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Campbell Brown

Race to Save Haiti's Orphans; President Obama's New Message?

Aired January 21, 2010 - 20:00   ET

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

CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And hi, everybody.

Day nine in Haiti -- the rescue effort there has mostly now moved to a recovery effort. And while aid is now on the ground, getting there, there's certainly not enough. And thousands who say that they are not seeing it outside of Port-au-Prince, which is being described by aid workers tonight as the largest refugee camp in the world.

Also today, two sizable aftershocks rocked Haiti again, adding urgency to the rush to get the most vulnerable victims out, vulnerable victims of the quake, Haiti's orphans, out of the country. And that is where we're going to begin tonight.

Just a little while ago, a group of 21 orphans from Haiti did land in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was the end of a long journey that began obviously in the chaotic aftermath of the quake. And we have just gotten in some pictures that were taken right before they got on the plane.

Now, tonight, these children are hoping, the people with them, to reunite these kids to their adoptive American parents.

Soledad O'Brien was on the flight with them and is at the airport right now.

And, Soledad, walk us through what happened. Tell us the story of how these children got out.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: We have just landed at Fort Lauderdale International Airport. And we're actually very close to where these adoptive parents, we're told, are waiting in a hangar.

What's happening, though, is the children have to be processed through first, so they're going through immigration, they're going through customs, and they will load them back on the plane and roll that plane to the hangar, where they get to meet their American parents.

But what a day it has been, really, for these orphans. They had a flight. They had to be choppered out of their orphanage, which is called (INAUDIBLE) and basically the choppering turned out to be an incredibly good idea, choppers, by the way, that were purchased in the Dominican Republic before they were flown in by a group of just civilian relief workers out of Utah who decided to help out this group. They chopper in, they grab the kids by chopper, they fly them to the airport, and then they have been able to get a plane that would fly the children out, involved a lot of waiting, lot of tense moments, but what a remarkable thing to see on the plane the handful of grownups handling 21 -- ended up being 22 orphans, because at the last minute a guy got on and said, please take this man and his wife and their child. They are right, trying to get out. And they boarded the plane as well.

So, it was very, very dramatic pictures for these orphans who are really just being processed and getting ready to meet their adoptive American parents. Earlier in the day, health care we started out with another orphanage. And you might remember those pictures of all those babies in the truck. That's Maison Des Enfants de Dieu in Port-au- Prince. And...

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Soledad, yes, stand by. We're going to -- there we go. I just wanted to make sure we had those pictures up that we're showing people now.

Yes, go ahead.

O'BRIEN: Oh, of those babies in the truck. It was such a shock, I have got to tell you, Campbell. Really, what a surprise. When we got to the orphanage this morning, they were loading the children, the babies, into a van, and the toddlers and older children into a bus.

And so we did this long ride on the bus heading to the embassy, because they had been told before that the paperwork wasn't in order. So they were going to head back to the embassy with the children in the hopes of getting their paperwork.

Of course, driving a giant bus through the streets of Port-au- Prince is really rocky and bumpy. And there's all sorts of stuff in the road, very bumpy ride, but also really hot. And the temperatures got above 90 degrees. The children started wilting, in some cases throwing up, really just uncomfortable and quite scary.

I mean, these children are very -- in tenuous positions anyway. So at one point we stopped and they got a call from somebody who was at the embassy already and they said the embassy says, do not come, that do not bring the children here. And so the bus and the van turned back and they headed back to Maison Des Enfants.

It was such a scary moment for a while. This is a woman who was sort of organizing it whose name is Connie Constantino (ph). She's a doctor and also an adoptive parent. And here is what she had to say about the risks she felt she was taking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) making the right decision. I don't want to jeopardize the children (INAUDIBLE) but I want to do what's right for them. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have to believe that it's going to fall in place. I have to.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The van is even hotter. And the babies on the van, just so hot on that van. And we put all the little babies on there because it's a more comfortable ride, but it's hot. And we have got children throwing up. What if I made the wrong decision?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: It was really hot, and it was -- it was -- I tell you when the children started throwing up all over us, it was really -- it was really hard.

The State Department spokesperson said 107 orphans are in the process of leaving Haiti. They said we do not turn people away. We ask people to come back at times. And I think that's what's happening here. They are basically sent back so that if their paperwork is in order they can, in fact, come back in. So, they were for the moment turned away.

They say they want to avoid kids being taken out of the country illegally. These particular orphans from Maison Des Enfants de Dieu have been in the process. They all have adoptive parents. They're in the process of being adopted.

