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Amanda Knox Appeal Continues; Satellite Threatens Earth; The Real Face of Poverty; Senate Dems Reject House GOP Spending Plan; Celebration of Reagan, With Pigskin; 1985 Bears to Visit White House; Missing Moon Rock Found; $16 Muffin Response; Missing Utah Mom

Aired September 23, 2011 - 16:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go, hour two. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Solyndra executives stonewalling Congress and remaining silent over this investigation and how they blew through millions of dollars of your taxpayer money before filing for bankruptcy.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

(voice-over): Top executives for a solar panels company take the Fifth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I invoke the privilege afforded to me by the Fifth Amendment.

BALDWIN: And the United States now in the strike zone for that falling satellite.

Think of the victim's parents, that is the plea from prosecutors in the Amanda Knox murder case in Italy. Will a jury set this American college student free?

Paycheck to paycheck, meal to meal, this former teacher and father of four was a member of the middle class, but more and more Americans are hitting and passing the poverty line in this down economy. I will take you grocery shopping with one family who knows this all too well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I pay my bills. It is very difficult.

BALDWIN: Then, was Albert Einstein wrong about E equal MC squared? A new experiment that will challenge what you learned in school.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Hi there. Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

(NEWS BREAK)

BALDWIN: And now this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MICHELLE RHEE, FORMER CHANCELLOR, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS: We need to see radical changes, because the outcomes for kids that are happening right now are robbing them of their futures.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Today, President Obama trying to shake things up by revamping, changing major, central provisions of the law No Child Left Behind.

Michelle Rhee, once the chancellor of D.C. public schools, we will get her thoughts on his plan next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right. Just into us here, we have just gotten this picture. Take a good look at it.

Two of those three American hikers who spent 26 months in that Iranian prison became officially engaged today. Shane Bauer had proposed to Sarah Shourd while they were in Iran's notorious Evin prison, but today perhaps a little bit more romantic for them, not in prison, this traditional engagement in Oman.

Bauer and friend Josh Fattal were released just a couple of days ago, running off that plane. Who could forget that, that moment? Shourd was released just a year ago for medical reasons.

Now to this. President Obama, he is now today revamping some central provision in the No Child Left Behind law, remember, the signature education bill that the Bush administration backed some 10 years ago to fix flaws in the American education system. Well, today, the president is making some big changes himself.

He says states can opt out of those key requirements that will give them flexibility in how they deal with troubled schools. And under these new guidelines, states can drop the requirement that students must show proficiency in reading and math by the year 2014 and that states will then have to have accountability standards, but they will not treat all schools the same.

The president says parents, you, too, have to get involved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We all know that schools can't do it alone. As parents, the task begins at home. It begins by turning off the TV and helping with homework, and encouraging a love of learning from the very start of our children's lives. And I'm speaking from experience now.

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: Malia and Sasha would often rather be watching "American Idol" or "SpongeBob," but Michelle and I know that our first job, our first responsibility, is instilling a sense of learning, a sense of a love of learning in our kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Michelle Rhee knows a thing or two about love of learning. She joins me from Nashville to talk about the changes here to this law.

And as former chancellor of the D.C. public school system, a huge system, I know you know the law very well, but I just want to get your quick first impression to the changes today. Is it a good idea?

RHEE: Well, this is a tough one.

No Child Left Behind did some very important things in terms of bringing important data to light, making sure that there was strict accountability systems, but it also had some very significant flaws that had to be addressed.

So, given the fact that Congress hasn't been making a lot of progress on this, I think that the waivers are a way potentially for states to have their issues addressed, but the devil will be in the details, and the question really is, can the waivers be given and schools, especially failing schools, still be held accountable and expected to not just fritter around the edges, but really implement some very tough reforms?

BALDWIN: We will talk about the waivers in a second, but I did actually speak to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan not too long ago. And you know he used to run Chicago public schools, and here is what he told me.

RHEE: Right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNE DUNCAN, U.S. EDUCATION SECRETARY: When I ran the Chicago public schools, I had to come to this building and meet in my conference room and beg the government and beg our Department of Education for the right to tutor my children after school. About 25,000 children wanted to work harder, wanted to have additional tutoring. Washington did not want to give me that flexibility. That made no sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, Michelle, I don't know if you can empathize or not. You ran D.C. schools. From a superintendent or chancellor perspective, do you agree? Would it give those folks more flexibility at the state and local level, and is that a good thing?

