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The Economy and the Election; Pastor of an Atlanta Mega Church Charged with Child Abuse. Senator John McCain Says President Obama is Responsible for Intelligence Leaks; Spanish Banks Seek Line of Credit; More Deadly Fighting Today in Syria

Aired June 10, 2012 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello, everyone. It's 4 o'clock on the East Coast, 1:00 pm on the West Coast. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. You're in the NEWSROOM.

Fires and floods are causing serious problems in two parts of the country right now. Fires in western states have burned about 24,000 acres.

And people are looking for higher ground on the Gulf Coast. Heavy rainfall is causing massive flooding there in the Florida panhandle. Escambia County has declared a state of emergency, and people living in low-lying areas are urged to evacuate.

Earlier I spoke with the Escambia County Emergency Manager, John Dosh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN DOSH, EMERGENCY MANAGER: We're advising all residents that live in areas that are typically low-lying or have flooding problems when we have heavy rains to consider going to higher ground, maybe with friends or family members elsewhere in the county. So it's just -- trying to get people out of harm's way is the challenge right now.

WHITFIELD (voice-over): According to the National Weather Service, Pensacola received 13 inches of rain just yesterday. Forecasters say it could get another five to 10 inches of rain tonight.

And right now, out west, Colorado firefighters are trying to get a handle on the High Park wildfire; 14,000 acres have burned in the northern part of the state, forcing more evacuations.

GOV. JOHN HICKENLOOPER, COLORADO: Our primary goal is to make sure we get all the people out of the way of the fire. It is a terrible thing to have people waiting about hearing about their homes. But it's 1,000 times worse to have someone missing.

And our focus right now is to make sure the evacuations -- we're going house to house to make sure we get people out of harm's way, as much as humanly possible.

WHITFIELD (voice-over): And so far, more than a dozen structures were lost or damaged.

Meanwhile, in southern New Mexico, firefighters are trying to get the upper hand on a fire that has now burned about 10,000 acres there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Three young men are dead, and a fourth is fighting for his life after a shooting near the campus of Auburn University in Alabama. Three others were wounded. Two of the dead are former Auburn football players.

There is now a manhunt on for the suspect in the shooting in the nearby Montgomery area. The police chief said it was an argument at a party that got out of control. And people are already feeling the loss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF TOMMY DAWSON, AUBURN POLICE: This is a trying time, because it's not only university students and athletes, but it's young people. It's six young people that have been shot. And we're -- as you can tell, the community is shaken by this and grieving today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: One of the wounded includes a current sophomore who is a football player.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): Thousands of students are already gathering to protest Mexico's last televised presidential debate tonight. The grassroots social media group called IM-132 is behind some of these protects. They say they don't want a repeat of corruption and manipulation in media coverage. Polls show the party known as PRI or Pri is in the lead.

The party lost power in 2000 after years of control. Miguel Marquez is on the ground where the protests will be and are right now.

Miguel, these are pretty sizeable protests. So it's mostly a protest against the coverage, the media there, not the candidates?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's certainly a protest against the candidate, the leading candidate, (inaudible). And they just heard CNN was doing a live shot here.

So we have our own personal protest here by the people are trying to get the word out. They are expecting not just (inaudible) IM-132 group there today, but groups from across the Mexican landscape are going to go against that (inaudible) --

(CROSSTALK)

MARQUEZ: -- see this as a move to a day gone by when the PRI ran their country, when (inaudible) hear that (inaudible) back into power to make (inaudible) -- to make Mexico (ph) take a step back (inaudible) much, much (inaudible), Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Miguel Marquez, thanks so much.

We can tell how impassioned people are around Miguel around that protest. We'll try to check back with him a bit later, too, to see the progress.

All right. Meantime, the battle for the White House takes a new turn. We'll look at how campaigns are reacting to intelligence leaks and talk of the economy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. If you have to go out today, just a reminder, you can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone. You can also watch CNN live from your laptop. Just go to CNN.com/TV.

The weak economy remains front and center in the presidential election. President Obama is still taking hits over his remark last week that the private sector is faring well. Mitt Romney says Obama is out of touch.

Republicans and Democrat continue to spar over the release of secret intelligence information and who might be behind it. Roland Martin is a syndicated columnist and CNN political analyst. He is joining us from Washington.

Good to see you.

