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Both Sides Rest in Michael Jackson Death Trial; Prescription Drug Abuse; Michael Jackson's Doctor Chooses Not to Testify; MF Global Insolvent; Financial Planners Give Advice; Kim Kardashian Files for Divorce
Aired November 01, 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: Meantime here, we're rolling into hour two. Watch this.
Here we go. Welcome back. Top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
A couple stories that we have percolating this hour.
Revival of fears from Europe sending stock markets tumbling today.
Both sides rest in their case in Dr. Conrad Murray's trial.
A blizzard out there is a brewing.
And an epidemic of people dying by overdose.
Time to play "Reporter Roulette" here.
(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)
BALDWIN: Next on "Reporter Roulette," both the prosecution and the defense have just now rested in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, Dr. Michael Jackson's doctor.
Ted Rowlands outside that Los Angeles court, courthouse.
And, Ted, fill us in. What happened today?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the big news was that Dr. Murray, when asked about the judge in this case if he wanted to testify, he took his time in his answer, but then said, no, I do not. And the judge said, are you sure you understand the ramifications of this, and he said, yes, I completely understand.
We had some testimony. We finished up with the defense expert and then the prosecution in their rebuttal case brought up their expert just for a few questions. And as you mentioned, a few minutes ago, both sides rested, all the testimony now in.
So this jury has sat through a month of testimony. Collectively I'm sure they are sighing, thank you. They are done. They are done with at least this part of it. Now it's up to them.
BALDWIN: So it's up to them. From what I understand, they get a break tomorrow and the case goes to the jury, what, Thursday?
ROWLANDS: Yes. The judge is giving them the rest of today and tomorrow, the lawyers, to prepare for their closing arguments. Thursday they will have their close and then the jury will get their instructions following the closing arguments. So I suspect they will start deliberating in earnest on Friday.
BALDWIN: OK. Ted Rowlands, we will see you then. Thank you very much.
(WEATHER UPDATE)
BALDWIN: Next in "Reporter Roulette," Elizabeth Cohen right here with me, our CNN senior medical correspondent.
We're talking today about this word epidemic. That is the word that the CDC is using when it comes to these prescription painkillers.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.
People think usually if you're going to overdose on drugs it's going to be cocaine or on heroin, but you know what? Much more likely to be prescription drugs. Take a look at these numbers, Brooke.
In 2008, 15,000 people died from prescription drug overdoses. And if you compare that to 1999, when it was only 4,000, and then if you think about it this way, there were more deaths due to prescription drugs than heroin and cocaine combined.
BALDWIN: That is unreal.
COHEN: Isn't that unreal?
BALDWIN: Say that again.
COHEN: OK. In 2008 there were more deaths from prescription drugs than from cocaine and heroin overdoses combined.
BALDWIN: Combined.
COHEN: Combined.
BALDWIN: So were they looking at the people -- are there specific types of people who are overdosing on the prescription painkillers?
COHEN: You know what is interesting is it's not who you would think. Middle-aged people are the most likely to overdose on prescription drugs and people, people who live in rural areas, are more likely to overdose than folks who live in non-rural areas, in the suburbs or in the cities.
BALDWIN: Why?
COHEN: I'm not sure they know the answer to that. But they need to think about that in order to try to get rid of this problem.
BALDWIN: As we talk, though, about people overdosing and people dying, why are they dying?
COHEN: Well, they are dying because many of these people are prescribed these drugs for legitimate reasons. These are great drugs. They have helped so many people. Many of us have needed them at some point in our lives. The problem is, people are crossing a line and they keep tanking them even when they don't need them for pain and then they become addicted.
And of course there are nefarious things going on. People are stealing their parents' drugs or, you know, that kind of thing. That happens as well.
BALDWIN: So how do we fix the problem?
COHEN: All right. Two things need to happen. One, doctors need to get better at recognizing when someone has crossed that line and when they need to stop prescribing to them.
BALDWIN: Is that easy to tell?
COHEN: Doctors need to get better at it. They need better training so that they can. Some doctors can tell quite easily. Others don't know how to do it.
The second thing that needs to happen is that we all need to be empowered patients. For example, store your prescription narcotic pain relievers in a secure place so that someone else in your family doesn't get to them, because, unfortunately, that happens.
BALDWIN: People are raiding medicine cabinet.