So, hopefully, the embassy will be able to help them out and remove any obstacles for them getting out on this humanitarian, you know, basically parole, so that they can meet up with their adoptive parents -- Campbell.

BROWN: Oh, Soledad, those kids look like they are in bad shape. I hope this gets resolved quickly.

And we should -- just to clarify, the first group of kids that you flew into Florida with, their adoptions have all been cleared. The paperwork is fine. They were good to go. It was just this busload of kids who were going to France where there were still some paperwork hangups, correct?

O'BRIEN: No, the group that was going -- the group in the bus, their paperwork in also in the process. They have adoptive parents also, but...

BROWN: Waiting for them.

O'BRIEN: ... hadn't finish up the paperwork from the embassy. So, there's a little paperwork still yet to be done. So, it's very possible that if they can get that done they in fact will be able to have that same trip.

BROWN: Oh, Soledad O'Brien.

O'BRIEN: And they're coming to the United States as well.

BROWN: Right, just heart-wrenching watching them on that bus. I know that must have been a difficult day for you. Thank you so much, Soledad. Appreciate it, not to mention those children and everybody else who was part of that, a happy reunion, obviously.

You just saw that for some, but definitely tough times for those left behind.

Anderson Cooper is joining us right now live from Port-au-Prince.

And you have been covering this sort of same angle of this story as we try to focus here on the children. For each child that is getting out, there are tens of thousands who didn't. And there's certainly no real infrastructure there to take care of them, is there?

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Yes. I mean, I was just out at General Hospital today at the pediatric ward. A little boy named Johnny (ph) there, broken leg, naked, has no clothes. His parents believed to be dead, and no one really watching after him.

If you're in a hospital here, it's traditional that you have a family member who is constantly with you bringing you food. This little boy is completely all alone. He was dropped off by a neighbor and just left there. And he doesn't even know his last name.

So, at this point, there's really not a system in place to deal with this new generation of kids who are going to be orphaned. Haiti has a remarkable tradition of families taking in kids. And there are extended families and family is incredibly important here. But this right now is just kind of -- this is in the next wave of things that have to be dealt with.

So much right now attention is just on immediate medical needs, saving these kids' live. The question is, where do they go after they get discharged from the hospital? The nurses at this hospital are saying, look, we can't send Johnny out because he has nowhere to go. What are we going to do with him? They really have no idea at this point.

COOPER: All right, Anderson Cooper, for us tonight with that part of the story.

Anderson, thank you.

And we should tell people tonight the U.S. government says at least 122 people have been saved by search-and-rescue teams in Haiti. Even now, nine days after the earthquake, rescuers still digging through the rubble. They are still searching for signs of life, even though it has primarily become a recovery effort.

And Jonathan Mann of CNN International has a story of a rescue effort in the ruins of a Caribbean University in Port-au-Prince, a rescue effort that started because the Internet is buzzing with word of a woman who was believed to be sending text messages from the rubble. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The search-and-rescue team of South Florida, part of a multinational effort that was at work here for hours at the ruin of the Caribbean University, a multinational effort that was drawn here by a very promising clue.

There was an Internet message circulating all around the world today, sent it seemed from this mound of rubble, where a woman who was identified as Martine Pierre was appealing for international help. She got help if she was really there.

Canada, the Netherlands, two different teams at least from the United States, and Costa Rica all gathering here with search dogs and specialized audio equipment to listen in to see if, indeed, there were signs of life.

At the outset, there were. The dogs seemed to indicate that there was someone alive, different dogs from different teams singling in on the same place. They heard tapping, clear tapping in the first hours of the rescue operation. The operation continued. More teams joined, and there was another attempt just a short time ago to find out if, indeed, there was anyone still left alive.

That effort turned up nothing, no sound, no signals from the dogs. The best that the rescue teams could hope for was that maybe someone was inside, but unconscious, maybe, because anyone inside would have no idea of day or night, that they had fallen asleep. But there was no indication of even that.

And, so, the teams have wound up their work. The rescue effort here is over. It continues elsewhere, hoping for more success.

Jonathan Mann, CNN, Port-au-Prince.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And on the shattered streets of Port-au-Prince, law and order a little hard to come by right now.

CNN's Karl Penhaul was on assignment today when he witnessed a case of what appears to be street justice, a shooting death apparently after -- or over five bags of rice.

And I need to caution our viewers, these pictures may not be appropriate for children.

