celebrating. it's reigniting speculation that the two iconic characters are gay. pbs still insists that it isn't so. that they are puppets, they don't have sexual orientations. that's it for me. erin burnett starts. a dramatic day in the george zimmerman trial. what witnesses say it they saw the night that trayvon martin died. and then private jets and large salaries and staffs. we're talking about top generals in the united states military. plus alec baldwin loses his cool again. why did he rant against a reporter? let's go out front. and good evening, everyone,

out front on this friday night, george zimmerman defense gets a boost. so eyewitnesses testified about the night that trayvon martin was killed. and their testimony at least as you were listening to it through the day seems to support zimmerman testimony that he was attacked. >> where did you notice the blood. >> on his nostrils, streaming down both sides of his lips i believe. >> in terms of describing the individuals, are you able to describe their faces or anything? or just clothing descriptions. >> well, going back to when they were vertical, i could tell the person on the bottom had a lighter skin color. >> zimmerman admitted to shooting trayvon martin, but he says it was in self-defense. we saw two witnesses there. both of them in different ways seeming to indicate that it was george zimmerman who was on the bott on being attacked perhaps,

that he had brood coming out of his nose. how powerful was that testimony today in the courtroom? >> i think it was extremely powerful. interesting that both those witnesses were called by the state and yet they seemed to bolster the defense's case. both of them are eyewitnesses. because up until now, what we've heard is people who have heard something or vaegly represented shadows. but starting with jonathon good, he was a person who claims he was 15, 20 feet away from the struggle and that he could see and make out who was who, based on the color of the skin or identifying by the clothing they were wearing. but in either case, he says it was george zimmerman that he saw on the ground and it was trayvon martin that was hitting him down. and he discussed that mma, that mixed martial arts style that he alluded trayvon martin was using to boat george zimmerman. so very, very powerful, but for the defense.

>> you just said the prosecution called these witnesses. and the witnesses ended up bolstering george zimmerman defense. was this a misstep in or did they know what the witnesses were going to say in. >> yeah. they do know what the witnesses are going to say. and the way the strategy works is the prosecution knew the defense was going to call these people if the prosecution didn't. and theier might be thinking oh, why didn't the prosecution bring these people up. also at the end of the day, it came back to haunt the defense, because it was talked about that mma, well, they brought out a doctor who had treated, actually a physician's assistant, george zimmerman. and she said in his medical history, he works out. what does he work out doing? mixed hartial arts. and that's what the injure was left to ponder as they set out on their week with with ends. >> but medical professionals

said about george zimmerman that he did have the broken nose. head damage and back pain. how significant was that? and, again, the fact that they were called by the state in. >> it's a coin toss as to who one this one. he had injuries, everybody knows he had injuries. but how bad were those injuries really? after all, he didn't go to the doctor that night. and when he saw the doctor the next day she basically gave him a preskrepgs for inflamation. in order, it did not appear those injuries were life threatening, which is what the defense maintains. that's why george zimmerman said he had to shoot trayvon martin. he thought he was going to die. >> and as you say, didn't go to the hospital that night and

given drugs for inflammation the next day. this case has taken a toll on the people closest to the tragedy, something you as a viewer i'm sure have noticed. >> reporter: one week of graphic and at teams disturbing testimony and both sides in the zimmerman trial are showing signs of train. trayvon martin's parents were moved to tears on the first day. the very next day they had to walk out when the court saw pictures of their son's lifeless body. it was technically hard on martin's father. >> although they would give you some advanced notice that the state was going to be using some very sensitive pictures, for that picture to come up on the screen, very live, brought back the memory. >> reporter: but for his mother, it was the sound heard in the back ground of the 911 call.

