Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Viewing Osama bin Laden Photos; Violence Against Protesters in Yemen; President Obama Wants to Extend Term of FBI Director

Aired May 12, 2011 - 12:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Want to get you up to speed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR CHUCK CARIKER, TUNICA, MISSISSIPPI: And you see actually the water up to the front doors and over the houses. It's pretty devastating. This is these people's homes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: An hour south of Memphis, the mayor of Tunica, Mississippi, gets a look at heartbreaking scenes. Floodwaters from the Mississippi River have forced 600 people from their homes now. High water has also cut off the town's economic lifeline. All nine of Tunica's casinos, closed.

Our CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano talked with a resident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LES SHERWIN, TUNICA FLOOD VICTIM: It's a day-by-day situation which nobody can hurry, nobody can speed it up. We have to live until the water recedes to see what we have left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And double trouble. Down river, at Vicksburg, that is where the Yazoo River empties into the Mississippi. Now, city officials think that the two rivers will cause an epic flood, the likes of which Vicksburg has not seen since 1927.

Osama bin Laden's personal diary. U.S. officials call it al Qaeda's playbook.

The journal, apparently handwritten by bin Laden, shows that he did leave his compound on occasion to meet with other terrorists. Bin Laden's notebook encourages his followers to target smaller U.S. cities, but he also says another attack on the scale of 9/11 would be necessary to drive U.S. forces out of the Middle East.

Two terror suspects are expected in court in Manhattan today. Law enforcement sources say that the pair planned an attack on a synagogue and had purchased three or four guns and a hand grenade. Now, sources call these men lone wolves, not part of an organized terror operation.

Well, with gas at $4 a gallon around the country, five top oil company execs told Congress today, don't blame us. They point to world events, weather, speculators, those type of things. But some in Congress, they want to kill billions in tax breaks for big oil.

But one CEO says they already pay enough taxes and killing the subsidies would be "un-American."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES MULVA, CEO, CONOCOPHILLIPS: For our company, we earned $11.4 billion last year. And we paid $8.3 billion in income taxes, as well as $3.1 billion in other taxes. So our total taxes paid actually equaled or income. So any fair-minded person would likely agree that we paid our full share.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Top five oil companies report their combined first quarter profits came in at $35 billion.

Celebrations in Misrata, Libya. A spokesman for the opposition's political leadership says that after two months of fighting, all of Misrata has been liberated from government control. But rebel fighters, not the government, say that that's not quite accurate, that Libyan troops still hold the city's eastern gate. Representatives of the Libyan opposition will be at the White House tomorrow to meet with senior administration officials.

At least 13 people are dead in the latest round of bloodshed. This, happening in Yemen.

(GUNFIRE)

MALVEAUX: Anti-government activists tell CNN Yemeni security forces used live ammunition on protesters in Sanaa and Taiz. Doctors say 169 people are wounded, some critically. They expect that the death toll is going to rise.

A Nazi war crimes prosecution that spanned three decades ended today with a guilty verdict. A German court sentenced former Cleveland autoworker John Demjanjuk to five years in prison. Judges say Demjanjuk, now 91, worked as a Nazi death camp guard. He helped send almost 28,000 Jews to their deaths during the Holocaust. He is out of jail today while he appeals the conviction.

Well, golfer Tiger Woods pulled out of the players championship tournament in Florida today. It is the second straight year he has had to withdraw.

Now, this time he blamed a knee injury that left him limping on the course. Last year it was neck pain. He finished nine holes today, 6 over par.

Want to bring back Carol Costello with our "Talk Back" question of the day. One of the big stories of the day, oil executives testifying on Capitol Hill about tax breaks that their companies are getting. The question today: Should high profits equal higher taxes?

Carol, what you got?

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's an intriguing question, you know, but we've seen this movie before, haven't we, politicians, playing off public anger, confront the villains in a televised lashing? No, they're not the fat cats of Wall Street, but the guys who run big oil, five companies that raked in a combined $34 billion in profits already this year, while gas prices skyrocketed. Democrats want to end $21 billion in tax breaks for oil companies over 10 years.

