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Pizza Place Tries to Boost Business With How-to Classes; Legal Analysis of This Week's Top Celebrity Court Cases; First Family Arrives in Panama City, FL; President Obama Choosing Sides, Lower Ninth Ward, BP Oil Disaster

Aired August 14, 2010 - 12:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And topping the hour, an issue that's touching a lot of nerves across America. And now President Obama is choosing sides. He's publicly supporting the planned Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero in New York. His announcement at a White House dinner celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and every culture, drawn from every end of this earth. And that diversity can bring difficult debates.

This is not unique to our time. Past eras have seen controversies about the constructions of synagogues or Catholic churches, but time and again American people have demonstrated that we can work through these issues and stay true to our core values and emerge stronger for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN senior White House correspondent Ed Henry is with us from Panama City Beach, Florida, where President Obama and his family are spending the weekend.

Ed, this is such a touchy subject for the president to be tackling.

ED HENRY, CNN SR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You're right, Brianna, already a huge controversy. The White House knows the president is only putting gasoline on this fire, right now, by weighing in, here. But the bottom line is, you know, they understand the sensitivity. The president said -- they're doing a sound check because the president will be here shortly, here.

But, the president noted in his remarks that Ground Zero is sacred ground. He understands it's a sensitive matter but at the end of the day he thinks it's the right thing to do support this building of the community center and the mosque because he believes it shows tolerance and is the right thing to do because it shows that America is better than the terrorists.

Nevertheless, he's going to get a lot of heat for this, in part because Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, for days now, has been saying this is a local issue, the White House did not want to get involved, so why would they get involved, now. In part, officials say it's because Mayor Bloomberg, on the local level, had finally come out and said he was supportive of this construction. That also obviously gives the resident a bit of political cover since Mayor Bloomberg is an independent.

Secondly, you noted, he as the Ishtar, which is the traditional breaking of the fast, he was hosting that at the White House, so it was a good forum to discuss this, of course, but also it would have been hard for him to duck such a controversial issue with so many Muslim-Americans, there. And you know, he's obviously taking heat already. Republican congressman, Peter King of New York, saying the president's wrong, he's insensitive for doing this. But the bottom line for this White House is the president gave that dramatic speech to the Muslim world last year in Cairo and he basically feels, when you talk to officials, that he wouldn't have be walking the walk if he didn't follow through and support what he thinks is the right thing to do here.

And I can tell you just a moment ago, I bumped into Governor Charlie Crist, the Republican governor now running as an Independent, here, for the Senate, in the state of Florida and he told me he thinks the president did the right thing, that it shows that America is tolerant. It's a tough issue, the governor said, but he thinks aet the end of the day, he thinks that the president did the right thing -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And a lot of members of his own party, Democrats, have said when they're talking about whether this goes forward or not, they don't really touch on the merits of actually having the center near Ground Zero. They intend touch on how the federal government really plays a role in whether or not there should be this center. I mean he hit this head on. Is it that he couldn't tiptoe around it?

HENRY: He did. Well, they felt like it would be hard for him to duck this issue in the setting he was in hosting this forum with Muslim- Americans last night at the White House, No. 1, but No. 2, you put your finger on the fact that this is - already was very controversial, politically sensitive issue, but then you add in the fact the president is weighing in just a couple of months before what might be a brutal midterm election for Democrats, this could be yet another issue that's ignited that makes it more difficult for Democrats and that's in part why you see on Capitol Hill so many House and Senate Democrats have been tiptoeing around this very issue. But at the end of the day, they know they're going to take the heat, but they believe it was the right thing to do -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Ed Henry for us in Panama City Beach, Florida. Of course, we'll be catching up with Ed a little later to explain why he is down there in Florida, as well. Thanks, Ed.

So how did the American people feel about this? Joining us now with the latest poll numbers here, CNN deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser.

And there's, I mean these poll numbers really tell us one message, here -- Paul.

HENRY: They sure do. Americans are definitely not divided on this issue, at least that's what our poll suggests. Our poll by CNN/Opinion Research Corporation was conducted last weekend before the president's comments. You can see right here, 68 percent oppose that mosque, 29 percent favored the way we specifically asked the question is as you know they plan to build a mosque two blocks from the site in New York City where the World Trade Center's used to stand, do you favor or oppose this plan? You can see right there, nearly seven in 10 oppose. And there's not as much partisan divide as we normally see. Check this out, 54 percent Democrats oppose the mosque, 70 percent of Independents and it goes up to 82 percent of Republicans. So, on this issue, Republicans and Democrats seem to see eye to eye.

