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Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien

Trial of George Zimmerman Continues; Air Force Pilots Report Oxygen Deprivation Symptoms While Flying F-22s; DSM-V May Broaden Definition of Alcoholism; Murder Warrant Issued For Groom; "Butcher Of Bosnia" On Trial; New Trial For O.J. Simpson; New Alzheimer's Drug Trial; Yer Out!; TSA Failing To Track Breaches; Governor Christie Channels Seinfeld In Web Video; Manning In The Morning

Aired May 16, 2012 - 07:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Our STARTING POINT this morning potentially game-changing developments in the Trayvon Martin case. So here's what we've learned. Autopsy results reveal the Florida teenager's knuckles had scrapes on them before he was shot and killed by George Zimmerman. This is according to CNN affiliate WFTV out of Orlando.

Also new this morning, we're digging into this three-page medical report from Zimmerman's doctor from an exam just the day after Trayvon Martin was shot and killed. It could be a key piece of evidence in this upcoming trial. What it does is it shows Zimmerman had a closed fracture of his nose, two black eyes, two cuts to the back of his head, and a minor back injury.

I want to go to Martin Savidge who has been in and out of Sanford covering the story for us. Martin, with all these new details and developments does it help Zimmerman's argument he was in fact standing his ground they killed Trayvon Martin in self-defense?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It depends, Brooke, on who you talk to. Good morning, by the way. Here's the way it breaks down. This information that is coming from the prosecution, the special prosecutor Angela Corey, they had to provide the basics of their investigation over to the defense, so that's why we're starting to see this information come out this week.

Two reports caught her eye, the autopsy report on Trayvon Martin, and that's the one you're referring to, that says bruising on the hands of Trayvon Martin. That would seem to support the defense's claim that George Zimmerman says that Trayvon Martin came up to him, punched him in the nose, knocked him to the ground and began beating him against the sidewalk.

However, the attorney for Trayvon Martin's family says, wait a minute. This only says Trayvon Martin was in a fight. It doesn't say who started it. Listen to Ben Crump last night on "AC 360."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CRUMP, ATTORNEY: Trayvon was fighting for his life. ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And you're saying that's why he would have injuries on his hands?

CRUMP: Absolutely. He was standing his ground. It was self- defense. So if somebody got a gun, I want to fight for my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN: Now, we should point out the injuries that George Zimmerman says he sustained and these were documented by a visit to his family doctor that says that he had lacerations on the back of his head, two black eyes, a broken nose, and an injury to the back of the head. Again, the Martin family attorney said if he was seriously injured he would have gone to the hospital the night of the event, not the day after, and he did not have a concussion. This is going to be argued both ways in a courtroom. It's going to be the battle of the expert, Brooke.

BALDWIN: We'll be following it all the way through, Martin Savidge. Appreciate it this morning.

New restrictions from the Pentagon after Air Force pilots complain these high-tech F-22 planes, Raptors, were making them sick. The Pentagon is bringing in the Navy, they're bringing in NASA to help try to figure out why these $400 million F-22 raptor jets are making the pilots dizzy and light-headed in some cases nauseated and blacking out, symptoms a lot like those of oxygen deprivation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE LITTLE, ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Secretary Panetta believes the department should do everything possible to ensure pilot safety and minimize flight risks and will continue to closely monitor the air force's steps to enhance the safety of this very important aircraft.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So as they continue to investigate, the Pentagon is speeding up plans to add the new back-up oxygen systems in the cockpit. I want to bring in Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger, giving whistleblower protection to those pilots who are coming forward, talking about this issue. He's also a member of the Air National Guard. Congressman, good morning to you.

REP. ADAM KINZINGER, (R) ILLINOIS: Hey, Brooke, good morning, how are you?

BALDWIN: I'm doing well. First things first, just what is your reaction to secretary of defense coming out yesterday and calling a concern on these F-22 Raptors?

KINZINGER: We think it's a good first step. Senator Warner from Virginia and I sent a letter basically asking for these steps to come into play and we were pleased that yesterday this was happening. Again, this is a first step to say, hey, look, the f-22 is an important part of our arsenal, future dense of our country, it's important, but something is wrong with it. Pilots are getting hypoxic from a lack of oxygen, not feeling right. Putting them in a dangerous situation so this is a good first step to say we'll test it in a controlled environment. But there are still a lot of questions and information that needs gathered.

BALDWIN: In terms of the symptoms you mentioned, it's hypoxia so dizziness, some of them are feeling nauseous. Some are blacking out. I want to play some of the sound, one of the pilots, what he felt when he talked to "60 Minutes."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Several times during the flight I had to really concentrate, immense concentrate on doing simple, simple tasks. And our training tells you if you think suspect something, go ahead and pull your emergency oxygen and come back home. When I did make that decision to pull the emergency oxygen ring, I couldn't find it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Here's my question -- given I imagine it's incredibly frightening to go through it in the air behind the controls of one of these things, Secretary of Defense Panetta says they remain within the proximity of potential landing locations, but my question is does it matter if you're near or far from a landing location, if you're blacking out, you're blacking out and that's a huge problem.

KINZINGER: Hypoxia is pretty insidious. I've been hypoxic as part of my training as a pilot. It basically comes on. You don't necessarily realize it. In fact that's why you're trained so you recognize the symptoms but you can't put a square peg in a square hole because your mind shuts down. You think you're aware but you're not. So being near a landing location at the point you might recognize symptoms is a good first step.

Let me say, the pilot you showed is still facing disciplinary action from the military for his refusal to fly with a charcoal filter on the aircraft and we can do a long way to make sure they pull back the reprimand against and the potential flying evaluation board against Captain Josh Wilson.

BALDWIN: But Congressman, it's not just some pilots, but I'm reading there are mechanics, mechanics on the ground who are working on these F-22 raptors or in the cockpits, putting on the same masks and having issue, as well. What kind of issues might this be, contamination, possibly fuel getting in the mask?

KINZINGER: Well, I think it's an all the above. Nobody really knows. That's what I think is disturbing about it, this is an important aircraft but with all the intensity that people have put into finding it we haven't been able to pinpoint the problem yet. There's maintainers on the ground doing engine runs where they start the engine. Some have experienced these symptoms.

Look, I think the full resources of the air force are being used to try to find the problem. I think we need a much bigger task force and that's where Secretary Panetta took the first step too. But, you know, we need a bigger task force that will focus on it and get it done. And frankly pilots who feel uncomfortable shouldn't be forced to fly and also should be given breathing room to come forward. We've had upwards of nine pilots come forward. Many who want to do so anonymously and said they're concerned with the aircraft.

BALDWIN: You say it needs to get fixed, these $400 million planes. When is that going to happen?

KINZINGER: I hope soon, because we paid for these things and they're very important to our defense so let's get all the smartest minds together and figure out what's going on because I want to look back in six months or year and say it's not a problem anymore and have the greatest fighter at 100 percent capacity in our arsenal.

BALDWIN: Illinois Congressman Kinzinger, thank you very much.

KINZINGER: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Let's talk about what else is making news this morning. Let's go to Christine Romans. Christine, good morning.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Brooke. We could face -- we can witness the final hours of John Edwards' corruption trial today and still no word if Edwards himself will testify. His daughter Cate is set to take the stand this morning. The defense is considering calling Edwards' former mistress Rielle Hunter to the stand. Edwards faces up to 30 years behind bars for allegedly using illegal campaign contributions to cover up his affair with hunter.

Mitt Romney adding more delegates to his tally in Oregon's primary last night. He took home 73 percent of the vote, 25 delegates up for grabs there. And in Nebraska Romney walked away with 71 percent of the vote.

For the second time this year, President Obama will have lunch with congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle today, pushing his economic agenda. Invited guests are House Speaker John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Speaker Boehner told CNN's Erin Burnett he's prepared to play hard ball if the president wants to raise the debt ceiling again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R) HOUSE SPEAKER: It is a line in the sand because Washington has kicked the can down the road, kicked can down the road, and the American people think we're crazy. They're ready for Washington to take action. I'm here. I'm ready to do it. Let's go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Boehner says he'll only agree to raise the debt ceiling if it's offset by a greater amount of spending cuts. U.S. stock futures flat but European markets are down on concerns again about Greece. That country's president is warning of a possible run on the banks there. Greek citizens are worried the country may have to leave the euro currency. They are withdrawing money from the banks, feverishly over the past few days. More on this story as it develops.

New this morning, Facebook boosting the size of its IPO offering by 25 percent looking to raise up to $16 billion. Welcome news one day after big three automaker General Motors said it's pulling its ads from Facebook. Sources told the wall street journal G.M. is pulling ads because it had little effect on consumers.

California will take a big bite out of it. Facebook employees will pay $1.1 million each in state income taxes after the company goes public, up to $4 billion in taxes overall. Numbers still in the air but we know for sure after employees start cashing in their shares how much they have to pay to the government. And Brooke, think of this. This year in California, California, one-fifth of its personal income tax growth will come just from what happens on Friday.

BALDWIN: Wow. Amazing. It's amazing. A company that eight years ago was in the dorm room at Harvard and wears hoodies and t- shirts when he addresses his company. There you go. Christine, thank you very much.

Still ahead on STARTING POINT, I know I fly a lot. We're talking gaping holes in airport security this morning. An alarming report sparking Washington's attention. So the question is, how safe are we?

Also, 20 million more Americans about to be labeled addicts without even picking up a drink or a drug? Controversy over these new addiction guidelines this morning. It may make you think maybe you're an addict. Our panel walking in with all that and more. Good morning, good morning, good morning. Nice to see you all.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: This is from Will Cain's playlist this morning, Nirvana. That takes me back a little ways. We always pore over these music picks. Check them out at CNN.com/startingpoint. From a segue from Nirvana to imbibing --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not a tough segue.

BALDWIN: It could be newly classified here as having a drinking problem. This is all because of these new guidelines in the DSM, the rulebook considered the bible of psychiatry so changes say anyone -- satisfies two or more like drinking more than you intended, developing a higher tolerance, spending a long time recovering from a hangover could land you with a, you know, "alcohol use disorder," some of the new language. Some worry this eliminates the distinction between abuse and dependence.

Bob Forrest is a drug counselor on VH1's "Celebrity Rehab." Bob, good to see you again. I have to be just totally transparent sitting around in our executive producer's office all thinking of our college memories and wondering of all that we might have taken in back in the day and people watching this morning wondering under the new guidelines, are we all alcoholics or were we?

FORREST: Yes, a lot of people are talking about this, and it's just rumored. The DSM-V, I've been hearing it's been coming out and new diagnosis of alcoholism. And we're trying to address early stages of what's to come, right? One argument, it's going to label a lot of people alcoholic. On the other hand an argument is more people become educated at an earlier age about their drinking and what it can lead to. And they think in terms of a continuum like starting at 10 percentile, and alcoholism and drug addiction treatment is at the 70th percentile, and so you start on that --

BALDWIN: The continuum. So where exactly do you fall? Do you say, yes, it's a good thing for these college kids to be labeled alcoholics or do you think it's a little too much?

FORREST: Well, "alcoholic" is a specific term that -- you know, psychiatry traditionally never got involved in addiction or the subject of addiction or alcoholism for 50, 60, 70 years and now all of a sudden they're paying close attention to it, and I'm suspicious about that. Alcoholism is a specific -- there's another organization called addiction -- American society of American addiction which is what addiction treatment is all based on, and that is addiction and alcoholism. And that -- that has specific criteria. That has genetic predisposition, childhood trauma, use exposure, use of addictive substances in the face of adverse consequences. That's addiction where I come from.

BALDWIN: So then where do you fall as we're watching these kids funneling beer as we're talking to you? Do you support this idea because let me just get this in there, critics say this will artificially inflate the statistics considerably. Do you see -- they're saying the resources for treatment will be more scarce, misdirected. Do you see that perspective?

