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Weiner Communicated with Teen Girl; Alabama Immigration Crackdown; Gingrich Campaign 'Begins Anew'; New Hampshire Presidential Debate; Champs Delay White House Visit; Bringing Jobs Back to America; Arizona Wildfire Spreading; Palin E-mails Scrutinized
Aired June 11, 2011 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. From the CNN Center this is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING for this June 11th. Well, to you all, I'm T.J. Holmes. Thank you for spending part of your weekend here with us.
Some new issues maybe for Congressman Anthony Weiner: police investigating Twitter messages he sent to a Delaware teenager.
Also, Sarah Palin's e-mail and a lot of it; 24,000 pages of documents shed new light on her years as governor of Alaska.
Also, it's June. It's a big month for weddings and a lot of you may be getting married this month and maybe even today somebody is getting married somewhere. But many couples are apparently are talking about the other "M" word, money. Yes, you need to talk about it before you say your "I Dos". If not, you might be making a huge mistake and that is just ahead.
But we do need to begin with this growing scandal surrounding Congressman Anthony Weiner. Police are investigating another set of Twitter messages. This time it involves a teenage girl.
CNN's Jason Carroll is in the Congressman's home district where the Congressman made a bit of a surprise appearance just a little while ago. Good morning to you.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you.
So let's recap in terms of what happened between the Congressman and the teenage girl from Delaware. Detectives spoke to the girl in Delaware and apparently she told them that there was nothing inappropriate in terms of the online contact that happened between the two of them.
Apparently what had happened was the Congressman had come out to her school, spoke at her school, she admired him, she began following him on Twitter and that's how T.J., the online connection between the two of them had made.
But again, she told detectives that there was no inappropriate contact between the two of them. This morning, that was just one of the questions that I put to Congressman Weiner as he came out of his apartment here in Queens. I asked him about that online contact that he had with the teenager in Delaware.
In addition to that, I also asked him about calls for his resignation and also about the support, T.J. that he has been receiving from his constituents here. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: No inappropriate online communications as between you and the 17-year-old. Can you elaborate about that?
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: No.
CARROLL: Can you tell us anything at all about --
WEINER: No, out of respect for her privacy, it was another person who got unfortunately sucked into this.
CARROLL: This --
WEINER: And I don't want to make it any worst. This is my -- this is my dry cleaning. Do you mind if I take a right here? Thanks, guys.
I'll come out.
CARROLL: Thank you sir.
WEINER: I'll come out tomorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: So there you heard it from the Congressman himself sort of reiterating -- before that, T.J., we had a statement from his people, but now we have it from the congressman that there was nothing inappropriate in terms of the contact that he had between himself and the 17-year-old -- the alleged 17-year-old girl from Delaware.
What was also interesting is, as we saw him come out, T.J., of his apartment, as you know, a recent Marist poll has come out showing that 56 percent of registered voters in his district support him and say that he should not resign. I think it was some 33 percent say he should.
That is the feeling that we got when we were here also on the ground, T.J., as we were doing that sort of impromptu interview, a woman came running up and said Congressman Weiner, we support you, we stand behind you, we will do everything that we can to support you to this time -- T.J.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know that I support you no matter what. I support you. OK, that's your private life. You are a great man. I need the right person in the right position, OK? WEINER: Thank you. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all support you. All New Yorkers are going to make sure you are the next mayor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh yes, OK thank you.
WEINER: Thank you. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 100 percent.
WEINER: I appreciate it. It's very nice of you to say. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: And there you just heard it there and that is what we've been hearing from a lot of the supporters, perhaps not as enthusiastically as the woman that you saw there. But that's what we've been hearing from a number of people as we've been out here in Queens saying we don't agree with what the Congressman did, but we do support him in terms of -- in terms of how he's been a leader in our community.
This is what we're hearing from a lot of the people here on the ground -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Jason Carroll for us this morning in Queens. Jason, we appreciate you, as always.
And we turn now to the third Saturday in a row that jurors, lawyers and witnesses are packed in a Florida courtroom for the trial of Casey Anthony. She is the young mother accused of killing her 2- year-old daughter three years ago.
This morning specialists are testifying about finding hundreds of flies in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car. Flies that were attracted to decomposed fluids.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. NEIL HASKELL, FORENSIC ENTOMOLOGIST: At some later date, a few days and the body couldn't have been in the trunk of the car very long because of the progression of the decomposition under those temperature regimes that the body would then had to have been removed and placed out and could have been initially placed where it was found -- or finally found, and it had to be quite -- quite fast and rapid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, while so many people are focused on the drama inside the courtroom, would you believe there's drama playing out -- outside the courtroom as well. Pretty emotional scenes we have been seeing. Look at this. Just a few seats are available for the public, about 50. We have seen people running and shoving each other for a spot in line. Some have been arriving as early as 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 a.m. to get in line to get a spot.
Sunny Hostin is a legal contributor for "In Session" on our sister network TruTV. Earlier today we talked to her about this frenzied atmosphere.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: I have covered a lot of trials, I've tried a lot of cases and I have never seen anything like this.
There are 50 public seats available to the public. People are lining up as early as 1:00 a.m., the morning of the trial. They can't get into line until 8:30 and then, once the doors are open at 5:30 they are racing to get to the front of the line.
People have been trampled, they have been sent to the hospital because of this; yet and still people are still showing up. Just this morning because trial is held on Saturday mornings in this case --
HOLMES: Yes.
HOSTIN: -- same thing is happening. Many, many people are -- are lining up. People are trying to bring sharpies and put their number in place online on their hands. I mean, it has been just unbelievable. I think bigger than O.J. and bigger than any case I've ever covered and ever seen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now prosecutors have told the judge they hope to wrap up their case by the end of next week.
Well, it could become the largest mass firing in the Transportation Security Administration's history. TSA may fire 36 screeners and their managers at the Honolulu International Airport. Investigators found unscreened bags were routinely allowed on to planes, spanning a four-month period last year. Several other TSA workers may face suspension.
Well, a new illegal immigration law that's said to be the toughest in the nation is now on the books in Alabama, it takes effect though, September 1st. Among other things it requires today to check the citizenship of every child who enrolls in public school. While supporters defend the measure, critics say it's racist and mean- spirited.
Here now CNN's Rafael Romo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The new immigration law in Alabama is apparently having a chilling effect already. Some say, the message for immigrants, legal or otherwise is you're not welcome here.
DENISE CASAREZ, ALABASTER RESIDENT: Many are afraid and they're planning to go back to where they come from.
ROMO: Some immigrants are particularly concerned about the clause of the law that makes it a criminal offense to provide transportation to an illegal alien.
WINSTON GARCIA, HONDURAN IMMIGRANT: You got a friend in Mexico, you never -- you never know, is he legal or is he illegal and so you go in your car, you never know it.
ROMO: The legislation was signed into law this week by Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, a Republican. He says he's confident the legislation is constitutional.
GOV. ROBERT BENTLEY (R), ALABAMA: The sponsors of this bill really worked hard on that. They looked at laws across the country and they looked at the challenges across the country and they did an excellent job in -- in evaluating those. You know that some of those have already been upheld. Some of the Arizona bills have already been upheld.
ROMO: But Hispanic leaders say they're worried about discrimination and racial profiling.
ISABEL RUBIO, HISPANIC INTEREST COALITION OF ALABAMA: We think that this bill really opens up the opportunity for folks to be profiled. So anybody who looks a certain way and speaks a certain way we think is at risk of, you know, we're talking about reasonable suspicion and what does that really mean?
ROMO: Rey Brito, an immigrant and the owner of three grocery stores is concerned about the clause that penalizes employers who hire undocumented workers.
REY BRITO, SUPERMARKET OWNER: It's not good for nobody. I mean it's -- you just -- it's not good for the economy of the state. It's not good for nobody.
ROMO: The law also makes it mandatory for schools to check the citizenship of students. It will also require law enforcement officers to determine the legal status of a person suspected of being illegally in the country.
CLINT TILL, BIRMINGHAM RESIDENT: For me -- for me, I do think there is some cause for concern. So -- which I -- which -- which is why I'm supportive of the bill because I just want to make sure you know, we just want to make sure that the people that are here are coming here legally.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMO: And we're live here in Alabaster, Alabama and we're at a grocery store, a Hispanic grocery store, one of the most popular here in this part of Alabama. And people are telling me that they have already noticed that many customers are not showing up apparently because they're afraid of going out even though the law doesn't really get into effect until September 1st.
And T.J., I was taking a look at some numbers. The total population for the state of Alabama is 4.8 million people. The estimated number of undocumented immigrants is 120,000 which roughly is 2.5 percent of the population of this HB-56 law. It goes into effect on September 1st, as I said, and it's being called the toughest immigration law in the country.
HOLMES: All right it's -- a lot of states are considering similar laws. Georgia already passed a similar law as well.
But Rafael Romo for us in Alabaster, Alabama; Rafael, we appreciate you, as always.
Well, ten minutes past the hour.
We're about to turn to some politics. Newt Gingrich, re- launching his presidential campaign after the mass exodus of his senior staff this week. Find out how he's doing that and what he's saying about the walkout. That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, 13 minutes past the hour now.
Newt Gingrich is getting ready to kick off his presidential campaign again after most his senior staff members resigned. The Georgia Republican said his campaign would re-launch tomorrow at a GOP event in California and then he's got to make his way over to New Hampshire on Monday because the former House Speaker joins his rivals at the New Hampshire Republican presidential debate hosted by CNN.
Our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser is live for us from the CNN Election Express in Manchester. Debate is being held there.
Re-launching his campaign -- he has to do -- this is twice in a very short time period that Newt Gingrich has to start a campaign over.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes he sure does. It was only about a month or two -- a month ago that he formally announced for the White House, T.J. A lot of the staffers that quit, a lot of these advisers that quit the other day, they're saying there were some serious differences of opinion between them and Gingrich when he came campaign. How much time the former House Speaker would be on the campaign trail? How much time he would be making calls to contributors and donors to campaign cash?
They felt he wasn't committed. Gingrich, T.J., he says he is committed, he says, he'll do what it takes and I guess we'll find out. All eyes will be on the debate Monday night because he's really got the most on the line though, I think of all seven candidates there -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, who's -- who's his competition on Monday? Six other candidates; who have we got?
STEINHAUSER: Six other candidates. We're going to see Mitt Romney on the debate stage for the first time; the former Massachusetts governor making his second bid for the Republican nomination. We're going to see Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor on the stage. Rick Santorum the former senator from Pennsylvania will be there. As will Herman Cain, former CEO of Godfather's pizza and a radio talk show host. Michele Bachmann -- yes, the congresswoman from Minnesota, a darling of many in the Tea Party Movement. She'll be there. And Ron Paul -- you remember Ron Paul -- this will be his third bid for the White House for the congressman from Texas.
So a crowded stage, seven candidates -- T.J.
HOLMES: With all these candidates how are these early polls? They might not mean a whole lot, but still, it gives us an idea of what people are thinking.
STEINHAUSER: Yes. You're right. It is still a long way away; the first contest for Iowa and New Hampshire next February.
But take a look at this. Here's one from ABC News and "Washington Post" that came out just a couple of days ago. As we've seen in most of the most recent polls, look who's on top, Mitt Romney. I guess for a lot of reason, fund raising and the poll numbers, Romney is considered by some to be the front-runner.
Look who is number two in that poll -- Sarah Palin. Now, the former Alaska governor, she says she's thinking about running for the White House but she is not a candidate yet and obviously will not be here at this debate -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. How is the weather going to hold up for you guys this weekend and on Monday?
STEINHAUSER: It's a little wet right now. It's a little cool, I guess, considering June, but things are heating up for sure here -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. The good stuff. Paul Steinhauser, good to see you as always, buddy. Thanks so much.
And to our viewers, don't forget. It's Monday night, 8:00 right here on CNN. You can only see it here, seven candidates taking part. CNN's John King will moderate that debate.
Well, when the Auburn Tigers championship football team met President Obama at the White House, who do you think was the one who would greet the President? Is it the superstar Heisman Trophy first overall pick in the NFL draft quarterback? No.
There was a bit of a twist. We'll tell you why one of Auburn University's unsung heroes was chosen for the honor. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It's now 19 minutes past the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
You know how this goes. You win a National Football Championship and yes, you get the trophy, but you also get to visit the White House. The Auburn football team got to do that, but their trip was actually delayed. It's because of one of the most devastating tornados in history that hit Alabama. They decided to postpone the trip and they stayed behind to help out, but they finally made it to Washington Wednesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to present you with this helmet.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's a nice- looking helmet there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As well as your exclusive Auburn Football National Championship --
OBAMA: Exclusive. There you go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, you might notice in that picture that just behind the President and that young man presenting the jersey was Cam Newton, the Heisman Trophy winner. You know, the one who went number one in the draft.
But it was actually Kodi Burns the one you see standing there on the right. He was the one who actually got to present the jersey. Earlier Kodi Burns was right here in studio with us to talk about that moment and also talk about his NFL plans now that he's graduated from Auburn, but we had to start by asking him how he got that honor of presenting the jersey to the President.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KODI BURNS, AUBURN TIGERS: It was real fitting to be able to do that. Cam Newton did really good for us year and the thing about it is what a lot of people don't realize is that we have a lot of seniors in that team that did good for us as well. And I was one of those and I just was happy that I got to do those honors.
Now, that (INAUDIBLE) college say somebody goes to O.U. we expect Bob to be there and I expect Tommy to be there at Auburn, but things didn't work out that way and guys saw it differently. And I just kind of rolled with the cards I was dealt. And I could have transferred, could have taken a lot of ways out, but I just hung through there, stayed tough and tried to make the best of the situation.
