Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

Faith and Freedom Coalition Draws GOP Heavy Hitters; Mosque at Yemeni Presidential Palace Bombed; Parts of Missouri River Shutdown; Al Qaeda's "Military Brain" Killed; Weiner-gate Still a Mystery; Watch What You Tweet; John Edwards Pleads Not Guilty

Aired June 04, 2011 - 08:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. From the CNN Center, this is your CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

It's 8:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, Georgia, 7:00 a.m. in Yankton, South Dakota. We are talking about Yankton because we are keeping an eye on the Missouri River there this morning. Parts of that river closed.

Also, Interstate-29 closed and the water continues to rise. We'll be checking in plenty this morning with our Reynolds Wolf.

Also, she's been convicted of fraud and kidnapping, held on house arrest for years and she was married to Nelson Mandela. Winnie Mandela rarely gives interviews but she invited us into her South African home. You'll hear what she now thinks of her ex-husband and also why she is not too happy with singer Jennifer Hudson.

But first, this morning, this could prove to be a very important weekend for Republican presidential candidates hoping to get an advantage on their competition. It's the Faith and Freedom Coalition having a meeting in Washington this weekend. It's actually wrapping up today with three Republican presidential hopefuls addressing the group.

Now she's not officially one, you're seeing there, Representative Michele Bachmann but the other three I'm talking about, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich, they'll all be addressing them today, but also Minnesota Representative Bachmann there, also House Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor will be addressing the group.

Bachmann, many are saying, is getting closer and closer to announcing whether or not she will run. Some say the signs point to yes she will. But many people, of course, at this conference slamming the president over his health care legislation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MICHELLE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: I will not rest until we repeal Obama care. America will not rest until we repeal Obama care. Take it to the bank, cash the check, it will be done. It will not stand. The American people will not stand. REP. ERIC CANTOR (R-VA), MAJORITY LEADER: The president and Democrats in Congress demagogue our proposal; they have no plan. They seem content to pursue government rationing of health care while our safety net programs are predicted to go into bankruptcy by the trustees who run that program as well as the Congressional Budget Office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now the conference is opening its second and last day of meetings, 9:00 Eastern time, just about an hour from now.

Also at 8:30, we'll take you there live for a report from our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser.

Meanwhile, the president who of course they were going after at that conference yesterday and you can expect to do the same today, the president this morning is touting the bailout of car makers.

His comments follow a pretty disappointing jobs picture that was revealed by the Labor Department on Friday. You may have seen that. The unemployment rate in this country ticked up to 9.1 percent and only 54,000 jobs were created for the month of May.

The president, though, saying while the country has work to do to improve the economy, he remains optimistic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got a ways to go. Even though our economy has created more than two million private sector jobs over the past 15 months and continues to grow, we're facing some tough headwinds.

Lately it's high gas prices, the earthquake in Japan and unease about the European fiscal situation. That's going to happen from time to time. There are going to be bumps on the road to recovery.

We're a people who don't give up, who do big things, who shape our own destiny and I'm absolutely confident that if we hold on to that spirit, our best days are still ahead of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, of course, I mention those numbers for the month of May showed a bit of a slowdown in job creation in this country. Meanwhile, the president's approval ratings seem to be going up. The latest CNN Opinion Research poll has the approval rating at 54 percent.

It has been a bit of a day already for U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates. He just touched down in the Afghan capital of Kabul. He is on a farewell tour of sorts. He retires from his post a little later this month. Earlier today he reassured U.S. allies attending the annual Asia security meeting in Singapore, telling them despite America's economic challenges, the U.S. will honor its military commitments also called future military ties with China, a priority.

From political star to a felony indictment. Former Senator John Edwards says he did not do anything -- or he did rather, he certainly did do something wrong, but saying he didn't do anything illegal. Federal prosecutors accusing John Edwards of using campaign money to hide an affair with a campaign worker. Edwards' attorney says the money was not a campaign donation, but a gift from two Edwards' supporters.

Our Joe Johns with the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: T.J., John Edwards was one of the last candidates standing in the 2008 race for the Democratic nomination. This time he was standing up in court facing a six-count indictment.

The government has charged him with conspiracy, making false statements. The government also says he took illegal campaign contributions, hundreds of thousands of dollars of donations from two individuals in order to cover up an affair he had with Rielle Hunter during a time when his wife Elizabeth was sick and dying with cancer.

