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President Obama Meets With Colin Powell; Huge Rally on Wall Street; 2 House Ethics Attorneys Suspended; WikiLeaks Targets Russia; Teen Tortured; Honeymoon Killer; California Prisoner Release; Prisoner FaceBook Page; Vying to Run GOP Party
Aired December 01, 2010 - 15:55 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: We are waiting now for the president to make some comments about his meeting this afternoon with Colin Powell, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was meeting with the president and vice president in the Oval Office.
It was billed as a pretty much wide-ranging chat, with Colin Powell wanting to talk about education. You know, the former Joint Chiefs chair has America's Promise Alliance as his foundation. But apparently, they wound up talking about a lot of other things as well.
Let's listen.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want thank General Colin Powell for being here with me today. He is not only a great statesman, and a great public servant, but also very funny and a great counselor.
And periodically, I check in with him, and I know my entire team, including the vice president, checks in with him, because he continues to have an unparalleled sense of our national security needs, and I think really taps into the best impulses of the American people.
First thing I want to do, is congratulate him, and his wife, for the extraordinary work that he's been doing with America's Promise, which focuses on how can we finally get serious about education reform, because he understands, all of them understand -- all of us understand that our kids are going to be competing not just against each other here in this country, but they are now competing worldwide. And America's Promise has been at the forefront on education reform.
They just issued a report, Building a Grad Nation, that notes that we have made some progress over the last several years in reducing the number of dropout factories that we had around the country. That we are seeing a greater emphasis on kids staying in school. But we still got a lot more work to do. And it's going to require all of us, parents, teacher, administrators, the public and the private sector, to make sure that we continue on this trend of improvement.
So, thank you for the work you're doing at home.
Most of the discussion we had was around national security issues. We talked about some of the challenges, across the landscape, of North Korea, to Iran, to Afghanistan. But we spent in particular a lot of time talking about the START Treaty. General Powell has been involved with just about every arms control treaty since there were treaties. I hate to --
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: I hate to date him, but you know, from the Reagan administration on, he has helped to shepherd through a variety of these arms control treaties. And the reason is because he understands, as so many others understand, that a world without binding U.S./Russia arms control treaties is a more dangerous world. And he and I discussed why START is so important.
In the absence of START, without the new START Treaty being ratified, we do not have a verification mechanism to ensure that we know what the Russians are doing and they don't know what we're doing. And when you have uncertainty in the area of nuclear weapons, that's a much more dangerous world to live in.
We also discussed the fact that Russia has cooperated with us on critical issues around sanctions, transit to supply our troops in Afghanistan, working on securing loose nuclear materials, and relationships, and trusts that are built from the new START Treaty spill over into a whole host of other national security issues that are of vital importance to America.
So, Colin is one of a number of former national security adviser, secretaries of defense, secretaries of state, from both Democrat and Republican administrations that have emphasized how important it is to get this done. And, you know, we discussed the fact that the Senate appropriately has a role, and advice and consent, and it ultimately meets to ratify this treaty. That's why we have made sure that we have had 18 separate hearings. We have answered over a thousand questions. We have offered to brief every single senator, Republican and Democrat, around these issues, but now it's time to get this done.
I'm gratified by the leadership of the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, as well as the ranking Democrat, the chairman, John Kerry, for their extraordinary cooperation and work on this issue. It is important for us to make sure that we complete the evaluation process, we finish the debate and we go ahead and finish this up before the end of the year.
And so, I just want to again thank General Powell for his good counsel, his friendship -- most importantly, his service to our country. And I very much appreciate the fact that he supports an effort that all of us should support in order to make America more safe.
COLIN POWELL, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Thank you very much, Mr. President.
Let me begin by thanking you for your support of the America's Promise Alliance and the Grad Nation effort. And, also, let me at that time opportunity to thank Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for the great job that he's doing in making sure that our kids are ready for this 21st century world that is going to be so demanding. The president noted the issues that we discussed, with a particular focused on the New START treaty. I fully support this treaty. And I hope that the Senate will give its advice and consent to the ratification of the treaty as soon as possible.
I have been involved, as the president noted, in arms control negotiations and the ratification of arms control negotiations and treaties for the last 25 years.
And what is fascinating about this whole process to me is that, 25 years ago, the Soviet Union and the United States each had an inventory of something like 28,000, 29,000 nuclear weapons. As a result of the arms control process, and the end of the Cold War, and change in the world situation, those numbers have been reduced by over 80 percent, so they're down now under 20,000.
