Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
President Obama Praises Intelligence Agencies; President Obama Meets With Israeli Prime Minister; Is May 21st Judgment Day?; Detroit as the New Silicon Valley; Jon Huntsman in New Hampshire; Life as a Kennedy Revealed
Aired May 20, 2011 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Two leaders come face to face hours after the Israeli prime minister blasted President Obama's Middle East speech. Find out what really happened behind closed doors as tension grows.
For some Christians, the clock is ticking. Today marks the last full day on Earth. Why? The Rapture is tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will be an earthquake.
HOLMES: I will speak live with a pastor who says this is all nonsense.
Plus, Patrick Kennedy comes clean.
PATRICK KENNEDY (D), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: I felt like a loser. Oh, God, I'm not living up.
HOLMES: The former congressman opens up to Dr. Sanjay Gupta about addiction and the real reason he quit Congress. Sanjay joins me.
And a man who has just been arrested jumps the counter, lunging towards a police officer, but the suspect had no idea what would come next.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And hello to you all as we start this next hour. I'm T.J. Holmes, in today for Brooke Baldwin.
You saw this here with us just a short time ago, President Obama stopping by the CIA in Langley, Virginia, giving them a shout-out, giving them a thank you for helping track down Osama bin Laden. He also delivered a warning to the rest of al Qaeda. Here he is just a short time ago at the CIA headquarters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, every terrorist in the al Qaeda network should be watching their back, because we're going to review every video, we're going to examine every photo, we're going to read every one of those millions of pages. We're going to pursue every lead. We are going to go wherever it takes us. We're going to finish the job. We're going to defeat al Qaeda.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Let me bring in our Pentagon correspondent right now, Chris Lawrence, standing by for us.
Chris, hello to you. And you heard the president say we're going to go through all of that information. And it appears they are starting to issue warnings based on what was collected from that bin Laden compound.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, T.J.
The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI put out a warning to a lot of local law enforcement agencies, as well as some of the oil companies that, based on the information that that SEAL team hauled out of bin Laden's compound, they believe al Qaeda has a continuing interest in trying to go after oil and natural gas targets.
What does that mean? Well, back in 2010, they got some intelligence that al Qaeda was targeting oil tankers, that they had a plan to sort of plunge the U.S. into an economic crisis by impacting the oil supplies for years to come. They had scoped out doing trial runs and they had determined that the best way to try to sink an oil tanker was to hijack it and then try to detonate their explosives from the inside.
They had even gone so far as to look at the weather patterns and to determine that the best time to do this would be from the late summer through mid -- sort of mid-spring, because at other times the weather would be too volatile on the high seas.
They knew that intelligence. What they got out of the compound shows them that al Qaeda has not given up on this and it's still a continuing problem for them.
HOLMES: Chris, let's make sure we are clear here to our audience. We don't have any reason to believe -- at least officials are not telling us -- there was no specific target of any kind named necessarily in these documents, in this information they had.
LAWRENCE: Absolutely right. And that's the reason why they didn't put out what is called an alert. They didn't have any what they call actionable intelligence, in other words, we think this guy is going to hit this place at around this time, nothing like that, nothing imminent.
This is an ongoing threat, so no reason to put out the alert. But they just want to let these local law enforcement agencies and these oil companies to remain vigilant and start to review their practices again.
HOLMES: All right, Chris Lawrence for us at the Pentagon -- Chris, we appreciate you, as always. LAWRENCE: Yes.
HOLMES: We want to turn from the Pentagon to the White House now, a big meeting taking place there this afternoon between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The meeting comes just a day after President Obama's on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Those comments came as part of his larger speech on the Middle East.
He said in that speech, the acceptance of the pre-1967 borders needs to be the starting point for further negotiations. That sparked a pretty terse response from Netanyahu, who called that idea indefensible.
CNN senior State Department producer Elise Labott is with me now.
Elise, we saw them put on a pretty good face publicly, but any word about things possibly getting ugly behind the scenes?
ELISE LABOTT, CNN PRODUCER: Well, actually, T.J., when we were looking at that photo-op and we were seeing the prime minister look at President Obama and tell him that he -- that the deal was really unacceptable to him, kind of a reprimand, if you will, we were really shocked. We thought it looked a little intense.
Let's take a listen to what the prime minister said.
OK. Actually -- actually, sorry about that, T.J. But, anyway, what he was saying was that this deal, this 1967 deal is, as you said, indefensible and that, basically, it is not going to happen, that these are -- something that the Israelis and Palestinians are supposed to be negotiating in a full-status deal and that the Israelis simply can't do this. That would be really indefensible to them.
And there are other things that, basically, the prime minister is looking for from President Obama when he speaks to the Israeli lobby tomorrow night. He's looking for President Obama to talk about some of the other issues that the U.S. and Israel do find in agreement, such as refugees.
