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Ex-SEALs Rip Obama For Bin Laden Leaks; Blame Game In Family Research Council Shooting; SPLC: Family Research Council A Hate Group; Mourning Family's Insurance Fight; Apple Stock Sets New All Time High; Texas' Air Assault On Mosquitoes; Blistering Heat Stoking Wildfires
Aired August 17, 2012 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, they took an oath to uphold the institution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Now, a group of former Special Forces have a new mission, defeating President Obama.
Bad summer to be bitten by a mosquito, more and more Americans coming down with the West Nile virus. We'll talk to the mayor of Dallas about the extra measures being taken there. Talking about aerial spraying to battle this deadly disease.
A car crash claims the life of a Maryland woman then her grieving family gets added insult. The insurance company says the accident is her fault and refuses to pay more money. The family says even defending her killing in court.
Plus, this --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's fun the restore cars and fix them up. Taking something that ran 100 years ago and getting it to work again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Talk about a great assignment. That's Zain Verjee there with Jay Leno. He's one of the kings of late night comedy, but deep down, some would call Leno the ultimate gear head. We're going to take you inside his car collection and his garage. NEWSROOM begins right now.
Hi, everybody. Good morning. It's 7:00 a.m. in the west, 10:00 a.m. in the east. We're so glad you're with us on this Friday. I'm Alina Cho in for Carol Costello.
We begin this hour with new details on the former Navy SEALs who are going after President Obama and his re-election campaign. The 22 minute web video accuses him of leaking military secrets and possibly jeopardizing American lives.
The group also plans an advertising campaign in some key presidential swing states. The former military and intelligence officials say they are nonpartisan, driven just by genuine concerns and not politics.
Brian Todd has uncovered some new details and some new questions about group's claims of being non-political. He joins us now from Washington.
It seems pretty unbelievable that this group would be non- political. Brian, what have you found?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The claim is that dubious at best, Alina. We've just discovered some links this group has to the GOP, links that the group has not freely acknowledged.
Its new web video just rakes the president for campaign references to the Bin Laden raid.
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TODD (voice-over): In a campaign ad, Bill Clinton praises President Obama's courage for ordering the Navy SEALs to launch against Osama Bin Laden.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Suppose they had been captured or killed. The downside would have been horrible.
TODD: On the campaign trail, the president emphasizes it himself.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I promised to go after al Qaeda and go after Bin Laden and we did it.
TODD: Now, there's a counter attack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, you did not kill Osama Bin Laden. America did. The work that American military has done killed Osama Bin Laden. You did not.
TODD: That's former Navy SEAL Ben Smith in a video slamming President Obama. The 22-minute film titled "Dishonorable Disclosures" features former SEALs, Special Forces members, intelligence officers, skewering the president for taking credit for the Bin Laden raid.
The Obama campaign pushes back saying the president has repeatedly credited the SEALs for the Bin Laden operation. The Obama team also points to this interview Wolf Blitzer did recently with the commander of the raid, Admiral William McRaven.
ADMIRAL WILLIAM MCRAVEN, COMMANDER, U.S. SPECIAL OPERATION: At the end of the day, make no mistake about it, it was the president of the United States that shouldered the burden, that made the hard decisions.
TODD: I pressed Ben Smith on that.
(on camera): Does the president get no credit here? Should he get no credit here? BEN SMITH, FORMER NAVY SEAL: He gets the credit for having Osama Bin Laden killed under his watch and if he gave the order, wonderful. But taking all the credit with the I, I, I, me, I, I about it and using us as a political ad is wrong.
TODD (voice-over): The film also blasted the Obama administration for allowing classified information on the raid and other security operations to become public.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had tactics, techniques, procedures that were compromised. We renew the name of the dog on that was on the operation.
TODD: The Obama team denies taking part in any leaks and says the Republicans are resorting to swift vote tactics, a reference to the blistering 2004 attacks on John Kerry's Vietnam War record.
