Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Release of Sarah Palin's Emails; Activist Fights AIDS for 30 Years; Gingrich Staffers Jump Ship; Arizona Wildfire 5 Percent Contained; Republican Presidential Hopefuls Gear Up for Monday Night Debate; 200,000 Citigroup Customers Hit in Hacking
Aired June 10, 2011 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Want to get you up to speed for Tuesday, June 7th.
Reporters are going to be scouring through more than 24,000 pages of Sarah Palin's emails today. The six boxes of documents are from her term as Alaska governor from 2006 until September, 2008, when she was chosen as Republican vice presidential candidate. Now, Palin says she's not worried about what's in the emails, but she does think that they're going to be taken out of context.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN (R), FMR. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A lot of those emails obviously weren't meant for public consumption. They are between staff members. They're probably between family members.
So, you know, I'm sure people are going to capitalize on this opportunity to go through 25,000 emails and perhaps take things out of context. They'll never truly know what the context of each one of the emails was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And Newt Gingrich is looking for a new campaign staff. The GOP presidential candidate pledges to make a fresh start after much of his staff jumped ship. At least seven senior staff members resigned over disagreements about the campaign. Gingrich recently took two weeks off for a planned vacation with his wife.
Jury deliberations are under way today in the retrial of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. He is accused of trying to sell President Obama's former Senate seat. Now, Blagojevich denies that he intended to bribe anybody, and he says he is relieved that the latest trial is almost over.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROD BLAGOJEVICH (D), FMR. ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: We feel relieved, Patty and I, that we've had our chance. We literally did have our days in court where I had a chance to be able to get up there and answer honestly every single question that I was asked, and to answer as fully as I was allowed to answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Casey Anthony is back in court a day after jurors had to be sent home early.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE BELVIN PERRY, ORANGE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT: Ms. Anthony is ill. We are recessing for the day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Anthony appeared to cry and looked away when pictures of her daughter's decomposed body were presented yesterday. Now, this morning, a medical examiner identified items found with 2-year-old Caylee's skeletal remains. If she's convicted of killing her daughter, Anthony could face the death penalty.
Well, contradictions on whether NATO is trying to assassinate Moammar Gadhafi. A senior NATO military official tells CNN that a U.N. resolution justifies targeting the Libyan leader, but a NATO spokeswoman insists that the alliance does not target individuals.
We're going to get some clarity from former NATO commander General Wesley Clark.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. WESLEY Clark, FMR. NATO COMMANDER: You know, I think you've got to be careful not to split hairs on this thing. I don't think the United States or NATO is saying this is an all-out hit mission on the person of this individual. It's an effort to go after the command and control.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(GUNFIRE)
MALVEAUX: Protesters scatter as gunfire rings out. A Syria man says he shot this video on his cell phone last Friday when government troops opened fire. It happened near a northern town Syria's military plans to retake today.
Well, residents are fleeing now to Turkey, afraid that they're going to be slaughtered by the troops. The government says the protesters were armed gangs.
German health officials now confirm a deadly E. coli outbreak was caused by bean sprouts. They discovered 17 people became ill after eating sprouts at the same restaurant. At least 31 people have died, almost 3,000 have been affected.
Well, some mixed messages on climate change. But now we could get some answers.
Just a short time ago, NASA launched a new satellite from Vandenberg Air Base in California. The three-year mission will focus on movements of salt in the world's oceans, and the amount of salt plays a role in climate patterns around the world.
I want to take a closer look at the release of today's emails, the release of Sarah Palin's emails. The Alaska governor's office is making the documents public after CNN and other news organizations requested them to be made public under the Freedom of Information Act.
Well, joining us from Fairbanks, Alaska, is Dermot Cole. He's a columnist with "The Fairbanks Daily News Miner."
And what do we expect? What are you expecting to see in these 24,000 pages of emails? What do you think they'll actually reveal?
DERMOT COLE, COLUMNIST, "FAIRBANKS DAILY NEWS MINER": Well, it will provide maybe one of the best looks yet we've had at the internal workings of the Palin administration from when she was elected governor, until she assumed a national role as the GOP nominee, because the emails are from 2006 until September, 2008.
