Transcripts For CNN Starting Point 20120424

master manipulator, saying this. if the affair went public, it would have destroyed any chance to become the president, and he knew it and he made a choice to break the law. we're joined by melanie sloan, executive director for citizens of responsibility and ethics in washington. nice to see you, melanie. thanks for talking with us. >> nice to be here. >> walk me through what happened. andrew young will be back on the stand as i mentioned again today. yesterday was his first time on the stand. how did that go? >> i think it went fine for him. he's had an easy time so far. he's the prosecution's main witness, and he's probably going to be on the stand for a couple days walking the jury through his relationship with john edwards from beginning to end. >> they tried to hammer away at his credibility, i thought, a lot yesterday while he was on the stand. what did you think about that? >> well, clearly he has a lot of credibility problems. he's got an immunity agreement with the prosecution. that's why he's testifying to prevent himself from being charged with anything. he's already written a book that goes through his relationship with john edwards. he lied himself to say that he was the father of rielle hunter's baby. so there are a lot of problems with andrew young. he's not a perfect witness by any stretch of the imagination. so it's clear that abby lull, the defense lawyer, will be attacking him throughout. and that's going to be the defense main strategy. they're going to have to undermine andrew young's credibility. and he starts as a difficult witness. >> yeah, i thought the whole thing looks like it's going to come down to sort of liar, liar, pants on fire for everybody. i mean, andrew young, certainly john edwards. there's not a lot of credibility between the two of them. there was also a conversation about whether or not elizabeth edwards knew what was going on. how could that play a role in this case? >> that could play quite a serious role in this case because john edwards' main defense is that he was hiding the affair from his wife, not just from the american people. it wasn't a campaign tactic, it was about keeping the affair from his wife which people can rarely understand because people who have affairs are trying to hide them from their family. but if it turns out she did know about the affair much earlier than currently believed, that could make it more difficult for edwards to say that he wasn't trying to hide it from the american people. it wasn't a campaign tactic. that's what this case really boils down to. were these expenditures made to support rielle hunter, were those campaign yxs or gifts from friends to help hide the affair from elizabeth? >> melanie, how do they do that? that seems like an impossible thing to parse, this 900 plus thousand dollars donated to rielle hunter. how do you parse whether or not that was done to avoid hue hi humiliation or continue his campaign? >> that's why it's going to be such a tough case for the prosecution. remember, this is an unprecedented case. there has never before been a case on facts remotely like this where gifts to third parties are considered campaign contributions. so i think the prosecution has an uphill battle, and i think they're really relying on the fact that the jury will hate john edwards for his despicable conduct. >> listen, richard lowrie of "the national review" had this article which i think was in the "post" this morning. if, in fact, that money, that $900,000 plus was considered to be a campaign expense, then wouldn't it have to be listed as, you know, a line tumult matlmat ultimately, love child, line item number 18. and now the fax paper, line number 17. doesn't he have a point there? >> he does have a point. it is, in fact, ridiculous because not only were the gifts from fred barron and buddy mellon who are the contributors at issue, but if mr. edwards had supported rielle hunter himself, if he had put out money to support her, that, too, would have to be listed as a campaign contribution. and that's ridiculous. also, because in current campaign finance law, candidates are prohibited from using campaign funds for personal use. so you're not allowed to use the money for, say, gym membership or a haircut. but this is saying that you should, in fact, call it a campaign contribution if you're supporting your mistress. this could cause all sorts of politicians problems, really. >> melanie, i have two questions. one, considering that we're hearing terms like witch hunt bandied about all over the place, considering that andrew young's credibility is not exactly stellar, are you beginning to witness a backlash to this backlash against john edwards? and also, couldn't you make the argument since damage control is an expense that all campaigns have to go through, any expenses he sent towards his mistress and child were legitimate campaign expenses? >> missed damage control is what he's saying. >> yes. >> well, certainly i don't believe that expenditures made to support somebody's mistress could possibly be campaign contributions. and i don't think there are any campaign finance lawyers out there who actually do think these are legitimate campaign expenses. i think this is a troubling case for most people. the thing is, everybody also hates john edwards. it's really hard to behave more despicably than cheating on your cancer-stricken wife and lying on television about a baby and saying it's not yours and saying it's a campaign aide. i think the prosecution has really relied all along on how horrible john edwards behaved. in the united states, we prosecute conduct, not character. >> people said this case will go between two and six weeks. melanie sloan this week, nice to see you. other headlines, christine's got those for us. >> thank you. it is primary day here on the east coast. polls are now open in five states, connecticut, new york, delaware, pennsylvania and rhode island. a total of 204 delegates at stake. presumptive nominee mitt romney is campaigning in pennsylvania this morning. already showing signs of shifting toward the middle by coming out in favor of extending low interest rates on student loans. that plan is backed by president obama and opposed by many republicans. if things don't go well tonight, newt gingrich may bow out of the gop race. the former speaker tells nbc news he'll have to reassess his campaign if he doesn't win the delaware primary. but gingrich also warned romney not to become complacent, insisting his nomination is not inevitable. developing news this morning in the case of the 6-year-old girl who disappeared seemingly without a trace from her bedroom in tucson, arizona. the fbi has now taken over the investigation -- taken over the home, rather, 6-year-old isabel mercedes celis was tucked into bed by her parents on friday night. when her father went to wake her up saturday morning, he says she wasn't there. investigators asked the family to leave their home after specially trained fbi-trained dogs hit on some items around the house. no word on what exactly those items are. police say a screen that was removed from a window may be suspicious. the son of media mogul rupert murdoch testifying this morning at another inquiry into the british phone-hacking scandal. james murdoch insists he had little knowledge about the scale of the hacking at the "news of the world" tabloid. >> i wasn't in the business of deciding, you know, what to put in the newspapers. so it was really there, and then i was given assurances by them that sometimes proved to be wrong that i'm sure we'll go into with respect to -- with respect to the risks that they were taking. >> rupert murdoch, his father, set to testify tomorrow. mindsing your business this morning, u.s. stock futures are up, bouncing back from steep losses yesterday, but those lingering concerns about europe's economy could make for a choppy session. after the closing bell this afternoon, apple reports its first quarter profits. they're expected to top $9.2 billion in just three little months. which is about exactly what the oil giant exxon mobil expects to earn. most of those profits likely from iphone sales. facebook hits 900 million users worldwide. a little context. 900 million users. think of it, that's larger than the populations of u.s., indonesia, brazil and japan combined. the company says its profits fell a little in the first quarter mostly for the money it's spending to gear up for its initial offering. it was a hot pursuit that literally went to the dogs. this one starts with the girlfriend of a man who allegedly robbed a credit union in los angeles, hopping into a stolen minivan. cops on their tail. she's dangling on the side of the van as he speeds away. she gave up quickly in the end, but the driver refused to get out of the van until a police dog appropriately named rambo, by the way, went in after him, dragged him down by his derriere shall we say. all this as a cloud of cash comes out of the driver's side door. so man's best friend was police officer's best friend in that particular pursuit. >> what? i didn't do it. what? there's cash coming out of the van. what? what? i'm a lawyer. >> i found this. >> christine, thank you. still ahead this morning on "starting point," jennifer hudson was holding back tears as she took the stand against the man who's accused of killing her mother, brother and her nephew. some of that devastating testimony is straight ahead. plus, street racers with law on their side. state troopers involved in a death race on the highway with a super bowl champ? we've got details in today's "get real." melanie sloan's playlist, it's the sugar hill gang. who knew? 