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Taking on Dick Cheney; Dying Teen Gets Wish, Sees Parents; Mexico Earthquake; President Obama Signs Credit Card Reform Bill; Taking on Cheney
Aired May 22, 2009 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez with the next generation of news. This is a conversation. This is not a speech. And, yes, it's your turn to get involved. So, let's do it.
Americans angry at credit card companies for jacking up their rates without first letting them know that it's going to happen or even why it happens.
By the way, let me show you something. Here's the White House, because the president is going to be coming out any minute now. He's going to be signing a bill that he says is going to protect you against this, protect you against what the credit card companies can do to you. And you are going to see it live from the White House right here. There's our cameras in place. Our photographers are ready to shoot this event as soon as the president comes out.
By the way, while we wait for that, there's something else I want to show you. I want you to watch an ironic moment. This is the president of the United States today congratulating John McCain's son on graduating from the Naval Academy. Yes, there's the moment. You're watching John Sidney McCain. He's the -- John Sidney McCain IV, by the way, as in the fourth McCain to graduate from the academy and the fourth with the same name.
Jack, as he's known, received a degree and a warm embrace from President Obama, as you just saw before accepting a commission as an ensign in the U.S. Navy, literally a century or more, specifically, 103 years, after his great grandfather did the same thing.
Now, there's more to this, by the way. As commencement speaker, the president had a chance to actually do something for these young cadets today. And I want you to watch what happened before the handshake. This is good TV. Let's watch it together.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, I know it's customary at graduation for guests to bring a gift. And I have. All midshipmen on restriction for minor conduct offenses are hereby officially absolved.
(APPLAUSE)
I did say "minor." (LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: Midshipmen, I'm told that the extra ribbon on your chest is for the honor you earned, for only the second time in the storied history of the Naval Academy -- the Navy's Meritorious Unit Commendation Award. So I have consulted with Admiral Fowler, and I can make this announcement: For all you midshipmen returning next fall, I hereby grant you something extra -- an extra weekend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Pretty cool moment isn't it?
Here's another moment that happened today that I think you should see, because it seems like journalists and politicians and no doubt many of you turned up the volume today while you were watching CNN when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called another news conference to talk to reporters.
And here's the reason for this. It's obvious enough. Remember the last time she called a news conference? In fact, you heard it right here on this show. Look, essentially, she bombed, right? She bombed. She was, all right, to say the very least, flustered when she did that. This is from back then.
She couldn't seem to explain when or where she had or possibly had not been told about water-boarding back in 2002 or perhaps 2003. And Dana Bash asked her the questions which then made her even more confused.
Well, that apparently wasn't going to happen again today. I want you to watch this now. And I also want you to take a listen to how she deals very directly with a follow-up question regarding the K Street project.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Madam Speaker, since last week, when you knew when and your comments about misleading, being misled by the CIA have been big, big news. But Leader Boehner has said produce evidence that you were misled or apologize. CIA Director Panetta has said that, you know, the CIA is not in the practice of misleading Congress.
What's...
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: I have made the statement that I'm going make on this. I don't have anything more to say about it. I stand by my comments. And what we are doing is staying on our course and not be distracted from it in this distractive mode. We're going forward in a bipartisan way for jobs, health care, and energy for our country. And on the subject that you asked, I have made the statement that I'm going to make. I won't have anything more to that about it.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
PELOSI: I won't have anything more to say about it.
Another subject?
QUESTION: You have criticized the GOP, as you know, in the past, for the K Street project. And your friends, the Republicans now say that...
PELOSI: I'm sorry. What?
QUESTION: The K Street project.
PELOSI: Yes.
QUESTION: Your friends, the Republicans, now say that Democrats and you are resorting to money politics, developing allies to K Street to help raise money and cutting deals on bills. How do you respond?
PELOSI: That's just simply not true. I remind you that the Washington Post, at the time the Republicans were in power, said that what was happening on Capitol Hill was like a criminal syndicate run out of the office of the majority leader, Mr. DeLay at the time.
There's nothing -- we have drained that swamp. It's simply not happening.
Steny, do you have anything?
(CROSSTALK)
REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD), MAJORITY LEADER: Let me just say there is no K Street project, period.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Period, with punctuation. Now, remember the K Street project? That was Tom DeLay's -- Tom DeLay's revolving door between House Republicans and Washington, D.C., lobbyists that ultimately led to several prosecutions, including the prosecution of lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- Abramoff. Pardon me.
By the way, there's something I want to do right here. Claude (ph), let's do this. Let's split the screen for the viewers at home. I want you to see two things. I want you to see President Obama, who's going to be giving a speech in a moment -- or not President Obama, but the venue where President Obama is going to be giving the speech. That's part of the White House lawn where everything is prepared for him to speak.
And then I also want you to see a shot of somebody we have invited to this newscast to give you an opinion which is very much going to be a contrarian opinion to that which the president is going to say.
See, this is about your credit cards and whether or not the credit card companies can simply jack up your rates whenever they want, to the point where you're caught by surprise and you end up, well, losing money.
Jeffrey Miron, a Harvard economist, doesn't seem to think that this proposal that the president is about to announce is actually going to be able to get the job done.
