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Occupy's Day Of Action; New Concerns Over Iran's Nuclear Program; Jude Vacates Rape/Murder Convictions; Photo Shows Pope Kissing An Imam; Huge Tunnel Found Linking U.S. And Mexico; Pilot Trapped In Jet's Bathroom; Can Gingrich Take on Obama and Win?; Occupy Protest Peace at Present with Minor Scuffles; Energy Secretary on Hot Seat on Capitol Hill; Big College Sports Unwritten Code of Secrecy; Empowering Kids With Food Choices
Aired November 17, 2011 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Suzanne. Thank you very much.
We will continue with this coverage -- these pictures we have been watching for the past several hours literally all across this country, from New York to L.A. -- those types of pictures. They promise this movement is on the move. Now, this two-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, being called this mass Day of Action. Yes, this movement was born in New York City, but it's not just in New York anymore. It hasn't been for the past two months, really.
Look at this, going on in Los Angeles, demonstrators trying to shut down a busy intersection. Also, in Portland, where they've had their issues over the past week, they're targeting a bridge. They're vowing to occupy banks there as well. Other events are planned, they're underway as well in San Francisco, Minneapolis, Boston, you name it. A number of cities across this country. But lower Manhattan, this is where this all began, where it's still pretty strong.
Right now New York police threw up barricades around Zuccotti Park, which they cleared of camp sites on Tuesday. But late this morning, protesters, they threw the barricades back, and they surged into the streets of financial district. At least 75 people, take a look at that picture. This is what was going on. These scuffles just a short time ago when protesters -- these demonstrators decided to move the police barricade. At least 75 arrests taking place, including that of a retired Philadelphia police captain, also a woman. A video we have been seeing, a woman dragged by police -- this was caught on a CNN iReporter. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROWD SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, we don't know why this woman was arrested, but nobody's being allowed to block streets or trying to enter buildings around the Stock Exchange without authorization. A live report just minutes from now. We're keeping a close eye on that story and will not be far from it at any point. But also, other news to tell you about. The mother of the first alleged victim to come forward in the child sex abuse case against former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky said her son was a hero. She told our Anderson Cooper her son was shocked to learn about other alleged victims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, he definitely is a hero. He definitely is. He's a great kid. And he really, really -- you know, for a long time he thought that he was the only one, you know? He thought that we were basically just on our own and that, you know, as more victims came out, and you know, he started feeling a little bit better about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, there's brand-new details have surfaced about how Sandusky allegedly lured kids and about the possible cover-up at Penn State. "New York Times" investigative correspondent Joe Becker will have those details for us a little later this hour. Also, in just about an hour, an Idaho man accused of shooting at the White House is due in federal court in Pittsburgh.
Oscar Romero Ortega Hernandez was picked up yesterday at a western Pennsylvania hotel. He's expected of firing at least two rounds at the White House late Friday night -- last Friday night. One hit a window and was stopped by bulletproof glass. Another was found on the grounds. No one was hurt.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration defending a move to award half a billion dollars in federal loan guarantees to a solar panel manufacturer. Solyndra, you've heard that name plenty over the past month or so. It later filed for bankruptcy, but the energy secretary, Steven Chu, appeared before a House panel today investigating the deal and offered no apology. Critics say, though, the White House selected Solyndra in a political move.
Also, the head of the U.N. Nuclear Agency says he must alert the world to Iran's suspected development of nuclear weapons. He said today he wants to send a high-level mission to Iran to address mounting international fears over Iran's nuclear program. Last week an IAEA report warned that Iran has been conducting research and experiments geared towards developing a nuclear bomb. Iran, however, denies its they're trying to make a nuclear weapon.
And an update on a story we told you about yesterday. An Illinois judge has vacated the convictions of four men in the rape and murder of a prostitute in 1994. The judge says the new DNA evidence linking someone else to the crime would probably change the result in a new trial. The state's attorney who opposed the judge's decision can appeal the ruling, re-try the men, or dismiss the charges all together.
And the Vatican taking legal action to stop an ad showing a photo of the pope kissing an imam. You see that? The ad is part of a publicity campaign by the Italian fashion firm, Benetton. The Vatican, the statement says, its lawyers are taking action in Italy and around the world to stop the use of the doctored photo. The statement said the image offended the dignity of the pope and the Catholic church. Benetton it as apologized and says it'll pull that photo.
And U.S. and Mexican officials have confiscated at least 17 tons of marijuana after discovering a major drug tunnel linking San Diego and Tijuana. The tunnel runs the length of four football fields. It was equipped with lights and a ventilation system. Officials say there were no arrests and the investigation continues.
