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Jerry Sandusky Arrested Again on New Child Sex Charges; Newt Gingrich's 15-Point Lead Against Mitt Romney; Rod Blagojevich Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison; Crisis in Syria; Saaid Gadhafi Planned To Go To Mexico

Aired December 07, 2011 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Quite a news day here. A lot of breaking news to get to. Let's begin now.

Happening any minute, Newt Gingrich expected to speak live in Washington, D.C., as presidential candidates court Jewish voters. According to these new polls, Gingrich is now pulling ahead of his fellow Republicans as we inch closer and closer to the Iowa caucuses.

Keep in mind, Ron Paul, the only presidential candidate not invited to this event today in Washington. And keep in mind, he's also going to be joining me right here in the CNN NEWSROOM next hour.

Also happening right now, an arrest in the murder of that 7-year-old Georgia girl, Jorelys Rivera, kidnapped from her apartment complex not too far from the playground she was on. She was later found dead.

Breaking just a short time ago, we got some news from police. They took a person in custody who worked at this apartment complex where this girl lived.

Sunny Hostin, all over this as we're getting these breaking details. She's going to join me in a matter of minutes.

Also breaking today, the former governor of Illinois is headed to prison. Rod Blagojevich just sentenced to 14 years on corruption charges.

He appeared in court this morning to beg for leniency, apologizing to his family. The judge saying essentially, too little, too late. Blagojevich has 90 days to report to prison.

We're going to take you live to Chicago coming up.

Also breaking right now, former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was arrested again today and charged with sexually assaulting two more young boys. Sandusky was arraigned, and a preliminary hearing was set for next Tuesday.

So that brings the total number of alleged victims now to 10. Sandusky already faced 40 charges involving at least eight alleged victims. I've got Susan Candiotti now on the phone. She's been working this story here.

Susan, tell me, where is Jerry Sandusky at this moment, and what more do you know about these additional charges?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's been arrested. I'm not sure of his exact whereabouts at this time. But we have to wonder whether this would have been a surprise to him given the fact that more charges were expected certainly even by his own lawyer.

We now know about alleged victims 9 and 10. The first one said that he encountered Sandusky back in 2004, and met him through a summer camp organized by The Second Mile. That's the program that Sandusky used to run and founded.

The boy was 11 or 12 years old at the time. He told the grand jury that he was approached by Sandusky, who talked to him, spent more time with him, and that allegedly led to him going to football games, getting gifts and money, as we had heard from other alleged victims.

That led to overnight stays at Sandusky's home and included alleged behavior including hugging, rubbing, cuddling, tickling, and eventually led to sex acts, the grand jury says, in the swimming pool and Jacuzzi of a hotel in the State College, Pennsylvania, area. Then, according to victim 9, he said that Sandusky told him to keep all of this a secret.

In the case of alleged victim 10, he again was referred by The Second Mile when he was 10 years old, and Sandusky allegedly approached him at the summer camp, took him to football games, and spent time at his home. The grand jury said that at Sandusky's home, that activities led to incidents where Sandusky allegedly sodomized the young boy, then he said that he also encountered various alleged incidents in the swimming pool on campus, along with in a car, where Sandusky allegedly exposed himself and again asked for a sex act to be performed upon him.

So, this has led to additional charges that he will also have to face. All of this, Brooke, in advance of a preliminary hearing where we might be hearing from some of the previous alleged victims who may have to testify at a hearing next week.

Why is that happening? Because at this stage, it is the state's responsibility at this stage in the proceedings to tell the court that, yes, indeed, we do have enough information to proceed to a trial.

BALDWIN: Susan Candiotti, on the news now that former defensive coach Jerry Sandusky arrested once again, as we have alleged victims number 9 and 10 coming forward in that case.

Susan, thank you so much.

Meantime, a New York district attorney says he cannot file charges against former Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine. Fine has been charged of sexually molesting boys. Despite what he calls credible allegations, the district attorney says the statute of limitations has expired.

The feds, though, are still investigating Fine. In fact, Gary Tuchman is covering this one for us. He's going to join me next hour with the latest on that investigation.

Also today, emotional moments on Capitol Hill as lawmakers hold this hearing on homegrown terror and the threat to a member of the military right here in the U.S. who lost his son. This man lost his son when a gunman opened fire at the recruiting center in Little Rock -- you remember this -- back in 2009.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's left on a battlefield. It took me two years to get these back. These are my son's dog tags.

