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CNN NEWSROOM

Forced Spending Cuts Coming; Pope Leads Final Public Prayer; Pistorius' Brother Facing Homicide Charge; Hollywood Readies for Oscar Night

Aired February 24, 2013 - 14:00   ET

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And they're off. America's greatest race, the Daytona 500 kicked off about an hour ago as scheduled. The historic start with female driver Danica Patrick at the head of the pack, in pole position, nearly upstaged by this harrowing collision on the same track less than 24 hours ago. At least 28 fans were injured when more than a dozen cars crashed on the final curve of the nationwide race.

Here's how one woman described what happened.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a wreck and I got hit by an engine or a part of an engine and I got a broken leg.

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WHITFIELD: Workers spent hours repairing the fence to insure today's race would go on.

Today was Pope Benedict XVI's last public prayer before he retires. Thousands gathered in Vatican City to hear him speak. The pontiff assured the crowd that although he's retiring, he isn't going to abandon the church, but will dedicate his time to prayer and meditation.

All right. Now to a scandal surrounding the Catholic Church, Italian media are reporting on allegations of a network of gay priests at the Vatican. Blackmailed by a network of male prostitutes. Meanwhile, an American cardinal says he intends to help select the new Pope despite a petition that he not be allowed to do so.

The L.A. archdiocese relieved Cardinal Roger Mahoney of public duties after it was revealed he plotted to conceal child molestation priests. Meanwhile, four priests have accused a Scottish cardinal of inappropriate behavior. They have reported Cardinal Keith O'Brien to the Vatican. The cardinal has denied the allegations.

Hollywood's most celebrated actors are getting ready for the red carpet at the Oscars, the 85th Annual Academy Awards gets under way about five hours from now. This year could be one for the record books. We'll explain why in just a few moments, live from Hollywood. And stay with CNN for our red carpet special beginning at 6:00 Eastern Time.

All right. The far-reaching winter storm now dumping heavy snow across the central plains. Denver has been slammed with several inches and is expected to get even more. And in the northeast, it's a messy weekend as well. This is what Manchester, New Hampshire, looks like. Before it's all over, the winter storm could leave as much as 10 inches of snow in some parts of New England.

All right. On to South Africa now. The older brother of Oscar Pistorius has also been charged in a woman's death. Carl Pistorius is charged with culpable homicide after an accident involving a motorcycle in 2010. The charges were initially dropped, but he is now facing a trial at the end of March. Prosecutors say Carl Pistorius had been driving recklessly at the time of the accident. Coming up, we'll talk about how this could impact Oscar Pistorius' murder case.

A suspect has been identified in that fatal shooting on the Las Vegas Strip that left three dead. Police are now looking for 26-year- old Ammar Harris. They believe he opened fire from a Range Rover Thursday morning, killing rapper Kenneth Cherry, who was driving a Maserati. Cherry's Maserati caught fire after colliding with a taxi. The taxi driver and a passenger died from the impact. Cherry's father tells our affiliate, KVVU, his son was a good guy.

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KEN CHERRY SR., FATHER: There was no guns in my son's car. He was a victim just like any other victim, just being attempted to be carjacked or did something wrong. Driving a car and a person got mad at them, they just was jealous of my son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Police have impounded the Range Rover. They say Ammar Harris was driving.

All right, now, let's talk about what's going on in Washington. The president and Congress go back to work this week. And high on the agenda is those forced spending cuts. And this will have an impact on everyone.

Athena Jones is in Washington.

So, Athena, the deadline is Friday, $85 billion in cuts in Defense and other programs. How might everyday people be affected by the cuts, if they go true?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi -- hi, Fred. Well, the administration has been emphasizing the bad impacts. They say there'll be less money for things like food safety inspections, border security, mental health programs, food aid for poor senior citizens. Not to mention what will happen to your job especially if you're a federal worker.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood talked about this on "STATE OF THE UNION" this morning. Let's listen to that.

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RAY LAHOOD, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: We're going to look at everything we possibly can to get to where we need to be which is about 600 million in cuts. But we can't do it without also furloughing people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And so you heard the word "furlough." That means asking people to stay home from work, requiring that people stay home from work so that these governments can save on their pay. Hundreds of thousands of government employees could be forced to stay home. And Secretary LaHood said that could affect things like air travel. It could mean you have longer lines at security or have delays when you're trying to catch your flights.

