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Romney Makes His Case to Latinos; DOJ's Inspector General to Testify in Congress; Reports: Bank Hacks Tied to Anti-Muslim Film; Holder Cleared in "Fast & Furious" Case; Solving the Israel/Palestinian Conflict; Supporting Brain Cancer Patients

Aired September 20, 2012 - 09:00   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Soledad.

Happening now in the NEWSROOM, targeted. Ambassador Chris Stevens in the months leading up to his death. Said he was on an al Qaeda hit list. New information this morning on the escalating security climate and concerns in Libya.

Cleared. A new report from the inspector general at the Justice Department says they have no evidence that Attorney General Eric Holder knew about the strategy and tactics used in "Fast and Furious." In 30 minutes, the inspector general gets grilled about his report.

Offline. First Bank of America. Now Chase. Online banking taken down. This morning, the banks are on alert for a cyber attack and you won't believe what's behind these attacks. The cheesy anti-Muslim movie?

And viewed. Mitt Romney going into the lion's den after saying this about "The View."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: "The View" is fine. Although "The View" is high risk because of the five women on it, only one is conservative but four are --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: New today, it turns out the candidate will sit down with the ladies. Set your DVRs now, folks. This is going to be interesting.

NEWSROOM starts now.

Good morning to you, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being with us. We start with Mitt Romney and how 47 became 100. Romney is ramping up his efforts to get past those secretly recorded comments. Remember him dismissing 47 percent of Americans as being reliant on government handouts? Well, he's now pitching new numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ROMNEY: This is a campaign about the 100 percent. And over the last several years, you've seen greater and greater divisiveness in this country. We had hoped to come back together. But instead, you've seen us pull apart and politics has driven us apart in some respects. So my campaign is about the 100 percent of America and I'm concerned about them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And, clearly, some voters are concerned about Romney and his stand on issues like immigration and deportation. And then there's some interesting things he said about Obamacare. Listen to his appearance on Univision, the Spanish language network.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: I have experience in health care reform. Now and then the President says, I'm the grandfather of Obamacare. I don't think he meant that as a compliment, but I'll take it. This was during my primary. We thought it might not be helpful. But I've actually been able to put in place a system that fit the needs of the people of my state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: Joining me now is Ana Navarro, CNN contributor and Republicans strategist.

You were at that forum last night. It'll be interesting to have a chat with you this morning. Welcome, Ana.

ANA NAVARRO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Hi, Carol, good morning.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk first about Romney's comment on being the grandfather of Obamacare. And he's okay with that. What do you make of that?

NAVARRO: You know, it made me raise an eyebrow last night when I heard him say that and the way he said it. But he went back time and time again to his record in Massachusetts, whether it was jobs, whether it was education, whether it was health care. Something I haven't seen him do in the past. So it might be that he's now using more his record as governor, he's seeing it as something that's useful to go back to be proud of and own it.

I think it's smart, Carol. It is his record. It's part of his resume. It's part of what he offers the voters. I think it's smart for him to be using it and owning it.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Yes, but what about "I'm going to repeal Obamacare on day one"?

NAVARRO: Well, you know, he talks about preferring a solution for the states and the fact that he came up with a solution that was catered toward his state of Massachusetts that worked for that one particular state and that states should have the option to do that for themselves individually as opposed to being a federal mandate.

COSTELLO: Okay. Well, hopefully, that for Romney, of course, that will sit well with the voters he was talking to because President Obama has a whopping 40-point lead among Latino voters. Did Romney do anything last night that would put a dent in that?

NAVARRO: I don't know if he's going to put a dent in it. I don't think it's a one-night approach or one-night solution type of thing. He's been doing a lot of things this week. He had the speech in front of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He had a big interview with Telemundo, he had this Candidate's Forum and more than that, he's begun to spend millions of dollars on Spanish ads in Hispanic TV.

