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Libyan Rebels Seize Border Crossing; FAA Fires Two Controllers; Political Fight over Afghanistan; Interview with Rep. Ron Paul; Journalists Killed in Libya; A Republican Effort to Discredit Trump, Bachmann and Palin; BP Files $40 Lawsuit Against TransOcean; Queen Elizabeth II Turns 85; iPhones Secretly Track Users
Aired April 21, 2011 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Have a great day. It is 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 6:00 in the west. I'm Carol Costello sitting in for Kyra Phillips.
Police in Denver say someone planted two homemade bombs at a shopping mall just a mile and a half from Columbine High School. It was the 12th anniversary of the deadly shooting spree.
The FBI has released these photos of a person of interest in the attempted bombings. It showed a man with graying hair and a silver mustache. No one was hurt when one of those bombs ignited but it did not explode.
Your iPhone may be secretly tracking your every moment. A British researcher says there is a tracking file hidden in a software update that was put in last June. So far, Apple is not commenting.
New numbers on the nation's job list. Last week the number of unemployed Americans filing for the first time fell to 403,000. That's a decline of 13,000.
We are following what could be a major development in the fight for Libya. Rebel forces have seized a major border crossing. And some say that could be a game changer.
CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is in Tripoli.
So, Fred, tell us about this and why it could be a game changer.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
Yes, we're talking about a border crossing between Libya and Tunisia which is on the western fringe of this country here. And of course it's a very interesting development. Because so far what you have is you have the rebels holding territory in the east. They have that enclave in the north of Misrata. And now they seem to have some territory in the west as well.
These are tribes that have long been opposed to Moammar Gadhafi. There's been a lot of fighting in the towns around those areas, there's a larger that's called Jefren and Nalut. And what we're hearing is that the fighting there is still going on. Now what we're hearing is that a force of about 100 rebels came to that border crossing earlier today and took it from Gadhafi's forces that some of the soldiers that Gadhafi has had there, including a general, actually defected, and went over to the Tunisian side of the border and surrendered so as not to fall into the hands of the rebels.
Apparently the rebels still hold that border crossing but there is heavy fighting going on in that area.
And you're right, there are people who believe that this could be another front against Gadhafi. Maybe not a game changer just yet but certainly something more that Gadhafi has to worry about -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Frederik Pleitgen reporting live from Tripoli. Thank you.
The other big story out of Libya today. Two Western journalists are being remembered for their own role in combat. Acclaimed photojournalist Chris Hondros on the right and Oscar nominee, Tim Heatherington, were armed only with their cameras. They were killed in Misrata, a rebel city under siege from Moammar Gadhafi's forces.
Battled-hardened colleagues are praising the men for their courage and determination to always provide the public that war is cruel and indiscriminate.
CNN's Nic Robertson just back from covering the month-long fight from Libya. He'll join us to look ahead. What is the endgame? That will happen later this hour.
The FAA has fired two air traffic controllers for sleeping on the job. They work in Knoxville, Tennessee, and in Miami, Florida. And those were just two control tower sleep stories.
They have been popping up all over the place recently from Reagan National in Washington to Lubbock, Seattle, and Reno. They all reportedly happened on the overnight shift.
The FAA now says controllers need an extra hour off between shifts. A man who's been both an air traffic controller and a pilot doesn't think the new rule will help, though.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROB MARK, FORMER PILOT, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: I think the research on sleep is a big one. I mean this is not anything new that these schedules that people work. And some of it is not just the way they rotate. A lot of the facilities, Atlanta, for instance, aren't -- six-day weeks. You cannot keep working people indefinitely on crazy schedules and six-day weeks and not have it appear as a problem somewhere. So I think the FAA and the DOT need to look at the research and actually take some actions as opposed to just reading it.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: But the problems aren't limited to sleeping. The FAA suspended a controller in Cleveland for watching a movie on the job and an Air Force plane carrying Michelle Obama came too close to a cargo plane in Maryland.
The FAA now wants a supervisor standing behind the controller handling a flight involving the first lady or the vice president.
I want talk more about this with Mary Schiavo. She was the inspector general with the Department of Transportation. She's now a lawyer who sues airline.
Welcome, Mary.
MARY SCHIAVO, FORMER DOT INSPECTOR GENERAL: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: So the FAA has sort of changed the rules as to, you know, how many hours that controllers can work from one day to the next. And you heard they changed the rules as far as planes carrying the vice president and the first lady.
