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TSA Workers Accused in Drug Scheme; Plan to Save Postal Service Passes Senate; Priests Plead Not Guilty; Teacher Sues Catholic Church; 70 Plus People Killed in Hama; Mad Cow Case Raises New Concerns; Politicians Using Social Media; Former Liberian President Convicted of War Crimes; Emotional Day in Court for Jennifer Hudson

Aired April 26, 2012 - 13:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour, this is Suzanne Malveaux. I want to get you up to speed. New this hour, a federal judge has blocked an order by Florida's governor to drug test most state employees. Governor Rick Scott says he is going to appeal the decision. The judge ruled testing 85,000 state workers would violate their fourth amendment right to unreasonable searches. The ruling did not address whether new hires can be tested.

And two current and two former TSA employees are in big trouble today for an alleged drug scheme. They're accused of taking money to allow drug couriers pass through a Los Angeles international airport. The agents allegedly received as much as $2,400 for looking the other way as suitcases of cocaine and other drugs passed through the x-ray machines.

Thousands of postal workers around the country breathing a little bit of a sigh of relief today after the Senate passed a plan to save the U.S. postal service as well as their jobs. The measure could keep 100 mail processing plants from being shut down or consolidated. Also prevents the postal service from cutting Saturday service at least for two years. The House is expected to vote on its own plan as well.

Shocking details of alleged sex abuse being revealed at the trial of two catholic priests. Reverend James Brennan is accused of attempting to rape a 14-year-old child and his boss, Monsignor William Lynn allegedly helped cover it up. Lynn is accused of shuffling predator priests from Parish to Parish despite accusations against them. Both have pleaded not guilty.

An Indiana woman, she is taking the catholic church to court claiming she was fired as a catholic school teacher for having in vitro fertilization treatment. Church officials deny that Emily Herx was a victim of discrimination. They say the church has a right as a religious employer to make decisions that are consistent with the catholic faith. The church opposes in vitro treatments because the embryos are often destroyed. The teacher appeared on CNN this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMILY HERX, TEACHER: One day I got an e-mail saying that I need to meet with the Monsignor at St. Vincent, and he told me that basically my job was at risk out of the blue, and I said, well, you know, my principal has been knowing about this for two years. I didn't think I was doing anything wrong, and I had never had any complaints about, you know, me as a teacher so I was shocked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And a tense morning on the witness stand for a former aide and close friend of John Edwards. Andrew Young, he's the prosecutor's star witness in the Edwards' fraud trial. And the former presidential candidate, as you may know, is accused of illegally using nearly a million dollars in campaign cash to hide a sexual affair.

Diane Dimond, a special correspondent for "Newsweek" and "The Daily Beast," she's been watching the drama unfold in the courtroom. So, Diane, tell us, first of all, who was in the courtroom today? Give us a sense -- paint a picture, if you will, of Edwards and his entourage.

DIANE DIMOND, SPECIAL REPORTER, "NEWSWEEK" AND "THE DAILY BEAST": Well, it's pretty jam packed today, I must say. It's a rainy day here and even so, it seems like there's even more media here today. And the public has started to come sort of in droves. As for who is here for John Edwards, his elderly parents are here. They sit in the front row. They probably are about 80 years old, but they very rarely miss a day, not even from jury selection day.

The oldest daughter, Kate, is here. She is an attorney, as you know. And again, Abbey Lowell is doing the cross-examination of this key witness, Andrew Young. And his wife, Molly, and their daughter, she must be, I don't know, 9, 10 years old, they, too are sit are in the front row right behind John Edwards. Again, he's got his impeccable suit on and his perfect GQ look and seems very engaged at the defense table.

MALVEAUX: Who did we actually see on the -- on the stand today? I understand it was Andrew Young. What was the questioning that went to him today?

DIMOND: Well, you know, I have to say, and I don't mean any disrespect in this, but Abbey Lowell has a reputation of being a bulldog go-getter. And the cross-examination of Andrew Young started yesterday, kind of slowly in my estimation. I wrote a piece on "The Daily Beast" about it. You know, the opening statement was, let's follow the money. Well, we still haven't followed the money with Abbey Lowell yet.

Today, he spent probably an hour and 20 minutes trying to establish two things. The date that Andrew Young actually found out Rielle Hunter was pregnant and the sequence of events that Andrew Young claims went into the scheme of -- with he and the senator of how to raise money to take care of Rielle Hunter. And the questioning goes on and on and around and around. Andrew Young, his most frequently stated comment is, I can't recall. I can't recall. I don't remember. So, that causes Abbey Lowell to have to go get an exhibit, get a phone record, get an old e-mail to put up on the screen to refresh his memory. It's taking a long, long time. The judge is actually quite frustrated with it.

MALVEAUX: So, it's going slowly today. Are we expecting to actually see some of the other players involved in this kind of scandalous saga? Do we expect to see Rielle Hunter any time soon or some other members?

DIMOND: Well, I'm pretty sure we'll see Rielle Hunter but not until the defense starts their case. That's my guess. I think today, from the line of questioning that Abbey Lowell spent a lot of time on with Andrew Young, was about his interaction with Senator Edwards' very best friend, an attorney named Kirby. He asked over and over and over again about how Andrew Young had approached Kirby for money, had been turned down, went back to him again. And it made me think, Suzanne, that Kirby is going to come in as a very, very important witness for the defense and say that Andrew Young is a liar about all of what he's testified to.

I just want to say really quickly, I watched the jury in these long cases, and I got a list of what the jury occupations are. So, I'm watching them now knowing what they do for a living. There's a vice president. There's a financial consultant. There's a human resources woman. And almost to a person during this Abbey Lowell testimony -- back and forth cross-examine, they're in their seats rocking. They're rocking, they're rocking, they're looking around. I mean, I think the judge wishes that these chairs didn't rock because it's a little distracting for everybody.

MALVEAUX: So, they were getting a little frustrated themselves I think, a little tired themselves. Do we have a sense at all about --

DIMOND: You know --

MALVEAUX: -- the demeanor of, you know, Edwards' parents, the elderly couple we saw going into the courtroom there? You said they were in their 80s as well as his daughter Kate.

DIMOND: Yes. Let me finish up on the jury.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

DIMOND: It's sort of like when you turn on your television at home and you start to watch and your attention drifts away and then it comes back again. That's the impression I got with them watching the action here. To the parents, you know, I have lost my parents, and I see them come in every day and they remind me of my parents. They're very tiny little people. They move very slowly. They're both gray- headed. Kate is, of course, there, their granddaughter is there, very solicitous to them, but I wonder what they think as they sit here day after day after day on these very hard benches in this courtroom about the rise and fall of their son.

You know, this is a man who thought he could be president of the United States, not once, but twice. And who now sits in a federal courtroom and the possibility of jail time in front of him. So, of course, I think the media is being very respectful. We're not going up, we're not allowed to go up in the courtroom and say, hey, what do you think? Give me a comment. And I honestly don't think I could do that anyway.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

DIMOND: I feel badly for them.

MALVEAUX: And tell me a little bit about his daughter, Kate, because you said that she is a lawyer as well. What do you think when she sits there? Does she take notes or does she seem emotional? Is she attentive to her father?

DIMOND: She does not take notes, and that sort of surprised me because she is an attorney, and everybody it seems in the courtroom, including the jurors, have notebooks. She's very attentive. She's very solicitous to her grandparents and to her father. He often turns back and confers with her. I don't know what about, of course, but they're very connected in the courtroom. She doesn't seem angry or bitter at what her father did to her mother or that her mother passed away under these trying circumstances. She seems very attentive to her father, and every day she comes in a car with her -- I discovered that they do go back to their Chapel Hill home every night. And she arrives with him every day and is by his side the entire time.

MALVEAUX: Diane Dimond, thank you so much, as always, for just kind of pulling back the curtain and giving us a glimpse into what's taking place there. Obviously, a very important case and really an illustration of a --

DIMOND: Any time.

MALVEAUX: -- tremendous fall from grace for John Edwards. Thank you, Diane.

A U.S. Marine who bashed President Obama online, he's been kicked out of the military now. Former Sergeant Gary Stein filled his Facebook page with criticisms of the commander in chief calling President Obama a liar, questioning his birth certificate, and saying he would not follow orders issued by a man he calls the domestic enemy. Wow.

Chris Lawrence, who's at the Pentagon, Chris, so explain to us the reasoning here of the -- that -- the military, essentially, kicking him out of the service.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well basically, Suzanne -- basically what they found was that he did not uphold the standards of the United States Marine Corps. Some of that relates to him posting pictures of President Obama over unflattering movie posters, but some of it gets to really rougher issues such as his declaration originally that he would not follow the orders of the commander in chief.

Now, he softened that to say unlawful orders, but it was still treading on very thin ground. And Sergeant Stein had a problem with the fact that he was a leader and a sponsor of the armed forces Tea Party group on Facebook. Now, troops can be a member of pretty much any group they want, Republican, Democrat, but they can't actively lead or sponsor a partisan group, and there's no doubt that that was a partisan group.

