Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Gingrich Leads Iowa, Debate Tomorrow; Ron Paul Pushing Hard In Iowa; Wall Street Reacts To Europe Deal; E.U. Debt Crisis Summit; Former FBI Agent In Iran Hostage Video; U.S. Officials Differ Over Drone; Sandusky's Wife: "Never Hurt Them"; Donald Trump Hints He Might Run

Aired December 09, 2011 - 10:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone.

Top of the hour, there's never a dull moment in the bruising Republican race for president. Going into tomorrow's debate in Iowa, we have a new frontrunner everyone, Newt Gingrich. And his opponents are already piling on. The caucuses are less than a month away so the volume is about to get even louder. CNN's Paul Steinhauser is here. Paul, the gloves are off.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: The gloves are definitely off. Three and a half weeks until that January 3rd caucus, which it kicks off the presidential primary and caucus calendar.

Two debates, Don, in Iowa, one Saturday night, one next week. You're right. The Romney campaign is really stepping it up in the last couple of days against Gingrich who now is the frontrunner in Iowa and two of the other early voting states as well as some of the national polls criticizing Gingrich on a number of fronts.

A new web video from the Romney campaign is out this morning. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Social engineering is any more desirable than left wing social engineering. I think it is too big a jump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The speaker dismissed the Medicare reform plan put forward by Congressman Paul Ryan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: Earlier this year, remember that when he was criticizing Paul Ryan's Medicare sweeping claims, which were back by most Republicans. Well, those comments got Gingrich in a lot of hot water.

In fact, he had to walk them back and eventually say he supported Ryan. Almost sank his campaign. One of the things that almost sank his campaign back in May and June.

Now the Romney campaign out with this video trying to bring back that baggage from Newt Gingrich. Don, we'll probably see a lot more of that in the debate tomorrow and throughout the next couple of weeks.

LEMON: I want to talk about Ron Paul right now because he's got a lot of dedicated supporters, as you see, they come out during the polls and the caucuses. They catapult him to the top many times. He's got a lot of dedicated supporters. He's not far behind Romey in Iowa. Could he actually win there?

STEINHAUSER: He could. He's got a pretty strong organization in Iowa. As you mentioned, in our most recent poll, which came out this week, CNN/Time/ORC, he was very close to Romney basically battling for the second slot in Iowa and also battling Gingrich for the second spot almost in New Hampshire, the second state to vote.

Pictures right there from Iowa State University, not that one, I'm sorry, but he was at Iowa State University last night in his campaign. They had over 1,200 people at that event, mostly students.

And they say a lot of young people really are supporting Ron Paul. He has another event tonight at another university in Iowa. Keep your eyes on Ron Paul. No doubt about it.

And also Don, Ron Paul very, very active right now in going after Newt Gingrich as well. Not just Mitt Romney. Ron Paul stepping it up against Gingrich as well -- Don.

LEMON: That's what happens when you're at the top. It's a blessing and a curse. Everybody goes at you. It's good to be number one, but everybody goes after you. Thank you, Paul Steinhauser. Appreciate it.

We're going to talk with Ron Paul's son in about 10 minutes here on CNN. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky will be here to talk about the race to the White House for 2012.

Almost exactly half hour into the trading day on Wall Street and analysts expect it to -- a bump, I should say, at the open, thanks to an agreement reached at the EU's debt crisis summit.

The Big Board now, the Dow is up 122 points. So that's how the U.S. markets are responding. Zain Verjee joins us now from London with European reaction to the debt deal. Hello again, Zain.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT, CNNI: Hi, Don. There's an agreement. Well, not quite. What's happening is the eurozone is split. The majority of countries in the European Union want to push ahead with a set of policies that will basically pursue fiscal rules in order to balance the budget.

But the U.K. has said, no, way, they're not signing up for it. They want to protect their own banking sector. Here's what "The Guardian" newspaper headliners, Don, the European question will it be splendid isolation or miserable?

I don't hear the sound of champagne corks or celebration among British euro skeptics, it says. Who knows what happens now, but Europe for all its follies and failings has become a scapegoat for weaknesses that are really our own. We may be able to rediscover that awkward truth. It was why we joined in the first place.

Take a look at the "International Herald Tribune." It's headline, Don, is treaty to save euro takes shape, but Britain sits out though not a perfect solution because it could be seen as institutionalizing a two-speed Europe.

The intergovernmental pact could be ratified much more quickly by parliament than a full treaty amendment. The question now for many is how soon are they going to implement this and how effective will it be? -- Don.

LEMON: The world is watching. Thank you, Zain Verjee.