So is the FAA doing the right thing to protect all of us here?
SCHIAVO: Well, they are tweaking around the edges. And these problems have been going on for years. When I was inspector general, I investigated many situations like this and more. The actually increasing the rest period from eight hours to nine hours is a pretty clever move because what that's aiming at is to stop controllers from working back to back schedules so they can work a four-day workweek.
And a lot of these sleep episodes have happened after a long schedule. And sometimes the controllers themselves want these back-to-back schedules so they can have an extra day off.
So Ray LaHood, the secretary of transportation, was pretty clever by putting nine-hour break periods in, you can't get two shifts in with one 24-hour day with your rest period. So they're tinkering around the edges but these were already the rules. You're not allowed to sleep on the job, on any federal job and the separation for the first lady's plane was very dangerous.
COSTELLO: Well, yes, everybody is sort of blowing it off. They said that wasn't really big of a deal because the first lady was never in danger. But it still happened, you know, with a plane carrying the first lady and the controller wasn't doing his job properly.
I wanted to ask you about something you said, though. These incidents just didn't start happening. Apparently, this is a long-time problem. So why hasn't it been dealt with before?
SCHIAVO: Well, because the FAA has a tendency to circle the wagons. When somebody gets in trouble, what they do is they just transfer them. For example, I don't think the air traffic controllers who were involved in the Hudson River midair were fired. I think they got transferred.
And that's what they do. They transfer people out of -- out of trouble. Here, if you'll notice, what has occurred is the secretary of transportation, Ray LaHood, has personally stepped in and said not on my watch. We are going to make some changes here as the head of the air traffic controller resign and has stepped in. The FAA just did not have the will to do this. All I can say is that this has been going on not years but decades.
COSTELLO: Mary Schiavo, many thanks for joining us this morning.
SCHIAVO: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Let's turn now to the world of politics. Donald Trump called in to CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING" just a short time ago and he talked about his investigation into the birther issue.
Our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser is with the story.
I actually found his comments about his personal wealth more interesting.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: And we will get to that, I promise you. But let's start with what you just led with there, Carol.
You know about as early as this month, the Donald -- I suppose we can call him that -- said he sent some investigators out to Hawaii to look into just where President Barack Obama was born. Because of course Donald Trump, the last two months as he's been flirting with running for the White House, has also been questioning whether the president was born in the United States.
Our Ali Velshi on "AMERICAN MORNING" asked him about where that investigation stands. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: You were able to deploy people to go and find out what is actually going on with Barack Obama's birth certificate. What did you find?
DONALD TRUMP, ENTREPRENEUR: Well, we're looking into it very, very strongly. And at a certain point in time, I will be revealing some interesting things.
VELSHI: Have you got anything, though? Have you got anything? Even if you don't tell us what it is. Have you got something that suggestion that Barack Obama was not born in the United States?
TRUMP: I just said that we were looking into it very strongly and you will be very surprised.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: There you go. You will be very surprised.
Listen, Carol, CNN and other news organizations have looked into this going all the way back to the 2008 presidential campaign when this first came up, and you know he was born in the United States.
Some Republicans have been criticizing Trump and others who have been bringing this up. Saying this is a -- this is not a winning issue for a Republican presidential candidate.
And look at this. Our most recent CNN Opinion Research Corporation national poll. Almost 3 out of 4 Americans say that the president was definitely or probably born in the United States. And only about a quarter have some serious doubts.
And again, that's one of the reasons why some Republicans are saying to Donald Trump and others, don't bring this up. This is not a winning issue, this is a distraction in a general elections -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Right. And it's going to chase away independents, too.
OK.
STEINHAUSER: Exactly. Exactly.
COSTELLO: About Mr. Trump's wealth?
STEINHAUSER: Yes. That's also another question mark. How much is Donald Trump truly worth? People have been asking that for years. Now "Forbes" recently put it at $2.7 billion. But Donald Trump tells Ali Velshi, that's a little bit low. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Forbes says $2.7 billion. I can tell you that's a very low number. It's much more than that. And if I decide to run, which I very well may surprise people, but if I decide to run, I will give a net worth statement essentially. We have to -- as you know, we have to fill out very detailed forms for the federal government.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Right.
TRUMP: And I think people will be extremely impressed. Not only is it much higher than that but I am extremely liquid and I have very, very little debt.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: And why is that important? Of course money matters when running for the White House.
