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Military Cuts Unveiled; Clinics to 'Cure' Homosexuality; Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich in Virtual Tie; November Showdown; Pentagon Shooter Pleads Guilty; Top U.S. Official's Son Stuck In Egypt; Good Samaritan Gunned Down; Republicans Facing Off In Florida; "Easier To Do Business In Russia"

Aired January 26, 2012 - 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: Happy Thursday to all of you. I'm Brooke Baldwin, as always.

Top of the hour. Let's get you caught up on everything making news, "Rapid Fire." Let's go.

Want to let you know right now we are standing by live there at the Pentagon, live pictures, waiting for a major announcement coming from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, a major announcement on downsizing the U.S. military.

So, of course stand by for that. We're going to have much more from the Pentagon.

Also, it is the last chance for Republican presidential hopefuls to battle face to face before the Florida primary next Tuesday. And you can only see it here on CNN. Hope you watch with me tonight, 8:00 Eastern.

CNN hosting a Republican debate live from Jacksonville. All four remaining candidates will meet on that stage as new poll numbers today show Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich in a virtual tie.

And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did mention the race for the White House today. She was meeting with State Department employees. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: It's a little odd for me to be totally out of an election season since, as secretary of state, I cannot participate. But, you know, I didn't watch any of those debates. And --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Hopefully she'll be watching tonight with us.

Also, a standing room only crowd this afternoon on the Penn State campus to say good-bye to the winningest coach in college history, Joe Paterno. The memorial service in the 12,000 seat arena caps three days of public mourning for the legendary football coach. There will be one speaker from each decade of Paterno's coaching career. He died Sunday of lung cancer, less than three months after losing his job in the wake of sex -- child sex abuse charges against a former assistant coach.

And you may not remember this crime, but do you remember this headline? Look at this. "Headless Body in Topless Bar."

This week the man convicted in that 1983 case was denied parole. Charles Dingle was found guilty of shooting the owner of the New York City topless bar, taking hostages, raping a woman, and forcing another hostage to cut off the dead man's dead.

Dingle is serving 25 years to life.

And we are getting all kinds of stories today out of Texas now from people who survived a downpour so severe, high water trapped them in their vehicles. In fact, in a Dallas suburb, one driver actually called 911 three times. Here's just one of those calls.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ROBERT JEFFRESS, TRAPPED IN CAR: It's Robert Jeffress here again. The water's up to my chest. I'm freezing to death out here.

911 OPERATOR: They're trying to get to you as quick as they can.

JEFFRESS: OK.

911 OPERATOR: OK?

JEFFRESS: OK. I'm going to drown here in a little bit.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: If I were in that car, I'd be dialing 911 as many times as I needed to. Postscript to that story moments later. The rescue crew did manage to reach him.

In Pakistan, at least 100 people have died after taking what's believed to be contaminated heart medicine provided free of charge by the government. The pharmaceutical factory believed responsible has been closed.

And the man behind a shooting at the Pentagon -- remember this happened in 2010 -- he has now cut a deal with federal prosecutors. He is Yonathan Melaku. He agreed to serve 25 years for shooting at the Pentagon and other military-related buildings.

Melaku was a reservist in the Marine Corps. Police arrested him last summer, finding him with papers referencing al Qaeda.

And now a moment to take in really just the wonder in which we live. The planet Earth here in all its glory.

Look at these images. This is coming to us -- thank you, NASA -- just released this high-def picture. They're calling it Blue Marble 2012.

It's actually a picture of a bunch of pictures that were taken by a new generation of research satellite that NASA is using to observe our planet. Kind of cool.

Got a lot more to cover for you in the next few hours. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: We are hours away from tonight's CNN debate. We're going to talk to our TV crews who are closest to these candidates. These crews have lived every behind-the-scenes moment. We're giving you a backstage pass.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

(voice-over): Ray LaHood, one of the closest people to the president, but his son is stuck in Egypt, forbidden to leave after a raid. We're live at the State Department.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): They would handcuff me in a bathroom to a toilet bowl facing a toilet that was used by 60 people.

BALDWIN: A lesbian is removed from her home, taken underground to "cure" her homosexuality. CNN takes you inside this controversial clinic.

Plus, a death row inmate brags about life behind bars -- air- conditioning, television, 24/7 medical care. Now his victim's father is up in arms.

And a man is shot to death after running to help a woman in trouble as his two young sons witness the entire thing.

