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Murdoch Scandal Deepens; Debt Negotiations Continue; Scandal Continues for News International in Britain; Gadhafi and U.S. Officials in Talks; Heat Wave Hits Midwest; Band My Morning Jacket Interviewed

Aired July 18, 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: Well said.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Well said, Randi. Thank you very much.

And hello to you. Happy Monday. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Busy, busy day. As you just saw, breaking news here on CNN. I want to begin with this story out of the U.K. The British Press Association says the reporter who blew the whistle on the U.K. hacking scandal has been found dead. His name is Sean Hoare. His body was found just today at his London home.

And police are calling his death unexplained. That's where they're leaving it, at least right now. This is important because Hoare was one of the very journalists to go on the record alleging phone hacking at the now defunct "News of the World" tabloid. And all of this happening just hours before Rupert Murdoch is scheduled to testify about the scandal threatening his media empire. We're going to have much more on this story, got a lot of questions for our correspondent in London, we will bring that to you coming up here. So stayed tuned for that.

But I want to begin this hour with something and really this is a warning. I want you to listen to very carefully. This is a warning that I'm about to show you a video of 16 men being shot to death. I'm going give you a moment here right now to go ahead and get the kids out of the room, but this is a video released by Taliban insurgents in Pakistan and it shows more than a dozen men believed to be Pakistani policemen lined up. There they are, against the backdrop of the hillside with their hands tied behind their backs facing several men holding rifles on the right side of your screen.

And we see this man there on the right shouting. He is accusing these men of killing children saying they are enemies of Islam. And then the gunmen opened fire. Now, we froze the video right there because if you continue to watch, it gets even more graphic, even more brutal from that point on.

CNN's Reza Sayah will pick this up for us where we're leaving off. He is in Islamabad today. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, this a graphic look at how ugly Pakistan's war against the Taliban can get. We warn you, this is explicit video, some of you may find this very disturbing. If you want to turn away, this is a good time to do so.

Let's walk you through the video. It was released by the Taliban, posted online. It shows at least 14 men lined up, all of them wearing traditional Pakistani garb. All of them appear to have their hands tied behind their back. In front of them, you see at least three armed men. We assume these are Taliban fighters.

One of them is scolding the men who are lined up, accusing them of being enemies of Islam, saying that these executions are about to take place in revenge for six children allegedly executed by Pakistani security forces in the Swat Valley. This is something military officials here vehemently deny ever happened.

Once the scolding is done, that's when you see and hear the gunfire. Let's watch and listen. During the gunfire, you see these men who are lined up topple to the ground. Some of them are writhing and moaning in pain. What we're not going to show you is what happens next. That's when at least one, maybe two of these gunmen walk to these men who were just shot and shoot them again, sometimes in the head in an apparent effort to make sure that they're dead.

Pakistani military believes these men who were shot were policemen who were kidnapped during a cross-border attack on June 1. On that day, militants crossed over from Afghanistan and attacked a village on Pakistani soil. They believe the gunmen were members of the Pakistani Taliban from the Swat Valley, a Pakistani stronghold, a Pakistani-Taliban stronghold, until a military operation chased them away.

We haven't been able to independently verify the identity of the gunmen or the victims. The military here says this is clearly an attempt by the Taliban to intimidate local villagers and security forces. The military insists this is a tactic that will not work -- Brooke.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Reza Sayah for me in Islamabad. By the way, we're going to have a little bit more on that story coming up in our next hour.

And it's gotten pretty quiet in Washington lately when it comes to subject of a potential U.S. default and the tense negotiations really to prove it. Here is what I can tell. In fact, I'm going to let the president tell you. Here he is just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Mr. President, any progress in your talks with Speaker Boehner yesterday? Any progress? BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're making progress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You hear him? It was short and sweet. He said, "We're making progress."

So, if so, it's very quiet progress, no more shots of the two sides sitting around that table, in fact, no more schedule meetings, at least for now.

But today they are saying, yes, President Obama did meet yesterday with House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, so the top three players did in fact meet Sunday. And the White House is saying there's a lot being talked about as we speak behind the scenes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: there have been, as I have said, conversations ongoing with the -- since Thursday -- the president, vice president, senior members of the president's team with leaders of Congress in both parties. Those conversations continued yesterday and today and will continue until this deal is done.

the fact is that we -- that there are too many conversations and meetings taking place for us to catalogue each and every one.

