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CNN Saturday Morning News
Self-Proclaimed 9/11 Mastermind in Court; President Obama to Hold Campaign Rallies; Secret Service Sex Scandal; North Carolina's Amendment 1
Aired May 05, 2012 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANHCOR: From the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is Saturday, May 5th, Cinco de Mayo, of course. Good morning everyone, I'm Randi Kaye.
The self-proclaimed mastermind of the September 11th attacks appears before a military tribunal. But when will his case go to trial?
President Obama hits the trail at his first official campaign rally in his bid for his second term.
And the escort at the center of the Secret Service scandal gives her side of the story.
First the self-proclaimed mastermind of the September 11th attacks Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-defendants are being arraigned at Guantanamo Bay.
Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence is there for us. Chris, breakdown if you will, what's happened in court today?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It's a circus-like atmosphere, Randi. They are just really getting going with what the arraignment was supposed to be asking all of the defendants, do you accept this counsel, these attorneys that have been assigned to you. None of the defendants have answered. In fact, none of the defendants have uttered a word in response to any of the judge's questions.
So far we have seen Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for the first time in years. His beard is very long it's turned more of a reddish color. He's wearing a white turban, he's also wearing some reading glasses. None of the defendants, again, have said anything. They have steadfastly remained silent.
That was a real problem going in because the judges said they cannot just choose not to participate and derail the entire proceeding. So what they have had to do is had this loud speaker doing a translation of Arabic and it's become very disjointed in that the English speakers can only speak in very small chunks, wait for the translation and then speak again.
Another one of the defendants stopped everything to pray. He stepped outside of the desk to pray. And still another defendant was brought in, in shackles. His civilian attorney, his American civilian attorney came to court and said that he was mistreated. We have heard some allusion to something that happened this morning as they were being brought into court because the one defendant was brought in, in shackles and was shackled for a time while the others were not.
We'll have to wait probably until they take a break and we're able to actually talk to some of the defense attorneys to figure out exactly what did happen this morning -- Randi.
KAYE: Chris Lawrence, thank you very much for the update there from Guantanamo bay.
A top Russian general says he isn't ruling out a pre-emptive strike on missile defense launch sites. He made those comments after talks between the U.S. and Russia over a missile defense shield deadlocked. The U.S. and its European allies have been trying to ease Russia's fears over the project by insisting it's directive toward countering the missile threat from the Middle East.
President Obama is holding his first official campaign rally today in the battleground state in Ohio. Chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin takes a look at what the campaign is doing to win the state.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the campus of Ohio State University, pockets of enthusiasm for the President's first official campaign rally.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're excited.
YELLIN: But the excitement of 2008 is missing. So the campaign is pouring resources into Ohio to keep it competitive. The state director has been here since 2009. His message to voters, the President's auto bailout boosted the local economy.
GREG SCHULTZ, OFA OHIO STATE DIRECTOR: Now one out of every eight jobs in Ohio is related to the auto industry.
YELLIN: The Obama campaign has 18 field offices, Romney opens his first next week and Democrats say they'll try to use that local presence to win over undecided voters.
CHRIS REDFEIN, CHAIRMAN, OHIO DEMOCRATIC PARTY: It's not a (inaudible), it's not direct mail piece, it is voter to voter contact between a screen door and that kind of validation between a volunteer from that neighborhood gives us a huge advantage.
YELLIN: Then there is social media 2012, a step up from the last campaign. Ashley Bryant, a Cincinnati native, is the state's digital media director.
ASHLEY BRYANT, OFA OHIO DIGITAL MEDIA DIRECTOR: So we're showing you know the President doing OHIO stance which is fantastic to get people excited for Saturday.
YELLIN: She runs an Ohio-based campaign blog, iPad app and Twitter accounts with messages localized to Ohio voters.
BRYANT: Anything that we do, we're usually covering all of our platforms. We're posting it on the blog, on the Web site, on Flickr, everywhere in between.
YELLIN: At the Saturday rally volunteers will be checking in attendees with its app. Speakers can ask audience to re-tweet campaign messages and there will be a photo booth on site.
BRYANT: And we're actually going to be showing their photos on the big screen during the rally.
YELLIN (on camera): Like on the jumbotron?
BRYANT: Exactly.
YELLIN (voice-over): Sounds modern and new, but is it enough?
