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Final Farewell to a First Lady; Man Charged with Brooklyn Boy's Murder
Aired July 14, 2011 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, we begin this hour in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the funeral of Betty Ford, to quote one longtime resident, is "almost like saying good-bye to mom."
The nation's 39th first lady is being laid to rest alongside her husband today after a service that's getting underway right now at Grace Episcopal Church.
Mrs. Ford passed away last Friday at 93, and though she lived her final years far from the public eye, her contributions to public life made her part of America's family, like mom, to her dying day.
My colleague Ted Rowlands is at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum where the first lady's casket will return after the funeral service.
Ted, if you could, set the scene. Is there an outpouring today for Mrs. Ford?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely. You see the names inside the church. Former President Bill Clinton is there, sitting next to Barbara Bush. The Cheneys are there, the Rumsfeld -- it's the people outside the church that where here at the museum that really hit home with me, the amount of people in Grand Rapids that really looked at Betty Ford and Gerald Ford as one of their own because they were.
They came from Michigan, and this community rode that crazy wild, you know, rollercoaster as they went to Washington and served for so many years, and then eventually became president. And then afterwards, when Betty Ford not only bought that photographer in to document her recovery from breast cancer, but then brought the national consciousness towards addiction and shared her own addiction troubles, and then her contributions post-presidency with all of the cancer centers and addiction centers that she has helped -- that she helped build through her life.
So, the outpouring, very significant here in Grand Rapids, as you might imagine.
KAYE: And, Ted, who can we expect to be speaking today at this service?
ROWLANDS: Lynne Cheney is actually going to do one of the eulogies, one of the Ford sons, Steve Ford, will do a reading, and then -- but Lynne Cheney is set to do one of the eulogies so we'll hear that coming up in the next hour. Following the service, the Ford family will come back for their private burial, and it's just at the back end of the museum. There's an above-ground tomb where Gerald Ford is buried now, and they will put Betty Ford right in next to where he is. And that will take place after this ceremony that you're seeing, but that will just be family.
KAYE: And in all, I mean, what would you say and what have you heard from people there as you've spent some time there in town? What really truly set Betty Ford apart, would you say, from her predecessors?
ROWLANDS: I would say honesty. I talked to one gentleman who is a newspaper reporter back when the Fords were just making their transition from here to Washington. Keep in mind, Gerald Ford was a football star at the University of Michigan, and then after he came back with a Yale law degree, he met Betty Ford and then they went off right away and started this world of politics. He said, the one thing about Betty Ford was that she was honest. You call her up, and she would give you an answer, and it was an honest answer.
In fact, when Spiro Agnew resigned his presidency, Richard Nixon, he said he called the Fords and Betty picked up and he said, "Please call me if Gerald is picked, you know, to be the vice president," and he said, "I'm not calling you back because there's no way he's going to be picked."
Of course, you know, he was picked and the reporter that was regaling us with this story said that it was just her blunt honesty, and you saw that in the way she lived her life during those private times, she made them public. And the country went through it with her.
KAYE: And just very quickly, Ted, I can't let you go without remarking on the incredible timing of this day. This was a very important day in Gerald Ford's life.
ROWLANDS: Yes. This would have been his 98th birthday. And it's ironic, if you look behind me. You see the statue here of Gerald Ford. This was just put in on Monday outside the museum. It was planned to be put in here because this was his birthday week. It's a replica of the statue that sits in the capitol rotunda in Washington.
So, when the family arrived here with the coffin, they saw this statue for the very first time, and as they entered the museum, they all stopped and Michael Ford, actually -- one of the sons, put his fist up and -- in acknowledgement to his dad and the statue there. So, the timing is pretty remarkable.
KAYE: It certainly is. Ted Rowlands for us in Grand Rapids, Michigan -- Ted, thank you.
Human Rights Watch said Libyan rebels have been beating civilians and looting their homes and businesses over the past month. CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman went to one of the four villages named in the report to investigate. But during the coverage, Wedeman and his crew got caught in the middle of a five-hour long fire fight in the village of Qawalish. It's today's sound effect.
Watch what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get in the car, Mary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You guys, wait. Wait.
(EXPLETIVE DELETED)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get in there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait! Wait, wait, wait!
(GUNFIRE)
UNIDENTIFEID FEMALE: Wait!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait! Wait!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you in, Mary?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I'm in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Just calm down.
(GUNFIRE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Frightening moments, but we are happy to report that Ben Wedeman and his crew are safe and sound.