COHEN: Right. They are not getting them on some street corner from a guy a trench coat. They are getting them from mom or dad or sister's or whatever medicine Cabinet.
The second thing is that when you take these drugs -- again, these are great drugs that help a lot of people -- watch out for signs of addiction. Are you still really taking it because you're in pain or are you taking it because perhaps you're becoming addicted?
BALDWIN: OK. It's frightening.
COHEN: It is frightening.
BALDWIN: Heroin and cocaine combined?
COHEN: Right, are less likely -- fewer people are dying of that than they're dying from prescription overdoses.
BALDWIN: Wow. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much.
COHEN: Thanks.
BALDWIN: Still ahead here, new video from the feds shows the secret moves of Russian spies in the U.S., including Anna Chapman. This is a rare look at how the FBI tracked trees sleepers undercover. Also, this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It looked like I changed my story. I didn't change my story. I just simply got the wording right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: In the course of 24 hours, Herman Cain has spoken publicly multiple times about the sexual harassment allegations against him. But today, hear why Cain is saying this has been great for his campaign.
Plus, Jon Corzine, the former governor of New Jersey, now hundreds of millions of dollars reportedly missing from his company, a company that went under and it's raising all kinds of eyebrows. We're going to dig on this one for you.
And:
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God.
911 OPERATOR: Nine-one-one. Where is your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) Hurry. Oh, my God.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BALDWIN: A chilling 911 call moments after an elevator exploded. This is brand-new. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWS BREAK)
BALDWIN: Now this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It looks just like a spy movie, including one Russian digging up a package of money from what in spy lingo is called a dead drop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The feds call this Operation Ghost Stories. Russian spies living and working alongside Americans trying to steal secrets. Now the FBI revealing how they busted the sleeper cell in videos, pictures, even taped meeting with undercover agents. You're about the see the spies' tricks and hear just how close they got to infiltrating American power circles.
Former FBI Assistant Director Tom Fuentes standing by. We're going to talk about these videos, how close they got -- next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Secret meetings, undercover agents. This is better than any Bond movie because this is the real deal. New video and photos just released by the FBI show these former Russian spies meeting with undercover American agents. It's fascinating stuff. It's like an echo of the Cold War.
I want to bring in Tom Fuentes. He's a former assistant director at the FBI, now a CNN contributor. And, Tom, the video and the pictures, they are amazing. It's like spy novel 101. For people who haven't seen it, just walk me through some of what we are finally seeing today.
TOM FUENTES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Brooke.
I think what the FBI is doing is showing you exactly that this does go on in the real world. It's not just in the movies and in books but this is the actual tradecraft of spies in operation.
BALDWIN: So we're looking at these videos and I know the FBI released them because of the Freedom of Information Act request. And so we see, she's now famous in Russia, Anna Chapman, and these other spies, shopping, sightseeing, sipping coffee. What is it that they are really doing?
FUENTES: They are trying to make contacts in the U.S. that they can later get them to reveal secrets from whichever agencies they may be working for or from U.S. companies.
So that's part of the charm operation of a spy, to try to lure someone into giving them a little bit of information. Once they have them on the hook for having committed a crime in the U.S., then they continue to operate them and obtain more and more information.
This particular case, they didn't get very far. The FBI has been on them from almost the beginning several years ago.
BALDWIN: But remind us, Tom, what -- I know you're saying that they didn't get much. But what did they get? Anything of value?
FUENTES: No. Actually, Brooke, they didn't really get anything. And that's why they were not charged with espionage. They were charged with other violations.
And because they weren't charged with espionage, having gotten secrets, the U.S. was more than willing to make a deal and just send them back to Russia.
BALDWIN: But just looking at the videos, Tom, if we can just play them again, you see Anna Chapman sort of sipping coffee in a coffee shop. I guess that's the whole point, right, to just enmesh oneself in American culture.
FUENTES: Yes, exactly. That's exactly what they were trying to do. And it should be noted that the name of this investigation was Ghost Stories.
And the reason the FBI named it that was because six of the 10 Russian spies actually assumed the identity of dead people.
BALDWIN: Wow. And it all came out on Halloween, but I guess the FBI is saying that that was just mere coincidence.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: No, you're not buying that?
FUENTES: No, they could have released this last -- they were authorized last week. Many bureau executives were in Chicago for a major police convention.
The timing of release -- and I think the FBI once and for all is trying to put to rest the rumor that they don't have a sense of humor.
BALDWIN: What about Anna Chapman? I mean, like I mentioned, she's like this mega-superstar back in Russia. Is it unusual to see a woman, an attractive female in a spy role?
FUENTES: No. Attractive women have been used in espionage for thousands of years. So that's nothing new at all. And I think she's going to take full advantage of this to be a celebrity from now on in Russia and here.
BALDWIN: Sounds like she's already doing so, Tom Fuentes. Thank you so much for coming on.
FUENTES: You're welcome. Thanks, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Clock is ticking, deadline approaching for the super committee to reach a deal on what to cut and who gets spared in America.
And right now, the men President Obama put in charge of figuring out ways to reduce the deficit are on Capitol Hill and they are not holding back. In fact, one just said he's worried the group will fail. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Well, just when you think politics can be little dry, along comes a story that is getting everybody's attention.
We're talking about Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain saying that he's now the target of what he calls a smear campaign. Cain has been fighting back, fighting back very hard against published claims that he sexually harassed two different women more than a decade ago.
His campaign at first rejected this report entirely, but by last night Herman Cain said he did recall one allegation and that there had been a payout, but that it was small. So then this morning, HLN's Robin Meade had him on her show and asked him what else he might remember.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBIN MEADE, HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Now that we're fully 24, 48 hours into this, are you remembering what about more happened, Mr. Cain?
CAIN: That is it. The best account was the one that I gave last night on another net -- another station.
And the only thing that I added is today -- but, remember, this was 12 years ago and I was trying to recollect this in the middle of an already busy, planned day, a major speech in the morning, a major luncheon speech at the Press Club.
And so the only thing that I could remember when I was asked about any specific things that were in the allegation, I came up with the fact that I made a gesture by putting my hand under my chin, standing near this lady saying, oh, you're the same height as my wife. My wife is 5 feet tall, she comes up to my chin. And I was simply making that comparison.
We were in my office. The door was wide open and my assistant was sitting right outside. I was falsely accused. And it was demonstrated to be false. I wasn't aware of the second accusation. I have never committed sexual harassment toward anybody in my over 40 years.
This was the only case that I know about. And if there are any others out there, they will probably have to make it up, because I'm totally not aware and I'm not trying to hide anything. I'm trying to put it all out there for people to see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Herman Cain just this morning on HLN.
He says his supporters are standing by him. In fact he told Robin that yesterday as this story was breaking wide open, he had one of the best fund-raising days of his entire campaign.
Now in Washington, let me show you something that is happening right now. So these are live pictures. This is the debt slashing super committee meeting today in this rare public session. So they are hearing right now from a heavyweight panel of the experts, including the two co-chairs of the presidential debt commission, Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles.
And how is this for a stark warning? Take a listen, if you would.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERSKINE BOWLES, FORMER CO-CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL COMMISSION ON FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AND REFORM: I have worked closely with almost all of you on both sides of the aisle. I have great respect for each of you individually. But, collectively, I'm worried that you're going to fail. ALAN SIMPSON, FORMER CO-CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL COMMISSION ON FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AND REFORM: Interest rates will go up, inflation will go up by the failure, and guess who gets hurt? The little guy. The vulnerable guy that everybody babbles about day and night will be the one hit with a hammer on the schnoz.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: On the schnoz, she says.
The panel's deadline, by the way, hits in 22 days.
Jeanne Sahadi of CNN Money joining me from New York.
And, Jeanne Sahadi, just quick reset, if I may. The committee is doing the work or trying to do the work, as we all remember, that Congress couldn't quite accomplish last summer. And that's to make the tough choices required to cut the national debt, correct?
JEANNE SAHADI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Correct.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: I'm sorry. Go ahead.
SAHADI: Yes, sorry. Go ahead.
No, they are really being asked to do everything on the federal budget that Congress has failed to do for years. And they are being asked to do it in a three-month period which has been run down to three weeks.
BALDWIN: Right. They are looking down at, right, that Thanksgiving deadline.
SAHADI: Yes.
BALDWIN: We know both sides have proposals on the table. And let's just -- let's take a look.
You have the Democrats' plan and in this plan, that would cut the national debt by $3.2 trillion. This is through a mix of spending and entitlement cuts, plus tax increases totaling $1.3 trillion. On the Republican side, their plan would cut the debt by $2.2 trillion and spending and entitlement cuts only, so no new taxes there.
