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President Obama's Gay Marriage Risk; Race War?; New Lead in Boston Art Heist?; NASA's Newest Discovery; Putin Won't Attend G8

Aired May 10, 2012 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour here. I am Brooke Baldwin.

First, a possible break in a cold case. We're getting word crews now are digging up the backyard of this reputed mobster. Why? Because more than two decades ago, maybe you remember, someone stole artwork worth half a billion dollars from this museum in Boston.

This unsolved heist one of the most famous in American history and today authorities are using everything from a ground penetrating radar to some beagles to even a ferret in the search of this guy's home. We'll have much more on that.

But first joining me now from Dallas, Texas, is the Reverend Tony Evans of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. He is an opponent of same sex marriage and we should point out he voted against Barack Obama in 2008.

Reverend Evans, welcome. Let me just begin with straight up here to you. Will the embrace of same sex marriage cost the president black voters come November?

REVEREND TONY EVANS, OAK CLIFF BIBLE FELLOWSHIP: Well, I think the issue is a big issue. The issue of the family is so critical to the African-American community and since that community has grown up with a Christian world view and understands that world view to be a man and a woman, a husband and a wife, and that is a non-negotiable view from a biblical frame of reference, then I think that will concern many.

Now, at the same time, that's not the only issue. So when African-Americans look at the issue, they will measure that against other concerns that they also have. But it is raising it to the front page.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: But, Reverend, let's stay on the issue and let me just get an answer to the question, will it cost him votes in November?

EVANS: Oh, it could, because I can't speak for the whole community.

BALDWIN: Right.

EVANS: I can speak for the fact that many will be concerned and it could affect him. BALDWIN: Let's listen here to President Obama. He's putting this into a Christian perspective. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The thing at root that we think about is not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it's also the golden rule. Treat others the way you would want to be treated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The golden rule, we have all learned it, right, Reverend, treat others the way you want to be treated. You're a Christian man. Does that resonate with you, what he said?

EVANS: Well, the golden rule increase resonates with me, but not to contradict other things Jesus said. And Jesus said in Matthew 19 that marriage is to between one man and one woman.

So you don't use that rule to skip his institution. God defined what marriage is. Society is supposed to implement his definition. When it creates new definitions, it creates chaos. The saga of a nation is the saga of its families written large. And whoever owns the family owns the future.

So we must fight for the family from a biblical standpoint. Particularly if you say you're a Christian, Christ should have the last word.

BALDWIN: I understand you're a man of God. You go by what is in the Bible, but then you have someone like Representative Barney Frank, and an acknowledged gay member of Congress. He is speaking about the president embracing gay marriage. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BARNEY FRANK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: You know, I think about 15-year-olds in school somewhere being picked on and bullied. Well, now the president of the United States has said, hey, you know what, you're as important as anybody else. You have the same worth as anybody else. That has an enormous impact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So he is essentially saying, Reverend, that this stance will now help persuade people.

Do you think that people in your community -- and I know, as you point out, you cannot speak for an entire community. But just for your -- from our own opinion, do you think that you could be persuaded by the president making this defiant stand?

EVANS: Well, I think the persuasion ought to go the other way.

I think we need to work harder in persuading the president to reverse his reversal back to a biblical frame of reference, because it is a non-negotiable. God has spoken on this issue. And he hasn't stuttered.

There are two answers to every question, God's answer and everybody else's, and everybody else is wrong when they disagree with him. He has been inextricably clear. This is not only hurtful to the cause of Christ and the cause of the faith. It's also hurtful to the well-being of society. I would agree bashing people, mistreating people is wrong.

BALDWIN: How is it hurtful?

(CROSSTALK)

EVANS: But we're not talking about that. It is an institution.

BALDWIN: How is it hurtful to the well-being of society, in your opinion?

EVANS: Well, first of all, when you look at the African-American community and how it is being decimated with the breakdown of the family, we need to get back to the family as it was intended to be, not create other nuances that are against God, because we have got enough problems as it is within our community.

In addition to that, when God created marriage, he created it not only for companionship, but for procreation. That can't happen unless it is a heterosexual union. So, God had this thing all mapped out.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I am listening to every word you are saying. When you say nuance, I can just hear some other folks saying, nuance? Are you saying that men and women and -- or men and men and women and women in a loving relationship, they can't help further strengthen the African- American community with love and children, et cetera? You say -- you say no.

EVANS: They can't do it in a way that's acceptable to the creator, because he says no. I am only repeating what he says, and he has not offered all of these twists and turns everybody wants to have.

We should love people, care about people regardless of where they come from. But we're talking about an institution now. You cannot redefine God's institution without expecting that there are going to be breakdowns when you do that.

BALDWIN: There also, Reverend Evans, seems to be this perception that black opposition to same-sex marriage is monolithic. And I am just not sure that's true, because we have been culling through these polls today.

And I just want to share this with you and our viewers. This poll, this shows acceptance of same-sex marriage is growing steadily among blacks, but it is growing. This is a Pew poll taken just last month. And you can see opposition to gay marriage, if we flip to the next one, 66 percent -- that was 66 in '96. Here you 49 percent now. So, obviously, it is growing, and it is not even a majority now.

So you have 39 percent of blacks actually favoring gay marriage. And just one more thing, one more thing I want to get in. This is a tweet from Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker. And he says -- he was asked some sort of -- to give a statement on the president's gay marriage announcement from yesterday.

And so he tweets, "I told him I would give them one once I stopped dancing."

So, really, my last question to you, Reverend, is do you fear being marginalized by your position that this opposition, this institution, this belief because of what you -- what is in the Bible and the creator who you very much so fervently believe in, this opposition to gay marriage?

EVANS: Oh, I am not concerned about marginalization at all.

BALDWIN: You're not?

EVANS: I am supposed to stand with him even if I am in the minority, because I have got to stand before him, number one, and he has orchestrated government.

Government is not a human institution. It is a divine institution that humans are to run on his behalf. When they create their own rules, then they become against the creator and what he intended for government to do.

BALDWIN: Pastor Tony Evans, thank you. Thanks for sharing your perspective. We really appreciate it.

And now a lot more to cover. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: The feds say a group of white supremacists were preparing for a race war and they say they were training near Disney World. I am Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

(voice-over): Zip, zero, zilch, that is how much half the country is saving for retirement. I know. It is disturbing. So, where do you stand?

Plus, he has certainly got experience speaking off the cuff, but how angry really is the White House at Vice President Joe Biden for tipping the president's hand on same-sex marriage?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Neo-Nazis training for a race war just miles from the happiest place on Earth.

These 11 alleged members of the American Front are facing charges at this hour. According to investigators, the A.F. is this domestic terrorist group that believe a race war is inevitable. And here is where they're accused of training to kill Jews, immigrants, other minorities.

This is a backwoods compound, all of 11 miles from Walt Disney World near Orlando. Now, three of these suspected white supremacists appeared in court on Tuesday. But they were considered so dangerous, they were kept in cages and away from other inmates.

Want to bring in John Zarrella. He is following this investigation for us today.

And, John, do we have any details about what exactly this group was thinking they were going to pull off?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: Well, you know, clearly by what the court documents say, there is no question that they believed that there was an impending, imminent race war, and they were preparing for that.

In fact, they had turned the compound that you showed there literally into a fortress. And according to the court documents, one of the leaders, Marcus Faella, he actually was attempting to make ricin, which is considered a weapon of mass destruction.

BALDWIN: Wow.

ZARRELLA: They were also, he and his wife, Patricia, and the followers talking about some sort of disturbance they wanted to create at the Orlando City Hall in order to gain attention for their group, because they believed the media attention would attract new followers to the group.

Now, the two Faellas are both now out on bond. And reporters caught up with them. And Patricia Faella, of course, denied all of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICIA FAELLA, ALLEGED WHITE SUPREMACIST: I don't consider myself a racist, no. It looks like we're being persecuted for just our -- our politics. And it's -- really, we're out here just because some things do make us uncomfortable, but we're not wanting to bother anybody else. We just want to be left alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Now, Faella added that, look, why don't you just all wait and at the end of the day when everything comes out, you will see that we're not who they say we are?

BALDWIN: OK. How did they get caught?

ZARRELLA: Well, how did they get caught?

An informant was undercover for almost two years from middle of 2010 up until just a couple of weeks ago, when that informant got very, very nervous because he said that Marcus Faella had threatened to kill anybody who -- if he found out that they were informants.

So, immediately, this informant went to the police, and that's when they began to move in on the group.

BALDWIN: And this compound 11 miles from, of all places, Disney World.

John Zarrella, thank you.

More than 100 million tons of trash sent to landfills in the U.S. each and every year, but a Florida man helping the environment by making a fashion statement with garbage in this week's "Solutions."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN (voice-over): Jonathan Marcoschamer is making garbage fashionable. In 2004, he started Ecoist, turning waste into products like handbags, jewelry and home accessories.

Ecoist get rolls of discontinued or defective wrappers and labels from companies that would otherwise throw them away. It takes 60 to 200 candy wrappers just to make one handbag.

JONATHAN MARCOSCHAMER, ECOIST: Our estimate is that we have saved about 40 million wrappers from going to landfills.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ones that we started with was this one.

BALDWIN: Marcoschamer's mother, Helen, created the designs for many bags, but the company employs women in Peru to make them by hand.

MARCOSCHAMER: There is a lot of love that goes into these products. We're targeting people that will appreciate the fact that we treat our workers fairly and give them the opportunity to make progress.

BALDWIN: Ecoist is expanding, pairing up with artists to create designs from different waste materials.

MARCOSCHAMER: There is so much waste that's amazing raw material, that's unique, that is free, and it creates an amazing statement.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: This minute, the prosecution finishing up its case against John Edwards, but instead of hearing from Rielle Hunter, the mistress here, we're hearing how badly John Edwards wanted to be vice president.

Plus, Ferrari stunt backfires, goes horribly, horribly wrong, and we have the video and the backlash.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: More news unfolding, "Rapid Fire." Roll it.

First up, we now know about this U.S. drone strike that's now killed eight militants connected to al Qaeda in southern Yemen. Today's attack targeted a convoy of senior leaders of the militant network Ansar al-Sharia. Security officials said the drone strike was followed by strikes by Yemen's air force.

And just a short time ago we have now heard from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta addressing this particular strike at today's defense briefing. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEON PANETTA, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We will continue to take all of the steps necessary to try to go after those who would threaten our country and threaten our -- the safety of American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Newly elected Russian President Vladimir Putin won't be attending next week's G8 summit at Camp David. Putin called President Obama to say he needs to finalize his cabinet, but Prime Minister Medvedev will attend in his place.

Putin and Obama shown here -- this was a 2009 meeting in Moscow. The White House says they will meet next month around the G20 summit. And that happens in Mexico.

Ferrari, skid marks, the thing is, it's a landmark where this car is skidding, doing doughnuts on top of a 600-year-old city wall in China. This is all part of some kind of P.R. stunt that obviously backfired big time, offended the Chinese. They couldn't actually get the tread marks up off this landmark. Ferrari says it is sorry for the damage.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

BALDWIN: NASA today making a big, big announcement. It has got us -- I say us -- scientists and us, folks like Chad and I, very excited.

Plus, potentially big news if you pay a mortgage or may soon be paying a mortgage. There are new rules involving extra costs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Well, here is a disturbing finding.

Half of all Americans saved zilch for retirement, and something new today in space.

Time to play "Reporter Roulette."

(FINANCIAL UPDATE) BALDWIN: Next on "Reporter Roulette," let's go to Chad Myers and this discovery that NASA scientists say they -- they found something unlike anything else they have seen in the solar system.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's correct.

BALDWIN: Ooh.

MYERS: An asteroid that never broke up.

It is in the asteroid belt. It's not coming to the Earth, but it is an oblate spheroid. What does that mean, Brooke?

BALDWIN: Oblate spheroid?

MYERS: An oblate spheroid...

BALDWIN: Uh-huh.

MYERS: ... which means at some point in time, it tried to be a planet. It was round enough and molten enough that it became a sphere, not just some old rock that is kind of floating out there in space that doesn't have any real form to it.

So this oblate spheroid, as it now is spinning around, now, it's not hitting the Earth, because the Earth's orbit is here. Mars is here. And the asteroid belt is way outside here. So that's where we're seeing where this now Vesta is. Give you kind of an idea, Mars, Mercury, moon, Sirius, which is the biggest asteroid out there, and Vesta. That's it.

That's all there is. But it is obviously a rock. It is formed with iron in the middle, which is important. That means at some point in time it was melting and melted. It was molten. And it is 4.5 billion years old.

BALDWIN: Wow.

MYERS: It's one of the oldest things NASA has ever found. It has been pulverized for 4.5 billion years. None of the crust is even left here.

A part here, this is the bottom right there. That's the bottom.

BALDWIN: OK.

MYERS: You can't tell because it is so old, but that is a crater, a crater that lost so much dust into the asteroid belt, that dust, that debris could fill 1,000 Grand Canyons with all the stuff that was knocked off of this oblate spheroid.

BALDWIN: Yowza. Wow.

Oblate spheroid, use that in your dinnertime conversation.

(LAUGHTER) MYERS: We will try.

BALDWIN: Work it in. I dare you.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Chad, thank you.

MYERS: You're welcome.

Next here, we have got some news just in. We are going to go straight to North Carolina for this one. We now know the prosecution has just wrapped its case against John Edwards. Since his trial started back on April 23, jurors have seen his daughter walk out in tears, his ex-donor call him sick and evil.

But they won't be seeing his ex mistress, Rielle Hunter, despite the fact that she is the reason he allegedly misused his campaign funds as he ran for president. Instead, jurors were told Edwards tried to snag a seat on the highest court in the land once he knew the Oval Office was out of reach.

Let's go to Joe Johns there in Greensboro.

Joe, what happened today.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, as you said, the government has rested its case.

It's been about 14 days now of testimony here in Greensboro, North Carolina. The last thing the government did before resting its case is pretty interesting. They played a tape of an interview with John Edwards on ABC's "Nightline" from August of 2008. Now, this is a very famous interview, infamous, if you will, because during that interview, John Edwards admitted this celebrated relationship with his mistress, Rielle Hunter, but did not admit to fathering a child with her.

And, as we all know, he did in fact father a child with her, and later admitted to that. So they played that tape apparently to show the kinds of lies John Edwards told on television. That was the last thing the jury saw and heard. Interesting, I saw, you know, hands -- faces and hands, hands over mouths in the jury. People were paying a lot of attention to that.

So, now what's next? The jury is not coming back tomorrow because the government and the defense are going to get together with the judge. The judge is also going to hear a motion to have this case dismissed because the defense is going to take the traditional position that the evidence has not proven the guilt of John Edwards on any of a number of the counts in this indictment.

We're expecting that to go on pretty much in the morning tomorrow. Traditionally and typically, judges don't grant these motions.

BALDWIN: OK.

JOHNS: And so the expectation is that they will begin with some kind of defense case on Monday, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Here is my one sort of follow-up question for you, I guess, Joe. And that is there is a lot of surprise that this ex- mistress, Rielle Hunter -- she is the reason, allegedly, that Edwards is accused of misusing the campaign funds. She would have had prosecutorial immunity had she testified. Why not?

JOHNS: Well, she has been deemed by a lot of people who have actually taken the stand as a potentially volatile witness.

She has been called crazy. Apparently, in some of the testimony that's come out, even John Edwards has said she is crazy. So there are some people who are just a little bit concerned about what she would say, even though both the defense and the prosecution have said in documents that they think she could help their case.

The government decided not to put her on. And, of course, we have asked the defense whether they plan to put Rielle Hunter on. They haven't responded to those questions at all, a lot of guessing here at the courthouse that Rielle Hunter is just not going to show up, Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, Joe Johns, day in and day out reporting on the ins and outs of this trial -- Joe Johns, thank you so much for us in North Carolina. We will keep following that one.

FBI agents right now digging up the yard of this reputed mobster, and they're looking for stole loan art, artwork, to the tune of $500 million. Folks, this involves one of America's most famous unsolved heists.

Just a little quick note: If you're heading out the door, keep watching us from your mobile phone or pop open that laptop, desktop, what have you, keep watching. Just go to CNN.com/TV -- CNN.com/TV -- you can find us there as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: This is quite the story. This was one of the boldest, well-planned, most expensive art heists ever and now after some 22 years, trails apparently led investigators to this backyard in Connecticut, at the home of this reputed mobster.

And as we speak, the FBI is digging at Robert Gentile's home, this is Manchester, Connecticut. Gentile's lawyer says they're looking for $500 million worth of art in this guy's yard, 31 pieces of stolen art from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum back in 1990.

I want to bring in Milton Valencia. He is covering the story for "The Boston Globe". And, Milton, question number one, are the Feds even saying anything about what exactly they're doing at this home, what they're digging for? MILTON VALENCIA, REPORTER, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": Well, they have long said that Mr. Gentile was an interest to them, interesting to their investigation and I would imagine that part of that investigation means combing through everything and seeing what they can and can't find and that means bringing in all the resources.

And as we heard today, that means ground penetrating scanners, two beagles, a ferret. We're not sure what the animals are doing. But they're really looking for something there. They're not saying much. But to bring in all of these resources, you have to think it is something worth it, and again they've -- this is a man that they've connected to their investigation, into the heist.

BALDWIN: OK. Quickly, just because I saw you smirk and I just have to ask, a ferret? What is a ferret doing here?

VALENCIA: I really don't know. I think that's a story within itself. That's coming from the lawyer. That's coming from the lawyer, but two beagles and a ferret, really doing something on the property -- I mean, this is a person --

BALDWIN: OK, OK. Sorry, sorry, no, I --

VALENCIA: This is a person who's --

BALDWIN: Who obviously, it isn't this guy, Gentile; he is in jail, right? Wasn't he busted back in February, he's on federal drug charges. I think his wife still lives in this home. What is it that makes authorities think that he even has all of these paintings, the Degas, the Rembrandt, et cetera?

VALENCIA: Well, they haven't -- up until today's indication said that they think he has it but they do believe that he may have information mainly because of his connections. He is an established reputed Mafia member.

He does have connections to another mobster who is in prison for a long time on murder and cocaine charges, and this person a capo from Boston in the Mafia started talking, started talking past crimes and apparently started talking of his old friend, Mr. Gentile, and apparently that information may have included some discussion about the Gardner heist.

BALDWIN: Huh. So this Mr. Gentile, where exactly does he fall in this Mafia hierarchy, and how would he even be involved in a case like this, this stolen artwork, do you even know?

VALENCIA: Well, we know that he does have some connections to the Mafia based in Philadelphia.

And that Mafia had crews in Boston, including Robert Luisi, who was a well known capo in Boston, who tried to do a little work up here before he was arrested, so there's connections to the Mafia, also the connection to a well known New England Mafia figure, Cadillac Frank Salemme, according to court records that -- so Mr. Gentile has this connection to the Mafia that's been established and it's long been suspected that the Mafia has -- may have played a role in the heist or in the aftermath of the heist, so connecting the dots, really I think they're just trying to connect the dots and see what's there in this long unsolved mystery.

BALDWIN: And I just have to ask you, because everyone loves a good art heist. Take me back to 1990. I have been to Boston a number of times. I know how big a deal St. Patrick's Day is, and this was the day after, right, when these two guys dressed up as cops and took this art.

VALENCIA: Right. I mean, the artwork is significant within itself, but just the way the heist was carried out, just makes this story all the more mysterious. Two men dressed as cops, knocking on the door after the St. Patrick's Day celebrations in Boston, which as you mention can get quite crazy really.

And so they knock on the door, saying they had a disturbance in the Fenway, they were checking something out at the museum. And they then barged their way in, tied up with duct tape the security guards inside and meticulously cut down 13 pieces and went in there.

They went in there for just over an hour but they went in. It seemed they knew what they wanted to do, what they were going after, and these security guards again were duct taped and all a witness has is a car possibly leaving, a red car possibly leaving the area.

So this is drama type of crime investigation, all the while dealing with the most magnificent paintings in world history, really.

BALDWIN: Known to man, yes, I mean, just imagine these investigators digging out a Degas or a Rembrandt under this guy's backyard. That's the money photo.

Milton Valencia, thank you so much, "The Boston Globe." We'll be following your reporting there and see if they find anything.

President Obama once said his position on same-sex marriage was evolving. That's an understatement because we're about to show you a clip, this reel, really, of all of his stances. We'll go all the way back to the '90s for this one.

Plus will his gamble his hurt his standing with Hispanic voters, a population that is booming in America right now?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Talk about a tortured journey, really, the president's stance on same-sex marriage has done more swerves than a mountain road, and as Mary Snow shows us, his new embrace of the notion puts him really right back where he started.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally. MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You could say he has gone full circle, Illinois Senate candidate Barack Obama supported marriage for same-sex couples back in 1996. In a questionnaire for a gay newspaper, he responded, "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages." The evolution of his opinion had just begun.

1998, another questionnaire, this time his position unknown. By 2004, the political climate was demanding clarity. In a debate, Obama clarified.

OBAMA: I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman.

SNOW (voice-over): That was before this, his 2004 convention speech.

OBAMA: We coach Little League in the blue states and, yes, we have got some gay friends in the red states.

SNOW (voice-over): He was running for president and went to a debate on gay issues.

"I am a strong supporter, not of a weak version of civil unions but of a strong version."

By 2008 many polls show young Americans supporting gay marriage. MTV asked about Proposition 8, which repealed same-sex marriage in California.

OBAMA: I am not in favor of gay marriage, but when you start playing around with constitutions, just to prohibit somebody who cares about another person, it just seems to me that that's not what America is about.

SNOW (voice-over): President Barack Obama couldn't decide what he decided. His staff said he was evolving.

OBAMA: My baseline is a strong civil union that provides them the protections and the legal rights that married couples have, and I think that's the right thing to do. But I recognize that from their perspective it is not enough. And I think this is something that we're going to continue to debate and I personally am going to continue to wrestle with going forward.

SNOW (voice-over): Six U.S. states wrestled with the same question and opted to allow the marriages.

OBAMA: I think it is important for us to work through these issues because each community is going to be different. And each state is going to be different.

SNOW (voice-over): Pressure was building. The president had allowed gays to serve openly in the military and banned discrimination in the federal government. A "Washington Post" review of donor lists found one of six bundlers for his presidential campaign is gay. Then his Cabinet began to speak out. JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men and women married are entitled to the same exact rights.

SNOW (voice-over): Three days later ABC broadcast this news in a special report.

OBAMA: For me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.

SNOW (voice-over): Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Now we have talked before about African-American voters and possible backlash the president's embrace of gay marriage, but there is another minority block the Democrats are concerned about now, that being Latino voters here in America.

Juan Carlos Lopez of CNN Espanol, welcome.

JUAN CARLOS LOPEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Great to be here.

BALDWIN: Talk about a key voting block, especially in a specific battleground state, you have Hispanic Americans, many of whom are devout Catholics -- how is this resonating with them?

LOPEZ: Well, I think it is sinking in. It has been over 24 hours and people are just reacting and the reactions we have seen from Latinos is very similar to the rest of the country.

BALDWIN: How so?

LOPEZ: Some people are ecstatic. Some people are happy, people who fight for gay rights and then there are other conservatives and people who feel family is being put in danger and think this is more of a gay agenda the president is trying to promote, so it is sinking in there, but it is surprising that a lot of people are really taking it well and others are looking at what's going to happen.

BALDWIN: Is this something, though -- it seems like people are all over the spectrum. Is this something that could sway a vote away from the president come November?

LOPEZ: It could. Probably the immigration issue, probably is more touchy. But in this case, it is just sinking in, 24 hours we'll see what happens, Catholic church is going to probably have a message in the mass and it's going to tell the people in the pews where to go.

They did with birth control, and there is a big evangelical block of Latinos that's growing, it is probably growing faster than the Catholic church. And they're also concerned about gay marriage, so it could be an issue.

Let's see what happens in November. But it's going to be more it sinks in -- and this message comes from different sources, such as both the evangelical leaders and the Catholic leaders. It could be interesting.

BALDWIN: We'll see what message comes this Sunday from the pulpit, I suppose.

LOPEZ: Oh.

BALDWIN: Juan Lopez, thank you.

LOPEZ: My pleasure.

BALDWIN: And now, tired of being told what to wear? Where to sit? One man says he had to do something to make him feel good and, I promise you, you won't want to miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Time now for the "Help Desk," where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, Greg Olsen is a certified financial planner and partner at Lenox Advisors; Lynnette Khalfani-Cox is the founder of the financial advice blog askthemoneycoach.com. Thank you both for coming in.

Greg, interesting question for you from Ann in Washington. Ann wrote in, I have two credit cards and a credit score of 770. I always pay my bills on time and I never spend more than 10 percent of my total credit limit. I would like to open another credit card that offers cash back and points on gas purchases. Will opening that other credit card hurt my credit score?

GREG OLSEN, CFP, LENOX ADVISERS: Well, Ann, first of all, congratulations for being so financially responsible. It could slightly negatively affect your credit score, so you want to really think about it before you open up another card.

If you really need to because of the benefits that go along with it, maybe ask for a lower credit limit. If it's just for gas, maybe $500 a month would be sufficient.

The other thing would be possibly look at the other two credit cards that you have if you really need this third one and say which one don't I need? This way you'll keep your overall credit limit about the same. And that shouldn't negatively affect your credit score.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: But closing one, that couldn't hurt her credit score?

OLSEN: It really depends. In that situation, over time, you're constantly opening and closing cards. So I would seriously consider it, depending on how good that next card -- really you need that next card.

HARLOW: Got it. All right. Lynnette, your question come from Joe in Arizona. Joe wrote in after a short sale and a bankruptcy, how long do I need to wait to buy another home?

I don't know, should he even buy another home?

LYNNETTE KHALFANI-COX, FOUNDER, ASKTHEMONEYCOACH.COM: Not immediately. Certainly, you got to get that credit cleaned up and sort of get back on track financially. Generally speaking, the short answer could be as little as one year, believe it or not, or as long as maybe three years.

It depends on two things. One, the type of loan you get. If it's an FHA or government-backed loan versus a conventional mortgage. And also, two, the type of bankruptcy proceeding that he was in. Believe it or not, you can be in a chapter 13, where you reorganize your debts and pay them off over a period of three to five years, you can actually get a mortgage one year after you file bankruptcy.

You can get it while you're in bankruptcy proceedings. You have to show a lot of stuff to the bankruptcy court and your trustee -- I've been making all my payments on time; I've sort of gotten back on the right track.

But legally, you can do it. The government wants to make sure obviously that people don't just walk away from homes and foreclose and then get it again. So that one- to three-year type period is the general rule.

HARLOW: Got it. Thank you, guys.

If you have a question you want answered, just send us an e-mail at anytime to CNNhelpdesk@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Well, here's something you don't see every day. A man riding in the -- let me say this -- riding a unicycle across a bridge -- and yep, we're blurring out the tuches because he's naked and he was arrested by police in Texas. So you're charged with indecent exposure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The officer kept his distance as best he could. I mean, obviously, he wasn't armed that we could tell so we did what we had to do. We turned him around, cuffed him and moved him off to the side of the vehicle to get him out of the view of the public.

BALDWIN: So I know you want an answer to the hard-hitting question, why is the guy unicycling on a bridge in the Buffett? Get this, he told police he liked the way it felt.

OK. And -- hi, Wolf. Wolf Blitzer coming up in a couple of minutes in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Wolf, I have no -- what's coming up?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Well, let me tell you what's coming up, we have an exclusive interview with Josefina Vidal. Now who's Josefina Vidal? She's the top official in the Cuban foreign ministry dealing with North American affairs. I spoke with her from Havana. She's in Havana.

We spoke about the imprisoned American, Alan Gross, and she explains what it would take presumably to free this American, who has been in prison in Cuba for two and a half years. We're getting reaction already from the State Department.

Earlier Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, spoke about it. You might remember last Friday I interviewed Alan Gross. There's stuff going on right now. We're watching it very closely, the interview with the Cuban foreign ministry official. It's exclusive. That will be aired here in "THE SITUATION ROOM," that's coming up.

Also, Brian Todd, by the way, he's got some new information about Al Qaeda in Yemen and what's going on on that front so that will be a big part of the day as well.

BALDWIN: Yes, that's drone strike news, defense secretary talking about that at that briefing. We'll look for it, Wolf Blitzer, we'll see you in seven minutes from now.

Meantime a reporter is fired not for what she did on the clock, but during after hours. She is now hiring a well-known attorney and claiming sex discrimination. We are "On the Case."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Online she's known as the angry stripper. In Houston, Sarah Tressler was known as a newspaper reporter by day who stripped by night, but since "The Houston Chronicle" fired Tressler, she can now be known as the latest client of celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred. And Sunny Hostin is "On the Case" with us today.

And Sunny, we know -- so Gloria Allred, she just finished this news conference just a little while ago. She says her client is the victim of sex discrimination. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLORIA ALLRED, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Sarah feels that when she was terminated, that termination was sexually discriminatory in violation of the Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act.

Most exotic dancers are female and therefore to terminate an employee because that employee had previously been an exotic dancer would have an adverse impact on women, since it's a female-dominated occupation. Terminations like this would also discourage women from trying to improve their lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: OK, Sunny, I want you to explain this to me. Sex discrimination, how so?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I don't know if I can explain it, and listen, I'm a Gloria Allred fan. I know her. But I think this is a stretch. I mean, the bottom line is, employers, if you don't have a contract, can fire you for no reason or for any reason at all as long as it's not a discriminatory reason.

And so I think Gloria is alleging that she was discriminated because she is a woman and that women are typically -- I guess strippers are women and not necessarily men, but I don't know that that argument really translates.

I mean, was she fired discriminatorily? I don't see that here, but I haven't seen any paperwork that Gloria has filed and perhaps she'll make a very cogent legal argument. At this point I think it's a stretch to argue that she was fired because of sexual discrimination.

BALDWIN: OK. I remember reading this article in "The Houston Chronicle" not too long ago, where this woman was, I think she covered the social scene or socialites in Houston by day and here she is stripping at night.

And all I -- obviously, I think a lot of people were wondering, was, look, this is a lot of publicity for this young woman, and you got to think, I mean, is she looking for a book deal, a movie deal possibly here?

HOSTIN: Yes, I mean, I've read the same things. I mean, people are saying that, but she was a very qualified journalist. Got her masters from NYU, was also a professor and sort of did this apparently because she was down on her luck and needed some money.

And so did this, really, this stripper job affect her job as a journalist for "The Houston Chronicle," which is arguably a pretty conservative newspaper? I don't know.

Will she get a book deal? Perhaps. Will she get a movie deal? Perhaps. But she's well on her way since she's now represented by one of the best attorneys of our time, right?

BALDWIN: That is right. Sunny Hostin, thank you. We shall see.

Hey, just a quick reminder before I let you go. We are on verdict watch this hour for the man accused of those horrible crimes against Jennifer Hudson's family. The jury is now deliberating in the case of Hudson's former brother-in-law, William Balfour. Prosecutors say he killed Hudson's mother, brother and her 7-year-old nephew. So we'll be watching now how the jury ends up finding this man.

It's been a very emotional case. So many people have testified, first being Jennifer Hudson herself.

That is it for me. Thank you so much for watching here. I'm Brooke Baldwin at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, now to Washington to my colleague, Wolf Blitzer. "THE SITUATION ROOM" begins right now.

BLITZER: Brooke, thanks very much.