One of the reasons we were able to do this in a way that was transparent, with both sides confident in the process, was because of the arms control agreement, whether it was the INF Treaty or START I. II didn't get ratified, but the Moscow treaty, so many other treaties that came along to give us stability, to give us transparency, to give us visibility in what each side was doing.
As a result of these treaties, we have both benefited, both the Russian Federation now and United States of America. But the world has benefited by having fewer of these horrible weapons in existence. And we hope that we continue this process.
New START is important because it continues this process. And it's especially important because, at the end of last year, we lost the verification system that we had under START I. And this is the first time in all these years where we don't have these procedures in place.
So, we're not sure exactly what's going on within the Russian Federation. They're not exactly sure what's going on in the United States of America. And I think the most important feature of New START is to put in place a verification regime again.
It will be a little different than the Start I verification system, but it is more than adequate to make sure that we know what they are doing and they know what we are doing. And it's been so identified as being adequate by our intelligence community.
The number of warheads reduced is modest, but nevertheless significant. It continues the downward trend. And so I fully support it. And you will see tomorrow morning and hopefully in "The Washington Post" an op-ed piece signed by me, Secretary Shultz, Secretary Baker, and Secretary Kissinger, former secretaries, and former Secretary Eagleburger, that once again show that we, as a group of Republican former secretaries of state, believe that this treaty is in the best interests of the United States of America, best interests of the world, and, frankly, the best interests of the Russian Federation.
A good treaty is one that both sides think they have benefited from. And that's been the history of arms control agreement with the Soviet Union and now the Russian Federation.
As the president noted, the Senate has a very important role to play in providing advice and consent on any treaty. And all of the treaties I have dealt with, we have seen the same kind of process, where questions are asked, challenges are made, understandings are examined to make sure that the Senate knows exactly what they are getting into.
And I think some important issues have been raised, issue of modernization of our nuclear weapons, as appropriate. And the president has indicated to the Senate, and especially to Senator Kyl, that a significant amount of money will be invested in the reliability and modernization of our systems and our facilities. And that is very, very important.
I think I have spoken to the verification issues. And I think they are fine. The question has come up as to whether or not missile defense, our missile defense activity is in any way jeopardized by this treaty. And it is not. The perambulatory language at the beginning of the treaty and other elements within the treaty in no way restrict the United States' ability to do what we think is appropriate with respect to missile defense.
The issue has also come up with respect to theater nuclear weapons, the smaller nuclear weapons that we both have. Mostly, the Russian side has them. We have some. And this treaty, nor have any of the other strategic arms control treaties dealt with that issue.
But if we get this treaty behind us, the administration is committed -- the president has made it clear that he wants to enter into a dialogue with the Russian Federation in order to start capturing those systems as well.
And, so, I'm sorry I missed the meeting the president had with the other secretaries and national security advisers week before last, but I'm glad I had this opportunity to share my thoughts with the president.
So I hope that the Senate will move quickly, and give its advice and consent to the ratification of this treaty.
OBAMA: Thank you so much, everybody.
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
GRIFFIN,: Colin Powell talking from the Oval Office there on their meeting.
I want to bring in Wolf Blitzer to make sense of all this.
Wolf, and I think when you peel away the layers, what we see is a lot of frustration on the part of President Obama with the Senate that's just not moving on this START treaty.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": They need 67 votes in the United States sunset to ratify the START treaty. And, right now, they might not get those 67 votes, although they're hoping that, before the Christmas break, they will be able to do it in this lame-duck session.
There's no doubt the president is doing everything he can. He's bringing in all these former Republican secretaries of state, secretaries of defense, including Colin Powell today, to express their support for ratification of what is called this New START treaty for Russia.
But there's still are some serious problems on the agenda. Senator Kyl, Jon Kyl, the number-two Republican from Arizona, he's saying, look, they need hearings; they don't want to just go forward and simply ratify this treaty. So, the 67 number is a significant number, as you know, in order to ratify this treaty.
And they don't have it yet. So we will see if they get to it. A lot of people assume they will, but it's by no means a done deal. And if they don't get it in this Senate, presumably, it might even be a little bit harder following the lame-duck Senate in the next Senate, because there are going to be fewer Democrats, more Republicans.
So, they're working feverishly to try to get it now. A lot is at stake on it, as you just heard from the president and the former secretary of state.
GRIFFIN: I mean, it would almost seem impossible to get this done before Christmas, given the gauntlet that was handed down by the Senate Republicans yesterday. They are not going to budge on anything until they get the tax rate issue and the government funding issue voted on.
BLITZER: Right. And that's -- those are the two priorities for the Republicans right now.