And how is your day going? Well, the pilot of a Delta connection jet, he got trapped in the jet's bathroom. And things, well, kind of went downhill from there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, 6132, we're 180 knots, 10,000. Can we leave the frequency for a minute? We e are going to try to contact dispatch. The captain has disappeared in the back, and I have someone with a thick foreign accent trying to access the cockpit right now, and I've got to deal the situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, that person with the foreign accent was trying to alert the co-pilot about what had happened. Instead, the plane made an emergency landing at LaGuardia in New York, the FBI on hand. The trapped pilot got out in time to settle things down before fire jets were scrambled.
We're about six minutes past the hour. A live picture we can show you here out of Los Angeles. This is the anniversary -- two-month anniversary of the Occupy movement. You know it started in New York, but, yes, it has crossed the country, gotten to L.A. and all points in between. A number of Occupy rallies today, also a number of arrests as many of these protesters say this will be a Day of Action, and action we have seen. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, they are calling this a Day of Action. And in New York City, there is a full schedule. 3:00 today, the plan to occupy the subways, talking trains at all five boroughs. Also at 5:00 p.m., they plan to take the Square. We're talking about Foley Square here, that's just across from city hall. And during rush hour, a march to the Brooklyn Bridge. Our Mary Snow is there in Zuccotti Park in Manhattan. We've been watching these pictures for the past hour or so. Give us an update of what it's looking like now, Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., it's fairly calm here at Zuccotti Park. Some of the protesters have left and they have been Marching around lower Manhattan. One of our producers, Julian Cummings telling us there's protesters in New York City Hall. For the most part, today, it has been fairly peaceful. Police say that there have been about 100 arrests throughout the morning. And that has been mostly for obstructing traffic or disorderly conduct. There were some tense moments in the past couple of hours here, as some of the protesters lifted a barricade that the police had set up, and police came in here.
A lot of distrust, T.J., among these protesters of the New York City police, especially after Tuesday's eviction, when the police came in, the city said to these protesters they could no longer camp out here at Zuccotti Park. Now today's protest had been planned because this is the two-month anniversary of the movement. And that Occupy Wall Street movement started here -- right here in lower Manhattan. So, a lot of this had been planned, but some of the protesters I've been talking to are saying that, really, they picked up steam because of what happened here earlier this week, in New York City.
And as you mentioned, there are a number of other protests they plan to have throughout the day, and some of these organizers are saying that, you know, there are a lot of other protests that we don't know about, that they want to catch the city off guard, the element of surprise. So, they do expect to be out here throughout the day.
All right. Mary Snow, thank you so much. I want to bring in Mike Brooks, who's here with me now. And Mike, I have one of our security analyst here, let me get the right intro here. When police officers see this, not a lot of clashes, not a lot of violence, but that's a lot of manpower, a lot of time, and a lot of attention diverted from other things going on in the city.
MIKE BROOKS, LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, HLN: It's a lot of money. All the cities across the country, T.J., where this has been going on. These city -- you know, city governments, it cost money to run the city governments, to pay for overtime. And look at all the cities today on the two-month anniversary. Again, that's money -- and we talk about the transportation system, the subway system in New York City, you know, the Occupy protesters talk about they're the 99 percent of the people. Well, they're part of the 99 percent, the 99 percent, they use public transportation to get around. You know, to get down -- to and from different boroughs in New York City.
And you've got Brooklyn Bridge. Last time we saw a clash there, there were 700 arrests. So -- you know -- but this is not taking away -- a lot of people say, well, you see all the cops down there. Is that taking away from our public safety? Where you live in the different neighborhoods and different boroughs? No, they have brought in officers to deal with this, they know what they're doing, and they have a strategic plan.
HOLMES: OK, help me understand here. And this is not -- and I'm sure there are plenty of police officer who is agree with the mind-set and the sentiment they're trying to get out of a lot of these protesters. But I've talked to a police officer here in Atlanta, and he says, you know what, T.J., my kid's got a game tonight and I'm having to do this overtime to go here and at the Park. Does it, at some point, you see -- there appears to be a clash. It's not police versus the protesters, but in the police officers' mind, you can't help it you're human to think, come on, people. BROOKS: Absolutely. I mean here in Atlanta, they're in Woodruff Park, and they were going -- they were going to kick them out of Woodruff Park because they were -- they were causing, basically, a nuisance, and they were costing the city a lot of money. And -- but then New York City said, well we're going to let you stay in the Park there. So, that kind of set a precedent across the United States, but you know, it has been, for the most part, nonviolent.
But there is always an element, no matter where you go, that wants to cause trouble. And that's what law enforcement doesn't want to see, because, you know, they don't want to get hurt. They want to go home to their families too, but they -- but the public, they also want to keep them safe. As we see in New York City, there's so many people down in Wall Street, very congested area, but now they're spreading out to other parts of the city. And you know what? I think sometimes their message is people going, you know what? Enough already because they don't want to be inconvenienced. And these are people who have nothing to do with the financial community, you know, the financial businesses in the United States.