QUESTION: Well, why was this meeting, then, not on the schedule --

(CROSSTALK)

CARNEY: Well, there are meetings that the -- and conversations that the president and the vice president and other senior members of their team have all the time, that aren't on the schedule. This is an ongoing, fluid process, that involves the -- the set-piece meetings the president had last week with the eight leaders of Congress, both houses, as well as ongoing conversations at different levels with different participants.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Will they get something done beyond the glare of the spotlight? You we will be watching.

But now here's something else to watch for, House Republicans, a vote set for tomorrow on a 10-year debt cutting plan. You're going to hear this phrase over and over. Learn it now. It's called Cut, Cap And balance. Today, the White House is calling it duck, dodge and dismantle. We're going to talk about the Republicans plan. We're going to talk about potential default. Also, we're going to talk about threat to America's credit rating with Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics. They're the credit ratings folks. You hear a lot about that really nice AAA rating, right? You're going to want to stick around for that.

Now watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We think of ourselves as a sleepy little town, like Pleasantville. So it's quite a shock.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: A freak accident inside this California mansion leads to a little boy's death. Now, within days, a woman is found hanging bound and nude from the mansion's balcony. What really happened inside? And what does the multimillionaire owner know? That is coming up.

Also, more on our breaking news. The whistle-blower in the News Corp. hacking scandal has been found dead, this just hours before Rupert Murdoch is set to testify about the scandal threatening his media empire. We're live in London, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Have you heard about this sad and bizarre story unfolding in San Diego? You have a multimillionaire's young son dead, the man's girlfriend dead as well, and police have a lot of questions about what exactly happened at CEO Jonah Shacknai's California mansion.

Let me back up and explain -- 6-year-old Max Shacknai died in a San Diego hospital just over this past weekend. Now police say he fell down the stairs at his dad's mansion in Coronado. That was last Monday. Now, initially, Max was critically injured. And the police chief at the time had said he was not breathing when paramedics arrived on the scene.

But there's this whole other layer to the story now. Two day's after Max's apparent accident, the body of Jonah Shacknai's girlfriend, Rebecca Zahau, was found hanging by a rope from a second story balcony at the mansion. Now, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department says she was naked and her ankles and wrists were bound. With what? No one's saying yet.

But authorities say her death may have been a suicide. Her body was found by Adam Shacknai. That's Jonah's brother. He also lives on the property. The sheriff's department say they haven't found any connection between the two deaths as of yet, but they are investigating.

Zahau's sister told ABC News that she talked to Rebecca just the night before she died and she seemed to be fine. Jonah Shacknai is the founder and CEO of a pharmaceutical company that makes among other items the anti-aging treatment Restylane. He issued a statement today about his son's death, saying this: "His son, his loving kind and vibrant spirit will forever be in our hearts and those whom he touched every day." Want to take you now to Steve Schmidt. He's a reporter with "The San Diego Union-Tribune."

And, Steve, I know you and your colleagues have been digging on this. It's just bizarre, that's the best word for it, and it's sad as well. But I want to begin where these two deaths, I want to begin with the son, Max. Is the sheriff's department conclusively saying his death was an accident?

STEVE SCHMIDT, "THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE": They are not at this point. And as of today, I am told that the local sheriff's department and also the Coronado police will be looking, doing a full investigation on Max's death and also an autopsy.

BALDWIN: OK, so that's Max's death. What about Rebecca? She was found dangling by her neck on the balcony? What more are authorities saying other than this is just bizarre?

SCHMIDT: Well, yes, exactly that's what they're saying, but they are also saying early on that this could be still -- as they said early on, this could be a homicide or a suicide. They are not saying which may they might lean. They don't see this as an accident. They see this clearly as one or the other and they're treating both equally and they are saying they're looking at either possibility.

BALDWIN: How exactly was she found? What time of day was it? Where was her boyfriend?

SCHMIDT: She was found reportedly around 6:30 in the morning on Wednesday by Jonah Shacknai's brother Adam at the mansion. And since then, authorities have been interviewing the Shacknais at length and anyone else, neighbors as well, about what may have happened. The sheriff's department says they have been very cooperative so far.

