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Rick's List

Florida Pastor Cancels Koran Burning Protest; New Election Poll Results Released

Aired September 09, 2010 - 20:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This is a special report.

A clash between religions, is it averted? A Christian pastor who wants to burn Korans in Gainesville, Florida. A Muslim imam who wants to build near Ground Zero in New York, will they settle things? Will they meet on 9/11?

Tonight, a special edition of RICK'S LIST in prime time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. Here we go.

If you stay with me, I'm going and try -- try and lend some clarity to this story, this mystifying, somewhat maddening story that's been evolving with this Florida preacher and whether he's going to follow through on his plans to burn Korans this Saturday.

I want you to know, just in case you missed it, that it's a matter of such importance now that the president of the United States has addressed it today. He and others want this preacher to cease and desist because of the possible harm that he could bring to our troops who are overseas, to civilians, American civilians who are overseas, and to the rest of us, even here at home.

Those are the ramifications, and they're serious. So, let me give you a quick and accurate timeline of just how this has progressed over the last several hours.

Noon Eastern, FBI agents -- I think we have got the video. Let's see if we can see that there. FBI agents exit the Gainesville, Florida, church, of Terry Jones -- those are the guys in the dark suits right there -- the pastor who has angered many of the world's Muslims by planning to burn their Korans, planning to burn Korans this Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Then, about 4:15 Eastern time, Jones receives a call from Defense Secretary Gates. Gates, according to the Pentagon, tried to impress upon Jones that his plans are putting our troops overseas at risk. Getting a call from the Pentagon. Let's move forward. Now it's 4:55, almost five p.m. Eastern. Jones suddenly emerges from his church with what sounds like a major announcement. He says he's canceled his Koran-burning plans as part of the deal with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. This is the controversy in New York, which was separate from what's going on in Florida, but suddenly they're tied together, at least according to him.

Jones says that Rauf is changing his plans to build a mosque and an Islamic center near Ground Zero and that the two will meet here in New York this Saturday.

In fact, I want you to hear part of this. If you have got that, go ahead. Hit that, Kel (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PASTOR TERRY JONES, DOVE WORLD OUTREACH CENTER: The American people do not want the mosque there. And, of course, Muslims do not want us to burn the Koran. The imam has agreed to move the mosque. We have agreed to cancel our event on Saturday. And on Saturday, I will be flying up there to meet with him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: But then, just a short time later, CNN gets in touch with Imam Rauf. Now, that's the imam in New York, for those of you following this around the country, who says, no, there's no deal. And he says he hasn't talked with this Pastor Jones or even with this Florida-based imam in this case, Imam Musri, who was appearing there at Jones' side.

We're going to try and nail this down precisely where we are now with this story, and I'm going to start in Gainesville, Florida.

CNN's John Zarrella has been following this story as carefully as he can. There's John there. He's been in contact with all -- both sides of this story there, which is the imam, Musri, and the pastor, Jones.

In fact, I understand that you did an interview moments ago with Imam Musri to try and clear up if, in fact, it's true that he had cut this deal between the imam in New York and the pastor in Florida. Let's listen to that, and then I want to bring you in on the backside, John.

Hit that, if you would, Kel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: By the time you left there and walked out here with Pastor Jones, it went from you saying that we can meet with the imam in New York and then Pastor Jones comes out and says, we have a deal, and insists there's a deal.

He stretched it, changed it?

IMAM MUHAMMAD MUSRI, President, Islamic Society of Central Florida: Stretched it, possibly.

I said, before I went into the meeting, exactly what I was going to tell him and what commitment I had. That's what I told him three, four times in his office and right before we walked out, so that we are clear.

But I was a bit surprised that he stretched it to say that. And when he was pressed on it, he said, no, I didn't speak to the imam in New York. I spoke to Imam Musri here. And he gave me his word that...

ZARRELLA: That there was a deal.

MUSRI: ... that I will work on it, not that -- he knows and I know and the whole world knows that it is not in my hand. That project is not my project. I have no control over it. So...

ZARRELLA: So you believe that he knows there's no deal, even though he's saying it?

MUSRI: Yes, I did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Well, I will tell you, John, look, I got Susan Candiotti standing here next to me.

And you're going to be bringing us at least the latest on what's going on with the imam here in New York.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here in New York, right.

