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Attempted Bombing in Times Square; Iran's President Takes Nuke Plan to U.N.; Fight Against Oil Spill; Major Flooding in Tennessee; World's Biggest Airline; Buzzing on the Web, Officer Won't Enforce Immigration Law

Aired May 03, 2010 - 12:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And hello again, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

We are in Studio 7 at CNN world headquarters, where anything can happen.

The people behind today's biggest stories, among them, the New York car bomb investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As they were trying to evacuate, you know, move everybody away from it, it just went off inside the car. An explosion went off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Potential clues emerge for police on videotape.

Also, country music's capital swamped by floodwaters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been down here 40 years. I never saw it like this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Within a two-hour period, it had overwhelmed us. We were two feet deep in water. We were raising everything up as high as we could get it, but it didn't do any good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Yes.

And live at the United Nations this hour, clamping down on nuclear weapons. Iran's leader shows up with a different vision.

Let's get started live from Studio 7.

Right now the search is on for a man in surveillance video taken just after the attempted bombing in Times Square. This is the man investigators want to talk with. You'll see it in just a second here. Police are also expected to release another piece of videotape today. There is the man in the first video taking off a shirt. We are following every development in this case, and we'll continue to until we find out who was behind the bombing attempt.

Allan Chernoff is in Times Square.

And Allan, if you would, give us the very latest on the investigation.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Tony, there are many, many leads that the police here are following. They are looking at the forensics of that actual vehicle, whether there were any prints, et cetera. They've been analyzing the vehicle at a facility in Queens.

Now, you mentioned the videotape. There are lots and lots of videotapes.

The one that's getting the most attention right now, which you focused on, a man walking away from the area where that SUV was parked. Parked, of course, with explosives inside. He was walking along Shubert Alley.

Now, our viewers, when they've come to New York, perhaps they've see "The Lion King." That's right next to the theater, the Minskoff Theater, where "The Lion King" plays. He was walking down from 45th to 44th Street, taking off his shirt, stuffing it into a bag.

The other videotape that we hope to receive this afternoon, from a tourist in Pennsylvania of a man actually walking north, walking away from that area. And so there are so many thousands and thousands of people there.

HARRIS: Allan, I need to interrupt. I apologize. Allan, I apologize.

We need to get to another location in New York City where the Iranian president is speaking to the United Nations.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): May I underline that in the absence of sustainable security, it is impossible to adopt comprehensive measures for triggering development and promoting welfare. Although a substantial part of national resources are allocated for national security, there is hardly any sign of an improvement in the ability to -- there's hardly any sign in the ability to improve security in the face of perceived threats. And, in fact, that continues, that effort continues to defy us.

As some states choose to part from the teachings of divine prophets, and their teachings, the threat of nuclear bombs is cast over the entire world, and no one is secure. Some states define in their strategies the use of nuclear bombs as an element of stability and security, and this constitutes a gross mistake. The production and possession of nuclear bombs under any pretext is hazardous, and first and foremost to the country of production, and stockpiling, which is exposed the most to its hazards. You may recall the perilous and unintentional transfer of a nuclear missile on a bomber from a military base to another base in the United States which became a matter of concern to the health and security of Americans and its government.

The sole purpose of nuclear weapons is to annihilate all living beings and destroy the environment. And its radiations could affect future generations, leaving a negative impact on the environment that remains for centuries.

The nuclear bomb is a fire against humanity rather than a weapon for defense. The possession of nuclear bombs is not a source of pride. Its possession is disgusting and shameful. And even more shameful is the threat to use such weapons, which, if used, the scale of its destruction is incomparable to any crime committed throughout history.

Those who carried out the first atomic bombardments are among the most hated individuals in human history. The United Nations, in particular the Security Council, have for the past 60 years have been unable to establish sustainable security, let alone give a sense of security to nations and their international relations.

