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Elizabeth Edwards Speaks Out; Interview With Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak
Aired May 05, 2009 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SHIMON PERES, ISRAELI PRESIDENT: Then he said he doesn't intend -- intend (INAUDIBLE) the Palestinian people (INAUDIBLE) an answer. I don't have to be more -- I don't have to say more than that right away.
The president will speak about Iran. What I can say? If one of the options of the president, in the first off, is to try engagement, we shall be loyal supporters. If it will succeed, it can be the best thing. If not, the president will say what are his intentions. I cannot speak on his behalf.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: ... United Nations report came out today regarding the war in Gaza and accused Israel of grave offenses, it said, and of also deliberately targeting U.N. civilians and facilities in Gaza. How do you respond to that, sir?
PERES: I think the secretary general said that he would like to hear the Israeli reaction before he will make his final judgment. The report is such (INAUDIBLE) one-sided, but we have to distinguish between the secretary general and the board of investigation.
The board of investigation, in our judgment, issued a one-sided document. The secretary-general has some jurisdictions, according to the board, on two items, and is going to reconsider it. And he also published a letter of explanation that I suggest you read.
Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much.
QUESTION: Mr. President...
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Israeli President Shimon Peres, we see him going back there. I think he's shaking hands now.
He has been a mainstay in Israeli politics for quite some time now. He is visiting the White House on this day. We are following it for you. And we will bring you all the reaction.
Meantime, here is what else we have on tap for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right 15.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Hard right 15 degrees, sailor-speak for, let's get out of here. We're being attacked by pirates. You will see it unedited.
Elizabeth Edwards talks about her husband's affair, the pain, the heartbreak, and now the federal investigation for possible campaign misuse.
The governor of Texas suggesting he wants no part of the U.S.
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: I'm talking about states' rights, states' rights.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
SANCHEZ: But guess who's taking more U.S. disaster money than any other state? One guess.
A little boy tied up and then reportedly kidnapped from his California home. Who would take a child from this family in a mostly low-income neighborhood?
A frontal assault, finally, against the Taliban in Pakistan. And we have got it.
And take a look at what happens when a stunt fails in New York City.
The original network news national conversation begins right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez with the next generation of news. It's a conversation. It is not a speech. And it's your turn to get involved.
First of all, I want to show you something. All right? This is a live signal that we're getting from Capitol Hill. This is where crew members from the Maersk Alabama are going to be for the very first time describing to the Senate Commerce Committee what happened when they came under attack.
We will likely be dipping into this as soon as we begin to hear some testimony.
But, by the way, this is the other big story. We talk on this show about getting you involved, about audience participation, about citizen journalism. Well, there's one story that seems to be captivating a lot of folks out there and we have been talking about it on Twitter, MySpace and Facebook throughout the day.
So, let's -- before we do anything else, let's -- let me start you there. Let's go to our Twitter page. Look at this. "Elizabeth Edwards is a strong, courageous woman. I admire her. Can't say the same about her husband."
A lot of comments coming in like this one. In fact, let me -- let me show you another one here. "Mrs. Edwards has had to endure far more than any decent woman should have to. Edwards doesn't deserve her" -- all this in the wake of an investigation about senator -- former Senator Edwards maybe using his campaign money to pay his girlfriend, as strange as that may sound.
Again, mind you, it's only an investigation, but we're all on it, and so are our viewers.
I have to share with you at this point some rare video that I'm going to want to share with you and I want you to look at. Let me -- let me set this up for you. This is video from the Liberty Sun. It's an American ship that's being attacked by pirates as they roll this video from the bridge.
You're going to see the pirate skiff. You are going to hear shots fired and you are going to hear the captain and crew try and make evasive maneuvers from the bridge. All right, let's just take -- Claude (ph), let's just this. Here it is. Take it up full.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They hit (INAUDIBLE), man, blew up my (INAUDIBLE) They are pirates. I didn't like that one. We ain't stopping for (INAUDIBLE) They got control down there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep it maneuvering, cap. Just keep it maneuvering. Put your rudder right 20.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now right 15.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right 15. OK. OK. Stay on this (INAUDIBLE) Hey. I want you to go with God. We're doing OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Left 15.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go left 15 rudder. And don't leave this (INAUDIBLE) They're firing in the steering gear room. They're firing into the steering gear room.
