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Cain Reassesses Campaign; Four Years For Conrad Murray; Vice President Biden Visits Iraq; Gingrich Woos South Carolina; Sandusky Hires Private Investigator; Feds Enter Bernie Fine Case; American Airlines Bankruptcy; War Hero Sues Defense Contractor;

Aired November 29, 2011 - 13:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Suzanne. And we will pick it up from here with Herman Cain who is denying that he had a 13-year affair with an Atlanta woman, but today he's admitting at least the prospect that his presidential bid may be doomed.

The former CEO And radio talk show host says Ginger White is an acquaintance whom he thought of as a friend, but in T.V. interviews yesterday, White said they were much more than that, beginning in the late 1990s when Cain headed the National Restaurant Association.

Unlike the women who have accused Cain of sexual harassment during that same period, White says her relationship was, quote, "pretty simple and very inappropriate." Cain told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that he had no plans to exit the race, but today in a conference call with senior staff he said he is, quote, "reassessing." Wolf joins me live in our "FACETIME" segment just moments from now.

And moments ago, as we said, in Los Angeles, Conrad Murray was sentenced to four years behind bars for the death of Michael Jackson, the maximum term and exactly what prosecutors were asking for. Jackson's personal in-house physician was convicted, you'll recall, of involuntary manslaughter for giving Jackson a surgical anesthetic at home to help him sleep. In a blistering address from the bench, you may have seen it right here on CNN, the judge said Murray is dangerous and completely without remorse.

Vice President Biden in Baghdad this hour. It's his eighth trip to Iraq since taking office and almost certainly his last before U.S. forces pull out at the end of the month. He's due to meet with Iraq's prime minister and president and commemorate the sacrifices and accomplishments of U.S. and Iraqi troops.

Newt Gingrich is planting his flag in the first southern state of the primary calendar, that is South Carolina. This is day two of a three- day visit by the latest Republican presidential front-runner and in a town hall event that's just getting started in Bluffton, you can bet that he'll be talking immigration. Being ranked of the conservative base by proposing what he calls a humane position towards long-time illegal immigrants who hold jobs and pay taxes.

South Carolina is among the states that recently took immigration into its own hands and prompted a law suit from Washington. Former Penn State assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky, has hired a private investigator. Sandusky's lawyer says the investigator will try to prove the former coach is innocent. Sandusky is accused of sexually abusing eight young boys over a 14-year period. He's currently free on $100,000 bail.

An hour from now in Syracuse, the D.A. will ask a judge to force police to hand over records from their non-investigation of Bernie Fine in 2002. Fine is the former assistant men's basketball coach at Syracuse University who's now accused by three men of sexual molestation dating back decades.

In 2002, police told one accuser his claims were too old to be acted on. Today, they are the subject of state and federal investigations in Syracuse and police in Pittsburgh are investigating an alleged incident there as well. Fine has been fired but calls the allegations patently false.

There will be no immediate impact on flight schedules or passengers but the parent company of American Airlines has filed for bankruptcy. AMR Corporation says the Chapter 11 reorganization will allow the airline to cut costs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HORTON, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, AMR CORPORATION: The gap between our cost structure and the rest of the industry had become too wide and really not something we could sustain further.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: AMR has reported only one quarterly profit since 2007.

A decorated U.S. war hero is suing a defense contractor. Marine Sergeant Dakota Meyer received the Medal of Honor for his service in Afghanistan. Earlier this year, he took a job with BAE Systems, a Britain-based defense contractor. He claims his problems began after he opposed a plan to sell thermal imaging equipment to Pakistan. Meyers says he ended up quitting BAE, but his supervisor there contacted the Pentagon and accused him of being mentally unstable and problem drinker.

In legal papers filed yesterday, Meyer claims the assertions blocked him from getting a job with another defense contractor. BAE issued this statement to CNN, quote, "We are incredibly grateful to Dakota Meyer for his service and bravery above and beyond the call of duty. Although we strongly disagree with his claims, which we will address through the appropriate legal process, we wish him success and good fortune in his endeavors." Unquote.

Less than a month ago, Herman Cain was on top of the polls and a scandal became a fund raising windfall. That was a long time ago. Today, Cain is not sure he can go on and Wolf Blitzer is on next with all the details.

