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CNN NEWSROOM

FBI Misconduct; A Look at the Sequester's Consequences; The Man Who Exposed the Tape of Romney's "47 Percent" Remarks; US-Iran Wrestling Match

Aired February 22, 2013 - 15:30   ET

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


DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another hid or destroyed electronic evidence. And one other employee repeatedly committed check fraud.

And then there's the employee who married a drug user/dealer and lied about it. All of them were fired.

(on camera): Knowing what this agency does, knowing what this agency is about, how can anybody be so stupid?

CANDICE WILL, FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Well, you know, it's funny you say that because we do -- we look at our cases and we are struck sometimes. I've been doing this a really long time. I've been doing this nine years at the FBI. And as long as I've been doing it -- and there are days I think, OK, I've seen it all -- but I really haven't. I still get files and think, wow, I never would have thought of that.

GRIFFIN: And I got to tell you, I don't think I would ever bug my boss' office, especially if may boss was an FBI agent.

WILL: Oh, I know. It's extraordinary. I agree. There are some that sort of do just kind of take the cake, and that was one where planting a recording device and rifling through a briefcase and then lying about it, that's -- you know, that's why this employee is -- that's why that's a former employee.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): The internal reports show a 14-day suspension for the employee who paid for a sexual favor at a massage parlor, using a personal cell phone to send nude photographs to other employees got a 10-day suspension.

But there was only a five-day suspension for the employee who repeatedly used a government-issued BlackBerry to send sexually explicit messages to another employee at work. These actions follow misconduct we reported two years ago that included sleeping with informants and viewing pornography on bureau computers.

Is that enough punishment for this kind of behavior?

WILL: Keep in mind that if you lose a week's pay, that hurts, or two weeks' pay in some of those cases. And you know, we have seen a rash of sexting cases and nude photograph cases, you know, people misusing their (inaudible) BlackBerry for these reasons. And we are hoping that getting the message out in the quarterlies is going to teach people you can't do this stuff. You know, when you're given an FBI BlackBerry, it's for official use. It's not to text the woman in another office who you found attractive or to send a picture of yourself in a state of undress.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): In the last three years the FBI disciplined 1,045 employees; 85 were fired. And Will says the internal warnings sent out by her office do deter bad behavior -- Drew griffin, CNN, Washington.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Coming up, Jay-Z and J.T., Justin Timberlake teaming up with Jay-Z for something big this summer. We'll tell you what the two superstars have up their sleeves.

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ALI VELSHI, CNN HOST: An economy poised to soar is now under attack from its own government. I'm Ali Velshi. This is "Your Money." Your political leaders are punishing themselves for gross inaction, and they're doing it the only way they know how, by targeting you.

VELSHI (voice-over): Forced government spending cuts take effect March 1st. It's what Washington has been calling the sequester. It's a stupid name for a stupid thing.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These cuts are not smart. They are not fair. They will hurt our economy. They will add hundreds of thousands of Americans to the unemployment rolls. This is not an abstraction. People will lose their jobs.

VELSHI (voice-over): You've heard the big numbers, $1.2 trillion in cuts over 10 years, $85 billion this year. That's 13 percent cuts to Defense, 9 percent to everything else.

JOHN BOEHNER, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We're weeks away from the president's sequester and the president laid out no plan to eliminate the sequester and the harmful cuts that will come as a result.

VELSHI (voice-over): The forced budget cuts were created during the 2011 debt ceiling debacle. They were passed by Congress and signed by the White House, a worst-case scenario that would be so bad it would force lawmakers to make a deal.

Now it's become a poison pill that the nation may have to swallow beginning March 1st. And if it happens, 70,000 children kicked off Head Start programs, putting more than 14,000 teaching and staff jobs at risk; fewer inspections for things like horse meat in your burgers. Cuts to mental health programs mean almost 400,000 seriously mentally ill people will go untreated.

Homeland security drawdowns would result in longer wait times at airports and scaled-back cyber-security would mean more vulnerability to attacks from hackers in China and at home, threatening our infrastructure. Furloughs and layoffs would affect more than 800,000 workers in the defense industry, at the same time that North Korea is testing a nuclear bomb.