RHEE: Well, again, it really does vary from the situation to situation.

In some ways, the accountability structures that No Child Left Behind has in place gave us the cover that we needed to be able to implement really aggressive reforms at the school level. You know, it said if a school is failing, that you have to implement one of four restructuring options. And those were really aggressive options.

So it ensured that we were being as tough as we could be. On the other hand, like the secretary was saying, there are other pieces of it that you -- a local jurisdiction wants some flexibility around. So the question is, can you give flexibility, but at the same time hold the states accountable for reaching high targets and high goals?

BALDWIN: I know you say that the devil is in the details with regard to these waivers. We should point out that all 50 states, they have the permission to apply for these waivers. Help parents out there wondering and sort of scratching their heads over these changes. Help them understand what these waivers could mean to their son or daughter.

RHEE: I think this is the interesting thing about the whole debate.

In our minds, you know, Congress couldn't get this done. They haven't moved on this. They haven't made a ton of progress on it, and so what we are seeing at the new organization that I have founded, Students First, is that parents are saying, OK, we want to make sure our schools are great, and so we are taking a very grassroots approach to it.

We have over 600,000 members in our organization, and we have pushed these kinds of changes in states like Nevada and Michigan and Ohio, Tennessee, Indiana, to make sure that in a very bipartisan way, we were providing parents with exactly what they wanted, which was strong accountability, making sure we had great teachers, but doing it in a way that made sense for the local jurisdictions.

So, I think, at the end of the day, if we can't get this done at the national level, we are going to have to get it done at the grassroots level.

BALDWIN: Do it yourselves.

Michelle Rhee, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

RHEE: Yes, absolutely.

BALDWIN: And then paycheck to paycheck, meal to meal, I know a lot of you can relate. I got a lot of tweets from you last night here.

I went out last night after the show. I went grocery shopping with this former teacher, father of four. He's out of work. He told me he has definitely been looking for the work the last two years, how he makes ends meet and how he grocery shops in a down economy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWN: All week here on CNN, in our in depth series, we have been looking at poverty in America. And you know, there are more than 40 million people living in poverty, watching every single dollar come and go.

And we have been sharing a lot of the statistics, the numbers, the minutia with you. But today, I just really wanted to put a face on this story.

Epsilon Taylor, he has been looking for work for two years, after being laid off from his social working job. He now gets food stamps to help feed his adopted kids, one in fact plays football in high school. So, you can imagine they all like to eat. They all go shopping together and watching every price tag, every pound, every ounce of food.

And last night, I tagged along.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: How much do you typically spend?

(voice-over): Epsilon Taylor is a single father of four adopted children.

(on camera): So, I'll grab a cart.

(voice-over): He was a teacher, and then a social worker, until he got laid off two years ago. He's been searching for work ever since.

(on camera): What first?

(voice-over): Without steady income, Epsilon and his two remaining high school-aged sons Christopher and Mark get by on limited state assistance and food stamps, which makes grocery shopping a challenge.

(on camera): We like that sign, buy one and get one free.

EPSILON TAYLOR, LAID OFF TWO YEARS AGO: Yes, we need to start there.

BALDWIN (voice-over): On each trip, the Taylors bring an envelope, stuffed with coupons and a layout of their weekly meals, no splurging most of the time.

TAYLOR: I have the menu whereby we won't look around and wonder what we are going to cook for a day, we never. It's organized.

BALDWIN (on camera): You're focused. You know what you're going to buy the second you walk in.

TAYLOR: We know what we're buying. Exactly.

We need to get some lettuce tomorrow, because we are making a green salad, because it's on the menu for this week, OK? The cabbage is high this week. Usually we get the 10-pound bag of potatoes, but they don't have them on sale here, so we move on.

BALDWIN: How much of the food that you buy doesn't spoil, most of it?

TAYLOR: One percent.

BALDWIN: Why are you laughing?

TAYLOR: One percent, because he is not going to let it spoil. (LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN (voice-over): Epsilon is known in his community for being an educator, earning him a nickname.

TAYLOR: As a matter of fact, the young man, our neighbor, started about six years ago called me "teach," and it has expanded now. So, they all call me "teach."

BALDWIN: And now, he is teaching his sons smart shopping habits -- starting with never buy food at eye level.

(on camera): Why are we looking down, Epsilon?

TAYLOR: Because this is where they usually keep the cheaper brands on the lower shelves, this is why we look down. We glance them all, but, yes, the trick is down.