And there wasn't much of a gender divide either, Brianna. Those under 50 years old, more than six in 10 oppose the building of the mosque, and above 50 years old, those we questioned, more than three-quarters opposed it -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And Paul, another touchy issue that's come up lately, the immigration debate. It's heating up this weekend. Tea Partiers are planning a big rally in Arizona. What is their position on that state's tough immigration law? I suppose we won't really be surprised, here.

HENRY: No, you won't be surprised at all. Most Tea Party activists support it. They're going to be rallying tomorrow at a site along the border in Arizona with Mexico where a rancher was killed and his death was kind of like the catalyst for the Arizona law. At that rally tomorrow with be J.D. Hayworth, the form congressman and former conservative radio talk show host who is running against John McCain, challenging him in the primary which is coming up in a week in a half.

McCain this weekend will be with the governor out there, Jan Brewer, who signed the law and whose popularity has risen because of that bill. They'll be campaigning separately in Arizona -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And, Paul, I'm normally in Washington and we've been talking a lot here in the last couple of weeks about the 14th Amendment which is giving Americans a refresher on what it is, but there's a Republican backed proposal getting a lot of attention, here, scrapping the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, or at least the part of it that grants citizenship to children of illegal immigrants or really anyone who was born here in the U.S. I know that you have some new polls on this issue. What do they say?

HENRY: Yep, that same CNN/Opinion Research Cooperation national survey, check it out. Americans appear to be divided on this issue with 49 percent in favor of constitutional amendments to prevent children becoming citizens with 51 percent opposed. That obviously pretty much a dead even split.

But there is a partisan divide here on this issue. You can see three in 10 Democrats favor such a constitutional amendment, whereas with Republicans that jumps to 58 percent -- Brianna. KEILAR: And coming up a little later, Paul, we'll be talking with our legal experts about the actual chances of that, perhaps, changing. CNN's deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser for us. Thanks, Paul.

And as we mentioned, the First Family taking a short vacation on the Gulf Coast. The president, first lady, and daughter Sasha are in Panama City Beach, Florida, doing what they can to promote tourism and our Reynolds Wolf is a bit west of there. He's in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

So, are things improving where you are, Rey?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: They certainly are improving in aspects. I mean, if you go and speak to some of the people here, say, the local businesses, some of the restaurateurs, not just here, but in places like Panama City or Pensacola, they say that there really have been some changes they've seen since the capping of the well. People have been coming back. But I have to tell you, Brianna, for many people it's too much too late.

You mentioned the president of the United States. He'll be landing on the ground along the Florida Panhandle. He's going to be there some 27 hours, in fact, all told. Part of the visit is going to include a roundtable discussion not only with Governor Charlie Crist but some of the local elected officials and also some of the small business owners. And I'll tell you some of the small businesses have really had a difficult time with the oil spill itself. It's a $1.8 billion industry in terms of tourism along the panhandle, including parts of Alabama and back through Mississippi. And since the oil spill came through, it was devastating to the local economy, so devastating in places like here in Alabama.

The state of Alabama filed a lawsuit against Transocean and BP to help settle with some of the damages. And it's really been tough. You have to remember, too, Brianna, is this took place at the worst time possible, during the big weekends of, say, Fourth of July. Some of the big weekends where you had a lot of people that were expected to come in. They stayed away because the oil that was washing up on the shores.

I can tell you weather-wise, the weather for much the summer has actually been pretty good. Although the last couple of days we had tropical depression No. 5 which came close to being a named storm, that actually cranked up some of the wave action and brought on some of the oil onshore a couple of days ago. That has been cleaned up since, but we're still dealing with the aftereffects.

Those aftereffects included in today's forecast, let's go right to and show you what we have.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Brianna, let's send it back to you in the studio.

KEILAR: Maybe we should plan a work trip to Billings, Montana. I think there are a really nice couple of days there, Reynolds.

WOLF: Sounds like a good idea.

KEILAR: In Alabama, thanks for that, Ren.

