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American Morning
Loughner Unfit to Stand Trial; IMF Boss Moves From Big House to Townhouse; Serbia Arrests War Crimes Suspect Ratko Mladic; Edwards' Lawyer Slams Justice Department; New Study: High Blood Pressure Among Young Adults
Aired May 26, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Extreme weather. New video this morning from Joplin, Missouri, capturing the sheer force of the tornado that left so many lives shattered.
Also, from the big house to a townhouse, a spa, home theater and 5,800 square feet of space. The perks of house arrest for a former IMF boss, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It's Thursday, May 26th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. We've got a lot of breaking news, international news and here in the United States.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. We start, though, with extreme weather happening right now. Towns from Texas to the Great Lakes under the gun this morning from a combination of high winds, heavy rains and, again, the threat of tornadoes.
VELSHI: Unbelievable. In Oklahoma, the governor declaring a state of emergency in 68 counties that were hit. Look at this tornado. That is remarkable. Taken by storm chasers. It's about as close as you can get to a tornado without being hit by it. At least 16 people have been killed in the latest round of storm that's not including what happened on Sunday, obviously, in Joplin, Missouri.
ROMANS: Let's go to Joplin where they're picking up pieces this morning. The death toll is now up to 125. An estimated 1500 people have not yet been accounted for. Later this morning state officials will release a list of those who are missing or unaccounted for so they can figure out how many people just haven't been heard from.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: And how many people are missing --
VELSHI: There's a distinction there. There's a distinction.
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: Some people thing they have loved ones there --
ROMANS: The cell service is spotty.
VELSHI: It's hard to communicate. Casey Wian is there with our team in Joplin, Missouri, this morning. Good morning, Casey.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Ali. You know amid all this death and destruction, there are really some incredible stories of survival and peel beginning to put their lives back together. Imagine surviving one of the worst tornadoes in U.S. history by holding on to a couple of dog crates while your home collapses around and on top of you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: A beautiful house in a Joplin, Missouri, suburb, reduced to a memory. It belonged to Jim and Stacy Richards, who are just now telling a harrowing tale of survival. Jim was at work when the tornado struck.
JIM RICHARDS, TORNADO SURVIVOR: I started to come home. I got a text from my wife. The first couple were gibberish. Then finally it came through saying help, roof, under.
WIAN: Then came a desperate voice mail from Stacy. Jim hasn't been able to bring himself to listen to all of it until now.
STACY RICHARDS, TORNADO SURVIVOR: God, help! Help!
There was this kind of pressure in my ears, and the next thing I know dirt and grit and stuff was hitting me in the face. I realized that the roof was coming off.
WIAN (on camera): She was in between those two kennels.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those two kennels, yes. She tried to have one hand on top of each, one on each.
STACY RICHARDS: I could feel the dog's crate lifting up. I got on the floor and I was holding the dog crates and I had one other dog under my arm. Things started to land on me. And I actually did get trapped. I remember thinking the next thing that lands on me, I'm going to probably die.
WIAN (voice-over): Stacy was pinned for about 20 minutes unable to contact her husband or son.
STACY RICHARDS: My son texted me and said, are you OK. And it was the most awful thing because I couldn't tell him no, I'm not. And that was awful. Laying there screaming and screaming and screaming. And it was horrible.
WIAN: Stacy and her three dogs survived, rescued by a neighbor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no idea how she walked out of this.
WIAN: Battered and bruised, she still has a sense of humor.
STACY RICHARDS: No, I don't feel like I was in Kansas. I felt like Stacy in Joplin with a house that was ripping off from the foundation.
WIAN: They took refuge in a local hotel enduring another round of tornado warnings Tuesday night. The next morning Jim met with his insurance company to assess the damage.
JIM RICHARDS: We've got everything. We've got three bedrooms, two bath. We'll get them paid today or tomorrow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: The Richards haven't decided whether they're going to use those insurance proceeds to rebuild or relocate. For now they're moving to a new hotel that's being paid for by a friend who has donated his frequent travel rewards points, just one example of this community coming together and helping those affected by this tragedy, Ali.
VELSHI: Casey, we'll continue to follow this. Unfortunately, this story's not over. Not only because of the other weather around.
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: But the weather that's been there is hampering the searches. We're trying to figure out who the 1,500 unaccounted people --
CHETRY: What happens when the nation's focus is no longer on there? This is months, weeks years --
ROMANS: I'm always amazed by how quickly the insurance adjusters are there. But not long after the insurance adjusters come the scammers who want to take your money. A lot of times the insurance will give you the money right away. So be careful of the people coming behind the insurance adjusters. This is where the scams come in to play in the next part of the story. It's unfortunate, but that's what we'll start watching out for now.
CHETRY: As we also said, the rough weather is not over yet. Rob Marciano has a look at what else we can be expecting.