HOLMES: What's the potential? A couple of knuckleheads in there, sure, but what's the potential for a couple of knuckleheads to turn this into a full-on riot-type situation?
BROOKS: You know, there's always that possibility. You know, I was -- I was with the metropolitan police department in Washington, D.C., handled demonstrations almost every single day as part of special operations division, and you try to maintain your cool, but throw one rock, throw one bottle, that can lead to, you know, the crowd mentality. Then they start running different places. What are you going to do? And you try to maintain the peace, you try to maintain the crowd, but all it takes, as you said, is a couple knuckleheads.
HOLMES: OK. But we should emphasize, overwhelmingly, it has been peaceful. We saw a couple scuffles, a few people arrested, about 100 Mary Snow just told us there, and they lifted the barricades, but for the most part has been peaceful.
BROOKS: But the day is young.
HOLMES: That is true. A lot more going on in New York and across the country. Mike, always good to see you.
BROOKS: Thank you, T.J.
HOLMES: Thanks so much. Well, we're just about quarter past the hour now. We're not going too far again from these Occupy Wall Street uprisings because they continue as we speak. We're keeping a close eye on New York. And really, a number of cities across the country, L.A. included.
Also today, new details in the Penn State scandal. Missing files? How an Internet post may have tipped off investigators to Mike McQueary. Stay with me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: Well, today is the day. They call it Day of Action to commemorate the two-month anniversary of the Occupy movement, starting in New York. But we are seeing protests, not just in New York, all across the country, really, today. But what you're seeing are pictures from New York.
This was just a little earlier, according to our Mary Snow. At least 100 people arrested in this Day of Action around Zuccotti Park. You see police there, they had erected some barricades around that park. Protesters, we saw video of them, actually picking them up and moving them.
Some scuffles, some back and forth, pushing and shoving with police officers, but for the most part, this has been -- has not been, I should say, has not been violence on a wide scale. Just a couple scuffles here and there. But for the most part, people there in New York just trying to make sure their voices are heard.
They also plan to block the Brooklyn Bridge today -- or march on it, I should say, and also to occupy the subways. We'll keep a close eye on all things related to the Occupy movement today.
Also let me turn now back to this Penn State story. And new details continue to emerge in this child sex abuse case against former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky. Now the mother of one of the alleged victims is telling our Anderson Cooper, she and her son cringed as they watched Sandusky being interviewed on NBC earlier this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I understand your son heard Jerry Sandusky's interview on NBC on Monday night. What was his reaction?
MOTHER OF ALLEGED VICTIM: He was upset. He was very upset about it. He said -- I didn't watch it -- I watched it when it was on, and he watched it after that. And he said that he cried and I said, why are you crying? And he said, because I'm afraid he might go free.
COOPER: He's afraid that Sandusky might go free?
MOTHER OF ALLEGED VICTIM: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, today The New York Times reporting that several years of files are missing now from Second Mile, that's the charity Sandusky founded for troubled kids. Prosecutors allege Sandusky used Second Mile to target victims. The Times also reporting that investigators worry there may have been a cover-up by Penn State officials.
Jo Becker is The New York Times investigative correspondent who is following this Penn State case. She joins me now from University Park in Pennsylvania.
Thank you for being here. And just reading your article, a lot of new details in there that you all were able to dig up. But do you agree? And I think from reading, a lot of people conclude, there were several times, several stops along the way that Sandusky could have been stopped. But he wasn't.
JO BECKER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Yes, we talked to the university's general counsel at the time, and one of the sort of astonishing facts to emerge was that they never consulted, at least according to the attorney, the university general counsel before they decided what to do about allegations that an assistant coach -- now an assistant coach, then a graduate assistant -- had seen Sandusky in the showers with a young boy, allegedly, according to him, raping that young boy. He ultimately told Joe Paterno, the coach, and then was summoned to a meeting with two school administrators.
Now, the school administrators have a different version of accounts. They gave a different version and not that the coach -- the graduate student had seen him actually raping him, but they said that they were told that in one case it was horsing around in the showers with a young boy. In another case, it was that the other administrator said he was told that maybe Mr. Sandusky's genitalia had touched the genitalia of this young boy while wrestling.
But in either event -- yes, and in either event, the attorney was saying that had he been told or consulted before the university decided not to go to the police and simply to take away Mr. Sandusky's locker room privileges, he would have told them that they had to go to the police.
So it's a pretty amazing thing that they didn't bring him in.
HOLMES: Yes, and Jo, so much of the case seems to have come from Mike McQueary, the assistant -- that grad assistant, assistant football coach now, but the grad assistant who allegedly saw this happening in that locker room.
