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Rick Perry Drops Out of Presidential Race; Rick Santorum's Surprise Win in Iowa; Inside Look at Ship Rescue Effort; Darryl Hannah Interview; Keystone Pipeline Next Steps; Narco Wars: Murder in Honduras; Inside Obama's World; Profiting From Other States' Waste; Kodak Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Aired January 19, 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, as always.
Top of the hour. Let's get you caught up on everything making news. We call it "Rapid Fire."
Let's begin with Texas Governor Rick Perry. He says today, yes, he's suspending his presidential campaign and now throwing his support behind another southern conservative.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As I have contemplated the future of this campaign, I have come to the conclusion that there is no viable path forward for me in this 2012 campaign. Therefore, today, I am suspending my campaign and endorsing Newt Gingrich for president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And then there were four. You will see those four remaining candidates on stage, this stage, minus one of those podiums. That's a picture when they were removing that fifth podium.
Tonight, the southern Republican presidential debate, only here on CNN, starts at 8:00 Eastern.
And surprise. It appears that Rick Santorum actually won the Iowa caucuses.
The final certified tally released today shows Santorum with a 34-vote margin over Mitt Romney. Remember that night, CNN after dark, anyone? The initial returns showed Romney with an eight-vote victory over Santorum, but Iowa Republicans won't declare an official winner because votes are still missing from eight precincts.
More on all of today's breaking political news in just a couple of minutes.
Meantime, also happening today, the number of people filing for unemployment benefits last week was 352,000. That was the lowest that number has been in just about four years. Also today, Bank of America raked in $2 billion. That happened in the last quarter of last year. That net income definitely surpassed the predictions from the different analysts, and it goes a long way to make up for a loss from the year before. Bank of America cut 7,000 jobs in that quarter and eventually, it plans to cut 30,000 jobs.
In Los Angeles, investigators, they're hiking the trails near the landmark Hollywood sign. They're trying to figure out how big a crime scene they're really dealing with here. So far, they have hands, they have feet, and they have a severed of a male victim somewhere between 40 and 60 years of age. No sign yet though of the torso.
Today, crews are searching a seven-acre area inch by inch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COMMANDER ANDY SMITH, LOS ANGELES POLICE: We're going up this hillside and kind of fan out down this way. We've got another group that's looking through the park down there.
The thought is it would be difficult to carry a large part of a body up there. So there's probably very little chance that it's up there. But we're going to send the guys through there just to comb through this hillside and see if they can locate anything, any kind of clues at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The discoveries began actually just this past Tuesday. Two people just out and about by the sign, walking their dogs, found this -- found the head initially wrapped in a plastic bag.
And divers have returned to the waters right around the shipwrecked Italian cruise liner. For now, the operation is still technically considered a rescue, but authorities are considering now changing the mission to recovery. With at least two dozen people still missing, families are now asking authorities to continue the search.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSY ALBERTINI, PASSENGER (through translator): I would like the rescuers to not stop looking and not stop look. My little girl, they need to bring her back home as soon as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: As soon as the operation is though ultimately declared a recovery, salvage experts will begin pumping fuel out of that ship.
And big news today involving Iran. A source tells CNN the U.S. Navy is now sending a second aircraft carrier into the waters off Iran. The USS Abraham Lincoln joins the Carl Vinson there in the region.
And this news, this comes as tensions continue to heat up over Iran's threats of blocking the Strait of Hormuz, which, as you know, serves as a critical channel for 20 percent of the world's oil. Just two weeks ago, Iran warned the U.S. not to send another carrier through that strait.
And what goes up must come down, right? Well, that was the case with this giant balloon displaying the name of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.
The balloon loomed over a stretch of I-85 during morning rush hour in South Carolina. Look at the traffic. The highway patrol, not exactly amused, not were, I'm sure, commuters, and told the supporters who inflated it to take it down.
Got a lot more for you in the next two hours, including this --
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: We are hours away from a huge night in politics, and now the entire narrative for tonight's CNN debate has just dramatically changed. Now the race is down to four. One candidate leaves, another candidate wins.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.
(voice-over): Rick Perry out.
PERRY: I am suspending my campaign and endorsing Newt Gingrich.
BALDWIN: As the race for South Carolina comes down to the wire, a sudden about-face in Iowa.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, it's been a great victory for us.
BALDWIN: Find out why the history books are changing.
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Game on.
BALDWIN: Then, the candidates are blasting President Obama for pulling the plug on a pipeline running from Canada all the way down to the Gulf Coast.
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a stunningly stupid thing to do.
BALDWIN: At one point, police arrested acres Daryl Hannah over this fight. She joins me live.
Also, I'll speak live with Fareed Zakaria, who sat down with President Obama. Find out what the president revealed in this interview.
And the one, the only Dolly Parton joins me live today on her birthday. We'll talk movies, country, and who knows? Maybe some politics.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: What a day. Quite the day for political junkies out there. Big new bushels of politics today, just two days away from the do-or- die South Carolina primary. And numero uno here, Rick Perry.
