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Joran van der Sloot Learns Fate; Outrage Grows Over U.S. Marine Actions; Who Will Social Conservatives Back?; Convicted Killers Go Free In Mississippi, New GOP Poll Numbers

Aired January 13, 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: Here we go, top of hour two. Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

A couple of stories we're watching for you on this Friday. President Obama wants to shrink the government. Also, Joran van der Sloot learns his fate in the murder of a young woman. And CNN sits down with Oprah Winfrey in a revealing interview.

Time to play "Reporter Roulette."

Dan Lothian, let's begin with you at the White House.

A new push to try to cut part of the federal government bureaucracy. Dan Lothian, what's the plan?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

And this is something that the president started talking about during his State of the Union address last year. He really believes that the federal government is bloated. There's a lot of inefficiency, redundancy between agencies and even within some of the agencies.

So the president wants to get the powers last held by President Ronald Reagan, went away in 1984, he wants to get that back, where Congress would have to give him the green light in order to reorganize the administration believing that this could save about $3 billion over 10 years.

Specifically, six agencies that the president wants to combine into one, including Commerce, the Small Business Administration, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Rep, where the president believes there's some overlap.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Right now, there are six departments and agencies focused primarily on business and trade in the federal government. Six. Commerce Department, Small Business Administration, the U.S. Trade Representative's office. In this case, six is not better than one.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LOTHIAN: Now, the president says that he will elevate the Small Business Administration to a Cabinet-level position. That is something that he will not need congressional approval for.

Now, some Republicans are being critical of the timing of this announcement, saying that it really smacks of election year politics. But nonetheless, they're promising to give the president's request a careful review -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Dan Lothian, thank you.

Next on "Reporter Roulette" let's go to Jean Casarez in New York with the news of the prime suspect in the Natalee Holloway disappearance. He's going to be spending a long, long time in prison for a separate case in Peru.

First, Jean, what was the sentence in the Joran van der Sloot case? But also talk to me about his demeanor in court today.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he was sentenced to 28 years just minutes ago in a Peruvian court. That means a release date of June 10, 2038.

But in nine years he can actually petition for parole. His demeanor, well, he seemed a little nervous, seemed a little scared, sweating profusely. And then at the point of time where they started describing the condition of Stephany Flores' body in that Lima hotel room, he bowed his head and he didn't look up again.

BALDWIN: What about his status in the Natalee Holloway disappearance? Has anything changed?

CASAREZ: Nothing has changed in that case.

But the United States does have federal extortion charges and wire fraud charges against Joran van der Sloot based upon right before he went to Peru him agreeing to tell Natalee's mother where her body is for a mere $250,000. He accepted $25,000. That took him to Peru, but now we have charges and we can extradite Joran van der Sloot to this country.

BALDWIN: Jean Casarez, thanks.

Next on "Reporter Roulette," Robyn Curnow in Johannesburg, South Africa, in a one-on-one interview with, of all people, Oprah Winfrey.

And I guess we should just -- let's talk politics first since we are in an election year. Do we know if she's endorsing President Obama this time around?

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We will know Oprah likes to open up, share, and she was pretty frank about why she wasn't publicly endorsing Barack Obama this time around. Take a listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OPRAH WINFREY, ENTERTAINER: I don't need to endorse him because I am a 100 percent supporter of him. And I have already endorsed him and I have already -- you know, everybody always asks, are you going to do what you did in 2008?

What I did in 2008, I did because people didn't know really -- my own friends didn't know who he was at the time. They're like, who is this guy? Do you think that guy is going to be president? I go, yes, I really do.

So I was happy to step up and do what I felt was a public service because I so believed in him and I still do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Brooke, I actually asked her if she would rate Barack Obama's presidency on a score of either between one to 10. She wouldn't do that, surprise, surprise, but she did say the fact that she wasn't publicly endorsing him didn't mean that she was disappointed in him.

BALDWIN: What about just the reason she's in South Africa? I'm guessing it for her school for girls.

CURNOW: Absolutely.

You will remember, she started this school giving disadvantaged young girls from very, very poor backgrounds a chance at a very excellent education. The first group of girls to graduate is graduating tomorrow. They're going to universities here in South Africa and also in the States. So she's out here to pay respects to them.

