Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

The Man With 2 Faces; President Obama's Mission to Asia; Interview With Actress Kimberly Elise; Hot Off The Political Ticker; The Help Desk; What's Hot; Six U.S. Troops Resist 120 Taliban

Aired November 05, 2010 - 12:00   ET

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

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

Top of the hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, where anything can happen. Here are some of the people behind today's top stories.

Caught in a firefight. U.S. soldiers outnumbered and under attack in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gunfire from multiple positions opened up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just came right out from the side. They weren't fazed by anything. We were shooting everything we could.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: You've probably played it. Today we past go and collect $200 as we celebrate a Monopoly milestone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Life is just too hectic now. It moves at a pace that we're not used to. This slows it down a little bit. Perfect family game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: You're online right now. And we are, too. Josh Levs is following "What's Hot" -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, a man who appears to be elderly gets on a plane, goes to the bathroom, and emerges as a 20-something mid-flight. This actually happened. And I have the details for you.

HARRIS: Well, you know what? Stay right there, Josh. Let's get started with the lead story. It has to rank as -- well, certainly among the most bizarre stories we've ever covered.

Josh, tell us all about it.

LEVS: You know, in a way, you can't believe it's real life we're talking about.

Let's go straight to the video. Take a look at this.

Now, what you'll see here, the man on the left is who this really is. And the man on the right is what he looked like when he got on that plane.

CNN obtained a CNN confidential intelligence alert from Canada that lays this out, and the alert is entitled "Unbelievable Case of Concealment." Authorities say the passenger was observed at the beginning of the flight to be an elderly Caucasian male who appeared to have young-looking hands. Potential tip-off there.

Then during the flight, he goes to the bathroom, comes out an Asian- looking male that appeared to be in his early 20s. And that is an Air Canada flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver.

Air Canada corporate security alerted authorities. So then agents meet this person at the gate in Vancouver.

And at that point, he made a claim for refugee protection. And all this is according to this alert from the Canada border services agency which our Scott Zabos (ph) obtained. He's with the CNN Special Investigations Unit.

Then, as if though that's not enough, listen to this. The passenger tells authorities he has only one bag with him, but the flight crew comes along with two pieces of luggage that were his. They said one of his bags had clothes and personal items, another one had a pair of gloves, and the third had a disguise, which they say included a silicon-type head and neck mask, what they called an elderly Caucasian male.

Also, this brown leather cap, glasses, a thin brown cardigan. Then he put on the disguise for these officers, and they said he very much resembled an elderly man, complete with mimicking movements of an elderly person.

HARRIS: Look at this.

LEVS: He's being held for an immigration hearing. This, Tony, this is absolutely wild.

HARRIS: How did he get on the plane, Josh?

LEVS: Well, here's what we know.

Authorities say they believe that he switched boarding passes with a U.S. citizen, and then used something called an Aeroplan card as ID to actually get on the flight. Aeroplan cards track frequent flyer miles.

But who is this U.S. citizen? We don't know.

Authorities say the citizen was born in 1955. But, Tony, those pictures I've been showing you, that person in disguise, I mean, the disguise looks a lot older than someone who's 55 years old.

HARRIS: Right.

LEVS: I have one quote for you here that will help. An Air Canada spokesman told CNN this: "There are multiple identity checks before departure at the Hong Kong International Airport, including Chinese government-run Hong Kong passport control which Hong Kong originating passengers must undergo."

Still, Tony, a lot of questions how this happened, why. Who is this man? What's his background? And probably most importantly for all of us, what needs to be done to make sure that people can't get on airplanes disguised as other people? And that's what we're looking into.

HARRIS: Yes. OK. Good questions, all of them.

Think about the security nightmare this incident raises. What if Osama bin Laden had been under that disguise?

Thomas Fuentes is a former FBI assistant director, and he joins us now.

Thomas, where does something like this fall in the list of security priorities?

THOMAS FUENTES, FMR. FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Hi, Tony.

It's a pretty bizarre incident, so I'm not sure I would rank that very high on the protocol. An individual boarding an international flight -- and I've been through that airport many times, going to many other countries besides the U.S. from there -- you have to show your passport to get the airline ticket. If you purchase the ticket online, you then would have to show it for the first time going through passport control.

