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Hostage Situation In Pittsburgh Office Building; Rough Week For Romney; Ann Romney To Critics: "Stop It"; Romney Hits Obama On Univision Comments; Immigration Takes Center Stage; U.S. Ad Campaign In Pakistan; New Anti-U.S. Violence Erupts; "We're Asking Congress To Act Now"; Hostage Situation in Pittsburgh Office Building; GM Recalls 426,000 Cars; Jessica Simpson Shows off her Daughter; Iranian Group to be Taken Off Terror List

Aired September 21, 2012 - 10:00   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We are following breaking news right now. Let's show you these pictures out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There's a hostage standoff going on in downtown Pittsburgh on the 16th floor of Pittsburgh's Gateway Center.

Witnesses say that a man with a gun and two duffel bags on that floor, police are telling us that man is apparently holding two people hostage. Earlier our affiliates talked with a woman who managed to escape the 16th floor of that building. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were working and a young woman that works on our floor in that company came running into our office yelling to call 911, and lock the door. We didn't know, you know, so I immediately called 911, but handed the phone to her.

Because I didn't know what was happening. So I really just dialed the phone and handed it to her. And she reported to 911 that there was a man, she thought they were being robbed. A man walked in, went out -- she said she wasn't in her front desk.

She was back in the office. She sensed something was wrong, looked at her dad and her dad said get security right away and that's when she ran into our office to call 911.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: As you might expect, police are keeping reporters far, far away from the Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh. The police chief gave a news conference just a few minutes ago.

He confirmed that there are two hostages being held by a man with a gun. They're on the 16th floor. The police chief said that people outside of the building are safe. He says you needn't worry about that.

They've evacuated the area. But of course, this may drag on for a long time. And of course, we all hope it ends well. But Pittsburgh police trying to calm a hostage situation on the 16th floor of Pittsburgh's Gateway Center.

A man with a gun and two duffel bags holding two people hostage. More information as we get it.

Let's turn now to presidential politics. Ann Romney to the rescue, it has been a rough week for her husband, Mitt Romney. His off-the-cuff remarks in a secretly recorded video gave the Democrats plenty of ammo. Republican pundits didn't hold back either.

Former Reagan speech writer and "Wall Street Journal" columnist, Peggy Noonan blasted Romney again. In her column this morning, she said, quote -- she actually called Romney's campaign a calamity. That was the quote I was looking for. Romney's wife, Ann, she's not taking kindly to this criticism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANN ROMNEY, WIFE OF MITT ROMNEY: Stop it. This is hard. You want to try it? Get in the ring. This is hard. And, you know, it's -- it's an important thing that we're doing right now. And it's an important election.

And it is time for all Americans to realize how significant this election is and how lucky we are to have someone with Mitt's qualifications and experience and know-how to be able to have the opportunity to run this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Mrs. Romney made those comments in an interview with Radio Iowa. Our political director Mark Preston is in Washington to talk about Mrs. Romney's strong defense of her husband, and, I mean, Peggy Noonan, she was brutal again this morning.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: She was brutal again. I've got to tell you, you know, as far as Ann Romney's comments we shouldn't be too surprised. This has been a very long campaign for her.

They are so close to winning this election. You know, right now, as much as we talk about how bad Mitt Romney has had a bad week, Carol, he is still within striking distance of winning the White House.

It sounds like she is exhausted. It sounds like she is frustrated. But as you said, she's not the only one that's frustrated. Peggy Noonan doubles down today in a call where she calls for a change in the Romney leadership, Carol.

Says that bottom line if he is going to win in November, that he needs a new campaign head. But in addition to that, it's not just the Peggy Noonans of the world, the pundits talking about it.

It is also the candidates that are running for lower offices, including Tommy Thompson who's running for Senate in Wisconsin. He held a lead over his Democratic opponent in August.

Well, it's September right now, she now holds a lead and Tommy Thompson's placing the blame, at least some of the blame, on Mitt Romney. Let's listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOMMY THOMPSON, (R) U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: The presidential thing is bound to have an impact on every election. You know, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican. If you're standard-bearer for the presidency is not doing well it's going to reflect on the down ballot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: You have -- Carol, that's Tommy Thompson on WKOW giving an interview yesterday talking about why he is seeing the poll numbers shift in his race. So, certainly we are heading into the home stretch.

