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Iraq: After the U.S. Leaves; Fraud in Head Start Program; Pakistan's Flood of Misery; Vice President Biden Visits Baghdad; Roger Clemens in D.C. Court Today; Fixing America's Schools
Aired August 30, 2010 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. Live from Studio 7 at CNN world headquarters, CNN begins a weeklong focus on fixing our schools today, Monday, August 30th.
A whistleblower exposes fraud at the federal Head Start Program. Head Start workers encouraging parents to lie about income.
The whistle blower was complaining that head start workers were letting people into the program who made too much money to be eligible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The whistleblower was complaining that Head Start workers were deliberately letting families into the poverty program they knew made too much money to be eligible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: We ask students to spell out the essentials of a good school. Their list starts at the head of the class.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without good teachers and education, without that education, what is a school?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: And a mound of trouble for retired Major Leaguer Roger Clemens. He'll be arraigned this afternoon on charges he lied to Congress about steroids in baseball.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.
Those stories and your comments right here, right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.
U.S. combat operations in Iraq officially end after midnight tomorrow, and the plan is for the remaining troops to leave by the end of next year. As U.S. forces pull back, Iran is trying to assert its influence.
The story now from Pentagon Correspondent Chris Lawrence. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Now the clock is really ticking on American troops in Iraq. Eighteen months to beef up Iraq's border patrol before all U.S. forces plan to leave. Then what?
(on camera): How big of an influence does Iran have in what goes on here?
LT. COL. JOHN HOWERTON, DAKAR, PROVINCE: Well, I think it's huge. Iran didn't sign a security agreement like we did. You know? Iran didn't have a responsible drawdown of forces like we do. Iran didn't have a timetable to be out when we do.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Out to the tarmac, and then on board the Black Hawk, we fly all the way out to Iraq's border with Iran. Together, a small group of Iraqi and American troops man the remote rugged outpost at Kumsa (ph).
STAFF SGT. ADAM STEFFENS, 3RD BRIGADE, 4TH INFANTRY: We have to pay attention to the fact that, yes, we have a mildly aggressive nation right next door, a nation that has interest here.
LAWRENCE: So soldiers have to be extremely careful they don't cross the dividing line which doesn't divide much at all. For years, people have lived on top of what's now an arbitrary line between Iraq and Iran.
FIRST LT. WILL SWEARINGEN, 4-10 CAVALRY: Difficult situation because you have villages who have family ties, as well as tribal ties in both countries.
LAWRENCE (on camera): Just a few years ago, parts of the border were wide open and completely unprotected. Iraqi militants, backed by Iranian money, controlled a lot of what came in to the country. Now there are numerous stations like this one where Iraqi officials keep an eye on their own border.
(voice-over): The Department of Border Enforcement is better, but the border itself -- too big. It stretches for 1,500 kilometers, nearly 1,000 miles and U.S. commanders accuse Iran of using Iraqi truck drivers to smuggle weapons to militants.
(on camera): The thing is, everything is connected. Iran's influence may start at the border, but it spreads deep into the provinces and cities like here in Nasiriyah.
(voice-over): And that's where Iran is buying even more influence. Iran is giving water and electricity to Iraqi families whose own government can't keep the power on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as they continue to accept that, they're not producing it themselves so it becomes an economic battle as well as a military battle.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Neither of which is one where American troops get engaged their rival.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, we can't fight our own.
LAWRENCE (on camera): Yes, there's no Iranian troops here, and obviously no war between the two countries. The U.S. military has no control over whether the Iraqi government provides basic services, so they're concentrating on strengthening the border patrol and encouraging those border officials to build better relationships with the people that live here.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, in southern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And tomorrow night, President Obama delivers a major address on Iraq from the Oval Office. CNN will carry the president's speech live, followed by a breakdown of his remarks with Wolf Blitzer in Washington; Anderson Cooper in New York; and Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Pakistan. That is tomorrow night beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Other big stories we're following for you on this Monday.
BP begins the final kill on its Gulf oil well today. Engineers will remove a cap and install a new blowout preventer. Concrete and mud will then be pumped in through an adjacent well to seal the bottom of the broken one. BP capped the top of the well in mid-July.
