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Ex-Porn Star: 'Weiner Told Me to Lie'; Judge Denies Acquittal of Casey Anthony; Missouri River Flooding

Aired June 15, 2011 - 14:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: As pressure grows even more for Congressman Anthony Weiner to resign, a former porn star is now coming out, as we said, saying that he told her to lie to the media. Ginger Lee held a news conference with her attorney, Gloria Allred, last hour.

CNN's Mary Snow was at that news conference and she joins me now live.

Mary, tell us what were some of the highlights of what Ginger Lee had to say?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Randi, there was a lot of questions about the kind of communications that Ginger Lee may have had with Congressman Weiner after this whole scandal broke, because he had been following her on Twitter, was unclear about their communications, which she came out today to say in a statement. She said that he had asked her to lie about their communications and that he had helped her with a statement that she had released to the press.

According to her attorney, they started communicating back in March. And, apparently, they say there was only one phone call in between that time. And that was on June 2nd.

She came out with -- just reading the statement, would not answer any questions.

And, Randi, a little bit of a mystery, also, about why now and why does she have an attorney, the celebrity lawyer, Gloria Allred. She said that she felt it was time to break her silence. She also said that she had been in touch with an attorney because she had had been threatened. She didn't really elaborate on that.

But she said that someone had come forward and was going to issue an unauthorized statement. So that was part of her reasoning for hiring an attorney.

KAYE: Mary, I do have a couple more questions for you. But I want to share with our viewers and let them listen in to some of that press conference just about an hour ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGER LEE, FORMER PORN ACTRESS: He asked me to lie about our communication. I put out a three-sentence communication that he told me to stay. My statement to the press said, quote, "I haven't met Representative Weiner. I follow him on Twitter because I support him and what he stands for. I have been hounded by his political opponents but that has not changed my view of him and what he fights for," end quote.

I didn't want to say anything further. I refused to lie, so I went silent and went into hiding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Mary, I want to ask you. I mean, did Ginger Lee or her attorney, Gloria Allred, mention, do they actually have this communication in writing? Do they have any communication between the two as evidence?

SNOW: Yes. Gloria Allred said that there are about 100 e-mails that she has. She read one of them. It was very sexually explicit e- mail. She took that out at one point during this news conference and started reading it.

I had asked her for the e-mail about this coaching that she had mentioned, about what she was supposedly or allegedly told to say. But she said she could not provide that e-mail to me. So, she says she has about 100 -- either e-mail or messages on Twitter.

KAYE: All right. Mary Snow with the very latest for us on this developing story that just continues to get more interesting. Mary, thank you.

SNOW: It certainly does.

KAYE: Well, we just received these mug shots a short time ago. I want to show you here, they're of former presidential candidate John Edwards. He pleaded not guilty, you may recall, earlier this month to conspiracy and campaign law violations. A grand jury has been investigation whether money that benefactors gave to his mistress Rielle Hunter should have been considered campaign donations. Edwards admits that he has done wrong but says he never broke the law.

For four weeks, prosecutors in the Casey Anthony murder trial have held jurors and viewers captivated with their experts and the stunning details about possibly what, and more importantly, who killed 2-year-old Caylee Anthony. Today, the prosecution finished making their case. But Anthony's defense team fired back shortly after asking for an acquittal.

The defense will begin presenting their side tomorrow.

So, I want to bring in B.J. Bernstein, who is a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor.

You've certainly been on both sides of this. Listening to the judge deny this defense request for an acquittal, I want to get your take on it. I want to listen to it, what exactly you said and then I want to help us sort of just make sense of it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The court specifically finds that the state has presented substantial, competent evidence for this jury who is the trier of fact in this particular case to decide this particular issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: I want to repeat that. Chief Judge Perry said the state presented substantial, competent evidence. So, was he giving an opinion here, B.J.? I mean, is that how it sounded to you? Or is that typical?

B.J. BERNSTEIN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, no this is really the legal part of it where the jury's not there and the lawyers. He is starting to establish a standard if he is convicted and it goes up on appeal. What he has to decide which is, you know, 99 percent of the time, what the judges decide is, you know, there is enough there for a jury.

And that's what he said, the trier of fact, which is the jury, to determine what happened. So, he's not really saying which way it's going to go. He's just saying there's enough there for them to figure it all out.

