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Soldier Charges In Murder For Hire Plot; Former Goldman Exec Spills Beans; Gingrich Not Backing Down; Flight Attendant "Snaps"; Suspicious Car Nears Panetta; Muted Fury After Massacre; Tide's Black Market Appeal; Video Game Business Going Strong

Aired March 14, 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: And welcome back to CNN. Top of the hour. Hello. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Let's get you caught up on everything making news this hour. We begin with "Rapid Fire." Roll it.

I want to begin in Texas, where a child kidnapped eight years ago has now been found safe and sound. Police say the child's godmother was babysitting the eight-month-old when both disappeared. That is just until this week when police got a call saying that this little boy was safe. There is so much more to this one and in just the next hour I'll be speaking with the mother, Albany Champion Maureen, waiting to see her son for the first time in eight years. Don't miss that.

Also have another set of disturbing allegations against an Army officer based out of Washington state's joint base Lewis-McChord. A decorated soldier is now being charged in this alleged murder for hire plot and these allegations, they first surfaced when the officer's girlfriend told authorities he was threatening to have his estranged wife and boss killed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DET. ED TROYER, PIERCE CO., WASHINGTON, SHERIFF'S DEPT.: We do know that those things, his ex-wife and somebody he worked with, that he had made comments that he was going to do something big and it would be seen on television. And he had made comments to other people about blowing up the Capitol. So when you add the totality of all this up, this is somebody that we felt was dangerous and we wanted to get into custody before anybody got hurt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We've got a lot more to talk about on that story as well. We're going to go to Seattle for that in a couple of minutes.

Also, Rick Santorum scoring big wins in the deep south primaries last night. But, Mitt Romney, he is still far ahead when you look at the numbers here in the delegate race. Keep in mind, the magic number to snag the party's nomination, that is 1,144. Here's the latest delegate count now. And so as of now, CNN estimates the following delegate breakdown. You have Romney in the lead with 498, Santorum with 239, Gingrich with 139 and Ron Paul with 69 there in last place. A horrific bus crash in Switzerland kills 28 people. That includes 22 children. The bus was on its way back to Belgium from a ski trip when it slammed into a wall in a highway tunnel last night. It's tough to look at these pictures here. Another 24 kids were injured. Most all of the children were 11 or 12 years of age. And still no word yet as to what caused this accident. The Belgium prime minister calls it a tragic day for his country.

And Defense Secretary Leon Panetta calls the alleged killing of 16 Afghan men, women and children by the U.S. soldier over there "deeply troubling."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Each of these incidents is deeply troubling. And we have to learn the lessons from each of those incidents so that we do everything possible to make sure that they don't happen again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Secretary Panetta is meeting with Marines today. They actually had to leave their weapons outside when they spoke with him. He is the first high-ranking U.S. official to visit Afghanistan since the killings on Sunday, but is not at all near where those shootings happened. That soldier, meantime, is in U.S. custody and could face the death penalty.

George Clooney on Capitol Hill today. He is talking to a Senate committee about continued violence in Sudan, where fighting has gone on for decades and decades. Clooney actually just got back from a trip to its dangerous border with the Republic of South Sudan, where villagers have to run away to caves to escape bombs from the sky from the Sudanese army. And here is what he says happened just three days ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR/ACTIVIST: Fifteen bombs were dropped on a neighboring village. When we got there, we found children filled with shrapnel, including a nine-year-old boy who had both his hands blown off. We can't give the lives back, we can't replace that young boy's hands, but we can put an end to it if we work together as a nation and as an international community. And it can start here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Clooney is pushing lawmakers to act.

And we just wanted to show you these pictures. Snowy scene. Look at this. This is Lake Tahoe, California. So, obviously, the higher the elevation, the heavier the snowfall. We're told the roads down below, despite these pictures, they are still passable for drivers. When it comes to skiers, sorry, some of the lifts had been closed today.

And, oh, are you going to feel a little nostalgic with me. After 244 years in production, Encyclopedia Britannica is stopping the presses. Britannica will no longer print its iconic multi-volume book sets. Traditionally, an outdated vision has to be released every two years. But the 2010 volumes, they will be the last. Not to worry, though. The encyclopedia will now be online and on your mobile device, though we're told for a fee. Still not quite the same, is it?

