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Pelosi Blasts Critics in Waterboarding Issue; Cheney's Memo Request Denied; The APRs of Credit Cards

Aired May 14, 2009 - 14:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICE OF DANA BASH, CNN SR. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At the end of April, you had the press conference with us.

REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D) HOUSE SPEAKER: Yes.

BASH: And you said very clearly, we were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used.

PELOSI: That's right, we. We in that meeting, in the briefing that I received, we were not told that -- in fact, we were told that waterboarding was not being used, because that sort of one that stood out.

BASH: So, in that press conference we were all clearly trying to get at the broader question of whether -- whether you knew about waterboarding at all. And the idea that we got from you was that you were never told that waterboarding was being used, but now we know that later, in February, you were told. It wasn't in that briefing, but you were told. So --

PELOSI: No, by the time we were told, we are finding out that it's been before. You know, in other words, that was beyond the point.

BASH: But why didn't you tell us at that press conference...

(CROSSTALK)

PELOSI: But I told you what my briefing was. My briefing was...

BASH: At the press conference, that you had been told, just not at that particular briefing. You were very adamant that you didn't know that waterboarding was used.

PELOSI: No. That is right. We were told -- in the briefing that I received, we were told that they had legal opinions that this was legal. We were not told that it was -- that there were other legal opinions to the contrary in the administration. And we were told specifically that waterboarding was not being used.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Candy Crowley joins me now. Candy, Speaker Pelosi seemed pretty uncomfortable there. You've seen her in action. You recently had a one-on-one interview with her.

Why did she seem so out of her element today? Was that surprising to you?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Not particularly. This is a subject that really -- this is the conversation that's been going on for three weeks.

It's been very hard for her to go out there to talk to one-on-one to reporters or talk in her weekly briefing with reporters without this coming up, and, in fact, dominating the conversation. So, obviously, this is not where she wants the focus to be.

She has in some ways a disjointed speaking style, and so sometimes it's hard to follow her, and people say, well, she didn't say this before and she hasn't said that before. But the fact of the matter is, there's been this kind of drip, drip, as Dana alluded to in that question, where she said, listen, in this meeting, in this briefing that I went to, nobody told me that torture was going on.

Dana brought up that now it turns out that one of her aides went to a different briefing and told her that in that briefing it was said. It was a lot later. So, there's a lot of things -- it's kind of a drip, drip, and it's -- you know, for a politician to stand up at the podium and keep getting hit and hit and hit is a very uncomfortable time.

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's listen to this comment from the news conference where the speaker actually says that she was lied to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: ... the CIA was misleading the Congress, and at the same time the administration was misleading the Congress on the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, to which I said, you know, the intelligence does not support the imminent threat, to which the press asked the same question you just did now -- "Are you accusing them of lying?" I said, I'm just stating a fact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right. What is she trying to do here?

CROWLEY: Deflect. I mean, this is -- you know, what she's saying is, this is about my Republican opponents trying to go after me. She's a very -- she's not just speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi is a powerful speaker of the House, in a heyday for Democrats. So she has a lot of power.

And she's trying to get off this subject, basically. She's trying to say, listen, this is the Republicans way of undermining me and, by the way, when we are looking at this, we ought to look at the Bush administration about what they knew and about what they did, rather than about what I did. However, she has bitten off quite a bit here to go after the CIA and accuse the CIA of lying because, as we all know, "misleading" and "not truthful" are political code words for lying. So, that's a pretty stiff charge for the speaker to make.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, Republicans, as you can imagine, already pouncing on this. Let's listen to House Speaker (sic) John Boehner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER: And I've dealt with our intelligence professionals for the last three and a half years on an almost daily basis. And it's hard for me to imagine that anyone in our intelligence area would ever mislead a member of Congress. They come to the Hill to brief us because they're required to under the law, and I don't -- there's -- I don't know what motivation they would have to mislead anyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, obviously, I didn't mean to say "House Speaker," Candy. I meant to say House Minority Leader John Boehner.

Pushing forward, what happens next in this saga?

CROWLEY: Well, right now what they're looking at is, and what the speaker said she wanted, was for the CIA to release its notes from that meeting, because, again, what the Democrats want to do is to focus on the Bush administration's activities.

I will say that the Obama White House is not that crazy about this going on in public, simply because they'd like to move on to some other things. So -- but I -- this story has not played out yet, because there are still enough questions and a whole lot of politics involved in this.