KAYE: There was so much evidence presented. A lot of scientific evidence in this case. We have the duct tape. We have an impression of a sticker at the crime scene. We have hair in the car. We have the smell of decomposition in Casey's trunk.

Did the prosecution prove its case?

BERNSTEIN: Well, the thing is, they use circumstantial evidence. And think back to your Perry Mason, your "Law & Order" TV shows, there's a difference between direct evidence where someone can say, "I saw Casey do this to Caylee." That's direct evidence.

Here, it's all circumstantial. She looked things up on the Internet. She was partying when she said she didn't know who is the nanny, Zany, who didn't exist.

You know, so that's all circumstantial evidence, which puts in a different level of analysis for the jury. And the judge talked about it today about what the law is in Florida and many states on circumstantial evidence which is there's a little more required from the state. And so, we can't actually just say right now, the trial is still going on. We got to stay tuned.

KAYE: And the defense will begin tomorrow. Now, I want to ask you about this, because I thought it was interesting not only -- I mean, what the defense could have done because you've been on both sides of this, they could have simply poked holes, right, in the prosecution's case? But instead, early on, they won. They came out with a whole new theory that this little girl drowned in a pool.

And now, do they have to go about proving that theory instead of poking holes and creating doubt?

BERNSTEIN: You're dead on. And what I think part of why this has captivated everyone, besides the sadness of a child dying, which is that it really is where the state is showing information and a lot of times you do poke holes.

But here, the defense said, no, we are going to show you something. Even though we don't have the burden of proof, we're taking that on and we're going to show you that this was an accident, that this is an ambush of family, and that there's reasons why this mother of this child lied like she did, other than the fact that she would have possibly killed her child.

KAYE: Yes, it just seems like a bigger burden for them.

But I also want to talk about the possibility of Casey Anthony taking the stand. I mean, do you think she will take the stand? And how much do you think she'll be beaten up by the prosecution for all the lies that she apparently told early on in the investigation?

BERNSTEIN: I'll be shocked that she doesn't take the stand for the very reason that we just mentioned which is her lawyer said that they're going to prove that she was a victim of abuse. If you remember, cross-examining Cindy Anthony or the father, they denied it. So, the only other person who would be part of that would be Casey Anthony.

So, she's going to have to talk about that and then, of course, she's going to have to ready herself some very tough cross-examination from those prosecutors who are going to go over in painful, painful detail every lie that she made. And it's going to be up to her lawyers to show why that lie doesn't mean she's lying about what actually happened.

KAYE: And so important that she holds it together on that stand, right?

BERNSTEIN: She may need to lose it a little.

KAYE: Yes?

BERNSTEIN: I mean, I think she needs to be natural. I mean, juries smell phonies. This is not for TV. This is -- remember, it's a death penalty case. This is for her life.

And if she is sincere in what she's putting up, that is actually what has to come out.

KAYE: All right. B.J., appreciate having your legal mind here on studio with us.

BERNSTEIN: Good to be with you.

KAYE: Thank you.

And our sister network HLN is your destination for complete coverage of the Casey Anthony trial. You can watch special coverage of the trial throughout the day on HLN.

There is a new troubling development in Washington's strategic relationship with Pakistan. Pakistan's military spy agency known as ISI has arrested informants who allegedly fed information to the CIA in the month leading up to the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Sources tell us that one of the people arrested owned the safe house rented to the CIA.

And "The New York Times" reports that five people were detained, including a Pakistani Army major who copied the license plates of cars visiting bin Laden's compound. The case is the latest example of the fractured ties between Washington and Islamabad.

We're hearing directly from Arnold Schwarzenegger's mistress, Mildred Baena. She's finally breaking her silence about their affair and her son with Schwarzenegger. Baena spoke pretty candidly with "Hello" magazine reportedly to set the record straight.

The Schwarzenegger's former housekeeper did the interview alongside her 13-year-old son. His name is Joseph. Baena said when Joseph learned Schwarzenegger was his dad a year ago, he reacted simply, "Cool."

Baena says, quote, "I knew Arnold was the father and maybe as Joseph got older and began to look like him, he, meaning Arnold, wondered but he never said anything to me." Baena also said Maria Shriver was starting to put two and two together. When Maria actually found out, Baena says Maria, quote, "cried with me and told me to get off my knees."

Baena's lawyer confirmed that she did give the interview to "Hello" magazine.