The current international milieu seems far more challenging than previous decades. Wars, acts of aggression and, above all, the shadow of threat resulting from the stockpiling of nuclear armaments, and even worse, unfair policies applied by a select group of expansionist states, have obscured the prospect of international security. These states, communities largely carry a sense of insecurity as a result. Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation have failed to materialize --

HARRIS: OK. That's Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at the United Nations, as we open the 30-day summit on the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty.

Let's get to our foreign affairs correspondent, Jill Dougherty.

Jill, what do you hear in the comments from Iran's president?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Tony, it's an interesting moment, because here is a man from a country that is being accused by the United States and other countries of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons. But he is trying to shift that focus, shift that argument and say, it's not we who are at fault, it's the United States. And what he would say is, you guys already have nuclear weapons, and you are the guys who have to give them up.

So, essentially, ,what he's saying is the United States is at fault, the United States has to disarm, give up its nuclear weapons. We're expecting that he's also going to work Israel into this. And he would say they have a nuclear program, it's not disclosed, everyone knows it. They should give up their weapons as well.

And then the third thing he's going to say, we, the non-aligned nations, the nations that don't have any nuclear weapons, are not ready to be told by the United States what to do. So he is trying to shift the argument, and the United States is going to try to shift it back to this Non-Proliferation Treaty and strengthen it, and obviously push on the side for sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program.

HARRIS: And the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, will be making that argument later this afternoon, 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Is that correct, Jill?

DOUGHERTY: Right. It is.

And, you know, we're expecting that in that statement, she will talk about and reveal, possibly, the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. And that is important, because, number one, it's classified information, has been for years. But it's going to be the United States saying, look, we are transparent on this, we want to show how many weapons we have, we're working to reduce them. But countries that are trying secretly, and that -- Iran -- should stop it and get with the NPT, and carry it out the way they were supposed to.

HARRIS: OK. Our foreign affairs correspondent, Jill Dougherty, for us.

Jill, appreciate it. Thank you.

You know, it is now almost two weeks since the start of the oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, and still little success. Oil is creeping ever closer to the coast.

We will take you there live.

First, though, our "Random Moment" in 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Rarely can a frock give you cavities, but check out this sweet showstopper, our "Random Moment of the Day."

A Sacramento teen showed up at the prom wearing a 10,000-calorie dress. Kelly and her prom date gulped 12 boxes of Capri Sun. Then she glued the pouches together to make the strapless mid-thigh number. The gown doubled as Kelly's senior project, something about recycling.

The project and the attire both a hit and our "Random Moment of the Day."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Well, I've got to tell you, we are following minute-by- minute developments in the fight against that giant oil spill invading the Gulf Coast. Efforts to cap the leaking sea well and corral the leaks still not looking good right now. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil gushing into the water each day. Our Rob Marciano now from Gulfport, Mississippi.

Rob, if you would, I know it's generic, but give us the very latest, sir.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the very latest is this thing did skim the Louisiana coastline over the weekend, hitting some of those sensitive wildlife areas. How bad is the damage? We just don't know, because up until today, and really until tomorrow, the seas have been way too rough to get any sort of vessel that can get in close to the shoreline and see just what kind of damage was done.

But it did skim the coastline. It has now moved off shore, and it is about 20 to 30 miles due south of the Mississippi coastline, where I stand right here. And it will be drifting in this general direction with that southerly wind still blowing, not nearly as bad as it was blowing over the weekend. So there's a little bit of good news there.

Also, a sliver of good news, it appears as though the main oil, heavy oil slick, seems to be a little bit smaller today as in recent days. And that could be a factor of a couple things.

One, the turbulent seas kind of making it difficult to see from the air, but hopefully, and more likely, too, some of the chemicals that they've been dropping into that part of the slick have been able to break up some of that oil and disperse it in a more environmentally-friendly way. So that's what's going on with the slick itself, and it is forecast to drift a little bit farther to the north.

