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Rick Perry Reveals Tax Plan; Cops Arrested in Smuggling Sting; Rick Perry Unveils New Flat Tax Plan; Commander of International Space Station Interviewed

Aired October 25, 2011 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And now this. Here we go. Hour two. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Keeping you in the loop, minutes from now, Texas Governor Perry set to talk about his new plan, that plan would affect everyone's paycheck and what you pay in taxes. Here's the thing. He announced his flat tax plan earlier, including how he would Social Security. But in this hour coming up, in a matter of minutes, he's going to take questions. It's a big moment for Republican who has been by the way sinking in the polls. We will take you live there to South Carolina as soon as that happens.

But, first, sorority sisters warned about a rapist on the loose.

Also, a new health recommendation for boys.

Netflix taking a huge hit and a hurricane picking up strength. Time to play "Reporter Roulette" here.

And I want to begin with Eddie Lavandera in Texas.

Ed, we're talking about these sorority sisters, four victims, but not in college. We're talking 50s, 60s, and the suspect, bring us up to speed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. They all belong to an alumni sorority here in the Dallas area. It's a national and worldwide chapter. It's Dallas Sigma Theta. It's a very well-known predominantly African-American sorority. Many of its older members very active. And that's what you see here in the Dallas area.

These four attacks have occurred during the course of the last year or so and the investigators have put two and two together that they believe one man is responsible for these attacks and that perhaps their connection to their sorority is the reason behind it. They have released a surveillance video from back in April of the man who they believe is the person responsible and the person they are trying to track down. They are hoping that people looking at this videotape, it will jog people's memories and point them in the right direction.

But this is extremely frightening and scary for many of members who belong to this organization. They are being urged to stop wearing sorority T-shirts, placards on their license plates, whatever, just to lay low. BALDWIN: Ed Lavandera, thanks for the update there in Dallas. Frightening for the Deltas there.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

(WEATHER UPDATE)

BALDWIN: Still ahead, Rick Perry reveals his flat tax plan and mere minutes from now, he will take questions on it for the very first time. This would affect every Americans' bank account. We're going to bring that to you live.

Also, as he sits on death row, a man convicted of killing a mother and her two daughters admits that he has killed before and that's not all he's bragging about.

Plus, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAYMOND KELLY, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: What is outlined in the complaint was a betrayal of his oath of the highest order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: A group of police officers both active and retired busted in New York for helping the bad guys. Wait until you hear what they are accused of smuggling.

And it's America's most powerful nuclear bomb, so powerful, in fact, it's 600 times stronger than the one that destroyed Hiroshima. Well, today, this is being dismantled. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS BREAK)

BALDWIN: They are supposed to serve and protect, but today eight current and former NYPD officers are under arrest in this massive gun smuggling ring. Investigators say they trafficked more than $1 million in illegal weapons and stolen goods.

I got some more details on this operation, the FBI calling it a scheme of brazen misconduct, from former FBI Detective Gil Alba.

And I started talking to him, asking him what his reaction was to this story when he first heard about this plot. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIL ALBA, FORMER NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT DETECTIVE: It's really embarrassing to have like eight officers do something like this. But the focus of New York City from the Mayor Bloomberg to the Police Commissioner Kelly is to get the guns off the streets.

We just had a shooting here where a woman trying to cover up her kids and she was shot and killed, and not far from the precinct. This is their 68th Precinct they work in. Not far from there, this happened. It's really disheartening to the New York City Police Department. But like the commissioner says, not everybody is like that. There are a lot of good officers out there.

BALDWIN: Certainly. According to some reports I was reading, these officers bragged about the guns they could get -- and I'm quoting -- they bragged they could get anything from A to Z.

Gil, what kind of guns are we talking about?

ALBA: Well, they have a total of 20 guns, the handguns. Handguns go for anywhere from $400 to $600 on the street. The other machine guns, the M-16s, are military weapons that go anywhere from $150 to $1,700 out on the street.

So these guys were transporting these from New Jersey to New York. And they just did it recently. September 22 was one of the last times they did this. The FBI put a good case together. And, really, you know what? These guys are in big trouble after this case.

