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Rick's List

Gunman at University of Texas; Ingrid Betancourt Speaks Out; President Obama Talks to Voters on the Road

Aired September 28, 2010 - 16:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm a Christian by choice.

You know, my family didn't -- you know, frankly, they weren't folks that went to church every week. My mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church.

So I came to my Christian faith later in life. And it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: So, you can, Rick, he gets pretty specific on this. And he obviously wants to let everyone know that he's a Christian. He's not a Muslim, even though a lot of people believe he's a Muslim. And people keep suggesting that he secretly is a Muslim.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: All right, Wolf, we will look forward to talking to you once again a little bit later during this hour.

Meantime, I want everybody to know that we have got our troops watching us from all over the world right now on the 4:00 edition of RICK'S LIST. We're going to do an 8:00 edition for you tonight as well.

Here's what we have got coming up.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice-over): Here's what's making the LIST on this day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Individual who was the armed person has been confirmed to be dead.

SANCHEZ: But not before the gunman terrorizes the very place which is the setting for the most infamous Texas shooting of all -- terror at U.T.

INGRID BETANCOURT, HELD HOSTAGE FOR OVER SIX YEARS: I had a moment of very deep anguish, because I thought they were going to kill me. SANCHEZ: She was running for president when she was kidnapped, then held captive in a jungle for nearly six years, chained to a tree, piranhas, anacondas. Reads like a movie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elmo kicking butt.

SANCHEZ: And you thought Elmo was just a fuzzy, lovable kids character. Now he's got street credit, "Sesame Street," that is.

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: It is now 4:00. I am so glad that you're here. I got a lot of stuff to take you through.

There's no doubt that one of the biggest stories that we're following right now is at least 100 people, 100 people, maybe more -- as a matter of fact, I just heard from Mexican television a little while ago. And they were throwing out a different number. They are saying 100 people, possibly 300 homes have been literally devastated with tons of mud thrown on top of them as a result of a hill slide, a mudslide that occurred there in Oaxaca in Mexico, the southern part of Mexico.

This is, we understand, a 650-foot chunk of hillside that collapsed overnight. And you have got to remember, a lot of these folks were sleeping when this happened. The latest reports say seven bodies have already been recovered. Heavy equipment and ambulances have been sent to the village. But it's slow going, folks. Take a look at this video.

This shows -- this is not video from today. But it shows what the region looks like. Now, imagine this with mudslides on top of that in specific areas just on top or above villages. It's a mountainous region. And what's worse, we have been hearing now that some of the bridges leading to the village are out, most of them destroyed, no way for people from the outside to get there.

I just read a tweet from the governor a little while ago. He says that the federal government is doing everything they can. They have mobilized the army and the army is heading in that direction now. They have ambulances heading in that direction.

But it sounds like they're going to have to do most of this by helicopter. How do we know that?

Well, because we have got correspondent Kirsten Johnson. Search is en route to the landslide area as well. And she broke the news a little while ago that most of the folks trying to get in there, including reporters and rescue workers, can't get in because of the condition of the roads. Kirsten is joining us now once again.

Kirsten, where are you now?

KIRSTEN JOHNSON, REPORTER: We are entering the state of Oaxaca. The village is about 50 miles east of the capital city of Oaxaca. The people are still kind of in this route going back and forth.

SANCHEZ: At this point, what have you heard and how have you heard it about what's actually happening there in that village?

JOHNSON: Most of the it are kind of trickling out through radio reports, a lot of what you've heard, the same thing that governor of Oaxaca has been telling people, that they have seven confirmed dead and up to 100 missing, although earlier this morning, obviously they said they were up to 300 homes buried.

SANCHEZ: If there's 300 homes buried, it's hard to tell. But this did happen in the middle of the night, right? So most of these folks were sleeping when this landslide occurred?

JOHNSON: Right, exactly. So the concern is that there may still be people inside their homes alive waiting to be pulled out.

SANCHEZ: It's so early in this thing, I almost feel hesitant to throw out any numbers, because I know how these numbers change. Hopefully, it will go down, but unfortunately, often it goes up. At this point, you haven't seen any pictures, right, other than just descriptions by word of mouth?

JOHNSON: No, the only descriptions we have are really what they're getting from these helicopter rides that -- the governor has been supplying a little bit of information to the press that way. But really, it's very hard to get any other kind of information.

SANCHEZ: And these bridges you told me about earlier that had been washed out, where are they? How bad is the damage? Is there any way they can fix it? And what are they going to do about it?

JOHNSON: That is -- I mean, federal -- the army coming from Mexico City, all the other federal reinforcements are at least six hours away from Mexico City traveling that way. And it is going to take some pretty heavy reinforcements to repair them.

I have seen some pictures of a bridge, that it's pretty much just broken right in the middle. So there's really no way to get across it in any safe way.

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you a political question only because, you know, the area is one that we have always heard of down there in Chiapas. A lot of the folks down there, they are not big fans of the federal government in Mexico. Is there any chance that there's going to be any kind of resistance during this? Or is this -- do you suspect this will be a total humanitarian effort?

JOHNSON: No, this will be a total humanitarian effort. There's no political clashing usually at these first initial stages. All help is welcome from all sides. And pretty much everyone has to pitch in for disasters as big as these.

SANCHEZ: Kirsten, my thanks to you. Keep us informed. Take care of yourself. And as you get new information, let us know.

Chad Myers joining us now.

Chad, show us topographically and geographically what this area is and why it's significant.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's rugged. It's foothills of what we would consider the Rocky Mountains. We don't call them the Rocky Mountains all the way down here.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: But it would be like you were in a part of Denver or California or Colorado.

MYERS: Exactly.

All of a sudden, think about putting 12 inches of rain from Estes Park back to Boulder. And you would think even there that areas would slide. The problem is not so much where the -- all the trees are lined up here. And that's all good, because that's root structure and all that.

The problem is where you destroy the trees, and you knock them down, and you cut them down for your yard or for building a home or whatever it might be. That's where the area now those roots are not holding the land anymore. The roots are gone because you killed the trees. You killed whatever was there.

And so because of that development, the development caused the mudslide itself, because the development has taken away the natural structure of what was holding the whole thing together in the first place. Santa Maria, you may have to help me with this one -- (INAUDIBLE).

SANCHEZ: Yes. Let me see. (INAUDIBLE). Yes, yes, because you have to say (INAUDIBLE).

MYERS: There you go.

SANCHEZ: There you go.

MYERS: And you can see the roads.

Look at this. This is the road that would take you out to the east of town. This road here would take you out to the west, back toward Oaxaca, the city here. And it's rugged. It's a mountain town -- 8,500 people is something that I heard. That's the number that I heard from this town. I don't know where the city limits start or end, but, seriously, obviously, this is a bigger town than just those 300 houses that might have gotten knocked down. SANCHEZ: Right. Right. Yes. And we will know more as we get pictures out of there and as we get real descriptions from people who are flying over it.

We have Daniel Goni now. He's with the Red Cross in Mexico.

Mr. Goni, thanks for joining us, sir. What are you hearing?

DANIEL GONI, PRESIDENT, MEXICO RED CROSS: Yes, hello?

SANCHEZ: Yes, hey, go ahead, sir. You're on the air. I'm Rick Sanchez. You're on, on CNN.

GONI: OK.

Well, this morning around 4:30 in the morning, a really big mountain slides, and it over a little community of around 300 houses. So by now seven people have died.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Did you say a little community of 300,000?

GONI: No, 300 houses, houses.

SANCHEZ: Oh, 300 houses. Thank you. I'm sorry.

(CROSSTALK)

GONI: Three hundred houses, yes.

SANCHEZ: OK. OK. Three hundred houses.

GONI: And what we're expecting is that they (INAUDIBLE) 500 people that they live in those houses.

And we have rescued around six or seven people. I have information that three or four doctors and a basic group of people, Red Cross (INAUDIBLE) before all these things, they could arrive over there, we can have communication with them. A bridge got down after they could pass by car.

SANCHEZ: Are you there?

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Are you there now, sir? Are you there in the town?

GONI: I'm in the town. But I'm in Mexico City now. But I have the communication. We send already 160 people to Oaxaca. Oaxaca is the capital.