The Republicans believe that they really do have good reason to be criticizing the speaker of the House. The speaker has her reasons to believe that the Republicans are playing politics. So for political and substantive reasons, this story moves forward for however long it takes to get some answers and some truth.

PHILLIPS: Candy Crowley, great to see you.

Well, we're shifting focus to the economy now, and we're taking your questions to President Obama about your credit, your mortgage, your state of mind. Get them in to us now at cnnnewroom@cnn.com. We're going to take them straight to a top White House adviser live, just minutes from now.

President Obama wants a credit card Bill of Rights on his desk ready to sign by Memorial Day, he says. That's less than two weeks for the House and the Senate to get on the same page.

Both bodies agree that you shouldn't get smacked with a rate hike when you're late paying other bills. They also want to kill certain fees like paying via phone, and make it tougher for younger people to get a credit card. But they differ on some points, like how late you can be before rate hike kicks in, and how old you ought to be before you get a credit card. One says 21, the other, 18.

And on when the change should begin, well, the House says a year. The Senate wants it a little sooner.

Call it charge you can believe in. The president talked about credit card reform at a town hall meeting in New Mexico. He had a good point, too. He said you shouldn't need a law degree or a magnifying glass to understand your bill.

If you've ever struggled though credit card speak, well, you know what he's talking about. He also says you need to think before you swipe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK H. OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, I understand that many Americans are defaulting on their debt, and that's why these companies claim the need to raise rates. One of the causes of this economic crisis was that too many people were living beyond their means, with mortgages they couldn't afford, buying things they couldn't pay for, maxing out on credit cards that they couldn't pay down. And in the last decade, Americans' credit card debt has increased by 25 percent.

Nearly half of all Americans carry a balance on their credit cards, and those who do have an average balance over $7,000. So, we have been complicit in these problems. We've contributed to our own problems. We've got to change how we operate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right. Just getting word -- it looks like the CIA memos on torture will not be released.

Ed Henry joining us live from the White House.

Ed, what's the deal?

ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, what's interesting, CNN just learning that the CIA has now officially denied a request by former Vice President Dick Cheney for CIA memos. As you know, the former vice president has been saying they may show that some of those enhanced techniques may have actually helped yield good intelligence that could have prevented terror attacks.

The former vice president specifically making this request so that he can use these memos in his memoirs that he's putting together now from the Bush years. But it's interesting now that the CIA, obviously under the leadership of the Obama administration, is now denying this request from the former vice president.

We've just gotten a statement. CNN's Pam Benson (ph) obtaining this from a CIA spokesman, saying that there is an executive order, Executive Order 12958, that basically "excludes from review information that is the subject of pending litigation. The two documents that former Vice President Cheney sought contain information that falls into that category." So, they're claiming that there is some litigation here, obviously there's all kinds of litigation still involving some of those enhanced terror techniques that people have alleged is actually torture, waterboarding, some of those other techniques.

I have also just gotten off the phone with a spokeswoman for the former vice president, confirming to me as well that they've gotten this denial from the CIA. But this spokeswoman telling me that Vice President Cheney, the former vice president, is now preparing his appeal. He still believes that he deserves to get these CIA memos, and he wants to make them public.

So, the bottom line here is that we've heard a lot of back and forth in recent days. The former vice president alleging that there are some memos buried inside the CIA that would show that some of these techniques actually helped prevent terror attacks in the U.S. Big political issue with some of the changes being made by the Obama administration. The former vice president putting a lot of pressure on this administration, but so far they're saying they will not turn over these memos -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Got it.

Ed Henry with the breaking news from the White House.

Ed, thanks so much.

With the utmost dignity and respect, five fallen troops are welcomed home, all of them killed by one of their own.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Back to that credit card speak, do you know your corresponding APR from your effective APR? Do you feel like Albert Einstein would pull out every White hair of his head over this stuff?

Let's bring in Susan Lisovicz. She's going to try to help us understand what to look for when that bill arrives.

And the reason why we're asking you about this, Susan, is we were reading about somebody that had a 64 percent APR. And then we were told, but you've got to understand the difference between corresponding and effective APR.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, I think if most people understood what they were paying in interest rates, if they really looked at their credit cards and understood them, they would pay them off every month. Having said that, let's talk about the ABCs of credit cards, or the APRs.