BALDWIN: So, store brand, less expensive is down.

TAYLOR: Less expensive.

BALDWIN (voice-over): Another money saver, buy store brand.

TAYLOR: They like tacos, so if you want tacos --

BALDWIN (on camera): Taco night.

TAYLOR: Yes, taco night, get that, Mark. You see, he knows.

BALDWIN: Food lion.

TAYLOR: He knows to get the food lion, and if we can find a cheaper one spaghetti, and that is $1.79 and $1.69, but $1.39, here we go right here.

BALDWIN (voice-over): There are limitations with the food stamps.

(on camera): So, there are items that you cannot buy with food stamps, such as --

TAYLOR: Such as paper products, laundry detergent, soap, dishwashing detergent. Mark, did you find chicken on sale? Well, we can't buy anything down that aisle. That's taboo.

BALDWIN: Off-limit aisle.

TAYLOR: We'll get the ham and cheddar.

BALDWIN (voice-over): The Taylor boys normally get their school lunches subsidized by the state of Georgia, Epsilon says, because 1,500 other schoolchildren had submitted applications in their county alone, theirs has yet to be processed.

TAYLOR: They get free lunch normally, but today they had to charge them. BALDWIN (on camera): And they got to charge for how long?

TAYLOR: They don't know. They just told me to keep calling.

BALDWIN: This is the time when you hope you are not spending more than you have got.

TAYLOR: You hope exactly right.

BALDWIN (voice-over): While they wait for the numbers to crunch, this father of four asked Christopher about his three house rules.

(on camera): Say it again, Christopher? God, education and common sense.

TAYLOR: Yes. We always put God first. You must. You will get an education, and once you get that, (INAUDIBLE) will come associated with it.

BALDWIN: Says the "teach."

TAYLOR: Says the teach. Those are my principles.

BALDWIN: So, I know you guys are out of your allotment for food stamps this month, so allow CNN -- will you allow CNN to pay for your groceries today?

TAYLOR: We appreciate CNN so very much.

BALDWIN: Here we go.

(voice-over): Although survival has been a hard lesson for the Taylors.

TAYLOR: I pay my bills and I may have $100, $150 left out of the month, and it's very difficult.

BALDWIN: Difficult, but yet not impossible with his boys who help "teach" keep count and offer him inspiration.

(on camera): How much do you love these boys?

TAYLOR: Words cannot say. They are my life. Those are my boys. Those are my babies and my only request is for them to be able to self-sufficient one day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Epsilon, thanks for letting us tag along and by the way, he says he is nervous for Christmas shopping, his boys want laptops. He doesn't think he's going to be able to swing it this year.

Coming up, are we looking for another shutdown with regard to the government?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Listen, there's no threat of the government shutdown. Let's just get this out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The House passes a temporary federal spending bill, but the Senate rejects it. Can anything be done to avoid some sort of shutdown? We'll get a live report coming up on that.

And then, could it be that Albert Einstein, the genius, wrong about E equals MC squared? A new experience will challenge what you might have learned in high school.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: OK. So before we talk politics, I just have to say thank you, so many of you have already sent me tweets within seconds after that piece airing about Epsilon and his sons buying groceries, clipping coupons. And I have one tweet, I won't say who you are because you asked me not to, but you say, "How can I get laptops to those two boys?"

I knew the viewers here on the show would come through. We'll get you that information stat.

Meantime, politics, let's get you the Political Ticker update with Dan Lothian at the White House.

Dan, it looks like this government, we'll call it a shutdown showdown getting heated, huh?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And, you know, it seems like we were just hear earlier in the year, that threat again of a shutdown. Now, there's an impasse, both the chambers have to come to some kind of agreement. But while you have the House that did pass its version, the Senate has rejected it, and, of course, the Senate which is led by the Democrats hoping to pass its version on Monday.

Meanwhile, both sides are pointing finger at each other.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

REP. ERIC CANTOR (R-VA), MAJORITY LEADER: This is why the people don't like Washington. We got the money in the bill. It's there in a responsible manner. Let's get the money to the people that need it.

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: The emotions are running high this week, because these are important issues. That's why I'm calling on my colleagues, Senator McConnell, Speaker Boehner, to take the weekend, work with us, cool off, and let us work together to find common ground.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

LOTHIAN: Now, one of the sticking points in the House version, they want $1 billion in disaster funding to be offset with cuts of $1.5 billion to a loan program for automakers.