And they cannot fly by helicopter because it's still raining. And it's a lot of -- it's very cloudy. So, the governor of Oaxaca is in the airport trying to fly to this little village. But that hasn't been possible. SANCHEZ: Wow, so not only are the bridges taken out, which means you can't go by road. But now we understand that because of the rain, they don't feel it's safe to put helicopters in the air. That's a heck of a predicament for these folks.

You're the first person I have talked to who at least has a third-person account of what's going on. You say you are in contact with people there in that area or in that village? You have talked to them?

GONI: I'm in contact with people in Oaxaca, because they mention that three or four people from the Mexican Red Cross had the possibility to cross to this little village, Santa Maria. We...

(CROSSTALK)

GONI: ... already communication with them in Santa Maria.

SANCHEZ: OK. So you haven't talked to someone in Santa Maria. You have talked to folks there in Oaxaca, which is a state, which is a larger area, so to speak.

Mr. Goni, thank you.

By the way, before I let you go, if there's folks here in the United States who want to help out in any way, tell them what they should do.

GONI: As soon as we know, we will let you know and we will give you the most information we can.

SANCHEZ: OK. My thanks to you, Daniel Goni. He's with the Red Cross there in Mexico, heck of a situation.

Now you hear, Chad, the rain.

MYERS: Yes. This is still Matthew, the remnants of the low that was Matthew. It's just the tropical nature of this.

(CROSSTALK)

MYERS: And what I was seeing -- I was seeing some video coming in here, some Twitpics coming in. It was just low-hanging clouds. We call it scud, because it almost looks like a funnel. But it's not. It's just that low-hanging cloud cover with that tropical moisture. And you can't fly the helicopter high enough to get over these mountain peaks because the clouds are on top of the mountains. You can't clear.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: It's like that story we were talking in Alaska just a couple of weeks ago. Same thing.

MYERS: There you go.

SANCHEZ: All right, we will be on top of it. Let us know if anything changes.

We're monitoring all the developments as well coming out of Ohio. Why? Well, if you hadn't heard, former President Jimmy Carter was rushed to the hospital today. There's an update on his condition. We're gathering the info and we will bring it to you.

Also, why did the president of Afghanistan suddenly start crying on national television? Well, you have heard the stories in Bob Woodward's book, right, about Karzai? Any relation?

We will talk about that. Stay right there. We will be right back. This is RICK'S LIST. This is your national conversation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back.

Before we do anything else, I want to bring you up-to-date on the roundup list.

First, let me take you through these. Let's start with number one: that ambulance racing to the Cleveland hospital. In the back is former President Jimmy Carter who we're told became sick on a flight to Cleveland today. Carter had to cancel a book signing event today. The last word we received was that he was suffering from some kind of upset stomach but resting comfortably and will spend the night in the hospital.

And I was just told by one of my producers, Andreas, just told me moments ago that the folks at the Carter Center have reached out and said that it's most likely that Mr. Carter will be spending the night in the hospital. So, that they're going to leave him in the hospital most likely just for observation. That's the latest bit of news we can share on that.

Also, here's number two -- U.T. Austin students there in Texas and the faculty are quite shaken up today. They had to leave campus and in a hurry. That's after a shooting incident on campus and at the university library. This is what happened -- a man walked on to campus, police say, fired several shots from an assault rifle. Didn't hurt anybody, thank goodness, but he did end up killing himself. Who the man is and what made him do it? It's still unknown.

Here is number three -- the president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, his voice breaking, tears rolling down his cheeks, surprising a few people. Karzai was speaking to an official function celebrating international literacy day. The president went off message for a minute, expressing his fear that his family members would one day become refugees. A government official described Hamid Karzai as being, quote, "under a lot of pressure right now."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INGRID BETANCOURT, FORMER COLOMBIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to die from something. It could be a snake, it could be a tree falling on top of us, or it could be a bullet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And she almost died from all of those things. She was held captive for six years in the jungle. She was surrounded by men with guns and nature's most dangerous creatures. Would you be able to survive? Tied by chains around your neck in a jungle. She used to be running for the presidency of Colombia before she was kidnapped by the FARC. I'm going to sit down and talk to Ingrid Betancourt and you're going to see that right here on THE LIST.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: I want to bring you a story now that you're not going to see anywhere else. She's one of the world's most famous hostages, former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt held by Colombian terrorists for more than six years. Her kidnapping got international attention.