And with that warning, Karl is joining me right now from Port-au- Prince with the details of what happened -- Karl.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, we have -- we were driving by just beyond the airport and as we drove by a busy crossroads, we heard a first shot ring out. That, of course, gets our attention. We look across.

We're still in our truck. And we see two policemen, two police officers with their hands on the shoulders of two young men who they have detained. And then we hear three more shots at least ring out. These men were being shot at point-blank range. And as that happens, we stop our truck and we get out.

And as we get across to the scene, at that stage, one of these men is gasping his final gasps. He's gasping for breath and then twitches and dies literally right in front of us. A second man is a few yards away. One of his legs is plainly not working. He's unable to stand. He's stunned. But he is speaking. And there he denies that he was looting. He says: "We weren't stealing. This rice was a gift."

Just by his head and by his arms, five sacks of rice -- that is certainly what sparked this incident. I wasn't there to see what actually sparked the incident, but we certainly see the consequences. And this, again, is something that other media outlets have been reporting on over the past few days, Campbell.

BROWN: Well, you're right. Karl, we have seen a number of reports on other news organizations about incidents like this. Is this how the police are handling it? They're shooting suspected looters?

PENHAUL: A few minutes after this incident occurred, a police commissioner did arrive on the scene, and I went up to him and I said, does the police have a shoot-to-kill policy for suspected looters? I said, is there now a death penalty for stealing rice in Haiti?

And he was very categorical. He said, no. Even if these men were stealing rice -- and that certainly isn't a proven fact -- even if these men were stealing rice, they, the police, have no right to shoot them. He then promised that he would call an ambulance and said he would investigate. We waited. No ambulance arrived.

And, two-and-a-half-hours later, the corpse of that dead man was still lying on that sidewalk. And it was left up to U.N. peacekeepers to take the wounded man off to a hospital. In fact, they just stopped a passing truck and loaded him aboard, Campbell.

BROWN: Wow.

Karl Penhaul with a really difficult story to share tonight from Port-au-Prince.

Karl, thank you very much.

We want to show you some new images in to CNN. This is an incredible series of photographs that show how quickly buildings in Port-au-Prince were destroyed in the first moments of the earthquake. Take a look at the multistory building in the background, the one with the antenna on top. It is the Haitian's government's taxation office.

Moments later, the building is already beginning to collapse as passersby run for cover. And here it has disappeared, and leaving nothing but dust and rubble.

Coming up, we're going to have the tragic story of an orphanage that did not make it through the quake, and we will also talk to one woman who has made it her mission to protect as many of Haiti's children as possible.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The earthquake in Haiti was as indiscriminate as it was devastating, the difference between life and death incredibly random, and for the orphans of Haiti, even more so.

Gary Tuchman witnessed immense tragedy at one orphanage and huge sighs of relief right next door. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We had received an e- mail an orphanage had collapsed, that most of the children survived, but many died.

We weren't sure if the e-mail was true. We have gotten a lot of rumors during this coverage. But, unfortunately, this was, sadly, true. It appears that 36 children died here. Twenty of the bodies have already been recovered. Inside that hole right there are the bodies that were found a short time ago of two children. They can't get them out of the hole, because there's no room.

And as we speak to you right now and as we cover the story right now, over here, our men from the neighborhood, no international aid, no other aid, just men from the neighborhood digging with their hands, digging with tools -- they're taking a well-earned break right now, because they have been working for hours looking for the bodies of the orphans who are down there.

It's terribly sad. And this is what we have encountered the whole time we have been in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Our viewers say to us, how come there's not more help there? I mean, these are children we're talking about. Help -- get their bodies out. What if there are survivors? We don't think there are survivors, but what if there are?

And just fact is, there are so many scenes like this, not all as heartbreaking, not all quite as sad, but so many rescue and recovery -- there's just not enough help around.

One thing I want to tell you while we were covering this strategy, this is the part of the orphanage that did not fall. This is where the children, the 74 children who are still alive, were.

My photographer, who is holding the camera right now, Phil Littleton, was actually inside this orphanage a short time ago when we had a relatively strong aftershock. And it was very concerning, because, obviously, there was a major catastrophe here and that's something that scares us a great deal.

My producer, Justine Redman, and I were out here. It was scary enough being outside. We yelled, "Phil, come on out." And Phil ran out pretty quickly, the smart guy that he is.

But this gives you an idea. We have experienced a lot of aftershocks. It makes it much harder, much more challenging and, frankly, much more scary to cover a story like this. But we're reassured that when we're here, telling these stories of the lack of aid, that it's helping get aid in places like this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Gary, what's going to happen to the surviving orphans here? Do we know?

TUCHMAN: Yes, Campbell, the 74 orphans who did survive are about a block away at the orphanage director's house and they're living on the lawn right now, outdoors. They don't have very much food or water. But the World Food Program is expected to come by soon and deliver some food.

What she is telling us is every one of these orphans, including the poor children who died, are in the process of being adopted by families from France. The families from France whose children were killed have been informed. They just couldn't believe it. They were despondent.

The other children, though, most of them are very close to moving to France to be with their new families. So, hopefully, for the children who survived, they will have a happy ending to their story. And, perhaps, because they're so young -- these are babies to 4 years old, Campbell -- they won't remember what happened on this horrible day last week.

BROWN: Gary Tuchman for us tonight -- Gary -- Gary, thank you.

Next, it is now the second wave on the ground in Haiti, the move from recovery to relief -- and for one orphanage trying to care for Haiti's youngest children, a look at how they are making ends meet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You can really see what's happening here, just patient after patient with such dramatic injuries a week out. And patients are so at risk. And, look, they're out in this blazing, hot sun, no I.V.s hanging, with significant injuries, and really no home to go to either.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Tonight, Haiti is obviously still in chaos, again, a full nine days after the earthquake.

Aid worker Susie Krabacher, who is co-founder of the charity Mercy and Sharing, ran the abandoned baby unit at the government hospital in Port-au-Prince. And before the quake, she had -- she tells us she had 32 children in her care and she says tonight she still does not know where they are or if they are OK.

I spoke with her earlier. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSIE KRABACHER, CO-FOUNDER, MERCY AND SHARING: We have been running the abandoned baby unit inside of the government hospital for 15 years.

We haven't been able to locate where they have been moved to. We have been told over and over. We have been going into the hospital, speaking to administration at the hospital, and they keep sending us away, saying they're OK, they're OK.

I can't really accept that. I need to see if they are OK. I need to see that. If they're not, then I need to know if -- if they have been buried. We have already buried three of our students. We have buried four of our employees. We have several students that we're still in the process of finding.

BROWN: And, Susie, though, I want to go back to the kids. I don't understand. The government hospital is telling you that they are OK, they have been moved to another location, but they won't tell you where that location is. I mean, you know they're safe or you don't know they're safe?

KRABACHER: I don't know anything. And Mercy and Sharing has been the only people taking care of those children. Many of these children are disabled. Many of them are terminally ill.

They're not easily taken by other orphanages because they're not quickly adopted. So, they are potentially with you for life. So, we're wondering, if they were placed in another orphanage, what is the name of the orphanage, where would they be, who would take those disabled and terminally ill children?

BROWN: Let me ask you. I know you know this. The number of orphans is rising dramatically, given what's happened. And you say that you're ready to deal with this. I don't know how. What are you going to do?

KRABACHER: We -- by the grace of God, three years ago, we started planning on moving the children out of Port-au-Prince, because there's often riots, gang violence. We have been burglarized many times. I had 62 of my children held hostage at one point.

So, Mercy and Sharing decided to build a facility 35 miles north of Port-au-Prince. We have moved all the surviving staff here. We have over 146 employees. Some are on and off. We don't know if they will be able to stay in Port-au-Prince and continue to help us.

We have a facility. The facility has a huge warehouse. We have mobilized to bring in over 100 tons of aid that's on its way right now. We have been hiring security for the whole -- since the hurricane hit to get the children moved safely, to protect them once they get here, and to protect ourselves against looters.

Right now, fuel, water, security, medicine, all those things have to be purchased until goods can start coming in to the country again. And people are getting desperate here. It's going to get -- I think it's going to get worse. That's why we're beefing up the security. The children are terrified. They -- we are just now getting them to start sleeping inside again.

BROWN: Well, Susie, I wish you the best of luck, obviously. I know that time is running out here in terms of trying to get the help you need before conditions just overall deteriorate.

Susie Krabacher with us tonight.

Susie, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Coming up, we're going to have a lot more from Haiti, but, first, the big political story here at home. Still stinging from the Senate loss, President Obama's new message tonight, the economy, the economy, the economy. We're going to talk about that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: At the end of a tough week, the White House is unleashing a populist one-two punch on the economy. Today, the president took on the banks, proposing new regulations to limit just how big those banks can get and just how many risks they can take. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My message to leaders of the financial industry is to work with us and not against us on needed reforms.

I welcome constructive input from folks in the financial sector. But what we've seen so far, in recent weeks, is an army of industry lobbyists from Wall Street descending on Capitol Hill to try and block basic and common-sense rules of the road that would protect our economy and the American people.

So if these folks want a fight, it's a fight I'm ready to have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, today it was banks. Tomorrow, it's jobs. The president travels to Ohio to tour a community that's been ravaged by unemployment, all of this leading up to his State of the Union speech on Wednesday night.

And with me now to talk about this, John Avlon, who is the author of "Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America," also our senior political analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, with us as well, senior correspondent Joe Johns, and Rachel Campos-Duffy, a conservative activist and blogger for ParentDish.com, with us as well tonight.

Welcome to everybody.

Jeff, you know, out of the box, right after the election, it was all about the economy. Everyone was convinced this president is going to make it his top priority. Here he is basically having to make that exact same argument a year later, that, no, no, no, no, it really is my priority.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, after the apparent catastrophic failure of the central priority of his presidency, he decided, and you can argue that it was a reasonable decision. And it came very close to success that health care was what he was betting his presidency on.

Well, barring it seems close to a miracle he's not going to get anything like what he wanted in. So he's got to focus on the substance. He's got -- you know, we talk about the rhetoric and the speech. That doesn't matter. He's got to have results that improve people's lives.

BROWN: And, Joe, today, I think the White House said they want to let the dust settle from Tuesday's election before they go forward doing anything major, any sort of restart on health care. What is their next move? And what are congressional leaders saying to you?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's what they're trying to figure out. What is their next move? You've got to buy a little time before you figure out what you can do. And right now, they're figuring out what they can do. The House has already pretty much figured out I'm told that it simply cannot move the Senate bill. So that's probably out on its own.

The most reasonable course, a lot of people are saying, have been saying for a couple days is they're going to figure out. They just have to pass a scaled back bill, something that's going to reduce health care costs, for example, maybe put some more constrains on insurance companies, try to expand coverage just a bit. And call it a victory. That's about the best you can do and then get back to those core issues of people in Massachusetts and Ohio and other places are worried about most, and that's stagnant wages, jobs and the things that they thought were going to be turned around when they elected Barack Obama.

BROWN: Rachel, let me have you take a look at this. These are the pictures today from Capitol Hill. This is quite a welcome, the rock star welcome for the new Republican senator from Massachusetts. The first time in quite some time that Republicans have had a little momentum. So give us a sense of what the feeling is at the grassroots level. How excited are Republicans right now? What kind of opportunity do they see?

RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY, BLOGGER, PARENTDISH.COM: I think they are really excited and I also think that it's a big win for the Tea Party Movement. I mean, you talk about the lost opportunity of this year in terms of staying focused, and I think that the tea partiers kind of called it out early when the $787 billion stimulus bill was passed and it was sold to us as a job stimulus bill was passed, and it was sold to us a jobs stimulus bill.

And we saw that that didn't work and they went on to health care and everything else. And I think in Massachusetts people were saying, hey, what about jobs? What about the economy? Get back to what we want you to be doing there in Washington. Do the people's work. And I think that's what happened in Massachusetts. The people finally got a chance to voice what they want to have happen.

BROWN: And, John, the reset, I guess, the State of the Union. So what is the message? What does he say?

JOHN AVLON, AUTHOR, "WINGNUTS": I think he needs to say, I hear you. He needs to say, acknowledge what's happened in Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and say, look, I hear the anger that's going on up there. And then speak to independents and the center again, and reconnect with them. He needs to say the economy is job one.

I understand the anger is a lot of the hyperpartisanship in Washington that makes independents furious and that's how things operate here. But we need to return also acknowledging independents, return to fiscal responsibility, not just with rhetoric but with a real plan. That's what independents want. So number one issue, reduce the deficit, return to fiscal responsibility and focus on the economy.

BROWN: All right. Everybody, stand by. A big ruling from the Supreme Court today that is going to have a major impact on all of this. We'll have that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Big news today out of the Supreme Court. It is a bombshell campaign finance ruling that gives big businesses, unions and nonprofits carp blanche to spend as much as they like to back a candidate or an issue. What is that going to mean for the political process.

Back with me, John Avlon, Joe Johns, Jeff Toobin and Rachel Campos-Duffy.

And, Jeff, just in a nutshell, explain the reasoning behind the ruling today.

TOOBIN: Corporations have free speech rights. Money is the equivalent of free speech. Both of those ideas were at the heart of the Supreme Court opinion. And Justice Kennedy's opinion means that Exxon, General Electric, Time Warner, our parent company, can go out and campaign for and against candidates for office. It hasn't happened in decades in this country, and corporations have a lot of money to spend and a lot of interests.

BROWN: I mean, it's almost like you can't appreciate how this is going to change the process. Truly it's going to be huge, don't you think?

TOOBIN: I think so, although it's very hard to know which corporations will decide to spend this money. Will they decide to take that risk? Will they pool together their money and cover up where it comes from? Because the government can require a corporation to identify itself, but will they figure out ways around that? Lot of unanswered questions, but the influx of money will be tremendous.

AVLON: Just when you thought it couldn't get any uglier, angrier in politics it's about to get a lot uglier and a lot of angrier. Interest groups are going to be more powerful than ever before. And folks in the middle who are unorganized, who don't have these interest groups backing them, they are the ones who're going to get screamed at and shouted over more than ever before.

BROWN: And, Joe, I mean, practically speaking, I guess, Democrats really worried about the impact this is going to have. They feel very much at a disadvantage right now.

JOHNS: For sure.

BROWN: They're pretty (INAUDIBLE).

JOHNS: That's right. And there are a lot of people out there who are saying, you know, this decision inures to the benefit of Republicans because corporate money has tended to go more to Republicans than Democrats.

But look, I mean, there's a thing about these campaign finance rulings and legislation. There's a law of unintended consequences because whenever you make a decision that affects the way political money is spent, it's sort of like a water balloon. You squeeze one place, put pressure on one point and it comes out somewhere else. So there are some people saying, hey, you'll also have a blowback effect if corporation "A" or "B" starts putting a whole bunch of money into one thing. Voters may reject that and say I'm going with the little guy. So it's hard to really say how this whole thing is going to work.

BROWN: All right. We got to leave there. Joe Johns, Jeff Toobin, John Avlon and Rachel Campos-Duffy, thank you guys so much. Appreciate it.

We are going to switch gears once again, though, and take you back to Haiti. We have more news to tell you about coming out of there. When we come back, Dr. Sanjay Gupta investigates why lifesaving medical supplies still are not getting to some of the most needy survivors. We're going to have more details on that when we come back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some people are living on the streets. They don't get help now. So we will help now.

We will help because everybody's in the streets now. They don't where to eat. They don't have anything to eat. They don't have water, so we need help. They simply should help us. They have to do that quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: The point man in charge of the U.S. effort to help Haiti wants more medicine and more supplies on the ground within 24 hours. But is the aid that has already arrived making its way to the people who need it most? As Dr. Sanjay Gupta discovered, the answer is often no. Check out his investigations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Looks like everywhere we go I'm just walking through the airport, even outside the airport, people are saying we need supplies. How do we get them? We know they're in there. How do we get them out here? People just keep asking me that same question over and over again.

All right. So now we're going to go into the airport here and see if the next step of this works or not. Just take a look out here at all the people that are waiting. And I can tell you that a lot of these people are waiting because they're simply hoping that some of these supplies make it outside the airport and to them.

OK. We're now in the airport. Took about five minutes to get in here. We're in the airport.

To give you an idea, I mean, obviously the airport, itself, is still very, very desolate inside, but we're going to get to the airstrip. That's where we're hearing so many of the supplies are.

I don't know if you can hear me or not. But when we talk about all these supplies sitting here, just take a look. I mean, boxes and boxes of supplies, all kinds of different formula in there. There's antibiotics, pain medications. It's all sorts of different things.

I'm just wondering if I could get some antibiotics. Should we check in here first?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, this is what we'll do. We'll walk around to the other end.

GUPTA: They seem very much like they want to help. Going in to see if we can get antibiotics, at least to try and take care of these kids and find out.

There is a lot of supplies here, though. We're able to basically walk into a couple of these tents, tell people what we need and get lots of supplies here. Lots of antibiotics, lots of pain medications. All sorts of things to try and treat some of the injuries that we've seen.

These are medications that people haven't had until now. It took us about 15 minutes. We got a bunch of it. We're going to try and distribute this to the hospital.