Well, things got ugly when oil giant ConocoPhillips called the Democratic proposal "un-American."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D), NEW JERSEY: For ConocoPhillips to question the patriotism of those public officials who believe that they do not deserve billions of dollars in wasteful subsidies is simply beyond the pale, and I expect an apology.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: He's still waiting because there was no apology, just some dripping sarcasm on the floors of Congress today like the dog and pony chart from Republican Orrin Hatch.

And about those profits, the oil industry says it only earns 5.5 cents on every dollar it sells, and its taxes are way higher than its competitors overseas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REX TILLERSON, EXXON MOBIL CEO: Increasing these companies' taxes would only discriminate against certain U.S. workers and make our companies less competitive against others who are in the same business that we are in, and discourage future energy investment in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And guess what? Eliminating the tax breaks will not lower gas prices. And what about good old-fashioned capitalism? Even Democrat Max Baucus says that businesses making profit is the American way.

So, with all this in mind, why should five big oil companies be singled out and penalized?

So, the "Talk Back" question today: Oil companies: Should high profits equal higher taxes?

Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your comments later this hour.

MALVEAUX: OK. Looking forward to it, Carol.

COSTELLO: Sure.

MALVEAUX: Thanks.

Here's a look at what's ahead "On the Rundown" this hour.

First, bracing for a disaster. I'm going to talk with a small business owner who makes his living off the Mississippi River.

And a watery domino effect, how other rivers are being affected as floodwaters are surging downstream.

Then, will the private life of Newt Gingrich pose a challenge as he runs for president?

And finally, alarming numbers from the United Nations. About a third of all food produced worldwide is either lost or wasted.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The White House will not release them to the public, but selected members of Congress are being allowed to see the photos of Osama bin Laden's corpse. One lawmaker described the pictures as pretty gruesome.

Florida Congressman Tom Rooney is a member of the House Armed Services and Intelligence Committee, and he got a chance to see these pictures just a little while ago.

Congressman Rooney, thank you for joining us here from Capitol Hill.

First of all, tell us, what did you see?

REP. TOM ROONEY (R), FLORIDA: Well, we saw about eight to 10 pictures of bin Laden after he had been shot, and also on the boat where they buried him at sea. There was a couple pictures at the beginning where they were juxtaposing his face after he had been shot with an older photo to sort of show comparisons to the nose, ear, eyebrow, cheek, and distinguishing marks, but you didn't really need them. I mean, you could tell just by looking at the picture it was bin Laden.

So they were pretty gory though. I mean, half his head was blown off and -- but it was -- it was what it was. It's part of our job as oversight on the Intelligence Committee to make sure that the administration is saying all the things that they're saying are true. And, you know, I was pretty satisfied with the fact that those pictures did represent what the administration's been saying.

MALVEAUX: When you saw the comparisons between the old photo of him alive and dead, how did you know? How were you able to tell that that actually was bin Laden?

ROONEY: They show a specific diagram through digital markings of his nose feature, his mouth, his ears from the side, his eyebrows, cheekbone, and some distinguishing marks he had on his face. But you really didn't need to be any kind of expert without all those comparative photos. When you looked at just the next page of photos, are just bin Laden after he had been shot, and you can obviously tell that it's him, aside from the gunshot wound.

MALVEAUX: Congressman, before you saw these pictures you were leaning -- you said you were leaning against airing them to the public, showing the public. Now, seeing these photos, do you think these are the kinds of pictures that the American people should see?

ROONEY: Eventually. I think that, you know, maybe not all of them. Certainly, there are some that are worse than others when you're looking at them from different angles.

You can see a lot more than you probably would want to release for children to be able to look at. But there are a couple pictures that probably, eventually, after there's been a cooldown period in the Middle East, and our engagement over there, over time I think it might be appropriate.

But right now, I really think that if it would inflame anybody to want to do harm to one of our soldiers over there -- I mean, how could you explain that to a soldier's parent, that they had been killed because an infuriated crowd rushed them after these photos had been released? That's just something that I don't think would be acceptable at this point.

MALVEAUX: Were there any kinds of things that you had to go through to make sure that these photos, these images weren't captured? For instance, did you have to put away your BlackBerry, your cell phones? Do they take those kind of measures, precautionary measures, so that nobody can actually take these images away out of that room?

