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Rick's List
Shootings at Johns Hopkins Hospital; Police Beating in Philadelphia Stirs Outrage; NFL Releases Memo to All 32 Teams Regarding Sainz/Jets Incident; 'CNN Equals Politics Update'; Fish Kill in Plaquemines Parish
Aired September 16, 2010 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: It is time now for the "CNN Equals Politics" update with Wolf Blitzer. He is part of the best political team on television. And here's Wolf. Wolf, bring us up to date. What's crossing right now?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Several important items on our political ticker at CNN.com. Sarah Palin, she is in Kentucky lending a hand to Rand Paul -- he's the Republican senatorial candidate. A recent CNN-Time Magazine poll had it sort of neck-and-neck among registered voters, but among likely voters, some other polls do have Rand Paul significantly ahead right now. Sarah Palin trying to raise some money for him, help him out.
In Florida, there are some new polls out as well. Among registered voters, it shows Marco Rubio in a pretty close battle with Charlie Crist, Kendrick Meek, the Democratic candidate, further behind. That is among registered voters. But among likely voters, this new Reuters-Ipsos poll has Marco Rubio at 40 percent, 26 percent for Charlie Crist, to 21 percent for Kendrick Meek.
That is among likely voters, not registered voters. One problem that we are reporting now on our "Political Ticker," Rick, is that Charlie Crist is going to have a problem on the ballot. He is going to be way, way down, since he is not the Republican nominee, not the Democratic nominee. He's an independent. Out of 10 candidates who are running for the Senate, he is going to be listed way down at number nine, given the nature of how they list folks on the Florida ballot.
So they are going to have to do some educating of their supporters to look for his name way down the list. That's not going to be an easy hurdle, though, for a lot of folks, including some of the elderly, who are used to seeing names right at the top. SANCHEZ: Yes.
Yes, but, remember, it is Florida, and they have never had problems with ballots. They are usually good with this stuff.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: Yes. They're perfect with the ballots.
SANCHEZ: I say that, of course, with a wink and a nod, as you, I'm sure, understand.
Wolf Blitzer, thank you so much.
Your next political update is in one hour. Remember, for all the very latest political news, just go to CNNPolitics.com, or, on Twitter, you can go to @PoliticalTwitter -- or -- pardon me -- @PoliticalTicker, all one word.
As we begin this next hour, I want to welcome the men and the women watching us right now on Armed Forces Network all over the world. We are your news of record for this hour here in the States, and we are glad to be able to serve you.
Here is your national conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Here's what's making the LIST on this day.
Have you seen what's going on at Johns Hopkins Hospital? A gunman shoots a doctor. A standoff ensues and police have to act. We are on this still-developing story.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a lady who is in our bank right now who says that her husband and children are being held at their house.
SANCHEZ: That's the call that may have saved their lives, but police took 30 minutes to respond. And guess what? It was true, the mom raped and killed, the daughters also killed, a story that reads like a suspense novel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I lost my temper. You see what that says? Volunteer.
SANCHEZ: A volunteer meter man goes crazy and it is all --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have it on video.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could give a damn less.
SANCHEZ: Why is this cement truck hovering in midair?
The lists you need to know about. Who's today's most intriguing? Who's landed on the list you don't want to be on? Who's making news on Twitter? It's why I keep a list.
Pioneering tomorrow's cutting-edge news right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Hey. Welcome back, everyone. I'm Rick Sanchez.
I will tell you, this is just one of those days. It's almost like one outlandish story after an hour. As we get into hour two here, it's time to pick up the pace of some of the stories that we are checking on.
Topping the LIST, have you heard about this one? This is one of the most unbelievable stories we have heard around here in a long time, chilling details coming in from a Connecticut courtroom.
First, I want you to listen to what happened to Jennifer Petit, all right? She's a 48-year-old mother of two girls. You see her there in the picture with her daughters and her husband. She goes to the bank to withdraw money for the men who are holding her and her daughters hostage in their own home.
They have told her, go to the bank, get all the money out of the bank and bring it home. So, she does what they say. She doesn't want her husband killed. She certainly doesn't want her daughters to be injured or killed or worse.
Surveillance video shows her calmly asking the teller for help. That teller turns to her bank manager after she is told what this woman has told them. "Give me all my money," she says. "Somebody in my house is holding my family hostage."
And then she leaves, so the bank manager calls 911.
We have that call. Here it s.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a lady who is in our bank right now who says that her husband and children are being held at their house. The people are in a car outside the bank. She is getting $15,000 to bring out to them, that, if the police are told, they will kill her children and the husband.
