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Top Dems Call on Weiner to Resign; E-mails Shed Light on Palin's Political Rise; Anthony Trial Update; Weiner to Seek Help for Sexting
Aired June 11, 2011 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: This is ultimately a decision for my constituents. And I, you know, look, I -- I'd made mistakes, as I said on -- on Monday. A lot of these questions I answered on Monday. Now I'm juts going to try to get back to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, not so fast, Congressman. Fast-moving developments in the saga of Anthony Weiner, Democratic leadership now calling for his resignation and Weiner himself says he is seeking help. "The Best Political Team on Television" is here to weigh in on all of it. But we have more breaking news this time and it's on the war on terror, key al Qaeda leadership dead. And the way he was taken down is going to surprise you.
More than 4,000 firefighters now battling that massive wildfire in Arizona that is about to become the largest in that state's history. Some progress today, fighting the flames, but are things about to take another turn for the worst?
Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, you can hear the bells behind me where in the quad at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, where CNN is getting set to host a GOP presidential debate. All those stories, much more right this hour right here in the CNN Newsroom.
All right. We're going to start with some breaking news. Those several breaking angles this hour on the Congressman Anthony Weiner scandal. Weiner is now seeking professional treatment, after the strongest colleague yet his resignation. All because of his graphic, really graphic online frustrations with women. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as one of three top Democrats, members of his own party who now want him gone. And we got the best political team in television covering all of this. And they join me here, some of them in Manchester.
Candy Crowley is the host of course, CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION." And Mark Preston is CNN senior political editor. Our Jason Carroll actually spoke with Weiner today as well. And he's going to join us. And we've also got our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash on the phone. So, I want to start with her.
But first, I want to read this, Nancy Pelosi's statement Dana to you before you weigh in here. And here's what it says. It says, Congressman Weiner has the love of his family, the confident of his constituents and the recognition that he needs help. I urge Congressman Weiner to seek that help without the pressures of being a member of Congress. So, Dana, it's a very carefully worded statement from Pelosi there. This scandal has been out there for weeks. What is the importance of these leaders asking him to step down right now?
DANA BASH, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, you just cannot overstate how important it is, that these leaders are saying this, because they have been reluctant to say this bluntly in public before.
Now, we were reporting earlier this week that there was a mounting effort by senior Democrats, fellow House Democrats of Anthony Weiner's trying to get him to resign. They did that in private, some of his colleague that are in public, but there's nothing compared to having statements, one after the other after the other, coordinated path, basically, from the democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi and some other key players. And you know, I just got an e-mail Don, that a Pelosi aide is telling me that Leader Pelosi actually was already aware of Congressman Weiner's intention to take a leave of absence and sleek treatment before she called for him to resign. And she still did it.
That just gives you a sense of how unsatisfied they with the fact that he's -- were told on a plane and leaving and going to seek treatment, they still want him to resign. This has been building for a very, very long time. And the words of one source, I talked to who's very involved in this, they just want to go into a third week with the story that brings quote, "disgraced to the House," and not talk about her agenda -- Don.
LEMON: Yes. It's a problem for Democrats right now. They could become a problem for the president as we've been saying, if this continues to carry on. Dana, standby. Thank you very much for your reporting. Great reporting on this. I want to go to Jayson Carroll now. Because Jason, just a short time ago, you talked with Weiner, you walked with him, he seemed to be adamant about hanging on to his seat. So, what does his office saying about this treatment that he's going in for?
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, a spokesman has acknowledged that he will in fact be seeking treatment. The spokesperson did not indicate where or for how long. But let me first Don, read you part of the statement that was released from the congressman's office this afternoon. It does say, Congressman Weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person. In light of that, he will request a short leave of absence from the House of Representatives so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make himself well. Now, again, this such statement said that he departed this morning. Obviously, before he departed, we had an opportunity to speak with him. And I want you to listen to what he said when I questioned him about a possible resignation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Just to reconfirm about resignation at this point, you have no plan...
