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Shooting Victim's Family Demands Arrest; President Obama Approves Portion of Keystone Pipeline; Interview with NAACP President Benjamin Jealous; Fired for Wearing Orange; Polo Mogul on Trial; Saints Coach Suspended for One Year; Hoosiers Eye Elite 8, Giant Boulder Crashes Into House, Jeb Bush Endorses Romney

Aired March 21, 2012 - 15:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Chad. We're going to see in just a little bit because it's the top of the hour and we have to get to it.

I'm Don Lemon in today for Brooke Baldwin.

And a standoff under way between police and a suspected gunman who claiming allegiance with al Qaeda. President Obama's about-face over a controversial oil pipeline, and housing numbers, some good, some bad. Roll it.

We're going to begin with Diana Magnay in Toulouse, France, where police have pinned down a self-declared jihadist who is a suspect in the shooting deaths of three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three soldiers.

Diana, you're learning a lot more about the suspect today. What can you tell us about?

OK, apparently, we're having an issue with Diana Magnay. We will get back to Diana in just a bit if we can get that corrected.

Next, Brianna Keilar, Boulder City, Nevada, where President Barack Obama will speak a little more than an hour from now.

Brianna, I saw the note last night when you got the information on this story. This is the beginning of an energy tour for the president. It was very interesting what you uncovered it.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. That had to do with the Keystone XL pipeline or really the southern segment of it, the part that does not cross the border with Canada.

That's where the president will be visiting tomorrow, the beginning of the southern portion of that. Here we are today at a very different place. This is Copper Mountain One. It's the largest solar plant of its kind in the nation. All of those solar panels you see behind me create enough energy to power 17,000 homes.

As you know, the president is really feeling some political pinch right now when it comes to high gas prices. He's facing a lot of Republican criticism. And one of the reasons he's at this particular stop is to make a case for his energy policies. Renewable energy has been a huge part of that.

He will be touting renewable energy as a viable option. And that's obviously why he's here. Then later today he will be in New Mexico. He will go to an oil field on federal land. And this is really a rebuttal to Republican criticisms that he's not doing enough on drilling.

Then finally, in addition tomorrow he ends his day at Ohio State where they're doing a lot of energy-related technology advancement. But the big visit is tomorrow in Cushing, Oklahoma, where that southern segment of the Keystone XL pipeline, very controversial pipeline that the Obama administration rejected the initial plan of in January. He will be there touting that they're moving forward on the project, that TransCanada, the company, is, Don.

LEMON: Keilar, appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Want to go back down to Diana Magnay in Toulouse, France, where a standoff is under way right now.

Diana, give us the very latest.

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (AUDIO GAP) responsible for the series of attacks here in the Toulouse region over the last few days, cold-blooded attacks for which he says he feels no guilt, no remorse and, in fact, he said he's just sorry he can't kill again.

That's what he was apparently planning. He says he's associated with al Qaeda and that he committed these various attacks for three specific reasons, one, because he doesn't believe in the ban on the women wearing the hijab veil in this country. Two, because he objects to France's military involvement in Afghanistan. That's why he killed the three soldiers at point-blank range last week, and, three, to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children. That's why he targeted that Jewish school, which is just three kilometers down the road from this neighborhood, killing, gunning three children there and a rabbi.

We know that he is known to the police, Don. He had a history of violent crime. And they say that really turned them on to him on Tuesday. The Jewish shootings were on Monday. And on the Tuesday, when they started looking through CCTV footage and when they matched it up with a man who they know from his past petty crime here in Toulouse, they began to fit the pieces of the puzzle together.

But it was only later that they managed to locate his whereabouts and...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Diana, I have to interrupt you. And we have just a couple seconds left here. What's happening now between the standoff with police and this man?

MAGNAY: Well, we don't know. He said that he was going to hand himself over. But he said that a while ago and it hasn't happened. Police are obviously unsure about going in a raid fashion as they did earlier on in the beginning because he used heavy fire against them. Two policemen were injured. So they are really sort of -- it's essentially a standoff at this moment, negotiations, they say. But what he's negotiating for at this stage, we're not very clear on, Don.

