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American Morning
Penn State: When Did Police Know?; Newt's "Freddie" Payday; Penn State Child Sex Scandal; Mother of Alleged Victim #1 Speaks Out; NYT: Missing "Second Mile" Files; Occupy Movement's "Day of Action"; Obama Arrives in Bali; Trash to Treasure; Secrecy at Penn State; Secrecy at Penn State; Suspected W.H. Shooter Arrested; Sandusky Interview Leads Victims To Come Forward; Cities Brace For "Occupy" Protests; Vikings To Use Handheld Metal Detectors; Interview With Mayor Dave Bing
Aired November 17, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New questions this morning about what police knew and when they knew it in the Penn State child sex abuse scandal and the mother of one victim now saying that she was pressured to keep quiet.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: From the subways to stock exchange, occupy plans to shut down Wall Street today. Police preparing for tens of thousands of people to fill lower Manhattan this morning.
ROMANS: And the front-runner gets the heat. Newt Gingrich now facing questions about a million dollar-plus payday from a mortgage giant on this AMERICAN MORNING.
COSTELLO: Good morning to you. It is Thursday, November 17th. Ali Velshi has the day off. I'm Carol Costello along with Christine Romans. Happy one last day until Friday.
ROMANS: Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Up first this morning, new developments in the Penn State child sex scandal. Jerry Sandusky's TV interview this week where he said his behavior with young boys was not sexual abuse, just horse play, it may have been the last straw for some of his alleged victims.
CNN contributor, Sarah Ganim is reporting that Sandusky's words have led some new people to come forward. Sandusky charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse involving eight boys he met through the charity.
On CNN's "360" last night, Anderson Cooper spoke with the mother of one alleged victim, identified victim number one in the indictment. She says it was hard for her son to watch the Sandusky interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANONYMOUS, SON ALLEGEDLY MOLESTED BY JERRY SANDUSKY: He was upset. He was very upset about it. He said I watched it after that. He said he cried. I said, why are you crying? He said because I'm afraid he might go free.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, CNN's "AC 360": He is afraid that Sandusky might go free?
ANONYMOUS: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The mother says she wants to see Jerry Sandusky spend the rest of his life in jail.
COSTELLO: You can see why. Sarah Ganim has been covering the Penn State scandal from the beginning. She is a crime reporter for "The Patriot News" and now a CNN contributor.
Sarah joins us live from State College, Pennsylvania. Good morning, Sarah.
SARAH GANIM, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.
COSTELLO: So this Jerry Sandusky interview that Bob Costas had on NBC, it upset so many of his alleged victims, Sandusky's alleged victims that they are now coming forward. You talked to an attorney about this. What did he tell you?
GANIM: He actually said that he believes that Jerry Sandusky was trying to help himself, but what happened was many alleged victims have now come forward, some dating back to 1970. That's the time frame of which -- in which Sandusky began his charity, the Second Mile in state college where grand jurors have said that he found his alleged victims.
So this attorney who is a very prominent state college attorney dealing a lot with victims' rights. He's known for that, said he spent yesterday in and out of the kitchens of people who are now grown adults who are saying they were victims, too.
And they are contemplating whether or not they are going to go forward to police looking at what happened in the last two weeks, looking at what allegedly happening to victim one, the teen boy who still in high school, who is being bullied, as the -- as the psychologist told us yesterday.
They are talking to this attorney trying to decide if they are going to move forward with this, but he is saying that they have several multiple victims who watched that on TV and it triggered this response that they wanted to come forward and talk to somebody. And in some cases it was the very first time they were telling their story.
COSTELLO: What really struck me about when I read your article, that some of these victims who are coming forward now, this is the first time that they told their secret to anyone.
GANIM: Yes, you know, I -- I think that's something that -- that's consistent with this case. We found that there were a lot of missed opportunities, a lot of instances where people didn't say something.
And this attorney did also tell me that there were opportunities in these people that he talked to yesterday where they tried to come forward and they made some kind of signal or started to say something and they weren't believed or in some cases he even said that they were silenced or told, you know, to go away.
COSTELLO: You say that and that's certainly gives some context to what one victim's mother told Anderson Cooper last night. She describes this conversation she had with her son's principal after her son first reported Sandusky. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANONYMOUS: I said I want to you call the police, call children and youth, you know, I said call the police right now. I said it three times. Call the police right now. And they said no, you need to think about the ramifications of what would happen if I did that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Of course, that's the boy's mother. Her voice has been altered, but you could imagine her son is dealing with the ramifications of that right now.