Doing an interview with his holiness, the Dalai Lama is a serious thing, right? Well, you would think so since he is the best spiritual leader and a wise worldly philosopher? But does he enjoy a good joke? One of my producers met the Dalai Lama and she says he's warm, friendly and actually kind of funny.

But an Australian TV anchor tried to crack a joke wit the Dalai Lama and it was -- well, you can judge for yourself. Watch today's sound effect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARL STEFANOVIC, NINE NEWS ANCHOR: I don't want you to feel like I'm disrespecting you.

DALAI LAMA: Yes, say anything to me.

STEFANOVIC: So, the Dalai Lama walks into a pizza shop -- yes, pizza shop. And says, can you make me one with everything?

DALAI LAMA: What's that? I sorry? Oh, yes. STEFANOVIC: Do you know what I mean? Can you make me one with everything?

DALAI LAMA: Oh. It's impossible.

STEFANOVIC: I knew that wouldn't work.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Can you say awkward? Wasn't that painful? The Dalai Lama was kind enough to console the anchor and say it was, quote, "no problem."

The College World Series is set this weekend in Omaha, Nebraska. But the first pitch could be delayed by the Missouri River. A live report from there coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: In Iowa, it is a race against time and the floodwaters of the Missouri River. Army Corps of Engineers crews hope to pile up several feet of extra dirt atop the only levee protecting the town of Hamburg. If it doesn't work, parts of the town could be covered by as much as 10 feet of water within days.

Casey Wian is following developments in Nebraska, on the banks of the Missouri River in Omaha, the site of this weekend's College World Series.

Casey, what is the latest on the status of the series with this?

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this flood threat, Randi, couldn't have come at a worse time. They've got the College World Series scheduled to begin on Saturday, as you mentioned. They've got a brand-new stadium that has been built. This was going to be the first -- this will be the first College World Series that will be played in that new stadium.

Some of the measures that they're taking to make sure that the floodwaters which you see behind me don't impact the stadium which is very, very near here include bringing in giant pumps from as far away as Texas and Maryland. They've got local residents volunteering to fill hundreds of thousands of sand bags sort of protect some of these low-lying areas and just today, they begin work to fix a pipe that was apparently overstressed and flooded one of the stadium's parking lots.

Despite all those challenges, we spoke to one official who says the games will go on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WIAN: How worried are you that it's going to impact the fan experience here? DENNIS POPE, NCAA REGIONAL VICE PRES.: We're not worried. We've been in contact with the city officials and the engineers. And we've had a long partnership with the city of Omaha.

And this presents a few more challenges than normal. Mother Nature is very unpredictable, as you know. But I'm very confident that a plan is in place, will address any issues that might develop. And we're ready to play baseball on Saturday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIAN: It's not only important for college baseball fans. It's important for the economy here. It's about a $40 million impact. Not just the college teams that play here. There's also little league teams that come and play baseball and their families travel to this area.

So, the city is definitely counting on that revenue. They're saying the biggest issue that they're facing right now is rain is coming in the next couple of days. They're not expecting it to present too much of a problem. But if the rain is heavier than expected, there could be flooding problems, Randi.

KAYE: And so, in general, Casey, I mean, how prepared is the city for this possible flooding?

WIAN: I think the city of Omaha is about as prepared as you expect this would ever be, given the massive size of this water that's pouring in the Missouri River behind me.

If you look behind me, you can see how fast this water is moving. It's going at 1.25 million gallons per second -- water being released from reservoirs, much farther upstream.

The city has known that this was coming. The water is not rising that quickly anymore. So, as long as they don't get any heavy significant rain, as I mentioned, they think they're going to be OK.

The one issue, though, is this water is going to be around for a couple months. So, even if they get past this weekend in the College World Series, the folks here have to worry about the rising water level for probably the rest of the summer, Randi.

KAYE: All right. Casey Wian, watching the water for us -- thank you, Casey.

HIV and AIDS 30 years later. Next, you'll meet a man who is living with the disease that at one time almost seems like a certain death sentence. My candid conversation with him is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Right now, when I say HIV or AIDS, what's the first thing that pops into your mind? Probably death, right? Or at least sickness. You likely get those images in your head from the '80s of young men wasting away to skin and bones. Go ahead and get those images out of your head please. Today, 30 years after HIV/AIDS was first discovered, people are surviving. They're living full, successful, healthy lives. It's not the death sentence that it once was. Brave men and women are coming out of the shadows to tell you their stories as well.