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[ male announcer ] jetta tdi clean diesel. the turbo that gets 42 miles per gallon. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ that police chief who handed in his resignation over the trayvon martin shooting is staying on the job this morning. and that is because the city commission refused to accept bill lee's resignation. it's the same commission that voted no confidence in how lee handled the shooting investigation the first time around. listen. >> it is not the sanford residents who have created this firestorm. it is not the sanford residents. it is not art woodruff. it is not francis oliver. it is not all of the other people who live and work here that created this. it was brought in from the outside. >> norton bonaparte is the sanford city manager. he joins us this morning. nice to see you, sir. thanks for being with us. we appreciate it. >> good morning. >> let's walk through what happened. he had offered to resign. you guys had worked out some kind of a deal, and then the city commission who had recently voted no confidence in that exact same police chief then voted 3-2 that he stay. walk me through how that happened. >> basically, what the city commission said is that they want to have more information. in particular, they want to have the results of an independent investigation that would determine what actually took place that night and how the sanford police department acted. did they do things that they shouldn't have done, or did they not do things that they should have done? >> did the two of you work out a deal before you brought it to the city commission, and what were the details of that deal? >> yes. chief lee and i had had several conversations and determined that with the vote of no confidence, it would be very challenging for him to continue as the police chief of the city of sanford. so we worked out a severance agreement. we took it to the city commission, discussed it with them, and last night they decided that they would not accept it. >> the mayor was the deciding vote in all this. and his name is mayor triplette. here's what he had to say. >> i'm not ready to have him come back and run the police department. i'm not. i don't know if i'm ready for this either. and that's the question that i'm going through right now. >> you know, it was interesting listening to these conversations in that city commission meeting. people seemed very tortured and torn about what to do. can you describe for me what the city of sanford is like right now? >> well, it's a little cold today. it's unusual for florida. in terms of the city commission meeting, it was also cold. you had a lot of people at the meeting. you had a lot of police supporters and you have those who say that chief lee should not come back. that's why tensions got pretty hot last night. >> and where do you stand on all this? when we spoke originally about this the first time around and i asked you, are you in a position, if you wanted to, you could fire the chief of police. and i believe you said yes, that is within your powers. where do you stand on what he should do? >> what i have indicated in the past and continue to say is that there should be an independent review of chief lee's actions. however, what has changed is that i'm now getting the sense that with the council's vote of no confidence, it will be challenging for him to come back. and while i asked for a review, it seems as though it will be some time before i can get that information, maybe as much as three months or more. and rather than staying in this limbo, it would be better for us to have a separation. chief lee and i talked and came to an agreement it would be best if he separate from the sanford police department. >> so is a review under way right now, in fact, or are they postponing that review? >> no, we have asked for a review. we've asked the united states department of justice and particularly their division that deals with criminal misconduct in police departments. that, however, will take time. the other consideration is the fact that now it is going forward as a criminal matter, i think there's going to be a lot of evidence that needs to be looked at that probably will not be available to the public because this is an ongoing criminal matter which perhaps could even go to a legal case. >> before i let you go, there was a clip where we heard from one of the commissioners talking really essentially saying that outside agitators are the ones who have really bit at the heart of this conflict. do you agree with that? do you think that a lot of the problems that sanford, florida's, having right now is because people from the outside coming in, ordo you think that these are issues that are, in fact, intrinsic to the city? >> i think it's both. i think one of the things that made this such a key point is that people in sanford as well as from around the country felt that there was an example where black life was not being truly valued. and the fact that mr. zimmerman could kill mr. martin and not going to jail struck a nerve. it has struck a nerve in sanford and struck a nerve throughout the united states. >> norton bonaparte is sanford's city manager. nice to see you. thanks for your time. we appreciate it. still ahead on "starting point," our "get real." police in trouble for allegedly clearing the way for porsches and lamborghinis to tear down the highway at speeds of 100 miles an hour, maybe even more. details on that next. and one of the greatest football players of all time, nfl great dan moo reas marino's join us live. and john's playlist, " yeah yeah yeah." you're watching "starting point." your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. ♪ had to cross the state line ♪ texas was our big time you want to tell them what you asked me during the break? >> yeah. if this is what you really listen to. >> do i really listen to this? yes, absolutely. >> the derailers, "all the rage in paris." you never know. it's on will cain's playlist. i have things that i listen to only in the gym or when i'm traveling. >> i thought you were asking me if i was tv acting. >> but i like your paranoia. so instead of pulling over reckless drivers, apparently these state troopers were clearing the way for them. take a look. >> you da the man! >> you the man! that's what people recording this are screaming to the state troopers who are escorting some of the nicest cars you'll ever see. take a look at that. two new jersey state troopers have been suspended now without pay. they're accused of doing this. escorting a pack of porsches and lamborghinis and ferraris. the speeds here, it's obviously hard to tell on this tape, but going about 100 miles an hour or so, 110, or 120 if you believe these guys as they're driving along trying to keep up. it was a death race, they call it had, down the garden state parkway to atlantic city. it happened last month. this is the youtube video of the same race back in 2010. witnesses said the two police cruisers were leading the cars as they were weaving in and out of traffic forcing some vehicles off the road according to one statement. 49ers' running back bran john jacobs who won his second super bowl with the giants last year was reportedly behind the wheel of one of those sports cars. last season he bragged about a fast car being delivered to his home after giants booed him. they interviewed chris christie, the governor. dumb, dumb things. >> shocking in the story to me is they admit jacobs asked for a police escort to go to atlantic city. i didn't know that police escorts were so readily available to those who would ask. maybe you have to be a certain kind of person who gets that granted to you. >> i'm not sure, in new jersey. >> it's shocking that rich, privileged people have special rights in american society. i'm appalled. >> it's available for everybody who asks. >> i'm afraid to do 70 on the turnpike, and these guys get to do 120. >> you don't ask, they can't say no. >> exactly. that's true. i have to remember that. >> it does bring up an important point we must remember, that the new york giants are really a jersey team. people don't know that outside of here. >> it's good to know the most important thing to take away. still ahead, new details about al qaeda's hit list. you won't believe their plans to target railroads, maybe even a walmart. plus, first paying for bounties, then allegedly cheating for an edge. did the new orleans saints spy on opposing teams? we'll be joined by hall of famer dan marino who weighs in on that, the nfl draft and what it's like to be 5-0, he's the big 50. nice to see you, sir. great to have you. come and have a seat with us. this is off his playlist, hootie & the blowfish, "only want to be with you." 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[ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. welcome back, everybody. let's start with headlines. christine has a look at those for us. good morning. >> good morning again, soledad. new details emerging about an al qaeda plot. an al qaeda operative testified in a federal terror trial in brooklyn about a plan to attack the long island railroad train with a suicide bomb as it entered a tunnel. brian denis also testified that the group was planning to target various walmarts. he's a native of long island who joined the army and then later al qaeda. he's testifying at the trial of a squeenz college grad accused of conspiring in a plot to bomb new york city subways. it looks like another dead end in the long and frustrating search to find etan patz. the fbi has told the family of patz that an extensive search of a basement near their home in lower manhattan has come up kblt. investigators are looking for clues in the disappearance of this 6-year-old boy. a disappearance 33 years ago. an fbi source tells cnn that no obvious human remains have been found. jennifer hudson broke down in tears as she testified against the man accused of killing her family. she said she did not want her sister to marry william balfour, the now estranged husband of hudson's sister, julia. he's accused of shooting hudson's mother, brother and little nephew. julia also testified yesterday balfour threatened to kill the family. he has pleaded not guilty. nfl hall of famer deion sanders and his wife taking their public battle up a notch. pilar was arrested for allegedly attacking her husband last night. dion was tweeting about the assault. he wrote, "pray for me and my kids now! they just witnessed their mother and a friend jump me in my room. she's going to jail and i'm pressing charges!" he even posted pictures of he and his kids filling out police reports. the number of military personnel implicated is now 12 in the secret service scandal. that's in addition to 12 secret service agents for having alleged misconduct. we're getting a look at the colombian woman who brought the case to light. she's identified as 24-year-old dania suarez. she was in a dispute over how much money she was going to get paid. new revelations on the future of medicare and social security research shows funding is drying up. full medicare funding is only projected to last now through 2024. after that, patients could receive only partial funding. that's unless congress make some changes. social security is only expected to last now until 2033, three years earlier than previously projected. experts blame the rising health costs and an aging population. and this is a dangerous, troubling new trend. teens getting drunk from hand sanitizer and landing in the emergency room. six teens in los angeles have been treated for alcohol poisoning in the last few months from drinking hand sanitizer. it's cheap, it's easy to get. it makes 120-proof liquid, equivalent to a shot of gin or whiskey. experts telling parents to buy foam rather than gel sanitizer because it's harder to extract the alcohol. i think that switching to foam is the least parents need to be doing if they find out theirdri. >> that's a disturbing, sick story. thank you for the update. on the heels of the saints' bounty scandal, they're facing another controversy. espn is reporting saints' general manager mickey loomis allegedly eavesdropped on opposing teams with a secret device in a superdome suite. "this report is 1,000% false, completely inaccurate, we asked espn to provide us evidence to support their allegations and they refused." dan marino joins us. nice to see you. >> good to see you guys early this morning. >> in addition to the bounty scandal that hit the saints, now you have this new scandal, at least espn at this point is reporting. >> right. >> and have not yet come up with any exact proof yet. >> first of all, you'd hate to see that if that were the case. we don't know if that's true yet or not. with the bounty scandal and all that's gone on, they've hit some hard times. more things come out sometimes. i would hate to think that mickey loomis would do something like that or be part of it. i personally don't think he would. as far as the bounty scandal is concerned, this thing happened. it's disturbing from the standpoint of, you know, it's a coach in a locker room trying to tell players to harm other players. and really the players, a common bond. we all only have so long to play, you know. you hate to see this kind of thing going on in the league. >> how do you think it impacts the city, impacts the team, impacts the fans? >> first of all, they're a team that can go to the super bowl for sure. they have that kind of talent with drew brees, the quarterback. what they've done over the past few years, they won a super bowl. it's going to hurt them a lot, not having sean payton. that communication between him and the quarterback, i mean, they've had that for three or four years. they kind of think the same, they're working the same. that's not going to be there for them. so it's going to be tough on them to do what they have been doing the last few years as far as winning games and getting to the playoffs and maybe the super bowl. >> dan, the reaction from a lot of former players on the bounty scandal was, you're being a little naive public. a lot of players were not surprised. but mickey loomis, it reminds me of the spygate scandal. when you see coaches pushing it, does it blow you out of the water? >> i think teams have done it but not to the extent, had this happened to the patriots and belichick, they were actually filming it and taking it back. i've had guys on the sidelines -- other quarterbacks -- looking at, you know, another defensive coordinator giving signals, trying to maybe get a hint or stealing some signals just by visually looking at it, not taping signals. i mean, it's just -- i don't think that in general, you know, teams are out there. they cheat or get an advantage or hurt another player. you know, as far as i was concerned, i used to give players incentives for touchdowns. throw a touchdown over 40 yards, maybe we'd get a couple hundred bucks here or there. it was always fun. >> positive reinforcement. >> yeah, yeah. >> can we play a little word association? >> okay. >> ready? okay. tim tebow and the new york jets. >> mm-hmm. what? what is the comment on that? you know what? i think they're going to use him in different ways. i'm not sure that he's going to be the type of player to be able to step right in and take over for mark sanchez, but 15, 20 plays a game, you know, he could help. they may use him in some special teams roles and some other roles. >> peyton manning, the broncos. >> it's going to be weird for peyton because he's played and he's been a colt and he's had so much success there. >> the building in indianapolis has his name on it. >> yeah, he's a competitor. i want to see the best for peyton because he's a friend and just one of the great quarterbacks of all time. for him to get another chance and maybe get a chance to go to a super bowl, i think that's why. he went to denver. >> you never had to do that, right? you wore that dolphins uniform till the very end. >> i could have probably, you know, played another year. that would have been 18 years for me and decided not to. you know, playing 17 years one place was very unique. elway did it. peyton's not going to get a chance for that now that he's going to the broncos. it was great for me. >> what was that other uniform we might have seen you in? you said you had a chance. >> minnesota or pittsburgh. >> do you think those days are gone? do you think we'll ever see someone having their entire career with one team? >> i think maybe tom brady. it's going to be that kind of player. it has to be -- and the sad part, it would have been for peyton manning if he didn't hurt his neck. >> let me ask you a question about turning 50. you just turned 50. and you're the life ambassador for aarp. >> and it's 50 is only a number, right? it's only a number. it's really about your attitude. >> it's the new 30? >> yeah. it's about an attitude. and doing some work with them. >> what are you doing for them? >> on the website, i'm going to have videos and tools where you can look for health and wellness for men and things you can do in your community. it's going to be something we're going to continue to make contributions on the web site. >> how's your knee? when i was in college, you know, people used to talk about, i tore up my knee. they used to show me pictures of dan marino and say i'm getting the same brace as dan marino. okay. >> yeah. my left knee is actually -- my legs are pretty good, but, you know, i've had a lot of surgeries. and we talked before we went on that i just tore a cartilage in my knee a couple weeks ago. >> your left? >> my right knee. that's my good knee. that's my good knee. i think this story, you asked about aarp, new challenges in life. you're at that age. age is only a number. and i'm going to help them with men's fitness and health on their website. >> did you see that flagrant foul by ron artest? what's his new name? meta worldpeace? >> i did not see that. >> do we have that? you guys want to play that? right there. >> artest drives and finishes. and the laker crowd fired up. >> you need a close-up. >> i think they're going to play the close-up in a second. he's, like, what? >> an elbow to the neck. >> right. >> here we go. >> it looked like -- >> does the dunk, celebrating. >> that hurt. that hurt. >> was that an accident? >> you know what? i think he -- no. try and explain that one. that's not good. whatever it is, that's not good. >> can you blame that on testosterone? he felt the guy's body right next to him. he knew there was a person there. >> basketball players, that's their thing to rebound. maybe that's it. i don't know. >> he's not buying it at all. >> that would upset me for sure. >> dan marino, it's nice to have you. >> thanks. appreciate it. >> aarp ambassador. >> enjoyed it. still ahead on "starting point," a tale of two sides. the new study says we all have a best side. we'll tell you which is your best side, left or right, coming up. and misfire. a company accidentally tells every single employee it has in the entire world "you're fired," but they were not. christine's playlist, johnny cash, "a boy named sue." you're watching "starting point." we're back in a moment. 