I mean, standing up to Sandusky, his family was told not to then, but now somehow he has found the courage, he and his mother, to come forward. No small feat.
GANIM: Well, you know, I think that this has been a really trying time for a lot of the victims. You know, they have been dealing with this for several years and now the way that it unfolded has been really traumatic and almost a second victimization.
You know, I think this is very hard for them and they are all dealing with it a little bit differently. A lot of them are turning to counseling. There are a lot of services, counseling services that have come forward and offered free services to those victims.
Some of them are turning to each other. So they are all dealing with it in their own ways.
COSTELLO: Just a little more on the topic of keeping this quiet at Penn State, these allegations against Jerry Sandusky. There is a "New York Times" report this morning.
They write that much of Second Miles travel and expense records from 2000 to 2003 are simply not there. They are missing. Second Mile, they didn't return requests for comments on the report, but you have been looking hard at Second Mile for some time now. How suspicious does that sound to you?
GANIM: Well, I think what we are going to find is what the governor here said last week is that the A.G.'S office, Attorney General's Office is going to have to look at that charity, what they knew and when they knew it.
We did have a source tell us earlier this week that a Second Mile official did express to a person of authority some kind of concern about Jerry Sandusky's behavior as far back as 2008. So it is, you know, it is not clear.
I think it is too early to tell exactly what they knew and how much they knew, and who in the organization knew if it was, you know, rumors that everyone knew about it and talked about or if it was actual fact that the people knew.
You know, so I think we have to wait a little bit. You know, this is an ongoing investigation and it is not -- even close to over. I think, you know, I know it felt like a long time the last two weeks but really hasn't been that long.
COSTELLO: Yes, and investigators aren't really speaking at all that much for understandable reasons. Sarah Ganim, many thanks to you.
ROMANS: All right, cities from coast to coast this morning are bracing for the "Occupy" movement's day of action. Mass protests are planned to mark the cause's two-month anniversary.
Ahead of today's rallies, "Occupy San Francisco" took its message straight to one of the big banks. Students and demonstrators swarmed the lobby of a Bank of America there. Police were called in. It is reported that more than 100 people were arrested.
In Seattle, the city's mayor is apologizing to the peaceful protesters who are pepper sprayed by police Tuesday night. Protesters say a pregnant woman, an elderly woman and a priest were among those hurt. Police say they only used the pepper spray when protesters tried to block city streets.
And here in New York, "Occupy Wall Street" is planning its biggest protest yet, the marches on Wall Street, the subways and the Brooklyn Bridge today.
Mary Snow, live in downtown Manhattan. Mary, the -- certainly the protesters are hoping today is going to be a day to recharge their movement after the evictions earlier this week, aren't they?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They certainly are, Christine. Good morning. And, you know, this, of course, comes two days after Zuccotti Park was evicted. You see some protesters gathering now.
But it is safe to say that there are many private security guards here this morning as there are protesters and take a look at the headline of the "New York Daily News." Do or die for occupy. Its future is at stake.
Protesters here plan this morning to make a show of force outside of the New York Stock Exchange really taking their message to Wall Street. But it is going to be a day of protests, Christine.
And later today, they are -- expected to target some subway stations and then go to the Brooklyn Bridge that has been a site of protests in the past.
The city is bracing, it says, for -- tens of thousands of people to possibly march today as these protesters take to the street -- Christine.
ROMANS: These protests -- where do they see their movement going from this point?
SNOW: Yes, you know, certainly the occupy of "Occupy Wall Street" was taken out of their movement the other day with this eviction since they are not allowed to bring sleeping bags into this park. They're allowed to protest, but not stay here.
Really what some of these protesters are saying is that, you know, this march today had been planned since the two-month anniversary. They want to get through this day and then really reorganize.
You know, the process of doing that, whether or not they have another place and another physical place where they are going to set up camp remains a question mark.
CHRISTINE: All right. Mary Snow, at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan. Thanks, Mary.
SNOW: Sure.
COSTELLO: President Obama arriving in Indonesia in the last hour after reminding the region the United States is still the world's number one superpower during a visit to Australia.
The president saying America is a Pacific power and here to stay, a not so subtle statement to China. Brianna Keilar has the latest.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Carol, President Obama is the first ever U.S. president to visit Australia's northern territory.