And, today, we want to tell you the story of a young man who has been living with HIV for the last 10 years. His name is James McLarty-Lopes. He's a 28-year-old personal chef in Chicago. He has a master's in social work.

James is also a writer and a blogger. His personal blog on HIV is one of the most honest things you will ever read.

And, right now, he joins us live from Chicago.

James, first of all, thanks so much for coming on the show and sharing your story.

I want to start with how you contracted HIV 10 years ago? How old were you, and how did it happen?

JAMES MCLARTY-LOPES, PERSONAL CHEF: I was actually -- I was 17 at the time. And I contracted HIV from the very first person that I ever dated when I came out.

KAYE: And you contracted HIV that would have been, what, in 2001, I believe. But you didn't find out about it until it was 2005. What happened? And how did you find out?

MCLARTY-LOPES: I found out, I had actually gotten really sick. In 2001, two weeks before my 18th birthday, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. And I had intense chemotherapy.

And so, you know, chemotherapy pretty much destroys your immune system anyway. And so even though I was getting regular testing, I had no immune system to really test positive for the HIV antibodies.

So, in 2005, I had gotten really, really ill with pneumonia. And I was put into the hospital, at Crawford Long University there in Atlanta. And after a few weeks, I got really lucky to have the most -- one of the most wonderful doctors in the field, Dr. Kimberly Workowski, come on to my case. And she's the one responsible for doing the testing that led to me finding out that I was HIV positive.

KAYE: And in the beginning, what was the biggest hurdle for you?

MCLARTY-JONES: You know, to be honest, Randi, I dealt with a lot of hurdles in the beginning. I was -- I was fairly active. You know, I liked to live life. I was involved in sports and just general things.

And to be honest with you, the most difficult thing in the beginning wasn't the sickness, wasn't the stigma of HIV. It was the fact that when I looked into the mirror, I saw myself as different. I wasn't able to do the same things because I was so tired all the time. My body was just fighting this infection that it never seemed to go away.

It just seemed like in the beginning, there was sickness after sickness, illness after illness, hospitalization after hospitalization. And I wasn't able to do the things that I was. I struggled to find the proper anti-retroviral cocktail which is, you know, the medicine that they used to treat HIV and AIDS.

KAYE: And how do you feel today? I mean, do you have energy? Are you active?

MCLARTY-LOPES: I'm very energetic. I'm very active. I'm involved in a lot of HIV/AIDS activisms and AIDS service organizations. I found a really great cocktail that involves a new medication that I take.

So, it's -- in the beginning, you know, I was taking a lot of pills a day. Now, it's down to six pills. And that has really helped me. That's given me a new lease on life.

So, I'm very grateful for the continued progress that we're making in terms of finding sufficient care for persons living with HIV and AIDS.

KAYE: And I'm curious how your family is handling this. Have they been supportive of you?

MCLARTY-LOPES: My family has been, you know, instrumental in me getting back to the person that I was. In the very beginning, my family did struggle because they had that image of HIV and AIDS from the early '80s where people were just dying left and right

And to be honest, my mother, she didn't know how to take it. She wasn't afraid of the disease or illness. Her biggest fear was of losing me.

And, again, in the beginning, being so sick, I can understand where that was a concern for her. But my mother, she got involved in my care. She would go to my doctors' appointments with me.

And it got to the point where she, too, understood that this is something you that can live with. And she's actually written articles for -- you know, editorials for newspapers where she lives in Georgia, speaking about how, you know, she -- her personal struggle and her journey with it.

And I have to tell you, in all sincerity, that my mother is probably one of my biggest heroes in terms of being able to overcome the stigma of having someone close to them with HIV and AIDS.

KAYE: Well, James, that is certainly nice to hear. And I'm sure your mother, if she's watch right now, certainly appreciates your telling our audience that. And we certainly appreciate you coming on. And we're glad to see you feeling so good and continuing to manage this disease. Thank you so much.

MCLARTY-LOPES: Thank you for your time. I appreciate the stories and the hard work you're doing to bring a picture to this disease.

KAYE: Thank you. Be well.

MCLARTY-LOPES: Thank you.

KAYE: Meet a Wisconsin businessman who attracts customers with an eclectic mix of merchandise. This is definitely not your father's trinket shop. That's ahead in "Building Up America."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back.

