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SWAT Teams Storming Mississippi Jail; 142 Criminal Counts Against Holmes; U.S. Leads The World In Guns; Syrian Troops Bog Down in Aleppo: The Michael Phelps You've Never Seen; Twitter Uproar Over Olympic Coverage; Romney's Overseas Campaign; The "Wimp Factor," Part II?; Obama's Ancestry Revealed; Rower Perseveres After Sex Assault; NFL Player Commits Suicide

Aired July 30, 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: They have behind just to save themselves. We're about to hear what's happening right there on the ground. Plus, I'll speak with someone who says watch out because a terror group may jump into this mess very, very soon. So we're going to take you inside Syria in just moments.

But first, just into us here at CNN. We are getting word that SWAT teams are storming a jail where this standoff has been underway for hours between inmates and police. I want to go live to Jewell Hillery. She is our reporter from this affiliate WLBT. She has been on the scene since this whole thing started.

And, Jewel, just back up and tell me when this started and what you're seeing right now.

JEWELL HILLERY, WLBT REPORTER (via telephone): OK. Good afternoon.

Well, this all got underway extremely early this morning, about 3:00. And we're actually about a mile and a half to two miles away from where the actual Hinds County Detention Center is in Bramen (ph). We've been blocked from going to where the actual detention center is. However, we do have a helicopter up, our skycopter, which has video of this disturbance, this ordeal. Looks like it has wrapped up just within the past couple of minutes.

SWAT teams from all across the area, as well as officials with the Hinds County Sheriff's Department, have gone in with force and have taken inmates out one by one, we're told. There are some that are running out, it seems like, in an orderly fashion. But also a number that are being taken out by the SWAT teams.

Now, as I mentioned, this got underway about 3:00 this morning after a gentleman by the name of Kendall Jackson (ph), who was uncooperative during a routine security check, and he got out of an isolated pod, went into a larger pod, pod c, where he started to stir up a disturbance and that's when the situation just escalate and got out of hand.

BALDWIN: So, Jewell, let me just -- Jewell, let me jump in.

HILLERY: I spoke with the Hinds County Sheriff's Department earlier today and (INAUDIBLE) trying to negotiate with Kendall and the other inmates.

BALDWIN: Let me -- let me jump in if -- Jewell, can you hear me?

HILLERY: But hadn't been able to. So they went in by force just not too long ago.

BALDWIN: OK. I don't know how well our connection is, so I don't want to ask you a follow-up question. But it sounds to me, Jewell, if you can hear me, that this thing pretty much is done, correct?

HILLERY: I'm sorry, can you repeat that?

BALDWIN: I just want to make sure -- you say -- you're saying that this has been going on since 2:00, 3:00 in the morning, but now you're saying that it's more or less an orderly fashion outside of this detention center. That everything is wrapped up. Do we have any accounts of any injuries on either side, police or inmates?

HILLERY: We haven't heard about any injuries. I know that one detention officer was taken to the hospital early this morning, but not because she was injured, because she went into shock.

In terms of injuries, we have not heard any official word from authorities. However, we've gotten -- we've received lots of phone calls into our news room from inmates inside of the prison and people that work inside of the prison just saying how chaotic the situation is. And, you know, we haven't been able to confirm that, though. That's just calls that have been coming in to our news room. But from authorities, they say that they're still investigating and aren't giving us any information about anyone being beat or injured or anything like that.

BALDWIN: OK, Jewell Hillery, our affiliate WLBT there on the ground about a mile or two away from this detention center. As soon as we get video, we will bring that to you here on CNN. Thank you, Jewell.

Now to this one. One hundred and forty-two, 1-4-2, criminal counts for the suspected movie theater gunman James Holmes. He was in court today. This is his appearance number two. Remember, we first saw him a week ago today. Here he is. These are just sketches because today cameras are not allowed inside the courtroom. And, today, for the very first time, we hear James Holmes speak. CNN's Ed Lavandera was inside that courtroom. He joins me live.