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[ female announcer ] get the travelocity guarantee anywhere when you book with our new app. you'll never roam alone. ♪ can't read my ♪ can't read my that's lady gaga, "poker face." if you're getting ready to pose for a photo, you do have a better side, and it is the same side apparently for every single person. new research says your left side is the best side. they rated the more pleasant side than the right side. researchers say the right side of the brain controls how emotions are relayed on the left. and emotion is more pleasing to the eye. >> hmm. >> huh. >> no wonder i'm sitting here where you always shoot my right side. >> you can't fix that, can you? >> mariah carey has interns killed for that. >> do you believe it? when i used to work in the music industry at mtv, we would notice there were certain artists who would only let them be shot in videos on their left or right side. and it became a real industrywide gag. mariah is notorious for only allowing her right side. >> i've had many a producer redo shoots because the shoot was set up the wrong way. so this is john. left side. >> oh, dear. >> handsome. right side. snarling. >> i have a scar on my left side. >> who else do you have? will cain? >> live. >> there's will cain head on. will cain. the beard is just distracting altogether. >> will looks good from either angle. >> i think the commander's going to nail it from both sides. >> do this live. turn to the left, sir. handsome. turn to the right, sir. handsome. he's equally handsome. >> running for office already. >> as a military commander, when you have those photo taken? >> we never like to turn left or turn right. you're not in a good position. >> my parole officer said the same thing to me. >> i'm just going to keep doing the show this way. still ahead on "starting point," she says the school isn't doing enough to keep her daughter safe from bullies. now she wants the law to step in. the mother suing to get a restraining order. plus, some states that could be in play come november. the head of the dnc will join us to tell us what weak numbers or a low turnout could men for mitt romney. if you're headed to work, don't miss the rest of the show. check out our live blog at cnn.com/startingpoint. we're back in just a moment. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic. demand media expands on the big board. [ man announcing ] what we created here. what we achieved here. what we learned here. and what we pioneered here. all goes here. the one. the accord. smarter thinking from honda. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. welcome back to "start point." let's get right to headlines with christine. good morning. >> good morning. news on that prostitution involving the secret service and the pentagon. the number of military personnel implicated is now 12, soledad. that's in addition to 12 secret service agents under investigation for alleged misconduct in cartagena, colombia. this, of course, in advance of the president's trip earlier this month. we're also getting a first look at the colombian woman who brought this entire incident to light after a dispute over how much money she was getting paid. she's identified as 24-year-old dania suarez. and planned parenthood this morning worried anti-abortion activists are trying to set them up. a spokesman says there's been a series of suspicious incidents at planned parenthood clinics in at least 11 states with two dozen or more hoax visits reported over the past several weeks. those hoax visits involved women who are claiming to be pregnant, asking a particular pattern of provocative questions. that's raising concerns the visits are being recorded as part of an organized sting campaign, soledad. >> all right. thank you, christine. it is election day for five states today. polls are now open in connecticut, new york, delaware, pennsylvania and rhode island. a total of 204 delegates are at stake. joining us this morning, congresswoman debbie wasserma wassermann-schultz. good to have you with us. >> thanks. >> let's take a look at a couple polls. let's start with arizona. first, you can see there, it has romney ahead, 42% to 40%. then if you look at the new hampshire poll coming to us from wmur. it has obama ahead 51% to 42% for governor romney. give me your assessment of these polls. >> well, with the caveat that it's april and you can't put too much stock in polls in either direction, i mean, just look at arizona. in arizona, it is a two-point race. it shows you that number one, arizona is beginning to get very close to being in play, if not already in play. and that's particularly because mitt romney is -- has the most extreme position on immigration of any presidential candidate in history. there is a backlash that's starting to show in arizona, and we're organizing there, making sure that we reach out to the latino community, to the grass roots, to women, to the middle class and working families who understand that president obama's been fighting for them and will make sure that there is a reasonable legal path to status in the united states, if you're an undocumented immigrant and treat immigrants to this country fairly. >> the mur poll, the one out of new hampshire. >> new hampshire is a typical battleground state. we expect it to be close in all the battleground and that poll shows that. >> let's talk about what john boehner said yesterday. he was talking about the chances for losing -- here's what he said. excuse me. >> i say there's a two in three chance that we win control of the house again but there's a one in three chance that we could lose. i'm being frank. >> i'm being frank. one in three chance. would you put their numbers at the same place where he's putting his numbers? >> i think it's entirely reasonable for the speaker to expect that they could lose the house because they very well could. we're working hard to make sure that happens because john boehner has allowed the tea party to take over his conference. the republicans have fully embraced extremism and brought in two years almost no jobs legislation to this floor and not worked with the president on any legislation to help make sure that we can move the economy forward because their number one goal is political and that's to defeat barack obama. >> he didn't say he expected to lose the house. he recognized it as a possibility. a one in three possibility. after 2010 now when you guys got absolutely hammered you have 25 seats up, can you give us a number? what's your number? what are the odds that we do take the house? >> i'm not a oddsmaker. i'm a member of congress and chair of the dnc. my focus is making sure that we continue to stand up the most significant grassroots presidential campaign in history and backing up my colleagues and make sure we make john boehner's prediction come true that odds are in our favor. >> he said they have a two-thirds chance to keep it? >> how rare is it for a speaker to suggest -- i can sttell you that nancy pelosi would never suggest the possibility that we would lose. it's an indicator. the speaker is no dummy. he's sending a strong signal to his donors that we're $10 million behind in fund-raising in spite of the fact that we have the largest majority in decades. there's no enthusiasm for their campaigns or their agenda and they are clear on track to likely lose the majority after historic victory in 2010. >> so over 50%. >> we're working hard and we're getting ready to win. >> congresswoman, one of the big complaints against the democratic party in recent years has been they allowed the republican party to set the tone in the whole debate and set the narrative and call affordable care act obama care, et cetera, et cetera, what is the president and re-election campaign going to do to try to reframe the entire narrative and convince independents that this guy has been on their side all along? >> we're focused on making sure that american voters understand that president obama's number one priority is rebuilding the middle class and given everyone a share for the to be successful and ensuring with he have fairness when we approach how to reform the tax code and focus on deficit reduction and republicans are obsessed in making sure that the millionaires and billionaires of this country can do even better and take us back to the failed policies of the past. >> in fairness, the american people did vote for increase on taxes on wealthy in 2008. is there any effort to call this bush's tax increase since they were designed to expire in 2010? >> the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts were bush tax cuts. president obama said after that compromise we seecreached, he w veto them. we need to focus on a balanced approach to deficit reduction. extending those tax cuts adds $700 billion to the deficit. the republicans who supposedly support deficit reduction unfortunately through a cuts only approach, which would hurt an overwhelming number of people, they want to extend them. >> that's a freedom deficit. >> i want to throw in what former governor and senator, judd gregg had to say. he suggesting that everyone should just go home until the election, which i thought was an interesting proposal. if washington was vacated, it would be a more honest expression of the reality of status of governance for the next six months. it might help the american people believe that there is some integrity to the situation. interesting suggestion. >> that's interesting quote you put up recognizing the amount of work that you guys have to do over the next six months. you have what is equivalent of all of the bush tax cuts expiring, budget resolution, you have to come together on those forced cuts. i think the total package is over $4 trillion. larger than any stimulus passed and any tax ever passed. why aren't you working on it yet? why are you waiting until after the november election to address these issues? i'm not in congress. >> speaker boehner controls the congress. >> i'm not in congress. i'm asking you. you are a member of congress. >> i'm a member of congress in the minority unfortunately which i plan to help change in november but the people who control the agenda right now in the house of representatives are the republicans. ask them why they haven't brought a single jobs bill to the floor since they took over the majority. ask them why they are getting ready to allow the student loan interest rates to double. >> so put out a package to extend bush tax cuts you would be on board with that? >> i would be opposed to that. >> you would be obstructing that. >> bush tax cuts add $700 billion to the deficit. why extend them? we need to give tax breaks to the middle class and 18 difrp tax breaks he's given to small businesses -- >> it's clear all of the things coming up before the end of the year you're not interested in working on those right now. >> they expire after the election. that's when we'll have an opportunity to address them again. >> the last two months of the year. >> look, the republicans -- i certainly hope -- don't send is the president an extension of the bush tax cuts because again it adds $700 billion to the deficit. that certainly is not the approach we should be taking if we want to reduce the deficit and continue to move our economy forward. we need to make sure we're not pulling revenue out of the economy. we have to put more revenue into it. >> ted nugent was going back and forth and visited by the secret service and had this to say about you, which i'm sure you heard. listen to it. >> wasserman schultz is such a brain dead soulless, heartless idiot that i could not be more proud that the soulless, heartless idiot tries to find fault with ted nugent. she encourages me to stand stronger. >> i'm sure you can answer this in five minutes. i need a quick response from you. what do you think of this? what did you think when you heard it? >> it harkens back to the parable i learned in kindergarten. stick and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me. >> we'll leave it there. nice to see you. appreciate it. a mother goes to court to fight a 9-year-old bully. she says the school is not protecting her daughter and someone has to. she'll join us live coming up. a new movie about liz taylor and the actress playing her, you may not believe your eyes. we leave you with debbie wasserman schultz's playlist. "good life." [ male announcer ] this was how my day began. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ so, where to next? ah, welcome to hotels.com. i get it...guys weekend. yeah! if you're looking for a place to get together, you came to the right place. because here at hotels.com, we're only about hotels. yeah! yeah! noooo. yeah! finding you the perfect place is all we do. welcome to hotels.com welcome, everyone. a mom's desperate fight for battle a bully and why she asked for a restraining order against a fourth grader that she says put her daughter in the hospital. 20 years after the riots no up with will forget rodney king. he's written a new book and will join us to talk about that. is timothy geithner plotting his exit strategy? reports that he could be going back to school. a company announced today they are heading to space to mine asteroids and it could mean some seriously big bucks. it's tuesday, april 24th. "starting point" begins right now. >> that's off the commander's list. tom petty and the heartbreakers "learning to fly." besides the commander, we're also joined by will cain with us this morning from blaze.com and jon fugelsang, a political comedian. let's get right to headlines. chr christine romans has a look at those. >> polls are now open in connecticut, new york, delaware, pennsylvania, rhode island, with 204 total delegates at stake. mitt romney has been campaigning in pennsylvania, a state he hopes to carry in november. even if romney wins every primary delegate tonight, he won't have enough to formally clinch the nomination. that's likely to happen next month. we may be witnessing the final hours of newt gingrich's campaign. the former speaker tells nbc news he'll have to reassess his campaign if he doesn't win the delaware primary today. he's also warning mitt romney not to become complacent saying the nomination is not inevitable. andrew young, the government's star witness and john edwards former aide will be back on the stand again. young testified yesterday for two hours telling the court he had suspicions his boss was having an affair with rielle hunter back in 2006. edwards is accused of spending nearly $1 million in illegal campaign contributions to cover up that affair and to cover up the daughter he fathered with hunter. a report out this morning says treasury secretary timothy geithner is working on an exit strategy. geithner's father in law was overherd ta overheard talking in a bar in new york city that the choice was made to geithner could take over as president of dartmouth college but he doesn't want the job now and looking for something else or so says the gossip pages of the post. a spokesman for the treasury told the new york post that it's interesting theory but has disadvantage of being made up. we know that timothy geithner is likely to depart after the election. baltimore police make a second arrest in a brutal beating that became a viral video. they are looking for several suspects seen in the cell phone video. investigators say 20-year-old davis was seen beating him with her high heel. she's charged with armed robbery, the weapon being the shoe. new york stock futures up this morning bouncing back from steep losses yesterday. still have some lingering concerns about europe's economy. that hasn't gone away. that could make for a choppy session today. and after the closing bell, apple reports its first quarter profits. they are expected to top $9.2 billion in just three months. that's about as much as oil giant exxon mobile expects to earn. profits likely from iphone sales. where is everyone going? a company in the u.k. accidentally fired its entire staff last friday. reuters says 1,300 worldwide employees of aviva investors logon their computers and check e-mails and they saw shocking news. the e-mail ordered them to hand over company property and security passes before leaving the building. it went out to people in 16 countries including the u.s. but it was only meant for one employee who was leaving the firm. hr realized the mistake 25 minutes later and sent out another e-mail unfiring everyone. everyone except for the one person who was actually supposed to be fired and maybe the hr person who accidentally sent the e-mail. actress lindsay lohan ready to bounce back about to take on the role of a hollywood icon in a lifetime tv movie. lohan will star as elizabeth taylor in the film "liz and dick" based on taylor's long and winding love affair with richard burt burton. >> i'm surprised they actually look a lot alike. >> especially when she has dark hair. as a blonde not so much but with dark hair she does. >> facial structure looks the same. thank you. a bully's day in court is set for may 2nd and that alleged bully is a 9 year old. a kentucky mother is seeking a 500-foot restraining order against her daughter's fourth grade classmate saying one particular boy has bullied her daughter since last year. at one point sending the little girl to the hospital after he kicked her. she says the school didn't do enough to stop the situation and refused requests to transfer her daughter out. the school tells us this. we received no specific allegations of continued bullying until late last week. the new allegations will be investigated and appropriate action will be taken. that mom is also seeking compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering, mental anguish and fear of continued bullying. joining us this morning, joy fuhrman, that's the mom along with her attorney. thank you for talking with us. we appreciate it. joy, start with me. what was happening to your daughter. she's in fourth grade, right? >> yes, ma'am. >> tell me about what was happening. what is going on? >> she was being bullied by a boy in her class and several other students that were followers of his. >> when you say bully, what do you mean? give me specifics of what was happening to your daughter? >> name calling, pushing, shoving, knocking her head into a projector and then the karate kick in her chest and threatening now with scissors. >> how long did that kind of action go on for? >> it's been going on for two years now. >> so from third grade now into fourth grade. >> yes, ma'am. >> so you are sitting next to your attorney. why did you feel the need to bring an attorney into this? >> i contacted the school and tried to go through the school to handle these measures. nothing was being done. my daughter was still being bullied. i called mr. gordon. >> before i get to you, mr. gordon, last question for this moment for joy which is when you talked to the school what did they tell you? they ignored you or did they give you some kind of answer? >> they would tell me they were going to try to transfer her out of that classroom but it took so long that the bullying still continued after numerous complaints. >> mr. gordon, how many bullies cases have you taken on in your career as an attorney? >> currently in the past three, i have five more to go. >> wow. wow. that sounds really high to me. is this some kind of -- i hate to use the word epidemic, but big increase since three years ago, five years ago? >> i think it's an epidemic proportions. unfortunately jefferson county public schools has a way of circling the wagons fearing some type of litigation and that's what they got. all they had to do was transfer the young lady and we asked she be transferred out of the school. that didn't happen. we were left with no other alternative but to go forward. t