What are they doing to stop this? Well, as you mentioned, they tried several things. Right now, three solutions on the table. None of them are going to happen today and stop it today. So we're going to still continue to see 5,000 barrels of oil pump out of this thing until they put a cap on it.

One solution, put a dome on it and stick a straw in it, basically, and siphon that oil to the surface.

Solution number two, put a tube down there and inject that dispersant and knock that oil out and break it apart as best you can before it even hits the surface of the water.

And then option number three, the most time-consuming, kind of drill another well and come at it from the side and attack it in that way, all of which take a fair amount of time. And it ain't going to happen today.

So, they're going to continue to go out there and lay down boom, which, of course, they don't have nearly enough as they need here in Mississippi. They've got about 26 miles of sandy beach line and only about 1,000 feet of that boom out there right now.

So, they're hoping it stays off shore. That's possible, Tony, but, you know, we're going to see some of that sheen roll onto shore here in the coming days if we continue to get this south wind the way it's been blowing.

HARRIS: OK.

Rob Marciano for us.

Rob, that's comprehensive. Appreciate it. Thank you.

While this could be -- could be the worst oil spill in U.S. history, surpassing the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, if not capped soon, oil spills are not uncommon. According to a U.S. Coast Guard report, there have been more than 250,000 oil spills in the U.S. waters since 1971. The vast majority of those were less than a barrel of oil and didn't have much environmental impact. But 2,200 of those were more than a barrel.

Six million barrels of oil were dumped into U.S. waters during this period. And onshore facilities were the worst offenders, not offshore facilities like this disaster. Onshore oil and gas facilities account for 92 percent or more of the spills into U.S. waters.

We are tracking every angle of this oil spill crisis. Ten minutes from now, we will bring you the environmental impact. Loyola University scientist Robert Thomas joining me live.

Much of the West thinks Iran is developing nuclear weapons. So there's a lot of interest in what Iran's president said today at the opening session of a United Nations conference on global disarmament. We will get reaction.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Our friend Jim Walsh is a research associate with the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He's been watching President Ahmadinejad's speech, along with us, and we wanted to get some -- Jim, good to see you.

JIM WALSH, RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, SECURITY STUDIES PROGRAM, MIT: Good to see you, Tony.

I must say, I had a very bizarre experience a moment ago. I heard you in one ear and President Ahmadinejad in the other ear, and my brain didn't know what to make of it.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: Yes. It's hard to know.

Hey, does the NPT need a makeover, Jim, to make it tougher for nations to do what North Korea did several years ago, which was to opt out? And also, to violate the treaty?

WALSH: Yes. Well, I'm not a big believer in trying to go in and make major changes on the NPT. And here's why.

The language of the treaty says that if you want to change the treaty at all, then you have to have a big meeting where everyone gets together. And if you start that process, it may be that, you know, everyone comes with their own agenda issue and the thing falls apart.

So, my philosophy on this is the treaty has worked well since 1970. And what we need to do is get political commitments from the member parties, from the governments, rather than trying to rewrite the treaty, which I think would probably cause more problems than it would help.

But you're right, there's an issue here with the North Koreans and others, countries that withdraw just when they are on the verge of getting caught for having done something wrong. That obviously can't continue. But I think there are other ways to get at that.

HARRIS: You know, I'm struck as I'm listening to Ahmadinejad's speech. Why doesn't Iran simply walk away from the NPT? Everyone believes its nuclear program is not solely a domestic energy program.

Why doesn't Iran just walk away and do whatever it wants to do right now? You know, you wonder what the real consequences for walking away would be.

WALSH: You know, that's a great question, Tony. You are the first person to ever ask me that question. I'm glad -- here. Because I don't think Iran necessarily wants to walk away from the NPT.

They often say positive things about the NPT. Ahmadinejad's speech today is saying that we need to have nuclear disarmament.

At the Tehran conference a couple of weeks ago, the supreme leader said that nuclear weapons were horan (ph). That is to say, forbidden by Islamic law.

