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Anthony Weiner Resigns; Interview With DCCC Chair Rep. Steve Israel; Robert Gates' Curtail Call
Aired June 16, 2011 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
After three weeks here of a slow drip, drip of new revelations and increasing pressure from fellow Democrats comes the inevitable today. In just the last couple of minutes here, New York Democrat Anthony Weiner resigned from Congress over those lewd photos of himself he sent to him to women over the Internet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: I had hoped to be able to continue the work that the citizens of my district elected me to do, to fight for the middle-class and those struggling to make it. Unfortunately, the distraction that I have created has made that impossible.
So today I am announcing my resignation from Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: We also now have just this afternoon the first bits of reaction coming in from the people who sent him to Congress in the first place. Watch this with me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's something wrong with him, and I don't think a person who has something wrong with him should represent us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he was doing an excellent job as a congressman, so whatever he does in his private life really is none of our business.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think he should retire. I don't think anyone's personal life or the mistakes they make in their private life should have anything to do with their job performance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He will probably end up with a talk show or --
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Mixed opinions from constituents, also from you on Twitter.
Let's go to Mary Snow. She is fresh out of that now former congressman's news conference just wrapped up minutes ago there in Brooklyn.
And, Mary, last time you and I spoke here live on CNN, when we saw Congressman Weiner in front of a media capacity crowd, he spoke for some 40 minutes or so, took all kinds of questions, this time, four minutes, no questions, no wife, announcing his resignation.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And an unruly crowd, Brooke -- not -- I shouldn't say crowd, but there was a heckler in that press conference.
And, you know, he interrupted Anthony Weiner several times. And in that room, besides the press, there were a number of senior citizens who were at this event waiting for Anthony Weiner, and they started, you know, telling the heckler to calm down and to shut up, and eventually a policeman came in and escort him out.
But, you know, they were upset, saying that, you know, they felt that Anthony Weiner couldn't step down and resign in dignity. But this is a senior center that he -- as he mentioned, he launched his political career here about 20 years ago, when he first ran for city council, and then Congress eight years after that.
So, yes, it was a lot of anticipation. I have talked to some other reporters here who say they have never seen a packed room like the one we saw today waiting for this press conference, and, as you said, it lasted just about four minutes.
And he really kept reading that statement, even though he was being interrupted several times. He just kept going through it.
BALDWIN: Yes. And, Mary, as I mentioned, noticeably absent, his wife, Huma Abedin.
We know she returned from her trip to the UAE, from Africa just yesterday morning. She was in Washington. She was spotted with her husband earlier today outside of their apartment in Queens. We know she's also pregnant with his first child -- a lot of questions with regard to that marriage as well.
SNOW: There are.
And, you know, Brooke, we have been talking about this in the past couple of weeks. Everything that we know about her is that she is extremely private. So there are some people who are not surprised that she was not here today for this press conference.
But, certainly, you know, on a -- people that I have been talking to in his district anyway have been talking about him on a very personal level. They say that they are sorry for him and his personal life, but some of them said they felt he had no choice but to step down, and they felt that he could not be effective.
BALDWIN: Mary, you cover politics for us, so I'm just going to throw this at you. And one of the questions is obviously, what about Weiner's future? What happens to his congressional seat? We know there was just recently a special election in New York after Chris Lee had to vacate his seat over sending the shirtless picture to some woman on the Internet.
SNOW: Right.
BALDWIN: And now, presumably, we will have another special election, correct?
SNOW: Yes, that's what's expected, that the governor would call a special election for this House seat.
But there's been a lot of talk since this all started unfolding. New York is slated to lose two congressional seats because of reapportionment and redistricting. So there has been a lot of speculation that perhaps his seat might be erased, because the thinking is that there would be one seat upstate, and that would be Republican, and one seat downstate.
So, what may happen -- and, again, this is all speculation. It's a very lengthy process. But there's talk that, potentially, that district could be carved up and given to incumbent members of Congress. And, you know, again, it's a lengthy process, but that's what the speculation is at this point.
BALDWIN: Mary Snow for us there in Brooklyn outside of a huge announcement, Congressman -- seven-term Congressman Anthony Weiner announcing his resignation just this afternoon.
Mary Snow, my thanks to you.
And now listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Speaker, has Congressman Anthony Weiner informed you of his intention to resign from Congress, sir?
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you aware that he might resign from Congress, sir?
BOEHNER: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Anthony Weiner is on his way out, but, first, he must send an official letter of resignation. We are going to tell you what's next in this process for the voters in his home district.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ROBERT GATES, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Since this will be my final press conference as secretary of defense, I would actually like to take this opportunity to say a few words to the Pentagon press corps.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: As he prepares for his life post-Pentagon, Robert Gates tells us where he's leaving things in places like Pakistan and in Afghanistan.
And then, a little later this hour, we have a special live guest with me right here in studio seven. And if you have any tweens in the house, gather them around. Selena Gomez will join me live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right. Here's the headline this afternoon. New York Democrat Anthony Weiner quits Congress after a three-week scandal over those lewd pictures he sent to several different ladies online.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WEINER: I had hoped to be able to continue the work that the citizens of my district elected me to do, to fight for the middle- class and those struggling to make it. Unfortunately, the distraction that I have created has made that impossible.
So today I am announcing my resignation from Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: That was Anthony Weiner just a little while ago this afternoon. We're also getting some more reaction now from the people who live in what was his congressional district, the Ninth Congressional District of New York.
Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm happy he's resigning, because we didn't really want him to represent us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's actually a little bit, shall we say, off, or he wouldn't be doing this kind of thing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are others in Congress who have done even worse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For his constituents, it's a tragedy. It really is. You wonder if he hit his head somewhere. I don't know what happened to him.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Well, those people will get a chance to choose a new representative to represent them in Washington in a special election to fill Weiner's seat.
Let's go to senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash. She's been all over this for us morning, breaking the story.
And, Dana, let me just preface this by saying -- and I know we know that Congressman Steve Israel will be joining you shortly. You had reported this morning that it was he who Weiner called, in addition to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, last night to share his decision to resign.
So, I just wanted to say he will be joining you, certainly making some news. Just shout when you see him next to you, and we can have him hop in this.
But let me just begin with the fact that the Democratic leadership, they have worked so hard, Dana, to get Weiner to resign. There must be some huge sigh of relief there on the Hill tonight.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, there absolutely is a sigh of relief, but it's definitely mixed with sadness.
We're hearing from many of Anthony Weiner's colleagues that this was absolutely the right thing to do, that he had no choice, first of all, because of the lewd photographs that he sent, and, second of all, because of the fact that he didn't tell the truth at the beginning, and this story was going and going and going and did not stop and was a huge distraction to Democrats, who, politically, felt that they were getting some traction for the first time in a while on issues like the Republican budget and Medicare.
And the things that they wanted to talk about were getting drowned out, and so definitely a sigh of relief, but, again -- and I think it's important to underscore -- some sadness, too, because he is a colleague, maybe was not the most popular guy in the caucus, but definitely a friend to many.
BALDWIN: Anthony Weiner, no law degree, no business degree. He would have been potentially the front-runner for mayor of New York City. That's out. I took a note when he was speaking. He said: I will be looking for other ways to contribute my talents.
What could be next for -- for the congressman?
BASH: Who knows, you know. You never know in this country, especially in politics. I think -- I don't think you can count anybody out, ultimately, especially somebody who is 46 years old, like Anthony Weiner, and who has spent his life in politics.
However, he also made it clear, and I think it goes without saying, that, in the near term, it's all about trying to fix his family and fix his personal life and fix the things that led him to do this, to do these kinds of things. BALDWIN: Dana Bash, stand by for me. We just mentioned Steve Israel, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, DCCC, spoke with Weiner last night. He will join us.
Folks, stay right there. We're back in 70 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: As promised, I want to take you back to Capitol Hill.
We have our senior congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, who really broke this story this morning, in anticipation of Congressman Anthony Weiner's resignation. We heard from the congressman just about half-an-hour ago.
She's now standing alongside Congressman Steve Israel, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. And I know he's one of the folks, along with Congresswoman Pelosi, who Weiner called last night.
Dana, it's all yours.
BASH: That's right, Brooke.
And, Congressman, thank you very much for joining us.
REP. STEVE ISRAEL (D), NEW YORK: Sure.
BASH: First of all, the statement that you issued made pretty clear that you're obviously sad, but you're relieved when it comes to the political distraction I think that this has caused.
ISRAEL: Well, Congressman Weiner made the right decision for himself, for his family, for his wife, but also for the country and the Congress.
Last week, the Republicans introduced a bill to privatize Social Security. And the American people deserve an undistracted debate on issues like that, on Medicare, on jobs. And now we can return and we will return to that debate.
BASH: Now, people out there might not realize it's not a usual thing for Democratic leaders like yourself to go as far as you went and publicly call for one of your colleagues to step aside, colleagues who, like you, are elected by your constituents.
I mean, we have been reporting on it, but tell us what it took to get to that point and why.
ISRAEL: Well, first of all, Leader Pelosi and I and other Democratic leaders don't have a double standard.
Quite honestly, if a Democrat engages in inappropriate behavior and a Republican engages in inappropriate behavior, we think it's important for us to express ourselves honestly and with transparency. In this case, we wanted to make ensure that Congressman Weiner made the right judgment, the right judgment for himself, but also for his country and the Congress. And there's no question that, now that he's made that judgment -- and he alluded to it in his own press conference, that this distraction should be behind us, and we can turn to the issues that the American people are relying on us to fight for, protecting Medicare, protecting Social Security, and creating jobs.
BASH: But this wasn't an easy decision to get him to come to. I mean, the fact is, you had to come out publicly. The president of the United States had to effectively tell him to resign.
You had been speaking to him. What was he -- what was he saying?
ISRAEL: Well, look, he was -- obviously, throughout the process, in the conversations that I did have with him, he was very emotional.
When I spoke with him last night -- and I'm not going to publicly comment on a private conversation, except to say that, last night, when we spoke, I that he had reconciled to himself the decision. He was as clear, he was as firm as I had heard him in two weeks.
And one of the things he kept stressing was the importance of getting this distraction behind him, getting this distraction behind us, and moving on, on the agenda that is so vitally important in the United States Congress.
BASH: You know, he had been telling colleagues that he was waiting for his wife to get back. Was that the conversation that made the final decision for him?
ISRAEL: I can't tell you that. Only he could tell you that.
But the fact of the matter is that he -- his wife was out of town. He did express to me and to others the importance of being able to speak to his wife. And, quite honestly, I believe that he had the right and the responsibility to have that conversation.
BASH: OK. Thank you very much.
ISRAEL: OK.
BASH: Appreciate you joining us.
ISRAEL: Thank you.
BASH: Brooke, back to you.
BALDWIN: Dana, let me jump in. I just found out the congressman does have an earpiece in.
And, Congressman, I appreciate you jumping on.
My final question to you is this. Look, New Yorkers are a forgiving bunch. And he has represented this district in New York for seven terms. Do you think there is any kind of possibility down the road that he could return to Capitol Hill?
ISRAEL: Well, I can tell you absolutely firsthand that the only kind of recovery that Anthony Weiner is concerned about, based on the conversations that I have had with him is not a political recovery. It's his personal recovery. It's recovery -- his recovery with his wife, and it is the baby that they are expecting.
So I don't believe that politics is anywhere near the -- in the equation right now for Congressman Weiner.
BALDWIN: Congressman Israel, we appreciate you coming on.
And, Dana Bash, thank you so much for your extensive reporting through the -- really the last three weeks. Thank you.
Now to this: Defense Secretary Robert Gates continued his farewell tour today, giving his final news conference. I want you to hear what he said to reporters who have followed him to war and back. That is next.
Also coming up: game seven of the Stanley Cup final last night got, yes, a little out of control. Look at this. Everything went downhill in downtown Vancouver when some rowdy fans decided to be sore loses.
But, first, some free money advice from the CNN Help Desk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER EVANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Time now for the Help Desk, where we get answers to your financial questions.
Joining me this hour, Greg McBride. He's a senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com. And Lynnette Khalfani-Cox is founder of the financial advice blog AsktheMoneyCoach.com.
OK. So, here's the first question.
Anne in Alaska: "I have some money sitting in a savings account. My bank wants to invest it in a commodities basket for five years. The gains over the last year have been about 6 percent. The principal is FDIC-insured. Is this a wise move?"
Greg, why don't you take you this one?
GREG MCBRIDE, SENIOR FINANCIAL ANALYST, BANKRATE.COM: Well, Anne, if you have got money in a savings account, that's because you may need it for an emergency or other unplanned expense.
You don't want to tie that up in a commodity basket or anything else that's going to limit your financial flexibility. The other thing to keep in mind with some commodity baskets or other linked C.D. products is that there's often an early withdrawal penalty that can leave you in the red. So even though the principal is FDIC-insured, if you take out the money early, you can end up in red. Also, there are other ways to invest in commodities. If you're looking to add to that your portfolio, you don't necessarily have to jeopardize an emergency fund to do it.
EVANS: OK. Question number two.
Ryan in Michigan says: "I'm 18. I'm wondering if investing in a small duplex to rent out would be a good investment at my age."
Lynnette?
LYNNETTE KHALFANI-COX, FOUNDER, WWW.ASKTHEMONEYCOACH.COM: Well, first, I have got to say, wow, an 18-year-old thinking about having an investment property. A lot of people twice his age aren't quite ready.
Yes, I think, at any age, frankly, if you're adult and if you're credit-worthy, if you have saved up enough money and you have enough for a down payment, et cetera, you can qualify, an investment property can be a good idea.
The caution, though, I would give to somebody who is that young, frankly is, establish your credit rating and your track record. Make sure, in fact, that you are really prepared for the rights and responsibilities of homeownership, and particularly of being a landlord. It's not as easy as it seems.
(LAUGHTER)
EVANS: I can attest to that, definitely. Thanks, Lynnette.
OK, have a question? You want it answered? Send us an e-mail any time to CNNHelpDesk@CNN.com.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right, real quickly here, we have just gotten this statement from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. I just want to read it to you.
And I'm quoting: "Today, with the love of his family, the confidence of his constituents," referencing Congressman Weiner, "and the recognition of his need for help, Congressman Weiner has announced that he will resign from Congress."
She goes: "Congressman Weiner exercised poor judgment in his actions and poor judgment in his reaction to the revelations. Today, he made the right judgment in resigning. I pray for him and his family and wish them well" -- Nancy Pelosi.
Now to a story unfolding right now. We are learning more about the potential hit list posted on jihadist Web sites linked to al Qaeda. According to the FBI, American-born al Qaeda member Adam Gadahn is encouraging the attacks. The list includes names and photos of several U.S. government officials and business leaders.
They have been informed they are being targeted. And police have been warned about the Web-based threat. The FBI says the plot is not specifically outlined, but it says it's very, very detailed. CNN's Jeanne Meserve is going to join us in the next hour with more details on that.
And computer hackers say they took down the public Web site of the CIA. The hackers are part of that group that supports WikiLeaks. A CIA spokesperson says they experienced a slowdown for a short period last night, that the site is back to normal, and there was no intrusion or hacking of the Web site.
The Stanley Cup is in Beantown today. The Boston Bruins won the best-of-seven series for hockey's most prestigious trophy last night in Vancouver, their sixth Stanley Cup win, but, outside the arena, whew, it was a different story. Look at this. I would hate to be the driver of that pickup truck. Fans of the Canucks vented their anger rioting in the streets, fires.
They last -- took last night's 4-0 defeat in game seven obviously a little hard, overturning vehicles, setting them on fire. They even torched two police cars. About 2,000 people rioted there on the streets of Vancouver. Clouds of smoke choked some areas of downtown Vancouver. Look at this.
The hockey championship, it started off on a positive note, with the Canucks taking a home-ice advantage and winning the first two games. Vancouver has been in the Stanley Cup finals three times in the last 41 seasons, but they have never won.
The injury of a favored player in game six and a questionable goal in game seven -- Did you watch? -- may have been a little too much for those Canucks fans, tired of seeing the dream slip right through their fingertips.
Police say they made 100 arrests last night. And they blamed the looting and the rioting on anarchists.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM CHU, VANCOUVER POLICE CHIEF CONSTABLE: But even with those assets in place, our city was still vulnerable to a number of young men and women disguised as Canucks fans who were actually criminals and anarchists. These were people who came equipped with masks, goggles and gasoline, even fire extinguishers, that they would use as weapons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: IReporter Rob from Vancouver sent us this video. He says he saw Molotov cocktails hurled by the crowd. Folks, we're talking about hockey here -- tear gas canisters tossed by police in response to that, and with every challenge, the mob, just got angrier with police.
Our iReporter Rob says he wants people to know that the actions of this crowd are not true representations of his city.
Two months later, bin Laden and al Qaeda's number two now becomes the number one. So, what took so long and how exactly did they go about choosing bin Laden's replacement?
Former CIA covert operations officer Mike Baker is going to join me live coming up.
Also, big day for Defense Secretary Robert Gates, continuing his farewell tour today, giving his last news conference. We will share some of that with you next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Let's just go ahead and make a none-too-bold prediction. One of these days, they are going to pin a medal on this guy, Robert Gates, 30-plus years in some of the toughest jobs in Washington, including defense secretary.
Just a short time ago, he gave his final briefing before bowing at the Pentagon. I want you to keep in mind, though, this is the guy who President Bush brought in to clean up the mess in Iraq, also Afghanistan, and now he's stayed on for two-plus years under President Barack Obama.
Here is Defense Secretary Robert Gates speaking about an hour ago at the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GATES: One of the interesting challenges about this job has been the responsibility of waging two wars, neither of which I had anything to do with starting.
And certainly, I saw in 2007 and 2008 how unpopular what we were doing in Iraq was, how unpopular the surge was. I had to cancel a trip to Latin America in the fall of, I think, 2007, because it looked like Republican support was crumbling and that we might end up with congressional action to stop the surge.
So, for me, it is the reality that -- I mean, as a historian -- and I like to remind people of this -- with the exception of the first couple of years of World War II, there has never been a popular war in the United States, in our whole history. They have all been controversial.
QUESTION: A few years ago when you were asked, I think, the shortest question you were ever asked at a congressional hearing about Iraq, whether at that point, in your opinion, we were winning in Iraq. As you begin to wind down, I would like to ask you that same question about Afghanistan. You mentioned progress. You've mentioned gains. But fundamentally, do you believe right now we're winning in Afghanistan?
GATES: The one thing I -- I have learned a few things in four- and-a-half years. And -- and one of them is to try and stay away from loaded words like "winning" and "losing."
What I will say is that I believe we are being successful in implementing the president's strategy. And I believe that our military operations are in implementing the president's strategy, and I believe that our military operations are being successful in denying the Taliban control of populated areas, degrading their capabilities and improving the capabilities of the Afghan National Security forces. Those were three of the tasks that the president laid out for us in December of 2009 and I think -- and the other was reversing the momentum of the Taliban. And I think in all four of those cases we are succeeding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: That is outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates, his final farewell, last briefing there at the Pentagon. He would not say we're winning in Afghanistan. He did say we are succeeding.
Coming up next, get the camera shot, gang. This is Selena Gomez in her new move called "Monte Carlo." it opens up July 1st, and Selena could be coming to a city near you, but guess what? Not yet because she's sitting right here in my studio. We have a surprise for her next and here's a sneak peek of her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So that was actress and singer Selena Gomez's new hit. She's known also for her series "The Wizards of Waverly Place." And, voila, Selena Gomez joining me in studio seven. Welcome to Atlanta.
SELENA GOMEZ, SINGER: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Thanks for hanging out.
GOMEZ: Thanks for having me.
BALDWIN: I know you're headed to the mall of Georgia to meet your fans and talk about "Monte Carlo" and for fans who were concerned because you were in the hospital this week. How are you doing?
GOMEZ: Thank you for asking. It was just me needing to take care of myself. A lot going on.
BALDWIN: A little bit busy. GOMEZ: You have to take care of yourself is the biggest lesson I've been learning.
BALDWIN: "Monte Carlo," want to explain what the movie is about and your characters?
GOMEZ: Yes. I play two characters. "Monte Carlo" is kind of like a romantic comedy, really sweet, about three girls who travel to Europe in hopes of finding a better life and ultimately in the end they realize their lives are basically what any girl can have.
BALDWIN: Shall we watch?
GOMEZ: Yes, go ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pep rallies, imagining myself walking along the seine and standing on top of the Eiffel Tower.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you mind if we order?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Grace, go with Meg and Emma, have a great trip.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Paris, nobody pinch me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The junior ambassador suite --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: How long did you get to stay and film in Paris?
GOMEZ: Well, actually we shot seven weeks in Hungary.
BALDWIN: Hungary.
GOMEZ: And it kind of looked like Paris so we were cheating a little bit but we shot in Paris for four days.
BALDWIN: That's a pretty good British accent.
GOMEZ: Took a little bit and I'm still not confident with it.
BALDWIN: You are part of this whole mall tour. You go to the mall here and see the fans there and hop on your twitter page, 5 million plus fans there, constantly out and constantly in front of people. Were you born in '92 so you're familiar with the internet, always had internet and cell phones and being connected. Selena, is there any point in time when you just put that phone down and want to be just disconnected?
GOMEZ: Every day. Every single day I'd like that. I think it's crazy. I love that I'm able to connect with my fans. I do think that Twitter and Facebook is real wonderful to be instant with your fans. But it's a scary thing. The internet is really scary for me so I kind of wish I could disconnect every day from it.
BALDWIN: When do you? You have to have moments when you just have time to yourself.
GOMEZ: I do, yes. I will -- obviously I'm excited about "Monte Carlo" coming out so I'm talking about it a lot. I do take those moments just to be by myself.
BALDWIN: You're about to be 19 in July.
GOMEZ: Yes.
BALDWIN: Happy early birthday.
GOMEZ: Thank you.
BALDWIN: I'm just curious, are you voting next year, your first presidential election?
GOMEZ: The first time I've ever been asked in. The first time I would be. By a campaign when I was 16 basically saying that I wanted to encourage kids my age because we're the next generation coming up to vote, so I think it would be really fun for me to be involved with my family and have a say now which is now.
BALDWIN: And have a say, next year.
GOMEZ: Yes. That's crazy.
BALDWIN: You're old enough now, and when you think about the election, and I don't know if you ever have moments to start and educate yourself on particular candidates, but what issues do you think you'll look for a? What issues face your generation and what issues do you want to hear from some of the potential White House hopefuls?
GOMEZ: I would say education, and I would probably say global warming. And I think that -- I think we need to do a lot to help other countries, but sometimes I don't feel like we help a lot here in our country so that would probably be something that would catch my eye.
BALDWIN: I realize I'm just a little older than you, so I wanted to bring in -- we wanted to get inside the mindset of one of your fans.
GOMEZ: Hi, how are you?
BALDWIN: This is Ava's daughter, the daughter of one of our most senior writers. So Ava, this is your chance. What is your question for Selena.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was wondering why are you moving away from Disney Channel?
GOMEZ: Well, for me I'm about to be 19, so it's kind of a transition phase I guess you can say. I'm getting older and it's kind of like graduating high school. Still have a close relationship with Disney Channel but I want to make cool movies like "Monte Carlo" for my other fans to see.
BALDWIN: Do you accept that answer?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I accept it.
GOMEZ: Good.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: I know you have to go, but how is it that you're able to maintain this lovely persona. A lot of other gals have gone different paths, different directions, and you really seem, to you know, have it together for someone who is being pulled in so many directions and dating a guy all of us have heard of. You have a lot going on. How do you maintain that balance?
GOMEZ: I think that I have to surround myself with really good people or I would probably go crazy. I'm 18 and I'm going to make mistakes and learn from my mistakes and who becomes who I'm supposed to be. That's my business. I don't think it should involve my fans or my connection with them so I try to be the best I can be for my fans and continue to be happy.
BALDWIN: Let's talk presidential election next time.
GOMEZ: I'm excited, yes, let's do that.
BALDWIN: Selena Gomez, thank you. Ava's daughter, nice job.
GOMEZ: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Selena will be at the mall of Georgia if you're in the Atlanta area tonight greeting fans, lots and lots of fans and taking questions and promoting her movie "Monte Carlo," which opens the first of July. Ladies, thank you.
GOMEZ: Thank you.
BALDWIN: And now two months Bin Laden's number two taking number one. What took so long, and how exactly did they go about picking bin Laden's replacement? Former CIA covert operations officer Mike Baker will join us live. There he is in New York. Be right back.
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BALDWIN: It has taken Al Qaeda a month and a half, but now they have named a new leader, this guy, Ayman al Zawahiri, seen here with the late Osama bin Laden as was bin Laden. He is believed to be hiding out in Pakistan, somewhere along the Pakistan border. Ayman al Zawahiri, his longtime sidekick and number two, unlike bin Laden who came from Saudi Arabia, he is Egyptian, age 59. He is considered to be a master of planning and a master of logistics. Let's go to Mike Baker, former CIA covert ops officer. Mike, Al Zawahiri's wife and three of his daughters believed to have died in an air strike shortly after 9/11. My question, is this personal for al Zawahiri?
MIKE BAKER, FORMER CIA OFFICER: Well, yes, you would assume it would be personal for anyone in those circumstances, no matter what the cause is. For him he's a real ideologue who was given credit for radicalizing bin Laden back in the mid-'80s when he was starting to finance the Mujahedeen and then from that relationship eventually Zawahiri merged his existing as a terrorist organization into Al Qaeda. There's talk Zawahiri wasn't likely to take over the top spot, but he's got too much stature for that not to have happen.
BALDWIN: Let's talk about that. You make that point. Reading comments about al Zawahiri, Paul Cruikshank said he has, quote, "None of the charisma of Osama bin Laden," and another one from former intel officer Philip Mudd saying "He's a difficult man to work," and he goes on, "very poorly respected." So Mike Baker, bad rap? Why -- why him?
BAKER: Well, I don't think he's the only head of an organization who is either not well liked or, you know, not well respected. At the end of the day, you know, he gets the job done I suppose from an operational and strategic point of view. He's a very hard core individual.
And, you know, regardless -- there's a lot of chatter that goes on in the world of punditry about Al Qaeda and about how the personalities blend and, you know, at the end of the day he was given also credit for in part operational planning of 9/11, the 2005 bombings in the U.K., of even the African embassy bombings. He's been around a long time. He has a lot of experience.
And whether they like him or not, you know, it's not a popularity contest to some degree in terms of Al Qaeda. You know, what they wanted also was they wanted continuity and, you know, not to make this sound too much a succession at a multi-national or Fortune 50 company, but they are not unsophisticated. They know how, you know, the world works to some degree. And I think they did want this continuity keeping him out there.
He's got a lot of exposure. He's done a large number of video and audio recordings. He's well known and need to go with that. He's not charismatic, no doubt about it. He's not going to create that image around him that bin Laden was able to do over the years.
BALDWIN: But, like you said, he'll get the job done.
BAKER: Right.
BALDWIN: We know -- as I mentioned, he's 59 and turns 60 this Sunday. Meanwhile down in Yemen, you have, you know, the relatively young, potentially dangerous Anwar al Awlaki. Might al Zawahiri see al Awlaki as a potential rival?
BAKER: There are a few potential rivals, and Awlaki was one of them, and you talk about charisma and within that world of extremists, personally I don't see it, but he's thought of as being very charismatic and quite the recruiter of sources. That's important.
BALDWIN: But are they buddies, or are they rivals?
BAKER: I don't think they are buddies, but I don't think they are rivals either. They are in an organization where they just work to strive to the same goal, which is murder, mayhem, and terrorism against the west and our allies, but I think that there were others, al Adel and then the Egyptian.
BALDWIN: The interim.
BAKER: Yes, the interim leader and chief of staff for bin Laden works have been a logical choice if they had decided at some point not to go with Zawahiri, but I know there were several others as well supposedly in the running.
But I don't think that we should be mistaking this for some sort of infighting that's going to continue. I think what they will be looking to do now is show as a group their relevance by planning and carrying out what they would conceive or perceive to be a successful major strike. So I think the danger here now that they have settled on him as their leader is that they will come together as opposed to splintering apart because they want to -- all at the end of the day they want to show their relevance, and they will be looking to perform some sort of operation that could be considered spectacular.
BALDWIN: Mike Baker, former CIA. Mike, thank you so much.
BAKER: Sure, thank you.
BALDWIN: Now this.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unless like something can turn around, we need a miracle. We need a miracle.
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BALDWIN: A small town is on decline in New Jersey as houses are foreclosing faster than the bank can sell them. What is scaring away those buyers? I promise there is some good news in the story with Poppy Harlow. That is next.
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BALDWIN: You know, at first blush it looked like good news on the horizon with regard to housing. Realtytrac said foreclosure filings fell from in May from April and down a whopping 33 percent from a year ago. But when you start to dig a bit deeper, the same survey also says most of last month's declines were due to paperwork delays. These homeowners are still headed for foreclosure. CNN's Poppy Harlow visited one city where banks own about one in 10 homes.
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POPPY HARLOW, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: From a bird's eye view, Plainfield, New Jersey may look like lots of small towns across America, but when you walk the streets and talk to the folks here, you start to realize something. The bank owns a big chunk of this city.
REGINA PERRY, PLAINFIELD RESIDENT: I moved in three houses, and three of the houses that I've lived in have foreclosed and I was forced to move.
HARLOW: Of the roughly 9,000 homes in Plainfield, nearly 900 are in foreclosure. That's almost three times the national average.
LEA MCDONALD, PLAINFIELD RESIDENT: It's terrible. My kids have to walk past these empty houses, and I'm afraid for them.
HARLOW: You won't find padlocks or boarded up windows, but it's not hard to find people thousands of dollars in debt on their homes. Right here there are at least 25 homes in foreclosure. Just down the way on Berkeley Terrace you'll find eight more.
Crime is now rampant in Plainfield. The police spend time breaking up gang activity and determining which came first is a chicken-and-egg situation for the mayor.
HARLOW (on camera): Do you feel as though the amount of foreclosures, really the crisis in this city led to this increased gang violence?
MAYOR SHARON ROBINSON-BRIGGS, PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY: There may be a relationship in terms of certain areas in the city of Plainfield where some of our residents have been laid off, who feel kind of hopeless at this point.
HARLOW (voice-over): The highest density is near the gang violence, 123 within a half mile. But there are hundreds more all over town.
MCDONALD: The town is going down, taxes are going up, we're suffering.
HARLOW: Today home prices continue to fall. There are layoffs in the schools, and the city has cut 50 percent of its workers since February. At Rise 'N Shine restaurant, the owner says business is slumping.
SAUL GUIDARDO, RISE 'N SHINE RESTAURANT: There are ups and downs. Some days are better, some days are slow. It's tough.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unless like something can turn around, we need a miracle.
HARLOW: A miracle?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need a miracle.
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HARLOW: You know, the mayor told me we need help from the banks. We need more mortgage modification, so we reached out to the two biggest lenders for mortgages in Plainfield, bank of America and Wells Fargo. Bank of America had no comments. Wells Fargo says they continue to work with borrowers to find alternatives. We asked both to come on camera and talk about the situation. Neither of those banks agreed to come on camera.
BALDWIN: Poppy, what about mortgage modifications? What are the banks saying?
HARLOW: You know, they're not talking to us. They gave those statements. I think what's interesting, Brooke, if you look at the ripple effect t. The mayor says they've seen hundreds of thousands of lost revenue for the city. When people leave the city, they get foreclosed on, leave the homes, they leave the school district. That means less funding from the state to the city for those schools. The schools have laid off staff.
BALDWIN: It's a domino effect.
HARLOW: The city has laid of half their workers since February alone. So this is one city, but these emblematic of the crisis that continues in the so-called recovery that these folks aren't feeling across America.
BALDWIN: It's a tough story, but it's important to keep it in the light, and happy to have you report on it. Poppy Harlow, thank you.
HARLOW: You got it.
BALDWIN: If your net worth yaw in excess of, say, $200 million, would you be joking about not having a job, especially if you're a presidential candidate? That's next.
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BALDWIN: It's time for your CNN = Politics update. Let's go to Mark Preston live with the latest off the CNN Political Ticker. Mark, what do you have?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EDITOR: Hey, Brooke, a little non- Anthony Weiner here. There are a couple other political stories making news today.
There is a bit of a family feud in the Republican parties, specifically when it comes to conservative politics. Freedom Works, a conservative group, a Tea Party group in many ways, has said it will target Senator Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah, they'll target him in the primary. They say he's not been conservative enough. In fact, they says he's been taking decades of bad votes costing the taxpayers millions of dollars.
But in turn, Orrin Hatch's campaign has returned the fire and said why doesn't Freedom Works just focus on trying to defeat President Obama in 2012?
Talking about 2012 presidential politics, Mitt Romney was down south, in fact in Atlanta in Smyrna. He is being endorsed by the attorney general Sam Owens. Remember when Sam Owens used to be the president of the East Cobb Civic Association. He has become the attorney general, and considered a big get in the presidential race in Georgia. Earlier Romney was down in Florida and picked up several key endorsements.
Let me just tick off the names for you -- Congressman Connie Mac, Congressman Tom Rooney, Congressman Ander Crenshaw, and State Senator John Brasher, who is a former Republican Party chairman all said they would back Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination.
And perhaps, in a bit of a comment that Romney might have wished he had taken back, down in Florida today, Brooke, he was talking to a group of unemployed folks, and he went on to tell them that he was unemployed, which got some laughter out of the crowd.
But given the fact that Mitt Romney is worth just quite a bit of money, he might not have wanted to say that.
BALDWIN: Yes.
PRESTON: So we have already seen Democrats right now take after Mitt Romney for that comment, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Yes, I imagine that did not sit very well for those Floridians.
Mark Preston, hey, thank you so much, news off the Political Ticker.