LEMON: Diana Magnay, thank you for your reporting.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

LEMON: That's today's "Reporter Roulette."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sanford police, do your duty. Arrest the murderer today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: It's a very sensitive story and people are taking sides and have become very emotional about this. The outrage over the shooting death of a teenager reaches Congress.

And developing today, the city of Sanford has issued a letter explaining what police did, what they didn't do, and now NAACP president Ben Jealous is calling for the police chief's resignation. He joins me live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Five members of the Southern Mississippi Pep Band have lost their scholarships after chanting where's your green card at a Kansas State player. Listen closely and you can hear them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALES: Where's your green card?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So the incident occurred during the NCAA basketball championship tournament.

The chant was aimed at Angel Rodriguez, a Kansas State player who was born in Puerto Rico. The students were also removed from the band and will be required to complete a cultural sensitivity training course.

A first for President Obama this Sunday. He plans to visit the demilitarized zone that splits the Korean Peninsula into two countries. The president will be in Seoul for a nuclear security summit involving 54 countries, including China and Russia.

His predecessor, President George W. Bush, used binoculars to look into North Korea from the sandbag bunker. That was back in 2002. This is why I mixed up those letters, because the NAACP is calling for the police chief of Sanford, Florida, to resign. That is a town where neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin, who was 17 years old. Zimmerman said he fired in self-defense. Police did not arrest him. Now the FBI and the Justice Department are investigating.

And a Seminole County, Florida, grand jury is going to get the case next month.

Right now from Sanford, Florida, is the president of the NAACP, Ben Jealous.

Thank you, Ben, for joining us.

BENJAMIN JEALOUS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NAACP: Thanks, Don. It's good to be here.

LEMON: Why do you want Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee to resign?

JEALOUS: Last night, we stood in a church filled with hundreds of people to the absolute limits of the church, more than 1,000 outside, people talking about their experiences watching young men in this town, young black men being mistreated, killed, young black men who are murdered and the investigations into those murders not happen properly.

Somebody stood up and said if you kill a dog in this town, you will be in jail the next day. Trayvon Martin was killed here four weeks ago and his killer is still walking the street. The reality is that the police -- it's been a real failure of leadership. They had probably cause.

Our branch president here, Mr. Turner Clayton, was on law enforcement here for 24 years. He will tell you, they had all the cause they need to lock up Mr. Zimmerman, but they just kept giving -- and they didn't do it. It's been four weeks and now they have turned it over to a state's attorney.

(CROSSTALK)

JEALOUS: That will be probably I think the middle of the next month before they even impanel the grand jury. The whole time, this man is just out there free. And this young man is dead.

LEMON: Ben, I have a lot of questions for you. Let's take each one of the questions, if you can answer here, because you mentioned being in a church.

I know it's very emotional. Listen, there's outrage all across the country here. There are people who believe it's a racial thing and there are many who believe it's not. There are people who say it's been a while, but can't we just let the investigation play out? Because in the end this person may end up being arrested and charged or not.

How do you respond to that?

JEALOUS: The reality is we're all heartened to see the DOJ open their investigation yesterday. Even though I think all of us would have liked the grand jury to be impaneled some time ago, it's good we have the date. Those are two good signs.

The reality though is that one of the things that makes the NAACP special that we have people on the ground active every day, 1,200 communities across this country. And our branch president here, Mr. Clayton, he spent 26 years on law enforcement here and he spent 24 years as president of this branch here of the NAACP -- 12 years of that was an overlap.

And he will tell you that this chief has just lost the faith of a lot of people in this community. The reality is, at the very least, this chief should be suspended with pay, pending the outcome of any investigation. That's what we expect chiefs to do with their officers when their officers have done something to lose faith. The reality is that this chief should have made sure that Trayvon Martin's killer was charged, was actually held to the same account as somebody who killed a dog would be.