BALDWIN: I know that the serial numbers were scratched off these guns. So where are the guns now? How tough will it be to find them and do we also know who bought them?

ALBA: You know what? I'm sure the FBI traced these guns, because they got all confidential informants. They did surveillances on them, they did eavesdropping, meaning they listened to their phone conversations. And they actually sold them guns.

The guns that the FBI sold to them of course didn't work, as opposed to the other ones that they sold in Mexico. The Fast and Furious were all operable. But they sold these. But when you scratch something off the gun, that means you either stole the guns or you're using them for some kind of crime or you don't want them to be followed up where you know where they are used. So that's another heavy-duty crime as far as a federal case is concerned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Gil Alba, thank you.

By the way, a New Jersey corrections officer and three civilians are also charged in that case.

Still ahead: A killer sits on death row for that brutal home invasion in Connecticut. But we're now hearing Steven Hayes has admitted to killing 17 people and raping many more than that. How he describes it though is so shocking, one newspaper called his rant a twisted pornographic fantasy, this as a jury right now deciding the fate of his partner in crime.

Plus, drama in the Michael Jackson death trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHERILYN LEE, NURSE: I'm feeling really, really dizzy. And I'm sorry. My vision had just become a little blurred. So, if you can just give me a minute.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Michael Jackson's nurse takes the stand and breaks down. Find out what happened and what she says the king of pop asked her to do. Sunny Hostin is on the case. She's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Want to remind you we are mere minutes from this event in Columbia, South Carolina. You can see an empty podium for now. In just about 10 or so minutes, we will be seeing the Texas governor hoping to unseat President Obama. Rick Perry is going to be talking about this big announcement he made today, talking about the flat tax.

This is what he calls part of his cut, balance, and grow plan. What is significant about this particular event, thus we will take it live, is not only will he be talking about this flat tax proposal, but this is the first time he is going to be answering some questions from members of the media and the crowd. So stay tuned for that. We're going to take that live in a couple of minutes.

Moving on, though, still no word on a possible motive in yesterday's school shooting in Fayetteville, North Carolina. This is a story that first broke right here right around this time yesterday. Here's what we know today -- 18-year-old Ta'Von McLaurin and a 15-year-old who is not being identified were taken into custody last night in connection with the shooting of a teenage girl.

These two suspects were spotted on security camera video walking up a school hallway, holding a rifle. It was a .22-caliber Daisy rifle that was found at the scene. These boys were arrested last night at their homes. The girl who was wounded is reportedly in stable condition today.

The final phase begins in a horrific case, the murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two young daughters, Hayley and Michaela, by two men who invaded their Connecticut home a couple of years ago. So far, two men have now been convicted of those crimes. The first, Steven Hayes, has been sentenced to die for them and today sentencing begins for his accomplice, Joshua Komisarjevsky.

Sunny Hostin is on the case.

And, Sunny, let's talk about sentencing phase day one.

What happened in court today?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the defense certainly is putting on a defense. This is the penalty phase and they are trying to save his life.

And so they gave these remarks to the jurors that were really quite remarkable, Brooke. They said that Joshua Komisarjevsky doomed at birth, that he was adopted by these evangelical Christians who, instead of getting him help for his mental problems, preyed on it.

They also said that he was horribly sexually abused, physically abused by another foster child that was brought into the home and that Joshua Komisarjevsky only felt safe in the woods because he did not feel safe at home.

So really a very sad picture this defense has played out for the jury. I will say this. The prosecution only had one witness, Brooke, and that witness talked about Joshua Komisarjevsky's record. And that record was extensive, a lot, a lot of burglaries and larcenies.

And then they rested in terms of the penalty phase. So my sense is that they are going to do what they did in the case of Steven Hayes, which is just to rely on the horrific facts that were brought out at trial.

BALDWIN: As we mentioned, Steven Hayes will be put to death and we're also learning today, in connection with this case, some chilling letters written by Hayes. They're now coming to light. Apparently he wrote these letters while he was in prison.