And we learned, Carol, since we spoke yesterday, we've learned that Donald Trump is not only going to Nevada, an early voting state, but later this month, he's also going to New Hampshire that holds the first primary in the race for the White House.
And finally, of course, he says by June, he will announce one way or another whether he's running for the Republican presidential nomination.
COSTELLO: I'm sure everyone will be holding their breath.
Paul Steinhauser, many thanks. As always.
We'll have your next political update in one hour and a reminder for all the latest political news, go to our Web site, CNNPolitics.com.
He was known as the GOP's architect after his plan for George W. Bush's campaign helped the candidate become president. But with the 2012 heating -- 2012 race heating up, Karl Rove's voice these days is heard attacking Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, candidates on the right.
Is this part of the architect's new plan? We're going to talk about it just ahead.
And with the planned drawdown of troops in Afghanistan this summer, there is no consensus among U.S. lawmakers as to what's the best way forward might be and the rhetoric on all sides is heating up.
Congressman Ron Paul joins us and weighs in on this hot-button issue next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Let's turn our attention to Afghanistan now because this week House Speaker John Boehner was there with a bipartisan delegation to meet with U.S. military leaders.
He spoke out against the Obama administration's planned troop drawdown in July, saying gangs there were fragile and reversible. The president has promised that the drawdown will be significant and not a token gesture.
Last week, Wolf Blitzer spoke with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid about U.S. efforts in Afghanistan. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN'S THE SITUATION ROOM: Are you confident that this is going to work in the end in Afghanistan? Because it looks like a mess over there.
REP. HARRY REID (D), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: I don't think -- I'm not confident that it's going to work. I'm happy to see that General Petraeus in the room next door here, a couple of weeks ago, and he thinks things are going well. I have great respect for him.
I hope it's going well. But this is -- the American people and rightfully so have a very short attention span. We cannot continue to keep dumping this money.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Dumping that money into Afghanistan, he means.
Congressman Ron Paul joins us now by phone.
Congressman, thank you for joining us.
REP. RON PAUL (R), TEXAS: Thank you. Good to be with you?
COSTELLO: Why do you think House Speaker Boehner and this group of lawmakers visited Afghanistan?
PAUL: Well, I think they sincerely believe that our policy toward Afghanistan is a good policy and we have to pursue it. And that he doesn't want the president to back off. The odds of the press really backing off are slim to none. So I think it's -- it represents the fact that both major parties and both leadership in parties believe in intervention, nation building and intervention in these countries.
So I would say it just is symbolic of the universal acceptance of the leadership positions of this type of foreign policy.
COSTELLO: Do you believe what -- John Boehner, he suggested that maybe we shouldn't set this arbitrary date, 2014, to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan. We should leave that open-ended, you know, so as not to spoil what we have gained in Afghanistan. Do you agree with that?
PAUL: Not really, but somewhere -- I mean, there's a little bit of sense to that. I mean, you don't say in six days we're going to be out. But it's the overall policy that counts. Should we have gone in? The answer is no. We shouldn't be a nation-building and occupying and remaking that country.
So, it was a bad mistake. It is bringing us down financially and militarily. We want our troops out. So, the policy should be to come home.
COSTELLO: When do you think troops should come home? I mean, should they come home right now? I mean, we are broke. We are paying all this money to fight a war in Afghanistan. Like when should the troops be out of there?
PAUL: If I had my say, I would start the withdrawal immediately. And that doesn't mean the exact date because you really don't know. But it would be reversed. The whole policy would be reversed.
I think immediately people would calm down and there would be less killing and fighting and we would -- we would leave. They would have to settle their own disputes. I mean --
COSTELLO: One of the reasons I ask you that, congressman, is because the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, told Speaker Boehner, you know, thanks for the help. But U.S. troops need to back off from what he called arbitrary raids that killed civilians.
I mean, is that what you want to hear from President Karzai?
PAUL: Well, I don't put much stock in what he says. I mean, he's a corrupt leader. But we propped him up. This is the whole irony of it.
Our policy is that we go in, we prop up leaders, they become corrupt, and then we can't back off and we defend them and we suffer the consequences.
So, it's just a totally foolish policy and the rejection of the policy is the most important.
Let the Afghanis deal with Karzai. I mean, there's no reason why we should be in business with him. The sooner we realize that, the better it will be.
We have fallen into a terrible trap because we're doing exactly what Osama bin Laden wanted us to. He wanted to spread our military around the Middle East and around the world and weaken our military.