LEMON: All right, I get you. I get you, Mr. Netanyahu. And I'm trying to be respectful here because we don't have a lot of time and there are a lot of questions I want to get to.

If it turns out that federal investigators found Sanford police did nothing wrong when they did not make an arrest, when they did not arrest -- will you stand by the Justice Department's decision?

JEALOUS: The reality here is that there's a lot to investigate.

We held a hearing today to get community testimony from community members throughout this community. We didn't any pre-investigation. We didn't knock on any doors. We just simply put out word. Community member after community member came forward with stories of young men who had been abused, young men who had been attacked, young men whose murders had not been investigated, young men who had been killed.

The reality is that that seems to be just the tip of the iceberg. But again listening to our branch president, Mr. Turner Clayton, 26 years as a sheriff's deputy in this community, say look, when a young man is shot, they should test the hands of the man who did the shooting and actually get the powder residue. They didn't do that. They should actually gather his clothing for DNA. They didn't do that.

Just basic step after basic step that was simply was not taken, because they gave Mr. Zimmerman special dispensation apparently because he appointed himself neighborhood watch captain and they took his word for it.

LEMON: It is a volunteer position. I want to say the city manager released a statement today and it's on the city's Web site responding to some of the questions and allegations that you're making right now. And again, I have to point this out, that this is not CNN's reporting, this is a person that you have on the ground doing your own independent investigation, I would imagine.

But my question was, if it turns out through the Justice Department's investigation that the police department did nothing wrong, will you stand by that?

JEALOUS: We have full faith in this DOJ and this investigation should take months.

They have done a great job in New Orleans. We have faith that they will do a great job here. In my 20 years as an organizer and community journalist, I have not come across -- and I have worked in places like Harlem, New York, and Jackson, Mississippi -- I have not come across a community as tense as this one is, and it's not simply about this one case.

It's about a pattern in this community. People, you know, who kill -- who attack men being treated differently. Think about it, Don. It was just a couple of years ago that we were talking about the son of a lieutenant from this force who attacked a black homeless man.

You know, people here are saying look, Orlando is a much bigger city. In the last five years, in the last 10 years, their police department hasn't been in the national news as much as Sanford. When there's this much smoke in a community of such a modest size, there's a reason. There's fire.

And again today as we sat with those community members and listened to their stories, same with last night, we heard evidence of that fire.

LEMON: Yes. I have to ask you this.

For advice on -- because sometimes these things become so emotional and you don't want them to explode into something that gets out of control -- even as I'm speaking to you know, there are people saying, stop playing devil's advocates, you're doing the enemy's -- I'm just being honest. Why are you doing that?

Well, we don't know yet. And there are other people who are saying, it's obvious it wasn't a racial thing and what you have. Some cooler heads is what I'm asking. What is your advice when it comes to that because again we're all sad? If you weren't sad for Trayvon Martin's family then you're not human.

But the investigation does have to play out, even if you don't think it's moving at the speed for which you want it to.

JEALOUS: Sure.

You know, the reality is, those of us raised in the Judeo- Christian traditions, Islamic traditions are taught that faith is the essence of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen just the reality that people have invested a lot of faith here for weeks, praying and calling and rallying for justice to be done.

And they're starting to see the wheels of justice move. DOJ opened that investigation a day or two ago because this community ultimately spoke up and said we need you here to restore faith in our law enforcement.

And, you know, now the state's attorney has set a date for the grand jury to be impaneled. And so people here have already waited weeks for justice to be done. They have not been patient or quiet, but they have ultimately waited and been willing to keep faith in the justice system. I believe people will continue to keep faith again because they're starting to see some signs that that faith is being rewarded.

DOJ is involved. A date for the grand jury has been set. Somebody said what do you make of all these rallies? This is what democracy looks like. This is what it looks like when a community says we aren't going to be vigilantes but we're going to be vigilant that justice is done by our sons and daughters.

LEMON: Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP, thank you. Appreciate you coming on CNN and keep us updated as to what you find out and what you're doing.

