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Mitt Romney's Foreign Policy; New York Mayor Pushes for Ban on Large Sugary Drinks; Syrian Violence Continues; Latest Jackson Family Uproar

Aired July 24, 2012 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin. And just into us here at CNN, the Congressional Budget Office, the CBO, just releasing the new price tag of President Obama's health care law.

I want to go straight to the White House to Athena Jones.

Athena, the U.S. Supreme Court decision making a huge, huge difference involving Medicaid. Tell me about it.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

The upshot here is that the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation say that now seven million people will be covered through the Medicaid expansion. Remember the Supreme Court said this now Medicaid expansion, states have the right to opt out of it. It's not longer going to be absolutely mandatory.

Back in March the projection was 13 million people would get covered through this expansion. Now that's down to seven, which means six million fewer people. But I should add they project about half of those six million, three million of those will end up getting coverage through those health insurance exchanges that the states are setting up.

BALDWIN: So, $7 million there with the Medicaid expansion. What about if and when there is a repeal of Obamacare? How much does a repeal cost?

JONES: They looked at that as well. The House has already, the Republican-led House did vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The report says doing that would actually add to the federal budget deficit. They said it would add $109 billion over the period from 2013, this is assuming that if that were to go anywhere, which we all know that won't end up going anywhere, but it were to start in 2013, all the way to 2022, it would cost -- it would add $109 billion to the deficit.

This is interesting because it's in line with what the White House argues, which is as this Affordable Care Act comes online, it will eventually lead to less spending by the federal health care on health care.

BALDWIN: Just the first time we're really seeing figures put to this. Athena Jones for us at the White House, Athena, thank you.

Within the last hour, we heard from President Obama's challenger, Mitt Romney, and he laid out his plan for representing America's interests really around the world. He spoke there in Reno, Nevada, wrapping up his major foreign policy speech about half-an-hour ago at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention in Reno, Nevada.

Dana Bash, she is there. She is standing by for us.

Dana, you and I were talking before he spoke. You called it. You knew he would be talking about his own policies. You knew he would be trying to undercut -- you mentioned trust, the public trust, Obama, when it comes to foreign policy. He hit the president pretty hard.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He certainly did hit him hard on a whole bunch of levels. On those and also on issues of policy toward Israel.

It was very interesting in that he was clear he said he is going to leave here and go abroad. But he doesn't want to criticize the president while abroad, so he really whacked the president on what he called undermining Israel and its very difficult situation in the Middle East.

But on the issues that we were talking about before that we knew he was going to hit on, on the question of whether or not national security leaks came from the White House or not and specifically on the whole question of budget cuts and cuts that are slated to come down the pike thanks to a bill that many Republicans voted for, here's what he said. He tried to really pin it on the president and the president's strategy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, we're just months away from an arbitrary across-the-board budget reduction that would saddle the military with a trillion dollars in cuts, severely shrink our force structure and impair our ability to meet and deter threats.

Don't bother, by the way, trying to find a serious military rationale behind any of that, unless that rationale is wishful thinking. Strategy is not driving the president's massive defense cuts. In fact, his own secretary of defense warned that these reductions would be devastating, and he's right.

And that devastation would start here at home. Mark my words. Those cuts would only weaken an already stretched VA system and our solemn commitment that every veteran receives care second to none. If I'm president of the United States, I will not let that happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: As you can imagine, that got wild applause in this audience of Veterans of Foreign Wars members. He certainly is saying this is the president's strategy to make those potential cuts, but again we should reinforce that it was his fellow Republicans who also voted for legislation that right now has the cuts, about $50 billion and maybe a little bit more just this year coming down the pike on the defense side.

But the other thing on where you and I started, trust, credibility, he really, really decided to hit that hard. Hit hard the idea that these national security leaks are potentially coming from the White House and that the president is somebody with him is trying to do that for political gain to make him look good.

BALDWIN: Dana Bash for us in Reno, Nevada, Dana, appreciate hit.

And as Romney is getting ready for his trip, Dana mentioned he's headed overseas. The last Republican president is showing his support. George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush visiting Romney's headquarters in Boston today.

We are told the Bushes stopped by to thank workers and rally the troops. Keep in mind Bush's camp says the former president will not attend next month's Republican Convention in Tampa.

A lot more news unfolding on this Tuesday. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Grenades, gunpowder and gasoline all found inside the apartment of the suspected shooter in Aurora, but that's not all . I'm Brooke. The news is now.

(voice-over): Kermit and Big Bird breaking up with Chick-fil-A over the chain's stance against gay marriage. What's next?

Plus:

ELTON JOHN, MUSICIAN: The AIDS epidemic is fueled by stigma.

BALDWIN: As celebs bring AIDS to the spotlight, the only man apparently cured of HIV sits down with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay joins me live.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Breaking today, the president of Ghana has died. We are told John Evans Atta Mills passed away inside a military hospital just a couple of hours after falling ill. It's still not clear yet from what. Back in 2009, here he was with President Obama. The very same year, Mills became president of the West African nation. President Obama recently praised Ghana as a model for democracy and stability. President Mills was 68 years old.

Blackened, bullet-riddled and battered. It's easy to see why this one stretch of road has the ominous name of the Street of Death. It runs through a once-bustling marketplace in the town of Atareb just about 20 miles outside of Syria's largest city of Aleppo.

And CNN's Ivan Watson takes us down the so-called street of death.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Syrian regime as lost this town, but a retreating army left a trail of destruction in its wake. Atareb was home to one of the busiest markets in northeast Syria. Now, it's a bombed-out ghost town.

(on camera): This bullet-riddled is mostly deserted except for rebels and a few shell shock residents.

This road was nicknamed "The Street of Death," because anyone who stepped foot on here was likely to be shot.

(voice-over): Atareb sets on a strategic crossroads just 20 miles from the commercial capital of the Aleppo. Rebels captured it a few weeks ago after months of fighting. After months of fighting, they bled for this town.

"My brother is a prisoner, they captured him during a battle here," this fighter says.

"My cousin was killed by a sniper who shot him in the head."

The retreating government troops left behind a mini-graveyard of burned out armored vehicle, and pro-regime graffiti with a terrifying warning. The words say "Either Assad or we'll burn this city."

The rebels lead me into a ransacked municipal building regime troops used as a base. Some of the government soldiers marked the walls proudly identifying themselves as men of the special operations unit.

These are some of the sniper's nests they used.

Residents tell horror stories of atrocities committed by government troops. "They said they were punishing us because we fed and sheltered the anti-government demonstrators," says Ume Abdul Assiss (ph). "They captured my son and ran a plow over his legs, even though he was handicapped," she tells me. "Then they threw his body down the street. They shot him in the chest, in his head, and in his arm," the woman says. "I hope Bashar's mother loses her son one day."

Locals say government troop still shell daily from a base a few miles away.

In this ruined town, there is anger and grief and fear.

During our brief visit, we see a prisoner break free from some rebels. "Please don't tell me," he screams." For God's sake, please pardon me." Rentals tell us later the man is a suspected looter to be judged by a legal council.

We never saw what happened to him.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Atareb, Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Ivan Watson inside Syria.

Back here at home, 16 ounces, that's all your cup can hold if a proposed ban goes into effect in New York City. So, happening now, folks are sounding off to that New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

Plus, take a look at the Dow with me as we're watching. It's flirting with that 200 mark. Why is this happening today? We will explain on the other side of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We showed you the Dow a moment ago. Here it is, down about 184 points, with just about 40 minutes more of trading. The why, weak earnings reports out today and also Greece. We talk a lot about Europe. Apparently, just glancing at CNNMoney.com, there is renewed speculation about the nation exiting the Eurozone, also just concerns whether or not Greece can pay off its debts.

By the way, speaking of earning reports, we're going to be getting some numbers from Apple. That happens after the closing bell. So we will check in with Alison Kosik and see if she can look in the tea leaves and see how things are looking for Apple.

So, that's coming up.

Meantime, the number of people suffering ties with Chick-fil-A, that list is going. The popular fast food chain is dealing with some backlash after president and COO Dan Cathy made anti-same-sex comments during an interview with the Baptist Press last week.

This is what said -- quote -- "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" -- end quote.

The stance didn't go over well with the Jim Henson Company, saying this -- quote -- "The Jim Henson Company has celebrated and embraced diversity and inclusiveness for over 50 years. We have notified Chick-fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them in any future endeavors. Lisa Henson, our CEO, is personally a strong supporter of gay marriage and has directed us to donate the payment we receive from Chick-fil-A to GLAAD."

Even the mayor of Boston is not at all thrilled by Dan Cathy's comments. In "The Boston Herald," he is quoted as saying he doesn't want any Chick-fil-A's restaurants built in his city. But on the flip side, you have former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. He is calling for people to turn out to Chick-fil-A restaurants to show their support for Cathy's comments.

Chick-fil-A is well known for their Christian values and said last week it didn't want to be involved in politics. New Yorkers may be saying goodbye to large sugary drinks very, very soon, if Mayor Michael Bloomberg has his way. His proposal here would limit to size of large sugar drinks to 16 ounces at places like restaurants and in movie theaters and other places to eat he says for health reasons. Critics of this ban call the mayor's efforts misguided.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From the Bronx to Staten Island, from Queens to Long Island, right here in Manhattan, New Yorkers are against this ban.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Mary Snow covering this for us today in New York.

I know the public hearing is going on. What are New Yorkers saying about this possible sugary drink ban?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, to steal a line from Suzanne Malveaux, to best sum this up, it's Big Gulp vs. Big Brother.

Opponents of this say they want choice. Supporters of this say they see empty calories. That building behind me is the Department of Health. There is a public hearing. It's the only one where New Yorkers will be able to publicly sound off. It's been extended because there's been so many speakers stepping up to the mike both voicing their criticism and support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHIRA GANS, POLICY ANALYST: Obesity is the leading cause of preventable death in the country. And it's now reached epidemic proportions in New York City particularly in our poorest communities.

More half of New York City adults are now overweight or obese, a full 58 percent, as are some 30 percent of the New York City public school children.

DAN HALLORAN, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL: Since when this is the province of government? When they came for the cigarettes, I didn't say anything. I didn't smoke. When they came for the MSG, I really didn't care because I didn't order it very often. I'm not a big salt eater so I didn't mind when you guys regulated salt.

But what will the government be telling me next? What time to go to bed? How big my steak should be? How many potato chips I can have? It's all in the name of health and clearly the government knows what's best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Largely, Brooke, so far we have heard from elected officials, health experts and representatives from the industry who will be affected by this, most notably the beverage industry and restaurants.

BALDWIN: We just heard a little sound on both sides of the issue. My question then to you is, you mentioned the board of health that is behind you. They have to vote on this proposed ban.

But the thing is the members of the board, their boss is the mayor. They are all appointed by Mayor Bloomberg. They know how he feels. Do they feel this need to placate the mayor and vote for this ban or what?

SNOW: One thing that both sides of this issue agree on is that this is going to be passed. This board is appointed by the mayor. There's 11 members. They will be voting on this in September.

The beverage industry, which has really been galvanizing a lot of the protests against this limit, is saying it's looking at its options, maybe looking at a potential lawsuit. But this is being so closely watched by national groups because even the city admitted that it's heard from other mayors around the country and maybe other cities will follow suit. That's why this is being so closely watched.

BALDWIN: Aha, that this could be precedent-setting, setting for the rest of us.

Mary Snow, we will be watching right along with you. Thank you so much in New York.

Police say James Holmes' apartment was indeed rigged to kill, explosives, gasoline, grenades ready to blow, but that's not all. You're about to hear exclusive new details on what police found inside and how they managed to pull the plug on this so-called house bomb.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Now we know why it took so long for police to enter James Holmes' apartment. A source tells CNN the Aurora movie massacre suspect had rigged 30 homemade grenades and 10 gallons of gasoline to blow if someone walked inside.

CNN learned these details exclusively from a law enforcement official who has been -- I should say who has seen video from the inside. The official adds it was al rigged to a control box with wires like, his word, spaghetti.

A former FBI agent said the setup was like something you would find in Iraq or Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY LOPEZ, RETIRED FBI AGENT: This would be one of the first times I think we have ever seen what we can describe as a house bomb in the United States.

Some of these things do exist overseas. We have seen them in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, also in Colombia in South America. But this is the first one that I can actually recall ever reading or seeing about in the United States where it was actually set to destroy the home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Crews spent more than 24 hours sizing up the threats within that apartment. They actually took some of the materials here to this secure field and detonated them Saturday.

One theory is that Holmes booby-trapped his apartment, then blared loud music, possibly to lure someone inside, thus triggering this massive blast. His downstairs neighbor said she almost went inside to deal with the music and figure out why it was so loud. Fortunately, she decided against that.

So many questions, so many after James Holmes made his first court appearance since his arrest just yesterday appearance, the wild hair, the dazed look in his eyes varying from bug-eyed to barely conscious. What could have gone wrong with him? What could have led him to kill 12 people inside a dark movie theater?

I want to bring in clinical psychologist Lisa Boesky. She's the author of "When to Worry: How to Tell If Your Teen Needs Help and What to Do About."

Lisa, welcome. I just want to be crystal clear with our viewers that we don't know whether or not James Holmes is mentally ill. We don't know. But already I know so many are asking were there any warning signs?

Were there?

LISA BOESKY, AUTHOR, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: It's hard.

It's easy to look back now and wonder if there were warning signs. Any time someone drops out of school and they're in a graduate program I think it's important for us to talk to that person and find out what their reasoning is.

The fact that he prepared this for several months, there probably were some warning signs. In fact, one of the owners of the gun shop said he thought that James was very odd. And when he called the house, there was this rambling, strange voice-mail message. He noticed that something was off.

The problem is lots of people tend to notice warning signs when something is wrong in many of these cases, but because they are not all talking to each other, in isolation, people just blow it off. But if everybody had all the warning signs at the same time, maybe they would be able to piece it together better.

BALDWIN: Right. That was the owner of a Colorado gun range that said you can't come practice here because of that, as he described, odd, erratic behavior on the voice-mail.

I do want to play a little sound. This is statement from James Holmes' family read by their attorney just yesterday. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA DAMIANI, ATTORNEY FOR HOLMES FAMILY: Again, the family wants to reiterate that their hearts go out to the victims and their families. The Holmes family would like to maintain their privacy. So at this time, we will not be discussing James or his relationship to the family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And I know there are already people out there that could say to this mother and father, you raised a mass murderer, you failed as parents, but you don't agree with that.

BOESKY: No, I don't.

It's very difficult to be a parent. And, again, we don't if James has a mental illness or not. But for parents who do have a child who has a mental illness, it's not their fault. It's typically a combination between genetics, some stress in their life and the individual's coping skills.

In fact, Brooke, if you think about it, when your child has a broken arm or leg, you take them to the emergency room. If they have got pneumonia, you give them an antibiotic. Mental illness is much more complex than that. We don't fully understand it. And a young person who is on drugs can look like they are mentally ill. Somebody who is mentally ill can look like they are on drugs.

Parents, family members, friends, teachers, they often don't know how to recognize the signs of mental illness, even if they are seeing them.

BALDWIN: You know, I had this fascinating interview. I don't know if you know Dave Cullen. He's the journalist who wrote the definitive book on Columbine called "Columbine" and we talked and we looked at these big, fluffy hearts that were in the journal of one of the killers, that of Dylan Klebold.

And Cullen said that Klebold's problem, he wasn't bullied. That wasn't it. It was just this deep depression. Here's what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE CULLEN, AUTHOR, "COLUMBINE": Love was really the most common theme in his entire journal. That wasn't the only theme. There's also lots and lots of anger and he's sort of at war with himself.

He was dealing with a lot of pain, had incredibly low self-esteem and, you know, was looking for love. And then he got involved, unfortunately, with a psychopath who drew him into his plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Cullen told me that most mass murders are not psychopaths. They are deeply depressed. So, Lisa, how vulnerable are teenagers today, young adults to depression and, to you point about parents and not blaming them, isn't the onus a little bit, though, on parents to recognize that in their child?

BOESKY: Well, you know, it's interesting that you say that. I actually wrote a book called "When to Worry -- How to Tell if Your Teen Needs Help and What to do About It " because parents -- there's no handbook to tell them what warning signs there are.

Even professionals sometimes miss them. I think the thing for people to remember is that a lot of the major mental health disorders like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression often take hold between the ages of 18 and 24, James' age, and it's hard to tell what will is normal teen isolation and withdrawal and when is it something to worry about.

And, so, yes, is it important for parents when they notice something different about their child to reach out? But there's so much stigma around mental health even in the year 2012. A lot of parents stay and try and handle it themselves when what they really need is support and professional help.

But because they are often blamed for this, they often don't reach out because of the stigma.

BALDWIN: The stigma needs to go away and we all need to be talking about it and I'm glad I'm talking about it with you. Lisa Boesky, thank you so much.

The International AIDS Conference under way in Washington. The big question, how do you cure a disease that has killed so many?

Sanjay Gupta spoke with one man who may have clues to the answer, a man whose doctors say was cured of HIV. In his own words -- we talked about this man yesterday -- we're hearing from him in his own words, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Today, outside the International AIDS Conference, protesters in chorus demanding more money for both research and treatment. Take a look at the crowds. They walked from the conference building all the way -- there, it is -- to the White House.

But inside this conference, the focus was on a much different journey, the one taken by Tim Brown. He went from having the HIV infection to being cured. He is the only person in the world known to have been healed of the virus that causes AIDS.

He is attending this conference in Washington which is happening all week long and he spoke with CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

And, Sanjay, I was just talking about this man -- he's known as the "Berlin patient" -- just yesterday. And to think that someone, this one person, has been cured of HIV, it's stunning. How is he?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, he's doing very well. I mean, he's obviously, as you might imagine, Brooke, the focus of a lot of attention in the scientific and medical community.

His story is an interesting one and it's an important reference point. He had HIV-AIDS for some time, was diagnosed with leukemia back in 2007. As part of his treatment, Brooke, he underwent bone marrow transplant and they believe it was that bone marrow transplant that, in a way, sort of taught the cells in his body, the various cells in his body, to become resistant to the HIV virus.

I did speak to him earlier. We were the first to talk to him today. Here is how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Does that mean you have no symptoms? You have to virus? How do you describe it?

TIMOTHY BROWN, PATIENT CURED OF HIV: I quit taking my HIV medication on the day I got my first transplant. Unfortunately, the leukemia came back and, so, I had to get a second transplant about a year later.

And after the first transplant, I did very well. I gained muscle weight and went back to work and everything was great. But the leukemia came back.

My HIV was gone after like three months after the first transplant, totally eradicated from my body.

GUPTA: Completely gone?

BROWN: Yeah, completely gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Now, as you might imagine, Brooke, doing a bone marrow transplant is not realistic for all patients with HIV-AIDS. The question that people are trying to answer is, what happened inside Timothy's body and can that be replicated in some other way with genetic therapy, for example?

You know, scientists, Brooke, are reticent to use the word "cure." It's not a word you hear thrown around a lot at a meeting like this, but they are with respect to Timothy Brown. He doesn't have -- he's not sick. He's not been on any medication and he's, as he puts it, "perfectly healthy."

BALDWIN: That's exactly what I thought yesterday morning when I heard about Tim Brown's story. I thought, are we really using the "C"-word, the "cure"-word in this case? And, so, if they're using it in the conference, we're using it here on CNN. I know that his story is not typical. So, tell me about this disease overall, the treatment of people with HIV. What can people hopefully look forward to in terms of breakthrough?

GUPTA: You know, it's an important point with regard to Timothy Brown. You're right. It's not typical, but scientists are trying to learn. A couple of months ago, you know, he's been poked and prodded and investigated and they did find evidence of old virus in his system a few months ago, but as he put it to me, that virus wasn't viable, wasn't able to replicate. So, it was essentially dead virus.

So, that's what scientists are really focusing in on. There's other things that are happening here, as well. You know, this is a medication which you may have heard of, Brooke. It's called Travada. This is a milestone medication. The last 30 years, there hasn't been a medication to prevent HIV-infection. They are all focused on treatment, so the idea of using a medication to prevent, this is just FDA-approved, so that's a pretty big deal.

And they say it reduces the likelihood of infection by, you know, up to 46 percent.

Also, one of the big things and I think this is really important because there's so much stigma still surrounding this, people have been talking about the idea of doing testing at home, you know, not having to go into the doctors office. There's so many people who never get tested.

This is an at-home test. It's not come out yet. This one of the only ones right now here in the United States. It comes out in October. But essentially, all you do is you take this little swab and you swab the top of your mouth and the bottom of your mouth, put this in this little reagent here. It takes about 20 minutes and, with about 92 percent accuracy, you can tell if you are positive for the HIV virus.

So, you know, this is part of where the science is headed here and these are some of the big developments at a conference like this, Brooke.

BALDWIN: That's amazing. I think so many people are afraid of going into the doctors office and afraid of being out sort of in public and finding out, so we'll look for that in October. We're looking for breakthroughs. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, we appreciate you for us in Washington, attending that conference.

And speaking of actors and activists, Debra Messing, you knew her, perhaps loved her on "Will & Grace." She's going to join me tomorrow to talk about the HIV stigma, as Sanjay was just mentioning, and also discrimination. So, that chat tomorrow at 3:00 Eastern. We hope you're right back here for that.

She is an Oscar winning actress and, just a short time ago, Jennifer Hudson's brother-in-law learning his fate for the murders of her family members.

Plus, I came across some disturbing numbers about the number of American who are living paycheck to paycheck. It is not pretty.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The man who murdered the mother, brother and nephew of singer Jennifer Hudson will never leave prison. A judge has just sentenced William Balfour to three, consecutive life-terms for killing Hudson's loved ones back in 2008.

And our Chicago affiliate, WGN, reports the judge told Balfour who was married to Hudson's sister that his soul is, quote, "barren." From the judge.

Listen to this. A new survey shows 38 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Thirty-eight percent. That is up from 15 years ago when consumer confidence was high and unemployment was low.

So, as more and more Americans struggle just to make ends meet, they are asking CNN's "Help Desk" for answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there, everyone. Here on "The Help Desk" today, we're talking about credit card debt, a big issue for folks.

With me, Greg Olsen and Donna Rosato, our two money experts. Greg, this question came in for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're carrying a very large amount of credit card debt, even though it's more beneficial in the long run if you have it to pay it off, is it worth it to pay it off in one big lump sum?

HARLOW: Yeah and he said, you know, I can afford to go month by month paying this off, even with the high interest rate, but should I pay it off in a lump sum?

GREG OLSEN, PARTNER, LENOX ADVISORS: Well, at Lenox Advisors, we always say the rule of thumb is pay off debt as quickly as possible. So, if you have the money in a lump sum, pay it off as quickly as you can.

There are advantages, though, of paying on a monthly basis, such as for budgeting or also building up your credit as time goes on, but if you have the money to pay it off, certainly do so because then you're going to be paying the interest back to yourself.

DONNA ROSATO, SENIOR WRITER, "MONEY": Yeah, I definitely agree with that because it shows a strong track record if you can continue to pay it off every month, but it's better to get rid of that high interest rate debt.

But I do think to consider that if you have other revolving debts, like a student loan or a mortgage, maybe it's less important for you to have that monthly payment on your credit card versus paying it all off. And you're always better paying off that high-rate interest.

HARLOW: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, you guys. Appreciate it.

And, if you have a question you want one of our experts to tackle, you can just upload a 30-second video with your "Help Desk" question to iReport.com.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Poppy, thank you.

And, now, what the heck is going on with the Jacksons? Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine, reported missing, but she's not. She's just not at home.

And, now, her other children are fighting, very publicly. We're about to tell you about this reported scuffle at the estate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Things are getting nasty at the Jackson home in Southern California and it all surrounds Michael Jackson's mom, Katherine. Members of her family filed a missing person's report on her, but it turns out she's just been in Arizona the whole time.

So I just want to break down sort of what's happening. I know there are a lot of players. You know the Jackson family. You have father, Joe, and you have mother, Katherine Jackson, and then you have eight remaining kids from Rebbie, to Tito, Jermaine and Janet.

However, none of those eight was left anything in Michael Jackson's will. Not a one.

Now, the ones who inherit the estate, those are Jackson's three kids. Here they are. So, you have Prince, Paris and Blanket. Now, in addition to those kids, Katherine Jackson is the only other family member named in the will. She is also the guardian of Michael's children.

But the 82-year-old has been gone now for nine days and the L.A. County sheriff's office says she has been with Rebbie in Arizona.

But just last night, a scuffle happened at her California home where these kids still are. L.A. County deputies say Janet, Jermaine and Randy were on the scene and that a battery report was taken, but no arrests were made.

CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin joining me now. And, goodness, I mean, it sounds like everybody's sort of pointing fingers at one another here. Who's the bad guy in the situation? What's the deal?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's too hard to tell. I got to tell you, I've been poring over these documents and these stories since this morning and I still can't tell who the bad actor is. I mean, of course, these siblings, the Jackson siblings are pointing the finger at the executors of the estate. They're saying that this will was a fraud and a sham and that their mother is being taken advantage of.

But then now, we see these tweets coming from Paris and she's saying, huh-uh, "I haven't seen my grandmother in nine days and counting. Whoever is responsible for this will pay."

And so, she seems to be pointing the finger at her aunts and uncles. So this really has become such a family feud that it is really difficult to tell what is going on.

BALDWIN: So we don't exactly know the what's going on. Do we know really what's at stake here?

HOSTIN: Well, you know, many people are saying this has got to do with money, Brooke. As you mentioned, Michael Jackson did leave a will. Most of the money goes to his three children, as you mentioned, Paris, Blanket and Prince.

Some of that money also goes to his mother, Katherine Jackson, who is the legal guardian of these children. Some of the money went to charity.

None of the money went to his siblings and, now, they have written a letter saying that the will is a fraud, that the executors are mismanaging all of his estate.

And get this, Brooke. When he died, his estate was valued at about $300 million. Right now, about $8 billion, Brooke, and counting. And so a lot of money at stake here.

BALDWIN: OK. A lot of money at stake. We mentioned Katherine Jackson. She is 82. She's in Arizona. She's, you know, OK.

But my question is, what would happen, Sunny, if Katherine Jackson was no longer able to care for Michael Jackson's three kids? What then?

HOSTIN: Well, some are reporting and interestingly enough that Diana Ross is sort of the secondary guardian of these children. We are hearing also that T. J. Jackson, Tito's son, has moved for temporary legal guardianship of the children.

We don't know -- we haven't verified that, but we are hearing different things. And, you know, these kids aren't of age yet. We have 14-years old, 13-years old and 9-years old and, so, you know, their care is something that's certainly is at issue.

And it seems that Paris is really sort of staking her position in the ground and feels very close to her grandmother and is saying, again, by tweet, "Whoever's responsible for this, keeping me from my grandmother, will have to pay."

BALDWIN: Yes. Taking it very publicly on Twitter. Sunny, we'll watch it. Sunny, thank you so much. The Jackson family drama unfolding.

Here's something interesting. When iPhone sales fall, business improves for two of the country's largest cell phone companies. You have AT&T and Verizon.

And in just a matter of minutes we are expecting to get Apple's third quarter earnings. Will it be a boom? Will it be a bust? We'll talk to Alison Kosik.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A motorcycle chase at about 100 miles per hour snarls traffic. This is Southern California. Watch this motorcyclist with me. Santa Ana, started northbound the 5 freeway and you saw him for a moment weaving.

Obviously, this is the very end of it. Out of nowhere, these highway patrol guys stopped the motorcyclist. The man arrested -- there, he is -- without incident.

And we're a couple minutes away from Wolf Blitzer. Wolf, if only people could have heard our conversation in the commercial break.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": You know what, we'll have to leave that just to you and me.

BALDWIN: That will be a good tease. Maybe we'll tweet about it.

BLITZER: I'm going to tell our viewers what's coming up in "The Situation Room."

BALDWIN: Tell me.

BLITZER: We have a major interview with Bill Gates. He's here in Washington for the global AIDS conference, as you know. We go through all the AIDS-related issues. Also, he gives me some thoughts about the economy, Microsoft, what's going on with President Obama or whatever, but most of the interview is obviously about what's going on with AIDS. You're going to want to stick around for that, as well.

We also have a major debate on foreign policy. Mitt Romney's speech today generating lots of commotion. Robert Wexler who supports President Obama, former Congressman Dan Senor, former Bush administration official who support Mitt Romney, they will be together here in "The Situation." They're going to thrash it out. Who is better on national security? Would it be the president or his Republican challenger?

All the latest coming in from Aurora, the follow-up on the mass shooting there. So we have a full three hours coming up in "The Situation Room."

BALDWIN: All right. Wolf Blitzer, thank you. Appreciate it. See you in a couple minutes.

Meantime, before I let you go, another check of the big board. Much better than the last time we checked. Dow down 90 points. Apple expected to release earnings for the company's fiscal third quarter. Anticipation most definitely hitting Wall Street.

Alison Kosik, talk to me. Are we seeing good news possibly for them?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Everybody chomping at the bit, by the way, for this report. It's kind of hard to think of $10 billion in profit as bad news, but believe it or not, some analysts, Brooke, are a bit more cautious this time around.

One analyst says weakness in China and Europe could cause Apple to miss estimates. Say it ain't so. Many are expecting iPhone sales to be lower, but still clock in with an impressive $29 million in sales.

That's because some are speculating people are holding off. They're waiting for the next new model to come out. Some people think it may come this fall. That's the 4G.

We have an indication of Apple sales from earning out from Verizon and AT&T because both of those carriers already said that their iPhone sales fell, but it really is iPad sales that everybody's got their eye on. $16 million, that's the number we are looking for here in the latest three months. 16 million iPads sold. We will see if that comes true, Brooke.

BALDWIN: That's incredible. We also note in addition to apple couple other companies releasing earnings today. What are we looking for?

KOSIK: We already mentioned AT&T. Earnings better than expected but down more than 2 percent. One investors are paying attention today is UPS. Their report card reflects what's going on around the world. The slowdown in economies that's happening.

UPS shares getting hit hard down more than 4 percent. For UPS, look deep in the report, they say fewer exports coming from Asia to the United States and Europe. So that's why UPS shares down almost 5 percent, overall adding to a pretty gloomy day on Wall Street.

Looking like it could be the third triple-digit loss for the Dow, though stocks have come back from their lows, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And there we have the bell. And that's my cue to exit stage right here. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for being with me.

Now, to Wolf Blitzer. "THE SITUATION ROOM" begins now.