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Jackson Doctor Faces Two-Week Hearing; Pelosi's Last Day as Speaker; $355 Million Jackpot; The Help Desk; Trending Online; Protesting Treatment of Wild Horses
Aired January 04, 2011 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour, let's check the big stories right now.
New Jersey authorities are investigating a four-alarm fire. Flames swept through a housing complex early this morning in Rahway. The condominiums were under construction. Firefighters decided they were just going to let the thing burn itself out.
Delaware police say former Pentagon official John Wheeler was last seen December 30th in Wilmington. Wheeler's body was found the next day in a landfill. Police are still trying to pinpoint the primary crime scene. Wheeler was a key force behind the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
A new blood test is being developed to detect if you have cancer. Researchers say it will find a single cancer cell among billions of healthy ones. It could revolutionize the fight against the deadly disease.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OTIS BRAWLEY, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: There are no tests for a number of different diseases. This has the potential for testing for a number of cancers, and simply drawing blood and sending it off to the lab.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: It will be at least five years before a test is on the market.
Right now, in Los Angeles, a judge is opening a two-week-long hearing into the death of pop star Michael Jackson. When the proceedings end, we should know whether Dr. Conrad Murray will stand trial for Jackson's death.
CNN's Casey Wian, live now.
Casey, what do we know about this hearing?
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know the hearing was scheduled to get under way just a couple of minutes ago. Cameras aren't allowed inside the courtroom. We're assuming it's proceeding as planned. We've just seen members of Michael Jackson's family arrive. Catherine Jackson, his mother, his brother Jermaine, and his sister, Janet Jackson, will all be listening to prosecutors trying to persuade a judge that they have enough evidence to hold Dr. Conrad Murray to trial on charges of manslaughter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JERMAINE JACKSON, MICHAEL JACKSON'S BROTHER: My brother, the legendary king of pop, Michael Jackson, passed away on Thursday, June 25, 2009.
WIAN (voice-over): More than a year and a half later, the cause of Michael Jackson's death is clear -- acute intoxication of Propofol, a powerful surgical sedative. But who caused the death remains the subject of a Los Angeles criminal court case focusing on Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician.
Murray was treating Jackson with the drug and several others to help Jackson sleep as he prepared for a grueling series of performances.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold for applause.
WIAN: Hours after Jackson died, investigators had Murray's car towed from the estate where the singer drew his last breath. They searched his offices in Las Vegas and Houston, as well as his home. An autopsy reported concluded that proper procedures were not followed in administering Propofol to the 50-year-old singer.
SANDI GIBBONS, LOS ANGELES D.A.'S OFFICE: Today, the District Attorney's Office filed one felony count of involuntary manslaughter against Dr. Conrad Murray.
ED CHERNOFF, MURRAY'S ATTORNEY: Dr. Murray did not cause the death of Michael Jackson. .
WIAN: A judge released Murray on $75,000 bail and ordered him to discontinue administering heavy sedatives. He was, however, allowed to continue seeing patients. If ordered to stand trial and convicted, Murray faces a maximum four-year prison sentence.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: Dr. Conrad Murray has pled not guilty. His defense attorneys have indicated that they're going to focus on a mysterious syringe found near Michael Jackson. They're trying to suggest that someone else, perhaps maybe even the singer himself, injected Michael Jackson with that fatal dose of Propofol -- Joe.
JOHNS: Casey Wian in Los Angeles.
Thanks for that reporting.
President Obama returned to Washington within the last hour, and one of his first acts of business is to sign the most sweeping overhaul of food safety since 1938. Under the new law, the FDA will have the power to issue direct recalls of tainted foods. The secretary of Health and Human Services would be required to create a food tracing system to find sources of contamination. Food producers will be required to develop written safety plans, and importers would have to verify the safety of all imported foods.
House Republicans are wasting no time in their push to repeal President Obama's signature accomplishment, health care reform. They've already set the stage for a vote even before they officially take control of the House tomorrow. A key procedural vote is scheduled for Friday, a final House vote is expected next Wednesday. However, the repeal stands little chance of passage in the Senate.
While Republicans focus on trying to repeal health care reform, new benefits from the law kick in this year. Seniors will get more help with prescription drug costs. They can get a 50 percent discount on name-brand drugs if in the coverage gap known as the doughnut hole. Also, preventive care like annual physicals and cancer screenings will be covered by Medicare.
Insurance companies will be required to spend 80 to 85 percent of your health care premiums on medical care, not administrative costs. And one change you might not like, money from flexible spending accounts can no longer be used for over-the-counter medications unless you have a script.
She made history as the first female Speaker of the House, but tomorrow, Nancy Pelosi hands over the gavel when Republicans take control.
Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash was there as Pelosi held a news conference last hour.
Dana, was there any theme to the outgoing Speaker's remarks?
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, very interesting. She stood with some of her lieutenants at this podium behind me.
You know, it is, obviously, the last day that Nancy Pelosi will be Speaker, but it's also the first day, effectively, that she is going to be part of the opposition in the United States House of Representatives. And that is definitely the theme that we heard from her and other Democratic members of the House here.
Primarily, their focus, as you can imagine, was pushing back on Republicans' attempt to repeal health care. Listen to what Nancy Pelosi said about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Our health reform law created for the first time a Patients' Bill of Rights, placing health care decisions in the hands of patients and their doctors, not insurance companies. We will work to ensure that children with pre- existing conditions can continue to get coverage, young people can stay on their parents' plan until age 26, and pregnant women and breast and prostate cancer patient can no longer be thrown off the insurance roles as some examples of what can happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, in addition to health care, we also heard another theme, Joe, that I also thought was interesting, and you probably will, too -- jobs, jobs, jobs. Now, that might not be a surprise, but they also -- Democrats also talked a lot about the debt and the deficit, how they believe that the most important thing, in addition to creating jobs, is to tackle the debt and deficit in this country.
As Nancy Pelosi said at the very end of the press conference, that she just does not want to leave bills for her grandchildren, nor does anybody else. They talked about it somewhat in the two years that Democrats had complete control of the government, but now, certainly, it's very clear that they are hearing the lesson from the losses that they suffered in November, that the debt and the deficit in particular are things that they're going to have to focus a lot more on -- Joe.
JOHNS: Dana, Nancy Pelosi's also been known as a very, very tough Leader, and she's been demonized by Republicans quite a bit. So, did she, you know, put any sentimentality in there on her way out, any reflections that you could describe as personal about her last day as Speaker?
BASH: You know what? I've got to tell you, in a word, no. She didn't.
I asked. I tried, Joe. I asked if she had any reflections on the fact that, look, she did have an historic achievement.
She has been the first female Speaker of the House in the history of this country. And her answer was, "I don't look back. I look forward."
And then she talked about creating jobs for the American people. And she did talk about working with Republicans where they can find common ground. But boy, you know, if you think about the incoming Speaker, John Boehner, and how he has certainly made a lot of headlines for him emoting a lot --
JOHNS: That's right.
BASH: -- how different is it when we see the female Speaker who doesn't at all? Very, very different.
JOHNS: Amazing, yes. A very, very tough Speaker of the House. And she's not going that far.
BASH: No, she's not.
JOHNS: She's going to be minority leader. So we'll see some more of her.
Thank you so much for that, Dana Bash.
BASH: Thanks, Joe.
JOHNS: A dollar and a dream -- $355 Mega Millions up for grabs today.
First, though, our "Random Moment of the Day."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: If you could use $355 million today, you can think about investing a dollar on a lottery ticket. The $355 Mega Millions jackpot drawing is at 11:00 p.m. Eastern tonight.
Allan Chernoff joining us live from New York.
What's it like in the lines right now, Allan?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Joe, the lines have been steady since 6:00 this morning. I personally have purchased so many of these tickets, that they just boosted the jackpot.
It had been $330 million. Now, it's $355 million.
Seriously, they're selling at a rate of nearly a million tickets an hour. And that's only here in New York State.
Now, consider this lottery is in 41 state, plus D.C. Wow. Who knows if the jackpot's going to go even higher? Right now, it is at the second highest level ever in Mega Millions history.
We've got a few potential millionaires here. Elizabeth has just bought her tickets.
And you're the next millionaire?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm the next one from New Jersey.
CHERNOFF: OK. How many tickets you have there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have five -- $5.
CHERNOFF: Five dollars. OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But I'm a senior, so I can't do like all those --
CHERNOFF: What are you going to be doing with all those winning?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, once I take care of my kin people, my children, my grandchildren, and then I'll splurge.
CHERNOFF: OK. Think of the family first.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.
CHERNOFF: All right. Good luck, Elizabeth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much.
CHERNOFF: All right.
Let's hope that there is a winner here in New York at this spot. They've been so helpful to us.
Joe, the excitement is building. Of course, let's temper it a little bit. The odds of actually winning that jackpot, one in 176 million. We can still hope.
JOHNS: Well, I mean, they must go up the more tickets you buy, right? At least I would think.
CHERNOFF: Well, this is all about the numbers. It's all about the numbers.
JOHNS: And you've got a whole handful.
CHERNOFF: So one person can hit the numbers. Several people can hit. I got a few. I got a few, yes.
JOHNS: All right. Well, mail me one. Thanks, Allan Chernoff.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Checking the numbers out on Wall Street, the Dow is down about 7. And there you go, almost 8 points at this moment. We're going to keep our eye on that.
It doesn't look like it did yesterday. It looked pretty good yesterday.
Drivers are bracing for more pain at the pump as gas prices remain above $3 a gallon.
CNN's Poppy Harlow joins us from New York.
Poppy, if prices are this high now, what's going to come when we get to Memorial Day?
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: This is why I'm glad I don't have a car and I rely on the subways in New York City. Who knows?
You know, gas prices tend to get more expensive into the spring, into the summer. They call that sort of the driving season.
But what we see right now is the national average for gas is $3.07 a gallon. It's a lot higher in some places. Over $3.60 in Hawaii. So it's above that sort of psychological barrier of $3 a gallon.
What that means is for a lot of folks, every penny they spend more in gas, they pull back a little bit here, a little bit at the mall, a little bit on eating out. And that affects overall economic recovery.
Now, the reason driving all of this, of course, is the price of oil. Yesterday, oil hit a 27-month high of over $91 a barrel. Down a little bit today, but most oil traders I talked to, Joe, they all say we are going to see $100 crude oil this year.
So we talked to folks across the country about how they feel about the price of gas, where they think it's going, and how they think it's affecting their bottom line.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sixty-seven dollars.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will definitely try to carpool more.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to cut back on a lot of trips.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Try to drive less.
IRA EPSTEIN, OIL TRADER: The problem, we all know, is if gasoline gets too high, then we start cutting back on the economy. There is a ripple effect that takes place.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no savings, no extracurricular activities. I'm a single mom and it's very hard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to be able to get to work, you've got to be able to take the kids to school. So how are you going to do that when you can't afford to fill up your tank?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only thing I'll be able to do is just move my truck from one side of the street to the other and not be able to drive it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another day, another dollar.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want to date myself, but back when I was, like, 16 and it was 99 cents per gallon, that was cool.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at this, $61.49. That's ridiculous.
EPSTEIN: The more people working, the better they feel. Oh, what the heck, a nickel a gallon here, a nickel a gallon there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't really have a choice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's nothing we can do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why be upset with something you can't control?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this country is sort of addicted to the oil. I don't know if any of us really have much of a choice. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it goes up to $5 a gallon, you've still got to pay the rates.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We get to $5 gasoline, I'll go get me an electric car.
HARLOW: Where do you think gas prices are headed? How high are they going to go?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Truly, only God knows.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Joe, only God knows where gas prices are going. But $5 a gallon, not out of the question.
The president of Shell Oil coming out last week saying we're going to see $5 gas by 2012. You heard a lot of people in there saying, well, I'm going to buy an electric car then.
The problem with that is that these alternative fuel vehicles, fuel cells, electric cars, they are a lot more expensive. We've got a high unemployment rate, people spending less money.
But it's interesting to see where the price of gas is going to go. And remember when gas went to $4.11 a gallon? People stopped buying big cars and trucks. It went back down and they started buying them again. And that's a cycle we always see in this country when gas prices fluctuate -- Joe.
JOHNS: I'm thinking bicycle or Segway at this point. I mean, this is nuts.
HARLOW: Segway? I would pay to see you on a Segway. Can you bring it on the set?
JOHNS: I'm pretty clumsy, so it would be pretty funny, I think.
HARLOW: I love it.
JOHNS: All right. Thanks, Poppy.
HARLOW: You got it.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(NEWSBREAK)
JOHNS: A man who spent more than 30 years in a Texas prison for a rape and robbery he did not commit has just been exonerated. Cornelius Dupree, Jr. was just 19 years old when he first went to jail. He has served the longest prison term of any Texas inmate ever cleared through DNA evidence.
He joins me live now from Dallas, along with the woman who helped free him, Nina Morrison, an attorney with The Innocence Project. And Mr. Dupree, I have to ask you, there must be joy in finally being released. However, these are years and years that you can never get back. And I think the essential question is, is there any anger in there or your side? Is there any bitterness? What are you feeling right now?
CORNELIUS DUPREE, JR., DECLARED INNOCENT: Well, I'm feeling a bit of mixed emotions. I must admit, there is a little anger, but there's also joy. And the joy overrides the ranger. You know?
I'm just so overwhelmed with the joy of just being free.
JOHNS: Now, there's also the issue of a trial and conviction for a crime you did not commit. You went through a process here and it got the wrong result.
What was that like, going through a trial where you're found guilty of something you didn't do?
DUPREE: Well, I think it was just a fair system. But, you know, I think that could have happened to anyone. And I'm just so unfortunate that it happened to me. And I just feel that the system needs to be corrected somehow.
JOHNS: Now, Nina Morrison, we know through all the articles, through all the work here, that Dallas County holds the national record for exonerations of prisoners. Why Dallas County, Texas? Twenty-one people exonerated on DNA evidence.
What's up in that county?
NINA MORRISON, ATTORNEY, THE INNOCENCE PROJECT: Well, we know a lot about the history of wrongful convictions in Dallas County. An enormous number of those individuals wrongfully convicted in Dallas were convicted on the basis of mistaken eyewitness identification.
Fortunately, Dallas has taken enormous strides in recent years to improve lineup and photographic identification procedures so that what happened to Mr. Dupree doesn't happen to anyone one else from here on out. But we are still waiting for the state of Texas and all of the other counties in Texas to join them in taking those measures. And fortunately, this spring, the Texas legislature will again be taking up a bill that's been supported by the Texas District Attorneys Association to improve those procedures, and we're hoping in Mr. Dupree's name, and in the name of all of those who have been wrongfully convicted and now exonerated, it will finally pass.
JOHNS: So just to be clear, I think what you're telling me is that a lot of stuff went on here, but the long and short of it is that Dallas County is engaging in best practices, and that's the reason these things are coming to light. Are they also holding on to evidence longer, or what?
MORRISON: That is correct. It's a combination of things.
We know that there were a lot of wrongfully convicted people in Dallas County because of things that happened in the past. They had a history of excluding blacks and Hispanics from juries in the late '70s and early 1980s. Mr. Dupree was convicted to an all-white jury. That contributed.
But in terms of the DNA exonerations, Dallas has been a leader in saving evidence. And Mr. Dupree's case, they actually saved the evidence from 1979 even though the policy was just to save it from 1981 and later. So, it was something of a small miracle that it existed in his case. But we have no doubt that if evidence had been preserved in other counties in Texas or around the country, we may well be seeing similar rates of exoneration there.
JOHNS: Needless to say, there's also a district attorney there who seems to be working on some of these cases and taking another look at them. Mr. Dupree, want to go back to you now. What are you planning on doing with your life? What's next for you?
DUPREE: I just plan on looking forward and putting it back -- the things behind me and just enjoying my life with my wife. I'm now married, you know. Just living a joyous, peaceful life --
JOHNS: Originally, 30 years ago, what were you planning on doing before this conviction rudely interrupted it?
DUPREE: Well, I was in the course of trying to create a life for myself. I was doing numerous things. I had various jobs. You know. That was - of course, I was traveling.
JOHNS: Right.
Ms. Morrison, the district attorney there who has been working on these cases, he's also been pretty much instrumental in moving toward these exonerations. Am I right in saying he actually has some connection with The Innocence Project?
MORRISON: We have worked with District Attorney Watkins in a special unit he set up when he took office, the first of its kind in the country called the Conviction Integrity Unit, which has done an extraordinary job of being proactive in seeking justice and allowing access to DNA testing.
So, in this case, we didn't even need to go to court to get a DNA test. We were able to just pick up the phone and call the folks in that unit. Sent them a memo that we had written with law students that helped us with the case, and they agreed to the DNA test. So, it was very much a cooperative process, and we're grateful for the district attorney's leadership in that regard.
JOHNS: All right. I just want to thank you all very much for coming in and talking to us on this. This is the kind of story that really needs a lot more attention because DNA is truly revolutionizing the issue of guilty and innocence in the United States. Thanks to you both.
DUPREE: Thank you.
MORRISON: Thank you.
JOHNS: The district attorney who worked with The Innocence Project to help free these men will join CNN's Ali Velshi in the NEWSROOM next hour.
Exerpts from Snooki's book. You got to hear them, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Your favorite "Jersey Shore" starlet, Snooki, is out today with a debut novel. It's called "A Shore Thing."
What? You didn't know Snooki was a writer? This bit of knowledge also seemed to startle CNN's Anderson Cooper. He's gotten a sneak peak at Snooki's pages.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "AC360": Without further adieu -- here's some excerpts, for real. I'm not making these up.
Quote, "He had an okay body. Not fat at all. And naturally toned abs. She could pour a shot of tequila down his belly and slurp it out of his navel without getting splashed in the face."
Here's another one: "Any juicehead will get some nut shrinkage. And bacne. They fly into a 'roid' rage, it is a 'road' 'roid' rage."
And my personal favorite. "Gia danced around, shaking her peaches for show. She shook it hard. Too hard. In the middle of a shimmy, her stomach cramped, a fart slipped out. A loud one. And stinky."
If a kindle dry heaves and no one is around to read it, does it still make a sound? Snooki has a little promotional video on the Simon and Schuster Web site - oh yes! She has a totally serious book publisher, Simon & Schuster, and some totally serious things to say about her totally serious upcoming book. And like all literary giants before her, she does it while holding on for dear life to what looks like a massive goblet full of screwdriver.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICOLE "SNOOKI" POLIZZI, "JERSEY SHORE" CASTMEMBER: My castmates are very surprised I'm an author because they didn't even know I read books. But like I said on "Ellen," I can go to freaking Barnes and Noble and sit down, get a coffee and read a book.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
JOHNS: Not again. Not only does she write, she also reads. Snooki claims she's read two books during her 23 years. "Twilight" and "Dear John."
Snooki's not the only celebrity bad girl making news today. "Showbiz Tonight" host A.J. Hammer joins us from New York. A.J., what's the word on Lindsay Lohan?
A.J. HAMMER, CO-HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": You expect me to follow that, Joe? I mean, come on. Really? Really?
JOHNS: Can't make this stuff up!
(LAUGHTER)
HAMMER: No, no, you can't, and when it comes to Snooki, quite frankly, just believe it all because it's probably all true.
But let's move on to Lindsay Lohan. She's done some good work. She's completed her court-ordered three-month stint in rehab for substance abuse. That was as of yesterday. She's reportedly left the Betty Ford Center, and you would think and certainly hope things are headed in the right direction. She quoted Gandhi in her first message on Twitter. She tweeted "Today is the first day of the rest of my life."
But things may be getting a little more complicated, at least legally for Lindsey right. That's because police from Riverside, California are saying she has violated her probation. She did that when she was in rehab when she allegedly tussled with a then-staff member at the Betty Ford Center.
"Showbiz Tonight" has learned authorities are now deciding if Lindsey should face battery charges. And that's even though the former staff member has said she will no longer cooperate with the investigation, and doesn't even want charges filed. The clinic fired the staffer after information about the incident was leaked to the media.
But as far as Lindsay's career is concerned, here is what we now know. She was dropped from her one upcoming film project called "Inferno," but says she's going to focus on her 6126 fashion line now. And is in the process of creating a comeback Web site.
Her sometimes-estranged father, Michael Lohan, told the CBS "Early Show" that his daughter is doing unbelievably and says she has turned this whole situation around to use it to her advantage and that she has taken the right steps and put the right people back in her life. Lohan's probation is scheduled to end in August. She's scheduled to be back in court, Joe, on February 25. But yes, I hope 2011 is a better year than the several years past for Lindsay Lohan.
JOHNS: That's for sure. And let's just hope she doesn't do anything that has the paparazzi following her every step.
HAMMER: Well - well.
JOHNS: We'll see. All right. And now, what about some of these other child stars? We already talked about Macaulay Culkin and his girlfriend. Apparently, it's done, right? They were together, and it's no more.
HAMMER: Yes, but what's really stunned everybody about this big breakup, Joe, is not a lot of people even realized they were a couple and quite frankly, for so long.
We are talking about "Home Alone" star Macaulay Culkin. And he may just now be "Home Alone" onece again because he and Mila Kunis have reportedly split up after eight years together. Kunis' rep confimrs to "The New York Post" that she and Macaulay have gone their separate ways.
Kunis started dating Culkin back when she was starring in "That '70s Show." And now, Mila's big breakout role in "Black Swan" has a lot of people wondering maybe that had something to do with the breakup. But I'm among those people, Joe, who are just wondering how these guys missed having tons of paparazzi pictures of them as a couple if they're been together for eight whole years. It's pretty stunning.
So, now you know it. They were together. And apparently now, they are not longer together.
JOHNS: Totally under the radar, but that just goes to show, if you really don't want certain information about yourself out, you can avoid that if you're really careful.
Anyway.
HAMMER: It's a lot of work and it's a rare occurrence, too. You can avoid it, just takes a lot of work.
JOHNS: Thanks so much for that.
Want information breaking on everything in the entertainment world? Watch "Showbiz Tonight" at 5:00 and 11:00 on HLN.
He doesn't get sworn in until tomorrow, but members of John Boehner's staff took their oath of office in a special ceremony today. Details in our political update.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: The speaker to be gets his staff in place. Wolf Blitzer, part of The Best Political Team on Television, live from the political desk in Washington.
What's crossing right now, Wolf?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": It's very interesting. Tomorrow, the new speaker will formally be sworn in. John Boehner of Ohio. Today, his staff was sworn in. Normally, that's a very low- key, relatively modest situation. Not necessarily today. The chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, formally swore in the staff, the senior of John Roberts -- of John Boehner's team, the incoming speaker's team, which was symbolically significant. I'm sure something all the staff members will deeply, deeply appreciate. Remember for a long time to come.
Meanwhile, the White House has announced the formal date for the president's upcoming meeting here in Washington with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France. Sarkozy will be over at the White House on January 10th. He's the incoming president of the G-8, the G-20 economic groups. So, those U.S.-French meetings will take place in the White House on January 10th. Sarkozy will be in town. That's always exciting.
Finally, also at the White House, a shake-up of sorts over at the vice president's office. Ron Klain, the vice president's chief of staff, he's leaving. He's announced he's leaving, going back into the private sector. The vice president now will be getting a new chief of staff.
Ron Klain, a lot of us know, he's worked over the years - he used to work in the Clinton White House. And this comes at a time when there's a lot of speculation that Bill Daley, the former commerce secretary during the Clinton administration, is going to be the new chief of staff for the president. We'll see if that happens. There have been some speculation that Ron Klain was in line, potentially, for the White House chief of staff job. Ron Klain, though, leaving the vice president's staff now to go back to the private sector.
So this shake-up, Joe, at the White House continues. Very natural after two years. They -- a lot of these men and women who work at the White House, some of them get burnt out, some of them decide it's time to move on to other challenges. And certainly that's what's happened in Ron Klain's -- in Ron Klain's mind.
JOHNS: Absolutely, Wolf. And interesting also on Capitol Hill, there's something of an exodus going on, particularly among Democratic staffers. A lot of high-ranking Democratic staffers for Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and others, now moving their way into the private sector, as you said.
BLITZER: I heard one number, Joe, that you'll be interested in, because you've covered Congress for a long time. So did I. With the Democrats debacle, the shellacking that they got in the House and the setbacks they got in the Senate, 2,000 Democratic staffers up on Capitol Hill are now looking for work because they're out. The Republicans are coming in to take over all those seats, all those committees. So there's a lot of jobs for Republicans. Not that many for Democrats right now.
I should point out, Joe, while I have you, an opportunity. I have two special guests coming up in "The Situation Room" later today. The education secretary, Arne Duncan. There's been some speculation that this is one area where Republicans and Democrats can work together in the field of education, although there's a story on the front page of "The New York Times" today suggesting that the Republican leadership in the House want to cut about 20 percent of the education budget for the Department of Education. That's something that we're going to discuss in "The Situation Room."
And Charlie Crist, now the former governor of Florida, he's coming in. We're talking about lessons learned in his defeat. So two good guests coming up in "The Situation Room."
JOHNS: Great, Wolf, we'll be watching for that and thanks. It will be very interesting to see what Arne Duncan has to say about the education budget cuts.
For the latest political news, go to cnnpolitics.com.
You're online right now and we are too. Our Sandra Endo is following what's trending on the web, including more trouble for a future hall of fame NFL quarterback.
Sandra.
SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, quarterback --
JOHNS: It's a name we've heard before.
ENDO: Oh, yes, Joe, I have to say it again, Brett Favre is now being slapped with a sexual harassment lawsuit and there are text messages being used as evidence. I'll read them for you coming up in "Trending."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Time now for "The Help Desk," where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, Donna Rosato, she's a senior writer with "Money," and Lynnette Khalfani-Cox is a columnist for walletpop.com.
Ladies, glad you're here.
First question comes to us from Carol in Georgia who writes, "my mom is 80 and when my father passed we found there was a lean on their house and other properties he owned. We thought the mortgage was paid. She uses her Social Security check to pay the mortgage, taxes and with other expenses it is very difficult for her to keep up. Should she file bankruptcy in order to keep her house?"
This is an 80-year-old woman we're talking about Lynnette.
LYNNETTE KHALFANI-COX, COLUMNIST, WALLETPOP.COM: Right. This is a tough situation.
ELAM: Seriously.
KHALFANI-COX: I actually recently wrote about this for walletpop about how right now senior citizens are the fastest group of people filing for bankruptcy protection during retirement. So this is a big issue. The problem here is that if she files for bankruptcy to protect the house, she has to do so with a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. When -- in that kind of plan, you have to repay some of what you owe over a period of three to five years. If she wants to wipe out debts -- you know, she said other expenses are making it hard to pay the mortgage, maybe she has credit card bills or medical bills, for example, you can only do that with a Chapter 7. So they need to think about what's the real goal. Is it to get rid of the other debt? If so, do the Chapter 7 and then use the money that you saved to be able to pay the mortgage and stay in the house. If you just want to save the house, only the Chapter 13 will save the house. The Chapter 7 won't prevent that potential for foreclosure.
ELAM: So they need to do a little bit more research on this one.
KHALFANI-COX: That's right.
ELAM: All right. Let's go into our next question which comes to us from Chris in Pennsylvania who writes, "my daughter is graduating from law school with almost $120,000 in student loans at about 7 percent. Is there a way to refinance these loans at a lower interest rate?"
What do you think, Donna?
DONNA ROSATO, SENIOR WRITER, "MONEY": Oh, definitely. I know a lot of people have went back to grad school during the recession, so a lot of people have this similar problem. You can definitely refinance and how you go about it depends on whether they are federal loans or private loans.
Now, federal loans you can consolidate them and get a lower rate. And it's significantly lower. Well under 5 percent. Now if these are private student loans, though, there are lenders that specialize in education loans but what kind of rate you'll get depends on your credit score. So she needs to look up her credit score, see how -- what her credit's like and then try to negotiate a lower rate that way.
ELAM: Got to keep your eyes on that credit score. It affects so many things.
ROSATO: That's right.
ELAM: All right, thanks so much, ladies, for helping us out today.
And if you have a question you'd like to get answered, go ahead and send us an e-mail anytime to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.
JOHNS: If it's trending online, Sandra Endo is here to track it.
And once again, Sandra, we are talking about a future hall of fame quarterback who has gotten just --
ENDO: Well, that's right, Joe.
JOHNS: Yes, an incredible bad boy reputation and now there's even more.
ENDO: Joe, if you can hear me, I'm having trouble, but you're talking about Brett Favre. This guy right here. He is in the news again. He's being slapped with a sexual harassment lawsuit from two former massage therapists for the Jets when he played there back in 2008. Now the suit alleges Favre made unwanted sexual advances to the women and the Jets stopped offering them work after they complained. Here's a couple of text messages he supposedly sent the women. "Brett here. You and Chrissy want to get together? I'm alone." And another one, "kinda lonely tonight. I guess I have bad intentions."
Well, the NFL, last week, fined Favre $50,000, Joe, for what it said was a failure to cooperate with the league investigation of a separate alleged incident involving another female Jets employee. Favre was one of the most decorated quarterbacks in NFL history over a career spanning two decades, so he's very popular with all the fans and, of course, his reputation could perhaps be tarnished with all this. He announced on Sunday that he's retiring from the NFL.
Joe.
JOHNS: Thanks so much for that, Sandra Endo.
The government's round-up of wild horses out west has animal rights folks fuming. We'll show you video of the round-up and you decide if it's a cruel practice.
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JOHNS: Some people say the government's round-up of wild horses out west is cruel and unnecessary. In part two of John Zarrella's investigation, he takes a look at the actual round-up. See what you think of them.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Joe, the Bureau of Land Management calls them gathers. Just about everybody else calls them round-ups. Activists say they're cruel. The Bureau of Land says absolutely not and that they have nothing to hide. So we went along to see for ourselves.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (voice-over): From behind the hillside, the helicopter appears. Then the horses. The chopper herds them toward a track. These wild mustangs never knew anything but freedom. Now, the gates of the makeshift corral close behind them. Animal rights groups say these round- ups must stop.
RICHARD "KUDO" COUTO, ANIMAL RECOVERY MISSION: The issue is, is that the wild horses should not be rounded up at all, hence the word wild.
ZARRELLA: The BLM, Federal Bureau of Land Management, responsible for controlling herd sizes, insists the number must be reduced dramatically. At this Nevada round-up, more than 100 horses will be taken. Less than a dozen left behind.
MARK STRUBLE, BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: We realize 10 is a low number here. But if that's what the range in this particular herd area can support, it is what it is.
ZARRELLA: For activists, too many horses taken and what they believe is the excessive use of helicopters has turned a year's long simmering controversy into boiling anger.
ALAN SHEPARD, NEVADA BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: Helicopters are much more time efficient. We can do our management in a quicker, shorter period of time. That reduces that level of impact.
ZARRELLA: Impact is precisely the problem, activists charge. At this round-up, a chopper's skid bumps a horse. Here, one horse dodges the track, running for freedom. The helicopter gives chase. At this California round-up, a burro is knocked down. Isolated incidents says the BLM. Perhaps that's true, but we were in no position to document it.
ZARRELLA (on camera): The Bureau of Land Management insists it has nothing to hide at these wild horse round-ups, yet look where they have us. We're about a quarter of a mile away at this observation point where the horses are corralled way down there.
SHEPARD: We're trying to be as safe as we can for the horses and the folks that are having to do the work. They're a wild animal.
COUTO: It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. It's pathetic. It's a pathetic excuse. They do not want the issue on camera, OK? Period. Bar none.
ZARRELLA (voice-over): After the horses are gathered, they're trucked to another corral. Behind the green mesh of skewing our view, one exhausted horse struggling to stand, but can't. Here, too, we are kept at a distance.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: The Bureau of Land Management says the conditions at the round-ups are always different and at a different round-up, we might have been able to get a lot closer. So I asked if we go on another round-up, can we get closer. I was given no guarantee.
Joe.
