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No Presidential Run for Donald Trump; Mississippi Flooding

Aired May 16, 2011 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Look, it was fun while it lasted, but Donald Trump said today he will not -- I repeat -- will not be running for president. Just a short time ago, the Donald released a statement saying he would have won the Republican nomination and beaten the president as well, but he suggested he would have run -- quote, unquote -- "halfheartedly" because he would rather remain in business.

And in the flood of recent interviews, Trump challenged the president's birthplace, after which President Obama produced his birth certificate. Trump also said the president -- quote -- "doesn't know what he is doing" -- end quote -- and charged that the world has lost respect for America because we are not tough enough.

He suggested he would force concession from China and could lower the cost of gasoline with a single call to Saudi Arabia, but none of that is to be.

Gloria Borger standing by for me now from Washington, our senior political analyst.

And, Gloria, here is one of the -- one question I have for you. Did the Republicans in the race actually consider Trump to be a real factor here, or did they, like so many people I have been hearing from this afternoon on Twitter, think, look, this was such a publicity stunt?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I think they thought it was a real publicity stunt, but then when they saw him going up in the polls before the whole birther thing was denounced by Barack Obama, before Barack Obama put out his birth certificate, they actually started to take him a little bit more seriously.

I was talking to a senior Republican strategist today who said to me this whole Trump episode is what he called one of the most bizarre vignettes in American politics. And I think, in the end, that is the way we kind of all looked at it. There was a vacuum in the Republican race. It was getting kind of boring, had not really started. Sarah Palin clearly was not that interested in running.

And, suddenly, the Donald jumps in. So it was this perfect storm, if you will. And of course, we could not resist covering it ourselves, right?

BALDWIN: I know. Guilty as charged. BORGER: Me, too.

BALDWIN: Many, many in the media, we did it.

But you mentioned his poll numbers. And it is possible, is it not, that Trump was -- he is a serious businessman, right, so he is thinking business. And he takes a look at his poll numbers like these -- we pulled a couple poll numbers we are just sort of revisiting here.

One of questions, can Trump manage the economy effectively? Thirty-seven percent, yes, 60 percent no. Next one, is Trump in touch with Americans? -- 26 percent yes, 73 percent no. And then the next one, is Trump honest trustworthy? -- 34 percent yes, 61 percent no.

One more, is Trump a person you admire? -- 32 percent yes, 68 no. So was it a case that whatever Trump was selling, Gloria, it just seems Americans were not buying it?

BORGER: Right. And I think originally, among Republican voters, there was kind of an interest in him, particularly among a certain constituency who didn't like Barack Obama very much who is willing to believe anything about Barack Obama.

And then what we saw happen was really interesting, which was that after this whole birth certificate episode, among Republicans, his polls started dropping. And...

BALDWIN: Because they say he hijacked the conversation.

BORGER: He hijacked the conversation. The polls among Republicans were dropping. And I was told by a Republican strategist today who said that Trump's own internal polling was dropping worse than the polls that we saw.

And we saw polls that said six of 10 Republicans didn't think he should be -- had an unfavorable view of him. So I think this whole birther episode really backfired against him, particularly after the president produced his birth certificate. And people started taking a second look at him, saying, wait a minute. Is he serious or does he just want to raise the ratings for "Celebrity Apprentice"?

And, by the way, today, where did he announce that he was not going to run for president, but at an up-front session for NBC for advertisers who were about to buy ads maybe on "Celebrity Apprentice."

BALDWIN: Upon which we have also learned that there will be another season.

BORGER: Yes.

BALDWIN: You mentioned taking a second look at Donald Trump. Clearly, the guy loves publicity. But when you look at a presidential race, can we say scrutiny, right, to the nth degree, and maybe that is something that he did not want to deal with. BORGER: Well, I think all presidential candidates, anyone who has ever run for any political office will tell you that the scrutiny is something they would never have imagined, particularly at the presidential level.

Donald Trump is fond of telling us that he is worth, what, $7 billion. I think you can be sure that once he had to file with the Election Commission and all the rest, that people would have been going over his finances with magnifying glasses. And I think that is something that was always a bit problematic for Mr. Trump and something he really would not look forward to.