And now, this has happened. He wanted to bankrupt our country. This is what is happening. He also wanted to stir up dissent within his country on our foreign policy. So --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Didn't we need to go into Afghanistan, because it was a haven for al Qaeda? I mean, that's where Osama bin Laden was?
PAUL: Yes.
COSTELLO: Or could be still for all we know.
PAUL: And I endorse that principle, go after the al Qaeda. Two weeks after we went there, it was all over, because the al Qaeda left. We lost at Tora Bora and Osama bin Laden had escaped. But that was not an indication to occupy and take over the country and go into nation- building. There's no way.
It's sort of like, as a matter of fact, they just even left that -- Bush left that goal and went immediately over into Iraq and claimed that al Qaeda was in Iraq. So, it's this policy of intervention which is so bad.
Yes, we have the right to retaliate when people finally get stirred up enough to come and do us direct harm. But what we're doing there is just stirring up more hatred toward us, bankrupting our country and doing exactly what bin Laden wants us to do. He can't --
COSTELLO: Congressman, I know we could go on forever because I think I pushed your buttons with that question. But we appreciate your insight as always -- Congressman Ron Paul joining us by phone from Texas.
A secret file buried inside iPhones and iPads is tracking everywhere they go. Why did Apple do it? And what can you do if you own an iPhone? What can you do about it? We'll get some answers, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: What do you do with the scraps of food on your plate? Most of us probably throw them out.
But an Atlanta restaurateur has found a way to recycle those scraps of food and use them to fertilize his garden and grow fresh vegetables.
Photojournalist William Walker (ph) shows us how he does that with today's "Green Solutions in Focus."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL WILLIKS, EXECUTIVE CHEF, ECHO RESTAURANT: This is a European restaurant that focuses on seasonal cuisine, fresh food. This is really ingredient-driven.
My name is Michael Williks. I am the executive chef for Echo Restaurant.
On a busy night, we usually serve 350 to 400 meals.
Local radishes just got in yesterday.
Just the preparation process of making food for 350 people a day creates a lot of food waste, a lot of scrap. Every restaurant produces a lot of food waste.
When you serve 350 people, you can produce up to 1,000 bits of food. We do about 1,000 pounds of food waste a month. That's a lot of waste.
We really wanted to reduce our footprint and try to make sure there was no waste going out of our kitchen. 100 percent of our food waste goes to compost. So, none of that goes to landfall now.
Right now, I am skinning flounder and portioning them into sizes for later on tonight. Everything can be composted. We -- it makes all of our proteins and vegetable scraps and fish, chicken, beef, lamb, lettuce. It all goes in the compost.
Brussels sprouts, carrots, onion skins, herb stems, any little trimming, you name it. If you can eat it, we'll compost it.
Here we have fish. Here we have pasta with vegetables, and it all goes to compost.
It's picked up and taken to a facility. That's mixed with other scraps from landscaping businesses and tree businesses and other markets and restaurants and gets broken down into compost. We then take that compost, buy it back and put it on to our roof to grow vegetables and fruits that we use in the restaurant.
We are heading up to the roof top garden now.
Right now, we have herbs and garlic in the boxes. We are about to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, lettuce, arugula, some potatoes and peas.
All the produce that we grow goes directly into the restaurant. We are closing the loop.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Checking stories across the country now: In California, three-time former all-star baseball player, Lenny Dykstra, out on bail after a week in jail. He's accused of bankruptcy fraud. Dykstra was arrested last week in Los Angeles on suspicion of fraudulent auto purchases -- a charge that was later dropped by prosecutors.
And the Alabama football fan accused of poisoning the prized Oak trees of Auburn claims he was attacked. He says that happened at a nearby gas station after he left the Lee County courthouse. Police are investigating.
In Florida, 6,000 Krispy Kreme donuts baked in Miami are bound for Landstuhl, Germany. They'll go to the wounded U.S. troops recovering at the military hospital there. Organizers hope the pastry treats from home will put a smile on their faces.
The war in Libya, two Western journalists died. The coalition enters a second month and the U.S. ratchets up a whole new level of involvement. So, what's going on?
