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NY Police Kill Elderly Ex-Marine; Not Driven To Drive; New Poll on Presidential Race; William Cohen Discusses U.S. & Iranian Show of Force in Gulf, Syria; Rust Belt Voters Trying to Decide on Candidate
Aired July 03, 2012 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Suzanne Malveaux, this hour on CNN NEWSROOM, we're focusing on the death of an icon, the tens of thousands of people still left in the dark in the northeast, and a new political poll that shows President Obama holding just a three-point lead over Mitt Romney. Want to get right to it.
First, actor Andy Griffith has died. We all remember the iconic show theme and his folksy manner made him a star in the 1960s as Sheriff Andy Taylor on "The Andy Griffith Show." Set in the fictional town of Mayberry, Griffith played a single bad who kept the peace and doled out advice in a sleepy country town.
In the 1980s he found fame all over again when he starred in the courtroom drama "Matlock." He also recorded several gospel albums. He was a member of the TV and Christian Music Hall of 3.
Want to bring in our own Larry King, who joins us by phone, who knows Mr. Griffith well. You interviewed him several times. Give us your impressions, your sense of who he was.
LARRY KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, he was an incredible person, not only as a talent but as a friend and as an individual. He was always kind and sweet and he was an underrated performer, in my opinion.
He did a movie called "A Face in the Crowd," in which he played a -- I guess it was sort of a tintype of Arthur Godfrey, a controlling media figure, who played sort of a hick rube, who suddenly becomes a famous American, influencing politics and everything and has and his come-uppance at the end. He got an Academy Award nomination. He was brilliant.
He did a play called "No Time for Sergeants," which was also turned into a film, which was a great theatrical comedy, ran a long, long time.
He made one of the funniest comedy albums ever made, called "What It Was Was Football." He had a great range, which he never got much credit for, and of course, what can you say about what he did on American television with two, two great series and fostering a career of Ron Howard, who has gone on to become one of the major directors?
I did a show with Andy and Ron together, and it was just tremendous to watch the two of them interchange. He lived a long, fruitful life. I never knew anyone who had a bad word to say about him.
MALVEAUX: I loved growing up when I was a kid, watching him on his show, and you really just got a sense that he had such a sweet soul. The last time you talked to him was 2006. What was he doing? What was he going through?
KING: He was -- I think -- I guess the death of a good friend. He was -- he was in retirement. He would make an occasional appearance on a television series. Of course, that, the series where he played the lawyer keeps playing. You keep seeing it everywhere.
He was in retirement. He was looking back on a very proud career. I think he never got enough credit for the kind of actor he was, though, because he was so, so sweet and so homespun.
It was hard to believe, but if you see, if the audience watching could see "A Face in the Crowd" -- I'm sure it's available, DVDs; it's probably seen on HBO or -- Turner Classic Movies probably has shown it. It's one of the great performances. And he plays a totally evil, corrupted person, something you'd never think of Andy Griffith. I mean, he's brilliant.
MALVEAUX: Yes. And Larry, I want our viewers to listen to this, to the theme song of his show, titled show, because it really is what so many people recall when they see him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "The Andy Griffith Show," starring Andy Griffith.
"ANDY TAYLOR: You supposed to make him sideburns.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Larry, what do you think is the one thing that people didn't really know about him, something that you learned over the many years that you spent time with him?
KING: That was he was a very serious, devout actor, that he cared a lot about his craft, and that he was more than just this homespun nice guy. There was a lot of deepness to him. There was an extraordinary range to him, which I said he never got enough credit for.
But he so symbolized with that one character, Sheriff Andy, that that's going to be emblazoned in the public's mind forever, and people will talk about him for a long time. But when you think of Andy Griffith, that's the first thing you think of, friendly Andy, is he ever going to get married? With the aunt and the assistant sheriff and the characters around him, the people he got started in the business.
Andy Griffith, you said it best, he's an American icon. There will never be another like him.
MALVEAUX: All right. Well said. Larry King, thank you very much. Appreciate (inaudible) --
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Thank you, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Thank you.
In Colorado, some families are now returning home. Others are going back to find rubble, their homes destroyed by raging wildfires. At least two people now have died in the state's most destructive wildfire ever. The U.S. Forest Service is warning it could be mid- July before all these fires are out.
The crews who fight the fires, of course, heroes. Today, people mourning four members of a firefighting team. Their C-130 military plane crashed Sunday night in South Dakota. The crew members, they were in the North Carolina National Guard, helping with fire control efforts in the Black Hills. Flags are now flying at half-staff across North Carolina today.