Checking some other top stories that we're following,:
A mistrial was declared today in the perjury trial of former Major League Baseball player Roger Clemens. The move by Judge Reggie Walton came after prosecutors showed to jurors a videotape of the 2008 congressional hearings on performance-enhancing drug use. Part of the tape included evidence the judge already ruled inadmissible except on rebuttal. Walton set a September 2nd hearing about whether to retry the case.
And about-face for Rupert Murdoch. The media tycoon and his son James have now agreed to appear before a parliamentary committee investigating Britain's phone hacking scandal. Initially, Rupert Murdoch said he wouldn't be able to attend the July 19 hearing. The probe was launched yesterday by Prime Minister David Cameron in response to allegations that journalists working for Murdoch's media empire illegally eavesdropped on phone messages by thousands of voice mails and bribed police.
After years of fuzzing from frequent fliers, airlines and many others, the TSA is taking action to speed up security screening. TSA chief John Pistole today announced the first steps for a so-called trusted traveler program. The aim is to ease security screening for passengers who voluntarily release certain information.
Initially the pilot test will be available only to current participants in a U.S. Custom programs in a limited number of air travelers. Those include certainly frequent flyers on American and Delta Airlines flying out of Atlanta, Detroit, Miami and Dallas.
Time is running out for President Obama and congressional leaders to reach a long-term deficit reduction deal. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says if both sides fail to reach an agreement on spending cuts and tax hikes by Friday, they will have to shift their focus to solely raising the debt ceiling. The president is meeting with leaders of both parties today, marking the fifth straight day of talks.
Police arrest a man who confessed to murdering and 8-year-old little boy in Brooklyn, New York. The latest on this shocking story and the charges against the suspect, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: We want to bring you the latest about the gruesome murder of a little 8-year-old boy Leiby Kletzky. His chilling death has a devout tight-knit Brooklyn Jewish community and many of us grappling to make sense of what happened here.
The man arrested and charged with his murder is this man, 35- year-old Levi Aron. Aron will be arraigned in just a few minutes as police continue to thoroughly search his home and his backyard for possibly more remains. We'll bring you the hearing for instance side the courtroom when that happens as son as it gets underway.
Both Aron and his victim are members of a close-knit orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn. Kletzky was last seen in this surveillance video with Aron in a dentist office. You can see right thereto 8-year-old highlighted.
Police say the little boy asked Aron for directions after getting lost on his way home from summer camp. He only had to walk seven blocks. Investigators say they found the little boy's body parts in Aron's freezer and a trash bin a couple of miles away.
So, let's go straight to Deb Feyerick who is live in New York.
Deb, what is the latest there in terms of this hearing as it's about to get underway?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Randi, we can tell you that the hearing is set to get underway. The suspect in the murder, 35-year-old Levi Aron, he's facing charges of kidnapping and murder, both those charges in the first degree. This was really rattled with every parent wrestling with how much freedom to give children in the city, even neighborhoods that are considered relatively safe.
Now, 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky was trying to show he was a big boy by walking home alone from a nearby day camp. The senseless killing, so random, has rocked the community and even seasoned police officers.
KAYE: And, Deb, what do you know --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: This business, you see a lot of violence. But there's usually some sort of irrational twisted logic that's given to why a violent event took place here. I mean, it's just -- it defies all logic. And I think that's really so, so terribly disturbing about this case.
There's absolutely no reason. There's nothing more innocent than an 8-year-old child, and to be, you know, killed in this manner is just -- it's heartbreaking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Now, we're told that court, Randi, has just started. Little is known about the accused killer except that he worked as a store clerk. Reports say that he lived at home with his father who works at the popular B&H Photo store in Manhattan. Aron's ex-wife to whom she was married for a year says she spoke to him not long ago. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBBIE ARON, EX-WIFE OF MURDER SUSPECT: I'm in shock, can't believe it. Definitely not in his character for the person I knew, you know. Even when I talked to him a not long ago, everything was fine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: The child was buried yesterday. The grieving family has been spared details of the gruesome death, and we're waiting for information inside the courthouse. We are told court has started. It's also going to be interesting, Randi, to see whether, in fact, Aron is going to be asked to undergo a psychiatric evaluation -- Randi.
KAYE: And, Deb, just quickly -- I mean, it's been reported that he has confessed to killing this little boy. Any more information on that confession?
FEYERICK: The understanding is that when he was confronted by police officers, he did give them information. Reports saying that there had been a big manhunt, big search for this little boy because he was taken so close to where he lived from his day camp. But he said that apparently he panicked when word got out that there was a big search, and maybe that's when it happened. But, again, right now, a lot more expected to come out in court, Randi.
