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Endless War in Syria; Remembering Whitney Houston; Santorum Speaks in Metro Atlanta; ABC's of Finance; Virginia's "Personhood" Bill; New Cardinals Inducted by Pope Benedict XVI; Arizona Sheriff in Controversy
Aired February 19, 2012 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. It's top of the hour. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
We're going to begin with this. An Arizona sheriff and a rising Republican star dropping a series of bombshells on the public. One -- he's gay. Two -- he's leaving a prominent post with the Mitt Romney campaign. Three -- he denies intimidating a former lover with the risk of deportation. That's Paul Babeu, Pinal County sheriff and candidate for Congress.
The "Phoenix New Times" is reporting that Babeu to deport his ex- boyfriend, a Mexican immigrant, identified only as Jose, if he revealed their relationship. These are the photos Jose gave the newspaper and Babeu denies any wrongdoing here.
He's leaving his role as Mitt Romney's state campaign co--chair but he's staying in the race in Arizona's fourth congressional district. Later in the show, we'll talk with the reporter who broke the story.
And tomorrow night, we've got the Sheriff Paul Babeu himself, an exclusive interview with "AC 360". That's Monday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN. You won't want to miss that.
And now to the violence, bloodshed and destruction and the new normal in Homs, Syria. Residents say they are growing accustomed to the nightmare of daily life in a war where the opposition is hopelessly outgunned. Nick Paton Walsh has the latest on the conflict from neighboring Lebanon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Homes again, wakened today to the sound of shelling particularly in the district of Barada (ph) which has borne the brunt of this day's long Syrian army offensive. Residents around there deeply concerned. They're seeing Syrian and armed movements in the direction of that neighborhood. Concerns building over the past few days heightened this morning that this may be preparations for some Syrian army onslaught into that neighborhood that's held out against Syrian authorities for so long now.
Quite separately, in a different part of the country, I think people in Damascus still trying to digest the consequences -- the ramifications of yesterday's protest shot upon by Syrian security forces. Originally a funeral, turned into a protest and then scenes around the neighborhood where frankly the presidential palace is nearby, many other ministries as well.
I think this may have caused some in the capital to feel greater disquiet. The capital of Damascus, normally more loyal towards the regime but perhaps after 11 months of economic disruption, the country frankly at a standstill as this conflict violently played out in many areas and perhaps these protests may finally have an impact upon the psyche of residents living in that vital area for the Syria Regime in Damascus.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Beirut.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, there's the situation in Greece; it's not quite as grim yet but unrest is growing as Greeks get tired of having budgets cut, shoved down their throat. Thousands protested today in Athens. The Greek prime minister hopes to seal the deal tomorrow for $171 billion in new funding. The new austerity measures would slash the minimum wage in Greece by 22 percent. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said today he supports the bailout plan.
At least 38 people have died in a prison riot in northern Mexico. State media reports clashes broke out today and inmates took a prison guard hostage. Dozens of people gathered outside the prison to find out if their family members were killed.
New clashes break out in Dakar, Senegal a week before the presidential election. Police today fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters near a mosque. The surge in violence there this weekend has marred early voting. Demonstrators are furious that president is seeking a third terms despite a constitutional limit of two terms.
Iran is launching the first strike in a new oil war with Europe. Tehran says it won't sell anymore oil to Britain or France. Iran claims that it can the excess oil to other customers. China, India, for instance already import more than a third of Iranian oil. Europe is brushing off the move. The EU has already approved a ban on crude from Iran set to take effect this year.
Whitney Houston now in her final resting place; the music legend was buried during a private ceremony today in Westfield, New Jersey. Her plot is next to her father's. Yesterday Houston was remembered in a star-studded funeral service at her hometown church. There are still many questions about how Houston died but toxicology results are still weeks away.
CNN producer Raelyn Johnson was invited to Whitney's memorial service, the only CNN person inside the church. She said it was an emotional experience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAELYN JOHNSON, CNN PRODUCER: For three hours you literally felt like this was just a girl from New Jersey who had a few famous friends and it was such a celebration of life. It is the same church service that will go on in so many churches across the country this morning -- Baptist churches I should clarify. And it was a celebration. It was singing. It was praise for three hours. And it wasn't until the very end until you remembered that this was a funeral and it was a very sad day for a lot of people.