it's the last thing we need and last thing we need is 10 year olds going to court to protect themselves. >> there are a lot of things we do to work with bullying cases. sometimes it's as sicmple as moving kids to opposite sides of the classroom and work it out with the two families and two children. have you had an opportunity to sit down with the bully's parents and try to figure out how to come to an understanding so it stops? >> no, ma'am. >> you haven't had a chance to do it or you're not interested? >> they never brought that chance to me when i first contacted the school about the situation. >> interesting. so as we were talking about a moment ago, mr. gordon, a restraining order. some people might think that's over the top. what's the process now? you want a 500-foot restraining order, which means -- i don't know how you would manage fourth grade classes that way. what do you want out of the restraining order? >> in abuse situations and domestic violence cases the court immediately enters a 500-foot restraining order. we asked for no less than than any other wife or husband that would be abused. and if it causes the young man to be out of the courtroom or they want to be transferred to have a nice 20 days left of school, that's what we would like. >> there's only 20 days left of school and this hearing isn't until may 2nd, i understand, so it's at the end of the day it will be less than that. what happens in fifth grade? assume it's a relatively small community and everybody moves up. what are you going to do next? >> it really isn't a small community. there's over 100,000 in the school system. >> i meant the school -- the size of the school. >> well, we have a student assignment plan in jefferson county public schools and students are bussed in from everywhere. we're once again going to go through the transfer process and hope the young lady is taken out of this particular school. >> wow. teddy gordon is the attorney. joy fuhrman is seeking a restraining order against a classmate in her fourth grade class. thank you for talking with us. we'll see what happens on may 2nd. we're interested in that. >> thank you. act noah wily has been arrested at a protest in washington d.c. hundreds of people gathered to protest potential cuts in m medica medicaid. the rally was organized by adapt the americans with disabilities for attendant programs today. noah wyle joins us by known. nice to talk to you. you have been arrested. am i your one phone call or are you out? >> i'm out. >> tell me about what led up to the arrest? >> i came to washington to take part in a fun run to bring some attention to the organization, adapt. there was a planned action yesterday at an undisclosed location which became the congressional office building where we took over the rotunda and did some nice chanting and were arrested for our efforts. >> it looks like a sit-in civil disobedience in the row totunda building. how many were arrested with you? >> around 117. >> what do you think was accomplished by that outside of the fact that you made a lot of papers today, do you feel you made movement on this issue? would you go back to being arrested? >> we're trying to bring the other side of the conversation to the table. i think a lot of people think of cuts in medicaid as being a fairly decent cost saving measure without too serious of ramifications but it actually is kind of gutting the social service network and safety net that exist for 58 million americans currently and that story doesn't really get told. this is a group of people that don't have a lot of political power and not a huge voting block and i thought if i showed up i might get more attention for the cause. >> it worked. you said this is not a medical issue. it's a civil rights issue. what do you mean by that? >> people should have the right to live wherever they want. that's the focus of the issue is to try to put people out of institutions and into independent assessable, affordable housing and the people i was with yesterday are some of the sharpest people and most courageous and strongest people i ever met in my life. often times they are relegated to second-class citizens at best and subhuman at worst. that's criminal. >> many as we see in the video are in wheelchairs is what you're talking about, correct? >> correct. >> noah wyle joining us by phone talking about the civil disobedience that took place in the rotunda building. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. i appreciate it. rod blagojeviches is has a job in prison and susan suranda has banned her from a visit. this is christine romans's pl playlist. you're watching "starting point." helps transform dry, thinning skin, by strengthening its moisture barrier, for improved texture and elasticity in 2 weeks. reveal healthy, supple skin. aveeno skin strengthening. reveal healthy, supple skin. fiona here was just telling me that ford dealers sell a new tire like...every five seconds, how's that possible? 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[ kyle ] it's like we're connected. no we're not. yeah, we are. no...we're not. ♪ the allstate value plan. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. welcome back. new report to talk to you with some interesting numbers. immigration from mexico is now at a net zero. according to hispanic research from 2005 to 2010, 1.4 million immigrants moved to the united states. during that same time 1.4 million moved back to the u.s., from the u.s. back to mexico. joining me this morning, kay bailey hutchinson who has dealt with a number of immigration issues in her time in office. thanks for being with us. we appreciate it. this report i thought was interesting. this idea of a net zero. what do you think has caused that? the number moving in the same as number moving out? >> i think our bad economy is a major reason. we just have not been able to employ the people coming here seeking employment. i also think that we are beginning to get the border control and the border enforcement in order and i think people are realizing that they may be deported and they may never be able to come back in legally if they are deported because we're getting better data banks. so all of these things i think are a factor but i think it still begs the question why don't we have an immigration policy that supports our border patrol and allows legal immigration. >> apprehension among illegal border crossers down 70%. that number was a surprise to me. does that surprise you? >> somewhat. not completely. because i think there is still encroachment on the border that is illegal and we have clearly criminal activity coming across the border as well. that's very problematic. we know that in mexico the violence is really atrocious on the border and people are being killed and that is beginning to encroach on cartels into the united states. that is perhaps not being caught and that's where we need to really crack down. >> good morning, senator. this is jon fugelsang. considering the current sitting president has a record number of deportations and moving national guard troops to the border, is there any credit to be given to this administration for these declining numbers or do you assign it mostly to the economy? >> i think we all want to work together and give the president credit, give the law enforcement people credit, the border patrol. we've been doubling the border patrol and tripling it over the last ten years. i think all of these things come together. i wouldn't take away anything. i do think that it is important that we continue border enforcement but also it's time for congress to act to allow farm workers to come in. georgia, texas, alabama, mississippi and louisiana, arizona as well and california have problems getting the foreign workers so we need a way to have a guest worker program that would allow workers to go back and forth legally and do work that isn't being done by americans. >> nice to see you. thank you for your time. appreciate it. >> thank you, soledad. still ahead on "starting point," 20 years ago los angeles erupted in a rage in a case that involved race and police brutality. rodney king is going to join us and new orleans saints in the middle of another scandal. did the general manager bug the superdome to get an unfair edge? you're watching "starting point." it's very important to understand how math and science kind of makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer, i have a career that speaks to that passion. thank you, mr. davies. imax now showing on the big board. ♪ >> that's off dr. sanjay gupta's pl pl playlist. heavy on the doctor songs. absolutely. a year ago a doctor nearly died from cancer. now he's helping other hispanic find bone marrow transplants so they can have a second chance at life. >> we just came back from paris. we celebrated 15 years of wonderful marriage at the identieiffel tower. >> this wedding celebration almost didn't happen. three years ago this transplant surgeon made a shocking discovery. his lymph nodes were swollen and he suspected he had cancer. his fears were confirmed and the diagnosis a rare form of blood cancer. >> it's difficult to treat and has a poor prognosis. >> when gruelling chemotherapy failed, he needed a bone marrow transplant. a near perfect match is necessary for the treatment to be effective and that's more likely from a donor of the same ethnicity but pool of potential donors for hispanic in the united states is very small. they only represent about 10% of a national bone marrow registry. in this doctor's case, a close match was found but then the donor back out. >> people join the registry for people they love or know. when they get a call about a complete stranger, their answer is i'm afraid i can't do this. >> doctors took another look at his siblings and while his brother wasn't a perfect match, he got the transplant any way. the bone marrow started killing the cancer cells and today he's in complete remission back helping patients find organs. he says it was his faith that helped him through the difficult times and the experience overall made him a better doctor. dr. sanjay gupta, cnn reporting. >> if you want to add your name to the national bone registry, go to marrow.org. ahead on "starting point" this morning, 20 years after the l.a. riots, rodney king shares his experience in a new book and we'll tell you why he says there's a racial divide in this country and information on terror plots targeting railroads and retail stores. you're watching "starting point." we're back in a moment. 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[ kyle ] it's like we're connected. no we're not. yeah, we are. no...we're not. ♪ the allstate value plan. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. >> that's cold play. every tear drop is a waterfall. that's off the commander's playlist. we'll get to our headlines. christine has a look at those this morning. jennifer hudson broke down in tears as she testified against the man accused of killing her family. the singer says she did not want her sister to marry this defendant, william balfour, the estranged husband of her sister, julia. he's accused shooting her brother, mother and 7-year-old nephew. julia testified yesterday. she says balfour threatened to kill the family. balfour has pleaded not guilty. new details emerging about alleged al qaeda plots here in the u.s. and al qaeda operative testified about a plan to attack the long island railroad train with a suicide bomb as trains enter the tunnel. there was also testimony the terror group planned to target various walmart locations. a native of long island, new york, quit the u.s. army and later joined al qaeda. he was arrested in pakistan in 2009. he's testifying at the trial of a queens college grad accused of conspireing in a plot to bomb new york's subways. erin burnett just completed an exclusive interview with netanyahu saying israel knows what the iranians are up to and sanctions may not be the answer. >> they are certainly taking a bite out of the iranian economy but so far they haven't rolled back the iranian program or even stopped it. i hope that changes. so far i can tell you they are spinning. they were spinning during the talks. they are spinning as we speak. if the sanctions are going to work, they better work soon. >> you can see erin's interview tonight at 9:00 eastern on "out front." joran van der sloot could soon be headed back to the u.s. a judge in peru approved a request for his detention in the u.s. he's sentenced to 28 years in prison for the 2010 murder of a peruvian woman and is also the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of natalee holloway. he may be extradited within three months. sues sarandon claims she is under surveillance by the federal government. she says she was recently denied security clearance to go to the white house. has no idea why. sarandon has been an outspoken critic of the war in iraq. looks like former illinois governor rod blagojevich is adjusting to life behind bars. two of his former attorneys who just visited blagojevich at the federal prison in colorado say he's busy washing dishes. he plans to teach shakespeare. he has three cell mates and they say he gets along quite well with all of them. >> there are lots of messages in shakespeare that apply possibly to his situation. all right. thank you. it sparked a nationwide discussion about race. the case of rodney king. the officers were later acquitted and that sparked violent riots that swept l.a. 20 years ago this sunday that left dozens of people dead. more than 1,000 people injured. today 20 years later, rodney king has written his first book reflecting on those events which he writes this. there is no longer a riot raging within me. i'll be the poster child for police brutality but i can try to use that as a positive force for healing and restraint. the book is called "the riot within." let's talk about your path. you write about a rough childhood, which leads you up to this point where you are beaten by police officers. and then it continues to be rough through the trial and really through the end. talk to me a little bit about why you felt like you had to write a book 20 years later. >> so my kids could read about it themselves. they wouldn't have to hear it from someone else. it's a lot of kids in high school, colleges and they send me letters and want to know a bit about the beating 20 years ago. now i have it in book form. let them know that they can read it. a lot is not in there but a lot is in there from what i could remember and i put it together so that kids can be able to put their reports and everything together. >> you write about the beating. i thought i knew every kind of pain possible but that was just terrible. this is when you were being tased by the cops. a cop wasn't worried about getting shot because the souls of those boots must be made out of rubber. the horrible fact is blood soaking through my clothes made the electrocution worse because the body was wet. the only thing that could make the situation worse was shocking me again because my body and heart was trying to cling to life. did you think you were going to die? >> i knew it was seconds before it was over. by the grace of god, i'm still here, you know. >> rodney, we have played this clip several times. i noticed you watching it. the whole world has seen it thousands of times. what do you think when you see that? >> i can't believe i made it through it. i see it. i've heard it over the years. i've seen it myself. i never thought that i would myself would get caught up in a beating that bad. with the police. it's a blessing in one way and it was horrifying when it was going on, you know, back 20 years ago. >> the officers who beat you were eventually acquitted and that is what really triggered the l.a. riots. what was it like that moment when you saw everything pretty much in your neighborhood start to erupt? >> it was -- it felt like the last days on earth, you know. our whole city was just in turmoil. i had seen it happen in the '60s on film and in classrooms and what they show on tv. i never thought that i would see it happen in my lifetime. it was a total shock to me. yeah. >> on an individual basis, clearly we have made some great strides with race relations going from your case to electing the first african-american president. you have the trayvon martin case now. for individuals out there, how do you think we -- where do you see the future of race relations going and what can individuals do to get a better understanding of each other? >> you know, we as individuals ourselves make a big difference when we wake up every day in the morning because the difference that has been made up to this point for me to have my justice heard and me receive justice in court, you know 20 years ago, 30 years ago, i probably wouldn't even be sitting here. i would have been dead by now. progress is slow in the country but it works. the justice system does work. when something like that happened to you, you would like to see things happen a lot faster when it comes to race relations but we've come a long ways and i'm very proud of the distance that we've came from now compared to looking back at the '60s. >> there are people that would point to the trayvon martin of exhibit a of maybe not so much. >> the thing is -- the truth is from being black is quite different, you know. at times it's rough. i was a little young before too. i ran into some tough situations. not as mauch as used to occur but i have run into some situations like that also and what you have is some citizens still wanting to bully some citizens and it's all about bullying and trying to please other people through low self-esteem of yourself and get points through a different organization where someone will accept you. you have a lot of people trying to get in that position. they are bullies. they are bullies. they know from history of slavery to now, a lot has changed. the mentality is no one thinks about slavery part there but in terms of bullying over the years with that particular black race, it still goes on. it's not as bad as it used to be. the justice system does work. >> sir, you know, as famous as you are for the beating, i think you are almost as famous for coming out at the beginning of the riots and saying can't we all get along? i've been disappointed over the past few decades how many people have made fun of that and turned that into a parity because we don't really take nonviolence that seriously as a movement in this country. have you forgiven these officers? >> yes. i have. i've been forgiven many times. my country has been good to me. i've done some things that wasn't pleasant in my lifetime and i've been forgiven for that. i wouldn't be able to sleep at night or it wouldn't be a part of a citizen for me not to forgive, you know, this horrible situation in my own country. that's like something happening bad in my own house. this country is my house. it's the only home i know. i have to be able to be able to forgive so for the future, for the younger generation coming behind me so it can be room so they can understand and if a situation like that happened again, that they could deal with it a lot easier. >> rodney, you wrote in your book that statement "can't we all get along" was impromptu. you had a more angry statement ready and some people didn't like that your statement wasn't more angry and upset. what did they say to you and what did they want from you? >> some of them -- they gave me something to read and i said i'm not reading that. it's not me. it was -- i'm not that type of person. i spoke from my heart. it turned out better. that's how it came up with can't we all just get along? saying that because i spoke what was in my heart and the only way i'm used to seeing things happen and success and progress occurring is people getting along. people being able to come together even despite their difference in religion and their beliefs. america has always been the type of world that can come together with people and we get a job done. that's what runs in my blood line. get the job done. many years ago we were brought here and now that we're here, this is home. i'm glad that -- i hate the way we had come here but since we're here, it has turned out to be a wonderful things. i look around at the buildings. i look around at the city and the structures and stuff and that's all of our ancestors and our people. you and our people. we put work in to get us to this point where we are. now we have a civilized world. it's time for us to catch up with our world around us and get civilized ourselves. >> 20 years later. the riot within is the name of the book written by rodney king. thank you so much. you can join us on sunday, which is the 20th anniversary of the riots at 8:00 p.m. eastern as cnn presents "race and rage." a look at race relations between police and the black community on sunday. still ahead on "starting point" this morning, first it was the bount ry scandal and no cheating for the edge. did the new orleans saints spy on opposing teams. drill, baby drill, in outer space. a plan to mine asteroids could mean profits for the company behind it. we'll talk about that. this is will's playlist. dixie chicks "wide open spaces." you're watching "starting point." back in a moment. (female announcer) most life insurance companies look at you and just see a policy. at aviva, we do things differently. we're bringing humanity back to life insurance. that's why only aviva rewards you with savings for getting a check-up. it's our wellness for life program, with online access to mayo clinic. see the difference at avivausa.com. ♪ >> when the saints go marching in. one of my favorite songs. the nfl team that put bounties on opponents, that looks like they may have been spying too. the new orleans saints now denying a report by espn that alleges that their general manager spied on other teams. louis says it didn't happen. >> it only covers years 2002 to 2004. there's been lag time between this. they say they have inside information from people on the saints. i start to wonder why more gms don't do this to tell you the truth. >> because it's illegal. >> of course. it would link to the bounty scandal. why would a gm listen in rather than a coach to find out who's injured. that's the essence of what the bounty scandal was about. >> i don't know if there's a connection between the two stories except when we talked about this earlier with dan marino. we had the new england patriots spy gate a couple years ago. people do everything they can to win. i don't know how surprised we should be. >> this is what dan marino said to us earlier this morning. >> i think teams have done it a bit but not to the extent when this happened with the patriots and belichick they were filming it and taking it back. i don't think in general teams are out there. they cheat or get an advantage or hurt another player. >> you know, i think -- what has happened to integrity and professional sports? is this just a bad run aon a number of high profile sporting teams? >> teams and coaches push the edge for what they can legally do. everyone realizes that goes on and occasionally they may stray into that gray area. the reality is people today are questioning what is the integrity? what is that guide post in professional sports today? >> just to be the contrarian. the only thing that's changed is technology and not morality. >> there's the sport and the game. the sport is where the integrity lies and the game is where the money lies and that's what this is about. >> technology covers that. still ahead on "starting point," hoping to turn science fiction into real profits. a mission to mine asteroids. isn't that scary music? it's already getting james cameron and google to put up the cash. founders of the company are going to join us live up next. you're watching "starting point." we're back in a moment. i love cash back. with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, we earn more cash back for the things we buy most. 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. no annual fee. that's 1% back on... wow! 2% on my homemade lasagna. 3% back on [ friends ] road trip!!!!!!!!!!!! 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[ yawning sound ] >> i'm coming back. stand by. >> i hate knowing everything. >> couldn't have picked a worse spot to drill. >> you guarantee it's not going to be thicker than 50 feet. >> how do you figure that? >> because if it is, we're screwed. >> a mission to the asteroid like the 1998 blockbuster "armageddon." there's a company announcing plans they will do just that. they will look for water and precious metals like platinum. they have some big cash backing from the likes of google and director james cameron. peter and eric are the co-founders of plantary resources. nice to see you both. start with me. exactly how do you see this working? >> well, first of all, we're not sending people to the asteroids. today more than ever before you can actually build very small, capable low coast robotic spacecraft that could go out to near earth asteroids. there are thousands that come near the earth/moon system the all the time and have resources valuable in space and back here on earth. >> the idea would be you take these sort of machines and you would land directly on an asteroid and mine it. how would you literally mine the asteroid? >> it depends on a lot of factors, soledad. depends on what type of asteroid it is and where it is and which of the different categories of resources that we're going after. for example, in the case of water, which is an extremely valuable resource in space, we may encapsulate the asteroid and then begin to heat up the volatiles on it which are ice and methane and different sources to make rocket fuel and use it as a deep space propelent depot to gas up for spacecraft beyond the earth. >> part of the plan is to mind for precious metals like platinum because that factors in the cost analysis for the company, radight? >> we'll start with water. in actual fact the water is worth something like $20,000 to $50,000 a pound in deep space. you are absolutely right about platinum group metals. platinum as a substance is rare on earth. it's one of the substances that is literally $1,500 an ounce. when we talk about things like going to space, it's one of those areas where even the cost of space flight today are not as much as it is to actually extract platinum and then bring it to market on the earth's surface. >> what else besides platinum do you think you might be able to recover? >> there's a whole range of rare or strategic metals that we get from china or south america and these are scarce, if you would, until technology makes these things abundant again. as we look out at space, everything we hold of value here on earth, the things that frankly nations fight wars are, are in infinity quantities in space our company has vision backed by extraordinary investors and advisers to begin to get access to those resources. as humanity moves beyond the earth's bounds, we'll be working in public/private partnerships with nasa and other space agencies to go out there and make those resources available for humanity, for science missions and ultimately for the metals and mineral markets back here on the earth surface. >> good morning, gentlemen. for most of us the concept of landing a craft on the asteroid is "empire strikes back." isn't it true that it's easier to land on a moving asteroid than on the moon because of lack of a gravitational pull. >> the asteroids are not in a gravity well. you don't land on asteroids. you dock with them. it's more similar to docking with a space station that we do all the time than it is to land on any planetary body, moon, mars, et cetera. also, they are very plentiful. i think that people may not realize that when we're talking about asteroid mining, we're talking about the near earth asteroids. the main belt that lies between mars and jupiter is what many people think of when they refer to affidav to asteroids but there are tens of thousands that are perfect size to be used for resources. perfect. so in this vicinity that we have around the earth/moon system, these are stepping stones of the solar system just waiting to be accessed to help propel humanity off earth into this situation where we have the entire solar system as our home and not just our own planet. >> you are first in line to access them. nice to see you guys. thank you very much. appreciate it. >> good morning. a pleasure. >> end point is up next. back in a moment. [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. ♪ start spreading the news >> welcome back. that's my escort from last night. i went to big brothers big sisters of new york dinner. i was the host. that's my son, jackson. he didn't like the word date. he was happy to be my escort. dad is out of town. bow tie. 20 seconds left. what's the end point this morning? >> when i listen to rodney king speak and the progress that we've made, i look back and i'll put it case in point in my book. those men and women aboard of every stripe and color you can imagine from "uss cole" did what it took to save that ship and

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