Some of this is bound to be embarrassing to the former governor, and perhaps to current and former state employees who may have said things in emails that they now regret, or -- you know, because they like to fashion -- people like to fashion their comments for public consumption, and they say things more candidly in emails. At least they did at that time. Perhaps they've changed their practice.
MALVEAUX: Sure. When you talk about potentially embarrassing things, what kinds of things are you thinking about?
COLE: Well, largely with the way that the former governor dealt with people and with issues in the state. I don't think, frankly, that on a national level, that this is going to make much of a difference at all to people who are already Palin opponents or Palin supporters. I think that people in both of those groups will find plenty of ammunition in these documents to confirm the notions that they've already formed about her.
This will be a more candid view, I think, of the Palin administration, although it's not going to be complete, because a couple thousand emails at least are being withheld for various reasons. People are as curious about this (AUDIO GAP).
MALVEAUX: Dermot, we're having a little bit of a tough time hearing you, but do you think this will reveal something about her relationships, the kinds of relationships that she had with her employees when she was the governor of that state?
COLE: I think that's probably the main thing that will be revealed in these documents. Governor Palin was a fan of email and used it a lot in her daily communication. And I suspect that this will provide a good look at how she operated when she was the state's chief executive.
MALVEAUX: All right. Dermot Cole, thank you so much. We know you'll be poring through those emails. Please get back to us and let us know if you find anything that's of interest to you. We appreciate your time. We also want to hear from you as well. What new details do you expect to surface in the Palin emails? Send your responses to be on Facebook, at Facebook.com/SuzanneCNN. We're going to read some of them on air later this hour.
Here's a rundown of some of the stories that we're covering in the next two hours.
The U.N. ramps up pressure on Moammar Gadhafi, but is it specifically targeting the Libyan leader?
Also, firefighters in Arizona make a little progress on getting that massive wildfire under control.
Plus, how a young boy's amazing gift helps protect dogs in the line of duty.
And now you can add Citigroup to the list of companies getting hacked. We're going to explain about online bank safety.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't mean anything about -- it's like driving to the bank. When you're driving to the bank, you're secure. Once you get inside the bank and engage in a transaction, it doesn't mean anything about the security of that transaction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Well, a boy in Tennessee decided he didn't want any presents for his 8th birthday in April. He wanted to raise $2,600 for bulletproof vests for three police dogs. And he did it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAIG JAMES, RAISED $2,600 FOR POLICE DOG VESTS: We did fundraisers. We've done a yard sale, a Red Birds (ph) game. It's been pretty easy, fun.
HEATHER JAMES, CRAIG'S MOTHER: Right before we came today, one of his friends gave him four quarters that the Tooth Fairy gave him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: He's a great kid.
A Massachusetts man is a brand-new millionaire -- multimillionaire, as a matter of fact -- after buying the only winning ticket for Wednesday's Powerball jackpot. We are talking -- OK, hold your breath here -- $25.6 million. It is the first winning ticket sold in Massachusetts since they started playing the multi-state lottery just last January.
It's been 30 years since the first published report on the disease that would be come to known as HIV or AIDS. In today's "Human Factor," Dr. Sanjay Gupta introduces us to a pioneering activist who has been fighting for the rights of people with AIDS for three decades now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLEVE JONES, GAY RIGHTS & AIDS ACTIVIST: Welcome to San Francisco. Enjoy your stay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great to meet you. It's an honor, actually.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the streets of San Francisco, Cleve Jones is often treated like a celebrity. But 30 years ago on these same streets, in the city's Castro District, Jones and other gay then men were living with the nightmare of a new disease that had no name.
JONES: By 1985, almost everybody I know was dead or dying. We lost 20,000 people in this town.
GUPTA: This deadly disease finally got a name, human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. This was long before the days of any lifesaving drug cocktails. And for victims of this disease, chances of survival: slim.
JONES: We cried every day for 10 years in this neighborhood. We buried loved ones every week in this neighborhood.
GUPTA: Cleve was determined to bring attention to what was happening. In 1983, he co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Four years later, he stitched the first panel of the AIDS quilt in this very building. That panel was for his best friend, Marvin Feldman.
JONES: We wanted to reveal the humanity behind the statistics. We wanted to show that every single one of these people mattered.
GUPTA: In 1985, he was diagnosed with HIV. Eight years later, he had full-blown AIDS.
