Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. Commandos Free Somali Hostages; Obama Pushes to Bridge Wealth Gap; Obama's Plan for Cheaper Mortgages; Romney Responds to Obama Speech; Obama: Will Not Go Backward on Economy; Egypt: One Year Since Uprising Began; U.S. Commandos Free Somali Hostages; Romney Responds to Obama Speech; Romney's Tax Returns and Mormon Tithing; Rep. Giffords Resigns Today; Big Hits, Broken Dreams

Aired January 25, 2012 - 09:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Soledad, no, I was going to say, have you noticed how Roland starts issues every morning? Every morning he causes trouble and you and I go through this.

O'BRIEN: Have you noticed? Yes.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Could you do something about that please?

O'BRIEN: I have noticed. Yes. Yes, I have noticed that.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Have a great morning.

O'BRIEN: I'm going to kill him right now.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Look out.

O'BRIEN: Candles. In candles.

PHILLIPS: Roland and Soledad, I'd love to have a ticket to that fight.

All right, we begin this hour with a daring rescue by U.S. Commandos. Their nighttime raid in Somalia freed two hostages. You're looking at it right here. American Jessica Buchanan and Poul Thisted of Denmark.

Now Somali gunmen had abducted them in the northern part of the country about three months ago. And just before his State of the Union address, President Obama gave Defense Secretary Leon Panetta a shout-out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good job tonight. Good job tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Chris Lawrence is at the Pentagon for us this morning.

Chris, this stirs up memories of that mission that killed Osama bin Laden. The Navy SEALs at it again.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra. Some eerie similarities there. Even going as far as the president not really showing his hand last night as to what had happened just hours before. But now we're getting some new details about this daring raid that happened overnight in Somalia. The U.S. military sources telling us that a special operations team, some of which were Navy SEALs, came into that compound. They got some intelligence that they had to act on and so this team came up on that compound. The SEALs were deposited near the compound.

They came under fire before even getting inside. Nine kidnappers were holding these hostages. And the military says all nine of them were killed in this assault. They found the two hostages at an outdoor encampment. Got them back on a helicopter and got them out of Somalia -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Now the hostage taking appears to have been driven by ransom money, not terrorism, right?

LAWRENCE: It appears so on the surface. There is a big militant group obviously in Somalia, al-Shabaab, but they don't really have a lot of control of that area where this was. And the U.S. military official I spoke with said that the kidnappers who were on the scene there don't appear to have any links or ties to an established militant group.

Obviously the president and the Obama administration has made that part of Africa a bigger focus in the last year or two. We've seen an international strike group patrolling the waters off Somalia. There have been several targeted strikes both by special operations and by drone strikes to target militants in that area. But yes, this one appears to be for ransom -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK. Chris Lawrence.

Let's add a little context to this. Zain Verjee has been following the progress of the Somali pirates for years and has spoken to ex-pirates, former hostages, and those who that fight piracy.

Zain, what message does this send to Somali pirates?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The U.S. is sending a very strong message that is loud and clear, Kyra. They're saying, we're not afraid of you, we're fed up and enough is enough.

This was a really bold, daring raid that fortunately ended successfully from all the reports that we're getting here.

Somali piracy has been a problem for years, Kyra. They are a very well established, very well structured, incredibly well oiled and organized machine. But many people would be surprised to know in some ways they work like a -- like a firm on Wall Street almost with investors and different structures and who gets paid what money. It's really down to the minutia. But they've been causing a lot of problems on the high seas. And this is a big blowback.

PHILLIPS: All right. So how have the tactics changed, do you think?

VERJEE: Yes. This is a really important point, you know? The Somali pirates typically would go out, hijack a vessel, take it to Somalia and then negotiate money for ransom to release the vessel, the cargo and the hostages. And typically they wouldn't harm the hostages because that's their leverage.

What's been happening is that you have a lot of Navies out there. You've got NATO being much tougher on Somali pirates. A lot more onboard security on vessels. You've also got a situation with the weather. The weather has not been that great. It's been tough out there for the pirates. So what they've done is they'd moved their tactics from on sea to on shore so you're seeing kidnapping of individuals and using them for ransom.

PHILLIPS: Zain Verjee, in London for us. Zain, thanks so much.