This morning for the first time we are seeing a hostage tape of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson pleading for help. He vanished in Iran nearly five years ago. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT LEVINSON, RETIRED FBI AGENT: Please help me get home. Thirty three years of service to the United States deserves something. Please help me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: CNN's Jill Dougherty joins us now. She is at the State Department. Jill, what can you tell us about the tape? The family has had it now for a while, but just posted it online.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Right. And the question -- we still don't have the final answer to this, Don, is why did they decide to post it at this particular moment?

You know, there's been so much murkiness about this case of Robert Levinson. When he disappeared he was a retired FBI agent. He was investigating, we understand, cigarette smuggling in that area in Iran.

He disappeared and really for quite a while nothing was heard of him. Over the years, the United States has pressed the Iranian government to give some type of information. Where is he? Who is he holding?

Iran continued to say we have no idea. We do not know where he is. It's been a really difficult situation. So the family now releases the tape. It shows him looking very gaunt. Look at those pictures.

You see a kind of portly gentleman and then somebody who is obviously in distress and in this tape he says that he is running out of medication for diabetes. The tape was done and it appears as much as a year ago so we don't know his status right now.

But the family, they obviously want to have some type of dialogue with whoever is holding him to get some information, what do you want? What's the demand? So that perhaps something could be done to follow through on that plea by Mr. Levinson for someone to help him.

LEMON: And it doesn't do much for the tensions between Washington and Tehran.

DOUGHERTY: Yes, absolutely. I mean, it couldn't be worse right now just thinking of the drone situation coming down in Iran, the alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador.

Relations have never been worse and so let's say the motivation for Iran to really help under any circumstances could be less than ever. So the family right now coming into this holiday season is really hoping that something can happen.

LEMON: Jill, thank you very much.

Is it real or a fabrication? Iranian TV is airing video of what it claims is a U.S. drone that went down in Iran this week. But U.S. officials seem to disagree whether that drone is a fake or it's one that went missing -- the one that went missing.

CNN's Chris Lawrence has the story from the Pentagon. Hi, Chris.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Don, U.S. officials, you know, all agree that the crash in Iran. That Iran has what is left of the drone. They both agree that the drone was not shot down. The question is in what shape is the drone in?

Is what you're seeing in that Iranian video really what they pulled out of the crash site? One aviation expert said he could see a scenario where the drone glided to earth in a falling leaf pattern where most of the damage would be underneath.

But when you take a look at what Iran showed in the video and a picture of what we think to be the U.S. stealth drone side by side, you look at them, another expert says the wings in the Iranian drone are pointing downward where most of the pictures, they're further up to increase the stability.

One U.S. official says that U.S. satellite imagery looked at that wreckage when the drone went down and said Iran had nothing, but a pile of rubble -- Don.

LEMON: All right, Chris Lawrence, thank you very much for that.

Coming up here on CNN, as Ron Paul ramps up his attacks on Newt Gingrich, his senator son joins in. Rand Paul joins us live in a few minutes to talk about the 2012 race.

Police in Boston did not enforce a midnight deadline for occupy protesters to leave a downtown park. So why did these campers get cuffed? That story is next when we go cross-country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Let's take you cross-country now. Police in Boston arrested two "Occupy" protesters this morning for setting a tent in the middle of a busy street. The arrest happened hours after the city's midnight deadline for campers to leave the downtown park which, by the way, police did not enforce. Police in Tulsa, Oklahoma, say police at local Wal-Mart caught this woman allegedly trying to make meth out of cleaning supplies taken from the store shelves. Officers say this isn't the first time she is facing drug charges.

In Arkansas, a convicted murder gets a retrial after one juror disregarded the judge's orders to, get this, not tweet during the proceedings. The state's Supreme Court is deliberating whether or not jurors should have cell phones during trials.

We have been hearing so much about Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, you might think the Republicans are down to a two-man race, but check out Ron Paul.

According to the latest CNN/ORC poll, he is pretty much tied with Romney for second in Iowa, the first state on the primary calendar. New Hampshire's next, and he's got double digit support there as well. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You've been fairly aggressive in your criticism of Congressman Gingrich lately in terms of your campaign ads.

REPRESENTATIVE RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He used to be the speaker. I have to expose him for what he's been doing. That's all we're doing. Trying to present the facts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: I have to tell you Ron Paul does not mince words. Meantime, the Paul campaign is planning for the long haul, potentially powering through to next summer's GOP convention.

Senator Rand Paul, the candidate's son joins us now to talk about the race. Thank you so much for joining us, sir. So does your father plan to stay in all the way to the convention? What's his strategy?

