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Panetta Rejects McCain's Syria Plan; Peyton Manning Out In Indy; No Knockout Punch From Romney; Inside NASA's Iconic Shuttles; Christie Brinkley's Ex Speaks Out; Apple Unveils New iPad; More People Making Billions Than Ever; Valedictorian Can Stay In U.S.

Aired March 07, 2012 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go. Top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin. As always, a lot happening over the course of the next two hours. We begin it with "Rapid Fire." Mike, roll it.

You feeling pretty good about that iPad 2? Guess what? That is so 12 months ago. CEO Tim Cook just made the big reveal. I'm talking about the new iPad. So, here are the details we know so far. It has a retina display, a high resolution, 3.1 million pixels, a 4G LTE connection.

And this thing's going to be out next Friday, the 16th. But pre- orders, you can get them in starting today at the same price points. We're talking between $499 and $820. More highlights of the announcement later this hour. Also, I tweeted this out, and I recommend you follow our correspondent out in Silicon Valley, Dan Simon CNN, @dansimoncnn. He is a tweeting feing (ph) right now with all these updates on this iPad.

Meantime, in the Republican presidential race, Rick Santorum is facing a big uphill battle, but Mitt Romney still can't close the deal. I know you were up with us late watching. Romney winning big on Super Tuesday. Six races, including a nail biter in Ohio. But the problem is this, Santorum won three races, Newt Gingrich won one. So there was really no knockout punch. Next up, you have voters in Kansas, Mississippi and Alabama heading to the polls. And coming up here, Wolf Blitzer, he's going to join me live to talk about why Romney is now in such a tough spot. And did you watch our live shot out of Wasilla, Alaska, last night. Sarah Palin made a little news live on CNN, putting herself back in the conversation. We'll revisit that coming up.

Meantime, President Obama in North Carolina today. He's talking jobs, he's talking clean energy at this manufacturing facility there. And what he did was unveil a new program aimed at challenging communities to embrace more fuel-efficient technologies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm announcing today a program that will put our communities on the cutting edge of what clean energy can do. The cities and towns all across the country, what we're going to say is, if you make a commitment to buy more advanced vehicles for your community, whether they run on electricity or biofuels or natural gas, we'll help you cut through the red tape and build fueling stations nearby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Also today, six British soldiers are presumed dead after their armored vehicle apparently hit a land mine in Afghanistan. All this happened while they were out and about on patrol in Helmand province. That is in southwestern Afghanistan. Members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force have secured the area, but they will not officially confirm the deaths until they get inside the damaged vehicle.

Also this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEYTON MANNING, FORMER INDIANAPOLIS QUARTERBACK: I've been a coach for almost all of my adult life. But I guess, in life and in sports, we all know that nothing lasts forever. Times change, circumstances change, and that's the reality of playing in the NFL.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Peyton Manning choking back some tears today minutes after Colts' owner, Jim Irsay, announced the quarterback's release. The four-time league MVP missed all of last season because of that neck injury. Manning is now free to sign with any team in the league he'd like. The Colts are expected to draft Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck with the number one pick there in next month's -- next month's NFL draft.

And this story just into us here at CNN. We have confirmed that the hacking group Anonymous took down the Vatican website today. In fact, CNN just spoke with sources that say hackers within Anonymous Italy, they are indeed responsible for the attack. Keep in mind, this is the very same group that has admitted to taking down the CIA website, FBI's site in the past. Obviously we're making calls on this, get you updates as soon as we get them.

Also, the man accused of killing 77 people in Norway officially charged today. Police say he detonated a bomb and shot up a camp full of kids last summer. There is a big debate, though, over his sanity, which will affect the punishment should he be convicted here. Prosecutors call this guy psychotic.

And Iran accused of not telling the entire truth when it comes to its nuclear program. Tehran claims its program is for peaceful purposes, but the head of the international watchdog group says it's difficult to tell whether that's actually true. All of this comes one day after the U.S. and other countries agreed to go back to the negotiating table with Iran.

And now, who you got? You have Prince Harry versus the fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt, in Jamaica. Take a look. Yes, he let him do that. Probably the prince not qualified for the Olympic summer games in London, but it was all smiles between the two after. There we go, striking the Usain Bolt signature pose. Boom. Harry met with the Olympic champion. This was just yesterday. The prince has been touring the Caribbean this week in honor of the queen's 60 years on the throne.

