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Teresa And Joe Giudice Free On $500,000 Bond; Obama Offers GOP Economic Deal; Arkansas Police On The Hunt For Inmate Who Escaped Through The Front Door; Project Grow Hopes To Get More Republican Women In Office; Mandatory Bag Checks Could Cost Apple Big Bucks; Pakistani Game Show Gives Away A Newborn Baby

Aired July 30, 2013 - 15:29   ET

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


BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg getting more bad news in his efforts to ban large sugary drinks in Gotham. An appeals court today siding with the lower court ruling that the city's restrictions on those Big Gulps go too far. So, now restaurants, movie theaters are among those businesses allowed to sell sodas that top 16 ounces. We're told the city will appeal.

And real-life drama for this couple on "The Real Housewives of New Jersey," this reality TV show. Teresa and Joe Giudice are free on $500,000 bond after being indicted on federal fraud charges. They face a laundry list of charges, 39 counts for alleged fraud against the IRS, bankruptcy court. The couple had to surrender their passports and cannot travel outside of New York or New Jersey.

Teresa is one of the biggest stars in this reality TV show franchise known for her antics and arguments and apparently upturning tables. She has also profited from her fame, appearing on "Celebrity Apprentice," writing cookbooks, starting a fashion line. If convicted, the couple faces up to 30 years in prison. They are due back in court on August 14.

We're "On the Case" now once again with this duo, Anne Bremner, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor and civil trial attorney. And in Philadelphia today, we have Mr. Darren Kavinoky, criminal defense attorney. So, guys, welcome back.

I know, Anne, you told one of our producers, to quote you, you said, all I can say is there are three things in life that are certain, death, taxes, and karma. Explain.

ANNE BREMNER, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Exactly. Exactly, especially here, I mean, when you look at death, till death do them part. They're going to be together in this thing from soup to nuts.

The other this is, with karma, great lifestyle, maybe ill-gotten, enviable at any rate, and then to go out and like lie to banks, you know, lie on mortgages, lie in bankruptcy, don't pay the IRS for four years, karma is going to get you.

And it looks like it has with facing 30 years for all of these charges. So, you know, death, taxes, karma, it's all here in this big story and it's a big one.

BALDWIN: Darren, how do you defend them?

DARREN KAVINOKY, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, first of all, before you get to the defense, you've got to unravel exactly what the allegations are, and, Brooke, this one is odd all over.

Besides the fact that it involves the reality TV stars, which can make it odd on its own, but what they're saying basically is that during one period of time these guys lie. They said they weren't broke when they were in order to get some real estate loans.

Then they lied again, this time about not being broke when they actually had money. When they lied to the bankruptcy court, they were hiding these assets.

So, wait a second, which is it? Are we lying about having money? Are we lying about not having money when we did? Or it's a little bit of both. So there's a lot to sort out.

And then, of course, complicating all of this is that for a four-year chunk of time, yeah, we didn't bother to file our tax returns, but, of course, prosecutors say they made over a million bucks during this period, too.

So we've got to peel away the layers of this onion, Brooke, before we know how we might possibly defend it. But this one is going to be interesting. You know, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

BALDWIN: Let me quote U.S. attorney Paul Fishman, had this to say with this couple in this case.

"Everyone has an obligation to tell the truth when dealing with the courts, paying their taxes and applying for loans or mortgages." That, Anne Bremner, is reality.

They also have apparently separate lawyers. How often does that happen?

BREMNER: Well, the thing is there's no like innocent spouse defense really here. I mean, the IRS always gets their man or woman or man and woman, as in this case, I think will occur.

The fact of the matter is you can come in there and say my husband didn't tell me this; I didn't know that.

She's signing off on these things. They're doing these applications together and everything else.

So, you know, the two separate lawyers may be a good idea at the time, but I don't think it's going to last.

They're looking at a lot of serious time, and it's not like a plot for one of the stories. I mean, this is reality.

BALDWIN: Real life. Anne Bremner -- KAVINOKY: You have to have separate lawyers to avoid conflict of interest, Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK.

KAVINOKY: It's really important for the integrity of the legal system. Got to have that.

BALDWIN: Got it. Darren, thank you very much. Anne, thank you.

Coming up, police in Arkansas looking for an inmate on the run, his escape caught on video.

We'll talk to a security expert who takes us through this brazen jailbreak. And away he goes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You just have to see this video. So right now in Arkansas, police are looking for this guy who escaped from jail by running right out the front door. Got the video to prove it.