This new film was made by a group called "OPSEC" for Operation Security. A spokeswoman for the group says it's completely nonpartisan, but CNN found many links between the group and GOP.
The president of OPSEC, a former Navy SEAL named Scott Taylor who appears on the video once ran for Congress as a Republican. The spokesman for the group has done similar work for the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress.
Ben smith, that former SEAL, told me he's an independent voter, but says on his Facebook page that he was once a spokesman for the Tea Party.
(on camera): And OPSEC list its headquarters as being in this building in a certain suite. We found out that also in that suite are two Republican strategy groups and no other groups.
We were not allowed to film inside, but were told by someone in the suite that OPSEC doesn't have much more than a desk there and that no one from OPSEC was there talk to us.
An OPSEC spokeswoman told us where they're located has nothing to do with the message they want to get out.
(voice-over): Could that message hurt President Obama like swift vote damaged John Kerry?
DARRELL WEST, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: It could hurt Obama politically in the sense that it's a very competitive election that's going to come down to 20,000 or 25,000 votes in a handful of states. So we don't know what's going to move those voters, but national security is a very sensitive issue for many people.
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TODD: And OPSEC is now one of three groups of former Special Operations members coming out with campaigns against the president over security leaks. Neither the Pentagon nor the CIA would comment on this latest video or confirm the military experience of those in the film -- Alina.
CHO: All right, Brian Todd in Washington with that story. Brian, thank you very much.
The man accused of shooting a building manager at the Family Research Council in Washington will not be released on bond. Instead, he'll be given a mental health evaluation.
But there's an interesting debate going on about who was to blame for Wednesday's shooting. Here is what the head of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, said. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY PERKINS, PRESIDENT, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: Corkins was given a license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center that have been reckless in labelling organizations hate groups because they disagree with them on public policy.
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CHO: The Southern Poverty Law Center released a statement saying Perkins' accusation is outrageous. The SPLC has listed the FRC as a hate group since 2010 because it has knowingly spread false and denigrating propaganda about lesbian, gay and bisexual people not because as some claim, it opposes same-sex marriage.
The FRC and its allies on the religious right are saying in effect that offering legitimate and fact-based criticism in a Democratic society is tantamount to suggesting that the objects of criticism should be the targets of criminal violence.
Insurance companies are supposed to help us in times of need and in great distress. Not fight us over every last nickel and dime, but that's what happened to one family after they lost a loved one in a tragic car accident.
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CHO (voice-over): It's the headline that went viral. My sister paid progressive insurance to defend her killer in court.
MATT FISHER, KATIE FISHER'S BROTHER: My tumbler is not an especially large soap box, so I was speaking out of a sense of obligation to my sister and my parents.
CHO: Matt Fisher posted the blog on Monday, but the story begins in June of 2010 when Matt's sister, Katie, was killed in a car crash in Baltimore, Maryland. The SUV that hit her had run a red light. The 24-year-old was killed instantly.
FISHER: The day she died, she just run a ten-mile road race.
CHO: Her brother says Katie had a $100,000 insurance policy with Progressive. The family says Katie's policy also stated Progressive would make up the difference if she was killed by an underinsured driver like the one that hit her. So the Fisher family was paid $25,000 and thought Progressive would pay the rest, $75,000, they were wrong.
FISHER: Progressive took the position that my sister was at fault in the accident that killed her, which under Maryland law, would free them of the obligation to pay.
CHO (on camera): Out of a sense of honor and because Katie Fisher had student loans that still had to be paid, the family decided to go after the money.
But in Maryland, it's against the law to sue an insurance company that refuses payment. So the family had to sue the man who killed Katie of established negligence and then armed with that decision, forced Progressive to pay. But in court --
FISHER: Progressive, my sister's insurer, sat across the room. They -- their lawyer argued for the defendant in the case. They argued that he was not negligent in my sister's death.
CHO: So outraged he wrote on his blog, if you are insured by Progressive and they owe you money, they will defend your killer in court in order to not pay you your policy and when the chips are down, your money will have bought you nothing, but a kick in the face.
After a whirlwind of criticism on Facebook and Twitter, Progressive responded with the same tweet over and over. Saying in part, we properly handled the claim within our contractual obligations and that in the eyes of some, made matters worse.
ERIC DEZENHALL, CRISIS MANAGEMENT EXPERT: When you respond to a very emotional issue using a mechanical technology like Twitter, it doesn't work. It's very difficult to tweet compassion.
CHO: The tweet has been taken down and Progressive released a statement saying it did not serve as the attorney for the defendant in the case. He was defended by his insurance company, Nationwide.
There was a question as to who was at fault and the jury decided in the Fisher family's favor just last week. We respect the verdict and now can continue to work with the Fisher family to reach a resolution. But Matt Fisher says his family has not yet seen a check.
(on camera): What's your message to Progressive if they're watching?
FISHER: When there's a adjuster or someone who sits in a room and says this policy will have to pay X amount. Should we pay or drag this out? Add this to the calculator.
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CHO: Matt Fisher adds he hopes this moves the needle and we do have an update to the story, one that really reinforces the power of the social media campaign. Progressive says it has settled with the Fisher family. It happened yesterday. The company says quote, "this was a tragic accident and our sympathies go out to the Fisher family."
A West Nile emergency in Dallas forces the city to take to the skies to fight the deadly virus. They are spraying insecticide from the air. But was it safe and this morning, we're asking did it help?
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CHO: We have this just into our NEWSROOM. Apple stock has set another all time high, now more than $644 a share. Maribel Aber is at the New York Stock Exchange with more on that. So Maribel, is there a particular reason why this stock is surging today?
MARIBEL ABER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alina. Well, you know, thing is we've been watching Apple go up first four months of the year, I think we hit a little bit of a funk in May, but now, as you said it here. It hit another all time high of $644.15.
It puts the company's value at over $600 billion. It would become the most valuable company ever when its shares hit just over $663 and analysts expect that day is really not far off.
But, Alina, what's going on here is it's pretty much all about the product buzz. You know, Apple hasn't made any official announcements of the new products, but the buzz is high for that new iPhone and iPad.
We believe it's going to be set off on an event on September 12th to unveil that. So that is really what's making investors forget about those weaker than expected earnings that were reported earlier this month -- Alina.
CHO: All right, Apple hitting an all time high. Facebook another all time low, it's down another 1 percent in early trading. All right, Maribel Aber, thank you so much.
Now to an ongoing emergency in Texas. Early this morning, Dallas, Texas, sprayed 52,000 acres in Dallas County with an insecticide. That's the highlighted areas you see there and it is the latest effort to control the West Nile virus spread by a growing mosquito population.
Just this part of Texas has about 25 percent of the nation's nearly 700 West Nile infections and 10 deaths so far this year. A rare strain of the virus is affecting one teenager. It's making her brain swell.
Now, Jordan Connor's mom has to help her walk because she could lose control of her limbs. Watch.
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EBONIE CONNER, MOTHER OF TEEN WITH WEST NILE VIRUS: A parent is not connected to their child, your child can die on your sofa and not know it because it just seemed like Jordan was taking a nap and not waking up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Although this is the first time that Dallas has sprayed Dallas County in 45 years, it is routine in other areas. Now, during the spraying, people were encouraged to stay inside.
Joining us now by phone is Mayor Mike Rawlings of Dallas. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for joining us.
So, the planes from what I understand, sprayed over these 52,000 acres from about 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. about three hours. How soon will we know whether it worked?
MAYOR MIKE RAWLINGS, DALLAS (via telephone): Well, we'll get a good sense for it hopefully by the end of the day. We've got mosquito traps out in the areas that weren't sprayed and traps out in the areas that were sprayed.
So we'll be able to compare those and do a pre post as well. We were hopeful we were going to get the 100,000 acres last night, do really one-fourth of our land mass.
