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Washington Post: U.S. Officials On Iran-Linked Hit List; Beryl Still Raining On Florida, SE Georgia; Wildfire Destroys Nearly 100 Structures; Another Deadly Quake Rocks Northern Italy; NYTimes: Facebook Is Making A Phone; Romney Likely To Hit Magic Number Today; Romney Standing By Donald Trump; Plane Crash Survivor Calls 911; Young Voters Drive "Mexican Spring"; TSA Wants More Of Your Money; Madonna Takes on Gaga; Bid on Elvis' Original Crypt; New Hormone Replacement Therapy Guidelines; A Royal Romance

Aired May 29, 2012 - 10:00   ET

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

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I think we need to be very careful when we look at this article because the headline is certainly dramatic and gets your attention, but the article itself leaves another -- a lot of unanswered questions.

This is another in a long line of scary-sounding articles about alleged assassination plots linked to Iran, but this article really doesn't clearly explain what that link is, if any, to the Iranian government and lacks a lot of facts and verified information.

Briefly, the article claims a citizen of the country north of Iran is working with operatives inside Iran, although it doesn't clarify if those operatives are Iranian. They're working together allegedly to smuggle in weapons inside Asser Bajan and go after U.S. and foreign diplomats.

It also claims this article does that this alleged plot is linked to other alleged Iranian plots. Here's what this article doesn't do. It doesn't provide an iota of clear evidence that links this plot to the Iranian government or groups tied to the Iranian government.

Doesn't name a single Iranian allegedly involved in this plot. It doesn't say who ordered the plot and it goes so far as to say not even the Obama administration has tied this plot to the Iranian government.

So a lot of questions and you also have unnamed sources, no attributions, which raises a lot of questions if this is a serious plot, you would certainly like to have one named official in Washington step forward.

And this article doesn't do that so a lot of questions although it makes some serious claims and allegations -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, let's talk about serious claims. I mean, why are we talking about this report if we can discount most of it? Is it making waves over there? SAYAH: Well, it's not making waves over here, but it's certainly making waves in Washington because it appears in "The Washington Post" and it's written by a reputable author. Of course, it's going to get a lot of attention because of U.S.-Iran relations.

The nuclear issue being the matter of most importance. It's a fact that many people in Washington especially those who are hawkish when it comes to Iran and want to portray Iran as a threat, are going to enjoy seeing these types of stories.

But still, threat assessment when it comes to Iran at this point is more crucial than ever and the only way to assess threats coming from Iran is with facts and verified information. When you look at this article, unfortunately, it lacks it.

COSTELLO: Reza Sayah reporting live for us this morning.

Back here at home, parts of the southeast getting hammered by what's left of Beryl today. The coastal storm is now moving inland where flash floods are expected in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina over the next 48 hours.

Powerful winds knocked out power across some areas on Monday. Temporary closing roads and bridges, but rain wasn't the only thing Beryl kicked up. There's also been a rash of shark sightings since Beryl hit.

The Brevard County Ocean Rescue says there have been no injuries. No reports of injuries from those sharks.

Meteorologist Rob Marciano is tracking the storm for us. At last check, it was beginning to rain hard in Savannah, Georgia.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. The eastern coast of Georgia and Northeast Florida seeing most of the heavy rain right now, the center of the storm is right about there.

So all the rain on the east side of that and we're starting to see the center drift a little bit further to the east at about 5 or so miles per hour. This thing has held together rather well being over land.

It's still a tropical depression and eventually we get over towards Savannah. But the rain shield is all the way down from the Savannah River down south towards almost Tampa and some of those rains will be heavy at times.

And there will be pockets of flash flooding and we certainly have seen pockets of some heavier rain. This is near Tallahassee, Florida, over 12 inches of it. At Branford seeing six inches of rainfall as well in Arlington same deal.

So there's been enough heavy rain to cause flash flooding. We've seen pockets of that, but for the most part, the rivers are pretty low because this area has seen a tremendous amount of drought.

The rain will continue to spread off to the east and the north. The Carolinas, low country at least will see several inches of rainfall from this. So we've got a live swamp of flash flood watches out posted for next 36 to 48 hours.

Three to six inches of rainfall likely as this storm takes its next turn off towards the north and east. Here's the forecast path. Right over Savannah tonight and passing across Charleston and then offshore.