KAYE: All right. Deb Feyerick watching the court hearing for us. Deb, thank you.
Perhaps what really makes this more unnerving and disturbing is not only the details of Kletzky's murder and where it happened and what community it involved, as we've been talking about. Both Aron and Kletzky are from a very religious, devout enclave of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn, known to be one of the safest areas actually in the city.
This murder is sending shock waves, as you might imagine, throughout this community.
So, to give us some perspective, we wanted to bring in today, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach who is a world leading relationship and spiritual expert. He joins me from New York -- along with "New York Times" reporter Liz Robbins who has been covering this story very closely.
Liz, I'd like to start with you. When you say Borough Park what, comes to mind for most New Yorkers? I mean, how safe is this area?
LIZ ROBBINS, NEW YORK TIMES: I would say the residents of Borough Park, a mostly Hasidic community, feel very safe, or at least until yesterday felt very safe. Having their children play with one another, having their children sometimes walk alone without adult supervision. But also having parents lock after the other children.
It was very safe. But all the parents that I talked to yesterday felt completely shattered and said they'd have to re-examine what they do now and how strict they are with their children.
KAYE: Rabbi, I'd like to ask you because, you know, certainly any time something as horrific as this happens in a community, they are in shock. But what's different, would you say, about this community maybe in terms of tradition or beliefs that makes this different?
RABBI SHMULEY BOTEACH, SPIRITUAL EXPERT: Well, there are three reasons why people choose to live in a more insular religious community. The first is shared value. The second is security in numbers. And the third is filtering out corrosive influences, especially for children.
Now with this case of this unbelievable monstrous brutal murder of Leiby Kletzky you have the dismissal of all three. What values was Levi Aron raised on if he's not crazy? And we almost he is because this man is an absolute monster. Where do these values come from because his from this community? These are not our values.
Number, security in numbers -- you saw how many people were out volunteering to save this little boy, to help this little boy, so you saw the community being galvanized and working together.
But the third thing is if the purpose to live together in religious communities is to protect our kids from some of the more corrosive influence, say, of the popular culture, television, some of the lyrics of music. Can you imagine this, that a boy inside this insular protected community is butchered in a manner reminiscent of -- the human mind can't even imagine this. I mean, I've never heard of a story like this.
So, the community is shocked to its absolute core. It has no precedence.
KAYE: What is the sense of trust, Rabbi, in this community? I mean, is that why you think maybe this little boy might have approach this stranger? I mean, I don't think they knew each other, certainly hasn't been report that they did. So, is it just a matter of trust in this very insulated community?
BOTEACH: That's a very good point. Look, we have a childhood obesity epidemic in America because parents won't let their children walk home from school because of stories like this and we've become very fearful. In more insular communities where we look alike because they share these values and the same religious commitment, there is this feeling of trust that this is someone I -- I may not know him, but he's not completely a stranger. So, that will also rattle a lot of people. I mean, how many other crazies are there within our own communities who may outwardly subscribe to our deep-seeded human values of sensitivity, compassion but really are monsters?
I mean, you have to understand, this isn't about just the brutal murder of a child. T aftermath of what he did to the body. Everything about Judaism is designed to inculcate a certain sensitivity, even to inanimate objects, stories of Moses not being able to snipe the dust of Egypt, let alone to brutalize the body of a boy. This has no precedence.
KAYE: No, it certainly doesn't.
Liz, I'd like to ask you. In your reporting of this story, I mean, were there any warning signs? We always ask that question, but I'm just curious. Were there any signs that this guy, Aron, might have been up to no good before?
ROBBINS: There really weren't many signs. I think he was not directly from Borough Park. He was from Kensington, or at least lived there, had lived in Tennessee for a time. So, people in the community really didn't know him which is what makes it even odder that this 8- year-old would go up to a stranger apparently lost when he was walking back from his camp, and he had arranged with his parents actually to meet his parents just seven blocks away, and they had gone through the route.
So, this was a sign of independence, and yet he got lost and thought that he trusted this man. But nobody really in the community knew about him, and we're just starting to find out about what a person he was and is.
KAYE: Yes.
Liz Robbins from "The New York Times" and Rabbi Shmuley, thank you both so much. I know it's a very hard topic to discuss, but happy to have had you on and be able to shed a little bit of light on this community. Thank you.
The number of foreclosures across the country is down almost 30 percent, but the number of worried homeowners still on the rise. We'll tell you why, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: The number of foreclosures has dropped dramatically so far this year, but it's not necessarily a good sign.
CNN Money's Poppy Harlow joins us with more.
