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Secret Service To Question Ted Nugent; Colombian Hooker Shares Her Story; New Keystone Route, New Fight; Divers Search For Missing North Carolina Soldier; Remembering Dick Clark; Traveler Bares All In TSA Protest; Congressman Wants Disclosure Of Super PACs; Sisters Complete Titanic Memorial Cruise; Pat Summitt Steps Down
Aired April 19, 2012 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COSTELLO: Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Happening right now in the NEWSROOM. Backstage barbecue, the motor city madman, Ted Nugent chatting with the Secret Service before his concert tonight after saying the president leads an America-hating administration. Nugent is vowing cooperation.
Ten days, that's how long the head of the Secret Service has to come up with a full report of what happened in Colombia, from bad behavior to hiring hookers. Brand new details this morning.
Silver spoons and Greek columns. The president and Mitt Romney duking it out in duelling speeches. This morning we ask, is it possible to have a civil election?
In the pipeline, a new round and a new chance for Keystone this morning. A bill fast track that would strip the president of his authority to rule on the pipeline.
And keeping up with the mayor? K.K. after conquering the reality show, perfume, shoe and clothing worlds wants to try her hand at politics, but is Glendale, California, ready for Kim? NEWSROOM begins right now.
Ted Nugent hits the stage in Oklahoma tonight, but before that the rocker will face a much smaller audience not remotely interested in cat scratch fever.
Secret Service agents will question Nugent about what he said about President Obama, comments some people found violent in nature. Nugent says he's fine with talking to the agents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED NUGENT, MUSICIAN/ACTIVIST (via telephone): Yes. We actually have heard from the Secret Service. They have a duty and I salute them. I support them and I'm looking forward to our meeting tomorrow. I'm sure it will be a fine gathering.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Our own Ed Lavandera is on his way to Ardmore, Oklahoma that's the scene of Nugent's meeting and of course, his gig later tonight. Ed's on the phone right now. Good morning.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Good morning, Carol. As you mentioned, we're making our way down there in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Ted Nugent is playing at the Two Frogs Grill there tonight.
Our understanding right now is that the meeting will take place outside from perhaps somewhere around the venue where he's playing tonight. Presumably, he's already there. There won't be a lot of information about the meeting from the Secret Service.
They are saying they won't have any readout or any kind of information to hand out to describe how the meeting went or what was discussed, but they clearly say in these types of situations their job is to get down to the intent and learn more about what was behind these comments.
As you heard, Ted Nugent say he looks forward to the meeting and we'll see how it goes and whether or not Ted Nugent is willing to talk about what was discussed with the Secret Service agents after they meet today.
COSTELLO: So just remind us once again about what Ted Nugent said that has the Secret Service concerned and also, will this just be like a talking to Ted Nugent or is this more serious than that?
LAVANDERA: That's a good question. I don't know in these types of situations if it's more -- if it becomes more of a lecture from the Secret Service agents to whoever it is that they're talking to, but -- or if it's one of those things where they're trying to get a better sense of what the motivation of the comments were.
What was driving it and if there is any indication that there say real threat to incite violence against the president. Perhaps it's a twofold process, or a two-part meeting to this, but his comments were essentially, the comments he made at the National Rifle Association meeting in St. Louis earlier this week.
His comments were to the effect a year from now if President Obama is re-elected he will either be dead or in jail. He went on to talk about how he doesn't understand how anybody in the country can sit around and watch President Obama get re-elected.
So the comments were taken rather harshly by supporters of President Obama and critics of Ted Nugent and now we're here at this point where we're having this meeting.
COSTELLO: OK, so just a last question for you. If the secret service determines these are -- his intent was violence, what could happen to Ted Nugent?
LAVANDERA: Well, that becomes perhaps a much more serious situation, and I would imagine that there's a range of things that could be done at that point. You know, I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves in this situation.
But I would imagine that would open up a whole new level of issues and questions that the Secret Service would have to explain at some point if it became much more serious.
I do suspect that things like this go on quietly many, many times throughout the year and most people across the country never find out about the conversations like this or meetings like this that take place and, you know, threats or perceived threat for the Secret Service all the time.
COSTELLO: Ed Lavandera, we'll check back with you. Thank you so much.
Now let's turn to the sex scandal involving the president's Secret Service. Lawmakers are demanding answers then the clock is ticking. At least four congressional committees are demanding the agency provided detailed description of exactly what happened that night at the hotel Colombia.
