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GOP Source: Chris Christie Won't Run; New iPhone to Debut; Tracking Foreclosure Errors; GOP Source Says Christie Won't Run; Murray's Girlfriends to Testify; SDO Craft Launched in 2010

Aired October 04, 2011 - 10:59   ET

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

JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Joe Johns, in for Suzanne Malveaux.

Let's get you up to speed for Tuesday, October 4th.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will announce his decision on a presidential bid two hours from now. CNN's John King has just learned Christie will not run. Christie had resisted repeated calls to jump into the race, but agreed to reconsider last week. CNN will have live coverage when the governor speaks at 1:00 Eastern Time.

American college student Amanda Knox is on a plane right now. That's her at Rome's airport today, heading to Seattle for the first time in four years.

Raw emotion in an Italian courtroom. An appeals jury overturning the murder convictions of Knox and her boyfriend.

The pair was convicted in the slashing murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher. Prosecutors sensationalized the crime by portraying it as a combination satanic ritual/sex orgy gone back.

Meredith Kercher's family is backing the prosecutor's plan to appeal this case to Italy's supreme court. They say justice would have been served if the jury followed the evidence, not the media hype.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYLE KERCHER, MEREDITH KERCHER'S BROTHER: You can't really forgive somebody if they haven't admitted something. So, really, what would we be forgiving? If, as was decided yesterday, they are innocent and walk free, then we can only say fair enough or try and move on in that respect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: A third person convicted in Kercher's death in a separate trial is serving a 16-year sentence. His conviction was upheld on appeal. Knox's lawyers suggest that man was the sole killer.

Michael Jackson's doctor will be face to face with old girlfriends in an L.A. courtroom today. Prosecutors hope to establish a timeline when Conrad Murray's manslaughter trial resumes later this hour. Phone records show Murray talked with three girlfriends the minutes before and after Jackson stopped breathing.

Jury selection begins in Detroit today in the terror trial of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Prosecutors say the young Nigerian tried to detonate a bomb in his underwear as a Northwest Airlines flight descended into Detroit two years ago. Abdulmutallab is acting as his own lawyer.

The EPA say tests show the air around a chemical plant south of Dallas is safe today. Chemicals fed a tremendous orange inferno for hours Monday. An elementary school, college, and an apartment building were evacuated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was at home asleep, and we had our maintenance guy come over and bang on our door telling us to hurry up and get out. And I had to grab some clothes and just grab our dog and leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: That plant produced ammonia gas. It is clear and odorless and easy inhaled or absorbed by the skin.

California police want to talk to this man about a 16-minute shooting spree on a pair of San Diego freeways. Enrique Ellon (ph) owns the car that witnesses say was involved in the shootings.

Police say someone in that car shot at four vehicles and hit three, including an ambulance. One motorist was wounded. Police say they're baffled. The shooting does not fit a road rage pattern and appeared totally random.

Hank Williams Jr. is thinking about running for a U.S. Senate seat, but he found out politics isn't always as easy as a country song. ESPN yanked Williams' opening theme for "Monday Night Football" last night. That's because Williams said he didn't like the president and House Speaker acting buddy-buddy on the golf course.

Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANK WILLIAMS, JR., SINGER: Come on. Come on. That would be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu. OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: The second verse goes like this: Williams now says he was misunderstood.

"CNN In-Depth," our mobile society. Two hours from now, Apple is widely expected to unveil its latest iPhone. Hard-core Apple geeks claim the new device is faster and shaped like a teardrop. And get this -- some bloggers say the new device may not be called the iPhone 5 after all, but the iPhone 4S. We'll know more soon.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie ends all speculation about his political plans. A GOP source in New Jersey says Christie has decided not to run for the Republican presidential nomination. He'll make an announcement at a news conference in less than two hours.

Our Jim Acosta is on the phone now, headed to Trenton, New Jersey.

Jim, Christie said no at first, but then he kept us guessing. What do you think were the deciding factors in this decision not to run?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Joe, I am on the train right now heading up to Trenton, so forgive me if this call drops while we're en route.

But sources are telling multiple news outlets, including CNN, that Governor Christie has decided not to run for president. So let's just put that out there first.

But having said all of that, remember, this is Chris Christie that we're talking about here. He has scheduled this press conference at 1:00 this afternoon. I think we probably ought to wait and hear what the governor has to say.