What is going to happen when a Palestinian state is created to those refugees? Also, Hamas and Fatah have this Palestinian unity agreement. Netanyahu doesn't want to have anything to do with Hamas.
And so, when President Obama speaks to this Israeli lobby, he's going to be looking for some tough comments. Now, we really think this is part of President Obama's effort to stop a vote at the United Nations in September, T.J., to head off them seeking recognition, which a lot of the international community is looking for them to do.
HOLMES: And there's always so much fanfare, the big event, when they get the parties together and say we're kicking off a new peace process. We saw the president do that and he brought all the players together at the White House in Washington.
But, OK, now what? Frankly, after this meeting today, is there anything planned next in this peace process?
LABOTT: Well, actually, if you listen carefully to this speech, no.
President Obama did not give any indication that he was ready to jump- start negotiations, didn't talk about sending Secretary Clinton to the region in any way, not talking -- and we just saw last week the special envoy, George Mitchell, resign, really kind of frustrated that the last two years have really led to no serious no negotiations.
So, as we move towards September, it really looks like the next couple of months could be very rocky, as the Palestinians gear up to declare independence and seek recognition at the United Nations, and no negotiations on the table. President Obama is really under the gun to try and come up with something to head off this move by the Palestinians. And this puts the pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to sit down at the table. And a lot of experts think that that's why he made this declaration about those '67 borders yesterday.
HOLMES: All right, Elise Labott for us from the State Department -- Elise, we appreciate you, as always. Thanks so much.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The largest earthquake that the world has ever seen. This -- there's not going to be any banks, because buildings will collapse. It's going to be quite awful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: I hope you said your goodbyes, you took care of your affairs. Well, I guess you don't have to take care of your affairs if the end is coming.
Yes, the clock is ticking, folks, the beginning of the end just hours away -- that is if you're a Christian who believes a massive earthquake will come and the Rapture will happen starting tomorrow.
My next guest is a Christian, but he says all of that is nonsense. And in two minutes, you will hear from him specifically why.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. You may have heard by now that the end is near, very near. It's tomorrow, actually. There are folks out there who believe that, yes, tomorrow, May 21, is judgment day. And they get that based on the Bible.
But exactly what that means is subject for debate. There are plenty of folks out there who have spent a lot of time, energy, and money even pushing this idea, waiting for the end of time. They say this is not going to be pretty. Some of you are going to go to heaven, some of you going to be left behind.
But joining me now from Dallas is Robert Jeffress. He is a senior pastor at the First Baptist Church of Dallas. The church has 13,000 members.
Sir, you have authored a number of books. You host TV, radio shows. You do a lot. We're talking about Rapture and the end of days supposed to start tomorrow, Saturday. So, do you have plans for Sunday that you're keeping?
PASTOR ROBERT JEFFRESS, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF DALLAS: I went ahead and prepared my sermon for Sunday because I think we're going to be here Sunday.
HOLMES: OK.
JEFFRESS: But you know what? T.J., I think it's important for viewers to know Jesus said no man knows the hour or the day when he's coming back. Not even the son of God knows. Only God the father knows.
And I tell people, if God hasn't even told his own son when the second coming is going to occur...
HOLMES: Then how can we know?
JEFFRESS: ... I doubt God has told Harold Camping, or how does Harold Camping know?
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Well, you're talking about Harold Camping. He's the pastor out in California that has been pushing this idea. He's been wrong before, I should say. He was wrong back in 1994.
JEFFRESS: Yes.
HOLMES: I believe I have that right.
But tell me, how did he come up with May 21 in the first place?
JEFFRESS: Well, first of all, T.J., it's nowhere in the Bible.
And one reason I wrote this article on CNN.com about why how this harms Christianity is, it causes unbelievers to discredit the Bible. There are people running around saying, well, the Bible says that the Earth is 6,000 years old. No, the Bible doesn't say that.
And the Bible doesn't predict the date of Christ's return.
HOLMES: So, where did he get it?
JEFFRESS: And, T.J., I think it's -- well, he just made it up. He completely made it up through his own mathematical calculation, which was wrong before and I suspect will be wrong again.
HOLMES: OK. Now, what is supposed to happen?
(CROSSTALK) HOLMES: This is a mainstream -- I should say a mainstream idea. People do believe that Jesus will return, that people believe in a Rapture. Now, what is that supposed to look like?
(CROSSTALK)
JEFFRESS: That's right.
Well, the Bible does say the next event on God's prophetic calendar is going to be a Rapture, a catching-away of Christians, followed by a tribulation time and the return of Christ.
And here's what I'm saying, T.J. Even though we can't know the hour or the day, God does know the hour and the day. It's on his calender and it's going to happen. And instead of trying to predict the date, we just need to make sure we're ready whenever it is.
HOLMES: OK. Do we have any idea, any indications? Is there any kind of consensus out about folks, scholars like yourself, look at the Bible who can come together and say, maybe it's here, maybe it's there, even if they don't have an exact date?
