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Outrage Over U.S. Marines Grows; Controversial Pardons in Mississippi; A Look At Anonymous; Obama Requests Debt Ceiling Raise

Aired January 12, 2012 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hour two, here we go. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

A couple stories we're watching for you at the top of the hour.

First, a manhunt could be coming for pardoned killers. Also, some new reaction today to this shocking video of these Marines in war. Also, the Taliban is weighing in as well. Plus, Mitt Romney zeros on another battleground state.

Let's play "Reporter Roulette."

I want to begin with Martin Savidge in Jackson, Mississippi.

We know this judge today blocked the state of Mississippi from releasing some of those convicted killers who had been pardoned by outgoing Governor Haley Barbour. You have some new information about the state's attempts to reach these high-profile paroled killers. What do you know?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the real concern is of course those killers, Brooke, they were released on Sunday. The judge has now said that they have been given an order that they have to report in on a daily basis where they are to alleviate the concerns for victims' families that there might be some sort of revenge.

The problem is that order doesn't go the into effect until the prisoners get it in their hands and state officials admit they don't know where those four murderers are at this point. They are searching everywhere in the state. But it's quite possible they might have the left the state of Mississippi.

BALDWIN: So the pardons, they wiped these criminal records clean of these guys. So are they even technically breaking the law if they don't come forward?

SAVIDGE: No, they are not, not until they're served that document and they're not going to be served until they're found.

And you're right. Because of the fact that they were pardoned, those prisoners were under no obligation to tell the state of Mississippi where they were going. They didn't. And now they have vanished -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Wow. Martin Savidge, quite the story, Jackson, Mississippi. Thank you.

Next on "Reporter Roulette": international outrage over this video that appears to show U.S. Marines urinating on Taliban bodies in Afghanistan.

Barbara Starr, we're going to get to you here in just a moment at the Pentagon. But first we just want to show this the video in question. Huge warning to all of you. What you're about to see is graphic and you might find it disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you get the middle guy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trying. I'm trying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at mine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have a great day, buddy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get that on video?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Golden like a shower.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Barbara, obviously, one of the questions, who are these guys? You have now learned that the Marines have identified some of them.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

Brooke, I think if you cover the military, if you know the Marine Corps, you knew yesterday when this emerged how quickly they would move and how hard they would look for these guys. Marine Corps tells us now that they believe this is a unit from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, that deployed to Afghanistan last year into northern Helmand Province.

It was a sniper unit. They also tell us that they now have names they can attach to at least two of the Marines in -- that participated in making this video. They're trying to nail it all down. They are not going public with it, obviously in terms of the names because a full-blown investigation is under way. And they want to assemble all the evidence that they can.

Still, outrage from Afghanistan, from Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Here in Washington, some of the most withering criticism from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I want to express my total dismay at the story concerning our Marines. Anyone, anyone found to have participated or known about it, having engaged in such conduct, must be held fully accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: And the Marines are making sure everyone understands that's exactly what they intend to do.

Marine Corps Commandant James Amos, General James Amos, saying he also has asked for one of his top generals to launch an investigation into what happened here. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service launching a criminal investigation into all of this. Hard to avoid the prospect that charges may be coming down the road soon, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Barbara Starr, thank you.

Next on "Reporter Roulette," as we said, the bodies on the ground in that video, they are believed to be Taliban fighters, and the enemy is furious about what it's seeing.

Nick Paton Walsh standing by for us in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Nick, how is this affecting the Taliban's willingness to restart peace talks with the U.S.?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think we should be kind of clear these peace talks which are almost beginning to get under way, at a very, very preliminary stage, still talks about talks, I'm told, are really some degrees of separation from the spokesman who have been issuing statements on behalf of the Taliban trying to get political capital from that.

It's important to realize the Taliban aren't like a kind of corporate shareholder structure. They won't go away and have a board meeting and decide to withdraw from talks. It will take a long time for this to percolate through, a long time for them to realize what they have to gain from this.

But Taliban came out pretty early on, referred to this as a barbaric video, saying that no religion that follows a holy text would accept such conduct. This inhuman act reveals their real face to the world.