BALDWIN: Robyn Curnow, thank you very much.

That's your "Reporter Roulette" for this Friday.

Just want to pass this along to you. Just into CNN here, a judge has revealed that John Edwards is suffering from a life-threatening heart condition and has delayed Edwards' trial until at least March 26. The former senator is accused of using campaign funds to pay off a mistress during his presidential campaign. Edwards' trial was supposed to begin later this month. We're told he's expected to have a procedure in February.

And this hour, we are watching the Dow as it takes a dive. The reason? Investors are getting some pretty bad news that could impact Americans, your 401(k)s.

Plus, dozens of powerful social conservatives, they're are all coming together over the next two days to discuss whether to unite and back one Republican candidate. So, who might that be?

Also, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She can hear the kids screaming from the top of their lungs while she's trying to read.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You need to take your child out of this school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Young students allegedly locked in what are called scream rooms. But wait until you hear what parents say happened behind closed doors.

And Heather Locklear rushed to the hospital after reportedly taking a dangerous mix of pills and booze.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And happening right now, you're about to see it, "Rapid Fire," beginning in Montana.

A missing Montana schoolteacher has been found dead and the FBI says they have now one suspect in custody. Sherry Arnold was missing for six days. Her school district announced the news of her death just a couple of hours ago. She went running last Saturday morning and simply never returned. Search crews found one of her shoes. But that was the only clue they actually made public.

Closing prisons, that is what's about to happen in Florida due to a decline in the number of inmates over the past four years. Seven prisons and four work camps will be shut down in July. The largest is the New River facility that is in Raiford with more than 1,300 inmates. Prison officials say inmates will not be released early. And they will be transferring employees to other facilities.

Heather Locklear in the hospital. Rescuers responded to an emergency call from her home, or I should say a home in Thousand Oaks, California, yesterday. They determined the actress needed to go to the hospital. TMZ reports that Locklear's sister called 911 after Locklear had taken both prescription drugs and alcohol.

In Texas, a mom's SUV was stolen with her 18-month-old son inside. Surveillance video of a store parking lot shows actually what happened last night. The mother says she left her jeep running just for a moment so she could run inside the store.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIAH O'NEIL, MOTHER: I left my son and my niece and my son in the car because it's very, very cold out here and it's windy, and I had just gotten them bundled up and the heat had started running, and I didn't want to take them back out. As I'm running out, I saw my niece running towards me screaming my name and my car going down the road. I dropped everything and ran toward the car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Thankfully, Houston police found the little boy still in the SUV this morning behind a strip mall not too far from the store.

And take a look at this with me. Let's look at this together. Yes, pretty big fish, not exactly your ordinary catch of the day. These South Florida fishermen say they found -- this is rare 10-foot sawfish. It was already dead in the water. Apparently it had been abandoned by another fishermen. The endangered sawfish, they are protected by Florida state law.

And another picture for you, a plane in a tree. Authorities say the pilot had been drinking. When he landed in the trees, this is rural Wisconsin, neighbors say he did manage to get out of the plane, climb down, walk to a barn, and slept it off for a couple of hours before knocking on their door. The pilot only had minor injuries.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

BALDWIN: Still ahead: eight Marines sent to war to fight and sometimes to kill. But now several of them are being questioned about video desecrating the bodies of America's enemies. Michael Hastings, the "Rolling Stone" writer whose article took down General Stanley McChrystal, weighs in on the controversy. Don't miss what he said.

Plus, severe weather, perhaps you know this all too well today, rocking large swathes of the country.

Also, the International Space Station threatened by a piece of space junk. Chad Myers all over both those stories. He's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER UPDATE)

BALDWIN: OK. ISS, space junk.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

BALDWIN: What's the deal?

MYERS: Did you hear about this?

BALDWIN: Yes.

MYERS: There is a coffee cup size that the only found a couple days ago piece of junk from an old (INAUDIBLE) satellite. It's floating around in a direct path with the ISS. If it would hit it, it would knock it out of the sky, literally.

BALDWIN: So they're moving it.