Let's take a quick look at the markets here. Wow, look at those numbers. The Dow up just a smidge at 13,180 as we are less than two hours to go before the closing bell. We're keeping an eye on it. Huge, huge day on the Dow yesterday as the news leaked that most of the nation's largest banks had passed the Federal Reserve's latest tests. So that's why we saw awesome numbers after 4:00 yesterday.

And we are just getting started as well. We've got a lot more to cover for you in the next two hours, including this.

A decorated soldier is accused of wanting to carry out a tragedy so huge the whole world would hear about it. But perhaps the most disturbing, the warning signs way before this alleged plot.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

A bitter Wall Street executive blasts his company. He calls Goldman Sachs toxic, destructive and only concerned about ripping customers off.

George Clooney tells Congress something needs to be done because innocent people are dying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLOONEY: We were there when they fired three rockets over our head.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Plus, for several minutes, passengers heard, "this plane is going to crash."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like they're physically restraining a flight attendant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, we're now hearing what happened on board.

And, forget drugs, forget guns, Tide laundry detergent is hot on the black market. But that's not all. Find out what other products inside your house criminals would love to get their hands on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, I want to get straight to this story. This is out of Washington state. This developing murder for hire story. So it all survives this man, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Underwood. He is the latest Army officer from joint base Lewis-McChord to land in legal trouble. Underwood is accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill his estranged wife and his boss.

In addition here, there are other allegations that he threatened to blow up the capital building in Olympia, Washington. And that's not all. By the way, he has pleaded not guilty. He sits in the Pierce County Jail on a $250,000 bail. And I want to bring in Jonathan Martin. He is a report with "The Seattle Times" and joins me there from Seattle.

Jonathan, what a story. Where to begin. Let's just talk about first, I guess, how this story came to light. This was a suspect's girlfriend. He tipped off -- she, I should say, she tipped off authorities. And whatever she told them, they must have taken it, obviously, very seriously. Be specific. What did she go to them with?

JONATHAN MARTIN, REPORTER, "SEATTLE TIMES": Yes, what we know is from the statements by his girlfriend and his estranged wife and his commanding officer at joint base Lewis-McChord, here near Tacoma, she said that he had told her that he planned to kill his estranged wife and had $150,000 stashed away and had a hit man that he was going to hire. And he was also going to kill his commanding officer because he believed that his commanding officer was helping facilitate his wife's ruin of his life in this ongoing divorce. And not only that, the girlfriend also said that he threatened to kill her when he found pornography on the computer. And that was really the trigger for her coming forward. When she came forward to police and then to the wife -- the estranged wife and his commanding officer, she told a number of things about him, including the threat to blow up the state capital here in Olympia.

BALDWIN: Let me bring you back to your point, though, about the pornography apparently found on the computer. I mean it wasn't just anyone, it was specifically, what, according to police, it was his daughter?

MARTIN: Yes. Well, we've identified it as a relative.

BALDWIN: A relative.

MARTIN: And, yes. You know, the -- I think the pornography came out -- the pornography issue was highlighted in this divorce case. This divorce is really sort of the underlying -- I think the driver of this -- of these threats. This seemed to be a man that was really sort of pushed to the edge with -- he believed he was facing financial ruin and he was not getting a fair shake in the court system. As a detective said, that he just seemed to put it all together and he was ready to snap.

BALDWIN: Big picture here, though, Jonathan. I mean this story -- this comes after another soldier with ties to the base there in Washington state is now accused of killing those 16, you know, men, women and children. The civilians in Afghanistan. And then just a short time ago, another soldier linked to Lewis-McChord killed a park ranger on Mt. Rainer. I want to say that was over the holidays. MARTIN: Yes, (INAUDIBLE).

BALDWIN: You have higher suicides, domestic violence reports. Is the base saying anything on the record?

MARTIN: Well, you know, the base does point out that there's 4,500 soldiers deployed in Afghanistan right now, another 5,000 going. It's a huge base. And, you know, they would say that it's no more -- these individual incidences are no more indicative of the base culture than, you know, if an employee of CNN was -- got in trouble.

But I think there is a great deal of local concern about the cost of this incredibly long war and the extended deployments of -- particularly of the Stryker brigade based here. You know, you have -- you have people coming back for, you know, three or four deployments, as the sergeant implicated in this mass murder over the weekend had had. And I think that there's a real concern about the psychological toll, PTSD, and how that is coming back home.