This video taken by her captors seen all over the world that led to a massive campaign for her release.

She was eventually rescued by helicopter by the Colombian army in a daring fake-out of the left wing FARC rebels who were holding her captive. What unbelievable drama.

Now, she writes it. She writes about her harrowing life in captivity in this new book, "Even Silence Has An End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle."

I reached out, she responded. She gave me a sit-down interview. She is an amazing woman. I want you to listen to her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Ingrid Betancourt is good enough to join us now. How are you?

BETANCOURT: So fine to be with you today.

SANCHEZ: It's fantastic. What -- start at the beginning -- when you were taken hostage, as I read through the book, did you know what was going on? Did you know at that moment that you were a hostage?

BETANCOURT: Well, I had a moment of very deep anguish because I thought they were going to kill me because it had happened before. And it came to a moment where they separated me from the group I was. And that was the procedure to shoot the person and leave it in the road. So, I thought it was going to happen to me. But God was there.

SANCHEZ: Do you feel like the -- like you're hijacking -- your kidnapping occurred because the Colombian government either, (a), dropped the ball, or, (b), wanted you to be kidnapped?

BETANCOURT: No, I think it was a sad sequence of events. The thing is that they withdraw my bodyguards just before me taking the road to go to San Vicente. And it was on that road that the guerrilla made a check point and they got me there.

SANCHEZ: You are tough. You are -- you are resilient. You're stubborn. You are the kind of woman who doesn't care what's going on around her. You decided you were going to escape and you tried to escape.

BETANCOURT: Yes.

SANCHEZ: You got in people's faces. You told people to go to hell. You had people with rifles and guns pointed at your face and you defied them.

BETANCOURT: I was pretty scared when I was there. And sometimes when there was -- I mean, there were moments that I felt like I wasn't the hero type I wanted to be. I was sometimes very fragile and shaken by everything. But sometimes I did react. Sometimes I did just -- when they touch a very sensible cord, especially like --

SANCHEZ: When they killed the little monkey.

BETANCOURT: Oh, my God.

SANCHEZ: That made you mad.

BETANCOURT: Yes.

SANCHEZ: It's like -- here you are stuck in a jungle and a baby monkey is fed to dogs and it made you furious.

BETANCOURT: Yes. I hated them for that. Because, you see, wasn't a little monkey. I mean, it was a little -- how do you say? I had a relationship with that little monkey.

SANCHEZ: Christina (ph)?

BETANCOURT: Christina.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

BETANCOURT: Christina. And I think that was stupid to do that. They didn't need to do that.

SANCHEZ: Let me ask you something, when you decide that you're going to escape a second time, I believe --

BETANCOURT: Yes.

SANCHEZ: -- and you're floating down some river, and the rains come. And suddenly, a caiman -- what in the United States, we tend to call it a crocodile or an alligator, eats some giant animal and you're floating down this river -- did you start thinking, "Well, I'm going from the frying pan into the fire, I got away from the guerillas but I'm in a jungle where there are giant anacondas, giant alligators, crocodiles, or caimans," and a lot of other things that can eat you, like jaguars?

BETANCOURT: Yes, of course, I was scared.

But, at the same time, I had this discussion with one of the guerrillas, one of the guards, and it was a moment we had seen this huge snake. I mean, when I say huge -- I have seen, you know, in the Guinness books, like the huge --

(CROSSTALK)

BETANCOURT: No, this was bigger. It was enormous.

SANCHEZ: I don't want to embarrass you, but because you write about it in the book, and it's stuck in my head -- and I guess a lot of women out there can relate to this -- you find yourself in water filled with piranhas that react to blood and you were menstruating.

BETANCOURT: Yes. Yes. That was kind of --

SANCHEZ: And you're thinking, I can become nothing but bones out here.

BETANCOURT: Yes, yes. And -- well, of course, it would happen, every time it happened and I had to go bathing in the river and I had these nasty little things just coming up to me and I had to, you know? But there when I was escaping and that happened -- I thought that I was in trouble in a way, you know?

SANCHEZ: You're mostly surrounded by men, guards. Some of them are not very nice. And they aren't delicate to women's needs.

BETANCOURT: Oh, they were horrible. They were just horrible and very machos. So, everything I need something like women-like, they would just, you know, have this attitude, "We're going to give you something, but you have to spare the things, you cannot throw those things away." You can -- I mean, always gaining the lesson. It was very humiliating.

SANCHEZ: Sexist.

BETANCOURT: Very sexist. Oh, my God. The FARC guys are very, very macho, you know, brought up.

SANCHEZ: Did they -- did they abuse you?

BETANCOURT: In many ways, yes. I think we -- they abused everybody. I mean, it's -- once, you know, it's like the human nature, once you're in a place where you have this power of killing somebody, and you have no law and no witness and nobody is looking at what you're doing, then the cruel, sadistic part of yourself comes up and you can be very mean -- very, very mean.

SANCHEZ: Did you ever think -- you write about this in the book -- "I'm never getting out of here"?

BETANCOURT: Oh, yes. I thought about that. I thought -- I came to the moment, I was very sick and I had no medication and I was in pain. My body was just -- you know, it was the center of pain, and I thought maybe the best for me now is to die. It will be a liberation. And I just had the impression that that could be a good moment to die, you know, like, my children are going to know. They're going to begin their lives. I cannot just have them paralyzed because of waiting for me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Oh, it gets even better. There is a lot more to this incredible story. What do her fellow hostages, some of the people who were incarcerated with her out there in the jungle, what do they say now? And what was it like when she was on that helicopter, right there, when she was actually rescued? She didn't even know it. See, it was all a big fake-out.

I'm going to take you through that as well. Stay right there. That's next on THE LIST.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Sometimes you just can't beat a story, especially a story about someone's anguish, their sacrifice.

Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. So glad you're here. I want to get back now to my interview with Ingrid Betancourt. She was held hostage for an unbelievable six-and-a-half years in the Colombian jungle. She was young, attractive candidate for president of Colombia when she was suddenly kidnapped by rebels, tied to trees with chains around her neck.

Since her release, some of her fellow captives, including three Americans who said she was not the person in real life there, as far as they're concerned, anyway, as they say as she portrays herself as. Here are two -- here's the rest of Betancourt's story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: If you could, if somebody set it up, would you be willing to sit down and have a moment with them, where you all come together and can talk it out, even if it includes tears?

BETANCOURT: Oh, yes. Of course.

SANCHEZ: But it would involve a lot of hurt because you'd have to go through the things that happen back then, wouldn't you?

BETANCOURT: Yes. But, you know, I think that it will come to a point in our lives where that will happen. And for me, we live in a mud, you know?

SANCHEZ: Yes. BETANCOURT: In an emotional mud. And we were not heroes we wanted to be, none of us. But this that mud, there were diamonds -- diamonds -- moments of solidarity, of friendship, of love, and I prefer to get those diamonds than just think of the mud.

SANCHEZ: Finally, let's talk be about the end, when suddenly, these humanitarian guys get off a helicopter, supposedly there with some organization that are doing something, you think they are all bad, think they're going to take you away to another camp. You can't stand them. And, suddenly, you are in the helicopter and something changes. Take us through that.

BETANCOURT: We were in the helicopter and we were all very gloomy because we were convinced we were heading for 10 more years of abduction. We thought if they are going to move us to another camp in a helicopter, it's going to be forever now. And the crew that came, this humanitarian men --

SANCHEZ: Yes.

BETANCOURT: -- the leader of the crew, happened in a second they neutralized the two guerilla commanders that had been coming in the helicopter with us and here the guy is, like half-naked, in my feet, handcuff, and I was, oh, my God, what's happening? It took me a moment to just figure out what happened. And then the guy screamed, but he really screamed.

SANCHEZ: This is the --

BETANCOURT: There were huge guns --

SANCHEZ: The guy who was pretending to be the top humanitarian guy. He was actually a Colombian lieutenant or something.

BETANCOURT: Exactly. It's a major. And he was a big, big strong guy. And then he shouted in this helicopter because there was the motor and the noise, it was -- he shouted, "We are the Colombian army. You are free."

SANCHEZ: Oh, my God.

BETANCOURT: And it was -- I mean, I remember that moment, I began screaming, but it was a scream like an animal's scream. And I couldn't just hold it. I mean, I was thinking, I'm so stupid, I'm screaming. I had to just stop screaming and I couldn't stop screaming.

And then when I stopped, I realized everybody was doing the same thing. Everybody was screaming, shouting, jumping. We were -- I mean, it was -- you know, a kind of non-control reaction for -- yes, it was -- it was --

SANCHEZ: Didn't you have a tendency to want to say I can't believe this?

BETANCOURT: Of course.

SANCHEZ: It's just like (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

BETANCOURT: The scream was --

SANCHEZ: Yes. Like this has to be (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

BETANCOURT: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Somebody, this is another trick?

BETANCOURT: But wait and then the fear, because once you're realizing that you're free -- wow, you're so scared of freedom. What's freedom now? What's going to be my life?

SANCHEZ: You survived anacondas, jaguars, piranhas, crocodiles, guys with knives and guns on you, you were tied to a tree with a chain and now, you are in a helicopter and you are worried about it crashing?

BETANCOURT: Yes, because I thought it's too good to be true. Nothing, nothing --

SANCHEZ: What can't I conquer now?

BETANCOURT: Yes, now, whatever comes is good.

SANCHEZ: Living in the jungle for six-and-a-half years in captivity, tied to a tree with a chain around my neck -- yes, you survived.

BETANCOURT: Yes.

SANCHEZ: You feel good?

BETANCOURT: Oh, yes. Yes. And I'm -- I have a deep gratitude for God.

SANCHEZ: It's a great story. Even silence has an end. Ingrid Betancourt, thanks. Appreciate it.

BETANCOURT: Thank you, Rick.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: What a woman, huh? What a story.

By the way, guys, there's been a lot of news on this day. A lot of breaking news stories that we've been following for you. But we've also been tracking several political developments. And John King is looking at some of the news that's making the Ticker. He'll going to join me in just a little bit on "RICK'S LIST."

Stay with us. We are going to be right back for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: It is -- it is now time for a "CNN Equal Politics" update. John King standing by with the Best Political Team on Television.

John, pick this up for us. What is crossing as we speak, my friend?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A lot happening, Rick. That was a great interview, by the way, with Ms. Betancourt. A fascinating story. I enjoyed listening to that.

We've got a lot happening on the Ticker, as well, too. One is Friday will be part one of what you might call the two-part Rahm- Emanuel-for-mayor drama. We've known for a while the White House chief of staff is likely to run for Chicago mayor. We're now told by a number of sources, and you can get more details on the Ticker, that he'll announce on Friday he's leaving his White House job.

He'll not announce for mayor just yet, though. He'll go back to Chicago first. A little bit of testing the waters, checking in with the family. But all signs point to the Rahm Emanuel announcement for mayor quite soon down the road. Leaving the White House will happen on Friday.

The president gave quite a provocative interview to "Rolling Stone" magazine as part of his effort to gin up the liberal base for the midterm elections. He told the magazine this: "I could have had a knock-down, drag-out fight on the public option that might have energized you" meaning "Rolling Stone," "and 'The Huffington Post,' and we would not have health care legislation right now." That, Rick, part of the president's effort to save the liberal base. "Look, I know you're not happy with a lot of things, but look at the Republicans. It will be worse." The president also says in that interview it would be irresponsible for any Democrat not to vote in November just because they're mad at one or two things the administration has done.

And lastly, tonight on "JOHN KING USA," we'll haveBeau Biden, the son of vice president Joe Biden. He's also the Delaware attorney general. Remember, a year ago, he was supposed to be the Democratic candidate in that Senate race that's getting national attention because of Christine O'Donnell. We'll get his views from Christine O'Donnell, on how the race would go. I also asked him, when your dad comes home for a beer, what does he say about all the speculation here in Washington that the president might dump him for Hillary Clinton in the 2012 re-election campaign? Beau Biden's answer tonight, Rick.

SANCHEZ: I look forward to hearing that. Thanks so much, John.

Next hour, another political update. You can always get the latest political news at CNNpolitics.com and on Twitter @politicalticker.

All right. I've got fascinating video I'll take you through in a bit. It's a police officer. He pretends to arrest his daughter's boyfriend because he wants to teach him a lesson. Ain't supposed to do that, right? Did he cross the line? Most are saying he did.

Also, as we go to break, here's today's version of how we put the newscast together. We call this is "The Rick Vid."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right. Three shows to put on the air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You ready to jump in or you want to --

SANCHEZ: Let's start.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go. Let's roll.

SANCHEZ: The top of the four could end up being Texas? It could end up being the UT or Mexico. So -- or whatever happens between now and then.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Slow day, before the event. You can see the conditions.

SANCHEZ: What he said.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Karzai, manic depressive. You never know what you're going to get.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just could -- he didn't break down --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I could cry without -- you know.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. Did a police officer abuse his power to try to teach a teenager a lesson? Well, he's now paid with -- he's now on paid administrative lead after a video surfaced of this entire thing. And guess what -- you've got it. We've got the video. And we're going to show it to you next. "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On." Who's on it? You're about to find out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Sometimes kids just need to be taught lessons. Right? We know that. It's how they learn to keep from making the same mistakes twice. Some lessons, though, are just a bit outrageous.

Time now for "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On."

I want you to take a look at this. A California police officer showing up at the home of his daughter's boyfriend. He went there after hearing that his 14-year-old girl allegedly had sex with her 15- year-old teenage boyfriend.

So what happens next is what you call a scared straight -- pardon me, scared straight tactic. The officer slaps the kid in cuffs, he fakes the boy's arrest, he lectures him, terrifies him. And this whole thing is caught on video.

Did he go too far? Let's decide together. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to write an informational report that can go to the sexual assault investigator. It will be up to them to (INAUDIBLE) your assault. It's up to them. They're going to file some charges on you for having sex with a minor.

If I see you anywhere near my home, anywhere near my daughter, I'll arrest you. Do you believe me this time?

Growing up and being in high school, a cop's daughter is not someone to mess around with. You're stupid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Well, the boys' parents videotaped the entire thing. They say the officer abused his authority and the family may sue.

The officers' lawyer said the boys' parents approved of it and even thanked him and shook his hand afterward. That may not be what they meant.

Well, the police department in San Jose has put the officer now on paid administrative leave as a result of this. Prosecutors are also taking a look at the incident.

Look, even if the kid deserved to be taught a lesson, some would argue that the officer used his power in his capacity as a police officer to both intimidate him and his parents, and that he used this as personal vengeance. Not only is he in hot and serious water, he's also on "The List U Don't Want 2 Be On." .

President Obama's trip to New Mexico was supposed to focus on voters' economic fears. So why did abortion, religion and tears come into this conversation?

That's next right here on THE LIST. Stay with us. We're coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back, everybody.

We're this close to getting to "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer. And we've got some Wolf fans here, as we often do. The folks who come in to visit RICK'S LIST are all big fans of Wolf Blitzer, and they're going to give him the big wave. It's called the Buffalo wave.

Man, Buffalo came close this weekend. I thought they were going to beat them --

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: They did a lot better than I thought they would do playing in New England. But in the end, they lost. What can I say? SANCHEZ: They did, indeed.

Hey, I want at a talk to you about something. The president hits the road today. He's talking the economy and he's trying to fire up the base to try and get them to the polls in the fall.

Good luck, Mr. President, given the trend that we've been seeing.

People were interested in some other issues as well. They asked him about abortion, they asked him about his Christian faith. And then during his travels, he ran across a young man who talked emotionally about his dad. And here's why -- his dad is a veteran. He tries to convey to the president how his father, a veteran, needs proper care.

This is important on this show in particular because we're being watched right now by soldiers all over the world, in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Let's together now take a listen to this.

And then, Wolf, I want to get your reaction on the backside.

Hit that Dee (ph), if you would.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My father is a veteran. You know, we appreciate everything that he's done for the country. And obviously the VA does a lot for my father.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We appreciate what he's done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. The reason I get emotional is because --

OBAMA: This is your dad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, unfortunately, at the VA sometimes, he doesn't get the care and the service that he should.

OBAMA: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, he sacrificed his body. I mean, over 17 surgeries that he's had.

OBAMA: You don't have to apologize for being emotional about your dad who served our country as a Marine, man. That's -- I get emotional when I think about our young men and women and our veterans who have served this country with such bravery and courage.

We have a sacred trust for people who put on the uniform of the United States. They serve us. They're willing to put other lives on the line. And that means that when they come back, we've got to serve them.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: Boy, what a moment. I'll tell you -- 30,000, 40,000 American soldiers coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq with injuries of one form or another. This is something this nation, we, all of us, including this administration, are going to have to deal with, Wolf.

BLITZER: And it's not just the very obvious physical injuries. There are emotional, mental injuries as well.

When you've seen war up close, it might take a year, it might take five years, 10 years, but sometimes it comes back to haunt in a very, very disturbing way. And thank God for the Veterans Administration. Thank God that there are people who could help.

And they do a great job, the VA, but sometimes they need a push. Sometimes they need to do an even better job, and they need to have the funds to do it. This is an enormous responsibility that all of have as Americans. And the president was underscoring it and that young man certainly portrayed it very, very well.

SANCHEZ: As a matter of fact, some of the guys that I talk to down there -- and you know down here in Georgia there's a lot of these agencies, including a lot folks with the VA. They say, in many ways -- "The truth is, Rick," they say, "just overworked."

I mean, there's just too much of a need right now. And it's hard getting to all these folks. Commanders that I talk to, generals tell me, look, we're in a bad way right now.

Hey, Wolf, the president also addressed his Christian faith once again. And this is something that he's had to address more than just about any other president in the history of this country, save, perhaps, John F. Kennedy.

BLITZER: I thought you were going to throw to the clip of when the president spoke about it.

Look, there's a big chunk of the American population that simply doesn't believe he's a Christian, that he's really a Muslim. And no matter how many times the president says, you know, "I believe in Jesus Christ, I'm a Christian, I came to Christianity at a relatively late stage," as he says today, people -- a lot of people simply don't believe him, and in part because his middle name is Hussein.

We're going to get into this in "THE SITUATION ROOM" later today. We're going to go in depth on this. Mary Matalin and Donna Brazile, they're standing by.

You know, I was listening driving in earlier to Rush Limbaugh, and he was talking about "Barack Hussein Imam Obama." And this is the kind of rhetoric that gets out there.

And we're going to talk a little bit about it in our "Strategy Session," what this means on this day when the president was talking about his own Christianity. There are still a lot of people out there who don't believe him.

SANCHEZ: Stay classy, Rush Limbaugh.

Appreciate that anecdote, Wolf. We'll look forward to seeing you in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

Wolf Blitzer, everybody.

Hey, about a wave back? You ready?

We do the wave in, we do the wave back. There you go.

Wolf, look forward to you.

THE LIST scrolls on right after this. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: I am so happy that you guys have had a chance to share in so many of the experiences that we've had recently -- the one in Pittsburgh on Sunday. Monday, we were in New York.

And look, as I always say, this is your book. "Conventional Idiocy" is a labor of love for us here on RICK'S LIST, so every day we give one away. And we give one away to somebody who has kind of a smarter, pithy comment.

Here's today's. It's John Lovelady (ph). And what does he say? He says, "When I go for my next hair cut, I'm asking for the Rick Sanchez. That is a perfect righteous mop, bro!"

Now, I'm just sitting here thinking. I mean, all right, we've got our audience here. People come here and they sit in the audience with us to watch RICK'S LIST. These are folks who are taking the CNN tour and they decide they're going to come by.

I really want you guys to tell me the truth. When you look at my hair, do you see an old fogy kind of antique haircut? Tell me the truth. I can take it.

AUDIENCE: No.

SANCHEZ: No? You like it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looks good.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Look at the guy on the end over there. He's saying, look, any hair is good, right? At least you've got hair, Sanchez.

All right.

You know, my kids always -- I'm always kidding my sons, especially my teenage boys about this. And I'm always telling them -- because they get that crewcut style. I say, "You've got great hair. Keep it."

And they say, "No, dad. You've got old man hair." I say, "All right. Well, it is what it is."

Thanks, guys. Thanks for having my back on this.

And thank you for being with us on this day. We're going to continue to follow the very latest in the news, including the latest on President Carter. Last time we checked, his staff is saying he's probably going to spend the night in the hospital, and that's mostly for observation.

We'll be looking for you tonight at 8:00 p.m. on the primetime edition of RICK'S LIST.

Here now, "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer.