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Last Jobless Check; Tropical Disturbance in Caribbean; Judge Says OK to Drill in Gulf Again; Obama Heads to G-20 Summit; Stepped-Up Security at G-20 Summit; Game Set, Match, Exhaustion; Chefs Discuss Oil's Impact on Seafood

Aired June 25, 2010 - 08:59   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: That does it for us this morning. Glad you joined us and happy Friday.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: And good being with you this morning, Carol.

CNN NEWSROOM with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. Happy Friday to you. I'm Brooke Baldwin in for Kyra this Friday morning.

We are watching potential trouble brewing -- there it is -- in the Caribbean. And we're also asking the big question, what if this storm spins up into the Gulf of Mexico. You know that's the last thing that region needs right now. Right?

Also, protests as the world's financial powers come together in Canada. How does this grab you? One group says if these rich countries cannot unite on policies it'll cost the planet tens of millions of jobs.

And did you watch this? Game, set, match, history. What do you think about 11 hours and five minutes of intense tennis? What might that do to your body? We will ask Elizabeth Cohen.

But it is happening yet again here. More than a million jobless Americans just totally cut off now from those federal benefits. The Senate could not quite pass a spending package. So each party -- you can imagine -- pointing fingers at the other one.

Let's talk a little bit more about this with CNN's Christine Romans.

And, Christine, here we go. I guess third time not necessarily the charm in this case. Right?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is the third time the Senate has failed to extend unemployment benefits again.

And look, Brooke, usually people get 26 weeks of jobless benefits of the unemployment check once they lose their job. Under the similar, an emergency spending because of the recession, many people, millions of people, are eligible for up to 99 weeks.

But that is running out. And time is running out for about a million people. Likely lose their unemployment checks starting this week. Again, a wide ranging spending bill. Something the president wants.

He would like to see more spending. He doesn't want the economy to slip back just at the time he says that it's starting to move forward. But there are concerns about how to pay for it and Republicans and Democrats not seeing eye to eye on just how long we should be paying for emergency spending -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: So, Christine, for those million or so people who you said will likely lose their checks, what kind of help might be there for them?

ROMANS: There's a lot of other emergency spending still available. Quite frankly. The safety net is -- has been rolled out in way we've really never seen in this country before. There are food stamps and Medicaid payments. Home energy assistance, school lunch programs and community based emergency help.

You may be eligible for a lot of those things. There are also economists who point out that once people start rolling off the unemployment checks, that it -- and the economy starts generating some jobs again, hopefully you're going to start to see some job creation that will allow people to begin to get jobs, but clearly for a lot of people, they are very concerned what the next few months hold after being on checks on months and months now, they may start losing those benefits -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: And you can understand why. Christine Romans for news in New York. Christine, thank you.

And also talking more sort of money here, here's something lawmakers definitely did get done. This was some 20-hour marathon session. Though it did take them until basically 5:39 this morning to get this thing done.

This is a group from both the House and a group from the Senate reconciled their Wall Street reform bills and made this deal and they finally agreed to send their chambers, this final version, by the Fourth of July.

The goal here to this -- Wall Street reform bill is to give consumers better protection, call it attention to complicated financial products and create a better way to deal with financial firms that are just simply too big to fail.

The deal is really this huge win for the White House. In fact President Obama making comments on this this morning. And we will bring those to you from him from the White House as soon as we get them here at CNN.

Meantime, turning our attention now, day 67, of the Gulf oil disaster. And all eyes now are on the Caribbean because there is this tropical disturbance that could possibly, possibly, move into the Gulf and then strengthen. And depending on which way it goes, depending on its track, it could drive more oil on shore.

Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider watching that system from the Weather Center. And I guess it could do one of two things. One would be detrimental and one may not be so bad.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right. And or, you know, we're still watching and getting started. This has been a slow system to develop, Brooke. We've been watching it for days, kind of meandering into the Caribbean.