BALDWIN: And looking at your paper, I know that, you know, there have been multiple instances, and there's a great timeline on "The Seattle Times" website that really goes back to the first date, December 3, 2004, a guardsman found guilty of trying to aid terrorists. There are multiple instances that just sort of add up and accumulating to this latest -- to this latest one.

Did -- has something happened? What's the mood on the base? Are you able to talk to anyone there? What do they say? What does the community say?

MARTIN: There's certainly a -- we are really finding sort of bunker mentality right now, which is understandable. There seems to be a limited amount of information about who the individual is, the staff sergeant, implicated in the murders over the weekend. I think off the base, again, there's a real concern about these repeated deployments. And when you see -- what you're seeing is not just -- you're seeing war crimes allegations overseas, but then also these very serious incidents back home. We -- there's routinely now really serious, you know, criminal allegations. Soldiers killing their wives or, in a case their son. You know, the park ranger shooting. And so it's the cumulative effect, I think, that is really -- has really shaken the community here.

BALDWIN: I can't even begin to imagine. Jonathan Martin with "The Seattle Times," we appreciate you coming on and talking about this with us. Thank you.

Moving on, though. "Toxic," "disrespectful," "destructive," all words used to describe Goldman Sachs by this executive who has resigned in a very, very public way. We're going to have more from him and a response from Goldman Sachs after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: If you have enough coin to have an account with Goldman Sachs, you might be feeling pretty good about yourself. But it turns out Goldman Sachs considers you a muppet. That is what a Goldman executive says. Make that actually former executive. Alison Kosik with me from "The New York Stock Exchange."

Former. Former. And the guy here who is slamming --

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former.

BALDWIN: Slamming Goldman while making his way out the door. Disgruntled or not, he seemed to have climbed very, very high before having this epiphany.

KOSIK: Oh, yes. You know, Greg Smith really worked at Goldman Sachs for 12 years. He was an executive there. And, you know what, he probably wasn't doing too bad. It's funny how when you have enough cash in the bank, how much easier it is to unleash your wrath on "The New York Times" op-ed page. But that's exactly what he did. He sent his resignation letter to "The New York Times" instead of HR. And in that letter he said that Goldman is all about making money for the firm, not its clients. He called Goldman Sachs, the culture there, "toxic" and "destructive." He said, "it makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months, I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as "muppets"." Ouch.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Ouch is right. You have to ask, though, how is Goldman responding? I mean this is very dirty laundry getting aired, as you mentioned, on "The New York Times" op-ed page. Very public.

KOSIK: Oh, definitely. And Goldman Sachs is defending itself. It says it disagrees with Smith. The head honchos there put out a letter to employees saying, "our response is best demonstrated in how we really work with and help our clients through our commitment to their long-term interests."

But, seriously, this is a big PR problem for Goldman Sachs. And Goldman is not just any financial firm. This is the Wall Street firm with a gold-plated reputation. With a real, real tough work ethic. And others say, look, you know, you read this letter and there's a little hypocrisy here. You know, that Smith probably has made a really good amount of money from Goldman Sachs and suddenly, only now, had this epiphany?

I went ahead and talked with author Josh Brown. He wrote "Backstage Wall Street." He says, for financial firms, yes, it is all about business. The people are in it to make money. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSHUA M. BROWN, V.P., FUSION ANALYTICS INVESTMENT: There are going to be people that make caustic remarks. If you go into the kitchen of a restaurant and a customer sends the food back, the chef may call the customer a muppet. So I think, you know, this is just like any other business. The difference with Wall Street is that it kind of is running the show politically for so long, and so people grab onto these types of things as an opportunity to vent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And I would imagine, Alison Kosik, that people are buzzing on Wall Street over this op-ed. What are they saying?

KOSIK: Oh, yes. They're saying different things. Like, the big shocker. Oh, my goodness, Goldman Sachs was in it to make money? Yes, not really a big shocker here. But, believe it or not, some here on Wall Street, yes, they were taken aback by the tone. Listen to one trader I talked with earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN POLCARI, MANAGING DIRECTOR, ICAP CORPORATES: I am kind of surprised at the underlying tone. There was a sense of viciousness. But the fact is, I think that during the last -- especially the last four or five years, there has been a sense on a lot of people's behalf of frustration with the industry, frustration with investment banks, frustration with some of the arrogance that they displace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And some of that frustration, Brooke, some of that frustration showing up in the stock movement today. Goldman Sachs shares down more than 3.5 percent. A little bit of that is because of that customer or shareholder's displeasure. Once again, Goldman Sachs shares down more than 3.5 percent.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Alison Kosik, thank you very much.