BILL AINSWORTH, BROTHER SHOT DURING ATTEMPTED RESCUE: They ran down and sat with them until somebody showed up. There were there with him when he passed.

BALDWIN: The heartbreaking story of a good Samaritan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: As we mentioned a moment ago, this is happening here right now at the Pentagon. You see him there, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. He is submitting the blueprint for a downsized U.S. military.

Let's just listen in for a moment.

(BEGIN LIVE SPEECH)

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

LEON PANETTA, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: -- financial problems will be in the world. And that means emphasizing Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

Third, we will maintain our presence elsewhere in the world. And we'll do that by building innovative partnerships and strengthen our key alliances and develop new partnerships elsewhere in the world, in Europe, in Africa, in Latin America, and elsewhere.

Fourth, we will ensure that we can quickly confront and defeat aggression from any adversary, any time, any place.

And fifth, we will protect and prioritize some very important and key investments in technology and new capabilities, as well as our capacity to grow, adapt, to mobilize, to surge, as needed.

Given the significant fiscal constraints that have been imposed on the department, our approach was to develop this force for the future with some pretty important guidelines. We wanted to maintain the strongest military in the world. We committed ourselves not to hollow out the force, as has been done in the past in these kinds of drawdowns, to take a balanced approach to our budget by putting everything on the table, and to not break faith with the troops and their families.

I want to thank the entire leadership of this department, military and civilian alike, for their participation and support in this effort. This has truly been a team effort, and I am deeply appreciative for their cooperation.

(END LIVE SPEECH)

BALDWIN: Another big-time consequence of the -- really the budget- cutting fever seizing Washington. The once untouchable military budget now clearly square in the crosshairs of Congress.

I want to bring in Chris Lawrence.

I know the secretary just began speaking a couple minutes ago. What do we know, Chris, in terms of broad terms as to where this is headed?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know more than broad terms. We know some real hard specifics.

For example, Brooke, the budget is calling for about 60,000 fewer soldiers, probably 20,000 fewer Marines. But just to put that in perspective, even after those cuts, you'd still have more soldiers and more Marines than you had just before 9/11. So, just to give some perspective there.

Also, fewer air squadrons for the Air Force because there won't be as many troops to support. The Navy's being asked to retire about six older ships, and a couple smaller amphibious ships as well, and delay building some newer ships for a year or two to save money in the short term.

And we know that although the troops are going to be guaranteed pay raises over the next couple years, the budget is recommending that those pay raises be smaller come 2015 and beyond. And although there won't be major changes to active duty troops in terms of what they pay for health care and deductibles and things like that, there could be additional charges and deductible raises and things like that for retirees who are using those health benefits.

BALDWIN: What about the Army specifically, Chris? Will the U.S. Army bear the brunt of these cuts, or are they equally spread?

LAWRENCE: It depends who you talk to. If you talk to people in the Army, they're going to tell you, look what we got hit with. But they seem to be fairly well spread out. I mean, in some respects, you could almost say the Navy takes a pretty big hit, as well.

And I think a lot of this budget, a lot of what's important is what is not being cut. You know, you're not seeing cuts to cyberwarfare. You're still going to see the same number and the same growth of the unmanned drones that have been so prevalent and that the Obama administration has found such a use for around the world.

And you're not going to see any cuts to the Special Operations Forces, the teams like the Navy SEALs that have conducted the raids on Osama bin Laden and the recent rescue there in Somalia. Specially Operations has been growing at about a five percent rate. That's going to continue for the foreseeable future.

BALDWIN: And you hear the secretary saying look, we're committed to not having a hollowed-out force. But when you look at that figure, half a trillion over the next 10 years, do the planners at the Pentagon feel as though they've had enough time to think this through, crunch the numbers, or is this more of on-the-fly cuts? I mean, this is national security we're talking about.

LAWRENCE: Yes, they're more worried. They say given time, they can make the cuts work.

What they're afraid of is, because Congress couldn't come to that deal on the debt and like that, you've got these automatic cuts that could kick in by sometime at the end of the year. That's what they're worried about, that the cuts would simply be across the board.

They say they're much better able to manage the cuts when they can say, well, let's just take a little bit from that program but still keep this program, or put more into this. They say that's easier to do than just same cuts all the way across the board.

BALDWIN: Got it. Chris Lawrence, I appreciate it.

Chris Lawrence there at the Pentagon for us.

Also, shocking new video just into us here at CNN. It involves the man accused of shooting at the Pentagon, the very building in which Chris is sitting.