So we want them to say that. We don't want them to do what North Korea has done, which is say, you know, we want nuclear weapons, we don't care, we're pulling out.

So, I think, in part because they have not made a decision to build nuclear weapons, that's what the U.S. intelligence community has believed for years. Yes, they want to get close. Yes, they want to have the capability. But they've not made that final crucial decision. And as long as they don't, that's a good thing, and keeping them in the treaty is a good thing.

HARRIS: What do you expect to come out of the conference declaration? It's a declaration that Iran will likely attempt to block.

WALSH: Well, if the conference document singles out Iran, then they will be able to block it. This is one of those meetings that works by consensus, which means every country that participates can veto the final document.

HARRIS: Right.

WALSH: But in the meetings to get ready for this conference, the so-called preparatory meetings, Iran has not played the spoiler role. And Egypt, with its concerns about Israel's nuclear weapons, has not played the spoiler role.

So I think there's even money here that you will -- you know, if neither side pushes too far, that we'll get a successful conference in the end. And what does that mean? That will probably mean more money, more resources for the IAEA so it can go out and do its job. And it means the governments walk out of that meeting with some political momentum.

We have the START Treaty. We have the conference that Obama hosted. A successful treaty would add political momentum to non- proliferation and disarmament.

HARRIS: Jim, always good to talk to you. Appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

WALSH: Thank you, Tony.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Got to tell you, communities along the Gulf Coast are bracing for an environment tragedy right now with a huge oil slick oozing their way and hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil still gushing from a damaged undersea oil well.

Joining me from New Orleans now, Loyola University scientist Robert Thomas.

Robert, it is good to talk to you.

I've got to ask you, first of all, what most concerns you as this slick approaches? And where do you go to get updates on the current state of things?

ROBERT THOMAS, SCIENTIST, LOYOLA UNIVERSITY: Well, I think the thing that worries everybody the most down here is that, number one, we don't really know when this is going to end. Right now it's still pouring into the Gulf, and there are questions about how much is pouring in, that we might be making all of our decisions based on a small flow when, in fact, we have a large flow.

And then, of course, the next -- beyond that, the next question is, will it come on shore, on our very vulnerable estuaries? For information, I'm on the phone all day long, and talking to people who are -- have technical knowledge about this. But the government is doing joint briefings every day on television, and then there's a joint briefing for the media.

HARRIS: Got you.

THOMAS: Those are the best sources of information.

HARRIS: Got you. What is the image -- and maybe you can paint the picture for us --of what you see coming your way right now?

THOMAS: Well, I flew over the oil slick yesterday, and it was -- it was a bit mind-boggling, because, you know, you hear about an oil slick the size of Puerto Rico. We were not sure until the final moment when we found it that we were going to find it.

People that have not been at sea don't realize how big the Gulf of Mexico is. And it can swallow these things up.

But once we found it, we got the typical sheen rows, and then those big orange-to-reddish sheens that everybody's seeing on television. The one that we encountered was bright, bright orange.

And so -- but you get a sense that maybe it's not as bad as we fear until you talk to people who suggest that maybe the oil goes down as deep as 45 feet. And again, it's coming out just constantly every day.

HARRIS: What is your thought? Is there a chance here that -- you mentioned the vastness of the Gulf of Mexico. Is there a chance here that the Gulf can actively break this up?

THOMAS: There's always that chance. There's always a chance that this can be handled naturally and will be handled by Mother Nature. But you can't bank on that. You can't do your planning based on that. You have to do your planning that it's going to be a worst- case scenario.

In Louisiana, what that translates to -- I think all the watchers out there know this, but it translates to devastating commercial fisheries that provides 40 percent of the fisheries for the continental United States and completely shuts down oysters. And everything associated with it, all the big game fishing, all the commercial fishing, all the sport fishing, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

HARRIS: Robert, that's terrific information. You took my follow-up -- you took it and you answered it.

Robert Thomas for us.

Appreciate it. Good to talk to you, Robert.

THOMAS: Thanks. Good talking to you.

