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Interview With Senator Robert Menendez; Leon Panetta: Israel May Attack Iran; Anger During Fast & Furious Hearing; Jack Abramoff Interview; Council of Economic Advisers Chair Interview; Jobless Rate Falls To 8.3 Percent; Fighting For Women And Children; Ending Insider Trading On Capitol Hill
Aired February 03, 2012 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Don Lemon. Brooke is off today.
Let's catch you up on everything making news this hour, "Rapid Fire." Let's go.
This is where we start. One of the country's most successful charities bows to the backlash. Susan G. Komen for the Cure is reversing itself and will put Planned Parenthood back on the list of groups it can fund for breast cancer screening. Well, Komen wanted to dump Planned Parenthood, as we've been reporting, because some in Congress are investigating whether the group used tax dollars for abortions. But the outcry against the move only got louder over the past three days.
Details to come on that.
Folks across the central U.S. bracing for a rough weekend. The region is getting pounded by a major winter storm.
Colorado getting the worst of if it, 40-mile-per-hour winds. And more than a foot of snow expected by tomorrow. We warned you.
Parts of the state under blizzard and avalanche warnings right now. Schools are closed and hundreds of flights are canceled.
If you haven't heard it by now, let me be the first to give you some good news finally. The January jobs report is out, and the unemployment rate has fallen to 8.3 percent, 243,000 jobs were added in January. Hiring is up, firing is down. The improvement surprised the experts, who had expected a slight uptick in the unemployment rate.
Of course President Obama chimed in on the jobs numbers during a stop at a fire station in Arlington, Virginia. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These numbers will go up and down in the coming months. And there are still far too many Americans who need a job, or need a job that pays better than the one they have now. But the economy is growing stronger, the recovery is speeding up. And we've got to do everything in our power to keep it going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: We take you overseas now, where there is drama in Egypt. We're getting word that two American tourists kidnapped in the Sinai Peninsula are now free. And we're told the kidnappers, in exchange for the release of the Americans, demanded that some detainees be freed by the Egyptian government. It's not clear whether that deal happened.
We'll check on it.
The family of a girl orphaned by the mass pileup on a Florida interstate Sunday speaks exclusively to CNN. The girl, Lidiane Carmo, lost her mother, her father, her sister, an uncle, after smoke from a brushfire near Interstate 75 triggered the crashes. Seven others were killed, 22 more were hurt, including Lidiane, who is an illegal immigrant from Brazil.
Her aunt recalls the 15-year-old girl's reaction while she was in the hospital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUCIANE BOUTIN, CRASH SURVIVOR'S AUNT: On Monday, when she's awake, she asked, "Where's mom? Where am I? Where's daddy? Where's Letitia (ph)?"
"What am I doing here? Where's the others? I'm the only one in this hospital? The other ones in the other hospital? Where is everybody?"
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: As we report this to you now, it is still not clear if Florida will pay for Lidiane's medical bills. The family says the governor made that promise to them, but his office has not confirmed that to CNN.
Five people have been indicted in California in an alleged human smuggling operation. Federal agents estimate 1,000 people were brought across the border from Mexico just in the past two years. Agents say they paid $2,000 to $4,000 each and were locked in trunks or hidden compartments under the hood of cars that were driven across the border.
Amazing pictures there.
A Michigan teenager has decided to leave his high school after it suspended him for not cutting his hair. His name is J.T. Gatkins (ph). The leukemia survivor was growing it for charity. The school said his hair didn't meet policy standards. Gatkins (ph) was going to donate his hair to Locks of Love, which gives hair to cancer survivors.
We've got a lot more to cover in the next two hours. So watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Muslims are furious over a terror video used to train cops in one of America's biggest cities. They're expected to take their fight straight to the police while you're watching this show.
I'm Don Lemon. The news starts right now.
(voice-over): The Obama administration warns Israel could attack Iran in the coming months.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Think of it as a triangle of rising rhetoric.
LEMON: Now Iran delivers a stern warning to the U.S.
A sudden about-face from America's biggest breast cancer charity.