JEALOUS: Thank you.

LEMON: A mysterious phenomenon baffling a town. Folks are hearing strange noises, explosions, even firecracker sounds, and no one can explain why. Up next, we're going to speak live with someone who has heard these sounds and also Jim Spellman, who is in the town getting answers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A very big mystery. What's behind the loud booms and shaking that are waking people up in the middle of the night way out in the middle of nowhere? Want you to listen to the people of Clintonville describe it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first one sounded like that paintball gun where it was bang, bang, bang, bang in a row. The next ones were kind of like a boom, boom, boom like that. It was similar sounds, but it wasn't exactly the same every time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It sounded like a bomb going off.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will like little tremors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The house is shaking, the windows are shaking. It was quite loud. Sounded like it was in the house almost.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: It isn't a one-time thing either. The booms and shaking have been happening three nights in a row.

Want you to take a look at this map. See all those dots right there? They represent all the people who have called police to report hearing or feeling the booms.

Cindy Miller lives in Clintonville.

Cindy, thank you for joining us.

What is happening at your house?

CINDY MILLER, RESIDENT OF CLINTONVILLE, WISCONSIN: Pretty much everything that they were just describing. It was kind of like having the Fourth of July fireworks, but underground.

LEMON: Really? That must be disturbing.

Where do you think these noises are coming from, Cindy?

MILLER: I don't know. I wish they could find out, but it's very strange, because when you hear them, you think it's coming from the basement. You go down there and then it sounds like they're some firecrackers or something going off upstairs. Then you go outside and hear it out there. I don't know. It's very strange. Crazy, I guess.

LEMON: So it's not kids you think playing a joke and maybe setting off fireworks?

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER: Oh, no, no. Not the way those windows shake and everything else, and all of us on Sunday night when it first happened for a couple of blocks down, everybody was just standing outside because everybody was thinking their house was going to blow up.

LEMON: People in charge, what are they telling you?

MILLER: The whole neighborhood.

LEMON: What are the folks in charge saying to you?

MILLER: I'm sorry. What?

LEMON: The people in charge, what are they saying to you?

MILLER: They're just trying to find out. I guess, you know, they looked at all the options as far as gas lines and water mains and stuff like that. And they ruled all those things out.

And they're calling it a natural phenomenon.

LEMON: Wow.

MILLER: There's supposed to be a meeting tonight, I guess. I don't know what they found out. But I haven't heard anything on the news, whether they have ruled anything else out or found anything else out.

LEMON: Report back to us, Cindy. Hang on, maybe get some earplugs. But we wish you well. Thank you. MILLER: Yes, thanks.

LEMON: All right.

We sent Jim Spellman to Clintonville, Wisconsin, to check out the mystery for ourselves.

Jim, I know you just got there a little while ago. Do city leaders have any idea what might be causing the booms?

JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, Sunday night, when these reports first came in, the first thing they thought was maybe it was an electrical substation exploding. They checked that out, not happening.

Was it a gas line explosion? Not happening. Sewers collapsing, not happening. They even checked with the military to see if perhaps there was some sort of exercises going on. Nothing like that. The leading theory they have now, and it's not much more than a theory, is what they're calling a frost quake.

It's been really warm here up in the 80s for about the last week. Could the frozen ground being thawed so quickly by this heat wave be causing some sort of seismic shift? That's about the leading theory, but again not really much more than a theory now. And it still doesn't explain why only this small area of the town is being affected.

LEMON: You told us that possibilities. What have they ruled out, anything?

SPELLMAN: Well, they ruled out like I said electrical problems, sewer problems, gas explosions. Right now, as we speak, they're meeting with an engineering firm to try to decide whether it's wise to set up some sort of monitoring systems so they can try to find the epicenter of this, see if there's some sort of underground cavern of some sort that they weren't aware of that is shifting.

I'm here at Clintonville High School. They're going to have a town meeting this evening to discuss all these possibilities with residents. Everybody here, it's the only thing everybody in this town is talking about.