"The New Haven Register" got their hands on one letter. And I want to just bits and pieces of it. In it, Hayes claims that he's raped dozens people, killed 17, and kept trophies from every victims, trophies being shoes. Let me read some of this to you -- quote -- "But the 17 kill trophies meant the most to me. Each trophy was one of a kind, completely specific to each victim."

He also writes about the precision with which he chose his victims -- quote -- "Like any great hunter, timing is critical." Hayes goes on to say that Joshua Komisarjevsky would have been his next victim -- quote -- "I do now realize that had we gotten away, I would have killed Josh. He was not even close to being worthy of my partnership. His sloppiness and lack of control would have been my downfall, was my downfall."

Wow. Sunny, will these letters be introduced during Komisarjevsky's penalty phase?

HOSTIN: Well, I think there's no question that the defense wants to bring this before this jury because they all throughout the trial painted Stevens Hayes as the mastermind behind these crimes.

What is so interesting -- and I covered the first trial, the Steven Hayes trial -- that defense team painted Joshua Komisarjevsky as the mastermind. So a lot of finger-pointing going on. There's no question in my mind that the defense wants the jury to hear about this.

And I will say oftentimes you hear this type of letter writing coming from defendants on death row. The question is, is it reality? Is it fantasy? Interestingly enough, there were shoes that he had taken from the Petit home that were found in the getaway car. And so certainly his fascination with shoes is apparent. Whether or not all of these other things are true, we just don't know. But there's no question that this is something that the defense will try to bring in front of the jury.

BALDWIN: How long, Sunny, is this phase supposed to last?

HOSTIN: It's supposed to last about five to six weeks, Brooke. So we are going to hear a lot more from -- about Joshua Komisarjevsky. Some are saying that we may hear from his adoptive parents, the Komisarjevskys, the really devoutly religious parents that cared for him since he was about 2 years old, so a very long penalty phase, especially given the fact that the prosecution didn't really have any witnesses, just but for the one.

BALDWIN: Speaking of cases, this one, I know, is supposed to wrap up pretty soon.

Case number two, the defense taking over in the manslaughter case of the Michael Jackson's doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray. Sunny, how are Murray's lawyers laying out their case?

HOSTIN: Well, they certainly are trying to take the focus off of Dr. Conrad Murray and on to the lifestyle of Michael Jackson. They are portraying him as addicted man, really desperate for sleep, someone that was doctor-shopping and looking for medical professionals to treat him.

Today on the witness stand, there was a lot of drama. Nurse Lee, who treated Michael Jackson for his insomnia, she's a holistic practitioner, although she's a nurse. And she really was broke down on the witness stand. I think we have some of that here for you.

BALDWIN: We do. Let's roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: I'm feeling really, really dizzy. And I'm sorry. My vision had just become a little blurred. So, if you can just give me a minute.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, Ms. Lee, if you are not feeling all that well, do you want to rest for a little bit? Do you feel that might be of any help to you?

LEE: Yes, if I could just rest a little bit, if you don't mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOSTIN: It was extraordinary. She appeared to be having some sort of anxiety attack, panic attack on the witness stand. She had to leave the witness stand to get herself together.

She mention to the judge that this was very difficult for her. It is clear that she didn't want to testify for the defense, Brooke. I think she's having some trouble doing that. She did treat Michael Jackson for insomnia, took copious notes there, a lot of progress notes about his treatment.

But she did say that Michael Jackson begged her for Propofol. That is why she took the stand today for the defense, the defense again trying to paint Michael Jackson out to be this person addicted to Propofol who would stop at any length to get it.

BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin on the case -- Sunny, as always, thanks so much.

Now this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This postcard, this is the size of what we're talking about right here. Taxpayers will be able to fill this out and file their taxes on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Rick Perry revealing his flat tax plan and how he would change Social Security.

Well, now he's getting ready to answer questions about this. How would the Republican's plan affect you? We are about to find out -- Rick Perry live from South Carolina coming up in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Joining me now, senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen talking about how the HPV vaccine is now recommended for boys.

