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Edwards Plans Vigorous Defense; Death Comes To Kevorkian; Casey Scoffs At Drowning Claim; The Shaq Retires After 19 Seasons; President Obama Addresses Autoworkers in Toledo, Ohio; John Edwards' Attorney Comments on Charges; New Developments in Casey Anthony Murder Trial

Aired June 03, 2011 - 13:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Well, CNN NEWSROOM continues with Randi Kaye in for Ali Velshi. Hey, Randi.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Suzanne. Thank you and have a great weekend.

MALVEAUX: You, too.

KAYE: First came the scandal, then the investigation, negotiations, eventually charges, and starting next hour, a vigorous defense. That is a promise from John Edwards' lawyer in the wake of the former senator's indictment on a half dozen federal counts relating to money he obtained from a couple rich friends and spent on his mistress. As you probably remember, Edwards was running for president at the time and his wife was battling cancer.

His career imploded, long before these charges were handed up this morning in North Carolina, but a source tells CNN Edwards dearly wants to keep his law license and that's why he did not make a deal with prosecutors and spare himself a trial. Now, if he admitted to a felony, he couldn't practice law. He's expected to plead not guilty in federal court in Winston-Salem in just about 90 minutes.

So, while we wait, I want to bring in my colleague, Joe Johns, who's covered this case for quite some time and joins me on the phone. Our Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin weighs in from New York as well.

Jeff, let me start with you. The famous quote says, "a good prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich," but this campaign finance allegation is not so cut and dried, is it?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: No, and you know, this is a very unusual case. I mean, criminal prosecutions based on violations of campaign laws are very unusual. Now, those are usually dealt with civilly so, you know, you start with that idea.

Also, you know, we all know that there are very salacious facts at the core of this case, but the actual legal issue that the jury and the judge are going to have to decide is actually fairly technical, which is were these contributions from two very rich friends, Fred Baron, a Texas trial lawyer who since died, and Bunny Mellon, a philanthropist in Virginia who's 100 years old?

Did those -- did that nearly a million dollars from the both of them, constitute a campaign contribution or was it simply a gift to John Edwards? That's the legal issue at the heart of this case. And, you know, I don't really know what the answer is and I think we're going to have to see how the trial plays out to know -- to know -- to know what the answer is.

KAYE: Joe, let me bring you in. You are on your way to Winston- Salem, that's why area on the telephone with us. What do we expect, would you think, at Edwards' first court appearance this afternoon?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hey, Randi. Well, you may hear my GPS in the background. You're right, I'm trying to get to the courthouse because, you know, just talking around on the phone, I -- the first thing it may be we'll hear is from Greg Craig, who is the lead defense council, he's out of Washington, D.C. for John Edwards.

And I'm told that possibly within the next 30 minutes, he's going to show up at the Winston-Salem courthouse to talk to the media people who are there about this case in anticipation of going in around 2:30 Eastern time, presumably with John Edwards. And I'm told the defense counselor -- the defense team is expecting to actually enter a plea that would, of course, be a plea of not guilty.

Greg Craig has said that there's going to be a vigorous defense that John Edwards doesn't believe he committed any crime and so there we go. I mean, we got a number of charges here laid out very, very well there by Jeff Toobin and some of the issues as to whether it's a gift or whether it is, in fact, you know, an illegal campaign contribution and just doesn't look very cut and dried at this time.

KAYE: Right.

JOHNS: So, off to the races after 2:30 Eastern time.

KAYE: And Jeffrey, when we talk about an illegal campaign contribution, that's because -- I know we've talked about this before, but there is a limit to what somebody can donate to a campaign, so that's why I know you touched on this before, but that's why you're -- Edwards' team may argue that this was a personal gift and not a campaign contribution.

TOOBIN: Right. At the time of the 2008 primaries, the limit was $2300 per person. These gifts totaled -- gifts, contributions, these payments totaled almost a million dollars. So clearly, they were way over what a campaign contribution could be, but, you know, the Edwards' team has already put out statements by former employees, former high officials, of the federal election commission saying, based on the facts that we know, that have been told to us, these would not be considered campaign contributions.

So, that legal issue is certainly going to be at the heart of their defense. And there's also another part of the defense here, which is, what was John Edwards' role in soliciting, obtaining these contributions. The defense may well argue that it was someone else, it was other people, who orchestrated this money changing hands and that it wasn't Edwards involved in soliciting the contributions which would be another defense that he has.

