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U.S. Border Agent Killed; Unemployment Rate down to 7.8 Percent

Aired October 06, 2012 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to the "CNN Newsroom," I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right, we begin with new developments in the shooting that killed the U.S. border patrol agent. The FBI now saying Nicholas Ivie may have been shot by friendly fire. Thirty-year-old Ivvie was shot and killed this week in Arizona. Officials initially said he and his colleague who was wounded in the incident came under fire after responding to a sensor that went off. Well, authorities say the only shell casings found at the scene were those belonging to the agents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMMANDER JEFFREY SELF, CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION: As you know, investigators have made progress into the investigation - into Agent Ivie's death. And are looking into the possibility that it was a tragic accident. The result of friendly fire, the fact is, the work of the border patrol is dangerous. All of us who wear the uniform know this, and yet this special breed of men and women willingly put themselves in harm's way to serve their country and to protect their communities against those who wish to do us harm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And that news comes as Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano traveled to Arizona to meet with officials and Ivie's family. Reacting to his death, Napolitano said in part "this tragedy reminds us of the risks our men and women confront, the dangers they willingly undertake while protecting our nation's borders." Ivie is the third border patrol agent killed in the line of duty this year.

A judge read the 11 charges against radical cleric Abu Hamza Al-Masri just a short time ago in New York. He is one of five men extradited from the UK today on terror charges. These charges include conspiracy in connection with a 1998 kidnapping of 16 Westerners in Yemen. He is also accused of turning a London mosque into a training camp for radicals. Al Masri will be arraigned on Tuesday. To the other suspects have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta isn't happy with the leader of Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai says the U.S. isn't doing enough to fight terrorism in Pakistan, and Karzai wants the U.S. to send weapons and planes to the Afghan air force. Panetta told reporters Karzai shouldn't be complaining.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We have lost over 2,000 U.S. men and women. ISAF has lost forces there, and the Afghans have lost a large number of their forces in battle. Those lives were lost fighting the right enemy, not the wrong enemy. And I think it would be helpful if the president every once in a while expressed his thanks for the sacrifices that have been made by those who have fought and died for Afghanistan rather than criticizing them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And we'll have to see if Panetta gets the response he is looking for from President Karzai of Afghanistan.

So with the exception of maybe winning the election in November, September could turn out to be Barack Obama's best month. That is because his campaign is reporting it raised $181 million last month, that is a record. That, plus the new jobs report showing unemployment now below eight percent. Had the president all smiles as he rallied supporters in Ohio yesterday.

For GOP contender Mitt Romney, he is still basking in the glory of what many said was a big win in the first debate. After spending time studying for the second debate today, he is planning to throw a big debate victory rally tonight in Florida. Romney and Obama face each other gain in just 10 days, October 16th.

All right. Now to the labor report, the U.S. Labor Department says 114,000 jobs were created in September. And the unemployment rate fell, coming in at 7.8 percent. That is a drop of 3/10th of a percent from August. Healthcare gave us the biggest boost in new jobs. Transportation had a good month, as well, posting a 17,000 job gain.

So with the election only a month away now, that big drop in unemployment had some - President Obama's critics suggesting the numbers may have been manipulated. Lisa Sylvester look at how these numbers are together to find out if that is even possible.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Labor Department has a bureau that every month asks 400,000 businesses in all kinds of fields, from retail to manufacturing to hotel services, from all around the country how many people are on your payroll. That number is reported as the payroll survey on the first Friday of every month, that is what we usually call the jobs number. In September, 114,000 payroll jobs were added.

But there is another survey done, this one from the Census Bureau, about 60,000 households are phoned every month, and asked among other things are you working. In September, a whopping 873,000 more people reported working than the month before. That's a big number. And that's household report pushed the unemployment rate down from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent. That is a strong jobs showing, good news for the White House. But some naysayers are wondering if it is too good to be true. Jack Welch, General Electric's former CEO, tweeting this "Unbelievable jobs numbers, the Chicago guys will do anything, can't debate, so change numbers." And the group Americans for Limited Government has suggested maybe someone tinkered with the numbers.