Now, as far as the tax rate, keeping the Bush era tax rates for everyone, including the wealthy, for at least, let's say, two years, maybe three years, I think there's a compromise in the works there. I think they could reach that compromise within a matter of days. So that, presumably, could be resolved relatively quickly.
As far as the spending for the current budget, I think they can move forward on that as well. There are some significant problems. But you're absolutely right, Drew. As long as they don't deal with these two priorities from the Republican perspective, all the other issues, whether extending unemployment benefits or repealing don't ask, don't tell, or ratifying the START treaty, all of the other stuff is simply going to have to wait, because the Republicans are going to say they are going to filibuster everything else until these two priorities from their perspective are resolved.
BLITZER: All right, Wolf Blitzer, plenty more on your show, I'm sure, "SIT ROOM," starting at 5:00, along with -- you going to speculate about Colin Powell being at the White House so much, Wolf? I sure want to hear what's going on there.
BLITZER: Well, we will have plenty of speculation.
GRIFFIN: OK.
All right, thanks, Wolf.
Top of the hour now. I'm Drew Griffin, in for Brooke Baldwin. She's under the weather today.
A lot of news happening right now, rapid fire. Let's get to it, shall we?
This story is developing in Spain, seven alleged Islamist extremists under arrest in Barcelona. Spanish authorities say they provided stolen travel documents to terror groups. Police say all seven are linked to al Qaeda, six suspects from Pakistan, one from Nigeria. Investigators already arrested three others in Thailand. They are accused of directing the operation in Spain.
Next story, Juarez, Mexico, the arrest of alleged Mexican drug lord and killer. Mexico claims that Arturo Gallegos Castrellon is responsible for than 2,500 killings in Juarez since August of last year. They include the deaths of three people linked to the U.S. Consulate and 15 young people gunned down at a party.
Next, a Wisconsin high school at the center of the hostage seize earlier this week, it reopened today, counselors on hand at Marinette High to offer support. Monday, 15-year-old Samuel Hengel brought handguns to school and held a teacher and students hostage, before killing himself.
This is what his parents say: "We wish we knew and could provide insight to what led Sam to take these drastic acts. Unfortunately, we may never know the answer to the question why, because there were no indicators to make us think something was wrong" -- from his parents.
Next, an online job ad for Delta flight attendants is proving quite popular. Delta advertising for 1,000 new flight attendants. So far, more than 100,000 have applied. High unemployment could be one reason behind the huge turnout for those few jobs, but Delta, again, hiring those people, hopefully in the coming year.
Well, let's -- we're going to take a break, and we're going to be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: Let's continue with our rapid fire of today's new.
Coming to an Amtrak near you, guns. Passengers will soon be allowed to carry unloaded firearms on trains in their checked baggage. Amtrak lifting the ban put in place after September 11. The new policy, it starts in two weeks.
Next, it's being called a bomb factory, materials that al Qaeda uses found inside a house on San Diego. Now authorities say they will burn it down. They are going to do that to protect the public. The county is declaring the house a threat. Crews are still waiting to go inside. Investigators say this is the largest collection of homemade explosives ever found in one spot in the U.S. -- the homeowner of course facing a slew of charges.
Next, a Florida house full of some unwelcome visitors. Take a close look at this, bees swarming around the place, millions of them. They're inside, too. And what's worse, there are two competing bee colonies fighting over this turf.
Listen to the beekeeper, Adrian Valero.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADRIAN VALERO, BEEKEEPER: You have two main beehives as they got to the same place at the same time. And they're fighting each other. That makes them aggressive one against each other. So, they try to kill each other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Holy moly. To make this even a little more creepy, experts tell the homeowners the bees have probably been in that home for years.
Next, to New Mexico, a man arrested 127 times back on the street. Albuquerque police say Kevin Garner is a dangerous career criminal arrested early Monday morning for meth possession. Again, this was his 127th arrest. He immediately posted $2,500 bond and was released. An Albuquerque official says Garner's case demonstrates what is wrong with the justice system.
Next story: Christmas at the White House. We're getting our first look at the year's decoration. This is video from the ground floor of the East Wing and the state floor. You can see the tree, as well as gingerbread replica of the White House. If you look closely, chefs also included a miniature Bo. Can you see him? I can't see him. Oh, there he is. Yes.
We're told that the theme this year, simple gifts. Appreciate the small joys of Christmas.
And, finally, this story -- a huge day on Wall Street. Take a look at the Big Board today, up 249-plus.
Alison Kosik live at the Stock Exchange.
Alison Kosik, what's driving the numbers?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Drew.
I think we saw a little bit of that holiday cheer here on Wall Street today. We had a constant barrage of genuinely good news for a change.
