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Obama to Hold No Meeting at U.N.; Iran's President Urged to Restrain Himself; Rescuers Call Off Avalanche Search; Clinton to Meet with World Leaders; Fiscal Cliff Looming; Obama Ahead in the Polls; 12.5 Americans Still Unemployed; Controversy Over Guns Pointed at Children, Adults Handcuffed in Manhunt

Aired September 24, 2012 - 11:00   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Carol Costello, and hi, everybody. It's nice to have you with us. It's 11:00 on the East Coast, it's 8:00 a.m. on the West Coast. And we start today with politics and some real critical questions about the President's schedule today. Yes, his scheduled.

President Obama is heading to New York later today with a full schedule for tomorrow. And here it is. An address at the United Nations General Assembly. He's also going to speak at the Clinton Global Initiative. And he's going to tape a segment on the popular daytime program, "The View." Not necessarily in that order. But what is missing from that graphic?

How about a meeting with world leaders? Any of them. There's not 100 of them in town here in New York, at the U.N. And that omission is drawing a lot of criticism for this president.

Instead it's going to be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton holding the big meetings with the leaders of Israel, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan, all hot spots around the world right now. And what is she going to be talking about? Well, she certainly did give us a preview about two hours ago when she spoke at the Clinton Global Initiative. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: If you look around the world today, countries that are focused more on fostering growth and fomenting grievance are racing ahead. Building schools instead of burning them. Investing in their people's creativity, not inciting their rage. Opening their economies and societies to have more connections with the wider world, not shutting off the Internet or attacking embassies.

The people of the Arab world did not set out to trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of a mob.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So let's bring in our CNN White House correspondent Dan Lothian. All right, Dan. This is -- this is going to be tough for the President to try to weather. And I don't think that his team didn't know this. No bilateral meetings and a taping on "The View?" What's going on here?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I mean to be clear the President will be involved in meetings with the world leaders. But you are correct in that the White House has confirmed that the President will not have, at least there's nothing on this schedule for the President to have any bilateral meetings.

They haven't given a real clear answer as to why he is not doing that. But you know, just recently there was sort of this dust-up over whether or not the President or the administration had turned down a meeting with Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu. The White House pushed back on that saying that it simply was a scheduling matter that the President would be there in New York at the beginning of the week, that Benjamin Netanyahu would be there at the end of the week.

But this nonetheless is getting a lot of play out there. Because as you pointed out the President not having these face to face meetings but will be appearing on "The View."

Robert Gibbs, the President's former press secretary and a campaign adviser, was asked about this yesterday. And here is how he responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS: He has time for Whoopi Goldberg but he doesn't have time for world leaders?

ROBERT GIBBS, SENIOR ADVISER FOR THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN: No, Chris. Look, the President is going to be actively involved at the U.N. General Assembly.

WALLACE: He's not meeting with any private leaders. Including a speech.

GIBBS: Chris, Chris, we -- they have telephones in the White House. Last week he talked to the President of Egypt, he talked to the leader in Libya. We don't need a meeting in Washington just to confer with leaders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: White House spokesman Jay Carney has said that the President's engagement with foreign leaders is, quote, "extremely robust." So the White House feels like there has been this open line of communication between the President and world leaders. And that's the reason, I guess, being given sort f broadly as a defense for not having these bilateral meetings.

Again, it's not on the schedule. That does not preclude the fact that the President could add some of these meetings but at this point nothing on paper. BANFIELD: And I -- you know, I wondered if perhaps it was just because campaigns are difficult. And there is a campaign. You can't ignore that. But then I look back to 2004, when President Bush attended the U.N. GA and he had a reception for world leaders. He met with the Pakistani president. And in 1996 Bill Clinton was also campaigning at the U.N. GA. He met with Japan's president. He also met with the Secretary General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali back then. And the Russian foreign minister.

So there is some -- there is a precedent here. It's not like campaigning presidents skip these bilats.

LOTHIAN: That's right. In addition to that in 2004 he met with the leaders of Afghanistan and the interim president in Iraq as well. So this is something that has been done in the past.

