Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. Default Averted; September 11 Memorial Construction Halted; Interview With New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez; Latest News on Dodgers Stadium Attack; Millions Face Starvation in Somalia; Breakfast with Biden; Mayor Flattens Illegally Parked Cars; Child Bride Sex Tape in Jeffs Trial

Aired August 02, 2011 - 16:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Listen to this -- 77 percent of Americans think their lawmakers have acted like spoiled children. And after all this bickering over the debt deal, America's credit rating could still be downgraded.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have come fleeing the drought and the famine.

BALDWIN (voice-over): People are dying. Half-a-million children are starving and terrorists are keeping them from leaving.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was the Ugandan forces returning fire (INAUDIBLE) Shabab.

BALDWIN: Now the U.S. is making a dramatic move in the fight against al Qaeda.

A baseball fan targeted, chased down, beaten into a coma. Now stunning new twists in this case, including the sudden death of a key witness.

He is one of America's most notorious serial killers, but a new discovery could lead investigators to possibly more victims of Ted Bundy. Sunny Hostin is on the case.

And just weeks before the 9/11 memorial opens, construction coming to a sudden halt. Find out why workers are walking off the job.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Here we go, beginning with hour two, breaking news.

Let's take a look at the Big Board, because there may be a deal done and this bill is signed by the president. I'm talking debt ceiling. But you can see the numbers, the Dow taking a huge plunge, down 265 points on this Tuesday afternoon.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

BALDWIN: But let's talk Washington, the nation, heck, really the whole world. They just exhaled this afternoon, because the threat of default has now passed.

The president, Barack Obama, within just the past 90 minutes or so signed the debt-reducing debt ceiling extension.

Joining me now from Capitol Hill, Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey. He voted against the debt ceiling deal today, one of 26 nay votes on the Senate floor.

Senator, it's nice to have you on. Let me just begin with, why no? Why did you vote no?

SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D), NEW JERSEY: Well, first of all, Brooke, this is a contrived crisis that we have never had before, never had a condition to raise the debt ceiling based upon spending cuts or anything else.

But, more importantly, I look at this in a way in which I am concerned that the way this is structured, that the short-term cuts, as many economists have said, could very well create us to tip back into a recession, instead of creating the jobs that we want to see, and, secondly, that the cuts, as they are defined right now, are on the backs of soldiers, students, seniors.

But the wealthiest people in the country, those who fly corporate jets and big oil, they don't have to dig into their pocket for one cent more to help out the nation.

BALDWIN: Well, there's been a lot of talk and a lot of criticism about these Tea Party-backed Republicans who really held these talks hostage. And my question though is this. Did these Tea Party-backed Republicans just essentially school Washington in the art of negotiating, in other words, Senator, how to go to the mattresses and get what you want?

MENENDEZ: Well, look, at the end of the day, I think the problem here is that we have set a precedent where a small universe of people, about 60 Tea Party members in the House, dictating to their leadership and their leadership succumbing to it and forcing one of the two houses of the Congress to either default or accept their terms.

And I understand the president's challenge in that, but if that's going to be the way in which we move forward in terms of governing, then we have some difficult days ahead, because that's not about compromise. That's about capitulation. And the majority of the American people in every poll I have seen, including at CNN's, has said they wanted shared sacrifice. This is no way shared sacrifice.

BALDWIN: Well, we heard a lot from the president with regard to shared sacrifice. I heard that phrase yet again when he was speaking from the Rose Garden this morning.

Do you think he just played a bad hand? Is he just a lousy negotiator for your side? I mean, I was talking to Jessica Yellin at the White House and she said the closer was really the vice president and Mitch McConnell talking.

MENENDEZ: Well, I just think that the circumstances are such that we had these choices. I would have much earlier on created several -- two months ago, created a clear line in the sand that could not be passed, and that meant either raise the debt ceiling and, if you insist on cuts, there has to be revenues with it at that time and explain to the American people the choices and, secondly -- instead of waiting for the final hours -- and in reality, many of us argued that when we had the tax debate last December on the Bush tax cuts, that that was the moment to include the debt ceiling as part of the deal, because Republicans wanted the tax breaks for the wealthiest people in the country as a critical part of what they wanted to see happen last December.

We wouldn't be in this position today. Having said that, what I'm really worried about Brooke, as we move forward, that commission that this law calls for, what it will do. And since Republicans have said they will include no revenues in it from their members who they're going to appoint, which means big oil keeps getting tax breaks, tax havens -- those who use tax havens get tax breaks, ethanol gets tax breaks, all these --

(CROSSTALK)

MENENDEZ: -- get tax breaks, but not the average American.