We want to show you what stocks are doing right now. Taking a look at the big board right there, stocks are down. The Dow is down 195 points -- and a little bit there, 197 now. So, that is the situation on Wall Street.

We also have a situation with the Missouri River -- flooding along the Missouri River, affecting several states.

So, let's get straight to Jacqui Jeras who is watching all of this in the severe weather center.

How bad?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: How bad. This is it. This is that big peak, that big push of water that they've reached that release, Gavins Point dam up near Yankton, South Dakota, released about 150,000 cubic feet per second. That's the equivalent of about 1.1 million gallons of water a second. It's hard to fathom that much water gushing through this area.

So, the levee system certainly is being stressed at this point, at its greatest level. And we want to take you into where that levee breach occurred yesterday. Remember we were telling you about near Hamburg, Iowa, along the Missouri River? That 30-foot hole or 50-foot hole which stressed out to 300 feet now so water continuing to flow freely through this area here.

Hamburg has been rushing to help shore up their secondary levee. They had three more feet they had to climb it up in order to protect that town. They were hoping to get to that level by 2:00 today. That's local time, so about a half an hour from there. But they were fairly confident they were going to be able to do that. If that doesn't hold, then we'll be concerned about 10 feet of water potentially getting into that town of about 1,100.

Another area that we're worried about over here is in Omaha, Nebraska. We had that report from Casey Wian. And one other note we want to mention is Epley airfield, that's the big airport there in Omaha. There's what we call a sand boil taking place that is allowing some water to seep into that area.

Now, what is that and what does that mean? Take a look at this. This is manmade levee, Ok? This is an earthen levee. And what happens is that water where the flooding is seeps underneath that levee and gets in on the dry side. And that's what's happening here. And the longer that takes place it can kind of basically liquefy the dam and then make it kind disappear. And that's when you have that type of a breach. So they're shoring this area up, trying to strengthen that. And hopefully get improvements there.

But in the meantime, we have a flood event that's going to be takes place for weeks yet. Likely through the summer, at least till August, they're expecting that record flow. Twice the previous record to continue to flow down into the Missouri River which know eventually dumps into the Mississippi. We'll have to watch for impacts as we progress through the summer.

KAYE: Yes, and quite a situation, Jaxqui. Thank you very much.

The old saying one man's junk is another man's treasure rings true for one businessman in Wisconsin. You'll never so what you see when you stop at the roadside shop. CNN's Tom Foreman takes a look at today's "Building Up America."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On an old farm outside Oshkosh --

MEL SCHETTL, BUSINESS OWNER: Yes, we do have a lot of unusual items. --

FOREMAN: -- a wonderland is growing.

SCHETTL: I just call it a collection of art.

FOREMAN: An open air emporium of nostalgia, whimsy and whatever else catches Mel Schettl's interest. He has rescued these items from old restaurants, theme parks, even movie sets for 30 years. Now, they are rescuing him.

SCHETTL: Well, those items are actually helping us make it through the tough times.

FOREMAN: Schettl's main business is building materials. But as construction has stumbled he's found himself relying more on the foot traffic and trade brought by, well, this.

SCHETTL: This is a reproduction of a rodeo-type bull.

This is an eagle fabricated out of all steel.

This is a fairly popular piece. Some people might think it's unusual. I don't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My daughter wanted us to stop here. And I'm glad we stopped.

FOREMAN: Many people come just to look, but plenty end up buying. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know how much it is? The neon one?

SCHETTL: The neon porch sign is $650.

A lot of individuals will buy it for home use, yard art, interior art. Other businesses use it for interior and exterior artwork to get attention. The same as we do.

FOREMAN: It is not an economic cure-all but it makes up for some of the weakness in his other trade.

SCHETTL: Well, I don't know how much of an advantage I have. I do know some of my competitors are gone and we are still here. So it must be helping us some.

FOREMAN: And in the building business these days, hanging on can be enough.

Tom Foreman, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Singing sensation Joss Stone's life may have been in danger. The frightening details. We'll have for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: A look at news you might have missed.

We just received some mug shots a short time ago. Take a look here. They're of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. He pleaded not guilty earlier this month to conspiracy and campaign law violations. A grand jury has been investigating whether money that benefactors gave to his mistress, Rielle Hunter, should have been considered campaign donations. Edwards admits he's done wrong but says he's never broken the law.

Former porn star Ginger Lee held a news conference earlier today in New York to discuss her communications with Congressman Anthony Weiner. She stood with her attorney, Gloria Allred, and spoke about her interaction online with the congressman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGER LEE, FORMER PORN STAR: When the scandal broke and people started e-mailing me, I didn't know what to do. I asked Congressman Weiner.

He asked me to lie about our communication. I put out of a three-sentence communication that he told me to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And she went on to say that they talked about politics before Weiner started sending inappropriate e-mails, she said, to which she did not respond. Two men have been arrested on suspicion of trying to rob and murder singer Joss Stone. Police tell the BBC that the men were arrested near her home in England and were armed with -- get this -- swords, rope and a body bag. It's not clear if Stone was home at the time. But according to the BBC, Stone said she is absolutely fine and getting on with life as normal.

Another potential setback for the U.S. war in Afghanistan. Washington's key ally, Pakistan, arrests CIA informants. Details after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: With President Obama planning to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan this summer, the big question is this, will the Afghan government be able to stand on its own? Critics of the war have their doubts.

Now, recent reports reveal another serious problem. The billions of dollars the U.S. has spent on nation building could be written off as a very bad investment. Nick Paton Walsh explains why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A generous state-of-the-gift from the American people to keep the lights on in Kabul. A power plant magnificent in design. And cost, $300 million before anyone had even switched it on.

But American planners forgot one thing. Could Afghanistan afford the fuel to keep it going? You can listen to the answer here.

Much of the time, the plant stays silent. That's because the diesel fuel that it runs on is so expensive that to run it at even half capacity could cost the Afghan government up to $100 million a year. It's high-tech turbines run are on about seven percent the amount planned. A white elephant, some say. But its sponsors say it's occasional back-up power is vital.

JOHN HANSEN, USAID: What I think the person on the street will probably tell you is that he or she is pretty satisfied with the fact that power, which was available two to four hours a day in 2009, is now largely available 24 hours a day.

WALSH: But to many, it's a symbol of the billions that Americans spent here without asking itself will Afghans be able to pay for this once we're gone?

The same question about this. A huge network of highways built for over $2.5 billion.

It's a vast project running around the country through some of the least safe areas meant to breathe the life of trade between cities.

There's a few glitches, though. Much of it is made of asphalt, which some U.S. officials admit is very hard to repair here. And then there's the burden of maintaining it for heavy use. USAID thinks that will cost $170 million a year.

The roads are very broken, this trucker says, because of the large loads that are carried. In real terms, for Afghans working here, the $3,600 that Hajubullah (ph) earns in a year is equivalent the cost of maintaining just 100 meters of road.

It's one thing if (INAUDIBLE) and roads are out of money when Americans leave. It's another when medical care is affected. People in central Kabul's hospital will feel it hard. Care is free here. But these high-tech devices America paid for are not without continued huge input of cash from donors, they could stay off permanently.

America's gifts so costly, Afghan so broke, that the bid to give them everything risks coming to nothing.

Nick Paton Wash, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: An incredible story of waste out there. Michael Holmes joins us now. I want to talk to you about Pakistan and the arrests of these informants.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, according to "The New York Times," it's five. We've been able to confirm there has been an arrest made of the guy who rented the house to the CIA from which they were able to look in on Osama bin Laden's compound, right? They've arrested him. And he's still in custody, as far as we know.

And "The New York Times" reporting that four other people who helped the CIA are also in custody. So, you've got a situation here of yet again of people asking whose side are they on in Pakistan --

KAYE: Right.

HOLMES: -- instead of chasing down the people who have allowed Osama bin Laden to live there for years in relative luxury, they're chasing down the people who helped catch him.

KAYE: Yes. That certainly doesn't seem to make sense. Probably isn't going to help relations very much.

HOLMES: No. Even less.

KAYE: I also want to talk to you about this wild story out of India where they are in a desperate search for a hangman?

HOLMES: A hangman. 1.2 billion people, and you can't get a good hangman. It's amazing, isn't it? In fact, capital punishment in India - it's hard to get good help, you know --

KAYE: I don't mean to laugh, but I mean, it's kind of crazy. HOLMES: It is kind of crazy. And in India, they don't have a big record of capital punishment. I think there's been two in the last 20 years or something The last one was 2004. And the guy who did that hanging died of old age. So, he's not around anymore.