Some damning evidence coming out in court of video he shot of himself the night of that shooting. We're going to show you part of that video right after the quick break.

Also, breaking weather news. Reports of another tornado in Alabama. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just in here, I've got to the talk about tornadoes once again here this week in Alabama. Confirmed now. A tornado has touched down in Alabama as you look here at the radar.

What we know is that it hit southeast of Birmingham. No reports of damage at this point in time. Obviously, we're continuing to watch the situation. We've got Chad Myers off to my right. He's working this, as well.

Are these live pictures, guys?

Yes, live pictures. Obviously very ominous skies here, Birmingham. Keep in mind that other tornado claimed two lives earlier this week. That was right around Clay -- Clay, in Birmingham, Alabama.

We'll stay on it. Meantime, got to go to break quickly. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Listen to this here. Kidnapped from home, tortured and starved. This is the story of this one woman in the South American country of Ecuador. Now, she wasn't a prisoner in some camp. She was a patient in a clinic that claimed it could cure her of homosexuality.

CNN's Rafael Romo tells her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Paola Concha is openly homosexual and is not afraid to speak about it publicly. But the Ecuadorian woman says her family didn't feel the same way.

Five years ago, when she was 23 years old, she says her family contacted a center that promised Paola Concha of her homosexuality. Concha says that's when the nightmare started.

PAOLA CONCHA, ALLEGED VICTIM (through translator): On December 8th, 2006, they stormed into my house, overpowered me. They put me inside a van and took me to a so-called therapeutic center. By the time I got there, I was already handcuffed and beat up.

ROMO: The clinic was called "Bridge to Life." In December, CNN was granted limited access to the clinic. Concha says she endured all kinds of demeaning and abusive treatment during the 18 months she was held there.

CONCHA: I was kept in handcuffs for than three months. I would be left without food for more than three or four days. They would handcuff me in a bathroom to a toilet bowl facing a toilet that was used by 60 people at the center. ROMO: While we were there, one of the clinic's directors, Luis Zavala, declined to speak specifically about Concha's allegations, but he did deny that their goal was to change the sexual orientation of their patients.

LUIS ZAVALA, "BRIDGE OF LIFE" CENTER COORDINATOR (through translator): Our goal is to modify all inadequate behaviors that are causing a particular individual to take inadequate attitudes.

ROMO: Government officials say some of these clinics operate as addiction treatment centers, but they offer homosexuality cures in a clandestine way.

"Bridge to Life" was targeted for an investigation last year, but officials could only get enough evidence to site the clinic on a technicality.

ZAVALA: They say they've found expired products. I would venture to say that the government has an ulterior motive.

ROMO: The Ecuadorian undersecretary of health says expired products were found in the women's area of the clinic so they closed that section.

JUAN MOREIRA, ECUADORIAN UNDER SECRETARY OF PUBLIC HEALTH (through translator): But that's not really the most serious violation. What concerns us is that we have reports about their methods to change a person's sexual orientation and treatments that include torture and human rights violations.

ROMO: Since we visited "Bridge to Life," the Ecuadorian government tells CNN that after we were there, two raids freed over 40 people and the clinic has been shut down for alleged human rights violations.

Our efforts to reach the center's coordinator, Luiz Zavala, for a comment had been unsuccessful. Today, Paola Concha is a spokesperson for the movement against clinics that claim to cure homosexuality.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Rafael Romo, I'm surprised that clinic even let you guys in to shoot any video.

They said that -- so that entire clinic, or is it just the women's section itself that's been closed?

ROMO: The entire clinic. But what happens is that they advertise as addiction treatment centers.

BALDWIN: Addiction treatment center.

ROMO: But people know -- this is word of mouth -- that they offer this treatment to "cure homosexuality." And what happens inside is what people don't really know about it.

So, now authorities are targeting those centers because this particular clinic that we went to is hardly unique.

BALDWIN: So there are others?

ROMO: There are many others. As a matter of fact, in the last few months, they have targeted 31 clinics that they know of that they were operating in a similar way, have been shut down. But there may be many others.

There's a list of 302. Many of them have violations and many of them, again, under the table, are offering these treatments that are illegal in Ecuador and not recognized by the health authorities.

BALDWIN: Handcuffing Paola for three months to cure her. No food.

How is she doing? I imagine since she's sort of been public about this, that she's been threatened.