Nic Robertson will join us to talk about the end game -- next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: This morning, tributes are pouring in for two Western journalists who died on assignment in Libya. Acclaimed photojournalists Chris Hondros and Oscar nominee Tim Hetherington were killed in Misrata, a rebel city under siege from Moammar Gadhafi's forces. Witnesses say they were struck by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Earlier on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," we heard from the friend who also just returned from Libya.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREG CAMPBELL, FRIEND OF CHRIS HONDROS: Every time you are in an environment like that, I think that at the back of the mind, you realize that you may not come out of there. However, every journalist that I ran into in Libya and in many of the places that Chris and I have covered together, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Nigeria, we have tried to be as safe and practical as possible. And that's one of the things I really treasured about Chris' professionalism, was that he was always very, very safe. He realized the risks, and he tried to minimize them as much as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: I want to turn now to Nic Robertson who has been one of our point men in Libya.
And it's been a month since. Nic, welcome back first of all. You must be happy to be back.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm very happy. Yes.
COSTELLO: A little rest for you. I can't imagine how that would be over there.
I wanted to talk about the end game in Libya and what's happening there right now. President Obama just approved $25 million in equipment and uniforms for the Libyan rebels. So, I was just wondering -- does that help?
ROBERTSON: It's going to help psychologically for the rebels. It's going to show them that they are getting support. Obviously, they want weapons and they want heavy weapons and they need it now.
But they also need training and they need building as a force. And that doesn't come with giving them body armor and night vision goggles and uniforms. That comes with time and practice.
And they don't have that. Time is not their side. They don't have time to build an army to face off against Gadhafi, who already has an army.
So, it's going to help psychologically. But is it going to game change the facts on the ground? Probably, very little.
COSTELLO: We were also intrigued that the United States is sending these rebels uniforms.
ROBERTSON: Well, if we go back a few weeks, NATO struck a rebel convoy. In fact, it was the second time they had done that. There was a lack of communication and information between NATO and the rebels. Sending uniforms is going to make the rebels perhaps feel more like an army. It's going to make them look and distinguish them as an army and a fighting force on the ground, not civilians.
Will it protect them from NATO strikes on the ground? Perhaps this was an idea that grew out of that incident and perhaps other steps, the measures will be taken to protect the rebels in other ways from NATO strikes. But it will make them look more like a force, an organized force on the ground.
COSTELLO: And it will help NATO forces tell them apart from Gadhafi's people.
ROBERTSON: And one of the things that NATO forces are doing is enforcing a no-fly zone and protecting civilians. So if you're protecting civilians, how do you know who the civilians are? You know because they're not wearing uniforms and you need to know who -- which uniforms are on the rebel side and which are on the government side, as you say.
COSTELLO: OK. Some people say the very fact the United States and the NATO allies are doing this, they're stretching the NATO mandate into something it was never meant to be.
Are they?
ROBERTSON: You can certainly make that argument. I mean, you can see a case where this is being stretched. But what NATO is doing is enforcing the U.N. Resolution 1973, which is protect civilians and enforce the no-fly zone. And they're not being able to do a particularly effective job from the air. So putting advisers on the ground will help make the NATO force and what it is doing more effective.
But what it will really do -- and I think this is part of the message here to Gadhafi is, OK, we may not be able to destroy your army from the air, but we're going to continue to put pressure on you because he's withstanding the pressure the international community is putting on him, because unspoken, as we know, regime change.
So, to get Gadhafi to go, he has to know there's a credible threat of force against him. NATO's been bombing for some time. This he are probably running out of easy targets. And this is going to up the ante against Gadhafi. And it may increase the pressure to a point where he's more ready to compromise on the deal that he's willing to accept. And there are back channel talks going on.
COSTELLO: We'll see what happens. Nic Robertson, thanks so much and welcome home.
ROBERTSON: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Checking our stories Cross Country now.
Police in Denver say someone planted two homemade bombs at a shopping mall yesterday, just a mile and a half from Columbine High School. It was the 12th anniversary of the deadly shooting spree there. The FBI has released photos of a person of interest in the case.
BP has filed a $40 billion lawsuit against TransOcean, the owner of the oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico last year. BP is claiming negligence helped cause the disaster that killed 11 workers and caused a massive environmental disaster.
And the FAA has fired two air traffic controllers caught sleeping on the job. The fired controllers worked in Miami and in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The fight for independence is on and it's taking an odd twist thanks to Donald Trump. There is an effort, it seems, by some on the right to discredit the Donald for the good of the Republican Party and it's coming from the former senior advisor to President Bush and political consultant Karl Rove.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARL ROVE, POLITICAL CONSULTANT: He is an interesting candidate that had a business background and could have contributed to the dialogue but his full embrace of the birther issue means that he's off there in the nutty right and is now an inconsequential candidate. He is now, you know, a joke candidate. Let him go ahead and announce for election on "The Apprentice." The American people aren't going to be hiring him and certainly, the Republicans are not going to be hiring him.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: And it's not just Donald Trump, but Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin. They're all targets now by some conservative voices.
John Avlon is a CNN contributor and an Independent and he joins us now.
Welcome, John.
JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Good morning. So it's interesting. Rove and other conservative voices are actively turning against Donald Trump, but not only Trump but Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin
Why do you suppose that's happening?
AVLON: This is the sound of Republicans getting nervous. They realize that they've got a real problem. That responsible voices are being drowned out by folks that pander to the outer reaches of politics. And that may work in the narrow term. But it really hurts the Republican Party in the long-term, especially if they have any hope of winning over those Independent voters and translating it to a general election victory.
They've been playing a dangerous game trying to inflame anti-Obama feeling without having it careen into the realm of absurdity. And with Donald Trump and Michele Bachmann and other folks you just mentioned, that's a clear and present danger for the electability of the Republican Party going forward.
COSTELLO: OK. So clearly the Republicans need independence and maybe that's what they are after by trying to get rid of this rhetoric out there, because, you know the Republicans want to beat Barack Obama. They need independents to do that.
So the whole birther issue is not popular among Independents like you. And maybe some of these potential presidential candidates are realizing this.
Listen to Michele Bachmann on "Good Morning America."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: I take the president at his word and I think -- again, I would have no problem and apparently the president wouldn't either. Introduce that. We're done. Move on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So Congresswoman Bachmann seems to be stepping away from the issue. So will Independents start listening again?
AVLON: No. I think you've got a certain problem where your brand is deeply, fundamentally tarnished by the rhetoric that's gotten you to this point. I don't think I speak too gracious about Republican candidates who say, oh, I take the president at his word, as if this was an issue of honor and debate, rather than pure nonsense and conspiracy theory.
But you're dealing with 41 percent of the American electorate (ph). A new poll came out showing 41 percent of Americans now self-identify as Independents. Republicans can make a small claim for their vote based on reducing deficits and the debt. Here's the deal though. Independent voters overwhelmingly dislike the angry, hyper- partisanship we've seen from Washington. They don't like this extreme rhetoric. They want to try to figure out --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: But it's been like that for a long time, John. We heard that during the campaign. So why is it still so loud?
AVLON: Because the extremes have become very effective at hijacking our political debates and sucking up all the oxygen. And, we the media, tend to cover a car crash rather than a constructive conversation. But I don't want to let Republicans off the hook too easy about this, because this is a problem that they can't simply throw the victim card on.
When you've got 51 (ph) percent of Republican primary voters saying they doubt whether the president was born in the United States, that's a problem with your base. That's an education problem. And you need responsible Republicans to stand up and condemn the fringe and separate that from the base. When those two things start blurring, then you open the door to candidate who pander to the lowest common denominator and get a short-term bump. It should make responsible Republicans very concerned.
COSTELLO: Well, maybe that's why Karl Rove is speaking out.
John Avlon, many thanks. Joining us live from New York.
AVLON: Yes.
COSTELLO: Now it's time for sports. Everybody knows Kobe Bryant can score. But Bryant really stepped up his defense as the Lakers hosted Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets. Paul hit two long buzzer beaters during game two of the team's playoff series. But the Lakers were able to keep Paul from lighting them up like he did in game one. And when it came down to crunch time, Kobe made a nice move on the baseline and scored on the reverse slam. L.A. wins, 87-78, and evens the series with New Orleans at a game apiece.
More sports in 20 minutes, including another huge comeback in the NHL playoffs. And what a champion should never, ever, ever do with a trophy.
Yachts, condos, furniture, all things we're used to seeing in divorce settlements. But how about this one, professional baseball team? Coming up next, the league plays referee in the battle over who really owns the Dodgers.
Also, Queen Elizabeth meets Kate Middleton's parents for the first time. We'll see how that went, just ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We usually see divorce battles over houses, and cars and even kids, but this nasty split is over a baseball team -- the Los Angeles Dodgers. The tussle over ownership forced major league baseball to finally step in and take over the team.
A divorce between co-owners, Frank and Jamie McCourt was filed two years ago, leaving control of the Dodgers in doubt. But, baseball commissioner Bud Selig finally seized the day to day operation of the team after Frank McCourt reportedly took out a $30 million thrown help make payroll. Team members filed to conduct business as usual.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NED COLETTI, GENERAL MANAGER, LOS ANGELES DODGERS: We're still in a learning process and we don't really have a lot of information as to where we really go from here. I'm sure in the next couple days, we'll get more information from major league baseball.
ANDREW ETHIER, PITCHER, LOS ANGELES DODGERS: It's obviously another situation and the outcome of the decision is out of our hands, the players' hands, you know? It's a thing where we're just going out here and playing and hopefully representing the city and this organization as best we can and still give our fans something to cheer about and be happy and proud about.
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COSTELLO: What more could go wrong with the Dodgers, huh? Commissioner Selig says major league baseball owed it to loyal Dodgers fans. Selig says he has to ensure the team is operated properly now and in the future.
Here's a quick look ahead at the stories making news later today. At 1:00 p.m. Eastern in Spring Valley, New York, a funeral service is set for the mother accused of drowning herself and three of her children in the Hudson River.
At 1:30 Eastern Time, former All-Star pitcher Rogers Clemens and his attorneys are expected in federal court. They want access to the so- called Mitchell Report for Clemens defense against federal perjury and obstruction charges.
And later today at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, President Obama holds another town hall style meeting at a renewable energy company in Reno, Nevada.
Queen Elizabeth is 85-years-old today. We'll see how she's celebrating her birthday. Also ahead, the most influential people in the entire world. We'll tell you who is on "Time" magazine's annual list, next.
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COSTELLO: "Time" magazine is out with its list of the 100 most influential people in the whole entire world; they range from artist to activist. And some of those making the list: Margaret Woodward, a major general in the Air Force, she's also the first woman to command an air campaign. Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, who as you know was shot in the head back in January when a gunman opened fire outside of a Tucson supermarket.
Also on the list, Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who energized the pro-democracy movement in Egypt and El General the rap star who inspired the Tunisia uprising and finally, Prince William and Kate Middleton, right up there with the most influential.
For a brief moment, the upcoming royal wedding will have to share the headlines in England with another bit of news from the monarchy. It's Queen Elizabeth's 85th birthday.
Let's head to London and check in with Zain Verjee.
So the official birthday celebration is not until June?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: That's right. That's when the country gets to celebrate. But today, for the Queen, it's just a private thing that she's going to have. Doesn't she look fabulous for 85, Carol?
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COSTELLO: She does.
VERJEE: She really does. She was at Westminster Abbey. You know, she went there a little earlier today.
But one official thing that she does the Thursday before Easter and it just so happened to fall on her birthday, is this thing that they called the Maundy Service. And it's something that's centuries old. And basically what she's done is given money to pensioners, there are 85 men and 85 women. And that's the only sort of formal activity that she did today. Happy birthday to her.
COSTELLO: Yes, happy birthday. And we love her bonnet. It is a very pretty color. It is the Easter season. It fits right in.
VERJEE: I know, yes.
COSTELLO: She did meet Kate Middleton's parents, I understand too, the Queen did.
VERJEE: Yes right. It was nothing like the movie, "Meet the Parents" Carol, ok. I mean, this was a really great to distinguished, civilized fine lunch at Windsor Castle. You know what, it was actually the very first time she met with Carol and Michael Middleton. And apparently, the sources who were there say that you know, they had lots of fun. It was very relaxed, there was lots of laughter. And it lasted about an hour and a half.
But you know, the Queen doesn't like to linger. So once that she hit the time, she left.
COSTELLO: I don't know why that struck me as really funny. Zain Verjee, we enjoyed it.
VERJEE: She is very busy.
COSTELLO: Yes, I guess so. And she has to pick out her next hat. Thank you Zain, we appreciate it.
VERJEE: Yes.
COSTELLO: We'll let the scientist debate the importance of this next story. We just thought it was a really cool image. This is a fossilized spider, it's a 165 million years old and it is really, really big, it was found in northern China. It's the largest specimen known. It's about two inches long. The details are so clear, you can even make out the hair on its legs. Amazing.
A secret file buried inside iPhones and iPads. If you have an iPhone or an iPad, ooh, somebody could track you everywhere you go. So why did Apple install this thing? And what can owners do about it? We'll get some answers just ahead.
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COSTELLO: It sounds very shady. Secret location logs and iPhones and iPads tracking -- tracking you everywhere. Everywhere you go. A couple of researchers stumbled upon these files. I want to get more details from Christina Warren. She's a reporter at Mashable.com.
So welcome. And first of all, tell us what is it in iPhone and iPad that can -- that can track you -- that can allow others to track you wherever you go?
CHRISTINA WARREN, REPORTER, MASHABLE.COM: Well, there's a file inside the iPhone and the iPad that keeps track of all the longitude and latitude coordinates when you're connected to a cell tower. So anytime you're at the market or you're on the road or you're driving, it keeps track of the coordinates where you are based on the cellular towers. And this file is synched back at your computer with iTunes when you backup your iPhone or you synch your iPhone to synch your app with your computer.
COSTELLO: So if someone knows your phone number for -- they can track you?
WARREN: No, no. The only way for the people to get access to this information is they would need to have access to your physical computer and they would need or they would need to have access to your phone or your iPad so that they could do a backup and extract the file.
COSTELLO: Ok, so we're talking husbands and wives and boyfriends and girlfriends maybe, which is terrible to even think. But can you turn this thing off to prevent this from happening?
WARREN: Right now, there hasn't -- there's not a way to turn it off. However, if you encrypt your backups within iTunes, you can select an option to encrypt backups. That means that only people who know a certain password would be able to get access to that data and would be able to use the -- the web application that these developers created, that these research scientists created so that you can see kind of a history of where you've been with your phone.
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COSTELLO: So --
WARREN: But to be clear, this information is not being transmitted anywhere else. It's just stored locally on your phone and stored locally on your computer. It's not being sent to any third parties.
COSTELLO: Got you. But why would Apple include such a thing?
WARREN: That's the big question. And that's my real question. I mean, I think that the real world implications are probably minor. But my big -- my big question is why this is here to begin with, and why is this information, if it is going to be stored, why is it not encrypted from the get-go? So that -- that's what Apple's going to need to answer and that's -- that's why the data scientists brought this to -- to the public's attention.
COSTELLO: Well, we're glad we know about it now, Christina Warren from Mashable.com. Thanks for joining us this morning.
We're following lots of developments in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in first with Ed Henry.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Carol, good morning. With all the millions of dollars the President is raising out in Hollywood today, you would think that all the celebrities are on board with his re-election campaign. But you're going to be surprised to hear what Matt Damon has to say at the top of the hour.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And the investigation into a possible serial killer in Long Island and the science behind trying to identify the victims. I'll have that story coming up for you in the next hour.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Stephanie Elam here in New York. So we know that your iPhone now has this data, and it can be tracking you. We're going to talk more about that. And also, do you have a land line at home anymore? We're going to talk about that trend as well, Carol. It's coming up in the next hour.
COSTELLO: I'm looking forward to it, thanks to you all.
Also ahead in the next hour, new charges tied to the suicide of a gay college student. His roommate accused of committing hate crimes now and trying to cover his tracks.
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COSTELLO: One team's collapse is another's comeback. Yesterday we told you about San Jose erasing a four goal deficit to beat Los Angeles in the NHL Playoffs. Now to New York, where the Rangers had a three goal lead over Washington after two periods, but the Caps rookie Markus Johansson ties it near the end of regulation. It's 3-3.
The teams go into the first overtime period no change. And then in second overtime period, Washington's Jason Chimera scores the winning goal. Caps go back home leading the series, three games to one.
Detroit trying to sweep Phoenix. The Red Wings' Dan Cleary shoots the puck from behind the goal. Did you see that? It actually gets into the net. It bounced off the back of the goalie. That's amazing. Red Wings win the game, 6-3, and advance to the second round.
In the NBA playoffs, Manu Ginobili is back for San Antonio after an injury. Spurs hosting the Memphis Grizzlies. Ginobili stole the ball four times, feed George Hill for the basket. Ginobili also scored 17 points. Spurs win 93-87. The series is tied at 1-1.
I love this story. The Philly Bot took to the mound before Philadelphia's game with Milwaukee. The robot was built in a college lab. It was designed to throw out the first pitch, but as you saw, it didn't do so well. Because it bounced it. The angels' Jared such problems. He struck out eight Texas rangers last night, becoming the first in the majors this season to get five wins. Weaver got help from center fielder Peter Borgess who made a leaping catch -- they're going to see it. I love these catches. Got it.
And finally, this is something you don't want to do after winning a championship. Watch closely.
The Spanish soccer team, Real Madrid, is having a victory parade. One of the captains lost his grip of the trophy. And then he dropped it under the bus. The players said the trophy wasn't damaged, but honestly, we just don't know for sure.
