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Assistant Coach McQueary Speaks Out; Bullet Hits White House Window; Romney Surges in New Hampshire; Obama Visits Australia; Facebook Cleans Up After Attack; Postal Service Posts $5.1 Billion Loss; "Occupy" Protesters Return to Park; Buying Influence in Congress; Mike Krzyzewski Gets 903rd Win; 911 Call: My iPhone Doesn't Work

Aired November 16, 2011 - 08:59   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And hello to everybody out there. We're at the top of the hour, 9:00 Eastern time. I'm T.J. Holmes, in for Kyra Phillips today.

And this morning, we are hearing from one of the people most vilified in the child molestation scandal at Penn State. We're talking about Mike McQueary, the graduate assistant you've been hearing so much about who allegedly saw the football coach, Jerry Sandusky, raping a boy in the locker room.

Now he has faced blistering criticism for not doing more when he allegedly saw this happen. But now we're hearing from McQueary that he is disputing what you and I have been hearing out there in the public.

According to e-mails now obtained by the "Morning Call" newspaper McQueary tells a former classmate, quote, "I did stop it. Not physically, but made sure it was stopped when I left that locker room," end quote. He also says he reported it. In the same e-mail he says he had, quote, "discussions with police and with the official at the university in charge of police," end quote as well.

Listen to -- listen to McQueary now. This is what he told a CBS News reporter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARMEN KETEYIAN, CBS NEWS: Do you have any idea when you think you might be ready to talk?

MIKE MCQUEARY, ASSISTANT COACH, PENN STATE FOOTBALL: This process has to play out. I just don't have anything else to say.

KETEYIAN: OK. And then just one last thing. Just describe your emotions right now.

MCQUEARY: All over the place. Just kind of shaken.

KETEYIAN: Crazy?

MCQUEARY: Crazy. Yes. KETEYIAN: You said what? Like a?

MCQUEARY: Snow globe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Let me bring in Andrew McGill, he's one of the reporters who broke this story for the "Morning Call," that newspaper.

Thank you for spending some time with us. Let's start with how you got this e-mail in the first place.

ANDREW MCGILL, REPORTER, THE MORNING CALL: Well, T.J., it essentially was sent to us by a friend of McQueary. And in the e-mail chain McQueary made it clear that he was OK with having this sent out.

HOLMES: Now there are only bits and pieces we have seen from the article that you all put out and published. But the entire e-mail, do you plan on releasing all of it?

MCGILL: I guess that is a decision that's going to come from above my head, honestly. But I will tell you that pretty much everything that was in that e-mail we included in that story. We didn't keep anything out.

HOLMES: Was there anything else in the e-mail that might help us understand what he meant, what McQueary meant when he said he stopped it but not physically. That is in direct conflict with what's in the grand jury -- the grand jury report that said that the grad assistant left immediately distraught.

MCGILL: There's nothing further in the e-mail itself, but that is a topic of a lot of speculation. I mean, I think that this e-mail does bring up holes or gaps in the grand jury report. And that incident is part of it. I mean did he stop it just by being there, even if he didn't make an action to end it himself, and did he go to police?

It makes a distinction between discussions with police and the official at the university in charge of police and the grand jury report fairly talks about talking to the official but if there were further police discussions, that's news to me.

HOLMES: And I was going to bring up that point next. I'm looking at this grand jury report. It says the -- graduate assistant was never questioned by university police and no other entity conducted an investigation until he testified in grand jury in December of 2010.

But again from that reading of that e-mail, he is saying he did not just take this to his dad and call. He didn't say he just talked to Paterno about this, he is saying he went to police.

MCGILL: That's the way I'm seeing it, T.J. I mean if you look at it again, there's two clauses in that sentence. I did have discussions with police and with the official at the university in charge of police and, again, like you said, the grand jury report says that he wasn't questioned and no report was made and I'm very interested in finding out if that is the case.

HOLMES: All right. Andrew McGill, I know you're all looking into it. We'll keep an eye on your reporting. Thank you so much.

We're three minutes past the hour now. Let's turn to the White House. Shots fired near the White House. A bullet found near the White House. At least one bullet hitting a window at the White House.

CNN's Athena Jones is there.

Athena, what in the world is going on at the White House?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, as we know, the president and first lady have been gone for several days. They're out traveling. But on Friday night there was a shooting down near the ellipse, between the ellipse and the Washington Monument. That's about 700 or 800 yards south of the White House.