SENATOR RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: You know, I think a lot is yet to be determined by the early primary states, but we're in a statistical tie in Iowa. Things look very good. We've worked very hard.

We've sent out a lot of mail. We've spent a lot of money on TV and I think the polls are showing that people still are looking for a conservative champion. I don't think anybody's probably been more conservative with the taxpayer dollar than Ron Paul in the last 20 years in Congress.

LEMON: Listen, I'm looking at something that you wrote and you said, Republicans would take a giant step backwards by choosing Newt Gingrich. I heard your dad saying is that the guy who used to be the senator?

Newt Gingrich is on top now, of course, he's a target for everyone. Your article was interesting about why you think -- you're hitting Newt Gingrich now as well about why you think Newt is not the guy. PAUL: Well, you know, I got elected with a lot of the Tea Party support and the Tea Party Movement. The Tea Party was a lot about people unhappy with Republicans voting for bank bailouts.

We thought Republicans sold out our limited government views when they voted to send taxpayer money to big banks. Unfortunately, Newt Gingrich was right there with them being paid by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and supporting bank bailouts, which go against everything that the Tea Party stands for.

LEMON: Yes, so I want to talk about this when you're talking about Tea Party, which has inserted itself into the process. Many look at it as another party and many look at the Tea Party as being affiliated with the Republicans.

Let's talk about what about the talk of your father possibly being a third-party candidate? Would you -- let me ask you, would you split with your party and support your father?

PAUL: That's a tough question, but I think he has said repeatedly that he has no plans to do that. I've said repeatedly that the Tea Party has power by trying to make the Republican Party more pure to limited government, limited taxation, constitutional powers than it does as an independent party.

In fact, I think if the Tea Party split off or if Ron Paul split off that it would be like Ross Perot when Ross Perot split off. It would just defeat the Republican nominee, but it wouldn't necessarily elect a third-party candidate.

LEMON: Listen, when I was speaking to a political analyst about your dad, I said, you know, most people love Ron Paul. You can't help, but at least relate to him because he's like your dad or your grandfather, right, like in most families.

But it doesn't always play out in the media. You don't always see people talking about him even though he's oftentimes at the top of the polls. Why do you think that is?

PAUL: Well, you know, I think the thing is that he has difficulty getting beyond 20, 25 percent in Republican primary votes, but he gets a lot of independent votes.

If you stack up Ron Paul against President Obama, he actually does better than many of the other Republicans because of his positions on not going to war without constitutional authority.

LEMON: That's what I want to ask you. I'll let you go on here. That's what I want to ask you. Do you think your dad maybe isn't far enough to the right for the Republican Party at this point?

PAUL: Well, the interesting thing on fiscal issues, he's about as far right as you can get. He thinks the federal government should do very little other than what the constitution says.

But on issues of war, he picks up many people in the independent and the middle who say, you know what, we shouldn't go to war without a declaration of war. Congress should vote on these things.

Yes, I think he gets a lot of independent vote, but a lot of our strategy is we're working very hard on independence in Iowa. Independents can vote in either primary in Iowa and New Hampshire. So if we can get the independent vote, we're going to surprise a lot of people.

LEMON: I think so. So listen, where do you think it goes from here when it comes to your dad because he's strong in the polls but, again, that doesn't always play out when you look at who is going to actually go and vote.

You said you're not going to split off if he becomes a third-party candidate. It's a tough question, but you'd actually have to vote against your own father. What do you think is next for your dad?

PAUL: Well, we're doing the traditional campaigning. It's a lot of hard work. We have a lot of people on the ground in Iowa. We have a lot of county Republican chairmen endorsing him this time around.

We have state representatives who have endorsed him, so we have a ground game and it's the one advantage we have over Gingrich. Not only does my father have a conservative voting record, he was against the bank bailouts, against the individual mandate behind Obamacare and he has a ground game.

Gingrich has no ground game there. So you have to get voters to the polls and we're planning on getting thousands and thousands of voters out, come the Iowa caucus.

LEMON: I want to talk to you about something that is in popular culture really and that is the video, Texas Governor Rick Perry talking about I'm proud to be a Christian, gays in the military, all of that. I'm sure you've seen the ad. What's your reaction to that?

PAUL: I think that you get bigger and better coalitions by sticking to the fiscal issues. The biggest problem facing our country is the debt. I think a lot of the other issues divide us more. I am a Christian, but I don't go around wearing it on my sleeve a lot of times. I think that's a personal thing.

