Return to Transcripts main page
Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien
Debby's Deluge; Interview with Former Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce; Interview With Rep. Charlie Rangel; State of Emergency Declared in Florida; Supreme Court Set to Rule on Health Care Law; Superstar Fights Sex Slavery; Sandusky's Son Details Alleged Sex Abuse
Aired June 26, 2012 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome, everybody.
Our STARTING POINT this morning: parked along the panhandle, tropical storm Debby already deadly and drenching Florida. State of emergency with two feet of rain expected.
Show me your papers upheld. Arizona claims victory after the Supreme Court issues a split decision on its immigration crackdown.
Charlie Rangel on the ropes. After 42 years, his seat in Congress is not safe. Today, he faces a tough challenge from his own party. We're going to talk to him live this morning.
And Jada Pinkett Smith talks to me about her crusade to end human trafficking. We'll talk about how her daughter's passion is really what nudged her into action.
It's Tuesday, June 26th. And STARTING POINT begins right now.
(MUSIC)
O'BRIEN: Welcome, everybody.
Our STARTING POINT, tropical storm Debby. It's in park, kind of sitting over the Gulf of Mexico right now, pounding Florida with driving rain. The deluge is flooding roads and homes in low-lying areas. Forecasters tell us another foot of rain is possible.
And Florida's governor has declared a statewide emergency. All of that brings us to CNN's George Howell. He's live near Saint Marks, Florida, this morning.
Hey, George. How does it look?
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, good morning.
A lot of rain in a short amount of time. And just take a look. This is the sort of thing that people are waking up to. In fact, we have been here for several hours.
I want to show you -- the water came up to about here when we first got here. It has receded and has been receding very quickly, which is good news for people.
In fact, just over there, the store manager just got here. The owner, to start cleaning up the damage from this flooding. So as people start cleaning up here on the western part of the state, I want to talk about what's happening right now just east of us, in areas like Live Oak and Lake City.
In fact, we have some video near Interstate 10. I-10 has been shut down in both directions just east of i-75 because of the flooding situation, a lot of water falling very quickly. And this causes all sorts of problems, debris in the road, downed trees from the wind that's associated with this storm, just a lot of damage for people to deal with, and get around as this storm sits over Florida and hopefully moves along.
O'BRIEN: Wow, what a mess for that owner, too. Now will have to figure out thou deal with it.
All right. George, thank you for that update. Appreciate it.
Let's get right to meteorologist Alexandra Steele. She is tracking the storm for us.
Hey, Alexandra.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey. Good morning, Soledad.
Well, you know, for George and all of the Wakulla County, the good news is things are moving out. The worst is over other than the cleanup.
The latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center has just come in, and -- well, things are stagnant, where they were this morning and on the earlier observation. But less stagnant than yesterday -- meaning this movement is not stationary. It is moving east at three miles per hour.
Winds now still 45 miles per hour. We're not going to se any strengthening until we see this come over land and then we'll see it weakening. So that is the good news.
So here is the track. Again, today we'll slowly see it kind of trod eastward. We will see it weaken once the center of circulation moves over land and then out into the Atlantic. But, you know, as you just saw in Wakulla County, really the hardest hit area, just south of Tallahassee here. Yesterday between 10 and 20 inches storm total- wise. So, places like Saint Marks, 21 inches.
The axis of the heavy rain now further eastward. Southeast Georgia, Sea Island and St. Mary's will get pummeled in the next 24 to 48 hours.
O'BRIEN: So, that sounds really, really awfully for the next 12 to 24 hours.
STEELE: But then it's moving out.
O'BRIEN: Always looking for the silver lining, Alexandra. Thank you for the update.
Christine has got a look at the headlines for us. Hey, Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Arizona is declaring victory this morning even though the Supreme Court struck down most of its controversial immigration law. The justices upheld the part of the law that critics oppose the most, the parts that gave police the power to say "show me your papers". Governor Jan Brewer calls it a win, but she still had some tough words for the Obama administration when she appeared on "JOHN KING, USA".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JAN BREWER (R), ARIZONA: I think it's just another assault on the state of Arizona. It began with them downplaying our border problem, and then not securing it. And then, you know, suing the state of Arizona for trying to protect the people of Arizona and of America. Then doing back door amnesty.
And now, rescinding only Arizona's ability to use the 287G. Outrageous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: In a few minutes, Soledad will talk to former Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce, one of the architects of the Arizona law.
Immigration could take a back seat quickly with the Supreme Court expected to rule on President Obama's health care law on Thursday. And it could shape the 2012 race. The court could toss the individual mandate part of the law, which requires almost every American to have health insurance or pay a penalty.