It's not until yesterday we saw a little more flare-up in the thunderstorm activity and a little bit more organization.

As the satellite loop plays you can actually see the thunderstorms kind of fire up into the Caribbean. And right now the National Hurricane Center says 70 percent, 70 percent chance of this developing into a tropical cyclone, a depression possibly, within the next 48 hours.

That the numbers for that percentage incidentally have been going up. They started yesterday this time at 30 percent. And now we're up to 70 percent. So it seems even more likely that this will develop and hurricane hunter aircraft is actually set to fly into the system at 1:00 today. And we'll see whether or not they find a closed circulation center.

Let's take a look at where this might go. We're going to put this map into motion. You're looking at Google Earth. And we can show you a multitude of computer models. Now notice most of them are taking it to the Yucatan and possibly into the Gulf. But some of them are taking it towards Mexico, while others are turning it to the north.

Still very early to say, Brooke. I think we'll have a little bit more confidence in the forecast when we get the results from that reconnaissance plane and it gets more data drop into the system. We'll see whether or not it's a depression. Right now it hasn't actually formed yet so that's why the tracks are still uncertain.

BALDWIN: You know a lot of people following that very, very closely, Bonnie. See a change, let us know.

And as we are watching that storm, there's been a different storm. A storm of a political kind, kind of brewing along the Gulf when it comes to that moratorium, right? A judge's refusal now to keep a temporary drilling ban -- a deepwater drilling ban in place should be some good news for thousands of those support workers but nobody is hiring and some companies are just laying people off.

CNN's Chris Lawrence joins us from New Orleans with the latest on this moratorium.

Chris, good morning. CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Brooke. Yes. The Department of Interior sent letters to the oil companies telling them basically look, it's OK. You can start drilling again now. But none of them are going to do that.

None of them are going to invest in the -- the outlay of equipment, of manpower to call their crews back with the threat of that government appeal hanging out there. It's just too expensive because if the government wins on appeal, they'll just get shut down all over again.

Now, funny thing is, you're actually having tens of thousands of people here in the Gulf actually agreeing with something that a BP official is saying. The chief operating officer of BP America now coming out publicly to say he would like to see the moratorium lifted sooner rather than later.

He said the government needs to accomplish its safety regulations faster. Obviously a lot of jobs at stake. I spoke with one man who said he just had to sit down with his employees and say look, I'm sorry. I'm going to have to start laying you off after the Fourth of July.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DWAYNE REBSTOCK, CEO, ALLPORT SERVICES: I just sit across the table from employees and tell them that I know you have husbands, I know you have wives, I know you have children, but I can no longer afford to keep you on.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: Now the government argues that some of these companies are only looking at the short-term economic output. It has to look long term at the possible environmental and economic damage to the Gulf.

Some of the environmental groups also are asking this judge who made the decision to release his current financial records. Now we know that two years ago he did -- have some investments in offshore drilling companies.

That in itself not that unusual. A lot of judges down here do. But they want to see what are his current holdings and he has agreed to release those. Obviously, the environmental groups not very happy with this decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON VILES, GULF RESTORATION NETWORK: But we're disappointed with the decision. Clearly deepwater drilling has been shown to be a high wire act without a net. And it seems to me as this, you know, forest fire is raging out there, that we want at least to take away the matches from the kids who started the fire.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP) LAWRENCE: Yes, they are looking at the damage to the Gulf and saying how could we ever afford to have another disaster like this one -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: And, Chris, I know and you I both talked about this over the past couple of days and it's -- you can understand where both sides are coming from. Meantime, we know where the president stands, he puts this moratorium into place.

But what about on the state level? I know you got a chance to speak with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. What's his take right now?

LAWRENCE: On the face of it, the state agrees in some ways with the federal government that yes, deepwater drilling could be a threat to public safety. But they do not agree with the length of that six- month moratorium. They feel it can be shortened considerably.

