Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Controversy Over President Obama's Planned Speech at Notre Dame Tomorrow; Battle Between Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich; Jon Huntsman Nominated to Be Ambassador to China
Aired May 16, 2009 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM on this 16th day of May.
His dream to be a Morehouse graduate was deferred when he was shot by a fellow student. Why a plea bargain in the case has outraged the victim's family.
Plus, passions flare over President Barack Obama's planned speech at Notre Dame tomorrow. A priest arrested, a former presidential candidate has been hauled off.
And we begin this hour with fresh salvos in the battle between current and former House Speakers, Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich. At issue, her briefings from the CIA on harsh interrogations techniques.
The complete background on this in just a moment, but listen to this new tape just in, with Gingrich today picking up where he left off yesterday. CNN caught up with Gingrich today outside the White House at the Brown versus Board of Education rally.
Gingrich blasts Pelosi for her news conference Thursday, and calls for a congressional inquiry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH, (R) FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I think that the fact that Leon Panetta, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, a former Democratic member of Congress and President Clinton's chief of staff, issued such a strong, clear statement yesterday puts enormous pressure on the House to open a formal investigation.
It seems to me on her press conference on Thursday, that speaker Pelosi lied on two counts. She lied, first, about the specific meeting. And then she defamed every person in the intelligence community by asserting that the CIA routinely misinformed congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So here's exactly what the Pelosi -- Pelosi, rather, said to elicit the wrath of Gingrich and fellow Republicans --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA) HOUSE SPEAKER: The CIA was misleading the Congress. And at the same time the administration was misleading the Congress on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, to which I said, this intelligence does not support the imminent threat, to which the president 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)
WHITFIELD: So this controversy ignited on Thursday, and it has been blazing as a political wildfire ever since. Here's CNN's Tom Foreman for an overview on Newt versus Nancy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Someone is not telling the whole truth, but who? Trying to track that down starts with a briefing the CIA gave to Representative Pelosi in the fall of 2002.
As a leader of the intelligence committee, she insists she was misled in that meeting about when or even if harsh interrogation techniques were used against suspected terrorists, including Al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah.
PELOSI: Those briefings in 2002 gave me inaccurate and incomplete information. The only mention of waterboarding at that briefing was that it was not being employed.
FOREMAN: "No way." That is the sentiment from President Obama's own CIA director and Pelosi's fellow California Democrat, Leon Panetta, in a note to his staff obtained by CNN.
"Let me be clear, it is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. That is against our laws and our values. Our contemporaneous records from September 2002 indicate that CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing the enhanced techniques that had been employed."
Pelosi has admitted for the first time this week she was told about the so-called torture techniques back in 2003, but said nothing because of secrecy rules.
It is all feeding a Republican frenzy. They see Pelosi tarring Bush officials over the interrogations, but ducking her own culpability. The latest to pile on, former Speaker Newt Gingrich on ABC Radio.
GINGRICH: I think this is the most despicable, dishonest, and vicious political effort I have seen in my lifetime.
FOREMAN: And at once trying to do damage control and turn up the heat on others, the speaker issued a late statement, saying in part, "My criticism of the manner in which the Bush administration did not appropriately inform Congress is separate from my respect for those in the intelligence community who work to keep other country safe." (on camera): Still, she remains caught between Republicans who are accusing her of hypocrisy and some of other own Democrats, who are wondering why if Nancy Pelosi believed for six years America was torturing prisoners, she did not sound the alarm.
Who's not telling the truth? We still don't know for sure, but it feels like we're getting closer.
Tom foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: We're not done with this. Let's talk some more on this. Lynne Sweet is along with us. She is the Washington bureau chief for the "Chicago Sun-Times" and a columnist for politicsdaily.com.
All right, good to see you, Lynn.
LYNN SWEET, COLUMNIST, "CHICAGO SUN-TIMES": Good afternoon.
WHITFIELD: One has to wonder whether there will be a full-scale investigation launched among other House leadership to find out exactly what she knew and when she knew it, and why is there so much confusion right now?
SWEET: Well, here's what I think will happen, that the by- product of all of this uproar over Pelosi will be taken as a -- in proportion to the bigger question of what exactly happened when it came to the use by the United States of enhanced interrogation techniques.