There were about 1,500 of us and it was a very close view. I have to say there wasn't a lot of sitting because there was a lot of reveling and clapping. I knew every song and so did everyone else. This was a group of church-going folks, I should say, and even where I was sitting, the casket (ph) comes by you. You see Cissy Houston completely broken down; Oprah Winfrey, and it was so hard to really believe in the end what had really happened for so many people and to know that you go there to support people or to cover a story and to realize that, you know, I don't have to go and bury my mother today or my child.
And I think that it was such a beautiful service for three hours, it wasn't until the very last moment that you pinched yourself and you said, there's Oprah Winfrey with a face full of tears. There's Tyler Perry with a face full of tears. It wasn't until that last moment everyone just -- it all really sunk in and got really, really heavy. Because the entire time we were on our feet clapping and singing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: CNN producer Raelyn Johnson.
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum raising eyebrows for a controversial stance in refusing to pay for prenatal testing. Goldie Taylor weighs in, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum speaking right now in Cumming, Georgia at a church called First Redeemer. He's at a church rally and you know, his controversial comments about theology this theology. He's talking about theology now. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That they can get away with it this time. And by the way, the accommodation was no accommodation.
It is trampling a constitutional right. It is saying that the government knows better. It is imposing his ideology on a group of people expressing their theology, their moral code and saying government will force you to do what your faith says is gravely wrong.
Thank God, the leaders of the church, of the Catholic Church have said they will not comply. And if you think this was just a one off, if you think this was just, well, the President may have miscalculated on this one, it really isn't hostile the faith, how about a case that was just decided two weeks before that on the United States Supreme Court? It's not like you didn't see this coming. There was a case before the United States Supreme Court called Hosana Tabor (ph) where the government of the United States, the Obama administration saw to impose employment discrimination statutes against churches with respect to the hiring of their ministers. They made the case that they could enforce employment discrimination with the hiring of their ministers who didn't agree with the faith (ph) of the church.
There was a question by I think it was Justice Kagan to the Solicitor General -- Assistant Solicitor General where they asked the question, are you suggesting that you can force the Catholic Church to hire women priests? The answer was yes. So if you think this is just a miscalculation or just pandering to a particular interest group, when I got into this race because I saw Obamacare as a threat to the very foundational principles of our country, as a threat --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right. That is Rick Santorum in Cumming, Georgia, about 45 minutes outside of Atlanta and talking about all the issues that he has been speaking about this week: contraception, women in combat, the President's belief system. Santorum called it a phony theology. And then he's talking about -- Goldie Taylor, we're sitting and listening. We're talking about the Hosana Tabor case. And then we're going to move on these other things which is a case that he said happened right after the whole -- or before the contraception thing.
GOLDIE TAYLOR, POLITICAL ANALYST/CULTURAL CRITIC: Sure. Sure.
LEMON: I have to -- I am -- I don't know much about the Hosana Tabor case. I know peripherally --
(CROSSTALK)
TAYLOR: Sure.
LEMON: -- but you know in depth. And you say what? With Rick Santorum said?
TAYLOR: Well I say what -- Santorum is saying tonight is an out and out lie. You know what they are asking is, does labor law apply to all employers, including lawyers of faith and the answer is that is yes. Now, does that mean that they are going to force people to hire women in the ministry when women aren't allowed in some denominations? No, it doesn't mean that at all.
But it does mean that the church secretary --
LEMON: Yes.
TAYLOR: -- may be of a different faith of the church to which she is -- for which she is working.
LEMON: This is red meat for -- and he's speaking to a group of captive audience right and he knows it.
TAYLOR: Sure he does, he does.
LEMON: Ok.
TAYLOR: He absolutely knows who he's talking to and about what.
LEMON: Ok it's interesting, because Rick Santorum -- he hasn't veered, he talked about the economy. Well, he -- he spoke about the economy and he spoke about social issues somewhat in the beginning.
TAYLOR: Sure.
LEMON: But then when -- when Newt Gingrich is questioned on social issues, he said, let's move on and talk about something that's you know whatever, let's not really talk about these things. I thought it was about the economy, really. Now it's back to social issues. What's going on here?