He has seen the writing on the wall. It's the same writing many saw before him. Perry dropped out of the race late this morning. His once bright shooting star certainly flamed out in a hurry.
Here he is in Beaufort, South Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PERRY: As I have contemplated the future of this campaign, I have come to the conclusion that there is no viable path forward for me in this 2012 campaign. Therefore, today, I am suspending my campaign and endorsing Newt Gingrich.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So, Perry's support, as you just heard, goes on to Newt Gingrich. And funny thing. Our new poll shows Gingrich cutting into Mitt Romney's lead in South Carolina. Look at the numbers.
Romney, down four points from the first week of the month, Gingrich up five points. He has cut Romney's lead nearly in half.
Wolf Blitzer is there in Charleston, South Carolina.
And Wolf, what do you make of those numbers?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Well, it seems to be even closer than our poll suggests. There have been a few other polls that came out today showing the last few days, since Monday night's debate, Gingrich has really surged here in South Carolina.
So, with him getting the endorsement from Rick Perry this morning, let's say Rick Perry was getting 5 or 6 percent. If most of those people go ahead and vote for Newt Gingrich, and it's close on Saturday, who knows what could happen? Newt Gingrich potentially could even win going into Florida, the Florida primary on January 31st. So it's a four-man race right now and it's getting exciting here in South Carolina -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: It is so exciting. I am so excited for the primary on Saturday.
But let's just take a quick trip down memory lane. I mean, at one point in time, Rick Perry had huge numbers. What do you make of the whole rise and fall of the Texas governor here in this race?
BLITZER: Well, what's impressive right now is, after Rick Perry made those blunders in the earlier debates, that "Oops" moment, if you will, when he couldn't remember the three departments in the U.S. government and the executive branch he wanted to eliminate, he had a problem remembering the third one, it was all downhill for him then. He never really recovered from those mistakes. Ironically, the last debate Monday night, he did OK. He didn't have any major blunders or anything like that.
So, you know, he could never really get it back on track after some of those early mistakes in the debates. He really wasn't ready for prime time, as they say. Maybe four years from now, who knows what could happen? But right now, he certainly isn't ready. He recognizes that himself.
What is impressive from Newt Gingrich's standpoint, after he was crushed in Iowa, those pro-Mitt Romney super PAC ads destroyed hip in Iowa, he didn't do well in New Hampshire. Santorum, now we know, won in Iowa. Santorum came ahead of him in New Hampshire. What's impressive is that Newt Gingrich has come back.
He did have a good debate performance Monday night, and he's potentially now on the verge of upsetting Mitt Romney here in South Carolina. Still a couple days to go before the Saturday contest. We'll see what happens at the debate tonight.
What I do predict, Brooke, and I sense you sense it as well, is that it's going to be lively. Four men up on the stage, not five, not eight, when I moderated those two debates. It's going to be lively tonight, because these guys have nothing to lose right now. They're going to come out swinging.
BALDWIN: You mentioned now there are four lecterns I guess now up on that stage in Charleston. And, you know, you hosted the last debate. And you got some pretty big props for that, Wolf Blitzer.
Let's just play -- this is just one exchange you had with Ron Paul. Who could forget?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RON PAUL (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My advice to him would have a major medical policy, but not be --
BLITZER: But he doesn't have that. He doesn't have it, and he needs intensive care for six months. Who pays?
PAUL: That's what freedom it all about, taking your own risks. This whole idea that you have to take care of everybody --
(APPLAUSE)
BLITZER: But Congressman, are you saying that society should just let him die?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!
PAUL: No. I practiced medicine before we had Medicaid, in the early 1960s, when I got out of medical school. I practiced at Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio, and the churches took care of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: All those people on the stage then in Tampa. Now, tonight, four.
I know Gingrich embraces these debates, and we'll be looking at the other candidates. What are you looking for? What are you looking for from Santorum, let's say?
BLITZER: I think Santorum is really going to come out swinging. I interviewed him earlier today, and we're going to have the interview on "THE SITUATION ROOM." But he is really irritated with Newt Gingrich.
He says that Newt Gingrich, how dare he suggest that he drop out of this contest after we now know he won in Iowa, did better than Newt Gingrich in New Hampshire? The fact that Newt Gingrich is even suggesting that is so irritating to Rick Santorum.
I want to see how tough he gets on the stage. It's one thing to get irritated with Newt Gingrich in a conversation with me. It's another thing when Newt Gingrich may be standing right next to him.
I'm also going to see how tough he gets with Mitt Romney later tonight. In one of his ads that's running here in South Carolina, he basically says there's no difference between President Obama and Mitt Romney when it comes to a lot of these issues. So will he be able to deliver tonight?
And Ron Paul. I'm always anxious to see what he says, because he's a real libertarian on so many of these domestic and national security issues. I suspect he's going to liven things up, as well.
It's going to be a great debate. Looking forward to it.