He and Prime Minister Julia Gillard are here highlighting a new military initiative that will see 200 to 250 U.S. Marines stationed here in Darwin by the middle of next year that will grow to a force of about 2,500 in the coming years.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: So let me say first Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.
KEILAR (voice-over): On the military base in Darwin, President Obama spoke to Australian troops and 50 U.S. Marines here to begin joint training exercises. OBAMA: Now here in Darwin and northern Australia, we will write the next proud chapter in our lives. As the prime minister and I announced yesterday some of our Marines will begin rotating through these parts to train and exercise with you and to work as partners across the region for the security we all want.
On behalf of the American people, I want to thank the people of this community for welcoming our men and women in uniform. We are grateful for your friendship and we are grateful for your hospitality.
KEILAR: The White House chose this backdrop for its historic significance overlooking Darwin Harbor, President Obama left a condolence letter at a memorial to the USS Fury, an American ship sung in 1942 when the Japanese launched an attack similar to Pearl Harbor.
Eight ships were sunk in all. Mr. Obama met some of the survivors as he honored the U.S. Navy's greatest loss of life in Australian waters. Darwin's significance is strategic as well.
It sits on the Timor Sea, a gateway to Asia where U.S. troops will remind an increasingly aggressive China that the U.S. stands ready to defend its Asian allies.
China recently made a territorial claim to the oil-rich South China Sea, home to shipping lanes for most of the world's maritime commerce. President Obama addressed the relationship with China during his speech to the Australian parliament in Canberra, earlier in the day.
OBAMA: We have seen the China can be a partner from reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula to preventing proliferation. We will seek more opportunities for cooperation with Beijing, including greater communication between our militaries, to promote understanding and avoid miscalculation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: The next stop for President Obama, the Indonesian island of Bali where he will be the first U.S. president to attend the East Asia Summit. And there like he did at the APEC Summit in Hawaii earlier this week, he will be working to elevate U.S. economic interests in the Asia-Pacific region -- Christine and Carol.
ROMANS: You can't be the world's superpower without dominating the world's ocean. Seventy percent of the world trade travels on a ship. Chinese know that and that's where a lot of this has to do with friction between these two countries over sea trade.
COSTELLO: There you go.
ROMANS: Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, who knew what and when in the Penn State sex abuse scandal. This is the coach who witnessed the alleged sexual assault on a boy said he went to police. Is he just trying to clear his name or is he telling the truth? COSTELLO: And a deadly storm system causing widespread damage across the south. Spawning tornadoes from Louisiana to North Carolina. It's 13 minutes past the hour.
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COSTELLO: Sixteen minutes past the hour. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
At least four deaths are blamed on severe storms that swept across the Deep South. Three people killed in York County, South Carolina. Half dozen homes were destroyed. And there is concern more victims could be buried in the rubble. A fourth person died in Georgia when a tree fell on top of a car. Tornado strikes were also reported in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.
ROMANS: All right. Reynolds Wolf is in the Extreme Weather Center because Rob Marciano is in the extreme new parenthood of having a brand-new baby.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Isn't that something? It's an amazing thing.
ROMANS: I know. So congratulations to Rob and his wife and their new little Bambi.
COSTELLO: It's a girl.
ROMANS: A Bambi.
WOLF: I guess -- that's right. And I'm sure -- everything we've heard has all been thumbs up. Rob and his wife, Eryn, are doing just fine welcoming the new baby.
ROMANS: Awesome.
WOLF: And certainly a life -- life-changing moment for Rob. No question about it.
ROMANS: And we're going to get pictures as we can.
But in the meantime, tell us what we're looking at on the weather map today.
WOLF: A day that's going to be a little better than yesterday. Yesterday was just insane. We had some rough weather across parts of the southeast. You already mentioned some of the rough weather into the Carolinas and in Georgia and Alabama.
We got some video that's not far from Auburn, Alabama. In fact, not far from, say, Jordan-Hare Stadium or even Toomer's Corner. You see this damage here, some straight-lined winds, possible tornadoes. We'll know for sure later on today when the National Weather Service gets out and surveys of the damage.
Again, fatalities across the southeast. Delays number we have four. One in Georgia, three more in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Unfortunately that number may increase.