Well, you have seen air shows, but not like this. Up next, we're going to bring you the aerobatic pilots that wow crowds as they whiz through the sky.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: When you hear the words "Hurricane Katrina," what comes to your mind? Maybe broken levies, people on rooftops, the lower Ninth Ward under water? Well, five years later, one group is working hard to revitalize the city. And CNN photojournalist, Chris Turner gives us a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CELESTINE ANDERSON, LOWER 9TH WARD RESIDENT: I've been down here about 32 years. I know a lot of people say they don't like the Ninth Ward, but it was beautiful to me. I look at Flood Street and look at what I have to look at, I'll be saying what a fool for me come back here. It constantly remind you when the storm was going on. It look like it never left.

I can count the houses down through here. You got empty houses. Nothing that we can do about it. Somebody else will have to come in and do it for us.

LIZ MCCARTNEY, ST BERNARD PROJECT: My name is Liz McCartney, I'm one of the co-founders of the St. Bernard Project. We're a non-profit rebuilding organization that helps families move back into their homes in the New Orleans area.

The lower Ninth Ward right now is -- only has about 20 percent of the people back. This neighborhood used to be full of homes and families and people, and I think what I see is a lot of potential.

In the New Orleans area, family and community is such a critical part of the culture down here. So by rebuilding a home, we're helping to ensure that that culture of family and community is able to continue to thrive. While we're proud of all the rebuilding work that we've been able to do, rebuild homes from the ground up and do it the right way is really, really exciting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One screw or two screws you guys want?

MARK ZIRBEL, MERTROTREND SPECIALTY PROJECT: We're making house components that work kind of like an erector set. We'll bring a (INAUDIBLE) to sites, snap together and we're building houses in the Ninth Ward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep it high. We can always push it down.

ZIRBEL: Why is it taking five years to build the way it should be build down here? It is five years later and there aren't many houses out there.

MCCARTNEY: We're really excited to get the first family back in and to hear from them how it feels to be in a structure that's energy- efficient, that's safe, for the most part, from hurricanes, and that's affordable.

ZIRBEL: Really, for people with lower incomes, this house is ideal.

It's nice to give to the people we don't have. In this way we can really say we're rebuilding New Orleans.

MCCARTNEY: Our organization doesn't need to be here forever. We just need to finish the job, and I know we'll finish the job when everybody wants is to be home is home.

ANDERSON: She feel that she can do it, which I hope she can do it and they'll allow her to do it. At least we'll see something coming up.

MCCARTNEY: We're not going to rest until the job is over, but we've got to finish, and we've got to finish soon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: We have more inspiring stories like that. You can check out the "CNN Heroes: Coming Back from Katrina," tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 Eastern. CNN's Anderson Cooper is your host.

You know, there are air shows and then there are aerobatic shows. That's what the daredevils that you're about to see call their sport, they're really aviation acrobats. It's amazing stuff. And if you don't believe it, you will after watching this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

Yeah baby, rock 'n' roll.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's pretty intense.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They push the envelope to the limit.

SEAN D TUCKER, AEROBATIC PILOT: My name is Sean D. Tucker and I'm a 21st century barnstormer.

DEBBY RIHN-HARVEY, AEROBATIC PILOT: My name's Debby Rihn-Harvey, I'm the current U.S. national aerobatic champion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

TUCKER: Which is the greatest aerial spectacle above the earth.

RIHN-HARVEY: My passions are aviation. I probably think about it 24 hours a day.

TUCKER: I like to dance in the sky. I like to take my airplane and tumble it and twirl it and spin it.

RIHN-HARVEY: I'm not a full-time air show pilot. I'm a full-time airline pilot. I do air shows and competion for fun.

TUCKER: Three-hundred miles an hour diving into the arena, it is a phenomenal experience.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're amazing, man.

RIHN-HARVEY: Most people go to an air show and they look and see this airplane tumbling through the sky, they really think it's some guy doing that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really enjoyed that.

RIHN-HARVEY: Well good. Well, thank you.

RIHN-HARVEY: How do we let them know, hey, this isn't a guy. Anybody can do this. Any little short lady can do this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You were absolutely wonderful.

RIHN-HARVEY: Thank you, thank you.

TUCKER: I try to feel the audience's energy.

RIHN-HARVEY: I try to tell girls that they can do it. I'm enthusiastic about what I do and they know it and it brings them into the act and it makes them excited about what's going on.

TUCKER: This is serious busy. This is not something that I take lightly. I'm not allowed to have a bad day.

RIHN-HARVEY: We practice. We emphasize safety.

TUCKER: I absolutely wear a parachute. Absolutely wear a parachute.

RIHN-HARVEY: I take aerobatics very seriously. It's absolutely thoroughly enjoyable.