MYERS: They have put the thrusters on. They raised the ISS 1,000 feet. This piece of space junk is going to fly under it. And the astronauts and the ISS will be fine. BALDWIN: Safe.

MYERS: It happens all the time, but this is scary. They only found this thing two days ago. If they were a little bit late, somebody was sleeping on the job, this thing could have put a hole right through the side of the ISS.

BALDWIN: I'm just impressed they can see space junk the size of a coffee cup, right?

MYERS: How do they find it? Exactly.

BALDWIN: It's awesome.

MYERS: Yes.

BALDWIN: Chad, thank you.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BALDWIN: Coming up: Dozens of social conservatives, they are coming together, they're talking about uniting, they're talking about backing just one presidential candidate. So, who might that person be and what impact could that have? We're all over that.

Plus, we're learning more about a man who opened fire at his. Workplace three people are dead -- that developing story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A North Carolina man killed three of his co-workers and wounded a fourth at a lumber company today. This is according to police. Investigators say 50-year-old Ronald Dean Davis opened fire and then fled the scene. They say they found him inside his home with a gunshot wound to his head.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEMPSEY OWENS, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, SHERIFF: This is the worst thing we have had as far as this much violence. And it just shows the potential, it's everywhere, small town USA, big city USA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The gunman, Ronald Davis, is hospitalized along with his fourth victim.

And want to take you back now to the race for president.

And for that, we want to bring in Gloria Borger, CNN chief political analyst.

And, Gloria Borger, you know, you and I have definitely talked about these bruising attacks against Mitt Romney for his leadership of Bain Capital, which did close down some of the firms it bought and then obviously that meant laying off workers. The Romney camp has launched a new ad to try to respond to these attacks.

Let's just watch one of these and listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARRATOR: This is a business Mitt Romney helped start and this one and this steel mill. Mitt Romney helped create and ran a company that invested in struggling businesses, grew new ones, and rebuilt old ones, creating thousands of jobs. Those are the facts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Is the Romney campaign successful in beating these attacks?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, they have to try something, obviously. At the beginning, as you know, Brooke, we talked about this. Romney seemed a little bit defensive when he said, you know, I know what it's like to get -- to have that fear of getting a pink slip.

He also sounded a little inauthentic, I might add, when he said that. And I think what these ads are trying to do is say to voters, look, Newt Gingrich's PAC is not right. We created jobs. And I'm a job creator, not a job killer. And I'm not a corporate raider. I'm somebody who cares about you.

So, we will have to see if they can blunt the impact of the Gingrich ads.

BALDWIN: You know, something else I talked about with Peter Hamby -- he's in South Carolina -- and in South Carolina, Romney is getting hit with a double whammy, his economic record and also social issues. How do you see that playing out in South Carolina with voters?

BORGER: Well, social issues are going to be very important to the voters of South Carolina -- 60 percent of them are evangelicals.

Mitt Romney is somebody who was once pro-abortion rights. He no longer is. And you had Rick Santorum just yesterday gave a speech in which he said that you need someone who you can trust, implying that Mitt Romney is someone you can't trust.

I also believe, in addition to the cultural issues, that Mitt Romney is probably going to get attacked on Massachusetts health care since he supported mandates in his health care plan and that would also have some resonates in South Carolina.

But let me add this. Evangelical voters -- and we have seen this in the polling -- are not just single-issue voters. They vote on a whole variety of subjects. And they may not trust Romney on the social issues, but if they think he can improve the economy -- and unemployment is 9.9 percent in South Carolina -- they may just vote for Mitt Romney.

So I think the jury is still out on that one.

BALDWIN: Well, speaking of social conservatives, there is a huge group, they are going to be in Houston meeting for the next two days to decide whether to unite and then back a certain candidate.

BORGER: Right.

BALDWIN: I talked to Tony Perkins with the Family Research Council. He said, yes, they're going to pick a candidate already in the race. My question to you is, what kind of impact ultimately will that have?

BORGER: You know, we really don't know.

It's been interesting in this race, because I think endorsements generally have had less impact than you would think, newspaper endorsements, "Manchester Union Leader." And...

BALDWIN: Why.

BORGER: Because people are independent and because they have so many more sources of news, for example, than just "The Union Leader" or -- that they -- and they can look at candidates more for themselves on television.

