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John Edwards Indicted; Jury in Casey Anthony Trial Hears Jail Visit Conversations; Yemen on Brink of Civil War; Grand Jury Indicts John Edwards; U.S. Job Growth Weakens; Indy Rookie Races With Diabetes
Aired June 03, 2011 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Suzanne Malveaux. I want to get you up to speed for Friday, June 3rd.
A federal grand jury in North Carolina indicted former presidential candidate John Edwards on six counts just a short time ago. Prosecutors contend that Edwards used campaign donations to cover up an affair and pay his mistress. Edwards' attorney says the money was not a campaign donation, but a gift from two Edwards supporters.
Joe Johns is following the latest developments, and he joins us by phone from near Raleigh, North Carolina.
Joe, you've been following the twists and turns of how this has all unfolded. What do we know about the specific counts against Edwards now?
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the indictment, as I looking through it, has a lot of the information that we expected to be in there. Essentially, illegal campaign contributions, a number of counts on that. There's a conspiracy count. And the other thing is the thing that we've been looking for forever since we really heard about this case, a false statements count.
And that is essentially that Edwards was able to falsify, willfully conceal, cover up and otherwise keep information out of the public eye about contributions that he received from at least two individuals we've talked about again and again and again. That would be a woman named Bunny Mellon, who is a philanthropist who lives in the state of Virginia, and a now-deceased attorney named Fred Barron (ph), who lived in Texas. These two people kicked in -- we've called it a million dollars, but according to documents, we're talking roughly $925,000, $950,000.
MALVEAUX: It sounds like we lost -- Joe, can you hear us? It sounds like we lost Joe Johns on the phone explaining those federal charges.
We're actually going to get more analysis on the story in just a few minutes with CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. We're going to ask him about the possible punishments now that Edwards is indicted. Where does this go from here, and could other people also face charges? The unemployment report for May is out today, and it is ugly. The Labor Department says the economy added just 54,000 jobs last month. Experts predicted the May increase would be three times that number. The poor showing was enough to bump up the overall employment rate a notch to 9.1 percent.
Ninety minutes into the trading day, stocks are sinking because of concerns the economic recovery may be sputtering. Right now, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down about 65 points.
And Yemen is on the brink of civil war. Tribal fighters launched a bold attack on the presidential palace in Yemen today. A government spokesman says rocket-propelled grenades hit a mosque inside that compound. The prime minister, among seven officials who are wounded. The spokesman says President Ali Abdullah Saleh suffered a slight head injury but is OK and will address the nation soon.
Loud booms shatter the early morning quiet. That, in Libya's capital today. NATO says that airstrikes hit military planes, ammunition depots, and a radar system.
In Washington, House Republicans are voting on Libya today. One resolution demands the president end U.S. involvement in the operation. The other requests a written explanation of the costs and goals of the mission.
Assisted suicide advocate doctor Jack Kevorkian died today in Detroit. Kevorkian helped more than 100 terminally ill people end their lives during the 1990s, earning him the nickname "Dr. Death." He went to prison in 1999 for eight years. Kevorkian was hospitalized with kidney disease when he died.
A 14-year-old from Pennsylvania wins this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUKANYA ROY, SPELLING BEE WINNER: Cymotrichous: C-Y-M-O-T-R-I-C- H-O-U-S.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Sukanya Roy won a trophy and $40,000 worth of cash prizes and scholarships. The winning word means having weighty hair.
We're going to talk live with Sukanya in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
Here's your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. Today's question: Was the auto bailout worth it?
Carol Costello joins us with more.
And that was a big, big deal for the Obama administration in bailing out the auto industry. A lot of critics didn't agree that that was the right way to go.
COSTELLO: A lot of controversy about that, and they'll be touting it today though.
President Obama will visit a Chrysler plant in Ohio today to tout his auto industry bailout, how it created jobs, it helped save our economy. He's also clearly testing the waters for 2012, when he will be asked again and again, what have you done for our economy?
Republicans are saying, get real, Mr. President. With the economy reeling, this is no time for a victory lap. GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney was never a fan of the auto bailout. In 2008, Romney wrote in "The New York Times," "Let Detroit go bankrupt."
What does Chrysler's CEO think of the naysayers now like Mitt Romney?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGIO MARCHIONNE, FIAT-CHRYSLER CEO: Whoever told you that is smoking illegal material. And the government stepped in as the actor of last resort. It had to do it because the consequences would have been just too large to deal with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: According to the Treasury Department, American taxpayers will lose about $14 billion from the bailout.