TUCKER: You see the little kids and their eyes are so big. You see the incredible joy. It's a wonderful feeling. Abuelazam That was fun. That was really fun.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Voters have said no, but a judge says yes to same-sex marriages in California, and the battle goes on. Our legal guys take up the Prop-8 case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Police in Buffalo, New York, are trying to find out what triggered an overnight shooting that left four people dead and four others wounded. It happened at a downtown restaurant where a private party was being held and we're told one of the deceased had just arrived in town for his wedding that was scheduled for later today. So far, no arrests.

And the man accused of slashing his way across three states is awaiting extradition to Michigan. Elias Abuelazam being held in Atlanta where was arrested Wednesday while trying to board a plane to Israel. He's suspected of stabbing 18 people, killing five of them. So far Abuelazam has been charged with one count of assault to commit murder.

President Obama says he supports plans to build an Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero. Mr. Obama made the statement after a White House dinner after celebrating the holy month of Ramada. New York Mayor Bloomberg praised the president's statement. Others denounced the endorsement. Critics say the mosque is offensive to 9/11 victims family members. We'll get another check on the top stories in about 20 minutes.

Well, Alabama is determined that BP will pay for the oil disaster in the gulf. The state is the first to sue the oil giant. So, let's bring in our legal guys, civil rights attorney, Avery Friedman in Cleveland and New York criminal defense attorney Richard Herman in Honolulu, Hawaii, nice enough to take the vacation after his wedding, not the honeymoon, thought, that's later, we do know. But we knew that these lawsuits were coming, guys, but is it premature because some have said it is premature because some have said that it is -- Avery.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTY: Actually, Brianna, I don't think it's premature at all. The state of Alabama did the right thing in bringing suit, although Troy King, boy, what a great name, Troy King, the attorney general for Alabama thought that the case was going to proceed in Montgomery. Well, an intradistrict panel decided to take all the Alabama cases, Florida, Texas, all the rest, and it's now going to a jury in New Orleans. So, while it was the right thing to do by Alabama, the case is going to be decided in Louisiana instead.

KEILAR: Richard, do you think this could be successful?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTY: I don't think it's going to be successful right now, Brianna. This litigation will have to go on for years and years and years. It was out of mere frustration over BP being delaying the claims that the attorney general and Alabama brought this litigation. The governor of Alabama is against it.

BP, they want the process to go on. They want the people who are claiming damages to get paid. However, it's just taking too long. But, they must know from the Exxon-Valdez case, people are still waiting. So, it's just a very frustrating for all the people in the gulf states trying to collect.

KEILAR: Yeah, and maybe it's more about making a statement that it is, as well, about being successful, as well. But, let's move on to something that I've spent a lom of time covering. Let's talk about Congresswoman Maxime Waters, Democrat from California. She's facing a ethics battle as is another Democrat, Charlie Rangel of New York. Yesterday I was sitting there in that pressure conference, very unusual, a 90 minute press conference where she was insisting that she did not misuse her station as a member of Congress to help a bank in which her husband held a financial stake. What do you guys make of this tact? It's as if the ethics trial was playing out before reporters.

HERMAN: You know, Brianna, we'd seen this with the Blagojevich case also, where he played it out in the press. Maxine Waters has been adamant from day one she did nothing wrong, nothing unethical as Charlie Rangel has, but we saw Charlie Rangel try to make a deal which the Republican Republicans obviously rejected because they want to show this during the election year. But, Maxine Waters has been adamant and she wants to go...

KEILAR: A lot of that is hard to confirm because a lot of the ethics proceedings are so secretive and going on behind closed doors, but Richard, go on.

HERMAN: I mean, she wants her day in the sun. She wants the evidence own so she cans try to disprove it. Look, either she's posturing and she has a great defense for all this or, you know, she could go down in flames.

KEILAR: OK, and Avery, what do you think? You have a different take here.

FRIEDMAN: Very different take. And actually I'm not surprised to hear you were there. It was an unusual proceeding on Capitol Hill. What's very interesting is that she pitched this back in 2008 on behalf of the National Banking Association, which is all small black banks. What in fact happened is United One, the bank in which her husband has an interest, and there were only two guys there, both from that same bank. Hank Paulson was really angry about this thing. and you know what, she showed you yesterday at this press conference, a stack of documents, nobody looked at them because the truth is it will be used when the case goes to trial. It will, I think, honestly, she's got an uphill battle on this.

