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Rick's List

U.S. DOT Slaps Toyota With $8 Million Penalty; Dr. Conrad Murray Appears in Court; Tiger Woods Returns

Aired April 05, 2010 - 16:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for Rick Sanchez here on the LIST.

And making that LIST this Monday -- Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, is about a half-hour away from a court appearance in Los Angeles. He's, of course, already been charged with involuntary manslaughter, but the legal system is not done with him just yet.

We're going to be live in the courthouse for today's developments.

And here's what else we're working on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES (voice-over): Making the LIST today -- he's back, but his words resonate with the fans beyond Augusta?

A brazen attack caught on a surveillance camera. A guy shows up looking like a repairman, then goes on the attack against a family's housekeeper.

The lists you want to know about. Who is most intriguing in the news today? Who is tweeting about Tiger Woods, about politics and more? Your national conversation starts right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. We want to start this hour with a developing story, word we're just getting that the U.S. Department of Transportation is going to seek a pretty hefty penalty against Toyota, saying that Toyota did not inform the government in a timely fashion about the recalls, about the problems it had with cars.

You know there were accelerator issues, also issues with brakes in another model of car and, apparently, the government, which found out in January, said the company, Toyota, knew about these issues back in September and did not let the government know. And that is a no-no, and it's now going to hit them with a hefty fine, at least the maximum they can go over, $16-plus million against the Toyota company.

Rick Newman is chief business correspondent with "U.S. News & World Report."

Rick, let me ask you, is this a slap on the wrist or a punch in the gut, this fine? RICK NEWMAN, CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT, "U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT": I think it's somewhat -- somewhere in the middle. I mean, the government obviously is acting tough.

And Secretary LaHood, he (AUDIO GAP) And he's been very outspoken about this. (AUDIO GAP) Toyota definitely waited too long to notify the government. And they didn't take their customers seriously. And they basically had decided to -- for months that, look, we know better. We're going to handful this ourselves.

And I think they're paying a price for it. But, for Toyota, $16 million is a drop in the bucket.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: All right, Rick, we're having some audio issues with you there, buddy. We are going to try to get back to you, because an important story there. So, we're going to fix the audio issue. Got an hour here, and we certainly will find a way to get you back in and talk about it some more.

But, again, Rick Newman there, business correspondent for "U.S. News & World Report," talking about this issue with Toyota, but, again, the U.S. government just coming out and saying they're going to seek a fine, $16-plus million against Toyota, for not telling them about the issues with their cars, their recalled cars, some six million in the U.S. that have been recalled, 8 million worldwide.

Didn't tell the government about it in a timely fashion. Now going to hit them with a $16 million fine. We will get Rick back as soon as we get that issue with the audio worked out.

Next on the LIST: Tiger Woods is back. There he -- there he is. This was a little earlier today, 2:00 Eastern time, walking into the room full of reporters who are waiting to ask him question. A lot of people have been waiting for this opportunity.

Now, even his toughest critics appear to be conceding that Woods did himself some good when he talked to reporters today at the Masters. Augusta National Golf Club has restricted what we can show you. We can only show you three minutes per hour. This, of course, you can assume, is part of just -- quite frankly, historically and famously, Tiger Woods is known for controlling his image and controlling everything around him pretty tightly.

And they're having control over how much of this press conference we can show you. So, we showed you some last hour. Let's show you now the three minutes we can give you this hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIGER WOODS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: Coming in to today, I didn't know what to what to expect with regards to reception. And I'll tell you what. The galleries couldn't be nicer. I mean, it was just incredible.

And the encouragement that I got, and -- it was just -- it blew me away, to be honest with you. It really did.

And, you know, the -- the people here over the years, I know they have been extremely respectful, but today was just something that -- that really touched my heart pretty good.

I have made a conscious decision to try and tone down my negative outbursts. And, you know, consequently, I'm sure that my positive outbursts will be calmed down as well.

And that's -- I'm just trying to be more respectful of the game, and acknowledge the fans, like I did today -- that was just an incredible reception all day for all 18 holes -- and -- and show, you know, my appreciation for them.

I haven't done that in the past few years. And that's -- that was wrong of me.

Unfortunately, what I have done over the past years has been, you know, just -- just terrible to my -- my family. And the fact that I won golf tournaments, I think, is irrelevant. It's -- it's the pain, the damage that I have caused, you know, my wife, my mom, my wife's family.

My kids, going forward, are going to have to -- I'm going have to explain all this to them. And, you know, that's my responsibility. I did it.

You know, the way I was thinking was not correct. And that's part of, you know, where I was at. I was rationalizing. I was denying, in total denial at times. Whatever I did was -- I lied to myself. I lied to others. And just because -- as I said, just because I was winning golf tournaments doesn't mean a thing. The way I was thinking caused so much harm with the people that I love and care about the most on this planet.

QUESTION: Did you only realize that after it became public?