the gunshot signaling the end of her son's life. >> his mother doesn't like the gunshot, the gunshot hearing that and hearing about his final moments is very tough for her. >> reporter: what impact it's having on george zimmerman is hard to read. for the most part, he sits quietly, seemingly unmoved, gazing forward. i spoke about his weight gain and what that might suggest about his emotional state. are you worried he might hurt himself? >> no. >> reporter: he seeps to be slowly doing himself harm by gaining all this weight. could he possibly do something morey veer? >> could he? i'm not going to be a psychologist or psychiatrist? could he? i guess it's possible. i've lived this case for a year. i've lot some weight. i think george is stressed out. i don't think he's going to harm

himself. >> reporter: what he's doing is very concerned. >> i'm concerned that he's gotten to the point that he's gained 120, 130 pounds. that is physically destructive. that, i'll grant you. he's really stressed out. for a year and a half he's been in hiding. and now he's facing a potential life sentence. and he's fighting for his life. and it's very stressful and very frightening. >> a lot of people have been commenting on that ballooning weight by george zimmerman. what about the lyers and the witnesses? how has it affected them? because the witnesses are, the life, life, death, tee pendepen on them. >> reporter: right. this is a huge moment for everyone. i won't mention any names of.

some of them were very unprepared for the scrutiny. they had to prepare for that. as for the attorneys, mark o'mara made the best comment yesterday. he said nobody is going to be going out playing golf or tennis this weekends, this is a very big weekend. still to come, the prosecution's star witness. rachel jeantel, the girl who was on the phone with trayvon when he died. does her race have anything to do with how people perceive her credibility. and aaron hernandez's dangerous past. how in the world did he end up with a $40 million contract from the patriots? plus the obama administration repeatedly going

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our second story out front, the rachel jeantel factor. he is the star witness in the george zimmerman trial and has found herself as the center of attention over her attitudes this week. >> i have told you -- you listening? i had told you what happened to me. are you listening?

>> christina coleman wrote that blacks can understand and relate to jeantell. she's hard, she's black and your assumptions about her background and lack of education make you feel like you are better somehow. but is that really fair to say in out front tonight, mark lamont hill. great to have all of you. i was saying to mark here on set, we could talk for an hour. the jury six women, five of whom are white women. is it fair to say because they're white that they're not going to be able to understand or relate to jeantel? >> it's not entirely fair to say that those we don't know can or cannot relate to anybody.

we can't make sweeping assumptions like that. but there are some cultural disconnects and class disconnects between rachel is and who those ors are that may make her unfamiliar to them which may make her strange to them and maybe even undesirable to them. and that's what we have to keep an eye on. >> you took issue with some of the people who are defending her. ebony magazine. they're quote rejecting their own self reflflectioreflection. why is the perspective not right in. >> because as dr. hill said, you have to go softly on that assumption that people are immediately going from the perspective of race and going to judge you on the perspective of race. i see it more of judging on the perspective of not having the

literacy that she needs in order to navigate such an environment. and that's not a racial thing. >> it's not even an education class issue. i know children who hey not be have master's degrees or bachelor's tee dwrees, but they understand how to act with authority. how to say yes, sir, no, sir. and also understand the weight of when you are in a public arena, how that's supposed to happen. >> ryan, let me bring you in here. >> my head's going to explode. >> please. it need does explode. >> her intelligence was questioned while she was on the stand actually in the courtroom. so let me just play that for those who didn't get a chance to see. here's that. >> can you read any of the words on it this. >> i don't understand.

cursives. >> are you claiming in any way that you don't understand english? >> i don't understand you. i understand you. i can understand english. >> what's your response to that? the attorney seems to have. could off as deeply unkind, but what is your response to her? >> i think if are you being treated in this way on the witness stand, it's hardly surprising that her reaction would at teams be very defensive. she doesn't just speak english. she speeshs haitian creole. she speaks spannish some people are going to have a very hard time interpreting her. it's important to exercise empathy. this woman has gone through a very traumatic peerns who finds

herself very threatened as though she herself is being prosecuted. it's going to be very hard for miami to hook past that. that in a way is a schenectady. it's a case of cultural misunderstanding. >> right. and we have to understand that we can have pluralism without ascribing certain value does those differences. if she said to the defense attorney, i already had told you, i would con ju great my verbs a little differently. it wasn't having the literacy. it was about the fact because she speaks english in a different way, that somehow she's less intel enter, that her testimony is less true and that ultimately she's less human. and that's not on her. that's on us. >> let me lay thaplay that.