Cuts at the IRS would mean fewer tax return reviews and longer waits to get refunds, and more than 100,000 people will be thrown out of emergency housing and onto the streets. One way or another, everyone is going to feel this, while Washington continues to play the blame game.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), N.Y.: The bottom line is very simple. The Republicans have proposed devastating cuts.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, MINORITY LEADER: Washington and Democrats have gotten used to Republicans bailing them out of their own lack of responsibility.

VELSHI: Now that we're clear at what is at stake, let's figure out whether this is really going to happen.

John King is CNN's chief national correspondent.

John, what is the likelihood of this sequester, these forced budget cuts going into effect starting Friday?

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Ali, there's no serious negotiation, so at the moment it looks like these will go in. You heard the president. He not only wants a bigger deal to have some deficit reduction and a long-term plan, but he also said if we can't get that by March 1st, then we're not going to get that by March 1st, we should do something temporary so that these cuts don't take effect.

But look, there are some Democrats who politically, including people in the White House -- we see the president making these public appeals -- but his own people say privately they think, in the short term at least, they have the political upper hand.

And they think it would help them, meaning it would hurt the Republican Party's image. It would hurt Republicans in Congress heading into the 2014 cycle to have this happen.

So both parties, both sides, if you will, are playing some short-term political calculations. Republicans think, look, we've tried to get cuts out of the president. We just gave him some tax increases in the last one of these many crises, and our only leverage -- our only leverage -- is to get these cuts --

VELSHI: John, stand by.

Jeanne Sahadi is a senior writer with CNNMoney.

Jean, you described the cuts -- I call them a stupid name for a stupid thing.

You say quite simply -- because you're more measured than I am -- you say the cuts are bad policy and you give three specific reasons why. Tell me about them. JEANNE SAHADI, SR. WRITER, CNNMONEY: It's not the magnitude that's the problem, it's the fact that they're indiscriminate. The good will be cut with the bad. The efficient programs, the essential services, things we really need and like will be cut equally in equal measure with those things that are bloated programs, that are duplicative, that have, you know, lazy workers.

Saying they're treated evenly, they address the smallest part of the budget, they address discretionary spending primarily. There's a little bit of mandatory spending but it's basically just a third of the budget and that third has already been cut pretty much a lot over the next decade, not that it can't be cut more but the manner in which it's being cut is ridiculous.

And, lastly, it's -- even though it's going to reduce deficits, it does absolutely nothing to reduce our debt problem because the debt problem is more in the mandatory piece of the budget and most of that is protected.

VELSHI: This is Medicare, Social Security --

(CROSSTALK)

SAHADI: Medicare and Social Security.

VELSHI: -- and things like that.

SAHADI: And it's not that those programs aren't problematic, it's that we're getting so old so fast and there are so many of us.

VELSHI: Right.

SAHADI: And it's that health care costs, while they have slowed, are still growing too fast for us to afford them and cover all the people we've promised to cover to the extent we've promised to cover them.

VELSHI: Jeanne Sahadi is the senior writer on CNNMoney.

John King is the CNN chief national correspondent.

John, always good to see you.

For more in-depth coverage tune in to "Your Money this weekend, Saturday at 1:00, Sunday at 3:00 Eastern. That's it for me; same time Monday.

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WHITFIELD (voice-over): Oh, yes. This is kind of music Friday. That's Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z's new collaboration, (Inaudible). The two are also joining forces on a summer concert tour. That's the big announcement. It's dubbed the "Legends of Summer" tour. The duo will hit stadiums in 12 major cities in north America starting July 17th. Jay-Z knows a thing or two about hit concert tours. Back in 2011, he and Kanye West pulled in about $48 million from their "Watch the Throne" tour.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Losing an Oscar race has its perks, you know. Academy Award nominees who don't win the golden statue Sunday go home with a goody bag worth more than $45,000.

This year's swag bag includes trips to Australia, Mexico and Hawaii, plus circus lessons for the nominee's kids, a bottle of tequila and -- yes, you read that right, condoms -- OK -- acupuncture and aromatherapy sessions and free face injections to keep that youthful glow. An L.A. marketing firm has been providing loser gift bags for more than a decade now.

And this might sound like a movie but it's real. The United States is wrestling with Iran, literally. Wrestling, right there. The U.S. wrestling team went toe to toe with the team from Iran this week and our Reza Sayah was there.

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REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Tehran's Azadeh Arena, under the gaze of Iran's Supreme Leader, the showdown fans were waiting for, Iran taking on the U.S., two countries whose governments are bitter rivals locking horns in the wrestling world cup.