Let's go back to the weather maps as we do, so you can see pointing there (ph) on radar. This is the tail end of that big weather system that pushed its way through parts of the southeast. Now we've got some residual moisture and wind and that cold air racking with it. Highest elevations, we're seeing some pink and white pop up on radar. That, ladies and gentlemen, is your snowfall. Could see some icy conditions on parts of 64 and the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Now in terms of your weather maker and the delay maker, well, you're going to have delays in places like New York and Philadelphia. In fact, some delays over an hour. Also expect backups in Boston, D.C. metros, Atlanta, Tampa, Orlando, Miami. And back up to the West Coast, San Francisco, you may have a delay around -- say, 30 minutes or so due to some of the low clouds.
Drivers in parts of the Pacific Northwest are going to deal with rain in the valleys and snow in parts of the higher elevations. Same story with the Northern Rockies where by the time the day is over, maybe one to two feet of snow.
Congrats again to the Marciano Family. Let's send it back to you, guys.
ROMANS: Thanks, Reynolds.
WOLF: You bet.
COSTELLO: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, details unfolding after the suspected White House shooter was arrested. We'll have a live report from Washington just ahead.
It's 18 minutes past the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You could call Tom Szaky trashy and get away with it.
TOM SZAKY, CEO OF TERRACYCLE: My friends and I were trying to grow some plants, and we realized that worm poop was one the best fertilizers to feed them. It's really an organic waste fed to worms. And that suddenly started getting me to think differently about waste.
BALDWIN: Tom started manufacturing worm poop. Packaging his organic fertilizer in used plastic bottles, selling what he calls waste in waste under the name TerraCycle.
Eight years later, TerraCycle turns all sorts of non-recyclable waste into recyclable eco-friendly products.
SZAKY: We collect close to billion pieces of waste every month from close to now I think around 25 million people across 19 countries.
BALDWIN: For example, juice pouches are made into school folders and kids' backpacks and TerraCycle also gives back.
SZAKY: We pay the shipping and make a donation to a school or charity in the country where you collect it.
BALDWIN: Up next, figuring out a way to make products from diapers and used chewing gum.
Brooke Baldwin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Right now, U.S. stock futures flat after fear got the best of the markets yesterday. The Dow slipped nearly 200 points yesterday on concerns about Europe and the so-called Super Committee which just had six days now to cut a minimum of $1.2 trillion from America's deficit.
U.S. bank stocks hit especially hard yesterday. Bank of America was down nearly four percent. Morgan Stanley dropped eight percent. Why? Well, the ratings agency Fitch warned that Europe's debt crisis could pose a serious risk to American banks.
The price of oil is above $100 a barrel for first time now since July. The one market analyst telling CNNMoney we may not see prices at the pump skyrocket because of of slowing demand in Europe.
Big cuts at those big banks, by the way. Citigroup is reportedly planning to eliminate about 3,000 jobs by next year. It's part of an effort to control expenses. Meantime, French bank BNP Paribas also said to be drawing up plans to lay off nearly 1,400 employees.
Detroit's mayor laid out his plan to fix a city in crisis. Speaking last night, Mayor Dave Bing warned the city could run out of cash by April. To deal with this financial crisis, the mayor is asking police and fire fighters to take a pay cut and he wants to increase the corporate tax. Coming up in less than 30 minutes, we'll talk to Mayor Bing about that.
Coming up at 8:30 Eastern, also we'll get a new report on the number of unemployment claims filed for the very first time last week. Economists expect the number of jobless claims to stay around that key 400,000 level. But really we want it to come down further, though, to show a growing strength from the labor market. We're going to get to those numbers as soon as they're available.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO (voice-over): New questions about who knew what and when in the Penn State sex abuse scandal. We try to break through the wall of silence that may have protected Jerry Sandusky for years on this AMERICAN MORNING. ROMANS (on camera): All right. Welcome back.
In about 29 minutes past the hour, your top stories this morning. Police say it didn't happen. Claims by Penn State whistleblower Mike McQueary that he went to police and had discussion with police after witnessing Jerry Sandusky's alleged rape of a young boy in a locker room shower. Both the campus and state police say there's no record of any report filed by McQueary concerning the alleged sexual assault in 2002.
COSTELLO: Occupy protesters are promising a day of action to mark the movement's two-month anniversary. Here in New York, demonstrators are planning to shut down Wall Street this morning. And later today, they plan to occupy the subways and then march across the Brooklyn Bridge.
ROMANS: President Obama landing in Indonesia an hour ago after announcing that he's boosting the U.S. Military force in Australia. The president saying the U.S. is a Pacific power and here to stay. China says no, it is the Pacific power.