LEMON: That was the meeting Cindy Miller just mentioned to me.

All right Jim. Keep on it. Interesting. Thank you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the White Horse Tavern, how many alcoholic drinks did you have?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the White Horse Tavern, I had one drink.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Well, by the end of the night, investigators say he had the equivalent of 18 drinks. A polo mogul takes the stand in his DUI manslaughter trial. Find out what he revealed. Joey Jackson is on the case next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: 14 office workers in Florida wear orange and get fired. Joey Jackson is on the case for us.

The workers say they orange shirts, Joey, are all about the happy hour they hit afterhours on payday and not at all about work. But their employer -- law firm -- sees things differently. The firm says it's a sign of protest. Either way, is it a reason to get fired?

JOEY JACKSON, ATTORNEY: Well, here's the problem, Don. The problem is that it's an employment-at-will state. Basically, laws are presumptively at-will employment. What does that mean? It means you can be hired or fired for any reason or no reason as long as it's not discriminatory.

As you know, there are a number of statutes that protect you, predicated upon age, upon gender, sexual orientation and the like. However, a shirt is not a member of a protected class. And so as sadly as it is to say, the reality is, just because they wore orange shirts, they could be fired. Horrific, and maybe the legislature in the future will do something about it but perfectly permissible under the law now.

LEMON: Okay, let's turn to our next case, Joey. Also in Florida, the DUI manslaughter trial of Polo mogul John Goodman. He took to the stand in his own defense today. Let's listen, then we'll talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who do you recall seeing in the bar?

JOHN GOODMAN, POLO MOGUL: I -- I mean, there was a group of -- who do I recall seeing at the bar? Several polo players, a group of players, polo players, younger players and stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, when you arrived at the bar, what kind of drinks did you order?

GOODMAN: I ordered a tequila. I ordered tequila.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And how many -- was that in shots?

GOODMAN: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many of those did you order?

GOODMAN: I ordered ten shots.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Okay. So Goodman testifies that those ten shots were for a large group of people and he had only one shot. But if you listen to the tenor of his voice -- some of it, I have to be honest with you, Joey, I couldn't understand what he was saying. How did he come off to you? I'm being serious. To a jury, how did he come off?

JACKSON: Well, look. It's problematic, and let me tell you why. Reasonable minds will differ as to how he came off. Some jurors will perhaps say he came across well, others will say not so well. But the critical inquiry is, number one, why was he there in the first place and, number two, will he hold up under cross-examination?

Remember this, Don. When you're under direct examination it's your own attorney lobbing you softballs. We can all hit for the most part softballs. It's when the prosecution stands up and they cross-examine you, when the pressure and heat is on you. If you could not understand what he's saying now, imagine when the prosecution begins to question him.

Sir you said you had a concussion, is that right? And is that why you left the scene? Is that why you were in a bar, drinking a half a gallon of liquor, which you want us to believe? Are you sure you were drinking liquor like that? Was your first concern towards the victim or calling your girlfriend? You were lucid of mind to do that.

And so, the point is, he's going to be savaged on cross. Now I do understand why Roy Black put him on. Because they have to explain the story. Of course, the defense's contention is, "I wasn't drinking that much beforehand, it was after the fact that I was in such pain that I went to the barn and I drank all of this alcohol." So he has to lay the foundation for that, Goodman does. That's why he's testifying.

And he also has to lay down the foundation as to why his Bentley malfunctioned. Of course, accident reconstructionists say differently. But ultimately, well see, the jury will really determine how well he came off.

LEMON: All right, Joey Jackson. Fired up and on the case today. Thank you, sir.

JACKSON: Pleasure, pleasure.

LEMON: It certainly has a lot of you talking, breaking this afternoon. The head coach of New Orleans Saints suspended for the entire season after it's revealed his players were paid cash to injure opposing players. That's not the only harsh punishment.