Bobby Jindal told me he's got some suggestions for ways that maybe they can possibly compromise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R), LOUISIANA: For example, why not put a federal inspector on every rig that can shut down production? Or, for example, why not allow the 33 rigs that are impacted by the moratorium to drill but not up to the reservoir? Because that's where the -- greatest dangers are. Or, for example, why not only allow them in drill in areas where there are known pressures where they know exactly what they're dealing with?

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: Where do we go from here? Well, the government is going to appeal. That could take a couple of months. Nobody is going to be drilling while that's still out there. And I think we're all going to be looking at what Bonnie just mentioned about that weather possibly moving into this area -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: I see. Word has traveled fast, Chris Lawrence. We're all watching that. Chris for us in New Orleans. Chris, thank you.

Another side of this story here. It's a tragic side. Listen to this. Friends of a charter boat captain who killed himself say the stress of this oil spill simply became just too much for him.

He's Alan Cruise. He shot himself on board his boat. Cruise loved fishing but fellow captains say this spill down there was just the latest blow for a Gulf Coast industry that has taken hit after hit, really, they say over the last six years.

We will have more on this man's story coming up next hour.

Also, you can check our Web site for the very latest developments from the Gulf Coast. That address is CNN.com/oildisaster. And President Obama will be taking off in just a couple of minutes bound for Canada for Huntsville, Ontario for that weekend of meetings. First today that G-8 then the G-20 over the weekend with the world's richest nations.

And the International Monetary Fund is issuing a warning at the G-8 and the G-20 summits. They say failure to get on the same page could mean the world loses out on tens of millions of jobs over the next couple of years and some $4 trillion in economic output.

White House correspondent Dan Lothian just touched down in Canada ahead of the president. He is in Muskoka, Ontario.

And, Dan, huge meeting over the next couple of days. Can you just sum it up for me? What is at stake here?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Huge meetings. Two of them happening, the G-8 and G-20, at the same time for the first time.

First of all the G-8, eight industrialized nations focusing on those issues such as child health, water sanitation. But the bigger group, the G-20, which the president will be meeting with other world leaders, that begins late tomorrow and then the rest of the weekend as well.

Well, the focus, obviously, is on the global economic crisis to ensure that all of the nations are doing everything they can to contain that crisis to ensure that the recovery happens as you pointed out that's critical --

BALDWIN: Dan? Dan, can I interrupt you?

LOTHIAN: Yes.

BALDWIN: Can I interrupt you just for a second? Let's go to the White House. We've got some tape in from the president. Here he is talking about that Wall Street reform. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In a few moments I'll depart for Canada to take part in a summit with the G-8 and the G-20 nations. This is the third G-20 summit we've held since I was sworn in as president.

At our first meeting, in London, with the world and the grips of the worst financial crisis of our time, we acted boldly and swiftly to bring our economy back from the brink. And our second meeting, in Pittsburgh, with our recovery beginning to take hold, we agreed to work to pursue a balanced pattern of global growth and repair our financial systems.

This weekend, in Toronto, I hope we can build on this progress by coordinating our efforts to promote economic growth, to pursue financial reform, and to strengthen the global economy. We need to act in concert for a simple reason. This crisis proved and events continued to affirm that our national economies are inextricably linked. And just as economic turmoil in one place can quickly spread to another. Safeguards in each of our nations can help protect all nations.

I'm gratified we've made great progress towards enacting these safeguards here at home.

Because of the incredibly hard work of Chairman Dodd and Chairman Frank, and the strong leadership of Chairwoman Lincoln and Chairman Peterson, and the great efforts of the conferees and members of both parties who were up very late last night, we are poised to pass the toughest financial reform since the ones we created in the aftermath of the Great Depression.

Early this morning, the House and Senate reached an agreement on a set of Wall Street reforms that represents 90 percent of what I proposed when I took up this fight.

Now let me be clear. Our economic growth and prosperity depend on a strong, robust financial sector. And I will continue to do what I can to foster and support the dynamic private sector.