So, there's this one guy who's on death row. And India has a history of commuting death sentences to life in prison. In this case, the president just refused the mercy plea. So everyone's like, oh, we are going to have to kill him. And there's no one to do it anymore. They've been asking around to find --

KAYE: So one guy's dead. Another one is retired. One had a broken arm, I think?

HOLMES: One had a broken arm, that's right. The other guy with any experience. But there's two guys around who come from a family of hangmen. Generations. They're both fourth-generation hang men. Although they've never done it before and they need a bit of a crash course before they went and did it?

KAYE: So, it one of these guys going to step forward?

HOLMES: Yes, two of them have stepped forward and said we'll do it if you like, but we need a bit of a lesson.

(LAUGHTER)

KAYE: You know the guy who is about to be hanged is probably hoping that no one steps forward. And the search continues

HOLMES: And also, Indian bureaucracy moves at a snail's pace. It could be years before they get around to actually trying to do it. And it could well get commuted, too because it's not big -- it's not Texas.

KAYE: Yes. A help wanted sign for a hangman.

All right. Michael Holmes, always interesting.

HOLMES: Good to see you.

KAYE: Thank you. You too.

Before unlock your smartphone, you'll want to listen up here. There's a good chance we know your passcode. Yes, it's true. We're "Taking the Lead" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Take a look at your smartphone right now. I bet there's a lot on it you don't want others to see. So, let's face it, we do a whole bunch of stuff on our phones, right? You do your banking, you write e-mail, notes. Maybe even take pictures.

But the scary thing is, we can probably guess your passcode and unlock your phone. Yes. New research done by a security app company found that many iPhone users choose these popular pass codes. And you can tell, they are very predictable. I mean, 1234 is the top pass code. The developer who did the research says most of the passcodes follow a formula, like four identical numbers or patterns like moving up and down the keypad. But that's not the same for number six on the list, 5683. It turns out those numbers spell love.

By the way, you might want to change your smartphone password now. But that's not all. You better take a second look at all those apps on your phone as well. A company - a computer security firm, found there are a number of apps that store user's personal data in plain text without encrypting your information. Basically, it puts your information out there as easy targets for hackers. We're talking about our log-ins, our passwords and transactions here.

So, what apps, you probably are asking, put us most at risk? Well, these are popular apps. Via Forensics found Android apps of LinkedIn, Netflix and Foursquare stored users' names and passwords unencrypted on the phones. More troubling was Via Forensics' finding on this app, Square, which is a mobile payment app. The iPhone version safely stores passwords but fails to store your data securely. Which means your history, signature, receipts and who knows what else are exposed. YouTube's apps on both the iPhone and Andriod also failed to safely store user names and other data on the phone.

All of these apps developers are reportedly aware of the problem, and they're looking into it. But it just goes to show mom was always right, you can you never be too careful.

Some reports say Facebook is losing large numbers of active users in the U.S. Is it true? Have Americans grown tired of Facebook? The Stream Team will tackle that topic right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Facebook keeps growing worldwide, mainly due to adoption in big countries like Brazil, Mexico and India. But according to inside Facebook, the site is losing active users in the United States and Canada. Data says that Facebook lost six million active users in the U.S. in May, the first time the U.S. has lost active users in a year. But Facebook is questioning the accuracy of those numbers and insists it's still growing.

Nevertheless, today's Stream Team is all about Facebook. Specifically, we're asking is Facebook worth the negative risks?

Jennifer Koppelman Hutt is a Sirius XM Radio host. Shelly Palmer is the host of "Live Digital with Shelly Palmer."

Shelly, let me start with you. Are the numbers correct? I mean, is Facebook losing users?

SHELLY PALMER, HOST, "LIVE DIGITAL WITH SHELLY PALMER": It's really hard to tell. First of all, Facebook regularly publishes its registered pages, not its active users. Active users are significantly lower in number than the register pages. And they've been trending upward at a fairly fast pace. So, it's really hard to tell if the numbers are accurate. And truly, it's not really a significant story even if it is true because, really, six million people could take a Facebook vacation on any given day for two weeks. We're getting to that point in our society.

KAYE: Yes, sometimes you need it.

Jennifer, you're still a big fan of Facebook, but you also think it's problematic. So, help us make sense of that.

JENNIFER KOPPELMAN HUTT, SIRIUS/XM RADIO HOST: Well, I love Facebook. And I think there's less of a problem if we're very clear with our children -- because I'm a mom -- so, if we're clear with our kids that there is no expectation of privacy with anything that we post on Facebook, then I think it's OK.

I also think that people need to realize that posting your home address and directions to your house on your wall is probably not a great idea.

KAYE: Yes, probably not.

Shelly, how do you feel about this face recognition aspect of Facebook? Any concerns about that?

PALMER: You know, it's interesting. There really shouldn't be concerns because -- I can argue both sides of this. I can argue that, wow, this is super convenient. Once I tag a friend and Facebook recognizes that image, it will do all the tagging for me and prompt me if I want it to do so. And then, of course, there's the other side that says now that the machine knows who I am, no matter who I am.

And the machine is not a person looking at you. It's not Big Brother. It's just a big database of images. I think it's not so much Facebook's problem. It's our problem as a society. Where do we want to draw the line? I don't want to argue one side or the other. I'm always on the side of technology, good; people, bad.

But as it turns out, this is something that we need to talk about. It's a great platform here on CNN to talk about it. Is it a good idea for Facebook to know who you are by face recognition and if so, is it a good idea for it to be in a database? That may be above my pay grade, but it's an important question to talk through.

KAYE: Yes, well, I see Jennifer shaking her head.

HUTT: Yes, I think, Shelly, there's more to it than that. I think the issue starts with the photographs that are being uploaded to Facebook. I think the issue is people are posting not just of the bikini pictures which, why? But pictures of their children or pictures in compromising situations which then can go on to haunt them for many, many years. Again, with the concept that it's private what they post on their own Facebook page when in fact, it's not because anybody can take that picture you posted -

PALMER: right.

HUTT: -- and then share elsewhere in perpetuity. What good is that?

KAYE: Well, let me ask you this --

PALMER: I'd love to say that is old news except that Anthony Weiner just proved last week it's not old news --

HUTT: Right!

PALMER: -- but truthfully, that's right. You shouldn't put anything on the Internet - not just Facebook -- online you that don't want public.

But let's hold that in abeyance for a second and say we understand these are publicly published pictures. The question is, with publicly published pictures, things you don't mind other people seeing, is it okay or not okay for a computer to be able to recognize them and say who you are? That's a question that we all as a society are going to have to work through.

KAYE: All right. We're getting suck on the facial recognition, but Jennifer, I want to give you the last word. We have about 20 seconds left.

HUTT: Oh, about the facial recognition?

KAYE: No, no, about Facebook.

HUTT: Well, in general, I think Facebook is a really good thing for people like me to like to continue to add people into her life rather than subtract them. But I do think that you must take caution, and certainly with our kids, watch what they're doing, make sure they're not posting things they're going to regret a day, a month, a year later.

And don't put anything personal on your wall, people! Stop brokering your plans and your life on your wall!

KAYE: All right. We will leave it there. I'm sure all of us made a lot of new friends during this segment. Thank you both!

So, how much house can you get for $150 million in this real estate market? I will show you in my XYZ, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Time now for my XYZ.

Today, the sale of the most expensive house in the market in the United States caught my eye, especially in this market. It is 57,000 square feet. It was on the market for -- get this -- $150 million.

Well, it finally sold. We don't have a final sale price. But according to realtor.com, the listing agents stand to make a combined 9 million bucks in commission alone. Can you imagine? Must be nice, huh, when the country is in a double-dip recession and people are having to walk away from their homes because they can no longer afford the mortgage?

Well, take a look at this mansion. It belonged to Candy Spelling, the widow of famed producer Aaron Spelling. It's on five acres, has 14 bedrooms. Just 27 bathrooms. It even has a special room designated for wrapping presents and storing silverware. It also has a wine cellar, even a bowling alley.

Who bought it? Petra Ecclestone, a 22-year old fashion designer. And no, the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree. Her father, the Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone reportedly bought a mansion in London this year for more than $100 million, supposedly to house his daughter's five dogs.

Hey, he earned his success, can't take that away from them. But still, with the housing market in shambles, this story certainly makes your head spin.

That'll do it for me. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Brooke Baldwin.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Come on down from $150 million to a cool 85 - I'm talking about a deal right there!

KAYE: What a deal!

BALDWIN: Ha! Thanks, Randi, so much.