We have got this one. We got one out here. We got two. We got one...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Midships.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Midships!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Midships! Midships! Midships! Midships!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the same problem I had.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: Unbelievable to hear those gutsy guys, right?
OK, a couple of notes about that video. First, nobody on the Liberty Sun was hurt. Pirates never got on board. And the ship went on to port in Kenya. Second, that attack happened just six days after the Maersk Alabama was hijacked in those waters. And you know how that incident ended.
Let's bring in Congressman Joe Sestak. He's a Pennsylvania Democrat and a retired U.S. Navy admiral.
Congressman, thanks so much for being with us again, sir.
REP. JOE SESTAK (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Good to be back, Rick. Thanks.
SANCHEZ: Well, what do you expect to come out of these hearings today that we have been telling our viewers about where we're finally going to hear from the crew?
SESTAK: I think we're going to have much of the same. And, actually, I'm a little surprised and disappointed.
Rick, I have been in government down here two years after I left the Navy, after 31 years. And I find that government tends to -- always seems to shoot behind the rabbit. It doesn't seem to get ahead of the problem. You know, whether it's Afghanistan that now we're putting our weight behind, or whether it's the bailout up in Wall Street, here's my concern.
They say we don't have enough capacity for the U.S. Navy to do this. Today, on the Navy's Web site, there's 104 ships it says that are forward-deployed overseas. We have got four off the coast of Somalia. What are our other ships doing? What are they fighting?
What are they supporting that we can't have more heft there? One way to do this, for example, might be just to convoy the 50 ships that go north once a day and 50 ships that go south.
I'm worried that I know that in the testimony today they said that less than one-half of 1 percent of the 33,000 ships over a year that go near there are ever suspect to a pirate attack. But think about this.
SANCHEZ: Say that -- give me that number again. Say it again.
SESTAK: Less than one-half...
SANCHEZ: Less than one-half...
SESTAK: ... of 1 percent of the 33,000 ships that go north or south have a pirate attack on them.
But think about aircraft. I know this is not a perfect analogy. But there's 10 million aircraft, U.S. aircraft that do a flight every year. Only three were hijacked in 2009. That's 0.00004 percent. And look at how our government reacted.
If we now have pirates doing mischief without crushing them, think if al Qaeda eventually gets involved here.
SANCHEZ: Well, yes, you know what we're doing is, they're getting the upper hand in this situation.
By the way, hey, Congressman, let's look at this person who's testifying. I recognize him. He was one of the shipmates. In fact, this is one of the fellows who came out and talked about how -- just how brave -- oh, now, look, they're showing the video now. They're showing -- Let's dip into this just a little bit, Claude. Let's just see what they're talking about.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they begin an evasive course. And they're yelling over a voice-activated phone to the engine control room, where the vessel is being steered from.
SANCHEZ: OK. This is the video we just showed our viewers a little while -- did you see that video, Joe? What did think of that? Did you think that crew reacted properly?
SESTAK: I thought -- the portions that I saw, I they were, as normal, a stoic mariner force and crew.
I thought they did the best they can. But, again, soon, it may not just be gunfire. It could be rocket-propelled grenades.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
SESTAK: How far does it ratchet up before you say crews -- as I'm hearing the senator over there, interagency of the government, come out with some definition of what type of armed force do we want the private industry to have on this?
In my mind, we're beyond that.
SANCHEZ: Yes. It's about time.
Let's see what these guys are saying again. My producer is telling me this thing is starting to get interesting. Let's go ahead listen in, you and I, and talk about it on the other side.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay on the phone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You keep somebody on the phone, so when I pick it up, I'm talking to somebody. You got that? You stay on this phone. Yes, rudders right 15.
SANCHEZ: Oh, that's different audio. That's not the one...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Left 15. He's commanding a rudder movement. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Just keep the right 15. Keep...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Left 15.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go left 15.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Left 15.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Left 15 rudder. Left 15.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Left 20.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Left 20.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
SANCHEZ: For those of you at home, you're hearing a pirate attack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point, they have already been hit by the four RPGs. They have been signaled by the pirates to stop,and they continue sailing and ignore them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) We got another one out here.
SANCHEZ: Chris in the control...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now they see a second pirate boat that they see.
SANCHEZ: Chris in the control room, get me a name on the fellow testifying here, if you would.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know, but, look, we got this one. We got one out here. We got two. They got one -- midships, midships, midships, midships.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the same problem I had.
SANCHEZ: You know, this is -- this is different from the one that we -- we don't know if this is the Maersk or if -- Joe, do you know by chance if this is the Maersk or the Liberty attack?
SESTAK: I do not. I'm assuming it's the Liberty one, because when I saw the portion, not this portion, the other portion, they talked about maneuvering. So, I'm assuming it was that one, although both maneuvered.
MATTHEWS: Was he -- was his description that he gave to the committee there appropriate -- or, pardon me -- not appropriate, but correct as to what they were doing? And they were taking some kind of fire. I think he described it as what?
SESTAK: Yes. They were taking rocket-propelled grenades he actually said. So, there were grenades in this one, not just bullets, they were taking on board. SANCHEZ: So, that -- when he said RPGs, he was referring to the rocket-propelled grenades?
SESTAK: That is correct.
And next time, it could be shoulder-held missiles that could be coming in. This is some mischief they're doing.
SANCHEZ: Does that up the ante, if it...
SESTAK: Yes, it does. Each one can up this.
Look, in warfare -- and I know people -- this is criminal activity, but even here at home you go from a pistol to an assault rifle. It's going to ratchet up if we don't get control quickly.
SANCHEZ: What is the purpose of showing this video to these guys on the Senate there? To...
SESTAK: I think -- the purpose that I heard when I have heard the bits of testimony is that the senators believe that more needs to be done in a direction by the U.S. government, placed in a responsibility of private guards on these vessels, or the Navy is to place guards on these vessels.
You know, we tend to have a layered defense in the Navy, aircraft way out there, then a long-range missile and short-range missile. We shouldn't just be thinking put guards on the ship and wait until they come close.
We need to think about a navy as a ring, and then you have the close-in protection. There's -- and the other question I have as I read the testimony also is, what else is our wonderful, and I mean peerless Navy, doing that we can't move our ships around?
Because, again, I come back to the issue that we maintain navies from the very first day in order to keep the global commerce going. We can't permit a perception of weakness on our part to ever prevail. And if a bad accident happens out there, if something had gone amiss with that incident where our SEALs were so wonderful, maybe we would have a lot more ships there today. Let's not shoot behind the rabbit.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Yes, you know, that's interesting. Sometimes, you tend to take successes for granted and then think that the problem is solved, when in fact it's not.
Hey, I would be remiss if I didn't ask you this one more time. And if it's -- if I'm getting to be a pain about asking this question, let me know. Are you going to continue to breathe down the neck of Arlen Specter to make sure that he acts like a proper Democrat? And if not, will you still run against him for that Senate seat?
(LAUGHTER) SESTAK: I think that's Arlen's responsibility to act how he thinks is right. It's our responsibility as Pennsylvanians to judge his actions.
Look, you know, you just saw some brave mariners out there.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
SESTAK: I learned in the military you don't run from a fight when it gets tough.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Well, what about the -- what about the Free Choice Act or the union vote that he seems to be saying he's going to vote with the Republicans for? If he votes with the Republicans on that, will that sway you to vote -- to run against him?
SESTAK: It won't be that alone.
Look, it's more than just a vote on labor. It's about the working family. What is his -- what's his policy, for example, on education, where Pennsylvania is now right up there with Florida as the oldest state in age of its populace in America? What's he do? What does he want to do for education? How about health care that he derailed in the '90s? How's he going to work for that?
But, more than that, Rick, it's reliability. Will he be with us in 2016?
SANCHEZ: Yes.
SESTAK: This isn't -- this appears to me to be, unfortunately, more of the political Democratic establishment that made a understandably, but I think shortsighted decision for expediency here in Washington. What's in it for Pennsylvanians is the question in the long term?
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Yes, it -- you know, you're on the record. You're watching the guy. You're putting the pressure on him. I think he's hearing you and we will see how this things turns.
Congressman Joe Sestak, always a pleasure.
SESTAK: Thanks for having me, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Good talking to you.
"I want my baby," she says. This is a sad story, a mother grieving after her son is abducted by armed men during a home invasion. But why take the boy from a poor family, a poor working family? And what's really going on here? We're asking questions.
The wife of John Edwards talks about her husband's infidelity to Oprah. And he's now being investigated for it because of his campaign funds. We are going to get all over that. And we know you guys want to hear about that story.
Also, speaking of finances, the Texas governor is fired up about the state possibly seceding from the United States. But guess -- guess which state has asked for the most money in federal aid? Yes, you get one guess.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: A lot of comments coming on some of the stories that we're going to be following for you. We are going to get to some of those in a minute.
Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez here in the world headquarters of CNN.
The once-rising star of the Democratic Party is under federal investigation for possibly using campaign cash to hide his affair with his girlfriend, yes, that affair, the one with Rielle Hunter, the filmmaker hired to document his run for the White House, the one who told him "You're so hot" and hooked him line and sinker, according to, not CNN, but a new book written by Elizabeth Edwards herself, Elizabeth Edwards who at the time had terminal cancer.
Elizabeth Edwards cuts a brave figure. She campaigned for her husband, even with terminal cancer and with, we now learn from her book as well, knowledge of the affair. She asked him not to run. But he ignored her advice.
And now she's sharing her story with Oprah Winfrey in an interview to be seen later this week.
Here is the bombshell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW")
ELIZABETH EDWARDS, WIFE OF FORMER SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS: What John had said is, this woman had spotted him in the hotel in which he was staying. He was meeting with someone in the restaurant bar area.
And she had verified with someone who John worked with that it was John. And then John had gone to dinner, didn't speak to her then, but he had gone to dinner at a nearby restaurant. And then he had walked back to the hotel. And when he walked back, she was standing in front of the hotel and said to him, "You are so hot."
I can't deliver it, because I don't know how to deliver such a line as that, but, you know, "You are so hot" are the words she said to him. And it started with that.
OPRAH WINFREY, HOST, "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW": I think she probably said it a little differently than that.
EDWARDS: You think so?
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
WINFREY: "You are so hot." Yes. Yes.
EDWARDS: Yes, you want to try? Yes. I'm not going there in any way.
WINFREY: You're not going there in any way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: There's something strange about watching that interview.
But, nonetheless, joining me now from Washington, senior political correspondent Candy Crowley.
You almost want to cringe as you watch the questions being asked. It's got to be difficult.
Candy, two more quotes that I want to bring to your attention from that interview on what she asked for husband for a wedding gift -- quote -- "I wanted him to be faithful to me. It was enormously important to me."
That's what she asked of her husband. Just be faithful to me. On whether they're still in love -- quote -- "Neither one of us is out the door, so I guess it's day by day, but maybe it's month by month."
You know, Candy, there is something about all these incredible twists and turns that seem to be going on or were going on while this guy was smiling his way around the country campaigning. There's something just kind of surreal about that.
CROWLEY: Well, particularly because it was John Edwards.
I have to tell you, when "The Enquirer" ran the first story saying that John Edwards was having an affair, I remember calling around to a number of his top people, who laughed and said, no way.
And we looked at this family. As you know, the Edwards lost a son many years ago in a car accident.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
CROWLEY: She had cancer. They had been through an awful lot. They had these two little kids who were out on the campaign trail all the time with them. They just looked so happy.
He always talked about his wife when we were out in Iowa, you know, the love of my life, all of that. And I have to tell you that top aides, when they found out, were totally surprised. By then, the campaign was over. But -- so, it was surreal, not just because here you are in the midst of a campaign about huge issues facing the country. It was also a surprise because of who it was. SANCHEZ: Here's the part of this that gets painful for anybody, you know. When you throw kids into the mix, things get much more difficult and painful. And there's a child involved here. Edwards' former mistress has a baby. Edwards denies it's his baby, by the way. Here's Elizabeth now having to field a question about this from Oprah.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW")
WINFREY: The other woman has a baby.
EDWARDS: That's what I understand.
WINFREY: And there is great speculation that your husband, John Edwards, is the father of that baby.
EDWARDS: Right. That's what I understand. I have seen a picture of the baby. I have no idea. It doesn't look like my children, but I don't have any idea. And, honestly...
(CROSSTALK)
WINFREY: You must have thought -- you must have thought, is it or is it not?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: You know, from that answer, it doesn't exactly sound as though she fully believes her husband's denial, does it?
CROWLEY: Well, I mean, at this point, I think we could probably understand why she doesn't trust him.
I mean, even when he told him about the affair, she now says it was sort of, like, well, I just had this one night. She had no idea it was ongoing, that kind of thing. So, one can understand.
What is, I think, really interesting is why she's -- I mean, we know she's out there because she has a book, but why she did the book. It's just -- it's pretty painful.
SANCHEZ: Yes, unless maybe, you know, there's a -- there's a release mechanism going on there.
Hey, the investigation, apparently, we're talking about, I think, about $114,000. Are they essentially saying there's a possibility, and that's what they're investigating, that this was kind of like hush money that was paid to Rielle or whatever -- however you pronounce her name?
CROWLEY: Well, there's kind of a couple things going on.
First of all, there were many funds that belonged to John Edwards, not just the campaign funds, but he also had some PACs, some political action committees, that kind of thing.
We have known for some time that he, in fact -- I mean, it was on the disclosure forms that he had paid more than $100,000 to this woman for the work that she did. And she did put stuff up on the Web about what he was doing. She did, in fact, have some work that she did.
The other question is that Edwards had someone who was involved in the campaign finances and a good friend out of Texas who has since died, but who took the mistress and set her up in California and paid for a lot of things for her. Where did that money come from?
Now, before he died, the friend of Edwards said, he didn't know I was doing this. Edwards has said he didn't do it. So, we are really a little unclear as to what specific aspect is being investigated, only that the investigation is ongoing, and what we have known before about what this money was for and was it hush money, and, you know -- but there's several pots of money that could possibly be under investigation.
SANCHEZ: Candy Crowley, one of the best in the business, thanks so much for joining us and taking us through this story that really a lot of folks are interested in, especially now that there's an actual investigation taking place.
Thanks, Candy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PERRY: You're surrounded by fellow patriots...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PERRY: ... individuals who embrace the concepts, like lower taxes and smaller government and freedom for every individual.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PERRY: I'm talking about states' rights, states' rights, states' rights.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: States' rights. And you notice the Southern accent starts getting real thick. The governor of Texas suggests he doesn't want Texas to be a part of the United States and talks about states' rights. Most Americans know what that really means. But do you know that being number one in taking federal aid, do you know what that means? I will take you through it.
Also, a car chase for a movie that was supposed to be a stunt. You get it? Supposed to be a stunt. Look out.
And then Pakistan's military says, enough is enough, and charges head-on against the Taliban. Is this a pincer move in the making? We have got the video and we will share the story with you from there.
Stay with us. We will be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez here in the world headquarters of CNN. We got a lot of comments on that conversation I had just moments ago with Candy Crowley. Let's start with Myspace if we can. Robert on Myspace, very simple and to the point. Edwards, referring of course to the senator, Edwards is so morally bankrupt. Former Senator John Edwards. Let's go over to the twitter board. This is interesting. Candy and I were just having a conversation about this, let's see if I captured this.
This is the one I was looking for. Candy and I were just having this conversation and neither one of us could kind of figure out why she was writing the book. Well here's somebody who has an answer for us. This is countrygrits, she's watching and she says, I went through what Liz Edwards is and is writing about. Writing the book is a way of expelling what is bottled up inside, more out is best. That's an interesting perspective from someone who says they've lived through this situation.
All right, maybe if it wasn't a Ferrari, this next story would not be quite as good as it is. Or maybe it's because some guy almost gets killed by a light post. This is a stunt driver who loses control of his vehicle in New York City, no less. Roll the videotape, Claude. All right, now watch as the camera goes back. See the guy on the light post right there, underneath the light post, who's stuck, the guy who's saying get the light post off of me! Two people hurt. One hit by the car. The other by the lamppost, it's a Nicholas Cage movie, by the way, with a car that wasn't supposed to crash, just chase the Mercedes, the car ended up crashing into a Sbarro's pizza joint, by the way.
This is a kidnapping that has authorities baffled and a family horrified and it's about a little boy.
Smarter than your average bear, but this one's not far from the beat in Florida, Florida. What's next? An alligator in New York City?
And also the governor of Texas brags about going it alone. Who needs the United States when you're as big as Texas? Oh, I guess who relies the most on federal money for emergencies as well is a good question. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Here's a story I've been wanting to share with you about this little boy. Even the police are baffled and horrified by this story. This is not a rich family. They don't seem to be connected in any way. They have no apparent past with either crime or drugs. So, why would men break into their home and kidnap a young boy? Here's Elizabeth Espinosa of CNN affiliate KTLA reporting from San Bernardino.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH ESPINOSA, KTLA REPORTER (voice-over): Bring my son back, I love my son. This desperate mother holds one of her little boy's shirts as a way to feel closer to Bryant Rodriguez, kidnapped from this San Bernardino home. His father, also inconsolable. Raul says take my life, but give me back my son. The family says they don't understand why two gunmen burst through the front door yesterday afternoon -- mom says both men used walkie-talkies to talk to someone outside in a getaway car. After they ransacked her home, he and her five children, ages 16, 13, 11, 8, 6, and 3, were tied up and taken into this bedroom.
JODI MILLER, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: They ransacked the house for, like, 15 to 20 minutes, leaving behind large, flat screen TVs and other equipment and just took an undisclosed amount of money and a few personal property items. The 8-year-old boy was able to untie himself and then untie the rest of the family.
ESPINOSA: Mom says her 8-year-old son ran after the gunmen, holding Bryant, but it was too late. San Bernardino Sheriff's investigators say the FBI is also on the case. Everyone is concerned Bryant could be taken out of the country.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He ought to be able to accept people in the party and welcome them and that's --
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: There's Kay Bailey Hutchison talking to me last week. She's telling me that her party needs to reach out, be bigger. But don't tell that to the man who now holds the job that she may end up wanting. He is playing it to, some would argue, the extreme.
Then remembering Dom Deluise, the comedian who died today. Here he is. Oh, my goodness, some actors, you know, they transcend a generation. He was one of them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY, (R) TEXAS: I'm talking about states' rights. States' rights. States' rights.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Texas Governor Rick Perry bashing the federal government at one of those tea parties, moments later he suggested to a reporter that if the fed won't leave his state alone, get the hell off its back, stop quote, then Texas might secede from the union. Trivia question for you now, which state and which governor have pried the most money out of Washington to handle natural disasters, if you said Texas, you are correct, sir! As a matter of fact, I've got the FEMA web page put up. Take a shot of this, if you would, Gary, there it is, there is the FEMA web page. And there you can see Texas right there, see how I'm showing you that area right there? Take the shot I got over here Claude. Forget that one, there you go, see it right there, see me moving that cursor? Texas now look over here, 83, that's the biggest number that we found anywhere on there. And, of course, all kinds of folks are talking about it. Go back to that shot. Here we got the mad hatter, he's watching us right now, he says don't mess with Texas. They want to secede, let them, but stop the money and offer no more help. Wow!
By the way, moments later Perry suggested to a reporter that if the feds don't leave the state, he does want them out. Let me bring Wayne Slater into this from "The Dallas Morning News." I don't think there's a lot of people who know Texas politics as well as Wayne does. Wayne, good to see you.
WAYNE SLATER, SR. POLITICAL WRITER, DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Great to see you, Rick.
SANCHEZ: You know what's bizarre about this, is the actual constituency for this kind of talk exists. I mean, I just saw a poll that said that about half of Texas republicans would actually favor leaving the union under the right circumstances. What -- what is that all about?
SLATER: Yeah, and those -- they are by and large, republicans, the kind of people who Rick Perry wants to appeal to in next March's GOP primary against Kay Bailey Hutchison.
SANCHEZ: So he's staying that to stay in office, because there's that many people who agree with that in Texas on the republican side?
SLATER: You bet you he's saying that for that reason, because of the point that you just made. While on the one hand he's talking about secession, sympathizing with those who would want to secede, talking about states' rights, appealing to that element of the Republican Party, at the same time he's accepting billions of dollars in federal moneys. Saying he's not accepting the money and the list that you had from FEMA is not the full list. He's also asked for health and human services money, agriculture department money, small business money. He's doing the right thing as a governor. That's what a governor would do. But it's this rhetorical flourish, saying, heck with Washington at the same time it's so interesting.
SANCHEZ: I should be fair to him, by the way, that list that we showed you included all the governors prior to him as well. That wasn't just Rick Perry. But he did recently ask money for Ike and he now is asking for money for swine flu as well from the federal government. That's interesting. Here's what I think is curious about this, especially I was thinking about this, after reading what you wrote, after watching my interview with Kay Bailey Hutchison and my interview with Kay Bailey Hutchison, it seems like Texas republicans are split, there's the Perry, the Palin and the Joe the plumber crowd, and we kind of get them. They're on one side. And then there's the Charlie Crist, maybe Kay Bailey Hutchison crowd on the other side. Did I get that right? SLATER: You got it exactly right. What's so interesting about that, is that this race, Kay Bailey Hutchison, a more moderate, the conservative republican and Rick Perry, appealing to the social conservatives in the party, reflects the national conversation that's going on within the GOP. It's trying to sort of decide what does it want to be when it grows up. Does it keep moving to the right and you hear people on talk radio and some on cable news saying do that, that's what Reagan would do. And then you hear that interesting interview you did with Kay Bailey Hutchison, saying the simple core issues ought to be economic. That's what a republican should be and ought to be, smaller government, lower taxes. And as for the social issues, let's understand that we can have different views inside the ticket.
SANCHEZ: But then Texas is really just a microcosm of what's going on with republicans in the United States, isn't it?
SLATER: I think it is. I think it's exactly what's happening here. I don't know what's going to happen in the primary, because so many of the people who show up in a republican primary are the hard base, really are social conservatives, and strongly might be -- might find Perry's rhetoric appealing. But this is exactly a litmus test, if you will, on what's happening to the Republican Party nationally. Do we keep going right?
SANCHEZ: Yeah.
SLATER: Or do we not? Extremism in defense of liberty may not be a vice, but it's certainly a very good political strategy.
SANCHEZ: That's interesting, it's going to be interesting watching as this develops. My thanks to you, Wayne Slater of "The Dallas Morning News."
Pakistan's army rolls tanks forward for a confrontation against the Taliban. This isn't in Afghanistan, though, this is in part of Pakistan. Pakistan's push to take back territory and why you need to take note of what could be a pincer maneuver. We'll be right back.
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SANCHEZ: All right. I'm from Florida, so I got a little experience with this one. When you think of Florida, you don't think of bears. But there are at least 1,500 bears in Florida, did you know? And then every once in a while, you actually see one, in a city no less. With no fear! Look at that one, it walked right in front of a photographer maybe 10 feet away. It's a nice picture, but a bear that loses its fear of people ends up getting shot or run over in traffic. Officials think someone's been feeding this bear, and they say knock it off for the good of the bear. And for the good of the poor guy who was approached by this bear the next time and doesn't have any food on him, and ends up having to give the bear a hand. Literally. A hand. Get it?
Thousands of civilians, many of them children, are caught in the middle as Pakistan's army advances on Taliban strongholds. We've got the story for you. Stay with us.
And then we're remembering Dom Deluise. The comedian, the actor, the funnyman.
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SANCHEZ: Welcome back I'm Rick Sanchez. A big guy died yesterday. A big, funny guy. Watch this classic clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.J., long time no see.
Nice to see you, Captain. Listen. I'd like to take your place in the bomb.
Have no fear, him is here.
You make me very happy.
You want it?
Yes.
You got it. Suck in. What a guy.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That's from "Cannonball Run 2." One of the million hit comedies starring Dom Deluise. This is the kind of guy as soon as you see him, you laugh. He's just funny that way. Dom Deluise had cancer. Yesterday we're told he died at his home in Santa Monica.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOM DELUISE: Here we are with animals. We're all here with animals and we're talking about how we like animals. This is my bird Charlie. Hello, Charlie.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That's Dom Deluise. He made his most famous movies alongside Burt Reynolds toward the end. This is what Burt Reynolds said about him today. "I was dreading this moment. Dom always made everyone feel better when he was around. I never heard him say an unkind word about anyone. I will miss him very much." From Burt Reynolds.
Tens of thousands caught in the middle of the war between Pakistan and the Taliban. We're going to have a report that you will need to see about what's going on in those regions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Stay with us we'll be right back.
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SANCHEZ: We welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez. The guy who leads Pakistan is making the rounds in Washington, D.C. today and what a time for the visit of the president. Just yesterday, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said that he is not overly worried about Pakistan's nukes getting into the hands of extremists. At least not at the moment. You can take those words as a comfort or not. At the same time, Pakistan has opened another front in its war against the Taliban which is boasting now it cannot be defeated. Not by Pakistan, not by the U.S., not by anyone else. CNN's Ivan Watson is in Islamabad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The Pakistani military says it's pressing its offensive into Buner district about 60 miles, a little bit more than 100 kilometers to the northwest of Islamabad. They are rolling in tanks. They are attacking with helicopters and artillery. But the Taliban is fighting back. The Taliban ambushed a Pakistani army convoy on Monday morning killing at least one Pakistani soldier. On Sunday, the Taliban says it beheaded two Pakistani security forces in retaliation for the deaths of two Taliban commanders.
This battle is having severe consequences on the civilian population in Bruner district. The United Nations estimates some 50,000 people have fled the conflict since the Pakistani military launched its operation in the last couple of weeks. That's 50,000 people added to more than half a million displaced Pakistanis who have been pushed from their homes by fighting between the soldiers and the militants across northwest Pakistan since last August. A growing humanitarian crisis here and one that is putting pressure on the rest of this country. Ivan Watson, CNN, Islamabad.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Let's take you now to Wolf Blitzer. He's going to be -- I understand you're going to be talking to the president of Pakistan are you not?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We have an exclusive interview Rick. That's right, President Zardari is here in the "SITUATION ROOM." And it's really pretty eye-opening, the ramifications of what's going on. The Taliban, al Qaeda elements as you know Rick, only about 60 miles outside of Islamabad, the capital. And if anything were to happen there, remember, Pakistan is a country with a very impressive nuclear arsenal so the stakes really are enormous. We're going to go through all of that and a lot more coming up at the top of the hour.
SANCHEZ: All right, we've got a lot of comments coming in from a lot of folks who've been watching the newscast so far, not just on Pakistan, but also with the situation in Texas and, boy, a lot of comments about John Edwards. He is taking a ton of heat from the social networking sites. We'll share a sample when we come back.
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SANCHEZ: Welcome back. Now I'm going to let you know what many of you have been saying throughout this newscast. Let's start on twitter if we can Robert. This is B-bunch says I've never been so disappointed by a politician. John Edwards was a total fake. Let's go over to Myspace, Pakistan already made the mistake of giving land to the Taliban. Now the Taliban wants it all back and the rest of the world has a real problem on their hands. That's interesting. Let's go back to twitter if we can Robert. Thank you for reporting on Pakistan. Scary stuff but we need to know what is going on over there before it is a crisis. Here's this one from Dave Elliott right there at the top. Out of all these politicians, I find Edwards to be the biggest phony of them all. He made buffoons of his wife and us.
Now on Texas. When Texas leaves the union, will George Bush be their president? One more on that. Tell Texas to give the money back. And finally, let's go back to Myspace if we can. Look at this one coming in. I think we'll close with this one. Rick, your show has too many commercials. We agree sometimes but you know what? That's how we pay the bills. So does Wolf Blitzer. He's coming up. He's in "THE SITUATION ROOM." My thanks to you. I'll look for you tomorrow. Here now in Washington, Wolf Blitzer.