They want to know who hired the prostitutes and who knew about it and they want the answers by May 1st. In the meantime, the scandal has forced out three employees. Two of them were supervisors. The remaining eight personnel faced lie detector tests.
In the meantime, the Colombian prostitute at the center of the scandal has gone public with her version of the events. She's 24 years old. She refers to herself as a high-class call girl and said she didn't know the American was a member of the Secret Service.
"The New York Times" reporter who spoke with her shared that discussion with CNN's Anderson Cooper. He says the woman described what happened when the American refused to pay and kicked her out of his hotel room.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM NEUMAN, "THE NEW YORK TIMES" (via telephone): Then she said this bizarre scene unfolds where she enlisted the help of another prostitute and another American and they knock on the door.
She said they were discreet and we're trying to make a scene, but they spent a couple of hours trying to coax this guy to open the door and according to her he wouldn't even say a word.
Finally, she gets fed up and goes to leave and runs into a police officer in the hotel, tells him the story and he goes back with her and then you have the bizarre scene.
Where you have two Colombian police officers now, these two prostitutes, hotel security guy shows up and then at some point, more of the Americans come out of their hotel rooms.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The reporter goes on to say after that the woman says it got even more strange. She says the American men who emerged from their rooms stood in front of their door and tried to block the Colombians from knocking on it and that's when it became a police matter. A new battle over gearing up this morning over the Keystone pipeline. Three months after President Obama suspended the project the company building the pipeline is suggesting a new route over land that's environmentally less sensitive.
And that's setting up an environmental fight over the environment, jobs and energy independence. Brianna Keilar is at the White House. So Brianna, what could this mean?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, first let's bring you up to speed on exactly what this development is. This is TransCanada, the company behind the controversial excel keystone pipeline.
And they've put forward a proposed new route and they submitted this to the state of Nebraska. And you remember, it was back in November that President Obama and the State Department denied a permit application by TransCanada for this pipeline.
That happened amid protests, including protests here outside of the White House by environmentalists. So we're still awaiting details on the route, but as you can see by this map, the expectation is that the move will actually get moved to the east.
The idea is moving the route to the east through Nebraska, which is the issue that was at hand there because there's aquifer there that supplies a lot of water for the state of Nebraska.
The idea is to move this route east, get it away from the aquifer, make it more environmentally safe as oil is brought down from Alberta's oil sands down to the Texas Gulf Coast to refineries there.
This has become the keystone pipeline and the centerpiece of republican criticism over President Obama's energy crisis. They've held this up to say, look, President Obama isn't doing everything he can about gas prices and so as you can imagine, Carol, they're already seizing upon this development today trying to make that point further.
COSTELLO: Interesting. But ultimately, what needs to happen to break ground on that pipeline?
KEILAR: Well, ultimately, carol, because this does cross an international border it is up to the State Department and they would need to approve a permit. They don't actually have an application for that because the state process is going through right now.
But judging from the timeline that was laid out in November by the State department, this still is not expected, if it moves forward to move forward until after the November election. It does seem that the White House, that President Obama and the State Department they've certainly left some options open.
And they say they want to move forward on this in sort of an environmentally safe manner, but really what might depend on how quickly this moves is gas prices and the political pressure that that creates right now.
As you know, gas prices have been sort of plateauing, but if they were to spike that would increase pressure on President Obama so we'll sort of se what the markets do.
COSTELLO: Brianna Keilar reporting live for us from the White House.
Divers are searching a North Carolina pond this morning following a lead in the case of Private 1st Class Kelli Bordeaux. Bordeaux was reported missing for duty at Fort Bragg on Monday.
Bordeaux was given a ride home from a bar early Saturday morning. Bordeaux's mother said her daughter was spooked on the ride and had the driver let her out of the car before she reached her home. Police are calling this a missing person's case, stopping short of saying foul play may be involved.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF TOM BERGAMINE, FAYETTEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA POLICE: The information we've received from the unit and command at Fort Bragg, very good soldier and not the type of person that would come up being AWOL or missing. So the fact that no one has heard from her since.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Police are asking anyone with information about Bordeaux to come forward.