KEILAR: All right, and guys, we have two more topics, both of them so important and I want to make sure that we touch on both of them. The first has to do with former governor Rod Blagojevich, that trial that is going on. What is it, 13 days now that jurors have been considering what to do here? Could this be a mistrial, Avery?

FRIEDMAN: Might be. We might be looking at a hung jury. If they're stuck on two of 24 counts, it tells you the prosecution is in a little bit of trouble here. Look, the good news is that the jury has taken the case very, very seriously. But the bottom line on this thing is that when James Zagal (ph) who's the federal district judge, heard they were stuck, he gave them what's called an Allen instruction saying in so many words, go back, keep working on it, but we may very well be looking at a hung jury. That doesn't mean the former governor gets off, the United States may very well try the case again if it happened.

KEILAR: And Richard is shaking his head. What do you mean?

HERMAN: You know, Brianna, I called this from the beginning when the government stands up and huffs and puffs, it's a slam dunk case, it's not a slam dunk case. And the longer these jurors deliberate and they hear the words of the government saying this is a slam dunk, he's so bad, he's so bad. They wonder if it was such a slam dunk why don't we have a verdict. We don't have a verdict, the evidence wasn't there. This is fantastic for the defense. There's going to be a mistrial, here. They did vote on two counts which they have a unanimous verdict on. If anyone of those, Brianna, are federal felonies based on his position of trust, I predict he is absolutely going to get prison time. Having said that if they are acquittals, this is going to be a mistrial and the government is going to have to think long and hard whether they want to retry this case.

KEILAR: And lastly, because I really want to get this one in, Prop-8, a federal judge has lifted his stay on Prop-8, giving same-sex marriages in California the go-ahead. In this short amount of time here in the last few days, the proponents of Prop-8, which ban same- sex marriage, have filed a notice of appeal. What's going to happen here? Can they be successful -- Avery.

FRIEDMAN: Very simply, Judge Walker, who wrote his opinion, raised an issue h\that had not been raised up until this point. The group that filed the notice of appeal may not have what the law calls standing. In other words, the judge had a trial, they never show that they were injured so believe it or not there is some likelihood that the case will be rejected by the court of appeals. I know Richard said they're going to rubber stamp it. I don't believe it, I think there's a possibility the case will be dismissed and it will be the end of a battle which people was going all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

KEILAR: All right, Richard, 10 seconds.

HERMAN: Brianna, at this point, we're all here about legal technicalities. Avery said it, this is a legal technicality because the governor Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown are not going to file notices of appeal, they do not have standing to appeal this case. It's a real technicality.

KEILAR: Wow, that is really interesting, and we'll be watching it.

And hang around, guys. Avery Friedman, Richard Herman, we'll be back with you a little later in the hour to talk about some other pretty interesting topics, including blood diamonds, the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor. Talk to you in just a second.

And boosting the bottom line in a tough economy. One restaurant is hoping to do that by tossing out the old ways of business and trying something entirely new. That's just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: I've noticed this lately that restaurants seem a little empty because, you know, when times get tough, people eat out less. So a restaurant in the nation's capital is trying to make up for lost business by hiring new staff and offering more than just good food.

CNN's Kate Bolduan reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Talk about a family business. Pietro Polles owns Sorriso, an Italian restaurant in Washington's trendy Cleveland Park neighborhood.

PIETRO POLLES, OWNER, SORRISO: From (INAUDIBLE) to know I have seen about a 20 percent decrease in business.

BOLDUAN: Polles says the tough economy forced him to find creative ways to boost business and save his bottom line, including hiring his entire family.

P. POLLES: I'm the chef and owner, and my wife she's the office. My son is my manager, the pizza chef. And my daughter now that she finished grad school, she also helps out.

BOLDUAN: His son Stefano, head pizza chef, says the economy has even changed customers' eating habits.

STEFANO POLLES, PIZZA CHEF: In the past people would order an entree each, maybe a bottle of wine for two and finish that off with a dessert. But nowadays, people they tend to split main courses and perhaps get a glass of wine or two.

BOLDUAN: So Stefano Polles, who attended school in Venice to learn the pizza making trade, now shares his expertise, doing his part to bring in extra revenue with weekend pizza-making classes.

S. POLLES: If you do too much yeast, the worst thing that's going to happen is it's going to blow up.

BOLDUAN: Students learn the art of authentic Italian pizza making and pick up tip on ingredients and technique.