BALDWIN: Looking forward to it, 8:00 tonight Eastern.
Wolf Blitzer, thank you very much.
And sitting alongside you is our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger.
And speaking of Santorum, Gloria, certainly another political story percolating today. Rick Santorum, apparently -- surprise -- as we said, was actually the winner of the Iowa caucuses. I've got to ask you, does that really -- does it really mean anything by this point, or are we all sort of moving on?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, as Wolf was saying, Santorum is upset, and I don't blame him for being irritated, because presidential campaigns are narratives. And if the narrative had been that Santorum, you know, underdog, spent all his time in Iowa, had won in Iowa, defeated Mitt Romney, the overwhelming favorite to win the nomination, we might have had a different story line.
When they came out of Iowa, it was kind of a split, not that Santorum didn't get the credit, but I think it would have given his campaign a whole different kind of momentum and a different kind of a feel. Now, here we are in South Carolina, and I think you're looking forward to Florida. You're not looking backward to Iowa.
So I think it has much less impact. So I don't blame Santorum if he's irritated, because you know what? When you work so hard to win a caucus in a state like Iowa, you kind of expect them to be able to count the votes properly. Wouldn't you think?
BALDWIN: You would think. You would think.
BORGER: Yes.
BALDWIN: The last couple of debates, Gloria, it's been clear Mitt Romney has been the front-runner. And you're looking at everyone else on the stage, and they're clearly taking verbal jabs, specifically at Romney. As Wolf mentioned, he'll be looking at Santorum, and if he either goes after Gingrich or Romney.
Do you think, speaking of Gingrich, that he'll really sort of bring up this income tax issue again with Mitt Romney?
BORGER: Yes, I think he will bring up the income tax issue with Mitt Romney. He's got nothing to lose on it.
He did pretty well on it last time around. Mitt Romney has been playing defense on that. And in talking to people inside the Romney campaign, it's clear to me that there's a discussion going on about whether, in fact, Romney ought to release his taxes.
I think Gingrich, you know, it's going to be an interesting debate for Gingrich tonight, because on the one hand, he gets the endorsement from Perry. On the other hand, his ex-wife, Marianne Gingrich, has given "The Washington Post" and ABC News an interview that could prove damaging to him, particularly with women voters, about -- she says that he wanted an open marriage. His children by his first wife have sent a statement to ABC News defending Newt Gingrich in this.
So I think you're going to have a very interesting dynamic here, and Rick Santorum trying to say, let these twos guys fight. Look at me, I'm the alternative.
BALDWIN: South Carolina already claiming two victims. We'll have to see how many tickets out of South Carolina after Saturday night.
Gloria Borger, it's going to be fascinating.
BORGER: Right.
BALDWIN: Thank you so much.
And, of course, tonight, the big night. We're hours away from huge, huge politics. GOP contenders facing of for what could be the final debate.
Join John King and Wolf for the Southern Republican Presidential Debate right here on CNN, tonight, 8:00 Eastern. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- turned around and gave me their baby and said, "Take my baby."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Amazing new stories from folks who thought they were moments away from dying. Up next, you're about to see behind-the-scenes video of crews going into that cruise ship wreck. Chad Myers is actually a certified diver. And he's going to walk us through this rescue effort next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Rescuers are back at the shipwrecked cruise liner just off the coast of Italy. The operation is still technically a rescue, but authorities are considering changing the mission to a recovery. And as soon as it is deemed a recovery, salvage experts will then go in.
They're going to start pumping the fuel out of the ship. There are several thousand tons of fuel still inside of that thing.
The Concordia was carrying 2,300 tons, to be specific, of fuel when it hit those rocks off the coast of Italy Friday night and started to sink. So far, at least 11 people are known dead. Close to two dozen are still missing.
And we've been getting these amazing pictures coming in, taken by some of these rescuers.
And I want to bring in Chad Myers, who apparently, as we learned, is a certified diver.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Sure.
BALDWIN: We always wonder -- you just wear a lot of hats, and it's amazing that you can relate here to this story.
Walk us through the video. What are these divers doing?
MYERS: Well, they are down below the surface of the water, and the visibility has been very good. Now, we are just going to see the video here for the very, very first time. I haven't seen it. Brooke, you haven't seen it. And obviously the people at home have not seen some of this video just coming in.
BALDWIN: Just in.
MYERS: They are getting down there. They are blasting these holes in the side of the ship, getting down through these holes. And now an underwater search is going on.
Clearly, the underwater search, they're not searching for survivors. Right? It is the above-water search that is so very impressive. They are getting up above the water, climbing the stairwells sideways, literally, because the boat is on its side, searching every cabin, even the inside cabins, search the bathrooms, searching every little nook and cranny of this place, being quiet for a while, hoping to hear knocking, hoping to hear tapping. So far, nothing.
I honestly believed that -- at least yesterday I did -- that people were still alive on the ship. Now as the hours go by, it seems less and less likely.
Now, this guy is coming down from the top, getting down onto the board. This is probably about the seventh or eighth deck. He's going to climb into this.