And back here in the states President Obama wants to level the playing field between the rich and the poor. And he used his State of the Union address to make that case for equal access to the American dream.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive. No challenge is more urgent, no debate is more important.

We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of Americans barely get by. Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: To the White House now and our Brianna Keilar.

Brianna, we're getting some specifics now on this economic blueprint that the president talked about last night. What can you break down for us?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There were a number of policy provisions, Kyra. Of course, a big issue is that the president shouldn't be expecting Congress to help out a whole lot on that. But some of the things he outlined that he wants. More manufacturing jobs. This is what he'll be touting today in Iowa and Arizona when he heads on the road this hour. That would be tax breaks for companies that bring jobs back to the U.S., getting rid of tax breaks for those who outsource as well as job training. For instance, for out-of-work Americans, for veterans.

And then you heard him focus on energy production, domestic energy production, both fossil fuels as well as renewable energy. But it was really the tax on millionaires that he talked about that was central to this idea of fairness that you mentioned, that all- Americans should do their fair share of work and also pay their fair share, laying out that Buffet rule kind of again but in more specifics that if you make $1 million or more you should be paying 30 percent -- a 30 percent tax rate or more.

Kyra, of course, this very much draws a contrast between the president and his presumed opponent. At least Mitt Romney. That's how the White House sees it. They expect that he'll go up against Mitt Romney who sort of we learned yesterday from the tax return he released and his projection for 2011 is paying a 14 percent tax rate -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And once that speech wrapped up we got the rebuttal. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We need to end the notion that the two parties must be locked in a perpetual campaign of mutual destruction. The politics is about clinging to rigid ideologies instead of building consensus around common sense ideas.

GOV. MITCH DANIELS (R), INDIANA: No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: OK. Strong words there. Hearing the president then of course hearing Governor -- Republican governor, Mitch Daniels of Indiana.

KEILAR: Yes, and it was interesting, Kyra, because even earlier in the day before the State of the Union you had Republicans sort of knowing what the president was going say accusing him of class warfare. You heard him address that in the State of the Union saying this isn't class warfare, this is common sense.

But one of the things that Governor Daniels said that was perhaps very much to the point of what President Obama has to sort of be on the defense for in his campaign is this Republican claim that the president, yes, he did inherit a bad economy, but that he's actually made it worse. And you heard Daniels say that. You hear a lot of Republicans say that.

Big vulnerability for President Obama will be that 8.5 percent unemployment rate. We saw that last month. It's not really expected to budge. And he's making his case as he did last night and will continue to do in the months to come, that he is helping to turn the economy around. It may be slow going, but it's heading in the right direction and the American voters should give him more time -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Brianna Keilar at the White House for us. Brianna, thanks.

And President Obama also revealed a plan to help homeowners get cheaper mortgages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I'm sending this Congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage by refinancing at historically low rates. No more red tape. No more runaround from the banks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Christine Romans live out of New York breaking this down for us.

What do we know about the plan, Christine?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know there's been a lot of red tape and runaround from the banks over the past few years. Quite frankly, because, Kyra, there have been several -- actually, numerous rescue programs from Washington that have helped maybe 1 in 4 of the homeowners that they were intend to do.

So the president is now saying, look, we want to make sure that homeowners can take advantage of very low mortgage rates so that they can lower their monthly bills. We don't have a lot of the details. It's a very good question. We know in the next few days officials are saying that we should get more. It would have to go to Congress. Congress have to pass it. Remember, this is a president who is campaigning against a do-nothing Congress.

But he's saying that if you could get those underwater homeowners a way to try to -- to try to get -- to take advantage of low mortgage rates it would be helpful to the tune of $3,000 a year.

Who's underwater? One in four, Kyra. I mean you -- you could very well be underwater, my dear, and I could very well be underwater, too. Anybody who's bought in the last, you know, five or six years probably is. That means you owe more on the mortgage than the house is worth. And that means, if you're underwater, you can't take advantage of the super low mortgage rates because the bank says you're underwater on your loan, you don't qualify.

So the president saying that he has a new plan that would help people be able to be eligible to -- for refinancing and we're going to learn more about it in the days ahead.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Well, I'll tell you. We need it in this country for sure. We need some type of new plan to help folks that are --

ROMANS: We have not been able to fix the housing market.

