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Being Vigilant Around 9/11 Anniversary; Threat From al Qaeda; Tea Party GOP Debate Preview; Specific, Credible But Unconfirmed; More Surgery for Manning

Aired September 09, 2011 - 14:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as we cross the top of the hour here, let me get you caught up on what's happening today and what's happening in New York.

They've seen a lot and dealt with a lot in New York over the years. And they're dealing with something else.

Take a look at that picture there. This is not just your normal gridlock out there on the streets of New York with traffic. This is different, because now they have police checkpoints set up, causing all kinds of traffic trouble there in the city.

This is all in response, though, to what we're now being told is a credible, specific, even, but not confirmed threat. This is what we know about it.

The chatter that was picked up by security officials, they say it talks about three individuals who might be involved, and one of them could be a U.S. citizen. A bulletin went out by the FBI and Homeland Security saying the attackers could be planning to use a truck or car loaded with explosives, and they're calling this a credible threat, but they're saying they have not confirmed this threat just yet. So not sure if it's real.

It's believed that the targets could be Washington, D.C., or New York City.

Let me turn to our senior correspondent, CNN Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff, who is in New York for us.

They deal with a lot of security in New York. They're used to it. But how are these police checkpoints still causing fits (ph)?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Certainly used to it, T.J. Here we go again.

A major police presence all through Manhattan. We've got checkpoints just like this in Lower Manhattan, Midtown, near Times Square, and over here, at the beginning of the Upper West Side, as well as further uptown.

What's happening here is that the police officers are not only visually scanning vehicles, but they are also pulling aside trucks and vans. Emanuel (ph), let's have a look over here.

And you can see an officer there has just pulled over a truck. He's asking the driver to open up. He'll take a look inside. That's been happening on and on again.

One truck driver just a little while ago told me that he had taken an hour and a half to travel three miles. T.J., that means the traffic backed up, and you'll see it in a moment. The traffic is basically moving at about two miles an hour.

Now, in addition to the visual scans, the officers are also wearing radiation detectors. They're a little bit larger than my audio box here. They don't emit a beep, of course, because it's real noisy here. They've got them on vibrate. No probable with that so far, but the point is, they're searching also for potential dirty bombs.

The police say they are aggressively towing illegally parked cars, although, T.J., right here we've got an illegally parked car. In fact, the ticket is over here. It hasn't been towed just yet. But the cops say they will be working on that and be aggressive about it. And, in addition, they're sweeping garages, parking garages throughout Manhattan, searching for bombs.

So T.J., this is being taken extremely seriously, and the NYPD says these sorts of checkpoints will be in effect through Monday, the day after 9/11 -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Allan Chernoff for us in New York City.

Thank you.

I want to turn to Washington, D.C., and to the Pentagon, specifically, where we're getting more about this potential threat.

Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is here with me.

You were giving some me new information last hour. Again, we're calling this a credible threat, a specific, even, threat, but not confirmed. But you are at least getting more specifics about how it came about.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: We are indeed, T.J.

A U.S. official is explaining in detail why it is that the administration is saying credible threat, but not corroborated. Here's our understanding of what has taken place.

The U.S. intelligence community, a few days ago, intercepted communications from an al Qaeda operative in Pakistan. And in that intercept, they heard discussion of this type of planned attack against New York or Washington. A proposed attack, if you will.

The al Qaeda operative that they intercepted is someone that is known to them, that has been a source of credible information from secret intercepts in the past. So they took it very seriously. Now what they've been trying do is corroborate it. They've been around, looking at the intelligence they have from other al Qaeda cells, other al Qaeda terrorist operatives, other intercepts. And the challenge, they tell us, right now is that they cannot yet corroborate what the intercept told them about this attack. They don't have the corroborating chatter, if you will, a second source telling them about the attack.

So that's why they're taking it so seriously, but, yet, they say they can't corroborate it. Very complex intelligence analysis under way, but it gives us a better idea of why we are seeing those scenes on the streets of New York -- T.J.

HOLMES: And again, Barbara, we don't know these three individuals we hear about in this bulletin. We don't know where they might be, in this country, on the way to this country.

STARR: Well, you know, that's the thing.

Right now, all of the sources we are talking to tell us that, indeed, their working assumption is that these three individuals, one possibly a U.S. citizen, are likely already in the United States. They don't have eyeballs on them, so, you know, they can't absolutely say that. They can't confirm that.

But they say that that has to be their working assumption, that these people are in the United States. Whether they carry out a planned attack or not remains to be seen, of course, but if the initial chatter, the initial intercept is true, they have to work on the belief that these men are already here -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right.

Barbara Starr, with the very latest.

Thank you, as always.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, Monday night, Tampa, Florida, be there. That is where we are going to be having the CNN/Tea Party Republican debate. Tea Party Express bus is on its way to Tampa. The CNN Express bus already there, and so is Don Lemon.

Don, good afternoon to you, kind sir.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I drove it here. I drove it here. I know that you drove the bus once, they told me. I'm not sure exactly where, somewhere in the Midwest.

HOLMES: They will not let you drive that bus.

(LAUGHTER) LEMON: Hey, listen, it's going to be very interesting. It's the first ever Tea Party debate, and CNN, of course, has the pleasure -- we're doing the honors of hosting this first debate.

And when it comes to the Tea Party, they like -- they move by the beat of their own drummer. So I asked them if there was anyone else that they'd like to see up there on the stage, because right now, we've got Perry, we've got Bachmann, we've got Romney, Paul, Gingrich, Cain, Santorum, and Huntsman. Not all of them are affiliated with the Tea Party. Some of them just call themselves plain old Republican conservatives.

So I said, "Who else would you like to see?" And you know Sarah Palin always comes up. And take a listen to what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Who would you like to see on that stage, or toss their hat into the ring?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, you know, my favorite is my role model, Sarah. I would love to see Sarah do that.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Sarah Palin?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll be right -- I'll take a bullet for her.

LEMON: Wow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think she's wonderful. And I mean that, because I need a job.

LEMON: Why haven't you decided? Why haven't you declared?

SARAH PALIN (R), FMR. ALASKA GOVERNOR: I think that I'm not the only one who has not decided yet, and not ready to announce one way or the other yet, because there's still -- there's still a lot of contemplation that needs to go into such an earth-shattering life- changing decision for a family.

LEMON: No one person you'd like to see? No Sarah Palin?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like Sarah Palin, but I'm happy there's enough people in the race now that -- I haven't seen enough of them. So I'm still giving it a look at.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And me as well.

LEMON: But everyone is saying it's going to be a two-person race. It's going to be Romney or it's going to be Perry. If it's those two?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like pizza. I hope Herman Cain.

(LAUGHTER) LEMON: I'm sure Herman Cain would like to hear that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not so sure it will be those two, but we need to hear more of him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: So they want to take their time. They want to absorb, T.J., what the candidates are going to say on that stage on Monday night, before they really make a decision.

But as I told them, most people have been saying, and you've been hearing it, it's going to be Romney and Perry, those are the two who are going to lead the thing. They're not so sure about that. They're not so convinced.

HOLMES: Greater anticipation for this debate given what we saw in the last one. We're looking for Romney/Perry, round two, seeing if Michele Bachmann can get back into the mix.

So, just because of that last debate, maybe some more eyeballs and maybe a little more anticipation for this one?

LEMON: Oh, yes, I would say so. And just for the fact that it's the first Tea Party debate to be held ever, I think, of course, there's anticipation for it.

And then you have to admit, most people will say February, around 2008, February, 2008-2009, I think, is when the Tea Party first started gearing up and started to organize. And just within the past two years or so, they've really gained some momentum.

It usually takes political parties decades, at least the traditional parties, to gain that sort of influence, and the Tea Party has done it in a short amount of time. So I think even if you're not a member of the Tea Party, even if you're a member of the other Party, the Democratic Party, or Independents, you're going to be interested to see how these people are going to take questions and really how they're -- what they're going to say to those people who are voting for Tea Party members.

HOLMES: OK. And inadvertently, our viewers just got a sneak peek. You were talking about driving the bus. Well, Dale (ph), who does drive the bus, I just saw him walk through your shot.

He's to your right back there on his cell phone.

LEMON: Is he really?

HOLMES: Yes, he's back there. He tried to run out of the way, but that was the bus driver, Dale (ph).

LEMON: Come here. He doesn't want to do it.

HOLMES: He won't. No.

LEMON: You don't have to say anything. Come stand behind me.

HOLMES: Yes, he was already on TV.

LEMON: He doesn't want to do it.

HOLMES: He already made the cameo. It's fine.

LEMON: He said, "Hey there."

But you do want to come in?

No, he doesn't want to.

HOLMES: That's all right.

LEMON: But he says hello to you.

HOLMES: All right, Don.

LEMON: It's a great group, T.J. You know that.

HOLMES: They're a good crew. Tell them I said hello. Don, we're going to be talking to you plenty throughout the weekend, and of course on Monday.

Don Lemon, in Tampa.

Good to see you, buddy.

LEMON: See you.

HOLMES: And, of course, that debate, don't forget, folks, 8:00 Eastern Time on Monday night, the CNN/Tea Party Republican debate.

And coming up, we'll have a sneak peek at the new national memorial for the 9/11 victims of Flight 93. We'll take you live to Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, there's a lot of focus on what happened in New York. Also, D.C., understandably so.

We're going to take a moment and focus on Shanksville, Pennsylvania. That, of course, where United Flight 93 crashed into a field after its passengers and crew members overtook the hijackers who were likely trying to steer the plane maybe straight into the nation's Capitol.

Well, for the past 10 years, a makeshift memorial has marked the site. But tomorrow, a dedication ceremony will be held for the new official National Flight 93 Memorial.

Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton expected to be there. So will Vice President Joe Biden, as well as U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar.

And Secretary Salazar joins me now from Shanksville.

Mr. Secretary, thank you, sir, for being here.

Explain to our viewers first, what will they see tomorrow? What will be unveiled this weekend?

KEN SALAZAR, INTERIOR SECRETARY: Well, tomorrow we will be dedicating -- the vice president will be dedicating the 2200-acre national park. And so it becomes part of the national park system that will tell the story of 9/11 and the story of the 40 people who gave their lives here in Shanksville to defend the nation's Capitol.

HOLMES: And Mr. Secretary, even though it will be dedicated officially tomorrow, it doesn't mean all the work as far as the memorial is concerned will be done, or even any time soon?

SALAZAR: You know, we have actually raised $42 million for the memorial. It is about 80, 85 percent done. We need another 15 percent to go.

We need to raise about $10 million to be able to get the visitor center and the education center. And hopefully with donations that come in from throughout the country, we'll be able to get that done.

We have already received donations from 75,000 people around the country, over $20 million. And our hope is that we will be able to get this done, because it's fitting and proper that, as we look at 9/11, this will be the only national park that will tell the story of 9/11.

It's in a very rural part of Pennsylvania here, in Shanksville. And it is a wonderful and beautiful, solemn place where the remains of the 40 people who were on Flight 93 will be permanently entombed.

HOLMES: And Mr. Secretary, there has been a lot talked about, that the money is still about $10 million short, as you mentioned there. And some people are scratching their heads that, 10 years later, that money was still being raised. Of course, in New York and D.C., the memorials there certainly got their funding earlier.

So would you describe it there as being a difficulty in raising funds, or how would you describe it? Why are you still $10 million short?

SALAZAR: You know, it's difficult to raise money. This is a private/public sector partnership working closely with the families of Flight 93 to be able to get this done.

But the community and this area here in eastern -- in western Pennsylvania is a very poor area. We are outside of a town of Shanksville, which has only about 200 people, only one small little store.

And so when you're trying to raise money in a place like this, it's very difficult. And so that's why we've reached out across the country, that's why we have 75,000 donors already. That's why we have a system set up, HonorFlight 93.org, where we're trying to reach out to the rest of the country.

And as part of the spirit of remembering this day that changed the history of the United States of America, and the world, that we're able to honor it through the story that we will tell here to those heroes that were on Flight 93.

