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First Time Ever Picking a President; Romney Courting Hispanic Voter; Obama Speaks At Air Force Academy; Polls: Obama, Romney All Tied Up; Obama and Romney All Tied Up; Markets Drop; U.N. and Iran Talking Nuke Deals

Aired May 23, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Suzanne Malveaux. I want to get right to it now.

Less than a week after Facebook's stock went public, shareholders are suing now the social network and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. The lawsuit was filed this morning in a federal court in New York. It claims that Facebook concealed crucial information about its stock in the days leading up to the initial public offering or IPO. The suit comes into looking whether Morgan Stanley was given negative information about the company before the stock offering.

We are learning new details now about the scandal involving Secret Service agents hiring prostitutes in Colombia. A Senate committee investigating the scandal is holding hearing right now on Capitol Hill. This is the first congressional hearing on this matter.

The panel was told that agents went out in small groups in four different strip clubs or night clubs before bringing women back to their hotel rooms.

It is a nerve racking waiting game you can imagine for former presidential candidate John Edwards. Jurors in his campaign corruption trial are halfway through the fourth day. Fourth day of deliberation. Still, no verdict. Edwards is accused of using almost $1 million in campaign donations to keep his mistress hidden and his presidential bid alive.

So, it doesn't get any bigger than this for democracy. We are talking about millions of voters in the world's most populous Arab country picking a president for the first time ever. We are talking about Egypt.

In 5,000 years, this is the first time they are able to cast a vote for their leader in a democratic election. It is under way right now.

I want to bring in Hala Gorani. She joins us from Cairo.

Hala, I know the polls are staying open for a couple more hours today. The voting continues tomorrow. First of all, can you just explain how this works?

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you mentioned there it is two days for the first round. If no clear winner emerges in the first round, that means 50 percent of the vote, plus one vote. Then there will be a second round on the 16th and 17th of June and the Supreme Presidential Election Commission has said that it will announce a winner on June 21st. So, there are still several weeks to go before we know who is elected president in this country in the first presidential election since the ouster of the long time dictator Hosni Mubarak, but also, the first ever free and fair election for this country.

Egypt, which is a key in the region and a very important, of course, U.S. ally in the Middle East. So, today, I went to a poling station and spoke to several voters. There were really men and women, young and old.

One grandmother told me she was casting a ballot today for her grandchildren because she said she didn't feel it was fair for them to deal with the mess left over from the previous regime.

Another man told me today it was his duty to cast a ballot in this presidential election, even though he wasn't sure that this process would be free and fair and transparent. He said he was armed with hope and where there is hope, there is life. And there is a lot of life here in Egypt -- as you mentioned the most populous Arab nation.

The big questions going forward: what presidential powers will the president have? There's still no constitution, Suzanne, in Egypt. So, the powers haven't even been defined. These are men running for a post that doesn't have a proper job description yet.

MALVEAUX: And, Hala, there are 50 million people who are eligible to vote there. Have a lot of people been turning out? And is there a sense or fear of violence? Or has it been largely peaceful?

GORANI: It's been largely peaceful and orderly, I have to say. I mean, a country like Egypt as you know if our viewers have visited Egypt it is chaotic at times. It's very busy, very crowded. The traffic is insane, no other word for it.

But when you go to the poling station, people were standing in line for sometimes four or five hours before they were able to cast their ballots today. So, it seems to me when I visited this particular poling station, I saw two today, a pretty orderly process. And there wasn't any violence in the parliamentary election in November. And this time around it seems pretty peaceful, as well, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And, Hala, last question here. This is different than the United States. I understand active military and police are actually not eligible to vote in this election. Why is that?

GORANI: Well, I mean, there is a sense that if you are part of the military, you are part of right now the ruling council. I mean, essentially, the military is in charge of this country. This is not a democracy yet. This country had a revolution 15 months ago. There is still not a free and fair and representative government in place.

And that's going to be the big question, because bringing up the military is one of the most interesting points. Will this military give up power? It promised to hand over power to a civilian president on July 1st. If that doesn't happen, you are going to have a lot of anger on the streets. And then what happens at that point really is anyone's guess.

MALVEAUX: All right. Hala Gorani there on the ground. History is being made. Thank you, Hala.

This election the determination to replace a dictator with democracy -- that is what Egyptians fought and died for during last year's Arab spring uprising.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

MALVEAUX: Their 18-day protest brought down Hosni Mubarak who had ruled for 30 years. He is being held in a military hospital waiting for a verdict. He has been charged with ordering to kill protesters.

I want to bring in Michael Holmes to talk a little bit about this.

Michael, I mean, it's just incredible how far they have come. 2000 -- bring you back to 2005 in may. First lady Laura Bush was there. She had approved, the U.S. government approved Mubarak's plan to say, you know, the challengers, it is OK. You can challenge me but you have to have the approval of the members of my party first.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Crazy, isn't it?

MALVEAUX: You know, that was considered progress at the time. Egyptians -- they were angry and frustrated but that's where we were.

HOLMES: That also is part of why the U.S. didn't have great standing among many people on the Arab street because they supported that sort of thing.

MALVEAUX: Exactly. They did not appreciate it. They didn't like it. They didn't think it went too far. The Muslim Brotherhood thought this is ridiculous. This is not a real election, but a sham election.

Describe for us how this is different today.

HOLMES: Oh, it's different because it is at the moment looking free and fair. There are all sorts of observers on the ground. Jimmy Carter is there. And so far, as Hala was saying, things seem to be going well.

And you do have a broad swath of candidates from hard line Islamists, through to -- well, not Western side but secularist candidates like Amr Moussa, who is well known in this part of the world.

So you've got that broad base. People can vote for who they want. Anyone can stand but they had to fit to rule.

MALVEAUX: Who are the top two contenders? Why are they popular?

HOLMES: I'm going to give you three.

Amr Moussa -- he was foreign minister under Mubarak but he is still seen as a link to the old regime, but not by everybody. He is also a secularist. He is the one that is running on a nonreligious line. He is said also going to support the treaty with Israel.

MALVEAUX: All right.

HOLMES: Then you've got Abdel Abol Fotoh, which is still getting used to saying his name. He is standing as a moderate Islamist. Former member of the Muslim brotherhood.

MALVEAUX: OK.

HOLMES: A lot of people think he is a moderate in Islamist clothing however.

And then the third guy that we'll fall out is Mohamed Morsi. He is with the Muslim Brotherhood party, and he's an American educated engineer. He has vowed to stand for democracy and women's rights and protect the constitution.

But he is also an Islamist. And a lot of people think he is saying the right things, playing footsies with the moderates. But he's actually one of the more extreme candidates.

MALVEAUX: The president and the White House are watching this very closely over the next two days. They want to see if they've got a partner, a real partner to work with here. I mean, Hosni Mubarak, the one that he guaranteed over years and years and years, stability.

HOLMES: And friendship.

MALVEAUX: And friendship.

And we still don't know how stable this new leadership is going to be. Who do you think is the guy --

HOLMES: For the U.S.?

MALVEAUX: -- who the U.S. would pick, you know, here's our guy?

HOLMES: Amr Moussa, former foreign minister. They know him well here. He is the guy that most likely to do business with the United States.

And as you point out, he was Egypt's ambassador to the United Nations, former head of the Arab League, a man of very good standing in the West. So, that's the guy that the United States -- what the United States fears is Islamist candidates. Somebody who's going to do harm with the relationship with Israel, the peace treaty with Israel, and somebody who is going to be denying rights. You get these more extreme candidates in you don't know what they are going to do, they could shut down what women's rights exist.

Some of them Morsi, he was a guy who voted against women being able to stands.

MALVEAUX: Yes, let's talk about that a little bit, because we have covered over and over when you talk about rapes. We saw the sexual abuse of the protesters during the Arab Spring and the virginity test. Who is the candidate who you think is really going to promote women's rights? And secondly, is there a female candidate among those candidates?

HOLMES: No, there is not. Out of the dozen who are standing there, there is not a female candidate. There was one but she withdrew very early on in the race.

You know, in the first parliamentary elections, when hundreds of members of parliament, nine women were elected to the parliament. Two were later point or appointed to the parliament.

There is a lot of concern. There are women abused and groped and assaulted -- even on the street now, not necessarily only during the protests that we saw.

You know, Egypt is a funny place because it's one of the places in the Middle East with the most women rights. Women were front and center in the protests. You don't see every woman is wearing a head covering. They were outspoken and all the rest.

But you have a lot of these candidates who want to roll that back. A lot of women activists are very afraid of some of these candidates, more extreme ones.

MALVEAUX: It will be interesting to see what the representation is if the Egyptian women come out and cast their ballots, because that's going to make a real significant difference.

HOLMES: There actually -- what is interesting, you have this dichotomy going on. You have candidates who might roll back women's rights. They are all sucking up to the women because women were the biggest part of the undecided vote. So in recent days you saw a lot of courting of women by candidates who might do women's rights harms. It's a bit ironic in a way.

Hala makes the point, too, and it is a very important point when talking about a lack of a permanent constitution, what will the military's power be after the vote happens? What will the president's powers be? They're not even written down yet.

MALVEAUX: It is all uncertain.

HOLMES: Very.

MALVEAUX: Michael, thank you.

We are going to follow this tomorrow because the elections continue.

HOLMES: They do. Results probably by the weekend.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Michael.

HOLMES: Good to see you.

MALVEAUX: This is what we are working on for this hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): Fear of a nuclear Iran has brought world leaders to the negotiating table after months of tension and even speculation that Iran would go to war. Now, Iran must prove it's not building bombs.

Then Mitt Romney pushing hard for the Latino vote today, courting powerful Latino business leaders. But will a stance on immigration get in the way?

And the terrible consequences of texting while driving. Now, one couple who lost their legs in an accident sues the teen who hit them and the girl he was texting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If Shannon Colonna knew that Kyle Best was leaving work, I believe she did, and she was texting him then I believe she is just as responsible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Latino voters are going to carry a lot of clout in November election. So, Mitt Romney, stepping up his game to win them over. His audience -- powerful Latino business leaders back the Latino Coalitions Economic Summit. It's happening in Washington this hour.

To our own Jim Acosta.

And, Jim, first of all, what does Romney need to do essentially? What is his message to this group?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, I have to tell you -- yes, this is an important business lunch for Mitt Romney. He is going to be talking to a big crowd of Hispanic business leaders who gathered here in Washington, D.C. right down the street from the White House.

But putting that aside for the moment, I have to tell you, Suzanne, there is some breaking news coming from the campaign trail that's going to be reported here very shortly. Mitt Romney has apparently done a 36-minute interview with "TIM" magazine's Mark Halperin. That interview apparently deals with his time at Bain Capital.

And according to Mark Halperin, in a very description on the interview, pushes back on the president's attacks on Bain Capital. So, we are waiting for that to come down at any moment with our sister publication, "TIME" magazine, under the Time Warner umbrella.

But getting back to what's happening here today. You're right Suzanne, he does have to I guess mend some fences with some sectors of the Hispanic community, although this is a pretty business-friendly, Republican-friendly crowd here that Mitt Romney is talking to.

He is also going to be talking about the subject of education reform. That is something that his campaign had a conference call on before this event got started earlier this morning. Mitt Romney is going to be laying out his proposals for education reform in this country. He's going to be talking about school choice, which as you know, Suzanne, is a very controversial issue. He is expected to call for a policy that would essentially allow parents to take their education dollars with them to put their children in the school of their choice.

And the Obama reelection campaign has already fired off an e- mail, pointing out all of the Republicans out there who have said --

MALVEAUX: Right.

ACOSTA: -- they like Obama's education reform. So there is a back and forth going on that issue.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

ACOSTA: But make no mistake, Suzanne, some news on the Bain Capital issue is about to break momentarily.

MALVEAUX: Let's talk a little bit about that, Jim. I know you don't have a lot of the details of that interview. But clearly, this is very important the fact that he would spend that amount of time with "TIME" magazine specifically to address Bain Capital. It is something the Obama campaign feels they can capitalize off of here. They can use in their words, that the case that they make is that he did not create jobs but rather he fired people, plants closed down and people lost their jobs, their livelihoods.

What is the strategy behind the Romney campaign in explaining how he did business?

ACOSTA: So far, Suzanne the Romney's campaign's strategy in dealing with Bain Capital is to sort of contain the damage. They have not put Mitt Romney out a lot to talk about this. He has not until this interview with "TIME" magazine really defended himself in this latest assault. He did talk about it a little during the primaries, but not much since.

What the Romney campaign has done pretty effectively in the last several days is they have been pointing out all of the Democratic surrogates who have been saying these attacks on Bain Capital might not be the smartest strategy when you consider the fact that private equity, which is the universe that Bain Capital comes from, does create jobs. It is part of the American capitalism system.

And, by the way, there are people from that side of life who did support the president and are donors to his campaign. So the Romney campaign has made pretty effective use of that. It is basically giving all the ammunition they have at this point on this issue.

What is going to be very interesting is to hear what Mitt Romney has to say in defense of his time at Bain Capital, because this is a question that dogged him throughout his career. This issue just keeps coming up over and over again.

The question is today does this interview perhaps put that to rest. We'll have to wait to find out.

MALVEAUX: And, Jim, what do you make of the timing of this? Because you do have a Democrat Mayor Corey Booker of Newark, New Jersey, coming out and this whole hoopla over comments he made when he talked about -- that he was nauseated by the campaigns going back and forth and some of the character assassination that was taking place, just how nasty it has gotten on both sides.

But he did say that Bain Capital had done some good, had created some jobs and this was good for some communities, and then turned around and said he thought it was fair game however that the Obama administration go after Romney on his leadership in Bain Capital.

I wonder if they think they can capitalize off the fact that they have people like Cory Booker and some others who are saying, look, you know, don't think this is the right line of attack.

ACOSTA: Right. And it's not just Cory Booker. I mean, keep in mind Steve Rattner who is President Obama's auto czar, he was the czar in charge of the auto bailout and helping the auto industry recover, Steve Rattner was out saying this might not be such a great idea going off on Bain capital.

I should note that it is interesting in "The New York Times" today, there was an ad elaborating on how he feels that maybe Mitt Romney hasn't been all together forthright in how he has talked about creating jobs during his time at Bain Capital.

So, even though Steve Rattner, initially, came out and said enough with the Bain Capital stuff, he has come out to say, well, you know, maybe Romney is fudging the facts a little bit on job creation. You know, he still a Democrat, Steve Rattner or supportive of the president. So -- and you saw that with Cory Booker.

MALVEAUX: Right.

ACOSTA: First, he talks about how he is not happy with this line of attack and then he has to go back and sort of clean it up.

The same is happening today with Steve Rattner. We'll have to see what Mitt Romney has to say in this interview. That's sort of what we're all waiting for at this point, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. We're going to have to leave it there, Jim. We're going to get back to you because, obviously, there is news there. But we'll get back to you in a little bit. We've got to move on here.

A married couple both lose a leg in an accident and the guy who hit them is accused of texting while driving.

(BEGIN VDIEO CLIP)

DAVID KUBERT, INJURED BIKER SUING TEXTERS: I saw the young man with his elbows steering. His head down and he was texting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Well, now the driver and the girl he was texting are both being sued. Is that possible? We are going to take a look.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Texting while driving, consequences can be deadly. A criminal penalty is severe as well. But a lawsuit out in New Jersey says it is not enough to hold texting drivers responsible for the accidents they cause. It claims that anyone who knowingly texts a driver is also to blame.

Our Deborah Feyerick, she is reporting on the tragic accident that led to this unprecedented lawsuit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The accident happened in New Jersey, along this winding country road.

Motorcycle buffs David and Linda Kubert were out for Sunday drive.

DAVID KUBERT, INJURED BIKER SUING TEXTERS: I went around a curve and I saw a pickup truck coming right for us with a young man with his elbow steering and his head down and he was texting. Next thing I know, he hit us.

FEYERICK: Both David and his wife lost a leg in the head-on collision. Cell phone records show the driver, 19-year-old Kyle Best was texting a girlfriend Shannon Colonna, virtually at the moment of impact. In a potentially precedent-setting case, they are suing them both saying the girl knew her friend was likely driving home especially since the two texted each other almost every day.

D. KUBERT: If Shannon Colonna knew that Kyle Best was leaving work, and I believe she did and she was texting him, then I believe she's just as responsible.

FEYERICK: Although not physically in the car, the Kuberts' lawyer argues that the texting put her in the car electronically, saying she helped trigger the disastrous crash.

STEPHEN "SKIPPY" WEINSTEIN, KUBERTS' ATTORNEY: It is as if you were putting your hands over the eyes of the driver preventing that driver from seeing ahead of them.

FEYERICK: Kyle Best pleaded guilty to careless driving, failure to stay in the lane and improper use of a cell phone. The couple is suing for an unspecified amount in damages.

During a deposition, Colonna testified in her words she may have known her friend was driving, but her lawyer argues the suit should be dismissed, because, quote, "a message sender has no way to control when, where or how a message receiver acts after the message is transmitted."

David Kubert lost not only his leg but his job and insurance after the crash.

LINDA KUBERT, INJURED BIKER SUING TEXTERS: It could have been prevented. It was not an accident.

FEYERICK: A judge is set to rule Friday whether the Kuberts can move forward and sue both texters.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: I want to go to Mitt Romney who's making statements in Washington. This is before a Latino coalition's 2012 Small Business Summit.

Let's listen in.

(BEGIN LIVE FEED)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And as Hector indicated, I helped guide the Olympics and had the opportunity to lead a great state.

I learned early on that the only way to succeed in tough situations is to bring people together in a common purpose. That's how you achieve greatness and that's how you accomplish any goal. Dividing people and pitting one side against another produces nothing but failure and mediocrity. Unfortunately, we have seen way to much of that from this administration, and that's in part why we are facing the slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression. And it's why this president and his party have failed to address the most serious problems that have facing the country.

It is not time to divide. It is time to come together and remain one nation under God.

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: Now, when the president took office, he faced a jobs crisis. It's barely improved.

He faced a spending crisis. He's made that worse.

And he faced an education crisis. And I would love to be able to stand here and tell you that we are celebrating the end of our education crisis. Wouldn't it be great to look back on the last four years that the crisis has been confronted and turn the corner towards a brighter future?

But sadly, that has not happen. The tragedy is not a matter of test scores and international rankings.

It's the frustration of a sixth grader who wants to learn more but is stuck in a class that is hardly moving at all.

It's the embarrassment of a tenth grader who knows he can't read the books he's been assigned.

It's the shame of a 12th grader who is supposed to be ready to graduate but hasn't mastered the skills he or she needs to succeed in the jobs of today.

In this country, every child has something to contribute no matter what the circumstances were that they were born into. Every child has a dream about where they can go or what they can become -- whether that dream is to invent something or to start something or to build something or create something it all starts with basic skills and confidence that come from a good education.

Yet, today way too many dreams are never realized because of our failing education system. More than 150 years ago, our nation pioneered public education. And yet now we have fallen way behind.

Among the developed countries of the world -- you probably know this already -- United States comes in 14th out of 34 in reading, 17th out of 34 in science. How about this? Twenty-fifth out of 34 in math.

Our public education system is supposed to ensure that every child gets a strong start in their life. Yet, one in four students in this country fails to get a high school degree. Think of that, one in four. What are they going to do?

And in our major cities half of our kids don't graduate, half. Imagine that. Imagine if your enterprise had a 25 or 50 percent failure rate you would consider that a crisis. You would make changes fast because if you didn't you would be out of business in a hurry.

But America's public education establishment shows no sense of urgency. Instead there is a fierce determination to keep the things just the way they are.

Here we are in the most prosperous nation on earth but millions of our kids are getting a third world education. And America's minority children suffer the most. This is the civil rights issue of our era and it's the greatest challenge of our time.

(END LIVE FEED)

MALVEAUX: Listening to Mitt Romney there at a speech before Latino business leaders. We are also going to bring you President Obama. He's in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

That is where he will be addressing the Air Force Academy at their commencement address just moments away. We are going to take a quick break first.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Let's go to President Obama speaking before the Air Force Academy at their commencement address.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I hereby grant amnesty to all cadets serving restrictions and confinements for minor offenses. Of course, I live it up to General Gold to define minor.

Cadets, this is the day you finally become officers in the finest Air Force in the world. Like generations before you, you will be charged with the responsibility of leading those under your command.

Like classes over the last 10 years, you graduate in a time of war and you may find yourselves in harm's way. But you will also face a new test. That's what I want to talk to you about today.

Four years ago, you arrive here at a time of extraordinary challenge for our nation. Our forces were engaged in two wars. Al Qaeda, which had attacked us on 9/11, was entrenched in their safe havens.

Many of our alliances were strained and our standing in the world had suffered. Our economy was in the worst recession since the great depression. Around the world and here at home there were those that questioned whether the United States still had the capacity for global leadership.

Today, you step forward into a different world. You're the first class in nine years that will graduate into a world where there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in your lives and thanks to Air Force personnel who did their part, Osama Bin Laden is no longer a threat to our country.

We have put al Qaeda on the path to defeat. You are the first graduates since 9/11 who can clearly see how we will end the war in Afghanistan. What does all of this mean? When you came here four years ago, there were some 180,000 American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We have now cut that number by more than half. And as more Afghans step up more of our troops will come home while achieving the objective that led us to war in the first place and that is defeating al Qaeda and denying them safe haven.

We are not just ending these wars but doing so in a way that makes us safer and stronger. Today, we pay tribute to all our extraordinary men and women in uniform for their bravery and for their dedication.

Those who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan to make this progress possible including 16 graduates of this academy. We honor them. We will always honor them. For a decade, we have labored under the dark cloud of war.

Now we can see a light, the light of a new day on the horizon. So the end of these wars will shape your service and will make our military stronger. Ten years of continuous military operations have stretched our forces and strained their families.

Going forward, you'll face fewer deployments. You'll have more time to train and stay ready. That means you'll be better prepared for the full range of missions you face.

And ending these wars will also ensure that the burden of our security no longer falls so heavily on the shoulders of our men and women in uniform. As good as you are, you can't be expected to do it alone.

There are many sources of American power, diplomatic, economic and the power of our ideals. We have to use them all and the good news is today we are. Around the world, the United States is leading once more. From Europe to Asia our alliances are stronger than ever. Our ties with the Americas are deeper.

We're setting the agenda in the region that will shape our long term security and prosperity like no other, the Asia Pacific. We are leading on global security reducing our nuclear arsenal with Russia even as we maintain a strong nuclear deterrent mobilizing dozens of nations to secure nuclear materials so they never fall into the hands of terrorists.

Rallying the world to put the strongest sanctions ever on Iran and North Korea, which cannot be allowed to threaten the world with nuclear weapons. We are leading economically forging trade packs to create new markets for our good, boosting our exports stamped with three proud words, made in America.

MALVEAUX: You have been listening to President Obama before the Air Force Academy delivering their commencement address. We are going to break down that speech as well as talk about some broader political issues in the campaign. We're just going to take a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: You're watching two events this afternoon. President Obama going before the Air Force Academy delivering their commencement address. Also Mitt Romney addressing a group of Latino business leaders in Washington D.C.

I want to bring in Mark Preston to talk about both of these. Mark, it's interesting. When you just take look at the venues here it says a lot about where we are headed in this campaign.

Mitt Romney courting Latino voters very important and President Obama addressing his national security, foreign policy, these kinds of things, his defense of the country.

That is a strong area for President Obama. Explain a little bit about the optics if you will because they are definitely courting the people that they really and trying to bring up the strengths that they really need to in the next six months.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: You're absolutely right, Suzanne. They are both walking a very tight, tight rope I guess you can say. President Obama is the commander in chief. He has to go and give these commencement addresses at these military academies.

He does not want to make it appear to overtly political, but in many ways everything that he is saying is being looked through the prism. It's being looked through the re-election. He is there talking to those young cadets who are now going to graduate.

Some of them will be sent overseas. Some of them will still be sent into harm's way even though we have seen that the military has removed all of the combat troops out of Iraq.

But we do still have a situation going on in Afghanistan as well as problems all across the globe. So in his speech today, it is remarkably different than what he said two years ago when he was speaking at a similar commencement address at West Point.

Where he talked about some of the problems and some of the circumstances they are going to face and some of the real dangerous situations that they were going to be in. Today, it was a more uplifting speech.

He talked about the fact of the matter is that war is winding down and in fact that these cadets will have more time to be prepared not necessarily in the fear of combat, but to defend the nation.

MALVEAUX: Right.

PRESTON: Now, I'll tell you, you also have the same thing with Mitt Romney, who's trying to get Latino voters. And as you know, Suzanne, that's a very tough thing for him to do because Republicans are having a very difficult time right now trying to woo Latino voters right now.

MALVEAUX: And, Mark, talk a little bit about what we anticipate is going to be coming down the pipe in the, you know, the next hours or so, and that is these excerpts from this interview that Mitt Romney did. Rather extensive when you think about it, 36 minutes, sitting down with Mark Halperin of "Time" magazine defending his record at Bain Capital. That seems to be something that is really gaining momentum, it's gaining some steam here and I think perhaps the Romney campaign even feels a little bit emboldened now that you have people from Obama's campaign, from -- and Obama surrogates and supporters, like Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, saying that Bain Capital, let's take a closer look here. Let's see if it did, in fact, create some jobs and was good for some communities.

PRESTON: Yes. And we've spent the last 72 hours talking about how difficult this has been on President Obama because he has had such vocal surrogates out there defending private equity. Cory Booker, Steve Rattner. Now they are starting to ratchet that back a little bit. Here is the problem, though, for Mitt Romney. And a very prominent Republican strategist discussed this with me yesterday. He said, we've got to be careful that it doesn't look like we are just defending big business. So while Mitt Romney is going to be defending his career at Bain, he has to, because that's what he's running on as a business leader. Someone who can turn the economy around. There is a little bit of concern in the Republican Party that they don't want to appear that they are siding entirely with big business --

MALVEAUX: Right.

PRESTON: And that they're out of touch with middle class voters.

MALVEAUX: All right, Mark, thanks. Good to see you, as always.

We're going to get back to that Mitt Romney event in just a little bit.

First, the Fed chairman warns the economy is going to fall off what he calls a fiscal cliff down the road. Now there's a warning that we're headed for another recession unless Congress changes direction.

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MALVEAUX: Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange.

It looks like stocks are plummeting, Alison. What's going on? Tell us.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a lot of news going on today. You're watching the Dow fall about 159 points right now. The big worry today that's front and center, Greece. There are big worries now that it's going to be tough to keep Greece in the euro zone. There is talk about, you know, warnings for others to get ready for Greece to leave the euro zone. Of course that is hurting sentiment. You're seeing financials really get hit hard. Shares of JP Morgan down 1.5 percent. Morgan Stanley down 2.5 percent.

Tech shares are also getting hit quite hard. Dell shares are plunging 17 percent after a dismal earnings report that came out. HP shares, Hewlett-Packard, down 1.25 percent. It's really a broad-based sell-off right now that really hasn't let up all day. Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, Alison, thank you.

Wildfires near Reno, Nevada, are threatening dozens of homes. We're going to show you the attempt to save them.

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MALVEAUX: A rough day ahead for firefighters battling a ferocious wildfire in Nevada. High winds are expected to fuel the flames that are already moving dangerously fast. Seven homes have been destroyed and about 100 more are threatened. Firefighters are attacking the flames from the ground and air. Rain and cooler temperatures could bring some relief on Friday.

Fleet Week kicks off in New York with a spectacular sight. Check it out. A parade of 17 tall ships from around the world sailing up the Hudson River. Pretty cool. Several American military vessels are sailing with those ships. This year's Fleet Week commemorates the 200th anniversary of the war of 1812.

Iran's feared nuclear program takes center stage in Baghdad today. A rare meeting with world powers to urge Iran to prove it is not building a bomb.

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MALVEAUX: In Baghdad today, a big negotiating table. Officials from Iran are there. So are people from the U.N. Security Council. They are hoping to hammer out a deal that would allow U.N. inspectors to get back inside Iran for a close look at the nuclear plants there. Iran has some demands too before they're even going to let that happen.

I want to bring in Sara Sidner. She's live in Jerusalem.

And, Sara, I want to talk, first of all, since you're in Jerusalem, about the Israelis, that are keeping a very watchful eye on what's going on at these talks. They're not at the table, but we have already heard from Benjamin Netanyahu talking about the fact -- it was just a little while ago -- launching attacks on Iran's nuclear sites. Now they are hoping that there isn't a deal on the table here. What does Israel hope to get out of this?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Israel has been pretty strong in saying, at least Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just 10 days ago said he had three major demands that he believes the world should be putting on Iran. And they're very strict. One of them is that Iran close its facility at Quam (ph), the underground nuclear facility there. Also that it stop enriching uranium period and that all the uranium that it has enriched should be sent out of the country.

Are those likely to happy? Is Iran likely to say, OK, we'll do that? Not likely at all. So those are demands being made by Israel. Very strong demands.

Right now, though, I think what you're seeing, Suzanne, is this -- this -- these talks happening in Baghdad with the P-5 plus one in Iran, they're just trying to get Iran to open up so that they can have their inspectors in there to see exactly what is going on. And one of the reasons for that is because security analysts said that basically some of the images from the satellite has shown that there were some activity going on, particularly at that Quam facility --

MALVEAUX: Right.

SIDNER: And that they want to know if Iran is going ahead and trying to cover something up.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

SIDNER: If they're going further with their enrichment program or not.

MALVEAUX: So, Sara, what do we anticipate is going to come out of these talks here? When you have these world leaders, you've got them, the representatives around the table with Iran, what is the hope that comes out of this?

SIDNER: I think everyone is saying, look, it's good that we're actually talking. That we have at least that. But a lot of people are worrying that this will be talks about more talks in the future. Israel in particular saying this process is going too slow. The slower it is, the more time it gives Iran to try and go forward with their quest to try and create a nuclear weaponry. Iran, of course, has denied that saying they're using their enrichment programs for things such as power and they are not trying to create the bomb, so to speak.

But I think what really is happening at this table is that P-5 plus one is really trying to get Iran just to allow the U.N. inspectors into the country, into the facilities where there is concern that Iran is going further than it says it is with this nuclear program.

Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. We'll see if that actually -- if there's any agreement. If they actually will move on that very critical issue.

Sara Sidner, thank you so much. Good to see you.

I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Want to get you right up to it here. Less than a week after FaceBook's stock went public, shareholders, they're suing the social network and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. The lawsuit was filed