HARRIS: Let's turn now to the economic impact of the oil spill crisis. And our Josh Levs has some figures for us -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, I'm actually going to pick up right where Robert left off, because we keep hearing about the economic impact. The more I heard about this, the more I wanted some hard figures about this.

Let's do this -- first, I want you to hear what President Obama has been saying about the potential economic side of the devastation to that region. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're dealing with a massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster. The oil that is still leaking from the well could seriously damage the economy and the environment of our Gulf states, and it could extend for a long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Just how bad could that damage be? I have some figures for you just to get started, to have a sense of how huge fishing is to the region.

Take a look at this. This is from NOAA, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, from the government.

Florida, commercial fishing alone, $5.2 billion in annual sales. And look at the number of jobs in the state. More than 100,000 jobs in Florida alone.

Let's go over here to Louisiana. All right, $2.1 billion in annual sales, 46,000 jobs.

So, folks, as you're looking at this, keep in mind the economic crisis we've already been dealing with, people struggling as it is. Then you toss in this, with all these billions and all these jobs.

Texas, $2.2 billion in the commercial fishing industry there, 47,000 jobs at stake.

Now let's jump over to recreational fishing which is something we've been hearing about as well. Look at these overall figures -- $2.2 billion on trips. People spent that much in the Gulf region alone within one year. And look how much they spent on equipment -- $14 billion.

Now think about this. All the figures I just showed you, the latest ones that they have are from 2006, when the region was still recovering from Katrina. So, the best I can tell you is that it's most likely even more than that. So, billions and billions and billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of jobs, all at stake, all on the line when we talk about this.

So, Tony, I know we've been following this issue of the fishing industry. And we're seeing all sorts of images come our way, right? But as we look at what can happen to that region, we're talking about individuals, many of whom are already struggling in the economic crisis, now standing to be struggling even more as some of those billions disappear, some of those jobs disappear, that's the negative side.

HARRIS: OK, Josh, appreciate it. Good numbers. Man, this could be devastating. A political power shift in New Orleans is adding to the complexity of the situation. Democrat Mitch Landrieu was sworn in as the new mayor today. He is the first white mayor of New Orleans in more than 30 years. Landrieu took part in a flyover of the oil spill last week in order to get a firsthand look at what's headed his way.

Are bigger airlines better airlines? Two carriers are joining forces. Buckle up, you will probably feel the merger turbulence.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's get to Chad Myers in the severe weather center.

And, Chad, the pictures of the flooding coming out of Tennessee, I mean, this is just devastating.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, can you imagine 17 inches of rainfall anywhere?

HARRIS: No.

MYERS: Even in the ocean it might cause some flooding for crying out loud.

HARRIS: Right.

MYERS: And that's what Nashville had over the weekend. Just some amazing numbers here. Camden, Tennessee, at 17 -- over 17 inches, almost 18. And then Brownsville. And in the city of Nashville itself, 13.5 inches of water. And that had to run off. There was just no place for it to go. Not even in a desert can you get13 inches absorbed through the sand fast enough.

They have to realize that this all came down in less than 48 hours. So the water literally came up very quickly. There were 1,000 rescues. One thousand high-water rescues as people were just not ready -- how do you get ready for that -- they're just not ready for that at all. So the whole city, the downtown, the Opryland Hotel, we're talking all of those major tourist attractions, all in trouble with this. If this water goes up another foot, almost all of downtown Nashville, including the -- all the things that you hear about, and all the - the Opryland and all that, will be in trouble of some type of flooding, not just what we're showing you here. Obviously we're tossing - we're talking about, you know, trailers and things that are probably replaceable. But some of those things in downtown Nashville are not replaceable.