I was going to take you to a break here, but rather than do a tease, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to stick to this, because it's looking to me as I'm looking at this picture -- you don't have to hit me with a brick. It looks to me like if all the members of Congress are coming out, that means that the president is going to be coming out as well.
So, I think this is about to happen any moment now.
Jeffrey Miron, help me out here, as we prepare to listen to the president. I know that you're going to oppose him.
Give me a sense of why you don't think this proposal is good for the average American.
JEFFREY MIRON, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Well, I think it's not good for the average American for a bunch of reasons.
First of all, it's probably going to have very little effect on anything that is offered to credit card customers, because the language even in this new regulation has lots of fine print. It has room for exceptions, and the credit card companies are going to figure out ways to get around it because they're in the business of trying to make profit.
So, it probably is not going to have much impact at all. To the extent it has an impact, it is going to hurt people who are reasonable credit risks, but don't look like great credit risks on paper. They're going to face much, much greater scrutiny and get turned down a lot more or face much higher fees.
SANCHEZ: Hey...
MIRON: And that's going to be bad for a lot of those borrowers.
SANCHEZ: The president is shaking hands. You're concluding your thoughts. Let's put the two together now and listen to the president of the United States with a brand-new credit card reform package that he says will help the average consumer. And then we will pick up the Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron on the other side.
OBAMA: Hello, everybody. Please have a seat. I'm sorry.
It is a great pleasure to have all of you here at the White House on this gorgeous, sunny day. The sun's shining; birds are singing; change is in the air.
(LAUGHTER)
This has been a historic week, a week in which we've cast aside some old divisions and put in place new reforms that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, prevent fraud against homeowners, and save taxpayers money by preventing wasteful government contracts, a week that marks significant progress in the difficult work of changing our policies and transforming our politics.
But the real test of change ultimately is whether it makes a difference in the lives of the American people. That's what matters to me; that's what matters to my administration; that's what matters to the extraordinary collection of members of Congress that are standing with me here, but also who are in the audience.
We're here today because of a bill that will make a big difference, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act.
I want to thank all the members of Congress who were involved in this historic legislation, but I want to give a special shout-out to Chris Dodd, who has been a relentless fighter to get this done.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Chris -- Chris wouldn't give up until he got this legislation passed. He's spent an entire career fighting against special interests and fighting for ordinary people, and this is just the latest example.
I want to thank his partner in crime, Senator Richard Shelby.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
On the House side, Representatives Barney Frank, Carolyn Maloney, and Luis Gutierrez, for their outstanding work.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
And I want to also thank all the consumer advocates who are here today who fought long and hard for these kinds of reforms.
You know, most Americans use credit cards all the time. In the majority of cases, this is a convenience or a temporary occasional crutch, a means to make life a little easier, to make rare large or unexpected purchase that is paid off as quickly as possible.
We've also seen credit cards become for a minority of customers part of an uneasy, unstable dependence. Some end up in trouble because of reckless spending or wishful thinking. Some get in over their heads by not using their heads.
I want to be clear: We do not excuse or condone folks who've acted irresponsibly. We don't excuse irresponsibility.
But the reason this legislation is so important is because there are many others, many who've written me letters or grabbed my arm along rope lines or shared their stories while choking back tears, who've relied on credit cards not because they were avoiding responsibilities, but precisely because they wanted to meet their responsibilities and got trapped. These are hard-working people whose hours were cut or the factory closed, who turned to a credit card to get through a rough month, which turned into two or three or six months without a job.
These are parents who found, to their surprise, that their health insurance didn't cover a child's expensive procedure and had to pay the hospital bill, families who saw their mortgage payments jump and used the credit card more often to make up the difference.
These are borrowers who discover that credit card debt is all too easily a one-way street. It's easy to get in, but almost impossible to get out.
It's also, by the way, a lot of small-business owners who have helped to finance their dream through credit cards and suddenly, in this economic downturn, find themselves getting hammered.
Part of this is the broader economy, but part of it is the practices of credit card companies. Contracts are drafted not to inform, but to confuse. Mysterious fees appear on statements. Payment deadlines shift. Terms change. Interest rates rise. And suddenly, a credit card becomes less of a lifeline and more of an anchor.
That's what happened to Janet Hard of Freeland, Michigan, who's here today. Where's Janet? Right here. Janet's a nurse. Her husband is a pipe-fitter. they have got two boys.
Janet and her husband have tried to be responsible. She's made her payments on time. But despite this, Janet's interest rate was increased to 24 percent. That 24 percent applied not just for new purchases, but retroactively to her entire balance. And so despite making steady payments totaling $2,400 one year, her debt went down only by $350 that year.
Janet's family is not alone. Over the past decade, credit card debt has increased by 25 percent in our country. Nearly half of all Americans carry a balance on their cards. Those who do carry an average balance of more than $7,000.
And as our economic situation worsens and many defaulted on their debt as a result of a lost job, for example, a vicious cycle ensued. Borrowers couldn't pay their bills, and so lenders raised rates. As rates went up, more borrowers couldn't pay. Millions of cardholders have seen their interest rates jump in just the past six months. One in five Americans carry a balance that has been charged interest rates above 20 percent, one in five.
I also want to emphasize, these are costs that often hit responsible credit card users. Interest can be charged even if you pay your bill on time. Rates can be increased on outstanding balances even if you aren't late with a payment.
