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Bin Laden Letters Published Online; Chinese Activist Wants Out Of China; Edwards' Daughter Leaves In Tears; Romney Picking Up Bachmann Support; New Bin Laden Documents; Preventing Sports-Related Brain Injury in Children

Aired May 03, 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, I'm Suzanne Malveaux. I want to get you up to speed. For the first time, we read what Osama Bin Laden was thinking. Letters written by him were posted online by the combating terrorism center at West Point. They're among thousands of documents seized by the Navy SEALs who killed Bin Laden last year in Pakistan. Well, they show that he worked until his death to organize another major terrorist attack in the United States.

He is probably the most famous guy in China today and the biggest headache for the Chinese government. Chen Guangcheng remains in a Beijing hospital. He now says he desperately wants America's help to get out of China, and he wants to go to the United States where he believes he's going to be safer. Chen is an anti-government human rights activist. Chinese officials promise to leave him alone but Chen doesn't believe them. He made a personal plea to President Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN GUANGCHENG (Translator): I would like to say to him, please do everything you can to get our whole family out. I'm very disappointed with the U.S. Government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: CNN is continuing to seek comment from U.S. officials about Chen's claim that he was mistreated and threatened by the Chinese government.

White House briefing is going under way now. Let's listen in. They're actually talking about this activist.

(BEGIN LIVE FEED)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (live): -- every time he has meetings with Chinese officials, he says that broadly, but now we're dealing with actually one specific case. So, I'm wondering if this is a case where he's willing to, you know, risk perhaps damaging the broader relationship with China to take on this case or, you know, possibly face questions about whether he's, you know, putting geopolitical concerns, economic concerns ahead of human rights.

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I'll say two things to that. First of all, you're correct that from the president on down when we have this government, this administration has meetings with Chinese officials, as part of their discussions, issues of -- economic issues, security issues, regional issues, and issues of human rights are always raised. You may remember that President Obama talked expansively about the issue of human rights in Shanghai on Chinese soil when he gave a speech there.

So, that is always part of our very broad and multifaceted agenda when we speak with the Chinese. All aspects of that agenda that we have and the relationship that we have with China will continue to move forward as we deal with this specific issue. And I would note on the matter of human rights that not just -- we do not just speak broadly about human rights, but we have raised specific cases of human rights issues with the Chinese on occasion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is the president concerned at all that this case could open him up to criticism though from Republicans? Some Republicans are saying now the president now, of the U.S., has a responsibility for Chen's safety.

CARNEY: I can assure you that the president is not concerned about political back and forth on this issue. He is focused on the need to advance U.S. interests in our broad-based relationship with China, very important economic, diplomatic relationship with China. He has and will continue to make it a priority, in that relationship or part of that relationship, an open and frank discussion of our concerns about human rights, and that's his focus. It is absolutely in our national interest for us to pursue that kind of broad-based agenda with the -- with the Chinese.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And some more on that (ph) topic. Why release the (INAUDIBLE) documents now? Is this timed to the anniversary of his death?

CARNEY: Well, I say two things, this morning West Point's combating terrorism center released 17 Al Qaeda originated documents in the original Arabic with English translations and with associated commentary and analysis. The documents were recovered from the Abbottabad compound where Osama Bin Laden resided prior to his death. This has been a process of reviewing these documents. The U.S. Government declassified them and provided them to West Point CTC for analysis and public release.

It's the appropriate place to do that, because the CTC has experience analyzing and releasing captured battlefield documents and the office, rather (ph), and has a strong reputation for its scholarly work on terrorism issues. The process of identifying them, declassifying them, reviewing and analyzing them require considerable time. It is also the case that because of the renewed interest in -- on this anniversary in the mission that led to Bin Laden's demise that this was deemed an appropriate time to release them. Yes, Jeff (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jay, has Mr. Chen and, or his family officially requested asylum from the United States?

CARNEY: I can tell you, as you have seen in media reports, that it certainly appears Mr. Chen and his wife have changed their views about what's best for him and his family. I think as the State Department has made clear in the discussions that Mr. Chen had with officials, State Department officials at the embassy, he reiterated his firm desire to stay in China, to reunify with his family in China, to be relocated and our efforts on his behalf were in accordance with those wishes, to try to achieve those goals for him in our consultations with Chinese officials. His views have changed, as you have seen reported, but I can't comment on the ongoing discussions that he and his wife are having with State Department officials or those officials are having with Chinese officials.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The United States is speaking with Chen and his family right now and presumably he's had the opportunity to --

CARNEY: Again, these are ongoing discussions, and I can't comment on them. State Department -- because this is a State Department issue, the nature of it, might have more details for you, although because these are ongoing I'm not going to -- it would be inappropriate to give a play by play of those conversations and consultations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you comment on what the nature of the assurances were from the Chinese government that he would be safe before he was released from the U.S. Embassy?