And straight ahead here, news just into CNN here, multiple people have been stabbed in Ohio's capital city. We're getting the news. Got it on the other side of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, news just into us here at CNN. Let's go ahead and pull up those live pictures. We're going to look at some pictures. This is from downtown Columbus, Ohio, courtesy of WBNS.

Here's what we know. This is according to Columbus Police. Four people have been stabbed in this building downtown. This is the Continental Center, if you're familiar, on Gay Street. It's their offices of attorney general, Ameritech, a career college. So we know that the suspect has been shot by an officer who arrived there on the scene. You can obviously still see there's a police presence. The suspect is in critical condition.

As far as the victims go, again, I mentioned four people stabbed. We know three are in critical condition. One is stable. And that's really all we know right now. We are working the phones. We don't know who this person is, this suspect, why he or she would have shot -- excuse me, would have stabbed these people. But, again, this happened just recently in Columbus, Ohio, in this building downtown on Gay Street.

Stay with us. If we get more information, obviously we'll bring it to you.

But I do want to switch gears and talk politics here. We have seen some big, big wins from Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney. He does lead -- if you look at the numbers -- the Republican delegate count. But what happens if Newt Gingrich, the Gingrich factor, what if he does stay in the race? I want to bring in Wolf Blitzer here with our "America's Choice 2012" politics update.

Let's talk, I guess, about the Newt factor first.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": If he stays in the race, it helps Mitt Romney --

BALDWIN: It does?

BLITZER: Because it divides up all the anti-Mitt Romney vote, which there's significant. If you do all the math, if you add up how many votes, for example, yesterday, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich got together, it's a lot more than Mitt Romney got. Not necessarily all of Newt Gingrich's supporters are going to go to Rick Santorum, but most -- a lot of them will. A lot more will go to Santorum than probably Mitt Romney. So the longer Newt Gingrich stays in, that's good for Mitt Romney.

BALDWIN: What is in it for Newt Gingrich to stay in? He did well in Georgia. He did well in South Carolina. I mean he didn't win either of these.

BLITZER: Yes, he hasn't really -- I mean he came in second in Mississippi and Alabama.

BALDWIN: He says he's staying in it until August in Tampa.

BLITZER: Yes, he says that, but, you know what, a lot of these candidates, they always say that. They've got to say that. They can't demoralize their supporters. And there are a lot of grassroots supporters that Newt Gingrich has. He has some fat cats, as we all know as well, who have given him millions for that super PAC. But the money that goes to the super PAC can't be used for day to day campaign activities, paying your staff, doing the business of a campaign. And if that money were to dry up, other presidential candidates like Dick Gephardt, you know, years ago they learn, the money's not there, you're not a candidate anymore and you drop out.

So, Newt Gingrich, in the coming weeks, is going to have to make some major decisions. Does he keep on going and going. Let's see how he does, for example, in Puerto Rico on Sunday. I suspect he's not going to do very well. Let's see how he does in Illinois next Tuesday. I suspect it's going to be a two-man race in Illinois between Santorum and Romney. So Newt Gingrich is going to have to make some tough choices.

I can tell you this, based on the conversations I've heard, I don't know if directly on him, but, you know, a lot of Republicans are now saying, you know what, Rick Santorum has earned a one-on-one matchup with Mitt Romney. Let the two of them fight it out, just as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama four years ago after all of the other candidates dropped out, including John Edwards and Joe Biden and Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson, they all dropped out and then it was just for weeks and weeks and weeks Hillary Clinton versus Barack Obama. I suspect that's what's going to happen. It's going to be Rick Santorum versus Mitt Romney. We'll go through June. We'll see what happens.

BALDWIN: If it remains, though, even just a two-man race, we keep throwing around the phrase broker convention, broker convention. You have to get to that 1,144 number of delegates to get the party nomination. If that doesn't happen by August in Tampa, explain how a broker convention works.

BLITZER: Well, I think what we're talking about, in this particular case, would be more of a contested convention. In other words, two candidates showing up in Tampa at the end of August, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney. Neither one has a commitment of 1,144 delegates.