We've heard from Ann Romney. I expect we're going to start hearing from a lot of others as we head into Election Day. A lot of frustration, a lot of exhaustion -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Mark Preston reporting live for us from Washington this morning. In the meantime, Governor Romney, he's on his way to Nevada right now and no doubt he will pummel President Obama on this line the President said during an interview with the Spanish language network Univision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've learned some lessons over the last four years. And the most important lesson I've learned is that you can't change Washington from the inside. You can only change it from the outside. That's how I got elected and that's how the big accomplishments like health care, got done was because we mobilized the American people to speak out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: This is what Mr. Romney said about that in Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The President today threw in the white flag of surrender again! He said he can't change Washington from the inside! He can only change it from outside. Well we're going to give him that chance in November! He's going outside!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But the issue that really took center stage during President Obama's forum with Univision was immigration. Senior correspondent Juan Carlos Lopez from En Espanol is in Washington. President Obama, he was pounded on the issue of immigration.

JUAN CARLOS LOPEZ, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, CNN EN ESPANOL: It's very interesting, Carol. Three years ago, President Obama in an interview had made what many call the Obama promise, where it was interpreted as President Obama saying in his first year in office he would have immigration reform, he promised to deliver it.

Now he gave an interview last week where he said no, I didn't promise immigration reform. I promised I'd support a bill. So we went back and looked at the interviews, looked at the tapes, and yes that's what the President said, he would support his bill in the first year. We would strongly support it.

That bill never happened. So that part of the promise wasn't kept, but many believe that the President had promised something he didn't deliver it.

He talked about it in the forum on Univision and this is what he said about these three and a half years where many considered that was going to be a wedge point with the Latino community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: My biggest failure so far is we haven't gotten comprehensive immigration reform done. So we're going to be continuing to work on that. But it's not for lack of trying or desire and I'm confident we're going to accomplish that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOPEZ: And if you look at the polls and you look at the Latino voting, Carol, immigration is an important topic, but it's not the main issue. The economy is the main issue. The unemployment is the main issue because Latino voters aren't very different from other American voters.

But immigration is an issue that makes people comment. It gets people worked up. Many feel that the tone on immigration has been the tone not on undocumented immigrants. They believe it's on Hispanics in the U.S. so it's a very important issue for the campaign.

Mr. Romney also spoke about it this week at the Univision Forum and he spoke about things he said as a candidate that now he's painting in a different light. Interesting to see how they're going to be able to convince at least 12 million Hispanic voters expected at the polls in November.

COSTELLO: Yes. We'll see how many are enthusiastic enough to turn out. Juan Carlos Lopez, thank you so much.

Also this morning, new anti-American violence is erupting across much of the Muslim world. It's over, in part, over that film mocking the Prophet Muhammad and it comes despite efforts by the President, and Secretary of State, to calm things down. Both star in a public service announcement that ran on seven TV networks in Pakistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Let me state very clearly, and I hope it is obvious, that the United States government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Some Republicans are not so happy the State Department shelled out $70,000 of taxpayer money to continue what they call the Obama apology tour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN, (R) FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: We're in the midst of this apology tour we see our embassies in the Middle East under siege. So how is that U.S. apology tour working out for you, Mr. President? Look, if our fearless leaders insist on waving a white flag like this then they need to bring our troops home in the Middle East. No more blood. No more U.S. treasure spent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Now to today's protests in Bangladesh, about 10,000 protesters take to the streets. Many burn U.S. flags, some torch a mock coffin with President Obama's name scrolled on the side.

In Sri Lanka, more anger over that film mocking the Prophet Muhammad. Across the region, the U.S. shut down many diplomatic facilities because Friday prayers often fuel mob rage.

Some of the ugliest violence, though, happened in Pakistan. In Peshawar, one person was killed and dozens more injured. Reza Sayah is in Islamabad.

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Friday prayers just concluded and what we're seeing are some of the largest and most intense protests yet here in Pakistan.

Now what you see over there, are shipping containers. Police are using them to block off the path to the diplomatic enclave. That's where the foreign embassies are, the U.S. Embassy, the French Embassy. What you seem to have here is some people urging protesters to rush police officers and others saying don't go, stay put and they can't seem to decide what to do. So at this point, it's basically a free for all.

What you see is these protesters just teeing off with objects, sticks, stones and police just holding up their shields and blocking the objects. Okay, now police officers are starting to throw rocks and I think it's time for us to move back a little bit.