Now, I think an evangelical endorsement is going to be more powerful, in a funny way, than a newspaper endorsement, because these are your pastors and these are people you trust. And so I think that it will be interesting to see if they endorse somebody who is not a front-runner, like a Rick Santorum, for example, who...

BALDWIN: Right.

BORGER: You know, so we just don't know. Or what would be really interesting is, of course, if evangelicals go for Mitt Romney, who is a Mormon.

BALDWIN: You never know.

BORGER: We don't know.

BALDWIN: But two names he mentioned to me, Gingrich and Santorum, I guess we will find out in a couple of days.

BORGER: Yes.

BALDWIN: Gloria Borger, thank you.

BORGER: Sure.

BALDWIN: Coming up next: a disturbing piece of video. It shows an officer elbowing a woman in the face during a dramatic standoff. We're going to tell you what the officers allegedly tried to do to the guy reporting this whole thing.

Also, parents are livid over what they are calling these scream rooms, unruly students allegedly locked inside. One parent says ambulances have had to come to the school because of these scream rooms. Sunny Hostin is on the case. We're going to talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A smackdown on a bus ends with a sheriff's deputy under investigation.

BALDWIN: A smackdown on a bus ends with a sheriff's deputy under investigation. So another passenger shot the video on this suburban L.A. bus. Two deputies trying to restrain the woman by holding her arms.

Take a look. You see them holding her arms behind, while one of them hauled off and elbows her in the face. The L.A. County sheriff calls the video disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF LEE VACA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: The individual deputy who swung an elbow at the lady is looking at that as a sensible solution. We need to retrain that individual and hold him accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin is on the case. And, Sunny, first question, what led up to this moment?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN REPORTER: Well, and I've seen the entire video and it really is extraordinary, Brooke. Apparently they were waiting, all the passengers were waiting to get on the bus. One of the passengers made a call to 911 indicating that there was a woman who was being unruly, who was being very argumentative and almost hit an older man in the face.

Well, the deputies got on the bus and apparently tried to take her off the bus. She called one of them a big shot, and the next thing you know, one of the deputies did elbow her in the face. She wasn't being physically combative at that point. I think that's where all of the outrage is coming from.

Also, many people are saying that this is a woman who was mentally ill. So, of course, that is also one of the factors leading to the outrage and this video has really gone viral.

BALDWIN: Well, let me ask you about that point. There is talk, I think we heard from police potentially, that she is mentally ill. Obviously, police are trained to deal with unruly people. What kind of training do they get in handling someone who is potentially mentally ill?

HOSTIN: Well, in law enforcement, we call it -- we call people that are mentally ill EDPs, emotionally disturbed persons. There are protocols specifically, Brooke, for dealing with EDPs. And certainly there are always protocols for the use of force by police.

Police officers and deputies are only supposed to use the amount of force that's reasonable to deal with the situation, to deescalate a situation. Certainly hitting a woman in the face with your elbow to deescalate a non-confrontational, physically, situation is not part of the protocol.

BALDWIN: We know this passenger who pulled out his cell phone, took this video, apparently he says the deputies tried to take his phone away. Can they do that? Can police do that?

HOSTIN: You know, they're not supposed to. And, certainly, we remember the days of Rodney King, right? And since then we all have our cell phones, we all have these digital recorders. And if you want to take a video of police doing their job, but you're not interfering with them doing their job, that should be perfectly legal.

It's been challenged across the States. The challenge usually fails. And so I am very surprised that that is a part of this story, Brooke. I think for me that was probably one of the most disturbing parts.

Apparently this man is a war veteran. He'd just come home from overseas. And in order to sort of preserve this video he placed the memory card in his mouth and kissed his girlfriend, his fiance, so that the video card would be transferred to her, and so this story could be told. So really just a remarkable effort on his part, and that's why we're even talking about it.

BALDWIN: How about that? Wow.

Case number two here. This is news out of Connecticut. There's a school in Connecticut, puts unruly kids in a room all alone until they calm down. Parents are upset over these time-out rooms. They're being called scream rooms. That's what the kids call them. Here's how one young woman describes her sister's reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIZ ARCHER, SISTER OF FARM HILL STUDENT: She can hear the kids screaming at the top of their lungs while she's trying to read. When she asked a teacher what's going on, they never give her answers, they just say ignore it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: A scream room, have you ever heard of this?