No power, no patience for the fourth consecutive day. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of Americans still in the dark. I want you to check out this map. More than a million customers from Indiana to New Jersey sweating it out without air conditioning. The biggest numbers are in West Virginia, more than 350,000 and Virginia, almost 279,000.
Sandra Endo, she is in Arlington, where they are simply wondering when are the lights going to come back on?
SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, there's slow progress being made, but still more than a million people across 11 states are without power.
And take a look at the devastation still left behind by the violent storms. You can see the downed power lines here across this street.
And take a look at this tree that was completely destroyed by the storm. You can see that big tree trunk, which just smashed on top of that car there, parked in a driveway. And this is a scene so many communities are dealing with.
The cleanup effort is a big one. And power companies, utility workers have their work cut out for them. They are trying to meet the massive demand. And we talked to one worker, who said it's just a logistical problem; it's going to take time. They're trying to move in heavy equipment to clear the debris away so that they can get to the power lines and restore the power.
But clearly for a lot of residents who have been without power for days, the heat is really wearing on them. They're going to cooling centers, libraries, shopping centers and even community pools, any way they can find to try to stay cool. And that's certainly going to be the case today when the temperatures may reach triple digits in many regions.
So right now the big question is, how long will their patience last and when will the lights come back on? Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: We're bringing in Lizzie O'Leary; she's in Washington. She's been looking at the reasons behind all the power delays.
Lizzie, I know, my family is there and my parents are without power, my sister. Everybody is kind of miserable at this point. So how long do we think it's going to take? Are people actually holding the power companies accountable here?
LIZZIE O'LEARY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's certainly what you are starting to hear from a lot of local government folks. They have been quite tight with the power companies here in the region in the past.
You are hearing from the power companies, essentially, look, we are doing the best we can. We're not going to give you a specific timetable for when things will be restored, because we don't want to get false hopes up.
They also said they were adequately prepared. That's one of the big questions that's been going around. They said the storm was sudden.
I want to play for you some sound from a PEPCO executive, saying, look, we did the best we can, this is an act of God.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS GRAHAM, PEPCO REGIONAL PRESIDENT: Mother Nature isn't something I can control. You can't control the storm, can't control the damage that takes place to our system, can't control the mature trees that crash down on the infrastructure, on homes and cars. But what we can control is our response.
To the extent that we could be prepared, we were prepared. To the extent that we can get resources from other utilities, we have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'LEARY: And that's obviously what you saw from Sandra Endo, this kind of attempt by the part of the several power companies in this region and across the country in the affected areas to try to get things back up and running. But it's slow, if you're talking about day five with no power and, around here, no air conditioning.
MALVEAUX: Yes, it's rough going there. Is anybody monitoring the power companies to make sure that they are actually, you know, keeping their feet to the fire?
O'LEARY: Well, this is one of the tricky questions. Remember that the power industry in really the electric sphere was deregulated in the late '90s. So you have kind of a mix of different companies and different watchdogs.
You have also had, over the past couple of years -- some folks in Connecticut this happened. The attorney general is trying to push the power company to basically not shove off any costs after Hurricane Irene onto its customers, saying you can't raise rates for that.
Here in the D.C. area, the Maryland regulators fined PEPCO, the company you just heard from the president there, for a lot of outages in 2010. They fined them about $1 million. But it's a hodgepodge because you have different kinds of companies regulated by different state and local entities.
MALVEAUX: And Lizzie, some people are saying if they just buried the power lines that would have prevented all this from happening. Are they actually considering doing something like that in D.C. or Maryland?
O'LEARY: Yes, they are. And that is one of the big questions here. How much damage would you save if power lines were buried?
My neighborhood, more urban, denser; they're buried. They're protected from storm damage that way. But it's expensive to do it. That's what the companies say, they say it could cost 10 times as much. PEPCO says if they did a full underground, it would raise everybody's electric bill by about $200 a month. And if there is damage to those underground lines, it can be harder to fix.
They are looking at doing it here, the City of Anaheim, California, is in the middle of doing this. And the cost, Suzanne, is about $3.2 million per mile of cable.
MALVEAUX: Wow. Lot of money. All right. Lizzie, hope the power comes back on shortly. Thank you.
Here's what we're working on for this hour. The family of a Vietnam vet, shot to death by police after he accidentally called for medical help. Well, they're now suing.
Iran says it's test firing missiles this week, part of war games practice. Meanwhile, the U.S. has moved military reinforcements into the Persian Gulf. We're going to talk to former Defense Secretary William Cohen about what's going on.