APR is annual percentage rate. And we're going to show you a mock, very simplified bill.

The APR on this statement is 24 percent. That is huge; right? But it's far from unusual.

But, Kyra, you're actually even paying more interest on that because the customer in this case is carrying a balance, just $100. But you're essentially paying interest on the interest. So the effective APR is close to 27 percent.

Now, Kyra, are you with me?

PHILLIPS: I'm trying.

LISOVICZ: OK. Check out the second bill. OK?

Same APR, 24 percent. But the effective APR is zero percent, because the customer -- boy -- has been paying off the charges each month. There's zero interest as well. Basically, you're just paying your charges each month. No interest at all, no effective APR, no actual APR -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So, bottom line for people with credit cards, pay it off.

LISOVICZ: Pay it off, Kyra. Pay it off. Pay it off in its entirety. Establish a pattern with your bill payments, stick with them.

Try always to pay more than the minimum. The faster you pay off your -- you know, you pay off your debt, I mean, the better your credit rating is going to be.

And you know what I did recently, Kyra? I forgot about one of my bills, and I'm really usually very religious about paying them off because I hate those interest rate charges. I appealed it, and they said, "You're a great customer. We're going to void it."

PHILLIPS: There you go.

LISOVICZ: So they waived it. There you go.

PHILLIPS: You bring up a good point -- I've been able to negotiate APR and also waive fees when I keep it paid off. That's great advice.

Thanks, Susan.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Well, Susan, stick around for this next story, if you don't mind, because a local Chrysler dealer might not be dealing much longer.

Chrysler telling a bankruptcy court now that it plans to shut down 25 percent of its dealerships while it restructures. That means closing almost 800 of the 3,200 Chrysler dealerships across the U.S. And they're not the only ones facing the ax.

GM could announce this week that it's shutting more than 40 percent of its dealerships by the end of next year. Car dealers say that closing will cost the nation plenty of jobs and piles of tax revenue.

Susan Lisovicz, how hard will this hit us? We're actually going to talk to a dealer in just a second, but put it in perspective.

LISOVICZ: Well, Kyra, I mean, we have seen just a tremendous decline in auto -- in the auto industry, anyway. I mean, just the initial claims we got, received today, a big jump in them last week because Chrysler filed for bankruptcy, and there's 27,000 more people who are out of work.

Now, what we got today was a quarter. Nearly 800 of the 3,200 Chrysler dealerships across the country are going to close. And I looked at it. It's 40 pages, and you see them, and they're small -- small little towns and big cities and suburbs, all over.

And you see a name associated with each dealership, Kyra, and you know that person is responsible for a whole lot of other people who are working for that dealership. So, it's far more than 800 people affected.

PHILLIPS: All right. Stay with me in case I don't ask the right economic question.

We're joined on the phone now by a car dealer here in Georgia. Steve Mader sells Chrysler and GM vehicles right here in the Atlanta metro area.

Steve, thanks for being with us.

Are you getting word on if you're going to have to sell your dealership or not?

STEVE MADER, OWNER OF CHRYSLER, GM DEALERSHIP BEING CLOSED: Well, thanks. Thanks for hearing me, ladies. It's good to be on.

Yes, we received a letter this morning from Chrysler saying they planned on terminating us, but we're a viable company. We have Hyundai in that same building. We sell lots of Hyundais and lots of used cars, and we sell lots of General Motors vehicles. So we're going to stay in business. We plan on staying business, and we're going to move forward.

PHILLIPS: So, what are you going to do, then, with -- I mean, start -- now that you found this out, what about all the employees? What about you, the cars you have there at your dealership? Obviously you're going to have to make some major changes.

MADER: We're going to make some changes, but not major. I met with the employees this morning. I assured them we're planning on moving forward. I told them we're not going to change our game plan.

We're going to become a Hyundai dealer, since Hyundai's already on the facility, and we're going to keep selling new Hyundais and keep selling used vehicles. Last year, we sold probably 1,800 used vehicles out of that Chrysler store, and we've sold about 800 new vehicles. So, we're in a position to keep on moving.

PHILLIPS: Susan, jump in.

LISOVICZ: Yes.

Steve, I mean, this has got to be a painful moment for you. You're in a much better position because you do sell Hyundai and GM. But this is really not about saving money for Chrysler, this is really about just supporting a much smaller company, right? So, if that's really what it's about, because you own -- you own the dealership, and all these dealerships affected are individually owned.