CARNEY: Well, the State Department will have more details for you on that. I can tell you this, Mr. Chen repeatedly made clear that his desire was to say in China, to reunify with his family, and to relocate. As part of that, we, on his behalf, had discussions with Chinese officials. State are -- U.S. State Department officials in Beijing had conversations with Beijing officials to receive assurances and did receive assurances that he would not be harassed upon release. And we made clear we would continue to monitor his case and be in touch with him as time moved on, so that we could raise concerns if there were concerns that need to be raised. Beyond that, I would refer you to the State Department.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is the president concerned that this particular issue could have a wider impact on overall U.S., China relations?

CARNEY: As I said to Julie, we have a broad-based relationship with China that is multifaceted, that has an economic trade component, security component, a regional component, as well as a human rights aspect, and it goes beyond that even, and we are pursuing that relationship across the board, and we will continue to do so. This is obviously a case that's gotten a lot of attention, fairly high- profile, fairly exceptional, and we are working on that issue, but even as we do, we, of course, have a very broad relationship with the Chinese that we are continuing to pursue. Yes, Jake (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chen has made it clear that he wants to -- and in many interviews with reporters, that he wants to leave China with secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Is the United States willing to take him? CARNEY: Well, as I said previously, Jake, there are ongoing conversations happening, both with Mr. Chen, his wife, with Chinese officials. Those conversations are being conducted by State Department officials in Beijing. I simply can't give you updates on the nature of those consultations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just asking for --

CARNEY: What is there outcome might be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, is there a willingness?

CARNEY: Again, I'm -- for questions about hypothetically seeking of political asylum, you would have to go to the State Department. We are not at the White House, that is not an issue that we handle here. That is a State Department issue. And the questions about political asylum and how it can be requested would be appropriately addressed there at the State Department. We are in conversations now, not we, the State Department, folks in Beijing, and I simply can't give you a moment-by-moment update on that. But as we have more information or as the State Department has more information, they will make it available.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is the response of the White House to allies of Chen, human rights activists, who say that it appears that the U.S. has left him behind, abandoned him?

CARNEY: Well, ambassador Locke spoke about this as well as Toria Nuland at the State Department, it's simply not the case. Mr. Chen made clear in his conversations with officials in Beijing that he wanted to stay in China -- was very clear about that. That he wanted to reunite with his family in China and to relocate in China. And acting on those -- that expression of his wishes, State Department officials negotiated with, consulted with Chinese officials and reached the agreement that was reached.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But is it not true that before Chen had this change of heart, that the U.S. had thought there had been some sort of meeting of the minds, the China -- Chinese government had assured the U.S. that he would be able to relocate, that he would be safe, and then domestically within China, the Chinese government put out a statement that suggested no such thing. But they -- the United States was acting in a way that was inappropriate. So even before he had this change of heart, there was already reason to question whether or not --

(END LIVE FEED)

MALVEAUX: You're listen to Jay Carney talking about the fate of the Chinese dissident, Mr. Chen, who's been really a focal point around the world now. This is a blind lawyer who was imprisoned in China for quite some time and under house arrest who recently escaped. He has been fighting the poor sterilization policy of women in China and again a lot of questions over whether or not the United States will be able to help him and what type of role the State Department, including secretary of state Hillary Clinton, will be able in helping him.

The secretary is actually over there in China along with the treasury secretary, both of them there, and, again, questions remain in terms of how they will be able to help this Chinese dissident and make sure that he and his family are safe. We are getting more information throughout the hour from the State Department. We'll bring you those details as soon as we get them.

I want to go to another story we're following. John Edwards' fight to say out of prison. Today, he is watching another ex-staffer take the stand in his campaign fraud trial. Now, Edwards' daughter left in tears during Wednesday's testimony. Diane Dimond, she is a special correspondent for "Newsweek" and "The Daily Beast" and she's joining us live from Greensboro, North Carolina. Diane, you've got all things inside that courtroom. First of all, we're going to talk about that testimony, that painful testimony that sent Edwards' daughter out of the courtroom, but first I want to talk a little bit about what you are seeing today.