Paralleling the coastline for the most part and intensifying and then by then the jet stream and this front picks it up and pushes it out to sea. By the way, this front will cool things down for the northeast.

Seeing record-breaking temperatures and that's going to cause severe storms breaking out right now across the Ohio River Valley and that will sneak in to upstate New York and Western Pennsylvania throughout the day today. We'll keep an eye on seeing some rough weather there. Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Rob.

To Michigan's Upper Peninsula now where 34 homes, a hotel and a store have been destroyed by fire. In all, 97 structures are just gone. The 22,000 acres are burned and the wildfire's only about 51 percent contained.

Also a deadly earthquake rattled Northern Italy today, the second to hit the region in just over a week. At least 12 people are dead from this latest quake with more believed to be trapped. A number of buildings damaged last week struck again. Manufacturing, the area's major industry is expected to take a big hit.

There's talk of a Facebook phone in the works. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange. She has details for us. Hi, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. So what Facebook is looking to do is release a new smartphone next year. Now we first began hearing these rumors about a month or two ago about Facebook possibly doing this.

Well, now, we're getting more details from the "The New York Times" and some of these details include that Facebook looks to be poaching or hiring some former Apple engineers who worked on the iPhone.

Now, Facebook, it's not saying much at this point except for saying, you know what? We're working across the entire mobile industry with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers and app developers.

Critics are coming out and saying, wait a minute. Not a great idea. They're saying that Facebook has no experience in the hardware business and they say there are many ways for this whole thing to go wrong -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes. But it could be a good idea in the end. I mean, you don't know how it will turn out. They don't know how it turns out.

KOSIK: That's true. You think about eight years ago when Mark Zuckerburg was in his dorm room and said I want to make it the Facebook. Look how famously popular it's begun.

But you know what critics are saying there's a lot of competition out there, Carol. Look at Google. Google recently bought Motorola Mobility and so that could make it easier for Google to make its own smartphone.

Also the smartphone arena itself, look at it, it's already saturated with Android and Apple phones. The critics are saying, why is there a need to have this separate Facebook phone?

You can still get Facebook as an app on those iPhones and Android phones. Why in the world would anyone want a dedicated Facebook phone?

These critics are saying what Facebook really needs at this point is to find new ways to make money and they're not so sure this could be the way to go -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Alison Kosik live at the New York Stock Exchange.

Coming up, we're going to talk about Mitt Romney and the fundraiser in Las Vegas hosted by Donald Trump. Some critics say Romney should denounce Trump's birther claims. We'll explore why isn't next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Mitt Romney is expected to pick up enough delegates when Texas holds the primary to push him over the top. He only needs 78 more delegates to hit the magic number of 1,444 to clinch the GOP presidential nomination.

Romney's also hitting the trail today in two western battleground states. His first stop is in Craig, Colorado, that will happen in the next hour and then he heads to Vegas to attend a fundraiser hosted by real estate mogul, Donald Trump.

Just moments ago, Fox News aired part of an interview with Romney talking about what he needs to do to win over undecided voters in those battleground states.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can make the economy better. I can get more jobs in America. I can get competition between employers for jobs, rising wages. I understand how the economy works. The president wants to make this a personal attack campaign. He's going after me as an individual. Look, I'm an American. I love this country. I have experience in the economy that's going to happen me get good jobs for Americans so we can be secure again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Well, Romney is talking about the economy. Others are talking about his decision to attend that Vegas fundraiser hosted by Donald Trump even though Trump hasn't let go of the birther issue.

He's once again questioning where President Obama was born. Trump harped on that issue for such a long time that for the first time in history an American president produced the long form birth certificate.

Trump has not put the issue to rest, but Romney welcomes Trump's support. I talked about that with CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Part of the job of being president is being president to the whole country and that includes saying no to your own party at time.

And one thing that Mitt Romney has been throughout this primary season is very reluctant to pick a fight on the right. When Rick Santorum got up and said -- challenge the separation of church and state, and said John Kennedy had made him sick.

Mitt Romney was pretty much silent when Rush Limbaugh attacked the Georgetown student over the contraception issue. Mitt Romney only said, well, I wouldn't use that -- that's not the language I would use.

He's been very mild. There's a pattern here where he's seemed reluctant to challenge the right. I think he's always been concerned whether conservatives would ultimately kind of rise up against him in some ways and the cumulative portrait makes you look kind of weak.

COSTELLO: But still, I mean, Mitt Romney came out and said, I need 50.1 percent of the vote. I need money to win. I need all the support I can get. I'm not to agree with all the supporters and I certainly don't agree with that part of Donald Trump's mantra, but I need his support to win.

BROWNSTEIN: That's fine as far as it goes but, Carol, if you think about where this election is going to be decided, both parties have a pretty solid base.

The portion of the Republican Party and there is a significant minority of the Republican Party who believes -- who basically agrees with Donald Trump's questioning although seemingly the issue has been settled.

The issue is going to be decided I think fundamentally by voters who are -- tend to be college educated, suburban voters who may be somewhat economically or ideologically disappointed with President Obama after 2008.

But are reluctant to turn over power to the Republicans either because they see them as too ideological or intolerant or extreme and by not unequivocally separating himself from these sentiments, I think Romney adds another hurdle for himself with those voters who in the end outside of Philadelphia and outside of Detroit are the kind of voters he's going to need.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Checking our top stories now. Northern Italy is on edge this morning after an earthquake kills at least 12 people. Several aftershocks have been reported. Today's quake was centered in the province of Modana near Bolona. Nine days ago, a quake struck the same region killing seven people.

We are going to survive this. That's what a husband and father in Idaho said right after his small plane slammed in to the mountain. He was right. Brian Brown, his wife, Jan and their daughter, Heather, were injured, but they're expected to be OK. Immediately after the crash, Heather calmly called 911.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: Owyhee County 911, what is your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Hi, I'm in an airplane and I crashed and I'm in the mountains.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: Where are you at, Hun?

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: In the 29 miles east of -- west of Mountain Home, Idaho. I need you to send a search party, please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Well, they did send a search party, but because of the rough terrain and bad weather, it took 15 hours for a chopper to finally rescue them.

Mexico seeing the own version of the Arab spring right now. Young voters getting active and feeling empowered. They could help decide who wins Mexico's presidential race. We'll have that story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now's your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, why won't the birther thing die? Mitt Romney will be benefiting of a big-time fundraiser today in Las Vegas. Guess who's hosting that fundraiser? The Donald, Donald Trump, the most famous birther in America. Who can forget at the height of his pseudo presidential campaign when Trump questioned President Obama's birthplace?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, ENTREPRENEUR: Barack Obama should end this and he should provide the public with a birth certificate and if he doesn't do it, he's doing a tremendous disservice to the public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Trump harked on that for so long and so hard that President Obama finally said, enough, and showed the long form birth certificate to the nation.

It's not like the birther issue ever really died, just last week, Arizona's secretary of state apologized for embarrassing his state after threatening to leave the president off the ballot unless Hawaii authenticated his birth certificate.

In Iowa, Republicans want candidates to show proof they're natural-born citizens. Now here's Mitt Romney campaigning with Donald Trump. That whole birther thing doesn't seem to really bother him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: You know, I don't agree with all the people who support me and my guess is they don't agree with everything I believe in, but I need to get 50.1 percent or more. And I'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Some Republicans are worried, former McCain campaign adviser Steve Schmidt calls birtherism a fringe issue and says, quote, "In the middle of the electorate people think it's bats blank crazy."

So if those birthers are all for wearing tinfoil hats, why are we still here? The talk back question today, why won't the birther thing die? Facebook.com/carolcnn. I'll read your comments later this hour.

Egypt's presidential run-off is sparking more protests. Thousands of protesters called on Egyptian courts to disqualify former Prime Minister Amid Shafik. Others ransacked Shafik's campaign headquarters in Cairo. Shafik briefly served under ousted President Hosni Mubarak. He'll face against Muslim Brotherhood candidate in next month's run-off.

Here, though, we were talking a lot about the Arab spring. Now Mexico is having its own more peaceful version. The country elects a president on July 1st and young voters have been using social media to make their voices heard and to push for change.

CNN's Rafael Romo has the Mexico spring.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice- over): It started with a loud protest against the Mexican presidential candidate in early May, staged by college students. When the candidate dismissed the protests and his party called the students infiltrators from rival parties, the protest went viral.

On a video released on social media, the protesters show their student I.D. one by one. When Mexican media failed to report the protests, the students again organized on social media and demonstrated at the headquarters of Mexican television network.

In the following days they took to the streets of Mexico City by the thousands.

ALBERTO NAVARRETE, MEXICAN COLLEGE STUDENT (through translator): We're fed up with the system. We're fed up with the mainstream media that lies to us, manipulates us and uses information to advance their own interests. We, the young people, are finally waking up.

ROMO (on camera): This kind of political activism had not been seen in Mexico since the massacre of 1968, which is commemorated in scenes such as these every year in the capital.

Government troops shot in to a crowd of unarmed students killing as many as 3,000 demonstrators protesting government repression prior to the Olympic Games held in Mexico City that year.

PAMELA REYNOSO, MEXICAL COLLEGE STUDENT (through translator): This march is objective. It's the first step in unifying the Mexican young people to raise our voices and not be silent of what's going on around us.

ROMO (voice-over): Some are even comparing the protests with the Arab spring, last year's democracy movement that erupted in the Middle East.

LORENZO MEYER, MEXICAN POLITICAL ANALYST (through translator): Possibly in the same way that in Tunisia, an unemployed man begins the Arab spring. We may be at the beginning of a Mexican spring.

ROMO: So far, the protests have been peaceful and the Mexican government seems to be sympathetic to the students. Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Mexican voting officials say young voters represent about 30 percent of the electorate.

Mitt Romney says the world is a dangerous place and the U.S. military needs to be built up, not trimmed back. So does this mean we're not as safe with Barack Obama in the White House? We'll pose that question to our "Political Buzz" panel.

And don't forget if you're heading out the door, you can take us with you. Watch us any time on your mobile or computer, just head to cnn.com/tv.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Baggage fee, reservation fee, seat assignment fee, security fee, it seems fees on airline tickets keep getting higher and higher. Now the TSA wants to double one of those fees. Here's Lizzie O'Leary.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LIZZIE O'LEARY, CNN AVIATION AND REGULATION CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Take two things that many travelers love to hate, the TSA and ticket fees. Now add them together.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is it that's prompting them to ask for more money?

O'LEARY: The agency backed by Democrats in the Senate wants to increase the security fee everyone pays for the ticket from $2.50 a flight to $5 per one-way ticket, $10 round trip.

MOIRA JEWELER, PASSENGER: Ten is kind of pushing it to a limit. I mean, I guess it's only $5 more, but I'm wondering, you know, how that fits in with the -- they have a budget.

O'LEARY: TSA's budget like many in Washington is set to be cut and the agency says boosting this fee would help cover the increasing price of security like those costly scanners. The fee hasn't been hiked in 10 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Straight ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Enjoy your flight.

O'LEARY: But a powerful lobby is pushing against it, airlines. They don't want the cost shifted on to their customers.

SEAN KENNEDY, AIRLINES FOR AMERICA: Air security is a national security function and something all of us need to be behind as Americans and the government should be picking up the cost of that.

O'LEARY: Many travelers we talked to didn't mind.

MICHAEL TROTT, PASSENGER: It is like using a toll road. If you use the toll road, you pay the toll.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As long as it makes us secure.

O'LEARY: But they want the know it's money well spent.

(on camera): Does increasing the fee increase the level of security TSA will provide?

STEWART BAKER, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICIAL: It means that TSA's budget will be a little less likely to get cut just to save money in the overall deficit reduction effort.

So, in that regard, it's useful. It's also useful if you can tell where the benefits go for a particular program. Then the people who get the benefits generally should pay for it.

O'LEARY: There's a big political fight over the fee. Senate Democrats voted to support it last week. House Republicans are dead set against it. They have to figure out how to square the approaches before the TSA can be funded. Lizzie O'Leary, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: It's 28 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now. Northern Italy on edge this morning after an earthquake kills at least 12 people. Several aftershocks have been reported. Today's quake was centered in the province of Modana near Bolona. Nine days ago, a quake struck the same region killed seven people that time.

Scientists say a radioactive blue fin tuna was caught off the coast of California last summer and they confirmed low levels of radiation from the Japan nuclear plant that melted down after a powerful earthquake and tsunami struck in March of 2011. Scientists say the tuna is still safe to eat, but they want to test this year's catch to make sure there's no more radiation.

"Political Buzz" is your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions, smart answers, playing with us, Sirius XM radio host, he has a political show on Sirius XM radio. He's also a comedian and an all-around good guy, Pete Dominick. He leans left.

And on the right, Katon Dawson, he's the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, also a good guy. Welcome to both of you.

OK, first question, if you like the birthers, you will love the transcripters. Last week a web site that already had offered a $10,000 reward for President Obama's college transcripts raised the bounty to $20,000.

Last year the nation's most famous birther and Mitt Romney supporter Donald Trump wondered how a lousy student like Obama got into Ivy League schools. So why hasn't Mitt Romney better distanced himself from Trump's birther obsession, Katon?

KATON DAWSON, FORMER CHAIRMAN, SOUTH CAROLINA GOP: Well, I think one of the real issues here is Donald Trump certainly used it as a -- a political ploy to get in to the game and he did a good job at it. I think categorizing Mitt Romney as using the birther issue probably would -- would be more media-driven than it would be anything else.

Donald Trump certainly is a successful businessman. Mitt Romney, a successful businessman and -- and the two both certainly Donald Trump at one time tried to make a run at the presidency. Whether that was an advertising stunt or whatever, it certainly worked pretty well -- well for Donald Trump.

COSTELLO: Pete?

PETE DOMINICK, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, birtherism is of course a conspiracy theory with no basis in truth whatsoever. The President, of course, is American and that makes Donald Trump a conspiracy theorist which means that Mitt Romney is campaigning with Donald Trump who is a conspiracy theorist. That would like President Obama campaigning with a 9/11 truther or somebody who believes that Romney's religion Mormonism is a cult.

It's ridiculous. There is no basis in truth.

The transcripter idea, they're one president too late in asking for the transcript of the -- of the President but there's going to be some, you know, part of the population that always racist and will never believe that a guy named Barack Hussein Obama is American and could get good grades and Mitt Romney does not lose and -- and catering to that constituency of racist in America.

COSTELLO: All right, on to the second question. Mitt Romney said in a speech in San Diego that the world is a dangerous place. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Mitt Romney (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Chavez is campaigning for power throughout Latin America. Mexico is under siege from the cartels. In the Middle East, the Arab Spring has become an Arab winter. The world is not safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: He also talked about the militaries in Russia, China and Iran's nuclear threat and says the U.S. needs to build up the military and not make cuts as the Obama administration plans. Obama says reductions won't affect U.S. security.

So the question is who's right? Is the world a more dangerous place? Katon?

DAWSON: We heard the same song from a president in 1979 and 80 Jimmy Carter that -- that we needed to cut our military, spend more money back home and I think the bigger context I think Governor Romney hit on was China and Russia. If you'll take a look right now our President has deferred the space race to them and tremendous amounts of technology and innovation have come from the space programs so right now we've deferred that to China and Russia.

Serious, serious flaw in the President's policy and I think Governor Romney just started to touch on that.

COSTELLO: Pete? DOMINICK: It's always easy Carol to point out dangerous parts of the world but as CNN's own probably smartest thinker Fared Zakaria said in a recent commencement speech. He said, "Terrorism, civil wars and wars in general are down 50 percent since the '90s." 75 percent to the five previous decades. You can always point out a dangerous place. It's very dangerous in this world to be a terrorist right now because of this President.

But I don't know. I guess Mitt Romney is planning for a military budget that he anticipates an alien invasion. We spend more than ten countries after us combined. China is second and they spend one tenth of what we spend. I think we're spending enough on military.

Of course, unless you have some information that his advisers have given him. His adviser by the way they the architects that brought you the Iraq war. Mitt Romney's foreign policy advisers. So stay with those ideas and that's too sure to be a loser. Sorry.

COSTELLO: Ok onto the third question.

DAWSON: Oh, Carol.

COSTELLO: On to the third question. Just how we play the game. This is the third question. Could this be the kiss of death for the Obama campaign?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENE SIMMONS, KISS: Budgets mean nothing. Nobody knows anything. And everybody's out of work because the economy is in the dumpster. You need people who are not professors in Berkeley assuming political office because they have never run a company and don't have a clue what they're talking about. Hypothetical and academic are other big words but the only people that create jobs are business men and business women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Ok. So Gene Simmons of Kiss, he voted for Mr. Obama in 2008 but he sounds like a Romney guy this time around. He hasn't committed to either candidate, though. Which Kiss song would make the best campaign song for Romney and Obama? This is our fun question. Katon?

DAWSON: Well, Carol, one thing I'm not exactly a Kiss follower but I can say that the President stuck his tongue out at the center right country for the last three years and I would say more probably a Queen song would probably be a better song for Mitt Romney and "Another One Bites the Dust".

COSTELLO: I'll take that. Pete?

DOMINICK: You know, this is -- I'm not really a big Kiss fan either. This is a tough question for both Katon and I. I don't think we should trust someone who wore makeup for most of their career -- clown makeup I should say, we're both wearing makeup. On their -- on their advice to the President. I mean, if you -- if anybody can name more than one song that Kiss -- I mean, I'd ask people if they can listen to a Kiss album all the way through with all due respect to Kiss and Gene Simmons. I'm not a huge fan. I don't know that any of their songs represent anything and I just couldn't find it within myself to look one up, Carol. I'm sorry.

COSTELLO: It's ok. I understand.

DOMINICK: With Kiss?

DAWSON: But Carol I certainly got -- I certainly got one for the President and the President's would be "I Did It My Way" or I did it Axelrod's way or "The Best Days are Yet to Come" and he's going to prove both of those.

COSTELLO: Good job.

DOMINICK: I love I did it Axelrod's way. That was a great Sinatra tune. I like that one.

COSTELLO: Katon and Pete thanks so much.

DOMINICK: Thanks, Carol.

DAWSON: Thank you.

COSTELLO: First Lady Michelle Obama in on a TV tear. This morning she went on "Good Morning America" and "The View" and then it's on to the "The Daily Show" tonight with John Stewart. She won't be talking heavy politics but about growing gardens and raising healthier kids. That's what she talked about on ABC's "Good Morning America." And she did mention her new book "American Grown" and her "Let's Move" initiative to fight childhood obesity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Let's Move is a way of giving people the tools and information and it really requires everybody to step up. We need our mayors stepping up; restructuring cities so that kids have safer places to play. We need our food manufacturers stepping up and really thinking about how to reformulate food products so that they're a little more healthy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And affordable.

OBAMA: And affordable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Mrs. Obama also gave an interview to "People" magazine. She told the world the intimate details of the President's night time rituals she says quote, "We have a ritual where the President tucks me in because I'm usually in bed before anybody. He'll come in and turn the lights out and give me a kiss. And we'll talk, he's like, ready to be tucked? I'm like, yes I am." End quote.

Are you a big fan of the King? An unusual Elvis item up for grabs but would you like to own his crypt?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Madonna is going after Lady Gaga again. During a rehearsal, Madonna covered a Gaga song. But in this case imitation was not the most sincere of flattery. "Showbiz Tonight's" A.J. Hammer has the video and the music. Tell us.

A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Well, Carol, I'm a huge Gaga fan. I love her song "Born This Way" but it's hard not to consider it somewhat reminiscent of Madonna's classic "Express Yourself". And if we take a look at this video that was shot during a concert rehearsal in Tel Aviv, you can see Madonna sees the similarity, as well. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MADONNA PERFORMING "BORN THIS WAY")

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Well, you can see Madonna is enjoying herself. And at first, I actually thought it was cool, Madonna singing Gaga. But judging by the fact that she finished the song by singing "She's not me", it's pretty clear it was actually done as a dig.

We don't know if that was just Madonna riffing during that sound check, Carol, or if it's going to be a part of the show out in the theater but, again, Madonna's got people talking. And that is something she's certainly has always been the one and only master.

COSTELLO: She is a master at that. Those songs sound so similar, it's amazing.

HAMMER: Yes.

COSTELLO: Ok. Let's talk about Elvis' crypt because this is just weird.

HAMMER: It's weird but, you know, there's some fan out there who is loving the idea of this. One person could actually soon own the place that served as Elvis Presley's first but not final resting place. Elvis' final resting place, of course, is on his Graceland estate.

But according to the people who are auctioning off Elvis's crypt, while the state of Tennessee was deciding whether or not to allow a burial on a private estate, Elvis and his mother were interred in this crypt at a Memphis cemetery for a couple of months. And ever Elvis and his mother were moved to Graceland, the tomb has been left empty. It has a statue commemorating his time there.

And starting in the middle of next month, you can own it. Julian's Auctions of Beverly Hills is going to conduct a sale of the crypt. And the lot that's up for auction includes Presley's original crypt, the chance to open and close the vault and crypt for burial, an inscription, and the use of a small budding chapel for committal service.

Bids for the crypt start around $100,000, Carol. And yes, that does sound crazy but there's got to be a huge Elvis fan out there who's just hoping that will be their final resting place. Imagine.

COSTELLO: $100,000. Wow. You're probably right.

HAMMER: I want to see where this goes. Yes, no kidding.

COSTELLO: Me, too. A.J. Hammer, thank you. Want information on everything breaking in the entertainment world? A.J. has it tonight on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" at 11:00 p.m. Eastern on HLN.

The same group that said men should not get regular prostate screenings is now releasing new guidelines for post-menopausal women. Could this stir up a new debate in the medical community? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: 45 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories.

Northern Italy on edge this morning after an earthquake kills at least 12 people. Several aftershocks have been reported. Today's quake was centered in the Province of Modena near Bologna. Nine days ago, a quake struck the same region, killed seven people that time.

Mitt Romney is not backing down from his decision to attend a Vegas fund-raiser hosted by Donald Trump even though the real estate mogul won't let go of his idea that President Obama is a birther. When asked about it, Romney says he's grateful for all of his supporters and added he doesn't agree with all of them but quote "I need 50.1 percent".

And home prices hit new lows. And index of 20 major cities found average prices went down 2.6 percent compared to a year ago. The report found home prices are at lows we haven't seen since mid-2002. Overall, they're down 35 percent from their peak back in 2006.

In today's "Daily Dose", the same government task force that recommended men not get regular prostate screenings and told women in their 40s to hold off on mammograms is updating the recommendations on hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women. Elizabeth Cohen is here to explain.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is less controversial. I think this group is going to get a lot less grief for this recommendation because what they're saying is what a lot of doctors are saying.

You know, it used to be years ago that women were told when you go through menopause, take hormone replacement therapy because it will keep you forever young. You won't get heart disease. You won't get dementia. Well, 10 years ago, We found out that wasn't true and the group is updating and reflecting on that. And saying, don't take hormone replacement therapy if you think that it's going to keep you from getting things like heart disease.

And the reason why is number one, it won't. That won't work. And number two, it puts you at risk for getting all sorts of terrible things including stroke, dementia, deep vein thrombosis, urinary incontinence, gallbladder disease. When you're on hormone replacement therapy for a relatively long period of time, you increase the risk of getting all of those. So they're saying be careful.

COSTELLO: As we all know, women are desperate to, you know, calm the symptoms of menopause. I mean I know women are still taking this.

COHEN: Right.

COSTELLO: Should they? I mean is there any benefit at all?

Cohen: Yes. There is a situation where you might want to talk to your doctor about taking hormone replacement therapy and this is it. Forget the notion it's going to keep you forever young. That's not a good reason to take it. But if you're having a really hard time with the symptoms of menopause like hot flashes and you want to take hormone replacement therapy for a short period of time and at a low dose, a lot of doctors will say, let's go ahead and try it. Let's see if it works.

If your hot flashes are so bad you can't function, you can't work or do what you need to do, taking a low dose for a short period of time may be the right thing for you. You should go to cnn.com/empoweredpatient we have more advice for women on how to handle this whole hormone replacement therapy question.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Thanks.

COSTELLO: It's been a love affair for nearly 65 years; as Queen Elizabeth prepares for her diamond jubilee, she's making her wedding -- she's also marking her anniversary to Prince Phillip. The queen's first cousin remembers the couple's beginnings.

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COSTELLO: Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee is this weekend and the world's getting ready for the big event. She's ruled the royal family for 60 years and the only person that's been -- and the only person that's been by her side the entire time is her husband, Prince Phillip.

Max Foster gives us a glimpse inside their royal romance.

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MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a love affair that's lasted more than six decades. As Queen Elizabeth celebrates her diamond jubilee, she's also reached another milestone -- 65 years of marriage. (on camera): This is the Windsor estate. It's around half an hour from London and the Queen's weekend bolthole. It's also where her first cousin and close friend Margaret Rhodes lives.

(voice-over): A childhood companion to the queen, she was a bridesmaid at her wedding and is in no doubt that it was a marriage based on love.

MARGARET RHODES, QUEEN ELIZABETH'S FIRST COUSIN: I think she fell in love when she was 13. God, he was good looking. You know? He was a Viking God. She never looked at anybody else, ever. And I think he really truly has been a rock.

FOSTER: The couple married in Westminster Abbey on November 20th, 1947. Since then, Prince Phillip has been an almost constant presence at the queen's side. If this companionship came at a personal price, it was one that he was prepared to pay.

RHODES: Just to have been there all the time behind her and really to sacrifice his life, he did it, too -- sacrificed his life. I think he would have loved to have gone in the navy and really made a career out of that.

So he -- he sacrificed, too. And so, I think it's made for a wonderful, solid marriage.

FOSTER: The Queen and Prince Phillip met before the Second World War when he was a young naval cadet.

ROBERT HARDMAN, AUTHOR, "OUR QUEEN": And his number one job from the word "go" has been to, quote, "support the queen". Everything he does is in support of the queen. And it's just been one of the great royal romances I think of history.

People talk about Victoria and Albert as a phrase that trips off the tongue and I have no doubt that in years to come people will talk about Elizabeth and Phillip in exactly the same way.

FOSTER: This year, as part of the diamond jubilee celebrations, the Queen has been touring the UK and with her, the handsome prince she met as a shy teenager. The man who today is always with her.

Max Foster, CNN, Windsor, England.

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COSTELLO: And you can watch the celebrations marking 60 years of Queen Elizabeth's reign here on CNN. Our coverage begins Sunday morning at 11:00 Eastern.

This is a live look from Craig, Colorado. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will speak here in just a few minutes before he heads to Las Vegas and there he'll attend a fund- raiser hosted by Donald Trump who as you know has questioned where President Obama was born. Hence, our "Talk Back"{ question today. Why won't the birther thing die? Your responses next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Can you spell "precocious"? Six-year-old Lori Anne Madison can and she is. The Virginia girl is the youngest person ever to qualify for the National Spelling Bee. She'll be going up against kids twice her age. But to her, it's no big deal.

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LORI ANNE MADISON, SIX-YEAR-OLD NATIONAL SPELLING BEE QUALIFIER: Honestly, it's not as big and I'm not really excited like -- I'm going to the National Spelling Bee. I'm more like, it's fine.

I want to be an astro biologist because I like astronomy and biology. I also am aiming to be in the swimming part of the Olympics.

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COSTELLO: But first things first, the Spelling Bee begins today.

Those Cubs fans and their goat Wrigley have finally reached Chicago on a 2,000 mile trek with two missions. They walked across the country with the goat and raised money for cancer research and to break the curse of the Cubs.

Just to remind you, a tavern owner was thrown out of Wrigley Field back in 1945 at the World Series because he brought his goat into the game and people were complaining about the stinky pet goat. The tavern owner said the Cubs would never ever again win a World Series and guess what; they have not since.

Now these modern-day Cub fans think their pet goat Wrigley will reverse the curse.

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MATT GREGORY, CUBS FAN: It's about respecting the goat and it's the hike is 2,000 miles but, you know, raising money for cancer research and letting the goat see all the different parts of the country, like route 66, the goat's helped us raise over $20,000; it's probably close to $25,000 now and the cubs are going to make a donation today so to me that's respecting the goat and I think that's part of the curse, not respecting the goat.

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COSTELLO: Looks like a very clean and calm goat. Kyra Phillips is back there laughing.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: That's the line of the day, "respect the goat".

COSTELLO: Respect the goat. We'll see if officials let the goat into Wrigley Field. Wrigley at Wrigley. That would be cool.

Ok. Time for your "Talk Back" answers to the "Talk Back" question of the day, why won't the birther thing die?

This from Augusto, "Because people like Donald won't accept the fact that Obama is black. They'll always find something to question him about."

This from Paul, "It won't die because it took too long for President Obama to decide to produce the document that many people believe is a forgery."

This from Michael. "Let's face it. It was never about the facts. It was about racism or in the Donald's case an opportunity to make hay on the backs of racists. As long as there are bigots and gutless news reporters who fail to call it out, we will have the birther issue to contend with.

And this from Irene, "I am beginning to wonder if the Democrats are letting this go on and on and on just to demonstrate how crazy the Republicans can be."

Please continue the conversation, Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks for joining me. "CNN NEWSROOM" continues right now with Kyra Phillips.