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Tracking Tropical Storm Lee; Palin in Iowa's Tea Party Rally; Secret Files in Libya; Choosing Career or Motherhood; Children Sue for "Bad Mothering"; No Prison Time for Hot Sauce Mom; The Airline Shuffle

Aired September 03, 2011 - 12:00   ET

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

ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: And thank you for joining us. I'm Alina Cho.

Our top story this hour: Here we go again. Exactly a week after Hurricane Irene, millions of people living in the Gulf Coast are now awaiting the arrival of Tropical Storm Lee.

The storm is dumping heavy rain in Louisiana and Mississippi right now. It will make landfall later today. A state of emergency is in place for both states, and some parts could get up to 20 inches of rain.

Several inches have already fallen in New Orleans, and the timing could not be worse. The area is still trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina and from last year's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Tropical Storm Lee comes six years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. CNN's Ed Lavandera is in New Orleans for us, and Ed, this is such a slow-moving storm, I imagine that flooding is going to be the big concern here.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely. As this storm starts to make its way inland, not only just the areas along the Gulf Coast shoreline, but also towns further inland as this storm starts to track its way into Louisiana and into Mississippi and even into Tennessee and Virginia later on in - in the coming days. So that flooding, the amount of rain that it brings, will definitely be the concern.

We are hearing pockets of, for example, around New Orleans, some areas that we're told usually flood, that they're saying that's nothing out of the ordinary. In a town just south of here called Lafitte, there's some areas that are being evacuated, mandatory evacuations, people being urged to get out of these low-lying areas. That will be the concern and the problem that we will continue to see throughout the rest of the day as Tropical Storm Lee makes its way inland.

This is an incredibly slow-moving storm, about two to three miles per hour. So what that means is that it will leave and start to just sit over an area and dump a lot of water.

We're kind of in - in an area of this storm where the rain is moving around New Orleans, so we're - we're not seeing a great deal of rain here in the French Quarter. Kind of business as usual, people walking up and down, unbothered by the - the rainfall that is falling here.

Alina, it was actually raining a lot harder in the overnight hours than it has been here this morning in - in New Orleans. But we'll continue to see that rainfall here throughout the rest of the day and perhaps into tomorrow as well - Alina.

CHO: Ed, you - Ed, you and I covered Katrina extensively, almost six years to the day from that - from that storm. Tell me, what kind of preparations are being made, if any, in New Orleans? As you said, it's business as usual, but, you know, they could get a lot of rain.

LAVANDERA: Well, you know, New Orleans, the - the main concern when you have these floodwaters down here is you got to pump the water out. So far we're told that everything is moving slowly.

What's actually been very beneficial are these lulls in between the bands of rain that come through this part of New Orleans. And what that does is allow the pumps to pump the water out and kind of catch up. So, in fact, in some of these areas, over - over the last few hours, we've seen when it's rained really hard, you'll see water kind of come up curb-high over here and in a matter of minutes after that band passes through, the water quickly dissipates. So that tells you that the pumps are working.

The mayor said yesterday that everything was working properly, all the back-up generators had been working properly. They'll continue to monitor that. That'll - that'll be key here as this storm continues to move through.

CHO: All right. Try to stay dry as best you can.

Ed Lavandera, reporting from New Orleans for us. I know you'll be watching the storm. Thank you so much.

And we want to get more on Tropical Storm -

LAVANDERA: You got it.

CHO: -- Lee right now with Alexandra Steele. And so, you know, Ed mentioned this storm being so slow moving and that's part of the problem. It's going to just stick around for a long time, right?

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely.

But here's kind of an interesting note. Remember the flooding that we had in Vermont courtesy of Irene? We're not going to see that kind of flooding even remotely, even though there we only had about a third of the rain we're going to get here in the Gulf Coast, 10 to 20 inches, for a myriad of reasons, including the sandy soil here in the south absorbs a lot more, the topography, the hills, the mountains of Vermont, the green and white mountains. So, for a lot of reasons, don't expect that kind of flooding, which is good news, although we will see probably three times the amount of rain.

Here's the storm, Tropical Storm Le,e on the eastern flank of this. That's where really the body of the energy is. You can see a little bit naked here on the western side. Center of circulation right here, beginning to make its approach toward land. The center of circulation will fully come on land by this afternoon, and then hopefully we'll see the winds die down and the speed pick up.

Right now, north at five miles per hour. That is slower than it was earlier today when we're at six and seven miles per hour. And, again, the slower it is, the more of an inundation of rain.