Now there's been a lot of back-and-forth as you can imagine with both sides pointing the finger about who's to blame if these forced spending cuts go through. Whether the blame should be shared.

Here's what Senator John McCain had to say this morning also on "STATE OF THE UNION." Let's listen.

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SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I won't put all the blame on the president of the United States. But the president leads, the president should be calling us over somewhere, Camp David, the White House. Somewhere. And us sitting down and trying to avert these cuts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And so there you heard that from Senator McCain. He even wants to see more leadership out of the White House -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Athena Jones, at the White House, appreciate that.

JONES: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right. More now on what's taking place in Rome as the Pope blessed thousands of Catholics in the Vatican for the last time today.

There have been questions raised on why he's resigning. Although he says it's because of old age, some Italian publications speculate that it could be because allegations of a network of gay priests at the Vatican blackmailed by a network of male prostitutes.

CNN international anchor, Becky Anderson, joining us live now from Rome with more on this.

Becky, an emotional moment for Catholics, for the Pope. But all under this cloud of suspicion as well, right?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Here in Italy, storm clouds over Vatican City, which is just behind me here. The spiritual and governable seat, of course, of the Roman Catholic Church. 1.3 billion Catholics around the world. Today, the Pope, Pope Benedict XVI, taking mass. It was -- sorry, not taking mass, but it was his last public blessing in St. Peter's Square for the tens of thousands who were gathered.

But really the Italian media absolutely abuzz with these allegations that a network of gay clerics may have made themselves vulnerable to blackmail, by male prostitutes.

And let me just tell you, Fredricka, what the Vatican has said. They've been very quick to rubbish these what called rumors, saying, and I quote, "It's deplorable that as the time for the Roman Catholic Church to elect a new Pope approaches," they are talking of course about the conclave which will be mid March sometime after the Pope has resigned. "A rash of," they say, "often invented, unverifiable or completely false news stories have appeared."

The very big question here innately is simply this. Why did the Pope sensationally resign when he did? That was of course February 11th last Monday. Had he heard these reports earlier? Some people saying here in Italy, at least it's alleged, that the Pope received a report about what we are discussing here back in December and made his decision to resign back then.

And now of course a new series of reports out of the British media, suggestions that the top British cardinal and the only man eligible to vote in conclave is reported to have conducted inappropriate behavior with people dating back to the 1980s. These reports from four priests, three current priests and one former priest.

He was supposed to be at mass today in Scotland, he wasn't there, he said he's seeking legal advice. And the Vatican has said that they are aware of these reports about Keith O'Brien -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Becky Anderson, thanks so much from Rome and of course we'll have more on how this report might influence a conclave later on today in the 4:00 p.m. Eastern hour.

All right. Meantime back to the Pistorius family. Well, it certainly has its hands full. One famous son charged with premeditated murder. His older brother facing a homicide trial. Straight ahead, we'll go to South Africa for the latest.

And another athlete everyone wants to talk to, Manti Te'o has -- he's gotten grilled at the NFL combine. Hear what he had to say about that humiliating Internet hoax.

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WHITFIELD: Notre Dame football star, Manti Te'o, spoke publicly this weekend about the bizarre saga involving that imaginary girlfriend?

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MANTI TE'O, NOTRE DAME LINEBACKER: It's definitely embarrassing. You walk into a grocery story and then you kind of like get people double takes and (INAUDIBLE). It's definitely embarrassing and it's, I guess, part of the process. It's part of the journey. But you know what, it's only going to make me stronger and it definitely has.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Te'o trying to have a sense of humor about it all. He was in Indianapolis for an NFL scouting conference. He is expected to be drafted by the league in April.

Olympian Oscar Pistorius is not the only member of his family in trouble with the law. His brother Carl is facing a culpable homicide charge for the death of a motorcyclist in 2010. I spoke to "3rd Degree" executive producer and host which is a show in South Africa, Debora Patta.

"3rd Degree" is broadcast on the independent South African television station eNCA. I asked her about why both brothers are in trouble at the same time.

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DEBORA PATTA, 3RD DEGREE PRODUCER AND HOST: It throws the spotlight on his family. Were they dark tendencies within the family as a whole? I mean here is this brother who is charged with culpable homicide as a result police are saying of reckless driving. We don't know whether there was alcohol involved. Obviously there were tests taken. And I think perhaps the media wouldn't have paid much attention. I mean, clearly this hadn't been a huge issue in South Africa until the spotlight was cast so sharply and so profoundly and so dramatically on his brother, Oscar Pistorius. And of course everyone hungry for information.