PHILLIPS: Yes.

ROMANS: We just haven't been able to fix it, right?

PHILLIPS: Christine, thanks.

Well, I'll tell you what, it was a pretty tender moment as the president made his way to the podium for his speech last night. Take a look at this.

Got to love it. The tears, the smiles, the hugs. The president gave it all to Gabby Giffords there. The Arizona congresswoman got a 90-second standing ovation as she walked into the chamber. She's going to vote one last time today before submitting her resignation this hour. She's going to focus on recovering from that assassination attempt last January.

When that happens, when the resignation letter is actually read, we are going to dip in live and show you that moment.

Well, the president didn't mention Mitt Romney by name, but did say the rich should carry their fair share hours after Romney released his tax forms.

CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser live in Jacksonville, Florida.

Romney's giving his rebuttal to the State of the Union in just about 15 minutes so what do you think, Paul? Was the president taking a big dig at him?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes, he may not admit it, but boy, it sure seemed obvious, didn't it, Kyra. And you're right, Mitt Romney 15 minutes from now in Orlando, Florida, will give -- he'll give a little rebuttal, a little response. But, well, let's start with the taxes. You just mentioned that. The president said if you're making millions, you shouldn't be paying less than 30 percent tax rate.

Well, we know all about what happened yesterday morning with Mitt Romney coming out releasing his tax returns for 2010 and the estimates for '11. And yes, he's paying a lot less than 30 percent.

Another thing that struck me was the president very much touting his rescue, his bailout of the auto industry which he says saved lots of jobs up there in Detroit and elsewhere around the country. You know Romney opposed the federal intervention back in 2009 of the auto industry, the bailout. The so-called bailout of Detroit and big motors company.

And finally, what about the housing -- the home foreclosure crisis. The president said we don't have to wait for the home foreclosure crisis, the housing market to bottom out to help people. Of course Romney has talked about that. So three specific cases where he didn't mention Mitt Romney by name but it sure did sound like he was talking about Mitt Romney -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK. We're less than a week away until the Florida primary, Paul. Are you ready?

STEINHAUSER: I'm ready. I'm here at the University of North Florida. You know we've got a debate here Thursday night. That's tomorrow night. Wolf Blitzer is going to be moderating. It's going to be CNN, the Republican Party of Florida. This is the last debate before the primary next Tuesday.

We got brand new poll numbers out this morning right there in Florida. Look at this, Kyra. This is the Quinnipiac University survey of people likely to vote in next Tuesday's primary. This was taken Thursday through Monday so before and after Saturday night's big win by Gingrich in South Carolina.

And look, these are the overall numbers, you can see right there. Basically, dead even, Romney and Gingrich, 36 and 34 percent. Paul and Santorum further down. But go to the next one, Kyra. This is interesting. We break it down. Look at the numbers on the left. That's Thursday and Friday before Gingrich's victory in South Carolina. You saw Romney up by 11. Look at Sunday and Monday's numbers. What a difference.

This poll really indicating that right now at least Gingrich is surging here in Florida. Will that last a week? Stay tuned -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Stay tuned indeed. Paul, thanks.

And as Paul just mentioned, tomorrow night, just days before the Florida primary, CNN and the Republican Party of Florida teaming up to host a debate in Jacksonville. That's tomorrow night, 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

Also coming up we're going to talk more about the president's State of the Union address. He talks about how we're not going to back to -- we're not going back, rather, to an economy hurt by bad debt and outsourcing. It sounds good, but can he deliver on those goods?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A State of the Union guest list included folks like Gabrielle Giffords' astronaut husband Mark Kelly, Steve Jobs' widow, Warren Buffett's secretary. You know, we know those folks, we know those names.

But a furniture guy from North Carolina who did not outsource to China might best represent what the president was hoping to achieve last night when he was talking about the economy.

Let's go straight to John Avlon. He's a CNN contributor and senior columnist for "Newsweek" and "The Daily Beast."

I guess, first off, John, give me your overall impression. Did the president nail it when it comes to what he says he wants to reclaim the American Dream?

JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It was a strong and confident speech. The president speaking as commander-in-chief, framing essentially an economic agenda with an eye towards the election, inside a military frame, saying that our military men and women should set an example for members of Congress, to put their comparatively small differences aside and instead be focus on the sense of mission for the country, helping restore the sense of the American Dream.

And he is drawing a contrast with Republicans, no question, explicit and implicit. But what he's saying is continuing on from that Kansas speech, positioning himself as the defender of the middle class, saying the government has a role in strengthening the middle class going forward. And that will restore the American Dream.

It could be a very good message at least for those middle class folks who have been feeling squeezed and forgotten over the past decades.

PHILLIPS: All right. We've got a quote here that I pulled from the speech. You know, he talked about how he doesn't want to go backwards to an economy, quote, "weakened by outsourcing, phony financial profits, and bad debt."

It sounds good, but bottom line -- did he give you any sort of solution that convinced you that he can bring work and jobs back?

AVLON: Look, he did put forward some policy proposals that should on the surface bring about bipartisan support. I mean, there are things government can do to incentivize people to bring jobs back home as opposed to creating tax code incentives for outsourcing and otherwise. And these are serious, serious debates.

The question I think confronting Congress and the White House is whether they can find a will to work together on some of the issues which they actually do agree. You know, those do exist. I mean, whether you're talking merit pay for teachers, you know, ending bailouts. That was an interesting proposal that needs a little bit more meat on it and about having banks guarantee, the commitments of if they go under, the taxpayers aren't left holding the bag.

There are the things that they should be able to agree on. The question is whether politics will overwhelm policy agreement in this political season. There's a narrow window where maybe we can get some things done.

And I think Congress should feel a sense of urgency about it. You know, their approval rating is 11 percent. They need to show the American people that they can get their job done too. It's not all on the president.

PHILLIPS: What about -- before I let you go, let me ask you about the president talking about creating this trade enforcement unit to investigate unfair trade practices in China? Do we really need another unit, another czar? It seems like he's appointed a lot of those.

AVLON: Yes. You know, normally when someone appoints a commission, it's a nice way of saying into is going to get done. You know, that said -- I think he intentionally chose the word unit to make it sound more active. There are important things that can be done.

You know, Mitt Romney in a debate said the president hadn't signed any free trade agreements. That's not true. There were bipartisan agreement on three, Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

But the point I think that the president is speaking to is especially when you're dealing with China, that enforcing these trade provisions is essential to make sure that American jobs and American businesses aren't in a competitive disadvantage. That should be something we're able to agree on.

So, while I think there's a healthy skepticism around bureaucracies, czars and committees, if this is targeted to really folks on the real issues and partners with business, it could actually be beneficial to the overall-American community.

PHILLIPS: John Avlon, thanks for joining me this morning. Always great to see you.

AVLON: Anytime.

PHILLIPS: Egypt one year later. Thousands of people marking the beginning of an uprising that toppled a regime. But is there really reason to celebrate? Live pictures from the scene right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's take you to Egypt now where thousands of people are marking the one year anniversary of the pro-democracy uprising that ousted longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak. A lot of people are saying, rather -- let's just get straight to Zain Verjee. She's watching the international news coverage and she's monitoring these live pictures.

So, what do you think, Zain? It definitely takes you back to that moment where we saw the square fill up during that uprising.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Really unbelievable to think that it was almost one year ago that this happened, when you look at these live pictures of Tahrir Square, you really remember how it was a geographical symbol of unity, of all of Egypt. But what's happening today, Kyra, is that there are so many divisive thoughts within that country.

Let me just show you what some of the newspaper headlines are saying here. "The National" in the United Arab Emirates has this headline. It says, "Egypt's Uprising Continues to be a Work in Progress. There is little doubt there will be trials and tribulations ahead, but a year later, the Egyptian revolution is real."

"The National Post" in Canada, "Egypt Marks One Year After the Revolution." Kyra, it says, "The anniversary -- which is both exhilarating and frustrating -- highlights the growing gap of public expectations for the post-Mubarak era and the reality of an unfinished revolution."

And then the paper in Turkey, "Today's Zaman," says, "A year after the Egyptian revolution, Egyptian Turkish relations are booming." It's a guest editorial essentially, Kyra, that talks about how the countries of the Middle East are witnessing these rapid and unpredictable changes having been faced with so many different threats and challenges.

