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Compromise in Contraception Controversy; GOP Candidates Rally Conservatives; Sandusky Hearing; Dozens More Die in Syria; Mortgage Settlement Offers Some Help; Scathing FBI Files on Steve Jobs; "A Very Compromising Position"; Hispanic Vote could Swing Election; Sandusky Arrives at Court; "Siri Tried to Kill Me"

Aired February 10, 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: All right. Soledad, thank you so much.

Good morning, everyone. Lots going on this hour on this busy Friday. But we're going to start with breaking news about that controversy involving the White House and a policy involving birth control. We've just learned the Obama administration could put out a compromise for Catholics today.

Dan Lothian is at the White House.

So, Dan, what exactly are you hearing?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, I'm hearing that a compromise or an accommodation, as they like to call it here. I'm hearing this from a senior administration official, will likely be announced today.

We're trying to get more details but it will likely be some kind of a balance whereby women do have access to contraceptive coverage but at the other hand a bit you will have these organizations, religious affiliated organizations will not have to directly provide that coverage.

It's unclear whether this will be enough to ease the concerns of these religious organizations and others who really were looking for a reversal of this policy. What's clear though is there's been a lot of pressure on this White House over the last couple of weeks, not only from the Catholics and other religious groups, but also from lawmakers up on Capitol Hill. Republicans. Also the Republican presidential hopefuls out on the campaign trail.

And then yesterday we saw some prominent Democrats also step up and join the fray. We heard from Senator John Kerry who was calling for a compromise, saying that there should be some way to provide this coverage, the coverage that women need, but at the same time respect religious beliefs.

So it does appear again likely that the administration will be making some kind of announcement on this today and I'll tell you, it has been dogging this administration. Yesterday two different events that the president had here at the White House he was asked by reporters to give some kind of comment on this controversy and he declined to do so but apparently now the White House will be addressing that today.

PHILLIPS: OK. Dan Lothian at the White House. Thanks so much.

Now let's talk about the Republican road to the White House, shall we? A critical weigh station for those seeking the GOP nomination. This is CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference. It's the annual gathering of all the movers and shakers basically in the conservative movement. And three of the four candidates are going to speak today trying to win conservative support in a race that right now is just too close to call.

Rick Santorum, fresh off of three big victories this week, he's going to speak next hour. We're going to carry that live. And then Mitt Romney is trying to regain his momentum. One source actually close to the campaign telling us he's going to deliver a, quote, "major speech" at about 12:55 Eastern. And then Newt Gingrich will speak just after 4:00 Eastern Time.

CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser is live at CPAC.

And, Paul, I understand the music may start in moments so you just let us know. We can always come back to you. But Rick Santorum we mentioned speaking next hour. How does he keep his momentum going?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, Kyra, here's what I've learned. And yes, the speakers are just starting, it's just getting underway here. Day two of three days here at CPAC. And as you mentioned, this is the grand daddy. This is the Super Bowl. Basically a political convention. All top conservative leaders, activists, supporters are here.

So what does Santorum do? Well, I spoke to a senior aid for the Santorum campaign, he says that Rick Santorum today will concentrate more against President Barack Obama than his rivalries for the Republican presidential nomination. And expect the former senator from Pennsylvania to also criticize the White House, the administration for going after and assaulting the liberty of Americans.

So I think you'll hear a lot of tough talk from Rick Santorum. Remember he is very popular among conservatives. The other thing he needs to do here is the behind the closed door meetings. He needs to talk to top conservatives and top fundraisers to build his campaign and monopolize and capitalize on those big three victories from Tuesday night -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Paul, now a source close to Romney's campaign is saying he's going to deliver this, quote, "major speech." What do you know about this?

STEINHAUSER: Yes, exactly. This is his attempt here to try to court conservatives. Listen, I think Tuesday night was a very big and vivid illustration. Mitt Romney still has trouble with core conservatives, with those on the right. So for what we hear, he may also highlight his record as Massachusetts governor, his fiscal responsibility and his protection of religious freedoms.

Remember, Kyra, four years ago Mitt Romney was the conservative alternative to Senator John McCain and here at CPAC he actually ended his campaign but ended up winning that all important straw poll. It's very different four years later -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Paul Steinhauser watching everything for us there at CPAC.

Paul, thank you so much.