And we are just getting started here. A lot more to cover for you in the next two hours, including this.

A green beret dies trying to save his two daughters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Isabella and Natalia were the two sweetest little angels you could have ever asked for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Find out what this dad did moments after the family's house burst into flames.

The feds say cyber attacks could be America's biggest threat. You're going to hear how easy a target the government is.

Plus, who are the richest people in the world? Forbes has just released its annual billionaire list, and we've got it.

And, a supermodel's dramatic love life played out in public. Why Christie Brinkley's ex says she's throwing her entire family under the bus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Absolutely no question here, the situation in Syria is quite desperate. And a new flood of Syrian refugees are now pouring into neighboring Lebanon. And they are on the run here as Syrian government forces bombard Syria's border towns.

Back here in the United States, though, this is at a Senate hearing specifically on Syria. You have all this back and forth getting very intense this morning between Senator John McCain and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. McCain, keep in mind, a ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is calling for military intervention and Panetta, meantime, is pushing back. I want to play you just one of these exchanges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Can you tell us how long -- how much longer the killing would have to continue, how many additional civilian lives would have to be lost in order to convince you that the military measures of this kind that we are proposing necessary to end the killing and force to leave power, how many more have to die? Ten thousand more? Twenty thousand more?: How many more?

LEON PANETTA, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I think the question, as you stated yourself, senator, is the effort to try to build an international consensus as to what action we do take. That makes the most sense. What doesn't make sense is to take unilateral action at this point.

As secretary of defense, before I recommend that we put our sons and daughters in uniform in harm's way, I've got to make very sure that we know what the mission is. I've got to make very sure that we know whether we can achieve that mission, at what price, and whether or not it will make matters better or worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I want to talk a little bit more about what was going on there, right? Chris Lawrence there at the Pentagon. And that was just one example, Chris, of some of this exchange here between the ranking senator and the secretary of defense. Let's talk about another exchange, though. It happened over the issue of the U.S. asking permission to actually launch an attack. What happened there?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke, it was -- Secretary Panetta was talking with Senator John Sessions and he said basically, the secretary did, that the U.S. would seek to get permission from an international body and then come back and inform Congress of what it intended to do or wanted to do. Senator Sessions shot back that that seems very mixed up. You should be coming to Congress first, getting permission from Congress, then taking that to the international body. The secretary may have been trying to say what he was looking for was an agreement.

In any case, Senator Carl Levin had to jump in, basically stop everything and say, wait a minute, you were looking for something like a, you know, an international legal basis for going in. Is that what you meant to say? And he said, that's what I meant to say.

So he got a save from Senator Levin. We've asked around here at the Pentagon about further clarification but haven't gotten anything back yet. But all of this comes down to the much bigger issue of the fact that the Pentagon and military leaders do not want to unilaterally go into Syria.

BALDWIN: Right, the secretary saying he wanted some sort of international consensus. The president, even yesterday as part of that news conference saying, look, it's just complicated when you talk about Syria.

Has the Pentagon at all given any indication as to what a potential military strike, an American military strike, would look like, if that were to happen?

LAWRENCE: Yes, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff laid out several options today. Everything from establishing a humanitarian corridor, to a no-fly zone, to limited air strikes. Basically what he said was, the U.S. military could very easily conduct a single raid- like strike. What would be difficult is a sustained campaign over time. And he said there's several reasons for that, primarily because, he said, if you compare Syria to Libya, Syria's air defenses are about five times as powerful and as vast as what Libya had, and they're concentrated in about one-fifth of the area. So what that means is, you've got a much more heavily populated area there on the western border, much, much higher possibility of having civilian casualties.

Another thing that the military is really grappling with right now is the fact that there could be up to 100 of these individual groups within this overall rebel force, so to speak. They're not exactly sure who is who yet. And there doesn't seem to be any area in Syria where the rebels have firm command of an area. That they could sort of cordon off like you had there in Libya.

BALDWIN: There is no Benghazi of Syria yet?

LAWRENCE: Exactly. Exactly.

BALDWIN: Got it.

LAWRENCE: Sort of a base of operations that they could at least say, these are rebel lands, and to this area, these are the regime's forces. Right.

BALDWIN: Right, it's not the same. It's not.