It does guide my decisions, but also I think that really we need somebody who will tackle the fiscal problems. We're bankrupting this country. Entitlements are out of control. The European debt crisis threatens to come to our country.

We could be in the middle of a crisis like we were in 2008 and that, to me, is the most important thing is that we need a leader who can handle crisis. The thing about Ron Paul is he predicted the housing crisis in 2003.

He said it was coming when everybody else was blind and said, the boom will go on forever. My father warned that the boom was coming to an end. So we want someone who has that knowledge to guide our economy.

LEMON: Rand, that will have to be the last word. We're out of time. Thank you for joining us. We appreciate it.

PAUL: Thank you.

LEMON: Jerry Sandusky's wife speaks out about the child sex abuse case against him and the claim that she did nothing to help an alleged victim. That's next.

Plus a deal is reached at the E.U.'s debt crisis summit. Richard quest is going to break it down for us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Jerry Sandusky's wife is speaking publicly for the first time about sexual abuse allegations against the former Penn State assistant football coach.

Dottie Sandusky is not only supporting her husband, but angrily denying anything went on in her home. We have Beth Karas of "In Session" on our sister network, TruTV joins us now from State College, Pennsylvania. What does she have to say for herself?

BETH KARAS, CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION" ON TRUTV: Well, in the statement that she issued yesterday, Don, she said the following, no child who ever visited our home was ever forced to stay in the basement and fed there. We would never do anything to hurt them.

She went on to say, I continue to believe in Jerry's innocence and all the good things he has done. She came out with this statement, Don, because people had been raising questions based upon the recent allegations.

Especially of the accuser known as victim number nine who said at least one time he screamed for help in the basement as he was being sexually assaulted, raped actually, and claims she was upstairs and didn't come to his aid.

LEMON: The question everyone is asking with these new allegations, could Dottie Sandusky face any legal troubles over an alleged attack happening in her home and then not saying anything about it?

KARAS: Theoretically she could, but it depends upon if she knew it. In the statement she's saying, I knew nothing about any of this. The prosecution would have to prove she had knowledge of it and didn't do anything.

She failed to act. These were children in her home. If she knew about sex abuse of a child, she had a duty to report it, but she's saying she didn't know anything.

So it would involve evidence of these children maybe saying that they actually went to her and talked to her or they saw her in the doorway or some evidence to prove she knew it because right now she says she didn't know it. That would be her defense.

LEMON: Beth Karas, appreciate it. A tense day at the E.U.'s crisis summit. That's where leaders are trying to tackle Europe's debt crisis. They did reach an agreement, most of them anyway. The 17 countries that use a single currency, the eurozone all signed on.

And most of the rest of the E.U. did as well. Notably absent though, the U.K. The U.K. was absent. Richard quest, live from Brussels, the site of that summit looking very dapper this morning here in the U.S. Richard, can there be progress without Britain on board?

RICHARD QUEST, HOST, CNNI'S "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": That, of course, is the key and crucial question. Yes, they can have an intergovernmental agreement and the 17 plus, as they're known, 26 it's believed or 23 plus doesn't matter which. Most of them have agreed to come together to have a fiscal compact.

They will share a budget deficit. They will do things like have automatic sanctions. They will have much greater supervision, inclusion, all of those sort of things. It is the U.K. that is saying no. Now what is the significance?

It is as if one of the U.S. states suddenly turned around and said, well, actually, the rest of you can't do this. You can get together and have a nice little chitchat, can you do what you like amongst yourself.

But you can't use all the penalty of power, institutions of the European Union and frankly, Don, it is going to move into a legal nightmare because the union itself, the president of the union, the president of the council, they are adamant they are moving ahead.

It is Britain -- the analogy I'm using, it's as if a member of the family is standing outside throwing rocks at the windows.

LEMON: Good analogy for sure. So even without the U.K., Richard, I want to know what the mood is like in Brussels. What I'm asking, is this seen as a success?

QUEST: Sorry. Well, that is a really good question. Frankly, if you look behind me you can see the several hundred journalists, possibly up to a thousand journalists. Whether individually they will regard it as a success depends on which country you're from, what your agenda was and did you get what you need to get from here.

So, success? Merkel, Sarkozy, Spain, Italy, Greece, some countries like Sweden and Hungary, they were very much on the fence. As for Britain, they leave here with a bloodied nose.

Cameron will go home to the U.K. and his populous and press might be good, but there is certainly no great popularity for him in this room.

LEMON: Richard Quest, thank you. Go have another cup of coffee, sir. We appreciate your reporting here in the U.S.