But also, I just want to show you, Ed was talking about that kind of respite in the rain, which is allowing the water to drain. That's right there. That's that kind of little dry pocket. But, unfortunately, we certainly do have much more to come.

Here's the forecast track. If you're watching us from Tennessee, you're not out of the woods at all. You're going to see some rain. We're going to watch the storm come ashore by Monday, still 45-mile- per-hour winds. Then, Thursday, we're going to watch this thing be in (ph) the Tennessee Valley, Alina.

So a lot of coverage with this, no question about it, although both the rain and the wind will pale in comparison to what it is and what it will be in the next 24 to 36 hours.

CHO: All right, Alexandra, thank you so much.

Moving on, the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks is a week from tomorrow. The State Department has issued a travel alert for U.S. citizens traveling or living overseas. Homeland Security officials say they don't know of any specific threat but they just want people to be aware of what's going on around them.

And the next time you fly, look for new, less-invasive body scanners. Well, that's some good news. The TSA will install them early in 40 airports over the next several months. They'll protect your privacy by showing a more generic computerized outline of your body versus specific images.

The new scanners are faster, but a German study says they give false readings 49 percent of the time.

Well, she may or may not be running for president, but Sarah Palin is grabbing the spotlight once again at today's Tea Party rally in the key voting state of Iowa. CNN political reporter Peter Hamby is there in Indianola, where it's been pouring rain for the past hours.

So, Sarah Palin, Peter, normally draws a huge crowd. Is that affecting the crowds?

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: It is a little bit. I think the organizers were expecting about 2,000 folks here. They're still arriving, but a big thunderstorm just moved through and sending people fleeing for cover.

Palin, though, is expected to speak on time. The agenda's moving forward. She's going to speak a little bit after 2:00 P.M. on the East Coast, and we'll bring a piece of that to you, I think, live, Alina.

CHO: Peter, what is she expected to say? There - there are some, you know, tidbits starting to trickle - trickle in about how she's going to go after President Obama, no surprise there, but how she is also going to sort of go on the attack against Governor Perry as well, right?

HAMBY: Right. She wouldn't name Governor Perry by name, but, keep in mind, this is the three-year anniversary of her speech to the Republican National Convention, the speech that really made her a conservative superstar. As she considers running for president, she's really trying to define herself and deliver a specific message, and she's going to remind the audience here of her record in Alaska, that of a reformer.

And if you look back in - when she was governor, she really attacked or sort of went against the establishment, the Republican establishment in her state, big oil. So she's going to sort of criticize crony capitalism, which some are seeing as kind of a veiled attack against Governor Perry.

So you see her there kind of trying to carve out some space in the Republican field, if she does decide to run. And, Alina, she's going to make a decision, we think, in the coming weeks, possibly toward the end of September.

CHO: Come on, really? I mean, my goodness, stop torturing us with all of this.

You know, the other question I have is there's been this flap with Christine O'Donnell, the former Delaware senate candidate, O'Donnell apparently overstating her friendship with Sarah Palin. So what happened there?

HAMBY: Yes, it was kind of an interesting drama earlier this week. The - you know, the Palin people, her team, they like to have sort of tight control over these sort of events. When it turned out that Christine O'Donnell was invited to speak, the Delaware senate candidate that Palin endorsed back in 2010, she of "I am not a witch" fame, the Palin people put up a red flag and they asked organizers to take her off the agenda.

You know, what that said to me, Alina, was they didn't want to be on the same stage as Christine O'Donnell. Palin is aware of kind of trying to burnish her brand a little bit and she didn't want to be seen with someone that isn't regarded as too serious a figure by Republicans.

So it was an interesting move. I don't think it's overshadowing the event. I think we're all going to be focusing on the speech today and, again, see if she kind of does try to tweak Texas Governor Rick Perry - Alina.

CHO: I'm sure she will. Peter Hamby, live for us in Iowa today, in the pouring rain. Peter, thank you very much. The Republican Presidential candidates will soon face off right here on CNN. Tzhey'll take the stage at the CNN Tea Party Republican Debate, co-hosted by the Tea Party Express. You can watch all the action on September 12th, 8:00 P.M. Eastern, right here on CNN.

Work/life balance - it's been talked about for years, generations, a career and motherhood. Should a woman be forced to choose? Our legal guys are ready to take on a case of discrimination next.

Say hi, guys.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: And we have this just in to our NEWSROOM. CNN has been granted exclusive access to Libya's External Intelligence quarters.

Senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman has been going through this treasure trove of secret documents that are now in the transitional government's hands. He joins us now from Tripoli with details and, Ben, I understand you've been in that area with flashlights, looking at these documents. What did you find?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is one of the interesting things, Alina, about the fall of regimes is that suddenly the doors that are firmly locked are wide open. We were in the basement of the Libyan External Intelligence Agency. It's like getting access to the basement of the CIA and being able to rifle through their file cabinets.

What we found was that there was surprisingly close relations between Libya's spy agency and its counterpart in places like the United States and Canada, in London and other European capitals. What was clearly a fairly close relationship when it came to the exchange of intelligence and information about, for instance, alleged Islamic radicals.

The Libyans were very interested to know about Libyans living in Canada and the United States and in Europe who might be involved in anti-Gadhafi activities. The United States and England, for instance, were very interested in any information the Libyans could provide about people they thought would be - were affiliated with al Qaeda. In fact, there was in one of the correspondence, we saw talk of the Libyans providing help to the Americans in Somalia, where the Americans were looking for Islamic radicals.

And, of course, this cooperation was at a time when the State Department in its yearly human rights reports would highlight Libya's violation of human rights and the use of torture, which was quite widespread. So it's a fascinating look into what is normally a very dark corner of international relations.

CHO: It's extraordinary, Ben. And obviously we're going to be waiting to see what the U.S. government has to say about this.

Meanwhile, you know, I know that a lot of people are wondering, you know, are we any closer to finding Moammar Gadhafi, and - and is there any information about his whereabouts?

WEDEMAN: There's not a lot of information about his whereabouts, but there's certainly a lot of disinformation. In fact, usually several times a day, rebel officials will tell you, he's in one part of the country in the morning, in the afternoon, he's in another part. The fact of the matter is, it appears they don't really know where he is.

Now, there was talk that he might be in the town of Bani Walid, which is about 200 kilometers to the southeast of here. But other sources indicate he might be in Sirte, which is on the Mediterranean coast. It's his hometown.

The fact of the matter is this may be a repetition of that long and difficult search for Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

CHO: Wow. Ben Wedeman, we thank you so much for that report and we look forward to talking to you later, live for us in Tripoli.

Meanwhile, coming up, our legal eagles are back, Richard and Avery.

Squirting hot sauce into your child's mouth for punishment? Can you imagine? Well, an Alaskan mother did it to get on the "Dr. Phil Show.' So, what happened next? We'll tell you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Work/life balance - women have struggled with it for years. But is it a legal issue? Apparently so. Is it sexual discrimination against women with children?

We want to bring in our legal guys. Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor. He's in Cleveland. And Richard Herman, a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor. He joins us from Las Vegas.

Richard, we seem to miss each other in New York all the time. But, anyway, I digress. Let's talk about the case here.

So the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the EEOC, filed suit against Bloomberg L.P., Mike Bloomberg's company, the business news network, saying essentially that the news organization discriminated against women because it made the women choose work over home life. The judge threw out the case, but Avery, was this the right decision?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: I don't think it was, Alina. And it's good to see you again, also.

CHO: Good to see you, Avery.

FRIEDMAN: I want to say thank you.

But 64 pages of analysis, I think what Judge Loretta Preska, who's a wonderful federal judge, missed in this case is one of the secrets. Men say to men what they never say to women, and for decades and working in civil rights, it is true. The antiquated cultural view of women, once they have children, putting them on a slow track is a reality.

One - part of the anecdotal evidence in this case was that one male manager told a female, if you don't make this deadline, I'm going to kill your children. And, you know what? A man would never say that to another man.

Part of the evidence, EEOC, whether we're going to see an appeal remains to be seen. She's going to let some of the individual cases go forward -

CHO: Richard, you're shaking your head. You're shaking your head. What do you - what's your take on this?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: My take is this - I think, fundamentally, the judge was right. Now, I'll tell you why.

The Family Medical Leave Act provides certain - certain procedures for women when they have children, and time off and all of that. But if you choose to enter into a type of employment like this, like Bloomberg, which is a culture of 90 hours a week of work, if you choose that, there are going to be sacrifices. You are going to have to sacrifice, and the reality is, your family is going to have to be sacrificed.

That's what the judge is saying.

CHO: Avery, listen. Richard, that -

(CROSSTALK)

CHO: You know, listen, I'm a journalist and Richard - you know, Richard does make a point. You know, the judge said this is not France where you get two years off for maternity leave. And so, you know, news is a 24/7 culture.