But first, a U.S. district court judge in Manhattan had said no to a big settlement between Citigroup and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The deal was over Citigroup's part in the mortgage crisis, but judge Jed Rakoff rejected the $285 million settlement saying it's just pocket change to Citigroup. And saying that the SEC didn't do their best to find the truth. So, to the judge who is standing up to say that it's not just about money but about taking responsibility, you judge, are today's "Rock Star."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Today in "FACETIME," Herman Cain faces up to the damage done to his GOP presidential campaign by weeks of explosive allegations. The latest, as you may have heard, from a Georgia woman who says she and Cain had a consensual affair that lasted 13 years ending just before he declared his run for the White House.

In an interview less than 24 hours ago with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Cain said that he's acquainted with Ginger White but he strongly denied an inappropriate relationship. He also said he was in the presidential race, quote, "as long as my wife is behind me." But now, we're hearing something very different and Wolf joins me from Washington, D.C. with the latest on this. Wolf, it seems like something new happens in this campaign every day. Where does the Cain campaign stand at this hour?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Well, a different place where it stood yesterday because just a little while ago -- a couple hours or so ago, Herman Cain had a conference call with his senior staff, and he basically said he was going to reassess in the coming days his whole campaign based on these latest allegations from this woman in George who claims she had a 13-year affair with Herman Cain, all of this coming on the heels of the allegations of sexual harassment by other women in recent weeks.

He didn't say he was dropping out, he said he wants to see how this plays out over the next few days. Will his supporters stand by him? Is his family OK with all of this? He wants to take a close look -- he's not going to talk about it anymore, he's going to let Lin Wood, his prominent defense attorney in Atlanta, make any public statements on the alleged affair. He's going to go ahead with his schedule, although he's going to cut back, he's going to reassess his media appearances at least over the next few days.

He obviously understands this is a very serious allegation, could undermine his race for the Republican presidential nomination. And just as he -- and he pointed out on this conference call, just as he had reassessed his campaign earlier in recent months when there were se setbacks, when he couldn't raise enough money, for example, when he lost the Iowa straw poll in August, he was doing the same thing right now. So, we'll see where it stands. You do -- you're absolutely right though, Randi, it's a marked contrast to what he said to me yesterday in the "SITUATION ROOM" when he was very, very insistent that he would continue his race for the Republican nomination.

KAYE: He said absolutely to you that he's not leaving the race. But I'm curious, Wolf, I mean what do you think? Why announce you're reassessing? I mean, this was a conference call, according to our Gloria Borger, with like some 90 people. I mean, is this part of the strategy to get the word out?

BLITZER: I think he's trying to determine how much support he has from his core constituents -- from his constituents as core supporters. Are they going to believe this woman? Are they going to believe him? What about the other women who made the allegations of sexual harassment. Does he have the ability to continue and he's taking a close look.

He did hint in the interview with me yesterday, that if he felt that this were taking too much of a toll on his wife and his family, he then might have to reconsider his race for the Republican presidential nomination. He did hint that although he said he planned on move forward. He is going to give a speech tonight in Michigan at a college there, the Hillsdale College, on national security and foreign policy. He is going to go ahead with the schedule but I don't think you're going to see him doing a whole lot of T.V. interviews as he reassesses whether or not to continue his race for the White House.

KAYE: Right, and that take days from what I understand. Wolf Blitzer, thank you so much. Fascinating interview with Herman Cain yesterday and we'll look for you more on "THE SITUATION ROOM" coming up today. Thank you very much.

BLITZER: Thanks, Randi.

KAYE: Well, this tiny (INAUDIBLE) is threatening to wipe out Florida's famous palm trees. HGTV's Jamie Durie joins me next to explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. Michael Jackson's doctor gets the maximum sentence for his role in Jackson's death. A short time ago, a judge sentenced Conrad Murray to four years in prison, denied him probation and is making Murray him pay up in restitution. The judge had harsh words saying Murray has absolutely no sense of remorse and calling the doctor a danger to the public. This follows his -- Murray's conviction of involuntary manslaughter three weeks ago. Jackson's family watched nearby as Murray learned his fate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE MICHAEL PASTOR, LOS ANGELES SUPERIOR COURT: The court has determined that the appropriate term is the high term of four years imprisonment. I do so because once again, I find that Dr. Murray abandoned his patient.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Let's get straight to our legal analyst, Sunny Hostin from "In Session" on our sister network, TruTV. Nice to see you, Sunny. So, what is your reaction to the sentence? Do you agree with the judge?

SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL ANALYST: You know, I do. I'm not surprised. I think he gave every indication of being someone that's tough on crime. Remember, he immediately remanded Dr. Murray to prison -- to county jail right after the verdict came in. I think that was a shock to so many people, Randi. But this was expected. He will get four years in prison.

But I think that it was just sort of this scathing, scathing sentencing that I haven't seen for quite some time. He talked about Dr. Murray being a disgrace to the medical profession. He talked about money for medicine madness that will not be tolerated by him. So something that I haven't seen in quite some time, a judge speaking to a defendant in this manner from the bench. It doesn't happen all the time. But certainly I was surprised at that. I was surprised at sort of the tone of his remarks. He also called it a horrific violation of trust.

And one thing that I also noticed, Randi, was that he talked about that tape recording. Remember we heard that during this trial? That tape recording of Michael Jackson's voice.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

HOSTIN: Well, he said the tape recording was Dr. Murray's insurance policy. That was just shocking to me that he went that far in describing that tape recording. So really quite a message sent from the bench today.

KAYE: Yes, we carried the sentencing, as you know, live right here on CNN. But let's just play a little bit of what Judge Michael Pastor had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL E. PASTOR, JUDGE: Dr. Murray created a set of circumstances and became involved in a cycle of horrible medicine. The practice of Propofol for medicine madness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Sunny, he also talked about this web of deceit and lies. I mean I do think that the fact that Conrad Murray never told the paramedics and the ER workers that he had given Michael Jackson the Propofol, which they say killed him, that certainly played a big part, I think, in the sentence, do you agree?

HOSTIN: Oh, there's no question about it. This judge said that repeatedly. This sort of web of lies did nothing more than help Dr. Conrad Murray. And it was just such a horrific violation of that patient/physician privilege. So he certainly took that into account.

He also, of course, took into account Conrad Murray's life before this case. He said he looked at the book of his life, but that the most important chapter was the chapter involving the death of Michael Jackson. And so this is a judge that, I believe, Randi, considered all of the circumstances, considered the prosecution's sentencing memo, considered the defense's recommendation, also considered all the character witnesses that we saw during the trial, but ultimately fell that Dr. Conrad Murray needed to spend at least the maximum amount of time in prison for this crime.

KAYE: So we know that he sentenced him to four years, but we also know that he said from the bench that he doesn't have the authority to send him to state prison. So how much time will he actually serve, do you think?

HOSTIN: Well, that's the question everyone is asking, how much time will he really get, even though this judge did say I give you the maximum sentence of four years. Because of California's realignment plan, trying to alleviate the overcrowding in the prison system, Dr. Murray will serve probably half his sentence, Randi, in L.A. County Jail.

And I believe that will probably translate into months as opposed to two years. Remember what we saw with Lindsay Lohan and others that get sentenced to prison time. Six months typically turns into perhaps 30 days. So we're talking about two years. He gets 46 days for time served. Credit for time served. So I don't believe that he will be in county jail for the full two years. It will be much less than that.

KAYE: Yes. After the verdict read, I remember hearing Katherine Jackson say, well, this doesn't bring my son back. And it's very true. Even though she wanted the harshest sentence, it really doesn't do much for the family.

HOSTIN: That's right.

KAYE: Sunny Hostin, nice to see you. Thank you very much.

HOSTIN: Thanks, Randi.

KAYE: It is tiny and deadly and threatening to wipe out Florida's famous palm trees. HGTV's Jamie Durie joins me next to explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back.

It is a mysterious deadly bug on the march in Florida. It's target, the Sabal palm, Florida's state tree. This nasty bug is the source of what's called the Texas Phoenix Palm Decline and, if not stopped, could potentially lay waste to palm trees throughout the state.

The bug does its damage by taking a bite out of a leaf and then vomiting on it. I know, pretty gross, right? The regurgitation carries deadly bacteria. Once it's had its fill, the bug hops to another tree. Officials say the disease has already killed thousands of palms in Florida. And joining us on the phone for much more on this is Jamie Durie, HGTV personality and award-winning landscape designer.

Jamie, nice to have you on the show today. First, what can you tell us about this mystery bug?

JAMIE DURIE, HGTV PERSONALITY (via telephone): Well, thanks so much for having me.

Look, to be honest, it's got everybody in the industry scratching their head. You know, the Texas Phoenix palm decline, it's a fatal, systemic disease. It kills palms very, very quickly. It's a little bit similar to the fusarium wilt that kind of, you know, gets into a lot of Phoenix palms and has had a devastating effect in Australia. I remember many years ago it killing, you know, 100-year-old palms and hundreds of them in one of their most prestigious parks in Sydney.

