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Obama Wants Credit For Comeback; Monthly Jobs Report Coming; WikiLeaks releases Syria E-mails; Titanic Explorer Finds Downed Turkish Jet; Sex Offender Arrested In Boy's Stabbing; Sex Offender Arrested In Boy's Stabbing; Lost His Leg, Not His Resolve; "Mass Feedings" Begin In West Virginia; "Seventeen" Responds To Airbrush Petition; Whale Hunting To Resume; Calling Into Question A "True Hero"; $1,000,000 Bond For Zimmerman

Aired July 05, 2012 - 14:00   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ashleigh Banfield, in for Brooke Baldwin this afternoon.

And we've got a lot happening. So let's get right to it, shall we?

We are just four months and one day until the election. And it is hard to believe it, but things are really starting to sneak up on us. So today we have the president setting out for two industrial states that get a lot of attention every four years. Here he is about to board Air Force One. He's got the blazer on, the blue shirt and gray slacks. That's early in the day. Presto-changeo. An hour later or so, and Barack Obama is in shirt sleeves in Maumee, northern Ohio. He's talking about working folks. He's talking about the American auto industry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When the American auto industry was on the brink of collapse, and more than 1 million jobs were on the line, Governor Romney said we should just let Detroit go bankrupt. I refused to turn my back on communities like this one. I was betting on the American worker. And I was betting on American industry. And three years later, the American auto industry is coming roaring back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So now the president has hopped a bus and he is traveling at this hour through northern Ohio and he's headed towards Pennsylvania. So is Dan Lothian. He's trailing along. And he joins us on the telephone literally en route.

Give us a bit of a locator as to where you are, Dan, and then let me know why it is no secret that you are on the tour headed through those two particular states.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): That's right. Well, we are somewhere in between Maumee, where the president just held his event, a few hundred people, an outdoor venue with a white picket fence and a large American flag. And the president there really talking about the economy and how this area, which has been impacted by the manufacturing downturn, especially the auto industry, is starting to see some recovery. And the president taking credit for that, saying that he pushed for the auto bailout. That this is something that his administration obviously did. It's something that the Romney administration would not have done.

We're now on this bus. The president is on a separate bus, obviously. And he peeled off a short time ago to make an unscheduled stop. We don't have any details yet where that is. But as soon as we do, we'll pass that along. We're now on our way to Sandusky, where the president will be holding another outdoor rally at a -- they're calling it an ice cream social. So we're headed that way.

And then we'll wrap up the day in Parma, Ohio, where, again, the message from the president will be all about the economy and about job creation, pointing out that his opponent, Mitt Romney, worked for a company that really pioneered outsourcing. And what he focuses on is in-sourcing jobs. Bringing some of those jobs that went overseas back here at home. The president promising to continue fighting for jobs.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: So, Dan Lothian, the president's campaign knows full well that he's going to be tailed by reporters, like you. He may not have been as aware of the other people tailing him, the Republicans. Namely two very significant Republicans. And a brand-new term has come into our lexicon, bracketing. Bracketing. Explain.

LOTHIAN: That's right. You have former presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty and also the governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, who are here as surrogates for Mitt Romney on their own sort of shadow bus tour as well. And what they're doing is essentially knocking down what the president is trying to play up, saying that Americans are no better now than they were four years ago. Really poking holes in the president's message.

And in addition to that, what was interesting when we landed here in Ohio earlier today and got to the venue, there was a small plane circling the venue pulling a large banner that said "Romney 2012." So this may be President Obama's bus tour, but Romney's very much a part of it.

BANFIELD: And then I want to ask you this. I'm going to throw up some graphics so that people know just how significant Ohio and Pennsylvania are, Dan Lothian, especially as it relates to what happened back in 2008. Here's Ohio. It's 20 electoral votes. And the president won this state back in '08 with 52 percent of the vote. And it was even better in Pennsylvania. He won that state and its 21 electoral votes with 54 percent of the vote. And yet, that is not a lock by any means, right?

LOTHIAN: That's right. It's not. But, you know -- and these are two key battleground states, as you pointed out. Ohio, in fact, go back in 2004, Ohio actually decided the presidential election. Right now the president here in Ohio is leading Romney by about nine points. And in Pennsylvania, the other battleground state, leading by about six points. So, I mean, I think, you know, the president, everyone realized that in order for the president to win in 2012, he has to do well in these two battleground states. So what you're seeing now is the president sort of moving away from those high-price, ritzy fund- raisers and doing a few rallies as well, but getting down to sort of the retail politics and reaching out to those voters that both sides are going after. Those -- that is those blue-collar workers, those working Americans. And that's what this bus trip is all about.

BANFIELD: Dan Lothian chasing that beautiful black bus. It looks like it's somewhere out of "Mission Impossible" and somewhere in northern Ohio. Enjoy your assignment today, sir.

We were just talking, Dan and I, about that new term in our lexicon, bracketing. It's not new, it's not just that the Republicans do it. Democrats have done it as well. Because hours before President Obama even set foot in Maumee, Ohio, the dispatch was on. These guys, both Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty boarding a bus as well. and tailing -- the Romney bus tailing the Obama bus, heading to those same stops. And here's the message that they wanted to get out, just as Obama is pulling out. And here's the message. Ready? That the president is bad for Ohio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R), LOUISIANA: This president's been bad for America. He's been bad for Ohio. Here in Ohio, over 40,000 fewer jobs than when he took office. The average income gone down $3,000. The list goes on and on and on. But the bottom line is this. We've had enough of broken promises. If you want good-paying jobs in Ohio, if you want a growing economy in America, we need to elect Mitt Romney.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Well, they say that that is to ensure that the Romney message gets out as well as the president's message gets out.

And so since they mentioned jobs, let's talk about it. Last winter and into the spring, it kind of looked as though the jobs situation might actually bode well for the president as he starts campaigning toward the fall. But then all of a sudden a lot of new hiring started to slow down. Tomorrow we've got some highly awaited monthly employment report numbers that are coming out. Alison Kosik is in New York and she's watching this very closely.

Can you preview this for me?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right. So, yes, the job market may -- and I stress may -- be picking up a bit based on a couple of reports, Ashleigh, that came out today. One of them, weekly jobless claims that show that they fell by 14,000 last week. It's the biggest drop since April. That's good news. And then payroll processor ADP said private companies added 176,000 jobs last month. That came in much stronger than May's figure.

Now, what this ADP reading is meant to be, it's kind of an appetizer to the main course of the official government jobs report that comes out tomorrow, which takes into account both private and public sector employment. Expectations for that, Ashleigh, though, not as upbeat. Analysts polled by "CNN Money" think we're just going to see 80,000 positions. It's just not good enough. Not enough to bring down the unemployment rate.

But I guess if you want to look at it glass half full here, it could be better than May's report, which showed only 69,000 job editions. So, yes, here we go again, more baby steps in this recovery. And you see in that chart how we had a strong start to the year. But as far as April and May go, we're back into double digit job growth. And the worry is that this is a trend and not just a blip.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: So, well, if he can't take any excitement out of those numbers, how about the mortgage rates, because that was pretty good news today?

KOSIK: Yes, good news if you're -- if you're definitely -- if you're looking for a house. Another all-time low for rates on 30-year fixed rate mortgages, at a record low now at 3.62 percent. But this is kind of a double-edged sword here because you see mortgage rates fall when the economy isn't doing well. You know, Freddie Mac pointed out in this report that consumer spending is weak, the manufacturing sector is contracting.

But on the flip side, hey, it's a great time for people to buy a house. But just because mortgage rates and home prices are low, Ashleigh, it doesn't necessarily mean you can qualify for a loan because banks are still very tight fisted with giving out money, even to people who seem pretty well qualified. So it's still tough out there, even with the rock bottom low rates.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: I guess you've got to be a whirling dervish to be able to spin nice, low numbers. Something good for consumers.

KOSIK: Exactly.

BANFIELD: Because it means essentially that the economy is in the dumper.

All right, Alison Kosik, thanks very much for that.

KOSIK: Sure.

BANFIELD: They say that they've got e-mails that are going to embarrass Syria's president something fierce. Bashar al Assad. But they also have e-mails that will embarrass his western opponents. Who are they? And what's really inside the nearly 2.5 million e-mails? It's WikiLeaks and it's coming at you soon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: A French air crew fiddled about, panicked, and then fiddled about some more. And several harrowing minutes later, an Air France plane went belly down into the Atlantic killing 228 people. That is the ugly conclusion of a report that was issued today, three years after the tragic crash of Air France Flight 447. The French safety probe determined that the plane lost speed at 38,000 feet. And that in itself is not a huge problem, but it is one that demanded attention. Instead, though, the co-pilot jerked the plane's nose upward, which triggered a catastrophic series of events that ended with a crash about four minutes later. And in the interim, the plane's captain, who had wandered away from the flight deck, even as the plane hit turbulence, that pilot returned to the cockpit and apparently failed to re-assert control. So those are the results. We're going to walk through this a little bit more in depth later on with CNN's Richard Quest and also the implications, what these findings bring and the politics involved as well.

In the meantime, though, the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks is at it again. This time spilling secrets about Syria. And this spill is massive. It is a dump. A massive dump. Saying that it's about 2 million e-mails that are coming our way. It either hacked or intercepted these e-mails from the Syrian government. And WikiLeaks is claiming that some of them, some of the e-mails between Syrian politicians and powers in the west. Here's a written statement from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. He claims, quote, "the material is embarrassing to Syria, but it is also embarrassing to Syria's external opponents." CNN's Atika Shubert is reading through the e-mails and she reports now from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, WikiLeaks has done it again, this time with more than 2 million e-mails obtained from within the Syrian government. WikiLeaks is calling them the Syria files. Some of them, WikiLeaks says, are even coming from the Syrian presidential office.

Now, these e-mails are being released in batches. And the first batch is only about 15 e-mails. And it details how an Italian company was apparently selling advanced radio systems for use within police and military helicopters and vehicles used by the Syrian regime. And at least one of those e-mails is as recent as February 2012. So possibly systems being used at the very height of the violence within Syria.

Now, this was a major release for WikiLeaks, but its founder and editor, Julian Assange, was not there. That's because he was inside the embassy of Ecuador, where he is seeking asylum. He, of course, is wanted for questioning by Sweden, where he faces allegations of sexual harassment. Julian Assange is refusing to be extradited and is now seeking asylum in Ecuador.

But clearly WikiLeaks is eager to prove that it can continue publishing even as Julian Assange faces mounting legal problems.

Atika Shubert, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: All right, Atika, thank you for that.

In the meantime, listen to this. The same person who found the wreckage of the Titanic, it just so happens has also come upon that Turkish jet that was downed by Syrian forces. Let's go live to Ivan Watson, who's live in Istanbul, Turkey, now.

Pretty remarkable series of coincidences that led to this story. Can you walk me through it?

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Well, last month, June 22nd, we had Syrian anti-aircraft defenses shooting down a Turkish military reconnaissance jet. An incident that has put these two middle eastern neighbors closer than ever to the possibility of armed conflict. Now, the search and rescue operation has operated in Syrian waters in the Eastern Mediterranean. And just yesterday the search and rescue operation found the two dead Turkish pilots. Their bodies have been recovered today from a depth of more than 1200 meters.

Now, in an unusual twist, the Turkish government and armed forces turned to a U.S. research vessel, the Nautilus, which just happened to be docked in Istanbul when this major deadly international incident took place. That is a ship led by marine explorer Bob Ballard, famous for finding the Titanic deep underneath the Atlantic Ocean in the 1980s. And that ship had been brought into Syrian waters to help find this -- the wreckage of this plane and the two bodies and bring them up today.

Turkish government sources telling me that there are Turkish diplomats, navy officers and air force officers on board the Nautilus, which had to totally change its itinerary. It was supposed to be broadcasting live from the Black Sea with National Geographic on Saturday. And now it is part of this rather high-security search and recovery operation. The members of the crew are not talking right now, probably because of the extreme sensitivity of this mission.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Ivan Watson live for us in Istanbul. Thanks very much for that.

We have a difficult story to tell you about next. One that you really should hear, though. This is law and justice run amok. Oregon police say this man allegedly yanked a 10-year-old boy inside a Wendy's bathroom last weekend, tried to sexually assault the child, and then stabbed the child. It's bad enough, but there is a twist to this story you will not believe. We're going to get to the bottom of it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: There's a story unfolding out of Portland, Oregon, that is a mind blower. First, the basics of it. A guy named Adam Lee Brown in a Portland jail right now. And thank goodness for that, because he's accused of pulling a 10-year-old boy into a Wendy's bathroom this past weekend. Portland police say that he allegedly tried to sexually assault that little boy and then stabbed him several times. All of this, police say, while the boy was screaming and his father was on the other side of a barricaded door trying to break it down. The boy is right now recovering in a Portland hospital.

But here is the thing. Brown is on parole for child molestation. And the story takes an even uglier twist after this. In 1993, Mr. Brown was convicted of molesting three kids at a day care in Roseburg, Oregon. Nine kids in the small logging town told police that Brown had molested them.

If you thought was the top of this story, the worst of it, brace yourself for what I'm about to tell you next. In 1993, Adam Lee Brown was HIV positive and he knew it. And so did the authorities.