Right now though, we're going to talk a little bit more politics. We'll talk about Newt Gingrich because he is the candidate to beat in Iowa.

His opponents are slamming him left and right. Now someone is comparing him to, dare we even speak her name, Kim Kardashian of all people. We're talking about that in our "Political Buzz" coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Taking "Top Stories" right now.

New information about yesterday's shooting on the Virginia Tech campus. A university spokesman says a suspected shooter was not a student there. Ballistics tests show the suspect and the Virginia Tech police officer were killed with the same gun.

The Air Force is now saying that the cremated remains of hundreds of fallen soldiers were dumped in a landfill. Previously the Air Force had said only a small number of body parts had been burned in a commercial landfill.

And a family of a captive American has posted an online video showing he is still alive. Retired FBI agent Robert Levinson went missing in Iran back in March of 2007. The video appears to be recorded about a year ago.

I love this because it's time for our "Political Buzz". Just do it for me. Thank you. Rapid fire; it is a look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock.

Playing today, she's not afraid to say that she is a liberal, CNN contributor Maria Cardona.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You got it.

LEMON: Media commentator Sam Seder, not afraid to say that he is a media commentator.

SAM SEDER, MEDIA COMMENTATOR: That's right.

LEMON: And Republican strategist and columnist Cheri Jacobus. Not afraid to say that she is a conservative.

CHERI JACOBUS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I'm not afraid of anything.

LEMON: Yes we're just making a little fun of a -- of Rick Perry there. Ok first question up, guys. There's a big debate in Iowa tomorrow. How should the other candidates plan to take on Newt? First you, Maria.

CARDONA: Well, I think that what they can do, and Romney's already started to do this, is take him on, take him on his record. It's long and it's rich and it's full of flip-flops and it's full of positions that Evangelicals and conservatives don't like. They can talk about how he was for the insurance mandate, talk about how he was for cap and trade, talk about how he insulted the Republican economic bible, the Paul Ryan plan as being social right-wing engineering. They can also talk about how he made millions off of Freddie Mac, the institution that Republicans hate. And they can also talk about his hypocrisy in the '90s going after President Clinton while he was having a sordid affair of his own and he helps President Clinton get elected.

There's so much there. If that doesn't work, they can go for folding chairs at the end.

LEMON: God that was a lot of slamming in 30 seconds. Sam, go ahead.

SEDER: Well, I mean, it's too late for the other Republican candidates to have more affairs than Gingrich or to rack up more -- hundreds of thousands of dollars of congressional ethics fines. So I think to appeal to the Republican base what they need to do is come out against gays in the military more. I think they need to make sure that they are warriors in the war on Christmas and that they make sure that they're not Muslim or Mormon. And maybe they have a chance to unseat the front-runner, Gingrich.

LEMON: Clearly that is sarcasm.

SEDER: Well, I don't know about that. I mean look at what Rick Perry's done. That's the formula he's basically following. So maybe it will work.

LEMON: Ok bring it home for us, Cheri.

JACOBUS: That type of sniping clearly hasn't worked against Speaker Gingrich. He's a serious man and serious candidate running for obviously a very serious job. I think the other candidates should do actually what he is doing and that is go after Barack Obama for his record and how he is destroying this country and the trillions of dollars that he's wasted and the fact that he's holding the keystone pipeline project hostage so that he can pander to the far-left environmental part of the party. Even though Democrats want that pipeline as well, it will mean tens of thousands of jobs. So and that will also hold hostage the payroll tax holiday.

So there's plenty to go after for this President and they should do so.

LEMON: Ok I'm going to take you back a long time ago on this campaign. Oh, it was a week ago, not even. I think its Sunday. Herman Cain is out of the campaign now. So Herman Cain's talking about his plans to make an endorsement. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am in the process of making that evaluation. Remember, as a businessman I don't shoot from the lip and so I have some discussions that I'm going to have with several of the candidates and we've got to see how far apart we are.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Who has sought your -- who has sought your endorsement? CAIN: Let's just say that several of them, we have talked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Ok. So he was dropping in the polls before he suspended his campaign. First to Sam. How much does Cain's stamp of approval matter? Does it even matter?

SEDER: Well you know he doesn't shoot from the lip so that probably adds to the value of it. But no, I'd say the longer he waits, the less valuable it is. So he is in danger of his stamp of approval going from virtually meaningless to completely meaningless. So if I was him, I'd do it as quick as possible.

LEMON: Cheri.

JACOBUS: I have to agree, actually. I think that because his numbers dropped so low before he dropped out, his -- the impact of his endorsement is waning daily. I think there are other endorsements that are going to be more exciting, possibly a Sarah Palin endorsement, those types of folks that come out.