COSTELLO: More now on the search for answers in the Penn State child sex scandal.
CNN's Drew Griffin has been trying to scale the wall of silence. He went directly to the police and university officials to try to find out what exactly was known about Jerry Sandusky's alleged child molestations. Drew is in State College this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE UNIT CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Instead of continuing our look for the records, which we've been told we cannot get, we decided to go searching for the people, the officials, who should have known and most likely did know about the allegations, the investigations, and why nothing had been done for so long once these investigations were launched.
The former university president, Graham Spanier, the former university counsel, his name is Wendell Courtney, and the former university police chief, a guy named Tom Harmon. According to the grand jury report, all three of these officials most likely knew a heck of a lot was going on with Jerry Sandusky and these allegations as far back as 1998.
In fact, after that mother accused Sandusky of showering with her son naked in 1998, the former police chief had an investigation going on, but somehow, we're told from that grand jury report, Tom Harmon abruptly stopped that investigation.
Tom Harmon now works for an architectural and engineering firm. They have an office very near the campus here. They do business with the campus. This is what happened when we went and tried to find him.
Is Mr. Harmon in?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not.
GRIFFIN: He's not in?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He does not work in this office.
GRIFFIN: Oh, he works out of his home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
GRIFFIN: All right. So does he have an office number? I mean, a number that if somebody at this office --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, we can't provide that information. Sorry.
GRIFFIN: You can't provide that information?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. No.
GRIFFIN: The former police chief did send us an e-mail saying that he could not discuss this because of a pending investigation.
We went to the university counsel's office, Wendell Courtney. He was the university counsel back in 1998. In fact, he gave his blessing back in '98 for the investigation of Sandusky.
He is not talking either. In fact, when we went into his office, he actually had an attorney come out and tell us to leave the property all together.
Graham Spanier -- now, he was forced to resign as the Penn State University president. But he still lives here, lives in the mansion, lives down a private road. He is not talking, not answering any questions.
So, continuing silence here at Penn State University as many people continue to look for answers as to who knew what when and where.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Drew Griffin reporting. Later this morning, at 8:10 Eastern, to be specific, we'll talk with Larena Lettow. She launched the Web site proudtobeapennstater.com., trying to get the school's alumni, all 557,000 of them, to raise money for sex abuse victims.
ROMANS: Authorities say that he had a direct interest in the president. This morning, the suspected White House shooter is now in custody. Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez was arrested at a Pennsylvania hotel yesterday. A gun linked to him was found near the White House along with two bullets on the south side.
CNN's Athena Jones is live at the White House.
Good morning, Athena. What's the latest on this?
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
We can tell you that this afternoon in Pittsburgh, in federal court, at 2:00 p.m., we expect to see Oscar Ortega-Hernandez to make his first court appearance. We hope to learn a little bit more about the exact charges that the state, that the authorities will bring. We know that the U.S. Park Police, in issuing their warrant, were charging him with carrying a dangerous weapon.
Let's talk briefly though about how he was tracked down. The Secret Service has said that ever since Friday night, there has been a national lookout for Ortega-Hernandez. And so, they knew he had been hanging around Indiana, Pennsylvania. And they passed out fliers for his pictures to hotels in the area. And they ended up getting a tip from a staffer at a Hampton Inn who called authorities yesterday morning to say that they had seen Ortega.
Now, Ortega-Hernandez had been staying at that hotel in the days leading up to Friday's incident. He left. He'd been staying with a few people. He left and he'd come back and that's when the staffers there called authorities there. Arrested him there in the lobby without any resistance.
ROMANS: What are we learning about him and maybe his motivation here? I mean, they are saying -- investigators are saying he had a distinct interest in the president.
JONES: Yes. It's interesting. We hoped to see more revealed, maybe not today but in the coming days. But reportedly, interviews with the family and friends have determined that he had this interest in the president or the White House. We expect to hear more on that.
But we do know that he had a criminal history in several states, in Idaho, Texas, and Utah. He was arrested numerous times in Idaho. And he was found guilty of violations like a drug and alcohol violations and resisting arrest from police officers.
We also know that earlier on Friday, hours before the shooting, authorities in Arlington, Virginia, right across the bridge from D.C., stopped Ortega-Hernandez because he was acting suspiciously, they thought. He was on foot. They stopped him. They questioned him.
They didn't arrest him but they did take the photos and that were later used in some of the fliers at the park police and others were handing out. So there are a lot of questions still to be answered. We expect to begin to get those answers today.