So, Poppy, this isn't good news?
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: No, it's not. The headline looks like great news. From a year ago, foreclosure filings down 29 percent, but you've got to dig into the report, Randi, and that's where you see what's going on. In the first six months of this year, 1.2 million homeowners went into foreclosure. That is a lot. That is one in every 111 homes.
Sounds good, but not when you dig deeper. It is raising false hope that this housing market is recovering. Why? The person that issued this report, the CEO of RealtyTrac came out in the report and said the only reason we're seeing this big decline is because the banks have really slowed down processing that paperwork. You get foreclosure filings. You get warning notices, a lot of paperwork.
Why is this? Remember back a few months when we had the first reports of that robo-signing scandal, banks basically not having their paperwork in order, not knowing who necessarily owns the mortgage or all the right paperwork to foreclose on your home. So, they are trying to get that paperwork in order. There's a lot of this going through judges.
So, bottom line: it's been stalled.
Now, what RealtyTrac has said, Randi, is it's estimating that up to 1 million foreclosures that should have been processed this year are now not going to be processed until next year, Randi. So, it's not like they are not happening anymore. They are just not happening right now, Randi.
KAYE: So we don't really know when this will all be worked out to get the housing market back on track.
HARLOW: Right.
KAYE: OK.
HARLOW: Oh, we don't know what. Yes, exactly.
KAYE: Poppy Harlow in New York -- Poppy, thank you.
What if I told you there's a device that police will soon have that can positively ID anyone, yes, anyone in the country? Sounds too good to be true, but there is such a thing -- yes, there is -- coming to a police force near you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back. I'd like you to meet MORIS. MORIS stands for Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System. And this little guy will soon be in the hands of police officers the country.
Now, here's how it works. An officer can hold this device about six inches from someone's eyes, take a quick photo and the system analyzes that person's irises. It can pull up someone's identification and any criminal records. It also does face- recognition from about feet away and can even analyze fingerprints.
Now, on the surface, this sounds like a great idea. But there's some controversy looming around MORIS.
So, joining me now is Andy Hill. He's a retired sergeant from the Phoenix Police Department.
Andy, let's talk about the benefits of MORIS first. Would I bet that this is -- that this would help officers in many instances.
ANDY HILL, RETIRED SERGEANT, PHOENIX POLICE DEPARTMENT: Yes. Hi, Randi. I think it's a great tool to have, and like every other tool that's out there, you have to make sure that, you know, you use it judiciously and don't abuse it.
For example, you know, the facial recognition part is fantastic. When you think about law enforcement, all police officers from the beginning of time have been actually doing facial recognition in their beat areas. They get to know people. They recognize somebody. So, the facial recognition part is really just a normal day-to-day duty.
It's when you get into the other parts of this biometrics where you have fingerprints or the iris scans that you're getting a little more intrusive, and then you have to kind of look at the issues of privacy.
KAYE: Yes. A lot of people, you know, some people are raising questions about this, because if you take these pictures and you do these scans and they go into this database. So, it has some folks wondering, well, what happens? What if I'm not a criminal and you put all my information in a database.
I mean, is that a valid concern, would you say?
HILL: Absolutely. And that's why it's up to law enforcement to create policy and procedures that keeps those that are innocent away or out of those databases and, of course, you need to go ahead and review and make sure that those are being done. It's a very important part of law enforcement now to be able to use facial recognition at the borders or at major events, you know -- and especially the border crossing issues now with terrorism. You have to have that.
But you also have to make sure that if you're going to be on the street as a police officer using this new mobile device, that you're using it appropriately, and have you to consider all of those issues surrounding privacy. And you can't just put people in a database. So, you want to use a criminal database or those that may be in there already.
KAYE: What do you think in terms of asking permission? I mean, some police departments that are planning to use this have said that, you know, we will ask permission. We're not just going to snap photos and use the facial recognition.
How important do you think it is to get the person's permission to do so?
HILL: I think it's fine to do that. You know, consent is the basis for so many things. And in law enforcement, you can do consent if you want to search someone's home if they give you consent. It's not the preferred way, rather get a search warrant issued by a judge.
By asking people permission to do things is a fine way to do it. You don't necessarily have to do it with the facial recognition if you're taking a picture from far away. But I think you might want to do that if you're going to take a person and ask them if they can stand still for a minute or get a close-up of their iris or take their fingerprint. Then you have some kind of an intrusion in a privacy issue and I think consent is a good way to go. And it's up to law enforcement not to abuse the tools that they get.
KAYE: And despite what some might say about it. I mean, there's one sheriff's department in Florida that's been using similar technology since 2004, and they have made 700 arrests. They said that's what that technology has resulted in.
So, clearly, there is some benefit, right?
HILL: Oh, it's a tremendous benefit.
Listen, would I imagine of those 700 arrests that they made, a lot of them were for arrest warrants. There are thousands of people that have warrants for their arrest walking the streets of the United States of America and they can't get arrested because there is no extradition for those warrants. That's a major issue that's been going on.
You know, I've been very much a part of that over the last year and law enforcement is always looking for tools to recognize people. You're going to have people through facial recognition in some of this biometrics that may get identified with arrest warrant. So, it might help reduce the backlog of those arrest warrants that exist in all communities.
KAYE: All right. Andy Hill, always appreciate you coming on to talk about stories like this one. So, thank you very much for your insight.
HILL: Thanks, Randi.
KAYE: And this just in to CNN. Treasury secretary Tim Geithner just speaking on Capitol Hill talking about the debt ceiling and the negotiations under way. Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY: -- leader, thanks for giving me a chance to come up here and talk these problems and how to solve there. There is unanimity in that room that we're a country that meets its obligations. We're a country that pays our bills, and that we will act and do what's necessary to make sure that we can maintain that commitment.
As the majority leader said, we've looked at all available options, and we have no way to give Congress more time to solve this problem, and we're running out of time. And the eyes of the country are on us, and the eyes of the world are on us, and we need to make sure that we stand together and send a definitive signal that we're going to take the steps necessary to avoid default and also take advantage of this opportunity to make some progress in dealing with our long-term fiscal problems.
We don't have much time. It's time we move. Thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Strong words from the Treasury secretary there. We should remind you that that meeting at the White House takes place at 4:15 today. That's Eastern time. We'll have continuing coverage on that and any progress that might be made on the debt ceiling today.
Betty Ford is being laid to rest this hour. We'll have details from Grand Rapids, Michigan. These are live pictures of the service now under way.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Thirty-three minutes past the hour. Let's check some of the other headlines you may have missed.
Former first lady Betty Ford being laid to rest today in her Michigan hometown. Ford died Friday. She was 93. The service underway right now. She will be buried next to her husband, Gerald Ford, in Grand Rapids. Hundreds of people gathered along the route from the Gerald R. Ford presidential museum to the Grace Episcopal Church site of Betty Ford's funeral service.
Indian a authorities are still trying to figure out who was behind a series of deadly explosions that rocked Mumbai yesterday. Eighteen people were killed. 131 injured. The homegrown organization known as the Indian Mujahadin is suspected in the attack, but no one has claimed responsibility. Some security experts say a lack of intelligence about the attacks indicates a government failure, but officials insist that all hostile groups in the area, are, quote, "under radar," and those responsible will be found.
Time is running out for President Obama and congressional leaders to reach a long-term deficit reduction deal. According to two Democrats familiar with the discussions, if both sides fail to reach an agreement on spending cuts and tax hikes by Friday, they will have to shift their focus to solely raising the debt ceiling. The president is meeting with leaders of both parties today, marking the fifth straight day of talks.
The popular shows "Mad Men" and "Modern Family" were at the top of the list when the 2011 Primetime Emmy nominations were announced earlier today. AMC's series "Mad Men" collected 19 nominations, barely edging out the new HBO program "Boardwalk Empire," which got 18. ABC's "Modern Family" received 17 total nominations and got four of the six bids for best supporting actor in comedy. Overall, HBO led all networks in cable channels of 104 nominations in various categories. The next closest was AMC with 29 nominations.
Drivers in Los Angeles are bracing for the big one. Not an earthquake, but a historic traffic jam They call it Carmageddon all because of a key section of L.A.'s 405 freeway will be closing in order to demolish a bridge in order to make much-needed repairs. People are asked to take public transit, just stay at home or better yet, just get out of town. Some airlines are offering Carmageddon getaway flight deals.
A U.S. senator is calling for an investigation into the Rupert Murdoch phone-hacking scandal. He wants to know if the case reaches across the Atlantic to the United States. We'll hear from Senator Frank Lautenberg live next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Media barron Rupert Murdoch has gone from power broker to pariah in just a matter of days. Murdoch is widely considered a brilliant and sometimes ruthless businessman. He's pushed his media properties, especially newspapers to success and notoriety by featuring sometimes sensational stories.
CNN's Allan Chernoff has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT(voice-over): Rupert Murdoch's great love has always been the newspaper business, say those who know him. He demands dramatic stories, telling reporters, we will never be boring, and frequently checks in with his top editors, one of whom used to be Lou Colasuonno.
LOU COLASUONNO, SR. MANAGING DIR., FINANCIAL DYNAMIC: He's passionate about his newspapers. And along with that passion comes an involvement in the day to day operations of his papers, particularly his biggest ones.
CHERNOFF: Murdoch's ambitions began in his native Australia, inheriting his father's newspaper business. Murdoch added media properties across the country, even started "The Australian," a nationwide paper. And aggressively used them to support politicians he favored.
Overseas, Murdoch's first purchase was a British tabloid "News of the World," followed by "The Sun," both of which he pushed to a new label of sensationalism.
MARTIN DUNN, FMR. DEP. EDITOR, THE SUN & THE NEWS OF THE WORLD: Topless girls on page three of "The Sun" was a room for innovation.
CHERNOFF: Murdoch became the central figure in Britain's competitive newspaper market known as Fleet Street.
Former deputy editor Martin Dunn says he was as tough as his headlines.
DUNN: He was the man who tamed the print unions so that newspapers became incredibly profitable.
CHERNOFF: Checkbook journalism, paying for stories, was a regular practice that paid dividends with higher newspaper sales. Some detractors referred to Murdoch as the dirty digger.
COLASUONNO: He ran close to what maybe considered journalistic ethics. I'm not saying he broke the law. I'm not saying he did anything illegal, but I will say that he's aggressive in getting stories.
CHERNOFF: Murdoch also used his paper as a power base. With his editorial support, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, and David Cameron all rose to prime minister.
ALEX BEN BLOCK, AUTHOR, "OUTFOXED": He, more than anybody I've ever seen in my lifetime of the media, understood how you can use the power of the media to shape the political views of the country, and in doing so, to affect elections.
CHERNOFF: And to assist his business ambition.
Murdoch did the same in the U.S.
RUPERT MURDOCH, CEO, NEWS CORPORATION: Now, we are moving very fast at News Corporation to have a worldwide platform.
CHERNOFF: Newspapers, Internet, television, film, all together have expanded his political influence. His decades of brilliant business and political success make this week's collapse all more the shocking.
Murdoch has achieved the impossible, said one of the observers. Britain's normally divisive political parties are now all united against him.
DUNN: I think it's terribly devastating. He doesn't understand the word defeat.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: Allan Chernoff joins me live now from New York. Allan, what can we expect in the next few days in terms of this?
CHERNOFF: Well, Rupert Murdoch would love nothing more than for this to fade away, but that doesn't seem what's going to be happening. Next week, we do have a hearing in Parliament. Rebekah Brooks, the head of News International, is scheduled to appear, and we have word that the Murdochs themselves, Rupert and his son James, also will appear.
This story is going to remain in the headlines with investigations continuing in Britain and calls for investigations here. It's still going to be a big problem for the Murdochs, at least for some time to come.
KAYE: Allan Chernoff, appreciate it. Thank you very much.
And New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg has called on the U.S. attorney general to investigate whether this phone-hacking scandal has reached the United States. The Democrat lawmaker joins me now from Washington.
Thank you so much, Senator, for coming on the program today. I want to ask you, first, why call for this investigation?
SEN. FRANK LAUTENBERG (D), NEW JERSEY: Well, because the law says any U.S. corporation that bribes a foreign official is subject to severe penalties. Not only fines but even criminal penalties. And we want to make sure that this company, with all of its influence and the information that it passes to our region, isn't doing that. And might they be, if they are doing it might they be doing the same thing here and filtering out the news that they want to hear or that they want to steal in this case and use it. We don't want that to happen.
KAYE: I have to ask is there something that you know that perhaps we don't that makes you think that U.S. law was violated?
LAUTENBERG: Well, no. The U.S. law is very clear that it's against the law for an American corporation -- and News Corp is an American corporation -- to use bribery to influence any federal official. And that apparently was the case, so alleged, and I want it proved that they did that with law enforcement people in the UK.
So I -- I'm after it, just like I would be anyone who broke the law and did it in such are a manner that a corporate criminal violation, absolutely.
KAYE: We're getting word just today that Rupert Murdoch and his son, James, are expected to appear before Parliament next week. Is that progress? Do you expect that we get some answers that you're looking for?
LAUTENBERG: Well, we'll watch with interest. Right now, I'm not calling on our committee to bring in Rupert Murdoch. What I want to do is get to the truth of the matter, and when we find that out from the Justice Department's review, then we'll make decisions about whether or not it's necessary to bring Mr. Murdoch in for other senior people in his operation.