You're going to see first -- let me set this up. Here he is sitting on the ground in the hallway on the phone. And then the guards are distracted. And where is he going?

Oh, yes, through a window, head first, and then the feet and then he eventually picks himself up. There comes the police officer after him.

Cut to parking lot, and there goes the inmate and right to the getaway car.

This was Sunday afternoon. Police are still looking for Derrick Estell and his alleged getaway driver, Tamara Upshaw. They are considered armed and dangerous.

How can this happen? Gil Alba, former NYPD detective, talk me through this here.

And, Gil, from what I understand, and our reporter David Mattingly did some digging, this whole thing was very well orchestrated. You know, some guards were distracted. The guy hops through the window, you know, and there's a getaway car, ready to roll.

You ever seen anything like this?

GIL ALBA, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Well, you know, well, I don't think it was well planned. I think it was a simple plan. And these guys are dangerous. Now he's sitting on the phone by himself there. Where are the guards at this point?

So I'm sure somebody is going to get in trouble with this and they're going to change their policy as far as what security measures they're going to take after this. And you were right about these guys about armed and dangerous.

BALDWIN: The other point, though, too, is this is what we were sort of chewing on in our editorial meeting is, if you're an inmate and you're on the phone, and apparently he wasn't even actually on the phone. This is all a ruse.

But he's sitting there on the phone and here you have this huge window, I mean, obviously big enough for this guy to jump on through and get out of there.

Can we talk about the lay of the land of this jail? I mean, that's not so smart.

ALBA: Yeah, no, I don't think so either. And, you know, it's Sunday at 1:40 in the afternoon. I guess it's a slow time or something and then the deputies are helping somebody else. That was part of the plan, and took him out of there. And this guys jumps out the window and runs away.

And I keep emphasizing the fact that this guy has run away before with a gun, so he is really a dangerous person.

BALDWIN: That's right. He's eluded police multiple times in the past, so he has a rap sheet.

Just quickly for every video we show, just because we can, just because the video is just awesome, how many times do people try doing this and they get caught? More often than not?

ALBA: How many people what?

BALDWIN: How many times are people actually caught? More often --

ALBA: You mean after escaping from jail are you talking about?

BALDWIN: Yeah.

ALBA: Yeah, they're definitely caught because where are they going to go, and how long can they go, and where are they going to hide?

And these guys are brazen. And they want to be out there. They take chances. They're not afraid. So he'll definitely get caught.

BALDWIN: OK, Gil, thank you very much, Gil Alba for us in New York.

As President Obama proposes a grand bargain on jobs to Congress and the GOP and the middle class.

And coming up next, a candid interview with four Republican women, they reveal details of this new project they hope will get more women into office.

Dana Bash and her exclusive interviews, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: President Obama offered the GOP a new deal in a speech in Chattanooga just a short time ago.

He said he's willing to cut the tax rate applied to corporations in exchange for new spending on job-creating infrastructure projects.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm willing to work with Republicans on reforming our corporate tax code as long as we use the money from transitioning to a simpler tax system for a significant investment in creating middle class jobs.

That's the deal. And, you know, I'm going to keep on throwing ideas out there to see if something takes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The president said he is weary of putting forth ideas and having Republicans reject them in his words, quote, "just because I propose them."

Did you know of the 234 women in the House of Representatives, only 19 belong to the GOP? Two-hundred-thirty-four women, 19 Republicans.

So House Republicans have launched this Project Grow. It's an effort to boost that number to broaden the party's appeal among women.

Dana Bash, our chief congressional correspondent talked to some of the women behind the effort about the Republican's problems with women.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Why do you think this is so important, to launch a very specific special project just to get Republican women to run for congress?

REP. RENEE ELLMERS (R), NORTH CAROLINA: It's as a result of the 2012 election. We saw the result. We saw that as Republicans even though we were talking about the issues that affected America, women across this country felt we were not connecting with them.

BASH: What's the message problem?

REP. ANN WAGNER (R), MISSOURI: We've got to reach people where they live and talk to them in a way that will make their life better and easier.

I tell my colleagues, close your eyes. Say that you're speaking to that 37-year-old single mother of two who's trying to make it to the 15th and the 30th of the month.

What do we have to offer them?

BASH: And is that part of the problem? It's hard for a white man to close his eyes and imagine himself a 37-year-old single mother of two, but not a woman.