DIANE DIMOND, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, "NEWSWEEK" AND "THE DAILY BEAST": Well, the latest is three more staffers from the John Edwards for president campaign have been on the stand here. It was Matthew Nelson, John Davis, and a very young man named Jeff Harris. To me, it was John Davis who was the most interesting. This was Edwards body man. He went everywhere with him during the campaign. He told of watching fights with Mr. and Mrs. Edwards, where Mrs. Edwards was very upset that Rielle Hunter was anywhere around the campaign.

He talked about thinking that she was gone from the campaign, yet several weeks later running into her in a hotel in Detroit. Saw her at the elevator bank, went up to his room -- they said hello, but just quickly. He went up to his room and she knocked on the door and came in and said, look, I want you to know John Edwards and I love each other very, very much. We are having an affair.

He's very upset that you saw me here, and so please don't tell anybody. It was the gist of it. The next day when he saw his boss, John Edwards, Edwards said to him this woman is crazy. You have got to keep her away from me. If she wants to see me, she has to go through either you or Andrew Young. She came up here to tell me she was going to go on television, "Access Hollywood" or "Inside Edition" to talk about her job on the campaign.

MALVEAUX: Wow.

DIMOND: You've got to do something with this woman. He wasn't asked but he preemptively said and I'm not having an affair with her. OK, cut to the chase. There came a time later in New Hampshire -- later in 2007, when the candidate had taken his body man's telephone and he went back up to the room to get the phone back. He needed to do some business on this phone. John Davis says, he was outside the door. He heard John Edwards inside on the telephone speaking loudly and saying to someone, he assumed it was Rielle Hunter, are you showing yet? Which, of course, goes to clearly indicate he knew that this woman not only he was having an affair with her but that she was pregnant. Not long after that, he gave John Davis a sealed envelope -- a sealed FedEx envelope, and he said, keep this for me. Now, that had a telephone in it and apparently he was trying to hide the phone records between he and Rielle Hunter on that telephone.

MALVEAUX: That's incredible detail, just describing that -- you know, these conversations that are overheard and what Edwards is alleged to have said. Do we know what was so upsetting when Edwards' daughter actually went running out of the courtroom? What happened there?

DIMOND: You know, it was interesting, because I was sitting right behind them. She rose, said something to her father, and he said, "Cate, Cate, Cate," three times, but she ran out of the room. I couldn't see her face, but others said she was wiping tears. She did not want to hear the sordid story that was about to be told about her mother.

And the story was this. On the tarmac in Raleigh Durham, North Carolina, the two, husband and wife, met one day. They're going to go on campaign trips, separate campaign trips, with all their staff gathered around. Elizabeth Edwards was very upset and she said something like, "you just don't see me anymore." Whereupon she tore open her blouse, threw it off, threw off her bra on the tarmac in front of this gaggle of people, as if to command her husband's attention. It was a really painful bit of testimony. John Edwards hid his head, you know, with his hands. He -- after his hands went down, he just kept looking down.

The judge called a break right after that. It was a little early for a break, but we took a break. And when he came back in the room, he was still angry about it. He said to his aides -- or to his lawyers at the table, that was so wrong. This is supposed to be about a campaign financing case. So it was upsetting but I noted that the daughter was back today.

MALVEAUX: I have never heard that story before, Diane. Is that something that just came out in this kind of salacious story and unfolded there in the courtroom?

DIMOND: Well, it came through a very dear friend of Elizabeth's. And so Cate, I'm sure, had heard it before from this very good friend and campaign staffer, Christina Reynolds. But if my memory serves me right, Suzanne, that was written about in Andrew Young's book "The Politician."

MALVEAUX: How did the jury respond to that story?

DIMOND: Well, you know, as I wrote in "The Daily Beast" in a piece overnight, it was one of those moments in a courtroom, and I spend a lot of time in courtrooms, where nobody wanted to look at each other, you know. It was like the ugliness of the testimony was just settling in like a cloud. And I looked at the jury and they were -- they were like shocked and stunned. No one was taking notes. They were just -- a couple of them had their mouths hanging open.

I mean to imagine this breast cancer survivor, this woman, this confidant of this presidential hopeful being so anguished that she would literally strip herself naked from the waist up in front of people, it was just heartbreaking. It was really heartbreaking to hear.

MALVEAUX: It's an extraordinary, extraordinary story. Diane, thank you very much for just bringing those details to us. It's just some of the things that really people -- the jurors and many others -- have not heard before. Thank you, Diane.

Here's a rundown of some of the stories we're covering over the next hour.

First, Mitt Romney surging in vital swing states. We're going to hear the candidate live from Virginia.