So if there is a book out there on what the U.S. did on these enhanced interrogation techniques, so-called torture, then sure, what Pelosi knew might be a chapter in it. But ...
WHITFIELD: So meaning when that vernacular was used, "enhanced techniques," because Leon Panetta is saying that she and other members of the House were, indeed, briefed on these enhanced techniques. You say it was an issue of, did they really know what the enhanced techniques were? What was fully encompassed in that dialogue?
SWEET: Yes. And here's how -- what this debate -- look, it's not great for Nancy Pelosi. But she's a strong political figure, and I presume she will weather this, because she's been through this before.
But what this does do is put fuel to the idea that there should be some kind of truth commission or tribunal dealing with what really happened. Let's get the history straight.
WHITFIELD: And already the White House is saying, wait a minute, we don't want to get involved in this.
SWEET: Absolutely. WHITFIELD: The question was asked to Robert Gibbs during the press briefing on Friday, and he was like, "No," staying away from this completely.
But will the White House at some point be roped into this? Will they have to choose sides? Will they have to offer some clarity?
SWEET: No, not necessarily. The White House -- President Obama has not wanted to have to look back for a long time. He's now come to the point where he says let's just wait and see what the Senate Intelligence Committee does.
Nancy Pelosi is one of the strongest proponents of having a truth commission. If that's so, then what she knew when will be part of the inquiry.
The idea, though, there should be some singling and just to have an inquiry just on what she knew or not seems to me not to be the question. The question is, what exactly happened during this chapter of U.S. history?
I understand why the Bush administration wants us to look forward. This whole conversation is a distraction to them, just as the ongoing discussion about what to do with the Guantanamo prisoners, which President Obama will talk about next week, I think.
WHITFIELD: And perhaps this really offers a feather in the cap to Republicans, or at least helps them with some footing to be cohesive on a particular agenda on a particular item, and this might be that item.
SWEET: Absolutely. Because it is -- it is a rallying cry for them to use this escalation that Speaker Pelosi has over what she knew, who told her.
And, obviously, when you accuse the CIA of lying and misleading, that's a big deal. And the Republicans are rallying against her.
May I point out that the Republicans have rallied against Speaker Pelosi ever since she became Speaker. How many times did you hear "San Francisco liberal," or whatever. But this is something that takes it up to a higher level.
But I think what Speaker Pelosi and her aides are doing is saying, you want to ask this question? Fine. We're all for a truth commission. And we'll just let the facts sift out where they may, and the whole story, not just the one episode dealing with the speaker.
WHITFIELD: All right, Lynn Sweet, thanks so much, joining us from Washington.
SWEET: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: With the "Chicago Sun-Times." Appreciate it.
All right, antiabortion groups are in an uproar over President Obama's planned graduation speech tomorrow at the University of Notre Dame. They're angry the Catholic university would invite a pro- abortion rights, pro-embryonic stem cell research president to give the address.
CNN's Susan Candiotti is following this controversy and joins us live from South Bend, Indiana, where it looks like you got a few more folks on campus today. But no signs of protests right now, right?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, no signs of any protests right now.
But there was a rally and protest off campus just about an hour or two ago. And we understand that some people were arrested. These are rallies going on all the time.
But in terms of whether the students are planning to rally at the president's commencement speech tomorrow, I'm told by some of those student protesters that nothing is planned to disrupt his speech.
In fact, the students told me that they talked about whether they should stand up and face the other way, whether they should perhaps say the rosary loudly. They said they rejected those ideas.
Instead, they said some of them who will attend plan to put a cutout of a cross on a (INAUDIBLE) board, and also a cutout of baby's feet. And they will also be staging outside the ceremony, but on campus, a prayer vigil and a rally as well.
Now, off-campus, different story, Fredricka. There are more protests and demonstrations planned, some that have been happening for the past few weeks. For example, yesterday, former presidential candidate Alan Keyes was arrested, as well as a Catholic priest. Again, these have been going on for several days, if not weeks, now.
In fact, these anti-abortion groups even hired a plane at one point, and on a daily basis they have been hiring that plane to tow a banner that shows a bloody fetus on it.