Is that correct?

MADER: That is correct, Susan. You're right. And I'm not sure how much it saves Chrysler by eliminating 800 dealers. But I promise you this, we sold about 300 Chrysler Jeeps last year, and they're not going to have that representation in this market. They will lose market share without us.

LISOVICZ: Actually, you know, Moodys.com, I was looking at their response to it. That's a well-known and very respected source on automobiles. It says, actually, it may be worse for the consumer with fewer dealerships because there's less competition. People who are in the market for a big-ticket item like an automobile will shop around and look for the best deal they get on a car.

Do you support that?

MADER: That is to some degree true, but you have -- you have the Internet, which people use. I mean, 80 percent of our customers we sell now have gone to the Internet to make a decision before they've come in. So, I don't believe it's going to cost the consumer a penny more. They're still going to be able to shop, get the best price, and activate with the closest dealer they can get to.

PHILLIPS: We always want a good deal.

Steve Mader, Susan Lisovicz, thanks so much, guys.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Well, straight ahead, Rob Marciano went to Oklahoma for the atmosphere. You know, to chase some storms. Well he's barely had time to catch his breath, but we'll hear from him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's check out the latest jobless numbers.

Massive layoffs in the auto industry have led to a surge in the number of people without a paycheck -- 637,000 people filed first-time claims for jobless benefits last week, an increase of 32,000 from the week before. More than 6.5 million people are continuing to receive benefits, a record high in a long string of records. Well, it's time for the "30-Second Pitch," college edition. Thousands of new graduates looking for work, and we're giving them a chance to pitch for a job.

Get the clock started and get ready to meet Emory graduate Najah Woodby.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAJAH WOODBY, EMORY GRADUATE: My name is Najah Woodby, and I just received my Bachelor of Arts from Emory University, and I'm looking for a job in the health care industry.

I've had experience working in outcomes research for Bristol- Myers Squibb, as well as nonprofit work for the Association of Black Cardiologists. And I'd really like to gain some more experience in the health care industry. I'm a great asset to your company because I have diversified skills, as well as enthusiasm and compassionate about what I do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, if you have a job for Najah, e-mail her at najah.woodby@gmail.com.

And you can see our pitches on our blog at CNN.com/newsroom.

Lose your job, keep your drugs. That's the pitch from Pfizer, the world's largest drug company, to out-of-work Americans who depend on 70 of its most popular prescription medications. Pfizer says it will provide those drugs for free for up to a year, or until recipients get reinsured.

If you think that you qualify, call Pfizer at 866-706-2400. We'll try to give you that number again later this hour. You can also go to CNN.com/newsroom and click on "Kyra." Just give us a few minutes to get the number up there.

An authentic '50s drive-in -- burgers, jukebox and car hops. Then the flood. The owner is trying to rebuild, but the recession isn't helping.

Here's CNN's Ed Lavandera with today's "Money & Main Street" report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The smell of grilled hamburgers lingers in what's left of this A&W drive-in.

DOUG WARD, FLOOD VICTIM: This was the dining area.

LAVANDERA: But Doug Ward smells the stench of stale river waters from last year's flood in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

(on camera): This has got to be painful to see. WARD: It is. It's very painful to see. It was our life for 30 years.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): When the Cedar River spilled over its banks, Ward's drive-in drowned in almost 10 feet of water. Almost a year later, the drive-in sits in ruins. The root beer mugs still muddied.

WARD: A lot of them are older mugs, the older designs.

LAVANDERA: Ward doesn't know if rebuilding here is worth it. If people don't come back, who's going to loan him the $900,000 needed to rebuild the drive-in? Even changing locations will cost more than $1 million.

It's a painful decision.

WARD: If the neighborhood was normal, we'd have this place up and running again, yes. If we decide to move somewhere else, though, we have to -- you know, we have to let it go.

LAVANDERA: The flood also destroyed Ward's church and his home, just a few blocks away. He estimates rebuilding the house will cost $75,000, and he doesn't have insurance.

WARD: This was the living room.

LAVANDERA: FEMA gave him $28,000 toward home costs, but for now, Ward and his wife live in a trailer, six miles away. It's not the same.

(on camera): Does this feel like home at all?