SANCHEZ: Right. Before we get to that, let me get back to John, because I want to know now what's going on with this Pastor Jones.

Even if it's true that he's not now going to have this deal with the imam in New York, what I want to know, what Americans want to know, what people all over the world want to know is, well, is he still going to -- is he still going to do the part of the deal that he explained earlier, where he's not going to burn the Korans?

Is he going to hold up his end of the deal?

ZARRELLA: Maybe. That's about what we're getting out of him now.

Earlier today -- earlier today, when he was asked that question, Rick, he said, look, I'm not even entertaining that right now, what we would do if there is no deal, if we don't go to New York.

Then just a few minutes ago, he told us, we're going to wait 24 hours. We're going to see if we were lied to. We hope we weren't lied to. We still hope we're going to be able to go to New York and work something out, but for now -- for now, the burning of the Korans on Saturday is on hold. So, he's backpedaling again from, I'm not entertaining it anymore, we're not doing it, to, we're going to wait 24 hours and see whether we were lied to before we make a decision on whether to go ahead with the burning of the Korans on Saturday night.

SANCHEZ: So, he has not definitively said that his not burning the Korans is contingent on the imam in New York moving the cultural center?

ZARRELLA: No, he's said, definitively that if he doesn't get his meeting in New York, that it's up in the air as to what he will do come Saturday night, if he doesn't fly to New York. If he doesn't get a deal at the end of the day, even after his meeting, it's still very murky as to what his next move might be.

SANCHEZ: Well, wait a minute.

Angie just said, she just got -- boy, I will tell you, the way this story moves. My executive producer, Angie Massie, just told me now and is telling me, Terry Jones has just spoken, this pastor, once again, John, and he says: "We assumed what the imam said was true. Now we're in a state of limbo."

ZARRELLA: Correct. Correct.

SANCHEZ: "We have to rethink our position. We are rethinking our position. We are reconsidering. We would like to think that what the imam said was true."

So, that means we're back to square one, back to square one.

(CROSSTALK)

ZARRELLA: He's back to square one, right, and he will wait the 24 hours to make a decision, literally, when he sees if he gets on that airplane on Saturday, and if, in fact, there is a meeting, which, again, he doesn't know where it's going to be, what time it's going to be, anything of any of the details in New York.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Well, that's where I have got to bring in...

(CROSSTALK)

MUSRI: He says the imam here is working it out.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: That's where I have got to bring in Susan Candiotti, though.

Let's what is going -- John, good job. Great reporting, as usual.

Susan Candiotti, Imam Rauf here in New York, how did he suddenly get involved in these negotiations in Florida and what do you know about whether he's even amenable to a meeting with this guy?

CANDIOTTI: You know, Rick, I don't know that he knows that he's involved in any negotiations.

I mean, I guess in the vernacular, you could say he might be saying, "What the?" because what we have here is a statement, a statement from the imam, Imam Feisal here in New York, Rauf, reacting to the events earlier in the day. And if we can pull up a little chunk of that -- well, first, he said, first of all, like you mentioned, "I'm happy that Pastor Jones is not carrying through with his plans to burn the Korans."

SANCHEZ: Right. That's understandable.

CANDIOTTI: Of course.

And then he says: "I haven't talked with him. As far as I know, no one here has talked with him. I don't know who's talked with him." And then he adds this. Now we can pull up the quote a little bit.

"We are not going to toy with our religion or any other, nor are we going to barter. We are here to build peace and harmony," he says, "peace and harmony."

So, now, this latest turn of events, and he's going back -- I don't think the imam quite understands, nor do we quite understand, exactly what's going on here.

SANCHEZ: And at this point, there's just no meeting, as far as we know.

CANDIOTTI: As far as we know, there's no meeting.

SANCHEZ: Terry Jones may be flying up here. He may very well get a meeting, but, as far as we know, nothing's set in stone at this point.

CANDIOTTI: All we know for sure is that there are going to be two rallies on Saturday, one against the proposed cultural center and mosque, and one supporting it.

SANCHEZ: Well, now I want to go to Chris Lawrence. He's standing by at the Pentagon. He's our Pentagon correspondent, as a matter of fact.

And I will tell you, a lot of people today were thinking, it's unheard of for someone of the stature of Secretary Gates to pick up the phone and call a man who's only got 30 people going to his services there in Gainesville, Florida, and asking him not to do something on behalf of all of our troops fighting overseas.