HOLMES: Well, Sir, I guess you don't necessarily have a deadline, but you're hopeful you'll have that money by the end of the year?

SALAZAR: Yes, we're very hopeful. We have some hints that lots of people are tuning in, and everybody wants to make sure that this story is told.

The story really for all of us and America, and all over the world, is Flight 93 and the events of 9/11 really changed so much of our world. And it's important that we at Interior, and through the United States, that we tell that story to the world.

So we'll have millions and millions of visitors who come here from throughout the world and throughout the United States that will learn the story of 9/11. And we want to tell it well, in the same way that we did through the medication of the MLK Memorial just a few weeks ago. We'll have the formal dedication in just a few weeks because we had to postpone that.

But we do it here. We do it at the Statue of Liberty in New York. We do it all over the country.

And 9/11 is a day that will have a profound impact on the future of our nation forever. So we need to make sure we tell that story right, and that's what we're trying to do as we complete this national memorial here.

HOLMES: Well, it's good to talk to you. I'm glad we could focus on Shanksville, Pennsylvania, Flight 93. And I assure you, we're about to remind our viewers how they can donate.

But Secretary Salazar, thank you so much for your time.

SALAZAR: Thank you very much, T.J.

HOLMES: And to our viewers, if you want to donate to the Flight 93 Memorial -- you heard him talking about it there -- you can -- a couple things you can do here. You can either go to the National Parks Web site at nationalparks.org, or you can go to the memorial site. That's HonorFlight93.org.

Also coming up, the unconventional ways three students saved themselves thousands of dollars and a lifetime of debt.

But first, a New Yorker who is determined to build a positive legacy out of the aftermath of 9/11. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEFF PARNESS, CNN HERO: September 11th was a very tough time for the fire department. I lost some friends, guys I went to the academy with.

Afterwards, people came from everywhere to help us out. It was incredible. You knew you weren't alone.

As a New Yorker, to see the outpouring of kindness and generosity was more powerful than the terror that happened. It really changed me.

I'm Jeff Parness, and I just want to show the world that New Yorkers will never forget what people did for us following 9/11.

Every year on the 9/11 anniversary, we take volunteers from New York and send them to some part of the country where they had a disaster and help folks rebuild.

The whole thing there is the grain silo. It's definitely a little culture shock. Rebuilding homes or barns or churches, it's our way to say thank you.

Now more than half our volunteers are not from New York. People from all the small towns that we've helped, they keep showing up to help the next community. They're from Louisiana and California and Indiana and Illinois. Every year you keep seeing more T-shirts from more locations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got to pitch in as much as we can. After Katrina, we just jumped on his bandwagon. This whole paying it forward thing is just contagious.

PARNESS: It's like this big dysfunctional family reunion of all these disaster survivors who get together and do a barn raising.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're banging nails and building something, but it's the relationships that help you heal.

PARNESS: It's about using the 9/11 anniversary to celebrate the volunteer spirit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll see you all next year.

PARNESS: People say thank you for doing this. I say, "You want to thank me? Show up on the next one."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, as we get close to the bottom of the hour now, we all know college, important, yes. Expensive? Very expensive? Sometimes.

CNN Money found three students who saved themselves tens of thousands of dollars and a lifetime of debt by pursuing less conventional, shall we say, approaches to college. And that is today's "Taking the Lead." The cost of attending some top foreign schools can be as little as half of out-of-state public universities or private colleges in the U.S. So, to save some money, Amanda headed north to the University of Victoria in Canada. She saved about $50,000 versus going to the University of Oregon.

Also -- and not everybody can do this here -- but at the age of 19, Matthew traded 10 percent of his growing Web design firm which specializes in sites for small businesses to Clarkston. So, in exchange, he got a full tuition scholarship. He spends about six hours a day working on the firm, on top of his classes, but he plans to save about $150,000.

Finally -- and not everybody knows this, but a growing number of community colleges offers direct pipelines to elite public and private schools as long as students take prescribed course loads and maintain good grades. So, Ebony enrolled at local Piedmont Virginia Community College, then transferred to the University of Virginia. It saved her about $100,000.

For more tips and tricks on how to save money on college, you can go to CNNMoney.com.

We're going to turn back to New York here in just a moment. Extra security on top of security. Checkpoints set up in New York causing, you guessed it, a traffic nightmare.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Just past the bottom of the hour. Give you a look at stories making headlines.

Police on alert in response to a possible terror plot coinciding with the 9/11 anniversary. Officials say they have received specific, credible, but unconfirmed information.

Senior administration officials telling CNN that the origin of the intelligence is what's causing the most concern. It's believed to involve three people in a possible car or truck bomb, and the focus seems to be on New York and Washington, D.C. Law enforcement around the country, though, on alert.

And due to these threats in New York City, they have now set up checkpoints throughout the city. New York City police are checking bags at train stations and cars around town. You can see what's happening here. This is causing a mess in New York as well as New Jersey. The pictures you're seeing here, they have police checkpoints set up there as well.

Also, millions of people in southwestern United States woke up with the power back on this morning after a massive power outage on Thursday. The blackout across Arizona and southern California brought traffic to a halt, stopped trains, even closed the San Diego International Airport. Even cities in northern Mexico were affected.

The Arizona Power Service described the cause of all this as a, quote, "employee-generated event." Not exactly sure what that means. They say this is not related to terrorism.

In the Northeast, more than 100,000 people have been evacuated and at least three people dead due to flooding from remnants of tropical storm Lee. In some parts of Pennsylvania, the water is so high officials can't get in to assess the damage. President Obama has declared a state of emergency for New York and Pennsylvania.

And it was hot this summer. But you knew that. But it was record setting hot. Meteorologists are confirming that this summer was in fact the hottest summer in 75 years. It was the second hottest on record. Consistently high temperatures combined with below average rainfall, they caused states like Texas to suffer their driest summer ever. That's why they're having a tough time with some of those wildfires in Texas right now as well.

The terror threat currently under investigation in the U.S. may have originated in Pakistan. We'll take you there as we go "Globe Trekking" -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We've been telling you about the investigation of some credible, but unconfirmed reports of possible plan for an al Qaeda plot in the U.S., marking the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. As we go "Globe Trekking" this hour, we're going to Pakistan where the plot may have originated?

Nick Paton Walsh is with us from Islamabad.

Nick, hello to you. What are they trying? Are they trying to get piece together and get some information and trace this whole thing back to Pakistan?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you heard earlier, CNN administration officials telling us that in the U.S., they believe it originates from a phone intercept perhaps from an al Qaeda operative. A senior Pakistani intelligence official here though is saying that they have been passing information from the interrogation of the senior al Qaeda person they arrested just 10 days ago called Younis al-Mauretani. They've been passing information from that interrogation to the U.S.

But let's be clear here. He did not specify that that information is linked to the threats in New York and D.C., but just points it out the timing and also suggested that given this man, Younis al-Mauretani is considered to be the external operations manager, if you'd like, of al Qaeda. That he may perhaps have had his own plans for 9/11 anniversary -- T.J.

HOLMES: Nick, do we have any idea the cooperation between the U.S. and Pakistani officials?

WALSH: Well, it's been in pieces since the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Great animosity between the CIA and the Pakistani counterparts, the ISI. But suddenly, earlier on this week, they appear to have made up, frankly. They arrested this al Qaeda operative sparking incredibly a few certain complimentary statements from both Islamabad and Washington about each other which we hadn't heard for months frankly.

But we also do hear from Pakistani intelligence officials here that the Americans have, quote, "their own unilateral independent intelligence capability" here in Pakistan. That will obviously involve high tech observation of some description. But they're able to garner the evidence they need from the drone strikes in the tribal areas on their own. So, that could also be where hearing about from Pakistan originated -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Nick Paton Walsh for us -- thank you as always.

We'll give you a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world.

Egyptian protesters attacked the Israeli embassy in Cairo today. They're trying to destroy a wall built to protect the building that houses the embassy. But Egyptian officials say no attempt was made to enter the building. No injuries reported. The embassy is on the 12th floor of that building. The police don't believe any personnel were there. Many Egyptians want an end to diplomatic relations with Israel initiated by ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

Also, fighting reported around Bani Walid, Libya, one of the last strongholds of Gadhafi loyalists. One report says anti-Gadhafi troops are about two miles from the center of the city. Gadhafi supporters in that town and Sirte has been given until midnight Libyan time to surrender or face military action. That midnight is now three and a half hours away.

Also, NATO officials in Afghanistan have concluded that an American soldier was responsible for the death of an Afghan journalist who was working for the BBC. He died during the July battle between NATO troops and insurgents. NATO says they mistook the journalists for a suicide bomber. Officials have apologized to the journalist's family. But considering the chaotic situation during that battle, the soldiers acted responsibly.

And two mean have been arrested in connection with a terror investigation in Germany. They've been identified as a 24-year-old German of Lebanese descent and a 28-year-old man from Gaza. Berlin police say they tried to obtain chemicals that can be used to make a bomb. They don't believe the suspects have links to any international terror organizations.

Now with the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks coming on Sunday, we are asking people around the world how their lives have changed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People now are more like scared about, you know, what happened in general. Not even Americans only. Like everywhere now, even like us, the Arabs, are kind of scared from the terrorists. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You definitely more cautious when I board an airplane. I'm more suspicious of shady characters. Definitely more conscious of my surroundings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I realize, if something like this could happen to America, we got to take it seriously. So, make sure you make the most of everything that you do. Make sure that you live your every day to the fullest. But you never know what might happen.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

HOLMES: Next, we're going to turn to crime and consequence. His case has gotten the attention of former President Carter, Archbishop Tutu, even the Pope. But that might not be enough to save death row inmate Troy Davis. We're talking to his sister about what is coming, his execution which is set for a little later this month.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We want to revisit a case that could mean the death of Troy Davis. He's now 11 days away from being executed. He was convicted of killing Mark MacPhail, an off duty police officer some Havana some 22 years ago. But there have been a number of questions raised over whether Davis is really guilty.

This has been the center of a long, long legal battle. Since his conviction, seven of nine witnesses have recanted their testimony. Others have also come forward who identified the triggerman as somebody else. In the meantime, Davis has actually been served his final meal before, said his goodbyes before, because his execution was postponed at least three separate times.

But in March, the Supreme Court rejected Davis' request to delay his execution for a fourth time. So, now, Davis is running out of time and running out of options.

Troy Davis' sister, Kimberly Davis, joins me now.

Ms. Davis, thank you for spending some time with us. Ma'am, can you help us understand how in the world do you deal with this psychological strain of going through another, yet another date for execution, when you've been down this road three times already?

KIMBERLY DAVIS, TROY DAVIS' SISTER (via telephone): Yes, sir. Thank you for having me.

You know, my family, we're still standing on our faith because we know that through the end, God has stood on our side and God is still in control. A lot of people ask us, well, how are you dealing with this? And we're dealing with this by just standing on the word of God because God said he would never leave us nor for sake us. We're still standing on his word.

HOLMES: Ms. Davis, when was the last time you talked to your brother, Troy?

DAVIS: I talked to Troy this morning.

HOLMES: This morning? How is he doing?

DAVIS: He's doing fine. He was still asking about, questions about my nephew, De Jaun. He was talking to him about work and school, talking about my niece Kerstin, the different daily activities, the regular phone calls that we've had. And, you know, he's just concerned about us and asking us, you know, how are we doing and, you know, just different things. But he's still strong.

HOLMES: Well, ma'am, it sounds like he's talking to you about day-to- day stuff when an execution date has been set for him that's just about a week and a half away. Does he still hold out hope or is he holding on to that faith like you say? Does he think someone will step in? It's going to have to be the parole board at this point it appears. But does he still have faith, hope that someone will step in?

DAVIS: Yes, sir. He is still holding on to his faith because I actually got a letter from him earlier this week. And we often just swap scriptures. And, you know, we was sending me scriptures about faith. He told me, you know, you just still have to stand o on that faith.

And my last letter earlier this week, it was talking about faith, talking about the miracles of God and, you know, he said that he knows that God is going to bring us through this.

HOLMES: Well, ma'am, I mentioned the Georgia board of pardons and paroles. They'll be taking up a clemency hearing, it looks like, for those five members. It might be up to them, unless the governor possibly steps in.

But you also mentioned that this fight that you all have been going through the past couple of decades is not about your brother Troy anymore. What do you mean by that?

DAVIS: Well, it's not only about our brother Troy. We're fighting for all the men and women who have been wrongly accused that are on death row. You know, we just want justice to be fair. And, you know, we're just praying we have some relief with the parole board. We're praying that they have an open mind and grant him clemency.

HOLMES: I mentioned Desmond Tutu, former President Carter, Amnesty International, NAACP have been fighting on your brother's behalf. But the family of the officer who was killed and also the prosecutors and a lot of officers with that police department have stood by it and said we believe that Troy Davis is the person who killed this officer. But, ma'am, I guess what do you say to those folks? No doubt in your mind, that your brother is innocent. But a lot of people still want this day to come, your brother's execution day.

DAVIS: Yes, sir. Like I said, we believe in my brother's innocence. Not only me, but, you know, thousands and thousands of people all over the world because the case of Troy Anthony Davis has brought people together of different faith, different ethnicities. He has brought people together all over the world, different people fighting for his innocence, different people that believe in him.

Different people -- we've had people that have said that they didn't think that there was a God. But after his first, second, third execution, they said that, you know, God must be on your side. It's just thousands and thousands of people all over the world that have joined together in this fight. So, it's not just about a fight for Troy Davis. It's a fight for justice for all.

HOLMES: All right. Ms. Davis, thank you for taking the time. I know it's tough time for you and your family. But the family of the slain officer as well, just all sides. We shall see what happens a week and a half the execution date set.

Ms. Davis, thank you so much.

DAVIS: Thank you.

HOLMES: All right. As we get close to the top of the hour now, we're going to switch gears and we're going to talk about a medical issue -- a medical issue that will have you seeing something on Sunday that you haven't seen since 1997. That is a different quarterback starting for the Indianapolis Colts.

The good doctor, Sanjay Gupta, is in the room. He'll explain the prognosis for the superstar quarterback.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. I'm joined by the good doctor, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

And big football weekend. But we're going to be missing a piece to the NFL, Peyton Manning. Now, people are talking about this injury as something that could not just change his year but his career going forward.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's a little bit tough to say. But let me preface by saying no quarterback at least in our digging, in our reporting, we have found undergone the operation that he just had. So, quarterback obviously different muscle groups, everything you need for your throwing arm.

What we know is this, over the last 18 months or so, he's had three operations now on his neck. Two of them were done from the back, making the incision on the back and taking out bone to try and take some pressure off nerves that were giving him trouble. Obviously, they both worked for a period of time.

But then he needed an operation from the front. I don't know how well you can see this. This is a disk in between two bones, the sixth bone and seventh bone of your neck. This disk, they decided to take out. Replace it with another substance and put a titanium plate across the front of that.

HOLMES: OK.

GUPTA: It's a commonly done operation, but not, again, in quarterbacks.

One thing I'll point out quickly, that particular nerve there controls your triceps muscle. Think about that as a quarterback. Your triceps, you really need that. You have to make sure it doesn't get weak.

HOLMES: OK. What's a reasonable recovery time for this? I guess it's different. Like you said, most folks have it, are not out there trying to play professional football.

GUPTA: Well, they say they expect, and I think it's reasonable to some extent to expect this, but eight to 12 weeks before he can get back to playing. That's a long time. Five days or so, five to seven days before he's back in the gym doing all the exercises that he can do. Really focusing on this muscle group, as part of his throwing arm, make sure it's rehabbed.

HOLMES: Once he's back on the field, is the danger that repetitive motion that a quarterback has to go through, or is it going to be taking a hit and getting his neck --

(CROSSTALK)

GUPTA: It's a great question. I can tell you that there's corner backs -- you know football. So, corner backs probably take more hits than a quarterback does. Quarterbacks, we have found that have had this operation and done well. So, I think the blows and the physicality of the game is not as big a deal.

In reality, just one level he's having like this shouldn't affect his range of motion. You think about a quarterback trying to swivel and all that. He obviously needs that type of motion. I think once he's healed, I think, it should be fine. That's about eight to 12-week process again.

After that, he shouldn't really notice any changes in his mobility or, again, in the strength of his arm.

HOLMES: I know you're not his doctor, you're not in that room. But still, is this something you would tell him, just take your time. Just take this year. Don't try to rush yourself back. Just take as much time as you need.

GUPTA: You know, I talked to a neurosurgeon who talks care of a lot of football players, a neurosurgeon, operates on them, including some of the Colts. And, you know, the thing about it is you do this operation to get people back to their way of life. You know, a lot of times, these types of injuries may even heal on their own.

The reason you do surgery is that he can actually recover more quickly and get pack to his -- I mean, I might say that. I think that's going to fall on deaf ears as most professional athletes. I think that if he gets rehab and that neck fuses properly, he should be OK.

HOLMES: He should be all right.

All right. The good -- I'm always amazed to talk to you.

GUPTA: The Colts guys are keeping their fingers crossed.

HOLMES: Yes. The Super Bowl is going to be there. They had their hopes that maybe they could have a home Super Bowl and --

GUPTA: And he's the highest paid, I think, NFL player.

HOLMES: He and Tom Brady, they not tied. He said he didn't need to be the highest. You know what, just have me tie to Tom Brady. That's a good thing.

GUPTA: Yes.

HOLMES: Yes, the problems they have.

GUPTA: They got a lot invested. All right. Good to see you.

HOLMES: Good to see you, buddy. We got to do some live TV. Come in on Saturday morning for me.

GUPTA: Any time. Would you invite me sometimes? Saturday, Sunday, you name it, I'm be here for you, T.J.

HOLMES: We'll do this later.

All right. We're getting close to the top of the hour. Quick break here and we're going to be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Time again for our Political Ticker. And for that, let's join once again, our deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser standing by for us in Tampa.

What do you got?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, T.J., we're here with the CNN Express. We got a big debate here coming up Monday night. We'll talk about that in one second.

But, first, let's talk about Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state. It was just about a week ago that former Vice President Dick Cheney really seemed he was kind of trying to needle Democrats -- remember, Cheney is a Republican -- when he hinted that maybe Hillary Clinton should primary challenge President Obama next year for the Democratic nomination.

Well, our Alison Kosik up there at the Wall Street -- at the New York Stock Exchange, she spoke to Hillary Clinton this morning, asked her about that. Take a listen to what the secretary of state said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: Oh, yes, it's below zero. One of the great things about being secretary of state is I am out of politics. I am not interested in being drawn back into it by anybody. I have a big job to do and I'm honored to do it every day, representing our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: And you remember back in 2007 and '08, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, they really went at it. That was a historic battle for the Democratic nomination. Clinton bowed out after a huge long battle. Since then, these rumors, you know, they keep coming up and Hillary Clinton keeps saying, no, no, no, no.

So, there you go. Let's talk about the presidential candidates, the actual ones who are running, and those are the Republican. And, T.J., as we talked about a while ago, they're coming here. We're at the state fairgrounds right outside Tampa, Florida, the Florida state fairgrounds. That's where we're going to have, Monday night, 8:00 Eastern, our CNN Tea Party Republican presidential debate.

T.J., it's going to be a good one. YOU and I will be talking about it all weekend.

HOLMES: Of course, we will. Paul Steinhauser, also good to see you. Thank you so much there in Tampa.

To our viewers, of course, 8:00 Eastern Time, that's on Monday. The Tea Party at CNN debates.

Right now, as we get closer to the top of the hour, let me hand this over to Brooke Baldwin. She continues in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Hello to you, young lady (ph).

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Giving it to me nice and early today, T.J., we like that here.

HOLMES: A little bow on it and everything.

BALDWIN: Very nice. Thank you, my friend. Have a wonderful weekend. We'll be watching you bright and early.