WARD: It doesn't to me, no. It just doesn't.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Since 1948, the Wards' drive-in has been a landmark in Cedar Rapids time-checked neighborhood, a fixture for people cruising down Ellis Boulevard. Antique cars, a throw-back to the 1950s. The drive-in evolved over time, but it defined the personality of this working-class neighborhood.

MARK STOUFFER HUNTER, CEDAR RAPIDS HISTORIAN: It's almost like our little Eiffel Tower.

LAVANDERA: To Cedar Rapids historian Mark Stouffer Hunter, Doug Ward's story is why this road is the boulevard of broken dreams.

(on camera): The idea that he might not be able to be -- put the business back here?

HUNTER: Yes, it hurts, because it's happening not just in this neighborhood, but all over the neighborhoods that were affected by the flood.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Getting loans to rebuild the drive-in isn't easy. So far, he's qualified for a $350,000 disaster loan, but much more is still needed. Ward says said each passing day brings more financial pressure.

WARD: Within a month or two we're going to have to find something else to keep us above water, and if we don't get something else we won't be here.

LAVANDERA: He doesn't know what kind of job he'll find. Doug Ward misses the job he loved -- serving his friends a frosty root beer.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, make sure you don't miss tonight's special event, the CNN Money Summit, "Money & Main Street," hosted by Anderson Cooper and Ali Velshi. Just log on to Facebook right now to RSVP. That's tonight, 8:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: So, would you ask the White House about the economy? You're probably saying, I'll never have that chance. Well, now you do.

We're taking your questions and concerns directly to the White House insider. It's our segment "Mail to the Chief," and we're doing it live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We need reform that restores some sense of balance. We need a new equilibrium, where credit is flowing, where lenders can succeed, where consumers don't find themselves in a bad situation that they didn't anticipate. This kind of reform is especially needed during this economic crisis.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, President Obama calling on credit card companies to change the way that they bill their customers, just a short time ago, he faced frustrated cardholders at a town hall meeting in New Mexico. People who say they're in a deep hole and that their credit cards put them there. We have gotten a flood of similar complaints here and questions from you viewers, so it's time to pose them directly to the White House. Austan Goolsbee heads the president's economic recovery advisory board. Austan, good to see you.

AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, ECONOMIC RECOVERY ADVISORY BOARD: Good to see you again.

PHILLIPS: All right, let's get right to it. John asks, my wife left work to go back to school. Our rate then was between 3 and 6 percent on debt, totaling $40,000, within months they raised rates to 29 percent. We could not afford it. Will anything be done to prevent this?

GOOLSBEE: Well, I'd say the president's plan, not knowing more about the conditions of how the rates went up, the president's view on credit cards, there's nothing -- people should be able to get credit, and they should be paying back their bills. There's nothing wrong with the industry sensibly considered. What has happened is you have some members of the credit card industry have started engaging in a variety of deceptive and predatory practices that are really have crossed the line. So, in this case, take this case, a lot of people are in the circumstance where they'll get a teaser rate of 3 percent, kind of like what John indicates. And then they think their rate is 3 percent and after three weeks their rate goes to 30 percent. Now, in the president's plan they're going to put a stop to that. There will be a fixed rate of time that teasers would have to stay in place. And they could not raise rates on balances that you've already incurred, because that's just really changing the contract after the fact.

PHILLIPS: So these companies will be held accountable for these deceptive practices.

GOOLSBEE: Yes, yes, absolutely.

PHILLIPS: Ok, that's good. Doug in Kansas -- and we'll follow- up. Doug in Kansas City asks you this, Austan, "When are credit card companies going to be prevented from preying on college students? Can't you limit marketing to them?"

GOOLSBEE: Well, look, that's a key. What Doug is raising is the marketing and giving credit cards to people who don't have any income and who are very young. This is a dangerous practice. So, the -- I know that the bill in congress and in the president's plan, it says they -- we need to work toward creating a viable underwriting standard for young people, that we're not just trying to kind of get them hooked on a card that if they get in trouble, their parents are going to come bail them out. But ultimately, this is sort of a predatory circumstance. We have to weigh that off against there are young people who do need access to credit, but we need, clearly, some more underwriting guidelines and sensibility in that area, because it's gone way too far.

PHILLIPS: And Debra in California asks this, "I'm worried that any credit card reform will not reduce my rates because they will only apply to cards issued in the future. Will reforms apply to existing accounts?"

GOOLSBEE: Well, that's a great question. But under the president's circumstance, it would apply to -- to cards right now.

PHILLIPS: All right. Final question, real quickly. This is actually coming to us via twitter right now. Circawtm rights, "Will they address the way that credit card companies offer low rates for a year to suck people in and then raise it 18 to 20 percent? Any cap on high-interest rates in the works?"

GOOLSBEE: Well, I would say this issue of the teasers is one of the central content things in it. But it's geared toward a slightly different focus than in that question, which is a bunch of people get promised a teaser for a short period, and they can't read in the, you know, five-page, tiny print contract declaration that, in fact, the credit card company doesn't have to hold that teaser rate at what they said. So, the teaser rate jumps rapidly, and the plan would put a stop to that.

PHILLIPS: Austan Goolsbee, thanks for joining us, appreciate it.

GOOLSBEE: Great to see you again.

PHILLIPS: And a programming note, President Obama will deliver the commencement address at Notre Dame on Sunday. CNN will bring it to you live, 2:00 p.m. eastern, 11:00 pacific.

How many times has it happened and in how many places? The cell phone rings at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Trains, planes, buses, waiting rooms, meetings, even the president's chief spokesman, not immune. Check out what happened at yesterday's White House news conference --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[ Cell phone rings ]

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Give me the phone. Ok? This is -- come here. Let me see this thing. Come here, come here. Enhanced interrogation techniques. I'll be right back.

Oh!

Wow.

Oh!

Oh, no!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He threw your phone.

GIBBS: No, no, somebody caught it. Don't worry. I made the determination that the illumination of the sound was distracting to the briefing as the press secretary to the president of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You used the malady --

[ Cell phone ringing ]

GIBBS: You, too? You want to do this, too? Here, come on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello? Yeah, Gibbs wants to take my phone, but I don't think it's a good idea. No favoritism out here. Let me -- I'll explain later. GIBBS: There you are. Thank you. Come on. I assume it's your banker with a suit like that.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: I tell you what, Bill Plante there of CBS News, he has a lot of nerve. He kept the call and just left the room. So what do you do when ring tones are in the air? Well, why shouldn't they be. Let me know your thoughts on cell phone etiquette, cnn.com/newsroom or twitter.com/kyracnn and please try to keep your answers clean.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Dr. Matthew Houseal was a psychiatrist from Amarillo, Texas, he says he was in Iraq because he felt he needed to be. Keith Springle was there because it was his duty as a military psychologist. These men were in Iraq to help their comrades survive stress in combat. But it was stress that killed them. Along with Christian Bueno-Galdos who emigrated from Peru and earned three army commendation medals and Jacob Barton, whose grandmother, his mentor, said her grandson died trying to shield another man. And Michael Yates Jr. who told his mother he met the alleged gunman. As a matter of fact, he told his mother, quote, man, this guy's got issues.

Today, we lift up these five victims, as they finally come home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): The bodies of five soldiers, killed at a combat stress clinic in Iraq, are back, on U.S. soil. The plane carrying their flagged-draped coffins arrived after midnight at Dover Air Force Base. Joint Chiefs Chairman, Michael Mullen, was there, for the somber homecoming. Three of the soldiers' families allowed photographers to record what's normally private. Now home, Army Major Matthew Houseal of Amarillo, Texas. Army Sergeant Christian Bueno- Galdos of Paterson, New Jersey, Army Private 1st class Michael Yates of Federalsburg, Maryland, Navy Commander Charles Springle of Wilmington, North Carolina, and army Specialist Jacob Barton of Lenox, Missouri.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And they're the thin blue line between us and the bad guys. Police officers put themselves on the line and sometimes don't make it home. 387 new names chiseled into the stone of the national law enforcement officers' memorial in Washington. 133 of them killed in action last year. Family of fallen officers and police from across the country paid their respects. And when the sun set, Attorney General Eric Holder led a candlelight vigil with all 387 names read aloud.

This time next year, Officer Randy White's name should be on that wall. April 2nd, six weeks ago today he was trying to keep people safe, keep them out of the way of a high-speed police chase. He almost succeeded. No lives lost, except his own. Stolen SUV he was worried about that the other officers were chasing, plowed into him as he sat in his cruiser. He was declared dead at the scene. We remember Officer Randy White as part of our special focus on national police week.