RYAN WILLIAMS, PRESS SECRETARY, ROMNEY CAMPAIGN: Well, voters in Ohio and across the country know that the -- the 2008 Obama campaign of "Hope and Change" has turned into the 2012 campaign of "Hype and Blame".
YELLIN: At this phone bank, the President has loyal supporters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If Barack Obama can end the war in Iraq then he'll have a successful presidency.
YELLIN: Political observers say the contest in this state will be a dogfight.
JOE HALLETT, CHIEF POLITICAL REPORTER, COLUMBUS DISPATCH: Any lack of enthusiasm for Obama will be matched equally by a lack of enthusiasm for Romney. I just don't see a lot of energy, period, in Ohio politics right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: And Jessica Yellin joins us live now from Columbus. Well, a little bit of a close-up there. Good morning to you Jessica. What is President Obama's message to Ohio voters today?
YELLIN: Hi, Randi. Well, he is going to try to frame a narrative for this campaign talking about what the challenges he faced when he came into office were. Essentially, how much worse it could have been, how much better it was because of the policies he put in place. That will be the argument he's made.
And then in campaign terms, you know, draw a contrast with Mitt Romney -- that's how they like to put it. But it's a lot of framing the message, framing how he tried to make things as good as they could be and how much better it can be going forward. In other words, don't change now.
His remarks will be about 15 to 20 minutes. The First Lady will speak before him and one of the senators running for re-election will also be here and he just walked in and the audience erupted in cheers. So it's already a very enthusiastic vibe in this auditorium which seats 20,000.
So you'll see a real rally atmosphere here and a lot of new technology on display, too -- Randi. I'm sorry.
KAYE: All right, Jessica Yellin, thank you very much. You've got to love live TV.
And of course keep it right here today, in the 1:00 hour CNN we'll bring you President Obama's rally speech from Columbus, Ohio right here on CNN.
Mitt Romney is slamming President Obama over the new labor report that came out yesterday. Unemployment is down to 8.1 percent but the economy only added 115,000 jobs last month. Romney says that is no cause for celebration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The unemployment rate has dropped to 8.1 percent. And normally that would be caused for celebration but, in fact, anything over eight percent, anything near eight percent, anything over four percent is not cause for celebration.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: The Republican presidential candidate says the country can't celebrate until unemployment is at four percent.
The Colombian escort at the center of the Secret Service scandal is speaking out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are a bunch of fools, they are responsible for Obama's security and they still let this happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: What else she had to say about the morning after.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Secret Service agents buying and drinking alcohol like it was water, acting crazy, dancing on bar tops and leaving sensitive files open in hotel rooms. That's what a now former escort is saying about the Colombian prostitution scandal that's implicated two dozen members of the Secret Service and the military.
Dania Suarez gave her side of the story to a Colombian radio station. She offered a laundry list of accusations aimed at those agents. And I talked about it with Drew Griffin of CNN's Special Investigations Unit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: The woman did not know that these guys were Secret Service agents. Otherwise, she says, she wouldn't have turned them into police.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: It was an amazing moment in this very casual interview, I should say, Randi. Because the Secret Service was really intent on making sure that the -- the prostitutes, the girls or whatever, did not know that they were Secret Service agents so that would mean that the President's security was never threatened.
But she says this probably would have never happened had she known that. It started out as a very casual kind of party in a bar sounds like; some outlandish behavior, a lot of drinking, a lot of fun. One of her friends even attracted to one of these Secret Service agents whom, again, she says she had no idea who they were.
KAYE: And she says these guys were dancing on the bar and drinking a lot of vodka and pulling up their shirts and then a friend introduced them?
GRIFFIN: That's right. I mean, it sounded like your typical rowdy, raucous pick-up scene and -- and that's where she says it led.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIA SUAREZ, COLOMBIAN ESCORT SUAREZ (through translator): My friends nor I, we didn't know they were agents, you know, Obama's agents for, you know. And then we left and we went to this place to buy condoms and then we went to the hotel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who went?
SUAREZ: Well, my friend -- well, she's not really a friend. She's an acquaintance and the agent who was with me and the other one, the four of us. And then my friend went with him because she liked him. No, I don't understand because she liked him. It wasn't the same thing I was doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: And what she says she was doing, she admits, was trying to get payment for quote, unquote, "escort services". She says she and the agent she was paired with had an agreement, an $800 gift if she spent the night in that hotel room. And she did. She went at 1:30 to 6:30. She won't say what happened but she will say what happened after it ended.
KAYE: So what happened the next morning? Because the hotel called and said that she had to go?
GRIFFIN: That's right. And she wakes up the agent whom she's just a friend, right, and says, it's time to pay me. And take a listen to what she says happened next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUAREZ: And I told him to wake up and give me my gift that I asked him for. And he said, no. Just go (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I'm not going to pay you. And then he -- he just put out 50,000 pesos for the taxi and I was like -- I was in shock in that moment when he just said that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: 50,000 pesos is about 30 bucks. She was not going to leave with $30 after being promised $800. That she spent the next three hours getting the Colombian police, getting other agents to pull their resources eventually leads with $250. Not knowing until the next day this was all quote, unquote, "Obama's agents".
KAYE: Wow and that's money that the other agents pulled together?
GRIFFIN: That's right. This guy would not open his door.
KAYE: Wow. And so now she's saying that -- that selling her body is -- is not something she's going to do anymore, according to this interview, but she's not opposed, I guess, to posing in men's magazines?
GRIFFIN: Not opposed. There has been rumor that there might be some deals in the works. She wouldn't release any of those details. But I mean, let's -- let's face it, it's been two weeks since her claim to fame. She's probably still figuring out where she's going to go with this.
KAYE: Drew Griffin thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Who knows where it's going to go.
So how do you define marriage? That is the question North Carolina voters must answer and it is sparking protests. We'll tell you why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back.
Voters in North Carolina have a big issue weighing on their minds. And it's not who they should vote for in next week's Republican primary. They are concerned about something called Amendment 1. It defines a marriage between one man and one woman as the only domestic legal union recognized by the state. It not only bans same-sex marriage which is already illegal in North Carolina but also invalidates civil unions and domestic partnerships between unmarried heterosexual couples.
Reverend Billy Graham has a big ad in newspapers this weekend favor of the measure. And although there are many against the amendment, recent poll shows that it is passing right now with a 54 to 40 margin.
Earlier this morning, I asked North Carolina's House majority leader Representative Paul Stam why the state is taking this step.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL STAM, STATE REPRESENTATIVE, NORTH CAROLINA: Well, we've had marriage between a man and a woman for 343 years. The reason we have to put it in our state constitution is that half a dozen other states have, by judicial fiat, had a handful of judges change the laws of those states. And we have the same provision as 1868 that they did and this just leaves the decision with the voters instead of with a handful of judges.
KAYE: But when you look at this measure, it would also ban civil unions and domestic partnerships. I'm just curious how do either of those threaten marriage as you see it?
STAM: Well, first of all, there's no common definition for either of those terms. We don't have those in North Carolina. We have a handful of cities and counties out of our 625 cities and counties that have what they call domestic partner benefits. But the measure would not prohibit those cities and counties from providing benefits if they do it in a different way. In other words, not by recognizing that as a status but rather according to objective criteria such as who lives in a household.
KAYE: But if it's the same in the end, if you have to say, ok, so these benefits go to someone who pays rent in my household or someone who I share my home with or my roommate. I mean there's still a partner. So in the end if they still get the benefits, why all the fuss going through this?
STAM: Well, I don't consider it a fuss at all to re-establish marriage in North Carolina as one man and one woman -- it also, by the way, prohibits polygamy. Because that is the best environment for raising children in a society.
KAYE: What many people don't seem to know is that Amendment 1 would also dissolve partnerships of straight couples as well so --
STAM: I don't know what you mean by that. The amendment specifically allows contracts between individuals to be enforced. So if you would tell me what you mean by that, I could address what you mean.
KAYE: Because there's always a chance that those contracts won't be enforced. So straight couples say that they're at risk as well and that by doing this --
STAM: Well, the amendment specifically says that private contracts may be enforced by the courts.
KAYE: Clearly there are a lot of strong opinions about this. I mean the measure certainly has its critics. North Carolina's pediatric society, psychological associations, psychiatric associations, they all oppose Amendment 1 saying that it will impact health care coverage for all unmarried households. And we are talking of course, millions of children that could be affected.
So I want you to listen to the TV ad put out by the coalition to protect North Carolina families which opposes Amendment 1.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My fear with Amendment 1 is that my daughter would lose her health insurance and that she would lose it immediately, simply because we're unmarried and that's really unfair. And it is completely arbitrary.