LAWRENCE: Yes.

BALDWIN: Chris Lawrence, appreciate you there at the Pentagon.

And you really don't even have to be the biggest football fan to appreciate this. One of the most celebrated quarterbacks in the history of this sport made a huge announcement today. Peyton Manning leaving the Colts. Find out what's next for him after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Let me throw some numbers at you. Thirteen. Thirteen seasons, 141 wins, 399 passing touchdowns. Those are just some of the stats here of the NFL's newest free agent quarterback, Peyton Manning, in announcing the decision to release him just a little while ago. Colts owner Jim Irsay talked about what Manning has meant to the team in Indianapolis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM IRSAY, OWNER, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS: The good times we've had together. The laughs we've shared together. You know, growing up together in the organization, you know, when a 37-year-old owner meets a 22-year-old player coming out of Tennessee and the dreams that we had and the experience are just, you know, beyond my imagination. And as difficult as this is, I know that our journey together hasn't ended. It's really just begun. And when I look down the road and see the many decades going forward that we'll share together and how he's always part of the horseshoe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: A little emotional there. So what is next for Peyton Manning? What's next for the Colts? Let me bring in Ashley Fox. She is with espn.com. And, I mean, Ashley, it's not often you see grown men cry here, but let's not sugarcoat this. I mean the Colts signed him to this mega contract, he got hurt, he was out all of this past season, and the team just can't take the risk. Is that right?

ASHLEY FOX, NFL COLUMNIST, ESPN.COM: Well, pretty much. There's a couple other numbers you didn't mention. The biggest one, the most relevant one today is $28 million, which was the signing bonus that the Colts owed Peyton tomorrow. Plus, another $7.5 million in salary for 2012. I mean this comes down to a financial decision.

But it's an emotional day nonetheless. I mean you're talking about a four-time MVP of the National Football League. You know, these guys don't get released very often. He won a Super Bowl. He was named MVP of the Super Bowl. He won nine division titles. They had, you know, nine consecutive seasons of at least 10 wins or more. And before Peyton Manning arrived, no one cared about the Indianapolis Colts. And now they care very deeply about them.

BALDWIN: We could go on with the numbers. If I may, I'd like to quote you. "There are no fairy tales, not in professional sports, only reminders of how harsh a business it is." He's about to turn the ripe old age of 36, I guess, what, on the 24th of this month. I guess my next question is, what is next for him? Let's hear what he said earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEYTON MANNING, FORMER INDIANAPOLIS QUARTERBACK: I don't want to retire. And, no, I don't feel like I have anything to prove. But nobody loves their job more than I do. Nobody loves playing quarterback more than I do. And I still want to play.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Where does this guy go? I mean he's still got a lot of playing left in him, don't you think?

FOX: Well, it was funny listening to him because, you know, he seemed very confident in his ability to continue moving forward without the Colts. And Jim Irsay, the owner, did not sound nearly as confident about the Colt's ability to move forward without Peyton Manning.

But, you know, Peyton Manning as a free agent is going to have plenty of options. You hear them all over. You know it's Miami, Washington, Arizona, Kansas City, Houston, Seattle. I mean, take your pick. And the thing about Peyton is that he has earned an inordinate amount of money in his career from the Colts. So money will not be his driving motivator in this. He is going to want to go somewhere where he can compete and win immediately. Because at 36, you know, he's got a very limited window for how long his career will last. So he wants to go win and win now.

BALDWIN: I mean, obviously he's built quite the brand. He will be missed in Indianapolis. How do the Colts fill the void? Will this guy from Stanford -- will he do the trick and no one will bat an eye? FOX: Well, I don't know if anyone will bat an eye. I mean you look at Peyton Manning and what he's done for the organization, for the city of Indianapolis, for the state of Indiana. You know, there's a beautiful downtown football stadium called Lucas Oil Stadium that's in Indianapolis that is there because of Peyton Manning. The Colts -- or the city just hosted the cash cow known as the Super Bowl because of Peyton Manning and that stadium. So he is going to be missed.

But, you know, the Colts might not have done this had they not held the number one pick in the upcoming draft and had Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck not been available. I mean the early reviews are, he is a can't-miss prospect. They don't come around very often. Peyton Manning was one himself. But until you get into the NFL and you get into a system and you are the man, you -- no one knows for sure. There are plenty of instances where there are quarterbacks who turn out to be busts. No one thinks Andrew Luck is going to be a bust, but no one knows until he gets to Indy.