He wore these when he took four rounds of 7.62 ammo from about three feet. On it, there's the warrior's ethos. The last line of it is, "I will never leave a fallen comrade." Well, the Army left him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: This father is partially upset because his son's killer is legally not considered a terrorist, even though he had connection to terror groups.

Also this today --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That voice, that of President Franklin Roosevelt describing Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. Today, aging World War II vets, many of whom are in their 90s, they are in Hawaii. They're honoring the memory of the 2,400 Americans killed that day 70 years ago.

About 120 Pearl Harbor survivors are there. The survivors association is dissolving this month, as the passing of time is taking its toll on the health of its few remaining members.

And we are just getting started here. We mentioned it's a big day of breaking news. Got a lot more to talk to you about over the next two hours, including this --

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Right now the presidential candidates are in Washington courting the Jewish voters, except for one. I'm going to speak live with Congressman Ron Paul about being left out, also about his fight against Newt Gingrich and his harsh words toward Donald Trump.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

(voice-over): An actress in her birthday suit now claims a magazine doctored the pictures, and the outrage involves a grenade.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a big difference between topless and being nude.

BALDWIN: CNN's Sara Sidner spoke with her. Sara will join me live.

Some were left homeless, some didn't have families, and some just too poor to afford a funeral. More than 1,000 bodies being buried together in a mass grave right here in America.

Plus --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was on his phone and he didn't want to get off the phone.

BALDWIN: -- Alec Baldwin kicked off a flight for playing a game. He even tweeted me amid the ruckus. So how does a celebrity play damage control when the addiction is an app?

And a mom loses her son in Iraq and heads to the war zone to retrace his every step.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It let me feel what he felt right up to the moment of his death.

BALDWIN: You'll hear my conversation with her, the one that got everyone talking.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Talk some politics here.

This is almost like a whiff of ammonia. It makes you rock your head back when you look at these numbers. Talk about a sudden burst of momentum here, this new poll.

Newt Gingrich, all but forgotten in the presidential race until just a couple short weeks ago. He has stepped on the gas, blown right past Mitt Romney.

This is a nationwide poll. This is the new Gallup poll. Newt Gingrich, you see the big number there, 37 percent. That is 15 points ahead of Mitt Romney. It's as if Newt Gingrich claimed Herman Cain's supporters lock, stock and barrel.

Candy Crowley, chief political correspondent.

Let's just turn this thing on its head, if you will. If -- here's the "if" -- if you're Mitt Romney, or you're a Romney supporter, what in the world do you think when you see this poll and you are 15 points behind Newt Gingrich?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You probably think, thank heavens the elections aren't today.

There is time to turn this thing around. There is time to see how much of this is real. And there is time, frankly, to change course.

I mean, Mitt Romney, so far, has been so careful, so cautious. Basically, his approach has been, ,let everybody else fail. Well, people don't tend to sort of -- you can't win this by default.

You know, first you saw Bachmann go up. And then you saw Perry go up. And then you saw Cain go up. And now you see Newt Gingrich go up.

Newt Gingrich is looking a little more real than the other three looked when they were at the top of the polls. And we certainly are seeing people around Mitt Romney both publicly and privately saying you need to go after Mitt Romney in a way that you let the others just sort of collapse of their own weight.

So you will see -- and Mitt Romney has said this -- you will see a slightly different Mitt Romney out there in the sense that he will engage with the media. He basically has kind of stayed in this cocoon and not gone and fought for it, and people just don't give you the nomination. They want to know you want it. They want to know you've got the passion for it.

And it's not good enough to sit back and watch everyone go from the top of the polls to the bottom of the polls. You have to go fight for that top position.

BALDWIN: OK. So you're talking about changing course. You're saying camp Romney is glad that the election is not happening today.

By the way, we know this Republican Jewish Coalition, this is happening. These different presidential candidates, they're in Washington, in your town there, courting the Jewish vote. All of them, I should mention, except for Congressman Ron Paul.

Here he is. Live pictures of Newt Gingrich there speaking today.

Now, Candy, you and I have talked about the unease, if you will, among certain House Republicans and former House Republicans, painful memories of the man we just saw live, the Newt Gingrich speakership. We talked about Guy Molinari. You now have over the weekend Tom Coburn coming out, Peter King, all raising these doubts about Gingrich.