Many of the music world in mourning today after the death of Dick Clark. Clark's career spanned several decades launching acts like the Jackson 5 and others and inspiring entertainers for generations to come.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long have you been singing?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Thirty years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you went to grab it right away and snatch it right out of my hand there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't begin tonight's show without acknowledging the passing of a television pioneer and my dear friend, Dick Clark. Without Dick a show like this would not exist. He will be missed greatly. Our thoughts and our prayers go out to his family.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Clark suffered a massive heart attack yesterday. His family has not decided if there will be a public memorial service for him. Clark was 82.
More prison time for retired baseball star, Jenny Dykstra. He sentenced him to five months for exposing himself to five women. Just last month Dykstra was sentenced to three years in prison for grand theft auto.
In the next hour, the Smithsonian will hold a ceremony to officially receive the space shuttle "Discovery" which arrived atop a Boeing 747.
It's the first step before being placed on permanent display and it will replace the shuttle "Enterprise." Astronaut John Glenn and other "Discovery" commanders will be on hand.
Mitt Romney's "Super PAC" has reportedly raised more than $43 million for the candidate and it has asking who is donating all that money anyway?
Congressman Van Holen says everyone has the right to know who's spending money to influence election. I'll talk with him next.
A traveller got so fed up with TSA security screenings he said he decided to make their job easier. Yes, he stripped down and bared it all right there at security. He'll tell us what happened next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's 15 minutes after the hour. Ted Nugent has a date with the Secret Service. The rocker's controversial comments about President Obama landing him an up close and personal meeting with agents today.
For his part, Nugent says he looks forward to the chat and says it will be a fine gathering backstage before his concert in Oklahoma.
A company who's pipeline permit was denied by President Obama comes up with a another proposed route. Nebraska environmental authorities says TransCanada's new Keystone pipeline route is east of what was initially proposed and would pose less of an environmental risk.
A man in Portland, Oregon, said he had no plans to lose his shirt at the airport, but he did, along with everything else at the TSA screening line. John Brennan said he got naked in protest. He explained on this morning's "STARTING POINT."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BRENNAN, STRIPPED NAKED TO PROTEST TSA: They had actually already patted me down, and were testing residue from that patdown. I had to ask what was going on.
They were not very informative about what was going on and at the point I found out I tested positive for nitrate, which is are an explosive.
I decide the best way to show them I'm not carrying a bomb is to take of my clothes and I just decided I'm going to speed this process up. COSTELLO: And he did, as you can see. Brennan is no stranger to naked protests calling them tools he uses for free speech. He was briefly jailed after this. He faces charges of disorderly conduct and indecent exposure.
It is the era of "Super PACs" and secret donors and this election cycle they have super power and lots and lots of money to give. According to opensecrets.com, our future has raised $43 million in support of Mitt Romney just this election cycle.
So who exactly is donating all of that money? The fact is we don't know. Democratic Congressman Chris Van Holland is the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Elections. He wants to know. Welcome, Congressman.
REPRESENTATIVE CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D), MARYLAND: Good to be with you.
COSTELLO: So you will convene a congressional forum to look into these "Super PACs." What do you want to find out?
HOLLEN: Well, Carol, we just had a forum yesterday to investigate these "PACs" and what we find out should trouble all Americans, which is tens of millions of dollars of secret money are now flowing into various campaign efforts.
And our view is that voters have a right to know who's spending all this money. This shouldn't have secret money in these campaigns, and so I have a piece of legislation called the disclose bill that very simply says when you're spending gobs of money to influence voters, you should tell the voters who you are, who is spending it.
A very simple idea and it used to be a bipartisan idea. Senator Mitch McConnell and others always said we need more disclosure. Unfortunately, at least as of right now they're not supporting this bill and I hope they'll change their mind.
COSTELLO: OK, you spoke in the spirit of bipartisanship, but I'll ask you a bipartisan question. We know that Republican "Super PACs" have raised tens of millions of dollars more than that. But Democratic "Super PACs" haven't raise as much. So would you have a problem if the numbers were reversed?
HOLLEN: I would. I have a problem with secret money regardless of whether you're talking about a Republican-leaning organization, a Democrat-leaning organization, some independent organization.
There are two issues with "Super PACs." One is the volume of money that's flowing in. The other issue is the secret money. Now, technically, Super PACs do have to disclose their donors, but what you're finding is many of these "PACs" are then partnering with these other organizations.
For example, Karl Rove has a crossroads GPS, which actively solicits the secret money and I don't care whether it's Karl Rove's group or some group on the left. My view is that voters have a right to know who is funnelling all these monies in the campaigns to try and elect candidates of their choice to influence the legislative process. It's as simple as that.
COSTELLO: I think many voters would agree that they want to know who is donating all of this money, but any time campaign finance reform of any time comes up in Congress it doesn't really go that far. So what makes you think that your idea will work this time?
HOLLEN: Well, carol, there are two issues. One is campaign finance reform, which is to try and put some limits on the amount of money people can give to candidates specifically, but now there's this whole wild west outside of giving the candidates and campaigns that was opened up by the Supreme Court's decision and Citizens United which says we're now going to treat corporations just like individuals.
They're going to have the same rights for the purposes of spending money in campaigns as individuals which means that major corporations can now spend millions or if they choose, billions, in these campaigns.
What we're saying is I think that's a problem in and of itself, but at the very least, let's make sure they can't do it secretly. Let's make sure a corporation cannot give to some organization to essentially launder their money so that nobody knows where it's coming from. Transparency and sunshine are good for the democrat process. That's what we're asking for.
COSTELLO: OK. We'll keep an eye on what comes out of the forum.
HOLLEN: I should say, I wanted to have a hearing, a full hearing and unfortunately the Republican chairman of the committee refuses to have a hearing on this issue so we had to have a what we call a forum instead. We'd like to have a full hearing and that's what we're asking for.
COSTELLO: Gotcha. I want to pivot now and ask you about Ted Nugent. Secret Service is meeting with him in Oklahoma to talk about some remarks he made about President Obama. What do you hope the Secret Service says to Ted Nugent?
HOLLEN: Well, my understanding is the Secret Service is going through its standard protocol. Whenever people make remarks that could be perceived as threatening and clearly, the remarks that Ted Nugent made were reckless and inflammatory.
People like him who are in the public eye, I believe, have a responsibility to understand how their words are heard by the people who are listening to them. I'm not only disappointed with the fact that he made these outrageous comments, but also disappointed that the Romney campaign and others haven't spoken out to say that they were reckless and irresponsible and shouldn't happen again.
COSTELLO: I think the Romney campaign came out and said something and sort of distanced themselves from these comments, but -- what do you think should happen to Ted Nugent?
HOLLEN: Well, I'm not saying anything should happen other than the fact in the court of public opinion people need to say that we need to have a more civil discourse. With respect to the Secret Service, that's their business.
They have this protocol. They'll have their interview. Ted Nugent said he had no intention of his remarks being interpreted to suggest any kind of violence. I take him at his word. The Secret Service will make its own determination.
But beyond that issue is this question of just these outrageous, inflammatory comments and what they can do to incite other kind of conduct by the people who are hearing them.
And when you make comments like next year if the president's re-elected, I'll be dead or in jail. In certain audiences can obviously have unintended consequences, but people need to be aware of the power of words and use them responsibly.
COSTELLO: Congressman, thanks for being with us this morning. We appreciate it.
HOLLEN: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Still ahead. Vote for Kim Kardashian? You may be hearing those words in a few years. No kidding. We'll tell you which office she wants to run for next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Now's your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, Ted Nugent, threat to Obama or loudmouth?
Ted, it was supposed to be such a fun night, you at the two fronts grill in Oklahoma on the buffalo tour. Before you take the stage, there's that meeting with the Secret Service about what you said at the NRA convention.
You know, vote Romney against this vile, evil, America-hating administration. That's all right, the first amendment rights and all, but it's the next part that got you in trouble.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NUGENT: If Barack Obama becomes president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: See? That could be interpreted as a threat against a U.S. president and that would be against the law although it's not much different than what Nugent, a long time board member of the powerful NRA said in 2007. Back then a gun-wielding Nugent said this of Obama and Hillary Clinton. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obama he's a piece of -- and ride one of these into the sunset you worthless -- .
But Obama wasn't president yet. As for Nugent, he said the secret service are my buddies and we'll be shooting taxpayer targets or we'll be eating barbecue and maybe Nugent will serenade them with his newest single "I Love My Barbecue." Pull up a chair and I'll get a beer for you. That will calm things down.
The talkback question for you today, Ted Nugent, threat to Obama or loudmouth. Facebook.com/carolcnn. Facebook.com/carolcnn. I'll read your comments later this hour.
Romney-Rice 2012? That's what Republican voters seems to be want at least in the new poll. We'll see how the "Political Buzz" panel feels about that. That's coming your way next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: "Political Buzz" is your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. Playing with us today: Sirius XM radio host and comedian Pete Dominick on the left; and CNN contributor Will Cain on the right; and separating them Holly Bailey from Yahoo News. Welcome to all of you.
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hello.
COSTELLO: Ok so our first question --
HOLLY BAILEY, SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER, YAHOO NEWS: Hi, Carol.
PETE DOMINICK, COMEDIAN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Hi Carol.
COSTELLO: Hi.
First question. Which guy do you trust with the economy? A New York Times/CBS News poll found voters have more confidence in Mitt Romney than they do President Obama. So I'll just ask you why -- Will.
CAIN: His background, his professional experience. That of being in private equity and it suggest two things about him. That specifically working in the private equity finance sector, you learn how to take over companies that are running inefficiently and poorly and trim then down into an efficient market player. And many people think the government needs at the very least some efficiency trimming if not a huge scale down. So that makes people confident, he's good at handling of the economy.
The second is as a player in the private market he knows the limits of government influence on the economy and hopefully he would approach that with some humility.
COSTELLO: Holly? BAILEY: I think this is really not really much about Mitt Romney's background, but more about the fact that people aren't happy with the way things are and they want change and that's what people are focusing on change, change, change.
COSTELLO: Pete?
DOMINICK: Well, I don't think people have more confidence necessarily in Mitt Romney, Carol. I think that he's not Obama, and -- and like both Will and Holly just said there's a kind of a change there, but like Will said like -- like he's been a boss before and like everybody's boss if he's elected, Carol, he's going to probably cut health benefits and get rid of snacks in the break room, but at least we know that he won't get drunk at the Christmas Party because of course Mitt Romney doesn't drink, Carol.
COSTELLO: Oh geez ok. On to the second question now, a silver spoon gate. We don't know for sure if President Obama was referring to Mitt Romney yesterday in Ohio, but Romney seems to think so. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Somebody gave me an education. I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Michelle wasn't, but somebody gave us a chance.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In my case, I'm certainly not going to apologize for my dad and his success in life. He was born poor. He -- he worked his way to become very successful despite the fact that he didn't have a college degree and one of the things he wanted to do was provide for me and for my brother and sisters.
I'm not going to apologize for my dad's success, but I know the President likes to attack fellow Americans. He's always being looking for a scapegoat, particularly those that have been successful like my dad and I'm not going to rise to that.
This is a time for us to solve problems. This is not a time for us to be attacking people. We should be attacking problems.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So guys, Mitt Romney seems to think the silver spoon comment was a cheap shot. Was it -- Holly?
BAILEY: I think you know every word that one of these candidates say can really be interpreted as a cheap shot. And you know in one hand Mitt Romney gave a speech yesterday attacking President Obama is in over his head.
The unfortunate thing is if President Obama wasn't making a cheap shot he really did play right into Mitt Romney's talking points he was allowed to attack him as attacking fellow Americans and playing the class warfare card. COSTELLO: Pete?
DOMINICK: Well first of all, the President wasn't talking about Mitt Romney. If he was talking about Mitt Romney, he would have said he was born with a platinum spoon in his mouth. And Mitt Romney doesn't accept cheap shots only expensive, high-class shots.
But I mean, did anybody hear Mitt Romney's speech? He's such a liar and a hypocrite. Come on he spent almost 20 minutes just criticizing, attacking -- we've got to stop using that word -- the President. That's all he did. My callers in my program we're saying he didn't say anything, he just criticized the President.
That's what they do and -- and -- and President Obama and Michelle Obama they're going to be touting that they came from nothing and they're the most powerful couple in the world. Wouldn't we expect them to?
COSTELLO: Oh ok before Pete has a heart attack, Will?
CAIN: Well, I mean, I think we can expect the candidates to attack each other. The question is whether or not this would be a cheap shot. I haven't heard that entire speech but the clip that you played where he said I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I don't know if that was directed at Mitt Romney.
You know thousands of Americans make that claim on a daily basis. I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. That being said, I think it's how he said, it does feed a narrative where he seems to malign wealth. And I said before if -- if you frown upon maligning poverty you must frown upon maligning wealth. The issue is what you do with it and Mitt Romney stacks up pretty well from where he was born to where he is.
COSTELLO: Ok time for your "Buzzer Beater". 20 seconds each Stephen Colbert is offering Romney some advice on his running mate. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COLBER, "THE COLBERT REPORT": Maybe Romney should go with something blander like a headless Joseph A. Bank mannequin or a -- or a rice cake or a heel of white bread. No -- they're all too fascinating. Damn it. Who can Mitt Romney find who won't overshadow him? Wait. That's it. The perfect ticket. Romney/Romney shadow 2012.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COSTELLO: It's so mean but you can't help, but laugh. So no offense to Shadow Mitt, but in a new CNN poll of Republican voters, Condoleezza Rice was the top VP pick. So a Romney/Rice 2012? What do you think, Will?
CAIN: I think Stephen Colbert had it exactly right. In fact in that clip you just played the picture that was shown first right there next to Romney was Rob Portman from Ohio. I think the excitement factor is totally overrated despite our experience four years ago. You pick a vice president for strategic purposes and Mitt Romney or Barack Obama, for that matter, need to win Ohio, Rob Portman is the Senator from Ohio and it's ok that he's boring.
COSTELLO: Holly?
BAILEY: I think Mitt Romney has talked about how he would like to have a woman on the ticket and one way that would help his ticket, but at the same time there would be the threat of bringing in all the drama from the Bush administration and so I don't think it's very realistic.
COSTELLO: Pete?
DOMINICK: Well, Holly took mine. Yes. I mean, who did Condoleezza Rice work for, Carol? What was -- what was his name? A name that we haven't heard in a -- in a really long time.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Was it George?
DOMINICK: We haven't heard his name. I don't think he's endorsed anybody. I think Mitt Romney, the conventional wisdom like Will just said is he's got to pick somebody boring, so maybe a dead person, you know Dick Clark or John Kerry --
COSTELLO: Hey. Pete oh.
CAIN: Too soon Pete.
DOMINICK: Well I love Dick Clark but he's not alive anymore, I'm just saying.
COSTELLO: Hey, you go to the punishment corner right now.
DOMINICK: He's a legendary entertainer. I'm just saying.
COSTELLO: Time out for you.
DOMINICK: A dead person would be more boring than Mitt Romney -- the joke was a dead person -- Carol, by the way, you look beautiful this morning if you don't mind me saying.
CAIN: He's changing the subject.
COSTELLO: I like that kind of diversion though. Thanks to all of you for playing today. Pete, Holly, Will.
BAILEY: Thank you.
COSTELLO: A quick reminder, we want you to weigh in on our "Talk Back" question today. The question for you, "Ted Nugent, Threat to Obama or Loud Mouth?" Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your responses later this hour. Also, Kim Kardashian has conquered reality TV, but now she's going to get political. She says she wants to run for office. We'll tell you where and when.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Mayor Kim Kardashian. Is it possible? Kardashian spills her political plans and, of course, cameras are rolling. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" A.J. Hammer joins me to talk about all things Kardashian.
Good morning.
A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Good morning. These things just make me smile. She is talking about this seriously. Cameras caught her talking about it with her sister Khloe on Sunday's episode of "Khloe and Lamar".
Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIM KARDASHIAN, REALITY TV STAR: I decided I'm going to run for the mayor of Glendale so Noel is going to head my campaign, but it's going to be in, like, five years.
I have to buy a house there. You have to have residency there. So I'm going to -- yes. Right here. So Noel and I are like looking into all of the requirements. And I'm literally going to have a huge -- she's going to help me with my campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Noel is Kim's assistant, by the way. Kim's thinking about Glendale because of her Armenian roots. The city has a large Armenian population.
Here's what a spokesperson is telling "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" about all this. "Kim has always looked for opportunities to grow and also do what she can to help and support the Armenian community. She's learning more about ways in which she can help to do her part to make a difference in the community."
But here's the thing that Kim is going to need to understand before she gets her campaign going too far, anyway. The mayor of Glendale, not a directly elected position. The town council there is made up of five elected official. Every year, Carol, they just kind rotate through. It's a ceremonial position of mayor.
So Kim would actually have to be elected as a councilwoman. then she'll be able to serve as mayor for part of her term. No truth from anything I've seen, by the way, to the rumor that Snooki may be her running mate. No Snooki. Sorry.
COSTELLO: That would be too much to bear. Speaking of bare, let's talk about Jennifer Love Hewitt. She has that new Lifetime show called "The Client List" where a lot of her is bare. She's also showing some -- I know, enough with the puns. Anyway, what's she doing on the Twitterverse?
HAMMER: Well, I love what she's doing here. She's the latest celebrity to join in on this trend of showing off natural beauty. She posted a photo of herself without any makeup. I think she looks great in this photo, don't you?
COSTELLO: Yes.
HAMMER: We've seen other stars like Lady Gaga do it. Demi Lovato, Kim Kardashian, and even Snooki post these kinds of pictures on their Twitter accounts. I think it is a refreshing changing. This is not how we normally see these stars, you know. They're always well-lit in their pictures. Their imperfections are PhotoShopped.
Jennifer, by the way, recently pointed out how some ads for her new show "The Client List" were touched up to give her a breast reduction. So, Carol, the truth is you just never know what's real in some of these pictures, but might I add how beautiful you look today?
COSTELLO: I'm loving this.
But I was just going say, if I looked the way without makeup that she did, I would like come on television with no makeup on, too.
HAMMER: Oh, come on.
COSTELLO: That's the truth, but I appreciate that, A.J. I loved it. Thank you so much.
A group of American nuns sparks outrage from the Vatican. What they did and how the Vatican plans to handle it. That's coming up.
And the doomed voyage of the Titanic. 100 years later modern-day passengers complete the unfinished journey. We'll talk to two sisters who were aboard that memorial cruise.
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COSTELLO: 46 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now. An influential group of American nuns find themselves the target of unlikely criticism -- the Vatican. The Vatican says the women have challenged the church's teaching on homosexuality and its male-only priesthood while promoting, quote, "radical feminist themes". A bishop has now been appointed to oversee them.
And today marks a somber moment for the residents of Oklahoma City. 17 years ago, a bombing at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killed 169 people. A commemoration service on the former site of that building is now under way.
My next guests are back in the United States after going on a Titanic memorial cruise. You may remember them. Their grandmother had a ticket for the Titanic's maiden voyage, but she didn't take the trip because she got sick. Now after reliving history and honoring the lives lost from the sunken ship, Kristi and Nancy are here live to tell us all about this unforgettable cruise.
We are so glad you're back with us.
KRISTI ATHEY, PASSENGER, TITANIC MEMORIAL CRUISE: Thank you very much, Carol.
NANCY PRITCHARD, PASSENGER, TITANIC MEMORIAL CRUISE: Thank you.
COSTELLO: It's so good to see you.
Ok. So Kristi, let's start with you. Your general impression of the cruise. Was it the most fantastic thing ever?
ATHEY: It was. You were always afraid of expectations never being reached, but I think we can both say that our expectations were reached and exceeded with this trip. It was just a trip of a lifetime.
COSTELLO: So, Nancy, give us your favorite memory.
PRITCHARD: I think my favorite memory, we were just discussing this is probably -- I had many. Throughout the memorial service, what I started to do was just imagine my family being in the position of the survivors, the victims, myself in a lifeboat, my husband and my sons back on the ship. It just -- I honestly started to cry just thinking, personalizing what these people had to experience.
COSTELLO: Wow. So Kristi, tell me about that moment when the ship arrived at the place where the Titanic went down. Tell me about what that felt like for you.
ATHEY: We got there a few hours early. Of course, the Titanic hit the iceberg at 11:40. We got there, I would say close to 10:00, 9:00 or 10:00 and so we had some time to reflect and I myself went up on the bow. There weren't many people around me.
I just kind of was looking straight ahead thinking 100 years ago what the passengers would have thought. Nothing was wrong at that point. They were just going toward their new lives and it was -- it was an eerie feeling. And we really did feel like that there were so many souls and so many spirits with us, and it was just a moment of deep reflection.
COSTELLO: Wow. And Nancy, I heard what you said. You had tears in your eyes.
PRITCHARD: Oh, absolutely.
COSTELLO: What did you learn from this cruise? And what do you take away?
PRITCHARD: I learned so much that when I -- when I decided to join the cruise with Kristi, it was mostly for Kristi that I wanted to go. But I learned enough on this cruise -- I was immersed in Titanic history and now I want to learn more.
I want to learn what happened after 1912. I'm very curious about these people that they had to start new lives. A lot of times the survivors had no family left. Women, left alone with children. So I'm very interested in learning where did they go from here because it didn't end on April 15, 1912.
COSTELLO: That's right. It didn't.
Ok. I want to end the interview on a brighter note. So I want to know, did you have the Leonardo Dicaprio moment when you went to the bow of the ship and yelled, "I'm the king of the world"?
ATHEY: That's funny because I think a lot of people wanted to take that moment, but we have found out that in 100 years' time you can't get anywhere close to the front of the bow of the ship. Even though a lot wanted to try, none had that experience.
COSTELLO: I'll be so disappointed.
PRITCHARD: We were ok with that.
COSTELLO: Good. Thank you for sharing your story. We so appreciate it, Nancy and Kristi.
ATHEY: Thank you.
PRITCHARD: Absolutely. Thank you.
COSTELLO: Thanks.
Pat Summitt's legendary coaching career in Tennessee comes to an end. The woman who basically put women's college hoops on the map is stepping aside after her most courageous season. More on that story is coming your way next.
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COSTELLO: Things are going to look very different in Knoxville starting this fall. Long-time Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt will not be pacing courtside. Summitt has announced she's stepping down after 38 seasons.
Jeff Fischel is with me, and put her career in perspective for us.
JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS: Yes. We talked about the 38 seasons and it's really -- she's mirrored and in fact led the way in the way college basketball -- women's college basketball has changed. No one watched a women's college basketball game 38 years ago when started.
She talked about wanting to see that change. Eventually there's maybe one game on the national championship game. Now, you see women's college basketball games all the time and largely due to her and her success.
An incredible career as she led Tennessee to an incredible run. Eight national titles in her 38 years as the head coach of the Vols. 1,098 wins -- it's the most -- it's not even close. She won so many more games than anyone else, men's or women's. You have to consider her easily the greatest women's basketball coach of all time perhaps the greatest basketball coach of all time, period.
18 final fours as well, and seven times she was the "National Coach of the Year" and she would talk about herself and how important the other side of it was, the academic side of it was for players. Every one of the players finished their eligibility, University of Tennessee graduated.
COSTELLO: You're kidding.
FISCHEL: No. Every player ever that finished their eligibility --
COSTELLO: Every single one.
FISCHEL: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: That's just hard to believe.
FISCHEL: Yes.
COSTELLO: Good for her.
And we know why she's stepping down because she announced she has Alzheimer's. How is the disease progressing and what kind of support is she getting?
FISCHEL: Yes. You know, it kind of came -- it came as a total shock last year. Eight months ago when she announced she had dementia, early onset Alzheimer's, she's always been one of those coaches that's been in so much control of the game and herself and she talked about how she was a little thrown off. She was struggling the previous season.
Now she's ready to step aside. She'll still be involved as head coach emeritus. And I think going forward, she wants to still have that mentor relationship with the players that are coming. You see some of the tweets, the great athletes who acknowledge what she's accomplished. That's Lebron James. Another trailblazer, Billie Jean King said "Thank you for everything you've done. You're a true champion." There's Dick Vitale as well.
And she -- she does have one great disciple her son who just took a coach as an assistant coach for women's basketball team at Marquette University.
COSTELLO: That gave me chills.
FISCHEL: Yes.
COSTELLO: Thank you so much Jeff. FISCHEL: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: In today's "Daily Dose" childhood obesity has tripled in the last 30 years. And now the U.S. government has a new plan to help your kids cut the fat. The proposal requires healthier foods be sold outside of school cafeterias and issues new guidelines on salty snacks and sugary drinks sold on campus.
Most voters agree with the healthier approach: 80 percent approve limits on calories, fats and school snacks; 17 percent are opposed. The new rules will be out this summer.
We're back in a minute.
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COSTELLO: We asked you to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, "Ted Nugent, threat to Obama or a loudmouth?"
This from Patricia. "The sentence that got the Secret Service concerned is the one that all pundits are dancing around without saying it. 'I will either be in jail or dead'. That could only be taken as an attempt on Obama's life. End of story."
This from Scott, "Ted's display can be construed as a threat to national security. After all, it's borderline extremism. You have to love Great White Buffalo in the morning."
This from Christine. "I think you left out the choice of idiot. He's a has-been who's trying to get 15 minutes of fame."
And this from Karen, "Probably an idiotic loudmouth, but if he was anyone other than a celebrity this wouldn't even be given a second look."
Please continue the conversation, Facebook.com/carolcnn.
And thank you as always for your comments.
"NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips starts now.