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: I have no news here today. Nothing changing.
CARROLL: And no plans to resign?
WEINER: Nothing has change.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: So you're not resigning?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: So, again, he says nothing has changed. And that wasn't the only topic that we had an opportunity to speak with the congressman about, Don. We also asked him about this online relationship, that communication that he had with this teenage girl from Delaware. As you'll recall, that this was, Congressman Weiner spoke at her high school, she admired him, started following him on twitter. There was some communication between the two of them. He said that the communication was not inappropriate. And I also had an opportunity to ask him about that. So, listen to what he said when I asked him about that as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: I just want to get for the record here about the 17-year-old girl because you know, that's what a number of people are talking about at this point. I mean, in terms of this 17-year-old...
WEINER: We put out a statement on that, she's spoken, I think our record is pretty clear.
CARROLL: But for the record just coming from you, can you just set the ring...
WEINER: Nothing. Nothing. Nothing explicit, nothing indecent. Absolutely nothing inappropriate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: So Don, you heard what he had to say about that, he also told me right after that, that he was anxious to get back to work. But it's clear now, he'll be going into treatment instead -- Don.
LEMON: This is the one that we hear that really broke -- the straw that broke the camel's back. And I want to -- but he's also getting support from people there, and as I understand as you were talking to him, and he was out there, he actually had a show of support on the street?
CARROLL: Yes, I know, Don, you have seen the recent polling showing that some 56 percent of voters here in his district in queens support him. We saw evidence of that when we had this sort of impromptu interview with him walking down the street. One of those supporters came up to him and vocalizes how much they're behind it. LEMON: All right. Jason Carroll, thank you very much for that. I want to bring in Candy Crowley and Mark Preston on this. And it's interesting, you're sitting there and we're watching his face as he's walking. And it kind of pains you. He has a pained look on his face.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN STATE OF THE UNION: Yes. I mean, I honestly think there's, you know, there's an evolution of understanding of what is going on in your life, and I think he's at a place where he understands. And if I were to guess where he is in his thought, I think he thought he could outlast this. It was very clear early on that he thought he could outlast this. These letters today are really -- I mean (INAUDIBLE) even if you look at the statement, I think he's left himself open. Once he talks to his wife, (INAUDIBLE) treatment is, all he has to say now is, my doctor thinks it's best for my health and my family, my child that's coming, and my wife, that I concentrate on this. And therefore I'm leaving. There's a slide here that he could easily go down. And that I suspect he will in his own time, which will be probably pretty quick.
LEMON: But you saw when Jason is reporting there. You was the woman outside saying, we support you. And I think its anywhere between 51 and 56 percent depending on which poll it is. That says that people there don't want him to step down, I think it's in the 30s for people who do. So, who has the ultimate decision here, is it Anthony Weiner, is it top Democrats, or is it the voters of his district?
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: I think it's Anthony Weiner. I think we all can come to the conclusion that Anthony Weiner needs to make a decision to step down. I mean, really right now, I think he's brought disgrace upon his own party, he's brought disgrace upon his wife, his family. His wife now is said to be pregnant with their child, and at some point, I think Anthony Weiner has come to the said, his problem to a realization that he needs to go. And now, it seems like he wants to go out on his own terms. But I mean, as we said in his statement, Candy said, there was a little wiggle room right there. Perhaps, he comes out of treatment and says, I'm fine, I'm fixed and I'm going to fight it on. And I think that's going to be the story -- you know, playing out there next couple weeks.
CROWLEY: Can I just say that despite the kind of we think that Anthony form some good for the sake of his family all to seek treatment without the pressures of Congress. What they want is Congress without the pressures of Anthony Weiner. That's the opposite. Let's face it. Well, that's a lot of pressure.