REP. SUSAN BROOKS (R), INDIANA: Well, I think that's part of what we hope this project to do is not only educate other female candidates, but also educate our male colleagues about connecting with women and doing a better job, going out and meeting with women, women business- owners, volunteer organizations, doing a better job connecting like they said about where they are about things they care about.

BASH: There are only 19 of you in Congress, 19 Republican women out of 234. So you're only eight percent of your caucus or your conference.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We did. We lost women.

BASH: Why is that?

ELLMERS: Again, that is why we have to reach out. You know, typically women who are going to run for office, they almost need to be asked. They need to make sure that there's a place for them.

BROOKS: They do often need to be asked. I was asked to run for office. I had never run for office before and, you know, I want to be that person that helps identify and encourage women to run.

WAGNER: We need to do better, and that's what this project is about. I have devoted a fair amount of my lifetime in politics promoting women to get involved. You know, we decide the outcome of elections. We ought to be represented at the table.

BASH (voice-over): Martha McSally, an Air Force fighter pilot who flew combat missions over Iraq, is running in a rematch for Gabby Giffords' old seat in Arizona, which she just barely lost to Democrat Ron Barber last year.

She is exactly the kind of political recruit these GOP women say they're looking for.

MARTHA MCSALLY (R), ARIZONA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: The Democrats have been effective in attacking us and trying to brand us in a way that is just not accurate.

My opponent, a white man is trying to lump me into the "war on women." I mean, here I am, a pioneering military woman, you know, first to fly in command and combat.

I sued Donald Rumsfeld for making our women wear burqas over in Saudi Arabia.

I mean, I am not a part of the "war on women." I've been fighting for women my whole life.

BASH: Twenty-nine percent of the Democratic caucus is women. Eight percent of the Republican caucus, which has, of course, more people. I mean, it's the majority. Why is that? Why do you think?

MCSALLY: I don't have the answer to that, honestly. I only can say that in my experience running that when I engage with Republican, independent and Democrat women in my community, and you talk about the issues that matter to them, if we connect with them, and we're real, and we show our leadership, we show that we're solution-oriented.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: And I should be clear, Dana Bash, and I don't know if this is subliminal or not, I said 234 women. It was 234 Republicans in the House of Representatives, 19 of whom are women.

This idea, this Project Grow, it's an idea, but how do they do that? How do they attract more women?

BASH: Well, they say that they are going to do it really the old- fashioned way, the way that these party leaders have recruited anybody in the past, but really with an eye towards women.

For example, they're going into the districts and look for people who are active in the PTA, people who are active business leaders, people who have expressed some interest in public service, obviously, who want to be Republicans, from their perspective, and encourage them and to -- and really try to cultivate them, have these current-serving members, these few of them, 19, call them and say, look, this is how you do it.

It really is fascinating to me. I've done several pieces on women in politics over the years, and this is actually a bipartisan thing. Women tend to need to be asked, to really be pushed to get into this kind of thing.

BALDWIN: Wonder why?

BASH: Much more than men and it really is unclear. It probably is changing as the times are changing, but it's certainly a lot slower than you would think.

BALDWIN: Dana Bash, it is lovely hearing these four voices and yours. Thank you for bringing us those interviews.

BASH: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: We really appreciate it. Dana, thank you, for us in Washington.

Apple's attempt to keep employees from stealing trade secrets may cost them. Some former employees say they had to wait in line for security checks, and you know what? They say they should be paid for that time.

Details of that lawsuit, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: News we're just getting here into CNN, a judge has now ruled that Penn State officials will face charges related to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. Here they are. Penn State's former president, Graham Spanier, and two senior administrators. You have former Senior Vice President Gary Schultz and former Athletic Director Tim Curley.

They will face trial on charges of obstruction, perjury, conspiracy and failure to report and endangering the welfare of children.

Also today, news from Apple, what started off as mandatory bag checks could end up costing Apple, big time. Two former employees are suing the tech giant for unpaid wages in this class action lawsuit.

They claim they had to stand in line for up to half an hour a day while managers conducted the checks to make sure no one was stealing. And that, they say, added up to about $1,500 a year in unpaid overtime.

So let's go to Zain Asher for this in New York. So, Zain, they say they want their money.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Brooke, that's right.

Yeah, this is a 27-page lawsuit here in my hand. The plaintiffs, two former Apple employees, only stopped working at the company just a few months ago.

Now they're saying that Apple security would search their bags twice a day, once before they left the store for lunch and then again at the end of their shift.