S. POLLES: They learn how to make a pizza that you'll find in Italy from Rome all the way throughout the north. And I teach you the formula, you learn the formula, you learn the ingredients and you learn the purpose of each ingredient, which I think a lot of pizza chefs don't know.

BOLDUAN: Polles now hopes to follow in his father's footsteps.

S. POLLES: Yes, in terms of my dream, I definitely would like to, you know, continue in the business, to keep Sorriso up and running.

BOLDUAN: And while they're happy to teach the secrets of pizza making to boost business, not even a bad economy can convince this family to hand over all of their kitchen specialties. Those will remain with the family secrets for a long time to come.

Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: The flight attendant that some called a hero, some far from -- you know exactly who we are talking about, and you can bet our legal guys have something to say about Steven Slater.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Top stories now.

The so-called five-day morning after pill gets final approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Ella is a prescription-only contraceptive and it can be used within five days of unprotected sex. It's been available in Europe since last year.

President Obama comes out in support of the planned Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero in New York. He says that it's a freedom of religion issue, but most families of 9/11 victims have said that they are against building the mosque.

And the chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party is urging U.S. Senate candidate Alvin Greene to resign. The surprise winner of South Carolina's Democratic Primary has been indicted on obscenity charges. Greene is accused of showing computer pornography to a female college student. He tells CNN that his lawyer is dealing with the charges, Greene facing Republican Senator Jim DeMint in November.

Now time to talk celebrity cases. The first up, the flight attendant from JetBlue -- we all know him, right? -- Steven Slater, he's now facing criminal charges.

And our legal guys are back, Avery Friedman in Cleveland, Richard Herman nice enough to join from Honolulu. I don't know if I would have been so nice for this, but I know, Richard, that you were waiting to hear -- or to talk about this case.

This is what I want to know, it seems like he could face a lot of time in jail. What is it? Seven years? But really, it's also possible he faces none. So what do you think?

HERMAN: Yes, I think that in the remake of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," this guy could get the lead role. I think he's nuts, and I don't know why everybody's, you know, taken with him and watching and rooting for him.

He's not -- no one's -- this guy is probably going to get very close to doing some kind of prison time. He's going to get absolutely three, five years of probation. He's in trouble, this guy.

They're not going to take a pass on it. It cost over $25,000 to reset that chute that he decided to have a joy ride on. And although JetBlue says the crew and the passengers were not in any harm, deep down you know they're seething that this guy.

FRIEDMAN: That's right.

HERMAN: There's no way he's getting his job back. KEILAR: All right, so -- well, I mean, I think everyone says common sense there's no way he's getting his job back. There's been a -- of course, he says he wants to continue to fly, but that seems a little ridiculous doesn't it?

But what do you think, Avery? I mean, you're nodding your head, so you don't think that he walks away here just with probation and some sort fine for the damages he caused?

FRIEDMAN: Hey, you know, I agree with Richard. How in the world is this guy being portrayed as a working man's hero? I mean, he's a drama queen. Every one of us has to face, you know, indignities in dealing with the public, it happens all the time. And I mean, his behavior is just not justifiable.

I think he is facing -- excuse me -- potential jail time. But this idea that he's going back to work, he's now asking for his job back, I mean the guy just seems strange and I don't know who is going to hire him. If he's going to go flying, it's not going to be on any airlines.

He's just a very strange guy and I am baffled how people are saying that he's any kind of a hero. He's in trouble.

KEILAR: OK, so Avery and Richard both on the record as if they go on a flight and Steven Slater shows up to serve them a beverage, they're both going to freak out.

FRIEDMAN: Give me the parachute.

HERMAN: You too, Brianna. You too.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: You'll want to pull the slide I guess.

FRIEDMAN: On your way back to Washington.

KEILAR: No, I don't think that will happen.

OK, so next topic, this one is really fascinating, sort of a bizarre love triangle here. Fantasia Barrino, former "American Idol" winner, she admits to an affair with a married man in North Carolina, overdoses on aspirin, someone is rushed to the hospital. Not only is this the question of good, bad, for her career, but North Carolina -- right? -- has a home wrecker law.

Tell us about this, Avery.

FRIEDMAN: Right, so only one in seven states. It's an alienation of affections case. And you know what? She must be a romantic type of person because she and Mr. Cook, the husband of the plaintiff, went out and got matching tattoos and that's lovely. She's said -- and there's also an allegation of a sex tape which she said she will defend with grace and dignity or she made the tape with grace and dignity -- I don't know, bizarre. KEILAR: But the wife, right, in divorce filings is going after Fantasia, so how much does she have to worry about, Richard?