We're going to have to see if it works. We -- I hope that it's not too little too late. I think it's very important for the Latino community that we not be taken for granted by one party and ignored by the other. I think the best thing that could happen to us is that both candidates fight hard to earn our votes and to really court us.

COSTELLO: I know you called Romney's trip Latino-palooza. I like that.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: And he's sort of going on that, right?

NAVARRO: You're right.

COSTELLO: He did talk about immigration and he seemed to soften his stance. Tell me about that.

NAVARRO: He definitely softened his tone. We've now gone from him talking about vetoing the Dream Act to offering some exemptions for a certain category of young people. He specifically said there will be no round-ups, massive round-ups and massive deportations. He didn't give many specifics as to what he's going to do with the 11 million here undocumented.

He also dodged and weaved on the answer as to what he's going to do with the deferred action that's right now in -- you know, in effect covering Dream Act kids, the young students that were brought here through no fault of their own.

I think those questions are going to continue dodging him. But his tone, Carol, I can tell you, was much different than what I heard during the primary. For me, it's progress. It's what he has to do. He's got to moderate his tone. But we also need a good message and we need a good messenger.

And Mitt Romney has got to give it his all with Hispanics and try this every single day between now and November 6th. Because the margin, the lead that Obama has is significant. So he's -- you know, he can't give it up.

COSTELLO: It's more than significant.

NAVARRO: He's got to either make a dent in it or he's going to -- you know, or die trying. But he can't give it up because it means he can't get to the Casablanca.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Ana Navarro, Republican strategist and CNN contributor, thank so much.

President Obama, by the way, speaks at the same forum today. And again the folks will be on issues important to Latino voters. In all, 20 million Hispanic Americans are expected to vote in the presidential election.

The late ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, worried constantly about security threats and said that his name was on an al Qaeda hit list. This new information coming from a source close to Stevens, who also said the diplomat worried about the growing al Qaeda presence in Libya.

Stevens died in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi last week along with three other Americans. And during a Senate Homeland Security hearing a counterterrorism official said the attack was not carried out by people simply protesting that anti-Islam film.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW OLSEN, NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER DIRECTOR: I would say, yes, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on our embassy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And the presence of radical Islam in Libya has some top senators worried about the United States' relationship with the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: Libya is very weak, as you know. Their borders are porous. There's radical Islamist elements throughout the country. But still it is the obligation of the host country to protect our consulates, our embassies and our personnel. And it's partially ours, but we have to depend on the host country and we have to, then, sort out and rethink what presence we're going to have and what relationship we're going to have with these countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: U.S. intelligence officials are still investigating the incident. At least one suspect from the attack in Libya has been apprehended.

Within the hour, the Department of Justice's inspector general will brief lawmakers about his "Fast and Furious" report. The ATF's Weapons Trafficking Investigation was connected to the death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010. And now Michael Horowitz, the inspector general, will testify before a House Oversight Committee one day after his 471-page report was released.

Joe Johns is our crime and justice correspondent. He is -- he's in Washington. Morning, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. This is a very tough report. A lot of tough language in it. Across the board, the inspector general saying there was a failure of a number of people to ask questions, to inquiry even when there were red lights all over the place. Failure to send information all the way up the chain of command, including even to the Attorney General himself.

Some of this language, I'll just read to you. "Our review of Operation Fast and Furious and related matters revealed a series of misguided strategies, tactics, errors in judgment and management failures that permeated ATF headquarters in the Phoenix field division as well as the U.S. attorney's office for the district of Arizona."

