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Sarah Palin Speaks Out; What Killed Michael Jackson?; Presidential Crisis in Honduras; Michael Jackson Death Investigation; Police Briefing on McNair Killing

Aired July 08, 2009 - 15:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), ALASKA: It's not a matter of retreating or quitting.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Our CNN reporter embedded with U.S. forces in Afghanistan will take you behind the front lines.

And watch your back when checking in during your summer vacation, the video all vacationers need to see on this national conversation for Wednesday, July 8, 2009.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez with this, the next generation of news. This is a conversation. It is not a speech. And it is your turn to get involved.

You heard me mention this just a little while ago when I was talking to Ali Velshi. Police have just reached out to us. They did so just a few minutes ago. And they told us that they are going to be holding a news conference during our hour where they are going to tell us, definitively, one would think, whether Steve McNair actually was killed by his girlfriend or whether perhaps there was a third party involved.

There is McNair and Sahel Kazemi as well. As you know, he was found with four shots, she with one to the head. The gun, a semiautomatic, was found underneath her, leading many to speculate that this was in fact a murder-suicide, although that has not yet been confirmed by police.

There is a lot to talk about here, motive, for example, which is one of the topics that has been coming up of late. We are going to be all over this. Again, as soon as we can take you live to Tennessee and bring you this update from police, you will see it right here, exclusively on CNN.

SANCHEZ: Meanwhile, once again, I want to focus your attention on what our troops are trying to achieve in Afghanistan. This is important, folks. Straight to it. Let's do it, Dave.

Look at these pictures. This is Afghanistan, direct from the battlefield in Helmand Province, United States Marines on patrol in the dust, in the hot sun. And, man, is it hot there. I have news about their progress, by the way, what their commanding general says he wishes were different, and about a U.S. service member that died today there as well, bringing the total of the dead there now to nine since Monday, nine.

First, I want you to watch and listen to this. Those are our guys heading out. I thought you would want to see it without comment. That's what it looks like in southwest Afghanistan today.

And it is worth noting that those pictures were provided to us by the Defense Department. Of the nine members of the armed forces killed so far there since Monday, the latest died today while on patrol in the far west Farah Province.

Also, these words today from the one-star general who is now commanding the U.S.-led fight against the Taliban. Here it is. Quoting from him by phone in Helmand Province, Brigadier General Larry Nicholson says: "I am not going to sugarcoat this. The fact of the matter is, we don't have enough Afghan forces. I would like more."

He is talking about the 650 troops from Afghanistan, Afghanis, who are fighting alongside 4,000 U.S. Marines.

Let me bring Atia Abawi. She is embedded there with the U.S. forces there and can talk to us now live from the NATO forward operating base there in Helmand Province.

Atia, thanks for joining us.

ATIA ABAWI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Rick. How are you?

SANCHEZ: Let me start by asking you about this comment from the general, which makes me wonder why it is so difficult -- we are eight years into this now -- why it's so difficult, eight years into this war, to find suitable Afghan troops to fight along with the U.S. forces?

ABAWI: Well, Rick, when you look at U.S. military and when you look at U.S. soldiers, U.S. Marines, you see a sense of nationalism there, a pride in the U.S. flag.

We have to remember that, in Afghanistan, it has been 30 years of destruction and destruction of a nation, not just the country itself. There is divisions among the people. The people of Afghanistan are used to fighting each other even. There are divisions within the ethnicities. They are not thinking right now of protecting each other.

It's something that is slowly building in the past eight years. And, actually, the Afghan national army has been considered a success story when it comes to many of the progress that's made in Afghanistan. It's actually more successful than even the Afghan national police.

At least the people of Afghanistan have some sort of respect for the army. And it is going to take time to build that nationalism, but to also build that trust. You have men of different ethnicities right now working together trying to protect the nation, when just 10 years ago, they were fighting each other.

So, it is something that needs to be built with time and needs to have pride in the Afghan flag, which just isn't completely there yet -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: I'm talking to Atia Abawi. She's embedded there with U.S. forces. We apologize for some of the audio. It's a little muffled. But you can imagine the conditions that she's in.