BALDWIN: It's either tax increases or a lot of cuts from defense, which Republicans, including one Republican senator I talked to last hour, you know, they don't like to hear that either.

But I do want to talk about the fact that you are about to go on recess. And some might -- some maybe call it a much-needed time-out.

What kind of mood, Senator Menendez, do you expect among your fellow Democrats when you come back to Washington, back, back to the Hill? Will your side be smarting?

MENENDEZ: Well, I certainly hope they're not. And I certainly hope that the focus of what we do is a jobs agenda.

I talk to people in New Jersey and they tell me, Senator, I want to get back to work. I want to take care of my own family. And, certainly, I want them to get back to work, because when they have work, not only do they take care of their own families and their hopes and dreams and aspirations, but they have money to spend in this economy to buy goods, to buy services. That creates jobs for others.

That needs to be the singular focus. And I'm concerned that what we pass today doesn't necessarily give us the wherewithal to have that singular focus. I hope when we come back in September that that will be the focus of this Congress.

BALDWIN: Jobs.

Senator Menendez, thank you so much. I appreciate you talking to me.

MENENDEZ: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And from Washington to New York we go for my next guest, Nate Silver. He's the founder of the Web site fivethirtyeight.com. And he's taken his knack for statistics and applied it to politics. He's now blogging for "The New York Times."

And, Nate, I have been reading your blogs. It's good to have you on, by the way. I know you blogged yesterday that the debt reduction deal isn't as bad for the president, isn't as bad for the Democrats as most folks seem to believe. You say it's pretty bad, rather than terrible, in your blog. How so?

NATE SILVER, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT.COM: Well, because of what you mentioned, which are the defense cuts.

About half the overall cuts in the bill, not counting interest savings, come out of defense, security, whatever you want to call it. Also the fact that the cuts are pretty back-loaded. You don't have a lot of a drag on 2012, where you only have about $25 billion -- "only" -- quote, unquote -- coming out of the economy.

But there will be problems potentially in 2013, 2014. One reason why the markets might be worried today is that there's a recession threat both in the near term with some of the horrible indicators we have seen, as well as the medium term. And the deal makes that probably worse, on balance, rather than better.

BALDWIN: You mentioned the military cuts here, with a willingness to cut the military and potentially cut it by a lot. I know you know the numbers. Do you sense, Nate, a change in the Republicans' position on the military at all? That has been part of their bedrock, selling themselves as the party of the defense.

SILVER: Well, this is what happens if you can't cut entitlements and you can't raise taxes and you want to get deficit reduction.

There's not a lot of fat in the budget, in the discretionary budget, except in the Pentagon, in the military. So if you're not willing to touch entitlements or touch revenues, then there's not much way around that. And it's not meant to be something Republicans are happy about. It's meant to maybe motivate them to consider tax increases, which is what people in the public eye want, some targeted tax increases.

But we will see. We will have I think more nasty fights both between the parties and within each party in the next round of negotiations in the fall.

BALDWIN: But in this initial bill, as you very well know, there are no tax increases, which definitely perplexed and perturbed members of the president's party on the left, right? And so what about the president and his base?

I mean, do you think he's left them in the lurch one too many times now, Nate? And what can he tell them at this point to try to win members of his own party back?

SILVER: Well, remember 2004, when we had kind of a country that was pretty unhappy with the way things were going? You had a contest of turnout, and George W. Bush, not that popular, but got his base to turn out.

That's where we could be headed in 2012. A lot of people aren't going to be happy about the direction of the country or the economy, so that base is really important to Obama. With that said, I think a lot of Democratic voters will be scared enough of what Republican governments will mean that they will turn out grudgingly and vote for Obama. They might not donate, they might not knock on doors, so you will have less enthusiasm. But I think he's not in danger of a primary challenge or something like that.

At the same time, Republicans have problems in their base. Tea Party voters were not terribly happy with this deal in their poll, whereas moderates might have a different set of objections. Some moderate Republicans would actually not mind some type of tax increases.

So they have a big philosophical debate to have within the party. It's a bit higher stakes for them in the near term because you have the presidential primary going on. But the whole thing is a mess. No one has come out of this looking good at all. Congress' approval rating is 14 percent. The president's is about 42 percent right now, both record lows for the president and the record lowest number since the '70s for Congress.

So it's really -- you know, voter resentment is really at an all- time high.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: They have got to turn it around.

(CROSSTALK)

SILVER: They do. And with the economy being as bad as it is, it's going to be hard to do that in the near term.

BALDWIN: Right. And that's, though, why we hear the president talking jobs so much. And so many times, an election is just a referendum on the economy. We will see how it goes come next November.

Nate, come back on. It's good talking to you. Thank you so much, Nate Silver behind fivethirtyeight.com.

SILVER: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Coming up, a legend, a musical legend will join me live, Willie Nelson, Willie Nelson. Yes, indeed, you heard me right. He's weighing in on the debt battle and he has something to say to our lawmakers, including what ordinary Americans are really worried about. Don't miss it. Also ahead, millions of people are on the brink of starvation. You have seen these images of these starving children. Right now, not only are terrorists keeping them from food, but there are reports that women are being targeted and raped. We will take you to the front lines in this exclusive report ahead.

But coming up next, horrifying new details on that attack on a fan at Dodger Stadium, and a key witness to the beating has suddenly died.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The more we are learning ability the brutal beating of a man, just wearing a San Francisco Giants T-shirt on opening day at L.A. Dodgers Stadium, the more this whole thing sounds like "A Clockwork Orange" where a young man leads his friends on ultra- violent attacks on unsuspecting strangers.

Remember the victim here, paramedic Bryan Stow? He has been in the hospital ever since that March 31st attack. Now, I want you to take a look at these. I have them. These are the different papers 245 prosecutors filed for a court hearing for the suspects just yesterday. And these were filled in response to a defense motion to reduce the main suspect's $500,000 bail.

And according to these papers, Bryan Stow was not the only victim that day in March outside of Dodgers Stadium. Prosecutors contend the main suspect in the case staged four separate assaults inside the stadium and also outside in the parking lot, and police are looking for more possible victims.

Take a look at the list with me. We're talking about the suspect, Louie Sanchez, allegedly threw a soda on a woman and then had to be stopped from attacking her companion.

Another example, prosecutors say Sanchez ran over to a group of young Giants fans after the game and threw a punch at one of them.

And another, according to prosecutors the attack on Bryan Stow and his friends happened in two parts.

Andrew Blankstein is a crime reporter, he's covering the case for the "L.A. Times."

Andrew, I read this most recent piece here and I want to begin specifically with the attacks on Bryan Stow and his friends. And in particular, one of the lines here that really struck me as part of these documents from prosecutors, and I know you are intimately familiar with, talking about when Stow's head hit the ground, witnesses heard his head impact the concrete and saw it bounce.

This is horrendous.

ANDREW BLANKSTEIN, REPORTER, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Well, I mean, when you look at the details, it reads out as something that's just a total escalation of violence and just completely brutal. And you can understand, given those details about just how horrific these injuries were, why he's been in and out of a coma. And this has been -- you know, when you look at these details, it shows kind of why this case has sparked so much attention, not only in Los Angeles, but nationally.

BALDWIN: When we saw -- prosecutors were saying this attack, particularly on Stow, happened in two parts. Can you explain what they allege happened?

BLANKSTEIN: Well, first, you know, they would talk about obviously what was going on in the stadium, and then the harassment behavior, throwing a soda on a woman, picking fights there. And then there out in the parking lot, you know, basically following this group that included Stow who had a San Francisco Giants jersey and then attacking from behind. And then, obviously, the kicking to the head and just a brutal beat down.

BALDWIN: This suspect here, Louie Sanchez, one of two, I should say, his rap sheet goes back to when he was 16 years of age. Is that right?

BLANKSTEIN: They have, you know, obviously one of the things that the prosecutors are going to emphasize as they move forward with the case is, you know, the criminal history. And you're exactly right. I mean, he has a long criminal history, and they're going to say, especially given some of the earlier circumstances with this case, the fact that there was another suspect that the LAPD had focused on, Giovanni Ramirez, obviously the criminal histories here, the fact that there's not only what they kind of describe as eyewitnesses who saw this, but also this other supporting evidence would say, I think, make their case. That gets us to the next point which was this bizarre twist yesterday.

BALDWIN: Yes, this death over the weekend. Totally odd, totally sad. Talk to me about Matt Lee. What happened?

BLANKSTEIN: Well, what we've been able to -- based on what authorities said, and they were informed of this in court yesterday by this Stow family, that Matthew Lee, while at home or up in the Bay area had some kind of allergic reaction to a salad he had eaten that had peanut products in it. I mean, he's 26 years old. I mean, talk about a case -- again, another bizarre twist in a case that's been full of them.