WOODS: After I started going into treatment. That's when they started stripping all that away from you.

QUESTION: Tiger, will Elin and the kids be joining you this week at the Masters? And, if not, is that a sign that she is not ready to support you yet? And should you be making this return (OFF-MIKE) to the game?

(CROSSTALK)

WOODS: Elin is not -- not coming this week, no.

QUESTION: But should you be returning to the game so soon? Would that time be better spent repairing your relationship?

WOODS: Well, I decided to play this week.

I lied to a lot of people, deceived a lot of people, kept others in the dark, rationalized, you know, and -- and even lied to myself. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right. You heard him talk about the fans in there.

And wondering, a lot of people did, coming in, what kind of response he could get from fans, and he did say, being out today there, quite frankly, he said it warmed his heart.

No let's watch about -- let me show you the part about that -- that they says warmed his heart. This was him at a practice round earlier today. I believe it was the fourth hole. And this is how he was received by the gallery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: He did get applause today. There were reports, even, that he acknowledged several people out in the gallery. That's not something that Tiger Woods is known for doing. Some people who had words of support, he looked right back at them and said, thank you, and that it was good to be back, it was good to be there.

So, that is a different Tiger Woods.

Let's bring in golf author Geoff Shackelford, joins me now from L.A. He's written close to a dozen books, contributes to major golf publications. His Web site is GeoffShackelford.com.

Geoff, your impressions. Did you see a new man, or did you see a coached and rehearsed man?

GEOFF SHACKELFORD, WWW.GEOFFSHACKELFORD.COM: I saw a little bit of both.

HOLMES: Yes.

SHACKELFORD: I definitely saw a more humble guy. He was really nervous there at the start. And I definitely heard some answers that were very encouraging.

And then there were a few answers that were coached and not so well coached, I thought. So, all in all, I thought it was a fantastic performance for him, not the greatest performance for the golf press. It's a tough environment, with the way the questions are structured and the lack of ability to really have a good follow-up, although a few guys did get in some follow-ups. And, so, that was encouraging.

HOLMES: You talked about those -- the Q&A today. So, did we actually learn anything significant from this press conference today?

SHACKELFORD: I think the only thing we learned was he -- he tore his Achilles' tendon several times. And that was really new to all of us. I hadn't heard that. And, so, that was -- he -- part of his explanation for why he brought in Dr. Galea. And -- and he dropped a bunch of acronyms, HGH and PEDs.

HOLMES: PEDs.

(LAUGHTER)

SHACKELFORD: And that answer was a little bit political. He sounded like a politician trying to throw a bunch of stuff at you.

But he really never answered that question. So, we didn't learn a lot more as to who introduced him to Dr. Galea, who set that all up, and -- and really why we should believe that he didn't possibly use something like HGH.

HOLMES: And you talked about what he didn't answer, a couple things he didn't answer, one being what exactly he is in therapy for. He also didn't -- when he was asked directly about Ambien, he said he has used Ambien and Vicodin before in the past, and explained why he used it.

But, when he was asked directly, were you under the influence of Ambien when you had your car accident in November, he simply said, the police have investigated. It's a closed case. And he moved on.

Can we move on now? We know what we're going to get out of him on those two questions. Is the Q&A session over with Tiger Woods?

SHACKELFORD: Oh, no. There will be more questions. There will be more press sessions down the road that are much more open, and different people will get in. And they're going to grill him about that accident. They're going to ask him what he's in rehab for. We still don't know.

And in -- and I don't think the word sex ever came up in the entire press conference. So, he -- he just needs to get some of these things out of the way. Otherwise, I do think they are going to keep coming up, and they're going to come up in sessions that are -- that are much more open than this.

HOLMES: Who is his audience right now? You talk about wanting to, of course, maybe bring some sponsors back, but, in order to get the sponsors, you have got to get the people. You have got to get the golf fans. You have got to get people to like you and your image.

And, there, that is when the sponsors will support you. So, would you say, mainly, is it golf fans, just the public in general was his audience today? Who would you say?

SHACKELFORD: I think it was the public in general.

HOLMES: Yes.

SHACKELFORD: And I think he succeeded tremendously in that -- that sense with showing a lot more humility. I think you will see bigger ovations than that clip you showed earlier, as people kind of start to forget things. I don't think he has much chance to regain much respect from women, but maybe he will try in time.

I don't know if today was really a great start on that front, but, right now, I think he just wants to try to get where he's comfortable again to go out and play golf. It's -- it's a very awkward and uncomfortable sport. And you throw in all the things that have gone on with him, and that just makes it even more difficult.

So, I think it's kind of a one-step-at-a-time deal. And this was a -- this was a big first step, because, so far, his appearances, I think, have been very poor. And I think, today, he really -- he made great strides in answering a lot of tough questions, but there were definitely a lot of things he didn't like answering. And -- and we will see what happens.