That happened on Friday. Police, after a few minutes, found a car that had been abandoned. Park police said that inside that car they found a semi-automatic weapon.

Now fast forward to yesterday. Yesterday they discovered two rounds of bullets at the White House and it hit the White House building. One of them went through the glass but was stopped by that second layer of ballistic glass, which, of course, is there to protect the occupants of the White House.

Another round was found nearby. Now I just spoke with -- we got a statement from the Secret Service. They haven't conclusively linked those bullets to Friday's incident. As we know, they were found on the south side closest to that incident. Still several hundred yards away.

Secret Service has said that there is always a perimeter of security around the White House and that this event occurred on the very outer perimeter. And so they're still investigating. They're still looking at maybe things they could do differently but that this time security worked here -- T.J.

HOLMES: OK. But too often here someone is targeting the White House? Are these just stray bullets that happened to hit the White House? Are they working on both of those theories or is one prevailing?

JONES: Well, they -- the investigation is still going on. Of course, they put out a statement talking about this 21-year-old man whose last name was Ortega who is wanted in connection with the shooting on Friday. And so they're still looking at that. They haven't conclusively concluded that these bullets are related to that shooting because they still have to wait for a ballistics evidence and that sort of thing.

But yet, a law enforcement official has told CNN that there are -- there's increasing information that this individual Oscar Ortega has, quote, "A direction of interest in the White House or the president."

And so Secret Service and other officials are interviewing family and friends and they're still looking for this suspect -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right, Athena Jones for us at the White House, thank you.

JONES: Thanks.

HOLMES: Let's get to some presidential politics now. Primary season kicking off in about seven weeks and one of the key battlegrounds, of course, will be New Hampshire.

Let me bring in our Mark Preston keeping an eye on things -- all things related to politics.

Hello to you, and New Hampshire, I guess Mitt Romney wished New Hampshire voted first and wish they voted, like, I don't know, today?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. And last for that matter.

HOLMES: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

PRESTON: You know, if it was all -- if it was just New Hampshire that was going to choose the Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney would want them to do the choosing.

Look at these new poll numbers out right now. Just came out this morning from Bloomberg. Shows that Mitt Romney has a commanding lead up in New Hampshire right now at 40 percent.

Now, of course, Mitt Romney is the former governor of Massachusetts. And he in many ways is staking his campaign on a big win in New Hampshire.

Now, these poll numbers, T.J., follow another poll that was released by Bloomberg yesterday out in Iowa that shows that the race for the Iowa caucuses is very much up for grabs. We have four people right now vying to try to win the Iowa caucuses.

But, again, focusing back in on New Hampshire, T.J. One person who's staking his campaign on New Hampshire, as well, is Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor. However, he said some things last night that he probably wish he didn't say. In fact let's listen -- let's see what he had to say right here.

Jon huntsman up in New Hampshire at a campaign event. He said, "I don't care what the rest of the country thinks or feels. That's not important. I do care about what the people of New Hampshire feel because this is important." Now, Jon Huntsman, again, who's staking his entire campaign, T.J., on the state of New Hampshire. A win up there, had a backtrack on those comments saying he wasn't talking about what voters across the country feel, what he's saying was the national polls. He is not paying any attention to the national polls.

But Jon Huntsman, T.J., is not doing great up in the polls up in New Hampshire. That Bloomberg poll shows that he is in fifth place -- T.J.

HOLMES: Yes, we didn't see his name make the cut on the screen. That graphic you put up so we assume he's somewhere at the bottom there.

Mark Preston, always a pleasure. Thank you so much.

And a programming note for our viewers here. Politics, as always, right here on CNN. We got another debate for you focusing exclusively this time on national security and foreign policy as the Republican National Security Debate co-sponsored by the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute.

You can catch that Tuesday night right here on CNN at 8:00 Eastern. We'll have another political update in one hour and, of course, for all the latest political news, you know where to go, CNNPolitics.com.

Let me turn to the president now. His first trip to Australia since taking office and he's trying really hard to fit in. An official dinner today. He switched fluently between English and well, Australian?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The alliance between the United States and Australia is deeper and stronger than it has ever been. Spot on. Cracker Jack. In top nick.

Thank you very much, everybody.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Zain Verjee with me now.