Her name is Jennifer PETIT, P-E-T-I-T. She lives at (ADDRESS DELETE). She says they are being very nice. They have their faces covered. She is petrified.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: But look how calm she looks there, I mean, in those shots as she is telling her story and trying to withdraw the money from the bank. That was her in those black and white shots that you were looking at.
Now, listen to this. This is the second part of this 911 call, as Jennifer Petit is leaving the bank.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't -- she wasn't going to call the police, but I came in my office and I did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. She still is in the bank?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, she is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Her husband and family --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, they are tied up, she said. She is taking $15,000 out of a credit line. They told her that they wouldn't hurt anybody if she got back there with the money. She believes them.
I think she's walking out now. She is walking out now.
I don't -- I will watch and see what kind of car she gets in. I'm in my office with the door with the lights off. And I will try and see where she goes. I don't want to make anything look obvious. I don't want to --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, Jennifer Petit.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Jennifer Petit. That's right.
Her husband, Dr. William Petit, survived that home invasion by crawling with his ankles bound together to a neighbor's house. Now, he survived, but the rest of his family did not. They were found, all of them, killed, some of them worse.
Now, listen to that neighbor's calls that happened just as police were finally reacting to the scene.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got Bill Petit here, who's hurt, my neighbor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's at your house?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he's right here.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Dr. Petit came face-to-face this week with one of the men on trial for attacking and killing his wife and two girls. That's what they ended up doing inside of that home.
They killed everyone but the man. They had tied him up. They were ready to shoot him, too. But, apparently, he was able to move away from them.
Steven Hayes is the first of the two suspects to go on trial. Police caught him and Joshua Komisarjevsky heading away from the Petits' burning home. That's right. Get this. They were driving the Petits' car when they crashed into two police officers.
Connecticut police have been facing tough questions about their response time. It took more than 30 minutes from the time that they got that call from the bank to when the Petits' home went up in flames. Police say they didn't see any obvious signs of violence and were following procedure, establishing a perimeter outside the house, as their policy dictates in hostage situations.
Now, many wonder, if police had moved into that house, if they may have been able to save the lives. So, these guys are charged right now with murder, triple murder, kidnapping, sexual assault of Petit's wife. They say raped her as well after she got back with the money. They tied all three of the ladies up, including the youngest daughter.
I want to get some perspective on this story now from a law enforcement expert that I trust. Here is Andy Hill.
Andy, this is as horrible as it gets. This is movie of the week kind of stuff that is even too tough to watch when it is made into a movie, the idea that two men go into a home and force a family to go get money while they terrorize them, rape them, kill them.
And here's the part that's bothering me, if you can't -- could we get a shot of this? I want you to see what the -- Andy, you're there, right? Andy?
ANDY HILL, FORMER POLICE SERGEANT, PHOENIX, ARIZONA: Oh, yes, I'm here. Yes.
SANCHEZ: Yes. Listen to this. I want to show this to folks at home.
At 9:21 is when the police department got that call, right? There it is. Bank employee alerts police to a possible hostage situation. It is not until 9:54 that police deal with this situation. Someone is heard calling the name Dave. That is the neighbor, who we just heard right there, who is saying Dr. William Petit is wounded, et cetera, et cetera.
Somewhere in the middle of all that time, which, by the way, as you can see I wrote there, is 33 minutes, in those 33 minutes, I'm just thinking if they had gone in the home or done something else, they may have been able to save those little girls' lives.
Vignola, or the captain, says he is advising that police need to set up a perimeter before even calling the home.
Is this the proper procedure? Those of us out here as laypeople, we look at this and we go, why didn't they act? Why didn't they storm the home? Why didn't they at least pick up the phone and call the home and find out what was going on?
HILL: Yes, Rick, give me a minute to put it in perspective, because that is really the crux whole thing. And I think people have got to understand something.
Three years ago, when this happened, there was an immediate outcry about why the police took so long. From the get-go, the New Haven Police Department, as I read all the records and all the "New Haven Register" reports, said we did respond within a few minutes after we got that call, which is the truth. It didn't take 33 minutes to respond. It took 33 minutes to get to the point from when they got the call to they were able to enter the house. A lot happened in between. You can only go by the information that you have at the time.
In any hostage situation, the first thing the police need to do is try and create containment and then establish communication with the suspects, unless there is information to indicate that the suspects are hurting the victims.
In this case, the information they got right from the bank teller to the bank manager to the police was that the family was being held hostage and they would be hurt if they didn't get the money. That information went out to the police.
In four minutes, they had officers outside approaching the house, but they didn't have any reason to believe at that moment that the family was in trouble. And it is a difficult situation, but if you force your way into a home without knowing what's going on, there was a chance in their minds, without any further information, that the suspects could have shot everybody or killed everybody immediately.
You remember just a week or two ago that bus hostage in the Philippines -- that bus hijacking. The officers went in. A lot of people died. In those situations, there's great risk. So officers have to go judiciously and use the information they have, a terrible tragedy.
(CROSSTALK)
HILL: I also read what the police captain said. If he had the information that he had after that incident occurred before, they would have said made what they call just an emergency entry. It would have been an accelerated deployment. And there's a lot of training that police agencies go through.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: I know. Look, it is just so frustrating. Look, you're a dad. I'm a dad. Just hearing this story makes me crazy, the idea that as a man you're helpless and these two people have invaded your home and they're violating your wife and they're killing your -- tying up your baby, your girls, and killing them, and setting fire to them, and burning them, all this while police outside setting up a perimeter watching what is going on inside.
You are probably right. You're a police officer. You know about this more than I do, but I got to tell you it is so frustrating to listen to.
Let me --
(CROSSTALK)
HILL: Yes, but, Rick, you got to put the blame where it belongs. Those suspects -- and remember they were parolees, released early. SANCHEZ: Yes.
HILL: Those suspects are the ones that did it. And the officers have to respond as they can. We can't just go blowing into somebody's house, risking other lives. It was hard.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Maybe that is the question we should be asking. How is it that animals like this are allowed to be parolees?
HILL: Exactly.
SANCHEZ: How does a system let people like this out? They had to have a clue that these guys were dangerous as can be.
HILL: They were repeat offenders, Rick. They were released early. They were living in a halfway house. The information all indicates that they were prior criminals. I mean, that's really where you have to look at this situation.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
HILL: It is a horrible tragedy, the worst thing that could possibly happen. And there was just no way around avoiding that tragedy, in terms of looking at that from this perspective. It just stinks. It's horrible.
SANCHEZ: Well, Andy, we appreciate you coming on as a police officer who has experience with this kind of thing and putting it in perspective for us.
Andy Hill.
We will continue to follow the very latest on this.
Now, other news that we are bringing you, the very latest on the video that is sparking outrage, outrage just outside Philadelphia. How is it possible that police officers would move into a situation like this and deal with this man the way that they did when witnesses are saying he was just waiting for his food from a restaurant? What is the real story here? We are trying our best to get the information on that for you.
Also, a shooting at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore turns out deadly. We now have an update on that. Joe Johns has been following it for us. And, apparently, there is new information on the motive. Why did a man walk into a hospital and shoot the doctor who was treating his mother after the doctor gave him the information about what was going on with his mother? It is perplexing.
We will have it. Stay there. We will be back with more on RICK'S LIST.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back, everyone.
Before we get into the "Roundup List" -- you see those big words, "round up" back there, man, that looks massive -- I want to bring you some news.
Number one, Pope Benedict XVI, he is in England and we have some live pictures, as we speak, of the pope arriving in the British Isles. He will be visiting England and Scotland there. And we understand the pope should be coming out any moment now.
Important moment for Catholics all over the world. It's a rare visit from this pope to the different parts of Europe.
And I'm just trying -- I'm just trying to look in here -- oh, they haven't opened the door yet. So as they open the door and follow this, we will bring you the pictures.
He is in England and Scotland. He is going to be there, we understand, four days. Only the second-ever papal visit to Britain. He delivered his first mass of the trip to a large crowd in Glasgow. Addressing the police sex abuse scandal, he described himself as shocked and saddened when he learned of the abuse allegations. The pope says the church hasn't been vigilant or fast enough when responding to this abuse problem.
And once again, let's show the live picture once again of the pope arising for the first time in England proper. And I believe we are starting to see some of the dignitaries from the Vatican coming out. When the pope himself comes out, we will let you see that shot as well.
Let's go on to number two. Amazing pictures, street-level outside Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore today a CNN reporter snapping pictures -- iReporter, I should say -- responding to the shooting inside the hospital.
Now, here's what happened. The Baltimore police commissioner is telling us that a man went in, got into a conversation with the doctor who was treating his mother and then shot the doctor in the abdomen. Then, the man goes into his mother's room, shoots and kills her and then kills himself.
Police are still trying to figure out more as to who this man is, what his motive was and what it is that set him off, not to mention the security issues of how he was able to get into the hospital with a gun in the first place.
Here is number three. Three named storms now, all hurricanes, all spinning at the same time. Right now, Hurricane Karl, category 1, dumping rain on the Yucatan Peninsula and chugging westward. Still out to sea, Hurricane Igor, category 4. And then there's Hurricane Julia, category 2, and weakening. We are going to keep an eye on those. Chad Myers will join us as we continue.
Meanwhile, let's go become to -- there we go. There's what we often call the money shot here, the pope making his visit for the first time in a long time to England. He arrives there with lots of news being made about the pope's declaration, an actual apology more thanking than anything else. Pope Benedict has not been -- he says the Roman Catholic Church has not been vigilant enough or fast enough in responding to the problem of sexual abuse by priests.
There the pope is being met. Pope Benedict moving over to where he will no doubt shake hands with some of the officials that have come there to meet him at the airport. The pope looking in good health, good spirits. He blesses some of those there in the crowd.
The pope said, by the way, just these words that are being reported now around the world, these revelations of child abuse were, for me, a shock and a great sadness. It is difficult to understand how this perversion, perversion of the priestly ministry was possible. That is what he told reporters when he was in Scotland.
By the way, the man you see there with the white hair is the mayor, he is the mayor of London. That is Boris Johnson, who is escorting the pope upon his arrival there in England.
The pope goes on to say, by the way, reading more here from what he has been saying, how a man who has done this and said this can fall into this perversion is difficult to understand.
The pope also added, important words for people all over the world and especially Catholics, he adds, "it is also a great sadness that the authorities of the church were not sufficiently vigilant and insufficiently quick and decisive in taking the necessary measures."
So, those are the words the pope uttered today when he was in Scotland. He is going to be addressing the very same topic now while he is in England and we'll be bringing you the very late on that story here on CNN and certainly tonight at 8:00 p.m. on the primetime edition of RICK'S LIST.
There is a story also of corporate greed out there that is going to make your head spin. It involves diamond belt buckles, Aerosmith (ph) and hookers? I'm call one guy out, it's ahead.
Also, a police beat down caught on camera. It involves batons and fists all right there on the side of the road. And now the fallout, not to mention the fallout from this newscast and the interview we tried to do on this.
Stay with us. We're going to be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We have been getting so many interesting videos on this day that I want to take you through, and some of them have allegations about police brutality.
As a matter of fact, we are going to talk about two cases, law enforcement expert Andy Hill. Yes, we brought Andy back. He's retired police sergeant with the Phoenix Police Department. There's a couple of videos I want to show you, Andy, and I want to show them to some of the folks at home as well. Let's look at the video posted on YouTube, this is the one from Philadelphia.
And here you see a man who is telling police that he was waiting for food when they came up and they told him to move. It shows Philly police officers beating him for almost two minutes. I mean they hit him with the baton.
And then there is one officer right there that you are about to see, he gets nervous and excited about the crowd that's gathering, so he brandishes his gun.
Watch. Watch. Watch. Here it is. Look what he's doing. He's got his gun in his hand and he is waving it around at the crowd, which by the way, becomes really freaked out at this point. He's almost amped the situation up worse than you would think it would have been.
All right, enough said, you've probably read a little about this as well. What is your take on this, Andy?
HILL: I think this one is pretty obvious. You've got a police officer there that's obviously not handling himself well at all. The crowd, when you look at the crowd around him, they are pretty calm, although we don't know what we are saying. But that officer is just way too excited, he is putting every everybody at risk.
And then we don't know exactly what the suspect is doing. Allegedly, he also tried to grab an officer's gun. So we really need to know what the facts are here. There needs to be a really good thorough investigation and it looks like we have excessive force, but we need to get all those facts and know what that guy was doing before the video started.
SANCHEZ: I think you're right. And I tried to interview them earlier and he wouldn't answer my questions and his lawyer just wanted to talk about niceties and et cetera, so I sent them home.
But I do want to ask you about that officer brandishing that gun that way. You know police procedure, I don't. Is there ever a reason for a police officer to take a gun and start, you know, doing this thing with it in front of a crowd?
HILL: Well, the only reason to do it, you know, as far as I know in Arizona and most states with a use of force policies, you can only threaten to use deadly force if you have a perceived threat of death or deadly force being against -- being used against you.
SANCHEZ: But there didn't seem to be anything --
HILL: We can't see everybody else, but it doesn't -- there's nothing else around going on that we can see and it doesn't appear that way.
SANCHEZ: Let me bring to you another one now, a little closer to where you are. This is the Dallas Police Department this is Police Chief David Brown announcing yesterday that the department is seeking criminal charges against three police officer s who were involved in a September 5th beating.
Now, they are following a man on a motorcycle, right? And look, the moment the man -- they bump his motorcycle and the moment the cops get out of their car, they run over to the man whose on the ground and they start hitting him with the baton, and then they continue hitting him with the baton.
There is no reason to believe or suspect or there's nothing visible here that would lead us to believe the man is resisting. So is this a case where when you run from a police officer, they are just going to get so jacked up, and it is just a natural human emotion that when they finally get you down, there is a real good chance they are either going to give you a kick or worse?
HILL: You know, in general, absolutely not, Rick. In this case, yes, this appears to be what happened. But in general, most police officers know what use of force and their policies are. You don't have retaliation, you don't hit somebody without having a reason to protect yourself or somebody else and you don't use that baton unless you really need to do it to defend somebody or yourself.
We have only one second there where we don't see what that suspect is doing. But from there on in what appears to be me is just a blatant use of abuse of force.
You know, the whole point is once the threat is done, no matter what that suspect has done, if there is no more threat of force, the officer has to stop and you just deal with it from there.
SANCHEZ: But let me just ask you a question -- if a man has just put your life on the line by running from you when all you were doing is try to stop him to tell him his taillight was out or whatever it is, and now you have gone for a half hour at 60, 70, 80, 90, sometimes over 100 miles an hour, you're thinking this is crazy, I could be dead in a split second. And when it is finally over, how do you turn it off? How are you guys trained to turn that of and go over there and say, sir, freeze, I'm about to put you under arrest without doing what seems to almost instinctual for a human being who is angry and possibly aggressive?
HILL: You know, Rick, we see it every day in those pursuit videos that the media covers. We see officers using restraint all the time. They do turn it off. They are trained to turn it off and they know they are going to get in trouble or lose their job if they don't.
Once in a while that happens and if an officer makes that mistake they can know they are going to pay for it.
This particular situation, like all these, you know, abuse of force situations, they anger me, just like they anger most cops who are working and know what it's like, because they have used restraint and they know it is the right thing to do. SANCHEZ: You just have to --
HILL: And that's what they get paid for, to use restraint, to keep the peace.
SANCHEZ: Sounds like you're saying you just have to figure out a way to control yourself. Self control, we learned it in first grade and we have to use it in our jobs as well.
Thank you, Andy. I appreciate your time, I appreciate your perspective as usual.
A revealing look at the world of sex trafficking. In some case, girls as young as 13 forced into sex slavery. That story is ahead.
And as we go to break, here is a look at how we put today's newscast together. Time now for what we call "The Rick Vid."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, this is the bank teller. I need the police right now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is what she said.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He called 911.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, they did their due diligence.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Took the Petits' car and the car ran into the police barricade. You could make the argument, would they have caught the guys if they had abandoned police procedure and just ran in guns blazing. You don't know. I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michelle Obama with Carla Bruni, but it's all about Michelle Obama. We're hitting up the White House, hitting up some very popular Twitter --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Volunteering is a wonderful thing to do. You know why? It's good for your soul. Time for "Fotos."
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, my own backyard as a child. This one speaks for itself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shove it up your --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just -- I have it on video.
UNIDENTIFIED: I could give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED), you Pennsylvania stupid wood chuck. I don't give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) about the job. A guy like you should be (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of here.
Yes, I lost my temper. You see what that says? Volunteer. You don't even know what (EXPLETIVE DELETED) that means. Volunteer. Okay?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Can you say meter madness? That's right. This is a volunteer meter man. He wrote a ticket. The couple wrote a note to the city, and the city wrote him a pink slip. Did you hear what he called the guy? A Pennsylvania (INAUDIBLE) woodchuck. Huh? Tweet me if you know what that means. Brooke's wondering, too.
Greenville, South Carolina, an old-fashioned base brawl. It was bottom of the fifth -- always is -- several players ended up on the bottom of the pile. Started when one player barreled into another. He plays for the Greenville drive. And that's just what he did. He drove over the catcher. Lots of players were involved but there were just four ejections, two from each team.
Next, they do things a little different in Canada, but this is not the way to park your cement truck. Here's what happened. The weight of the concrete pumping equipment turned out to be more than the truck. Simple physics. Two weights and a fulcrum, right? Well, stay in school.
Okay. That's "Fotos." You can see them for yourself right here on CNN.com/ricksanchez. That's my blog.
Time for one of the best parts of the show, because Brooke Baldwin comes out and does something called "Trending." In other words, you want to know what people on the Internet are talking about, what they are talking to each other about. What is the big news out there?
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, I thought that guy said woodchuck, but I thought, no.
SANCHEZ: What does that mean?
BALDWIN: I have no idea.
SANCHEZ: Woodchuck?
BALDWIN: Do you know?
SANCHEZ: I know when I lived out there -- I lived in New Jersey, not Pennsylvania. But that whole area, a lot of woodchucks.
BALDWIN: You called anyone a woodchuck?
SANCHEZ: No.
BALDWIN: Derogatory.
SANCHEZ: Called a woodchuck a woodchuck. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
We'll be right back.
BALDWIN: I knew you were going to do that. Knew it!
SANCHEZ: I can't help myself.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Here we go. You ready for this? Skull -- oh, my God, I lost myself.
BALDWIN: We are going to botch the pronunciation.
SANCHEZ: Schull - well, hold on -- Schuylkill is a river in southeast Pennsylvania, also name of a county. And then Chad and several to other people are telling us that this man is confusing woodchucks with --
BALDWIN: I love how Chad has become the woodchuck expert.
SANCHEZ: -- with groundhogs. Is a woodchuck and a groundhog the same thing? It's not.
BALDWIN: I don't think so. Like a rat and a mouse, same family, different --
SANCHEZ: They're big rodents. Is that what you're trying to say?
BALDWIN: A little -- things try to avoid.
SANCHEZ: I'm glad you got it right down to there.
BALDWIN: Thank you for letting us know.
SANCHEZ: Well, yes that's curious. "Trending."
BALDWIN: "Trending" today.
SANCHEZ: What have you got?
BALDWIN: I don't have woodchucks, I have a whole lot of fish. This is pretty much could have been an addendum to "Fotos." No one will forget -- talking about Louisiana, Gulf of Mexico -- no one will forget the large plumes of oil from that massive Gulf oil spill, the BP oil spill.
Now, another disturbing picture. Take a good long, look at this with me. This is from the region as well. This is Louisiana. Now, at first glance, it looks kind of like a gravel road, right? You see, like, you think maybe it is cracks in a gravel road. Actually -- let's show the other pictures, guys -- if we look closer, it is hundreds of thousands of dead fish. This is what is called a fish kill. This location, you have heard it from our coverage of the oil spill -- this is Plaquemines Parish. Specifically, it's Bayou Chalon. We're talking red fish, drum, crabs, shrimp, fresh-water eel, all in there.
SANCHEZ: Uh-oh. So, the question is what's causing this?
BALDWIN: That is precisely the question, and it's one of the big questions the Plaquemines president, Billy Nungesser is demanding an answer to. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILLY NUNGESSER, PLAQUEMINES PARISH PRESIDENT: Here we are trying to get our fishing back, trying to get our seafood back. And with these kind of fish kills, it will have a lasting effect if we don't do something about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: But to be fair, there's fish kills prior to the BP incident?
BALDWIN: Well -- I'm not connecting the two.
SANCHEZ: OK.
BALDWIN: We are just saying this is the same neighborhood. I'm not connecting the two. In fact, let me explain kind of this is more when you talk to --
SANCHEZ: Sorry, I didn't mean to jump up.
BALDWIN: No, no, that's okay. I'm ready to pounce because we're not connecting it. Basically, it is a result of lower oxygen. So, you talk to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, they are not connecting it. They're saying, look, this is what happens when you have an area and -- it is not the Gulf, right? So, the tide gets low, there's less oxygen, and it creates this shallow pool. The fish get trapped, as we saw in the picture, and they suffocate.
But still, as we look, still, Nungesser is requesting these long- term water quality testing. He has questions perhaps along the same vein as you may have, Mr. Sanchez, and he asked EPA and NOAA to look into it.
SANCHEZ: Good.
BALDWIN: It's the pictures we thought were pretty compelling.
SANCHEZ: The fair which to do it. By the way --
BALDWIN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: One of our colleagues here called us who just happens to be from that part of the country, and gave us the correct pronunciation. Schuylkill.
BALDWIN: Schuylkill.
SANCHEZ: Schuylkill.
BALDWIN: Oh, we're hearing -- Schuylkill, Pennsylvania.
SANCHEZ: But is spelled -- okay, Schuylkill. It is Schuylkill.
BALDWIN: Thanks for schooling us on Schuylkill.
SANCHEZ: The Schuylkill woodchuck guy in Fort Lauderdale.
BALDWIN: There we go.
SANCHEZ: Some things are just too strange. Thanks, Brooke.
SANCHEZ: Thanks.
Allegations of sexual harassment in a locker room. You thought this story was over, it's not. Now, the FBI is taking steps to make sure it doesn't happen in other cities. And the NFL has now put to out a statement to all of the teams as a result of this incident.
And an outrageous story of corporate greed. You will want to hear this, the lifestyles of the rich and corrupt is next.
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SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back, I'm Rick Sanchez, and this is RICK'S LIST. So glad that you are with us.
Greed and gluttony at the expense of our troops, the folks who are risking their lives for us. Think about that. We have heard stories of contractors out of control, not accountable enough, right?
Well, this takes really takes the proverbial cake. Time now for "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On."
This is David Brooks. Used to head up a company that made bulletproof vests and body armor for American soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Making money off of those wars. He has just been convicted on a laundry list of fraud and corruption charges. Prosecutors say he spent millions of dollars of the company's money to live an outrageous lifestyle.
Now, I know what you're thinking, you have heard this story of corporate greed before. They are out there. No, no, no, no, not like this one. Listen to this about this man. He hired 50 Cent, right? 50-Cent, as they say. He hired Tom Petty, he hired Aerosmith to perform at his daughter's $10 million bat mitzvah. Invitations alone cost him $40,000. Just for the invitations he ordered.
He wore an American flag belt buckle that is made of diamonds and sapphires worth $100,000. There it is. They say he spent millions of dollars on horseracing as well. Oh, and hookers? Oh, and shopping sprees. And lavish trips and luxury cars and plastic surgeries and a jet.
While all this was going on, he told his employees to lie about the company's performance. He ripped off, folks, more than $190 million in all of these scams while supposedly helping the troops over in Iraq and Afghanistan get what they needed to wear.
I don't have to tell you that Brooks is not a good guy, but I do want you to keep this in mind. The money he stole was from a company that made equipment designed to protect our troops. And because of this, there's no question, there's no stretch here, to assume that this guy compromised the lives of the very people defending him, defending us and defending his family. David brooks earns today's top honors on "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On."
How far will some go to hide their injuries? We're talking about football players. We're talking about NFL football players. And why would they do so? And what is going on with these controversies of late about concussions in all sport, but especially football?
Max Kellerman has gotten his hands around this topic, and he wants to join us to break some new ground here for us in just a little bit.
So stay right there. We're going to be right back with more on RICK'S LIST.
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SANCHEZ: Max Kellerman is standing by. He's got a lot to discuss with us during this next segment that we're going to do.
And we've also got some wonderful, nice people who are visiting with us. You can wave. You can say hi to Max. He's going to be coming up in just a little bit.
So I'm much thankful that you guys are here.
On the subject of some of the participation that we have from people out there, you know that I like -- maybe as much as anybody else -- like to dedicate our show to you, because I follow you, I listen to your tweets, I communicate with you. This is an experience that's not just one way. It's two-way, if not circular.
So, with that said, I want to thank you for helping me here on RICK'S LIST. So every day, I want to give you one of the new books that I have written called "Conventional Idiocy."
And the winner today, as chosen by my staff, is the huhblog. That's right.
According to the huhblog, "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On" today should be people who didn't get a book. We thought that was funny, so we're going to go ahead and give him a book for thinking that up. Not bad.
Our follow-up list now. It's TV Azteca reporter Ines Sainz. This is a photo that she posted of herself on the Jets' sideline.
NFL released a memo to al PR directors on Tuesday. Let me read you what they are saying, as a matter of fact.
You got this over my shoulder here, Craig?
"By law, women must be granted the same rights to perform their jobs as men. Please remember that women reporters are professionals and should be treated as such. When female reporters are in your locker room, they are there in a professional capacity."
Max Kellerman, what do you make of this? I mean, here's the NFL. I mean, this thing won't die down, but here is the NFL now having to come out and remind these multimillion-dollar organizations that they are supposed to treat women the same way they treat men, professionally.
I don't know. What's your take?
MAX KELLERMAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: And those arguments are all pretty obvious. You know, they're there in a professional capacity.
In her case, however, based on the way she's promoted herself, what she was wearing in the locker room, the way her own -- the Web site of her TV station promotes her, professional -- women are there and they're professional. Well, some are more professional than others, and some are there in different kinds of professional capacities.
She clearly seems to be there as more of a kind of entertainment component to the coverage of professional football. And that's an X's and O's kind of coverage.
SANCHEZ: Is that fair though? I mean, what if is a guy, a good- looking guy shows up to cover a story, and he's wearing --
KELLERMAN: In a Speedo?
SANCHEZ: Well, no, but he's wearing shorts, he's wearing something that -- you know, women find men attractive just like men find women attractive.
KELLERMAN: If there was a male reporter --
SANCHEZ: Just because you find them attractive doesn't give you the right to go over there and start whistling at them or throwing footballs in their direction, does it?
KELLERMAN: I don't think the football-throwing thing was a big deal. We have seen that in the Corona commercial recently. You know, you throw the football near the attractive woman so you can have something to say to her when you go pick it up.
A whistle or something like that, if you're dressed as she is, if you promote yourself as the sexiest reporter in Mexico, if you wear what she did to the locker room, a whistler, too, I don't think is a big deal. If a male reporter dressed in some approximate way and went into a women's locker room, and he got a few whistles of a few people saying something -- but if they were saying vile, disgusting things, they should be disciplined, I think.
And I think the memo that the NFL sent out, you know, duh, of course. But it's not as though any woman by virtue of the fact that she happens to be a woman in the locker room is at the highest level of her profession. And some women, just as some men, comport themselves differently than others.
SANCHEZ: Well, and in this case, it was mostly the other women who were in the room who were appalled by the behavior, and they were the ones who filed the complaint. And that is what started this whole thing. So you make a good point.
KELLERMAN: Not to excuse any behavior, not to excuse any sexist or bad behavior if they were truly over the line. I'm just not sure, based on what I have heard, that they were over the line.
SANCHEZ: We have had so much breaking news that we're going to have to table once again this measure.
You know, Ash (ph), our producer, has been wanting us -- and I know you want to talk about what's going on with concussions in the NFL. We'll get you back and we'll have that discussion in a little bit.
I thought this discussion about what's going on with the New York Jets is probably more salient given it's what everybody has been talking about this week.
Max, you're there in New York, you know what happens. My thanks to you for joining us once again, and we'll look forward to having this discussion again.
KELLERMAN: Thanks, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Wolf Blitzer has all the politics making news on this list. He's coming up next.
This is RICK'S LIST, your national conversation. Stay with us.
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SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Time for a "CNN Equals Politics" update.
Here is John King from the best political team on television.
John, bring us up to date. What's crossing right now?
JOHN KING, HOST, "JOHN KING USA": Rick, the Ticker is packed today. Great political news, CNN.com/politics, as you noted.
Here is one. How long do you hold a grudge?
Well, Jimmy Carter did an interview for "60 Minutes" coming up this weekend, and he's talking about his long-running policy feud and political feud with Senator Ted Kennedy back in the day. Remember, Jimmy Carter was president back in 1976.
He says that he could have had a deal on health care reform way back then, except Senator Kennedy wouldn't give it to him because he didn't want President Carter to get the credit for it.
Here is what he told CBS, "60 Minutes." "The fact is, we would have had comprehensive health care now had it not been for Ted Kennedy's deliberately blocking the legislation that I proposed. It was his fault. Ted Kennedy killed the bill."
Jimmy Carter, Rick, still not over that one. You can read more about it on the "Political Ticker."
Here's another great one. Hillary Clinton is the secretary of state now, she's not a senator from New York, she's not involved in elective politics anymore. But she has a bit of advice for the Tea Party.
In an interview with "Good Morning America" today, she said, sure, she understands these people are passionate and principled, but she also says -- and listen to this -- that, you know, once you get elected, sometimes you have to compromise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: I have seen a lot of people run for office and say a lot of things, and then when they have the burden of holding office and the responsibility that goes with it, I've seen them become very sobered very quickly about the challenges that we face domestically and internationally. You know, nobody said it better than Mario Cuomo when he said, "You campaign in poetry and you govern in prose." And sometimes the poetry can get kind of hot and a little over the top, but the prose brings you down to earth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: And sometimes that over-the-hot rhetoric in prose in poetry Hillary Clinton is talking about, you do that in TV ads. More than a billion dollars spent, Rick, this campaign season on TV ads. That's a new record. Wow, that's a lot of money.
And one of the people looking for money to buy some TV ads is, of course, that Tea Party stunner, Christine O'Donnell, who just won that big upset in Delaware. She's raised $850,000. You can look at that.
She'll also be -- that's just since winning that primary. She'll be at a live event, too, a candidates forum, Rick. We'll dip into that tonight if we can.
SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks so much, John. Look forward to it.
Meanwhile, here now "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer.
