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Romney in Colorado; NFL Referee Controversy Continues; Ambassador's Journal Reveals Safety Concerns; Smartphones Take Over; Smokey Robinson Advocates for Clean Water; Anti-Riot Police Force of Women

Aired September 24, 2012 - 15:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to make sure all of you who are waiting -- who are living paycheck to paycheck, you will finally be able to save a little bit, put a little aside. You will be able to go to the movies again, go out to dinner.

Look, this is the way it is supposed to be in America. We can do better than this president. I will do better than this president has done for the American people.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Jim Acosta there in Pueblo, Colorado.

And we heard you Romney's voice starting to crack and it brings to mind Bill Clinton before the '92 election, barely, remember, barely able to speak. Romney is not quite there yet.

But we still have six weeks to go. And let's remember, Jim Acosta, Romney endured a bruising months-long primary, and he's been campaigning hard for more than a year. Perhaps this is the day to ask you, how is he holding up?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, I think he's holding up fine.

Last Friday his campaign in addition to putting out the tax return for 2011 put out a letter from his physician declaring the GOP nominee to be in excellent health and ready to take on the presidency. So from time to time we have heard him sound hoarse.

I would say that this is nothing more than that. But speaking of raised voices, Mitt Romney was certainly doing that on the subject of foreign policy here at this event in Pueblo, Colorado. He went after President Obama for some comments that the president made on "60 Minutes" last night when the president talked about some of the recent unrest in the Middle East as being what he called bumps in the road.

Mitt Romney just a few moments ago taking the gloves off really here in Pueblo, Colorado, Brooke. Mitt Romney said -- quote -- "Bumps in the road?," asking that as a question mark. "We had an ambassador assassinated." He goes on to say, "These are not bumps in the road, these are human lives, these are developments we do not want to see."

That drew an instant response from the Obama campaign. They put out a statement a few moments ago accusing Romney of playing politics with the lives of those four diplomats that were lost in Libya. It is getting to be a testy day out on the campaign trail.

BALDWIN: Speaking of gloves off, let's take a look at this new ad being run against Romney by the Obama campaign. The ad was released just today. Here is part of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARRATOR: Mitt Romney attacked 47 percent of Americans who pay no income tax, including veterans, elderly, the disabled.

ROMNEY: My job is not to worry about those people.

NARRATOR: Doesn't the president have to worry about everyone? Mitt Romney paid just...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, no surprise, Obama campaign is not going to let voters forget that Romney's remarks, right, about the 47 percent of the country being dependent upon the government, believing they're entitled to sort of cruising along on the government dole.

The question is does the Romney campaign expect to be reminded again and again and again of Romney's remarks delivered in May and reported last week?

ACOSTA: Right.

Well, this is the gift that keeps on giving for the Obama campaign. They will be running those comments as long as they possibly can. And this ad is just an example of that. You will recall in that "60 Minutes" interview, Mitt Romney was asked about that video tape from "Mother Jones" and he basically said, look, that's not my campaign, that's me.

He took responsibility for those remarks. That's not going to stop the Obama campaign from running those remarks, but it is interesting to note, Brooke, on his campaign plane yesterday, he was going after the president accusing the president of twisting his words, of saying things about his record that he says aren't true.

He even said the president was -- quote -- "trying to fool people" about his record. But you can see from that ad right there, that is not a negative or misleading ad. That is just using Mitt Romney in his own words, and obviously that has to be a worry for the campaign, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Final question, you're there with the Romney campaign in Colorado, Denver, the site of next Wednesday's presidential debate number one. Is Colorado a must-win for Romney? ACOSTA: I don't know if it is a must-win for Mitt Romney. The fact that they're out here, I think, shows that they do see it as vitally important. Our latest CNN poll of polls on Colorado shows a three- point race for President Obama.

He has a three-point edge. That's not very much over Mitt Romney. This is one of those states, if Mitt Romney can turn this state, turn a few other states and then capture Ohio or Florida, yes, there is a path to the presidency, but he has to put together a map that includes taking away some of those states that the president captured four years ago.

He can't simply just, you know, win all those states that McCain won in '08 and plus maybe a Colorado here or a Colorado or Iowa there. That explains why the Romney campaign, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney are both going to be in Ohio tomorrow, they have got a cross-state bus tour that is very critical.

There is not a whole lot of time before the debates get started. As you said, they start next Wednesday on the 3rd. That does not give him a lot of time to crisscross these battleground states to play catch-up.

BALDWIN: Speaking of must-win, as you point out, he will be in Ohio with Paul Ryan tomorrow. We will see you from there, I'm sure. Jim Acosta for us in Pueblo, Jim, thank you.

ACOSTA: That's right.

BALDWIN: Just into us here at CNN, concerns about private messages being made public on Facebook.

Let's go straight to Dan Simon. He's live for us in San Francisco.

Dan, private messages, what is the story here?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I will tell you what, we want to be very cautious and deliberate in how we approach this, this coming out just a little while ago.

A couple of French newspapers are reporting that private messages sent on Facebook are now just spontaneously showing up on people's walls or timelines. These messages go back to 2007, 2009. A couple of U.S.- based bloggers are reporting the same issue.

But here is the thing, Facebook says they have looked into this and they say that these were public wall postings to begin with, so there is no issue here. I want to put up a full-screen quote of what Facebook says. It says: "A small number of users raised concerns after what they mistakenly believed to be private messages appeared on their timeline. Our engineers investigated these reports and found that the messages were older wall posts that had always been visible on the user's profile pages. Facebook is satisfied that there has been no breach of user privacy."

Right now, we have got a he said/she said. Some people saying their private messages are just popping up in various places, Facebook saying that's not happening. We're still in the fact-finding mission, as they say, and we will get back to you when we know more.

BALDWIN: OK. I know you're making phone calls, I'm sure we all, trying to figure out if in fact -- where the truth lies between what people are saying and what Facebook is telling you. Dan Simon, I will let you do that and perhaps we will revisit. Dan, thank you.

Meantime, as we mentioned a moment ago here, Facebook stock taking quite a plunge today, down 9 percent.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

BALDWIN: This is something. Maybe you were watching football last night. It's pretty much unheard of, a coach grabbing a referee in protest of a call.

That's just the latest headache here involving these temporary referees in the NFL. Well, get this. I'm about to speak live with a former NFL ref about whether this is ruining the integrity of a multibillion-dollar industry. Don't miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: First, it was just football fans who were talking. Now it seems like everyone is abuzz over this mess caused by the NFL using these replacement referees, instead of the regular officials.

The two sides are locked basically in this labor dispute and last night it came to a head in the game between New England and Baltimore. Here is what the replacements ruled was a winning field goal.

Watch this with me. Baltimore went home -- watch the ball, way up. Hmm. Was it good? They said yes. But not everyone is convinced the kick was good when it passed over that right side of that goalpost.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick among the nonbelievers. Look at his right arm, touches, grabs, whatever you want to call it, the ref, charged after him, tried to make his point, even grabbing his arm briefly.

That will cost him some money or, as the announcer said, some bucks, no doubt.

But what I want to talk about all of this with Jim Tunney. He's on the phone with me. He was an NFL official for 31 years.

So, Jim, thanks for calling in.

I'm sure you have seen this much-talked-about field goal. Pats lost because of it. Did you think it was good? Do you think it was fair?

JIM TUNNEY, FORMER NFL REFEREE: Brooke, I love this game. I have watched it for the last 50 years, and I love it.

I have had the same situation in a call with whether a field goal was good inside or out. The ball has to go at least inside the outside of the post, and now the post is 20 feet above the crossbar, and still the kickers are kicking them high. It looks like we are going to have to raise that post even a little higher.

That's a judgment call for the official right out on the field. But there are a lot of judgment calls that are happening in the game today that are incorrect. And judgment calls, they are always the toughest part.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: So, Jim, let me just make sure I'm clear. You don't want to say. You don't want to say.

TUNNEY: You know, the screen that I have is only two dimensions, height and width. It doesn't have the depth perception.

And it doesn't have what the official is looking straight up under the post, up to top, to see whether that ball clears inside or out. Now, we have to understand that first of all there is a lot of frustrations.

And while I have had respect for coach Belichick, frustrations are to a point now that it is getting beyond control. The NFL said in the beginning, well, nobody goes to the games to watch the officials. Well, they do now. And that's wrong.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: That is a game that maybe Pats fans would could look back to later when it comes to playoff time and say, this kept us, you know, out of the running. My question to you is, how much longer do you think the NFL will let this go on?

TUNNEY: I don't think it can go on any longer. I think it needs to stop right away.