I think what you're seeing here is the President -- he's trying to find that balance between his official duties and also the campaign duties as well, whether or not they see this as one of the reasons behind not having anything on the schedule. It's unclear at this point.

Again it's always possible that when the President get there he does have some of these -- he will add some of these meetings face-to-face. But at this point nothing is scheduled.

BANFIELD: All right. We'll be watching it. Dan Lothian. Thank you. Our White House correspondent live for us on the South Lawn.

And remember you're going to be able to see President Obama address the United National General Assembly. We're going to carry it live on CNN -- set your DVR if you like. 10:00 Eastern tomorrow.

Meantime, recent events overseas have certainly given voters more to think about when it comes to foreign policy and the presidential race. Mitt Romney talked about the challenges during a campaign speech last night in Denver.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The President has a foreign policy that's been characterized as leading from behind. By the way, that's another word for being a follower. We have heavy hearts as we lost diplomats overseas in Libya. We have heavy hearts as we see our flag being torn and burned. And this is a challenging time as we look around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Yes, but what do voters think? In this new Politico/George Washington University polls the majority of voters favor President Obama when it comes to foreign policy. There are the numbers there. And you can see the margin of error as well.

So moving on a little bit. These caused sparks to fly at the U.N. General Assembly before it might be an understatement in fact. But don't be surprised if the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, does it again this week. And don't be surprised if once again his remarks cause the U.S. and several other delegations to do just that. Walk on out. Just leave as he speaks.

The U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has in fact warned him to keep a lid on his trademark fiery rhetoric when the two met in New York yesterday. But that did not stop Ahmadinejad from speaking out about today about hints from Israel that it might strike Iran's nuclear sites.

Speaking to reporters, Ahmadinejad said Iran doesn't take that possibility seriously but he did issue a warning of his own saying Iran is prepared to defend itself.

Ahmadinejad is also peaking to our own Piers Morgan. Here is what he said about strong hints from Israel that it might attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRAN (via translator): The response of Iran is quite clear. I don't even need to explain that. Any question and any nation has the right and will indeed defend herself.

But my question is this. Why should the world be managed in such a way that an individual can allow himself to threaten a rich and deeply rooted historical ancient country such as Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: So Piers Morgan joins me now on the phone. Busy guy today obviously with this -- with this interview that you're going to have for tonight, Piers. I have a question for you. With all of the rhetoric that's been ramping up this argument lately particularly Israel's pressure on the U.S. to create this red line when it comes to Iran and the nuclear issue.

Did this interview with Ahmadinejad seem different? Did the tenor seem different? Does he seem any different or the same old, same old?

PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT" (via telephone): I think a lot of it is the same in relation to Israel. I mean what you're faced with here is a dangerous game of bluff and double bluff. The bluff being, you know, Benjamin Netanyahu believes very strongly that Iran is developing uranium with the specific purpose of developing a nuclear weapon.

Ahmadinejad particularly adamant that he's not. That they are developing uranium so that they can use it to fight things like cancer. And it really comes down to what you believe and who you believe. But certainly the language that both sides are using is very inflammatory. And as I've discovered Ahmadinejad will share tonight that he is very firm. If there's any attacks from Israel and certainly you can't rule that out given the languages that's coming from Israelis, then they will defend themselves.

And we are then in a position of war. And the question for America is what does America do in that situation?

BANFIELD: I'm glad you had an opportunity to ask him about all the anti-American reaction around the world to that anti-Islam film that was not made by an American. But I was curious to find out if he had any desire whatsoever to tamp down the violence and to set the record straight.

MORGAN: Well, it is quite interesting about that as well. I mean his first immediate reaction to it was that that video itself was deeply defensive and inflammatory. But he then did go on to say that we believe that this should be resolved in a humane atmosphere in a participatory environment. And we don't like anybody losing their lives which was by his standards certainly a fairly calm and reasonable reaction.

But, you know, I asked him if he would condemn those that killed the Ambassador Chris Stevens. And you know he's very careful about using language which would be seen to be condemnatory of these kinds of protest or action. And so, you know, you're left with a guy who I think has two positions when he talks when it comes to America. One is to the western media and to the western (INAUDIBLE), and the other is to his audience back home and they are two very different audiences who require two different types of rhetoric.