Clearly they believe a lot to gain here from harnessing Afghan opinion against NATO forces here after a decade of their presence here, many Afghans disillusioned and fatigued at the NATO presence and something like this, as we have seen in Iraq, can really sour public opinion -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Nick Paton Walsh, Nick, thank you.

I had this fascinating conversation last hour with a Marine who recently served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He spoke to me about the impacts and his fears of how this video will resonate in Afghanistan and perhaps affect the safety of his fellow service members. We will play that for you in a little bit.

Coming up next, though, on "Reporter Roulette," Mitt Romney faces perhaps the biggest test of his campaign, nine days now, nine days from the primary in South Carolina. Today, he's already looking past that, though, to the Florida primary at the very end of this month.

Jim Acosta following Mitt Romney in West Palm Beach.

And, Jim, Romney's record with the Bain Capital, the equity firm, he is getting hit from all sides. What is he saying today? How is he defending himself?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.

Well, Brooke, you kind of heard Mitt Romney deliver sort of an "I feel your pain speech" today here in West Palm Beach. He was talking about people who are unemployed and the hard times that they're going through, how sometimes being unemployed leads to broken marriages or being depressed.

It was something that we haven't really heard Mitt Romney talk a whole lot about. He even said during his remarks that, if he becomes president, he will be looking out for your job and not his job. And it almost sounded like a rebuttal to this 30-minute attack ad that this pro-Gingrich super PAC has put out this week.

And it focuses on Mitt Romney's days at Bain Capital and some of the companies that were downsized during his tenure there and even his tenure. In that 30-minute attack ad, you hear from people talking about how their marriages broke up, how they became depressed.

It was interesting to hear Mitt Romney hit those points today in that speech today. It was almost like a rebuttal, Brooke.

BALDWIN: As I mentioned, Jim Acosta, we are nine days out from the South Carolina primary. Why is Romney -- why is he not in South Carolina? Why is he with you with the palm trees in Florida?

ACOSTA: You know, because, arguably, Florida is as important as South Carolina to the Romney campaign.

Let's say, you know, maybe Newt Gingrich comes out of nowhere in South Carolina and wins that primary. Mitt Romney has to be ready to win that state down here. And it comes at the end of this month. So he has to devote just as much time and attention to Florida as he does to South Carolina.

And keep in mind, both of these states basically marked the end of his campaign the last time around. So the Romney campaign is not taking anything for granted, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Two steps ahead, I suppose. Jim Acosta, thank you for us in West Palm.

And that's your "Reporter Roulette" here. We just told you there may be a manhunt, possibly this national manhunt for multiple convicted killers who got pardons in Mississippi. Well, there are more cases and more faces hanging in the balance here. We will speak live with someone who knows them inside and out.

Plus, a landlord puts up a sign. You see this? It says "white only" to get into the swimming pool. It sparks quite a stir, as you can imagine. Wait until you hear why she says she did it.

Also, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: It is a secret group that hacks powerful people. A CNN special investigation reveals the truth behind Anonymous.

And we are also just now getting some breaking news here involving a letter President Obama just sent to Congress.

Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

BALDWIN: Coming up next here, we have got a special CNN investigation.

They're lurking in the shadows. They're preying on the powerful. We are going behind the mask of the hacking group Anonymous. Could you be a target?

Amber Lyon gets answers. She goes inside. She is standing by live for me next. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: If you maybe saw that you Natalie Portman movie "V For Vendetta," you will recognize this. This is the mask worn by a character in the film, the Guy Fawkes mask. If you haven't seen them movie, you still recognize the mask?

That's probably because the mask has been picked up and popularized by a group called Anonymous. And it's turned up at a lot of the Occupy demonstrations. This group, if known at all, is definitely known for stealing credit card numbers and hacking into, say, police or military files.

Well, now Anonymous is going public, but staying still behind the mask.

CNN's Amber Lyon takes us inside this secretive group.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, back up, back up, back up.

AMBER LYON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a dark and disturbing vision, a world where riot police attack with impunity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened? What happened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He got shot!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back. Get back.