And that passport photo, the passport, would be closely scrutinized by the Chinese authorities who run passport control. Then you would show it again, along with your boarding pass, to go through the security, to go through the magnetometers before boarding. And, of course, your carry-on luggage goes through the same examination.

Now, in this case, the carry-on luggage could have just been rubber masks, and he can tell authorities he's on his way to a big Halloween party that weekend. Then, from that point on, he could have gone, then, to a bathroom and switched the identities.

Now, normally, there's a final check at the gate area where you show a boarding pass, a travel document. But at that point, you've already been through the two most important checks. So that's where he could have put the mask on at that point. If they don't pay attention, and they just look at -- he switches a boarding pass, so maybe he has a Caucasian name, and goes through, then that's how you could get through security.

HARRIS: Does -- well, let me just ask the question. Does this set of circumstances, something like this happening, does it surprise you at all? FUENTES: Not necessarily. I mean, it's rather unusual, but on the flights bound for the U.S. -- and, of course, we just had criticism of the system coming from the British authorities a couple of weeks ago, that there's more stringent requirements on flights to the U.S. than other countries. There's one final passport check and hand search of luggage, carry-on luggage, as you are at the boarding area, just about to get on the plane. So there's a third check there.

So, again, if he switched and put this mask on in a bathroom, after he cleared all of the identity checks through passport control, then now he's getting on the plane as -- in this elderly person's mask. Now, that's about a 12-hour flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver, so it appears that he went and took the mask off at some point.

HARRIS: OK. We just wanted to run this by someone really smart, and put it into some kind of context and perspective.

Thomas, good to see you, as always. Thank you. Thanks for your time.

FUENTES: thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: For the second straight day, a Qantas jetliner returns to Singapore after engine problems. The Boeing 747-400 had just taken off from Singapore for Australia. Four hundred thirty-one passengers and crewmembers were on board. No word yet on the exact cause of the problem.

Now, you'll recall just yesterday, a Qantas Airbus A380 made an emergency landing in Singapore, returning to the airport there after one of its engines blew apart. That flight was also on its way to Sydney.

Some upbeat news about jobs. The Labor Department says employers added 151,000 jobs last month. That's much more than economists predicted, but the unemployment rate remains stuck at 9.6 percent. About 15 million people are still out of work.

The markets are reacting right now. The Dow is -- oh, my big head's in the way -- down 24 points.

Last hour, I talked with economist Danny Boston about the troubling aspects of the jobs report. Once again, he says part of the problem is businesses sitting on the sidelines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS "DANNY" BOSTON, ECONOMIST, GEORGIA TECH: Low interest rates means that it doesn't cost them anything to wait. They can borrow money, and the opportunity cost of doing that is very low. So it doesn't cost them anything.

Now, imagine a year ago. Here was the same sector that was really looking for a lifeline. We need to be rescued. Now they're sitting on a mountain of cash and deciding when and where they're going to invest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Haiti facing another potential disaster as Hurricane Tomas pounds the country. An update.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Oh, love the randomness of it. Elvis has left the building, or so the "Random Moment of the Day" thought.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

HARRIS: Look at the interpreter rocking out. I love him. I just love him.

Edison Pena, one of Chile's rescued miners and Elvis fan extraordinaire on "Letterman." Look at her. Look at her.

That performance reminded us of a recent Japanese prime minister, also a big Elvis fan. He got then-President Bush to take him to Graceland.

OK. The "Random Moment" can only say, "Thank you very much. Thank you."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: When President Obama comes to town, you'd better make sure he is safe, right? The very unusual way India is preparing for the president's arrival.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: President Obama is embarking on a 10-day tour of Asia. You might be surprised at one of the ways India is preparing security and making sure it's ready and tight for his arrival.

Workers are removing coconuts from palm trees in Mumbai. Seriously. Falling coconuts can injure and even kill people. And there's the video to prove it.

The president's trip is aimed at expanding markets for U.S. goods and improving security ties in the region.

Let's bring in White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux and CNN's Sara Sidner in New Delhi.

Ladies, good to see you.

Suzanne, let me start with you.