SAYAH: The atmosphere is electric here. But here is what's remarkable. Despite the fierce competition on the mat, there's no sign of bad blood between Iranians and Americans. And here is how you know. Right after their own wrestlers (inaudible) advanced are cheering loudest for this man, American gold medal winner Jordan Burroughs.

JORDAN BURROUGHS, AMERICAN WRESTLER: It was pretty cool. You know, every time I step out there, once they see me, they're excited to see me, you know, cheering my name, screaming my name and give me praise. It's pretty cool.

SAYAH (voice-over): True to form, Burroughs dominates his match. But in the end, Team Iran is King. Final score: Iran 6, U.S. 1. After each match a show of mutual respect, something Washington and Tehran have rarely shown since 1980, when they broke off diplomatic ties.

SAYAH: What you're looking at is Iranian fans right now chasing after Jordan Burroughs like he's a rock star and the entire U.S.A. team as they get on the bus. All these guys just love Jordan Burroughs; they love the fact that the American team is here and this is the power of sports. Look at this.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love you. SAYAH (voice-over): There is little love in the U.S. for the Iranian government. In a Gallup poll last year one in three Americans said Iran is enemy number one.

SAYAH: Iran is still viewed by a lot of Americans as a dangerous place.

NOEL THOMPSON, AMERICAN WRESTLER: Sure.

SAYAH: Does that message match with what you see here and all the love you guys get?

THOMPSON: No. I tell you, athletes, right, you go lactic acid. We work, we train together. It enables us to engage with each other.

SAYAH (voice-over): This was team U.S.A.'s 10th visit to Iran. Each visit stirs speculation that sport might help build bridges between the two countries.

ZEKE JONES, FREESTYLE HEAD COACH, U.S. WRESTLING: When we got here, they had their arms wide open to our wrestling program and to Americans, because they realize that it's a better world with us together.

THOMPSON: Well, if wrestlers could get together, anyone could get together.

SAYAH (voice-over): So far the exception it to that wrestler's rule has been Washington and Tehran.

SAYAH: During our visit to Tehran, the Iranian government's deep- seated suspicion for the international media was evident. A few hours into our shoot, security officials confiscated our videotape and erased interviews with both U.S. and Iranian wrestlers, saying we were not allowed to ask questions about politics.

We ended up doing the interviews over again. It was a reminder that U.S.-Iran relations remain very complicated -- Reza Sayah, CNN, Tehran.

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WHITFIELD: And remember the video, a former Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, talking about the 47 percent of Americans? Well, the man who brought this video into the spotlight is the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter.

President Carter was on Piers Morgan last night and we'll tell you what he said about the 47 percent video after this.

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WHITFIELD: Former President Jimmy Carter is speaking out about Mitt Romney's 47 percent comment that Carter's own grandson leaked during the presidential campaign.

Who can forget this?

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MITT ROMNEY, FORMER GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS: All right. There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent on government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has the responsibility to care for them, who believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing.

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WHITFIELD: So joining me now from Washington is political reporter Shannon Travis.

So, Shannon, what did President Carter say about this? Now, it's not that his grandson actually is responsible for that tape, but he helped reveal it. He brought it to everyone's attention, right?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And we still don't know who actually taped the secret tape of Romney in that donor meeting. But, as you said, Jimmy Carter's grandson helped bring it out to light.

As far as Jimmy Carter himself, he joked with Piers Morgan last night, Fredricka, and basically said that there's an irony that a Carter helped President Obama win the election. President Carter -- Jimmy Carter -- basically said that this was something that Mitt Romney just couldn't shake, right? I mean, it clung to him. A lot of people talked about it. It sparked a lot of controversy.

Also, take a listen at what Jimmy Carter had to say about this being pivotal to the election.

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PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST: I mean, do you think that was the pivotal moment --

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it was --

MOREH: -- of destroying Mitt Romney's chances?

CARTER: I believe it was. It was something that he could not deny. And it stuck with him for the rest of the election. And I think it was a major factor, if not the major factor.

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TRAVIS: Now, Fred, Jimmy Carter also says that his grandson met President Obama last week when President Obama was there for an event. And basically Jimmy Carter says that the president hugged James Carter and thanked him.