We'll be back right after this break with Tony again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And, of course, CNN is your source for money news. We want to get you to the best website on the planet for money news, cnnmoney.com. There it is. And the lead story, "Ford Sales Soaring by 25 percent." GM, not bad, but, boy, Ford really selling vehicles right now. Better than three hours into the trading day. Let's get you to the New York Stock Exchange for a look at the big board. We are in positive territory. Triple-digit territory now. One hundred thirty- nine points now. Of course, we are following these numbers for you throughout the day -- boy, it's a big run up on stocks -- throughout the day here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

You know, United Airlines and Continental Airlines announced plans today to merge. That is the big business story of the day. We asked CNN's Christine Romans if she would sort all of this out for us.

Good to see you, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Tony.

OK. So United and Continental would be the world's largest airlines. The headquarters would be in Chicago. It will be called United, but the logo will be Continental. The deal together worth about $3.2 billion. And because it's the world's largest airline, if this goes through, that means, of course, it would have to undergo some antitrust scrutiny to make sure that it, you know, it's not anti- competitive.

The potential impact for you and me. What does it mean?

HARRIS: Yes.

ROMANS: Well, already trying to figure out what it means, this big gargantuan airline. Maybe fewer seats. Maybe they'll be able to get rid of some duplication. That could mean higher prices in some of the places where they're already very competitive against each other. But clearly there will be more destinations and better connection options.

Now, I wanted to get the view from the executive suite about what this will mean in terms of how we're going to feel differently about it.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

ROMANS: Especially about higher fares. So I asked the CEOs of these two companies, what will feel differently? This is what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLENN TILTON, CEO, UNITED AIRLINES: There's virtually no overlap. So the work that we've done independent of one another is exactly the result you're going to see when we come together as one company.

JEFF SMISEK, CEO, CONTINENTAL AIRLINES: That's right. And the synergies that we're projecting in this deal, none of those synergies has any airfare increases built into them.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: He says, Tony, no airfare increases built into those synergies. But another thing about synergies, I also asked about job cuts. They say you and I won't see anything differently in terms of the front line, as they call it. People we talked to when we're going to take a flight. But there will be some overlap in IT, in the headquarters, in all of the different things that make each different entity run. And so there could be some job cuts there. They wouldn't say how many, though.

HARRIS: Yes, no fare hikes. Was it just me who saw the Pinocchio theory playing on -- maybe it was just me.

All right, Christine, appreciate it.

ROMANS: We'll watch. We're going to watch closely, right?

HARRIS: Please, let's do that.

Thank you, Christine.

Let's do this now. Let's - I've got to tell you, we are following every development in the Times Square attempted bombing. And we will until we find out who is behind it. A former FBI assistant director and our national security contributor give us an inside look at the investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The manhunt continues this hour in the weekend attempted car bombing in New York. Dozens of people were close by when police realized an abandoned SUV in Times Square was filled with explosives. A New York hot dog vendor described the scene to CNN's John King.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RALLIS GIALABOUKIS, NEW YORK CITY HOT DOG VENDOR: I was about maybe 15 feet when the explosion occurred. And then after that, we had no choice but to back up and everybody started running. And those people yelling and screaming. And it was just -- all the -- the police were just backing everybody up and just yelling at them and it was just - it was just, you know, pretty chaotic.

JOHN KING, CNN: Small pop like firecrackers? Louder pop like gunfire?

GIALABOUKIS: Louder - louder pops. I heard actually a loud bang basically. And you could see the fire and the flames in the car. And then just a lot of smoke right after that.

KING: And you know so well how busy that Times Square area is on a Saturday night. Talk to us about how the crowd dispersed and the police role and the citizens' role in trying to get people to safe - to a safe distance as quickly as possible.

GIALABOUKIS: Well, the police were on it right away. And they were very quick to act. And the people, you know, were running and the police did a great job there just to get everybody out of there. I think, you know, it definitely could have been a lot worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Speaking of the police, New York police expected to release a second videotape today of a person they want to talk to about the Times Square bomb attempt. An earlier tape shows a man, a white male in his 40s they want to question. Last hour, CNN national security contributor Frances Townsend and Bill Gavin, former FBI assistant director in New York, weighed in on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCES FRAGOS TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: He very clearly is someone that they are interested in.

HARRIS: Oh, yes.

TOWNSEND: And those, by the way, I should say, Tony, you know, whether somebody's a suspect or a person of interest, those are very loaded terms that have standards associated with them inside the government. And so it's understandable he wouldn't have used them. I think to the average person, you and me, he absolutely is a person of interest.

HARRIS: Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

TOWNSEND: They need to talk to him. He was very close. The timing is such that if he's not involved, he's going to have to convince them because plenty of people watching that videotape are going to believe that he had some knowledge or involvement in this.

HARRIS: Yes. And, Bill, do you expect that the grid of surveillance cameras in that particular area, mixed with the -- sort of the private sector video, tourist video, will reveal a suspect in pretty short order here?

BILL GAVIN, FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF FBI IN NEW YORK: It's pretty difficult to say, Tony, at this point. But I agree with Fran, you look at this individual, naturally the police department wants to talk to him. But there again, if you look at the rest of the photo, the pictures in the photo, people got short sleeves on. He came out with long sleeves, took a jersey off and he had a short-sleeved jersey underneath it. Who knows. Anybody knows at this particular point. But that definitely is a person they want to talk to. Will the cameras bring something additional? That remains to be seen. It could very well happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: We will, of course, be following every development in this investigation until we find out who was behind the car bomb.

We're checking out what's hot. And right now this lazy man's mower, right there, is one of the hottest. We will show you how it works next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: That's pretty funky music.

LEVS: I like it.

HARRIS: Boy, this is like Christmas Day around here today, isn't it?

LEVS: Today is very (INAUDIBLE).

HARRIS: New gifts and packages we're unwrapping all the time.

LEVS: I'm loving the new toy.

HARRIS: It's good stuff, isn't it?

LEVS: I've got to say it, I'm loving the new toys. I mean, how can you not?

HARRIS: All right, you've got great stories for us generating some buzz, right?

LEVS: Yes, we've got good buzz. We've got good videos.

HARRIS: I'm going to hike out so you can do your thing.

LEVS: He's going to back out and let me do my thing, but he's going to keep hearing me and so will you.

HARRIS: Yes.

LEVS: We've got about a minute, a minute and a half. We're going to look at the hottest viral videos online. I would have loved to had this thing every Sunday when I was in high school.

HARRIS: Look at this.

LEVS: When I used to - I honestly would be one of the people who would take two hours to set this up just to avoid the two hours of mowing the lawn.

HARRIS: I love it.

LEVS: This is from a guy who managed to set up basically this self-propelled anchor and it cuts his lawn in perfect concentric circles. And that's just one of the videos we've got for you.

I have this one here. Talk about invention. I'm going to show you, Tony, the coolest birthday cake candle of all-time.

HARRIS: Nice.

LEVS: Now here's what happens. You light the top of it and then, once it's going a little bit, this is going to open up and do a whole bunch of - look at that.

HARRIS: Well, that's nice.

LEVS: How awesome is that?

HARRIS: It's like a Transformer or something. OK.

LEVS: I think you could invest in one of those and save all the money on the gifts. Because once you've done that, you're good, right?

HARRIS: There you go.

LEVS: And the last one I've got to show you, since we're talking about birthdays, these people have this dog, and for some reason they -- this one dog likes to be sang to, unless you're going to sing the birthday song, then it completely flips out. And the owners say they have no idea why. So this video is really hot on YouTube right now. All of these people are watching.

HARRIS: Are we going to see something here?

LEVS: Yes -

HARRIS: Oh, oh, oh. So that's happy birthday, happy birthday, and then the dog flips out?

LEVS: Yes, as soon as she starts singing happy birthday, the dog just flipped out and ran away. But she'll sing any other song, he'll play all day long.

You can see all the links to this at my Facebook page, JoshLevsCNN. People are eating this up. You know what it is about animals?

