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Thirty Americans Killed in Afghanistan Crash; S&P Drops Rating from AAA to AA Plus; Feeding the Starving in Somalia; Sisters Were Kicked Off Southwest Flight for Crying; Polygamist Warren Jeffs Found Guilty Again; Ted Bundy Blood to be DNA Tested; Hottest Month Recorded in Texas

Aired August 06, 2011 - 17:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone, welcome to the CNN Newsroom. It is Saturday, August 6, 5:00 p.m. on the East Coast. I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

And we begin tonight with this, in Afghanistan, where U.S. forces have suffered their deadliest incident since the Afghan war began. Thirty Americans were killed early Saturday when a large army helicopter crashed in Wardak Province while on a rescue mission. It apparently was shot down by the Taliban.

CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has the very latest for us. Barbara, many of these were navy SEALS and some were part of the same unit that killed Osama Bin Laden.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely Don, what we do know is that 30 U.S. troops were killed on this mission. Twenty two of them Don were U.S. navy SEALS, many from the same unit, not the same men, they've run the check. None of the Bin Laden SEALS were on this helicopter. But many from the same unit. These is one of the most elite commander units in the United States military, of course very highly trained. All indications are at this point according to sources, we spoken to, they believe it is likely the helicopter was shot down. There were reports, credible reports of enemy fire in the area. When all of this happened, the SEALS have been called in to be a quick reaction force, to go to the aid of another unit that was already pinned down on the ground, in the middle of a firefight. They needed help, they needed re-enforcements, they called in the navy SEALS, and this is the tragic result. Twenty two navy SEALS and three other U.S. special forces killed in action, plus of course the crew of the helicopter -- Don.

LEMON: And Barbara, do we know for sure that this was done by the Taliban?

STARR: Well, I think you raise a very good point. In Eastern Afghanistan where this happened, there are so many insurgent groups. You hear the name, the Hukuni (ph) network thrown around a lot. That's a group of insurgents very closely, tied to the Taliban, tied to al-Qaeda. There are foreign fighters in eastern Afghanistan. It will remain to be seen. But the U.S. may have a fairly good idea because there was a firefight going on in the area at the time, they might have a very good indication of who they were up against, but they're going to want to figure out, of course, in this investigation, exactly what happened, what was the vulnerability of the aircraft? How is it possible that enemy fire potentially got to it -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Filling on correspondent, Barbara Starr, Barbara, thank you very much. President Obama was notified of the helicopter crash and released a statement which reads in part, "Their deaths are a reminder of the extra ordinary sacrifices made by the men and women of our military and their families including all who have served in Afghanistan."

Special Forces such as a navy SEALs are a breed apart from many other U.S. troop. And today's incident was a huge vote to all U.S. special forces. CNN spoke with retired U.S. Army General Mark Kimmitt about their unique role in military operations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Number one the mission they have is special operations, they're going against the highest level targets and in many cases the most dangerous targets. With regard to their training, the military invests far more money into their training than they do for a conventional forces this. These are people selected from the conventional forces and pulled out to go through additional training. In the case of army rangers, they go to a special army ranger course. But they're always training, they're self selected from inside the military, the best of the best. And that's why they're given the toughest missions out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Now among the 30 Americans who died in the incident, 22 were navy SEALs, and three were other special forces as far as we pointed out. Seven Afghan commandos were also killed. Tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, I'll be speaking to a former navy SEAL, about the elite forces.

You know, what? It has never happened before, the U.S., the world's largest economy has lost its sterling AAA credit rating, Standard & Poor's downgraded the U.S. to AA plus rating and it could directly affect you, you can have to pay higher interest rates on things like credit cards, and insurance. And that's just for starters. So, listen up. This is just days after the ugly protracted battle over raising the debt ceiling ended with a deal that seems to make almost no one happy. S&P is pointing the finger at Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN CHAMBERS, HEAD OF SOVEREIGN RATING CRIME AT STANDARD AND POOR'S: I think it could have done a few things. I mean, the first thing you could have done is to raise the debt ceiling in a timely manner so much of this debate could have avoided to begin with. It's been done, you know, 60 or 70 times since the 1960s without that much debate. So, that's point number one. And point number two, is it could have come with a fiscal plan, you know, similar, for example to, you know, the Bowles-Simpson commission which was bipartisan. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Huh? We probably need a lot more political analysis about that, analysis about that. But first, I want to bring in our Poppy Harlow, she joins us from CnnMoney.com. Poppy, you know, this essentially kicks the U.S. out of a very exclusive AAA club.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: It absolutely does, Don. Up until about 8:00 Eastern last nights, we were part of just 16 countries to have that pristine AAA credit rating, we no longer do. At least not from Standard and Poor's. We still have it from Moody's and Fitch. I should know at the other two credit ratings. But I want to show you a list of the countries we're talking about, this still hold that top credit rating in the world. Everyone from Australia, to Denmark, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, United Kingdom, you get the idea the United States not part of that anymore. But I want to put this in perspective for you. We still have a pretty high rating, AA plus, just knocked down one notch. We're rated higher than China. China has AA minus rating. This puts us on par with Don, with a country like Belgium for example. So, and this by the way has happened to other countries like Canada, that have after a few years gotten that AAA rating back, Don.

LEMON: OK so, which factors did S&P use? I know there was some back and forth about it. But what do they use to come to their decision to downgrade our country's credit rating?

HARLOW: It's a good question, because there's five main factors, I'll put them up here on the screen so you can see what we're talking about. But the one that got the most attention in all this, Don, is the politics of it. The political environment and we'll talk more about that in a moment. But as we all know, the bickering in Washington that went into finally getting an 11th hour debt ceiling agreement, that did not help at all. S&P pointed at that as one of the reasons for the downgrade. The real economy. How is the U.S. economy doing? It's not doing well at all. The fiscal situation, what was the state of Texas? You heard the head of S&P, that we just heard from say, if we allow the 2001 and 2002 Bush tax cuts to expire in the near term, that would add $950 billion so that would be helpful to our financial situation. Not -- that politically viable though. The external situation, how is the global economy doing? Not very well and finally done monetary policy. But as you know, Don, following this, the politics of it is what were so interesting in this report that S&P issued.

LEMON: I want to talk more about that. How much did politics play into that? Was that at the top of their list? It appears that it was very high because that's what the guy from S&P said, that, you know, hey, Washington couldn't get their act together fast enough.

HARLOW: And the question is, could it have been avoided if Washington had? I mean there's too many things, it's what the fiscal path we're on, what do the numbers tell us? Those were not strong enough according to S&P to maintain that AAA credit rating but it's also the politics of it. And I want to read you a statement that I think is so emblematic of what happened here. Standard & Poor's late last night saying, "The political brinkmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America's governance and policy makers becoming less stable, less effective and less predictable than what we previously believed."

So, Don, they're telling us that they believed that the system in Washington did not work in the way that it should in a country that has the top credit rating in the world. And that's a very scary factor. And I think we're going to hear a lot of outcry out from constituents around the country about that saying that this bickering in Washington, delaying this, dragging it on and on and on, that that contributed to something that as you said, at the outset of the show could affect all of us in terms of our interest rates. And frankly, we don't know how it's going to affect us because we have never seen it before in the history of this country.

LEMON: And it couldn't have happened at a worse time, and we're dealing it right now.

HARLOW: No, you're exactly right. You're exactly right.

LEMON: Bad economy, the housing market not good. Boy, thank you, Poppy. I appreciate it.

You know, the Republicans running for president wasted no time in responding to the credit downgrade. Mitt Romney at first, he released a statement saying America's credit worthiness just became the latest casualty in President Obama's failed record of leadership on the economy. Standard & Poors's rating downgrade is a deeply troubling indicator of our country's decline under President Obama. This reaction now from Michele Bachmann, "I call on the President to seek the immediate resignation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and to submit a plan with a list of cuts to balance the budget this year, turn our economy around and put Americans back to work."

And finally, John Huntsman, he says, "For far too long, we have let reckless government spending go uncheck and the cancerous debt affecting our nation has spread. We need new leadership in Washington committed to fiscal responsibility, a balanced budget and job friendly policies to get America working again."

If you're looking for something, anything positive to say about the economy, there is this. The jobs report for the month of July was better than expected. The U.S. added 117,000 jobs, and that beat expectations. But that's still short of the 150,000 jobs that economists say must be created each month to keep the pace with population growth. President Obama in his weekly address says jobs are his number one priority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES: So, our job right now has to be doing whatever we can to help folks find work, to help create the climate where a business can put up that job listing, where incomes are rising again for people. We have got to rebuild this economy and the sense of security that middle class families have felt slipping away for years. And while deficit reduction has to be part of our economic strategy, it's not the only thing we have to do. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The S&P downgrade, credit downgrade was announced after the president taped his address. So how will the credit downgrade affect the markets? What does it mean for interest rates on your mortgage or car loan? CNN's most filled it out for you in a special report tonight with Wolf Blitzer and Christine Romans is coming up at 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

Meantime, new developments from the very troubled horn of Africa. The latest estimate, 29,000 children dead from lack of food and water in the past month alone. Coming up, we take you inside the crisis and show you what the U.S. is doing to help.

And many of you are seeking information from us through social media, you can reach out to us through twitter, on Facebook, cnn.com/don and on Foursquare.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The famine in Somalia that has left thousands of children dead has tested humanitarian groups like no other crisis. They've had to find a way to feed starving Somalis, were also preventing roaming militants from stealing the food. Nima Elbagir tells us about one solution they have turned to out of desperation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The humanitarian crisis in Somalia is deepening. And aid agencies are trying to use every means necessary in their fight against hunger and starvation.

The World Food Program, through its local partners, is supporting so- called wet feeding programs where food is precooked before distribution.

(on camera) Wet feeding only happens in the direst of humanitarian situations. The last time aid agencies rolled out a wet feeding campaign was in Haiti. For those people that you see queuing here, this is the only guaranteed meal that they have.

And wet feeding is especially necessary in Somali. Increasingly here, the hungry and vulnerable are being targeted for the little aid they are receiving.

CAPT. JACKIE AMONO, AU CIVILIAN LIAISON: It (inaudible) situation to (inaudible) that their food should be cooked. And everybody benefit. It's better that way other than they leave us taking away their food.

ELBAGIR: But it's not just corruption that worries them. One woman who was too scared to speak on camera said her son was killed by members of the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabaab group for accepting western aid.

For these desperate communities, it's a seemingly never ending struggle. They must fight to protect even what little they have.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And that was Nima Elbagir in Mogadishu. Tonight, the Somali government is in charge of that city, it's capital for the first time since 2006. Al-Shabaab, the terrorist group just mentioned withdrew today, now moved by the U.S. government to relax sanctions on al- Shabaab could clear the way for humanitarian groups to help with the crisis.

I want to go now to our senior state department producer, her name is Elise Labott and she joins us now from Washington with more. What do the relax sanctions mean for the humanitarian crisis, Elise?

ELISE LABOTT, SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, up until now, basically any humanitarian group that's trying to operate in these areas has had to pay in taxes and tolls to al-Shabaab to get the aid through, and that's one of the reasons it's so difficult. U.S. sanctions say no money, no U.S. aid can go to al-Shabaab. And if does, this people can be prosecuted. What Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this week is we know how difficult it is to operate in these areas. The U.S. doesn't want to make it any more difficult, and so what they're doing is relaxing these restrictions on humanitarian groups, if some aid inadvertently gets to al-Shabaab, if they have to pay some taxes they're told, the U.S. is not going to prosecute them as of now, Don, because millions of people are at risk. There are thousands of people that have died and as you stayed in that piece that Nima said, the feeding centers are really overburdened, millions of people at risk.

LEMON: So, does this mean the U.S. could be letting groups' aid terrorists?

LABOTT: Well, no, I mean, what the U.S. is saying is there's going to be procedures in place to make sure that as little aid as possible is going to be diverted, but at the same time they don't want to penalize these groups, how difficult it is to get money in. And this is one of the real concerns about the Somali American community right now. They are wiring money home, they want to get money to help their families. But they're worried that it could be diverted to al-Shabaab, al-Qaeda is affiliated with these groups. Seniors, aid department officials are going to be traveling out some of these Somali American communities. In Minneapolis and Seattle in the coming weeks to try and lay these fears, that they're not going to allow money to get to them, but they're going to be as lenient as possible in terms of these restrictions -- Don.

LEMON: Are there efforts besides one you've mentioned that the U.S. is doing to improve the crisis on the ground?

LABOTT: Well, the U.S. has given about half a billion dollars about $500 million so far to give medicine and water and food. And at the same time, they're trying to deal with the long-term effects of drought and food shortages by basically helping countries deal with this in terms of changing their agricultural sectors, make sure they can grow drought resistant plants and giving them drought resistant seed, over the long-term, a lot of these farmers are women, trying to help them grow food that can sustain these drought and food shortages.

LEMON: All right. Elise Labott. Thank you very much. And I want to tell our viewers that CNN's Anderson Cooper and CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be reporting live from Somalia on the devastating drought and famine next week. That's an "Anderson Cooper 360" special report, Somalia, on the frontline of famine. Monday, 8 p.m. Eastern.

And you can help with the humanitarian crisis, for ways to help, go to cnn.com/impact. Our impact your world Web site, we'll tell you what aid groups need and how much you can do to get in touch with them, what you can do to get in touch with them. That's all at cnn.com/impact.

A public official is under investigation for child porn, you may have heard this one before. But this official definitely has a new excuse. You'll want to hear it straight ahead on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICCI WHEATLEY, PASSENGER REMOVED FROM SOUTHWEST FLIGHT: I just turned around and said, excuse me, I said, you don't know anything about me or my situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. So, what do you think? Are those fighting words, these women say talking back to a flight attendant led to southwest airlines taking them off the plane.

More on that just a moment, but first, the downgrading of the U.S. credit rating. Let's bring in now our human behavior expert, Dr. Wendy Walsh. So, Wendy, this is huge blow to the national self-esteem people are bummed about our country's state, right? So, how do you handle these feelings of depression and maybe sadness, that some people are getting, especially, I guess it would be really instead of out of control, just a not knowing really what this means for me and for my interest rates and for my home and my credit cards and my personal finances?

DR. WENDY WALSH, HUMAN BEHAVIOR EXPERT: You know, it's a simple answer, Don, get involved. If you have some sense that you're contributing something. Remember the disaster in Haiti? Those people who were texting their $10 or doing something in some small way, helped them feel that or alleviate some of their anxiety. The same thing, get involved in your local politics. Start voting, if you're not registered to vote, shame on you, OK, and you're over 18. Get involved in the system and the process and then you will have more control. That's the bottom line.

LEMON: All right. Just having the control where you can, good, good, good answer there. OK. So listen, that's good advice. I want to move on now to the case of the L.A. city commissioner, under investigation, just under investigation for having child porn. Now, his excuse, he says, "my tumor made me do it." His name is Albert Abrams, he just resigned days ago as a neighborhood commissioner, he told our affiliate KCBS that a tumor in his spine triggered a split personality saying, quote, "It is what my split personality decided to do. That's what happens when you have tumors." Wendy, are you buying this and what is the split personality?

WALSH: He's talking about a former schizophrenia of course, multiple personality is sort of, but when the call, I was speaking with your producer yesterday Don, and having lunch with at the American psychological association, with the psychiatrist and two psychologists and I bounced this off of them and they laughed, and said, basically he's bull of crap. He's a sociopath. And he's not only a sociopath. He's a sociopath pedophile. So, I wouldn't give much credit to the tumor excuse.

LEMON: I must going to say, I've heard of a split personality before but never a split personality because of a tumor. I've never heard of that. You remember the old days, the civil, remember that? Back in the day.

WALSH: Yes. Yes.

LEMON: OK. So, let's move on now, let's return to the story that we first mentioned when we were starting this segment. Our Dallas affiliate KTVT reports two sisters grief stricken took a Southwest flight from Burbank to Dallas to see their father on his deathbed, Wendy. The one sister asks the flight attendant for a drink and she says, she later overhears the attendant say this, look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHEATLEY: Oh, yes, we're all nervous flyers and we all need a drink. And I just turned around and I said, excuse me, I said, you don't know anything about me and my situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK, so the airline told KTVT that the flight attendant was, quote, uneasy with the sisters on board. So, southwest removed them and booked them on another flight. Wendy, we all have these moments when we could either bite our tongue or say something. So, do you think that the woman should have stayed silent or I don't know, is it worse to keep your frustration bottled up? Especially when a person is grieving.

WALSH: You know, we weren't there, so it's really hard to comment. But in answer to your question about, should we learn to bite our tongues sometimes, we should not be using short-term strategies for long-term goals. Her short-term strategy was to get a drink, her long-term goal was to get to her father's death bed. So, I think sometimes in America, our individual rights and freedom of speech go a little too far. We need to learn how to put on a public personality especially on a pressure situation like an airplane. I mean, a flight attendants are under a lot of stress. And there's a lot of treats to the sky and a lot of treats to them and their job. So, I'm sorry this happened, it seems like a very tragic misunderstanding, but sometimes we just got to learn to bite our tongues.

LEMON: You don't think it was a bit of an overreaction there, and we weren't there, we don't know what happened on that plane but...

WALSH: Again, yes. I wasn't there, I didn't hear the tone of voice, I didn't see the body language and everything else that went with it.

LEMON: OK. Moving on now, Google just had its first International Science Fair, and the top winners were three American girls. What do you think in this? I thought guys were supposed to be better in Science, no?

WALSH: You know, I did a touchdown cheer when I saw this. And the winner, that High School student you're seeing right there. She developed some cellular way to beat ovarian cancer. I mean, it's just amazing. Now, the truth is that women have traditionally lagged behind in the hard sciences. But with the exception of biology. And so, they tend to win in biology. The thing I love about this, it was I think offered into 21 or 91 countries, a lot of countries participated in it, it was online the entry system. So, there was no kind of bias in the registration. Anybody could go online and present their Science project and other piece about it is that, you know, traditional Science fair might have had traditionally old fashioned male Science teachers who encouraged their male students. So, this was an internet free for all, and three girls won, the top honors in all three age categories, so it's really exciting.

LEMON: Girl power, did you do the whole, the touchdown dance, did you spike the ball and everything?

WALSH: I was dancing around the kitchen, I was really happy.

LEMON: Whose side are you on, Wendy? All right, thank you. Congratulations to those girls. Thanks Wendy, I appreciate it.

WALSH: All right. Take care. The U.S. no longer has perfect credit. No longer, no perfect credit for the U.S. For the first time ever, the S&P took the country's top rating down a peg. So, what does that mean to you? We're going to explain.

And take a look at this, dramatic new video inside a Missouri High School when a powerful tornado ripped apart the city of Joplin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Let's check your headlines right now, a deadly day for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Thirty American troops died today when their helicopter trash during a rescue mission and the province of Wardak. The twin-rotor Chinook was most likely shutdown by the Taliban. Twenty five of the dead were Special Forces, most of them, members of the Navy SEALs. The incident was the deadliest for U.S. forces since the Afghan War back in 2001.

For the first time in history, the credit rating has dropped for the United States. Standard & Poor's downgraded the U.S. from an AAA to an AA-plus rating. That could mean higher interest rates on things like credit cards, loans, insurance, you name it. S&P blamed Congress and the Obama administration for the downgrade. The announcement came just days after a much-criticized deal to raise the debt ceiling.

He's a politician by trade, but Texas Governor Rick Perry says there is nothing political about his huge prayer rally today in Houston. Critics say the religious event, televised live to churches around the country, breaks the standard of separating church and state. But Perry says the gathering entitled "The Response" focused on prayer to improve America's struggling economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK PERRY, GOVERNOR OF TEXAS: His agenda is not a political agenda. His agenda is a salvation agenda.

(SHOUTING)

PERRY: He is a wise, wise god, and he's wise enough to not be affiliated with any political party.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: About 50 protesters demonstrated outside the gathering at Reliant Stadium.

Digital billboards across the southeast are putting out alerts about a manhunt for three members of a Florida family. The two brothers and a sister, all in their 20s, are wanted for questioning in a bank robbery. The FBI says the three are armed with automatic weapons, which were used in the bank robbery Tuesday in Valdosta, Georgia.

It looks like a horror film but, instead, it is real-life video from the tornado that tore through Joplin, Missouri just last May. Cameras at the town's high school captured the twister on video as it battered the campus. The tapes were just released. The tornado badly damaged the school and destroyed a big part of Joplin. More than 150 people died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Danielle M. Downs, accepting the degree on Danielle's behalf, is her sister, Michelle Downs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The celebration, yet sadness at the University of Alabama's graduation ceremony. About 4,700 students received their degrees, while remembering six of their own who died in April. That's when a tornado ripped apart Tuscaloosa, Alabama, killing 47 young people. Family members accepted degrees in honor of the six students.

This week's "CNN Hero" survived stage-three breast cancer. Instead of trying to pay back those who helped her, she's paying it forward. You're going to meet her when we come back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: More than a quarter of a million women are living in this country who are diagnosed with breast cancer before their 41st birthday. Debbie Cantwell was one of them. She was fortunate to have a husband and family as a support system. Now this "CNN Hero" is helping others as they cope with this deadly disease.

(CNN HEROES)

LEMON: Since 2008, Debbie's organization has provided practical and financial assistance to more than 150 young women with breast cancer.

Remember, "CNN Heroes" are chosen from people you tell us about, so nominate someone who's making a big difference in your community, go to CNNheroes.com.

Polygamist, Warren Jeffs, found guilty again, this time it was for sexual assault against two under-aged girls. Will the conviction be overturned like before? Legal expert, Holly Hughes, joins me next to talk about this disturbing case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN JEFFS, CONVICTED OF SEXUAL ASSAULT: You don't have to worry about which man, and do they like you, and all the silliness that goes with the world's way of marriage. Let the lord reveal the man that you belong to. It frees you completely from all the terrible mistakes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That is creepy. That was the very disturbing voice of a sexual predator, apparently preparing his young victims in the guise of religious instruction. A jury convicted Warren Jeffs of sexual assaulting two under-aged girls. He's the leader of a polygamous sect. The jury is now considering his punishment.

I want to talk law and justice with Holly Hughes. She's a criminal defense attorney and a former prosecutor.

Holly, Warren Jeffs was convicted and it was overturned. Is there any possibility that's going to happen?

HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY & FORMER PROSECUTOR: No, It's not going to happen, Don, and I'll tell you why. The man chose to represent himself, which anybody will tell you, the man who chooses to represent himself has a fool for a client.

LEMON: Has a fool for a client.

HUGHES: Right? It's not anywhere clearer than it is in this case because when a judge allows you to represent yourself -- and you have the right. They can't tell you no. But they have a very sifting examination they're going to go through with you, very thorough. And they're going to say, do you understand the implications of this? Are you ready to proceed? They're going to ask all of these questions. And the judge told him, you have assembled one of the best legal teams in Texas. Are you really sure you want to do this? And he said, yes, ma'am, I want to go forward. And then he asked if he could have a three-year continuance to go to law school.

(LAUGHTER)

So we know what happened there. He can't now complain, I didn't like my own representation. He can't appeal that.

LEMON: It's hard to laugh about this story but it did make some great television, that's the only thing.

HUGHES: Absolutely. It's tragedy, absolutely.

LEMON: Crazy.

HUGHES: Yes.

LEMON: Crazy.

HUGHES: No doubt about it.

LEMON: All right. Killer Ted Bundy back in the news. He was executed back in 1989.

HUGHES: Yes.

LEMON: What is this about? A vial of his blood, what's --

HUGHES: This is great stuff, Don. Florida has found, in an old evidence locker, unaware that they had it, a vial of Ted Bundy's blood. Since 1989, DNA has come about. We know about it, so they can enter that blood into what we call the CODA (ph) system, which is just a big international or national system where every felon who is swabbed or swiped, their DNA is entered into it. All those old unsolved cases, they pull that evidence out, they use a blue light and an electrolyte (ph) and an alternate light source on it, if there's DNA on it, they can now compare it to Ted Bundy. He was suspected in 100 murders even though he only confessed to 30 and was only convicted in two. So this is huge for --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Are they -- are they going to do that to more people, do you think? Try to -- I'm sure that's going to happen. That's going to happen a lot more, especially with DNA.

HUGHES: Absolutely. It is going to come up, yes, absolutely.

LEMON: OK. This one. All right, come on, you all. A black student in Minnesota suing her school district for a racial incident in 2009 called Wiger Day.

HUGHES: OK --

(LAUGHTER)

-- from a legal standpoint, I don't see this suit going anyway. First of all, it's way past the time, all right?

(LAUGHTER)

She technically did this (ph) within the statute of limitations, but this wasn't sponsored by the school. Maybe I'm just too old and uncool and unhip, I don't get. But we all know teenagers do stupid things. This was a sponsored event but if was sponsored as like tropical dress-up day. So you could come to school dressed any way you want. Apparently, a lot of white students dressed up as black rappers, and -- the baggy pants, part of the imminent thing.

LEMON: Hang on. Not smart, students, to do that. That was not --

(LAUGHTER)

HUGHES: Well, hello, that's what I said. They're teenagers. They do idiotic, stupid, insensitive, politically incorrect things. The school didn't sanction it. The school didn't sign on. They weren't making fun of black students. They think it's cool. Look at Eminem.

LEMON: They thought it was cool. Yes, yes.

HUGHES: Eminem is one of the hottest, highest-number selling music recording artists of this past decade. So I don't think it was meant to be politically insensitive or hateful. I think it was a bunch of kids doing a really stupid thing.

LEMON: It's just dumb. It's just dumb, yes.

HUGHES: Yes. Come on.

LEMON: Yes. And I wasn't laughing at the students. I'm just like, I can't believe that someone would have a Wiger Day. Really?

HUGHES: Unofficial, Don, unofficial, not sanctioned by the school, OK. Yes. Kids will be kids.

LEMON: One of the kids in the studio said, don't take our word, Don. It's our word only.

(LAUGHTER)

HUGHES: OK.

LEMON: I guess that's it. We're done.

HUGHES: Are we done with all the big legal news?

LEMON: Thank you.

HUGHES: My pleasure. LEMON: You are pretty cool. I think you're hip and cool.

HUGHES: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: It doesn't matter if the kids think so.

(LAUGHTER)

Thank you.

HUGHES: Thanks.

LEMON: A family tragedy leads one man on a mission to make life a little easier for all children, including yours. We'll meet him, right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: "The Situation Room" is straight ahead and Wolf Blitzer is live in Washington.

Wolf, a lot going on in our country. You're having to do it live every weekend, it seems.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: Never ends, the news. The news always comes first, as you know, Don, here at CNN.

We're going to be speaking right at the top of the hour with one of the men largely responsible for this extraordinary decision, never happening before, to downgrade America's credit worthiness from AAA to AA-plus. John Chambers is going to be joining us live. I'll ask him bluntly, 24 hours after S&P made that announcement, made that controversial decision, any second thoughts about what it has done. We're going to go deep into this story.

We're also going to be all over the tragedy, what happened in Afghanistan today, those Navy SEALs killed in that helicopter takedown.

All of that and a lot more coming up live, Don, right here in "The Situation Room."

LEMON: We'll see you at the top of the hour, Wolf. Thank you very much.

Each week, CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta introduces us to a person who has done remarkable things despite having to overcome major challenges. In this week's "Human Factor," we meet a man whose rocky childhood inspired him to make growing up a little more fun for other children.

(THE HUMAN FACTOR)

LEMON: Thank you, Doctor.

We're all over the biggest stories today. It is the deadliest incident involving troops in 10 years of fighting in Afghanistan. Coming up, the latest on a helicopter crash that killed 30 U.S. troops.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: In Texas, July was the hottest month on record there. A dozen people have died in Dallas alone and neighbors say at least one of those deaths should have been prevented.

That story from CNN's Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These days, when the sun breaks through the horizon, it comes with a sense of dread. It doesn't take long for triple-digit temperatures to lock a sufficient grip on the southern plains.

LUCY HARRIS, DALLAS RESIDENT: And the system. Wasn't nothing there.

LAVANDERA: That dread struck the heart of Lucy Harris's Dallas neighborhood. Her 79-year-old neighbor, Delores Brisom (ph), died in her home. The medical examiner said the heat caused her death, but Lucy says her friend didn't have to die. Someone stole her air conditioning unit.

HARRIS: She had no idea. She'd sit in her and it was hot. I said, why your house is hot is because your air conditioning system was down.

LAVANDERA: The unit was ripped out of this cage. The family has put in a new one. Brisom (ph) reported it stolen. Two days later she died.

(on camera): What do you think should happen to the people who stole this air conditioning unit?

HARRIS: They need to be put away. That's what needs to happen. They need to be -- they need life in prison for doing stuff like this. I mean, they caused her to die, so they need to be in prison.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Protecting the most vulnerable is an urgent concern for the social service agencies like the Salvation Army. It's opened cooling stations, targeting the homeless. They give out free water and are keeping emergency shelters opened 24 hours.

MICHAEL ALLEN, DIRECTOR SALVATION ARMY SHELTER: And this is every year.

LAVANDERA: Shelter director, Michael Allen says it's a matter of life and death.

(on camera): Have you seen people come in here with heat exhaustion, on the verge of passing out or anything like that?

ALLEN: Uh-huh. Sometimes we have guys at the front gate. They're passed out at the front. We've got to bring them in.

LAVANDERA: Pass out from the heat?

ALLEN: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Some of the hottest spots in major urban areas are on the roadways.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: Command Center.

(CROSSTALK)

LAVANDERA: Inside the commander center of the North Texas Tollway Authority, they are on the lookout for stranded drivers. They can use heat sensors to monitor roadway temperatures in real time.

MARTY LEGE, NORTH TEXAS TOLLWAY AUTHORITY: When someone breaks down and they are out in these kinds of temperatures on a roadway system, it's very dangerous.

LAVANDERA: The numbers are staggering. Workers are recording temperatures of 105 degrees 18 inches below the toll roads. That can cause roadways to buckle and crack. But this is the most stunning number of all. If you're standing on a paved bridge in this urban jungle, temperatures are reaching almost 142 degrees.

LEGE: The actually temperatures are going beyond what we've experienced in the past. And we've not really seen roadway temperatures like this probably ever.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Unfortunately -- CNN's Ed Lavandera reporting, by the way. Unfortunately, there's no immediate relief in sight. The scorching temperatures are expected to continue into next week.

All right. Let's check your headlines tonight. U.S. troops in Afghanistan have suffered the deadliest single incident since the war began. 30 Americans died when their helicopter crashed during a rescue mission in the province of Wardat (ph). The twin-rotor Chinook was likely shot down by the Taliban. President Obama received the news late last night. 25 of the dead were Special Forces. Most of them were members of the Navy SEALs.

For the first time in history, the credit rating has dropped for the U.S. Standard & Poor's downgraded the U.S. from an AAA to AA-plus rating. That could mean higher interest rates on things like credit cards, loans, insurance, you name it. S&P blamed Congress and the Obama administration for the downgrade. The announcement came days after a much-criticized deal to raise the debt ceiling.

A Texas injury heard testimony today that Warren Jeffs raped his then 5-year-old nephew more than a decade ago. Prosecutors called 28-year- old Brent Jeffs to the stand as part of the penalty phase for the convicted leader. Brent Jeffs testified that his uncle removed him from Sunday School to violate him in the bathroom while Warren Jeffs' brother stood guard. Warren Jeffs was convicted of two counts of sexual assault of a minor. He faces possible life in prison. Although, prosecutors say it could be several days before the penalty phase is over.

After 40 years, the FBI is still looking for D.B. Cooper. He's a skyjacker who got away with $200,000 in cash back in 1971. He jumped out of a plane and was never seen since. The FBI confirmed this week that it is working on a fresh trip. The infamous Cooper may be a man known as Lyn Doyle Cooper (ph) of Oregon. Lyn Doyle's (ph) ex-wife and son disagree over whether he's the man that disappeared with the loot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON COOPER, L.D. COOPER'S SON: I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep since I heard the story.

ELSA COOPER, L.D. COOPER'S EX-WIFE: I don't think he would have done it. He would have laughed about it but, as far as doing it himself, I don't --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, as they say, the investigation continues.

I'm Don Lemon at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Thanks for watching. "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer begins right now -- Wolf?