This is a balcony cabin. He goes into that balcony cabin and he walks along the inside cabins, as well. Pretty amazing stuff.
They have all the blueprints. They are going through every place.
BALDWIN: Here are the divers going under water. Look at this, the video from underneath.
MYERS: You have to understand, this ship held 3,200 people. You have to understand how many hotel rooms it would take to hold 3,200 people.
There are so many cavities in this boat that still could have air and no water and still have live people. We just haven't seen one rescue yet.
You know, even when Haiti was coming in -- remember the Haitian disaster?
BALDWIN: Yes.
MYERS: You know, 13, 14 days later, they were finding still people in the rubble. Here, this -- the visibility is so very good, and there's not a lot of debris everywhere. These divers are allowed to get places because, well, the boat's still in one piece. It's not like a plane that has come apart and wires are everywhere.
BALDWIN: Yes. But when I talked to a diver the other day, he said, A, the water is very cold, and you can tell by the gear that these guys are wearing. And secondly, it's very dark down there. And so that's another concern, entrapment, as you're trying to weave your way into these crevices.
MYERS: It's called spelunking if you go diving in a cave.
BALDWIN: Right.
BALDWIN: And you need a special certification to do spelunk diving. That's what these rescue divers are doing right now. They are literally going from cave to cave to cave, all called cabins.
It surprises me that, still, passengers are missing. I understand that the crew would be missing, because that's where the water would go first, to the engine room, to the boiler room, things like that.
BALDWIN: Sure. Perhaps they didn't know where they were going at the time. It's total chaos. Where do you go?
Chad, thank you. The first time we had seen that video. Now this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRICH: This is a stunningly stupid thing to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Newt Gingrich and other GOP candidates blasting President Obama for pulling the plug on a pipeline that would have run all the way from Canada to the Gulf Coast, right there by Texas. But Republicans say this fight isn't over.
Police arrested Daryl Hannah -- actress Daryl Hannah -- in this whole battle when she protested over this Keystone XL pipeline last year at the White House. We're going to get her reaction to this big news we brought you yesterday as breaking news live, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: President Obama has now rejected the pipeline project that would have transported oil all the way from Canada, from Alberta, down through the midsection of the U.S., down to Texas and the Gulf Coast. Now, environmental advocates say this is the best public interest. Critics say this is political, it would have created jobs.
Officially the president says -- and this came down just yesterday -- because he didn't have enough time to assess the impact of this 1700- mile-long pipeline, didn't have the time to assess the impact on the environment. Now, Congress had given him two months to decide, and the president's spokesman said setting that deadline, that that was the problem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The Republicans put in jeopardy a process that should be immune from politics, should be conducted on the basis of pragmatic and considered analysis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: But his Republican critics point out the administration has had three years to look at the issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ERIC CANTOR (R), MAJORITY LEADER: Rhetoric. And by deciding to block the development of the Keystone pipeline, he has essentially decided to block the creation of 20,000 new jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Let's go now to a well-known opponent of the pipeline, actress and activist Daryl Hannah. There she was getting arrested last summer outside the White House for trying to protest the construction of the pipeline.
And she joins me now by phone.
Daryl, I imagine with the news yesterday from the president and the State Department, you are relieved. Yes?
DARYL HANNAH, ACTRESS AND ACTIVIST: Well, certainly I'm glad that he didn't accept an arbitrary date that was superimposed upon President Obama to make a decision by a specific date, and actually took in the interests of the American public and our well-being and the well-being of our food security and water security in making -- in delaying this decision, although I don't think it's an outright rejection. It's just yet another delay in the process of the pipeline.
And just so you know, I mean, the jobs that they keep touting is sort of a red herring. I mean, every study that has been done has been done by the oil company, and they started saying it's a few thousand jobs, and then they go to tens of thousands of jobs, and then it's millions of jobs.
But, in fact, the only non-oil-funded study that was done on the issue and the impact of the pipeline, especially related to jobs, says it will take away as many jobs as it will create. So, in fact, there will only be 100 permanent jobs and that's it. So it's really not a jobs issue.
BALDWIN: I think to your point, if I may -- if I may jump in -- and we were talking about this yesterday with regard to the jobs -- I don't think there really is officially one hard number on the jobs. And so I think that while we don't know that specifically, the creation of several hundred, several thousand, that's, you know, to be determined. But I think, also, there's been criticism on the other side that, you know, when people say this sort of oil sand is dirty and a bad kind of oil, people have said that that's exaggerated as well. So you have to look at both sides of this issue.
And you bring up the point about this is a delay, right? Perhaps the delay of the inevitable. One investor actually told Bloomberg News that he bought 350 shares of TransCanada. That's the company, as you know, behind the pipeline, saying it will -- or he believes it will be approved. So if -- how do you prepare?
HANNAH: Well, there's no (ph) indication that the powers that be want to approve it. I mean, President Obama has as his chief campaign adviser the man who was formerly the chief lobbyist for TransCanada. So, I mean, there's every indication that they want and plan to approve it.