So, you know, look, this is something that needs to be sought out, found -- we need to find out, you know, which of the three bugs are transferring this disease. And, of course, you know, find a species that's immune to it.

KAYE: And do we know -- I mean has this bug been around for a while or is this something new?

DURIE: Look, it seems to be something that's fairly new, although, you know, that -- what I've read is that also the fusarium wilt is quite new in Australia and some of the more tropical countries. You know, fusarium wilt's been around for a long time. And that's where the center crown of the palm actually starts to decay away. And, you know, within a matter of six months, you have no head on the palm at all and it needs to be cut out and taken away.

And, you know, when you think about a place like Florida, very, very famous for its palms, and you've got almost 8,000 palms that have been affected by this disease, it has a devastating effect street side, to the -- not just the aesthetics, but the overall environment, you know.

KAYE: Yes. So can people spread this disease? I mean can this bacteria that these bugs leave behind come -- get on to people and then they carry it?

DURIE: Look, they've narrowed it down to a set (ph) -- one of three set (ph) feeding insects, such as plant hoppers. There's got to be a little bit more work done, I think, until we actually get to a point where it is the exact species. And then I guess the next part of the step is, we've got to find out which species is immune to it and then start the replanting process.

But, obviously, you know, that's a very, very expensive solution. But at this stage, it seems to be the only one. And because it is, you know, it is a very, very tough uncultural (ph) bacterium, it doesn't have a cell wall, it's a (INAUDIBLE) plasma, it's making it very, very hard to, you know, kind of lock in on what disease this is and what species will become immune to it.

So at this stage, it's just cut out the affected ones, get them as far away and destroy the plant stock as possible, and then get the new stock in quickly and make sure it's immune to it.

KAYE: Yes. Well, hopefully they'll figure out which one of these buggers is the culprit and save those beautiful palm trees in Florida.

Jamie Durie, thank you very much.

DURIE: Yes.

KAYE: And you can watch Jamie's show, "The Outdoor Room," on Sundays at 11:30 a.m. Eastern on HGTV. Herman Cain back in the spotlight. This time it's an allegation of a 13-year extramarital affair. True or not, does this spell the end for his presidential run? It's "Fair Game," next.

But first, our political junkie question of the day. What's the worst Iowa caucus finish for any candidate who went on to win his party's nomination? Tweet me the right answer to @randikayecnn and I'll give a shout out to the person who gets it first on the other side of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Before the break I asked, which candidate or candidates had the worst showing in the Iowa caucuses and then went on to win the party's nomination. The answer is Bill Clinton in 1992 and John McCain 2008. Both finished fourth in Iowa. Clinton actually got less than 3 percent of the vote that year. Now a big shout-out to @gsorensen for tweeting me the right answer. Congratulations. Keep them coming.

Well, this is the part of the show where we go beyond partisan talking points to the heart of the political debate, where all sides are "Fair Game." Today we're talking about the latest accusations against Herman Cain and Cain's announcement just a short time ago that he's reassessing his presidential campaign. This is Ginger White. Take a look. She says that she had a 13-year affair with Cain that ended right around the same time he decided to run for president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGER WHITE, CLAIMS AFFAIR WITH HERMAN CAIN: It was pretty simple. It wasn't complicated. And I was aware that he was married. And I was also aware that I was involved in a very inappropriate situation, relationship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Cain has strongly denied that he did anything wrong.

Joining me now is Democratic strategist Liz Chadderdon and Republican strategist Ron Bonjean. Welcome to you both.

RON BONJEAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Thank you.

LIZ CHADDERDON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Thank you.

KAYE: We know that Cain says he reassessing his campaign in the wake of these new allegations.

Ron, let me start with you.

Should he be announcing it's the end, that he's all done?

BONJEAN: I think it's a really smart idea to reassess his campaign. You know, the sexual harassment allegations and the alleged affairs have become a distraction or side show to the whole Republican primary. At first, it drowned out everyone else's attempt to run an effective race on TV. Now it's just -- it's just so identified with Herman Cain. It's going to be hard for him to separate himself from all of these allegations. Whether or not they are true, it's like a massive spider web that he can't seem to get out of. I would be reassessing my campaign if I were him.

KAYE: Before Ginger White's story aired, we had an interview with Wolf Blitzer and Herman Cain. I want to play a portion of that and we'll get more to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Are you worried this could further hurt you in this Republican race for the White House?