The Cain endorsement will probably do more to help him, to affect him, book sales or whatever. I'm not sure it's going affect any of the candidates at this point. They -- they can do without it. They may like to have it. They may not want to have it. I don't think it matters that much at this point.

LEMON: Yes, I could see it but our audience couldn't. Can we just get a full shot of Sam, can you give me when she said Sarah Palin and other endorsements, at least your expression?

SEDER: I think it was -- it was -- it was a huge smile and laugh.

LEMON: All right.

SEDER: I don't really know what else to say. This Republican primary race has become really just --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: You're done buddy. I said just your reaction, not to talk. Because it's Maria's turn. Go ahead Maria.

CARDONA: Thank you. Thank you, Don.

LEMON: Go ahead Maria.

CARDONA: I think I get some extra time here.

LEMON: Yes, you do. Go ahead.

CARDONA: I agree with -- with my panelists because, you know, normally when former candidates are going to endorse, it matters somewhat, but Herman Cain had such a spectacular flameout that I really don't think it matters. It matters to him because you know why? Once he endorses, that day will be the very last, if any, relevance that he has in this campaign whatsoever. I think it only matters to him. It's not really going to matter to any of the candidates.

LEMON: All right, I can't wait to get your reaction to this one, our "buzzer beater's" really awesome, awesome; 20 seconds each. An Iowa pastor is circulating a video that slams Newt Gingrich over his personal life comparing him to Kim Kardashian. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Newt respects marriage about as much as Kim Kardashian. That's right. Newt Gingrich is the Kim Kardashian of the GOP.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. With that kind of PR, can Gingrich keep or win over Evangelicals in Iowa. Cheri?

JACOBUS: You know if he does, it's because he's shown contrition. He's been very honest about his past feelings that are decades old. The marriage issues were resolved with divorce and remarriage.

So I don't think a video like this has much impact. It does more to make this pastor, I guess it is, look a little bit silly. I don't think it's going to impact Gingrich at all in Iowa.

LEMON: Maria?

CARDONA: Well, I think the video is actually a little bit unfair because Kim Kardashian has only been married once. No but it -- in all seriousness, he has Evangelicals right now. He's leading in Iowa. So whatever he is doing is working thus far.

But the point of this video I think is that this is an issue that could matter to Evangelicals. So we'll see if it's going to be an issue for him moving forward. Right now he's enjoying momentum at exactly the right time.

LEMON: Ok, I'm getting some news in from producers. This is just in, she's been married twice.

CARDONA: Oh still, Newt Gingrich is beating her.

LEMON: Sam, go ahead.

SEDER: Well you know I actually don't think that the marriage is going to be the issue for Evangelicals. I think what's actually going to have more resonance with them was later in the video where they made a real big point of saying that he's Catholic now. And that's clearly the dynamic of the Republican base that we're seeing. They don't like Mormons and they don't like Catholics. And the question is which one do they not like more. And that -- that will give you your answer.

LEMON: Sam, did you say you were a comedian in your past life or something Sam?

(CROSSTALK)

SEDER: Indeed, yes. But I'm being totally serious now.

LEMON: Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Cheri, thank you, Maria.

SEDER: Thank you Don.

CARDONA: And that's what's so sad.

SEDER: It is.

LEMON: And have a great weekend, I appreciate it.

JACOBUS: Thanks Don.

LEMON: Hey, no doubt Beyonce has moves and a New York businessman wanted to make some money off her talent. First she said yes, then she said no. And you know what happened next. The Beyonce lawsuit coming up in "Showbiz Headlines".

They are difficult to replace, yet easy to lose. We'll talk about lunar rocks and other space materials from earlier NASA missions that are now missing in action.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A businessman trying to capitalize on Beyonce's energetic dance moves gets some good news in court yesterday. A judge says his lawsuit against the superstar can move forward. Details now from entertainment correspondent Kareen Wynter. What's going on?

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Don, this is a huge lawsuit. It's from a video game maker who said Beyonce left him high and dry by abandoning a project to turn her dance moves into a game. Developer Gate 5 alleges that they spent millions on the game "Star Power: Beyonce" before the pop star backed out costing the company a $19 million financing deal and forcing them, Don, to layoff a whole bunch of people, 70 people according to the suit.

Beyonce is claiming she has valid reasons for walking away from the deal and asked a New York court to throw this whole suit out. They said no. A judge just ruled the case will go on.