her english is not the way you might con ju great. >> like i told the mother from the beginning. if officer wants to talk me, know the exact story, everything about what happened that night they will reach me my number. you got it? >> and part of it's attitude. but given how she was being treated, there are a lot of people who say if you want to stick it in somebody's face, you go, girl. >> i see that as the fault of the prosecuting attorney for not preparing you. she is a 19 year old woman. she's able to vote. she's able to, you know, be tried as an adult herself. so i expect adult behavior.

i really don't care what color she is. and at her age there should be a certain literacy point. if this was a white person and someone dubbed them white trash i doubt if there would be a fight about it. >> there needs to be a focus on george zimmerman. the very fact that you say she's old enough to be tried as an adult. she's not on trial here. george zimmerman is. this isn't about her literacy. it's about wlorngt george zimmerman stalked and murdered this boy. and if she has evidence to show that that happened or that it didn't happen weigh need to listen to her. but english, not being able to speak the king's english to the queen's taste is not a matter of whether you can be trusted or not. >> that's the question i want all of our viewers to weigh in on. do you think that does affect

whether somebody's trustworthy, whether they are articulate or not. please let us know on twitter as always. we appreciate it. >> we done had a good time on cnn. am i less trustworthy now? former football star aaron hernandez, coe be, he could be serial killer. and we have a special yot front investigation tonight. and why james holmes will be wearing something much more dramatic than handcuffs when he next appears in court.

our third story out front, the troubled past of aaron hernandez, the former nfl star has been charged with the murder of odin lloyd. two of his accomplices are also in police custody. but this isn't the first brush request the law for hernandez. he's now being linked to a double homicide in boston last year. and more visible misconduct in florida and several nfl teams passed him over because of that, over the 2010 draft. but new england patriots picked

him up. this is amazing. $40 million this guy was getting. this guy's not some random guy sitting on the bench. he's a big player. and it was no secret to anybody that he didn't have the cleanest record out there. nfl, the patriots, how did he get this far in. >> he is getting about 10 or 12 million. by the way, a month before he signed his new contract is when he suspected to have maybe murdered two people. and no one in the patriot as organization knew anything about this. he said people gave him the money because they trusted him. they trusted him after he maybe did that. so this is really a crazy story that the patriots didn't see any of this coming. >> it is a crazy story. and others had passed on him because of his record. they must have decided on some level he's a good player. a lot of people are saying this is the nfl, they are a bunch of

thugs. this is how they operate. 2010, only 2% of players were arrested. it is less thant nba, less than mlb. the nfl doing a better job than everybody else? >> they're doing as good a job as they can. it's almost half of what the average population does. i think the nfl makes the headlines. it's the most popular sport on the planet. i don't think murder should be excused in some of the smaller crimes that the nfl gets dinged for. this is a big step up. >> that's a big point. we said arrests in general. well, a top general in

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welcome back to the second half of out front on this friday. we start the second half of our show with stories where we focus on our reporting from the front lines. couples are getting married in san francisco. two of the couples who challenged the gay marriage ban are getting married tonight. they will be married at 6:15 local team. with each passing day, the empire of paula deen looks like an exploding souffle. sears and jc penney announced

think will drop the celebrity cook. this along with others who have put their relationship with her on hold. she made $7.5 million on licensing alone last year. you saw the numbers we put up last night. $17 million in annual compensation at risk. she says she only used the n word once. and we will have a special on monday night at 7:00 called the n word. we have learned james holmes will be restrained in court when his trial begins in february. so we just explain how this is going to work. the judge has ruled he will wear a harness. and the point is, they're worried he could hurt somebody. so they want to prevent him from doing that to anyone in the courtroom. we have looked at other defendants restrained this way.