And it needs to be done. And I'm not part of the negotiation team on either side. So I'm not -- I'm not taking an issue with that. But the two sides have to sit down and lock the door in the room and say, let's get it done.

The NFL warned players and coaches last week to stop abusing officials and things like that. But you can't legislate respect. And it has to be earned. And that's what is happening. The replacement officials now just don't have the respect of the players or the coaches, and they haven't earned it. They're volunteers.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Jim, forgive me for interrupting, but what do you think -- the current refs who are not out there on the fields right now, what do you think they're doing as they're watching these games being played?

TUNNEY: They're having the same frustrations as you and I are. They have no control of a game. The players don't respect them.

Regular officials will walk on the field and the coaches and players know who they are and they can respect them because they know they're going get it right. But when they start making the mistakes, the number of mistakes that they made, not just judgment calls, not just whether the ball is good or inside the post or not, not just whether it is holding or pass interference, but spots of enforcement, putting the ball in the wrong place, saying the wrong thing, giving extra time-outs, doing things, extra challenges that shouldn't happen.

They're just not -- they're ready to -- at this level. They're just not...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Jim, I think a lot of fans will agree with you, that they hope the regular refs come back. They're basically playing hardball over $10 million, $15 million, and this league generates billions of dollars in revenue.

Jim Tunney, veteran NFL ref, Jim, appreciate you calling in. We will see where this thing goes.

TUNNEY: Brooke, nice to talk with you.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

To New York, where Iran's president will speak this week. As always, he will probably ruffle some feathers, but Piers Morgan, he sat down with him first. The interview took Piers, fair to say, a bizarre turn. He's live. We're going to talk about what you all chatted about next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has arrived for the United Nations General Assembly.

But even among scores of world leaders, the Iranian president attracts a level of attention all to his own. His exclusive interview with Piers Morgan already setting the tone for Wednesday's speech.

Want to bring Piers Morgan in with me live in New York.

Good to see thank you, friend.

PIERS MORGAN, HOST, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": And you.

BALDWIN: You had some I guess we could call them fascinating, bizarre exchanges with Iran's leader, including the issue of homosexuality, which I want to ask you about in just a second. That was quite an exchange.

But first I just want to ask you about what did he say when you're asking him about the recent death of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens in terms of the violence? Did he condemn the violence sparked by that anti-Islam video?

MORGAN: Well, I asked him to directly condemn it.

And he's quite careful about doing that. But what he did do, to be fair to him, was having said how deplorable he felt the video itself was and mocking the Prophet Mohammed was completely unacceptable and incendiary. He also said that the resolution to this should be peaceful.

So he was pretty clear about that. And that's the contradictory thing about when you interview President Ahmadinejad, which I have never done before. I have only met him very briefly once -- is he's a man of many contradictions.

There are passages of the interview tonight where he seems completely rational. And he's very intelligent, there's no question about it, he's a scholar. He will be very measured and calm. And there are other parts of the interview where he is very irrational.

And that's when you get to Israel or you get to homosexuality or whatever it is that fires him up. And you always get the feeling with him that he's basically talking to two audiences. He's talking to the Western audience, and he knows everyone will see this interview, but he's also talking to the audience back home.

So all the anti-American rhetoric or the anti-Israeli rhetoric or the anti-homosexual rhetoric is very much geared to an Iranian audience.

BALDWIN: You mentioned this exchange about homosexuality. You asked his views toward gays

And I just to want to -- let me set this clip up, because just to remind everyone, it is illegal to engage in homosexual acts in Iran. In fact, back in 2007, Ahmadinejad talking to a U.S. audience said point blank that there were no gays living in his country. So now here are the two of you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: Shouldn't freedom and individuality and all those things also extend to people who just happen to be gay? They were born gay. They weren't made gay. Wouldn't it be great for the president of Iran to say, you know something, everyone is entitled to be whatever sexuality they are born to be? That would be a great symbol of freedom.

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Do you really believe that someone is born homosexual?

MORGAN: Yes, absolutely I believe that. Yes, I do.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): I'm sorry, let me ask you that. Do you believe anyone is given birth through homosexuality?

Homosexuality ceases procreation. Who has said that if you like or believe in doing something ugly and others do not accept your behavior, they're denying your freedom? Who says that? Who says that? Perhaps in a country, they wish to legitimize stealing.

(CROSSTALK)

MORGAN: You are a father of three children.

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): For a few percentage of...

MORGAN: You have two sons and a daughter. What would you do if one of them was gay?

AHMADINEJAD (through translator): These things have different ways.

The proper education must be given. Proper -- the education system must be revamped. The political system must be revamped, and these must be also reformed and revamped along the way. But if you -- if a group recognizes an ugly behavior or ugly deed as legitimate, you must not expect other countries or other groups to give it the same recognition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, wait, is he saying that education could make someone not gay?

MORGAN: Yes. That's exactly what he's saying. And I think he believes it.

And that's where you have an example of really quite extreme bigotry. But it is not something necessarily new. Some of the language he used was new. And it was pretty shocking. But he's contradictory in this sense. When I asked him questions soon after again about his children, I said how would you feel given your relentless anti-Israeli statements, how would you feel if he was to find out that one of his children was dating a Jew?

And to my astonishment, he said he would be perfectly OK with that.

BALDWIN: Wow.

MORGAN: And I was surprised. It wasn't what I was expecting. That's what I mean. He is a -- he's a surprising character. He's unpredictable. I don't think he's mad in the way that many in the West perhaps prefer to see him.

He is certainly a caricature figure when he comes to America. But I didn't get a sense of a crazy madman. I get a sense of somebody playing very hard to his home audience, where he's not that popular these days,. He's in his final year as president, probably thinking about his legacy.

But the real issue, I guess, is not his views on homosexuality or any of the social issues I discussed. It is about Israel, because the war drums are beating heavily. And on that, he was very adamant. If Israel tries anything, in terms of any military strike, then Iran will defend itself. And he couldn't have been clearer about that. He also -- I thought quite an interesting part of interview that hasn't come out yet, but I think is fascinating tonight, is that he clarified this statement he made which caused a huge fury at the time, which was that he wanted to wipe Israel off the map.

When I really pressed him on this tonight, he says, really, what he implies what he meant was that he wanted to wipe the, as he put it, Israeli occupation of Palestinian land off the map. So he's clarified that and reined back slightly from, I want to get rid of Israel to, I want to get rid of what he sees as Israeli occupation.

(CROSSTALK)

MORGAN: So, quite an interesting clarification, but, look, it is a fascinating hour, one of the most fascinating interviews I have ever done.

And he's at times charming and sinister and contradictory and unpredictable and occasionally he says stuff where you find yourself nodding in agreement. So I would say watch it and come to your own conclusions. And there will be very different conclusions depending who watches it.

BALDWIN: Right. Let the viewer be the judge. Piers Morgan, we will look for it. It sounds like you all talked about a little bit of everything. We will look for it, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT," of course, 9:00. Thank you, sir. It's good to see you.

(CROSSTALK)

MORGAN: Thank you. Take care.

BALDWIN: New research about breast cancer could lead to new treatments using familiar drugs.

Elizabeth Cohen explains next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: New information on the fight against breast cancer. Evidence shows that growing cancers -- excuse me -- grouping cancers by genes could lead to new treatments.

Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here with me now. So...

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is really interesting, exciting stuff.

BALDWIN: Yes?

COHEN: Because we usually think of cancers as this is a breast cancer, we're going to treat it this way, this is a lung cancer, we're going to treat it this way. This is an ovarian cancer.

And what this study and others point to is maybe there are similarities between the different types because they have similar genes. Maybe the genes of the cancer is more important than the actual location.

So what these folks did is they looked at genes of more than 800 women with breast cancer. They actually looked at the genes of the cancer, not of the women.

BALDWIN: OK.

COHEN: And they found, for example, that some women had a breast cancer that looks genetically kind of like ovarian cancer.

And so now they're thinking, gee, maybe we should treat these women with ovarian cancer treatments, instead of breast cancer treatments.

BALDWIN: So what does this mean for the right now?

COHEN: For right now this doesn't mean much at all. Because, you don't want to start giving women these new treatments without trying it out first in the study because the new treatments might possibly hurt them. We don't know. So, you don't want to make this big jump. Instead what they need to do is they need to study it, they need to look at it, they need to say let's take a few women with this ovarian genetic kind of cancer that's breast cancer and let's give her ovarian cancer treatment and see what happens. But it needs to be done in an organized way.

BALDWIN: Do we know how long -- how long until that treatment can happen?

COHEN: Years.

BALDWIN: Years?

COHEN: Years. It could be 3, 5, 10, but years. I think it is important to point out, I'm not throwing cold water on this, it is possible that this theory may not work out at all. It may be possible that this is just interesting but it doesn't actually change treatment. It is also possible that they're going to say, wow, treating that breast cancer as if it were an ovarian cancer was phenomenal. We saved lives. We just don't know which direction it is going to go in.

BALDWIN: As we were talking in the break, part of the continuum, more information, testing is a good thing.

COHEN: Testing is a good thing. Genetic testing is a good thing. And stop thinking solely in terms of location, where in the body it is, and start thinking more about the genes.

BALDWIN: Genes. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you. Always want to remind everyone, if you or a friend recently has been diagnosed with cancer, you can learn much more. Take charge as Elizabeth likes to say, be the empowered patient, go to CNN.com/empoweredpatient. Elizabeth Cohen, again, thank you, thank you.

As the investigation unfolds into the death of a U.S. ambassador, the state department suddenly on the defense over the days, the hours, leading up to Chris Stevens' death. This as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with the President of Libya.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Two weeks after the death of U.S. Ambassador to Libya and the death of three other Americans in the same attack, there are still questions. And critics say the State Department and the administration have yet to answer them. CNN has exclusively obtained information from Ambassador Chris Stevens' private journals which show he was concerned about his safety, but those details could contradict with what the State Department is saying. Meantime, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is meeting with the president of Libya today. I want to bring in CNN's foreign affairs correspondent Elise Labott. The State Department defending its actions leading up to the Ambassador's death.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, that's right. There is no question that there was concern in Libya, in Benghazi, about a rising militancy extremism in the area. What the State Department says is there was a small attack on the U.S. consulate in June, an IED attack and several other attacks on foreign targets and the state department says that they beefed up security at this diplomatic facility, significantly, in the months leading up to the attack -- the September 11 attack. But what they said is what they were preparing for, what they were trying to guard off against they couldn't foresee the kind of massive fire assault that they saw that day. They were beefing up security in accordance with some of the other attacks that pattern of threats out there and they say that nobody could have predicted the amount of fire fight they had that day. Obviously we see now those security measures were not enough to save Ambassador Stevens and those other three Americans.

BALDWIN: What, Elise, about today and looking ahead, in terms of this region. How is the State Department, how will they beef up security there?

LABOTT: Well, it is a really good question. Brooke, after those massive attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 there were certain legal restrictions that were put in place for embassies and consulates. You have to have certain setbacks, you have to have certain building specifications. I think there is going to be a lot more attention to making sure that all diplomatic facilities, regardless of how many personnel are there, regardless of how much work is being done there, are going to be built up to these types of specifications and also working with the host governments in all these countries.

We know the Libyans are having a hard time controlling their own country, so there are questions as to whether they really could have provided adequate security for the United States, but I think there is going to be a lot more attention to say to these countries and Secretary Clinton is meeting with the Libyan President, a lot of other leaders this week to say, listen, if we're going to stay in your country, you have to protect our personnel.

BALDIN: Elise Labott, thank you. Shopping without cash. More people paying with your mobile phone instead of the wallet. We'll show you another way technology is about to dominate our lives. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: This week on "THE NEXT LIST," it's a good deed, double shot. People cleaning up one of the prettiest spots on the planet and recycling the trash to give people a place to live. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSANA HEISSE, FOUNDER, PURA VIDA MOVEMENT: This is an eco-brick. This is a container and this is where you stuff all the wrappers, all the plastic bags, everything that is synthetic, inorganic trash. You put the lid on and then you have an eco-brick ready for construction. I'm Susana Heisse, the founder of the Pura Vida Movement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We hope you watch the next list with Sanjay Gupta Sunday, 2:00 eastern.

And it is no big revelation that technology is very much so dominating our lives through our phones. You're watching T.V., maybe your computer. This month, CNN is going in depth on our mobile society and today we're remembering the wallet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH REPORTER: Many people are saying one day your smartphone could completely replace your wallet. Well, how close are we to that actually happening? I decided to put that question to the test here in New York City, so today I'm officially ditching my wallet and using my smartphone to pay. So we're starting our day out with cereal here at Duane Reade and if I want to pay with my mobile phone here, I can use Google Wallet. Let's test it out. Whoops, so I selected my card here, and I just hold it against --

UNIDENTIFIED CASHIER: Backwards.

SEGALL: Oh. No cards -- I'm enabling it, I can hold it against here.

UNIDENTIFIED CASHIER: It took.