FORREST: The history of the DSM is all about the insurance companies. They wanted a manual to say what is your science of the mind? What is your scientific evidence and what is quantifiable mental illness. And so it was really designed for the insurance companies anyway in order to bill. And so that's been the battle for 30, 40 years between the insurance companies and the medical profession, psychiatric profession. So what is this? So it changes every five years if you notice.

BALDWIN: Bob, I want to bring in our panel. I see them nodding and wanting to jump in.

RON BROWNSTEIN, NATIONAL JOURNAL: Hi, Ron Brownstein from "National Journal." I think the key question, does this in effect risk broadening the definition to the point where the attempts at intervention become diluted, or does it allow you to more early on intervene with people who are going to need help down the road? Do you think this ultimately improve or dilutes the prospects of successful intervention?

FORREST: I find it interesting the subject everybody is talking about is college campuses. And when are the college campuses, when will they take responsibility for the fact that the downtowns of any university in America are bars. Dozens of bars everywhere, drinking is encouraged, binge drinking is encouraged. So that's really the subject. Why are so many of our young people abusing drugs to or alcohol to the level of, you know, just 0.03 levels and being admitted to emergency rooms and why respect they doing something about alcohol abuse on their campuses? That's an interesting subject.

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I certainly agree with you. Margaret Hoover here. I think all of us understand binge drink something on the rise in college campuses. It's an epidemic and so how do these new guideline as dress that? Certainly college kids are drinking too much but what do these guidelines do to address that?

FORREST: I think it forces them to get counseling or education at an early age in the continuum so college campus health care will have to address this binge drinking. If somebody needs counseling they'll get education.

BALDWIN: How? I don't think college kids are reading the DSM-V.

FORREST: But the clinicians dealing this their health care there like at the drop-in centers and different campuses, you probably get some sort of thing where there's better education at the college level. I mean that's what this is about -- 40 percent of our college kids would now be considered alcoholic rather than just a rite of passage. It is not a rite of passage to have a 0.3 alcohol level and be date raped and this Penn State thing a few months ago. That Coach Pa stuff, that was all alcohol-fueled. Cooler heads need to prevail.

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: One last point that people might be overlooking this could re-categorize 20 million Americans as addicts. The manual's use will show what insurers will pay and could add new expenses on to the public budget.

BALDWIN: That's a good point, Will Cain.

FORREST: That's a frightening thing about Medicare going by the DSM-V. It's still not out yet but health care in America for alcoholism treatment pays tore detoxification only, outpatient. I mean, I live in the real world. This is the academic world that this book is based on. It's all academics writing.

BALDWIN: Yes, but there are implications in the real world, and it's a wake-up call not just for universities but parents and hopefully some of these students, as well. My mom said nothing good ever happened after midnight.

(CROSSTALK) BALDWIN: Still ahead on STARTING POINT," the papers this morning, including states taking money from struggling home owners. That's ahead.

Also, have you seen this video? They tweeted it out. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie sick of his superhero mayor Cory Booker. A hilarious new web video that Jerry Seinfeld and Newman as well would be proud of.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back to all of you to STARTING POINT. This is the part where we get all of these lovely folks to take a look at some of the most interesting articles in the paper that are percolating. Ron Brownstein, you begin.

BROWNSTEIN: I'll begin with "The Washington Post." "Stakes high in battle over Bain." The exchange between Obama and Romney this week on the ads over Romney's record at Bain. It reminded me of a baseball game in may thaw think you're going to see those two teams in October this. It's a central line of argument and the presidential race, one of the central battlegrounds defining what Romney's business experience means. Most swing voters now, their initial instinct is this does in fact equip Romney to help improve the economy. Obama team feels they have to challenge that, one of their core missions.

BALDWIN: Effective ads in North Carolina. Do we think it will be as effective?

BROWNSTEIN: I covered the 1994 Senate race between Mitt Romney and Ted Kennedy, and Kennedy came out of the box with a series of ads on Bain and that basically ended that race. Not likely to do that this time but critical for Romney to have a better defense than 20 years ago.

HOOVER: Romney's more tested now and did this exact line of argument and failed Newt Gingrich.

BALDWIN: Will Cain?

CAIN: Chicago braces for --

BALDWIN: Hold it up. I want everyone to see all your --

CAIN: I can read well. Chicago braces for NATO talks this coming Sunday and Monday. All the world leaders will be in Chicago including president Obama. But so will Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Wall Street is planning protests such that Boeing will tell all of its 500 employees don't come in Monday. Just work from home or if you come in other businesses are saying wear casual clothes, because Occupy Wall Street said NATO is one percent's military arm. So 22 Starbucks putting up thick plastic.

BALDWIN: Heads up in Chicago.

BROWNSTEIN: In honor of your nirvana, kind of the echo of the siege of Seattle with the WTO under Bill Clinton --

CAIN: Chicago has seen it before, 1968.

BALDWIN: Yes. Thirty seconds.

HOOVER: "The New York Times," the first page, needy states use housing aid cash to plug budget, the biggest private settlement after the tobacco industry. The banks paid the states for mortgage mitigation because of their role in the housing crisis. States are not using it but to plug their own budgets because states are in debt. And 27 states -- 15 states raising it for other purpose, taxes.

BROWNSTEIN: Similar on the tobacco settlement years ago.

BALDWIN: I know. We'll bring it up because we're talking football. Still ahead on STARTING POINT, this is a guy that actually Tom Brady sees in his nightmares. Eli Manning is here to talk about the Super Bowl, "SNL," and his work with kids. Bruce, why are you pointing at me? Very excited. There he is. He's waving. There we go.

Plus, gaping holes in airport security. This is nothing to laugh about. Everything from knives getting through to a dead dog going unscreened. It's not foolproof. What's the way to stop it? We know we need to. Are we safe when we fly? We'll examine that next. You're watching STARTING POINT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Good morning once again. It's half past the hour. Let's go straight to Christine with the day's headlines. Hi, Christine.

ROMANS: Good morning, Brooke. A massive manhunt is on for the husband of a bride found stabbed to death in her bathtub. Police in Burbank, Illinois, outside Chicago are searching for 30-year-old Arnando Jiminez.

His wife, 26-year-old Estrella Carera was dead Sunday still wearing her dress from their wedding reception. Jiminez was last seen after that reception driving a black 2006 Maserati. He is now wanted on a first degree murder warrant.

The long awaited war crimes trial of Ratko Mladic, the so- called butcher of Bosnia is now underway at The Hague. The 70-year- old former Bosnian Serb general has been indicted on 11 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He is accused of leading a campaign of ethnic cleansing during that bloody civil war that tore apart Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

He's serving up to 33 years in a Nevada prison, but O.J. Simpson's new attorney says O.J. was a victim of poor legal representation. He is asking for Simpson to be released and granted a new trial. Simpson was convicted back in 2008 on charges of kidnapping and armed robbery in a case involving memorabilia dealers. Researchers hope a new way of looking at Alzheimer's disease will help find a way to prevent it. Federal health officials announcing a major study to test an experimental drug on patients long before they exhibit any signs of dementia. The Obama administration says the goal is to wipe out Alzheimer's by 2025. More than 5 million Americans suffer from the disease.

The Toronto Blue Jays' Bret Lowry called at unlucky bounce, but Major League baseball likely has another name for it, suspension. After striking out in the ninth inning, a furious Lowry slammed his batting helmet to the ground.

It bounced up and struck home plate umpire Bill Mueller. Lowry later apologized for the incident. The Toronto crowd wasn't done with Mueller. As the umpire walked off the field, he was pelted with a drink thrown from -- by a fan from the stands --

BALDWIN: Look at that. There it goes.

ROMANS: I'm telling you --

BALDWIN: Not a good night for him.

ROMANS: Let's just stay classy, everyone.

BALDWIN: It was a little extreme.

ROMANS: Stay classy.

BALDWIN: Christine, thank you. How about this? This morning, some big, big questions here into how well the TSA is actually guarding our nation's airports. There's this new report that says agents are not properly telling the TSA when knives, when guns and other weapons are just up and slipping past security.

According to the Department of Homeland Security inspector general only 42 percent of breaches are being reported. Let me say that again, 42 percent. And airports are only addressing just about half of those causes of those breaches. They also found the TSA isn't properly tracking these security issues.

Congressman Mike Rogers, he is the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Transportation Security, will be holding a hearing to tackle this precise issue today. Congressman, good morning.

REPRESENTATIVE MIKE ROGERS (R), ALABAMA: Good morning.

BALDWIN: Let's talk about this report. I know this is specifically honing in on Newark in New Jersey, talking about these six security breaches in 2010 including the guy who slipped past security to go kiss his girlfriend, stopped everything.

That's the day you don't want to be in the airport. Everything came to a crashing halt for six hours and cost the airlines millions of dollars. What do you hope to get out of this hearing today? ROGERS: Well, this hearing was scheduled a long time before this IG report came out. We knew that there were some problems with reporting, but that's what we're trying to find out. Why these breaches were discovered by the local TSA, but weren't reported to big TSA.

You know, TSA cannot come up with mechanisms and processes to resolve these kind of breaches if they don't know about them and only 42 percent were reported. That's not acceptable and we're going to talk about why that happened today.

BALDWIN: But before you can talk about resolving breaches you have to talk about how they're categorized because one of the conclusions from this inspector general report is the fact that the TSA doesn't actually have a uniform way of tracking these particular breach, different airports list them differently.

For example, one will consider a breach in an improper bag hand of off incident. Another calls it a sterile area access event and it's so important to categorize them because you want to track trends, right?

ROGERS: That's exactly right. This is a management problem and we're trying to get to the bottom of what happened and make it smarter. TSA has to be a lot smarter, leaner and tougher. And we want to help them get there, but we've got to have hearings like this to focus on the problems.

BALDWIN: Here's what the TSA says, quote, "Last year's TSA workforce screened more than 603 million passengers at 450 airports across the country and stopped more that 125,000 prohibited items at airports checkpoints.

Of those items, more than 1,300 were firearms. Isn't that still sort of all for naught if these breaches continue to happen? It makes me nervous and I fly all the time.

BALDWIN: TSA likes to talk about their successes and I'm proud of their successes. I mean, the truth is we haven't had another successful attack in 10 years.

The problem is we have only have to miss one and it's a disaster. We want TSA to become smarter, leaner and tougher and that means we've got to get the bottom of problems like this.

When you got 42 percent of the breaches are only being accepted to the TSA. That's not acceptable. We need 100 percent reported so that we can come up of ways to make sure none of them are successful.

BALDWIN: Congressman, let me bring in Will Cain.

CAIN: Congressman, how are you doing? What's odd about this story to me is that while we see these breaches it's accompanied by the fact that the TSA is also being harangued for patting down.

And giving the full monty search to seemingly everyone. We saw it the other day where former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was patted down. So it's like TSA is getting criticized on both sides of the spectrum.

In your personal opinion, what kind of job is TSA doing? What kind of grade would you give the TSA?

ROGERS: Overall, I think the TSA have done an acceptable job and I based it solely on the fact we have not had another successful attack in 10 years. That doesn't mean that we can't have one if we don't stay tougher and smarter. And we've got to be smart about this.

The fact is the bad guys, the terrorists are way ahead of the curve in trying to find new and novel ways to get through. Unfortunately, pat-downs are a necessity, but the fact is pat-downs respect worth the trouble if we're not focusing on the ways that other people can get through, as well.

That's what this hearing is all about, find out about why these breaches are happening and more importantly, why they're not being reported because we can't deal with them if we don't know about them.

HOOVER: You know, former TSA Director Kip Holly, who is the second guy to ever run TSA just has a new book called "Permanent Emergency." It's about the problems, consistent problems of TSA.

And I think a lot of Americans wonder when they're in the airport lines whether TSA could actually prevent another 9/11 today with 40 percent of these breaches happening.

BALDWIN: Right, we talked about that out of Yemen, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula talking about body bombs, PETN that's very difficult to detect.

It's just another reason and I'm sure the congressman would agree that we all just need to be patient. There is a reason while they're searching us very scrupulously. But, still, there are many issues why the breaches are happening, categorizing the breaches, et cetera.

You got a lot of work ahead of you, Congressman Rogers. We appreciate you for doing it. Thank you, sir.

ROGERS: Glad to be with you.

BALDWIN: Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, New Jersey's top dogs with a little "Seinfeld" homage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, sit tight. I got this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Booker!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Booker, stand back.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Booker, the rivalry between New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker. Love this video. We're going to talk about that coming up next.

Also he's in the house, the New York Giants QB and Super Bowl MVP. I want to know if he's wearing the ring. Eli Manning is in the house. He's tossing the football around. Nice catch, guys. This is his playlist, the Boss singing "Glory Days." Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: How about politicians with a sense of humor this morning. Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker, you know, known for shoving people out of blizzards and pulling a woman recently out of a burning building. No big deal.

It turns out New Jersey Governor Chris Christie a little jealous, his office putting out this web video poking a little fun at Booker's superhero status and channelling "Seinfeld." Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, you guys got any problems you want me to handle like a fire anywhere, people trapped?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like a bad automobile accident where you need me to some folks?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing like that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe a cat in a tree.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I think we're all set here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cooper, what do we got?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mayor, thank you for coming. There is a two- alarm fire on State Street. We have a car broken down on route one and a little girl has lost her kid in a tree.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. As you were, Governor, I got this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Booker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Steve, listen, I got to get going. I think we're going to have a flat tire here. I'll hang up first. Goodbye.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gov, Gov, sit tight. I got this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Booker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, stand back. I got this. I got this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: With the baby. I mean, I just love they're making fun of themselves. This was made by Chris Christie's office, part of like the local version of the White House correspondents' dinner in New Jersey. Hilarious.

HOOVER: Totally funny. There are too many conservatives and Republicans who take themselves too seriously. It just shows Governor Christie's humor too that he's sort of willing to cast himself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They didn't show Cory Booker's ultimate superhero point, sitting right here on STARTING POINT.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

CAIN: I love that -- the awkwardness, I'll hang up first. This was done at the New Jersey correspondents' dinner. We are getting absurd in our brotherhood between media and government. Do we have to fete each other?

BALDWIN: It just a little fun video.

CAIN: Maybe we can have like city correspondents' dinner where they give each other pie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The city correspondents' dinner -- you could do that in a diner booth.

BALDWIN: Never in a million years could Will have caught the baby three flights up.

CAIN: Might have overthrown me.

HOOVER: I don't think he's overthrowing anybody.

BALDWIN: Still ahead on STARTING POINT speaking of game on, New York Giant's quarterback Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning joining us and here's a trap Eli knows well, Monday night football. STARTING POINT back in a moment.

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BALDWIN: It's Eli Manning this morning. By the way, this is off of his playlist. Very nice, is country your thing?

ELI MANNING, NEW YORK GIANTS: I like it all, but country and kind of some '70s and '80s, Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen and that kind of stuff. I mix it up.

BALDWIN: By the way, in case you don't know this guy. This is the Giants' quarterback named MVP for the second time. Congratulations after this year's big win Super Bowl. Sorry Boston fans. Anyway, good morning to you. Thanks so much for going in. Is this your first trip to CNN?

MANNING: Yes, first trip here so excited. Looking forward to it.

BALDWIN: Welcome. When you were walking in we were talking during the commercials. Are you wearing a big rock of a ring and tonight you get it?

MANNING: We get it tonight. We have a little ceremony at Tiffany's who made the ring. We got all of the teammates and coaches and everybody going. It should be a great night.

BALDWIN: But it's a huge ring.

MANNING: It's a big ring.

BALDWIN: You have a rule about when you do and don't wear it.

MANNING: I wear it on special occasions up to the start of the season and then put it away. New year, new season. Let's try to go get another one. I won't wear it on an every-day basis.

If I'll see friends or my family and they haven't seen it, wear it and just kind of casually walk in and that's the first thing they see. They like to look at it. It's a big ring. It's almost hard to wear.

BALDWIN: So your big bro, he is in Denver now. Health wise he's doing pretty good?

MANNING: He's doing great. I was with him last week for a little bit. You know, shooting a Reebok commercial. He's doing great and loving it out there and working hard and excited to be playing football again. I'm excited to get to watch him on the football field again.

BALDWIN: And now Tim Tebow here in New York. Have you had coffee with Tim Tebow?

MANNING: No, I haven't seen Tim since he has been in town. You know, it's one of those deals in New York. You win a Super Bowl, but I'm the third most talked about quarterback right now between Mark and Tim and I. That's the way I like it.

CAIN: Speaking of backup quarterbacks. I didn't know this but you are supposedly the godfather of pranks. I hear these stories about you reprogramming the phone into Japanese. What's your best one? What's your claim to fame?

MANNING: You know, it's hard to say. You know, I don't really like -- our rookies just got in this week. I don't want to give it away.

BALDWIN: Give us one example. MANNING: There's some stuff called "blue dye." It's kind of like if you see a movie and someone robs a bank. It's that stuff. It comes in a powder. You put it in their shoes and in their gloves and when it mixes with sweat and moisture, it just stains their hand totally blue and takes two weeks to get off.

BALDWIN: Have you had blue hands?

MANNING: I never have had blue hands. Sometimes I get a little dot on me. It's not hard to find out who did it when you pour the powder you get some on your finger.

BALDWIN: If you see rookies on the field with blue blotches, we now know this guy is to blame. Let me get a video in. I know you were recently on "Saturday Night Live." This is a little clip of you wearing a dress. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANNING: I put so much into tonight. I did this and this and this. And I guess it wasn't enough. I was 100% ready not to lose this. And now I've tarnished my image and disappointed my fans. He's right over there. Sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Here you are in a dress in this wig, the Eli Manning of "SNL" and Peyton. Roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He uses football to teach valuable lessons of communication.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch the blitz. Watch the blitz, 55 razor. Open. Open. Get your head out of your -- you suck!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOOVER: Shout out to cross dressing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the off-season like? Do you get to totally disconnect? Is there a point where you just totally unattached the football or are you planning and plotting and preparing for the next season almost from day one?

MANNING: Our coaches really tell us to take about a month off. Don't lift any weights. Don't do anything. Don't put any stress on the body. You need a full recovery. The season is long.

I take a month off and slowly get back into working out. Jogging, running around. Doing some sort of physical activity and then we came back mid April with the team.

Started having spring practices. We had practice yesterday. We have practice tomorrow with the full group. And starting to work on getting better and getting ready to the upcoming season.

BALDWIN: Speaking of jogging and running around. You're part of this group, Build Our Kids' Success. You see kids need to be jogging and running around more because they are not enough these days.

MANNING: Exactly. This is a before school activity that parents really started, but teachers, parents, you get kids before school. Get them running around. Relays. Races.

The idea is that it helps with their physical activity and their overall health, but also they found out when you are active kids are active, their minds become active. It also the real goal is to get them to do better in the classroom as well.

CAIN: So get 4 year olds out there running before school.

MANNING: That's what it is.

BALDWIN: Were you doing that growing up?

MANNING: I don't know. I was not doing that. When I was in school, we had PE. We had physical education. A lot of schools have eliminated that. The kids are in school all day with no sort of physical activity.

And this country has an obesity problem with kids and our academic performance have gone down in kids so the emphasis is not only to attack the health and the obesity problem.

But also increase the academic performance and get these kids' minds active and that's what they have seen with these programs is that the school work is getting better and the kids are overall more healthy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Public and private schools?

MANNING: Yes. It's really just the parents who are ones getting involved. They are getting up early and bringing kids. Parents are doing it. Teachers can get involved also.

You can go on the web site and you can find out how to bring this program to your school. This is parents, teachers, whoever. It's a very simple program. You don't need much. You just need a place to go, usually at the school.

If you have a gymnasium or outside where you can set up some cones and relays and just get the kids heart rates up and running and it's a great program and just helping the overall well-being of children.

BALDWIN: Eli Manning, you have a half decent athlete, but a good guy as well.

CAIN: He's won two Super Bowls.

BALDWIN: Back in a moment.

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