ROMO: Well, I was speaking with her yesterday, and she told me that she has been attacked twice, middle of the street. She's just walking, and all of a sudden somebody shows up and starts beating her up.

Again, she feels very strongly about this cause. And not only that, but gay rights. And just for doing that, she's been attacked twice already.

BALDWIN: Do you have any idea if this is just Ecuador-centric or this is something across South America or --

ROMO: So far, we have only been able to document the cases in Ecuador. And that's where we're concentrating the investigation.

BALDWIN: Wow. What a story. Rafael Romo, stay on it for us.

ROMO: Sure.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much.

Now new video from that public memorial that has started for Joe Paterno at Penn State today. And I want you to just take a look here for a moment. His widow, Sue, has now entered the basketball arena on campus.

(APPLAUSE)

BALDWIN: You see everyone on their feet. Clearly, a standing ovation for Mrs. Paterno there at the service. Her husband died from a short battle with lung cancer just this past Sunday.

And we are mere hours away now from the next Republican presidential debate. Coming up next, we're going to show you exactly where the GOP candidates stand in the polls today.

But first, a new list out today ranking America's most literate cities. Is your hometown on the list? Let's take a look. Shall we?

Coming in at number five, Boston.

Number four here, the home of CNN world headquarters. That's right, Atlanta, Georgia.

And number three on the list, Minneapolis.

So, is your city in the top two most literate cities in America? The answer after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We are counting them down, America's most literate cities. This is according to a new study. This is from Central Connecticut State University.

So, you thought about it over the break. Number two here it, Pacific Northwest, Seattle. And topping the list, America's most literate city is Washington, D.C., our nation's capital.

And there you go, the top five.

Now to politics.

You know, it's really feeling like a pivot point now, a pivot point for the race for president. And a lot of folks just thought that after South Carolina, after last weekend, Mitt Romney would have closed the deal, sewn up the Republican nomination. Not so.

As you know, Newt Gingrich, he came in, pulled off that stunner, won the South Carolina primary. So now we are five days away from Florida. That's next Tuesday, and with Gingrich and Romney pretty much at war.

And as I began talking about a pivot point here tonight, a huge debate in Jacksonville, 8:00 Eastern, only here on CNN. Wolf Blitzer, he is moderating. We'll all be watching. Hope you will be, too.

But want to throw around some numbers here with "Mr. Numbers" himself. I'm talking about Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com and "The New York Times." Nate Silver, statistician. Say that five times fast.

I'm sure you can, statistician extraordinaire.

Take a look at the polling with me, Nate, if you would, because we have the polls, obviously, our own polling out of Florida. Take a look at what happened to Newt Gingrich.

So, on Sunday, he is leading Romney 38 percent to 32 percent. But in polls taken both Monday and Tuesday, it's Romney ahead of Gingrich, 38 percent to 29 percent.

My question is, are these polls simply unreliable or is something happening to Gingrich here?

NATE SILVER, FOUNDER, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT.COM: Well, I think there has been a shift in momentum. You look at your poll and other polls, up until about the first debate on Monday, Gingrich had gained a lot of ground with momentum from South Carolina, Romney taking some hits on his tax returns and so forth. But it seems to have flipped back to Romney now, where polls like yours are showing, after that debate, a lead for Romney of maybe 5 to 10 to 12 points.

And it's a surmountable lead based on tonight's debate. It might be the most important of the whole campaign. But we have seen a shift back to -- Romney voters are falling back in line for the kind of establishment front-runner.

BALDWIN: Tonight's debate could be the most important of the whole campaign.

As a statistician, does a figure as polarizing, as volatile as Newt Gingrich, does that make your job, though, Nate, a little bit harder in terms of recognizing trends and trying to forecast?

SILVER: Sure. I mean, this whole race going back to Herman Cain's surge and Rick Perry's surge, you had much more rapid shifts in the polling than you have any time in the past.

People remember Hillary and Obama in '08. You go back to '84, there are this cases, but not this continuous movement where one debate can shift the numbers by 10 or 15 points. And that's why Gingrich, even if he is down now by seven points or so, or five points, if he does well tonight, you could see the momentum reverse one last time. Four or five days in the campaign is an eternity the way things have played out throughout this year.

BALDWIN: Let's think back to -- you mentioned, you know, the debates. And so many people talk about how this has really been a lot about debates, this race.

Last Thursday, our own CNN debate, right off the top, Newt Gingrich's huge outburst in Charleston, South Carolina. Then he goes on to win pretty well the South Carolina primary.

Got the debate tonight. What or who should we really be looking out for, do you think?

SILVER: Well, I think you're going to see every candidate use every line of attack they possibly can, which means for Romney, the things you're seeing in ads about Freddie Mac, about Gingrich's lobbying ties, about his ethics violations. And for Gingrich, you'll see him probably attack the media again, but also attack Romney on Romneycare.

His PAC, of course, that's supposed to be uncoordinated is running a bunch of hits on Romneycare and Obamacare over the next few days. You're going to see him attack the establishment as well. All the endorsements that Romney gets from, like, John McCain, for instance, don't necessarily please Republican base voters who were disappointed by having McCain be their nominee in 2008.

So every piece of dirty laundry will be aired tonight. There's no point in holding back. If Romney were to win Florida, he's in a pretty darned good position in February with states like Nevada and Michigan, in February, where he has always been thought to be strong.

BALDWIN: As a prognosticator, Nate Silver, we've got to ask you about this. There's this professor at American University, Allan Lichtman, who has correctly predicted -- I'm sure you know all about him -- correctly predicted the last seven presidential elections.

So in a recent interview, Allan Lichtman said, quote, "I don't see how Obama can lose." Are you in with him? Are you in with Lichtman here, do you agree?

SILVER: I think if Romney is the nominee, it's going to be more or less a tossup. Obama's numbers are getting a little better brighter. You're seeing somewhat brighter economic signs, but the one predictable variable is the economy.

We've seen better numbers lately, but still a lot of economists are forecasting slow growth, trend growth, maybe 2 percent, 2.5 percent. You might see some improvement in the job market there, but not enough that Romney can't make a pretty good case.

If you do see better numbers, if you see numbers like last month's employment report continuously, then Obama is probably going to be strong enough to win.

But most economists are highly uncertain because of Europe, because of the action of the Congress and so forth about what will actually ensue an economy over the course of the next year.

BALDWIN: So you say if it's Romney, no one's guess. What if it's Gingrich?

SILVER: I think Gingrich would give Obama a much larger margin for error so to speak where if you have a recession, then Gingrich probably is a good enough politician to win under those conditions.

But if you had what the forecast says, which is slow growth, a little bit better, not great, I think Gingrich's personal unfavorables, which are very high would be enough to make his job very, very challenging.

BALDWIN: All right, Mr. Numbers Man, Nate Silver, we'll see what ends up panning out. I hope you join us tonight watching the debate. Thank you, by the way.

Just a quick reminder, five days out from the Florida primary, CNN and the Republican Party of Florida teaming up to host the next presidential debate in Jacksonville. It's going to be huge, tonight, 8:00 Eastern. Join me in tweeting, by the way, hash tag, cnnelections.

Now this. Just in here. Shocking new video into CNN, it involves the man accused of shooting at the Pentagon some damning evidence coming out in court in actual video of this man that he shot of himself actually the night of the shooting.

Brian Todd joins me live from Washington. Brian, what do you know?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, this young man pleaded guilty today to three separate counts involving those shootings at four different military installations including the Pentagon and the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

And as you mentioned, the very dramatic video that had to have been a key turning point in the case. This is what is prosecutors say is video he took of himself in his car October 29th, 2010 as he drove by the National Museum of the Marine Corps pretty much in the overnight evening hours of that day.

He's narrating the video and then you clearly see him firing shots out the window of his car. Prosecutors released this videotape to us today. It's an hour long video. They edited it down to some of the key clips.

We're going to play a couple those clips for you now. We'll begin with a shot of him actually narrating this saying this is the target. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tall building right there. That's a military building and there's the building I'm going to target. I'm going to get -- already targeted that building. Now here we go again. This time we're going to turn off, all right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Visible here, you can actually see the shooting if we can drop that banner, maybe even roll that video again. You can actually see the flashes of the muzzle in the shooting on the evening there in question and the natural sound you saw of him actually firing the weapon.

He again pleaded guilty today to three different counts related to those shootings, five separate shootings at four different U.S. military installations. There you see the gun in the video and then you later see him, there you go --

BALDWIN: So those are the shots, Brian?

TODD: Right, those are the shots. Just at the bottom of the screen, you can see the muzzle flashes of him shooting, had to have been really a key turning point in the case. He has a mask there on as you see in the car. He later takes it off.

You can see his face clearly visible in the video. He made this video himself according to prosecutors. This is an exhibit in the court case against him. He pleaded guilty today to those three counts.

