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CNN Saturday Morning News

Northeast Train Collision; Powerball Stands at $600 Million; Simpson's Ex-Attorney Took the Stand; Bad Week for the President; The Singing Astronaut

Aired May 18, 2013 - 08:00   ET

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

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Here's what's ahead this hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of a sudden we just hear, boom, and then we saw like smoke everywhere.

HARLOW (voice-over): A train collision and derailment along one of the most traveled routes in the Northeast,70 people injured, some in critical condition, and now a major investigation.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Ten-second daydream alert, what would you do with $600 million? That's the Powerball jackpot right now, just think about all the money, but that money will be nothing compared to what it could be if no one wins tonight.

HARLOW (voice-over): Wait until we tell you that number.

And it is O.J. versus his former lawyer, Simpson former attorney in court Friday, but not to defend O.J. Wait until you hear what he said about the disgraced superstar.

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BLACKWELL: Good morning, good morning. It is Saturday, May 18th. I'm Victor Blackwell.

HARLOW: And I'm Poppy Harlow. Thank you so much for starting your Saturday with us.

BLACKWELL: It is 8 o'clock here on the East Coast. And we're glad you're with us.

We're going to start with the collision between two commuter trains in Connecticut. People were tossed over seats. One man says immediately the lights went out in his car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL (voice-over): That's as the two trains slammed into each other. Now it's time for investigators to get a closer look. CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti joins me now with more; she's on the phone with us.

Susan, we just had a conversation with Debra Hersman (ph), chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. She says that there was one representative who left D.C. last night; more are on their way there now.

What can you add for us, Susan?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course the key question, as I'm sure she indicated, how did it happen? You have got these two commuter trains carrying about 250 people in all, one heading north from New York City, one going in the opposite direction.

The northbound commuter train derails, plowing into the southbound train. And this happened near Bridgeport, Connecticut, about 16 (ph) miles northeast of New York. It's unclear how fast the trains were going but, as you could imagine, passengers were terrified.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of a sudden we just hear boom, and then we saw like smoke everywhere. And I was just focusing on my two kids, just hugging them and embracing them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The little bit I seen, people almost flew over places. I almost flew over the seat. But I held on and -- but I'm OK. There's people that's hurt, though.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all went to the front of the train and kicked out some windows. And got off the train.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to take us a little while to investigate them, to really determine what happened, how fast they were going and to determine the cause. So it's going to take quite some time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Scores of people were injured; 46 of 70 who were hospitalized have now been released from the hospital. However, we're told that five people at least remain in critical condition.

Connecticut's Governor Dannel Malloy is going to be on the scene. He was there last night; will be this morning as well, with investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, trying to figure out what happened here, how this could have occurred and how long these trains, this line will be out of service, a major line, the only one really between New York heading northbound to Boston.

So a big investigation lies ahead. We'll be reporting from the scene as the morning goes on, Victor.

BLACKWELL: And Susan Candiotti covering this for us. We know that one person in very critical condition, what we're learning from officials there in Connecticut. Susan, thank you.

HARLOW: Six hundred million dollars, that is how much today's Powerball jackpot is worth. It is the biggest Powerball prize in history, folks, and the second largest lottery jackpot ever in the United States.

CNN's Lisa Desjardins is in Washington.

Lisa, is -- I mean, you look at this, Powerball mania -- Victor and I've been talking all morning about what would you do with even a tenth of that. This is total Powerball mania.

LISA DESJARDINS, CNN RADIO CORRESPONDENT: Right. This is craziness and as a lot of our people watching who follow Powerball know, we have not had a Powerball winner, Poppy, since October. That's why the jackpot is so large.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DESJARDINS (voice-over): So we know that a lot of folks are going to be going today, hoping that tonight is the night for them.

I want to tell you, Poppy, about the odds that are involved here.

They are not good, folks. Now it's $2 to buy a Powerball ticket. It used to be $1, so if you haven't bought a ticket in a year or so that's a change, $2 now. If you buy one ticket, Poppy, the odds are you winning tonight are one in 175 million. I'm not sure if that number means anything to people, so here's some quick context.

You are three times more likely if you are a woman to give birth to quintuplets than you are to win the Powerball lottery tonight.

All right, folks, may I care about those odds? I know I'm going to buy a ticket anyway.

