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Russian Jet Disappears; N.C. Approves Gay Marriage Ban; Bomb Went Off In Syria; Lugar's Choice Words for Murdock; Mentally Ill Man Beaten To Death; Yahoo Workers Say CEO Must Go; Solar Storms Threaten Power Grid; Is Disrupting Terror Plots Better than Boots on Ground?; ABC to Ask Obama About Same-Sex Marriage in Interview; U.S. is Number 25 in Save the Children Report; New Book Has Women Swooning

Aired May 09, 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. The would-be Al Qaeda suicide bomber turns out to be a mole working for the Saudis and the CIA. Well, we now know, he infiltrated Al Qaeda in Yemen, volunteered to blow up a plane headed to the United States. Well instead, he handed over the new and improved Al Qaeda underwear bomb and is in the hands of the FBI. What authorities do not know is who leaked the top secret operation and why. Some lawmakers say future spy operations could be in jeopardy.

And a Russian airplane is missing. It is gone. A plane just like this one, Sukhoi 100. It's Russia's newest civilian passenger jet. One of the planes took off from an airport in Indonesia today on a demonstration flight. Well, it was supposed to return after 30 minutes. It did not and now there has been no contact with the pilot. At least 37 people were on board and there is no word on what has happened.

Same-sex couples in North Carolina are facing uncertainty today after voters approved a constitutional ban on gay marriages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let no one define your marriage for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Opponents say the ban amounts to discrimination. The amendment defines marriage as between a man and a woman. The head of the group that supported the amendment says, quote, "We are not anti- gay, we are pro-marriage." 61 percent voted for the amendment, 39 percent voted against it.

And a bomb went off in Syria today nearing a convoy carrying United Nations observers. Now, none of the U.N. team was hurt but several Syrian security people went to the hospital. A head of the observer mission said that the explosion is an example of what the Syrian people suffer on a daily basis.

(INAUDIBLE) Senator Dick Lugar delivering a warning now to the man who defeated him in Indianapolis -- Indiana's, rather, Republican primary. In a written statement released after the landslide loss, he predicted that the Tea Party favorite, Richard Murdock, would not achieve much as a lawmaker if he is elected and refuses to compromise with the Democrats.

Here's how Murdock responded today on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD MURCOCK (R), SENATE CANDIDATE, INDIANA: I hope to build a conservative majority in the United States Senate so that bipartisanship becomes Democrats joining Republicans to roll back the side of government, reduce the bureaucracy, lower taxes and get America moving again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: A woman who was at the forefront of creating and promoting John Edwards' public image, well, she is now revealing extremely private conversations she had with the former presidential candidate. Speechwriter Wendy Button says she urged Edwards to admit to the world that he had fathered a child with Rielle Hunter and used donors' money to cover it up. Diane Dimond, she's a special correspondent for "Newsweek" and "The Daily Beast," and she's joining us from outside the courtroom in Greensboro, North Carolina. Diane, good to see you as always. We know you've got the inside scoop of what took place --

DIANE DIMOND, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, "NEWSWEEK" AND THE DAILY BEAST": Thanks.

MALVEAUX: -- with this woman on the stand today. What did she say?

DIMOND: Well, Wendy Button was on for some cross-examination, which we can talk about in a minute, but Jennifer Palmieri is here on the stand now. She is with the White House. She is a deputy communications director in the Obama administration, but she used to work for John Edwards beginning in 2004. She gave us a real inside look at what a campaign does when it knows that bad news is on its way.

They've got -- she was the press secretary for John Edwards at the time. That the "National Enquirer" called and said, hey, we've got this story, and we want some reaction. And she told about internal conversations that she and other staffers had with Mr. and Mrs. Edwards at the time. And they sort of decided, well, you know, it's the "National Enquirer," we don't really have to answer them. They did give them a little no comment and it's not true, but they didn't really answer the "National Enquirer." And Palmieri told this jury that, here's her quote, she said, I said to John, I said to him at some point don't think that if this is true that you can survive it.

And a few days later in a hotel room in Dubuque, Iowa, they were on the campaign trail, and she told this story of Elizabeth Edwards having an absolute meltdown. She was called to the room to help her friend. She was very close to Elizabeth Edwards. She was called to the room because Mrs. Edwards realized Rielle Hunter was not out of the picture, that their good friends Lisa and Fred Baron, in fact, had been shopping with her and had brought her sort of back into the fold.

It was a very, very emotional moment, she said, and then, Suzanne, what about the second big "National Enquirer" story where it came out that Rielle was having an affair, Rielle was pregnant with his baby, Rielle was living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, driving the car that they provided for her. And she was asked -- Jennifer Palmieri was asked, what was your reaction to that "National Enquirer" story? They got a heads up on it. And she said, relatively mind- blowing. I was pretty shocked at what they were about to report.

Another staffer went to tell John Edwards what was going to be said. That staffer came back and said, John Edwards said to me, don't you think that baby could be Andrew's? Another staffer came to her and said that he understood the father was a married man of three children in New Jersey. So right away, there was a flurry of activity and lots of confusion over who the real baby daddy was.

MALVEAUX: You know, Diane, it's really bizarre to hear you recount all these stories. I know Jen Palmieri very well and a lot of these Edwards' staffers who really had no clue at the time when all this was going on and then later certainly didn't want to answer a lot of our questions about all the controversy that was happening. Didn't really come out until later on in the game here in the campaign. Do we know if -- how Edwards is responding? Is he actually in the courtroom expressing any kind of concern about all of these staffers who are coming forward with their stories?

DIMOND: You know, I must tell you that I think, my opinion, is John Edwards is looking very pale these days. He looks like he's dropped some weight. His suits are hanging on him loosely. His mom and dad are not here today. So, I don't know if he thought maybe this Palmieri story would upset them or -- you know, they're 80 years old. So I think it's taking a toll on the entire Edwards' family . 30- year-old daughter Kate sits in the front row every single day. His reaction has gone from nothing to smiling along with witnesses as he recalls what they're talking about, to yesterday when his chief speechwriter, Wendy Button, was on the stand, he began to poke at his eyes and wipe -- you know, he was really upset because Wendy Button got him. He confided things to Wendy Button and said, how am I supposed to respond? Give me a statement. And Wendy Button is very empathetic on the stand, and you could tell she felt his pain and still feels his pain. She began to weep late today -- or late in her testimony today.

MALVEAUX: And Diane, real quickly here, just wrapping this up, when you say he was -- he was doing this kind of wiping his eyes, do you believe he was really crying?

DIMOND: No. I think he was probably emotional. I think he was upset. There are times that he does a thing with his hands like this and covers part of his face. I think that's a human -- normal human reaction to being just embarrassed.

MALVEAUX: All right. Diane Dimond, all the insight from the courthouse. Thank you so much. We appreciate it, Diane.

Here is a rundown of some of the stories we're covering over the next hour. A victory for opponents of same-sex marriage in North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a stupendous moment for marriage. It's a stupendous moment for North Carolina. It's a stupendous moment for America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Hear why some black religious leaders say that at -- that attitude actually hurts everyone's rights.

And a police beating that left a schizophrenic homeless man dead, causing a lot of outrage among mental health experts. We're going to talk to one of them about how that death might have actually been prevented.

And then, should the head of yahoo! be fired for padding his resume?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It raises questions about his integrity and that's why this is a big deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Why some of the CEOs employees say he's got to go.

Don't forget, you can watch CNN live on your computer while you are at work. Head to CNN.com/live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Same-sex couples in North Carolina are facing uncertainty today after voters approved a constitutional ban on gay marriages. 61 percent voted for the amendment, 39 percent voted against it. It states that a marriage is between a man and a woman and it is only legally recognized union in North Carolina. Joining us is the Reverend William Barber, pastor of Green Leaf church. He was an outspoken opponent of the measure. And you and I had a chance to talk yesterday about this. First of all, what is your reaction? What is your response? Because you felt like this would discriminate against not only gay couples but also against children of unmarried couples as well.

REV. WILLIAM BARBER, PASTOR, GREEN LEAF CHURCH: Well clearly, the family lawyers have said that this is bad public policy. It's very uncertain how it's going to treat all families, but we are concerned -- I'm the NAACP president and a pastor, that when you begin to put people's constitutional right up for a public vote, however you feel morally about the issue, that is a dangerous precedent and especially when it's being driven by the very people who are trying to suppress the vote, who are trying to do voter I.D., pass the most regressive redistricting (ph) plan we have seen since the 19th century, trying to roll back same-day registration, on that hand. But on the other hand, they want to use a popular vote to codify discrimination, hate, and division in our constitution.

MALVEAUX: So ,why do you suppose there weren't more people in your state who heard your view and agreed with it, because it was slapped down pretty much by a pretty wide margin.

BARBER: Well actually, they predicted 80, 20, about 60 points. What you saw in the closing days, the more people knew who was behind this, the national organization of marriage was said this was a strategy to divided Democratic allies, the family research council of known hate group (ph). Once they understood that this was not about same-sex marriage, because it was already legal in North Carolina, this was about constitutionality, will you use a state's rights agenda to trump the 14th amendment. The numbers actually started trending up.

And so, that is a powerful story in this. And now people are saying, wait a minute, the same people that cut public education, they cut millions of dollars from Medicaid -- billions of dollars from Medicaid that are trying to roll back health care reform, pass the ugly redistricting bill, are the same people that are behind this. It's a very dangerous trend -- and I -- particularly in the south, if you think about that.

MALVEAUX: And Reverend, you actually -- there is a split among the black clergy on this issue of same-sex marriage --

BARBER: Sure.

MALVEAUX: -- and whether it's a human rights discrimination issue --

BARBER: Sure.

MALVEAUX: -- or whether or not it is a -- you know, an issue of sexuality. How do you convince your fellow African-American clergy to accept your point of view because clearly it is being rejected?

BARBER: Well, not -- I would disagree a little bit in the sense that the night before we -- the vote, we had a gathering of five different cities, five ministerial alliances, some who said we disagree with same-sex marriage on a personal religious basis but that should not be up for a vote. That's voting on religion and we don't do this in this country. And so, they also stood against this amendment.

You may have had some -- you didn't have any major African- American denominations come out against this. In fact, many of them in coalition with us, and they understood clearly a religious question is one thing. We have freedom of or freedom from religion. That should have never been the question that was asked, how you feel about same-sex marriage. The question is, do you believe we should target a minority and by popular vote undermine their fundamental constitutional right, equal protection under the law. That's a serious question for this nation and a question for all North Carolinians and all Americans, not just blacks.

MALVEAUX: All right, Reverend Barber. Appreciate your time --

BARBER: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: And also your perspective.

BARBER: Thank you so much.

MALVEAUX: All right, thank you for being in Atlanta with us as well.

BARBER: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: OK. A schizophrenic man is beaten to death by police in Orange County, California. Well now, mental health experts hope that this is going to draw attention to this problem of the mentally ill homeless like no other case has.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Advocates for the mentally ill are hoping some good will is going to come out of this very disturbing video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER: See my fist?

MAN: Yes, what about them.

OFFICER: They're getting ready to (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you up.

MAN: Well, start punching, dude.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: That is simply how it began.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAN: OK! Oh (INAUDIBLE)! No! No! No! No!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: That homeless man, he was pleading for his life as police officers beat him. Kelly Thomas, he died last July. This was five days after that beating.

Now, this video is a critical part of the evidence that is used at a hearing to determine if two California officers should stand trial for his death. Both of the officers have pleaded not guilty. Rusty Selix, he is executive director of the California Council of Community Health Mental Health Agencies. He's joining us from Sacramento.

And, first of all, you know, this is so painful just to even see this man struggle for his life. And I know that this has had an incredible impact on your community, the advocates for the mentally ill. What are you hoping that this video can do for the community?

RUSTY SELIX, CALIFORNIA MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION: Well, I think there's two things. The first and most important and the law enforcement officials, the sheriffs in the jails and the prison guards all agree with us, why are these people homeless? Why are they having to deal with police in the first place? Why aren't they getting the medical care that they need? These are not criminals. These are people who have a medical condition. Why isn't the funding there?

They've done studies on people who are homeless with severe mental illness in New York, San Francisco, and other cities. And every study comes to the same conclusion. The amount of money the government, local, state, and federal, has to spend on the hospitalizations and incarcerations of people who are homeless with mental illness is more than what it would cost to give them all the care that they need, and yet it is always an uphill battle in budget processes. So we're hoping that maybe this will be a wake-up call to our legislature in Sacramento and to others to say, let's make sure there is the funding so that no one winds up homeless as a result of an untreated mental illness.

MALVEAUX: Right. What is the situation on the streets of the homeless. Are there are a lot of mentally ill people who have to fend for themselves?

SELIX: Yes. Our best estimate is that one out of three homeless people is there, not due to their otherwise impoverished conditions, but primarily due to an untreated severe mental illness that is -- for whom they've not been able to get the treatment they need.

MALVEAUX: When you see this video and you look at what has taken place here, how should the police have handled this situation? Do they have training when they could recognize that somebody is mentally ill that they're dealing with?

SELIX: Well, first of all, the best thing is to have a special unit that is not just a police officer or a team of police officers, but is teamed with social workers and ideally even a former homeless person, someone who the person on the street can relate to who is trained specifically in how to deescalate a situation like this. So there clearly needs to be universal training of all law enforcement personnel and supposedly the (INAUDIBLE) Police all had that. But the question is, why wasn't that special unit called? Why isn't that special unit with a special team trained to deescalate the situation, because even with the training, you can't expect every police officer to know exactly what to do, although clearly what happened here I can't imagine that this is what the training taught.

MALVEAUX: Can you talk a little bit about beyond the place training here. If you're on the street and you suspect that somebody has a mental illness, that they're homeless or they're wandering on the street, how do you think people should react? How should they respond? Should they try to reach out and help somebody if they don't have the kind of information or understanding about mental illness?

SELIX: Yes, well, unfortunately, actually, the greatest strategy is that when people try to help, they often are dealing with panhandling and asking for money. And statistics show that 90 percent of that money will go to supporting a drug addiction or alcohol.

What they should do is call people that can help. There should be a help line for mental health care and, you know, if the funding was there, they would then begin the outreach process and the intake and be able to get the person the help that they need. That's what should happen. The problem is, we haven't created the funding situation to make that happen on a consistent basis.

MALVEAUX: So, Rusty, what --

SELIX: But they (INAUDIBLE) be afraid of them.

MALVEAUX: Give us one takeaway, if you can. Something that we can all use or learn from this experience, if we see someone who's struggling, who's mentally ill on the street. What should we do? What can we do?

SELIX: Well, I think, you know, certainly you want to call 911 and get help. But you don't want to call 911 that's going to create the police escalation. You want to treat it as a medical emergency and make sure they're taken into a medical intake and that you start a medical process, because that's where they need to be.

MALVEAUX: All right. Rusty Selix, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

SELIX: Thank you very much.

MALVEAUX: We certainly hope that people can learn from this tragic situation.

Well, you can go to school, you can work hard, slowly climb your way up to the top, or you could pad your resume. We're going to hear from the fallout that is rocking the CEO of a tech giant, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Some workers at Yahoo! are outraged over a scandal involving CEO Scott Thompson. He lied on his resume about his college degrees. And Yahoo! employees say that now he's got to go. Alison Kosik, she's live at the New York Stock Exchange.

Alison, first of all, explain to us what he did and how he got away with it.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK. Well, first of all, you know, this sort of takes everybody aback because you think about, how did he get away with it for so long, embellishing his resume. What essentially happened is, he said that he had -- his Yahoo! bio at least says that he has degrees in accounting and computer science. But the reality is, he only has that accounting degree. So there's this shareholder group, this activist group, that found this out and publicized it last week. And it's interesting because in this age of social media and the Internet, you know, it's a wonder how he got away with this for so long.

So far, Yahoo!'s director, Patti Hart, is stepping down. She's the first head to roll in this scandal. She is the one that actually hired Scott Thompson for this lie on his resume. But, you know, we spoke with one corporate recruiter who said, it's really interesting how this even came about just because when you hire such a high level executive, a very extensive background check is done by specialized search firms. They look into credit histories and arrest records and employment and education. So there's really a lot of shock as to how Scott Thompson got away with this for so long.

MALVEAUX: You would think that would happen, that they'd go through that kind of record. Is he going to be forced, do you think, to step down?

KOSIK: And that's really a good question. So far the pressure is certainly on him to do that. That activist shareholder group that I mentioned, Third Point, is pushing for him to be fired. As I said, they're the ones who discovered this in the first place.

One senior Yahoo! executive does tell us that Thompson at this point though has lost the confidence of his employees. And it's tough to lead a company like Yahoo! if you've lost the confidence, you know, of your employees. But then again, you have to think about Yahoo!. Yahoo!'s actually been through three different CEOs in three years. So Yahoo!'s really had a rough ride of it itself.

Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, Alison, thank you. Appreciate it.

We've got some amazing pictures to actually show you. Scientists have discovered massive sunspots which could cause actually huge flares affecting the earth. We're going to tell you how.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: There's a storm raging right now. It is a big one. It could very well mess up all our lives. It's way out in space. It's raging on the sun. It's shooting big solar flares at all of us. Power grids could go down, radios could go haywire. That's the bad stuff. Good stuff, there are lots of gorgeous pictures.

Chad Myers here to make sense of all this.

First, tell us what this is and how it could impact our lives.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The sun is now at the peak of its -- almost the peak of its 11-year cycle. It is active now. There are sunspots out there. There are streaming charged particles coming toward the earth. Aurora borealis, beautiful pictures there, the greens and blues and reds in the southern hemisphere and in the northern hemisphere.

But what we could see with this -- it hasn't happened yet but it's there -- it's the boy with the balloon in one hand and the needle in the other hand. If the boy pokes the needle, like poking the sun, you would see an enormous flare come out. It's called a coronal mass ejection. It would come out of this area here, large suns spots. You can look at sunspots but you must do it perfectly and not directly through a telescope with a filter that's dark. You can look through a welder's mask. You can take a picture of it and look at the picture. Do not look at the sun directly even during the dark -- at sunset, when it starts to get hazy, please do not still look at it directly.

Also solar flares. Those flares could send a signal to the earth, x-rays kind of toward the earth, and that could knock out some radios. Radios to the airplanes that are over the Pacific, over the Atlantic. We won't know where those planes are for a while. It won't last forever, maybe a couple hours.

But the biggest thing that could happen to us is if something like that happened -- that was a coronal mass ejection -- is we could see this come toward the earth with particles of energy, protons, electrons, a magnetically charged stream that comes at us and that could charge some of our power lines that are out there. And you may have to turn -- the power company may have to turn the power off for a while to protect us from that surge. You don't want surges coming into your house. That's all it is. And the GPS could go wrong. If you can't drive anywhere without GPS, you might be bad for one day.

MALVEAUX: When would this happen?

MYERS: We're waiting for the boy to poke the balloon. The boy has not poked the balloon yet, so the CME, coronal mass ejection storm has not come out yet. If it goes by and goes to the back side of the sun and shoots toward Venus, we don't care. We only care when it's pointed toward us. But for the next five days, that big hole in the sun is pointed towards us. Let's just hope nobody pokes it.

MALVEAUX: Is the activity getting stronger or weaker as time goes by?

MYERS: It will get stronger until April 2013 and then go back down toward the minimum in about 6.5 to 7 years.

MALVEAUX: Chad, I want you to stay there.

We're going to talk about severe weather and the hurricane season as well. The hurricane season beginning officially in a couple weeks. We have some predictions to talk about how many named storms we can expect.

But I want to bring in General Russel Honore. He commanded the military response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Good to see you, General.

First of all -- LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY, RETIRED: Good to see you.

MALVEAUX: -- you helped my family a great deal in New Orleans and I appreciate that. This is an important time for you because I know you have a project where you want to make sure that people are prepared for this hurricane season.

HONORE: This is the time, this is the season to get prepared.

MALVEAUX: Yes.

HONORE: Don't wait until the last minute. We have Mother's Day coming up. You don't know what to get grandma, go out and get her a preparedness kit.

(LAUGHTER)

This could keep her alive, keep grandpa alive. As opposed to giving her something they might not use. Or get them a weather radio.

Be prepared. The best solution for facing large disasters such as hurricanes and surges, water surges as a result, is to be prepared. And the better prepared we are, the more we're going to survive.

And we've got to end this notion that if something happens, the government is going to save me. We have to have people prepare themselves, prepare their families, and prepare their neighbors.

MALVEAUX: We saw that in Katrina. That didn't work out too well. You have a radio. What else do we need? What's the most important, do you think?

HONORE: First aid kit. As we've seen with some of the storms that hit the Midwest and the south, having a first aid kit handy in your evacuation pack or handy where you can get to it is important.

Another one is a copy of important documents. Keep a copy of your marriage license, birth certificates, lease, home records, proof of marriage, all those become important during the recovery. Because, Suzanne, we must understand, anything built by man, can be destroyed by Mother Nature. We will never make it strong enough, so the best thing we can do is be prepared. As Chad will tell you, in your home and in your businesses, and the government has to establish a program under Homeland Security and FEMA, the National Preparedness Plan, signed by President Obama, that's driving communities to be more prepared and to be resilient.

MALVEAUX: Chad, what are we expecting for this hurricane season?

(CROSSTALK)

MYERS: This is the rub, isn't it, General? Because now we're saying all the agencies are saying probably a below normal hurricane season, maybe only nine storms, maybe only three hurricanes and one major storm or two major hurricanes. Guess what? Guess how many major hurricanes it takes to make the world an ugly place? One. One. We don't need nine. We don't need 20 like we had in 2004. One landfalling storm makes a dreadful year. So you have to watch it. Don't just think it's going to be below normal, we're OK. We are not OK.

HONORE: We're kind of in the conundrum here because if the forecast is to be very aggressive -- they say they're going to be five hurricanes to hit Florida -- guess what happened to tourism?

(CROSSTALK)

HONORE: The same thing to New Orleans or the gulf. I think they have learned to be more reserved in their forecast. At the same time, we know days in advance when hurricanes are coming, so people have time. They need to go on with their plans and not let that worry them. People that live in the region, in the eastern seaboard and the gulf, just need to be prepared. Now is the time to prepare.

MALVEAUX: Is there any particular area that's vulnerable this go around? Do we know, Chad?

MYERS: Everybody is becoming more vulnerable because everybody wants to live on the ocean. Everybody wants an ocean view. In 1972, a hurricane that comes through, it doesn't hurt that many people. Now we have huge giant condos from Galveston all the way up to Maine. Nobody is protected. Nobody is perfect. But you always have these bays. You have Tampa. you have New Orleans. You still have Mobile. Anywhere where water can funnel in and push water up for a major surge -- you get eight to 10-foot surge in your house, your house is going to get knocked down. You're going to be in the attic. Think about how that worked out. People knocking their attics out.

(LAUGHTER)

MYERS: They were using hatchets and getting themselves out of their attics in New Orleans because the water was coming up. They literally broke the roof to get up and out onto the roof to be saved.

HONORE: Two points to share to reinforce it. 42 percent of America lives within 10 miles of water.

MALVEAUX: Really?

HONORE: And each time the census is taken, we move closer. The tidal surge that hit Biloxi, Mississippi, was 30 feet high. The ground elevation in Miami, Florida, is about nine feet at the highest point. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure this one out. If you live in a coastal area, you need to be prepared to evacuate and evacuate quickly when told to by the authorities.

MALVEAUX: All right. General, appreciate it. Your good tips during this very important time.

Don't want to be remiss without asking a quick question while we have you here. The disrupted terrorist plot we saw, the new kind of mechanism bomb that was discovered, we know it came from a spy. Do you think that's the more effective way in fighting terror as opposed to boots on the ground in Afghanistan?

HONORE: That is the -- probably the best way to fight terrorism. As you know, we went into this war on 9/11 with very little human intelligence. After the Cold War was over with, we divested ourselves thinking there would be no more war. As a result of that we lost our capability to do human intelligence the way we used to do it in the cold war.

I used to run that program as a part of when I was on the Joint staff. I used to go over to the National Security Council as a deputy, and we bottomed out. When 9/11 came, you know, we were in a response mode. The thing that is surprising that we're talking about it, that we were able to penetrate that organization. That surprised me. The next thing that surprised me is we were talking about how much we know about what they were doing. That surprised me.

MALVEAUX: Does that concern you that it's dangerous, because we do know now --

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: -- and the enemy knows as well.

HONORE: One of the questions people asked me, said, let's talk about how many troops go into Afghanistan. I won't talk about that because now we know the enemy has the capacity to go after those planes. And it's almost undetected. I think we need to limit the amount of conversation we have. I am surprised about our conversation about our association with the Saudis and how effective they are. Loose lips sink ships. There's too much talk going on. I don't think it's been design. I think it's some people getting out and trying to increase their Google score or something, putting information out. But we ought not be doing that.

MALVEAUX: Do you think it's coming from the Obama administration inside the White House or is it coming from the Saudi side?

HONORE: It could be coming from anywhere. That's the unfortunate thing. But I think our people who control this information, it's up to the president to say knock it off. You understand? Because we put people at risk. I don't think it's coming from the White House. I don't think it's coming from the president, but it's up to him to say stop it. There are laws that prevent us from talking about those things because it could help and abet the enemy's ability to come after our troops in the very vulnerable area.

MALVEAUX: All right. General Russel Honore, good to see you.

HONORE: God bless you.

MALVEAUX: You, too.

Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: Sure. MALVEAUX: We have Mother's Day coming up this Sunday. What is the best country for mothers to live in? You'll be surprised where the United States ranks. Up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We have some breaking news. We want to go straight to Jessica Yellin at the White House.

Jessica, what do you have?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Suzanne. As you know, the president is, at this moment, sitting down for an interview with ABC's Robin Roberts where we know he is going to be asked the question about his position on gay marriage. I have spoken to leading gay rights advocates and leading Democrats, all of whom believe that he will come out in some way in favor of gay marriage. None of them can be certain what he will do, but it is their belief that the president has indicated by saying that he is evolving on this position that he would, at some point before the election, come out for gay marriage and that he will do it today.

What I can tell you, Suzanne, is if he doesn't come out for gay marriage today, he will disappoint the gay community which has backed him aggressively so far in this election with millions of dollars in donations. He will disappoint his gay and lesbian donors significantly. And he will have a problem on his hands in some portions of the gay community. Now, they've supported him because he has been a strong supporter of gay and lesbian issues. But, again, this is a constituency that has not only backed him with votes and organization but millions of dollars so far, and he is walking a careful line on this issue. Doesn't want to alienate constituencies that are uncomfortable on this issue. At the same time, he is now in a box where he really has to clarify his position one way or another. And today is the day, it seems, he's going to have to do it. We're going to find out in probably just minutes where he's going to come down -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Jessica, this comes at a time when we have actually seen some very prominent members of his cabinet come forward in support of same-sex marriage. We're talking about most recently Vice President Biden; secretary of education, Arne Duncan; the secretary of HUD, Shaun Donovan. Do we think this is kind of a lead-in to some sort of announcement that the president is going to be making here, that they've put these folks out there and gave them permission essentially to say, yes, we support this, perhaps paving the way for the president to make another statement, another evolution, if you will?

YELLIN: You know, I actually don't think that's what happened here. I think that this was not the way -- if he does come out for gay marriage, that they would have wanted it to happen, because now it looks as though the president's hand was forced. When Vice President Biden came out with his statement on -- over the weekend, there was a lot of sloppiness at the White House trying to explain it away. And then Arne Duncan, the education secretary, saying he was for it, and they tried to say, oh, the president's position is the same as the vice president's.

The bottom line is, on one hand, the president has to appeal to swing voters in key swing states like North Carolina, which yesterday backed a constitutional amendment that really permanently bans gay marriage in their state and civil unions in their state. So how does he appeal to those voters and, frankly, African-American voters who, by a slim majority polling shows oppose gay marriage. And he doesn't want to lose any of those voters and yet, at the same time, maintain this position he's evolving and maybe he has evolved in support of equality for all, which is the position he's taken to the gay community.

So a tricky balancing act for him. And he no doubt didn't want to be put in a box by his vice president and cabinet officials. But that seems to be the position he's in today. And we're waiting to see how he gets out of it shortly -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Jessica, it might be tough to answer, to read the tea leaves, but do you think, and the people you are talking to, the activists in the gay community, do you think they are driving this moment, this pressure, if you will, on what he is going to say, what kind of position he's going to take on same-sex marriage?

YELLIN: Well, no, I think that the White House and the campaign knows where their gay and lesbian supporters stand on this issue, so they don't have to consult with them. And the people I have spoken to have not been consulted with by the White House in advance of this.

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: No, no. I mean do you think -- are they driving this, the speculation, the question of whether or not he is going to answer that question this afternoon? Are there activists who are kind of behind the scenes pushing him?

YELLIN: Oh, no. ABC -- Robin Roberts said he's going to ask the question on gay marriage. We know she said she'll ask the president where he stands on gay marriage. We know that's going to be a question in this interview. So that's no just speculation. We're waiting for the answer.

MALVEAUX: OK, Jessica Yellin, we'll come back to you as soon as you get the answer.

Thank you, Jessica. Appreciate it.

YELLIN: OK, thanks.

MALVEAUX: Mother's Day right around the corner. What's the best country for mothers to live in? You're going to be surprised where the U.S. ranks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: All the mothers out there just days away, right, from being showered with gifts, flowers, Mother's Day cards. What about the other 364 days a year? Are you living in a place that treats mothers well? There's a new report that lists the best and the worst places to be a mom.

Elizabeth Cohen has the details.

Wow, OK. I don't know. Where is it? You're a mom.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a scary place in some ways. The United States is a little bit of a scary place to be a mom because, when you look at the new Save the Children report, we don't do very well when looking at infant and mother mortality.

So let me give you a little snippet from the list. Norway came in first as having the best rates for things like infant mortality, whether a woman has complications during pregnancy, maternity leave policies. Iceland is number two. U.S. is number 25. We are in the neighborhood of Belarus, Czech Republic, other places that are a lot poorer.

MALVEAUX: Wow.

COHEN: Look at these numbers. I find these numbers more disturbing. Moms in this country are 15 times more likely to die of pregnancy-related pregnancy complications than moms in Greece. Babies are four times more likely to die before their fifth birthday than babies in Iceland.

MALVEAUX: Why are we doing so poorly?

COHEN: There's a lot of reasons. When you look at babies, in this country, we have a high rate of premature births. Part of that is because we have older moms, more teen moms, more obese moms. Obese moms have high blood pressure and diabetes. There's lots of reasons. But those are some of the biggies.

MALVEAUX: Are there certain groups doing better, certain moms doing better in this country than others?

COHEN: I've heard researchers say that when it comes to health, America is almost like two different countries. Some of us are getting great health care and others aren't. For example, African- American women have much higher rates of premature birth births. African-American babies don't do as well as white babies when you look at infant mortality and health-related problems. These health disparities come through in every way, including this way.

MALVEAUX: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you. We still have a lot of work to do.

COHEN: We do.

MALVEAUX: Thanks. And happy Mother's Day early.

COHEN: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: It is a book that's becoming a dirty little secret of millions of readers. We're going to look at the "Shades of Grey" phenomenon up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: A racy book called "Fifty Shades of Grey" has women swooning. But what makes it so special? We asked them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: A racy book called "Fifty Shades of Grey" has women swooning. But what makes it so special? Richard Roth, we wanted to know so we asked them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LYSS STERN, DIVAMOMS.COM: Are you hungry?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Molinas are always hungry now. Not for food, thanks to the book you may have heard of, "Fifty Shades of Grey."

STERN: I had a friend who suggested the book to me. Her husband said to me, oh, it will be the best sex you'll ever had and it's going to change you so much.

LORI FARBER, READER: Started to see sexuality totally differently. I want to say thanks to the book.

ROTH (on camera): How did you notice this?

(LAUGHTER)

FARBER: Intimate nights.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You only live once.

ROTH: The charged up couple aren't alone.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Instead of sleeping, we're having a good time.

ROTH: Carrying their "Fifty Shades of Grey" to 500 fans lined up to meet the British author, E.L. James.

E.L. JAMES, AUTHOR: Astonishing reaction to this love story.

ROTH: So am I. I paid very good money to watch.

Why does it seem so many women are turned on by this book?

(on camera): Everybody read this book? CROWD: Yes.

ROTH (voice-over): I sat down with members of divamoms.com.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is a modern day fairy tale.

ROTH: The "Shades of Grey" trilogy is about a controversial relationship involving S&M between a college student, Anastasia Steele (ph) and a handsome billionaire, Christian Grey.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think you're toying with me Ms. Steele (ph). I feint innocence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a Disney romance for adults.

ROTH (on camera): Aren't you married already?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, you know what, we all have our own prince charming but sometimes we have extra fantasies that don't always satisfy any more.

(LAUGHTER)

ROTH (voice-over): Disney never made a romance involving bondage or young women signing contracts with princes who use something called a flogger on them.

(on camera): What part gets whipped? Anything and all?

LOGAN LEVKOFF, SEXOLOGIST: This is an awakening in a lot of ways for women, not just about what they may fantasize about. I think women are also surprised that when they read something their bodies can have this kind of reaction.

ROTH (voice-over): It's been called mommy porn. When was the last time you saw "Saturday Night Live" do a skit about a book?

CROWD: Happy Mother's Day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: What are you doing? Get out!

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: "Fifty Shades of Grey."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Women are turning to sex and song.

(SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said, when can I have -- wow, wait a minute, whoa! Where can I buy this book at?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the first time I have ever had sex in my home.

ROTH (on camera): Do you need a book to get turned on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

ROTH: What do you need?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anything.

ROTH: Don't look at me.

STERN: We don't have a big bed, but we sure get around it.

(LAUGHTER)

ROTH (voice-over): Richard Roth --

STERN: Thank you.

ROTH: -- CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Wow. That was hilarious.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Brooke Baldwin.

Hey, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: How do I even begin with --