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Stocks Plunge, Showdown Looms; Spending Bill Stymied Over Disaster Aid; Interview With Ralph Nader; Iran's President Speaks to U.N.; Suspicious Symbols Marked on Planes; Car Bomb in Michigan Suburbs; Mexico Twitter "Terror" Charges Dropped; Two Women Finds for Wearing Burqas; Tolls Increase in New York City by 50 Percent in One Week; Heads Up: Satellite Falling; Six Ton Satellite Could Hit Earth Friday

Aired September 22, 2011 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. It's 2:00 o'clock Eastern Time -- two hours until the closing bell on Wall Street, eight days and ten hours until the end of the fiscal year in Washington. What do they have in common? Well, money, of course -- your money. Stock markets have been on the skids around the world since the Federal Reserve came out yesterday with a sober take on the U.S. economy. The Fed did not use the word "disaster," but that's what's behind the latest political standoff that once again risks a government shutdown.

A measure to keep the government running beyond October 1st is hung up over FEMA, now badly stretched in a year of costly storms, fires, as well as floods.

We're live on both fronts with CNN's Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange and Kate Bolduan on Capitol Hill.

So, Alison, catch us up on the afternoon trading.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: All right, Fredricka.

The Dow we're watching sink to its session lows at this point. You know what? All signs are pointing to a slower economy. We're hearing economists use the "R" word again, recession.

This sell-off really started with the Fed yesterday. The Federal Reserve coming out, giving a weak outlook for the U.S. That really spooked the markets, because when people hear the Fed is worried about the economic outlook, they think, oh, we should be worried, too.

Then we got weak manufacturing reports from China and Europe. Analysts say these are the strongest signs yet that Europe is close to a recession.

Then, today, we got a new jobless claims number. They came in higher than expected. Layoffs are still obviously an issue. It speaks to the same broader economic concerns that are dragging the economy down overall.

We're also watching shares of FedEx. Right now they're falling about eight percent. That's after FedEx said the global economy is slowing. And we watch what the FedEx has to say, because it's really a good indicator.

It's a company that is considered a bellwether. It's a good indicator of the health of the overall economy, because what it does, it ships products to companies all over the world that shows whether or not business is happening.

So, overall, the bottom line with this, Fredricka, we've got a lot of bad news about the economy, but it's not just us. Europe and China as well -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Alison. Thanks so much.

All right. Let's go to Capitol Hill now. Kate Bolduan there.

And averting yet another potential shutdown? Bring us up to date.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Fredricka.

Well, they're still trying to figure -- House Republican leadership, they are still at this hour trying to figure out what to do, how to make it through this impasse. This big vote last night failed. It was -- the vote count was 195-230. And the notable number there was that 48 House Republicans defected from -- the majority of the House defected from Republicans and voted against the bill with a majority of House Democrats.

The problem that House Republican leadership has here comes on two fronts. This is a short-term spending bill. No one is really opposed to the short-term spending bill. No one wants to see the government shut down.

I've spoken to many people, and they say they don't want to see the government shut down. The problem really is the sticking point over federal disaster aid.

There is additional money for FEMA in this short-term spending bill. Democrats, they have an issue with this, because they think the money in this bill is inadequate. They want to see more money going to FEMA, and they also have a problem with the fact that Republicans are demanding that some of this money be paid for. Taking money from another program that they say is a job creator which actually helps promote more fuel-efficient vehicles to pay for part of this FEMA, money, that's their sticking point.

On the other side of the aisle, there is a big group of House Republicans -- conservative Republicans. I just spoke with one of them, Congressman Jeff Flake.

Their problem with the bill, why they voted against it, is they don't think the overall bill cuts enough spending. They want to see a bigger spending cut in this bill.

The result is we are at an impasse. They are scrambling at this hour. There's actually a meeting going on right now to try to figure out what to do.

But I'll tell you, House Speaker John Boehner, he assured reporters and trying to assure the American people that there will not be a shutdown.

Listen here to Speaker Boehner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-0H), HOUSE SPEAKER: Listen, there is no threat of a government shutdown. Let's just get this out there.