NANCY BRINKER, CEO, SUSAN G. KOMEN FOR THE CURE: We will never bow to political pressure.
LEMON: So, in the uproar over Planned Parenthood, what changed their minds?
Plus, politicians getting inside information to help their bank accounts. It's something that would land you behind bars. I'll speak with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff about this secret world.
And sports fan or not, he's the guy that has everyone talking.
TIM TEBOW, QUARTERBACK, DENVER BRONCOS: Try to get better every single day and just maximize my God-given athletic ability and my God- given talent and try to be the best quarterback I can be.
LEMON: Just 48 hours before Super Bowl Sunday, Tim Tebow talks with CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The people in pink say they are sorry. Susan G. Komen for the Cure reversed itself and will restore funding eligibility to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screenings.
Now, here's part of the statement from CEO Nancy Brinker and the Komen board. It says, "We will continue to fund existing grants including those of Planned Parenthood and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities."
It is a big turnaround from just yesterday, when Brinker vowed to stand firm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRINKER: We will never bow to political pressure. We will always stand firm in our goal to end breast cancer forever. We will never turn our backs on the women who need us the most.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, this was the issue. Komen was dumping Planned Parenthood because Congress is investigating whether the group used tax dollars for abortions. But the backlash grew over these past three days.
Yesterday, 25 Democrats and one Independent in the Senate sent a letter urging the Komen Foundation to reverse itself. Among them, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez. You see him there. He joins us live now.
Senator, thank you for joining us this afternoon here on CNN.
Are you satisfied with today's news?
SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D), NEW JERSEY: Absolutely. It's a great day for women in our country.
The Komen Foundation has done great work on breast cancer and treatment, as well as in prevention. And Planned Parenthood has been the deliverer of many of those services to millions of women across the country. They've done over 700,000 clinical breast exams, a lot of referrals. In my home state of New Jersey, Planned Parenthood has done over 45,000 breast exams, found over 800 abnormalities, referred those people.
So this was a critical decision for women in this country, and I'm thrilled that the Komen Foundation listened to the voices around the country and changed the course.
LEMON: OK, Senator. I want to play some comments from this morning. This is a Republican congresswoman. Her name is Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS (R), WASHINGTON: It's really up to Komen to decide how best to use their funding. I mean, they're a tremendous organization, they raise a lot of money to help women, especially as it relates to cancer and breast cancer. They have a lot of success stories, and I think it's unfortunate that there's been such a backlash.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Listen, she has the sentiment of a lot of people. Isn't she right? Doesn't the Komen foundation have a right to use its money however it wants? Should have it been pressured politically by you and others?
MENENDEZ: Well, I think the Komen Foundation was actually affected by the investigation of one Republican congressman in the House of Representatives, and that certainly is not responsible. I think the Komen Foundation listened to not just the 25 members of the Senate that said they should reconsider their decision, the Komen Foundation listened to thousands of voices across the country, many who have been supportive of the foundation, as I have, and said Planned Parenthood is the portal by which women get their health care, ,so many women get their health care in this country, particularly some of the women most affected in the context of breast cancer challenges.
LEMON: And Senator, you just said that there was one -- I think you said one complaint on the Republican side. But McMorris Rodgers denied there was Republican pressure on Komen to drop Planned Parenthood.
You're not buying that?
MENENDEZ: I'm not. I know that Congressman Cliff Stearns of Florida, who is the subcommittee chair on investigations and oversight, has been pushing this issue hard. And it is on Planned Parenthood, which is really a shame.
And the bottom line is I think that that created pressure. And at the end of the day, you know, if you listen to Komen's reports of letters about Planned Parenthood, they were all laudatory. They said, what a great service you're providing in conjunction with us. And all of a sudden, Planned Parenthood wasn't worthy of receiving anymore of those moneys for those services?
So, it's a good day that they turned their decision around, listened to thousands and thousands of voices across the country who said we believe in the Komen Foundation, but we also believe in Planned Parenthood. And particularly for underserved communities, for African-American women, for Latino women who get a lot of their health care services through Planned Parenthood, this is a good day.