Brian Terry was the U.S. Border Patrol agent whose murder in Arizona in 2010 really brought concerns about the "Fast and Furious" program to a head. Two weapons from the operation were found at the scene of Terry's murder. Family members of Terry have spoken out before, but now that the report is out, we're hearing from a family spokesman, Robert Heyer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT HEYER, COUSIN OF BRIAN TERRY: This whole operation, "Fast and Furious," and the subsequent immediate inquiry into "Fast and Furious" based on the ATF whistleblowers allegations really, we believe, was a combination of incompetence and arrogance. And, you know, right now we're wondering why -- well, throughout the government, DOJ and ATF officials, that's how Operation Fast and Furious was implemented. That's how it was allowed to continue. And then the immediate aftermath, especially when the Department of Justice denied that weapons were ever walked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: There's been such a political uproar over the "Fast and Furious" program. It's kind of interesting now, Carol. We're finding that both sides are claiming vindication. Both sides saying we were right. And the inspector general's report agrees with them. Nonetheless, there's very little that they agree about still. And this is probably going to be a political issue for a long time in Washington.

COSTELLO: Yes. There's a, what? A House Oversight Committee hearing on it today, on the inspector general's report. So it goes on.

JOHNS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Fourteen people the inspector general said should face punishment. What kind of punishment, do we know? JOHNS: Yes, well, what they said was check them out. We think you need to look into whether they ought to get punishment. They don't recommend the kind of punishment. They leave that up to the Justice Department.

As you know, a couple of people, very high ranking, actually were out just about an hour or so or even less. The one retired, one resigned. That would be Kenneth Melson of ATF and Jason Weinstein of the Justice Department. They got some tough words from this report. So the rest of this will be a process. And there may be some calls. I think we've been hearing a little bit of it on Capitol Hill already, that maybe some other heads should roll as a result of this report.

COSTELLO: Joe Johns reporting live for us from Washington.

Look out. A van plows into a police cruiser, putting an officer and another person in danger. We'll show you what happened next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is 15 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories:

The Colorado movie theater shooting suspect will be back in court this morning. Prosecutors want to add 10 new charges to the 142 charges Holmes already faces. Lawyers will likely argue whether a notebook James Holmes allegedly mailed to his psychiatrist before the shooting can be entered into trial. Twelve people were killed, 15 wounded in that attack.

U.S. border patrol officers on alert after 129 prisoners escaped in northern Mexico. New information from the prison says the inmates walked out the front door and did not escape through a tunnel, as first reported. Sixteen employees, including the prison director, have now been arrested. Police have set up blockades on roads leading into the United States.

There's a new sign tough economy has changed people's behavior for the better. Compared to last year, there are 1.4 million fewer people in the lowest credit scoring range. Experts say many people who had high debt loads and poor credit before the recession have since cut down on spending and their credit is actually better now.

Take a look at this dramatic dash cam video. A Texas police officer pushes a woman out of the way just before you see that van -- oh, God. It hurdles right into them. The van smashes into the squad car, which hits another car. The officer suffered serious injuries but he's now been released from the hospital. The woman? She just suffered some bruises. The van's driver -- guess what? Charged with DWI.

Just about half an hour ago we got a new measure of the economy. Last week, first time jobless claims fell less than expected: 382,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits. That's only 3,000 fewer than the week before. Analysts have predicted a drop of about 10,000.

Also a security alert about your bank and your money to tell you about. Chase's Web site was slowed by some big glitches for hours and hours yesterday and also last night. If you try to log on right now, this is what you'll see, an apology saying, "We are sorry if you had problems getting to Chase.com." This comes one day after the Bank of America site had similar issues. Now, both banks are being warned of a heightened risk of cyber attacks.

Also new this morning some insight into what may be behind those glitches, those cyber attacks. "Reuters" now reporting that these shutdowns may have connections to the protests regarding that anti- Islam film that sparked so much protest and violence through the Middle East.

Alison Kosik joins me now from the New York Stock Exchange. So tell us more.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Okay. Just want to point, there's nothing concrete right now that this has anything to do with the cyber attack or has anything to do with that anti-Muslim film. Now, that aside, what did happen here is after the Bank of America site went down and then Chase's outage yesterday, some of these groups popped up in these forums and said, "We're the ones behind it".