RICK MANNING, AMERICANS FOR LIMITED GOVERNMENT: Very convenient timing for the president. If he mapped it out to be able to have it, this would be when you would want to have it. You know, he is facing 43 straight months of eight percent plus unemployment, the longest time in history since the Great Depression.

SYLVESTER: But that's simply not the case. First, the Labor Department and the Bureau of Labor Statistics scoffed at any notion that someone manipulated the jobs report.

TOM NARDONE, U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS: It is collected by about 2,000 interviewers who are all federal employees, career federal employees. And so you would have to imagine that the people who participate in the survey, and they do this voluntarily, are for some reason trying to manipulate things.

SYLVESTER: And it is not unusual for the two surveys, one based on asking companies, and the other based on asking individuals, to have wide disparities, why? The household number that shows a gain of 873,000 new workers, includes all kinds of workers including self- employed and certain agriculture workers. And it is based on a much smaller sample than the survey of businesses.

Keith Hall is a former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He says the numbers can vary widely.

KEITH HALL, FORMER COMMISSIONER, BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS: I understand people's frustrations and suspicion when the unemployment rate goes down, you know, right before an election. But in reality, the - all the federal statistic agencies, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they're independent agencies and they have a long tradition of being very professional and very nonpolitical.

SYLVESTER: To change the report? Well, that would be a crime and also very difficult to do.

Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And as you saw in that report, former General Electric CEO, Jack Welch, was one of those who wondered out loud about the unemployment number. Mr. Welch appeared on "Anderson Cooper 360" last night to talk about the tweet he sent out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACK WELCH, FMR. GENERAL ELECTRIC CEO: I got a tweet out there that I stand by.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Right. But you don't regret -

WELCH: I can't prove anything that they did anything to anything.

COOPER: But I mean, in your heart do you believe they somehow cooked the books?

WELCH: I don't really know, but I do know this, that these numbers are implausible.

COOPER: But so many politicians these days are saying like, you know, Michele Bachmann will say something that factually is not correct, is not provable. And will say "Look, I'm just asking the question." Is it responsible to say "I'm just asking a question" but to say "These Chicago guys will do anything, oh, I'm just asking the question."

WELCH: You should have put the question mark like I did last night.

COOPER: OK.

WELCH: A question mark would have been better at the back of that?

COOPER: OK. So you are kind of backing away from the Chicago guys part.

WELCH: I am not backing away. I'm not backing away.

COOPER: Do you wish you could amend your tweet?

WELCH: I wish I had the question mark at the back of it. But same implications there.

COOPER: OK. I want to bring in our business correspondent, Ali Velshi, because I don't pretend to be an expert on this stuff, Ali - but -- the camera there? Ali, what do you make of Jack Welch's tweet, and what are you saying tonight?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, this is very troubling, I mean, anybody who has asked me my entire career who the best CEO in America is, the answer would be Jack Welch. Jack Welch needs to be out there helping this country get back on track. There are CEOs and all sorts of people, re-tweeting what he said. I think he's absolutely right. There are questions to be asked about the methodology. That household survey that comes up with the unemployment number - I have said for my entire career, people should pay less attention to it. Pay attention to the payroll survey, pay attention to hours worked, and pay attention to wages and income. That is what touches people.

But to say something like this is like Donald Trump, saying that President Obama is not an American citizen, without any proof. You are Jack Welch, Jack, you got to take this opportunity while everybody is listening to you, to actually say "Yes, Anderson, I'm taking that tweet back, I'm going to send a new tweet to say I was exaggerating, there are problems BLS maybe should look into it" but to actually throw out an accusation that is like asking the government how often do you beat your wife? WELCH: I should have had the question mark, Ali, on the back of it. Let's face it, OK, but the facts are, Ali, no matter how you want to look at this, we had 25 economists polled before this number came out. The average number they expected was about 115,000.

VELSHI: Yes.

WELCH: Not one of them did have a number below 8.1.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Jack Welch there, and Ali Velshi. So the November jobs report is due out in just four days - that's the next one, four days before election day.

All right, would you believe that a 220-pound teacher is suing, because he said a six year old, who is 50 lbs, beat him up. It's on the docket and our legal guys will be weighing in on that one.

