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The 150th Anniversary Of Gettysburg Address; Toronto Mayor Declares "Outright War" After City Council Strips His Powers; New "Ford Nation" TV Show Profiles Toronto's Embattled Mayor, Brother; Survivors' Stories From The Tornado Zone; Zimmerman Back In Jail, Due In Court Today; Wal-Mart Store Collects Food For Its Workers; U.S. JPMorgan Near $13 Billion Settlement; Education Secretary Sorry For Slam

Aired November 19, 2013 - 10:00   ET

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

ANDY SCHOLES, "BLEACHER REPORT": Yesterday, the NFL announced that the Colts' Erik Walden has been suspended for one game for this helmet-to-face head butt that he delivered to the Titans Delanie Walker. So hope it was worth it.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That looks so painful every time you see it.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Berman was off the air for like a month after your last head butt.

BERMAN: Andy Scholes, thanks so much.

ROMANS: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. We're in for Carol Costello today. We want to take you right now to Gettysburg in Pennsylvania because on that site today there is a ceremony marking the 150th anniversary of President Lincoln's address. That ceremony is now getting underway. Let's see if anything is going on right now that we can listen to.

ROMANS: One person noticeably absent today from this commemoration, President Obama. The president has expressed a particular fondness for Lincoln in the past including, you know, the president took his oath of office on Lincoln's bible during both inaugurations.

BERMAN: He announced his presidency, candidacy for the presidency in Springfield, Illinois, which of course is Abraham Lincoln's hometown. He took a train trip to Washington before his first inauguration, which paralleled Lincoln's train trip to Washington for his first inauguration. So like we said, there's a little bit of a controversy there.

In the next half hour we'll speak with Ken Burns about all of this. Burns famous for his documentaries is working on a documentary about Lincoln's Gettysburg speech called, "The Address."

ROMANS: All right, now, to the continuing controversy surrounding that Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. The city council voting overwhelmingly to strip Ford of his powers, but if they thought that was going to be enough to get out of office, they should think again. The mayor was outraged by the vote calling it a coup declaring that he will not step down from office.

His brother, a Toronto city councilor, says that his goal is to help some of his colleagues lose their jobs after they voted against the mayor.

BERMAN: For his part, the mayor is also touting his record while shaking off claims that his partying has hurt his job. Here is what he told CNN's Bill Weir.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ROB FORD, TORONTO: You show me one other major city that has saved a billion dollars that has turned it around like I have. Our roads are getting down. It's clean. It's safe. The crimes down. Things are happening. We have more cranes in the sky. We created over 50,000 jobs in one year last year.

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But take all of that, given you all of that, couldn't you be even more effective if you were healthier in your lifestyle?

FORD: I'm trying to lose some weight. I'm working out. I'm not perfect.

WEIR: But why not see some addiction specialists just to make sure?

FORD: I'm not an addict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All right, CNN senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, joins us now. You know, "Ford Nation" or Ford circus, whatever you want to call it, continues -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It does. The mayor is out in his district today dealing with phone calls from his constituents. But the legacy of that five-hour session is still ringing through the city hall here. The council has to decide that way forward now the mayor has been sidelined. But it was really essentially a five-hour slamming match at the end of which the mayor declaring war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The item is amended --

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Mayor Ford went down in an overwhelming vote, his answer --

FORD: This, folks, reminds me of when Sudan attacked Kuwait. You guys have just attacked Kuwait and you will never -- you will never see something that -- mark my words, friends, this is going to be outright war in the next election. ROBERTSON: The battle began even before the vote. Another Mayor Ford moment he might like to forget -- in council chambers, shouting members of the public and then this accidentally knocking an elderly councilor to the floor, not his finest hour.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mayor Ford, your time is up. Mayor Ford --

ROBERTSON: In the battle to strip his powers, few in the council, except his brother, Doug, on his side.

DOUG FORD, MAYOR FORD'S BROTHER: What is happening today is an overthrow of a democratically elected mayor illegally. This is what you see in third world nations.