BALDWIN: And I guess no one really knows yet if Irsay, as you mentioned, you know, will rue the day that Manning went bye-bye.

FOX: Right.

BALDWIN: Right.

FOX: Right. We will see for sure.

BALDWIN: We will see. Ashley Fox, thank you so much, espn.com.

Coming up, you remember that video. That father. He made this video of himself shooting nine bullets into his daughter's laptop after he says she posted some hateful things on FaceBook? Well, they're finally talking. He and daughter. They are speaking out on their first TV interview. Why did he do it? What she's saying. Is she still in trouble? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A father finds his daughter's nasty rant about him, of all places, on FaceBook. So her punishment? Nine bullets into her laptop. The video on YouTube for all of you to see.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOMMY JORDON, SHOT DAUGHTER'S LAPTOP: That right there is your laptop. You see it's out here on the ground. This right here is my .45. That was the first round.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Yes, not a happy dad. Thirty-one million views later we are finally hearing from Tommy Jordan and his daughter Hannah Marie. In their very first television interview, they opened up on "The Today Show" about this video. The family feud and the reconciliation that followed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOMMY JORDON, SHOT DAUGHTER'S LAPTOP: And we tried an adult level. We tried talking about it. We tried taking the laptop away. We tried -- well, twice, you know, we tried taking the laptop away or grounding her. It didn't work.

HANNAH MARIE, FATHER SHOT LAPTOP WITH GUN: I think he overreacted a little bit, but I understand.

JORDON: I have a great kid. A lot of people took eight minutes and 23 seconds of my life to judge me and it took about 30 seconds of those, where I read Hannah's note, to judge her. I have a great daughter. She made a mistake that day. I made a mistake that day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: He made a mistake that day, he says. His daughter, she is still grounded. She still doesn't have a laptop. But Tommy Jordon says he did save his daughter's hard drive before shooting up her computer.

Ah, politics, politics. The dust is settling after Super Tuesday. The math is just not quote adding up yet for front-runner Mitt Romney. He did extend his delegate lead, when you look at the numbers, but could not quite deliver that knockout punch that he wanted. Wolf Blitzer is here as you were, what, 2:00 a.m. And we predicted -- I asked you -- is there going to be this big, you know, one-two punch. You said, no. And in the headline it seems like with Romney, even though he won six of the races, he didn't close the deal.

WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": He didn't close the deal. He's still grinding it out. And he's going to have some tough days in the immediate period ahead. This Sunday -- this Saturday, Kansas.

BALDWIN: Kansas.

BLITZER: I'm not so sure he's going to do all that well in Kansas. Santorum could win in Kansas. Then next Tuesday we've got Mississippi and Alabama. I don't think --

BALDWIN: Deep south.

BLITZER: Yes, either Gingrich could do well there. Santorum probably will do well in both of those states. So this is going to go on for a while.

BALDWIN: Where does the delegate count stand now?

BLITZER: Obviously, Romney has a significant lead in the delegate count and he's making the case, and his folks are making the case that he's the only one realistically that could get to that magic number, 1,144. That the other three candidates have no chance of getting there. So that's the argument that they're making. But let's see what happens. You know what, the people will speak.

BALDWIN: The people will speak. The people spoke last night on Twitter. So in the midst of our, you know, mega Super Tuesday coverage, up pops our own, you know, Paul Vercammen in Wasilla, Alaska, with the, you know, former governor and Fox contributor Sarah Palin.

BLITZER: And Wasilla resident.

BALDWIN: And Wasilla resident. And they made a little news, did they not?

BLITZER: Yes, they did. And we have a little clip.

BALDWIN: We do.

BLITZER: Let me play you a little clip. Sarah Palin, she rarely speaks to CNN. Obviously she works for Fox News. But she did speak to Paul Vercammen last night. It was live on CNN. We've got a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN, FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: Anything is possible, and I don't -- I don't close any doors that perhaps would be open out there. So, no, I wouldn't close that door. And my plan is to be at that convention.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, door open in terms of if there is a broker convention, if no one gets to that magic number, she's essentially saying, if someone tosses her name out, she won't necessarily shoot them down.