And you can stay with us for continuing coverage of today's CPAC event. In just about 30 minutes we're also going to talk about Hispanic voters and their impact on deciding the next president.

Also Wolf Blitzer joining me live to preview Rick Santorum's CPAC speech today that we just talked about. That's probably going to happen about 10:25 Eastern Time. And we will bring that to you live.

Now to that crisis in Syria. More people dying and the gun battles raging on in the streets.

And you can see the government forces shelling neighborhoods. Pro-democracy activists say that innocent civilians continue to be slaughtered and because the regime continues to ban us from covering this story, we continue to count on citizen journalists like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANNY, SYRIAN ACTIVIST: This is one of the houses in Baba Amr. Look at these children. Is this how the Assad regime is supposed to treat our children? Now you see what Assad regime is killing to children. What is the U.N. going to do about this? What is the U.N. going to do about this? Nothing. They're going to sit and discuss and see what they're going to do. They want to do this peacefully, they want to solve it peacefully with this murderer. After what he did to these children. They have been hitting us since 6:00 a.m. until it's 2:00 p.m. now. We have over 100 bodies, over 200 underneath the destructions. We don't even know who they are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And Syria's government is also giving its take. State TV calling these activists terrorists and that they bombed two buildings of security forces.

CNN's Ivan Watson is in Istanbul, Turkey, for us.

Ivan, tens of thousands of people took to the streets today to protest the regime. What's your take and what are you hearing? Can Bashar al-Assad survive this?

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think, you know, most of the analysts, most of the activists who are participating in these protests that we're talking to thinking the short term, he will survive, even though there are clearly armed elements now within this 11-month-old protest movement that the government accuses of carrying out two deadly bombings in the second city of Aleppo this morning.

For the time being the Syrian military does enjoy a near monopoly of power. It has tanks, it has helicopters, and planes, and cannons. And it has shown the willingness to use them. It is killing to stay in power. But any analyst you talk to, anybody who knows Syria also knows that the majority of Syrian society does not come from the small religious minority of Bashar al-Assad and his family. That is the Alawite religious minority.

The majority are Sunni Muslims. And the majority of the people that I'm talking to, those soldiers who were defecting from the military do tend to come from that Sunni majority. And anybody you talk to says in the long term the numbers are against Bashar al-Assad. He can kill and kill and kill but it keeps pushing people into the arms of the opposition and increasingly into the arms of an armed opposition -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Can we talk about the rebels and what do we know about how they are getting help, support, weapons?

WATSON: Well, there is not a monolithic unified rebel army. It's a bit of a misnomer that the armed opposition, these defector soldiers, several thousand of them we understand, have called themselves the free Syrian army because it seems much more like they're independent selves much like the opposition protesters who operate on their own, some of them trying to protect the demonstrators, some of them carrying out some attacks.

And there are divisions within their leadership. I mean, I've been talking to guys who all claim to be leaders of the Free Syrian Army and clearly hate each other. And that's one of the big problems for the opposition. It's not united. There are opposition activists exiles here in Istanbul. And they snipe at each other. And the diplomats and the activists that deal with them are sometimes are very frustrated.

Many with their lack of organization, their lack of efficacy. And I think that comes down to, part of it, the fact that this is a country that's been ruled by a dictatorship for decades that does not have an experience of party politics, of organizing itself. Also, when you stood up and said no to this president, it often ended up landing you in jail possibly being tortured. So this is all new for Syrians right now, but they're in a crucible of fire trying to figure out how to deal with this. Just trying to figure out how to get medicine to their besieged citizens who are dying this week by the hundreds every day.

PHILLIPS: Ivan Watson in Istanbul, Turkey, for us. Ivan, thanks.

Back here in the states, he faces 52 counts of alleged sexual abuse involving young boys and neighbors have expressed fear for the school children that he can see from his back porch.

So now prosecutors want former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky to stay inside during his house arrest. Both sides will argue their motions during a hearing beginning next hour.

Jason Carroll joins us live from Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.

Jason, you've got new information, I'm told, that the defense will present to show that Jerry Sandusky's grandchildren want to see him?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's true, Kyra. And it has to do with what happened yesterday. Apparently yesterday Joe Amendola met with the members of the attorney general's offices. As you know the attorney general and prosecutors basically said look, if you want the conditions of the bail modified? You say that Jerry Sandusky's grandchildren want to see him, well, show us proof.