LYON: Where democracy is corrupted by greed, and defense is crushed. That's how Anonymous sees America. And they say that's why they're fighting back.

ANONYMOUS: We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget.

LYON: Troy, not his real name, is one of them. We met him at the Occupy Wall Street camp at Zuccotti Park.

"TROY," ANONYMOUS: There's no specific person that talks through us. It's more like a hive, you know, an idea is brought up and whoever agrees with it, if the overwhelming majority of people that agree with it, then we go with it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are anonymous.

LYON: Anonymous likens itself to the Air Force of the Occupy movement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone, everywhere will be occupying their towns, their capitals and other public spaces.

LYON: When they see evidence of what they believe is police misbehavior, Anonymous strikes back, releasing personal information about specific officers.

TROY: Hopefully he'll think twice before he pulls out his baton against somebody who's holding a sign, saying we just want peace.

LYON: And how are they getting the telephone numbers and personal information of these officers or bankers?

TROY: I would rather not say.

LYON: The Department of Homeland Security has put out several alerts to law enforcement and corporate security, focused mainly on the group's hacking activities. And the FBI has made more than a dozen arrests.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are living in a police state with -- LYON: But there's no indication that has cramped Anonymous' style.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all on Planet Earth.

LYON: On Christmas Day, members crashed the Web site of a security research company, hacking its client list along with their credit card numbers in order to steal $1 million for donations to charity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are Anonymous. Expect us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Want to bring in Amber Lyon. She joins me live from Los Angeles.

And, I mean, Amber, you were age able to get up close and talk to some of these members of the group. Is it clear at all what they want, or is it just -- is the point not to have an agenda, kind of like the Occupy movement?

LYON: Well, they don't really have an agenda necessarily as a collective, but some of the individual Anons we spoke to, Brooke, say their main goal here with the Occupy movement is to keep people talking about it, to keep it relevant, also to protect the human rights of the protesters.

You saw in that video that they have been releasing information, personal information for police officers they believe have violated those rights. And if you look at the more extreme side to Anonymous, Brooke, some of those Anons are calling for a full-out revolution here in the United States similar to the ones you're seeing over in the Middle East and North Africa -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: And I'm just curious exactly who these people are, because I know there are probably a lot of Americans they think these Anons, as they call themselves, they are these young hacker teens maybe working out of their parents' basement. But that's not the case, is it?

LYON: Yes, it's a slight misconception. Although there are young hacker teens in Anonymous, the majority of them are just average Joe Americans. A lot of them do not have skills as hackers. They're hitting the streets now, doing live streaming video of protests, also keeping an eye on police officers.

But throughout this investigation, we met Anons who are auto mechanics, we met Anons who are doctors, teachers, lawyers just trying to help build and create a revolution here in the U.S., Brooke.

BALDWIN: Amber, thank you. Can't wait to watch your piece again. I have already seen it.

LYON: Thank you. BALDWIN: Your special report, of course, coming up this weekend, this is part of a special "CNN PRESENTS." I am hosting this special, along with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. This is three in-depth stories, one hour, 8:00 p.m. Eastern Saturday night. Don't miss it.

A socialite admits to driving drunk. The result? Two doctors were killed.

Also, a man is convicted of carjacking a woman, then murdering here. These are just two of the scores of people who have either been pardoned or received clemency in the state of Mississippi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM HOOD, MISSISSIPPI ATTORNEY GENERAL: These victims have been through a terrible amount. It's a slap in the face to all of law enforcement in the state of Mississippi.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Now the fates of these inmates hanging in the balance after a sudden decision. Coming up next, we will go straight to the ground talking to someone who knows these cases very, very well. Investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell is standing by.

Don't miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We are just now getting word here President Obama has just sent a letter to Congress regarding the nation's debt limit.

Let's go live to you Kate Bolduan in Washington.

Kate, tell me about the letter.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a letter and this is all set up by that wonderful debt ceiling fight that we covered nonstop over the summer, Brooke.

Under the agreement that was set up and agreed to by the House, the Senate and the White House, whenever the president wanted to raise the debt ceiling once again, he would need to submit in writing his request. And, today, the White House submitted this request to both the House and the Senate.