BLITZER: She didn't rule out any options as far as her name, you know, being, you know, thrown out there if there is a deadlock at the convention. She says, let's see what happens. And she certainly wasn't ruling out the possibility of 2016. She's still a relatively young woman.

BALDWIN: Right. You asked her about that.

BLITZER: I know. So she could -- who knows what she's going to do in 2016. In the meantime, she's having a good time.

BALDWIN: Reality check, though, Wolf Blitzer, and this is something Mitt Romney was saying, what was it this morning, last night, saying, you know, it really ultimately has to end up with one of the four guys (INAUDIBLE).

BLITZER: He was on CNBC this morning, on "Squawk Box."

BALDWIN: Yes.

BLITZER: I don't know if we have the clip. Do we have the clip of that with Romney?

BALDWIN: Do we have -- no.

BLITZER: We don't have the clip. I'll read it to you. BALDWIN: OK.

BLITZER: He said, one thing I can tell you for sure is there's not going to be a brokered convention where some new person comes in and becomes the nominee. It's going to be one of the four people that are still running.

So he was firm. Sarah Palin may be leaving open the option of being some, you know, white knight or whatever coming into the convention in Tampa. Romney is saying that's not going to happen.

BALDWIN: OK. Thank you.

BLITZER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

Now this, coming up next, talking space with John Zarrella. Taking a crew, going inside the belly of a space shuttle at Kennedy Space Center. Folks, we're talking inside. Space geek time, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: NASA space shuttle program spanned 30 years and now the iconic shuttles are being sent out for permanent display.

The "Endeavor" was the final orbiter in the shuttle program, carried astronauts to the heavens back and forth on its first launch in May of 1982 until its final landing in June of 2011.

It will eventually go on permanent display in Los Angeles at the California Science Center, but for right now it sits at the Kennedy Space Center and that is where John Zarrella was lucky enough to get a peek inside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm sitting over here in the commander seat, and on the final flight, this is where Mark Kelly sat on liftoff and when he brought her in for that final landing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the living quarters. You know, we're in the mid-deck now. Flight deck is above us. Mid-deck is where they eat, sleep, do their normal --

ZARRELLA: You could have five, six, seven people down here all at once.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely, and there's not as much as equipment in here now as there would be on launch date. So that means there would be lockers out to here about 18 inches.

ZARRELLA: There's not a lot of room up here in the cockpit, but if you've got something to do in the cargo bay or if you need to maneuver the space shuttle, you can do it all right from here. You can maneuver the shuttle from here. You can work the robotic arm from here, and right out there is the massive cargo bay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: John Zarrella joining me live there in front of that iconic VAV vehicle simply building where this thing is obviously, no longer in cramped quarters. What was the coolest part of that?

ZARRELLA: Yes, you know, I tell you, Brooke, the coolest part is being inside there and realizing just how cramped it is. The astronauts when they sleep, they're in sleeping bags standing against the wall, literally like caterpillars in coons.

And there is not much room down there when you put a galley in there and everything else and all of their lockers with their equipment. You know, on top of the fact they're all hanging out down there.

But, you know, the coolest thing, let's face it. Sitting up in that cockpit where Mark Kelly and so many other commanders sat is absolutely fascinating.

BALDWIN: Do we know if any of these shuttles when they finally sort of hit their final resting place wherever in the country, that is, that any other members of the public will actually be able to crawl around inside just like you did?

ZARRELLA: You know, no. The answer is -- my understanding is no, you will not be able to. You'll be able to look in the hatch like we were able where you crawl in. You'll be able to look through the glass in the front through the cockpit.

It's all going to depend on the display. But I tell you, for the workers here who have been fortunate enough to stay and finish up these jobs. It's been very, very difficult.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE STILSON, NASA SHUTTLE FLOW DIRECTOR: The thing that we've been trying to focus on is how fortunate we are to continue to work with these vehicles until the very end.

There are a lot of our co-workers and friends that didn't get that opportunity. There is a small group of us that have been very fortunate to have a part of this. We're shuttle huggers. We're holding on until the very end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: You know, you mentioned, Brooke, that "Endeavour" is going to the California Science Center. That will be sometime in the fall. The "Atlantis" is going to stay here. It will be ferried over to the visitor complex so they don't have to put it on the back of a 747 to transport it.

But the big show is going to be next month, April 17, "Discovery," the oldest of the shuttles, it is going to be put on a 747, ferried out right here on the landing strip about daybreak on the 17th. Thousands of people will be here to watch that.

And then it's going to fly up the east coast to the U.S. so more people can see it, and then it's going to arrive at Dulles in Washington by 10:30 in the morning. Not sure what kind of flyovers they're going to do yet in Washington because of all the restricted air space and everything up there.

But right away, as soon as it gets on the ground, they're going to start work on getting it into the museum. So it will be the first one on permanent display in a museum. And that is going to be one heck of a spectacular day on the 17th of April.

BALDWIN: Before I let you go, I still carry around my nerdy SPS135 badge from the "Atlantis" back in July along with my CNN badge. It was so bittersweet back in July. Do you still sense that bittersweetness there at Kennedy?

ZARRELLA: Yes, you know, there's no question about it. And what you sense even more is how desolate this place can be when there just aren't all the people around. We were at the cafeteria today and it was three-quarters empty when usually at lunchtime it's absolutely packed with people.

So there is that sense that times have certainly changed here. Thousands of people were laid off. And everybody that is still here is just waiting and waiting for the eventuality when America starts flying those deep space missions. But the first flight is not until 2015, so it's still a long, long way off.

BALDWIN: John Zarrella, thank you so much for at Kennedy. We appreciate it.

ZARRELLA: Sure.

BALDWIN: And now a bitter divorce, bitter custody battle, but bitter is probably a gross understatement when it comes to Christie Brinkley and her ex-husband. Find out why they're in the news again after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Former supermodel, Christie Brinkley, and her ex-husband, Peter Cook, facing off on yet another nasty court battle. It's been four years since their very ugly and might I add very public divorce court trial.

Remember, their 10-year marriage collapsed after Cook's confession to watching porn online, having an affair with his 18-year- old employee. Recently, the two filed new court papers against one another, both claiming the other violated the terms of their divorce agreement.

They are firing off vicious, vicious insults right along the way. Now at the center of all of these, their two children. Brinkley claims Cook failed to pay child support and bullied her in quote/unquote, "abuse e-mails."

Cook in the meantime spoke today saying the cover girl is only coming after him to garner the press for his run on Broadway, Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You did write a blog to "The Daily News" in response to their coverage on this. I want to read back to you some of what you wrote.

'Christie Brinkley is far more concerned with the mirror than her children. She is suing me to garner immediate attention for herself. She's going to Chicago and wants publicity, any kind of publicity.'

Do you really think she's doing this for publicity?

PETER COOK, CHRISTIE BRINKLEY'S EX-HUSBAND: I cannot see any other reason why she would do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was on ABC's "Good Morning America." Now Cook goes on to dismiss Brinkley's allegations that he is a bad father.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOK: Her resources, if I was a bad guy, if you had $80 million, would you let a bad guy have your kids for a day? Or would you fight him so he never had contact with the kids again?

Am I a villain that you're going to publicly castrate as she's doing currently in the press or am I the good dad because in a few weeks, she's going to surrender the kids to me again?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I want to bring in entertainment reporter, Jawn Murray from Washington. Jawn, I keep thinking about the kids, and I know we're going to go there in a second.

But as I mentioned, it's been four years since the split. Why is this feud resurfacing now? He said, she wants publicity. Do we know if that's really the case?

JAWN MURRAY, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: Look, I don't believe that is the case. I mean, here's the deal. She said that she filed this suit against him because he was sending inflammatory e-mails, which is a violation of their divorce decree.

And based on something he said about her in public, I kind of believe her. She called her a narcissistic ego maniac. He called her a second rate celebrity and he said that she's only doing this for publicity.

I mean, if he is saying that about her in public, imagine what he said in private e-mails -- Brooke. BALDWIN: What they could be saying in private e-mails? What they could be saying together? What they could be saying with kids around? Like I said, they have these two children. Do we know how old the kids are?

MURRAY: The kids are teenagers, Brooke. They are 13 and 16, which means they're on social media, internet, turning on the news, the news magazine shows.

They're seeing their parents fight this way. I mean, talk about a couple of made for reality TV. We know that reality TV typically breaks up a couple. Maybe it will help this one get back together and mend their family affairs.

BALDWIN: What happens next, Jawn? I mean, who becomes the bigger person?