But it's amazing in the reporting you did, it seems like if they didn't have him, there wouldn't be much of a case. But also, the way that he came about, just an Internet posting is how they found him?
BECKER: Yes. I wouldn't say that they wouldn't have a case. I mean, they, you know, started off with one boy. They wanted to establish a pattern. They did, you know, have additional witnesses. Eight boys are alleged to have been molested by Mr. Sandusky.
But the coach is an impartial witness, right, from their perspective. And the way that they stumbled upon him was on an Internet forum. And they said, you know, people were talking about maybe a coach had seen something with Sandusky, which investigators, you know, it was a break for them.
They were able to find Mr. McQueary, and they said that he was immediately very forthcoming with them and, so it really did help their case. But it is -- what they sort of mentioned to me was just how, you know, this was out there, it was on Internet forums.
HOLMES: Jo, last thing to you here, what's the significance of missing files from The Second Mile charity that Sandusky ran? BECKER: Well, prosecutors served subpoenas on The Second Mile, and they wanted a lot of different things, names of kids who have been through the program. But they wanted Jerry Sandusky's travel and expense records.
And when they went to retrieve them out of a storage facility, three years were missing. And that was around 2000-2003. Now, ultimately, they were able to find one misplaced year, but the rest are gone.
It's hard to know what to make of that. But as one investigator told me, you know, under the circumstances, they the find it troubling.
HOLMES: All right. Jo Becker, again, investigative piece in The New York Times on this. A lot of new details. Jo, we appreciate you taking the time with us today.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration and some members of Congress have found a new battleground: the school cafeteria. The White House wants more fruit and veggies. Congress is trying to pass off pizza as a vegetable. Why the political food fight? That's next.
Also, Occupy Wall Street. We just received a statement from the MTA in New York, they manage the transit buses, subway trains, all that in New York City, saying: "We will be monitoring conditions and working closely with the NYPD to maintain a safe and secure environment for our riders."
We're not going far from this Occupy Wall Street story. As we told you a little earlier, the folks in New York, at least, a couple of things planned, events, they plan to march on the Brooklyn Bridge today. Also, they plan to occupy the subways. All of that planned over the next several hours in New York. We're keeping a close eye. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: As we come up on the bottom of the hour, you're taking a look at the scene just a short time ago in New York. Today is the Day of Action called by the Occupy Wall Street movement, the Occupy movement across the country, really. This marks the two-month anniversary of when this whole this whole movement started.
This was Zuccotti Park a short time ago. It has certainly settled down and a lot of people have cleared out since then, but they have not stopped. This is a Day of Action. Still want to get their message out there. A Day of Action there in New York. We're expecting to see many of the demonstrators, according to them, at least, going to the Brooklyn Bridge to march across it today, and also to occupy subways, as they say.
But we are seeing scenes like this. Again, for the most part, nonviolent today. Maybe some scuffles here and there, but for the most part, it has been peaceful. According to our Mary Snow, about 100 people have been arrested today.
But there, again, several hundred, you can certainly assume, gathered there in Zuccotti Park, which has really been the birthplace, the home, as well, of the whole Occupy movement. We're keeping a close eye on what's happening across the country today.
Also, it has been 30 years since the Reagan administration tried to call ketchup a vegetable in school lunches. Now comes another food fight that's just as big, just as heated, but maybe it's a little under covered. So we're talking about it now. This is all about pizza and salt and french fries, that good stuff that's not good for you, necessarily.
Well, it was less than a year after President Obama signed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, Congress is trying to undo now, many of those higher standards for school nutrition.
The administration wanted to limit starch and sodium, to promote whole grains, and to not count less than half a cup of tomato paste as a vegetable. You get that? It had to have at least a half a cup of tomato paste to be seen as a vegetable.
But the frozen pizza, salt, and potato lobbies intervened, and yes, you guessed it, a compromise spending bill that's expected to pass this week removes, and I quote here, "overly burdensome school lunch regulations." Let me bring in Dr. Margo Wootan. She directs the Nutrition Policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Ma'am, thank you for being here.
MARGO WOOTAN, CO-FOUNDER, NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR NUTRITION AND ACTIVITY: Thanks for having me.
HOLMES: Pizza and salt and potatoes, they all have their own lobby in Washington, and apparently they work?
WOOTAN: They do. The big companies that make the pizza and french fries for school lobbied Congress very aggressively to get some exemptions from what the Obama administration had proposed. Our kids need healthier lunches. And pizza and french fries are two of the biggest problems with school lunches these days.
HOLMES: OK. Let's stick with one -- the one that got everybody's attention on this, tomato paste. Now what is the rule now? Or at least, what did the Obama administration want the rule to be on tomato paste?