Remember, he told us that once the president released his birth certificate, that he was going to release his tax returns.

BALDWIN: Right.

BORGER: Have you seen his tax returns?

BALDWIN: No.

BORGER: I haven't. Right.

BALDWIN: Was wondering that myself, in fact. If we so happen to get Donald Trump calling in, that is one of the questions I'm going to ask him.

Let me end with this, though, sort of going full circle with Republicans. We know, as of this weekend, Huckabee is out. Now we know Trump is out.

BALDWIN: Right.

BORGER: Does this leave Republicans, Gloria, just kind of in a different place this afternoon from when they woke up this morning?

BORGER: It does. But I'll tell you what. I think the Huckabee announcement was actually much more important...

BALDWIN: Why? Why?

BORGER: ... than the Trump announcement, because Huckabee had a real constituency in the Republican Party. Evangelicals are a very important part of the Republican constituency. They go out and they vote in primaries.

Huckabee was very high in the polls. He had run already for the presidency, so he knew what he was getting into. He is well-known. He is personable. And he would have quite a good candidate.

On the other hand, Donald Trump was kind of a sideshow, as you point out, hijacking the conversation, taking the Republican Party out of the mainstream, if you will. So I think, in many ways, Republicans are saying, gee, where will Huckabee's support go, not where will Trump's support go to?

BALDWIN: Yes, who to vote for. We are all watching and waiting to see who does put their hat in the race.

BORGER: We are, yes.

BALDWIN: Gloria Borger, thank you so much. Good conversation.

BORGER: Sure.

BALDWIN: And now to this. I want you to take a look at this video here. Take a look with me. The man on your right, there he is, he is very rich, very powerful, and he is in a world of trouble.

This is Dominique Strauss-Kahn. He was in a Manhattan criminal court today in New York. Strauss-Kahn heads the bank of last resort, the bank that bails out countries in financial crisis. And until this past weekend, he had a very, very good chance of becoming the next president of France.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is plucked off a plane at JFK International Airport after this maid accused him of sexually assaulting her in a $3,000-a-night hotel suite. In court just a couple of hours ago, prosecutors outlined what allegedly happened in that hotel room. Watch this with me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MCCONNELL, ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The charges here and the underlying conduct are severe, as are the potential sentences that the defendant could face should he be convicted. And these factors alone, the people believe, makes (INAUDIBLE)

The defendant restrained a hotel employee inside of his room. He sexually assaulted her and attempted to forcibly rape her. When he was unsuccessful, he forced her to perform oral sex on him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Richard Roth was inside that Manhattan courtroom.

And, Richard, looking at these charges, you have count after count after count here looking at the criminal court complaint. It appears prosecutors, they are throwing the book at this man.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Well, they don't seem to care what his profile is and his stature in the world business community, one of the most famous men and most powerful men in global business finance.

Inside this Manhattan courtroom, prosecutors said that they were hearing about other cases involving Dominique Strauss-Kahn, other women, other complaints. They wanted time to gather more information, as they argued that Strauss-Kahn was a flight risk and should be denied bail.

BALDWIN: We also know police, they grabbed him out of his first- class seat off this plane where he was heading out of the country with just minutes to spare before takeoff. So I guess it is really no surprise that the judge denied him bond.

ROTH: That's right.

Let's listen to the prosecutor argue for the no bail and the defense respond that he had $1 million that he was ready to pay bail for, that he has a daughter in town and that he was not indeed a flight risk.

BALDWIN: Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCONNELL: Getting the strength the case as it now stands and the potential for additional evidence to be generated, the defendant has additional motivation to flee. We also know that the defendant has the personal, political and financial resources to in fact flee and evade (INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Now, the defense says that they are going to mount a strong battle, maybe an appeal, but they say the battle has just begun, as they said in court, that Dominique Strauss-Kahn deserves to be set free on bail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN BRAFMAN, ATTORNEY FOR DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN: The defendant is a well-known, well-respected international person. He is also probably the most easily identified individual in the world today as a result of publicity that has been generated here in the past 72 hours.

I also would add, for the benefit the defendant, that he denies these charge, that he is presumed innocent under the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Judge Jackson said the same rules apply to Strauss-Kahn as to any other defendant, she told the defense attorneys. And she said, "I'm a fair judge." And she denied bail for this wealthy French businessman -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Richard, back up for me for just a second. We just heard from Strauss-Kahn's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, who has a history of taking on very, very high-profile cases. Who has he represented in the past?

ROTH: Well, he has represented P. Diddy, Puff Daddy Combs here, a lot high-profile cases.

He was described by some reporters yesterday as being very optimistic, and -- but as the day wore on, he seemed to grow a little bit more tense. He vowed or someone had vowed on his team to walk out of court with Strauss-Kahn. That did not happen. And there were many reporters, press corps from around the world camped here in the rain waiting to see Strauss-Kahn. Next court appearance this Friday, May 20.

BALDWIN: Friday, May 20. I understand so many of those reporters were packed in there standing up, they had to be asked to sit down.

Richard Roth live for me in Manhattan, Richard, thank you.

Also, Dominique Strauss-Kahn is not just the head the IMF. In France, many, many people thought he would be the next president. So what is the reaction like there?

Also, just minutes before Strauss-Kahn would have been out of country, how the police caught up with him just before, as I mentioned, his plane took off and how a cell phone might have helped track him down. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: So here is what you need to know about this story, also out of France. They arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn is the equivalent of a political dropping in that country. Strauss-Kahn was not just the top man at the IMF, the institution that oversees the world's economic system. He was widely considered a possible front- runner to become the next president of France.

And this sexual assault case in New York may not be the end of Strauss-Kahn's legal problems.

I want you to watch this. This is from my colleague Jim Bittermann in Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The latest complaint about Strauss-Kahn's sexual aggression comes from a young French writer and journalist, Tristane Banon.

Her mother says her daughter was assaulted by Strauss-Kahn when she went to see him about an interview. The girl was 22 at the time, nine years ago, and told her mother immediately after the incident that Strauss-Kahn wrestled her to the floor, unhooked her bra and tried to open her jeans.

The mother, Anne Mansouret, is a regional councilor in the same political party as Strauss-Kahn and herself if said to be a candidate for the French presidency. The mother says she regrets now talking her daughter out of pressing charges and says it will now be up to her daughter if she wants to revive the case.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was sobbing. She said, "Mom, something terrible happened to me. He jumped on me." I told her, "Listen, you know, well, if you had been raped, I would not have hesitated. There was not a rape, strictly speaking. There was an attack. For the rest of your life, you would have on your resume, you know, Tristane Banon, that is the girl who," well. BITTERMANN: A lawyer for the daughter says he is preparing documents to file against Strauss-Kahn, and if the daughter he agrees, the high-flying international politician could soon face legal problems on both sides of the Atlantic.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: And when you hear all the details here about this story, it really sounds like a TV detective drama. A call asking about this lost cell phone leads police to their man, to their suspect.

They swoop in for this arrest, pulling their man off with a minute to spare.

Steve Kardian is a former New York state police detective.

Steve, good to have you back on the show..

Obviously, we are talking about the arrest of IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Really, from what I have read, this is great police work, starts with this missing cell phone. Do me a favor. Explain how detectives were able to track him down with this missing phone.

STEVE KARDIAN, FORMER NEW YORK STATE POLICE DETECTIVE: Yes, it was great work by the NYPD and the Manhattan prosecutors. He -- after the assault was perpetrated, he apparently left HIS phone behind in the motel, in the hotel.

And once he got to the airport, he apparently generated a phone call back to the hotel. The hotel clerk that was there was being coached by law enforcement. And they kept him on the phone long enough for him to reveal that he was at JFK Airport. Then in turn contacted the Port Authority Police. The Port Authority Police responded with two undercover officers. And they removed him the plane just minutes before it was about to take off.

BALDWIN: In all of your years as a detective, Steve, is it always just kind of one little mistake in this case, losing a cell phone, leaving it behind, that leads police to their suspect, one tiny mistake?

KARDIAN: We count on the criminal making the mistake.

If he makes the mistake -- and this was a critical mistake on his part. He should keep his day job. He is not a very good bad guy.

BALDWIN: Yes.

KARDIAN: But he did reveal revealing information that led police directly to him and prevented him from going to France. Had he made it to France, the United States does not have an extradition treaty with France.