Louisiana native James Carville standing by, wearing his Saints hat. I'm sure he is fired up over this one. Do not say anything now, James, because we want to hear it all when we come back after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The NFL showing no mercy today. Suspending New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton for one year, without pay, for his role in a so-called bounty program. Former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams suspended indefinitely. He's the guy who admits to paying players for big hits, ones that injure layers on the other team. One analyst calls the punishment historic.

Joini me now, Jmes Carville, CNN political contributor, but also a host of a sports talk show on XM radio. He knows all about this.

First off, sir, first off, do you think the punishment is fair?

JAMES CARVILLE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, SPORTS TALK SHOW HOST: Well, I was hoping for -- honestly, I was hoping for a little less. I knew a hammer was going to drop. I was hoping for a (INAUDIBLE) hammer, but it looks like we got a sledge hammer here.

But we've got to deal with it. You know, Don, you would know better than anybody in this part of the world in New Orleans, we deal with adversity pretty well. I think our team is going to come back pretty good from this.

LEMON: I think a lot of the Saints players were hoping for something that wasn't so substantial. But listen, it's serious stuff. You know that, the NFL facing lawsuits from former players with head trauma. Do the league, the saint, the coaches need to be worried here about lawsuits with the players being paid to inflict injury?

CARVILLE: Well, I don't know. People know football is a tough game. You know, we love coach Payton, we understand -- I think the city will embrace him with open arms, when the year is up.

Drew has not been signed yet. I don't think there's an athlete in the city that's more part of the city or loved by the city than Drew Brees is in New Orleans. I think the Saints will re-sign him. We've had pretty good free agency year, this year. We're a good football team. I think we're going to be a really good football team come September.

And I think we're going to surprise people. The naysayers and doomsdayers say this is going to really set us back far. I think we'll play up to this kind of adversity. At least I hope to. I know the fans do, and I know how important the Saints are and the NFL is to New Orleans. I think we'll deal with this. It will be tough, it's a big blow, but we'll deal with it.

LEMON: You're talking about Sean Payton and we're talking about Gregg Williams. And Drew Brees you said hasn't been signed yet. Breezy as they call him. He tweeted out today, he wanted some answers. Do you still support Sean Payton?

CARVILLE: Well, look, I'm crazy about coach Payton. He's a really great coach, he's a great guy. Obviously the league thought he should be on top of this. All I can do is say coach, we love you. You're one of us. When the year is up, we'll embrace you back.

But right now, this football team, this organization, Mr. Benson and everybody has to deal with the facts saying hey, you know, that's the way that it goes. We have some really top people - coach Carmichael, we have coach Spagnuolo. We have people like that, that can fill in the gap. I think coach Payton has built a good organization there.

You know, De Gaulle said the graveyards are full of indispensable people. But De Gaulle never met Drew Brees either.

LEMON: I knew there was going to be some sort of Carville-ism in there. I thought it was going to be, "Don, our gumbo is all in a kerfuffle down here in New Orleans."

(LAUGHTER)

CARVILLE: It is a little disconcerting here, but we've got to try to deal with it. We've got some really good football players and we've got to play hard come September.

LEMON: All right, we have to move on. Thank you, James Carville, appreciate it.

CARVILLE: Thank you, Don. As always, appreciate it.

LEMON: Up next, incredible video. A giant boulder crashes into a house. Find out what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: In Athens, Ohio, that is a boulder you see there to the left of your screen. Huge, isn't it? It smashed into the house around 10 last night. Not only did the huge rock damage the house, it smashed the car, took out only power poles and it hit a water main. A couple of houses had to be evacuated while crews tried to clean up and remove the giant boulder.

Maybe this will end all that talk of Jeb Bush swooping into the race for president. Today the former Florida governor endorsed Mitt Romney. He congratulated Romney on his primary win in Illinois and he called on the Republican party to unite behind Romney as their candidate for 2012.

Coming up, I'm going to take you live to what we call the CNN Atrium here down stairs where some special guests have just joined our Chad Myers. You'll see who's paid a trip to Atlanta next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We started with 64 teams then 32 now 16. Sweet 16 teams are left vying for a chance to make it to the elite eight. Two of the games will be played right here in Atlanta on Friday night. Chad Myers downstairs, joined now by the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers basketball team, one of their star players and the world's largest bracket. It's giant, bigger than that player almost, huh?