During an off-camera briefing today with reporters, White House spokesman Jay Carney said that he's confident that this will be resolved. And he said that the Republicans should not play politics this with this -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Dan Lothian, thank you very much.

And next here, a neurologist studying boxing's long-term consequences finds that the sport can very much impact the brain. Here's Soledad O'Brien with the sneak peek of her special, "Latino in America 2," she's calling it, "In Her Corner."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. BARRY JORDAN, NEUROLOGIST: I had a chance to look at your MRI scan. It shows a little atrophy or shrinkage of the brain, that's probably from boxing.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dr. Barry Jordan is renowned neurologist who specializes in brain injury at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in New York.

His patient is Iran "The Blade" Barkley, once the world's middleweight champion.

(on camera): When you were at the height of your career, when was that?

IRAN "THE BLADE" BARKLEY, FORMER WORLD MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION: 1988, you know, when I fought Thomas Hearns.

O'BRIEN: You won?

BARKLEY: I won the title.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): After years in the ring, boxing brought him to Dr. Jordan.

JORDAN: If you have multiple concussions, there's always the risk of chronic brain injury. You may have problems with memory. You may have difficulty with walking.

O'BRIEN: Dr. Jordan started tracking more than 300 retired boxers to measure the long-term effects of all of those punches.

JORDAN: This is a scan of a boxer compared to a normal control, and you can tell that the colors are just not as robust. This is another scan showing the fibers between a boxer and a normal control.

O'BRIEN (on camera): Oh, my gosh, the boxer is missing so much.

JORDAN: That is one thing that you can see, the shrinkage or the atrophy of the brain.

Now, close your eyes. O'BRIEN (voice-over): For patients like Iran Barkley, there is little to do. But the research could help others.

JORDAN: Through understanding chronic brain injury in boxing, we might be able to learn something about Alzheimer's.

O'BRIEN: Dr. Jordan says more comprehensive monitoring before and during fights could help to minimize the injuries.

JORDAN: Boxing is a dangerous sport. There's no way you're going to make it 100 percent safe, but I think you can always make it safer.

O'BRIEN: Reporting for in America, Soledad O'Brien, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Coming this Sunday, you can hear a little bit more of what Dr. Jordan's story is about when Soledad introduces you to a Latina boxer trying to make her Olympic dreams a reality. Watch CNN's "Latino in America 2: In Her Corner," Sunday night, 8:00 Eastern.

And back to that satellite expected to fall out of orbit breaking up into dozens of pieces scattering across earth. Where it will land, no one knows, but the U.S. is not in the clear as of right now. We'll get to the odds of it actually hitting you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Middle East leader center stage, Pakistan peeved with Washington, space junk hurdling toward earth, and E may not equal mc squared. Let's get to all of it on this Friday, Reporter Roulette times four. Elise Labott, I want to begin with you. We know that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas went straight to the U.N. to ask that Palestine be recognized as an independent state. Are the Palestinians likely to be disappointed here?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: Well, I think not yet, Brooke. President Abbas and clearly a victory for him with the Palestinian people, and we saw the pictures all week of the celebrating in the streets of the Palestinian people when he held up that piece of paper and said, I submitted my bid for Palestinian statehood.

Does that mean it is going to happen? No. There is certainly a lot of negotiations going on. The United Nations general assembly and the security council will be talking about this over the next several days and weeks, but he can clearly claim a victory.

What is going on right now is that the Mideast quartet, the U.S., EU, Russia, and the United Nations issued a framework, if you will, for the terms of negotiations of the Israeli and the Palestinians to get the Palestinian president to back off and start to negotiate with the Israelis and the Palestinians.

BALDWIN: What does the statement mean? LABOTT: Well, it calls for clear time lines for the parties to get back to the table. It says that neither side could take provocative actions, and they don't say what that means really, but in essence it is tacit indication to Israel not to build settlements, and settlement freeze while the negotiations are going on.

And for the Palestinians, they are urged to not take any moves into the international criminal court against Israel should they go down the U.N. route and have a new legitimacy at the U.N. to do so. But in essence, Brooke, it really doesn't mean anything if the parties don't want to get back to the table. It is not like the big bad quartet can do anything here. It does not have any legal authority, and it is up to the parties to use this as the impetus to get back to the table. But they can't want it more than the parties want it themselves.

BALDWIN: Perhaps a step in that direction. Elise, thank you.