BALDWIN: Still unknown, as you write, how Lee's death may affect the prosecution's case.

Let's talk quickly about the other possible victims. What are police trying to do to find these possible assault victims?

BLANKSTEIN: Well, they made it -- they're putting out the word through the media that they really want to talk to anybody who was in the sections around these suspects and, you know, and what they saw. Because, you know, there might be some confusion because obviously for weeks on end, we've been hearing about Giovanni Ramirez and maybe people thought, well, it's not the guys that were hassling us.

Now, as it turns out, these two men who were accused, people might recollect what happened that night and that they had some kind of a scrape with them. And I think the LAPD and prosecutors are counting on more people coming forward. And as I said earlier, I mean, they kind of described it as an escalation of behavior that obviously culminated in this horrible act.

BALDWIN: A lot of people go to baseball games and here's hoping someone saw something.

Andrew Blankstein of the "L.A. Times." Andrew, thank you so much. We're reading your pieces day in and day out, thanks.

BLANKSTEIN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Now this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was the Ugandan forces returning fire (INAUDIBLE) Shabab.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Gun battles in a place where millions are starving to death. Terrorists keeping people from leaving areas where there's no food, there's no water and on top of that, in some cases they are stealing the aid from these people. Now the U.S. has just made a dramatic move. We're going to take you to the frontlines next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: There is a crisis happening right now in Somalia, that crisis being a famine, and the United Nations is now calling this the worst food emergency in the world. Millions of people are affected and it's our "Globe Trekking" story for today.

Keeping in mind, another layer of this story is the Islamic extremist group Al-Shabaab. They control much of southern Somalia where the famine just so happens to be the worst. This group is blocking aid, blocking food from getting to these desperate, starving people in Somalia, but the White House is now taking action.

We're going to have more on that in a moment, but first, I want to take you to Somalia. Nima Elbagir here is reporting from Mogadishu on the frontlines. She got this exclusive access to the troops, to these A.U. troops and their mission. She's embedded with them. No other reporter is doing that.

The situation is getting increasingly dire by the day. I talked to Nima last hour and asked about the fact, though, that this crisis, the drought, the famine, it is nothing new.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This really isn't the case here. We've had drought warnings year on year. We've known the insecurity was also going to exacerbate that. We've known for a while that Al-Shabaab, the militant group, have a problem with foreign aid organizations working in their areas. All of that was a toxic cocktail that was always going to result in this kind of humanitarian catastrophe. And then you have the African Union, 9,000 troops doing the work of the world in attempting to stabilize a country the size of Somalia, Brooke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was Nima. Now I want to go to the State Department to Jill Dougherty.

Jill, on the side of the United States, we know that the White House is stepping in, the State Department specifically. Talk to me about this new guidance that will help some of these organizations who are trying to get food and aid in to these starving people and their children.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke, you know it was really a catch-22 because what would happen is Al- Shabaab controls two of the territories where really the people are suffering the most and there's a rush to try to get aid to them, but aide workers couldn't even get into those areas.

And if they did, this legal catch-22 came in that if Al-Shabaab stole their supplies or they had to pay bribes to get in, then they were liable to be prosecuted by the United States for violation of U.S. sanctions against Al-Shabaab. It's really crazy.

So what they have done is they have changed that just today, and now --

BALDWIN: So they wanted be prosecuted?

DOUGHERTY: Exactly. Those aid organizations, basically can, if they go in good faith, they're trying to get food, medical aid, et cetera in there, and if it happens to get into the hands of Al- Shabaab, they say that they will not be prosecuted. It's very, very important.

BALDWIN: The issue then, I guess, the legal details of all these different changes, that that gets ironed out later, but the point being, they want to get food in and they want to get food in now.

DOUGHERTY: Absolutely. You know, the statistics they were giving us today, almost 12 million people affected by this famine. And the people being hit the most, they're children, they're 1.2 million children, and 600,000 of them are gravely malnourished. I mean, they need immediate help. So that's the whole idea.

They know that some of this aid and money, et cetera might get into the hands of Al-Shabaab, but they're saying at this point it's really, you know, priority is to get in there, triage and get the assistance to the people who need it.

BALDWIN: They need the help, they do indeed. The faces are just heart wrenching, these images.

Jill Dougherty from the State Department. Jill, thank you.

Coming up after the break, we will ahead back to the New York Stock Exchange where the Dow took a tumble at the end of the trading day. Alison Kosik is going to break it all down for me next.

Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: President Obama signs the debt bill that warns the battle is far from over and the U.S. credit rating could still be downgraded. Time to play "Reporter Roulette." And, Jessica Yellin, let's begin with you there at the White House.

We heard from the president this morning. The president, also Congress, you know, now saying they are now able to tackle jobs and unemployment, but has anyone actually outlined a plan?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it depends how you define "plan," Brooke. Both have what they call a jobs agenda.

The problem is there's no overlap. The president, you know, you hear him talk about his list. You've heard it before. He wants to motivate investment, infrastructure, get trade deals done, you know the list. Republicans, they talk about wanting to cut taxes, entitlement programs, which could help grow private sector investment.

But the big question is how do you accomplish something when there's so much - so little overlap and so much acrimony between the two parties and seeming inability to reach compromise without a crisis? And bystanders here in Washington fear there won't be much done on this front until after the 2012 election.

BALDWIN: You look at the numbers. Six Senate Democrats, 95 house Democrats voted against this compromise. How much did the president alienate his base?

YELLIN: Well, there are some here talking in this town, some Democrats using that old word from the Clinton days, triangulation. Where, you know, the president moves over to the other side to win over support.

White House officials make the case that they're going to show Democrats that they protected important Democratic programs in this deal. Food programs were protected from cuts. Pell grants were protected from cuts, etc. Medicare not explicitly on the table unless certain, extreme things happen because that commission failed to act.

If I put on my political analyst hat, the big question is, where are these liberals going to go? My sense is when the campaign revs up, the presidential campaign will be largely about making whoever that Republican candidate is look as extreme as possible. And that will motivate that Democratic base to get engaged if they can be engaged.

BALDWIN: OK. We'll be watching. Jessica Yellin taking a break from the heat outside, live in the bureau. Forgive me. Jess, thanks so much.

Next here on "Reporter Roulette," despite the Senate's approval of the debt deal and the president signing it this afternoon, the American economy not out of the woods yet. Alison Kosik live at the New York Stock Exchange. And first, Alison, let's just look at the numbers. To use your word, plunged today.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It did, it did. And you know, what's interesting is you said the economy not out of the woods yet. What's interesting is it never was out of the woods. The focus of everybody just changed to the debt ceiling issues. And now that that uncertainty is kind of off the table, we've got more certainty on the debt issue, the focus is being put on the broader economy.

And you know what? Wall Street doesn't like what it sees. Investors got spooked today by a consumer spending fell for the first time for almost two years. It showed that saving rates are up. And that means that Americans, they're socking away their money. They don't know what to expect in the economy. They're afraid about jobs, so they're trying to put away more money.

Add to the mix here, we had a weak manufacturing report, weak GDP reports. That's the broadest measure of economic growth here in the U.S. Those are also weak. So all signs point to a lot of weakness in the economy, and that is why you saw stocks tank today. Brooke?

BALDWIN: Also speaking about not out of the woods - and here's the question I and I know a lot of other people really want answered - is will our credit rating be downgraded? We've yet to hear from S&P, we have yet to hear from Moody's. Do you know when we'll hear? When we will know?

KOSIK: Well, you know what? We heard from Fitch. Fitch made a decision and it's actually good news. I've got some good news.

BALDWIN: A-ha!

KOSIK: Fitch says it's going to hold -- yes, can you believe it? It says it's going to hold the U.S. credit rating at AAA even though there are still a lot of issues to work out. But you know, some are saying, you know, a downgrade by Standard & Poor's is still inevitable. S&P, it's been the most vocal agency in all of this. And if this happened, Brooke, this would be a big deal because if the U.S. government's rating is downgraded, it could raise the nation's borrowing costs. And the borrowing costs for businesses and consumers as well.

And that would, of course, be an even further drag on an already very weak economy that's already having trouble picking up steam. We don't need that, but of course, we're going to keep an eye on it. Brooke?

BALDWIN: I know you will. Alison Kosik, thank you so much. And that is your "Reporter Roulette."

Listen, if you hang out in Washington long enough, you will catch a glimpse of some bigwigs. But a Marine scored an invitation to breakfast - take a look at the picture. Breakfast with, you know, the vice president. Joe Johns has the scoop in our "Political Pop," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: To New York, where hundreds of cement and concrete workers at the World Trade Center and other sites stayed home. Many of them, they are angry over expired contracts and proposed pay cuts. The Port Authority insists the city wide stoppage will not affect construction of the 9/11 Memorial which, by the way, is still on track to open September 11.