And if you sit -- if you start to pay down your balance, which is the right thing to do, a company can require you to pay down the debt with the lowest interest rate first instead of the highest, which makes it much harder to ever get out of the red.
So we're here to put a change to all that. With this bill, we're putting in place some commonsense reforms designed to protect consumers like Janet.
I want to be clear about this: Credit card companies provide a valuable service. We don't begrudge them turning a profit. We just want to make sure that they do so while upholding basic standards of fairness, transparency and accountability.
Just as we demand credit card users to act responsibly, we demand that credit card companies act responsibly, too. And that's not too much to ask.
And that's why, because of this new law, statements will be required to tell credit card holders how long it will take to pay off a balance and what it'll cost in interest if they only make the minimum monthly payments.
We also put a stop to retroactive rate hikes that appear on a bill suddenly with no rhyme or reason.
Every card company will have to post its credit card agreements online, and we'll monitor those agreements to see if new protections are needed.
Consumers will have more time to understand their statements, as well. Companies will have to mail them 21 days before payment is due, not 14.
And this law ends the practice of shifting payment dates. This always used to bug me, you know? When you'd get like -- suddenly it was due on the 19th when it had been the 31st.
Lastly, among many other provisions, there will be no more sudden charges -- changes to terms and conditions. We require at least 45- days notice if the credit card company is going to change terms and conditions.
So we're not going to give people a free pass, and we expect consumers to live within their means and pay what they owe, but we also expect financial institutions to act with the same sense of responsibility that the American people aspire to in their own lives.
This is a difficult time for our country, born in many ways of our collective failure to live up to our obligations, to ourselves and to one another.
The fact is, it took a long time to dig ourselves into this economic hole. It's going to take some time to dig ourselves out.
But I'm heartened by what I'm seeing, by the willingness of all the adversaries to seek out new partnerships, by the progress we've made these past months to address many of our toughest challenges.
And I am confident that as a nation we will learn the lessons of our recent past and that we will elevate again those values at the heart of our success as a people, hard work over the easy buck, responsibility over recklessness, and, yes, moderation over extravagance. This work's already begun, and now it continues.
I thank the members of Congress for putting their shoulder to the wheel in a bipartisan fashion and getting this piece of legislation done. Congratulations to all of you. The least I can do for you is to sign the thing.
(LAUGHTER)
All right.
(APPLAUSE)
SANCHEZ: And there's the president now shaking hands with those members of Congress, to which he expressed his gratitude.
What's interesting about this -- oh, my mike is open. Thanks.
The president of the United States expressing his gratitude and now signing this piece of legislation, which he is apparently all too proud to do so. The question is, as we look at this -- by the way, there was something unique about this presentation the president gave moments ago, where he seemed, and maybe as a political tactic, to let people know that -- we can't hear him, can we?
No, no. There's no microphone near him. It seemed interesting when he said, I hated when they used to do that, seemingly reminding viewers and all those within earshot that it wasn't too long ago that he was balancing checkbooks or writing checks or getting bills from credit cards, something he doesn't seem to be too concerned about these days, obviously enough.
Jeffrey Miron, you have been watching this with us.
I'm wondering exactly what this will do, because maybe you -- as a Harvard professor, you could explain this to us, the rest of us who do have to pay our credit card bills and who do have to deal with this.
It seems like it's good for those people who have been tardy in making payments, but for the rest of us, who make our payments monthly, maybe not so good.
MIRON: I guess I think it's not good for either group.
I think for the people who have had some tendency to be tardy, to pay all those fees and all that, this now says that the fees can't be adjusted without notice, but that just means the card companies are going to set them at a higher level initially. So some people who were able to qualify for the low initial rates and then possibly have them raised are just not going to be able to afford cards at all.
So, some of the people that this bill is trying to help, it's clearly going to hurt, because they are going to be completely closed out of the credit card market.
And, of course, to the extent that this does raise costs, the companies are going to try to recoup that by imposing higher fees on people who do pay their bills on time. And that means a lot of middle- and upper-income taxpayer -- credit card holders. So, and it will drive some people to go to payday loans or to the pawn shop or to the loan shark.
So, I think it really helps very, very few people. The ones who are going to make big mistakes and not read the fine print, they are still going to be in bad shape and in even some ways worse shape as a result of these changes.
SANCHEZ: Hey, there are some people who are really up in arms about this bill, because, again, we're talking about a bill which had an aim of fixing the credit card problem in this country, and, interestingly enough, somebody stuck some pork in there. Well, pork is probably a word maybe that I should leave to others.
So, I will take it back and say they stuck something else in there. It's a measure, an amendment to make the nation's parks and natural areas, well, some would argue the Coburn amendment actually makes them more dangerous, because it allows them to have guns.
It seems like a strange thing to throw into this bill. Is it confusing, as you watch the mixture of economics and politics, how these bills end up growing in size and dimension?
MIRON: I guess maybe I have gotten used to it, you know, the old line about you don't want to -- two things you don't want to be seeing made, sausages and laws. So, this is a perfect example. I think whatever your view on the gun laws, it is insane to couple that with a credit card bill, but that's the way politics in Congress seem to work.