KAYE: Right. And Jeff, if Edwards is convicted, I know we're looking at a long ways down the road here but if that were to happen, do you see him doing prison time?

TOOBIN: I do. I don't think you could get a -- you know, go all the way with the conviction in this case and a judge would simply say OK, you can have probation. I think these are six serious felonies, conspiracy, violation of campaign finance laws, lying to the government, all of that -- if he's convicted across the board, I think he would be looking at a year or two in prison and, of course, he would be looking at the certainty of losing his law license forever.

KAYE: All right. Jeffrey Toobin and our Joe Johns with us as well on the phone, thank you both.

Our "Sound Effect" is a posthumous defense of unnatural death. We learned the so-called suicide doctor, Jack Kevorkian, and had himself passed away in a Michigan hospital at the age of 83. He had kidney problems, heart problems, pneumonia, but his lawyer says his final moments were peaceful, Kevorkian's life not so much. His vocation put him constantly on the defensive with the law and society in general.

So, I want to play you some comments from one of his final television interviews. Here he is with Anderson Cooper in April of 2010.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": A lot of people, as you know, say, look, you're playing god, that --

JACK KEVORKIAN, : Isn't the doctor who takes a leg off playing god?

COOPER: You're saying doctors play god all the time?

KEVORKIAN: Of course. Any time you interfere with the natural process, you're playing god. God determines what happens naturally. That means that when a person's ill, he shouldn't go to a doctor because he's asking for interference with god's will. But, of course, patients can't think that way, they want to live as long as possible and not suffer. So, they call a doctor to help them end the suffering.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Kevorkian faced murder charges several times and eventually in 1999 he was convicted, he was paroled in 2007.

And we, of course, want to know what you think about this. How do you feel about the passing of Dr. Jack Kevorkian? And did he hurt more than help or help more than hurt? You can join the conversation on our blog at CNN.com/Ali and you can also post on either Ali's or my Facebook and Twitter pages as well.

Jailhouse visits are the latest source of courtroom drama in the Casey Anthony murder trial. Today, jurors heard the woman now charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter, appear to scoff at the very scenario her whole defense is based on. Over defense objections, prosecutors are playing video clips of conversations between Anthony and her parents in the Orange County jail back in the summer of 2008. Caylee disappeared in the middle of June, Casey was arrested in mid- July. Now, at one point, Casey's mother talks about the strains on the family and speculation in the media -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CINDY ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY'S MOTHER: We're not doing well, Casey, none of us. We've been (inaudible), dad's -- dad's blown up at the media.

CASEY ANTHONY: Yes, I heard.

CINDY ANTHONY: Well, someone just said that Caylee was dead this morning, that she drowned in the pool. That's the newest story out there.

CASEY ANTHONY: Surprise, surprise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Now at the time, Casey Anthony claimed Caylee had been kidnapped by a nanny turned out not to exist. Now, her lawyer says Caylee drowned in her grandparents' pool and her grandfather, Casey's dad, George, actually helped cover it up. George Anthony denies that.

I want to get more details now from Steve Helling, he's covering the trial for "People" magazine and joins me now on the telephone. Steve, what was the impact of that surprise, surprise comment as the jurors listened to those tapes in court?

STEVE HELLING, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: Well, I did notice a couple jurors taking notes, but it didn't have as much of the impact as I was thinking it might have because, you know, it's sort of such a quick thing that everybody kind of glossed over it. So, I think that some of them noticed it and will probably come up in deliberations at some point, but, you know, nobody, you know, stood up and acted shocked or anything like that. It just kind of -- it just kind of was another piece of the puzzle to them.

KAYE: That is surprising since that's what the defense is basing its case on, that she had drowned in his pool. But these tapes do show a degree of emotion on Casey's part. I mean, we watch her in tears throughout many of these tapes, and that emotion really has been missing until now, wouldn't you say?

HELLING: It has been, but the problem is, Randi, that it's not emotion that is -- that seems to be aimed towards Caylee. You know, oh, I miss my daughter, and that -- you know, that type of thing. It seems to be emotion about you don't know how hard this is for me, you don't know what I'm going through. And I've noticed a lot of jurors taking notes every time she said something that could come across as, perhaps, being self-centered.

KAYE: And Casey's lawyer also claims, we should point out, she'd been sexually abused and psychologically damaged by her father, George. He, of course, denies that. And these recordings really don't make it any more believable, do they? I mean you actually hear them talking about how much they miss each other.

HELLING: It actually makes it much less believable. So, the defense, of course, has a big job ahead of them, because Casey keeps saying things like, you know, you'll always be my buddy and I love you dad, and you were the best father ever and things like that. And it's strange things to say if somebody who, you know, allegedly molested you from the time you were eight, at least into your teenage years.

KAYE: All right. Steve Helling, thank you, appreciate your expertise there in covering that trial there in the courtroom.

And you can watch special coverage of the Casey Anthony trial all day long on our sister network, that is HLN and same with CNN for the next hour, because Nancy Grace will be joining me live from the courthouse there in Orlando, that's at 2:45 Eastern time.

Also happening now in Orlando, Florida, Shaquille O'Neal is expected to announce his retirement.

In fact, he's announcing it right now, here, looking at a live picture from his Florida home. Shaq officially ends his career today in Orlando where it all began for him 19 years ago, with the Orlando magic. The four-time NBA champion has been dogged by injuries in recent years and played only 37 games for the Boston Celtics this season after struggling with his Achilles tendon. The 39-year-old is the NBA's fifth leading scorer of all time, only Michael Jordan has more NBA finals MVP Awards.

The economic recovery may be losing steam but is it time to hit the panic button? Ali Velshi offers some insight for us next in "YOUR $$$$$."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: And this just in to CNN, we have some new video to show you of John Edwards arriving at court in Winston-Salem. He will be there to enter a plea. His attorney, Greg Craig, says that he will have a vigorous defense. He will likely enter a plea of not guilty and we will continue to follow that. Of course, his attorney is also expected to make some comments about 15 minutes from now and when we get those, we willl bring those to you as well.

In the meantime, the job market took a hit today with the news that the economy added only 54,000 new jobs in May. There are also fears of a double dip for home prices. And the Dow had its worst day of the year this week after a losing month in May. The economic recovery may be losing steam, but is it time to hit the panic button?

Earlier today, Ali Velshi spoke with Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Is this economy moving backward?

DIANE SWONK, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MESIROW FINANCIAL: Well, clearly I'm wearing red today, so I got your memo on the red flags, Ali. The economy clearly has hit a soft patch. Some of its transitory related to the production interruptions from the Japanese earthquake. But oil prices also weighed heavily on employment. We saw losses in retail, a lot of discretionary type spending, leisure. Those areas where really you saw the spillover of higher energy prices taking a toll on employment where many retailers had to cut employment because they were unable to pass along higher price increases. And you notice that when you go to the store, I'm waiting in longer lines with fewer people in the stores because there's fewer people to wait on you.

So all of that not good. Some of it coming back. We will see that automakers are pleased with how fast Japan is picking up on their supply chain and they think they're going to be able to recoup a lot of this production in the second half of the year. That's the good news. The bad news is, the head winds persist. A lot of pink slips for teachers also came through in the month of May.

VELSHI: Diane, you hear this in the media a lot, that you need 150,000 jobs created a month just to keep up with population growth, to get back to where we were before the recession. We need more than 250,000. Here's a chart of what's happened over the last year.

A year ago, we were losing jobs. The census jobs had disappeared. There was no extra emphasis from the stimulus. But then, by about October, we started gaining jobs. For the last six months we had averaged better than 100,000 jobs created a month.

And for the last three months, prior to this new jobs number, we were doing better than 200,000 a month. Is it even realistic -- I mean when you look back at history, is it realistic that we can even create that 200,000, 250,000, 300,000 plus a month that we need to get back to the 5 percent unemployment before the recession or is that just pie in the sky?

SWONK: You know, that's a really good question, Ali. I think the head winds that we face will keep us more in the 200,000 range as we rebound. And that will be as we get into the later part of the year. So this is going to be a tough soft spot that we have to go through.

But in an economy that comes out of a financial crisis, you know, we -- subpar growth is the reality. The problem is actually living the reality, which is what we're doing now. It's going to be a very long slog ahead. And, remember, even Chairman Bernanke said he expects it to take years and years for us to get back to those lower unemployment rates.

Also disturbing in today's employs data was the number of people who are on long-term unemployment increased.

VELSHI: Yes.

SWONK: And that's something we really worry about. Those construction workers who lost their jobs from the peak of the housing market bubble were not building any homes out there right now and it doesn't look like construction is going to come back real strong any time soon to absorb those workers back into the labor force. And we really worry about that, because the longer they're unemployed, the harder it is to reemploy them later on.

VELSHI: The harder it is to get back in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And, of course, for all the latest financial news, be sure to join Christine Romans for "Your Bottom Line" each Saturday morning at 9:30 Eastern. And don't miss "Your Money" with Ali Velshi Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, Sundays at 3:00.

Some Italian flair is about to hit American roads, but can Fiat's small, new car make a big splash in the U.S.? We'll tell you all about the sporty new car that's becoming all the craze. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: We want to take you right now to Toledo, Ohio, where President Obama is speaking at the Chrysler plant.

Let's listen in.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is good to be with all of you.

Now, for those of you who I've met up close, I just want you to know that I stopped by Rudy's (ph), had two hot dogs, two chili dogs with onions, so I've been looking for a mint back stage. They tasted pretty good going down, though.

It is wonderful to see you. We've got some outstanding public servants who are here, who've been working hard on behalf of working Americans their entire careers. One of the finest senators that I know of, Senator Sherrod Brown, is in the house. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur's is in the house. Your mayor is in the house. Give him a big round of applause.

I just took a short tour of the plant and watched some of you putting the finishing touches on the Wrangler. Now, I -- as somebody reminded, I need to call it the iconic Wrangler. And that's appropriate because when you think about what Wrangler has always symbolized, symbolized freedom, adventure, hitting the open road, never looking back, which is why Malia and Sasha will never buy one until maybe they're 35. I don't want any adventure for them. I want to thank Jill for the kind introduction. Somebody on my staff asked Jill to describe herself in three words or less and she said, hard working. Hard working. And her entire family agreed. So she's with the right team here at this plant because I know there are a lot of hard working people here. And I am -- I am proud of all of you.

Jill was born and raised right here in Toledo. Her mother retired from this plant. Her stepfather retired from this plant. Her uncle still works at this plant. She met her husband at this plant. Now they have two children of their own and her three-year-old wants to work at this plant.

I don't think her story is unique. I'm sure there are a lot of you who have similar stories of previous generations working for Chrysler. And this plant, or the earlier plant that used to -- that I guess is still right down the road, this is the economic rock of the community. You depend on it and so do thousands of Americans.

The Wrangler you build here directly supports 3,000 other jobs with parts manufactured all across America. Doors from Michigan, axles from Kentucky, tires from Tennessee. And this plant indirectly supports hundreds of others jobs right here in Toledo. After all, without you, who would eat at Chet's (ph) or Inky's (ph) or Rudy's? Or who would buy all those cold ones at Zinger's (ph). That's the guy right here. That's -- that's the Zinger crew right there. All right. What would life be like here in Toledo if you didn't make these cars?

You know, two years ago we came pretty close to finding out. We were still near the bottom of a vicious recession. The worst that we've seen in our lifetimes. And ultimately that recession cost 8 million jobs. And it hit this industry particularly hard.

So in the year before I took office, this industry lost more than 400,000 jobs. In the span of a few months, one in five American auto workers got a pink slip. And two great American companies, Chrysler and GM, stood on the brink of liquidation.

Now, we had a few options. We could have followed the status quo and kept the automakers on life support by just giving them tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer money but never really dealing with the structural issues at these plants. But that would have just kicked the problem down the road.

Or we could have done what a lot of folks in Washington thought we should do, and that is nothing. We could have just let U.S. automakers go into uncontrolled free fall. And that would have triggered a cascade of damage all across the country. If we let Chrysler and GM fail, plants like this would have shut down, then dealers and suppliers across the country would have shriveled up. Then Ford and other automakers would have failed too because they wouldn't have the suppliers that they need.

And by the timed the dominos stopped falling, more than a million jobs and countless communities and a proud industry that helped build America's middle class for generations wouldn't have been around anymore. So in the middle of a deep recession, that would have been a brutal and irreversible shock to the entire economy and to the future of millions of Americans.

So we refused to let that happen. I didn't run for president to get into the auto business. I've got more than enough to do. I ran for president because too many Americans felt their dreams slipping away from them. That core idea of America, that if you work hard, if you do right, if you're responsible, that you can lead a better life and, most importantly, pass on a better life to your kids.

That American dream felt like it was getting further and further out of reach. Folks were working harder for less, wages were flat, while costs of everything from health care to groceries kept on going up. And as if things weren't hard enough, the bottom fell out of the economy in the closing weeks of that campaign back in 2008. So life got that much harder.

So I want everybody to understand, our task hasn't just been to recover from the recession. Our task has been to rebuild the future on a stronger foundation than we had before to make sure that you can see your incomes and your savings rise again, and you can retire with security and respect again, and you can open doors of opportunity for your kids again, and we can live out the American dream again. That's what we're fighting for. That's what we're fighting for.

So that's what drives me every day as I step into the Oval Office. That's why we stood by the American auto industry. It was about you -- your families, your jobs, your lives, your dreams. Making sure that we were doing everything possible to keep them within reach.

So we decided to do more than just rescue the industry from crisis. We decided to retool it for a new age. We said that if everyone involved was willing to take the tough steps and make the painful sacrifices that were need to become completive, that we'd invest in your future and the future of communities like Toledo. That we'd have your back.

So I placed my bet on you. I put my faith in the American worker. And I'll tell you what, I'm going to do that every day of the week, because what you have done vindicates my faith.

Today, all three automakers are turning a profit. That hasn't happened since 2004.

Today, all three American automakers are gaining market share. That hasn't happened since 1995.

And today, I'm proud to announce the government has been completely repaid for the investments we made under my watch by Chrysler, because of the outstanding work that you guys do.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Because of you.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes the American taxpayer from the investment we made during my watch.

And by the way, you guys repaid it six years ahead of schedule.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: And last night, we reached an agreement to sell the government's remaining interest in the company, so soon Chrysler will be 100 percent in private hands -- early. Faster than anybody believed.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: So I -- I'm -- I couldn't be prouder of what you've done.

And what's most important, all three American automakers are now adding shifts and creating jobs at the strongest rate since the 1990s.

So far the auto industry's added 113,000 jobs over the past two years. In Detroit, Chrysler added a second shift at its Jefferson North Plant, GM's adding a third shift at its Hamtramck (ph) plant for the first time ever.

In Indiana, Chrysler is investing more than $1.3 billion in its Kokomo facilities, and across the country, GM plans to hire back every single one of its laid off workers by the end of the year, every single one.

And that makes a difference for everyone who depends on this industry. The company is like a small precision tooling manufacturer. In Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, have brought back many of the employees that they laid off two years ago. Manufacturers from Michigan to Massachusetts are looking for new engineers to build advanced batteries for American-made electric cars. And obviously, Chet and Inky (ph) and Zingers (ph), they'll all have your business for some time to come, especially those guys over there.

So this industry is back on its feet, repaying its debts, gaining ground. Because of you, we can once again say the best cars in the world are built right here in the U.S. of A., right here in Ohio, right here in the Midwest.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: And each day when you clock in, you're doing more than earning your pay by turning out cars. You're standing up for this company, you're sticking up for this way of life, you're scoring one for the home team and showing the world that American manufacturing and American industry is back.

Now, you know, I don't want to pretend like everything's solved. We still got a long way to go, not just in this industry but in our economy, for all our friends, all our neighbors who are still feeling the sting of recession. There's nobody here who doesn't know someone who's looking for work and hasn't found something yet.

Even though the economy is growing, even though it's created more than 2 million jobs over the past 15 months, we still face some tough times. We still face some challenges. You know, this economy took a big hit. It's just like if you had a bad illness, if got hit by a truck, you know, it's going to take a while for you to mend, and that's what's happened to our economy. It's taking a while to mend.

And, you know, there's still some headwinds that are coming at us. Lately, it's been high gas prices that have caused a lot of hardship for a lot of working families. And then you have the economic disruptions following the tragedy in Japan. You've got the instability in the Middle East, which makes folks uncertain.

There are always going to be bumps on the road to recovery. We're going to pass through some rough terrain that even a Wrangler would have a hard time with. We know that.

CROWD: No!

OBAMA: Wrangler can go over anything, huh?

(LAUGHTER & APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: We know what's happened here. We know what's possible when we invest in what works. And just as we succeeded in retooling this industry for a new age, we've got to rebuild this whole economy for a new age so that the middle class doesn't just survive, but it also thrives.

You know, these are tight fiscal times. You know, you guys have all heard about the deficit and the debt, and that demands that we spend wisely, cut everywhere that we can, we've got to live within our means, everybody's got to do their part.

Middle class workers like you, though, shouldn't be bearing all the burden. You work too hard for someone to ask you to pay more so that somebody who's making millions or billions of dollars can pay less.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: That's not right.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: And even though we're in tough times, there's still some things we've got to keep on doing if we're going to win the future. We can't just sit back and stop. We got business we got to do.

We got to make sure our schools are educating our kids so that they can succeed. I was looking at the gizmos and gadgets you've got in this plant here. It's a lot more complicated working on a plant than it used to be. Kids have to know math and science.

We got to have a transportation and communications network that allows our businesses to compete. We used to have the best roads, the best bridges, the best airports. In a lot of places we don't have that anymore. You go to China, Beijing, they got a fancier airport. You know, you go to Europe they got fancier trains, better roads. We can't let our infrastructure just crumble and fall apart. We're America. We've got to make that investment.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: We've got to invest in innovation that will pave the way for future prosperity. We invented stuff that the world now uses and the world now makes. We've got to keep on inventing stuff and make sure it's made right here in America, and that requires investment.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: That requires investments in basic research and basic science.

So these are all things that will help America out innovate, out educate, out compete, out hustle everybody else in the world. I want America to win the future and I want our future to be big and optimistic, not small and fearful.

So we've got a lot of hard work that's left to do, Ohio. We got a lot of work to do. But we're going to get there. And if anybody tells you otherwise, I want you to remember the improbable turn around that's taken place here at Chrysler.

I want you to remember all those folks who -- all those voices who were saying no. Saying no, we can't. Because Toledo, you showed, you showed -- you showed that this was a good investment, betting on America's workers.

What we see here is a proud reminder in difficult times, Americans, they dig deep, they recapture the toughness that makes us who we are, builders and doers who never stop imagining a better future.

What I see here is a reminder of the character that makes us great. That we're people who will forge a better future because that's what we do. What I see here an America that is resilient that understands that when we come together nobody can stop us.

So I tell you what, I'm going to keep on betting on you, and as long as I continue to have the privilege of being the president of the United States, I'm going to keep fighting alongside you for a future that is brighter for this community, for Toledo, for Ohio, for America.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Thank you. God bless you.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: God bless the United States of America. Thank you. (APPLAUSE)

KAYE: And you've been listening to President Obama speaking to auto workers at the Chrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio.

He was very quick to point out how many jobs the plant supports and that if it had been allowed to fail, if the government had not bailed it out and stepped in, more than a million jobs, he said, would have been lost.

He was also happy to share that the government and taxpayers, he said, have been completely repaid by Chrysler for investments made under his watch.

So you can check out the latest, of course, on this speech, we had it at CNN.com. You can check it out there as well.

And while the president was speaking, we should tell you that John Edwards' attorney came out and spoke to the media about today's indictment. You can hear what he had to say coming up after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. A whole lot happening right now. Let's catch up on stories that you may have missed.

John Edwards was indicted today on charges he illegally used campaign donations to cover up his affair with Rielle Hunter. The former presidential candidate is charged with six counts including conspiracy, issuing false statements, and violating campaign contribution laws.

He's due in court next hour. Here's what his lawyer had to say moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG CRAIG, EDWARDS' ATTORNEY: In the history of the federal election campaign law, no one has ever been charged, either civilly or criminally, with the claims that have been brought against Senator Edwards today. This is an unprecedented prosecution, much less an unprecedented civil case.

No one would have known or should have known or could have been expected to know that these payments would be treated or should be considered as campaign contributions, and there is no way that Senator Edwards knew that fact either.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And just a reminder, as we said, Edwards will make his first court appearance just about 45 minutes from now.

Riveting new details from the Casey Anthony trial. We'll take you inside the jailhouse conversations Anthony had with her parents. Those very telling moments straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: In day nine of the Casey Anthony trial, the drama of her emotional conversations from inside the jail with her parents is playing out in court. The 25-year-old is charged with the murder of her two-year-old daughter, Caylee. The conversations reached a new level of intensity when Casey's parents confronted her on whether she was holding anything back about her daughter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASEY ANTHONY, DEFENDANT: Come on.

CINDY ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY'S MOTHER: Casey, hold on, sweetheart. Settle down.

CASEY ANTHONY: Nobody's letting me speak. You want me to talk then --

CINDY ANTHONY: All right. I'll listen to you.

CASEY ANTHONY: Give me three seconds to say something.

CINDY ANTHONY: Go, sweetheart.

CASEY ANTHONY: I'm not in control over any of this because I don't know what the hell is going on. I don't know what's going on. My entire life has been taken from me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Casey Anthony is facing the death penalty.

Another alarming sign of a weakening economy. The U.S. economy added just 54,000 new jobs in May, a far cry from the 232,000 jobs added in April and a major disappointment. Analysts say the cutback in hiring is widespread. In the meantime, you can see the unemployment rate worsen to 9.1 percent. These numbers are just the latest sign the economic recovery is in jeopardy.

It's official: Shaq is ending his 19-year career on the court. Shaquille O'Neal announced his retirement just a short time ago in Florida. The four-time NBA champion has been dogged by injuries in recent years and played only 37 games for the Boston Celtics this season after struggling with his Achilles tendon.

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KAYE: ADHD affects so many people young and old. A southern California doctor, it turns out, is trying out new treatments to help those who deal with it. CNN's Thelma Gutierrez goes in depth.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every morning, Seth Munger takes the pill. Seth calls it his ADHD pill. The medication has become a way of life to help him focus, concentrate and control himself, something that Seth's mother said was all but impossible for the eight-year-old recently diagnosed with attention deficit hypertivity disorder.

PAUL EVANS, SETH'S MOTHER: He was kicked out of every preschool, but when he got into second grade, they were going to kick him out. So, at that point we decided to go to the doctors.

GUTIERREZ: Seth had no friends. He did so poorly in school, when he had two good days, his grandmother framed this certificate and hung it on the wall.

MELADEE EVANS, SETH'S GRANDMOTHER: Everyday he would have an outbreak, if a toy was out of place or something, you would want to make sure that was fixed, because he was going to have a tantrum.

GUTIERREZ: The medication helped, but at a cost.

M. EVANS: When I seen him on the medication, he lost his little soul.

P. EVANS: He wasn't himself. He had no personality. Like we were taking away his childhood.

GUTIERREZ: Seth's family found the Drake Institute of Behavioral Medicine in southern California. Here Dr. David Velkoff treats kids like Seth with neurofeedback. It calls it physical therapy for the brain.

DR. DAVID VELKOFF, THE DRAKE INSTITUTE: When you do a brain mapping of the child, we can determine which area is out of balance that's causing the symptoms.

GUTIERREZ: The beeps you hear mean that Seth is producing a healthy, normal brain wave pattern.

VELKOFF: You're getting those neurons, those brain cells to start firing more normally. So, when you do it over and over, the brain will reorganize and readjust with how it functions. It's almost like readjusting a thermostat.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): How do you think that is helping you at school and at home?

SETH MUNGER, DIAGNOSED WITH ADHD: Well, I concentrate, really.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): After six weeks of therapy, Dr. Velkoff has lowered the dosage of Seth's medication by 25 percent, and they are not finished yet.

(on camera): Are you advocating that children not take medication?

VELKOFF: No, no.

GUTIERREZ: And only this type of feedback?

VELKOFF: No, we want to minimize how many children have to be on the drugs, and those who are on the drugs, we want to be able to reduce the amount of medication they are on.

P. EVANS: You got a little character to himself. he started to wear the hats and kids say hi to him, invite him places.

GUTIERREZ: How does that make you feel?

P. EVANS: It makes me feel really good for him.

GUTIERREZ: Seth has friends now. he made a turn around at school and at home, he and his mom can finally enjoy some quiet time.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Northridge, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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KAYE: Just about four minutes before the hour. Checking our top stories for you.

The president of Yemen was wounded today when the presidential palace was shelled by anti-government forces. A government official says that the President Saleh suffered a slight head injury. Initial reports said that he had been killed. At least three people were killed and the prime minister and several other government officials were wounded.

A Libyan woman allegedly raped by Libyan security forces says she was beaten and handcuffed during her forced deportation from Qatar to Libya. Eman al-Obeidy returned to the rebel-held city of Benghazi yesterday. A person who met with her said she had a black eye, bruises on her legs and scratches on her arms.

The E. coli outbreak in Europe appears to have spread to the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention here in Atlanta says that the strain has likely sickened three people who had recently traveled to Germany. In Europe, the infection has spread to ten countries and blamed for 18 deaths and has sickened hundreds. The source is not determined.

And we want to let you know, of course, that we are standing by for John Edwards and his attorney. They will be making a statement on today's indictment of Edwards. In just about 15 minutes. These will be John Edwards' first public comments.

We will bring to you as soon as it happens. Back in a moment.

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