LEMON: Well you know, it's interesting because he's getting hit by his own party harder than by Republicans. And I guess they have to do that. And the Republicans spoke to her and said, listen, you know, it's really not for me to weigh in. It's not for me to weigh in and they had some very interesting remarks about it. But this is a problem for the Democrats. Can it become a problem for the president if this goes on?
(CROSSTALK)
PRESTON: Not at this point. Because we're not close enough to the election, we're not close enough to the election where it looks like the Democratic Party is trying to defend one of their own at the time where they'd been so critical, the Republican Party for John Ensign who's republican senator who had to resign recently in disgrace. I mean, you go back, to the past election, I mean, you look at the Mark Foley, Mark Foley, a disgraced congressman from Florida, where Republicans just got a beat on because he wouldn't leave and then he finally have.
CROWLEY: The question is, can you -- are you disgraced? The question is, can you function, can you do your job? The thing is when you have like the three top political leaders in your party going, you know what, leave. That just makes it really difficult to do your job. You can get shunned, you know. And could it go on and then it gets out of the headlines. I don't see it, it's kind getting to the president. I think people...
LEMON: I have to run. I really do have to run. Is he done?
(LAUGHTER)
PRESTON: No, I think he's done. Is he done with political life? Still to be determined.
LEMON: Yes. We shall see. Man, you saw the look on his face. Yes, I looked at you, it is really sad. These guys are going to be back in a few minutes. Let's talk about the reason we're here. Yes, Monday night, you can't wait, right? And you've got a bit of developing news, some breaking news that you want to talk about. You sat down with -- oh yes...
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: Oh, yes, actually I caught up with him on the campaign, so it was one of those running, walking thing.
LEMON: We'll talk about that just a bit. They're not going anywhere. So, thank you guys. Up next, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is calling it a significant blow to al Qaeda, and we'll tell you about a leader who was just killed in Somalia.
And we're live in New Hampshire of course where everybody is getting ready for Monday night's GOP debate. Look at that.
As we go to break, check out this time last video of the debate hall set-up. We're going to give you a sneak peek inside as well.
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LEMON: We're back, everyone. Coming to you live from New Hampshire where CNN is getting ready for Monday night's GOP presidential debate. We're going to have much, much more on that story but first, here's some of the stories that are making news this day. Pakistan is reeling from twin explosions in a northwestern city of Peshawar. At least 34 people were killed as the blast thwart to a crowded market late today. Ninety four people were wounded, according to authorities. Witnesses say, the bombs exploded within minutes of each other, causing chaos in the market.
A 13-year man hunt is over for the alleged al Qaeda mastermind of two U.S. embassy bombings in Africa. Fazel Abdullah Mohammed seen here in a number of FBI wanted photos is believed to have been the architect of 1988 bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Both Kenyan and U.S. officials say, he was gunned down at a Somali gun point in Mogadishu. Now, according to a senior Kenyan official, Somali troops opened fire on his vehicle when it tried to run the road blocks. The sizes alleged role and the embassy bombings which killed 225 people. U.S. officials also suspect he had a role in the 2002 attacks in Kenya of an Israeli own hotel and airliner.
Despite having a $5 million bounty on his head, Mohammed nearly escaped being killed or captured numerous times over the past decade. In 2007, he was targeted by U.S. led air strike in Somalia, but it missed its mark.
Coming up, Congressman Anthony Weiner just announcing he's going to take a leave of absence from Congress to get treatment. We've got the details for you.
And as soon you can see -- as you see, I should say, I'm live here in New Hampshire, what a beautiful campus, here at St. Anselm, depending on where you are, how do you say it, where you're from.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I think St. Anslem (ph).
LEMON: You say, Anslem?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yes. But I'm from Massachusetts. We all thought of...
LEMON: But Anselm. Why don't we just say what everyone says here, it's St. Annes (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yes, St. Annes.
LEMON: That's what they call it, right?
We're getting ready for Monday night's big republican debate. The best political team on television. As you can see, joining me now with what you can expect, we're back in a moment.
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LEMON: All right, Monday night right here on CNN, seven, count them, seven Republicans will appear on the stage at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, our St. Annes as we call it. It will mark the first political debate of the 2012 presidential race. My gosh, it looks like we just did 2008. The event will be moderated by none other than CNN's John King.
And with us for preview is our chief political correspondent Candy Crowley, anchor of CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" of course, part of my Sunday which I watch every single Sunday, thank you very much. And this guy, senior political editor Mark Preston. So, what is the preview? What is going on, Candy? I know you got a big interview with someone who is saying, are they're going to get in now? Are they in?
CROWLEY: Yes, John Husband. Give it about ten days and he's going to get in. It's the big question. He's been here, I saw this big air. But he has had more than to New Hampshire over the past month than any of the candidates who were officially in. This is the former governor of Utah, former ambassador to China, the President Obama, pluck out of the Utah governorship and center with her, thinking that would make him not run against him. So, an interesting guy, motorcycle riding, Mormon, he's had some things when he ran afoul of the Republican Party, Orthodoxy but he's a good campaigner. We went on and saw him yesterday, so my big question was like, what is that we're waiting for as little bit of what he said.
LEMON: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: Where's the -- in the band on the speech.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're about a week-and- a-half away.
CROWLEY: A week-and-a-half, OK, here?
KING: Well, I'll keep that for another time.
CROWLEY: You're not playing.
KING: But we're right at the end point. And is you family supporter, yes, you check that box. Do you think you can rally enough financial support to make it happen? Yes, you check that box.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: He's checking all the boxes.
CROWLEY: Yes. Like, so he's ready. (INAUDIBLE) You know, that's coming.
LEMON: What I'm wondering is, does this whole Newt Gingrich thing, does this makes a difference when it comes to Jon Huntsman because, you know, Newt's whole staff, and a lot of people are saying, Newt's done and this helps Jon Huntsman. Do you know that?
PRESTON: Well, I mean, I think it helps all the candidates that are in the field because whoever is supporting or was supporting Newt Gingrich. You know, (INAUDIBLE) Jon Huntsman in particular really the matchup that we're looking for, is Jon Huntsman first Mitt Romney. You know, the fact of the matter is, they're both governors, they both talk about economics, they're both really sticking their campaign here in New Hampshire, they're not going to run trough Iowa which is dominated by conservatives. They're going to try to run through New Hampshire. So, it's interesting to join Huntsman, decided not to be in the debate tomorrow night, we'll wait 10 days from now, sort to speak to actually run and make this announcement. But I think Jon Huntsman is very serious about this. The fact of the matter is, he's surrounding himself with a lot of republican professionals that are well respected, and I think he's going to have a little...
LEMON: Who's the one person that's going, oh, oh, here comes Jon Huntsman, I didn't want to see that.
CROWLEY: You know, I have to believe it's probably Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney.
LEMON: Yes.
CROWLEY: Simply, because there's a lot of bill disagree and they are all very different, why their age better but Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, and Jon Huntsman. All have some baggage problems with the conservative part of the party. But they're all similar. They have similar backgrounds, they come from outside Washington, which is always a good thing to do when you're trying to get inside Washington. And so, I think they look at it. And this splits that kind of both. This is the more moderate vote, such as it is in the republican primary season. So, I mean, I think, but honestly, I mean, at this point, what they're all looking for and I think what we'll see a little bit of, I think tomorrow night will be fascinating debate.
LEMON: Yes.
CROWLEY: And here's why.
LEMON: Monday, we got one more day.
CROWLEY: Oh, gosh.
LEMON: I know...
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: Monday debate. Yes. All right, I think Monday of night's debate will be fascinating for this reason. Mitt Romney right now is considered the front runner such as it is, right? He does have the money, he's got plenty of the people with him. He's well known and leading the polls in New Hampshire by a good amount. So, the question is, at this debate, so early, most people want to introduce themselves. So, you hear a lot of sentences that begin, oh, when I was governor of this or when I served on that, you know, when I was the businessman that ran Godfather pizza or whatever happens to be. But they also have to go after Mitt Romney. Because what's going to happen here, this is where the engagement is going to be. Post the Iowa caucuses. You have to begin to bring down that. So, I think, you know, but you don't want to be the crabby apple ton of the bunch, either because people don't like scrubby.
(CROSSTALK)
Yes, right.
LEMON: But you know, what is interesting, we're going to run and mark and I are going to talk about this, is what is Newt's going to say come Monday? I think everyone's going to wonder that. And then we're going to hear from him for the first time tomorrow night when he speaks in California. What is he going to say after all of these people around him have resigned? We're going to talk about that coming up in an hour here on CNN after the situation room. Thank you guys, appreciate it. Good stuff. It's not tomorrow night, but we're so excited, we wish it was tomorrow night. That's all right.
CROWLEY: Sleeping problems.
LEMON: All right. Don't forget to tune in to CNN on Monday night at 8 p.m. Eastern for the republican presidential debate in New Hampshire. It will be moderated by our CNN's chief national correspondent, Mr. John King.
But up next here on CNN, our Drew Griffin digging through the thousands of e-mails Sarah Palin sent and received while she was governor of Alaska. When we come right back, he's going to tell us about the one that she sent the day she became John McCain's running mate.
We also have the latest on Congressman Anthony Weiner who has just announced that he's entering a treatment center, a treatment center, all right?
Many of you have been asking for information, sending us questions online, you can reach us on social media, you can go to twitter, on Facebook, cnn.com/Don, and also on foursquare.com. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Before Sarah Palin became a force to be reckoned with in American politics, she was the little known governor of Alaska. Now, thousands of e-mails are shedding light on her transformation into a political celebrity. CNN's Drew Griffin pored over the e-mails and shares what he found.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is what we're going through, this is one box of six boxes we got yesterday of just e-mails, look at that, from/to the governor of Alaska between December of 2006 and September of 2008. And what -- first I want to show you how goofy this was yesterday when we got these. Take a look at this video. This is a third-floor office building here in Juneau where all of the press had to come to this one particular office in a crowded hall way if we wanted to pick up these e-mails. They weren't going to be distributed electronically on a simple little disk or electronically on a Web site, you could just go to. Instead, we had to come near all the way to Juneau, Alaska, grab our six boxes, and then leave.
Literally, take these things out, wheel them down the street, and get into this hotel suite where we could begin looking at them. So far, we have looked at maybe a third of them, 24,000 of them. And if you're looking for anything salacious or scandalous, we really haven't found it. She does attack some of her political enemies, at one point, trying to link a scandal to former Governor Frank Murkowski. Of course, the Murkowski's and the Palin's have a long running feud to this day. But really, the e-mails we found were all about government, about governing, about trying to make schedules between herself, her family and all the various commissions and businesses she had to attend to for her role.
She also is very interested in being there for the people of Alaska. At one point complaining in this e-mail that she was not told about a funeral for five soldiers. And that in the future, she needs to be told about that. One interesting thing we just did find was about the time, in fact, the day she found out she was going to be running as a vice presidential nominee for John McCain. I want to show you this because on the day before, she gets an invite to CNN's Larry King who would like to know if you're interested in talking about McCain's VP choice tomorrow at 5:00. And one of her staff members saying, I could link you up from the state fair. She writes back, that should work, we'll firm up tomorrow AM, I need to juggle some things around.
T.J., we knew, at that moment, she apparently knew but her staff didn't that she was going to be the nominee. And the next day, Friday, August 29, 2008, at 10:30 in Alaska, she said, "Can you believe it? Told me yesterday, moves pretty fast. Pray, I love you."