BALDWIN: Now, I was reading your piece about Jonah Shacknai, a man who as we mentioned has made millions of dollars here in Restylane and other products, but you write about how he was also a guy who would pick up the phone and call his clients, like thousand of clients, each and every year, to wish them happy birthday.

SCHMIDT: Yes. He's seen as kind of an unusual figure in that industry, in that he likes to maintain a very personal touch with his customers, the dermatologists and others who help sell the product that he pitches across the country and will make something like 1,500 calls a year to dermatologists on their birthday, just saying, say, are you happy with the product, happy birthday, that kind of thing.

BALDWIN: Well, I imagine he's not talking at all, but what about folks in the neighborhood? Did they report seeing anything, hearing anything? It's just odd.

SCHMIDT: No, and it's not a real tight-knit neighborhood at all. It's an extremely wealthy neighborhood, obviously. It's facing the ocean, facing the Pacific out here, and a series of very gorgeous mansions and manners and all kinds of houses. And folks there aren't known for being particularly tight-knit. They sort of stay behind their walls and keep to themselves. And the folks I have talked to so far said they really didn't have any clue there were any kind of problems there at all.

BALDWIN: And so far no arrests?

SCHMIDT: So far, no arrests. If the sheriff's department or the local coroner or the police department have any suspects, they're not saying so. Again, like I said, they said the folks involved, the witnesses, the family members have been very cooperative. Investigators continue to look at it, but so far no word of any suspect.

BALDWIN: Steve Schmidt, "San Diego Union-Tribune," let us know if you have any updates. We want to follow this for everyone out of San Diego.

Steve, appreciate it very much.

SCHMIDT: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And this network here launching something pretty revolutionary today. CNN along with our sister network HLN are the first TV networks in America to stream 24-hour news programs online and on mobile devices. And this is a big, big deal.

So basically you can catch me or any of your other favorite folks here on CNN or HLN even if you weren't actually sitting in front of a television.

And Alison Kosik joins me live from New York to sort of explain.

Alison, I know I have already officially updated my iPhone, so that I can actually watch CNN. This is just really cool.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It is great, because you get to get your news when you want it, where you want it, on your laptop while you're laying in bed, on your iPhone if you're riding the bus.

So, yes, today, beginning today, CNN and HLN will be streaming live on CNN.com the CNN app for the iPad and the CNN app for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. So if you subscribe to cable through Verizon, Comcast, AT&T, Cox, Dish Network or Suddenlink, you can then log on and watch, yes, all the favorites, "ANDERSON COOPER," "AMERICAN MORNING," "PIERS MORGAN."

And, as you said, we can all watch you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And Alison Kosik.

KOSIK: And Alison Kosik.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Let me interrupt you, because I'm holding it up.

KOSIK: Yes.

BALDWIN: And I know there's a little bit of a delay. And let me be totally transparent. I'm on the 3-G right now. But I think if you're on wireless, it is really barely any delay.

KOSIK: Oh, look at that.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: So, when people can't actually sit in front of their TVs, you can still watch CNN, no excuses.

KOSIK: Yes. Everything that you see on TV you're going to see on that mobile device or online.

And, so, yes, I mean, what you do is you go to CNN.com/video, you click on the live tab, and you log in through your cable, your satellite or your telco provider with a username and password, and, voila, you get to have CNN, HLN 24/7 anywhere you go, the best way to watch.

BALDWIN: Voila, like magic. I'm loving this. This is just so, so cool. And we're the first. And I know we're telling everyone about this because we're CNN, but it really, truly is revolutionary for television overall.

(CROSSTALK)

KOSIK: And it's coming to other devices.

BALDWIN: Oh, is it? What else?

KOSIK: It is going to be coming to other devices.

BALDWIN: Like Android?

KOSIK: Not -- yes. Not quite clear about that. We can only assume that. Yes, people have been tweeting me, asking me what other devices. We can only assume, but other devices are going to be in the mix soon.

BALDWIN: Oh, somebody just tweeted me, so it went away.

All right, Alison Kosik, thank you so much for that. This is amazing.

KOSIK: Sure.

BALDWIN: I can have Alison Kosik with me any time I want to.