So, Jeanne, they are fighting over taxes again. Is this the crux of the issue? Is this the deal-breaker?
SAHADI: It's both taxes and I think it's also in part stimulating the economy.
What you could tell from the line of questioning today of the four witnesses -- it was Bowles and Simpson, who you showed, and also Alice Rivlin and Pete Domenici, who had a separate bipartisan commission that came up with an equally large debt reduction plan. They were asked questions from the Democratic side about, your plans raised revenue, didn't they? And your plans also said be careful about upending the economic recovery. Republican questions were more along the lines, you said health care costs were the biggest problem for the debt. Isn't that right?
So they were kind of asked leading questions. The more I think about it, it's like the Democrats are saying, the grass is green and Republicans are saying, no, the sky is blue. The truth is, they each have a point, but they are not agreeing with each other quite yet.
Jeb Hensarling, who is the co-chairman, a Republican from the House, he said -- the first thing out of his mouth when he asked the question was, I heard what you said on revenues. All the panelists said that we have to have revenues be a part of this mix, but then he went immediately to health care questions. And then when he came back to the revenue side of things, he said, now, your plans all reduced marginal rates, didn't they?
And it's true. Those bipartisan debt reduction plans reduced tax rates across the board, but in exchange for that they also took away a lot of tax breaks. There have been reports out of Washington today -- not my reporting -- that Republicans are considering closing some tax loopholes, but we will see where that goes.
BALDWIN: We will see where that goes. We will see if any of those trigger mechanisms hit if they can't make this deadline, we mentioned 22 days away.
Jeanne Sahadi, thank you very much.
SAHADI: Right.
BALDWIN: Also, a big, big day in the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor. Both sides rest their case as the jury gets closer to deciding his fate.
Plus, he's convicted of killing a mother and her young daughters in this brutal home invasion. But as a jury decides his fate, the sister of Joshua Komisarjevsky takes the stand and reveals some disturbing memories about growing up with him. Sunny Hostin is on the case. She's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Big news today in Los Angeles, the fact that Michael Jackson's doctor decided not to testify about the day the superstar died. And the prosecution and the defense rest their cases. Sunny Hostin is here. Sunny, this decision by Conrad Murray today not to testify, are you surprised?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: I'm not surprised by it because it would have been very, very risky for Dr. Murray to testify. But, Brooke, it was really clear that he wanted to testify against the advice of his attorneys. His attorneys clearly did not want him to testify. He apparently vacillated between his decision to testify or not to testify. He was advised by the judge that it was indeed his decision, and I will say it was apparently a very lengthy advisement. These things are usually very, very rudimentary, but Conrad Murray was instructed by this judge that it was his right to testify and he said today that he would not testify. But no surprise to me, but certainly many people felt like he wanted to tell his story.
BALDWIN: You think he would have been able to stand up to cross- examination?
HOSTIN: I don't think so. I mean, this is a very, very skilled prosecution team, Brooke. They have made mincemeat out of many of the defense witnesses on the witness stand and it would have been a blistering cross-examination. It's a moment that every prosecutor waits for when it comes to a defendant testifying. So I think a very good decision by Dr. Murray not to take the stand in his own defense.
BALDWIN: As we mentioned, both sides have now rested. The jurors get tomorrow off and then this goes to them, what, Thursday?
HOSTIN: Thursday. Apparently closing arguments are Thursday. I don't know yet how long each side will be allotted for those closing arguments, Brooke. But we also know that the judge will have to instruct them on the law. There's only one count here, involuntarily manslaughter. So it's very possible that this case goes to the jury on Thursday for a verdict. We'll be on verdict watch, I predict, at least by Thursday afternoon.
BALDWIN: OK, case number two, the Connecticut home invasion murder trial. We've talked a lot about this. Joshua Komisarjevsky's mother and father have testified. This was the penalty phase here. Today the convicted killer's younger sister was on the stand. How did she describe growing up with this man?
HOSTIN: You know, terrible, terrible testimony came in today. She testified about his sexual abuse of her for many years. The abuse apparently stopped when she was 10 years old and he was 12 years old at the time. They are about two years apart.
Interestingly, though, she said that this wasn't violent, that he wasn't a violent person. She saw it more like an act of control. She described a child that was very happy go lucky until a couple of incidents happened in his life. She talked about the loss of his grandfather. She talked about the loss of his drum teacher and a car accident during which he sustained a head injury as reasons for the change, the sudden change.
But what I thought was critical in her testimony is she explained that her devout Christian parents did not get any psychological counseling for her even after she revealed this abuse. Rather they wanted to rely upon their faith. On cross-examination, though, the prosecutor pointed out that she out turned just fine even though she was the victim of sexual abuse. We know that Joshua Komisarjevsky was also the victim of sexual abuse and now has been convicted of the triple murder in Cheshire, Connecticut.
BALDWIN: Does the sister, does she believe her brother was the mastermind as has been painted by the prosecution behind the murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters?
HOSTIN: She does not. And I thought it was just extraordinary. She said I know he's not the kind of person that would decide to kill the petit family. So the sister, even notwithstanding this sexual abuse that he perpetrated upon her, she felt that he was not responsible for the murders that happened in Cheshire. It was really quite extraordinary.
BALDWIN: Wow, Sunny Hostin, thank you.
Still ahead, drama on the runway, this passenger jet makes this emergency landing without landing gear. You're going to see how this turns out.
Plus, a brokerage firm goes bankrupt and hundreds of millions of dollars just, poof, missing. Clients cash, by the way, missing. The guy in charge, former governor of New Jersey, Jon Corzine, there are new questions today about whether anything criminal happened behind the scenes. We'll speak live with a "Forbes" reporter next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: A commercial airliner full of passengers lands on its belly today. Watch this.
(VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Yikes. This is a Boeing 747 sliding to an eventual stop after the landing gear failed to work, failed on approach to Warsaw. And 230 people were on board on this airlines flight from the U.S. to Warsaw. Amazingly, no one was injured. Clearly the pilot gets the gold star. Pretty smooth considering the fact that the landing gear didn't work.
Speaking of belly up, a Wall Street brokerage firm has abruptly filed for bankruptcy, and somehow or other it cannot find hundreds of millions of dollars invested by its client. We're talking about the firm called MF Global. It's head is Jon Corzine, the former New Jersey governor, also a former U.S. senator. Corzine, a Democrat, and he was inches away in fact from cashing in a cushy severance package. But that fell through when the money went missing and the firm's plan fell through.
Joining me now from New York, Agostino Fontevecchia of "Forbes" magazine. Agostino, first let's talk in terms of this money.
Do we have a money figure, how much money are we talking about, and do they even know where it went?
AGOSTINO FONTEVECCHIA, MARKETS NEWS REPORTER, "FORBES": Hi, Brooke, yes.
So the latest estimates is about $600 million. And, no, they do not know what happened. But what they do believe is that the firm, MF Global, was using some of those funds when they couldn't find their own money to use or they were running out of their own money, and so they kind of tapped into their client's funds, which is a big no-no on Wall Street. They seem to have done that. There seems to be some kind of confirmation, everything anonymous and everything kind of off the record. That seems to be the record.
BALDWIN: I want to talk about this Wall Street no-no. This is MF Global and one of the main questions is did they mix their investors' money with the company's money which is a tentative Wall Street never, ever, ever to do.
FONTEVECCHIA: You raised a lot of issues. First of all, the CME, the exchange or one of them on which they operated, the CME said that they already did mix the money. There was a report citing an official saying that they ran out of money and tapped into their money. At the same time, this raises the Volcker rule, which is about separating commercial and investment banks. The rule is about banning proprietary trading with commercial banks. You don't want most of the savings to be betting on the exotic derivatives and dangerous and risky assets.
BALDWIN: What about Jon Corzine? He made bad bets, squandered his clients' money on European debt, yet he apparently had a severance deal worth $12 million. So is it still win-win for the Wall Street folks no matter how poorly they performed here?
FONTEVECCHIA: Well, I think that's not the right way to see it. You see, he didn't really make the wrong bets. He just managed them incorrectly, because up to this date, they haven't lost that much money.
So it was more that there's two things. There's leverage and trust. His levels of leverage, they were about 80-one. So Lehman was about 30-one. This was huge in terms of leverage. When people were scared that the situation could get sour and go worse than they expected, then they asked them for more money as collateral and they kind of got scared.
So at the end of the day, he didn't really screw up with his bets. He screwed up with leveraging money and lost people's trust. And eventually people asked for money back because they didn't trust him and he didn't have the money.
And about the severance package, I heard a figure about $12 million. If he indeed gets that, then they may hang him, but I don't think he's going to end up getting that or that he will accept it. That's kind of my own opinion right there. That's the figure that's been thrown around there, $12 million.
BALDWIN: What about big picture, possible ripple effects from this? Is MF big enough that their crash could doom other investment firms?
FONTEVECCHIA: Nothing serious. So, you know, they like to talk about systemic risk. So Mf Global did not pose a systemic risk. It's explosion would not undermine the whole system, or implosion, rather. But it does bring up the issue of regulation. It does embolden regulators that as part of Dodd-Frank is the Volcker rule that I was talking about, and there are different ways of interpreting it and what proprietary trading means.
So this is definitely going to embolden regulators and people proposing stricter versions of the rule. And also it might embolden the Occupy Wall Street people and maybe fuel a little bit of Obama's sort of -- I wouldn't say anti-Wall Street rhetoric all the way, but it will fuel his sort of reluctance to accept and take the side of people rather than financial institutions.
BALDWIN: A lot of money is missing. Agostino, thank you very much.
FONTEVECCHIA: Thank you, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Still ahead, I tell you what, I was off yesterday. This is what everybody was talking about -- Kim Kardashian, now that she wants to divorce her hubby of 72 days. New questions about whether their wedding a stunt. That's ahead.
Plus this.
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(SHOUTING)
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BALDWIN: A reporter's dramatic run-in with the police as a protest against Wall Street there. Coming up next, you'll see the video and what police accuse him of doing. Stay right there.
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POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Time now for the Help Desk, where we get answers to your financial questions. And joining me this hour Lynette Khalfani Cox, the founders of the financial advice blog AskTheMoneyCoach.com, and David Novick, a certified financial planner and adjunct professor at NYU.
David, your question comes from Beth in Philadelphia. Beth wrote that she and her husband have $25,000 in credit card debt consolidated on two cards, they also have money in a 401(k), but they are worried about withdrawing from there because it would count as income earned when their son applies for financial aid. That's an interesting question. What can they do?
DAVID NOVICK, FINANCIAL PLANNER: I would leave the money in a retirement plan if possible. One other option would be to get a home equity loan or line to pay off those credit cards because rates are at historic lows and that may be a better option. If they are insistent on taking the money out of their retirement plan, take it out as a loan assuming that they are still working because it wouldn't count as income because they are borrowing it from the plan. You need to be careful because if they leave the job, the money would be due immediately.
HARLOW: Sure, very good point. Lynette, your question comes from Jason. He contributes $14,000 of his $60,000 a year salary towards his retirement plan. He's thinking about moving some of that into a Roth IRA and says his employer does not offer a match. How should he split his contributions, do you think?
LYNNETTE KHALFANI COX, ASKTHEMONEYCOACH.COM: He may want to rethink that strategy overall. He's lowering his taxable income for the here and now, and so obviously he's reducing the amount of taxes that he has to pay. Obviously, the Roth has its own benefits, though, because he's able to take out that money from the back end. He may think about doing a 60/40 split, 60 percent in his employers retirement plan and 40 percent to go ahead and fund the Roth IRA.
HARLOW: Guys, thank you so much. Folks, if you have a question thaw want answered, just send us an e-mail at any time to CNNhelpdesk@CNN.com.
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BALDWIN: In depth today this twist on the occupy Wall Street protest in Nashville. So this reporter said he was arrested in a police sweep that was caught on camera. Take a look with me. This is a video from his colleague on scene. Pay attention to the man in the red hat being led away on the left side of the screen. That's Jonathan Medor from the paper "Nashville Scene." Tennessee state troopers arrested him late Friday night at legislative plaza in downtown Nashville on charges of criminal trespass and public intoxication. Watch it again, guy in the red hat. So they arrested in total more than two dozen other people here. It's tough to tell in this video if he is allegedly drunk or not, but I want you to listen to the reporter's footage. I'll ask you. Does he sound drunk? Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry. I'm getting off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa, whoa. I'm a member of the media.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You had your time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a member of the media.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're resisting arrest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell him when you get him up there, charge him with resisting arrest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Let me know what you think. I love hearing from you @BrookeBCNN on Twitter.
Another twist to point out. A court ruling says starting today Tennessee officers cannot make any more arrests for the next 21 days. A U.S. district judge issued a restraining order on a new curfew the state of Tennessee has been urging to push out protesters. The judge will revisit the issue on November 21.
Coming up next, Twitter is blowing up over this one. Kim Kardashian pulling the plug on her short marriage after an extravagant wedding. That's an understatement. My next guest says the move hurts the family's brand and credibility big time. Marvet Britto is standing by live. We'll talk Kardashians. Don't miss this.
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BALDWIN: All right, whether you want to admit it or not, everyone's talking about this today, Kim Kardashian filing for divorce. The reality TV star calling it quits after only 72 days of marriage to NBA player Kris Humphries. The story is burning up the Internet, searches on yahoo for "Kim Kardashian divorce" up 4,524 percent.
Also, according to the "Wall Street Journal", Vera Wang even agreed to create a less pricey versions of Kim's wedding dresses for retailers. E! is reporting Kim jetted off to Australia minus Kris to promote her new handbag line. So a lot of people are asking today, is this marriage a scam? Here to help us sort all of this out, Margaret Britto, president and CEO of the Britto agency. One of the top trending searches on Yahoo! is, and I'm quoting, "Why are the Kardashianss famous." Help me out here. Why?
MARVET BRITTO, PRESIDENT AND CEO, THE BRITTO AGENCY: I think they are famous because they have a tremendous amount of awareness. They have a heightened, largely popular television show, and the girls are very, the entire family is very, very popular. So it is a burgeoning brand or it was a burgeoning brand. But I think it will be greatly impacted by the sham or what appears to be a scam of a marriage.
BALDWIN: Let me ask you about it. "New York Post" is reporting they sold their rights to the TV wedding for $18 million. Do you think all of that was just a publicity stunt? Do you really think it was?
BRITTO: It seemingly appears to be. Brands are built on the credibility of the brand and your ability to influence consumers. It seems by the shortness of the marriage that it really was contrived and everything was really architected and orchestrated by the Kardashian empire, which will greatly see, I believe, a financial impact in a negative way from this marriage and the impending divorce.
BALDWIN: OK, because that was my next question. When you think of the empire and the Kardashian tentacles, it's kind of everywhere. What kind of negative backlash might they see?
I think that brands leverage credibility and your ability to maintain your influence over consumers. That's why they strike partnerships. And I think the Kardashian empire will really suffer in a negative way from the credibility that the marriage and subsequent divorce will bring.
I think that consumers really do follow what the young girls of the Kardashian empire do. They really buy the products that they sell and that they promote. I think that will be impacted, because now everyone will wonder if everything they are doing is simply for a check. And one would think the covenant of marriage was outside the boundaries, but it doesn't seem like it was.
BALDWIN: On the subject of divorce, let's listen to sounds from Kim Kardashian before she started dating Kris.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIM KARDASHIAN, REALITY TV STAR: I have been married. I want to take it slow --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Been there, done that.
KARDASHIAN: Yes, been there, done that. But I definitely do want to get married. I just want to make sure that it's right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Make sure that it's right. Yet, what happened?
BRITTO: Well, think she was very convincing and I think that's a big part of the brand that they have built. They made it influential and very much a lifestyle brand. But to not give the wedding an opportunity, it was a very strong statement coming from Kris Humphries when he said he thought he was entering into a covenant, a sacred covenant, which clearly the fact that he was blindsided simply means he wasn't necessarily a participant in this entire operation.
BALDWIN: OK. Yes, he says he is devastated. Marvet Britto, thank you very much.
Before I let you go, I want to get you to tomorrow's news today. Let's fast forward. Economists are on alert for what Ben Bernanke will say tomorrow on just where the economy is heading. The head of the Federal Reserve is holding a press conference at 2:15 to give projections from the Federal Open Market Committee.
Also tomorrow I will speak to CNN's Fareed Zakaria about his special coming up over the weekend on our troubled education system. Fareed's "RESTORING THE AMERICAN DREAM -- FIXING EDUCATION" runs Sunday night, 8:00 eastern on CNN. I will talk to Fareed over the next couple of days.
And that is it for me here at the world headquarters in Atlanta. Now to my colleague Wolf Blitzer and "THE SITUATION ROOM" starting right now - Wolf.