Now what often gets lost in these dramatic pictures is the actual numbers. How many people are here and if you do a quick count, there's no more than at most 400 or 500 people here. We had to make a run for it because police fired off several canisters of tear gas. We had difficulty seeing and breathing. So we came back here to where there's a rally taking place. Here's what we observed. A lot of the protesters who are throwing objects, sticks, stones, they're young men, teenagers, in their 20s. You see them with this mischievous smile and you get the impression that they're not offended by any anti-Islam movie. That they're getting a rush out of facing off with police and then you see some of the signs, the chants against the U.S. government, against the NATO supply routes, and again, that is a sign that this is more than just about an anti-Islam movie.

There's a lot of anger about U.S. foreign policy, the occupation of Afghanistan, and a lot of people here will tell you that what's boiled over is this deep-seated, anti-American sentiment that's been here in Pakistan for a very long time.

COSTELLO: Reza Sayah reporting live from Islamabad, Pakistan, this morning.

We're also keeping an eye on Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A high rise office building downtown on the 16th floor, there's a hostage situation going on. A man with a gun and a duffel bag has taken two people hostage. When we come back, the latest on this situation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is 15 minutes past the hour. Let's check our top stories. Start with that breaking news. Police in Pennsylvania say as many as two people have been taken hostage inside a high rise office building taking place on the 16th floor of the Gateway Building, Gateway Building Three, to be specific, that's in Pittsburgh. Police say people outside the building are safe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One, I just drove home from work, just to come and grab my husband, and he's actually still in the building at Gateway Towers and they're not letting anyone in the courtyard or anyone outside of the building. So we're pretty much standing outside of here. It's so nerve-racking because no one can get in or out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you had communication with him since then?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have. He's sitting by the window. He can actually see everything that's going on because we're on the 19th floor. But he can't get out of the building.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has he described for you at all what he could see from that level?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He says that it just looks really, really quiet in the courtyard. He's never seen it so quiet because there are always people walking back and forth every day. And so it just looks really quiet and he can see that there's a lot of commotion around Gateway Center Three because we live so close to that building.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At this point no word as to when you can get in or he can get out of the Gateway Towers?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nothing. No word at all. Nothing at all. We have no idea. We're just hoping that everyone is safe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: You can see it's a nerve-racking situation there. Let's go live to Pittsburgh and join WPXI's live coverage of this event and listen for a bit.

(CUT TO WPXI LIVE COVERAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This began about 8:10 this morning, 8:16, an individual walked in to that investment business, started asking questions about an individual. And at that time that's when he held a couple people hostage. The floor has been cleared of any other innocent people up there and our team officers are on that floor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's being held, the person that he was looking for when he came in the door?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know that yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, you've been able to talk to him. I mean, has he indicated to you any way that this could be resolved?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not at this time. It's ongoing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously we're seeing an awful lot of response here. You've evacuated some buildings. Explain the need for all the evacuations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we want to contain the area. We want to make sure that other individuals are safe. We want to, you know, make sure that no other individuals get in harm's way at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any reason to believe that he was anything other than acting alone?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not at this time, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay, so as far as you're concerned, beyond that one room on the 16th floor, there's really no risk or threat beyond that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is correct at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what about timing on all this? How long are you willing to wait? How long are you willing to talk?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're willing to talk as long as it will take to resolve this in a safe and orderly fashion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, to recap, he's holding two people hostage?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Possibly two. We know for sure, we're sure that there's one there. But it's possibly two victims at this time that are being held.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Though one has been injured?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one's been injured.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And who is in control on the scene, Pittsburgh police or who is the hostage people?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is Pittsburgh police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're seeing an awful lot of other things here. The K-9 units are here, you've got the county arson squad here. Can you explain a little bit of this response?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The response is we want to make sure that we're prepared for whatever may occur. There are other things that we have concerns about, for example, did he take any type of -- into this place. And we have to be prepared to respond quickly and make sure that we can resolve this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're referring to his threat that he had bombs?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is correct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any reason to believe that is true? Have you seen anything? Does he have anything in the room?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't make a comment on that at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But obviously it's a point of concern.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is, definitely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does he have any other weapons?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. We don't know what weapons he has. But as I said, we haven't visually seen what he has. We're going in as we're talking and I can't give any more comments.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does this appear to be a domestic issue?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No it does not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But he was looking for an individual?

(END WPXI LIVE COVERAGE)

COSTELLO: We're going to jump away from this and go back to Pittsburgh after break. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Mayors of cities around the country are urging Congress to think twice before enacting far-reaching federal spending cuts that they say could devastate local economies. The federal spending cuts -- you've heard this term before, they're known as sequestration -- are set to go into effect this January, as a result of last year's failed budget discussions. When Democrats and Republicans reached a deadlock on their negotiations, a plan was set up so that budget cuts of $1.2 trillion would automatically go into effect in 2013. Here's Atlanta's mayor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR KASIM REED, (D) ATLANTA: We are not going to stand by in cities across the United States of America and allow the federal government to shift these responsibilities to us and go by quietly. We're going to raise this issue in 131 cities across the United States of America, and we're going to make it known that cuts without revenue isn't a cut really at the federal level. It will mean that those burdens and those responsibilities will go to cities that are already constrained. And doing everything we can do to keep our city functioning well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Kasim Reed, Mayor of Atlanta, joins me now. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for being here.

REED: Thank you for having me.

COSTELLO: So the 130 or so mayors standing with you, Republicans and Democrats?

REED: Bipartisan across the United States of America.

COSTELLO: So we always hear if these cuts go into place they'll affect the Defense Department and they'll affect social programs. But we don't hear how they'll affect cities across America. How did they affect Atlanta?

REED: Well, the segment that you played regarding the crisis in Pittsburgh is a prime example. We have 50 police officers who were funded as a part of a grant from the federal government. We have a safer grant with 75 firefighters.

You just had a segment with the police chief of Pittsburgh. What we're doing right now is in a very bad economy, we're doing everything we can to keep our folks safe. We stood up the largest police force in the history of the city of Atlanta.

And we did so in an open and honest fashion in cooperation with the federal government. So they shouldn't walk away from their commitments to us after we went and made financial commitments, because they're not willing to do their work in a thoughtful, serious way.

COSTELLO: So you're coming out early with this because they probably won't begin negotiating until after the first of the year. So do you expect things to go badly?

REED: Well, the fact of the matter is, is by the time they start actually negotiating then there will be too much noise for us to break through. But mayors are in every major media market in America. You pick a major media market, there's a major city with a mayor. And what we're doing right now is making it real clear to the federal government, and to Congress, that we're not going to sit by while you shift your costs to the local area while you claim that you're cutting taxes.

COSTELLO: Do you think it will make any difference who is elected president as far as how those negotiations will go?

REED: Well, I think it always makes a difference because President Obama has been so much more supportive of cities. But on this measure, we're focused on it in a bipartisan way without regard to who is elected, because we think that there is a major federal effort, if you vote -- or if you go with $1.2 trillion across the board cuts we're all going to be harmed. And we want people to know right here and right now, cities, we're doing our jobs.

The things that they get away with in Washington, D.C., we couldn't get away with for one day because we have real responsibilities. We balance our budgets every single year. And we can't print money. So we're just telling folks, do your job in Washington while we do ours in Atlanta and cities across America.

COSTELLO: So I'm curious when you watch our federal lawmakers going at one another what goes through your mind?

REED: What goes through my mind is when people with important jobs don't do their job, real people get harmed. See, I can't focus on these grand issues that they're focused on in Washington. I've got to focus on making sure that when a mom walks to her car. That she gets there safe.

I've got to make sure that when someone places a 911 call, that police or fire respond. And if they don't, I hear from it from people who are on the other end of that telephone with real lives. So we're not going to allow what is going on in Washington to damage cities, which is where 80 percent of our country's economic productivity is.

If they allow these $1.2 trillion in cuts to go ahead, if they don't do their work, just as we all do, you go to work every day and I go to work every day, two million people's jobs are at risk.

So we are not going to wait until the middle of the noise and all of the congressional blame game, we're going to be in major markets, every single day, talking about this issue right now.

COSTELLO: Mayor Reed, thanks so much for being with us this morning. We appreciate it.

REED: Thank you for having me.

COSTELLO: When we come back, of course, we'll take you back to Pittsburgh where there is a hostage situation going on right now in a high rise building in downtown Pittsburgh, a man armed with a gun, with two duffel bags. He's made bomb threats. As far as we know, according to police, he's holding at least two people hostage. We'll go back to Pittsburgh right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Thirty-one minutes past the hour. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for joining us this morning. Let's check our "Top Story".

And we begin with this breaking news out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Police there say as many as two people have been taken hostage inside a high rise office building. Taking place on the 16th floor of the Gateway Building -- Gateway Building Three in Pittsburgh.

The hostages include one woman and possibly one more person. Police say people outside of the building are safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cathy and I were working and a young woman that works on our floor, in that company, came running in to our office, yelling to call 911 and lock the door. We didn't know, you know, so, I immediately called 911 but handed the phone to her. Because I didn't know what was happening.

So, I really just dialed the phone and handed it to her. And she reported to 911 that there was a man, she thought they were being robbed. A man walked in, she said she wasn't at her front desk, she was back in the office. She sensed something was wrong, looked at her dad and her dad said get security right away and that's when she ran into our office to call 911.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: You can take a look at Pittsburgh here and that building in downtown Pittsburgh, lots of other office buildings around that building, and also hotels. Some people have not been allowed to leave their buildings, if their offices are located next to that Gateway Center building in Pittsburgh that's affected right now.

We do understand from our affiliate KDKA that people are being allowed to leave the Wyndham Hotel, that's located near that building. As far as we know, nobody has been hurt. And hostage negotiators are talking now to the suspect. We don't know exactly what's going on there. But when we find out, of course we'll pass more information along to you.

Also this morning a major recall for General Motors; 426,000 cars could have a problem with their transmission. Alison Kosik joins us from the New York Stock Exchange to tell us more. Hi Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. This is a transmission issue that winds up affecting some of the more popular GM vehicles. What was happening is apparently these cars start to roll even when they're shifted in park. Now the cars affected are all sedans from the Chevy, Pontiac and Saturn lines. They include 2007 to 2010 model years for the Chevrolet Malibu, the Saturn Aura and the Pontiac G6s. All of these have four speed automatic transmission.

Now so far GM knows of four crashes related to the problem but no serious injuries. GM -- GM does say what it's going to do is notify owners with letters, if their vehicles are included in this.

Now, if you get a notice you'll be able to bring your car in to a dealership and have the fix done for free. And if you're one of the people who've already paid for the repair, you can get reimbursed. This recall, Carol, comes just a few months after GM's last one, it was a big one, when it had to recall a similar amount of Chevy Cruzes for an engine issue -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Alison Kosik, many thanks.

We'll take you back to Pittsburgh where there is a hostage situation going on right now in a high rise building on the 16th floor in the downtown area. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: For the past half hour or so we've been watching a hostage situation in downtown Pittsburgh. A man walked into the building with a duffel bag and a gun. He's on the 16th floor. Police tell us he's holding at least one woman hostage, possibly another person. We understand that man has also made bomb threats.

Most of the buildings around that Gateway Center, what is it 3 Gateway Center in Pittsburgh, Gateway Center 3 in Pittsburgh have been evacuated now. Some people do remain inside the building. Police say everybody on the outside of the building is safe.

Let's hear from one of our affiliate reporters from WTAE.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, the chief talked to us a little bit about the gunman who they say is inside the building, on the 16th floor. I want to go ahead and show you the scene here behind me. You can see Pittsburgh paramedics as well as S.W.A.T., several different police agencies. And Chief Nate Harper has confirmed with us that it is actually a military man, that is what he knows about the suspect inside.

And according to one of my sources that man has claimed to have a rifle, a pistol and a bomb. As far as a connection to the man who he's holding hostage, no one at this point is confirming any sort of connection. You heard Chief Nate Harper say that at this point they're not sure whether they're relatives, whether they know each other.

But the chief did say that this gunman, they believe, has held hostages intended target. So they believe that he went to this business on the 16th floor to hold this particular person hostage. We also heard the Chief say that his negotiators are in contact with the gunman and that the gunman is fairly calm, and he is communicating with them. So that is the very latest on what we know. We do know, however, also that these roads will continue to remain closed down while police work with that gunman. Again, they believe that they can bring this to a resolution because he's talking with them, because he is working with them, and because he is calm. And they say that his hostage, at this point, is unharmed.

So that is the good news. We're waiting for the Chief to come back and give us a little more information. He says that he'll be back within the next maybe 10, 15 minutes or so. So we're going to continue to be here, continue to get the latest and bring you a little bit more as soon as it's available.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And of course, CNN will also stick with the situation in Pittsburgh. And as far as we know, as far as police are saying, no one has been hurt. But as you heard from that reporter they are talking to the hostage taker inside of that building on the 16th floor.