And by the way, it's bigger, it's brighter and now even easier to find CNN's most compelling video. You can check out CNN.com's groundbreaking video experience. Just go to CNN.com/video. And now to this. It's a horrifying scene at a concert in Canada. Have you heard about this? More importantly, have you seen the video? Cheap Trick, they're on stage, they're 20 minutes into their set when this powerful storm blows through and the entire stage collapses. We have the video. We're going to talk with the band's manager who was literally behind the drummer taking pictures when this whole thing happened. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It was just a total freak situation at the Bluesfest music concert in Ottawa, Canada. Seriously, have you seen this video? Take a look with me.

The band Cheap Trick, they're playing. There it goes. The stage totally collapsing, middle of this violent storm. Now, the band members basically and many other folks around that area and thousands of people for this Bluesfest, they're running for their lives. But they're all, all right. We're seeing a lot of different reports of injuries.

The takeaway seems to be less than a dozen people had mostly minor injuries.

So, David Frye is Cheap Trick's manager. He's still staying behind there in Ottawa.

David, I know you were on stage. What, were you behind the drummer taking pictures? You described this as complete pandemonium. Talk to me about it. What were you thinking?

DAVID FREY, MANAGER, CHEAP TRICK: Well, basically, we were told a storm was coming in. And they kind of prepped the stage for that, got a lot of people off it. And I was on stage ready to get the band off with a few other technical people.

And it didn't look that bad, so I stood behind the drummer, took a few pictures, and it was completely still. It didn't look like anything was going happen at all. And then the back banner behind us suddenly blew out towards the audience.

And then bam, a gust came in that they said it was 96 kilometers, or 110 kilometers, different reports on how fast it was. Not sure what that is in miles. But it was a lot of wind, it was sudden, it was immediate, it was surprising. There was no warning at all.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: What was the stage, David, made out of? And are with talking about metal, metal is twisting as it's going down?

FREY: Well, it's a totally pro stage. High-level bands had played there earlier in the festival, Jane's Addiction and others. And when this wind hit it, it just was so immediate and so strong and so -- it just, for whatever reason, it pushed the roof back, the roof of the stage. It's about 40 feet high. BALDWIN: Yes.

FREY: Pushed it back a little bit. Right before that happens, thank God Robin Zander, our lead singer, has the microphone.

BALDWIN: What did he do?

FREY: He said get off the stage now, everybody get out, everybody get out. He gave the warning, and people in the crowd didn't see it really. It just -- it was a complete surprise. Robin sounded the alarm, thank God, and we raced for the sides. But the roof was coming down on top of us.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: So what happened? The band's on stage, he issues this warning. Does the roof at all collapse on the band? Or are they able to get out of the way in time?

FREY: Well, it pretty much fell right on top of us, but there are generator trucks and our truck and our driver Sandy (ph) of our truck was injured. But our truck was right next to the stage. So the roof came down with a -- I can only tell you what I recall, being there, but it came down with this tremendous crash very quickly.

It fell and then it started to sink. And when it fell, it hit the generators and these other structures on the stage, the stage cracked in half, it was kind of like the Titanic. Cases are rolling in all directions. And we are just scrambling for a way off the stage.

(CROSSTALK)

FREY: And thank God those generator trucks and everything were there because it broke the fall of the roof.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: This is a huge festival, too, David.

FREY: And that's my opinion, of course, but it broke the fall of the roof and then it was this slow accordion, with all the, you know, Titanic --

(CROSSTALK)

FREY: -- metal crunching and all that as it slowly sunk, but it gave us all time to like get off that stage.

BALDWIN: Thank goodness.

FREY: And we're just all so fortunate.

(CROSSTALK)

FREY: I went out in front. And just the amount of -- you know, no one was hurt. It's just unbelievable to me, because, well, there were --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Well, I think they're saying there were some minor injuries. I don't want to go through this and say no one was hurt at all. But as you and I were talking --

(CROSSTALK)

FREY: -- a dozen, I think. And they were minor.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: It's a miracle.

(CROSSTALK)

FREY: You would probably know the facts better than I do on that. But the guy at the hospital told me it was about a dozen. And they were minor.

BALDWIN: Final question, so you're behind in Ottawa. How is the band? Where are they now?

