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Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Facing Recall; Former Egyptian President Sentenced to Life in Prison; Nation's Unemployment Rate Goes Up; Can Bad Economy Hurt Sex Life; Catholic Church Paid Pedophile Priests to Leave; Lawsuit Challenges Federal Government's Ability to Deny Benefits to Same-Sex Couples; Special Military Unit Gets Technology Up, Running in Field
Aired June 02, 2012 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: You see it right now, high emotions in Egypt. The people's revolution gets results and a longtime president behind bars.
The Dow tanks but it seems more than your wallet gets hit. Is the economy also ruing your sex life? The answer is yes and you are not alone.
One of the most veteran journalists and one of the most iconic moments in his life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALTER CRONKITE, NOVEMBER 4, 1916-JULY 17, 2009: President Kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. Central Standard Time, 2:00 Eastern Standard Time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Walter Cronkite, the anchorman, the American people loved him. But did other journalists? An honest look at the life and career of the most trusted man in news.
Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Thank you so much for joining us. We're going to start this hour with politics. An historic recall election is just days away in Wisconsin. Republican Governor Scott Walker is in a rematch with the man he defeated for the job just two years ago. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Democrats in union numbers drove the recall effort angered by Walker's push to end collective bargaining rights for public workers.
CNN's Chris Welch standing by for us at the democratic phone bank. So, Chris, I'm hearing Tuesday's votes is going to be very, very close.
CHRIS WELCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, this race really will come down to how many people come out on Election Day. That's really what both sides are saying here. As you mentioned, I'm outside of a democratic field office here. They have been making calls, they've been knocking on doors. That's really been the name of the game for the last several days, really for weeks, essentially, but it will be nonstop from now until Tuesday. And the latest polls show Governor Walker with a very slight single digit lead. It's a lot of people feel like, look, there's maybe 80,000 homes out there who are undecided. It will come down to them on Election Day.
LEMON: So, this race has attracted national attention, Chris, and a lot of party surrogates are showing up. Tell us about that.
WELCH: They really are, Don. You know, today, I was at a Tea Party rally and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus showed up there, Paul Ryan was there, congressman from Wisconsin, of course, but yesterday on the democratic side, they had heavy hitter himself former President Bill Clinton. But that's caused a lot of people to start asking, where is another big name? I actually spoke to Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch yesterday, she is also being recalled. Here is what she said about Bill Clinton coming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GOV. REBECCA KLEEFISCH (R), WISCONSIN: What's more obvious is that the President himself, the current president is not that counts and that means speak volume to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WELCH: And so, you know, obviously there, she's turning that into, you know, she's trying to say, look, where's President Obama because a lot of folks here even on the democratic side say, we really are kind of disappointed that the President himself didn't show up. Now, you could ask some other folks and they would say the same thing about Governor Romney, but that really hasn't been the story, a lot of folks here on the democratic side haven't had the kind of surrogates that the Republicans have. So, they would really like the President to show up now.
LEMON: All right. Chris Welch. Thank you very much. Chris, we appreciate it. Unique look inside the life of the campaign trail. Get your questions answered by CNN's Wolf Blitzer and the political team live in a virtual chat, don't miss the CNN election roundtable, it's Tuesday at noon eastern, you can log on to CNN.com/roundtable.
In other news tonight, Hosni Mubarak is going to die in prison. That is a judgment handed to him today in Cairo. Life in prison. A civilian court holding the 84-year-old former Egyptian president responsible for the deaths of 840 people during historic revolution that forced him out of office. The verdict not terribly surprising though. I want you to take a look at the scene right now in Cairo. Live pictures now at Tahrir Square where the biggest Arab Spring revolution was born. It's after 11:00 p.m., and Tahrir Square is packed with Egyptians, both overjoyed and furious. You can see the crowds there, happy that Mubarak, that Mubarak's Egypt strong man autocrat for 30 years will never see freedom again. But angry that several of his former aides also charged in the killings were acquitted. Let's get there now to the streets of Tahrir Square in Cairo.
CNN's Ben Wedeman is on the phone with us. So, Ben, is that massive crowd going to be there for that long, all night long? BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's unlikely that they'll spend the entire night there although it's sort of the hard core group probably will as has been the case. And what we have often seen is when you have so many people gathered in Tahrir with sort of a unity of message, and in this case, it's more anger than happiness, anger that all these senior officials in the interior ministry have admitted very widely hated by Egyptians because of its use of torture and arbitrary arrests, people wanted to see those senior officials punished, punished harshly. I was at the court outside of Cairo when the verdict was announced, and when people heard that Hosni Mubarak was getting life imprisonment, even though many of the people there have said, they wanted him executed, they seemed genuinely satisfied that he was getting a life term. However, they wanted harsher punishment for the others and of course, there's a worry among many that he will and in fact his lawyers have told us President Mubarak will appeal this sentence, and his lawyer told CNN he expects the verdict to be overturned.
LEMON: So these crowds that we're looking at, are they angry at the acquittals or are they celebrating here?
WEDEMAN: They're angry. They're angry. There was brief celebration immediately after the verdict was announced, but when the details of the verdict came out and the fact that Hosni Mubarak's two sons Gamal and Alaa were declared innocent of all charges, that really sort of changed the mood completely. People are angry. They want to see Hosni Mubarak behind bars forever. His sons, his senior officials, people are not satisfied with this verdict at all.
LEMON: And we're looking at pictures now been of Hosni Mubarak at his trial earlier today. I want to go back to the crowd there. Anyone hurt in the crowd?
WEDEMAN: There were people hurt in clashes at the court itself. We were told by a health ministry official that nine people were hospitalized as a result of stone throwing, rock throwing. But in Tahrir itself, it has been blessedly peaceful. People have fainted because it's early in the day it was hot. But no violence so far in Tahrir Square.
LEMON: For Hosni Mubarak, as we said, we saw pictures of him at his trial earlier today, where is he right now and where is he going to serve his sentence been?
WEDEMAN: He's in a prison south of Cairo called Torah prison. And today was the first day he went there. In fact, over the last ten months, he's been in a hospital in a luxury wing of a hospital outside of Cairo. And it was only today that he was flown by helicopter from the military or rather the police academy where the trial was being held to Torah prison, and according to state TV and the ministry of interior officials we spoke to, as he was flying to the prison, he had what was described as a health crisis, no more details than that, and apparently, when he arrived in the helicopter at the prison, he refused to get off. And it was only after some intervention by a senior official was he finally convinced to get out of the helicopter and go to his newly refurbished prison cell. LEMON: Ben Wedeman reporting for us. Ben, thank you very much for that. And we'll be watching Tahrir Square throughout the night here on CNN. Let me remind you of what led up to this history making life of Hosni Mubarak. He was president of Egypt nearly 30 years. And back in 1981, he declared a State of Emergency that gave his police force almost complete power. That State of Emergency went away yesterday. And last year's uprising in Egypt, about 840 demonstrators were killed, about 6,000 were injured in just 18 days. And when the chaos was finally over, Mubarak was out of office. Military officers that took over brought Mubarak to trial in August and Mubarak could have been executed. He could have been set free. Egyptians will go to the polls to democratically pick up president two weeks from today. Again, live pictures from Tahrir square. We will continue to watch them for you.
LEMON: Today across Syria, 23 people were killed, most of them in the besieged City of Homs. Syrian military tanks rolled through with heavy gun fire there. Opposition activists also said, Syrian troops burned homes and sent snipers into other residential areas. Arab league foreign ministers met today to talk about who is keeping the conflict going? Several ministers want the U.N. to get more deeply involved possibly to include military action.
The violence in Syria, well, it seems to have burst from its borders, now spilling over into Lebanon. Security forces say clashes between supporters and opponents of the Assad regime left at least six people dead and 30 others injured in Tripoli today.
The U.S. is re-thinking, security strategist in Asia and the new plans involve more cooperation with China. Speaking at a gathering of Asia's military leaders, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, the United States will enhance military cooperation with China. Panetta says, the U.S. will also help bolster the capabilities of its allies in the region. The U.S. plans for a larger presence in the Pacific Ocean then is currently there. Also, part of the plan, larger investment in new technologies.
In Maryland, cleanup is underway after a fierce storm tore through the northeast part of that state. High winds ripped off roofs and overturned cars late yesterday. A number of people were freed after becoming trapped in their cars. In Washington, D.C., flooding was the issue. Look at that. CNN affiliate WJLA reports that area firefighters performed several water rescues, including helping three teenagers trapped on the edge of a bridge.
So much for spending your golden years relaxing. Thanks to the economy, more Americans are still at work, so hard at work later in life. Well, some can't afford to retire. But others refuse to.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Turning up the heat. Today, President Obama ramped up pressure on Congress to pass bills he says would help the economy grow. His weekly radio address came on the heels of the latest jobs report which showed the unemployment rate going up for the first time since June of last year. Christine Romans takes a look at the numbers.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: No other word but disappointing for job creation and the economy in the month of May. Sixty nine thousand jobs created. Not something that is robust enough in a healthy economy, and quite frankly 8.2 percent unemployment rate. It ticked up just a little bit here. Mostly because discouraged workers were coming back into the labor market to try to look. I want to take a look at some of the bright spots, you had health care jobs. Thirty four thousand health care jobs created in the month for the year so far, 340,000 health care jobs have been created. But that's quite frankly, is one of the rare bright spots in the economy. You're losing public sector jobs.
Another 13,000 public sector jobs lost in the period, also the private sector, 82,000 jobs created. That's simply not enough even to absorb new people into the work force. Let's take a look at the trend because this is what's really interesting here. I want you to zero in on this last three months. This shows a slowdown in hiring in this country. This shows a weak period much like we saw a year ago in the spring and early summer when hiring slowed. You've got businesses big and small that are turning cautious.
LEMON: All right. Christine, thank you very much. Because of such a shaky economy, we're now seeing a unique blend of seniors, some who can't afford to retire. And those who refuse to.
CNN's Athena Jones has more now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As a real estate agent in Florida, life was good for Nathan McLaughlin. He had planned to retire and travel the world, but when the real estate bubble burst, so did his retirement plans.
NATHAN MCLAUGHLIN, WORKING SENIOR: I lost everything. I would love to retire. I would have retired long ago. But to make ends meet, because of recession, I have to work.
JONES: McLaughlin moved to Washington to live with his daughter after suffering a stroke, and now the 68-year-old grandfather works at the city's employment services department as part of a training program for seniors.
MCLAUGHLIN: I need to contribute to my upkeep. And this offers me not much, but a little.
JONES: Nearly one in five people, 65 and older are working. The highest percentage since 1964. That includes nearly 40 percent of men and more than a quarter of women age 65 to 69. Numbers that illustrate the effect the recession has had on many seniors' savings.
JEAN SETZFAND, AARP: A lot people haven't saved enough. And therefore, they need to work longer in order to save more and/or need an additional income for as long as possible to supplement what they possibly could get from Social Security.
JONES: But not everyone working past the traditional retirement age does so out of need.
FRAN BERKERY, WORKING SENIOR: -- Services, may I help you?
JONES: Some like 68-year-old Fran Berkery are eager to keep working.
BERKERY: I like people. I need to be around people to be happy.
JONES: Berkery whose husband died in 1999 says, she can afford to retire from her full-time job as a receptionist, but doesn't want to.
BERKERY: I can't picture myself not working. You know, I do entertain it a little bit in my head, but it's too final. To retire. And I am excited about coming in. I really am. I was off for a whole year and you get in a slump. You go to bed at 2:00, you're lucky to get dressed in the morning, you know.
JONES: A small recovery from back surgery makes it hard for her to get around, but Berkery is not going to let that stop her from working long into her golden years.
BERKERY: As long as I can get here, I'll come here.
JONES: Athena Jones, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Thanks, Athena. Remember that massacre in Afghanistan back in March? Allegedly at the hands of an American soldier. Sixteen civilians were killed. We'll going to look at how steroids may have been to blame.
But first, the May jobs report disappointed many, but it didn't discourage job seekers at a career fair for recent and future college graduates in New Jersey. Again, here is CNN's Christine Romans.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): Job growth slowed in May, and job seekers at this career fair are more focused than ever.
MARK HEADLEY, JOB SEEKER: Today, I see all of the things that I need to work on and tweak for my next career fair.
NIKKY NWAMOKOBIA, JOB SEEKER: Approaching someone and having to, you know, spiel about yourself for one minute is kind of nerve-racking. So, it's good to --
ROMANS: For Mark Headley and Nikky Nwamokobia, their plan is simple, meet people and start a conversation.
CAROLINE CENIZA-LEVINE, CAREER COACH, SIXFIGURESTART: When it's competitive like this and there are a lot of job seekers out there, the best moves are the most basic ones. ROMANS: Maria Sarvanski recently added an MBA to her resume. She has been looking for a marketing job in the battered travel and leisure sector for about three months. She hired a career coach Caroline Ceniza-Levine to help.
MARIA SARVANSKI, JOB SEEKER: It's a process that you have to keep at the top of it. Meaning that you have to work and do something for your search almost every day.
ROMANS: Her job coach says, it's important to keep evolving with the job market, build contacts, use social media, and don't just pursue one type of position. Keep your options open.
SARVANSKI: I think people looking for that magic bullet, that one thing to do, will spend a lot of time on something like a resume where they really should be doing multiple things.
ROMANS: For Mark Headley and Nikky Nwamokobia, they hope to meet enough employers to get their search going. Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: It's been a lingering question for a month. What caused Army Staff Sergeant Richard Bales to allegedly gun down 16 innocent Afghan civilians? The answer may be steroids. Casey Wian reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN has for months been investigating the possibility that Staff Sergeant Robert Bales abused steroids and now comes confirmation from the army that in addition to murder, assault, and alcohol related charges, Bales faces two counts of unlawful steroid possession. Bales Attorney John Henry Brown tells CNN, I am so relieved that prosecutors finally came out publicly about the steroid use. Steroid use is going to be an issue in this case. Especially where Sergeant Bales got steroids and how he got steroids. Bales war stationed near Tacoma, Washington at Joint Base Lewis McChord which has been the target of previous steroid investigations. One former army sergeant from the base says, he saw wide spread steroid abuse during his tour of Iraq in 2004.
SETH MANZEL, FORMER ARMY SERGEANT: It was fairly acceptable for people to use steroids. There was a time when we had raided a pharmacy and the guys came out with a bunch of, arm load of anabolic steroids. And that seems to have started them off on this course of buying steroids from either through the internet or through the military contractors.
WIAN: Manzel says, soldiers used steroids to bulk up in preparation for combat. A survey by the Defense Department in 2008 showed that 2.5 percent of army personnel had illegally used steroids within the past 12 months. Medical experts tell CNN that in some cases, steroid abuse can lead to Jekyll and Hyde like behavior mark irritability and mode swings. Over the past 10 years, Bales who last lived in this house with his wife and two children had several brushes with the law. He faced a criminal assault charge in Tacoma in 2002. The case was dismissed after he completed anger management classes. In 2008, police responded to a fight involving Bales outside a bowling alley. But no charges resulted. And in the same year, Bales crashed his mustang rounding this curve near his home. And fled into the woods.
MARK BENNETT, BALES CRASH WITNESS: He was on the cell phone saying something like, man, I really screwed up, whoever he was talking to, he said, I really screwed up. And he said, do you need help? It appeared like he had blood on his face, and he was kind of ignoring us to walking up the hill away from where they were be held.
WIAN: No charges were brought fallowing that accident.
(on camera) In March, CNN filed a freedom of information request with the army for details about steroid abuse by Bales or at Joint Base Lewis McChord. That request was denied. Casey Wian, CNN Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: How was last night? Maybe you had a romantic evening planned but everything just fizzled or, no, no, no, maybe it wasn't you. Is a troubled economy causing troubles in the bedroom? We're going to ask Dr. Wendy Walsh straight ahead.
And we want viewers to stay connected to CNN even on the go. Make sure you grab your mobile phone, you can go to cnn.com/TV and if you're on a desktop or a laptop, you can also watch CNN live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right, almost half past the hour. We're going to get you caught up on the headlines right now. You're about to look at live pictures from Cairo, Egypt, this is Tahrir Square. It's packed with people right now earlier in the day, they were celebrating the conviction and life sentence handed down to the former President Hosni Mubarak, but the celebration turned angry when words spread that several of Mubarak's former aides were acquitted. Mubarak was declared responsible for the deaths of nearly 850 people during the Egyptian revolution last year.
More fighting and more deaths across Syria today. At least 27 people were killed today. And witnesses say Syrian military tanks raided the City of Homs, rolling through with heavy gunfire. Opposition activists also said, Syrian troops burned homes and sent snipers into other residential areas. Arab League foreign ministers met today to talk about who is keeping the conflict going and how to prevent an all-out civil war.
In Maryland, cleanup is under way after a fierce storm tore through the northeast part of the state. High winds ripped off roofs and overturned cars late yesterday. A number of people were freed after becoming trapped in their cars. Bad weather also hit Virginia, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. Today kicked off four days of a grand party only fit for a queen. Brits are marking the diamond jubilee, Queen Elizabeth's 60th year on the throne. Today's events included the Epson Derby featuring the nation's top horses. And one of the Queen's favorite sports.
Tomorrow, CNN will have special coverage of the celebration starting at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. Make sure you tune in. Join Piers Morgan and Brooke Baldwin live from London for the Royal Extravaganza, I like saying that.
OK, so probably going to be some potty mouth going on here, so just a word of warning. Is this hurting your sex life? That's the Dow. Down. A lot of things are down when the Dow is down. With the recent bad economic news --
(LAUGHTER)
-- like the worst month for stocks in two years, some mental health professionals warn of unexpected personal challenges.
I heard you giggling there, Doctor --
(LAUGHTER)
-- when I said a lot of things are down when the Dow is down.
DR. WENDY WALSH, PSYCHOLOGIST & HUMAN BEHAVIOR EXPERT: Down when the Dow is down.
LEMON: When the economy is down, the jobs are down, a lot of things are down.
OK, so, Dr. Wendy, she is a psychologist, and she joins us now.
Can a bad economy hurt your sex life?
WALSH: Well, it can and it can't. It all depends. We know that fertility rates go way down in a recession because, 100 years ago, children were an asset and helped to make money on the farm or in the bakery. But today, they're luxury consumer goods. Married couples often tend to have less sex. And sex is associated with anxiety about reproduction because it's an expensive thing.
Some evolutionary psychologists, Don, think men have a crazy yearning for uncommitted sex in a recession. It would be like, after a harsh season, back when we were hunters and gathers, because they didn't drop their seed and they might be dying soon, then the genetic line might fall out.
(LAUGHTER)
So who knows? It's different for different people, is the answer.
(LAUGHTER)
Why are you laughing? LEMON: You're making me blush. I'm turning rust.
(LAUGHTER)
So --
(LAUGHTER)
So men are just cheaters. So when the economy is down, they don't have a job, they just want to have random, as they say, some strange?
WALSH: That could be single men also pursuing uncommitted sex rather than expensive, committed marital sex. I don't know if you know, Don, but for some men, trying to procure sex costs some money. There's dinners and nice cars and that kind of thing.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: OK. Let's talk specifically now about the jobs numbers. You see here the downhill slope in job creation. But jobs are so personal, Wendy, not like I'm not in the mood, my 401K took a beating this week. But it would seem unemployment could affect your relationships with other people, right?
WALSH: Absolutely. For both genders, but in particular, men. We self-identify with our jobs and who we are. And so when men become unemployed, they are more likely to drink more, become more depressed, and be less interested in sex. That's a bottom line.
LEMON: Men, we need some major therapy, don't we? It's always the men. It's always the men.
(LAUGHTER)
WALSH: No, women, too. The genders are becoming a lot closer together. We're seeing a lot of crossover in what we would traditionally call male or female behavior.
LEMON: OK. It gets better, guys. Work on it.
There's a new app that says it can determine mood disorders, Wendy. Sounds like a bad idea, right?
WALSH: I played around with it today. It's called What's My M-3. It's a very simple schematic 27 questions to tell how you're feeling and if you may have signs of depression or anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder or bipolar disorder. The problem is, Don, when people are in those mental states, they're probably not downloading an app on their iPhone and not reaching out for help. That's the other thing.
Now, another study this week came out from Missouri University of Science and Technology, and they were able to show that more frequent iPhone checking, Facebook checking, e-mail checking, was linked to depression. Maybe in the future, we'll see something different, that we'll sit down and our laptop will say, "Hello, did you know you have checked your e-mail 104 times this week. You may be depressed. Here's a number you should call."
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Everyone in this business, everyone is depressed. We get so many e-mails, we can't keep up. We're like -- anyway.
WALSH: Exactly.
LEMON: Were you here last week? I was away. I missed you.
WALSH: I was -- no, I was in Napa Valley.
(CROSSTALK)
WALSH: I took my kids and we drank and ate our way through Napa Valley. It was beautiful.
LEMON: I had the best vacation. I caught a huge white marlin. And I drank so many margaritas with salt that I was bloated. My ankles were swollen.
(LAUGHTER)
WALSH: Where you in Baja? Where were you?
LEMON: I went to Key West. It was great. We went out fishing -- deep sea fishing expedition. It was great. Napa Valley --
(CROSSTALK)
WALSH: Good for you.
LEMON: -- and the beach.
WALSH: Yes.
LEMON: Good for you, too.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: All right, we had fun. Welcome back.
WALSH: All right. Take care.
LEMON: Good to see you.
Thanks.
WALSH: OK, bye-bye.
LEMON: There are only winners in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Washington, D.C., this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- you all for giving me more time with my husband.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: 26,000 people took part in the fundraiser for breast cancer research. But the Komen Foundation said that's 10,000 fewer than last year. It's not clear why there was a drop in turnout, but this was the first global race since February's controversy when the Komen Foundation reversed its decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood.
He may be the most powerful leader in the Catholic Church in America, but there are new concerns that he may have paid off abusive priests to get them out of the church.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: New York's cardinal, Timothy Dolan, is one of the most powerful leaders of the Catholic Church in America, but an organization representing people who were sexually assaulted by Catholic priests is accusing him of paying off priests in his previous assignment in Milwaukee. The accusations stem from a publication of documents, part of a bankruptcy filing by the Milwaukee Archdiocese.
CNN's national correspondent, Susan Candiotti, joins us.
Susan, were these priests really being paid off as these victims claimed?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, that's what one victims group is calling it. In a statement, the archdiocese of Milwaukee acknowledges it did pay priests accused of being pedophiles to leave the priesthood. It's called being laicized. Back in 2003, then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan was part of a meeting that proposed paying priests up to $20,000 each in addition to a monthly $1,250 check to help ease them into the outside world.
LEMON: Any idea how many alleged pedophile priests got payouts?
CANDIOTTI: No, Don. We have been trying to find that out. The archdiocese of Milwaukee has only issuing written statements and they say it's a handful of priests. We also don't know how long it went on. The archdiocese says it's no longer paying accused abusive priests, though.
LEMON: What about Cardinal Dolan, is he saying anything about it?
CANDIOTTI: Not right now. We have tried to reach him. Back in 2006, Don, he issued a statement about one priest who faced a lot of sex abuse allegations, and back then, Archbishop Dolan said, calling the money a payoff to one priest was preposterous. In his words, "It was an act of charity that allowed him to buy health insurance."
Now, Cardinal Dolan's spokesman in New York these days has no comment about any of this. The cardinal's former Wisconsin archdiocese called the payments a faster and cheaper way to get accused pedophiles out of the priesthood, instead of a religious trial at the Vatican, which they said could traumatize victims. But we don't know what the victims felt about all this or whether they even played a role.
LEMON: Right. Right. What happens next? Will we get more answers here?
CANDIOTTI: We'll certainly try to. SNAP, that's a victim support group, they have sent a letter to the archdiocese of Milwaukee asking how many priests got this money and where that money came from. And by the way, Don, we don't know whether this is a common practice of the Catholic Church here. And the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops, which Dolan heads up, it has not responded to our questions either.
LEMON: Susan Candiotti reporting from New York. Susan, thank you very much.
Meantime, jurors in Philadelphia hold the fate of the highest-ranking Catholic cleric to be charged with endangering children --
CANDIOTTI: Thank you.
LEMON: -- by covering up sexual abuse. Jurors got the case on Friday in the trial of Monsignor William Lynn. He's accused of knowingly allowing dangerous priests to remain in ministry roles with access to children. Reverend Benjamin Brennan is also on trial with Lynn. Brennan is accused of the attempted rape of a 14-year-old boy. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
Federal benefits like tax credits and long-term health care reserved only for heterosexual couples. Now a U.S. appeals court is calling that unconstitutional.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The key part of the law banning federal recognition of same- sex marriage has been struck down, called unconstitutional by a U.S. appeals court. The Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA, defines marriage as unions exclusively between a man and a woman. The issue at the center of the debate is whether the federal government can deny benefits to same-sex couples.
Let's talk about it more with criminal defense attorney, Holly Hughes -- is here.
Holly, the law is likely on its way to the Supreme Court. What are supporters or opponents, I should say, of DOMA going to argue here?
HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY & FORMER PROSECUTOR: What they're going to say is that the federal government cannot deny benefits when the state has said your marriage is legal here. This is a difference between federal rights and state's rights. And they don't want the federal government to be able to define a marriage when their own state has said, yes, you are a married couple to a same-sex couple. Then the federal government steps in and says, yes but because we don't like that under this DOMA Act, which was enacted around 1996, therefore, we're going to deny you benefits, so you can't have retirement benefits of your long-term partner or now your spouse, your legal spouse.
The opponents are saying that's not fair. The states have always been able to it define marriage. And the whole history of our legal system in this country, if they say we're married, we need to get the same benefits as everyone else.
LEMON: Any idea how this is going to end up legally? Is it constitutional or unconstitutional? Do we know what's going to happen?
HUGHES: I think the Supreme Court is going to agree with the appeals court. I really do. It's going to be a very narrow issue because there's a couple of components to this they didn't challenge. They didn't say, do we have the constitutional right to marry as a same-sex couple? They didn't challenge that. They just went after the benefits part.
LEMON: We saw, just last month, President Obama give his support to same-sex marriage. Gallup poll conducted last month says half of Americans support legalizing such unions. Will that impact the Supreme Court or do they look at the Constitution, at the law, and make their ruling?
HUGHES: That's exactly what they're going to do. They're going to look at the law, the history of the law, the precedence in the country. Public opinion is not going to sway the United States Supreme Court. And I think, legally speaking, I think they're going to agree with the appeals court.
LEMON: This court only ruled on benefits, not the more controversial provision asking whether gay couples have a constitutional right to marry.
HUGHES: Right.
LEMON: So more to follow?
HUGHES: There will be more challenges because, don't forget, there's a third component here that talks about, can a state, if you're married, say, in Vermont, and you move back to your own state, which does not recognize same-sex, can the federal government make the state, who doesn't recognize the legal union or the real marriage, because you were married somewhere else, can they force the states to give you the benefits? So that's the third component.
So there's a lot of different challenges, but I think the Supreme Court is going to be very narrow. They're going to look at specifically what they're asked to review. They're going to be asked to review this portion of it, but we'll see other challenges, other cases coming up through to challenge those other two portions.
LEMON: Just the beginning. Good stuff.
HUGHES: It is just the beginning, yes. LEMON: Thank you, Holly.
HUGHES: Absolutely.
LEMON: Good stuff. We appreciate it.
All of our men and women in uniform deserve recognition for what they do. But there's one unit that may stand above the rest. They're the first to deploy and the last to come home.
And we want our viewers to stay connected to CNN even on the go. You can do it. Grab your mobile phone and go to CNN.com/tv. If you're on a desktop or laptop, watch CNN, live. CNN is everywhere. Watch us all the time. Just look for us wherever.
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: In the movies it is a familiar storyline, super heroes join forces to tackle an evil force or world problems. This story has all of those ingredients but there is a twist -- our heroes are real.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SINGING)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Maria DeSilva (ph) was a nanny in the U.S. when started a school for AIDS orphans in her native, Malawi. Honored as a top-10 hero in 2008. She has now joined forces with two other honorees.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so thrilled.
COOPER: Magnus McFarland Barrow (ph) was recognized in 2010 for his work feeding school children around the globe.
MARIA DESILVA (ph), CNN HERO: He started his organization in Malawi. I asked him to consider us.
MAGNUS MCFARLAND BARROW, CNN HERO: I was very struck by her. I felt we could work together.
DESILVA (ph): This is the stove.
COOPER: Today Magnus' organization, Marie's Meals, provides free porridge daily to all 400 of Marie's students.
BARROW (ph): Am I giving them too much?
(LAUGHTER)
DESILVA (ph): His support means the children always have something to eat. He is a saint to me.
COOPER: The 2010 honoree, Evans Dradongo (ph) makes solar lanterns for rural African communities. Evans has visited Marie's school and recently his team taught students to build their own lamps.
DESILVA (ph): For the family, it cuts the costs. And for the children, it's helping them to study.
Evans really motivated our kids to be inventors. They have come up with their own little models.
COOPER: Now, Marie's students plan to supply lamps to their community.
(SINGING)
COOPER: With creativity and compassion, these "CNN Heroes" are helping each other to change even more lives.
DESILVA (ph): "CNN Heroes" coming together to work together. It's a family. How sweet is that?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Remember. "CNN Heroes" are all chosen from people you tell us about. To nominate someone who is making a difference, go to CNNheroes.com. Your nomination could help them help others.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: High-tech tools fuel the U.S. military's advantage in the field of battle. But it takes members of a special group to get that technology up and running in often dangerous places.
Our Reynolds Wolf gives us a first-hand look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In modern combat, targeting and taking out enemy combatants is crucial to military success. There's one elite Air Force unit that lays the groundwork for it all.
COL. JOSEPH SCHERRER, COMMANDER, 689TH COMBAT COMMUNICATIONS WING: We just had a team in Afghanistan working with Army Ranger forces that were up-close-and personal with the Taliban, and they were feeding down-linked imagery to be able to find, fix, target and finish those adversaries out there.
WOLF: That team is the 5th Combat Communications group, also known as the mom. They're the first to deploy and the last to leave.
UNIDENTIFIED SERVICEMEMBER: We're always first. First ones out the door, first ones to (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED SERVICEMEMBER: When we go out, we're building up where we're installing additional communications and make it so that we can actually get up within just a few days and have communications with the outside world.
SCHERRER: This is really the first step to base building.
WOLF (on camera): This is it?
SCHERRER: Absolutely. It all begins here.
(voice-over): To get a better understanding of what the mom does, I was made an honorary member for a day. From communications to shelter to air traffic control and supplying troops in the field, the mom does it all.
(on camera): You guys make the complex look easy. It's not easy at all.
UNIDENTIFIED SERVICEMEMBER: Training. That's all it is. It's just training.
WOLF (on camera): There's a lot to this.
UNIDENTIFIED SERVICEMEMBER: We put the (INAUDIBLE) at work.
WOLF (voice-over): But their mission doesn't come without risk.
SCHERRER: Our business is a life-and-death business for soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.
WOLF (on camera): So these are guy who are going to deal with electronics. They're going to deal with engineering. But they also do soldiering don't they?
SCHERRER: They may be in an environment where bad guys want to do them harm. They need to be prepared to face that.
(GUNFIRE)
UNIDENTIFIED SERVICEMEMBER: All right, follow me.
WOLF (on camera): Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Right behind you. Right behind you.
(GUNFIRE)
UNIDENTIFIED SERVICEMEMBER: Back up against the door.
UNIDENTIFIED SERVICEMEMBER: (INAUDIBLE). Roger that, Wolf?
WOLF (on camera): Yes, sir.
(voice-over): This aspect of the training brings it home.
UNIDENTIFIED SERVICEMEMBER: Ready!
(SHOUTING)
UNIDENTIFIED SERVICEMEMBER: Move!
(SHOUTING) WOLF (voice-over): Shouldering a weapon in, well, let's say adverse circumstances.
That's intense.
(on camera): How can you not respect these airmen? How can you not respect these airmen? They're out here doing this stuff? Seriously, from the high-tech gadgetry, to all the electrical engineering, to the day-to-day tactics, to this stuff, it's amazing. A lot of respect for them.
SCHERRER: We pick up and go someplace where we've never been before potentially, it requires us to operate as a team, depend on each other, and rely on each other's expertise to get us through potentially hazardous and stressful situations.
JAMES FERGUSON, SENIOR AIRMAN, U.S. AIR FORCE: Whoever the higher-up is makes that call, like (INAUDIBLE). We are a good -- we're basically a plane ticket away.
WOLF: Always ready?
FERGUSON: Oh, yes. Always. Everybody loves the mom.
(SHOUTING)
WOLF (voice-over): Reynolds Wolf, CNN, Robbins Air Force Base.
(on camera): Good deal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Reynolds Wolf --
(LAUGHTER)
-- if you're listening, and your agent is listening, you are the next Micro, mark my words.
Thank you, sir. Good stuff. Good stuff.
When veteran anchorman, Walter Cronkite, removed his glasses while reporting the JFK assassination, it became one of the most iconic moments in history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALTER CRONKITE, VETERAN NEWS ANCHOR: President Kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. central standard time, 2:00 --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: This is a new book by Douglas Brinkley. It's called, "Cronkite."
I spoke with Douglas Brinkley and I talked about that historic moment and more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, AUTHOR: Everybody knows that clip. He came in that day, it was a normal Friday. A lot of people had cut out for the weekend and others were having long lunches in New York. He brought cottage cheese and pineapple, sitting around the newsroom. And he was an old United Press Wire Service guy and always would hear the hum of those machines. And he got a shooting in Dallas and then he ran with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: It's a fascinating book. It's very long, but it's very easy to read, very well written. So make sure you pick it up. And, of course, you guys know, these are my Cronkites. My team calls them the breaking-news specs because I put them on for breaking news.
Anyway, make sure you catch more of my interview with Douglas Brinkley. Fascinating new details about the legendary Walter Cronkite's life. That's tonight at 7:00 p.m. east right here on CNN. It's a great interview.
I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. I'm going to see you back here one hour from now.
In the meantime, Mr. Wolf Blitzer with "THE SITUATION ROOM" is going to take over.