ANNOUNCER: "Ford Nation" comes to -- the boos, the dope.

FORD: You've heard the criticism and the councilors. Now tonight, I want you to listen to me.

ROBERTSON: In a new talk show creating his own world, "Ford Nation."

FORD: I want to thank my supporters for sticking with me. I guarantee you're going to see a change in the next few months.

ROBERTSON: His words, his message, for an hour under control until he stepped out of the studio falling over a photographer.

FORD: I didn't push her.

ROBERTSON: That's all he said.

FORD: I didn't even touch her.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: So we asked one of the moderators on that show, isn't the mayor just getting another opportunity to pull the wool over the eyes of the voters here? This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE WARMINGTON, COLUMNIST, "TORONTO SUN": He understands that he's a world-famous star right now and whether he's in 10th minute or 14-1/2, here in Toronto, he's used up 8-3/4 of his political cat lives. But he sees something bigger and he's playing it for all it's worth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: You know he might have just a quarter of a cat life left, but for him that's enough to keep fighting. He said he is going to fight and really there are a lot of people out here in the suburbs who still support him. So we are just 50 weeks away from the elections next year. Anyone here is really seriously ruling Mayor Ford out of the game completely yet. Back to you.

BERMAN: Nic, you spoke to the deputy mayor who now has a whole lot more power because of the city council vote. What have you learned?

ROBERTSON: Yes. This is a guy who wants to kind of take it a little easy and step back. He says the mayor is overheated right now. Let's give him a little time. Let's maybe leave it until after Christmas. We both share a passion about football. We can find common ground there. We'll work a strategy to go forward.

But he said at the end of the day, if this doesn't work out, we'll call on the province to come in and remove the mayor if he continues to be a problem. I said, are you going to give him weeks or months? He said, let's be looking around February. So the council is going to give him a little time to see if he can cool down and get along with the work here.

BERMAN: We'll have to see if that happens. Nic Robertson in Toronto for us this morning, thanks so much.

ROMANS: Terrifying images from the Midwest tornado strikes. An Illinois woman kept pleading with her husband to get the shelter as this twister was bearing down on her house, but transfixed by the storm's power, that man kept taking the video. CNN's Gary Tuchman has that story and that amazing video.

We've got Ted Rowlands for us on the ground for us in Washington, Illinois for us, very close to where that happened. Ted, what kind of stories are you hearing this morning?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, frankly today is the day, the first real day, where people have to start making decisions. The adrenaline and shock has started to wear off. You're looking at 200 to 400 homes just here in Washington and this is going on around the state of Illinois and Indiana. Where now people are safe, they're happy that they survived the storm. Now, it's what are we going to do?

Every one of these what used to homes has a family and the decision to made, are we going to rebuild? Their insurance agents are now on the ground here trying to help people through the process. Keep in mind this is November. We're going up against not only the holiday season here, but winter. So people have to now come to the real grim reality of their new reality in trying to make the decisions. It's a heartbreaking stage of the evolution of the survivors of any disaster.

ROMANS: And Ted, still without power, hundreds of thousands of people still without power. And to see people picking through the rubble trying to find something to remind them of a home they're not going to go back to is simply heartbreaking.

ROWLANDS: Absolutely. We talked to a couple of people -- you're absolutely right. It is heartbreaking. We talked to a couple of people yesterday, they found a rosary and a piece of China and it made their day. You're looking at other people's stuff where your house used to be. It is really hard to deal with.

ROMANS: All right, we've been moved by the images from these tornado- ravaged areas. If you would like to help, go to cnn.com/impact. It has links to groups giving that aid. Ted Rowlands, thanks for that report for us this morning. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, George Zimmerman is back in jail. He's expected to go before a Florida judge this afternoon. This is his fourth run- in with the law since being acquitted of the death of Trayvon Martin.

ROMANS: This time he's accused of pointing a gun at his girlfriend and breaking a table while the two argued. Zimmerman is charged with felony assault. CNN's Alina Machado is in Sanford, Florida for us this morning with more on that -- Alina.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, George Zimmerman spent that night in jail in a cell by himself. Authorities are keeping him away of other inmates because of his high profile. Meanwhile, the police spent their night searching the home Zimmerman shared with his girlfriend as they try to figure out exactly what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED 911: What's going on?

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: He's in my house breaking all my -- because I asked him to leave. He has his freaking gun breaking all of my stuff right now.

MACHADO (voice-over): That's the 911 call authorities say George Zimmerman's girlfriend made during a domestic dispute that allegedly turned violent inside the home they share.

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: I'm doing this again? You broke my glass table. You broke my sunglasses and you put your gun in my freaking face and told me to get the -- out. This is not your house. Now get out of here.

MACHADO: The woman told the 911 operator she was pushed out of her house by Zimmerman and that he had a shot gun, an AR-15 and two handguns inside. She also said the fight started after she had asked the 30-year-old to leave. But Zimmerman tells a different story in his own 911 call.

ZIMMERMAN: My girlfriend has -- for lack of a better word, gone crazy on me.

MACHADO: Police were already at the Apopka, Florida house when Zimmerman made the call. He told the operator that he wanted everyone to know the truth about what happened.

ZIMMERMAN: She started smashing stuff and kicking stuff that belonged to me that belonged to me. She broke a glass table because she threw something on it.

MACHADO: Zimmerman went on to explain how the fight started. Saying the woman told him she was pregnant and wanted to raise their child without him.

ZIMMERMAN: She got mad that I guess told her that I would be willing to leave. I guess she thought I was going to argue with her.

MACHADO: Zimmerman denied using a weapon to threaten the woman. Responding officers said they used the alleged victim's key to get in and pushed their way through furniture Zimmerman had placed behind the door. They found Zimmerman inside, unarmed, his demeanor described as passive.

DENNIS LEMMA, SEMINOLE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Clearly he's had the opportunity to encounter similar situations in the past, offered no resistance and cooperated the entire time.

MACHADO: It's the not the first time he had a brush with the law since he was acquitted of the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. In September his estranged wife accused him of assault. Police investigated and no charges were filed. He was stopped twice for speeding, once in Texas where he got a warning, a second time in Florida, where he was ticketed and find $256.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACHADO: Now if Zimmerman is bonded out this afternoon, authorities have requested that he be placed on electronic monitoring. Meanwhile his girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe, told investigators she was not pregnant. Her mother tells us she is doing well and is in a safe place -- John, Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Alina Machado, it sounds complicated. Thank you. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: So you may have heard about one Wal-Mart store's attempt to help its workers feed their families. HLN Money anchor, Jen Westhoven live in Atlanta with more here. And this is basically a food drive at one Wal-Mart that's raising a lot of attention. People are saying, wait a minute, this kind of feeds into the storyline that Wal-Mart doesn't have great pay for all of its associates. What can you tell us?

JEN WESTHOVEN, HLN MONEY ANCHOR: And if you're thinking about asking other Wal-Mart workers to help other Wal-Mart workers who can't feed their families? This wasn't in the main part of the store, it was in the back for workers to donate, but you can see it there, "Please donate food items here so Associates in need can enjoy Thanksgiving dinner. Now a Wal-Mart spokesman said that this could be happening at others that they are not aware of it was in the back for workers to donate. You can see it from, Please donate food items here so associates in need can enjoy Thanksgiving dinner.

Now, a Wal-Mart associate said there are special specifics going on at this Wal-Mart. For example, somebody might have just lost a spouse, that's why they're having problems. But it does play into the idea that the company is not paying its workers called a living wage. And we just had the study a couple of weeks ago that said more than half of Wal-Mart workers make less than $25,000 and end up on government assistance, taxpayer dollars, you and me. BERMAN: And this comes just before the holiday shopping season. Wal- Mart has done a whole lot of outreach to the media right now to get some positive stories. This can't be what they are after right now.

WESTHOVEN: Absolutely and it's not just Wal-Mart too. As you there are so many protests going on around fast food establishments and a whole conversation going on about how much is it fair to pay your employees when it comes to the low wages. Are these stepping stone jobs? Not anymore with the job market like it is.

ROMANS: And I spoke to the CEO at Wal-Mart. And he said, you can still move up. He said that their pay is higher than the retail industry standard. But the question is, is the retail industry standard good enough to raise a family and go to college on. And it feeds into the minimum wage argument and discussion and debate as well. When you're creating so many jobs in the economy that are jobs that are $8, $9, $10, $11 an hour jobs, that's where all the growth is, that's where the concern is.

WESTHOVEN: You got to admit. When you see a sign that says workers, can you help the other workers, and they still can't feed them, it's certainly jarring to think of a family that can't afford thanksgiving even when they've got people in the family who are at work. It's tough stuff out there.

ROMANS: A Wal-Mart person said that last year at this store that was basically a food drive to help a mother who was not getting child support payments anymore. So it was a specific case last year and they're doing it again. So, it just does really highlight, even if you're working, some people don't have enough to put food on the table. Jen Westhoven, thanks. Nice to see you.

BERMAN: Checking out the top stories right now. An Al Qaida linked group is taking responsibility for a suicide attack near the Iranian Embassy in Beirut.

ROMANS: At least 23 groups were killed, 146 of those injured. The group warns these attacks will continue until Hezbollah pulls out of Syria.

BERMAN: And meanwhile, disgraced senator and former presidential candidate, also vice presidential candidate, John Edwards, he's heading back to work. He plans to open a law practice in North Carolina with his old partner and his daughter. This is his first time back in the public eye since he was acquitted of campaign finance charges last year. He made a lot of money as a lawyer back in the '90s.

ROMANS: A $13 billion settlement between the Justice Department and JPMorgan Chase. This could be announced as soon as today. This deal related to the bank passed mortgage practices, as one cause of the financial crises. There's 4 billion in there for consumer relief, homeowner relief.

All right, still to come, Education Secretary Arne Duncan still apologizing about his remark about white suburban moms next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Welcome back, everyone. Education Secretary Arne Duncan now apologizing for his comments slamming, quote, "white suburban moms."

ROMANS: In response to criticism over new school standards. "Politico" report said this, it's 'fascinating to me that some of the pushback is coming from sort of white suburban moms who all of a sudden their child isn't as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn't quite as good as they thought they were.

BERMAN: CNN's Rene Marsh is live in Washington with more. Rene, what is the secretary saying now?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the comment about the suburban moms, that went viral, and the backlash was fierce. They took to social media and the moms really let the Department of Education secretary get a piece of that I mind. And now he's telling CNN he's sorry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH (voice-over): In defending a controversial program to raise math and English standards nationwide, the education secretary instead added fuel to the fire. He said some of the pushback is coming from sort of white suburban moms who all the sudden their child isn't as brilliant as they thought they were.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For somebody who is trying to teach people how to communicate, he needs to take some lessons himself.

MARSH: This is one of those white suburban moms. Her son, Brandon, is a special needs student. She worries the new standards known as common core with its frequent testing will deprive other students with the individual attention that he received.

GRETCHEN LASKAS, OPPOSES "COMMON CORE": The more mechanized we make education, the more those children are going to fail.

MARSH: Duncan's suburban mom comment also set off a firestorm online. The president of one teacher's union tweeting did Arne Duncan really blame soccer moms? More than 1,700 people have joined the "Moms Against Duncan" Facebook page. And more than 1900 signed a whitehouse.gov petition to have him fired.

(on camera): Do you regret making the comments or saying them the way you did?

ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY: Obviously I didn't say them perfectly and apologized for that.

MARSH (voice-over): But he's not backing down.

DUNCAN: My point is that children from every demographic across this country need a well rounded, world class education. We have challenges not just in our cities, but on suburban areas too. MARSH: Forty five states have signed on to the voluntary initiative.