FREY: The band are on the way to the next show. We're going to figure out the instruments. And if anyone knows where we can rent a five-neck guitar, that would be great.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Five-neck guitar, I don't know if there are a lot of places, but somebody may be listening. And somebody maybe will call you up.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Unreal, just looking at that video.

David Frey, thank you so much. And I'm so glad you and so many other people are safe, given what happened there. David, thanks for calling in. Safe travels.

The Murdoch hacking scandal that began with one British tabloid has morphed into something of a monster now. Now the man behind it all is about to do some explaining in a very, very public way. Plus, we're following the breaking news out of London this hour. The reporter who blew the whistle on the "News of the World" hacking has been found dead this morning, all of this straight ahead. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: New developments in the British media scandal now. A one-time reporter for the "News of the World" is dead. He was the journalist who first accused that major tabloid of hacking phones, dealing personal information. More on that in just a minute.

But if the past few days were ones that Rupert Murdoch would like to do over, well, this week isn't shaping up any better for the media mogul. Let me recap for you. Murdoch has already lost the "News of the World," the widest-read newspaper in the entire United Kingdom.

Then his plan to fully take over BSkyB, British Sky Broadcasting, that evaporated. That's done. His U.K. print media boss quit. More about her in a second. Then the head of the Dow Jones resigned, both of them longtime parts of Murdoch's tight inner circle.

Then the apologies, so many of them. Murdoch met the family of a murdered teenager, said he's sorry his journalists hacked her phone. He apologized in print, promising to make big changes in his media companies.

And then yesterday, Rebekah Brooks, the former "News of the World" editor, she's arrested. And just in the past couple of hours, two of Britain's top law enforcement officers quit, named in connection with the scandal.

So who had some explaining to do? Well, Rupert Murdoch, for one. He's agreed to answer questions tomorrow in the House of Commons. Also on the hot seat, Rebekah Brooks and Rupert Murdoch's son James, who is an executive in the Murdoch business empire.

So, a lot of layers, a lot happening here.

Matthew Chance is going to help me sort all this out from London.

And, Matthew, I do want to just begin, though, with the breaking story just this afternoon that Sean Hoare, a former reporter of "News of the World," has been found dead, his death, according to authorities, unexplained.

What more can you explain about this?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

Well, Sean Hoare was the former showbiz correspondent to the "News of the World." So he was very well placed obviously with that kind of brief to know what antics the "News of the World" got up when it came to securing exclusives with celebrities and with others. And he was the individual who first accused Andy Coulson, who is the former editor of the "News of the World" and of course the former press secretary of the British prime minister, of not just know about the fact, about the idea "News of the World" journalist engaged in phone hacking but also of approving of it. And so he's the individual, the whistleblower, if you like, that really set this whole ball rolling when it comes to "News of the World" journalists.

He was also back in the news about a week ago as well. He gave an interview to the "New York Times," saying that "News of the World" journalists also had access to special police technology known as pinging which allows the police here in Britain to find the location of people because of their mobile phone signals. And according to him, they did this in exchange for cash payments. And so he was fully of all sorts of revelations and accusations about what the "News of the World" got up to, Brooke.

BALDWIN: So he's death is the latest layer to this story that you've all been covering. I do have to ask about Rupert Murdoch, because we mentioned tomorrow he is in the hot seat. In fact the phrase the British are using is he's been summoned to answer questions. And just translate that for me. Does that mean he will be sworn in to testify, or is he simply asks questions? And what kind of questions can they anticipate?

CHANCE: I don't know whether he's going to be actually made to swear an oath before he sits before this select committee of members of the British parliament. But obviously this is, you know, the British government, British MPs, British lawmakers wanting to hold to account, to scrutinize, to cross-examination the head of News Corps about the activities of his executives, what he knew about the company's activities, what he knew, what his executives knew.

This is a huge scandal that's really rocked the British establishment. Remember, in the past 24 hours, we have had the two senior most officials in the metropolitan police, the biggest police force in Britain, resign because of how they were linked to this phone hacking scandal. So obviously MPs, the British people in general want answers from Rupert Murdoch.

BALDWIN: And then you also have Rebekah Brooks, former "News of the World." She was arrested yesterday, but Mathew, this is different from due process here in the United States wherein she isn't formally charged, she's simply arrested. So what does the arrest mean for her?

CHANCE: Well, in terms of what it means for her testifying in the House of Commons tomorrow, well, it means quite a great deal. For instance, she has had to take legal advice we understand from her attorney to make sure that she doesn't implicate herself in any wrongdoing with the answers that she might have to give to the MPs.

Likewise, the MPs will be grilling Rebekah Brooks along with Rupert Murdoch and his son James have had to take legal advice as well as to what kind of questions they will be able to ask the former News International executives so as not to jeopardize the all-important police investigation. Now that she's been arrested formally, of course, there is this formal police investigation into her activities, what she knew, how engaged she was in the alleged payment for information from police officers in Britain. So the MPs obviously don't want to jeopardize that.

BALDWIN: So final question here, in terms of, you know, a police investigation as in investigating the police department, am I reading this correctly that the entire London police department will now be investigated?

CHANCE: Well, there's been a number of referrals to what's known here in Britain as the independent police complaints committee, obviously an independent body that looks into the conduct of the police. What they're going to be doing separately from the police investigation into the criminal activities of individuals at News International and elsewhere, the police themselves are going to be examined there.

And the conduct of Sir Paul Stephenson, the former commissioner, now resigned, of course, of the metropolitan police, his deputy as well, John Yates, they will be examined by this IPCC. Also the conduct of, we're told, two other former senior officials within the metropolitan police. And so we have got a situation now where police themselves are being examined for what role they played in this very fast developing scandal here in Britain.

BALDWIN: It continues to quickly develop. Matthew Chance, thank you. What a story. Matthew was mentioning Rupert Murdoch will be testifying tomorrow in the House of Commons. CNN will be covering that testimony live. It starts tomorrow morning right around 9:30 eastern time.

And you know this, probably a lot of you do. It is miserably hot for much of the country right now, and the oppressive heat, folks, it's only going to get worse and more dangerous. Find out how your body will tell you, big warning signs if you're getting too hot. Chad Myers is going to give us some of those warning signs to watch and to listen to. Don't miss this.

Also developing now, a legendary baseball player is in the hospital. We're gathering the news right now. Those details are next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, a couple of top stories for you now.

First legendary pitcher Nolan Ryan is in the hospital. The major league hall of famer was admitted into the hospital after falling ill at his home. Ryan is 64. He has a recurring heart condition. He spent 27 years in the big leagues and holds the major league record for career strikeouts.

And Casey Anthony is out of jail, but where is she? Her lawyers are not talking. She got out just after midnight on Sunday, 12 days after being acquitted on charges she killed her two-year-old daughter Caylee. Now, she was found guilty of lying to police. But members of one Ohio church decided they didn't necessary agree with that verdict, so they staged a mock retrial. Here's what two of the mock jurors had to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like if she didn't murder her child by her own hand, she played a part in that. So she's guilty by association. So that's why I voted guilty.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We really don't know. Only she knows, if she do know, and god knows.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, we'll be talking to Sunny Hostin next hour about the Casey Anthony story. And something I was wondering about, is it possible for her or anyone in this day and age to just, poof, up and disappear, start a new life somewhere? Stay here for that conversation. That's coming up.

Nelson Mandela 93 years old today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Kids all over South Africa sang happy birthday for him. The former South African president spent his big day with family and friends. And as a birthday wish, his Web site lists 67 things people can do to change the world.

And here's a headline, hot, hot, hot, and more hot, dangerously hot again in the Midwest, and that bubble of hot air is expanding eastward toward the concentration of big, big cities. Chad Myers, I know it's hot when you bring me water bottles.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I brought you two water bottles, one that's warm and one that's cold. How are they different? One has steam on the outside. It's the dew, it's the dew point. You have heard all this. You see that's got steam on there. While the other one's clear. The other one is 72 degrees. So it's not condensing the water in the atmosphere. Air in here not very wet.

BALDWIN: I sense an analogy.

MYERS: But if I take this water bottle and, wait on it, wait on it, I breathe on it, it does get a little condensation on there. If you take a lukewarm bottle of water and you carry it outside and it steams like this, it's muggy out there.

And that's what the dew point number is. We have heard about relative humidity, every weatherman on TV talks about relative humidity. It's a worthless piece of nothing. Don't even worry about relative humidity. Worry about the words "dew point." When it gets above 70 it's muggy. When it gets above 80 it's ridiculous. It was 86 in parts of Minnesota yesterday. We walked outside, it felt like 120 degrees. You can have this.

BALDWIN: I was wondering if you were going to make me drink the room temperature versus chilled.

MYERS: No, no. People do like that. You can drink it faster if it's room temperature.

But the entire area from Des Moines back to Minneapolis, the dew points are above 70 degrees. When you watch something on TV and you see that number, it is muggy. When you go 80 degrees, that's ridiculous. Dew point 80 degrees all across part of the Midwest here this week. It just made it feel so ridiculously hot. It feels like 111 degrees in Minneapolis.

And it didn't cool down at all last night. When it didn't cool down that means that houses didn't cool down, the rafters don't cools down, the attic doesn't cool down, so you house is even hotter the next day. Through Chicago as well, although just getting into 100 on Wednesday into Tuesday.

On more thing I want to talk about here -- we also had Brett, the "B" storm, Brett, is over here by the Bahamas, heading up here into the ocean, maybe toward Bermuda, but not as a hurricane. Just enjoy that water, Brooke, and make sure you stay hydrated.

BALDWIN: I'm trying. I'm trying. It's so important, Chad. Thank you so much.

And I wanted to get right to this, actually, some breaking news out of Libya. And it involves Moammar Gadhafi's regime. We're going to take you live to Tripoli for this breaking update next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Breaking news out of Libya it appears the U.S. and Moammar Gadhafi' regime are now talking, not just talking, but talking face-to-face. I want to go straight to Tripoli to Ivan Watson. Ivan, who's talking to whom, and what are they talking about?

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, we have just confirmed with the spokesman for the internationally isolated Gadhafi regime, Moussa Ibrahim, confirming to me that in fact last Saturday U.S. envoys met face-to-face with members of the Gadhafi government in neighboring Tunisia, face-to-face talks.

Now, he wouldn't get me the names of the people who sat down to have this discussion. Moussa Ibrahim he went on to say this is a first step, quote, "And we welcome any further steps. And we're prepared to talk more and explain what is happening in Libya and take the matter forward. We don't want to be stuck in the past."

Now we have been following this story at CNN for a couple of days now. A number of high level officials whom we cannot identify have identified one American diplomat as the American ambassador to Libya, Gene Kretz. Why is this important? He was kicked out of Libya by the Gadhafi regime last December amid the scandal of the WikiLeaks reports. The U.S.-Libya relations that had improved somewhat deteriorated sharply at that moment, and then the U.S. embassy shuttered its doors in February after an elaborate evacuation of U.S. diplomats as the situation on the ground here was getting much more violent, with protests in the streets. A violent crackdown by the Gadhafi regime and its security forces.

And now this country is in full blown civil war with NATO warplanes bombing around just this morning at Tripoli International Airport. We've gotten some rumors and reports of some face to face negotiations between the French and the Gadhafi regime, and now indications that the U.S. has been meeting face to face with Gadhafi as well.

When I approached Moussa Ibrahim about this, Brooke, and said we've heard about these reports, he was very surprised. He said, please, let's not mess this up. It does seem that this is in a very, very delicate stage right now, these negotiations.

BALDWIN: Taking it seriously, and as he told you, this is a first step. We'll be waiting for the second step. Ivan Watson, thank you so much. Nice job getting the interview. Thank you.

Coming up next, we have your "Music Monday" treat. Find out which band CNN caught up with backstage. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It's Monday. You watch the show enough to know it's "Music Monday." And today we're taking you backstage with My Morning Jacket, a band influence by country tinge, classic rock that's tearing up the stages across the country. We learned about how they got their name and why they like to disappear. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM JAMES, SINGER/SONGWRITER: Hi. We're My Morning Jacket.

CARL BROEMEL, GUITARIST: We're My Morning Jacket, and we have absolutely nothing to say.

BALDWIN: Where did your name come?

(MUSIC)

(LAUGHTER)

JAMES: It was Boots Bar, fall of '83. There's a place in Lexington called Boots Bar. It didn't burn down, the inside of it burned. The outside was still there. And we went in one night and they were carrying everything out.

(MUSIC)

JAMES: Down in the bottom of the bar was, like, a stripper's area, because I guess. It used to be a strip club. And there was a pole and the stage was there. And the whole bar was burnt and everything was decimated. But the stage light was still on.

And in the dressing room next to this stripper's stage was a closet, and in that closet was a jacket with the initials MMJ stenciled on the jacket. We wanted to record it live and all in the same room. We really wanted to focus on us being a band in a circle and just playing and trying to just disappear into that, trying not to overthink anything too much and just let -- just kind of let the songs grow naturally from seeds that we kind of just all started working with.

(MUSIC)

BROEMEL: Out of the blue, we got like a magical CD in the mail. And it will have something scribbled on it like the word "please" or something like on it. So I know it's from Jim. And he'll just send us a bunch of ideas. Once we all get together, we have a general idea of what we're going to do.

But it's always interesting. You never know. There's definitely been a few songs that now in my mind are classic us songs that the first time I heard them I was like, what is that? Is that Jim? What is that?

(MUSIC)

JAMES: We always try to respect the fact that we're not in control fully. The spirits are in control, land is in control, the ghosts are in control. They decide if it rains or it shines. They decide if it's a good show or if your equipment is all going to break or if you're going to sing great or now. At the end of the day, we can only come into it with the best of intentions and hope that the spirits know that we respect them, you know, and that we want it all to work out.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: If you want to check these guys out, listen to this. August 19th My Morning Jacket will be playing a fundraiser at the Tuscaloosa amphitheater to benefit United Way of west Alabama. Why? This is relief money goes toward tornado relief in Tuscaloosa, still recovering after being hit by a huge twister less than two months from now. You can always see my "Music Monday" picks. Just go to CNN.com/Brooke. And the good folks at CNN.com also put some of these great videos together. For sound checks go to CNN.com/showbiz.

Coming up at the top of the hour, could America's gold-plated credit rating take a beating even if there is a debt ceiling deal? And if it does get downgraded, what happens then? I want to talk to a man who can answer all of those questions for me, chief economist for Moody's coming up, Mark Zandi. Hear why he says Washington must raise the debt ceiling. Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Time now for a CNN = Politics update. Let go to Wolf Blitzer in Well with the latest news fresh off the CNN Political Ticker. Wolf, what do you have?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Brooke, thanks very much. Some Republican presidential Political Ticker news. In a new pole just out in South Carolina, take a look at this. Mitt Romney ahead among Republicans. American Research Group survey showed Romney with 25 percent, Palin, who's not even officially running, 16 percent. Maybe she will run, maybe not. Michele Bachmann, 13 percent. Herman Cain, 10 percent.

South Carolina is the third road contest on the road to the White House after Iowa, the caucuses there, and a primary in New Hampshire, and then they move on to South Carolina. Romney doing well.

Herman Cain, by the way, who has been doing well in a lot of these polls in Iowa in South Carolina, doing pretty well, he says he's more qualified to be president than Michele Bachmann. They're both competing for a lot of the same voters, Tea Party activists among others. He says he's more experienced. "The choice is real simple. My entire career has been problem solving, not politics," clearly taking a little swipe at Michele Bachmann, saying he's more qualified. He says "I have direct hands-on experience, stronger credentials than literally many of the other candidates."

Finally, another Republican now entering the -- formally entering the race for the Republican presidential nomination, the former Louisiana governor Buddy Roemer tomorrow will announce that he's a candidate. He formed early on an exploratory committee. The exploration process, Brooke, is done. Buddy Roemer will now be an official candidate. By my count and by our count at CNNpolitics.com, he is the 11th Republican seeking the party's nomination. That upcoming debate we have in Tampa in September could be a crowded debate up there, maybe even more. Maybe Rick Perry will still jump in, Sarah Palin will still jump in. Maybe one or two other surprises. So we'll see, we'll watch and wait.

BALDWIN: Wolf Blitzer, I appreciate it. Thank you so much. We'll be watching for those names to come forth. And we have another political update for you in about half and hour. You can always go to CNN.com/politics or their on Twitter. Go to @politicalticker.