HERMAN: Yes.

CHO: I knew, getting into it, that you have to make choices. And so - come on.

FRIEDMAN: Well, but - but men make choices, too. The idea that it's 24/7, you've got to work all the time, there's no doubt. But society looks at women differently. And, if they have children, corporate executives put them on - on the slow track. It just happens.

There was evidence in the case, but the federal district judge didn't buy it. She's letting individual cases go forward, Alina.

CHO: All right.

FRIEDMAN: But I think the EEOC should appeal, and I think - I think -

CHO: Well, there may be -

FRIEDMAN: -- it needs to go back for further consideration.

CHO: There may be an - there may be an appeal. If there's a higher court, there may be an appeal.

Let's talk about the next case, which is my favorite -

FRIEDMAN: I noticed.

CHO: I am telling you, this is my favorite case of the day, the - the bad mothering case. So two adult children, 20 and 23 years old, out of Illinois sue their mother for $50,000 for pain and suffering, saying that, you know, she didn't give the son Christmas presents; she moved in with a man and the daughter was so distraught she gained a significant amount of weight. As I told T.J., I understand where that's distressing, but is there a legal case here, Richard?

HERMAN: No. Apparently, in Illinois, if you can prove extreme and outrageous conduct and intentional infliction of emotional distress, you can bring a lawsuit for this in Illinois. But this case is absolutely ridiculous. These two kids need a good kick in the ass, really. I mean, this is just - this is nothing but just -

FRIEDMAN: That's a good legal analysis.

HERMAN: -- spoiled brats. They're in their 20s. They're in their 20s.

Their father's a lawyer. He's promoting it.

CHO: Well, I mean, you know - well, I mean, you do -

(CROSSTALK)

HERMAN: He's bringing it. It's ridiculous.

CHO: Well, you do - you do have to ask yourself, I mean, what is this world coming to? You know, and with kids suing their parents like this. I mean, Avery, what - do they have a leg to stand on? I mean, what - what's their evidence here?

FRIEDMAN: Well, the evidence is that the son made a stick jewelry box and wouldn't give it back, and the - and the sister wanted to go to a car show. I think they're blaming mom on - on losing Moammar Gadhafi.

I mean, it's just - it is a silly case. But in the 33-page opinion, a three-judge panel looked at the issues carefully and correctly threw the case out. I mean, I - for me, Alina, this is the worst case of 2011. The worst case. But credit the appeal -

CHO: I agree. I agree.

FRIEDMAN: -- court judges. They did the right - they did the right thing.

CHO: Speaking of bad mothering, another great case about a - a woman in Alaska, a mother who - who pours hot sauce down her seven-year-old adopted son's throat.

Let's watch the tape and then come back and talk about it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA BEAGLEY, "HOT SAUCE MOM": Open. Close your mouth. Did you swallow it? Good. Do you lie to me? No. Don't spit it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: And, I mean, come on. She - she didn't get jail time.

FRIEDMAN: Oh, man.

CHO: She got a - I'm sorry, she got 180 days in jail, right, and a $125 fine for this -

FRIEDMAN: Suspended.

CHO: Suspended. She - she taped it, the prosecutors allege, to get on the "Dr. Phil Show." Of course, the defense attorneys say that, you know, this was a last-ditch effort to get help for her son.

Avery, what do you think about this case?

FRIEDMAN: She should be in jail right now, Alina. I mean, it's outrage that she didn't do - do time. A hundred eighty days, suspended? Come on. That's not the appropriate sentence.

And the motive was to get on television. For goodness' sakes. That woman should be in jail, and that child should be in foster care right now.

CHO: Richard, how do you defend a woman like this?

HERMAN: I just relate to when I was a kid. I would have loved a little hot sauce instead of the belt. Trust me.

CHO: Come on.

HERMAN: A little chicken wings and some hot sauce.

CHO: Come one.

HERMAN: Avery - I think Avery - Avery hit it. It's the motive of the woman.

CHO: Right.

HERMAN: That's what the real problem here is. It wasn't just to discipline the child, it was to get on the "Dr. Phil Show."

CHO: Right.

HERMAN: I mean, it was ridiculous. And for 180 days, suspended sentence, three-year probation, you know, this - this poor kid is adopted from Russia. It makes us look real bad over here. I don't know.

FRIEDMAN: That's right.

HERMAN: I think the judge was pretty lenient with her. Her lawyers did a great job for her, really.