All right let's talk about something good now. Jessica Simpson introduced her 4-month-old baby girl Maxwell Drew to the world this week when she posted photos of the little tiny baby online.

A.J. Hammer, host of "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" is in New York. Cute baby.

A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Yes, who doesn't love some cute celebrity baby pictures to fire up the weekend Carol? And these are really cute pictures from Jessica Simpson showing off her daughter. She tweeted these shots out which was taken at her fiance Eric Johnson's 33rd birthday party. The picture showing mom and dad separately with their 4-month-old daughter.

Now Jessica wrote with the tweet of the pictures, last year daddy's party Maxwell was in my belly. This year, she's in my arms. So it is great to see this little girl doing so well.

And Carol Simpson has been writing about the experience on iVillage. She says that Maxwell is sleeping through the night which makes her a very lucky mom with a 4-month-old. Nice going Jessica.

COSTELLO: Nice going. Yes, Maxwell. Thank you, A.J.

HAMMER: You got it.

COSTELLO: Join A.J. Hammer on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," 11:00 Eastern on HLN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right.

We want to bring you up to date what's happening in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In downtown Pittsburgh at a high rise building there, Three Gateway Center on the 16th floor a man is holding at least one woman hostage and possibly another person. That man is armed with a gun. He also has a duffel bag, and police have said that he's made bomb threats, although they don't know if he has anything in the way of explosives inside that duffel bag.

We know police negotiators are talking with that man right now. They say the situation is calm. They hope to have this thing ended soon. But you never know with these situations.

Let's talk to Wallace Zeins, he's a former NYPD hostage negotiator. He joins us on the phone right now. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.

WALLACE ZEINS, FORMER NYPD HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR (via telephone): You're quite welcome, Carol. To begin with, you know, all hostage incidents are different. But there are only four types of hostage takers. And in this particular one, he's the type of hostage taker, which is what we call an EDP -- an emotionally disturbed person that has a statement and wants to be heard.

They usually happen with domestic incidents. They also happen where there's someone that might have a statement no one wants to listen to him. In a situation like this, everything that they claim he has, for instance, a gun, a bomb, and a rifle, you take it serious until you can prove differently.

And the other thing that's so important is they set up an inner perimeter. That's the most important thing. That's where only the hostage negotiators will be and the SWAT Team special -- the special units that will be there to back up the hostage negotiators. And anyone within that building.

Also you have to take into consideration of the bomb threat. So they will be in a 360 degree clearing that in a perimeter plus they'll be clearing other areas. They don't know if there is, in fact, a bomb, how big a bomb it might be.

One of the good things is that there's a conversation going on. When you have a conversation going on like that, there's a dialogue. It's like a seesaw. There's rational and irrational. You want to get on to a rational level with everyone speaking on the same level, and you develop rapport.

Hostage negotiation is a give and take but most importantly you've got to develop credibility. And one of the other important things is you don't lie because you lose valuable time. And as long as they have a dialogue going on, there could be a successful outcome, everyone, like I said, is different. It's like walking into a movie theater in the middle of the movie and try and figure it out.

COSTELLO: I hope it all ends well. The other -- the other thing that police have to deal with in the situation are the people inside that office building, the people in the surrounding office buildings. When do you decide when to evacuate?

ZEINS: Immediately. Because you don't know what he has. Go again with the premise that he does have what he claims he has until you prove differently. If he says he has one handgun you check to see if he has more than one handgun when they do get him out of there.

And also, you know, you have to evacuate, you have to also at the same time, you have -- in New York City when we do our hostage team. We have three people in a hostage negotiation team. We have a negotiator. We have a coach. And we have what we call a floater. And all three are interchangeable.

What we do is we have the floater go out and get work with the intelligence gathering. For instance detectives in St. Louis -- in Pittsburgh, excuse me, will go out and get information. They'll work with the Department of Defense finding out about this person's personality. Did he have any problems? You want to find out everything so the negotiator could hit on the right conversation. You also have to be a good listener.

And if there are hostages that he has, you know, there are things the hostages should do. They should remain calm, they should not talk only speak when spoken to. Treat the hostage taker like royalty. If someone is sick they should mention that they need medication. And they should be good listeners, not good talkers. If there is a dynamic entry they should hit the ground.