Up next is Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Barbara, talking Pakistan, because the foreign minister is very, very upset with Admiral Mike Mullen in regards to their about the intel community.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, absolutely. Brooke, Pakistan and the U.S. are supposed to be some of the closest allies in the war of terror, but for the last now three days in a row both sides throwing darts at each other and then some.

Today, a top U.S. military official said that Pakistan's support for the Haqqani network, and the Pakistan intelligence network, the Haqqani network, that Pakistan is directly supporting them with intelligence at the highest level.

This is quite a statement following admiral Mike Mullen saying that the ISI is a veritable arm of the Haqqani network and that is with a response from Mullen's Counterpart from Pakistan, and he said the remarks were disturbing and he had a meeting with Admiral Mike Mullen to talk about it.

But the U.S. is not backing down. Leon Panetta says that the attacks by the Haqqanis and the support by the Pakistani government is just not tolerable. Brooke?

BALDWIN: Barbara Starr, thank you very much. Next on Reporter Roulette, we're going overseas for this one. Atika Shubert in London for us on these tiny particles called neutrinos in the science completely may change conventional wisdom when it comes to the speed of light. Atika?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, there is a bedrock principle in physics nothing can travel faster than light. That is the whole point of Einstein's theory of relatively, energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. Everything in physics is built on that, until now.

You see the scientists in Switzerland shot a particle beam to Italy, and 2.4 milliseconds is how long it should take for a beam of light to cover that distance. But in fact, what scientists found is that neutrinos with no mass and electrical were actually able to arrive faster. You might think it happened once, but in fact, they repeated the experiment 15,000 times.

And this is why the scientists are now publishing the results and asking for help from the scientific community saying, can this be duplicated in another lab? Can we show what is happening? Otherwise, this completely upends physics as we know it, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Atika Shubert, thank you very much.

On the Reporter Roulette, we go the Chad Myers, who is watching the path of a six tons of satellite tumbling toward earth and we know that we, in north America, are in the strike zone and do we know the when and the where?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We are in the strike zone and it is slower to fall than NASA thought. It is over Chile and heading into brazil and then in an hour the path is over Peru, and then an hour and a half later over Honduras and then an hour and half later over Mexico and the U.S. so if it decides to fall out of the sky here and make a descent into the Mexico or U.S., we could have debris here or an hour and a half later about 8:00 local time here could make some splash downs here in the pacific or even possibly on to land.

But there it is right now. It is moving very fast, and 17,471 miles per hour, and it is still 100 miles high. When it gets down to about 80 miles high, that is when its fate will be sealed and it will be falling into the ocean or to maybe some land.

BALDWIN: Its fate. Quickly -- the probability of it actually hitting you, one in multiple trillions?

MYERS: Trillions. Because it is 32 to 1 to hit anyone and multiply that times 6.5 billion of the number of the people on the planet, and that is where the number comes from, trillions.

BALDWIN: Thank you, Chad.

And a missing moon rock is found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think that it's been in storage for probably 30 years sitting there, perfectly safe. It is in perfectly good shape, and we are just delighted that it is back. It belongs to the state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You know, you have a moon rock and you chuck it in the storage, right? Well, we will tell you which former president had it there, and that is next. Joe Johns is going to join me for the political pop.

But first, you know, you ask, I answer, and Angie, sorry, roll the tape. Week wind-down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: A lot of people ask what is the coolest part of working at CNN? And my answer is I love my job because I don't know what each day has in store. I could talk to a world leader or the singer of one of my favorite bands or talk to a regular American in an extraordinary situation all live on TV in two hours. It is amazing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: That takes me back. Does it take you back? I know I love music and Joe Johns loves music and big Kurt Cobain fan in the '90s and we had to ask the control room to share a little bit of teen spirit with us today. Joe Johns, I cannot believe it will be 20 years ago tomorrow when "Nevermind" came out. It makes a gen-Xer feel a little old, doesn't it?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes, but the alternative is even worse. The alternative to getting old is even worse.

BALDWIN: I see.

JOHNS: My barber used to say that, because I don't have hair anymore.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Anyway, let's talk about Ronald Reagan, shall we? The late president's 100th was months ago, but he's scheduled to get some big, big props at football games across the country this weekend. Explain what's going to be happening.