All of these dark things come out. Anything is available for scrutiny. And perhaps it would have just been one of those sad things about a family member and not really taken that seriously. I think that's been part of the problem with this entire case.

WHITFIELD: Did Oscar Pistorius become sort of a symbol of the triumph of South Africa and now in another way is also symbolizing a lot of what South Africa perhaps doesn't want showcased?

PATTA: It's a Shakespearean tragedy in every sense of the world, Fredricka. This is the story we like to think of ourselves. We like to think of ourselves as this lucky nation that endures against all odds. We are after all the miracle nation. Nelson Mandela's Rainbow Nation. We this incredible election in 1994. There was no violence, people went to the polls peacefully, after years of oppression and racism in this country.

So Oscar Pistorius on another level added weight to that narrative. That's the story we like to tell of ourselves and now this fallen hero, as you quite correctly say, tells a very different story. One of a hero who has this dark, ugly side. It's thrown a terrible spotlight on the state of our police services.

We had the Murray Conner massacre last year in which 34 miners were gunned down. Begging the question, are our police trigger-happy? Now we see the lead investigator on the Pistorius case charged with seven counts of attempted murder shooting at a taxi over two years ago and now Oscar Pistorius himself, regardless of whether it's a premeditated murder, or an accident, either way, it doesn't say something particularly good about this country.

WHITFIELD: And also casting a spotlight on crime by way of Oscar Pistorius talking about his feeling of vulnerability. The paranoia that comes with the kind of crime rate that sweeps the nation of South Africa as well, right?

PATTA: Absolutely. This paranoia, this crime-ridden country where Oscar Pistorius, his words, he's saying that he felt vulnerable at the point that he shot, he didn't have his legs on, according to his testimony. And therefore he would fire so recklessly into a toilet with not even warning shots given out. Now of course a court is going to have to decide whether that was true or not.

But I guess for many South Africans, it is in the realm of possibility. That yes, you could mistake someone for an intruder because that's actually happened before in this country. In fact, even with other sports stars, with they've mistaken somebody for an intruder. So I guess it wasn't an argument that was outside the probability in this country.

Of course there's a lot of holes that the defense has shown in. And if it is premeditated murder, then that needs to play against that background of obscene levels of violence against women in this country. Five times the global average.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. So what do you believe as it pertains to the Oscar Pistorius case. Watch "AC 360" a special tonight, "BLADE RUNNER: MURDER OR MISTAKE." That's tonight at 9:00 Eastern Time on CNN.

And Hollywood is buzzing ahead of tonight's Academy Awards. Coming up, we'll hear all about the scene on the red carpet at the Dolby Theater, and an industry insider gives us the lowdown tonight.

And later, MC Hammer heads to Twitter to complain that his arrest was anything but legit.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Winning an Oscar remains a pinnacle of achievement for anyone in the movie business and this year's nominees are just hours away now from learning if they will win Oscar gold. Nischelle Turner joins us now from the red carpet with a preview. And it's not too early, right, to be on the red carpet. I mean, this is like a long affair.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Oh, no.

WHITFIELD: It goes on forever.

TURNER: Honey, we've been partying here for a few hours. Exactly, I'm late to the party.

WHITFIELD: Really?

TURNER: At 11:00 this morning here in Hollywood. People have been here all morning, Fred. Happy Oscar Sunday, by the way, too. And I just want to show you, you asked about, you know, people already here. Just take a look over here, and I'll show you this red carpet number one is 500 feet long, 33 feet wide and this afternoon, all of the A-list celebrities will be stopping at all of these different ports. All of the reporters that you see out here right now are doing exactly what I'm doing for you right now to their respective stations.

They are letting everybody know exactly what's going to be happening tonight on the show. Giving them a little bit of preview. Setting the scene for them. And so that's what I'm doing for you.

I want to give you a preview of one of the tightest races tonight. And actually one of the races that everybody is paying attention to, and that is of course Best Picture. Now at the beginning of awards season, we came in, we thought "Lincoln" would be a shoe-in to win Best Picture but then this little movie named "Argo" started cleaning up. And that is because in part that the director of that movie, Ben Affleck, was not nominated for a Best Director nomination here at the Oscars.