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PHILLIPS: Well, there's no doubt about it. Most of us are addicted to our gadgets, right? Well, we have TVs, computers, cell phones, iPods, Blackberries, and the demand for all of them definitely is rising. But did you ever stop and think about how much energy all those gadgets use? CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow has and that's our energy fix for today. She's been adding it all up. Hey Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hey Kyra, I know you have one of these on your desk right, a Blackberry, we all do.

PHILLIPS: It's on silent.

HARLOW: It's on silent, mine, too. But we all have them and we talk about these energy-efficient cars and washing machines and dishwashers, but these things suck a lot of energy, too. There's a new report out we're going to tell you about from the International Energy Agency saying there are nearly 2 billion TVs in the world, there are going to be a billion computers next year, saying all these gadgets added up the energy demand is staggering. We're on track to triple our energy use on these electronics by 2030 that could mean the cost to all of us could hit $200 billion to meet that demand. This report says we'd have to build the equivalent of 200 new nuclear plants around the world. Some tips to cut your energy use on these, if you want to buy a new one, check the energy efficiency, the newer the product, generally the longer the lifespan on the batteries, so companies can use that as an incentive to lure in buyers. But what this report is saying that the government really needs to start putting labels on these, just like they do on cars and dishwashers, et cetera, for energy efficiency. We'll see if the government does that, Kyra, but it's an idea.

PHILLIPS: Well, and if people would have better, I guess, technology etiquette, we'd save even more money, right?

HARLOW: There you go. Trendy.

PHILLIPS: We'll be talking about that cell phone etiquette in just a minute.

Also, a college student's tough lesson about justice for all, his education derailed by a shooting, while the shooter dons a cap and gown this weekend.

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PHILLIPS: Well, it's an incredible story about a young man made a victim twice. First he's shot. Then he's wounded by the justice system. Giving up his dream while the shooter gets to fulfill his own. Here's CNN's Gary Tuchman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Atlanta's prestigious Morehouse College, about 500 people will graduate this weekend from the all-male school. Rashad Johnson was hoping to be one of them, his mother was going to fly in from California and so were his brothers and sisters. He says three generations of his family are Morehouse men, but he is not getting a diploma there, because his life took a detour when he was shot. He was pointing the gun at your head.

RASHAD JOHNSON, SHOOTING VICTIM: Yes.

TUCHMAN: And did you think he was going to kill you?

JOHNSON: Yeah, for sure.

TUCHMAN: Johnson grabbed the gunman's wrist and was shot in the leg three times, a bullet remains there.

JOHNSON: I felt the sharpest burning sensation when the first bullet hit my leg.

TUCHMAN: The man who shot him was a fellow Morehouse student. He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He faced the possibility of 20 years in prison. But the twist in the story is this -- unlike the man he shot, Joshua Brandon Norris will be graduating from Morehouse this weekend. How do you feel that this guy's going to be graduating from Morehouse this weekend and you're not?

JOHNSON: Sick. I really feel sick, like, how can this happen?

TUCHMAN: How this happened is quite remarkable. It all began at a Halloween party in 2007 at this Atlanta club. The club owner said he saw a man causing trouble.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bouncer apparently grabbed him and threw him out the front door.

TUCHMAN: Minutes later the people in the club heard gunshots. The club owner said the shooter was the man he saw kicked out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was very scary, yeah.

TUCHMAN: In court papers witnesses say the gunman got out of his Hummer and shot Rashad Johnson after a struggle. Johnson felt like he could not continue at Morehouse. His father had died three months earlier, so he went home to California to his mother and a local college.

JOHNSON: I mean I was in my weakest moment and I just needed to go home and be around the people I know who loved me and help my mom.

TUCHMAN: What the victim didn't know, though, is that the prosecutor was about to offer up a generous plea bargain deal for the shooter. This is the transcript from the court, the prosecutor declaring we'll recommend probation but no prison time and also you must remain in college and complete your college degree. The judge trusted the prosecutor and agreed to the deal, adding, you are getting the break of your life. The shooter and his attorney accepted the plea bargain and pleaded no contest. The defense attorney expected a much different outcome saying, "When we came here today, it was a prison offer. I heard what the prosecutor said and I want to thank him." Rashad Johnson and his mother were stunned. They say they were never even told about the court hearing.

FAHIZAH JOHNSON, VICTIM'S MOTHER: I felt outraged about the injustice to my son and the court system. The unfairness at the university.

TUCHMAN: That's because Morehouse allowed the shooter to stay at the school. Court papers say the school even made the decision before the sentencing.

(On camera): As you might imagine, we were quite eager to talk to key people here at Morehouse College about why they decided to let Joshua Brandon Norris come back to school, have they ever talked about safety considerations involving the other students here. And if they even considered the awkwardness and that's putting it mildly about the possibility of having the shooter and the shooting victim at the same school at the same time?

(Voice-over): The spokeswoman for Morehouse told us no one would go on camera. But in a statement provided to CNN the school said in part, "The college cannot comment on specific student conduct matters, incidents of inappropriate student behavior whether on or off campus." So what about that deal offered to the shooter? Go to college and do no time? We asked the prosecutor's boss.

PAUL HOWARD, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: You know, we're sorry this happened for so many reasons.

TUCHMAN: Paul Howard is the district attorney, and has 104 prosecutors. He said this prosecutor quit but would have been fired if he didn't. We haven't been able to locate him.

HOWARD: It was an inappropriate sentence. It seems like the wrong person got the right benefit.

TUCHMAN: Joshua Brandon Norris would not go on camera with us and neither would his attorney. But the lawyer told us his client is innocent and felt his life was threatened at the time of the shooting and was defending himself. As for the man Norris shot three times, he doesn't believe any of that is true. He plans to continue his education at Sacramento City College.

JOHNSON: Yeah, doing it (INAUDIBLE) for sure. Definitely for sure.

TUCHMAN: But he says he definitely no longer wants to be a Morehouse man. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.

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PHILLIPS: And by the way, the judge who okayed that sweet plea deal, he's been in the headlines before. Last year, he kicked all the whites out of his courtroom so he could lecture young black defendants about responsibility.

Rick Sanchez coming up in just a few minutes. Rick, what's going on?

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Nancy Pelosi bombed today at that news conference.

PHILLIPS: She bombed?

SANCHEZ: She bombed.

I mean, it was an opportunity for her to put an end to all the questions, to refute exactly what it was that was going on, whether she knew or didn't know about waterboarding six years ago as has been alleged. And I think the average American who watched that news conference comes off more confused now perhaps than he was when he went in. And if you look at it simply from an onus standpoint on where the attention is, on where the focus is, yesterday it was on the Bush administration and on Dick Cheney after Ali Soufan, that former FBI interrogator gave that stunning testimony, today the media's attention is going to be on Nancy Pelosi and the democrats. I mean pure and simple. It was not an effective news conference. By the way, I'm going to sit down and talk to somebody who's not -- who's not very happy with George Bush or with Barack Obama. Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico. He and I one-on-one exclusive. Back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thanks Rick.

You got your cell phone there?

SANCHEZ: I don't.

PHILLIPS: You don't?

SANCHEZ: I don't bring it because I'd be the stupid guy who leaves it on and then gets yelled at.

PHILLIPS: That's right and people would yell, will you turn that blanking thing off? How many times have you wanted to shout that out at a rude cell phone user? Obviously not Rick Sanchez. I'm guessing it's hard to count. We've been taking your comments on combating cell phone abuse and boy did we get some doozies.

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PHILLIPS: Hi everyone, I'm Kyra Phillips. Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. Hello, Val. I knew that was -- I knew that was you, because it was the "Kill Bill." And I'm -- and guess what? I'm going to kill you. Val is trying to make the point about inappropriate cell phone use. It can infuriate all of us, right, everyone around you. But we asked for your ideas on combating cell phone abuse and boy did you respond. Issactan says, "We still need more time to solidify what cell phone etiquette actually is." And then Ready5 says, "Confiscate them at the door." Hughg writes, "Regarding cell phone etiquette, the bigger question is how do you deal with the society that has never learned any rules of etiquette at all?" And another tweeter writes, "I imitate them whenever I'm talking to them or texting them so they'll know how offensive they are." And then Curious1966 says, "Personally, I just give them the stink eye." Someone you never want to give the stink eye to, that's Rick Sanchez, and he takes it from here.

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PELOSI: The CIA briefed me only once on enhanced interrogation techniques.

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SANCHEZ: Nancy Pelosi hit deep in dangerous waters on waterboarding, quoting Karl Rove.