ROONEY: Yes. Well, I've been to the CIA building before, and I know not to even try to bring a cell phone in there before. It's kind of like going through an airport. When you go through there, you have to take out all of your electronic devices. But then, unlike the airport, you have to leave them with the front desk.

So this time when I went in I just left my phone in my car. And you go into a secure room. There's some CIA officials there that are explaining to you what you are looking at, and are there to answer any questions. But they'll give you -- the pictures were in kind of like plastic covers in a three-ring binder. And we sat there, myself and another member from the Democratic side of the aisle, sat there, looked through the photographs, asked some questions of the CIA, and then left through the same -- out of the secure room and back out through the front door.

MALVEAUX: And Congressman, do you find it kind of odd -- you were in Pakistan recently. You were about 30 miles from where bin Laden was found, in the hideaway, so to speak.

ROONEY: Right. MALVEAUX: Two weeks ago you were there as part of a congressional delegation. Did you have any idea that there was anything remotely different going on, or suspect even?

ROONEY: No, but we did get a chance to meet a lot of the people in Peshawar and in Islamabad who are helping and working with us, and members of our armed services and Special Forces and the like, that may have been involved. I'm not sure. I probably will never know that.

But it was very interesting to get back, and then a couple days later to find out that we were just in that same exact area. But Pakistan, as I said when I got back, is extremely volatile. We don't really know who's in charge there, whether it is the military or the prime minister.

They have nuclear weapons. They're constantly in distrust of India. They're worried about Afghanistan being too successful. So it's definitely a tinderbox there, and we have got to be very careful how we move forward.

MALVEAUX: All right. Congressman Rooney, thank you so much for your time and your insights. We really appreciate it.

ROONEY: Thanks, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Along the lower Mississippi River, they are waiting now for a flood crest that could break all records. We're going to go live to Vicksburg, Mississippi. That is where homes, businesses are already under water.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: All weekend Yemen security forces have been trying to beat back the protesters with bullets, firing machine guns into the air to break up rallies across the country's leader. That is to actually oust him, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Doctors on the scene say so far 169 are injured. Activists say the death toll is at least 13. The standoff, only intensifying.

Our Michael Holmes is going behind the headlines with the worsening situation that is in Yemen.

And we have seen this standoff three months now, back and forth, back and forth. What is the state of play now? Why is this such a critical time?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, right, it's just dragging on and on, and we're not seeing any real developments. Don't hold your breath for a resolution either.

You've got the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council on his way to the capital, Sanaa, this weekend, to try to revive the deal that we've heard before which requires Saleh to step down, hoping to quiet these protests. You know, to be a diplomatic feat, to be honest.

The same deal died on arrival about a month ago, and Saleh refused to sign off. And you've got mutual distrust among all sides of this conflict. Nobody trusts anyone over there, and that's going to make a political deal difficult.

You know, let's remember he's been in power for three decades, but there's no hope of peace without him out of the picture, of course. But then, again, he says if he goes, al Qaeda will step in the door.

MALVEAUX: So, Michael, what are we looking at tomorrow? It's the traditional Friday Muslim prayers, day of prayer. Could this become a lot bloodier?

HOLMES: You know, it is, you're right. The protesters have been out there for months now. They've been witnessing a lot of brutal violence but have stood their ground.

You are absolutely right. I mean, we will see some intense protests in Yemen tomorrow, there's no doubt about that. But let's remember, the security forces opened fire on protesters, as you were saying, just yesterday. Dozens of people were wounded, so not a great climate for talks.

MALVEAUX: And then you talk about the poverty that is in Yemen as well. I mean, that must really complicate things.

HOLMES: It plays into this very, very importantly. You know, when you look at the big picture of Yemen, you've got a country that is the poorest in the Middle East, one of the poorest in the world. The World Bank says that it is one of the most -- they call it water scarce countries in the world.

It is literally running out of water, and the people know it, and that creates its own dynamic as well of violence. There's been fighting over water.

It's also running out of oil reserves. It's got only 10 years, probably, and they're going to be depleted. And oil makes up 90 percent of Yemen's export earnings.

Not a pretty picture. You've got food prices skyrocketing. That in itself can cause deadly riots as well.