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is. There's a different pollen count where he is way up there, Don. Coach Tom Crean, you have Indiana with swagger again. I'm so proud of the Indiana team. These guys are ready, they're loose, playing great basketball. [no audio]

LEMON: Did we lose Chad? We lost Chad. Man, oh, man, we'll work on it. I was looking forward to that. The Hoosiers down stairs.

I want you to listen to this before we get back to Chad. Hundreds of terror agents are apparently living inside the U.S. and they're backed by Iran. Up next, why experts say those agents are capable of launching an attack.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We fixed it. Chad's back with the Hoosiers. Go, Chad.

MYERS: Hey, Don. I was here for a while. I don't know what happened to my microphone. Coach Tom Crean, formerly of Marquette. You brought some swagger back to this team. I love what you've done in four years. Look at this recruiting class. Look at this guy. This is a different pollen count where he's from. Tell me what you're going to do this weekend. This is a big game for you guys.

TOM CREAN, HEAD COACH, INDIANA HOOSIERS: It really is. But we're going to do what we've been continuing to do all year long. These guys have been so great about staying right with what we have to do, whether it's practice and how we prepare for the game and totally staying locked in the game we're at and these guys understand what Kentucky's all about. They understand how good they are and we've played them so we have that belief and knowledge that not only we know how to compete with them, but to beat them, and we've got to continue to build on that.

MYERS: Coach, honestly, four years ago you walked into a mess, you did. You built a family out of this team.

CREAN: They are family and we recruited really good people, and I think that's the bottom line. They've been well raised and they've been well coached and they come in and they really have bought in to what Indiana is all about, and Indiana has been about togetherness and family and selflessness for so long, when you look at the decades and decades of excellence the program that the university has had, these guys have come in and understood and that to be a part of that.

MYERS: The alumni are very pleased with your progress, by the way. This man has a lot do with it. Look at the size of you, dude. They said do you want to stand on a box? I said no, I want to stand on a bar stool. Tell me what got you here. Your brother's playing for North Carolina and you make it to the final square right there and you get to play against him. How did this coach get you here to Indiana?

CODY ZELLER, INDIANA HOOSIERS BASKETBALL PLAYER: I looked at a lot of things in the recruiting process, but the main thing is the players and coaches and I had confidence in what Coach Crean was doing with the program, and you know, it's a family that we have built here. So --

MYERS: Who do you play for? When you're out on the field, on the court, do you play for the coach? Do you play for the other players? Do you play for your mom? Who is on your mind all of the time, and say I can't let them down?

ZELLER: I play for God, I play for Coach, I play for my teammates. It's just putting everything out there for every game we play.

MYERS: We know you guys had a little lunch before here. How many of you had Chik-fil-a for lunch? Every time they come to Atlanta they go for Chik-fil-a.

CREAN: It was highly recommended and well worth it.

MYERS: Tell us what your game plan without giving it all away. What are you going to do? How will the guys come into the court?

CREAN: I think the bottom line is you've got to believe that you're good enough to win the game first and foremost.

MYERS: You've done it already. You beat Kentucky once.

CREAN: We have and it's a new time, we know that. They're better, but we're better, I and I think the key is how are we going to execute? Are we going to be able to execute under pressure? Can we defend at a high level? Those are all of the things that you have to do, there's not a lot of room in margin for error when you're playing against a team like Kentucky. They're just too good at too many things and John is one of the best coaches our game has ever seen and he knows how to get his team better and knows how to win, so we've got to do a great job of being completely locked into everything it's going to take inside that game.

MYERS: Coach, you're one of the reasons why we love March. Thank you very much for your time, my friend.

I feel like this is a real family down here. These guys are really into it. All of these guys have swagger back and they're got the Indiana fans and alumni back in it to win it, Don. It's great down here.

LEMON: That guy's got to be tall because Chad Myers is 6'8". Thanks, Chad.

CHAD: You bet.

LEMON: Up next, "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer. Wolf?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE SITUATION ROOM": We have a lot coming up at the top of the hour. A lot of politics. Also some national security concerns right here in the United States. Testimony today before a House homeland security committee, Don, about Hezbollah apparently having operatives right here in the United States. We're checking that. We've got the latest on Romney and Santorum. A lot of news happening right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM". Don?

LEMON: Thank you, Wolf. We look forward to that.

You know, they're here, they're among us and they can attack whenever they want. That's what a panel of witnesses told a House committee on homeland security today. They warned that Hezbollah agents backed by Iran are raising money across the U.S. Committee head Peter King says there may be hundreds of them already here. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETER KING (R), HOMELAND SECURITY CHAIRMAN: These threats are real. They could be sooner rather than later and as a committee, as a Congress and as a government we simply cannot afford to ignore this threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: I want to bring in our senior national security producer Suzanne Kelly who was there today. Susanne, how serious is this threat?

SUZANNE KELLY, SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY PRODUCER: That's a great question, and the really important thing to understand in talking and hearing numbers like hundreds of Hezbollah supporters here in the U.S. is that they've been here for years. They've been here for more than ten years now and they've sort of ingrained themselves into society across the U.S. in different cities and they've opened up car dealerships and restaurants but they basically served a purpose of raising money for the larger Hezbollah effort.

The big question that you heard just mentioned now and the fear is whether or not they'll make a shift to becoming operatives in this country. Of course, Hezbollah is funded. They're backed spiritually by Iran and with all of the questioning right now in the back and forth about is Israel going to make an attack against Iran because of the nuclear program, you have to wonder how these strings of Hezbollah that lead back to the U.S. will play themselves out. There will be a lot of risks involved, however, and that's well documented. You should go to our website, CNN.com/security for more on that about what will happen if these actually turn from supporters to operatives and launch attacks in the U.S.

LEMON: Thank you very much, appreciate it.

Time now for political pop, Newt Gingrich not a Robert de Niro fan. At least not after a joke the actor made last night. Our Joe Johns has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At a Monday night fund-raiser attended by first lady Michelle Obama, Academy Award-winning superstar Robert de Niro, accompanied by his wife Grace Hightower, made a joke that went viral almost immediately and opened de Niro up as fair game in the Republican race for the nomination. De Niro was quoted as mentioning the wives of Republican candidates.

"Callista Gingrich, Karen Santorum, Ann Romney. Now do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?"

In the morning, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, trailing badly in the polls and campaigning in Louisiana, seized on the comment and demanded the president himself apologize for what de Niro had said. NEWT GINGRICH, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What de Niro said last night was inexcusable and the president should apologize for him. It was at an Obama fundraiser and it's exactly wrong and it divides the country and if people on the left want to talk about a radio talk show host then everyone in the country ought to hold the president accountable when someone at his event -

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: That was Joe Johns reporting. You saw the first lady standing there. Her office issued a statement saying the comment was inappropriate. Robert de Niro issued an apology saying the comments were made in jest and not meant to offend or embarrass anyone especially not the first lady.

A firebomb goes off at a state senator's office and police have made an arrest. Cedric Steele was charged with arson. You can see pictures of the damage there. Davis said Steele had come to the office before, but they never expected this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WENDY DAVIS (D), TEXAS STATE SENATOR: Never before have we believed that we were in the threat of physical harm by a person who has visited our office, and I don't believe that our staff felt that was the case with this particular person either.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The news now, 10,000 Syrians have died in this past year's uprising according to an opposition group. Just today at least 60 people have died and CNN now has new pictures showing the Syrian government's force. Here are armored vehicles outside of the hospital, the arrows show them surrounding the building on two sides and this picture shows an intact bridge on the left. The bridge on the right, just three days later destroyed.

Time now for "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Mr. Wolf Blitzer. Wolf?