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CNN Sunday Morning

President Obama Warns North Korea; Former V.P. Cheney Gets Hearth Transplant; Santorum Wins Louisiana

Aired March 25, 2012 - 07:00   ET

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

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RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: The New Black Panthers have put a bounty out for Trayvon's killer, George Zimmerman. We'll tell you what they are demanding.

And the future of your health care goes to the Supreme Court this week. And in our main bar/sidebar story, we'll take a look at what's at stake.

Also, President Obama has a stern message for North Korea.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll simply say North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or by provocations.

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KAYE: We'll tell you why he's in South Korea and what other words he has for new North Korean leader Kim Jung Un.

You're watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING -- where news doesn't take the weekend off.

ANNOUNCER: From CNN's world headquarters, bringing you news and analysis from across the nation and around the globe -- live from Studio 7, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

KAYE: President Obama is bringing a message of solidarity to South Korea and a warning to its neighbor North Korea. That warning, don't make threats and don't provoke.

Mr. Obama is in Seoul for an International Nuclear Summit. And as you saw right here on CNN, he spoke at a joint news conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak just a short time ago. Both leaders emphasized their country's mutual alliance and they said North Korea should think twice before it goes ahead with a controversial rocket launch next month.

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OBAMA: Every time North Korea has violated international resolution, Security Council resolution, it's resulted in further isolation, tightening of sanctions, stronger enforcement, greater support on the part of the international community for a stronger enforcement. I suspect that will happen this time, as well. So, they need to understand that bad behavior will not be rewarded.

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KAYE: Earlier, Mr. Obama met with troops at the demilitarized zone that splits North and South Korea. He told them they were guarding, quote, "freedom's frontier".

After more than 20 months on a transplant list, former Vice President Dick Cheney finally got a new heart. He's recovering from the surgery today in a Virginia hospital and that's where we find Athena Jones. She has the latest on Mr. Cheney's condition.

Athena, what can you tell us?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Randi.

Well, the latest we have from former Vice President Cheney's office is the statement they put out last night, saying that although the former vice president and his family do not know the identity of the donor, they'll be forever grateful for this life-saving gift. Now, it's not uncommon, of course, for recipients of organs not to know who the donor is.

I should also mention that we have a statement also put out last night by Newt Gingrich who is friends with former Vice President Cheney and he said, Vice President Cheney is in our thoughts and prayers tonight as he recovers from surgery. Callista and I hope his recovery is peaceful and wish him and his family all the best.

Now, I've spoken with hospital spokesperson this morning here, Randi. And they don't have any briefings to update us on his condition scheduled right now. But that could change at any moment and we'll be sure to let you guys know as soon as it does.

KAYE: And we don't know when he might be released, right? It could be some time?

JONES: That's right. It could be several weeks. You know, we know from some of our research, according to the International Society of Heart and Lung Implantation, Cheney at 71 is on the upper end of heart recipients.

And so, the vast majority of people are in their 50s, so that could play into the length of his recovery time. We also know that in cases like this, certainly it's not uncommon for someone to stay in the hospital for several weeks, maybe a month as doctors watch their recovery, Randi.

KAYE: All right. Athena Jones, thank you for the update.

Rick Santorum's campaign is walking with a little bit of swagger this morning. Louisiana marks the 11th state won by Santorum and the third Southern state this month. GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney leaves Louisiana with a consolation prize, a handful of delegates.

Joe Johns has much more from New Orleans.

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JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Randi, Rick Santorum in first place, Mitt Romney in second, and the Louisiana primary. Louisiana is one of those states that really hasn't mattered much in Republican primary politics in decades, so it was a novelty to many of the voters here to have all four candidates on the ground in their state, courting them and asking for their votes. We saw unusual things as we moved across this state -- very small venues with just a dozen or a couple dozen seats and a row of television cameras.

But one of the things that was pretty common in this state as in many of the other states was the robocall, the calls from people asking for votes, as we moved toward the primary vote. In this case the most interesting robocall we heard about was the one from Hank Williams, the recording artist, in favor of, in support of Rick Santorum.

Turnout here was thought to be low because the voters really were not able to have the time with these candidates to develop a strong connection and connection perhaps the most important word of the night. Mitt Romney, the national front-runner, unable to develop that connection once again with Southern voters, that has denied him a win in Southern states except for Florida.

