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Health Care Decision Looming; Entire Colorado Town Evacuated; Egypt's First Elected President; Contempt over "Fast and Furious"; Travel Apps to Upload before You Go; Egypt Has a New President; Alex Trebek Suffers Heart Attack; Tropical Storm "Debby" near Florida
Aired June 24, 2012 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.
I'm Don Lemon everyone. We want to get you up to speed on the day's headlines, a very busy day as a matter of fact.
A celebration in Egypt's Tahrir Square, Mohamed Morsi has been declared the winner of the country's first democratic presidential election. He is a strict Islamist and a long time member of the Muslim Brotherhood. But in his first address to the nation, Morsi called for national unity and vowed to respect the rights of women.
More on this historic election moments from now on CNN.
Tropical storm Debby is causing problems for much of the Gulf Coast. A tornado triggered by the storm killed a woman in Florida. Flooding is a major threat with some areas getting drenched with up to 15 inches of rain. The latest storm track has Debby slowly headed towards Panama City, Florida. Forecasters say it could make landfall by Thursday. We'll follow for you.
The bad news just keeps coming for Colorado residents: extremely hot, windy conditions has sparked another new wildfire particularly burning 2,000 acres. The entire area of Manitou Springs, nearly 11,000 residents have been forced to evacuate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very scary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It started with Manitou Avenue north of --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is getting close.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need them to leave when we ask them to leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's banging on my window.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was asleep, so I pounded on his door to get him out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty scary. I mean, it's right there. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Orange. A lot of orange.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Fire crews have zero containment of that fire, zero containment and are not expecting conditions to improve anytime soon.
As we wait to hear the fate of the President's health care reform bill, millions of young people are already benefitting from it. But next week's ruling could change all of that. That's next on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Let's talk more about Egypt now and the first democratic presidential election there in literally thousands of years. Mohamed Morsi got about 52 percent of the vote. He's a long- time member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that has long been linked to support for Islamic rule. In his first televised address, he paid tribute to his countrymen who died during last year's revolution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT-ELECT MOHAMED MORSI, EGYPT (through translator): I pledge once that this blood -- blood will not go in vain. All these -- this gratitude and the initiative of Egypt and the armed forces; the best of armies to the armed forces, to all its -- those who are members of the armed forces, from -- from the bottom of my heart, I salute them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well the Egyptian army still holds a real power in Egypt, so I asked our Christiane Amanpour, our chief international correspondent and global affairs anchor for ABC News if today's announcement will make a real difference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it does in fact make a huge difference. And all you have to do is look over this balcony. And I was down there, of course, a lot to today to see what a difference it does make. It is the first democratic, free presidential election in Egypt's thousands of years of history.
It is a big deal for people here. Particularly as you mentioned that the army still is in effective control and has actually executed a rather massive power grab in the last week or so where it dissolved parliament. It basically put in its own interim constitution and reserved a huge amount of power for itself.
Here is what has to be worked out, what will the president be able to do? What will the constitution say when they actually write one and what kind of powers will the democratically-elected president have. But for the moment, the people of Egypt are really very, very happy. We've spoken to so many of them who say just very simply this is the first time we have ever been able to cast a vote that actually matters. The first time we've actually been able to choose our president.
He did receive only about half the vote. The other half of the people voted for the old guard really, Ahmed Shafiq, who is Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister.
So there is a division in this country and Mohamed Morsi is very aware of it and did pay tribute to all Egyptians -- Christians, women, all minorities, all sectors of society -- and said that he was going to be a president for all Egyptians -- Don.
LEMON: I want to ask you more on the substance of what's going on in the -- with the election? But what are we hearing now Christiane? Are we hearing -- is that -- are those fireworks or people shooting guns into the air in celebration? I'm just wondering.
LEMON: No, no guns. Let's be very clear about that. These are fireworks. There seems to be an endless supply of -- of sort of smallish fireworks, none the less, the sky keeps getting lit up to an extent above this very vast crowd that's been gathering ever since these election results were made official. There was a crowd before, but it's become really big since then.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: My thanks to Christiane Amanpour. Make sure you stay tuned 8:00 p.m. Eastern for the CNN's special coverage of Egypt's new president and the road ahead for Egypt's new democracy. Join CNN's Hala Gorani at the top of the hour right here on CNN; again, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
The stakes are extremely high on the future of the new health care reform law. We expect the Supreme Court's ruling within the week. And what the justices decide could move markets, affect the economy, even help decide the presidency come November.
But what happens to people benefitting from it if it is struck down? CNN's Athena Jones has more on the repercussions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINA WHITE, COLLEGE STUDENT: My name's Christina, I'll be your server.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Twenty-three year old college student Christina White works two jobs to help pay the bills. Neither job offers health insurance. So like more than three million young adults under 26, she's now covered under her mother's plan because of the Affordable Care Act.
WHITE: I would have to have insurance. I mean, I don't think I could go without. JONES: One big reason, Christina an avid runner and athlete, suffers from asthma. She pays about $20 a month for her daily medication. Without insurance, it would cost her about 12 times that.
And it's not just medication.
MARTHA WHITE, CHRISTINA'S MOTHER: A bad cold in an asthmatic can lead to an emergency room visit. And an increased need for medication and so increase costs.
C. WHITE: If I wasn't able to be on my mother's plan I would have to probably find a new job where they did offer health insurance.
JONES: Allowing young adults to stay on their parent's insurance plans is just one of several provisions of the law already in effect. Among others, insurance companies can no longer take away coverage if you become sick or impose lifetime dollar limits on essential benefits like hospital stays. They also can't deny coverage to children under 19 with a pre-existing condition. But all of that could change depending on how the Supreme Court rules.
An issue is the key provision of the law that starting in 2014 will require everyone to buy health insurance or face a fine. The court could strike down all or part of the law.
STEPHEN WERMIEL, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW: The court might strike down the mandate and leave the rest of the law in place. Then it would be up to Congress to decide whether that works or whether Congress has to make more changes in the law to adjust it and -- and get it right.
JONES: If the court strikes down the whole law, Congress would have to step in to keep other measures in place. And election year politics would almost certainly delay action, leaving people like Christina White hanging in the balance.
Athena Jones, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, Athena.
"Jeopardy" host Alex Trebek is recovering from a mild heart attack. He checked into a Los Angeles hospital yesterday and stayed there today for some tests.
Here is the good news he should make a full recovery and return to the game show when it begins taping its 29th season next month. Our best to Alex Trebek.
The program known as "Fast and Furious" has the White House and Congress locked in battle with the Attorney General in the hot seat between them. Now this while the parents of a slain federal agent just want some answers. We'll talk about it next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: It's time to talk politics now and it was up to the mountains for Mitt Romney this weekend. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee hung out with some of his deep pocketed donors, but it wasn't cheap. Only those who have contributed $50,000 or raised a substantial amount for his campaign were invited to rub shoulders with Romney. Of course, that amounted to about 700 people at the weekend retreat in Park City.
The "Fast and Furious" controversy is headed to the floor of the House. The botched ATF operation led to the death of hundreds of Mexicans and a U.S. border agent Brian Terry in 2010.
On Wednesday, a House committee voted along party lines to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress and the full house will take it up this week. Republicans say Holder is lying, but Democrats insist Republicans are on a political witch hunt.
I discussed the issue from both sides with CNN contributors Ana Navarro and Maria Cardona. And I started by asking Maria why the President decided to invoke executive privilege.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: They have bent over backwards, Don, in accommodating the committee in what they were asking for. Almost 8,000 pages in documents and a lot of them were even including deliberative documents which as you know, Don, are normally covered by executive privilege. But in good faith, they have turned over those documents.
Every single document that had anything to do with the botched operation has been turned over to Congress. What they're asking for now all of the documents in question have nothing to do with the actual operation. They're now in the surreal territory of investigating the investigation.
LEMON: Ok. All right.
CARDONA: That's not going to lead to the truth. We need the truth, so they're on a political witch hunt here.
LEMON: So you're saying that this is a political witch hunt, which many Democrats have said.
Ana, do you buy that? That all the documents have been turned over and that this is a political witch hunt?
ANA NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You know, God forbid we investigate the investigators in government because we all know that government investigations when they investigate themselves can be terribly effective.