And the Barack Obama you didn't know about. The president's half sister talking to CNN about the first time she realized she had a brother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUMA OBAMA, BARACK OBAMA'S HALF SISTER: I got this letter. It was -- there was an address written on it with my name and the handwriting was very similar. And I -- very familiar. And I turned the letter over and it had the name Barack Obama on it. And that was the name of my father.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And he is suddenly the most recognizable man in China. More on the activist who tried to take on the country's one child policy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Mitt Romney's campaign getting a boost in Virginia. This hour the event in Portsmouth, Virginia, expected to begin any minute now. We're going to take you there live. Romney's former rival, Michele Bachmann, she is going to endorse him now. Also, Romney's going to be campaigning with Virginia Governor Bob McDonald. One of the people mentioned as a possible running mate. We're going to wait for the Romney event to get underway. But I want to bring in Jim Acosta to talk about, first of all, Bachmann's endorsement, what it means for the Romney campaign.

And, Jim, you have seen Bachmann. She's got a lot of strong support among the Tea Party conservatives.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.

MALVEAUX: Do we think that this is really going to help Romney with the conservative voters?

ACOSTA: Well, I'll tell you, Suzanne, there are a few things going on today with this event down in Virginia. I mean Romney is trying to shore up his support among social conservatives. They have been reluctant, some of them, to run to his candidacy now that he is the presumptive GOP nominee. And Michele Bachmann will help with that. You will recall earlier this week there was this controversy over the resignation of a foreign policy adviser on the Romney campaign, Richard Grenell (ph), who happened to be homosexual. There were a lot of social conservatives out there who did not want him to be part of that campaign. He stepped aside he said for personal reasons. And now you have Mitt Romney appearing with Michele Bachmann down at this event in Virginia. That will certainly send another signal to social conservatives that he is trying to be one of them.

You'll also recall, Suzanne, that Bob McDonald, the governor of Virginia, who is also going to be at this event, signed a bill recently that required women in the state of Virginia to undergo ultrasound procedures before having an abortion. So, you know, this is certainly a signal, a message being sent to social conservatives that Romney is coming for their vote, coming for their support. He wants them to be a part of this campaign.

MALVEAUX: So despite that, Jim, we saw that Bachmann had some pretty harsh criticism of Romney during the primary campaign, especially when it came to health care. I want to play this for our viewers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELE BACHMANN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Romneycare is the blueprint, if you will, for Obamacare. In fact, Mitt Romney's advisers went into the White House in 2009 and sat down with Barack Obama's team as they were designing Obamacare. This is the seminal issue of Barack Obama's presidency, and this is the chief liability that Mitt Romney has going into the presidential race. Consider, he is the only governor in the history of the United States that has put into place socialized medicine in his state. And that's going to be our nominee to stand up against President Obama?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, Jim, that was then. This is now.

ACOSTA: Right.

MALVEAUX: How does the Romney campaign deal with that kind of very specific, targeted attacks against him when it comes to his health care policy?

ACOSTA: Well, they're saying, look at Michele Bachmann now. She's on the stage or she's going to be on the stage with him in a few moments. You know, this sort of thing happens in a political campaign, Suzanne. You'll recall just yesterday the Obama re-election campaign was putting out a web video, an ad, that showed Newt Gingrich calling Mitt Romney a liar. Well, you saw Newt Gingrich yesterday dropping out of the race saying that he's going to support Mitt Romney. An endorsement from the former speaker is expected at some point.

And, you know, this endorsement process was going on for some time.

MALVEAUX: Right.

ACOSTA: Michele Bachmann said in her statement about her endorsement of Mitt Romney that she was personally involved in the endorsement process. I don't know how you could not be involved in your own endorsement process, but Michele Bachmann said in her statement that that was what was going on. So I think that's also a signal that she, you know, was trying to, you know, deal with this as well and, again, another signal to social conservatives that, hey, if I can get here, so can you.

MALVEAUX: OK. Jim, we want everybody to know that we're going to bring that to you live as soon as it happens. Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann together on stage. Her giving him that coveted endorsement.

Thank you, Jim. Appreciate it.

ACOSTA: You bet.

MALVEAUX: So why is everybody suddenly talking about a blind Chinese activist? Because every year 13 million abortions are performed in China, and a lot of times it happens against the mother's will. And that is exactly what this man is trying to stop.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: One of the most prominent human rights activists in China wants to get out and he wants help from the United States. Chen Guangcheng believes he and his family are not safe in China. That is after years of prison and house arrest and charges he led protests against the government. The U.S. embassy protected him for several days but Chen says that is not enough. CNN's Stan Grant spoke to him by phone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a small voice on the end of a phone line, but with an explosive story to tell. 3:00 a.m. Thursday in Beijing and Chen Guangcheng answers our call. From his hospital bed, the blind dissident the world wants to hear from, now tells CNN he fears for his life. He says he wants to get out of China and is appealing to President Obama himself.

"I would like to say to him, please do everything you can to get our whole family out," he pleads.

He wants to go to the United States. A country that just hours earlier drove him to a Chinese hospital and, he says, left him there. Chen had been holed up for six days in the U.S. embassy. He'd sought refuge there after fleeing 18 months of what he called brutal house arrest. After backroom negotiations, the U.S. and China seemed to have struck a deal. Chen could leave freely and safely. A smiling Chen Guangcheng is seen her leaving the embassy for treatment at the hospital. But between leaving the U.S. grounds and speaking to us, everything changed.

"I'm very disappointed with the U.S. government," he says.

Chen now claims he was urged to leave and then deserted. "The embassy kept lobbying me to leave," he says, "and promised to be with me at the hospital. But this afternoon, soon after we got here, they were all gone."

Inside the embassy walls, Chen says he was cut off from the outside world and now doesn't think he knew enough to make such a critical decision.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Stan Grant, he joins us live from Beijing.

Stan, first of all, where is Mr. Chen now?

GRANT: He's still in the hospital, Suzanne. He's getting treatment there for a variety of illnesses that he's suffering. He was denied a lot of medical treatment while he was held under house arrest. We've heard from him in the past where he said during that period of house arrest, he was constantly beaten by the guards as well. That is a contributing factor to him not wanting to stay in China.

What's really interesting here is that he did leave the embassy of his own volition. The ambassador, who I got off -- who I spoke to today, Gary Locke, said that he asked him many, many times, do you want to go, do you want to go? And he said, yes, I do.

He's now changed his mind. He realizes the threat is very real and very high and he doesn't feel safe in China anymore -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Stan, you said you spoke to the U.S. ambassador in China, Gary Locke. Did he make clear that the United States is going to try to help Chen get out of the United States?

GRANT: He doesn't want to go that far. He doesn't want to make promises they can't keep. They're going to keep the conversation going and try to decide exactly what Chen wants to do.

He did point out that he rejects the claims that Chen feels he was neglected there or that he was somehow encouraged or forced to leave the embassy. He said this was always Chen's choice, always his decision. He said that they are going to continue this discussion.

The difficulty here now is that to actually seek asylum, he would need to be on American soil. That includes the embassy. Guess what? The place that Chen walked away from -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: All right. Stan Grant. Thank you, Stan.

This feud between Mr. Chen and the Chinese government is really about freedom, the freedom to protest, the freedom of speech. Today is also Press Freedom Day declared by the United Nations General Assembly.

I want to show you something we did for this special occasion. CNN held a video contest, opened it up to university students all across the country. The assignment -- create a PSA that addresses the question, "Why should we care about freedom of information"? The grand prize, we play the video right here on the air.

Now, there were a ton of entries, but we did pick a winner. Two sophomores from Western Michigan University. Here is their video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A fight for freedom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of information.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why should we be deprived?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The story is one-sided.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can trust freedom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Countries are struggling, suffering. (INAUDIBLE) -- the right to have (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Killing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Prison.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hurting (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So far, in 2012, 11 reporters have been killed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And over 150 have been imprisoned.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You tell me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it worth fighting for?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Reality is not optional.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Endorse change. It's your life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep them safe. (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Congratulations to those students for highlighting the importance of a free press.

In my own experience, I have seen how censorship works firsthand. Reporting in Cairo, Egypt, for an independent outlet, all my reports censored by the Egyptian government before being aired. And in China, when I traveled with president Bush for his trip, the Chinese government blocked any live coverage of our events to the Chinese people themselves -- couldn't even see what was going on in their own country. And we are reminded every day of the important of freedom of the press when we see those pictures snuggled out of Syria and the journalists who lost their lives trying to cover the carnage coming out of that movement.

So thank you, students of Western Michigan University, for putting a spotlight on this today.

They are the last writings of a mass murder. Take a look inside of the mind of Osama bin Laden in the days before his death, and what it means now for your safety.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Want to go straight to Virginia. A live event taking place. Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann offering her endorsement. Let's take a listen.

MICHELE BACHMANN, (R), MINNESOTA & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you are parents of five children, we spend a lot of time thinking about the future. Here in the state of Virginia, this is a state that has a wealth of resources right offshore. It's called energy, energy resources that are our future.

I just returned from Afghanistan visiting our brave men and women who are fighting on our behalf.

(APPLAUSE)

BACHMANN: And when I returned, I went to the cities of Dubai and DOHA. DOHA has the largest gas facility in the world and, quite literally, you almost think the streets are lined with gold. There are more working cranes and more skyscrapers that are being built, and I thought to myself, this could be the United States if we would only legalize American energy. We know --

(APPLAUSE)

BACHMANN: We know what Barack Obama's formula is for American energy. It's to bottle it up. It's to give checks for billions of dollars to other countries and telling them to go and be prosperous. Not so of President Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney's future for America would be a legalization of American energy, a legalization of millions of high-paying jobs. That's our future in America. That's something to get excited about. It's why we must elect Mitt Romney as the next president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

BACHMANN: And your wonderful governor, Bob McDonald, is doing everything within his power in the state of Virginia to make sure that Virginia becomes an energy producing state, a state that stands strong on national defense. And Governor Bob McDonald deserves every bit of applause and appreciation we can give him today.

Please welcome your governor, Bob McDonald.

Thank you!

BOB MCDONALD, (R), GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

MCDONALD: Thank you, Congresswoman Bachmann.

Thank you. Good afternoon Hampton Roads.

(CHEERING)

MCDONALD: For those of you not from here, welcome to the most friendly state in America, the Commonwealth of Virginia.

(CHEERING)

MCDONALD: Welcome to the state with the lowest unemployment rate in the southeast.

(CHEERING)

MCDONALD: As good as that is, imagine how much better off we're going to be with president Mitt Romney in office.

(APPLAUSE)

MCDONALD: Well, let me just say, Congresswoman Bachmann, thank you so much for all the leadership and energy you brought on the campaign trail and for your endorsement of Mitt Romney today. It's going to mean a tremendous amount for his campaign and we appreciate your leadership for the United States of America. Thank you.

BACHMANN: Happy to do it. Thank you.

MCDONALD: And thank you to our great entrepreneurs and job creators from Krofton Industries (ph) for hosting us here today --

(APPLAUSE)

-- making the great maritime industry here in Hampton Roads even that much stronger and creating lots of new jobs, and we're so glad to be here.

So good to see our Senator Wagner (ph) and Senator McWaters (ph) and the first commonwealth attorney in 100 years in Portsmouth, Earl Mobley.

Thank you, Earl, for coming.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

MCDONALD: And I want to say especially I see so many of you wearing those patriotic hats, certainly having served in the Navy, or the Army, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard. Virginia has more veterans than any other state in the country.

Thank you for your service and thank you for supporting Mitt Romney for president.

(APPLAUSE)

MCDONALD: The reason they're here supporting you is because of that sign. You believe in America. They do, too. They understand like you do that freedom isn't free, it's been purchased at a price. For 200 years by the blood, sweat, and tears of American men and women in uniform. We understand that in Hampton Roads. We understand that this president has not always taken care of veterans, has not always made the best decisions for the United States of America's military, has cut our investments in defense. You're going to see a sea change in our support for the military and veterans with president Mitt Romney, I can assure you of that.

(APPLAUSE)

MCDONALD: Remember, three and a half years ago, we heard that tune about hope and change? And now what do we have?

(LAUGHTER)

We have recession and division and malaise. It's time for a change, don't you think?

BACHMANN: Yes, sir!

(APPLAUSE)

MCDONALD: This really is a historic election. Everybody said it, everybody believes it, and everybody is here today I think because you want to fight for it. We have a difference in vision. The vision of Mitt Romney versus the record of a Barack Obama, which is a record of broken promises and not doing what he promised three and a half years ago. We were promised that we were going to see a reduction in job losses and new energy resources, all of the above, and all of these things. And you know what? We haven't got it. Look at the record. We have unemployment now at 8.2 percent for 38 consecutive months.

Governor Romney said it best, that may be the best Barack Obama can do, but that's not the best America can do, don't you think?

(APPLAUSE)

MALVEAUX: Governor of Virginia there endorsing Mitt Romney as well as Michele Bachmann. As soon as Mitt Romney speaks, we'll take a listen and see what he's got to say. We're getting an inside peek into Osama bin Laden's head through newly declassified documents. 17 draft letters total 197 pages in the English language posted online today by the Combating Terrorist Center at West Point. There are among more than 6,000 documents seized by U.S. Navy SEALs during last year's raid that killed bin Laden at his compound in Pakistan.

National security analyst, Peter Bergen, joins us from New York.

You got early access to -- the material while researching for your book. Give us a sense of what the most interesting things are that you learned about bin Laden.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Suzanne, you know, one that leaps out is bin Laden was constantly trying to incite young Muslim men to join his holy war, but when it came to his own 20- year-old son, Hamza (ph), he was advocating that this guy leave Pakistan's tribal regions if he was in that area and go to the prosperous and peaceful sort of Switzerland of the Middle East. I mean, one of the things, of course, is bin Laden's sort of hypocrisy when it came to the safety of his own family versus what he was saying publicly. He was very concerned about the drone program in Pakistan's tribal regions, very concerned about the effects it was having on his group. He was telling them they should move to perhaps the eastern province of Afghanistan, very remote, heavily wooded, mountainous area where they would be able to be sort of avoiding the all-seeing eye of America's satellites and drones.

(CROSSTALK)

BERGEN: Go ahead.

MALVEAUX: Peter, you say as well these documents show bin Laden to be a delusional leader, a micromanager. How so?

BERGEN: Well, delusional in the sense that he was sort of pressing to kill President Obama and General David Petraeus. Well, you know, that's pretty hard to do. And senior administration officials I have talked to say that there was push back from some subordinates saying, get real. It's easier to attack American civilians in Afghanistan than to do the things you're suggesting. Micromanagement, you know, he was advising his Yemeni affiliate, the members of that group, to make sure they had a big meal and gassed up their cars before they went on the road so they wouldn't encounter government spies at restaurants or gas stations. He was getting in the weeds of personnel decisions, asking for reports on particular leaders of his group. He was trying to retain control, but it's hard to retain control when the only way you can communicate is via courier. Sometimes responses would take two or three months.

MALVEAUX: He sounds kind of paranoid, too. What's really fascinating is you were really one of the only journalists to walk through bin Laden's compound. Can you give us a sense of what that was like?

BERGEN: Yes. Really, the only outside observer to be allowed to go in by the Pakistani military. Two weeks later, they demolished the place. I expected it to be like Hitler's bunker.

I had been studying this guy for 15 years and it was like visiting a very squalid suburban compounds. You're seeing pictures. This was one of the kitchens. They were not living large. They are growing their own vegetables. They had honeybees, rabbits. It was to some degree self-sufficient. Each wife, he had three, had her own kitchen and toilet. It was a pretty squalid environment.

When I visited, of course, you could see -- as you can see with these pictures, there was a tremendously ferocious SEAL assault on this, and there's broken glass everywhere. The kinds of things that you see scattered around in these pictures. And, you know, there were 24 people living on this compound even though it was fairly large, so they were living -- the beds they slept on were made by plywood.

These pictures were taken by Pakistani security officials and then sold to news organizations. Here is the vegetable garden where they were growing cumbers. He would take a daily walk but did so with a tarp over his head.

MALVEAUX: And, Peter, do we know how they were living inside of the House? Were the three wives getting along? Was there a sense of unity in that home?

BERGEN: It wasn't the real wives of Abadabad. They knew they were marrying the guy involved in these activities. This is the youngest wife, Imal (ph), the 29-year-old. There were two other wives, a 64-year-old and a 54-year-old wife. And, you know, I think that essentially there have been reports they were sort of at loggerheads. I don't think that's true. They were used to this arrangement. A similar arrangement happened in Afghanistan and Sudan.

MALVEAUX: Peter Bergen, thank you so much. The details are fascinating. Thank you once again.

Attention, parents, grandparents, high school football brain injuries are up. What to look for if your child is showing symptoms of a concussion.

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MALVEAUX: Apparent suicide of legendary player, Junior Seau, is raising more concerns about the impact of head injuries and football. He didn't have any documented concussions but the former linebacker was known for fearless and aggressive tackles. In a recent interview with "Sports Illustrated" writer, (INAUDIBLE), weighed in on the new safety rules in the NFL and said this about people who oppose them: "I am pretty sure if anybody had to wake up with their dad not knowing his name, not knowing his kids' name, not being able to function at a normal rate after football, they would understand that the game needs to change."

So, a warning for all parents whose children play football, the stats, pretty sobering. Take a look at this. Millions of children across the U.S. play tackle football every year. Emergency room doctors treat more than 55,000 brain injuries. The number is on the rise.

Joining me now from Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Reed Estes, a pediatric orthopedist.

Dr. Estes, essentially, tell us what can parents do to protect their children from getting these kinds of concussions?

DR. REED ESTES, PEDIATRIC ORTHOPEDIST: I think recognition is really the biggest key in regards to recognize or figuring out these injuries. But I think that the way that the new laws are set in that the coaches, the athletic trainers, parents themselves are a lot more aware in regards to picking up these injuries and knowing the signs and things to watch for on the sidelines and particularly at home after the child leaves the game. Football tends to be one of our biggest culprits in regards to this just being it is a high-pace and had heavy contact injury sport and recognizing these injuries early on by knowing the appropriate signs to watch for.

MALVEAUX: Doctor, I want to you watch this and our viewers as well. This is a video. These are really small kids, just going at it on the football field, and you can just see the kinds of hits that they are taking there. When you see that video, what kind of damage do you think that is causing long-term?

ESTES: I think it is hard to know for sure. There is a lot of research looking at the potential permanent neurologic damage that's related to all of these traumatic very significant blows to the head, whether it be a full pledged concussion where a child has a full loss of consciousness that's recognized on the field or whether it is something where they continue to play with it and actually develop more of a second hit and further concussion down the road.

MALVEAUX: Does it matter here that the kids, their brains are still developing and how does this play into the impact of concussions, developing these kinds of concussions?

ESTES: I think it definitely plays a significant role. I think the younger children as you mentioned are developing quite rapidly. They have areas of very tenuous blood flow to the brain and susceptible to injury. I think early on they're not really recognized early enough and there is much potential for further injury on down the road.

MALVEAUX: Doctor, bottom line, if you're a grand parent, a parent, watching this now, and you want to know how to protect your child, what would you say to them?

ESTES: I think it is a matter of keeping a close eye. I think it is important that children play sports and I am actually encourage it but same token, I think it is important to be cognizant when a child is complaining of fatigue, neurologic symptoms, disorientation and if they do have loss of consciousness or times of apple nearby a those are important things to watch out for and be aware to seek a health care professional advice.

MALVEAUX: Doctor, thank you so much. Really appreciate your insights.

A pop quiz for the parents out there. So if you're at the zoo and a lion is trying to get his paws on your kid, do you pull him away from the glass or pull out your camera? More of the video. You won't believe this.

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MALVEAUX: If you're taking a kid to the zoo, don't dress him like a zebra.

(LAUGHTER)

The lion might mistake him for an afternoon snack. Lion at the zoon in Portland, Oregon -- this was all caught on tape. He was lunging, clawing at this little kid, who is safe on the other side of this thick glass. The lion looks really frustrated. The kid -- unfazed. He doesn't even notice.

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Crazy.

The unemployment rate has been slowly dropping. But there is one problem. It doesn't factor in the 86 million so-called invisible unemployed in this country, people not looking for work.

I want to bring in Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.

Alison, do we have any idea why these folks are not trying to get into the workforce, not trying to find a job?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you think about it this way, if you ever looked for a job, as I have after you have been out of work for a long time, it is really, really frustrating. In this case, they are frustrated and they give up.

Here is what's interesting. When they gain their confidence back and start to look for a job, then they're counted as unemployed. What you get there, it would be the unemployment rate going up again. In the meantime, though, there are 86 million people who are considered right now the invisible unemployed. Most are over the age of 65, and that's normal because they're of retirement age. Another big chunk are folks under the age of 24. They're in school or having a hard time finding their first job. And actually, Suzanne, it is young people having a big, big hard time finding work right now.

MALVEAUX: Is this a new problem for the economy?

KOSIK: It is not a new problem. Even in good times some people don't want to work. Think about it, parents staying home to raise their kids and going back to school, and the disabled that can't work. And look how it has been over the past 15 years. It changed now the number of people in the labor force changed and back in 2000 it peaked at 67 percent meaning 67 percent of Americans were working or were looking for work. It has been falling ever since then, of course, a big factor is the recession and simply aren't enough jobs out there. Well, now, the labor force is actually the smallest since the 1980s with 64 percent. And the problem with the low participation in the labor force is that it hits tax revenue and makes it harder to fund social security, ultimately hitting economic growth and hurting the economy in the long run.

MALVEAUX: Allison, real quick here, what can folks do to find a job and become a part of the workforce?

KOSIK: You know what, it is all about getting skills, more education. The more education you have the more likely it is that you have a job. In fact, the unemployment rate with folks who only have a high school diploma is much higher than if you have a bachelor's degree. So you really want to do what you can to expand your skills. And in fact, today, earlier, I did a story about how Harvard and MIT -- announced they're offering free online classes. Go to CNNmoney.com to get more information on that. Great way to really hone your skills for free -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Great advice as always.

Thank you, Alison. Good to se you.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Brooke Baldwin.

Hey, Brooke.

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