CHO: Always a spirited debate, guys. And I know you'll be back. Good to see you, as always. It's been a while.

All right. And you guys -

HERMAN: It's been a while.

FRIEDMAN: Good to see you again.

CHO: -- will be - I know you - OK. Well, see you soon.

You guys will be back to talk about the Conrad Murray trial. He of course is the doctor accused in the death of Michael Jackson. There has been a key ruling in that case, so we'll see you back here in 20 minutes.

And we're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Welcome back. Twenty-seven minutes after the hour.

More often than ever, when you book a flight on an airline, you might find a different airline waiting for you at the gate. It certainly happened to me.

Alison Kosik is "On The Go," with tips on how to handle the airline shuffle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As airlines try to offer more destinations, you might see your plane change before your eyes. This happens when airlines have a code share agreement.

BRETT SNYDER, CRANKYFLIER.COM: A code share means you could buy a ticket on one airline and you'd actually end up flying on a different airline.

KOSIK: These partnerships usually work fine unless you have a problem.

SNYDER: When you're flying on a code share, there's sort of this gray area of who's actually responsible for your ticket if something goes wrong. They might say, well, you have to go talk to the original airline to get this all fixed.

KOSIK: Keep the contact numbers of each airline in your mobile phone, and, be aware, policies change when you change planes.

SNYDER: Every operating airline has its own level of amenities, its own plan for how it works with passengers. So you just need to keep that in mind when you are traveling on a code share.

KOSIK: Websites like SeatGuru.com can help with seat maps and in- flight amenities for most airlines for the next time you are "On the Go."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Checking our top stories, if you're traveling overseas in the coming week or live overseas, the State Department wants you to be vigilant. It has issued a travel alert even though there's no specific threat. Officials point out the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, which is just days away.

If you're hitting the road this holiday weekend, expect to pay more for gas. $3.66 is the average for a gallon of regular. That's up about a nickel over the last week. AAA says close to 32 million Americans will travel more than 50 miles over Labor Day and most will drive.

Sarah Palin is in the early presidential caucus state of Iowa today. The tea party is holding a rally in Indianola right now. And she is the key speaker. She is expected to speak at about 2:00 p.m. Eastern time. And we'll take it live. Sources tell CNN that Palin will not make any announcement today about running or not running for president.

Millions of people along the central Gulf Coast are on alert for flash floods this Labor Day weekend. Tropical Storm Lee is dumping heavy rain in Louisiana and Mississippi. A state of emergency is in place in both states. Some parts could get up to 20 inches of rain. Joining us by phone now is Vincent Creel, he's the spokesman for the city of Biloxi, Mississippi.

So, Mr. Creel, thank you for joining us. Tell us how your area is preparing for the storm right now.

VINCENT CREEL, SPOKESMAN, BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI: Well, our residents, we're happy to say, took a lot of action yesterday and doing the things that we asked them to do. And that was just to get out in their yards and pick up anything that could be blown around by wind and make sure to pick up anything that could clog storm drains.

This has been pretty much what everyone has predicted it was going to be for us and that is a significant rain event. We're continuing to see constant downpours throughout our city and all along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

We're happy to say that we have heard of no significant damage. We have heard of no significant injuries and no power outages that we're aware of. And so it looks like it's going to be a long, waterlogged weekend for us.

CHO: Well, Biloxi, though, is obviously still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, almost six years to the date that that storm blew into the area. What kind of damage then are you expecting from this Tropical Storm Lee?

CREEL: The only thing that we're going to be seeing is some localized street flooding. I'm in my car on Highway 90 right now. And we've got about 60 miles of beach here along the Mississippi Gulf Coast and about 24 miles here in Harrison County.

And traditionally whenever there's a strong wind, we'll see some sand blow up onto the highway. And we're seeing that in a slightly larger concentration. But, by and large, it's people who are here, are enjoying themselves indoors.

We've asked people to try to stay off the roads. And it's just a lot of wet roads and some low-lying streets that normally flood are flooding. Quite frankly, we're going to have -- HBO is going to be here tonight telecasting a welterweight fight. And we think people across the country are going to see that we're open for business, just a little wet right now.

CHO: Yes, but you mention that people are staying indoors and they should with a storm coming. So what about all of those famous waterfront casinos there in Biloxi? Are they open right now? Are people there?

CREEL: They are open for business. And about like I said, this is going to be a rain event for us, primarily. We're going to see some wind gusts. But some of the emergency managers have said here in Biloxi and along the Gulf Coast that we're probably seeing the worst of what we're going to be seeing throughout the week.