MURRAY: The court is definitely going to have to order some type of mediation here. They're going to have to stop the public fighting. The public feuding has got to seize.

And if Peter Cook ever wants anyone to offer him some sympathy, he's got to stop attacking his ex in the press. It's not just a good look and it's not good for the kids.

BALDWIN: No more national television interviews, perhaps, for either of them. Jawn Murray, entertainment reporter, thank you. Good to have you on.

Apple's new iPad released today. Coming up next, we just got video of Apple's big unveiling. We're going to show that to you next, but first just one day after the Dows biggest lost this year, the big board up. One of the reasons employers added more than 200,000 jobs last month. Not bad. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The iPad -- listen to me, I'm so not hip -- the iPad 2 is so 12 months ago, tech junkies widely expected. Apple just announce ad a newer, more powerful iPad. So here's how today's announcement went down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM COOK, APPLE CEO: Everyone's been wondering who will come out with a product that is more amazing than the iPad 2 with its big, beautiful 9.7" screen, super fast A5 chip, all day battery life and thin and elegant, thin and light design. Everybody has been wondering this. Well, stop wondering. We are.

Today, we're announcing the new iPad, and it is amazing. First, a new feature of the new iPad, the retina display. You might have heard the iPad could have a retina display.

But until you see it, you can't understand how amazing this is. The new iPad has a retina display with more pixels than any mobile device has ever had.

There's 2458 by 3056 resolution. There's greater color saturation. There's an A5x quad core graphics. This is the best mobile display that has ever shipped and it's a real revolution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's talk a little bit more about this real revolution with Alison Kosik. She's got some details about what's going on, though I am laughing a little bit about our Twitter exchange. Can it cook us dinner? Can it do my taxes? Not yet.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: If it can't do any of that, I'm not buying it.

BALDWIN: I'm buying the iPad 2. No, just kidding. So let's begin with the retina display. What does that mean? Does that mean high resolution?

KOSIK: Yes, exactly. What this is, this is the first tablet device that has the HD. That means you so can watch high-definition movies on here, and it really features a sharper display screen with about twice the resolution of the old iPad, the iPad 2.

Meaning the images that you see are going to be more sharp and detailed, and you heard Tim Cook say Apple calls this the retina display. Also it's going to feature a better camera. That's a new bell and whistle there on it because the camera on the iPad 2 wasn't really received so well.

Also one other big bell and whistle on this one is it offers a 4G wireless connection, which means it will be faster than the current 3G network and also it offers a more powerful processor.

A few bells and whistles here, no, it's not going to make you dinner, but it certainly going to look nice and pretty. It apparently has a lot of the same look and feel of iPad 2 as well -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: I'm just looking at (inaudible), voice dictation feature for doing text and his last tweet from CEO, Tim Cook saying, we redefine the category Apple created. I mean, what does this mean for Apple just another feather in the cap?

KOSIK: Another feather in the cap, more confident to really buy into Apple. Although right now, we are seeing Apple shares down a little bit, which is usual after Apple comes out with its device. We usually see its stock price dip and it comes back.

But Apple has really been on its hair just on the expectation, the anticipation of this new iPad coming out. Over the past three months, Apple shares have jumped 36 percent topping 500 bucks a few weeks ago.

Each share right now trading at $526 a piece, wow, you know, Apple has really been hitting the highs with its stock price, and when you see stock prices rise this fast and this much, it really is confidence in the company -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Since I have you, Alison Kosik and you're there at the exchange. Let's pull up the big board. I know yesterday was the biggest fall and today it's back up. Why that odd oscillation?

KOSIK: It is usual to see it bounce back after seeing such a huge plunge with the Dow. The Dow tumbled more than 200 points yesterday. You see it's coming back. The Dow is up 81 points.

A couple positive things happening today. It's looking better and better for that Greek debt deal that is actually going to happen that the creditors are signing on the dotted line on March 20th.

Also, here we got some payroll processor ADP said there were 216,000 private sector jobs created last month. That's good news and could bode well for the big government's report coming out on Friday. So the expectation we could see a solid jobs report coming out on Friday as well -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Good deal. We'll be looking for that. Alison, thank you so much.