(CROSSTALK)
JEFFRESS: T.J., people ask me all the time, do you believe Jesus is coming back in our lifetime?
And what I tell people is, I'm 55 years old right now. I know that, in the next 30 years, either he's coming or I'm going, but I'm going to meet him very, very soon. So, I better be ready.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Now, are there issues here? And you kind of hit on it, because we have seen some places where atheists actually plan to party on Sunday, because most people don't believe the world is about to end.
JEFFRESS: Yes.
HOLMES: But that furthers some people's argument about, quite frankly, the Bible and them thinking it is a fairy tale.
So, how -- you know, as much attention as this man has been getting about pushing May 21, you hit on how harmful it is. But does that hurt -- is that really going to hurt you come Sunday?
JEFFRESS: Well, I think it's going to hurt unbelievers for being prepared.
You know, we have had over 1,700 responses to that CNN.com article I penned. And the people who are writing in are not just scoffing at Harold Camping. They are scoffing at people like me who preach that Jesus is coming back again.
And, ironically, the Bible says that, in the last days, mockers will come with their scoffing, saying, where is the promise of Christ's return? And so I would tell unbelievers who are planning to party Saturday night and so forth, you may make it through Saturday night, but you better make sure that you're ready when the real Rapture does occur.
HOLMES: Now, do you believe...
(CROSSTALK)
JEFFRESS: The Bible says it's going to be like...
HOLMES: Uh-huh. Go ahead. It's going to be like what?
JEFFRESS: I was going to -- the Bible says that the end times will come like a thief in the night. And you know, T.J., I don't know any thief that calls ahead to announce when he's coming. He comes unexpectedly...
HOLMES: Now, this...
JEFFRESS: ... and so it will be with the return of Jesus Christ.
HOLMES: Back to Mr. Camping for a second, again, the pastor who has been pushing this. He was wrong back in 1994. But do you think he actually believes what he's saying, or he has an ulterior motive?
JEFFRESS: You know, the Bible tell us not to try to judge people's motives, so I really don't want to go there, T.J. I think he can be sincere. But you know what? You can be sincere and be sincerely wrong, as well. What he's doing so violates basic scripture that says, Do not set a date. Only God knows the date.
HOLMES: All right. So you're telling me I should come to work on Sunday.
(LAUGHTER)
JEFFRESS: Well, you know what? I'm going ahead and preparing my sermon ahead of time. I'm preparing to preach on Sunday. But if the Rapture comes, I say praise God.
HOLMES: All right. Pastor Robert Jeffress. Again, he did pen (ph) that. It's on our "Belief" blog at CNN. A lot of people have been responding to it. So please, we encourage everybody to check it out. Pastor Jeffress, we appreciate you. And I guess enjoy that sermon on Sunday.
JEFFRESS: Thanks, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. We're at 16 minutes past the hour now. Monitoring the situation out of New York right now, where Dominique Strauss-Kahn could be walking out of jail at any minute. There was a hold-up, a bit of a hitch. We'll tell you about it. We'll get the very latest. There was a hearing that was going on in New York. We'll see the very latest here in a moment.
Also, our in-depth look at America's job hunt heading to Detroit. Is it the new Silicon Valley?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never seen this much hiring in technology since I've been here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And CNN's Poppy Harlow makes the trip to Michigan for us to find out who's hiring and how much those positions are actually paying.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Now, there's a big question this hour about sex assault suspect Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Will he get out of jail today? Prosecutors and defense attorneys met with the judge over the past hour or so trying to hash out details of his bail order. Plans to release the former head of the International Monetary Fund hit kind of a speed bump today. The lease for a Manhattan apartment for his house arrest kind of fell through, so a replacement has been found, it seems that that's only good for three or four days. It's near Ground Zero. That raises a whole lot of security concerns. The judge has signed off on some new temporary digs. We're keeping an eye out of Rikers Island to see if and when Strauss-Kahn might walk out of jail today. When he does, we will be there.
Well, probably no city in this country embodies tough times more than Detroit. Once the manufacturing heart and soul of the country, the city has struggled to hang onto jobs as car makers moved production elsewhere. Now there is a glimmer of hope. Tech jobs are coming to the city at a pace that even outstrips Silicon Valley. As our CNN in- depth look at America's job hunt continues, Poppy Harlow reports for us from Detroit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DOUG VANDAGENS, DIR., FORD CONNECTED SERVICES SOLUTIONS: What we do here is we simulate the vehicle. People don't realize that there's five times the computing power in a car than there is in even the most sophisticated smartphone.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Could the Motor City be turning into tech town USA?
VANDAGENS: We've hired some people from Silicon Valley. We've gotten somebody from Microsoft and a number of other companies.
HARLOW: Some say it just might be. Detroit has seen an 82 percent increase in tech jobs in the past year at companies like Ford.
(on camera): Is there a tech job boom here, would you say?
VANDAGENS: There is. I've never seen this much hiring in technology since I've been here. My particular group, we're going to triple over the three-year period. HARLOW: Josh Kitchens locked in a job with this Ford tech team.
JOSH KITCHENS, MICHIGAN STATE 2011 GRADUATE: I was offered other positions, but I chose to stay here. I mean, salary was a big part of that.
HARLOW: Detroit tech workers make an average of $71,000 a year, less than Silicon Valley, but a great living here.
KITCHENS: It's very competitive, and it's -- and they want us to stay. They want to rebuild Detroit.
HARLOW: These Michigan State engineering students all had jobs lined up before graduation.
MICHAEL POTTS, MICHIGAN STATE 2011 GRADUATE: I chose engineering mostly for job security.
HARLOW (on camera): Is there also a sense of pride in wanting to sort of tell the world, Hey, Detroit is still here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely. You can come in, start up a company, and there are people that need jobs badly, so...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's true.
HARLOW (voice-over): Google says this will be its biggest hiring year yet in Detroit.
BILL ZAJAC, MICHIGAN STATE 2011 GRADUATE: To actually come out of college and be able to basically be put on a career path is amazing.
HARLOW (on camera): So why has there been such a big boom in tech jobs? Well, some people say in cities like right here in Detroit, so many jobs have been lost, the only real place to go was up.
TOM SILVER, SR. VICE PRESIDENT, DITE HOLDINGS: Employers, particularly in auto town, USA, are realizing that they need to be more efficient with their operations. Technology plays a really big part in that.
HARLOW: Can we call this a tech boom in Detroit?
SILVER: I think I'd call it a boomlet.
HARLOW: A boomlet?
SILVER: I'd call it a boomlet. Markets like New York City and Silicon Valley are certainly a little bit bigger. But they're not growing as fast as Detroit is anymore.
DAN GILBERT, FOUNDER, QUICKEN LOANS: Whether those deals close or not doesn't matter.
HARLOW (voice-over): Detroit native and founder of Quicken Loans Dan Gilbert says his company is making some 1,200 new hires here, many in tech.
GILBERT: (INAUDIBLE) keep our talent here because we are now, as everybody knows, in a brain economy, not so much a muscle economy.
HARLOW (on camera): What would you all say to the naysayers out there who say Detroit is dead?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't say that Detroit is dead. I feel like it was probably sleeping for a while, but I think -- I think it might be coming back at this point.
HARLOW (voice-over): In Detroit, Poppy Harlow, CNNMoney.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, how about this for a possible 2012 match-up, President Obama versus one of his former employees? That employee is a former ambassador, Jon Huntsman, a Republican who's apparently thinking of challenging his former boss. CNN's John King just sat down with him in, where else, New Hampshire, talked about whether his past comments about the president are going to hurt him. John King with me in just a couple of minutes. Stand by.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, time for us now to get the latest from the "Political Ticker." And for that, let's bring in the man himself. John King joins us now from, where else, New Hampshire. And John, good to see you. And people don't just stop by New Hampshire just to be stopping by. You've got to go out of your way to get there. So John Huntsman's -- he's got a purpose.
JOHN KING, HOST, "JOHN KING USA": He's got a purpose, T.J. Good afternoon to you. Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor, two-time Republican governor of Utah, but a month ago, as you mentioned before the break -- a month ago, he called President Obama "boss." He was the U.S. ambassador to China, appointed by a Democratic president. He's resigned that job now, and he's here in New Hampshire for five days as he tests the water for a Republican campaign for president. Imagine that.
So we saw him today at a traditional New Hampshire event, a house party. Yes, you give big speeches here. Yes, the candidates run ads on television. But the way they make their mark in the state of New Hampshire is retail politics like that -- show up in somebody's living room, 10, 15, sometimes 20 neighbors show up. They ask you questions about taxes, about health care, about who you are and where you're from.
Governor Huntsman introducing himself, and introducing himself at a time when -- think about the last two years. How do you make your name in the Republican Party in 2010 and 2011? You say President Obama is way too liberal on health care. You attack his stimulus program. Maybe you question whether he was born in the United States of America. Some Republicans have done that, the so-called birther movement. Newt Gingrich says he doesn't believe in America exceptionalism, that America is a unique nation on the earth.
But Jon Huntsman is very different. Not only President Obama is his former boss, he says a lot of really nice things about him. And so T.J., when I did have some time to have an interview with the governor, that's where I started.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING: I've been at this a while, and I don't remember any Republican running for the nomination who is on record saying the current Democratic president has brilliant analysis of world events, who said he was honored to work with Hillary Clinton. Do you worry about that? How do you get -- how do you get conservative Republicans to think, I want this guy as my guy?
JON HUNTSMAN (R), FMR. UTAH GOV., FMR. U.S. AMBASSADOR TO CHINA: Well, occasionally, you right thank-you notes, which I think is for a lot of people an important tradition. I also believe in civility. I believe that we ought to have a civil discourse in this country. You're not going to agree with people 100 percent of the time, but when they succeed and do things that are good, you can compliment them on it. I think we need to come together more on the issues that really do matter. I believe in civility and I believe in complimenting people when they do a good job.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: And T.J., it's quite interesting. You heard him there, "I believe in complimenting people," including the president of the United States. He said he will have sharp differences with his Republican rivals and with the Democratic president, but he wants to do it politely. He says he doesn't like labels -- excuse the car alarm going off. Someone's trying to steal a car here in Concord, New Hampshire.
He says he doesn't like the political labels. He doesn't like liberal, he doesn't like conservative. He views himself, as he said, as a pragmatic problem solver. The question, T.J., is, can you win a primary, ideological Republican primary, saying, I'm not a conservative, I'm a pragmatic problem solver? We might be about to find out, my friend.
HOLMES: All right. I had plenty more questions for you, but with that car alarm, I'm just going to -- going to let it go. John King, good to see you, as always, buddy. We'll see much of you throughout the day...
KING: It's over now. If you want to fire away, it is over.
HOLMES: You know what? Actually, it sounded like Jon Huntsman was saying, You know what? I'm just being a nice guy in complimenting somebody. Is that going to work? Is that good enough just to say, Hey, it's what you do, I didn't really mean it? He didn't go as far as saying, I didn't mean it, he just said, I was being a nice guy. Is that going to work? KING: It's a great question because our politics have become polarized. You know, even President Obama, who likes to say, you know, he's post-partisan, he got pretty tough in 2008 when he had to in the campaign battle with Hillary Clinton. The Republican primary is already starting to shape up as pretty tough. The candidates will go at each other and criticize President Obama. The question is, can you say, I want to be Mr. Nice Guy, I want to have a civil discourse?
Voters always tell us that's what they want. They want to get the nastiness out of politics. They want to have a debate about the big issues, have disagreements, but don't make them personal.
People like that, they say. But, first, you have to get through your own party's primary process, by which very nature attracts the most ideological voters. So, can you win the nomination of the conservative party in America when you say, "I don't like being called a conservative, I just want to be called a pragmatic problem solver"? It's a very interesting question.
Here in New Hampshire, independents can vote in the Republican primary. There are a lot of moderate voters. But can you sell that in conservative South Carolina? Can you sell that in conservative Iowa? That is the big challenge for Governor Huntsman.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: All right. John King, good to see you, as always, buddy. We'll see you on your show tonight, I assume as well, 7:00 Eastern Time, "JOHN KING, USA." Thank you so much.
We'll turn to the folks down South now. They are refusing to watch, refusing wait on floodwaters to rush in. Look at what they have done. They have made their own levees and they seem to be working. Martin Savidge is there live for us next.
Also, a bizarre moment in the Casey Anthony trial. Somebody is lashing out in the courtroom, yelling, screaming, kicking off her shoes. We will show you what happened.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: People are waging a personal battle against the Mississippi River floodwaters. Also, there was a bizarre outburst in the Casey Anthony trial.
Let's go around now and begin with Martin Savidge in Yazoo City, Mississippi.
Martin, these are phenomenal pictures to see. People making homemade levees?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, T.J. If you take a look at this from the air and it's absolutely astounding to see. You got an entire farm inundated with water, but then you see these two kind of islands that are sitting in what appears to be a lake, only it's not a lake, it's actually their cotton field that is now completely flooded with water from the Yazoo and Mississippi. Take a look out here. This is how much water there is. It is just almost as far as the eye can see. You would swear we were standing on a manmade lake instead of what is normally, perfectly dry farmland.
And just in the distance there, that is their son's home. That is Todd Hart's (ph) home just underneath the levee over there. It's just the rooftop that you can see. And there's also some deer over there we've seen popping their heads up. So, the deer and the wildlife are enjoying the refuge as well.
But take a look at the construction we're standing on here. This is just amazing, T.J. This is that earthen levee. It stretches for 2,200 feet. It's about eight to 11 feet high in spots, and the family put this all together with the help of a contractor to do one thing, and that' s save their farm and so far, that's what it's done, T.J.
HOLMES: OK. With the contractor, I guess, how many people -- much time did it take to get all of that together?
SAVIDGE: It took them two weeks working roughly 12 hours a day each of those two weeks.
HOLMES: Wow.
SAVIDGE: So, they got it together pretty fast I think when you look at this construction. I mean, it's surrounding three acres. It's not just a little backyard we're talking about here. So -- and they had about six people that were working on the project, heavy earth moving equipment but not a single leak, and so far it is holding up extremely well. So this is -- I think the Army Corps of Engineers would probably be pretty proud of a project like this.
HOLMES: Well, it is fascinating to see -- homemade levees. Sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do. And it is holding up.
Martin Savidge, we appreciate you giving us that perspective from the ground. We saw from the pictures early from up top. But, now, you've been able to report from right there on top of it. Martin, thank you so much.
Next, we want to head to our truTV "In Session" correspondent, Jean Casarez, outside the Florida courtroom where it looks like -- it looks like, Jean, are they finally getting a jury in place for this Casey Anthony trial?
JEAN CASAREZA, CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION" ON TRUTV: We could be minutes away from a jury. I want to talk to you, though, about a woman today that out of the blue, as one of the jurors was questioned about the death penalty, she yelled out, "But she's guilty, too."
So, what happened then, sheriff deputies went. They got her. They took her out of the room. The juror had to leave the courtroom. Judge Belvin Perry found this woman, Elizabeth Rogers is her name, guilty of contempt of court.
But, right now, she has a public defender that was appointed for her and she's fighting it right now in court as we speak.
HOLMES: Jean, let's take a listen to what you're describing. It was an interesting outburst. And I'm going to ask you about it some more on the other side. But let's take a quick listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're talking about someone's life and --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She killed somebody anyway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a second. Keep her outside of the courtroom for a minute. Ma'am, would you step out of the room?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And that wasn't the end of it. She was -- she was escorted out. But after that, what happened?
CASAREZ: Well, she was brought in and the judge asked her to tell her story and she said she was very, very sorry. She said that she was bipolar, but she had taken her medication at 6:00 this morning. She doesn't know what happened. She didn't mean to yell that out.
But here's what her attorney is saying right now, that in fact she didn't take her bipolar medication at 6:00 a.m. this morning. So, what the attorney is trying to show, that she didn't knowingly or intentionally cause a disturbance and cause obstruction in that courtroom.
HOLMES: All right. But again, we could have a jury in place, you said, shortly?
CASAREZ: Yes, after this, I think something is going to happen because there are 20 potential jurors at this point. Strikes have to be exercised to excuse them. But at the end of Friday afternoon, we could have a jury in the capital murder trial of Casey Anthony.
HOLMES: All right. Jean Casarez, we appreciate you as always. Thanks so much.
CASAREZ: You're welcome.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK KENNEDY, FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: Because we look the other way and he goes untreated, he shoots and kills people, including a good friend of mine, Gabby Giffords.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Patrick Kennedy getting candid about the mental health of the Tucson shooting suspect. Also, opens up about addiction and the real reason he quit Congress. He opened up to our Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Their conversation, you'll hear much more of it as Sanjay joins me live, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, Patrick Kennedy is no stranger to the political spotlight and began his political career at the age of 21. Also, that name Kennedy, a lot comes with. He's had a front row seat to all the drama of one of America's most legendary political dynasties.
But he's also lived a dark secret. For decades, he's struggled with addiction. He's now coming clean about it in an exclusive conversation with our CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Sanjay is here.
Sanjay, this is -- he had some issues there for a little while. (INAUDIBLE) to talk about it now.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, he wants to come clean. I mean, that's how he sort of put it. I mean, since high school, T.J., he's been in and out of rehab, I mean, at least half a dozen times -- cocaine use in high school. And people got glimpses of him throughout time, some embarrassing moments that he's had. But now, he wanted to put it all out there.
And he told me, look, you know, part of the reason I left Congress was because I did not think I could get clean while being in Congress.
HOLMES: Wow.
GUPTA: What was also interesting is how his whole world view has been shaped by his addiction and by his own diagnosed mental illness. In fact, at one point during the interview, he brought up the situation with Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and Jerrod Loughner, and had some very interesting insights, again, from his perspective on what that all meant.
Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENNEDY: When you look back at history and see how populations in our country were persistently discriminated against and segregated and marginalized, you think of minority groups of all colors and stripes, gender, you name it. The most persistent stigma and discrimination and prejudice really exist still to this day towards people with mental illnesses.
There is that sense, like Jared Loughner out in Arizona, he's crazy. They look the other way not thinking that this is someone who is sick and needs health care. Instead, because we look the other way and he goes untreated, he shoots and kills people, including a good friend of mine, Gabby Giffords.
GUPTA (voice-over): Jared Loughner is the 22-year-old accused of shooting Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. He is a man with a history of alarming and erratic behavior. KENNEDY: And now our attention is on Gabby and her recovery for her brain, and he's being jailed for his brain not being recovered. It's an irony, but we think nothing of no stigma towards Gabby and her brain injury but he has a brain injury as well, because clearly his brain was not working properly when he picked up that gun and shot all of those people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: One of the most striking things, T.J., is he's really not delineating between all kinds of brain diseases. Gabby Giffords, the gunshot wound to the head.
HOLMES: A brain injury versus
(CROSSTALK)
GUPTA: A brain injury, and with Loughner, he's saying -- you know, mental illness. This is the same sort of -- it's along the same spectrum. I don't think he was excusing it by any means. But I think he was saying, look, you know, when e think about brain injuries, whether it'd be a soldier returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with a traumatic brain injury, or his own father, Patrick Kennedy's father, Ted Kennedy, who had brain cancer, these things all need to be sort of approached, and that's where he sort of focusing his life's work now.
But it was really candid, T.J. I mean, just for him to -- a Kennedy talking about what it was like to be a Kennedy as a drug addict, a sitting congressman who was essentially getting these drugs from, you know, constituents, people in his office. It was remarkable.
HOLMES: Did he get help along the way? What I mean by that is -- I mean, he's surrounded by family and friends, presumably people who would want to help and see him succeed? Or did he consider a lot of that being a Kennedy, a lot of that just enabled him to continue what sound like an addictive lifestyle.
GUPTA: Right. And you asked the exact question. And that's something that's -- you've seen previous generations of Kennedys as well. I think it was both ways.
On one hand, it was a very welcoming, open family that wanted to help him. On the other hand, he said at time, he felt like a complete loser because of -- and this is his language, not mine -- but saying, because, you know, he was a Kennedy. He's supposed to have strong perseverance type, the images of Kennedys that people put in their minds. And instead, he was, you know, in and out of rehab so many times.
HOLMES: All right, so Sanjay Gupta M.D., tomorrow, 7:30 Eastern Time and the special is on Sunday, right?
GUPTA: Sunday night. Yes, we're going to talk about his plans to try and address some of these problems.
HOLMES: Please know, you are welcome to come in on my show at "CNN SATURDAY MORNING."
GUPTA: I was starting to get hurt feelings. I've never been invited so this is nice.
HOLMES: You want to accept the invitation?
GUPTA: Any time, yes. When, tomorrow?
HOLMES: Yes.
GUPTA: I'll get back to you on that.
HOLMES: See how he does me, folks?
GUPTA: I have a busy weekend, T.J.
HOLMES: Of course, you do. Good to see you. Thanks so much. Folks, it's safe to say Newt Gingrich didn't necessarily have a great week. Republicans, fellow Republicans attacked him and also somebody poured glitter all over him. Did you see that?
And also did you hear what happened at an event last night. The cell phone goes off and ring tone, well, it kind of took the people by surprise. That is just ahead.
But, first, all this talk about the world ending soon got us thinking. We have a list for you here, the top dooms day movies? You got one, Sanjay, top end of the world movies?
GUPTA: Yes.
HOLMES: What have you got?
GUPTA: The meteor one.
HOLMES: They are all meteor ones.
GUPTA: That's where it's going to come from, don't you think?
HOLMES: All right, well, here's our list for you. John Cusack. You saw this in 2012. Some people had mixed reviews. Here's a classic if you will. A young Will Smith in "Independence Day" and also a comet, is that the one? The demise of the earth and "Deep Impact." We'll share the top two in two minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, you probably heard by now, the predictions, the end of the world is near actually it's tomorrow, but in all chance it doesn't end. We were showing some of our - just having some fun here, some doomsday movies out there. The top two in the mix.
You remember "Armageddon" you know, Bruce Willis and the hit song by Aero Smith, put them together, you got that movie, but also the number one apparently around here, the teen actor turned Christian activist Kirk Cameron and the movie "Left Behind." Let's turn now to "THE SITUATION ROOM." Let's get back to serious stuff here. Coming up at the top of the hour, just a few minutes from now, Wolf Blitzer. Wolf, a lot of people thought this would be tense at the White House today.
The meeting between Obama and Netanyahu, and maybe we will really never know what was happening behind closed doors?
WOLF BLITZER, THE SITUATION ROOM: I suspect we will at some point, maybe sooner rather than later. Officials on the U.S. side and the Israeli side, they're pretty open. They like to tell us their respective spins. We might get very different interpretations of what happened behind the scenes.
But I suspect we'll know soon enough. I got to tell you though that 15-minute photo op they had when the president of the United States was speaking followed by the prime minister of Israel. The body language that I saw, the sort of tenseness in that room, it was palpable if you will.
It was difficult. The prime minister almost lecturing the president of the United States when it came to Israel's borders, refusal to deal with Hamas and other sensitive issues, like return of Palestinian refugees to Israel. These are sensitive -- the only thing I didn't hear them talk about, which probably would have really gotten sensitive is the future of Jerusalem as part of any deal.
They didn't get into that but got into a bunch of other stuff. So it was tense, but you know what? There have been tense moments in U.S./Israeli relations over the years, inevitably they sort of work it out and they move on.
HOLMES: Wolf, you help us here, then. You've been around that town for a long time and optics are always so important and everything is usually planned there. But I notice that as well in seeing that Benjamin Netanyahu.
He was sitting almost on the edge of his seat leaning in, looking directly at President Obama and gesturing a lot with his hands. What were your reading in body language? I know you're not an expert there, but still it sounds like something jumped out of you about that?
BLITZER: Right. It was clear that the prime minister of Israel was telling the president of the United States, you know what? We appreciate all of the United States does for Israel. We certainly appreciate for what you have done and some of the positive things you said in your speech yesterday, but maybe you don't fully understand what Netanyahu went on to describe as Israel's fears, its predicament, it's worries in that part of the world.
It was almost, if you will a lecture. I didn't think that the president knows a great deal about this and a study that at length has brought in all sorts of advisers, internal, external to discuss that speech that he delivered yesterday. I don't think he necessarily appreciated how blunt Netanyahu was, but as I said before, I've seen these kinds of tense moments in U.S.- Israel relations over the years and inevitably both sides sort of calm down and they move on.
HOLMES: All right, Wolf Blitzer, we will see you in about seven minutes at the top of the hour for "THE SITUATION ROOM." Thanks so much.
BLITZER: Thank you.
HOLMES: All right, coming up next, this news we got today. Kind of a throw back. A name you will remember. Randy Savage, macho man, Randy Savage has died. Police are revealing new information about his car wreck in Florida. I will share that with you next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Listen to the sad news from the entertainment world now. Macho man, Randy Savage has died after a car accident in Florida. We're told this famous wrestler was behind the wheel when his jeep crossed the median and crashed into a tree.
His wife was also in the car and she's said to be doing OK. Police say an investigation now underway. He, of course, is known for his wrestling career, but also a lot of people know him he jumped into pop culture as a pitchman.
HOLMES: Yes, Macho Man, Randy Savage, dead at the age of 58.
Let's turn to our "Political Pop" now. Newt Gingrich, he gets a call at an event. You know, one of those situations that people forget to turn their phone off as they go up to make a speech.
Everybody doesn't just hear the phone ring here though as I bring in Joe Johns. It's not just that, Joe, everybody the phone ring, they heard the actual ringtone, which some are talking about now. What happened?
JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Right, the president gets a call at 3:00 a.m. will the ring tone be Abba? I don't know. The ring tone is apparently a rift from a recording of the song "Dancing Queen" by Abba, T.J.
He was giving a speech, his phone goes off and it turns out Gingrich is a fan of the movie "Mama Mia" with Meryl Streep, which came out in 2008. The movie is based on a stage musical of the same name.
The musical a lot of people know goes all the way back to the '70s and Gingrich said he likes the sequence in the movie where they do "Dancing Queen." I mean, you would figure him to be a Ted Nugent fan, right?
HOLMES: You know, nobody is necessarily going to hold this against him that he likes this movie or this song or whatever else, but it's just been a rough week for the guy and this is just another embarrassing moment.
JOHNS: Right, I mean, the guy has been showered with glitter by a political prankster, blasted by conservatives for comments on Medicare and now he's publicly linked to Abba.
However, he is not the only politician running for the White House who's made this connection if you will. The last Republican nominee, John McCain actually admitted into an interview that he likes Abba, too, and he used to play their song, "Take a Chance on me" at rallies. So Republicans, they like Abba. Who knew?
HOLMES: Yes, who knew? Does John Boehner like Abba as well? Is he going to be out there blasting that on the golf course? We have a golf summit coming up between Boehner and Obama? At least some are hoping.
JOHNS: Yes, a lot of people are hoping for that. "Golf Digest" magazine has been pushing the president and the speaker to get together for a round of golf. They have never played together before apparently.
It's a big deal because the U.S. Open golf tournament is actually going to be held in Potomac, Maryland, right outside the Washington, D.C. area this year in June.
While the president clearly works at this game, it does sound like the speaker of the House is actually a much better golfer, T.J. from what I hear.
HOLMES: OK, is this actually - is there a possibility this could happen? People are hoping for it, but we're not hearing anything officially from the two camps?
JOHNS: No. I've e-mailed the White House. I've e-mailed the speaker's office. I got comments back, but nothing particularly useful for television, you know. We do know that "Golf Digest" has put up a list of Washington's 150 top golfers and Boehner comes in at 43, plays a lot of golf.
The president of the United States doesn't appear on that list until 108. It sounds like Boehner has got him, but Joe Biden made the round. He's better than both of them at number 29 so --
HOLMES: They say a lot of business gets done and in a lot of professions you need to know how to play golf because a lot of business gets done. Maybe they can get business done out there.
JOHNS: I know how to play. I just don't know how to play well.
HOLMES: OK, yes. I'm with you there, buddy. Joe Johns, good to see you as always. You enjoy your weekend and to our viewers, I certainly appreciate you all. Allowing me to hang out here with you in the CNN NEWSROOM in the past couple of days as Brooke Baldwin takes some much deserve days off.
Of course, you can catch me this weekend. I'll be in my spot CNN SATURDAY and CNN SUNDAY MORNING starting at 6 a.m. Eastern time on both days. For right now, let me hand this thing over to THE SITUATION ROOM. Right there and Wolf Blitzer.