And Don, this is a big suit. Gate 5, they're asking for $100 million in damages. That is a pretty big price tag to pay, wouldn't you say?

LEMON: Certainly is. What a cool video we have playing there. It's one of my favorites.

WYNTER: I love that.

LEMON: Really awesome.

So are you going to Heroes? Did you get your invitation. WYNTER: I did. Got invited this year.

LEMON: Mine got lost in the mail -- company mail. Never got it.

WYNTER: I was going to ask you. I have an extra ticket if you want to fly in, be my date.

LEMON: All right. Ok. Cool. We'll see about that. How's it going though, the preparations?

WYNTER: Well, you know, I was just down there at the Shrine Auditorium yesterday. I'm headed back down in fact in a bit. Everything Don, looks fantastic. It's all coming together so nicely. They're building the stage, getting everything together.

I'll be on the Red Carpet with "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT'S A.J. Hammer and "Dancing with the Star's" champ JR Martinez. And listen to some of the A-listers, Don, that we'll be chatting with: Miley Cyrus, Kid Rock, George Lopez just to name a few, there are so many more. But Don, what I'm really looking forward to is highlighting all the amazing achievements of our CNN Hero nominees. It's going to be a fantastic, wonderful night.

LEMON: Yes, it looks cool. I wonder if it has some of the pieces from the debate. It looks a little bit similar; it looks great, regardless.

Ok. Enjoy --

WYNTER: Yes. Yes. It's a whole production. I will.

LEMON: Enjoy. I'll call you afterwards and see how we can get out there and I can be your date. Thank you Kareen.

WYNTER: Sounds good. Thanks Don.

LEMON: Thank you Kareen.

Want more information on everything breaking in the entertainment world? You can get it this evening on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT", 11:00 p.m. Eastern on HLN.

Some sad news to report for the mother who stars in the reality TV show, "19 Kids and Counting". Michelle Duggar had a miscarriage trying to have her 20th child.

And that begs the question. What do doctors say about when a woman should stop trying to have children. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Michelle Duggar is 45 years old and was trying to have her 20th child. We get word this morning that the star of the reality TV show, "19 Kids and Counting" had a miscarriage. Let's bring in now senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen. Does having a lot of children make it more likely to have a miscarriage?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, not in and of itself. In other words, just the fact that her body had carried 19 children doesn't make it more likely that she would miscarry. What does make it more likely is just a matter of statistics.

LEMON: Right.

COHEN: The more times you tried to get pregnant, the more likely you'll miscarry. You know, if someone had told me that Michelle Duggar had never had a miscarriage, I would have been shocked. I mean women miscarry quite frequently. This was actually, as far as we know, her second miscarriage.

LEMON: At what point in her pregnancy was she when she miscarried?

COHEN: We were told that she was due in April, which means she was in her second trimester. She was about halfway through. So that is very different. It's much less common to miscarry in the second trimester than in the first. And it's much more -- it takes much more of an emotional toll I think.

LEMON: And you have spoken with her in the past. Right?

Why do they say they want so many kids?

COHEN: You know. If she --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: You know why I ask because it used to be common like when in agricultural days when people farmed a lot. But not so much anymore.

COHEN: And she and her husband really believe that children are a gift from god and that they will take whatever gifts God gives them. When I chatted with her on the phone, we had a wonderful conversation as two moms talking about our kids.

I mean she clearly loves being a mom. She says that God gave me these gifts and I'm going to appreciate them.

LEMON: You know, it's a sad fact of life when we were having this conversation, I was telling you about my mom, having miscarried and telling me about it, having this conversation. Women miscarry all the time and it's fairly common. Why do so many women miscarry? In any advice -- it's a fact of life.

COHEN: You know what, sometimes it's just nature's -- the doctors will say it's nature's way. Very often the fetus has a chromosomal abnormality, that baby never would have survived and you miscarry. Sometimes it is because the mother has something wrong with her that needs to be corrected. Telling the difference is tough.

And if you go to cnn.com/empoweredpatient we have an article that helps you tell the difference. Don't let it -- if the woman miscarries two or three times and the doctor says, don't worry, sweetie, it's just nature's way. Don't buy that. Find out the reason.

LEMON: Always good stuff.

COHEN: Thanks.

LEMON: Good advice, always empowering patients and we love it. Thank you Elizabeth Cohen.

COHEN: Thanks Don.

LEMON: Cohen.

Moon rocks gone missing; NASA says it's lost or misplaced hundreds of lunar rocks among other stuff from space missions.