And, basically, what this does is, it sets up this process to vote on raising the debt ceiling. But you love Congress and their convoluted ways. It basically turns out to be a political exercise in the end because how Congress set up this process is to allow for members of the House and Senate to vote actually against raising the debt ceiling while still basically ensuring that the debt ceiling will be raised in the end in how they wrote this all out.

So this starts -- this is the first step in the process to raise the debt ceiling, according to that fight, the agreement that kind of resulted after that big fight over the summer to keep the -- allow the government to be able to pay its bills and pay its debt.

And that will be a request of $1.2 trillion. I'm told by a top House Republican aide that the House will vote to disapprove, in their words, on Wednesday when they return. And I'm also told that the Senate will likely follow up with moving towards a vote of disapproval the week after that when the Senate returns.

But, again, bottom line, this is a political exercise, because, in the end, through the convoluted way it's all written, Brooke, the debt ceiling will very likely be raised as the president is requesting now.

BALDWIN: OK. Glad we got it here at least on the record today.

BOLDUAN: Sure.

BALDWIN: Kate Bolduan, thank you so much.

BOLDUAN: Of course.

BALDWIN: By now, you have seen these faces, four Mississippi killers pardoned by outgoing Governor Haley Barbour. Before Barbour left office, he gave hundreds of criminals convicted in his state clear records.

We're talking about murderers, rapists, armed robbers with nothing on their records to show they ever committed a crime. Well, today, a judge blocked the state from releasing some of the newly pardoned criminals, but some are already out, as in out of the state.

And now they're just trying to figure out how to round them up.

Jerry Mitchell, he is an investigative reporter for "The Clarion- Ledger" in Jackson, Mississippi.

Jerry, you have covered many of these cases, as you have been there since 1986. Stand by for me, because I just want play this. We have talked to some of our crews on ground, talked to the state attorney general, told Martin Savidge this just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOOD: This is probably going to end up in some attempt by us to have fugitive warrants issued for these people. There's going to be a national search for some of them.

We will catch them. It's just a matter of time. But...

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you know where they are?

HOOD: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, four of these convicted murderers hit the ground running. Jerry, what's your take on what the A.G. just said?

JERRY MITCHELL, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, THE CLARION-LEDGER: Well, it's an interesting situation. I mean, not really had anything like this before in Mississippi or maybe even nationally where you have people who've been pardoned and then, in Mississippi's case, the constitution actually says you have to give 30 days notice in the newspaper. Well, it wasn't done in a lot of these cases.

And, so, therefore, under the constitution, which the attorney general is now challenging these pardons. And, so, there's going to be hearings, these four who are part of five that are going to have to show up at a court hearing on January 23rd. That's the plan at this point, but, of course, they have to find them.

BALDWIN: They have to find them, perhaps a national manhunt will be launched. We don't know yet. Meantime though, these four convicted murders have gotten a lot of attention, but, you know, the outgoing governor wiped the criminal records of hundreds of people clean.

So, we just sort of wanted to sort through some of these people, put a face on this. And I just want to first talk about this woman. This is Karen Irby. So, she not only, Jerry, gets out of prison, she gets a clean record. too? Tell us about her.

MITCHELL: In her case, she was actually not pardoned, but she was -- her sentence was commuted and so suspended. So, she's actually going to have to serve three years of house arrest in this case.

So, that's the -- she was going to have to do 18 years. She had pleaded guilty to manslaughter, two manslaughters, and had gotten 18 years on both of those to run concurrently. And, so, she's -- but she's out now.

BALDWIN: OK, she was in prison for drunk driving. She killed two doctors. That happened in 2009, you know, and there's also a case of a South African teenager. Tell me about this one.

MITCHELL: Right. Well, he was convicted in a carjacking case and this had kind of gotten international attention because, initially, they were going to prosecute him for the death penalty even though he wasn't the trigger man in the case.

And he had said he didn't understand when he pleaded guilty that that's, you know, what he was pleading guilty to. And, so, this has kind of become an international cause.

And eventually what happened is the judge in the case had said, "Look, this other guy who was the admitted triggerman who got life without parole, you can't give this guy, you know, the student a harsher sentence than this other one, who's the admitted trigger man."

BALDWIN: So, then, what is next? How does this whole thing get sorted out? I know there was huge outrage where are you in Mississippi. You laugh, you laugh. It's tricky.

MITCHELL: Yes, it's going to take a while -- it's tricky. It's going to take a while to sort it out.

There are five people whose release, because they were pardoned, has now been stayed and, so, there'll be a hearing with regard to those. There's no date yet set on that. There will be a hearing with regard to those.

It's kind of a mess to be honest with you. And I think the attorney general even called it that because they're actually going through each one of these 203 pardons to figure out if the notice was given in time. You're supposed to give 30 days notice and, if they did, then obviously it's constitutional. If they didn't, the attorney general is saying it's unconstitutional.

BALDWIN: A mess, you say. Jerry Mitchell of The Clarion-Ledger, I have a feeling we'll be talking again. This story is not going anywhere, Jerry.

MITCHELL: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

And this has a lot of people talking in these new unsealed documents. We are now learning how Casey Anthony thinks she got pregnant and what happened the day her daughter died. We're on the case ahead.

Plus, six Republicans are spending a lot of cash trying to take President Obama's job, but it is nothing compared to the bank the president is building.

Senior White House correspondent, Jessica Yellin, she's live for us there at the White House next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The Obama campaign for re-election is running ahead of the competition in one crucial measure, already here. Chief White House correspondent, Jessica Yellin, joins me with a look at some eye popping fundraising numbers, big money.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is big money, Brooke.

The president has announced his fourth quarter total. He raised $66 million in the end of 2011, bringing his total for the year to $222 million raised for his campaign and his overall -- they call it -- "victory fund." That is hard cash that goes to the Obama effort and the DNC.

Let's compare that to what some of the other major Republican candidates have raised so far. Mitt Romney, if you have that graphic, has raised $56 million to date, Ron Paul, he has raised $26 million to date. Newt Gingrich has raised $12 million to date. Just so you know the why we picked those three, those are the three other candidates who have declared what they have raised. The others haven't declared yet.

So, you see the president, he did have a jump start and he is an incumbent, so he has a lead, but that's pretty impressive, Brooke.

BALDWIN: What about when it comes to the unlimited fund-raising? Of course, I'm talking about the "SuperPACs," "SuperPAC" money, millions and millions of dollars being used to back some of the Republicans. Does the Obama campaign expect to be the beneficiary of say a Democrat-leaning "SuperPAC"?

YELLIN: Excellent question and one that's on the minds of the folks in Chicago right now. The Democrats do have their own "SuperPACs," but they are not raising nearly as much money as the "SuperPACs" that go to Republicans, to the Republican side.

Those "SuperPACs" aren't declaring how much money they've raised until January 31st, so we can't really add it all up. But just based on how much has been spent, we know that more than $16 million has been spent by unaffiliated "SuperPACs," Republican leaning and then more than $30 million if you count those affiliated with the Republican-cause candidates. So, there's a lot of money going on that side.

Republicans would point out that the labor unions back Democratic candidates, so there's a bit of a balancing act there, but there will be a huge amount of outside spending in this election cycle and that's unlimited spending. You just can't compare that to the dollars that go to the candidates which are limited, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Well, then, we will just have to follow up with you on January 31st when we get those hard numbers. Jessica Yellin, thank you.

Coming up next, we are now learning what Casey Anthony told a psychiatrist about who fathered her child.

Plus, if you have a dog, listen to this one. A couple left their dogs just in their car for an hour during lunch. Next thing they know, firefighters, they go to the car. They rip it apart. Why? Sunny Hostin's on that one. She's next.

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BALDWIN: Casey Anthony allegedly claims her daughter might have been the result of a date rape and gives yet another story about the day two-year-old Caylee Anthony died.

These revelations now coming from the depositions from two mental health experts who examined Casey just before her trial. Sunny Hostin, as always, on the case. And, Sunny, you have the copies of the depositions. What did Casey Anthony tell the doctors?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I sure do. BALDIN: What's in there about that date rape?