it is rare. this is before anything has happened they've already made this decision. new jersey authorities say they have arrested the man that you will see in the video we are about to show you. his name is shawn cuss tis. he's 42. he's beating up somebody. he's charged with attempted first degree murder. this man forcibly entered this woman's home. you see her with the green dress, and throws her down while she and two young children were watching television. cuss tis punched her, assaulted her, pulled her down the basement stairs. this was captured on the family's home video. bail has been set at $750,000. it has been 692 days since the unit lost its first credit

rating. for the first half of the year, all of them up between 12 and 14%. still all in, it's been a very lucky 2013. a crack in the president's inner circle. the man once described as obama's favorite general is under investigation. and it's regarding top secret material that appeared in a book written by the new york teams reporter david sanger. according to nbc news, cartwright may have leaked information about a virus called stuxnet. when news of stuxnet virus broke, republicans accused the white house of leaking the information itself because they haute it was going to boost the president's national security kred before the election. so what happened? the president has made a huge show of going after leakers, investigating mean so far, seven

have been charged. twice as many as all previous presidents combined in this country. but cart wroigt was his trend. cartwright was his buddy. >> what happened. i don't think anybody has an answer. we do know that cartwright, everyone's jaws dropped when this story broke because he may have his enemies, but he is a respected, retired four star military officer. this is not a guy who goes rogue. so you may wonder if somebody in the white house originally encouraged him to discuss this program. late today his attorney fired back. his attorney well-known gregory craig here in washington, d.c. issued a statement saying general jim cartwright is an american hero who served his country with distinction for four decades. any suggestion that he could have betrayed the country he

loves is preposterous. it does not tell us how much specifically why the justice department is investigating him. all of this still to be played out. dozens and dozens of people have been questioned by justice don't investigators in all of these leak investigations. and they are following up on the leads they are getting. >> thank you. this is an incredible story when you think about it. the president going after so many for leaking and this time somebody who was so close to hem. if this person did leak what he's accused of leaking it was actually something that helped the president. phil, it is an unprecedented

thing that they have done. more than twice as many espionage charges. is the president justified? >> i think he is. the administration is not going after leakers. when i brass in government, i saw leak investigations all the time. there's a process, ten layers of roughly way below the president where the agency, where the information is leaked tells the department of justice look at this problem and investigate it. the president has very little to do with that process. >> all right. that's a fair point. although obviously he's chosen to do this or his administration has chosen it do this in a way others haven't. do you agree, or has this administration gone beyond what is necessary? after all, in this case, if this really is about leaking the stuxnet virus, this is a close friend of the president's, who if he leaked it, it made the president look really good. >> i agree with phil.

these things start with referral. it goes to the justice department. but what's different now is the justice department is following up on these referrals aggressively. a lot of the people that are under investigation believe it's because of phone meta data, all sorts of things or even the new nsa programs. i don't know that that's true. but it's a new game out there. and people in washington are -- how should i put it -- they're scared. they're scared of journalists. they're staying away from them. >> they're scared of journalists journalists. you can argue until the cows come home about whether the information should or should not get out. the president has talked a lot about transparency which seems to fly in the face of this. he called his government the most transparent administration in history. and we've heard this from him

quite a few times. >> but you have to understand -- >> let me say it as simply as i can. transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency. >> i think the president's record on transparency is broad and significant. >> so if he's all about transparency, why is he going after all that's leaks, including ones that don't seem to threaten the national security of the country in. >> look, there's a difference between transparency and telling those who took an oath not to talk to the press. when i was with the fbi, every time the press called me, my responsible was to call the office of public affairs and say talk to cnn and tell them, call you first. don't call me directly. the rules are not that complicated. >> bob, do you think this goes, the president's trying to say he's transpaerpt. on the other, he's continuing

these meta data collection programs, and then going after people who try to put things in the open. >> may feeling is that it's partly the government's fault. because a lot of this information hasn't been compartmented. something like the stuxnet. you can confine this stuff within the government if you have the discipline to do it. i think this is what should be done now rather than going after the press. >> thanks very much both of you. now a top brass overhead. at a time when the military is getting smaller. you're aware of all the cut backs. you might be amazed that the number of four and five star generals has continued to grow. and the five star lifestyle that goes along with being a high ranking general is costing american taxpayers a lot of money. our chris lauren investigates

