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Another Massacre in Syria; Syria Dominates U.N. Session; Safe Haven for al Qaeda-Linked Group; Politics: More Divisive than Race; FBI Investigates Security Leaks; Colorado Overpays; Stocks Trading Higher; Conviction in Texting-Driving Death; New Report Traces Lincoln's Death

Aired June 07, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Suzanne is on special assignment. I'm Don Lemon.

Let's get right to it. U.S. stocks are on a roll, extending gains from yesterday. Meantime, there's a warning today from the Fed chair, Ben Bernanke, about avoiding a financial cliff. He's telling a congressional committee that lawmakers need to take action before Bush era tax cuts and other tax breaks expire.

A warning also today from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. He says Pakistan must do more to root out the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network. Panetta is in neighboring Afghanistan, meeting with the country's defense officials and with U.S. Army General John Allen, who commands NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Now to the horrific developments coming out of Syria and some awful images that go with what I'm about to tell you. And I have to say the video you are about to see is very graphic. It shows dead bodies, some of them burned, and it's not suitable for children to see. But we feel it is important to convey the brutality of the Syrian government crackdown against civilians.

So, here it is. It was recorded near the city of Hama, which is a hub of opposition activity. Witnesses say men with guns and knives walked through this village yesterday and killed 78 people, shot them, stabbed them, hacked them. Most of them women and children, and we're told men who did this were members of a militia loyal to President Bashar al Assad.

Arwa Damon is following the developments from neighboring Lebanon, in Syria.

Listen, Arwa, is the implication here that someone in the government ordered this massacre?

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's very difficult to determine given how fluid these various front lines are inside Syria, but we have been seeing similar instances horrifically repeating themselves time and time again. What happened in this small village and really, Don, it's not more than a few cluster of homes. The death toll according to opposition activists is almost half of this little village's population, but it seems as if the government forces were first shelling it with tanks and then these pro-government thugs, these predominantly Alawite thugs ,went through carrying out this massacre.

And the video is so horrifying. It shows small little children wrapped in burial white. Their bodies are covered in either chunks of ice or frozen water bottles in something of a desperate attempt to prevent them from rapidly decomposing.

In the clip, the voice there says five of the children were, in fact, from one family. It also says their mother and uncle were killed. And in images that we most certainly cannot show, those of bodies that were charred.

One of these bodies is described as being a mother cradling her two children.

This is what is incredibly disturbing about this situation in Syria for lack of a better word to categorize it is these types of alleged massacres, no matter who was carrying them out, are becoming even more prevalent and many people are expressing their growing concerns that this type of violence is what most certainly is going to ignite that full-on sectarian civil warfare, Don.

LEMON: So, Arwa, has anyone from the United Nations, any observer there on a mission, been able to see this? Have they been to this village?

DAMON: Well, we've been trying to actually figure that out because the U.N. -- the chief of the U.N. mission in Damascus put out a statement earlier saying that the teams were unable to arrive to the village, that they were either being stopped or turned back at checkpoints. We just heard from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon briefing the Security Council where he said one of these U.N. convoys was, in fact, shot at while trying to reach the site of this massacre.

Bizarrely, state TV flashed a banner a few hours ago saying that the U.N. monitors had, in fact, arrived on site. And let's remember, too, that Syrian state television is claiming that this was, in fact, carried out by terrorist gangs. It is saying that these foreign- backed terrorist elements killed nine women and children in this village. Other surviving residents cried out for help and that is why Syrian government troops went in and effectively broke up a terrorist cell.

So, we're getting all sorts of conflicting accounts. But one thing remains undisputed, and that is that this death toll is continuing to rise. The massacres are becoming more horrifying by the day, and at this point in time, the peace plan is effectively failed, dialogue does not seem to be the way forward. Both sides refusing to come to the negotiating table, and the international community has absolutely no plan "B," Don.

LEMON: You mentioned Ban Ki-moon. Let's listen to him talking about it, Arwa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAN KI-MOON, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: And I just learned a few minutes ago that while trying to do so, the U.N. monitors were shot at with small arms. Peaceful protesters have bravely persisted in calling for dignity and freedom, yet too often they have paid with their lives. We see too little evidence that the Syrian government is living up to its commitment under the six-point plan endorsed by the Security Council more than two months ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. So you hear what officials are saying, and my question is, is we're seeing lots of protests and demonstrations all across Syria today. What about the public outcry after these massacres?