HERMAN: Yes, she has to worry because the standard is going to be whether or not this was adultery, that she knew he was married and that that relationship, her adulterous relationship, had something to do with the decline of her marriage. That's the standard in North Carolina.

If the plaintiff can prove that, I mean you're looking at a telephone number here. Now, Fantasia, she's got the dough, but she doesn't want to give that up. She's got some serious problems.

And let's see where the husband, the home wrecker, let's see where he stands and where his testimony comes in, because if he told Fantasia that they were separated well a year before their relationship began, that's one thing. But the wife says, no, we separated in 2010, he knew it, she knew it. She got on the phone with the wife and said he don't love you. Crazy.

KEILAR: OK, but Fantasia has admitted that she has this relationship. Do you think there's going to be big issues here for her, Avery, and how much money could we be talking about?

FRIEDMAN: Well, look, she's loaded these days. In the old days, she had nothing. And it may very well be part of the motivation by Mrs. Cook, the plaintiff, saying she Mr. Cook away from her -- and again, they have the matching tattoos and allegedly a sex tape.

I think she's in trouble and it will cost a lot of money if the plaintiff prevails in this case, proves those elements that Richard talked about.

HERMAN: Brianna, the other cases -- the other cases that that were successful on these cases in North Carolina bring big bucks. So there's going to be a big payday if she can prove it.

KEILAR: It's certainly going to be interesting.

Now, the last topic I want to talk to you about that I just find so interesting is this trial going on, a war crimes trial of former Liberia President Charles Taylor. And we saw Naomi Campbell testify about a diamond that she allegedly received, and this week Mia Farrow testifying about it because I guess she was at this event -- right? -- and she spoke with Campbell about this situation.

What did you guys make of this testimony?

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Avery, go ahead.

(CROSSTALK)

FRIEDMAN: Well, look. The bottom line is Naomi Campbell came into court last week. She said, well, this nice dictator man gave her some dirty stones. She didn't really know who it was from. Mia Farrow takes the stand and rebuts that.

And what's bizarre about that is that Naomi Campbell came on as a rebuttal witness to prove about blood diamonds, which is important in the crimes against humanity case, and Mia Farrow comes in to rebut the rebuttal testimony. So at best right now that evidence is pretty far out on a limb.

KEILAR: But, Richard, let me ask you this, because Mia Farrow's testimony, to my understanding, there's a discrepancy between it and a number of other witnesses -- right? -- about the size of this diamond or what happened.

HERMAN: Yes, but that's not the issue. The issue here is whether or not Mia Farrow corroborated Naomi Campbell's testimony that she got a delivery of a stone or stones from the president.

Having said that, this now shows the jurors, the judges there that Taylor was dealing in blood diamonds. That's the only point they wanted to make from Mia Farrow's testimony and Naomi's, and they have it. They've proven it.

KEILAR: All right, Richard Herman, Avery Friedman, thank you guys so much for joining us on this lovely Saturday. It was such a pleasure.

And stick around for this next story because it's kind of a funny one. It's a fly invasion in Germany. That's right. We're going to explain straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: So how does the president show the country that the Gulf Coast is back from the BP disaster? Well, Mr. Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and the younger daughter, Sasha, are in Panama City Beach, Florida for the weekend. The hope they have is that other families will follow their lead and head to the Gulf.

So let's get now to our senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry, in Panama City as we await comments from the president. So, Ed, what has been on the president's schedule today?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, so far, the president has just had a roundtable with Florida Governor Charlie Crist, you know that he was elected as a Republican, now running for the U.S. Senate as an independent. He's sitting down with the president behind closed doors in this U.S. Coast Guard station along with first lady Michelle Obama, other local officials here.

The president is going to be speak behind me in just a couple of moments with some of the Coast Guard officials. He briefly spoke to the media a couple moments ago and basically just laid out what he wants to do here, which is show that the entire region is open for business. He said, look, the restaurants are great, the beach is great. And he said he was going to be doing a lot of listening on this story.

This is obviously his fifth trip to the Gulf region since that horrific oil spill, the worst in American history. This is the time, though, when he's actually going to be staying overnight, having kind of a brief vacation.