The president is coming off a "shellacking," his word, in the midterm elections because folks were worried about the economy. What does he hope to gain from this trip, politically and economically?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well sure, Tony. It's absolutely important to note, obviously, he's going to be avoiding some of those coconuts that you mentioned. But it reminds me of the biggest thing that happened back when President Bush was in India, 2005.

I covered his trip. It was this nuclear energy deal. And then business was exploding for U.S. companies inside of India.

Well, President Obama wants to make sure that Democrats, Republicans, the American people know that he's trying to create jobs here. So he's making that link between opening and expanding markets in India, creating jobs back at home.

There are already a lot of companies that are doing business there. You talk about Cinnabon, Mary Kay Cosmetics, General Motors, those type of companies. But you have got companies retail like Wal-Mart and some financial institutions that are having a tough time in India actually being able to open up their own shops because India doesn't want to compete with those foreign markets in those particular areas.

The big prize here, Tony, would be if the president were able to come back with contracts, say, for Boeing and Lockheed Martin, because there's, like, a $10 billion deal with the Russians now that the Indians have on all kinds of military equipment. Well, that's going to expire soon.

So, you've got those big type of companies looking to sell planes and missiles and those type of things to India. So you have got this president with no less than 200 executives in tow trying to open up the markets and create more jobs.

HARRIS: Yes.

All right. Let's turn to Sara Sidner.

Sara, first of all, good to see you. It's been a while.

Let's talk about what India hopes to gain from this trip.

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: One of the things that India is hoping to gain, obviously the trade ties with the U.S. They'll be working on that, a huge contingent of business people, as you heard from Suzanne there.

But they are also wanting to talk to the U.S. about getting a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. They want the U.S.' full support for that, and it's been hard to come by.

The U.S. and India did come up and were able to sign an agreement, a nuclear agreement, which has allowed all of these defense contracts to happen now in this country with countries like Russia and France. The U.S. also trying to get in there and sell somewhere around $10 billion worth of defense items such as C-130s to India, saying that will create jobs back in the U.S. because they'll be made in the U.S. But India also asking the U.S. to really clamp down on Pakistan, put some pressure on Pakistan, India's longtime rival and neighbor, as you know, saying they want to make sure the U.S. is very clear with Pakistan in saying that Pakistan needs to look at the terror elements in that country and really crack down there.

HARRIS: All right. Sara, good to see you.

Suzanne, as well, our White House correspondent.

You know, got to tell you, it started with an unnamed source in India, and then it spread like wildfire. We're talking about false reports -- again, false reports -- that President Obama's trip to Asia will cost $200 million a day.

Conservative talk show hosts quickly seized on the mythical figure. The White House says the number is wildly inflated. The Pentagon calls the reports about over-the-top security absolutely absurd.

Now, here are some facts about the president's trip.

He starts the 10-day visit in India. From there, it is on to Indonesia. The president will travel to South Korea for the G-20 Summit and talk with China's president. And he will wrap up the trip in Japan, the site of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit.

So the Republicans take over the House of Representatives. The Democrats hold on to the Senate. And the buzzword in Washington after the election is "gridlock."

After Tuesday's election results, it will be close to impossible to do real business in the Capitol without reaching across the aisle. That's the truth of the matter. But after a bitter campaign, will lawmakers be willing to compromise?

CNN's Pete Dominick went lunch-crashing to find out whether politicians and Americans in general are capable of putting their differences aside in hopes of moving forward.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE DOMINICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, can I crash your lunch?

My question to you is, do you think anything will get accomplished, legislation-wise, at all?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I sure hope so.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll have to wait and see.

DOMINICK: You know, everybody's concerned it's going to be gridlock, nothing's going to get done. Do you think that's the case?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

DOMINICK: Will they compromise like your two daughters?

Have a bite of the hot dog before you have that last French fry.

What a compromise we made.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the opportunity is there.

DOMINICK: But listen, no one campaigned on, "I'm going to reach across the aisle" in either party.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe in people. Everybody has a level of maturity, and they know that to get something done -- that's why we're all here at this table -- you have to sit down together.

DOMINICK: Well, blacks and whites in America need to come to an agreement on the brim of a baseball cap. OK? Now, blacks they like to keep it very, very straight and solid like you do. And white guys, we like to bend the brim a little bit.

If I can straighten my brim out a little bit more -- because I'm pretty mangled up -- and you can put just the slightest bend in yours --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to put the slightest bend --

DOMINICK: I'm telling you, I'll straighten mine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I'm not going to do it.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to make --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: OK. Here's hoping our politicians can learn to be as civil with each other as everyday Americans are, but don't hold your breath.

Catch Pete and "What the Week" this Saturday at 10:30 Eastern Time.

It is a movie a lot of folks are waiting to see. Tyler Perry's "For Colored Girls" opens in theaters today. We will speak live with one of the stars, Kimberly Elise.

Kimberly, hi.

KIMBERLY ELISE, ACTRESS: Hi.

HARRIS: Hi. Good to see you.

ELISE: How are you? Good to see you.

HARRIS: I just wanted to see you smile.

We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Boy, the highly-anticipated new Tyler Perry film, "For Colored Girls," opens in theaters today. It follows the lives of nine African-American women.

Here's a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "FOR COLORED GIRLS")

ELISE: I know why you get mad sometimes. I get mad. Sometimes when you drink you get out of control. Don't drink tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You love me?

ELISE: Man, I've loved you since we were 14 years old.

(END VIDEO CLIP, "FOR COLORED GIRLS")

HARRIS: Boy, that is strong stuff. Kimberly Elise playing the role of Crystal there.

Kimberly, good to see you.

ELISE: Good to see you, too.

HARRIS: It's about time.

All right. Look, you play the role of a mother who is abused by her boyfriend after he comes back from the war, right, with PTSD?

ELISE: Yes.

HARRIS: OK. Strong, powerful stuff.

Tell me why you took this role on. And how deep did you have to go to pull it off?

ELISE: Oh, boy. Well, Tyler called and asked me to be a part of the project, and I took a look at the script.

HARRIS: And you had worked together before, right?

ELISE: Beg your pardon? I'm sorry?

HARRIS: You had worked together before?

ELISE: Yes. Tyler and I did "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" together. And we wanted to work together again, and it had to be the right project.

So, he sent me this script. And when I read it -- and he wanted me to look at Crystal. When I read it, I thought, here's an opportunity to give voice to so many women who are voiceless, who are going through challenging, traumatic situations, and may need help understanding how to free themselves, how to move forward with their lives.

And I thought, here's an opportunity to use what gift I had to maybe help in healing, a freeing of women. So there were very strong reasons for me to participate in the project.

HARRIS: What did you draw on? I mean, I'm going to ask the question. I mean, any similarities at all between you and Crystal? I mean, have you ever gone through anything close to Crystal's experience?

ELISE: No. Fortunately, I've been blessed with a very joyous, laughter-filled life. And it actually was a conscious decision I had to make to sort of shift gears emotionally and tell my children, I'm going to go do this, I'm going to have to go to some really dark places for this woman.

And I had to sort of cut out things in my life that give me peace like meditation and yoga and exercise, and allow myself to fall off center, because Crystal is off center. And just get raw and let her flow through me. So it was a long process, beginning with the decision to commit to her.

HARRIS: OK. So, again, your character is abused by her boyfriend. And so you'll see scenes of that in the film.

In many cases, men will be asked to see this movie by the women in their lives. What is the experience going to be like for men in the audience? Are they going to be asked to sit through bashing, male- bashing in the film?

ELISE: Well, no, it's not male-bashing. It's more about the women, and it's the experiences of these women. And some of them involve men.

And if you're going to accurately portray these situations that women come up against every day, you're going to have to have the " bad guy" who comes into the situation to fulfill the story. And also, to be true to the original work --

HARRIS: Right.

ELISE: -- you have to face these challenging people.

HARRIS: So, I read an article quoting you, interviewing you. And I liked your response to a particular question. I'm going to ask it.

You say to understand this film, it would be helpful to understand that women love hard. Explain that concept to men. All right?

(LAUGHTER)

ELISE: Well, I think it goes back to our very substance, our very basic element of DNA. We give birth, we carry life, we come infused with this need and desire to love and to heal and to stroke and to uplift. And so we love hard. We love deeply. We can't help it. And almost to a fault sometimes, where we will love others before we love ourselves.

And it's, you know, the whole put your own oxygen mask on first. We don't always do that so well as mothers and wives and friends and daughters.

We so often just can't help but put others before us. And that's our way of being loving and of nurturing and protecting those. And that's what Crystal is going through. She has to remember to put her own oxygen mask on first, and she doesn't. And it's traumatic for her.

HARRIS: So, Kimberly, I know you're on with our colleague, Fredricka Whitfield tomorrow in the 12:00 noon Eastern hour.

ELISE: Yes. Yes.

HARRIS: I can't wait for that.

ELISE: Me and Kerry Washington.

HARRIS: Both of you are on. Ooh.

ELISE: Yes, both of us.

HARRIS: Man. That's some strong must-see TV.

ELISE: Yes.

HARRIS: The best with the film. And it's good talking with you.

ELISE: Thank you. Thank you so much.

HARRIS: Yes. It's my pleasure. It's my pleasure.

To read more stories that matter to all of us, to every one of us, just pick up the latest issue of "Essence" magazine right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Okay. Let's get you to CNNmoney.com for the latest financial news. Come on, Jack. Come on, baby. It's Friday.

Voters to states: no new taxes. That's the lead story. Thanks to voters, California drivers won't have to pay an -- okay. All right. For the latest financial news, our Money Team doing a terrific job. You can click on the tabs of the information you want right there.

Stocks edge higher on strong -- I don't think so. We can take a look at the numbers on the Big Board now. That headline is wrong.

We've been selling most of the morning. Is it true (INAUDIBLE). We're down 27 points for Friday. The NASDAQ, let's just call it -- it's down 6, but we'll call it flat. Hiring, really picked up nicely in October. Maybe the summer slump is over. Let's talk to Christine Romans of our Money Team about the jobs report. 159,000 jobs. For the month. What do you think of the number, Christine?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: 159,000 private sector jobs --

HARRIS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- Tony, that's the really important thing here. Now, since December 2009, you've had 1.1 million private sector jobs have been created. That's what we want to see. We want to see companies creating job because they have better demand.

And Tony, how many times have you heard me say you need to have 100,000 to 150,000 new jobs each month just to keep up with population growth? Finally we had it.

However, I wanted to give you the other side of this story, and that is the length of time people are unemployed is still too long. Look at that line. That line represents the average number of weeks unemployed. It's 33.9 weeks. Not everybody has that kind of money sitting around to pay their bills when they don't have a job.

So, that's still a big problem for this administration and for the economy really when that many people are out of work for six months or longer, Tony.

HARRIS: Hey, anything else when you do the deep dive on these numbers? Anything else jump out at you?

ROMANS: Well, when I do the deep dive on these numbers, I see a lot of things that are the same and a lot of things that are improving a little bit. You want to see some continuity in the private sector jobs growth. You want to see that continue overall. Because frankly, frankly a lot of people are sitting in their job wondering what you're supposed to do if you're in your job and you're still looking at so many people out of work.

So, I wanted to give you a little bit of advice from the book I just wrote, "Smart Is The New Rich." First of all, this is what you can control when so much is out of control. If you have your job right now and are looking at these numbers, please be on top of your game every day. Ask for more responsibility because the ranks are thin. The experts say you might be surprised if there is mobility and there's room to move up. Employers have been so cautious.

Make sure, Tony, your boss is aware of your work. You have to do this right. You can't be bragging or bold or brash. But results are the most important thing in the marketplace right now if you have a job, Tony. Results, results, results. Make sure your boss knows you're getting results, and make sure you're getting results. Even if you're trying to get a job, point out the results you got at the old job. "I increased sales by one percent in this particular category, and this is how I did it. I can do it for you." That's good advice. HARRIS: So, should I send out a news alert to the bosses whenever I do something really, really well? Is that the idea here? Probably too much?

ROMANS: We know you always do everything very, very well. We know you're one of those overachievers. Yes.

No, be careful about it. Some people are going to come off a little - you're going to have to read the tea leaves and be kind of savvy when you do that. You know, that's -- that's pretty important advice to make sure they know you're not singing your own praises but they know what you're doing.

If you're looking for a job, though, it's really important not to just blindly mail out cover letters. This is something people do a lot that is just a waste of time, quite frankly. You have to have a person that you are sending that cover letter to with a name of another person that both of you know. That's how people are getting jobs. Something like eight out of ten of all jobs aren't even really advertised or if they are advertised, there's already somebody they know they want to put in it. Be short to the point and interesting.

And as I said, networking is really important. Make sure there's someone getting you the connection there. Keep up with your former bosses, co-workers, don't burn bridges. Join your professional societies. Go on LinkedIn.

Downplay the gap in your employment. If you're one of those people who's been out with six months or longer, you're one of those people who's been out for six months or longer, fill that gap with something. Volunteer work, classes, things you're doing for your professional organization.

Everyone's got that big gap. It's okay. It's okay. Forget about that. Say what you can do and what you'll do for them.

HARRIS: That is good, good stuff, Christine. Good to see you. Have a great weekend. Let me talk about your book more.

ROMANS: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: The idea of me, more, and now. Just forget those three words. The truth is the financial game has really changed. Christine Romans' new book is titled "Smart Is The New Rich." There it is. Pick it up. Great advice there.

The Depression-era board game. Monopoly turns 75 years old. We all love buying those little green houses and red motels, don't we? So, here's the question for you. How many little green Monopoly houses have been made since 1935? A, 50 million. B, 60 billion. or C, 5 billion. Think about it. We'll come back with the answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. So, before the break we asked you how many little green houses has Monopoly's maker Hasbro made since 1935, the first year monopoly was made? A, 50 million. B, 60 billion. Or C, 5 billion. The answer is, there you go, C, 5 billion.

Monopoly turns 75 today. Players began buying real estate and bankrupting opponents way back in the Great Depression. Monopoly was created by Charles Darrow, an out-of-work and down-on-his-luck tradesman who captured the American dream on a board game. Hasbro has honored its game with special editions through the years like this Gold Monopoly set. There you go. The company says half a billion people have played the game.

And look at this. A CNN iReporter shot this life-sized Monopoly word in downtown San Jose, California. The exhibition was originally made as part of a landscape and design show. The San Jose mayor and council put it in Guadalupe Park. Part of a beautification project.

Monopoly in the Park was born. People actually played the game on the board. Man!

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's get you caught up on top stories right now.

An active duty U.S. Navy SEAL under arrest for allegedly selling machine guns and other firearms to undercover law officers in Nevada and Colorado. Two other men are also accused in the case. The machine guns were smuggled into the U.S. by special forces personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Cuba, a plane crash with no survivors. This is horrible. Sixty-eight people were killed when the Aero Caribbean flight went down between Santiago de Cuba and Havana.

It's another no-go for space shuttle Discovery's last mission. NASA has scrubbed today's launch because of a gas leak. Bad weather kept the shuttle on the ground yesterday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Boy, how about this? Talk about hot off the political ticker. Questions about Nancy Pelosi's future. John King, part of The Best Political Team on Television and host of "JOHN KING USA" 7:00 p.m. weeknights right on CNN from the political desk in Washington.

John, good to see you. What do you have on the current speaker?

JOHN KING, HOST, "JOHN KING USA": Tony, what a fascinating dilemma she faces. Many liberal groups are saying, please stay as the Democratic leader now that she won't be, of course, speaker of the House. The Republicans are taking over the House of Representatives.

But many moderate Democrats, they blame Pelosi in part for the party's struggles. They lost 60 seats to the Republicans, 60-plus seats. So, some moderate Democrats are starting to speak out saying, no, Madam Speaker, we need you to step aside.

Here's one just today from Dan Borad (ph). He's a moderate to conservative Democrat from the state of Oklahoma and he says this, "I cannot in good conscious support Nancy Pelosi as leader. I intend to support a more conservative Democrat alternative." So you see there, a bit of a civil war going on, post election feud within the Democratic family. Speaker Pelosi says she wants some time to think about this and she'll make her decision soon. Keep an eye on that one, Tony. Very important to the future of the Democratic Party.

And as we learned, you know, Republicans won all these seats at the governor's level and state legislatures. And what did that tell you? Voters were in a conservative mood. Among the things they did, is they peeled back, rolled back, a number of tax initiatives around the country. In Massachusetts, for example, voters repealed a 6.25 percent alcohol tax that had been put in place back in 2009. California voters said no way, drivers won't have to pay a $18 fee to help fund state parks. And in Washington state, they rolled back a temporary sales tax on candy and carbonated beverages.

Now if the voters were in an anti-tax mood, what that does, though, is it puts governors and legislators in even more of a bind because of fiscal budget gaps all these states are facing. Washington state along, $520 million in the red in the current fiscal year. And across the country, Tony, $140 billion states are facing in combined budget gaps. And with those tax initiatives kicked off the ballot by voters, that's less money coming in.

And, lastly, you know, winning 60 plus seats means a lot of new faces coming to Washington, D.C. Tonight on "John King USA," we meet one of the more fascinating members of the new Republican majority. His name is Tim Scott. He's an African-American. He comes from the South Carolina district where the Civil War began. And, Tony, he says the Tea Party message is what can save the country from what he calls fiscal insanity. Tim Scott, a fascinating conversation tonight on "John King USA."

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Can't wait. Can't wait.

KING: Interesting guy.

HARRIS: Yes, yes, can't wait.

All right, John, good to see you, as always. Thank you, sir. And your next political update coming up in one hour. For the latest political news, you know where to go, it's cnnpolitics.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Time now for "The Help Desk," where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, Carmen Wong Ulrich, she's a personal finance author, and John Ulzheimer is with credit.com.

John and Carmen, so good to have you with us here today. Let's get right into our questions, starting off with Gina in Arkansas who writes, I have a $6,000 balance on one of my credit cards. I was unable to keep up with the payments so it was turned over to collections, and, of course, hurt my credit. In attempting to fix my credit, I'm now planning and asking for a settlement. Should I pay the credit card company or the collections agency?"

John, what do you say?

JOHN ULZHEIMER, CREDIT.COM: Well, your options might be limited to working only with the collection agency. Normally a collection agency has either purchased the debt from the original creditor or it has been consigned to the collection agency to do the collection efforts. So you may not even be able to work with the original creditor because they may have washed their hands of the debt.

Now, when you are dealing with a collection agency, remember, they don't actually have that full balance. You don't owe them that full amount because they bought that for pennies on the dollar. So start offering settlement amounts at around the 10 to 20 percent range of what they say that you actually owe, which is still a very, very good deal for them and it might actually get you out of that debt pretty cheap.

ELAM: All right. That's good information there.

Let's go on to our next question from Mark in Maryland who writes, "I have a medical flexible spending account through my employer. Any money I don't spend by the end of the year is lost, at least to me. Who gets that money and, also, how is this any different from allowing all my medical expenses to be tax deductible?"

A lot of people are wondering about this right now, Carmen, because they're looking at their benefits.

CARMEN WONG ULRICH, PERSONAL FINANCE AUTHOR: Yes, it's that time of year, isn't it. And, listen, your money just doesn't go poof if you don't use it, but it does go back into the FSA pot of your employer to deal with expenses and administrative costs. But here's the thing, you do have two and a half months after the end of this year to basically use that money. And if you don't, of course, it is gone. That's the flip side, the bad side if you want to say, of using an FSA. There is that risk. So try to use it all.

Now the difference in terms of the medical deductions, don't forget, you can't take a medical tax deduction unless it equals 7.5 percent or more of your adjusted gross income. Whereas an FSA, this is pre-tax money. Think of it as like your 401(k) money. So you get the initial discount up front in terms of taxes. Two very different things that need to be managed separately.

ELAM: But very good things to use if you know how to use them. So do research there.

ULRICH: It is. Exactly.

ELAM: All right, thanks so much, John and Carmen.

Of course, if you have a question that you want to get answered, send us an e-mail any time to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: Let's rock it. We're getting closer to the top of the hour and Ali Velshi right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Josh, "What's Hot," let's rock it.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, I'll tell you quickly about this and then we'll get to your favorite video.

HARRIS: Oh, yes, yes. OK, good.

LEVS: A lot of people talking about this. (INAUDIBLE) has chart of the day and this is the biggest month to get dumped. This is when people break up with the people they're with.

HARRIS: Yes.

LEVS: Now, apparently, you better watch out, because Christmas time is when it hits its massive peak.

HARRIS: It's coming.

LEVS: You're like, I'm not bringing you home to my family.

HARRIS: I'm not buying you gifts. I'm not buying you cards.

LEVS: It's a new year. (INAUDIBLE) new (INAUDIBLE). Right.

HARRIS: I'm not taking you to dinner. Are you kidding me? We're so over.

All right. OK.

LEVS: And you have video for me. We're switching roles here. He has the hot video.

HARRIS: All right. So here's the video. Yes, here it is. This is the amazing rookie for the Washington Wizards. He's doing this hot new dance it's called the Dougy (ph), the Dougy Fresh (ph), the rapper, right? And the kids bring it on the floor in the CNN NEWSROOM who were helping us get the show on the air.

LEVS: They wanted to watch?

HARRIS: They wanted to see this once again. And since we're saving them from a life of delinquency, we thought we'd run it again. Here it is, John Wall (ph), video of the day from a couple of days ago. I bet Wolf was at this game in D.C. We're back in a moment.

LEVS: I bet Wolf could do the Dougy.

HARRIS: Wolf doing the Dougy. Now there's a thought.

LEVS: I'm calling him right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: One hundred and twenty Taliban fighters tried to overrun a U.S. base. Six U.S. soldiers fight back. CNN's Barbara Starr brings us their heroic story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm like, oh my God, no, boom, boom, boom. He got up and ran into the bunker, got everybody in and we started going at it.

PFC. JAMES PLATT, 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION: Gunfire from multiple positions opened up.

BARBARA STARR, ABC CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To find out what happened to these men, Major General John Campbell is on the way to combat outpost Marga (ph), an isolated patch deep in the heartland of the insurgency. Two days earlier, 60 U.S. troops were attacked by an estimated 120 Taliban in a massive firefight that has left many soldiers deeply shaken. Campbell wants to see it all for himself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To small arms or RPGs?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Small arms, RPGs and PGMs.

LT. CHRISTOPHER MACGEORGE, 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION: I started hearing explosions on the radio. I just heard guys over the radio, you know, contact, contact, contact.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was a big (ph) attack. This wasn't just everybody shooting.

MACGEORGE: The OP up there started making contact.

STARR: It was about to get worse. A lot worse.

STARR (on camera): As the attack unfolded, there were nearly 30 insurgents creeping right up this mountainside in the middle of the night. There were only six U.S. Army troops here to mount a defense.

STARR (voice-over): On the mountain, Private First Class James Platt tried to fire back.

PLATT: I then began to -- tried to engage with the mark (ph) 19. It jammed. I reloaded it. It jammed again.

PFC. MICHAEL LANDIS, 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION: They got pretty close to me and he basically almost saved my life. Well, he did save my life.

STARR (on camera): You see two guys -- two bad guys coming right at him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. They were crawling up the side of the mountain over here. They just came right over the side. They weren't fazed by anything. We were shooting everything we could. STARR (voice-over): Down below on the outpost, the fight was still raging.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then we started taking fire from the southwest down this -- the big wadi (ph) from over there actually runs all the way over into Pakistan. We began taking heavy fire, small arms and RPG fire.

STARR: The six men on top of the mountain are shocked when the insurgents get to one of their armored vehicles and know how to use it.

PLATT: From what we saw, they made it to the MRAP and they used our own spotlight on the MRAP against us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooting in every direction.

STARR: The men are about to be overrun.

PLATT: My sergeant realized that we were about to get overmanned. And that's when he started blowing -- he blew up the ammo point as best he could. He had to run in -- he had to run within 15 feet of the enemy and throw a grenade in the ammo bunker, and he did.

STARR: Airstrikes and artillery have been called in. It's time for the Americans to get off the mountain.

LANDIS: We ran, turned back, fired, ran, make sure we had everybody. We just went down the mountain as fast as we could, tumbling and falling.

STARR: Five U.S. troops suffered minor wounds. More than 80 insurgents were killed. Their weapons, ammunition and even a medical pack picked up off the battlefield. Many of the insurgents here were foreign fighters coming from across the border in Pakistan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even before they got up to the --

STARR: General Campbell says even as his men keep watch, he expects more attacks.

Barbara Starr, CNN, Forward Operating Base Marga in eastern Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Believe that, six against 120.

All right, it is go time. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi.