Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

China & Russia Veto Syria Sanctions; Romney Live Event; Obama Live Event; Drought Threatens Milk and Cheese Costs; Supreme Court Justice Scalia Talks To CNN; Arrest In Attempted Child Abduction; Zimmerman: "It Was God's Plan"; Fire Survivor Now Helps Others; Jennifer Grey Celebrates "Dirty Dancing"

Aired July 19, 2012 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Suzanne. Thank you.

Hello, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

It is video that sends chills down your spine. Have you seen this? This 10-year-old girl -- there she is -- walking down this Philadelphia Street, hand in hand with her 2-year-old brother. You see she is snatched. Some creep comes up and tries to grab her. "Tries" being the operative word. You see him running away, so it's attempted abduction. They've been looking for this guy. The whole thing caught on camera. Because of that, we are hearing a suspect is now behind bars. Philadelphia Police Department is set to announce an arrest this hour. And as soon as that happens, we will bring that you live.

Also happening right now, we are watching and waiting. Take a look at the double box here on the left-hand side of your screen. These are live pictures from Jacksonville, Florida, as we are waiting to hear from President Obama. Right side of your screen, this is Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, we are waiting to hear from Mitt Romney. Both men running a little late on this Thursday afternoon. Both men out to hit hard at the other. We will bring you their comments live as soon as they get underway. We're watching that closely for you.

But, first, if it's interesting and happening right now, "Rapid Fire," roll it.

A Bulgarian government minister says the man who blew up a bus yesterday, killing five Israelis, had a fake Michigan driver's license. Here's the surveillance video. It shows, we've highlighted it here, the suspected bomber, who also died in the attack, along with the Bulgarian bus driver. Israel blames Iran for the massive blast, but Iranian embassy officials dismiss the claim. Thirty-six other Israeli tourists were hurt.

Also this. That is the sound of automatic gunfire. And the death toll rising in Syria. Attempts to bring U.N. sanctions against Syrian officials failed today, vetoed by Russia and China. And in just a couple of minutes, we're going to be talking with a Mideast expert who will tell us what a government collapse will look like. When it comes to supporting gay marriage, you can count Chick- fil-A out. It's president, Dan Cathy, generating a social media firestorm when he was asked by the Baptist press just this -- recently here about the company's support of traditional marriage. Cathy's response is this, quote, "guilty as charged. We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that." Chick- fil-A is a Christian-based company that is closed on Sundays and is known for giving back to the community. But the gay community and its supporters are so upset here over all of this, calling for boycotts across the nation. Cathy made similar comments about gay marriage on the Ken Coleman show and we'll have Ken on this show next hour.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann going too far, even for her fellow Republicans. She is demanding an investigation into whether Muslim extremists have infiltrated the government. And that seems to worry the top Republican in the House, Speaker John Boehner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: From everything that I do know of her, she has a sterling character. And I think accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Wolf Blitzer interviewing Speaker Boehner today. Be sure to watch "The Situation Room" coming up after this show, 4:00 Eastern, for what Speaker Boehner has to say.

A controversial mosque in Tennessee may open today. The beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The expansion of the Islamic Center in Murfreesboro, this is near Nashville, has met with community resistance over lawsuits, over concerns of an increased risk of terrorism, and now, after two years of legal ranging, a federal judge ruled yesterday it could open.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IMAM OSSAMA BAHLOUL, LEADER, ISLAMIC CENTER OF MURFREESBORO: Today we can all celebrate that the freedom of religion is, in fact, existing in America. And it's a day where I want to extend my hand to everyone, even the people within the opposition. We want nothing but to have a good relationship with everyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The mosque has to pass the final building inspection before officially opening its doors.

And now to developments here in Syria. Hours ago, Syrian TV showed video here of President Bashar al Assad. These are the very first images broadcast of him since yesterday's deadly attack on his top officials, really members of his inner circle. And this comes as China and Russia vetoed the latest effort this morning at the United Nations to bring sanctions against Assad and his ream.

As this is happening, opposition leaders claim violence in Syria has taken more than 90 lives just today. It now appears it is not if Assad falls, but when. And to help us understand how this could play out, let's bring in Andrew Tabler. He is the author of "In The Lion's Den: An Eyewitness Account of Washington's Battle With Syria." And he joins me from Washington.

Andrew, welcome back.

ANDREW TABLER, WASH. INST. FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: Thanks.

BALDWIN: As we are talking now, really more the "when," when the Assad government collapses, what does that collapse look like? How does that play out?

TABLER: It's a good question. No one really knows. But I think it's unlikely it will look like in Cairo or Tunisia with a dramatic scene in the center of the capital and the leader going, or anything like Yemen with a negotiated transition.

I think increasingly it looks like Assad will try and shoot his way out of this, but be unable to do so over part of our Syrian territory. So you could see the regime's control shrinking, which it already has in a de facto sense. And with that you would see some sort of collapse of Syria, as we know it, at least for the temporary and the immediate term.

BALDWIN: There is a lot of fear, Andrew, about the stockpile of chemical weaponry that is believed to be inside of Syria. And if you can, walk me through the cost and the benefits if the Israelis were to go into Syria and try to raid this stockpile. How would that be beneficial, both to Israel, to the rest of the world, but also to Syria?

TABLER: It could be very dangerous in the sense that you have 45 estimated sites, or maybe more. They could be bombed. And those would kill a lot of civilians in the process. That could then backfire politically and actually strengthen President Bashar al Assad's hand on his way out. And I think that's the reason why Israel's been very, very cautious about this, but, of course, concerned.

BALDWIN: If that were to happen, if Assad were to delve into this stockpile, is that the line that he would have to cross in order for Russia to take definitive action against such a long-standing ally, you think?

TABLER: It's a very good question. I think that basically with today's veto, given the situation on the ground, Russia is not going to break with the Assad regime, because they know that the collapse of the regime there just means it's going to control less territory. You're going to -- there's a real possibility here of having a (INAUDIBLE) Alawite state on the Syrian coast or just slowly pulling back from areas in the north and the eastern part of the country, which is predominantly Sunni. And we have early reports that some border crossings have fallen under the control of the rebels. We don't -- we can't substantiate them, but if true, we could see the regime's hold on the country slipping more rapidly than we thought.

BALDWIN: Do you think it would initially slip within Damascus? Would it be the outer lying communities? Would it be the Alawite minority communities that you're talking about, you know, Assad loyalists? How would that demise happen?

TABLER: Yes. Well, the game that the regime plays with the opposition is what we call in security of services the whack-a-mole game. And that is you're trying to -- like the carnival game -- trying to hit the head of the mole, but it goes back down. And the problem is that you -- that the regime can't play in all parts of the country at the same time. So do they pull back? And do they decide to cede some areas to the rebels? And if they do, do the rebels then declare independent, liberated area, like what happened in Bosnia. And does that then get a response -- a massive response then from the regime, which lead to atrocities? And that's what has everyone very worried at the moment.

BALDWIN: Andrew, I want to talk a little bit more about this video. We don't know exactly when it was shot, but it was shot, obviously, recently because you see President Assad shaking hands with his now new defense minister. You know, his former defense minister, several others, you know, killed in that bombing just yesterday. You and I have already established that President Assad is delusional. But when you look at this video, and if we can throw it back up, here it is, I mean he's smiling, Andrew.

TABLER: Sure.

BALDWIN: He's -- is he trying to project an image of stability? Do his own people -- do you think they buy that after all this?

TABLER: No, they don't. This is typical President Assad. Now, he's meeting with the new defense minister, General Freij, who's interestingly, at least according to initial readings, a Sunni from Hama. So he's actually, you know, somebody who's in a very tight spot. The fact that Assad has surfaced is trying to tell everyone in the country two things. One, a, hey, I'm alive, and, b, I have a defense minister to take the place of the one that was just killed. And that's going to lead us into the next response, which I fear will be the regime lashing out in massive force against its own people.

BALDWIN: Hopefully not. I hope not to have that conversation with you.

TABLER: Me too.

BALDWIN: Andrew Tabler, thank you. Author of "In The Lion's Den: An Eyewitness Account of Washington's Battle With Syria." We appreciate it.

We have a lot more to cover for you in the next two hours, including this.

After days of bruising assaults against his campaign, Mitt Romney comes out swinging hard against President Obama. And it's all over these four words, "you didn't build that." I'm Brooke Baldwin, the news is now.

The video is spine-chilling. A 10-year-old girl, walking along a Philadelphia street, when this happens. The girl's safe and now the suspect's been caught.

Plus, it's been called exceptional, severe, historic, but there's another word to describe the drought sapping so much of the nation -- costly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM VILSACK, SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE: You'll probably see higher prices later this year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And he says it was God's will. George Zimmerman gives his account of the Trayvon Martin killing. It may sway public opinion, but it doesn't sway Trayvon Martin's parents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SYBRINA FULTON, TRAYVON MARTIN'S MOTHER: God did not have a plan for Trayvon to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And here we go. As if on cue, here he is. Mitt Romney just began speaking, Roxbury, Massachusetts. Let's take a listen.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Tell you about in a moment. But this is a day where we received some news which is not encouraging. Jobless claims are up in this country, again, and consumer confidence has now shown the third straight month of decline. That is a record which has not been matched since 2008. And in the face of that, we're surprised that the president has not met with his jobs council in the last six months. And the White House was asked why that was and they said, well, the president has a lot on his plate. And so we took a look at his schedule. And over the last six months, he has done 106 fund-raisers. And so I think you learn something about the president's priorities. The job he's interested in protecting is his own. The job that should be protected is the job of men and women in this country who want to get jobs, who want to go back to work, who want of have rising incomes again.

Now, this is the kind of place that has put people to work. Over the years, over the decades, Brian and his son have built this enterprise to employ people from this community in good jobs with good opportunities. I'm pleased to hear the story about how they built this business. And, by the way, they did build this business. When the president said that if you've got a business, you didn't build it. Come here and talk to Brian and you'll learn that, in fact, he did build this business. Someone else isn't responsible for what he did here. He's the one that took the risk. He's the one that built this enterprise. He's the one responsible for helping get these people these jobs. And then the people who work here, they're also responsible for helping build this business. They came together and did it together. This is not the result of government. This is the result of people who take risk, who have dreams, who build for themselves and for their families.

Now, I'm -- know that there's some people who think what the president said was just a gaffe. It wasn't a gaffe. It was, instead, his ideology. The president does, in fact, believe that people who build enterprises like this really aren't responsible for it. But, in fact, it's a collective success of the whole society that somehow builds enterprises like this. In my view, we ought to have to celebrate people who start enterprises and employ other people.

The president, by the way, in his remarks, went on not just to talk about, if you have a business, you didn't build it. He went on to talk about other measures of success. He said, if you think you're smart, well, there are a lot of other smart people. And if you think you're working hard, there are a lot of other hard-working people. Where was he going with that? What's he trying to say? That we don't celebrate and reward success and achievement? My own view is that if you attack success, you'll continue to see what we've seen over these last three and a half years, which is less success. America is a nation which is defined by people coming to achieve, to fulfill their dreams. We're a nation of risk takers, dreamers, people that want to take a better step for the future for themselves and for their kids. And in the process of doing so, they make us better off. They lift one another.

I just don't think the president, by his comments, suggests an understanding of what it is that makes America such a unique nation. Why people have come here for hundreds of years. It's because this is the land of opportunity. We welcome people here with dreams and say to them, come build it! Not come here because government will give it to you, but come here because this is a place where your dreams will be good for you and good for our entire nation.

BALDWIN: Sounds like an election year, folks. Mitt Romney speaking with supporters in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

And just on the other side of the screen, guess who else just started speaking, the president himself. He is in Jacksonville, Florida. And, by the way, this is his seventh trip to Florida this year. Let's see what he says.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: State like Florida and we'd have to travel across the state. And I didn't have Air Force One back then. No Marine One. So I didn't even have GPS. So I'd be driving, maybe I'd have one staff person in the car. And since we didn't have MapQuest, I had to have a map and I'd fold it and then I'd try to unfold it, and fold it back the way it was and I'd get it all messed up. And I'd get lost. And then once I got to an event, I'd have to find parking. And sometimes I couldn't find a parking spot or I'd get rained on.

But, you know, I have such fond memories of those early campaigns because no matter where I went, no matter what community, inner city, rural town, meeting with black folks, white folks, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, didn't matter what background people came from, no matter how much they looked different on the surface, there was a common thread to all the stories that I heard as I traveled around the state.

Yes, I'd meet an elderly couple and they'd remind me of my grandparents. I'd think about my grandfather who fought in Patton's army in World War II. My grandmother working on a bomber assembly line while he was gone. And when he came back, he was rewarded with a chance to go to college on the GI bill. They were able to buy their first home with an FHA loan. And I'd think about the journey that they had traveled and everything that that greatest generation had done to build America.

Or I'd meet a middle class couple and I'd think about Michelle's parents, especially her dad, who had multiple sclerosis. So by the time I met him, he could barely walk. Had to use two canes. Had to wake up an hour earlier than everybody else to get to work, because that's how long it took to get him dressed, but would not miss a day of work. And I'd thing about Michelle's mom, who ended up working as a secretary for most of her life, and how, despite the fact that they never had a lot, they were able to give Michelle and Michelle's brother the best education possible. And how remarkable that was, this country that we live in.

And then I'd meet a single mom and I'd think about my own mother, who raised my sister and me with the help of my grandparents, because my dad left when I was a baby.

BALDWIN: So this is day one of a two-day swing for the president. He is swinging back through the all-important battleground state of Florida. We should also point out, there are 29 electoral votes in that state. And according to recent polling, it is really a dead heat for those electoral votes.

Take a look at some more numbers here. This is actually some good news for Romney. This is a new CBS News/"New York Times" poll out today. Has Romney at 47 percent, President Obama just a little lower at 46. Obviously, that's well within the margin of error. And the poll found one in five voters say they could still change their minds by November.

You can keep watching Mitt Romney and President Obama. Go to cnn.com/live.

Now to the weather. No rain. High temperatures. A recipe for disaster this summer. As the corn and the soybean crops are drying up. So many farmers are hurting. They're seeing their profits disappear. We will take you to the nation's heartland live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And now to the worst drought to hit this country since the dust bowl. In Madison, Wisconsin, people are gathering together and they are praying for rain. The U.S. Drought Monitor upgraded Wisconsin's drought to extreme today.

And I want you to take a look at this. Take a look at this map here. You're going to see in a second. Here you go. The red stretching all the way across the country. The USDA is now classifying nearly 1,300 counties across 29 states as drought disaster areas. Folks, that's a third of the country. Look at that red.

Here's what's happening on the ground. Fields are bone-dry. Crops withering in the ground. All of this threatens to drive up the cost of the food you put on the table. CNN's Rob Marciano is in Whiteland, Indiana.

And it looks like you're surrounded by some cows there. So I'm guess we're talking dairy. I mean I know we've talked losses in corn crops and grains, now it's threatening dairy supply. What are you hearing?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, yes, I mean, they eat corn and grain and they need it to produce milk. So, boom, I mean, you know, if you decrease what they eat, we're going to decrease production.

The other thing that decreases production that you might not know is the heat. Because just like me and you, if it's hot out, you won't eat a lot.

BALDWIN: Makes sense.

MARCIANO: So we've got to keep them cool. We do that with fans. Yes, right. And they even have some misters. What's up, guy? Just to give you an idea of what this -- some of this stuff is, they get a little bit nervous when I come around, rightfully so. This is corn, this is alfalfa hay, it's even some by-product from ethanol plants, some of which have been shut down. So all of this is decreasing production of the food. So their milk is being decreased as well.

And this is last year's feed. The problem is this year's crop is way, way down and that's what has dairy farmers nervous. Talked to a sixth generation farmer today. The guy that owns this farm. And earlier today he told me just how concerned he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRILL KELSAY, DAIRY FARMER: We've had some ups and downs in milk prices and some dry weather before, but this is probably the most -- I've been here 42 years doing this as an adult and it's probably the worst that I've seen overall. We just was fortunate last night to get about a half inch of rain. But it's kind of too late.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: And it's not just dairy farms. Cattle farmers. They eat this stuff too. And they'll going to have to face some tough decisions in the coming months. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DAVID BROWN, INDIANA CATTLE FARMER: Yes, we just have to be optimistic and thank God that we got what we've got.

MARCIANO: Is it getting difficult to be optimistic?

BROWN: Yes, sometimes. Yes.

MARCIANO: What's your fallback to get through a day?

BROWN: Just our faith, I guess. Just the faith that, you know, tomorrow will be better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: Emotions running high, as you can imagine. I mean these people -- this is a lifestyle for them. It's not just a job. And some of these cows and cattle, heads of cattle, may very well have to be sold off sooner than they would like. And that is a scary proposition.