One important thing to note that strikes me as we look at these live pictures coming to us from Tahrir Square in Cairo, in Egypt, is that a lot of the people here support a group the United States has been very worried and weary about, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group, the untested group here in Egypt. So there are many questions about this, but they're holding a lot of the seats in parliament. They will be making law if they have their way -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Zain. Thank you so much. We'll keep our eye on that.

I'm just being told that we're going to return -- go back and focus on that daring rescue by Navy SEALs in Somalia. The White House saying it was those commandos that freed two aid workers when it learned that the American -- actually, they were two individuals that were freed. You're seeing pictures of them.

There's the American aid worker, Jessica Buchanan. The other, Danish, Poul Tisted, the man from Denmark. And apparently, we've been getting word that possibly Jessica might be in failing health.

But on the phone with a little clarification is Don Meyer. He's president of Valley Forge Christian College where Jessica actually graduated in 2007. He's maintained his relationship with Jessica. He's close with the family.

Don is on the phone with us now.

I understand you had a chance to talk with Jessica's family?

DON MEYER, PRESIDENT, VALLEY FORGE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE (via telephone): Yes. I was in touch with them this morning.

PHILLIPS: OK. So give us an update. How is Jessica doing? Is she in failing health? There's been some mixed reports about her condition.

MEYER: The word that has come to the family is that she is strong and in good health and they are anticipating being able to be reunited very soon. We don't know the time line for that, but they are very, very encouraged by the reports which they have had.

PHILLIPS: And what more can you tell us? Have they actually talked with Jessica?

MEYER: Yes.

PHILLIPS: OK. Tell us about that conversation, Don. What did Jessica tell them? What was she able to describe about the situation, about the rescue, about how she's feeling? Any details to kind of give us insight to how this all went and how she's feeling right now.

MEYER: OK. I don't know those details. Those were private conversations. I'm not aware of them.

The priority for us who are -- who have been in roles of mentor and friends here at our college, Valley Forge Christian College, we are just so very grateful that she has been rescued. We have had kind of a private prayer vigil really going on informally ever since she was kidnapped and so we have not talked publicly about it because of the wisdom that we've been advised by the authorities, that we be rather circumspect with the manner in which we communicate any information.

And so, when we got this word, we just were absolutely thrilled and we are just so grateful she's well. She arrived in Africa as a student teacher when she was a student here at Rosslyn Academy in Nairobi. She fell in love with Africa. She could hardly talk about Africa without tears in her eyes.

And she did such a good job they invited her to come back there and gave her a full-time contract. And so, she was living out her love for Africa.

PHILLIPS: Did she ever express to you any reservations about being there or concerns about her safety?

MEYER: No, that never came up. When she would visit with her wife and me or as other members of the family would talk, the last we saw her, she was on campus here with some family members. Her brother-in-law is a current student at our college and her sister graduated from here.

And so, the family has been very much a part of the -- our institution. And at no time, you know, she -- she was, as I mentioned, she was passionate to serve, passionate to give and if there were anxieties, they never were even hinted at by her in any of our exchanges.

PHILLIPS: Don, any idea about when she could be back home with her family?

MEYER: I think I would probably say with the family as soon as possible, but I don't know the specifics of that.

PHILLIPS: Don Meyer, sure appreciate you calling in, president of Valley Forge Christian College where Jessica graduated from in 2007 -- great news on the rescue of her and another aid worker by our Navy SEALs. Don, thanks so much.

MEYER: You're very welcome. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Particles from a solar radiation storm hit earth and NASA is calling it the strongest storm in years. We'll tell you what's being affected by this next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking top stories now.

A daring U.S. rescue mission in Somalia. U.S. official tells CNN that Navy SEALs freed the two hostages during a nighttime raid on the captors' compound. The aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Poul Tisted were kidnapped in November. Buchanan's father tells CNN his daughter is doing well.

The severe storm is pounding much of Texas today -- heavy rain, hale, fierce winds. A lot of roads are flooded. Isolated tornadoes are possible too. Travel delays are now expected.

And another emotional day for Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. After getting a standing ovation before President Obama's State of the Union Address, Giffords will formally resign from Congress today. That's going to happen after she votes on anti-drug smuggling bill. Something she's been working on for a number of years.