WOOTAN: So the Obama administration proposed counting tomato paste, per its volume, just like every other vegetable. So a half a cup of broccoli counts as half a cup of vegetable, and half a cup of tomato sauce should count as half a cup of vegetable too.
But right now they have their own special exemption. And the Obama administration wanted to get rid of that. So pizza could be served, but it would have to be served with a vegetable, not count as a vegetable.
HOLMES: OK, there we go. So what will happen now? What is the next move? Is there a possible -- this is going to stop? Or what we're saying is that kids and their pizzas and their tomato paste -- I mean, I was talking to you during the commercial break, it's amazing all that's going on in this country and we're arguing about the amount of tomato paste.
WOOTEN: Given how much of a problem childhood obesity is -- it causes heart disease, cancer, diabetes, very expensive problems that are contributing to the deficit. We need to be helping kids to eat better. And instead, Congress stepped in, at the behest of the french fry and pizza makers, and is making it harder for people to feed children healthfully, making it harder for the Obama administration to address childhood obesity.
HOLMES: All right. There's so much more I'd like to get into with you. We'll be talking about this story plenty more here on CNN throughout the day and also throughout the weekend as well.
Dr. Wooten, we appreciate your time. I'll check back in with you, if that's all right.
WOOTEN: Great.
HOLMES: Let's talk to some politics now. According to the polls, Romney, the man to beat President Obama. But Gingrich pushing to the front. Can he take on Obama and can he win? That's "Fair Game." That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, to politics now. Newt Gingrich, is he the new anti- Romney favorite among Republican voters? More importantly, with all his, as they say, baggage, and the latest, his involvement with Freddie Mac, is he actually electable? It's all "Fair Game."
Our experts and my dear friends, Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist, she's in Washington; and Lenny McAllister, Republican analyst, he's live for us in Chicago.
Lenny, you've kind of been on the Newt bandwagon for quite some time. But as he gets up in the polls, man, the attacks are coming.
LENNY MCALLISTER, REPUBLICAN ANALYST: They are absolutely coming. They are absolutely coming. And you know what, he has some baggage out there, but we'll see, just like the rest of the candidates, is he going to be able to navigate those waters successfully, or is he going to get tripped up? Bachmann got tripped up, Perry got tripped up, Cain got tripped up. The only person that's been available to avoid getting tripped up has been Romney. I think Gingrich will do better, but we're starting to find out right now.
HOLMES: All right, do better, let's put up some polls here, Maria. Gingrich versus Obama. Several recent polls are showing how he would do, possibly, against the president. Not that great. But still, as we put these up and let our viewers digest them, is he the guy to take on Obama, or will Gingrich and some of the Republicans say, you know what, he can't beat Obama. As much as we like him, he's not the guy we need in the general. MARIA CARDONA: I hope he'll be the guy to take on Obama, T.J., from a Democratic standpoint.
HOLMES: Why?
CARDONA: Because I don't think that he will run a strong campaign against President Obama. He's got two things that I think are going to really trip him up. The first one is he's very undisciplined. And we saw this at the very beginning of this campaign. When a lot of his staff fled, it was because he was undisciplined. He hates, also, being questioned by the media. He gets testy. He has a temper. And so that, I think, is going to start showing once the pressure is on. And the pressure is now on.
The second thing is he's actually more moderate than a lot of conservatives I think would want him to be on public policy issues. He supported the individual mandate. He supported cap-and-trade, and he trashed Paul Ryan's economic plan as right-wing social engineering.
HOLMES: All right. Let me bring in Lenny again.
As I talk to you, Lenny, we'll put this poll up showing Romney going head to head against Obama, and he wins in some of these polls we see if you go head to head against Obama. Is the one of those things -- Lenny, I just did a segment about kids and eating their vegetables in school. Is Romney that vegetable that Republicans are going to just be forced to eat?
(LAUGHTER)
We know you don't like it, but you're going to have to just take it.
MCALLISTER: Well, you know what, he may be cauliflower right now, very vanilla, just kind of plain looking.
(LAUGHTER)
But you can still get other vegetables. You can still get spinach and greens and broccoli. And that's what these other candidates have been. Now, with Newt Gingrich, what we're going to find out is this. It's not so much what the polls look like in October. Who can contrast well with President Obama in a debate, in the general election, in the campaign trail? Newt Gingrich is probably the best candidate out of all of them to go on a stage with President Obama three times and hold his own, if not win at least two out of three of those conversations. Once we start getting into how people look one to one, I think we may see Newt rise even higher. But that's late -- that's to be seen as of right now.
HOLMES: Maria, wrap it up for me, with that grin on your face.