Ten postal workers are on a hunger strike outside of the capital this morning. They are protesting massive cuts at the U.S. Postal Service that will close 229 plants and eliminate 28,000 jobs. The workers say eliminating the congressionally mandated payments for future retiree health care costs will solve the Postal Services financial problems. The post office lost $5 billion last year.
New information now on why Jerry Sandusky's adopted son didn't testify against him in his sex abuse trial. CNN contributor Sara Ganim reports that Matt Sandusky talked about alleged sexual abuse at the hands of his father in a 25-minute audiotape to police. But he said he feared perjury charges because last year, he told a grand jury nothing inappropriate ever happened.
Meantime, the jury is talking. Two jurors in the trial told Soledad what they witnessed on "A.C. 360" last night. One said Sandusky couldn't hide his expressions in court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSHUA HARPER, SANDUSKY TRIAL JUROR: I didn't see anything in the victims that would lead me to think they were not credible. But then I also took a look at Sandusky while he was watching the victims testify. And it seemed to be that he was kind of reminiscing of the victims. And --
O'BRIEN: What do you mean by that?
HARPER: Well, he would kind of lean in towards them and pick his chin up a little bit and just kind of -- like he was thinking about the victims and his behavior with them.
O'BRIEN: That struck you as creepy?
HARPER: Yes. I would say. A little creepy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts. He'll likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
And, Soledad, those jurors believed -- they believed those witnesses.
O'BRIEN: Yes, they said very, very credible. That was the interesting thing. And all of their stories seemed to have a common thread and a consistency to them and they thought that was really one of the reasons to convict.
All right. Christine, thank you for that.
Our STARTING POINT this morning: Alicia Menendez is joining us. She's host of the "HuffPost" I should say "Live".
Margaret Hoover is an author of "American Individualism."
Will Cain is a columnist for TheBlaze.com.
Let's talk Supreme Court, shall we?
You know, controversial immigration law. And it was three parts of it were overturned by the Supreme Court. One part stood. Challenges now, of course.
They upheld what was really a very critical section that allows local police officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws if there is reasonable suspicion that the person is an illegal immigrant. A lot is going to hinge on what does it mean to have reasonable suspicion.
The Obama administration showed some support, says they will not be a willing partner to Arizona's efforts to arrest undocumented people unless they meet a certain criteria. As we mentioned, Governor Jan Brewer used the word "assault" and dropping a bomb, I think, is exactly what she told John last night on the state of Arizona.
Russell Pearce was the driving force behind SB-1070, as the bill was called when he was Arizona state senator. In 2011, though, he was recalled. He is running for office again now, joins us this morning.
Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for being with us. We certainly appreciate your time.
So, let's walk through what you think overall of what the Supreme Court has done. As you know, 3/4 of it struck down, 1/4 remains. Do you read this as a failure or a victory?
RUSSELL PEARCE (R), FORMER ARIZONA STATE SENATOR: Well, first of all, that's not quite accurate. There's 14 sections to SB-1070, 11 of those are in place. Only three were not upheld, you know? And it served its purpose.
The purpose for SB-1070 was to eliminate, you know, sanctuary clauses. They are illegal under federal law. They are illegal under USC 1644 and 1373.
Yes, we have them all over this country. Most major cities have these illegal policies. Arizona said enough is enough.
I mean, good grief. You know, I can tell you the -- I have been to the funerals and I've seen the families. It cost $1.6 billion to Arizona to educate, medicate, and incarcerate. Rob Prince was murdered on the border during a debate in 1070, 12 Phoenix police officers.
Enough is enough. You know, we have a right --
(CROSSTALK)
PEARCE: And just like Judge Scalia said, the sovereign state of Arizona has a right to protect its citizens and jobs for Americans and secure its borders.
O'BRIEN: You're listing all of the things that made this very emotional for the citizens of Arizona. So, walk me through how now, with what the Supreme Court has done, how is this going to be enforced? How is it going to work? What does it look like?
Someone is driving in a car. They are stopped with a broken taillight. What happens?
PEARCE: Well, nothing if everything is OK. It's like any other stop. An officer is trained to pay attention to things that aren't -- that don't fit, you know?
And so when he comes across that environment, all this bill does is allow them to ask the questions they need to ask, like in any other crime. You know, after a legal stop, you know, that if you have reasonable suspicion -- you know, good grief, that's their job every day, to find if they have concerns, to pursue those concerns.
You know, if they don't have concerns, that's OK if you have a driver's license that was issued in Arizona because we have a legal presence standard on our driver's license, that alone is evidence that you're legal.
So it's a very reasonable -- we put safeguards in SB-1070 that are not even in the federal law.
MARGARET HOOVER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Sir --
PEARCE: Let me tell you what happens, you know --
O'BRIEN: Why don't you go ahead, Margaret?
(CROSSTALK)
HOOVER: Quick question for you. Because it seems to me what you're trying to do in Arizona is suggest that the federal government wasn't enforcing immigration laws. And because the federal government was failing on their job, you were going to have your own law in your own state that was going to help enforce the laws.
And it seems to me that the Supreme Court has basically reaffirmed that it is the constitutional duty of the federal government to enforce immigration laws and that states cannot go about piecemeal creating their own immigration reinforcement.
So it seems that unfortunately Arizona's law has not been able to -- hasn't been supported.
PEARCE: That's just not true. That's absolutely fabrication. You know, again, two out of three Americans support what Arizona has done.
There's never been a preemption of states enforcing the law. Never had there been a preemption. Had Congress wanted to preempt the states, they could have used their power. They have not done that.
But apparently, because the cheap labor, the cheap vote crowd, it's OK. The deaths and costs of billions of dollars is OK for them. It's outrageous.
Do you know how the immigration law has been enforced, reasonably enforced, 9/11 would have been averted? Four out of the five main hijackers were stopped by law enforcement and were let go and were in the country illegally and overstayed their visas. One of them had the citation, the car that was abandoned at the airport. But apparently that's OK to the left.
O'BRIEN: I think you are articulating the frustration and probably the out and out anger have I seen as I have reported in the state of Arizona where people are trying to figure out how do you actually --
PEARCE: Well --
O'BRIEN: -- how do you figure out how to deal with an immigration problem in that state. One of the concerns, as you know, when it comes to this provision that was upheld by the Supreme Court, is will it lead to racial profiling. How can you guarantee that in fact it will not?
PEARCE: Well, first of all, that's demeaning to law enforcement to assume that. You know --
O'BRIEN: Law enforcement is concerned about it. There are several law enforcement organizations that said they are concerned.
(CROSSTALK)
PEARCE: Hang on. You know, I was answering your question.
Chief Justice Roberts made that very clear at the beginning of the oral arguments on SB-1070. When they -- before the solicitor general got started in his presentation, Justice Roberts said, I want to get something clear right out front. There is no allegation here of ethnic or racial profiling. He said that's true. Then he said it again.
I read your brief. You have not alleged any of that racial or anything profiling. He said that's correct.
They have never asserted that. It's simply not true. The president's outrageous comments early on about the guy going to the ice cream parlor with this kid was an absolute fabrication and a fear-monger.
You know, enforcing our laws, that's a terrible thing? Securing the border, that's a terrible thing? You know, making sure that jobs are there for Americans, is that a terrible thing?
This is a reasonable law that codifies federal law. It's not a mishmash. That's the most outrageous things you can say, Arizona is off on its own.
This codifies what is already illegal. They made that clear in the court, I'm disappointed they didn't uphold the others. The main provisions of SB-1070 are in place.
Section 2B was the critical piece.
O'BRIEN: That's been upheld.
PEARCE: -- the critical piece that needed to be upheld. And it was upheld.
O'BRIEN: That is correct.
PEARCE: Along with the others. Illegal -- sanctuary policies in Arizona are illegal.
Officers can ask the question when reasonable. I know that's a dangerous thing. We put guns on police officers. They make life and death decisions.
But, wow, we don't want them to ask tough questions like where you're from.
O'BRIEN: We are out of time.
Russell Pearce is a former Arizona state senator, joining us this morning from San Diego. Nice to see you, sir. Thank you for talking with us. We appreciate it.
PEARCE: Thank you. And thank you for having me. God bless.
O'BRIEN: You bet. Thank you.
Still ahead on STARTING POINT, feeling the heat in Harlem. Longtime Congressman Charlie Rangel is fighting for his longtime seat after surviving an epic scandal. He's going to join us live to talk about his battle to survive.
Also, today's "Tough Call" -- shame, shame, shame. Punishments. Like this one, chopping off a kid's ponytail. I'm not making that up. It's on the rise.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also, today's "Tough Call," shame, shame, shame. Punishments. Like this one, chopping off a kid's ponytail. I'm not making that up. It's on the rise. Are they effective, though? Should they be allowed? We'll talk about that.
Here's jay-z "Made in America" from Alicia's playlist. You're watching STARTING POINT. Got to take a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back. I'm Christine Romans. It's 8:18 in the east. "Minding Your Business," U.S. stock futures are higher ahead of reports on new home prices and consumer confidence later this morning. Markets closed lower yesterday because of fears about the debt and banking crisis in Europe.
Mark Zuckerberg's right-hand woman, Facebook COO, Cheryl Sandberg, is joining the Facebook board of directors. She's the first woman on the board of the social network.
And Google set to launch a tablet this week to rival Apple's iPad. Gizmodo reports that the device called the Nexus 7 is priced at $199, far cheaper than even the cheapest iPad which goes for about 400 bucks -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Would you buy that?
ROMANS: I don't know. I'm still on the iPad 1. I'm very old technology person.
O'BRIEN: Usually (ph) the iPad 1.
ROMANS: I know. It's very sad.
O'BRIEN: First, then, you need to go to the iPad 2. And then, you can try other things.
ROMANS: I'll get rid of my dial telephone here pretty soon.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: That's coming back, actually.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: All right. Christine, thank you.
Today's "Tough Call" kind of interesting. What do you think of these eye-for-an-eye punishments? The kind of these unconventional sentences? In one case, chopping off a girl's ponytail or forcing somebody to sleep in a doghouse, instead -- you know, choosing doghouse time as opposed to jail time.
Jonathan Turley (ph), who's a professor at George Washington University is on TV all the time, says it's a disturbing trend that he's seen over the past 20 years. It's called, you know, shaming sentences. Most recent case is this one.
Thirteen-year-old girl who had cut the hair of a three-year-old girl was given reduced community service if her mom cut off her own ponytail right in the -- right at the part where the rubber band holds the hair. The girl's mom says she that felt very intimidated when kind of given that option in the courtroom, but she did it. And now, of course, she's, you know, looking into legal action.
ALICIA MENENDEZ, HOST, HUFFPOST LIVE: I'll tell you one thing, I would not be cutting anybody's hair off after my own hair got cut into -- taken me to last 20 years.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: Hair trauma.
MENENDEZ: Hair trauma. It alarms me that this is happening in court. It does not seem like it has a place in our judicial system. It almost seems like a joke.
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Why?
MENENDEZ: I like it for the home.
CAIN: But why?
MENENDEZ: Why?
CAIN: Hmm.
MENENDEZ: Because I don't see how it's rehabilitative. I understand how it sort of shames you into it, but I don't understand how that then makes you understand why what you did was wrong and makes you understand that --
CAIN: That makes you empathetic. That makes you empathetic and does rehabilitative. If you cut off a three-year-old's hair and then yours was, thus, cut, couldn't that make you empathetic to the situation?
O'BRIEN: Or you could argue -- I think I see this as dealing with like my kids when they hit each other, right? Do you go and smack a child who's just smacked someone and you're trying to tell them don't --
MENENDEZ: Smacking is wrong.
O'BRIEN: Hitting them seems to be a bad way to send that rehabilitative or non-message. You know. is it make them empathetic? I don't think you create empathy in someone by shaming them. That seem to be --
CAIN: You certainly picked an example that would be very, very difficult for me to defend. I would tell you this, instinctually, this doesn't bother me. A judge gives a defendant an option of having their hair cut to reduce their hours --
O'BRIEN: Sleeping in a doghouse instead of going to jail.
CAIN: -- which the defendant chose so he could go to work. What did offend me is the level of punishment. So, the girl cuts a three- year-old's hair, and she got 270 hours of community service and 30 days detention. Wow! That's heavy.
O'BRIEN: I don't know. I actually didn't like community service. I think it's creepy to use it as punishment.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Yes, but you know what, the person who turned her in said that they thought sort of coercing this three-year-old seemed like it was -- you know, talk about your slippery slope argument, like, that's bad. We've got to nip this in the bud for the girl. Community service, I think it's great.
Shouldn't be a punishment. People should just do community service. That's a good thing. But I think if you're going to chop off someone's hair as a punishment for chopping hair, seems misguided to me. But then again, I'm not a lawyer. I'm not the lawyer on the team.
CAIN: Before we go, where are you on this?
MARGARET HOOVER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. I actually kind of --
(LAUGHTER)
CAIN: You like it. You like it.
(CROSSTALK) HOOVER: I feel like the girl was mean. She needs a little bit of her own medicine.
O'BRIEN: Chopping off her hair?
HOOVER: She needs a little bit of her own medicine.
O'BRIEN: Chopping off her hair? That's kind of a big thing to do for mean. All right.
(LAUGHTER)
STARTING POINT ahead this morning, more than 40 years after he first went to Washington, D.C., Charlie Rangel is making a last stand for his seat in Congress. He faces a tough challenge from his own party now, today. We're going to talk to him live straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back to STARTING POINT, everybody. One of the most influential Black politicians in modern history is now facing one of the most important tests of his career. Today, after 42 years on the Hill, 42 years on the Hill, voters in New York's Democratic primary are going to decide if Congressman Charlie Rangel should represent them for another two years.
Rangel was once one of the most powerful Democrats in the House. He has since, though, been scarred by a House censure, for among other things, accepting several rent-stabilized apartments for campaign offices at prices far below market value, failing to pay some taxes on a beach front villa in the Dominican Republican, and misusing his house office to raise money for an education center that was being built in his honor, all charges that Rangel, we should note, continues to deny.
The Democratic congressman, Charlie Rangel, joins us this morning. Nice to see you, sir. Thank you for talking with us. You got four opponents in this primary right now. You have Senator Espaillat who has strong Latino support. Clyde Williams, he was talking to us this morning.
Craig Schley who's a community activist in Harlem, and Joyce Johnson who is a businesswoman. Are you feeling confident going into this primary?
REP. CHARLIE RANGEL, (D) NEW YORK: Only if we continue to have this good weather all day, and that programs like yours emphasize the fact that today is the day that we elect our candidates to go to Washington in November. So, today is the most important day. I feel confident that people recognize this is a serious time for our nation, for our community.
And that I'm the only one that has the experience to know what the needs are and how we go about defining these solutions for jobs, health, and education, and a variety of other things. O'BRIEN: There are some people, sir, who would say that confidence is misplaced, and they point to the censure for ethics violations as a big problem among voters in your district. Do you not see that?
RANGEL: No. Actually, the voters already have put that behind us. I got 83 percent of the vote the last time out. But the most important thing, if people would read the website of the ethics committee, read "The New York Times" about a month ago, where Sam Roberts put an expose out against the conduct of the committee.
That right now, as you and I talk, that committee is under investigation by private counsel for wrongdoing. And that's behind us. I've been elected overwhelmingly. And now, the question is, who is the best person to serve the nation, the Congress, and my Congressional district?
Not someone who just wants the job, but someone who has the experience to do it. So, I got my resume out there. And other people do as well.
O'BRIEN: You are 82 years old. You've been a little bit ill of late. How much for you is this entire contest about legacy and about power?
RANGEL: It has to do with the condition that we find our country. And I am not a spectator. All of my dreams and aspirations about a better world, a better country, Obama has brought that to light in terms of universal healthcare, education as a priority, and getting America back to work.
I'm not the kind of guy to be sitting as a spectator, kicking in and cursing out the television. There's a job to be done. I was there in the beginning to start it. And for the country, and for my district, and for my family, I want to make certain I'm there to finish this job, for the good of all of us.
Let me make it abundantly clear that while I have been sick and my opponent announced while I was in the hospital, there's nothing wrong with me today. I got a clean bill of health, and I'm ready for the fight. I'm a fighter, and I'm ready to go.
O'BRIEN: You do have more energy than a lot of people half your age. Let me ask you a question about your changing community. When you first came into office, really the demographics, you know, Harlem was overwhelmingly African-American. That has changed today.
Latinos, as you well know, now are the majority. There's a large number of same-sex couples, often White couples, that are moving into Harlem as well. Is that going to be a problem for you?
RANGEL: Absolutely not. As a matter of fact, I went to school in the Bronx and went to Daywood Clinton. And if you would have walked with me like I have so many times in the last few weeks and months you can't tell the difference in being in Harlem and being in the Bronx. And so it's an imaginary line that's put there. But, thank god, the service that I have done for my community, whether we talk about the earned income tax credit, the empowerment zone, if we're talking about tax provisions for low income housing, the things I've been able to do for my congressional district I have done for the country and the Bronx as well. So fortunately, they know who I am. The only thing that I wish that I could count on is to know that today is the day to vote for Congress of the United States.
O'BRIEN: You're 81 years old. When are you thinking about retiring? Let's say you win.
RANGEL: I am 82.
O'BRIEN: Sorry, sir. I didn't want to cheat you out of a year.
RANGEL: I am 82-years-old. And you say that I'm energetic for my age.
O'BRIEN: We walked around together. You're energetic for my age, actually.
RANGEL: I know. But I've been around my district. I have been to more places than my opponents. And so the only thing that age really means to me is symbolic of the experience I have as a former prosecutor, as someone that served in the state legislature. And I have been in the halls of congress. I am a legislator with success. So I don't really just follow the vote. I lead in the vote. And you said that in the announcement. So you can't get a record like this and be 25 years old.
O'BRIEN: Charlie Rangel joining us this morning, Congressman from New York. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for being with us. I guess we'll see how it turns out on primary day today.
RANGEL: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, aggressive wildfires are threatening major tourist sites in Colorado. High temperatures could fuel even more flames. We'll have a live report on the latest energy efforts there.
Plus, president Obama booed in Boston because he was wearing the wrong pair of socks. We'll explain. We'll show the tape that is straight ahead. You're watching STARTING POINT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome back to STARTING POINT. Don't go anywhere. Well, just don't go anywhere, but specifically because in just a few minutes we're going to be talking with Hollywood superstar Jada Pinkett-Smith. She'll tell us why she has her eye on Washington and how her 11-year-old daughter really raised her consciousness about an important issue.
First, though, Christine Romans has a look at the day's top stories. Hi, Christine. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there, Soledad. Already waterlogged parts of Florida could be looking at another foot of rain before tropical storm Debby is through with the sunshine state. The storm is expected to make landfall by tomorrow. Many areas are already underwater this morning. Florida Governor Rick Scott has issued a statewide emergency. We talked to him earlier on STARTING POINT.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK SCOTT, (R) FLORIDA: We're working hard to make sure that our Floridians are prepared, making sure they are very cautious when they are going outside. Be careful around the beaches. I look forward to the end of the week when we'll have our sunshine back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Right now, 30,000 people in Florida are without power.
A desperate and dangerous situation right now in Colorado where an out of control wildfire near some of the state's most visited tourist sites expanded overnight and is now threatening more homes. CNN's Jim Spellman is live in Colorado Springs with the latest. Good morning.
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Christine. A bit of good news here -- firefighters were able to get five percent containment on this fire. They are building some fire lines and so far they are holding. They want to expand that today, get more containment on this fire, but it's going to be difficult. The fire grew about 500 acres overnight. They are going to have more red flag warning conditions today. That means high temperatures, high winds, and very low humidity, making it much harder to fight the fire and making more opportunities for the fires to start.
Unfortunately, the long-term assessment of this fire, it could take three weeks to get this fire completely contained, and they say it has the potential to double in size before they are able to really get it under control. Christine?
ROMANS: Jim Spellman in Colorado Springs.
Search and rescue operations are back on this morning at the scene of a shopping mall roof collapse in Elliott Lake, Ontario. At least two people were trapped. Canadian emergency officials believe that one victim may have died but another could still be alive under the rubble.
Hundreds of FBI agents teaming up with local police officers for operation cross country. During the raids, 79 kids being held as sex slaves were rescued from 57 different cities. Officials say truck stops, casinos, and the internet are hubs for this kind of criminal activity.
George Zimmerman's attorney says his client accepts full responsibility for misleading a judge about his finances at his original bond hearing. Zimmerman's bond was revoked as a result. He's in jail pending a new bond hearing on Friday. Zimmerman is charged with murdering Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.
Commander in chief and proud white sox fan Barack Obama booed in Boston after he thanked fans for the newest addition to his team.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you for Youkilis.
(LAUGHTER)
(BOOS)
OBAMA: I didn't think I'd get any boos out of here, but --
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The Red Sox shipped Kevin Youkilis to the White Sox on Sunday after eight years with the team and two World Series titles. You do not mess with Boston and Chicago on baseball.
O'BRIEN: Just as a rule, like don't talk about sports teams. You know, just hit it right down the middle.
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: That was gutsy. He basically talked trash to an entire crowd of Red Sox fans.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: And those are such insane fans. I'm surprised they were booing him.
ROMANS: He is not in danger of losing the state.
O'BRIEN: I think that's true. Maybe that mitigated it.
In just two days the Supreme Court will rule on President Obama's signature domestic achievement, the health care law. The court could uphold or strike down the law in its entirety or it could toss certain provisions like the individual mandate, which requires a person buy health insurance or pay a penalty. Jeff Toobin is CNN's senior legal analyst and is with us this morning. Nice to see you, Jeff. We're back at it again.
JEFF TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Soledad, it's the nerd super bowl on Thursday.
(LAUGHTER)
TOOBIN: I'm telling you, we cannot wait for this decision.
CAIN: As a fellow nerd, Dan, I feel like that was enticement. O'BRIEN: You're in. Go.
CAIN: Jeff, you and I have had our back and forth. I said I thought it was unconstitutional. You said constitutional. After oral arguments and Kennedy and Justice Roberts came after the government, came after the solicitor general very, very strenuously, you said, OK, this might be struck down. But I can't help it, it doesn't escape me, they did the same thing on the Arizona bill and voted in the opposite. Do you think maybe, just maybe, the mandate will be held constitutional?
TOOBIN: Well, look, oral argument is a good but not perfect predictor of how the justices are going to vote. It is true that in the Arizona case, they gave a hard time to both sides. But it was nothing like the health care case. It was not nearly as contentious for the government side. Donald Verrilli, the solicitor general, argued both cases. And Paul Clement, the former solicitor general, argued the Arizona and health care case as well. I don't think this is a particularly good predictor one way or another. They are very different cases. They are different issues at stake. But it is true that some people were surprised by this ruling. I'd be very surprised if they uphold the law in full.
O'BRIEN: Do the justices care about the issue and the timing to an election? Are those things that they think about and sort of what kind of implications it could have, you know, in campaigning and the election?
TOOBIN: The justices are very sophisticated people. They read the newspaper. They are not sequestered jurors. They don't -- they are very much aware of the politics surrounding everything they do. I mean, look, they talk about abortion, affirmative action. These are very political issues.
But in terms of any specific case, I don't think they really sit around -- I mean, I know they don't sit around and talk about what the political fallout of their decisions will be. For example, they do think about politics when they decide about retiring from the court. There's an informal tradition at the court not to retire in an election year because they know it's too difficult to get anyone confirmed. But in terms of their votes in an individual case, I don't think it plays much part.
O'BRIEN: Jeff Toobin, we're watching it.
TOOBIN: We'll be here.
O'BRIEN: And you're stuck there, pretty much.
TOOBIN: That's true.
O'BRIEN: Jeff, thank you.
Has anybody noticed besides me how thick will Cain's accent is today?
MARGARET HOOVER, AUTHOR, "AMERICAN INDIVIDUAL": No, I haven't noticed that.
(CROSSTALK)
HOOVER: There's a lot of enthusiasm radiating.
O'BRIEN: Is that it?
HOOVER: And then the accent comes through.
O'BRIEN: I really am hearing it today, Mr. Texas.
CAIN: I'm blushing.
(LAUGHTER)
HOOVER: Still ahead this morning, Hollywood superstar Jada Pinkett-Smith is using her star power for an important cause. We'll tell you how her 11-year-old daughter, Willow, inspired her to take action against sex slavery.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: She is one-half of a mega-Hollywood power couple. Now actress Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith's wife of nearly 15 years, is using her star power to fight child trafficking and sex slavery; 200,000 minors fall victim to it every year in the United States.
I sat down with her to learn more about her crusade and also why she got involved.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: You had a chance to attend a presentation where the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was talking about trafficking, human trafficking in general.
JADA PINKETT SMITH, ACTRESS: I met with a representative in Mexico from the State Department who found out that I was strongly involved in human trafficking. And then I was invited to the event for the tip report at the State Department, which was amazing.
O'BRIEN: This came to you really through an 11-year-old -- your daughter.
SMITH: Can you believe that?
O'BRIEN: Yes, you know I can.
SMITH: I'm a little ashamed about that.
O'BRIEN: Really?
SMITH: Ok, I really do, but yes, it took Willow to -- she was watching the Kony 2012, you know and it was talking about children that were being trafficked. And then she gets on the Internet and she does her own research and realizes that there are girls in our country, her age, that are being sexually exploited. And she couldn't believe it. And of course she brings it to me and she goes, "Mom, you will not believe what is happening. I've got to lend my voice to this."
And so then I started to do my own research, and a whole world opened up to me.
O'BRIEN: You must have a thousand projects you could do.
SMITH: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Why did this one stick?
SMITH: I tell you, because the majority of victims that are sex trafficked in our country are children.
O'BRIEN: Girls usually?
SMITH: Girls, but growing number of boys, falling through the foster care system, runaways. And unfortunately, you find a lot of children that are sold by drug-addicted parents. And that upsets me.
So, you know, I hear many cases of young women who are sold by their mothers -- I'm sorry. I'm just thinking about a case that I just heard of before I left Los Angeles --
O'BRIEN: What happened there?
SMITH: -- of a 14-year-old girl who's been given to a drug dealer by her mother.
O'BRIEN: In her neighborhood?
SMITH: In her neighborhood, who was sold, you know, for sex. She runs away. And you know where she runs to? The Kentucky Fried Chicken. And she tries to hide out in a bathroom there. And he goes in and he finds her and he pulls her out. And he takes her into the street and beats her down. And unbeknownst to her, she had no idea she was pregnant and she has a miscarriage right in the middle of the street.
There's no human being on this planet that should ever have to endure treatment like that. And especially not a child and so it's very important to me, very important.
O'BRIEN: Tell me about the video, the music video you made with Selma Hayek.
SMITH: Yes, Selma Hayek directed. I wanted to do that particular video and use that song because I wanted to communicate that one woman is every woman. And the idea of being an African- American woman that is singing in Spanish is to say we are all one.
O'BRIEN: What can people who are watching at home do?
SMITH: There are lots of places. You can go to dontsellbodies.org, which is a site that I am very involved in. And it's one of my favorite organizations is "Not For Sale". When you go onto their site, you can find several different ways that you can get involved.
O'BRIEN: So for the bigger community, it's about -- it's about support. And for the young women -- and I guess young men too -- it's about supporting them and knowing that they need to speak up.
SMITH: I'm going to tell you something that's very interesting. I could have very easily been one of these girls.
O'BRIEN: You think so?
SMITH: Oh, come on.
O'BRIEN: You grew up in Baltimore.
SMITH: I grew up in Baltimore. I come from a fatherless home. I was raised by a very young mother, who also got caught up in -- in drug addiction. And I was out on the streets.
O'BRIEN: Meaning what? What do you mean?
SMITH: Meaning like that was my playground.
O'BRIEN: Nobody knew where you were?
SMITH: No. And this is why I'm telling you that it's so important that we establish communication with our children that establishes trust and understanding.
They need to know that they can feel safe with us and they don't have to go out there and find strangers that they feel like are going to take care of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: And she is so passionate about this topic. I mean, it was a fascinating conversation.
And CNN is committed to the fight against human trafficking. You can learn more about modern day slavery, include some stories of -- including some stories of survival at the CNN Freedom Project. The web page at CNN.com/freedom or go to facebook.com/CNNfreedom.
Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, a tape from Matt Sandusky, Jerry Sandusky's son has just -- his son who was adopted -- has just been released. We're going to play you chunks from that 25- minute tape coming up next.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome, everybody this is just in to CNN. A new tape has surfaced of Matt Sandusky, you'll remember he is Jerry Sandusky's adopted son. And on this tape which runs 25 minutes in lengths, he is telling police about molestation -- the alleged molestation at the hands of his father. The tape was obtained by NBC News. Here's a small chunk of it, listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
MATT SANDUSKY, JERRY SANDUSKY'S SON: With like the showering, with the hugging, with the rubbing, with just talking to me. The way he spoke. If you're pretending you're asleep. And if you were touched and or rubbed in some way, you could just act like you were rolling over in your sleep so you could change positions. I know that I really wanted to die at that point in time.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Now according to NBC News, Matt Sandusky on this tape said the abuse started when he was eight years old and continued until he was a teenager. The tape -- I said 25 minutes -- it's 29 minutes long. And it was made as Matt Sandusky was talking to the police. He was preparing to testify against his father. He chose not to take the stand, though, because he was worried about perjury charges. You know, he had said to a grand jury that he had not been molested.
So he says on the tape that he's very worried that he would be committing perjury before the grand jury by now changing his story. And the tape, I guess, on this tape, he really goes to I guess corroborate some of the testimony of victim number four. He was in the -- he was in the courtroom when that testimony was happening. And then after that he was not in the courtroom is my understanding.
He said he had to go through therapy and that therapy helped bring some of those memories back. Jerry Sandusky of course is awaiting sentencing; 45 counts of child sexual abuse. It's terrible, right?
MARGARET HOOVER, AUTHOR, "AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISM": Yes. And the prosecution, there are reports that the prosecution actually decided they didn't need Matt's testimony. I mean, they had -- they had enough testimony on their own. They have a strong enough case. It was just easier to avoid involving Matt in the case.
O'BRIEN: Jurors said the said the same thing, when I said to them, you know they were -- they were deliberating when we got reports about Matt Sandusky's testimony or you know -- potential testimony.
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Right.
O'BRIEN: So they were not privy to it because they were deliberating. And they said, you know, when we heard it, we knew that we had made the right decision. That it wouldn't -- you know that they felt so confident in the jurors that I talked to. They felt so confident in what the other victims had said that it would have just been, you know, more in a long string of what they felt they were confident really -- ALICIA MENENDEZ, HOST, HUFFPOST LIVE: And experts say it takes a long time for men to come forward with this type of thing. A, because they are worried that there is a reason they have been preyed upon, that there is something that their abuser saw in them, that perhaps they are gay and don't know.
And so there's all of this fear and shame that often takes a very long time and often takes a string of other victims coming out so they finally feel comfortable coming forward.
O'BRIEN: Right. We've got to do "End Point" is up next. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Speed round for "End Point" this morning. Alicia you're going to start for me.
MENENDEZ: If Carlos Gutierrez won't tell us what Mitt Romney's immigration position is, I will. He says that he would veto the Dream Act. He says that immigrants should self deport. He calls Arizona a model for the nation boom, there you go. Let's hold him to it.
O'BRIEN: Fifteen seconds are left.
HOOVER: Wow. I'm going to go out later. As the daughter of a flight attendant for 37 years, I found Bill's book about airline security fascinating. And I honestly think in the bottom line was for everybody who's in an airport watching right now, don't get mad at the ticket agent. Just don't get mad at the ticket agent, it's not their fault. They are doing the best they can to load up that airplane and keep you on time.
O'BRIEN: Amen to that. Yes Will Cain? Wrap this for us.
CAIN: It's still an interesting fact. We'll see what lessons we can draw from it. After the Arizona ruling we now know with almost certainty that Chief Justice John Roberts will write the decision on the health care mandate. I don't know what that tells us, which way they'll rule. But we know he'll be the one writing it.
O'BRIEN: We'll be watching it. All right. Thanks guys. Appreciate it.
Tonight, I'm going to fill in again for Anderson on "AC 360." You can catch me there at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Coming up tomorrow on "STARTING POINT," we're going to talk to Mitch Winehouse, he's of course, father of the late singer Amy Winehouse.
Also legendary basketball star, Magic Johnson will join us. And New Orleans Saints quarterback and Super Bowl champ Drew Brees is with us as well.
"CNN Newsroom" with Carol Costello begins right now.