You know, the tone was set when we got a report from ADP, that's the payroll processing firm, saying that 93 private sector jobs were added last month. It's actually the biggest rise that we've seen in three years.
We got two strong manufacturing reports, one out of China, one here in the U.S. Construction spending was up, worker productivity was up.
It was a great day for economic news, Drew. A nice change of pace, when sometimes we get fairly decent reports along with really bad ones. Today, it was all good and that's why we're seeing a huge rally for the Dow -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: It's a great Christmas present for anybody part of that new job figure.
Thanks, Alison, appreciate it.
KOSIK: Yes, you got it.
GRIFFIN: There's major controversy brewing involving the Smithsonian. There the Smithsonian shows a Jesus on the crucifix covered in ants. Some lawmakers are up in arms, but do they have their facts straight? Joe Johns cuts through the uproar, the "Political Pop" is next.
Hey, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, what's going on, Drew? How are you?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: Interesting news, up in Washington. Two attorneys for the House Ethics Committee have been suspended. They were suspended on the same day the ethics trial for Representative Maxine Waters was postponed. Coincidence?
Let's ask Joe Johns, who joins me from D.C. with the "Political Pop." So, Joe, were both lawyers working on the Waters case and is that why they got booted?
JOHNS: Yes, yes, at least that's what it looks like right now.
By the way, I like the no tie look. I decided to do it myself.
GRIFFIN: Hey, hey, I just got called in here.
JOHNS: Got you.
All right, refresh your memory on Maxine Waters. Trial was supposed to be held this week, it gets delayed. The most serious charges, basically that she allegedly exerted improper influence to help a bank that her husband held an interest in. She said she didn't do anything wrong at all.
So now we find there appears to be serious trouble for the people on the committee prosecuting the case. And what we've been told by people familiar with it that the Ethics Committee's lead attorney on the Waters case and subordinate have been essentially placed on administrative leave and that it happened right around the time the committee started to postpone the trial.
People are calling it chaos, confusion, all veiled in secrecy. The committee is supposed to operate in secret, of course, but ethics lawyers around town have been saying for a long time that the charges against Waters are kind of weak. And now, the question is whether it's falling apart -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Well, were the two lawyers -- they've been suspended, right?
JOHNS: Right, right.
GRIFFIN: Is this going to get more serious than that? Were they fired? Was there actual -- you know, I don't know what they'd call it there because this isn't a court of law. Was it a prosecutorial misconduct?
JOHNS: Yes, it's funny, it's very hard to do that because this is really a political proceeding as opposed to a legal proceeding.
Nonetheless, Politico was the first to report the story. Politico says the staff director tried to fire these two and we're told by congressional sources that the Politico story is correct.
We're also told that one of the members of Congress on the committee actually got involved and turned it around, if you will, from a firing of administrative leave. Nobody, as you might imagine, on the committee or staff has even returned our calls, though.
GRIFFIN: So, Joe, is there new information that says Waters didn't do what she was initially accused of doing, or is there new information that these attorneys just botched the case?
JOHNS: Yes. You know, I said it's all secret, so it's hard to say.
But one of the strangest things that happened, a bunch of e-mails surfaced that actually showed Waters had interest in the banking matters that sort of started the investigation. Nobody is calling it a smoking gun. Made a lot of headlines, but didn't move the ball much.
GRIFFIN: Let me show you something, Joe.
But before I do, for some of our viewers, this may be controversial. Actually, we're not going to show it. We've decided not to show that now, Joe, so there you go.
But it is a video art depicting Christ with ants crawling all over him, and I guess the problem was it was over the National Portrait Gallery and it's been removed due to complaints from I know a catholic group and at least some members of commerce.
JOHNS: Right. The key thing here about that is the National Portrait Gallery is part of the partially taxpayer funded Smithsonian Institution. Remember back in the '90s when conservatives sort of started hitting these issues? They saw art depicts that they believed were offensive or sacrilegious.
And the National Portrait Gallery, of course, had this video up and had to take it down. A lot of people call it disturbing. They said it was, basically, a distraction. Right, a video of a crucifix with ants crawling all over it. You know, it's easy to find online, since we're not going to show it, at least not right now.
The backstory is the Catholic League denouncing it. The incoming House speaker, John Boehner, who is also catholic, has questioned whether taxpayers ought to have spent their money this way.
And we got a statement even from Eric Cantor, the Republican congressman in the leadership. He called it an outrageous use of taxpayer money and an attempt to offend Christians during Christmas season. That's pretty strong.