JOHNS: Well, President Reagan is basically getting the coin flip dedicated to him -- at the beginning of the game when the refs come out and flip the coin to see who is going to kick and who is going to receive. Well, at a bunch of high school and college and professional football games this weekend, they're going to flip a Ronald Reagan commemorative coin, have a loud speaker announcement, a video tribute to Ronald Reagan.

It started at the Southern California University game last weekend. It's supposed to spread around the country now so big times for the memory at least of Ronald Reagan.

BALDWIN: And we know, you know, he was not a actual football star, but played one in the movies.

JOHNS: Right, that's true. I mean, Eureka College. Reagan did play football we hear for Eureka College in Illinois. He was also a college football announcer, but his big connection to football was in the movies. Here let's just take a look at him in this clip from his appearance in the 1940 film "Knute Rockne, All American."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want to disturb you, Gip, or bore you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have nothing else to do. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe I can fix that for you. Would you like to play?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I have been sort of wondering why you gave me this uniform.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it is a throwback to the scrubs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know the signals yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I give you the ball, and you just run with it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How far?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't have to worry about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So young.

JOHNS: Yes, and there you go. I know, it certainly was a young Ronald Reagan and also that movie had one of the most famous lines in cinema "tell them to go out there with all they've got and win one for the Gipper." We remember that and of course, yes that line was associated with Reagan pretty much all of his life.

BALDWIN: Very famous and speaking of football, Joe. We have to talk about the Bears. The '85 Bears finally are going to the White House.

JOHNS: Believe it, I mean, if you are a football fan and you probably remember the incredible season in 1985 when they won the Super Bowl and only lost one game that year. The only time the Bears ever won the Super Bowl.

They were to go to the White House to meet the president who was, by the way, none other than Ronald Reagan who at the time I mentioned that he played college football in Illinois, but the visit to the White House got cancelled due to the news, the explosion of the space shuttle "Challenger," and the national period of mourning that followed.

So now, there is another guy with strong Illinois ties in the White House, and somebody decided to put the '85 Bears back on the visitor list for their long awaited trip to the White House. Coming up we hear on October 7th, and we also hear even Mike Ditka is coming. I think he is a pretty big Republican or he used to be.

BALDWIN: I would love for you to get back into the White Bouse and get a little inside scoop political pop on that day, and note the self. Quickly, moon rock and the president, what's the story?

JOHNS: I mean, how do you misplace a moon rock in the first place, and how does it end up, I don't know, in the former governor's stuff? Sounds like a scene from "X-Files" or something.

This is a rock brought back from the moon, 1972, the Apollo 17 mission, and given to the state of Arkansas three decades ago. Apparently, an archivist in Little Rock was going through former President Bill Clinton's papers and found the rock sitting there.

And yes, if you're wondering the moon rock found in Little Rock is a very little rock. Sorry, it weighs less than an ounce and a half.

BALDWIN: Was that supposed to be a joke?

JOHNS: I just had to say it. It is just an ounce and a half.

BALDWIN: I know. We will let it go. Joe Johns, have a fabulous weekend. Thank you very much. That was a great "Political Pop" on this Friday. You know, earlier in the week, we talked to you about the whole government outrage over the $60 a pop muffins, remember this, served at the U.S. Justice Department conference paid for by your tax dollar.

Well, the controversy was sparked by an audit by the inspector general's office. In the report list when it termed wasteful or extravagant spending by the DOJ. Well, the hotel where the event was held, they're now firing back with a statement about this muffin in question.

I want to quote the Hilton Hotel in Washington, "The contracted breakfast included fresh fruit, coffee, juice, and muffins plus tax and gratuity for an inclusive price of $16 per person."

We contacted the inspector general's office and it still stands by its report that a muffin alone cost $16 apiece. Now this.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Who used the mysterious September 11th incident as a pretext to attack Afghanistan and Iraq killing, injuring and displacing millions in two countries with the ultimate goal of taking to the domination, the Middle East and its oil resources.

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BALDWIN: That is the voice of the -- translated voice of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad just short of saying that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were staged. What else did he tell Wolf Blitzer when the two of them sat down? We will ask Wolf next.

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BALDWIN: "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer is coming up in a matter of minutes. Let's go the Wolf with another huge interview, and you talked to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. How was that? What did he say?

WOLF BLITZER, THE SITUATION ROOM: You know, it was good. There were three main subjects we discussed in the interview. We'll air it obviously in "THE SITUATION ROOM" today. Brooke, we went through the whole peace process, why shouldn't Israel, for example, make another gesture to the Palestinians free settlements and allow the peace negotiations to resume.