Notre Dame students who support the decision to honor President Obama with an honorary law degree, call him an inspiring leader, even if they don't necessarily agree with all of his views.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL ANGULO, NOTRE DAME SENIOR: He's also one who understands the tragic situation that every abortion in this country is and is willing to do something about it, to reduce the number. And that's something the opposition refuses to concede.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: One student protester who disagrees with the decision to have President Obama speak says he's going to the graduation ceremony anyway, and here's why ...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRIS LABADIE, NOTRE DAME STUDENT: It's the end. It's the celebration of the past four years, and a celebration of all of the sacrifices that I have made and that my parents have made for the last 21 years to make sure that I got to this point. And it was -- it seemed like I couldn't take that away from them just because of this one issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: And of the ceremony, this same student says, "I will listen to what the president says. I'll go my way, and then the president will go his" -- Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: All right, Susan Candiotti, right there in the center of campus there in South Bend, Indiana. Appreciate it.
And, of course, here's a programming note -- rushing a little deeper into why there is this is this divide, mostly among Catholics, over President Obama's scheduled speech at the mostly Catholic university.
Join us today, 4:00 p.m. Eastern, 1:00 Pacific. We want to hear from you as well, so send us your responses, your questions, and your comments.
All right, during that hour, we'll also have a live coverage of Michelle Obama's commencement speech at the University of California Merced. That is in our 4:00 Eastern hour as well.
Recently, reelected as Utah's governor, Jon Huntsman may soon be leaving Salt Lake City for Beijing. President Obama has nominated him as ambassador to China. Even though he's a Republican who campaigned for John McCain, the president says Governor Huntsman is, quote, "the kind of leader who puts country ahead of party."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Time and again he's brought people together across party lines to overcome our common challenges and to move our nation forward.
What Jon brings to this post isn't just a steadfast commitment to advancing the interest of the American people. It's a lifetime of knowledge and experience that will help advance this important partnership.
GOV. JON HUNTSMAN, (R) NOMINATED AS AMBASSADOR TO CHINA: I wasn't looking for a new job in life, but a call from the president changed that. So, Mr. President, I humbly accept your call to service.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: As a former ambassador to Singapore and one-time U.S. trade representative, Huntsman is expected to easily win confirmation. The death toll is up to 20 people in missile strike in northwest Pakistan. It happened this morning in the town of Mir Alix. A Pakistani official tells CNN the missiles dropped from an unmanned aircraft, hit a religious school.
The area has long been a haven for Taliban extremists and has been previously targeted by the U.S. military despite complaints from Pakistan that the air strikes violate its sovereignty.
And at least nine people dead, another 33 wounded in a car bombing in Peshawar, Pakistan. The explosion ripped through a school bus and an Internet cafe. The blast happened roughly 10 hours after the missile strike in Waziristan.
Still no claims of responsibility for that attack.
And it is a move that is expected move to impact thousands of job losses, Chrysler shutting down almost 100 dealerships. You will hear from an owner of one of them when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, days of storms, miles of destruction in central Oklahoma. Members of the Wichita Community Church say they will rebuild somehow.
It has been concerned that a powerful tornado hit their church and a lot of other buildings in town, as you see right there. Three people died in the eastern part of the state, where two other tornadoes also touched down.
Our reporter Michael Ambrosia on the scene in the devastated Adair County and sending us those images.
Jacqui Jeras is in the weather center. Boy, some very, very violent weather that we have been seeing all spring long, really.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, it's been very, very active. And certainly this weekend is no different. We do expect to see some severe weather, especially in the northeastern quarter today.
But overall, the weather picture is just active. Take a look at this. We've got thunderstorms all over the place, from the northeast down to the south into the deep south, and on up. And it's going to continue to pop up all over the place.
If you're trying to plan your barbecue or heading to the pool this weekend a little bit early, it's going to be rough going, as you will be dodging a lot of these thunderstorms.
A severe thunderstorm watch had been issued here across western parts of Pennsylvania, on through upstate New York.
And also take notice right here, some pretty nasty thunderstorms moving in and through the Syracuse area, and some of these extend a little farther up to the north. And you're not in that watch.
So keep in mind if you're near the watch area, sometimes you can get isolated severe thunderstorms as well.
Into the southeast, nothing severe here, but do expect to see heavy downpours. Some of these thunderstorms can put down an inch- plus of rain per hour.
And now one area where the rain is certainly welcome news, places like Austin down towards San Antonio. We have not seen rain here in quite some time, and with drought conditions gripping much of the state of Texas, this is welcome news.