How big a deal is this to the Pentagon? How are they articulating this to you, Chris?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Rick, big. The Pentagon spokesman called it unusual. What it is, is unprecedented. I can't remember a secretary of defense ever making a call like this. And a lot of what Susan just talked about, you know, now the deal maybe is off the table, that really plays into a lot of the internal concerns that were going on here in the Pentagon, a lot of internal discussions.

There was some really high-level talks among the administration. Secretary Gates was a part of that, about whether this call should be made and who should make it. Some of the concerns that I heard here were, you know, the administration's position was out there. Gates had come out against it. Secretary Clinton had come out against it. President Obama had come out against it.

So, the preacher knew how they felt. You know, they wondered, is this some sort of stunt to make the phone call? But, ultimately, what I am told is that Secretary Gates' attitude was, if making this call saves the life of even one American troop, then it's worth making that call, and that's why he made the call.

SANCHEZ: Chris Lawrence, my thanks to you.

By the way, Susan, before you go, you have got an update that you were just reading to me now about something coming in overseas on this, right?

CANDIOTTI: Well, yes, because there have been, as of late, flag burnings in various parts overseas, with people who are concerned about the Koran building or the proposed Koran build -- burnings, rather.

So, today, the Iraqi prime minister, Mr. Maliki, put out a statement. And he says, he hopes everything possible should be done to ban the Koran burning and he adds -- quote -- "If it does take place, it will inflict the most severe damage to interfaith relations and human and cultural dialogue and will be used as a pretext by extremists for more killings and retaliatory killing."

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: I should let you know that there's a lot of people who have been trying to do everything they possibly can to mediate this situation and, well, avoid that image of these Korans being burnt from all over the world. We talked about the imam in Florida, right? That's Imam Musri.

We have just made contact with him and he's going to be joining us here in just a little bit to take us through whatever negotiations he went through. Someone else has also tried to negotiate with Pastor Jones, offered to pray with him. He's walking into our studios, as a matter of fact, right now.

Here is the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who's going to take us through -- and he's done this type of thing before, so we look forward to our conversation, as usual. See if you can take through this.

We are going to take a short back. We're going to come back with the Reverend Jesse Jackson in just a moment.

Stay with us. This is a special edition of RICK'S LIST.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: It's amazing. Welcome back, everybody. This is a special edition of RICK'S LIST.

And apparently the information that had been given out by this Pastor Jones in Gainesville, Florida, is very different from what he's saying now. Moments ago, Pastor Jones came back out and said something to the effect that he's back to square one. It sounds like he was under the impression, and he makes it sounds as if he was led to believe that there was some kind of deal between himself and the imam here building the cultural center in New York, and that if he would not burn his Koran, that there appeared to be some kind of quid pro quo, where he would meet with the pastor in New York and -- pardon me -- the imam in New York, and the imam in New York would then move the cultural center.

Well, as it appears right now, that deal does not exist, in fact, never did.

Joining us now is the Reverend Jesse Jackson, whose good enough to let us know that he's been doing everything he possibly can to mediate this thing.

You have got a lot of experience with this guy. You have mediated this kind of stuff all over the world. What have you done today? Where are we right now?

REVEREND JESSE JACKSON, FOUNDER, RAINBOW/PUSH COALITION: Well, we wrote an appeal to him trying to meet, couldn't get to him on the telephone, just to make a basic moral appeal in the name of Christianity.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

JACKSON: And the Bible says, perfect love cast our fear. And perfect hate or sicknesses instills fear. So, there is this fear factor.

But he is so awesome in his media savvy. It's like if station A covers it, station B must cover it, so there's a kind of fatal attraction kind of class of media people.

And so, I hope he will not burn the Koran. We might stop him from burning it. But he cannot make you cover the fire. And that becomes the media -- do you have to cover? If it's burned, do you have to...

SANCHEZ: Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

JACKSON: And that puts the burden on which media will have enough discipline, if it happens, not to cover the fire and to cover him while he's doing it. SANCHEZ: As a man of faith, how do you explain someone like this person? Because it would seem to us and anyone who looks at this that what he's doing is not in any way godly, at least not the God that I have prayed to all my life.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: It's almost just downright disrespectful.

JACKSON: It is utterly irrational. It's pathological. There's a sickness...