But you know what? That's their M.O., because recently two separate groups, they claimed responsibility for similar problems at Go Daddy and at Twitter. But both later revealed to be technical issues. Both Chase and B of A have been making updates on their sites. So you know what? It is possible that a simple glitch caused the problem.

Now, Bank of America came out saying it continuously takes proactive measures to secure our system. Chase apologized as it used to offer to any inconvenience, but didn't go into any details on what may have caused the issues.

Now, we did our own sort of unscientific test this morning. Both sites seem to be running back to normal. But if you're still having trouble, you can always go to your ATM or a physical bank to do your business. If that's too big of a pain, you can do what most of us would probably do and just wait it out.

Just want to check on stock, lower open. Look at the lower open. It looks like the Dow is going to open at about 50 points lower. There are some disappointing economic reports from around the globe, showing slowing manufacturing in China. That is one of them, along with what you mentioned, Carol, that smaller than expected drop in weekly jobless claims -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Alison Kosik, reporting live for us this morning -- thank you.

We ask you to talk back on one of the big stories of the day, every day. Today's Talk Back question: Is the redistribution of wealth the answer to our economic woes? Facebook.com/CarolCNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the biggest stories of the day. The question for you this morning: is the redistribution of wealth the answer to our economic woes?

Mitt Romney is coming out swinging after his 47 percent gaffe, using a newly uncovered tape of President Obama in 1998. I'm sure you've heard it by now.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, THEN-ILLINOIS STATE SENATOR: The trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and, hence, facilitate some redistribution, because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level, to make sure that everybody's got a shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Redistributor-in-chief. It's a familiar charge. President Obama wants to take money from the wealthy and spread it around. Many of Obama's critics call it socialism.

Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: President Obama said that he believes in redistribution.

(BOOS)

Mitt Romney and I are not running to redistribute the wealth. Mitt Romney and I are running to help Americans create wealth.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So what is redistribution anyway? It basically means using the progressive income tax system to raise money from the wealthy and use it to invest in things like public works, education and aid for the poor. Mr. Obama puts it this way. Quote, "There's nothing wrong with us giving each other a helping hand." Still to be decided, how voters will come down on redistribution versus 47 percent.

So the Talk Back question of this morning: Is the redistribution of wealth the answer to our economic woes?

Facebook.com/CarolCNN, Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Your responses later this hour.

This morning, a House committee will grill the man who investigated that botched gun trafficking program, "Fast and Furious". You know what it's called. Lawmakers say there's a lot more work to be done despite the length of that report, 471 pages.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Coming up on 30 minutes past the hour. Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for joining us.

Stories we're watching right now in THE NEWSROOM:

We're just a couple of minutes away from the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. The market is expected to open lower when trading begins, after news of a slowdown in manufacturing in China. Back here in the United States, investors will also be reacting to those disappointing weekly initial jobless claims.

The final voyage of the space shuttle Endeavour continues. The shuttle is flying piggyback from Florida to California. Today, Endeavour left Houston. It will cross Texas, New Mexico and Arizona before finally landing at Edwards Air Force Base this afternoon. Endeavour will reach its final stop, Los Angeles, tomorrow.

On Capitol Hill, the focus is on "Fast and Furious", as the Justice Department's inspector general is set to testify to house lawmakers about his report into the weapons trafficking program. The report recommends punishment for 14 people but says there is no evidence Attorney General Eric Holder or President Obama knew about the tactics used in the program, which, as you know, led to the death of a U.S. border patrol agent.

So much outrage over that program -- remember the goal was to sell guns to trafficker, then trace the guns, intercept them, bust the traffickers and then bust the drug cartels. But the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms lost track of more than a thousand weapons.

The Justice Department -- the Department of Justice originally denied guns were allowed to even cross the border, only to later retract that claim. Some of the classified documents in the investigation have not been released. That led House Republicans to accuse Attorney General Eric Holder of a cover-up.

Earlier, I talked with Congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah, and member of the House Oversight Committee that will grill the inspector general about his report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Congressman, thanks for joining us this morning.

REP. JASON CHAFFETZ, (R) UTAH: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Two top Justice Department officials are out. One resigned. One retired. Twelve others will be disciplined. Still, many Republicans aren't satisfied. Why is that?

CHAFFETZ: Well, you have a dead border patrol agent. You have a government that knowingly and willingly gave 2,000 AK-47s to the drug cartels. You have untold number of crimes that have been committed. You have hundreds of dead people in Mexico. And this is hardly a time for the Attorney General to take a victory lap.

We've got to make sure that the systemic changes need to take place within the Department of Justice happens so this never, ever happens again. To date, that has not happened.

COSTELLO: Do Republicans feel that any criminal charges should be filed in this case?

CHAFFETZ: Well, what's really concerning here is that once it was clear that there was gun-running going on, they said to the Department of Justice sent not one, but two letters to the United States Congress that they were lies. They were absolutely fabrications. They were wrong. They were misleading. Eventually the Department of Justice had to pull those back.

So, I think the inspector general actually did a very thorough job, but I think there's still deep questions, particularly about Lanny Breuer, who is the head of the criminal division, about what he knew. A simple, oh, I'm sorry, I lied to Congress, does not necessarily cut it.

We took Roger Clemens, and they prosecuted him for talking about how he might have used steroids. Here you lied to Congress about a dead border patrol agent and gun-running, it just doesn't seem to be the same type of standard there at the Department of Justice.

COSTELLO: You mentioned the Attorney General Eric Holder. Lawmakers held the Attorney General in contempt of Congress for withholding documents -- intimating Holder was involved in some sort of cover-up. Holder says this inspector general's report exonerates him.

I just want to read you his quote. He says, "It's unfortunate that some were so quick to make baseless accusations before they possessed the facts, accusations that caused a great deal of unnecessary harm and confusion."

Will lawmakers continue to pursue Mr. Holder?

CHAFFETZ: Well, it's never been about Eric Holder personally. It has been about the Department of Justice, and justice in the United States of America. The reality is that there is a duly issued is up to the Department of Justice to provide us the documentation that they said cleared them. They never provided us that documentation.

There were 140,000 documents. We got less than 8,000 of them in. If you're -- I think it really does vindicate what Chairman Issa, Trey Gowdy, and myself have been saying, if we want 100 percent of the truth, you need the documents, we need to share to them with us. And that people need to be held accountable.

And to date, nobody has been fired at the Department of Justice. They haven't made the structural changes at the senior levels to make sure this doesn't happen again. So, there's still a long ways to go on this to make sure it never, ever happens again.

COSTELLO: White House is accusing Republicans of, quote, "wasting time and resources on politically motivated election-year attacks". Is that fair?

CHAFFETZ: No, absolutely it's not fair. Brian Terry was killed nearly two years ago. This should have been done a long time ago. If they didn't lie to Congress, sent us two letters that were totally false, if they had provided the documentation, I think this would have gone away more than a year ago.

COSTELLO: To continue on with this, I think the White House is saying, is a waste of time since the inspector general came out with a 400-plus page report that even you say is pretty thorough.

CHAFFETZ: It is thorough. But it has a series of recommendations about action that we should take, moving forward. We still need to see the documentation ourselves. So, that's the problem.

Washington, D.C. generates reports but then don't do anything about it. Of course we've got to do something about what the report says. That would be totally irresponsible to just walkway from it and say, hey, we're done with this. We wash our hands of it.

No, we've got to make the changes now. We're not only the Oversight Committee, we're the Government Reform Committee and we've got to work in a bipartisan way to make that happen.

COSTELLO: Congressman, thank you so much for being with us.

CHAFFETZ: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Mitt Romney started a political firestorm with his 47 percent comments. But he also had some lad words for the ladies of "The View." You don't want to make these feisty women angry. We'll tell you what Romney said, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Remember the Spanish grandma who decided to touch up a 100- year-old Fresco, it was a painting of Jesus? Well, they should jug their memory.

Now, she is demanding, yes, the restorer, she is demanding royalties from the church that houses her art work after the painting went viral and they started charging tourists to see it. Her lawyers say she may even copyright the image. The work has shown up on t-shirts and posters.

Frankly, it mostly reminds us of this new species of monkey found in the Congo. So far, there are no copyright claims from the monkey. We'll keep you posted.

Mitt Romney didn't seem to leave anyone out in his comments, caught by hidden camera at that big fund-raiser, including the hosts of a very popular daytime show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: "The View" is fine, although "The View" is high risk because of the five women on it only one is conservative, and four are sharp tongued and not conservative. Whoopi Goldberg in particular. Although last time I was on the show she said to me, "You know what? I think I could vote for you." And I said I must have done something really wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Well, the ladies of "The View" didn't like that one tiny little bit. So they promptly invited Mr. Romney on the show so he could explain himself.

Joining me now is A.J. Hammer. So, is Mitt Romney heading into the lion's den, or should I say lioness' den?

A.J. HAMMER, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" HOST: Yes, however you want to term it.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck did read a statement on the show yesterday from the Romney campaign, saying that the Romneys would, in their words, "join in the sharp tongue chatter" by coming on the show in October, Carol.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck is the one host of the show that Romney identifies as being on his side. Most of the hosts responded to Romney's remarks on the air yesterday. And Barbara Walters reminded the campaign she's a professional. She's not partisan when she was doing her show.

Sherri Shepherd made an interesting point, though. Let's watch that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERRI SHEPHERD, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": If I could make a football analogy, this is just preseason. This is an exhibition game. If you can't handle four sharp-tongued women, how are you going to handle the country?

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: There you go. The one host Romney specifically called out, Whoopi Goldberg, was not on the show yesterday. But I'm sure we will be hearing from her at some point about this, Carol, because as we know, Whoopi is never one to hold back.

COSTELLO: No. No. I actually can't wait. It will just be entertaining to listen to her.

Let's switch gears, talk about Shakira. There's big news about Shakira this morning.

HAMMER: Yes, it's really big news. Shakira and her soccer star boyfriend Gerard Pique are expecting a baby. She broke the news on her Web site, where she also added this. At this time, we have decided to give priority to this unique moment in our lives and postpone all the promotional activities planned over the next few days.

And what she's canceling is the scheduled concert appearance at the big iHeartRadio in Las Vegas. And it is interesting timing here, because she just took on a new job as a judge on "The Voice" in the next season of the show, and if I'm doing my math right -- I was never great at math but I think she'll be very pregnant at that point.

So, maybe, Carol they're why she wanted to take a job where she could be sitting in a big, comfy, spinning chair instead of performing on stage songs like "Hips Don't Lie." It think it was a good move.

COSTELLO: I think so, too. A.J., thank you.

HAMMER: You got it.

COSTELLO: A.J. will be back with us next hour for more showbiz headlines. We'll hear the nominations for the Soul Train Awards. R. Kelly made a little history there. So, stick around for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Forty-three minutes past the hour.

For decades, America has been trying to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At issue: as you know, how best to secure our ally Israel, while creating a permanent state for millions of Palestinian living inside and nearby Israel.

So, what would Barack Obama or Mitt Romney do in the next four years to find a solution that has eluded predecessors?

Wolf Blitzer goes in depth on American policy toward Israel and the Palestinian people.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): In addresses that largely focused on domestic concerns, one country in particular was singled out by both candidates in their convention speeches.

ROMNEY: President Obama has thrown allies like Israel under the bus.

OBAMA: Our commitment to Israel's security must not waver.

BLITZER: President Obama came to office, determined to make Middle East peace a central tenet of his foreign policy, even if it meant exerting what some of his advisors described as tough love on Israel. He took a hard line on Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories.