And they're known as the millennial generation, a new study finding many of them, they don't like to drive. So we're going to talk about the many ways they differ from the Boomers and the Gen- Xers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: An ex-Marine was fatally shot inside his apartment in suburban New York. His grieving family is now demanding answers. The elderly man, he was black, and the officer who fired the fatal shots is white. Many are saying that they believe that race was a factor. Soledad O'Brien is investigating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The alarm rang in at 5:00 am on a cold winter morning. A 68-year-old Vietnam vet with a severe heart condition had set off his medical alert device. But instead of an ambulance, police arrived at Kenneth Chamberlain's apartment. Neighbors saw guns drawn, a riot shield.
WILBERT JOHNSON, NEIGHBOR: They stated that if he didn't come open the door, they was going to knock it down.
TONYA GREENHILL, CHAMBERLAIN'S NIECE: (Inaudible) --
O'BRIEN (voice-over): His niece, who lives upstairs, told police at the scene he'd set off the alarm accidentally, to please let his family talk to him.
GREENHILL: I just kept hearing my uncle, you know, respond, "Please leave me alone, go away, I didn't call you, I don't need your help."
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Chamberlain and the police were being recorded by the alert device.
KENNETH CHAMBERLAIN JR., VICTIM'S SON: You hear one of the officers then use an expletive and that's when he said he didn't give an "F," used the N word.
O'BRIEN: The N word?
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Law enforcement sources confirm that's on the tape. But there's more. Later, the district attorney showed the family two videos in their custody, one from a hallway security camera, another recorded by a camera on a TASER gun.
Kenneth Jr. demonstrated what he saw.
O'BRIEN: What's he doing?
CHAMBERLAIN: He's standing there, he's looking at them, and you hear the officers saying, "Hit it again, hit it again, hit it again." And then, at one point, you hear the officers say, shut it off. So the last part that I saw on the video with my father was him just like this.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Police say Chamberlain threatened them with knives.
COMM. DAVID CHONG, WHITE PLAINS PUBLIC SAFETY: The officers first used an electronic Taser, which was discharged, hit the victim, and had no effect. While the officers were retreating, the officers then used a shotgun. A bean bag shotgun.
O'BRIEN: So then they fired two real bullets. An autopsy report obtained by CNN shows them entering the side of his arm, indicating that Chamberlain was not facing the officers or had turned away.
RANDY MCLAUGHLIN, ATTORNEY, NEWMAN FERRARA: So the story that the police put out that he was an ax-wielding black man designed -- trying to hurt a police officer is what it is, a flat-out lie.
O'BRIEN: Chamberlain's lawyers acknowledge he did throw out a silver object.
MCLAUGHLIN: At that moment, a bolt cutter comes from the police officers and removes the object. So from that point forward, there's absolutely no evidence that at any time Mr. Chamberlain had a weapon in his hands.
O'BRIEN: There is no way to know. The Taser video suddenly cuts off before the shots are fired.
O'BRIEN (on camera): So you must have thought it is ironic in sort of the terrible way that someone summoned to your father's door to help save his life, if he had been having some kind of heart emergency --
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Ended up shooting him.
CHAMBERLAIN: Yes. And they took his life. Unnecessarily. They didn't have to.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Chamberlain's niece wants to know why police couldn't defuse the confrontation and wouldn't ask the family to help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And just to hear him constantly say over and over again, please leave me alone. I'm OK. And the way they mocked him and picked at him, it's very hurtful.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Chamberlain's family members have filed a $21 million federal lawsuit. Their attorney, Randolph McLaughlin, he's joining us from New York.
And, first of all, the grand jury voted not to indict any police officers after looking at more than 100 pieces of evidence and hearing testimony from 42 witnesses, including police as well as some family members and neighbors. You insist that this was a crime. Explain why.
RANDOLPH MCLAUGHLIN, ATTY. FOR KENNETH CHAMBERLAIN JR.: There was absolutely nothing that warranted the type of intervention that these police officers engaged in at Mr. Chamberlain's home. He was in his home quietly minding his own business sleeping. They broke his door down. Cursed at him. Used the "n" word. Fired bean bags and then ultimately killed him without any provocation. Regardless of what they're trying to say, there is absolutely no evidence that he ever left that apartment and threatened anyone. That's a crime.
MALVEAUX: What do you make of the case that they say that the officers felt threatened and used appropriate action?
MCLAUGHLIN: The only one who was threatened here and who felt threatened here was Mr. Chamberlain. These officers broke his door down, essentially tortured him by discharging that Taser. And it didn't work, but it did work in this regard. The autopsy revealed that the skin marks where the Taser entered his flesh were burned. They were literally running electric charges through this man's body. He did nothing to warrant that type of activity. The police department had a number of steps they could have taken and failed to take any steps to defuse this confrontation.
MALVEAUX: Is there a history of racial strife or brutality in this community?
MCLAUGHLIN: Well, interestingly, three of the officers who were on the scene that day, including the shooter, each of them were involved at the time of this case in pending civil rights cases involving allegations of racial slurs, ethnic slurs, excessive force and brutality. So, yes, there is a pattern in practice here of engaging in what we believe to be racist police violence.
MALVEAUX: What would you want the community -- what would you want people to know about Kenneth Chamberlain?
MCLAUGHLIN: He was a veteran. A 68-year-old veteran. A man with a chronic pulmonary condition. He couldn't even walk up a flight of steps without wheezing and having real difficulty. I mean this man was in his home and an alarm went off. He was expecting, if anything at all, because he didn't know the thing had gone off, an ambulance. Some sort of medical attention. But here he served his country, on the anniversary of July 4th, when we fought a war to prevent police officers, military officer, the British from breaking our doors down and just invading our homes, here that's exactly what happened to him. It was lawlessness at its height.
MALVEAUX: All right, Mr. McLaughlin, we have to leave it there. Thank you very much. We appreciate your perspective and your time.
I want to make sure that you know that the White Plains Police Department would not give us a statement. We had sought a statement from them. Instead, they turned us over to the mayor's office. They issued a statement saying, "it is pending litigation. It is not the city's practice to comment on pending litigation." So we have tried to reach out and get a statement. We also got a statement from the Westchester district attorney's office saying, quote, "we're not a party to the lawsuit, so we do not wish to make a statement."
Getting a driver's license, something many of us couldn't wait to do back when we were young. But that is not the case for the generation known as the millennials. We're going to find out why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: All right, back in the day, as soon as I was old enough to get my license, I headed straight to the DMV, right? We asked the team about it. Pretty much everybody. We all did the same thing, except for a couple of the younger folks on the team. It turns out it reflects actually a broader trend. It is the generation "y" described as age 16 to 34. Not driven to drive like we were. I wanted to know why. So we're talking to Chip Espinoza. He is with us from California. He's co-author of the book "Managing the Millennials."
So, Chip, my niece, she's 18. She doesn't care either. She doesn't have a license either. Why is this happening?
CHIP ESPINOZA, CO-AUTHOR, "MANAGING THE MILLENNIALS": Well, part of it is that they don't have the felt needs. It's not a milestone for them. If you really look at it, probably a milestone for them is getting their first smartphone. Because for us, when we were growing up, it was like, hey, if you wanted independence, you got a car. Or you wanted to go meet with friends and hook up or even if you wanted your world just to be expanded, a driver's license was that. But you get a smartphone, and what have you done, you've, you know, given yourself a little bit of autonomy, you've got some relationship building tools and your world is expanding. So I'd say probably for them the smartphone is more important.
As a matter of fact, it's kind of funny, preparing for this, I was talking to my son. He's 19. His car has been parked in the garage for a month. I asked him, did you start it to see if the battery still worked? And I said, why aren't you driving it? And he goes, well, I like driving with my friends. We pool our money together and -- for gas and those kinds of things. And so I said, well, I don't know if I could have gone a month without a car. And he lost his cell phone a day ago and he's jonesing . In half a day he's about to kill himself.
MALVEAUX: Yes, I guess that's just the way it is now. I want to show you some numbers here. Some other reasons about the change here. One in four millennials, they call them, they don't have a driver's license. That was back in 2010. That's up five points from the year 2000. And some of the reasons, we understand, the high cost of maintaining a car, computer, smartphone apps making it easier to take public transportation. So do we think that maybe this is a good thing, right? Like maybe the environment's going to be protected a little bit more. Less smog, gas, the whole bit?
ESPINOZA: Well, I think they are conscious about their carbon footprint, probably more than any other generation. And I think that probably the cost of gasoline and those kinds of things, fossil fuels, have come into play for them.
I think public transportation has gotten better. The tools that they have to negotiate that. So I think in many ways, you know, millennials might have more options. But, still, I look at southern California, which your car's your identity, and out here it just doesn't matter to them.
My friends and I, colleagues at Red Tree Leadership, we spent a lot of time researching this generation to try to help managers, you know, understand them.
MALVEAUX: Sure. ESPINOZA: And it's kind of funny. I was talking to a manager the other day and I was telling him a little bit about this topic. And he says, oh, they're driving all right, they're just driving us crazy. So I think when they act differently than we do, we see this real kind of disconnect. And I'm not so sure that millennials aren't excited about driving. It's just, if you look at adolescence, we talk about it starting earlier and lasting longer.
MALVEAUX: And, Chip, finally --
ESPINOZA: So not only --
MALVEAUX: Yes?
ESPINOZA: Yes. Yes. Like so a driver's license, going for it isn't this big milestone. They've got time to do it. So a parent who would be concerned about their son or daughter not getting a license, they're also concerned, hey, when are you going to graduate from college, when are you going to move out of the house, when are you going to settle into a career? All of those things are milestones that are being put off.
MALVEAUX: Yes. It's an interesting time. Chip, thank you so much. Good to see you.
ESPINOZA: You're welcome.
MALVEAUX: Iran playing war games in the gulf this week, just as an oil embargo hits the country. We're going to show you why the U.S. is building up military reinforcements in the region.
And, don't forget, you can watch CNN live on your computer while you're at work. Head to cnn.com/tv.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: An American graduate student is in stable condition after being attacked by two chimpanzees at a sanctuary in South Africa. The attack happened last Thursday at the chimpanzee sanctuary named after the activist Jane Goodall. Well, the student, originally from St. Louis, was on a tour, apparently crossed over one of the fences that separates the public from the animals. Well, that's when the chimps attacked. Now, the student, who is studying anthropology, has worked with chimps before at the Goodall Institute.
CEO of Full Tilt Poker, an online gambling website, has been arrested for allegedly running a $430 million Ponzi scheme. Federal prosecutors say Raymond Bitar lied to poker players about the security of their funds and fixed the game against them. As of June last year, Full Tilt Poker owed $300 million to players but only had $6 million to pay.
We are down to just four months until the election. Pretty tight race between the presidential contenders. Want you to check out our new CNN/ORC poll. President Obama holds just a three-point lead over Mitt Romney. It is the exact same margin as last month. Joe Johns reporting that it is just part of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even though the president maintains a slight edge in our nationwide polling, it appears to be a different story in the 15 battleground states, including Iowa where we met this group of young voters at the Court Avenue Restaurant and Brewing Company in Des Moines.
Our latest CNN/ORC poll indicates Mitt Romney is out to an eight point, 51 percent to 43 percent advantage among registered voters in the 15 states we consider in play. The seven true toss-up states and the eight states leaning either toward the president or his Republican challenger.
Nick Potteburam has supported Romney since the Iowa caucuses and says he sees the candidate's pragmatism as a key selling point.
NICK POTTEBURAM, IOWA VOTER: If you look at his record in terms of his ability and the private sector, being governor of Massachusetts, there's interesting insight into his ability just to solve problems and Barack Obama's had four years to solve some problems. I think he's lacked leadership and a lot of direction, so I think Mitt Romney is just really strong when it comes to solving problems and being very pragmatic.
JOHNS: The news is not all good for the Republican challenger, however. As a presidential election approaches, few things are seen as more important than voter enthusiasm. And the incumbent president seems to have it on his side, at least for now. In March, only 46 percent of Democrats said they were enthusiastic about voting in November and now that number is up to 59 percent, a 13-point increase.
KATHERINE VALDE, IOWA VOTER: I'm very excited for this election. And I've been really pleased that President Obama's put his neck out on the line for students.
JOHNS: For Romney, not so much. Republican enthusiasm has remained almost constant, 52 percent in March versus 51 percent now. It's a very different race from the last time Obama and Romney ran for president.
ABHAY NADIPURAM, IOWA VOTER: I think our generation is less connected with this election than they were in 2008, primarily because in 2008 most of us were first-time voters.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Joe Johns has moved on from Iowa now to Ohio. It's, of course, another key battleground state.
Joe, so first of all, it's kind of surprising for people to believe, but I know that people are last minute sometimes about making up their minds. Why haven't they decided which way they're going to go? JOHNS: Well, it's kind of hard to say, I have to tell you. In Iowa yesterday, as a very good example, Suzanne. I talked to a number of voters, all of whom said they hadn't made up their minds.
When you look at the CNN polling, indicates something like 79 percent of respondents said they have made up their minds. 21 percent or 20 percent or so have said, no, they haven't made up their minds yet. So it's that 20 percent that the candidates are going after. And obviously, I mean, you know what the issues are.
(LAUGHTER)
MALVEAUX: And also, Columbus, of course, where you are now, what is at the top of their minds, voters' minds there? What are they telling you they're interested in learning about these two?
JOHNS: Not surprisingly, it's jobs and the economy all over again. And when you go around this country, particularly to the battleground states, you see a real mixed bag of what's going on. For example, here in Ohio, job situation has gotten much better. There's been a pretty reasonable improvement in the unemployment picture. But when you ask people if they think things have gotten better, there's still a lot of pessimism. 55 percent or so of Ohioans saying they think things are on the wrong track.
So there's still a lot of work to do in that gap between what people think is the reality and what's actually going on, at least according to the numbers.
MALVEAUX: All right. Joe, good to see you. Thanks, Joe.
Iran playing war games in the gulf this week just as an oil embargo is hitting the country. Going to show you why the U.S. is building up military reinforcements in the region.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: A dangerous military buildup is under way in the gulf. Both the U.S. and Iran are showing force. The U.S. Navy quietly deployed extra ships as a signal to Iran not to attempt to block the Strait of Hormuz, which is critical to shipping oil around the world. More American fighter jets are now in position capable of striking deep into Iran if the standoff over its nuclear program escalates.
Meanwhile, the Iranians are conducting a second day of war games. They have fired missiles capable of hitting U.S. warships and American troops in the region.
Want to bring in former defense secretary, William Cohen, who joins us from Washington to talk about this.
Does this alarm you in any way when you see what is taking place on both sides?
WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, no, it's actually quite predictable because the president laid out a strategy trying to cope with Iran's desire to become a nuclear weapons state. There are three options in dealing with Iran and they're all bad.
Number one is intensify the sanctions. Try to bring as much pressure as we can to the international community on Iran to persuade them to give up their program. Number two, to launch a military strike with all of the untoward consequences that would entail. Or number three, live with the Iranian bomb.
So the president has been pursuing the policy of trying to intensify sanctions, and so far this has been predictable, in order to back up the sanctions, to say don't take a move, Iran, and miscalculate here because you might try to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, but we can keep it open. So it would be a temporary shutdown only.
What Iran is seeking to do is obviously they're suffering a loss in exports, down about 40 percent. The prices are up about $15 a barrel. They're feeling the pressure. They're trying to rattle the markets by saying we're going to take military action. The price of oil then goes up. The administration is trying to calm the markets saying we have things in place to prevent you from shutting it down for any length of time.
MALVEAUX: Is it possible this is not working in their favor? You have these international sanctions that are really forcing Iran in some ways, cooperate with world leaders in the nuclear program, but it seems like they're behaving in the opposite way.
COHEN: Well, this is part of the Iranian tactic as well to try to, again, rattle the market and say we're prepared to take this kind of military action. The danger, of course, is there can be a miscalculation, a miscalculation on Iran's part. Also we have to make sure the Israelis don't take this buildup as any sort of sanction for them to take military action. So we ought to be careful here.
The Israelis have indicated they're not going to alert the United States on any possible military action. I think under the circumstances they have an obligation to coordinate very carefully with the United States and to make sure that they're satisfied that they're being protected along with all the other gulf states but not take any military objection on their own without certainly cooperating fully with the United States. I hope that doesn't take place. I think the sanctions are really starting to take effect.
Let me say, China is the only country now that holds the China card. It's time for China to play it, to go to Iran quietly and say, it's time for you and everyone to reach an agreement. I think they have that power and ought to exercise it.
MALVEAUX: I don't want to let you go before asking you briefly about Syria, whether or not the administration is doing enough here to work with the Syrian government to try to overthrow Assad.
COHEN: Well, we're working with all of the countries in the gulf region, working with Turkey and others and with Russia. I mentioned the China card a moment ago in dealing with Iran, but Russia has a Russian card in dealing with Syria. And I think that they should understand the gravity of the circumstances that, if this continues, you're going to continue to see the Gulf States provide weapons and ammunitions to the resistance. You'll see the United States providing some intelligence. And then you're going to see inevitably some sort of safe haven set up then there will be a demand for no-fly zones, et cetera.
I think Russia has an opportunity to play a very key role here and I think they'll take this opportunity to become a statesman and not simply look to a client state like Syria and sell them $500 million worth of weapons. They have an opportunity to bring about a peaceful result.
MALVEAUX: Bill Cohen, good to see you as always.
Wisconsin autoworkers who lost their jobs are deciding who they're going to vote for this November. We're going to go straight to the Rust Belt.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: The economy driving a lot of differing opinions in the election this year. But the Rust Belt, the auto industry has taken a big hit. Workers are divided over who's going to do most for them.
Poppy Harlow, she hit the road for feedback from folks in key auto towns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIC KUHNE, FORMER G.M. WORKER: We led auto. I mean, this town and G.M. went hand in hand.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: How many years as an autoworker?
KUHNE: 37 when the plant closed.
HARLOW: This G.M. plant is more than four million square feet. It was filled with thousands of workers until it closed just a few years ago. Some of them took buyouts, others moved to G.M. plants in other states, and others stayed here in Janesville, trying to figure out their place, their job, in this one auto town.
(voice-over): I first visited Janesville in 2009 right after G.M. shut its doors here. Three years later, we found Janesville trying to build back.
KUHNE: It's a town without an identity, a town with more unemployment and more foreclosed homes and -- and more people that want to work that just don't have that option anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They want jobs and they want good jobs.
HARLOW: Is it still a union town?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's changed. Not a union-centered town anymore.
HARLOW: Like it was in '08. It's a heavily democratic town. You think it would be a shoe-in for President Obama again. That's not what we found.
JOHN DECKER, FORMER G.M. WORKER: We believe the country needs to change direction.
HARLOW: We met John and Sherry Decker at a Romney rally. John worked at the G.M. for 36 years, a material supervisor.
DECKER: Conservative Democrats will not vote for Obama. They're going to vote for somebody to get this town and country back on the right track.
HARLOW (on camera): What candidate provides you more of an economic opportunity to make it?
RICHARDO TUPIA, ROMNEY SUPPORTER: It's Mitt Romney. No question.
What he said today, I'm going to get back to work, I'm going to get you guys to work. I care about it.
HARLOW: We hear the same thing from President Obama.
TUPIA: But we see Mitt Romney's proved it as governor. He's proved it when he was working for his company.
MICAH VOSE, ROMNEY SUPPORTER: I know plenty of people who voted for Obama in '08 and are not going to do the same in '12. They -- like I said, there's just disappointment.
HARLOW (voice-over): Disappointment that unemployment is still 9 percent here, even though improved from more than 15 percent when the plant closed.
BRIAN FITZGERALD, ROMNEY SUPPORTER: I think Obama's real motive was to put union people back to work. It wasn't to save General Motors.
HARLOW: And it didn't save Eric Kuhne's job on the production line. Since the plant closed he's been mowing lawns at the local golf course.
KUHNE: I'm never going to make what I made at G.M. again.
HARLOW: Still he supports President Obama and the auto bailout for the jobs it did save.
KUHNE: I believe President Obama is working for the working man. I voted for Reagan twice, OK? Wish I hadn't. Trickle down economics where we all wait for a couple of quarters to fall out of the fat guy's pocket, this is why we're where we're at.
HARLOW: At sunset, church league softball where we met Lynda Chitek.
(on camera): Who are you supporting?
LYNDA CHITEK, ROMNEY SUPPORTER: Mitt Romney.
HARLOW (voice-over): For two reasons, she says, his opposition to the auto bailout and what he did for the company where she works now.
CHITEK: What he's done with the staples store as far as that goes, and how he has --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW (on camera): So his record at Bain Capital?
CHITEK: Yes. I don't think that was a bad thing. He's part of the reason I have a job today.
HARLOW: Should we think of this as a swing state now?
TUPIA: Absolutely. Just look what happened in the recall. We've turned into a red state.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't see it on the news, but I think it's going to be a swing state.
KUHNE: Our state is really divided. Just like the country's divided.
HARLOW (voice-over): As for this town, it's still suffering and waiting for jobs.
Poppy Harlow, CNN, Janesville, Wisconsin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: A Georgia woman who waged a two-month battle against flesh-eating bacteria has now been released from the hospital with multiple amputations. We're going to tell you what is next for this brave 24-year-old.
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MALVEAUX: She has become the symbol of strength and inspiration to millions. After two months in the hospital, Aimee Copeland, the Georgia woman who lost one of her legs, her remaining foot, most of her hands to flesh-eating bacteria, she's begun the next step up for her recovery.
CNN Medical Unit Executive Producer Jennifer Bixler is joining us.
Jen, you are in constant contact with her family, with her family in particular. She's amazing.
(CROSSTALK)
I don't even know how she does it. But now she's entering a new phase. Can you describe it for us?
JENNIFER BIXLER, CNN MEDICAL UNIT EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Exactly. She started the actual rehab today so she's starting to learn the basic skills that we take it for granted. How do you eat? How do you get dressed? How do you take a shower? She has many challenges ahead of her. Right now, she's going to spend the next six to eight weeks focusing on those life skills and also regaining strength in her remaining leg and her arms and all of that. But, yes, she amazing.
MALVEAUX: How does she move around? Is she in a wheelchair or a cane? Is that going to be the rest of her life?
BIXLER: She's in a wheelchair. Eventually, they're hoping she'll learn to use prosthetic limbs. That's further in the rehab. This s a woman who is determined. When I talked to Andy this morning, one of the things he said is she's excited to get started. She was like when will you be here so I can tell you about it. She's amazing. The other thing is she's looking at this like the first day of college. She's excited but knows this is a big challenge.
MALVEAUX: We see the pictures. She has a smile on her face that's so inspiring to see that. We talked about she moves back to her home and there's a whole renovation project to take place.
BIXLER: I'm calling this the extreme makeover, Copeland style. This is family that doesn't do anything small. They have volunteers. The architects volunteered. The contractors volunteers. Late last night, Andy said they have the guys that will build the house have volunteered. They are rebuilding the house. They're going to put in a new bedroom, bathroom, elevator so that she can get around. She wants to finish her degree. She is studying to be a therapist. He wants this done in six weeks.
MALVEAUX: Talk about her mental capabilities. She has a lot of strength that a lot of people wouldn't have.
BIXLER: I think she has, she didn't lose anything mentally when this happened which is great. I think she has fortitude. If you look on her Facebook page, she's got 50,000 likes on the Aimee Copeland Facebook page. Everyone talks about her spiritual strength and that she is determined. When she does have moments of doubt, of depression, her dad has written about that. She's amazing. She's amazing. She's an inspiration for people around the world.
MALVEAUX: Jennifer, good to see you. Thank you for your excellent reporting. BIXLER: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: Thanks. Good to see you.
Tonight, here on CNN, Erin Burnett is talking to the 24-year- old's parents about their daughter's ordeal. We'll have that tonight at 7:00 eastern. Thousands fled the danger of the Colorado wildfires. We're going to take a look at some people whose job is literally to jump into those flames.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: They leap right into the wild fair battling to bring it under control. The Waldo Canyon Fire has destroyed over 250 homes. It could have been a lot worse without these guys. Gary Tuchman takes us into action with Colorado's smoke jumpers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the entire USA, there are only 430 of them. They are among the fire fighting elite. They are the smoke jumpers.
UNIDENTIFIED SMOKE JUMPER: Elevation 10,900 feet.
TUCHMAN: And many of them are in Colorado right now, marching on to aircraft, which is their transportation to the action. Their job? To fly into the fires just as new ones are starting up and stop them from getting bigger.
This is video the smoke jumpers just brought back. It's hard to spot the flames up here at 1,500 feet, but the smoke jumpers are trained to see them, and it's all very clear when they're on the ground. Nowhere near any roads and sometimes quite a distance from any civilization, but if they don't get to the blaze quickly, the flames will often spread rapidly.
Smoke jumpers court disaster every day they're on the job.
(on camera): You talk to everybody you know, close family, tell you what you do, what do they say to you?
UNIDENTIFIED SMOKE JUMPER: They think I should get my head examined.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Part of the reason for that because of how they get to the fires.
(on camera): Fire fighting is not an occupation for the timid, particularly in this specialty. Take a look. These guys aren't just fighting fires. They sky dive into potentially deadly combustible wilderness.
(voice-over): We were invited to watch the smoke jumpers train in this canyon near Grand Junction, Colorado. After the smoke jumpers land, their equipment is attached to its own parachute.
STEVE STROUD, SMOKE JUMPER: Inside the cargo, you'll find our hand poles that we use for fighting fires, (INAUDIBLE) and shovels.
TUCHMAN: The smoke jumpers, who all work for the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and the Interior, also have MREs, water and sleeping bags in their cargo boxes, because they may be in the wilderness for up to 48 hours while hauling gear on their backs.
PHILLIP LIND, SMOKE JUMPER: Weighs 120, 140 pounds and we'll hike out of that situation.
TUCHMAN: The fires in Colorado have been unpredictable and relentless, but there are so many other ways to get hurt including lightning and bad parachute landings.
Phillip Lind was once seriously hurt when he missed the target.
LIND: Had a branch of a tree puncture me, come through this pelvis and eviscerate me. Fortunately, the person I was with was a trained paramedic.
TUCHMAN: The smoke jumpers put out fire by clearing fuels with their equipment and digging lines, also backfires to stop the wildfires in their tracks. They have to get along with each other because their lives depend on relying on each other.
(on camera): Are there times where you're fearful?
LIND: Almost certainly. I think all firefighters have moments when they're fearful. We like to say courage is not the absence of fear but the making of action in spite of it.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): And there has been no shortage of action this fire season.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Grand Junction, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: "CNN NEWSROOM" continues right now with Ashleigh Banfield.
Hey, Ashleigh.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Suzanne Malveaux. Thanks so much.
I'm Ashleigh Banfield, in for Brooke Baldwin. I'm in New York.
And unfolding right now, amazing develops right now involving America's strained relationship with Pakistan. The nuclear-armed nation re-opening the supply routes into Afghanistan after months of saying no way and shutting them down. This has a huge impact on our troops. And we're just starting to get reaction from the Pentagon. We've got more on that in a moment.
But first, he was the ultimate TV good guy.