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Pathological?

JACKSON: There's a sickness here.

He talked with someone in New York. He did not talk with someone in New York. He was lying. And then to go from Florida to come to New York would be to put more gas on the fire. So he's still running, set the stage, and got all the media following him and now the government following him.

And it puts the government -- I would have rather seen a group of ministers go to Florida at the behest of the White House and say, I hope he does not do it, would talk with him. It does not represent the Christian faith. If you add the denominational leaders on national (INAUDIBLE) say this is not who we are.

SANCHEZ: Well, that's interesting you would say that. We have got a tweet. We follow people on social media on this show a lot. We have developed this. And we have got a tweet now.

This is from the president of the United States. Just as you're saying what you believe would be a good strategy for the White House, here's Barack Obama today. "Burning a Koran is contrary to our values. This country was built on the notions of religious freedom and tolerance."

Messages like that, short of the president picking up the phone and calling him -- we know that Secretary Gates, for example, has called him, others in the Pentagon, Lieutenant General Caldwell, General Petraeus have all come out and said, please don't do this. You're risking the lives of our troops. You're saying that's not enough?

JACKSON: Well, I'm saying that when you can engage the White House and they allow the secretary of defense to make a call, the secretary of defense -- I mean, Petraeus from Afghanistan makes a statement. Secretary Clinton makes a statement.

You have given this guy awesome power. You have fed into all of his pathologies. It seems to me that somehow you must tone down the appeal to him, because, if he burns it, it does not represent the Christian faith. SANCHEZ: So, in other words, a coalition of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, other reverends from other denominations, most of them Protestant or Christian, getting together with him and praying and saying, please don't do this?

JACKSON: That's right.

And he may say yes. If he says no, it means this guy's isolated.

SANCHEZ: OK.

JACKSON: The church can isolate a heretic. The government cannot isolate a heretic. They cannot even distinguish between what's a heretic and what's genuine.

SANCHEZ: That's an interesting point that you have brought us.

And my thanks, as usual, for coming by.

JACKSON: Thank you, sir.

SANCHEZ: Reverend Jesse Jackson.

JACKSON: I hope he does not burn the Koran and that no one burns the Bible in response. I hope that does not happen.

SANCHEZ: We're going to watch this. And this is the kind of thing that, obviously, can be amped up. And that's the thing to try and avoid at this point.

JACKSON: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Thank you, sir.

Take a look at this, folks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I suggest that they find another restaurant to eat at that does tolerate it, because we're not going to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right. Here's what's coming up next on my list of the most controversial stories that are making news tonight.

Should children be kicked out of restaurants if they won't behave? What if it's your child? A question that is being asked tonight.

Also, what are the newest polls saying about the midterm elections? Who's winning and who's losing, the D's or the R's? In three different states, we have got it. We will share. We will be right back. This is a special edition of RICK'S LIST.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: All right, once again, we have told you what's going on with this story that now has ramifications in both Florida and in New York, and, you know, tangentially, all over the United States and all over the world.

The imam that was apparently the deal-breaker in Florida, or as so we thought earlier today, has told us that he would be amenable to talk to us in a few minutes. So, that is Imam Musri in -- out of Orlando, Florida.

As soon as we're able to make contact with him, we will bring you that interview and we will bring you up to date with what's going on.

Now to our list of the most controversial stories making news tonight.

First, number three. A restaurant owner in North Carolina has had enough screaming kids, so much so that she has posted signs banning them -- Can you believe this? -- banning them, banning children who scream from her establishment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I suggest that they find another restaurant to eat at that does tolerate it, because we're not going to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Some parents are outraged. Some customers are relieved. What do you say? I will be looking forward to your tweets.

Now to number two. Residents of a Hispanic neighborhood in Los Angeles are furious with police there. Why? Because they say that a police officer should not have shot and killed a man named Manuel Jamines.

Police are saying that he had a knife and came at police. Residents say, no, no, no, that's not true.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Jamines should not have had a knife, but (INAUDIBLE) Hernandez should not have had a gun and should never have one again. Why haven't you even suspended him?.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys need to stop portraying my people like we're the ones causing all this ruckus around this community, because there's a lot of people that are just waiting for an opportunity to erupt, so they can start another L.A. riot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Police Chief Charlie Beck is defending his officer for now, but he is also promising a full investigation. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're stopped at a checkpoint. An Iraqi army officer looks under the car and shouts: "There's a bomb. Get away."

Soldiers accuse the car's occupants of being terrorists and threaten dire retribution, despite frantic denials and pleas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Can you imagine how frightened this man is? What is number one on our list of most controversial stories tonight? Well, just imagine how this guy must feel, thinking that he's about to meet his maker. That's right. We're going to take you through this story in just a little bit.

Also, Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck are teaming up for what is being described as a fund-raiser, but it's on 9/11, and critics are wondering where the cash is going to. That's an important question as well. It's ahead.

We will be right back. This is RICK'S LIST.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.

It is another busy night here on RICK'S LIST. We're coming to you live, as you can see, with Columbus Circle there behind me, live from New York City tonight.

What is the most controversial story that is making news on this night? It is a new TV show in Iraq. Soldiers are telling that man you tell right there taking off his shoes that he's a terrorist and that there's a bomb under his car.

The only problem is that he is completely freaked out. It's not real. This is a type of Iraqi version of "Punk'd," the man driving the car, a famous Iraqi comedian being pranked. The show has plenty of critics. And you would imagine that in a country where real bombs happen every day, some people are questioning whether or not this was in very good taste at all.

Also, tonight, a snapshot of some key Senate and governor's races, and these snapshots in some cases may surprise you.

Here are the five most important political stories tonight.

Number five, first to Kentucky. Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, is a Tea Party darling. Is he winning big? No, he's not. In fact, he's locked in a dead heat in a Senate race, 46 percent Rand Paul, 46 percent Democrat Jack Conway. Conway's leading Paul among self- described moderates. Paul is leading among independents.

Here now, number four. For that we take you to my home state, Florida.

Governor Charlie Crist is in a near dead heat tonight with Tea Party-backed Republican, Marco Rubio. Rubio's polling at 36 percent. Charlie Crist at 34 percent. Keep in mind, Crist is a former Republican, now running as an independent after Rubio out-flanked him among conservatives. Democrat Kendrick Meek is trailing at 24 percent.

Here is political story number three. Take a look at this. Staying in Florida, now to the governor's race.

Democrat Alex Sink has opened up a lead against health care billionaire Rick Scott. Scott is using his own money to fund his campaign. He's backed by the Tea Party and he's trailing Alex Sink by seven percentage points. Sink is scoring big among independents, even bigger among moderates.

Here now, another intriguing poll, this is number two. The California's governor's race. It's a virtual dead heat between political newbie Meg Whitman and former Governor Jerry Brown. I'm going to tell you why this is a bit of a shocker. Meg Whitman has already spent $100 million of her own money. I'll say that again, $100 million of her own money to beat Jerry Brown, who spent just a tiny fraction of what Whitman has laid out. Jerry Brown is in this.

So, what is number one on the list of the political stories that we are following for you tonight? It is this duo. Political superstar Sarah Palin and TV personality Glenn Beck, charging hundreds of dollars for tickets to an oddly timed joint appearance. What day is it occurring? Well, that's what the controversy is about.

Imam Musri has just come out to our cameras in Florida. There he is. I'm going to be asking him to respond to the news that we just got from Terry Jones saying that his plans for the Koran burning are back to square one.

Imam, thanks so much for joining us. We're going to be taking a quick break.

IMAM MUHAMMAD MUSRI, ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: We'll come right back, and on the other side of the break, you and I will try and go through this for American viewers as diligently as we possibly can, sir.

This is RICK'S LIST. We'll be right back.

MUSRI: I'd be glad to.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We're going to get to our number one political story in just a little bit, but first, I want to bring in now Imam Muhammad Musri of the Islamic Society of Central Florida. He's joining me live from Gainesville, just outside Pastor Jones' congregation. Imam, thank you, sir, for being kind enough to come out and talk to us tonight, to try and explain this situation. Let me just start with a very simple question. Why was Pastor Jones under the impression that there was some kind of deal earlier tonight that would somehow link the Islamic cultural center in New York City to his not burning Korans? How did that come about?

MUSRI: That came about after we stepped out from his church to face the cameras, that he took one issue, that was a side issue, where I told him, I knew that he was interested in the relocation of the mosque, proposed mosque near Ground Zero. I said, I'm also favoring that position and I promise to arrange for a meeting for both of us to go to New York and meet with the imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is in charge of that project, to talk to him about our feeling towards relocating the mosque. But the center point of our discussion, and the reason for our agreement for him to cancel the event on Saturday was the fact that tomorrow morning across the Muslim world, there is the -- one of the holiest day of the year, that's Eid al-Fitr, the end of the fast, and hundreds of millions of people will be heading to mosques to listen to sermons. I told him the message that these people will hear will be very negative and time is of the essence.

SANCHEZ: So --

MUSRI: If you delay until tomorrow or Saturday, it will be too late.

SANCHEZ: So Imam Musri, just to be clear, you're saying that he had agreed to not burn the Korans based on your argument of the impact it would have around the world, before you had the discussion about the situation, the potential quid pro quo that he explained having to do with this cultural center in New York, right?

MUSRI: Precisely. And because many leaders have contacted him, Christian leaders and many politicians have spoken openly about this, including the president, the secretary of state, and they all told him, General Petraeus told him he should cancel it. So he wasn't really acting because of --

SANCHEZ: Listen, we get that. We get that.

The part that's really perplexing tonight is that he somehow came away with the impression that the only reason he would do this gesture of not burning the Korans was because somehow he was under the impression that he was able to cut a deal to make sure that the Islamic center in New York would be moved. You're saying here that he made that conclusion on his own, that he either jumped to that conclusion or stretched what you had said?

MUSRI: Stretched would be the word. What we agreed is we had a commitment from the office of the imam in New York to set up a meeting and to invite Pastor Jones to present this proposal. We did not have an agreement from them, from the imam himself or anyone in his office that the project will be moved or canceled in New York. And I explained this over three or four times to the pastor, inside his office. But when we stepped out in front of the cameras, he stretched that to say that I gave him --

SANCHEZ: Assurances?

MUSRI: And a commitment or assurances, or he puts it, guarantees, that that would happen. I did not -- I have no control over the project in New York to begin with.

SANCHEZ: Well, were you there when --

MUSRI: So I cannot promise.

SANCHEZ: Where you there when he said that, when he came to that conclusion? Did you -- what was your reaction? Did you feel like saying, wait, wait, wait, hold on a minute, I never said that I'm going to broker this deal to move the Islamic center in New York. Did you say that? Did you feel like saying -- what was your reaction at that moment?

MUSRI: My reaction was to him, the imam in New York didn't say so. There is no deal that's written, signed and delivered. It was a verbal promise from me and a commitment from the office of the imam to meet with us to discuss it and it is my commitment to work on it, not that we have a deal in hand.

SANCHEZ: OK.

MUSRI: And he said, that's enough for him. My word is enough for him, and that we will go together if possible on Saturday, or the earliest in order to discuss that.

SANCHEZ: All right. So now he's coming out and he's saying that we're back to square one, which is interesting in and of itself.

Let's move towards the future, if we can, and have this discussion because there are people all over the world that are very interested in this thing coming to some kind of culmination.

Is there still a possibility that he may be coming to New York this weekend to meet with any of the representatives from the cultural center? Have you reached out to anyone in New York, and if so, what can you tell us about any of those preliminary conversations?

MUSRI: I did not get the opportunity. Since we did that press conference, we have been in constant interviews. But earlier this morning, before heading out, I did have a conversation with his office, and they gave me a verbal commitment that there will be a meeting. And that's why I chose to travel to Gainesville for a second meeting with the pastor and to include that as one of the offers and the reasons why he should give up the event on Saturday.

SANCHEZ: Do you feel this deal is --

MUSRI: So, yes, there is still a possibility that we will go, and I'm going to work diligently tonight and tomorrow to set that up. And it all depends on the timetable of the imam and his team. If all is possible, we will be in New York on Saturday or as early thereafter as possible to discuss this.

SANCHEZ: Imam Musri, you've been very kind, sir, to come out and thank you for responding to our question. We will continue to stay in touch with you.

MUSRI: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: And we'll do everything we can to get through this story and clear up everything that we possibly can for our viewers as well.

Still ahead, everything seems to be going digital these days, from books to newspapers. Will an iconic dictionary be next? I'm going to tell you about that in just a minute. That's trending. We're going to be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: So what is the number one story on our political list tonight? The duo of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck are back in the news. Many Americans want to know if they're planning a for-profit event on 9/11. This is political story number one.

Sarah Palin is touting this event on her Facebook page. Here's a quote. "Glenn Beck will be there -- you won't want to miss it. Tickets are available now at ticketmaster.com."

So Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck are teaming up on Saturday in Anchorage, according to her own Facebook page. So we checked with Ticketmaster and the charge starts at about 100 bucks a head just to attend.

Many would wonder and argue the fact if that's tasteful, even proper given what 9/11 signifies for Americans. There's even a meet and greet we learn that Beck -- with Mr. Beck that will cost a premium price of $225. Now event organizers are saying the event is nearly sold out, but it's not known how the proceeds will be disbursed, specifically.

Tonight, Glenn Beck has told CBS News that he will donate his speaking fee, but it's still unclear if his speaking fee represents all the ticket proceeds. Now we've tried to reach out to Glenn Beck tonight, but were so far unable to make contact.

Larry King is standing by tonight. He's going to let us know what's going on for "LARRY KING LIVE." And there he is wearing his trademark suspenders.

Hey, Brooke is here. Brooke, say hi to Larry.

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Hey, Rick. I was with Glenn Beck.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Larry.

KING: Hi. SANCHEZ: You were?

KING: I was with Glenn Beck once, didn't cost me anything.

(LAUGHTER)

He didn't charge. Anyway --

SANCHEZ: Well, done. You got a freebie.

KING: Katie Couric is going to be here. Brian Williams and Diane Sawyer, they're all here, standing up to cancer. So is Dr. Sanjay Gupta. And then Dr. Mehmet Oz, he's one of my favorite people too. He's going to tell us about his own slight health scare. His story might help you save your life.

And we've got the breaking news over the proposed burning of that Koran in Florida and the controversial event. Going to take place or not, who knows after all that guy has 50 followers.

SANCHEZ: Yes. And you know what, that's on a good day.

Larry King, ladies and gentlemen. Look forward to seeing you in just a little bit, Larry. And Brooke Baldwin joins us now.

BALDWIN: Hello, sir.

SANCHEZ: You're doing trending. And what are the big trending stories that people are talking about tonight on the Internet, on Google, on Twitter, et cetera?

BALDWIN: I have two items. One is sort of pertinent to this national discussion with regard to the Islamic cultural center and the mosque in New York. When we get to it, a big get on "The View." This morning, retired four-star General Colin Powell on "The View," and of course, up for discussion, what did they ask him about, the proposed community center just a couple blocks, two blocks north of Ground Zero.

And here's what's interesting. This is what he pointed out, that there is an Islamic prayer room in both the Pentagon and Walter Reed. Not a lot of people realize that. He said it's not for extremists, it's for Americans, so why not have that the near Ground Zero. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. COLIN POWELL (RET.), FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: So I'm saying to myself, OK, this is a center that will attract all of our citizens to come and reflect, and yes, there'll be a mosque inside for our Islamic brothers to pray. And I'm saying to myself, what is wrong with this? And does it make a difference whether it's two, three, four, five, or ten blocks away? And the answer is, if you believe in our system and if you understand why we can do it in the Pentagon and Walter Reed, then you can't make a distinction between two, three, five, and ten blocks. So I think it should go forward. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So he says it should go forward. He then, though, quickly said, look, you know, if people in New York say it should be a little farther away, four, five, six, ten blocks, that's fine. The point is, he said they should continue forward.

Number two on my list, got a couple of words for you is I am a lover of words, archaic, superfluous, obsolete, right? So if you're a lover of lexicon, sad news for you. The next edition of the historic book, the Oxford English Dictionary may never be printed ever again. That is what the Oxford University press told CNN this week. The popularity of the page being upstaged by the virtual version. Not to mention, you know, as well as I do, book sales kind of going down the tubes when they're trying to compete with what you can read online. Oxford does say they have this whole team of 80 lexicographers, people working on all the words that research dictionaries --

SANCHEZ: Usage, and it changes every year. They add words and take away --

BALDWIN: Look at you.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

BALDWIN: Were you a former lexicographer in your last life? Perhaps.

SANCHEZ: I love this stuff.

BALDWIN: I think it's fascinating. And so they're all sitting there at Oxford, they're continuing on with their research because it's possible, depending on the popularity and the demand for the iPads, the Kindles, perhaps they will print that third edition of this Oxford . English Dictionary. So they're still working, but we don't know.

SANCHEZ: Well, you know, it's a sign of the times.

BALDWIN: It is absolutely a sign of the times. But it's a sad sign of the times.

SANCHEZ: But at the same time for those of us who've always grown up as writers in this business with our Olympia typewriter here and our dictionary hanging right there, number one on the show, it's kind of a shame to see it go.

BALDWIN: Look, even I'm of the young -- younger generation, and I appreciate the tangible page.

SANCHEZ: There you go showing off again. Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: You're welcome.

SANCHEZ: Are you calling me old?

BALDWIN: I can see you pecking at the typewriter as a cub reporter.

SANCHEZ: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Coming up, I'm going to give way one of my books to someone who has tweeted tonight. And boy, have we got a lot of interesting tweets on this night.

I'm Rick Sanchez with Brooke Baldwin. This is RICK'S LIST, and we're going to be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: We checked with one of our correspondents in Europe and wait until you see what we have found out about Pastor Jones when he was in Germany. That's coming up in just a little bit.

But first, the first rule of the fight club, you don't talk about the fight club, unless, of course, you're at a wedding. Time for "Fotos."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ah, dios mio.

SANCHEZ: The bride and groom are posing for pictures, right. What's that? Oh, my goodness. Look -- the videographer and the cameraman are going at each other in the middle of a wedding. Poor bride's like, please, this is the most important day of my life!

It was apparently some kind of misunderstanding that led to a fistfight. There's a chase. Now, watch this guy. I'm going to throw my camera at you! I mean, these are the kind of things we need to bring you every day in "Fotos."

Here's number two.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, he's got a chance -- gone!

SANCHEZ: Oh, forget the glove. This guy goes out and tries to make the catch, but you know what, you're all by yourself out there, you didn't even need to make a diving catch and land on your head, leaps over a railing, bounces off some seats, completely misses the ball. Eventually recovers it, probably because not a single fan challenged him. You've got to give him credit, though. He listened to his mama. You know when your mama said, look, son, whatever you do, you make sure you give it your all.

That's "Fotos." You can see it for yourself, by the way, on CNN.com/ricksanchez.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ah, dios mio.

SANCHEZ: Who exactly is this Florida pastor at the center of this Koran-burning controversy? We've been doing a little digging to find out what his story is. Not here in the United States, but back when he lived in Germany. Wait until you see what we found out. Stay right there. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. I just wrote a book, it came out this week, and I want to thank all of you who are sending me tweets and thanking me for the read that you seem to be enjoying. But I want you to know that I couldn't have done it without you, because this whole thing that we do here involves you and social media. So I want to give you something back. And here's what I'm doing. Every show, I'm going to give out one of my books with an autographed copy of it.

And I wish I had thought of this Twitter account name. ReeZen. That's Aaron Squires (ph). And this is what he said to us after he watched the conversation I just had a little while ago with Brooke Baldwin. He's the winner tonight. "They should print the Oxford Dictionary. My coffee table is uneven."

Wah-wah-wah. Thank you very much, sir.

Now back to this pastor in Gainesville, Florida. We have done some digging and found out what he was before he came to the United States. Phil Black is our correspondent. He joins me from Koln, Germany. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rick, well, a lot of people around the world are wondering who was Terry Jones. And here in Koln, Germany, there are a lot of people who have already had a great deal of experience with him. And it started back in the 1980s. That's when he first founded the church that I'm standing in front of now, the Christian Community of Koln. And we're told in those early days, those early years, he was a very successful church leader. He was described as, as you say, charismatic. He had a very strong forceful personality. He was very good at drawing people to him, getting them to work for the church. And he built the church up around 1,000 people or so, at one point. But then over time, well, things turned bad.

He's described as having a very dominant, forceful personality. He was very demanding, demanded loyalty, demanded to be obeyed. He was very ambitious. He was trying to create, in the words of some of these church members, a Christian awakening that would start in this city and spread all the way across Europe. But over time, the size of his personality, the fact that so much of the church functioned around him, well, that began to alienate the members of that church. And so over time, they got a little fed up, they confronted him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And they got enough fed up to eventually end that congregation. Then he came here to the United States and is now trying to start one there in Gainesville.

I'm Rick Sanchez. Thanks so much for being with us.

Here now, "LARRY KING LIVE."