Republicans got a lot of traction out of this, attacking stuff like this in the '90s. The question really, is whether it flies today when the government has so many things to worry about.
GRIFFIN: What's your sense on that? Are they going to get this moved on or make a big deal out of it?
JOHNS: You know, it appeals to the base, right? It's one of those things that really appeals to the base, to social conservatives. And it's hard to see, once they start down that road, and they already have, that they're going to back down. I mean, a lot of people have talked for years about some other things Republicans have gone after, and now they have control of the house. So let's just wait and see, but I wouldn't be surprised.
GRIFFIN; All right. Joe, great talking to you. Love that no tie look, my man.
JOHNS: You got it, you got it.
GRIFFIN: Thanks, Joe.
The man behind WikiLeaks, he's wanted. He's accused of rape among other things and now there's word he has another target in mind for intelligence dump. We'll tell you what that is right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: Breaking news on WikiLeaks, that muckraking website that's been posting secret U.S. government documents for all of the world to see. At this hour, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is setting his sights on Russia for this newest document dump.
Matthew Chance is our man in Moscow. And, Matthew, specifically, these documents are looking at one of the officials there in Moscow, correct? MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's a cable marked secret. It's been written by the U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Beyrle, and it's talking about the Yury Luzhkov, who is the former mayor of Moscow.
Basically, a document about his corruption and links with criminal groups, talks about a pyramid of corruption with Yury Luzhkov, the former mayor, on top of the pyramid followed by the security services as a second tier and then ordinary criminals, including corrupt government inspectors, at the bottom. And it talks about the ways in which bribes are paid almost wholesale by businessman, various other officials in this country to pursue their activities.
And the interesting thing about it, Drew, is it's not just about the corruption of one man. It's not just even about the corruption of one city. And what the cable say, quoting sources whose names have been deleted from the copy that we've, is that Luzhkov as well as other mayors and governors in other parts of the country payoff key Kremlin insiders, people are paying bribes all the way to the top.
So the cable goes very far in essentially implicating Russia's top leadership in this kind of culture, this national system of corruption in Russia -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: All right. Matthew Chance in Moscow, where I'm sure there will be much more coming out as reaction comes in. Thank you, Matthew.
Well, listen to this, New York City is going to start sending two ambulance to a single call. The only mission of that second ambulance is to save the organs of the dead person that they are going to retrieve. Is it a good idea? We'll find that out next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: There's a lot going on in the world today -- time to play "Reporter Roulette."
We begin with Dan Lothian.
Dan, the White House announcing a seven-year ban on drilling in eastern Gulf of Mexico? What's behind this?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I mean, the bottom line here is that there are still a lot of safety concerns in the wake of the BP oil spill. And what Secretary Salazar at Interior was saying today in a conference call with reporter is that they want to proceed with caution in the sensitive areas. He says that there needs to be, quote, "a robust safety regime."
And, again, the lessons learned from the investigation of the oil spill is what is really driving this. They want to be cautious before moving forward in these regions.
GRIFFIN: Seven years, pretty cautious, Dan.
LOTHIAN: Yes.
GRIFFIN: What's the backlash anticipated here?
LOTHIAN: Obviously, you know, the backlash from the business community in the Gulf region, those in the oil and gas industry, officials in that region as well, who believe that this will only further hurt the employment situation there. And also there are concerns that this could impact the U.S. effort for energy independence. But Secretary Salazar, pushing back on that as well, saying that there's still 29 million acres of leases out there that have not yet been developed. This should not have any impact at all.
GRIFFIN: All right. Dan Lothian at the White House -- thanks, Dan.
New York City trying a new way to getting organ donations next on "Reporter Roulette."
CNN's Susan Candiotti in New York.
Susan, they're actually sending specially-equipped ambulances to the emergencies if the victim dies. Is this for every emergency?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not for every emergency -- only if there are cases of cardiac arrest. And they really will stay in the background.
First, an ambulance will go and work on the person for a good half hour to try to get their heart started again. If that doesn't happen, there are a lot of prerequisites here. A family must agree to donate the organs, even if the person already found a donor card. And then you have to be a certain age, between 18 and 60.
And then you cannot have cancer. You cannot have an infectious disease.
And even if the family says, OK, once they take the person to the hospital, the family has another opportunity to say yes or no.
So, a lot of safeguards.
GRIFFIN: And just kidneys, right?
CANDIOTTI: Just kidneys for now. But it could expand if this pilot program that will only lasts five months, if it is successful, it could expand to other organs. They figure, if it's spread nationwide, they could add an additional 22,000 donors per year and that could wipe out a waiting list in maybe a couple of years.