Mexico announced just a short time ago it has fired 3,200 federal police officers. The police commissioner says 465 officers were let go after they were linked to crimes. Another 1,000 failed competency exams. The fired officers will not be allowed to be rehired at the state or local levels.
Federal agents today investigating a fire at a mosque construction site in central Tennessee. Four pieces of heavy machinery burned early Saturday morning in Murfreesboro. A spokeswoman for the Islamic center says the equipment was doused with gasoline. Many residents say the mosque has no place in their Christian community. Muslims are afraid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAMIE AYASH, ISLAMIC CENTER OF MUFREESBORO: There are members of the community that are very scared. As I mentioned before, it's Ramadan. We try to come together as a community in the evenings to break our fast together. Our attendance level has been very low because people are scared to leave their homes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: The Islamic center and mosque have been in Murfreesboro since 1997. The imam says his congregation has outgrown its current location.
You know, we could be looking at a major hurricane by the end of the day. Earl is gaining strength as it churns through the Atlantic, and it could rain on your Labor Day weekend plans.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Fixing our schools -- we are kicking off a weeklong look at the crisis in classrooms. What works? What doesn't? You will hear from students, plus your comments.
And the markets.
Marky (ph), where are we? Where are the markets?
The Dow -- let's take a quick look. Down 41 points.
We're following these numbers for you throughout the morning, throughout the day, in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Fix our schools. Those three words will drive much of what you see on CNN this week, because as America's children return to school, CNN has a mission.
We have sent reporting teams across the country to document the education crisis in America. Most importantly, we will shine a lot on success stories that can empower us to offer our children so much more than they are getting right now.
Reaching children at an early age is critical to their academic success. The federal government added $2 billion to the pre-K Head Start Program this year, $9 billion in all, but thousands of poor families remain on waiting lists. The government says it's because of Head Start workers committing fraud.
Don Lemon gets an early look into the investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAMONT BUTLER, FATHER: Yeah for the baby!
LEMON (voice-over): Lamont Butler tried to enroll his 3-year-old, Somaya (ph) in Head Start.
BUTLER: You can do it. Keep going.
LEMON (voice-over): Unemployed for more than a year, his family qualifies for the free federal pre-K program for the poor, but they've been on the waiting list for a year. Since he has to stay home with his daughter, he can't work.
BUTLER: And I had opportunities lined up, and when it never happened, I was really bummed out.
LEMON (on camera): Thousands of qualified applicants, like Lamont Butler and his daughter, might be on the waiting list a whole lot longer if not for a whistle blower who called into the government accountability office here in Washington GREG KUNTZ, GAO INVESTIGATOR: Taxpayers are being ripped off.
LEMON (voice-over): Greg Kuntz at the Government Accountability Office got that whistle blower call.
KUNTZ: We had first of all, the allegations we received on our hotline. The management was pressuring employees to adjust incomes from applicants.
LEMON (voice-over): In other words, the whistle blower was complaining that Head Start workers were deliberately letting families into the poverty family they knew made too much money to be eligible.
So Kuntz sent his staff with a hidden camera to test Head Start's enrollment practices. The GAO distorted these images, since it's an ongoing investigation. But listen to what happens when they try to enroll a child who isn't poor enough to qualify. A Head Start worker deliberately encourages an unqualified parent to lie on their application.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is over income.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. So what do I need to do on the application then?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean you don't have to put an income on there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, I'm not supposed to say that --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now you see it. Now you don't.
LEMON (on camera): On this videotape, what does it show?
KUNTZ: It shows individuals working with our bogus parents to help them commit fraud.
LEMON (voice-over): In fact, the GAO says at 8 of the 15 centers it randomly checked, workers deliberately admitted children whose parents made too much money. On this video, a Head Start worker makes this tester family document disappear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are these OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes, we're fine. I just picked out an income. OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who won, Grandma or me?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Grandma, she had the lower income.
(LAUGHTER)
KUNTZ: You wanted to go in and say you're unemployed, you can get benefits even if you were making $100,000 because they weren't validating anything.
LEMON (voice-over): The GAO investigation found more than one child in Texas whose parents made more than $110,000. Nothing in Head Start's rules require centers to keep parents' proof their income. There's no verification system to make sure the right families are getting in.