LEMON: Listen, do you think that the Komen Foundation -- obviously, they didn't think that they were going to have the backlash that they did or they would not have made this particular move.
MENENDEZ: Well, I don't know that they didn't perceive that there would be obviously some significant response. You know, when literally millions of women across the country get their health care through Planned Parenthood, when they did three-quarters of a million breast examines last year alone, those numbers are pretty telling.
So you have a universe that obviously sees their health care delivery coming through Planned Parenthood. And so the other issues -- you know, politics should be aside from this. This is about the delivery of women's health care.
And so I'm thrilled that the foundation is going to get on with its mission. Planned Parenthood is going to be part of delivering that. I mean, Planned Parenthood does about -- 70 percent of its money goes to treating the questions of sexually transmitted diseases and preventing that, 16 percent of its money goes to cancer detection and prevention. That's the bulk of what they spend their money on, so it's about delivery of women's health care services.
LEMON: Senator, I just want to jump in here, because you're throwing around a lot of numbers here, and people on the other side would disagree. And they would also say that this is not about really breast exams, this is more about abortion and the Komen Foundation being able to do with their money what they want, and there shouldn't be pressure politically.
But I have to ask you this. Today's statement from Komen says it will allow Planned Parenthood, as I read when I introduced you here, to apply for grants in the future. Do you think they're leaving the door open to slash funding down the road?
MENENDEZ: I don't think so. I think Planned Parenthood has done a great job in delivering this service that the Komen Foundation has at the very heart of its effort, which is breast cancer screening, early detection, and then appropriate referrals and treatment. All of Planned Parenthood's efforts in this regard have been lauded by the Komen Foundation. Why would you cut any money to that now or in the future?
LEMON: Senator Menendez, I really thank you for spending some time with us on Friday. Have a great weekend.
MENENDEZ: Thank you, Don.
LEMON: Ahead here on CNN, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says he is concerned Israel could attack Iran this spring, and now there's fighting words back from Iran.
Plus, the Midwest braces for a huge snowstorm that could affect your travel. We're going to show you which states are getting hit the hardest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: There's reaction today to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's statement that he thinks Israel might attack Iran's nuclear program, maybe as soon as this spring.
Well, this morning, Iran's supreme leader said any attack on Iran would be detrimental to America. And I want you to listen to this from Israel's defense minister.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EHUD BARAK, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): Dealing with a nuclear Iran will be far more complex, far dangerous, and far more expensive in blood and money than stopping it today. In other words, those who say in English "later" may find later is too late.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Want to bring in our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence.
Now, Chris, the question is, is there a palpable increase in tensions today? Is there really concern that Israel will attack Iran soon, or is there some posturing going on here?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: There's two schools of thought, two lines of thinking on this, Don.
One says that Secretary Panetta was sort of warning off Israel, trying to get them to back down somewhat from some of the rhetoric. The other school of thought says that there's some psychological warfare going on. That from the side that says the military threat to Iran has to be more credible, that sanctions won't be enough to sort of bend Iran to the idea of coming back to the table and negotiating over their nuclear program.
LEMON: So, then, from the Pentagon, then, what's the belief? Do they believe that Israel can really destroy Iran's nuclear program?
LAWRENCE: I was talking to a couple sources last night about that. They say Israel most definitely could inflict some very, very serious damage on Iran's program and on Iran itself. But they also said when you look at being able to destroy a nuclear program, the countries in which that tactic has worked are countries in which their nuclear program was very centralized. You take out one or two facilities, and you've done the job.
That's not the case with Iran. It's dispersed throughout the country. And the fact that their program has been going on for so long means there are likely some secret sites that neither the U.S. nor Israel know about.
And perhaps most importantly, Iran would still possess the knowledge. In other words, you could knock out a facility, but they would still have the know-how on how to enrich uranium.
LEMON: So, then, Iran's warning to the U.S., how is that being received at the Pentagon?
LAWRENCE: It's taken very seriously. In fact, just a couple days ago, the director of National Intelligence really sounded the alarm by saying that the intelligence finding now suggests that Iran is much more likely to sponsor an attack right here in the United States. And he said Iran's willingness to do so depends entirely on how threatened Iran feels by the United States.