BALDWIN: But what are your next steps?
HANNAH: But it is not in the best interest of the American public. We are already refining tar sands oil in Oklahoma. They want to get it down to the Gulf so they can make it available for the open market. This has nothing to do with what's in the best interest of the American people of lowering our gas prices, of creating any kind of energy security, of creating our own energy cleanly and domestically. It has nothing to do with that.
This is just to benefit the oil companies. They have tons -- tens of millions -- hundreds of millions of dollars to lobby politicians to make it happen. And that's what they're trying to do.
BALDWIN: And there is -- there is concern and questioning, Daryl, over whether or not if the U.S. doesn't take this oil and this pipeline, that some other country will. Perhaps China. I was talking about that with our chief business correspondent just yesterday, Ali Velshi. Here's what he was saying. Take a Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: There's truth on both sides of this. Politics has muddied it. But we are big consumers of oil. We import most of our oil. Most of it comes from Canada. And other people are willing to buy that Canadian oil. In particular, the Chinese. So from a buyer's perspective, it may not be the best idea to say, we're not building the pipeline extension.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: What do you say to that, Daryl Hannah?
HANNAH: The pipeline is not to bring oil to the United States, to provide oil for the United States. The pipeline is to bring oil to the Gulf of Mexico, to process it and make it available for sale on the open market. So that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with our energy security, available oil for us or versus China. It's just going to be for sale and the highest bidder gets the prize, you know? So this is -- this -- it's also just a distraction from the real issue. This is not what's really going on here.
BALDWIN: This issue continues. Daryl Hannah, I have a feeling our conversation will continue as we see what happens to this perhaps after this election cycle. Perhaps when politics doesn't, as much, play into this, as both sides say. Daryl Hannah, thank you very much.
HANNAH: Thank you very much.
BALDWIN: Coming up next, it is a place where 90 percent of all murders are unsolved. So CNN asked police if we could ride along on a call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAJ LARSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So we jumped in the trucks and we're headed there right now to see what's going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: What police find, and our correspondent there, is shocking. This is a CNN special investigation. We've got a preview, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: If you mix deported California gang members with Latin American drug cartels, what do you get? You get a country with a murder rate to rival anything seen in Juarez, Mexico. The place I'm talking about is Honduras. And CNN's Kaj Larsen takes us there. But I've got to warn you, some of the pictures in this piece are very, very gruesome, but they are included just to show how violent the region has now become.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAJ LARSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Honduras, over 90 percent of crimes like murder are never solved. They call it the impunity rate. I asked the chief of police in San Pedro Sula, the second biggest city here, if they would take us along when a call came in on a crime. A minute later, we got our wish.
LARSEN (on camera): So we jumped in the trucks and we're headed there right now to see what's going on.
It's completely real. We're not making up how violent this place is. We've been here four hours and our first body has turned up. It appears that he's been shot. The impact wound appears to be right here on the right side of his head. And the police commissioner told us that, you know, as is very typical in these situations, nobody saw anything, nobody heard anything and nobody knows this guy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (speaking foreign language)
LARSEN: Nobody wants to talk, which suggests that people are definitely afraid in this neighborhood. As they should be.
LARSEN (voice-over): For years, the region has been plagued with violent gangs started by gang members deported from California. But in the last few years, it's also become the main corridor for narcotics coming up from South America. As the big Mexican cartels have looked for staging areas here, murder rates have sky rocked.
LARSEN (on camera): So this is the entrance to the morgue in Tegucigalpa. There must be 15 bodies here.
LARSEN (voice-over): Yesterday, they received seven bodies. And this morning, five more.
LARSEN (on camera): They get new bodies every day. Eighty percent of them are from violence. They're usually shot either with a pistol or a rifle.
There's not much to say. I mean, this woman and her mother, who just lost two sons, who are two of the bodies I just saw inside the morgue, the son and the brothers of these two women. There's a human cost to the drug war, and they Hondurans are paying it in blood.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BALDWIN: And this, what you just saw, is actually part of this massive two-part investigation. Don't miss Kaj's in-depth report on these narco wars this weekend. Sanjay Gupta and I are co-hosting again the "CNN Presents" this Sunday night, 8:00 Eastern. And it will re-air at 11:00 Eastern. This is an extraordinary piece of reporting. Kaj Larsen, my thinks to you.
Coming up next, as Republicans attack President Obama left and right, his re-election campaign releasing its very first ad of the season. And CNN's Fareed Zakaria actually recently sat down with the president and asked him questions about a number of hot button issues, including why the president doesn't have a good relationship with Congress when he does so well with his foreign policy teams, complex issues there, and why some seem to criticize him as aloof and unsocial. Fareed stopping by the show, answering some questions, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Hitting newsstands and iPads tomorrow, the new issue of "Time" magazine. And inside, CNN's Fareed Zakaria has an exclusive interview with President Obama. The president hits back at Republicans over foreign policy, confronts the threat from Iran, even offers a reason why he is sometimes has his reputation among some circles as coming off cool, aloof, detached. But you don't have to wait until tomorrow to actually really hear the good parts about this. One of my favorite people at CNN, and certainly one of the smartest guys I get to talk to is this man, Fareed Zakaria, with the latest on this interview with the president.
So, Fareed, you sat down with him yesterday?
FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, CNN'S "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": Yesterday morning. That's right, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Yesterday morning. I want to begin with actually quoting you quoting Mitt Romney. And he called the president, quote, "timid, indecisive and nuanced on foreign policy." When you brought that up to the president, let me just read what he said. "I think Mr. Romney and the rest of the Republican field are going to be playing to their base until the primary season is over. Once it is, we'll have a serious debate about foreign policy."
Fareed Zakaria, if it comes down to Obama and Romney, who wins that debate?
ZAKARIA: Oh, I think Obama's got a very strong record on foreign policy. Look, when he came into office, the United States had 140,000 troops in Iraq was -- remember, was widely disliked around the world. A lot of countries didn't want to do things with us. We had large parts of the world thinking we had ignored them in a kind of obsession with terrorism.
And in three years, he's down the troops in Iraq from 140,000 to zero. Troops are beginning to draw down in Afghanistan. And, meanwhile, the counter-terrorism part of the policy, the hitting al Qaeda, has been spectacularly successful. Most of al Qaeda's top leadership has been killed and, of course, most importantly, Osama bin Laden has been killed. And now he's pivoting to Asia, the place where, you know, the future of American prosperity will be and focusing on that.
So he's got a pretty strong record. I think what Romney will find difficult is that the old Republican tactic of attacking Democrats for being weak isn't going to work because on the core issue of fighting America's enemies, fighting al Qaeda, Obama has outflanked them on the right. He's been more aggressive than Bush and more successful.
BALDWIN: He's been successful when it comes to some of his foreign policy. You point out, it's sort of this interesting comparison you make. You know, the president has this reputation managing this, you know, complex foreign policy issues, great job managing this team. Yet, Congress, not so much. In fact, you asked the president why he hasn't developed a better relationship with Congress. He mentions, you know, yes, he played a pretty good golf game with John Boehner. But why can't they work together? What did he say?
ZAKARIA: Well, he said two things, Brooke. And it's interesting you pick up on that answer because, in some ways, it's my favorite answer.
BALDWIN: Yes.
ZAKARIA: He first says, look, you got to understand, this is not just about personalities. The Republicans have decided that they're not going to give anything on tax increases, on -- and we, you know, we Democrats have come to them offering more budget cuts, more spending cuts than even were in Simpson Bowles, but they've got to give us something on their side. And, you know, if you don't do that, you don't have a deal. And that's the basic problem. And I could play many more golf games with John Boehner, it's not going to change that fundamental problem. He said Boehner and I actually got on well. We enjoyed playing golf.
But then he says, when I asked him -- pushed him on about the aloofness, I said, you know, people say you don't pal around with either congressional leaders or foreign leaders. And he said, look, this is all because people in Washington want me to hang out with them and socialize with them and go to parties with them. And Michelle and I don't do that. And we realize we're paying a price, he was saying. But he said, but here's the reason. We've got a -- you know, two young daughters and this is a really crucial part of their point in their lives. We want to spend time with them. We want to be good parents. And, I'm sorry, we're not going to be on the Washington social scene. And because we don't hang out with people in Washington, everyone in Washington thinks we're aloof.
BALDWIN: Well, let me point out --
ZAKARIA: I thought it was a very human response, you know.
BALDWIN: I loved the answer. In fact, I loved it so much, we have a graphic. So he answered to you, "the fact is, I've got a 13-year-old and a 10-year-old daughter and so, no, Michele and I don't do the social scene because, as busy as we are, we have a limited amount of time and we want to be good parents at a time that's vitally important for our kids." And, you know, he's been, you know, called cold and aloof before. You sat across from him yesterday. How does he come off in person?
ZAKARIA: Well, I've never found him cold and aloof. I think he's actually a very real, very normal person. Most politicians, to be completely honest, Brooke, are kind of weird. You wouldn't want to spend a lot of time with them. Obama is a kind of very unusual in that he's very normal.
You also get that sense of his being a very dedicated father. I've had the honor to meet him a number of times. And I think that almost every time he has talked about his children. They just naturally come into the conversation for him. It's obvious they're on his mind all the time. Part of it is that I have kids about the same age. But he always brings them up. I mean he -- we started the interview, we were talking about he had a cold. And he says, you know, I think I got it from Sasha. You know how it is with kids, they pass things on. He's -- it's -- they're some -- they're always part of his thinking.
BALDWIN: Uh-huh. Uh-huh. As with so many fathers.
I do want to ask you about Iran, though. And in your interview you write, "Barack Obama is already pointed in the right direction on foreign policy. The challenge for him is to find this sweet spot." But in October, Fareed, you said America's policy toward Iran is, quote, "stuck in a time warp" and that, quote, "Obama's Iran policy looks a lot like George W. Bush's, pressure and more pressure." What is the sweet spot with Iran?
ZAKARIA: Well, that's a good question. You know, I was making an overall characterization. As you know, I've been somewhat critical of the Iran policy. Here's the reason. They're putting a lot of pressure on Iran, which is a good thing. They're doing it very intelligently and very effectively by getting other countries involved. The Chinese have said they're going to buy less Iranian oil. That's going to hurt the Iranians.
But you can't just put pressure. You've got to have a diplomatic track. You've got to find an exit strategy because the Iranians are -- this is a proud country, a proud regime. They're not going to just wake up one morning and say, OK, we give up, we surrender, you know? There's got to be some diplomatic path for a face-saving exit where there can be some kind of compromise.
And we're not talking to them. No one's talking to them. So all I say is, keep the pressure on, but you've got to find -- you know, find some diplomatic mechanism to get them off the ledge, and that's the sweet spot.
BALDWIN: Fareed Zakaria, as always, thank you so much.
Let's remind everyone, if they're not watching it, DVR it, "Fareed Zakaria GPS" Sundays on CNN, 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 Eastern Time.
Fareed, thank you.
ZAKARIA: Thank you, Brooke.
BALDWIN: And, if you drive a car, or heat a home with natural gas, this next story absolutely concerns you. You know, some companies use this process, it's called fracking to get oil and natural gas out of the earth. This is a profitable business. It creates many jobs in this country. But some experts say there are huge concerns. Concerns like manmade earthquakes, environmental damage and waste from fracking. Up next, we have the hard questions about that waste and its impact on the earth. Be right back.
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BALDWIN: The state of Ohio is now getting this reputation as the place for other states to go to get rid of waste. The business is actually helping Ohio's economy, but many believe it's hurting the environment, especially, they say, because the waste Ohio is taking in comes from the oil and gas industry. It's this process that's known as fracking. CNN's Poppy Harlow has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM (voice-over): You can't flush fracking wastewater down the drain. So millions of barrels of it are coming right here, to Ohio.
DON KRIEGER (ph): We're putting it exactly where the federal government says to put it, down in deep injection wells.
This is the depco (ph) number one, an injection well.
HARLOW: Don Krieger manages one of nearly 180 disposal or injection wells in Ohio. They're used to hold the waste from oil and gas drilling, where fracking is often used to break apart shale. This so- called brine is injected thousands of feet into the earth at intense pressures.
HARLOW (on camera): How much have you seen business increase?
KRIEGER: About 50 percent probably.
HARLOW: In what?
KRIEGER: In the last year and a half.
HARLOW: Just to give you some perspective. There are about 144,000 disposal wells just like this one all across the United States.
HARLOW (voice-over): And with the fracking boom, there's a whole lot more waste to deal with.
HARLOW (on camera): How much of the waste you accept here is coming from out of state?
KRIEGER: Say about one-third of it is out of state.
HARLOW (voice-over): It's coming from places like Pennsylvania, where there are not nearly enough wells to hold the waste. Last year, more than 5 million barrels of fracking waste came into Ohio from out of state.
BOB GRAY, YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, RESIDENT: Why is it good for the westside of Youngstown to inject all that filth and all that garbage like a septic tank and that's OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is all actually new fresh cracks.
HARLOW: Fueling that anger, a series of 11 earthquakes in Youngstown since March, which scientists have linked to a local disposal well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why become the dumping ground of the entire United States?
HARLOW (on camera): The dumping ground?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You bet you. It is a dumping ground.
GREGG ROSSI, YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, RESIDENT: How can you be against it? You know, I mean it's not like we're taking in trash.
HARLOW (voice-over): It's not technically trash. It's saltwater and a small amount of chemicals. And it brings much needed money.
HARLOW (on camera): Is it a good thing for Ohio?
TOM STEWART, OHIO OIL AND GAS ASSOCIATION: I'm sure my members who are operating these wells are enjoying the economic stream from that. Business is business.
HARLOW (voice-over): Krieger's company charges $3 a barrel for out of state waste.
HARLOW (on camera): How much drilling wastewater is being pumped deep into the earth here?
KRIEGER: Two thousand barrels a day approximately.
HARLOW (voice-over): And since Ohio started charging companies to truck in their waste a little over a year ago, the state has made roughly $1 million from it.
ROSSI: I'm definitely in favor of the fracking. The disposal is a by- product. That needs to be dealt with safely, environmentally, and I think the residents, once they are educated, won't have a problem with this.
HARLOW: Ohio issued more disposal well permits last year than ever before by a long shot.
KAREN O'MALIA, GIRARD, OHIO, RESIDENT: I think so many of the decisions in our country today really pit short-term economic development against long-term environmental hazards or environmental quality, quality of life issues and this is just another one of those.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Poppy Harlow live once again.
You know, isn't the fracking boom just going to create more and more waste? Where does the waste end up? I imagine it has to go somewhere.
HARLOW: Yes, it's going to absolutely do that unless we see some sort of dramatic slowdown, which no indicator is pointing to right now other than lower natural gas prices. This is an industry that's just burgeoning.
What happened in Pennsylvania is they don't have enough of these wells. They've only got about seven of these disposal wells. Ohio has almost 180. So, also in Pennsylvania, they outlawed pouring this waste into rivers and streams, which they used to be able to do. They've got to put it somewhere. Right now Ohio is taking in 54 percent of this waste from outside of state.
Now they're also putting their own waste in the ground, but it's coming from places like West Virginia. In New York, you're seeing a huge fracking boom in upstate New York. Where is that waste going to go? A lot of this will have to be determined by what the EPA comes down and says in a study that's set to be released sometime later this year.
But as this fracking increases and, yes, as we always say, Brooke, it's great for jobs, it's great for the economy, you're going to have more of this waste, you're going to have to figure out where to put it. And as we talked about earlier this week, the fear that some of these disposal wells may be triggering earthquakes has a lot of residents wondering if they want Ohio to be a dumping ground despite the money that it brings in.
BALDWIN: We appreciate your reporting. Poppy Harlow for us out of Ohio. Folks, go to cnn.com/money to read more of Poppy Harlow's pieces.
Poppy, thank you so much.
And in just a couple of minutes, we'll going to go live to South Carolina, where we are just now getting some news from Mitt Romney's campaign regarding the new Iowa results. The results that shows he actually lost the caucuses there.
Plus, let's take a moment to get nostalgic. Remember this song? Our i- Reporters have been amazing. They've been paying tribute to the American company that helped them really chronicle their own lives. Look at this. They're thinking Kodak. They have sent in their personal Kodak moments. But Kodak, too, may be headed toward becoming an memory. It's now filed for bankruptcy protection. How the industry icon plans to save itself, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Trending today, as we just mentioned on the other side of the break, it's the company that helped us make our memories. Kodak revolutionized photography, brought picture making to the public. And remember the commercials, songs like "True Colors" that made you, you know, get a little teary-eyed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Time and time again, the world's great pictures are trusted to one film -- Kodak. Why trust your memories.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Well, here's the news with Kodak. Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today. It is trying to reorganize after revealing it owes billions to more than 100,000 creditors. Let's go to CNN's Felicia Taylor there in New York.
And, Felicia, I mean, Kodak's been in trouble for a little while.
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it has. I mean, you know, you were talking about some of those Kodak moments. But, frankly, this company has been talking about bankruptcy, so it didn't really come as much of a surprise. And those discussions started last year.
The writing's been on the wall. Kodak hasn't posted an annual profit since 2004. It tried to sell off some patents to stay afloat, but it just wasn't enough. It had $7 billion in debt. So it also announced today that it is suing Samsung Electronics for infringing on some of those patents. And it's also taken similar legal action against Apple. And that's really, you know, where the problem was because they were counting on that revenue stream from those patents to stay in place. But, you know, obviously, some companies have infringed or allegedly have infringed.
So, they've streamlined its corporate structure. But two weeks ago, "The Wall Street Journal" said that bankruptcy was likely. Kodak shares plunged. I mean they've been down some like 90 percent. And after today's bankruptcy filing, the stock has now been delisted at the New York Stock Exchange. And that happens when a stock trades below a dollar for a period -- a certain period of time. And usually that's a few months.
BALDWIN: I can't believe you said they haven't had a profit since --
TAYLOR: Fortunately, those Kodak moments --
BALDWIN: Yes, since '04 you said they hadn't seen a profit.
TAYLOR: Yes.
BALDWIN: I mean, so what happens to Kodak? Can they continue to operate or no?
TAYLOR: Yes, absolutely. And this is, you know, this is important for people to understand. Kodak is not closing its doors. Bankruptcy does not mean closure. It's going to get $950 million in financing from Citigroup. It says that's enough to pay suppliers, business partners, and keep the company operating. Sometimes what happens during bankruptcy proceedings is the company itself doesn't have to pay out health benefits and pensions, but evidently the company does intend to do that. So that's a good sign.
There's no word about layoffs so far, but, you know, those 19,000 employees probably are feeling a tiny bit nervous. But again, no word of layoffs yet.
It's possible to restructure and emerge from bankruptcy over time. GM, a number of airlines have done it. So cutting expenses doesn't do everything. The real problem for this company is it has to figure out how to stay relevant in a changing landscape in terms of business. Obviously, we don't really use film anymore and that's what Kodak was known for. They've moved to digital and they haven't been able to capture the digital market, despite the fact that they invented the digital camera.
BALDWIN: They did invent the digital camera. That's what we were talking about this morning in our meeting. But, alas, I guess -- hopefully, they will figure something out, as we all think of our Kodak moment.
Felicia Taylor, though, thank you so much in New York.