GRIFFIN: Well, certainly the demand is there. That's for sure.
Is New York the pilot for the world on this? Has this been done anywhere else, Susan?
CANDIOTTI: You know, it has. It's done in Spain, for example, and in France. And there, unlike here, you are presumed to be a donor if you die suddenly, as opposed just the opposite. Here, you have to sign up for a program. There, they can take your organs, unless you tell them otherwise. So, it works just the opposite as it does here.
GRIFFIN: All right. I can make a joke about telling them otherwise, and you're dead.
Susan, thanks. Appreciate that.
Next on "Reporter Roulette," CNN Money's Poppy Harlow in New York.
We hear you have some breaking news about some emergency loans, Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: You know, this is interesting, what we just found out literally in the last few minutes, Drew, is that the central bank, the Federal Reserve, in the middle of the financial crisis, 2008, gave $9 trillion dollars in emergency loans to some of Wall Street's biggest banks.
And why you care about that is there's been so much criticism of the government's bailout. This is another form of bailout that those banks got. These emergency loans, which eventually they all paid back at very low interest rates.
And I just want to tell you the biggest banks that took this money from the government. First of all, Merrill Lynch took $2.1 trillion in overnight emergency loans. They didn't survive the crisis, Drew, as you know. They failed after Lehman collapsed. They were bout out by Bank of America. Citigroup took $2 trillion and also, Morgan Stanley, $1.9 trillion.
Experts are shocked at this number, and the reason we have this information now is because critics of the Federal Reserve demanded, as part of financial reform, that they release this information. They didn't want to. Now, we have $9 trillion in emergency loans to bail out banks, to prop them out during the height of the crisis, Drew.
GRIFFIN: Boy, I don't ever want to get used to saying trillion in government loan in the same category there.
HARLOW: I know.
GRIFFIN: Thanks, Poppy. Appreciate that.
HARLOW: You got it.
GRIFFIN: Wow. That is very interesting.
And that is today's "Reporter Roulette."
Well, could somebody soon replace Michael Steele as the leader of the Republicans? Members of the party are gathering in Washington right now, hearing from possible candidates. And guess who's having a big- time say? Members of the Tea Party movement.
Mark Preston is there. He joins us live next.
But, first, 2011 is fast approaching. That means 2010 is coming under review. The major events, the people, the things that mattered most to you -- what were they?
Well, Yahoo! says they know. We've got their list of the top five searches on the Web this year. And, boy, you might be in for a surprise, because unlike previous years, it seems people actually care more about -- care about more than just celebrities. Well, not entirely, of course.
Coming in at number five, goo goo for her meat dress, it's Lady Gaga. Number four: everybody's favorite reality character, Kim Kardashian. And number three: she's Hanna Montana to me, Miley Cyrus to you perhaps. Have you all searching for the web for any tidbit you can find on her life.
What else topped the list? No, well, it's not Britney. Britney came in at number 10. we'll have the big ones -- next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: So, who top add Yahoo!'s list of the top five searches in 2010?
Number two was the World Cup. Number one item you all searched for in 2010 was -- the BP oil spill. That's right. In fact, when BP began streaming live video from those underwater cameras, so many people tuned in online, the site actually crashed.
CNN has got all your latest political news with the "Best Political Team on Television." "CNN Equals Politics," you know.
Mark Preston joining me live from the RNC forum.
And, Mark, money always a top concern in politics.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: It is, Drew, and, in fact, it was the number one concern of the candidates on stage today. These are four people who are trying to be the next Republican National Committee chair. We have three men, one woman.
The woman is the former Missouri Republican chairwoman, Ann Wagner. Saul Anuzis, the former Michigan Republican Party chairman. Well, we also had Gentry Collins, the former RNC political director and big surprise, Mike Duncan who served as RNC chairman under George W. Bush, he came in at the 11th hour. And he is throwing his hat in the ring as well.
Now, I have to say, four people were at this forum today. However, we expect that field to grow and grow and grow over the next couple weeks.
But you're absolutely right, Drew. It all came down to money. The criticism about Michael Steele, who's the current chairman, is that he did not raise enough money in the past election cycle -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Mark, is it a done deal? Is Steele gone? Has he announced that he's not running for this? PRESTON: Well, you know, he hasn't said whether he's going to run or he's not going to run. You know, I talked to him about six weeks before the election. And he seemed like he was in it. He seemed very pumped up. That's when Republicans looked really well -- looked really good going into the midterm elections.
However, he came back from a six-week bus tour. He thought that he had it in the bag. He was calling supporters. He was asking them for some advice. It seems like he was in it.
