Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Rick Santorum: A Closer Look; Santorum's Chances in New Hampshire and South Carolina; Changes in U.S. Military Strategy; Casey Anthony Speaks; American Teen Deported; Syria: A Defector's Story; Santorum On Military Cuts; Poll: Romney Way Ahead In New Hampshire; Critics: Ads Could Stigmatize Obese Kids
Aired January 05, 2012 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
Let's get you caught up on everything making news this hour, "Rapid Fire." Let's go, beginning with the military, and specifically shrinking the size of it and likely ending America's ability to fight two ground wars at once.
President Obama today unveiled a plan at the Pentagon to deal with these deep cuts to the defense budget over the course of the next decade. Now, this plan would scale back ground forces and also shift more resources to air and sea. But despite all the reduced spending, the president claims America will not be vulnerable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, yes, our military will be leaner, but the world must know the United States is going to maintain our military superiority with armed forces that are agile, flexible, and ready for the full range of contingencies and threats.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And do me a favor, stay right here, because in just a couple of minutes I'm going to speak live with General Wesley Clark about his thoughts on today's huge news.
Also today, renewed violence in Iraq in the wake of the U.S. troop withdrawal. A series of bombings in Baghdad killed 24 people and left dozens injured. Car bombs exploded in two busy squares in a Shiite neighborhood, and three bombs were detonated near a group of day laborers in another Shiite neighborhood. But the day's deadliest attacks happened to the south, in Nasiriyah. At least 36 people were killed in this suicide bomb attack aimed at Shiite pilgrims.
On the political front, the Rick Santorum presidential campaign got a very big boost from its near victory in the Iowa caucuses. Santorum's campaign said it took in -- are you ready for this? -- more than $1 million just in the 24 hours after the Iowa voting. Santorum, you know, lost Iowa to Mitt Romney by only eight -- count them, eight -- votes.
And an American teen's family is fighting to get her back after she was deported to South America. She is Jakadrien Turner. She ran away from her Dallas home in fall of 2010.
Her family now shocked to learn that the 15-year-old is now in Colombia, and supposedly pregnant. Immigration authorities say Turner was arrested without I.D. in Houston. She gave them this fake name that belonged to a Colombian woman who was in the country illegally. Her family, meantime, says, yes, they should have dug a little deeper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORENE TURNER, DEPORTED TEEN'S GRANDMOTHER: I just don't understand how it could happen. Someone made a goof. And I think it was in ICE. Someone, they goofed up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: More on that story out of Texas later as well.
Also, police in the wealthy suburb of Orange County, California, they're looking for a serial killer who they say is targeting homeless men. Authorities say the men in their 40s and 50s were asleep when someone attacked them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. BOG DUNN, ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA, POLICE: There were three homeless males who were stabbed, and that's what we're using as our connection right now. But this is still very early on in the investigation. There's a lot more police work to be done here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So one of those killings was actually caught on a surveillance camera. Our affiliate KCAL reports that the first victim found in mid-December was stabbed dozens of time. We are live in Los Angeles coming up.
And the person labeled the most hated woman in America speaking publicly for the first time. And when I say publicly, I mean not exactly by her choice.
An attorney for Casey Anthony says someone must have stolen her video diary which showed up overnight on, of all places, YouTube. In this video Anthony speaks about her new pet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASEY ANTHONY, ACQUITTED OF MURDER: This has just been such a blessing in so many ways. And now I at least have someone to talk to when I'm by myself so I'm not bothering the poor dog who I've adopted and I love. And he is as much my dog as any of the other pets I've ever had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Casey Anthony with a dog.
Anthony was acquitted in July for the murder of her daughter Caylee, who was 2 years old.
And the man who ruled Egypt for 30 years may be hanged if he is convicted on charges he ordered the death of protesters. Today, prosecutors in the trial of Hosni Mubarak asked for a penalty of death by hanging for him and also for four others. Mubarak, who is 83 years of age and ailing, has been lying in a gurney during the trial. Reports say he has been battling cancer and heart problems.
And police shot and killed an eighth grader after he allegedly waved a weapon in his Brownsville, Texas, middle school. The thing was he was just holding a pellet gun.
Police say though that that gun looked so real, they believed 15-year- old Jaime Gonzalez (ph) was a clear threat. They shot him, then they rushed him to the hospital. But he was later pronounced dead.
And inmates armed with makeshift weapons riot in this prison. This is northern Mexico here. Thirty-one prisoners were killed in vicious fighting that broke out after one group of inmates broke this ban on going into another area of the prison.
In all, more than a dozen other prisoners were injured in this fight. The prison is in Altamira, about 300 miles south of Texas.
And a Denver woman is in jail, charged with damaging a $40 million paining at a city museum. Oh, boy. Here's what she did.
Police say 36-year-old Carmen Tisch was apparently so intoxicated, she approached this multimillion-dollar abstract painting, scratched it, did a couple other things, and then urinated on the floor beside it. Tisch is now charged with felony criminal mischief. Repairs to the painting are expected to cost about $10,000.
Yes. Don't do that.
Got a lot more to cover for you in the next two hours, including this --
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: For months, he's been the guy who has never gotten a bump in the polls. And now Rick Santorum is riding a wave. And that mean more questions and new scrutiny.
We're going to hear from him live during the show.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.
(voice-over): There is a serious serial killer on the loose. That, from police in California. And they're warning one group of people, be on guard.
OBAMA: Even as our troops continue to fight in Afghanistan, the tide of war is receding.
BALDWIN: The military is shrinking, and no longer will the U.S. be able to fight two wars at once. Find out exactly how President Obama's move changes the entire future of warfare.
Plus, a new wave of ads showing children in a campaign against obesity. But do they go too far?
And --
TURNER: I just don't understand how it could happen. Someone made a goof.
BALDWIN: -- a teenage girl runs away. Then she is deported from the U.S. And as she sits in Colombia, there is a new twist. She may be pregnant.
We're "On the Case."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: If you watch us every single day, you know all about Rick Santorum. If you don't watch us daily, hello. OK, we're talking Rick Santorum.
He is the new guy. Today, in New Hampshire, Rick Santorum trying to leverage his second place finish in Iowa into a bona fide challenge to Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination. He calls himself the "true conservative," and we're going to talk a little bit more about that in just a moment.
What you may want to know right now is that Rick Santorum has said a couple things in the past, including the very recent past, that have gotten him tangled up just a bit.
Here is Gary Tuchman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Losing by just eight votes to Mitt Romney has certainly invigorated Rick Santorum.
SANTORUM: There's going to be a rematch. And we're going to -- we're going to go to New Hampshire and take -- and take him on. And you know we're going to -- we're going to run a campaign talking about my vision for this country.
TUCHMAN: But we can already tell you quite a bit about his vision for this country. Santorum, after two terms as a congressman and two terms as a U.S. senator, has established a reputation as a conservative in every sense of the word. Just this past Sunday in Iowa, Santorum was talking about entitlement programs.
SANTORUM: I don't want to make a lot of people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money.
TUCHMAN: Santorum's comment came in the state where by far most of the public gay recipients are white. Although he says he was tongue- tied and didn't mean to say the word black. But he did mention the word black in another situation. It was from January of last year. Regarding comments President Obama made as a candidate on abortion, saying it was above his, quote, "pay grade to say when a baby is entitled to human rights."
SANTORUM: The question is, and this is what Barack Obama didn't want to answer, is that human life a person under the constitution. And Barack Obama says no. Well, if that person, human life, is not a person, then I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say no, we're going to decide who our people, and who are not people.
TUCHMAN: Santorum receives significant attention when he gave a quote to the Associated Press in 2003 about the Supreme Court and homosexuality. "If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have to incest, you have the right to adultery, you have the right to anything. Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes, it does."
And he continued, "In every society the definition of marriage had not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality, it's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be."
Santorum has said he wasn't equating homosexuality with all those other activities but was trying to make a larger point about morality.
SANTORUM: I think basically Christian teaching on the subject, that one can have desires to do things which we believe are wrong, but it's when you act out those things that is a problem. And I was simply reflecting that opinion and that belief structure that I happen to hold as a Catholic.
TUCHMAN: Santorum is a staunch supporter of Vatican policy when it comes to contraception. He said this to an evangelical blog site. "One of the things I will talk about that no president has talked about before is I think the dangers of contraception in this country, it's not OK. It's a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. It's a belief that may play well with many in the far right but might be a harder sell among other conservatives."
And regarding national defense, he is certainly the antithesis of a candidate like Ron Paul. If elected as president, Santorum says he would tell the Iranians to dismantle their nuclear facilities and make them available to inspectors. And if not --
SANTORUM: We will degrade those facilities through air strikes and make it very public that we are doing that.
TUCHMAN: Many critics thought Rick Santorum's political career was over after he lost as U.S. Senate reelection in Pennsylvania by 18 percentage points. But his star is once again rising. He hopes his Iowa showing helps him broaden his reach to New Hampshire and beyond.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Want to bring in two people here you just saw in his piece.
Gary Tuchman, good to see you.
TUCHMAN: Good seeing you, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Got a question for you in just a minute.
But first I want to begin with Jim O'Toole in Manchester, New Hampshire, with -- really the politics editor of "The Pittsburgh Post- Gazette."