ROB MARCIANO, METEOROLOGIST: Hi, good morning again, guys. Severe weather today. Severe weather last night and yesterday. Over 800 reports of severe weather with damaging hail, wind and over 80 reports of tornadoes, one of which came in California, of all places. Look at this video across central and northern California, Chico, near Redding, obviously shot from a helicopter. This caused some minor damage on the ground, likely an EF-1 or even a zero. Nonetheless, California tornado fairly rare as it is. And to mix it into the bunch that we're dealing with here in the Midwest, no state immune from this.
As far as what we're looking at today, we've got the mother storm itself progressing to the east slowly. We do have a threat for severe weather. Right now there are no watches or warnings out. That will change as we go throughout the day, especially with what's going on down south, humid and certainly hot.
As a matter of fact, everybody east of the Appalachians will see temperatures that will feel more like summer. That will add fuel to the fire. Guys, just to make a point -- by the way, no fatalities with the 81 tornadoes we saw. That might say that Mother Nature is becoming somewhat merciful.
As for the 1,500 unaccounted for, in Tuscaloosa and the Alabama tornadoes there were over 500 people unaccounted for over a week. What they have to do as far as getting those lists together and checking names off the list, it's quite a job to endure. Don't be too pessimistic about that number right now.
CHETRY: We talked as well there's a lot of websites out there, the American Red Cross has one as well, saying if you are safe and well, please register. If you're looking for someone, please register. They're trying their best and bringing out more state troopers to assist. Thanks, Rob.
ROMANS: New this morning, police in Serbia arresting a man suspected of being former Serbian military commander Ratko Mladic. This according to Serbia's B-92 radio station. Mladic is the highest ranking war crimes suspect still at large from the Balkan wars of the 1990s. He's wanted on charges of genocide, extermination, and murder, wanted by the international tribunal for the former state of Yugoslavia.
The radio station is also reporting police are performing DNA tests to confirm if this is indeed Ratko Mladic. Nic Robertson has been covering this story for years.
NIC ROBERTS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He's been searched for probably 15 years now since the end of the war in Bosnia. He's the last remaining and the senior most fugitive to be caught, if this is indeed him. He was responsible for the extermination, for the killing of more than 7,000 men and boys in the town of Srebrenica in the eastern side of Bosnia in the summer of 1995 as Serb military forces swept through that enclave. He's responsible for three years of indiscriminate shelling of the city of Sarajevo killing hundreds upon hundreds of people with mortars and tank rounds.
So he's the biggest figure out there on the wanted list for the moment. And his capture, if it certainly is him, will certainly in a way bring to a close the attempt to bring to justice those responsible for the war crimes in Bosnia. He would likely go to the Hague and end up at the criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
ROMANS: He was indicted in 1995. And there have been those along the way who have said for him to live in this country, in this region for so long, he must have had help from Serbian nationalists. What do we know, if anything, I guess about the complicated courts of trying to find him and bring him to justice?
Certainly we've reacted on tips over the past half a dozen years at least, Belgrade, the building where he was believed to be living with his family, there was laundry drying on the line outside. The neighbors there in the apartment were incredibly hostile. He's believed to have wide sympathy among the Serbian nationalists who see him as a hero who stood up for them in the Balkan wars of the 1990s. He's also believed to be on the Serbian army payroll for many years after the war in a sort of retired capacity. And his accomplice, his political accomplice, the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was taken to the international criminal tribunal, caught within the past couple of years, he was living in plain sight in Belgrade. He had a long gray beard and was passing himself off as a sort of psychic healer-cum-doctor. He's undoubtedly had a network of staunch supporters, no doubt helping him remain hidden.
ROMANS: Thank you very much, Nic Robertson in Libya.
VELSHI: Bloodshed in Sana'a this morning. Yemen's defense minister reporting at least 28 people were killed overnight by an explosion in an armed storage area. More than 40 people have died since Monday as demonstrators continue to call on President Ali Abdul Saleh to step down.
The State Department has now ordered all nonessential diplomats to leave the country. It is recommending that all U.S. citizens do the same. The interesting part is that the U.S. has been on friendly terms with the establishment -- with the administration there and for the U.S. now to have taken this stand that this is problematic and they're very disappointed in the leadership of Yemen is a bit of a change for them.
CHETRY: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, the man accused in that horrific Tucson shooting that left six dead and many others wounded including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Jared Loughner, he had an outburst in court, deemed unfit for trial.
ROMANS: Also, the former presidential candidate John Edwards facing possible indictment, accused of using his campaign money to try to hide a sex scandal, to pay a mistress while his wife -- while his wife was suffering from cancer. His lawyer is now blasting the justice department.
VELSHI: One of the best airlines when it comes to redeeming your frequent flier miles, which one have the seats available when you go to redeem them. We'll tell you about that after the break. It's 12 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back. Accused Arizona gunman Jared Lee Loughner will not stand trial for mass murder, at least not right now. A federal judge has ruled that the man who shot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others, a judge has ruled he is right now mentally unfit.
VELSHI: All right. And as if to illustrate the point, an outburst in court yesterday. Loughner was dragged out of the hearing after one reporter heard him say, quote, "thank you for the freak show."
CHETRY: Yes. It was very disturbing -- that's how witnesses describe it in the court. Joining us for a closer look, Sunny Hostin from truTV's "In Session," a former federal prosecutor. Also with us is clinical psychologist Dr. Jeff Gardere.
Great to see both of you this morning. Legally speaking, Sunny, so let me start with you. The federal judge ruled Loughner was mentally -- not mentally competent to stand trial.
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION": Right.
CHETRY: But that doesn't mean that this is where it ends. They're trying to make him competent or help him --
HOSTIN: That's right.
CHETRY: -- so that he can?
HOSTIN: I mean, that's right. The legal standard is pretty straightforward and the issues before him were really straightforward. It's only whether or not he understood the proceedings against him and whether or not he could aid his attorneys in his defense. Those were the only issues before him. And the court ordered psychologists to meet with him and they found him to be incompetent. But the U.S. attorney of Arizona said they are confident that he can be made competent.
CHETRY: Right.
HOSTIN: So that means he goes to a mental institution --
CHETRY: Yes, so he has four months. What do they do in four months, Jeff, that's going to make him able to stand trial?
JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, what they're talking about in that four months, before he goes back, I guess around September --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
GARDERE: -- for another hearing, what they'll do is they'll give him psychotherapy, but more than anything else, he has to be on medications. Psychotropic medications because they found hum to be a paranoid schizophrenic. And if he says he doesn't want to take the medication, which you can bet your bottom line here he won't, they will force-medicate him so that he can become competent.
ROMANS: Are there ethical considerations in that? I mean, forcing medication on someone to make them competent to stand trial for something that maybe he wasn't competent when he committed it in the first place?
GARDERE: Well, there may be some ethical considerations, but you have to look at it if he was not charged and was a danger to himself and a danger to others, they would force-medicate him anyway if you were admitted to a --
ROMANS: And the judge can order it. GARDERE: Right.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: He can fake this.
GARDERE: Well, they're saying --
VELSHI: Two different psychologists said he's schizophrenic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
GARDERE: Well, they actually had a psychologist and a psychiatrist and they said that he was not malingering, he was not faking it, and he does not seem like a person who wants to do it at this point.
CHETRY: And so this is the interesting point, Sunny. A lot of people think you're getting off or you're getting away with something if you're not mentally --
GARDERE: No.
HOSTIN: And you're not.
CHETRY: You'd rather actually probably go through the legal system than to just be what, in a mental facility?
HOSTIN: That's right. And there are some people that are never found competent. I mean, I can think of many, many --
CHETRY: What happens to them?
GARDERE: They may spend --
HOSTIN: Twelve, 13, 14 years, they spend the rest of their time.
VELSHI: Wow.
GARDERE: If this guy is up for life, he may spend life trying to become competent.
HOSTIN: That's right.
ROMANS: Let me ask you a question. So once he's found -- if he can become competent to stand trial, then they have to decide whether or not he knew right from wrong.
HOSTIN: That's right.
ROMANS: Now you can be paranoid schizophrenic and still know right from wrong.
HOSTIN: That's right.
ROMANS: Mental illness does not mean your ability to see from wrong. HOSTIN: And let's remember that less than one percent of folks that invoke the insanity defense get found legally insane. That is not a successful defense and the standard for that has really been narrowed because remember Hinckley --
GARDERE: Yes.
HOSTIN: -- attempted to assassinate Reagan in 1981. Since then, really there's been an outrage and people do not like the insanity defense and lawyers don't like it and neither the jurors.
GARDERE: But I will tell you this. It will be an insanity defense, number one. And number two, this is a boom for the defense because obviously this man is very crazy. Both the prosecution and the defense have not disagreed on this in any way.
CHETRY: They vigorously tried to help this guy before, you know, in terms of mental health. Maybe something would have turned out differently. It is just an impossibility to do that?
GARDERE: No, and someone had asked me this before. Should we feel sorry for this particular guy because he is so crazy? And I say, yes, we should, but we should feel sorry for the victims and for society that cannot handle some of these paranoid schizophrenics who refuse to get medical assistance.
HOSTIN: It's a terrible situation.
GARDERE: And it's part of their illness because they're paranoid.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
VELSHI: And that's the system that it isn't built to help.
GARDERE: Right. Not yet. And we haven't figured it out yet. And so a lot of these folks are slipping through the cracks and that's why his parents were sitting in, you know, with the rest of the folks and they were crying, the mother was crying.
ROMANS: It just seems so -- it just seems so strange to medicate someone to get them so that they can stand trial -- you know, the whole process just seems so complicated.
GARDERE: Well, look, if nothing -- you're right, but if nothing else.
(CROSSTALK)
GARDERE: Again, if you want him in jail, you want to medicate him to be better. You're treating him.
You have to force-medicate him.
CHETRY: It's not fun to be paranoid schizophrenic.
GARDERE: Right. I mean, that's a very -- it's a very treacherous way to live also. GARDERE: Yes, absolutely.
CHETRY: OK.
ROMANS: Sunny, thanks, guys.
ROMANS: I want to update you quickly on some breaking news.
The Serbian president has confirmed that they have arrested Ratko Mladic for the 1995 extermination and murder of some 7,000 men and boys in Srebrenica. Ratko Mladic has been arrested. This is according to the Serbian president confirming this. We're going to be watching and waiting to get more details about where he has been hiding and we'll give you more context about the crimes he's accused of. But this is the last big member, the last big arrest now in a very horrible period in the Balkans from the 1990s.
VELSHI: He's said to be responsible for the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica --
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: -- where upwards of 7,000 men and boys --
ROMANS: Men and boys.
VELSHI: -- were rounded up, walked into a forest and shot just for being who they were.
All right. When we come back, we're also watching these storms across the country. We're going to be joined by a storm chaser who, by the way, was chasing the tornado that hit Joplin and the Oklahoma tornadoes. He's coming up next. He's got some remarkable pictures of it. We'll tell you about that when we come back.
CHETRY: Also, John Edwards, former senator, former candidate for president now facing possible indictment over allegations -- at least the prosecutors are alleging that campaign money was improperly used to pay his mistress.
Twenty-one minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-three minutes after the hour. Here are this morning's business headline.
Wall Street snaps a three-day losing streak after a rise in oil and commodity prices. The Dow was up 38 points yesterday. The Nasdaq and S&P also closed higher. Futures all up at this hour.
Sony posting a $3.2 billion loss for the past fiscal year. That's the biggest in 16 years. The company was hard hit by Japan's record earthquake and tsunami back in March and recent hacker attacks.
Southwest is the number one U.S. carrier when it comes to redeeming frequent flier miles. According to a study, seats were available 99 percent of the time. JetBlue came in second. Seats open 79 percent of the time.
Google is rolling out a new payment system that lets folks pay for goods with their smart phones. Right now, the feature is only expected to be available on Sprint android phones.
A new research revealing just how much your insurance jumps after a speeding ticket. According to insurance.com, after one violation, you can expect to pay 18 percent more. After two violations, your policy can jump 34 percent. After three tickets, expect a 53 percent increase.
And it's a redo you for Amazon today. The Internet retail giant will again offer Lady Gaga's album for 99 cents. Earlier this week, Amazon offered Gaga's new album for about a buck but the crash of buyers crashed the company's servers. Gaga, by the way, performed on "American Idol" last night.
And those are your business headlines. We're back with this morning's question of the day in 90 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Our question of the day, we all want the perfect body, but how far will some people go to get it?
CHETRY: The responses are hilarious.
ROMANS: A Kelton research poll found -- I think actually Nutrisystem sponsored this, by the way, the weight loss people. But anyway, a Kelton research poll found nearly 25 percent of Americans would turn down winning a million bucks from a lottery for a dream figure.
VELSHI: So here's our question of the day? Which would you pick, the perfect body for life or a million dollars? And don't worry about taxes.
ROMANS: Yes. After taxes.
CHETRY: Send us an e-mail, tweet us, find us on Facebook. We're going to be reading some of your answers later on in the morning. OK, we'll wait.
ROMANS: No, I'll tell you -- a lot -- this time he followed me saying, he's like they're like a perfect body. I mean, I can make a million dollars easy. Oh, you can?
CHETRY: People truly think -- and we've been getting -- I thought this would be easy. Everyone would say a million bucks. Many people are saying it's actually easier to make a million dollars.
VELSHI: Than to get a perfect body.
CHETRY: Yes, to have a perfect body. All right. More on 60 seconds.
VELSHI: Some like me don't even want to try.
ROMANS: Can I have both?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Dominique Strauss-Kahn will we serving his house arrest in style, living in the lap of luxury.
ROMANS: That's right. You're looking right now at a live picture of a 6,800 square foot luxury townhouse in one of the most upscale neighborhoods in Manhattan. It's got just about everything including a new tenant, the former IMF chief.
I know. If you live in Peoria, you're like, that looks like the --
VELSHI: That's luxury?
ROMANS: What?
VELSHI: But it is in New York. Deb Feyerick --
ROMANS: For every square foot --
CHETRY: It's what's inside that matters, right, Deb?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. And not only is it a great area, it's very trendy, very hot, people really want to move there. And clearly, this move is not exactly going to win him sympathy from New Yorkers who talk about square feet pretty much the same way that people talk about sports statistics, that kind of passion.