LEMON: Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon.
Appreciate your reporting. Thank you, sir.
LAWRENCE: You're welcome.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LEMON: Moving on now, Republican lawmakers are demanding that heads should roll over a bungled federal gun sting that let U.S. weapons slip into the hands of Mexican drug lords. And Attorney General Eric Holder is getting downright defensive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I'm the attorney general of the United States. OK? (END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Did anything -- that's the question -- did anything get done at the sixth hearing on the Fast and Furious operation? That's next.
Plus, news just in involving a reported hacking involving the FBI. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We have this just into CNN. It involves Anonymous. You know, the hacking group Anonymous.
It has released a recording of a conference call it says it intercepted between the FBI and Scotland Yard. Now, on the call, officials can be heard discussing an investigation into hackings.
The agencies confirm the authenticity of the recording and say they're trying to find out who is responsible. The FBI says none of its computer systems was hacked.
We'll continue to follow that.
The federal operation was called Fast and Furious. Yesterday's congressional hearing on it, well, bad-tempered and could everyone say belittling.
Here's one exchange between Attorney General Eric Holder and Congressman Raul Labrador of Idaho. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RAUL LABRADOR (R), IDAHO: Mr. Attorney General, I believe the American people deserve better. I believe that the American people deserve to have an attorney general that they can trust.
And for that reason, I have asked for your resignation. And I believe that because you have been grossly incompetent in the way that you have prepared before coming to Congress, I think you should resign.
HOLDER: That was among the worst things I think I've ever seen in Congress. You took a whole series of statements out of context, with no context.
LEMON: With all due respect, the worst thing I've ever seen --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The gentleman's time has expired.
HOLDER: There is a whole bunch of things that I could say about what you just did, and maybe this is the way you do things in Iowa, or wherever you're from.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Ouch. "Wherever you're from." This was the sixth hearing on Fast and Furious, which was supposed to track the flow of guns from the U.S. to Mexican drug cartels, but weapons were lost, and two ended up at the site where a border patrol agent was shot to death back in 2010. Some members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee say Holder has failed to provide them the information that they have repeatedly requested.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PATRICK MCHENRY (R), NORTH CAROLINA: It's 13 months after the fact, sir. That's what I'm saying. At what point are you going to take action?
HOLDER: As soon as we are in a position to make arrests and hold people accountable, put them in a court of law, and try them with maximum charges. These are not cases --
MCHENRY: Is that likely this year?
HOLDER: I think that's likely this year.
MCHENRY: Is it likely in the next six months?
HOLDER: Yes, I think it's likely in the next six months.
MCHENRY: Could you see that happening this quarter?
HOLDER: When does this quarter end?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: March 31st.
HOLDER: Possible.
MCHENRY: Possible. OK. Thirteen months later, we have possibility of somebody actually being punished for an agent being killed. This is absolutely absurd.
Mr. Chairman, I yield to balance my time to you.
HOLDER: No, it's not absurd. It takes time to build a case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: With me now, Bob Cusack, managing editor of the congressional newspaper "The Hill."
Clearly, Bob, the attorney general is over -- you see him sitting there, and then he's like, when is it? When is that up? When is this fiscal year up? "Wherever you're from."
He's over it.
BOB CUSACK, MANAGING EDITOR, "THE HILL": Yes. No, I mean, it's very contentious.
I mean, Don, you've got contempt of Congress charges looming against Eric Holder, over 90 Republicans in Congress calling for him to resign. It's an election year. This is a serious issue because it obviously involved the death of a border patrol agent.
But Eric Holder was giving it right back, saying, listen, we've gone over this and I've answered a lot of questions. This is going to take time as far as arrests. But this is going to be an ongoing story. No doubt about it.
LEMON: Bob, listen, the main headline, it was very contentious and it's interesting to watch. But the headline from the hearing is that firings and charges are possible as a result of the operation. Besides that, though, did we learn anything new in this sixth hearing?
CUSACK: No. Republicans say they want to learn more of who knew what, when and they feel that top officials at the Justice Department were aware of this and they're not getting the documents on it.