out front. this is general's row, a corner of washington where some of the military's top brass call home. today's navy has nearly as many admirals as it does ships. there's been an explosion of perks and officers to grown them. >> what's it going to look like if somebody sees you staying in the ritz-carlton for four days and doing one hour's worth of work. >> reporter: they are still struggling to reduce the number of stars. meanwhile, the number of enlisted soldiers and marines is being slashed. sense the year 2000, the ranks of generals have been swelling, especially at the top. the number of lee and four stars rose by 20%. they're surrounded by an entourage of speechwriters, even

a personal chef. and in some cases their own $60 million jet. >> i get the four star running nato needs a gulf stream because he's got to have a plane to get around europe. but he's not the old one. >> there's also a gulf stream attached to the chief of staff of the army. the vice chief of staff of the army. >> reporter: raymond bub wau says says -- >> i could make the argument that there are a number of three star jobs that could be two and two star jobs that could be one. >> reporter: it would shrink the entourage around that officer. >> because the culture dictates that a four star shall have so many staff people and less and less and less. >> reporter: three years ago they targeted 140 jobs. so far about 90 have been yes

eliminated or reduced. >> but i think this next review will cause us to shrink a bit more. >> it's like a lot of institutions. you get more and more, private manes and private chefs. is anything going to change in it comes to these people at the top? >> reporter: some of the officials say there are going to be a lot more of these positions cut next year, mostly as a result of pulling back from afghanistan. and dempsey does seem committed to reining in some of these perks. but one republican senator said they need to go as far as cutting 200 of these jobs. it would cut over $800 million over the years. >> that's a serious amount of money, when you think about the civilians who are being cut. how long is the government going to end up paying for all of that's stars?

once you get to that hay two levels, that's basically life, right? >> reporter: bottom line, decades. they change the pitch in law specifically for the top brass a few years ago. nobody else in the military got this benefit. and it caused the pensions to jump $80,000 a year in some cases. so now what you have some of the top brass are making more in retirement than they actually did when they were serving in active duty. some of them up to a quarter of a million dollars a year. so the locker it takes you to wind down those ranks while they're in service, the longer you're going to be paying for it in retirement. >> that is amazing. chris lawrence, thank you very much. with that out front investigation we're going to put that on line. coming up, alec baldwin goes on a tirade tossing nasty invectives at a reporter. why?

and germany's new army. this is scary, people. and tonight's shout out. brawl at a drag queen contest. all was going fine until the winner was announced. and that is when the wigs went flying. the runner-up felt he should have won. so he attacked the winner. you can see this going down. clothes, everything is coming off. it took security quite a while to actually separate the two from this incredible brawl. so our shot out goes to the contestants who lost for holding their wigs high and keeping their cool.

because i think deep down we know... all the bad things that can happen in life... they can't stop us from making our lives... good. ♪ ♪

and we are back with tonight's outer circle, where we reach out to sources around the world. so tonight, we go to france and the special place of because the tour de france begins tomorrow, the world's most pres tee gas event. armstrong said his seven tour de france wins quote were possible without it. talk about casting a shadowover the race the night before. amanda davies is covering the

story for "out front". >> reporter: erin, so much for a new chapter. we're keen to see the 100th tour de france as a chance to draw a line in the sand, to move on from the scandal and revelations from recent times but the man himself, lance armstrong, had other ideas and in an interview with the french newspaper. he said he thought it was impossible to win the tour de france without doping. his comments were blasted by the head of world governing body and the tour de france. the current generation is adamant they have moved on and desperate to crack on with the 2013 edition of their sport's greatest race to make the headlines themselves. erin? >> all right. thanks very much to amanda. a look on what's coming up on "ac 360 ".