HOSTIN: You know, she explains to the doctor that Caylee may have been conceived when she was date raped at a party. She tells the doctor, Brooke, that she drank two beers. She was possibly perhaps given a drug, some sort of date rape drug in the beer.

She woke up, passed out, unclothed on the bottom and she doesn't remember anything. She was about 18 years old. She says that is how she became pregnant.

Of course, this isn't evidence. This isn't -- these aren't her statements but these are words that she said to her -- to this doctor.

She also said at some point she thought perhaps her own father, George Anthony, was Caylee's father. Of course, that was refuted at trial because there was a DNA test taken.

BALDIN: OK, so this alleged date rape, this is revelation number one in these depositions. Revelation number two, she gives these doctors this theory, this new theory, about how Caylee died that didn't actually come up during trial, right?

HOSTIN: That's right. I mean, but it did sort of come up in Jose Baez's opening statement and perhaps that is where this theory, this defense theory, came up.

We all know that it was never corroborated, right, with evidence at trial. But she told this psychiatrist that her father had found Caylee's drowned body in the family swimming pool and that he helped dispose of the body and then covered it up.

She says he was yelling at me, "It's your fault. I can't believe you did this." She then said that he came out and said daddy is going to take care of it, the same thing he used to say to me. He left the house with the child and she says that's the last time I saw her.

BALDWIN: What is her father, George Anthony, saying? How is he responding?

HOSTIN: Well, her father has always maintained his innocence. He has always maintained that he had nothing to do with the death of Caylee Marie Anthony.

We did get a statement from his attorney, Mark Lippmann, saying the same thing. He says had he nothing to do with the death of Caylee Marie Anthony, including what happened to her remains after she allegedly drowned.

He also responds to the sexual abuse allegations that Casey Anthony discusses with the psychiatrist. He says that he has repeatedly said prior to the trial, during the trial, and after the trial that he never molested any member of his family, including Casey Anthony.

So, in all respects, he denies all of the statements that she made to this psychiatrist prior to trial.

BALDWIN: Now, this psychiatrist, psychologist, they were evaluating her to see if she was mentally competent to stand trial. They never actually testified. Did either of them ever express any doubts about what she told them?

HOSTIN: You know, that is what is really interesting to me. It's about 120 pages and I've read through it. He repeatedly, Dr. Danziger, expresses concerns about discussing the details about what she told him because he says these crimes may never have happened.

And he's especially reluctant, Brooke, when he talks about the alleged sex abuse of Casey Anthony by her father George Anthony because, according to Danziger, Anthony said that her father forced her to perform disgusting and demeaning sexual acts regularly starting at the age of 18 (sic) and stopping when she was about 11 years old. And this doctor was very concerned about repeating those allegations.

BALDWIN: OK, let's move on from Casey Anthony. I want to get to this next one. You know, I read this in, I think it was, the Houston Chronicle.

So, you have this -- let me set it up. So, you have this couple. They go to Dallas to celebrate the husband's birthday. So, they take their dogs, these little Yorkies. Apparently they take them with them every they go. Couple goes to lunch, leave the dogs in the car. They say, oh, it was fine, temperature-wise, 55 degrees, no big deal.

So, less than an hour later, they get a call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: And they said, "Well, you need to come outside immediately. The fire department's broke into your car and we have your dogs.

They start in that it's too hot for those dogs to be in the car and that they had had a call. I said, "Really, guys? It's 535 degrees out here today. I don't think we've got a problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: But I want you to look at this. This is how the fire department actually got the dogs out of the car.

Turns out a couple guys heard the dogs, saw the dogs, called 911. Fire department used a crowbar to open the car vis-a-vis the trunk.

Have you ever heard, Sunny Hostin, of anything like this? I mean, the firefighters yanking, you know, ripping up a car, yanking dogs out of a car? Is this overreaction or not?