TAYLOR: The difficulty was the Republicans played politics with this economy. The economy is having its revenge. It's now playing with politics. The economy is rebounding. People are going back to work. People are shopping again. There is a renewed sense of consumer confidence about us.
You know, you just don't bet against Americans. And so that's what's happening now and so you can no longer say, Obama has really destroyed this economy because this economy is healing. And so they've turned to things, turned to something else and that something else is social issues, those things that divide us.
LEMON: But there are those who believe that this is sort of a -- you know, a mandate by the Obama administration and there are people who believe you know he is saying you have to have contraception, you have -- you are making us think out of the boundaries of what we believe is faith and act -- and not acting according to our faith.
TAYLOR: I think the Obama administration answered it appropriately when they said, "No, we don't want churches to have to go against their moral code, against their theology, you know, to invest in contraceptive. We would put that on the insurance carrier but we want that to be accessible to any woman who wants it."
And so I think that compromise, that allotment was a good thing to do but now to play politics with it, I call the womb warriors you know stay away from my girly parts is what I've said. You know if I want to use contraceptives --
LEMON: Yes.
TAYLOR: If I want to have, you know, amniocentesis during a pregnancy --
LEMON: Right.
TAYLOR: Because I've got a hard risk pregnancy happening to me, I ought to be -- I ought to have access to every reasonable standard of health care for women and to attack women's health care in a year like this will be most unfortunate for Republicans.
LEMON: Is that going to -- you think that's going to pay off?
TAYLOR: I think it's going to pay off in just the opposite fashion. I think that this was the year that they had a golden ticket to win this White House. I think they've flushed that ticket by attacking women this year.
LEMON: So is the President going to get credit for a recovering economy and is it going to pay off at the -- at election time -- on Election Day?
(CROSSTALK)
TAYLOR: I think he -- I think he absolutely will. You know they've said that, you know, a President can't be re-elected with a certain level of unemployment. Well, that's not necessarily true. It's the trajectory of the unemployment. Unemployment is falling. The economy is recovering. Many fewer people are signing up for unemployment benefits and so, you know, I think the recovery is going to help this President come this fall.
LEMON: Yes, well listen, I know we have to run but on another note, the whole entire week we haven't had a chance really we talked just on the air to talk about the whole Whitney Houston thing and church. I just thought it was interesting about the whole faith part.
TAYLOR: Sure.
LEMON: And I mean, quite honestly, having -- I was telling all of the people that I worked with yesterday, Piers Morgan and Soledad O'Brien --
TAYLOR: Sure.
LEMON: And everyone that it was really a validation that I got from African-Americans about the way they worship in church on Sunday by seeing Whitney Houston's services play out and thanks to Cissy Houston.
TAYLOR: It was absolutely that. I'm glad that the family decided to take her home to Newark. It really was a home going until I heard people calling it a funeral yesterday and that was the first thing -- this is not a funeral.
LEMON: A funeral, yes.
TAYLOR: This is a home-going.
LEMON: Yes, a home-going.
TAYLOR: This is a celebration of life and I think this church really showed up and showed out yesterday.
LEMON: Can you clear something up for me? Everyone would say to me and text me and send me tweets and e-mails saying you know Aretha Franklin is not her godmother. And then she -- I said, well calls her Auntie Re so that's good enough for me. But what's the whole thing about that? What's the truth in that?
TAYLOR: Well -- well, the truth is this. Darlene Love is Whitney Houston's godmother. Cissy introduced Whitney to Aretha Franklin when she was around 10 or 11 years old.
LEMON: Right.
TAYLOR: They were very close. They sang back up for Aretha, she became a second godmother to her.
LEMON: I see.
TAYLOR: But not the traditional godmother that you see with the christening and the baptism.
LEMON: Right.
TAYLOR: But those godmothers that you and I know we collect over the years.
LEMON: Yes.
TAYLOR: Yes.
LEMON: Good stuff. Good stuff. And you know my thoughts and prayers to Cissy Houston and to the family, of course -- finally at peace.
TAYLOR: At peace.
LEMON: Regardless of however you -- if you liked her as an artist or whatever you thought about her, she is finally at peace.
TAYLOR: She is at rest and her legacy is intact.