And, Ed, from what I understand, it was about a 45 minute hearing. Can you just walk me through these charges? One hundred and forty-two counts in total. And what exactly is it that he did say?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we'll run over those charges very quickly. It is 142 criminal counts filed against him. Twenty-four of those are first degree murder, 116 are attempted murder, one for possessing explosives and another one is an enhancement because of the violence in this.

Now, that 24 and 116 might be confusing to most people. There are 12 victims who died, 58 who were wounded. And essentially prosecutors were able to double up on those charges and file them twice because of two different stipulations in the law. One of them is because it was premeditated, a planned attack. And also another one had to do with the randomness and the indifference, the extreme indifference that he showed the victims. So, because of that, those counts are doubled up.

The one time that we heard from James Holmes, and it wasn't much, it was the simple word, "yes." He was asked to speak with his attorneys. His attorneys were trying to delay and get some more time for the preliminary hearing, which is now scheduled for sometime in November, which is one of the first times we'll really start getting into the meat and the details of the evidence that will be presented against James Holmes. But the judge told him to confer with his attorneys and make sure that he understood what was going on with that. And the judge asked him if that was OK and he simply said "yes."

Throughout the entire process, Brooke, he was very calm, very -- much more lucid than last time from what we saw. You know, we talked a lot about just how bizarre he acted. But this time much more lucid. And, you know, still very strange mannerisms, but I thought he was much more with it today.

BALDWIN: I do want to ask you a little bit more about who was in the courtroom, but to your point, just for the people who I know have been confused wondering, you know, because there were the 12 fatalities, but again he faces the 24 counts of murder. So I just want to play a little sound. This is from a legal expert. You touched on it, Ed, but this is something called depraved indifference. So let's just all take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: In most states, and Colorado like most states, you have first degree murder, which could consist of an intentional murder. You point a gun at somebody with the intent of killing them, you premeditate, that's first degree murder. But there's a second type of first degree murder, and that's called a depraved indifference murder. So let's say you -- he went into allegedly to the theater and just randomly sprayed shots around the theater, maybe not intending to kill a particular individual. That would be a form of what we call depraved indifference murder and it's functionally the same thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So I just wanted to play that, Eddie, so we could kind of understand a little bit better the 24 counts of murder in the first degree.

Back to the courtroom. You were in there. I understand there was just about 100 seats in that court. Half media. Tell me who else was in there. I presume victims, victims' families.

LAVANDERA: Yes, there were a lot of victim survivors who were actually there in theater number nine. There was also an overflow room of people who were brought and allowed to listen to this. We've been talking to several of them as they've been leaving the courthouse. Those who have, you know, chosen to speak publicly and with reporters about -- their thoughts about, you know, being in that same room with the man who has caused -- allegedly caused so much destruction and pain and tragedy in their lives. And what was interesting was is that after the court hearing, we were told that the prosecutor in this case went with those victims and the survivors into another room and explained their reasoning behind the charges and why they were going though. We asked a couple of them if they thought 142 criminal counts was enough. There had been some people who suggested, you know, they would have like to have seen terrorism charges or something like that.

One person said, you know, that the prosecutors explained to them that they were charging what they could theoretically handle in an expeditious form. So if they just started throwing the book and piling on and piling on a mass amount of criminal charges, that that would delay this process and make this last much longer than they felt it need to. So clearly prosecutors kind of targeting exactly the criminal charges and strategizing what they wanted to go after. And from the victims' families that we spoke with, that's kind of what they explained to them in that meeting that they had just after the court hearing today.

BALDWIN: Again, in all, 142 counts. Ed Lavandera for us there. Ed, thank you.

And one argument here in the gun violence debate, I know we've been talking about this the last week or so, is this. Don't look at the people. Look at the guns. And the U.S. has more than any other nation in the world. CNN's Fareed Zakaria has a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, CNN'S "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": The United States stands out from the rest of the world, not because it has more nut cases -- I think we can assume that those people are sprinkled throughout every society equally -- but because it has more guns. Look at this map. It shows the average number of firearms per 100 people. Most of the world is shaded light green. Those are the countries where there are between zero and 10 guns per 100 citizens. In dark brown you have countries with more than 70 guns per 100 people. The U.S. is the only country in that category. In fact, the last global small arms survey showed there are 88 guns for every 100 Americans. Yemen is second at 54. Serbia and Iraq are among the other top countries in the top 10. We have 5 percent of the world's population and 50 percent of the guns.

The sheer number of guns isn't an isolated statistic. The data shows we compare badly on fatalities too. The U.S. has three gun homicides per 100,000 people. That's four times as many as Switzerland. Ten times as many as India. Twenty times as many as Australia and England.

Whatever you think of gun rights and gun control, the numbers don't flatter America. I saw an interesting graph in "The Atlantic" magazine. On a spectrum, from yellow to red, red being the worst, it shows the number of gun related deaths by state. Now, if you add one more piece of data, gun control restrictions, you see the state with at least one firearm law, such as the assault weapons ban or trigger locks, tend to be the states shaded in lighter colors, meaning fewer gun related deaths.

Conclusion. Well, there are lots of factors involved, but there is at least a correlation between tighter laws and fewer gun related deaths.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: So given what you've just heard, you would think that crime in the U.S. has gotten worse, right? No. Listen to what surprised Fareed in all that research.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAKARIA: And the U.S. is actually getting safer. In the decade since the year 2000, violent crime rates fell by 20 percent, aggravated assault by 22 percent, motor vehicle theft by 42 percent, murder by all weapons by 13 percent.

But guns are the exception. Gun homicide rates haven't improved at all. There were roughly the same levels in 2009 as they were in 2000. Meanwhile, serious but nonfatal gun injuries caused during assault have actually increased in the last decade by 20 percent as gun laws have gotten looser and getting weapons has become easier.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Just a little context and perspective in a heated national debate.

A lot more news coming at you this hour, including this.

A huge hour for the Olympics in London. We're going to bring you results live during this hour. Also, Piers Morgan's going to join me live. We'll talk about this whole uproar over NBC's taped delay.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

A rower, who's on a mission to dominate Lake Michigan, says she was trapped and raped and today she's telling me her story, live.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is Iran that is the leading state sponsor of terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Mitt Romney gets forceful on Iran, as one magazine causes quite a stir.

And, first, big gulps. Now, baby milk. Why Michael Bloomberg's new health crusade includes hiding formula from new moms in the hospital.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Since we saw you last, Syrian troops have entered the hornet's nest. We've talked a lot about this city. This is the commercial hub of Syria, Aleppo. And they have, so far, failed to wrest control of the city from the increasingly confident rebels.

In fact, we have some video. Take a look at this with me. Because far from hunkering down and taking a pounding, really, Syria's anti- government rebels attacked a military base just north of Aleppo, drove out the government forces and seized all kinds of weapons here, including several tanks. Let's just listen in for a moment.

So the Syrian rebels are giving government forces a fight here. Aleppo, so far, has not been this slaughter. Remember we heard the massacre, the warning from the secretary of state's spokesperson last week, that some had predicted. Far from it, in fact. We have been getting videos showing the bodies of government soldiers in the street here.

We also have this. Syrian rebels pumping ground to air fire at a government helicopter swooping, there it is, swooping overhead. The rebels, they're making a stand, at least so far, in the city of Aleppo.

And I'm going to illustrate to you why this is significant here with the help of the map again today. But first, I just want to bring in our correspondent there inside Syria, on the ground, Ivan Watson, who's just outside of Aleppo. And he witnessed this battle that we've been talking about. He has been to this military base since the rebels overran it.

And, Ivan, just tell me what you have seen with your own eyes.

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, last night we saw a pretty serious battle. I watched three hours of fighting that started at sunset with the rebels attacking this military outpost from three sides. It's now a post that overlooks the main highway that runs north from Aleppo to the Turkish border. It's a pretty important transit route for trade and travel.

The army base was firing in all different directions with machine guns. It was firing big tanks outside, hitting the neighboring villages, shooting anything. And they calmed in artillery all the way from Aleppo, which was a couple of miles down the road. But in the end, the rebels captured the outpost, which was defending by at least a dozen tanks and armor personnel carriers, about 100 Syrian soldiers.

And today we went down to see the aftermath of the battle. The rebels were -- already they had carted away at least four tanks that they'd captured and were taking away boxes and boxes of ammunition that they had captured as well.

Brooke. BALDWIN: I want to just show our viewers here, as we talk a little bit about Aleppo. And as we said, you're near Aleppo. Within Aleppo, there's this neighborhood. It's Salahuden (ph). And so you have this rebel stronghold here. The government, Ivan, says that it has purged -- its purged, you know, at least so far. The rebels are still there. What can you tell us about this spot in Aleppo?

WATSON: I assume you may be talking about a neighborhood called Salahoudon (ph), which is in the southwest of the country --

BALDWIN: Salahoudon (ph), forgive me.

WATSON: That both the government and the rebels have claimed to control. And that's pretty normal. I mean not only is this a deadly conflict, but there's also a war of information and war of propaganda as well. And it's hard, unless you're actually on the ground in that particular spot, to confirm either side's claims of what's happened.

But what is clear is there are still rebels inside that city. The fighting is still raging in the streets of that city. It's still displacing tens, if not hundreds of thousands of terrified civilians. And what last night's battle at this outpost, which is really at the gates of the city, prove to me was that the Syrian military was not in a position to rush reinforcements to its besieged base on this crucial highway running out of the city. They couldn't run any reinforcements there. And, in the end, had to retreat and withdrawal from there.

While the rebels, who are trying to hold on to parts of this critical city, still felt they had the manpower and the weapons to make an attack outside of Aleppo. And that says something about the dynamics of the conflict of this civil war in northern Syria. It also says something about how far this opposition movement's come. These guys barely had shotguns five months ago, Brooke, and now they're capturing tanks and using them in battle.

BALDWIN: So, yes, you've reported on how you've seen sort of this evolution, this sort of sophistication among the rebels as they are at least, so far it looks like, holding down on the city of Aleppo.

Ivan Watson, we thank you. Stay safe.

I promised we'd explain exactly why this is really significant. Jim Clancy, walk on in here. This is our veteran go-to international journalist Jim Clancy.

Because I think it's always so important to just explain just the significance geographically here. You have Syria, neighbors to the north being Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Iraq. What you can't see on the map is Iran up here. Iran and Syria, they're buddies. They hate the United States.

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL JOURNALIST: Strategic relationship that's gone on for 30 years.

BALDWIN: Yes. CLANCY: Promotes a state within a state, if you will. The Hezbollah militia. The only militia still armed with its own intelligence, with its own communication networks. Of course famously precipitating that 2006 war with Israel that led to devastating results inside Lebanon. Still a question as to, will Iran allow Assad to fall? Will he ask Hezbollah -- will they ask Hezbollah to move in to do anything to support him? It's very unclear.

BALDWIN: And that's possibly many, many steps ahead. But if we want to go there, let's just go there quickly.

CLANCY: Sure.

BALDWIN: If Hezbollah ends up comes in and getting involved on the side of the Syrian regime, if that happens, does that give NATO justification to come in?

CLANCY: No.

BALDWIN: No.

CLANCY: No, it doesn't. And here's the thing. Right now this is shaping up not to be the military fight, but it's still a political fight. It's a political fight right now for momentum. You've got to ask yourself strategy wise, what are the rebels doing up in Aleppo. They just got punished in Damascus. Why are they trying to hold a major city like this?

BALDWIN: How are they able to? How are they able to so far? Ivan was just talking about how the troops -- the government troops haven't been able to run reinforcements. So far you have the rebels who, yes, you know, they're increasingly sophisticated but they don't have, you know -- they don't have what the regime has.

CLANCY: Well, the rebels may be thinking this. Just as Leon Panetta pointed out, this is another nail in the coffin --

BALDWIN: In the coffin.

CLANCY: Of Bashar al Assad because of what he's going to have to do to push them out. He's going to have to use helicopter gunships in civilian neighborhoods. He's going to have to pound them with rocket and artillery fire. And in doing so, more and more people are alienated from the regime. And as this happens, the very legitimacy of his rule, the political viability of that becomes more and more remote.

So this may by the rebel's strategy. They may not have a strategy. I mean, seizing that military base, once again, it shows that they have the aggressive stand. They've got some momentum.

BALDWIN: Yes.

CLANCY: But it doesn't prove that -- don't think that this is the same as being able to fight toe to toe with the Syrian military. BALDWIN: Let me ask you about Turkey. We've seen video now of tanks, Turkish tanks, coming very close to the border. Might we see Turkish intervention?

CLANCY: I don't think so.

BALDWIN: Why?

CLANCY: Because I don't think Turkey wants to turn it into that kind of an national incident. Already --

BALDWIN: Why bring tanks there?

CLANCY: Well, just to let them know that they don't want to see anybody coming on to their side of the border. To let them know that they are there. Perhaps to keep them occupied mentally. Just to let -- the Turkey's armed forces want them to know, we are here to defend our interests.

But, you see, Bashar al Assad has been using the excuse of foreign intervention to explain why his own people have risen up against him since the very start of this. No one wants to give him an excuse to say that that is, in fact, the reality. Although we know, the rebels are getting their guns from somewhere. They're getting these increased armaments from somewhere. Some of them, yes, are coming from military bases, but not all of them.

BALDWIN: OK. We'll keep the conversation going as this is so, so important, the story in Syria. Thank you so much, Jim Clancy. Of course, Ivan Watson, our thanks to you once again.

Now to the other global event dominating the world's attention. That being the Olympics. During this show, some major events going down, including American swimmer Missy Franklin's race for gold.

And coming up next, Piers Morgan, he's going to join me live on this whole uproar over NBC's tape delay.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: He is just two, count them, two medals shy of becoming the most decorated Olympian ever. Michael Phelps swims in the 200 meter butterfly semifinals next hour, hoping to get that -- little bit closer here to that record that he so badly wants in London. Up to now, London has not looked so good for Phelps. He trailed we behind teammate Ryan Lochte on Saturday's 400 meter individual medley. Lochte scored the gold there. And then fast forward to Sunday. Phelps and his teammates came in second in that 100 meter relay, giving up the gold to Team France.

CNN's Piers Morgan is, I'm sure, having a ball in London watching all of this there sort of firsthand.

And, Piers, I know you actually sat down with Michael Phelps before the Olympics. And, you know, we all see, you know, Michael Phelps, who is the swimmer, you know, on television. But tell me about something -- tell me about the other side of Michael Phelps that we never do get to see.

PIERS MORGAN, HOST, CNN'S "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": Yes, and he was quite interesting. I mean, he's a fascinating character. Very confident. Very laid back. But the more I pressed him about what we didn't know, I think eventually he said that 90 percent of him and his life and his character is a secret to the public. And I delved into his background a little bit. There's some very, very touching stories about how he's gone out of his way to help sick children in particular. He helped a young man in particular, a young boy, who got very, very sick, who was a swimming fan. And, you know, he flew across America to be at this boy's death bed.

BALDWIN: Wow.

MORGAN: And when he tells the story, it's airing tonight, it's a really powerful, moving story.

You know, Phelps is a complicated character. He's a real winner (ph). There was one part of the interview I was completely stunned by. He said that at the height of his training, before Beijing, he trained every single day for five years up to eight hours a day. He never missed a single day's training. And he said that's what it took in his head to be the best of the best. And the question now I guess is, has he trained at that intensity and ferocity for these games. Because if he hasn't, that might explain why Ryan Lochte has come along and stolen the early thunder.

BALDWIN: I know everyone's saying, who is this Ryan Lochte? You know, so many people were so honed in on Michael Phelps. I do just want to pause. Let's play a little bit of your exchange with Michael Phelps. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: London is my hometown. Everyone is very excited about you coming. What's extraordinary is every American athlete that I've interviewed, when I ask them to site a role model, I'd say 90 percent say you. You're (ph) this kind of weird, god-like figure to them. With that comes responsibility. Are you aware of the status you have amongst your peer group? And what do you feel about that responsibility?

MICHAEL PHELPS, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: Um, I mean, sometimes I feel it. But, I mean, I like to just think of myself as a normal person who just has a passion, has a goal and a dream and goes out and does it. And that's really how I've always lived my life and how I often (INAUDIBLE).

MORGAN: See, I've seen you say that before. But, come on, Michael, you're not a normal person.