Answer me this. Answer this for us, if you possibly can. I think a lot of Americans would want to know, are the Afghans behind us? Do they want to really see this thing through? Do they want to kick the Taliban out of their country?

ABAWI: Well, Rick, the average Afghan person -- and I can tell you that the majority of the Afghan people want peace.

They are tired of fighting. They are tired of seeing their families dying. They are tired seeing their children dying. Yes, they want peace (INAUDIBLE) And certainly places (INAUDIBLE) that the Afghan people actually have to turn to the Taliban.

As I mentioned, the Afghan national army is a sign of success, but the Afghan national police weren't. I spoke to villagers in (INAUDIBLE) just a few months ago who were telling me that they would turn to the Taliban (AUDIO GAP) protection from the police.

It was the police that they were coming (AUDIO GAP) "Your property belongs to me." So, they did turn to the Taliban. But it was their only way of getting some sort of stability in their lives, even though it is stability out of fear -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Well, that's good to hear, because, you know, a lot of Americans don't want what we have experienced in Iraq to be repeated in Afghanistan. And, certainly, a lack of enthusiasm on the part of the populace, as we saw in many ways in Iraq, seeing that again in Afghanistan would certainly be demoralizing, not only for our troops there, but for many Americans here watching it from afar.

Atia, you are doing a great job. You are so courageous. My thanks to you. I appreciate it.

That -- that bomb blast right there -- it was smuggled past security in federal buildings before it was detonated. What should we glean from how we're doing with security post-9/11 after seeing that?

By the way, speaking of security, I have got some surveillance video I want to show you right now. Take a look at this. This is a Florida couple at a motel in Delaware getting robbed and getting beaten. How they did it and the warning it represents for all of us, especially if you are planning a summer vacation, you may want to watch this. You really may want to watch this.

And we are awaiting a news conference with police in Nashville, Tennessee, as aforementioned by me at the beginning of this newscast, on the murder of arguably one of the best quarterbacks the NFL has seen in the last 10 years.

So, stay with us, because we're going to be all over it when it happens. You will see it here live guaranteed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: A lot of comments coming in from you on some of the stories that we have covered and some of the stories that we are going to be covering.

Like, look at this comment johnirip says. This is the middle of our Twitter page there. Thank you, Robert. It says, "Palin," referring to the governor of Alaska, "Palin is fishing and cutting bait."

Yes, funny. We will be all over that story in just a little bit. We did get an interview with the governor. She was good enough to grant us that. You will see it here.

I want you to look at some undercover video now, though, with me here. Keep in mind, this is video from a building that's supposed to be heavily protected, supposed to be heavily protected, especially post-9/11. This is a man. He's going through security at a level four federal building, level four, carrying bomb-making supplies, not fake supplies, real supplies.

He is an investigator with Government Accounting Office, in fact. Now, I want you to watch this. Yes. Yes. See that? That's the explosion that occurred when they put all the supplies together that he carried through to show what guards were letting through.

Do you think security may be too lax at some of these buildings, some of these federal buildings? Their report found failures like this one at 10 different buildings. We're going to break more of these videos down for you throughout this entire newscast. We welcome you to watch and comment.

Up next, though, did Sarah Palin commit political suicide? It is not far from a direct quote that comes from her. And you are going to hear it for yourself, because she speaks to a CNN correspondent who tracked her down while fishing and cutting bait.

You will see that when we come back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez right here in the world headquarters of CNN in Atlanta.

"If I die, then so be it." That is how Sarah Palin describes her political career in the wake of her decision to quit as Alaska's governor. It takes guts, doesn't it?

Friday, I broke the news that Sarah Palin was stepping down. Since then, the questions, most of them unanswered, by the way, and the speculation raised by reporters and by pundits had seemed at times unending.

So, with that in mind, here now is Governor Sarah Palin in her own words, not somebody else's, because our own Drew Griffin caught up with her. And she was kind enough to respond and grant the interview from Alaska.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Sudden, abrupt, she cashes it in and quits.

Is that really how it was?

