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President Obama Releases Birth Certificate; Americans Killed in Afghanistan; Solving the Air Traffic Controller Shift Dilemma; 25 Separate Warnings in Alabama; Murder-for-Hire Trial Twist; PlayStation Network Hacked

Aired April 27, 2011 - 16:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And now, hour two, watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Tragedy in Afghanistan. Nine Americans are dead after someone opens fire in the middle of the airport. The person accused of pulling the trigger is an Afghan soldier. I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I have a copy of it here in my hand.

BALDWIN (voice-over): The president released the president's long form birth certificate. Moments later, Donald Trump takes to the stage.

DONALD TRUMP, CHAIRMAN & CEO, TRUMP HOTELS & CASINO RESORTS: Today, I'm very proud of myself.

BALDWIN: And then the president speaks.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We do not have time for this kind of silliness.

BALDWIN: We will break down the fascinating back and forth.

Plus, CNN's John King just sat down with Trump. He will join me live from New Hampshire.

Also, an historic moment for the American economy, the Fed holding its first news conference ever. The revelations affect your wallet.

And a woman is accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill her husband. Her defense? The whole plan was for a reality TV show. We're on the case.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Welcome back to you. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Hour two begins with this. We're going to get to the political theater that played out on live television today involving President Obama and Donald Trump, but first a story of true importance for us. Nine Americans are dead after an Afghan military pilot opened fire on coalition forces at Kabul's international airport. Eight were U.S. troops, the ninth, a civilian contractor. The Taliban has now claimed the shooter here was one of their own insurgents who infiltrated the military on a mission for the Taliban.

But NATO says, no, they are denying that claim. Afghan officials say an argument sparked the bloodshed.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Kabul with the details of how this whole thing played out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, this argument resulted in this man who has been called Ahmad Gul pulling a weapon of some description and shooting nine people dead in that room, all of them Americans, one of them a contractor. Now, he was then apparently shot by other ISAF staff, but there were a number of hours today when that particular part of the base and the whole base in fact was on lockdown as internal security tried to get this situation under control.

I think you just need to know to get the seriousness of this we are talking about a part of the base really about just under a mile's walk inside the wire from the large hangar in which NATO run their operations here in Afghanistan, so it couldn't really be closer to the bone, frankly, for NATO officials.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right, Nick, thank you.

And before we talk about a little bit more about this birth certificate, we showed you those pictures.

Want to take you back here, breaking news out of Alabama. A tornado has touched down in Cullman County, Alabama.

And joining me now on the line is Phyllis Little with the Emergency Management there.

And, Phyllis, the pictures obviously tell the story, but what are you seeing on the ground?

PHYLLIS LITTLE, CULLMAN COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: At this time, I have not had an opportunity to even be outside our bunker.

All I can tell you for sure is that it appears that we have had multiple touchdowns in the city of Cullman, as well as areas outside the city of Cullman. And that's just for this last round of storms.

BALDWIN: Multiple touchdowns. Can you be more specific in terms of -- and I know you said you hadn't gone outside. But have you gotten any phone calls in terms of anything, any buildings damaged?

LITTLE: We have got multiple calls about structural damage all across the city.

BALDWIN: Structural damage in terms of homes, in terms of buildings, in terms of hospitals? Can you be more specific?

LITTLE: I do have a report of possible damage to our one hospital. Also have reports of damage to our emergency medical services building, to our rescue squad building. And those are the only three I can give you specifically.

BALDWIN: OK. Phyllis Little from Cullman County, Alabama, let us know if anything changes. And, of course, we want to follow up with you on that hospital if it was in fact hit. We want to know. Thank you so much.

For now, I do want to move on, take you back to Washington. The big news today, if you haven't heard by now, the White House released this morning the president's birth certificate. In fact, here it is, the original. This is the long form birth certificate. Here is the president from this morning saying, folks, this is silliness. Let's move on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We have got better stuff to do. I have got better stuff to do. We have big problems to solve. And I'm confident we can solve them, but we are going to have to focus on them, not on this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Leading birther Donald Trump was just about to land in New Hampshire -- talk about the timing here -- when word of the news reached his monogrammed chopper. You see Trump there.

Trump claimed credit, saying he had succeeded where others had failed. He said he hopes the birth certificate is for real, but he will have it examined.

And that is what we're going to do right now.