Democrats say it's a witch hunt. We've gone over this so many times having half a dozen hearings. But that's the rub of Republicans wanting more information and administration saying, we will give you more information, but don't be you been realistic with your time demands.
LEMON: Several House members asked for Holder to resign. Is that going to happen?
CUSACK: No, it's not. And I think, Don, the big part of it is that no Democrat has called for Eric Holder to resign. They are backing him up at this point and Eric Holder is going to be the attorney general at least for this year. We'll see what happens in the election.
LEMON: Give us some perspective here, Bob, because has Holder done anything wrong that merits the grilling that he got yesterday and that he's been getting throughout these hearings? There was some talk of a contempt citation.
CUSACK: Yes, you know, that's definitely an option and that's what the majority party in the House will use as a weapon on get the answers that they want. That has happened in the past, Karl Rove, Janet Reno, former attorney general.
As far as Eric Holder, he has made some missteps here. He has changed his story when he was first aware of this. So Republicans have punched. They repeatedly sight that thing.
There's more here. This is an ongoing investigation. So they're going to keep pushing Holder and this is certainly not going to be the last hearing on this issue.
LEMON: Yes as you said there is a border agent. We have to remember his life was lost in this. That's at the bottom line, but clearly these hearings, very interesting to watch. This story will continue. Bob, we appreciate you joining us.
CUSACK: Thanks, Don. LEMON: All right, job numbers up, unemployment down. Sounds like good news, right? Well, we'll talk about the new job numbers with one of the president's economic advisers.
Plus Tim Tebow won't be playing in the Super Bowl, but the Denver Broncos quarterback is in Indianapolis and he did tell us who he thinks will win. Our interview with him just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Why don't we get back to that jobs report that was released just today, just this morning. I want you to take a look at the January numbers now. The unemployment rate has fallen to 8.3 percent. That's down from 8.5 percent back in December.
It's 243,000 jobs added in January. President Obama seemed cautiously pleased with the numbers when he spoke about them earlier today. I want to bring in Alan Krueger. He is the head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
First off, thanks for joining us. It looks like a nice sun any day there in Washington. Even the president, Alan, says that the jobless numbers will go up and down over the next few months. So what's your take on today's report?
ALAN KRUEGER, CHAIRMAN, COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISORS: Well, the nature of economics statistics is that they do bounce around. And I think whenever new information comes out is kind of take a step back and say how does it fit in with other information that we have.
What's the direction of the economy? You know, you step back, the economy was in free fall when President Obama took office. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month just before he was sworn in. Now we've had job growth for 23 months in a row.
Private sector has added 3.7 million jobs over that time period. I think that's an indication that the efforts that were taken to break the back of the recession to sustain the recovery are having an effect.
And most importantly, I think this is a sign that we should take the steps necessary to keep this momentum going and most importantly the president has called on Congress to extend the payroll tax cut and to continue to extend the unemployment benefits.
LEMON: All right, we heard the president talk about that this morning. We can do this. I know that you're taking a victory lap right now. Your cautious about it, but let's pot do the talking points.
I know this is good news, but I also want to hear from the other side right now and I want you to respond to. Here's House Speaker John Boehner talking today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: There's certainly some positive news here, but the point we're making is that we could do a lot better. If the president worked with us on the bills that have passed the House, awaiting action in the Senate, the American economy could do better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right, so what is your reaction to that?
KRUEGER: Well, I think the comments I made before, the president called in the "State of the Union" address for the Congress to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits without delay, without drama.
I think there are clear signs that those policies have helped to support the economy and the world economy remains fragile. We're not insulated from what might happen outside of the U.S. So I think it would be important to continue the policies that have helped to support this recovery.
LEMON: I'm glad you're talking about that, you're mentioning that because there are some alarming numbers from the Congressional Budget Office just a few days ago and also yesterday, when Donald Trump did his endorsement of Mitt Romney, he mentioned them.
The warning, unemployment will climb to 9.2 percent next year, that's if Congress does nothing that you were talking about. It looks like Congress is on track to do exactly that. So what's the plan to deal with that?
KRUEGER: Well, I would say there are two tracks here. First is to continue to make the case for continuing the payroll tax cut. If it's not continued, taxes will go up on almost all working Americans at the end of February.
And secondly, the president has said that he can't wait for Congress to act when there are opportunities for the administration to do things without action from Congress, he will act. And you've seen him do that already in trying to expand the number of people who can qualify for refinancing their homes, take advantage of the historically low interest rates.
LEMON: I said the victory lap. You're cautiously optimistic as we said and as the president said, right, good news, but you're not running around the White House doing a victory lap right now.
KRUEGER: I didn't see any running around the White House. I can tell you that we're focused on continuing this recovery. The American economy went through a very hard time beginning with the recession at the end of 2007.
There's a very deep hole to recover from. No one is satisfied yet, although we're pleased with the progress that we're making and we're going to keep at it. The president wakes up every day and he looks for ways to strengthen the economy and put more people back to work.
LEMON: Thank you. Nice interview. Glad you came on today. Make sure you have a great weekend. Thank you, Alan Krueger.
KRUEGER: Thanks very much. You too.
LEMON: Congress is one step closer to policing itself on insider trading, but will the STOCK act really do anything? Well, the man who wrote the book on political corruption, in more ways than one, Jack Abramoff, he's going to weigh in. There he is right there. Standby, Jack.
But first, a new year brings a new group of CNN Heroes and starting next week, we will begin introducing you to the class of 2012.
But first, let's take a look back at Robin Lim, whose dedication to the safety of women and their babies earned her the nickname Mother Robin. She was your choice for the 2011 CNN Hero of the Year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, CNN'S "AC 360": Congratulations, how do you feel?
ROBIN LIM, YAYASAN BUMI SEHAT HEALTH CLINICS: Full of gratitude.
COOPER: Did you think you might have a chance of winning?
LIM: Of course not. We've helped so many people since 2005. Almost 113,000 people got free medical care and medicine.
COOPER: What does that feel like to start with one person and then slowly start to build the organization?
LIM: I found that if you have a good idea and you do it with love, a lot of people want to help you.
COOPER: It was a very personal loss that got you involved in this.
LIM: My sister died, she was pregnant. This was 21 years ago.
COOPER: What was your sister's name?
LIM: Her name is Christine. I feel like she really helps me.
COOPER: You carry her with you still?
LIM: Yes, and I think I carry her baby, too.
COOPER: What kind of an impact do you think this will have?
LIM: The clinic we have in the tsunami zone, that one is really safe. But the clinic in Bali is falling apart. It's too small for our patient care. COOPER: You're hoping to rebuild the clinic.
LIM: We've been saving money for years and we did get a piece of land right in our village. So we're ready to build and now we have money to begin.
COOPER: You have $250,000 plus $50,000 so $300,000.
LIM: Yes. That's goes a long way in Indonesia.
COOPER: What keeps you going? I mean, in those dark days when you don't have money and when you don't have support?
LIM: Some days I don't have money, but I always have support. Just when you think how are we going to pay the electric bill, there's an e-mail that says, we're sending money. It's just a miracle every day. Just like birth.
COOPER: Congratulations. I'm so happy for you and for the work you'll do and the lives you're going to save. Thank you. Thank you.
LIM: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Federal lawmakers one step closer to becoming more like you and me, the everyday investor. We cannot legally trade stocks on insider information.
But lawmakers and others in Congress can if that information comes from their work on Capitol Hill. Interesting. Now it appears the days of legal insider trading are numbered. The Senate just passed the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge or STOCK Act 96-3. Now it's the House's turn.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPRESENTATIVE NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY WHIP: We are here today to call on our Republican majority leadership to bring the STOCK Act, the House STOCK Act to the floor. Our colleagues will tell you the support that it has, the purpose of it -- sending it to conference with the Senate bill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right, but will the STOCK Act really work. This guy should know. Jack Abramoff has the experience to answer that question for us. Once known as the super lobbyist.
He just spent three and a half years in prison, convicted of conspiracy, tax fraud and tax evasion and he's written about it. So it's no surprise that we're saying here obviously he lived it. Jack, so will the STOCK Act do the job? JACK ABRAMOFF, FORMER LOBBYIST: Well, I think it will do part of the job. It doesn't go as far as frankly I think it should. What they should do is require members and their staff to put their assets in to trust.
You know, a blind trust so that run by some third party so that they can't trade at all. Unfortunately, too many of them trade up there and hopefully this will help, but it won't do everything.
LEMON: Last year, you told CNBC that you saw about a dozen instances of insider trading on Capitol Hill. Just a dozen, how bad is the problem from what you know about it?
ABRAMOFF: Well, I didn't see the them do the insider trading. They probably did that quietly by their computer, but it was pretty pervasive. You know, people would randomly make remarks that they were getting information and they were trading and they were doing things.
And frankly at that time, I didn't really focus on it. Maybe I didn't want to focus on it. I wasn't involved in it. But I think it's up this more than we wanted. I thought it was pretty rich having Pelosi on.
So she's actually one of the most egregious participants in this and she's calling for the bill? Good. Let her go for the bill and let's that thing passed.
LEMON: All right, you got it out. She's not here to defend herself, just want to say, but you did get that one in. So there have been critics who say this act doesn't do enough for people who are not lawmakers, but who sell political intelligence. What is that, political intelligence, explain that to us.
ABRAMOFF: Well, what it is, is people are making a living off of going around and getting inside information from lawmakers and their staff and then selling it to the various industries, hedge funds, labor unions, other who are involved in different things -- yes, that's their job.
They're making a living off of it and right now, it's legal, but I think they're addressing it in the bill. It's not clear exactly what happened here with the bill. I know that the draft called for a study, but it seems that there was an amendment that was passed. That actually made it prohibited so we'll see what happens on the House side.
LEMON: OK, so you wrote a book on Washington corruption and you were just named a writer for the blog. There's your book right there. It's called "Capitol Punishment." You were named writer for the blog.
It's called Republic Report, which will track money's influence on the hill. And you have three main acts you say need to happen to end political corruption on Capitol Hill and we'll go through them really quickly. The first one you say is close the revolving door. ABRAMOFF: Right, the fact that people can cash in on their government service into the influence industry and become multimillionaires, congressmen and their staff. I believe it's a corrupting part of the process. I remember when I was a lobbyist, I used it to corrupt the process and it has to end.
LEMON: OK, the next act you said ban political donations by special interests.
ABRAMOFF: Right. Lobbyists and those that they represent, anybody getting something special from the government, when they give a gift or a contribution let's call to a public servant, that is nothing but a bribe and that has to be cut out of the system if we're going to clean it up.
LEMON: That's not going to go over well.
ABRAMOFF: I don't think any of this will go over well, but that's not the point. They need to clean it up.
LEMON: And this is not going to go over well I would imagine as well. Finally you say we need to make every law politicians pass -- every law politicians pass apply to them. Explain that.
ABRAMOFF: Well, it's rather counter intuitive I think for most Americans and it has a lot to do with what's going on today with the STOCK Act bill.
But they have laws that don't apply to them. It's outrageous that they can run around brightly disobeying things that they pass for everybody else. That has to end as a system on Capitol Hill.
LEMON: How long were you around Washington doing your thing? How many years?
ABRAMOFF: Well, I came here in 1981 and I've been -- other than when I was in prison, I've been here pretty much straight through.
LEMON: So then any chance in heck that any of this is going to go through that under the three things?
ABRAMOFF: Yes, there's an air in the land now. People are outraged. There's a rising tide that I think they're going to see some changes. People are fed up with the Congress in the way they behave and that's why the rating are so low and I think we are going to see some of these changes eventually put in place.
LEMON: All right, blog is called "United Republic" and also make sure you get the book as well. What's the name of the book again --
ABRAMOFF: "Capitol Punishment."
LEMON: "Capitol Punishment." Thank you, Jack Abramoff. Appreciate it. Have a good weekend.
ABRAMOFF: Thank you too. LEMON: Up next here on CNN, more on the news that we just got in of reported hacking involving the FBI. We're getting answers from Washington now that's next.
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LEMON: This is just into CNN. The hacking group "Anonymous" has released a recording of a conference call it says it intercepted between the FBI and Scotland Yard. On this call, officials can be heard discussing an investigation into hackings.
The agencies confirm the authenticity of the recordings and say they are trying to find out who is responsible for it. Our senior national security producer, Suzanne Kelly joins us live now from Washington. OK, Suzanne, is there any indication that this is more widespread than a phone call?
SUZANNE KELLY, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY PRODUCER: Well, it's a great question. First, you have to look at the breakdown of the calls. So this is a 60-minute phone call. It was recorded between the FBI and Scotland Yard. It happened on January 17th.
Now the subject of the phone call was an investigation into a hacking group and then here you have "Anonymous" coming out and saying, yes, by the way, here's the phone call. We're going to put it on our web site.
The FBI wanted to come out right away and give us a statement. They basically said that the information was intended for law enforcement officers. It was illegally obtained. Now they are not using the word hacking anywhere in this, which is really interesting.
But they're told that the information was intended for law enforcement. A criminal investigation is underway to identify and hold accountable those responsible.
LEMON: Does that mean, Suzanne, that there is someone on the inside maybe that has infiltrated from "Anonymous" or some other group? Does that necessarily mean that?
KELLY: It doesn't necessarily mean that and the FBI was very careful to say that there's no indication that any of their systems have actually been hacked, which would actually be a huge embarrassment because they are sort of the leading agency on this side that investigate hacking cases.
But it does tell you how complicated and complex this cyber stuff has gotten. And you know, somebody posted yesterday on our web site at cnn.com/security when we wrote about how cyber has been such a huge issue in Washington this week and on the threats.
Now Bob Mueller is saying that this is going to be the number one threat facing the country more than terrorism, Don. And now you've got people saying, we should just hire "Anonymous." We need those people to actually help protect us.
LEMON: You could be right. Suzanne, good reporting. Thank you, Suzanne Kelly. Appreciate it.
Up next, love him, hate him, he gets everyone talking. With 48 hours to go before Super Bowl Sunday, he's not even in the Super Bowl, but quarterback Tim Tebow talks with CNN. You'll hear what he has to say about being so polarizing.
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LEMON: Trending today, the countdown to Super Bowl Sunday. The fans, the media and all the hype -- that was Chad Myers, by the way, that surrounds the big game descending on Indianapolis this week for the matchup between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.
Madonna will headline this year's half time show. She's looking good. She's looking good. She admitted she's putting a lot of work into making sure her performance is worthy of the big stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MADONNA, SINGER: I have to say, over 25 years of performing that I've done. I have never worked so hard or been so scrupulous or detail oriented or freaked out as much as I have maintaining my sanity and trying to make the most amazing show for the Super Bowl.
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LEMON: All right, now to the players, NFL players, the coaches, past and present, that was breezy, wasn't it? Out in droves this week meeting fans, signing autographs and doing interviews including Denver Broncho's quarterback Tim Tebow.
He's not playing in the Super Bowl, his rise from fourth stringer to playoff winner was one of the hottest stories this season and he talked with CNN today touching on a number of topics including why he thinks he is such a polarizing figure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM TEBOW, DENVER BRONCOS QUARTERBACK: I'm not sure. I think it has to do a little bit with my faith and some of the teams I've played for that are very polarizing teams, the University of Florida and the Denver Broncos.
And you know, I've had a lot of support in Broncos places and I'm very thankful for that and you know, just thankful that I get to live my dream everyday and playing quarterback in the NFL, which has been a dream for me since I was 6 years old.
I think number one, you know, what I do and just putting that bible verse on my eyes whether it's getting on my knee and praying. I do that personally for myself, you know, to just give the Lord the credit and humble myself, you know, before big situations.
And then also, you know, just to be a good example and to be a great role model. Someone like (inaudible) was to me and you know, to set a great example for the next generation and -- (END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: In case you don't know, maybe you're just getting back into the country, who knows just waking up after a couple of years, Super Bowl 46 only two days away.
