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Dharun Ravi Apologizes for Clementi Death; More Civilians Killed in Syria; Former Liberian President Sentenced to 50 Years; Should the U.S. Get Involved in Syria?; Analysis of Escalating Violence in Syria; Apple CEO Remembers Steve Jobs Fondly at Tech Conference; Obama Calls To Congratulate Romney; Romney Milestone Getting Trumped; Gunfire Claiming Lives In Chicago

Aired May 30, 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. Want to get right to it. The former Rutgers University student who spied on his gay roommate with a Web cam appeared in court today. Dharun Ravi plans to turn himself in tomorrow to begin serving his 30 day jail sentence. The jury convicted Ravi of bias intimidation. His roommate, Tyler Clementi, killed himself after learning that Ravi had secretly recorded him with another man. In a written statement, Ravi apologized for what he said and called thoughtless, insensitive, immature, stupid, and childish choices.

International court today sentenced former Liberian president Charles Taylor to 50 years in prison. Taylor is the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes since World War II. The court found him guilty last month of backing rebels in Sierra Leone in a horrific campaign of terror. The judge read a list of atrocities from rape, murder, amputations, forcing children as well to become soldiers.

More civilians in Syria were killed today. Just like yesterday and the day before, it just doesn't end. The weekend massacre of entire families sent the U.N. security council into emergency talks on the question: what to do about Syria? This scene emerged today from Eastern Syria. These are the bodies of 13 people all with their hands tied behind their backs. Now, a U.N. observer says it looks like they were shot dead at close range, executed. Who are they? Who killed them? Not even clear yet.

Now this, 11 countries, including the United States, say they are throwing out Syrian envoys and diplomats, sending them home. CNN has no camera teams or reporters inside Syria right now. The government is not going to let them in. So our correspondents who know the country well, they are watching from nearby. I want to bring in Ivan Watson. He's in Istanbul today.

Ivan, first of all, let's talk about what is taking place on the ground in Syria. I know you have U.N. officials there, U.N. officials other places saying they are getting tougher, they're kicking out these envoys. Is there anything that is taking place inside Syria to actually quell the violence? IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely not. I mean, what you have is a 300-man United Nations unarmed observer mission. These are not peacekeepers. They have become the eyes and ears of the world to some degree. And the deputy envoy to Syria is going to brief the United Nations security council on what they're saying.

And so, in the case of this horrific atrocity that was committed in Houla on Friday, that resulted in 109 deaths, 49 dead children under the age of 10, these observers were able to bring us firsthand accounts of what happened there and share that with the United Nations security council. But they cannot stop the violence.

There have been repeated calls and demands and criticisms from the international community for this Syrian government, which has the most powerful fighting force on the ground, to stop fighting, but it clearly is not doing that. And now you also have an increasingly weaponized rebel movement there, so there's really no end to the fighting in sight. We could see more massacres like the one in Houla in the weeks and months ahead, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: So Kofi Annan says that Syria is at a tipping point. Tipping into what, Ivan? What do we know? I mean, how much more chaotic can it even get there?

WATSON: You could move further into a bigger phase of civil war where there are efforts to try to stop a sectarian conflict from erupting. But there's been so much bloodshed that you can anticipate -- and some of the rebels have said this -- that they're going to carry out reprisal acts against the minority sect, the Alawite sect, of the Syrian president, Bashar al Assad, whose family has ruled Syria with an iron fist for more than 40 years. That's a scary scenario.

Another scenario, you could have a proxy war fought there with Bashar al Assad's allies - Iran and perhaps Russia - backing some militias, and countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey backing other militias. It would be a terrifying scenario, and this would be only the tip of the iceberg. The loss of life, more than 9,000 people killed over the last 15 months. We could have a much worse scenario if that were to take place.

MALVEAUX: Ivan, there's a real debate that's taking place here in the United States about whether or not the Obama administration should get more directly involved in Syria. There's not much of an appetite, from Americans' point of view, to enter into another conflict. There is the possibility of actually sending weapons to the opposition, but White House spokesman, Jay Carney, he did not think that was a good idea. Here is what he said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY JAY CARNEY: The concern is that further militarization of the situation in Syria could lead to greater chaos. Could lead -- could make it harder to achieve the political transition that the Syrian people deserve.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Ivan, the people you talk to, what do they say? Do they agree with that? Do they think it could get worse if, in fact, we decide that we're going to start arming the opposition there?