If you looked at a classroom full of kids and said, which ones do you not want to cover? Someone would say, why are you even doing that? But this is. This amendment is doing that. Amendment 1 will take away my daughter's health insurance. And that's extremely unfair.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: How would you like to respond to that? What would you say to Melissa there?
STAM: Well, she is completely wrong with her premises. The vast majority of insurance in North Carolina is private, which would not be affected at all. The vast majority of governmental insurance would not cover her child any way. And those handful of cities and counties that have it in that -- of that nature if they reformat it so that they want to cover the unmarried household members and all of the children at the -- they could do that if they want to.
Now, that would be very poor insurance policy, but it would be legal if they want to do that. That's really a red herring.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: I also spoke with Reverend William Barber, who is against the amendment. And you'll get a chance to hear what he has to say as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: We were talking about the controversial Amendment 1 before the break. Voters in North Carolina will have to decide next week which way to go.
I spoke with Reverend William Barber earlier this morning. He's president of the North Carolina NAACP and a leading voice against the amendment. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REV. WILLIAM BARBER, PRESIDENT, NAACP, NORTH CAROLINA: How people feel about same-sex marriage religiously or personally is a matter of their conscience. But the question -- the real question here is, do we want to support voting codifying and voting on placing discrimination and hate and division in our constitution? Do we want to follow groups like the Family Research Council, that had been listed as a hate group by the Southern Party Law Center -- the national organization of marriage who have said clearly in their own document that the goal of these types of amendments is not so much about marriage but about splitting Democratic Party constituencies. Do we want to follow those who have fought us in every area on voting rights, civil rights, cut public education by $1.6 billion. They tried to pass Voter I.D. law. They've tried to repeal the racial justice act. They've given money to the wealthy rather than deal with the fact we have 1.6 million people in poverty in North Carolina.
And now they want to ask us to codify discrimination in our constitution; to literally put it up for a vote people's constitutional rights to try to get a state constitution to trump the federal constitution, the 14th amendment -- equal protection on the law. This is a very dangerous precedent.
KAYE: And Reverend let me --
BARBER: And whether you're for -- yes, yes.
KAYE: Let me just jump in here for a second because I spoke to Representative Paul Stam. And I want you to hear what he told me about Melissa, a woman in a lesbian relationship of 10 years who will lose her and her daughter's health insurance if the amendment is because her wife is working for the government. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAM: A vast majority of governmental insurance would not cover her child any way and in those handful of cities and counties that have it in that nature, if they reformat it so that they want to cover the unmarried household members and all the children at -- they could do that if they want to. Now that would be very poor insurance policy but it would be legal if they want to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: So he's talking about reformatting their status. I guess you can call them roommates instead of wives. What is your take on this?
BARBER: Well, the problem is -- first of all, you have to know the source. Again, this is an ultra conservative Tea Party type ideology trying to split the community. This is bad law. They didn't allow any law -- any of the family laws just across the state and every one of them, every law school said this is a bad law because it will hurt even heterosexual families because it does not recognize any of the domestic unions.
It will hurt children. It will hurt those that need the protections in domestic values issues, it's bad law. And there was no public comment on those laws and when you check somebody like the Senator you just mentioned.
Look at the rest of the section. He stood against us on voting rights. He stood against us on dealing with disparities in the criminal justice system. He tried to repeal the racial just act. This is nothing more than ultra-conservative regressive Tea Party type ideology --
KAYE: Right. BARBER: -- trying to split the community. And it's bad, particularly in the south where we talked about a state's rights agenda to trump the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
KAYE: Let me ask you very quickly because the NAACP doesn't take a stand on same-sex marriage. I'm curious why that is, and maybe in light of issues like these coming up on the ballot, might the NAACP reconsider?
BARBER: No. That's really actually the wrong question. We believe that as a matter of religion, a matter of conviction, a matter of contest. This is a matter of constitution. The passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments the constitution, we have never narrowed our constitutional rights. We've always expanded them. When we did write things into the constitution it cost us 250 years of slavery and 100 years of John Crow.
We originally wrote women out of the constitution, we wrote poor white people out of the constitution. The general assembly is not the council of Nicea. The reality is we should never seek to -- however we feel about same-sex marriage, we should never seek to codify discrimination, hate, and division into the constitution. And on those grounds, when you ask people that question, when you let them know who is behind this, what it will do, we find the polling is much different. People can be against same sex, personally, religiously, they have a right to do that.
But they also find themselves standing against this amendment because they understand that that is fundamentally not contrary to the American way, contrary to our constitutional values to vote on people's rights, to put people's constitutional rights up for a public vote. That's the debate we should have.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: And the vote for Amendment 1, we should let you know, is on Tuesday.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has harsh words for the troops.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEON PANETTA, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The few who lack judgment, lack professionalism, lack leadership can hurt all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
We'll tell you why some troops are getting a warning from their boss.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Top stories now, President Obama is holding his first official campaign rally today in the battleground state of Ohio. It's expected to start in the 1 o'clock hour at Ohio State University in Columbus. And CNN will bring you live coverage when it begins. In Syria today, a deadly explosion at a car wash killed at least five people. It happened as security forces drove by in a bus. Opposition groups also report separate attacks in Homs, killed two and one in Damascus injured three government soldiers.
The attacks violate a peace plan brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan meant to end the violent 14-month uprising. A spokesman for Annan said it will take time for the plan to take hold.
Protests turned violent in Cairo today. One person was killed and more than 300 people injured as demonstrators clashed with government forces. The protests broke out following deadly clashes earlier this week. Demonstrators want the military government to move quicker toward civilian rule.
Is bad behavior by some U.S. troops helping U.S. troops lose the hearts and minds of people in Afghanistan? It seems each month there is a new shocking scandal involving the military. Well, now Leon Panetta, the Pentagon boss, is trying to send troops a wake-up call. Barbara Starr breaks it down for us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA STARR, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): After a series of high- profile incidents of troops misbehaving, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta went to Ft. Benning, Georgia, on Friday, to say, enough is enough.
LEON PANETTA, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The few who lack judgment, lack professionalism, lack leadership, can hurt all of us.
STARR (voice-over): In Afghanistan alone, one scandal after another. In January, video of Marines urinating on dead insurgents; in February, Marine snipers posing with a flag with SS initials. The Nazi overtone sparked an investigation.
Then, riots broke out after U.S. troops inadvertently burned Korans; last month, soldiers posing with dead insurgents. Panetta's Ft. Benning speech was broadcast to the entire U.S. military, warning bad behavior can lead to instant international headlines.
PANETTA: And those headlines can impact the mission that we are engaged in. They can put your fellow service members at risk. They can hurt morale. They can damage our standing in the world.
STARR (voice-over): The investigation of a dozen service members in potential misconduct involving alcohol and prostitutes during President Obama's trip to Colombia brought the issue an even higher profile.
GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: We are embarrassed by what occurred in Colombia.
STARR (voice-over): But the strongest words came from Marine Corps Commandant General James Amos, who told his commanders, "Recent widely publicized incidents have brought discredit on the Marine Corps." He called for an end to "undisciplined and embarrassing conduct."
The chief of staff of the Army also weighed in, calling for an end to the bad behavior. And the Navy? Well, in the last 21/2 years, the Navy has relieved 47 commanders from duty for failing to meet professional and behavior standards -- Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Stop starving and start eating. That is the message from "Vogue" magazine to fashion models. I'll talk with one model about the impact to the industry and young women everywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA")
(END VIDEO CLIP, "THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA")
KAYE: That, of course, was a scene from "The Devil Wears Prada." And it shows that whether you are in front of the camera or behind the scenes, the pressure to be thin in the world of modeling can be intense.
The movie is loosely based on one woman's experience working at "Vogue," but in real life, the magazine is making a move that could literally change the face of fashion. Beginning next month, "Vogue" will no longer feature models under the age of 16 or those who are too thin or appear to have an eating disorder.
Sara Ziff is a model and is also the founder and director of Model Alliance, the group that prompted "Vogue" to take action. She joins me now from New York.
Sara, good morning to you. Some people call "Vogue" the style bible. So tell us how you got involved and why it's so important for a publication of "Vogue's" stature, certainly, to support such an initiative.
SARA ZIFF, MODEL AND ACTIVIST: Well, Randi, I think this could really be game changing for the industry. I started modeling when I was 14 years old. In hindsight, I think that was too young. It's a very grown-up industry. We have grown-up pressures and I just don't think that a child should be subject to that.
And so, yes, I formed this group, "The Model Alliance" and we're working to give models a voice in the American fashion industry and I'm really, really thrilled that "Vogue" magazine has taken the lead on this, because obviously they have a lot of clout in the industry and a lot of influence. And we're hoping that other fashion brands and magazines will follow.
KAYE: Well, you said that you began modeling at age 14. Some other very famous models also began modeling at young ages. What experience did you have at that age, I guess, that maybe made you think a need for initiative like this was necessary? ZIFF: Well, I would say I was pretty lucky in my career, and most of my experiences were positive, but when you're 14 years old you kind of -- you think you're much more grown up than you really are and sometimes, if you're -- for example, if you're put on the spot to do something that makes you uncomfortable, you might not speak up.
You know, I remember long working hours, despite the fact that there are child labor laws that say kids -- there should be very strict requirements as far as, you know, meeting your educational obligations and that sort of thing. The fashion industry for a long time has sort of ignored that and so I think there's a really long way to go, but this is a start.
KAYE: As part of the six-point plan, "Vogue" editors say that they will be, quote, "ambassadors for the message of a healthy body image." But in January I'm sure you're aware of this, French "Vogue" featured that 10-year-old model. Is this new ban enough or should "Vogue," for instance, begin to feature maybe plus-size or older models maybe to better reflect the audience?
ZIFF: Well, I think that for a long time fashion images have certainly not been representative of the female population or the American population. You know, obviously they favor predominantly very thin, generally white, young women in their teens, and I think it would really be positive for the industry to take a more inclusive approach.
And to "Vogue's" credit, they actually -- they have made an effort to feature a variety of sort of health and body in their magazine, but I think that this will sort of raise the bar for the industry overall.
KAYE: The state mission of your group is to organize and radically improve the conditions under which the models work and I know you have several primary goals, including enforcement of child labor laws. Tell me just briefly about some of the others.
ZIFF: Well, one thing that may not be obvious to the public is there's a real problem with lack of financial transparency. So that's something that we are working to address. We surveyed models and found that a lot of them don't actually have health insurance. So there are obviously these body image concerns, but like a lot of working Americans, health insurance is an issue for models as well.
So we want to make sure that they can see a doctor and a range of other issues. But the focus is really just organizing models to be able to have some say in their work, because while we're the sort of the face of the business, we have very little say within it.
KAYE: So now that "Vogue" has signed on, I'm curious, does it end here or are you going to try and get other magazines to sign on as well?
ZIFF: We're really hoping that other fashion magazines will follow and I think that will happen. "Vogue" has -- these guidelines issued by "Vogue" are very similar to the Council of Fashion Designers of America's guidelines, the CFDA guidelines, which basically apply to New York Fashion Week. That's only a 14-day span.
It's a very -- you know, short period of time that only applies to a small select group of runway models, and so by extending that to the pages of "Vogue," the editorial work, I think we're actually going to really see and feel the effects of this.
KAYE: Sara Ziff, with Model Alliance, thank you so much and thank you for the work that you are doing.
ZIFF: Thank you.
KAYE: Well, the hats, the mint juleps, and, of course, the beautiful horses. The Kentucky Derby is today. And folks are hoping the weather will be kind to the race. Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is here and he has all of the answers.
So what do you think?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, I think it's really going to be kind of a hodge-podge. Yesterday, thank heavens, they didn't have the race because we had some storms in the area that were so strong they caused over 100,000 people to evacuate from Churchill Downs. Today the situation is a little bit better in the fact that we have this area of low pressure that's drifting off a bit more to the east.
However, if you look, you'll notice there's some rotation. We might see with plenty of moisture at the surface, a few more thunderstorms pop up into the afternoon hours. In fact, we have got a chance of rain that the National Weather Service has given about a 60 percent chance. I'm thinking it's going to be around 30 to 40. Temperatures around 82 degrees but very, very muggy out there.
We can expect again a very muddy track for the most part. It should be very interesting to say the very least, even more interesting with all the nice hats, the nice dresses and a little bit of wood for reserve mixed in with those mint juleps. Should be nice.
KAYE: Got to love it. Hey, also, I don't know about you, but I'm planning on going home and taking a little bit of a nap this afternoon so I can stay up for the big supermoon.
WOLF: Absolutely.
KAYE: What are the details? What time do I need to watch this thing?
WOLF: You know, I'm telling you, it's weird. It's going to be directly overhead around 11:30 our time on the East Coast. In fact, for every time zone, it should be directly overhead by that point. But you want to get up earlier than that, because if you look off towards the east as it's coming up over the horizon, it will magnify even more.