WHITFIELD: He literally said, like, thank you? TRAVIS: Yes. This is what Jimmy Carter says. This is what the grandson says as well, that President Obama essentially ran across the room and hugged him. So that's their version of the story.

WHITFIELD: Thank you! OK. All right.

Meantime, there's an ad that's stirring up some controversy involving Whole Foods. President Obama's head shot used to promote whole, organic chicken. What's the explanation here? What's this all about?

TRAVIS: Yes, yes, Fred, this had a lot of people scratching their heads, President Obama selling chicken. This was only one Whole Foods store -- let's make that clear -- on the Upper West Side of New York City. There were basically -- they put it out on Monday on Presidents' Day to promote the sale of chicken, $1.99 a pound. The sale is actually going on today.

But a lot of residents and some shoppers were essentially offended by this, saying, you know what, it promotes a stereotype of African- Americans and chickens.

I did some digging today, obviously called up Whole Foods to talk to them about this. I'm going to read a statement that they gave to me.

Quote, "As a company who celebrates diversity and one that has a zero tolerance discrimination policy, we want our shoppers to know there was no intentional disrespect meant at all.

"And once it was brought to our attention that the sign could be perceived as controversial, it was removed immediately."

The spokesman tells me, Fred, that a shopper on Wednesday raised some concerns about it, some complaints. They removed it that day, but that was not before a resident, a local resident who had saw the sign, snapped the picture of it. So that's how we got the picture of it.

WHITFIELD: OK. Yes, that's a weird item of the day, that's for sure. All right. Shannon Travis, thanks so much. Good to see you. Have a good weekend.

TRAVIS: You, too.

WHITFIELD: All right. How do we revitalize the job market after the recession, especially for the middle class? Tom Foreman takes a look in this week's "American Journey."

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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every day on the busy streets of New York, Kellock Irvin is hunting. When he received his college degree last year, he moved here from the West Coast and thought finding a job in marketing was the next logical step.

KELLOCK IRVIN, UNEMPLOYED GRADUATE: Not necessarily that it would be an easy task, but it wouldn't be something that almost eight months out of -- since graduating I'm still struggling with. FOREMAN (voice-over): He's not alone.

OBAMA: Our economy is adding jobs, but too many people still can't find full-time employment.

FOREMAN (voice-over): When President Obama took office, 134 million Americans were working in non-farm jobs.

Today after massive losses and a slow recovery, we're only 1.2 million jobs better off. And many pay less than those that were lost. A recent study by the Center for College Affordability found almost half of college graduates are now in jobs that do not require four-year degrees, things like janitorial services, taxi driving and retail sales.

Professor Richard Vedder at Ohio University helped author that study.

PROF. RICHARD VEDDER, OHIO UNIVERSITY: Let's say each one of them were making $20,000 a year more in income, which is quite plausible. We're talking about $400 billion a year in lost wages.

FOREMAN: Numbers like that have made some economic analysts argue that underemployment may be every bit as damaging to the economy as unemployment.

FOREMAN (voice-over): And Kellock Irvin is caught in the middle of it all. For now, he's taking freelance jobs as a photographer and part- time work with moving companies but --

IRVIN: That can only support me for so long before I might need to head home.

FOREMAN (voice-over): He might be the next one moving back home -- Tom foreman, CNN, Washington.

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WHITFIELD: We're just minutes away from the closing bell. Felicia Taylor joining me live now from the New York Stock Exchange.

Good to see you, Felicia. How is it going?

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's going really well. The bulls are in charge today, Fredricka, bouncing back from the biggest two-day drop of the year on Wednesday and Thursday.

The strength is because of some positive sentiment related to Hewlett- Packard's results last night. They weren't great, but they weren't as bad as expectations. HP shares are up 12 percent and it's definitely the biggest gainer on the Dow by far.

Traders refer to this, though, as sort of a dead cat bounce, and that's when stocks have fallen so much over a short period they have nowhere to go but up. So that doesn't necessarily mean that this rally is going to last until next week. But the market is up 115 points as we get the closing bell. We do have a busy week next week. Data on home sales, consumer confidence and the first revision of fourth quarter GDP.

Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, maybe ending the week on a high note gives a nice little impetus and encouragement for next week. Felicia Taylor, thanks so much; have a great weekend.

All right. That's going to do it for me; I'm Fredricka Whitfield. See you throughout the weekend. Right now time for "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Fred, thanks very much.