>> hey, erin, who is the mystery man george zimmerman yelled help me, help me to the day martin was killed. we'll find out. he gave his version of events and we'll talk about the importance of that testimony and an interview that said she raised trayvon martin from the age of three. my conversation with alisha stanley, her stepmother. you'll hear her describe her son in a way you never heard before and a way racial profiling contributed to her son's death. more on the top of the hour. >> looking forward to that interview, and see you in few minutes. alec baldwin and another social media skirmish. i saw this and had alec baldwin not tweeted this awful thing about his family, i wouldn't have seen it. but he can't stop himself. the latest twitter battle exploded, the funeral of actor

james gandolfini. marcus has more. >> reporter: in a rant with threats and homophobic taunts he blasted george stark tweeting i'm going to find you george stark you toxic little gwqueen d i'm going to f you up. >> he threatened the guy and said he would tweet at his funeral. >> reporter: baldwin denied his wife tweeted during the funeral. they said she didn't have her phone on her in church. the daily mail removed the story and posted a new one saying it's seeking clarification on the timing of her tweets. cnn reached out to twitter and the daily mail for comment but hasn't heard back. on friday baldwin offered an apology with attacking stark with anti-gay terms saying as someone who fights against home phobia, i apologize goes. this is in a long line of outbursts from baldwin. in 2012 he tweeted about an

exchange with paparazzi saying they should be water bored. >> people might remember he got kicked off an american airlines flight when he wouldn't stop playing words with friends and he argued with the flight attendant and she kicked him off the plane. >> reporter: and that notorious voice mail he left for his 11-year-old girl when he called her a rude, thought less little pig. >> now days he had a great relationship with his daughter ireland and it took time to build it up and the public hasn't forgotten. >> reporter: baldwin cancelled his twitter account since, so has the world seen the last tweet from the star? >> nobody doubts alec baldwin will be back soon. he's deleted his account and comes back. >> just can't control himself, sometimes. well, we just want to let you know right now it is about

4:53 in california local time and you see that couple there. this is a live picture you're looking at of the first gay marriage that happened since the supreme court ruling allowing it to resume. sorry, it went to bars there, back in california. property 8 passed in november of 2008. so here we are, a couple starting to get married again and the couple that was fighting prop 8 is getting married tonight in los angeles. next, germany is up to something that you need to know about because this actually is kind of a terrifying thing. "i'm part of an american success story,"

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every night we like to take a look outside the day's top stories for something we like to call "the out front out take." so as you know at this point, right, it's been decades since human beings are marveling at the possibility of creating human life. building a better life-like machine. we created them in our own image, people, bedut designers have taken inspiration from l animal world. you can get dinosaurs, all -- look at those little birds and now germany is inspired, too. of course, when the germans decide to build an animal robot, they did not go with an adorable

puppy, or kitty or bird. they went big and tough and built an ape. the german research center created an ape both with arms, legs, an articulated spinal column and 43 centers. it can walk on all fours and stand on hind legs and react to surroundings and guess what? the germans are going to make more of these apes, but before you think they are planning to raise robot apes to take the world over, relax, relax, we aren't going there. they are going after the moon. it's classified as a space robot, which is why the germans are testing it on a landscape. the ape style body is the most ideal for scrambling over the moon's hilly and dusty terrain. so if all goes well, according to the germans, their ambitions are bigger than earth. one day the moon could be populated by a bunch of german robot apes. does that make you feel better?

sleep well america. sleep well america. "ac 360" starts now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com trayvon martin's stepmother, the young man she calls not a stepson but a son. >> i'm the one that went to the football games. i'm the one that was there when he was sick. >> she feels she's been pushed aside in all of this, and she's telling her story tonight. our exclusive conversation just ahead. another arrest in the murder case of former nfl star aaron hernandez. details about his checkered past and the southwest bracing for extreme heat this weekend, heat that can be deadly, where and flooding elsewhere. we'll tell you what you need to know to stay safe. let's begin with the zimmerman trial and once again a prosecution witness that could be as useful to the defense, a neighbor at the apartment complex where george zimmerman and martin