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Facebook in Final Stages of IPO; Florida Officials to Bring Charges in Hazing Case; Top Olympians Train with SEALs; Openly Gay Romney Campaign Worker Quits

Aired May 02, 2012 - 11:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips. It's 11:00 on the East Coast, 8:00 out West. We've got quite a busy hour for you.

Live pictures right now. Mitt Romney speaking in Virginia. So far no response to President Obama's exit plan for Afghanistan which he criticized last night, but we are continuing to monitor this live event. We will bring you the latest as it happens.

Renewed threats by the Taliban less than 12 hours after President Obama's surprise visit to Afghanistan to talk troop withdrawals. Today, the Taliban warned that they are launching a, quote, "spring offensive."

That threat follows this deadly attack in Kabul by a Taliban suicide bomber just two hours after President Obama left Afghanistan and the Taliban claiming it's just a sign of things to come.

Let's get straight to Nick Paton Walsh. He's in Kabul. So, Nick, when the Taliban says spring offensive, tell us exactly what that means.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there was something that was supposed to have started about two weeks ago, but there statement today shortly after Barack Obama left made it clear that they consider it to be a new operation ahead of them, as something they called Al-Farooq, an Arabic term referring to a person who can distinguish between good and evil.

Many targets, principally foreigners, those assisting foreigners, Afghan security forces and a variety of other tactics which, of course, that this kind of statement is designed to try and inspire fear through the Afghans working with the NATO campaign here.

We saw this morning a suicide bomber driving a car laden with explosives into the front gates of something called the Green Village, a secure compound popular with foreign contractors here and in the ensuing crossfire there were seven people killed, including one school child and ten schoolchildren injured.

So despite the fact that it's part of this announcement of al farooq, it's clear the Taliban want to cause no civilian casualties. That certainly was not the case today. The United Nations condemning this attack for occurring 20 meters away from a school. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: And, Nick, this is something that the Taliban has come forward and talked about every time this year. What is it going -- do you see anything different this time around?

WALSH: I think the big difference is the volume we're hearing from the United States about their departure. The previous year that was something that was supposed to be happening in the years ahead. Now it's imminent. Now it's happening.

Now the surge is withdrawing by September and, as Barack Obama said yesterday, he wants to see Afghans in charge of their own security by next year and a "steady pace," quote, of withdrawals from September onwards.

That means more troops leaving very soon indeed, and with that particular dynamic here, I'm sure if you're an insurgent you're not really trying to work out what you're going to do in the next months ahead or panicking particularly. You're just going to sit it out and see exactly how the land lies after that.

That's the big concern here, that now with this pretty sizable speeding up of NATO's withdrawal by many countries, including the United States, that we are going to see an insurgency no longer on its back foot but moving forward and making its presence felt in different parts of Afghan life.

Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Nick, thanks.

Well, President Obama is vowing that American troops in Afghanistan won't remain there a single day longer than necessary and that's the key to his exit strategy for the longest war in U.S. history.

He announced it had last night in an address from the war zone, but what about specifics? Athena Jones joins us now out of Washington. First, what are you hearing about the president's plan, Athena?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra. First of all, I just want to say forgive the noise. We just saw the president's helicopter land there on the South Lawn.

What we're hearing most talked about in this plan and this speech was really the timing of it. We know, of course, that it fell on the anniversary of the killing of bin Laden.

White House officials say that the president's intention was always to spend that day with troops and really they are focusing on the idea that both President Obama and President Karzai wanted to sign this strategic partnership agreement before the next NATO summit which is in Chicago about three weeks from now when they will be meeting with NATO allies and discussing the way forward in Afghanistan. It was Karzai, White House officials tell us, who wanted it to be signed on Afghan soil so that's a little bit of the timing there, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Now, Obama did not mention, though, the number of troops that I see here that would remain there after 2014 or even the cost of them being there, looking ahead.

JONES: That's right and, in many ways, this agreement was short on specifics. It's really a framework. If you look at it, it's only about ten pages long and they lay out some of the broad elements they are looking at in terms of helping train Afghan security forces, helping them with the transition.

But when it comes to exactly what the troops will look like after 2014, this is between 2014 and 2024 that this agreement is talking about, that decade, those troop levels and how much money will be committed to Afghanistan all remains to be worked out, not only with Afghanistan, but also with these NATO allies that they are going to be talking to in a couple -- a few weeks from now in Chicago when they make the next big announcement, which is to say that Afghan forces are going to move into the lead next year so the international forces are going to be taking a support role.