After five days living in those temporary digs down on Broadway, the text came at about 7:30 last night saying DSK on the move. Dominique Strauss-Kahn receiving the kind of police security not unlike that given to a presidential candidate. And that's ironic given that he was France's leading contender for that post before the allegations of sexual assault.
Now a black -- you can see him leaving that building, a black Lexus SUV took him about 30 blocks, a mile and a half north to Tribeca and a 6,800-square-foot townhouse. It's $2,000 a foot, by the way.
CHETRY: Wow.
FEYERICK: So if it doesn't look like much, it certainly costs a lot. And the rental itself, $60,000 a month according to some reports. Now, that's on top of the 200,000 that he's paying for his own court- ordered security, a condition of his home detention.
Although the apartment is near some of the best restaurants in the city including Robert de Niro hot spot, Nobu, Strauss-Kahn's movement will be confined to court, religious services and meetings with his lawyers.
But take a look, you're seeing those pictures there, those moving pictures that were put together of the townhouse. Boasts a state of the art in-home theater with six leather recliners, a gym, spa, roof deck with a grill and wet bar in the master bedroom.
There are four bedrooms. So really who needs to leave home? You can see those steps there just recently renovated and that great hall has a huge skylight. In all fairness Strauss-Kahn was turned down by one building and then kicked out of another. A "New York Post" columnist calling him the Parisian Pariah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Now the former IMF chief is out on $6 million bail. The courthouse is an easy walking distance and he's scheduled to be there next on June 6th.
It appears that the district attorney has added senior prosecutors to his team and the alleged victim has also added some heavy hitters possibly to consider a civil suit.
ROMANS: Thank you so much, Deb.
FEYERICK: Of course.
CHETRY: We want to update you right now on some breaking news that's happening out of Serbia. It was just moments ago that Serbian President Boris Tadic has confirmed police have arrested former Serbian Military Commander Ratko Mladic. Here is what he said just a short time ago at a news conference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BORIS TADIC, SERBIA: On behalf of the Republic of Serbia, we announce that today we have arrested Ratko Mladic. Extradition process is under way. This is the result of full cooperation of Serbia tribunal. We have always believed in our strategy and the work of everyone involved in this process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Mladic was the highest ranking war crimes suspect still at large from the Balkan wars of the 1990 accused of leading the bloody siege against Sarajevo and the attack against Srebrenica killing 8,000 Muslim in many cases men and boys.
ROMANS: The western media had a very hard time at that time in 1995 getting in there to try to confirm these reports of the mass murder. At that time, there were elements in the military and the government who were saying that the west had created this out of thin air, that there were no massacres.
CHETRY: And also it was considered a safe zone. The U.N. said it was supposed to be protected --
VELSHI: It was supposed to be protecting.
CHETRY: It was supposed to be protected and they acknowledged I think at the 10th anniversary the United Nations acknowledged Serbia lapses in judgment and mistakes that led to that -- that allowed that massacre, the largest they say in Europe since World War II.
ROMANS: In the meantime, Mladic has been living now for years and years in the country and as Nic Robertson reported at some points on the payroll of the military even.
If you've got Serbia wanting to pay its way into a member of the European union, a high profile arrest like this is certainly something that shows that it is reconciling its history and perhaps able to move forward as a member of the European community.
VELSHI: All right, we'll continue to follow that. We're also awaiting major developments in the case against John Edwards. CNN has learned that an indictment or a plea deal could come within days. That has his lawyers slamming the Justice Department this morning.
ROMANS: Prosecutors claim the former presidential candidate used his campaign cash to pay off his former mistress so she would keep quiet about their affair and the baby he fathered with her while he was married to a very popular political spouse who happened to be suffering from cancer.
CHETRY: That's right. Jim Acosta is live in Washington with more on this. They're slamming this, his lawyers.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They really are. It's quite a surprising statement to come out of the Edwards' camp. That kind of gives you a sense as to where this is headed and think about just the magnitude of this tragedy that is John Edwards.
He made a fortune as a famous trial lawyer in North Carolina. Now it's looking more likely that the senator and former vice presidential candidate will be at the center of his own courtroom drama.
CNN has learned, as you said, that the Justice Department has given the green light to federal prosecutors to seek an indictment against Edwards. The case appears to be based on allegations made by a former Edward staffer, Andrew Young, who claims in a book he wrote that the senator was using donations made by campaign contributors to hide his affair with his mistress, Rielle Hunter.
The couple as we all know later had a child. That Edwards first denied was his and his wife, Elizabeth Edwards was totally oblivious to all this as she was battling cancer. Of course, all of that later changed and she died.
But Edwards attorney, a powerful attorney here in Washington, Greg Craig, he released a rather emotional statement late yesterday accusing the government of wasting millions of dollars on what he characterized as a weak case. Here's a quote from Greg Craig.
"John Edwards has done wrong in his life and he knows that better than anyone, but he did not break the law. The government's theory is wrong on the facts and wrong on the law. They're trying to make the case that this is really a matter for the federal elections commission."
Now CNN has learned that Edwards and his legal team are right now debating whether to accept a plea agreement in this case. Edwards as you know wants to avoid any deal that would put a felony on his record.
Now guys that would mean giving up his law license, which essentially would end his legal career. But going to prison would obviously be much, much worse for Edwards who is now the only parent left for the children he fathered with Elizabeth.
But, you know, just thinking about this case, imagine going to trial down in North Carolina, guys, with the damage that's been done to John Edwards' credibility. You know, somebody cheating on his wife as she was dealing with cancer, fathering this child out of wedlock, then denying the child was his.
It's going to be really difficult for John Edwards to get a jury that is going to put all of that aside. So obviously that's a part of their deliberations as well.
ROMANS: Two things at John Edwards camp by right now, credibility and reputation.
VELSHI: That's right, absolutely.
ACOSTA: I mean, he knows he's in big trouble and I think that's why we're kind of near the endgame in all of this.
You know, his attorneys know and I'm sure they're telling him, look, would you rather have a felony on your record and lose your law license or would you rather go to prison?
That is essentially the situation that John Edwards is facing right now, guys.
VELSHI: All right, Jim. Thanks very much. We'll check in with you later. Jim Acosta in Washington.
ROMANS: All right, so while Ali Velshi was in Joplin, Missouri, sort of picking through the wreckage of this big storm.
VELSHI: And trying to avoid another tornado.
ROMANS: We were showing you pictures of storm chasers. One of those storm chasers, Jeff Piotrowski is here. He's going to drop by with his wife. Not only was he chasing this storm, the Joplin storm, but also the storm two days later in Oklahoma.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 39 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. When a dangerous storm is approaching, most people -- and it would be common sense -- head in the other direction and fast. But our next guest is actually inclined to run right toward it, in fact.
VELSHI: Jeff Piotrowski is a storm chaser. He was in Joplin, Missouri when the powerful tornado hit last Sunday. He captured incredible video of that and the Oklahoma twister two days later.
ROMANS: So we asked Jeff Piotrowski and his wife, Katherine to drop by from Tulsa, Oklahoma to explain to us a little bit about this quest to see these storms and what you saw in particular.
Jeff, let's talk about Joplin first. You said right away you knew that this storm, this tornado was unique. Tell me what you saw forming over Joplin.
JEFF PIOTROWSKI, STORM CHASER: You know, sunny afternoon we're in southeast Kansas and southwest Missouri here storm chasing. One of the things that we recognized right off the beginning is when the storm developed southwest of Joplin we had sophisticated software that we use to track the storms.
That system told me that we're going to have very strong indications of a rapidly developing tornado on the southwest side of the city. I literally saw the large rotating wall cloud on the southwest side of the city. It was not on the ground yet.
Within seconds of me getting on the scene just about a mile and a half south of here, just southwest of the hospital here, we saw rotating rain curtains. About 15 seconds later, we saw a large tornado on the ground.
That tornado immediately went from 100 yards wide to a quarter-mile wide and 30 seconds later, it's a half mile wide. This thing came down as an F-4, almost instantaneously went to a mile wide and moved across the south of the state at about 30 miles an hour as an EF-5 and did tremendous catastrophic damage at this location.
VELSHI: Let's talk about -- I want our viewers to listen to this clip where you are telling police officers that a tornado is coming. Let's listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIOTROWSKI (voice-over): Guys? The tornado's trying to come down right here. The winds are out of the north, then coming back around. The tornado is right here. It is coming on the ground right here. Get the sirens going, get the sirens going, I'm telling you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: All right, tell me about that. The alarm sounded 30 seconds after that. You said the police didn't even know the danger was there.
PIOTROWSKI: Well, they already had a previous tornado warning in effect for a tornado just northwest of a city of Joplin. A new tornado warning had been issued for the city of Joplin before the tornado set down. The city of Joplin had two tornado warnings approximately 17 minutes before the tornado touched down on the city. The sirens had already previously been going off before we came to the city. Then they set them back off again after we talked to the policeman about its developments right now.
Then I called 911 back again and talked to them and told them what was happening as we traveled through the city as the tornado was getting worse as it traveled through the city of Joplin.
CHETRY: So behind you we're looking at Joplin, Missouri, but you were also in Oklahoma. We saw the next day, this was two nights ago, the devastation as well in Oklahoma.
How exactly did you know where to go? I mean, I know that there is a broad map explaining where some of these storms could touch down, but you were right in the thick of both of these events in different states.
PIOTROWSKI: Well, after chasing for 35 years, we know the weather patterns. Just like this morning it is very chilly here in Joplin probably in the mid-50s. Tomorrow the warm front comes back north.
We'll have warm moist air in the plains. We're going to have severe weather again tomorrow in Oklahoma including Joplin tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow night. But we know a lot of times weeks in advance, the patterns set up.
They create these tremendous tornado outbreaks and as you get closer to the day event within a day or two we start focusing on where is the likely target. The devastating storms are going happen such as these large tornados and that's the area we focused on where we chase and that's where we know where to go.
ROMANS: Kathryn, as the wife of a storm chaser, do you have -- yes, I mean, some of us would say you need your head examined to be chasing storms like this. You have sophisticated software and you know what you're doing, I get it. But do you ever get nervous when chasing the big storms?
KATHRYN PIOTROWSKI, STORM CHASER: I don't really get nervous because I've been doing it for so long now actually 14 years. It takes a lot of, you know, studying and going to classes and doing that kind of thing, but to be really hyperaware of the situation. Jeff, of course, you know, he's been doing it for over 35 years. We have sophisticated software as he was saying and I feel very safe.
ROMANS: Kathryn and Jeff Piotkowski, you know, thanks so much for bringing us the pictures. I mean, certainly it helps illustrate to us just the power, the sheer force behind those winds and just another way to tell the story. Thanks both of you.
CHETRY: And in some cases they're alerting people. They're calling police and say --- we heard this in a couple that say don't come down on to this highway. VELSHI: And I think every time you see those pictures, if you live anywhere that a tornado might hit, it makes you think how would you be prepared, where would you go? Do you have an inventory of everything in your house in case you need to be insured?
ROMANS: They live in Tulsa, you know, tornados in their backyard. But also a reminder here that the average Joe with a cell phone camera should not be doing what these guys are doing.
VELSHI: These guys know what they're up to.
All right, questions of the day, very interesting question. We've been getting some great responses from you. The perfect body, something most people want and would pay, you know, some money to get.
ROMANS: A Kelton research poll found nearly 25 percent of Americans would turn down winning a million dollars in the Lottery instead for a dream body.
CHETRY: That's right. So we wanted to know, which would you pick? The perfect body or the $1 million?
Here's some of your responses.
VELSHI: All right. From our blog, LK says, "This san easy one. Give me the million, I'll work out later while smiling all the way to the bank."
I'm with him.
And Barry also on our blog says, "One bad weekend with pizza and Mars bars and you'll wish you had taken the money." CHETRY: From twitter, though, there were some different responses.
Sonyabutler619, "A perfect body because then the money would follow. Beautiful people have more options."
And also Sarabartos (ph) wrote to me via Twitter. "I'll take the perfect body, Kiran. In our culture it's a big first step toward getting $1 million. Looks count in hiring."
All right. From Twitter, Mr.Hendricks (ph) says, "I'll take the million. Duh. I can always exercise and eat better if I wanted to."
VELSHI: Of course.
ROMANS: And someone else says, "$1 million, I'd invest half, use the other half to buy my perfect body, then use investment money to get clothes put on the perfect body."
VELSHI: Keep your comments coming. Send us an email, a Tweet, or tell us on Facebook. We'll read some more of your thoughts later on in the show.
All right, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, good news for the graduating class of 2011. Details on just how many companies plan to hire new graduates.
ROMANS: And well, those new graduates need to make (sic) a close look at their high blood pressure, right, because a new study shows nearly 20 percent of young adults have high blood pressure. Sanjay Gupta is going to join us live to talk about that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: A lot going on this morning. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
Police in Serbia arresting former Serbian military commander Ratko Mladic. Mladic is the highest ranking war crimes suspect from the Balkan wars of the 1990s. He's wanted on charges of genocide, extermination and murder among other charges by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
The State Department has ordered all nonessential U.S. diplomats to leave Yemen and is warning all U.S. citizen to do the same. This after another bloody crackdown on demonstrators in the capital city Sana'a.
President Obama has arrived in France for the G-8 summit. Leaders of the eight largest developed countries in the world will be tackling issues like the global debt crisis, the Middle East peace process and finding a new leader for the IMF.
Conde Nast will be an anchor tenant in the new World Trade Center office tower. The media giant just signed the lease to occupy about a third of the tower for about $2 billion over the next 25 years.
And 17-year-old country singer Scott McCreery is the new American Idol. He was crowned last night, beating out 16-year-old Lauren Elena, after a record 122 million votes.
Your caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING back in 60 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Some promising news, yes, for the class of 2011. A new national survey of businesses reports that in the coming year, three out of four companies are planning to hire, yes, they're going to hire these new college graduates.
Employers say that they will hire 23 percent more college grads than they did last year. And what job skills are desired most? Computer skills, no surprise. Writing and analytical skills are always valuable. But employers are also seeking graduates with strong, high- tech skills and creative and arts abilities. Over two-third of employers consider experience using the newest technologies and creative ability valuable to the new employees.
Now, where, where should you live to get these jobs? No worries, graduates. Whether you live in the east or the west or the south or even in the northern parts of the country, employers from all regions of the country plan to hire new graduates. Seventy-seven percent of employers in the south plan to hire new graduates. In the west, 76 percent. In the Midwest or northern part of the country, 70 percent.
And maybe the next thing after getting a new step, after getting a job, leaving your parents' basement. That's up next -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Thanks, Christine.
Well, there's a new study out, kind of alarming, finding that almost 20 percent of young people have high blood pressure. Even scarier is that most of them don't know it.
VELSHI: Right. And I would guess that if you're young you don't think you need to get it checked.
Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us live from Atlanta.
Sanjay what's this all about? Why are these -- why do we have a whole bunch of young people with high blood pressure?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, part of it's what you just said. I mean, these are the young "invincibles," a population of people that -- there's a lot of focus on -- they think that they're perfectly healthy. They don't bother getting check-ups because they've never had a medical problem.
The second thing is, as much as we've talked about childhood obesity, we're starting to see some ramifications in these children who are starting to get older. This was the first study of its kind, incidentally. Fourteen thousand teenagers were followed and what they found, between the ages of 24 and 32, just like you said, about 20 percent of them, in fact, had high blood pressure. Between a quarter and a half of them didn't know it.
This is the stage of life where they go from adolescents being somewhat active, that active adolescents, to transitioning to adulthood. What they find in this country is that a lot of people start to slow down in terms of activity. Their dietary choices start to worsen. And this is a really vulnerable period.
We're talking about hypertension, specifically and let me show you what we're talking about here. You're talking about a blood vessel, the impact of the pressure on the blood vessel. There are two numbers, what's called a systolic and diastolic. Systolic is when you see that surge of blood through the blood vessel. That's the higher number. The diastolic is when that blood vessel starts to relax.
Systolic over diastolic. You want that number typically to be 120/80 or lower than that. In their case, it was higher than 140/90. That's considered hypertension. That's considered a problem and that's what they're focused on. Again, a quarter to a half of them had no idea that they had it.
CHETRY: So what do you do then? We talk about people not working out, more people obese. You talk about that all the time and the fact that our diets, more processed food. More salt.
But, what do you do?
GUPTA: Well, one of the first things, I think this is important, is that the guidelines do suggest that you start having your blood pressure checked when you're 18 years old. Again, most people don't think of that. I think we need to change that culture a little bit where even as young as 18-years-old -- and this is for parents and for 18-year-olds out there -- got to think about this and simply get your blood pressure checked. What we know is unchecked blood pressure, hypertension that's untreated for long periods of time, that can lead to heart disease that's the biggest killer in this country.
But, diet has a big part of it, as well. Let me focus specifically on sodium, because you're right, Kiran. We talk a lot about fatty diets and all those things. The amount of sodium we take in on average is double to triple what we should be taking in. And there are some hidden sources of this for sure.
Tomato juice, for example, I see people drinking this on planes all the time. More than 400 milligrams. You don't want to be eating more than 2 grams in a day so this is one fifth right there. Chicken noodle soup, more than a gram typically in that. So that's half your sodium content, one chicken soup.
Frozen foods, the thing to remember about frozen foods is they often use salt and sodium to preserve it, to give them that long shelf life. Unfortunately you're eating that sodium, as well. You can get almost your full allotment of sodium in one of those frozen food dishes. So I think, you know, you want to be real specific, I mean, in terms of advice you give. And I think diet, especially sodium, makes a huge difference.
VELSHI: Sanjay, you can break the sodium in the tomato juice with vodka, right?
GUPTA: That may -- actually you're getting probably get more sodium in the vodka, as well, Ali, but we'll talk about that afterwards.
VELSHI: Sanjay's a killjoy.
GUPTA: Come on. Come on. I'm here to help.
VELSHI: Quick question, Sanjay, because Kiran and I were just asking about this. If somebody's got a physical or a well visit or something like that every year, a blood pressure check is part of that, right?
GUPTA: Absolutely. A blood pressure check is part of that. It's a simple thing to do.
VELSHI: Got it. Good to see you.
CHETRY: Thanks, Sanjay.
GUPTA: You got it, guys. ROMANS: OK. Next up, we're going to talk to you about how to deal with your kids and a tornado disaster or any kind of similar frightening event or natural disaster. A fire, a flood. What should you be telling your kids even if you're not in that disaster, but if your kid is exposed to these pictures on television? We're going to help you with that, right after this.
VELSHI: Fifty-seven minutes after the hour.
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