(LAUGHTER)
CARDONA: I think the one thing that's going to be very difficult for Gingrich to overcome, and we've sort of forgotten about this, but the reason why he wasn't the darling for the conservatives, when he first jumped in, is because a lot of them still have issues, not with his public policy or legislative baggage, but with his personal baggage.
HOLMES: OK, guys --
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: The three marriages are going to be very tough for them to take.
HOLMES: Lenny, Maria, I've got to switch to some pictures out of New York, guys.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Forgive me here. Forgive me here. We've got to switch to pictures out of New York right now.
We've been watching these Occupy protests right today on this day of action. And I mentioned to you earlier, we didn't see a lot of violence, a lot of scuffles even. For the most part, it has been peaceful, but these are some apparent scuffles that are going on in New York right now. We'll get a better idea of the vantage point. Not sure if this is Zuccotti Park, can't tell much right here. But to put this -- a little back and forth, a little scuffling, it appears, going on right now with police officers and the protesters.
Again, this was a day of action, two-month anniversary of when this all started, and it did start in New York with Occupy Wall Street. And these occupiers, as they call themselves, they're taking over Zuccotti Park where they've been camped. There's been some back and forth about Zuccotti Park. It went to the courts this week. And there were allowed -- there was a raid and police went in one night this week and got everybody out of there. A judge said they could go back, but they couldn't take their tents and they couldn't camp out. But still, Zuccotti Park in New York is really the epicenter of this whole movement.
They have been back today for this day of action. And we've seen the protests, we have seen the signs, we have seen the dancing and some of the music and the drums and things that have come to signify, or at least the emblematic of this type. But at the same time, we've seen a little bit of this today.
Our Mary Snow reported a short time ago at least 100 arrests that had been made. But they have several other things planned today. They plan to occupy subways, as they say. They plan to actually go and occupy the Brooklyn Bridge today. Of the 100 or so arrests that have been made today. Many of this had to do with people being out in streets and blocking -- and doing something frankly that the police say is against the law, something illegal. But for the most part, police have been standing by with -- standing by as the protesters do their thing, and not a lot of this back and forth.
Our Mary Snow has been there, covering this for us today.
Mary, I do believe you are still down there. I talked to you a short time ago, and you said things had had calmed down dramatically. If you can give me some kind of perspective on what we're seeing here and what the hubbub is about.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Things have -- yes, things have heated up in the last few moments, T.J. This has been happening throughout the day, where you have these pockets of skirmishes. And if you can see right in front of us, we saw a skirmish right in the middle of Zuccotti Park and people actually coming towards these barricades. I'm sorry, I should say, police have been streaming in, as soon as there was this disturbance, some carrying nightsticks. It's hard to see right in there what happened. It happened so fast, T.J., and there have been a number of skirmishes this morning and pockets of tension. And there have been protesters, pockets of them, leaving here, kind of splintering off, going to other major spots around lower Manhattan, city hall and the like, and then coming back in here.
And we just saw a mad dash toward that middle and some -- I witnessed at least one person to the ground and then it just took of and the police started streaming in. It has been tense. But just listen for a minute here, T.J., because you can hear the protesters are now chanting "shame" as three officers move in to the Zuccotti Park. It's hard to get a -- T.J., you can see, people are breaking through the barricades -- I don't know if you can see that -- into the street.
HOLMES: Mary, can you help us and be our eyes here, because the camera shot that I have and our viewers have is a little tighter. The picture you showed us earlier, the people seemed to have cleared out, but we have kind of a zoomed-in picture, and it doesn't show us a good perspective. We're just losing the picture now. It doesn't show us a wider perspective of how many people are still there? Are there still a lot of people gathered there? And how many are involved in this scuffle?
SNOW: I would say into the hundreds of people here in this park. And early, when this scuffle -- this latest one just happened, it seemed like a couple of people, but now there's a lot of pushing and shoving in this park. I think you were just looking at some of the protesters coming out behind these barricades and police pushing them out onto the street. So -- and I have to tell you, this happened so quickly. It was -- the park had really emptied out.
HOLMES: Mary, what is the object -- Mary, what is the objective of the police right now? Are they -- I know they were just standing by while the protesters weren't necessarily doing something wrong, but are they trying to remove protesters who are in an area they're not supposed to do, are they just trying to get them out the street? What?
SNOW: Their objective is to keep them off the sidewalk, to make sure that people can go back and forth on this street. And anytime it appears that the protesters move out towards the sidewalk, the police seem to move in. So that is what their objective is. Because, you know, these protesters can stay in this park. They have the right to. But, you know, it's really kind of getting heated right now, T.J. What I'm looking at is police really pushing people out into the street.
HOLMES: And again, Mary -- (CROSSTALK)
SNOW: It's kind of hard to decide -- there's so much confusion, it's very difficult to say exactly what's going on here.