HOSTIN: No, I haven't. And I got to tell you, my lawyer hat is on, my mommy hat is on as well. I'm just fired up about this. This is unbelievable. I mean, is this where we are in the state of special education, because that's what this is dealing with.

These are kids with special needs, kids with disabilities. And they are being put in these time-out rooms and allowed to just scream their heads off. And this is a story that I think is just remarkable, remarkable that this is happening in our education system today.

BALDWIN: When I was in school I had never heard of, you know, putting kids in a coat closet. I know Barb, our producer, said that's what happened when she was young. I mean, is this the equivalent? Is this legal?

HOSTIN: I think it's worse, certainly I can't even believe that's the state of things, right? We're going from coat closets to time-out rooms. And, believe it or not, I did some research on this, it is legal.

The Department of Education says, under state law, if you have a child with disabilities and that child has what's called an IEP, an individual education plan, that's made apparently in conjunction with the parents, you are allowed to put a special education child in the time-out room.

I mean, it is outrageous. I say shame on you, the Connecticut school, shame on you for the Department of Education for even allowing something like this. Shouldn't we all be outraged? I mean, special -- kids with special needs are the children that need the most protection.

BALDWIN: I know.

HOSTIN: Need the most help. Why do something like that?

BALDWIN: I know. We love it when you get fired up with the mommy hat on, Sunny Hostin. We appreciate it. Thank you so much. You have a good weekend.

Now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Running down here now in the mall, but I'm continuing to follow them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Chaos, chaos and violence over iPhones. CNN is taking you inside this melee. Apple is responding. Plus, a former college football great hears some disturbing news. The doctor tells him, "You have a rare disorder that could paralyze you." Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right. Just in to us here at CNN. We've been reporting on these story, all these different pardons that have taken place out of Mississippi with regard to the outgoing Governor Haley Barbour.

And I want to bring in Martin Savidge. We know, Martin, you spoke with the state's attorney general yesterday. They were looking for these four convicted murderers who were essentially MIA. And you and your crew managed to track one of them down. How and what's he saying?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN REPORTER: Well, the way, the how, actually, we were working on a profile on a victim's family. Jennifer McCray was murdered in 2001 by her husband Anthony McCray. And we had gone to do a -- and talked to the victim's families, what their feelings were about the pardon that had been given to the killer of the woman who had been part of her family.

And while we were there, we said, could you in any way get us in touch with the family members of Anthony McCray. And they said, well, we'll take you by the house where he used to live.

Well, we went by and, sure enough, we spotted Anthony McCray at that house. The same man that law enforcement said for several days they had been unable to locate, living in the address where he used to live prior to all of this happening.

Anyway, we went to the door. I knocked. Finally, after talking to a woman inside, Anthony McCray stepped out and here's what's happening next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Let me make sure I'm talking to the right person.

ANTHONY MCCRAY, RELEASED CONVICT: This is Anthony.

SAVIDGE: You are Anthony McCray?

MCCRAY: Anthony B. McCray.

SAVIDGE: And you are the man convicted of killing Jennifer McCray?

MCCRAY: Yes, sir.

SAVIDGE: The man who has been pardoned by Governor Barbour?

MCCRAY: Yes, sir.

SAVIDGE: Well, first, how does it feel to be out?

MCCRAY: It's a blessing to be out, see your children, trying to -- fixing to help taking care of the children and stuff like that. I've been -- I've been saved, I've been baptized, I've been reading the Bible for 12 1/2 years. So it's just a true blessing. I didn't do this. God did this, you know what I'm saying? God blessed Haley Barbour in order to do this for us.

SAVIDGE: What do you think of the governor's decision to pardon you?

MCCRAY: Well, you know, we were down to the government mansions and I -- you meet the criteria. And then, you know, you follow the criteria, and that's be what your reward at the end of the time.

SAVIDGE: Your pardon, though, as you probably know by now, has triggered a lot of outrage. Not just yours, of course.