Zain, that was clearly impressive. I've always been impressed with people who can just easily and fluently go back and forth between languages like that. You've got to give the man credit.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You sure do. Good day, mate. T.J., how the hell are you?

HOLMES: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

VERJEE: All right. Well, let's actually take a look at what some of the newspapers around the world are saying about President Obama's visit. They're really focusing on the military deal that the U.S. has made with Australia and they're taking the China angle here.

"The Australian," "2,500 U.S. Marines on Australian soil to increase defense ties," is the headline. It says, "The agreement is set against the background of growing Chinese military spending and the dramatic expansion of the Chinese Navy."

And then "The Daily Telegraph" here in the UK, Barack Obama to deploy 2,500 Marines in Australia. As he says, we do not fear China." It says, "Mr. Obama insisted the deployment was not targeted at countering Beijing's rise, but he pointedly called on China to play by the rules of the road."

T.J., the message the U.S. is sending here to China, as well, is that, you want to be a superpower, fine. But you need to play by the rules of the game and be responsible -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Zain Verjee for us. Zain, always good to see you. Thanks so much.

We're about 10 minutes past the hour now.

And a lot of people who use Facebook got a surprise on their Facebook pages. Pornographic and violent images, it was all a part of a major hack. We'll tell you about this attack and whether it could happen again. Stay with us.

Also coming up, "Occupy Wall Street" before and after. Today the tents are gone, but protesters say the cause is still very much alive. A live report from Zuccotti Park.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Fourteen minutes past the hour now. Give you a look at stories making news "Cross Country."

Severe storms sweeping across the southeast this morning. Already have been reports of tornados and damage in Louisiana, as well as Mississippi.

Also authorities in San Pedro, California, are afraid part of their town could literally slide right into the Pacific Ocean. Landslide already has closed down a stretch of road, seems to be getting worse. Fences are set up to keep people at a safe distance.

Also, Macy's has five new floats for its 85th Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade including Zhuzhu pets, they have a float, and a hockey float with kids taking slap shots at a wooden turkey.

You'll also see some new balloons like Sonic the Hedgehog floating down the streets of Manhattan.

Well, Facebook says your newsfeed should be OK now. Hackers unleashed a spam attack that spread graphic, disturbing pictures of sex and violence across the site. Facebook has been working to clean things up and says the hackers didn't get any of your personal information.

Christina Warren is here now. She's with the social media news site Mashable.

Thank you for being here.

They say that they didn't get any of our personal information, are we sure?

CHRISTINA WARREN, MASHABLE.COM: If the exploit happened the way that Facebook says it did, then they should be right. None of our -- none of our personal information should have been exposed. But that assumes that it happened the way that they said it did.

HOLMES: And, Christina, are we sure they've got it under control now? This is over for the most part?

WARREN: I think they've got it cleaned up for the most part. I think they figured out where it is coming from and able to block the servers and the different types of content that is being posted. A lot of that, as you said, was really disturbing stuff.

HOLMES: Christina, something as massive as Facebook, how difficult or how easy, maybe, is it for someone to hack and unleash something like this on a site that massive?

WARREN: Well, what they actually, how this attack actually happened. It's using something called a cross site script attack and what that means is you might get a message that says, hey, you can win a free trip to Disney World or free trip to Atlanta to visit you at CNN, but all you have to do is paste this code into your location bar on your web browser. If you're running an outdated version of the Web browser, like Internet Explore or a Firefox or Google Chrome, and you hit enter, it could execute some code that is responsible for posting all that nasty stuff.

HOLMES: And how hard is it to track this down, track the culprit down?

WARREN: Facebook should be able to figure out where the attack was coming from based on how stuff was posted. But it can take some time for them to shut things down.

The really important thing is to make sure you're running the latest version of your Web browser. That you're not running something outdated like Internet Explorer 6. That you're keeping your security updates up to date. And if you see something that looks a little bit fishy and is offering you something for free, chances are, it's a scam and to ignore it.

HOLMES: All right. People love and trust Facebook. Got a lot of users out there, but something like this, will this do any damage to them long term if people think, wow, Facebook can't keep this from happening or just a temporary hit and people will go on?

WARREN: You know, I think it could be problem if this thing continues. I mean, when we look at MySpace and one of the things that really kind of brought MySpace down was the fact that the site was cluttered and there were all kinds of gross ads and pop-ups everywhere, and Facebook really needs to do the best they can to avoid this sort of thing happening again. And I think it would be really beneficial if they were more open in talking to its users to let them know, hey, this is what is happening and we're putting a stop to it rather than letting it go on for two days before coming out and saying this is what's going on.

HOLMES: Christina Warren from Mashable -- good to talk to you. You enjoy the rest of your day. We'll see you back here in Atlanta for the holidays. All right?

WARREN: All right.

HOLMES: All right. We're about 18 minutes past the hour. Rain or snow, nothing can stop the U.S. Postal Service.

Money problems can. A new report shows the U.S. Postal Service is losing billions of dollars. We're heading to the New York Stock Exchange for details coming up next.

Also, most politicians go stumping for votes. Vladimir Putin goes drilling. More on his unorthodox presidential campaign. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Twenty-one minutes past the hour now.

And we have seen him shirtless. We've seen him on horseback. We've seen him doing a little judo. Even seen him hunting Siberian tigers.

Yes, we're talking about the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He is an impressively manly dude, some will tell you, and his popularity is slipping, though -- in just weeks before his party's parliamentary elections.

Zain Verjee joins us, once again, from London.

You know, here in the U.S., we're used to seeing the politicians shake hands. They kiss some babies and make some speeches. Not this guy.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: No, not this guy, T.J. And maybe Vladimir Putin can give some of the presidential candidates there over in the U.S. some tips, OK?

He is known in the U.S. diplomatic circles as the alpha dog. Let me tell you what his latest stunt was. He was off campaigning because he wants to be president in 2012, again. That would be his third time. And he decided to -- as he was touring hospitals, grab some of the dentistry equipment.

Take a look this picture, looks like he is about to pull someone's tooth out here in this shot. This is actually the governor of one of the regions there.

And then earlier this year, he did kind of a macho pr stunt. He got himself on a Harley Davidson and headed up a group of bikers and rode around looking, well, pretty cool -- a lot of people would say. All clad in black there shaking people hands and generally looking pretty hot, many people might think.

Now, T.J., I want you to take a look at his latest stunt here. OK?

HOLMES: OK.

VERJEE: Take a look at this campaign ad, OK, and this ad features sex in a ballot box. Yes, you heard me right. That's the general idea.

The campaign ad is out there. And the idea is to make voting sexy. So, you've got this man and this woman and they're going to vote and then they just make their way into the voting booth after they meet and, well, you know, you know the rest. They have a little bit of fun there.

The symbolic message for Vladimir Putin here is vote Putin and keep the good times rolling in Russia.

T.J., naturally, the campaign slogan is: let's do it together.

HOLMES: Wow. OK. That is actually his campaign ad. That is not to get just people to vote in general. That's to vote for him, is that right?

VERJEE: That's right, because he's really projected himself as this man's man. This macho guy, virility and sex and he was off without his shirt in some river area a few months ago.

And so, the idea is, you need a tough guy like Putin. You got to be, you got to trust him and this is what Russia is all about. Vote Putin.

HOLMES: Is it working for him as far as his popularity goes? I understand he was slipping a little bit.

VERJEE: Well, his polls were slipping a little bit. But Vladimir Putin is still the most powerful man in Russia. Even when he was prime minister, a lot of people thought he was really pulling the strings of the puppet, the president, Medvedev, and it was him that was really in charge.

So, even if his popularity may be slipping, it may rise after this vote for me, sex in the ballot box, but he really is the powerhouse in Russia and a lot of people expect that he will get this term as president because they changed the constitution to allow it. So, watch the space for alpha dog Putin.

HOLMES: Zain, I'm starting to wonder about you. This is not the first time you have done a Putin story with his shirt off or --

VERJEE: I knew you would say that.

HOLMES: You knew that was coming. All right, Zain Verjee --

VERJEE: It was just a coinkidink.

HOLMES: All right. Always good to see you, Zain. Thank you so much.

All right. Let me bring in Alison Kosik now to get ourselves together back on this show. She's back at the New York Stock Exchange.

Following some issues -- the U.S. Postal Service, Alison, it seems like every few months we hear that they have just been hemorrhaging cash and here we go, again.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, here we go, again. Guess what, T.J., over the past year, the Postal Service lost more than $5 billion, but, hey, it's not as bad as last year's $8 billion loss. But you got to admit, it's massive.

So, here's what's at the core of the problem at the postal service. We are spending, we are sending less mail these days. In fact, last year we sent, 3 billion fewer pieces of mail.

Also, the Postal Service is saddled with huge retiree health care costs, causing the Postal Service to go even deeper in debt. It's cut its staff, but clearly it's not enough. And what it wants to do is close some locations. It wants to cut retiree health care benefits and it wants to lay off more than 100,000 workers.

Now, the thing with the USPS, it doesn't run itself. Congress calls the shots. So, Congress has to approve any structural changes that happen with the Postal Service. But making those dramatic changes, let's say benefits and laying off workers, T.J., as you can imagine, the Postal Service is getting a lot of push back -- T.J.

HOLMES: Al right. We got four minutes from the opening bell. What do we expect to see today?

KOSIK: We're going to open in the red. You know what? Same concerns about Greece, about Italy.

One analyst puts it this way: It's like Groundhog Day. You wake up and it is the same thing over and over again. Now, as bond yields spike not only in Italy and Spain. Add France to that, too.

So, these are growing that the European debt crisis is moving to these countries thought to be immune.

And have you checked out oil prices lately, T.J.? They hit that $100 mark. Just for the first time this morning. I can only wait until it gets to the gas pump -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. We'll talk to you soon, Alison Kosik. Thank you so much.

As we get close to the bottom of the hour, we're going to head to "Occupy Wall Street." We will show it to you before and after now.

Today, the tents are gone and protesters say the cause is still very much alive. We are live in Zuccotti Park.

Also ahead, it is official now, the 2011 "People" magazine sexiest man alive has been revealed. A hint: he was a star of one of your guys' favorite movies. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We're at the bottom of the hour now. Giving you a lot of stories making headlines.

Penn State assistant football coach defending his reputation now. Mike McQueary said in an e-mail that he did help stop the alleged rape of a young boy by former coach Jerry Sandusky. And he did talk with police about the incident.

Also, President Obama announcing the U.S. will deploy up to 2,500 Marines to Australia in the coming years. The move comes as China expands its military reach in the Pacific.

And the Arab League meets today to reaffirm its decision to suspend Syria's membership. The league says the President Bashar al Assad did not stick by his pledge to end the crackdown on protesters and release detainees.

We turn now to the Occupy Wall Street movement. First, the riot police moved in. Then the lawyers battled it out.

Our Deb Feyerick in Zuccotti Park.

An interesting past several hours and days in that park -- what does it look like now?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., we can tell you, it is really virtually empty compared to what it looked like just a couple days ago.

Something going on in the middle there. One guy lying down. We're not sure exactly what is happening there. We can tell you that the protesters are tired, but determined. This tent city that was here was really autonomous, almost self governing. Very different today.

You see some of these security guards in yellow. They're stepping in. They're trying to break up fights. As a matter of fact, one man was arrested.

But it appears that the man who was arrested was trying to de- escalate a very tense situation. You have to remember that some of these people have not slept in more than 30 hours.

But the feeling really among some of the people that I spoke to inside this park is that they really have succeeded in changing the national dialogue, they succeeded in raising the national consciousness. They're angry about the disparity in wealth. They're trying to get that changed. They talk about student debt and the crushing burden of all of it.

Last night, really, the folks who did stick it out, they had to sleep sitting up. We're told arrests took place when two people were sitting back-to-back.

So, they really are cracking down making this much, much tighter in terms of what is happening here. And again, you can see, no tents and, really, just a handful of people.

We did speak to somebody who sort of is the spokesperson for the group who tells us that right now what they're doing is they're trying to regroup. They're trying to figure out what their next step will be and they want the two-month anniversary to be big.

So, that's what they're really planning, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Deb Feyerick in a much different looking Zuccotti Park for us, thank you so much.

Meanwhile, in other cities, patience also running thin. Seattle police use pepper spray in a clash with protesters. They refused orders to clear the streets. The group's march blocked rush hour traffic and then protesters sat down in an intersection, at least six people arrested.

Also in Dallas, the fights in the courtrooms -- a federal judge has ruled that the city can forcibly remove protesters who are camped out on city hall property. About 200 demonstrators are there and the city's mayor wants to avoid an ugly confrontation here. Today, city attorneys will meet with representatives of Occupy Dallas to discuss possible options.

Well, coming up here, the power of money on Capitol Hill. Can the will of the public compete with the deep pockets of lobbyists? A veteran Washington insider shares his concerns.

Also, you remember that paternity suit against Justin Bieber? Well, it's over. We'll tell you why, next, in "Showbiz Headlines."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Thirty-eight minutes past the hour now.

And she made world headlines with the paternity suit against Justin Bieber.

Well, let me bring in our entertainment correspondent Kareen Wynter.

And this woman who made headlines, but now, it's all over and done with in the past. What happened?

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: You're right, T.J.

According to TMZ, the suit was quietly, quietly dismissed last week. TMZ is also saying the attorneys involved in the paternity suit have abandoned their client. The explosive allegation, T.J., that Bieber had fathered a child in the backstage bathroom encounter. It got a whole lot of attention. If this report pans out, I hope the dismissal goes away, as well.

From the beginning, the Bieb, he's denied he ever met Mariah Yeater, the woman who filed the paternity suit, much less had sex with her. He not only promised a DNA sample to prove it, but he also threatened to sue Yeater and her attorneys. And TMZ hints that threat may have been the effective part in killing the suit.

We'll have to see if he follows through with it. CNN is actively chasing the story. We'll let you know when that happens, T.J.

HOLMES: Wow. All right, Kareen, let's quickly move to another topic here.

"Dancing with the Stars," that -- admittedly, I haven't really gotten into the show. I know it's huge, but now we got the finals coming?

WYNTER: Oh, of course. Really exciting part, right. Hope Solo, she's out for all those Hope Solo fans, the soccer star, and her feisty partner Maksim. They were eliminated last night, they got the boot. The pair were bickering and fighting with each other and the judges all season.

So, this move, T.J., isn't a huge surprise and this is just a reminder of how hard this competition is. It looks easy, it's tough. Solo, who already has one gold medal in soccer and is expected to be competing for a second in the Olympics next year, well, she's called this the hardest competition she's ever been a part of.

So, in the end, we're left with three final couples, Ricki Lake and Derek, Rob Kardashian and Cheryl, Jay-Z, nope, not Jay-Z -- J.R. Martinez and Karina. (INAUDIBLE) Jay-Z this week.

HOLMES: OK. If Jay-Z was in it, I'll be watching if Jay-Z was in it.

All right, let's get to this other topic. This is always a big deal. "People" magazine knows how to build this up and they did this morning.

This year's sexiest man alive, who is it?

WYNTER: I think they made an error, though. I don't know how to break this to you, T.J., but you were snubbed, again, this year.

HOLMES: Oh, that's not an error, they got it right.

WYNTER: I kind of call it the peeps at "People" magazine.

But here's the good news for Bradley Cooper. He has been voted the sexiest man alive and to quote the magazine, he's more than just a pair of dazzling baby blues and a killer smile. "People" says this Georgetown grad, he can whip you up dinner. He can take you for a spin on his motorcycle and whisper sweet nothings in French.

Other hunks getting honorable mentions include Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and country star Tim McGraw. But that sounds pretty awesome, you know, the whole whipping up dinner and taking you for a spin whispering sweet nothings. He has my vote.

HOLMES: OK, look, I can do all of that, except for the Georgetown part. I went to a different school.

WYNTER: The Georgetown part.

HOLMES: But other than that.

Kareen Wynter, always good to talk to you. We will see you again soon.

WYNTER: Thanks, T.J.

HOLMES: We're going to have more on "People" magazine's choice. Senior writer Julie Jordan will tell us why Bradley Cooper got the nod this year. That's coming up in about 30 minutes from now.

But we're about 9:40 Eastern Time right now.

And buying influence in Washington, D.C. A former presidential adviser asked some sobering questions about the power of money.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Keeping a look at news across country now:

The Miami Marlins, check out what they're doing right now. The team is holding a two-day job fair to fill more than 2,000 slots -- everything from game day staff to manager level positions, trying to do their part to maybe knock down the unemployment rate a little bit.

Also, one person definitely needs a new gig. The sugar plum fairy, a Missouri woman has been fired from her regular holiday acting job, apparently, during a mandatory drug test. She dropped some not so cherry curse words.

Also, a Georgia teenager has been rescued after nine hours in a chimney. He's also been arrested and police say he was trying to rob the place, got stuck, got arrested.

Well, we're quarter to the top of the hour now, and 903 wins and counting. Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski cements his name into college hoop's history. A really nice moment, a genuine moment in sports last night you need to see. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Now here are some of the stories making news a little later today.

At 11:00 a.m. Eastern time in the Capitol Rotunda, congressional leaders honor Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Senator John Glenn with Congressional Gold Medal Awards.

Also later that hour, the tenth anniversary of the Transportation Security Administration will be observed. Ten years. Wow.

Then at 5:00 Eastern Time in Los Angeles, Google expected to announce the launch of an online music store.

But as we're about 12 minutes off the top of the hour, let me turn now to some politics. Politics and money. From Tea Party rallies to "Occupy Wall Street" protests, angry Americans share this common fear, money corrupts the way Washington does business.

CNN senior political analyst David Gergen takes on this issue in on an op-ed piece on CNN.com. He joins us now, via Cisco camera in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Always good to see you.

Most people hear this, ok, politics, money, corruption, all right. We just almost accept, unfortunately, do you find, that this is just the way it is.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, great shout-out to Coach K., T.J., I appreciate that.

Money politics perhaps, yes, people come to expect it, but the problem is it's taken different shape. We no longer see the kind of corruption that I saw when I first got to Washington some years ago. And that is, a straight payoff to a member of Congress who just puts it in his pocket and walks off.

Well, what we're watching now is something much more insidious. Good people caught up in a bad system. The most recent series of allegations surround the notion that there's been insider trading. Members of Congress have access to information that some members of the public may not have. They've been trading in on it, making a lot of money.

I think those facts are still to be proven. Clearly, Congress needs rules that are much tougher about how they do their investments. We have tough rules in the executive branch and judicial branch. We need them in the congressional branch.

HOLMES: Oh ok but David on the point you brought up, you say it's a little different now. They used to maybe do a payoff, hand you some cash and the congressional -- a member of Congress will put it in their pocket.

Ok but still, today, you have lobbyists all over the place who are still handing that cash out but it's via campaign contributions now, isn't it almost the same thing going on?

GERGEN: Well, it's a close cousin, but it doesn't go into your personal bank account. What it does allow you to do is cling to power. It enables you to run for office and keep winning.

And you know, Mike Zuckerman and I just wrote a blog on CNN pointing people to a new book by a fellow named Lawrence Lessig.

HOLMES: Yes.

GERGEN: L-e-s-s-i-g, call "Republic Lost" and it's a wonderful book by a professor here at the Harvard Law School who argues that, you know T.J., the issue more and more is if members of Congress become dependent upon money from lobbyists to win campaigns and it increasingly distorts public policy -- it's not just a question of whether they get to cling to power, but in farm subsidies, there are all sorts of things. We put -- we -- we protect sugar from imports and then we give extra money subsidies to corn all because of lobbyists.

And what happens? We've got now high fructose corn syrup in a lot of our food and our kids are getting obese. And there's a direct line between all of those things.

Another aspect of this, the business community, I hear time and again as I travel the country, from CEOs who say I can't invest because I don't know what's going to happen next in Washington. I don't know what kind of laws they're going to pass, I don't know what kind of regulations they're going to put on me.

The Lessig book makes the argument that members of Congress have a self-interest in keeping things uncertain. If they put a tax law into place that last for five or ten years, they're not going to see a lobbyist on that issue for another five years or so.

On the other hand if they pass a tax law that only lasts one year that congressman is going to -- I mean, that lobbyist is going to be at their door next week with some cash that come to a fundraiser.

HOLMES: I thought that was the most interesting part of your piece. And I will direct people to it now but the fact that they have an interest in keeping us all confused and keeping uncertainty in the system.

David Gergen, again, folks, you can find his piece, at CNN.com, that op-ed piece. But David Gergen, always good to talk to you.

GERGEN: Thank you T.J.

HOLMES: All right.

We're also following a lot of developments in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's get a check at all of those stories. Let's start with Deb Feyerick.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., I'm here at Occupy Wall Street where protesters -- T.J. I'm here at "Occupy Wall Street" where protesters are re-grouping, trying to figure out their next move, which could include shutting down Wall Street -- T.J.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange. You hear that? That's the clock ticking. The super committee has exactly one week to come up with $1.2 trillion in spending cuts. I'll have details coming up.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: And I'm Paul Steinhauser at the CNN Political Desk. We're just eight weeks away now from that New Hampshire primary. We've got new poll numbers. Who's on top in the Granite State? Details at the top of the hour.

HOLMES: All right, Deb, Alison, Paul, thank you all. We'll see you shortly. And also ahead, we hear from a key figure in the child molestation scandal at Penn State. What did Mike McQueary tell a classmate and what did he say to the camera crew at his front door? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, the Penn State scandal making headlines, also with the NBA labor dispute going on, it's nice to bring you what is genuinely just a wonderful sports story.

This one is of Duke's basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski. He has now become the all-time winningest coach in Division I Men's history. His Blue Devils beat Michigan State last night, 74-69. Sold out crowd there in Madison Garden. His whole family -- you see him hugging his wife there -- in attendance.

But this was a really nice moment; his mentor and long-time coach, Bob Knight, was there calling the game for ESPN and he's the one who held the previous record of 902 wins. Coach K says a nice moment, but he's kind of glad it's over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE KRZYZESKI, COACH, DUKE UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL TEAM: There's too much attention focused on me for this last week. And I don't, you know, again, I get attention all the time without -- I just get attention, you know. I mean -- and I've gotten too much and with the NBA not being there, you get even more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: 903 wins for him, but keep in mind, that's in Men's Division I. The record overall in D1 belongs to a lady by the name of Pat Summitt at Tennessee.

Also, he's talking about the NBA. You heard him wrap up there. Here is a look at the latest there. All regularly scheduled games have now been canceled through December 15th. This is after the players rejected the league's latest offer. There's concern growing that the entire NBA season could now be in some real jeopardy.

Let's wrap up here with a little baseball, Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, he is now the American League's Cy Young trophy award winner. He won by unanimous vote. 28-year-old, a huge part of the Tigers winning their first division crown in decades. He had four complete games, two shutouts, a no-hitter this past season. Also 24 wins, 250 strikeouts.

That led the big leagues, the AL and NL Managers of the Year will be announced a little later today.

Well, a man dials 911. He needs help. He needs help with his iPhone. He doesn't get advice, so he gets arrested. Here now, CNN's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These days, if you're iPhone doesn't work, it's practically an I-mergency.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have an emergency, sir?

MICHAEL SKOPEC: Yes, I do. My emergency is my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) phone don't work.

MOOS: 48-year-old Michael Skopec (ph) was so upset with his iPhone that he called 911 in Kendall County, Illinois.

SKOPEC: How about I smash this phone on the floor, ok? Why can't I dial the numbers I used to be able to dial?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do not know that.

MOOS (on camera): Skopec didn't call 911 once. He didn't call twice. He called five times. Call number one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're tying up a phone line.

SKOPEC: I know. I know I'm doing it, but it isn't my fault. It's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) AT&T's fault.

MOOS (voice-over): Here's how call number two ended.

SKOPECK: Thank you (EXPLETIVE DELETED) yourself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have a good night, sir.

MOOS: Now, Skopec did have a reason for calling 911. He said it was the only number his phone could dial. By call number three, the dispatcher was still remarkably patient considering police describes Skopec as appearing intoxicated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The best bet is to probably either go to an AT&T store or --

SKOPEC: Well, how about I just blow this phone up -- MOOS: Hey, you can't scare an iPhone with threats. They've been blended.

By Skopec's fourth call, the dispatcher tried getting his address.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can have an officer come out and maybe he can help you.

SKOPEC: He can't help me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you know?

SKOPEC: Because he'll shoot me with a gun.

MOOS: By call five, the dispatcher's just about had it.

SKOPEC: You mean you're going to waste a police officer's time to come out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, you're wasting my time, sir.

SKOPEC: Well, it's easier to waste your time than the police.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why is it easier to waste my time.

MOOS: As for the idea of sending an officer --

SKOPEC: That's pretty dumb.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On whose part?

MOOS: His final words to the dispatcher --

SKOPE: All right. Whatever. Go to hell.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're really a very nice person, sir.

MOOS (on camera): When police arrived, they arrested Skopec for obstructing an officer even if Skopec probably thought the iPhone was obstructing him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you been drinking tonight, sir?

SKOPEC: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok.

SKOPEC: No, I'm just not very smart.

MOOS (voice-over): Unlike his phone. Jeanne Moos, CNN --

SKOPEC: What the hell's wrong with my phone?

MOOS: New York. (END VIDEOTAPE)