In fact, today, the current Speaker of the House, John Boehner, was asked about his own history with Gingrich. Let's play a piece of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You were part of a group in 1997 that tried to replace Mr. Gingrich as Speaker. What was it about his leadership that made you think he should be replaced?

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: That was someone's rumor. That was an inaccurate rumor. All right? So let's go to --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, can you talk about the strengths and weaknesses of his leadership?

BOEHNER: Listen, Newt has been a long-time friend, but my focus is on what the American people sent us here to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So she's trying to ask a question. Obviously there's some history between these two men.

CROWLEY: Good try.

BALDWIN: Good try, two times over.

My question is, how is the GOP establishment -- how are those folks coming along in terms with even the prospect of a Gingrich nomination?

CROWLEY: Really cautiously. I mean, I think John Boehner is emblematic of mostly what you've seen.

Yes, you've seen people come out going, you know, I don't know, I've seen his leadership close up. This was a very controversial man, Newt Gingrich.

But in the end, Brooke, here's what Republicans want. Whether you're in the middle of the party, whether you're a conservative, or you're part of the Tea Party within the Republican Party, they just want someone to beat President Obama. And they will get behind whoever that is.

But it is a hard sell for Newt Gingrich, but nothing succeeds like winning. I think you're seeing a lot of caution here, a lot of people not wanting to step up and go after him, but you are also seeing on the other side folks coming out the Romney people have lined up, more of the mainstream Republicans coming out and saying, I'm for Romney. So you're seeing more pro-Romney, you're not seeing that much anti- Newt at this point, because, look, people are waiting to see what the lay of the land is. Let's remember, nobody has voted yet.

BALDWIN: I know. I know.

CROWLEY: People are still trying to figure out, how real is this? Sort of taking the pulse. Can Mitt Romney come and put up a fight for this? I mean, that kind of thing.

And you don't want to -- you know, there's enough enemies in politics to go around. You don't want to make them unnecessarily or recreate them unnecessarily.

BALDWIN: I know. I know.

CROWLEY: So you've seen some caution.

BALDWIN: And you have the, as you mentioned, the anti-Newt folks, but you also have some people saying, Gingrich has mellowed out, maybe he's learned from his past mistakes, maybe he's a little more humble -- maybe. Maybe.

But I want to play this as well. This is Newt Gingrich in South Carolina denying he was ever a seven-figured hired gun lobbyist. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to be really direct, OK? I was charging $60,000 a speech, and the number of speeches was going up, not down. Normally celebrities leave and they gradually sell fewer speeches every year. We were selling more. I didn't have to deal with anybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So was that Newt Gingrich kind of boasting about raking in $60,000 for a speech in Bluffton, South Carolina? Has this man changed?

CROWLEY: Well, you know, look, everybody changes. I don't know. I'm not inside his head. But he is the same -- he's very smart. He's very ambitious.

He can be self-indulgent, he can be very in your face. I don't suspect that the essence of Newt Gingrich has changed that much.

The question is, is the Republican -- you know, he fit -- so much of what he is right now fits into the core of the Republican Party wants right now. They want someone to go after President Obama.

BALDWIN: President Obama.

CROWLEY: They want a fighter. And Newt Gingrich is in your face in a way that Mitt Romney has not shown himself to be yet.

And so he has -- Newt Gingrich has those at attributes. But right now is attracting that party that doesn't just not like President Obama, they're somewhat afraid of him, of what he might do. They think he's taking the country too far to the left, et cetera, et cetera.

And they see Newt Gingrich as a fighter, and that's what the attraction is. He is out there. He can take an idea and put it into a couple of sentences, and he is fierce. And they need to see that same kind of thing from Mitt Romney if Mitt Romney is going to take this thing back.

BALDWIN: Well, I have a feeling our colleague Wolf Blitzer had a pretty decent arsenal of questions to ask Newt Gingrich, because I know he sat down with him not too long ago. So we'll get to see that interview and those answers.

CROWLEY: Yes. It will be a great interview.

BALDWIN: It will be a great interview.

Candy Crowley, thank you so much.

That interview coming up on "THE SITUATION ROOM."