They agreed both prosecutors and his defense attorney agreed to a 25-year sentence. He'll be formally sentenced in April, but essentially they had him on that video there doing those acts, and that was a key turning point in the case.

They apprehended him in June of 2011 in Arlington Cemetery and police say that he had a backpack there that contained nine millimeter casings, numerous Arabic statements referring to Al Qaeda's, Ziploc bags containing ammonium nitrate.

What we also learned in court today, Brooke, was that he had planned on desecrating memorials at Arlington National Cemetery, memorials of soldiers who had fought in Iraq and Afghanistan with Arabic statements.

They say he was going to spray paint those memorials and again he pleaded guilty to those weapons counts today.

BALDWIN: Did he at all explain why he wanted to videotape himself doing this?

TODD: No. He said only yes, sir and no, sir today to the judges' questions to him. He never explained exactly why he videotaped himself. They did say prosecutors have said in the past that he expressed some anger at the military.

He's a former Marine reservist, but he was never deployed overseas and they're not clear exactly what got him angry at the military. There's been no really specific information on that.

I actually followed his father out of the courthouse today and tried to ask him some of those questions and he really just wouldn't answer. He said he didn't really know why he would have been angry at the military. He didn't think he was.

BALDWIN: Thank God they caught him before he did anything to those graves at Arlington. Brian Todd, thank you, in Washington.

In a little bit of irony here, the son of the head of the U.S. Transportation Department can't get out of Egypt. We're talking about the son of a presidential cabinet member, Ray Lahood, his son in Egypt can't leave.

Coming up next, why he's not being allowed out of the country and why he was there in the first place.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Trapped in Egypt, the son of an Obama cabinet member is barred from leave the country and he doesn't even know why. Take a look at this image here. You have Sam Lahood, there he is on left of your screen sitting next to his father, Ray Lahood, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.

Now, Sam Lahood works for a Republican-linked group that promotes democracy in foreign countries. Just this past Saturday, he tried to fly out of the Cairo Airport only to learn that he's on Egypt's no exit list.

And the State Department says several other U.S. citizens are now on that list, as well. I want to bring in foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty.

Jill, you actually got Sam Lahood on the phone just a short time ago. What's he saying? How is he doing?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, we got him on the phone, you know, when he went to the airport, he tried to get out. They looked at his passport and essentially sent him back to his apartment in Cairo where he is right now.

So we went over to IRI headquarters and talked to him by phone and here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGHERTY: Sam, do you feel safe where you are at this point?

SAM LAHOOD, AMERICAN BARRED FROM LEAVING EGYPT: Yes, I feel safe physically. You know, obviously, the fact that the investigative judge chose to prevent some of us from traveling is something that our lawyer tells us indicates that you know, this investigation is taking on a more serious nature and the next step from here would either be arrest or go to trial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGHERTY: Now, I should explain that investigation, Brooke, that he's talking about is remember last month, we were reporting on these NGOs from the United States and others even Egyptian NGOs that were being investigated by the government.

Unknown exactly what they're looking for, but they're really caught in this kind of bureaucratic morass. And also, just this past hour, CNN was able to ask Ray Lahood, the Tranportation Secretary, about this.

And he said he's been able to talk to his son a couple of times today. He said that he's doing fine and he also told CNN that a lot of good people are trying to get these folks on a plane.

So we'll have to see whether that happens. Brooke, we are told there are probably about 40, 4-0 of these Americans who are kind of in the same predicament working for these NGOs.

BALDWIN: Forty, he mentioned the serious nature, possibly arrest or trial as possibilities I guess for his outcome although he's trying to get home. Can you also explain, Jill, the connection between this no exit list and the series of raids on advocacy groups in Egypt just last month?

DOUGHERTY: Yes, exactly. Well, as we said, he works with IRI and there are at least three other American IRI, NDI which is the National Democratic NGO. And then there's another one that's called "Freedom House."

And all of them are having questions raised about whether they've actually registered in Egypt to work as NGOs. Now, IRI says they tried to do that five years ago. Under Hosni Mubarak, but it was such a bureaucratic mess that they weren't able to do it.

They tried. They gave their documents. So under Mubarak, ironically, they were able to operate without registering. But now that the new, you know, the military leadership has come in, they are not happy about this and they obviously are cracking down.

BALDWIN: No exit list. OK, Jill Dougherty for us there at the State Department. Thank you, Jill.

Also, an absolutely devastating story out of New Orleans. There's this father just waiting for his kids waiting for the school bus, sees a woman, she's getting carjacked. What happens next will break your heart after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I know it's especially tough when you hear bad things happen to good people, but this story has really shaken up New Orleans, a city that has certainly seen much more than its share of crime and violence.

So this photograph, this is of Harry, goes by Mike Ainsworth. It's from his membership card in the Citizens Organization for Police Support. So it surprised no one that he tried to help a woman during a carjacking on this very street on Wednesday.

He was standing there with his sons waiting for their school bus when he heard this woman scream. Police say the boys saw Ainsworth climb on to the hood of the car and then be gunned down. The carjacker then took off. Keep in mind his kids. They're 9 and 10 years of age.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL AINSWORTH, VICTIM'S BROTHER: They ran down and sat with him until somebody showed up. There were there with him when he passed. It's going to be hard on them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Kids saw the whole thing. The woman who was carjacked, she is OK. New Orleans police have developed this sketch of the suspect. Take a good long look if you're in the New Orleans area. They say he's an average build in his 20s.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AINSWORTH: Like I said, pray the cops find him before I do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The family has now set up a fund for donations. Mike Ainsworth is also survived by a daughter as well as those two sons.

Race for the White House hits Florida hard, this week and next. This is the Republican candidates' kind of route through the state. Coming up next, Newt Gingrich catching fire after a video resurfaces of him calling Spanish the language of the ghetto.

We'll go live to Jacksonville, Florida, the site of tonight's CNN debate next.

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BALDWIN: It's not something you heard a lot about when we were talking about Iowa, South Carolina, or even New Hampshire. But you can expect the Hispanic vote to be a major topic tonight as CNN hosts the final Republican presidential debate before next Tuesday's Florida primary.

Hispanics are certainly a key demographic in the state of Florida making up more than 22 percent of the population there, and the candidates are hammering each other with ads in Espanol. This one from the Romney camp getting all kinds of attention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Reagan (inaudible).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Did you catch the tail end there? Did Gingrich really call Spanish the language of the ghetto? Here are his remarks in context back from 2007.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We should replace bilingual education with emersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and so they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So he didn't say the flat out that Spanish is the language of the ghetto, but many still think he implied that. I want to bring in CNN's chief political analyst, Gloria Borger in Jacksonville, Florida, of course, the site of tonight's debate.

Gloria, talk to me just for a minute about what Gingrich and Romney are doing to attract the Hispanic vote here five days out?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, Hispanic voters are very important in a Republican primary. They're about 12 percent of Republican primary voters.

And so they both have been talking for example, in very bellicose terms about Castro and how they'd be happy if he were gone, to put it bluntly. And don't forget, Newt Gingrich in debates previously has been speaking about how he would believe the people who have been in this country for 20 years, 25 years who have deep roots in this country should not be deported.

That has helped him in the Hispanic community. And what we see with Mitt romney is kind of a softening in his appeal to Hispanic voters saying that, for example, he might accept a part of the Dream Act for the children of people who have served in the military to allow them to become citizens.

So we're seeing clearly a real play for those voters here and rightly so -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: And I'm sure tonight the debate, it's just going to be attack, attack, attack. You just got back from a Gingrich event. You know, we saw how he did last Thursday. We saw how well he did in South Carolina. What about Florida? What about the debate tonight?

BORGER: Well, it's interesting because there were two Newt Gingrich's we saw today at his first event this morning, he was really ripping into Mitt Romney, calling his ads dishonest, grotesqueticaly hypocritical, challenging his conservativism, pointing out that he was funded by Wall Street, that his campaign is funded by Wall Street.

I was just at an event for veterans where there was a very different tone. It was very serious talking about foreign policy and really taking it to Barack Obama saying you know what? I'm the only one who can go up against him and again, proposing his three-hour Lincoln-Douglas style debates saying he's ready to take the president on.

So it will be interesting, Brooke, to see what kind of Newt Gingrich we get tonight. You know, he held back at the debate a little bit. It was Romney on the attack. Romney has benefited from attacking Gingrich.

So I kind of feel that we may see a lot of toing and froing tonight on that stage between these two men.

BALDWIN: It's interesting Gingrich keeps talking about the three- seven-hour debates if and when that would ever happen. Who knows? I don't know.

I did talk to Nate Silver earlier this hour. Gloria, you know, from the "New York Times" that the numbers guy and he crunched the numbers.