It was a government panel just made the call today.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. A CDC committee just today said, you know what, we have been giving this to girls for several years now. We think that boys ages 11 and 12 should also be getting an HPV shot.

BALDWIN: So now that the CDC has put this on the vaccine schedule, will parents then have to go and get it?

COHEN: Right. "Have to" is the operative phrase here, OK, because is that interesting part is that what happens is the CDC will say, yes, we think kids should get whatever vaccine and then it's up to each state whether require it for a kid to go to school. In other words, does your child have to get this shot in order to go to school?

And with HPV, they haven't required it on the whole. Only Virginia and the District of Columbia have said your child must have an HPV shot in order to go to school. Or in this case, your girl must have it. Now that the CDC, it appears they want boys to get it too, I will be curious to see what most states do.

BALDWIN: Are there safety concerns, health concerns for boys? Is it safe?

COHEN: The CDC says that it's safe. There's really no dispute among doctors. Doctors agree that it's safe.

And they say for boys, there are three benefits. Number one, it cuts down on the chance that they will get genital warts when they get older. Number two, it cuts down on the chance they will get certain types of cancer, and, number three, it cuts down on the chance that they will give this virus to girls and, of course, when girls get this virus, it means that they could go on to get cervical cancer. They see it as a three-fer with really no serious side effects.

BALDWIN: OK. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much.

COHEN: OK, thanks.

BALDWIN: And now, as we have been talking about, Rick Perry, we know he is speaking or will be speaking shortly. He is in Columbia, South Carolina. Today, he unveiled his flat tax plan.

And I want to bring in our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, to just talk a little bit more bigger picture, politics.

Why today? Why flat tax? Where shall we begin?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well--

BALDWIN: Why -- why is he talking flat tax?

BORGER: Well, it's no coincidence that Herman Cain kind of catapulted to the head of the Republican field by proposing his nine-nine-nine tax. Lower taxes are the glue that keeps the Republican Party together, Brooke, and I think it makes an awful lot of sense that if you're looking to jump-start your campaign, which is exactly what Rick Perry is looking to do, that you come up with a proposal that's been popular in the past, this notion of a flat tax, a simpler tax.

And I think that's exactly what he has been doing today, which is to say take another look at me. I have something to sell here. Let me sell it, and I bet you're going to like it better than what Herman Cain has to offer.

BALDWIN: I want you to bounce it off that "take a look at me" idea. Guys let's put up the poll, because this is the CBS/"New York Times" poll. And take a look who is at the top. Gloria, you just mentioned Herman Cain. He's at the top at 25 percent. And then down there, fifth down, the man who blown the doors off the Republican campaign not too long ago, now he's sitting at six percent.

BORGER: Right.

BALDWIN: So this effort in coming forward and talking about this flat tax plan, what's he trying to do?

BORGER: Well, you know, the thing is, he's trying to get people to take another look at him, because he was an idea that people liked. They liked the idea of an alternative to Mitt Romney, particularly the Tea Party conservatives were looking for somebody else. Then he came in the field and suddenly they saw him in those debates against Mitt Romney, against Herman Cain, against Newt Gingrich, and they said, you know what, he's not exactly what we thought he was going to be. In fact, they thought he was more liberal, if you will, than they thought he was going to be on issues like immigration, for example.

So this is a way for him to say to conservatives in the party, the activists of the party, take another look because actually I have a better, simpler tax plan for you that is going to cost you less money and get the economy moving again. You know, it's hard to sell a presidential campaign without ideas. And I think Rick Perry has been in search of some new ideas and so this is a new idea from Perry.

BALDWIN: This is one of his ideas. He's calling it the cut, balance, and grow plan. And just to remind everyone, let's pull up the live picture. He's being essentially introduced right now. He was in a smaller town in South Carolina earlier today where he officials first unveiled this plan basically to give Americans a choice between their current income tax, their rate, or this flat tax. It would be the 20 percent flat tax that he says, and I'm quoting, set our people free from burdensome tax law.