He is a very unpredictable politician and he doesn't play by normal rules of Washington conventional wisdom. He has said repeatedly that he's not running for president. Then, the event at the Reagan Library seemed to change things.

There were all of those emotional pleas from the audience there in California urging Governor Christie to run, but now it appears, if these sources are correct telling these multiple news outlets, whether that's correct, that Governor Christie is indeed not getting into the race. And there's a new ABC/"Washington Post" poll that came out this morning that might give some indications as to why, Joe.

Governor Christie does not rank that high in that latest poll. Mitt Romney is solidly out in front, followed by Rick Perry, Herman Cain, and then Chris Christie comes in there at fourth in that poll. So he didn't poll all that strongly, and perhaps people in Christie's world, who, by the way, are not talking at all about what is going to happen at this press conference at 1:00, perhaps those folks in the Christie world are saying to the governor, look, it looks like it's just not there this time around -- Joe.

JOHNS: Right. That poll indicating about a third of the respondents thinking he should not run.

One of the things that has been cited as a possible factor in his accelerating his decision have been external forces, specifically Republicans in Florida moving up the timeline on their primary, which sort of upsets the whole apple cart.

Were you feeling or hearing that Chris Christie was feeling increasing pressure because of the calendar?

ACOSTA: Yes, absolutely, Joe. I talked to an Iowa contributor -- a political contributor yesterday who has been basically waiting for Chris Christie to make this decision one way or the other. And when I talked to him, he said he and a group of other uncommitted donors had been told to wait until Wednesday. And at that point, they can go ahead and start committing themselves to other campaigns.

So there was pressure being put on Governor Christie by donors around the country. As you know, Joe, money is the currency of our politics right now, and Governor Christie had to make things clear, at least at some point, as to whether or not he was going to get in the race if the money was going to be there. And as you said, with Florida leapfrogging South Carolina, and then South Carolina leapfrogging Florida in terms of setting these dates for early primaries --

JOHNS: That's Jim Acosta on the train, on his way to the news conference. It looks like his phone just dropped out. So he'll be there hopefully for that news conference, 1:00 Eastern Time.

Again, our reporting is that Chris Christie will not run for president of the United States.

Christie has been under tremendous pressure to run for president, and our deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser, joins us live from Washington with that side of the story, more on that.

Paul, what you can tell us about the push to get him to jump into the race?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. And we've seen this push all year, Joe. And it kind of went into overdrive just about two weeks ago.

Why? Because it seems Rick Perry, the Texas governor who was the front-runner in the polls, kind of stumbled first at that debate in Orlando, Florida, about two weeks ago, and then some other incidents, as well, over the last two weeks. And that kind of accentuated the calls for Christie to jump in from GOP activists and also from some top fund-raisers who had I guess not fallen in love yet with any candidate.

So that was kind of the signal here, that maybe Republicans still, even this late into the process, into the cycle, were not totally in love with any of the front-runners, be it Rick Perry or former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

Take a look at this. You just were talking to Jim Acosta about that poll.

One of the questions in the poll -- and this is a Republicans only, Independents and Republicans -- "Do you think Christie -- would you like to see him as the nominee?" Forty-two percent say yes, 34 percent say no, and about one in four were not sure.

Here is the interesting part. Go to the next poll.

They asked the same thing about former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. You know, the 2008 Republican VP nominee is flirting with a run, but Republicans, overwhelmingly there, two out of three say no, they did not want to see her run.

And Joe, one other thing. Before Jim dropped off -- he's on the train, as you mentioned, on the way to Trenton -- you were asking him about that speeding up of the process. And yes, I think that is part of the equation here.

With Iowa and New Hampshire now very likely to go right near the beginning of the year, right after the new year, for Chris Christie to form a campaign and get people in the early states like Iowa, South Carolina, and Nevada and New Hampshire by the end of this year, that's a tall task, Joe. Don't you think?

JOHNS: That's absolutely right.

Now, Paul, one of the things that we've talked about again and again is the notion that Tea Partiers in some way have been driving a lot of the issues, a lot of the stances.

Were Christie's stances on the issues one of the things, you think, that were the factor for him in deciding not to run?

STEINHAUSER: You got it. You know, you were talking about this just yesterday, Joe, when you were up here in D.C. And yes, let's talk about that.

Illegal immigration -- we've seen the push back against Governor Perry for his stance on illegal immigration. Well, if you look at Chris Christie on the issues, yes, in the past he has supported, to a degree, a pathway to citizenship for some illegal immigrants. That would be a tough issue if he decided to jump in with the Republican electorate in the primaries and caucuses.

Let's talk about social conservative voters who are so influential in picking the next GOP nominee. Guess what? Christie, in the past, has supported, to a degree, civil unions for same-sex couples. That would be a tough one, as well, if he jumped in.

So, on some of these issues, Chris Christie could be maybe too liberal for the electorate. And we heard Herman Cain say that just the other day on the Sunday talk shows. Of course, Herman Cain, running for the nomination -- Joe.

JOHNS: Of the people now in the race, who do you think is breathing the easiest hearing these reports that Christie will not jump in?

STEINHAUSER: You know, my guess, maybe a Mitt Romney, because Christie, if he had jumped in, may have gone after that same kind of more moderate Republican electorate, a more fiscally conservative, but more socially moderate gang that it seems Romney is going after rather than the social conservatives that maybe a Perry or a Bachmann or a Ron Paul or others are going after -- Joe.

JOHNS: Paul Steinhauser, our deputy political director.

Thanks so much for that, Paul. We'll be checking back with you in this story as it develops.

We'll bring you Governor Christie's news conference when it happens, 1:00 p.m. Eastern. You'll see it right here on CNN.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: In just two hours, Apple is expected to unveil the newest version of the iPhone. This is the fifth incarnation of Apple's wildly successful smartphone, a phone that has sold an average of 82,000 a day since it first hit the market four years ago.

CNN's Christine Romans has a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The last time we saw a new iPhone was June, 2010.

STEVE JOBS, CEO, APPLE: We're introducing iPhone 4, the fourth generation iPhone.

ROMANS: It was an instant hit. Apple sold more than 1.7 million iPhone 4s in its first three day. Analysts now predict sales of its new version to shatter that, selling 1.7 million in just one day.

Rumored to be called the iPhone 5, the only official hint we've had from Apple is the invite to today's announcement with the words "Let's talk iPhone." While Apple remains tight-lipped about details, they did have an all-too-familiar slip-up in June.

DECLAN MCCULAGH, CNET: An Apple employee once again appears to have lost an unreleased iPhone in a bar, which is just pretty much what happened last year.

ROMANS: Since then, the buzz around the newest iPhone has exploded. So what do we know or think we know?

Expected to go on sale later this month, the new iPhone is rumored to cost around 200 bucks with a two-year service contract. Only Verizon and AT&T have the iPhone now, but "The Wall Street Journal" reports that Sprint-Nextel has reached an agreement with Apple and will buy $20 billion worth of iPhones over the next four years.

The blog "Gizmodo" reports the phone will be skinnier, shorter and wider. It may also have a teardrop back, meaning it's fatter at the top than the bottom. There's according to the blog "This is my next." There's also talk of an upgraded camera, new voice recognition software. And Apple unveiling not one, but two iPhones. The second, being a cheaper phone with less storage.

But we do know whatever Apple announces, die-hard Apple fans will line up in droves to open their wallets.

Christine Romans, CNN, new York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: So how will the new iPhone change your life once it hits the stores later this month? Joe Brown is editor-in-chief of the tech Web site Gizmodo.com. He joins me via Skype from New York.

Joe --

JOE BROWN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GIZMODO.COM: Hey, Joe.

JOHNS: Hey. How's it going?

BROWN: Good. How are you?

JOHNS: Why are you and all the techie guys so excited about this new phone? After all, it's number five.

BROWN: Well, I mean, it keeps getting better every time. So, a lot of people have maybe waited to get the new iPhone. When the iPhone 4 came out, they might have been on contract. Some people hadn't really gotten an iPhone yet and they started seeing the huge mass rollout of the iPhone 4 and decided they wanted one. And then there are people like us who just love the newest, greatest things.

JOHNS: So what are we going to be able to do with this new phone that we couldn't do with the iPhone 4?

BROWN: Well, a lot of the things are going to be the same. Right?

You'll still be able to make calls. Hopefully you'll make more calls and make better calls with the new iPhone with an upgraded antenna. And hopefully you'll be able to really take advantage of what's called IOS 5, which is Apple's new mobile operating system that's coming out for this new phone, and it basically takes your Internet light and puts it in the phone like no other phone has done before.