Now the problem is that many of Apple's employees end their shift at the same time, so they would often have to wait in line for their bags to be searched.

As you mentioned, they believe they should be compensated and paid.

So here's the question. You know, if you're done with your shift, if you work at Apple, should you be paid for the extra time it takes for something like a routine bag check?

You know, obviously, these employees think so. They want dozens of hours in unpaid wages.

Apples employees, thousands of workers in retail throughout the U.S., obviously, it would cost them millions if they were forced to pay all of them in back wages.

Lastly, the lawsuit says that, not paying workers for that time, Apple violated the fair labor standards and the New York and California state laws.

We reached out to Apple. But their policy, unfortunately, is not to comment on pending litigation.

Brooke?

BALDWIN: OK, that was my next question, how Apple is handling all of this.

Zain Asher, thank you very much, for us in New York.

And, you know, this next story, boy, oh, boy, you have heard of people winning money. You've heard of people winning cars, vacations on game shows.

How about winning a baby? Yep. One game show gave away a baby to an unsuspecting family and they plan on doing it again.

Do not miss this story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Call it the mother of all gimmicks. In the high-stakes world of TV ratings, one Pakistani game show is pulling out all the stops.

While this studio audience is used to seeing cell phones and bikes being given away, nothing can prepare them for the next prize, a newborn baby.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They say having a baby is the greatest gift of all.

This is the moment an abandoned baby was handed over to an unsuspecting childless couple on live TV.

SURIYA BILQEES, NEW MOTHER (via translator): I was really shocked at first. I couldn't believe we were being given in baby girl. I was extremely happy.

SYED ZULFIQAR HUSSAIN (via translator): We weren't complete. This baby has made our house a home.

MOHSIN: 500 people make up this live studio audience for a marathon seven-hour Ramadan special program.

AAMIR LIAQUAT HUSAIN (via translator): At Christmas, there's Santa Claus to give everyone gifts. It's important for Christians.

For us, Ramadan is special, so it's really important to make people happy and reward them.

MOHSIN: So would you call yourself the Santa Claus of Islam then?

HUSAIN (via translator): Oh, I wouldn't say that myself, but I think it's a good concept to give gifts to people. It's not good to take but to give.

MOHSIN: (Inaudible) has been described as a religious scholar, TV megastar and even a sex symbol.

His heady mix of religion and entertainment is often followed by controversy. In his new show, he cooks while men sing Islamic hymns, discusses religion with children in a garden full of rabbits, snakes and goats.

And then he has a "Price Is Right"-style bonanza giveaway.

He's testing the audience's knowledge of the Quran to win everything from a mobile phone to a motorbike.

Now he's pleased, shocked and surprised people across the country in what's a TV first for Pakistan, giving away a baby.

Do you think by handing over a child on live television to a childless couple is trivializing the issue of abandoned children and adoption.

HUSAIN (via translator): Not at all. We've created a symbol of peace and love. That's our show's theme, to spread love.

I'm setting an example, giving a childless couple an abandoned child.

MOHSIN: The NGO which finds and houses up to 15 abandoned babies a month says it joined forces with the TV show to raise awareness of the issue.

RAMZAN CHHIPA, CHHIPA FOUNDATION (via translator): Our team finds baby abandoned on the street, in garbage bins, some of the dead, others mauled by animals, so why not ensure the baby is kept alive and gets a good home.

We didn't just give the baby away. We have our own vetting procedure. This couple was already registered with us and has had four or five sessions with us.

MOHSIN: But the couple didn't know they'd be handed a two-week old baby girl when they were invited to take part in the show. They're the second couple to be given a baby on TV.

Adoption isn't officially recognized in Pakistan, and there's no adoption allow, so these couples will have to apply for guardianship at family court. This wasn't processed before the live broadcast.

(Inaudible) says this isn't a gimmick to win the fierce Ramadan ratings war in Pakistan. He says another couple will soon be given an abandoned baby on the show in the coming days.

Saima Mohsin, CNN, Karachi, Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: How about that?

And before I let you go, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is again dining with people in high places. This morning it was breakfast with the vice president. That follows yesterday's well publicized lunch with her former boss, President Obama.

A White House spokesman declined to characterize the tone of the luncheon other than to say it was, quote, "largely friendship," but in the world of presidential politics, every high-level meeting is fodder for speculation.

Thank you so much for being with me on this Tuesday. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

We're going to send it to Washington. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.