That's from Governor Sarah Palin. Again, not a lot of salacious stuff. We're not all the way through it yet. It's taking a long, long time. But so far, it looks like Governor Palin was right. Seeing a lot of intimate details on how she ran the government but not a lot of embarrassing stuff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: That was Drew Griffin earlier today talking to T.J. Holmes on CNN. Since he filed the report last, he's found a lot of other e-mails he's going to go through and tell you about. That's coming up at 7: 00 on CNN.
Now let's get you caught up on the world's top stories.
Susan Hendricks at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, you see where I sit. She's there now and is going to get you caught up.
Hi, Susan.
SUSAN HENDRICKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don. Good to see you.
Checking some of our top stories now. Congressman Anthony Weiner is seeking professional treatment now after the strongest calls yet for his resignation. House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, is one of three top Democrats, members of his own party, who now want him gone. This week, he admitted to graphic communications with women after initially denying it.
In Arizona, high winds and low humidity are testing firefighters battling the second-largest blaze in state history. More than 400,000 acres have burned with just 10 percent containment. Crews have spent the last two days cutting fire lines and clearing brush to keep the enormous Wallow Fire from spreading. It's an uphill battle as you can imagine. Blowing embers have caused spot fires across the state line into Mexico.
And eight people made it through one of the worst tornadoes on record to battle a rare and possibly fatal fungal infection. The coroner says three of the eight survivors of the Joplin, Missouri, tornado have died. One of the deaths was from a rare infection that occurs when soil gets under the skin. The cause of death for the others is still under investigation.
Now back to Don in New Hampshire.
LEMON: Susan, we'll see you in a little bit. Thank you very much.
Up next, no break for the weekend in the Casey Anthony trial. The crime scene investigator took the stand today, and we'll tell you what he said. We'll talk more about all the tears you saw from Anthony on yesterday. I'm going to ask our legal analyst, Sunny Hostin, if she thinks it will help or hurt her case.
And we're live in New Hampshire as we get ready for Monday night's Republican debate. It's going to be great.
But first, it's harder than ever to qualify for a mortgage these days. You need 20 percent down and excellent credit. At the same time, home prices keep falling. What does it all mean? Our Christine Romans reports, a lot of people are deciding to rent.
(SMART IS THE NEW RICH)
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LEMON: All right, everybody, welcome back. Let's talk law and justice now. First up is the Casey Anthony trial, which now is in its third week in Orlando. So far, the biggest drama in the courtroom has been tears from the defendant as jurors looked at graphic images of her 2-year-old's body.
I asked Sunny Hostin, legal analyst on our sister network, TruTV, about the impact Anthony's crying could have on the jurors.
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL ANALYST, IN SESSION: You know, I think it cuts both ways. There are two schools of thought on this, Don. Some folks are saying this shows a picture for the jury of a human who is mourning over the loss of her daughter. Some people are saying these are crocodile tears and she's crying for herself and this is all theater. It could cut both ways with the jury. Statistically, and there have been studies on this, most jurors perceive, I guess, a defendant's tears are evidence of guilt. It's quite possible this is not showing well to this jury.
LEMON: I want to go now to the west coast. We're talking about in Oakland, California. That's where police say a rape victim was able to shoot a cell phone victim of the person who assaulted her. He burglarized her first. She got that video. I'm wondering here, I haven't read anything about the 911 calls, so I want to know when she called 911, number one. And number two, there are cameras everywhere. Is this helping police find the victims? HOSTIN: This started out as a burglary, which is what she was taking videotape of. Then it turned into a sexual assault. Unfortunately, the 911 call came after the assault. I think it's remarkable that she has video of the assailant. This is the digital age. Everyone is watching. Big Brother is watching. And it's been instrumental in investigations and instrumental for law enforcement. This is a remarkable case where a victim actually has photos and footage of her assailant.
LEMON: I want to go from the criminal to the civil, because in Arizona -- I want to read this, Sunny, because I want to get it right. A man cut a board and it reads, "This would have been a picture of my 2-month-old baby if the mother had decided not to kill the child." The mother is suing, saying that he violated her privacy and harassed her. His lawyer is saying it's going against his freedom of expression, to express himself. $1,200 for him to put that up. Who has the stronger legal case, him or her?
HOSTIN: It occurs to me, Don, certainly your right to free speech is a constitutional right. And that typically trumps all other rights. But in this case, the commissioner, not the judge, the commissioner made a recommendation that the billboard be taken down. This man has been ordered to take down the billboard, and the judge has yet to rule on it. It's really fascinating that perhaps, in this case, she has a stronger position here. I wouldn't have thought that, looking at just the facts.
LEMON: All right, our thanks to Sunny Hostin.
We should mention this, Greg Holtz's (ph) ex-girlfriend said she miscarried. Holtz (ph) told CNN he was pro life even before his ex- girlfriend's pregnancy.
Up next, listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ANTHONY WEINER, (D), NEW YORK: This is not something that can be treated away. This is my own personal mistake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Remember that? That was Congressman Weiner on Monday. Today, just a short time ago, he announced he will seek treatment after all. Human behavior expert, Wendy Walsh, is here and I'm going to ask her if she thinks he really needs help or if this is just a move to save his career. Don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, CONAN O'BRIEN SHOW: 51 percent of New York voters said Congressman Weiner should keep his seat. The other 49 percent think he should disinfect it.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Oh, boy. Conan O'Brien getting laughs over the latest political scandal. The online photos and inappropriate online relationships of New York Congressman Anthony Weiner and, of course, his denials. Once again, someone gets caught and makes it worse by trying to cover it up. What is behind that thinking we see over and over and over? Why don't people fess up right away?
Our human behavior expert, Dr. Wendy Walsh, has some answers for us.
Wendy, you say it gets down to fight or flight? What do you mean by that?
DR. WENDY WALSH, PSYCHOLOGIST & HUMAN BEHAVIOR EXPERT: Absolutely. In a moment of stress, where he's bombarded with the discovery of all those e-mails, he's going to go into a natural fight-or-flight response. I prefer flight. Close down your Facebook page, Twitter, go away, think. What Barney teaches our kids, stop, breathe and think. But instead, he went with fight. No, I didn't do it. No, it was a hacker. Yes, I'm going to keep my job. One or the other is going to come up in the short term. And one people take some time to stop, breathe and think, then they'll make better decisions.
LEMON: Just today, a source says Weiner told Democratic leaders that he's going to seek treatment. Here is what he said about getting help at a news conference earlier this week. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WEINER: I'm going to try to handle this, and I haven't ruled out perhaps seeing someone. But I'm not blaming anyone. This is not something that can be treated away. This is my own personal mistake. This is not something -- this is a weakness, a deep weakness I have demonstrated. And for that, I apologize.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK, here's what he said just recently, Wendy. He's going to take a leave of absence, he says, to get evaluated and to map out treatment to get his life in order, to get well. And he says he's going to seek treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and a better person. So what exactly is he getting treatment for? What would you do? Is it an addiction of some type, social media, sex? What would it be?
(LAUGHTER)
WALSH: Could you imagine the next issue of the DSM, the manual of disorders, is going to have sexting addiction. No, sexting is the symptom of the problem. What the problem is is what many people can benefit if they just go to therapy, a basic disconnect between their personal integrity and their public intentions. This is a man who -- I always ask myself, when I see a dysfunction, I say what is the function of the dysfunction. What needs are being met why the dysfunction and why does he have those needs. Where do they come from? Don, everyone can benefit from therapy, and most of us need motivation to go there. So this is his motivation. And hopefully, he will go because I heard him say, I haven't ruled out the fact I might see somebody, so I would like to see him enter therapy. And it's a wonderful chance to grow personally.
LEMON: Hey, Wendy, I want to show you this real quick. It's an iReport from one of Weiner's constituents. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON DREYFUSS, CONSTITUENT: As a constituent, I personally don't care what he does in his private life. Honestly, it's none of my business. It's none of America's business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right, because he exhibited this behavior, does it mean he's not worthy of the job?
WALSH: You know, that's the million-dollar question that people are asking. And I think that it's not so much this behavior. It's about looking over all the moral integrity. How often he lies. We all lie, Don. Everyone, we live a web of white lies in our life. We tell our friends they don't look fat in their jeans. We tell our friends we're sick and can't go to dinner at the restaurant we hate. We all lie. If you lie in a pathological way to hurt others, or you have no compassion, like clearly when he's in that sexting compartment, his wife is not there with him. Why didn't he have compassion for her at that time? It makes me wonder, can he have care for his constituents when the choice is to do whatever it takes to stay in power or do what's right for his constituency. I don't know.
LEMON: All right, thank you very much for that, Dr. Wendy Walsh. We appreciate it.
Coming up on CNN, a significant blow to al Qaeda. We'll tell you how a suspected leader, one of the leaders accused in the bombings, was caught and killed at a checkpoint in Somalia.
And we're live in New Hampshire getting ready for Monday night's Republican debates. We'll be right back in moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. We're live here in New Hampshire on the campus, the beautiful campus of St. Ansel. A lot of people have been saying it wrong all week. We call it St. A. We're right in the quad. It's really a gorgeous campus and they could not have been nicer. There you see the countdown. The countdown, we're just about 50 hours away from that debate, 8:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN, the first Republican National Debate on CNN. You're going to see it here.
It has been 30 years since the first published report of the disease that would become known as HIV/AIDS. Dr. Sanjay Gupta introduces us to a man who survived his own battle with AIDS and has championed the rights of people with the disease.
(THE HUMAN FACTOR)
LEMON: Thank you, Dr. Gupta.
Up next, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls it a significant blow to al Qaeda. We'll tell you about a terrorist leader just killed in Somalia.
Plus, we'll tell you which city has just banned salt shakers from restaurant tables? What?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Let's get you caught up on the day's top stories now.
Susan Hendricks at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta holding down the fort, right, Susan?
HENDRICKS: Yes, I am. Thanks, Don, appreciate it.
Checking some of the top stories, Congressman Anthony Weiner is now seeking professional treatment after the strongest calls yet for his resignation. House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, is one of the three top Democrats, members of his own party, who now want him gone. This week, the married Congressman admitted to graphic online communications with women after initially denying it.
In the war on terror, the suspected al Qaeda mastermind of the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania has been killed in Somalia. That word from officials in the U.S. and Kenya. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who had a $5 million bounty on his head, was killed by Somali troops as he tried to run a roadblock in Mogadishu.
In Arizona today -- you have to see this -- high winds are testing firefighters battling the second-largest blaze in state history. More than 400,000 acres have burned with just 6 percent containment. Crews have spent the past few days doing everything they can, cutting fire lines, clearing brush to keep the enormous Wallow Fire, it's called, from spreading. It's an uphill battle. Blowing embers have caused some spot fires across the state line in New Mexico.
You know, don't bother asking someone to pass the salt in Buenos Aires. Restaurants are removing salt shakers from tables. Health officials promoted that move. 3.7 million people in the province suffer from high blood pressure. That's why. Salt will still be available by request but only after customers have tasted their food.
Don, are you to taste the food before you get the salt. Interesting.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: But it makes the food taste so good.
HENDRICKS: It does. That's the problem.
Don, thanks.
LEMON: Susan, thank you very much. See you.
I'm Don Lemon here in New Hampshire. Time for me to get off the air. The site of the big Republican National Debate to be held on Monday here. And before we go, I want to thank the people here at the college. They have been so nice, the students and everyone involved. We're going to see you back here in one hour.
In the meantime, THE SITUATION ROOM with Wolf Blitzer begins right now.