So where can you can buy a ticket? Almost everywhere in this country, Poppy, as a matter of fact, 43 states and the District of Columbia sell Powerball now. Basically it's easier to say where you can't buy them.

You cannot buy them in a few states out West, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming; a couple in the South, Mississippi and Alabama; and Hawaii and Alaska folks are plumb out of luck. They're going to have to call people stateside to buy tickets for them. But everywhere else you can buy a Powerball ticket today.

HARLOW: You know what I find more fascinating about this is that if no one wins tonight's drawing, that number goes way up, meteoric levels, right?

DESJARDINS: Yes, at that point we're just talking really insane money.

Another number that I am not sure anyone can understand, as you say, if no one wins tonight, Poppy, the jackpot goes up to -- everybody sit back -- $950 million. That's the estimate, but almost $1 billion if no one wins tonight.

And to give some perspective on that number, $950 million, that is about the total GDP, all of the economic output, for the U.S. Virgin islands, where, by the way, you can buy a Powerball ticket.

HARLOW: Where, by the way, you can. I think I'm going to be in the U.S. Virgin islands.

DESAI: Right. You might be able to buy a few of the U.S. Virgin islands if you win the Powerball ticket.

HARLOW: I think that's right. Great perspective. Go get your ticket. We're going right after the show. Lisa, thank you. Thank you.

DESJARDINS: You got it.

HARLOW: All right. So what would you do if you won $600 million in the Powerball tonight or maybe closer to $1 billion? Some of you have been sharing your dreams with me on Twitter.

Here's one from Susan Mitchell, saying, "I'd give most of it away. I don't need a lot, just enough to buy some land and adopt a whole bunch of shelter animals." Very sweet.

And this one from Robert Stroney (ph), "I would open up many food banks. One in six Americans will go hungry today."

Those were some of the nicest ones. Other people just said they'd buy a lot of stuff.

Let me know what you do if you want when the Powerball price. Send me a tweet @PoppyHarlowCNN or @VictorCNN.

BLACKWELL: Refinery troubles in the Midwest are driving gas prices to record highs. In Minnesota, prices hit an all-time high of $4.15 a gallon for unleaded -- and that's regular. It's even higher in California. And it's not just Minnesota. Midwestern states saw a price spike of 40 cents a gallon in just one week.

Industry analysts say it's because of outages and long maintenance at refineries in four states.

HARLOW: Investors ignoring that old saying, sell in May, go away; relax, don't invest over the summer. Maybe. Dow, Nasdaq, S&P 500, all finishing the week at a record high. For four straight weeks, record high for the Dow and the snp500, not yet for the Nasdaq.

Investors thrilled to see reports suggesting the U.S. economy continues to improve; also news that consumer sentiment is at a six- year high. That is good news when that bell rings on Wall Street.

All right. We're going to take you to North Korea now; any time you talk about North Korean missiles there is uncertainty about the intentions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HARLOW (voice-over): While you were asleep North Korea fired off three missiles into the water off the South Korean Peninsula. But there is no real danger, we're told, at this time. It is believed to be a test.

South Korea says the missiles were pointed away from the country and there has really been a cooling-off of tension between the two in the peninsula since things heated up significantly back in March.

BLACKWELL: Let's go to Texas and the devastation left behind by those killer tornadoes Wednesday night.

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BLACKWELL (voice-over): This is what is left of the Rancho Brazos neighborhood; this area was hit by as many as 16 tornadoes all across North Texas, and six people died in this community alone from the storm. The rest are already thinking about what is next.

Our Nick Valencia is in Granbury, Texas, this morning.

Nick, I know the people have been kept out of that area up to this point. Are they now being allowed back into their homes?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, when I spoke to the Hood County sheriff he said the plan was to start letting people back in at 8:00 am local; that's about an hour away from now. If you look behind me the road is blocked. That's one of two ways to get in and out of the Rancho Brazos community.

And as people slowly begin to trickle back, some may have little, if anything at all, to go back to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCISCO GAMEZ, RANCHO BRAZOS, TEXAS, RESIDENT (voice-over): People screaming, yelling. Debris is everywhere. Just everybody was trying to find a way out.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Even though his family lost their home and nearly all of their possessions, Rancho Brazos resident Francisco Gamez says he was one of the lucky one. About a mile from his now- flattened community, we ran into Gamez and about a dozen other neighbors as they received food from volunteers on the side of a highway.

They had nowhere else to go; no matter, they say, they're just thankful to be alive.