And we're probably seeing it right now. However, there will be some slight river flooding. We've got two rivers that run through Biloxi and the city is also on a peninsula. So we're going to see some water-related issues.

But as far as storm, we're asking people to continue to monitor weather reports. But we don't see this as being anything as other than what they call a rain event.

CHO: We certainly hope so.

CREEL: So the casinos and businesses are open.

CHO: Well, that's good.

CREEL: We're not right now encouraging a lot of people to drive down here because of the weather that they will encounter on the way here, and once they get here. But the people who are here are enjoying themselves in these casino resorts.

CHO: Well, that's good to hear.

CREEL: Now, I should also point out going into the weekend, we've got about 13,000 hotel rooms here along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, primarily in Biloxi. But we were envisioning about 85 percent occupancy rate, and on Friday, with the weather reports, particularly when the storm took on a name. CHO: Got it. All right. Vincent Creel, spokesman for the city of Biloxi, Mississippi, we thank you very much for that update.

We want to get an update on Tropical Storm Lee now with Alexandra Steele.

You know, part of the problem is that this storm is slow-moving. So when is it going to make landfall? And what are the biggest issues with this storm?

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right. Rain and wind, certainly flooding the biggest issue. About to make landfall and will do so this afternoon. Here's the center of circulation, you can see kind of the northern portion of it beginning to come ashore. By the afternoon, the full body, the eye will come ashore.

But it's really the eastern side of it that has all of the heavy precipitation. But you heard him talk about some breaks. That's what they're seeing, especially in southeast Louisiana. Heavy rain, an awful lot of rain, 5 to 6 inches for some areas already.

But then we're seeing a break and it's allowing that water to come down. Then we're going to see that rain come up again. So that's what we're going to see. We're only going to see maybe between 10 and 20 inches of rain, which is certainly a lot. But we're not going to see the flooding we saw a third of that in Vermont for so many reasons, including kind of the nature of the sandy soil here in the South.

We're going to watch this thing move into the northeast Wednesday and Thursday though. We're going to watch it moving into the Tennessee Valley with winds 30 to 40 miles per hour and some rain as well. So we're a far way from it being done.

CHO: But this is not Irene?

STEELE: Not Irene at all.

CHO: That is good...

STEELE: With a lot more rain but a lot less trouble.

CHO: That is very good news for the good people of Biloxi and New Orleans. Alexandra Steele, thank you very much.

Coming up, a Boston man videotapes police officers who he thinks are using excessive force. Then he gets arrested. But is that right? We're going to tell you about the case next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Welcome back. Police officers, are you ready for your close-up? The second highest court in the land has ruled that citizens can videotape police activity. Our legal guys are back. Avery Friedman in Cleveland, Richard Herman in Vegas. So let's talk about this case. A Boston man arrested in 2007 because he sees Boston police officers on the street. They're arresting someone. He thinks they're using excessive force. He pulls out his cell phone, starts to videotape them. Uh oh, he's arrested. The charges were then dropped. He then countersues.

Avery, where do we stand on this case now?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: A three-judge panel this past week -- past 10 days came up with what I think is one of the top 10 rulings of 2011. It says that when you are tape-recording people in public, such as police officers or others doing their job, it is a protected right under the First Amendment. It advances freedom of speech.

It also, the court said, advances freedom of the press because it's going to be fed to news organizations. So I think the police in this case messed with the wrong guy at the wrong time. A real victory for the Constitution this week, absolutely a superb decision.

CHO: Well, Richard, some people might argue that police won't be able to do their jobs, then, if they're constantly worried about somebody videotaping them. You're shaking your head. What's your take on this?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, the people that argue that position have to stop drinking because, look, they fooled with the wrong guy. This is a lawyer who brought a civil rights lawsuit against Massachusetts here. He's not taking any garbage.

First and Fourth Amendment violations, Massachusetts Civil Rights Act violation, malicious prosecution violations. He's throwing the book at them for this. And he's right. And I agree with Avery. The decision was right. This is not going to prohibit or encourage police any which way. They have to do their job right.

If they do unreasonable arrests and they use excessive force and it gets videotaped, to bad for the police. As a plaintiff's attorney, that's what you want. You want the videotape.

CHO: I want to talk about the...

HERMAN: If they have nothing to hide, they have nothing to worry about.