Should be about much, much brighter than normal. It's going to appear about 14 percent bigger. What a spectacle. Certainly beautiful pictures from last year, last March of 2011. Unbelievable shots. This year the phenomenon should be just as pretty.
KAYE: Yes, that sure was gorgeous. I hope we catch it.
All right, Reynolds, thank you.
WOLF: You bet.
KAYE: So have you ever wondered what it might be like to soar through the air like a bird? Well, take a look at this. This is jet pack guy, well, no, he isn't Superman, but he flew for 11 minutes over the Rio skyline. He (inaudible) jumped off a chopper and zoomed around the famous statue below.
He then headed south over a breathtaking view of Ipanema and Copacabana before parachuting back safely to Earth. That is a bold move. Wow.
All right. So a 6-year-old is in trouble, believe it or not, for sexual harassment, and his mother says he didn't even realize the meaning of what he was saying.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Kids say the darndest things, right? Sometimes they don't even realize the meaning of what they're saying, but a 6-year old is in serious trouble for repeating a song that he saw on television. Tyler Lopez of affiliate KMGH has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TYLER LOPEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He has seen the video, and knows the lyrics.
D'AVONTE MEADOWS, FIRST GRADER: "I'm sexy and I know it."
LOPEZ (voice-over): But when 6-year-old D'Avonte Meadows told a first grade girl in his class that same line Wednesday, he was suspended from Sable Elementary in Aurora for three days for sexual harassment.
STEPHANIE MEADOWS, D'AVONTE'S MOTHER: I'm just, I'm floored. They're going to look at him like he's a pervert, period, and it's like, that's not fair to him.
D. MEADOWS: This is a sleeping bear.
LOPEZ (voice-over): With a passion for art, this first grader came to Sable as a special needs student in January. He's had other discipline problems, including quoting the same line to the same girl last month, when his mother and D'Avonte met with the assistant principal.
D. MEADOWS; I only just said the song.
S. MEADOWS: I think it's kind of overwhelming, you know, sexual harassment on a 6-year-old. LOPEZ (voice-over): No one from Aurora Public Schools would talk to us on camera, but we checked the district's discipline code. It reads "Sexual harassment must have negative effects on the learning or work of others," something that senior child psychologist at Children's Hospital says a 6-year old won't comprehend.
DR. JEFF DOLGAN, SENIOR CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: Purposefully going out of your way to irritate and sexualize a relationship, I don't think so. I think there's probably a better way to talk about it, appropriate and inappropriate.
S. MEADOWS: I can understand if he was fondling her, looking up her skirt, trying to look in her shirt. That to me is sexual harassment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: NEWSROOM continues at the top of the hour with Fredricka Whitfield. Hello, good morning.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello, good to see you.
(CROSSTALK)
WHITFIELD: Of course, you know, President Obama is officially restarting or starting again, whatever you want to call it, his campaign. Any similarities to what we saw in Springfield back in 2008?
KAYE: Good question.
WHITFIELD: We're going to find out. Ohio and Virginia are the places where he's officially beginning that campaign.
And then finders keepers, usually that's the case, right? So what happens if you find a lottery ticket in the trash and it turns out to be a winning ticket? Do you get to cash it in and keep it forever?
Our legal guys will be joining us because this case, oh, it has gotten pretty heated. In fact, it involved the winner of that ticket -- the original, I guess, owner of the ticket gets to reclaim it. The finders keepers rule doesn't apply.
KAYE: Oh.
WHITFIELD: We're going to explain why.
KAYE: OK.
WHITFIELD: And of course, you know, I was at Jazz Fest last weekend and this is the second weekend of Jazz Fest, the Jazz and Heritage Festival, it's an incredible conglomeration of incredible music and food (inaudible) fun.
KAYE: We saw you walking around, enjoying yourself.
WHITFIELD: Yes, yes, I was enjoying myself. I got a chance to stop off and talk to some greats like this man right here, the one and only Reverend Al Green. I sat down face to face with him. And of course I asked him about that iconic moment, what's become an iconic moment of President Obama singing his song. He has a grade for the president.
KAYE: Was it good or bad, I just want to know.
WHITFIELD: You'll have to watch.
KAYE: OK, OK.
WHITFIELD: You'll have to watch.
KAYE: (Inaudible). I'll watch.