Edwards and his crack defense team signaled quite quickly that they were going to fight these charges. First, they entered a not guilty plea and then Edwards addressed the cameras.

JOHN EDWARDS, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's no question that I've done wrong and I take full responsibility for having done wrong. And I will regret for the rest of my life the pain and the harm that I've caused to others. But I did not break the law, and I never, ever thought I was breaking the law.

JOHNS: Edwards was released on his own recognizance, but there were a few conditions. He's not free to leave the country, had to surrender his passport, and he was told to stay away from one of the witnesses in the case. One hundred-year-old Rachel Bunny Melon who said to have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to help Edwards cover up his affair with Rielle Hunter.

T.J., back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Thanks to our Joe Johns. Coming up at the half hour, I'll be talking to Sunny Hostin, legal analyst. She's a contributor for our sister network "In Session" about the Edwards indictment and what the former senator is facing.

Marshall Matt Dillon, a lot of people know that name from "Gunsmoke," the man who played that marshal has died. Actor James Arness, maybe you don't know the name, but I assure you, your parents know it. Arness played the marshal in the popular TV western series "Gunsmoke" from 1955 to 1975, worked with hundreds of actors over the years, among them Harrison Ford, Burt Reynolds, Charles Bronson, that's just to name a few. Arness died of natural causes. James Arness dead at the age of 88.

Again, Reynolds, that was kind of before our time. We weren't necessarily watching the show but we're certainly aware of some of the reruns and certainly the name and certainly know the story.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: What a great American he was. He was a big guy. He was about 6'7" inches tall and he was also a veteran. He served in the Ansio campaign, landed in Italy, wonderful veteran, good man and pretty good horse rider too, pretty good equestrian there. What a guy.

HOLMES: Let's turn to another story that's going to have people scratching their heads. This is one of those insult to injury stories. Everybody is concerned out there about identity theft. Can you imagine someone stealing your credit card, stealing your identity, using it to go buy up something and then sending you a little thank you in the mail?

This is what happened to these folks, Dade and Janel (ph) York. Those are their names. They noticed that hundreds and hundreds of dollars had been racked up on their debit card.

Then, that arrived. You see that, folks. A rose with a simple "thank you" note and police, they believe it is from the actual thief, but they don't believe it's going to be possible to catch this thief. It's going to be very difficult to track this person down.

I mean, it's one thing, you know how just -- I mean it's just hits you in the gut when somebody steals your identity or steals your card and then you know they're using it. You just feel powerless, but that's just too much.

WOLF: I wonder, did the person actually send the rose and the thank you card? Did they charge it to the debit card they stole?

HOLMES: That's cold, isn't it?

WOLF: I just wonder. That's the question. It really is. But I mean very, very interesting. At least they did something, I guess. I'm trying to find a silver lining. First of all, you don't steal the card in the first place.

HOLMES: Silver lining. Take your time if you need some time.

WOLF: (INAUDIBLE) Hey, today's weather we got an interesting line for you, it's going to be a bright red one. Mercury is going to be rising very, very hot for a lot of people. Possibly some record- setting temperatures in the southeast and southern plains today.

HOLMES: We're going to be checking in with Reynolds, plenty weather wise throughout the morning. We'll talk to him here in just a second. Reynolds, we appreciate you as always buddy. Also this morning, I was telling you a minute ago, we have an exclusive interview with Winnie Mandela. She doesn't talk that often, hardly ever really. We get to spend some time with her at her South African home, discuss of course her ex-husband Nelson Mandela and she also has some words, if you will, for singer Jennifer Hudson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WINNIE MANDELA: That movie, some translation of the romantic life of Winnie Mandela. I think it is an insult (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Our interview with the estranged ex-wife of Nelson Mandela, that is coming up just after the break.

Also, I'm having a difficult time continuing to say this, but they're call it Weiner gate now. Come on. It's not over yet, folks. After a long week of Q and A and explanations, we still continue with this story. It's starting to get even more bizarre, would you believe that?

Also this morning, a dangerous escalation and violence in Yemen, months after anti-government demonstrations threaten to spiral out of control into full-scale civil war. We're back in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Twelve minutes past the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

We turn to the unrest in Yemen. Months of protests threaten to erupt into full-scale civil war. The president there, Saleh, is blaming gangsters for shelling a mosque yesterday at his presidential palace. He survived that attack reportedly with a head injury. A number of people were killed including a Muslim cleric. Yemeni officials injured in the attack were transferred to Saudi Arabia today for treatment.

Our Mohammed Jamjoom has been monitoring developments in Yemen. He joins us from Abu Dhabi. He has also spent some time and done some reporting for us in Yemen, so knows the situation there well.

Mohammed, hello to you once again.

What was this -- just how bold, how brazen of an attack was this yesterday?

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, T.J. I just want to start by telling you we're just getting some new developments, speaking to residents in Sanna in the last 20 minutes and they're saying that they're hearing explosions again, ringing out throughout the capital of Yemen, that they're hearing these loud explosions every three to four minutes.

It seems to be getting worse. It had been a quiet morning so far. They hadn't been hearing clashes since late yesterday. Now they're saying they're hearing explosions. It's making them worry how much the situation is going to deteriorate again today.

As far as the attacks yesterday very, very brazen, the fact that anybody could get this close to the presidential palace, which is such a heavily fortified presence there, so secured, and launch this kind of attack against the president and the top officials that were there with the president, praying with him at that time, this is a very, very worrying sign for government officials in Yemen who are wondering just how tenuous a grip President Saleh now has on power.

President Saleh has been refusing consistently to release his grip on power the past several months. There's been more and more pressure being put on him by international bodies, other countries for him to step aside, to end the political turmoil and chaos in Yemen. He's been saying no.

The fact that there's tribal warfare now going on in the streets of the capital and the fact that this happened, making people wonder just how vulnerable he and his government is and if he can stay in power much longer -- T.J.

HOLMES: Just how concerning is it to U.S. officials and you know what, this country in general and every citizen that may be watching right no9w to see Yemen spiral out of control? Even if the president there does leave, what would be left? Just put in perspective here what this means for the United States.

JAMJOOM: This is a very, very worrying development for the United States. Now, the United States has been worried about Yemen for quite some time. Al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, which is the boldest branch of al Qaeda right now, which is considered to be the biggest threat towards Americans and westerners in the world, the most active wing of al Qaeda.

They have a hub in Yemen. They have been able over the past couple of years to try to launch spectacular attacks, very sophisticated attacks, against the U.S. and Europe and Saudi Arabia. The nightmare scenario has been for the U.S., that al Qaeda kicks up again in Yemen, tries to take advantage of this political unrest, tries to even take over parts of that country.

In the past week there have been reports that there's a city in Yemen in a province where there is a hotbed of militancy, where Islamic militants affiliated with al Qaeda have actually seized that city and officials that I've spoke with in Yemen are worried that that scenario is going to keep repeating itself because security forces in Yemen are so stretched thin, focused on the major cities and having this warfare with the tribes in those major cities, so a very, very worrying scenario.

The U.S. doesn't know what to do if Saleh falls. There is no post-Saleh plan. They consider him to be a key ally in the fight on al Qaeda there and they just don't know what's going to happen if he falls and if that country becomes even more vulnerable to a very resurgent and emboldened al Qaeda that has a base there. T.J.

HOLMES: Mohammed Jamjoom for us this morning in Abu Dhabi. We appreciate you as always, thanks so much.

We're a quarter past the hour now. We were talking to Reynolds Wolf just a little earlier. It seems like we have seen a lot of severe weather here over the past several weeks, even months. Well, we don't have those kinds of concerns of tornadoes, thunder storms necessarily, but the weather is still severe because of the heat, could get close to record-setting heat and this could be some dangerous stuff for a lot of the young and a lot of the old out there. So still, we're not out of the woods just yet. Quick break. Right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We're about 18 minutes past the hour here on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

Some of the pictures you're looking at, this is what's happening along the Missouri River. That is where the Coast Guard has shut down the river because of the high water levels that you can see there. It's causing some issues, causing some flooding. This is coming from rain and still some snow melting, right? We still got snow melting right now.

WOLF: It's essentially the same issue that we had in the northern part of the Mississippi River. We had that giant wall of water coming down, the flooding we had in the Ohio river, everything coming together and then feeding down into the southern half of the Mississippi River. Now we have this happening in the Missouri River.

HOLMES: Put that one in perspective for us. Everybody knows the Mississippi and where that is.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: Reynolds, we appreciate you as always. Thank you so much. We'll check in with Reynolds again here shortly.

