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Obama Addresses Arab Revolution; Continued Analysis of Obama's Mideast Address; Strauss-Kahn Could be Granted Bail; CNN In Depth: Technical Colleges

Aired May 19, 2011 - 13:30   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

We will have much more on the President's Mideast address in the hours ahead, including our own Wolf Blitzer who was just about to sit down with former British Prime Minister and current representative of the Mideast quartet Tony Blair, for an interview.

But looking ahead this hour, eyes turn to New York City where Dominique Strauss-Khan is out of a job and might soon be out of jail, at least for a while. The now-former head of the International Monetary Fund is back in court hoping to sell a different judge on a more restrictive bail request than the one rejected on Monday.

As you probably know, Strauss-Khan is charged with sexually assaulting a maid at a posh Manhattan hotel last Saturday. Well, last night from his cell on Rikers Island the French socialist who scaled the heights of global finance resigned from the IMF saying, quote, "I want to protect this institution and especially, especially I want to devote all my strength, all my time and all my energy to proving my innocence."

When he appears next hour in a Manhattan courtroom, Strauss-Khan will offer to put up $1 million in bail and submit to home detention with electronic monitoring. He'll also give up his passport.

CNN's Richard Roth is watching the comings and goings.

Richard, this man knows about negotiating deals, for sure. Does he have a winner this time around?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We don't know. A different judge, different courtroom and a larger amount of international media here on this street. Strauss-Khan has resigned, as you mentioned, from the International Monetary Fund. Whether that wins any sympathy from the judge, don't know.

He is putting up a lot, according to his attorney, in a bid to get out of jail, including a $1 million in cash, the deed to his Georgetown home worth at least $4 million. He is saying he will wear an electronic ankle bracelet for monitoring and stay in Manhattan. His daughter does live here. Giving up his passport, his U.N. documents which allow him to move past security at airports, things like that. So he is saying, his attorneys, in these court papers that he is a family man, four children, international diplomat, no criminal record. They're going with everything they've got to try get him out of that 11-foot by 13-foot jail cell. It's unknown whether he will be wearing a suit, a prison jumpsuit which we've heard he doesn't really want to appear in when we eventually se video from the courtroom, Randi.

KAYE: Richard, we know that Strauss-Khan's alleged victim has been in the courthouse, as well. What's the latest with her?

ROTH: Well, grand jury material is secret but we know that she's been testifying before a grand jury and there's a court event tomorrow, Friday, and that could be where we find out if he is -- Strauss-Khan has been indicted. Unknown if the prosecution would present material from that grand jury at today's hearing. This seems to focus more on bail and the possibilities of it.

The attorney for that maid from Guinea in Africa says the possibility of Strauss-Khan getting out of jail just dramatically increases the fear level from her client, the possibility that the man who the attorneys says attack her sexually will be getting out of jail.

KAYE: All right, Richard Roth there following the developments in lower Manhattan for us.

Richard, thank you.

Before we move on, I want to share a few details about the life Dominique Strauss-Khan is leaving behind. Listen to this. In 2010, his contract called for a base salary of almost $442,000 with an added allowance of almost $80,000. No strings attached. He could spend it as he wishes. Oh, and no taxes, either, by the way. First class airfare was covered for Strauss-Khan and his family whenever he was on, quote, "official business." Hotel expenses, as well.

Now to an issue that's been on the radar of every U.S. president in modern times -- the Middle East. As you may have heard live right here on CNN, President Obama just reset the course of U.S. policy in the wake of the Arab uprisings, of the death of Osama bin Laden, of the new Palestinian alliance, of the nuclear standoff with Iran, and, yes, I could go on and on.

All by itself the so-called Arab spring that swept from Morocco to Iran would be a game changer and the president promised support, moral and otherwise, for the two nations that succeeded in overthrowing leaders.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We do not want a Democratic Egypt to be saddled by the debts of its past. So we will relieve a Democratic Egypt of up to $1 billion in debt and work with our Egyptian partners to invest these resources, to foster growth and entrepreneurship. We will help Egypt regain access to markets by guaranteeing $1 billion in borrowing that is needed to finance infrastructure and job creation. And we will help newly Democratic governments recover assets that were stolen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: I want to get some insights now from Mona Eltahawy. She's an Egyptian-born commentator and Arab affairs columnist who joins me today from Chicago.

Mona, thanks for coming on the show.