PHELPS: I consider myself normal. I've spent 20 years in the pool. I consider that something that's normal and just because I've done it for --

MORGAN: That's not normal. PHELPS: I mean, what do you consider normal?

MORGAN: Well, not spending 20 years in the pool. I've spent about 20 minutes in the pool a day.

PHELPS: Well, that's not normal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: It's incredible how laid back he seems. I'm sure once he hears that announcer say, swimmers take your mark, I'm sure something flips and he's just game on. So we'll watch for that tonight.

But Piers, I have to get to something. I know you're in London and you get to see this live. But for those of us in the United States, there are all kinds of frustration. It is so palpable because you know, NBC, they are holding off on airing some of the events live and saving them for primetime.

So hang on, Piers, because I want to just run through a couple of tweets. I got all kinds of tweets on this today. Gary tweeted me, "We can watch revolutions as they happen, but not the Olympics. Guess there's no money in revolutions."

Megan tweeted me, "Doesn't bug me. I have a job so getting to watch in primetime is fine with me." And then one more, Ryan tweeted, "As a social media junky, it is very frustrating. It's like I have to unplug for the next two weeks to avoid spoilers, do it live."

I mean, I think this is really, Piers, you know, speaks to how so much has changed now for the first time so many people are on social media and it's incredibly frustrating to a lot of Americans.

MORGAN: Yes, I think the game has changed and I think NBC have to react to that. Because although their coverage has been fantastic. I'm a huge admirer of Jim Bell who is the guy that's running it this year and the team he has.

The reality is that you have a situation where Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte are engaged in this ferocious battle and only in Britain and other countries around the world can you watch it live.

You don't have to wait to see NBC Nightly News for their report on who won and then hours after that they are showing the race. That can't go on with social media because I'm as active tweeter as you are.

And you and I know that you live these events now in realtime with millions and millions of people around the world. A number of people on Twitter and Facebook is increasing at such a high speed that by the next Olympics more people will be watching in some form of internet way than watching on television.

I think NBC has to do something. I just interviewed Ryan Lochte's mother who's a wonderful lady and I said to her what do you think. She said I just think that they should air them live for those who want to watch it live and re-air them primetime.

I think that is the way to go. I don't think that NBC would actually suffer the ratings issues that they fear they may. To be fair to them, it's always been this way. The change delay is not new, every Olympics in America, the broadcast networks for a long, long, long time, they've done it this way.

BALDWIN: Right, but what's new is we're all at Twitter.

MORGAN: The game has changed. The game has changed now in way that's never going to be reined back. You know, more and more of us are now watching and living and commentating with each other in the global social media network through Twitter, Facebook and so on.

And it's simply not good enough now I don't think to hold everything and run it hours after the event. In the end, we all know when you watch sports live, that is how most people want to watch it.

But I think NBC should experiment. They should say the next Phelps- Lochte showdown we'll run it live and air it in primetime. I bet you the ratings in primetime will be just as good.

BALDWIN: Spoken from a true Twitter-o-holic. Piers Morgan, good to see you, by the way. I hope you're having a blast. I wish I was there.

MORGAN: I'm having a wonderful time.

BALDWIN: We'll watch for your Michael Phelps interview tonight at 9:00 Eastern on "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT."

And now to this, all right, it's got political insiders yapping today. Have you seen "Newsweek's" cover? Mitt Romney's wimp factor. I'm quoting this magazine here. Yes, I know, it looks like a total publicity stunt, but there's a deeper conversation to be had and we noticed it in his speech overseas. It involves Iran and the nuclear threat it poses. Don't miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Mitt Romney has arrived in Poland, the next stop on his week-long overseas tour of U.S. allies. He and his wife, Ann, took a stroll before meeting with Polish political leaders.

Back here in the United States, there's plenty of campaign chatter about this. You seen this yet today? The new cover of "Newsweek" labels Romney a wimp.

It echoes a similar "Newsweek" cover actually back from the 1980s about a different Republican presidential candidate. The magazine famously labeled George H.W. Bush a wimp. But guess what?

He went onto win the White House. So one of the questions we have today is this just a big publicity stunt by a magazine to get readers, and what do they really mean behind wimp any way?

Soledad O'Brien actually asked the writer behind the article.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL TOMASKY, "NEWSWEEK": He is wishy washy on the most important issues of today, on pro-life versus pro-choice, on immigration.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, HOST, CNN'S "STARTING POINT": Politicians, as you and I both know, right? I mean, if we had a dollar for every politician who changed their position on an issue, we could just ahead and both retire from our jobs.

TOMASKY: One or two issues, sure. Not six. Not seven, not the most important issues. Not every single one of the most important issues of our time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Now, "Newsweek" may consider it pandering, but Romney's tough talk toward Iran this past weekend delivered in Jerusalem was anything, but wishy washy. He was strong. He was forceful and dare I say not wimpy at all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now is then the regime's claim that it seeks to enrich nuclear material for peaceable purposes are belied, years in maligned deception. Now is then the conduct of Iran's leaders gives us no reason to trust them with nuclear material.

But today, the regime in Iran is five years closer to developing nuclear weapons capability. Preventing that outcome must be our highest national security priority. I want to pause on that point.

It's said that those most committed to stopping the regime are reckless and provocative and invited the war. The opposite is true. We are the true peacemakers.

History teaches with force and clarity that when the world's most spastic regimes secure the world's most destructive weapons, peace gives way to oppression, violence or devastating war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Mitt Romney there in Jerusalem just yesterday. By the way, guess who else is in Israel, went there to get a sit-down interview with Mitt Romney, our own Wolf Blitzer.

So Wolf is going to join me next hour. We'll talk a little bit about what he got out of Mitt Romney. You can see his interview, of course, starting at 4:00 Eastern on "THE SITUATION ROOM." But we'll talk to Wolf next hour.

Also today, some new evidence that President Barack Obama is related to the first documented African slave in the United States.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: We have this fascinating tidbit today on President Obama's family specifically his ancestors. So joining me now live from the (inaudible) is Joseph Shumway. He is a researcher for ancestry.com. He is a genealogist.

So, Mr. Shumway, I'm going to let you give your news. What exactly did you find?

JOSEPH SHUMWAY, ANCESTRY.COM: Well, thanks, Brooke. So our team has been working on President Obama's family tree for the last four plus years before he was elected president.

As we were working on his family tree, we were looking for interesting stories that we could use to showcase interesting tidbits in the family tree that would get people excited about researching their own family tree.

And what we found that on his mother's side who previously we assumed that she was all European descent. We found that she came from -- descended from a family with the surname of Bunch.

Recent DNA studies in the past few years by members of the Bunch family actually showed that their direct ancestors were from Africa, from Subsahera, Africa to be exact.

That tipped us off to an amazing new clue that his mother has actually African heritage in her family history. That led us to the question could we document this. Could we put a name and identity to that African ancestor?

As we dug further into that part of his family tree, we were able to find enough evidence that led us to the conclusion that President Obama's 11th great-grandfather was a man named John Bunch who was actually the first documented African to be enslaved for life in the American colonies.

BALDWIN: Wow. So this goes all the way back to the 17th Century. What's interesting, as you mentioned, this is, you know, President Obama's mother who is white from Kansas. This is her lineage that goes back to this gentleman by the name of John Bunch. You came across this, Joseph, almost, you sort of stumbled upon it?

SHUMWAY: That's right. So our team has been working on President Obama's tree and what we have discovered is the best of your knowledge family had African DNA, that was completely unexpected surprise.

And as we continued to pursue the research further to document it to John Bunch was an amazing discovery because this man is actually known in history. He has been identified, but to actually put a legacy to his name that he has descendants and that the president is his direct descendant that's an amazing discovery.

We have President Obama our first African-American president with the first documented slaves in the American colonies both being related to each other, it's an exciting discovery that our team was proud to have put together. BALDWIN: Right, I know it's assumed unlike so many African-American who was assumed that there was no slavery ancestry with regard to the president, but it sounds like you've found something.

I know that he -- the president hasn't reacted. We've got nothing from the White House, but it's interesting nonetheless. So many people are on ancestry.com looking up their own genealogy including your digging into the past of the president. Joseph Shumway, we appreciate it. Thank you.

SHUMWAY: Thank you.

BALDWIN: She had the best of intentions and police say a rapist used them in the very worst way possible. How this Illinois woman, this young woman rowing for a charity is not letting this horrific crime keep her off the water. She's going to tell me her story, live.

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BALDWIN: An Illinois woman set out to row 1,500 miles. Jean Gibbons, not an Olympian. She's however every bit of a world class fighter as you are soon going to understand when we tell you her story.

Since mid-June, Gibbons had been on a mission to row the perimeter of Lake Michigan to raise $150,000 for her charity "Recovery on the Water." ROW is the acronym. Now the group supports breast cancer survivors by coaching them to row together, but Gibbons' effort was cut short in a brutal way.

Two Sundays ago while sleeping on her boat, this man, took a good long look, this man raped her. This is according to Michigan's state police. They believe he followed Gibbon's blog, which included locations and targeted her specifically.

She managed -- sounds like she's one tough cookie. She managed to free herself. She locked herself in an outhouse, fought him off and called 911 so this guy runs off. But Gibbons is not running away from her goal to row at Michigan and raise that money.

She in fact quotes, says, myangelo on her blog, quote, "I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it." Jean Gibbons taking a break literally a break from biking right now from Michigan.

Jean, we appreciate you jumping on the phone with because I think your story is so important and apparently you do as well. I just want to say CNN has this policy of not revealing the names of sexual assault victims, yet you wanted to talk to us. Why go public with this?

JEAN GIBBONS, CO-FOUNDER, RECOVERY ON WATER (via telephone): Hi. I think it's important that my story is told not only so that we can find this person, but also because so much of my life has been public over the last year and a half.

There's a lot of people that look to what I do, look to what I say, and what I represent. I feel I have a voice in a world of sexual assault victims. I think it's important that I'm heard.

BALDWIN: Absolutely. I want to get to what you do. As part of your story, can you just take me back to that Sunday? Wee hours of the morning, you're asleep on the boat. What happened?

GIBBONS: I can give you as many details as we put out there just to protect me in the ongoing investigation. But I was sexually assaulted on Sunday morning in the wee hours. I was able to fight away and get away.

It was something that was really disturbing to happen inside of my boat because my boat name is "Live," which is for life and protector. This boat is meant to protect me and protects me in six foot waves.

It protects me in all kinds of conditions and I always feel safe in this boat. This is just something that I didn't anticipate. Tomorrow is when I'm reunited with the boat. So tomorrow will be a big day.

BALDWIN: Talk to me a little bit about that, Jean, because you haven't been rowing. You've been biking, right? I mean, why in the world after this happened to you on this thing that's supposed to be so precious and keep you safe and this sexual assault happens, didn't you just want to quit?

GIBBONS: You know, to be honest, the thing, that's not the first thing that came across my mind. It never really ran across my mind. You know, I've been planning for this trip for so long.

You know, I spent the last 18 months of my life dedicated to this cause and this particular adventure and journey. While this is nothing I could have planned for, I really did train well in terms of physically, in terms of mentally.

I just got my eyes on the prize. I can't let go of that. So, you know, this is one thing that happened. It was one bad thing, one bad person. I can think of a million wonderful people I've met along the way.

I can think of a wonderful, positive, amazing people I've met and so many great things that I've happened. I need to focus on that.

BALDWIN: I love your optimism. I can't wait to sit here with you on the show when you finish this journey around like Michigan. And again, your organization is ROW, "Recovery on the Water." Jean, good luck. Thank you.

GIBBONS: Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: We're just getting word right now an NFL player has apparently killed himself in front of a high school. The details are just coming in. We're just learning about this. That's next.

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BALDWIN: Got a sad story to report from pro-football. Tampa, Florida police say Tennessee Titans receiver, O.J. Murdock has committed suicide. The Titans say Murdock missed last season with an Achilles injury and that he had not reported to training camp. O.J. Murdock was 25 years old.

We are about to take you inside of Syria where the nation's largest city, the center of this fierce battle between the rebels and regime, families and children escaping Aleppo leaving everything behind to save themselves.

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