GAMEZ: When the sirens went off for the tornado alert, I mean, the tornado was already there.

VALENCIA: There wasn't enough time?

GAMEZ: There wasn't enough time.

VALENCIA (voice-over): At a press conference, the Hood County sheriff responded to the claim.

ROGER DEEDS, HOOD COUNTY SHERIFF: Well, there's never enough time when it comes to tornadoes. Thunderstorms, they move in so fast; when we knew we had rotation and the National Weather Service confirmed it, we put the warnings out.

GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: That is destruction that is almost incomprehensible.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Survivors told CNN haunting stories of moments when they weren't sure they were going to make it.

RUTH ZAPATA, RANCHO BRAZOS, TEXAS, RESIDENT: This is it. We're gone. We thought we were gone. I thought I just seen myself just, I don't know, I just came into that point. I just gave up.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Texas Governor Rick Perry said it's too early to request federal assistance from the president, but he's confident the residents hit hardest by the tornado will get much-needed support.

GAMEZ: I'm pretty sure we'll get the help we need. But it just won't be the same anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: And it will be a bittersweet homecoming for so many like Gamez. It's going to take a long time, Victor, for them to put together their lives again.

BLACKWELL: So, Nick, the governor says it's too early to request that federal assistance. Is he giving any timeline on when that FEMA assistance will start to come in?

VALENCIA: We asked the governor that yesterday at a press conference he had; the media was given a tour of the Rancho Brazos neighborhood. It was just obliterated, Victor, completely wiped off the map.

He didn't give a timeline; in fact, of when or if at all we'd see federal assistance coming into Granbury. He's said he's certain, though, that President Obama is watching the developments here in Granbury and he's expecting to hear more about assistance.

But the Hood County sheriff's office says they're doing as much as they can. And the local first responders really seem to have things under control here so far, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Nick Valencia live for us this morning, Nick, thank you.

HARLOW: And you know, after this week, it doesn't feel like a quiet tornado season at all. But as our Chad Myers explains, we are actually overdue for this terrible weather and more could be on the way. Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Poppy, although most kids are hoping for summer vacation to start any time soon, it is still spring, and spring is a time where cold air and warm air clash. That clash will create severe weather.

We haven't had a lot of severe weather this year. I think people are getting complacent, it's got to be a year without a hurricane, you don't expect a big hurricane to come late in the season.

Well, it's been a drought for tornadoes; we've only had 250. By now we should have had 500. But this weekend will be violent in parts of Kansas, Nebraska. Then by tomorrow, moving into parts of Iowa, into Eastern Kansas and Oklahoma.

We could see baseball-sized hail, tornadoes on the ground for many, many minutes and many miles as well.

The progress goes from Saturday, Nebraska, South Dakota, back into probably even Pratt, Kansas; and then eastward Sunday, Sioux City; Omaha; Des Moines; and then Monday, east of that, Chicago, St. Louis, all the way down even into Arkansas.

A couple of days of severe weather charging to the east; these could be storms that develop rather quickly, maybe five minutes' notice. Some people say they didn't get any notice, tornadoes already on the ground by the time the tornado warnings came out. That's how quickly they begin. That's how quickly they develop and how quickly they can put down a tornado.

Keep a NOAA weather radio handy if you have one. If you don't, go buy one. They're cheap and that's the best insurance you'll ever have, Poppy.

HARLOW: All right, Chad. Thanks so much.

BLACKWELL: In their own words, you're going to hear from three Cleveland police officers who responded to Amanda Berry's 9-1-1 call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW (voice-over): This is really amazing. And the process they helped free Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus from years of horror, years of captivity in that house.

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BLACKWELL: For the officers in Cleveland who responded to Amanda Berry's 9-1-1 call, finding the three women who had been missing for almost a decade was understandably emotional.

So I want to you listen to three of those officers recount what they experienced almost two weeks ago on Seymour Street.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER ANTHONY ESPADA, CLEVELAND POLICE: We pull up. We see a crowd like on the porch. We see this girl; she's like raising her hand, holding a child. I'm looking at my partner, you know, is it her? OFFICER MICHAEL TRACY, CLEVELAND POLICE: (Inaudible). It's got to be her. Even before I can stop the vehicle, a female approaches the vehicle and -- carrying a small child, who's waving at us. Before the vehicle can stop, she's at the window, and we -- I look up at her (inaudible), we look at each other, and it's like, (inaudible) I think that's Amanda Berry. I think that's Amanda Berry.