And then later, an eagle eye's view from a documentary called "Winged Planet."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This is kind of an odd case, too, this one in New York in Queens, it involves a gym teacher who said his ankle was broken, his knee injured after saying a first grader who was all of 50 pounds or so - who apparently assaulted him. And now he, the gym teacher right here who is a good 220 pounds and 5'10", says he wants compensation for medical costs of $10,000. He wants it from the school district. And these are the two, the gym teacher and the child, actually, pleading their case, let's listen first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN WEBSTER, TEACHER: He was very strong, he was kicking me, like using like the heel of his - his feet to kick me in my legs. He spun around, belted me right directly on my right knee. And I was trying to move back away, but I was like by the stairs and stuff. So I heard a big pop to my knee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you asked him, did you kick the man, what did he say?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said no, mommy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you kick him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know, I forget.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, gosh, this is so awkward, Richard, you first, where do we begin on this? I'm sure, you know, John Webster, the gym teacher, he really was in a tough situation - you can't physically I guess intervene to stop this little kid, because you could be facing some assault charges. But he says he got injured.

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: That is the problem, Fred, you know, my mother, my sister are teachers, they can't bring glocks to school with them in these environments, some of the students are insane. They carry on, the teachers, if they lay a hand on a student they're going to get prosecuted. They'll lose their jobs. It's a tough situation to be in. This guy - he is not 220. He is at least 240 from that picture there. And for him to tell his friends, to sit around and say some six-year-old kid beat me up and bullied me. Can you imagine that? The key, Fred, though, is this child had a propensity to act up and fight with administration with other students. The school knew that and he is saying the school did nothing about that. They allowed the condition to continue, and as a result of that he himself got injured. He is not only suing for meds, he's suing for damages too, Fred. This is a big case.

WHITFIELD: So Avery, the school, you know, Mr. Webster says is complicit so to speak for not having done something, to intervene with this kid who has a reputation of being a troublemaker.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, not - a troublemaker because he needed medication. They now have him on medication. Let me tell you something, I don't think this is a bad case. I think this is bad journalism. And what I mean by that - "New York Post" headline six-year-old beats up 220-lb gym teacher. That's misleading. That's septic journalism. The fact is it's workplace injury. It's basically a worker's compensation case.

WHITFIELD: Interesting.

FRIEDMAN: Taking the kid down to the principal's office. By the way, started monkeying around with the principal and the safety officer too. But the teacher got kicked in the knee, it is absolutely legitimate, worker's comp case. If he can prove it. It is bad journalism, I think it is a good case.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. And that is the way they see it. Don't forget, you can catch the legal guys every Saturday, noon Eastern time right here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unless people have seen it, geeks have changed the world so much in the past 10 or 20 years. But if they haven't changed government yet. We get people to take a year off. It is geeks, it's also designers, it's also product manager, people from the technical industries. And we get them to work with people in city hall, to solve problems in cities for a year.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She wants to fix local government, one smartphone app at a time this Sunday, on "The Next List."

(END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Round two in the debates between President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, just 10 days away. CNN's political adviser Paul Steinhauser is here to tell us what both camps are doing to get ready for the next showdown.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, Fred, with the first presidential debate and the September jobs report now in the rearview mirror, the next event in the race for the White House focuses on the running maters. Vice president Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan face on Thursday in their only debate. The showdown will be held in Danville, Kentucky, and both men will spend much of the days leading up to the debate preparing.

Meanwhile, President Obama out on the campaign trail is showing some of the energy he didn't show at the first presidential debate in Denver.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, my opponent - he is doing a lot of - a little tap dance. At the debate the other night, he tried to wiggle out of stuff he has been saying for a year. Doing like a - it was like -- "Dancing with the Stars." Or maybe it was "Extreme Makeover." Debate edition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: Expect to see a more aggressive debater when the president and Mitt Romney face off again in a week and a half.