Gary Tuchman, you have both what we have seen before and now what the president has released today. Walk me through the differences.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Conveniently, we have both certificates as well.

BALDWIN: Oh, very nice. Very good.

TUCHMAN: Right.

So, first of all, this is the one that Donald Trump said was not real. This is the certification of live birth in the state of Hawaii. This is what every Hawaiian now gets. Barack Obama made this public three years ago. And it says his name, Barack Hussein Obama, he was born in Honolulu, his mother's name, his father's name, his father's race, mother's race.

That he's had for a long time. In the state of Hawaii, that's official. That's what everyone gets in Hawaii. But a lot of the birthers and Donald Trump were not happy about that. Donald Trump kept saying we want him to show his birth certificate.

Well, this is the original certificate. This is not an original certificate. And that's important to mention, but this is the original, the so-called long form birth certificate. And there are some things on it that are different, but a lot of things are not relevant anymore, and that's why Hawaii doesn't use it.

For example, his residence on a farm or plantation. The answer is, no, it's not on a plantation. Also, it has the name of the hospital. That's one thing that is not on the short form. The Kapi'olani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital, very nice hospital indeed.

We were in Hawaii a week-and-a-half ago doing an investigation on this and the former director of the Health Department in the state of Hawaii said, I have seen the original birth certificate. It's fine. There's no mention of religion. That was one of the things a lot of people were saying, maybe it said he was a Muslim on it. There's nothing about religion on it.

There's nothing untoward on it. It's exactly what we were told. And indeed it also has the birthplace of father and mother, Kansas and East Africa. That's not on the short form. But what is really interesting, Brooke, is how Barack Obama got this. We are told -- and we're not even told. We were given a letter.

Barack Obama sent a personal letter to the current director of the Hawaii Health Department and his lawyer sent a letter this last Friday, just five days ago, asking he wants a copy of the original birth certificate. The director of the Health Department two days ago on Monday sent a letter back to the president of the United States saying our normal policy is to give computer-generated birth certificates, but we're going to make an exception because you're the president of the United States. We're going to give you original birth certificate.

They brought it back to the White House. And voila. Today the world is seeing the original, not the official one, but the original birth certificate of Barack Obama. Despite the fact that Donald Trump has said it's missing the last couple of days, he still has not responded to that. John King is going to be talking to Donald Trump, by the way, Brooke, tonight 7:00 Eastern time. Hopefully, he will answer that question.

BALDWIN: Yes, we will see where he goes next perhaps. Gary Tuchman, thank you very, very much.

And we're monitoring that breaking news still out of Alabama. We showed you that tornado, spoke with a woman who said there's been multiple touchdowns there, emergencies there. She just told me a hospital had possibly been hit. We're monitoring that. Chad's on this. More on that in just a second.

Also, fears grow about our safety in the skies and sleeping air traffic controllers. Look, we have heard both arguments from both sides, chief on both sides. But we haven't actually heard from someone in the tower day living the schedules day in, day out.

So, coming up next, I will speak with someone who knows what really happens and what he thinks may fix this whole mess. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER UPDATE)

BALDWIN: I do want to get along to this one, because we have been talking a lot about, look, if you get in a plane, you need to pay attention. The headlines are enough to frighten anyone who is planning to travel by plane, air traffic controllers falling asleep when they should be guiding planes in for a landing.

Just this week, a controller at Seattle's Boeing Field was fired for allegedly falling asleep on the job, not just once, but two different times this year.

So what should be done to keep controllers awake and alert so they can help keep you safe? We've heard recommendations from sleep experts, the controllers union, and the FAA, the Federal Aviation Administration, but we haven't really heard from an actual air traffic controller, until now.

I want to welcome Dean Iacopelli, he's an air traffic control specialist and he guides flights heading into and out of a pretty busy area, the New York metropolitan area.

Dean, good to have you on.

DEAN IACOPELLI, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SPECIALIST: Thank you.

BALDWIN: I want to begin with, have you ever worked overnights, first of all?

IACOPELLI: I have. Yes, I have. I have worked midnight shifts many times.

BALDWIN: OK, so you've worked the midnight shift. Help us understand what it's like inside the tower. Let's say it's 2:00 in the morning, you know, I don't know if you're looking at a lot of monitors. Is it difficult to stay awake or no?

IACOPELLI: You know, just to be clear, where I work, I'm not actually inside a tower. I'm in a radar room and it's dark and it's quiet.