But lots and lots still to be worked out, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Athena Jones, there at the White House. Athena, thanks.

Well, it's one of the few bits of positive news to come out of the Secret Service scandal. "The Washington Post" is reporting that none of the 12 women who partied with U.S. agents there at this Cartagena hotel had any connection to terror groups or drug cartels.

"The Post" cites congressional officials who saw documents provided by the Secret Service to congressional committees. The paper also reports that 10 of the 12 women involved were paid by the agents.

The man who oversaw the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques is now talking. Jose Rodriguez who led counterterrorism efforts at the CIA said that tactics like water-boarding did not amount to torture and that they did give investigators valuable information.

He did do an interview today on CNN and he downplayed the severity of those techniques used on terror suspects.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE RODRIGUEZ, FORMER CHIEF, CIA DIRECTORATE OF OPERATIONS: If you actually paid attention and looked at the ten techniques that are used here, they are pretty -- actually pretty wimpy, if you look at them one at a time.

So, you know, these are things that I have no moral qualms on my own or anybody else who worked with me in doing, mindful of the fact that these are people who killed and who were going to kill more of our people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Rodriguez has written a book now defending CIA policies in the wake of 9/11. He insists it's not a defense of torture, but an explanation of methods certified as legal by the Justice Department.

Calls for Rupert Murdoch's broadcast license to be revoked and I'm not talking about overseas. We're talking about right here in the United States.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, the ethics scandal engulfing Rupert Murdoch and his media empire have critics questioning his U.S. media interests now. The watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, is calling on the FCC to revoke Murdoch's 27 U.S. TV licenses.

The group notes that a committee of parliament concluded that Murdoch is unfit to lead his company. The group writes that, "Given the blatantly illegal pattern of conduct by News Corp both in Great Britain and the United States, the Murdochs clearly do not have the requisite character to retain their broadcast licenses."

News Corp takes issue with claims that Murdoch is not fit to lead his company, calling remarks by some British lawmakers unjustified and highly partisan.

Well, it could have been a showdown between the two biggest powers on Earth. Instead after six days at the U.S. embassy in Beijing, Chinese human rights activist, Chen Guangcheng, is being treated in a Beijing hospital with his family at his side with understandings that they will be safe.

Beijing still wants an apology from Washington for, quote, "interfering in Chinese affairs." Still, the Chen affair is no longer expected to dominate this week's visit by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton whom Chen, by the way, says he wants to kiss.

CNN's Stan Grant is in the Chinese capital. Stan, let's go ahead and clear up some confusion about Chen's willingness to leave his safe haven at the U.S. embassy. We've received conflicting reports. Can you straighten that out for us?

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This has been an extraordinary story, you know. It's taken so many twists and turns. We heard today that Chen Guangcheng who escaped house arrest about a week ago has been holed up in the U.S. embassy pretty much ever since, left the embassy of his own volition, went to a hospital, was getting medical treatment and reunited with his family, that a deal had been worked out between the U.S. and China for him to able to live as a free man and a safe man along with his family.

We're now seeing cracks in that and that agreement is not even yet cast in stone. We're hearing from a very close friend of Chen who has been posting on Twitter, has also confirmed it to CNN that she had a conversation with Chen and Chen said, no, he did not want to leave the embassy.

He said that he left the embassy because his family was being threatened by local Chinese officials in his home village. The threats were that if he did not leave, there would be violent retribution against his wife and his children. That's why he's agreed to leave.

The United States, though, insisting that's not the case. A spokesman here saying that three times it was put to Chen, do you want to leave? Do you feel safe? Do you have faith in your future? He said yes. I want to go.

All of this very much up in the air now, a very cloudy picture, and Hillary Clinton here, of course, for high-level trade talks. This issue, they thought, was going to go away. Doesn't seem as if it will be that easy.

PHILLIPS: Let's just put into perspective why this activist is getting so much attention. Many interesting characteristics, his background, Stan.

GRANT: Yes, you know, here's a blind man, a man from a very background, rural man who taught himself the law. He then went to defend the rights of women under china's one-child policy, who said that they were being forced into abortions and into forced sterilizations.

That led to the rough of the party. He was accused of organizing demonstrations, of disrupting traffic and of damaging property. He spent four years in jail. When he was released, he was then held under lock and key, 24/7, under house arrest before that extraordinary escape about a week ago which has brought about all of this.

What's fascinating with Chen Guangcheng, a population here of 1.3 billion, one man, but he has become a symbol for human rights here. Hillary Clinton has raised his case in the past, and you might recall the actor, Christian Bale, better known for his role in "Batman."

He was here and tried to visit Chen along with us with CNN. We were violently turned away that day, and that, again, really raised the profile of Chen, and that's why we're talking about him again today.

PHILLIPS: Stan Grant, we'll follow the story. Thanks so much.

Well, the feds now launching an investigation into the University of Montana. At least 50 victims say they were sexually assaulted and law enforcement let them down.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, if your daughter goes to the University of Montana, you're going to want to hear this story. Up to 80 allegations of sexual assault, even rape, by fellow classmates and off-campus predators and now we've learned that the Justice Department has launched an investigation because it says local law enforcement dropped the ball.

These allegations first surfaced last December. The allegations involve at least two members of the University of Montana Grizzlies football team and the head coach and athletic director have now been dismissed.

We asked the Justice Department to join us, but they declined because of conflicts. But they sent us copies of letters to the university's president informing him of the investigation.

We also reached out to the Missoula County attorney who issued a statement denying claims of gender discrimination or being slow in responding to the allegations.

Joining us now on the phone, the reporter who broke this story. Gwen Florio. Tell me how did this all happen? How did you get the tip? How did you uncover the story?

GWEN FLORIO, REPORTER, "THE MISSOULIAN": This started back in mid-December when I got a tip that two female students at the University of Montana had been assaulted by several male students. We were able to confirm that.

Called the university which added the information that possibly date rape drugs were involved and also told us they were starting their own investigation.

They hired an outside investigator to look into it and, to be clear, all the 80 assaults over the last three years that the Justice Department is looking into involved -- in and around Missoula, not just the University of Montana. I think there are only 11 cases that involve university students.

PHILLIPS: So does it look like there's a connection, Gwen, to what's happening on campus and off campus?

FLORIO: Well, certainly some of the students I talked to said that when they went to police they were willing to pursue rape cases which as you know are very difficult.

In some cases, the police said there wasn't enough evidence to pursue the cases, and in others the county attorney's office said there's not enough to go forward with prosecution.

PHILLIPS: Now, the football coach, though, was dismissed and also the athletic director. Why?

FLORIO: We don't know. We would love to know. The university said only it was time for a change in leadership.

PHILLIPS: And what about the status of the two football players accused of sexual assault and rape? FLORIO: Well, one is still awaiting trial and he has been formally charged. The other has not been formally charged. He is under a civil, no-contact order with the woman who has accused him.

PHILLIPS: And what did the university tell you? What has been the university's response to the story you broke?

FLORIO: They have held a series of forums around town and on campus to talk about sexual assault, but they have really limited the amount of information that's coming out and I think that's really frustrating to people.

I think they are following a very narrow legal line. I think politically that has not worked so well.

PHILLIPS: Do you think there was a cover-up here, Gwen, on behalf of the athletic program, they didn't want their athletes tied to these allegations of rape?

FLORIO: You know, I think that's what the investigation is trying to find out by the Justice Department and "The Missoulian" just learned this morning that the federal Education Department is also going to pursue a Title IX investigation, specifically against members of the football team.

PHILLIPS: Gwen, I know you'll be doing many follow-up stories. Let's stay in touch. We'd like to stay on top of this story as well. Gwen Florio, thanks for calling in.

FLORIO: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, a high school player is being told that he needs to ride the pine and not for bad behavior. Apparently, he's too old.

But this afternoon that may change. What he's doing to try and change the rules.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, Eric Dompierre plays basketball and football for his high school and he does it pretty darn well. That's him right there, scoring.

But now he's being asked to leave the team. Why? Because his high school athletic association says he's too old. He was held back in elementary school because he has Down's syndrome, making him 19 years old.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC DOMPIERRE, FIGHTING TO STAY ON SCHOOL TEAMS: I practice a lot, so it'll pay off when I'm on the field with my team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: So Eric is fighting back and he's taking on the rules. This afternoon, he is testifying in front of Michigan's state senate education committee asking lawmakers to change the rules for special needs students.

We'll be following this and we'll definitely let you know how it turns out.

Well, he almost died after being hit by a bus nearly seven years ago and this former New York City firefighter isn't taking his life for granted.

Matt Long not only overcame his injuries, this fitness junkie taught himself how to run again and now Matt is motivating others with his amazing story.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta has this week's "Human Factor."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: December 2005, New York City is in the grips of a massive transit strike. Public transportation is completely shut down.

New York City firefighter, Matt Long, has no choice. He must hop on his bike to get across the city to the fire academy.

So you needed -- this wasn't just training. You needed to get somewhere?

MATT LONG, FORMER NEW YORK FIREFIGHTER: I needed to get to work and I made it four blocks..

GUPTA: Four blocks and then disaster. A bus that had crossed multiple lanes of traffic made a right turn and, in the process, slammed directly into Matt Long.

LONG: He didn't see me, didn't know I was there or whatever, and took me right under the front wheel.

GUPTA: In an instant, the self-described fitness junkie had gone from dominating race courses to barely surviving.

LONG: From my left leg, every bone, compound fracture, tib, fib, femur. The right side of my pelvis was shatter and open fracture as well. And my right shoulder was crushed.

But the worst part was the bike and I became one and it severed my abdominal wall, severed my femoral artery, so I basically was bleeding out.

GUPTA: Long stayed in the hospital for six month and eventually underwent more than 40 operations.

He had survived physically, but mentally he was battling nearly crippling depression.

LONG: Right at a table after a doctor's appointment, I just said, I'm glad you prayed for me to live. I wish you'd prayed for me to die because I can't do this.

GUPTA: Learning how to live in his new body became Long's biggest challenge.

LONG: I didn't think about things I couldn't have any more. I didn't think about how I could no longer run as fast as I used to run. I just started out saying, I will. I will get back on the bike and I will get back out on the run course and I will life my life the best I can.

Let's go, Rangers.

GUPTA: Now retired, Long coaches and regularly shares his story to motivate others to transform themselves.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: A college band member hazed to death. In just about two hours charges will be announced.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting that it will be here on May 18th, the Facebook IPO that everybody is waiting for.

So who gets to buy in first? Alison Kosik, will it be you?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No, no, no. It certainly won't be me, but you know what? We can join in on the excitement, right?

As you said, Wall Street buzz says that the 18th of May is the day that the Facebook shares should begin trading, but the date could also change depending on how well or how poorly investors respond in the next couple of weeks.

Here is what is for certain, though. Facebook is certainly in the final stages of its IPO and the way IPOs go is that, first, there's a road show and that's when Facebook executives will be going around to the big institutional investors to try to convince them that buy into the company.

It shouldn't really last about two weeks, so that's why we get that May 18th date. Now, it shouldn't take too much convincing, if you ask me. I mean, think about it, Kyra. This is the most anticipated IPO of the year.

PHILLIPS: Is it true because I read here that it's expected to be the biggest IPO in the technology sector ever. Do you agree with that?

KOSIK: It could be. It could be. Just to put -- to put this out there. There is a huge element of hype built into this. This is a very popular company clearly.

PHILLIPS: Do -- we lost our connection. We apologize. Sometimes that happens in live television. We actually lost our connection to the New York Stock Exchange and Alison Kosik.

But just to bring you up to date, what we were talking about, the "Wall Street Journal" reporting that the Facebook IPO that everyone is waiting for should be here on May 18th.

And I'm told we've got Alison back.

You're back with us?

KOSIK: I'm back.

PHILLIPS: Sorry about that.

KOSIK: We'll get back into it. Part of it is hype, and the other part of it is that Facebook really thinks it will be valued at $100 billion. Now one analyst says this valuation, it's not based on Facebook's hard advertising newspaper. It's more of a general bet, and there are lots of questions as, to you know, how is Facebook going to continue to make money and grow over the long term, but, still you can't deny Facebook's IPO, Kyra, it could be historic because of the amount of money it's expected to raise in this offering.

PHILLIPS: Well, I'll tell you what. And we lost her. Sorry about that. Apologize for the connection.

But, you know, we told you yesterday about a story about Facebook, how you could actually go on Facebook and say that you want to be an organ donor. No longer do you -- can you just put it on your driver's license, but on Facebook, and apparently there were so many people that signed up to be organ donors that hospitals were overwhelmed with -- with the numbers. So we will follow up on that, too, and how that's going to impact the transplant list that exists here in the United States.

All right. Let's talk about nearly three months after Whitney Houston's death. Her ex-husband, Bobby Brown, is finally breaking his silence. Brown actually shot down claims that he's to blame for Houston's drug habit. Here's what he told the "Today" show this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBY BROWN, SINGER: I didn't get high before I met Whitney.

UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: On narcotics?

BROWN: On narcotics, no. I smoked weed, I drank beer, but, no, I wasn't the one who got Whitney on drugs.

UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: So this was a part of her life before me?

BROWN: Way before me, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Did you talk about it? Did you worry about it?

BROWN: I worried about it when, you know, we first got together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Houston and Brown were married for 14 years, and Brown says that he's now very much clean and sober. He apparently had dinner with Houston and their daughter, Bobbi Kristina, just a week before Houston's death on February 11th.

In two and a half hours prosecutors in Florida are expected to bring charges against several people accused of helping to kill Robert Champion. He's the drum major at Florida A&M University who died within an hour of what a medical examiner called a hazing incident aboard a band bus. By some accounts, the incident was a brutal rite of passage called crossing by sea.

My college George Howell joins me with more.

You've been following the case since the very beginning. What do you know about the charges?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At this point, we know that several people will be charged for the hazing-related death of Robert Champion. Keep in mind there were at least 30 people, we know at least 30 people who were on the bus when this happened back November 19th. And when you look at the medical examiner's report, it talks about how he was beaten on the back, the chest and the arms, so badly that he went into shock. He died from that beating. And -- and it raises many questions. Obviously this could be a hazing-related case. They could be charged with hazing. That is a felony in the state of Florida, but is it manslaughter? Could it be murder? It will be interesting to see what the prosecutors have on the people that they charge in this case, but you get a sense from the family that this is what they have been waiting for for quite some time. In fact, at a press conference in April you get a sense of how they wanted this -- the answer here. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM CHAMPION, MOTHER OF ROBERT CHAMPION: It hurts that we haven't heard anything. Nobody go home and sit with us in the evening at night and the time I talked to my son was at night after he finished all that accident, and I don't get that privilege to talk to him. My nights are the most emotional time for me. So to not hear nothing, not to hear anything, yes, I think we've been patient enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: And the main thing the Champions want -- and I've been following them since this incident happened -- the main thing they want they want students to think twice, you know, to look at what happened to their son, to look at this case and to look at the people who will be charged in it and just think twice about hazing.

PHILLIPS: Do we still know if prosecutors are alleging that Robert was targeted for a certain reason, or was this standing operating procedure for, you know, getting initiated?

HOWELL: He was in line to become drum major number one, and he was very much against hazing, so people -- the family in fact believes that that could be one reason he was targeted. Also the fact that he was gay, according to his attorney. That may have also been part of the reason, but the family says the -- the most important point to them is that their son was against hazing. They think that is why he was targeted.

PHILLIPS: In less than two hours we'll know the charges.

George, thanks.

We need to make a quick correction by the way, on this story. When it first aired in the previous hour some mug shots were seen in a monitor behind George and Carol Costello. Well, those pictures are from an unrelated case. We just wanted to make that clear. And CNN regrets the error.

Rolling in the dirt, carrying 200-pound logs drenched in a freezing lake. Are we talking about Navy SEALs or Olympic athletes? What if I told you it's both?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, Olympians, they are the best of the best. Elite athletes who are mentally tough, too. Insanely in shape. And they would be better with the London Summer Olympics less than three months away no. Wonder so many of them are taking their training to hell and back in their quest for the gold.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not hurt.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not even doing anything!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Talk about getting schooled, and I mean seriously schooled by Navy SEALs. You're actually looking at the U.S. women's field hockey team right there. They and other Olympians who have done this say that SEALs training has actually been the key to winning.

In the thick of all of that, you saw Katie Reinprecht, the midfielder for the U.S. field hockey team.

Katie, are you crazy? You didn't do this once but you did it four times.

KATIE REINPRECHT, MIDFIELDER, U.S. FIELD HOCKEY TEAM: Luckily enough I've been around all four times, learned a lot each time, new things.

PHILLIPS: It's -- we'll get to some specifics, but let me ask you, you know, why put yourself through this hell week.

REINPRECHT: You know, I think there's a lot to learn with training with the Navy SEALs, obviously not skill-based and focusing on field hockey but there's a lot to learn about yourself and your teammates around you, and I think it's been a really good team- building exercise for us. Learn a lot about leadership and what works and how to stay calm in extremely stressful situations, so I think we've been able to pull a lot from our sessions with the Navy SEALs and apply them into game-like situations.

PHILLIPS: If you'll going to be ready for the Olympics you better be ready for war. You better be careful, you'll be recruited, you and the entire team. Let's start with one of the most difficult moments. Take me to a point, and I don't know, you could be an absolute studdette. And there wasn't a moment where you thought, oh, my good can I make it in another second. Maybe there was. Can I take it to the toughest part of the training and why.

REINPRECHT: I guess I can say it was everyone reached a point where they felt that they would break. For the team that's the log pt, where you're split up into boat crews, there's six or seven of you, and you're responsible for carrying a huge log that's I think a little over 200 pounds, and do you all sorts of exercises with it, and -- and not only is it hard to just hold the log itself but to do crunches with it, to do lunges, to run with it. I think a lot of people feel like that's a breaking point for them where you so badly want to drop it or you can or you know there will be some sort of punishment waiting for you and then just running with boats on your head or carrying them. There's plenty of points where you just think this is it and then you find a way to push yourself a little more and get through it and get on to the next step.

PHILLIPS: What's the punishment because I'm sure that these guys didn't come up to you and go, it's OK, Katie, we'll give you a lollipop and can you set on the sidelines while everybody else goes with you hell week. What's the punishment if you don't cut it?

REINPRECHT: A lot of times, so the losing boat crews will do pushups for the winning crew so they will count out and there's all sorts of instructions on how to properly do it so obviously if you mess that up, you're going to be doing a few extra more, but a lot of times pushups and just holding plank until you do it right is the punishment and then you move on to the next step so there's really no break in between so needless to say the arms were quite sore after this last one.

PHILLIPS: I can just imagine. Was there ever a moment where you thought, wow, I can't believe he just said that to me? Did you have to find that you had to toughen your skin? REINPRECHT: There are plenty of times. I remember the first time being called a cover girl because I didn't have enough sand on my face and you're just like, what, I am like running and diving in sand and I'm being called a cover girl. They say plenty of things to get you a little riled up, but you learn to just take it and do what they ask and try to do it to the best of your ability to hope they don't rag on you anymore.

PHILLIPS: Well, let me ask you this, cover girl. Physically, we're obviously seeing the video and we're seeing how challenging it can be. What about mentally? When you walked out of that or probably crawled out of that five hours of training, the first time, the second time, the third, even the fourth time, mentally how did that impact you not only as an as late but a woman?

REINPRECHT: Yes. I think that's really the biggest challenge. It's just a mental test the whole time. Physically you're pushed to your limits, and you just have to learn how to cope with it and take it step by step, and you learn a lot about yourself and the person next to you, and you learn what way to push each other to get the best results, and I think one of the most important things is calmness is contagious. If you're in a really stressful situation and you're calm and you keep everyone around you feeling like they are in control, you get the best results, and I think each time we've gone to the SEALs we've learned some sort of new lesson about what we're capable of convincing our minds, and I think that's been really important for us on the field, and I think it will continue to be beneficial for this team heading into the London games.

PHILLIPS: And who is the biggest competitor at the London games? Would it be Argentina?

REINPRECHT: I think Argentina will be a big one considering our history and the recent victory in the Pan Ams. They might be gunning for us a bit, but really every game, every game in the Olympics is going to be huge, and we don't look past anyone obviously, and I think it's going to be a really good challenge for us, and I'm excited for the team.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Katie Reinprecht, we are excited for you and excited for the U.S. field hockey team. Do me a favor, whether you win or don't win, but I know you're going to win, will you come back and talk to me and tell me how that training paid off and tell me how the games went.

REINPRECHT: I sure will.

PHILLIPS: OK. I'm going to be following you, Katie. Thanks so much.

REINPRECHT: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right.

Romney needs Newt's endorsement. Newt needs big money to pay off his debt, so does one plus one equal millions? That's "Fair Game." But first, a quick question for you, our "Political Junkies" out there. Newt Gingrich suspending his campaign for president. So how many primaries did he win? Be the first to tweet me the right answer @KyraCNN. I'll give you a shout out right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. Before the break I asked how many primaries Newt Gingrich won during his run for the Republican nom anything. The correct answer two. Georgia and South Carolina. Congratulations, Adam, from Nashville, who is the first to tweet me the right answer.

Well, Richard Grenell is openly gay, a Republican, and was recruited by Mitt Romney's campaign to be foreign policy spokesperson, but after just two weeks on the job, he resigned.

Republican strategist, Boris Epshteyn, and Democratic strategist, Keith Boykin, join me now for "Fair Game."

Guys, what happened here? Did Grenell get pushed out because he's openly gay and Romney's campaign couldn't take the heat, or is he out due to the controversial tweets mocking women like Hillary Clinton and Callista Gingrich? Boris?

BORIS EPSHTEYN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Absolutely did not get pushed out. The speaker with the Romney campaign. They put out a statement they did ask him to stay on. He does have immense experience and is a valued spokesperson in the Republican Party. Let's look at it this way. We hope to get to a country where we don't have to talk about whether someone is gay or not gay, straight or transgender when they stay or leave a job. We hope to talk about things on the merits. Why he left is up to him. It was a personal decision. The campaign asked him to stay. The biggest issue here is this is a distraction play by the Obama campaign, so desperate after three years of unemployment above 8 percent and GDP that's crawling now at barely 2 percent. That's all they can talk about is a spokesperson leaving the Romney campaign. Total inside baseball. Not without anybody's time.

PHILLIPS: Keith?

KEITH BOYKIN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Nice pivot, Boris, nice try, but the reality is this is not a Democratic conspiracy or an Obama campaign diversion. This is something the Republicans themselves created. Republicans created this controversy because the people on the radical right, the conservative fringe, are very upset about this guy being in this position, and that was what caused the controversy. You have a Republican party, I'll remind you now, that when a gay U.S. Soldier stood up and asked a question at a Republican debate, they debate, they booed and hissed him and not a single Republican candidate on the stage challenged them on that. That shows the depth of the homophobia, the depth of prejudice, the depth of the trouble that the Republican Party is dealing with.

(CROSSTALK) EPSHTEYN: Of course, Keith is --

(CROSSTALK)

EPSHTEYN: I'm sorry.

PHILLIPS: This leads me right into my next question. Boris, a lot of vocal evangelicals, like radio host, Bryan Fischer, with whom I talked to last week, didn't like Grenell from the start. Here is a little bit from that interview last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYAN FISCHER, AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION: Personnel is policy. When Governor Romney picks somebody who is an activist homosexual and puts him in a prominent position, he's sending a shout out it seems to me to the homosexual lobby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Boris, Romney and evangelicals, can they come together?

EPSHTEYN: Absolutely. Mitt Romney is the standard bearer of the Republican Party. He won 29 states and territories, over 40 percent of the vote in the primaries. He is the one the Republican Party has put out there to face-off against Barack Obama who has been an awful president for 3.5 years. Now, Mitt Romney has the big Republican tent behind him. He's put them together now, and we are as one team going up against Democrats to replace the president in power. He has evangelicals, he was business conservatives, the whole big tent, like Ronald Reagan did.

PHILLIPS: Keith?

BOYKIN: That's baloney. Mitt Romney is still trying to suck up to the evangelical right wing. That's why he's going to Jerry Falwell's Liberty University where people are still debating whether he's a member of a cult. They don't accept it as traditional Christianity. You have people in the Republican Party who are so opposed to Mitt Romney they don't even vote for him. He didn't win a single state where evangelicals constituted a majority of the electorate in the Republican primary. I think Mitt Romney has tried to do everything he can to prove he's, quote, "severely conservative," bending over backwards on issue after issues, from the Dream Act and immigration to foreign policy and he's still not winning. They still don't like the guy.

(CROSSTALK)

EPSHTEYN: There's not one state out there where evangelicals are a majority of the Republican Party. As a Democrat, you just don't understand the way the Republican Party works.

(LAUGHTER)

We'll let you think you can beat us just by talking about fringe issues like this.

PHILLIPS: Guys, I'm going to put the plug in there already. We're going to talk to one of Mitt Romney's advisers before that speech at Liberty and then after that speech we're going to talk with Falwell himself.

So one more question before I let you go. Newt Gingrich is out. He's also out about four million bucks. Now the Romney camp says it's going to help pay down that debt, but here is the question. Is he really paying for an endorsement? Keith?

BOYKIN: You know, I don't know the answer to this. I'm not a Republican so I can't say, but I think this is customary. What candidates do when they back out of races, sometimes they seek some sort of financial support to retire their debt before they can actually endorse somebody else. I can't say whether he's buying his endorsement or not, but the truth is Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, none of these guys like each other. It's not surprising they're withholding endorsements. They just don't like each other. It's going to be tough to pretend they have a big tent when they come together in Charlotte -- in Tampa --

(CROSSTALK)

BOYKIN: I'm sorry.

PHILLIPS: Why is Romney's camp going to help Gingrich out and pay down this debt?

EPSHTEYN: Well, the first part of Keith's question was correct. This is customary, it's something that's done by a gracious winner in a primary.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Even though they attacked each other fiercely throughout this entire campaign?

EPSHTEYN: But the point is Barack Obama did not do this for Hillary Clinton in 2008. Hence the still remaining tension between the Hillary Clinton camp --

(CROSSTALK)

BOYKIN: She is the secretary of state.

EPSHTEYN: Why? Because he needed her support and her votes behind her to become president. Mitt Romney does have the support of Newt Gingrich. He's going to be going out there endorsing him. Rick Santorum's folks have come behind Mitt Romney as well. You saw his campaign manager being hired on the Mitt Romney team. The Republicans are coming together, as we always do, and that's why we will win this election in November of 2012.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Keith, final thought.

BOYKIN: Barack Obama is famous for creating not only a big tent but a team of rivals, much like Abraham Lincoln talked about.

(CROSSTALK)

BOYKIN: That's the reason Hillary Clinton is part of the administration. That wasn't to win a campaign or election. That was after he was elected. So I think the idea that those two don't get along is just nonsense and you know better than that, Boris.

PHILLIPS: Keith and Boris, thanks, guys.

EPSHTEYN: I disagree with you, but you're the Democrat.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: That's "Fair Game." We'll be talking again.

EPSHTEYN: Thanks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: The John Edwards trial playing out like scenes from a soap opera. The critical moment that led an Edwards' insider to write a tell-all book.

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PHILLIPS: Sex, lies, and videotape. That's the John Edwards trial and what it's coming down to. His former aide's wife, Cheri Young, getting grilled in court again. You can see why. Cheri already admitted to videotaping Rielle Hunter's house and possessions to prove a payoff. What's next?

Joe Johns is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Today, in the John Edwards campaign finance trial, Cheri Young is expected to wrap up her testimony. She is the wife of Edwards' former right-hand man Andrew Young. She handled the finances for the Young family. She made the case that her husband had to come forward to tell the truth about Edwards because Edwards hadn't done it.

Cheri Young, like her husband, was a combative witness under cross-examination. The John Edwards defense team asked her how much money she and her husband made from a book and movie deal about the Edwards case and she said she could not remember. After Cheri Young finishes testifying, the next witness expected to take the stand is Josh Brumburger, a former aide who was reportedly present when he first met his mistress at a hotel in New York City. The question is whether Edwards accepted illegal campaign money to cover up the affair.

Joe Johns, CNN, Greensboro, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Young continued to come under fire for her husband's decision to write a tell-all book. On the stand she pointed to the moment that was the turning point for her husband. An ABC news interview in 2008 in which Edwards did not acknowledge having fathered Rielle Hunter's child. He then felt it was time to reveal all.

Connecticut one step closer to making it illegal for employers to place job ads that discriminate against candidates who are qualified but unemployed. The bill passed the state Senate. Now it's up to the House. Opponents have argued the bill would allow other characteristics to gain protection and take away those already in place, such as race.

And the daughter of Moammar Gadhafi is calling on the U.N. to investigate the killing of her father and brother. Her plea was made in a letter to the U.N. Security Council. You will recall Gadhafi was killed last October and the exact circumstances are still unclear. Her brother was killed after her father was captured. She, her mother, and two other brothers fled Libya around the time that rebel forces took control of Tripoli last August.

Thanks for watching. You can continue the conversation with me on Twitter, @KyraCNN, or on Facebook.

CNN NEWSROOM continues now with Fredricka Whitfield.