BALDWIN: Right.

KARDIAN: So it would have been very difficult to get him back here. We could have had another Roman Polanski.

BALDWIN: Staying back here, though, in the States, specifically after they arrest him, they take him to East Harlem to this special victims unit, where these detectives, they get this court order granting them a search warrant to examine him. So, Steve, what were they looking for on him and not, say, the accuser?

KARDIAN: Yes, they're looking for DNA, hair and fiber evidence that would likely be on his body.

To my understanding, he left rather quickly, so it is very likely that there is DNA. There is -- highly probable that there is DNA on his body, including possible marks that the victim may have left on him, according to police reports.

BALDWIN: And so using maybe some DNA that was found, I don't know, under fingernails, what then -- how could they connect that? Is what they will use potentially down the line?

KARDIAN: Yes. The DNA is going to make this case -- based upon the victim's statement about what happened, the DNA is going to confirm her account in this investigative process. And it's going to be very valuable evidence to the prosecution.

BALDWIN: Steve Kardian, always have -- wonderful having you on. Thank you so much. Appreciate it, out of New York.

KARDIAN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Now this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In terms of property damage and the lives affected, it is bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Martin Savidge just got a tour. Look at these pictures, folks. This is Vicksburg, Mississippi, where hundreds of people obviously have been displaced because of the waterline there. He's going to join me live. That is ahead.

Also, I know you have seen the pictures, the stealth helicopter that crashed during the raid on bin Laden's compound, the one those SEALs had to ultimately destroy. Well, now we have some new information about what is happening to that final piece the helicopter. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Checking your top stories now. The U.S. does not have to apologize for the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. That is according to Senator John Kerry. He is in Pakistan on a visit to Islamabad. And he is talking about how the U.S. and Pakistan need to mend their relationship post-raid. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: We must never lose sight this central fact. We are strategic partners with a common enemy in terrorism and extremism.

Both of our countries have sacrificed too many citizens and troops in the fight, and many too many to consider abandoning this important relationship for one reason or another. Far too much is at stake here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, here is something else Senator Kerry told reporters. He says Pakistan will return the pieces of that stealth U.S. helicopter that went down during the raid.

And just across the border in Afghanistan today, four NATO troops died in a roadside bombing. It reportedly happened there in the south. No details yet as to what exactly happened or the nationalities of those service members. A NATO statement said the attack was from an improvised explosive device.

Arraignment today was delayed for two South Florida imams, a father-and-son team arrested on terrorism charges, both of whom were seized Saturday by the FBI, the elder, 76 years of age, at this modest mosque in Miami, the son at a larger mosque closer to Fort Lauderdale. Hafiz and Izhar Khan are among six people charged with funneling money to Pakistan to support the Pakistani Taliban. In fact, we're going to talk a little later in the show with a reporter in Miami who is covering the developing terrorism case.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court wants Moammar Gadhafi arrested. He tells CNN that enough evidence exists out there to charge the Libyan leader and two of his relatives with crimes against humanity. The court official says he can prove Gadhafi directly ordered attacks on Libyan civilians. Judges on the court in The Hague have to now decide whether to issue those international arrest warrants.

An airline pilot was pulled from the plane he was preparing to fly over the weekend. Why? He was suspected of being drunk. This happened at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. A TSA agent reportedly smelled alcohol on the pilot, made him take a Breathalyzer, which he then failed.

AirTran Airways replaced the pilot. The flight did take off, and the incident is under investigation.

And now to -- we will call it a catch-22 along the Mississippi River. Some folks will be spared from some of the flooding. And others will just likely to lose about everything. Here is the situation right now. Thousands of people are on the run from the rising floodwaters in South Central Louisiana.

Now, the Army Corps of Engineers made this tough call over the weekend. We were talking about this on Friday, opening several gates of the Morganza Spillway. So they did it to save New Orleans and Baton Rouge, but it means people living in those low-lying areas just to west and south may lose their homes and everything they cannot pack, pack in a bag and leave with.

In fact, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, the National Weather Service tells us the river reached record levels of 56.2 feet. That was yesterday.

Our Martin Savidge is live there in Vicksburg.

Martin, obviously, very tough for people there right now. I know you went on a boat tour. Tell me what you saw and what people there are saying.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Vicksburg is under siege once more.

If you remember your history from the Civil War, there was the great siege of Vicksburg then. Now it is the Yazoo and the Mississippi River. Look at this down here. I mean, it almost looks like a model. It doesn't look real. But, unfortunately, it is very real.

That building dates back 1902, the old railroad station right on the waterfront. Now it is completely inundated. That water there is probably up 11 feet on the city frontier. Right next to it, there is that blue TARP. That is actually a very quickly-put-together wooden levee that has been constructed in an emergency to keep the water. Because of the railroad tracks that ran through there, there was a gap.

Well, that gap would now allow all the water to go flooding into the lower part of the city. That is Catfish Row down back there, very historic. So they're protecting it using that system.

So far, it is holding, but, as you point out, the water is still rising here and they have already surpassed a 1927 record. So the question is how, high will it go?

We want to show you these pictures that we got from the tour going with the sheriff. That is Martin Pace here of Warren County. And this is an area to the north of the town here. And you can see that they were heavily inundated. It is hundreds of homes, actually, that are up there -- 1,700 people have been forced to flee the rising waters.

And in those communities up there, it is up to the rooftop and beyond. In several areas, we were measuring the depth of the water on city streets, no less, 11 feet in some areas, 15 feet in other areas. The homes that you see that are actually out of the water were built on stilts.

They believed they had built them high enough that never, ever would they be impacted by a flood. And even those homes now are beginning to sing under water because it is expected to rise at least another foot here, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Going back to your live picture, Martin, you said it perfectly. That building behind you, it looks like you are standing in front of a movie set, but this is all too real for these people.

Looking at some of the numbers that your crew gave us, 100 homes have been destroyed, 1,700 people displaced. I know it is impossible to predict these kinds of things, but how -- how high might those numbers go?

SAVIDGE: Well, you know, and there is another number here I have not even talked about. It is numbers of jobs impacted. There could be about 4,000 people here that could be out of work temporarily due to disruptions such as with the gaming industry. They have casinos here in this town that have been forced to close because they are on the river.

And then you have a number of other big businesses that are located along the waterfront that are either underwater now or in threat of going underwater. So, you have jobs. You have people out of homes. Then you have the homes that have been damaged. I mean, trying to figure out the damage cost is going to take a long time.

And here is the other factor. It is not going away any time soon. They anticipate the water is going to linger here in people's home like it did in Katrina, for over a month. And you can imagine what will do to your structures. It just -- they won't be livable after that.

BALDWIN: Well, you have the water hanging around that long, and then you have that massive cleanup process, which will take who knows how long.

Martin Savidge, those are some the worst pictures I have seen thus far.

SAVIDGE: Yes.

BALDWIN: Martin, thank you for that.

And, look, it is not just Vicksburg, Mississippi, here dealing with flooding today. Chad Myers going to walk me through exactly what is happening in Louisiana, the part that is being affected because those floodgates of the Morganza spillway have been opened.

Also, speaking of people who have been directly affected by this or who might be, I'm going to speak with a woman who actually lost her home the last time this particular spillway was opened. And when she heard that the Morganza would be reopened, she has gotten sick, literally, sick at work over this story.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Thousands of people likely to lose their homes in planned flooding along the Mississippi River. I want to talk a little more about this story, because it is hitting a lot of people very, very hard today. The army corps of engineers opened up several more floodgates to ease the pressure on the levees that protect big cities like New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

But here is the thing, opening the spillway most definitely affects other communities that will flood. I want to bring in Chad Myers who will explain, the last we saw him was Friday when we were talking about the likely imminent decision to open up the Morganza spillway, so that means that by not testing the levees around baton rouge and New Orleans, places like Morgan City and Stephenville, they will be hit, no question.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: There is no question that now the Atchafalaya River is now going to flood. There are all of the barriers that stop all of the water from going through this the flood, and they opened up the barriers so that the Atchafalaya could also flood instead of Baton Rouge and New Orleans seeing this peak that could have eroded the levees. So it is almost like a pop-off valve, a relief valve that stops half of the water from going down the Mississippi and takes it down some of the shorter route. But people are in the way.

BALDWIN: Who is in the way specifically? How many people are we talking about?

MYERS: About 22,000 people.

BALDWIN: Wow.

MYERS: But they all, when they moved there, and when they live there and put their --

BALDWIN: They realize, hey, I'm in the way if they open up the spillway?

MYERS: Correct. This is not something pulled over on them, because it was not on the disclosure when they bought the home, because it was there. And let's move a moment, because I will take you to the Morganza floodway or the spillway. It is one of the spillways that we heard about the Bonnet Carre that dumped a lot of water into the Lake Pontchartrain last week.

They opened up another one to take the Mississippi River farther south. It is called the Morganza floodway. That floodway was opened 11 chutes now open, and they can open more, but they have not opened them yet. But Butte Larose will be two feet over flood stage and that will put a lot of water in the home, and then you see six feet over the floods and then Morgan City seven feet over flood stage which will put moderate amounts of water from Morgan City from the back side if they can't hold it back. This is protected by a nice wall, but if you go over it, it will not protect well. It takes days to get there, and it is not there yet. This is a great map from Google earth. I want to zoom you into New Orleans. I want to take you to what is go going to happen there. Take you into New Orleans and all of the way down to where the new water will spill out, and the Mississippi river this way, and the water will spill out this way, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Into Lake Pontchartrain.

MYERS: No, into the Gulf of Mexico.

BALDWIN: That is the Bonnet Carre. Forgive me.

MYERS: And the Morganza came this way, and the numbers on the chart here, 5, 10, or anywhere that is green or yellow, and that would not have been flooded if it the Morganza were not opened, but it is not going to be completely opened, because it is just to keep the water in New Orleans not to go to high.

This scares people, and this is not going to happen, but if there were no levee, New Orleans would be 15 to 20 feet under water if there were no levee or floodwalls or pumps. But that won't happen, because there are levees and floodwalls.

BALDWIN: I am glad you came over here and I want you to join me in the next interview, because talking about the places where they will flood.

Let's speak to one woman -- before I do that, historically speak it was 1973 which was the last time that the Morganza spillway was opened. So a lot of people in that time, seven decades ago lost their homes, and for some of them, this is a repeat of what happened in '73.

Merleen Acosta is one of them. She is sick at the thought that it could happen again. Merleen, thank you for calling in. And do me a favor and tell me how far is the water from your home. And I know that a lot of people are getting creative in the Morgan City, and the surrounding area to use blocks and cellophane and who knows what to try to keep the water out.

MERLEEN ACOSTA, LOUISIANA RESIDENT: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I can hear you. Just tell me about your house and how are you planning to keep the water out?

ACOSTA: Well, I have a levee behind it, and we put sandbags around the house. And in '73, it hit my house and, yes, it was my house the water. We had to move out, and we had to wait and to come back and clean it up. But this time, it is going to be bad. That is all I have got to say.

BALDWIN: It is going to be bad?

ACOSTA: Yes.

BALDWIN: How bad? How worried are you?

ACOSTA: I'm very worried.

BALDWIN: In back in '73 --

ACOSTA: Yes, I'm very worried.

MYERS: Merleen, this is Chad Myers. Are you within the levee walls? Are you going to be protected by the levee walls in Morgan City or outside of that protection?

ACOSTA: I am outside of that.

MYERS: But you knew it was coming some day? You knew that?

ACOSTA: Yes, sir, I did.

MYERS: But that doesn't make you feel any better?

ACOSTA: No, it don't.

MYERS: So, Merleen, what are you doing? You have sandbags and children living in the home. What else are you doing in there? Saying a prayer and please let the water stay away?

ACOSTA: Yes, that is what we can all do right now. But I heard this morning that it is going to come up to ten foot in the over the levees.

BALDWIN: At what point do you leave your home?

ACOSTA: Ma'am?

BALDWIN: At what point do you leave your home?

ACOSTA: Oh, when I had to go, but right now, I went to my mas, and I am staying with her.

BALDWIN: Thank you for calling in. I think she is calling in from outside of Morgan City, but just another example of someone who is sandbags and who knows what. People are trying to keep the water out. But ten feet, that is what you were showing us maybe on the maps over there?

MYERS: And there is a really beautiful wall they have built for Morgan City for the city of Morgan City, but there can be back water that comes in on the other side that the wall is not as protected. That wall ends at some point, too, so that the people down river toward Amelia are going to the feel the back water as well.

I would like to have asked her how many people are in her situation. It is dozens if not hundreds and we know 22,000 people have to at some point in time get out of there.

BALDWIN: Yes, a lot of people are going to be in her situation. Chad Myers, thank you. MYERS: You're welcome.

BALDWIN: And now a happy story and a successful one. Did you watch it this morning?

MYERS: I did.

BALDWIN: And I got in work just in time to watch the astronauts on the space shuttle Endeavour heading to the space station. Do you know what that means? Space food. What did they request for the final hot meal this morning before they came back? That's coming up. We will have a sneak peek here. Yum. Quick pic. And thank you, astronauts. Love to tweet.

Also, have you heard of this? It is called plinking. I learned about this this the last 24 hours and apparently, it is trending and it can be quite dangerous. That is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A couple of fist bumps from mission commander Mark Kelly as Shuttle Endeavor is good to go for liftoff. Favorable weather check, countdown, check. The and like every launch before this one, we held our breath, and now turn up the volume on the TV set. Three, two, one -- hit it, Dee.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liftoff for the final launch for Endeavour, expanding our knowledge, expanding our lives in space.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Endeavour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger, roll, Endeavour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Houston, controlling Endeavour to roll over on to its back and Endeavour with the chest down position.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Endeavour, go at throttle up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger. Go at throttle up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Endeavour's main three engines back at full throttle and all three engines in good shape, and Endeavour is already traveling 1,300 miles per hour, at an altitude of 11 miles down range from the Kennedy space center, now 12 miles.

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BALDWIN: A little bit of cloud cover kept people from the launch site to see it streak through the skies as it headed to the international space station. It will arrive there Wednesday. Down on the ground at the launch was Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords watching her husband, the commander at the controls of the shuttle. We will have more with her in a moment with Dr. Gupta. And to mention all of the astronauts who tweet. Up there with Mark Kelly is veteran astronaut Mike Fink. And he is a tweeter. Here is Colonel Fink before slapping on the old space suit this morning, smiling big and ready to go.

And he loves to tweet. This is the favorite picture he tweeted out this morning. Look at that, make you hungry, lunch on the west coast, and lo lobber tails. And all of the astronauts got to choose pre-flight meal, and he chose lobster tails and butter cream and butter and baked potato served up on a China plate from NASA. And then "dear, god, please, bless our crew. Help us in our mission and return safely home. Please help me not to mess anything up." Mike Fink on board Endeavour.

And as we said a moment ago, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was at Kennedy space center watching the liftoff with her husband at the helm. And Dr. Sanjay Gupta was on CNN this morning live during the launch this morning. And he said the fact that she is even there in Florida, she is in rehab in Houston, and back there in Florida speaks volumes about the recovery. Take a listen.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: As you know, she made it around the last time around, but the launch was scrubbed, so she went back to Houston and now back again, which is a good sign medically. She is medically stable, they say. And this is part of the rehab as they describe it as well, her getting up the stairs and meeting new people and new environments and the whole thing.

ROMANS: And the astronauts are wearing wristbands in her honor?

GUPTA: That is right. Everyone has been touched by this, and you know, for Mark Kelly, the commander, this was going to time commanding the space shuttle into space, and he was not sure if he could do this a few months ago, because he was in training when this tragedy happened in April.

So it was touch and go for some time and then touch and go if she could attend the launch and a couple of days before the last time doctors were weighing the pros and cons of that.

But again, good sign from the medical standpoint. She is still getting rehab and needs rehab for the strength and the right side of her body. But it sounds like it is coming along.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Thank you, Sanjay.

Now I want you to take a look at my colleague, Seth, in the studio. It looks odd and I'm doing a newscast and someone is randomly down in the studio. There is a word for this, and it is trending, because that very pose right, there you see him? It comes with a serious warning. Back in two.

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BALDWIN: I will tell you what, everyone in the commercial break has been talking about this. Have you heard about plinking? I hadn't until the last 24 hours. Apparently, it is an Internet craze where the people lie face down with the hands at the sides in dangerous public places and pose themselves of plinking online.