Right now, House leaders have stopped regular business to highlight her career. We'll check in on that in a little bit.

Well, sounds like science fiction, but it is fact. The solar eruption bombarding earth and it's the biggest solar radiation storm in more than eight years.

Jacqui Jeras is here to tell us about this and the effects from it.

I mean, the pictures are sure amazing. They're beautiful.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hard to believe something from 93 million miles away can have an impact here on earth.

Check out the pictures. This was a huge solar flair and a CME, or coronal mass ejection, as we call it. Imagine it as a huge burp of gas really that comes off the surface of the sun, creates solar wind and heads towards the earth's atmosphere. It comes in at us in the weak spots. So, that's around the poles.

Now, yesterday, some flights were diverted away from the poles because of concerns for radiation. There were also some issues apparently with GPS and satellite service, but nothing major has been reported. That's the good news.

The bad news is it's not completely over and done with just yet. The solar alert remains in effect through today, but it's been downgraded. So, it's down to moderate.

So, what does that mean? Is there anything you need to be concerned about? Well, passengers still in high flying aircraft could be exposed to radiation. But the farther north up you go towards the pole, that's where that's going to be. So, if you're flying across the U.S., we think you're going to be A-OK there today.

And as for satellite and GPS reception, well, it's going to be kind of isolated single incidents. So, basically for the most part, this thing is over and done with. And the biggest impact that we had from it overall? Aurora borealis.

So, it was a beautiful, wonderful, spectacular display. Take a look at some of these pictures.

The best pictures that we've seen so far have come from places like Norway and from Sweden. This is from an ice hotel, a snowtel as they call it in Sweden, and just amazing.

So, you get these electrically charged particles, Kyra, that come shooting into the earth's atmosphere. As they interact with our gases, it creates this beautiful light show.

So, things have been really quiet with the sun as of late. Things are just starting to pick up a little bit. We're expected to see increases in solar activity through 2013 when it's expected to peak.

PHILLIPS: Wow. All right, Jacqui. Thanks so much.

JERAS: Sure.

PHILLIPS: Well, actress Demi Moore is hospitalized after an emergency call to 911. We'll tell you what happened, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Actress Demi Moore is rushed to the hospital after an urgent call to 911. "Showbiz Tonight" host A.J. Hammer joining us from New York with the story.

What happened, A.J.?

A.J. HAMMER, HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": I always hate hearing stories like this, Kyra. The Los Angeles Fire Department tells "Showbiz Tonight" that they did respond to a call from Demi's address. That was at 10:41 last night. And they took her to the hospital about 30 minutes later.

Her representative is saying this to "Showbiz Tonight": "Because of the stresses in her life right now, Demi has chosen to seek professional assistance to treat her exhaustion and improve her overall health. She looks forward to getting well and is grateful for the support of her family and friends."

At least one of those stresses is inevitably Demi's impending divorce from Ashton Kutcher. There are unconfirmed reports out there that Demi had a seizure related either to an eating disorder or substance abuse or both. So, we did ask Demi's rep about the reports of substance abuse. We were told there's no further info on that story, although we were told that Demi is now dropping out of her current role of Gloria Steinem in the upcoming film about Linda Lovelace.

So, obviously, Kyra, we hope that Demi is getting all the health she needs and wish her nothing but the best. Tough time.

PHILLIPS: Yes, agreed. A.J., thanks so much. I know you're going to join us next hour as well with other entertainment headlines. A.J., thanks.

Well, a dispute, rather, involving Halle Berry's nanny ends up in court and that's what A.J. is going to be talking about next hour in showbiz.

By now, you might have seen how much money Mitt Romney and his wife gave to the Mormon Church. Well, coming up, we're going to talk to our "Belief Blog" editor about Mormons and tithing. One expert says that Mormon children are expected to start with their first allowance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Mitt Romney speaking right now to American Douglas Meadows in Orlando. He's going to be giving the rebuttal to President Obama's State of the Union address. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A quarter of all the foreclosed homes in America right here in Florida. So, Mr. President, things aren't going so swimmingly. In fact, things are pretty tough for Americans across this country. And in my view, when you got up and said on the "Today" show three years ago that if you couldn't turn around this economy in three years, you'd be looking at a one-term proposition. Well, you're right and we're here to collect.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: Now, there's another way in which I thought he was detached from reality last night, and detached from the people of America. He laid a number of prescriptions. Some of them were just, I thought, flat wrong.

But some were actually not bad. He said some of the things that you looked at and said, "Well, that makes some sense." For instance, he said, we really ought to lower the corporate tax rates to be competitive with others in the world, that ours are the highest in the world, except he's done the opposite. He's detached from his own reality what he has done. His words and his actions are so different it's sometimes hard to believe. So he has raised taxes on companies as opposed to lowering them.

And then there was that whole riff about -- about regulation and how regulations burden enterprises and small business. Didn't he realize that under his presidency the rate of new regulation introduction has tripled and he's also laid out a whole series of new regulations that he wants to put in place. So he says he wants to cut regulations even though he's the guy that dramatically increased them.

And then there was the talk about energy. Could you believe that saying he was in favor of a -- of a -- any of the above, he said any of the above energy resources. He wants to take -- use all of these energy resources. It's like, wait a second. Isn't this the guy that's been holding off offshore drilling? Isn't this the guy whose EPA has made it almost impossible for us to get oil out of north and South Dakota and parts of Oklahoma and Texas. Isn't this the guy whose regulators are making it almost impossible to get natural gas out of Pennsylvania?

I was with one senior executive -- chief executive of a big oil, excuse me of a big chemical company. He said we just announced a $20 billion factory in Saudi Arabia. We would have loved to have had it here in the U.S. But we can't count on getting out the natural gas because of government regulators.

This is a President who talks about deregulation even as he regulates; who talks about lowering taxes, even as he raises them; who talks about developing all of our energy resources even as he tries to shut them down. Coal in particular. Regulation after regulation making it almost impossible for coal -- coal users and for coal miners to be successful.

And then, of course, there was his discussion of China. I must admit that I took some pleasure in the fact that he's talking about cracking down on China even as he has not done so. He's had the occasion to label China as a currency manipulator which would allow him to apply tariffs to Chinese products where they have manipulated currency that killed American jobs or where they've hacked into our computers to steal our technology or -- or where they've stolen our intellectual property, our patents, our designs, our know how.

And so even as he's talking about cracking down on China he's left the door wide open to them to come in and run across our countryside stealing our jobs and killing our businesses.

The detachment between reality and what he says is so extraordinary, I was just shaking my head as I watched the TV last night. I think it's time to have somebody who says what he means and means what he says, and if I'm president, that's the kind of president I'll be.

Now when I got up this morning Ann was already awake. And she turned to me. We were still in bed. And she said, you know, the funny thing about listening to Barack Obama is that you not only have to listen to what he says, but you have to think about what he didn't say. My guess is that what he didn't say was probably even more disturbing and detached from reality than some of the things he did say.

What he didn't say last night is that we're spending too much and borrowing too much and that America is on a collision course with debt and that if we don't get off this course, we could sink the American economy and go into calamity. We're, if you will, virtual Titanic and he's saying full speed ahead. The difference, of course, is that with the Titanic they couldn't see the ice bergs.

In this case we can see the ice berg. We see it. We're headed towards it. And he's saying, full speed ahead. It is inexplicable that he can speak to the American people about the State of the Union and not describe the massive deficits we have, the fact that he has put in place almost as much public debt by the end of his first four years, his only four years, he will have put --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END LIVE SPEECH)

PHILLIPS: Mitt Romney there on the stage at American Douglas Meadows (ph) in Orlando giving the rebuttal to President Obama's State of the Union Address from last night. We'll continue to follow that for you.

Meanwhile, we want to talk about Mitt Romney in a different way here. He just released his tax returns. And that told us about his income, and his donations. Last year and the year before the Romneys gave several million dollars to charity. Much of it to their church and earlier this week Romney actually talked about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: If people want to discriminate against someone based upon their commitment to tithe, I'd be very surprised. This is a country that believes in the Bible. The Bible speaks about providing tithes and offerings.