We're talking about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: They are rocket scientists, not custodians. NASA's inspector general is ripping the agency for lax controls on astro materials like moon rocks, too many of which are missing in action. Rob Marciano here to explain; what's this all about, Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, if you can imagine now with NASA now kind of pulling back with the space shuttle program. Now they're finding out that they lost some space rocks. Not the best time.

But let's put things in perspective, ok. First of all, during the Apollo missions they brought back over 100 pounds of space rock. Tens of thousands of these samples. A lot of them have been loaned out to museums and research facilities. But of the 20,000 that have been loaned out, 510 -- or 517 have gone missing or stolen, whatever. So that's about 2 percent of the 26,000 that have been loaned out.

70 percent of the 377 researchers replied to the last inventory in 2008. So that's -- you know, they have to be a little bit more strict with what's going on here. By the way, I just checked out eBay, you can go buy your moon rock for about $40. So, maybe we should save us all a bunch of headaches. Just have NASA spend a little tax dollars and buy them all back and then you know, problem solved.

Speaking of the moon. We have a total lunar eclipse happening tonight and tomorrow morning. Who's going to see thing? Let's talk about that.

First of all, little review course. That's when the earth passes between the sun and the moon and the shadow is thrown on the earth. Totality tonight or tomorrow morning is going to be Pacific time, 6:00 a.m. to about 7:0 a.m. We say Pacific time because that's going to be the best time to see it.

In the U.S. the Eastern folks on the East Coast aren't going to see much because that moon is going to be setting just as it starts. But for our friends in Australia or Southeast Asia, you're going to have a good shot at seeing this.

This is how it's going to shake down. As the moon sets the sun comes up. Basically everywhere west of especially California will get the best shot of this. Our West Coast viewers who are watching this, get up early tomorrow, 5:00 a.m. it will start. It will last until about 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. Just look toward the setting moon. You will see the shadow of the earth on it. $20 will get you some moon rock.

LEMON: Bonnie Tyler. You know what I'm talking about.

MARCIANO: I do.

LEMON: Nothing I can say, total --

MARCIANO: Continue.

LEMON: No. That's enough. Thank you Rob, appreciate it.

In the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM with Suzanne Malveaux, Americans have gotten a lot poorer since the financial meltdown in 2008. And a new report proves it. Alicia Taylor joins us with a hard look at that and what the average American household is worth now after the fallout. That's coming up when the cnn newsroom continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Not so fast. You know why? Because just when you thought the list of Republican candidates for president was complete, we get a maybe from Donald Trump. Let's find out what that's all about from our senior political editor, Mark Preston. You see my voice is changing. Mark; what's going on with Donald Trump?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, look, the fact that Donald Trump continues to say that he might run for president has kind of complicated matters in the near term for him, Don. Donald Trump was supposed to moderate and is going to moderate a debate out in Iowa two days after Christmas but only two candidates, Don, have agreed to actually do that debate, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum.

One of the candidates, Michele Bachmann, said that she didn't want to participate because she wasn't sure if Donald Trump he wasn't going to run for president himself. And in fact in "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer yesterday and this is what he had to say about a possible run.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REAL ESTATE MAGNATE: People are afraid that I'm going to run as an independent candidate, and some of the people that are supposed to be in the debate have expressed that. I don't want to give up that option because it certainly is an option if the Republicans pick the wrong candidate or if the economy and everything continues to be bad and we have the wrong candidate. That would be the worst. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: You know, Don, let's just be honest about this. The fact of the matter is Donald Trump is not going to really run for president. He has a book out right now. He is influential in politics. The fact is we interview him. He has some interesting things to say. All of the candidates have gone up there. Most of them have gone up there to kiss his ring, try to get his endorsement. The fact of the matter is Donald Trump I think likes the attention a little bit more than actually running for president -- Don.

LEMON: You know what, I think after hearing that with Donald Trump would say to you -- come on, help me out here, Suzanne Malveaux.

(CROSSTALK)

SUANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: You're fired. You're fired.

LEMON: You're fired.

PRESTON: I'm out of here.

LEMON: Thank you. Thank you very much Paul (SIC). Next update one hour. Just go to cnn politics.com. Suzanne Malveaux is here -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: We have to do this together some time. I think we have a future here.

LEMON: We should. Maybe. Have a great show though and a great weekend. How was the party? Was it fun?

MALVEAUX: White House party was fantastic. Going next week?

LEMON: I'm going next week.

MALVEAUX: Yes.

LEMON: We'll see what happens.

MALVEAUX: Oh yes. Don't go cause any trouble right?

LEMON: If they let me in. Thank you. Have a great weekend.

MALVEAUX: Thanks. You too.