BALDWIN: Right.

BLITZER: Let's say they're both shy. One has 700, one has 900.

BALDWIN: So what happens?

BLITZER: And then -- well, then they go through -- there's a whole procedure. Round one, they have votes. And then a lot of the uncommitted, they decide. Will they vote for Mitt Romney, will they vote for Rick Santorum? In then you see, in round one, does anybody get 1,144, which is the magic number. If no one, then they get a round two. They can go round after round after round.

BALDWIN: Wow.

BLITZER: So I think contested convention is possible. It's possible if neither of these -- I suspect in the first or second round we'd have a nominee.

BALDWIN: But it could take a couple of rounds in Tampa.

BLITZER: Yes, that would be exciting. You're going to be in Tampa, right?

BALDWIN: I'm -- bosses? Are you listening?

BLITZER: Yes, soon.

BALDWIN: Yes, I'd like to go to the convention, please.

BLITZER: Could there be a Republican presidential convention in Tampa and a Democratic presidential convention in Charlotte a week later without Brooke Baldwin there? Is that possible?

BALDWIN: I can't imagine it. BLITZER: I can't -- you were at the CNN Grill. We'll have the CNN --

BALDWIN: I know, I can't wait. I can't wait.

BLITZER: It's a lot of fun.

BALDWIN: I can't wait. Wolf, thank you so much.

BLITZER: Thanks.

BALDWIN: We'll talk next hour. We've got a little fun brackicology (ph) 101. We'll wait for that.

Meantime, and I'm quoting here, "she lost it." That is what one passenger said to a 911 operator after a flight attendant apparently had a bit of a meltdown on board this plane in Dallas. We're going to play that 911 tape for you. Wait for it after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Passengers thought they were headed from Dallas to Chicago on a routine American Airlines flight when their flight attendant hops on the intercom and simply snaps.

What happened next absolutely stunned these people on the plane, and now we're learning a little bit more about those tense moments through these 911 calls. Here is CNN's Alina Cho -- Alina.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brooke. Just imagine being on that flight. The plane was headed from Dallas to Chicago last Friday. It had just left the gate and was headed for takeoff.

That's when witnesses say the flight attendant just snapped. According a just released police report, the 43-year-old woman got on the PA system and started screaming about 9/11, telling passengers the plane was going to crash.

Other flight attendants, even some passengers, tried to restrain her. Now listen to these 911 tapes that have just been released. You can hear the fear in the passengers' voices. You can also hear how the 911 operators at first don't believe what they're hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: We're in Flight 2332, and they're talking over the radio about crashing our plane.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: OK, who is talking about crashing your plane?

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: The attendants over the PA.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: OK, you're on board a flight?

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: You're currently on board the flight and the attendants are announcing over the PA system?

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: That they're going to crash the plane?

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: DPS Communications, how can I help you?

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: I'm on a plane at Dallas Fort Worth on Flight 2332.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: I've got a second caller for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: What would have provoked her to do this? Well, according to the police report, the flight attendant suffered what's been called a mental episode. Another flight attendant told police her colleague was bipolar and hadn't taken her medication.

The report also said the flight attendant made a comment about a co- worker being killed on 9/11 when her plane went through the World Trade Center. On Monday, one of the passengers who tried to help described the scene to our Soledad O'Brien on "STARTING POINT".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, HOST, CNN'S "STARTING POINT": Were the passengers completely freaking out?

CONNOR FORD, HELPED RESTRAIN FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Not really. They weren't all freaking out. Some were upset, you could tell, but mostly it was confusion, wondering what was happening. Why wasn't anybody taking control, I'd say, would be the overall feeling of the plane at that time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: It doesn't appear that investigators are going to file criminal charges. They're calling this a mental episode and even referred to her as a patient, not a suspect, in the police report.

American Airlines will conduct its own investigation. As for the flight attendant, the airlines said she was taken to the hospital. And on the question of whether she'll keep her job, no one yet has an answer -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Can you imagine being on that plane? Alina Cho, thank you so much there for us from New York.

Also, the state attorney in Florida is now looking into the case that has triggered accusations of racial profiling and vigilante justice.

I'm talking about that 17-year-old Trayvon Martin story. Remember, he was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch captain inside the gated community where his father was staying.

Pressure has been growing, but more than two weeks later, the watch captain has not been charged. Here with more out of Orlando is CNN's David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As this case continues to attract more and more national attention, we also hear the same question over and over again. How could something like this possibly happen?

Here's what we know about this case. The facts in this case have not changed now for several days. We know that Trayvon Martin, 17 years old, had left a convenience store after purchasing some candy and a soft drink.

He was walking back in a gated community to the condo where his father was staying. That's when he encountered a neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, age 28. Zimmerman had called the police saying that he had noticed a suspicious person in the neighborhood.

But what happens after that is still a public mystery. The police have talked to Zimmerman who claims it was self-defense, that he felt that he was threatened. He pulled his firearm during an altercation with Martin, shooting and killing the African-American teenager.

At this point, police have said that they have now concluded their investigation. They've turned over all their facts to the state attorney. It is now up to the state attorney to decide what charges or if charges will be filed in this case.

The family of Martin pushing very hard trying to bring all the pressure they can on authorities here to push for murder charges. They say that Trayvon Martin was not armed and he was not violent, that this should not have happened on a simple walk to a convenience store.

But at this point, police are saying that they have heard the 911 tapes where you can hear a verbal altercation and a gunshot. Beyond that, we do not know exactly what happened to bring that altercation.

But police say what they have heard on that tape does support Zimmerman's claim that he felt he was threatened and acting in self- defense. But supporters of Trayvon Martin and his family are now reaching out.

The NAACP is now involved and they are asking for the Justice Department to get involved in this case. David Mattingly, CNN, Orlando.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BALDWIN: Heading on Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Afghanistan today. This after the citizen who allegedly shot those 16 civilians. We're going to get the very latest there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Leon Panetta is in Afghanistan today. Damage control for the Pentagon chief, his pre-arranged visit comes as Afghans simmer over a murder spree on Sunday.

Sixteen Afghans killed among them women and children allegedly at the hands of a U.S. Army sergeant. Secretary Panetta said the U.S. and NATO have to learn from their mistakes and soldier on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY: None of this, none of this is reflective of the overwhelming majority of troops, ISAF troops, Afghan troops, who day to day are doing the job of trying to protect this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I want to go straight to Kabul to Sara Sidner, and Sara, I know there was an incident there when the defense secretary arrived? What happened?

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it happened in Kambashun. When he got on the ground, there was a car apparently stolen. Someone had driven that car onto the runway and then the person caught fire.

Now we don't know exactly if this is something the person was trying to threaten Mr. Panetta or if this was something or someone just decided to steal a car. But we do know the person who was in that car, the driver of the car, was apparently a civilian who worked at Kambashun.

So there is an investigation going on to find out exactly what happened. We know an ISAF member was injured when that car was stolen and brought to the runway. We're hearing from the officials though, U.S. officials that at no time was Mr. Panetta ever in any danger.

He also talks to the troops about what the mission is going forward, and he really said, look, it's a transitional one. This is a mission now that really needs to focus on the transition from having U.S. and NATO forces in place to having the Afghan forces take over and take control of their own country.

But while he is saying all this, there were another two incidents that happened, one in the Helmand Province where he was, but very far away from where he was at Kambashun, but that left eight people dead when there was a roadside bomb that hit a minivan, the bomb so large that they cannot yet identify the people inside of that van.

And then you had an incident in Kandahar Province. This is where on Sunday there was a massacre that allegedly involved a U.S. soldier who went on a shooting rampage. There, there was a bomb that went off and a motorcycle as Afghan forces were trying to defuse it.

So a couple things going on here, but Mr. Panetta said it's not going to change the mission in any great way. That they will soldier on as you said.

BALDWIN: OK, Sara Sidner, we appreciate it in Kabul. Thank you.

Meantime, I know I just bought some over the weekend. Tide, people are stealing it. The clothes washing soap, that's the Tide I'm talking about. One man admitted stealing $25,000 worth of that stuff. Tide is now even being sold now on the black market. That story is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: This got a lot of us talking. What's trending today? T Tide, specifically liquid Tide, the everyday household item has a major black market appeal.

We're talking organized heists involving thousands of dollars. In fact, you're looking at surveillance video. This is a guy in Minnesota who admitted in court he stole $25,000 worth of the stuff from a Wal-Mart.

So why Tide? Let's ask Chris Morran. He's deputy editor of consumers.com with some answers. You know, gold, diamonds, even copper wire, I've heard all of that, but Tide? Why?

CHRIS MORRAN, DEPUTY EDITOR, THE CONSUMERIST: I think it has to do with the fact that a lot of people have been saving money by purchasing generic or really low-cost detergent over the last few years.

And suddenly if you have the opportunity to trade or to acquire an expensive detergent, a top line detergent, a recognizable name brand like Tide for significantly less than what it costs at retail, you're going to do it.

If I see somebody selling it for $3 on the corner, I'm going to be very tempted to buy something that's worth $20 at the grocery store.

BALDWIN: I mean, we're talking about the guy in Minnesota took $25,000 worth. I mean, it's not like this is light, you know, it's heavy. I don't know how many -- are they just walking out of the stores in the -- I'm blanking.

MORRAN: They say he literally loaded up his cart and he would just walk out the doors with it, and he stole $25,000 worth over several months.

Meanwhile, there are also people stealing it out of the back doors of grocery stores and Wal-Marts and places like that where you either know somebody on the inside or you just walk in the back door pretending you're an employee and walk outweigh hand truck full of the stuff.

BALDWIN: And I know, one of the articles I read in "Consumerist," you guys are referring to this as black gold, it's that sort of valuable. But it's not just Tide, we have this whole list. Let's bring the list out.

This is a list that you've compiled, sort of a top five of what's hot for thieves right now. Just running through it, Chris, you have fresh meat, candy and chocolate, cheese, baby formula, spices and seasonings.

What jumped out at me: fresh meat? You have to turn that around pretty quickly or these people are just stealing it for themselves.

MORRAN: I think it's probably most people are stealing it for themselves, but I'm sure there are some people, you know, who are going in and stealing top end meat, stealing filet mignons and porterhouses.

And selling something that's $28 a pound for just a few bucks or trading it for some drugs or for whatever else. I could easily see that happening.

BALDWIN: Wait, wait. You said trade it for drugs? Are people doing that?

MORRAN: I mean, some people have speculated that's what's happening with the Tide fest, is that they're just being traded to drug dealers who are like, whatever, I don't have to spend money on detergent this week now, or I can go and resell it for a couple bucks extra. It's all profit. It's currency. These are things people want and are things people can't afford, so it's currency.

BALDWIN: And again I imagine with cheese, I know I read that is the number one hot commodity abroad, people are stealing cheese. Why?

MORRAN: I think it's because cheese -- when I was growing up, cheese was white American and yellow American and maybe Swiss. Now you don't even see cheap cheese on the store shelves anymore. It's all expensive, but people still want it.

And in these tough times, unlike the mortgage payment, which you shouldn't skip but you can skip because it can take up to two or three years to get foreclosed on and kicked out of your house, you're going to starve in a few days if you don't eat.

So if someone is down on their luck and down on their last dollar, they're going to steal the food.

BALDWIN: Desperate times, even though it is absolutely against the law. Next time I go grocery shopping, I'm going to be taking a close look at the fresh meat and cheese aisle just to see if people have a close eye on those. I had to idea. Chris Morran with "Consumerist." Thank you, Chris. Appreciate it.

MORRAN: Thank you. BALDWIN: Coming up, actress Minnie Driver sits down with me to talk about her new independent film. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So what is it about your love of music and also sort of your background, you are a bit of a teacher, I understand you're helping to keep some of the young actors on set when the cameras aren't rolling. What is it you brought?

MINNIE DRIVER, ACTRESS: There is a young actor right over there.

BALDWIN: Was she a good teacher? No comment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We sat down a couple of days ago at South by Southwest. Also take a look at this. Dan Simon live inside a video game store in California to talk to us about this crazy booming industry that's dishing out six-figure salaries. Video games! That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: There is an industry right here in America worth billions of dollars. It employs thousands, its salaries hitting near six figures. It is growing and growing quickly and it might surprise you.

What am I talking about? Video games, from "Angry Birds" to "Call of Duty", the gaming industry is hotter than ever. Dan Simon goes in depth for us today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nearly 20,000 people rolled into San Francisco last week to see the latest trends in video games. According to the industry, it's a $50 billion business, bigger than the music industry, bigger than Hollywood.

For aspiring programmers, the future has never looked better. In fact, those who design games can expect to earn an average of about $90,000 a year. Why so big? Because a single game like Madden Football can earn a company billions of dollars in revenue.

PETER MOORE, COO, EA: We're not a $50 billion industry by coincidence or by mistake. This is something that ties into what people want to do. They want to dictate the outcomes. They want to have interactive and engaging experiences with the content.

SIMON: No one has done that better than Silicon Valley's Electronic Arts. Peter Moore is the chief operating officer along with Madam Football. Electronic Arts have produced other mega-hits like "Tiger Woods Golf", "FIFA Soccer" and shoot-em-up games like "Mass Effect 3".

But if you want to know why the industry is expanding, just ask anyone on the selling floor who will tell you --

ZACKARY BENNET, STUDENT: Video games in general will be coming a lot more mainstream like it's not the I'm in the closet being weird kind of hobby anymore because it's so accessible.

SIMON (on camera): Thanks to mobile devices and social networking, the video game industry has been on even more of a tear. More platforms means more games, it also means developers can entice more players. Think about it. Anyone who owns a smartphone is a potential customer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you asked me seven or eight years ago, I would have said the global gaming population is maybe 200, 225 million people. If you ask me today, I think it's close to 2 billion.

SIMON (voice-over): EA and other firms are in the midst of a major transformation where consoles and disks once ruled the day. It's expanded the user base by delivering games digitally weather directly to an Xbox, iPad or on Facebook.

Because many of these games are free, many with cheap add-ones to make the games better that may explain some of the growth despite the recession.

MOORE: The key is for us is to be able to take this big funnel now that's coming in, maybe it's 2 billion people who say they're a gamer, and provide them the experience they want regardless of price, regardless of time, regardless of platform.

SIMON: In the last two years, Zynga became a smashing success thanks to Facebook games like Farmville and Cityville. Companies are hiring a lot more than just game developers.

MOORE: We're not hiring economists, analysts, MBAs that can figure out where we need to be on a global basis to go into our emerging markets.

SIMON: Electronic Arts can spend tens of millions to make a hit. But because of the success of games like Angry Birds, game makers have come to realize it doesn't always take millions to create a stir.

Just like a low-budget film that becomes a top grosser. At a time when many industries can't broaden their base, here's one that has grown because of accessibility. That new game, after all, is just one click or download away.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON: And we are in Gamestop, which is one of the leading retailers when it comes to console games like Call of Duty, but this is an interesting number, Brooke. It tells you why the industry is growing so much.

According to the Entertainment Software Association, 55 percent of people who consider themselves gamers are now playing games on a cell phone or handheld device. And of course, that number is only going to go up.

Another interesting number, the average gamer, you would think it would be someone in their teens, the average person who plays video games, Brooke, 37 years old.

BALDWIN: Really. Are you among that crowd, Dan Simon?

SIMON: You know, Brooke, not since the days of Centipede and Atari would I consider myself a gamer, but you know, Angry Birds, I can get into that. How about you?

BALDWIN: Not exactly. Never played the Angry Birds in my life though could rock some back in the day. Dan Simon, I'm sure a lot of people here in the six figures in the video games. They're into that. Thank you, Dan, for us there in that video game store.

Meantime, I just got back from South by Southwest, this massive film and high tech festival going on in Austin, Texas. While I was there, I talked to a lot of different people including actress, Minnie Driver.

I sat down with her and her director, Mark Evans to talk about this independent film of theirs. It's called "Hunky Dory." It's this musical kind of coming of age film set in the set in the 1970s.

And Minnie Driver, she plays this drama teacher trying to put a rock and roll version of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" put the show on. Here's a clip of the movie and part of my interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything else doesn't count. I want to put on a show about Shakespeare and I want it to be something to be proud of. Now you're talking.

BALDWIN: Explain this thing that David Bowie and Shakespeare would be proud of. As Viv, what was the crux of the film?

MINNIE DRIVER, ACTRESS: As a teacher, as an unconventional, quite eccentric teacher, she wants them to connect with the greatest playwriter of all time, and also to tap into the music of that time which she knew also that's the magic of teenagers, is music. Today it might be social media more, but in the '70s, it was rock and roll. And ELO spoke to living and dancing and throws that music in our movie.

You -- you want to get up and you want to dance. By the time "It's a Living Thing" comes on which is this great ELO tune at the end, you are just -- it's so uplifting. And she wants them to have it all, so she combines it all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: "Hunky Dory" officially released in the U.K. on March 2. They are hoping it gets picked up here in the U.S.