This continuing resolution was designed to be a bipartisan bill, and we had every reason to believe that our counterparts across the aisle were supportive. And once they began to see where some of our votes were, they decided to play politics and vote against disaster relief for millions of Americans who have been affected by this. We're going to meet with our members later on today and present some options and decide on a way forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: They're still working on this way forward. Both sides, Democrats, Republicans, Senate point a finger at the House. Everyone accusing each other of playing politics. Here's the key and why this is so important, we should remind our viewers.

The government runs out of money a week from this Saturday because of the previous short-term spending bill where we already had this showdown for shutdown, if you will. But another key calendar item to remember, the House and Senate are supposed to go a weeklong recess starting tomorrow. That is why we are seeing such a scramble today, so they can figure it out, so they can go on recess -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Kate Bolduan. Don't want to interrupt those vacations plans, huh? Thanks so much.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. He's a legendary advocate for the consumer and known to be a bit of a spoiler in the 2000 presidential election. Now Ralph Nader is taking his somewhat popularity with the Democrats and turning it into a call for primary challengers to run against President Barack Obama come 2012.

So what's going on here exactly?

Joining us right now to talk more about this is the man himself, Ralph Nader.

First, so let's kind of clear the air, Mr. Nader. Are you thinking about running for president?

RALPH NADER, CONSUMER ADVOCATE: No. What we are proposing -- and many people signed this letter -- is for at least six distinguished Americans with proven backgrounds on military foreign policy, labor, poverty, political reform, environment, consumer to form a slate to challenge President Obama and the Democratic Party inside the Democratic Party.

Now, when you have a slate, it isn't meant to defeat him. It's meant to hold his feet to the fire so he doesn't just run around the country on Air Force One responding to the crazed Republicans, that he talks about the major issue that the majority of this people want really talked about. Otherwise, he'll be --

WHITFIELD: Well, you said it's not to defeat him, but to hold his feet to the fire. But really, isn't the underlying mission there to defeat?

NADER: No. It's to have him adopt liberal, progressive positions. He promised in 2008 a minimum wage of $9.50 by this year, never even tried to push it. He promised Card Check. There are tens of millions of Americans, according to polls, who would like to form trade unions --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: So why don't you instead say let's have a discussion, let's have a meeting with the president, let's hold his feet to the fire in that respect, as opposed to doing this months before reelection? Because it certainly does seem like then it is to try to unseat this incumbent president.

NADER: Yes. It will be over by May. It's basically a five-or-six- month effort by a half a dozen distinguished Americans who will make sure that the issues of concentrated power and abuse and corporate control over our government and job-draining foreign trade agreements and tax reform are really discussed in front of millions of people.

Your station has nothing to cover in the Democratic primary. You've been covering all the Republican candidates. They've been getting their views across. But CNN and C-SPAN, they have nothing to cover.

WHITFIELD: Well, the president is covered on a daily basis, so that's actually not even really true.

NADER: No, no, no. We're talking about campaign issues. You cover the president responding to the Republicans and doing his White House thing, but not responding to people whose issues are ignored by him.

WHITFIELD: Well, one would argue that's still part of the coverage of the White House and questioning the president, whether it be on the campaign trail or whether it be about White House business.

Let's talk about this letter. I want to read just a portion of the letter that you were just talking about, saying, "Dear Colleagues: In an uncontested Democratic Party, President Obama will never have to justify his decision to bail out Wall Street's most profitable firms while failing to push for effective prosecution of the criminal behavior that triggered the recession, or his failure to push for real financial reform. He will not to have defend his decision to extend the Bush-era tax cuts nor justify his acquiescence to Republican extortion during the debt ceiling negotiations."

So, this letter, while you're asking for those to sign on, you're proposing this slate of six, who do you have in mind who will be able to better address these issues?

NADER: Well, the letter has been going out to about 200 people. And we can't disclose their names because they will be immediately pounced on by the Democratic National Committee. And they have a right of privacy. But once they start coming forward, their names will be made public.

I mean, full Medicare for all. I can think of three or four very distinguished physicians, people who have testified and written about it -- David Himmelstein, for example, from Harvard, and Quentin Young (ph) from Chicago, who was a good friend of Barack Obama.

But what we need to do is basically say, do we want to black out all of these major issues that poll very well? Many of them are majority issues. Like, we've got to do something about the bloated Pentagon budget. We've got to do something about speculation tax on Wall Street, a sales tax like we all to have pay, six percent, but someone who buys $100 million of Exxon derivatives doesn't pay a penny today.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk about the politics at hand.

When you look at the panel of Republican contenders, you've been quoted as saying that you like someone very much who is not even up there -- Sarah Palin. Why?

NADER: I didn't say I like her. I said she has made several speeches, very little reported, focusing on big business power and Wall Street, its control over Washington, which she calls the political class, the concentration of power against small business.

There isn't anyone else in the Republican primary, with the possible exception of Ron Paul, who is talking about big business controlling our political economy and our government in Washington. And she ought to be commended for that.

WHITFIELD: And why is Ron Paul appealing to you?

NADER: Well, he wants to get out of these wars overseas. He wants to bring the soldiers back. He wants to cut the bloated military budget. He wants to change some of the anti-civil liberty provisions of the Patriot Act.

He hates corporate welfare and all these bailouts of Wall Street crooks. So that's pretty good. That's a good start. He ought to get more attention instead of just 10 times more attention being given to Michele Bachmann.

WHITFIELD: So you assemble this core, this panel of people that you think would be a mighty force within the Democratic Party, or to challenge President Obama. How do you see the next 12 months or so then shaping up?

NADER: Well, once they step forward, they form their own slate. I'm just trying to stimulate it with 45 other people who signed this letter.

Full text is on SinglePayerAction.org if you'd like the full text, SinglePayerAction.org.

Then it's up to them. There are only about 20 primaries, Fredricka, and it will be over quickly. It will start in Iowa, go to New Hampshire, do a number of primaries.

But, you know, there's an old saying of Daniel Patrick Moynihan when he said, "What is not discussed will not be advanced." And so all these subjects that a lot of people in this country think should be publicly aired and publicly talked about will be muted and ignored if he perpetuates a one-man Democratic primary. It's not the American way to avoid debates.

WHITFIELD: Ralph Nader, thanks so much for your time.

NADER: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Next, an in-depth look at the new face of poverty in America, mothers forced to go without food so that their children can eat.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All this week we're going in depth on poverty in America. Today we're focusing on low-income mothers who oftentimes don't know if they have enough food to feed their kids. It's a sad reality that these women deal with every day.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick has more on this very tough situation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIANNA GAINES, "WITNESS TO HUNGER": God is good, God is grace. And we thank you for our food. Amen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God is good, God is grace. And we thank you for our food. Amen.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you want to know what hunger looks like --

GAINES: You want some more of my grits?

FEYERICK: -- look at it through the eyes of Tianna Gaines and her young family.

(on camera): Do you know pretty much what time of the month the food is going to go on clearance?

GAINES: Oh, I know by the time of day it goes on clearance. I have some fresh vegetables down here.

FEYERICK (voice-over): She buys on sale, in bulk, with coupons and always with purpose.

GAINES: I keep a lot of oatmeal, because sometimes if thing get tough, you can always eat oatmeal for a dinner or for lunch or something like that.

FEYERICK: Gaines, who works two jobs, is among the nearly 49 million Americans struggling to put enough food on the table.

GAINES: Do you know how that feels as a parent to tell your kids that there's not enough to eat?

FEYERICK (on camera): What is the hungriest you've ever been in your life? And how do you describe that?

GAINES: Horrible, degrading, miserable, stressful, disrespected.

FEYERICK (voice-over): The scientific term for hunger is "food insecurity." And since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began keeping track in the mid-1990s, it has now reached an all-time high.

MARIANA CHILTON, DREXEL UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: When someone is food insecure, you're getting at the worry and the anxiety of not being able to afford enough food. You may have enough food for the day, but you're worried about tomorrow or you're worried about next week.

FEYERICK: Mariana Chilton created the project "Witness to Hunger." Gaines is one of more than 40 women who photographed their struggles, hoping to expose hunger and poverty.

There is also Jean Culver, a single mother of two young boys from Pennsylvania.

(on camera): Are your boys aware that you may not be eating because you want to make sure they're fed?

JEAN CULVER, "WITNESS TO HUNGER": They're not aware of that, but they do get the fact that mommy doesn't have enough money to get them what they want.

FEYERICK (voice-over): She snapped this photo at the end of the month.

CULVER: That was all I had. And so many things that needed to be done with that changes. And it's just overbearing. It's hard to handle. It's really hard to handle.

FEYERICK: This picture of the dilapidated kitchen was taken by 24- year-old Barbara Izquirrdo, a mother of two.

BARBARA IZQUIRRDO, "WITNESS TO HUNGER": I sent the picture because I wanted to prove that regardless of what you see on the outside, you never really know what's going on behind closed doors.

FEYERICK: Even families receiving the maximum amount of food stamps will need about $206 more a month to buy the minimum amount of food as defined by the USDA.

Izquirrdo, like the others, never thought should have to choose between paying bills or buying food.

IZQUIRRDO: For a long time, I felt like food was a privilege. I've been to the point where it's like, oh, my God, I ate today. That's great. And no one should feel like that.

FEYERICK: Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Philadelphia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And one of the goals of these women is to help lawmakers better understand the challenges of hunger and, for that matter, poverty as a whole. Tianna Gaines was asked about the impact of the recession on her family. And she says, for all intents and purposes, her mom lived through a recession, she's living through a recession, and her kids will, too, she says. She's trying to change that.

Up next, being among the Top Ten CNN Heroes changed everything for him, changes that include "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." We catch up with one of last year's heroes, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Today we're revealing our Top Ten CNN Heroes for 2011. We're talking about everyday people changing the world like Dan Wallrath, who was recognized last year.

We now want to welcome him back. Dan, joining us from Houston, to give us an idea of how today's announcement could change the lives of this year's CNN Heroes.

So you were a Top Ten CNN Hero. What has that year been like since being given that distinction?

DAN WALLRATH, CNN HERO: Oh, this last year has been amazing. I never realized how much effect that this would have on our organization, but I was sitting here last year at this time, and it took us five years to get nine homes done, and now we're sitting at 31 homes.

And we've done homes in New York, Tennessee, Kansas, Illinois, North Carolina, and it has just been amazing. And CNN has been amazing. They followed us and reported on us, and it's just been incredible.

WHITFIELD: So what kind of advice would you like to give to the Top Ten Heroes of 2011, what they should expect?

WALLRATH: Well, I talked to one of the top ten this morning, Taryn. She has the American Widows Project, and I visited with her. She is from San Antonio, and I've been visiting with her some, and I talked to her this morning. And I told her one of the biggest things I could advise her of is, the night of the event, I said, "Just be sure to take it all in," because it's 100 times more than what I ever envisioned. And it was just a super event. That night was just amazing, and it literally changed our lives. It literally changed our lives.

WHITFIELD: During past ceremonies when -- and it was down to shedding the light on the stories of all the top ten, and then naming that one Hero of the Year, you could look in the audience and see people crying whether they were a designated hero or whether they were folks there to enjoy the evening.

What was that moment like for you to hear about the efforts that so many other people have made to try to make a difference in other people's lives?

WALLRATH: When we first got to L.A. last year, and we were able to meet the other top ten heroes, it was so amazing to talk to those individuals and find out. One thing we all had in common was we all had this passion to help others.

And the stories that I got to share and they shared with me about their passion and the people that they helped was just amazing. It was just amazing.

And the winner last year was so deserving. And we pray for her every day and what she does over there to save those young girls. And it's literally a life-changing experience.

WHITFIELD: All right. Great advice to those top ten heroes of 2011. We know you'll be watching and you'll be cheering them on as well.

Dan Wallrath, thanks so much, and congratulations on all your efforts and your organization being able to blossom over the year.

WALLRATH: Well, thank you so much. We thank everybody at CNN. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And it is all in your hands at home. Go to CNNHeroes.com now to vote for the most inspirational hero, in your view. You can vote on your mobile or on online at CNNHeroes.com. Like Dan Wallrath, all 10 will be honored live at "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," hosted by our own Anderson Cooper come Sunday, December 11th.

All right. Up next, a Southwest Airlines investigation of suspicious symbols marking their planes. You don't want to miss this one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, it's 31 minutes after the hour. Time to get you caught up on some stories that you might have missed.

All eyes we're on the United Nations today to hear Iran's president address the general assembly. And he quickly prompted French, British and other delegates to walk out of his speech after saying the U.S. government views Zionism as sacred and European countries still use the holocaust after six decades as the excuse to pay ransom to Zionists, his words.

Southwest Airlines is working with federal and local officials to investigate suspicious tagging incidents involving some of its passenger jets in Los Angeles. As you can see in this video, a white marking is visible on the tail of one of the airlines' planes there.

An airline spokesperson could not comment on the number of planes vandalized. Where the incidents were reported or give specific details about what the markings actually were or what they mean. We'll bring you updates on the story as it evolves.

In Michigan, a $10,000 reward is now being offered for any information can lead to an arrest in this car bombing. It happened in Monroe, Michigan about 40 miles south of Detroit on Tuesday.

A well known divorce attorney and his two sons had just left a football practice when their car exploded. All three were seriously injured. Listen to the father's 911 call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: Monroe county, 911.

ERIK CHAPPELL (via telephone): My car blew up with two kids. You've been called already, but I'm telling you what's going on with the boys. OK, I've got two significant leg injuries. One to his bottom left leg and one to his left buttocks that are chewed up pretty good. OK?

UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: OK.

CHAPPELL: They are bleeding. I need someone here now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Wow! Both children and their father are now in stable condition. Federal investigators say the bomb was a sophisticated device that had a timing mechanism.

Two people accused of posting false rumors on social media about school attacks in eastern Mexico walked free yesterday after authorities dropped terrorism charges against them. The person spent nearly a month behind bars and the attorney calls his client's release, quote, "a success of society."

All right, now to France where the first court issued fines over the controversial French burqa ban were handed down this morning. One woman was fined $162 and another was fined $108.

Critics of the ban argue the government has no business telling people what clothes to wear or how to practice their religion. One of the women fined today told CNN that said she sought the punishment so that she could take her fight to a higher court. A New Jersey resident has had it and is backing up his frustration with a little action. The 30-year-old man filed a civil complaint in federal court over toll increases at New York City bridges and tunnels.

As of Sunday, commuters now pay $12 to cross the Hudson River. A 50 percent increase from last week. The man claims the tolls are an abuse of power and violates his rights because he is poor.

He also said the tolls were increased unfairly because there were no public hearings. The port authority said it would not comment on the ongoing litigation.

All right, will you be the one to be hit by chunks of that falling satellite? I hope not. We'll tell you what the odds are and show you a really cool animation of what is likely to happen. Hopefully no one will get hit. Coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, let's talk about that falling stuff in the sky, my goodness. Folks somewhere in North America, maybe somewhere in South America, they're the ones who are looking up and making sure no giant debris, pieces of this satellite might fall, you know, on their heads.

Chad Myers, keeping a close watch on all this. Have they narrowed the scope now?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, they have. And actually they think that it's going to be very close to the northern part of South America. So if you're maybe Mexico, South Florida, possibly, you might look down at the very, very far south in the sky, really low on the horizon. You may see something as it re-enters. Now this is still plus or minus.

WHITFIELD: There's a lot of water around those two.

MYERS: This is still plus or minus nine hours, but they moved it ahead about one hour compared to what it was yesterday. So let me tell you what we're talking about here. You know, you've been talking about this thing and how the entry and how the whole, it goes like this. Then the next hour it goes like this and it covers the whole world eventually.

But as they predict the 6:07 p.m. re-entry tomorrow evening, this will take it right over northern South America. Now if it is late by a couple of hours, even three or four hours, it could be on this line, which would take it over North America. But, let's say it does go right over the northern sections there. We're talking about Colombia and we're talking about northern parts of Brazil possibly. Are there people there?

Here's where there are people. Here's a map of where the lights are at night. There are people here. So someone actually may get to look at it. Maybe get to see it come down, 26 pieces will survive. Surviving parts made of titanium, stainless steel and beryllium. Nothing really that's going to hurt you physically if you don't get hit by it.

We're not talking about things that are -- is it dangerous? Is it radioactive? All that kind of stuff. The impact mass though, 1,100 pounds. The biggest piece, 300 pounds and that will leave a mark. About the size of a refrigerator as it starts to come down. Then it will ball up. It will melt in on itself and they don't expect it to be all that big. But 300 pounds is still pretty big.

WHITFIELD: That's very significant. Let's hope it does melt down and crash because, you know, 300 pounds. That velocity coming down, something tell me you can't run fast enough. You may not really see it.

MYERS: You knows, that's going to be cool.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I think it will be really cool as long as it hits the water and I'm on shore.

MYERS: I want it to hit some kind of piece of land so we can pick it up.

WHITFIELD: OK. All right, Mr. Explorer. You go right at it. Thanks so much, Chad.

All right, in taking the lead, there's hope on the jobs horizon at least a little bit. Toys "R" Us announced today that it will hire over 40,000 people across the country as it gears up for the 2011 holiday season. Toys "R" Us started hiring this week for retail positions such as toy demonstrators and sales associates. Not a bad gig playing with all the toys all day.

The toy seller is also hiring for 10 distribution centers including its newest facility in Nevada. Hiring will continue through November.

All right, up next, the amazing story of an injured soldier who risked everything to save dozens of lives.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: During an intense firefight in Afghanistan, Staff Sergeant Robert Gutierrez was shot. His left lung collapsed. Bleeding from his mouth and nose, he called in air strikes and walk over a mile to save dozens of his fellow troops. For his act of bravery, he has been awarded the Air Force Combat Cross. CNN's Barbara Starr reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Air Force Staff Sergeant Robert Gutierrez was never going to give in.

STAFF SGT. ROBERT GUTIERREZ, MILITARY HERO: I don't have time to sit there and die. I told myself, I'm going to get up. I'm going to fight. I'm going to kill them. I'm going to do what I have to do. If it happens, if I bleed out and die, it happens, but they're going to go first.

STARR: Operating with his Special Forces team in Afghanistan, Gutierrez' job was to call in air strikes if they came under attack. This time, it was bad, in a village, Taliban firing at them from all directions. But what happened to Robert Gutierrez would have done in most men.

GUTIERREZ: I can't breathe. I can't breathe. My words were getting cut short.

STARR: Gutierrez was shot. His left lung collapsed. He was bleeding.

GUTIERREZ: At that point, I'm just gasping for small bursts of air.

STARR: Crawling towards Gutierrez, this Special Forces soldier. The military will only let us say his name is Mike. A sergeant first class, he is the unit's medic.

Under fire, he will save Gutierrez, so Gutierrez can save them all. Mike use as long needle to re-inflate Gutierrez' collapsed lung. Gutierrez can breathe again.

GUTIERREZ: Excuse me. I'm sorry. I just, I owe a lot to him.

STARR: But the entire team is in deep trouble. The team leader and two others are wounded. Finally, Gutierrez has enough breath to radio a pilot overhead.

GUTIERREZ: He just says, there is a sizable force on the east side of the compound and they're all armed. They're all coming up towards your guys' location.

STARR: The plane can't bomb. The U.S. troops are too close by. So Gutierrez still bleeding calls in two F-16s. They fly in very low and fast in a show of forceful then an A-10 comes through, firing its guns. The team then walks wounded and exhausted, for nearly two miles to get picked up by a Medivac helicopter.

GUTIERREZ: I refuse to die out there.

GENERAL NORTON A. SCHWARTZ, AIR FORCE CHIEF OF STAFF: The secretary has approved the award of the Air Force Cross to Staff Sergeant Robert Gutierrez.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: Staff Sergeant Gutierrez said he is 98 percent recovered, and he can't wait to get back out to the front lines once again. Barbara Starr, CNN, The Pentagon.

WHITFIELD: All right, two Fullerton California police officers now face the possibility of life as convicted felons. One of them charged with murder in the death of a homeless man. We talk to the victim's dad next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, we've been closely following the case of a homeless man in Fullerton, California, who witnesses say was beaten by police officers. After two agonizing months, Kelly Thomas' family may have a clear picture of what, how, and more importantly, who allegedly beat their brother, friend and son.

Just 24 hours ago, we were just learning about these two Fullerton police officers, Officer Manuel Ramos and Corporal Jay Cicinelli. The Orange County district attorney said the officers knew Kelly was homeless and mentally ill when they responded to reports of a man breaking into cars on July 5th.

But the DA said the officers beat Kelly Thomas for nearly 10 minutes. The DA says Officer Ramos set into motion events that would kill Kelly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY RACKAUCKAS, ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: He lifted his fists to Kelly Thomas in front of his face so he could see them. And he said, now, see my fists? They're getting ready to f you up. That declaration was the turning point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Officer Cicinelli is now free on bail after he pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter and use of excessive force. Officer Ramos is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. He is still waiting for his hearing and remains in custody on $1 million bail.

Kelly's father, Ron Thomas, joins us now from Los Angeles along with the family's attorney, Garo Mardirossian. Good to see both of you gentlemen.

So Ron, you know, when you heard of the words, second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, use of excessive force, what went through your mind?

RON THOMAS, KELLY THOMAS' FATHER: Well, I was elated. Just a huge feeling of relief came over me. Very, very happy with the DA's decision.

WHITFIELD: What are you hoping next in this process?

THOMAS: Well, the next thing in the process, of course, there will be an arraignment on Monday. We'll follow that through and see what happens there.

But more importantly, what I'm going to insist that happens, is that the other four officers face administrative actions, through the police department, through the city.

And it's my goal, my personal goal. If warranted, to have him at least fired to start with. WHITFIELD: OK, so initial reports that there were six officers that were involved in all. These are the two officers that right now are facing charges. What is the situation with the other four who allegedly were involved, Garo?

GARO MARDIROSSIAN, REPRESENTS THE KELLY THOMAS FAMILY: Yes, Ron and I met with the DA and let me just praise him and applaud him for doing what he has done in bringing these charges, which are much deserved by these two officers.

And you know, we're too quick to criticize our public servants on the right occasion, when they do the right thing, here we must applaud them for their efforts and here Tony Rackaukas has done the right thing.

Now as to the other four officers, he told us that he looked at all the evidence that was before him at this time although he did see the other four officers involved in some part of the beating. He thought that there just wasn't enough there to get in front of a jury and get a 100 percent conviction.

On these other two, however, Ramos and Cicinelli, he was very confident that because of the audio tapes that are on the bodies of these officers. They have these VARs that record them. When they put them together their recordings with their video, the surveillance video, it is very obvious.

When a man puts on gloves and points those gloves to the victim and says these are going to f you up, that there was murder in his mind and that -- plus all the video evidence.

WHITFIELD: Are you saying there is no disputing that the other four officers were there. That the contention, the bone of contention however is it is unclear what roles these four other officers may have played?

MARDIROSSIAN: You're exactly absolutely right. The other officers were there. At the very least, they didn't take steps to prevent these rogue lawless officers from beating Kelly to death. But at the very most they took part in some of the beating, but it is unclear as to whether they knew that Kelly was not resisting or that Kelly was someone they should not be striking.

Because the argument might be that the DA thought, might be made, is that when somebody like Kent Hampton showed up and he put cuffs on him and may have struck Kelly once or twice, he thought he was merely carrying forward what the other officers had begun, which was maybe a lawful arrest.

He was not there early enough to see the confrontation. To see this guy, this Ramos, who is a large man, put on these latex gloves and threatened Kelly with death and then execute on his threat.

WHITFIELD: All right, we heard the DA spell out the charges then soon after we heard the Fullerton Police Department with this statement. Let's listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HAMILTON, INTERIM CHIEF, FULLERTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: We respect the decision of District Attorney Tony Rackaukas. The Fullerton Police Department will continue to cooperate with the Orange County District Attorney's office in their investigation.

All the officers involved in the Thomas case will remain on administrative leave. This has been a tragic event for Kelly Thomas, the Thomas family, the community, the police department and for all those involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So Mr. Thomas, do you feel at all comforted by those words from the police department?

THOMAS: No, not at all. I've talk with Kevin Hamilton many, many, many times. To keep them on paid administrative leave is ludicrous. Does that mean the other four? Does that mean all six?

It is kind of unclear at this point. So that's why I'm driving it forward to make sure something happens to these other four administratively, at least. I'm not settling for anything here except complete justice for my son.

MARDIROSSIAN: And it would be ludicrous to have these officers that are charged with murder and involuntary manslaughter to be on paid leave. They shouldn't be paid at all.

WHITFIELD: Do you trust that the district attorney's office will thoroughly be able to investigate what indeed happened that night?

THOMAS: Well, I feel very comfortable with it. I've worked with the DA's lead investigator from day one. I think he has done a fantastic job. Speaking with Mr. Rackaukas and his staff, I have a lot of confidence in them right now.

WHITFIELD: All right, and Garo?

MARDIROSSIAN: Well, you know, this is going to be a long ordeal. This trial isn't just come around a corner in 60 days. The defendant can make it happen quickly because he has speedy trial rights.

But we're afraid because he has a lawyer, who is going to get paid by the police union, get paid by the hour, they're going to stretch this out for six months, a year, year and a half. So it's going to be a marathon.

And we believe that this DA is up for the task and he will get convictions on these officers because the evidence is just so overwhelming. If they weren't wearing badges, they would have been behind bars 75 days ago instead of just yesterday when formal charges were brought.

WHITFIELD: Garo Mardirossian, Ron Thomas, thank you, gentlemen, for your time.

MARDIROSSIAN: Thank you.

THOMAS: Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: We'll have much more straight ahead right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, time for our news hot off the ticker. Let's check in with our Paul Steinhauser. So Paul, what's going on?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Fred, let's start with Ron Paul, the congressman from Texas. He is making his third run for the White House. He seems to be doing something that a lot of the other presidential candidates are not doing.

He is actually spending money to put ads up on broadcast television, cable networks as well. Take a look at this ad. It went out today, starting today in Florida where that presidential debate is tonight. It's going to run in all those early voting states as well.

In the ad, it touts that Ron Paul has been a friend of veterans. It also points out that the congressman and doctor is a veteran himself. His campaign manager says, you know what, they're going to be spending over $1 million to run this ad.

You know what Rick Perry, the Texas governor, and former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, they have not really been putting paid ads on television. So Ron Paul, going where others are not going right now, Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK, and so let's talk about Rick Perry. He may be leading the national polls, but he is way down in one state.

STEINHAUSER: Yes, and that state is New Hampshire. Two polls out within the last 14 hours. One came out late last night, another early this afternoon. Take a look at one of them.

This is from Suffolk University and we're talking about New Hampshire. This is Republicans and independents who will probably vote in the primary there. Look at that, Mitt Romney, way up there at 41 percent in this poll.

Ron Paul, second place at 14, Perry at 8 percent. In the other poll, Perry was in second place, but still the story is Mitt Romney in Massachusetts, remember, he was the governor of neighboring Massachusetts.

He was very popular doing very well in New Hampshire. It's a different story in Iowa and South Carolina. All these states, of course, so crucial in the battle for the GOP nomination, but Fred, you know what? These polls change. Things can change and the polls can change.

WHITFIELD: Great, on a dime. And you know, there is a debate this evening and another one soon after. So we know that the polls may be impacted by the results, the outcomes of those as well. Paul Steinhauser, always good to see you. Thanks so much.

STEINHAUSER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks for being with me this afternoon. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. More of the NEWSROOM straight ahead with Brooke Baldwin. Brooke --