And a legend has just called in. Coming up next, Willie Nelson will join me live. He has a thing or two to say about the debt battle, and what Americans are really worried about. Willie Nelson, next. Folks, don't miss this!

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Guess who's on the phone line? Willie Nelson on the phone line. He's about to talk debt with me. And I know what you're thinking. Willie Nelson? Debt? what? What prompted this conversation we're about to have.

Well, let me go back. This whole thing started with my colleague Anderson Cooper. If you were watching 360 last night, he and CNN political analyst Paul Begala were talking about the House debt vote yesterday. Paul was on TV, he mentioned he got an email from his buddy Willie, Willie Nelson saying that Americans are more concerned about, you know, a roof over their own heads than a ceiling on their debt.

So, Willie Nelson on the phone line. Willie, it's good to have you on the phone and talk to you again. Let me just - let me ask you. You're on your tour bus from Montana. And what specifically are you getting from your fans when it comes to the debt ceiling? What are you hearing?

WILLIE NELSON, SINGER/SONGWRITER (on the phone): Well, honestly, we play for all kind of people out here, and they're much more worried about ceilings over their heads these days, roofs over their heads than they are the debt ceiling. I'm sure that's very important to a lot of people, but it's kind of hard to convince the farmers out there that it's the most important thing, especially when they go to the bank and find out what their debt ceiling really is.

BALDWIN: When you talk to these farmers, you talk to folks in Montana, you were in Oregon a couple of days ago. You're across the country. What are their biggest frustrations? Just in general?

NELSON: Well, the fact that the farmers aren't making enough money. We could really utilize our family farmers, our small family farmers a lot more than we do. They can grow our food and our fuel. We don't have to run around the world, starting wars over oil. We can grow everything we need right here in our country, and our farmers need the work. And we just need to put more young people out on the farms to start farming for us.

BALDWIN: I want to share a poll with you. I know a lot of people have been polling. The president has signed this debt deal, this bill now. Officially signed.

But CNN did the first national polling on the debt deal last night. Here's what we found. Fifty-two percent disapprove of this deal that has now passed. Why when you talk to these regular folks, why do you think they're so disappointed in this?

NELSON: Well, because it's not really about them. It's more about, you know, the people who have all the money. The farmers out there and the working people, they don't have the debt ceiling to worry about.

Have you heard about the Tea Pod party?

BALDWIN: I've heard of the Tea Party.

NELSON: No, no, this is a new one.

BALDWIN: No, Willie Nelson. I don't know if I want to ask. Throw it out on me. What's that?

NELSON: Well, no, it's just, you know, when I got in a little problem down here in Texas awhile back, I said, well, there's Tea Party. So what we need is a Teapot Party. So, I kind of formed one, and the next thing you know, thousands of people all over the country and every state in the union have joined up. So, I just wanted to kind of fill you in where I was there.

BALDWIN: OK. Well, thanks for filling me in, Willie Nelson. But I do want to ask, though - I do want to ask -- if I'm correct, you're 78 years young, is that right?

NELSON: That's right. April 30 is my birthday.

BALDWIN: OK. So, you're 78. You've been performing for -- your career has spanned six decades. You've lived through a lot. I mean, how do you compare this particular issue, this debt mess to other issues you have been outspoken on through the years?

NELSON: Well, you know, for 25 years in a row, we have been doing Farm Aid. Which is a benefit, calling attention to the problems that the farmers are having and have been having. We have lost millions and millions of small family farmers. And so, that's what me and Neil Young, John Mellencamp and a lot of others, Dave Matthews and a lot of others, every year for 25 years have had Farm Aid. And we're having Farm Aid this year, August 13 in Kansas City. Again, trying to call attention to the farmer's plight.

BALDWIN: I understand your passion about the farmers. You're passionate about your music. Listen, I do a little thing called "Music Monday" each and every Monday. So, if you ever swing through Atlanta, Willie Nelson, I'm going to come find you, all right? You come find me here at CNN. Deal?

NELSON: I look forward to that, Brooke. It's nice talking to you.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much, Willie Nelson. I appreciate it.

NELSON: My pleasure.

BALDWIN: Cue music.

NELSON: See you on the bus.

BALDWIN: See you on the bus!

When you visit Capitol Hill, as we mentioned, you do run into some pretty powerful people. But it's not every day one of them invites you to share some scrambled eggs and bacon.

Joe Johns is here with that story in today's "Political Pop." And Joe, just connect the dots. It's an amazing story. I know Matt Hoy, one of our producers in D.C., you know found this. So, you have this wounded warrior, what, yesterday? Just happens to be there during the debt negotiations and run into Vice President Biden?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Right, right. Well, his name is Todd Love. And he is a wounded warrior. He was hurt in Afghanistan, lost both legs and an arm, and the thing that's kind of interesting about this is that the capital is full of Joe Biden stories.

You know, he's a colorful guy. He worked here for so long and this is just another one of those stories. Apparently, Biden is walking out after the big House vote on the debt limit and he sees the corporal there on the first floor of the United States of the Capital according (inaudible), stops, strikes up a conversation with him.

At first, apparently, invites him over to the White House and decides he wants to make it a little bit more personal and says, why don't you come over to my house tomorrow for breakfast and so he did. So not only do we have the photograph that went up --

BALDWIN: Yes, here it is.

JOHNS: But we actually have I think some moving video as well. And we have a tweet that the vice president put out, you know, we reported some time ago, he started this Twitter account.

We have a tweet that he put up today. Had breakfast with true American hero at my home this a.m. great getting to you USMC Corporate Todd Love and dad Gary, retired USMC.

So looks like second generation in the Marine Corps there. Interesting story and you know, I imagine they'll stay in touch, too, knowing Joe Biden.

BALDWIN: You never know who you get to run into on the Hill. Maybe even you run into Joe Johns if you're lucky enough. Joe, I appreciate it very much. Thank you. I know you've had a long day.

And now this, mystery solved. A Florida farmer can stop wondering what happened to his chicken and goats. It has something to do -- boy, with this creature. You got to see this as next, just my biggest fear in the world, the snakes.

But first this, "Forbes" has released its annual list of Hollywood top earners. So which actors raked in the dough between May of last year and this year. It's a lot of money we're talking about here.

Rounding out the top five with $35 million, two-time Oscar winner is Tom Hanks. Number four has been preoccupied launching the careers of his mega star kids. Will Smith earns a cool $36 million. And number three title, Hollywood's third highest earner, funny man, "Just Go With It" star, Adam Sandler. So which Tinseltown heavyweights made the most moolah last year? You think of guesses who could it be? After the break, the answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: If you' been thinking about this, here's the answer. "Forbes" magazine just released it list of Hollywood's biggest earners, the two top Hollywood highest paid actors raking in the money coming in at number two, here's a clue, Jack sparrow, making $50 million a year. I give you Mr. Pirates of the Caribbean, Johnny Depp and the leading man who made $27 million more than Depp with a whopping $77 million, Leo DiCaprio. Not too shabby.

So a south Florida man was baffled when small animals started to just up and disappear from his backyard. He probably should have asked that 11-foot python what happened. You got to see this. I can't even look at this because I'm so fearful of snakes.

But I will tell you that Miami Dade Fire Rescue received a call over the weekend after a farmer saw a giant snake slither under a trailer in his backyard.

Turns out this giant snake, 11-foot Burmese python, it took not one, but two crews 10 minutes to pull this serpent out. Much to the relief of the farmer and his family who had seen their goats, their chickens, and their cats disappear. Let's move on, shall we?

If you ever get the chance to visit Vilnius, Lithuania and can't remember anything else, listen to this -- do not park illegally because this will happen. Mr. Mayor, I think that might have been a Mercedes. They take their legal parking very seriously. It was a Mercedes in Lithuania. Who knew?

And we're mere minutes away from my friend and colleague Wolf Blitzer coming with "THE SITUATION ROOM."

And, Wolf, what a day? What a past few weeks it's been here talking debt. We officially I saw the picture at least in my email, the picture of the president signing this bill. It's official now. Everybody gets to go on vacation for a bit.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": The House already has recessed until September 7th. The Senate is about to recess until September 7th. There's the president of the United States in the oval office. Not a big signing ceremony. He's got a bunch of pens in front of him if you look on the desk.

BALDWIN: How many?

BLITZER: I don't know how many he's got, but he's got a bunch maybe a dozen pens. But you don't see a lot of members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans. You don't see the leadership there at this big signing ceremony.

He did it privately. He went into the Rose Garden earlier in the day to deliver his speech as we all know. But they got this problem resolved, members of Congress can now -- but they ran to Washington, Reagan National Airport, Dulles Airport, Baltimore Washington Airport. They got out of dodge as quickly as they can.

Go read my blog, CNN.com/situationroom. I write about what they're going to be doing over the next five weeks. Some are going on fact-finding missions. Others are going to go on some junkets. It's going to be a source of interest to see where these members hang out in their districts and their states. Maybe doing some work, not doing some work. We'll see.

BALDWIN: That was nice though when you look at D.C.

BLITZER: You know what I liked today, Brooke.

BALDWIN: What's that?

BLITZER: I told Jessica Yellin when she was in the Rose Garden --

BALDWIN: To wear sun screen.

BLITZER: And you tweeted that right away. You told your followers, and you got a lot of them, to go ahead and make sure they always wear sunblock. I checked with Jessica, she was wearing sunblock.

BALDWIN: Very good. I was applauding you as I was watching your exchange with Jessica. Fantastic. BLITZER: You always wear sunblock.

BALDWIN: You got it, sir? You got it. All right, Wolf. Thank you. We'll see you a couple of minutes on "THE SITUATION ROOM."

Meantime, one of America's most notorious serial killers could help investigators solve some cold cases even though he has been dead for more than 20 years. Who are we talking about? Sunny Hostin is "On the Case" that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: An audio recording of polygamist leader Warren Jeffs giving sex instructions to one of his child brides is now being played in his child sex assault trial today.

Sunny Hostin is on the case for us and Sunny, you know, prosecutors they called this Texas ranger to the stand and they're playing this audio of Warren Jeffs in one of his spiritual brides. What is on this audio?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: It's really incredible, Brooke. Apparently, the jurors today heard a recording of Warren Jeffs speaking to his 14-year-old celestial bride.

He's giving her instructions on what's expected of her, and the context of the celestial marriage. There's also a reference of drawing close and being closer. He also tells her that the prophets and the spirits are with them when they are close.

Many people believe he is alluding to sexual intercourse with this 14-year-old. Now, we also believe that we will be hearing either today or tomorrow tape recordings of Warren Jeffs having sex with his 12-year-old celestial bride.

And that apparently is referred to heavenly sessions or private sessions. But that is something else that the prosecution will present to prove that he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old and a 12- year-old.

BALDWIN: Yesterday, Jeffs filed a motion. He claimed was a revelation, a message to the judge from God. And he claimed that God, quote, "has sent crippling disease upon the judge, which will soon take her life soon."

He wrote this about a judge who had polio when she was a child. Then when the prosecution was close to wrapping up its case here, when they do wrap up, can you Warren Jeffs effectively defend himself?

HOSTIN: I think it's going to be very difficult not only for Warren Jeffs, but really for any attorney because this in effect is a statutory rape case, Brooke, and that's sort of a document intensive case because a 14-year-old and a 12-year-old can't consent to having sexual intercourse.

So I think it's going to be difficult. His defense seems to be that this is a religious prosecution and a persecution, but I don't think that that will carry the day certainly because the judge has already responded that there's no claim of privilege, regardless of religion with communications relevant to the sexual assault of a child.

His defense, while he may believe, there's something to it, I don't think there's anything to it at all.

BALDWIN: We'll follow that tomorrow. Meantime, we have to talk about a story that got a lot of us talking today. It has to do with the fact that it's been more than 20 years since serial killer Ted Bundy was executed in Florida.

We know he confessed to murdering 30 young women before he was sent to the electric chair and police across the country suspected he had many more victims than that. But now can they try to prove it, a vile of his blood, Ted Bundy's blood is now turned up in Florida. How significant could this be for law enforcement?

HOSTIN: It really is significant because, you know, now a days with DNA, you know you're going to have DNA in cases, it's common place. Well, when Ted Bundy was killing women and kidnapping women and when he was executed, there wasn't a national database of DNA.

Well, that exist today and so now we're being told that law enforcement found a vile of his blood and they're going to upload the full DNA profile to a national database and also perhaps send it to state databases.

So that DNA profile can be compared against a lot of these cold cases. It's quite possible that Ted Bundy could be found connected to other victims, other crimes.

Because I think the conventional wisdom has been that he killed many more women than he took credit for. So this is just a huge, huge breakthrough, Brooke, for law enforcement.

BALDWIN: It's amazing to think because I know some of these cold cases go back, Sunny Hostin, something like 50 years. To think about the DNA and the evidence in these cases we'll have to see if they can find these this full profile and to find other victims.

Sunny Hostin, I thank you so much as always on the case with me. And I thank you for watching. I'm Brooke Baldwin here in Atlanta. That is it for me.

Let's go now to Washington. Wolf Blitzer and "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts now.