That's the condition that the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas has put forward. If Israel frees the settlement activity on the West Bank, the Palestinians will resume negotiations with Israel. I get into a whole long exchange with the prime minister on that.

We then go through a separate exchange on the president of the United States, has he thrown Israel under the bus, which is what Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, and Rick Perry, basically, and several of the other Republican candidates especially if you listen to the debate last night.

They are suggesting that the president is not a friend of Israel. The prime minister has some strong words on that subject as well. I think our viewers is going to be interested, also, about the deputy speaker of the Israeli parliament coming to New York this week and appearing together with Rick Perry, was that appropriate, inappropriate? We discussed that.

Finally we get through a whole long thing about Iran, is Iran building a nuclear bomb and if it is, will Israel do to Iran what it did to Iraq's nuclear program back in 1981, to Syria's nuclear program only a few years ago.

And is the U.S. -- and are the Israelis and the U.S. I should say on the same page when it comes to Iran and its nuclear ambitions? We will get through all of that as well.

So here is the question, Brooke, have I given you enough to tease the interview and make you want to stay and watch the show?

BALDWIN: Of course, you had amazing interviews all week long, all week long.

BLITZER: Bill Clinton, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and now the prime minister --

BALDWIN: It's all clap for Wolf Blitzer. Excellent job. I can't wait to start along next year.

BLITZER: And Ahmadinejad, I was there with a whole bunch of reporters, but I did manage to ask him a question or two.

BALDWIN: Amazing, Wolf Blitzer, and I tip my hat to you, friend. We'll see you in a couple of minutes on "THE SITUATION ROOM." But before I let you go, watch this.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has some high-end camera gear which is basically a peeping tom.

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BALDWIN: The father-in-law of this missing woman now accused of having pornographic pictures and disturbing images of these little girls, does this tie into his daughter-in-law's disappearance in the middle of the snow-covered night? On the case, next.

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BALDWIN: We are on the case today with criminal case attorney, Ann Bremner, a spokeswoman for Amanda Knox. We're going to talk about this case here. Nice to see you. Welcome on the show. We're going to talk about this case here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice to see you.

BALDWIN: -- in which police investigating the disappearance of this Utah mother. They have now arrested her father-in-law who, by the way, we just learned has been arraigned on the child porn and voyeurism charges.

Susan Powell's husband claims he took their children on this midnight camping trip and freezing, freezing cold apparently the night that she disappeared. Police say they came across and here it is, the arraignment that we're just turning around for you.

Police say they came across thousands of inappropriate videos of women and children at this man's house while they were investigating this case. Again, this is video coming in from Pierce County, Washington.

He pleaded not guilty and you represent Susan Powell's parents. Is it true that Susan is on one of these tapes, one of the women videotaped without her knowledge?

ANNE BREMNER, FORMER PROSECUTOR: That's what we've been informed. It is a stunning development, of course, to the family and everybody that's been following this case. We hear that they have lifted about 5 percent of what is on this computer of Steven Powell, the father-in- law.

And there are thousands of images and yes, that Susan Cox-Powell, my client's daughter is on there, not only she's on there, but it appears that these were films or pictures taken without her knowledge. Of course, without her consent, and they were of intimate parts of her body.

BALDWIN: With regard to her parents, I know they went to court today to try to get custody of the two boys, do we know how that hearing went?

BREMNER: Yes. We have had two court hearings this morning. One of course, was the TRO, which I can talk about if you want. The other is on the custody issue of the boys. The boys were taken into protective custody by the authorities, by CPS, Child Protective Services.

And they're in foster care on a temporary protective hold. The hearing this morning was preliminary to get some temporary custody. It will be re-heard or further heard this coming Wednesday. Josh Powell was there, and we will see what the courts do, but they are not in the home for their own protection, and that is good news to my clients.

BALDWIN: And this is the case in which her husband is the only person of interest thus far, is that correct?

BREMNER: Yes. They have called him the only person of interest for the past 21-plus months. They have conducted a number of searches in connection with that in Nevada, in Utah and in Washington State.

BALDWIN: OK. Anne Bremner, thank you very much for doing "On The Case" for us today on this Friday. Anne, thank you very much.

Thank for watching. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I want to turn it over for my colleague, Wolf Blitzer, day five on the road in New York covering the United Nations having interviews with world leaders. Wolf, "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts right now.