Some people think throughout this awards season there have been a lot of makeup awards. But people shouldn't forget, Fred, that "Argo" is just that good. It's a great movie, it's in my top three this year. So we'll have to see what happens tonight.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And not to undermine the value, if "Argo" is to win, it didn't -- it's not necessarily winning, or if it wins, it won't have won simply because it wasn't nominated, or because he wasn't nominated to director.

TURNER: No, it will win because it was a great movie. Yes.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

TURNER: It will win because it was a great movie. It was a great movie. And by the way, there's another thing here that I want to tell you about. There's a lot of firsts here at the Academy Awards. In the Best Actress race, one of my favorite little nuggets about tonight, the oldest actress ever nominated, Emmanuelle Riva for "Amour" and the youngest actress ever nominated, 9-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis for "Beasts of the Southern Wild." I kind of love that dynamic.

And by the way, we should say happy birthday to Emmanuelle Riva. Today is her birthday. So it'll be a good day to celebrate.

WHITFIELD: Happy birthday. That's a nice way.

All right, Nischelle Turner, thanks so much. Well, you're in good company there.

TURNER: Sure.

WHITFIELD: Because we also have somebody who's worked this Oscar frenzy for like 10 years now. He knows what it's all about. And there's a lot to the Oscars. It's not just the award but all that huge lead-up. We get some insight now from Martin Grove. He's a movie analyst with ZAMM.com and has attended these Oscars for many, many years. You know it inside out.

So give me an idea. You know, this is a lot of fun, but there's an awful lot of anxiety involved. Especially if you are a nominee. Kind of exhausting, isn't it?

MARTIN GROVE, MOVIE ANALYST, ZAMM.COM: Well, Fredricka, of course, because you know even though everybody thinks they know what's going to happen with Oscar, you never really know. So we're talking "Argo" and yes, it's won all the big awards to date. But what if Academy members just can't embrace it? They don't want to vote the way everybody else voted?

Who would win then? I don't think "Lincoln" wins the election. I think "Life of Pi" becomes the alternative. Eleven nominations for "Life of Pi," 12 for "Lincoln," the most "Life of Pi" has brought support from the Academy. And it could win but I do believe "Argo" is going to win.

WHITFIELD: You do. Now do you think "Argo" is going to win because there is all these precedents? It swept, you know, SAG, it swept the Golden Globes, et cetera, and the Academy will feel that kind of pressure?

GROVE: Well, yes, you see the Academy will see that it's won all of these other awards. On the other hand, they sometimes rebel with the notion that they're following and not leading. That this film has won everything. The Critics Choice, the Golden Globe for this drama, the Producer's Guild, the Screen Actor's Guild, Best Ensemble, the Director's Guild voted for Ben Affleck. The British academy BAFTA, and Saturday night in France it won the Caesar as Best Foreign Film.

WHITFIELD: But -- OK. All right. Well, darn, we're out of time.

Martin Grove, thanks so much. We'll all be watching, of course, this evening. Appreciate your insight and expertise and all this as well. Good to see you, Martin.

GROVE: Pleasure. WHITFIELD: All right. Stay with CNN tonight for the movies, the stars and who is wearing what, et cetera. Hollywood's biggest night, Piers Morgan, he's going to be there on the red carpet with a special, "THE ROAD TO GOLD." That's tonight, 6:00 p.m. Eastern. Don't want to miss it.

Also tonight we want to find out which movie Hollywood thought was best last year. Well, yesterday all about -- it was all about the worst. We're going to explain coming up.

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WHITFIELD: A look at what's trending online. You know how you have the Oscars that celebrate the best. You've got the Razzies which kind of outlines the worst. And so what was the worst film according to the Razzy Awards? The "Twilight" saga, "Breaking Dawn Part 2." and the cast, well, it took a beating as well. Racking up six other dishonorable awards. Kristen Stewart won for Worst Actress. Taylor Lautner won for worst supporting actor and Bill Condon, worst director. Ouch.

All right. And I'll be back at 4:00 Eastern Time with these stories. The Daytona 500 goes on, but some NASCAR fans will watch from the hospital after yesterday's horrific accident. We'll have a live report from the track.

And a new scandal could not come at a worse time for the Vatican. I'll speak with a journalist, one of the few who was actually -- who has actually spoken to the pope, Pope Benedict himself. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Stay with CNN, "THE NEXT LIST" starts right now.