MALVEAUX: And what is -- can you define this for us? It's called an other than honorable discharge?

LAWRENCE: That's right. That's a discharge -- it's not criminal or punitive like, say, someone who goes through a full court-martial, but what it does is say your behavior was not consistent with the standards that are expected in this case of a United States Marine. It means he's busted down in pay from a sergeant to an E-3. He can't take his uniforms with him. His veterans benefits would still be -- have to be decided by the Veterans Administration. That would be a call for the V.A.

MALVEAUX: Chris, is he actually talking about this? Is he actually responding to being discharged?

LAWRENCE: Yes, he actually put out a statement. We can take a look at it now. This is what he said after he heard about the discharge. He said, I have spent the last nine years honorably serving the great nation and the Corps. Even though I will be discharged, no one can take the title of Marine away from me -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, Chris Lawrence. Thank you, Chris, appreciate it.

LAWRENCE: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Here is a rundown of some of the stories we're covering over the next hour. First, pushing for better standards to prevent the spread of mad cow disease.

And a rocket attack in Syria killing dozens of people. We're going to take a look at why the U.N. ceasefire is not working.

Then, singer Jennifer Hudson leaves the courtroom as autopsy photos are shown of her murdered family.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: This is Hama. This is in northwest Syria. Witnesses say at least 70 people died, many of them children, when the Syrian army launched rockets into this residential neighborhood. It may be the single deadliest incident in more than a year of fighting there.

Now, the Syrian government, they're telling a different story. They say that terrorists accidentally set off a bomb they were building. The Arab League met in an emergency session today in Cairo. The issue, what to do about Syria. A cease-fire was supposed to begin April 12th. Never really took hold. Now it's fallen apart. Arwa Damon has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Liar, liar. I swear to God, he's a liar." So goes the chorus of a song belted out by Captain Ismail and his scraggly band of rebel fighters. The liar, Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

Among the opposition, no illusions here, the government has any intention of adhering to a cease-fire or any sort of peace plan. "It's like all the other lies before," Captain Ismail says, "and an excuse for the government to regroup and hunt down the wanted."

Less than a five-minute drive from the rebels' safe house, Syrian government tank positions. The fighters say the government's onslaught has subsided. At least here, the helicopters that once targeted them are, for now, idle. But, they say, the regime's offensive has not stopped.

U.N. envoy, Kofi Annan, also doubts it has, telling the Security Council Tuesday that he was, quote, "alarmed by reports that government troops entered Hama after observers departed, firing automatic weapons and killing a significant number of people."

Among the opposition, the U.N. mission is seen as a cruel stunt by the international community, unable or unwilling to really stop the violence. "The whole world has deserted us," Captain Ismail says. "All the world leaders have deserted us. But we, the fighters, we will not desert the Syrian people."

But his men don't have the guns to match their bravado. And they say they've received no help from outside. Captain Ismail says he sold his car to buy ammunition, believing its only a matter of time before they have to fight again.

In the town of Toptina (ph), some 15 kilometers away, crude headstones for dozens buried in a mass grave. Victims of a massacre. It wasn't until the so-called cease-fire went into effect that residents were able to lay them to rest. The graves of some simply marked "unknown."

Here, homes were leveled, families torn apart. And without foreign help, activists in Toptina warn they will have no choice but to turn to other forces to save themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the situation continue, we will have the Islamic fighter, we will fight -- we will fight -- the al Qaeda fighters between us and we don't want them, we don't want them, but the western government, the western governments and the American government oblige us to this result.

DAMON: With no end in sight to the bloodshed, the Assad regime's claim that it is fighting Islamist terrorists might just end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Some say not enough is being done to protect Americans from mad cow disease. We're going to tell you why in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: There are now new concerns about mad cow disease in this country after officials confirmed an infection in California. Now the government says the cow never entered the food chain. There is no public health risk. But this case is raising some new questions about how consumers are being protected. Here's CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the wake of the discovery of the fourth case of mad cow disease in the U.S., the agriculture secretary reassures Americans their food supply is safe. How does he know for sure?

TOM VILSACK, AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: We know because of taking out of the feed and out of the food supply those parts of the animal that could potentially cause the mad cow disease in humans.

TODD: Tom Vilsack means they make sure the nervous system material of the cows, the brains, the spinal columns, don't get into the food systems. Those are the parts that can transfer the agents in a cow's body which carries the disease. Also, the government no longer allows feed from dead, ground up cows to be used to feed other cows. That's prevented potential transmission of mad cow disease.

But the government does allow dead cows to be ground up and fed to chickens. Chickens eat it and excrete it. Experts say that chicken excrement has nutritional value, so sometimes that's ground up and fed to other animals, like cows. I asked Patty Lovera, of the non-partisan advocacy group Food and Water Watch, about that.

TODD (on camera): Should the U.S. government ban cow feed from being given to chickens?

PATTY LOVERA, FOOD AND WATER WATCH: We think so. We think that if we didn't allow the cattle parts to be in any animal feed, it would really lower the risk of accidents happening and contamination of accidentally having that cattle part (ph) get fed back to cattle.

TODD: But you don't need to worry about getting mad cow from eating chicken. Experts say even if a chicken eats feed from a sick cow, the agent that transfers mad cow disease doesn't infect chickens, doesn't contaminate the meat.

TODD (voice-over): We asked Dr. Richard Raymond, a former undersecretary at the department of agriculture, who oversaw safety in the meat industry, why take chances? There's still a slim chance infected proteins could make their way through the chicken population back to cows, or ruminants, as they're referred to in the industry.

DR. RICHARD RAYMOND, FMR. USDA UNDERSECRETARY FOR FOOD SAFETY: I do not believe a ban on poultry litter to ruminants is necessary at this time. I do not believe there's any scientific evidence that our herd is at risk from eating poultry litter. And the fact that the ruminant to ruminant feed ban has been so effective, I think that shows that we have this situation well under control.

TODD: So far, the safeguards have been effective. From a peak of over 37,000 cases of mad cow disease worldwide in 1992, only 29 cases were reported last year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Brian Todd joins us live from Washington.

So, Brian, first of all, how many cows does the government actually test every year for mad cow disease?

TODD: Suzanne, the U.S. government -- the USDA says it tests 40,000 cows each year for some form of the disease, taking -- you know, focusing on the groups that -- where the cows are in the most danger of getting the disease. That's 40,000 samples. But that's out of about 36 million head of cattle that are slaughtered in the U.S. each year. That's not many test that are taken.

Now, the USDA says the government inspectors actually visually inspect every head of cattle for outward signs of the disease, but they don't take the actual tissue samples on that many. They just take the tissue samples on 40,000 head of cattle every year and, you know, watchdog groups are saying to us, they need to test many more than 40,000.

MALVEAUX: Yes, it seems like a very small percentage there.

TODD: Right.

MALVEAUX: Tell us a little bit about how age plays a role in all of this.

TODD: Well, I was told by the USDA and by some experts here that the cows that are 30 months old or younger, there's almost no instance of mad cow in them that's ever been reported. Those younger cows are the ones that are actually used for slaughter where we get most of our beef from. The 30 months old or younger cows. But cows that are 30 months old or older are the ones that tend to get mad cow disease.

Now, interestingly enough, those are used for some processed meats, like ground beef, hotdogs, sausages. But we're also told that when it comes to that stage for those older cows to be used for that kind of meat, all the meat is tested. The cows themselves are very thoroughly tested at that point. But those older cows, 30 months old and older, are the ones that generally get mad cow disease.

MALVEAUX: All very informative.

And, Brian, I understand you're working on another story as well for "The Situation Room" later today. Can you give us a quick preview?

TODD: Right, Suzanne. We're talking about the Secret Service scandal. You know, we're getting reports from -- of other incidents. I know you've been dealing with this all day. Other incidents in the past from El Salvador and elsewhere. And we're looking at whether, you know, this is something that may start to open up a Pandora's box, not only for the Secret Service, but for other U.S. security services as well, taking a look at how widespread some of these incidents could be.

MALVEAUX: All right, Brian Todd, one of the hardest working folks in television.

Thanks, Brian. Good to see you.

TODD: Thanks, Suzanne. Thank you.

MALVEAUX: They're spamming out their supporters, slamming their rivals on Twitter and hunting for likes on Facebook. We're going to tell you why the candidates are investing so heavily in social network and how it's changing the face of American politics.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Here's a rundown on some of the stories we're working on next.

How Facebook and Twitter are changing the game for the presidential election.

Then, a man gets a kidney. It doesn't work. Actually transplanted into somebody else.

And later, we go live to Chicago for the trial of a man accused of murdering singer Jennifer Hudson's family.

Well, President Obama pioneered the use of social media in the presidential election of 2008. That was then. This is now. Today, all the candidates relying on social media to get the messages out. In fact, you might call it the 2012 data election. HLN digital lifestyle expert -- I can't say that.

MARIO ARMSTRONG, HLN DIGITAL LIFESTYLE EXPERT: Yes, that was my word., data election, actually.

MALVEAUX: You came up with that?

ARMSTRONG: No, no, I'm just -- but is that. It is that.

MALVEAUX: So, Mario, great to have you here.

ARMSTRONG: Good to be here. Thanks for having me in.

MALVEAUX: Yes, you know, 2008, they -- all of us journalists covering them, we've got --

ARMSTRONG: That's right.

MALVEAUX: We actually got the e-mails. They would send us these messages. They're still sending messages now to this day. Dear Suzanne, hello.

(LAUGHTER)

ARMSTRONG: If you signed up for any e-mail newsletter of their mobile apps, you're going to continue to be hit up for cash and be given information about the campaign.

MALVEAUX: It's not unusual now. Now everybody is doing it.

ARMSTRONG: No. So the cat is out of the bag. In 2008, we saw President Obama, at the time, use social media. Grassroots, it really took off. Now in 2012, four years later, everyone is on social media. They know this is a big deal. A lot of money is being spent.

For example, we have -- right now, I'm pulling up "I'm a Mom for Mitt" on Facebook. There's a Facebook group that was created for moms. Now, this came out of when the Democratic strategist talked about the fact that she is stay-at-home or has never worked a day in her life, I believe is the quote. Out of nowhere 80,000 people get together and they're joined "I'm a Mom for Mitt."

MALVEAUX: Wow.

ARMSTRONG: That's powerful.

MALVEAUX: They're automatically communicating. Are they communicating with the campaign? The campaign obviously must be paying attention to this.

ARMSTRONG: Absolutely. They were responsible for creating this. They're like this is a grassroots effort, let's get into this. There's so many discussions. People are putting up pictures of how they are involved in the campaign, where they are, where they're going. So it is a big, big bonus for them.

And when you start looking at Facebook accounts like you look at Mitt Romney's at over 1.5 million. When you look at Barack Obama, President Obama is at like 26 million or so. But you would expect that from your president.

MALVEAUX: They got a lot of catching up to do there.

ARMSTRONG: Yesterday, you saw an image of George Clooney. Today you're seeing a backstage with Barack. It's always using social media to try it get you excited about the things the candidates are up to.

MALVEAUX: Tell us about the phones here, the apps. I understand there are apps that are keeping people posted as well.

ARMSTRONG: More so -- not even posted, enabling volunteerism and activism. For example, I'm going to pull up on the iPad here, Barack Obama's 2012 app. As you can see, I can look at events that are happening in different parts of the country right off the bat. If I lived in the Wake Forest area, I could touch that and they're having a phone bank, let me RSVP to be part of that phone bank. Instantly, from my phone, I'm in. It's very, very powerful. Let me explain this. These organizations, these campaigns, are using companies like Optimizely, a company no one had ever heard of, but they are responsible for data mining for Starbucks, Crate and Barrel, ABC and CBS. In other words, these campaigns are using enterprise-grade data mining efforts to really understand their voters and how they can swing influences.

MALVEAUX: Tell us about twitter, too. Obviously, Ann Romney, her first tweet was when she hit back and talked about being a mom and working very hard as a mom.

ARMSTRONG: That's right. And so the funny thing about that is it came out in April 11th, I believe, was her first tweet. Not a lot of posts on her Twitter account at the particular moment.

But I want to pull up -- in fairness, I want to bring up what Mitt Romney is doing in the mobile space. I have not been able to find -- I reached out to the campaign and asked them, but I have not been able to find a mobile app. Their website is mobile accessible. Those are two distinctly different things, meaning on your mobile device you can still get to Mitt Romney information, like you see here, but it's not an app. With an app, you can do so many more things.

So there's still an advantage if you were just looking at the campaigns just from a technology standpoint, there's still an advantage from President Obama and his situation.

MALVEAUX: Romney has got to catch up a little bit. They have a little more work to do here. But the models are all here. They know what they need to do.

ARMSTRONG: They absolutely know what they need to do.

MALVEAUX: There are no secrets.

ARMSTRONG: And they're doing it. The Romney campaign was smart to move fast on the -- "Moms for Mitt" Facebook page.

(LAUGHTER)

Had to get that out correctly. So they were quick to see what's going on in the Internet discussion or on traditional TV and then quickly say, you know what, we could change the narrative by publishing a video on YouTube or sharing it on Facebook.

MALVEAUX: Let's have a conversation about that.

ARMSTRONG: Yes. And you know what's interesting is the RNC now has just -- we just learned a few days ago the RNC now has -- Google has gone on to be their streaming partner for the whole RNC. There's going to be a lot of YouTubing, live streaming, and g-chatting a bunch of stuff.

MALVEAUX: You have to get with this, Mario.

(CROSSTALK)

ARMSTRONG: Yes, you do.

MALVEAUX: I love your enthusiasm.

ARMSTRONG: It's an exciting time. I want to make sure people are being open to al the discourse that's happening. One really interesting sentiment is that we might become like drones to the technology and not really discover and really want to penetrate beyond what we're seeing in the twitter feeds and the Facebook posts. Everybody, take that for what it's worth but then dig deeper so it gets to the heart of what you're looking for.

MALVEAUX: Mario, thank you.

Always pushing ahead. You have an old school Rubik's Cube on the T-shirt.

ARMSTRONG: You noticed. And it's melting because you guys are using me left and right. And my brain is like, it's melting.

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: We love having you here.

ARMSTRONG: And I love being here.

MALVEAUX: All right, thanks, Mario.

ARMSTRONG: Sure thing.

MALVEAUX: A man undergoes a kidney transplant, doesn't work, so it's taken out of him, given to somebody else, and it works. More on this double-kidney transplant straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The age of the average American worker just plummeted. The reason? Today is Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day. Employees all over the country are taking part, including the White House staff. Today, their kids got to meet First Lady Michelle Obama and ask her two tough questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Will you ever run for president?

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Absolutely not.

(LAUGHTER)

MICHELLE OBAMA: No. I -- I -- being president is a really hard job, and it's an important job. And, you know, when my husband is running for president, we're right in there, right? We're serving, too. And I think that once his terms are over, we'll go on to do other important things, because there's so many ways that you can help this country and the world, even if you're not president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: A diamond ring on your finger. Could it have cost someone their life in West Africa? We're going to tell you why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: It's the first medical case of its kind in the United States. A transplanted kidney that was failing, removed from a patient who was still alive and given to somebody else. The kidney originally went to Ray Fearing, who you see in the blue shirt. Fearing's sister donated the kidney to her brother. But days later, his body rejected it. So doctors decided to take it out and give it to Erwin Gomez.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IRWIN GOMEZ, KIDNEY TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT: My strength is back. My appetite is good.

RAY FEARING, REJECTED SISTER'S KIDNEY: To find out that this was going to be something bigger than, you know, just a failed transplant. It's going to help someone else. It's going to help people.

GOMEZ: I owe literally my life and my function to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Want to bring in our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, to explain this very bizarre story here.

But how did this happen? How did this unfold?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's bizarre, but it's so simple. It makes you think why, didn't they think of this before. Sometimes a kidney, even when it's a match, just doesn't work in someone. So Kara Fearing gives her kidney to her brother and, because of the disease that he has, he started to form scar tissue around it.

There was nothing wrong with his sister's kidney. It was that he couldn't handle it. So doctors said to him, look, this is your kidney. Ordinarily, we would just take it out and get rid of it, but it's your kidney, how do you feel about giving it to someone else. He said, of course, if it can help someone else, it can't help me, so why not give it to somebody else.

And the whole story is it on CNN.com/empoweredpatient. My colleague, Stephanie Smith, wrote a wonderful piece, talking all the parties involved.

MALVEAUX: Explain this to us. If everybody did this, how many kidneys could we harvest this way?

COHEN: Stephanie -- you see Kara Fearing. The original donor is the woman there, Kara Fearing.

MALVEAUX: OK.

COHEN: She gave it to her brother, next to her. Didn't work. Gave it to Dr. Gomez, who is a cardiovascular surgeon who can go back to work and enjoy his grandchildren.

We asked the doctor that, how many could this help? He thought maybe 400 or 500 people. There are many 400 or 500 cases where is they're just throwing the kidney away when maybe it could go to somebody else. That's a lot of people. 19,000 people and counting are waiting for a kidney.

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: It's not going to take care of the problem in this country, but maybe there are some people who would be helped.

MALVEAUX: What about Ray, who needed a kidney? Does he still need a kidney?

COHEN: He does need a kidney. And he's still on dialysis. So he's kind of back where he started. That's really unfortunate. But as you could tell from hearing him before, he obviously is happy someone made use of his sister's kidney.

MALVEAUX: It's an amazing story.

COHEN: It really is.

MALVEAUX: Elizabeth, thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

MALVEAUX: Appreciate it.

We've been talking today about blood diamonds, and whether the diamond on your finger was used to finance a brutal war in the West African country of Sierra Leone. Well, today the former president of neighboring Liberia was found guilty of war crimes linked to blood diamonds.

Our own Brenda Bush is a member of my production team. She is from Liberia, and she had to flee after the coup in 1980. Well, I spoke with her earlier about the verdict against former president, Charles Taylor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENDA BUSH, CNN PRODUCER: The rebels were known to have asked people, women, children, all, you want short sleeve or long sleeve? Meaning, we cut off your arm here for long sleeve, up here for short sleeve. And people had to say. children, babies, women, men, all of these people were, you know, so many like the Sierra Leoneans were subjected to this sort of atrocity.

MALVEAUX: I can see the emotion in your eyes just as you explain it --

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: -- and you describe it. And your daughter is back in Liberia now. How has it changed?

BUSH: You know, my daughter blogged this today that -- she said, all hail Liberia heal. That was her blog. She talked about, when the war ended, my father immediately sent all of us back to Liberia. He wanted us to know this country. One year after the war ended, we were back there in Liberia. I think there's so much hope now that I saw through my daughter's eyes.

But, Suzanne, I want to say one thing about this -- the hero of this who I feel nobody really -- doesn't get recognition is George W. Bush. He was the one that ordered Charles Taylor out of Liberia. Nobody really talks about the fact that George W. Bush and America played such a big role in bringing peace to Liberia. I don't say that because I'm a Bush. We're not related. This man probably --

(LAUGHTER)

We have the same name but -- he's not a distant cousin. But I think George W. Bush is probably sitting somewhere in Texas today smiling because, look, this day couldn't have happened had he not said, look, I have got some U.S. troops ready to move you out if you don't get out of the country. So, you know, and now, of course, you know, I have been back. My daughter is there and --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: It is amazing to see. When you went back, and you were back a couple weeks ago --

BUSH: Yes.

MALVEAUX: What did you see? What can we take away from where you were and what you actually experienced as a part of that country, being there?

BUSH: I think what I saw this time is that Liberians are ready to move ahead. They're ready to -- they're embracing life again. They expect good things. They're putting the war behind and Liberians are looking forward to the future and very optimistic. So many Liberians are optimistic, and many Liberian Americans are -- the young people like my daughter moving back. I met so many young people her age who have moved back to Liberia. They see hope. They see a future there, and they're there ready to help rebuild this country. This is another step in that direction.

MALVEAUX: And, Brenda, tell me a little bit about the children because, when you came back and you put together just a beautiful, very telling, very moving piece about what you actually saw there, the faces of the children and how that compared to when you had to flee the country. BUSH: Yes. The -- in Liberia and in Sierra Leone, there were child soldiers. Children were forced to fight in the wars. They were taught to kill. They were made to kill. They witnessed family members being killed. We had child soldiers in that war. It was the most horrible part about our history, I think, is the fact that our children were forced to commit horrific acts, real atrocities.

And in Liberia, I turned a corner and saw children dancing, and that day, I realized, myself, my husband, we realized that Liberia had turned a corner. I turned a corner. I realized my country had turned a corner. And this was a very moving moment for me because I saw Liberian children had their childhoods back. And I don't think I'll ever forget that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Thank you very much, Brenda Bush.

What an amazing member of our team. Just an honor to have you as a part of our group.

I want you to watch this landing. It's a bumpy one. You'd think these folks glad to be on the ground? Stay tuned. We're going to tell you what happened next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Are you one of those folks who applauds when the plane lands? You can't hear it but you can probably imagine people are clapping on this plane once they pride their hands off the arm rests. Unbelievable. This is Northern Spain. Serious strong airport cross winds forcing the pilot to do fancy flying.

I want to bring in Chad Myers to talk about this.

That plane, Chad, was almost like -- you see it there -- almost sideways coming in.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This guy says, no, we're not going to try that. He just --

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: Wow. What happened?

MYERS: He aborted it and came around again. He said, I am not even close.

MALVEAUX: It looks like a risky landing.

MYERS: It is.

MALVEAUX: Was it, or was it just kind of --

MYERS: There is science involved, but there is a little bit of art involved, too. great pilots can do this without thinking about it. They can do it in their sleep. Other pilots may be just getting in this plane, just flying it for the first couple times, a little more difficult.

The plane came in in a crab, on the way side-wise. You take the rudder and turn it into the wind and the plane flies -- the wind is this way here and all of a sudden the plane flying this way. It appears to go straight down the runway even though it is pointed in the wrong direction. At the last minute, you have to straighten the plane out because it's a very -- if you don't, if you're coming in like this, it will be off the side. You'll be over in the dirt. So you have to do what is called a side slip, bring the plane back straight, you bank the plane to the right. Although you don't see the banking because the opposite rudder is applied. If there was no wind at all, the plane would be flying which way. The plane would just fly like this.

(CROSSTALK)

MYERS: It would fly right off the screen. It's bumpy. because there is a wind affecting it this way, then all of a sudden the plane appears to fly straight for a while and the lines of the wheels and the lines of the airline -- of the runway going the same direction.

MALVEAUX: Chad, is that normal? Does this happen more often than we --

MYERS: All the time.

MALVEAUX: Really?

MYERS: All the time.

MALVEAUX: Planes are kind of landing like that?

MYERS: You will see. If you're on the left side of the plane and you can see the runway as the plane is coming in, the pilot is doing this maneuver. It's not an odd maneuver.

Let me show you. I will take you over here to the airport where this happened. There wasn't a lot of options for the pilot here. And this is what we talk -- don't get into America this much when we get side winds like this or cross winds. Wind coming in like this, the pilot had to slide, crab the plane this way and then land the plane and go straight.

Let me show you why we don't get into this situation as many in America. I will take you to LaGuardia. We have other options. If the wind would be coming in this, we wouldn't land on this runway. We would land the plane on this runway, a different direction. Completely not a cross runway, not cross wind runway direction, and it would be a lot easier.

MALVEAUX: All right.

MYERS: That's why we do it this way.

MALVEAUX: Good.

Chad, thank you. Really interesting.

Jennifer Hudson is back in court today, attending the trial of a man accused of killing three of her family members. We have a live report up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Extremely emotional and painful week for singer, Jennifer Hudson. She is attending the trial of the man accused of killing her mother, brother, and young nephew. At times, the graphic testimony and evidence have sent her out of the courtroom.

CNN's Ted Rowlands is following the trial in Chicago.

Ted, bring us up to speed here. What happened this morning?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, a lot of tears this morning again in court this morning. First up was a witness by the name of Jarvis Williams, a teenager at the time of the murders, and he was the first person to come on scene after Julia Hudson, Jennifer's sister, called 911. Julia had gone into the House and saw her mother on the floor and ran out of the House screaming. Jarvis came up and Julia asked him to go inside. While he was recounting to the jury about how he went inside and saw the Hudson's sister's mother lying dead on the floor and coming out to tell Julia that she was dead, Julia Hudson broke down in court, and Jennifer as well broke down. They're sitting next to each other near the front in the courtroom.

And then the next witness came on. He is a childhood friend of the Hudson family. His name is James Peyton. His nickname is Bear, for good reason, a very large man, and he started sobbing uncontrollably. And Jennifer Hudson, then along with Julia and many of the Hudson contingent, about 30 people in the courtroom, broke down. It was very, very emotional to see this man struggling so difficultly, recounting what he remembers about these murders.

It has been an emotional week for the Hudsons and for the jury, who has endured not only today's emotion but the autopsy photos yesterday and crime scene photos the day before.

MALVEAUX: It sounds absolutely tragic, Ted. Do we expect that the accused killer, Balfour, is going to be taking the stand?

ROWLANDS: I would doubt it. That's always an option for the defense, but it is a last option. In this case, the defense -- you might think there is a lot of physical evidence in the case because it is a triple murder, but there isn't. There is very little, if any, tying Balfour to the murders, so they're attacking that fact. The fact that there is no physical evidence and the fact that Jason Hudson, Jennifer's brother, was a drug dealer, saying that that's the reason that he died, not our client. I would doubt very highly that he would take the stand.

MALVEAUX: And sounds like it has been such an emotional experience for the whole family. When they leave the courtroom, the courthouse, where do they go? Do they seem like they're able to collect themselves and pull it together?

ROWLANDS: They aren't being afforded the opportunity to come and go in an area which is outside of the public view. And, in fact, there has not been one photograph taken of the family arriving or leaving the courthouse. They come in through a special entrance and exit from the special entrance, so we haven't been able to see their reaction. But we're sitting there with them in court and, as I said, it is a pretty emotional scene inside the courtroom.

MALVEAUX: All right. Ted, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

CNN NEWSROOM continues with Brooke Baldwin.

Hey, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Suzanne. Thank you so much.