Meantime, breaking just a short time ago, we talked about this arrest. This is an arrest in the brutal murder of a 7-year-old girl. The suspect, found at the girl's apartment complex. Investigators just now briefing members of the press on the development.

That's coming up next.

Also, the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, giving his first American interview since the Syrian uprising, and surprises when asked about the bloodshed in his country. You're going to hear that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Finally today, a break in the case of a brutally murdered 7- year-old girl. Police have made an arrest in the death of sexual assault of first-grader Jorelys Rivera, who was found Monday in a trash compactor in suburban Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VERNON KEENAN, DIRECTOR, GBI: And we are here to announce the arrest of Ryan Brunn for the murder of the 7-year-old Rivera child. Brunn is 20 years of age, and he resided at 12309 River Ridge Drive.

We have had Brunn under surveillance since last night as we continue to build evidence in this case. We reached a point this afternoon that we had sufficient evidence to obtain arrest warrants for the murder of the 7-year-old child.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Police say this little girl was stabbed, sexually assaulted, and then died of blunt-force trauma. Her body was found in the vicinity of the playground at her own apartment complex where she lived in Canton, Georgia, just about an hour north of Atlanta.

I want to bring in legal contributor Sunny Hostin, also former child sex crimes prosecutor Sunny Hostin as well.

Let's talk about this man arrested. I know his name is Ryan Brunn.

What more do we know about him?

SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION," TRUTV: Well, we know he's 20 years old, Brooke. We know that he was not only living at the apartment complex, he was also working there as a maintenance worker.

He started working there November 7th, so a very short time. Apparently, he had no connection with the little girl whatsoever other than the fact that he had worked there and that he also lived there.

We also know that the police had been looking at him since Tuesday evening. They had been conducting surveillance. And just today, they received some sort of additional information that led to his arrest. We know that there was blood found in an apartment at the complex, and there were tests done, so perhaps that somehow linked him to the crime. But information is still coming in as we speak right now, but we do know that he has been arrested and the police believe that he is the killer of the little girl.

BALDWIN: Yes. I was jotting down notes listening to the GBI chief. Two asked, was this child targeted? They don't know the extent of which she might have been targeted, but the murder he said did in fact happen in that vacant apartment before he essentially tossed her in the trash. And when you hear about this, and you hear about someone who lived there and worked there, versus, let's say, a registered sex offender in the area, does that surprise you?

HOSTIN: You know, it doesn't surprise me because I prosecuted these kinds of cases, and we know from our experience that child predators covet what they can see. So this sort of stranger abduction isn't rare, but they do covet the children that they have access to and that they are in close proximity to.

The investigators have said that this was a planned crime, that this was a carefully orchestrated crime. So perhaps he had been watching this little girl, looking at this little girl.

She was playing outside with other children at the time that she was abducted. She left the playground to go get something to drink, she told the other children, and she disappeared right after that.

So I think there are so many lessons to be learned from this terrible tragedy. And one of them is, you have to watch your children, because child predators walk among us.

You had a lot of sex offenders, registered sex offenders also living in the community. That struck me as odd, Brooke, because they are not supposed to live in close proximity to children, to playgrounds, to schools --

BALDWIN: They live among us.

HOSTIN: They really do. They really do. I think people have this vision of child predators as sort of monsters. They look just like everyone else.

BALDWIN: My heart goes out to Jorelys' mother right now. It's sick.

Sunny Hostin, thank you.

Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich is about to spend a very long time behind bars, but he is not going to prison right away. We're going to get a live report from Chicago, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Well, now we know the former governor of Illinois is headed to prison, sentenced to 14 years.

Rod Blagojevich was in court just this morning to be for a more lenient sentence. That did not happen.

Cameras were not allowed in federal court, but Ted Rowlands was in there in Chicago.

And Ted, as you were looking over at Rod Blagojevich, his wife when that sentence came down, what was their immediate reaction?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there wasn't any visual reaction from Blagojevich. He put his head down a little bit. His wife put her head down and was comforted by his brother. But there wasn't an outburst by any stretch of the imagination.

You have to think that they had prepared themselves for this possible outcome. They were asking for three years. The prosecution was asking for 15 to 20. The judge gave him 14.

Blagojevich did have an opportunity to try to plead, as you mentioned, with this judge. He spoke for about 20 minutes to the judge, and he said he admitted guilt. He said, "This was all my fault and all of my stupidity."