PALIN: No, it was a long and deliberative internal process deciding how best will our state progress. Everything changed August 29 in Alaska, the date that I was tapped to run for V.P. That was obvious.

A new political blood sport came into being in our state. And when I returned from the campaign trail, I'm trying for those months to not allow the distractions to stymie or paralyze our administration, and, yet, conditions pretty tough.

GRIFFIN: Is this your unconventional way of announcing you are going to run for president in 2012?

PALIN: As I said, I do not need a title -- I have -- nobody does to effect positive change.

GRIFFIN: Are you out of politics, political office?

PALIN: I can't see me being totally out of public service, because that is within me. It is the way that I am wired, is to desire to help.

GRIFFIN: Governor, I'm asking you, are you ever going to run for president? Are you ruling it out?

PALIN: I -- all options are going to keep on -- continuing to be on the table, as they have been for me my entire life. I am not going to close any door that may be open for me out there. So, all options are on the table.

But, for now, I want to help other people in or out of office. Don't care what party they are in, if they are willing to fight for what is right, energy independence, national security, smaller, smarter government, those things that I believe in that I think are the principles that have built up our nation. I am going to fight for other people who can help effect the change in those areas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That's Sarah Palin in her own words. But, obviously, some of you on Twitter and MySpace and Facebook not so kind to her since she made this decision on Friday, many of those even conservatives, by the way, who -- some who have been the toughest on her for -- quote -- "quitting," which she denies.

Let's go ahead and go to this one right there, if we could, Robert.

"Palin cannot prove political stamina or experiential knowledge, only that she quits and lacks intestinal fortitude."

Intestinal fortitude, boy, that's a word an old football coach of mine used to say all the time in the locker room.

We thank you all for your comments. We thank you all for you comments. Keep them coming.

Supporters march in Honduras for ousted President Zelaya. But how many of them are actually Honduran? Or are some of these Venezuelans who have been infiltrating, who have snuck in?

And now the questions that are still not answered as well over what killed Michael Jackson. That's right. A day after the memorial, we have received new information. There is also an interview with Jackson's dermatologist that you probably should hear if you are interested at all in this story, where he is asked, point blank, if he is Jackson's children's biological father.

We will be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: I mentioned this at the top of the newscast, but it probably bears repeating for those of you who didn't hear it.

We have received word from authorities in Nashville, Tennessee, that, probably within 15 or 20 minutes or so, they are going to be holding a news conference to announce what gives with the situation having to do with Steve McNair, the quarterback, the NFL quarterback who played for so many years, in fact, was MVP three times in the NFL.

We are hoping to get a decision, definitive decision, as to whether this was a homicide by itself or a murder-suicide specifically. As soon as this happens, you will hear it right here. We are checking on it with our affiliates and our sources in the area. And we will turn that around. So, stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I have got something else to show you from that security investigation that I was talking about earlier. This is a security guard now that you are looking at there. You see him in the picture? He is sleeping, sleeping, at a level four federal building.

So many of you have been writing me with your Twitters, your tweets and your MySpace and Facebook responses to this since we showed you this earlier in the newscast. Now, by the way, level four means as many as 450 federal employees work there with close to public contact. He was fired for this, by the way. But get this. He was upset that he was fired. So, he sued the Federal Protective Services. He says they failed to train him properly on the use of X-ray machines.

Now, what the heck does that have to do with sleeping? We don't know. But get this. He won. He won the suit.

Here is another example, by the way, no video to show you on this one, that we have been gathering throughout the day. It's just egregious, though.

A female investigator placed an infant in a baby carrier. Are you with me? The guard allowed the baby, the baby in the carrier, the baby, to go through the X-ray machine. The guard wasn't paying attention.

The good news for the baby is -- and for the guard, I suppose -- the machine was not on. The machine was not on when the baby went through it, or it would have harmed the baby. We will be following this.

By the way, a little later on, Mike Brooks is going to be joining me and he's going to be talking about why possibly security is as lax as these incidents seem to suggest it is.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: And I welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez here in the world headquarters of CNN.

There's no question that there's some very important questions that many Americans still want answered, because it seems that, without those answers, the story still seems incomplete. For example, did Michael Jackson father his children, or did he actually get somebody else to do it? And is that somebody else his dermatologist, a man named Arnold Klein?

Here now, I want you to listen to this. Dr. Klein is asked this question about whether he is or isn't on "Good Morning America."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "GOOD MORNING AMERICA")

DR. ARNOLD KLEIN, DERMATOLOGIST: All I can tell you is, to the best of my knowledge, I am not the father of these children.

But I am telling you, if push comes to shove, I can't say anything about it, but, to the best of my knowledge, I am not the father of these children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: By the way, I should also add that Debbie Rowe, who is the children's biological mother and Jackson's second wife, as you know, used to work for Klein.

Also, Dr. Klein will be appearing on "LARRY KING LIVE" tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern in a prime-time exclusive.

And now here is another question for the doctor. Did he prescribe painkillers for Michael Jackson? Klein says that he did not. But CNN has now learned that there is something about how Michael's body was found that provides some powerful clues into this case. It's new information, our exclusive report on what may have killed Michael Jackson when we come back.

Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.

You know how sometimes things change during this hour because so many things are going on at once. I mentioned to you moments ago that I was going to bring the very latest on this new revelation about what Michael Jackson's body says about his possible death and how it was found, some of the marks that were found, for example.

We are going to put that in the next block, because I want to talk to you about this now, another story that this show has been all over for quite some time now.

Consider this. Is Hugo Chavez -- Hugo Chavez -- trying to pour gasoline on the fire that is the Honduran coup? That could be serious. And it's the focus of our connection segment, where we connect you with what's important right now in Latin America.

I want to start with what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday after meeting with ousted Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya. She says that he will now meet with the interim president, Roberto Micheletti, tomorrow in Costa Rica.

That's the guy who was president with the guy who is now the interim president -- that's Oscar Arias you're seeing right there -- a meeting that's going to be hosted by him, all right? Oscar Arias is the president of Costa Rica, who knows diplomacy pretty darn well, when you consider this guy has won a Nobel Peace Prize for brokering an end to previous civil wars in Central America. For example, back in the 1980s. I mean, this guy is considered credible by most who know him or who have studied him.

Now, hovering in the background in this story -- and this is what I think is most interesting -- hovering in the background is Hugo Chavez, who wants Honduras to obviously take a leftist turn like his country. He wants Zelaya, the guy who was kicked out through the coup, back in. And some Hondurans already saw Zelaya as a Chavez puppet, as you can see in some of these pictures you see there.

But would Chavez -- would Hugo Chavez actually send some of his own people, Venezuelans, into Honduras to infiltrate those protests? I mean, would he mess with the affairs of another sovereign country? Here's something I want you to listen to. This woman in Venezuela says she was asked to do just that, and she says there are thousands of others who have also been asked to do the same thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So they took you there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. We all went together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the bus, where did it pass?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was waiting for us here at the entrance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's where they promised you food?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They promised all of us food but they didn't give us any.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To a group of those who sweep (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And no one got food?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. None of us that work here, none of us got some.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That's amazing.

CNN's international correspondent, Karl Penhaul, has been all over this coup, now 10 days old and counting.

Karl, thanks for being with us.

Let me start you off with just a reaction to what we have just seen. A woman saying as a Venezuelan, I'm being asked to go over there.

Have you there on the ground, Karl Penhaul, seen any evidence of Venezuelans infiltrating these pro-Zelaya protests by Hondurans?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think you've got to understand first the kind of climate right now, Rick. And there are deep social divisions here. And that really lays open the field to these claims and these counterclaims. Some of them seem very wild and others of them seem to be aimed at scaremongering.

Personally -- and I know the Venezuelans pretty well, I have spent a lot of time there in social protests in Venezuela, and I have not seen any sign of Venezuelans, or Nicaraguans, for that matter, at the pro-Zelaya protests. We have been in the thick of those marches, at the head of the marches and in the middle. Certainly haven't seen anything along those lines -- Rick. SANCHEZ: That's good to hear, but let me ask this of you as a follow-up, if I can. How is Venezuela's Hugo Chavez regarded there in Honduras? I mean, how does he factor into this equation?

PENHAUL: I think right now, given the climate in all of Latin America, not just Honduras, it's very difficult to separate Hugo Chavez either physically or as a symbol from any of the politics going on in Latin America, because on the one hand, you've got the business and political elite that have traditionally ruled the roost in Latin America. Even though leftist presidents have been elected in some countries, business and the economy is still largely run by those who for generations held power. And so they are very much in fear of Mr. Chavez and anybody who tries to copy his leftist style socialist policies.

And then on the other hand, you've got the poor majority, because across Latin America, you're talking on average about two-thirds of the population living below the poverty line. And they and Mr. Chavez see him as a symbol, somebody, who -- you know, regardless of whether he actually delivers or not, but they certainly see him as a symbol of something to be imitated so that they can get a little bit bigger share of the pie -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: It sounds like it depends on who you ask. And the poorer they are, the more apt they are to be following Hugo Chavez.

Karl Penhaul, good job, as usual, following this story for us.

I want to bring in Cristina Eguizabal now. She is the director for the prestigious Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University there in Miami.

Professor, thanks so much for being with us.

Let me start you off with this -- How important is this for the Obama administration? I mean, here you have not only the president of the United States, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton really trying to come up with some settlement on this, and a settlement that ends up being peaceful for the people of Honduras.

CRISTINA EGUIZABAL, DIRECTOR, LATIN AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN CENTER: Well, good afternoon to everyone. Thank you for having me here.

To answer your question, I think that for the United States and for the Obama administration, of course, is -- what's happening in Honduras is important for two reasons. One, because it's a president. Even though Honduras is a very small country, and it is the second or third poorest country in the hemisphere, it doesn't have a strategic, an economic weight in the hemisphere or in the overall international relations of the United States. It is an example.

Military coups in Latin America have been historically a staple. Fortunately, in the last 20 years or 30 years or so, we thought that they had become something of the past and that we wouldn't be witnessing new ones.

SANCHEZ: But we are. And, you know, by the way, some people would argue whether this was a coup.

After all, President Zelaya wasn't exactly behaving saintly while in office. And a lot of folks are saying he had gone too far.

But let me ask you this question. Do you think Micheletti, the president who has been put there now, will let Zelaya, seen here in this cowboy hat, reassume power in the country? And, if so, under what conditions?

EGUIZABAL: Micheletti?

SANCHEZ: Yes.

EGUIZABAL: Well...

SANCHEZ: They're talking tomorrow, you know.

EGUIZABAL: I know they're talking tomorrow in Costa Rica. And I am very optimistic about the possibility that President Arias extracts concessions from both parties and they arrive to some kind of arrangement.

Zelaya has six months to go in any event -- or had six months to go in any event. There are elections in November. So there are different ways of setting a calendar for the election, setting an agenda for the political campaign, allowing Zelaya to come for a while. I don't know. There are different kinds of arrangements that can be found.

SANCHEZ: Well, I will tell you, it sounds like they are going to have to get some kind of guarantees from both of them. And certainly a guarantee from Zelaya that he is going to honor the constitution, and that if his term ends at a certain time, unlike Chavez, he needs to leave then at a certain time.

I mean, let's see if Secretary of State Hillary Clinton can make that happen tomorrow in this meeting. It certainly seems like it would be good for the region and certainly good for the people of Honduras as well.

We've got 10 seconds, Professor, if you wanted to make one other point.

EGUIZABAL: Well, my next point would be that there is an important Honduran community here in the United States. And the future of that country is directly linked to the economy of many locales in this country to begin with -- New Orleans and Miami, for that matter.

SANCHEZ: We thank you, Professor, for taking time from Florida International University to take us through this.

By the way, we have got a picture, I think, we can put up of a news conference that's about to take place. We told you moments ago that there's going to be a developing story going on out of Nashville, Tennessee, quarterback Steve McNair's mysterious death. Some have thought that this possibly could be a murder-suicide but -- again, but, police have not confirmed that. Are they about to confirm that at any minute and give us more details about how he died?

The news conference, any moment. We'll have it for you as it happens.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: All right. Angie and Michael in our control room are monitoring this picture.

Let's go ahead and put that up if you've got it, Dan.

Dan's our director. That's why I am talking to him.

That is a picture of a podium, where any moment now police in Nashville, Tennessee, are going to come out and tell us more about the strange death of Steve McNair with four gunshots -- two to his head, two to his chest, according to the way they described it -- and the woman who was right next to him with a gun underneath her. Was this a murder-suicide or was it not? I mean, really, only police know at this point, and they're going to be telling us that in just a little bit.

Meanwhile, on our Twitter board, boy, we have been getting a lot of comments from all kinds. Look at this one. I thought this was kind of interesting, because, you know, thousands and thousands of people take the CNN tour from all over the world very day. And this person just took the CNN tour. They're probably right there back behind me somewhere.

"Just left the CNN studio tour. Really fun and exciting. I got to see Rick Sanchez from CNN too."

All right. Back at you.

And a lot of folks on Twitter, by the way, have been talking about the Michael Jackson case, arguing, really, back and forth months themselves, as I look at the pages, as to whether we are following the story too much, whether they want to see another Michael Jackson story, or whether they don't want to see another Michael Jackson story. And it's about 50/50 actually.

But there is this, this Michael Jackson story. You and I have heard for weeks now reports suggesting that Michael Jackson was hooked on medications only administered usually during surgery with the use of an I.V. needle. Well, now CNN has talked to a source who says that Jackson's body did have track marks, was as white as a ghost when it was found, and did have veins in his arms that appeared to have collapsed completely.

This is where the news about Michael Jackson's untimely death now picks up with the investigation into what really happened to him, and this report by CNN's Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a gentleman here that needs help, and he's not breathing.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN has now learned disturbing new details about what precisely police investigators found when they answered the 911 call from Jackson's house 12 days ago.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he's not conscious, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KAYE (on camera): A source involved with the investigation tells us Jackson had "numerous" track marks on his arms, and that those marks "could certainly be consistent with the regular I.V. use of a drug like Diprivan."

(voice-over): Diprivan is the powerful sedative commonly used in anesthesia in a hospital. A nurse who had worked for Jackson told CNN he had begged her for Diprivan a few months ago so he could sleep.

Our source cautioned investigators can't say right now if a Diprivan I.V. drip caused the track marks on Jackson's arms. Some of the marks, the source said, appeared fresh, others older. In fact, some of the newest marks could have been caused when emergency medical personnel rushed into the house and used their own IVs in an effort to save him.

The source would not confirm if Diprivan had been found with Jackson, but he told us numerous bottles of prescription medication had been found in Jackson's $100,000-a-month rented mansion. He described them as "dangerous drugs, similar to those found in a hospital setting." That's as far as he would go.

(on camera): As for Jackson's body, the source said he had never seen anything like it in decades of investigative work. He described it as "lily white from head to toe."

Was it caused by the disease Jackson said he had? We don't know.

(voice-over): Another source with knowledge of the case described Jackson's body as having "paper-white skin, as white as a white T-shirt." He also told me his scalp was bald, that the pop star had no hair. That may have been as a result of injuries Jackson received when his hair caught fire while making this Pepsi ad years ago.

This source also said Jackson's veins were "collapsed in both arms," suggesting frequent intravenous drug use.

His final note, the body was emaciated, despite the vigor Jackson showed on stage during his final rehearsal just 36 hours earlier.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: President Obama, while in Italy for the G8 summit, takes time to see earthquake damage. This is in L'Aquila. On his left is Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who's making his own headlines, as I'm sure you have heard. And this has very little to do with political decision-making.

Here's the question: Given the awful and embarrassing press that Berlusconi is getting, what does President Obama say about him publicly? You're going to have to stay tuned to hear this one for yourself.

Oh, and give me a two-shot if you can, Dan. Because look who's here. The man of the hour is going to be joining us now, our law enforcement expert, Mike Brooks. He's going to be taking us through what's going on with the Steve McNair investigation, because we are now just minutes away from police unveiling what new information they are ready to reveal.

Stay with us. It will happen as you watch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Boy, this is an ongoing conversation, isn't it? How much coverage do we give the Michael Jackson story? And it seems like these days everybody is a president of CNN.

Let's get this in real quick. There we go. Ready?

"We want to hear about Michael Jackson," says Sandy, who is tweeting us right now. "Just not 24/7. There are other things happening in the world."

All right. We promised that we would be taking you to Nashville, Tennessee, for a decision on the McNair case. Let's take that live now.

Do it, Dan.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Lieutenant Pat Taylor (ph), Captain David Imhoff (ph), Sergeant Pat Bustiglione (ph), and the two investigators assigned to this case, detectives Charles Robinson (ph) and Norris Harkington (ph).

Chief.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Don. Thank you all for being here.

Within the last two hours, I had a chance to have a conversation with Mrs. McNair and share with her an update on what we think the investigation tells us to this point, which I'll do with the community now.

After nearly four days of intensive investigation that includes laboratory test results and other investigative methods, the police department has concluded that Steve McNair was murdered by Sahel Kazemi and that, in turn, Sahel Kazemi killed herself with a single gunshot wound to her head. While we may never know exactly what drove Ms. Kazemi to make that decision on that Saturday morning, the totality of the evidence clearly points to a murder-suicide.

It's also important to note briefly that widely-publicized media diagrams of the exact body of Kazemi and other information about the shooting sequences is in fact in error. Based upon the appearance of the crime scene, evidence collected, autopsy findings, laboratory results, and an incredible amount of work by our investigative team, there's no doubt we believe now at this time that McNair was seated on the sofa and likely was asleep. And we believe that Kazemi shot him in the right temple, then shot him twice in the chest, and then shot him a final time in the left temple. Kazemi then positioned herself next to McNair on the sofa and shot herself once in the right temple and expired.

Today, we received preliminary investigation from the TBI that the five shell casings recovered match the weapon that was purchased by Kazemi last Thursday, that the five bullets have been recovered and they, too, were all fired by the barrel of that weapon.

Gunshot residue evidence, trace evidence was found on Kazemi's left hand, not enough for a conclusive result. And there was no gunshot residue evidence on Mr. McNair's hands. Because there's a lack of any evidence of a struggle or defensive wounds to McNair, his physical position on the sofa, the trajectory of the bullets and the wound pattern, we still believe it was likely that Kazemi shot Mr. McNair and he didn't know.

Over the last five to seven days of Kazemi's life, our investigation is learning that she had become very distraught, and on two occasions told friends and associates that her life was all messed up and that she was going to end it all. Ms. Kazemi had a vehicle that she owned. While the Escalade was purchased we think with Mr. McNair, we believe she was paying payments on the Escalade. She was paying payments on a Kia, and her roommate was about to leave, which effectively was going to double her room -- her mortgage -- her rent payment, I should say.

We also have reason to believe that Kazemi recently learned before this day that she believed McNair was involved with another woman and that, too, participated in her state of mind, we think.

As it relates to the discovery of the bodies and Mr. Wayne Neely's actions, analysis of preliminary cell phone records and a re- interview with Mr. Neely indicates to our detectives that Mr. Neely has been in fact truthful. While it is unusual that there was a 44- minute delay between the discovery of the body and the first phone call, it's not unheard of. And again, I would caution, there is no evidence whatsoever that any of the crime scene and the bodies had been tampered with or moved or altered in any way.

At this time, the police department still has remaining issues to look at. There are videos of the area around the condo that we're looking at, and the videos we have seen so far do not give us any information that would contradict these murder-suicide conclusions.

We also want to remind anyone in the community, if they have any additional information, to please contact our detectives and we'll provide that information.

Finally, any death is tragic. And the deaths that we are talking about today are tragic to the families of all involved and tragic to our community.

With that, I've concluded my formal comments.

Are there any questions?

QUESTION: Was there a suicide note?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

QUESTION: Was there anything that you've been able to determine that pushed her to violence toward him that particular night?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As we discussed, we think in the last five to seven days of her life many things were stressing her. One of the stressors was whether or not her relationship was unraveling with Mr. McNair. We can't put ourselves in the mind of people who do these terribly irrational acts, but we do believe there's evidence that she was spinning out of control.

QUESTION: Had he made promises to her about a future relationship?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know that.

QUESTION: What about the...

QUESTION: It seems (INAUDIBLE) totally cleared from this investigation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Given all the investigation, all the statements taken and the physical evidence on the scene, Mr. Norflett (ph) is no longer a suspect.

QUESTION: What about the purchase of the gun? (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe that was just her and the person she purchased it from. She had a -- she knew this gentleman she bought the gun from, from a prior vehicle purchase, or discussions of a vehicle purchase, and quite by serendipity it turns out that he had a gun when she asked if there was any way he knew of getting a gun. They transacted the deal around 5:00 at the Dave and Buster's Opry Mills area in the parking lot, and that pretty much is where that ends. I know that the ATF has commented on that issue, and that's really left for them to comment on.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know any of that.

QUESTION: Chief, any indication of drugs at the scene of this crime?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We found no drugs at the scene of the crime.

QUESTION: Any evidence?

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have reason to believe that Kazemi witnessed someone leaving the condominium where the event occurred several days before. We have reason to believe that Kazemi attempted to follow that person and/or at other times tried to follow that person to learn who they were. The detectives are of the opinion that she believed from a conversation she had with friends and others, that she thought McNair was involved in another relationship and had just recently learned that.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's been interviewed.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not exactly sure.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I'm very sure that our detectives, from the very beginning, didn't rule out any possibility.

The crime scene itself is a technique and an investigative strategy that's very well done. And our team did a very good job. And the crime scene tells us a lot of what we know today. And then from there, other interviews, other information did not change what we originally saw in the crime scene.

We wanted to wait until we had the TBI results because we wanted that science to tell us that the weapon was the same, the pellets and the casings were the same. And we wanted to wait until we had a chance to share all these pieces of information with the coroner's office.

Again, you know, it's a bit unfortunate that there were widely- spread diagrams that were not factual that may influence peoples' decisions or thinking. There was a widely-spread order of shot sequences that is not based in fact at all that we now want to make sure is overcome in the mind of the community. And we had those conversations with the coroner's office today.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is difficult for us to know because we have no affirmation that anyone heard the shots. But we do think that based on what we know today, and what we know about the scene and the evidence and the autopsy, the trajectory, that we think it was four shots by Ms. Kazemi against Mr. McNair and then once against herself. We don't know exactly what the times were. Mr. McNair's shots were likely very quick.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's more speculation than we know right now. We do know that she was clearly sending a message to people during the last five to seven days...

SANCHEZ: Unbelievable development coming to us from the police there in Nashville.

Mike Brooks joining us now.

She was "spinning out of control," according to the police. Possibly killed him while he was sleeping on the couch. And there was still another woman involved, a third woman, second girlfriend.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Or she believes there was.

SANCHEZ: Or she believes there was.

BROOKS: Exactly.

SANCHEZ: Unbelievable development. What do you make of this?

BROOKS: You know, you talk about a crime of passion, Rick, when you shoot somebody twice in the chest, then -- once in the temple, twice in the chest, and again in the other temple, that is someone who is seriously, seriously upset...

SANCHEZ: But I'm...

BROOKS: ... and wants to make sure that that person is dead.

SANCHEZ: I'm struck by the fact that he was asleep, which means they hadn't probably argued, because usually people don't stick around and take a nap after a heated argument. Right?

BROOKS: No, usually not. Usually not. So...

SANCHEZ: So if she had suspicions and she was mad, she didn't tell him. BROOKS: Or maybe he just kind of brushed it off. You know, there's a lot of speculation we can make because, was he about to end the relationship with her? Did she see this woman? You know, does he even have a second girlfriend?

We can't say that for sure. But I'm telling you what, it's amazing.

SANCHEZ: Boy, what a story.

Stick around, because I want to continue this conversation now.

Let's do this. Let's take you to Washington, D.C.

Here's Wolf Blitzer with "THE SITUATION ROOM."