BANFIELD: Foreign leaders who have different messages when they travel. How about that. Piers, thank you, my friend.

(LAUGHTER)

And congratulations on scoring that interview. In fact let me give a quick plug for your program.

Folks, if you want to see more of Pier's interview with the Iranian president, he'll have it on his program tonight starting 9:00 p.m. Eastern. Only on CNN.

Piers, thanks a lot.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Three mountaineers are still missing in Nepal after a piece of ice the size of six to seven football fields separated and fell from a glacier unleashing an avalanche on the Manaslu Mountain. Eight climbers are confirmed dead now and crews have now called off the rescue efforts for now.

Sumnima Udas is monitoring all the latest developments from Delhi, India.

SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ashleigh, on the second day of the search and rescue mission Nepali officials tell us eight bodies have been recovered so far. Most of them are European nationals, one is a Nepali, and 21 mountaineers have actually been rescued in the past two days and have been taken to hospitals in Kathmandu and are being treated, most of them are suffering from frost bite. Officials tell us three foreign climbers are still missing. We spoke to helicopter companies who have been conducting these search and rescue missions for the past two days and they were telling us that they have not been instructed to go back and find these three missing mountaineers. But that the reality is they don't expect to find any more survivors at this point.

This avalanche happened around 4:00 in the morning local time on Sunday when presumably most of the climbers were asleep and not wearing the right protective gear at that time. Some climbers we spoke to earlier said they had actually been snowing a lot last week. Especially up in the Manaslu. They also said that climbing conditions in general have become more difficult especially in the Himalayas.

Now this is just the beginning of the main climbing season in Nepal. Climbing some of the world's highest mountains has become a very popular activity for a lot of these adventure tourists and -- but this avalanche, Ashleigh, just a grim reminder of how dangerous that can still be.

BANFIELD: Sumnima Udas, thank you for that.

And just want to update you again. For now officials have confirmed that there have been eight people killed in this terrible accident. Four of them French citizens and one climber each from Germany, Italy, Nepal and Spain.

And just a quick note for you, as well. If you want to keep up to date, and you're heading out the door, you can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone or if you're heading to work you can also watch us live in your desktop. Just go to CNN.com/TV.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: When more women enter the workforce it spurs innovation, increases productivity and grows economies. Families then have more money to spend. Businesses can expand their consumer base and increase profits. In short, everyone benefits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: That was Hillary Clinton just this morning at the Clinton Global Initiative. That would be Bill Clinton Global Initiative. Focusing on the roles of women and diplomacy in the 21st century. And just the start of well, it's called a very busy week for Mrs. Clinton, she's going to be front and center at the United Nations General Assembly.

Mrs. Clinton, not President Obama, is going to be having direct meetings with world leaders at the U.N. Leaders of places like Israel, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan. Just some of the hottest spots right now on the world stage.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon has traveled with and written about Hillary Clinton extensively and has she's also been party to the Clinton Global Initiative.

You were hosting two of the forums yesterday?

GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON, AUTHOR, "THE DRESSMAKER OF KHAIR KHANA": Yes. Those are two-panel.

BANFIELD: So here's what I need to ask you. This is a really big week for Mrs. Clinton. The Secretary of State is going to be doing all the heavy lifting that most people think the President usually does. Those bilateral meetings.

Is she going to have to do her job or is she going to have to do her job and the President's job domestically? There is an election going on.

LEMMON: Look, she has always been one to play any number of roles. And I think what she is focused on is addressing hot spots, as you were just showing, South Asia, the Middle East, while also really focusing on getting the U.S. message across, that extremism is not in anybody's best interest and an economic growth, prosperity, stability is really what the U.S. is aiming for. And I think she is going to try to give that a very glossy message for this administration.

BANFIELD: Don't we do the same thing? Don't our leaders sort of speak one way when we're speaking domestically and speak another way when we're speaking internationally. And here she is, right in New York City, having to handle both of these jobs.

LEMMON: Well, you know, and look, she has always handled any number of roles. As you remember from covering her way back in the White House, and she -- I think this morning at Clinton Global -- was both talking about the Middle East while also talking about development while also talking about elites who don't pay taxes. So I think she has always known that she has any number of constituencies to answer to.

BANFIELD: Yes. That's not an easy job.

LEMMON: No.

BANFIELD: And as far as the meetings as she has progresses -- look, she's got some experience in this -- in this venue. How is she viewed as a woman on the global stage when she navigates between some of these very difficult world leaders, and very difficult cultural -- shall we say uniqueness?

LEMMON: Yes, I think that's a very diplomatic way of saying it. And I think what she does is sort of occupy a third role. She's neither a typical female nor a typical male. She's a global leader.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: And she's got --

LEMMON: So she gets treated like --

BANFIELD: -- Madeline Albright's footsteps to walk in as well. So --

LEMMON: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think, though, also having known so many of these folks when -- from her time as First Lady. She does bring relationships that others in that position simply wouldn't have. And so I think she uses that to both a dignitary and a global rock star.

BANFIELD: Look, you traveled with the Secretary of State and you've interviewed -- I think close to 50 people in the Department of State about her. Is it possible that some of these meetings that she's taking on this week, effectively just about everything that President Obama would have done were he perhaps not campaigning, prelude to the 2016 --

LEMMON: "The View"?

BANFIELD: No. "The View," let's just leave that out for now. But would these meetings and this global stage that she's going to occupy, is this a prelude to 2016 for Madame President?

LEMMON: Isn't that the big question? Is it everybody at Clinton Global was asking that in the lobby? Was this the 2016 the start? I think people who work around her, near her, with her, are of course very quiet. But everybody knows that she is drawn to service. So let's wait and see.

BANFIELD: She says no, I'm done. But then Bill Clinton comes around in the last 24 to 46 hours saying, I really couldn't call it.

LEMMON: No means not right now.

BANFIELD: Well, that's that.

(LAUGHTER)

BANFIELD: Gayle, it's good to have you. Thanks so much.

LEMMON: Great to have you.

BANFIELD: And I'm glad that you had a chance to take part in the initiative. It's great -- it's a great -- great project.

LEMMON: True.

BANFIELD: Just fantastic work that you do. It's nice to meet you.

LEMMON: Nice to meet you.

BANFIELD: Thanks for coming. Back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: The so-called Do-Nothing Congress has done something. They just up and left Washington and they ain't coming back. Not until after the election anyway. By my count and yours, too, six weeks from now. And if you're doing the math that is the earliest that Congress has left before an election since 1960.

Why did they do it? They are campaigning. They've got to keep their jobs, right? But they left a wickedly huge pile of unfinished business on their desks back in D.C. Arguably the most critical that proverbial fiscal cliff that the nation is headed to in 99 days.

Christine Romans knows more about this cliff than is probably good for her.

Do you ever sleep? Do you sleep at night knowing this is coming?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I dream about cliffs and (INAUDIBLE) going cliffs.

(LAUGHTER)

BANFIELD: Well, they don't. Clearly they don't.

ROMANS: No.

BANFIELD: And there is a lot -- I'm just looking over how much can go wrong. And it looks like there is just so much. Who gets hardest hit?

ROMANS: Everyone gets hit. So brutally hard. I mean every American family basically would see a tax increase anywhere from $2200 to $4400. Your tax -- the largest middle class tax increase probably in American history. I mean I got to go back to the Boston Tea Party and see just exactly how bad it was back then. But it's a humongous tax increase. And huge spending cuts.

The spending cuts, when you look at the fiscal cliff spending cuts it's government salaries, it's private sector contracts, it's research. It's air traffic control, it's Border Patrol, it's food safety. They're going to have to squeeze money out of all of those areas. Also FBI, FEMA, housing programs, food assistance, after- school programs, education grants. I mean they're going to be taking a hatchet, not a scalpel, a hatchet and just cutting programs so that they can, you know, abide by the law, the law to cut all of these costs.

BANFIELD: So those look like the obvious big chunks. Like you said, the hatchet not the scalpel. But when you go to another chunk and that's research and development, can you sort of outline for me what sort of a tipping point is that and the domino effect.

ROMANS: So a lot of people who follow science and innovation are very concerned about this, Ashleigh. And here's why. Because if we're going to lead into the next century, right, we have to maintain our innovative edge. But the fiscal cliff, these huge spending cuts, will mean big cuts to federally funded research. All kinds of research. And this is the way one of the industry foundations has -- industry groups has looked at this. Two hundred thousand job cuts and federally funded R&D by -- next year. The cost to GDP could be -- over the next 10 years $860 billion. So what does that mean? How much is that? If you look at the low end of estimates for what -- what the economy will be hurt, how badly it'll be hurt by just R&D cuts, it is, like, six months of new vehicle purchase, two years plus of airline travel, six years of professional sporting events. That's the kind of impact it would have. That kind of activity just taken out of the economy.

BANFIELD: All right. Is there an upside to this? On one of our credit rating. All of a sudden we're going to make these enormous cuts, we're going to be fiscally restraining ourselves whether we wanted to or not. Do we all of a sudden get a boost? Do we get the credit agency saying good job.

ROMANS: It -- well, they probably won't the job, but it would put the U.S. in a better -- on a better footing on the debt front. And we do need to work on the debt and deficit front, no question. It will put us (INAUDIBLE). But the downside of that to get the better debt footing in the very near term, you would face probably a very crushing recession.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: Isn't that what the Congressional Budget Office said? We go over that cliff -- when we go over that cliff right into the whole of recession.

ROMANS: The point is, is that Congress is supposed to be a little more nuanced than this. And this Congress cannot handle nuance whatsoever. Now another thing you'll hear people say is they'll say, Christine, you know the Congress are going to fix it in the very last minute.

BANFIELD: Are they?

ROMANS: But -- I don't know because, you know, they were supposed to not get us here in the first place. They couldn't fix it last year with the budget fight we had over the debt ceiling. That's what led us to the sequester. They didn't fix that and here we are today. So --

BANFIELD: Well, guess what it got them. Ready?

Thank you, Christine Romans.

And in case you're wondering, they got an approval rating according to a CBS/"New York Times" poll conducted earlier this month of -- 78 percent. Seventy-eight percent of Americans disapprove of the job that Congress is doing.

Thank you, Christine Romans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Six weeks from tomorrow -- how is that for a reality check. Election Day fast approaching and the latest polls are favoring President Obama. A poll shows the President has a three- point edge over his challenger, Mitt Romney. A new Ohio poll from the University of Cincinnati shows President Obama with a five-point edge among likely voters. Florida poll showing a one point edge for the President. That amounts to a dead heat. The margin is 3.5. CNN's poll of polls in Florida shows a wider gap. Four point advantage for President Obama. So those are the polls. Love them or hate them.

And CNN's Wolf Blitzer joins me now.

CNN's Governor Romney says he has a theory on why he has not been performing well with regards to the polls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: I think that the President's campaign has focused its advertising in many cases on very inaccurate portrayals of my positions. They have been very aggressive in their attacks, both on a personal basis and on a policy basis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Inaccurate portrayals of my positions. This from one saying we will not let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers. Both of these campaigns have made glaring errors in their work.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": I think what Romney was referring to was not necessarily the Obama campaign ad but a priorities USA super PAC that supports that I don't know if it got one or two runs but got publicity. And that was a brutal ad and wildly repudiated. I'm not sure it was played maybe once or twice in Ohio. That was a brutally inaccurate ad and a tough one. The other ones there had been Romney campaign ads that obviously are very tough on the President. As far as I'm concerned tough political campaign ads is part of the process and we should expect that. Given the fact there is so much more money in politics, it will seem like a lot more brutality is going on and it is part of the game.

BANFIELD: As you mentioned, the Romney campaign had this welfare-to- work ad which claims the Obama administration removed the work requirements for welfare recipients when it wasn't that way at all. It was an allowance for states to make their own decisions with regard to that. And so that was --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: On that particular ad, which we rejected and a lot of fact checkers said was totally off base, that the President has not removed the work requirements giving flexibility to various states, including two states where Republican governors asked for that. They are fighting back, the Republicans, based on new suggestions in an editorial in the "Wall Street Journal" the other day. They are now standing on those, that the President did gut welfare reform by giving that flexibility. That debate will continue.

BANFIELD: One of the governors that asked for the flexibility was Mitt Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts.

(LAUGHTER) (CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Yes. There are two other Republican governors, more recently, the Nevada governor and the Utah governor, both Republicans. They asked the Obama administration to give them the flexibility in dealing with welfare reform. The Obama administration saying, you can have that flexibility but you have to have a 20 percent increase in the number of people moving from welfare to work.

BANFIELD: All in the details. So many more details --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Those are important details.

BANFIELD: Exactly. Let me talk about what the President had to say to Steve Cross on "60 Minutes." This is something that "60 Minutes" did not aired surprisingly, but put out on the web. It ended up on the cutting room floor but put on the web. It had to do with the question Steve Cross asked the President about the advertising that both campaigns are doing, about the misleading, the falsehoods and that sort of thing. And here's the President's answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Do we see us going overboard in our campaign and mistakes that are made and areas where there is no doubt that somebody could dispute how we are presenting things? That happens in politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Wolf, shouldn't we just have a fairer access as Americans to real information whether it's the President or his challenger? They both should follow the same standards, truth.

BLITZER: In the best of all worlds, you are absolutely right that they should only have ads that have been thoroughly vetted and perfectly accurate in the best of all worlds. That would be great. This is tough business politics. They are going to get nasty. Sometimes those ads are going to be misleading and deceitful. They are going to be going well beyond tough. Sometimes they include lies.

Part of our responsibility in the news business is to check these ads and make sure they are fair and come up with an answer who is more accurate. Sometimes there are gray areas to be sure. For example, today, in "THE SITUATION ROOM," we will take a close look at two competing ads that have just come out by the Obama campaign and the Romney campaign, making accusations against the other side when it comes to trade with China and cheating. We will look at both of these ads and come up with an explanation of which is more accurate where the truth lies.

BANFIELD: We'll look forward to that. But quickly, can you weigh in on the fact that the President will not be holding bilateral meetings? He is leaving it to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton while he does a taping of "The View."

A, do we get anything accomplished in these bi-lats? Do we get real foreign policy accomplished in these bi-lats? B, are the optics just as important as the actual function of the bi-lats, whatever they do put on paper?

BLITZER: I think anytime the President of the United States meets with another world leader, important issues can be discussed, especially when they are sensitive, important issues, and usually around the time of the United Nations General Assembly. I have covered these meetings for a long time. A president uses the opportunity to have one-on-one meetings whether at where he is staying or someplace else and they can get business done. In this particular case, coming six weeks before an election, he has other issues on his agenda like getting reelected.

Going on "The View," which is not just meeting with a bunch of women, he will be speaking to millions of people watching, and they determined that is an important thing for the President to do six weeks before an election. Same reason why Mitt Romney the other day went on Kelly Ripa's show and appeared on that show. He is not a sitting president of the United States but they want to speak to the American people and these are various venues where they have that opportunity to do so.

So if he wants to do a television interview or is he wants to come on my show, I would be happy to have him on my show. I think there potentially is a missed opportunity this week for the President of the United States to meet with world leaders. He's made the decision, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet with the leaders, not him.

BANFIELD: And I think he'll be taking it on the china for it, too.

Wolf Blitzer, in Washington, thank you so much. As always, a quick plug. You can tune into "THE SITUATION ROOM," 4:00 p.m. Eastern time on CNN. Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Election is just over a month away and both campaigns are focusing in on one of the country's most critical issues. Most can agree it is jobs. Check out the map reflecting new numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate rose in 26 states last month, including five of the nine toss up-states. It fell in another 12 states. All told there are 12.5 million Americans among us who do not have a job.