For Romney, the debate offered a chance to question the president's priorities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I thought it was a good chance for us to ask each other questions. I asked the president some of the questions I know people across America have wanted to ask him. I asked him, for instance, why with 23 million Americans that were looking for work and wanted a president to focus on getting the economy going, he instead spent his first three years fighting for Obamacare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: By the way, the moderator of the next presidential debate is our chief political correspondent, CNN's "State of the Union" anchor, Candy Crowley. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Paul. Of course, we'll be watching and we don't want to miss the warm-up of the next Obama- Romney face-off. As Paul just said, it is the much anticipated vice presidential debate, Joe Biden and Paul Ryan go at it next Thursday. Our coverage begins at 7:00 Eastern time. All right. Who wouldn't want to fly like an eagle? When we get back, we're giving you a bird's eye view of the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: An amazing documentary that shows life from a bird's point of view is about to take flight. The film is called "Winged Planet" and airs on the Discovery Channel. The filmmakers actually strapped cameras to birds to get an amazing video. I spoke with the film's director John Downer about how they were able to get so close.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN DOWNER, DIRECTOR "WINGED PLANET": We use a lot of techniques, one that is so important was the fact that we would imprint birds from the moment they came out of the egg. Imprinting is when they come out of the egg and the first thing they see that moves is their mother. The first person, they will follow that person wherever they go. And in the end, we were able to fly with them in ultra lights and other aircraft, and film them, you know, wing tip to wing tip as though you're in there with the birds. With vultures, we also have - use the ultra light (INAUDIBLE) took them into the air and fly with them. They were carrying a camera up on their backs and take pictures from up on high. We used the aircraft to actually gain height so the vultures didn't have to do the huge work of waiting for thermals and getting a thousand feet up. We could release them from the ultra light, and you know, let them fly and show us the world as they see it.

WHITFIELD: This is an opportunity to really showcase some birds, that people or in general, who are not very familiar with. You had a very rare wild species of flamingoes, you had great cranes. Of course the flamingoes that we see there, what was it about these particular birds that you thought would be most fascinating to kind of tell the stories of how they live, of how they co-exist, how they survive?

DOWNER: Well, we chose charismatic species and species that characterized the continent, with the flamingoes particularly. They are so - birds are associated with Africa and they occur in incredible numbers. We were so lucky we got there and managed to film them when they were in the highest numbers recorded for the last 25 years. We were able to capture them with remote cameras and flying devices, as well, into their world.

But I think what was most remarkable about when we filmed that, we could also show their interaction with other predators, the baboons which will come and hunt the flamingoes, fish eagles which would come and try and take them from the lake. All the time we were sort of looking for the species which could, if you unravel its life story, it has got an amazing story to tell.

WHITFIELD: And in fact, we have that video of the baboon that grabs one of the flamingoes before - and here it is right here. This is extraordinary. It took you 100 days in order to capture this image. You already knew the potential for this kind of moment was there? And that is why you gave it the 100 days that you did? DOWNER: Well, yes, well, sometimes you have to make some good bets, and then you got to decide to just continue and continue. We knew it would happen, but it is very rare, very unusual in these particular conditions in the lake. You need a high numbers of flamingoes, and you got to make sure that the baboons are not feeding on fruit or the other things that they normally feed on.

WHITFIELD: Tell me about this incredible drone and where this advent came from.

DOWNER: The drone technology was starting to come into the forefront, this is at the very end of the project. And what is so wonderful about that is, it is very quiet. It doesn't disturb the animals, and - you can perk - I mean, it flies wherever you want it to fly, and it will come back to you.

WHITFIELD: And then this incredible moment, you know, the king of the jungle, so to speak, at the savannah there, you know, with its kill. But these vultures harass a lion while he is kind of eating his dinner, or lunch or something there. And you sit and you wait and watch and see how they taunt him and just irritate the lion, to the extent where finally this lion says, "OK, I'm done, you can have the rest."

DOWNER: That's right. Yes, and it is one of my favorite scenes, and I've seen, you know, that scene so often, filmed that scene so often. But as soon as you start filming it from another creature's point of view, the vulture rather than the lion, you start to discovering things you hadn't really noticed but it's all there in the footage. You know, the fact that the vultures have this basic policy of teasing the lion. You know, you think that might be fruitless but when you think in the hot tropical sun, you know, it's hard for a lion to be out there, continually chasing vultures so they tire him out and in the end he has -