HOSTIN: You know, it depends on who you talk to. There's so many dog lovers, right? These dogs allegedly were in the trunk of the car not the in the cabin of the car and, so, there was some concern about the air circulation. The owners are saying that the sort of back seats were open so that the dogs could sort of get some air but they didn't want them walking around the cabin of the car. So, many people are saying, "Well, this is neglect." They've been charged with animal cruelty.

So, it depends on how talk to. Are these folks that just love their dogs so much they wanted to make sure that no one snatched their dogs or, you know, were they being cruel? I'm not sure. I don't know if I'd put my dog in the trunk of my car, though, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I've got a pug. He's got breathing issues, so, no, no way. But, I mean, there's not actually a law on the books, though, is there, about leaving a dog in the car?

HOSTIN: Not that I know of, but, you know, many, many people are charged with animal cruelty and some would say that it is cruel to put your little Yorkies in the trunk of your car. They were barking. Maybe they were scared. I don't know. This is a close one for me.

BALDWIN: I just have never heard of something like that. Sunny Hostin, thank you.

Coming up next, you will see my conversation that I had with a captain in the U.S. Marines about this controversial video we've been showing you, apparently showing other Marines urinating on bodies in Afghanistan.

And he talked to me about the realities of war. He's been there. He's been to Afghanistan and Iraq and he talked to me about how this impacts the safety of troops serving there right now. That conversation coming up.

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BALDWIN: As we warned you at the top of the hour, what we will show you, you will most likely find disturbing. It's an image that shows, apparently, U.S. Marines in Afghanistan urinating on Taliban corpses.

CNN has now learned that the Marine Corps believes it has identified two of these men. And just last hour, I spoke with Reservist Marine Captain Timothy Kudo and I asked him whether this sort of incident happens more than any of us realize. Here, he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPTAIN TIMOTHY KUDO, U.S. MARINE CORPS: You know, I'm absolutely disgusted by this, both as an a Marine and as an American, but I will say that this is not widespread. This is the acts of a few individuals who have acted in complete opposition to every single thing that the Marine Corps and that America stands for.

BALDWIN: As a captain, what would you have done if the men in the group were under your command?

KUDO: I think you'd immediately detain them. I think you'd investigate them. I think you'd pass what happened up the chain of command and let the proper channels work. And I think that they're going to be prosecuted under the UCMJ and they should be and they should be dealt with accordingly.

BALDWIN: You have one group of Americans saying, "Look, this is the enemy. They've killed countless Americans. Who cares?" What's your response to that?

KUDO: Well, I think that that's what makes us different. And I think, even tactically, beyond the ethical right and wrong of doing the right thing and giving them a proper burial. I mean, we gave Osama bin Laden a proper burial, a proper Muslim burial. We can do the same thing for everyone that we encounter over there.

And I think that it's more important to note, as well, that tactically it's important to win the hearts and minds of the Afghans. And doing something like this completely goes against everything that we're trying to accomplish and makes it more dangerous for the service members that are going over there.

My unit is deploying today and they're going over there and they are facing a much tougher situation now because of this video.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Captain Kudo, thank you so much.

Coming up in just a matter of minutes, Wolf Blitzer, who is back in Washington.

Wolf Blitzer, welcome back home, I guess, first and foremost. Secondly, looking at your blog, you're saying, make no mistake about it, President Obama back in re-election mode.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Full campaign mode. I write about it today. I don't know if you had a chance to looks at the videotape of the three fund-raising speeches he did in Chicago last night, boom, boom, boom. Not only is he raising a lot of money, I think when all the numbers are in for the last quarter, if you add up what all the Republican candidates raised as opposed to what the president of the United States raised in campaign money, I think -- I think he probably raised more than all of them combined and he doesn't have an opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination.

But he's raising money nonstop. He's obviously going out there campaigning. And the speech that he gave and we're going to play a chunk of it in the 4:00 p.m. Eastern hour, Brooke, and you're going to be interested. It's vintage Barack Obama 2008.

He energizes that crowd. He gets them excited. He knows what he's doing right now and he's in full campaign mode. He's got a full- time day job, running the country, being the commander-in-chief, president of the United States, but he wants to get reelected and he's going to do whatever it takes to get himself a second term.

We're going in-depth on that in the coming hour. I think our viewers will be interested.

BALDWIN: Look forward to it, Wolf Blitzer. See you in seven minutes. Thank you.

Meantime, Newt Gingrich says Armageddon -- that's the word he's using -- Armageddon coming in South Carolina, but as Gingrich is attacking Mitt Romney, are other candidates backing off the front- runner? Joe Johns is standing by live for us in Carolina. He's next.

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BALDWIN: As we have pointed out, the scathing attack ad against Mitt Romney bought and paid for by supporters of Newt Gingrich is to hit the airwaves in South Carolina.

And what it does is it seizes on Romney's leadership of venture capital group, Bain Capital, that liquidated some of the firms it acquired, thus doing away with a number of jobs. Keep in mind South Carolina's primary is nine days ago away.

Joe Johns, live in Columbia. And, Joe, you're talking to folks there, right? I mean, what are people saying about the campaign spot which seems to be tailor-made for South Carolina?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You know, well, people go back and forth on this issue of Bain Capital and it's really funny. Newt Gingrich was here right on the lawn of the South Carolina state capitol a little while ago.

This was an event, a bipartisan event, by the way, talking about the housing market, and Gingrich didn't really mention Bain by name. What he talked more about was the need for transparency in the markets, transparency in the bailouts that occurred that people talk so much about.

And I asked him whether he's also talking about transparency with regard to Bain. He said all he's doing is asking questions. And he was shocked how people have gotten so defensive about it.

But those questioning have caused real heartburn, even among, for example, one or two of the candidates who are also running for president, like Jon Huntsman. He doesn't want to go there on this issue. He says he'd rather talk about Mitt Romney's job creation record, for example. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON HUNTSMAN, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He was 47th overall in job creation, I think most importantly, while we were number one in job creation in our state.

So, I think that is worth looking at and scrutinizing, as compared to Bain Capital.

(END VIDEO CLIP) JOHNS: So, people here say on the one hand it's not a good idea to go after Romney on this because he could be the nominee for the Republican party.

But, on the other hand, there are some who say, look, this is the kind of issue that Republicans are going to have to face eventually if he is the nominee because President Obama and the Democrats would certainly bring it up.

So, you sort of have two sides of that, an internal battle between Republicans in South Carolina on whether it's better to go into the laundry, if you will, of Mitt Romney from years ago.

Brooke, back to you.

BALDWIN: You've been covering Huntsman. You know, just the other day he said Romney enjoying fires people, but now he's kind of backed away from that. Also, Newt Gingrich, he's walked back some of his criticism of Romney.

Are Romney's opponents putting forth -- I mean, could it be perceived as sort of this mixed message, thus, would it hurt their ability to chip away at Romney's lead?

JOHNS: Yes. Well, it's a conundrum. I don't like to use that word on TV, but that's what it is for the Republican party. I know. I'm sorry.

But, I mean, the bottom line is that when you ask Democrats and Republicans, tea partiers alike, you know, what's the biggest problem facing the country, a lot of times they won't say the other party, they'll say it's the banks.

So, if you're armed with that information, you understand that there's a lot of concern out there in the country about the way the whole economic problems over the past two other three years went down and they're questioning the real source of that.

So, you kind of have to address it and the question is, what's too far, at least for a Republican who could turn out to be the nominee?

BALDWIN: OK, conundrums aside, South Carolina, socially conservative state. You know, it's deeply religious. But given the state of the economy, it's a huge, huge, issue there, I know, unemployment very, very high.

Could the state's social conservatives in perhaps this go around be less if a factor than usual? Thirty seconds.

JOHNS: You know, what I can tell you very simply is that out in country and some other places, social issues have to some degree taken a back seat.

However, there are evangelicals in this state and conservatives who feel strongly about those social issues and they say they're just not letting it go, Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right. Keep up the great work there for us. Joe Johns in Columbia, South Carolina. Thank you so much.

And thank you for watching. I'm Brooke Baldwin here at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. I'm going to toss you off to Wolf Blitzer. "The Situation Room," live in Washington, D.C., starts right now.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Thanks very much, Brooke.