CHO: I want to talk about the Conrad Murray case. Of course, he was Michael Jackson's personal physician when Jackson died. He's now accused of involuntary manslaughter. Jury selection set to begin in less than a week. The defense attorneys want to sequester the jury. And in so doing, they've asked to delay the trial.

Richard, where do we stand on that?

HERMAN: Well, we stand as far as yesterday, the defense made an emergency motion to put off the trial. You recall earlier, Alina, the judge denied their request for sequestration and basically said, I don't want to imprison the jurors and by the way, we don't have enough money to do it.

So based on that analysis, perhaps, Judge, we should just convict everybody now. No. He's entitled to a trial. He's making a fair claim. He's afraid of HLN. He's afraid of Nancy Grace and Jane Velez and Joy and Dr. Drew, afraid of their coverage.

CHO: Hey, they're friends.

HERMAN: He thinks it's going to persuade the jury. And it might, it might not. But too bad. They're going to go back. They're going for an appeal on this decision. They've asked to stay everything. I don't know where it's going to come down. It will be interesting to see.

CHO: Avery, how do you feel about this?

FRIEDMAN: I think that's an easy one. The court of appeals will deny the state. Look at, there's an argument that a jury -- the motion they talked about, contamination based on HLN and other news coverage, there's some truth to that.

But the key here is jury instruction. And if the judge controls this to the extent that jurors follow the instruction, then that contamination is unlikely. I mean, it's always possible out there.

CHO: Richard, what about having...

FRIEDMAN: You know, they're saying this is...

(CROSSTALK)

CHO: What about putting cameras in the courtroom? The judge has said that cameras can be allowed inside the courtroom. So who does that benefit?

HERMAN: Well, that benefits -- I think it benefits the prosecution here. But the defense did not want it in. They did not want cameras. They wanted this jury sequestered. Judge denied everything. He's on a fast track. He wants this trial to start.

He has told the defense attorneys, you must ask for expedited review in the appellate court because this trial is going to start. No stay has been granted. We'll see what happens here.

CHO: Let's talk about the Joran Van Der Sloot case in Peru. Peruvian authorities have finally charged him in the murder of a woman who was found dead a year ago. The question, Avery, I have for you, is what took so long? I mean, there was clearly evidence there, right?

FRIEDMAN: Overwhelming evidence. No one has any idea what the Peruvian prosecutors were doing in taking so long. Both of us predicted this was coming down. It came down this week. It's going to be on fast track for a trial. I don't know what the defense is other than the guy saying, well, he only murdered one person, so don't give him 30 years. That's the defense. CHO: And, Richard, obviously Van Der Sloot is the prime suspect in the Natalee Holloway disappearance and yet he was not charged in that case. There was no body ever found. Where do we stand there?

HERMAN: Aruba is a sham. Their criminal justice system there is disgusting. The prosecutor is inept. The police are inept. Stay away from Aruba. That's my advice to you. Look what's going on there with this current case. They don't know what they're doing.

In any event, justice is coming in Peru for this guy. And I look for a deal to be made. Because I don't know how they're going to go to trial here. They're going to have to make some sort of deal.

FRIEDMAN: That's right.

CHO: Richard Herman, Avery Friedman, the next time I'm in town, I'll try to give you ample notice so that you guys can fly to Atlanta. Can you do that for me?

FRIEDMAN: Wonderful. Good to see you again.

HERMAN: Absolutely, yes.

CHO: Can we be in the same room? All right. Guys, thanks so much. Nice to see you.

Comedian Katt Williams is taking some heat over comments made at a concert in Phoenix, comments that some are calling anti-Mexican. I'm going to play the comments for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Comedian Katt Williams is no stranger to controversy. And now an anti-Mexican rant during a comedy show in Phoenix last weekend has landed him in hot water. Here's some of what got him into trouble. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATT WILLIAMS, COMEDIAN: You think I'm dissing Mexico and I'm defending America. Are you Mexican?

HECKLER: (expletive deleted) right I am!

WILLIAMS: Do you know where Mexico is?

HECKLER: This is Mexico, (expletive deleted)!

WILLIAMS: No, this ain't Mexico. It used to be Mexico, (expletive deleted)! And now it's Phoenix!