H1? What are you going to do now? What's next for you, my man? BURNS: Oh, man. I'm one of these victims of the lockout. I'm waiting on free agency to open up and it's really tough right now because you work out once a day, you really can't make any money. You can't get a job. You're just waiting around for a call for, you know, several months.
So I'm just praying about it and I'm going to see what happens next.
JOE CARTER, HLN SPORT: But you're definitely going to be playing in the NFL whenever they open up a business again.
BURNS: Let's hope so.
HOLMES: Kodi, it is good to have you here. Still upset, you're an Arkansas guy who didn't end up in the University of Arkansas. Don't let that fool you, folks. I know he went to Auburn. But that's an Arkansas boy in there.
BURN: I might be an Arkansas boy but you can call me an Auburn guy now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And that young man right now, would you believe, like so many other young men who graduated from college going to the NFL are in limbo right now because of the lockout. They can't have any dealings with the team right now so he is waiting. You can't really take another job right now. He can't work because as soon as he starts that job maybe the lockout will be over and then he'll have to quit that job to try to get into the NFL. So a lot of guys in limbo like that, but congratulations to him and Auburn University.
Twenty-two minutes past the hour now.
(INAUDIBLE) of America's jobs heading overseas. We're going to tell you about a company that's moved back home and it's paying higher salaries.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, with the latest unemployment figures suggesting the economic recovery is going slow at best, one Kentucky company is pitting its hopes for prosperity on bringing offshore jobs back home even if it means paying higher wages.
Here now, Tom Foreman with our "Building Up America".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are 7,000 places you can bowl in America, and they buy almost 250,000 sets of bowling pins each year. So in Hopkinsville, one company is betting big on bringing bowling pin manufacturing back to the states.
At Ebonite, the CEO is Randy Schickert. RANDY SCHICKERT, CEO, EBONITE INTERNATIONAL: It always happens the other way around but we really felt that with moving the product here, we would have much better control over our manufacturing, our quality, and really our cost structure.
FOREMAN: When Ebonite bought this factory last year, it was in Mexico, employing 27 people, and the labor was cheaper. But company officials believe they could move all the equipment here, apply the latest time and labor saving techniques, and a dozen American workers could produce just as much.
SCHICKERT: Yes, we do pay them more than what they were making in Mexico, but our actual dollars of labor per pin is less here in Hopkinsville.
FOREMAN: The wood for these bowling pins comes primarily from Pennsylvania and Ohio, so the move cut shipping expenses. And by bringing the factory under closer supervision, they've also improved their ability to make sure each pin is precisely like the next one. That's critical.
PETE MOYER, BOWLING CENTER DIRECTOR, EBONITE: You can't have different reacting pins on different lanes in the same bowling center, because that brings an inconsistency in the scorability of the pins.
FOREMAN: Ebonite, which has long been a giant in the manufacture of bowling balls expects to make 150,000 American-made pins in the new factory's first year. And they're aiming for five to six times as many down the line.
Tom Foreman, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, just who is the real Sarah Palin? 24,000 pages of her e-mails when she was governor of Alaska may -- may help tell us who the real Sarah Palin is. About her ambitions, her concerns -- our Drew Griffin he has some reading to do. He's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're at the bottom of the hour now and taking a look at some of the stories making headlines. Police in Delaware investigating another set of twitter messages from Congressman Anthony Weiner. This time to a teenage girl.
This morning, Representative Weiner told CNN's Jason Carroll that his tweets to the girl were neither explicit nor indecent. Police say, there's no indication so far of any criminal activity or inappropriate contact.
Well, the new Newt. Newt Gingrich campaigning for president, a new campaign going to be kicking off, going to focus Monday night's GOP debate in New Hampshire. It airs right here on CNN. You see some of the preps going on right there. Now, you're seeing, Newt Gingrich is restarting and re-staffing his campaign after his top staff members quit over differences on how to run the campaign.
Also the murder trial of Casey Anthony in session this morning in Orlando. Entomologists testified about finding hundreds of flies in the trunk of her car which he said had been attracted by decomposed fluids. Anthony is charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2008. The toddler was last seen in June of that year but not reported missing for another month.
Also along the Missouri River, more people are packing up and moving out as floodwaters rise. Neighborhoods near Counter Blast (ph), Iowa are getting the latest word to be evacuated. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers releasing massive amounts of water from dams along the river to relief pressure on reservoirs swollen by heavy rain and snow melt.
And health officials in Missouri say, eight people who were injured in last month's tornado in Joplin have now contracted a rare type of fungus. Three of them have died. One of those deaths directly attributed to the infection which can occur when dirt becomes lodged under the skin.
And that massive wildfire in Eastern Arizona giving firefighters all they can handle today. Right now, they're trying to keep the flames from spreading into New Mexico.
CNN's Jim Spellman is in Apache County, Arizona.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the air and on the ground, over 3,000 firefighters battle the massive wallow fire, back breaking work and grueling conditions.
ROCKY GILBERT, FIREFIGHTER: Folks are putting 18, 20, 24-hour shifts.
SPELLMAN: The long hours firefighters are putting in are beginning to pay off for the first time since the fire began, they now report partial containment. Lower winds have created more favorable fire fighting conditions.
SUSAN ZORNEK, FIREFIGHTER: It gives them a chance to actually make some progress in attacking the fire, making some good fire lines.
SPELLMAN (on camera): Even though you see a lot of fire and smoke in this neighborhood, this is a good sign for homeowners. These are fires set intentionally to burn away potential fuel, so that when the front of the fire gets here, there's nothing for it to burn and the homes will stay safe.
GILBERT: We can actually have fire move away from the town as we light it instead of mother nature blowing it down the hill on us.
SPELLMAN (voice-over): They hope this buffer zone will hold protecting the evacuated cities of Springerville and Eager. The fire has already destroyed over 20 homes in nearby Greer. STEPHEN MILLER, FIREFIGHTER: If we don't want that to make everybody let their guard down because even though the winds have subsided a little bit, we still have dry conditions.
SPELLMAN (on camera): And the break in the winds are only expected to last until Saturday afternoon. While conditions remain favorable, they'll keep on working and try to take advantage of any breaks they can get.
ZORNEK: You need a lot of luck and you need a lot of factors to fall in your favor.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SPELLMAN: And the luck's about to run out here, T.J. In just about four hours, winds are expected to pick up. Firefighters hope that all of the work they've gotten done in the last two days that those lines they built will hold, keep protecting this evacuated towns here, it's going to get a lot rougher for them here very shortly here -- T.J.
HOLMES: Evacuated towns you just mentioned. We know that a lot of people have left. Is it a possibility that more evacuations could be coming?
SPELLMAN: Yes. And heading towards New Mexico, a town of Luna. We know that there's an evacuation order there and another town called reserve where people will have to pull out of there sooner. If it keeps going in that direction toward New Mexico, they're going to have to really have two whole fronts of populated areas to start defending against and doing structure protection against. Hopefully the winds won't last too long and these lines that they've built will hold because the last thing they need is to expand into other populated areas -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Jim Spellman has been on the ground for us days now. Jim, we appreciate you and your reporting out there. Thank you so much and stay safe.
Turn now to our Reynolds Wolf, we've been keeping an eye. You've telling me since we started this morning that the window of opportunity was shutting because those winds are coming back.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. And what we're showing you right now in terms of the winds, T.J., you'll see there for the time being they're in single digits.
But to be honest with you, we don't have wind gauges up, it's in the highest peaks or where you have some of the flames where they happen to be bursting right now especially in parts of northeast Arizona. And spilling over into portions of New Mexico.
What we do expect in the forecast that those winds, as T.J. mentioned, will increase. They were from 15 to 20 miles per hour, some gusts maybe stronger in excess of 35, so you could see. Maybe some 45, perhaps in 50-mile-per-hour gusts later on.
That's one key component but the other thing that really, really draws our attention is that number, 15 percent or less, this going to be your humidity level. So, again, it does not look too favorable for people battling that immense blaze.
Meanwhile, something else we've been watching, the possibility of the eruption of storms is across parts of the central plains and back into the northern plains. Maybe into the foothills, the front range of the Rocky Mountains could see some strong storms there.
Also, there will be that potential in the Eastern half of the great lakes and in the Mid-Atlantic States. This morning, we've had some thunderstorms across the finger lake regions of New York, back into Pennsylvania.
Also, would not be surprise to see that continue into a good part of the day. High temperatures, 87 degrees, our nation's capital, 64 in Chicago, 79 in Kansas City, mid-07s to low 70s. Even some upper 70s from billings Salt Lake City back into Denver, 91 in Albuquerque, 62 in San Francisco, 66 in Seattle and back in Atlanta, 93 degrees. The expected high, and maybe straight thunderstorm in the afternoon will help cool things off -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Reynolds, we appreciate you this morning, buddy. Thanks so much.
WOLF: You bet.
HOLMES: The political fascination over Sarah Palin has taken a new turn with the release of 24,000 pages of e-mails she wrote as governor of Alaska. CNN and other news organizations fought to get access to them, so finally years later, we've got access.
CNN's Drew Griffin has been doing some reading for the past several hours.
Drew, tell me what you are finding and tell me, have you and your crew been able to get through all these pages just yet?
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've got through a lot of them, not all of them, but you know, we've now got them all online, T.J. So, they're more organized and you can see them.
The problem was, we got them all in paper form from the State of Alaska. It was a chaotic scene yesterday. If you wanted these e- mails, you had to come to Juneau, Alaska where I'm at. You had to go to this office building and literally pick up six boxes worth and then bring them back and look through them. You know, that's a daunting task but now, we have them scanned.
You know, what's really, I mean, there are no bombshells in here. I think we would have had them out by now, but what's really interesting is the history of Sarah Palin, how she came into office, learned how to be a governor and then as she's coming up to become the vice presidential nominee and how that was such a closely guarded secret.
In fact the first e-mail that we can see that says, yes, I'm the V.P. comes on the day she became the V.P. candidate where she writes to somebody, can you believe it? He told me yesterday, talking about John McCain, it moved fast. Pray, I love you. That was on August 29, 2008.
Earlier that month, she was talking about going to the Republican National Convention and she's trying to limit her stay there. She's talking about how she doesn't want to spend one more day there than she needs to. I'll travel the day before and the day after her main speech. I don't want to go there five days and I would need to. Todd won't be able to go. So, Trig won't be going. All of the more reason to keep the trip short.
Of course, that was the trip that changes her entire life. It's a good lesson in history and the reading you can find on dot com, you can go to August 2008 and look at up and see just how that all transpired, T.J. It's kind of interesting.
HOLMES: All right. Drew Griffin, you've got some reading to do, more reading to do. Drew, we appreciate you and we'll be checking with you plenty throughout the day.
We are about 39 minutes past the hour now.
It is June, a lot of people getting married this time of year. Before you get married to that love of your life, this is what I want you to do. I want you to sit them down. I want you to hold their hand. I want you to look lovingly into their eyes and I want you to say to them, I need to see your credit report. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Forty-two minutes past the hour now.
It's that time of year. Many couples will be exchanging their "I dos." Well, you're about to make a huge mistake if you don't talk about money before you say "I do." Take a look at this. A new survey from Country Financial shows only half of couples talk about money before taking those vows. Our financial analyst Clyde Anderson told me earlier why the other half is making a huge mistake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: You want to know what you're getting into? What are we buying into? You know, do you have outstanding debt, you know, student loans? And also, you need to treat yourself like a business. You know, I am the CEO of my corporation, I am Anderson incorporated of my family and my shareholders.
HOLMES: OK. Well, our conversation before I got married a little over a year ago was I'm broke, you're broke, let's do this. But how do you suppose to break that ice? How do you even start in on that conversation? Because it can be offensive to some folks. ANDERSON: Yes, it can be. But again, if you've gotten to this point, you've probably shared some intimate moments and it's been some --
HOLMES: I like how you put that.
ANDERSON: This is time to really kind of have this conversation, let's talk about now pulling each other's credit. Let's have a time and have a date.
HOLMES: Wow, really?
ANDERSON: Let's pull the credit, let's know what's on the credit. Where are you? Where am I? You know, where we stand?
HOLMES: I said how do you break the ice? You can't just say, let me see your credit score?
ANDERSON: At this point in the relationship, you should be able to.
HOLMES: All right. Let's go to this. The four questions you have to ask each other.
ANDERSON: Yes. The four questions. First thing, you've got to figure out, what assets do you have right now? What do you have right now? What do you worth? You know, do you have money in retirement accounts? Do you have money to stash away in a checking or savings account? In a sort of IRA? What do you have? What do you worth right now?
HOLMES: All right.
ANDERSON: And the next thing I think you really need to look at is how do you earn money? What do you do? What are the streams of income that you have outside of your regular 9:00 to 5:00 jobs. Maybe, there's part time income, and there's dividend income, all of the types of income that you have. And then also, we want to know, where do you keep your money? You know, checking, savings? Do you have other accounts? Different investment funds, you know, where is the money? And, also how do you spend money?
HOLMES: Now, what does that mean?
ANDERSON: How do you spend money? Really, what are your liabilities? You know, what are you spending your money on? What are your debts? What do you have outstanding? Those types of things like --
HOLMES: Unnecessarily, hey, how do you go about TV and not that kind of thing?
ANDERSON: No.
HOLMES: It's much bigger.
ANDERSON: It's much bigger. Where is it going? You know, I've got to get an idea of how you behave.
HOLMES: OK. Let's show this here. Look, a new survey from Country Financial, why might some people choose these options. How couples manage their bank accounts. Now, what are they suppose, completely joint, now 71 percent do that. Partially joint, 21 percent completely separate eight percent. Now, I would think that number would be higher. I have talked to a lot of people who keep their money completely separate.
ANDERSON: A lot of people may say that.
HOLMES: They lie.
ANDERSON: Yes. It sounds good when you say that, but again, this is one of the things that's caused a lot of tension in a lot of relationships. You know, where is the money kept? Do we have that one joint account or separate accounts? You can see, 71 percent is a huge, huge percentage. So, I recently polled people on Facebook to see what it was, you know what, crazy, it was really interesting conversation.
HOLMES: OK.
ANDERSON: And I've gotten mixed results but we've got some of the comments, and one of the comments said, nope, you should act on one accord. This is a separatism in marriage. So, they're looking at and if we keep different accounts, we're separating ourselves, we're one. This is the union that we have.
HOLMES: That makes sense, right?
ANDERSON: Some people believe, the next comment said, my husband and I have separate accounts and a joint account. And so, what they're saying basically is that they take the money from those individual accounts and they take a percentage and put it into their joint accounts. And so, you're seeing a lot of different things but I think it's based on your personality. So, everybody is going to have different cases based on who you are and how your emotions relate to money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. Well, happy chatting.
Well, a lot of you still not sure exactly what to get dad this year for Father's Day. You know it's next weekend, right?
Got some gift ideas including one that will, you know, alarm clock that will wake up dad, but not mom who is sleeping next to him. That's just one of a number we've got to show you next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, Father's Day next Sunday. Get on it, folks, if you're not already. The right gadget could be the perfect gift for dad. I talked to our tech expert, Katie Linendoll, friend of our show here on CNN Saturday morning. I talked to her about some things that could help your father on his way to work each day. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATIE LINENDOLL, CNN TECH EXPERT: First is this revolutionary alarm clock. This is hot off the market and this is brand new and called lark. It's actually on my wrist. It's a comfy wrist band that you wear.
And here's the deal. Lark is made for couples that get up at different times. If you know that dad is getting up and annoying mom, and this is kind of nudging you. The idea here is to wake up naturally and it will track your sleep which is incredibly cool because it will tell you where in the middle of the night you wake up and it will help you be a better sleeper. It is a trainer for those in the NBA, NFL and NHL.
HOLMES: How pricey?
LINENDOLL: It's about $129.
HOLMES: That's doable, but it will wake you up, you're not going sleep through it, right?
LINENDOLL: That's correct. And it will be just in case. And the other one looks like a coffee dup.
It's a coffee cup inverter and it's about $30. There's a USB port and two outlets. For the dad on the go to work or from work, maybe he wants to charge his tablet or MP3 player. No problem, it fits in your car and you can charge those gadgets on the go.
HOLMES: That's pretty good.
LINENDOLL: I want to go to the self-brewing coffee machine. If dad wants to make a cop coffee in the morning it's not like brewing a pot. Everybody gets an individual pod and there's iced tea, apple cider and hot chocolate and of course, coffee and everybody gets to pick exactly what they want. These range in prices and styles, but a nice little option to have around the house and last, but not least, I want to finish off with the ultimate geek dad. He deserves a USS Enterprise "Star Trek" pizza cutter.
HOLMES: A pizza cutter.
LINENDOLL: This is the ultimate, T.J., a "Star Trek" pizza cutter and it comes with a star trek robe which we brought in a model for this one, the Star Trek robe. It has the insignia and your rank on it and Reynolds Wolf, showing it off in style. That's how it goes down.
WOLF: This is weird. I feel like I should have a highball glass of scotch and a cigar. I feel like Hugh Hefner wearing this thing. HOLMES: Katie, people really goes for these and it has the star trek symbol. Are these things hot? They're popular?
LINENDOLL: Reynolds Wolf, he's kind of a big deal around there. Oh, look at those 18-inch python biceps -- nice!
WOLF: Exactly.
HOLMES: Reynolds, you're a good sport.
WOLF: Something like that.
HOLMES: Since I have worked on this show we have brought in one model to model something and that has been Reynolds Wolf.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Reynolds always a good sport. He could probably stick around if you'd like Deb for your show.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: We definitely want him to try the robe on, again. But this time, we want him to put on the little ears that come with it. He didn't check the pockets.
HOLMES: Oh, yes. I'm sure those are in there, as well. Deb Feyerick with us this weekend. She's in for Fredricka. Good to see you as always.
FEYERICK: Good to see you, T.J.
HOLMES: Along from New York.
FEYERICK: Try to get down when I can.
HOLMES: All right. We'll bring her as she's being here. What you got coming up? You have your legal guys?
FEYERICK: We have the legal guys.
HOLMES: OK.
FEYERICK: And we've got some great stuff to talk about with our legal guys. First of all, you look at some of these trials that are going on. One of them obviously Casey Anthony. We're going to be looking at that really hard. They're testifying today, the murder trial. Everyone's watching it. But there's another case that you may not have heard of. And this one particularly interesting, a very creative defense. The man says that he suffocated his father because he was exhausted and the exhaustion combined with an energy drink. And energy drink made him lose consciousness. He did it by reason of insanity. And guess what, T.J.? A judge actually said that, in fact, based on doctor testimony that, in fact, temporary insanity was justified. So very creative defense but it worked in this particular case.
HOLMES: OK. FEYERICK: Be careful if your drinking and your exhausted at the same time.
HOLMES: Through exhaustion combined with drinking, an energy drink --
FEYERICK: He lost clarity, couldn't figure out what was going on. So, that's our first story that we're going to be looking at with our legal guys. The next one that's coming up is about twitter. You do it, I do it. We all do it. And once in a while, it's actually very, very useful. You're getting information. Well, one teacher is actually using it in the classroom to communicate with students so that the shy ones, for example, cannot raise their hands but send tweets. It's become competitive. The whole class participating, cooperating. The teacher uses it instructionally by correcting some of the grammar, you know, correcting if there's a hash tag that's not there. So, a lot of really good details but it's a very interactive way of teaching students using the newest and the latest technology.
HOLMES: But they're responding instantly in class versus interacting with each other, that seems a little odd, too.
FEYERICK: It is. But sometimes, you get those people who are constantly raising their hands. This is a way of everybody having equal ground to participate.
HOLMES: OK. That is very interesting. I know you got some more stuff coming up. But everybody can see that. We just about six minutes away from Deb Feyerick, who's in for Fredricka Whitfield this weekend. Always good to have you here with us, Deb.
FEYERICK: Of course.
HOLMES: Thank you so much. We'll see you in just a minute. Quick break here, we're right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Japan marked the three-month anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster today with a huge protest. Thousands of demonstrators marched in Tokyo to demand safer energy. The earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March caused three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to meltdown force the evacuation of more than 100,000 people and contaminating -- and fisheries.
Also, the Obama administration is trying to work things out with Pakistan. Leon Panetta currently CIA director, and soon to be secretary of defense is in the second day of an unannounced visit and the relations have been strained ever since U.S. troops killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last month. The Pakistanis are angry because they had no advanced notice. High-ranking U.S. officials suspect some Pakistani collusion with bin Laden.
Anybody turning 85 deserves a pretty big party. The Queen of England, no exception. Thousands of people turned out for the spectacle they have every year for her birthday. It honors her majesty's birthday. It's a lot warmer and sunnier in London in June than April 21st which is the queen's actual birthday. So, the celebration takes place today.
Now, when it comes to treating illnesses, treatment can vary depending on where you live. Americans can take advantage of the latest medical breakthroughs. An Orthodox (ph) unconventional remedies though are the norm on other parts of the world.
We talked to CNN's Nadia Bilchik about a fish medicine festival in India among other things. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Hundreds of thousands of people line up to get a live sardine, two-inch live sardine. And it's coated in special spices. Now, the secret recipe apparently is around 170 years old and comes from a Hindu saint.
And the Hindu saint told the Gould family that they were allowed to administer this but they couldn't make a profit from it. So, there is no profit, and what you're seeing now is people being fed the live fish, asthma and the respiratory problem. And the Indian government actually shipped, literally bussed these people to the place where the festival took place this week.
HOLMES: This is supposed to treat asthma?
BILCHIK: It's supposed to be asthma and other respiratory problems and it's just being criticized by certain people and the Gould family says it's pharmaceutical companies who are criticizing them because it cures asthma and other respiratory diseases so well.
HOLMES: OK. It cures, allegedly cures, does this really work, Nadia?
BILCHIK: Well, I haven't -- experiences.
HOLMES: OK.
BILCHIK: (INAUDIBLE), anyway?
HOLMES: They thought I was for a while but it turned out to be alleges. So, no, I don't think I am.
BILCHIK: Well, make it the special spice that does it. But I prefer this cure. Let's go to Czechoslovakia for a moment.
HOLMES: OK.
BILCHIK: Let's go to West Bohemia. With the first beer spa has been --
HOLMES: Now you're talking. Now you're talking.
BILCHIK: Exactly. Not only do you bathe in this very warm beer. Now, it's a mixture of warm beer and mineral water. And apparently, the hops and the Vitamin B infuses the skin and you glow and then you drink beer while you're doing it.
And the only criticism for this has come from certain people who are concern about the alcohol consumption in Czechoslovakia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And, on that note, Deborah Feyerick, I will hand this thing over to you. Deb Feyerick, in for our Fredricka Whitfield. Always good to have you down to New York.
FEYERICK: Always good to see you, T.J. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
HOLMES: And have a good afternoon.
FEYERICK: And you have a great afternoon.
HOLMES: Thank you. Thank you.
FEYERICK: Thanks, T.J.