WHITFIELD: And then, you know in the job interview at the end a question is asked, do you have any questions for us? Well, Valerie Burton will be along with us to say what not to say at that moment.
KAYE: And that is a very important moment. That's make or break right there.
WHITFIELD: That's the make or break. So beginning at noon Eastern time all the way until 5 o'clock today.
KAYE: OK.
WHITFIELD: Lots coming your way.
KAYE: All right. Lots of Fredricka coming your way. Thank you.
WHITFIELD: I'm now enjoying the chair, I've figured it out, I'm spinning. It's kind of fun.
(CROSSTALK)
KAYE: Sex, lies and campaign cash. We'll take you to North Carolina for a look at the most dramatic week yet in the John Edwards corruption trial.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back. Yahoo! is trying to get past a bit of embarrassment this morning. The company was forced to admit its new chief executive, Scott Thompson, doesn't have the computer science degree that he claimed he had. Now its board is launching a review into the disclosure and will report the findings to shareholders. It was brought to life by an activist investor pushing for changes at the company.
Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn may face a gang rape investigation. Prosecutors on the French-Belgian border say they are looking into opening a preliminary investigation or closing the matter all together. The French newspaper "The Liberation" reports the allegations came from statements to Belgian police by two women it described as escort girls. A candidate in ruins, a daughter in tears and 30 years in jail on the table. It was another dramatic week in the political soap opera of the John Edwards corruption trial. Colorful witnesses and testimony from some of the people closest to Edwards during his second presidential run. Joe Johns brings us the latest from Greensboro, North Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The second week of the John Edwards campaign finance trial saw a parade of former staffers and associates testifying about how Edwards lied again and again about his relationship with his mistress, Rielle Hunter.
Former adviser Peter Scher, recounting how he asked Edwards in New York in September 2006 whether he was sleeping with Hunter, who had been traveling around with Edwards, shooting web videos of him. Scher said he warned Edwards that if he was having an affair, he should not run for president. Scher says Edwards denied it.
Weeks later after finding out that Hunter was still traveling with Edwards despite warnings, Scher recounted an angry conversation. Scher said Edwards told him to back off, that he did not need a babysitter. And Scher said Edwards told him to go "blank" himself.
Meanwhile, Brian Huffman, an interior designer and friend of wealthy Edwards benefactor Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, captivated the courtroom. Huffman was the middleman for huge under-the-table checks from Ms. Mellon, which Huffman delivered to Edwards' fixers, Andrew and Sherry Young.
When asked what the 101-year-old Mellon thinks about the case now, Huffman said, she doesn't condemn affairs but thinks you should pay for your girlfriend yourself.
Huffman also said they did not know what the money was for. "We knew nothing about a girlfriend or a baby. All she wanted to do was make a president."
That last statement could have helped the prosecution persuade the jury that Edwards intentionally accepted illegal campaign money. But it happened after the jury had been sent out of the room for an objection. Huffman's testimony helped both the prosecution and the defense, says a local law professor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- burden, they got to show Bunny Mellon wrote checks, they got to explain why his name was on the checks. But what he really did for the defense was establish that he didn't know John Edwards at all, he didn't have any connection.
JOHNS (voice-over): Also testifying was Bunny Mellon's attorney, Alex Forger (ph), who said he started checking out Mellon's secret payments after a $150,000 personal check she wrote to Brian Huffman for bogus furniture almost bounced.
Probably the most dramatic moment of the week came when the testimony of former Edwards research director Christina Reynolds, who is also a friend of the late Elizabeth Edwards, John Edwards' wife. Reynolds testified after an article about the affair in the "National Enquirer,"
Mrs. Edwards started tearing off her clothes while telling Edwards, "You don't see me anyone." The Edwards' daughter, Cate, who had been sitting in the courtroom behind her father, got up and walked out in tears.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That kind of drama in this case really just layers on how personal this story really is. Also think the story of Mrs. Edwards and John Edwards' arguments and the difficulty in their marriage really supports the defense theory that he was doing all this to cover up the affair from his wife more so than he was trying to keep his campaign moving forward.
JOHNS: And that's the crux of the case, whether Edwards accepted illegal campaign money to try to cover up the affair or if the campaign didn't have anything to do with it. The prosecution expects to rest its case next week -- Joe Johns, CNN, Greensboro, North Carolina.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: And "CNN NEWSROOM" continues with Fredricka Whitfield. Hello again.