I want to ask you, what did you hope to hear from Mr. Obama and did you hear it?

MONA ELTAHAWY, EGYPTIAN-BORN ARAB AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Randi, for having me on. I had hoped to hear more of a recognition of just how wrong and confused U.S. foreign policy had been towards the region for decades.

And what I heard was that the U.S. administration is still trying to catch up with the reality on the ground that has outpaced everybody. For example, when he spoke about Egypt and the need to support Egypt's reform and this new dawn in Egypt, there was a missing sentence, and the missing sentence was that the United States continues to give $1.3 billion in aid to the Egyptian army. And Egypt right now is ruled by the Supreme Military Council so there was nothing there. Supreme Military Council is detaining people, is torturing people and is forcing people on military trial.

When the president spoke about the religious rights of minorities, for example, Coptic Christians in Egypt and Shia Muslims in Bahrain, it was great to hear. But the missing sentence was that Saudi Arabia also violates Shia rights in its country and Saudi Arabia has intervened in Bahrain, which he mentioned as part of the countries also going through reforms and uprisings.

KAYE: Well, clearly this speech was meant for a global audience. But to what extent, if any, do you think that it was crafted with next year's U.S. election in mind?

ELTAHAWY: Well, I think that if anything, the speech was geared much more towards a local audience than an international audience, because quite honestly, people in the region especially know all of these things and people internationally, too.

I think that an American audience needed to hear that the United States needs to realign its policies to recognize these realities on the ground. But here's something else that was missing that I think a global audience understands. When the president mentioned the Israel/Palestinian conflict, he didn't really say anything new.

And what was missing and what I would have wanted to hear was a recognition that the uprisings and revolutions in the Middle East and north Africa are going to inspire -- actually have themselves been inspired by a long history of non-violent resistance from Palestinians and they, in turn, these revolutions we're seeing, will inspire Palestinians. And we're seeing Palestinians now saying, nonviolently we want our freedom and dignity.

So the fact that Obama did not connect these two I find very disappointing. So I would have wanted to hear much more. But I think for an American audience it's a good start but the U.S. administration still has a long way to go before catching up fully with what's happening on the ground.

KAYE: Mona Eltahawy, as always, your insight's much appreciated. Thanks for coming on.

And stay with us. Next hour we'll get reaction to the president's speech from Tony Blair, former British prime minister, now the representative of what's called the Mideast Quartet, the U.S., the U.N., the EU and Russia. Wolf Blitzer is about to sit down with him and we'll bring you some of that interview.

Today's other major story. The situation turns deadly in Mississippi as the floodwaters hit new record highs. We'll take you there live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Now to the disaster in Mississippi where a 69-year-old man from Vicksburg has died after being pulled from the floodwaters. This is the first death linked to the flood in the state and the second since the flooding began.

And this is the same area where the Mississippi River is cresting today. In fact, floodwaters are reaching new historic levels in Vicksburg right now. The Mississippi is more than a foot over the record set in the city 84 years ago, and it is expected to stay had high for days.

Life up and down the Mississippi River has become one of survival and a torturous waiting game. Nine states are affected. Millions of acres flooded. Tens of thousands of people have lost their homes an thousands more are about to.

David Mattingly joins us downstream in Natchez, Mississippi where the flood is expected to crest on Saturday. The Army Corp of Engineers is keeping a watchful eye on that Yazoo levee, but the backwaters are already claiming property. What's the situation where you are?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The situation right here is the same thing we've seen all up and down the Mississippi. Right now, we are waiting for the crest here just as we've seen a little further north, just as we saw last week in Memphis. The water creeping up to that crest, that historic level.

But right now, all eyes are a little further north of here on the mainline levee along the Mississippi here in the state of Mississippi. The Army Corp of Engineers addressing what they're calling a sand boil where water has been undermining one of the levee structures that they have there. They say it isn't a big problem. In fact, they expect to see a lot of things like this popping up as this water continues to press against the levee system all up and down the river.

But they sent a large number of dump trucks to throw a lot of dirt and stone at it to make sure it doesn't get any worse. It was a cause of concern because if it is left unaddressed, then it could undermine the levee and they could have a levee failure. But they aren't even close to that, but they are taking care of it right now, Randi.

KAYE: And David, from what I understand, 2,000 people already have been displaced in Vicksburg. How much worse is this going to get? How many more people do you expect are going to lose their homes and businesses?

MATTINGLY: We're looking at 4,900 evacuated in Mississippi. In Louisiana, it is harder to get an actual number because every single parish is keeping their own records, and they are not keeping track exactly of who's staying and who's going at the moment. But we're looking at thousands being affected down there as well.

This flood is only halfway through with its march down to the Gulf of Mexico, and it is going to split and hit Louisiana going down the Mississippi and down the Atchafalaya River after opening that spillway.

So they're getting caught on two fronts there and we're expecting to see that start to make a lot of inroads and forcing out a lot of people this weekend and into next week.

KAYE: From Natchez, Mississippi, our David Mattingly. David, thank you.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, well it does. There are still more shocking details coming out on this Schwarzenegger scandal. We'll get the very latest from the man in the know next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Authorities want to take DNA samples from the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, and it has to do with the 1982 Tylenol poisonings.

Joining me now from San Francisco is Dan Simon, he's been all over this story for us.

And, Dan, tell us why does the FBI want Kaczynski's DNA?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a good question, Randi. What we know is that the FBI in Chicago went to see Kaczynski in prison, he's in a federal penitentiary in Colorado. And what they wanted to do is see if he would voluntarily provide a DNA sample.

Now, as far as we know, there is no firm evidence linking Ted Kaczynski to this case in 1982 in Chicago, the Tylenol poisoning case, a very famous case. Now Kaczynski apparently declined to provide a DNA sample. Now there's no firm evidence, as far as we know, linking him to the Tylenol case, but it does bring back some memories from that case. Of course, seven people died in the Chicago area by taking cyanide- laced pills.

It also puts the spotlight back on Kaczynski. We haven't heard much about him since he was taken into custody back in 1996. He was convicted of sending mail bombs that killed three people. He's been in federal custody since 1996.

Again, no firm link in terms of linking Ted Kaczynski to the case in Chicago, but interesting development nonetheless, Randi.

KAYE: And, Dan, I'm curious, how did we learn about this? Is this true Kaczynski himself actually wrote a letter?

SIMON: It is. You know, it's fascinating. Kaczynski apparently wrote a letter to a judge in the federal district court in California, northern California, stating basically that he didn't want to provide this sample and he wanted to halt the auctioning of some of his items.

Some of his personal items that were seized from a Montana cabin are being put up to auction, the proceeds would go to the victims' families, and he those items auctioned off because he believed some of them might contain evidence that would show that he did not, you know, possess potassium cyanide, which was in those pills from the Tylenol case.

The judge, as far as we know, made no ruling on that, and that's basically what we know at this point, Randi.

KAYE: All right, Dan Simon with the latest on that for us. Dan, thank you.

Meanwhile, the plot thickens for Arnold Schwarzenegger and his secret child with his former housekeeper, Mildred Patty Baena. More shocking details keep emerging from this scandal.

In fact, I think my jaw is still sore from dropping when we found out that Schwarzenegger's mistress was pregnant with his child at the same time his wife Maria Shriver was pregnant with their youngest son, Christopher. In fact, his two sons were born less than one week apart.

We were able to obtain the boy's birth certificate, and on it the father is listed as the man Baena was married to at the time. However, Baena and her husband separated less than three weeks after she gave birth to the child.

Now, speaking of divorce, "People" magazine is reporting that Maria Shriver has hired high-profile divorce attorney Laura Wasser, she's represented a host of A-list stars like, Angelina Jolie, Christina Aguilera and Brittany Spears.

So let's go straight to TMZ's Harvey Levin for the very latest on this. Harvey, I want to talk with you more about the alleged obsession his mistress had with Maria Shriver. But first, I want to ask you about the divorce attorney that Maria Shriver has hired, Laura Wasser.

What do you know about her?

HARVEY LEVIN, CREATOR/HOST, TMZ: I know she -- first of all, she hired Laura Wasser a while ago, and secondly, Laura Wasser is one of the most powerful, effective lawyers in town. She has become a go-to attorney for celebrity divorces because she not only knows the law, she's not only really smart, but she's effective on this level. She is a formidable opponent for anybody. So, Laura Wasser means business.

That said, Maria Shriver has not pulled the trigger. Maria Shriver has talked about getting a divorce for two years, we know, and has never done it. And still hasn't made a decision, we're told, and we're confident on this point, has not made a decision on whether to get divorced. She has been talking to Wasser for a while, we're told, she has been talking to financial people as well, but has not yet pulled the trigger.

KAYE: That is certainly interesting. All right, let's get to the other point, I noticed it on your Web site.

What do you know about Mildred's alleged obsession with Maria Shriver?

LEVIN: This is crazy.

So this woman -- she goes by Patty, actually -- she wants to be or wanted to be Maria Shriver. She would tell her friends this, that she had an obsession with Maria, that she would take Maria's clothes and jewelry and wear them out in public without Maria knowing about it, obviously.

And one time Maria actually noticed jewelry missing and confronted everybody and she just thought it was hilarious because, I mean, everything she did, she dressed her kid one of her kids like one of Maria and Arnold's kids. Everything was about being like Maria.

She wanted to use the marital bed when she fooled around with Arnold and would crawl into that bed when Maria took the kids to school.

So it was a crazy situation that she talked openly to friends about. This was not a discrete woman. This woman is a little bit off.

KAYE: Wow. This sounds like it's getting even uglier than we thought just days ago.

What about this, Arnold did quite a bit financially for Mildred's family, right?

LEVIN: Absolutely, very generous. KAYE: Or Patty, as you call her.

LEVIN: Patty.

A lot, and it was done as soon as Arnold found out that she was -- that she was -- that he was the father. He began, you know, doing a lot, paying for her -- paying for her place, paying for expenses. We got a picture of her and the kids at a big family function that Arnold underwrote, it was one of these coming of age things for one of her -- one of Patty's relatives.

So Arnold was all over this, but ultimately -- helped buy her this house in Bakersfield. We're going to have more on that a little bit later on the Web site, but this was Arnold intricately involved financially with her.

KAYE: All right. Harvey Levin, the details just keep coming out. We will continue to follow it, along with you, I'm sure, and check your Web site and our Web site.

And we should point out, we are not naming the child in this case, of course. And we should also tell you it was "The New York Times" that we are giving credit for for Mildred Patty Baena, that is where the name of this mistress is coming to us.

All right, Harvey, thank you. Nice to see you.

The job market is still rough, but there are good-paying jobs out there, if you have right training. If you need a job, well, you need to listen to this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: All week, CNN is going in-depth, breaking down the current job market and what you need to know.

Young or old, if you're having a hard time landing a good-paying job, technical college could be a good option.

CNN Catherine Callaway reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN APPLEBY, TECHNICAL COLLEGE STUDENT: I am the oldest. I am older than the instructor.

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At 61, John Appleby is a true senior among students at Chattahoochee Technical College. This housepainter's journey back to school to study diesel technology began with the decline in construction that left him out of a job.

APPLEBY: I got tired of not being able to do any work because nobody wanted to pay me none. So I thought, I'm going to do something I can make a living at and something I will enjoy. CALLAWAY: Appleby is counting on making more money as a trained diesel mechanic. Many workers, especially in the manufacturing sector, turn to technical schools to maneuver themselves into better- paying jobs.

(on camera): Enrollment here at Chattahoochee Technical College has increased more than 15 percent over last year in large part due to the struggling economy. Students come here to get degrees in fields that range from mechanical to medical, from cosmetology to computers.

(voice-over): Seventeen-year-old Emily Wilson is the face of another growing population at technical schools, the young student who takes college courses in high school. Through a state program, she's using tax dollars that would go to her high school to pay for her technical college education.

EMILY WILSON, TECHNICAL COLLEGE STUDENT: It make me excited, because I know I'm getting ahead where I need to be, to be able to finish college as soon as possible and get my career on a start.

CALLAWAY: Emily will graduate high school with a year of classes completed toward her two-year associate degree in accounting. She'll be able to work sooner, and that may allow her to continue her education at a four-year institution.

The president of CTC says the colleges have to adapt to the needs of the job market.

SANFORD CHANDLER, PRESIDENT, CHATTAHOOCHEE TECHNICAL COLLEGE: We're going to grow a group of entrepreneurs in the future, a group of people who can lead our country out of this transformational recession we've seen, then we think that we do that through changing the technology that they know, their knowledge base, and it will be done across a spectrum of people from the traditional student to the non- traditional student.

APPLEBY: My first day in math class, I mean, I'm saying -- I raised my hand and I said, "I haven't done an algebra problem since 1964."

CALLAWAY: Appleby says going back to school at his age has been difficult, but as retirement age rises, he knows training for skilled jobs is a must for the young and old alike.

In Acworth, Georgia, Catherine Callaway, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)