I made a commitment to my church a long, long time ago. That I would give 10 percent of my income to the church and I followed through on that commitment. And hopefully as people look at the various individuals who are running for president they'd be pleased with someone who made a promise, a promise to God, and kept that promise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Dan Gilgoff found this interesting as well, and so we wrote about Mormon tithing on CNN's belief blog. And Dan I understand it's already gotten a tremendous amount of response. Why do you think people are so interested in this?

DAN GILGOFF, CNN.COM RELIGION EDITOR: Well, I think on the one hand it's a really familiar concept, right? There are millions of Christians in this country who tithe, who give 10 percent of their income to the church.

On the other hand, there is a real twist when it comes to Mormonism and when it comes to Governor Romney's experience with his church, and that is that in Mormonism, tithing is basically enforced, so that unless you're giving 10 percent of your salary to the church, you can't gain admission to the Mormon temple for important rituals like baptism or marriage. And so unlike other Christians, and Mormons consider themselves Christians even if some other Christians in this country don't, you really have to give to be a Mormon in good standing. I think that notion is very curious to a lot of non-Mormon Americans.

PHILLIPS: Well, you really delve into the history too of tithing within the Church of Latter-Day Saints. What stood out to you?

GILGOFF: Well, I think unless you know something about Mormon history, you can't really understand why tithing is so important to Mormons. And you know, there was a recent poll done of American Mormons just last week and it showed that 80 percent of American Mormons give 10 percent of their -- their salaries. This has inspired something like Mormon envy among a lot of other pastors in this country who would love to give to see their congregations giving 10 percent and that Mormon envy is like an actual term that's out there that's talked about.

You know Mormon history in the 1800s when Mormonism was born, there was a lot of persecution and Mormons were on the run literally from state to state to escape that persecution. And so tithing became this way for the community to sustain itself when it was on the run. And it remains this way today so that the day-to-day church operations are funded, new temples are funded, by tithing, and so it's a really important value that's very old within the church.

PHILLIPS: Wow. That definitely was an interesting read. Dan, thanks so much. And if you haven't had a chance to look at Dan's article, it's on our belief blog that's at CNN.com\belief.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: One year after a gunshot wound to the head, Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords is casting a vote on Capitol Hill and then resigning her seat. She says she wants to focus on fully recovering from her brain injury.

CNN's Kate Bolduan on The Hill where law makers are honoring her right now this morning -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Kyra. It will be a very emotional and probably very heartfelt send-off for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords this morning, and it will all be happening in just really the next few minutes.

How this is going to play out, prior to Congresswoman Giffords making her formal -- submitting her formal letter of resignation, the House is actually going to be voting on a bill that is one of her legislative priorities and has been one of her legislative priorities. It's a border security bill that will really crack down on drug smuggling across the U.S. border using ultra-light aircraft.

The House will be voting on that and Congressman Steny Hoyer said this week that he would not be surprised if there was unanimous support of this piece of legislation. So that will happen, a legislative achievement as she heads off. And following that there will be a rare moment of bipartisanship where there will be a list of very high-profile members of Congress, of the House, coming forward to speak, honoring her service.

We'll be hearing from the Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi; the majority leader, Eric Cantor; Steny Hoyer -- Congressman Steny Hoyer; and then Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Kyra, a very close personal friend of Congresswoman Giffords, she will be formally reading according to Giffords' office, reading the resignation letter on the house floor, and then that letter will be -- that resignation will be effective at the end of the day, so it will be quite a moment to watch this morning. That on top of a very -- that heart-stopping moment where there is barely a dry eye last night when Giffords took to the house floor for the State of the Union address -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, we will definitely dip in live, Kate. Thanks so much.

BOLDUAN: Of course.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, "Big Hits, Big Dreams".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're going to get hit. That was my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead in our next hour, Dr. Sanjay Gupta taking a closer look at the devastating effects of football and concussions. Ironman Forrest Gregg reveals his truth about taking those hits and why it has him facing a different kind of battle today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's take a look at some stories that we're working on for you in the next hour.

12:55 Eastern in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; President Obama will deliver remarks at a conveyor engineering and manufacturing company.

Then beginning at 2:00 a private funeral will be held for Penn State's former beloved coach Joe Paterno. A public memorial service will follow on Thursday.

And then tonight 5:06 Eastern NASA will provide live coverage of the launch of an unmanned Russian cargo ship that will resupply the international space station.