Alison Kosik is here with tips to help you make your application stand out if you happen to be one of them -- Alison?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So 12.5 million people unemployed and 3.7 million jobs open across the U.S. You can bet that the competition is fierce. If you are having trouble getting your future employer's attention, here are great suggestions. We spoke with career coach, Caroline Cemize-Lavine, and she said solid research really makes the biggest difference. Caroline says most job seekers don't review the company website before the interview and you want to know about issues affecting the industry and the company. Know how the job you're applying for fits into all that.

When it comes to your resume, Caroline said there is no magic bullet. We know recruiters only spend a few seconds skimming each one. But she says a referral makes the difference. That referral can come from an acquaintance or a friend of the friend. Caroline says H.R. departments will prioritize those resumes and because some of the best candidates come from referrals.

Finally, Caroline says it is not enough to network. you will need to build your own personal brand and recommends commenting on trade association blogs and writing an article for your trade association newsletter or speaking at conferences. It is like a job to get a job, isn't it?

BANFIELD: It is. That is not something a lot of people talk about, how much time you need to dedicate to find a job. It is a lot of work and you have to have stamina and thick skin.

KOSIK: Oh, yes.

BANFIELD: Alison, thank you.

KOSIK: Sure.

BANFIELD: Thanks for that great advice. If you want to hear more for the latest financial news check out CNNmoney.com.

By the way, if you happen to be leaving the house you have more. You can watch CNN from your mobile phone. You can do it from your iPad, too. If you want to watch from your mobile phone or desktop go to CNN.com/tv. All the information you need is right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Rifles and guns pointed at young kids, and nearly every adult handcuffed. A police search in Colorado for a suspected bank robber is making big headlines. The officers actually had a successful manhunt. They got their guy. As you are about to see, what went down in terms of getting that guy is raising a lot of legal questions. Here is to explain the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Marcy Strandberg stopped at a light on her way home from shopping near Denver, Colorado. The next thing she knew police had her at gunpoint.

MARCY STRANDBERG, CAUGHT IN POLICE BLOCKADE: I said I have kids in my car, and they had rifles pointed right at me. ROWLANDS: 19 cars were held at this intersection that Saturday afternoon. Everyone was ordered out of their car at gunpoint, including children. The boy in the green shirt is 16-year-old Michael Hance.

MICHAEL HANCE, CAUGHT IN POLICE BLOCKADE: They had rifles and guns pointed with shields and a canine dog.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A robbery had just occurred with a gun at Wells Fargo.

ROWLANDS: Police were looking for this bank robber, seen here wearing a beekeeper's mask and armed with an air horn and loaded gun. He had just made off with $25,000 from a Wells Fargo a few miles away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see him wearing a bee-hive mask.

ROWLANDS (voice-over): Police thought the bank robber was at this intersection because there was a GPS tracking device hidden in with the money. The problem is they had no idea what car he could be in. And, because of the beekeeper's mask, they didn't even know what he likes look.

(voice-over): So everyone was treated as an armed and dangerous suspect.

STRANDBERG: We all had to have our hands showing and our arms out the window, and we had to keep our arms like this.

ROWLANDS: One by one police approached each car with guns and shields. Nearly everyone was handcuffed. Marcy's 4-year-old daughter, who you can see she's carrying, was asleep for most of the ordeal. Her 8-year-old son, however, was awake.

STRANDBERG: My son was crying, and I kept telling him to keep his head down between his legs because I didn't know if open fire was going to happen.

ROWLANDS: That's Crystal DeGuzman in handcuffs moments after she watched police take her son, 16-year-old Michael, away at gunpoint.

CRYSTAL DEGUZMAN, SON ARRESTED: I think any mom would be upset, not knowing what's going to happen to your kid.

ROWLANDS: Police eventually searched this white Expedition. Inside, they found two loaded guns, the money, and the beekeeper's mask.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have the suspect in custody.

ROWLANDS: 45-year-old Christian Paige, a school teacher, with no criminal record, was arrested and charged with armed robbery. He has pled not guilty.

Was this a case of good police work or did they go too far? Federal law gives police some leeway to detain citizens for a reasonable period of time as part of a criminal investigation. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: That was Ted Rowlands reporting.

I want to bring in prosecutor, Christine Grillo, to answer some of the legal questions that undoubtedly surround this case.

For starters, all of those moms and children led away at gunpoint and those -- the 16-year-old who was taken away from his mother at gunpoint, all of them handcuffed and left for hours on the curb. Do they have some recourse in all of this? Can they sue the police for the way they were treated?

CHRISTINE GRILLO, PROSECUTOR: That's going to depend on what the court ruling ends up doing regarding this evidence and regarding this case. If the court finds that this was a temporary lawful detention for purposes of investigation and that this search and detention was legal, then, no, they will not have any recourse.

BANFIELD: What makes a search legal when you are talking about little kids and innocent people cuffed in an intersection? They are just going to the Stop and Shop.

GRILLO: Right. That is the one-way angle that I'm sure the prosecution will take. In reality, you have to look at the situation in the whole. This started out as a bank robber that was armed. He robbed a bank in a civilian community, and he was getting away. They were in pursuit of a bank robber, an armed bank robber. Now, their probable cause becomes the GPS device. So then there is sort of a radius of suspicion, if you would.

BANFIELD: So everybody in that radius of the GPS -- again, Ted Rowlands is clever in how he explained it. The GPS device said it's somewhere in this intersection with all these cars. Do they all get probable cause attached to them? Every single one of those cars is probable cause?

GRILLO: As the prosecution, I'm arguing. I don't know what a judge is ultimately going to rule, but there is a very strong argument that, yes, they do. They have come within that circumference of suspicion. That now because they did not know what any of them looked like, the only probable cause they had was that GPS device, and that's very strong probable cause. Somebody in that area was the bank robber. Somebody should be stopped and arrested.

BANFIELD: So the alleged bank robber, who they finally get out of the car -- known of the people that you are seeing necessarily on the screen right now. Apparently, according to his lawyer said I don't agree to the search of my car, and then with some pushing -- and here's the guy we're talking about -- with some pressuring, finally relented to the search of his car, and they find everything. They find the beekeeper's mask, the money, the GPS, the evidence that could really nail him.

But now he is coming back saying, you can't search my car if I originally said no. What chance does he have, and what happens to all that unbelievable evidence if he prevails?

GRILLO: Well, the prosecutor is going to argue exegesis circumstances. What that is is the fact that those circumstances trump his agreeing to the search. They are searching for weapons. He now looks more like a suspect now. He is resisting them. He is within this circumference of suspicion, if you would. Now they want to search his car. You don't need permission when there are circumstances like this.

BANFIELD: Explain that for me. Are those circumstances -- this is an armed robber who could be shooting and guns ablazing in the intersection. All these people are around here could get killed. Therefore, everything goes out the window, the whole probable cause, the whole everything. Those circumstances, can I blow through your house without a warrant if I think someone is going to die?

GRILLO: If you have gone into that house and they have reason to believe that you are armed, they could come right in after you. They don't knock and say please can we come in?

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: All that stuff that we call -- it's fruit of the poison juice tree. You don't get to use any of that evidence if they can go to court. Do you think they'll win?

GRILLO: I think they have a strong chance. I do. I do.

BANFIELD: Wow. It's an amazing case, a really amazing case.

GRILLO: It is.

BANFIELD: We have to continue.

GRILLO: It's a great issue.

BANFIELD: Christine, thank you. Always good to see you.

GRILLO: Thank you.

BANFIELD: Thank you for coming back.

By the way, the suspected bank robber, 45-year-old Kristen Peche, a schoolteacher. He has pleaded not guilty to the armed robbery charges.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: I don't know if you were up late to watch the Emmys, but let me tell you that two shows really struck gold and cleaned up at the awards. Take a peek.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And an Emmy goes to "Homeland."

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: That was something we heard a lot. The Showtime psychological thriller "Homeland" won four Emmys, including Best Drama. My cousin didn't win. I was upset about that. The show stars Claire Danes and Damian Lewis. They won for best actress and actor, respectively.

And "Modern Family" dominating again in the comedy category. That show won four awards, including the top prize: Best Comedy Series. Hilarious if you haven't seen it. This show not nominated. Go figure. Maybe next year. There's always next year.

Thanks for watching. NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL starts right now with Suzanne Malveaux.