You know, Apple worth billions and billions of dollars, but who tops the list of the world's wealthiest people? We have a list for you fresh out today, after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: For its seven figures, it takes 10 figures, as in billions, to be considered really rich these days. While most of us maybe dealing with tight budgets, "Forbes" latest list of the world's billionaires, it is actually bigger than ever, 1,226 people.

Let me repeat that, 1,226 people on this billionaire list this year. Of course, you want to know who is the richest, right? That's him on the corner. This is Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu with $69 billion. He has top the list three years in a row.

On the downside, yes, yes, he's super rich, but he's actually lost a little money. He lost $3 billion poorer than last year, poorer maybe not so much. But the usual suspects are once again on this year's list. You have Bill Gates, he's the number two. Warren Buffett at number three, but it's the newly rich who makes this the who's who of the world's billionaires.

So interesting, I want to bring in Kerry Dolan. She is the senior wealth editor at "Forbes." And Kerry joins us from San Francisco and you know, Kerry, we went through this whole list.

You guys showed us, I know this is out today and what really jumped out of us is a woman by the name of Sara Blakely, the youngest self-made woman on the list and I got tell you, we, ladies, we knows (inaudible).

KERRY DOLAN, "FORBES" SENIOR WEALTH EDITOR: So Sara Blakely is the founder of Spanx, this maker of the new-fangled girdles. She's 41 as you said, youngest self-made woman worth $1 billion.

She started this company with about $5,000 in savings about 12 years ago. It's just taken off. She's got boutiques inside department stores. She's trying to spread the sales across the globe. She is more and more women in more countries are snapping up her Spanx shape wear.

BALDWIN: So again, just to reiterate, she started with what and how many billions that she have now?

DOLAN: She owns 100 percent of the company.

BALDWIN: OK.

DOLAN: And four different banks that one of our reporters talked to valued the company at a billion dollars. She started with $5,000 in savings. She's a real go-getter.

She really figured out how to get her product into stores. There's no marketing budget for her Spanx. A lot of it is word of mouth and it's just taken off.

BALDWIN: Who has the biggest number of billionaires, I guess, globally? Is it China, is it Russia? Who?

DOLAN: It's the United States. We've got 425 billionaires out of that 1,226 total you mentioned. And U.S. has basically, for the 26 years that "Forbes" has been tracking global billionaires, the U.S. has been number one in all of those years. Number two is Russia this year and number three is China.

BALDWIN: And in terms of, you know, which sector these billionaires fall in, I understand it's social networking and the tech sector, right? Is that still the case and in today's list, is something else cropping up on the horizon? People are making money?

DOLAN: I would say a lot of the new fortunes are coming from social media. We've got seven people on the list from Facebook, the richest, of course, who is Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO and the biggest shareholder of Facebook. He's at $17.5 billion, that's $4 billion richer than last year.

The company hasn't gone public yet, so when it does this spring, he may be worth even more. In terms of other billionaires, they come from other sectors. Other new wealth comes from other clothing.

Kevin Plank of Underarmor is a new member of the list. The company Prada went public in Hongkong this year, so she's back on the list and her husband is a new member of the list. So fashion and retail has been an area of growth as well as tech.

BALDWIN: Who is the poorest billionaire on your list? And I'm putting that in quotes.

DOLAN: A lot of people actually tie on the $1 billion. So Sara Blakely is ranked -- what is she -- 1,153rd or something like that. A lot of people tie at that 1 billion number which puts them at 1,100- something. So it's hard to say who is the very poorest. The poorest, of course, don't make the list, right?

BALDWIN: I'm being semi-facetious. Kerry Dolan at "Forbes." We appreciate it. Thank you.

A high school valedictorian who faced deportation 24 hours ago can now stay in the United States. The feds granting Daniela Pelaez a two-year reprieve after a judge ruled she must return to Columbia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIELA PELAEZ, VALEDICTORIAN: I've been here since I was four. I'm American.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The student is here illegally. Her parents overstayed their visas many, many years ago. Hundreds protested the judge's decision and this young woman will meet with former Senator Marco Rubio in Washington this afternoon.

Can we get a -- aw, two endangered cloud leopards. They were born at the Tacoma Zoo yesterday. They're a boy and a girl. They're healthy. They're feeding.

They're tipping the scales at about half a pound each. You can see the scales in their hands. They will be hand raised to ensure their safety. No names yet. The zoo plans to hold a contest for that.

All right, let's continue on, shall we?