OFFICER BARBARA JOHNSON, CLEVELAND POLICE: When I pulled up, I didn't see Amanda. I just saw Officer Espada and Officer Tracy running across the street towards the house. And I got in my car and I ran right over there, right behind him and Officer Espada kept yelling out, "Cleveland Police."

And it kind of seems like an eternity, but it was so quick, at the same time.

TRACY: And then we got out of the car, I'm like, is that you? And she -- just like on the tape, she's frantic, she's frantic with us; it's pretty chaotic. She's telling us who she is, she's been captive. The little child, at the time we didn't know was hers, is screaming and crying, so it was just crazy, what was going on.

ESPADA: Just the emotion from that point, of him confirming it was Amanda, it was overwhelming.

TRACY: I'm looking at her face and I can't believe what I'm seeing right in front of me, nervous, her child she's (inaudible) and screaming so I'm thinking wow, we got her. We got her right here. She's safe; her child is safe.

And then you know, we don't know what's going on in the house; we don't know anybody (inaudible) house. Could be a suspect or something. So I just asked her, (inaudible), is there anybody else in the house? She goes, Gina DeJesus and another girl. And I was like, what?

ESPADA: And it was like another bombshell just with overwhelming force just hit me. I believe I broadcasted that Gina might still be in the house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Adam 23, you got a bus coming? This might be for real.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Radio to bus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got the others in the house.

Georgina DeJesus might be in this house also per report.

ESPADA: Possibly that she would be in the house and we immediately started running towards the house. As we were going up the steps, it was so quiet, like peaceful, almost as if, you know -- I started thinking OK, what we're going to do is clear this top floor, nobody's going to be there. And just leave. And then you hear this scuffling, you know, something going on in this room, and you know, I'm looking that way, just waiting to see what's going to happen. And it was Michelle; she kind of popped out into the doorway and paused there for a second.

Within moments she came charging at me, she jumped onto me, she's like, "You saved us, you saved us," and I'm holding onto her so tight.

And then within a few seconds I see another girl come out of the bedroom; I just look at her. You can immediately tell who it is, just thinner. And again, I just needed confirmation. And I asked her, what's your name?

She said, "My name is Georgina DeJesus."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Wow.

HARLOW: It's incredible.

BLACKWELL: I mean, we saw the final outcome, but to be there at the moment and see Gina walk out of there.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: And a lot of these officers have been looking for them for a decade. So to be able to go in and -- it's incredible. Good for them.

BLACKWELL: Good to have them (inaudible).

HARLOW: Our thoughts with all those families.

Well, coming up, here is an interesting question. Can genes that occur naturally in your body, can they be patented by a company? We're going to take a look.

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HARLOW: Well, this weekend, Angelina Jolie stunned the world when she revealed that she had a preventative double mastectomy after a genetic test revealed that she had a high risk for breast and ovarian cancer.

Her announcement motivated a lot of women and inspired a lot of women and gave a lot of strength and certainly fired up this conversation.

Her revelation also put a biotech company right in the spotlight; that company is in the midst of a Supreme Court case right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW (voice-over): Her announcement made headlines around the world. Angelina Jolie underwent a double mastectomy after a genetic test showed she had a mutated BRCA1 gene giving her an 87 percent chance of getting breast cancer.

Her news put this company, Myriad Genetics, front and center. It's not a big player in the big picture of big biotech companies, but it has patents on the BRCA1 and 2 genes. When mutated, those genes are linked to an increased risk for breast and ovarian cancer. Because of those patents, Myriad has a monopoly on the tests to find those mutations.

DR. ROGER KLEIN, ASSOCIATION FOR MOLECULAR PATHOLOGY: We believe that gene patents of this nature decrease access to testing for our patients, and the lack of competition in testing increases costs, decreases quality.

HARLOW (voice-over): Dr. Roger Klein represents the Association for Molecular Pathology, which is challenging Myriad all the way to the Supreme Court.

KLEIN: The problem with patenting the human gene is that you're patenting a fundamental property of an individual.

HARLOW (voice-over): Myriad Genetics declined our request for an on- camera interview, but told us what it patented are synthetic molecules that do not exist in the human body.

HARLOW: The question at the heart of the case before the Supreme Court is this. Can genes or synthetic genes be patented or are they products of nature that shouldn't be owned by anyone?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: This case is such a big deal because so many people think the future of medicine is genetics. And how the law regards genes and synthetic genes will dictate how and whether companies invest to find new cures.

HARLOW (voice-over): Myriad says it invested $500 million over 17 years in the project; that investment is paying off. Its BRACAnalysis tests cost up to $4,000, often covered by insurance and made up 82 percent of the company's revenue in fiscal 2012; the company's profit, $112 million.

Biotech analyst Steve Brozak has followed Myriad for more than a decade.

STEVE BROZAK, BIOTECH ANALYST: Are they going to stop researchers from going out there and using their work? No. But the idea is if someone else tries to do what they're doing commercially, they have to be protected. And that's a critical difference.

HARLOW (voice-over): Myriad argues patenting genes encourages innovation and investment and hasn't prevented research. Others disagree.

KLEIN: We're at the cusp of the introduction of new technologies, and certainly these patents can do nothing but obstruct the introduction of those technologies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Now we should have a decision from the Supreme Court by the end of June.

It's important to note here that experts say only 5 percent to 10 percent of women have this gene mutation, only 5 percent to 10 percent. The company Myriad tells us that it does about 250,000 of these tests every year. It also told me that, for those that are uninsured or cannot afford the test, if they qualify for it, the company will either cover the entire cost of the test or greatly reduce it.

Well, O.J. Simpson says his ex-lawyer blew his defense. He's asking a Las Vegas judge to give him a new trial, throw out his convictions for armed robbery and kidnapping. Will it work? We're going to take a closer look, next.

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HARLOW: Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Thanks for starting your morning with us.

Five stories now we are watching this morning.

Number one is the commuter train collision in Connecticut investigators are expected to be on site next hour. We spoke with the chair of the NTSB, one person there overnight, more on the way. They'll try to determine of course what caused a crowded train to jump the tracks into the path of another train. As many as 70 people were sent to the hospital, most were treated and released but three are in critical condition right now.

HARLOW: Number two, the outgoing head of the IRS insists his agency was not playing politics when it allegedly targeted conservative groups applying for non-profit status. Steve Miller told members of Congress Friday that giving those applicants extra scrutiny was a quote "mistake." He said IRS employees were just trying to be more efficient in handling what he called a crush of applications after the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision on campaign spending. Miller also denied misleading Congress about the problem.

Number three, a Louisiana woman is headed to prison for nearly five years after impersonating a federal safety official following the 2010 Deep Water Horizon oil spill. Connie Knight pled guilty after she was busted offering fraudulent hazardous waste safety training after that horrific spill. She was sentenced in a federal court to 57 months and ordered to pay more than $25,000 in fines.

BLACKWELL: Four, a volcano is shooting ash and steam and gas thousands of feet into the air. Look at this, the Pavlov Volcano is one of Alaska's most active, it started erupting Monday. Authorities have issued an orange alert for aircraft, that's the second most serious of four levels and the ash cloud extends 60 miles from this volcano.

And five e-mails from Michael Jackson's manager could become important evidence in the wrongful death trial against AEG Live. Those e-mails were thought to be lost but were found after what the judge called a lot of red tape. AEG lawyers argue Jackson was responsible for his own death and that an addiction to drugs led to his bad decisions.

HARLOW: Well OJ Simpson's fate is in the hands of a Las Vegas judge right now. She will decide whether the former football star turned convicted felon gets a new trial. Simpson says his former defense attorney botched his 2008 trial for armed robbery and kidnapping and ended up landing him in prison. At a court hearing yesterday Simpson's ex-lawyer Yale Galanter testified that he quote "Put every ounce of blood, sweat and soul into the case." There's no date yet for the judge's ruling.

And I want to bring in our legal experts Paul Callan, he is in New York, he's a defense attorney, a former prosecutor and CNN legal analyst.

He also represented the estate of Nicole Brown Simpson in the wrongful death suit that followed OJ's acquittal in his murder trial. So full disclosure there Paul. You know you've been following OJ and these cases for quite some time. Simpson is asking the judge to basically toss out his conviction, grant him a new trial. What's the likelihood of that?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I don't think there's much of a chance here and I'll tell you why, Poppy. You know Simpson got convicted of this robbery/kidnapping charge in Vegas and he took an appeal that went all the way to the Nevada Supreme Court. They upheld the conviction. They found it was a -- it was a legitimate conviction and this sort of is a last-minute plea saying you know, my attorney gave me bad advice, take a second look at it.

So the court said all right, we'll give you a hearing on it. But I don't think he has much of a chance.

HARLOW: So he's saying that -- that his lawyer Galanter didn't notify him of a plea deal but then we hear Galanter testified, I think it was yesterday that he said you he did inform OJ of that. So this is sort of a he said/he said battle.

CALLAN: Yes it is you know there's kind of an interesting back story with Galanter. Galanter is his personal attorney.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Right.

CALLAN: He met him in Florida and they're friends, they're sort of involved in some business ventures together, apparently this is what OJ says and Galanter gets on the stand and he gives very emotional testimony. He says you know as you quoted him, he said "You know I poured my -- my blood and my sweat and my soul into the defense of OJ". But you know it just wasn't there. He also said OJ told him that he, OJ, knew that these guys were going in with guns to take back the -- the property, which makes that a robbery charge. So this really destroys completely any OJ Simpson defense.

HARLOW: What I find so fascinating about this is that it's you know rare to see a lawyer testifying against his former client to take the stand but when that happens, the attorney/client privilege just totally goes away.

CALLAN: It's very rare and you know, Galanter when they were first starting to question him he said I just feel really uncomfortable doing this. For lawyers you know the attorney/client privilege is absolutely sacred, but when you claim your lawyer was incompetent and you ask for a hearing on the issue and you attack his integrity, all bets are off. Lawyer can get on the stand and tell the judge everything you told him.

So this was a real high-risk maneuver by Simpson. And it's really going to besmirch well, I'm not going to say Simpson had much of a reputation to begin with but --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Right.

CALLAN: -- but certainly with respect to this robbery it was a very bad tactic I think because ultimately Galanter says hey he knew about the guns, he knew everything, I told him about the plea, he's a liar. I mean essentially that's what Galanter is saying, Simpson is a liar.

HARLOW: What -- and credibility is key in this judge's decision about whether or not to give him a new trial or now? What about the fact that Simpson you know didn't take the witness stand in that original criminal trial. There's some argument out there that that could backfire. Does that play in here at all?

CALLAN: That's a very important fact Poppy and it's important because the law says that one of the key things that is reserved to the client in terms of decision-making about how a case is tried is whether to take the witness stand or not. You know the lawyer can decide which witnesses to call and how, to -- what questions to ask, but whether you testify or not, that's up to the defendant and Simpson says you know I wanted to testify, Galanter wouldn't let me testify.

Galanter says that's a complete lie, it's not true at all. Simpson couldn't testify because he would have been destroyed on cross- examination.

HARLOW: Hey quickly here before we go. Where is Simpson getting all the money to pay his attorneys? I think you know the fine in that civil trial in the murder case was over $33 million.

CALLAN: Boy, you know, Poppy, I'd love to know because you know the lawyers who are involved in that case and the litigants in that case, $33.5 million verdict, very little of it has ever been collected and then you hear he's got $500,000 he's paying lawyers. Where is he getting the money? A lot of his money is protected because he's got a pension from the NFL that's protected by federal, you know, pension law but other than that, you know I don't know where OJ gets the money and I'm sure the Goldmans, who lost a son and the Brown family, who lost a daughter, would like to know an answer to that question.

HARLOW: Paul Callan joining us this morning. Thanks so much Paul.

CALLAN: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Actress and U.N. goodwill ambassador Mira Sorvino is on a mission to end human trafficking. She's partnering with CNN Freedom Project to shine light on the horrors of modern day slavery around the world. It's still happening. She is our spotlight today for "Impact your World."

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MIRA SORVINO, ACTRESS, U.N. AMBASSADOR: A lot of what I've learned about human trafficking has been through direct conversations with victims. I've interviewed many, many victims in several different countries in different situations and different age ranges. Almost all the victims I've spoken to have been women and most of them have been in sexual exploitation.

Some of it is so shocking that it almost like ruins you for a few weeks. Like you can't actually escape the horrendousness of what people are telling you and the pain that they have lived through.

I met a little girl at a shelter and she was showing me her homework and it was -- her addition and subtraction and she was very proud and then they took me aside and they said her father murdered her mother in front of her and then he dropped her off with some relatives in Cancun and they sold her to a brothel at age four. Four to seven she was working in a brothel doing things that she did not even know how to describe except that she knew they were incorrectos, incorrect, wrong and then somehow she was liberated and ended up in this shelter.