LEMON (on camera): Do you believe the system is set up to fail?
KUNTZ: Yes, I believe that the system is very open to fraud.
LEMON: Did you see the tapes?
YVETTE SANCHEZ-FUENTES, HEAD START DIRECTOR: We have seen the tapes.
LEMON (voice-over): Yvette Sanchez-Fuentes is Head Start's national director.
LEMON (on camera): What did you think?
SANCHEZ-FUENTES: We know that what went on in the tapes engaged in some fraudulent behavior.
LEMON: When you see a worker making something, one parent's income disappear, saying "Now you see it, now you don't," you can imagine what the taxpayers at home are saying when they see those tapes.
SANCHEZ-FUENTES: I think that what's important to note is that those are individuals within those programs. And at the administration level, we need to make sure that every staff person really understands that these slots are for eligible low-income, vulnerable families.
LEMON (voice-over): Lamont Butler hopes for his daughter's sake, his family will be one of them.
BUTLER: Hopefully this year, when she's enrolled in this school, I'll be working again.
LEMON: Don Lemon, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: I've got to tell you, changing Head Start's record-keeping policy requires a rule change and a 90-day discussion period. Director Sanchez-Fuentes says in the meantime, they have set up a hotline for employees to report fraud and they are providing additional trading for their workers. The GAO report will be released sometime in September.
Next hour, we're turning the microscope on Maryland and California. Can other school systems learn from their highs and lows? A lot of number one rankings for Maryland. We will find out what's working there. As for California, it seems to be all about budget challenges.
Next hour, I will be talking to the superintendents of schools from both states.
Ad we want to hear from you, of course. Tell us how you would fix our schools. Send us a comment by Twitter, iReport or at CNN.com/Tony. We will take a look at some of your comments in about 20 minutes.
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Surging floodwaters from Pakistan's north to the country's south are emptying now into the Arabian Sea. One official says the danger should pass in the coming week.
Before survivors can go on living, they must first bury their dead.
CNN's Sara Sidner now in Pakistan's southern Sindh Province.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tasleem Noon cries out to God. The mound of dirt in front of him is his little boy's fresh grave.
He is one of several grieving fathers from the same extended family. There are four new graves here, each mound covering a young child. All four drowned in Pakistan's receding floodwaters when the family returned home after fleeing to Karachi during the initial flooding weeks ago.
"I returned from Karachi to keep my family safe and secure," he says. "I ran away from the floods. We just came back three or four days ago."
This is the third day of mourning. In keeping with Muslim traditions, only the men visit the gravesite while the women mourn together inside.
Samina Noon lost her only son. He was 8.
"I had only one. He was my life," she says. "I loved him so much. She is my cousin. She lost her two children. At least they found their children's bodies."
Shaazadi Banglani hasn't. Two of her children are still missing.
"We tried to get out, and I could only grab a few of my children. We couldn't grab two of them," she says. "They went in the water." Shaazadi has not filed a missing persons report.
(on camera): Villagers tell us they don't tell the government often because they don't believe anyone from the government is going to do anything anyway. So instead, they hire a gentleman like this. He's a fisherman, and instead of getting fish, he's fishing out bodies here.
(voice-over): Virgadi Murani (ph) says he's found about 16 or 17 bodies. "We've lost count." The government expects the death toll to rise significantly because families have not filed missing persons report and floodwaters are still too high and vast to reveal the dead.
The Noon family says even they have not reported their dead to authorities. The grief is all consuming. For father Tasleem Noon, it is overwhelming. He collapsed at his child's gravesite only to be revived to the same cool reality.
Sara Sidner, CNN, Shikarpur, Pakistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Boy. And more from Pakistan next hour. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the long walk to safety for flood survivors.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: CNN, your place for politics.
Election workers begin counting absentee ballots tomorrow in Alaska's unfinished Senate race. The process may stretch over two weeks. Senator Lisa Murkowski trails Tea Party upstart Joe Miller in the Republican primary by almost 1,700 votes. More than 23,000 absentee ballots will determine the Republican Senate nominee in November.
And let's get you caught up on top stories now.
Tomorrow marks the formal end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq. Fewer than 50,000 American troops remain in Iraq in support roles. President Obama addresses the nation on Iraq tomorrow night.
The Canadian Coast Guard has pulled close to 200 people off a cruise ship. It's stuck in the Arctic after hitting a large rock. The cruise ship owner says the rock wasn't identified on maps used by its crew.
And engineers in Chile begin drilling an escape tunnel for 33 miners. It may take four months to get them out. Engineers are considering widening an existing borehole to extract the men, 33 in all. They say that process would take just two months. .
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And we're just getting word that the vice president has arrived in Iraq on an unannounced visit. We understand the vice president will be talking to troops, of course, but also be visiting with Iraqi officials and pushing them to form a coalition government. Word just into CNN that Vice President Joe Biden has arrived in Iraq.
Take a look at these pictures. Waves, right? Tasty waves, fun to ride, be sure, but watch out if you get too far off shore here. That looks great, but there are dangerous rip currents along much of the East Coast -- Rob was mentioning this just a moment ago -- whipped up by Hurricane Danielle. Right?
And lifeguards, as you can see here, spent much of the weekend rescuing swimmers, several hundred in all. Man, ,that makes for a busy weekend. At least one person, we understand, is still missing.
You have to be careful.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And one of the problems, Tony, is it was so hot this weekend, so a lot of people on the beaches.
HARRIS: Yes. You want to get in the water.
MARCIANO: You want to get in the water. It's a perfect time of the year to cool off, not too hot, not too cool, as far as the water goes.
And the deal is, is that Danielle was way out there. I mean, not even close to the U.S.
Here's where it is now, and it's going to continue to obviously move off shore. But it went even east of Bermuda. So this thing really wasn't even close.
But the waves propagate hundreds of miles, and those waves will do damage to the shoreline and the sandbars, and that will create those rip currents. So bad news there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: More on efforts to fix our schools. We will hear from students on what works in their classrooms.
We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS (voice-over): Pictures, information, insight you won't find anywhere else. CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris -- anything can happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Let's get you more on the breaking news. Vice President Joe Biden is in Baghdad.
Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joining us live now.
Suzanne, tell us more about the Vice President's trip to Baghdad.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, this is some information that we've actually known for a couple of hours or so, but as is the custom at the Vice President's office, the White House asks you to hold off of confirming it until they officially announce that he arrived in Baghdad. That is for safety and security reasons. We can now tell you that officially they have confirmed and said, yes, it's OK to go ahead and talk about this.
So, the Vice President is in Iraq. This is a very important trip. The White House put out a statement saying essentially that he is going to be meeting with an array of political leaders to try to move forward on the negotiation process, the talks that are taking place between the Shiite, the Sunni, the Kurds; all of them to form a coalition government.
As you know, Tony, this is critical at this time because it was six months ago they had a parliamentary election, they were not able to come up with the majority needed to figure out who was actually going to be leading the show when it comes to Iraq, that coalition government and how it was going to look. And that is the basis for the United States pulling out of Iraq.
The administration has been making the case that, that look, it's a fragile democracy but it's a democracy nevertheless. It's time for the Iraqi people to take over their own security as well as their government to be able to run the show and take care of their own citizens.
The President is going to make that pitch, he's going to make that very clear tomorrow night in his Oval Office address, when at the ends and announces that the combat mission in Iraq, the United States is over. So it is very important what Vice President is doing, and that is essentially trying to get that government together so that they can take over some very critical jobs that they have to do very, very shortly, and in short order, as you know, tony. Because this is going to be a mission that's going from a combat mission very much to a diplomatic one.
HARRIS: Absolutely. Our Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us.
Suzanne, as always, great to see you.
HARRIS: Fix our schools. Those three words right there driving much of what you see on CNN this week because as America's children return to school, CNN has a mission.
We have sent reporting teams across the country to document the education crisis. Most importantly, we will shine a light on success stories that can empower us to offer our children much more than they are getting right now.
First, let's hear directly from students on what works in their schools. CNN's Carl Azuz has that for us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS: What makes a school good?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The teachers, the ones that push you harder, the ones that make you stronger, and the ones that, frankly, make you study until 10:00 p.m. the minute you get home.
AZUZ: Do all of you appreciate a teacher that drives you hard? Do all you thrive in that sort of environment?
GROUP: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But I would also include a caring administrative staff because I think good schools start at the top and then they work themselves down, I think.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Also, a school that pushes school spirit a lot. You know, with pep rallies and stuff. Usually if you are performing in the pep rally or you kind of get to learn about people and how they act and how they coop of interact with each other.
AZUZ: How they party?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, party hard.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would have to say the family aspect. I feel closer to my school because we have a small school set up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the class that is are offered because I know some schools don't offer some of the classes we offer and we don't have some of the classes other schools offer.
AZUZ: It's interesting to me that none of you guys are mentioning the facility itself.
What's more important to you, the school or the people in it?
GROUP: The people in it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's definitely the people in it like everyone was saying. Without good teachers, without that education, what is a school? We can have the technology but if we don't have Minnesota someone to work behind it, how are we going to learn?
AZUZ: What are you schools doing right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At my school the teachers are very hands-on. They always interact with the students.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think our school is using their resources wisely because they are very limited. We share a school with actually another school so we don't have the luxury of kind of having like a bigger school with all the latest high-tech things and things like that.
AZUZ: So you are making the best of what you have?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
AZUZ: Go ahead. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First thing, I attend a double magnet school so we have offerings in the arts and science magnet, as well as in the arts magnet. So my school offers opportunities for students whether you're interested more in academics in the math and science or whether you're interesting in drawing, painting, performing arts, music.
AZUZ: What's your school doing right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like the schedule my school's in. It's in a block schedule and I like having an hour and a half class versus having a 45-minute class because you really get to get into the subject.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our county actually shrank the budget to the point where we're working on a skeleton budget and a skeleton staff. But what we're doing right I think is actually we are making the most of what we have, as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: That's something, Tony, that we heard over and over again, that these students are able to find ways to do more with less. And besides that and the chord of optimism we heard from them, we heard suggestions that doesn't involve spending more money.
HARRIS: Really?
AZUZ: They've seen the budget cuts, they've seen the crises and a lot of them are saying we do have a breadth of classes we offer. But barring that, a lot of their suggestions, personal communication with teachers, having more time to get to know their students interact, a lot of things they are suggesting to improve education don't involve a bigger budget.
HARRIS: What can we expect later in the week from these students?
AZUZ: I'm going to focus a little more tomorrow on teachers. We're going to hear them talk about what makes a good teacher, what inspires them. And then some of the things that some teachers have done that aren't so inspiring and we'll also hear from them because this was a group of students that was very focused on their education and willing to take responsibility for their education. We're going to look at some of the ways that they suggest other students can get engaged.
HARRIS: "CNN STUDENT NEWS." Tell me how we can find it and see more of your work and more from these students.
How do we see this work?
AZUZ: "CNN STUDENT NEWS." Everything about us is at CNNstudentnews.com. We are totally commercial free, cost free. We have free materials for teachers to check us out. If you go to CNNStudentnews.com, you'll hear about our show which is geared toward these high school students you heard from and middle school students, as well.
HARRIS: Terrific. Carl, appreciate it. See you tomorrow.
AZUZ: Thanks, Tony, appreciate it.
HARRIS: We have asked you to be a part of our conversation on fixing our schools.
Let's bring in CNN digital producer Derek Dodge.
Derek, good to see you. You've been tracking responses for us.
What are you getting?
DEREK DODGE, DIGITAL PRODUCER: That's right, Tony. Earlier this morning we asked our viewers how do we fix our schools? So we put a story up on the main page of CNN.com and got back a big response. Then we took that response and put it into a word cloud.
Using this web site wordle.net, we've created this image that's representative of the feedback that we're getting in. For example, the word school, obviously is the biggest theme that we're hearing. But just for the word, "parent," we got a comment from somebody saying I'm the president of my daughter's PTO at school so I'm there all the time. Parents need to volunteer more, she's saying, not just help out so they, too, can see the school's problems.
The size of the word shows us how frequently it's being mentioned. Obviously, "kids" is a really big word. RedEyeDog says, Restore discipline by re-empowering the faculty. Give time for kids just to be kids, is an interesting comment.
We're getting back all this feedback, we're going to showcase it this way visually and everyone can sound off at the bottom of the story.
HARRIS: That sounds great.
All right, Derek, appreciate it. Thank you.
Next hour, I'm turning the microscope on Maryland and California. Can other school systems learn from their highs and lows? A lot of number one rankings from Maryland. We will find out what's working there. As for California, it seems to be all about the budget challenges. Next hour I will be speaking with the superintendents from schools from both states.
A baseball giant called out. Roger Clemens in court today to face criminal charges.
Sunny's law. There she is, Sunny Hostin, next in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And let's get you caught up on top stories now. Hurricane Earl is growing more powerful as it heads for the Virgin Islands. Forecasters say the category 2 storm will likely become a major hurricane later today and could impact the eastern U.S. this weekend, time for Labor Day.
Federal agents are in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, investigating a fire at a construction site. A new Islamic center is planned for that property. The fire destroyed an earth mover and damaged three other vehicles. The FBI spokesman says arson is suspected.
And we could soon see the beginning of the end of that ruptured BP oil well. Crews are set to remove the temporary cap today so they can replace the blowout preventer, then seal the well once and for all.
Baseball great Roger Clemens will be in federal court in Washington this afternoon. He will be arraigned on charges he lied to Congress about steroids.
Let's talk to Sunny Hostin, legal contributor to "In Session" on our sister network TruTV and a NEWSROOM regular for her weekly segment, "Sunny's Law."
Sunny, great to see you.
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION" AND TRUTV: Good to see you, Tony.
HARRIS: Let's review what the government's charges are against Roger Clemens. Let's start there.
HOSTIN: Well it's quite a hefty indictment, a six-count indictment out of the D.C. District Court. He's been charged with one count of obstruction of Congress, three counts of making false statements to Congress on 15 separate occasions, and two counts of perjury. So again, it's a very meaty indictment and shows that the government is taking this very seriously.
HARRIS: Yes, meaty doesn't necessarily mean strong however.
What's your analysis? How strong is the government's case against Roger Clemens.
HOSTIN: You know, you're right, Tony. Meaty definitely doesn't mean strong but in this case, this is really a perjury case. And it isn't that difficult to prove.
Remember Marion Jones, remember Martha Stewart, all of the other celebs and sports figures that have been found guilty of perjury. It's not that difficult, especially given the fact that testimony of the witnesses is what will count here. You've got McNamee, who's saying that Roger Clemens is a liar, basically. You've got Roger Clemens' story. But I think the great equalizer here is you've got Andy Pettitte, who everyone finds very credible, very believable, and he likely to be one of the government's star witnesses.
HARRIS: Sunny, tell us about the man in charge of this case, Judge Reggie Walton. A lot of us will remember that name.
HOSTIN: Yes. We will, because he was the judge in the Scooter Libby case. I remember him quite well with the disclaimer here that I've appeared in front of Judge Walton. I was a federal prosecutor in D.C. and he is a no-nonsense judge. I like to pull shenanigans in the court room, not in front of Judge Reggie Walton.
He was a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office, and he was also a defense attorney. So he knows this courtroom from both sides. And again, he's very smart and he's very no-nonsense.
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: I'm wondering, you've got some information on who's prosecuting this case for the government, don't you?
HOSTIN: Yes, I sure do, and again, I think the government has put their A Team onto this game, if I'm being quite honest.
You've got Dan Butler who is a star prosecutor, who has been with the office since 1984, he's a veteran prosecutor. One interesting fact about Dan is he was in a terrible accident in 1977. He was riding his bike, a car hit him. He's in a wheelchair but he's certainly is a star athlete. He won the 1992 gold medal in swimming at the Paralympics Games. So he is quite the accomplished athlete, as well as attorney, and the chief of the Fraud and Public Corruptions Unit. Steve Durham is his co-counsel on this case.
So, needless to say, this is the A Team at the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C.
HARRIS: And what will we see today? I mean, what will happen today?
HOSTIN: What's very interesting is this arraignment, an arraignment the beginning of the criminal case. This arraignment is going to be held in the ceremonial courtroom in D.C. Federal Court. That's very unusual, Tony.
That means they're expecting quite a crowd. That means that they're expecting Roger Clemens to be there and a lot of other people, his supporters, his detractors. And we will see him plead -- I believe -- not guilty to the charges he is facing. And it will be the beginning of what I think is going to be a very, very long case.
HARRIS: Wow, OK. That arraignment scheduled for 2 p.m. this afternoon.
Sunny, great to see you, as always. "Sunny's Law" right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Good to see you, Sunny.
And still to come, serving coffee for a living with a law degree.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of my customers are like, what are you doing here? Did you go to law school? I was like, yes. Did you pass the bar? I'm like, yes.
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HARRIS: See what life is like for thousands who graduated in the recession.
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HARRIS: College students are wondering if their degrees are worth the trouble. Thousands are not able to find work, others are taking jobs, like serving coffee.
Here's one young woman's story.
HARRIS (voice-over): Shannon Hodder knows how to make a good cup of coffee. She knows how to treat a customer well. And she knows how to make a mean argument in court. You might call her the barrister barista.
SHANNON HODDER, LAW SCHOOL GRADUATE: It can be embarrassing. Not that there's anything wrong with working at a coffee shop but once you've been through seven years of school, you expect to be able to do something different.
HARRIS: Shannon graduated from law school last summer in the top half of her class. She has experience.
HODDER: I worked with the D.A.'s office the summer in between my second and third year.
HARRIS: She passed the Georgia bar first time around and sent out dozens of resumes.
HODDER: I would say easily over 100.
HARRIS: Out of the hundred, she'd just got one interview and didn't get a call back. Now she's serving coffee. She owes $60,000 in school loans. Her salary at the coffee shop --
HODDER: I make $7.50 an hour and tips.
HARRIS: Shannon is a positive person but this experience has really brought her down.
HODDER: It was a big put down to my confidence. I started to worry about my future. You know, I took loans out for school. I started to question whether I had done the right thing. By the time I was graduating, there was a lot of freezes on hiring. The state budgets were so much smaller. And there are a lot of basically attorneys with much more experience than I have looking for jobs.
HARRIS: This 26-year-old is not alone. 60 percent of college grads who applied for jobs last year did not receive a single job offer. That's nearly double the number before the recession. Shannon was so desperate, earlier this year, she started applying for part- time work in unpaid internships. HODDER: I was starting to panic that if I had no experience, this gap on my resume, that I would become someone who was not desirable to somebody hiring. I needed to get out there and do anything.
HARRIS: She finally got a bite.
HODDER: I finished with the interrogatories. And the request for documents.
HARRIS: Working just 15 hours a week as a law clerk at a small private firm. It's a job that normally goes to students still in school.
ASHA RODNEY, PARTNER, C.F. BROCK & ASSOCIATES: We told the applicants, are you aware that this is for a student position. Everybody was like, yes, we understand that. So we were kind of overwhelmed with the response.
HARRIS: The job only pays $12 an hour, but there's the possibility she could be hired on full-time eventually, and Shannon says she is learning skills that she never got in school.
HODDER: It actually, I think, might be a wonderful thing.
HARRIS: In the meantime, Shannon's living with her fiance at her grandmother's house. She can't afford other living arrangements right now. She runs errands for her grandma, pays the utility and phone bills, and does much of the cooking. She sees the bigger picture for her generation.
HODDER: The years between 20 and 30 make a huge difference, if you're able to put good money away in those years. It really sets you up to be in a lot better position when you retire. And we're going to have a hard time doing that.
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HARRIS: Got to tell you. Shannon has had bit of advice for other grads in the same boat. Apply for any and everything. Showing you have a good work ethic is better than doing no work at all.
We're back in a moment.
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HARRIS: Speaking of next hour, find out what President Obama is saying about the economy now. The president delivering a statement next hour in the Rose Garden, following his daily briefing. You can watch it live right here, right here, 12:30 Eastern.
Plus, Rhode Island teachers back in the classroom after being publicly called out and fired. What are they doing to fix the problems in our schools? Part of our focus on education, next hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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