MCCRAY: Yes.

SAVIDGE: But pardons of other prisoners.

MCCRAY: Yes, sir.

SAVIDGE: What do you think about that?

MCCRAY: Well, you know, if the Lord lay on the governor's heart, and the inmates who worked at the government around the world, who have been working at the government mansion, did whatever they've been doing, the chores at the government mansion, yes, I think they should be pardoned. Everybody deserves a second chance in life.

SAVIDGE: Do you think people should be angry at Governor Barbour for -- ?

MCCRAY: No, sir. No, sir, because he treat us like we his children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: He treated us like we were his children. That is Anthony McCray, convicted murderer, killed his wife, Jennifer McCray, shot her in the back in front of witnesses in a cafe. And that is the man that we found this morning.

And apparently the same man that law enforcement was able to finally track down last night, we understand he was served with the court order that came out a couple days ago. He now knows he must report in to authorities every day. He also knows he has to be at a court hearing on the 23rd of this month and that there is a chance, a strong chance that he may go back to prison.

BALDWIN: So, Martin, so I'm clear, law enforcement found him last night, and then you found him this morning, so they are very much so aware of where he is, so he is not running. He's not in hiding?

SAVIDGE: Correct. Not running. Says he never was running. Says he was at the address where we found him from the very moment after he left the Department of Corrections, and that he has not fled from anywhere. And he has no intention of running. He will be in that courtroom as ordered.

I asked him what he thought about the possibility of going back to prison. He simply said it was all in God's hands.

BALDWIN: What about, we were talking, you and I, yesterday, there were these four pardoned convicted murders and the A.G. you spoke with said that it was possible they left legally, but it was possible they would launch this nationwide manhunt to try to find them. What do you know of the status of the other three men?

SAVIDGE: We don't know. We've made countless calls to the attorney general's office today, especially after the fact that we were able to find this one murderer, because we felt that if we found them, clearly the attorney general's office, with all of its resources and the fact they found him last night might have found the other convicted murderers that are now on the loose.

But again, we have not heard anything back from the attorney general's office, so we have no way of knowing. I did talk to the Department of Corrections, and they were unaware of any of these murderers being found.

So right now we just really don't know, Brooke, where things stand, whether they are also served in these documents, or whether they remain out on the run and away from authorities.

BALDWIN: That is incredible that you and your team were able to track Anthony McCray down. We'll look for more sound from him, of course, later on on CNN. Martin Savidge for us in Jackson, Mississippi. Martin, excellent job, thank you.

Coming up next, he is the "Rolling Stone" writer whose article took down General Stanley McChrystal. Now Michael Hastings is revealing what military men at the tip-top level told him over drinks. You're going to hear my conversation with him.

And you've asked at it, you've wondered. Now it's back. We find out. A behind-the-scenes look of how we put the show together. You're going to see it and I'll answer your questions next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You see this once, it's pretty tough to forget. I'm talking about the video of U.S. Marines in Afghanistan apparently urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters. We're going to show you a still picture from this, but, again, just a warning, you may find it disturbing.

Military investigators say they have identified now all four men in this image. Their names have not been released, but just last hour I spoke with "Rolling Stone" contributing editor Michael Hastings. So in 2010, Hastings wrote that article that led to the resignation of the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, that being General Stanley McChrystal .

And I asked Michael what kind of mindset -- he's been to Afghanistan a number of times -- what kind of mindset would lead to something like this piece of video. Here's what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL HASTINGS, EDITOR, "ROLLING STONE" MAGAZINE: There's one thing that we sort of forget. Marines and infantry men are taught to break the biggest taboo we have in civilization, which is don't kill people.

But they're trained to do that. So it's a very, very difficult situation, once you unleash the dogs of war, to then say, oh, well, these people who have been trying to kill you, that you just killed, you should treat their bodies with respect.

BALDWIN: And I want to ask about the mindset of some of these Marines, some of them very young. But, look, you had access to very, very high brass in Afghanistan. Can you at all in our experience, Michael, trace this attitude that we see clearly from the Marines, can it be traceable up the chain? Does it reflect commanders' attitudes at all?