JONES: I was very sick for a long time, and I did not think that I would live.
We've got a meeting at 4:30.
GUPTA: But he survived, with the help of antiretroviral drugs that he's been on now for 17 years. He says he's doing fine now and he's still an activist, currently fighting for the rights of San Francisco's housekeepers. But he cannot forget how the HIV struggle changed him profoundly.
JONES: We went through hell here, and it was a hell that lasted a very long time, took from us some of our best and brightest people. But we endured and we continue. And I'm very proud to be part of that.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: We're going to have more news after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: The presidential campaign and Republican Newt Gingrich is in disarray. Just a month after he officially joined the 2012 race, seven senior staffers resigned yesterday over disagreements about the direction of the campaign. A former Gingrich press secretary talked with CNN's Anderson Cooper about the mass exodus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICH GALEN, FMR. GINGRICH PRESS SECRETARY: I think at the base of all this was the discipline that many of us who have known Newt and liked him and worked for him for 30 years thought may be missing, and the kind of skill set you need to do the things he did to bring Republicans into a majority in the Congress are a completely different set of skills than what you need when you're running for president. And I think that's been glaringly obvious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Joining us from Washington is CNN political contributor and conservative commentator, registered Independent, Amy Holmes. She is co-host of "American Morning News" on the Talk Radio Network.
Amy, great to see you.
AMY HOLMES, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Great to be here.
MALVEAUX: What do you make of this? It seems as if the campaign imploded before it even really got started.
HOLMES: Not unlike when it launched. And he went on a Sunday show and called Paul Ryan's plan "right-wing social engineering." But as you just heard, this has been the rap about Newt Gingrich for a long time, that the man who led the Republican revolution in 1994, his skills were really to lead a revolution, not to consolidate it. And he got these same criticisms when he was Speaker of the House.
I think the big surprise here is just how quickly and how thoroughly his campaign imploded, not that it did.
MALVEAUX: Is there a whiff of scandal at all? Is there something more to this story that we're just not getting, that a whole group of people would say, you know what, it's no longer worth it, forget it? Is there something more here?
HOLMES: You know, with Newt Gingrich, I don't think so, because I think we already know so much about him, even in terms of scandal, in terms of his personal life, his marriages, and so forth. Some analysts are saying that the folks that worked for him are really looking at Rick Perry.
And as Newt Gingrich often likes to quote on Mideast policy, people like to follow the strong horse. And maybe they are looking at Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, as being a much stronger horse, and that Newt Gingrich, he is not even proving to be a show pony. I mean, he went on vacation.
MALVEAUX: Is there any way that he can reverse this, do you think? Any way he can regroup and get back into the game? He says he certainly is going to.
HOLMES: You know, I really don't see that happening. But again, I think with this campaign, it was really more ideological, and what Newt Gingrich would bring to the debate stage, and how he would frame the issues, so more than it was ever a practical game on the ground and how Newt Gingrich was going to shape the outcome of the GOP nomination.
MALVEAUX: Well, how do you think he's going to shape it, Amy? If he's in the race for the GOP nomination, how is he going to impact what people are talking about, how they present themselves?
HOLMES: Well, Newt, as we know, is eminently quotable and reliably quotable. And on Monday, on that New Hampshire debate stage, if he appears, as he intends to, they're going to talk about foreign policy, which he'll be hawkish. They're going to be talking about domestic policy. You can expect him to be very conservative -- don't raise taxes -- all those kinds of things. And it will be interesting to see if the other folks on the debate stage take some shots at him because of all of this news, so it should be exciting.
MALVEAUX: Yes. There were a couple of people wondering if he was going to drive himself, show up, drive himself to the debate, who was going to be with him. Obviously, his wife -- if he had any support or not.
HOLMES: Right.
MALVEAUX: So we'll see. We'll see what happens over the weekend.
HOLMES: That would be a nice touch for any of the politicians, actually.
MALVEAUX: Yes, that's true. Save some money.
What about Sarah Palin? Twenty-four thousand pages of these emails from her time as governor of Alaska. What would you be looking for if you were going to sift through all of those, Amy?
HOLMES: Well, what I understand is that her lawyers have already sifted through it. So, possibly, the most damaging stuff is not in there. A lot has been redacted. I think it's more a characterization of Sarah Palin. What kind of boss was she? And how did she sort of talk when she thought she was talking privately?