Gloria, depending on how he delivers this today, and people can ask him questions and he has to answer them, could this be a game changer? Could this really be a big boost?

BORGER: You know, he hopes so. But it's going to be attacked immediately as being a plan that allows the wealthy to pay less taxes. It's also, even conservative economists are saying it doesn't bring any more revenue into the system.

And, by the way, it's really not that simple, because since you're given the option of paying the 20 percent or sticking with the regular code, you have to do your taxes twice to figure out which you ought to be paying.

So, you know, the devil is in the details in all of these tax plans. But, again, at least it gives Rick Perry something affirmative that he can sell and take to Republican voters, which he really hasn't had before.

BALDWIN: OK, Gloria, stand by. We're going to sneak a quick break in 70 seconds. And of course as soon as Governor Perry speaks we'll take it live, folks. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And now I want to take you live to Columbia, South Carolina. Here he is, the Texas governor hoping to be the next president of the United States. Governor Perry talking about his flat tax plan.

Take a listen.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS) PERRY: These representatives of the people are helping our campaign build the right team in South Carolina as we go forward into January. And I feel pretty good about the prospects. Strong support of conservatives in South Carolina legislature, commonsense conservative message that appeals to voters here against people in South Carolina, and they understand the principle of trust and verify. They know that you can't just trust conservative rhetoric. You have to have a record to verify.

I've stood by my conservative record. I'm the first governor in Texas since World War II to cut spending. I cut school property taxes by one-third. I signed the most sweeping lawsuit reform in the country. And I've done more to secure the border than any governor in Americas, dedicating some $400 million in state funds, teams of Texas rangers and local law enforcement to cut off the trafficking of drugs, weapons, people.

And as president of that conservative leadership and proof that the conservative leadership works, Texas has led the way creating nearly 40 percent of the jobs in America since June of 2009.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, today I announced a plan that has spread prosperity far and wide by cutting taxes and spending, balancing our budget by 2020, and growing jobs and the economy. My cut, balance, and grow plan is a complete revamp of the tax code. It is a 20 percent flat tax, simple enough that you can file your taxes on a postcard that size right there. That's all you need.

(APPLAUSE)

By the way, I told someone, that's so simple even Tim Geithner can get it.

(LAUGHTER)

We'll cut taxes across all income groups, reform entitlement so that Social Security and Medicare are available for our grandchildren, bring our budget into balance, future budgets into balance as well through a balanced budget amendment to the United States constitution. And when I'm president, I will not let a federal bureaucracy tell a private company like Boeing where they can go to create jobs.

(APPLAUSE)

Listen, my campaign is not about appealing to the Washington establishment. It's about restoring hope and opportunity to Main Street. It's about freedom from federal government's oppressive one size fits all mentality that is being injected into our lives. We're campaigning in every corner of this state from Greenville to Charleston and dozens of places in between. We're going to speak to the pro military, pro freedom, patriotic values so prevalent in South Carolina, and we will offer a different direction for this country that we love. God bless you, and thank you all for coming out.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you. We are going to open it up for those of you in the media and you have your hand in the right place.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, governor. Jim Acosta, CNN.

Just curious, what will it take you to convince you that the president was born in this country and --

PERRY: I'll cut you off right there. That is one of the biggest distractions that there is going. We need to be talking about jobs. Somebody that wants to see my birth certificate, I'll show it to you. But that is a distraction and Americans don't really care about that, if you want to know the truth of the matter.

What Americans want to talk about is jobs. Who is going to lay out a plan of which will get America working again. What I did this morning is give confidence to job creators that they know for a fact that they are going to be able to risk their capital and have a return on their investment. They know that they are not going to be losing jobs because of regulations that are tilling these jobs all across the country. That's what Americans are looking for and that's what we're going to stay focused on.

QUESTION: Governor?

PERRY: Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Any concern that your flat tax proposal will benefit mostly the wealthy?

PERRY: We're interested in getting Americans back to working. If folks who have money are going to be creating those jobs, then I don't have a problem in the world with that. I think that is very, very important that we focus on getting Americans back to work.

And when you put a flat tax of 20 percent in place on the personal standpoint, when you put a 20 percent flat tax in place for corporate, that is the type of confidence that Americans are looking for. When they see a president that will pull back those regulations that have been put in place since 2008 that are killing jobs, whether it's the EPA or whatever agency it may be, then they understand that here is a president that is committed to job creation.

And it doesn't make any difference to me who creates those jobs. Whoever is sitting at home watching this around their kitchen table or listening on the radio and read it in the newspaper tomorrow, they are interested in having a job and having the dignity of taking care of their familiar, and that's what we're going to focus on every day.

QUESTION: Sir, you proposed cutting government spending 18 percent to GDP. That would involve spending cuts of $1 trillion in one year. The committee in Congress is getting trouble getting that over ten years. Could you be specific about the trillions of dollars in cuts that -- PERRY: What we're talking about doing is having a balanced budget by 2020, and this plan does it. We will be releasing a report on how we get that done. And that's the issue. It's not that we're going to get it done in one year. We're going to do it over the period of the next eight years, and 2020 is the target that we're focused in on.

So I don't -- we're going to have the budget balanced by 2020, travel across the country and pass a balanced budget for the United States constitution.

I'll give you one example of how I'm laying out $100 billion that we will have in spending cuts on nondefense discretionary spending. That is the type of dollars that we can cut out of this budget. For instance, you can take the secondary and elementary department of education programs, cut them in half, and that will save you $25 billion in one year.

So that is the issue that Americans are looking for, not to get bogged down into what is it going to be at year one? How are we going to get Americans back to work? How are we going to have a balanced budget by 2020? My plan does that. It doesn't nibble around the edges. This is real and substantive changes in our tax code, and it's real and substantive change on the spending and tax side. It deals with entitlements. It is across the board whether America can get back into the job creators and have the confidence that they can risk their capital and they will have a risk of return on their capital.

QUESTION: Steve Forbes ran on the flat tax plan was offered in 1996 and didn't work out well for him.

(INAUDIBLE)

PERRY: I just happen to think when Americans look at what's happened, there's a lot that has changed since 1996 from the standpoint of our tax code in this country. We have almost $15 trillion worth of debt. You have Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley. I would repeal all of those. Those are job killers.

The regulatory side of the world is what is really is hammering our job creation. Yes, it's important to get our taxes under control and have a tax system that is fair, that is simple, that is flat. How many people in America would rather have the old tax program in place, the lawyers, the accountants. It's almost $850 billion a year that we spend on taking care of the taxes today. Let's do it on a postcard. Let's do it this way.

And also, you pull the regulations back that are killing jobs in America. That's what people care about. They want a president who will stand up and say, here is how we are going to get America back to work. We have done that in the 15th largest economy in Texas over the last decade. And I think Americans are looking for a president who has got a proven tax record and the courage to do exactly what this plan says.

QUESTION: Governor, can you give us a postcard size answer to how your plan compares to Herman Cain's nine-nine-nine plan and Newt Gingrich's 15 percent flat tax cut.

PERRY: Let me visit you about Herman's plan. This doesn't have a VAT tax, a value added tax. It doesn't have a national sales tax. That's the biggest difference right there. Americans do not trust Washington D.C. to have a new form of taxation. What they are looking for is simplicity. They are looking for something that is flat. They are looking for something that is fair. This plan addresses all of those.

So I think when you really look at what we're talking about here from the standpoint of getting Americans confident that there's a tax plan in place that will take care of their tax needs, if you will, this postcard is the way to do it.

QUESTION: Governor, is that just adding another layer to this tax plan?

PERRY: Actually, it doesn't. I think the idea that you can pick and choose -- you may be a business that has for so many years, used the old system whether it was on a host of different issues, depreciations or whatever it is in that old system and you're locked into it and you think for your best interest that to continue to use all of the lawyers and all of the accountants maybe in your best interest. But for the people who don't need that, don't want that, this is the way to go.

(INAUDIBLE)

QUESTION: Do you feel good about your prospects in South Carolina? You were leading in the polls. The recent Marist poll though showed you at nine percent. What happened?

PERRY: Well, I have always said that polls are going to go up and down. So my bet is that when Clemson or South Carolina are at half time, and it doesn't happen very often that they are behind at half time, but they are not going to call the game at half time. So we are going to continue to be working and working and we may change defense a little bit.

(LAUGHTER)

PERRY: But the fact is it's a long time to when this campaign is over with, and we're going to be talking about things like this. We got in this race late. We've laid out over the last two weeks a plan on energy and job security from that standpoint, the security of our energy industry in this country. And now we've laid out a tax plan that also is about growth and controlling spending that Americans are going to look tat and say, that's where we want to go. He's got the record of doing it in the state of Texas, and that's the kind of president we want.

(INAUDIBLE)

QUESTION: What have you all talked about?

PERRY: As general rule, we keep our conversations private, but we talked a lot about the campaign, the time the first time he had a chance to see the tax plan. And you'll have to ask him how much he likes it but I've got to suggest to you that he understands the idea of having simplicity. He loves the idea of having someone who has a track record as the next president of the United States that knows how to stand up and say no to spending.

And I shared with him as I share with people all across this country, if Congress -- and I'm going to do my best to work with congress. I've done that in Texas for quite some time on a lot of different pieces of legislation with Democrats and Republicans. But when they send a bill to me that spends more money than what we've got coming in, that's coming out.

God bless you. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

BALDWIN: All right. So Texas governor Rick Perry, fairly short and sweet when he was addressing what the tax plat proposal is. It's a 20 percent flat tax. Essentially he's saying, Americans, you get to choose between your current income tax rate or my 20 percent flat tax plan, unveiling this there in South Carolina whose primary is January 21, so not too far away, so certainly no coincidence that he is there in South Carolina.

I want to bring Gloria Borger back into this conversation. Gloria, I know he talks about this plan. He talks about job creation. He talks about Social Security, Medicare, balancing the budget by 2020. But let's still drill down on the spending side. When it comes to reform, what specifics is he talking about?

BORGER: Well, it's interesting because he sounds an awful lot like House budget committee chairman Paul Ryan, and that was pretty controversial. On Social Security, he generally talks about gradually raising the retirement age, about private accounts for younger workers, about allowing state and local governments to opt out. He doesn't tell us specifically how.

On Medicare, gradually raising the eligibility age, perhaps making the wealthy pay more, maybe turning it partly into a voucher system. Again, like Paul Ryan, very few specifics there, just generalizations.

But I think what he's trying to show is that he's serious. He's also trying to show he's really different from the other candidates out there, in particular now, Herman Cain, as you saw him take aim at Herman Cain's his tax plan.

BALDWIN: A couple questions in, somebody said, hey, how would you compare this to Gingrich's plan or Herman Cain's plan. And we know Herman Cain has got a lot of air time recently talking nine-nine-nine. Is this Rick Perry's way of saying bring the attention back to me, I have a tax plan too?

BORGER: It is. And he said, by the way, and this is an important point. He said people don't trust a government in Washington to raise any kind of new taxes. And the Herman Cain plan includes a nine percent national sales tax, which is something we do not currently have. The problems conservatives is with that is they say, OK, you're going to raise a new tax. Well, today, it's nine percent. Tomorrow, it could be 15 percent. So, he's saying to conservatives that is not the way to go. Don't open the door to any new form of tax, and that may have some salience with Republican primary voters.

BALDWIN: Gloria Borger, as always, lovely having you on. Thank you so much for talking to me about this flat tax. We really appreciate it. We'll be talking about it, I'm sure, in the future.

Meantime still to come, I had kind of a special interview this morning I want to share with you in just a couple of minutes where I talk to someone in space, one of three crew members currently sitting in the international space station.

By the way, these guys have been up there for five months and counting. They're hoping to come home in the next month. What's in like up there, when will they come home, and what's it like? Do they miss gravity? Mike Fossum, commander of the ISS, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Before we take you to space, I want to show you tomorrow's news today. Let's fast forward, beginning with former Senator John Edwards expected to be in court tomorrow in North Carolina. His lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss the charges that he misused campaign funds. Edwards says he is not guilty.

Also, the group responsible for reducing the deficit is going to have a public hearing tomorrow. The congressional so called super- committee is charged with finding $1.2 trillion in savings over the next 10 years. That deadline is looming for them.

And finally, Betty White, "American Idol," and 10 others will be inducted to the broadcasting hall of fame Tuesday night. That event is in New York City.

The final frontier of space these day is a 900,000 pound laboratory just about the size of a football field orbiting high above earth. And it's not every day we get to do this, place a call to the International Space Station. But this morning I got to talk to Mike Fossum, commander of Expedition 29 up there since June and now very still accustomed to zero gravity.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE FOSSUM, EXPEDITION 20 COMMANDER: There are certainly times when you miss gravity, particularly when you drop something, when you lose something up here. On earth, you get used to things that get away from you falling down by your feet, so you'll look around the floor and in the immediate area. Up here they don't fall down. They can fall in any direction and they don't stop when they hit a surface. They're more likely to bounce than to lodge. So they can sometimes bounce a long ways, and that's a frustrating thing at times, to chase down the stuff you lose.

BALDWIN: Mike, here's my question with regard to the ISS. I know you're one of three crew members out there right now. So far Russia has grounded the Soyuz. They're working on a fix, hoping for a launch in a couple of days. If it's a no go, how do you get home?

FOSSUM: We're fine. We have -- we arrived on the Soyuz rocket in June, like you said. And the problem is with the boosters for launch, and there was a failure of that booster on one of the last launches of the progress cargo. It was a progress cargo vehicle, but it launches on the essentially a same rocket, the Soyuz rocket, the same one we road to orbit.

We don't use that part of the rocket for the ride home. It's a much different game going home. So our ship is fine. And there are no similar components related to that failure for our ride home, so we'll be planning to go home in about a month and there is no changes with that.

BALDWIN: As a young boy, you actually started a notebook writing about Mars. Do you think in your lifetime we'll see boot prints on mars?

FOSSUM: Yes, I do. I've always believed that. I had hoped I could be one of the people to help put those footprints there and I still may. It won't be my footprints more than likely, but I think we will, because it's very compelling.

It's hard. It's a real challenge. The moon is three days away. Mars is six to eight months, depending on exactly how you get there. That's one way. And then you have to do your work and turn around and come home. So mars trip's a two-year mission.

And the systems have to work. They have to work very reliably. And so part of what we're doing with closed loop, recycling our water to a very high percentage, the highest ever on a spacecraft, that's a big deal. That system has to operate flawlessly to and from Mars for a long trip like that.

And so we're making ground. We're learning things from the International Space Station as a test bed for these kinds of systems that are going to be crucial for a long trip to Mars as well as the human aspect of it, keeping us healthy, healthy enough to endure the trip there, be healthy enough to get the work done when we arrive at Mars, and then get home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Mike Fossum, thanks again.

And by the way, a lot of these astronauts are on Twitter. You can actually follow him. He's a Texas A&M guy. But thanks so much to him for talking to me this morning all the way up on the International Space Station.

And now to a pretty bizarre situation in Texas this afternoon. You have a chimpanzee on the loose at the Dallas Zoo, an adult female chimp loose inside a building at the zoo. And according to the Dallas police department, a tranquilizer team was called in to get the animal under control. According to authorities the chimp never made any contact with any guests at the zoo. We don't know yet how the chimp got out or how the animal was secured.

And, sure, you know, you think about your wedding day. You want your wedding day to blow you away, metaphorically speaking, of course. But really, blow you away? Watch this. Watch what happened when a giant sandstorm -- bless this couple's heart. A giant sandstorm blew there this wedding in Arizona. Gus and Jennifer Luna were just starting to exchange their vows last month, got a little crazy, sandstorm wouldn't stop. And it hit the couple just as they were saying their "I dos." He's like, cut, we're done, over.

I'm done as well. Thanks for watching. Now to Wolf Blitzer. "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts right now.