COSTELLO: Dynamic entry, you mean if the SWAT team bursts through the doors?

ZEINS: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Well, we hope it doesn't come to that. We hope it doesn't come to that.

Wallace Zeins, thank you so much for filling us in and helping us to understand the situation. And hopefully all will go well.

Again there is a hostage situation in downtown Pittsburgh, at a high rise building downtown. Police believe a man with a gun is holding at least one woman hostage. That, they say, is this man's -- she is this man's intended target. They are talking to this man and hopefully all will end well.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll be back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Breaking news of a different kind to tell you about right now. This has to do with an exiled Iranian group. We understand the American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is going to remove that exiled group from the terror list.

Elise Labott broke this story. And Elise I must say even with the word "exile" in front of it, "Iran group removing from terror list" makes a lot of us go hmm.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. Well the Mujahedin e-Khalq, we know it in the United States pretty much as the MEK, has been listed as a terror group in the United States since the 1970s for the killing of Americans.

In recent years what it's really been is an opposition group to the Iranian regime, and a lot of its members were put in a camp called Camp Ashraf in Iraq, after the Iraq war. They've been under the auspices of the United Nations.

And there's been a lot of pressure in the United States, both from the group and from its supporters in Congress, and very high-paid former officials speaking on their behalf, to delist the group. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been under a court order, which is coming up in September -- October deadline, to delist the group.

There's been a contentious debate here at the State Department and throughout the administration because even though the group does pretty much meet the criteria of not being engaged in terrorist activity, a lot of concerns about this group that it has a lot of -- has been described to me as a bizarre cult-like organization. and they're moving from this Camp Ashraf to another place in Iraq over the last several months giving the administration, the United Nations, the Iraqis a real headache.

So they really had to separate the wheat from the chaff, if you will. Does the group present a terror threat versus do we not just like them. So officials telling me today we don't like these people. It doesn't mean we support them. We don't consider them an alternative to the Iran regime.

But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the right decision because their record just doesn't meet the criteria of a terrorist organization anymore -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. We'll have much more on this later today. Elise Labott reporting live from the State Department. Thanks so much.

We'll be back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A man with a gun holding a woman hostage on the 16th floor of a high-rise building in downtown Pittsburgh. This is Pittsburgh's Police Chief Nate Harper. Let's listen.

NATE HARPER, PITTSBURGH POLICE CHIEF: He is calm. He is not being irrational. And hopefully we will get this resolved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you making contact with the relative that was brought in?

HARPER: Yes, we are.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You say the officers can see him. Do they see a weapon, a knife, a gun?

HARPER: No, they can't see it. they can't see it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are releasing his name, age?

HARPER: We'll release his name later on. As I stated, he's a black male in his 20s, and we do have his name. We're, as I said, trying to find out the history of this gentleman, and that's where we're at, at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said earlier that he was ex-military.

HARPER: Yes, he was in the military.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long has he been back from his service?

HARPER: I can't give you that answer at this time. Once again, we have the ATF here with us. We have state police, we have county police, we have FBI here. So it's -- the law enforcement community is working together to try to see, find out the facts and bring us to a resolution.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does the suspect have a criminal background?

HARPER: Yes, he does.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know what for?

HARPER: I can't tell you at this time. That's all information that's unwinding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are people in Gateway 3 able to move in that building? I mean the people on the upper floors, can they get on an elevator?

HARPER: Yes, they can.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's free movement inside the building except 16?

HARPER: That's correct. It is free movement inside the building. But at the same time we aren't letting, as you can understand, we aren't letting just individuals go back into the building. They can leave the building. They can, you know, move around, in gateway center except on the 16th floor. And you can understand why we just can't let any individuals just go back in to the building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are people running out Chief. Did he let them run out (INAUDIBLE).

HARPER: At this time they just -- they did just escape. They do have a plan. And their plan worked. The management did a very good job, building management on the company floor did a very good job, and we'll try to give you more up to date --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about the gunman --

HARPER: Pardon me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). HARPER: That's correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How confident are you (INAUDIBLE).

Well, I wish I could say I'm very confident, but it's up to the individual. And right now, we don't know, there have been no demands. We don't know why he's going, no one knows why he's going except him..

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll see you in a few minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Chief.

HARPER: In a few minutes, I need to talk to reporters basically without the mikes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay.