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Merchant of Death in Court; Hollywood Murder Mystery; 'Slurpee Summit' Postponed; Caffeine-Alcohol Drinks Get Booted; Merchant of Death in U.S. Custody; DUI Suspect Crashes Into Cop Car; Fear of Epidemic Grips Haiti

Aired November 17, 2010 - 16:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And there we go, chugging right along, closing bell on Wall Street.

Real quickly, looking at the numbers, if we can, the Dow down 17 points at 11000, Nasdaq up a couple, S&P up, sitting at 1178.

You can always get the latest, CNNMoney.com.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Just name your war zone worldwide. The so-called Merchant of Death is accused of selling weapons to the bad guys. Even Hollywood has made a movie after him. Well, now he is here in the U.S. getting grilled by the government. So, who is he and what secrets could he spill?

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

(on camera): She was a publicist to the megastars gunned down just minutes after leaving a red carpet premier. Who was she and why would someone target her?

Remember Four Loko, the so-called blackout in a can? Well, just minutes ago, the FDA issued a sweeping crackdown for that and they went one step further. Parents, here is one that you cannot miss.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I look at the receipt and it says (EXPLETIVE DELETED) on it.

BALDWIN: And whatever happened to have a nice day and have it your way? This is what you get on your receipt?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this common? Do you guys do this all the time?

BALDWIN: Drinking and driving is always the first mistake. Second mistake? Shifting to reverse instead of park. Hard to believe, but this actually gets worse. You will never guess how.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Here we go. Ready for hour two. Want to welcome the men just women watching us now on American Forces Network all around the world. We're going to move fast.

Let's go, beginning with this shocking murder mystery got everyone in Hollywood talking. Shortly after walking the red carpet for the premiere of the movie "Burlesque," well-known Los Angeles publicist Ronni Chasen was shot to death. Police say her Mercedes was riddled with bullets on Sunset Boulevard.

She was apparently on her way home. Celebrity clients and friends are devastated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL HAGGIS, DIRECTOR: It's very -- it's very tragic. I was stunned by that.

CHRIS, MCDONALD, ACTOR: She loved actors. That is for sure. And that was one great thing about her. And you got kind of love -- you kind of love the buzz and the craziness of this just nutty business that we're in.

DANNY ELFMAN, COMPOSER: Well, she's full of life and really energetic and great. And it's just one of those things I still haven't quite adjusted to, like, that really happened here last night? It just seems impossible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Police moving on that investigation. Still no leads. Powerful Hollywood publicist Michael Levine was a longtime friend Chasen's. told me that he's started a reward fund. Levine hopes to raise $25,000 to help Beverly Hills police.

Next, a former reality show producer accused of killing his wife makes a court appearance. A short time ago, Bruce Beresford-Redman was scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate in Los Angeles. He was picked up just yesterday by U.S. Marshals. The former "Survivor" producer allegedly killed his wife in Cancun, Mexico. Her body was found in an underground sewer back in April. The Mexican government is seeking to have Beresford-Redman extradited to stand trial.

Next, we are getting more heart-wrenching details about Elizabeth Smart's abduction and captivity. Even more witnesses now taking the stand, testifying in this trial against Brian Mitchell. There he is with the big beard, his wife, Wanda Barzee. Jurors are hearing about numerous attempts to help the 14-year-old Utah teen that failed. Many of those attempts were allegedly thwarted by Mitchell himself. You know the story. He's been accused of kidnapping and raping Smart. Barzee expected to testify against her ex-husband tomorrow.

Next, California police searching for three gunman who robbed, get this, a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant. They have just released the surveillance video. Look at it with me, a guy holding a guy down here, one young employee lying on the floor, a gun pointed at his head. You also can see there the masked men herding parents, kids, other rescue employees into a storeroom. One of the victims called 911 while the suspects allegedly emptied the cash register. When police arrived, the gunmen gone.

Next, damage and destruction visible. You can see it. Look at those roofs. This is Baltimore, Maryland today. A fierce storm blew the roofs off, downed trees, damaged cars overnight, also leaving thousands of people in the dark. Rescue crews have been going house to house today to check on those victims. So far, no serious injuries, thank goodness, are reported.

Next, Great Britain and royal watchers everywhere still basking in the glow of the big news, the big engagement. Prince William and Catherine Middleton have made it official. They are getting hitched. William made sure that his late mother was included in their happiness by giving Middleton Princess Diana's diamond and sapphire engagement ring. It is a beauty.

The bride-to-be says he popped the question during their trip to Kenya.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATE MIDDLETON, ENGAGED TO PRINCE WILLIAM: He's a true romantic and it was -- we had a wonderful holiday in Africa.

PRINCE WILLIAM, UNITED KINGDOM: The timing is right now. We're both very, very happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Many people are looking for Middleton to follow in the fashionable footsteps of the late Princess Di.

Next, a high-speed chase comes to an abrupt end, a crashing end. Look at this. This was Miami today. Police were in hot pursuit of this armed robbery suspect, the guy there now in the crashed car, Ford Expedition. The SUV sped through residential areas, weaving between lanes, driving over sidewalks and ignoring stop signs and red lights.

But the pursuit, you just saw how it ended. The vehicle violently slammed into the back of a tanker truck. The driver bolted out, tried to make a run for it. And then -- there he goes -- climbing out the window and eventually was captured.

Also, we have some breaking news out of Alaska. CNN has learned that Senator Lisa Murkowski will come out tonight and officially declare victory in her race against the Tea Party movement's Joe Miller. You know -- we have been all over this -- this has been a hugely unusual race in which the incumbent lost her party's nomination, had to run as a write-in candidate.

CNN's Shannon Travis has followed this one all along, joins me from Washington.

And, Shannon, what are you hearing?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Brooke, this could be a stunning reversal to what we have been seeing over the past few weeks.

We had obviously Murkowski losing the primary back in August, her conceding, then getting back in. And we may see -- possibly see an end to this race tonight. We have learned that Lisa Murkowski, the Republican senator of Alaska, will declare victory in this prolonged and bruising battle tonight.

I got off the phone with Kevin Sweeney, her campaign manager. And I said, hey, will she declare victory? He said, yes, she will. They have always maintained that they wanted for all of the ballots to be counted and today the Alaska Division of Elections will have all those ballots counted, essentially, and she will declare victory.

As it stands right now, votes there being tallied for her are a little over 10,000 votes. Some of them, about 8,000, are contested. Even if all of those -- in a wild scenario, if all of those contested ballots are not counted for her, she would still win this race by just over 2,000 votes.

So she's coming out tonight and declaring victory. The Associated Press is already declaring this a win for her. So, it will be a historic win.

BALDWIN: So, here's the question, Shannon. She's ready to declare victory. What about Joe Miller? Will he accept defeat?

TRAVIS: Well, we are feverishly trying to get reaction from the Miller campaign. I have put out several calls to the campaign manager and the press secretary. They have not yet responded to CNN. We don't know what will happen tonight.

We do know that they still have those lawsuits that are pending. We just last night learned from the Miller side that they want a hand recount of all of the ballots. The Division of Elections, the director got back to me today and said, hey, that will not happen. If a recount happens, it will be done by machine, and if it happens, that Joe Miller will have to pay for it. So we don't know what Miller's intentions are tonight, either before or after Senator Murkowski comes out and declares victory in this. But we will keep trying to get reaction.

BALDWIN: Final question, Shannon. How much of a black eye would this win for Murkowski be on Sarah Palin?

TRAVIS: Huge.

BALDWIN: Huge.

TRAVIS: Huge. A huge black eye for Sarah Palin and for the Tea Party movement.

Consider this. Sarah Palin, from Alaska, a lot of people, a lot of her fans say, hey, she's still popular in Alaska. Well, this might be something against that, that she's not as popular. Miller was her pick. She picked him even before the Tea Party movement came on board.

It was only after that she picked him that Tea Party movement came on board. So this would be a huge black eye to not only Sarah Palin's endorsement of Joe Miller, but the Tea Party movement as well.

BALDWIN: Hey, let us know if you hear anything from the Joe Miller camp. We will pop that camera right back on you and bring that to our viewers here on CNN.

TRAVIS: You got it.

BALDWIN: For now, Shannon Travis, thanks for the hustle.

TRAVIS: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: The man accused of selling weapons to some of the most dangerous people in the whole world now in U.S. custody. What did he allegedly do so wrong and why is Russia so concerned? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: He is known as the Merchant of Death. He's this alleged Russian arms dealer extradited all the way from Thailand here to the U.S., will go on trial for conspiring to kill Americans.

Now, U.S. officials have been fighting to get their hands on this guy -- this is Viktor Bout -- for years. Now they finally have him behind bars in New York. Bout arrived out of this special Drug Enforcement Administration plane, DEA plane, last night, after Thailand agreed to extradite him.

So, just a couple hours ago, he appeared in federal court in New York. We're going to have more on that in a minute.

But, first, here is CNN's Brian Todd with a look at the accused man behind this title Merchant of Death.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VIKTOR BOUT, DEFENDANT: I didn't do anything wrong.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Viktor Bout is believed to have cut a figure so legendary in the arms trafficking underworld that he is widely acknowledged as the inspiration for Nicolas Cage's character in the movie "Lord of War."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LORD OF WAR")

NICOLAS CAGE, ACTOR: But the real money is in actual wars between countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Now Bout is in U.S. custody, extradited from Thailand to face terrorism charges.

U.S. officials say in a sting operation he agreed to sell heavy weapons and even planes to the FARC, a rebel group that has been fighting the Colombian for decades. Bout has repeatedly denied breaking any laws, but he is believed to have funneled weapons to war zones from Africa to Afghanistan.

Douglas Farah, co-author of a book on Viktor Bout, says he's known as a devoted family man, but also as a bully who would barge in on government meetings.

DOUGLAS FARAH, AUTHOR, "MERCHANT OF DEATH": If you look at the wars that were directly impacted by his weapons deliveries, you can see that they escalate directly in proportion to the amount of weapons arriving. So, I would say certainly tens and thousands of people suffered, if not hundreds of thousands of people, because of the weapons he was able to deliver.

TODD: My colleague Jill Dougherty interviewed Bout in Moscow in 2002. At that time, he denied accusations that he had sold weapons to the Taliban and al Qaeda.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Did you ever meet Osama bin Laden?

BOUT: Unfortunately, I don't have a chance to meet him. Maybe if I were on this position to meet him somewhere. Maybe on that period I would decide to do something to prevent what happened.

TODD (on camera): Did he strike you as a fearsome figure?

DOUGHERTY: Oddly enough, he didn't. He was kind of like a big oaf, kind of this big guy, said, I want to set the record straight. I'm innocent.

You didn't get any vibes that he was malevolent. But it's impossible to judge.

TODD (voice-over): Western officials said there was evidence Bout shipped arms to fighters in Africa in exchange for blood diamonds. He denied it. But U.S. officials say he routinely dealt with people like ex-Liberian President and alleged warlord Charles Taylor.

Now the Russian government is furious that Bout, a former air force officer, has been extradited.

(on camera): Why are the Russians so angry with this extradition?

FARAH: I think they feel so humiliated by what happened, that one of theirs was grabbed. And he also has ties that go very high into the Russian intelligence structure, because he comes out of the Soviet intelligence structure. And I think he knows a lot that they would rather the world not find out about. TODD: I asked an official at the Russian Embassy about that. He wouldn't comment. But he did say the extradition of Viktor Bout was illegal, that Bout is innocent, and that the Russian government will do all it can to assist him from this point.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Want to bring in national correspondent Susan Candiotti, who has been following developments in this case.

Susan, we just sort of heard about Bout's history. We also know he was in court a short time ago. What more can you tell us?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the hearing didn't last very long and not surprisingly, he pleaded not guilty.

But you know, this is a man supposed to be worth billions and billions of dollars. And so in court today, probably the most interesting part about this was when the judge was asking about a financial form that he had to fill out that asked him whether he had any assets. And his written response was, well, not in the U.S.

So with that we can tell you that today, yes, the DEA and federal prosecutors finally announced the results of the sting that they've been working on for the past couple of years. Bout is charged with arranging to sell a ton of weapons, really a mountain of them, to people who were secretly helping the DEA . We're talking about 700 surface-to-air missiles, 5,000 AK-47s, ammo, landmines, C4 explosives and cargo planes to deliver it all at a cost of $5 million.

Now according to investigators, Bout thought that his buyers were working for FARK, Columbian guerillas; they weren't really. The arms were supposed to be used to kill Americans who were helping the Columbia government battle FARK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PREET BHARARA, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF N.Y.: Bout and Smulian stood to collect millions of dollars on the FARK arms deal and they both allegedly jumped at the chance to arm the FARK for its terrorist fight against the United States.

THOMAS HARRIGAN, CHIEF OF OPERATIONS, DEA: Many believe Bout did not care who his weapons killed, but he did care. Based on recorded conversations, Bout said preferred murdering Americans.

When told that the arms would be used to destroy radar location and kill Americans, he indicated that the United States was his enemy and FARK's fight against the United States was also his fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Now, a key witness against Bout is likely to be a British citizen already in custody since 2008, Andrew Smulian. His guilty plea was unsealed today. He's admitted to setting up meetings to arrange the alleged deal.

Now Russia, as you heard, is calling Bout's extradition from Thailand, where he was being held, illegal. And there's talk that the case could jeopardize nuclear reduction talks between the U.S. and Russia or Russia's assistance in fighting the drug war in Afghanistan.

If Bout is found guilty, he faces up to life in prison.

BALDWIN: Wow. I mean, just looking at all of the weapons, this is obviously a huge deal, a huge victory for the law, according to Eric Holder. But Russia has a bit of a different take. The extradition drawing a lot of angry crowds in Russia. In fact, the government has gone as far as to cal him this innocent businessman.

But in his statement, I want to get to the statement and then we will talk, U.S. Attorney General Holder paints a much different picture saying Bout is considered one of the most prolific arms traffic holders. Let's listen to part of Holder's statement, it reads as follows.

"Viktor Bout has been indicted in the United States, but his alleged arms trafficking activity and support of armed conflicts in Africa has been a cause of concern around the world." Holder goes on to say, "(Bout's) extradition is a victory," as I said, "for the rule of law worldwide."

And seems to be emphasizing, Susan, the idea that Bout posed a worldwide problem, not just, by no means not just us here in the United States.

CANDIOTTI: That's right. For years and years, there's been talk that Bout has been helping to ship arms to the Taliban, to al Qaeda, to various groups in Africa, being paid in blood diamonds. And throughout this he has denied all of these charges and calls himself a legitimate businessman. You heard that in the setup piece as well from Jill Dougherty who interviewed him back in 2002.

So now it, obviously, will play out in court. And there are some Russian journalists who were there in court today who were really calling what happened to him a kidnapping and not a viable and legal extradition from Thailand.

BALDWIN: Wow. How about that? Susan Candiotti, fascinating story. Thank you.

Coming up next, the driver crashes into not just any car, a police car. You could say that's a bad day, but it gets worse. The story is two away -- ouch -- stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You know, we have some people on our show team that try to go through all the best, most outrageous video of the day just to bring you the very best and I think we've got something for you.

You're about to see the crazy police stop in California. Let's watch it together. Roger, roll this with me.

So you have this officer that pulls over this Toyota Prius, this is Laguna Beach. The driver forgets to put the car in park, you hear the crunch. You hear the crunch. Instead, reverse lights go on, gets out of the car, oops, goes forward.

Takes him a couple seconds to realize he's not the only one moving, There we go, slammed right into the police car.

But it's not over. He slams on the gas, runs right into a gas station's air and water dispenser rupturing the water line.

Are you kidding? Amazingly, you see him get out, no one is hurt. Back and forth, back and forth.

Let's watch it again as it goes back -- wait for it, bam.

The officer is standing by, hanging out, pretty calm. In fact, one of his co-workers commented on that. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. LOUISE CALLUS, LAGUNA BEACH POLICE: I'm surprised at how calm he remained. You just kind of watch him watch what's going on and I'm sure if I had been in that instance, it would be more like, am I really seeing what I'm seeing?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I have a feeling the officer has seen a lot worse than that.

By the way, that driver who is going back and forth -- I know, I shouldn't be laughing -- the driver is now facing charges of driving under the influence. Yikes.

Coming up next, a report from Haiti, a live report where desperation over this cholera outbreak has led to violence, even more misery. Ivan Watson joins us after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The spread of a deadly disease is obviously horrible news anywhere, but no country in our hemisphere is less prepared to deal with this kind of outbreak than Haiti. More than 1,100 people there are dead so far from cholera just in the past couple of months. Thousands upon thousands more are infected and the worst-case scenario here, a full on outbreak is potential for human catastrophe. But right now, the emergency very real.

Ivan Watson is in the north coast of Haiti today. And, Ivan, we keep reporting this death toll and it continues to rise.

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This epidemic, according to the United Nations, they are predicting that up to more than 200,000 people could be infected after the time it reaches its peak.

And this is just the first month really of this outbreak. The first in more than 15 (ph) years to be discovered here in Haiti, and it has definitely frightened significant portions of the population. We're reporting to you from the northern city of Cap-Haiten because there have been three straight days of riots here, angry demonstrators attacking the United Nations peacekeepers deployed here and in large part, many of them accused the United Nations and the peacekeepers of being the origin of this cholera outbreak in Haiti. That is a claim that is completely denied by the United Nations itself -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: We're looking at some of the video. I can see the U.N. vehicles rolling in, and we're seeing a lot of patients, people are running. But I also know there's some video of you driving, I guess, through some of the smoke and burning tires.

Explain what I'm seeing here.

WATSON: Well, what's been taking place here is that for three days now, demonstrators have barricaded the streets of Haiti's second largest city and they are stopping cars and buses from being able to move around. So you can basically only get around on the back of motorbikes through here.

Now, whenever the United Nations peacekeepers seem to roll through in their white-armored personnel carriers, we witnessed today how locals, how the residents, they hid in alleyways and then they jump out and start helping those APCs (ph) with stones.

And we have heard gun gunfire, again, today. On the first day of these clashes, at least one demonstrator was shot and killed by U.N. peacekeepers. There was more shooting today, and at least three people with apparent gunshot wounds showing up at a local hospital here.

So tensions are still high. One of the challenges that this poses is it make it is difficult for people who are sick, who could literally die in a matter of hours as a result of acute dehydration from cholera, they can't make it to the hospitals to be treated, Brooke, and that is really making it much more difficult to try to save people on the ground here.

Also, medical workers telling us that they are having difficulties bringing in extra supplies. We went to one cholera treatment center and about 200 people packed on cots next to each other in what was supposed to be a basketball stadium. They got more than 100 patients overnight and are affecting far more in the hours to come.

BALDWIN: Not only in Haiti, Ivan, now you're reporting -- you've been reporting the outbreak for us in Haiti, but we're hearing of cases turning up in the Dominican Republic, and just today we heard about a case turning up in Florida.

What do you know about that? WATSON: That's right. According to Florida health authorities, it was a woman traveling back from Haiti arrived in Florida and was discovered to be carrying this cholera bacteria, as well as one Haitian construction worker who was found to be in neighboring Dominican Republic also infected with the illness.

This is a highly contagious disease. It's transmitted fecal- oral, but it is also very easy to treat. What is crucial here, Brooke, is to get treatment within the first couple of hours when that nausea and acute diarrhea sets in, and then doctors tell me it's very easy to treat it. Basically, all you need is to make sure that the person can -- their fluids are maintained. In some cases, it's pills with salt and sugar in them. In some cases, IV bags. And doctors tell us, some of the patients that they've been treating here are able to walk out after two days treatment after coming in severely dehydrated.

BALDWIN: Hopefully, we can at least stop reporting this death toll number rising. Maybe they can at least curb it and continue treating it. And we -- of course, nobody wants to see it any father than that island and hopefully this case is the only case that we're reporting on in Florida.

But for now, Ivan Watson, stay safe. Ivan, from Haiti. Thank you, Ivan.

Another story we're watching for you, look at this damage. Big storm. This is the mid-Atlantic area. Left obviously a huge mess in its wake. Some of the damage -- a lot of the damage, I should say, in the Baltimore area where the storm has left 25,000 people in the dark. Chad Myers has been looking at this thing. I know we said the t-word last hour, a tornado. Possibly a tornado.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Simply because of the small nature of this maximum damage. If we had widespread damage across the city and 300,000 people without power because every tree was knocked down. But this was a localized area, literally like, eight square blocks, and all of a sudden you see this type of damage where shingles are gone, rafters are gone. You can look right down into the bedrooms. That's more than a wind gust.

We're seeing gusts today, 30, 40 miles per hour. So, that's why the put-back of the wires is so slow because the men and the women are climbing up the lines have to be very careful that other lines aren't going to blow off while they are up there trying to put the one up there that is down. Power lines take some time.

It's the last one. If you're the last person on the line and it's your tree and your yard that brought down your line to your house, forget about getting power today. It's going to be a while. Wind gusts, yes. It always takes long -- if you can put up one line, Brooke, and get up 50 people, 50houses, that's the line that gets a little priority. If you have a line that only puts up two houses back on the line -

BALDWIN: Low priority. MYERS: You don't have any priority at all. Exactly.

(WEATHER BREAK)

BALDWIN: No fun. No fun at all.

MYERS: It gets less and less as the holiday season gets closer.

BALDWIN: I know. I'll be traveling on Thanksgiving Day. Wish me luck.

MYERS: I know you're going far. And that's okay. It's the threshold that I think becomes three to four hours, maybe even five hours. Might as well just drive. Because if you have to arrive two hours early and it's an hour to park and then an hour flight.

BALDWIN: I know, it's a pain. Sometimes you don't have the option or the time.

MYERS: I know.

BALDWIN: Chad, thank you, sir.

MYERS: Sure.

BALDWIN: Makers of caffeine alcohol drinks. You know how we've been talking about these, so-called blackout in a can, some people are calling it. Just a couple bucks to buy one of these. Getting a big warning today from the FDA. Parents, we have been watching this story unfold all day. We'll tell you which drinks are targeted and which changes will be made.

And Jessica Yellin has the latest from the political ticker. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All kinds of news popping up in the political world today. Of course, CNN has all of the latest news with The Best Team on Television. Jessica Yellin join us from sunny San Diego. And Jessica, we've got potentially --

JESSICA YELLIN, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Cold.

BALDWIN: Cold? Aww, not good. But sunny San Diego, nonetheless, perhaps. Let's talk about Alaska and talk about some potentially huge news out of that state.

YELLIN: Yes. Senator Lisa Murkowski is, we've learned, going to declare victory tonight. You know, she is the currently Republican but ran in as a write-in candidate for senator in Alaska. They're having that ongoing recount. Well, right now, they is more than 10,000 votes ahead. That is larger than the number of contestant ballots in that state. So, it does seem to reason that she has good faith to believe that she is going to walk away the victor in this case. She plans to declare victory tonight. We're learning CNN has not called this race, for the record. But that is one we're going to watch closely.

Okay. Brooke, anybody who is waiting for some fireworks, for some drama in the leadership races is going to be disappointed. Everything worked out just as everyone would expect.

John Boehner will be the next speaker of the Jouse. He won that position by unanimous vote. He'll be the next speaker when Congress comes into session in the new year, and Nancy Pelosi will be the minority leader. That's even though some Democrats said that their party needs a new face going forward. But she still prevailed and she will remain as leader of the Democratic party in the new Congress.

Now, here's a story, Brooke, about one of Pelosi's reporters. John Boccieri, a congressman you might remember from the campaign trail because Bill Clinton, the former president, was at a rally for him in Ohio when Boccieri's wife went into labor. And he had to rush off and - you remember? Clinton took credit, saying, "Whenever I'm around, ladies go into labor."

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Nice.

YELLIN: Well -

BALDWIN: Nice impression.

YELLIN: Yes. Thanks.

Boccieri did not win his race, but he's still up on the Hill for the rest of this year, right? And said today he did not think he lost because of Nancy Pelosi. He does not think that the Democrats got their shellacking because of her or anyone else, but rather because of the economy and because Republicans ran a much more effective campaign by painting Nancy Pelosi as the problem. He was all smiles today, saying that he accepts what it is, and he's going to go home and spending time doing diapers. Five kids he has at home.

BALDWIN: Five kids! Wow, I was just about to say, maybe he's just a happy new dad. But not a new dad. Not so much.

Wow, Jessica Yellin. Nice Clinton impression, by the way. Jessica, thank you.

YELLIN: Thank you. I won't do it again.

BALDWIN: Remember, you can always -- oh, Jessica -- you can get the latest political news. Go to CNNpolitics.com or on Twitter @politicalticker.

Coming up next. Have you heard of this bizarre mystery unfolding in Colorado? Here's what we know. Identical twin sisters are gunned down at a shooting range. One dies; the other is in coma, but police can't tell them apart. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: How about this one for you? Police near Denver today have a tragedy and a mystery on their hands. There are two women, identical twin sisters, were shot in their heads at a public shooting range. Take a look at this scene with me. This is just outside the range.

Here's what we know so far. The two twin sisters from Australia, they are just 29 years of age. They rented these handguns. They were firing, you know, targets, when surveillance video shows them falling to the ground at the same time. Now, both were shot in the head. One is dead. The other in critical condition.

But that's not all. Because they are identical twins, police don't know which sister lived and which sister died. No idea also if this was some sort of double suicide attempt or an accident or something else. We're told members of their family are traveling from Australia to Colorado to help investigators.

The FDA had Four Loko under scrutiny, and now other popular drinks are targeted as well. Similar drinks. There has been new developments this afternoon. We're all over that. Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Have you ever bought something, get the receipt, and then you throw it away without even looking at it? Look, a lot of us do that. But one conscious customer did look at his receipt and -- well, you've got to see what it said.

A Burger King in Sacramento in some hot water today after a customer was handed a receipt that had -- you see it -- you saw it, a huge expletive printed on it. Francisco Perez (ph), a regular customer at Burger King, says he felt kind of embarrassed when he saw what it said.

Apparently, he showed the receipt to the cashier. Perez (ph) says the young man just snickered at him.

CNN has reached out Burger King corporate offices. We're awaiting a response. Meantime, I guess you can't always "Have it your way."

Next, to Smyrna, Georgia. You've heard about drive-by food. How about a drive-in?

Look at that. Surveillance cameras, of course they were rolling as a car crashed into the front of this local bakery. The owners could hardly believe when they got the call that the car was, no, not outside the store, it was in the store.

Amazingly, no one was hurt. But there is a sweet ending to all of this. The store reopened for business yesterday, 15 hours after the crash.

Next, here's a tip we can all remember. If you're ever being robbed, don't tell the bad guy you think his gun is fake, because he might prove you wrong.

Here's a masked gunman bursting into a 7-Eleven, demanding some money. At the register, a 22-year-old clerk said, wait a minute, that's a cap gun, I'm not opening this for you.

Not so much. The man shot the very real gun three times and then got out of there. Police are still searching for the would-be really armed robber.

You remember the olive branch that President Obama extended to GOP congressional leaders, this so-called "Slurpee Summit"? Remember we talked about that a couple of weeks ago?

It turns out it might not happen. Is that a sign, the lack of a Slurpee Summit, the sign of tension ahead?

We're going to talk about that with Wolf Blitzer, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.

You know after the Republicans won control of the House, President Obama had planned this meeting. It was supposed to be this meeting with bipartisan congressional leaders.

Well, the president touted the meeting as an opportunity -- it's an opportunity for a lengthy discussion regarding future policy priorities. Well, the meeting was scheduled for tomorrow at the White House.

In fact, it even had this informal name. Remember we were talking about this a couple weeks ago, the Slurpee Summit?

Well, days and days of scheduling negotiations broke down. Apparently, the Slurpee Summit has been postponed.

So, for more on this move and what this really means, let's go to Wolf Blitzer, with his daily appointment with us.

And Wolf, let's talk about outside of the beltway here.

Do you get the feeling that Americans are saying, look, you know, we just elected you, we're sending you guys to D.C. to work together, and you can't even get together and talk about the issues that are important to us and slip some Slurpees along with it?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I think a lot of folks are going to say, you know, what's the problem here? They would like to see some cooperation on the issues.

There's so many enormous issues facing the country right now -- the national debt, the annual budget deficit is skyrocketing, and seemingly out of control right now. That's one area they've got to work together. They're got to work together in dealing with some of the national security issues, the START treaty, the U.S./Russian START treaty. It's either going to be ratified by two-thirds of the Senate or not, but U.S./Russian relations are on the line, so that's an important factor right there.

There's all sorts of other issues in the lame duck that they want to deal with, the Democrats, at least, including the issue of "don't ask, don't tell," that doesn't allow gays to serve openly in the United States military right now. So they would like to see some cooperation.

The meeting was supposed to be at the White House tomorrow, late in the afternoon. Then the leadership, the Republican and the Democratic leadership, would stick around and go upstairs and have a private dinner with the president, the vice president, and they could get down to some serious business.

But now that's been delayed until after Thanksgiving, November 30th. And even right now, it's unclear to me why, although I understand what the Republicans are saying and what the White House is saying, they've got other issues right now they've got to deal with.

BALDWIN: Wolf, can you remind us why it was called a "Slurpee Summit"?

BLITZER: Because during the campaign, whenever the president went out, he would always say how he inherited a mess, the car was in the ditch, the Democrats went down in the ditch, and they started to get the car out of the ditch. The Republicans were standing on top of the ditch, slurping, having some Slurpees, if you will, watching and just sort of cajoling and not doing anything.

And afterwards, at that first news conference, someone suggested maybe they should have a little Slurpee Summit. But remember, it's got a little history there. Republicans aren't very happy with that name because of the way the president derided them throughout the campaign.

BALDWIN: I just had a feeling some people were sitting at home thinking, why are we talking Slurpees?

And briefly, Wolf, before I let you go, what do you have coming up? You have a pretty big interview coming up in the 5:00 Eastern Time on "THE SITUATION ROOM." Remind me about it.

BLITZER: Yes, we do. We have Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former Saudi intelligence chief, the former Saudi ambassador to the United States. He's well plugged in.

He's going to talk about what is going on in U.S./Saudi cooperation in the hunt for bin Laden. Remember, this is a guy back in the '80s who worked with bin Laden when bin Laden was part of the Mujahideen fighting the Russians, the Soviets in Afghanistan.

He's got some good information on where bin Laden is, what he's doing, what his capability is, his health right now. I think our viewers will be interested. We'll air the interview in the 5:00 p.m. hour. That's coming up.

BALDWIN: Wolf Blitzer, we will see you then. Thank you, sir.

Coming up, a lot of parents have been talking about this one. Have you heard about the FDA? Some new moves today telling the makers of caffeine-alcohol drinks their products cannot stay on the market in their current form. In fact, one drink maker -- you see this can -- already taking action.

We'll tell you ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The FDA is calling a certain group of energy drinks unsafe, and they have made a very important ruling today, which means last call for caffeinated alcohol in a can.

Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to explain why and what the FDA decided.

This all happened today.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. This just happened this afternoon.

The FDA said -- we've got a couple of them right here. They said that seven different products are problematic, and they effectively banned them. I mean, you can still buy them in stores as we speak. It will take a while, but they effectively said you've got to get these things off the market.

BALDWIN: And if you drink one of these -- I mean, I actually talked to a gal who was at the off-campus party in Washington State, and she had had a little. I mean, it's like, what, six beers in a can?

COHEN: It's nearly that. It's several beers in one can, plus several cups of coffee. And so what happens is, you can stay away longer and you can drink more.

BALDWIN: Which is not a good thing.

COHEN: No, it's not a good thing, right. This was Mother Nature's way of controlling drinking, just to make you pass out, right, so that you can't drink anymore?

BALDWIN: Right.

COHEN: So they are up, and they're drinking more, and they eventually do have these blackouts where they can't remember anything. And I think I was telling you during the break that there's this Web site where you can tell your stories of what happened to you when you were drinking Four Loko.

Do you want to hear some of them?

BALDWIN: Yes.

COHEN: Yes, they're interesting. This is on a blog, so we can't verify these, but these are the stories on them.

"Four Loko caused me to jump out of a two-story window and grind strawberry cake into the hardwood foyer of a friend's house."

BALDWIN: What?

COHEN: Yes.

BALDWIN: No way.

COHEN: I don't know how those two things are related. I don't know if the jump came first or the grinding, but whatever.

Another person said, "Deep into my blacked out state, I began running through campus in my underwear, making death threats to anyone around me." So that's interesting.

And a third one -- this is a different person -- "I tried to light a cigarette on a gas stove. Instead, I lit my hair on fire. Then I cried because everyone was making fun of me," which they probably were.

BALDWIN: Why are we talking about this? Why is this -- I mean, it's not a new drink, is it?

COHEN: Well, it's a relatively new concept --

BALDWIN: Relatively new.

COHEN: -- to put that much caffeine and that much alcohol into one drink. But, you know, I was talking to Margaret Hamburg earlier today. She's the commissioner of the Food & Drug Administration.

And I said to her, you know, "People have been drinking rum and Cokes forever, right? Or Irish coffees forever."

BALDWIN: Right. Or just coffee and booze, right?

COHEN: Exactly, right. So they've been friendly partners, or maybe not so friendly. But they've been partners in drinking for a long time.

And I said, "So why are you banning this?" And here's what she had to say.

BALDWIN: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MARGARET HAMBURG, FDA COMMISSIONER: I would be surprised if people consume as much alcohol and caffeine together in a rum and Coke as the same volume of liquid from these drinks, because this is very concentrated. It's one thing if you make it on your own. It's another when it's packaged in this way and sold in this formulation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So I imagine that's why the FDA is getting involved.

COHEN: Right. They said this is dangerous. Even though the two ingredients on their own, alcohol and caffeine, are sold and are considered under the right circumstance safe, putting them together in those volumes -- this is 12 percent alcohol by volume. A beer is about 5.

BALDWIN: Yikes.

COHEN: And look how big they are.

BALDWIN: And I imagine --

COHEN: And they're fruity and you can guzzle them.

BALDWIN: And they're fruity.

COHEN: Right.

BALDWIN: And I imagine a lot of young women, you know, wrongly are drinking these, probably way too fast. And I imagine it's way worse for a girl than a guy.

COHEN: It is. You know, a lot of people think it's just because women tend to be smaller than men, and that's part of it. But also, just the way that our bodies work, women don't have as much of the enzyme that metabolizes all that alcohol. Women cannot handle as much alcohol as men can.

So then you get all the concerns about date rape, because women are blacked out on these things, and here they're chugging watermelon and fruity tuity, or whatever it's called, and lemon-lime, and it just feels like you're drinking a soda. They're carbonated.

BALDWIN: How long do you think it will take to get some of these?

COHEN: I think it could take a while. I mean, it's not going to happen instantly.

But it's really interesting that the folks who make Four Loko, which is sort of one of the biggest brands we're talking about here, yesterday they said we're taking the caffeine and the other stimulants out. They said we're doing it now. So it was interesting to me that they wanted to move that quickly.

BALDWIN: They're moving. They're moving now.

COHEN: Well, they are. And, you know, perhaps they're afraid that some kid is going to drink too much of this and do something stupid, and they don't want to get blamed for that.

BALDWIN: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you that.

And on that note, let's turn things to Wolf Blitzer, beginning with "THE SITUATION ROOM" in Washington -- Wolf.