But we had some rain, so this chemical dissipates immediately when hit by water. So we were able to -- we stopped after about midnight last night.
CHO: Sir, if you say 100,000 acres and only half of that was done, are we looking at another night of spraying tonight?
RAWLINGS: We're bringing in two more planes. We're going to have four. We're going to be able to get up tonight. Probably out a little earlier and we will hopefully do -- will make up what we did last night. We didn't get last night, and take another quarter of the county and of the city tonight and then continue through the weekend.
CHO: As you well know, there were some people very much against this measure. They almost took it to court. As I mentioned, this hasn't been done since 1966, 45 years ago.
Lyndon B. Johnson was in office when you last did it. Was it really necessary to go this far and take this measure? Was there an alternative?
RAWLINGS: Well, this is a complex issue. Nobody wants to have planes over their heads spraying, but when you see the story of the little girl that we've had 10 deaths. My scheduler in my office has come down with West Nile. It's impacting everybody.
We've got to kind of nip this as closely to the bud as we can. Look, we've got a lot of organic gardeners. A lot of people very interested in the environment in Dallas and I honor their point of view, but when you come to life and death. You've got to make these edition decisions and we did. CHO: Well, Mayor Mike Rawlings, you took some heat for it, but I guess, it was a successful night and we'll be looking at another couple of days spraying in Dallas. So, Mr. Mayor, thank you for joining us.
RAWLINGS: We appreciate it and I think with the EPA saying we needed to do it and CDC. You take that advice and get on with it. Thank you.
CHO: Well, keep us up to date. We appreciate it so much.
Triple digit temperatures are keeping wildfires burning across the west. Now, there are fears that lightening strikes could make things worse. We're going to get a live update from our Rob Marciano from one of the largest fires in Washington State.
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CHO: It's 23 minutes after the hour. Excessive heat just fuelling dozens of wildfires in the west, at least 70 large fires are burning across 13 states west of the Mississippi. California has the most with 13 blazes.
But one of the biggest is in Central Washington State where hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes and at least 60 homes have been destroyed so far.
Our Rob Marciano is covering that fire and joins us from Cle Elum, Washington State. Rob, good morning. Are they getting a handle on that big fire there?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: They made a little bit of progress yesterday, Alina. The winds have died down a last couple of days, but as that's happened, the temperatures have heated up so that's made it difficult as well.
About a third of this fire is contained. Some residents on the southeast quadrant have actually been allowed to at least go back and look at their homes, but 450 families remain evacuated.
Those especially in the subdivision behind me, just over that ridge, you see the smoke lining the mountain top. And those, that smoke had some serious flame going on earlier this morning.
That's the area they've been battling all day yesterday and the chopper now, just getting warmed up. They'll be in the area to hit those flames hard.
If that smoke and fire creeps further down that hill, it will be again in more homes. We spoke with many fire victims and evacuees yesterday. One of which described the chaos that happened when he was running for his life.
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LARRY PUTNAM, HOMEOWNER: The fire started over on the right hand side and it shot over that mountain. So fast like I said, we were, we went out to get our horses when the fire was just clear over here, six, seven miles away.
I told everybody, don't panic. Don't scare the horses. Let's take our time. We've got all day. All of a sudden, a wall of flames came up over the ridge. It just came up over the ridge like 100 foot high. So then I said, let's don't panic, but I think we better hurry.
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MARCIANO: Hurry they did along with hundreds of other people as the winds whip those flames. Again, the area assault continues. They brought in extra manpower and equipment the past two days to help to get handle on it.
Military Chinook is in the area yesterday. They'll do it again today. But the problem is going forward, the heat's going to be on and thunderstorms this week. Check out these numbers for high temperatures yesterday across Oregon and Washington.
These are the areas that see high temperatures around 75 or 80 degrees. Portland, Oregon, Vancouver, Washington, seeing 100 degrees. You'll see similar numbers again today. And then over the weekend, Alina, thunderstorms will pop over the spine of the cascades.
Those lightening strikes may spark more fires and that's what they're worried about. A fire weather watch has been posted for the weekend. Pretty rare advisory issued by the Nationaal Weather Service, so even though they're getting a handle on the fire, no rest for the weary certainly until next week -- Alina.
CHO: Well, Rob, you used to work in that area and you know, it's my neck of the woods. It's where I'm from. It is unusually hot this time of year, 100 degrees, I mean, you don't see that very often.
Let's hope they can fight those fires and get them under control very soon. Rob Marciano, thanks so much. Good to see you.
Thanks, but no thanks. That is what Team Romney is saying to the latest offer from the Obama campaign. We'll have a member of the Obama staff joining me next to respond.
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CHO: Half past the hour. I'm Alina Cho. Thanks for joining us. Checking your top stories:
Another deadly day in Afghanistan, this time, in Farah province. A man in an Afghan police uniform opened fire on U.S. troops, killing two of them. And just yesterday, seven U.S. service members died when a NATO helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan.
A rash of army suicides, more than a death a day in July; a new report says a record 38 active duty and reserve soldiers committed suicide just last month. The toll is up from 24 in June and so far this year, 187 active duty and reserve soldiers have taken their lives.
Two Californians visiting Yosemite National Park may have been exposed to Hanta virus. One of them a man had died the other is a woman. She is recovering from the rare, but often fatal lung disease. Health officials believe that rodent droppings or urine contaminated air in their cabins. The virus cannot be spread from person to person.
Well, Republican Paul Ryan as a Congressman opposed President Obama's stimulus plan and he had denied ever requesting stimulus money for his district in Wisconsin.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I assume you voted against the stimulus and I'm just curious if you accepted any money in your district.
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I'm not one of those people who votes for something then writes to the government to ask them to sent us money. I did not request any stimulus money.
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CHO: All right, not so fast. Flutters have since emerged showing Mitt Romney's running mate did ask for stimulus money on behalf of the Wisconsin non-profit agency. Ryan says the letters requesting the money should have been handled a bit differently.
Let's make a deal. Probably not the words you'd expect to hear during this year's heated presidential campaign, but it's happening. In a letter this morning, that's exactly what the Obama campaign manager is offering to Team Romney on the issue of taxes.
Listen to this. It reads in part, "If the Governor will release five years of returns, I commit in turn that we will not criticize him for releasing more."
Joining me now is traveling press secretary for the Obama campaign, Jennifer Psaki. Jennifer good morning. Good to see you.
JENNIFER PSAKI, TRAVELING PRESS SECRETARY FOR OBAMA CAMPAIGN: Good morning.
CHO: You know the Romney campaign is saying no to your dig a hole. Neither side appears to be giving -- giving in. I'm just curious to know though, what do you hope to gain by Romney releasing five years of returns? And what do you hope to accomplish?
PSAKI: Well, a couple of things. Let's not forget that Mitt Romney's father released 12 years of returns. We know the American people want to know what a candidate stands for, where they're coming from. What did they invest in? What decisions were they involved in?
There are some discrepancies on Mitt Romney's financial disclosure. We still don't know a lot about why he had an IRA in the Cayman Islands, why he had a Swiss bank account. There are a lot of unanswered questions.
The American people want to know answers too. And we made a pretty fair offer this morning, but as you mentioned, they rejected it flat out.
CHO: I mean, but the question is I guess Jen, what is good enough? I mean, he came out yesterday saying that he paid 13.6 percent in his best guess over the past ten years if you add charitable donation or so forth, it adds to about 20 percent. I mean, isn't that enough? He's come out and said it.
PSAKI: Well, look we're offering them an opportunity to prove it. And the only way for us to know and for the American people to know what's in Mitt Romney's tax returns is for him to release additional years of tax returns. That's the only way to settle this.
So you know, put your money where your mouth is. Let's -- let's prove what's in the tax returns and put all these questions to rest.
CHO: All right. I want to go back to the battle over voters. Of course this is a chief concern for both campaigns. You know, a new CNN poll shows that Wisconsin, this the state President Obama won by double digits in the last election, is now a tossup. If you look at the screen there you can see 49 percent supporting the President; 45 percent for Romney. That's a statistical tie.
Now in all, there are eight toss up states. Now, with three months until Election Day, I mean, is this really where the incumbent wants to be Jen?
PSAKI: Well, we know this race is going to be decided in a handful of states. We feel very good about our campaign in Wisconsin. We've had a grass roots organization there since the President ran the last time. We have a great group of supporters there. We're going to be spending some time there I bet.
We know also that the people in Wisconsin are concerned about the same issues that people across the country are about the Romney/Ryan ticket which is, you know, what are they are going to do for the middle class? I still can't name three things they're going to do. Why are they opposed to providing access to affordable health care to the American people? Why is their tax plan extending benefits to the highest income and letting it -- bear the burden on the middle class.
So these are questions people in Wisconsin have as well.
CHO: All right, I mean, back to the issues though because you know much to my surprise yesterday, there was a big debate about issues, on Medicare as you know. Just today, you've released a new ad on Medicare hitting back at the claims by the Romney/Ryan campaign that -- that the President would cut more than $716 billion from the program.
Now, that ad is going to run in eight states I believe including Florida, where Paul Ryan will be this weekend with his mother, who happens to be on Medicare. As you know Jen, Romney brought out the white board yesterday. And it was there in black and white. He says my plan will keep Medicare solvent. The President's plan will cut $716 billion. You came out with your own white board. I mean, isn't this getting a little bit silly? I mean, you know, come on.
PSAKI: Well look, a white board can change the facts. You know, don't take our word for it. Take AARP's word for it. They're an advocate for seniors, they're nonpartisan and they have said the President's plan would strengthen Medicare, would increase the years of solvency. And they've said the Romney/Ryan plan would undermine Medicare and could pass on the cost to seniors. Those are facts.
This is a debate we're happy to have. I will tell you that if the Romney/Ryan team was happy about their tax plan, if their tax plan wasn't passing on the burden to middle class families while extending tax benefits to the rich, maybe they'd be talking about that. But that's a tough issue for them to talk about.
And right now, we're happy to -- kind of happy to have a debate about Medicare and why the President's plan is better -- better for seniors.
CHO: So -- so do we. We're very happy about that, the Obama campaign traveling press secretary Jen Psaki. I hope to get some sleep in about three months.
PSAKI: Thank you.
Thanks for joining us.
PSAKI: Ok it's great to see you.
CHO: All right, it's great to see you too. Have a good weekend.
The drought hits the mighty Mississippi. Low levels are causing drinking water concerns for a lot of people in Louisiana. So they're shipping in drinking water. We're going tell you more about that, next.
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CHO: All right. There's a very unusual situation happening right now on the Mississippi River that we have to tell you about. Residents of Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana near the Gulf of Mexico are literally lining up for water today because the water they get from the river has too much salt.
You can blame the drought, water levels are so low in the Mississippi River that it's actually allowing salt water to flow north from the Gulf of Mexico and increased amounts of salt in drinking water can be harmful to people on dialysis or low sodium diets. Though officials do say it is safe for everyone else.
And the Army Corps of Engineers is now dredging part of the river and then will build an underwater levy or seal to block the salt water.
I want to bring in our meteorologist, Karen McGinnis to talk about these low Mississippi River levels. So Karen good morning, just how bad is it?
KAREN MCGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is the worst drought that we have seen in just about 50 years. Also, we're seeing some of the lowest water levels that we've seen in quite some time as well. We've got some images from the Mississippi River and if you think it's bad now, just wait the next couple of weeks. It is expected to get even worse.