HOLMES: Well, a lot of people seem to agree with you today. Yes, he left a couple of holes there people would like to have filled in, but -- but, still, a lot of people say it was a pretty good performance today by Tiger Woods.

Geoff Shackelford, we appreciate you joining us in both hours today. You have a good one.

SHACKELFORD: Thank you.

HOLMES: Well, the physician for Michael Jackson due in court moments from now. He will find out if he could possibly keep his medical license.

Also, when Dr. Conrad Murray's hearing gets under way, we will take you there live. We are going to check in with our producer, who is there -- next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MACKENZIE PHILLIPS, ACTRESS: I have been to doctors who never even touched my body or took my blood pressure, and I walked out with a prescription for 130, you know, Hydrocodone tablets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Death by prescription drugs, the epidemic in Hollywood and how California authorities are fighting back -- that is next on the LIST.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, welcome back to the LIST.

On the LIST now: Dr. Conrad Murray -- that's Michael Jackson's doctor -- he's in a Los Angeles Superior Court, expected there this hour, there for a very important hearing. We're expecting also to be at the hearing dozens of relatives of Michael Jackson. They plan to attend as well.

Murray is fighting to keep his state medical license, the California Medical Board asking the judge to suspend it. Murray says he can't pay for his defense if his license is suspended. Now, he's also licensed to practice in Nevada and also in Texas, but if they take his license away in California, his defense attorneys argue that, hey, you might as well take it away in Nevada and Texas, too, because it's really going to hurt his practice and his ability to make a living.

He's charged with involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's Propofol intoxication death. That was last June. He has pleaded not guilty.

Our Alan Duke is at the courthouse in Los Angeles for us.

Can you tell me -- do a scene-setter for me. We're expecting some live pictures here shortly. But what are you seeing outside the courthouse?

ALAN DUKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, right -- right outside the courtroom, T.J., Dr. Murray just entered with his (INAUDIBLE) as he entered surrounded by Michael Jackson fans, about 15 of them who are here outside the court and have seats inside that they're about to be able to take.

Also a few minutes ago (INAUDIBLE) Jackson, Michael's brother, along with Katherine Jackson and Joe Jackson, Michael Jackson's parents, entered the courtroom and took their (INAUDIBLE) It will begin in just a few minutes.

HOLMES: All right, Alan, let me jump in here. We're having some issues with our audio today when it comes to these -- these telephones.

So -- so, we're going to try to get that fixed. We really want to get back to you. We're expecting live pictures. But we heard some of what Alan was saying there, is that, in fact, Dr. Conrad Murray has made it to the courtroom. He is there. He also mentioned that some members of Michael Jackson's family have made it to the courtroom as well.

We, again, expected the hearing to get under way at about 4:30 Eastern time, so 1:30 out there in California. We're expecting live pictures to see the scene, really, outside as well, to see what's happening outside, because we do -- they do expect, by some reports, it might be a bit of a scene out there, but a hearing to determine whether or not he can keep his license, also to listen to some evidence to see if they are going forward, in fact, with a trial.

Well, we want to turn to something else. It might be Hollywood's dirty little secret. We were talking about this a short time ago.

Our entertainment correspondent Kareen Wynter is drilling this down for us about one of Hollywood's -- not just a little secret, but maybe the worst-kept secret out there as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Heath Ledger, Michael Jackson, Corey Haim, Anna Nicole Smith -- their deaths raised questions about one of Hollywood's dirty little secrets, prescription drug abuse that in recent months has dominated the headlines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two doctors charged with conspiring to furnish Anna.

WYNTER: Smith's doctors pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to supply her with controlled substances. At the time of her death, at least four different sedatives were found in her system, including Klonopin and Valium. Drugs made readily available to celebrities says actress Mackenzie Phillips.

(on camera): Is it as easy as just picking up the phone saying, I need that prescription, I need that medication?

MACKENZIE PHILLIPS, ACTRESS: I have been to doctors who never even touched my body or took my blood pressure, and I walked out with a prescription for 130 Hydrocodone tablets. I mean, yes, I guess it's easier for famous people.

WYNTER (voice-over): A teen star and the daughter of a famous musician, Phillips writes in her book "High On Arrival" about her long-time battle with drug addiction and how some doctors willingly overprescribed pills despite her history as an addict. She says she has been clean for a year and a half now.

(on camera): There are some doctors out there, many doctors perhaps, who may be enamored by a star and they are trying to please their clients. But come on, you have to have stars on the other end who may be using their fame to get these drugs.

PHILLIPS: Well, I am sure that that is definitely something that helps them to get the doctor to give them whatever they want. And I know I have been in that position myself.

WYNTER (voice-over): Addiction specialist, Dr. Drew Pinsky has worked with stars like Phillips and says the power of celebrity addicts can present unique challenges for doctors.

DR. DREW PINSKY, ADDICTION SPECIALIST: I tell my peers that are trying to take care of celebrities, do not go there alone. You must have a team. It is too seductive. Addiction is too powerful. You will get sucked right into it.

WYNTER (on camera): How does it work? You have a celebrity with so much power and they want to get their hands on these drugs, they are addicts?

PINSKY: They would not be consciously thinking that way. It is not like, I have to get my Vicodin. They are thinking, I hear Dr. Smith is pretty good; translated, gives lots of good medication. So they go see Dr. Smith and they offer Dr. Smith a lot of money and they tell Dr. Smith, you are the best doctor. You made me feel so great. I have lots of important friends. I am going to tell them all how great you are and I am going to pay you a lot of money. That patient starts getting out of control with their medicine.

JERRY BROWN, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: When you get the high anxiety that celebrity, as temporary as it is, that then feeds the addictive propensity. And then on top of that, if someone is a celebrity, then these obscure doctors get a bit of a contact high, if I can call it that, by prescribing and being part of the mix.

WYNTER (voice-over): California's Attorney General Jerry Brown says it is a problem that goes beyond Tinseltown. His office has launched investigations into more than 200 prescription drug cases involving addict patients and physicians who helped them cross the line. An underground drug world Mackenzie Phillips says she is glad she has left behind, and cautions --

PHILLIPS: We have become this society that just takes, I am sad, take a pill. I'm in pain, take a pill. Take a pill, take a pill. And really it is just so dangerous. People are dying.

Kareen Wynter, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right.

And, of course, one of the big stories a lot of people are keeping an eye on, and it's been on the LIST, Tiger Woods -- he is back. He's back on the golf course and he's back in front of cameras and reporters. He gave a press conference today. He took a lot of questions for about 35 minutes from reporters at Augusta National down in Augusta, Georgia, getting ready for the Masters, which tees off on Thursday.

We are keeping an eye on the list, our golf list we have today, of people out there who have been tweeting. Let's take you to one here.

BunkerShotGolf, this is a blogger here. He says: "The Tiger dynasty will never be the same, no matter what questions are answered or how much time passes by. Sorry. Just my feelings," he says.

We have another one we can put up here and show you as well. This is from Skydiver. He says: "Best answer: We don't care. Sponsors do. They do care. Tiger moves product like a freight train. As long as he's on the rails, all is OK."

We do have -- oh, yes, Peter Shankman. He's coming up a little later in the hour, Skydiver himself.

All right, this is not a Hollywood disaster movie. His is a real-time glimpse of an earthquake's impact. We're showing you this just ahead.

Also, more than 100 men trapped underground for eight days in a flooded mine. Incredible for anybody to survive. Well, something incredible did happen, and we have the pictures.

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back to RICK'S LIST.

But it's Brooke's list right now in the Brooke block.

I have learned.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You got it, T.J.

HOLMES: Got it now.

BALDWIN: You got it down.

HOLMES: Keeping an eye on things that everybody's talking about out there on social media, stuff people just can't get enough of.

BALDWIN: Absolutely. I try do the water cooler stories --

HOLMES: Yes.

BALDWIN: -- the story you are going to talk about, you know, when you get home at the end of the day.

HOLMES: OK.

BALDWIN: So, I have three stories on my list this hour.

The first one is this attempting kidnapping out of McAllen, Texas, basically right on the Texas/Mexico border. So, here's the video. This is surveillance video. I talked to the owner of this home. He walked me through. This -- this guy is posing an electrician, knocking on the door. He's talking to the housekeeper, OK?

Pushes his way inside. What you can't see, in about three or four minutes' time, before he leaves, according to the housekeeper inside, he took his hammer, which was around his belt, beat the woman on the head with the hammer --

HOLMES: Geez.

BALDWIN: -- and then called the homeowner.

Here's the homeowner. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's just been assaulted, was crying, said she was bleeding and hurt and if I could please come home. She was on a stretcher. There was blood everywhere. Basically, he tries to drag her to the door, claiming, you know, telling -- yelling at letter for her to calm down, to behave, because he just wants to kidnap her and get a ransom. They just want money.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: So, again, the housekeeper calls a homeowner. I talked to the homeowner about 20 minutes ago. And his name, again, is Rocindo (ph).

He told me -- because my question is, why? Who was this guy? Why did this happen at your house? Rocindo (ph) told me he is an attorney in town. I asked him if he had some kind of beef maybe with a previous client. He says he handled civil cases, nothing criminal.

And his guess is that it might be some kind of violence from the Texas/Mexico border. But -- but, you know, the homeowner, he's a father of three children, says his kids are terrified -- beefing up security around his home, including doubling the cameras.

But, again, get a good look. Police in McAllen, Texas, have no idea who this guy is and are trying to find out?

HOLMES: Is she OK?

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: She -- she has staples in her head and has gone home to Mexico.

HOLMES: Oh.

BALDWIN: Yes, awful for her.

Story number two -- you ready for this? This is a happy story.

HOLMES: OK. This was -- this is. And this was unbelievable. We were waiting for the worst.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: This is -- absolutely. And when you think of these mine stories, they don't often end this way, right? So, this is video coming in from China, what a lot of people there are calling really miraculous rescues.

All of this, as you're watching it, was coming in live on this -- this China TV. Eight days and nights, 153 miners had been trapped -- this is the Shanxi Province -- accidentally over a week ago. It hit this older mine. That mine was filled with water. Now the functioning mine, with all these men, began to fill with water as well.

They were pumping -- these rescuers, you see them, hundreds of them, working tirelessly around the clock trying to get the water out. But what is fascinating is just the little beats and pieces we have been hearing as to how these men inside really stayed alive. They were tapping on these pipes, according to the rescuers, for just the last couple of days, trying to get someone's attention.

They did. They also had these lamps and these batteries that kept the lamps on. And, so, to conserve power, they would actually rotate, turning on and off the lamps, just to make sure there was one source of light, so that, if someone got to them, they would see.

Of course, you think about it, when you're deep, deep inside of a mine, you have nothing to eat or drink. So, according to some of these reports, these men actually chipped off some of the bark that kept these mine shafts up and ate the bark, and drank the filthy water.

They also -- so they didn't float away, they had the belts. And, so, there would be protrusions on the sides of the mine walls, and they took their belts, and they hung the belts in the protrusions just to stay afloat, literally, until tell there was the floating mine cart that came along and they could hop in the mine cart.

Amazing stuff.

HOLMES: Smart guys, man. Smart guys.

BALDWIN: Again, 115 -- you have to think -- think fast -- 115 men rescued -- still, though, keep in mind, 38 men still trapped.

Hearing from you know, the rescue workers, they say they're mainly suffering from hypothermia, dehydration, ulceration. Think about how long, T.J., they would have been sitting and waiting in gallons of water.

HOLMES: But smart guys. You do what you got to do, and you hear all these survival stories. Oftentimes, people know -- they know what to -- the people who survive -- there's this book out. It talks about, people in certain situations just have this instinct. They know what to do.

BALDWIN: Yes.

HOLMES: You react, and you can increase your chances of survival.

BALDWIN: You do. And I -- worst -- one of the worst stories I ever covered was the Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia. And that did not have a happy ending, one survivor.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: So, 150 men, OK.

HOLMES: Good to hear a positive story.

BALDWIN: You like that?

HOLMES: Everybody OK.

BALDWIN: I try to bring it, yes.

HOLMES: Thank you --

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: Thank you for ending on a good note, a happy note. (LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Thanks, T.J.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: All right, Brooke, thank you.

Well, the race card or credit card, that is the question. What's causing more trouble for RNC chair Michael Steele? His response and some insights from our Wolf Blitzer, that's just ahead.

Also, we told you we are standing by for live coverage of Dr. Conrad Murray's hearing. He is at the courthouse, we have been told now. He, of course, prescribed powerful drugs to Michael Jackson.

After today's hearing, he may not be able to prescribe anything to anybody any longer.

That's next on the LIST.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back to THE LIST.

And on THE LIST right now, we are standing by, waiting for the hearing to get under way. Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's doctor who has been charged now with involuntary manslaughter, waiting for a hearing to start. Now, a lot of stuff is going to go on in this hearing, but also, the California State Medical Board wants the judge to suspend Dr. Conrad Murray's medical license.

He's also licensed to practice in Texas and Nevada. This would cover his California license, but if taken away, his lawyers do argue that this would essentially kill his practice. Right now he wouldn't be able to practice anywhere, essentially wouldn't be able to make a living.

Let's bring in our CNN legal analyst, Lisa Bloom.

Always good to see you. Always good to have you on these particular cases.

LISA BLOOM, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Thanks, T.J.

HOLMES: Set this up for us, Lisa. Exactly -- because it seems like a lot of stuff judges are going to be considering in this particular hearing. So set up what is going to be talked about here.

BLOOM: Sure. This is a very typical pretrial hearing which is just to assess where everything is and to take up any important matters.

Important matter number one would be setting a date for the preliminary hearing. And that's the hearing at which the prosecution's feet will really be held to the fire. Do they have enough evidence to go forward to trial or not? So they'll put on a couple of their critical witnesses, and the defense will have a chance to argue to the judge, not enough evidence to go to trial.

Almost every prelim ends with a case being bound over for trial. And I expect that to happen here.

But as you say, T.J., today the important issue of whether Dr. Murray can continue to practice medicine will be taken up. I frankly wonder why it's taken almost a year for the California Medical Board to get around to asking the judge to revoke or rescind or suspend his medical license.

After all, Michael Jackson passed away last summer, and these allegations have been swirling around Dr. Murray ever since. And so the judge has already said that Dr. Murray cannot prescribe any heavy- duty sedatives like the Propofol that he's accused to giving to Michael Jackson that caused his death. But the medical board today says they want more, they want his license suspended entirely so that he cannot practice medicine at all.

HOLMES: So, Lisa, what did take them so long, the medical board?

BLOOM: I don't know the answer to that. It's a good question for the medical board.

You know, these charges were filed some time ago. If they were waiting for charges to be filed, that's already happened. And they didn't need charges to be filed, because their job is to protect the public, the patients of Conrad Murray. Now, Conrad Murray says he's not practicing medicine in California now anyway, but he still has a practice ongoing in Nevada and in Texas.

HOLMES: Well, will that fly with the judge? Does he have a valid argument to say, hey, I need to be able to make a living, and if you take my license in California, that essentially is going to take it away in Nevada and Texas? Nobody's going to want to come to me for any kind of medical assistance?

BLOOM: I expect Dr. Murray's defense attorneys to say that he is innocent until proven guilty. These are only charges at this point. A preliminary hearing has not even happened yet, and he needs to be able to earn a livelihood as a doctor. That is his chosen profession, and nothing against him has been proven yet. I think that will be their argument today.

HOLMES: Is it a valid one?

BLOOM: Well, I think it's a good argument, and the board will have to come forward with some evidence. And remember, T.J., I mean, this is really the issue for trial, that trial that's way down the road, the trial that we don't even have a date for yet.

Was he careless? Was he grossly negligent in giving Propofol to Michael Jackson, or does he have some defenses like one that's been swirling around that maybe Michael Jackson administered it to himself, or Dr. Murray position that a lot of drugs were in play here, some given by him, some given by others? And there's a complicated medical question as to exactly what caused Michael Jackson's death.

These are the very issues at his manslaughter trial, and I would think these would be the same issues today. I think it's difficult for a judge to resolve all this before a full trial with all of the medical testimony on these issues.

HOLMES: All right. Again, Lisa Bloom with us.

Just reminding our viewers here now, we are standing by, expecting that trial to get under way. Excuse me. Let me correct myself. Not a trial just yet.

Like you said, Lisa, it's way down the road.

But just expecting a hearing to get going.

This is a live picture inside. We expect that picture to change any moment to actually show us what's happening inside the courtroom. But outside, in California, we're waiting right now to hear from the judge, the players in the case.

Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's doctor, is in fact in the courtroom. Waiting for that to start. When it does, we will bring it to you live.

A quick break. I'm back with Lisa Bloom after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Once again, I want to remind our viewers that we are standing by waiting for a live picture from inside the courthouse, waiting for a hearing to get started involving Michael Jackson's doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray, who has now been charged, of course, with involuntary manslaughter in the pop king's death.

We're waiting for this hearing to get started. This hearing is going to address a number of issues about evidence and moving forward to a preliminary hearing, and when trial could possibly happen, but also the question of whether his medical license, Dr. Conrad Murray's medical license, could be taken away in the state of California.

Let's rejoin senior legal analyst Lisa Bloom, who's standing by, who commented a short time ago that it's surprising that it took this long for them to move on possibly taking his license away.

What kind of case, frankly, does the medical board have? Do they have, I don't know, an easy case to kind of prove, to show where, you know what, it should be taken away for the time being?

BLOOM: Right. Good question, T.J. And you're right, they're just seeking to suspend his license now. So I think that gives them some wiggle room to say, look, we can always change this later and reinstate him to practice. Their argument is going to be pretty simple, that Dr. Conrad Murray was solely responsible for Michael Jackson's care, that he administered a number of drugs, including Propofol, and he administered the Propofol in a way that was highly negligent. That's a drug that should only be administered in a hospital, in a very controlled setting with anesthesiologists, and other indications that would help the patient if there was any problem with the Propofol. It should never have been administered by a private doctor in a home.

Add to that the allegations that have been made against Dr. Murray that at one point he went out and he was on the phone for up to about 45 minutes when he should have been following the care of his patient; that in the middle of administering CPR, it is alleged that he went and hid some of the bottles of Propofol. So that does not look good for him. And I think the medical board is going to say when you put all of this together, this is not a doctor who should be treating patients at all, at least until these matters are fully aired and resolved.

HOLMES: You and I have seen a whole lot of trials over the years. And, I mean, we've all watched trials to some degree, but oftentimes when it's manslaughter or murder, or whatever you want to call it, but a death is involved, someone's accused in that death, oftentimes, you know, there's a murder weapon, there's a motive. And, you know, there seem to be sometimes a little more cut dry. You prove that person had their hand on the gun, the trigger was pulled, and something like that.

But how complicated are these medical cases? When it involves a doctor, and what did he give him, and when, and what was his intent, how complicated of a trial and some of these questions that are going to come up?

BLOOM: I think this will really be a battle of the experts at trial. And the prosecution, I think, will put on a very straightforward case, that it was Dr. Murray's negligence that caused the death of Michael Jackson, administering way too much Propofol, an amount that was highly deadly and that, in fact, did cause his death, and not that the --

HOLMES: Excuse me, Lisa. I want you to continue with that answer, but I just want to let our viewers know that, in fact, we do have a live picture inside the courtroom now.

Guys, should we -- I'm not sure where they are in there, if we should start go ahead and listening.

Yes.

Lisa, stand by. We are going to go ahead and listen. But this is inside, live in the courtroom right now.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- proceed forthwith to Judge Powster's (ph) courtroom to clear all future dates. Judge Murray (sic) -- excuse me -- Dr. Murray, I'd like you to go with your lawyers to the ninth floor, to Judge Powster's (ph) courtroom at this time. And you are excused.

Thank you, Counselor.

HOLMES: All right. We're going to have to get our Alan Duke (ph) on the phone -- we just saw this picture pop up live -- to show what was happening there.

Lisa, what did you just understand happen? We caught on the tail end of it a bit there, but he excused -- it sounded like they were going to another courtroom.

What did happen?

BLOOM: Yes. I have to laugh, because I'm a practicing attorney myself. And when you watch trials on TV, it's not the same as real life. Well, this is real life.

There's a lot of drama, there's a lot of anticipation and expectation. You go into the courtroom and then the judge says, oh, go to the ninth floor and go to a different judge, and he'll give you a date for the prelim. And then you go upstairs and you wait again and you're given a date. There's a lot of administerial matters that go on in a courtroom, and it seems to me that that's what we just saw.

HOLMES: Lisa, that's not how it goes on "Law & Order." They never switch courtrooms.

BLOOM: It ain't Perry Mason, T.J.

HOLMES: We've been waiting on this thing to get started since, well, the past couple of hours. It finally starts and they switch courtrooms. I don't know if we have the capacity to move and switch cameras and get another live signal.

BLOOM: I'm sure we'll get all the information.

HOLMES: We sure will get the info though.

Well, Lisa, I do appreciate you standing by, appreciate you being here.

BLOOM: My pleasure. Thanks, T.J.

HOLMES: We will, of course, be talking to you plenty throughout this trial. Thanks so much.

We, of course, will continue to monitor the courthouse and what's happening there, get some info about exactly what just happened. Like she says, something that simple, you might just have to move, change courtrooms.

We're going to bring you those updates as soon as we get them. Also, they survived a week under some pretty horrible circumstances, but emergency crews didn't give up hope and it paid off. Still ahead, the incredible rescue.

Also, Tiger Woods facing the press, but he also had to face his fans. How did the crowd react at Augusta National to the star, to the scandal?

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back to THE LIST.

And the early reviews suggest Tiger Woods might have done himself some good today answering questions that were fired at him today at a press conference. Here he is walking in, greeting some supporters, even. He gave some hugs, even.

As you see, they're very familiar with him at Augusta National. But this is the first time he's been back at a press conference, first time he's been back at a golf tournament since the whole scandal broke at the end of the year.

Joining us now from Orlando, social media consultant Peter Shankman.

Sir, good to have you here.

You were one that was kind of scratching your head and said, well, you know what? He doesn't have to do this in the first place. He needs to go out, he needs to play, he needs to win.

Well, after watching his performance today, you still think that? Or do you think maybe he did himself some good?

PETER SHANKMAN, BRANDING & SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT: I think he had to do this. This was a little wave to his advertisers, a wave to his sponsors.

Tiger Woods is a golfer. The last time I checked, Tiger Woods played golf. As long as he goes out on Thursday and he starts winning just like the old Tiger Woods, it doesn't matter if he's pitching watches or avocados or bacon salt or, you know, consulting services. As long as he goes out and wins, he will be Tiger Woods, the advertisers will be happy.

HOLMES: OK. You sound like he needs to remake himself. He's not trying to make himself a better guy for the public, necessarily. You think this sounds like a bit of a money play. It doesn't matter what he does, as long as he wins. It's the sponsors he needs to respond to him and like him again?

SHANKMAN: I hate to be the cynic, but that's exactly what it is. At the end of the day, I mean, yes, he has a charity, the charity does great work. And there's no denying that. The charity will continue to do great work. As long as he continues to win, the sponsors will pay him, which will allow him to funnel money to the charities, which will continue to do great work.

HOLMES: Oh. But come on, Peter. In some way you don't think this guys wants to be popular, he wants to be liked and, in turn, that will turn into --

(CROSSTALK)

SHANKMAN: Everyone does. There's no doubt that he does.

He'd much rather be liked than be a piranha. There's no question about that.

But at the end of day, let's face it, why is he liked? Why do people look up to him? He's a great golfer who makes millions. If those sponsors aren't there, he doesn't make millions.

HOLMES: But he also was a great golfer who won and wasn't necessarily seen as a jerk, as an idiot.