SANCHEZ: Unbelievable.
Hey, Jeffrey Miron, thanks so much for being with us.
MIRON: Thanks for having me. Nice to see you.
SANCHEZ: We appreciate your input on this.
Again, the president signing that legislation, credit card reform legislation, just moments ago, something we're obviously going to stay on top of for you.
And, yes, there is another controversial police arrest. And, yes, we have -- watch that. The problem is, this time, the suspect isn't really a suspect. And the bigger problem is he's in a coma. I'm going to explain this you to.
Also, you're about to hear from the very prominent member of the Bush administration who has a lot to say about his dealings with former Vice President Dick Cheney and what former Vice President Dick Cheney is now saying. You will hear it only right here. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Let's get right to your comments, since you were just listening to the analysis that we brought you about the credit card bill.
Let's start with Gady at the top there, guys. This is on the Twitter board. GadyMayen says, "Credit card companies should make the fine print not so fine."
And then go just under Colorado Football. Let's go to David in Austin. And look what David in Austin is saying here. I will bring it up for you. How is that, Johnny? "The amendment attached to the bill isn't an earmark. It's a tumor."
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Interesting language.
We thank you for your comments. We will continue to share.
This Sunday, former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge will announce exclusively on CNN with John King that Dick Cheney is wrong.
And here's another former Bush administration official taking on the former vice president today. Listen to what Larry Wilkerson has to say -- quote -- "More Americans were killed by terrorists on Cheney's watch than on any other leader's watch in U.S. history. So, his constant claim that no Americans were killed in the seven-and-a- half years after 9/11 takes on a new texture when one considers that fact."
Quote: "When will someone of stature tell Dick Cheney that enough is enough? Go home."
Quote: "Stay out of our way as we try to repair the extensive damage you have done to the country and to its Republican Party."
Wilkerson was one of the people in the room when the Bush administration was mounting its war on terror. He is Colonel Larry Wilkerson, Lawrence Wilkerson, former State Department chief of staff, right-hand man to former Secretary of State Colin Powell. And he's good enough to join us.
Thanks so much for being with us.
COLONEL LAWRENCE WILKERSON, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT CHIEF OF STAFF: Thanks for having me.
SANCHEZ: You mentioned there in one of those quotes that many people were killed after 9/11, so he didn't exactly keep us safe. What did you mean by that?
WILKERSON: Well, we have had almost 5,000 Americans die now and an incredible number be wounded in horrible ways in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
And I don't hear the president talking about that very much. And I haven't even mentioned the some 250,000 Iraqis who have been killed and God knows how many Afghans who have been killed. And largely the deaths in Iraq I think were a result of some absolutely abysmal planning on the part of the Bush administration, the post-invasion planning that really didn't exist.
So, I'm wondering why the vice president doesn't have something to say about those almost 5,000 men and women who died in defense of this country, which he refused to do himself, of course, during my war, when he got five deferments.
SANCHEZ: He says, in fact, he insists that the United States did not torture. So, you were there. You were a part of the planning of this thing. Let me just ask you outright, did the United States torture? And who approved it?
WILKERSON: The question there revolves, I think, around water- boarding and whether or not it's torture. In my mind, since the Spanish Inquisition, water-boarding has been torture. If that's torture, we tortured. So, that's a lie.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Well, water-boarding was -- which the U.S. has recognized as torture, in fact, when other countries did it, and I guess since you mention water-boarding, let me get to that point real quick. Were -- was water-boarding used before the lawyers signed off on it?
WILKERSON: I can't find an incident where it -- where it was.
I do know that enhanced interrogation techniques, though, were used as early as April/May in 2002, and that's before they signed off on it in August. And if you put these enhanced interrogation techniques together, as Alberto Mora, the Navy JAG pointed out, if you put them together and do them over a sustained period of time, you have probably got torture there, too.
But I can't substantiate anywhere that water-boarding was actually carried out before the legal opinions were rendered.
SANCHEZ: Well, you were part of this administration. When you were there, did you -- did you talk to Dick Cheney or Dick Cheney's associates? Did you -- did you talk to General Powell and say, this is wrong? And how was that taken?
WILKERSON: We actually didn't know -- I say we collectively, because I believe Rich Armitage, the deputy secretary of state, has been very firm on this, too -- that this was going on.
The first indication I had that anything untoward was going on was in April of 2004, when the secretary walked into my office and said: "You're going to see some horrible photos from a place called Abu Ghraib in Iraq. And I don't know how we got to this point. I want you to find out how we got to this point. I want an audit trail. I want a chronology. I want to know how we got here."
And that's when I began my research and my investigations on behalf of the secretary. And when I left in January 2005, I didn't stop, because I had become so ashamed of what I was seeing that my highest leaders in the land had authorized that I felt I needed to keep investigating and I needed to speak out about it.
SANCHEZ: Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson is who we're speaking to. He was a part of the Bush administration.
Let me ask you this question. Watching Dick Cheney's vitriolic defense of the administration's policies yesterday -- and I was listening to this on talk shows as I was on my way home -- it makes some Americans wonder why he is so vested. In fact, it seems he's more vested than the president that he was serving.
It makes me want to ask you this question. Who was calling the shots during those eight years?