Remember earlier this summer he faced criticism because he and the first lady had visited the region and suggested that Americans come here and vacation, but they chose to vacation in Maine, and in couple weeks they'll be heading to Martha's Vineyard. They faced some heat over that, so then they added to the schedule this quick trip here.

Now they're facing criticism that maybe it's too brief. Reporters adding up that it's about 27 hours they'll be on the ground, just arriving a short time ago, leaving Sunday afternoon. But White House officials have basically said, look, any amount of time the president is going to spend here is going to try to shine a light on this region, show it's open for business.

I can tell you, we've been speaking to people here in the local area. My producer, Emily Schultz (ph), was on the beach yesterday here in Panama City, and most of the people she spoke to, both locals and tourists, said, look, any amount of time the president is going to spend here is positive, they believe, in helping this region.

And of course, the only big question now is will the president take a presidential plunge? Is he going to jump in the water? White House official like Robert Gibbs yesterday were kind of bemused, a little bit impatient in fact about all the questions they were getting about whether the president is going to take off his shirt, jump into the water.

I can tell you, when we first arrived here a couple of hours ago, it was pouring down rain, very cloudy. You can see the sun is just starting to come out behind me, so maybe hope springs eternal that we'll see a presidential plunge -- Brianna.

KEILAR: But it makes you wonder because you wonder obviously would he really want that photo. Because we know the other photo that we've see, it gets so much attention and obviously that would steal the day and steal the message, not to get too serious and away from the spectacle of the that.

I know that Robert Gibbs said the reporters should bring their suits. So I'm wondering if you brought yours.

(LAUGHTER)

HENRY: You know, Ali Velshi asked me if I was going to get a Speedo and I basically said, look --

KEILAR: Please, no.

HENRY: -- I think the Gulf Coast has suffered enough and I only want to help the Gulf Coast, I don't want to hurt it.

KEILAR: Yes, yes.

HENRY: I don't want to hurt business here. But seriously, you're right. The president took off his shirt in Hawaii, did some body surfing, it became sort of tabloid fodder. So they don't want this to become a spectacle if he does that.

But on the other hand, when you talk to locals like we have here, they say the president getting in the water is not a joking matter because there's this perception around the country, maybe around the world, that if you get in the water, maybe you're going to sick, maybe it's tainted in some way.

In fact, Panama City got very little oil and some of the locals are saying if he really want go somewhere to see the oil, he probably should have gone to a different beach.

But that's what this is about. It's symbolism sure, it's just a photo op. But at the end of the day, if the president does get in the water, it would send a very powerful signal that the water is safe and clean, Brianna.

KEILAR: And maybe he will wade in. We'll see if that happens.

OK, Ed Henry, stand by for just a moment as we wait for the president to make his comments and we'll be right back with that.

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KEILAR: We are awaiting right now comments from President Obama. He's down along the Gulf Coast there in Panama City Beach, Florida. He's going to be talking about Gulf Coast recovery following the oil spill there now that oil is no longer flowing and he's going to be making a bit of a stop there, a little bit of a vacation.

Our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry has traveled along with the president. Let's get to him now, Ed, because you know, we were just talking before the break that maybe he -- the president has faced some criticism about this trip, perhaps, being too brief.

But what I want to know is there also criticism of the fact that maybe it's a little too late. I mean, a lot of kids have gone back to school. We're already looking past vacation season, aren't we?

HENRY: Yes. I mean, obviously it is late in the summer, but they still feel inside the White House that any little bit the president can do is going to help this region. It's such a powerful symbol for the first family to actually come here and vacation, even if it's for 27 hours, even if it's late in the summer and others have already vacationed.

I mean, let's face it, there are still some people even if they go back to school, they may want to come for a weekend, whether they live in the region, you know driving distance away, or others may want to fly in for a long weekend later in the year. The point is this is a chance for the president to send a signal that the water's clean, that it's safe, that these businesses are open.

I can tell you that when we flew in ahead of the president a couple of hours ago, as we drove to this U.S. Coast Guard station, the streets were pretty deserted. It was obviously early on a Saturday morning, but you would think a Saturday weekend near the beach it would be crowded, just restaurants, et cetera. But it was not very crowded.

So there's nervousness here clearly on the ground that these small businesses are being hit pretty hard. So having the president at least visit, maybe even jump into the water could send a signal that it's open for business, Brianna.

KEILAR: And talking with some of the people on the beach there, you know, it's interesting. You said -- I know Emily Schultz, your producer is there. You know what? Actually, Ed, I think we see President Obama walking right now.