He found that Gingrich has mentioned Reagan in debates more than all the other candidates combined. Is that all starting to backfire on him?

BORGER: Well, it's interesting because Romney is putting out ads saying you know what, by the way, you were only mentioned in Ronald Reagan's diary once and then a lot of people have come out, most notably Elliott Abram who's worked in the Reagan administration saying you know what, you were actually really critical of Reagan when it came to aid to the contras and their soviet policy.

So, this is kind of become the Reagan primary, Brooke, because both of them, both of these candidates trying to say that, in fact, they represent the last iteration of Reaganism, and with him Newt Gingrich calling Romney a moderate saying you know what?

You were never a supporter of Ronald Reagan, not when you ran for the senate in Massachusetts and Romney saying guess what, you were not a favorite of Ronald Reagan's and you do not deserve to carry his torch. We could hear more about that tonight again too.

BALDWIN: It's going to be fun. You're so lucky you get to be in Jacksonville, 8:00 Eastern moderated by Wolf. Gloria, thank you.

BORGER: Nice weather here.

BALDWIN: I know. I'm jealous, but I'll be in Florida Saturday. So I'll pass you on the way down. Thank you so much.

By the way, take a look at our quote of the day. Think about who would have said this. Here's the quote "Right now it's a lot easier to do business in the U.K. or Canada or Russia or in China."

Coming up next, we're going to tell you who said this and why it's so important today and who this person who said this actually has already endorsed for president. Stay here.

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BALDWIN: Now back to the quote of the day, back to the quote. Here it is, "Right now it's a lot easier to do business in the U.K. or Canada or Russia or in China. Who was it? You get this, CEO of Cisco Systems, John Chambers said this today about doing business in the United States.

Cisco holds $43 billion overseas and not bringing it back to the U.S. because of taxes on profits. Who did John Chambers say that to? CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow who spoke with Chambers at the World Economic Forum. She in Davos, Switzerland and she has a lot for us from there for us today. Hi, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Brooke. Well, of course, it's been another very busy day at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. A lot of headlines.

I want to bring two to your attention of particular interest in to the U.S. audience. The first one coming from Cisco CEO John Chambers. Cisco, of course, is one of the biggest technology companies in the world.

Chambers came out publicly for the first time today telling us he is endorsing Mitt Romney for president. He said that Romney has the experience of being a governor and running large operations.

Now, Chambers is a well-known Republican himself. He advised the McCain campaign, but a lot of this comes down to the environment for American business right now.

Something that Chambers is not happy with at all. He said the number one issue for American business right now is confidence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN CHAMBERS, CEO, CISCO SYSTEMS: Consumer confidence first, business confidence second. We've lost business confidence. That's not to say business doesn't have to change.

But this is something that government and business ought to get back, and candidly right now it's a lot easier to do business in the U.K. or in Canada or in Russia, which I never thought I would say or in China or in India than this.

HARLOW: Easier to do business in Russia than in the United States right now?

CHAMBERS: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: And the reason you should care about what he just said there is because we need big corporations like Cisco to hire in the United States to create jobs.

Now, another one of the big headlines came today from our interview with Bill Gates. We sat down and had an in-depth conversation with him.

Being one of the wealthiest people in the world, I asked him about President Obama's proposal of the Buffett rule, that people in America that make $1 million or more a year should pay at least 30 percent in taxes.

I asked him, should the wealthy in this country bear that burden. Here's his answer.

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BILL GATES, CO-CHAIR, BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION: It's absolutely the case that taxes will have to go up to close the government deficit. And I certainly think the rich should pay a larger share of that increase as we ask everyone to make some sacrifices.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Now, Brooke, I want to qualify that statement a bit because Gates also told me, it's an illusion to think that having the richest Americans pay significantly more in taxes is going to fix the deficit problem in this country, is going to fill that will wide gap that we have. He said that is not the full solution. That is part of the equation.

But he does believe that the wealthiest Americans at this point in time, looking at the economy as it is, should pay more in taxes. He is of the same mind on that front as billionaire investor George Soros, who we spoke with here in Davos as well, who also believes the wealthy in this country should pay more in taxes.

So, just two of the many headlines out of Davos today. We have got a lot more coverage on CNNMoney.com. You can go there for it as well -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Poppy, thank you very much in a snowy Switzerland for us today.

And for more details on this and all kinds of other money stories, as Poppy just mentioned, great site, CNNMoney.com.