HASTINGS: I would say it probably does on a certain level. I mean, I would --

BALDWIN: Probably does, what does that mean?

HASTINGS: -- (inaudible) -- I would say that if we injected our generals with truth serum and asked them how they felt about the Afghan people they would not say they love them, is what I mean. And I think there has been a breakdown in discipline from the top.

It was explicit in my reporting on General McChrystal, but this -- but this sort of contempt for common sense that we've seen, where we have, you know, again, 10 years in and we have, you know, General John Allen and these other top generals saying we want 10 more years, I mean, if that's not a breakdown in discipline, to try to wage an endless war, then I don't know what is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I mentioned a moment ago Hastings' "Rolling Stone" article about General McChrystal because he has now expanded upon that in this new book he's written. It's called "The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan."

And I asked Michael about Vice President Joe Biden, whom McChrystal and a top adviser mocked in a now infamous scene from an article and the book.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HASTINGS: I would say if Vice President Biden had had his way in the strategy discussions of two years ago, we would not be looking at that video that we just showed earlier today, because what Vice President Biden advocated for was a limited footprint of American soldiers and Marines in Afghanistan to focus on this, the specific counterterrorism mission, meaning specifically target the terrorists, the Al Qaida-linked terrorists, who threatened the United States homeland.

That's what Vice President Biden wanted to do. And that's where actually we're on the path now. We're heading towards that path.

BALDWIN: Counterterrorism plus is what he calls it. I also wanted to ask you --

HASTINGS: CT-plus, right.

BALDWIN: Right. On the front of your book, right, so in this right hand is a glass, I don't know, scotch, whisky, whatever it is.

I mean, I just have to ask you about the role in alcohol in your book, because you write about McChrystal's favorite beer being Bud Light Lime, one of his top advisers claims he worships the god of beer. Alcohol, Michael, peppered throughout the book -- why focus so much on that?

HASTINGS: Well, for me, it's -- part of it is to get a sense of how these guys really live their lives. And remember, General McChrystal is one of the most successful Special Forces operators in American history. And his staff was these, you know, outrageous bunch of characters, who were very talented, very ambitious and very willing to accept all sorts of risks.

That comes along -- I mean, Ulysses S. Grant was drunk all the time. You know, a Patton or a MacArthur, these are these huge personalities. And so booze came to represent this sort of release and this intoxication.

And I like to look at it sort of metaphorically, you know, that there has been this intoxication, not just with booze, but with endless war, with the sort of power that has come from the Pentagon's ability to wage two wars for the past 10 years.

So there's sort of a metaphorical thing, plus also I want people to get inside of like -- you know, it's kind of -- you know, we just -- we're so used to these pictures of heroes, these kind of clean- scrubbed pictures, and it's -- whenever you can get a couple shots of whisky into a story, it makes for better copy. That's for sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Michael Hastings. His book is called "The Operators." And we are eight minutes away from "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer.

And also, Wolf, eight minutes away from some new poll numbers.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S THE SITUATION ROOM: Getting brand-new poll numbers, CNN-ORC poll numbers, national poll numbers, where the race nationally stands for the Republican presidential nomination. We're going to share that with our viewers right at the top of the hour.

We also have a special interview coming up in our 5:00 pm Eastern hour with the former president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf. He says he's going back to Pakistan at the end of this month, even though authorities say they might arrest him as soon as he gets off the plane.

And there are plenty of assassination threats against him. People want to kill him. But he tells me he's going back, irrespective. We're going to talk about that and a lot more, all that coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM.", Brooke.

BALDWIN: Thank you, Wolf. We'll see you in a couple of minutes. Meantime, we're back in 90 seconds with some news on Stephen Colbert, but first a look behind the teams as my team and I started this Friday the 13th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You ready?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BALDWIN: Good morning. (Inaudible) morning. And we thought we would do something a little different. This is when we're all walking into our morning meeting, so we'll show you just a little bit of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy Friday!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whoo! (Inaudible).

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, got to go to black.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Got some breaking news for you, some provocative behavior in the Strait of Hormuz. Let's go straight to the Pentagon to CNN's Barbara Starr.

Barbara, what do you know? What happened?