I think that, Don, we are a government of checks and balances. Congress checks the executive branch. The executive branch checks Congress and the judicial branch checks them both. And I think this is what this process is. This is not the first time this happens. It is disappointing that our Congress and our executive branch can't get together in a way that can clarify this once and for all. I think the timing is very bad for Obama because it comes right on the heels of the White House leak and his refusal to allow a general council, so it kind of builds on this narrative that they have something to hide.
And the words of the murdered agent's parents are very, very powerful. We're talking about a murdered U.S. agent.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Ana, Ana -- stand by. Stand by -- not to cut you off, but the reason I'm stopping you here because I want to hear from them. Here's what the parents of Agent Brian Terry said on Fox News about the answers they say they aren't getting from the administration. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN TERRY, BRIAN TERRY'S FATHER: When they ask themselves -- search their souls and also wanted to ask the people of Mexico what have become (ph) of the same gun that killed my son.
JOSEPHINE TERRY, BRIAN TERRY'S MOTHER: And I think that they're bringing all this up because they want to put "Fast and Furious" on the back burner until the election is over.
KEN TERRY: I do too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Those parents are very emotional and if I lost my child or if my parents lost me, they would want some answers. They'd demand some answers.
NAVARRO: I think we owe it to them, to his memory, to come to some sort of agreement where Congress can take a look at these documents. Where you know -- there's got to be some sort of agreement where maybe a few people are allowed to look at the documents, maybe not the full committee.
I don't know, but I would like to think that for the sake of those parents, for the sake of transparency, for the sake of all the people that died as part of "Fast and Furious" we could come to an agreement and not be in this stalemate for each side in their own fence and scoring political points.
LEMON: Ok, Maria. I'm going to let you get in. Why not give this family some peace of mind in some way or can that even come from -- even if this process played out and they turned over all the documents. Can they, you know --
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: Right, well, I think that is exactly the question, Don. And let me just say, my heart goes out to these parents and I'm sure all Americans heart goes out to these parents. I used to work with the former INS with the border patrol, so I know what dedicated public servants the border patrol agents are, so my heart goes out to them.
But here is where I think is p reason why Democrats believe this is a political witch hunt. If the Republicans really wanted to get to the bottom of this, Don, what has really struck me is that why don't they bring in the actual ATF agents who were involved in this gun- walking operation. And let's remember, this was an operation and a tactic that was started under the Bush administration and the this administration ended it when they realized how botched and backwards it was.
LEMON: Ok.
CARDONA: And so, let's bring in the ATF agents who were actually involved in this. Let's get to the bottom of this. We owe Brian Terry's parents the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Ana, thank you very much.
Now that fuel prices are heading lower and lower, summer travel is on the mind of a lot of Americans. Our tech expert will run down some of our great travel apps out there. There she is.
ALEJANDRA ORAA, CNN EN ESPANOL: Hello.
LEMON: Hola.
ORAA: Hola. Como esta?
LEMON: Muy bien.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Summer travel season is in full swing and there are a couple of things that you can upload before taking off that are going to help you.
And Alejandra Oraa from CNNE -- CNN en Espanol -- here to look at some really cool travel apps. Right?
Don't you love the summer?
ORAA: I love the summer.
LEMON: I love the heat. People go, "it's so hot." I'm like I love it. I'd rather that than the winter.
ORAA: And sure we have the winter mentality, winter music, winter food, during the summer.
LEMON: During the summer ok. All right.
ORAA: But it doesn't work.
LEMON: Your first one's all about what? Seating. And you know I've got to have that --
ORAA: And you told me the whole story. What do you prefer?
LEMON: What do you mean what do I prefer? I prefer the aisle.
ORAA: I prefer the aisle.
LEMON: I prefer the aisle. I prefer first, I would prefer private.
ORAA: Don't we all?
LEMON: But you know, hey.
ORAA: Sometimes we can do it, however, this application is Seat Guru (ph) --
LEMON: Ok.
ORAA: It's completely free and what you can do it's going to give you all the information you need to know about the purchase for your flight. You put down your air flight number with the airline and it's basically going to give you a rundown of every single seat on that flight.
Let's say that we are flying business like you want -- Number 1D. That would be your --
LEMON: I don't want the bulkhead.
ORAA: You don't want the bulkhead. So.
LEMON: I don't want it -- no.
ORAA: Seat 1D would be standard bulkhead business class --
LEMON: Right.
ORAA: And some will find leg room to be restricted.
LEMON: Yes.
ORAA: There is no floor storage --
LEMON: There you go.
ORAA: -- for the seat during takeoff and landing. So you don't want that.
LEMON: That is smart. Yes.
ORAA: You don't want that one. LEMON: You don't think about it, you go, "I have seat 1A" and you think it's great and it's like no it's the bulkhead or by the bathroom where everyone is coming and going and it's no.
ORAA: And it's also going to give you information if you're sitting near a turbine and you don't want noise because maybe you want to sleep so it's going to give you all that information.
LEMON: That's really good. All right. Good stuff. What's the app called again?
ORAA: "Seat Guru."
LEMON: "Seat Guru."
ORAA: Yes.
LEMON: "Seat Guru." Ok.
Now, everyone is watching their money, right? You have to watch your dollars. This next one is about managing your expenses while traveling. What do you have Alejandra?
ORAA: Let me ask you a question? Do you know how many Mexican pesos you can get for a dollar?
LEMON: I have no idea.
ORAA: Good, neither do I. Don't worry about it. Neither do I.
LEMON: I thought you were going to ask me an off-color joke. Do you know how many Mexican --
ORAA: Mexican pesos, we're not going to go (inaudible), Don. Don't worry about it. I don't know how many Mexican pesos we can get for a dollar, but this application can help you.
LEMON: Ok.
ORAA: So basically, what you have to do, you have to put down the amount of money that you can actually use for your travel --
LEMON: Ok.
ORAA: The amount of people that are traveling with you and the exchange rate of the country you are travelling.
LEMON: Ok.
ORAA: Let's say we're traveling to Mexico. We have Mexico -- we have Mexican pesos. Number of travelers, one. And the amount allowed for a traveler is only $1,000.
You start adding items. We're going to be in Mexico, let's say that we add water. It was 500 pesos, right? 500.
LEMON: First you have to learn how to type, Alejandra.
ORAA: Ok. We need a receipt. We take a picture of the receipt. That's the receipt. Use it and that picture is going to go automatically to your e-mail with all the information of everything you're actually putting down on the average.
LEMON: Oh, my gosh. That's great. I am so unorganized, that would help. But you know what; I won't even go through that step because I just --
ORAA: But if you're on a budget --
LEMON: Yes.
ORAA: -- and you need to know how many Mexican pesos are in a dollar, you probably would.
LEMON: You want me to show you? This is how I like to do expenses.
ORAA: Like that. That's it.
LEMON: Can you do that?
ORAA: That's actually the easier way out.
LEMON: Your last one helps everyone track down everything from an ATM to a gas station when you are in a new city.
What's that last one called?
ORAA: "Simply Declare."
LEMON: "Simply Declare."
ORAA: "Simply Declare."
LEMON: Ok. What's this last. Real quick.
ORAA: It's called "Near Me."
LEMON: "Near Me."
ORAA: And all you have to do -- it uses your GPS location from your smart phone or iPad to find anything you're looking for in a city. We are in downtown Atlanta, Don, what do you want to look for? Coffee?
LEMON: I don't know -- hotels. That's fine.
ORAA: Hotels. Looking for hotels -- loading, loading. Only hotels.
LEMON: Boom, that's the one.
ORAA: 119 yards. Downstairs. LEMON: Very nice. Thank you. And these are free.
ORAA: All of them are free except "Simply Declare," $1.99.
LEMON: Thank you. You're so cool. You should come back more often. Would you come co-anchor with me?
ORAA: I would like to.
LEMON: You do part in Spanish and I'll do it in English.
ORAA: That's going to be in your own TV (ph).
LEMON: That would be.
ORAA: That would be pretty cool.
LEMON: The Alejandra and Don show, I think that will be cool.
ORAA: Don Lemon.
LEMON: Oh -- our producer is like, "We'll just replace you with her."
ORAA: No. We need you, Don.
LEMON: See you. Can you read that?
ORAA: Yes, I can if you guys can help me.
Hurricane season just started a few weeks ago and it's already record breaking. Tropical storm Debby is in the Gulf of Mexico spinning off tornados, one of which was deadly. Details ahead with Don Lemon after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Coming up at half past the hour, want to get a look at your headlines now.
A celebration in Egypt's Tahrir Square; Mohamed Morsi has been declared the winner of the country's first democratic presidential election. He's a long-time member of the Muslim Brotherhood and he campaigned on a pledge to promote Islamic law.
But in his first address to the nation, he called for national unity and vowed to respect the rights of women.
In Colorado, conditions are worsening for firefighters battling a series of wildfires across the state. The latest to erupt is the Waldo Canyon fire near Colorado Springs. Fast moving flames forced 11,000 people from their homes late last night and are threatening more neighborhoods today. With temperatures hovering near 100 degrees, conditions are only expected to get worst.
We haven't heard the last of the Bernie Madoff scandal. One of his associates, Esra Merkin, has agreed to pay $410 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the state of New York. It accuses him of secretly steering clients to Madoff who then (INAUDIBLE) out of billions with his ponzi scheme. The money will go to investors who were duped by Madoff.
Next stop, "Jeopardy" host Alex Trebek recovering from a mild heart attack. He checked into a Los Angeles hospital yesterday and stayed there until today for some tests. Here's the good news. He should make a full recovery and return to the game show when it begins taping its 29th season next month. "Jeopardy" just won a best game show Daytime Emmy last night.
Tropical storm "Debby" appears headed toward Panama City, Florida tonight. It's already packing torrential rains and spinning off tornadoes which killed a woman in Florida today. We turn now to Alexandra Steele for the very latest. What's going on, Alexandra?
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right. Let me just show you the storm. Tropical storm "Debby," the fourth tropical storm of the season. And actually the earliest fourth named storm we've ever had. So it is historic already. Here's a look at the broad perspective. It's asymmetrical, it's a little unorganized but it is a very broad circulation, i.e., a lot of people being impacted. It's moving very slowly, so it won't be a quick hitter with rain. It is very slow, barely moving at three miles per hour now, so a lot of flooding rain. Ten, 15, inches, not out of the question. So I bet the flooding will be the calling card of this (INAUDIBLE).
Western Florida has been getting soaked. Continues to get soaked, but the future of this is really what's so uncertain about it. This is what we call the spaghetti models. Each of these lines, different colors, is a different computer model projection of where the track will be. And you can see how, disparated in some ways, I mean, the balance of it now, the balance of them taking them, you could see to the northwest Florida and to the northeast (INAUDIBLE).
So it looks as though that's certainly where it may end up, but National Hurricane Center official track now earlier in the day, a beeline towards southeastern Louisiana. Not so in the latest advisory. Next advisory coming out in 30 minutes, we're going to watch that. But now, it's taking it north. Not becoming a hurricane. Staying a strong tropical storm, expected to make landfall on Wednesday. But with this, the final destination seemed to nearly as important as the flooding rain and the winds and the potential impacts.
We're seeing and we'll continue to see for the next few days because it's so slow. Tropical threat, this blue delineated here, tropical storm warnings. Watches here on the west coast. Again, it's really the flooding rain and the amount of rain we'll see.
Also, isolated tornadoes. Don talked about a tornado, already a fatality in Florida with that and that was even inland, it's not even on the coast. Dangerous rip currents. Of course, coastal flooding and the potential, Don, for 10 to 15 inches of rain. This looks like the bulls eye here. Apalachicola to Apalachicola Bay in terms of the heaviest rain. But wait and see in 30 minutes, we'll have the latest coming out. We'll bring you the latest as soon as we get it.
LEMON: All right. We'll be watching. Thank you, Alexandra.
STEELE: You're welcome.
LEMON: My next guest says some people are born pedophiles. Not their fault, but to be a child molester, that's a whole different story. We're going to talk to him, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
T. JACKSON KAGURI: In Uganda, HIV AIDS can strike like in a machete in the corn field. Killing men and women. Leaving 1.2 million children orphaned. (INAUDIBLE) and close that gap. Some of them have up to 14 children to raise.
I was born and raised in Nyoka village. I moved to America. I went to Columbia University. I came to visit. I looked in this eyes of women who carried me as a child and said "Now is the time to also give back."
I am T. Jackson Kaguri (INAUDIBLE).
Who is happy this morning? We started with U$5,000 that my wife and I have saved for a house. We provide free education to children who are orphaned by HIV AIDS. We provide them uniforms. Health care. Library. Clean water and we started giving them meals. We teach them skill so they can support themselves. Eleven years later, this project has produced close to 600 students. And helped about 7,000 grandmothers. I feel humble looking in the faces of the children smiling, focused on what their dreams are going to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: This next story we're going to talk about has a lot of people talking, so pay attention to this. No doubt what was revealed during the Jerry Sandusky case was horrifying, but a CNN.com commentary raises a thought provoking question - should pedophiles be extended some measure of sympathy? Are we doing enough to identify and help pedophiles before they victimize our children?
Dr. James Cantor wrote that commentary. He is a psychologist and a senior scientist at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and he joins us now. Dr., thank you for joining us.
DR. JAMES CANTOR, PSYCHOLOGIST: My pleasure.
LEMON: I want to ask you something and I know people are going to probably send me a lot of hate mail for this. I don't really take, I've never been one to take glee in anyone's demise and when I saw Jerry Sandusky walk out in handcuffs, I did kind of feel a bit sorry for him even though I know the jury found him to do some horrific things. I was like, you know, his life is over. All of these young boys, it was terrible for them as well.
There are no winners. In your piece, you say someone has no choice to be a pedophile, but someone can choose not to be a child molester. So explain that to us.
CANTOR: Well, we have to understand very specifically that pedophilia is separate from child molestation. Pedophilia refers to the actual genuine underlying sexual interest for some reason and we haven't worked out the details yet. For some reason -- and we haven't worked out the details yet. There are some born with a genuine sexual interest in children. They didn't ask for that. Nobody asks to be a pedophile. That just seems to be the case for these people.
That's very different from child molestation, which is a choice. They can't control what they're attracted to, but they can control what they do with those attractions.
LEMON: So, someone was born that way with, to and they can't help themselves, but that's not to make excuses for their behavior.
CANTOR: Exactly. I mean, they're not responsible for what they're attracted to. They appear to be born with it. We know through a series of brain studies, both from my research group and from other teams that they're born with slightly different brain anatomy and the differences are not the kinds of differences that emerge over a lifetime. But they seem to be the kind of differences where whatever the chain of events it is, that chain began before birth. It really had nothing to do with any choice that they made. What they do with those interests however is, of course, still completely under their control.
Now, the cases that we see are, of course, the cases who have been unable to resist their sexual interests and those are the cases that hit the news and in some cases, they can have a string of victims over many years, but there also exist, Dan Savage once called them the gold star pedophiles. These are men who know that they're attracted to children and struggle every day trying not to express those feelings and not to hurt anybody. Those are the people that we really need to help.
LEMON: Yes. Does someone like Sandusky deserve sympathy? I mean in your experience, people who prey on children, are they misunderstood?
CANTOR: Well, I mean, the people who actually engage in those behaviors, I mean they need to be dealt with on the basis of what it is that they did. There's nothing in any research that says that somehow they're some are not responsible for their behavior. But the day before somebody becomes a child molester, they weren't. It was in that day when they felt they had nowhere else to turn, nobody to talk to, nobody to unburden themselves. When they felt the most desperate, that's when they needed to, for example, go to a psychologist, but the way that the rules are set up today, if they go to a psychologist, that psychologist has to report them.
So rather than having a society where people can go in and get the help they need, we have forced these people to be out on their on, unsupported and then we damn them when there were in supports available to them ahead of time. I think society as a whole would be much better off if these people had an alternative, if they had someone or some way that they can turn to some groups, some institutions, some help line in order to prevent them from going from just a pedophile to an actual child molester.
LEMON: It's very interesting stuff. How can you defend him? Many people will say how can you feel sorry for someone somebody who rapes a child and even there are people who do it - quite frankly, babies, and I don't know if that person deserve sympathy but -
CANTOR: Sure, that's holding somebody responsible for their behavior, which is appropriate. But before they engage that behavior, they're not responsible for their sexual interests. If we were able to identify these people, for example, very early on and help provide them with the tools to control their own behaviors and their own interests, then we could prevent them from becoming a child molester.
So much of society right now is built into revenge and being punitive, but we could probably do a lot more people a lot of good if we got in earlier and just help them deal with their interests before they actually acted on them.
LEMON: All right. Thank you, Dr. Cantor. Interesting stuff. We appreciate it.
CANTOR: Happy too.
LEMON: All right. A Florida millionaire is in his third term in Congress, but his former business partner is accusing him of crimes that if true, could put the lawmaker behind bars. That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Members of a North Carolina church are calling it a gift from god. Grand view Baptist Church owed $345,000 to the bank and they were facing foreclosure, but just as they were moving the last items out of the church, a man walked in with some very good news. He offered to pay the balance to the banks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I shouldn't be surprised when you ask the Lord for a miracle and he sends it, you really shouldn't be surprised but it's a bonafide miracle of epic proportions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, the man didn't want to be identified, but he certainly made his mark in this community.
A Florida congressman and a GOP fund-raiser faces no fewer than four congressional and federal investigations. The target of the probe is three-term representative Vern Buchanan. In this CNN exclusive, we learned that his campaign and business finances are under scrutiny. Here's CNN's Drew Griffin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sam Kazran is a former business partner of Congressman Vern Buchanan. The partnership started here at a weed filled lot, a former auto dealership in North Jacksonville, Florida. Eventually the two would own four dealerships together.
(on camera): What kind of guy was he?
SAM KAZRAN, FORMER BUCHANAN BUSINESS PARTNER: You know, Mr. Buchanan, i respected him. I believed him.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Kazran admits he was naive. He says he soon found out the man he believed in was interested in just two things. Money and power.
(on camera): I mean can you make a judgment call here? Do you think this guy should be in Congress?
KAZRAN: You know, let's put it this way. Mr. Buchanan is a very selfish person. And in my opinion, hopes to go to Congress to do good for the people that they represent.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Kazran presented to CNN the same information, documents and testimony he's now given to federal investigators. The two men had a falling out over finances. They've been suing each other for years. For his part, Buchanan says Kazran is a disgruntled partner and has lied about what happened. At the center of Kazran's allegations is a cash swap scheme, used to finance some of Buchanan's campaigns. Employees forced to write checks, then reimbursed with cash drawn from Buchanan's car dealerships.
KAZRAN: It was to a point I said, "Gee, we can't give you this kind of money." That's when he said to run it through the corporation.
GRIFFIN (on camera): And what did that mean to you? Run it through the corporation?
KAZRAN: What he said to me, he said "Get people to write a check to the campaign and then pay them back through the corporation." That's what I did.
GRIFFIN: That's what he said?
KAZRAN: Correct. Yes. He said run it through the corporation, absolutely, yes.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Kazran did and was soon calling in managers, salesmen, even assistants, people who never gave money to campaigns were suddenly writing big checks to Buchanan for Congress and according to Kazran getting reimbursed from the dealership.
KAZRAN: He said "I need more money."
GRIFFIN: It added up to almost $70,000 at Kazran's dealerships alone. KAZRAN: I remember one of the partner jokingly saying "Boss, you have all the money in the world, why do you want us to pay you the money?" And he said "Well, it doesn't look good if it comes from me."
GRIFFIN: Kazran took his detailed allegations to the Federal Elections Commission or FEC, which was already looking into Buchanan's campaign finances. Investigators there now wanted to know not only about how the cash-swap scheme worked but if the congressman knew about it.
(on camera): This was absolutely his idea?
KAZRAN: Correct. Yes.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): The FEC's initial report found reason to believe that Congressman Buchanan knowingly and willfully violated the election laws. But then in a later report, they pulled back, saying it found credibility problems with both Kazran and Buchanan and not enough corroborating evidence to back up Kazran's testimony. The FEC eventually dropped the investigation into Buchanan, but fined Kazran $5,000. Why? Because he admitted reimbursing employees for campaign contributions. While the congressman has said that proves he's innocent, the findings at the FEC were more convoluted stating it came close to supporting a finding, that it is more likely than not that Buchanan violated the law. And that's where this gets much more serious for the congressman. During the FEC probe, Congressman Buchanan pushed to settle a lawsuit, Kazran had brought against him. And at the last minute, with a $2.9 million settlement offer from Buchanan dangling in front of him, Kazran said he was given this.
KAZRAN: They wanted me to sign this affidavit.
GRIFFIN: According to Kazran, the Congressman and his attorneys were asking him to sign a statement that was a lie, that Buchanan knew nothing about the campaign cash swap.
(on camera): And the affidavit said-
KAZRAN: In short that this thing did happen but Mr. Buchanan had nothing to do with this.
GRIFFIN: Kazran refused to sign and took the affidavit to federal investigator. Now, CNN has learned Congressman Vern Buchanan is being investigated for attempting to tamper with a witness in a federal witness in an investigation. After repeated requests for an interviews from the congressman were ignored we decided to find Vern Buchanan as he emerged from a hearing.
(on camera): I wanted to ask you about this deal with Sam Kazran. Did you make him sign this affidavit or try to get him to sign this affidavit with this cash scheme?
REP. VERN BUCHANAN (R), FLORIDA: No, I didn't.
GRIFFIN: You didn't do that?
BUCHANAN: I got to get to another meeting. You call my office.
GRIFFIN: You know, I tried calling your office but they wouldn't - they said you were unavailable.
You didn't hold it over his head for that $3 million settlement?
(voice-over): In a recent report released quietly several weeks ago, the Office of Congressional Ethics wrote "there is substantial reason to believe that Representative Buchanan attempted to influence the testimony of a witness in a proceeding before the FEC in violation of federal law and House ethics codes." Now a full House ethics committee is looking into it. CNN has also learned that the FBI and the IRS are conducting their own investigations.
(on camera): Are you concerned at all about the IRS and the FBI now investigating this FEC and OCE complaints?
BUCHANAN: Just call my office.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): His office did respond to our interview requests with a statement saying "The charges are politically motivated. The congressman did nothing wrong and we are confident tat the Justice Department and House ethics committee will reach the same conclusion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Investigative reporter Drew Griffin there.
Tropical storm "Debby" is drenching the Gulf Coast. The latest on the storm coming up next.
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LEMON: The latest track has tropical storm "Debby" slowly headed towards Panama City, Florida. It already downed trees and power lines in parts of Florida, flooding is the major threat. Some areas could get up to 15 inches of rain. A tornado triggered by the storm has killed a woman in Florida. Forecasters say it could make landfall by Thursday.
A celebration, not a protest in Tahrir Square. Mohamed Morsi has been declared the winner of Egypt's first ever democratic presidential elections. He is a strict Islamist and long time member of the Muslim Brotherhood but he is bound to protect the rights of women and honor all international agreements. Make sure you stay with CNN at the top of the hour for special coverage of this historic election.
Gusty winds and hot temperatures have sparked another new wildfire quickly burning 2,500 acres in the mountains near Colorado Springs. The entire town of Mannattu Springs (ph), nearly 11,000 residents has been forced to evacuate.
Patrick Nelson from CNN affiliate KKTV has the latest for us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PATRICK NELSON, KKTV REPORTER: It has been such an exhausting couple days for folks living here in Colorado Springs, about an hour south of Denver. You can see what's happened to their mountain backdrop. Just all sorts of smoke up there. About 11,000 people as we mentioned have been evacuated in and around the Colorado Springs area.
Now fire continues to burn out of control at this hour. Zero percent containment. And what we're hearing from fire crews today is simply that they don't plan on getting any hope for containment, however, they're using point protection. And simply, Don, what that means, is that they're trying to protect any infrastructure. There's a cell phone tower on top of that mountain that they're protecting. They've been doing drops with helicopters, dropping 400 gallons of water. They've also had air tankers dropping, retarding to try to slow down this fire. But what they say it is going to have to be the boots on the ground to put this fire out.
And unfortunately, as you can imagine, this terrain incredibly tough for firefighters to get in there and fight this fire, and to do any type of an investigation as to how this fire may have started, they say it may take two or three days to even get in there to see what is going on. Folks here, really on edge right now. As you said, we may be on the edge of even more evacuations.
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LEMON: Patrick Nelson from CNN affiliate, KKTV. Thank you for that.
I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World headquarters in Atlanta. We want to thank you for watching. We will see you again at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. In the meantime, stay tuned, we're going to have a special report on the first democratic presidential election ever to be held in Egypt. That's coming up with my colleagues from CNN International Christiane Amanpour and it will be anchored by Hala Gorani.
I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World headquarters in Atlanta. Again, see you back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