OBAMA: In my conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu, I was very clear about the need to stop settlements, to make sure that we are stopping the building of outposts.

BLITZER: That angered many Israelis, especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And early trips to Turkey and Egypt with high-profile addresses to the Arab and Muslim world, without a stop in Israel further exacerbated that relationship.

The push for Middle East peace has been stuck ever since and that rocky personal relationship with Netanyahu was further underlined during a tense Oval Office meeting in May 2011 when the Prime Minister seemed to be lecturing the President.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Israel is prepared to make generous compromises for peace. It cannot go back to the 1967 lines because these -- these lines are indefensible.

BLITZER: Still, at least in public, they seem to have moved on.

OBAMA: -- as I've said to the Prime Minister in every single one of our meetings, the United States will always have Israel's back when it comes to Israel's security.

BLITZER: And some of the most sensitive issues, Obama and Romney seem to agree, at least when it comes to the big picture. Jerusalem is Israel's capital a final peace agreement should include what's called a two-state solution. Israel living alongside Palestine and Iran must be stopped from building a nuclear bomb.

But there are differences when it comes to specific details on how to achieve those goals. Romney charges that President Obama hasn't been a strong enough ally to Israel on opposing Iran's nuclear ambitions.

ROMNEY: Israel doesn't need public lectures about how to weigh decisions of war and peace. It needs our support.

If I'm President of the United States my first trip, my first foreign trip will be to Israel to show the world we care about that country.

BLITZER: And he underscored that during his July visit to Jerusalem.

ROMNEY: The Palestinians are going to say we're not an independent nation --

BLITZER: In a recently revealed tape from a close fundraiser back in May, Romney said Israel didn't have a strong Palestinian partner.

ROMNEY: And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel and these thorny issues and I say there's just no way.

BLITZER: But Romney declared a support for a two-state solution during an interview I did with him during his recent trip to Israel.

ROMNEY: The decision as to where the borders would be, as we move to a two-state solution, which I support, that's a decision on borders that will be worked out by the Israelis and Palestinians.

BLITZER: Romney says Obama has rebuffed Israel's security concerns. However, the Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, told me in July the relationship with the United States is solid.

EHUD BARAK, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER: They should tell you honestly that this administration under President Obama is doing in regard to our security more than anything that I can remember in the past.

BLITZER: Wolf Blitzer, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera is closing in on a possible Triple Crown, baseball's first in 45 years. Yet he may not win the American league MVP award. What's up with that? I'll talk about that with Ron Darling. He joins me next.

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COSTELLO: Okay, this is amazing. In today's "Health for Her", doctors in Sweden have successfully performed the first mother to daughter womb transplant. And they did it twice. The surgeries took over the weekend, all four women are recovering. But doctors say they won't know if the procedures are successful until children are born.

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COSTELLO: College basketball coaching legend Roy Williams is in the hospital this morning after surgery to have a tumor removed from his right kidney. Doctors say the surgery went well, and even if they have to perform a second procedure, Williams should be back coaching the UNC Tar Heels before the regular season starts. Good for him.

Former New York Mets pitcher Ron Darling is stepping up to the plate for brain cancer patients and their families. Darling is honoring his former battery mate Hall of Famer, Gary Carter. Carter died this year after battling an aggressive brain tumor. Ron Darling, who now does color commentary for the Mets games and for TBS joins us. Hi, Ron.

RON DARLING, COLOR COMMENTATOR, TBS AND NY METS: Hi, Carol, thanks for having me.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about Gary Carter. How did your friend's death lead you to become involved with this program called "Moments that Matter"?

DARLING: Well, you know, I'm lucky with the partnership with Merck and Moments that Matters that, you know, Gary passed away in February and he was a larger than life kind of personality. And he just thought that a brain tumor and glioblastoma could never happen to a guy like Gary and it did.