Well, yesterday during this meeting, Joe Amendola presented this proof that he intends to show in court today. It's basically written testimony from five of Jerry Sandusky's children that would be presented. So that is the proof that he will be showing in court today.

Now either the judge can rule on some of this today or he can take it under advisement and rule on it later -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Now neighbors have also complained about Sandusky outside of his home. As we know, and we've talked about this since the very beginning, that he lives right next to a school. You can see the school playground from his back porch. He hasn't approached any of these kids though, right?

CARROLL: Not to our knowledge, but the complaints are there. For example, there was a complaint from one neighbor that they saw Jerry Sandusky out shoveling snow. And they wondered about that. Well, his attorney tells me that he had permission from his probation officer to go out there and shovel the snow.

There was another complaint from a neighbor who said that he saw Jerry Sandusky staring at one of the children from the playground. Jerry Sandusky says that from his account he remembers seeing a woman walking with a child. As soon as they made eye contact, he went back inside the house.

I think, Kyra, the bottom line is that the defense wants to loosen some of the restrictions on house arrest. He wants Jerry Sandusky to be able to see his grandchildren. He wants Jerry Sandusky to be able to leave the house if he needs to be able to have legal counsel. And the prosecution is saying, quote, "That this is not a house party." That's their words. This is not a house party. They say this is a man who's facing some very serious allegations and if anything the conditions of house arrest should be even more restrictive rather than loosened up a bit. These are -- this is another point that will be discussed today during this hearing -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Keep us posted, Jason. Thanks so much.

A school bus in North Carolina going up in flames. We're going to hear from the driver and how she got all of those kids out of that bus.

And a child is forced to run in the snow, nearly naked. The full story and the video, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Stories cross-country now.

Check out this terrifying video from Charlotte, North Carolina. A school bus goes up in flames and driver Lindora Richardson is being called a hero, though, because she got all six kids off the bus. She says all she was trying to do was keep everybody calm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDORA RICHARDSON, DRIVER: You don't want to be hysterical and make them hysterical. Yes, I was calm and it was calm. I feel like that's what aided in a safe delivery for the kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Go, Lindora.

All right. Well, the model of this school bus has experienced fires before we're told. State officials and the bus maker are now investigating.

In Arizona, an aide to retired Congresswoman Gabby Giffords says he is going to run for her congressional seat. Ron Barber was also wounded in the January 2011 shooting that left Giffords injured and six other people dead.

And in Omaha, the girls basketball team was given a technical foul for wearing pink jerseys to support the Make a Wish foundation. League rules say only whiter jerseys are allowed. The opposing team complained. Got two free throws, scored and went on to win the game.

So, you remember tiger mom, her non-nurturing, tough love strategies that created all kinds of controversy when she wrote her book? Well, she's a downright kitten next to the eagle dad.

If you haven't seen this video, it's going to make you mad as hell or well up in tears.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

PHILLIPS: Little boy is begging to put his clothes back on. He's 4 years old. He's being forced by his dad to run in the snow nearly naked.

And the father defends all of this saying he's training his son to be strong.

Psychologist Lac Su is the author of the book, "I Love Yous Are for White People" and he writes about being raised by two tigers.

Lac, it is so hard to understand the cultural component here. For so many of us, we see this and we see child abuse.

LAC SU, PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes. Yes. Thanks for having me, Kyra, once again. When your producer called me yesterday I was hoping that we would be discussing some successful story about Asian parenting. But here we are again.

Yes, when I saw that movie clip yesterday, actually, the one thing that I focus on was that little boy's face while he was crying to his father to pick him up because it was so cold while he was running in the snow. And, you know, I couldn't help but put myself in that little boy's situation because it happened to me when I was younger growing up in my family household. And my heart was broken because of how innocent and how -- it was just a hard video to see. And, you know, it happens.

PHILLIPS: Well, let me ask you about this. We don't have to listen to it again because, quite frankly, it makes me sick to my stomach. But if we could just look at the video again, and as you watch this and you looked at his face and you were hearing him, what was it he said that was so gut-wrenching to you? And, you know, did your parents ever do anything this harsh?

SU: Yes. Well, what I understand of the little Chinese that I know is that he was crying out to his father to pick him up because it was cold, but instead his father -- and I think I heard his mother's voice in the background, too, edging him on to keep running faster.

And as you can see from the video, he was reaching out to his father to hold him. I'm pretty sure he was wondering why his father was making him do this.

PHILLIPS: Were your parents that harsh, Lac? Were your parents that harsh?

SU: Yes. There was an incident that I describe in my memoir "I Love Yous Are for White People" where I was caught stealing money from my mother's piggy bank to play a video game, and as a result of my mistake, my father stripped me butt naked and threw me out the house like butt naked.

This little boy had some briefs on him. I was butt naked, Kyra. And, you know, I was going through puberty at the time so I was very self-conscious about my body, and he just kicked me out the door.

And that was a lesson that he taught me. It was like stealing is shameful and this is what you should feel when you steal something. And you should feel ashamed. I'm going to leave out there and make you feel shame so you will remember shame the next time you think about stealing again.

PHILLIPS: You have been through this. You are now a psychologist. So, let me ask you, when you see this video of this little boy, does this make you stronger in any way or does this only leave lifelong scars?

SU: The scars are still with me, Kyra, mentally, emotionally. I have an issue with self-esteem. I have an issue with low self- confidence. You know, I blame it on that incident that my father did to me when he kicked me out the house naked.

It stays with you forever. You know, I wasn't fortunate enough to have someone talk to me about my mistakes verbally. Instead, it was more of an action that my father did. He threw me out naked, butt naked, and all he said was -- this is what shame should feel like.

I'd rather have him sit me down and talk to me about, you know, why stealing is bad, understand that little kids make mistakes and they can learn from them with proper and effective guidance, you know? I'd much prefer that but instead it was just something that he learned from his father.

That's the thing, this little boy's father I'm pretty sure has learned these behaviors from his father.

PHILLIPS: Yes, yes.

SU: So, actually, I don't blame this father. I blame the generation and the culture in China that has taught these people.

PHILLIPS: That this is even allowed.

SU: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: Lac Su, you've really overcome so much. You're a psychologist now in San Diego. And the folks that you meet with are very lucky to have you as a counselor, for sure.

We don't know how long this little boy was in the snow, but, you know, 15 seconds is long enough in my eyes.

SU: Is enough.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Lac Su --

SU: Exactly, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: -- thank you so much for your time this morning. Appreciate it.

SU: Can I say something real fast? There is successful stories about Asian parenting on a blog called Rice Daddy. If you want to read about good Asian American parenting, please visit that blog site.

PHILLIPS: Point well-made. Rice Daddy.

Rick Santorum --

SU: Thanks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: You bet.

Rick Santorum has some pretty strong views on women in combat. We're going to tell you what he said that might create a little controversy among the troops.

And the FBI had a file on Apple founder Steve Jobs. It reveals some pretty surprising details about his life. We've got that, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We've got some new details on that historic mortgage settlement that we talked about with you yesterday.

Christine Romans has been following all the details of that.

Why don't we talk about, I guess, more about who can benefit from this deal, Christine, day later?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's not everyone, 11 million people are underwater on their loans. This is 1 million people they're hoping to help.

And here's who qualify -- these are non-Fannie and Freddie loans only. So, these are loans owned by the servicer that aren't back by the government or held by the government.

You have to be underwater and in default. That's for the mortgage principal write-down or underwater and current on your loan. That means you've been paying all your bills. That's how you qualify for the refinancing part of the deal.

And for people who lost their house, they may be eligible -- lost the house because of shenanigans in the servicing and the foreclosure process, those people may be eligible for a cash payment of up to $2,000, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. So, how do you find out if you can actually cash in from this?

ROMANS: Right. And we were asking the administration officials this because this is really key. A lot of people want to know.

You need to go first -- the first place to go is the Web site that's been set up by the settlement folks. It's www.nationalmortgagesettlement.com. That's where you go first. Everything is laid out there, including the phone numbers of all the major servicers.

I just called the Bank of America line to see if it was up and running, and it is. It wasn't open for business yet when I called. But it was connecting you to their national home retention part of the business.

So, the numbers are there. The phone numbers are there. There's a Web site that's been put together. There's still some information that will be coming together. But that's where you begin.

And I would say if you think you might qualify, contact your servicer right away.

PHILLIPS: All right. Christine Romans, appreciate it.

Well, Steve Jobs has an FBI file, and now it's being released to the public.

Alison Kosik, it's pretty critical.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look at this file. Look at this dossier. It's 191 pages. You think the guy was a criminal or something.

Clearly, he was not a criminal. The fact is, though, some people, Kyra, just didn't like him. They were very vocal about it.

Now, what the FBI did was interview Steve Jobs, 30 of his friends, his family, his co-workers, because he was being considered for an appointed position on a presidential council. Some of those who were interviewed called them deceptive, not truthful or of questionable moral character.

But you know what? He was also respected. Look at what one person said about Steve Jobs. They said he was a visionary and a charismatic individual who was at the same time shallow and callous. I guess that's a back-handed compliment I think.

The person also said, you know what? He is strong-willed, stubborn, hard working and driven and possesses integrity, as long as he gets his way.

So, clearly, strong criticism was paired with those strong compliments but you know what, in the end he was recommended for the position by most of the people the FBI talked to.

It says a lot about Jobs as a businessman and ultimately that really was the biggest part of his legacy -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Still some details in there, though, about drug use.

KOSIK: Yes. So it does say that he experimented with LSD and marijuana, but who didn't? It was the '60s and '70s, that's at least what the people who the FBI interviewed said.

Later in life, he said he barely drank. He became a vegetarian. He lived simply. He was heavily influenced by Eastern religion.

But throughout his life, he was really known for a bit of arrogance. It reminds me of a funny story that I read in that dossier. You know, he was being considered for this appointed position in Washington -- usually most people would think, gosh, that's an honor.

But guess what? When the FBI called to interview jobs, he made them wait three weeks. Three weeks. He said he didn't even have an hour to talk. The FBI agent was so annoyed he put it in the report -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Goodness. And I don't know about you, but I was definitely one that didn't experiment with any of that in that time. I think there's a lot of people that didn't.

KOSIK: No, no, not me.

PHILLIPS: Get caught up. Let's make that clear.

OK. Alison, thanks.

KOSIK: I was just saying what people said in the report there.

PHILLIPS: Gotcha. All right.

KOSIK: Just reporting it.

PHILLIPS: Well, have you heard what Rick Santorum has said about women in war? He says that their emotions could be a problem in combat. We're going to find out how that's going over at the Pentagon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, take a look at the Super Bowl of conservative politics going on right now in D.C. This is CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference and it's a busy and big day. Three Republican presidential candidates will be speaking.

Rick Santorum is going to start in less than an hour. We'll have that live for you. Then Mitt Romney is going to begin about 12:55 Eastern Time. Newt Gingrich speaking a little later this afternoon at 4:10 Eastern Time.

Female emotions and combat, hmm. Rick Santorum creating a bit of conversation among our women in uniform now. Here's what he told our CNN's John King.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do have concerns about women in front line combat. I think that can be a very compromising situation where people naturally, you know, may do things that may not be in the interests of the mission because of other types of emotions that are involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: So, how's this going over at the pentagon?

Barbara Starr, do tell.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, where does one start? I think perhaps Mr. Santorum will be explaining further what he exactly meant. In another interview, he sort of begins to reference the notion that he worries. Men in the military on the front lines will be too protective of women.

Look, here is the factual bottom line for women in the U.S. military, Kyra. As you know, this country could not go to war without its military women volunteering to serve the nation. Women have already been in combat. You know, more than 800 women wounded in the last decade, 140 have lost their lives.

This all came up because yesterday the Pentagon, of course, opened a number of new jobs to women closer to what is thought of as traditional combat -- even though in Afghanistan, for example, combat is everywhere you look. So, he's talking about that.

But being too protective? I've got to tell you, in all my years of covering the military, protection of your fellow soldier, worrying about your fellow soldier, has -- I've never seen it be gender specific. Troops look out for each other. They look out for the soldier to the right, their soldier to the left. I've never seen it where it's been a case of worrying about the women too much.

PHILLIPS: Barbara, I'm curious. When he said this last night on John King's show, did you start to get e-mails or calls or any type of response? Have you even had a chance to sort of check in with the various women in uniform that you know, key leaders, anybody? Can you kind of get a sense or if this is going to pick up more momentum or not?

STARR: Well, I think that actually remains to be seen. You know, people will ask him about it. He'll have to explain what he meant. And people will have to, of course, come to their own decision about whether they agree with him or not.

But, you know, there's a really sensitive issue right now underlying women serving in the military, and combat is not it. You, I think, had it on your show the other day, Kyra. The crisis for women in the military right now, the hard reality is the crisis of sexual assault in the military. Women are much more likely to face sexual assault in the military right now than they are to face being shot, captured, or killed.

This is a huge issue. It is something that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has weighed in on. This is something men and women in the military are expressing a lot of concern about.

So, if there's any reaction, perhaps it's that Mr. Santorum was focused on one issue because of the news of the day when perhaps the real issue for women in the military right now is something else, indeed.

PHILLIPS: Point well made. Barbara, thanks so much.

STARR: Sure.

PHILLIPS: Well, independent voters could swing this year's presidential election. In a couple of minutes we're going to hear why Hispanic voters could make up the biggest block of independents.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, the Grammys are Sunday night and "Showbiz Tonight" host A.J. hammer is going to be watching. But, first, he's got a sneak preview. Hey, A.J.

A.J. HAMMER, HOST, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT: Hey, Kyra. This is one of my favorite award shows because so much of the show is about the great musical performances we get to see every year. And this year really seems to be all about the comebacks.

We have Chris Brown, of course, returning to the Grammys three years after he lost control and assaulted Rihanna on the night before they were supposed to appear on the show in 2009. Both of them performing on Sunday night.

Also thrilled that the Beach Boys are reuniting to perform on the show.

And, of course, really the biggest story of the night, Kyra -- Adele up for six Grammy awards, and the night marking a major comeback for her as well.

PHILLIPS: OK. Now, this is going to be her first stage performance since throat surgery, right?

HAMMER: Yes. That's why it's really a big comeback for her even though she's a relatively new artist. She is happy to be singing anything.

She sat down with Anderson Cooper for an interview that's going to air on "60 Minutes." And they talked about the surgery and recovery. Let's watch what Adele said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You had to have surgery?

ADELE, SINGER: Yes. I had laser surgery. Yes.

COOPER: And what do they actually do?

ADELE: Put a laser down your throat, cut off the polyp and kind of laser your hemorrhage back together and fix it.

COOPER (voice-over): To help her heal, she was also ordered not to speak a word for much of November and December.

(on camera): That's got to be hard.

ADELE: Yes, it was really hard.

COOPER: I sense you like to talk.

ADELE: Yes, I love talking.

COOPER: How did you communicate for five weeks?

ADELE: By pad. I had an iPad and also had an application on my phone. You talk the words into it and then it speaks to it.

And the great thing is I love to swear. Most of them you can't swear. I found this one app where you can swear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Well, then I guess it's a good thing the Grammys will be airing with a delay.

Now, last year, Adele was certainly the biggest star in music. Everybody's expecting her to do really well this year, Kyra. She's the favorite for the biggest awards of the night, including album, record, and song of the year.

Some years there are upsets. Don't think that's going to be the case this year. I think Adele's taking it all home.

PHILLIPS: Love it. Here I was thinking, oh, she took a vow of silence. It was probably a spiritual time. She was with the Tibetan monks. She's all excited she found a way to cuss. That's just classic.

HAMMER: Yes.

PHILLIPS: All right. A.J., showbiz at the Grammys in Los Angeles to preview this year's award show. You can catch that special tomorrow afternoon 2:30 Eastern, right here on CNN.

And a handful of battleground states are going to decide this year's presidential election. Hispanic voters are shaping up to be the voting bloc that could sway the outcome. We're talking about that, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking stories "Cross-Country" now.

A surprise witness will take the stand in the murder trial of former University of Virginia Lacrosse player. George Huguely is accused of fatally beating his girlfriend, Yeardley Love. A gag order is keeping details out of the new prosecution witness under wraps.

And a driver in Bakersfield, California, thankful to be alive after a chunk of metal from a big rig crashed through his windshield. She walked away with only minor injuries. Just a month ago another driver survived a similar accident on the same road.

And here's a sweet treat. Just in time for Valentine's Day. A red velvet cupcake topped with an 8-karat diamond ring. It's on sale at a Pennsylvania bakery. The price tag, well, $55,000.

Former Florida Jeb -- or Florida Governor rather, Jeb Bush says it's Hispanic voters in the 15 swing states that will decide this year's presidential election. And Charles Garcia agrees. He actually says that Bush is right on the money. And the CEO of Garcia Trujillo writes about it for our CNN.com opinion page. Ok, how do you know that Bush is right on the money, Charlie?

CHARLES GARCIA, CEO, GARCIA TRUJILLO: Oh it's interesting. I reached out to Jeb and I said, send me the backup data. I would really like to see it. And he really didn't have any; it was really political intuition.

So we reached out to the CNN library and the research team and the U.S. Census Bureau. And after a week they came up with this. You know all 800 pages.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: And you got through all 800 pages?

GARCIA: Yes. Well, the funny thing is that when I send it to Jeb he's kind of a policy guru. He'll actually read this stuff. But yes, it's 800 pages. And it really shows that and if you go to the CNN.com piece.

PHILLIPS: Ok.

GARCIA: We hyperlinked eight pages and charts which basically summarizes all of this into eight pages. So see, I'm driving members to the CNN.com Web site.

PHILLIPS: And then we've got the visuals, it all makes sense. So let me ask you then, issues or parties? What's more important to Latino voters?

GARCIA: Well, the most important thing to the voters are issues and the candidate. They don't really go as a bloc. And as you will see in all this data, one of the important things is there are 15 swing states and those are -- those states are going to determine the election.

So let's take one of those. If we go to North Carolina where you have now in the last election Obama only won it by 14,000 votes, it went from red to blue state. Well, there was 68,000 registered Latino voters and 84 percent of them voted. And now it's doubled. Now it's 130,000.

So if North Carolina again is going to be close, as they expect it is, then Latino votes are going to be the margin of victory. And there's 13 other states just like North Carolina that you wouldn't expect a lot of Hispanics to be there. Indiana, Ohio, New Hampshire.

PHILLIPS: So is there a piece of kryptonite? Is there that one issue that's between Obama and you know, someone else that has got everybody -- the Latino community sitting back going, ok, I'm waiting to see this?

GARCIA: Kyra, that's an awesome question. And the reason is the kryptonite is immigration. Both parties, if you look at Obama in 2008, in April, his approval rating was way up there, 85. And it's dropped like a rock to 49 because he promised immigration reform. He didn't deliver in the first year, the second, or the third.

And in the meantime he's deported 1.2 million Hispanics. You have 15,000 kids sitting as wards of the state and he's been hammered in the media.

But then, the Republicans aren't doing any better. I mean Romney who is the presumed front-runner, he's polling at 22 percent because he surrounded himself with people like this guy Chris Kubek from -- he's secretary of state of Kansas who's helped write these really restrictive laws in Alabama and Arizona and he's perceived by the Latino community as Diablo.

PHILLIPS: The devil?

GARCIA: Yes. And I can see that the negative commercials and he's polling so low and there's really an easy solution. And the easy solution for both parties is to say, look, what we need is border security, right? And we also need something rational to deal with the 10 million illegal immigrants that are contributing in this country. They are a net gain, but we've got to figure out what to do and do it and get it out of the way.

PHILLIPS: Stay tuned.

GARCIA: And then go to the things that really matter.

PHILLIPS: Charlie thanks.

GARCIA: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Go to CNN.com/opinion to read Charlie's entire piece.

Well ahead, the voice of Apple's iPhone now inspiring horror flicks. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And some stories we're working on for you a little later on today.

At 11:40 Eastern Time, President Obama signs the Ultra Light Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act that's targeting drug smugglers.

And at 2:00, the Secretary of the Navy announcing the name the name of the Navy's next combat ship.

And 45 minutes after that, we're going to hear if a judge will allow John Hinckley Jr. have unsupervised visits, or longer unsupervised visits rather to his mother's home. As you know Hinckley has been in a psychiatric hospital since being found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1981 shooting of President Ronald Reagan.

All right, we're following lots of other developments in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in first with our Jim Acosta -- hey Jim. JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi Kyra, I'm at CPAC in Washington which is shaping up to be a Santorum-Romney smack down. We'll be talking about that in just a few moments.

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ivan Watson in Istanbul. Demonstrators are holding protests all across Syria despite the threat of attack from Syrian security forces. The theme of today's protest: Russia is killing our children. I'll have more on that story in about 15 minutes.

PHILLIPS: All right, guys thanks so much.

Plus, syndicated radio host, Michael Baisden will be here. I'm going to ask him if anything or anyone at CPAC is resonating with him or his listeners.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Former Penn State coach, Jerry Sandusky just arriving at court in Belafonte, Pennsylvania a few moments ago. As you know he faces 52 counts of alleged sexual abuse involving young boys.

Prosecutors want him to stay indoors during his house arrest. There's been concern that he's been out on his back porch -- neighbors saying this -- out on the back porch, keeping an eye on the kids in the playground which is right next to his house. Both sides will be arguing whether he should stay inside or not. We're following that hearing for you.

Lakers and Celtics, classic rivalry here in the NBA -- Jeff Fischel

JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS: Yes, it is. And, you know, this week in particular, it speaks to how big this rivalry is. First, you have the Lakers and Kobe Bryant moved past former Lakers teammate, Shaquille O'Neill on the all-time scoring list.

And the Celtics, Paul Pierce passed Celtics legend Larry Byrd on the scoring list. Great battle in Boston and it went to overtime last night.

The Lakers down one. Kobe, no, but Andrew Bynum, the tip in to put the Lakers on top and he gets the smooch from Coach Mike Brown. It's Valentine's Day early. But coach also sent him candy and flowers.

Celtics last chance. It's Paul Pierce. No, the follow blocked by Pau Gasol at the buzzer. The Lakers win, another great chapter in the rivalry.

Good-bye Ochocinco. TMZ reports NFL receiver, Chad Ochocinco plans to change his last name again -- back to Chad Johnson. I think this name change is number cinco. The reason -- he's getting married. He doesn't want his wife to have the last name Ochocinco. She wants to have a Johnson. Golf without the l in Pebble Beach; it's Pro-Am. You like seeing the pros like Tiger Woods team up with pros of a different kind. That's Tony Romo. Romo's a scratch golfer. Here's Tiger who's a scratch golfer. The beautiful birdie putt; Tiger's four under for the day, he's five strokes back of the league.

Here's the best shot of the day, Ken Duke, his approach on 16. It bounces on the green and I wouldn't be showing you unless it goes right in the whole for the eagle. The best part though, watch him celebrate or rather hide your eyes. Wait, wait, wait, here it comes. Oh, my goodness. Look at that.

PHILLIPS: Oh, no, he didn't.

FISCHEL: Yes, he did.

PHILLIPS: Oh, no, he didn't.

FISCHEL: Come on. Oh, you know.

PHILLIPS: Ouch.

FISCHEL: Yes. He's going to have to live with that one for a while.

PHILLIPS: Thanks Jeff.

FISCHEL: Ok.

PHILLIPS: Amazing shot though.

FISCHEL: It was. It was.

PHILLIPS: Well, A new kind of horror movie using iPhones. Here's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sweet dreams.

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You know we have a love-hate relationship with high-tech when our phones start killing us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go to hell, you stupid phone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You first. Die, you stupid little --

MOOS: And the most bloodthirsty of them all is Apple's virtual personal assistant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does anybody have a knife?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's an app for that.

MOOS (on camera): Siri, are you capable of murder? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No comment.

MOOS (voice-over): Siri has spawned a spate of mini horror flicks on YouTube with titles like "Siri Tried to Kill Me".

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Continue driving straight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Straight?

MOOS: And "Psycho Siri". Psycho Siri creeps around the house firing an AK-47 and dropping grenades. The creator of the 4.5 minute movie gets blown away by Siri early on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why does the phone know my name?

MOOS: But Siri didn't blow a hole in the budget.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My budget was zero dollars.

MOOS: Budding film maker Andrew McMurray asked his brother to star in the mini movie shot in seven hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I always thought it would be scary if a piece of technology would turn on you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I overheard you saying something about selling me. I'm afraid I cannot let that happen.

MOOS (on camera): Siri, I'd like you to meet Hal. He's 44 years older than you, but I think you're going to like him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you insist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open the pod bay doors Hal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

MOOS (voice-over): Back in 1968, "2001: A Space Odyssey" starred a murderous computer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me. And I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.