BARBARA STARR, CNN REPORTER: Brooke, tensions could not be higher between the U.S. and Iran. And we now know exclusively that last Friday, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard had encounters with Iranian forces that are considered to have been very provocative.

First up, the U.S. Navy "New Orleans" an amphibious ship, was transiting, moving into the Strait of Hormuz. As it crossed into the strait, it was harassed by three Iranian fast speedboats, we're told. The Iranians did not respond to signals from the U.S. Navy to back off. The Iranians came within 500 yards of that U.S. warship. They finally broke contact. No shots were fired.

That same day, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter operating 75 miles east of Kuwait, inside of the Strait of Hormuz, was also harassed by high- speed small Iranian boats.

The U.S. personnel on the Coast Guard ship observed Iranian personnel with AK-47s, a video camera, and they believe that the forward machine gun on one of those high-speed Iranian boats was manned, pointed right at the U.S. Coast Guard cutter. Again, they broke contact.

But this comes at a time when the tensions are high, everybody is nervous around the clock about what is going on in the Strait of Hormuz. We are told that now the Navy and Coast Guard are videotaping all their encounters with the Iranians. There is videotape of these incidents. We're trying to get our hands on it, Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. To see that videotaped proof, Barbara Starr, we'll look for more of your reporting coming up in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Thank you.

Meantime, quickly, want to look at this new poll out of South Carolina. And you'll see the name right below Mitt Romney, as we look at the poll, here you go, Newt Gingrich making a run in South Carolina.

According to the poll by the American Research Group, he's in striking distance of Romney. Newt Gingrich, finishing number four in the Iowa caucuses, fourth in New Hampshire, with less than 10 percent of the vote.

But here he is. He was campaigning today in Florida, mounting a challenge to Mitt Romney in South Carolina. And let's go there to Aiken, South Carolina, to Joe Johns. And you know, Joe, we keep hearing about this super PACs. Explain if you would, how Newt Gingrich, despite his poor showings in these primaries, he's been able to stay in the race with the help of the super PAC.

JOE JOHNS, CNN REPORTER: Well, it's all about the money, when you think about it. You got a guy like Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire who's kicked in big money to the super PAC, or the father of Jon Huntsman, who's also kicked in money to his pro-Huntsman super PAC. This money comes in and it gets spent supposedly independently on television ads that go all over the place.

They really keep the campaign running because, you know, donors then give to the campaign to support the candidate, and so on. So, I mean, that's the bottom line. It's all about the Benjamins, as they say.

BALDWIN: It's all about the Benjamins, baby, but there is some gray work. When, you know, you look at how these super PACs work, because as it happens, you know, a certain PDO -- and you reported on this when this first happened in "POLITICAL POP," established a super PAC, (inaudible), you know, Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central, he announced last night that he might make a run for office.

Now, you know, play your role, Stephen Colbert, because you can't exactly run a super PAC, right, if you're running for office. So Colbert's supposedly signing over his super PAC to Comedy Central's Jon Stewart. Here's the exchange they had with a former government lawyer. Let's listen.

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JON STEWART, COMEDIAN: Now that I have the super PAC, can I run ads supporting Stephen Colbert, who I believe in very deeply, perhaps attacking his potential opponents, who I don't believe in it at all?

FORMER FEC CHAIRMAN TREVOR POTTER: Yes, you can, as long as you do not coordinate.

STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: Well, that's interesting.

STEWART: Can I legally hire Stephen's current super PAC staff to produce these ads that will be in no way coordinated with Stephen?

POTTER: Yes. As long as they have no knowledge of Stephen's plans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: OK, Joe Johns. Really? What's the deal?

JOHNS: Well, you know, it doesn't pass the laugh test, quite frankly, and I mean, and that's the point that Colbert has been making all along. We have these super PACs that are run by people who really know exactly what the candidate is thinking because they're friends of the candidate. They used to work for the candidate or maybe they're even family members of the candidate.

And so, no, they're not going to coordinate, but --

BALDWIN: No, they're not.

JOHNS: -- the guys in the super PAC know exactly what the other guy's thinking.

BALDWIN: No, they're not. Joe Johns, appreciate it, got a good laugh out of it, I guess.

Thank you for watching. Now "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer begins now.