As you know there's been a lot of flooding, a lot of tornado damage in the Midwest. If you would like to help the victims of some of these devastating natural disasters, you can go to our impact your world page for more information. That is at CNN.com/impact.

Well, you have probably seen at some point this week, the scandal involving New York Representative Anthony Weiner. We're going to go beyond that scandal itself though this morning. We're going to talk about the possible pitfalls, what you can possibly learn from what happened this week. The pitfalls of tweeting and Facebook, back in a moment with that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: At 24 minutes past the hour, got some breaking news to bring you now, another blow to al Qaeda.

It wasn't long ago, of course, that we saw the death of Osama bin Laden, the head of al Qaeda. Now we're getting word that a man by the name of Ilyas Kashmiri has also been killed. That name might not mean a lot to you. But in the intelligence community, those who have been seeking this man, it is a big deal. Consider him the military brain of al Qaeda.

This would be another major blow to al Qaeda and this man was killed, it appears, at least reports say, also in Pakistan.

I want to join now CNN's Phil Black. He is live for us in Islamabad this morning.

Phil, if you can help us first of all, I tried to give some context, but how relevant of a kill would this be, give our audience some context, just about who this man is.

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly, T.J. As you say, this is a big name in intelligence circles, certainly from a U.S. national security point of view. He was very much on their most wanted list, among the key targets of U.S. drones flying over the tribal regions of Pakistan.

And it is now believed that he is, perhaps, one of the victims of a U.S. drone strike in that lawless Pakistani tribal region, particularly in the area of south Waziristan, just overnight. Nine people were killed by a drone strike we understand from Pakistani intelligence officials.

One of them, according to growing reports, including one report from the local militant organization, he is said to have ruled himself that this man, Ilyas Kashmiri was one of the victims. To give you some sense of the context of just how rapidly this man has risen through militant ranks in recent years, he has been discussed in recent weeks as a possible successor to the al Qaeda leader, former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, T.J.

HOLMES: Can you help us here as well, we talk about and we see often these reports of those drone strikes. We usually don't get a whole lot of information about them. But do we have any indication and forgive me if I'm putting you on the spot, this is just getting to breaking news to us, if he might have been the intended target or might the intelligence community just have gotten lucky with him being there?

BLACK: It's an interesting question. There is no doubt that he was one of the targets that these drones are regularly hunting for. Whether he was the specific target in this case, is difficult to say. We understand that he normally operates in a region just north of there, north Waziristan. This missile strike took place in south Waziristan.

There are some media reports here in Pakistan that indicate he only recently moved into that area of the missile strike, a very short period of time, before that drone actually attacked. We haven't confirmed that here. There are many reports here that indicate he only got to the area a short time before the missiles were fired.

There is an important point that I should just mention, T.J. As I say, we had some reports that he was among the victims there, particularly from his own militant group. Pakistani officials, including the Pakistani intelligence service, has not yet confirmed this. They say they're still waiting to see his body or hear from their own sources on the ground that this is, in fact, true.

It's a point worth noting because it was suspected in the past, in fact more than that, it was declared back in September of 2009, that United States drones had, in fact got this man before, a month later. That proved not to be the case. He is a highly elusive figure.

As I say, he is a man who's been rising through militant ranks here in recent years and is now considered by many to be the operational commander of al Qaeda. So, a significant figure and certainly another very big get, very close to the death of Osama bin Laden -- T.J.

HOLMES: One last thing to you, Phil. What do we know about his background in terms of how much and how involved he might have been in attacks over the years on the United States or United States interests abroad?

BLACK: Well, he started his life as very much a local militant, fighting, cutting his teeth there, learning his guerilla tactics in the conflict over Kashmir with India, fighting Indian forces. He then later also fought with the Afghans against the Soviet occupation there during the '80s.

And then we understand and we understand this from one of the only media interviews he's ever given a press interview, back in October 2010. He had a (INAUDIBLE) and he realized that the only way to make progress in that Kashmiri dispute, to get a Pakistani victory there, was to turn the fight towards the United States and its allies in the region.

And so, he relocated to that border area with Afghanistan in north Waziristan and began directing his efforts, his people, his resources in the fight against not U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan. It was there that he grew very close to the Afghan Taliban and also to al Qaeda itself.

He has been linked to a great many impressive strikes, both in the south Asian region, India, Pakistan. He was said to have a hand in the Mumbai attack of 2008 and more recently he has been named as having the ambition and perhaps, attempting to plan attacks Mumbai style, commando style attacks in Europe, as well.