Yes, the deal did save Chrysler. Two years ago, Chrysler and General Motors were on the brink of collapse, and Ford was teetering on bankruptcy. Now the big three are profitable. But remember, Ford did not take a bailout, and it bounced back even faster than GM and Chrysler.
To be fair, the bailout did change the way cars were made and unions negotiated. And according to the Center for Automotive Research, it saved 1.5 million jobs.
But what about the rest of the country? The job market has stalled. With unemployment over 9 percent, Americans are still hurting.
So, the "Talk Back" question today: Was the auto bailout worth it?
Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your responses later this hour.
MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Carol.
We are watching this story very closely like many people who are very interested in this case. This is in Orlando.
It's the ninth day of testimony in the trial of a mother charged with the murder of her 2-year-old daughter. Now, right now, the jury is hearing recordings from jail visits between Casey Anthony and her parents.
I want you to listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY ANTHONY, DEFENDANT: I've already talked to everybody. I know who I'm allowed to talk to, who I'm not allowed to talk to, who I can see, who I can't see, who is going to see me, who's not going to see me. I've arranged all of this. It's already been set up.
Again, he's the one person that's keeping me in the loop because he's the only person that can. And he's making sure that he's doing that in every way possible.
CINDY ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY'S MOTHER: Well, I just hope he's telling you honestly what you're up against.
CASEY ANTHONY: Mom, I know what I'm honestly up against. You guys understand what I'm honestly up against. And with keeping me here, you're not helping me help myself. I'm sorry say that. Huh?
CINDY ANTHONY: We don't have the means to get you out anyway, sweetheart. We don't.
CASEY ANTHONY: I understand that, but the opportunity was there and it wasn't taken advantage of and --
CINDY ANTHONY: We didn't have an opportunity. I don't know where you're hearing that.
CASEY ANTHONY: Just give dad the phone, please. I'm sorry. I don't want to get frustrated. Just give dad the phone.
GEORGE ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY'S FATHER: Hey, sweetie.
CASEY ANTHONY: This is seriously the first time that I've been angry, that I've been this frustrated to where I can't even think straight at this moment. Throughout this entire thing I was pissed off that day at the police station, I was mad when all of that happened, but I tried to look at things objectively.
In this entire time, I haven't sat in my room for the entire month and been mad not once, not one time. But right now, this is the most agitated and frustrated that I've been even when I sat with Jose and I watched that episode of "NANCY GRACE" and stuff that was being said about mom and being said about me and him and everybody else, and stuff that I've heard. It's frustrated me but I've let it go.
Right now, I'm so hurt by everything. I don't even know what to say. And I hate to say that.
G. ANTHONY: Well, I'm not trying to upset you, and neither is mom. We're not trying to. And if we are, I'm sorry for that.
CASEY ANTHONY: I know that's not your intention. You have to understand where I'm coming from in this. And obviously none of you are by still expecting me, a month, literally out of the loop, to have some sort of new insight on stuff. I mean, really?
G. ANTHONY: OK. I realize this is really hard for you to talk about, especially --
CASEY ANTHONY: Because I can't do anything. Because I've done everything. I've said everything, I've thought about everything. That's all I can do is sit and think every day, and that's what I've done.
And the information that I've given has been passed on. I know that.
G. ANTHONY: OK. You know, it's just hard, I know, for you. It's hard for us because none of us have ever been through any of this kind of stuff before, none of us.
CASEY ANTHONY: Well, obviously not. And we need to stick together in this, and it's hard for us to at this point.
G. ANTHONY: Well, we are sticking together. We are.
CASEY ANTHONY: Well, for mom to say that you guys have nothing, what I told her, you guys still have each other to lean on. I don't have anybody.
I have myself and the occasions that I can see my attorneys, who are trying to do whatever they can for myself and for Caylee. So you guys at least have a crutch, or multiple crutches throughout the community with everybody.
G. ANTHONY: Well, even that is waning at the moment, believe me. Even your mom and I are having our issues every single day. So just realize --
CASEY ANTHONY: Dad, I know it's going to take a toll on everybody, but understand, again, where I'm coming from in this. You have to see everybody's side.
I've looked at everybody's side about this. I've been praying every single day for insight and everybody's thoughts and everybody's feelings. So I know where you stand and where you're coming from. And I know where you're sitting right now, and mom and Lee, and Joe Schmo walking down the block that's seen this every day in the media for the last month.
I can understand everybody's side in this, but the worst part is that nobody can see my side. And I have to keep my mouth shut. I have to keep my mouth shut how I feel and with everything else, because all I need to do is give the media more stuff and the detectives and whoever else to throw back in my face when this goes to trial.
G. ANTHONY: Well, all I know is I'm trying to do everything I can to get a chance to see you. Just you and I.
CASEY ANTHONY: I know. G. ANTHONY: I mean, I'm trying, and so is your brother. And I know your mom would like to do that.
CASEY ANTHONY: I know that. And when I had that choice, and they told me they were initially setting it up with Lee, God, I would do anything to see any of you right now, absolutely anything. But I wanted to see Lee and I wanted to talk to Lee. But I knew most of that would be an interrogation with him, he'd have a whole list of questions that he'd ask me. With mom --
G. ANTHONY: Honestly, no. Honestly, no, he really doesn't.
CASEY ANTHONY: Well, that's how it's been, dad. I'm just thinking of how it's been with everything with mom -- mom would dominate a lot of the conversation, which is how it's been.
I mean, you and I, we've been separated for a while. And we were just -- I want to see all of you, but I wanted to see the one person that I've been so far disconnected from the longest. That's been you.
G. ANTHONY: I'm thankful for that. Thank you.
CASEY ANTHONY: It was hard for me to make my choice. I sat there for a half hour with Jose trying to think about this.
Ad he told me it's up to me who I wanted to see, how I wanted to do this, how he wanted to figure it out. And it was hard, because I don't want to have to choose between the three of you, you know, who I want to see or talk to, but I made a choice. I stand behind that.
G. ANTHONY: Well, that's good. I'm glad you made that choice on your own. Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
Thank you. I know it's a tough decision for you. I know that.
CASEY ANTHONY: Everything's a tough decision just because I'm so limited on the decisions that I can actually make now.
G. ANTHONY: I know. Well, let me see if I can handle it a different way to get in to see you even sooner. Would that be OK with you?
CASEY ANTHONY: Do what you have to do. I'm not obviously going anywhere right now, so I'm here. I'm biding my time.
G. ANTHONY: OK. Well, you know, you could always -- just -- here's a thought for you a second. The people that are with you right now inside where you are at, you can expedite this very quickly if you want to. OK?
CASEY ANTHONY: How?
G. ANTHONY: Just mention to the people that are there with you, the corrections people, you know, that, hey, I want to see my dad and I want to see my dad now, and they can expedite that through Mr. Barry (ph) and stuff like that. They can do everything within just a matter of hours, they really can.
CASEY ANTHONY: Yes. I tried that. Negative. There's only so much they can do.
I can make phone calls. I can take these visits. There's only so much that I can actually do.
It's going to have to come from the outside, from someone else. I can't -- I've asked those questions. I've tried that already. I've been asking every question that I can possibly think of.
G. ANTHONY: OK. Well, I'll do what I -- I'm going to do this on my own. I'm going to make sure that you and I can get together here just very quickly. OK?
CASEY ANTHONY: OK.
G. ANTHONY: I'm going to do that. I really am.
So how did you -- how did you get through last Saturday?
CASEY ANTHONY: I didn't. I spent the day almost completely by myself with my head under the covers.
I read my bible almost the entire day. I was miserable, just completely and utterly miserable, just like I have been the entire time.
That was the first time outside of our visits that I've really showed any emotion, and I was open and I didn't care because I couldn't hold anything back. I broke down.
It was the first time that I truly, truly broke down. It hurt, and I'm still recovering from that. Hearing about the fact that mom was making chili and there's probably a bunch of people at the house --
G. ANTHONY: No, there wasn't. There was just your brother and I and your mom, and Mallory (ph) came over a little bit after work. So, I mean, that was it. So whatever else you heard, that was totally wrong.
CASEY ANTHONY: Well, I was just told that mom was making food. I'm just going off of what people were telling me, what they were relaying from the media. So I was just speculating myself.
G. ANTHONY: Well, mom did some of her -- made her great chili. We had some bread and cornbread, you know, just whole things like that. It was just us.
There was no one else. There was -- I'm sorry, mom did remember, but there was a young guy who just called, who was alone and just wanted to have a little bit of family, and came over and we talked about an hour. We never met the man before. He was alone, so we opened our heart to him just to come in and talk a little bit.
CASEY ANTHONY: Well, that's what you should do.
G. ANTHONY: And that was something that he needed. And truthfully, I think we needed it also.
CASEY ANTHONY: The bible says to love thy neighbor.
G. ANTHONY: Yes.
CASEY ANTHONY: To share the things that you have, to give unto others. So you did exactly what you should do, and by all means, I know that meant more to him than any of you guys could possibly imagine.
G. ANTHONY: Well, it certainly is. I mean, he was a really nice guy. It was just really nice to talk to him and a get a chance to know him a little bit.
So how about you? Are you eating and stuff? Are you getting a chance to enjoy baloney sandwiches and coleslaw?
CASEY ANTHONY: It's a little bit more than that.
G. ANTHONY: OK.
CASEY ANTHONY: But, yes, I'm eating just so I'm not being bothered with. Are you eating? Because if I don't eat, then they'll say something. Sleeping or trying to sleep when I can, so I'm not getting bothered about that. I'm just trying to do whatever I can.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: We've been listening to recorded conversations between Casey Anthony and her parents there while she was in jail. This is being played by the prosecution side.
You may know, if you've been following this case, that Casey Anthony has been charged with capital murder for the murder of her daughter, 2-year-old Caylee, who was missing. Casey Anthony did not report the child missing until a month afterwards. There's a series of conversations that she had with investigators about that.
But what we were seeing here and what is compelling is the fact that Casey Anthony is revealing some sort of emotion and frustration over the whole process here, even coverage of the case that she mentioned on "NANCY GRACE." She said she's been reading her bible, she's been breaking down, she's been praying.
What is also interesting is that she's urged the family -- you can hear it, we've heard it here -- to stick together, the importance of them to stick together. This is clearly before the defense launched its case.
Casey Anthony's attorney saying that it was the father -- we are seeing the father there in that jailhouse visit -- that the father and Casey together had found the child accidentally drowned in the swimming pool, and that according to Casey Anthony, her defense, she didn't say anything about this because she was so fearful of her father because her father allegedly sexually abused her as a child, and that she had grown up covering up and making excuses, and full of fear.
And so she did not actually reveal what she says was the true reason, the true story for explaining how it was that Caylee was missing and how she came to die. And so it is very fascinating to hear these kinds of conversations, where she's urging unity with her mother and father, and there was anything but that we have seen and heard on the witness stand, among all of these family members. This family simply torn apart, as each one of them has pointed a finger at the other.
We've heard conflicting testimony from mother, as well as Casey, in terms of whether or not Casey Anthony was a fit mother for her child, whether or not she in fact knew where Caylee was, the circumstances surrounding her daughter's disappearance, and even the urgings of her parents, who had asked time and time again, the brother as well, if you believe their testimony, asking where the little girl was, and the various responses that Casey Anthony provided. So this really is just a window, if you will, into the family dynamic involved in this very high profile case that has taken place.
I want to play very quickly -- it's a dramatic piece of sound here. These are investigators who were trying to get to the bottom of the story that Casey Anthony provided in terms of where was the little girl, the 2-year-old who was missing? Did she know where that little girl was, and the circumstances around her disappearance, as they tried to poke holes in her various stories.
I want you to listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASEY ANTHONY: I have not seen my daughter. The last time that I saw her was on the 9th of June.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what happened to Caylee?
CASEY ANTHONY: I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure, you do.
CASEY ANTHONY: I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen, something happened to Caylee. And the longer this goes, the worse it's going to be for everyone. Everyone, the worse it's going to be for everyone. Right now, everything you've told us, we've locked you into a lie.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And there you see the reaction, the tears coming from Casey Anthony. A lot of people looking for the emotion, for the frustration, and obviously a lot of the different various stories that is coming from this young woman as they try to solve this mystery, very controversial, and a lot of attention being paid to the Casey Anthony trial.
We're going to continue to monitor this trial and bring you the very latest developments. You can also watch this special all-day coverage on the trial on our sister network, HLN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Yemen's presidential compound shelled. The president and prime minister are among the wounded. It is part of the latest violence that is rattling the capital of Sanaa.
Here's a look at the palace compound today right after missiles fired by rebel tribesmen slammed into it.
I want to get straight to Mohammed Jamjoom, who is following all of the developments from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
And Mohammed, this is very significant. You're talking about a place that has incredible security here.
What do we know about the injuries and what do we know about the compound itself?
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, as you said, this was shocking to so many people in Yemen today that I've been speaking with, the fact that according to eyewitnesses, according to residents and government officials, that these tribesmen that have been battling it out in the streets of Yemen's capital with government security forces, that they were able to get this close to the presidential palace, which is practically a fortress with so much security around it, that they were able to shell it.
It's just shocking to government officials there who were wondering just how vulnerable President Ali Abdullah Saleh, his government, is now, and how close these tribesmen could be to possibly taking over that capital.
As for as the injuries for President Ali Abdullah Saleh, we're hearing from one senior government official that he sustained slight injuries to the head and that he's going to give a press conference in the next hour to address what happened, make remarks to the people of Yemen. That press conference has already been delayed, and it's making people wonder why exactly it's been delayed. There's a lot of rumors going around Yemen right now as to how significantly injured he may have been.
But also, as far as the other officials that were inside that mosque and the compound when the shelling happened, we're hearing the prime minister, the deputy prime minister, and other officials were wounded. We don't know yet the extent of those injuries.
But again, this is very, very significant. The fact that the presidential palace could sustain this kind of damage when there's so much security around it, really making people wonder how vulnerable that government is, how vulnerable the capital of Yemen is. And this is at a time when violence is spreading through the country. So a lot of questions, a lot of rumors, a lot of chaos in Yemen right now -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And Mohammed, who's in charge there? We know that President Saleh is clinging to power. People have been trying to influence him to leave. That has not worked. And now you've got these other officials who are actually wounded inside their own presidential compound.
Do we know? Is there anyone in charge there?
JAMJOOM: Well, government officials are telling us that President Saleh is still firmly in charge. Yemeni state television has been putting out statements all day saying that the president is safe, that he will address the country. So they're clearly trying to send the message that he is in charge.
That's one story, one side of the story.
But another side of the story is if, as I said before, rebel tribesmen are able to get this close to the president, are able to injure the president, if this has happened, what does that mean for the president? Who exactly is in charge? How dire have the consequences gotten and how vulnerable are the security forces of the president?
The government of Yemen maintains that President Saleh is firmly in control of that country. We know that it's a weak central government. We know that he doesn't have a lot of control of other cities outside the capital.
But the fact that these street battles have been going on for 12 days in the capital, that it's so volatile there, making people wonder if that country is really on the verge of all-out civil war, and what that means for the future of that country, regional stability, and for the allies of Yemen and Yemen's war on terror -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Mohammed Jamjoom, thank you very much for that update. We appreciate it.
Well, John Edwards, from political star to a felony indictment. We're going to take a look at the rise and fall of his career and get inside on the indictment from senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Grand jury today indicted former presidential candidate John Edwards. The indictment accuses him of illegally giving campaign money to his mistress, Rielle Hunter.
CNN's Joe Johns takes a look at John Edwards spectacular fall of political golden boy to tabloid sensation, and now to a criminal indictment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Edwards, the politician, remember him?
JOHN EDWARDS (D), FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have much work to do because the truth is we still live in a country where there are two different Americas.
JOHNS: But as it turned out, Mr. Two Americas here had two very different faces himself, and one of them wasn't very pretty. People close to him said it was the face of betrayal, betrayal of people closest him -- his late wife Elizabeth, his supporters, his staffers, his contributors.
Granted, Edwards was a promising politician at first, successful Democratic senator from the south, telegenic guy, rich trial lawyer but a spokesman for the poor, smart but homegrown. Talked such a good game, he got picked up as John Kerry's running mate in 2004.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have chosen a man who understands and defends the values of America.
JOHNS: But it didn't work out. So next election cycle Edwards jumped into the race for the White House once again. And by early 2008 --
EDWARDS: It's time for me to step aside.
JOHNS: -- he was out. But not before getting entangled in a messy relationship with a woman named Rielle Hunter. She eventually gave birth to Edwards child. Edwards at first denied having the affair and then denied being the father, but last year he finally admitted it.
The story reached a sleazy low point when a videotape surfaced that is reported to show Edwards and Hunter having sex. The tape wound up in the hands of former Edwards staffer Andrew Young, who turned it over to a court after Rielle Hunter filed a lawsuit.
It took eight months before Edwards wife, Elizabeth, suffering from terminal cancer learned the extent of the affair. Before she died last month, she went public in her book and made numerous TV appearances.
ELIZABETH EDWARDS, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR: Maybe it was that 30 year investment I had in the marriage, maybe it was that I could not separate the flawed boy I fell in love with in 1975. It does not matter now.
JOHNS: The death of Elizabeth might have been the end of the story, except for the fact that there has yet to be a full public accounting.
Edwards raised $43.9 million in campaign money in his bid for the White House. Where some of it came from and went has been carefully scrutinized. Rielle Hunter worked for the campaign and got paid as videographer. Questions have been raised whether any of the federal campaign funds donated to support Edwards might have been used improperly, misreported, not reported at all, or used to keep the affair quiet.
Andrew Young said he was persuaded to claim Rielle Hunter's child was his own, and that he went to great lengths as Edwards aide to help conceal the affair.
ANDREW YOUNG, FORMER EDWARDS AIDE: This was John Edwards idea from the beginning.
JOHNS: Which brings us back to the golden boy, a once rising politician with so much promise. Something like this could never have been part of the plan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: I want to bring in our senior CNN legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, and our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, for some insight on this case.
Thanks, guys.
First of all, to you, Jeffrey, explain for us in very simple terms, what are the charges here. What is this criminal indictment about?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: OK. It's not a charge he had an affair, it's not a charge that he lied about fathering this baby. The charge is very specific.
What happened here was two wealthy supporters, Bunny Melon, a philanthropist in Virginia, and Fred Barron, a trial lawyer in Texas, paid almost a million dollars to Rielle Hunter, to Andrew Young, the aide, to keep them quiet, to take care of them while the campaign was going on.
The charge is that those funds were in an illegal campaign contribution. As many people may remember, you're only allowed to give candidates for president $2,300 in a primary. This million dollars, nearly, was an illegal campaign contribution that John Edwards solicited, facilitated, encouraged.
That's the charge against him.
MALVEAUX: Does Edwards automatically go to trial, or is there -- what is the next step?
TOOBIN: Well, he'll be arraigned shortly. Certainly, there will be a lot of legal motions.
This is a very unusual charge in a criminal case. There are very rarely any kinds of criminal cases that come out of the federal election campaign, so there will be a lot of legal issues.
But assuming there's no plea bargain, and at this point it's very unlikely there will be a plea bargain given the fact that those negotiations had gone for months, there will be a trial probably six months from now. MALVEAUX: And, Gloria, you and I both covered John Edwards in 2004 and 2008. He really was the golden boy in some time in highlighting these two Americas, the rich and the poor, got a lot of attention and a lot of praise, built up quite a following here.
What do you make of his fall? Is there anything he could potentially do to redeem himself?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: First of all, the fall is stunning. And I think, you know, you were covering Barack Obama, you remember when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, in the 2008 campaign, were competing for John Edwards' endorsement, remember that?
MALVEAUX: Right, absolutely.
BORGER: And it was huge when Barack Obama got John Edwards' endorsement.
Now what he's been trying to do, I mean, obviously he knows he's gotten a an image he needs to rehabilitate and life that he needs to rehabilitate, he was interested in starting a public interest law firm. And presumably, if they were going to negotiate any kind of a deal here, it might have included the fact that they would say to him, you can't practice law anymore, you would lose your law license.
Well, if that's the case, how could he start a public interest law firm. So I think that was key to John Edwards trying to get his life back on track, which is why we may now be seeing this now go to trial.
But the fall from grace is kind of stunning. And I think the big question now is going to be whether we're going to see the whole -- his whole life again played out before us in some kind of trial that is really, as Jeff points out, about whether these contributions were illegal campaign contributions or gifts in a way to John Edwards and what he knew about them.
MALVEAUX: Jeff, if he's found guilty, what's the potential punishment here?
TOOBIN: Well, I certainly think if he's found guilty, he will go to prison. How long, I think, is hard to say. I would say probably a year or two.
And if he's convicted after trial, I don't think there's any doubt in the world that he'll lose his law license for good.
One of the things that you learn when reading the indictment is how ugly this trial is likely to get.
MALVEAUX: Right.
TOOBIN: Because it would be one way to frame this case as well, you know, this is a dispute about whether a certain financial expenditure is a campaign contribution or a gift, and that's certainly how the defense will try to frame it. MALVEAUX: Sure.
TOOBIN: But if you read this indictment, the argument here is going to be, John Edwards is a bad man who did this illegal campaign contribution, but he's a terrible guy, and this trial is likely to be very ugly.
BORGER: And that he was trying to hide this affair so he could continue his political career.
And, you know, he's not very popular back in his home state of North Carolina. That could also really pose a problem for him.
So no matter how much they try and make it about this particular law, about campaign contributions, it's going to be so messy, because it has to be about a political career and why, what his motives were if indeed he tried to hide this money.
MALVEAUX: All right, we'll be watching for --
TOOBIN: And if I can just add one peculiar fact here, is that Fred Barron, who gave much of this money, has died, and Bunny Melon, who gave the other amount, is 100 years old. So one clearly will not be able to testify, the other might not be able to testify. I'm not sure which way that cuts, but it's certainly another odd fact in this case.
MALVEAUX: OK, we'll be watching all of that and, of course, John Edwards first court appearance, which potentially could happen later this afternoon.
Thank you very much, Jeffrey Toobin and Gloria Borger.
Next, new dismal job numbers, they were released today. What the numbers mean for our long term economic outlook.
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MALVEAUX: Another sign the economic recovery is now running out of steam, the U.S. Economy created just 54,000 jobs last month. That is far fewer than folks expected.
With us now, Danny Boston, he's a professor of economics at Georgia Tech.
The unemployment rate went up to 9.1 percent. People thought it would go down to 8.9 percent. How significant is that today?
PROF. DANNY BOSTON, ECONOMICS, GEORGIA TECH: Very significant, Suzanne, because we, over the last three months, the economy created about 250,000 jobs. And so, we're at a period of growth and we need 250 to 300,000 each month to make a significant dent in the high unemployment.
So all of a sudden, last month we get a dip to 54,000, which is a significant decrease. And it -- and there's some troubling signs, if you look at broad sectors of the economy, troubling signs indicating the economy has really slowed down and it will likely stay there for some time.
MALVEAUX: We've seen bad news this week when you talk about the housing market, the value of housing going down, the stock market taking a plunge, and now you have this unemployment figure coming out.
What alarms you the most right now? What is the biggest problem?
BOSTON: Well, Suzanne, you're right. If you look at all those things individually, they don't amount to a lot, but collectively, it's almost like a perfect storm.
As you mentioned, the housing market, we also have these high oil prices, food prices have increased. We have this -- this continual string of natural events, for example, tsunamis and floods that have disrupted global supply chains. And then when you add on to that the continual political football raising with the debt ceiling, all those things taken together really have created a very pessimistic environment.
MALVEAUX: What can be done?
BOSTON: Well, you know, we've almost run out of options.
MALVEAUX: Really?
BOSTON: Yes, we're just about out of options, absolutely, because there's no more money for fiscal stimulus, and even if there were money, Congress doesn't have the political will to do it and the Federal Reserve has kept the interest rates so low so long that if they lower it any further, you'd almost have to pay people to borrow.
And so, we don't have any leverage. We just simply have to begin to look at this as a long-run challenge and begin to invest in the kinds of policies that will make things better in the long run. There's no short-run fix.
MALVEAUX: Wow. Danny, thank you so much. It's bad news, but we got to hear it, we got to know what we're dealing with here.
BOSTON: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: All right, thank you.
We have a good story here. A giddy 14-year-old from Pennsylvania, she is crowned the National Spelling Bee winner. We're going to will talk to her live next hour.
But first, a quiz for you. Can you guess the winning word from the first National Spelling Bee?
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MALVEAUX: The first word to win a National Spelling Bee was uttered in 1925. What was it? I'm going to try to pronounce this -- Gladiolus. I think that's it. It's a term used in botany, it also means the large middle section of the sternum.
Each week, we take a look at people who have accomplished extraordinary things. This week's "Human Factor" profiles a rookie driver who became a first by finishing 13th in this year's Indianapolis 500.
Here's CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
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CHARLIE KIMBALL, INDY CAR DRIVER NUMBER 83: Growing up, I wanted to race professionally. I wanted to race in the Indianapolis 500.
NASCAR ANNOUNCER: He is 10.9 seconds behind the race leader.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This year, Charlie Kimball finally fulfilled his dream. In order to get here, though, he had to overcome a big hurdle.
You see, four years ago, he was told he had diabetes. So Kimball took time to cope with his diagnosis and figure out if he could race with diabetes, something Indy Car officials said was a first.
To qualify for these races, he not only had to be fast, he had to be healthy.
KIMBALL: If I go too high, my reaction time is slow and I'm not competitive. If I go too low, I get light headed; go low enough, I could pass out and cause an accident.
GUPTA: His diabetes let him to a sponsor, and Kimball's pit crew consists of mechanics, engineers and his doctor. He has to make sure his body is ready along with his car, which now has special equipment.
KIMBALL: I wear a continuous glucose monitor which is a sensor that I have on my body and it reads blood glucose, wirelessly transmits to a pager-like display that I Velcro to the steering wheel.
GUPTA: And he has a backup system designed by his father just in case.
KIMBALL: I've got a drink bottle mounted with the car, fill it with orange juice, which is full of sugar, the tube runs right into my helmet; and without having to take my hands off the steering wheel, I can drink that orange juice, bring my sugars up and I don't have to stop.
GUPTA: Kimball's determined to get the message out diabetes doesn't have to stand in the way of your dreams.
KIMBALL: I'm living proof that you can do almost anything you want in life with diabetes, even drive a race car at a couple hundred miles an hour.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
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MALVEAUX: This week on "SANJAY GUPTA M.D.," AIDS turns 33. About 33 million in the people are living with HIV or AIDS and more than a million in the U.S. alone. Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a closer look at the disease that has killed more than 25 (sic) people. That's Saturday, 7:30 a.m. on CNN.
Following the breaking news developing story, former presidential candidate John Edwards indicted for using campaign financing, campaign cash, to hide an affair and pay his mistress. We are getting word from his defense attorney, Greg Craig, issuing this statement just moments ago saying that John Edwards will tell the court he is innocent of all charges and will plead not guilty. He did not break the law and will mount a vigorous defense. The defense of John Edwards.
We expect to see John Edwards later in court this afternoon. We'll have more after the break.
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MALVEAUX: President Obama is in Ohio today at a Chrysler plant to talk about the auto bailout, which brings us to our "Talk Back" question and Carol Costello with your responses.
Carol, what do we know?
COSTELLO: Well, "Talk back" question today was: Was the auto bailout worth it?
This from Jeanne, "Based on the news that a new factory will open in Detroit and second shifts are being added elsewhere, yes, I think Obama's bet on the U.S. auto industry was worth it. I have to hand it to Obama, he doesn't shy away from too many risky bets."
This from Jim, "Yes, it saved millions of families. The real question is, was the Wall Street bailout worth it? Unemployment is still up because the banks we bailed out still aren't giving loans to small businesses."
This from Don, "Adam Smith must be rolling around in his grave. An invisible hand allows for markets to self-regulate, as it should be. The government had no business giving bailouts to the auto industry."
And this from Dan, "Wasn't for it at first, but yes, it was the right choice. Saved jobs, American car companies are kicking it now. They have some great stuff coming out...baseball, American cars and apple pit, baby!!"
Keep the conversation going, Facebook.com/CarolCNN.
MALVEAUX: The Obama administration, they got a lot of flak for trying to bail out the auto industry and now they are just -- they're simply trying to put it behind them and say, look, this was a good thing, we have to move on here. But that was controversial. COSTELLO: The conundrum for the president today, he's touting the auto industry bailout and how many jobs it's brought to the state of Ohio, but then you have this terrible jobs report coming out and so -- does one balance out the other?
MALVEAUX: What about the governor, the Ohio governor in this trip?
COSTELLO: Governor of the state of Ohio invited to appear with President Obama. He said he had other engagements. But Republicans in the state of Ohio says the president has not done nearly enough for the economy in Ohio, because as you know, the Ohio unemployment rate isn't exactly great. In fact, it's worse than in many other parts of the country.
So, yes, the auto industry doing better, but what about other people in other jobs?
MALVEAUX: Ohio, a battleground state, they need the voters in Ohio.
COSTELLO: That's why the president is there today in part.
MALVEAUX: Thanks, Carol. Appreciate it.
More of the day's top stories coming up after a quick break.
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