DAMON: Well, it's been the same cry for quite some time now, Don, and that is what is so frustrating, angering to these opposition activists. They say that these are not atrocities that are happening in some sort of a news vacuum. The world is well aware about what is transpiring in Syria, and yet incapable or unwilling to put forward a united front to find some sort of a solution.

Now, we are expecting some sort of a closed door meeting to be taking place between Kofi Annan and the members of the Security Council to try to find a way forward, but that most certainly as each day goes by seems more and more like a mission impossible.

LEMON: Arwa Damon in neighboring Lebanon -- thank you very much, Arwa.

What to do about Syria is dominating the United Nations General Assembly session today.

CNN's foreign affairs correspondent is Jill Dougherty and she is watching all that for us.

So, Jill, despite all we're seeing in Syria, is the Security Council still standing by that so-called six-point peace plan?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: They are, Don.

And, you know, Arwa was mentioning Kofi Annan. When we listen to him, we listened with great interest, expecting that we would hear some type of, you know, plan "B," or something, a contact group that might take this forward. But he said actually very little other than saying the world community has to work together.

The most interesting stuff that came out of the United Nations this morning was Ban Ki-moon. And he warned, number one, that he said Assad has lost legitimacy. That's very important when you have a secretary-general saying something like that. He referred to barbarity. And he said both sides, as Arwa pointed out, can't work together.

Here is how he put this terrible dilemma.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAN: Syria is at the pivotal moment and so are we. Syria and the reason can quickly move from tipping point to breaking point. The dangers of full-scale civil war are imminent and real.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGHERTY: OK. So what do you do about it?

Now, Secretary Clinton has been in Europe. She was in Turkey, and she has been meeting with other members, allies, on this, and what she is saying essentially is we still support the Kofi Annan plan, but we realistically have to look for a post-Assad Syria.

How is this going to work? And she got into some specifics, but essentially she is saying Syria will not be stable. There is no hope until Assad is gone.

Let's listen to her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: Assad has doubled down on his brutality and duplicity, and Syria will not, cannot be peaceful, stable, or certainly democratic until Assad goes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGHERTY: OK. So what they are trying to do it appears, don, is to get all sides, let's say the United States, the Europeans, the Arabs, and Russia to put pressure on whoever they can put pressure on to bring them together to stop this fighting.

Secretary Clinton herself said we're willing to work with anyone as long as the bottom line is that Assad ultimately must go.

And, Don, you know, as he was looking at this, I was thinking what the U.S. now is trying to say is don't be afraid, Russia, or other countries, what's going to come after Assad. It's already really, really bad. What you have to do now is just have an orderly -- as much of an orderly transition as possible, but that seems very far away at this point.

LEMON: Jill Dougherty, thank you very much.

Here is what we're working on for you this hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON (voice-over): The FBI wants to know, who leaked classified information about a U.S. cyber attack on Iran's nuclear facility?

Plus, a warning to Pakistan. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says we have reached the limits of our patience.

And an amazing new discovery about the day Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says his patience is wearing thin with Pakistan. He warns the Pakistanis need to do more to root out the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network or U.S. troops will fight back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY: It is extremely important that Pakistan now take action to prevent this kind of safe haven from taking place and from allowing terrorists to use their country as a safety net in order to conduct their attacks on our forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Panetta's tough talk comes during his fourth trip to Afghanistan. He is there to meet with the country's defense officials and with U.S. Army General John Allen who commands NATO's troops in Afghanistan. Likely topping their agenda, the training of Afghan security forces and yesterday's air strike on the Afghan/Pakistan border.

But what do we know about the history of Haqqani -- the Haqqani network, its safe havens in Pakistan and the threat the network poses to U.S. forces?

And for that, we turn to Michael Holmes. Here is here to explain. So, Michael, let's get started and talk about who is behind Haqqani.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: The Haqqani network, it's part of Afghanistan's tribal tapestry, if you like, the patchwork of various parts of the country controlled by various tribes and they're part of the Zadran tribe. It's lead by Sirajuddin Haqqani. And there's really two sides to this family. One of them is somebody wrote they're the "Sopranos" of Afghanistan - extortion, rackets, kidnaps, hijacks, protections.

There's another side. That's the side that's harming U.S. troops and is the focus of what Panetta is talking about there, and that is the militant side. It is one of Afghanistan's most sophisticated and well-trained and organized militia groups, insurgent groups. And they carry out the big spectaculars we've seen in Kabul lately.

LEMON: Is that why it's so hard for the U.S. to pin down?

HOLMES: Yes, it is. But one of the main reasons is they have safe haven in northwest Pakistan in that Waziristan area we talk about.

So, what they'll do, they will come across into Afghanistan, they'll hit U.S. troops and carry out these bombings as far as Kabul, and then they can go back into Pakistan where they are safe. The U.S. has been pushing Pakistan to attack them, and the Pakistanis say, well, we've got our resources elsewhere.

It has long been said that the Haqqani network has elements of the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence services, on their side. The Pakistani intelligence services using the Haqqani network as sort of a proxy militia to fight their interests in Afghanistan. They hit Indian projects. So, you can see there's all this web of complexity and self-interest.

LEMON: Speaking of a web of complexity, there's a history there. Their influence goes back to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

HOLMES: Yes, it was Sirajuddin's father actually. His name was Jalaluddin Haqqani, who was one of the leaders fighting the Soviets back in the 1980s using CIA-supplied weaponry because our enemy's enemy was our friend back there. Now, they've just become our enemy.

So, yes, that complicates things. You know, the Russians were the occupiers before. Now, we're the occupiers. Therefore, we're the enemy.

The thing is that the Haqqanis are so well-organized, they will likely outlast the U.S. presence in Afghanistan and it gets more complicated because while they've killed U.S. troops and they're carrying out all this rampage around the place, the U.S. has stopped short of adding them to the list of actual terrorist organizations.

Why? Because if there's going to be a political settlement at some point, the Haqqanis have enough territory and enough strength to demand a seat at the table --

LEMON: Really?

HOLMES: -- may end up having to talk to these guys at some point.

LEMON: And they don't want that?

HOLMES: Yes, we're sort of backed into a corner where we may end up having to deal with these guys who are killing our guys at the moment. So, it's a very complex political situation there. You can be sure that they will have a role in post-U.S. Afghanistan.

We've been hitting them, hitting them hard, drone attacks and the like, which again annoys Pakistan, but these guys have an ability if you don't keep your foot on their throat, they can regenerate and regroup, very well-organized, quite fearsome people. They're under the umbrella of the Taliban, as I said, but they run their own show.

LEMON: You need to study up on these guys. I don't think you know enough about them.

HOLMES: We've been looking at them for many years.

LEMON: Michael Holmes, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

HOLMES: Good to see you, Don.

LEMON: Good to see you.

A jury is now seated in the trial of former Penn State coach accused of molesting 10 boys, some of which he met through a charity. We have a preview of the trial. That's next.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A jury of five men and seven women will decide the fate of Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach accused of sexually abusing 10 boys for more than a decade. Eight of the 16 jurors and alternates have connections to the university.

Sara Ganim is a CNN contributor and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for "The Harrisburg Patriot News."

Sara, thanks for joining us.

The jury is seated after only three days of questioning. That seems pretty quick for such a high-profile case.

SARA GANIM, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Right. It's actually about a day and a half if you really look at it, two full court days. And this was a lot shorter than all of us expected, including probably the judge, since he had allotted this entire week for jury selection, scheduled opening statements to begin on Monday.

And yesterday, about 3:00, 3:30, they had a jury seated. And they started a little bit late the day before. So, it really took them only a day and a half to get 12 jurors and four alternates.

LEMON: Sara, are there concerns about the makeup of that jury, considering half the jurors and the alternates have Penn State connections? I mentioned that when tossing to you. Is there a concern about that?

GANIM: I think a lot of onlookers have been talking about that. It's interesting though, if you look at those who were dismissed, who did not make it onto the jury, there were a lot of people, a majority of people who went in and either said they could not be fair because of what they knew about the case already or really had some significant ties to Penn State University or to witnesses, key witnesses on the case.

So we ended up with nine jurors who have ties to Penn State and three jurors who have ties to key witnesses. And so that did, you know, it did cause a lot of people to talk, but when you compare it to the people that were rejected, it puts it into perspective.

Now, this is exactly what prosecutors had feared when they asked a judge to bus in jurors from another county. They said one in three people in this community have ties to Penn State University. And, of course, this case has kind of -- very intertwined with Penn State, it's become that way.

But the judge wanted to move forward here at Sandusky's request and the first thing he said was being -- you know, having an affiliation to Penn State is not going to get you off this jury. It's too small a town and too big a university.

LEMON: You know, you reported this earlier on about those so- called love letters that Sandusky reportedly sent to some of the accusers. I understand they will be entered into testimony, Sara.

GANIM: Well, what we expect is that the two first prosecution witnesses, the two men that are expected to take the stand first, both will say that they had some kind of a sexual relationship with Jerry Sandusky for several years, not just one incident in a shower but several years of abuse, and both of them received some kind of letters or notes or cards from Jerry Sandusky. That's confirmed by people close to them.

Alleged victim number four, who is expected to testify first, apparently got some kind of love letter, that's what his attorney has said. Alleged victim number one, who is expected to testify second, got birthday cards and notes and they were not of a sexual nature. That's what a source close to him tells me. However, they did include things like the phrase, "I love you."

LEMON: Yes.

Hey, Sara, I understand there's some information coming in that Joe Paterno's family has issued a statement and you have that statement?

GANIM: Yes yeah. Actually it was just seconds ago literally. They were responding to something that came up during jury selection. That Jay and Sue Paterno were on the potential witness list for the defense. Now, it's potential, 72 people were on that list.

And they said that they had no prior notice that they were on any such list and that they were not intending to give any kind of comments during the trial out of respect for the process, but they also said the only directive they got from Joe Paterno before he died in January was to pursue the truth and to defend the honor of Penn State.

LEMON: Sara Ganim, thank you. We will continue to follow it. Appreciate it.

A new report finds Democrats and Republicans are more polarized than ever. We'll show you how that's working out for one married couple on opposite sides of the aisle.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're going to check some other top stories that we're following. Investigators searched the home of a man accused of killing 6-year-old Etan Patz back in 1979. An attorney for Pedro Hernandez's wife says a computer drive and two satchels were among the items seized.

Hernandez was arrested last month. Police say he confessed to strangling the boy and throwing his body away in a trash bag. Hernandez's wife says he is mentally ill and his confession is not reliable.

Overseas now in China, violence erupts at an employee dormitory that makes products for Apple. Some 1,000 workers at the Foxconn plant in Chengdu threw trash, chairs, and bottles during a two-hour riot.

According to media reports, the violence started in a male dormitory after workers blocked security guards who were trying to stop an alleged thief. Local police were called in to restore order there.

Red states versus blue states, liberals against Republicans, the left versus the right. We know our political views can divide us. But now according to a new study, we're more divided over politics than race, class, or even sex.

We know those pictures. That's a bitter recall fight that just ended in Wisconsin. It's a prime example of how polarizing politics can be.

We'll take a closer look at how -- why the gap has become and what issues are the most divisive. And the folks who can talk about this from a personal perspective, these two people joining us: CNN contributor John Avlon, senior political columnist for "Newsweek" and "The Daily Beast" he is. And CNN political contributor Margaret Hoover, who also happens to be married to John.

So, Margaret, we started having an affair one night I filled in for Eliot Spitzer and now you're cheating on me with this guy.

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thanks for outing us right here, Don. I feel a little uncomfortable now.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Is this a little odd for you guys to be on together talking about this?

HOOVER: Actually, it's fun for us because now we can disagree with you and we don't have to disagree when we have dinner later.

LEMON: All right. So it's --

JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It's a good time.

LEMON: You're the new Matalin-Carville in your own way.

AVLON: I wouldn't. I couldn't fill those shoes.

LEMON: Let's get down to bidness, as they say. So, Pew researchers have been looking at 48 different measures of political values and tracking them over the years.

Here is what they found. The partisan gap has almost doubled over the past 25 years from 10 percent in 1987 to 18 percent today. Does this surprise either of you and I'm going to start with Margaret first.

HOOVER: You know, actually it doesn't surprise me entirely. Maybe it's because I've been living with an independent for the last three years.

But the truth is, we all know that especially I studied the millennial generation. They are increasingly becoming independents like my husband because they feel polarized from either party really.

You know, there are 22 percent of them only self identify as Republicans, 37 percent as Democrats, 38 percent as independents. So it doesn't entirely surprise me.

LEMON: John?

AVLON: Don, what this survey shows is that it's not just you. If you think things are worse than ever before in terms of polarization and hyper-partisanship, it's because it's true.

What was stunning to me though is that point you raise. That right now Americans are more divided on politics than race, class, religion. That is stunning, and it speaks to the extent to which our politics are starting to look like a cult.

It's become a tribal identity rather than part of a civic conversation and it really should be a wake-up call to us all.

HOOVER: And that's where I might disagree just a little bit with my husband, Don, because, look, we should always put these polls and this data in historic perspective and we have come a long way in our politics and in our country. We don't have college campuses riots all over college campuses.

LEMON: That's true.

HOOVER: America isn't on fire. This isn't 1968. We've come a long way. We have transcended some of the classic divides in history.

LEMON: In your previous comment, I think you bring up a very good point that we need to think about, especially the people in news and also politicians, is that most people are somewhere in the middle and not on the extremes of either the left or right, and I hear minorities, I hear gays saying, you know what?

I might consider voting for a Republican or a conservative if they were to open up their minds on social issues and the same thing I hear people on the left saying I would consider -- or on the right saying, I would consider voting for a liberal if they wanted to control government more and not give so many, this is their word, handouts and that. I think you bring up a very good point with that.

HOOVER: Which is I think is what goes to the rise of independents. I sound like my husband on American politics right now, but I want to caution us, too, we talk about polarization as a bad thing.

And especially as we get into an election cycle, you know, elections are about providing clear contrasts for Americans so voters have a choice to make. I think we should be careful not to point --

LEMON: But nothing is good when it's extreme either too far left or too far right. That is no good. Go ahead, John.

AVLON: That's right. Well, the problem is we've started to lose our ability to reason together, and this survey shows that. The country, 25 years ago when they began this survey, 86 percent of Republicans felt we need more environmental regulation to preserve the environment and around 90 percent of Democrats.

So we were closely divided. There was a broad consensus. Now that's fallen apart. Only 46 percent of the Republicans feel that way now. In large part it's about the rise of partisan media.

This constant drum beat every day that starts to make fellow Americans feel like enemies across party lines, to start to feel like us against them. That is a negative on our civic discourse.

LEMON: I want to get to this real quickly because it's in the news, the recall election in Wisconsin, an example of how divisive things can be. Republican Governor Scott Walker survived an attempt to remove him from office.

We've been reporting on that. After his win, he talked about how to move forward. Listen and we'll talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR SCOTT WALKER (R), WISCONSIN: Bringing our state together will take some time. There's just no doubt about, it but I want to start out right away.

In fact, next week I'm going to invite all the members of the state legislature, Republican and Democrat alike, and what better way to bring people together than to invite them over for some brats and some burgers, right? And maybe a little bit of good Wisconsin beer as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. So listen, can you heal political divisions with some beer and brats? Could something like this actually help bring people together? I think so when you get to know someone it helps. I don't know what you think. Go ahead, Margaret. HOOVER: Of course, it does. This might be Wisconsin's version of the beer summit that President Obama tried to enact in 2009. Of course, it didn't actually lead to much. Of course, it has to be sincere, but you're right.

If there is sincere outreach then, of course, you can get through something. At the end of the day, I think Congress will never do anything unless their next election depends on it.

So if the electorate demands progress and demands politicians working together then I think you have a chance of Congress actually doing it.

AVLON: I don't want --

LEMON: I'll give you 2 seconds, John.

AVLON: I don't want to place too much faith in the magical qualities of beer and brats, but if you sit down and get to know someone as a person, you stop demonizing people you disagree with and that's a step towards progress and being able to reason together.

LEMON: No fighting. Thank you very much and he actually looked at you. You remember now Nancy would look at President Reagan. That's how he looked at you. It's very nice.

HOOVER: Will you vote for me?

AVLON: Really?

LEMON: Will you vote for me. Thank you, guys. I really appreciate it. Great conversation.

AVLON: You, too, Don.

HOOVER: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: Anger on Capitol Hill. The FBI says someone leaked classified information that could affect national security.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The FBI looking into who leaked classified information about a cyber warfare program against Iran. The White House denies it was behind the leak and top GOP and Democratic leaders are about to hold a news briefing.

We're going to turn now to Suzanne Kelly. She's our senior national security producer. What's going on, Suzanne?

SUZANNE KELLY, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY PRODUCER: Hi, Don. Boy, it's a big old mess up here in Washington. I'm telling you, there's some stuff going on.

A couple investigations have been launched, actually several. There's a meeting going on right now that we're monitoring that has Senator McCain, Senator Feinstein, Levin, Chambliss, they're all meeting with the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, to talk about what his ideas are for making sure that leaks like the ones we've seen recently don't continue.

Huge problem. Senator Feinstein last night telling our colleague Wolf Blitzer that lives are often put in jeopardy because of leaks, and, you know, as you know, the FBI and as you just mentioned, has also opened an investigation.

Now, their investigation is looking specifically at the cyber story, the story about that virus that was launched against Iran and their nuclear facilities. It was a computer program that was kind of cool. t actually caused something to happen.

It sped up centrifuges that were then left inoperable as a result of the virus. We're actually seeing the beginnings of cyber warfare here and the FBI is very concerned about how details about information like that could have been leaked out.

Now, the FBI is not saying that this is coming from the top ranks of the White House. However, that's been a favorite political bone this week and we've heard a lot of senators say that that's exactly where this is coming from.

Democratic senators, however, are now coming to the defense of the White House and saying that's not what's happened.

LEMON: Well, that's the question. Is this just political wrangling or posturing because what can be done? They're having these hearings now.

Will anyone get in trouble or will they say this was coming from this particular person, stop it, or will someone be censured or get in trouble? What's going on? What's the outcome?

KELLY: Right. Well, the whole issue of this meeting that's happening right now is bringing more accountability to bear. You also have to understand the differences between authorized leaks of information and unauthorized leaks.

And authorized leaks might be something where the president who has the ability to classify or declassify information says, you know what? We're going to let you go ahead and say this.

For example, when John Brennan came out recently and said, yes, the U.S. does use a drone program. That was a little bit of a jaw- dropper, but that was sort of like an authorized thing.

What they're looking for now is to find ways to make people accountable who are those irritated government employees or for whatever reason they have for leaking, that they go without permission and leak information.

Those are the ones that are dangerous and that's exactly the subject of what's going on with these discussions, how to find those people and then prosecute them as a result. LEMON: And we are waiting word to see what happened during those discussions. Thank you, Suzanne Kelly. We appreciate it.

Talk about adding insult to injury. The state of Colorado is asking the unemployed to pay back money that they were sent by accident.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: In this economy, any extra money can really come in handy, especially if you're unemployed. Some in Colorado who are collecting unemployment checks have been overpaid due to the state's negligence to the tune of about $128 million.

Now the state wants its money back. Felicia Taylor joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange. Good luck with that. We'll see. What's going on here, Felicia?

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I know. Can you believe this? Frankly, Don, it's usually due to some sort of administrative error. That's according to a labor spokesperson from Colorado.

It's easier than you think for this to actually happen. For example, a worker might get laid off, but if the employer doesn't report it for a while, that worker may have gotten severance and benefits at the same time.

Or if somebody perhaps got a new job and they didn't report it right away, then there can be that overlap between jobless benefits and the worker's new paycheck so they end up getting a little extra money. But it's up to the state to catch it and not pay out the money, but because of obviously enormous volumes of paperwork, things just kind of slip through the cracks. That can happen.

Most of the $128 million in benefit do come from the state and according to the Labor Department it's about 2 percent, 2 percent of the $5 billion in erroneous payments that went out just last year. And it happens obviously in much larger numbers in other states.

LEMON: Boy.

TAYLOR: Unbelievable.

LEMON: Right. What happens if someone can't repay?

TAYLOR: Yes. Well, you know, in this kind of an economy, that's probably, you know, a lot of people. So what people can do is apply for what they call an overpayment waiver. The state will look at your circumstances and decide if an individual can actually avoid being -- having to make those, you know, repayments. Colorado's labor website says the decision to waive repayment is based on your financial situation and whether the person can afford it. So they do take those things into account.

And, you know, often times they do understand and the labor department basically says that that state, Colorado, has a very high repayment rate. So they do take into consideration what your financial situation is, thank goodness.

LEMON: All right. OK. Moving on now to the business at hand.

TAYLOR: Yes.

LEMON: Yesterday a lot of people had a -- you know, breathed sighs of relief. What about the market today?

TAYLOR: You know, it was still sort of rallying on what, you know, was the perception that the Federal Reserve chief was going to say something about further stimulus as in his testimony before the Joint Economic Committee earlier today. The market wanted to hear Bernanke speak about it. It didn't get exactly what they wanted to hear, so it backed off of its earlier rally. We were up about 130 points on the Dow and now we're up just about 90 points.

But nevertheless, the market is still expecting it. There will be some kind of impetus from the Federal Reserve when they meet on June 19th and 20th and that we'll hear about a little additional help out there for the economy. And, of course, that's good for the stock market.

LEMON: Felicia Taylor with good news. Thank you. Finally, we need it. Thanks a lot.

Ever wonder just how much of the road that you're not seeing by texting while driving? You should not be doing that. One of our reporters took a wild ride in a texting simulator.

And, talk about force of nature. An 18-year-old becomes the youngest person ever to build a nuclear fusion reactor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAYLOR WILSON: My name is Taylor Wilson and I am an 18-year-old applied nuclear physicist. When I was 14, I built my first fusion reactor. Became the youngest person in the world to ever produce nuclear fusion.

At first the reaction I get from everybody, even now is, oh, you're just a kid. You can't do nuclear science, or, you don't really know what you're talking about. But I don't think it's too long after I start talking to them that they start to realize that, yes, maybe he -- maybe he can do these things.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he's one of those people that will change the world in some way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A Massachusetts teen gets prison time after his conviction in a landmark texting while driving case. Eighteen-year-old Aaron Deveau was found guilty of vehicular homicide texting while driving and negligent operation of a motor vehicle. He was convicted in a crash last year that fatally injured one person and seriously injured another. And the judge sentenced Deveau to two and a half years on the most serious charge. And he served one year in prison -- he will serve one year in prison. Lizzie O'Leary has been following the case and joins us now live from Capitol Hill.

So, Lizzie, you compare this to the early days of drunk driving legislation. Could we see this case have nationwide impact?

LIZZIE O'LEARY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this case, it has the potential to set a lot of precedent. And one of the things that's going on here, you know, when you use the drunk driving metaphor, think back to the early days of anti-drunk driving campaigns, drunk driving education, and that is sort of the model that a lot of educators and also people in the Transportation Department are trying to use here. It's no secret this has been a real sort of focus of Ray LaHood's, the secretary of transportation. He's trying to distract -- or trying to draw attention to distracted driving. One in 10 fatalities is caused by someone who is distracted.

You have about 600,000 people on the road with a handheld device at some point. So this is sort of part of their education campaign, but it's also -- the reason we use the drunk driving analogy, they are trying to cast this as a public health issue. Not so much an issue of government regulation, but an issue of public health and safety, Don.

LEMON: OK. So you wanted to find out for yourself. You visited a simulator to experience firsthand the dangers of distracted driving. So what did you find out? How bad can looking away for a second actually be?

O'LEARY: I have to say, it's completely changed the way I think about this. So the typical time it takes to send a text is four seconds. And if you look away for two seconds, that's enough to distract you. So I more or less rear ended the fake car in front of me. This is this national driving simulator. It's out in Iowa. And they do this in cooperation with some folks in the federal government to try to understand the different effects of distraction while driving. Not just texting, but also other things, talking on the phone. It's certainly a big part of their education campaign.

And, you know, one other thing that's going on here, there's a little bit of education and a little bit of needling that's going on here. The Transportation Department today is giving some money, a little more than $2 million, to two states to try to have more campaigns about distracted driving. And so they both have the ability to poke them publicly and give and take away funding to try and get more states to do this. Thirty-eight states have laws about texting while driving. And so that's kind of how the federal government is making an inroad here, if you will.

LEMON: So that's what the federal government is doing about -- to stop this kind of dangerous driving, because really it's on the local and the state level now.

O'LEARY: Exactly. It's been, you know, local and state laws. You have, you know, a number of laws also that ban novice drivers from using devices. You also have sort of a partnership with a lot of car manufacturers where the Transportation Department will say, OK, if you've got one of those built in device that lets you make a phone call, you got to have that thing switch off automatically when the car starts moving. So, none of these are across the board regulatory steps yet, but they all kind of nibble around the edges, Don.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate that.

More than a century and a half after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, we're learning new information about that fateful day and the young doctor who tried to save him.

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LEMON: This is a fascinating story. In fact, there's riveting new details from the first doctor on the scene when President Abraham Lincoln was shot. And it comes from his own long lost report. That doctor was just 23 years old, newly trained, and in 1865 thrust into an horrific scene. Here's CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was 23 years old, embarking on a promising career and attending a happening event in Washington. Sitting at Ford's Theater for a production of the play "Our American Cousin," Dr. Charles Leale also sat on the brink of history.

HELENA PAPAIOANNOU, PAPERS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN: He hadn't been out of medical school for very long at all and so I think was very -- this was certainly throwing him into the deep end.

TODD: Helena Papaioannou, a researcher with the group Papers of Abraham Lincoln, has just made an astounding discovery. A copy of Dr. Charles Leale's handwritten report on what he went through as the first doctor to get to President Lincoln in the moments after he was shot. She believes Leale may have written his report the very next day.

TODD (on camera): Dr. Leale was in an ideal position to try to help. He writes that at the time of the shooting, he was sitting in that balcony area -- where those tourists are right about there -- only about 40 feet away from Lincoln's box.

TODD (voice-over): The fatal shot was fired. Leale wrote, "a man of low stature with black hair and eyes was seen leaping to the stage beneath." Dr. Leale rushed toward the stricken president.

TODD (on camera): One of the most riveting parts of his report is what he encounters as soon as he gets into Lincoln's booth.

TODD (voice-over): When the door was opened and he saw Mary Lincoln, Leale wrote, "she exclaimed several times, 'oh, doctor, do what you can for him. Do what you can'." Leale wrote that he sent one man to get water. Another to get brandy. He first thought Lincoln had been stabbed because he'd just seen John Wilkes Booth jump to the stage with a dagger in his hand. Then he found where the bullet had entered Lincoln's head.

TODD (on camera): Leale said Lincoln's condition was such he knew he would never make it to the White House. The only alternative, take him across the street to the Peterson house.

Then they finally bring Lincoln into this room in the Peterson house across the street and, Helena, what happens then?

PAPAIOANNOU: They bring him in here, and the bed -- which it's not this bed -- but they bring him in here, and the bed is too small for him. He's a very large guy. He was 6'4". And so to make him more comfortable, instead of having him hanging off the bed, they laid him diagonally across the bed. And Leale actually writes about that.

TODD (voice-over): At that moment, an account that strikes Papaioannou's emotional chord.

PAPAIOANNOU: He talks about how the president's legs were -- his lower extremities, from the knees down, were cold. And they brought him hot water bottles and hot blankets and I find that a very touching part.

TODD: Leale wrote clinically of the president's deterioration. "Then, at 7:20 a.m., he breathed his last." It's in the very last line of his report that Dr. Leale seems to finally be absorbed in what just happened to his nation. He writes that immediately after Lincoln's death, quote, "we all bowed and the Reverend Dr. Gurley supplicated to God on behalf of the bereaved family and our afflicted country."

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Brian, thank you very much.