KAYE: I'm curious what you would say to some who might say that that can lock a bit political. I mean, Murdoch owns Fox News, donates to Republicans. You're a Democrat. What's your response to that?
LAUTENBERG: Well, first of all, it's nonsense. Secondly, where's the value? I guess there could be some risk in challenging something as powerful as News Corp. You've got "The Wall Street Journal." You've got "The New York Post," you've got other papers. You've got three TV stations that are included. So why would we want to get that angry a bull angrier unless we had a really good reason to investigate? And we'll save that until we learn more about it.
KAYE: And have you had any response from the attorney general in terms of your request?
LAUTENBERG: Not yet. Not yet. This letter went out yesterday, and we asked for it to be considered hastily. And we want them to do that, but thoroughly is also a condition we want to observe.
KAYE: All right. Senator Frank Lautenberg, certainly appreciate your time on the program today. Thank you.
LAUTENBERG: Pleasure.
KAYE: A high-tech system that never forgets a face. How the U.S. military is keeping tabs on militants and men of fighting age in Afghanistan. That's up next in "Globe Trekking" with our pal, Michael Holmes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Well, critics might say it's Big Brother gone wild. According to "The New York Times," the U.S. military is using a high- tech system to keep track of Afghan militants and men of fighting age. Here to talk about it, of course, is Michael Holmes.
So what's going on? What's the point of this?
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We've known about this for a long time. In fact, I've been to Iraq 11 times. Every time I've gone in the latter years, anyway, we get biometrics before we get our press card. Go in there, get the iris scan done, take a photograph of your ear. Your ear is like a fingerprint, believe it or not.
KAYE: Really?
HOLMES: And the fingerprints as well. What we're hearing now is more numbers about how that's being used in the general populations in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. In Afghanistan, for example, "The New York Times" is saying 1.5 million Afghans have been put into these databases. Now, that's one in six males between 15 and 64.
You turn to Iraq, and it's even more. It's actually one in four males of what they call fighting age, something like 2.2 million that are new in the databases available to U.S. and NATO and local Afghan forces.
KAYE: And this is just to keep track of them in case --
HOLMES: Yes, well, all sorts of things. It's basically a terrorism thing, but it's also -- it gets -- it gets interesting in Afghanistan, where you've got a country there that does not have a history of birth certificates and ID cards and driver's licenses. So, it's a way of people having an ID database.
In Iraq, it's -- it's used for prisoners as it is in Afghanistan. Also used for people who are working for the government, particularly those working on U.S. bases. They do it for everyone in Iraq, seen them do it. And it's a way of securing, knowing who you're dealing with.
What's interesting is they are using the little mobile scanners now, which when they work are great. They don't always work in the heat, but you can actually scan people on site and find out who they are.
When they had the big jail break, remember that, 475 people got out in Afghanistan down in Kandahar? They caught 35 of them using these things.
So, yes. It's an ID checker. Wouldn't happen here. Try to do that here.
KAYE: No, I was going to say, because there they don't have the rights that we do. Right?
HOLMES: Absolutely.
KAYE: Can't put me in your database.
HOLMES: Yes, yes. That's fun when they do the eye scans, you've got to --
KAYE: Oh, I'm sure it's fun.
HOLMES: I'm well biometriced by now.
(LAUGHTER)
KAYE: All right. I just want to talk with you as the U.S. space shuttle program is ending.
HOLMES: Yes.
KAYE: We're taking a look and keeping an eye on what's happening in China.
HOLMES: Ah, China, yes, yes.
KAYE: It's booming!
HOLMES: No pesky economic problems there.
KAYE: No!
HOLMES: And no pesky opposition to the government, either. So they are powering ahead. Look, they're way behind the U.S. in terms of technology, way behind the Russians in terms of space technology. But they've done a fair bit. In 2003, they were the third country to sort of send somebody up into space independently.
And so what they are wanting to do is expand that further and further. They want to put a man on the moon by 2020, and they are putting a lot of money into this. Also going to be sending up a boxcar-style sized module into space, and basically start building their own space station as well.
Now, you know, there's a lot of pride in being a space leader, and the U.S., you know, slipping back a bit with no shuttle program. We'll be hitching rides now up there.
KAYE: Yes, sure. Before we run out of time, I have to ask you about a topic that I hate, of course, bugs, insects. Ugh! They just creep me out.
HOLMES: Why are we ending this on a downer?
KAYE: I don't know. Blame our producer, but the mass killing of bugs in Holland?
HOLMES: It's just cruel. It's just cruel.
KAYE: It's not on purpose, though.
HOLMES: They are doing a study there. I mean, these studies are just amazing, aren't they? What they'll study.
They are doing a study on how many bugs cars kill, right? So they recruited a bunch of people, what was it, 250 drivers. For what they call a splash-teller study -
KAYE: Oh!
HOLMES: Which is pretty graphic, isn't it? And these people played along every day they got home, they did a bug count of their tag in the front of their car so the people doing this ridiculous study could work out how many bugs are being killed. And they're saying it could leads to all sorts of problems for pollination and bird food. Like, eally?
KAYE: Well, it's a food chain issue, apparently. But the Dutch drivers kill about 133 billion insects a month.
HOLMES: That's a lot of bugs out there. KAYE: This is serious, Michael.
HOLMES: Yes, wait until PETA gets onto that.
KAYE: Oh, this is very serious.
HOLMES: There will be protests in the streets. Oh, the humanity. Or the bug-animity --
KAYE: All right. I know that wasn't your favorite story, but thanks for playing.
HOLMES: These studies are nutso, some of them. Your tax dollars at work.
(LAUGHTER)
KAYE: Yes. All right, Michael. Thank you.
Well, the man at the center of the contentious talks between the White House and congressional Republicans, and he's not a politician. Our Jim Acosta will explain in the Political Ticker right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: We have some breaking news for you -- to tell you about. Reuters is reporting that the FBI is investigating News Corp over possible hacking of 9/11 victims and their families. News Corp, as you know, is the company under Rupert Murdoch. This as we also get news today that Rupert Murdoch and his son, James, are preparing to answer questions before Parliament next week. We also just spoke with New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg who has asked for the U.S. attorney general Eric Holder to investigate whether any U.S. laws were broken in this hacking scandal.
So once again, though, the news just coming into CNN. Reuters is reporting that the FBI is investigating News Corp to see if there's any possible hacking that occurred of 9/11 victims and their families. We will continue to watch this and continue to bring you the very latest on it.
Meanwhile, time new for a CNN political update. CNN's Jim Acosta joining me from Washington. Jim, what is hot on the ticker right now?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course, all the talk here in Washington, Randi, is about those debt talks that are occurring right now in the nation's Capitol between congressional leaders and the White House.
And an interesting character in all of these talks is someone you may or may not have heard of. It's Grover Norquist. He is the head of Americans For Tax Teform. That is a conservative group here in Washington. And get this, Randi. Perhaps you've heard about this. Grover Norquist keeps in a vault in his offices pledges that have been signed by nearly every congressional Republican vowing not to raise taxes, and I talked to the group earlier today trying to figure out where the GOP presidential field falls into all of this and where they weigh in on this pledge. All of the GOP candidates, except for Jon Huntsman, according to that organization, has signed that pledge.
And up in New Hampshire there's a new poll that's come out on the GOP presidential field, and, of course, it's once again good news for Mitt Romney. He tops the field at 29 percent. Michele Bachmann pretty far behind at 12 percent, and then look at this. Rudy Giuliani, even though he has not announced and has not campaigned a whole lot at nine percent, and his folks say he should have an announcement as to whether or not he may jump into this race by the end of the summer. Randi?
KAYE: All right. Jim Acosta, thank you.
Tom Hanks and Ashton Kutcher are tweeting about it. Bill Nye just told me everyone needs to chill out. Carmageddon in my "XYZ," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Time now for my "XYZ," and today it's all about the 405. That famous ten-mile stretch of highway in Los Angeles. Well, tomorrow construction begins. The locals are preparing for what they call Carmageddon or Carpocalypse. Crews need to demolish a bridge as part of a billion-dollar freeway widening project. And this is going to create a traffic jam of truly biblical proportions. About 500,000 vehicles drive this stretch on a typical summer weekend.
So how bad is it going to get? Well, so bad that some commuters are booking hotel rooms instead of battling the traffic and all the detours. Hollywood stars like Ashton Kutcher and Erik Estrada -- who can forget his role as California Highway Patrol Officer Poncirello on "Chips"? Well, they're getting the message out to stay away.
Destinations outside L.A. are trying to take advantage of the mess by offering specials like the "escape Carmaggedon" discount from a Las Vegas hotel. Even the Getty Center, the popular art museum, is closing to visitors. A helicopter company is selling air taxi service to Los Angeles International Airport, and JetBlue is offering $4 flights between Long Beach and Burbank in a promotion called Over the 405.
No doubt it will be miserable for our friends on the West Coast, but if all goes as planned, it will be over by Monday morning.
That will do it for me. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with T.J. Holmes, who is in for Brooke Baldwin. Hi, T.J.