The rain not so welcome in places like the Tennessee valley here and across parts of the deep south, where we do have flood watches which remain in effect.
Trying to travel today by the airway, that's going to be some rough-going travel. Atlanta, we've got some ground delays of over an hour here, JFK, Newark, San Francisco and Charlotte also some having delays.
And there you can see those low, overcast conditions in Atlanta. Not the best weekend to be outside. Glad to be working today inside.
WHITFIELD: Yes, I am.
Jacqui, would you do this? Take a look.
If you had the expertise, you know what I mean? Would you be 350 miles above earth carrying out repairs like this on the Hubble telescope? Probably the answer is yes, if you had the expertise, this is exactly what you would want to be doing.
Well, this is the third of five space walks taking place there at the Hubble telescope, where astronauts are trying to fix the Hubble survey camera using some pretty tiny tools, and in some cases some rather large ones as well, plus they are trying to make sure dozens of other pieces don't actually fly away.
And they're hoping that a lot of the -- there's a lot of debris in space there. They're hoping not to get hit by it or disrupted in any way of what exactly they're doing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF JOHN KENNEDY, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Man and his quest for knowledge and progress is determined and cannot be deterred.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Well, that was then. NASA's gearing up for a special anniversary. Monday will actually mark the 40th anniversary of the "Apollo 10" flight. The mission was considered a dress rehearsal for "Apollo 11" the flight first put man on the moon. As part of the celebration, John F. Kennedy's Presidential Library and museum is opening a space exploration exhibit this weekend in Boston.
Working crazy hours? Who isn't these days? And perhaps you're probably not getting enough sleep either.
Well, a lot of us face that every week, every day, in fact. But most of us do not have the lives of dozens of people in our hands.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: In about 24 hours from now, CNN will be bringing you the president's address, the commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame. That's 2:00 eastern time and 11:00 pacific tomorrow, Sunday.
Meantime, President Obama's choice to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is New York City's top health official.
Dr. Thomas Friedan pushed through a ban on smoking in almost all New York City workplaces, and after that, restaurants in the city were banned from cooking with trans-fats.
At the CDC, Friedan will face decisions about dealing with the H1N1 flu virus, including whether to develop a vaccine. You saw a lot from him when New York was dealing with that swine flu crisis.
The CDC says there are more than 4,700 confirmed or probable cases of swine flu in the U.S. The World Health Organization is now reporting 72 deaths linked to the H1N1 virus, 66 of those are in Mexico. Infections have turned up in 36 countries.
Six schools have now been shut down in New York to stop the spread of the virus. An assistant principal at one of the schools is hospitalized and still in critical condition.
No secret, the more tired you are, the harder it is to focus. And that could spell disaster. As investigators search for the cause for the recent plane crash near Buffalo, New York, CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, examines pilot fatigue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN CALDWELL, SENIOR SCIENTIST, FATIGUE SCIENCE: For a long time we thought, well, if you have the right stuff, if we train you enough, if we give you the best equipment, then you won't have fatigue-related problems. But now we know that, that's just simply not the case.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: John Caldwell is an expert on pilot fatigue. For years, he was lead researcher in the Air Force Fatigue Countermeasures program.
CLADWELL: The NTSB had a report basically saying there were more commercial accidents in crews that had been awake longer than in those that had not.
Your reaction time is slower. Your attention span becomes shorter. Your memory is somewhat impaired.
And so all of those are bad things when you're having to rapidly assimilate information, when you have got a lot of people's lives at stake depending on the accuracy of your performance.
GUPTA: Caldwell says night flights, jet lag, multiple flight legs, changing shifts, and insufficient rest between shifts all contribute to pilot fatigue.
Airline pilots occasionally work up to 16 consecutive hours, sometimes with schedules this leave time for only five or six hours for sleep.
As a result, this 767 pilot said captains and first officers often trade notes on how tired they are.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you have to be honest with each other, and as the day moves on to go, I didn't get a great night's sleep last night. Keep an eye on me.
GUPTA: On regional airlines, where pilots do more takeoffs and landings, fatigue may be a bigger problem.