He's been particularly named in an ongoing U.S. court matter as a guiding hand in an effort to attack newspaper offices in Denmark. So the reason why he was of such interest to U.S. officials here is that he was a man with proven ability, proven motivation; they essentially believed that he is simply one of the most dangerous guerrilla leaders in the world today and one who had increasing ambitions to strike abroad.

For that reason they considered him to be very dangerous and they wanted to get him as soon as possible. We understand that he was on a list of militants given to the Pakistani government not long after the death of Osama bin Laden as their most wanted, someone that they wanted either information on or wanted the Pakistanis themselves to move on very quickly and it looks like they might possibly have a result.

HOLMES: All right, Phil Black, we appreciate you. Phil Black for us this morning in Islamabad, thank you so much.

Again, reports are saying that this man Kashmiri, Ilyas Kashmiri, has been killed. For some perspective, you're seeing his face there, might not be that familiar with the name or face, but to give you some perspective, intelligence officials at one point telling CNN that Osama bin Laden is al Qaeda's spiritual leader, cleric Ayman Al Zawahiri is the philosopher, Kashmiri is the organization's military brain, someone who was thought to possibly succeed Osama bin Laden as the head of al Qaeda reportedly has been killed in a drone strike.

A quick break, I'm right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, 33 minutes past the hour now.

The drama over Congressman Anthony Weiner and what may or may not have been a picture of him in his underwear that was or was not tweeted to a 21-year-old college student by possibly a hacker or prankster. This is still a strange mystery.

Let's go back a little bit here. A young woman in Seattle, college student, got -- received a lewd photo from Congressman Weiner's Twitter account. His explanation is that somehow his account was hacked. OK, people could buy that -- that is possible. But they were expecting him to answer a few questions and that's when things got strange.

Congressman Weiner would not answer a lot of questions about his role in this whole thing. He got downright defensive in some -- in some cases.

Take a listen to what happened when he was asked some questions by our Congressional correspondent Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: -- you do the questions, I do the answers and this jackass interrupts me?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right, well that was the scene earlier this week at Capitol Hill, having a confrontation there, calling one of our producers actually, one of our Capitol Hill producers a jackass during that whole exchange there.

But then he decided he would sit down with just about anybody. He did a lot of interviews with a lot of people on the networks including our Wolf Blitzer as you see there. But even then there was one question he refused to answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) WEINER: He was inactive, he's inactive the other day you know --

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": The picture, I'm sure you've seen it by now, is this you?

WEINER: I can tell you this. We have a firm that we've hired to -- I've seen it. It's -- I've seen it. We have a firm that we've hired to try to get to the bottom of it. It certainly doesn't look familiar to me, but I don't want to say with certitude.

BLITZER: Well, we just want to resolve it once and for all. You would know if this is your underpants, for example.

WEINER: The question is this -- I appreciate you continuing to flash that at me.

Look, I've said the best I can, that we're going to try to get to the bottom of what happened here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So, he says he did not send the picture, but he could not say for sure whether or not that was him in the picture.

Now, move on from that. What can we all learn? This got us thinking about and we've seen cases like this over the years, just how risky using social media can be for celebrities, politicians, yes, but just anybody out there.

Let me bring in our friend, CNN tech expert Katie Linendoll. Katie good morning to you. What is the lesson? What can we learn here from what we've seen with -- with Congressman Weiner?

KATIE LINENDOLL, CNN TECH EXPERT: Yes. Obviously there's a barrage of media attention on Representative Weiner this week. But I think more powerfully, it speaks to the digital transparency and the power of social networking.

And you know one tweet, one post on a site like Facebook or Twitter, has the power to live digitally forever. Or as I like to say it's the "reply all" button to the entire world, just one little impulse.

So I kind of wanted to share with you a few examples good and bad at the power of transparency --

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: All right.

LINENDOLL: -- of Twitter especially over this last year.

HOLMES: All right.

LINENDOLL: First I want to start with Kenneth Cole. And during -- and this is the uprising of Egypt. (CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Egypt.

LINENDOLL: -- Kenneth Cole actually sent out a tweet that said millions in uproar in Cairo. Rumor is they've heard our spring collection is now available online. Now, this is an example of a bad tweet that can really impact a brand. Obviously uproar over the Web after this tweet was sent, an apology was made by Kenneth Cole on Facebook, but it was overshadowed of course, by the insensitive nature of a tweet.

But also I want to get to another example which is that of 77- year-old senator of Iowa, Chuck Grassley. A place that you don't want to be is on Gizmodo, which is a very powerful tech Web site.

Chuck Grassley, you've got to hand it to him, he's older, he's trying to stay tech savvy and on the cutting edge but was deemed by Gizmodo as the worst Twitter user in the United States of America. And the reason for this, T.J., is he likes to use this kind of form of shorthand. It's very creative, but rather ineffective. Things that he tries to get out in 140 characters, usually are fairly illogical and don't make a lot of sense.

So this also speaks to the power of -- you better understand the technology before hopping on board and really putting yourself out there.

But I've given you two negative examples. I want to end with a positive one.

HOLMES: OK.

LINENDOLL: Because just last week an independent jewelry designer accused retail national chain Urban Outfitters of ripping off her jewelry designs. And even though she didn't have a lot of followers, apparently these accusations have happened quite frequently with Urban Outfitters.

So instantly it started trending on Twitter and a lot of people came to her side and Urban Outfitters was forced to respond and they also pulled down the jewelry line. So it just goes to show you the impact of one individual being able to stir the pot, using social media.

HOLMES: You know Katie, you showed a positive example there at the end but the other two, I guess the bad examples, if you will, how much of this oftentimes is people making bad decisions? Like you said you're hitting that reply all or you -- you're sending out an e-mail when you're upset and you shouldn't really hit that send button.

Is a lot of it just bad decision making and how much of it is people just don't understand the technology where you -- you think you might have been sending that picture to one person and you send it to a lot of people or -- or things like that? LINENDOLL: Yes. You know it's funny. For a celebrity or athlete to put up a bad tweet sometimes it has a weird impact. It's like no PR is bad PR and they'll gain tens of thousands of followers from it, which almost kind of isn't fair.

But then, for an average individual that isn't high profile, if they put something out there, like oh, you know I don't want to go to work today or I hate my job, the impact can trickle down only to their boss and they see repercussions that are of much larger magnitude.

And T.J., I want to switch over too because we're talking about Twitter.

HOLMES: Yes.

LINENDOLL: But I also want to talk quickly about Facebook because it's another power player when it really comes to this transparency of social networking. In the past two weeks alone, two -- we talked about mistakes that adults have made, two 13-year-old kids have seen the magnitude of their social media outbursts.

One 13-year-old girl in New Hampshire was actually suspended for five days for posting on Facebook that she wished Osama would kill her math teacher; so her parents, obviously, not very happy.

But then another 13-year-old boy in Washington State he had posted on Facebook too that -- Obama should be careful, this was after the Osama raid of suicide bombers. He was actually interrogated by the Secret Service.

HOLMES: Wow.

LINENDOLL: So I think we all have to have this digital filter when we're putting stuff out there. And as I always say, if you wouldn't put this on a billboard in Times Square, you really have to rethink something because it lives out there on the Web forever.

HOLMES: And nothing is private, folks. No matter what you think, once you put it out there, it's gone, you can't get it back. Good info this morning.

And Katie good to see you; it's been a while. Good to see you again.

LINENDOLL: You too. Thank you.

HOLMES: All right.

We're going to turn back to some politics here. They were once a deciding factor in presidential elections and Republicans are hoping to re-energize social conservatives now. Evangelical activists are meeting this weekend in Washington. Just about every Republican with an eye on the White House is stopping by.

Our Paul Steinhauser, deputy political director has stopped by as well at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Congress -- Conference, excuse me. Paul, if people are not familiar with that name, explain to them why this conference is able to pull just about every person who is running for president or who might run for president?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: You got it, T.J. This is a brand new organization, only about two years old, it was founded by Ralph Reid. Remember, he was the wonder kid back in the 1990s that made the Christian coalition a powerhouse on Republican politics.

And yes, if you want an example or need a sign of how important this conference is, as you said, seven -- count them -- seven Republican presidential candidates are here speaking to this crowd.

Listen, we know social conservatives always played a large role, a very influential role in picking Republican presidential nominees, they vote in big numbers in the Republican primaries and caucuses.

You need a little more proof? Check out this our most recent poll from CNN Opinion Research Corporation. Look at that about half of the Republicans we questioned said they identify themselves as born again or Evangelical Christians. T.J., a lot of importance here, that's why you're seeing all the candidates here.

HOLMES: And when we see them or hear from them, what are we hearing? A lot of bashing of the President, it sounds like?

STEINHAUSER: Oh, yes. No doubt about it. The President -- Barack Obama definitely a lot -- getting attacked here by a lot of the speakers, not just the presidential candidates. You're hearing a lot, of course, about family values, social issues, abortion, gay marriage. But you're also hearing a lot about the economy, about taxes, about the deficit, about health care, because that's the theme here, that kind of both go hand in hand. You can't have family values and fix the economy without each other. They really go hand in hand.

Take a listen to some of what some of the presidential candidates are saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It would be impossible if you don't have high regards and respect for life and then respect for liberty because without liberty, we do not have what has made this country so great.

TIM PAWLENTY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The way forward may not be easy, but it's not complex. We know the values and principles that this country was founded on.

REP. MICHELLE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: And I am committed, I am committed. I will not rest until we repeal Obama care. America will not rest until we repeal Obama care. Take it to the bank, cash the check, it will be done. It will not stand. The American people will not stand.

(END VIDEO CLIP) STEINHAUSER: That was Michelle Bachmann, of course, the Congresswoman from Minnesota. We expect her to probably announce her candidacy later this month -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right, it's a little quiet there now, but we know they are getting started again for today's events at the top of the hour. We're going to be checking back in with Paul Steinhauser throughout the morning to see what's happening there. Paul, good to see you as always buddy, thanks.

Well, an opera and a new movie about her -- Winnie Mandela is not flattered by it at all. She invited us into her home in South Africa and she's got some choice words for Jennifer Hudson. Why? You'll hear in a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It's about a quarter off the top of the hour, joined by Nadia Bilchik as we go on our "Morning Passport".

We're seeing pictures here of Winnie Mandela. You got to sit down with her in South Africa, a rare interview. Why is she upset with Jennifer Hudson?

NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Oh, she's terribly upset with Jennifer Hudson because Jennifer Hudson has just starred in the movie "Winnie: The Untold Love Story of Winnie and Nelson" but Jennifer never met with her. I did speak to Jennifer's publicist yesterday and she said Jennifer Hudson would have loved to have met with her but the producers thought for artistic integrity that she shouldn't meet with her.

HOLMES: What does that mean?

BILCHIK: Let's hear what Winnie had to say.

This is still the movie we're watching.

HOLMES: Do we have it Deirdre? You can just let me know. We can move on if we don't have that sound. We don't have that sound, actually. That's too bad.

But what did she say? OK now -- I'm told we do have it. Go ahead and let me hear it now, Deirdre.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILCHIK: Jennifer Hudson will be playing Winnie Mandela in a movie or has already filmed. Any advice you want to give her?

WINNIE MADIKIZELA-MANDELA, SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICAL ACTIVIST: No, I wouldn't like to give her any advance. I have absolutely nothing against Jennifer but I have everything against the movie itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BILCHIK: The movie is going to tell this beautiful love story, but Winnie feels she should have been consulted.

HOLMES: Now, there is reasoning -- is that in the --

BILCHIK: I spoke to the producer yesterday as well, he said we wanted to keep the integrity on the book of which the story is based and therefore Jennifer -- but Jennifer's publicist was very insistent. She said to me, "Nadia, please don't let Jennifer take the rap for this. She would have loved to have met Winnie Mandela."

HOLMES: That's interesting. Because most times or oftentimes you hear when people want to play someone, they want to meet them first to get a feel for them sometimes and if they're going to portray them in films. And this, they did the opposite

BILCHIK: They did the opposite and Jennifer Hudson did say it was hard. I mean a South African accent is not easy.

But now there's also "Winnie" the opera, you have to hear what Winnie has to say about her being the major heroine in an opera.

HOLMES: OK. Let's hear this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILCHIK: Your life story has recently been made into an opera. I know you were there on opening night. What did you think about it?

MANDELA: I made those remarks about the opera having been a (INAUDIBLE) before. And I honestly found it difficult to imagine how you would translate a struggle into an opera. I think they did an amazing job. Of course, not everyone would be happy about how that life was depicted, but I don't think it is possible to show 18 months of solitary confinement in an opera situation.

And I don't think it is possible to translate (INAUDIBLE) and depict those nine and a half years of punishment. And it is not possible to translate the actual torture each and every mother went through and I was one of those where -- who got the bitter end of the apartheid stick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BILCHIK: Many sides to Winnie Mandela. Her granddaughters are going to write a book about her story.

HOLMES: All right. And we're going to have more on this, I mean throughout this morning and also tomorrow morning. But the point I'm going to get with you in about an hour, in our 10:00 eastern hour, the question you got most when you told people you were interviewing her on Twitter and Facebook, people had this particular question about her.

BILCHIK: And it will surprise you.

HOLMES: It was an interesting one.

Nadia, we appreciate you. Thank you so much.

HOLMES: We're also talking John Edwards this morning. A grand jury indicted him yesterday. Prosecutors allege he used campaign donations to cover up an affair. We will be talking to our legal analyst and friend, Sunny Hostin.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Former presidential candidate John Edwards pleading not guilty on six counts including conspiracy and violation of campaign finance laws. The grand jury indicted him yesterday. Prosecutors contend Edwards used campaign donations to cover up an affair and pay his mistress. Yesterday John Edwards spoke with reporters about the indictment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN EDWARDS (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's no question that I've done wrong and I take full responsibility for having done wrong. And I will regret for the rest of my life the pain and the harm that I've caused to others. But I did not break the law and I never, ever thought I was breaking the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Our legal analyst and friend of our show on CNN SATURDAY and SUNDAY MORNING, Sunny Hostin joins me now. She's from "In Session" on our sister network TruTV. She's joining me from New York. Sunny, good morning to you once again.

Tell me, first of all, let's just start simply. If -- if he's happened to be found guilty on one or even all of these counts, is he looking at time in prison?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: He is looking at time in prison, T.J. He's looking at at least five years on each count, plus a $250,000 fine. That's the maximum penalty of course under the federal sentencing guidelines. It would likely be less than that because he would be a first-time offender, first-time person being convicted.

There's no question about it, that each charge, and there are six of them, carry five years maximum penalty. We're talking about if he's convicted of all of them, (INAUDIBLE) maximum penalty.

HOLMES: Sunny, tell me how difficult of a case? I read through this entire indictment. And a lot of it reads like something you read frankly in the "Enquirer" or something. It makes him out to be a bad dude and the decisions he'd made and what he did to his wife and his family and trying to cover all this stuff up. But then it almost seemed like an aside about some of the counts and the criminal element of it.

So what are they trying to do here? Do they really want to influence a jury later by saying this is bad guy?

HOSTIN: Well, certainly it is a sordid indictment, T.J. I agree with you on that when you look at it. They are going -- those are the facts. Those are the facts that the prosecution alleges them. They are alleging that Bunny Mellon gave him over $700,000 to hide this affair from the world so that his campaign in 2008 could continue.

Of course, the defense is arguing that's not true. This was a personal gift and these were personal gifts and they were only given to Rielle Hunter so that they could hide the affair from Elizabeth Edwards because she was dying from cancer. They're saying these were not campaign contributions.

Of course, I will say this is sort of unprecedented, this use (ph) of federal campaign laws. It's never been done before. The government is sort of hinging its argument on a 2000 advisory opinion given to the FEC issues, and so it's not the easiest case to prove.

But in front of a jury, given the types of allegations and given this sordid past, especially that he had this affair, had the child, his wife was dying of cancer, factually T.J., it's a really good case for the prosecution.

HOLMES: Anybody else -- just to wrap up -- anybody else possibly could face some charges to this?

HOSTIN: Well, no one else has been charged, of course. I think some people talked about Andrew Young possibly being complicit in this because there is a conspiracy charge. I think he's going to be one of the star witnesses. He's not named in the indictment but he is likely person A, when people read the indictment.

I don't think, at this point, the government is considering any charges against anyone else. It's all about John Edwards right now.

HOLMES: All right. Sunny Hostin, again, friend of our show here on the weekend and legal analyst; Sunny good to see you as always. You enjoy the rest of your Saturday.

HOSTIN: Thanks, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. We're getting close to the top of the hour.

Some breaking news we told you about just a bit ago, news out of Pakistan. That an al Qaeda leader, someone who many thought possibly could come as the head of that organization after Osama bin Laden's death, well now we're told this al Qaeda leader has been killed.

That story for you as we re-set at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)