I want to bring in Jean Casarez. She's a correspondent with "In Session."

Jean, the story is -- it's hard to believe that a man who was convicted and jailed, knowingly HIV positive, is out there and able to allegedly do this to another little boy.

JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION" CORRESPONDENT: You know, as you look at the timeline, and these are the facts, OK? We're not supposing this. The only thing you can say is the system has let us down. In 1993, when he was originally arrested for raping three children, it was attempted murder was his charge because of the HIV.

BANFIELD: It was attempted -- his charge was attempted murder?

CASAREZ: Yes.

BANFIELD: Did he plea bargain it down?

CASAREZ: Yes.

BANFIELD: Lord.

CASAREZ: Plea bargained it down in 1993 to sodomy. Three counts of sodomy. So he's sentenced to 16 years. He served 11 years. Got out in 2000 --

BANFIELD: Whoa, whoa, back it up. Why only 16 years? Those sound that they could be life offenses in some states.

CASAREZ: It was back in '92. Laws were different. The laws we have now, you know, that are really oriented for the victim now, were not in place. So they -- it was part of the sentencing scheme.

But it gets worse, OK? Because in 2004 he's let out on probation. He then has a relationship with a 17-year-old. That's a violation of probation right there. It was never designated a violation of probation. He never went back to serve out the sentence.

BANFIELD: And he should have gone back for those additional five years, right?

CASAREZ: Yes.

BANFIELD: Eleven years out of a 16 year sentence. You do something naughty, you violate parole.

CASAREZ: Sure. Or maybe additional charges, right?

BANFIELD: Or additional charges. And why didn't (ph) this happen (ph)?

CASAREZ: And he also approached a little girl back in 2004. And who knows what else that wasn't even caught. And none of that, none of that went to the authorities. And it appears as though the authorities knew about it.

So then, in 2007, offender risk two. Two. And then it graduated --

BANFIELD: That's level -- level two?

CASAREZ: Level 2. And then in 2009, level four. 2010, level eight. So then he switches counties in Oregon to the Portland area. He had an ankle monitor originally. But once he moved to the Portland area, no ankle monitor was required. So they couldn't even locate him.

BANFIELD: Well, what's the point? What is the point of even incrementing the offender level or the risk level if nothing happens? If he doesn't get put away? If he doesn't get extra monitors? I mean why bother giving him a two, four, six, eight?

CASAREZ: And there were -- and there were -- and it's such a subjective determination, right? But it should be based on the facts, based on what he has allegedly has done. And so it just goes on from there. But the fact is, he was out roaming around and now -- and this has to be rape, Ashleigh. He has to have allegedly raped this young 10-year-old boy, because, once again, the charge is attempted murder. And that, once again, is because of the HIV.

BANFIELD: Because of the HIV.

CASAREZ: Yes.

BANFIELD: There's still a lot of questions. Stick around for a little bit?

CASAREZ: Sure.

BANFIELD: Appreciate that. He's HIV positive, as Jean just reported, a registered sex offender of kids, dropping off the radar. We're going to find out from a spokesperson with Oregon's corrections department what went wrong here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Before the break I was talking about a case out of Portland, Oregon. Adam Lee Brown is in a Portland jail right now, accused of pulling a 10-year-old boy into a Wendy's bathroom this past weekend. He's accused of attempting to sexually assault him and then stabbing him. He was convicted of sexually molesting three children back in 1993. At the time, he was HIV positive. Jean Casarez mentioned earlier the original charges were attempted murder because he was HIV positive, bargained them down and got a 15/16-year sentence.

Joining us on the telephone now from Salem, Oregon, is Elizabeth Craig. She's a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Corrections.

Miss Craig, I'm glad you're with us. I first want to ask you, how on earth did a prosecutor ever agree back in '93 to a sentence of only 15, 16 years?

ELIZABETH CRAIG, OREGON DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS (via telephone): Sure. Thank you for -- first of all, thank you for having me on today.

I cannot speak to what the prosecutor originally was going to charge the inmate with. Ultimately, he came to our custody on three counts of sodomy one and we held him accountable for those crimes.

But I think what's important is to first look at our system of sentencing in Oregon, which will help clear up some of the confusion that's out there. Since 1989, we've used a system called sentencing guidelines, which basically is a sentencing grid where -- it's a complex grid, but basically it's -- you look at it and if I'm convicted of felony "a," then I get this certain amount of time. And it really takes away a lot of discretion in sentencing. And so he was sentenced under these guidelines to 180 months in our custody.

BANFIELD: Jean Casarez is with me --

CRAIG: But I think the first thing to understand is we have these guidelines in place that dictate how much time someone will serve in our custody.

BANFIELD: That makes sense, but I'm still kind of hung up on such a short -- relatively short sentence. I mean if it's 15 to 16 years for somebody who originally is looking at attempted murder, again, what on earth could a prosecutor do? I mean, they have -- they have the power. They have say. Why would a prosecutor do this? Why would a prosecutor say, all right, I'll go low on the sentence?

CASAREZ: Right. First of all, tougher laws came about in 1995. But furthermore, and this is such a subjective determination. It is being reported that back then, since he had AIDS, the prosecutor thought he was going to die. So she thought 16 years was good enough, that he'd pass on during that time because of having the AIDS virus.

BANFIELD: That's unbelievable.

CASAREZ: Yes.

BANFIELD: That this was just a -- you know, this is going to -- this will be out of my hair soon enough anyway, so why not?

CASAREZ: Yes.

BANFIELD: Well, that's an answer.

Elizabeth Craig, this man broke parole in July of last year. He did it again in January of this year. He's been termed a high-risk sex offender. His wife, his ex-wife, has actually said the words, "he needs to die. He needed to die a long time ago. It's just the nightmare that never ends until he dies."

This is the kind of thing where, you know, good law-abiding Americans don't understand how a system could go so awry, regardless of whether laws back then were more lenient and are tougher now. This guy was a deadly threat back then and he could be a deadly threat now.

ELIZABETH CRAIG, OREGON DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS (via telephone): You very well may be right. He was under the supervision of community corrections. I can't speak for them. I do know that at the time of his arrest, there was a warrant out for his arrest.

And it was very, very unfortunate, the circumstances under which he was most recently arrested. I know that he was held accountable for the violations that he committed during his supervision and ultimately, we'll see what plays out in the courts this time.

BANFIELD: I just lost connection with you, I'm so sorry. I'm not sure if you're still talking. I can't hear you anymore, Elizabeth Craig. I'm so sorry about that, but thank you.

Not only to Elizabeth Craig from the Oregon Department of Corrections, but also to Jean Casarez of "In Session" for the insight into this very disturbing case.

Thank you, Jean. It's nice to see you again, Jean. It's nice to work with you. Sorry under these circumstances.

The only thing that makes having no electricity worse is having no electricity when it is approaching triple digits outside. And that is the nasty reality right now for half a million Americans across several states. Up next, what one state in particular is doing to help ease the miserable conditions.

And first, in the wake of celebrating our independence, it is a good time to remember the sacrifices that many of our brave soldiers make while fighting for our freedom.

In this week's "Human Factor," Dr. Sanjay Gupta brings us the story of one soldier who has overcome tremendous odds to become an inspiration to so many people.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When did you know you wanted to be in the army, to be a military person?

MAJOR DAN GADE, U.S. ARMY: Well, my dad had fought in Vietnam. My older brother was a '94 West Point graduate. I'm a '97 West Point graduate, and my younger brother is currently serving in the Army.

GUPTA (voice-over): But it wasn't until January 5th, 2005 when his convoy was hit by a roadside bomb when he realized just how dangerous war could be. Three weeks after the incident, Gade woke up in a hospital bed, recovering from many injuries and missing his entire right leg.

GADE: I'm laying there and I'm just thinking, my gosh, how much worse could this the get?

GUPTA: He spent some time feeling sorry for himself, to be sure, but it was his 2-year-old daughter who snapped him out of it. She was 2 and she wanted me to play with her on the ground and I was in a power wheelchair with a broken pelvis and all that stuff.

And she said, Daddy, can you play with me? And I said, no, baby, I can't, I can't sit on the floor. And she turned around and said under her breath, my Daddy can't do anything. And I crawled out of the wheelchair and sat on the ground on my broken pelvis and played Legos.

GUPTA: Since that day, Gade has become an "Iron Man" triathlete completed a one-mile swim and just finished a relay bike race across the Unites States pedalling six hours a day with just one leg.

GADE: It's a neat ride because you're kind of going through the rural parts of America and to me that's the heartland.

GUPTA: The ride was grueling, but yet for Gade, it was about more than just finishing.

GADE: You have a setback, and it could be something dramatic like the setback I had when I got hurt in Iraq, and the important thing is that you kind of find a new normal and that you go forward from wherever you are and do the very best with the things that God has given you.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: A profoundly man-made disaster. That's the conclusion of a Japanese panel investigating the crisis at the Daiichi nuclear plant in Fukushima. The report says that the disaster that unfolded after last year's earthquake and tsunami, quote, "should have and could have been foreseen and prevented."

It has now been six days since the deadly storm swept through several states and devastated thousands of families, American families. In West Virginia, people are struggling to find food in horrible heat conditions and many of them hope each minute that their power will please be restored.

Thankfully, though, today, as of today, mass feedings are underway. 25,000 meals each day are being handed out to victims of this storm. And it's all thanks to the Red Cross and some federal aid as well.

Red Cross spokesperson Becky Howard tells us what is being done to help these people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECKY HOWARD, AMERICAN RED CROSS (via telephone): We've been feeding thousands of meals since this has happened and we've ramped up our capacity several days ago and the plan is to work with our partners to serve thousands of more meals over the next few days.

You know, these people are hot, they're tired, and we're here to meet their need with the food, the water, and the snacks. We will get through this. West Virginians are resilient and we pull together as a community and we support each other.

We have a phenomenal group of volunteers and staff supporting the Red Cross. We've been working long hours in this heat and everyone still continues to work hard, serving their communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: And if you want to know how you can help out, help them to work hard and get that food out, you can go to cnn.com/impact.

A 14-year-old girl from Maine takes on a major magazine over how the magazine portrays young women on their pages. How do you think this battle turned out? Here's a hint. She won.

Up next, "Seventeen" magazine's response to the eighth grader who told them, cut it out with the photoshopping already!

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: "Seventeen" magazine promises to get real about beauty after an outcry in May over its use of air brushed images of young women. The editor in chief writes in the August issue that "Seventeen" will, quote, "never change girl's body or face shapes, never have, never will."

One of a list of commitment in a body peace tribute, calls it. That's a tribute with its readers. The move comes after a teenager from Maine named Julia Bluhm, she's holding the box.

She organized an online petition, asking for one unaltered photo spread per month. More than 40,000 people signed that petition and then Bluhm decided to take the signatures right to the source, to "Seventeen's" office.

The 14-year-old spoke with our Brooke Baldwin back in May.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIA BLUHM, PETITIONED "SEVENTEEN" TO USE UNALTERED PHOTOS: A bunch of my friends and I read "Seventeen" magazine and you know, we can recognize that they're photoshopped.

But at the same time, you know, that's what's considered beautiful. And we don't realize it sometimes when we're just looking at the magazine and having fun and it can lower your self-esteem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Well, joining me now is former model, Jenna Sauers, who's also an editor at jezebel.com. She's joining via Skype. So Jenna, thank you for doing this.

This sounds on its surface to be like a very, very big win for this young lady, but when you look a little bit deeper into it, is it such a win? Is anything really changing?

JENNA SAUERS, FORMER MODEL: Well, I mean, if you read the letter the editor wrote in the new issue, it's really more than anything a commitment to go back to business as usual, in fact.

I mean, "Seventeen" essentially says it's never had any issues with the way that it Photo shops its photographic subjects and celebrities and models, but that just to be on the safe side, it will continue not altering the bodies of the people it photographs.

And I don't know. I mean, it seems like 84,000 people who signed that petition seem to be of the opinion that there were some issues with the ways that "Seventeen" has photoshopped its images in the past. So this response doesn't really address that criticism.

BANFIELD: And so what we're showing on our screen right now is the before shot and the after shot. They say they're going to be more transparent and show after shots online in their tumbler account and the only thing they Photoshop are things like the stray hair on the right.

If you look at the before photo, there's a stray hair on the right and it change that. There's a bra strap showing, the color of the curtain goes from white beforehand to blue afterwards.

That's par for the course. Just about everybody cleans up pictures with, you know, messy flyaways and colors that they don't find palatable.

SAUERS: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: But photoshopping -- there is still an element of photoshopping that makes people more beautiful than their photos really would suggest otherwise. "Seventeen" is not going to change all of that, are they?

SAUERS: Well, no. I mean, airbrushing the likes of flyaway hairs and stray objects that might have been in the background and things like that, that kind of photo editing has been around for a very long time.

BANFIELD: And that's fair. I'm more talking about if you have uneven skin tone or blemishes, and in some cases, there have been accusations that black models have been made to look less black. I mean, those are the kind of things I think people are very worried about.

SAUERS: Absolutely. The advent of these digital post-production tools, including Photoshop has just made it incredibly easy to alter all kinds of things about an image, including body shape, size, skin color, skin tone, to erase wrinkles.

It's -- and sometimes the effects are downright creepy. But you know, more commonly, we just, we've gotten used to the idea in the past 10 years that every single woman seen on a magazine.

Particularly on women's magazines, is going to be an altered, hyper-real, impossible, idealized version of how that person actually looks. And I think for young girls that is not a healthy visual culture to be growing up in.

BANFIELD: Right. I want to just reiterate that the editor of "Seventeen" did say that everybody on staff signed this body peace treaty and they do say that they would never alter the shape, again, or the size of the models, but makes for a good conversation. Jenna Sauers, thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.

South Korea angering environmental activists worldwide today making a big announcement about whaling.

And then also a shark nearly as big as a whale, look at that thing. Can I tell you? This thing was so big, it weighed more than the scale could actually handle, so they had to guess beyond the maximum of the scale.

Caught off the coast of California, too. Shark, California, back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: For the first time in 25 years, South Korea plans to resume hunting whales. Today's announcement brought immediate criticism from environmental groups and neighboring countries, including Australia and New Zealand.

A global moratorium went into effect against whaling back in 1986, but South Korea says the whale population there has recovered and that it's disrupting fishing along that country's coast.

Japan, for its part, already ignores the moratorium, but says that it is doing so to hunt whales for scientific research.

Closer to home, fishermen off Marina Del Ray, California, caught this 800-pound shark. Too big to even get into the boat, so they dragged it back to the dock.

They couldn't weigh it on the scales because the scales only go to 750 pounds. So they had to just extrapolate. They got to 800 pounds. The locals say they have not seen a Mako like this, a shark like this, in several years. That's a good thing that you don't see that very often.

A congressman is up for re-election. I don't know if you've heard about this, but he's in some hot water for something he said. He called into question if his opponent is, quote, "a true hero."

All right, Joe Walsh is running in Illinois. That opponent is Tammy Duckworth, an Army vet who lost her legs while serving in Iraq. CNN's Kate Bolduan has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here's the town hall video that's created an uproar around Republican Congressman Joe Walsh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what's so noble about our heroes.

BOLDUAN: Walsh suggesting over the weekend that his Democratic challenger talks too much about her military service.

REPRESENTATIVE JOE WALSH (R), ILLINOIS: Now, I'm running against a woman who -- I mean, my god, that's all she talks about. Our true heroes, the men and women who served us, it's the last thing in the world they talk about.

BOLDUAN: The woman Walsh is attacking, Tammy Duckworth, a veteran who lost both legs in a 2004 helicopter accident while serving in Iraq. Just yesterday, Walsh released a statement clarifying he does think Duckworth is a hero, but he doesn't quite apologize.

Adding, "unlike most veterans I have had the honor to meet since my election to Congress, who rarely if ever talk about their service or the combat they've seen, that is darn near all of what Tammy Duckworth talks about."

Now Duckworth is more than happy to fight back.

LT. COL. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D), ILLINOIS CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: So he's just trying to shift the focus away from the fact that he's done nothing in his two years in Congress, other than be an extremist loud mouth for the Tea Party.

BOLDUAN: This isn't Duckworth's first run for Congress, despite from support from then Senator Obama and high-profile veterans like Senator John Kerry, Duckworth lost a House run in 2006.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: That was Kate Bolduan reporting for us. Yesterday, Joe Walsh backed down from his first statement, calling Tammy Duckworth a true hero.

You heard Kate mention that, but he is not backing down from all of what he said about her. You can hear him explain for himself when I speak with him in the next hour.

A judge today says George Zimmerman can be released from jail, but he is attaching a megaprice tag to it. Can his defense attorney pony up the catch to get him out?

Plus, the judge's strict new orders for Zimmerman if he does leave jail, we're on the case, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: He's accused of second-degree murder, but George Zimmerman has already proven to be a court manipulator. Those are the words of a judge, written in an order today.

This while setting a $1 million bond for the man charged with killing Trayvon Martin. Remember, originally the bond that he got was just $150,000. I know it's a lot of money, but as bond goes, that ain't bad.

Then it turned out Zimmerman and his wife failed to disclose more than $150,000 in public donations, in bank accounts. And that prompted the judge to say, quote, "It appears to this court that the defendant is manipulating the system to his own benefit."

Defense Attorney Joey Jackson is on the case. That's a big old slap.

JOEY JACKSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, it is.

BANFIELD: A 150 grand to a million?

JACKSON: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: Has his flight risk gone up at all?

JACKSON: Well, here's the problem. There's a lot that's gone up, and here's why, Ashleigh. This is good and bad news for the defense. Why? Because it's good news that he gets bail at all, right?

So he has the opportunity to post that bail, and when he does post it, and we expect he will, he'll be released from jail. The bad news is, look at the language you just cited to, talking about manipulation.

If you further read the decision, it talks about how he flouted the system, how he was not this confused, young adult that this defense attorney pointed him out to be.

He was a person who knew very well what he was doing. Why is that relevant? Because there's something called a stand your ground hearing, an immunity hearing at some point, he's going to say, I acted in self-defense, your honor. And that judge has to assess his credibility.

BANFIELD: And just the judge, right? It's a bench trial. You're not trying to make a song and dance for a jury. You've got a smart guy up there who knows the tricks of the trade.

JACKSON: Yes, so if you have a judge saying this, right, and saying look, I'm concerned because you misled the court, it would have been an easy thing to do to say, look, I don't know if this is my money, you know. We raised this money, it's for my defense. I don't know if I can use it your honor, but it's there. I don't consider it an asset, and let a judge decide.

So now the same judge who has said that you're a manipulator and you are flouting the system has to assess your credibility when you're asking for immunity with regard to this case being prosecuted. So that's why it's really problematic for him here.

BANFIELD: Yes, I mean, good because you can get out if you've got the money, but bad because of good luck with that hearing. And it's the most critical one. It could toss the case out before it even gets anywhere.

JACKSON: Absolutely, which raises even the question, Ashleigh, of whether or not his attorney, from a strategic perspective, even moves forward to that, right?

We don't know yet. Of course, if he wins that immunity hearing, it's a grand slam. Why, there's no trial. But at the same time, if all the evidence you have when it goes to that point is your word that I acted in self-defense.

Do you really think this judge, having slammed him in this decision, and rightfully so, I might add, as a result of the mission representations, do you really think that judge is going to say, is that what happened? OK, no problem.

BANFIELD: So there is a lot more than just the credibility issue, though. As we've started to see in discovery, there are forensics that match accounts of what he said, phone calls, videos, things that are starting to add up. And the judge gets all of that in the prelim?

JACKSON: Yes, the judge gets that. But I think at this point the judge will say, because of all the things, the whole forensics and this and that, a judge might say, we'll let a jury decide as to whether you acted in self-defense or you didn't act in self-defense. I'm not going to make that decision.

BANFIELD: Whereas before he might have said, I think you're telling the truth, I think I can judge this.

JACKSON: Right, and particularly it was his opportunity. Just say, there's money out there. But instead of that, you mislead the court, and now you get this $1 million and all these conditions attached.

BANFIELD: So by the way, can you tell me about these conditions?

JACKSON: I'd love to.

BANFIELD: I knew you'd know them. Are they the same as the $150,000 bail conditions?

JACKSON: No, they're different and they differ in critical respects. Just briefly, the judge was concerned also about the passport.

Look, he gives the judge a passport that's expired knowing he has a passport that's valid in a safety box. The judge says, listen, you better not apply for any passport or go near a passport. You, as a matter of fact, better not even go near an airport. I better not see you there.

BANFIELD: Seriously?

JACKSON: Absolutely. I want you to report to pre-trial within two days, right, every two day as opposed to every three days. I want you in the house at 6:00 as opposed to 7:00. So the judge was really concerned.

And in the decision, Ashleigh, the judge expressed that concern, if you got this $130,000 you didn't tell me anything about, you have this passport you didn't tell me anything about, what do you think, right?

You might have had an opportunity to flee the jurisdiction. The judge was very concerned about that, and therefore upped the ante with the million and raised those additional bail impositions on them.

BANFIELD: Five seconds on this one, you can't open or maintain a bank account?

JACKSON: Yes, that's another one. Because guess what you do with bank accounts? You have money in there, and if there's money in there, you know what, maybe that goes in part with his fleeing or going somewhere that he shouldn't belong.

And also Ashleigh, he can't even leave the county, the county unless he gets permission from the court.

BANFIELD: That is one of the stricter judges I think I've seen along the -

JACKSON: They don't like to be played, Ashleigh. When you have an opportunity to tell the truth -

BANFIELD: I don't like to be played.

JACKSON: Exactly

BANFIELD: Will you stick around for the next "ON YOUR CASE" at the top of the next hour?

JACKON: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: Well it's good to see you. Thank you, Joe.