HERMAN CAIN, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm more worried this is going to hurt my wife and my family because it's going to be proved that it was probably something else that was baseless. And the court of public opinion does not consider that when they want to pass that judgment. I can take the lumps.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Liz, what do you think? Do you think he should have reassessed long ago?

CADDERDON: I think it probably would have been wiser for him to reassess a week or two ago as we began to see him fall in the polls and Newt rise in the polls. I do think this is the end of Herman Cain. I think we're going to hear from him for another week, maybe two weeks, because he's trying to get the book sales up. But other than that, I think we've heard enough and we've heard the end of Herman Cain.

KAYE: Ron, what do you think in terms of his supporters, if he did decide to drop out, we're not saying he has decided to? He's reassessing. But if he did, where would his supporters go?

BONJEAN: His supporters are already starting to leave him. There's a recent poll that just came out that shows his support starting to slip away. I think they would probably end up going to Newt Gingrich. The Tea Party supporters have gone from Bachmann to Perry to Cain, and now it looks like they are headed to Newt Gingrich. New Gingrich is leading in Iowa and has a lot of momentum behind him. It looks like he's the one that will take on Mitt Romney. Herman Cain seems to be caught in political quicksand and there's no way out for him.

KAYE: Liz, what do you think?

CHADDERDON: I couldn't agree more. I mean, what's really fascinating about the Republican primary season this year, there is a large chunk of the Republican Party, Republican base, that just can't find a candidate. First Bachmann, then Perry, now we're Cain, now we're Gingrich. It's fascinating and we're only about 35 days out from the Iowa caucus. And the truth is it's a jump ball. Nobody knows what will happen. I do think Herman Cain's roller coaster ride is coming to an end. I think he's done. KAYE: What about the fact -- one of things they are saying they're reassessing is -- while they are reassess during thse next few days, is they'll be looking at fundraising. After the first allegations of sexual harassment came out, he brought in a lot of money online and elsewhere to his campaign.

Do you expect, Ron, that would happen now or is this a different story?

BONJEAN: I think it's a different story. Before, we didn't have names or faces. We had charges that were anonymous. And that fed a whole conspiratorial theory to those who would necessarily didn't believe this stuff, that Herman Cain was being framed. There were a number of donations brought into Cain's campaign. He was making millions off of this. When you start seeing support in the polling go away, you will see the fundraising drop. And that may be what they're seeing internally.

KAYE: Liz, very quickly, what about Ginger White's credibility? She sued a former business partner. She sued for sexual harassment. She filed for bankruptcy. Does that play a role here at all?

CHADDERDON: It certainly says Ginger White may not be the most credible of people. However, I think what she's saying is probably true since, my goodness, she is the fourth or fifth one to come out with these types of allegations. It's not about her. It's about Herman Cain and his character, and it's about whether or not he's ready to be president of the United States. I think the American people are about to say, he's not the best choice.

KAYE: We'll see what happens as he reassesses.

Liz Chadderdon, Ron Bonjean, thank you so much.

That is "Fair Game."

BONJEAN: Thanks, Randi.

KAYE: More than 30 years ago, angry students in the Middle Eastern country invaded a Western embassy. We were reminded of that today when a similar incident took place in the same country. Do you know what country we're talking about? The answer is next in "Globe Trekking."

First, an offer of amnesty in Yemen. Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh has declared amnesty for anyone who committed, quote, "follies" during the deadly uprising in his country. A good offer, don't you think? The problem is he's not the president anymore. He handed over power to his vice president last week. This is video of him signing the paper, so he should know. Might want to remember that. So for the man who doesn't know when you're done, your 15 minutes are up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Let's go "Globe Trekking" now to Iran -- that's a tough one to say some days -- where students stormed the British embassy today. Britain cut financial ties with Iran last week, citing international concerns about its nuclear program.

CNN's Shirzad Bozorgmehr is on the phone from the Iranian capital.

Shirzad, this is frighteningly reminiscent of the 1979 raid on the embassy in Tehran, which started the Iran hostage crisis. Set this up for us. How did this happen?

SHIRZAD BOZORGMEHR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: About two days ago, the Iranian students issued a statement saying that they will demonstrate against Britain and its policies towards Iran in front of the British embassy in Tehran. Today, it happened at 2:00 p.m. local time, early afternoon. It's about 1,000 Iranian students demonstrated, chanting anti-British and anti-American and anti-Zionist slogans. After about an hour of speeches and chants and slogans, they rushed the gates. And despite the presence of about 50 policemen right in front of the gate, they managed to climb the wall at the embassy and then enter the compound. Whereupon, they went into the offices and brought out some of the documents and set them on fire and took some of them away. They brought down the flag of the United Kingdom and hoisted the Iranian flag and burned the British flag. And then police went after them, but did not succeed in getting them out. This went on for about two more hours and then they went for evening prayers. And then came back again and entered the embassy again.

(CROSSTALK)

BOZORGMEHR: And about an hour ago, maybe after about six or seven hours of demonstrations, finally the police chief, the city police chief gave a stern ultimatum and managed to get them out.

(CROSSTALK)

KAYE: The students are gone from the embassy now? Is that the status?

BOZORGMEHR: I'm sorry.

KAYE: The students are gone from the embassy, or are they still there?

BOZORGMEHR: They have left the embassy and they have left the downtown compound of the embassy which is in north Tehran. They had about 200 students that occupied that as well. But they have left that compound as well. There are no students left in either in north Tehran or downtown Tehran compound.

KAYE: How are the embassy personnel doing?

BOZORGMEHR: I didn't see embassy personnel when I was there, but then later on, I had a report from one of the news agencies here that six of them had been kept kind of by the students at the northern Tehran compound, which were released by the police once the police got all of the students and made them to leave the compound.

KAYE: Shirzad, thank you very much for the update. Those pictures are compelling. Thank you.

So here's a question for you. Do you have the AIDS virus? Many Americans, who do have HIV, do not have it under control. Results of a new CDC study right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: There is an alarming report about AIDS. Three out of four of those living with AIDS do not have the disease under control. This comes four days before World AIDS Day on Thursday.

Joining us to break down this report, senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

Nice to see you.

There are these great drugs out there to treat HIV. Why are so many people having a hard time controlling it?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'll tell you, Randi, I was here at CNN when those drugs came out in the mid-90s and they were such a miracle. And so everyone thought, gee, this means every patient with HIV will get their infection under control. 15 years later, what we're seeing is that that is not really true. There's a whole lot of reasons for that. I'm going to show you and break it down for you why HIV is so not under control for so many people.

All right, let's take 100 people living with HIV. Only 80 are even aware they have HIV. The other 20 are walking around unaware. Out of those 80, only 62 are linked to HIV care. The others aren't getting care. Out of those 62, only 41 stay in that HIV care. So you see the numbers are getting smaller and smaller. Of those 41, only 36 are getting the anti-retroviral therapy, which is these drugs we've just been talking about. Then out of that number, only 28 have the virus very low -- in very low amounts in their body. You can see the number gets smaller and smaller.

KAYE: Yes. It is, which certainly isn't the direction we want to be going in.

COHEN: Yes. We were on the phone with Anthony Fauci at the NIH. He said this is not good. This is not a good number.

KAYE: Yes. But this isn't just about protecting and helping people who are sick. It's about protecting helping others.

COHEN: Right. If you do not have that virus under control in your body, that means that you can spread it. That's why these drugs are great. If you're taking drugs and you've suppressed it, that viral load in your body, you're like 95 percent. the chances that you're not going to transmit it are huge. So you're taking it not just for yourself but for your sexual partners.

KAYE: What about the solution? How will they get this under control?

COHEN: A big part of the solution is that people need to get tested if you are at all at high risk. If you have lots of sexual partners, get tested. If you're a gay or bisexual man, get tested. There's a longer list than that. But if you go to CNN.com/empoweredpatient, we'll link you up with places to get free HIV testing. That's the first -- that's the first step. If you don't know you have it, you can't get the drugs.

KAYE: But we've been saying that for so long, I feel like -- I mean, it's 2011, and there are those still living with it and don't know it.

COHEN: I know. And I think the CDC is trying to do a better job of getting to certain populations. They've come up with a plan, for example, for African-Americans and gay and bisexual men, trying to really center on that population. They're trying to do a better job.

KAYE: Yes. Hopefully, it'll work and they'll get the word out.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you for the update on that report.

Well, if you're shopping for the holiday, beware. Crowds may be least of your problems. How someone or something may be following your every move, and how one politician is trying to put a stop to it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. Let's head cross country to check stories making headlines from "Street Level," to shopping malls under fire from a New York Senator for tracking the cell phones calls of shoppers. The malls, one in Virginia, one in California are managed by the same company. The company monitored signals from shoppers' phones on Black Friday to learn about their shopping patterns. The company says no personal data was collected. But New York Senator Charles Schumer says it raises some privacy concerns. The mall operator says it will suspend the practice while it studies the senator's objections.

Now to San Francisco where a firefighter and former Marine is fighting for his life after being intentionally hit by a car. Albert Bartal (ph) is in critical condition. This is the man who allegedly hit him. He is still on the run. Bartal (ph) had just finished a late-night shift at the fire station Thanksgiving night when he got into an argument with another man at a fast-food restaurant. He left but the man followed and hit him with his car.

Now to Fishers, Indiana, when the Hamilton Southeast School District has been sued for the second time in a week because of bullying. Parents of a 14-year-old freshman who committed suicide says that the school did not do enough to protect their son. This suit comes a week after another family sued saying that their son was stabbed and choked by bullies.

Now to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where a family says their dead son's identity was stolen by tax cheats. The parents say they got a letter from the IRS saying someone else was claiming their 16-year-old as a dependent even though he had died last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERALD BELLIS, DEAD SON'S IDENTITY STOLEN: It's hard enough to, you know, suffer the loss of your child and then go through the grieving process and to have something like this suddenly thrust upon you and you're wondering, maybe it's a mistake.

CAROL BELLIS, DEAD SON'S IDENTITY STOLEN: My first thought was, is it someone we know, is this local in the community, not realizing that it's prevalent all over the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: The parents say the government is partly responsible for this because their son's Social Security number is published in a government list called the Death Master File.

A lawsuit in Newark, New Jersey, is raising serious questions about health care workers and their right to refuse care for a patient based on moral objections. 12 nurses are suing the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey over a requirement to care for abortion patients. A couple of months ago, the hospital changed its policy essentially requiring nurses to help care for abortion patients before and after that procedure. The hospital says they are nurses. It's their job. and they are not directly involved in the actual abortion. But the nurses claim it's their moral and legal right to choose and refuse.

Attorney Demetrios Stratis represents the nurses and joins us from New York. And also with us, CNN legal contributor, Paul Callan, to talk about the legal implications beyond this case.

Welcome to you both.

Demetrios, I'd like to start with you.

According to the hospital, these nurses are not actually involved in the abortion procedure. So what is the objection?

DEMETRIOS STRATIS, ATTORNEY FOR NURSES: Well, they are. They are involved in the procedure. Each one of these patients comes into the hospital in order to do a termination of pregnancy, a TPL, it's called. And they assist in every stage with this TLP. and they are being forced to do so. I had one of my clients tell me that their supervisor told them, don't worry, you're just going to catch the head. And don't worry, the baby's are already dead. If that's not assisting in an abortion, I don't know what is.

KAYE: Well, I want to read you the latest message that we got, the latest statement that we got from the hospital. It says, "No nurse" -- I'm quoting here -- "No nurse is compelled to have direct involvement in a procedure to which she or he objects based on his or her cultural values, ethics and/or religious believes. We respect those believes and have been operating in full compliance with the federal and state law."

So, Paul, what does the federal and state law actually say about this?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it's a fascinating case, Randi. There's actually provisions of law that apply. One is the 1974 Church Amendment. There is something called the Hyde-Weldon Conscience Amendment, and there's also a New Jersey law directly on point. And what it all boils down to is this. The university hospital is getting over $60 million in federal funding. And that federal funding could be in jeopardy if they are in violation of law. And the nurses are saying that basically they are being forced not to assist in an actual abortion procedure, but to take care of patients before and after the abortions and that that violates their conscience and federal law.

And it really comes down to a question of, where do you draw the line on this. If a federal judge looks at this, will the judge say, it's a big hospital, there are lots of nurses, maybe you can set it up so they don't have to have any contact from anybody that is getting an abortion procedure. Other judges may say, being there either before or after the procedure is not assisting in the procedure. It's going to come down to an interpretation of the phraseology in these statutes.

KAYE: But I'm glad you mentioned, where do you draw the line?

Because, Demetrios, a lot of us talking about this case, we're wondering, where do you draw the line? There's a lot of procedures out there that nurses, maybe even these nurses, might object to them. How would they deal with caring for a gay patient who maybe has AIDS or a stem cell patient if they don't agree with that, or a single woman or a lesbian woman who has had invetro-fertilization? I mean, where does it end?