However, he has never pulled the trigger, he has never said whether he was in it or not. He did not show up at this forum. We expect to hear something from him, Drew. He has to make an announcement in the next few weeks because this RNC election is going to happen in early January.
GRIFFIN: Yes. I mean, for people who hadn't been watching this, there's been some scathing criticism that Republican landslide could have been much bigger had Steele done his job, according to some of his critics.
PRESTON: Yes, including some who is on stage today, Gentry Collins. He was the RNC political director. He said had Michael Steele raised enough money that they could have picked up perhaps 20 more seats. Can you imagine that?
Republicans, Drew, had picked up 63 more seats in the House. Gentry Collins suggests that if they had raised enough money, they could have raised 20 more.
But I'll tell you what? This is the biggest political story of the day. It doesn't have to do with policy. There's a lot going on on Capitol Hill, Drew.
But this is the political story. And reason is the reason why is the next RNC chairman is going to be tasked with trying to take down President Obama over the next year and a half. You'll have House Republicans on Capitol Hill who are going to be legislating. They can't look like they're too partisan. You're going to have a whole field of presidential candidates running for the Republican nomination. They are going to be attacking one another.
It will be up to the RNC chairman to build the infrastructure, to raise the money, to try to take out President Obama. The estimates, according to some on the panel today, is upwards to $425 million dollars to try to defeat President Obama -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Wow. Mark Preston -- thanks a lot, Mark.
You can always get the latest political news at CNNPolitics.com and on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker.
Some things are worth fighting for, right? Apparently the guy behind this counter really likes his pizza. You got to see this -- next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) GRIFFIN: Takeout is supposed to be a convenient thing unless you're trying to take out the cash register instead of a pizza You got to see this
Defending the dough A Maryland pizza shop owner found a new use for his cookware, Monday It all started when a pair of robbers burst, not for a pie, but for a piece of profits The owner says he saw his chance, and, well, took his swing Police arrested two suspects and this round -- this round goes to the pizzeria
To Iowa, where an artist fashioned a unique nativity scene entirely out of butter It's all part of a fund-raiser for an emergency family shelter in Des Moines Sculptor, Sarah Pratt, said she wanted to show a family in desperate need.
Five months ago Lebron James told Cleveland fans he was going to Miami They got a little upset Well, guess what, he's coming back to Cleveland That's next Plus Wolf Blitzer with a look what's ahead in the SITUATION ROOM
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: Not tomorrows news today, let's fast forward The "Don't Ask Don't Tell" debate coming to Congress Defense Secretary Robert Gates, among those expected to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee It will come just 48 hours after the Pentagon released that report on the possible impact of repealing the ban on gays in the military serving openly
Also, President Obama, meets with the nation's newly elected governors, the get together scheduled to take place at the White House Right down the street, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said the House will vote tax breaks for people making less than $250,000 a year.
And do aliens exist? NASA holds a press conference on the search to finding in the search for extraterrestrial life
Finally this, Lebron James returns to Cleveland Remember Cavs fans burned his jersey in the streets this summer after the superstar announced that he would be playing for Miami Heat So, we're expecting quite a bit of heat when he returns tomorrow night
Well, this guy's been called the honeymoon killer, accused of killing his wife while scuba diving in Australia Now he is appearing in court, right here in the U.S You're going to l see that video ahead Plus, pot, booze and Blackberries How did one prisoner apparently have that inside his cell? Sunny Hostin is on the case, next
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New images much the shocking torture of a 16-year-old chained up and abused for more than a year For the first time we're seeing the video that reveals the horrible shape this kid was in when he made a desperate bid for freedom two years ago You can see he's emaciated, staggers into a health club in Tracy, California wearing just boxer shorts and a chain, that's a chain around his ankle The health club manager describes what happened
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUCK ELLIS, HEALTH CLUB MANAGER: As he walked into the club, he walked up to the front desk and was talking to our assistant manager, Leah, and at that point, was asking for help, for her to help him And she told him to come on back behind the desk He went immediately back behind the desk and crouched down so that nobody could see him He just knew somebody was coming in that door behind him That's all he kept saying, and, when I walked out and came up to talk to him, he was saying they're coming for me, I know they are, and he was very panicked
As you can see here, our person was talking to him and they gave him a towel to cover him up This is where I came in to go down and see what was happening, with the young man
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What went through your mind at that very moment?
ELLIS: Well, at that time, we just saw he was dirty and thought he was lost You know, didn't really know the full extend of what had -- was transpiring at that moment in time So what we thought, or what I thought was take him and take him back to the office, in here where we're at right now As you can see we're walking See, he almost falls there He had to pick up the chain that was on his foot Then we knew we were in a little more than just a lost child
At that point in time, when we took the towel off, the towel actually stuck to his body where the blood was that he had on his back
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you talked to him at all since then?