Dairy production, Brooke, in the U.S., we do 21 billion gallons of it. There are 60,000 dairy farms, 99 percent are family-owned. So these aren't big corporations out here that are suffering, these are mom and pop joints, even though this one's pretty big. They've got 500 dairy cows here. And, boy, I'll tell you what, they can pump out some milk. But it's not as much as they would be, that's for sure.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Oh, my heart goes out to the guy we just heard from, these ranchers and farmers, and I think when I pour my milk in my coffee tomorrow morning, I'll sort of really appreciate all that they do for us. Um, wow, Rob Marciano, thank you so much. Again, 29 states, drought disaster declarations. Rob, thank you.

And abduction attempt puts a city on edge. Surveillance video here shows a girl kicking and trying to pull away from her would-be abductor. There she goes. And here he goes in a moment. Now a break in the case today. We are minutes away from Philadelphia Police announcing an arrest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Live pictures here. This is Philadelphia Police Department Headquarters, mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, saying he wanted this creep off the streets.

I'm talking about this presumably -- well, we don't know, actually, male, could be female. Someone in this picture from this surveillance video trying to abduct a 10-year-old girl as she and her 2-year-old brother were walking from the store.

Now we have news, and we are awaiting this news in the form of a live press conference, that there has been an arrest in this particular case, and as soon as we see that police commissioner and the mayor behind that podium, we're going to take it for you live. Meantime, Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, he came out from behind the beach and went in front of a television camera in a rare interview just last night.

He sat down with CNN's Piers Morgan. He declined to give the nitty-gritty behind the biggest judicial event of the last generation that being, of course, the recent upholding of the individual mandate requiring nearly all Americans carry health insurance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIERS MORGAN, HOST, CNN'S "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": Do you think any of your colleagues acted from a politically motivated manner?

JUDGE ANTONIN SCALIA, SUPREME COURT: Not a single one of them.

MORGAN: I mean, I know you can't discuss anything in the last session, but a classic example some would say would be the health care thing.

SCALIA: I don't think any of my colleagues on any cases vote the way they do for political reasons. They vote the way they do because they have their own, their own judicial philosophy, and they may have been selected by the Democrats because they have that particular philosophy, or they may have been selected by the Republicans, because they have that particular judicial philosophy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And how about this, Scalia, a conservative, says one of his best friends on the Supreme Court is the liberal justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As you know, the swing vote in the Supreme Court's ruling health care reform came from known conservative Chief Justice, John Roberts, and he is now apparently more popular with liberals after the ruling than he is with conservatives.

So look at this, a new CBS News/"New York Times" survey found just 9 percent of conservatives question, had favorable opinion of the chief justice, with 18 percent finding him unfavorable. But if you look at the liberals column on the right, 13 percent had a solid favorable opinion of him, 8 percent did not.

Overall here, one more number for you, 73 percent of Americans didn't even know who Chief Justice John Roberts is or had no opinion of him whatsoever.

By the way, watch "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT" when he interviews Senator John McCain. The Arizona senator battled President Barack Obama four years ago, so what advice does he have now for Mitt Romney? "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT" airs, of course, at 9:00 Eastern Time right here on CNN.

George Zimmerman apologizes to Trayvon Martin's family, but says he has no regrets. The television interview that has many a legal analysts scratching their heads, why'd he do it? We're on the case, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Here we go. I've got one eye on this news conference. It looks like it's about to start. Let's take it. This is Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, Philadelphia Police Department on news of an arrest in this attempted abduction. Let's take it live.

COMMISSIONER CHARLES RAMSEY, PHILADELPHIA POLICE: -- one involving the attempted kidnapping, just a day ago of a 10-year-old and also the sexual assault case as well.

I'll ask Captain John Darby to come forward from our Special Victims Unit to speak first about the case of the attempted kidnapping followed by the mayor and our district attorney, and then we will turn our attention to Myers for an update on that, OK. John?

CAPTAIN JOHN DARBY, PHILADELPHIA POLICE SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: Good afternoon. I do want to report first of all a significant development as it relates to an attempted abduction of a young child in a south Philadelphia neighborhood several days ago, 2400 block of South Lee Street.

As you know, we stood here yesterday, video, very specific, very clear, convincing video had been discovered by investigators at the scene. Shortly after this incident, at about 3:50 p.m. on Tuesday. As a result of that, tips began to come in, Special Victims Unit, as the public and, quite frankly, internally from other police officers, and law enforcement began to digest that information.

And as a result, at about midnight last night, we were made aware of an individual who made himself available to us at Special Victims Unit. Quite frankly, the significance is that with this information out there and some discussion within his family, he felt that he could not walk, talk, or breathe out there on the streets.

As a result, he made himself available to us. He went to Special Victims Unit last night. Lieutenant Anthony McFadden here from the Special Investigation Section and his investigators sat down with this individual.

As a result of subsequent investigation through the early morning hours today, and in consultation with the district attorney district attorney's office, that male has been charged with a number of enumerated crimes.

He is identified as a Carlos Figueroa-Fagot. He is a 33-year- old male, lives in the area of Eighth and Allegheny. He's had some prior contact with police, both here and outside of Philadelphia.

He -- as a result of the investigation, as I said, and in consultation, he has been charged with the following crimes. That includes attempted kidnapping, unlawful restraint, indecent assault, aggravate indecent assault, corrupting the morals of a minor, interference with the custody of a child, simple assault, false imprisonment, and unlawful contact with a minor. It's a combination of a number of felony charges.

BALDWIN: And there you have it, a 32-year-old man, apparently lives in this area in South Philadelphia, in and around where he tried kidnapping this little girl, who just so happened to be walking back from the store with her 10-year-old brother.

And so now we know that -- how about that? It really jumped out at me when Captain John Darby said, after a discussion with this suspect's family, he couldn't walk, talk, or breathe out there on the streets.

So he agreed to come in and talk to the Special Victims Unit and fast forward to now and he's charged with multiple charges including attempted kidnapping. So this creep, to quote the mayor of Philadelphia, now off the streets.

George Zimmerman apologizes to Trayvon Martin's family, but says he has no regret. The TV interview that has many, many analysts in the legal world wondering why he spoke. They're parsing through his words and we'll do the same next with Sunny Hostin, on the case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: On the case today, George Zimmerman, he has now given his very first television interview since the night he shot and killed 17- year-old Trayvon Martin.

And Zimmerman tells Fox News host, Sean Hannity, that he is not a racist, that he is not a murderer. But there is one thing he has said that is grabbing all the headlines today, and here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE ZIMMERMAN, CHARGED WITH MURDER OF TRAYVON MARTIN: I feel that it was all God's plan, and for me to second-guess it or judge it --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: "All God's plan." as you can imagine, that did not go over very well with Trayvon Martin's parents. They appeared just this morning on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SYBRINA FULTON, TRAYVON MARTIN'S MOTHER I think it's absolutely ridiculous. God did not have a plan for Trayvon to die and for George Zimmerman to shoot Trayvon for no reason.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I want to bring in legal analyst, Sunny Hostin in New York on the case. And sunny, there's so much talk about, you know, this interview, specifically, as it is his first, but why do you think -- why do the interview in the first place? SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, that one has me scratching my head, Brooke, and it has all night, actually, because it's never a good idea for a criminal defendant, who is facing second- degree murder charges, to become wedded to a story.

And that's what has happened now to George Zimmerman. So I think many people are asking the question, why do it? Some are speculating, maybe it was a sort of shake the can interview.

Because we know that his funds have been depleted. He needs funds to defend himself. And some are saying, rather than an interview with, you know, Sean Hannity, this was really an interview with prospective jurors in Florida.

BALDWIN: Right.

HOSTIN: Sort of an appeal to those prospective jurors, to give his side of the story.

BALDWIN: Let me play a little bit more sound. This is the Martin family attorney. This is what he says about last night's interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The state attorney is going to see this interview as a gift when they get ready to cross-examine George Zimmerman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So on the gift angle, what parts of the interview did you hear that you think prosecutors could see as a gift?

HOSTIN: Well, I agree that it was a gift. Anytime, again, a defendant in a criminal prosecution decides to give a statement on television or otherwise, that's always a gift.

Because a prosecutor's going to look at it with a fine- toothed comb and dissect it and look for inconsistencies. One of the major inconsistencies that I found is that on the 911 tapes, he talks about following Trayvon Martin and the dispatcher discourages him from doing so.

Well, yesterday during the interview, he says he wasn't following him. He was just going in his direction. That goes to the crucial part of this case whether or not he can invoke the stand your ground defense.

Because if you are the initial aggressor, if you are the pursuer, you may not avail yourself of that defense and I think that that was a crucial, crucial mistake that George Zimmerman made yesterday.

BALDWIN: OK, so that could be the potential gift. I do just want to read what Mark O'Mara, of course, CNN reached out to Zimmerman's attorney and he said he thought the interview went great.

Said that George, he thought, came across as sincere and that it went well. One more question and then I'll let you go. I know another part of the interview that was pretty striking was, you know, Zimmerman, he first told Hannity that he didn't have any regrets about the night that he shot Trayvon Martin.

But in the very end of the interview, he turned to the camera and he contradicted that. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZIMMERMAN: I would like to re-address your question when you asked if I would have done anything differently. When you asked that, I thought you were referring to, if I would not have talked to the police, if I would have maybe got an attorney, if I wouldn't have taken the CBSA, and that I stand by.

I would not have done anything differently. But I do wish that there was something, anything I could have done that wouldn't have put me in the position where I had to take his life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Why'd he do that? Why'd he look at the camera and say that?

HOSTIN: Yes, again, because I think this was an interview with supporters and this was an interview with prospective jurors. This was a problem for George Zimmerman, especially because in answer to specific questions like, did you regret getting out of the car that night. His response was a clear no.

Did you regret having a gun that night? His response was a clear no. The follow-up was, do you have any regrets? His response was a clear no. So to sort of, you know, then try to backtrack toward the end of this interview with an appeal to the public, I think may have come across as disingenuous.

BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin, thank you.

HOSTIN: Thanks.

BALDWIN: And now with -- with this week's "Human Factor," here is Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Take a close look at each one of these beautiful girls. Some of their scars are more apparent than others, but they've all gathered here to heal, together.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see them arrive and they're wounded. They have a social arm around them. And each one of those girls, they see me. GUPTA: For Lesia Cartelli, this is personal. She was just 9 years old when she was badly burned in a natural gas explosion at her grandparent's home in Detroit.

LESIA CARTELLI, FOUNDER AND CEO, ANGEL FACES: My sister and I arrived at the home for dinner and I went down to the basement to play hide and go seek.

GUPTA: Lesia was in the wrong place at the wrong time, when the gas met the light on the furnace.

CARTELLI: The explosion goes off and I hear the screams of my family. A sense of urgency, of survival kicks in and I started climbing over bricks and nails and furniture and everything to get out. I got out of the house, still on fire, y back and my face and my hair.

GUPTA: Lesia founded the "Angel Faces Retreat." Now in its ninth year, to teach these young women in just one week what took her two decades to come to grips with.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am so proud of all of you girls.

GUPTA: They begin by sharing, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

CARTELLI: I want to hear from you girls. Just bring it all out. Some of the names that you're called, hideous, burn-face, crusty crab, burn bitch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They call us burnt toast.

GUPTA: Each girl participates in individual and group therapy even learns how to enhance their appearance with corrective cosmetics.

CARTELLI: You know, there's nothing wrong, we tell the girls, in taking what beauty you have and making it more beautiful. And you know what, sometimes that's all it takes for them to sit up a little taller.

It's important that the girls know that they're not burn survivors. It's important that they know they're not the burn girl. They're girls first. And that's my message to the girls that I want them to take back.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: She is an actress. She's a dancer. She is a political activist. She is Jennifer Grey, as in "Dirty Dancing" Jennifer Grey, as in "Dancing with the Stars" Jennifer Grey. She is here in studio 7. Hello! It's so nice to meet you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Welcome! We're talking, after the break.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How you doing, baby?

BALDWIN: Hi, nice to meet you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Twenty five years ago, film lovers, myself included, learned where a girl named Frances Houseman should stand.

As baby came out of the corner, "Dirty Dancing" entered into movie history as this little film that generated big, big bucks. "Entertainment Weekly" reports that "Dirty Dancing" was made for $6 million, guess what, it went on to gross $214 million worldwide, spurned a musical, a spin-off set in Cuba, who knew, and a remake is in the works now.

Now in celebration, the dessert brand, "Skinny Cow" is hosting movie screenings of the 1987 romance between a guy from the wrong side of the tracks and a girl headed to college.

And Jennifer Grey, who played baby, you've been attending these screenings all around. It is such a pleasure to admit you. I am embarrassed to admit how many times I've watched this movie.

JENNIFER GREY, "BABY" IN "DIRTY DANCING": Well, I've been watching CNN for how many years.

BALDWIN: We like that Jennifer Grey. We appreciate that.

GREY: Huge fan.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much. So of all the times I've seen this movie, I want you to tell me something that you've never shared about the movie before, behind the scenes filming, give me a little something-something.

GREY: I mean, I feel like for 25 years, I've been asked that question, so I'm trying to think of something fresh, but I think it's -- I look back on it.

And I feel like it was not only something that has had lasting impact on audiences for 25 years, which is just the craziest, greatest gift in the world, to be able to make something that people love for year after year.

But the idea that it actually gives joy to people is, I just think, I'm moved to tears by it, because I think you're just going to work. You're just going to do your job.

BALDWIN: You had no idea you were creating at time. How old were you when you made it?

GREY: I was 27 when I made it, 28 when I came out. And I was a kid and I just look back on it now, and when I look at it, I think, God, I was so young, even though I wasn't as young as I was playing. And I just think about all that life -- because it's kind of like looking at a family album because I don't watch the movie. The only time I see it like when we see a clip on your show.

BALDWIN: We'll play a clip.

GREY: No, I'll start crying.

BALDWIN: We being CNN and being around a little while, we've dug into the archive. This is from the movie premiere in New York from 1987. You had just survived a pretty horrible car accident. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREY: It's about a real loss of innocence of a girl. Very often we see a lot of movies that are from a boy's point of view.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And she's on the road to finding out who she is and growing up and becoming a woman. And it turns into a very unlikely, ill-fated, wonderful little love story.

GREY: You have to live life to the fullest, every day, because you never know what's around the corner. And I know it sounds corny, but I couldn't -- I couldn't mean it more. I'm very happy to be alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You never know what's around the corner.

GREY: What is this, like Barbara Walters. Are you trying to make me cry?

BALDWIN: I don't mean to.

GREY: That was such a setup.

BALDWIN: I was just talking to Patrick Swayze's widow, his wife on the show.

GREY: You know, that was a cheap shot.

BALDWIN: I'm sorry! I had to idea.

GREY: You know what's amazing about it is that the movie's about a loss of innocence and I feel like when that movie came out, six days before, I was in a car crash, where a mother and a daughter were killed. And I feel like my life changed.

And it was like a loss of my innocence. And I just feel like we all have different little windows into the possibility of what life can be. You know, of the joy that we can have.

And I feel like I was -- I look at myself in that tape, and I look so in shock. I was so in shock and I'd never seen that film. I'd never seen that tape that you just showed.

BALDWIN: You hadn't?

GREY: No. I don't go back and look at things that I've done like that. It's just so shocking, because I look so -- I'm still kind of checked out. And I feel so much more -- I feel so different.

I'm such a different person now, as it happens with baby in the movie. And I think that's why people respond so strongly to it, because they identify with that, once the innocence is gone --

BALDWIN: And just finally, the loss of your friend.

GREY: And you know, there are so many moments, you know, where you make decisions, and when they asked me to do "Dancing with the Stars," I wasn't going to do it, because I didn't want people to think I was a bad dancer, which I was. I mean, I'm just not --

BALDWIN: You won, my friend.

GREY: I know, but I'm not a trained dancer. So I had never done it, and when Patrick passed right before, they'd been asking me for like nine seasons, and I realized, you know, when he left, and I had just gotten thyroid cancer myself, I thought, what are we doing here?

Why are we not letting -- why are we letting fear dictate what we do and don't do? If I love to dance, why would I stop dancing because I was in a movie about that, which brings me to like why I'm here.

You know, this 25th anniversary was very ingeniously timed with this tour that these amazing guys at "Skinny Cow," who make the yummy ice cream and candy.

They said, you know what, we found out that women, nine out of ten women do not spend enough time with their girl friends. So they created this whole scheme, this tour, this whole --

BALDWIN: And now all of us ladies, I just spent a whole long weekend with a bunch of girl friends on vacation.

GREY: How amazing.

BALDWIN: We need our girl friends.

GREY: We need our girl friends. We need to dance. We need to go to a chick flick. We need to eat ice cream and treats and that's what they've done.

BALDWIN: And we can come and find you, Jennifer Grey, it's such an honor.

GREY: And there's also a Facebook page to find out where it is in a city near you, it's the Skinny Cow Facebook page.

BALDWIN: Jennifer Grey, a pleasure. Thank you so much. And I'm sorry to make you weep. Not intentional.

GREY: It was interesting.

BALDWIN: OK, thank you.

Coming up, guilty as charged. That's how the president of Chick-Fil-A responded to questions about his company's support of traditional marriage over gay marriage. Now the backlash begins. We're all over it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)