STRATIS: That's not the issue. The issue here is there's a law on point that says a person cannot be forced to assist or perform in an abortion. And it's the abortion that is at issue here. We're not dealing with gays or AIDS or other types of issues. It's simply an abortion. And my clients are against an abortion, and they have the right, and they are protected under the law to say no, they can't be forced to do these things.

KAYE: Aren't you at all concerned that this may set a precedence? Once you make this law, couldn't it do that?

STRATIS: Well, what's interesting is, the hospital up, until now, was actually performing all of these TLPs, and none of my clients were forced to do this, not until October of this past year, just a few weeks ago, were they were being forced and threatened with determination if they didn't do this, against their spiritual and extremely sincerely held religious beliefs.

KAYE: Paul, where do we draw the line? When you look at this case, there could be other cases that follow. Where do you draw the line between the nurses' duty to care for patients and their right to refuse?

CALLAN: Well, it's a difficult question. But hospitals and courts across America have been successfully drawing this line in a variety of other situations. And obviously, many people have non-mainstream religious beliefs. By the way, opposition to apportion is certainly a mainstream belief in America unlike some of the other issues.

But, for instance, I'm in a courthouse here in New York City and there's an Orthodox Jewish attorney who is trying a case, and we're going to adjourn at 3:00 on Friday because of sun down. The court in New York will honor that belief because it finds that it's not overly disruptive and there are other ways to manage the court's case load. Similarly, hospitals have found ways to do this. I think this is not a particularly difficult case. I think they can take these nurses away from these procedures and fully staff the procedures. If you had a small, rural hospital where there were only one or two nurses, then I think the court would really have a tough time drawing the line.

KAYE: Yes.

CALLAN: So there's a line to be drawn, but I don't think it's a hard one to figure out in this case. I think these nurses may -- they may have a point here if, in fact, the hospital is not allowing them to observe their religious beliefs.

KAYE: Well, we will continue to watch it and see how it plays out.

Paul Callan, Demetrios Stratis, thank you both.

(CROSSTALK)

KAYE: And now we want to check in with Mark Preston.

Mark, apparently it's a day of endorsements, I guess, for the Republican candidates, or some of them at least?

MARK PRESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is. Randi, it isn't just about the controversy surrounding Herman Cain. A couple of big endorsements made today for two other Republican presidential candidates.

Let's first turn to Mitt Romney down in Florida. He got the endorsement of three very prominent Cubans down there. Two of them are current lawmakers, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Representative Mario Diaz Balart and former Congressman Lincoln Diaz Balart, the former two are brothers. This is very important because the Florida primary is expected to be very important in the race for the Republican nomination held on January 31st. So the fact that Mitt Romney is getting the support of these three lawmakers down in Florida, where Cubans tend to be more conservative and congregate down in the south Florida area, that is very big news for him.

KAYE: Yes. That sounds like a big deal. What about Rick Perry? Who is he chumming around with today?

PRESTON: Well, he is in New Hampshire with none other than Sheriff Joe, Sheriff Joe Arpaio --

KAYE: Oh, boy.

PRESTON: -- from Arizona. Yes. Our viewers know Sheriff Joe for a lot of things but most specifically for his tough stance on crime, particularly, illegal immigration. Of course, we all know that Rick Perry has really had to suffer the wrath of the criticism from some Republicans who say that he is too soft on illegal immigration. But when Sheriff Joe was up there today, he stood strongly behind Governor Perry. In fact, this is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE ARPAIO, SHERIFF, MARICOPA COUNTY: I don't know the governor that much. I've talked to him a few times. But to me, he is an honorable, ethical person, with a great family. We need that, too, in Washington. He's a fighter. I'm here to lend all my support to ensure that he becomes president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: So you know what's interesting about that, he says he doesn't really know him personally, but he thinks that he is the right person to be president of the United States. Perhaps giving the cover that Governor Perry has needed regarding his stand on illegal immigration.

So there you go. Two big endorsements for Mitt Romney. Three endorsements for Mitt Romney. And one big endorsement for Governor Perry.

Of course, this is all being surrounded by what is going on with Herman Cain today.

KAYE: Yes.

All right, Mark Preston, thank you.

And thank you, everybody, for watching. You can continue the conversation with me on Facebook or Twitter RandiKaye/CNN. Now it's time for me to hand it over to Brooke Baldwin. Hi, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Randi. Have a great rest of your day. Thank you so much.