But we've all seen what happens when there's inadequate oversight and insufficient transparency on Wall Street. The reforms making their way through Congress will hold Wall Street accountable. So we can help prevent another financial crisis like the one that we're still recovering from.

We'll put in place the toughest consumer financial protections in our history while creating an independent agency to enforce them. Through this agency, we'll combine under one roof the consumer protection functions that currently are divided among half a dozen different agencies.

Now there will be one agency whose sole jobs will be to look out for you. Credit card companies will no longer be able to mislead you with pages and pages of fine print. You will no longer be subject to all kinds of hidden fees and penalties, or the predatory practices of unscrupulous lenders.

Instead we'll make sure that credit card companies and mortgage companies play by the rules. You'll be empowered with easy-to- understand forms so you know what you're agreeing to. And you'll have the clear and concise information you need to make financial decisions that are best for you and your family.

Wall Street reform will also strengthen our economy in a number of other ways. We'll make our financial system more transparent by bringing the kinds of complex deals that help trigger this crisis like trades in a $600 trillion derivatives market into the light of decade. We'll enact the vocal road to make sure that banks protected by the safety net of the FDIC can engage in risky trades for their own profit. We will create what's called a resolution authority to help wind down firms whose collapse would threaten our entire financial system.

No longer will we have companies that are quote/unquote "too big to fail." Over the last 17 months, we've passed an economic recovery act, health insurance reform, and education reform, and we are now on the brink of passing Wall Street reform. At the G-20 Summit this weekend, I'll work with other nations not only to coordinate our financial reform efforts but to promote global economic growth while ensuring that each nation can pursue a path that is sustainable for its own public finances.

As the main forum for international economic cooperation, the G- 20 is the right place to discuss such issues. And over the last few days, I hope we can build on our past progress and strengthen the global economy for a long time to come.

Thank you very much, everybody.

BALDWIN: And that was the president, of course, speaking in the south lawn of the White House before he heads up to Canada for the G- 8, G-20. Heading out to -- Andrews Air Force Base, and he was talking about the Wall Street reform bills that have just about -- just about passed. Basically, this is the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since the Great Depression.

What is that mean for you? We will ask our own correspondent, Jill Dougherty, on the other side of this break. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And let's take a look at this tape together. This is the president there at Air Force One, Andrews Air Force Base. He will be hopping on that plane heading up to Huntsville, Ontario for a weekend. First the G-8 today and then on toward the G-20 over the weekend. And they, of course, will be talking debt, economy, financial regulation, more or less of a global scale. Let's talk about financial regulation here at home in the U.S.

We heard from the president moments ago on the south lawn talking about this major potential reform, his Wall Street Reform. The largest overhaul, if you will, of any kind of financial reform in the U.S. since the Great Depression. I want to bring in Jill Dougherty who I know as been following this for us. Jill, if we can, just kind of walk through it. We just heard the president say and also -- this has to be a huge victory for the White House.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's very big, and it's very important because it's important on a lot of levels. You heard the president talking about kind of the domestic side of it where he saying it will be better protection for consumers one agency, as he said, looking out for consumers. So, on that level, order had to be brought to this situation. And they -- with this bill, which he could be able to sign very quickly when he gets back, that's one level.

Then the next level is -- the United States and the president now going to Toronto to the -20, and if he's going to be credible, he has to show what the United States is doing to get his own act together. So, being able to literally before he jumps on that plane and heads to Toronto, to do -- say that something was worked out, and remember, they worked practically all night long, that's very important.

Timothy Geithner, the treasury secretary, said this is a way that the United States can lead by example. And then internationally, it's important because don't forget, you know, the financial crisis literally swept the world, began with some lack of oversight and lack of reform of this area. So, on many levels, it's very important and that's why you have the president coming out just before he leaves.