A 1999 survey of more than 1,400 crew members at regional carriers found 80 percent -- 80 percent had nodded off during a flight, something this pilot is familiar with. He asked we not show his face and alter his voice so it could not be recognized.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're doing the head bop to keep yourself awake type of thing. You just have to kind of get into it, just shake yourself awake and get focusing again.
GUPTA: The crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 has investigators focused again on a very basic and very dangerous human frailty -- fatigue.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Two brothers, both car dealers for 22 years, and now they're tapped to shut down because of the Chrysler closings.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Happening right now, President Obama's commencement speech tomorrow at the University of Notre Dame is drawing more protests. Antiabortion groups are upset the Catholic university is giving Mr. Obama an honorary degree.
On Thursday, Chrysler gave pink slips to nearly 800 dealerships across the country, and on Friday similar cuts coming from General Motors. GM notified 1,100 dealerships it's terminating their -- it will be terminating their contracts, costing thousands of jobs. Those cuts are part of a greater plan to shutter as many as 2,600 dealerships by the end of the year. It's all part of GM's desperate cost-cutting plan. The automaker lost $6 billion in the first quarter this year. GM's CEO says the company may not be able to avoid filing for bankruptcy.
As CNN's Mary Snow reports, Chrysler and GM dealership closings are not just tough on the dealers, but their communities.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For brothers Rob and Rick Engel, a business that took 22 years to build unraveled within minutes when they got a phone call and letter telling them it was over for their two Chrysler car dealerships.
ROB ENGEL, CHRYSLER DEALER: I'm very upset. Shock, no doubt anger may set in. It's a decision that is, for us, very illogical.
SNOW: The Engels expected one but not both of their dealerships to be on the cutting block. They say they have been profitable through the economic downturn. And while they plan to appeal, they don't know what comes next.
RICK ENGEL, CHRYSLER DEALER: People ask us what we do for a living. And we don't say that we own a car dealership. We say that we are car dealers. So it's a little bit of a difference.
This is our life. It's all I know.
ROB ENGEL: It's our identity.
SNOW: Their father escaped the Nazis, joined the British Army, and was trained to fix tanks and jeeps. He got into the car business, and his sons followed suit, owning two dealerships, employing 60 people. Some have been here from the start.
Throughout the day, they delivered the grim news to workers. As they did, other dealers were in Washington pleading with lawmakers for help.
JOHN MCELENEY, NADA CHAIRMAN: We understand there's going to be a consolidation of dealers. We just think the process needs to be slowed down.
SNOW: Chrysler, which detailed its plan in bankruptcy court, blamed the unprecedented decline in the industry, saying it plans to make the action final on June 9th. And along with jobs lost, communities like Wyckoff, New Jersey, will feel the effects of dealerships no longer sponsoring local teams, charities and businesses.
RICK ENGEL: We're consistently asked by local groups, whether it's a local Boy Scout who's putting together a project and needs $50 to...
ROB ENGEL: To something larger.
RICK ENGEL: ... something larger.
ROB ENGEL: ... Cystic Fibrosis or...
RICK ENGEL: Leukemia.
ROB ENGEL: ... Leukemia, or any of these things that we support.
SNOW (on camera): And this dealership has made its mark on this community. It's been here since 1988. And for many of these small towns, losing these dealerships could also mean losing their biggest employers.
Mary Snow, CNN, Wyckoff, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Geoffrey Pohanka was the director of the National Automobile Dealers Associations from 2001 until early this year. Well right now he owns 18 dealerships in the Washington, D.C., area. And he learned Thursday that he is losing his Chrysler dealership.
I spoke with him earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEOFFREY POHANKA, PAST DIRECTOR, NATL. AUTOMOBILE DEALERS ASSN: It's a very bitter pill because under bankruptcy, we're given very little notice and we have 26 days to basically close our doors and dispose of several million of new car inventory. So it's a shock. It's a surprise and a difficult position for us.
WHITFIELD: So it is a surprise to you because as they -- I guess Chrysler was saying, they were looking at dealerships that weren't moving merchandise quickly.
POHANKA: Well, a lot of dealers aren't moving merchandise quickly, like all franchises right now, because the market is down so much. Certainly, we hoped that our store would have been one of the ones that would have continued on.
WHITFIELD: So what do you do with the $7 million in merchandise? Are you talking about cars, new cars? Where do you put them? Is there any way to, I guess, get some money in return?