To think that there's a sex tourism demand for children of the age of four, it's one of the most stomach-churning things I could possibly imagine as a mother. If all of us rise up and all of us fight this, it will end. This is going to change because it morally intolerable.

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HARLOW: A 21-year-old Hofstra University junior shot dead early on Friday. This happened at an off-campus apartment. Andrea Rebello apparently was killed when bullets flew between a suspected home invader and police who responded to a call for help.

Some scary moments at the star-studded Cannes Film Festival in France. A man is under arrest after police say he fired a gun. The suspect's name has not yet been released but investigators say he also had a fake grenade and the bullets he fired were blanks.

In another incident police are on the hunt for thieves who made off with a million dollars in jewels, they were stolen from a hotel room safe in Cannes on Thursday.

And a hitchhiker who became an Internet sensation after he claimed he use aid hatchet to rescue two people from a crazed driver is in jail this morning. Caleb McGillvary known as Kai, the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker is accused of killing a lawyer in New Jersey. The victim -- 73 years old, he found bludgeoned to death at his home.

BLACKWELL: Pretty bad week for the Obama administration, huh? I'm sure they're happy this week is almost over. It's been brutal with no less than three scandals coming at the President but is this historically bad? Our Lisa Desjardins takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA DESJARDINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The IRS, Benghazi, the AP phone records, you know it's been a bad week when you get this question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you feel about comparisons by some of your critics of this week's scandals to those that happened under the Nixon administration?

DESJARDINES: In historic terms how bad of a week was it?

ALLAN LICHTMAN, POLITICAL HISTORIAN: It was a bad week for Obama.

DESJARDINS: We asked historian Allan Lichtman how the President's problems compare say -- as bad as Watergate?

RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I neither took part in nor knew about any of the subsequent cover-up activities.

DESJARDINS: Iran contra?

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's an old saying that nothing spreads so quickly as a rumor.

DESJARDINS: How about Monica Lewinsky?

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did not have sexual relations with that woman.

DESJARDINS (on camera): Ok so obviously there have been plenty of presidential scandals in the past but you already knew that. Let's get past this 101 and dig a little bit deeper. It is rare but President Obama is not the only president to have faced three or more scandals at once.

LICHTMAN: Late in his term, Truman had a quadruple whammy affecting him. He had scandals involving bribery among White House officials. He had scandals involving corruption in the tax bureau, in the treasury.

DESJARDINS: Within just a few months in 1951 and 1952 all of this happened: the Korean War went south; Harry Truman's top aide was caught trying to buy influence; the President fired a popular general; and a massive bribery scandal engulfed the IRS -- yes, the IRS. His approval numbers plummeted but none of that is remembered about Truman today.

LICHTMAN: Scandals are way overblown in their political effects. Everyone thinks oh my God, you know, it's going to be another Watergate. It's going to bring down the President. It's going to damage his party permanently. Almost no scandals do that.

DESJARDINS: What does make a scandal permanent? Well, Lichtman says two things, when there's proof that a president is directly involved and when his own party starts speaking against him.

Lisa Desjardins, CNN, Washington.

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BLACKWELL: all right. So this -- this one is fun; you have to watch this, look.

(MUSIC)

BLACKWELL: This is astronaut Chris Hadfield. He is a celebrity in Canada. He channels his inner David Bowie for the first music video from space.

HARLOW: That's going in the record books.

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BLACKWELL: All right, so what does an NBA star do when he has the night off during the playoffs? Well, of course you surprise a lucky fan at prom.

HARLOW: Of course, of course.

Answering high school senior Nicole Muxo's YouTube request, Miami Heat star D. Wade, Dwyane Wade actually showed up at the big dance last night posing for a ton of pictures with her. Yes, showing off a few of his dance moves. She of course said she's going to remember the night forever -- who wouldn't -- and that it was the highlight of her senior year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DWYANE WADE, MIAMI HEAT: You know I feel bad on this one, though.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who?

WADE: The prom king and queen. No one will ever remember who they were. That was the year Dwyane Wade showed up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's true and her date, you know, she had a date for this but apparently he was quite gracious.