It's all about notifications that don't interrupt your phone- using experience. Instead of thought bubbles that kind of pop up and interrupt whatever you're doing, this new phone will have a more subtle, drop-down, elegant notification system.

JOHNS: So we really don't know what this thing looks like at all. They've kept it a pretty secret, or not?

BROWN: They've done a really good job of keeping what may be the iPhone 5 out of the public eye. We've seen some leaked cases from mainstream case makers that suggest there might be a more sort of tapered profile of the phone, a little bit like the iPad. And we've seen some renderings that have come up based on these that would make it look like an advanced design.

The iPhone 4 is very, very industrial. This may seem a little bit more polished and user-friendly.

But, that said, usually by this time we've seen more than just leaked cases. And all we've seen to indicate what's coming next is from a Brazilian factory that shows something that looks exactly like the iPhone 4.

So some are saying that it's just going to be upgraded internals with the same design, while others are saying Apple has kept it really good and secret, and there's going to be a cheaper iPhone 4 that's going to look like the old iPhone 4, and then an iPhone 4S, or an iPhone 5, that's going to have the upgraded design. We have to wait until today to see them.

JOHNS: We've all sorted of associated Apple with Steve Jobs, but now that he's stepped down as CEO for medical reasons, how important is this rollout for the new guy, Tim Cook?

BROWN: Well, it's going to be really important for Apple as a whole. And Tim Cook has been at or near the helm for years and years and years. He's the reason that Apple is so profitable. He's the real financial genius. And he may not have the same vision as Steve Jobs did, but that remains to be seen.

He has actually released a phone before for Apple when Steve Jobs took medical leave a couple years ago. He actually unveiled the 3GS. And the 3GS did great, and Apple's stock went up, and everybody was very happy with his performance.

So he's done this before. He's been on this big stage before. He's not going to have the same showmanship as Steve Jobs, the same flare and that little mischievous twinkle in his eye, but I'm sure he'll do a great job.

JOHNS: It's all about the panache, huh? Thanks so much for that.

Joe Brown, the editor of Gizmodo.com.

And we'll be watching with you to see what this phone looks like.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Millions of homeowners facing foreclosure may have a shot at getting compensated. Federal regulators are planning to review their cases to check for errors or to see if they were misled by banks.

Alison Kosik is standing by live at the New York Stock Exchange.

Alison, when can they expect their cases to be reviewed?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: OK, Joe. So, the new program that you're talking about, it could be announced within weeks.

This coming from "The Wall Street Journal." And what's exceptionally going to happen here is federal regulators are going to be reviewing foreclosure cases. But if you foreclosed on your home, don't right away expect to get your house back.

But the reality is some people could get some of their money back, but it may come with some strings attached. For instance, like, you wouldn't be able to sue the bank later on -- Joe.

JOHNS: So, do we know if all current and former homeowners in foreclosure are going to get their cases examined? And is there a time limit?

KOSIK: OK, so these are good questions.

So, this would only involve people who were foreclosed on in 2009 or 2010. "The Wall Street Journal" says that adds up to more than four million Americans.

Now, these reviews that would happen would really be happening on a case-by-case basis. So everybody wants to know, how are you going to know if you are one of those cases?

So, what's going to happen is federal regulators, they are expected to launch this big campaign to get out there and notify people. They'll send out mailings, they're going to put up a Web site, a toll-free number.

And just because you get reviewed, it does not mean that you're going to be compensated. You're going to have to wind up needing to demonstrate that you've incurred some sort of financial injury. Let's say if the bank charged you too many fees, if they miscalculated your mortgage payments, or if they foreclosed on you when you were in a modification program. So all these details will slowly be coming out in the next few weeks -- Joe.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

JOHNS: Alison Kosik, thanks so much for that.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie ends the guessing game. A source says he will not run for president. We'll talk with a political insider about Christie's decision and what it means for the Republicans in the race.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Here's a rundown of some of the stories we're working on.

Up next, a Republican source tells CNN New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will not run for president. He explains why in a news conference scheduled for 1:00 Eastern. We'll bring it to you live.

Then President Obama has built a solid track record of fighting terror. But is the tanking economy and high unemployment making it all irrelevant?

And later, the sun in stunning detail. NASA unveils new views.