HARRIS: What is it?

LEVS: They don't have to do anything. Like, they can just do that and millions of people will watch.

HARRIS: Where's my moment? Do I - is this my moment where I creep back in?

LEVS: We're together again. He's been here the whole time.

HARRIS: We're working out the choreography. Good stuff, Josh.

LEVS: I feel good about the blocking (ph) now.

HARRIS: Good stuff, huh?

LEVS: All right. Stay here.

HARRIS: All right. We'll take a break. We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEVS: I'm going to go over there with Tony now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Sending a strong message on Mayday. Thousands of people spending the weekend at rallies and demonstrations, protesting Arizona's controversial immigration law. This one's in Los Angeles. You'll see it in a second here. There were more protests in other big cities across the country, including New York, Washington, Dallas and Chicago.

That immigration bill also putting a lot of pressure on naturalized immigrants in Arizona. One police officer torn between conscience and enforcing the law. Our Thelma Gutierrez talked to him about the dilemma.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OFC. MARTIN ESCOBAR, TUCSON POLICE: I have to do my job. I have to serve and protect.

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's not often a police officer speaks out publicly against the laws he's sworn to uphold. But Officer Martin Escobar, a naturalized citizen and a 15- year veteran of the Tucson Police Department, says he can no longer remain silent. We met to talk about the new Arizona law that Escobar calls unconstitutional. And as a police officer, he says he doesn't want to have to enforce it. As a private citizen, he's challenging it in federal court.

ESCOBAR: I said, OK, you know what, it's got to be done. It's the right thing for me to do. And sometimes you've got to stand up for what you believe.

GUTIERREZ: Officer Escobar took us to the area he patrols on Tucson's south side. It's where he grew up.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): What is this neighborhood like?

ESCOBAR: This is a predominantly Hispanic community, predominantly Mexican community here.

GUTIERREZ: Lots of new immigrants.

ESCOBAR: Lots of new immigrants coming through here. A lot of people that don't know how to speak English.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): He says he and other officers work hard to gain trust in their communities. It's how crime gets solved.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to stay here by myself because I have no family here.

GUTIERREZ: But now even the children are running scared he will deport them.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): So they're afraid of you? ESCOBAR: Of course. Of course. I don't want them to be afraid of me. Officers, police officers are supposed to be the good guys. We're not the bad guys.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Under the law, Escobar would have to investigate the immigration status of anyone he stopped, detained or arrested if he suspected they were in the country illegally.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): Under this law, you can be sued if you don't investigate?

ESCOBAR: Yes, that's correct.

GUTIERREZ: Does that worry you?

ESCOBAR: Yes, of course it does.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Within a week of passing the new law, Arizona lawmakers amended it, tightening provisions that critics claimed would lead to racial profiling. The state's governor says racial profiling will not be tolerated in Arizona.

But Escobar knows how things work on the streets.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): Are you saying that in Arizona, if you come upon a person with an Irish accent and a person with a Spanish accent, you'll investigate the person with the Spanish accent?

ESCOBAR: It's most likely that person with the Spanish accent is going to get investigated.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): It's that assumption that bothers him most.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): It sounds like you can relate to what some of the people are feeling right now.

ESCOBAR: Well, and that's exactly what I'm saying. And if you having (ph) that's why some people are not going to understand what the feeling is unless they've been through it. I've been through it.

And that's a school picture when I'm in elementary school. I didn't have one -- one word of English. I remember then, at that time, being called a wetback, you know? That used to sting so bad.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Officer Escobar remembers being questioned by border patrol agents as a child. And he says he knows exactly what some of these children are feeling. He argues in his lawsuit that determining who is in Arizona illegally should not be his responsibility. He says under federal law, that job is reserved for trained federal immigration agents.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Tucson, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: OK. It is go time. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with T.J. Holmes in for Ali Velshi.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, nice new place you've got here. I'll try not to break it, all right, over the next two hours.

HARRIS: Enjoy.