SEGALL: All right. Thank you very much. Google Wallet only works on Sprint, Virgin Mobile devices and the Nexus 7 tablet. So next up, morning coffee, and here they use a service called Level Up that's going to allow me to use my smartphone.

UNIDENTIFIED CASHIER: You put your phone here, and then Level Up will scan the bar code.

SEGALL: So I just bought a coffee.

UNIDENTIFIED CASHIER: Yup. SEGALL: Great.

UNIDENTIFIED CASHIER: The advantage for us is that we get better transaction fees for credit cards.

SEGALL: All right, thank you.

The mobile payment space is projected to be $171 billion business this year. And it is on the rise. So what does the future look like? we asked one of the major players.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're paying with your name, you don't need your phone or wallet at all. You can pay with your name --

SEGALL: I should be able to pay using Square just by telling you my name, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

SEGALL: Okay, I would like to get a scone, please. And my name is Laurie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Your name is Laurie. So I see you right there.

SEGALL: My picture just shows up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. You're all set.

SEGALL: I learned ahead of time you to have a tab already open on the square app, so it is not totally phone free tech, just yet. Last stop of the day, Home Depot. The store recently launched a partnership with PayPal. With the new system, all I need is my mobile phone number, I don't need my physical phone to pay for this plant.

UNIDENTIFIED CASHIER: Going to be paying this with your PayPal?

SEGALL: Yes. This is a pin I set up beforehand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has been accepted.

SEGALL: So that worked, pretty quick.

Long day of trying to replace my wallet with my smartphone. But here's what I learned Google Wallet worked pretty easily but you to have a certain phone for it to work. Level Up worked pretty quickly. Square, very, very interesting, you can walk in and say your name, but you had to know how to set it up before. The same goes for PayPal and its integration with Home Depot. Is your smartphone going to replace your wallet anytime soon? Probably not, but if you're using your smartphone for your wallet, I would just say, don't lose your phone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Laurie Segall, thank you. Coming up, one of music's greatest legends is teaming up with former president Bill Clinton announcing a major initiative today, the Smokey Robinson explains it to me live. Plus, I might surprise him with a video clip. We'll get his reaction to that. Don't miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Well, Smokey Robinson's voice serving as the soundtrack for a generation.

That is an all time favorite of mine. "Tracks of My Tears." So many other hits by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. Folks, this is Motown music royalty today. And today, though, the singer is using his voice in a much different way. The Clinton Global Initiative in New York, Robinson announced what he calls the smoke alarm for clean drinking water. He's sounding the alarm today. This is a massive social media push to get funding for a program by Procter & Gamble. This company distributes small packets that in 30 minutes, you see the video in 30 minutes can turn dirty water into something people can drink.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMOKEY ROBINSON, SINGER: They make these water packets. And this is talking about me with a miracle, this is truly a miracle. It is incredible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Wow. And Smokey Robinson is good enough to join me right now. If I may, I'm having a pinch me moment right now, Smokey Robinson, just talking to you. So I truly appreciate you coming on and, you know, really here is my first question for you. For all the causes that you can lend your voice and support, why this cause? Why this safe drinking water program for children?

ROBINSON: Well, Brooke, because water is the source of all life. Everything that is alive on Earth needs water. So and there are many areas in the world where water is so scarce and then where the water is contaminated and polluted and what-have-you, people still have to drink it, just to have water. And thousands of kids are dying every day because of having to drink that kind of water. So we're trying to combat that, we're trying to do something about it. And to get the purification packets to those areas where people need them so they can have drinking water.

BALDWIN: This is something, Smokey, you could have held a huge benefit concert to raise awareness, but instead you are sounding the smoke alarm. This is what you're calling -- sounding the smoke alarm, pulling in all these A-lister friends who are pretty powerful on Twitter to help get the momentum going. Why do it this way?

ROBINSON: Because of what you just said, it has been done the other way so many times where you have to call on the artists. They all have busy schedules, you know, and you have to call on them to come to a certain location and take their time out to do that and bring their musicians and what-have-you. And do the concert and so on. This is so simple. All they have to do is tweet their followers or go on their Facebook and Facebook them. And let them know what we're tackling. And it doesn't -- see, the beauty of this is that it doesn't only lend itself to entertainers and people in the entertainment world. Any and everybody can be involved in this. Anybody who Tweets, anybody who's on Facebook, anybody who's on a social network can get involved in this. This packet right here is made by Procter & Gamble. This packet purifies ten liters of water. For $10, you can provide pure drinking water for a kid for a whole year. So there's nothing like this. We wanted to do it in a way where everybody could become involved with it.

BALDWIN: Why team up and unveil this today with former president Bill Clinton? Why do it there?

ROBINSON: Well, he has the Clinton coalition. And President Clinton and I have been friends for a long time. And I called upon him to get involved with us and let us get involved with him because he has -- his coalition is set up. And he does so many worthy cause things all over the earth. So we wanted to be involved with somebody like that. So I called him. And he said okay. And they got involved. And we're involved also with Procter & Gamble. In fact, President Clinton turned us on to Procter & Gamble.

BALDWIN: I love it. Just for people to know, your Twitter handle is @smokeyrobinson. I sat down this summer with two young men I believe you know pretty well, they're known as LMFAO. I asked them who inspired them at a young age. They talked all about Uncle Smokey Here's what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SKY BLU, LMFAO: Uncle Smokey.

BALDWIN: What did he tell you guys?

BLU: At Christmas parties, you'd see everybody there. Rick James, everybody. But it was more of being able to be in the presence and see how he carried himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We should be clear, not blood related but Berry Gordy, father. He helped you early on. They say you helped teach them how to carry themselves. What's your advice to youngsters wanting to make a name for themselves in the business?

ROBINSON: Well, those are my nephews and I love them very much. I've known both of them since before they were born. I'm very happy for them. They're so popular all over the world. I'm very proud of them because they are nice young men and they carry themselves really good. And I'm happy to hear that they learned something from me as far as to carry themselves because consciously, I was not telling them what to do. But if they saw me -- I tell young people, show business is built on pedestals and accolades and praise and all those things like that from people. So you never can forget that you're a person. You never can forget that everybody makes this world go round. And because you were in the entertainment world and people know you and you have know notoriety around the world and all that, it doesn't make you better than anybody else on earth because we're all equals when it comes to that.

BALDWIN: I think that can apply to anything, Smokey Robinson. Anything, anything. Before I let you go, I just want to say this. I grew up with a jukebox in my house. It was full of Motown records, the LPs. And my favorite song was "Tracks of My Tears."

ROBINSON: I love you.

BALDWIN: I love you back. I want to ask you if you could, pretty please, sing a couple of lines from "Tracks of My Tears." Just to me.

ROBINSON: Just for you?

BALDWIN: Yes, please.

ROBINSON: People say I'm the life of the party because I'm being interviewed by Brooke.

BALDWIN: You just made my day, maybe week, maybe month. Smokey Robinson, thank you, thank you, thank you.

ROBINSON: All right, honey. Thank you very much.

BALDWIN: We'll look up what you're doing. Let's go to break. Smokey Robinson, "Tracks of My Tears."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The power of a woman's touch, the nation of Colombia is hoping it can make all the difference in preventing riots. Look at this iReport. Women in gear, on guard in Bogota watching over sports fans. Rafael Romo, let me bring you in on this. Why women?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Because in Colombia, like in many parts of Latin America, the culture of respecting a lady is still very much ingrained. May seem outdated in other parts of the world, but the idea here is that these women are less likely to pull the trigger, they're less likely to start a confrontation. It's a pilot program that is working very well for them.

BALDWIN: Are the women being trained any differently than, say, a man?

ROMO: The training is exactly the same. They use the same equipment as the men. They use the same tactics. There's absolutely no difference. The only difference, if you can call it that is that so far it's only 55 women. But depending on the success of this program, that number is likely to increase in the future.

BALDWIN: Just curious, are they older women, younger women, single women that do this? ROMO: They have a little bit of everything, really. Many of these women because of the physical requirements tend to be younger. But there's also mothers, there's also sisters, all kinds of women there.

BALDWIN: This is specifically for sporting events or --

ROMO: Not only that. But one of the things that I found surprising is that these women were in action during the summit of the Americas in Cartagena back in April. And as you know, multiple heads of state attended that summit. So that gives you an idea of the level of trust that the Colombian government is placing upon those women. And also how important they have become.

BALDWIN: Rafael, thank you very much.

ROMO: Thank you.

BALDWIN: That is it for me here in Atlanta. Still getting over the fact that Smokey Robinson serenaded me a couple of minutes ago. Thank you so much for watching. "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer begins now.