USA! USA! USA!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Well, as you can see there from the video, Williams was responding to a heckler in the audience. This exchange went on for like seven or eight minutes. We want to play some more of it. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: Do you remember when white people used to say :go back to Africa"? We had to tell them, we don't want to. So if you love Mexico, (expletive deleted), get the (expletive deleted) over there! We were slaves, (expletive deleted)! You all just work like that as a landscaper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Mr. Williams talked to CNN's T.J. Holmes this morning about the incident and he said that the apology that was issued on his behalf did not come from him. I'm going to play you part of that interview next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Right before the break, we showed you a rant by comedian Katt Williams during which he went after Mexican-Americans. Williams this morning talked to CNN's T.J. Holmes about that controversial rant. It happened during a Phoenix concert last weekend. He defiantly defended both his comedy and his respect for his Mexican-American fans. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAMS: If a person starts their heckling with "eff America," then that gives me the right to defend my country. I couldn't be anti- Mexican. My Mexican fan base is largely responsible for me even existing. So between them and the black community is really all I have. But I don't think I need to apologize for being pro-American.

The guy said that all of this is still Mexico. And I was just giving him geography. This is America, greatest country in the world, sir.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, help us understand. So do you not apologize for anything? We only showed like a 50-second clip there. It's like seven or eight minutes, but...

WILLIAMS: No, sir.

HOLMES: Go ahead.

WILLIAMS: I apologize for the fact that the word "anti-Mexican" is being said to a black guy in America.

HOLMES: But you don't apologize for what you said in that stand-up?

WILLIAMS: I'm not allowed to. As a stand-up, the only thing that I sell is uncensored thought. So I'm only selling them the way I think uncensored. So I'm not allowed to then come back the next day and apologize. That's for the Tracy Morgans of the world.

I meant what I said and said what I meant. I'm apologizing if somebody thought I was trying to be anti-Mexican. Mexicans are my friends.

HOLMES: So, Katt, why is it somebody is allowed to put out a statement apologizing on your behalf, then?

WILLIAMS: Sir, they put out a DVD called "Katt Williams's Nine Lives" while I was in jail without my permission. We were in Phoenix, so this is a heavily Mexican-American crowd. I gave $5,000 out to a Mexican-American serviceman at this same show. It was nothing like that the night of the show.

This happened 19 days ago. It's just happening in the news yesterday because it's my birthday.

HOLMES: Well, help me understand. What was it? Because it's clear that you were visibly upset and you said you're a proud American, and you defended this country.

WILLIAMS: I was.

HOLMES: So is that essentially what it was? He was clearly out of line, in your opinion. But he really got you hot.

WILLIAMS: I was offended because he was making a statement that we're not allowed to make in this country. In this country, you have to pledge allegiance to America first and your country of origin second. So the fact that he was blatantly disrespecting the law that we all follow, black people worked too hard to become black Americans in this society.

And we were slaves here. And we did a lot of free work. Whatever they did was in another country and we certainly applaud their history. But don't come here talking to sons of slaves about that.

And if there's something -- if there's something anti-Mexican about what I said, then I apologize for the anti-Mexican-ness of it. I was talking to one individual.

HOLMES: You understand at least some people hearing that -- and you were talking to one guy.

WILLIAMS: One guy.

HOLMES: It's clear that other people in the crowd were laughing at what you were saying to him, even as you were going off on the one guy.

WILLIAMS: If I had disrespected Mexicans, I wouldn't have been able to get out of there alive, sir, with all due respect.

HOLMES: But as people -- do you understand why people who do hear it maybe do get offended by it, who maybe didn't read or listen to the whole seven, eight minutes of it, but maybe just read a few comments? Do you think they just have the wrong impression? Or do you understand why some might think the "landscaper" comment might have been offensive, telling a Mexican, like that guy to get to stepping back to Mexico, how that comes off as being offensive? WILLIAMS: No, no. He said that we were in Mexico. So let me just say this. Yes, I can see what you're saying, T.J. And at the end of the day, I think those people should watch more of this CNN show so they can see there are real news factors going on in this country, things we should discuss like our president versus football rather than worry about what a comedian is saying.

If you don't like me, don't come see me. If you do like me, I'm here for you, but I love Mexicans and I love Mexican-Americans. But I love America over all, let's be very clear about that.

HOLMES: Any concern about how people might view you down the road? How this could impact your career down the road? People might not want to book you in Texas or Arizona or California?

WILLIAMS: Wouldn't that be fantastic? Let's let that happen. But let the statement be that I'm a Christian, I'm straight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: Oh my goodness gracious. Williams was also asked about specific portions of the act, for instance, a joke he made about slavery and landscaping. But he maintained that he would never apologize for any of his comedy. The entire interview is posted on cnn.com.

We'll be right back.