ROMANS: All right. Athena Jones, thank you so much.
JONES: Thanks.
COSTELLO: Expect a grilling when U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu goes before a House panel looking into Solyndra. That's the California solar energy company that received $535 million in federal loan guarantees and later went bust. Lawmakers want to know if those loan guarantees were politically motivated.
ROMANS: The so-called super committee now has less than one week to reach a deal. And the only thing they can seem to agree on is that it's the other guy's fault.
Republicans are saying no to the latest Democratic proposal. They are still fighting over tax increases and cuts to entitlements. The congressional committee has until Wednesday to come up with a plan for at least $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts. Failures would trigger across the board budget cuts and could lead to rising interest rates.
COSTELLO: The nation's mood near an historic low -- oh, big surprise there. New CNN/ORC poll shows that just 25 percent of people think that things are going well in the country today. Seventy-four percent say things are going badly, 44 percent are confident that we will be able to turn things around. That number is much lower than it was last year or the year before.
ROMANS: All right. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING: Newt Gingrich now under fire for getting a big-time payday from mortgage giant Freddie Mac. The surging candidate is now defending his post congressional gig, denying he was doing big-time lobbying. We'll have that for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's 39 minutes past the hour.
He is surging in the polls, but now, Newt Gingrich's involvement with Freddie Mac is threatening to stop all that momentum.
ROMANS: He said some politicians should go to jail for ties to the troubled mortgage giant. But it turns out that he made some big- time cash during a stint there.
CNN's Brian Todd digging deeper on the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Newt Gingrich has had some harsh words recently for politicians who dealt with troubled mortgage companies.
Listen to his comments at a "Washington Post"/"Bloomberg News" debate.
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And if you want to put people in jail -- I want to second what Michelle said -- you ought to start with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. And let's look at the politicians who created the environment, the politicians who profited from the environment, and the politicians who put this country in trouble.
CHARLIE ROSE, PBS HOST: Clearly, you're not saying they should go to jail?
GINGRICH: Well, in Chris Dodd's case, go back and look at the Countryside deals. In Barney Frank's case, go back and look at the lobbyists he was close to that -- that -- at Freddie Mac.
TODD: But there are new questions about Gingrich's own connections to Freddie Mac. CNN has confirmed from sources in position to know, information first reported by "Bloomberg News" that Gingrich was paid between $1.6 million and $1.8 million for two separate stints at Freddie Mac -- from 1999, when he left Congress, to 2002, and from 2006 to 2008.
Asked if the money figure was accurate --
GINGRICH: I don't know. We're going back to check it.
TODD: What did the Republican hopeful do for Freddie Mac?
Gingrich said at one point, he offered advice as a, quote, "historian," telling Freddie Mac officials that lending to people with no credit history was a mistake. He later said he was a strategic adviser.
Contacted by CNN, four people who worked for Freddie Mac while Gingrich was there disagreed with his characterization that he was a historian. One said his role was strategic, specifically, political strategy.
Bloomberg cites former Freddie Mac officials familiar with Gingrich's work in 2006, saying the former House speaker was asked to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans.
I spoke with Bob Edgar of the liberal group, Common Cause, which advocates for more transparency in government.
(on camera): What does that seem like to you?
BOB EDGAR, COMMON CAUSE: When you're paying over a million dollars to build bridges with Capitol Hill, you're buying a lobbyist. You're buying somebody with your money that can connect you with members of Congress.
You don't hire a historian to do that. You don't hire someone just to give you polite advice. You hire somebody who makes those relationships work.
And that's lobbying. Whether you're registered or not, that's hardcore lobbying, and that's what Newt Gingrich was doing.
TODD (voice-over): A characterization Gingrich formally denies.
GINGRICH: I did no lobbying of any kind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you --
GINGRICH: That's all I've got to say about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you accurately characterize it -
GINGRICH: That's all I've got to say about it.
TODD: It would not have been illegal for Gingrich to have lobbied for Freddie Mac unless he did it that first year he was employed by them, 1999 to 2000.
Asked if he would make public the records of his work for Freddie Mac, Gingrich said he would to the degree he can.
(on camera): We checked federal records and found nothing indicating Gingrich was a registered lobbyist.