According to U.N. figures, 45 percent of the population living on less than $2 a day. So, you know, when you get beyond the physical violence, the people of Yemen are staring down the threat of starvation. Long story short, it's hard to see a happy ending anytime soon.

MALVEAUX: All right. Michael, thanks for putting it into perspective.

HOLMES: Good to see you.

MALVEAUX: Obviously, we have got to keep a close eye on what's happening in Yemen.

HOLMES: Yes. You've still got Yemen and Bahrain. They're all going on out there.

MALVEAUX: OK. Thanks, Michael. Appreciate it.

Well, "CNN In Depth: Troubled Waters." In Vicksburg, Mississippi, they still talk about the great flood of 1927. Well, now a new benchmark. The latest flooding is expected to set a record.

Austin Golding is with us from Vicksburg. His family is in the barge line business. They make their living of the river, but their business is surrounded by water.

Austin, so good to have you. I know that you and your family are watching this situation very, very closely. How is this flooding impacting you?

AUSTIN GOLDING, GOLDING BARGE LINE: Well, I'll tell you, this water is unprecedented. The level of the water has really proved to be a hindrance for our industry and our town, and the communities along it, for sure. It's the flood of a generation.

MALVEAUX: And are you actually seeing any flooding affecting the barges now?

GOLDING: We're still operating the barges as we speak, but there are quite a lot of hurdles with infrastructure that's been overrun with the high water, and terminals and different facilities that are out of commission because of the high water and the levels that they were normally prepared to operate at.

MALVEAUX: I know this is a family business, this has been generation and generation, grandfather, father, yourself here. The casinos in the area, I mean, how is your family -- how are you preparing for this?

GOLDING: Well, we prepared for a crest at 53.5 feet a couple weeks ago, and then last Monday, when they increased the crest to 57.5, not only us, but the casinos and the rest of the town braced for what will be the highest water in modern history to ever come through Vicksburg. Lots of sandbagging, lots of people moving out, lots of relocating. This town has really done a great job of pulling together and preparing for this flood.

MALVEAUX: How are you personally doing? How's it going for you?

GOLDING: One more time?

MALVEAUX: I'm sorry. How are you doing? How are you holding up?

GOLDING: I'm doing pretty well. It's been pretty chaotic.

We're having to make lots of adjustments. We're kind of in a reactive mode now. So we went from being very proactive, but now it's here, and now we have to react and operate as if nothing was happening. Of course it is. So it's been very difficult, but we're going to pull together and we're going to get through this.

MALVEAUX: All right. Well, we wish you the very best. Obviously, we'll be keeping up with you. Please keep us posted on how things develop in the next couple of days and weeks.

Thanks again.

We've got some breaking news. Want to go directly to the White House with Ed Henry on some news that is coming out of the White House.

Ed, what are you working on? What are we learning?

ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, the White House just announcing that President Obama now plans to extend the term of FBI Director Robert Mueller. He's going to propose this to Congress, extend it by two years. As you know, the FBI director has a 10-year term, aimed at making sure that the job is above politics, so it bridges and overlaps administrations, both Republican and Democratic administrations.

You'll remember President Bush first nominated Robert Mueller in 2001. He was sworn in right before 9/11.

President Obama saying in a statement we've just gotten that Mueller is "a steady hand that has guided the bureau as it confronts our most serious threats. I am grateful for his leadership and ask Democrats and Republicans in Congress to join together in extending that leadership for the sake of our nation's safety and security."

To underscore that, just days after the killing of Osama bin Laden, obviously, coming up in a few months on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, FBI director, that job right in the middle of keeping the nation secure, overseeing counterterrorism, and also overseeing all kinds of criminal cases, not just terror, but all around the country. Bottom line is this is a sign that the White House was struggling to find someone to get the right person to take this 10-year job, something that's got to be -- obviously, you've got to get it through Congress as well, get the Senate to confirm this nominee. They had been struggling to find the right person.

We'll see whether or not Democrats and Republicans on the Hill -- while Bob Mueller is a very popular person, has deep ties in both parties, it will be interesting to see whether the Senate has the appetite to have him stay on for two more years, or whether they want some new blood at the FBI -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Ed Henry, thank you for the breaking news there.

High prices at the pump. High profits for oil companies. A look at how much more you're actually paying to fill up.

But oil companies and their executives, what are they saying? It's not their fault.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Oil company executives called on the carpet over huge profits and high gas prices, but the executives, they're fighting back against a proposal to eliminate tax breaks for the top five oil companies. At the heart of the matter, the price that you are paying to fill your tank.

AAA says the natural average is $3.98 a gallon. At the same time, oil companies raked in billions in profits during the first quarter of this year.

Our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash is following the hearing on Capitol Hill, where the oil company bosses are testifying. And Alison Kosik, she has more on the rise in the gas prices.

Want to start off with Dana.

Dana, good to see you. The oil company bigwigs, if you will, seem to be telling Congress, don't pick on us.

What are they saying?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly what they're doing, and they're saying it in very blunt and very combative terms saying, look, even though they get some tax breaks, they pay more taxes than anybody else, much higher. They say that this plan to eliminate their subsidies is anti-competitive and discriminatory. Listen to what one of the CEOs said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES MULVA, CEO & CHAIRMAN, CONOCO PHILLIPS: Raising taxes will lead to less investment, less production, and most likely higher cost per gallon and less employment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: That pretty much sums up what we heard from most of the CEOs testifying. As for Democrats who are pushing this legislation, and of course, pushed this hearing, they admit, Suzanne, that this legislation would not lower gas prices. Their main focus today was on the question of fairness and the idea that if this bill would save about $21 billion over ten years, and that would go to deficit reduction.

So, one of the things Democrats were pressing them on was again fairness and the question of whether or not they should be getting tax subsidies when Congress has to make some pretty tough decisions about other things. Listen to this exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Do you think that your subsidy is more important than the financial aid we give to students to go to college? Could you answer that yes or no?

MULVA: Well that's a very difficult question for me -- two different, totally different, questions.

SCHUMER: But we have to weigh those two things, Mr. Mulva. We have to weigh it because we have to get the deficit down to a certain level.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now it's not a secret why the Democrats are pushing this as part of a deficit reduction message and plan because they're trying to force the Republicans to say, look, we not only don't want to vote to get rid of these subsidies for oil companies, but we're going to vote not to reduce the deficit by this big chunk of change.

MALVEUAX: So, Dana, is there anything that you think going to come out of the hearings besides this kind of political theater that we're seeing?

BASH: Look, there is going to be a vote next week on this bill, and we do not think that there is pretty much any chance that it is going to pass. In fact, Democrats admit that. Not only are Republicans against it, but we heard some pretty strong stuff, Suzanne, from some Democrats from oil producing states say they agree with Republicans that this is just unfair, it is singling out not only one sector but five companies in one sector, which is really not the right way to go.

So, the answer is no, this is not likely to go anywhere at all and Democrats very much are pretty candid about the fact that this is a political strategy they are pushing with the legislation, of course, with as you put it, the theater of this hearing today.

MALVEAUX: All right. Dana Bash. Thank you, Dana.

Now want to talk about how much gas prices have gone up recently and why. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange with some answers to our questions. Alison, we are looking at what? $3.98 today? A lot of people feeling like this recent jump came out of nowhere. Have you seen signs this is actually true?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It does feel that way. It is actually true. You know, it really was a fast and furious increase, and I wanted to go ahead show you exactly when we saw these gas prices spike.

I want to show you this chart that we put together here for you. Look at red line. That represents gas. If you look all the way to the left of the chart, you'll see that gas prices around this time last year were at $2.80 a gallon. After that, we saw a steady increase in gas prices. Then boom! A big uptick beginning in February. Because what happened? All those Mideast tensions came to a head. The unrest in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya. And worried that it would spread to big oil producing countries, that really rose the price of crude oil. And that's where the yellow line comes in. That's crude oil, and it generally moves right in lock step with gas. But notice the big drop in oil right at the end of the chart. That's around where we are now. And the drop in crude hasn't followed through yet to the gas pump right now. Oil prices overall have fallen $16 in the past two weeks.

But Suzanne, keep in mind, it generally takes a few weeks to trickle down and get to the gas pump where we actually see it for our wallets.

MALVEAUX: Alison, you mentioned the lag between the oil and gas prices. How low do the oil prices need to get before we actually see a significant drop in the gas prices?

KOSIK: OK. So, the best way to answer that is to give you a comparison. Because right now, you said the national average is somewhere around $3.98. And to get become below three bucks, you got to compare this time to last year in May. So in May, oil was at $75 a barrel last year, gas was at $2.85.

But the thing is, these oil prices have to stay at these low levels to really see a true translation that will stick at the pump. And keep in mind, gas prices are historically higher in the summer which we're getting into, because it is more expensive to produce the cleaner burning formula. Winter-grade gas, on the other hand, is a little cheaper.

So, this is why this one oil analyst I spoke with earlier says in part you will awe's see gas prices really drop of by the fall in part because this winter-grade gas is cheaper. And of course we could see this drop-off in gas prices, assuming that no big international crisis develops. Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: OK. We won't hold our breath on that one.

KOSIK: A lot of ifs. I know, a lot of ifs. Sorry.

MALVEAUX: That's OK. Could be good news. We'll see how it the news plays out. Thanks, Alison. Appreciate it.

Another reminder for our "Choose the News" contenders. Vote by texting 22360. Text 1 for "Mocking the Military." Residents in Abottabad are now ridiculing the soldiers stationed in the Pakistani city after Osama Bin Laden was found living there. Text 2 for "Owner and Informant." New reports now show the late George Steinbrenner not only owned the New York Yankees. He was also an FBI informant. Text 3 for "Diana Movie Controversy." New images of Diana's death now featured in a movie drawing a lot of criticism. Winning story will air later this hour.

Well, confessed cheating husband who's on his third marriage. Can he represent American values? Former House speaker Newt Gingrich in the race for president. How his messy private life could figure into the campaign.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEEAUX: Unfaithful to at least one of his three wives, can he be trusted to lead the country? Well, that's the question many are asking now that Newt Gingrich is officially in the race for president. Our Joe Johns reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Newt Gingrich's private life has been messy. He's on his third marriage. He's had two divorces. He's also had affairs. He admits one of those affairs was going on right around the time he, as Speaker of the House, was helping impeach then-president Bill Clinton for lying about cheating on his wife with Monica Lewinsky. At the time, Gingrich and others accused Clinton of trying to hide the truth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: The most systematic, deliberate obstruction of justice, cover-up effort to avoid the truth we have ever seen in American history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Now the former speaker wants Clinton's old job, and Gingrich is seemingly an open book. He's confessed his cheating, endured a series of excruciating interviews about his private life and spent long hours talking to conservatives, especially in places like Iowa, about how and why he's a different man. He's talked about it on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: There's no question that at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and that things happened in my life that were not appropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: He even brags now about how great this third marriage is with his current wife, Calista, who he's been married to for about a decade. He even became a Catholic for her.

But conservatives like Richard Land of the influential Southern Baptist Convention say the skeletons in Gingrich's closet have not been cleared out.

RICHARD LAND, SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION: There is an implacable wall of opposition among evangelical women. A large percentage of the men are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and say, OK, he's changed, we believe in forgiveness and redemption. And the women say, well, we may forgive him. We believe in redemption. But we don't trust him.

JOHNS: Rich Galen who worked for Gingrich for years says the big challenge would come in a place like South Carolina, one of the first primary states where committed evangelicals and other social conservatives have seen plenty of political scandal and don't like it a bit.

RICH GALEN, FORMER GINGRICH PRESS SECRETARY: If he wins or loses an important state like, let's say South Carolina, by a very little bit, then I think you can say, well, if it hadn't been for that, he would have won.

JOHNS: Land says Gingrich needs to give a big speech early on to try to put the issue to rest.

LAND: He's got to imagine that the person he's talking to is an evangelical woman who is sitting across from him, and he's going to have to convince her that he's truly sorry.

JOHNS: Tough crowd, tough hill to climb for a former speaker of the House with a messy record in marriage.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Our Joe Johns is with us live from Washington. Joe, great to see you.

One question for you -- if Gingrich has a lot of other issues that are surrounding his candidacy, do we think that anybody is going to really focus on the messy marriages? Is that going to be the deciding factor for primary voters?

JOHNS: You know, I talked to Rich Galen about that and he says Newt Gingrich's biggest problem when you look at it in totality is message control. He tends to talk too much. He has a lot of flourishes when he gets bored, saying the same old thing. And that's the kind of situation that leads to confusion and controversy among voters. So, he has to work on that.

And probably the other half of it is when he was on Capitol Hill he wasn't always known as the best manager of people, which could become a problem in a long campaign, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Joe, excellent report. Thanks. Good to see you as always.

American high school students now rank a dismal 25th in math and 17th in science among industrialized nations. And one way to try to turn it around -- a huge robotics competition. Our CNN special correspondent Soledad O'Brien takes us inside.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a robotics competition that brings 50,000 high school students into stadiums across the country. The purpose is to inspire kids to take challenging math and science classes to prepare them for the high-tech jobs of the future. It is what American public schools often fail to do.

ANRE DUNCAN, U.S. EDUCATION SECRETARY: We basically had a 19th century model of education that is not preparing enough young people to be successful in the 21st century global economy.

O'BRIEN: Among this year's competitors, Maria Castro, Brian Whitehead, Shawn Patel.

MARIA CASTRO, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: I want to become a solar engineer and go to Stanford university.

O'BRIEN: Junior Maria Castro is a student at the mostly Latino Carl Haden high school in Phoenix, Arizona. The average family here makes less than $30,000 a year.

Guitar player Brian Whitehead is from middle class Seymour, Tennessee.

O'BRIEN (on camera): Are there classes that you are not able to take because they're not offered in the school that you'd like to take?

BRIAN WHITEHEAD, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: Well, I guess any AP classes at all.

O'BRIEN: Sophomore Shawn Patel is from upper middle class Montgomery, New Jersey. The son of Indian immigrants, Shawn is already taking two AP classes, which leaves him little time for his favorite hobby, dancing.

SHAWN PATEL, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: I'm taking pre-req (ph) honors, Spanish 4, AP U.S. history 1, AP statistics, English honors and chemistry honors.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Our CNN documentary "DON'T FAIL ME: EDUCATION IN AMERICA" examines the crisis in public education and why America's financial future is at risk if our students can't excel in math and science. Don't miss the full report from our Soledad O'Brien when it premieres Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: In 2012, the Democrats will hold their national convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Now that town beat out St. Louis, Minneapolis and Cleveland. CNN's Tom Foreman reports in "Building Up America," the win is a huge economic boost for Charlotte at a much needed time.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Suzanne.

People here in North Carolina were absolutely thrilled when they heard that they had won the Democratic National Convention for 2012. And next year when all those conventioneers start showing up, they are convinced that everyone here will benefit no matter their political persuasion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN (voice-over): Charlotte's hockey team is in the playoffs, but the sign overhead says what everyone knows -- the hottest game in this arena is the coming Democratic convention. All over town, new places are opening, old ones are polishing up, and from his office high above it all --

MAYOR ANTHONY FOXX (D), CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA: This is a stage unlike any other one.

FOREMAN: Mayor Anthony Foxx hears opportunity knocking.

FOXX: It's a pretty aggressive move to go after a convention in the middle of a recession. I mean that doesn't happen in every city.

FOREMAN (on camera): You think it sends a signal --

FOXX: Yes.

FOREMAN: For all sorts of businesses.

FOXX: They're saying Charlotte's growing, Charlotte's progressing, Charlotte's getting ready to even be bigger and better than it already is.

FOREMAN (voice-over): They say the convention will draw 35,000 visitors who will spend up to $200 million on restaurants, hotels and attractions. But local leaders believe the real value goes far beyond that. Beyond politics.

DR. DAN MURREY, EXEC. DIR., HOST COMMITTEE: Part of what we're going to be able to show is not only how well we do in the hospitality aspect, but also how well we function as a community.

FOREMAN: So the city is touting improvements to transit, education, the business climate and quality of life. And it's already working. Some old, stalled projects have started up again and new ones are appearing. The energy giant Siemens, for example, is expanding its huge turbine plant here by 1,000 jobs.

MARK PRINGLE, SIEMENS: Oh, I would say a great -- a vast majority of them. I would say 80 percent of the people we hire will be from the local community.

FOXX: I just think there's a ripple effect of this that's going to go on for decades.

FOREMAN: Building up this town long after the conventioneers go home.

(END VIDEOTAPE) FOREMAN: What you hear so many folks here say is, look, this isn't about Democrats or Republicans, this is about a big event, like the Super Bowl or the Final Four. They believe that is the real value of hosting one of these conventions. And in a difficult time, that's the very reason they're betting on it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We're getting a lot of responses to our "Talk Back" question. Oil executives are on Capitol Hill right now testifying about tax breaks that their companies get. And our Carol Costello is here with the responses. Lots of hot (ph) ones.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lots of responses. That's right. The "Talk Back" question today, oil companies, should high profits mean higher taxes?

This from Adam. "People think that drilling domestically will solve the problem. It won't. As long as domestic oil is thrown into the market with OPEC, it's not supply and demand causing issues, it's the way it's bought and sold. We're being fleeced to the tune of billions by Wall Street."

This from Joseph. "No, that's just class warfare and this is why companies are leaving America. No wonder gas prices are going up. Every company should pay a flat tax. Democrats will lead us into a poor, nonproductive state."

This from C. Alex. "Why don't we just ignore big oil all together and invest in alternative energies. Oh, right, because big oil and other large corporations own our government."

And this from Jacqueline. "I don't know who angers me more, the oil companies who think that I as a barely surviving taxpayer should pay extra taxes to provide them with subsidies or the politicians who get in front of a camera and perform like they're looking out for my best interest, and then go laugh about it over drinks with the oil guys they were just grilling on TV."

Continue the conversation, facebook.com/carolcnn. And, as always, thank you for your comments.

MALVEAUX: Great stuff, Carol, thanks.

COSTELLO: Good stuff today.

MALVEAUX: All right. See you tomorrow.

You told us what you wanted to see. "Choose The News" story just moments away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: You told us the story you wanted to see. Here's your "Choose The News" winner. Many people in the town where bin Laden had been living for years, they're angry now at their own military. They tell CNN's Nick Paton Walsh that they're embarrassed that the army didn't seem to know that he was living among them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Don't sound your horn, the joke goes here, the army's sleeping. It's a popular text message sent around the military town that didn't know the world's most wanted man was living nearby.

BILAL SADIQUE, BUSINESSMAN: They are sleeping. I do (INAUDIBLE) their activities were the responsibility of this (INAUDIBLE) these people.

WALSH: Anger now at the army who are uncomfortably in the spotlight.

WALSH (on camera): The military don't like being filmed at the best of times, especially now, partly, I think, due to an embarrassment that bin Laden was found here in the middle of this garrison town. The army likes to see themselves as the backbone of this often crumbling society. There where the money and power is. But many here in Abbottabad are furious with the military that they let the bin Laden incident happen at all.

WALSH (voice-over): Even if you are among the locals who don't believe bin Laden was ever here, there's still reason to beat the army. The bits left behind of the American helicopters that the army's radars apparently didn't see as they flew into the heart of a town considered Pakistan's West Point.

Another text message doing the rounds has the Pakistani radar for sale. It doesn't detect American helicopters, it jokes, but can get satellite TV.

One senior community leader voiced his anger at an army that he claims normally does America's bidding. Something the army denies.

BABA HAIDAR ZAMAN, SENIOR TOWN ELDER: There are three centers of army in the surrounding area, and an academy from where all armed personnel are trained. Within this limit, the house has been found and as they say the person has been killed. It doesn't seem logical. It does not seem good.

WALSH (on camera): Should the Pakistani army be embarrassed?

ZAMAN: It is the incompetency and the sheer negligence is lying on the part of the army. Right. If it is proved, then Pakistan army must have protected its boundary and the operation made by the Americans itself, it is against the interest of the Pakistani nation and Pakistan.

WALSH (voice-over): The graffiti, this one saying a somber (ph) town. Abbottabad is painted over, as this, bin Laden's name. But the questions remain over the Pakistani army, over what they knew and how ready they were when the helicopters flying over Abbottabad weren't like these Pakistani but American.

Nick Paton-Walsh, CNN, Abbottabad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: If your choice did not win or you just want to check out the runners up, I'll have links to them on my page at facebook.com/suzannecnn.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Randi Kaye.