WADE: The pictures aren't going to be framed, the one with Dwyane Wade will be.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: Long live the kings -- those words from basketball fans across Sacramento today. A deal was signed to keep the NBA franchise in the city. Recently current owners, the Maloof brothers tried to move the team to Seattle. The details of this new deal are not clear but according to ESPN, the Maloofs are expected to net about $200 million with the sale.

HARLOW: 138th running of the Preakness stakes kicks off -- it kicks off today in Maryland, all eyes will be on, yes, Orb, the colt who won the Kentucky Derby earlier this month is going to be -- is going for the second leg in the Triple Crown. Of course, always pressure if you win the Derby to get the Triple Crown. Only 11 horses have won the Triple Crown, none since 1978.

BLACKWELL: A star fell to earth this week, well sort of. These pictures show a Soyuz rocket returning three space station crew members to Earth.

HARLOW: One of them Chris Hadfield who had become an Internet sensation while he was in space. Amazing story.

Here is John Zarrella.

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JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: His name is Chris Hadfield but to millions of people around the world he's the singing astronaut. His version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" shot aboard the International Space Station became an international sensation this week garnering more than 12 million views on YouTube and counting.

The 53-year-old Canadian is now back on earth. Monday he and two other astronauts landed in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz. Thursday he spoke with reporters via webcast about how he's recovering from his five months in space.

CHRIS HADFIELD, FORMER COMMANDER, ISS: It feels like I played a hard game of rugby yesterday or played full contact hockey yesterday and I haven't played in a while. My body's just sore and I'm dizzy.

ZARRELLA: While Hadfield is dealing with the difficulties of readjusting to gravity he's extremely upbeat about the time he spent in orbit.

HADFIELD: This space station is a wonderful example of how people can do things right. There's beautiful imagery. There's poetry in what's happening. There's purpose in what's happening. There's a beauty to it. There's hope in it.

ZARRELL: Hadfield posted dozens of photos and videos online from space, some amazing shots of earth to what it's like to try and brush your teeth in zero gravity and while he's not the first astronaut to use Twitter with nearly one million followers he may be the most successful. HADFIELD: It is just too good an experience to keep to yourself. The more people that see it and understand it, I think, the more the benefits of space exploration will roll back into daily life for all of us.

ZARRELLA: Hadfield hopes he's hit a chord with young people and will inspire the next generation of space explorers.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: There's a video online of Chris Hadfield crying in space. You have to look that up, it's really cool.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: It's amazing and what he said about sharing it with others because how few people will ever get to do that.

BLACKWELL: Yes, great that he's tweeting and has almost a million followers. I'm one of them.

Hey a look at some of the laughs from late night comedians -- that's next plus one state is being invaded by some slow-moving monsters.

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HARLOW: Libya, the IRS, secret phone records by the Department of Justice -- it has been a long and controversial week for President Obama and his administration.

BLACKWELL: And, of course, late night comedians had to give their take on it all. Check out some of this weekend's late night laughs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, LATE-NIGHT COMEDIAN: I am sure you heard by now President Obama fired his acting IRS commissioner. Apparently, he was fired for acting like Richard Nixon's IRS commissioner.

DAVID LETTERMAN, LATE-NIGHT COMEDIAN: Republicans have mentioned the idea of impeaching Barack Obama. It is amazing how quickly this comes up, is it? With the republicans. Talking about impeaching Barack Obama. Barack Obama is a pretty cool guy. He said, "You know, I am not worried about this. I got two words that will put an end to this kind of nonsense, two words!" I said, "Oh, yeah, what?" He said, "President Biden."

JIMMY FALLON, LATE-NIGHT COMEDIAN: The Mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, is in spotlight right now because there's rumor that there is a video of him smoking crack. It is crazy or as our mayor put it, hey, at least it's not a large soda. I'm not that crazy.

JIMMY KIMMEL, LATE-NIGHT COMEDIAN: Tomorrow's Powerball drawing is going to be huge, bigger than the mayor of Toronto, even. It should become the biggest lottery jackpot ever. Jackpot is already up to $600 million. The record is $650 million. People are lined up outside convenient stores all over the United States to buy tickets. This is a good tip, by the way. If you don't want to wait in line, you can always re-create the experience of playing Powerball at home simply by flushing a dollar down the toilet.

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BLACKWELL: That's $2 for flushing down the toilet, two bucks a ticket. Thanks for starting your morning with us.

HARLOW: We've got much more ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING, which starts right now.