But then the judge, after taking a break, came back out to the bench, delivered this sentence, and he said, you know, "I thought about your kids. A lot of criminals have kids and are great fathers. You're not convicted of being a bad father. That's not a factor here."

He said the biggest thing is the trust issue. He said, "The harm is the erosion of public trust in government when the image of corruption from the governor's office seeps into the fabric of the state of Illinois, and you did that damage."

He'll be -- he is able to go home now. He will be back, though, February 16th to report to the Bureau of Prisons.

BALDWIN: Right. So I was about to say, he doesn't have to go to prison right away. He gets 90 days.

Why exactly is that, Ted? And might that also mean that we could see Blagojevich pop in front of a camera anytime soon?

ROWLANDS: Well, we might. He has not come in and out of the courthouse during the sentencing phase in the main entrance, which he normally did throughout the entire trial. And he would greet everybody and then talked to the media at great lengths.

He's been using an underground entrance during the sentencing phase. So we're not sure if he will address the media or not. There are cameras camped outside his home here in Chicago and of course, outside the federal building, but so far no sight of him leaving the building as of yet.

BALDWIN: All right, Ted Rowlands for us in Chicago. Ted, thank you.

And now this woman, she admits it was a bold photo shoot for this magazine, but says she was not nude. Even though when you look at the pictures, it looks like she was. You're going to hear what she says the magazine did and why she is suing them for $2 million. Sara Sidner, spoke with her. She is going to join us live from India, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Hosni Mubarak in Egypt was toppled by popular protests decorum to oust Gadhafi and now, which way should Syria go? Today increasing signs the Arab powerhouse is descending into war.

These here, these are government tapes shown today firing on opponents. Now, at the same time, Syria's president, Bashar Al Assad is denying orders to kill. He spoke in English to ABC's Barbara Walters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA WALTERS, ABC: Do you think that your forces crack down too hard?

PRESIDENT BASHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIA: They are not my forces. They are forces not associated with the government. I don't know them. I am the president.

WALTERS: But you have to give the order.

ASSAD: No, no, no.

WALTERS: Not by your command?

ASSAD: No. No one's command. There was no command to kill or to be brutal. We don't kill our people. No government in the world killed its people and this is when I became president because of public support. It's impossible for anyone in this state to be ordered to kill.

WALTERS: Do you feel guilty?

ASSAD: I do my best to protect the people and not feel guilty when you do your best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Now, a Syria expert is telling CNN that the interview shows Assad is, quote, "on another planet." He says he is clearly in denial and goes as far as calling Assad a madman.

And now we're about to hear directly from the actress, we talked about just a couple of days ago. The actress at the center of this firestorm, remember her name is Veena Malik. She is from Pakistan.

Malik is on the cover of India's version of the men's magazine, FHM, wearing nothing, but the letters ISI on her arm. ISI is Pakistan's spy agency.

Sara Sidner has been working this one for us all the way there in Mumbai, India. She just interviewed this actress. Sara, obviously we can't show the magazine cover, right? But the crux of the controversy, the fact that she appears nude or also the ISI tattoo on her arm?

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I think it's both. Both things combined have really stirred up this controversy, especially in Pakistan. I mean, ISI is an acronym that everyone here thinks of as Pakistan's intelligence agency. They refer to it that way.

And it certainly isn't the kind of image that Pakistan wants for its government agency in a conservative nation. So the Interior Minister has actually come out and said something about this photo shoot all the way here across the border in India saying that what she did was wrong if, in fact, these pictures are real and that they were going to look into it.

Now, what the government can do to her, I'm not sure. And what exactly kind of an investigation they might do, we don't know. But it certainly has sparked controversy there and she is very upset because, Brooke, we talked to her today. She made some time for us.

We convinced her to sit down and talk with us and tell us what happened. And she says there's a problem with the photo on the cover of the magazine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VEENA MALIK, ACTRESS: See, there's a big difference between being topless and being nude. You will see various shoots in the Bollywood industry where actresses actually went topless, but they are covered like the way I was. They are various examples, which you can see, but I did not go nude.

SIDNER: So you had bottoms on?