WILKERSON: I think I can tell you with some -- some firmness that, from 2001 to 2005, on national security issues and some domestic issues, as Bart Gellman has been pointed out in his book "Angler," Dick Cheney was calling the shots. I think that -- that speech at AEI yesterday showed more than anything else I could ever say who thought he was president of the United States from 2001 to 2005.
SANCHEZ: That's a remarkable thing that you just said. Am I hearing you right, that the -- in name, Bush was the president of the United States, but in decision-making and in actions, Dick Cheney was really the president of the United States?
WILKERSON: When it came to critical national security issues, I think I'm right.
SANCHEZ: Did you hear, by the way, interestingly enough, what his daughter, Liz Cheney, has been saying and said last night to Anderson Cooper about the rights of suspects, the rights of people who are taken as suspected terrorists by the United States? I think we have that.
If we've got that, Claude (ph), can we put that up real quick?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIZ CHENEY, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR NEAR EASTERN AFFAIRS: Is it the obligation of the president to, within the law, be able to get that information and save American lives? And I think the vast majority of Americans believe it is. Or is it the case, as President Obama has said, that we won't enlist any of these techniques, what we'll do is allow the terrorists to lawyer up and we will simply ask them nicely for information?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: You know, the idea -- I was struck by that because I heard the term "lawyer up," and I was trying to figure out what she meant, because it seems there's an implication with the "lawyer up" implying that these suspects shouldn't be allowed any kind of representation. And it makes me as an American, then, wonder, given the legal system that I know we have in this country, if they don't have lawyers, if there aren't any courts, then who decides whether they're guilty or innocent?
And did anybody ever ask that question?
WILKERSON: This is absolutely Orwellian. His speech yesterday was Orwellian, too. And George Orwell, when he was with the BBC, talked about this a lot, when lying drives out truth telling. And Mark Twain, of course, said a lie will make its way around the world before the truth can pull its socks up.
That's what they're involved in. That's what Karl Rove taught them. That's what they've been involved in for some time.
And her bona fides scream at me that, what in the world is America's media doing listening to this woman? This woman has absolutely no bona fides to talk about this.
SANCHEZ: She has made 11 appearances in nine days, so she certainly has been getting a lot of listening.
WILKERSON: They're scared. I think they're frightened. And I don't blame them.
SANCHEZ: Why? Why would Dick Cheney be frightened?
WILKERSON: Well, we've got the possibility -- I realize the political will probably doesn't exist, but we've got the possibility of domestic problems for him. And we certainly have got the possibility of international problems. The judge, Baltasar Garzon, in Spain, has started a case. And if I were Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Jim Haynes, and a host of other lawyers in the administration, I wouldn't travel. I wouldn't travel anywhere.
SANCHEZ: Larry Wilkerson, my thanks to you, sir, for taking the time to take us through this.
WILKERSON: Thank you for having me.
SANCHEZ: All right.
It's a case of mistaken identity. A man runs from police despite warnings to stop, and he gets thrown into a wall, and it's all caught on camera. There's a problem here, though, a very serious problem, one we're going to tell you about regarding the suspect.
Also, from regular appearances on this show, to starring in his own movie with Forest Whitaker? Yes. Somebody you've seen on this show many times. Guess who we're talking about?
You can't go away because you're going to find out. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We don't have much time to get into it, but I am going to share with you some of the comments that you've been giving. Boy, a lot of "Wow," and "Loved that interview with Lawrence Wilkerson" type stuff.
No, don't shoot it, Robert. Let's go ahead, because my producers are going to yell at me if we do that. I love that. Thank you, Robert.
I told you earlier this week about a story, that this one -- you know, this is a great story because it cuts beyond the politics, it cuts beyond the ideology of the immigration debate which we've all had, which there are good arguments on both sides. This is a story about goodness. Really, goodness, what many of you did after we shared this story with you. You went to my blog at CNN.com/RickSanchez and you made something happen.
Here's Brooke Baldwin with an update on the story of 18-year-old Juan Gonzales.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just 24 hours ago, this mother and father thought they may never see their son again. Eighteen-year-old Juan Gonzales was dying alone in this hospital, more than 2,300 miles from home, a small impoverished village in Guatemala. Now, thanks to the medical team at the Redmond Regional Medical Center in Rome, Georgia, and CNN viewers, the seemingly impossible has become a reality.
JUAN GONZALES, PATIENT (through translator): I appreciate it so much. And thank you all for what you have done.
BALDWIN: Juan's parents made the nine-hour journey from their farm to Guatemala City Wednesday, where the embassy granted them temporary visas. The next day, Delta donated the flight. Having never set foot on a plane before, Pascual and Maria Gonzalez flew to Atlanta with just the clothes on their backs and a bible.
PASCUAL GONZALES, FATHER (through translator): I think that this boy one day will testify about the miracles God has done. Bless you for the patience and care you've given our boy.
MARIA GONZALES, MOTHER (through translator): We are happy to be here with our son because talking to him on the phone is not the same. We appreciate everything you have done.
BALDWIN: Last fall, Juan joined the nearly 12 million unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. He found work as a dishwasher, but several months later his heart nearly failed him. Doctors discovered he has dilated cardiomyopathy, a fatal condition of a weakened and enlarged heart. He's been in and out of this hospital ever since.
Cardiologist Frank Stegall says Juan's case was special. He reached out to Georgia Congressman Phil Gingrey, who helped expedite the visa process. Congressman Gingrey told CNN, "My thoughts and prayers are with this family as they face this difficult time."
BALDWIN: As for this 18-year-old, doctors say his prognosis is poor. But finally, with his family by his bedside, Juan says he has the strength to fight despite the odds.
J. GONZALES (through translator): Perhaps there are others who are sick out there. Don't give up. Let's keep going, because there is a path God has prepared. I'll say it again, I have to fight this sickness and defeat it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Right now it doesn't look good. I mean, only God knows how this thing is going to turn out, but it doesn't look good for him.
BALDWIN: No.
SANCHEZ: Hey, I came to work this morning and I noticed tons of blogs and things were being written about this. I went and wrote a message on my blog.
BALDWIN: I saw that.
SANCHEZ: And by the way, you guys can go there if you'd like at CNN.com/RickSanchez.
BALDWIN: Right.
SANCHEZ: Because this thing has taken on a life. After you did the story the other day -- and we didn't even ask for help -- people started helping.
BALDWIN: It is amazing. It's one of those stories that just has a huge "Wow!" factor. Just personally, not just taking off my reporter hat. A "Wow!" that people who were watching this story -- what was that, two days ago?
SANCHEZ: Yes.
BALDWIN: It seems like a world away.
SANCHEZ: And unsolicited.
BALDWIN: Unsolicited. We sat here, we showed the story of Juan and his dying wish to see his parents. Essentially, the chain of events that pursued after that was a viewer who doesn't want anything about her shared with CNN -- she did this anonymously, she's done this before -- she wants to pay it forward.
She called from Florida. She's a daughter of immigrant parents. She had worked with the Latin American Association here in Atlanta, contacted them. The Latin American Association contacted Delta. Delta donated these tickets.
It happened in four hours' time. And these parents, you saw them walking up.
SANCHEZ: They're humble. They're cute. They're good people.
BALDWIN: Good people, never seen an airplane. And here they are in the big city, bright lights, seeing their son.
SANCHEZ: God bless them. Boy, I hope this thing can somehow work out. I mean, you know, who knows?
BALDWIN: Who knows?
SANCHEZ: And we'll continue to follow it.
And if people want to in any way help out or continue to do whatever they can for these people they can just go to my Web site.
BALDWIN: Go to your blog. And we have "Juan's Wish," if they'd like to help, they have any questions, anything.
It's amazing. I just want to thanks everyone for the e-mails and the tweets.
SANCHEZ: Good reporting.
BALDWIN: Thank you very much.
SANCHEZ: Good stuff, Brooke. Appreciate it.
There is another arrest that I want you to look at this week. This guy gets thrown into a wall after running from police and refusing to stop. Great tackle. Right?
But there's one huge problem here that you need to know about this suspect. What do you think it could possibly be?
Ashleigh Banfield is going to be joining me in just a little bit. She's going to be taking us through this strange story in many ways.
We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back.
There's been an earthquake. This is about 90 miles southeast of Mexico City, and these are live pictures that are coming in right now en vivo, or live, from the area.
They're trying to figure out just how much damage has taken place. It was 5.7 in magnitude, according to reports that we are getting now. Still no reports of injuries at this point. It seems to be certainly a pretty densely-populated area, 90 miles south.
Do we happen to know the city this is in? Do we know, guys? Anybody know?
Oh, this is still part of Mexico City. OK. I see, because we were told that -- all right.
I think this becomes a little clearer. I don't think this picture is exactly 90 miles southeast of Mexico City. That's where the epicenter of this earthquake was. These pictures that you're looking at now are from Mexico City proper, and it was felt there, so much so that a lot of people started running out into the streets fearing that there was a more sizeable earthquake.
You know, these things are hard to determine, exactly what impact they have until much later, so here's what we're going to do. We're going to stay on top of this story, we're going to call our bureau there in Mexico City, talk to some of the folks in the bureau, and find out if there's any impact at this point.
There you can see people still outside. And as we get information, people near the plaza, we will be bringing it to you.
I want to show you another story though as we continue to make checks on that. I probably should tell you up front, this is tragic. Or in the words of a local sheriff a tragic mistake.
I want you to watch this video. It's a 29-year-old suspect you just saw getting floored there. The guy you see has been in a coma now since May 10th. That's when the Seattle transit deputy struck him down against the ground into the wall.
Here's where the story gets really strange. This is a case of mistaken identity. That guy was really not a suspect.
Authorities now say the man who officers were chasing down had nothing to do with the nearby act of violence. In other words, that man who was hit had nothing to do with what police were actually investigating, but he ran and police believed he was a suspect, and he looked suspicious, so they knocked him to the ground.
In Session's Ashleigh Banfield is joining us now to help take us through this.
I guess we begin as we look at the story with, what were police thinking and did they do something wrong in this case?
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, ANCHOR, "IN SESSION": Well, I think the internal investigation will certainly determine if there were any infractions on the part of the officer who you saw in the video, but from what I've seen of this case, Rick, I really don't think the police officer did anything wrong. I know that's not going to sound very politically correct.
SANCHEZ: Yes, how can that be if they knocked over a man who's perfectly innocent?
BANFIELD: OK.
SANCHEZ: Take us through your logic on this.
BANFIELD: OK. It may not sound right off the top, but here's the deal.
The police officers respond to an incident at a convenience store, whereby men were running out, there was blood on the scene. Their first impression could be that there is someone out there who's a dangerous offender, possibly armed.
Two eyewitnesses, one of whom pointed out this suspect and said, "That's Him." They called out to him, "Stop, Police," apparently upwards of three different times. This person looked at them and took off, gave chase through a populated area that was a cineplex with other innocent bystanders.
They have no idea if he's armed. He will not stop. He never puts his hands up once, even at the end of the chase, when he ran out of steam. So they took him down to basically try to stop him, but to also make sure that he didn't pull out a gun or a weapon.
SANCHEZ: Yes. Maybe his mistake was, according to his friend, he'd had a couple drinks that night and he seemed like he was very confused, maybe a little disoriented, and that disorientation may have been taken by police as something else.
BANFIELD: Well, the sad thing here, Rick, is that it's all sort of a tragedy of circumstance, because had that police officer taken him down two feet to the left, two feet to the right, or two feet forward, his head probably wouldn't have hit the wall in that way and we'd be talking about a guy who was probably wrestled down, taken in, questioned, and released. It's just one of those very sad circumstances.
And I'll be honest with you. I don't really think that he will face any disciplinary action from the force, either. These are cops who were chasing a guy who wouldn't stop, who had been identified by an eyewitnesses. And that should also tell you how bad eyewitness identification is.
SANCHEZ: Yes, that should tell us something about that.
Ashleigh Banfield, thanks so much for joining us, as usual.
BANFIELD: Always good to see you.
SANCHEZ: Have a great weekend. All right?
BANFIELD: You too.
SANCHEZ: All right. We're going to be bringing you next something that may be a little bit of a surprise to many of us. There's a new movie coming out in Hollywood, and one of our regulars here on this newscast is going to be in it with Forest Whitaker. A star in the making.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's part silo, part house. But mainly, it's environmentally friendly, and about 70 percent more energy efficient than your average home, according to Daniel Wallach, with Greensburg Greentown. His organization is helping the city find sustainable solutions as it rebuilds and in some way reinvents itself.
DANIEL WALLACH, GREENSBURG GREENTOWN: We call it a 100-year-plus building. It's that durable.
NGUYEN (voice-over): You dropped a Ford Escort off the roof of this building?
WALLACH: Yes, twice. And there was absolutely no damage.
NGUYEN: At all?
WALLACH: At all.
NGUYEN (voice-over): It helped prove these homes can withstand the kind of wind and debris created by an F-5 tornado. This is what a storm of that magnitude did to Greensburg in May, 2007, killing 11 people and destroying 90 percent of the town.
Today, the view is much different. Fifty percent of the city is rebuilt, and it's coming back green.
WALLACH: I think we have the opportunity to show the nation and the world there is a new way to build here.
NGUYEN: Owner Mike Estes says they've invested in energy- efficient technology.
MIKE ESTES, GREENSBURG JOHN DEERE DEALERSHIP: The very wind that destroyed this town we're using to rebuild this town.
NGUYEN: Obviously, it costs significantly more to build this way, but in return, Estes estimates his company will save about $25,000 a year in energy costs. And for many here, that's a big part of what it means to go green.
Betty Nguyen, CNN, Greensburg, Kansas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right. There's some news out of Hollywood to share with you now. There's a new movie that's going to start production. It's going to be called "Family Wedding." It's going to star Forest Whitaker and Carlos Mencia.
That's right. Joining us now is Carlos Mencia, "The Mind of Mencia."
Hey. Congrats there, beaner.
CARLOS MENCIA, COMEDIAN: I know, dude. How cool is that?
SANCHEZ: I mean, it's pretty cool. Are you going to play the white guy?
MENCIA: Yes. You know what? I'm actually going to play a Taiwanese father.
SANCHEZ: No. Are you kidding?
MENCIA: No, I'm going to play a Mexican dad. And you know who's going to be my daughter? America Ferrera. So that's...
SANCHEZ: That's fabulous.
MENCIA: Yes.
SANCHEZ: And Forest Whitaker? I mean, hey, that's big billing there, baby.
MENCIA: You know what happened? Here's how it worked.
They called me up and they said, "Hey, you got the part." And I was like, "Great." And they said Forest Whitaker is the other guy.
And I was like, "Great -- oh my God. No, not that guy. He's an Academy Award-winning actor. I'm just a comedian. What are you guys doing to me?"
But I'm great.
SANCHEZ: Well, you know, I've got a surprise for you.
MENCIA: Uh-oh.
SANCHEZ: Guess who just happened to be walking through the CNN NEWSROOM, the headquarters here in Atlanta, and he's sitting next to me right now?
I'll give you a clue. You must be a redneck.
MENCIA: Oh, my God! Jeff!
JEFF FOXWORTHY, COMEDIAN: Carlos, how are you?
SANCHEZ: You know what's interesting? It's the beaner and the redneck. I mean, when was the last time you got this on network television?
MENCIA: Hardly ever.
FOXWORTHY: But I bet you we could talk, and there's a lot of the similarities, like the working television on top of the nonworking television. It works both ways there. MENCIA: Yes. You know what? Yes, and then having to know the top combination, knob in order to get the bottom channels to work to get to over 13.
(LAUGHTER)
FOXWORTHY: Or (INAUDIBLE) had her entire foot in a lot of shoes. I mean, there's a lot of similarities there.
SANCHEZ: You guys...
MENCIA: They're exactly the same, having the ears on the antenna, with the foil paper connecting from one side to the other to get better reception.
FOXWORTHY: Yes. See, we can hang.
SANCHEZ: Your daughter was here?
FOXWORTHY: Yes, she was on CNN.com. She we went to Africa three years ago. We went together and worked in AIDS orphanages, and her after-school project began buying mosquito nets to wipe out malaria, and she just crossed, like, $700,000.
SANCHEZ: That's fabulous.
You know, we did this thing with Ashton Kutcher, and we're now going to give $100,000 worth of malaria nets as a result of these little...
(CROSSTALK)
FOXWORTHY: Oh, that's awesome, yes. Because every net, there's, like, 10 bucks. And they save three or four people's lives.
SANCHEZ: How are you guys both funny like this? I mean, two guys -- I mean, you're from Honduras.
Where are you from?
FOXWORTHY: I'm just south of here. I grew up just south of Atlanta.
SANCHEZ: From the South.
FOXWORTHY: Yes. You couldn't tell, right, listening to me talk?
SANCHEZ: And you guys are both funny guys. I just wonder, is there a parallel that happens, people who grow up being funny like this?
FOXWORTHY: I bet Carlos would agree, I don't think you can teach somebody to be funny. I think either you're born funny or you're not. Because if you talk to the people I grew up with, nobody's surprised this is what I do, I just didn't know you could get paid to do it.
SANCHEZ: How much do you rehearse your stuff?
FOXWORTHY: Never.
SANCHEZ: You don't?
FOXWORTHY: Never.
SANCHEZ: Carlos, do you?
MENCIA: Me? No, never.
And I don't know about Jeff -- I don't write anything down. For me, the litmus test is, if I think it and by the time I get on the stage later on that night, it's still important to me or funny to me, that's when I know it's something.
But I was born in Honduras, where people had to send those nets so that we wouldn't get malaria.
(LAUGHTER)
FOXWORTHY: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Do you need some more?
MENCIA: But that's what creates the happiness. That's what -- you know, we grew up -- a lot of us grew up in sad lives and we made our own life happy. I did, at least, by being funny and by seeing the world from a funny perspective.
And I'm sure Jeff did, too. I mean, "You might be a redneck" is kind of cathartic for him and for a lot of people. And that's what -- the only bad thing about "You might be a redneck" "is that I can't do "You might be a beaner" because now it's a rip-off of that.
(LAUGHTER)
MENCIA: You did it first.
FOXWORTHY: I give you permission, because it all started -- I have been called a redneck my whole life, and I said -- you know, I realize that's what I am, but I'm not the only one. There's a lot of us out there.
SANCHEZ: You make fun of your people, he makes fun of his people.
FOXWORTHY: Laugh with, not at. Laugh with, yes.
MENCIA: Yes, exactly.
SANCHEZ: Yes, that's true. But you've got to be in the group to be able to do that. Right?
FOXWORTHY: Exactly.
MENCIA: No, but I make fun of his people, too.
SANCHEZ: So does everybody.
MENCIA: I hope you make fun of mine.
FOXWORTHY: Everybody. Hey, if it's funny, it's funny.
SANCHEZ: You were tweeting last night at 1:20 in the morning. Something about appearing in a comedy store and only having like 14 people there. Is that right?
MENCIA: You know what? I haven't done that in years.
SANCHEZ: What, tweet?
MENCIA: I stopped by the comedy story at, like, 1:30 in the morning -- no -- and there were, like, 14 people. And normally, you know, we're used to doing these big venues, and I was just like, man, I remember when there I was young and there were 14 people. And I was like, can I make these people laugh?
And I went in there and I had the most amazing time. I was just talking off the top of my head.
SANCHEZ: Really?
MENCIA: You know, doing jokes about the pirates and stuff that's going on.
SANCHEZ: You just can't stop performing. You're like Dick Cheney.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: I mean, looking for an audience every half hour here.
MENCIA: I know, but at least I'm still funny. You know what I mean? Dick Cheney is out of office.
Just leave. Retire. Go home.
SANCHEZ: Jeff, what are you doing?
FOXWORTHY: I'm getting ready to start -- we're doing a syndicated version of "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" this fall. So I'm getting ready to start cranking that.
SANCHEZ: Oh, it's a great show.
FOXWORTHY: Yes, as long as they give me the answers.
SANCHEZ: It's big in my family, by the way.
FOXWORTHY: Well, yes, it's...
SANCHEZ: But only the fifth graders know the answers. FOXWORTHY: Yes, the old folks ain't got a clue.
SANCHEZ: Thanks for being with us.
FOXWORTHY: Good to see you, Carlos. Congratulations.
MENCIA: Hey, likewise, man.
SANCHEZ: Jeff, Carlos, thanks to both of you.
John Roberts standing by now in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