ROLAND MARTIN, COLUMNIST AND POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Hello.

And Eric Erickson is editor in chief of redstate.com and a CNN analyst as well.

Good to see you, from Macon.

ERIC ERICKSON, EDITOR IN CHIEF, REDSTATE.COM: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, gentlemen. So this is a pretty bad week, say many, for the president.

Roland, you first. Was that a big gaffe with real staying power, the president would say the private sector is doing fine?

MARTIN: Of course it's a big gaffe. In terms of staying power, look, expect other gaffes to come down. This is not like what took place in 2008, where Senator John McCain made his comments about the economy, and then Senator Obama jumped on it. That was a different situation, because that was, you know, right before the election, one month left --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: And that did ultimately, say some, impact the election. You don't think it would in this case, five months out? MARTIN: Well, look, OK. It's five months out. Lots of things are going to transpire over the next five months. What happens when the next jobs report comes out. And so happening now early. Big difference. If this was September, October, it would be a different story.

WHITFIELD: Huh.

Eric, how do you see it? Romney pounced on that pretty immediately, really within an hour, calling the president out of touch. And then Virginia's Eric Cantor on Capitol Hill, he didn't take long, either, to say, are you kidding me?

So how long and successfully can this kind of drive this sort of out- of-touch, doing fine bumper sticker that the Republicans are now campaigning on?

ERICKSON: Well, go back to 1992, and George H.W. Bush, another election during an economic decline, the president, "The New York Times" reported, was -- it expressed shock and amazement over a standard supermarket checkout scanner that people have been using for about a decade.

And editorialists around the country used it to paint him as out of touch and unable to relate to the average person during the economic downturn.

It became an image that the Clinton campaign seized on, even as things changed throughout the campaign season, they would go back to it, about how the president was out of touch. Now the actual story is that never happened. And a number of newspapers had to retract it.

But this one, everyone could hear the president with his own words. And Roland is right, the issues are going to change, but people can keep bringing it back to him thinking the private sector is doing just fine.

WHITFIELD: Yes. OK, and Roland --

(CROSSTALK)

MARTIN: Yes, but of course, Fred, the Obama folks are going to lay out the private sector job numbers, the consecutive months. It is going to come back. It is going to be a part of the ad.

WHITFIELD: And he did try and clarify that comment.

MARTIN: What I'm saying is -- well, of course. But also --

(CROSSTALK)

MARTIN: I wrote a column on CNN.com where Mitt Romney talked about the issue of teachers, police officers and firefighters in terms of government and let's focus on the American people. I said they're also Americans, too. Bottom line is, expect more gaffes. Five months out, it's not going to be sustainable, frankly, for the next five months.

WHITFIELD: OK. Say it's part of the equation. All right. Now, let's talk about fundraising, again, just five months out. And already Mitt Romney is the one who's outpacing the president, the incumbent in fundraising. But with the president having kind of a bully pulpit, doesn't really matter, Roland, that he may not be making as much money fundraising-wise as Mitt Romney.

MARTIN: This is the first election cycle, first fundraising cycle he's lost in five years. So it's one month.

But here's the real issue. We used to focus on how much the candidate raised; the real issue is now going to be how much money the Democrats are going to put into super PACs. They have been very puritanical about this, not really wanting to put the money in.

The Republicans have been doing better. That's the real issue in terms of how much money super PACs are going to raise, because that's where the battle -- that's where the fight is really going to take place.

WHITFIELD: So Eric, is it a as simple as money begets money? Mitt Romney, perhaps, knows more people with deeper pockets, and it's as simple as that? Or do you read something else --

ERICKSON: No, not really. I think it's a little bit troubling when you look at where Barack Obama's gotten a lot of money in 2008 compared to now. There are a lot of pockets throughout the country where he's not getting as much money now, even from small donors as he did then.

You know, while I think money, an income of the president not getting as much as the changer is always a bad sign, keep in mind as well, this is the first president who totally has the black vote locked down. He's got a solidified base there, along with Hispanics as well that no other Democratic president has ever had. So he doesn't have to be at parity.

WHITFIELD: All right.

MARTIN: I'm not sure, Eric, because Al Gore got 92 percent of the black vote in 2000; of course, John Kerry got 91 percent in 2004. So Democrats have always enjoyed 90-plus percent of the black vote.

But he's still going to need those dollars, because the 12 critical states with those TD markets, going after independent voters, so money is still going to matter regardless of where African-Americans stand or even Hispanics. Money is still going to talk. Super PAC money for Democrats, that's what we should be analyzing, Fredricka, because if they continue to lag behind, they're going to have trouble.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk about leaks now. White House says we don't know where these leaks are coming from. FBI's investigating. You heard John McCain saying earlier in the week that an independent investigation outside of the FBI needs to be taking place.

How might this impact what could or couldn't happen come November, Eric?

ERICKSON: I don't know that this is going to impact the election a lot. What it's going to impact really is foreign relations, I think. You know, even during the Bush administration, leaks would come out of the administration, although a lot of times they were critical of the president. These leaks seemed to be positive about the president. And they've undermined some of the things we've done.

For example, the Stuxnet virus, most people thought was Israel, now we know, thanks to "The New York Times," at least from the administration, it was us.

And the attacks in Yemen and the planning of a bombing in Yemen about a month ago, everyone thought it was our intelligence. We took credit for it. Turns out it was British intelligence. We weren't even involved. This hurts us with allies a lot more than it's going to play into the election.

WHITFIELD: Well, it seems every administration is going to toot its own horn to a certain degree, leak information. This White House is saying it doesn't know where the leaks are coming from.

But Roland, at what point does it become gratuitous or does it become negligent?

MARTIN: The bottom line is, you've always have had leaks. I don't care what it is. Let's be honest. Those of us in media, we love leaks. I don't care whether they come from the White House or Congress. Because that's what we do. We print these various stories.

The problem here is a national security issue, because you want to continue the cyber-attacks against Iran. The last thing you want them to do is to know what we're doing and all of a sudden they know how to combat it.

But also, all of this talk, Republicans and Democrats, that's folks in Congress, who -- this is what they do, want investigations. Well, let's just be honest, the average person sitting out there, they're sitting here saying, my pocketbook is leaking, I'm not really concerned about what happens in terms of the White House administration when it comes to cyber-attacks.

WHITFIELD: So if anything, it could be a turnoff for the electorate.

All right. Roland Martin, thank you so much.

Eric Erickson, always good to see both of you. Thanks so much. Have a great week.

MARTIN: Thanks a bunch (ph).

WHITFIELD: All right.

Singer and actress Beyonce Knowles is getting a break at the airport. But she's not alone. The homeland security chairman is telling the TSA to stop patting her down when she passes through airport security. Take a listen to his reasoning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE ROGERS (R), HOMELAND SECURITY TRANSPORTATION CHAIRMAN: There are certain people that are just so well known, that you've just got to use common sense, because if you start patting them down, people are going to say, they're patting down Beyonce. I mean, she's not going to blow a plane up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: He also said people like Donald Rumsfeld and Henry Kissinger should get free passes as well.

So what do you think? Should well-known celebrities be given a free pass? Let me know what you think. Send me a tweet and I'll read some of your responses.

And Baltimore has come up with a unique solution to resolve the housing crisis. We'll tell you what it is.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Presidential candidate Mitt Romney once wrote an op-ed, saying let Detroit go bankrupt. Well, now the City of Detroit could actually go broke. That's according to Mayor Dave Bing and the city's chief financial officer. They say the city will run out of money Friday.

State officials are refusing to hand over $80 million owed to the city, unless Detroit drops a lawsuit that would block the state from seizing control of the city's finances. Detroit has already cut services, including street lights, in order to stay afloat. Tomorrow morning the mayor and city council will meet to try to avert the crisis.

Unemployment benefits are ending this month for tens of thousands of people who have been out of work long-term. Here are the numbers. The latest labor report shows 12.7 million Americans unemployed. Of those, more than 5 million have been out of work for at least six months. The average is actually around 40 weeks.

After the housing bust a few years ago, vacant and boarded-up properties are a common sight. Baltimore is among the worst. Athena Jones shows us a program to revitalize the city's trouble spots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joseph McCard grew up in Baltimore, but later moved to the suburbs. Now he's back.

JOSEPH MCCARD, BALTIMORE RESIDENT: Baltimore has always been a great city for me.

JONES (voice-over): Lured by an affordable renovated home on a block not far from Johns Hopkins Medical School, his is a neighborhood in transition.

MCCARD: You're having pride coming back into the neighborhoods. You also have assets returning. People are now paying taxes.

JONES (voice-over): This street was once lined with abandoned homes. Several have now been rehabilitated through Baltimore's Vacants to Value program, an effort to address the city's 16,000 vacant homes.

STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE, BALTIMORE MAYOR: We have these neighborhoods that need to know that there's hope, that there are people, you know, small developers, large developers, that see value in them. And that's what we're seeing here.

JONES (voice-over): Vacant homes are a problem nationwide. The number of vacant properties jumped 51 percent to 10 million between 2000 and 2010. And 10 states saw an increase of 70 percent or more.

JAMES A. BROOKS, NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES: Whether it's large urban centers or suburban communities or exurban communities, we're still seeing a lot of residual vacancies, both from the economic downturn and job loss and also from the foreclosure prices.

JONES (voice-over): Baltimore's program uses millions of dollars in government money to make it easier for home buyers and developers to buy vacant homes. It streamlines the sale of city-owned properties at prices as low as $1,000 and uses property laws to encourage absentee owners to rehab empty buildings.

RAWLINGS-BLAKE: This is long overdue in this community. And there are more communities like this in Baltimore.

JONES (voice-over): The city has a long way to go, but Mayor Rawlings-Blake is hopeful. Her goal, to grow Baltimore by 10,000 families in the next decade.

McCard is hopeful, too.

JONES: What are your hopes for the area five years down the road, 10 years down the road?

MCCARD: We have 104 vacants in this community. I would like to see every one of them occupied with a home. I want them to come and be in this community, because we need more people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Athena Jones joining us live now from Washington.

So, Athena, clearly this has not been easy for Baltimore. What have been some of the rough spots in getting this program going?

JONES: Well, as you mentioned, even on that street where Mr. McCard is, there are still some homes that need to be rehabilitated. So it's part of a long process. City officials acknowledge that not every single abandoned home is going to be able to be saved. Some of them are in neighborhoods that are just too distressed. It's not worth the investment.

So what officials have really tried to do is focus in on those areas of really good potential, ones like that man's street, right down the street from a big complex of Johns Hopkins. And so that's one issue.

The other is, of course, tight credit. I had several people mention to me the idea that, you know, you have a developer that can buy up six city-owned properties, get another one at auction, but then have to put tens of thousands of dollars of their own money to do that, rehabilitate it and get the properties ready for sale.

And so credit is a big issue, not just for developers but also for regular homebuyers, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Baltimore really is just a microcosm of the problem.

JONES: Certainly. It's really interesting, those numbers from the Government Accountability Office. I mean, $10 million sounds like a whole lot. But this is -- they've look at a lot of the statistics and they really studied this issue.

What's interesting about Baltimore is that, just like Detroit, which we just heard you speaking about, and cities like Cleveland, Baltimore is one of those cities that have seen steep population declines over decades, due to structural changes like a loss of factory jobs.

So this whole housing crisis and the recession really exacerbated that vacancy problem. But you can tell it has a little bit deeper roots. So it's going to take some time to reverse those trends. And this is really just the beginning, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and for Baltimore and a lot of other cities, it's really not just an issue of trying to give a facelift to a real eyesore, but when you have vacant problems, it really becomes a haven for other big problems, crimes, et cetera.

JONES: Exactly. You have all those stories about people going in and stealing copper wiring, and stripping homes of pretty much anything of value inside of them. And so it's a whole chain of problems that comes along with having a block or two of boarded-up buildings, not to mention the fact that it lowers the values of the homes around you.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right. Athena Jones, thank you so much from Washington. Appreciate it.

JONES: Thanks, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. A Marine has a live rocket, a live rocket- propelled grenade, in his body. It's an incredible story of survival that you've got to hear.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In wartime, there are countless dangers, including being hit with a live rocket-propelled grenade. Well, that actually happened to one Marine. And he actually lived to tell about it. Here's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STARR (voice-over): Marine Corporal Winder Perez knew the rocket- propelled grenade was coming right at him.

CPL. WINDER PEREZ, USMC: All of a sudden, I just saw the RPG coming towards me. And it hit me. And, you know, I was hit. And my boys, they knew exactly what to do. And they came down, no hesitation, no nothing, and they picked me up, they got me to safety.

STARR (voice-over): Winder Perez had a live foot-long rocket- propelled grenade embedded in his left side. But even so, he kept his cool.

PEREZ: I tried to call in my own medevac, but I couldn't, because my radio, the RPG had struck the battery in my radio.

STARR (voice-over): Plain words from this baseball-loving 23-year-old native of the Dominican Republic. Perez and his fellow Marines knew the RPG could explode at any minute. But they also knew he needed medical help as soon as possible. It would become a journey of courage and even humor by so many.

PEREZ: We were just joking around, while they were tending to me, we were there like it was nothing. You know, we were just talking.

STARR (voice-over): Captain Kevin Doo's helicopter crew immediately agreed to take on the dangerous mission.

CAPT. KEVIN DOO, U.S. ARMY MEDEVAC PILOT: There was quite a bit of alarm with most of the crew at the time, as you can imagine.

STARR (voice-over): Perez and that live rocket were just inches from 300 gallons of aviation fuel. When the helo landed, Navy trauma nurse Lt. Commander James Gennari ordered his staff to stay away.

LIEUTENANT COMMANDER JAMES GENNARI, U.S. NAVY NURSE CORPS: I decided that I was going to go, because quite frankly, I am not going to ask somebody to do what I'm not going to do. It's just not going to happen.

STARR (voice-over): Look at this video, Gennari in the helmet, made a vow to Perez.

GENNARI: I said, I promise you I will not leave you till that thing is out of your leg. And he said, "Cool."

STARR (voice-over): Gennari and an explosives expert struggled to pull the rocket out. Remember, it could have exploded at any moment. Surgeons say just a few millimeters to the left or right and the RPG would have cut an artery, Perez would be dead. As it is, he's hanging out again with his Marine buddies.

PEREZ: We went out to baseball games. We did stuff buddies do back home. You know, they didn't really talk much about when we were over there. Kind of just forgot about it and moved on with our lives, hung out, you know, drank a little, just did man stuff.

STARR (voice-over): Barbara Starr, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Wow. What a story. All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta spoke with the Lt. Commander James Gennari. He's the U.S. Navy nurse who was responsible for saving Perez's life. Sanjay asked him what the risks were.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENNARI: The choices were two. One, we would pull it out, see if we could control the bleeding, and carry on from there. Or two, we would send out the one general surgeon we had, with an O.R. tech and a nurse anesthetist or an anesthesiologist and see if they could surgically remove it. It seemed prudent to try plan "a" first, because quite frankly, one of two things was going to happen. It was either going to come out or it was going to blow up. If it didn't blow up, we could at least dislodge it enough that surgical intervention could be used.

WHITFIELD: A lot of Lt. Commander Gennari's friends and family are calling him a hero.

All right. Climbing Mt. McKinley in Alaska is a rough task. A group of veterans is getting already to do just that tomorrow. What makes it harder for them is they are amputees. I spoke to them earlier about the challenges they will be facing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. KIRK M. BAUER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DISABLED SPORTS USA: We actually have to be in better shape than the regular climbers, to try to meet this challenge. There are a lot of challenges, but we think we've prepared for it, and we're ready to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And you can watch the full interview next hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The pastor of an Atlanta Mega Church charged with child abuse, what he said about the charges from his pulpit this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The pastor of an Atlanta-based Mega Church is defending himself against child abuse allegations. Creflo Dollar is the head of the World Changers International Church. His teenage daughter called 911 Friday claiming he choked and punched her. The pastor says they were arguing because he wouldn't allow her to go to a party. From his pulpit this morning, he suggested the arrest is an attempt to smear him and his ministry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PASTOR CREFLO DOLLAR, WORLD CHANGERS CHURCH INTERNATIONAL: The devil knows in order to discredit the message; you have to first of all discredit the messenger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Eric Marrapodi the co-editor of CNN's "Belief Blog," Eric good to see you. So the congregation, you could hear them in the background. They were encouraging the pastor while he was delivering his message. Why do you suppose he chose to address it this way?

ERIC MARRAPODI, CNN BELIEF BLOG CO-EDITOR: I think he didn't have much of a choice. This was a big story down there in Atlanta, and a huge story around the world. It was our top story this week on CNN.com/belief. This was a story that he almost had no other choice but to address. His congregation stood by him. He said he did not choke his daughter and he did not punch her. He said the scratch on her neck the deputies saw was a past injury scratch from eczema. When he said that, one congregant cheered, case dismissed. He clearly still has the support of his congregation. We have to see if this is just a misunderstanding between Mr. Dollar and the police or whether charges will go forward. By the way, he did spend the night in jail over this.

WHITFIELD: So what is next for him?

MARRAPODI: We're going to have to wait and see. We were very excited to hear his side of the story. He did not comment on the video we saw from one of our Atlanta affiliates there with him coming out of jail on Friday morning. He didn't say anything. We're grateful he chose to address this in such a public way. You can hear the cheers from his members. Now we'll have to let the legal process kind of play itself out and see what goes on next.

WHITFIELD: We have not heard anything from any family members?

MARRAPODI: Well, one interesting note is the family members, of course, were the two witnesses here in the case. Both of his daughters, a 15-year-old and a 19-year-old. Their story to the police was that Dollar had rushed his younger daughter, the 15-year-old, put his hands on her and choked her and hit her with his shoe. And the corroborating witness was the older daughter, the 19-year-old. That's been their side of the story to the police. Apparently it may have changed later on. But we're still waiting to hear more from them. But I don't know that we will, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Really. Why do you say that?

MARRAPODI: Dollar is a very --

WHITFIELD: Because of other family members you mean?

MARRAPODI: Yes, I don't think we'll hear much more from the other family members. Dollar is a powerful figure there in that church. He runs the show. There's no question about that. So that's one of the main reasons why I don't think we'll hear much from the family. We may hear more from him. He may continue this narrative that he put forth today that he's innocent, that he did nothing wrong, and that he's being attacked by the devil, which you heard very clearly in that sound byte.

WHITFIELD: All right. Eric Marrapodi, thanks so much for bringing us those details on that. I know it's really the tip of the iceberg on the investigation in that case. For more on the story, be sure to check out our "Belief Blog" at CNN.com/belief. And you can add your own comments if you'd like as well.

All right. Spain says it's just a little spending money to tide them over. But what will investigators think of the $125 billion going to save that country's banking system.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Senator John McCain is clamming President Barack Obama for the recent national security leaks. He says the president is responsible for what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: I have no idea whether the president knew or did not know. I have never alleged such a thing. But I have alleged that if you look at the information that's been leaked, again, that information in the book says that several officials said that they had to remain anonymous that gave this information because they would lose their jobs. The president may not have done it himself, but the president is certainly responsible as commander in chief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Last week a report provided classified details on what it described as a U.S. cyber attack targeting Iran's nuclear program. The government is investigating the leaks.

All right. When is a bailout not a bailout? According to Spain, when it is a line of credit. The country has cut a deal with the EU to inject up to $125 billion into the country's troubled banking system. But the country's prime minister insists it isn't a bailout and the money will be paid back. Spain is a big economic player in the Euro zone and this could send a shock wave through the markets. Nina Dos Santos explains.

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The key litmus test will be the Asian markets when they start trading. The first reaction to the event that has gone off here in Madrid over the weekend has been a really interesting weekend. What we seen is the Euro zone's fourth largest economy one which is worth $4.4 trillion dollars table a request for financial assistance. Now that financial assistance could amount to $125 billion. That's an awful lot of money. But for the moment the markets don't have an awful lot of specifics to hang on to. And here's what the EU's chief economics person had to say about the matter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OLLI REHN, V. P. OF THE EU: It is a very clear signal to the markets, to the public that the area is ready to take decisive action in order to calm down market turbulence and contain contagion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOS SANTOS: So the EU, the IMF, even the U.S. Treasury secretary all marking this as a step in the right direction. But the real issue is, well, the details at the moment. Any kind of bailout plan for Spain is sketchy at best. First of all the Spanish government doesn't want to all out call it a bailout, they would rather say it is a capital injection or financial lifeline for the country's banking institution.

So at the moment we don't know if it's a question of the Spanish banks running on empty, but you can bet the markets will certainly react in one way or another as we get more details in the weeks to come.

Nina Dos Santos, CNN, Madrid.

WHITFIELD: For more on this story, you can logon to CNN.com.

In Syria, more deadly fighting today as an opposition group names a new leader, and vows to end the regime of President Bashar al Asad. The leader is a minority Kurdish activist. His election is seen as an attempt to unite various ethnic groups.

In Bahrain officials say authorities have detained a boy for allegedly participating in an illegal gathering. Human rights groups say Ali Hassan is only 11 years old. He was detained on May 14th during an alleged crackdown on anti-government protesters. But an attorney for the family disputes the police account, and human rights groups are demanding his release.

Homeland Security has advice for the TSA. Don't waste your time patting down celebrities like Beyonce.

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REP. MIKE ROGERS, (R) HOMELAND SEC. TRANSPORTATION CHMN: People are going to saying, they're patting down Beyonce. I mean, she's not going to blow a plane up.

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WHITFIELD: Should the TSA overlook celebrities?

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WHITFIELD: All right. The final televised Mexico presidential debate is tonight. But not with out first lots of protests. We're looking at what is believed to be a large gathering of a Grass Roots Social Media Group. These rallies are actually being lead by a number of students there in Mexico who say they are taking a stand against corruption in the media, as well as what they believe to be corruption among one of the candidates running for president. We'll continue to keep a close watch on the rallies taking place throughout Mexico there. Leading up to the televised presidential debate later on this evening.

All right. Now news that you'll be talking about. High school kids face a whole lot of pressure into getting into college. But it turns out an increasing number of students are abusing prescription drugs Adderall and Ritalin to help them pass their test. Some call them study drugs. The "New York Times" reporting on the increasing problem. The report says students take these drugs before their exams. They say the drugs give students a boost of energy. And increase their attention span. But the DEA lists Adderall and Ritalin as Class 2 controlled substances. The same class as cocaine and heroin. Experts say using the drugs could cause long-term neurological effects.

And here's a story about achievement and success against the odds in Chicago. All 50 seniors at Christa King Jess Oh Wit College Prep earned their diplomas yesterday. More importantly, all of them have been accepted to colleges. What's more, the school did not even exist just four years ago.

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SHALAMIYAH BROWN, GRADUATING SENIOR: I'll be the first graduating class of my school and the first graduating from school in my family.

ROWSHAWN TREADWELL, GRADUATING SENIOR: The first to come in and leave together, as one.

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WHITFIELD: Christa King is a Catholic Jesuit school. Its doors opened in August 2008 with 120 freshmen.

All right. Sidewalk chalk is something most of us have grown up with, right? Well who hasn't drawn pictures on the ground during your childhood. A Denver television station is reporting that one neighborhood homeowner's association is banning side walk chalk. The group says the chalkwork is offensive, distracting and may be criminal. This topic is up for discussion at a future meeting of the association.

And in Boston, a 3-year-old girl will be forever grateful to some transit workers. Little Riley dropped that favorite stuffed bunny right there named Numby, he dropped it right onto the train tracks. Her mother told the transit worker and then the worker actually radioed the driver, the driver that stopped the train in the middle of rush hour and rescued the little girl's beloved bunny. After it was all over Riley and her mom personally thanked the rail workers for saving Numby the bunny.

Actor Matthew McConaughey is off the market ladies. He married his longtime girlfriend Camilla Alvin in a private ceremony in Austin, Texas. The couple started dating back in 2006 and they have two children together. Congrats to them.

And earlier I asked you for your thoughts on the TSA letting Beyonce slip through airport security without a pat-down. I'll remind you, Homeland Security said it's practically a waste of time to stop many celebrities. And here's what some of you had to say.

Like this from Csbruce 95. This is crazy. Why should celebrities get a free ride from TSA? If they want to avoid extra attention, they should fly privately.

It involves using reasonable suspicion based on common sense. And yes, sometimes based on the individual's color or name. It works. That from a name that I'm not even going to try to pronounce there.

Kandace said, that no, it's not fair, no matter what your status may be here in America or abroad, everyone should follow the rules, laws, et cetera.

And being related to an a-list celebrity, they already get preferential treatment but how often do these celebrities fly commercial? Thank you for your responses on twitter.

All right. He is a philanthropist and a country music star. Tim McGraw is also an actor. Face to face explains the transition from music to movies, not so seamless.

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TIM MCGRAW, SINGER/ACTOR: As a musician, you spend a lot of time trying to be cool. I think that that's sort of like your goal in life. As a musician, I'm cool. And there's a lot of times that you step onto a music set and you step into a character, there's nothing cool about that character.

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WHITFIELD: All right. If you have to go out today, just a reminder you can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone. You can also watch "CNN Live" from your laptop. Just go to CNN.com/TV.

All right. for a long time he was singer Tim McGraw. After appearances in pretty big movies, add actor to McGraw's credentials. I asked this family man and philanthropist face to face what brings him the most satisfaction.

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WHITFIELD (voice over): His body of work on film nearly as impressive as his roster of hit songs. Country music Tim McGraw, a surprise scene-stealer on the big screen from country strong to blind side. Movies.

TIM MCGRAW, SINGER/ACTOR: Movies.

WHITFIELD: Who knew that you were really a great actor, or you are a great actor. Are there other movie projects in the pipeline?

MCGRAW: There's a few things floating around. The problem is finding time to do it. It's much like finding a song. You write a bunch of songs and you listen to a bunch of songs from great song writers, the same thing with scripts, you go through a lot of scripts and things that work and don't work, and you say, all right, I like that script. But is that movie being shot at a time that I'm available or I can do it?

WHITFIELD: So I say who knew you were a good actor. But maybe you always knew that you had that acting thing in you.

MCGRAW: Whew, that's the scariest thing I've ever had.

WHITFIELD: Really? What's the challenge about it?

MCGRAW: You know what, I think as a musician, you spend a lot of time trying to be cool. I think that's sort of like your goal in life. As a musician, I'm cool. There's a lot of times you step into a music set and you step into a character, that there's nothing cool about that character. So to let your guard down, and all the things that you've done sort of as a musician to try to be cool, not to be cool.

WHITFIELD: Although it seems the characters got to be strong, "Blind Side," "Friday Night Lights," all those are pretty cool characters.

MCGRAW: They were great characters. I was very fortunate to have a great group of characters, and work with some great people. Sandra Bullock and Gwyneth Paltrow, Billy Bob Thornton. I've worked with great actors. I've learned a lot every time I've worked with someone. I've learned more about what not to do, because I've done it.

WHITFIELD: Was there any trepidation? Were you a little afraid to say, well, let me try this acting arena, because I'm kind of leaving a comfort zone?

MCGRAW: I tell you, when I did "Friday Night Lights," I did a film with Rick Schroeder, which was a great learning experience for me. Then when I did "Friday Night Lights," I remember the night before the first scene, I wasn't -- I was in panic attack.

WHITFIELD: Actor and director Peter Berg calmed him down. Convinced McGraw to go on.

MCGRAW: Once we got into the scene, it was fine.

WHITFIELD: What were you thinking about?

MCGRAW: I didn't want to be the country singer to show up and ruin the movie. You don't want to be the guy that ruins the movie in a pivotal role. It was worrisome. But you learn to sort of find your character, find the guy and sort of, you know, open your mouth and let the words come out.

WHITFIELD: So where does that acting come from? Did they seek you out and say, you know what there's something about you let's give it a shot? Or did you kind of volunteer and say, I want to try this?

MCGRAW: I wanted to try it for a while. But I didn't want to try it until I sort of had an established career. It was something I wanted to try, it is sort of an extension of your artistry I guess in a lot of ways. I think it's made me a better musician and a better singer, and vice versa. I just wanted to try it. "Friday Night Lights," was something that when I read it, I felt that I really knew that guy. I grew up in Louisiana, I grew up being an athlete, grew up around ballparks and football fields. So I felt like I knew that guy.

WHITFIELD: So all these things, your music, philanthropy, in many different ways, shapes and forms, movies, your family life, the collaboration with you and your wife is -- of those things, is there one thing that kind of, you know, tugs at you and says, this is the thing that brings me the most gratification?

MCGRAW: Well outside of family, music has brought me everything in my life. I wouldn't have met my wife without music. You know, I wouldn't have the life that I have without music. I wouldn't be able to do movies without music. Nobody was going to take me off the street corner and say hey come do this movie. Music has given me everything good in my life.

WHITFIELD: I asked my face-to-face subjects was there three keys to greatness. Here are Tim McGraw's.

MCGRAW: I think I'm persistent. I think I'm focused, when I need to be. And I'm pretty unfocused when I don't want to be. And I think just belief. I think I got that from my mom. You've got a dream, you need to believe in that dream.

WHITFIELD: Tim McGraw thanks so much. Pleasure meeting you.

MCGRAW: My pleasure. Right on.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Persistent, focus and belief. You want more? Check out my face-to-face with Tim McGraw online, just go visit my blog at CNN.com/fredricka for more.