Basically just went into the airport and just tried to take as many of the things that we thought you guys would need based on what the twins were telling us. So some of this probably, broad spectrum antibiotics. Lots of different pain medications. All that screaming this morning --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

GUPTA: Hopefully, you can --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can take care of that.

GUPTA: Hopefully, it can help. All right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sanjay, thanks.

GUPTA: You're welcome.

So we came here today, we're able to pick up some of those supplies ourselves. We just asked them and you gave them to us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

GUPTA: I'm going to take them to that hospital and give it to them because kids, adults as well, need this stuff today. Does that surprise you what I just described to you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is stuff here waiting to be taken out. That's a true statement. Is it a lot? I can't speak to it.

I will tell you the reason you probably got it is because everybody on this field, specifically U.S. government side, is dedicated to getting as much stuff outside as they can. Does it totally surprise me that some are dealing without? No, it doesn't. Not totally.

Do I hope it gets better? Without a doubt. We're doing our part to get things out there and certainly get things into the airport. And it is a -- it's a shame because you would hope that everything could get out there within seconds, but that kind of infrastructure just isn't in place.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And Dr. Sanjay Gupta is back with us right now live again from Port-au-Prince. And, Sanjay, do you get the sense that the situation is improving at all, that, you know, you're getting close to a kind of turning point?

GUPTA: I think so. I think in many ways there has been a turning point even over the last 24 hours. Just the number of food and water centers around the city, around 300 of those now. We have today about 600,000 of these meals ready to eat that were distributed as well in Port-au-Prince.

With regard to medical supplies, though, Campbell, it's a little bit harder to look at the exact numbers. I think it's getting better. Going to the hospital today versus yesterday versus the day before, they certainly have more equipment. But again the demand, Campbell, it's hard to describe. It's just so high and I think it may take a while to really catch up here. BROWN: Sanjay, Sanjay Gupta from Haiti with this. Of course, tonight -- Sanjay, as always, thank you, appreciate it.

Tonight, the picture you have to see. It's an image of hope in the midst of the devastation. Stand by. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The State Department announced today that any American families hoping to adopt Haitian children should hang tight. That they need to sort the situation out on the ground first.

Richard Stearns and Laura Blank are with World Vision. It is one of the largest relief agencies on the ground in Haiti and they have voiced huge concerns about the fate of Haiti's orphans. Listen to what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD STEARNS, WORLD VISION: Campbell, the situation here, as everyone knows, is very, very chaotic. There are somewhere between one million and two million people homeless and about half of those are believed to be children.

In the earthquake, many of these children were separated from their parents. Their parents may still be alive. They may not actually be orphans. And even if they have lost their mother and father, they may have an aunt or an uncle, grandmother or grandfather that wants to care for them, and for Americans to come in at this time of chaos and literally whisk away Haitian children is just not a good idea. And I know that they have the best intentions to help these kids, but right now this is not the time to whisk kids out of the country before we can determine whether they have a next of kin that could take care of them.

BROWN: And, Richard, we are seeing some of the aid getting in, obviously, food and water, not enough yet clearly but some getting in. Give us your sense of what the challenges are right now. Do you feel like you're beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, I guess?

STEARNS: Well, I wish I could say yes, but I can't right now. You have to understand that with one million to two million people who are homeless, Port-au-Prince has just become the largest refugee camp in the world. Maybe the largest refugee camp in the history of the world with one to two million people depending on the international community largely to keep them alive over the weeks and months ahead.

BROWN: And, Laura, I know you've been in Port-au-Prince since two days after the quake. I mean, eyewitness to so much of what has happened. Describe in your view how the situation has or hasn't changed since those first chaotic days.

LAURA BLANK, WORLD VISION: I think it's a little bit of two steps forward, one step back. I think every day we continue to do distributions. We've got food. We've got water. We're getting out there. But every day you get out there it can be a little bit discouraging and it's a little bit hopeful. There's a little bit of both, I think.

We see people who are still in need. We have people around our offices who we talk to every day and say they still need food and they still need water. We brought in nine relief flights so far, but we're still bringing in more because the need is so great. So I think it's very mixed right now in terms of the emotions here, in terms of what we're able to do, with the logistical challenges and what we've done so far. We've got have a long way to go.

BROWN: And I know you were also experiencing like everybody else these aftershocks and you've talked a little bit about how disconcerting that has been for people already on top of everything else. It still gives us total sense of insecurity that it's really not over yet. Is that fair?

BLANK: Oh, absolutely. It's scary to feel that. I've never been in an earthquake before. Yesterday morning at 6:00 a.m., we woke up to a 6.1 earthquake in our hotel room. We all ran outside. And then again today, there were two more aftershocks close to 5.1 on the Richter scale too.

You know, you just don't think about the anxiety that comes when you're not used to the ground feeling steady underneath you. I was up on the second floor of the office today when these aftershocks came. We ran down, ran outside. You could tell they were a little bit upset. They were anxious. And we've heard that up to 50 aftershocks have happened since the earthquake last week.

So for the children who are outside, for the families who are struggling, to just have this constant sense of anxiety, I had it once last night with my first earthquake. And I couldn't sleep all night. I think I was awake from 11:00 at night till 6:00 in the morning.

BROWN: Wow. Laura, I know you've also -- I just want to ask you about your visit to one of the orphanages outside of Port-au-Prince. Just give us your description of it, what life is like there right now for these kids. What their daily reality is.

BLANK: Well, I had gotten a text message from a woman in the United States who heard about World Vision here in Haiti and some of the work we were doing and she just pleaded with me. She said there are 150 children. They have no food. They have no water, can you please help them?

So we did what we could. We took some food and water. We brought a nurse with us because she said some of the children had severe diarrhea. And we went over there. And it's just a logistical challenge even to find an orphanage. It took us two hours to find them through these winding streets, and when we got there it was almost dusk. They had no power, so the orphanage was getting very dark.

There were children laying on the floor. They were listless, they were thin. Some of them had dirty diapers. Some of the children are just walking around and begging to be held and touched. There were probably 100 children there and maybe 10 caretakers. So it was a moment for me that was both hopeful and so sad at the same time to see these little children that need help, but at the same time to know that even if it was just that day we brought them food and water.

The nurse there at the orphanage had told us that until we'd gotten there they hadn't had water for two days. They didn't have enough food for the children and they would have to start rationing out the food. And these are babies and toddlers. It was just -- it was heartbreaking but at the same time hopeful to feel like at least that one moment we helped someone just a little bit.

BROWN: Richard Stearns and Laura Blank, so appreciate you guys taking just a couple minutes to talk to us. Thank you so much.

STEARNS: Thank you, Campbell.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: "LARRY KING LIVE" is going to start in just a few minutes. But coming up next, the smile from Haiti that was seen around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: "LARRY KING LIVE" is going to start in just a few minutes. But first, we have something that's pretty extraordinary. It is the smile that was seen around the world. In the midst of all the sad images coming out of Haiti, our Jeanne Moos has the story behind an iconic photo that sends a message of hope.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We usually go for laughs, but with this story we'll settle for a smile, what a smile.

MATTHEW MCDERMOTT, AMERICARES FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER: We are amazed. I mean, afterwards, we just kind almost sat there like, did that just happen? We had to go back and look at the back of our cameras to check.

MOOS: A 7-year-old kid named Kiki dug out alive and well after being buried for 7 1/2 days. A crew from NBC shot video of the rescue. When they finally reached the boy, he was scared and wouldn't come out till rescuers brought a relative in the yellow tank top to coax him. His pants may be lost, but he was found.

MCDERMOTT: Grab out the hat. He popped out, arms went straight up in the air and just turned and smiled.

MOOS: A tattooed freelance photographer from New York City named Matthew McDermott captured the image while shooting for the humanitarian group AmeriCares.

(on camera): Do you think, I mean this is kind of craft, but do you think of things like Pulitzer Prize winning when you take a photo like that?

MCDERMOTT: No, no, not at all. That would be a little arrogant.

We'll sit around patting ourselves in the back. Around every corner there's a photograph here that needs to be taken.

MOOS (voice-over): The rescuers were from units based in New York City and Virginia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you feeling right now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unbelievable. I just want to hug my compadre, Dario Gomez. This is an unbelievable feeling. Who knows?

MOOS: They also rescued Kiki's older sister. The image McDermott shot will likely be used by AmeriCares to inspire donations.

(on camera): From photos of an earthquake, to photos from another earth-shaking event. Previously McDermott's most famous photos were from 9/11.

After shooting so much death in Haiti, was that the biggest smile you ever saw on the littlest kid?

MCDERMOTT: It was amazing. I'm sorry. Lungs are a little messed up. Nine days of breathing death and dust.

MOOS (voice-over): Which makes this a breath of fresh air. (INAUDIBLE)

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And that's all for us. Thanks for joining us tonight.

"LARRY KING LIVE" starts right now.