BALDWIN: Jill, let me ask you this because, as you mentioned, the economic recovery still really in a precarious place, and as the president goes up and meets with these major nations, I mean, what's his biggest worry? What's his biggest challenge?

DOUGHERTY: You know, I think it would have to be this balance which is very difficult now, very tenuous balance between ending stimulus. Remember, here in the United States and around the world, they stimulated by pouring a lot of money into the economy. That is ending. In fact, the president's stimulus program is now going to be soon running out. It will be the end of that. And how do you not tip things over? How do you keep that going? How do you keep the growth going without overheating and it's a balance between a stimulus and, let's say, fiscal discipline.

Very tough to do. And it's something that the United States is trying to push other countries to do. Putting more stimulus in, the U.S. is saying, at the very time that the United States is ending its own stimulus. So, he got a very, very difficult job to make sure that this recovery continues. It doesn't just plummet backwards.

BALDWIN: Right. Spend, spend, spend but also be disciplined as well. Quite the balancing. Perfectly put. Jill Dougherty for us there at the White House.

Meantime, most of us remember, do you, where you were when you got word one year ago today that Michael Jackson died? Let's look now. Live pictures. That is the burial site where thousands are expected to gather and remember. We're live after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Can you believe it has been one year since we all learned the news of pop star, King of Pop, Michael Jackson, died. These are live pictures. This is where he was buried. This is outside of that Los Angeles Mausoleum with in Forslon (ph) Cemetery. Remember the crowds from a year ago? Thousands more are expected to come there today to remember Michael Jackson, to pay their respects. And really, of course, one year later, and probably for many, many years beyond that, Jackson's memory will live on.

The pop star's estate debt is down. The income is up. And listen to this. I was just passed this information. We are learning here at CNN that Michael Jackson's father will file a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against Dr. Conrad Murray. And that is supposed to happen, I'm being told, today.

Meantime, you know the story, the pop icon died of that overdose, the powerful anesthesia that was called Propofol. And CNN's Don Lemon recounts the moments leading up to Jackson's death and the shock and everything else that followed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A secluded L.A. mansion. A 911 call.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he's not breathing, sir.

911 OPERATOR: OK. And he's not conscious, either? He's not breathing?

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

911 OPERATOR: OK.

LEMON: A 50-year-old man in distress. That man is Michael Jackson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Jackson, the King of Pop --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was taken to the hospital, and there were rumors --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was apparently administered CPR in the ambulance.

LEMON: As the news began to break on June 25th of last year, Jackson's brothers, Tito and Jermaine, began to hear grim and troubling reports from loved ones and the media.

Do you remember the day?

TITO JACKSON, BROTHER: My middle son, Terry (ph), had called me on the phone and said dad, is it true? What they are saying on TV about Uncle Michael. I said, what are they saying? They're saying he was rushed to the hospital, and he's not breathing and something like that. I said, what?

LEMON: It was Jermaine's mother, Katherine, who confirmed his worst fear.

JERMAINE JACKSON, BROTHER: She was already at the hospital. And I called her back. And I heard her saying "he's dead." And I couldn't believe to hear my mother say her child is dead. My brother. And I got weak, very, very weak.

LEMON: Despite his overwhelming grief, it was Jermaine who delivered the family's official announcement that Michael was dead.

JERMAINE JACKSON: And you have to go out from that hospital and you have to tell the world. LEMON: Mm-hmm.

JERMAINE JACKSON: I couldn't believe that I was announcing my brother's death to the world. It was -- I was -- numb, very numb because it was like a nightmare.

My brother, the legendary King of Pop, Michael Jackson, passed away on Thursday, June 25th 2009 at 2:26 p.m.

LEMON: Jackson's death had barely started to reverberate around the world when dark revelations began to emerge. Revelations about a pop icon's final days and a secret world of addiction.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Tonight, on this day, the anniversary of Michael Jackson's death, CNN is revealing even more details of the events leading up to his tragic demise. Plus, we will hear from some of the closest associates about his health and also his state of mind. You won't want to miss this. This is what we're calling "Michael Jackson, The Final Days." It's a special airing tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern only here on CNN.

Swarms of officers, check. Crowd control fences, check. Security, very tight in Toronto as a weekend of global economic summits get under way, but already, there has been a scare.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And there it is. The opening bell there on Wall Street. Just giving a quick run-down of the numbers yesterday. Dow Jones Industrials closed yesterday at 145 points, ended right around 10,152, the Dow. And of course, today, what we will all be looking for to see how those numbers are affected by the big news out of Capitol Hill. As of 5:39 this morning, lawmakers finally agreed on its final version of the Wall Street reform bill. So, we will be watching and waiting to see what may happen on Wall Street with regard to that legislation.

Meantime, President Obama en route to Canada this morning. He's going to go to G-8 and then the G-20 summit. And the security tab is reportedly, get this, $1 billion, although for a very good reason, to protect all those world leaders who will be in attendance, but there's already been some kind of security scare. Homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, live for us in Toronto. And Jeanne, I remember, everybody was worried what it was yesterday, early afternoon. What happened?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: In the end, it turned out not to be a threat to the G-20, but certainly, some nails were being bitten yesterday when the security scare erupted in downtown Toronto.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): A car outfitted with a makeshift roof carrier is pulled over in downtown Toronto. Inside, police find a loaded crossbow, pellet guns, a chainsaw, sledgehammer, jugs of gasoline, and more. It turned out not to be a threat to the G-20, but police were more than ready to respond. The city is swarming with security. Demonstrators tore through Seattle in 1999 and authorities do not want a repeat here. On Thursday, a demonstration highlighted the issues of Canada's indigenous people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Addictions, suicide rates, education being at the forefront of all of those.

MESERVE: Several thousand throng (ph) through downtown.

(on camera): This demonstration is pretty large and pretty loud, but also pretty tasteful. Perhaps, because of all these police lining the parade route.

(voice-over): But this is just the beginning. More demonstrators and more trouble are expected this weekend when the G-20 is under way. 20,000 police and security personnel had been brought in from across Canada, roving to detect and deter trouble. Businesses are slapping up plywood to protect windows. Some will be forced to close all together.

At the hockey hall of fame, the statues on the front lawn are encased in wood to protect them from graffiti. Sound canons are on hand for communication, police say, but some claim they could cause hearing loss. The price tag for security for the two summits, about a billion dollars.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So far, there's been no violence at all. I don't know. It's just -- I don't know, I think it's ridiculous.

MESERVE: Waste of money?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Waste of money, for sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honestly, I find it insulting that they wasted that much money on it. It's far in excess of what we need.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't believe they're spending a billion dollars on security. Why can't they do it over the internet?

MESERVE: But government officials say with so many world leaders descending on the area, they have to be prepared for anything, and they are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to ensure that the delegates are safe as well as the citizens.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: And you can see some of the security behind me here. The police, fencing, the jersey barriers, and it's having an impact. This is downtown Toronto, and it's pretty much a ghost town. Some of the offices are closed, and some workers have just chosen to stay home today because they didn't want the hassle of dealing with the traffic tie-ups that security is creating. Back to you.

BALDWIN: Yes, I know the exactly the hustle and bustle of Toronto that we're used to, but we understand why that security is there. Jeanne Meserve for us there in Toronto. Appreciate you, Jeanne.

Now, the big debate here over Elena Kagan is about to begin. Something happened in a week since the president named her as his Supreme Court pick. The support has gone south a little bit. We're talking it over with Candy Crowley in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The bilateral summit committee complete with burgers, cheese, and interpreters, questions about the U.S. exit from Afghanistan, and debate ready to begin on the president's latest Supreme Court nominee. Let's get going and talk to CNN's -- oh, wow. CNN's chief political correspondent who comes with our own music strongly and "STATE OF THE UNION" host, Candy Crowley.

Wow. I mean, I knew you were special, but geez. I want to begin, Candy -- I want to begin with this -- I guess it was just a photo-op yesterday with the president and Dmitry Medvedev of Russia. What do we make of that, eating burgers in Arlington?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: We're going to make of it than it was a photo-op. But it's also -- listen, a lot of world affairs due depend on knowing a leader, being able to pick up the phone and say, I need you to do this. In the case of Russia, we need them insofar as relationships with dealing with North Korea and dealing with Iran. Remember, when the president's administration started with Hillary Clinton over there talking about resetting the U.S./Russian relationship, and this is all kind of a part of that.

Remember, when the Obamas were over in Russia, the -- Mrs. Obama and the kids went to a ballet. So, everybody is sort of showing each other a part of the culture. So, it's a totally photo-op to show here we are, you know, together, working together, but it's also a way to kind of get to know people in a casual atmosphere.

BALDWIN: I see. Casual indeed. All right. Candy, what about Afghanistan? You know, there's been this question over that timetable, that July 2011 timetable from -- with regard to the administration. And yesterday, I want to read to you what the president said. "We didn't say we would be switching off the lights and closing the door behind us." What's your read on that?

CROWLEY: Remember the atmosphere in which the president gave the speech in December about wanting to put more troops into Afghanistan. By the fall, we will have about 100,000 troops there. And part of that is the president's surge. So, in December, he was already facing trouble from fellow Democrats, particularly, liberal Democrats who think Afghanistan is not something we can quote, "win in," and they want to begin withdrawing troops.

They certainly don't want to put more troops in. So, the president in giving that speech needed to please both the military and the hawks by saying, look, we're going to put more troops in. We are all in. This is the war I said during the campaign was the right war. We're going to fight it. We're going to win it. But he also had to talk to his left and say, but, it's not -- never ending. We will begin to withdraw troops by July 2011.

At that time, it was not a firm commitment. Even the language then was not we're getting out in July of 2011. So, he's perfectly right. But you are seeing on the ground some disturbing things which lead a lot of people to believe that you might not even be able to start removing troops by July of 2011.

BALDWIN: OK. Quickly, Elena Kagan, as we look to her confirmation hearings, I believe, begin Monday, what should we be watching for?

CROWLEY: I think we watch for some tough questions. Remember, Elena Kagan has no judicial experience. So, there's not that paper trail for senators to go over. You will hear because it's an election year, we'll hear a very tough question, I suspect, from Republicans, albeit respectful questions because they always get burned when they're not. But I think in the end, nothing has come up that anybody that I have talked to saying will get in the way of her being ultimately confirmed.

BALDWIN: OK. And final question, the biggest question, "STATE OF THE UNION," Ms. Crowley, Sunday, what do you have?

CROWLEY: We're going to talk about Afghanistan. A panel of experts to tell us what's going on, on the ground. And is it possible for the U.S. right now looking at it to begin to withdraw by July of 2011? Well, we want to talk politics as well with John Cornyn and with Robert Menendez both of them leading the Democratic and the Republican efforts to elect their parties to the U.S. Senate because it's summertime so people are beginning to set up for those fall elections.

BALDWIN: Nine a.m. Eastern, we get to see Candy, "STATE OF THE UNION" every Sunday.

CROWLEY: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Candy, have a fabulous rest of your Friday. Thank you.

CROWLEY: Thank you too.

BALDWIN: All right.

Did you watch this? Eleven hours and 5 minutes of sheer tennis bliss. Well, maybe not so much bliss for these guys. Definitely not something you want to try at home, folks. We're going to find out what all those serves and volleys and ground strokes actually do to the body.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: All right, not to be Debbie Downer here but you knew the winner of the marathon match in Wimbledon was doomed in the next round, right. I mean, how could John Isner have anything left? It took him a grueling 11 hours and five minutes over the course of three days. And one of them being like seven hours though, right? A set of seven hours, to beat Nicolas Mahut, longest match in history; today Isner lost in an hour and 14 minutes. He did not served any aces he served 112 of them against Mahut. Wow.

So you know all the Gatorade and all those energy bars and all the -- the icy (INAUDIBLE) wasn't really going to help them very much today. So I mean, what kind of shape would he be in when he got up this morning? I would imagine fairly achy.

How does the body handle that kind of physical strength?

Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen looking into that; not first necessarily like firsthand researching in the story, I imagine --

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh no.

BALDWIN: -- 11 hours, it's crazy.

COHEN: Right and what's interesting, is that from the experts we've talked to, you can use your sheer mental power --

BALDWIN: Mental toughness?

COHEN: -- to get you -- mental toughness and you can learn mental toughness to get you through those 11 hours, but it's not so surprising that at some point that kind of -- well, poops out a little bit.

BALDWIN: Yes.

COHEN: I mean, that's really hard to do. But to quote his coach you said on the ESPN. He said physically he was in trouble -- we're talking about the match a couple of days ago of seven hours.

BALDWIN: God.

COHEN: No doubt about it. The only thing getting him through was just sheer will power. I mean, he never had to do this before, get through seven hours but you know, he probably played had to play with an injury at some in his career or some other adverse circumstance. And what you learn is mental toughness, and what you learn is not to think about the big picture, not to think about the outcome, but to think about that next point.

BALDWIN: The next point.

COHEN: How are you going to win just this next point? That's what you're focused on.

BALDWIN: You can't think about the marathon? COHEN: No, too much.

BALDWIN: And what about in terms of hydration? Because I imagine that's key. Like, how much -- how many -- how fluids, how much Gatorade, how much energy bars would they be consuming to try to just keep that energy up?

COHEN: Well, you can't replace all the fluids that you lose in a seven-hour match. Like it's just impossible --

BALDWIN: Impossible.

COHEN: -- it's impossible to do.

You can drink lots of liquids with sodium in it. That's really important. And the other thing that you can do is you can try to replace the calories but there's no way to really do it. He lost about 5,500 calories in seven hours of play.

So that's about, we calculated, ten Big Macs.

BALDWIN: Yes.

COHEN: And obviously, he's not going to eat the equivalent of ten Big Macs and play tennis.

BALDWIN: No.

COHEN: So you do little bits of carbs all the way through. And he said he ate some bananas. But you cannot -- yes right.

You are not going to eat the equivalent of ten Big Macs; that's not going to happen.

BALDWIN: That was incredible. I mean they really both kind of wanted to win. He was so gracious when he hugged Isner. But what else?

COHEN: They probably felt like war buddies.

BALDWIN: After all that 11 hours, they bonded those two guys. All right.

Elizabeth Cohen, fascinating. Thank you, thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

BALDWIN: There is much more ahead here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Let's check in with our reporters now and see what all of them are working on. Patricia Wu, let's begin with you. Good morning.

PATRICIA WU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Brooke.

Well, the check won't be in the mail. Again, the senate fails to renew jobless benefits. More than 1 million Americans will lose those benefits by the end of the month. So what are their options? I'll have that story coming up at the top of the hour.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ted Rowlands outside Michael Jackson's final resting spot in Glendale, California. Thousands of people are expected here in the next few hours to remember Michael Jackson on this, the one-year anniversary of his death. We'll have that story coming up at the top of the hour.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is Richard Roth in New York City. World cup fever continues to build. The United States against Ghana tomorrow. And we'll talk to someone who knows just what type of things the U.S. squad is going through. Coming up at the top of the hour.

BALDWIN: Former goalkeeper, perhaps. Everyone, thank you so much.

Also ahead, we are going on board the so-called train of death. Have you heard of this? Thousands of migrants catch this ride, catch this train, hoping it will take them to the American dream. But they risk rape, robbery and death lurking up and down these tracks. That is ahead. You will not want to miss that story, next hour here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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