And you know, when you get to a certain point, particularly in New York between, say, 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., there's not a lot going on. You have the occasional arrival or departure, a plane taking off or landing. But for the most part, you're there waiting for an airplane to call you or to talk to an adjacent facility.

BALDWIN: So is it easy to have a tendency to want to doze?

IACOPELLI: No, I've not had any personal instances of falling asleep, nor have I seen anyone do it. But it is a tedious time between 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.

And where I work, we're fortunate to have two people on. You know, in a lot of these places we had -- up until recently, we had one person working in many instances some facilities that were significantly less busy than a place like New York.

BALDWIN: Right, and that's the solution that we've seen, right? They're adding an extra man or woman, I think it's 27 different airports. Also, maybe adding another hour in the break time.

IACOPELLI: That's correct.

BALDWIN: But I know some air traffic controllers, and I think you're on this page, you want to add what you call recuperative breaks. And I don't know if that's a fancy way of saying a nap, but I know that the Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says no. You know, they don't want to pay people to nap while you're working.

Give me your argument in favor of these recuperative naps, breaks.

IACOPELLI: Well, again, just to be clear, we are speaking about recuperative breaks, and it's time away from the control room, time away from the tower where these individuals have an opportunity to clear their head. It may be to get something to eat, it may be to get a cup of coffee, it may be to sit down in the chair and close their eyes, not necessarily sleep but close their eyes.

It's an opportunity to be outside of the operation and gain the time that they need to come back to work, ready and prepared to do what they need to do.

BALDWIN: How long of a break do you want?

IACOPELLI: Well, again, we're trying to work through it. We have some studies and some science that shows that a couple hours works best.

But again, this is not -- and it's important to understand -- it's not what the union is asking for. The union is not asking for this, this is a joint recommendation with the FAA, based on science. We incorporated data from studies on Department of Defense controllers, from NASA.

And again, we're not alone in working shift work. There's a lot of science and data out there that shows that people who work shift work, who have to cover 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, are different than people who work 9:00 to 5:00. And it's important that we focus on the data. And there's a lot of stories out there that say "the union wants." It's not really what the union wants, it's we're just advocating mitigating the fatigue that the science has shown.

BALDWIN: I think a lot of people who watch, they have worked overnights, I've worked overnights. You know, you don't have a typical 9:00 to 5:00 job, I know a lot of you have to cover these 24/7 shifts and that interferes with the body's natural rhythm.

But if I may, I want to throw one solution out to you because, you know, you mentioned science and I actually spoke to a sleep expert who also testified on this very issue back in Capitol Hill in 1983.

I want you to listen to his idea, and then I want your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ideally, they would stay on the same shift for several weeks at a time. They would work for, at the maximum, four or five days consecutively, and rotate in a direction of rotation where they go from day shift to evening shift. Then they get used to working the evening shift for a couple of weeks and then they rotate on to the night shift.

That way they don't go cold turkey from working at 6:00 in the morning to suddenly having to start at 10:00 p.m. and work all night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, Dean, what do you think about that idea? Would that work?

IACOPELLI: Again, I haven't seen the data that he's relying on. But the scientists that we've talked to and who modeled the schedules over six-week periods found that working -- again, I don't know if he's talking about -- when he says night shifts, if he means the midnight shift.

BALDWIN: I think he's referring to overnights versus daytime. And he's saying, look, it's better for the body to stay on one shift for X-period of time and then after, say, three months you guys all rotate.

Would that work?

IACOPELLI: I don't know. I don't know if it would work operationally but I don't know of any science that I've seen to support it.

But I do know this, that life happens during the day. Now we can say that midnight shift, you know, when you rotate into it and you're stable and steady on that shift, then you'll get adjusted to it. But the body's natural rhythms want to be sleeping when you're trying to stay awake. And when you go home from work, when you want to go to sleep, your body wants to be awake. That's when life happens, life takes place during the day. Most of us have families, most of us have children. There's things that we have to do. It would -- in a sterile world, maybe you can go home, shut the curtains, turn off the lights and get eight hours of sleep during the day, but for the rest of us who live a normal life, life happens during the day.

So I don't know that that is the absolute answer.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Sure, no, no. And I do want to say, you know, many of us are appreciative for air traffic controllers and the work you do. And I think a lot of people are just trying to find some sort of a solution so that everybody stays awake.

Dean Iacopelli, we've got to go, but thank you so much for coming on.

IACOPELLI: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And back to the weather story. I'm just getting word that a code D, a code D has been declared at the Cullman Regional Medical Center; D stands for disaster. The switchboard operator there tells CNN, "something hit them," that's a quote, "something hit them."

More on this after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It is clearly turning into a dire situation. In Cullman County, Alabama we've shown you some video of at least one twister that has touched down there. Here's the video from just a short time ago, and let me just read for you what our desk here at CNN has gotten from the mayor of Cullman.

He says, I haven't had contact with my chief of police yet, but we do know there is extensive damage. He did speak with a fire chief who is reporting to a call of people trapped in homes. He did not have any more details beyond that, doesn't know injuries, doesn't have any numbers in terms of possible fatalities.

And one other issue, when I spoke with that emergency management woman regarding the hospital, the one hospital in this town, Cullman Regional Medical, they have declared a Code D, D stands for disaster, something has hit them. We're going to -- obviously, we're working the phone, working the story right now.

but I do want to move on here quickly and talk to Hala Gorani as we go "Globe Trekking," checking in on the situation with Syria.

Where are we today?

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: Right, we've been following this story all day. And just a few minutes ago, we heard from the United Nations that they're going to hold an open televised Security Council meeting in which the all the ambassadors at the U.N. Security Council, the five permanent members and the ten others, will have an opportunity to speak, including the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, who just a few hours ago was, once again, reiterating the government's position that the security forces were, in fact, targeting armed criminal gangs throughout the country, very much contradicting the version of eyewitnesses in Daraa in the south saying that security forces have been firing at them.

BALDWIN: Indiscriminately?

GORANI: Yes.

In fact, they are so scared, according to another eyewitness we spoke to in Daraa, to go out that they are not even bearing their dead, we've been told by one eyewitness, because they are concerned that snipers on rooftops will take aim at them.

And so, some bodies have been kept in trucks over the last few days because they are so concerned for their own safety that going out is taking -- just going out, not protesting, just going out on to the streets is taking a risk for them.

BALDWIN: Let alone, trying to bury their own dead.

GORANI: Yes.

BALDWIN: That is horrendous.

GORANI: Yes, so we have the U.N. We also have reports that some Baath Party members, this is the ruling party in Syria, are resigning. Two hundred to 300 have resigned in a southern province.

Now this hasn't been confirmed by CNN, but if it is the case, it is significant. Although, we need to keep in mind that in a country like Syria, as was the case in Iraq like Iraq, in order to have any government job, usually you are a member of the Baath Party. That does not necessarily mean you are a member out of conviction, but it would still be symbolically significant.

BALDWIN: OK, Hala Gorani, thank you very much.

And now Donald Trump. He has promised to release his tax records if President Obama released his long form birth certificate. So will the possible presidential candidate do it, and how is he responding to the president's move today of releasing that birth certificate?

CNN's John King has just sat down -- there he is in New Hampshire -- just sat down with Mr. Trump. We're live in New Hampshire next.

And more on our breaking news out of Alabama. We're getting word of a very, very serious and dire situation after this tornado outbreak. Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: A quick update on the dire situation in Cullman, Alabama. We are just getting word here as we are taking a look at the radar and all those pink boxes.

Guys, is that tornado watches or warnings, the pink boxes? Warnings. Those are warnings.

But when we're talking specifically about Cullman, we have heard about the hospital, this one hospital in town, they are getting word that a code D has been declared -- this is the Cullman Regional Medical Center -- D stands for disaster. The switchboard operator there tells CNN, "something hit them."

And we're also hearing from the fire chief in this town, reporting that (INAUDIBLE) people trapped in homes. This is a dire, serious situation. We have our weather folks working on this one, and perhaps we can get someone else on the line to update us on the situation there in Cullman, Alabama.

But I want to move on to the other big talker of the day. Donald Trump and his visit to New Hampshire has been in most of the major headlines today, and as the state gets the first look of Trump's presidential bid, our chief national correspondent, John King, also - there he is in New Hampshire. Got a front row seat to Trump on the stump.

What a morning it was there, John. I mean, he took a little bit of credit there for getting the president to release the longer form birth certificate, didn't he?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A little bit, Brooke? A little bit.

BALDWIN: A lot of it!

KING: Look, we all know whether you like him or don't like him, Donald Trump is a big self-promoter. And he got off this helicopter here in New Hampshire today and was essentially thumping his chest, saying that he got the president of the United States to do something no one else could do. Trump, as you know, has risen in the polls among prospective Republican candidates for president, in part by spending the last several weeks raising the question why won't the president release his birth certificate if he has one? He told Anderson Cooper earlier in the week he thought it was missing.

So, we sat down after some of his campaign events here in New Hampshire, and it was a pretty contentious interview. Right before the interview, Mr. Trump said that he wanted to cancel it. He said he did not think CNN had been treating him fairly in recent days.

So we sat down. And as he was questioning the president's competence and the president's credibility, I questioned his. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: You raised this -- DONALD TRUMP, CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: No, no, you raised this.

KING: No, I did not raise this. I did not call the press conference in Palm Beach earlier this week --

TRUMP: Excuse me, you raised this. And every time I sit down with the press, all they want to talk about is the birth certificate. And I got him to do something that nobody else could get him to do, and I've been getting great credit for that.

KING: And you -- you raised this issue of his credibility, that if he has it, he should release it.

TRUMP: Absolutely.

KING: There are people who question yours in the middle of all this. The other night, you went on "ANDERSON COOPER" and you said your investigators told you it was missing or it wasn't there.

TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me.

KING: What was that about?

TRUMP: Very simple. I had people looking into it. Now I don't have to have the people -- I can call them back, I hope. I mean, I haven't seen it. I'm sure a lot of experts --

KING: But if - would you ever pay them - if serious people told you it was missing or not there, here it is. Here it is.

TRUMP: Would I pay them? I don't know. Maybe I'll let you negotiate for me.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Let me just tell you, I don't make up anything. Let me tell you something. I have done a great service to the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We went through some other comments Mr. Trump, Brooke, has made that many would say don't hold up to the fact check test, if you will. Again, parts of the interview were contentious. Mr. Trump did say he believes he's getting traction in part because of focusing on this issue. He insists now he wants to move on, although he still said he wants to review this, the certificate of live birth. And I tried to hand him this copy at one point and say, here, take a look. And he said, "I don't want to look at your copy. I'll look at my own when I get home."

He's making the rounds in New Hampshire today. He sounded like a candidate. For many people, I'm skeptical myself whether this is a publicity stunt. But he says we will know by early June.

BALDWIN: Obviously, these allegations were nowhere close to reality. So, really, the next question is, is this all just a publicity stunt? Or is this getting ready for some sort of presidential campaign? What did you get from him?

KING: Well, he has in past campaign cycles suggested he's going to run for president, and then in the end, got out and used it to essentially promote his business enterprises and his reality TV show. There's no question he's trying to promote The Apprentice right now, saying he'll make one of his decisions on the final episode of The Apprentice coming up.

CNN has a Republican debate here in June coming up. And I said, well, why don't you commit to join that debate right now so I know you're serious as a candidate. He said yes. Quick pause. And then he said, "If I announce."

So, we're going to have to watch all this play out. Thankfully, Brooke, thankfully, we won't have to wait that much longer.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: John King! That looks like a pretty good interview. We'll be tuning in, 7:00 Eastern. Thank you, sir.

And we are still keeping our eye very closely on the ball there in Alabama. Cullman, Alabama where several tornadoes have touched down. We are getting word now that a natural gas line might have ruptured.

We've got to take a quick break. More on the breaking severe weather, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Back to our breaking news. Back to Cullman, Alabama. It is a frightening, frightening situation for folks on the ground.

Take a look at this video. Look at this tree! You and I looking at this for the first time here. We've just turned this video around. Obviously trees fallen, looks like a mobile home sort of twisted about.

Here's what we know. One of the hospitals -- or I should say the only hospital in this town has issued a code D, D as in disaster. They believe a tornado has hit them. We have now heard from the Freddy Day (ph) from Cullman police. Obviously reporting some of the damage in the city. You see there power crews are out trying to restore some of the power.

They say the tornado came through right about 20 minutes ago. So, this is fresh stuff. We're hearing houses -- according to the police chief, houses like this one, this is a church, some businesses damaged. There were also gas leaks in the city. This is now Waterloo, Alabama. So, multiple towns here. And the path of this, at least one tornado.

Chad Myers is there. How many reports of touchdowns do we have?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I would say we probably have right now at least six tornadoes on the ground, many of them very large. We know that a marshal grove, in Union Grove, not very far from the Cullman storm. It's a mobile home park was completely destroyed. We've been told that Hackleberg, Alabama, the downtown just had a tornado go right through Cullman storm that was on ground that did a lot of damage at the hospital is now on its way to grant, Alabama. And Phil Campbell in northwestern Alabama has a tornado on the ground just to the west of the city.

We have 25 separate pink boxes, which are all tornado warnings. Twenty-five separate tornado warnings, all with rotating super cells. All could have tornadoes on the ground at some point in their lifetime. This is a very dangerous situation. The Weather Service saying that this is possibly the biggest outbreak they have seen in many very years, and it's just started. We're just to the heat of the day now. This will continue all night long.

BALDWIN: I know it's maybe too early to tell, but are we hearing at all about folks being injured?

MYERS: Yes, there are injuries.

BALDWIN: Yes. I do want to speak with someone from that hospital. When I spoke to the emergency woman, she was telling me that's the one and only hotel (sic) in Cullman, Alabama. And if that took a hit and you have folks injured - you know, that's a recipe for disaster.

MYERS: I know we are focused on Cullman. There are many other towns that have already been hit.

BALDWIN: Waterloo, Alabama. Guntersville, Alabama. Couple of others --

MYERS: Big-time tornadoes on the ground.

BALDWIN: OK, Chad Myers. 25 tornado warnings?

MYERS: Right now. If you see a storm headed to your house today, if you're anywhere near it - if you hear it, if you see it, whatever, you need to take cover. Even if it's not a tornado, that's what happens with wind damage. And if a person was in that mobile home or in that little trailer, there's obviously going to be injuries and damage there. This is a big time problem today.

BALDWIN: We're going to stay on it. Chad Myers, stand by for me.

MYERS: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: I want to move to this. A big shuffle coming in the president's national security team. And Ben Bernanke goes where no Federal Reserve chairman has gone before. And we get a glimpse of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords as she heads off to watch her husband lift off into space.

Time to play "Reporter Roulette." And I want to begin at the Pentagon - or in Washington with Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr with some big, big changes, a big shuffle there. What is behind, Barbara, this whole national security shake up?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Defense Robert Gates made it clear, Brooke, he wanted to step down. It now looks like he will step down in June. The CIA director, Leon Panetta, will replace him. General David Petraeus will leave Afghanistan, replace Panetta at the CIA. But take his uniform off, he'll be the director of the CIA as a civilian.

BALDWIN: Who takes the job in Afghanistan?

STARR: Ah, that will be a man that not too many Americans know yet about. That is General John Allen, United States Marine Corps. Right now, he serves as the deputy at the U.S. central command. Alan, General Allen, General Petraeus, Leon Panetta, Bob Gates. These are men who know their counterparts over the world's heads of state and the heads of intelligences all over the world. A very capable team, everyone says so far, being put into place.

BALDWIN: All right. Barbara Starr, thank you.

Next on "Reporter Roulette," history is made involving the American economy. Alison Kosik is live in New York. And Alison, we had a first today! First time the chairman of the Fed ever held a news conference. What's behind this transparency? What happened today?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. Well, I've got to be honest with you, Brooke, nothing earth shattering happened. But he did speak in plain language. A lot of times people joke that these Fed chiefs kind of talk in code. Just mere fact that he's having this press conference is historic. It's the first ever press conference after an interest rate meeting.

Now, the Fed has been around almost 100 years. Think about that. And Ben Bernanke said the goal with this is to really pull back the curtain and be more transparent, let people know what the Fed is thinking. Now over the past few years, Bernanke has been getting ready for this. He's appeared twice on "60 Minutes." He even wrote an op-ed in "The Washington Post." And by the way, these pressers are going to be happening about four times a year, so he could make history at least four times a year. Brooke?

BALDWIN: Alison Kosik, thanks for that. But also, gas prices. Apparently, Chicago of all places, the most expensive spot to buy gas. How much?

KOSIK: Yes, the next time you're grumbling, think of this. You're not in Chicago. Because when you're in Chicago, you pay more for gas than in any other city in the continental U.S. You can blame taxes for it, federal, state, and local taxes. The average price you're paying in Chicago, Brooke, for a gallon of gas, $4.34. And in Honolulu, keep in mind, it's $4.46. But in Illinois, it's one of the few states where you're going to pay sales tax and then on the local level, the city also has a flat tax on gas and then on top of that, you get the tax from Cook County. So, you add it all up, Brooke, and one analyst says the privilege of living in Chicago costs you 50 to 60 cents per gallon. Lucky duck if you are in Chicago paying for that.

BALDWIN: Note to self, take the L. Take the L train. Alison, thank you.

KOSIK: There you go! Thank you.

BALDWIN: Next on "Reporter Roulette," senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen in Houston, Texas. She's back down there following the progress from Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, her trip to Kennedy Space Center. And Elizabeth, we know she was able to walk up those stairs, hop on the plane today. But is the trip - is it a wise move considering her recovery from a gunshot wound? I mean, she's still missing a piece of her skull.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Her doctors have been very clear, Brooke, that she was ready for this trip. They told me that weeks and weeks ago. They knew that she would be OK. It's a short trip. They are not letting her go for very long. The walking you saw, mostly, we're told, is not walking. She's walking short distances still. And, yes, she's missing a piece of her skull. I know that sounds crazy -- someone is traveling without a piece of their skull. But actually people do that. That piece of skull will, by the way, be replaced we're told sometime in the near future. Brooke?

BALDWIN: And also amazing, given her injuries, she's only traveling with one nurse. Isn't that right?

COHEN: Right. It's amazing. She arrived here in Houston in January with several doctors, several nurses, an air ambulance all decked out with high-tech medical equipment, and she left with just a nurse. That's it. Just that one nurse. There is no special medical equipment in this plane. It's not even an air ambulance. She will be coming back here when she comes back in the same thing, we're told. So, it really is amazing the progress she's made in just a couple of months.

BALDWIN: All of these little steps, that's all a great sign for her. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you from Texas.

And that is your "Reporter Roulette" for this Wednesday.

A woman, she is accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill her husband. But now as the trial begins, there's a bizarre twist in this case and it involves, of all things, a reality TV show.

Also, better check your credit card statements because hackers possibly making off with the personal information of more than 70 million people. Sunny Hostin is "On The Case." We'll dig into both of those, next. And we're still keeping a close eye on this tornado outbreak there. Chad was saying - and you look at the pink boxes -- 25 different tornado warnings. We're focusing here on Alabama. More on the breaking severe weather when we come back.

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BALDWIN: Breaking news. We're still following these twisters in Alabama.

Twenty-five different tornado warnings for different towns there. These are pictures of a tornado just a little while ago on the ground in Cullman, Alabama, but multiple towns here in the wake of this thing are already being damaged.

Reports of gas line damaged, reports of a twister hitting one and only hospitals in towns, folks trapped in homes. We're not going too far away from this. We have guys in the weather center working on this. We'll get to that in just a moment here.

But I do want to get to Sunny Hostin because there are two cases we want to talk about today. Number one, a bizarre twist in this murder-for-hire trial in Florida. You've heard about this.

So in the trial jurors have to decide whether this woman is a grieving newlywed who just told her husband has been murdered, a former call girl allegedly tried to hire a hit man to murder her husband or option number three, party twist stunt orchestrated by her husband an attempt to get a reality TV show.

Sunny Hostin, I see you shaking your head. This sounds like the balloon boy defense. Stage a hoax, get a reality show, right? Write this down for me.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: It really does and I've got to tell you, they've got this woman on video. They have audio of her setting up this hit, saying that she was 5,000 percent certain that she wanted her husband dead.

They have over 400 documents indicating that she tried to kill him by putting antifreeze into his iced tea and also tried to set him up to get him jailed for drug dealing. So there is all of this evidence there and I think all of us legal nerds that were watching this case to thinking how do you defend this case?

Well, now it's the reality TV defense. You know, this was all a big hoax. We just wanted our own reality TV show. I've been thinking, you know, will this work? I think it's really possible, Brooke.

You know, I speak at schools all over New York because my mother is a school teacher and often time kids now tell me, I want to be a reality TV star as opposed to lawyer, doctor, police officer, firemen, which is what I used to hear.

So maybe this will resonate with the jury. It's a real Hail Mary of a defense, but I just - we're in the reality TV era. It's possible.

BALDWIN: I'm sorry. Let me pick my jaw up off of the desk. That people want to be a reality TV show star. We'll leave it there. We'll leave it there.

HOSTIN: Yes.

BALDWIN: Case number two, someone has hacked into Sony's PlayStation networks. So now the company says that these hackers made off with personal customer information like names, billing addresses, birth dates, and maybe even credit card numbers. So how many people, Sunny, might be affected by this?

HOSTIN: Approximately 77 million. I have a PlayStation in my home. I think I may be one of those folks that was affected as well. So really hackers hit it very big.

I mean, I just say that Sony has said that there's no evidence at this point that credit card information was stolen, but it's quite possible and we know now that names, addresses, e-mail addresses were compromised. It's 77 million, Brooke.

BALDWIN: So what do you do if you're one of those 77 million and you're contacted by Sony?

HOSTIN: You know, I error on the side of caution. I think you cancel your credit cards, quite frankly, something that I'm going to do. I think you also check to see if you have I.D. theft insurance. Call that insurance company.

I think you really need to vigilantly monitor your credit cards, your e-mail account and your bank accounts. If you see any suspicious activity, you have to really call your credit card company, call your bank account. You've got to be hyper vigilant because we are in the age of identity theft.

BALDWIN: So you say take it upon yourself, but what is Sony doing to try to protect these millions of people?

HOSTIN: Well, I think many people are saying Sony did not do enough. We know that they waited six days to notify people that this was a problem.

And so, you know, there are a couple of -- there's a senator out there in Connecticut that saying, listen, Sony president, you should offer I.D. theft insurance. You should offer credit monitoring for at least two years you have to do more.

I tend to agree with him. Listen, Sony, do the right thing. You've got to protect your users.

BALDWIN: Well, people tend to listen to you, Sunny Hostin. So we'll see if that changes.

HOSTIN: I hope so.

BALDWIN: Sunny, thank you.

And last few minutes of the show, we wanted to get a full update with Chad Myers who is in the Severe Weather Center working on this multiple potentially twisters there in Alabama.

Reports of one hitting a courthouse, a hospital trapping people in their homes, this is an incredibly serious dire situation as we watch the radar. We'll get you a full update right after this break.

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BALDWIN: Back to the dire situation in Alabama. At least one, possibly, Chad Myers, a tornado is ripping through Alabama as we speak. Talk to me here in this next minute about what is happening right now on the ground.

MYERS: Right now on the ground. I know we have tornadoes in Pikinsville, Alabama near Union, just west of Union, went through Hackelberg, Alabama.

Another one Madisonville, Tennessee and Cooksville, Mississippi. A tornado went through Phil Campbell now into Courtland and that is in Alabama and also in Mt. Hope in Alabama.

So not one but like six right now on the ground, 29 pink boxes, 29 tornado warnings, which means storms are spinning enough that the weather service thinks a tornado could fall out and I know we have spotters on some of them saying, no, that's not just possible. It's on the ground, we see it right now.

BALDWIN: And as you're talking to me, giving me that update, I'm looking over my shoulder, checking my e-mail. We do have an update from that hospital, that one hospital that was hit apparently by this tornado.

I'm going to give you that update. Chad and I will talk about that on the other side of the break. Be right back.

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BALDWIN: I want to talk more about Alabama and the dire situation there. Talking to Chad Myers at the commercial break, he was telling me there is literally debris raining down from the sky over towns that haven't even seen tornadoes.

The tornadoes in other towns are just that strong. This is a picture of the tornado hitting the ground in Cullman, Alabama and speaking of this particular town. I do have an update for you on the one and only hospital in the town that apparently was hit by this thing.

One of the women who work at a restaurant inside the hospital says everything at the hospital is fine she says, but the hospital is going on a back-up generator power right now. She did step outside and said there were items that fell from the roof. But for the most part, no actual building damage so that is good news. But we cannot just focus on this one town, Chad Myers, because there were multiple towns in Alabama feeling this thing.

MYERS: When this storm was over at Cullman, it wasn't a very big tornado. It got much bigger.

BALDWIN: Is that how it works? It just gains strength and increasingly that moves along.

MYERS: It can until it encounters something that will slow it down. These big giant super cells are all by themselves. When another one comes near it, the wind kind of mixes it up like battling tops and one falls down.

They are not as big, but this thing, when you talk about debris, falling 50 miles from where the tornado is, that means the tornado picked up the debris, threw it up in the sky and then threw it out and it's raining on other towns. People's stuff is landing in towns 10, 15 miles away.

BALDWIN: I have never heard of that, 15 miles away. Chad Myers, thank you so much. We're thinking of all of those folks in Alabama.

That is it for us though here in Atlanta. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Wolf Blitzer now in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Wolf.