POHANKA: Well normally, the franchise agreed with the manufacturer calls for them to buy back unsold cars and unsold parts. In this case with the bankruptcy, they're not doing that. The dealer has to deal with it.
WHITFIELD: So how are you going to deal with it? What do you do? I mean, you couldn't move them under ordinary circumstances.
POHANKA: Well, we're going to have one big, giant sale. WHITFIELD: OK so tell me about this sale then. I mean, is this going to be one of those that customers see it and say I just simply can't believe it, they're giving their vehicles away?
POHANKA: Well, the best time for a customer to buy a car is when the dealer needs to sell a car and there are about 800 Chrysler dealers that need to sell cars today. So the White House has guaranteed the warranty repairs on those cars, so the customer can buy Chrysler without fear that he can't get service in the future.
But we're going to have a gigantic sale. We're going to make a lot of deals. Now our store may continue on in another form, may sell used cars there or service other makes of cars. So some of employees may continue on but it's a very difficult decision for us.
WHITFIELD: Well that is difficult too from a customer standpoint because I guess it sounds great. There may be some incredible incentives. You all will have rock-bottom sales, putting words in your mouth. Having great sales that will lure me in as a customer. But then I have to wonder if Chrysler is closing 800 dealerships across the country and I buy this brand-new Chrysler, what's going to happen a year from now when I need to get my car repaired? What will happen to that warranty? Are other dealerships going to be gone? Is Chrysler soon to be obsolete?
POHANKA: Well a lot of the reduction in dealer counts are in urban areas where there are lots of dealers. So there still will be coverage for customers to get their cars repaired. That shouldn't be a difficulty.
WHITFIELD: What about your employees? You've got a staff that, you know, really has become your family. Pohanka dealerships really is a staple in the Washington, D.C., area. I mentioned you've got 18 of them. But for some of your employees who have been with you for a very long time, maybe even decades, what are they going to do?
POHANKA: Well, we are very concerned about our team members. We have some great people who have been with our company a long time. And we're going to do the best for them that we can. We hope to offer them jobs in that facility, in a new business or somewhere else where we can. A lot of dealers around the country will be faced with bankruptcy and liquidation. So clearly, Chrysler dealers that are closing down in most cases will just shut their doors and will terminate their employees. We hope not to do that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, Geoffrey Pohanka there. Pohanka hopes that once all of the cuts are over and the economy rebounds, he hopes the industry will indeed recover.
All right, 55 years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling to desegregate schools in America, education leaders say they're still -- there's still a lot to be done and there's a lack of equality. Today, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and the Reverend Al Sharpton joined a rally outside the White House to mark the anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REVEREND AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: The government must make sure that funds and resources are equally distributed. We travel around this country where in the same city under the same school administration, different districts have different things. There's differences in who is computerized, differences in the updating of schoolbooks, quality of teachers, quality of administrators.
So in the meeting that we had just 10 days ago with the president, I believe he's committed to making it equal. Today's gathering and people are coming here from all over the country, are showing that A, we salute what happened but now let's finish the quest for equal educational opportunity for all American citizens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And Reverend Sharpton said a lot of people were there, including the chancellor of New York City schools, also in attendance at that rally.
All right, America's population changing quickly. Brand-new figures from the U.S. Census Bureau showing the country is becoming more diverse and reaching a turning point among children in particular. Our Josh Levs is here with all of that. You have been delving into the figures and trying to make sense of it all.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is interesting Fred, coming right out of what were just seeing there, Brown vs. Board of Ed, the way that America has been changing. Even changed this decade. By the way, this number right here, U.S. population, you can keep track of it at census.gov.
Now what's so interesting about the brand new figures, let's just get straight to it. I've got a graphic for you here. What you are going to see is the breakdown. The country is now one-third minority. Technically just over a 34 percent minority in the country is up. You can see it crossed that one-third mark this decade.
And here's the breakdown for you. The next graphic of major minority groups in the country, you've got 15 percent of the country is Hispanic, 14 percent black or African-American, 5 percent Asian. You're seeing these groups grow.
But the real turning point here is among kids. Take a look at this last graphic here, 47 percent of children under the age five are considered minorities, Fred. And the minority groups are growing. So at this rate, it really will not be long before you can say the majority of children born in the United States are considered minorities.