A Republican source in New Jersey says Governor Chris Christie has decided not jump into the 2012 presidential race. Christie holds a news conference in about an hour and a half. We'll bring that to you live.

Joining us to talk to us about Christie's decision and what it could mean for the Republican race is Robert Traynham, D.C. bureau chief for Comcast Network.

And thank you for coming in, Robert. Good to see you again.

ROBERT TRAYNHAM, DC BUREAU CHIEF, COMCAST NETWORK: Good to see you, Joe, as always.

JOHNS: Christie's announcement is going to end weeks even months of speculation. And I think we just need to get talking about how all of this got started.

What's your sense? Is this the kind of thing that was media driven or did Christie sort of drive the speculation?

TRAYNHAM: I don't think Christie drove the speculation. I actually think it was the Republican grass tops as I call them. These are the organization heads, these are the top fundraisers that were quite frankly just not particularly happy with the Republican field right now.

Recall they tried to get Mitch Daniels into the race a couple of months ago, the current governor of Indiana. They tried to get Haley Barbour into the race, the current governor of Mississippi. And obviously they tried Chris Christie for many, many months despite him saying, no, I'm not ready, no, I'm not interested, my heart is not in this. So I really don't think it was Chris Christie, I really do believe it was those grass tops people as I call them in the Republican Party.

JOHNS: Does his not running leave a void for the people who are looking for a moderate, if you will, to lead them and weren't happy at all with the kinds of things the other candidates have said?

TRAYNHAM: Yes. It does. And I think what they're going to have to do or what they're going to do is they're going to have to go back into their corners. They're going to scratch their heads. They're going to re-assess the current Republican field, and then assess as to who do they think they can win.

Look, at the end of the day, they smell blood with the president. They see that he is very vulnerable and they want someone that not only can obviously win the primaries but can obviously win the general election this time next year. And so, you know, the money is right now whether that's going to be a Rick Perry, the current governor of Texas, or whether or not that's clearly going to be a Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts.

JOHNS: Of those already in the field, who do you think gains the most by Christie not jumping in?

TRAYNHAM: I think it's going to be -- there's no question about it, I think it's Mitt Romney.

Look, at the end of the day, I think this would be an interesting debate conversation to have the day after the debate in terms of who won, whether it was Romney or whether it was Christie. Christie is very, very intelligent. He's very articulate. He says what he means and means what he says.

Romney so far has been -- has done very well in these debates and obviously the horsepower has not been there yet as it relates to Rick Perry. So I think Romney is the one from the philosophical standpoint, from a practical standpoint and also from a financial standpoint that benefits from this.

JOHNS: Well, what is it that influenced Christie's decision?

TRAYNHAM: People are telling me that it was three things. First and foremost it was his heart. You know as you know he's on record as saying, I don't think I'm ready for this. I should get my head examined if in fact I run for president. This is not something that is in my heart of hearts.

So I think that really drove the decision. Coupled with, look, this is late in the game. You know I hate to say this, but you know I'm sure a lot of Americans out there that are watching the program are saying, you know what, I'm not even focused on politics right now. But political insiders know that in order to run for president, it really is a three-year marathon.

And so for Chris Christie to get into the race this late in the game from a financial standpoint, from a political standpoint, from a staffing standpoint, and from a logistical standpoint, it would be very, very hard for him to climb that mountain.

JOHNS: You're right, and it's almost incongruous to the person who's just sitting there in their couch watching because we're still more than a year out from the election, but it is very late.

Thanks so much. Good to see you again, Robert Traynham and talk to you again soon.

TRAYNHAM: Thanks for having me, Joe, as always.

JOHNS: We'll bring you Governor Chris Christie's news conference when it happens at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. You'll see it right here on CNN.

President Obama scoring some big wins on the war in terror, but he may be feeling like Rodney Dangerfield. Why his national security success seems to be getting him no respect.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: President Obama has racked up a string of victories on the war on terror, but he's struggling in the battle to improve the sluggish economy. The unemployment rate is stuck above 9 percent. Millions of Americans out of work. But on the national security front, the president has pulled the trigger on some of the world's most wanted terrorists from Osama bin Laden to Anwar al-Awlaki.

Jon Stewart of the "Daily Show" put it this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, HOST, "DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART": You know he told me at the beginning of the Obama presidency that his clearest legacy would involve not closing Gitmo or green jobs or manufacturing jobs or any kind of job really. But would in fact be his ability to rain targeted death from the sky? I mean are we even allowed to do that?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, we can.

STEWART: Oh. I was just asking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Back with Robert Traynham now.

I mistakenly said good-bye to you a little too soon because this was the thing I wanted to talk to you about in the first place. The trouble with the economy overshadowing the president's national security successes. Well, where is the disconnect here? The president seems to get rid of these terrorists, but people don't give him a lot of credit at least in the polls.

TRAYNHAM: You know, that's an interesting question, Joe. Look, at the end of the day, all Americans want to be safe. All Americans want the bad guys to be captured or killed. All Americans want justice to be had when it comes to September 11th. And that's important. But what's also equally important is a good paying job.

What's equally important is to make sure that I have enough money so that I'm not living paycheck to paycheck, that my home is not foreclosed, and I'm not in constant fear of being laid off. And I think that's what most Americans are concerned about right now. At least that's the everyday reality for them.

You know they hear about, you know, Saddam Hussein, they hear about, you know, Osama bin Laden, they hear about all these bad guys, and that's important to catch them, but at the end of the day, it's something that's kind of far, far away. It's not something that is in their everyday life as it relates to paying a bill or making sure they have food on the table.

JOHNS: To what extent does a president really have the power to improve, you know, the jobless rate or whatever? Is he simply powerless or is it something the president is doing wrong in your view?

TRAYNHAM: Well, historically presidents -- it's always been a hard, hard vote to row, if you will, when it comes to this tide of economic uncertainty and most presidents have had to tackle that. You know we saw that in 1933 with Franklin Roosevelt, we saw that in 1980 with -- we saw that to a certain degree in 1992 with Bill Clinton.

It's very, very tough. So what the president can do is to create a business culture environment where people feel like they can incentivize, companies feel like this is on solid ground where they can hire people. So that's really what the president can do. But on a day-to-day basis, like gas prices, they really can't really do a lot unfortunately. At least not in the short term.

He has been pushing his jobs plan. We've heard that speech to the -- he's talked about the Congressional Black Caucus and saying they need to sort of get in gear, if you will. Has he been able to shake off some of this criticism that he's too timid?

TRAYNHAM: Yes and no. I think it depends on who you ask. I think a lot of Democrats out there, particularly gay Democrats as well as African-American Democrats and Congressional Black Caucus, they're saying wait a minute, why are you yelling at me? You know, why are you telling me that I need to take off my bedroom slippers and start marching?

I've always been marching. I've always been there for me. So, you know, don't yell at me. I'm trying to help you here. So a lot of Democrats out there saying, Mr. President, don't yell at us, yell at Republicans. Raise your voice at them, you know, show some spine as it relates to the debt ceiling, show some spine as it relates to, you know, Guantanamo Bay, show some spines as it relates to not compromising on the principles that we elected you for.

So you know I think it really depends on who you ask. Now if you ask Republicans, they would say, we're dealing with Jell-O here. We don't know exactly where the president stands on the issues because he constantly is shifting his position as it relates to economic policy.

So yes, you know, he's pretty timid and yes, we're going to negotiate out of -- out of strength because the president is negotiating out of fear. So I think it depends on who you ask.

JOHNS: The president got asked about those sagging poll numbers in an interview with ABC. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: Are you the underdog now?

OBAMA: Absolutely. Because, you know, given the economy, there is no doubt that whatever happens on your watch, you've got --

STEPHANOPOULOS: You embraced that pretty quickly. OBAMA: You know, I don't mind. I'm used to being an underdog and I think that at the end of the day, though, what people are going to say is who's got a vision for the future that can actually help ordinary families recapture that American dream?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: An incumbent president with the power of the bully pulpit calling himself the underdog. Is he trying to lower expectations heading into next year's race?

TRAYNHAM: Yes. Not only is he lowering expectations, but you know, he reminds me ironically a lot like George H.W. Bush and Chris Christie. A little bit too honest for their own good. A little bit too philosophical as it relates to running for president and so forth.

Presidents don't say that. Presidents are optimistic and they're upbeat. I remember very vividly when George W. Bush was asked, will you win in 2004, without any hesitation, he said, absolutely, and the reason why I'm going to win is because I believe in America and so forth and so on.

I didn't see that in President Obama's statement a few moments ago. And that -- that's a cause for worry for Republicans -- I'm sorry, for Democrats especially.

JOHNS: Very interesting stuff with a lot more to talk about here. And this time, Robert Traynham, I think I am going to say good- bye to you at least for the day. Thanks so much for coming in. And we'll talk soon.

TRAYNHAM: Thanks, Joe.

JOHNS: All right. The judge is about to call court back into session for the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. Today's testimony focuses on what he was doing in the minutes before and the hours right after Michael Jackson died. We're live from Los Angeles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: We're learning more about the day Michael Jackson died and from some unlikely sources. We could see some of Dr. Conrad Murray's girlfriends on the stand today.

Let's get to CNN's Ted Rowlands outside the courthouse in Los Angeles.

And Ted, why is the prosecution calling these women to testify?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, quite frankly, because they are a part of this in that they were talking to Murray at the time that Jackson was up responsive. We're expecting that first up in the next few minutes when court resumes, we'll hear from Sade Anding. She appeared on "Good Morning America" after she testified in the pre- lim. And this is a Houston cocktail waitress that was on the phone with Dr. Murray. He called her from Michael Jackson's bedroom on the day that Jackson died, and she will testify that they were having a conversation and that all of a sudden Murray was gone and she thought she heard voices, there are chaos in the background. She couldn't get a hold of him after that. And of course we know what happened after that.

We'll also hear from Nicole Alvarez. This is another one of Murray's girlfriends. This is a person that lives in Los Angeles and Murray had all of the propofol that he was giving to Jackson shipped to her home. She's a very key witness for the prosecution. The jury will get to hear from two of these girlfriends today.

JOHNS: So I would assume from what you're telling me here that the purpose of putting them on the stand is not to be, if you will, tawdry or sensationalistic, it's about establishing a timeline.

ROWLANDS: Absolutely. And the judge has been very firm with prosecutors to tell them do not go there. They're not supposed to bring up the romantic links between Alvarez and Murray -- for both -- all the girlfriends. We heard from one yesterday, too.

Now, that said, prosecutors yesterday in the first girlfriend, they said now you had a relationship with Mr. Murray, you met him at a gentleman's club. So it's clear jurors will get it. But the judge will be on the prosecutors to make sure they don't go too deep into the relationship factor.

JOHNS: They seem to be moving pretty quickly through their witness list, although we don't know when they're all going to show up. About 15 witnesses testifying already. How long is the prosecution's list if we know?

ROWLANDS: Well, they had 22 witnesses in the prelim. They are adding a few more and they're going to add in a couple medical experts here which will drag things out at the end of this week and into next week. But they are moving at a quicker pace than a lot of people anticipated. The judge told jurors be open until the end of October. But the way things are moving, things could have sped up a little bit. So you're talking about mid October.

We still a long way to go, though.

JOHNS: Have you been able to keep an eye on the way Dr. Murray has been reacting during this testimony, any sense of his facial expressions or his demeanor so far?

ROWLANDS: Yes, he's taking notes constantly and he seems dialed into the witnesses. Yes, he doesn't look at the jurors very often. A lot of times the defendant will try to make eye contact with jurors. He's more focused on the witnesses and he seems to be taking notes. Whether he's taking notes or doodling, I can't tell because I'm behind him, but he seems to be listening and taking notes throughout. That's sort of his demeanor so far at least. JOHNS: Ted Rowlands in Los Angeles, thanks so much. We'll be keeping a close eye on that trial. From here in fact we'll bring you the highlights.

Next hour, Attorney Holly Hughes joins us with her unique take on the case.

Now check this out. It's the sun like you've never seen it before. And Chad Myers can't wait to tell us more about it.

Tech heads can't wait to see the newest version of Apple's iPhone. It's expected to be unveiled an hour from now. Can you believe it's already been four years since the first iPhone hit the market? One hundred, 28 million sold since then.

How many iPhones do you think are sold every minute? I'll have that answer for you in just a moment.

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JOHNS: OK, so we know Apple has sold 128 million iPhones since 2007. If you do the math, how many is that per minute? The answer, 57, 57 iPhones a minute. That's not bad sales, do you think?

Everyone who thinks the sun is bright yellow, raise your hand. Not so fast.

Chad Myers --

(LAUGHTER)

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right.

JOHNS: You have been looking at some stunning pictures and talking about them all over this building.

MEYERS: Never look at the sun directly. So we don't -- you shouldn't even know that it's yellow, right?

JOHNS: Right.

MEYERS: I know --

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNS: Yes.

MEYERS: Because it hurts your eyes. But let me tell you what. The NASA Solar Observatory is up there in space taking amazing pictures and they're not all in yellow. They're not -- there's some of them are in different colors. Some of them are ultraviolet. Some are -- they want to see what this thing does.

This is an $865 million observatory. It began in 2010. The coolest pictures so far out of this thing and you can go to spaceweather.com and see, you can go on NASA and see them. The coolest things are these coronal mass injections or big giant solar flares.

Let me show you a couple of here because they are really amazing. It's $865 million, we're going to figure out what the sun is doing, how the magnetic field sends radiation out, what the solar wind really means. And how we're going to see this.

Look, this is one here, one ejection that came out. This was last year. The ejection came out of the sun and then particles splashed down -- back down on the sun. We actually had this on TV a couple of days after the pictures came in.

This is an earth observing satellite that actually sends the signal back down to earth from the satellite. It's about 22,000 miles in space, very cool pictures here.

Here's another one here. This is an M-class flare that happened just a couple of days ago, September 25th. This is what we couldn't ever see before. Now the atmosphere isn't in the way and the pictures are being taken from space and there you go, that's what that guy looks like right there. SDO, Solar Observatory --

JOHNS: That's just incredible.

MEYERS: Great, great stuff. And they just started.

JOHNS: Wow.

MEYERS: I can't imagine how cool this stuff is going to be in five or 10 years.

JOHNS: Right. So the question is just how far into deep space can they actually see.

MEYERS: Well, they're only looking at the sun because they want -- what this is, you know, we talk about the solar flares, you see that they could actually bring down satellites.

JOHNS: Yes.

MEYERS: It could interrupt our power grid. They'd like to know that that happens before it happens and then they could turn the power grid off and not harm things. Turned off satellites not harm them when these solar flares get there because light travels a lot faster than the solar wind.

JOHNS: And so -- and that's a good use, that's a good reason to take a telescope or whatever and look.

Thanks.

MEYERS: trillions of dollars it could save in damage.

JOHNS: Yes. Exactly. Great, Chad.

MEYERS: Here about this football team?

JOHNS: Yes, yes, we're going to have to get to that in a minute.

CNN "In Depth," what will Apple's newest iPhone look like when it's unveiled in about an hour. Our Silicon Valley correspondent Dan Simon has a preview in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: More details now on one of our other big stories, Amanda Knox spending her first full day of freedom in four years. She's headed home to Seattle today after an Italian jury overturned her murder conviction. She collapsed in tears when the jury announced its decision after a brief return to the prison. Knox started the long journey home where family and friends are waiting for her.

Here's CNN's Sandra Endo.

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SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amanda Knox has left Italy. According to the Italian news agency Ansa, she boarded this plane in Rome and took off for London. Her final destination, Seattle.

MARGARET RALPH, KNOX FAMILY FRIEND: I just want to get her home. I want -- I want Amanda home with her family.

ENDO: Tears of joy from Seattle to Italy as family and friends learned Amanda Knox is finally a free woman.

Knox wore a determined look on her face as she appealed for her freedom in court but broke down when she heard that after nearly four years in prison, she would finally be able to return home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we have ordered the immediate release from prison of Knox Amanda.

ENDO: Knox was clearly overcome with emotion as guards let her out of the courtroom. The jury cleared the 24-year-old and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito of the killing of British exchange student Meredith Kercher in 2007. Knox's sister calls her acquittal justice long overdue.

DEANNA KNOX, AMANDA KNOX'S SISTER: We're thankful to the court for having the courage to look for the truth and to overturn this conviction.

ENDO: While Knox's family celebrates her long awaited homecoming, Kercher's family believes it is no closer to getting justice for Meredith.

LYLE KERCHER, MEREDITH KERCHER'S BROTHER: Really frustrated. It feels very much almost back to square one and the search goes on really to find out what truly happened.

ENDO: After spending her first night of freedom with her family, Knox is now preparing for the journey she has dreamt about for four long years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: The prosecutor in Italy says he plans to appeal the ruling overturning Knox's conviction to the country's highest court.