MALIK: Bottoms on I had and they actually removed those bottoms by removed or whatever the technology is that they used.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So basically what she's saying is that these images, at least the one on the cover, was photoshopped. But she admitted that the inside images that are inside magazine, the spread were all her and that she did agree to do these other photos, which are quite racy and certainly turning heads in India -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: So she says that she's photoshopped. You've seen the pictures. What is "FHM" saying about these allegations?

SIDNER: Well, not only is she saying that she was photoshopped, but she has now given them legal notice that she is planning to sue them for somewhere around $2 million because she says that they did this without her permission.

"FHM" has responded saying that she knew everything, she was fully aware, and she was very happy with the photo shoot knowing how it was going to turn out. Now they have served her notice saying they are going to counter sue her for somewhere around $5 million.

So now what you have is a bunch of money sort of in the balance. These two people, the magazine editors and MS. Malik herself fighting over this and you have Pakistan saying, hold on, this is not how we want to be portrayed either.

And then lastly, we talked to her today and through tears she told us the only family that she's known, she lost her biological mother and father in an accident when she was a young, young girl and the only family that has raised her went to the media and disowned her, saying this is not the way to act.

BALDWIN: My goodness.

SIDNER: So she's in a real predicament at this point in time and certainly upset by all this.

BALDWIN: Well, on a flip side, perhaps is an actress this helps her generate a little buzz and perhaps it generates a little buzz for the magazine as well here, but we have counter suits. Stay on it for us Sara Sidner live for us very early in the morning your time in Mumbai. We really appreciate it, Sara.

Back here at home, a staggering moment today in California. The remains of just about 1,700 people buried in this mass grave, some of them from 2008. There was a sad, sad story behind this. We have just gotten the video as well. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: This next story is just stunning. Thousands of bodies are going unclaimed by loved ones in California and other states. Some were homeless, many were poor and some were alone in the world.

Today, the Los Angeles County coroner's office is burying the remains of nearly 1,700 bodies in this mass grave that you see. Many of them had been in storage for up to three years.

The county says without family members stepping forward to claim these individuals, it's really up to them to provide a respectful and dignified burial.

Don Knabe is a Los Angeles County supervisor. Don, when I first read this, I thought, my gosh, this is a sign of the times. People can't afford to claim their loved ones. Is that the case or is this something more because I know you all have been doing this since 1896?

DON KNABE, LOS ANGELES COUNTRY SUPERVISOR: Brooke, it's an annual unfortunately, it's an annual event that we participate in because these are truly unclaimed bodies. The average number that we do each and every year has not really changed with the economy up or down. It's just a sad situation where we have the members of the county family, basically, individuals that are unclaimed after a period of time. I think by law we are obligated to keep the bodies three years.

The families are notified if there's any contact within the first 30 days. There's a full investigation related to any criminal activity or whatever it may be.

But once again, as you said, almost 1,700 individuals. So what we do is try to give them, you know, the recognition that a family would do or just the proper burial.

BALDWIN: Sure.

KNABE: We have multiple religions out there as well as we actually today had one family member show up, which is the first as far as I can remember.

BALDWIN: And what did that family member tell you? That family member and also the family members of these other individuals that you tried to call up, you asked to claim their friends and family and they don't. What's their explanation?

KNABE: Well, there wasn't much conversation other than the fact that they were unable to give their loved one a proper burial and I think it was a distant relative of some sort. Not a father/son or a cousin/nephew or something like that, but just their inability to pay.

And once these families -- we find out that they are out there, we have three years to come up with the money and that's part of the process. But almost half, unfortunately, about 700 or 800 of those today are strictly unclaimed human beings.

And it's, you know, as we go into this holiday season, we all realize how fortunate we are, but it's not that way for everyone else. So we just try to give them the proper burial, the proper respect that any human being would deserve regardless we have no ideas of demographics, race, or anything like that.

BALDWIN: I was going to ask who these people are. Do you know who these people are or are the majority of them nameless?

KNABE: Well, absolutely. We are able to identify them, but on the other hand, whether to chase down through our public administrator or family members, that's the first process.

First, the records are scanned as I said for any criminal kinds of activity and then the attempt to contact family members. Many cases, just, as I said, 700 of these folks today, we were never able to make contact with family.

BALDWIN: As we head, as you mentioned, into the holiday season, people are certainly pinching pennies these days. I don't know if other cities, other counties, jurisdictions to these mass burials as you all do. What is your message to those loved ones who perhaps might have lost someone this year, but who may not be able to afford it?

KNABE: Well, we would just ask that if there's any way possible, that they are able to claim the human being that the body to make sure that they get the proper burial.

But at the end of the day, through our public administrator and through the county, we feel it's a very important part of our responsibility to give these folks a dignified burial service.

As sad as it is and as difficult as it is, we have been doing this for a very, very long time and just wish that family members would come forward if they are there and we're able to contact them.

BALDWIN: The 1,639 bodies buried just in L.A. County alone today. Don Knabe, I thank you for coming on. I appreciate that.

We mentioned just a moment ago, breaking news there out of Chicago. Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich sentenced to 14 years because of the corruption charges that he faced. We just heard from him apparently seconds ago. We've turned some sound around. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROD BLAGOJEVICH, FORMER ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same, Patty and I, and especially me, this is a time to be strong. This is a time to fight through adversity.

This is a time for me to be strong for my children, be strong for Patty, and this is also a time for Patty and me to get home so we can explain to our kids, our babies, Amy and Annie, what happened, what all of this means, and where we are going from here. So we are going to keep fighting on through this adversity and see you soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And that's it, Rod Blagojevich speaking with his wife, Patty. They have a couple of kids. He will be able to go home for 90 days before he has to spend the next 14 years in prison.

Still ahead, one of Gadhafi's sons accused of hatching a secret plot to sneak into Mexico. We're going to tell you how that whole plan unravelled. That's next.

Plus, a mother denied food stamps. So then what does she do? She pulls a gun at a State Welfare Office. That's a sign of the times here. You're going to hear this ending and what her own kids said online during a seven-hour standoff. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Moammar Gadhafi killed in October. One of his sons, Saif Gadhafi (INAUDIBLE) just a couple of weeks ago and we have just learned today another one of his sons, Saadi Gadhafi was planning to sneak into Mexico, but Mexico stopped that. The country's Interior Minister says Saadi Gadhafi planned to use false documents to get into the country and also wanted to buy a number of properties to use as safe houses.

Mexican authorities said four people have been arrested in this plot including the Canadian woman who is in direct contact with the Gadhafi family.

I want to bring in our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson live in London for me. So, Nic, how far did Saadi Gadhafi get with this plan?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENION INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, when we start looking at what the Mexican Interior Ministry has said about this, they detected this plot back at the beginning of September, which is right when Saadi was getting out of Libya, running out of Libya.

So it seems that he put this plan into place when he first arrived, but we know what happened within hours or essentially days of arriving there. He has his passport taken away.

He was put in a government guest house told that he wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon and that's been the Niger government's position. And that's what his lawyer is being sent today. He's in Niger and he's not trying to run away.

BALDWIN: Will he be allowed, Nic, to remain in Niger?

ROBERTSON: You know, I spoke to a Libyan source today and he said and of course, the Libyans want him back in Libya so they can put him on trial.

He said we are worried that he's getting pretty comfortable in Niger that he's getting good relationships with part of the sort of religious community there. He said we think within a few months, he'll be sort of getting more freedom, allowed to roam around.

And we're worried about what is going to happen to him then. But as far as the Niger government is concerned, they say, no, it's essentially high surveillance, lock and key and he's not going to be allowed to leave the country. But it's going to break at some point that's very clear -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Just the matter of which where he goes. Nic Robertson, thank you so much.

We are just about at the top of the hour. I want to keep you in the loop. As I mentioned a little while ago, Wolf Blitzer just finished interviewing Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry.

We're going to get the sound in. In fact, we're working on getting sound in now. We're going to hear what both Gingrich -- what he said. What he specifically says about Mitt Romney.

Plus, this is something that people have been talking to me about. Alec Baldwin gets the boot from a plane out of LAX just yesterday because he apparently is addicted to some sort of word game on his phone. He even tweeted me while this was going on. More on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: If you fly a lot, sooner or later, you might be sharing a plane with a celebrity. Sometimes it's really fun and exciting. Sometimes it doesn't go so well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I actually felt Alec Baldwin was turning off his devices and he just got a little angry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was on his phone and didn't want to get off the phone. Then he was going into the bathroom and became a little irate and they had to remove him from the flight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: OK. What are these passengers talking about? They are talking about that guy in the shades, Alec Baldwin. They are complaining about him. This all happened yesterday. Alec Baldwin forced their flight to be delayed apparently because he wouldn't turn off his cell phone.

The actor's spokesperson blames the addictive online game and I know a lot of you play it. This is words with friends as the cause. Baldwin known for taking to Twitter to air his grievances immediately started dissing American Airlines in his Twitter feed.

I want to read one of his tweets, quote, "Flight attendant on American reamed me out for playing words with friends while we sat at the gate not moving. Hash tag, no wonder America Air is bankrupt. So I'm on Twitter as well.

I'm hearing what happened. So I picked up my phone, tweeted the actor myself, asked him about this words with friends game. He indeed tweeted me right back. You can see what his response was. I remember it. Three easy words. It's well addicting.

I then tweeted him back and asked -- already, how long were you playing after the flight attendant told to you put it away? He's now deactivated his Twitter account. In the meantime, American Airlines said this extremely vocal customer got up, took his phone into the bathroom, quote, "He slammed the lavatory door so hard, the cockpit crew heard it and became alarmed, even with the cockpit door closed and locked.

It goes on, the passenger was extremely rude to the crew, calling them inappropriate names using offensive language. Given the facts above, the passenger was removed from the flight and denied boarding.

So damage control time, I want to bring in Marvet Britto, an expert on personal branding and image management. What was your response when you first heard about this?

MARVET BRITTO, THE BRITTO AGENCY: When I first heard about it, I think I was more surprised that his representative sent out a statement that actually described what Alec was doing rather than apologize to the flight attendant community, but to the other passengers inconvenienced.

I think the biggest issue here is not what he was doing on his device, but the fact that the device was still on when he was asked to turn it off on an aircraft. Clearly, the celebrity is not in control, the flight crew is and this seems like Alec was clearly insulting everyone for being asked to do something that everyone on the plane has to adhere to.

BALDWIN: Right, we all hear the announcement. You got an on/off switch on, you know, whatever device it is. Turn it off. I was following his tweets. Calling the American flight attendants retired school teachers from the '50s. How does he right this wrong if he even cares to do so?

BRITTO: He probably doesn't care to do so. I think the biggest issue here is controlling celebrity emotional tweeting, which is always very dangerous because you tweet things from a very hurtful place without having all of the information.

And without really being able to act or respond accurately or fairly so it's very dangerous for celebrities to really take the matters into their own hands. But hopefully his representative can come behind this mishap and apologize on his behalf.

Not only to insult the flight crew because I suspect that Alec Baldwin has to fly again. The flight attendant community is a very tight-knit community, regardless of what airline you take.

So to insult them for doing their job, I think is completely out of line and he or his representative should absolutely apologize for his behavior.

BALDWIN: Devil's advocate, what if you're Alec Baldwin and says, I don't care, I'm a 30 Rock Star. I'm going to host "SNL" again later this month. There are other airlines out there for me to fly on. He may take that stance, but what about his fans? Do you think that will hurt his lustre at all?

BRITTO: Not really because I think Alec Baldwin has built his brand and career on being a bad boy. So his bad boy image, you know, really embodies and travels with him everywhere, but I think when it impacts other individuals who aren't maybe not fans of 30 Rock, that's when he's really crossing the line, really putting other people in danger.

Whether the door was opened or not, closed or not is not the issue. It's just the fact that he was negligent and then insulting the crew. So I think that he will lose some fans and certainly he'll lose the flight attendant community as fans.

BALDWIN: Marvet Britto, thank you very much in New York for me on that whole debacle.

Top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Let's take you live to the White House where President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper are expected to talk any moment.

We heard about the president talking about this yesterday in Osawatomie, Kansas. Again, today, talking economy. We're going to keep an eye on that event for you.

Also, our own Wolf Blitzer interviewing not just one, but two presidential candidates today including the apparent GOP frontrunner. We are getting some sound turn around very, very quickly for you from Wolf's sit down both with Newt Gingrich and with Rick Perry as soon as we get that, you will hear it here on CNN.

Also, I will be interviewing Congressman Ron Paul, White House hopeful live in just about a minute. He's the only candidate, by the way, who was not invited to the Republican event in D.C. happening today.

So all of that coming up, but first this -- couple stories we're looking for you. First, Jerry Sandusky arrested again. No charges will be filed against the former Syracuse assistant basketball coach. The man they call "Blago" learned his fate today --