ELLIS: I talked to him once, talked to him about, I guess it was six, eight months after the fact He was telling me that he's in a good home, and you know, it's working out really well for him, he's doing a lot better So I was very happy to see that
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Three people who lived with that boy, including his guardian at the time have pleaded guilty, excepted plea deals in that, and a neighbor has been convicted of torturing him All four awaiting sentencing It could range from 30 years to life in prison
Elizabeth Smart storming out of the courtroom today in Utah, today, during the trial of her accused kidnapper Why? We're told that she walked out when a psychiatrist testified Brian David Mitchell wanted to kidnap Elizabeth Smart, remember, she was just 14, to have children and start a new race The witness said Mitchell had Smart even pick out a name for their baby This comes one day after crews rushed Mitchell out of the courtroom when he appeared to have a seizure Smart didn't return to court after the judge called a recess.
Wait until you hear the shenanigans one prison inmate has been posting to his FaceBook page You heard that right, a prisoner with a FaceBook page and a whole lot more to keep him entertained, apparently, behind bars
And California may have to set tens of thousands of prisoners free unless the Supreme Court puts a stop to it Sunny Hostin is on the case.
Sunny, let's start with new developments, though, in what's widely known as thus honeymoon killer case Gabe Watson, apparently, wants to go to Alabama to go on trial for allegedly murdering his wife while they were scuba diving on their honeymoon Why?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, normally he wouldn't want to go to sweet home Alabama, Drew But he was serving an 18-month prison stint in Australia for the murder of his wife and Australia's deportation act basically provides that someone cannot be deported back to the United States unless that country gets assurances that the person will not be given the death penalty And so that is what happened here So while will go back to Alabama to face these charges, he will not be put to death as a consequence of it So, going back to Alabama and this case, is not so terrible for this defendant
GRIFFIN: Wow, that's interesting California -- is that state going to be forced, really to open its prison doors and let out these tens of thousands of inmates?
HOSTIN: Drew, it's very possible California has experienced a really terrible overcrowding problem in its prison It's double the capacity, now So for approximately two decades, let me say that again, two decades, it's been under an order to fix the problem Finally, just recently, a three federal judge panel said enough is enough, you must do something about it, and the judges ordered California to release 46,000 prisoners over a two-year period
Of course, California appealed that order, and it went all of the way to the Supreme Court The Supremes heard arguments yesterday And I will say they were concerned about the fact California has not fixed this problem However, many of the justices were also concerned about 46,000 prisoners being released into California One justice even saying that he's familiar with the fact that when this sort of en masse prisoner release happens in other states, rape, murder, very difficult tough crimes usually rise, and so the Supreme Court very concerned about this Californians, watching it, very concerned as well
GRIFFIN: All right, boy that is really hard to believe And this one's hard to believe as well A prisoner with a FaceBook page, right? And he's posted wild party pictures on it We see the wild pictures have been pulled from FaceBook, but what's going on here? Who's going to pay for this? What is going on?
HOSTIN: It is really unbelievable This story just broke Yes, this prisoner, Justin Walker, posted FaceBook pictures that he took on his smuggled Blackberry And he certainly is going to pay My understanding is that he was immediately transferred to maximum security by the Oklahoma Department of Corrects, and he is now on administrative segregation, which is basingly a 23-hour lockdown He is serving a 30-year prison sentence for killing an Oklahoma sheriff and singing "I shot the sheriff," apparently, after committing this heinous crime And so having a cell phone is certainly a felony in Oklahoma, he also found to have drugs in his possession and so, certainly that is also reason that his prison sentence may be extended beyond the 30 years
But get this, Drew, which was really interesting to me, he had about 15 FaceBook friends when this story broke Now he has over 50, many of them women So, you got to love FaceBook
GRIFFIN: It's always amazing for me And by the way, Sunny, if those are party picture, I hope you and I are not invited
HOSTIN: I don't want to go
GRIFFIN: OK, Sunny, thanks a lot
HOSTIN: Thanks
GRIFFIN: Now, we're getting ready for the pop of the hour Wolf Blitzer following all of the action in D.C., today, including that interesting meeting between Colin Powell, former second of state and joint chiefs of staff general and the president, talking, supposedly about education but got around to the START treaty and whether or not the Senate is going ratify this missile treaty with Russia It's high on the president's agenda Let's go right now to Wolf Blitzer who is in the SITUATION ROOM -- Wolf