Freddie Mac would not comment on any of this, other than to say Gingrich was a consultant but did not lobby for them.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Oh, Fannie and Freddie are long notorious for revolving door between politicians, politics, and policy in Washington. I mean, there's so much money. Taxpayer money flows through those two agencies and, of course, now bailed them out billions of dollars.
All right. Still to come, it is now or never for Detroit. Cash-strapped cities ever city's mayor with an all-out plan with a plan to save that city from financial ruin. Is it going to be enough?
And will the city go along with Mayor Dave Bing's plan? He is asking for a lot of people to give up an awful lot. We are going to ask him in just a few minutes.
COSTELLO: The usual pat-downs at NFL games may soon be a thing of the past. The Minnesota Vikings will try a new security measure on Sunday. We'll tell you what it is.
Forty-three minutes past the hour.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's up? This is Dave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Peter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And how much are we in the road, Pete?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 250 days a year. Our main mission is to make people dance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We put out a first album not knowing we were going to be even tour. It used to be just Pete and I, him driving his Toyota Rav4 and us kind of going as far as we could with it.
For years, Pete and I would share a hotel room at the cheapest hotel we could find.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes, I preferred taking the bus. So, this is my bunk, silk sheets and Egyptian cotton. I love riding the bus. It's great. It rocks me to sleep.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're really a hands-on kind of band. And we pride ourselves in that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We each have our office jobs. This is my office. You can see all my paperwork is here.
We really try to pride ourselves in having the cleanest bus possible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a (INAUDIBLE) for every occasion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks for joining us on this great road trip. We'll see you in your city.
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ROMANS: Forty-six minutes past the hour. Here's what you need to know to start the day.
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ROMANS (voice-over): Exclusive reporting by CNN contributor, Sara Ganim, says Jerry Sandusky's prime time TV interview has led several people, possible victims to come forward and share their story.
Meantime, a new judge has been assigned to the child sex case. The previous judge was removed after it was revealed she donated money to Sandusky's Second Mile charity. The new judge will provide over Sandusky's preliminary hearing next month.
New York and cities across the country bracing for mass protests today to mark the occupy movement's two-month anniversary. Demonstrators are hoping to shut down Wall Street this morning.
Severe storms across the south being blamed for at least four deaths. The storm system spawning tornadoes from Louisiana to North Carolina.
The president is saying the U.S. is a pacific power and here to stay. He arrived in Indonesia this morning after announcing a shift of military power, sending 2,500 marines to Australia.
The NFL is stepping up fan security. The Minnesota Vikings will begin using handheld metal detectors during Sunday's game against the Raiders. The usual pat-down procedure will be phased-out by these machines in December.
He's back! Ricky Gervais signing on to host the Golden Globes again. It will be his third year in a row. He raised eyebrows when he took some potshot from celebrities and the audience last year. The Globes airs in January.
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ROMANS (on-camera): That's the news you need to start your day. "American Morning" back right after this.
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COSTELLO: And welcome back. D-Day is nearing for Detroit. Right now, the city is on track to run out of money by early next year. There are some reports Detroit is in a $209 million hole. Last night, in a televised speech, the city's mayor, Dave Bing, said drastic action must be taken in order to fix Detroit's finances.
His plan to deal with the crisis, pay cuts and tax hikes for corporation. And joining me now is Detroit's mayor, Dave Bing. Welcome, Mayor. Thank you for being here.
MAYOR DAVE BING, DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Surely. Good morning.
COSTELLO: Good morning. You tried to rally the people of Detroit last night to your side, but you still have a lot of skeptics. Can you save Detroit?
BING: Well, I don't think it is all on my shoulders. What we're doing is trying to get everybody to come to the table. We need concessions. We need layoffs. There is going to be a tax increase for our businesses. There are a lot things that we're looking at.
But we think that if we can get those things and we can stave off any really horrible situation in terms of running out of money in the first quarter.
COSTELLO: Mayor, you're asking your unions to help you make this work, but according to some reports, your pensions and healthcare costs are enormous, 108 percent of your total city payroll. You know how unions and people feel about their health plans. How do you get the unions onboard to accept cuts that have to be made to save the city of Detroit?
BING: Well, if they don't come to the table and negotiate the concessions that we're asking for, the potential of an emergency manager can come in and he can void all of the contracts. So, they would have no healthcare. They would take -- they can take all of the cuts and could -- he or she could fire everybody, quite frankly, and start from scratch.
I don't think that's where anybody wants to be. So, we're better off trying to work together to solve the problem.
COSTELLO: How many city workers are you proposing to lay off, mayor?
BING: We have not decided on a specific number of layoffs. The first thing that we've got to get is to see how much -- how many concessions we can get because that's the biggest pot of money, $40 million on an annualized basis.
Then, we'll look at some of the other areas, but one of the things I don't want to do is have massive layoffs, because we'll have chaos in the city of Detroit. Don't want that to happen.
COSTELLO: Skeptics say you must do that, though, you have no choice. In fact, some people are saying that you should lay off all city workers and make them reapply for their jobs.
BING: Well, that's easier said than done. If you don't work in the city, you don't know what's going on. There are processes in place that are so antiquated it would take us six months to get through that process. So, we're not about to do that. We don't have that kind of time.
COSTELLO: Other people are saying that you have to lay off at least 2,300 people in the -- and that includes police officers and firefighters. Are you willing to consider that?
BING: I think that police and fire are the last people that I want to lay off. We have a horrendous problem from a crime standpoint in this city as most major urban cities have. So, the layoffs that will happen. I'm not going to say we'd never lay off police or firemen, but they would be the last ones I'd would look at laying off.
COSTELLO: I just want to read you an editorial of the Detroit News this morning, because they -- they were not too kind.
This is part of what they said about your plan, quote, "It's not deep enough, not wide enough, not bold enough. Instead of swiftly and sharply reducing the cost of government, the mayor offered half measures that may save money in the long run but will not stop Detroit from running short of cash to pay its bills and employees. Something that could happen by the end of the current budget year."
They say that you don't have the political will to make the cuts that you must.
BING: Well, if the -- if the pundits like in the newspapers want to run out city, if they can do it better than us, I invite them to come in. They don't know what the hell they're talking about.
COSTELLO: But you can't put a number on the -- you can't put a number on the number of employees that you might lay off. And you're saying that you're depending on the unions to help you through this. Is there any sign that you see that the unions are going to come through for you?
BING: Listen, if the unions don't come to the table, it's not about for me. It's for the city of Detroit. And if they don't want to participate and -- participate in the pain that's necessary, somebody else will make the decision for them.
So -- we are better off coming to the table as a city department and figuring out what we need to do, what we can do to stave off this issue come first, late first quarter, second quarter of next year. COSTELLO: So, you're willing -- if the unions don't come to some sort of agreement with you, that a city manager would step in and take care of things?
BING: That could very well happen. That's not where I want to go. I got voted in as mayor. I didn't get voted in as emergency manager.
COSTELLO: Mayor Bing, thanks so much for joining us this morning. We know the problems are big, and we know you're trying. We appreciate your time.
BING: Thank you very much.
ROMANS: The House this morning approving a measure that would dramatically expand the right to carry concealed firearms.
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ROMANS (voice-over): People with a concealed gun permit would be allowed to bring their weapon into any other state with a similar laws. Every state except Illinois and Washington, D.C. allow residents to carry concealed weapons.
COSTELLO (voice-over): The TSA may use graphic plans to study the health risks of airport body scanners. Officials say a soon-to-be released inspector general's report finds the machines are not harmful. So, a new independent study is not necessary. There's 250 x-ray scanners in use across the country, and they do emit a small amount of radiation.
They're pioneers of space flight. Now, four astronauts are awarded one of the country's top honors. John Glenn, Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins. They accepted a Congressional gold medals at a ceremony in Washington yesterday. Glenn, of course is the first American astronaut to orbit the earth. The others were the crew of the Apollo 11 and the first moon landing.
COSTELLO: This is my favorite story this morning.
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COSTELLO: Check out this scene on an Arizona freeway. A dog jumps out of the owner's car after the car crashed. You see little dog running down the street, a little Yorkie. I know Look. The officers, then wanted to save it. So, they're chasing the dog on their police motorcycles.
And at one point, the officer gets out and chases the dog down the freeway. Come on, doggy. Stop, stop, stop.
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COSTELLO: Finally, the dog stopped. The dog is probably terrified, right? So the police officer picks up the little guy near the freeway median and, yes, the doggy is doing fine this morning. ROMANS: Terrified. He knew about all those outstanding warrants. He didn't want to get -- he didn't want to run at information.
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ROMANS (on-camera): All right. Ahead next hour, is pizza a vegetable? That's what Congress is trying to decide right now. Lawmakers with a big decision on their hands. Healthier school lunches or a healthier budget? Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to have that. What that means for your child next.
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