WHITFIELD: Wow. And also part of this interactive location you've got, we can also find out, look at the map and find out where geographically we're seeing, I guess a greater boom than in other places. LEVS: Exactly. It's really interesting. Want to zoom right in right here. I'll show this to you. This is from CNNMoney.com. And what they've done is they've broken it out for different states here. And so you can tell, this is overall population, the red. But the blue shows who has more minorities. Now not a lot of surprises. You've got California, Texas, obviously, Hawaii, Pacific Islanders are considered minorities.
But any country, especially when you see it up close, what you see is you can look at your state, tell what shade of blue it is, where it falls into that. And also the folks at CNN Money have put together some other stuff. The median age in the country, how relatively old the population in your state and how quickly is it growing.
So you've got a lot of choices right there on CNNMoney.com. And it helps paints this whole picture, Fred. And you know what, I'll tell you something. It's a little tricky to find just because it's got a long URL but when I'm off the air here, I'm going to take all these things and I'm going to post them right here on my Facebook page, Josh Levs CNN and then Twitter.com.
WHITFIELD: Oh, good, folks will have shortcuts.
LEVS: Yes, it's so much easier. Tiny URL, way to go.
WHITFIELD: OK, that sounds good, thanks so much. Of course the U.S. Census Bureau is undergoing a whole lot of changes this year. They have even employed significantly new people as well. Thanks, Josh, appreciate it.
All right, they are off. Will today's Preakness be the last major horserace we see at the famed Pimlico track?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, checking news across America now. Police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are trying to identify the body of a little boy found buried at a public playground. Police don't think that he had been dead more than 48 hours. They're combing the neighborhood for evidence and they're looking for clues as to finding the identity of this child.
All right, in West Texas, look at that dramatic fire near the town of La Mesa. A dozen tanks filled with oil by-products were apparently struck by lightning. One tank created a huge fireball as it exploded. And out of Buffalo, New York ...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OFC. JOSE VEGA, BUFFALO POLICE: Every morning I wake up and pray that the lord will make me an instrument at his disposal. And on this day, my prayers were answered.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: All right, he's talking about the quick thinking of Police Officer Jose Vega. He sprang into action giving CPR to a toddler who stopped breathing after an allergic reaction to medication. The parents were rushing the child to the hospital when they flagged Vega down. The tot was hospitalized in critical but stable condition.
All right, this week marks the one-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake in central China, which killed more than 68,000 people and left millions more homeless. Many survivors are getting help rebuilding their lives from a new group called Stand Tall.
CNN's Alex Zolbert looks at their effort in today's "Impact Your World" segment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX ZOLBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than 90,000 people killed, roughly 370,000 more injured in the Sichuan earthquake. Many of those children. The images were gut-wrenching. The need for urgent medical care was overwhelming and an idea was coming together hundreds of miles away in Hong Kong.
K.M. CHAN, ORTHOPEDIA SURGEON: There were a lot of patients, very young patients. As an orthopedic surgeon, the only thing I was thinking at that time is can I do anything?
ZOLBERT: The aid group Stand Tall was formed. Its aim, to fit some of the most severely injured with prosthetic limbs, including 12- year-old Chen Ya Chow (ph), who lost his arm in the quake. He still dreams of playing table tennis for China someday. Fourteen-year-old Gao Ying (ph) has new prosthetic legs and she's already running again. They are just some of the 1,000 patients Stand Tall has treated so far, bringing some here to Hong Kong for checkups and rehab work, as well as a trip to Disneyland.
Ma Yuen Zhang (ph) was working at a power plant when the quake hit. He was trapped under the rubble for seven days. His arm crushed. "I'm recovering well," he says. "I appreciate everyone who's helped me. I'm going to enjoy every moment of my life."
Twelve year old Niu Yu (ph) lost her leg. Today she says she just wants to go to the castle and meet a princess.
CHAN: With the stamina of the patient and the willpower and the team of professionals working together, we can make miracles and we can achieve something that these people can serve.
ZOLBERT: While also helping them try to regain some sense of normalcy after a very dramatic year.