Just to give you an example, here is Greenville, Mississippi. It takes a little bit of explaining, but right down here, this is the record low level back in 1988.
A year ago at Greenville, the river was sitting at just about 28 feet. Well now we're sitting at just about eight feet below that. As we go into the next several weeks, it is expected to drop at least another couple of feet. We've got a hydrograph that shows you what the peak was. What we are looking at as we go into the next couple of weeks.
Take a look at April 21st. This was back in 1927. The river was at 65, so imagine the river here and now, the river is way down here. Those barges are trying to navigate around some of the silt that has built up there.
Last summer, we saw an excess amount of rainfall and so those levels were running very high. But now, we're looking at this river so low that those barges are having a very difficult time and this is known as the mighty Mississippi, but Alina it looks like not so mighty right now. And if anything as we go into September, it's going get a little bit worse.
CHO: That's right. Karen McGinnis it's just unfortunate to hear that. But you're absolutely right. Thank you so much.
They are images that transport you to another time and place. They have one thing in common that may surprise you. Believe it or not, these photos were all snapped by amateurs, but they're going to be in "National Geographic". We're going to take a closer look at these photos, next.
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CHO: I think it's safe to say that there are few magazines that are visually stunning as "National Geographic" is. And its Traveler magazine is different. But if you tear your eyes away from the stunning photos you're about to see, you may be shocked to read the fine print. The latest issue is filled with the work of amateurs. That's because they're the winners of the photo contest that "National Geographic" holds for amateurs.
"National Geographic" traveling contributing editor, George Stone is here to show us the winners. George, good morning. Great to see you.
GEORGE STONE, TRAVELING CONTRIBUTING DIRECTOR, "NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC": Good morning.
CHO: This was pretty incredible. I mean more than 12,000 photos from more than 6,000 photographers in 152 countries. How in the world do you choose?
STONE: It was extremely hard. That was a great number of photos to go through and each photo represented an experience, a destination, a memory that someone had. They were fantastic and many of them captured places we didn't even know about.
CHO: We're looking at one now I want to talk more about because it's just visually arresting. That was your first place winner. It was taken in a remote part of Afghanistan. The light and the colors are just extraordinary. Tell us about this one.
STONE: This is a stunning picture because it's so intimate. These are Kirghiz women in their remote area of Afghanistan (inaudible) and they're inside a yurt -- felt tent. And there are elements of modernity -- television, stereo system, but then an old sewing machine and this rich, beautiful fabric in the background -- very traditional textile. So it's a combination of new and old and it's also a very intimate shot because it's in their home. It's a remarkable picture.
CHO: You're right. It's just beautiful.
I want to take a look at the second place photo, which really struck me. It's so, I mean, it could be from any time. It's in black and white. It was taken in Vietnam with three children as you see there playing with balloons. Tell us about this.
STONE: What we love about it is the sense of suspended animation. The balloons are floating. They're hanging in the air and these kids are playing in the village, far removed from most of the world, but they're playing the way kids do all around the world. They're playing with balloons and it's shot in black and white, so it has a dreamlike, timeless quality and it's just a gorgeous, textured picture that takes you to a far away place, but with touch stones that are very identifiable.
CHO: I want to get quickly to the third place photo. This is an Easter celebration in Sicily, I believe. What struck you about this one?
STONE: I think more than anything, it's the passion. The faces of the men who have carried these heavy statues during Easter week -- devotional statues of Christ's passion. They walked all night carrying these heavy objects and then at dawn, they finally are able to take a break and they're exhausted, but they have a sense of accomplishment and this scene overall really captured a place, a mood, a feeling. It kind of makes you want to be there. It makes you want to experience something like that.
"Traveler" magazine always tries to take people places. And this photo really does that.
CHO: Extraordinary, you were talking about one of the editors who was talking about how he loved the three different expressions on the men's faces. I suggest all of you out there, look at all of the photos, maybe not all 12,000, but at least the top 11.
STONE: Yes, that's right.
CHO: Thank you so much for joining us -- and that's another one I love.
We're back after this.
STONE: It's Chile. Thanks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back.
Rihanna has given a revealing interview to Oprah. It's the first time that she's talked about that well publicized domestic incident with her then-boyfriend, Chris Brown. Entertainment correspondent, Nischelle Turner is here with more on that, so what did she say Nischelle?
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, she opened way up with Oprah, Alina; and she really made some surprising revelations, but it's her admission that even after Chris Brown beat her, she still felt protective towards him. That really has people talking. Take a look at what she had to say
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIHANNA, SINGER: I felt protective, I felt like the only person he hit right now is him. It was a weird, confusing space to be in. Because angry as I was, angry and hurt and afraid His main reason was he's angry and hurt and betrayed.
I just felt like he made a mistake because he need help and I -- who's going to help him. Nobody's going to say he needs help. Everybody's going to say he's a monster without looking at the source. I was more concerned about him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TURNER: Now, people have really jumped on what she said here saying how could she feel sorry and protective of a man who just abused her. But you know, you look at that and I think that's a really raw and emotional thing to see there and maybe what a lot of abused woman actually feel at first when they're dealing with the fallout of an abusive situation. So I'm really interested to see this entire interview that airs Sunday night on the OWN network.
CHO: So am I. Nischelle Turner, thanks for the update. We appreciate it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, TALK SHOW HOST: It's fun to restore cars and fix them up. Taking something that ran 100 years ago and getting it to work again, that's, to me, is the fun.
CHO: "Tonight" show host, Jay Leno takes our Zain Verjee on a tour of his impressive car collection and he introduces us to what small car is making a big impact.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: He's won plenty of awards for his decades' long comedy career, but Jay Leno also has quite a collection of something else -- cars. CNN's Zain Verjee got the chance to tour Leno's massive garage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look at the color.
LENO: That's steam.
VERJEE: Oh, wow.
LENO: It's fun to restore cars and fix them up. Taking something that ran 100 years ago and getting it to work again -- that's, to me, is fun.
VERJEE: Is there a car that you are dying to have that you don't have?
LENO: You don't buy the car so much as you do the story. When you work with your hands, you realize how easy it is to make a living on television. All this back breaking, horrible work. Just talk for a few minutes -- with cash in it.
CNN girls wild cam. This is a 1909 baker electric. It's a fully electric car and these were quite popular as women's shopping carts because most cars of the period were like this. You had to grab this crank and you had to pull the engine through and it was quite heavy.
And it was hard work for women and obviously, wealthy people want these and wealthy women were not going to get down on their knees and crank a car and then break their arm and do the whole deal, so these were quite popular. It's got makeup stuff here. The idea. Excuse me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERJEE: Bye, bye. He had that car, steam cars, electric cars, classic cars, super cars.
It was amazing and what was really cool is that when I got there, he was actually working on them himself and then he also told me he drives a different car every day to work and he just drops it off at the garage and then gets another set of keys.
I just want to show you this other car he really was into. It's called the (inaudible) Nano. It's made in India and it's kind of known as the people's car. The reason he really liked it was it was going to transform India's environment totally because most people can't afford cars.
This one is like $2,700. And sometimes you've got families of five just on a motorbike. You know, mom, dad, three kids on a bike. So this was something that he was really talking, you know, to me about. He showed it to me and it was just really cost effective and cool.
But it was so much fun to be there. It was really great.
CHO: Yes, I bet.
VERJEE: What I want next is a ride on this motorbike that is the Y2K turbine super bike that everyone was talking about and basically it's half as fast as a plane because he put helicopter engines inside this motorbike. So next time maybe.
CHO: All right. Zain Verjee, great assignment. Lucky girl.
VERJEE: Yes. Well, I was.
CHO: I'm Alina Cho, thanks for joining me today in the CNN NEWSROOM. "NEWSROOM" continues now with my Ashleigh Banfield.