WATSON: Well, the fact is, Suzanne, if anybody starts running guns to the Syrian rebels, nobody -- no government is going to admit it, because it's basically illegal. And there are indicators that the rebels are getting their hands on new supplies of weapons. The cost of Kalashnikov assault rifles and ammunition have plunged at least in half within the course of the last month. When you ask rebels why, they get very coy about where these new sources of weapons are coming from. They are clearly outgunned because they do not have tanks and attack helicopters and howitzer artillery, which the Syrian military continues to use against population centers. But there are signs that they are better armed now than they have been.

I have talked to rebel commanders who have carried out attacks and said that their new access to weapons has made it easier for them to attack Syrian security forces, so I believe that some of that weapons and funding have started to flow and that's where you get into that scary scenario of an escalating proxy war.

We saw this in Lebanon in the 1980s when you had rival militias tearing that part -- country apart, with various benefactors from around the world giving them guns and money to do their fighting.

MALVEAUX: Ivan, thank you so much. Really appreciate your perspective.

I want to go to the United Nations. That is where the security council, it has a number of options on the table. Richard Roth, aside from condemning Syria yet again, what can the U.N. do that has a bit more teeth here?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm not sure how many options they have at the moment considering there doesn't appear to be an appetite for military intervention, even to threaten that to enforce the diplomatic efforts. The security council, right now, is behind closed doors getting an update briefing from Kofi Annan's deputy. He's the main Arab League/U.N. envoy on the Syrian matter, was just in Damascus yesterday, as you mentioned, where he said we're at a tipping point for Syria. And the U.N.'s department of peacekeeping, which is in charge of those monitors, observers on the ground, he's also behind closed doors. Now, Herve Ladsous, this diplomat who leads the peacekeepers, he echoed what Kofi Annan and others have said, including the current secretary-general to CNN's Christiane Amanpour the other day, that right now they feel there's no other option other than this Annan six-point peace plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERVE LADSOUS, U.N. UNDERSECRETARY FOR PEACEKEEPING: I think the goal is very clear. We have to proceed and to advance now solidly on all the plans of -- that of Mr. Annan because simply there is no alternative. There is no other game. Nobody has come out with any other plan. This is the one that we support, the one that we work for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Nevertheless, the British ambassador, Suzanne, said that this meeting -- they've got to have a serious strategic discussion about what to do in the wake of this massacre. The British ambassador called it a game changer, but I think we've heard those types of words before when there was some significant violence the British or the west thought would change things on the ground.

The German ambassador says they've got to study whether more troops, accountability for violations, all of these things one could have thought might have been happening and be ready in the wake of attacks when they passed and approved these observers.

MALVEAUX: Richard, in light of the fact that that's the only thing they got going on is this six-point peace plan, clearly a failure, President Bush used to say often -- he was very critical of the U.N. Saying it was largely an infective, toothless organization. Is the U.N. now in danger of proving him right?

ROTH: Well, this question is asked all the time when we have these types of crises. It wasn't asked as much during the Libya situation. The institution of the U.N. blames the member countries of the U.N., the member countries blame the U.N. You have that big divide between Russia and China and the west, and that's where we really are, this stalemate. And there's still a Libya hangover if you believe the Russian ambassador. The U.N., there have been calls for reforms, as one official said, as early as 1947, during the Truman administration. One U.S. official in charge of reform said the problem is there's a problem of management, a culture that they don't manage. They just kind of have a bureaucracy. Here, it requires tough decisions. And a lot of countries band together on one side against another group of countries. And there doesn't appear to be the teeth, the want, the guts, you might say, to do something when one member country's leaders torture, kill its own citizens.

MALVEAUX: All right, Richard Roth, thank you so much. Here is more on what we're working on this hour.

Thousands slaughtered in the streets of Syria. So how do we end the violence and what would happen next if we brought down the current Syrian government?

Then, more than 200 dead on the streets of Chicago just this year alone. I'll talk to a Congressman who knows what it's like to lose a child.

And the little storm that's smashing records and still dumping rain on the southeast. We'll tell you where Beryl is headed next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Want to talk more about Syria and what seems to be no end to the fighting, the senseless deaths of civilians now despite both sides of the conflict agreeing to stop the fighting. Nobody is taking the so-called cease-fire seriously anymore, especially after the weekend massacre. The village of Houla, that is where about 100 people killed, half of them children.

Michael Holmes from CNN International is joining us. Michael, first of all, let's understand how the Obama administration is dealing with this because there's a lot of pressure and there certainly is a debate whether or not we should be doing more to stop this, what is taking place.

You have Mitt Romney who says 'why don't we arm the opposition? Why don't we help those guys on the ground.' We heard from Jay Carney, White House spokesman, yesterday, who said, 'no, that would create more chaos, not a good idea.' Do we even know who the opposition are at this point?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is part of the problem. This is why the U.S. doesn't want to get involved in arming. They're helping out in non-lethal ways at the moment. They're not really saying what they are. There's a lot of people who think that the Saudis and the Qataris are putting arms in. The risk for the U.S. is -- we don't really know these guys on the ground, they're the opposition, they're the rebels, they're fighting al Assad. We don't really know who they are. We do know that there are a lot of claims that Islamist fanatics are involved in the fight now, coming through Iraq and other places, even al Qaeda. What would be the situation, if some of those arms, if they came from the U.S., ended up in the hands, of, say, al Qaeda fighters? Now that's going to go down well in an election year or any year.

MALVEAUX: The Human Rights Watch has not criticized the Obama administration. They have not said you are not doing enough at this point, although they're seeing this carnage here. They're worried this is going to turn into sectarian violence. Explain to us what it is. Who are these people that are fighting each other right now?

HOLMES: Well, the sect if you like of Islam that is that of al Assad is Alawite sect. And that's sort of 10 percent to 15 percent of the population. The vast majority of the people in Syria are Sunni.

Now, the attack that happened in Houla, a lot of people on the ground are saying people from neighboring villages who were Alawite were part of this militia that came in and carried out these killings, this horrible massacre that took place. That already is bringing a sectarian element into it. There could be reprisals against the Alawites. If the regime fell, you can imagine the bloodbath that would take place.

MALVEAUX: So, we've heard from Senator John McCain. He's weighed in on this. He really wants to see what took place in Libya. He wants either air strikes or he wants some sort of ground where you cannot actually drive through certain areas. Could that work in Syria as opposed to Libya or are there actually physical, logistical problems in that plan?

HOLMES: There are all kinds of problems with that plan. First of all, as we have said before, Syria ain't Libya. Libya was more of a desert campaign apart from some of the outskirts of major cities where you saw the air strikes. This is an urban battle that's going on here.

What do you hit? You could hit major infrastructure of the military. You could hit intelligence buildings and things like that. What does it achieve?

What are the risks of doing that? You could get Iran involved. Iran is already supporting Syria on this. You don't want to trigger something in Lebanon where Hezbollah has a reaction to military action on the ground. Syria has air defenses. There could be casualties. How would that go down here?

The other thing, too, that has to be considered, what happens if Assad goes? If it all falls down in a house of cards? Chaos. You have chaos on your hands. Now, if we precipitate that with military action that's not very well -- any kind of military action, really. You broke it, you own it. What are we going to do? Put boots on the ground there to quell the inevitable chaos and blood letting that would go on, the thousands of deaths?

And if we put boots on the ground, or us with NATO, what do you have then? Iraq, are we going to be there for ten years? How is that going to work out?

It's a very complex situation. And you can really in a way understand why the U.S. is going a bit hands off on this. You don't want to get mired into something.

MALVEAUX: All the polls are showing most Americans just can't stomach another war, too. That's another aspect, a political aspect as well.

HOLMES: You know, the political pressures that you could add more sanctions, but how many more sanctions can you put on? You could get it referred to the International Criminal Court. Have some of these leaders threatened with what we have seen go on in the criminal court lately. But to get something referred to a criminal court, you have to go through the U.N. Security Council. Russia, China, they will say no because they have their own self-interests.

MALVEAUX: All right, Michael. I want to turn to another story we found fascinating here. We really couldn't believe it when you actually took a look at this. This is the United Nations endorsing a world leader to be a so-called leader of tourism, but that's not the strange part. The strange part is really who this guy is. He's the president -- former president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe. He is the same guy who has been called one of the worst, most brutal dictators on earth. How is it that he has this honor bestowed upon him?

HOLMES: Not very bright, was it? This is the World Tourism Organization.

(CROSSTALK) HOLMES: World Tourism Organization. And he was given this -- well, look, let's keep it in context. This is not a very exclusive list of people who have this open letter as it is. Basically the leader of countries is given an open letter in which they will support tourism for the good of their people. There's a whole bunch of countries that have this, dozens of them, in places like Myanmar, too, who have had their own human rights issues.

But was it a good idea? No. I mean, really. Mugabe? I mean, this is not a nice guy, not running his country in a way that benefits these people one little bit. So you would think that this was probably a bad idea.

MALVEAUX: Do you think it's a little -- they're throwing him a bone to try to help him change?

HOLMES: Well, it could be partly that, too. Again, let's be fair, the head of the Human Rights Commission was there just last week and she was pushing for the lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe or at least some of the core sanctions because they're hurting the people. The people are the ones that are suffering, not Mugabe.

So, there is in some areas a call to lighten up a little bit. Maybe that's part of that, but, you know, in a PR sense, it doesn't look good.

MALVEAUX: All right. Michael, good to see you.

HOLMES: Nice to see you.

MALVEAUX: As always. Thank you.

All right. Imagine flipping over your iPhone and seeing made in America sticker on the back. It's a future that Apple's head guy says could be a possibility. We're going to tell you how long you're going to have to wait to see it happen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Made in America. Three words Apple CEO hopes he says eventually to see on an Apple product. Just one of the many revelations Tim Cook made at a tech conference in California. Cook also talked about his predecessor, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Jobs died last year, you may recall, from pancreatic cancer. This is how Cook responded when asked if he considers himself a visionary like Jobs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM COOK, CEO, APPLE: Yes, Steve was a genius and visionary and, you know, I've never really viewed that my role was to replace him. I think he's an irreplaceable person that -- Steve was an original, and I don't think there's another one of those being made.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Dan Simon is joining us from California where the conference is being held. Dan, you were at the event. Cook, he talked about the last advice that Jobs gave him before he died. Can you share it?

DAN SIMON, CNN SILICON VALLEY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. First of all, this is the first time that Tim Cook has spoken out publicly at a forum like this taking questions from both journalists and executives. And there was a lot of talk about Steve Jobs last night.

And he talked about when he actually met with Steve Jobs shortly before his death, and one of the things that Steve Jobs told him is that don't try to be like him. Don't have employees ask what would Steve do? He said Steve Jobs related to him that's what happened actually at Walt Disney. When Walt Disney died, people would ask what would Walt do. Don't let that happen at Apple. And Tim Cook says he's focused on trying to be himself and trying to run the company the way he thinks it should be run.

MALVEAUX: Seems like a stand-up guy there. He also talked about his grief over losing Steve Jobs. Here is a little bit about what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOK: At some point late last year I sort of -- somebody kind of shook me and said, it's time to get on. And so that sadness was replaced by this intense determination to continue the journey, and that's where it is today.

So what did I learn from him? I learned -- we could be here all night, probably all week, and maybe a month. I learned that focus is key.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Dan, what has he been focusing on? What kind of ground is he trying to break here?

SIMON: Well, first of all, what he said to the attendees last night is that Apple is doubling down on secrecy. And that's really saying something considering Apple is probably the most secretive company on the planet.

But there were many questions dealing with Apple television. Apple makes a set top box called Apple TV. There've been a lot of rumor that is Apple will make its own television, its own flat panel. He said it's an area of intense interest for the company. He wouldn't go farther than that, but there's a lot of speculation that maybe sometime this year, Apple will come out with its own television.

He also talked about Siri, the feature on the newest iPhone. He said there's going to be a lot more features with Siri and we should stay tuned to that. So, those are the two things he really talked about last night, Apple TV and Siri. MALVEAUX: And what about the fact that he wants eventually to make Apple products like this one in the United States. Do we think that's realistic, that that could happen? Or cheap labor from China too much really - too much of a draw essentially to change?

SIMON: Well, in his words he said he'd like that to happen. But he said currently the infrastructure does not exist in the United States where you could manufacturer iPhones and iPads at scale. He said the problem is that there simply aren't enough companies here who can make the machines and the tools and everything that goes into an iPhone.

He did note that there are certain things in the products like the glass in the iPhone that's manufactured at a plant in Kentucky, but the infrastructure doesn't exist. He didn't rule out in the future that sometimes that could happen but clearly it's a huge challenge facing the country. Nonetheless, he said he'd like to see it happen some day.

MALVEAUX: All right. Dan Simon, thanks. He's got a lot to do.

Just a couple months ago he was a sugar daddy to Newt Gingrich's super PAC, pumping millions into the race. Well, last night he had a meeting with Mitt Romney.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Mitt Romney reaches the magic number needed to lock up the Republican presidential nomination. Within the past hour, President Obama called Romney to congratulate him. The president says he looks forward to a healthy debate about America's future.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump steals some of Romney's spotlight while Romney tries to focus on jobs and the economy. Trump is hammering away at the so-called birther issue questioning whether or not President Obama was born in the United States.

I want to bring in our political editor Paul Steinhauser to talk about that and some other things in our radar. So Paul, you and I talked about this yesterday, so Romney he finally reaches his milestone.

He's getting the delegates he needs to become the nominee. It's trumped, pun intended, by this birther issue. How does he get back on message?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: You're absolutely right. You know, Romney made history last night. He was the first person of Mormon faith to actually clinch a nomination of a major party. As you said, he was trumped by Donald Trump.

We're not talking about him clinching the nomination. We're talking about the birther issue, about whether the president was born in the United States all because of one of his surrogates, Donald Trump.

That is a problem, Suzanne. As we talked about yesterday, is it just a distraction or is it more than that? Is this going to hurt Mitt Romney with people who really matter come November, the voters that really decide who wins an election like the moderates, the independents in the middle?

So what does Mitt Romney do? He tries to get back on message today. All week Mitt Romney's campaign is trying to go after President Obama saying he's a detriment to job creators and they're trying to slam him over wasting of taxpayer dollars bringing up Solyndra and other green energy industries that have not done so well with taxpayer money.

That's what the Romney campaign is trying to do today. You are not going to hear from the candidate though. He's fundraising all day -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, and Paul, one of the things that he talked about, and it really had a couple folks raising their eyebrows over this. He did talk about the economy, but he did slip in the idea of citizenship and of what should be done in terms of the constitution. I want to you listen to what he said carefully.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was speaking with one of these business owners who owns a couple of restaurants in town, and he said, you know, I'd like to change the constitution. I'm not sure I can do it.

He said, but I'd like to have a provision in the constitution that in addition to the age of the president and the citizenship of the president and the birth place of the president being set by the constitution.

I'd like it also to say that the president has to spend at least three years working in business before he can become president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Paul, does it seem like Romney is trying to have it both ways here? That he is in some kind of roundabout way addressing this idea, the birther issue, and yet he's still talking economy.

STEINHAUSER: Suzanne, we were a little puzzled by those comments as well. They came at an event in Las Vegas at a furniture store. It came a few hours before the fundraiser with Donald Trump.

You can see at the end this is part of Mitt Romney's trying to talk about his business background. That's one of his big -- what he touts often as he runs for president that he is a businessman. Barack Obama isn't.

That's why he's better qualified to be in the White House. But you're right, he mentioned citizenship. He mentions birth place, all of that on a day when he knew and everybody knew that the big conversation was going to be over whether the president was born in the United States and those comments by Donald Trump. So yes, very puzzling comments -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And we're talking about Trump, but really I think the big story here is the fact who he met with, the billionaire that he met with yesterday. That was Sheldon Adilson.

This is the guy who poured like $15 million or $20 million into the "Super PAC" supporting Newt Gingrich. Does it mean now that we are talking about some of that cold cash, Adilson's money finally getting behind Romney?

STEINHAUSER: Yes, Romney met for 45 minutes with Adilson yesterday at the Venetian Hotel and Casino, which Adilson owns. I wish I was in the room just to hear what the conversation was.

Because as you mentioned, that is the big question. Adilson and his family donated a lot of money to that "Super PAC" backing Gingrich. He has said he will help and support Romney.

So is a check on the way to "Restore Our Future," which is the pro-Romney "Super PAC"? We're talking big bucks in this campaign and we're talking especially money going to these independent "Super PACs" and the casino magnate has a lot of that money -- Suzanne.

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

He's a congressman. He also buried a son. He knows better than anybody what hundreds of parents are going through right now in Chicago as the gun violence is boiling over.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Forty people shot, 10 of them killed. We are not talking about Syria. We are talking about right here in America's own backyard in Chicago.

Leaders, they are trying to get a handle on the violence that in the past several days has left carnage in the streets, including the death of a 7-year-old.

The mayor and the police superintendent have outlined new measures they hope to halt the killing, but they say don't expect a miracle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUPT. GARY MCCARTHY, CHICAGO POLICE: It's not OK that we had 53 shootings last week, but that 53 shootings is the same exact number of shootings that we had last year so this is not a new problem. What it is a new solution we're applying to it and it's not going to happen overnight. It's a process we have to move forward with.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: One of those who suffered personally from the violence in Chicago is Congressman Bobby Rush. He's joining us live from Chicago.

And, Congressman, thank you very much for being here. I know you lost your own son in 1999 due to this type of violence. And I understand that now your chief of staff's 18-year-old cousin Jaylin Johnson was one of those who was killed over those shootings on the weekend.

I want to talk about Jaylin, but first, can you tell us, can you give us an idea of why this is happening in Chicago? What is going on there?

REPRESENTATIVE BOBBY RUSH (D), ILLINOIS: Well, I'm going to be quite straightforward and honest and frank with you. This is a problem. This is a result of failed strategies over many decades by the ones who are responsible for solving these problems.

And this is the failure of past administrations, past police departments, past mayors, including this one that we have right now. It's a failed policy. It's not going to produce the results. Chicago is the quintessential center of urban violence in this nation, all right?

MALVEAUX: Congressman --

RUSH: This administration and others have failed to commit themselves to providing adequate resources, adequate strategies to evolve the community residents, to evolve all of the elected officials. This is a top down policy that is doomed to fail.

MALVEAUX: Congressman, I want to play for our viewers, the mayor, Rahm Emanuel, how he addressed this yesterday. And get your take on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL (D), CHICAGO: There's a set of economic issues we're not even talking about. There's a set of cultural issues we're not talking about that also feed into this. When I say that, at a certain point a community gets -- I don't want to say, almost immune, where there should be more outrage by a community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Congressman, do you agree that your community is immune now, that there should be more outrage?

RUSH: Let me just tell you this, without a vision the people perish or in some instances the people throw off restraints. What is happening now, there's no vision, there's no restraints.

Look, this city is divided. This is two Chicagos. One Chicago is very well off, very happy. One side -- in one neighborhood one side of the community has 15 years longer life expectancy than the other side of the community two blocks away.

This is a Chicago that's divided, two cities. And, of course, the mayor can give prescriptive words and phrases to this problem, but until he deals with some of the systemic issues, unemployment.

This is also a city where you have in terms of contracts, public contracts, where you have contracting entities that have not, what we call 2 percent where there is not minority owned contracts. There are fake organizations, fake contracts --

MALVEAUX: I want to if I may -- about the solutions here --

RUSH: Let me just, if I can say this. You have young men on corners watching other men from outside the community coming in to do work in the community. These are unemployed people.

The mayor has got to address -- he has some control over these kinds of issues, the school system, a parallel school system that goes on here in Chicago.

The mayor has some authority to try to deal with that parallel school system instead of him working -- instead of him working to try to concentrate resources on this problem. He's down in Springfield trying to enact other laws that really don't speak to the issue.

MALVEAUX: Congressman, let me ask you this here because the mayor did address something that does bring up a lot of questions, of course. You bring up the issues of unemployment, of the resources, the lack of resources in the community.

He also says this is a cultural thing. This is something the community needs to deal with. Do you think there is a failure in some way of people inside their own community dealing with the violence that is now seems to perpetuate itself?

RUSH: It is a cultural violence that permeating really the entire community and the entire city. This is -- look, these guns come from some place, all right? We haven't dealt with the gun issue, the issue of gun manufacturer.

What I'm saying is, yes, it's a culture, but that culture is squandered or that culture is dictated and dominated by the lack of jobs, the lack of adequate health care, the lack of good schools, and appropriate schools, the fighting that's going on between the union and the teachers.

I mean, there are all kinds of issues here, but I tell you the one thing that I say and the one thing that I really believe that is missing here is that this mayor has to reach out. This can't be a top down solution.

If he's really sincere, he's got to start working with everybody including myself to try to deal with this problem. This is not just a police problem.

MALVEAUX: Sure. We're going to bring the mayor on as well, invite him as well to talk about this so he can address some of the many concerns that you have, and again, we want to mention Jaylin Johnson, who was killed.

Obviously, he was an innocent victim caught in the cross fire here. We want to wish his family condolences to your chief of staff and to all those who have been impacted by this horrific and violent three-day weekend that we are seeing there.

We certainly hope we can talk a little bit more at another time about some of those solutions. Congressman, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it.

RUSH: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Jobs are on the line as a tech giant faces an uncertain future. We'll tell what you is causing tough times for the maker of BlackBerry.

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MALVEAUX: The troubled company behind the BlackBerry talking about cutting jobs and other big moves just to stay in business.

Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange and this is a company called Research In Motion and they are trying to essentially dig themselves out of a hole.

How bad off are they, Alison? What do they have to do here?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's really hard to sugarcoat this one. You know, BlackBerry-maker RIM is having a real tough time of it and it has a lot to do with competition.

RIM has had a lot of trouble keeping up with its rivals like the iPhones and the phones made by Samsung and Nokia, so it's a company that's pretty much struggling to play catch-up at this point.

You look at its share price right now, shares of RIM are falling almost 8 percent today. Now what Research In Motion has done right is that it's hired JPMorgan and RBC Capital to what it calls "review some strategic options."

So that's kind of business speak for, yeah, we're a company that's at least considering putting itself up for sale. Because RIM expects to post another quarterly loss and, as you said, it's looking to lay-off a significant number of workers, anywhere from 5,000 to 6,000 people looking to be laid off. It's hoping to save $1 billion by the end of next year.

Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: What does that mean for the company here, especially for a lot of us with company-issued phones? Still got these.

KOSIK: I've still got a BlackBerry. Yeah, I admit. And for now, the device is going to live on. It's got a new operating system that should be out later this year. It's called BlackBerry 10.

Though many companies still mandate their workers to use BlackBerries, the problem with RIM, though, is that it's losing its market share. It's losing that hold on the corporate world, Suzanne

So a lot of workers are choosing to just sync their own iPhones or Android devices to company e-mail. That's another big issue for RIM as well.

Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Alison.

Sushi lovers, beware before you bust out the soy sauce and the wasabi. You will want to hear what all the talk is about radioactive tuna and what it means for you.

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MALVEAUX: We told you about low levels of radioactive compounds found in bluefin tuna off the coast of California.

Scientists say that the tuna absorbed it from Japan's nuclear disaster that happened last year. It is well below levels considered dangerous for human consumption and today we want to find out more about this fish that we are now eating.

Sarah Letrent is with CNN's Eatocracy blog. She's joining us from New York. And, Sarah, tell us a little bit about this, this tuna that contains a radioactive compound, this bluefin tuna. Is this a type of tuna that we are eating here?

SARAH LETRENT, EATOCRACY ASSOCIATE EDITOR: We are, but we really shouldn't be. Bluefin tuna is severely overfished and it's not a sustainable option.

You're mostly going to see this type of tuna in high-end sushi restaurants because it's best served raw and it's highly prized for its fatty belly and you often see that listed as "toro."

What you will normally see in the grocery store, the type of tuna that you're going to throw on the grill or make tuna salad out of, is albacore tuna, the type in the can, or big-eye or yellowfin.

So bluefin tuna, unless you're going to a high-end sushi restaurant, really isn't something you're going to encounter and you really shouldn't be purchasing it to begin with.

MALVEAUX: I just want to know if my sushi is safe because I love sushi. I just want to know if my sushi is safe.

LETRENT: Yes, it is. And according to the National Fisheries Institute, about 80 percent of seafood is imported and about 40 percent of that is farm-raised. So there is the debate about farm- raised versus-wild caught, that this radioactive tuna is also bringing to light. MALVEAUX: About half the fish we get overseas you mentioned is farm-raised. Should we have concerned about farm-raised fish as well?

LETRENT: Yes. So, as with any type of farming, there's going to be concerns about how you do it. With farm-raised salmon, for instance, there is the risk that there's going to be antibiotics in it because it's in a smaller pen, it's not allowed to roam freely through the oceans, lakes, and rivers. The farmers may put antibiotics in it to decrease the risk of disease.

There's also, when you build these pens, there's a risk of harming an already existing ecosystem, and you really don't want to do that in a marsh or in an aqua-culture environment because some of the by-products from the farm can run off.

And, also, just because it's a farm-raised fish doesn't mean that wild-caught fish aren't involved in the process. Salmon, for instance, again, is fed anchovies which are wild-caught to fatten them up.

So just because you're eating farm-raised fish doesn't mean that the fish themselves aren't eating something that is caught wildly.

And really the ultimate thing you can do is empower yourself. There are a number of resources out there. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is a great online tool you can go to, so the next time you go to the grocery store or to a restaurant, they have a mobile app. They also have a thing you can print out that says whether or not something is sustainable, whether or not this is something you should be eating, and if it isn't something you should be eating, here are some alternatives that might taste the same.

MALVEAUX: All right. Great advice, Sarah. Appreciate it. Especially for our lunchtime folks who are going to bite into that fish. Thanks, Sarah.

Hurricane season hasn't even started yet, but Tropical Storm Beryl already busting records, leaving a trail of destruction across the Southeast. We're going to tell you where it is headed next.

And later what would you do if you were invited to have tea with the queen? We're going to show you the right way to raise your cup in the company of royalty.

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MALVEAUX: It ruined a lot of weekend plans for those in Florida and Georgia and now Tropical Depression Beryl may be heading up the Atlantic coast.

Bonnie Schneider is here to tell us where Beryl is going and when it's actually going to get there.

Hey, Bonnie.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Suzanne. There is nothing worse than a slow-moving tropical system because it brings rain for days and that's exactly what Beryl is doing.

Even though the storm is a depression right now with maximum winds of 35 miles an hour, it's still a huge rainmaker for quite an expansive area along the Atlantic seaboard, all the way from North Carolina straight up to the Jersey shore and it's hitting already hitting areas of the south shore of Nassau County and Long Island.

We're seeing a lot of rain that will continue to work through this coastal region for at least the next 12-to-24 hours. We're watching for that and we're also watching for the threat of severe weather in the center of the country.

Just to give you a heads up, today could also be a dangerous day for Oklahoma. We're running the risk for large hail, damaging winds and even tornadoes across some major cities like Tulsa and Oklahoma City. So keep that in mind. We had a volatile day yesterday. Today could be similar.

So we have Beryl in the East and definitely quite a bit of severe weather breaking out in the center of the nation.

But here is the low that you can see. That's Beryl. The heavy rain doesn't quite go all the way into New York City, but it will bring about that chance for a sudden downpour throughout the day today.

I'm anticipating that will impact air travel for cities like Philadelphia, Washington, all the way down to areas of North Carolina.

So not quite done with Beryl yet, Suzanne, but almost. Give it another day or so and we'll finally get this thing out of here. It will become extra-tropical and out of our way.

MALVEAUX: Almost. We're getting there. All right, thank you, Bonnie.