But I don't think very much of that is worthwhile. And frankly, for "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" to be asking their readers to do this "crowd sourcing," it sounds like a witch hunt. They're asking their readers for nuggets? I think they're asking for more like rocks to throw at Sarah Palin, and it certainly plays into her narrative that the media is biased and obsessed with her.
MALVEAUX: Well, what do you think she's up to? I mean, why do you think she's doing this high-profile bus tour? Do you think her strategy is she is going to jump in at some point? I mean, the debate is Monday.
HOLMES: Does Sarah Palin do anything low profile? I don't think so.
So Sarah Palin has been very successful, the most successful vice presidential candidate who didn't make it to the White House in history. I mean, this is a woman who is a "New York Times" bestseller. She's making millions of dollars. She's raising her profile, it seems like, every day.
She gets huge amounts of money for speaking fees. All of these play into whatever Sarah Palin wants to do in the future.
MALVEAUX: I don't know, it sounds like you can be auditioning for a campaign manager there for Sarah Palin jumping in.
All right.
HOLMES: As you know, Sarah Palin has been successfully in getting the cameras on her.
MALVEAUX: All right. Amy, have a great weekend.
HOLMES: Thanks, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: We're getting mixed messages on whether NATO is directly targeting Moammar Gadhafi. A senior NATO military official tells CNN that the Libyan leader is a legitimate target, but a spokeswoman for NATO says that's not true.
Our Sara Sidner, she is joining us from the Libyan city of Misrata. And she is inside a clinic.
Sara, paint a picture for us if you will, because I know that today, you've been in the midst of a lot of back and forth, you've seen a lot of activity.
Is it safe on the ground? Are the rebels, you know, in charge? What is taking place there where you are?
SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are two things.
One, I want to make very clear that the city of Misrata itself is still secured by the rebels. That has not changed. What has changed is the amount of fighting that has gone on today.
Right now we're inside a field hospital which is on the front lines in Dafnia. And this place has been so busy, that this is the first time these doctors have had a rest in six hours. There has been so much fighting going on, they haven't had time even to count the number of patients who have come in from the front lines.
But we do know that there have been -- at least 23 people have died here alone today. This is the worst fighting, according to doctors, that they've seen in a month.
The situation, dire on the front lines. And what we've been hearing throughout the day since early this morning are loud, thunderous booms over and over again.
One thing to note, though, in the last half an hour or so, we heard something in the sky. And because there's a no-fly zone, that can only mean one thing, that NATO had arrived.
So, about a half an hour ago, we heard planes flying overhead. Suddenly, things have gotten a little bit more quiet. And they've been a little quiet here for the last, say, 10 minutes -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And Sara, what is happening around you inside this clinic?
SIDNER: It was complete chaos. I have to tell you that, when we first got here, there were so many patients coming in. Everybody was trying to get out of the way.
These doctors are volunteers who have other shifts at the main hospital, but they come here to the field hospital which is very, very close to the front line, close enough to field the ground shake when this place shoots off, say, a mortar. But they have been so busy, and I can tell you that the injuries have been absolutely horrific.
Those who have survived, many of them look as though they will lose a limb. We saw several men come in with their limbs just basically blown off, horrific injuries.
They stabilize them here, they do whatever they can. They put them in these beds, and there are about one, two, three, four, five, six, seven -- eight beds here that are available. They've got some gurneys going back and forth from the main hospital.
Another boom just happened just now, so it seems the fighting is starting up again. But these doctors are just absolutely pushed to their absolute limit. They're using anything. They even used some bits and pieces of a cabinet to try and stabilize someone's legs so they can get them to the main hospital. A lot of fighting here on this Friday -- Suzanne. MALVEAUX: Unbelievable, Sara.
And if you could, we've been talking about the NATO mission and whether or not NATO is actually targeting Moammar Gadhafi in particular. What can you tell us about that?
SIDNER: You know, there's a lot of speculation, as there would be. People saying, look, they keep blowing up some of the same areas where they think that Gadhafi is in, his compound, for example.
So a lot of speculation that that's what's going on. But again, NATO has been very clear, clear with CNN and clear with others, that their mission is a humanitarian mission, trying to keep anyone from the Gadhafi side using their arms on general civilians.
But it is very, very hard to tell on the ground these things, and certainly rumors here. And when people hear that here, in cities where the rebels hold the city, there is adulation. They are happy to hear these sort of things. They really want Moammar Gadhafi to go in any way possible -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. Sara Sidner, please be safe. Excellent reporting. Thank you.
After two weeks, firefighters make some headway against the massive wildfire in eastern Arizona. But there's still a long way to go. We're going to go live to the disaster zone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Here's a rundown, some of the stories that we are working on.
Next, firefighters in Arizona finally beginning to contain the wildfire that has forced thousands from their homes.
Then, the Republican presidential candidates, they are preparing a face-off. We have a preview of CNN's upcoming New Hampshire debate.
And later, Citigroup under pressure now after a hacker accessed the information of some 200,000 customers. We're going to look how serious that security breach was.
And finally, a glimmer of hope for firefighters who have been fighting this huge wildfire in Eastern Arizona. It is now 5 percent contained. That doesn't sound like a lot, but until yesterday, it was zero percent contained.
CNN's Jim Spellman, he is in Apache County, Arizona.
And, Jim, we understand that at least the winds are at least a little bit calmer here. We know that the smoke must be pretty tough, even for you, in covering this. Yes?
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's really smoky here this morning. Everybody has to have either kind of a bandana covering their mouth or mask or something just to get around here. It's what they call a inversion. After the cool mornings here in Arizona, the winds are very calm and all of the smoke stays down.
It looks bad. It looks worse than it has most other days, but that's actually good news for firefighters. It delays the start of the fire day, what they call where the fire really starts to kick up.
And today, as yesterday, they hope to have low winds into tomorrow afternoon. They have about 30 hours, they think, where they are going to have more low winds. They can add to the 5 percent containment number.
Yesterday, they had a big DC-10 supertanker dropping retardant. They were able to make three runs yesterday. Hopefully, today, when the inversion lifts, they'll be able to do some more runs with that and really get a handle on it, protect some more homes in Eagar and Springerville, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And, Jim, I know for our audience you took the handkerchief off, but you had it on before. It must be very difficult. What it is like to breathe that kind of air, that smoke?
SPELLMAN: Yes, it really is difficult. I took it off before so we could speak a little better, but you really need it today it's so thick.
And we're several miles from the fire. For the firefighters who are in there working on it, it's really tough conditions. It's, of course, hot up against the fire. They work 16 hour shifts every day, about 3,000 of them in there.
Unbelievably backbreaking work. A lot of just hiking in and using hand tools to try to dig these trenches and create the barrier between the head of the fire that has been moving towards these communities, you know, and sort of starve it from fuel by digging trenches and doing what they call back burns, intentional burns, to eliminate all of the fuel, all of this grass and stuff you see between the homes and fire.
It is really tough conditions. This is day 11 of this fire. So for these firefighter crews in there, they are starting to get tired, you know, the fatigue is starting to set in.
But they feel good today. Yesterday I think was the first day I think they could genuinely feel like they call this a good day, and they hope to have another one today, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And we certainly hope for another good day.
All right, Jim, thanks very much. Take good care. Feel free to put that handkerchief back over your mouth and stay safe. Thanks, Jim.
SPELLMAN: Will do.
MALVEAUX: Well, today could be a big break for the firefighters, certainly what they need. Our own Rob Marciano is here with more or the news.
I guess there is some good news that there's calmer winds at least? It's going to help them out a little bit.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it makes the air quality bad, as you saw there, because the air just settles as opposed to when the wind is blowing, it blows that smoke out of there, but it also fans the fire.
This is the area that we're talking about, well east of Phoenix. And as far as what kind of weather they're enduring right now, you saw that it's pretty still right now. As far as how still it is, less than 10 miles an hour as far as winds are concerned. Almost calm. So that is certainly good news for those folks today, for the folks fighting the fire.
Kind of want to give you an idea where the fire is and how much it's progressed in the last 10 to 11 days. It started out as a pretty small fire, and then we had these strong southwest winds and that's what brought the fire to New Mexican border. But you see here, just in the last couple dace, we're looking at -- pretty much it's beginning to halt because the winds died down.
So today is the day we'll really see some progress, I think. Although, it's such a massive fire with only 5 or so percent containment, they've got a big, big job ahead of them.
Here's the forecast weather map. Today is the only day in over a week where we've seen noncritical conditions, meaning calm winds; no moisture, but calm winds. Tomorrow we get back into windier conditions. We're going to start to see more in the way of that southwesterly flow. And longer terms, Sunday, Monday and into Tuesday, Suzanne, we see windier conditions again. We're not in the monsoon season, that begins in another month. So the chances for them seeing any sort of rain to help them out are minimum.
MALVEAUX: Wow. Well, glad that at least the winds are dying down.
MARCIANO: Yes, today is the day. Let's get out there and get it done.
MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks. Have a good weekend, Rob.
MARCIANO: You too.
MALVEAUX: It is now is the time for you to "Choose the News." Here are your choices.
First up, a hard look at the human cost of the war in Libya, the children wounded in the crossfire.
Second, as America's heat wave continues, the coastline, it's a popular escape, but we're looking at just how safe the water is at your local beach.
Or third, Alec Baldwin, actor, comedian, activist, is this TV star really ready to be New York's next mayor?
You can vote for your favorite story by texting "22360." Text "1" for Libya's young war casualties, "2" for what's in the water, or "3" for Alex Baldwin, the next mayor.
The winning story is going to air in the next hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Every day, millions of children around the world pick through huge piles of trash, hoping to find something to sell or buy food for their families. Now these kids can spend their entire lives scavenging, unless they can somehow manage to get an education, and that's where this week's CNN hero comes in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELENA DURON MIRANDA, COMMUNITY CRUSADER (through translator): Currently in Argentina, there are a lot of children working. In Bariloche, most children work recovering waste from the garbage dump to sell for a small profit. They can be very small children, three, four, five years old.
All parents want a better life for their children than what they had, but there are times when the whole family tries to work and try to make ends meet.
My name is Elena Duron Miranda, I founded a organization to help the boys and girls of the Bariloche trash dump to get out so they no longer have to work there to survive.
When I arrived in Argentina, it hit hard to see so many small children picking through garbage. Many of these boys and girls have dropped out of school. I decided that I had to do something for them.
We tried to be as fully integrated as possible. There's a school tracking group, a psychologist and a social worker. We work with the family on the value of putting them in school.
Any time we get a child close to school, it's a seed we are planting. You hope not to put the child on the street again. If he returns, we go after him. Education is how we start to break vicious cycles, to give children a better future.
I learn something from the children every day, to be happy under very complex circumstances.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Elena's organization teaches about 200 children, free of charge.
Remember, every CNN Hero is chosen from people that you tell us about. So to nominate someone you think is changing the world, go to CNNHeroes.com. The Republican presidential candidates and contenders, they're getting ready to face off on a CNN debate. We're going to have a preview live from New Hampshire ahead in the Political Update.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: More than 24,000 pages of emails from Sarah Palin's term of governor are being released today. So we asked you, what new details do you expect to surface in the Palin emails?
Well, Ryan says, "I think the emails will show leadership and help make a case for her to clear up her image with Americans. This should be used as a tool to look deeper into her record, not a tool for personal distraction, the way politicians will use it."
Jim says, "I expect to find out that she is even less capable of governing than we already knew."
And Stacey asks, "Is this normal? I'm not a fan, but why release her emails?"
We're going to have more of your thoughts, more on what emails -- what might actually be in the emails later in the NEWSROOM.
It is just three days and counting till the Republicans meet in a CNN presidential debate. Deputy political director Paul Steinhauser, he is joining us from Manchester, New Hampshire with a preview.
Paul, this is when it all gets really interesting and exciting, and the candidates roll out their strategies to become potential candidates. What do we make of what's going to be important on Monday for these candidates?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: This is going to be fascinating. Today, we brought our election bus. As you can see, the CNN Election Express is here, Saint Anselm College in Manchester. We were here four years ago, Suzanne, for Democratic and Republican debates. this time, obviously, only on the Republican side.
And this debate will be the first where we see Mitt Romney. He used to be governor of neighboring Massachusetts, some people consider him the frontrunner, he is on top of most national polls. We haven't seen him in a debate yet.
Same thing for Newt Gingrich. And a lot has happened for the House speaker in the last 24 hours, so I think you can say maybe Newt Gingrich has the most to prove at this debate after most of his top aides, his staff, his advisers left the campaign yesterday.
Also, this will be the first time we've seen Michele Bachmann, the congresswoman from Minnesota, first time for her in a Republican debate. She is not a candidate yet, but she's leaning very much towards that. She says she'll have a big announcement later this month in Iowa. And the fact that she's at our debate I think is a pretty good tip that she's running for the nomination, Suzanne. MALVEAUX: And, Paul, we always look for things to pop in these kinds of debates, especially when it's in the very beginning stages. There's a big group, what do we expect from folks? What do they need to do to stand out, this group that we seen?
STEINHAUSER: That's a great question. I think some candidates really do need to stand out because they don't have a lot of name recognition.
Take former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. He's a social conservative and he is beloved by many people in that community, but he's not well known nationally. So this kind of debate, this kind of arena, a nationally televised debate will give him a chance to try to stand out.
Herman Cain, he is a businessman, former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, a radio talk show host. He's beloved by many Tea Party activists, but maybe not known to a wider audience. This will give him a chance as well.
We'll also see Ron Paul and Tim Pawlenty at this debate as well, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And, Paul, is there any buzz on what's happening with Gingrich? Are folks talking about that thinking who is he going to show up with on Monday?
STEINHAUSER: Yes, there is a lot of talk about Newt Gingrich and what is happening to him. Since he announced about a month ago, the former House speaker has had a number of setbacks, this week is the most damaging, and there's a lot of talk about whether he can survive.
He was very defiant this morning saying, yes, my campaign will survive, I am a hundred percent committed. He says he's going to be at a speaking event in Los Angeles on Sunday night. He's says he'll be right here at our debate on Monday. And then he told me, an adviser of his told me that he'll be in New Orleans at a big Republican cattle call on Thursday. But boy, he definitely will be in the spotlight at our debate, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right, we'll be following all those twists and turns.
Thanks, Paul, have a good weekend.
Well, on Monday, CNN is going to host the New Hampshire presidential debate. Join us as Republican hopefuls gather to size one another up and debate the issues. The New Hampshire Republican Presidential Debate, that is Monday night at 8:00 Eastern only on CNN.
And there's still time to vote for the "Choose the News" story that you would like to see. You can vote for your favorite by sending "22360."
Text "1" for the child caught in the crossfire of the fierce fight in Libya. Text "2" for a look at the bacteria that could be lurking in the water at your favorite swimming spot.
Or text "3" for Alec Baldwin, could he run for mayor?
The winning story will air in the next hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Want to bring you some live pictures of the Casey Anthony trial. We are looking at pictures now, Casey Anthony standing up there, calling for a recess here in the courtroom.
You may recall Casey Anthony was sick yesterday. Now she has spent much of the day wiping tears from her eyes, burying her face in her hands. She looks quite distraught there. She has a Kleenex in her hand.
What took place earlier today, the chief medical examiner was being cross examined. There was quite a bit of discussion about the remains, the body of this woman's child, 2-year-old Caylee Anthony. Casey Anthony here, who appears to be crying, is accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter and you can see that she is emotional here.
There has been a number of photos revealing the skull of her 2- year-old daughter, as well as very detailed information about the decomposition and human remains of her 2-year-old.
She is now leaving the courtroom. We're going to have more analysis of the Casey Anthony case later with Holly Hughes who will break it down for us.
Julian Assange, he is the self-appointed champion of free speech who founded WikiLeaks. Well, he has revealed both the secrets of both dictators as well as democracies. Well, this Sunday a "CNN PRESENTS" documentary reveals a side of Assange that you have not seen with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage.
Our correspondent Kaj Larsen takes you inside WikiLeaks with a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIAN ASSANGE, FOUNDER, WIKILEAKS: My function in WikiLeaks is to take all the heat.
KAJ LARSEN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): The 39-year-old Australian founder of WikiLeaks has risen from obscurity to lead a whistle-blowing insurgency.
ASSANGE: The state has asserted its authority by surveiling (ph), monitoring and regimenting all of us, all the while hiding behind cloaks of security and opaqueness.
LARSEN: Armed with a virtual army of volunteers, Assange has taken aim at corporations and nations. ASSANGE: The material exposes an extraordinary range of abuses.
LARSEN: Exposing secrets that have helped fuel anger and revolt in the Middle East, drawing the ire of the most powerful government in the world, and galvanizing a global following of cyber warriors ready to fight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We feel obligated to step out in WikiLeaks' defense cause if WikiLeaks goes down, then that leaves very bad implications for the rest of us.
LARSEN: A maverick and game changer, he's also under attack for his own behavior.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's taken aim at his own foot and shot it.
LARSEN (on camera): Assange actually just arrived at the courthouse. You can see him. He's going to come right through this gated area into the courthouse.
That's my first glimpse at Julian Assange.
(voice-over): This is one of the most intimate portraits yet of Julian Assange.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Kaj Larsen joins us now.
Kaj, great to see you. Obviously a very good piece of journalism there.
Can you give us a sense of the legal future of Assange now? Where does this stand?
LARSEN: Well, Suzanne, it's an interesting question because, basically, the stakes are getting higher and higher for Assange. He has the case in Sweden where he faces allegations of sexual misconduct or rape, but that really pales in comparison to what we're hearing is a growing investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice where there's been some grand jury subpoenas come down in the last several weeks. So that indicates a very serious legal threat to Assange.
MALVEAUX: And how does Bradley Manning play into all of this? Where is he?
LARSEN: Bradley Manning is actually the linchpin in Assange's legal issues here in the United States. If they can get Bradley Manning to assert that Julian Assange solicited this information from him, Assange no longer has the defense of just being a publisher who received classified information.
MALVEAUX: Remind the viewers who Manning is.
LARSEN: Oh, of course, I'm sorry. Manning, of course, is the alleged leaker, the Army private who allegedly leaked all of these secret documents to Assange. And he's currently been moved to a brig, a military penitentiary, in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.
MALVEAUX: What is the future of WikiLeaks? We saw these guys, these people in the masks, they're an anonymous group. What do we know about what they can they do in the future?
LARSEN: We don't know. I mean, the big picture, 50,000-foot view, is that the leaking landscape is becoming decentralized. There's actually -- you know, Julian Assange has first mover advantage, but there are many other organizations that are starting their own WikiLeaks, if you will. OpenLeaks is a rival organization and even some media organizations are starting their own leaking websites.
MALVEAUX: Kaj, looking forward to seeing this over the weekend. Really excellent work.
LARSEN: Thank you, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Thanks, Kaj.
On Sunday night, for the first time, CNN takes you inside the private world of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Watch "WIKIWARS: THE MISSION OF JULIAN ASSANGE." That is CNN Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Citigroup is tightening its online security after hackers got a look at the information of some 200,000 credit card customers. Citigroup says that no important information was compromised, but CNN's Brian Todd found out that that is not necessarily the case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you do any banking online, you will see that reassuring template -- here is how we will protect your money, your identity. Citigroup has got it, but Citigroup just got hacked.
The company says someone accessed the personal information of about 200,000 North American customers. It won't say how much money was lost. The hackers didn't seize Social Security numbers, dates of birth or card security codes, the company says, but did view customers' names, account numbers and contact information.
(on camera): Can they still do damage getting names, account numbers, contact information?
MARK RASCH, CYBERSECURITY CONSULTANT, CSC: They can try to poach customers from Citibank. But more importantly, they can use that information to try to trick Citibank tellers or other operators into believing that they are the actual customer.
TODD (voice-over): Mark Rasch is a former cybercrime prosecutor at the Justice Department. He says the banks' built-in protections only go so far.
(on camera): On the same page of its Web site where it says how you are protected, Citigroup says it uses 128-bit secure sockets layer encryption technology, the most widely used method of securing Internet transactions available today. Sounds impressive, but can it really protect you?
What does this even mean?
RASCH: What SSL is, it means that from your browser, from this window here, to their computer, there is like a secure pipe that's really hard to break into. It doesn't mean anything about -- it's like driving to the bank. When you're driving to the bank, you're secure. But once you get inside the bank and engage in a transaction, it doesn't mean anything about the security of that transaction or the files when they're stored in their filing cabinet.
TODD (voice-over): Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