SHANKMAN: Agreed.

HOLMES: And he was seen as a family man. So that all worked for him, and he cared about his image.

SHANKMAN: There's no question he does. And he does need to get that back.

And the morality clauses in all of his contracts care about his image, too. There's no doubt that he needs to get his image, his family man image back. And his family man image might have taken a hit and might be irreparably tarnished a little bit.

But at the end of the day, when he walks off that golf course and he fist-bumps and he has won that game, the advertisers are going to matter. You've never seen an ad for any company that he's ever represented where he's there as a family plan. You've seen him with a golf club in his hand, winning a game, wearing a watch, or looking at a putt for a consulting service or something like that. You've never seen him as a family man in advertising.

HOLMES: Yes, I guess the only one you could possibly make an argument, Buick, possibly, maybe a family brand. But he didn't have a family in there, he didn't --

SHANKMAN: And what happened with him in the Buick, I don't necessarily know that Buick wants to take Tiger and his family in a Buick anytime soon.

HOLMES: Yes. I get you there.

But did you see today -- did you see a new man? Did you see a coached and rehearsed man in that press conference?

SHANKMAN: Well, he was much less coached and rehearsed than he was in his original sort of fake press conference about a month or so ago.

HOLMES: Yes.

SHANKMAN: He was definitely more communicative and he repeated constantly that he was so happy that the fans cheered for him. I mean, who wouldn't be?

You know, I would be afraid to go out on that stage of Augusta after five months of hiding in the background. But at the end the day, he has to go back and he has to win games. And if he does that, the fans will come back because they're golf fans, first and foremost.

You know, TMZ is going to ignore this story the second something bigger comes along. The golf fans will continue to watch him play golf.

HOLMES: Now, do they, the advertisers, the sponsors you talked about out there, do they want to be associated -- of course they want to be associated with a winner. But are they having conversations, their boardrooms, their meeting rooms, about, OK, we want to be associated with a winner, do we want to be associated with a serial cheater?

SHANKMAN: Well, they're all going to watch what happens on Thursday. And you've seen it yourself. You saw it with Michael Phelps.

Kellogg's ran away after Michael Phelps, and they've regretted that. You know, after he got busted for smoking pot.

A couple of his sponsors jumped ship really early, and I think they're starting to regret that, and they will seriously regulate that if he wins. Because the fact of the matter is, is he can go on TV and say, hey, look, you know what, I have a problem, I'm getting therapy for it, I'm a better person now. And no one can argue that.

No one's going to be able to refute that and go, no, you're not. And so the sponsors will be very happy. If he does that and he says that, the sponsors will go, yes, he's going on stage to make himself and he's getting therapy to make himself a better person. We support him. As long as he's winning -- and, by the way, he's still winning and selling our product, just like I said, like a freight train on rails.

HOLMES: Well, Peter Shankman, who claims that he hates to be the cynic.

But you seem to be quite comfortable being the cynic.

Peter, good to see you, my man. Thank you so much, buddy. You take care.

SHANKMAN: Thank you, T.J. All right.

HOLMES: Well, making the political list today, Michael Steele's PR problem. Is he getting unfairly blamed?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. We're back. As we tell you here, that you can actually call and be a part of the show, the Inside the Conversation Tour. This is evidence of it. Look at these folks.

It's OK to wave, folks.

We've got a group here that's here in the studio with us, here for a visit. Most of them on vacation, on spring breaks in there as well.

We've got folks from Florida. We've got folks -- I think there was somebody in there, what, from South Carolina, North Carolina? There was -- and Switzerland in the back, in the house as well. And a couple of folks in there from Hawaii.

So, thank you all for being here. Good to have an audience, actually, in the studio, and not just talking to a camera for a change.

Appreciate you guys being here. Thanks so much.

Do want to share with you finally some of our iReports we were just telling you about from that major quake that hit on the Baja peninsula yesterday.

iReporters with their video cameras were there. Let's show you some of these.

Let's start with the first one -- let me see it -- from our citizen journalist. But it captured some of the shaking.

This is some of the aftermath here, but no injuries, no deaths reported, necessarily, on the California side. But in Mexico, where the epicenter was, there were a couple of deaths that we know of.

Here is another iReport. So this is some of the dust settling after -- wow -- after the earthquake. Again, this is 7.2, I believe I have right, magnitude. So that is a significant -- that is a strong, strong earthquake.

This is some of the rattling that was going on. Again, from the video it might not like everything's falling down. You see some pots and pans moving around there. As you know, the earth is moving. But still, some scary stuff.

And here, finally, people just dealing with the shaking. That's from a surveillance camera out in a particular store out there.

So thank you to all of our iReporters for sending those in. We appreciate it. Continue sharing it.

Thank you all your allowing me to sit in here on THE LIST.

Right now, time to hand it over to Wolf Blitzer.