LEMON: Yes thank you. Thanks Goldie Taylor.
TALYOR: Thank you.
LEMON: I appreciate it.
Coming up a Virginia bill that defines life is beginning a contraception could threaten women's rights over reproduction. That report is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are we doing today to prepare the children in school to understand the markets and the economy better to face the challenges of tomorrow?
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: There's a lot that's expected of us as educators in preparation for many of our state's standardized test. There is nothing up there that requires us to teach children about the markets and as a result we don't. There are some teachers who take it upon themselves in certain schools to do something with it. So there are opportunities there but there's very little that we're doing.
So this is where parents come in. You guys can talk about what you think is important. Not just to your own child but you can come to the school and offer some after-school activities. You can come and volunteer and tell us what you think we need to know about the markets.
At the end of the day, we're educators and we're not professionals in the markets. So we could use your help, either as a parent or as a member of that profession who could come in and help our school out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: It has been 39 years since Roe versus Wade but the debate over women's reproductive rights continues. This week the Virginia House of delegates approved a bill that defines life beginning at conception. But critics say that if it becomes law it could have far- reaching implications for women.
CNN's Athena Jones has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The battle over women's reproductive rights is playing out in state houses around the country. In a Virginia the house of delegates just passed a bill that says life begins at conception and gives unborn children at all stages of development, including embryos, the same rights available to you and me.
ROBERT MARSHALL, (R) VIRGINIA STATE HOUSE: It grants recognition that there's a human being here. By itself this cannot criminalize abortion.
JONES: While the bill doesn't directly challenge the landmark Roe versus Wade Supreme Court decision affirming a woman's right to an abortion, Republican delegate Bob Marshall, the bill's sponsor and a long-time abortion opponent, acknowledges it's a step in that direction.
MARSHALL: We need to get back to the respect for life that we used to have in this country that's been lost.
JONES: The bill hasn't yet passed the state senate.
(on camera): The fight over the legislation here in Richmond has been fierce with opponents saying the bill will severely restrict women's reproductive rights.
(voice-over): Democratic delegate, Eileen Filler-Corn worries the measure could reduce access to forms of contraception that prevent the implantation of fertilized eggs. EILEEN FILLER-CORN (D), VIRGINIA STATE HOUSE: This all is an overreach by the state and by the government and these decisions should be left to a woman and her physician, the medical professional. This is a slippery slope and eventually the goal of the Personhood Movement is to ensure that birth control is illegal.
JONES: The battle in Virginia isn't unique. A similar bill is now pending in Oklahoma's legislature.
ELIZABETH NASH, GUTTMACHER INSTITUTE: What I would say is that we're in the middle of a wave of these kinds of bills and that they are happening across the country. We're also seeing valid initiatives being introduced.
JONES: Virginia's governor, Robert McDonnell has said he will review the bill if it passes the State Senate. But he hasn't committed to signing it. Whatever happens in Virginia, one thing is certain. 39 years after Roe v. Wade, the debate over women's reproductive rights is not going away.
Athena Jones, CNN, Richmond, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Lk1: Next, a woman who's giving children with cancer a way to reclaim their childhood. You'll see why she is a CNN Hero.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Tonight we are honoring a woman who has given many children with cancer what her own daughter couldn't have, a place to learn and make friends. This week's CNN Hero helps these kids reclaim their childhood by giving them their own preschool experience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY ZUCH, CHAMPIONING CHILDREN: Morgan was a very happy child, had friends, and then one day when she was two years old, Morgan was diagnosed with leukemia. We were devastated.
To make it worse, because of the chemotherapy she had no immune system. She could not be around other children.
I was driving Morgan to the hospital and all of her friends were going to the preschool, and I thought we need to start a program for children with cancer where they can socialize and have friends and learn and play.
My name is Nancy Zuch. I give children battling cancer a preschool experience.
A, b, c, d --
Exposures to a simple childhood cold or illness can become like, threatening to these children.
Clean hands. Good girl.
We provide a safe and clean environment that has individualized supply boxes. They don't share.
Tell us about this special doll.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my leukemia doll because I have leukemia and I have no hair just like me.
ZUCH: The doll is just like you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything that you hoped for your children, it's like you have to rebuild that and it's a really difficult thing to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's wonderful to see my daughter be like a normal kid.
ZUCH: They love school because they are around other kids which they're not used to. We live in isolation. We don't do anything.
You can't go in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why?
ZUCH: Too many people in there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Before I found the Morgan center, the hospital was the only place that my kids would go.
ZUCH: Part of me lives, (INAUDIBLE) treatment every little child that I meet and every parent that's telling their story. But to see the smiles on their faces and they are reclaiming their childhood, that feeling is such joy that it's indescribable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And remember CNN Heroes are all chosen from people you tell us about. To nominate someone who's making a difference in their community, go to cnnheroes.com. Your nomination could help them help others.
Up next, we are talking finances -- your finances. Reports show historically low employment numbers for young Americans. How can you stand out in the job market?
Nicole Lappin has some ideas right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Your headlines right now.
We'll start in Cleveland. A woman and a baby allegedly snatched from the street yesterday were found dead today in the garage of an empty building. Both had been shot. The 19-year-old woman's estranged boyfriend, also the baby's father was found dead next to them. He apparently shot himself in the head.
Pope Benedict XVI celebrated mass today with 22 freshmen cardinals, among them Timothy Dolan of New York and Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore. The 22 new princes of the church as they are known to Catholics will be eligible to vote for a new pope when Benedict dies. They are also eligible to become the next pope.
If there's anybody who deserves a happily ever after it is Elizabeth Smart. Smart who was abducted in 2002 and held for months is now a married woman. She exchanged vows with her fiancee in a private ceremony in Hawaii yesterday. Smart is now 22 years old. When she was 14, a man snatched her from her home at knife point in a case that made national headlines. She was recovered nine months later.
The numbers for youth unemployment are out and they are not looking good. Financial expert Nicole Lapin breaking them down and answering your questions right now. Nicole, first the news. How bad are these numbers?
NICOLE LAPIN, FINANCIAL JOURNALIST: The numbers are so scary, Don. Only 54 percent of young people in America have a job. That is only half. And that is the lowest that these numbers have ever been. So it shows us that the recession is really killing job prospects for younger Americans.
LEMON: All right. Well, let's get to the questions that our viewers had. All right. So in this tough job market, people are going back to school and one viewer asks, I'm $50,000 in debt, Nicole, in student loans and finally found a job. Should I start paying off my loans right away? Nicole?
LAPIN: You know, this is a really tricky one. Because most financial experts will say, "Yes, stop paying them off right away." And the thinking behind that is the quicker you pay them off, the quicker you can get to other things. But I would say, hold up, wait a minute, especially if you have a sliding scale payment plan because the quicker you pay them off, the higher your payments are going to be and if you can't keep up with those higher payments, that's really going to upset your creditors. So your credit score could suffer there. Because they're going to say, wait a minute, why can't you keep up with those payments.
So I would say, slow and steady when it comes to paying off your student loans, pay off the higher interest rate debt that you have first before moving on to the student debt.
LEMON: OK. Our next viewer question says, in this tight job market, what can I do to make myself stand out? Nicole?
LAPIN: It always helps to stand out, especially right now. So invest in a trade magazine to find new and creative ways to help your company make more money and come up with a new idea for your boss or help your team out or invest whatever time or whatever energy you have in taking a class online or at a local university to hone a skill and once you've actually developed that skill, you can go on sites like Elance - I don't know if you know this one or Odesk and that's where companies hire freelancers in everything from writing to web design to administrative tasks.
LEMON: I do not know that.
LAPIN: Makes an extra point on the side.
LEMON: Elance or what is it?
LAPIN: Odesk.
LEMON: Odesk. Just O then d-e-s-k.com.
LAPIN: Yes.
LEMON: OK. Good.
LAPIN: You got it.
LEMON: All right. The next one, let's see. "I graduated last May and I'm still looking for a job. What are some alternative ways for me to make money?" Well they can probably use the Web sites that you just named.
LAPIN: Yes or you can play your work weaknesses. I've said this time and again, play to your work weaknesses. Because that's actually the thing that you enjoy doing most which is probably going to be the thing that you give most passion to. Do you have a Twitter addiction? Don Lemon. So you might want to reach out to a company to actually get paid. You can't because you have all of the CNN restrictions. But reach out to a company (INAUDIBLE) to promote the tweets online.
Are you that guy or that gal who painstakingly reaches out to all of your friends' Facebook pictures? Or reach out to become a researcher on the side or if you're that guy or gal who always is dying for the latest app, you can reach out to be a beta tester for new apps that come out. So you're already that guy you're already that Twitter guy or gal, just be the smart one who gets paid for it.
LEMON: Perfect segue. All right.
LAPIN: Not everybody can be Twitter king, by the way. Only you.
LEMON: Well, that's tongue in cheek. Come on, everybody should realize I have a sense of humor not everything is serious. But I am a Twitter king. And I'm not addicted but I do - I like my Twitter fans. They are very devoted and I love them. So @donlemoncnn. What is yours?
LAPIN: @nicolelapin.
LEMON: @nicolelapin. Thank you, Nicole. Appreciate it.
LAPIN: You're welcome. Always good to see you.
LEMON: All right. You too. We're talking tech. Katie Linendoll is going to come on in just a little bit. We're going to talk more tech. In the meantime, he has dominated the hardwood and starting to dominate online. Jeremy Lin blowing up social media and search engines. And you won't believe how much people are now willing to pay for his rookie cards. We've got that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: In the tech world, both Facebook and Apple made news this past week and at the cross-sections of tech and sports, we're talking about Jeremy Lin. And our tech reporter Katie Linendoll is going to join us. Katie is getting hooked up. I don't know if she can - can we take the video down and show Katie? She's not even there, she's not even there in the chair. OK.
So Katie's supposed to be in this segment. This is what happens on live television when you have guests sometimes, sometimes they don't get hooked up in time. So we're going to move and we'll get back to Katie Linendoll. What's the story we have?
The story is in prompter. We're going to go a little out of order. That's what I'm hearing in my ear. I'm not just hearing voices.
Have you ever used Skype before? You know the pixels don't always give you a perfect picture? But don't tell that to Sandro Kopp. He's an artist who paints amazing portraits of people who pose for him long distance via the digital medium.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My sketch (INAUDIBLE) is beautiful in person.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think I look very Star Trek-ky with those little elf ear but I mean it's really - you look like that. They are little elf ears. I think he did a good job, is what I'm trying to say.
SANDRO KOPP, PAINTER: My name is Sandro Kopp and I'm a painter and at the moment I'm painting people over Skype.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This new technology and it's still with old technique. I think it's a great mixture.
JIM JARMUSCH, FILM DIRECTOR: I like that he utilizes Skype and then some of the pixels are incorporated into his style, you know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is your mother?
KOP: This is my mother in New Zealand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And why is she wearing a headset?
KOPP: (INAUDIBLE) She no longer wears the headset.
I'm not particularly been successful at painting people from photographs so I need a sitter actually there but I live in the north of Scotland and so finding sitters can be a little difficult.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does the technology ever get distracting? KOPP: It gets very frustrating when it comes out. There's a real precariousness to the sitting because you have audio drops, you have pixelations coming in massively, you have calls being cut off and of course that's difficult.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now this is what I'm doing.
KOPP: But there's actually a kind of beauty actually about that because it means that the sitter's really there. You both have to meet and the sitter had to really kind of push themselves into the painting and make sure (INAUDIBLE).
MICHAEL STIPE, MUSICIAN: He was a good, dutiful sitter, I think. You know what surprised me, I realized how much time I sit in my computer on a daily basis for three and a half hours, without getting up to pee or a glass of water or whatever.
I think he did a great job of my piece. He switched up any glasses a little bit (INAUDIBLE) purse my lips.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And who might this be?
KOPP: This is my sweetheart.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Slept through the whole sitting. It's more of a lying.
KOPP: Well, she sits for me on occasion and she tends to get a little bit inpatient and just because she's a very, very busy person and also not only has she lived around painters all her life so there's absolutely no novelty for her in sitting for someone but also there's no novelty for being with me because (INAUDIBLE) anyway.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I take it John didn't comb his hair at all during the sitting?
KOPP: No. He's just like that. The reason that there's less detail in this particular painting is because the connection speed was not that fast. So it was actually very, very pixelated and was pixelated throughout.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you ever think about what Da Vinci or Rembrandt might have to say about painting from Skype?
KOPP: I do think a lot about what the impressionists would have made painting from Skype because it's absolutely light signals. I thought that Monet would have gone completely bananas (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure.
KOPP: Not that he didn't do amazing stuff. Anyway.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. So up next, we have a developing story for you. You want to pay attention to this because it's the one that's burning up the internet and it's the one that's been headlines everywhere. You see this rising star, this man right here in the Republican Party holding that press conference to tell the world that he is gay but that's only half of the surprise. We're going to talk with the reporter who broke the story that led to this Arizona sheriff come out of the closet.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. This story is big news now and it's going to be even bigger news next week and as this campaign continues, forced out of the closet by scandal. This is Paul Babeu, he's a sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona and a Republican candidate for Congress. He admitted that he's gay at a press conference on Saturday. Why is that important?
OK. That's not all he admits here. His real purpose for calling the media was to deny claims from an ex-boyfriend, "Phoenix News," "The Phoenix News Times" report says that Babeu threatened to deport ex- lover, a Mexican immigrant identified only as Jose if he revealed their relationship. These photos that you're looking at now - these are photos that Jose gave the paper. Babeu is denying any wrongdoing. He said "not true." But he is leaving his role as Mitt Romney's state campaign co-chair. Mitt Romney's state campaign co-chair he is stepping down.
So I want to bring in the reporter who broke the story now for the "Phoenix New Times," her name is Monica Alonso. Monica, thank you very much.
MONICA ALONZO, REPORTER, "PHOENIX NEW TIMES": You're welcome. Thank you for having me.
LEMON: Quite a story here that you broke. So tell us what happened. So who - did Jose get in touch with you? How did this happen?
ALONZO: Yes, Jose reached out to us because of the threats and intimidation that he was experiencing from Babeu. That's why he also reached out to an attorney, and he felt that going public was the best way to end what he was experiencing.
LEMON: OK.
ALONZO: He just wanted to be left alone.
LEMON: So here's the thing, and this is something I want our viewers to understand. So Paul Babeu, has Paul Babeu admitted to having a relationship with Jose?
ALONZO: Yes, he has.
LEMON: He has admitted. OK. So Jose apparently worked for his campaign in some way, right?
ALONZO: Right. He created and maintained the pop-ed use Web sites for his campaign for sheriff.
LEMON: And there was an accusation that Jose hacked into Babeu's campaign Web site, and then that Babeu's attorneys contacted Jose and told him to turn over his passwords and all the information concerning the campaign's Web sites, and not to use them, is that correct?
ALONZO: That's correct, yes.
LEMON: And so then, from there, what happens? Jose says he felt intimidated or threatened, because the attorneys also asked him to sign some sort of confidentiality agreements not to talk about their relationship publicly, to keep it a secret. Is that correct?
ALONZO: Right, that is what Jose says. And his attorney backs up his claims.
LEMON: OK. So then what happens from there? Jose feels intimidated, as you were saying, and then contacts the newspaper and that's how you got involved?
ALONZO: Right. Part of the intimidation came from, they both agreed that they would not contact each other, through their attorneys. They would just cease all contact with him. After Jose moved, he got a Christmas card from Paul Babeu, even though he had moved to an apartment, didn't leave any forwarding address. So he felt that that was Babeu's way of letting him know, I know where you're at.
LEMON: OK.
ALONZO: And there was pressure there for him to sign something, that he wouldn't disclose any details about the relationship.
LEMON: OK. And, Paul, to your knowledge, Paul Babeu, in the community, is not out?
ALONZO: No, not before this story, no.
LEMON: OK. Is there - what is the evidence that Babeu was going to threaten to deport him, if he made their relationship public?
ALONZO: The evidence comes from the attorney who received those threats from Paul Babeu's attorney. As they were discussing this document, they wanted Jose to sign and she made it clear that her client wasn't interested in doing that. That's when they started raising questions about his visa, saying that it had expired, saying that he wasn't in the country - that legally, he was not here.
LEMON: So that's where the threats -
ALONZO: And they said -
LEMON: - and the accusations of abuse of power are coming from that.
ALONZO: Right.
LEMON: So, listen, you're saying he's not out in public, he's saying he's gay, and he said it in front of cameras. He's not out. There are pictures of him there, allegedly, with Jose. There's a shirtless picture that's online with him that he's taking in the mirror. ALONZO: Right.
LEMON: There's also a profile from a gay Web site of him and his personal information and shirtless, that's allegedly him. Why is any of that important?
ALONZO: Well, it's important because it goes to judgment. Here you have a sheriff of Pinal County, somebody who has made himself the face of Arizona when it comes to border security, illegal immigration, and he's also making a run for Congress. So I think the reason that those pictures are important is because it talks a lot about the credibility or the judgment that somebody has in posting photos like that or e- mailing photos like that of themselves. And those were the more tame ones. The other ones are maybe a little more explicit.
LEMON: Yes, and we said, this is a relationship site, and that's the gentle way of putting it, and those are the explicit ones that you're talking about?
ALONZO: Right. And then some also, that he had e-mailed to Jose.
LEMON: OK. All right. Monica, it's an interesting story. And again, it's going to go on next week, explosive. I hope you're ready for it. Go ahead.
ALONZO: It is. What I want to point out here is that I think that they really are trying to change the focus of it to make it like Paul Babeu's being attacked for being gay, but really, that doesn't have anything to do with the story here. It has to do with these accusations and the next step of the story is really answering the question of what's going to happen to these allegations? Who's going to investigate him? Who's going to try to determine whether they're true or not?
LEMON: That's why I said, is any of that important? But if, Monica, he was trying to keep the relationship secret because he's gay and he didn't want out, then that's a part of the story, but the bigger part, you're right, is abuse of power if these allegations are indeed true. Correct?
ALONZO: Right. Correct. And then also the judgment and that's why I think the photos are important. We've seen a lot of other politicians come beforehand that used less than - well, poor judgment in sending photos of themselves, and it just has bad implications.
LEMON: Monica, thank you.
ALONZO: You're welcome.
LEMON: Monica Alonzo from the "Phoenix New Times," we appreciate you coming in to CNN. I want to tell our viewers tomorrow night, Anderson Cooper has an exclusive interview with Sheriff Paul Babeu. It's going to be tomorrow night on "AC 360," 8:00 p.m. Eastern and then again at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, tune in. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Katie Linendoll, we finally got access. Let's talk about Jeremy Lin, of course, who's not talking about him. Online, people are going crazy.
KATIE LINENDOLL, TECH EXPERT: Yes and I know we're short on time, so I'm going to talk faster an usually. Let's talk a little insanity, because it's amazing when somebody can come out of nowhere and just own the interwebs. But don't take it from me, I want you to see these numbers that we've pulled across the board.
In terms of Twitter, he's beating out every NBA player, including Lebron by 20,000. He had over 215,000 Twitter mentions in just one week alone. And he's not doing too bad on Facebook either. Over 500,000 Facebook fans since his debut, February 4th, and also, he's gaining about 48,000 Facebook fans a day. And I reached out to Yahoo! too. Some additional statistics I thought were pretty interesting. Searches for "Linsanity" are up over 19,000 percent.
LEMON: Oh, my god.
LINENDOLL: Big numbers here. And they're not the only people cashing in on "Linsanity." Two guys in California are actually petitioning to the U.S. Patent Office to try to coin the phrase. This generated so much hype across the web that Jeremy Lin turned around and heard about it and actually is trying to patent "Linsanity" himself.
But I want to give you a few more statistics before we go -
LEMON: Go ahead.
LINENDOLL: Because actually it's pretty ridiculous when we're talking about these numbers. MSG, ratings, doing pretty well. Up 87 percent in Lin's last five starts. Also, his rookie card, it's going up for more than $5,000. Some people think they're going to cash in, it's $75,000. Ebay informed me that products with Jeremy Lin are actually doubling. And as you can see there, best-selling jersey on nbastore.com. We all have it here at CNN, Don, "Linsanity."
LEMON: Whoo! That was crazy. You talk fast, girl. OK. Thank you. Katie Linendoll, it's all - everybody's all excited about Jeremy Lin. Thank you. Appreciate t.
I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World headquarters, CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. I'll see you back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. "CNN PRESENTS" begins right now.