Jim, I know you've covered Santorum really his whole career, two decades.
Let me just begin with this. Does Santorum have the organization -- and you're there on the ground -- does he have the organization up and running in New Hampshire to really be able to capitalize on quite a strong showing we saw in Iowa?
JIM O'TOOLE, POLITICS EDITOR, "PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE": His folks say yes. His political director is an old New Hampshire hand, and he has actually a pretty extensive network here given the relatively modest resources he had until very recently.
He has a similar ground game in South Carolina. I think the bigger question is, what happens if his momentum carries him on to Florida and the really big media landscape that follows that?
BALDWIN: Quickly though, his folks say yes. What do you see there in New Hampshire? Are you seeing a lot of Santorum people?
O'TOOLE: Yes. I think it's easy to see them now because he is the candidate of buzz right now. His events are drawing lots of people. So it's not a huge logistical challenge to bring people out.
BALDWIN: Jim, stand by.
Gary, he brought up -- he was getting way ahead. We're talking Florida. Let's reel it back for a minute, because obviously you reported on the social conservatism. He had a very strong showing in Iowa.
Let's just the "What if?" game. If he can capitalize on that momentum that we saw, get through New Hampshire -- the next primary is south Carolina which could play well with his social conservatism in the South -- if he can pull through a win, is that even possible, A? And B, how much of an organization do we know -- does he have on the ground there?
TUCHMAN: Well, I'll play that "What if?" game with you, Brooke.
BALDWIN: OK. Thank you.
TUCHMAN: Yes. I think, first of all, New Hampshire, it's important to point out that New Hampshire is a conservative state, but largely fiscally conservative, not socially conservative. So, New Hampshire is not ripe for him.
It's ripe for Ron Paul because New Hampshire is known for its libertarianism. It's the "Live Free or Die" state. That's what it says on the license plates, "Live Free or Die."
So, keep an eye on Ron Paul in New Hampshire. But South Carolina and Florida are crucial for Santorum, because they are socially conservative, particularly South Carolina. He needs to do well in South Carolina.
BALDWIN: Do you think he could do well?
TUCHMAN: I think there's a great potential for it. I mean, it's a game of momentum, politics. And he did very well in Iowa. So a lot of people are going to be taking a second look at Rick Santorum.
BALDWIN: Jim, back to you. When we think of Santorum, we think of Pennsylvania, obviously an important electoral state. Not to get ahead of things, but would you see him as a fit, maybe, maybe, on someone else's ticket such as a Mitt Romney?
O'TOOLE: Well, conceivably, he would be a bridge to part of the party that Mitt Romney, as we've seen, has had trouble connecting with, to the social conservatives, to the conservative base. The question is, you know, the threshold question for a vice presidential nominee is, can he pass the do no harm test?
Mr. Santorum is kind of a polarizing figure, so that would be something that might give people pause. But I have to say, he and his immediate advisers are pretty confident. I don't think they're running for vice president at this point. They think they've kind of got lightning in a bottle and might be able to make a run at Romney.
BALDWIN: And Jim, since I have you -- and I mentioned, you've covered this man for years and years. I know he's 53, father of seven, roots in western P.A. It seems like a pretty nice guy.
O'TOOLE: He can be very engaging, but he can be very confrontational, too, as you saw in that piece that opened this segment. He is very confident, will express himself in colorful language, and sometimes gets away from himself. I think that he would like to take back some of the more florid expressions that he's used to make some of his public policy points.
BALDWIN: OK. Jim O'Toole, I appreciate it.
Mr. Tuchman, thank you very much.
Keep in mind, Tuesday night. This is still the CNN Election Center, right? All eyes on New Hampshire as the new political year heats up. Wolf Blitzer, Erin Burnett, Anderson Cooper, Candy Crowley, John King, ,live coverage all night. the New Hampshire primary starting, again, 7:00 Eastern Time.
The United States should give up the capability to fight two major ground wars at the same time. At least that's according to a Pentagon review just released this week. We're going to dig through the exact potential changes to our military and hear what President Obama has to say about those potential changes. We heard from him this morning.
Plus, a 15-year-old girl is mistakenly deported to Colombia. That girl is an American citizen. And now the girl's family fighting very hard to get her back.
That story coming up in about 10 minutes' time.
And here we go. Video of Casey Anthony surfacing today online. She, of course, you know -- I don't have to remind you -- the young woman who was found not guilty in the death of her daughter Caylee. We're going to play you a chunk of that video coming up this hour on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The United States will no longer have as many fighting men and women at the ready under this new plan from President Barack Obama to deal with all these deep cuts to defense spending. The president made a rare visit to the Pentagon's briefing room -- there he is -- just hours ago with his defense secretary, Leon Panetta, by his side.
Now, they announced a sweeping plan to scale background forces and also to shift more resources both to air and to sea. Under this strategy, 4,000 U.S. troops would be recalled from Europe. And then, within the next five years, there will be at least 47,000 fewer troops serving.
That level of troop reduction, while it is not specifically spelled out under the strategy, would probably end America's ability to fight two ground wars at once. And this is all happening, just to give you a little context here, because the Pentagon plans to slash half a trillion dollars in spending over the course of the next 10 years.
President Obama said today -- vowing that all these cuts will not leave Americans unprotected.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We can't afford to repeat the mistakes that have been made in the past after World War II, after Vietnam, when our military was left ill prepared for the future. As commander-in-chief, I will not let that happen again. Not on my watch.
We need a smart, strategic set of priorities. The new guidance that the Defense Department is releasing today does just that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: I want to bring in retired General Wesley Clark, the former NATO supreme allied commander.
General Clark, nice to se you.
You know this all too well. The trouble in places like -- you have Iran, you have North Korea, you have Syria. How smart is it to shrink the U.S. military at the moment?
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FMR. NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Well, I think it's really smart to focus on the strategic requirements that our military must maintain. The president has put the strategic requirements, emphasizing the freedom of navigation and the access to energy supplies and support to our friends and allies in the Gulf, concerns about Iran, and in the Asia-Pacific area, all of Southeast Asia, and the energy situation there. These are two critical areas that we have to watch, and what he's doing is he is rebalancing our defense expenditures so we can put the necessary investments where the greatest need is likely to be.
BALDWIN: So just to understand sort of where this is going -- and we sort of thought of Libya as an example here. I know you were against U.S. intervention there. That was a case in which there were no U.S. boots on the ground, per se, but we certainly provided air strike support.
General, is that perhaps a model for how war will resemble under this plan?
CLARK: Well, I think it's clear that we've got lots of capabilities. We can intervene again if we have to, to support others the way we did in Libya. We can do much more if necessary. The Air Force, the Navy, the Army still will have substantial capabilities, and we can act in more than one place at once.
The truth is we're out of Iraq right now. We've got a withdrawal schedule for Afghanistan. So these troops that are coming out, these two major land wars, that's where we were. We need to look to where we need to be, and where we need to be is to face different challenges.
BALDWIN: There are layers of cuts, as you know. Who could forget the super committee failure back in November? So that means an additional $600 billion would automatically -- remember those trigger mechanisms we talk so much about -- automatically be cut from the military over the course of 10 years, starting in 2013. At the time -- and we heard this multiple times -- Secretary Panetta gave this morning. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I've warned that by cutting an excess of 20 percent in every area, sequester will lead to a hollow force. It's a ship without sailors, it's a brigade without bullets, it's an airwing without enough trained pilots. It's a paper tiger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Certainly that was then. But we heard those words, "hollow force," echoed. Do those words at all worry you? CLARK: They always worry me, and I'm always concerned when we transition from one defense strategy to another. I've been through several of them in my lifetime in my military service, and they're always difficult on the families and on the country. But in this one, I think we've got to make this transition.
We've got to focus on new security priorities. We've got to take advantage of the success or the completion, at least, of the operations in Iraq and the drawdown in Afghanistan to take those very scarce defense resources and use them for other things -- our national budget, our nation. We need to look at the broad array of challenges.
You know, the greatest threat to America, as one former chairman of the Joint Chiefs said, is our economy and the unemployment in this economy. So we need to see the whole package. We've got to get America growing again economically. We've got to have the right defense, but not more than we need.
BALDWIN: Republicans, though, you read all these different comments today, they're blasting this plan. As you can imagine, they've been highly critical of the president over defense issues. And I know you endorse -- just full transparency, you endorsed President Obama -- Senator Obama -- at the time back in 2008.
Do you think his new strategy at all, General, makes him look weak on defense?
CLARK: Well, of course the other party is going to say that. This is a traditional charge.
But if you go back into the 1990s, when we came out of the first Gulf War, we said we were going to reduce our forces. That was under president George H. Bush and Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, and we began that reduction and we went down appreciably from the Cold War force to a much smaller force. We said it was two nearly simultaneously major regional contingencies.
We didn't say wars. We said contingencies. We used that force through the whole '90s. When we had to go to a ground war, we built it up and we went to that ground war.
We didn't fail going into Iraq because we didn't have enough troops. We didn't actually use the troops we had when we should have going into Iraq in 2003, 2004, 2005.
Our problem in Afghanistan doesn't stem from the fact that we didn't have enough troops in 2001 to do what could have been done and what is being done now. Our leaders chose not to do it.
So I think we shouldn't be distracted into traditionally partisan arguments on this thing. We should take a look at the situation America is in right now, the resources available, what the challenges are, and how best to use those resources to address those challenges.
BALDWIN: Certainly, though, I imagine now in this election year, this is a point we're going to be hearing from Republicans hammering home all the way to November.
Nonetheless, General Wesley Clark, I thank you so much. And Happy New Year to you.
CLARK: Thank you. And to you, too.
BALDWIN: There is new video that has surfaced. It shows a woman with chin-length light-colored hair, bare shoulders, talking into a Web camera about her life. This woman in the video is Casey Anthony, mother of Caylee, who was found dead in her home in Florida.
Coming up next, we're going to play the video for you and we're going to show you a statement about the video from her own attorney.
Stay right here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Guess who is talking now, Casey Anthony. Apparently, she didn't exactly mean for you to hear her. Her self-labeled video diary now on YouTube and her attorney said she didn't exactly put it there.
Someone stole the footage. In this video, the mother acquitted of murdering her toddler talks about her newfound freedom. She was jailed for nearly three years waiting for her trial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASEY ANTHONY, MOTHER ACQUITTED OF CHILD'S MURDER: I've actually now paid for my own computer. The camera was a gift, but these are things that are mine that I don't have to, I don't know, that I don't have to give back.
It's kind of nice finally being able to say that I have some belongings that are mine that I'll be able to take with me after I leave here.
A little surreal how much things have changed since July and how many things haven't changed? The good thing is that things are starting to look up and things are starting to change in a good way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: CNN's Ashleigh Banfield has been following the Casey Anthony story ever since her daughter, Caylee, was first reported missing. Here's the question for Ashleigh. What strikes you most about the video?
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, ANCHOR, EARLY START: Brooke, this is just so unusual that this video log would just sort of surface, given the fact that Casey says on tape that she taped it back in October. It is also just unusual in what is not being said.
She says that she is in a location from which she's going to finally leave in February and hopes that her probation ends early. She's been in hiding ever since her acquittal and her release from prison. But she doesn't say anything else of value.
She doesn't acknowledge the enormity of the story in which she was involved. She doesn't say anything about her daughter who was murdered or killed or accidentally died, depending on what you believe. She doesn't say anything about her family.
The family who many claim she threw under the bus for her defense. She doesn't talk about the extraordinary media attention, the fact that she is actually in hiding. She does say she adopted a dog and she said she is hoping that her probation is going to be cut short.
Short of that though, she just talks about having a camera and a microphone and how she enjoys the fact that she owns things for the first time in a long time and that she doesn't have to give them back. And Brooke, she also mentioned that this may be the first in a series of these online video journals.
BALDWIN: Amazing. Ashleigh Banfield, thank you. That was the first they know I mentioned, no mention of Caylee that we at least saw. Don't forget to watch Ashleign on "EARLY START" 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN, a new show that started this week. Coming up this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They didn't do that work. How do you deport a 15-year-old and send her to Colombia without a passport, without anything?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: A lot of questions in this story. A teenage girl from Texas is deported to Colombia. Now the girl's family trying to figure out how in the world this happened, why it happened and how they can get her back. That story is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: She is not Colombian. She definitely wasn't in the United States illegally. So why was this Texas teenager, an American citizen, deported to Colombia? That is what the family of Jakadrien Turner is demanding to know.
They say they have been frantically searching for her since she ran away from home. That was back in 2010. She is now stuck thousands of miles away and they just want her to come home.
Ed Lavandera is following the story for us out of Dallas today. Ed, so many twists and turns here. Let's just begin with how in the first place could something like this happen if she is an American?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the multimillion- dollar question at this point. As agencies at every level across this governor trying to figure out how this could have happened. Essentially, what we seem to be looking at here is a young girl, 14 years old at the time, when all of this started who has essentially been able to fool not only local police agencies, but federal immigration system and the Colombian government in getting herself deported to Colombia.
All of this started back in November of 2010 when Jakadrien Turner ran away from home here in the Dallas area. She makes it to Houston then April of last year she is arrested on a theft charge. Instead of giving authorities her real name. She did not have identification on her.
She told authorities that she is 21-year-old Tika Cortez and then said she was from Colombia. No identification on her. She serves her jail sentence, pleads guilty to that charge then gets turned over to ICE.
She goes to the immigration process before a judge, gets herself deported. After all of that, the Colombian authorities still have to come in and then give her the proper paperwork to ensure that she gets sent to Colombia.
Somehow manages to get that. Authorities are scrambling, trying to figure out how all of this could have happened. But her family who we spoke to her mother and grandmother at great length last night, they say they that think there is something more sinister going on here.
BALDWIN: So, OK, a lot of questions. Obviously one being, and you're not going to have the answer to this, Ed Lavandera, but why she would use this fake name, Tika Cortez all through this process.
I know ICE said they believed her story because she maintained this false identity all the way through. Second question is now she is in Colombia. I understand the Colombian government is refusing to release her. Why?
LAVANDERA: Well, remember, she has essentially been given Colombian citizenship. She has a Colombian passport. She, we understand now, is in the custody of a government agency in Colombia that basically looks out after juveniles in dangerous situations.
Almost like a foster care situation, is my understanding. She is being held in that situation down there in Colombia. What her motivations are, aren't clear. She is -- her family had been tracking her on Facebook.
I've read some of these Facebook messages and posting that she has left. It almost seemed like obviously, a child going through a lot of issues. Some of the postings seem to suggest that she wanted to get away, wanted to get to Colombia.
Her family members believe this isn't the case, that there is something else going on here. That she is being coerced. They don't see how a 14-year-old girl could fool so many people on so many different levels for this long to get herself deported.
So they worry very much about what's going on here. Also, they have come to find out that she is pregnant in Colombia right now.
BALDWIN: You mentioned you spoke with the family. Here's what the grandmother told you. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Do you have any idea how she could have gotten to where she is using this fake name and getting to Colombia?
JOHNISA TURNER, JAKADRIEN TURNER'S MOTHER: I mean, there has to be adults involved. No 14-year-old can change their name and get to Colombia on their own.
LORENE TURNER, JAKADRIEN TURNER'S GRANDMOTHER: I just don't understand how it could happen. Someone made a goof. I think this was in ICE or someone. They goofed up.
JOHNISA TURNER: Yes, they dropped the ball.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Ed, last question. Does the mother, does the grandmother, do they have passports? Might they go to Colombia to try to physically bring her home?
I hate that noise. We're left hanging on that one. Ed Lavandera maybe you can tweet us and let us know. Ed Lavandera for us in Dallas. Thank you very much.
Tortured in underground prisons, fake ambulances used to attack protesters. Coming up next, a Syrian defector reveals to CNN, what he calls horrific acts by state security forces in Syria. Stay right here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We told you this up front on CNN. You know, we've really had a heck of a time trying to cover the teetering situation in Syria.
The Assad regime doing all it can to keep us out. Us, other members of the media, and the regime is involved in flat out misinformation, denying widespread killings.
And that's why the story we're going to air right now is crucially important. This is the view of a defector from within the government's ranks. Here is CNN's Arwa Damon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the Syrian capital, the defense ministry is the nerve center of the regime's efforts to stamp out unrest.
MOHAMED SULEIMAN AL-HAMAD, SYRIAN GOVERNMENT DEFECTOR (through translator): My office is on the 12th floor of the Ministry of Defense.
DAMON: Mohamed Suleiman Al-Hamad worked at the ministry for years. His official I.D. describes him as a financial inspector. Not part of the regime's inner circle, but in a position to see the wheels of repression at work.
AL-HAMAD: During protests in Damascus, armed gangs filled the green public transport buses and dispatched from our offices flanked by four-wheel drive vehicles, filled with weapons.
DAMON: And those they didn't kill, they brought back.
AL-HAMAD: On a daily basis, I used to see them bringing in blindfolded and handcuffed detainees on buses. They were kept in underground prisons. Some even built under streets.
DAMON: And he makes this chilling allegation.
AL-HAMAD: What's more horrific is the intelligence vans carrying the red insignificant labeled Red Crescent drive through the protests as ambulances and fire at the protesters.
DAMON: He said he oversaw spending at the Defense Ministry. He tells CNN that the regime hired hitmen paying them $100 a day. It spent so much on the security crackdown that the budgets of other ministries had to be cut by a third. He said for a while he hoped there would be compromise.
AL-HAMAD: We were hoping the killing would stop and the regime would understand that the revolution will win and maybe find a way to appease the people. There was no hope.
DAMON: As a climate of fear took hold, he decided to get out.
AL-HAMAD: So I traveled to Egypt through the airport normally with the excuse of registering my son in college in Egypt. When the rest of my family followed me, I announced my defection in protest of what is happening in Syria.
DAMON: Much of the carnage he blame on the intelligence services and armed gangs, not regular troops.
AL-HAMAD: Bashar Al-Assad is no longer able to control these human monsters.
DAMON: Two weeks after he fled Syria, Al-Hamad has this message for the outside world.
AL-HAMAD: We have received a phase of genocide and this can't be tolerated under any circumstances.
DAMON: Arwa Damon, CNN, Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney squeaked out a win. Talking eight votes here at the Iowa caucuses this week. As you know, New Hampshire is next.
Coming up, we have a brand new poll out from New Hampshire. We'll share the latest numbers with you next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Soledad O'Brien working double duty today tracking down Rick Santorum in New Hampshire. She asks him about today's news that the Obama administration is now shrinking the military. Here's that exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The president as you know had a press conference. I was wondering if you caught some of the details.
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I haven't.
O'BRIEN: One of the things he's saying is a major budget cut for military spending.
SANTORUM: I'm against that.
O'BRIEN: OK, so what would your --
SANTORUM: This is the typical Obama approach, which is cut the number one responsibility of government and creates a bigger welfare state.
O'BRIEN: So what would be your approach?
SANTORUM: Not to cut defense at all of period. It's not the problem. It is only 20 percent of the overall budget of the country. It is not where the growth of government has been.
It has been in entitlement and social spending. It is the area that a president wants to continue to expand and it is not the core function of the federal government.
O'BRIEN: If you -- your plan --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: That just a short time ago in Manchester, New Hampshire. Soledad will talk about this encounter with Santorum tomorrow morning 7 a.m. Eastern Time, "STARTING POINT" new show this week, starting this week on CNN.
And let's stay with the political theme here. Let's get to an America's Choice 2012 politics update with Wolf Blitzer who I actually haven't talked to since I saw you in person here in Atlanta.
Bravo, by the way. I'm last to congratulate you on quite a late wonderful night here Tuesday night.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": It's 3:31 a.m., you were, you stayed with us until 3:31 a.m. BALDWIN: Of course, I did. My nose is growing longer and longer as I say that. I was with you a long time. I will say that. Did you run your five miles the next day?
BLITZER: I did, I did. I went to bed at 4:00 a.m. Got up at 8, ran on the treadmill, 5 miles as I did this morning. I try to do it every day. I'm trying.
BALDWIN: I think of you as I'm on the treadmill as well. Wolf, let's talk about this new poll here. We're now channeling the focus to New Hampshire. No huge surprise. Mitt Romney doing very, very well.
BLITZER: Very well in New Hampshire. And this new Suffolk poll, similar to our poll the other night. But look at this, Mitt Romney right now and it's only five days before the New Hampshire primary, 41 percent.
Ron Paul is doing pretty well coming in second, 18 percent. He has a good organization there. Newt Gingrich and Jon Huntsman, 7 percent. Rick Santorum has moved up to 8 percent. In our poll, he was at 10 percent.
Rick Perry not doing so well. He got zero percent in this latest poll. Rick Perry is an interesting guy. He is the Texas governor. He says on Tuesday night after he didn't do well in Iowa, he's going to go back to Texas and reassess.
He reassesses. A few hours later, he says he's in it. He's off to New Hampshire, off to South Carolina, but you know what he's doing today and tomorrow?
BALDWIN: What's that?
BLITZER: He's hanging around in Texas. I don't know why he's doing that. He should be out campaigning either in New Hampshire or South Carolina. The Texas primary is a long, long way down the road.
Maybe he's recharging his batteries a little bit. If you're in it, you have to show that you're in it. You have to be, to his credit, Newt Gingrich, for example, he was done by 2:00, 3:00 in the morning in Iowa.
He got on a red eye and flew all the way to New Hampshire. He was out campaigning the next day, the next morning from New Hampshire.
So these are the final days, and if you want to be a player, can't just sit around and relax and go jogging. You have to get out there and fight.
BALDWIN: Mitt Romney, he is out there. We know he is in New Hampshire and also South Carolina today. Clearly, you know, he has a bit of money. He has the monetary advantage that affords him to, quote, "spread the field."
Can he afford, we were talking about Santorum earlier in South Carolina. How he may play well there. Could Mitt Romney, Wolf, afford to lose South Carolina if he follows up with a win in Florida the next primary?
BLITZER: Yes, the answer is yes, he could. He probably will do well in South Carolina and I'll tell you why. Because the conservative vote, especially now that Rick Perry said he's back in this contest, is going to be split.
Gingrich is from Georgia, not very far away from South Carolina. He's got Rick Santorum. That whole, if you divide up that real conservative base, Santorum, Perry, and Newt Gingrich, that's better for Mitt Romney.
Mitt Romney could do what John McCain did in South Carolina four years ago. John McCain was not the most conservative of the bunch, but John McCain won in South Carolina because Fred Thompson who was then running against Mike Huckabee, they divided up that conservative Evangelical vote, if you will.
And it certainly helped John McCain get the Republican presidential nomination. So by Rick Perry staying in the race, he's done a huge, huge favor to Mitt Romney in South Carolina.
BALDWIN: What an exciting time and so fascinating. Wolf Blitzer, we'll talk next hour to see what you have cooking for "THE SITUATION ROOM."
BLITZER: I've got some major guests in "THE SITUATION ROOM." I've been tweeting and I know you've been checking my Twitter.
BALDWIN: Of course, I live by every Wolf Blitzer tweet.
BLITZER: We're not going to tell our viewers now, but we'll tell them in the next hour.
BALDWIN: We'll talk next hour. Wolf Blitzer, thank you very much.
Coming up, parents, I want you to pay close attention here. How would you feel if this is one of your kids? Overweight kids in these pretty tight fitting clothes featured in ads with unforgettable slogans.
In fact, one, read with me. See the bottom, it's hard to be a little girl if you're not. Another one, quote, "my fat may be funny to you, but it's killing me."
Coming up next, an advertising campaign in Georgia that aims to get parents to stop sugar coating the problem of childhood obesity. We're talking about it next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: This is what's trending today. So many of you have reached out via Twitter, tweet me at @brookebcnn and let me know what you think about this.
There is a public service campaign out of Georgia to combat childhood obesity. The critics say it is flat out mean. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Playing video games is what I like to do by myself. I don't have to be around the other kids. All they want to do is pick on me.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I don't like going to school because all the other kids pick on me. It hurts my feelings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: If you're the parent of an overweight child, how do you think he or she would feel seeing this sign? But since they came out last year, the ads are doing their job. They're getting people to do exactly what we're doing today, talk about this.
Talk about a problem that is only getting worse. Georgia ranks second in the nation for childhood obesity. In fact, a spokeswoman tells the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," and I'm quoting them, "We felt like we needed a very arresting, abrupt campaign that said, Georgia, wake up. This is a problem."
But is this the best way to spread this kind of message? Let's ask our expert, Peter Shankman joins me. Peter, this is your wheelhouse, are these ads effective?
PETER SHANKMAN, BRANDING AND SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT: You know, it's mixed emotions here, Brooke. On one side, I totally understand that you need a shock. You know, childhood obesity is growing at rampant rates. You need a shock to really wake people up.
The ads that are currently out there aren't doing it. So it is shocking and it is people talk about it. On the flip side, I'm speaking as a former fat kid myself. It is very, very hard to be overweight as a child especially around the ages of 10, 11, that these kids are.
Kids in school are brutal when it comes to fun and bullying. It's really difficult. I think there were better ways to do it just as shocking. But like you said, the end result, we are talking about it.
BALDWIN: Kids are so mean. I tell you what you couldn't pay me to go back to the seventh grade. Let me say this. I've been reading all kinds of criticism about these different ads including from, I found this tweet from a celebrity chef.
Let me read this. In plain words, putting up billboards of photos of obese kids helps those kids no more than putting kick me signs on them, probably to your point.
I mean, one ad that really jumped out at me. I read it again. It is hard to be a little girl if you're not. Do these ads further stigmatize obesity?
SHANKMAN: They do stigmatize it in a way that's not healthy for kids. I understand again from a perspective, they're trying to make a point. They're trying to get people to realize we have a serious problem with childhood obesity and obesity in general in this country. There are better ways to do it.
BALDWIN: Like what?
SHANKMAN: Well, for instance, New York City has done something where they say, that glass of sweet tea isn't so sweet. That's 64 grams of sugar, 64 tablespoons of sugar. They're trying to get other points across to show you. You would never eat 64 table spoons of sugar sitting at a table.
BALDWIN: How is this different I think of, you know, those meth commercials where you see the people with the horrible teeth and skin. You see the darkened lungs with the smoking. How is this different because those seem pretty effective to me.
SHANKMAN: I think the difference is you're talking about 11-year-old kids who have to bear that stigma tomorrow morning when they go to school. I'm worried about the kids who aren't in the ads, but are also overweight. When they go in tomorrow through no fault of their own, are the bullies in school going to be saying, you know, why weren't you in in that ad? It's a very dangerous slope.
I think when you're dealing with kids from an advertising perspective, you always have to wear, no pun intended, kid gloves. I think there is a better way to do it that is just as effective and just as shocking but may not cause such problems with those children. My biggest fear is that some child who isn't in those ads gets teased mercilessly and, God forbid, tries to attempt suicide or something like that based on that and it is tracked back to this.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: God forbid. We know at least these kids they knew what they were getting when they were signing up for the ad. So part of the program, apparently, they are losing weight.
But I'll tell you what. I want to continue this conversation. We're not finished, Peter Shankman.
SHANKMAN: OK.
BALDWIN: For now, I have to go. Peter Shankman, thank you so much live out of New York.