HOLMES: Well, we are, from this camera shot, and to our viewers right now, it might just be tuning in, and give you some perspective.
Mary, don't you go away. You are our eyes and ears on the ground there.
But just updating our viewers as we get close to a quarter to the top of the hour. This is the Occupy -- this day of action. This is an Occupy Wall Street, of many of these protesters are getting together on this second month anniversary of when this whole thing started. And they're back in Zuccotti Park. We saw a couple of scuffles a little earlier in the day, but as our Mary Snow was reporting to me just within the past hour, that things had dramatically calmed down after 100 arrests were made earlier in the day. But now things have changed in a dramatic fashion from some of the pictures we're seeing and what Mary Snow is describing.
Mary, go ahead and continue to describe what you're seeing. We're kind of at the mercy of this camera shot that is moving around right now and giving us, Mary, specific views of what's happening down there on the ground. But we can hear the chaos around you and see just a bit of it right now as well.
SNOW: Yes, and what we're hearing, T.J. -- and I'm not right in the middle of this, so we'll try to get more information about this. But it sounds like there may have been an altercation between a protester and a police officer and that's when this latest trouble started.
And right now, what I'm seeing in front of me is the police are trying to put up these barricades again. You know, the one thing that they've been trying to do is keep the protesters on the sidewalks. As you can hear, the protesters are chanting at them, "shame." This has been a chant they've been chanting al morning, throughout these various protests. And it's really been a very fluid situation throughout the day.
HOLMES: All right. Mary Snow, we'll let you take a second. We'll take a quick break. And Mary, we'll come back to you as you continue to get a good feel for exactly what's happening down there.
But to our viewers, as we take a quick, quick break, you're seeing Zuccotti Park, New York. Occupy Wall Street is the movement that's going on on this day of action to mark the two-month anniversary of when this whole up a movement started. And we are seeing some scuffles back and forth between the police and protesters. Overwhelmingly peaceful, I should say, so far on this day. But a number of arrests, at least 100 in New York. And these Occupy protests are going on all across the country.
Quick break, come right back. Don't move.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: And a reminder, we're keeping an eye on the Occupy day of action, happening in New York and really all across the country. We have seen a few scuffles we were showing you just a moment ago. At least 100 people have been arrested, at least in New York, at Zuccotti Park. This is where the whole movement started. A live picture you're seeing there. We'll keep a close eye on what's happening there and across the country.
Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Steven Chu was in the hot seat on Capitol Hill today.
Let me bring in Jessica Yellin right now.
Jessica, is the energy secretary trying to defend this $535 million loan guarantee to a now-bankrupt company?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, T.J. Well, he's explaining it, he's taken responsibility for it, and he's trying to detail why they made such a big loan to a company that ultimately went bankrupt.
Here is a bit of an exchange. As you imagine, it's become very, very testy. And the Republicans, for their part, are trying to push the energy secretary to, bottom line, apologize for the loan, which the energy secretary has stopped short of doing. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: Based on what you know and what's and what's happened, who is to apologize for the half a billion dollars that has been out the door?
STEVEN CHU, ENERGY SECRETARY: Well, it is agility (ph). It is extremely unfortunate what has happened to Solyndra. But if you go back and look at the time decisions being made, was there incompetence? Was there any influence of a political nature? And I would have to say no.
UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: So no apology?
CHU: Well, it is extremely unfortunate that what has happened --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: So you see the nature of this, T.J. The bottom line is this investigation started because critics wanted to find out if Solyndra got this money because of political influence. So the focus has sort of shifted now on to, was there a lack of diligence in the company? Were there political motivations in the timing of releasing information about how badly the company was doing and that sort of thing?
So this question about political influence has been downplayed in the hearings today. But there's still more to go. Secretary Chu is still testifying. It began at 10:00 eastern time and he's been in the hot seat for quite a while -- T.J.?
HOLMES: All right, Jessica Yellin, thank you.
And to our viewers, another live look. We're keeping a close eye on what's happening on the streets of New York today, Zuccotti Park on this day of action for the Occupy movement. At least 100 people have been arrested after scuffles with police.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Again, a close eye we are keeping on Zuccotti Park in New York City, this Occupy Wall Street day of action. You see things have calmed down once again, but we've seen scuffles throughout the day, literally. It just happened without a moment's notice. We just saw a few of those scuffles a moment ago. At least a few of those people arrested today, according to police, as a part of these protests that are going on all across the country. We are keeping a close eye on all of them.
We need to, for a moment, go back to the Penn State child sex abuse scandal. "In Depth" focus now, the apparent years of secrecy surrounding the allegations against the former coach, Jerry Sandusky, big college sports and an unwritten code of silence.
Let me bring Doug Glanville, a former Major League Baseball player and ESPN analyst, also author of "Time" magazine opinion piece, "Silence in the Locker Room."
Thank you for being here. When you heard about this story on Penn State, did you immediately think back to this code of silence?
DOUG GLANVILLE, ESPN ANALYST, FORMER MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYER & AUTHOR: I did. And thanks for having me, T.J. There's no question that being in the locker room a lot of years, I played 15 years professionally of Major League Baseball. And there is no doubt that there is a code. A lot of that code isn't necessarily in malicious intent. You're in that space very intimately, yet not necessarily that close. You're in close quarters but you're not necessarily integrally connected to these players. Years in, a lot of changes, freshmen become sophomores, people graduate. With that rate of change, it is hard to really know who you're dealing with.
HOLMES: But, Doug, can this code of silence frankly be quite beneficial when you're surrounded, and pro athletes especially, but college athletes, so is going on the outside, your only real family is in that locker room sometimes that you can be honest with and frank with. Can it be a positive, but even more so, on the other side, such a huge negative?
GLANVILLE: No question, we're seeing the negative implications of that. Because our culture begins in the locker room. A lot of those players become coaches themselves. You set this tone of some form of protectionism and you turn inwards. A lot of times you're not able to reveal certain information that could be extremely harmful to people around you. So once you get into that internal struggle, now you're just looking out for that core and a lot of things get lost. Unfortunately, a lot of people can get hurt.
HOLMES: How early, how young does this code of silence start? Is it really from little league?
GLANVILLE: It starts early. That's where the tone is set about how you interact with your teammates and coaches and that sort of pecking order. And that is certainly something that escalates at each level. When you're dealing with an institution that's huge and visible like Penn State, as these exceptions and this sort of sovereign nation they are in effect, it is very easy to get lost in protecting yourself. And that starts very early on.
HOLMES: Doug Glanville, thank you so much for spending some time with us today.
Here we go. We're just a couple minutes to the top of the hour. A couple minutes from Brooke Baldwin.
First, some food for thought for you. Adventure and environmental crusader and CNN international special correspondent, Philippe Cousteau, wants to empower kids to ask this question: What is on my fork?
What does that mean? It sounds very simple, a kid could figure that out. But what do you mean when you say it?
PHILIPPE COUSTEAU, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT & ENVIRONMENTAL CRUSADER: You know, T.J., on top of the media work that I do, I focus a lot of my energy and time on empowering young people to take action to make the world a better place through my non-profit, EarthEcho International. This is part of a longer program sponsored by Toyota Foundation. This year, we're launching a whole initiative around food and empowering kids. With all the bad news out there, a lot of childhood obesity, type 2 diabetes, now childhood-onset disease. We're empowering kids and giving them the tools with this new program to start looking at having a little bit more vegetable- based and fruit-based food in their diets and live a little bit more of a healthy lifestyle and get engaged in their communities. We just launched that and we're excited about helping kids to make a healthier, better world for themselves.
HOLMES: How do you do that? Kids hear healthy food, you know.
(LAUGHTER)
They've been told from the time they can understand English to eat your vegetables. How do you get at them?
COUSTEAU: The way we do it is about engaging them, helping them understand why. I think oftentimes we talk to them about eating healthier. Yet we don't really communicate with them why that's important. We tie it into education in schools, growing gardens in their schools. When kids do it, they love it. I visit schools all over the country. They get engaged. Middle, high school kids switched on about the environment, the connections to broader global issues. They love it. HOLMES: That's a good point you made. Kids are just told to eat and it not exactly told why and how it is good for you. Do you focus on not just the food, what's in it but where it comes from?
COUSTEAU: The choices that we make around the food that we have a huge impact another global environment and our local environment. We want things to --- kids to think about what they can do in their school and homes. We're not saying radically change everything but start thinking about getting more of the fruits and vegetables into their diet. For them to find ways that are fun and exciting to actually change it around. We do see a lot of success with this. Believe me, there is a lot of talk that kids only want potato chips. I work with kids that, every day, they run out into their school garden and are eating tomatoes off the vine and sugar snaps peas and love it.
HOLMES: Can you do this for me in 10, 15 seconds, tell me where they can find out more information and see more about this?
COUSTEAU: Absolutely. The program is called Water Planet Challenge and it is waterplanetchallenge.org.
HOLMES: All right, Philippe Cousteau, good to see you.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Thanks so much.
And as we get close to the top of the hour, let me hand this off to Brooke Baldwin.
Keeping an eye on all things today including those live pictures, Brooke, we've been seeing in New York and across the country, what's happening with the Occupy movement.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we are indeed. What a day it's been. What an afternoon and perhaps even evening it will be in cities across the country.
Thank you, T.J.