Alex Zolbert, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And you can read more about Stand Tall's work online on CNN.com/ImpactYourWorld, plus learn how you can help survivors.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, the Preakness gets under way at Pimlico Racecourse in Maryland in about three hours from now. But will it mark the final stretch for the famed track? The raceway has faced a great deal of economic uncertainty in recent years, and its owner has filed for bankruptcy. Here now is Larry Smith.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY SMITH, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These seats will be filled at Pimlico Racecourse Saturday, but these stables won't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they're off.
SMITH: And the cheers for the 134th running of the Preakness will be heard by precious few on the near abandoned backstretch of the famed track.
WILLIE KEE, MARYLAND THOROUGHBRED TRAINER: Any day now somebody could come and say, OK, we're done. Or they can say, OK, you have to move. I mean, that's what these last couple of years has been like.
SMITH: Willie Kee has lived his life in the horse business and loved nearly every minute of it.
KEE: I'm 50 now. I was 15-years-old. And my father, he said come on, come to the races, I'm going to teach you the game. And it's been a lot of fun. Up until recently.
SMITH: Pimlico is home for Kee, a home in desperate need of repairs. In September, the track closed its barn area for the winter for the first time since 1985. Hundreds of all hands like Elsworth Williams have been allowed to live for free above the stables to be closer to the nearly 1,000 horses they tended to throughout a meet. It's a necessary perk to bolster meager pay.
ELSWORTH WILLIAMS, PIMLICO GROOM: The provided rooms, you know, places to live, plus employment. You know. But since then, it just started withering down to what we've got now, you know, which is nothing it's really when you come down to it.
SMITH: In March, the track's owner Magna Entertainment filed for bankruptcy and will try to sell Pimlico at auction in August. In the meantime, live racing has been cut to a mere 21 days, making a tough living even tougher to make.
KEE: A lot of people decided not to move back because by the time you get in here, it's time you leave. The meet has already been shortened a little bit by a little bit every year. And then this year it was just -- it's a joke. I mean, it's the Preakness and that's it.
SMITH: Pimlico's future has been debated in Maryland for years as horse racing's popularity has waned. But there seems to be one sure bet. Without the Preakness, odds are Pimlico would have been closed already.
KEE: The Preakness is this track. Without the Preakness, Maryland racing wouldn't exist.
WILLIAMS: This is like the oldest track in the country. Why should they let it go away?
TOM CHUCKAS, PRESIDENT OF PIMLICO RACE COURSE: We feel the same way. We don't have a disagreement with that. It's just right now, we're trying to do what we have to do to make sure come a year from now, two years or five years from now we're still here.
SMITH: Larry Smith, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, two college students, one shoots and wounds the other. The shooter will graduate this weekend. His victim will not.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Atlanta's Morehouse College will hold its graduation tomorrow. And one would-be grad is not celebrating. In fact, he's outraged. He was shot by another student and won't fulfill his dream of being a Morehouse grad.
But as CNN's Gary Tuchman reports, the shooter will.
(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.
(on camera) He was pointing the gun to your head.
RASHAD JOHNSON, SHOT BY CLASSMATE: Yes.
TUCHMAN: Did you think he was going to kill you?
R. JOHNSON: Yes. For sure.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Johnson grabbed the gunman's wrist and was shot in the leg three times. A bullet remains there.
R. JOHNSON: I felt the sharpest burning sensation when I first -- it first 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.
(on camera) How do you feel that this guy is going to be graduating from Morehouse this weekend, and you're not?
R. JOHNSON: Sick. I really feel sick, like how could this happen?
TUCHMAN (voice-over): 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.
BRAD LEV, CLUB OWNER: 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.
LEV: It was very scary, yes.
TUCHMAN: In court papers, witnesses say the gunmen 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.
R. JOHNSON: I was at my weakest moment and I just needed to go home and be around the people I know who love 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, it is 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. If 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 from Morehouse told us no one would go on camera, but in the statement provided to CNN, the school in part, "The college cannot 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: We're sorry this happened for so many reasons.
TUCHMAN: Paul Howard is the district attorney and has 104 prosecutors. He says 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, felt his life was threatened at the time of the shooting, and was defending himself.
As for the man who Norris shot three times, he doesn't believe any of that is true. He plans to continue his education at Sacramento City College.
JOHNSON: Yes, I do want to get into law school, for sure, definitely, for sure.
TUCHMAN: But he says he definitely no longer wants to be a Morehouse man.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