The most important thing of all, really, is the delegate count. Louisiana has 46 delegates, 20 of those to be awarded after primary night. The rest to be awarded between now and June in a caucus and a convention.

Randi, back to you.

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KAYE: Thank you, Joe.

And as Joe said, the delegates still have to be sorted out but based on last night's result, Santorum gets eight and Romney five. The rest will stay uncommitted until the state's Republican convention.

Now to new developments in the Trayvon Martin story. The gated community where he was killed will soon be the subject of a civil lawsuit. That's according to attorneys for Martin's parents who announced they will pursue charges against the Twin Lakes Home Owners Association, saying the group told residents to call George Zimmerman if they saw suspicious activity and could not contact police.

Police say Zimmerman shot the unarmed Florida teen last month. Zimmerman says it was self-defense. He has yet to be arrested, which has sparked outrage and protests across the country.

But now that outrage has taken a new twist. Members of the radical New Black Panther Party are offering a $10,000 bounty for the, quote, "capture" of Martin shooter, George Zimmerman. Zimmerman has been staying out of sight. His attorney and his father both say that Zimmerman may be fearing for his life, but the national spokesman for the Panthers told us that this is not a call to violence.

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NZINGA (via telephone): George Zimmerman should have followed the police instruction and stayed in his car, and he shouldn't have took Trayvon's life.

No, we're not inciting violence. We're doing what American citizens have been doing for many, many years. We're doing a citizen arrest.

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KAYE: The New Black Panthers bring a volatile presence to an already explosive situation. Nationwide, the New Panthers claim to have thousands of members, but offer no exact numbers. They're a black separatist group that believes Black Americans should have their own nation.

Groups like Southern Poverty Law Center believe the New Panthers are a hate group, calling them a racist and anti-Semitic organization. The original Black Panthers, who are active in the 1960s and '70s, reject them and their idea, as well.

Saying she, quote, "can not even come close to paying for her husband's trial', the wife of U.S. Army Sergeant Robert Bales has now set up a legal defense fund on his behalf but Bales' wife had a message for those who want to help him, saying in a statement, "Contributions to the defense fund are welcome only from donors who, one, grieve with Mrs. Bales over the lives that were lost that night and, two, believe that in America, everyone is entitled to a fair trial."

Bales is accused of going on a shooting rampage against Afghan villagers. He's facing 17 counts of murder.

In a few hours, Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate a huge open air mass in Mexico. It's expected to be a highlight of his visit to one of the world's most Catholic nations. Yesterday, the Pope met with children who released doves as a symbol of peace.

But there's also some criticism. Three Mexican authors have released a book accusing the Vatican of hiding sexual abuse of children by priests.

April showers -- well, they may be coming a little early this year.

Let's say good morning to Reynolds Wolf.

So, what, some weather on tap for today? REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It sure looks that way, mainly on parts of the Atlantic and then out of West Coast. West Coast is going to be primarily rain. But in the high elevations, snow once again. And at the same time, some place is getting record heat yesterday. Possibly more of that today. We're going to talk about that coming up, plus a look at travel weather. That's just moments way -- Randi.

KAYE: OK. Reynolds, thank you.

President Obama has a warning today for North Korea: stop messing around with nukes. We'll take you live to South Korea, next.

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KAYE: Let's get back to one of our top stories now -- President Obama's visit to South Korea.

An international nuclear summit kicks off tomorrow. But today, the president had a strong message for North Korea.

Let's find out more now from Paula Hancocks. She's in Seoul for us.

Paula, good morning to you.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Randi. Well, the message basically was: bad behavior will not be rewarded. This is what President Obama wanted North Korea to hear.

Now, there was a press conference between him and his South Korean counterpart. They had a consensus that North Korea was violating U.N. Security Council resolutions, violating the deal that the United States struck with North Korea just a few weeks ago because they were going to go ahead with this satellite launch. Both presidents called on North Korea not to carry out this launch.

Interestingly, though, there were a number of questions asking both presidents what would happen if they did go ahead with the missile launch, what were the consequences. And that's something the presidents were not particularly specific about. We did hear from Mr. Obama that they would deepen the isolation of the country and would also jeopardize relations with its neighbors, but there was nothing specific about whether there would be more sanctions or whether or not they'd go back to the U.N. Security Council.

Now, Mr. Obama also said that he thought that the North Koreans were missing an opportunity to try and change their path.

Now, he did go up to the DMZ earlier on today, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea and said when he looked into North Korea, it was like a time warp. He said that he believed it was maybe 40 or 50 years behind when it came to progress. He also said it was quite difficult to see how weapons inspectors could go into North Korea at this point, considering there is so much friction.

So, we saw consensus between the two presidents calling on North Korea not to carry out this missile test -- Randi.

KAYE: And, Paula, we know there are some 50 heads of state gathering for this nuclear summit. I mean, what do they expect to accomplish? Can they accomplish anything?

KAYE: Well, I think what we're going to see definitely on the sidelines is North Korea and Iran being talked about quite significantly, also what Syria is likely to come up significantly. When you have 50-plus leaders around the world, you really can't help but talk about the most topical things in the world at this moment. But they are also going to try to talk about how to prevent nuclear materials getting into the wrong hands.

Now, there is a statistic saying the amount of nuclear material in the world at the moment could be enough to build close to 130,000 nuclear bombs. So, this is what they will be focusing on.

And also, nuclear safety. In the wake of Fukushima, almost -- just over a year ago this March, how to prevent another meltdown, how to keep nuclear power safe.

Now, of course, there are some that say there will be more decided outside of this summit on the sidelines in these bilateral meetings that we'll be seeing than within the summit itself. But they will come out with a communique of some sort by the end of Tuesday -- Randi.

KAYE: Paula Hancocks for us in Seoul today. Thank you.

All right. So, you could say better late than never. I'll tell you how this Civil War symbol made a return to the South, thanks to a very unlikely source.

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KAYE: Welcome back.

All right. Reynolds, I know that you're a really big history buff.

WOLF: Huge.

KAYE: Right.

So this is a story I think that you're definitely going to want to weigh in. Listen to this -- a symbol of the old South has found its way back home after 150 years. This flag, once flew over Ft. McAllister in Savannah, Georgia. I know you've been there. It was captured two years later by a Union officer whose great grandson found the flag when going through a box of family mementos.

And it seems that Union Major William Klain (ph) also they hoped the flag would be returned to the fort someday and his great grandson has honored that wish. Fort McAllister will celebrate the flag's return with a public dedication.

WOLF: That really is cool.

KAYE: Isn't that cool?

WOLF: That really is cool.

Ft. McAllister was actually taken by Sherman's troops on December 13th of 1864 and they had to take that fort before they were able to take Savannah. It was on Christmas Day of 1864 when Sherman presented the city of Savannah with a big bow on top of it for Lincoln. And so, we'll credit that as being one of --

KAYE: Will you be my trivia --

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WOLF: I'm completely out-geeking you. I totally understand. What a cool find. What a really, really cool find.

KAYE: Very cool.

WOLF: Hey, a look outside and see a great find with our weather. Take a look at this great shot that we have. Another beautiful morning in Centennial Park, music to my ears and yours, I guess, looks pretty nice there.

We're going to se a great day across parts of the southland. Some scattered showers across the mid-Atlantic. And then out to the West, it's going to very, very different, where we have the combination of rain. But back in the high elevations where again we'll se another round of snow, some places possibly up to a foot.

But let's begin with the East Coast first. Here you go -- scattered showers up towards Fenway Park and downtown Boston. Out near Frog Pond and Boston Common, you're going to see the rain. That's going to give way as we have some drier air back from the South.

Meanwhile, out to the West, it's all going to be the rain. But you can easily see the snow too, where it's popping up in the pinks and whites in the higher elevation. What we have out West is this storm system is double-barrel low, as we fast forward later today and then into tomorrow, we're going to see the low fade out, that front pull right towards the four corners and back over the Great Basin, but leaving behind some places above 5,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada up to a foot of snowfall.

We're going to see in the center of the U.S. is not a whole lot, mainly a lot of sunshine, some fairly warm temperatures. Yesterday, we have some very, very temps, if you don't mind the heat. We have some of that, places like Midland, 91 degrees; Galveston, Texas, 81; 70s in Colorado Springs, Duluth, Minnesota and Idaho Falls.

Today, we expect the pleasant to continue. Kansas with 79, your expected high; 62 in Minneapolis; 74 in South Lake City; 82 in New Orleans; 70 in Washington, D.C.; and 61 in New York. As we wrap it up, expect delays in Boston, no surprise there. And Raleigh, due to the showers. In San Francisco, it's going to be the rain; L.A., same deal, delays under an hour; and Chicago, that fog should stick around I'd say 10:30, 11:00. And when it warms up, the fog is out and air travel will be much easier.

That's the latest. Randi, back to you.

KAYE: Thank you, Reynolds. Check in with you in just a bit.

WOLF: You bet.

KAYE: Another exciting weekend for college basketball fans. Well, unless you're like me and you had your brackets just totally blown out of water. Last night, my take on the number one seed, Syracuse, got knocked out of the tournament by Ohio State, 77-70. Oh, I'm crushed.

Louisville also made it through a scare in Phoenix, moving ahead of the Florida Gators with barely a minute left on the clock.

Both teams now move on to the final four. Play next week in New Orleans. I'm curious how your bracket is doing, so can you tweet me @RandiKayeCNN.

The health reform challenge will soon be in the hands of high court. After years of debate in Congress and across the country, nine justices will decide what parts of the new health care laws are actually legal.

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KAYE: Time right now: about 23 minutes past the hour. And it is time to check out stories from around the nation. First, to Arkansas.

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KAYE (voice-over): A state trooper is in stable condition following a shootout. Herman Lee White is suspected of shooting Corporal Pete Penney during a traffic stop. White who was also wounded is facing a variety of charges.

In Washington, close to 1,000 supporters of repealing the health care law are holding rallies ahead of the Supreme Court arguments on health care reform. Their message is simple: kill the bill. Protests are expected to continue throughout the day.

Say hello to iRobot, just one of the many devices on display at an annual robotics conference built to protect troops in the field. Some machines on display are in development. Others have already been sold. Of course, none of the robots is ready to take the place of troops in the field.

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KAYE: Back to the main bar now. Our big story that we investigate from all angles to give you some context.

The Supreme Court prepares to tackle one of the most politically explosive appeals more than a decade. Tomorrow, the epic debate over the constitutionality of health care reform begins and nine justices will hear six hours of oral arguments from four cases. The process will take at least three days.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law March 23rd, 2010. It's a massive bill, 2,700 pages, 450 provisions attached to it.

A key provision to the law is the individual mandate. It requires all Americans to buy health insurance by 2014. Those who don't will face a fine.

Once arguments are made, justices will then make their final decision. Parts of the law could be thrown out or justices could pitch the entire thing.

They could also decide to keep everything but the individual mandate provision. Justices could also put off making a decision on the larger issues for years. But some type of ruling is expected by late June.

It's your health and your money. Still, many Americans don't even know what is at stake. Next hour, we'll bring you another sidebar with a constitutional law professor to help us understand the law and how some justices may actually vote.

Outrage over the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and now a bounty for his shooter. We'll tell you how much one group is offering for the capture of George Zimmerman.

You're watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING -- where news doesn't take the weekend off.

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KAYE: Checking some of our top stories this morning:

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is recovering from heart transplant surgery. Cheney had been on a transplant list for more than 20 months before receiving a heart from an anonymous donor. Seventy-one-year-old former vice president has a history of heart problems, suffering his first heart attack at the age of 37.

Members of the New Black Panther Party are offering a $10,000 bounty for the capture of Trayvon Martin's shooter, George Zimmerman. But Zimmerman is not evading police. So far, they have not arrested or charged him with a crime. The national spokesman for the New Black Panthers denied that this is a call to violence.

The controversial health care reform law championed by President Obama goes to the Supreme Court tomorrow. The justices will hear six hours of oral arguments from four cases on whether the law is constitutional. The process is expected to take at least three days. Keep it right here on CNN. And now, our next hour, I'll be joined by a special guest: "New York Times" columnist Nick Kristof. He'll talk about a potential strike on Iran by Israel, and why most experts say it would be catastrophic. That's coming up in our 8:00 hour.

But, first, a little chocolate with your school lunch -- that's one community's health plan. So, is it working?

"SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." starts right now.