpless child who can now speak up."

Point well taken. My reasoning and the decision I made earlier in the day in my long conversations with the staff and the producers, Chris Hall is that by giving the last name and identifying him, there is a better possibility that people will know exactly who this little girl is and what happened to her, and we just don't want to stigmatize her in that way, but it is a point well made and we will certainly consider it.

We will be right back with this and more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: As you might imagine we are getting a lot of comments from many of you about the stories we are following over the past half hour or so. Forty three minutes we have been on the air and it is going by fast. And this story we began the newscast with. Did you notice that in the news a few days ago during a news conference, it was the federal prosecutor and the FBI agent who took time to stalk about the specifics of the Blagojevich case to remind citizens, that is you and me, are as much a part of the corruption process as they are.

In fact U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald actually came out and said it. He said this problem, this corruption problem that we have in the politics of this country won't go away because the FBI makes arrests. That is what he said. In the middle of a news conference about an indictment.

If this governor as alleged had been shaking down contractors, newspaper publishers, hospital executives and a bevy of senatorial candidates for vacated Barack Obama's position, why didn't we hear from the people then? Maybe people were even being shaken down, and why no news conferences to announce they had just been shaken down by the governor as alleged? Doesn't that seem a little curious that nobody ever said anything? And now everyone is shocked that it happened?

When you are assaulted, you call the police. When you are robbed, you dial 911. When a politician tries to rob you or shake you down, your company, or the public, what do you do?

Apparently not enough or nothing at all if you go by the allegations into the Blagojevich case. At least according to what the police are saying. Maybe it is because we figure that is just the way that business is done. Politics as usual, insert your own overused cliche here. Maybe that's the real problem.

By the way, cnn.com/ricksanchez is where you can go the give me your feedback on these thoughts. That and a whole lot more that you'll find there.

By the way, coming up, do you remember this story that we told you about yesterday? The cover of the Mexican "Playboy." It has now creeped up to become one of the most popular stories of all cnn.com. And it makes my next guest steaming mad. Yes, Bill Donohue, and you have seen him before and you will see him again. He is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.

And man, we are getting a lot of reaction about this little girl who told Santa she was being abused. Let's go ahead and get that Robert and Johnny. Let's start with Will Hunter here. He says, "It is bad enough that the girl was abused, but why was Santa the only person she thought she could tell?" That is a great comment.

"These molesters don't change and there needs to be longer convictions for these crimes." And finally here is a solution, "The stepfather needs to have the Christmas bells snipped off."

Let's talk about this story one that we mentioned to you yesterday, it is "Playboy" in Mexico decided to do something that some call downright offensive and others raunchy, and others good publicity. That is their cover. They are saying. In fact, I will quote him, Raul Sayrols is publisher of "Playboy" in Mexico, and he says, "This image that you are looking at here is not and never intended to portray the Virgin of Guadalupe," essentially the Virgin Mary. The intent was to portray the Renaissance-type mood on the cover."

Yet as you look at the cover, the stained glass in the background, the name, Maria, one wonders if he is being honest about it. Bill Donohue is the head of the Catholic League. He is an ardent defender of Catholics in this country, and he and I have gone back a long way on the conversations, Bill, as you look at this, what is your reaction?

BILL DONOHUE, CATHOLIC LEAGUE: Well, first of all, "Playboy" is insulting Catholics and ripping off Latino iconography as well as Catholic iconography and to top it off, they are liars. I mean, everybody knows it is nothing to do with the Renaissance. Was there Michelangelo in the background any didn't quite see him. Let me come out and say it. It is not the first time "Playboy" has assaulted the sensibilities of Catholics. They have been doing for a long, long time. What it comes down to, Rick, is basically this. The Catholic Church believes in an ethic of sexual reticence and "Playboy" believes in an ethic of sexual recklessness. There is a natural constant disjunction and a disharmony between the two.

SANCHEZ: Would you be OK with this if they were honest about it, if the guy didn't come out and say, oh, we weren't trying to -- as a matter of fact, that statement he us was the second statement he sent to us. There was another one he sent to us the other day where he said we were in no way trying to make this look like it was a religious figure.

If he was honest about it would you be OK with it?

DONOHUE: No, I wouldn't be OK with it. But at least I wouldn't call them dishonest. There would be some virtue left in these people. I guess the competition with all the smut artists on the Internet must be so great that the only way they can get anybody to buy their lousy little smut magazine is to rip off Catholic and Latino iconography. That's what it comes down to. It's all about money.

SANCHEZ: Let me ask you a question, do you think us Catholics are sometimes just a little too sensitive to this stuff? After all, it's a beautiful woman posing as Mary, the most beautiful woman, either physically or in other ways, in the world.

DONOHUE: You know, it's always interesting. It always comes down to my religion and we're always the ones after we get bashed, we're asked if maybe we're a little bit hypersensitive. Maybe if they had some equal opportunity with other religions. But you know what? I don't know of a single religion, I mean this sincerely, Rick, I don't know of a single world religion which has more honorific places for a women, the Blessed Lady, Mother of Guadelupe, all the women saints and nuns, I guess they have no other religion which treats women as well as the Catholic Church does.

SANCHEZ: Give them hell, Bill. Thanks for being with us again.

DONOHUE: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: We'll see you again. By the way we've done something on our Web. Do you agree with Bill? Do you agree with the points he's making or do you agree with the publisher? Go to our blog right now, it's cnn.com/ricksanchez. And there you'll see where you can click to vote on this. I'm interested to see where people fall on this. We've been getting reaction to this all day long by the way.

Have you seen "Chelsea Lately"? She was attacked while trying to do her own show. We have the video. We'll share it with you. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Have you seen "Chelsea Lately"? My copy editor, Jim, loves this woman. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHELSEA HANDLER, TALK SHOW HOST: President bush and the prime minister of Iraq held a news conference Sunday in Baghdad when an Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at Bush and called him a D-O-G. I was shocked because Muntadar al Zaidi (ph) is one of Chewy and my favorite Middle Eastern TV personal amounts. He's hilarious. Muntadar is like Tom Bergeron only with a fatwah. Take a look at him and his amazing throwing arm in action.

Who knew the weapons of mass destruction were a sensible pair of Rockports?

Where was the Secret Service? That guy got two shoes off before anyone noticed there were objects flying towards the president of the United States's empty head. Thank God I have top notch security, because a few weeks back, a similar situation happened to me right on this very stage.

So once again, Katie, Tom and Suri were able to enjoy a Big Apple together and they went ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!

HANDLER: Anyway, Suri says she's not going back to FAO Schwarz.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Have you seen her lately? There she is. Wolf Blitzer is standing by now with more on what's coming up in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Rick.

We have major developments just now coming in from Chicago where there's word that Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. has actually been helping the U.S. Attorney's Office as an informant. We're going to have the latest for you.

Also, our own Candy Crowley, she sits down with President Bush today one-on-one. What Mr. Bush is saying about his regrets, about the new administration and what he told his other brother, Jeb, about running for the Senate. Plus, American Nazi hunters for decades have been following war criminals who made it to the United States. Now their secret documents are unveiled over at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

SANCHEZ: That's funny. We had a guest on the other day, Wolf, who looked at the charging document and said, you know, somebody was wearing a wire here and I'm wondering if it possibly could have been one of the people mentioned for the position of the candidates. And it could have been Jesse Jackson. So that's an incredible development that you're going to be bringing us.

BLITZER: I agree.

SANCHEZ: Good stuff. We're looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, we'll be back and the big story today is a rate cut? Did it happen? If so, what happened on Wall Street as a result? We'll bring it to you. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: You know we try to make this a national conversation, and we do. That's why so many of you are coming to this newscast everyday. In droves you might say.

Look at Professor Kim. What she is writing is this. "I love the social media live TV." No, let's go to the other one. Flip it around. My fault, Robert. Let's go to twitter first. I guess I should have told you before we went on the air.

"I love the social media live TV conversation you started about your decision not to reveal the name of alleged child molester."

I'm glad we did and I'm glad people are thinking about it and it works. Now let's flip it around and go over to Facebook if we can. "So many children are being abused by someone they know, it's such a shame that they are so afraid to talk to someone about it. This little girl deserved to get her wish for her sister and herself. I think if more children came forward, even in extenuating circumstances, that more of the evil people in the world will be taken care of."

So true. Susan Lisovicz standing by now.

I know we've been trying to get to you. Big story over there today. But we've had so much other stuff. So the rate goes down? There's a rate drop today? What does it do?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The interest rate, short-term interest rate was cut to a historic low. We've never seen it before, Rick, from zero to a quarter percent. Yes, the prime rate will come down accordingly. That affects things like adjustable rate mortgages, car loans, and we have seen as a result financial stocks on fire and the biggest rally in three weeks -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Yes! Good news. Thank you so much, Susan Lisovicz.

Wolf Blitzer is standing by now in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Rick.