Let me show you what I'm talking about. Obviously, some of them are funny, but then the plinkers who pose in places like train tracks, you know, on top of signs. Look at this guy. Small places like fire hydrants, motorcycles and I don't know where he is.

But the trend is huge in Australia. But here is the disturbing part, and this is why I am telling you about this today. Twenty-year- old Ashton Biehls fell to his death yesterday while plinking on a high-rise balcony. Police say that he and his friends were drinking before the plinking turned fatal. One Facebook page, and yes, there are Facebook pages dedicated to this. Plinking, Australia has about 20,000 fans, and the thing is that people are taking more risks of where they plank.

So another 20-year-old guy from Queensland was arrested after planking on a police car. The prime minister is now stepping in and calling this death here tragic and said that people need to be careful and not risk their lives for some silly photo on the Internet.

Now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The amount of jobs it's going to bring, the potential for growth, the future that we have here, I think it's just an incredible opportunity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

The owner of this new car plant invested a ton of money for the very first U.S. operation. We'll take you in depth and take you there next.

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BALDWIN: We here at CNN know a lot of you are looking for jobs or perhaps your spouse is. So this week CNN is going in depth on America's job hung. It may not seem like it, but there are a number of U.S. companies out there looking for employees who are hiring. Poppy Harlow from CNN Money is here to tell me where the jobs are. Poppy, good to see you. Where are they?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Good to see you, too. These numbers are across the board. You can find them at CNN dot money/jobs. I want you to look at these numbers. J.P. Morgan, the financial giant, 15,550 openings globally, 12,000 here in the U.S. Best Buy, almost 1,400 at Best Buy, Over 8,000 at GE. These are all stores. Best Buy says that they are hiring retail managers to geek squads to financial advisers, so really across the board. We spent a day down in Chattanooga, Tennessee. You may not know this, but VW has invested a million dollars to give all of these folks jobs and it has really turned around this economy. So take a listen to some of the employees that we have talked to. A man and woman who have never worked in the auto industry but now they have good paying solid jobs.

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SHARENA COCHRAN, PRODUCTION TEAM MEMBER, VOLKSWAGEN: The economy went down for so long but this boosted it up so much. I was even thinking of relocating before I got this job.

HARLOW: Really?

COCHRAN: Yes. It made me feel like I had something to be here for.

HARLOW: What do you say to those folks who say that the job industry is dead in the U.S.?

BEN EDWARDS, TEAM LEADER VOLKSWAGEN: For me it's awesome that we have this opportunity to say to people we are manufacturing in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So, Brooke, to all of the naysayers who say we don't build anything in America, it's not exactly true. You just heard from Ben Edwards. Ben worked in the housing industry and now he's in the auto industry. You're seeing this influx from overseas, foreign automakers, Nissan, Hyundai, BMW, pouring money into the south, Mississippi, Tennessee, to build plants and create thousands and thousands of jobs for folks.

BALDWIN: That's wonderful. I remember reading about VW, saying that they are going to put the money there and it's already hiring. But beyond, Poppy, some of the companies that you rattled off that are hiring, there are some industries that are hiring as well. Who are those folks?

HARLOW: So many folks are out of work. We have millions of Americans out of work. Take a look at these industries. Health care, a million jobs in health care. The federal government, if you take out the postal service which is in dire straits, 779,000 jobs added during the recession.

Education, 300,000 jobs added there. And coal and oil, I would be remiss, we all use energy, they have done extremely well throughout the recession. And a lot of people start cutting back on what they are using. They are going to continue to. North Dakota has a 3.6 unemployment rate, and that is pretty much all due to the oil drilling that they have across the shale there. It's really helping that state.

BALDWIN: It's 3.6, how about that? HARLOW: Isn't that amazing? We're national over three times that.

BALDWIN: Poppy Harlow, thank you.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't support any terrorism or anything like that. And we support America and we like America.

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BALDWIN: A father and son are just two of the people arrested by the FBI. So what is their connection to the Taliban? That's coming up.

Also, Wolf Blitzer is here to tell us what is crossing the CNN political ticker. Wolf is next.

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