And I think you know Gary taught me so much when he was alive and as a team mate and a friend that I think even though he's passed away, he's still teaching people. And that is if they have any of the symptoms, to go see a doctor, see their physician and hopefully that physician, if there is a difficult diagnosis, they'll be pushed forward to a support network that will help them get through at difficult time.

COSTELLO: So -- so what are the symptoms and how can family members best support a loved one who's diagnosed with a brain tumor?

DARLING: You know there's a lot of different symptoms, you know for Gary, it was a fall that really alerted him. There's memory loss, there's maybe headaches. And you know all of those things, of course, might not mean that there's a brain tumor, but if any of those things are -- are things that have never happened in the past, I think it's time probably for you to just go see a physician, try to really get some help.

And the Moments that Matter really mean is that you go and you find out what the diagnosis is and if it's a difficult one, the Moments that Matter, you'll have really some time to spend with your family.

COSTELLO: Okay, before I let you go, we have to talk baseball. Now I'll just like disclosure, I'm a Tigers fan.

DARLING: Okay.

COSTELLO: I want to talk about Miguel Cabrera. Because he's now one home run away from the top of all three AL batting categories. So the question is, that it's out there, can he be the first Triple Crown winner since 1967 and not be the MVP?

DARLING: Well, it's interesting '67, of course, was Karl Yastrzemski and I'm from Boston, Carol. So it's interesting, I think Miguel Cabrera is the best hitter in baseball right now. The season he is having is just amazing. But it's interesting probably his main competition is Mike Trout from the Angels and both of the teams are not in the playoffs yet.

So there's a ways to go for Miguel. But I think he's having one of the finest years I've seen.

COSTELLO: So if he's the Triple Crown winner, should he get MVP over Mike Trout? I mean, why is everyone so enamored of Mike Trout?

DARLING: I think they're enamored because he's the new guy on the block, he's a rookie. He's done some amazing things but my vote is in your corner, Carol. I think if he wins the Triple Crown, he should be the MVP of the American league.

COSTELLO: I knew I really, really liked you.

Thank you, Ron Darling, for joining us this morning.

DARLING: Thanks, Carol, for having me.

COSTELLO: Coming your way next, your responses to our Talk Back question, "Is the redistribution of wealth the answer to our economic woes?" Facebook.com/CarolCNN.

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COSTELLO: Talk Back question today: "Is the redistribution of wealth the answer to our economic woes?" This from Walter: "Yes, it is. If we are resigned to the fact that America is now a communist country with the likes of North Korea and Russia. How's that working for citizens? Where do they rank in the GDP?"

This from David: "With the wealthy getting even wealthier and the rest, not most definitely. Keep in mind that the wealthy don't work for their money. They have their money make money for them."

This from Alan: "Redistribution is central to the cycle of capitalism. If wealth doesn't get redistributed downward by those who have it, which they can do by hiring people, then the government has to step in and do it for them."

And this from Jeroskie: "There is no one answer to America's problem. It might help, it might not help. But we need to be talking about the minimum wage. If we raise that, then there will be only one way to redistribute the wealth for sure."

Facebook.com/CarolCNN if you'd like to continue the conversation. More of your responses in the next hour of newsroom, which begins right now.

And stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM, possible cyber attacks aimed at U.S. financial institutions. Two bank Web sites suffering problems over the past few days. The security of your money -- straight ahead.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Miguel Marquez in Los Angeles. Let the lawsuits begin, the first lawsuit over that anti-Islamic film. And the actress isn't just suing the film maker. I'll have that coming up.

COSTELLO: And here we go again. Spinach sold in 15 states now being recalled. It's all because of a possible listeria contamination. We'll have the details for you.

And Apple's newest smart phone goes on sale tomorrow, but the iPhone 5 may not be generating the buzz previous phones received. So why are people not showing the iPhone 5 lots and lots of love?

NEWSROOM starts now.