coming up tfront, some developing news in the trayvon martin case, and the unpredictable herman cain, the way i love it, live. in living color. first, our third story outfront. gm reported a billion dollars in earnings today. for the first quarter of the year. it was the ninth profitable quarter in a row. three years afthe government bailed the company out, mitt romney's position on the bailout is still being debated. soemember this. mitt romney wrote an op-ed titled "let detroit go bankrupt." that was back in 2008. now, newspaper editors write the headlines so he did not choose that one but it still haunts him today, because it implied that while he thought everything barack obama was doing was

wrong. if he had a problem with the way his position was characterized in that headline he didn't say so publicly. but at a debate here on cnn earlier this year, he explained, frankly using the same words that he used in that op-ed, his point of view. >> my view with regards to the bailout was that whether it was by president bush or by president obama, it was the wrong way to go. i said from the very beginning they should go through a managed bankruptcy process, a private bankruptcy process. we have capital markets in bankruptcy. it works in the u.s. >> now, mitt romney's senior adviser eric fehrnstrom is saying that president obama followed mitt romney's advice on the bailout. so is that true or is mitt romney trying to have it both ways? john avlon joins us, reihan salam and michael waldman all with us now. let me ask this question, reihan. exactly how we stand here, because obviously mitt romney

when he wrote that op-ed used the words managed bankruptcy, and he used in the cnn debate. now that people like the bailout and think it worked, i'm going to say it was my idea. but when i had a headline when i said i hated it, i was cool having people think that i thought it was terrible. >> well, this is the problem in politics with anything that requires more than three sentences worth of explanation. he backed a managed bankruptcy process and we saw a managed bankruptcy process. we saw a process that many people think was not managed terribly well, that rewarded some creditors over others and rewarded the uaw in a way that was actually pretty inappropriate. so i think that's the concern. the idea is if you had a clean managed bankruptcy process, you could have had a company on a sounder footing, but also a company that wouldn't have as huge an advantage over ford as gm does now.

if the taxpayers had been less generous, you might have had a somewhat different outcome. but i think you're absolutely right to say that, look, this is a problem when you have to explain a complex idea in a complex evolving situation, that's always going to be politically difficult. >> right, it's interesting, joh avlon, these aren't words most americans are used to but i can boil this down pretty simply. barack obama managed the unions in a very different way mitt romney would have managed the unions. this is a union question. >> it's a union question downstream. when mitt romney wrote that op-ed with the headline let detroit go bankrupt, he was placing a t on an argument being made at the time. bush started with the bailouts, obama continued, stopping that freefall so they get to that place in managed bankruptcy. there's a clear contrast. he said if the bailouts occurred, kiss the auto industry goode. that's far from what happened. in fact it's back. all of a sudden, eric fehrnstrom said that actually obama followed romney's advice, you've got a fundamental problem in politics perception and this does not pass the smell test. >> i think a lot of people actually perceive mitt romney to basically say let them go under, let all the jobs be gone, which to be honest he did not say.

but that nuance is -- it requires a couple of sentences, as ryan said. >> even the experts and people in the auto industry will say that without the federal money there would have been a liquidation if they had gone bankrupt. but this is a big problem for him because when a politician is faced with a position that's unpopular or something they wish they hadn't done, they have to figure out what to do with it. so here he says the auto bailout he opposed he was really for. but on the other hand obama care, which really was his idea, he says he's against. it's a challenge politicians face all the time. fdr gave a speech for a balanced budget when you ran for president the first time. then he did the new deal. he asked an aide, he said figure out a way to reconcile what i did with that speech. >> he didn't live in the world of blogs. >> etch-a-sketch roosevelt, i love it. >> the guys said deny you were in pittsburgh. >> it does come down to that. as another statewide massachusetts elected official

said i voted for it before i voted against it. this is the problem romney finds himself in and it's compounded by that history of reversals on issues between the time he was governor and running for president. >> one final thing about where the polls are today. it seems -- how much of this is going to come down to it doesn't really matter what we see in the popular vote, it comes down to the electoral college. that's what everyone says. >> we are still in the third inning of a long ball game so don't put too much stake in them. but they are indicative of the way the trends are going. and so they're worth watching. but everyone keep a sense of perspective. save everyone's suspense. for the next couple months the headlines will be polls are tightening. because guess what? they're going to because mitt romney will be pivoting for the general. >> some of t states that you might not think are close or strong romney states are looking like they're strong for president obama, such as virginia where i saw a poll saying he was up by eight points. it's really interesting what's happening in all the different

states, which don't necessarily add up to the same tightness of the race that you see in the national polls. >> you know what, no matter who ends up winning, tighter polls are fun. it's fun to talk about it, fun to debate it and we'll have all fun with it. thanks to all three of you. outfront story number four is up next. still outfront, bin laden's last words. >> we need to kill president obama. we need to kill general david petraeus. >> cain's cocky stance. all this outfront in our second half. that could work. or you could use every door direct mail from the postal service. it'llp you and all your franchisees find the customers that matter most: the ones in the neighborhood. you print it or find a localtner. great. keep it moving honey. honey? that's my wife. wow. there you go. there you go. [ male announcer ] go online to reachvery home,

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welcome back to the second half of "outfront." we start the second half of our show with stories we care about and focus on our own reporting from the front lines. we have breaking news tonight. the chinese activist at the center of the firestorm between the u.s. and china interrupted a hearing on capitol hill. he called in, a translator was there. he cried out for help. chen guangcheng, who is the blind chinese dissident who sought refuge in the u.s. embassy in beijing, called in about his case, pleaded, asking specifically to speak with secretary of state hillary clinton. congressman chris smith was the man on the other end of the line chairing the committee. he spoke to chen and then he spoke to us. >> he is very, very concerned about his welfare.

but even more so about his family, his wife, his extended family, his nephew, as well as people like hu parong, the woman who actually brought him in her car to the embassy. she has disappeared. she may be under house arrest, nobody knows for sure. but she is in terrible, terrible situation and we're very concerned about her. another developing story, the san diego medical examiner has officially ruled former nfl linebacker junior seau's death a suicide. the 43-year-old died yesterday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. seau spent 20 years in the nfl playing for the san diego chargers, dolphins and patriots. and a top house republican leaked a resolution today in a move to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt of congress. house oversight committee chairman darrell issa accuses holder of failing to cooperate with the investigation into the controversial operation fast and furious, a weapons sting where federal agents allowed mexican

drug cartels to get illegal guns. at the center of the investigation, weapons tied to the operation were found at the site of a murdered border patrol agent. gop leaders have not made a final decision on whether they will put this to a vote in the house. one major activist investor did a search into the google ceo background and didn't like what they found. it's forced yahoo! to admit that it made an error on the bio. it said scott thompson graduated from stone hill college with a bachelor's degree in accounting and computer science. those are two nice things for the ceo of a major company but the problem is he doesn't have a degree in computer science. according to the investor's research, stony hill college didn't award computer science degrees until four years after mr. thompson graduated. we're trying to get to the bottom of whether that was inadvertent or something more serious in terms of the oversight. it's been 273 days since this country lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? we told you earlier in the week homeownership was at a record low.

maybe that will help people buy because mortgage rates hit a record low. 3.84% refi. new details in the shooting death of 17-year-old trayvon martin. according to some reporting from the "orlando sentinel" george zimmerman told police that the florida teen was circling his suv while he was on the phone with the 911 operator. now, zimmerman told investigators that he rolled up his window to avoid a conflict. but what's interesting is we went back to the tapes to listen, and he didn't mention any of this to the 911 dispatcher. prosecutors say there are inconsistencies in his story. a volunteer neighborhood watchman also told police that martin covered his mouth during their fight and the teen reached for his gun while they struggled on the gun. defense attorney mark o'mara wasn't available to comment to us. the lawyer for trayvon martin's family says it doesn't add up. paul callan is a former prosecutor and mark najame is also here. george zimmerman said trayvon

martin was circling his suv but here's what he said to the dispatcher. >> these [ bleep ], they always get away. this guy looks like he's up to no good or he's on drugs or something. something's wrong with him. yep, he's coming to check me out. he's got something in his hands. i don't know what his deal is. >> are you following him? >> yeah. >> okay. we don't need you to do that. >> okay. >> now, paul, i mean i don't know how much detail comes into these calls. he doesn't use the words circling his suv but he says he's coming over to him. is this an inconsistency between the 911 call and what he's now saying to the officials? >> inconsistencies are the building blocks of the prosecutor's case because there's a charge they use in criminal cases called false in uno, false in one thing, false in everything.

the prosecutor is going to say you can't believe the self defense claim because he's lying about what happened at the suv. now, is this an inconsistency? defense lawyers will say it's not inconsistent. he said he was coming at me, he's checking me out. he doesn't use the word "circle" but it's not an inconsistency. i think o'mara can get around this particular claim. >> mark, what's your sense? do you think this is something, as paul said, maybe seeming inconsistent but the defense attorneys could get around? >> well, i've been endlessly frustrated by the misinformation that's come out. we've been on this nonstop investigating, talking to a variety of sources. i don't believe that the discovery, which was going to come out next week. we're only five days away, six days away from all the discovery, the first wave of discovery coming out. i don't believe that we're going to see that in the discovery. if we do, yeah, then it could be argued one way or another. if not, then it's just more misinformation that's being fed

by these anonymous sources to the public. all that i've been able to discover so far, that's not what the discovery is going to show that was said. >> what will it show then? or what can you tell us about that? >> as i understand it, that there is -- and we've got a minute and ten seconds that we're all going to have to figure out and figure out what happened in that one minute ten that still remains cloudy and questionable. what as i understand it, there was -- somehow they got together, there was clearly an altercation and sadly there was a fight to the death. there was stippling, there was close powder burns and we know in fact that they were back and forth in some sort of engagement. we also know a defense witness is out there that says trayvon was on top of zimmerman. but until we see the discovery, a lot of this is conjecture. i think there was an altercation, a fight for the death and we need to figure out

who started it and whose voice, which is to me one of the largest things in this case, whose voice was crying for help, was it trayvon or zimmerman. whose ever voice was crying for help, they were likely not the attacker. >> are we going to be able to figure that out, paul? obviously there's been different voice analyses done and we've heard different conclusions. will this be conclusively proven? >> it's interesting because some of the press accounts today said that in one of the statements, zimmerman allegedly made, he said that trayvon martin had covered his mouth during the struggle, covered zimmerman's mouth, and yet police are saying that you can clearly hear someone saying "help me, help me" it doesn't sound muffled so there may be a claim by the police that this indicates that zimmerman is lying about that. but i think in the end, we're getting bits and pieces. we don't know how accurate it is. the one thing i'd really like to know, we have zimmerman in the suv, trayvon martin is approaching him according to his

statement. where is trayvon martin's body found ultimately with respect to the suv? is it very far away? which would indicate he had to get out and then follow for an extensive period of time. i think that would be an important factor that you would look at ultimately. so, you know, but these are a lot of details that we don't have right now and we won't until all the discovery is released. >> it's unclear how far away he was found, mark. i know we were told or at least george zimmerman said that trayvon disappeared, i guess he went looking for him. it's unclear sort of who -- we're still trying to figure out who was the initial aggressor here. still, so many people have the question, mark, shouldn't this have been something george zimmerman was charged with right away? does anything support what actually happened, which was had there not been some sort of hew and cry, we would never in america have heard of this and he would be living a normal life? >> well, the way that is handled in seminole county, florida, is that it's the state attorney who ultimately decides whether the

sanford police department or any of the other agencies in seminole county will in fact have somebody arrested on a homicide charge. so i think that this becomes -- and this becomes part of the issue, why we need to fill in that one minute ten gap to piece this together. we've worked really hard to do that. i've got a great sense of what i think occurred. but the reality of it is, is that question respectfully needs to be pointed to the state attorney' office and we need to figure out what was there, because ethically they're not allowed to proceed if they don't believe in good faith they can have probable cause. we need to know what those facts were that made them come to that decision. >> and florida has this strange law, the stand your ground law, that puts self defense on a pedestal and says to the police you can't make an arrest unless you can disprove at the time of the arrest the claim of self defense. that doesn't exist in a lot of other places and i think that's why there was no arrest that night in florida. >> all right, thanks to both, appreciate it. herman cain, presidential candidate, business executive,

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great businesses deserve the most rewards! awesome!!! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? last night, "the scream" you see it here by edvard munch sold for an auction record, $119.9 million. very specific because obviously that includes the commission. but all in, i mean $119.9. i just want to put the price tag so you can get a sense. it makes me want to scream. it blows away the previous record of $106.5 million set by picasso's nude green leaves and dust in 2010.

the buyer is officially anonymous but sources tell me it is an american. even with the rise of the oligarchs from russia, americans still dominate the art market. the most recent list of top collectors in the world, four are americans. that's 40%. in 2008 it was six, so it's down. but still, the biggest single area. we're seeing a lot more buyers, frankly, coming from the middle east. one name on the top ten is the emir of qatar, natural gas mother lode. his wife, this woman you see here, now she's a beautiful woman. unlike many wives of middle eastern leaders she is also high profile. they call her the jackie kennedy of the middle east. you can kind of see that. she's very active in the art world which brings me to my number, $250 million.

that's how much sources tell me she spent on this. on cezanne's card players. she literally wrote a check and did the deal. i have a source who was there. a lot of people don't know who did this, but i am told she was the person with the $250 million, write the check and hand it over. it is the most expensive piece of art ever sold. now to our outer circle. we begin tonight in pakistan. a trove of never before seen letters by osama bin laden give us new insight into his mindset before he was killed last may. the documents were found in his compound, they were just declassified today. nick -- nic robertson has looked them through. >> erin, the image created by the documents is of a ceo struggling to control his sprawling empire. under attack from drone strike in pakistan, trying to reel in recalcitrant commanders. and there are even petty jealousies in there. al qaeda rising star, bin laden diss one by saying this guy is no good for leadership because he hasn't served at the battle front. this billionaire son striving to get cash for al qaeda sending a senior level commander on to a dangerous mission to raise a quarter of a million dollars. under pressure from the inside

and outside of his organization, erin. >> thanks, nic robertson. now to greece and three days left until the parliamentary election. the opposition to the austerity measures can bring extreme fringe parties like the far right, anti-immigrant into the government for first time. i asked what role some of the smaller and more aggressive parties are going to play. >> erin, interesting shifts taking place in greece. parties who traditionally led this country seeing their

popularity plummet. and those on the lunatic fringe are gaining in opinion polls. now of course many of them as you say are opposed to the austerity measures implemented by greece to keep it in the euro. now, no one is expecting the extremists to take over, but the rise is having an impact. we're seeing the parties take much tougher positions on immigration and secondly, some of those fringe parties are now likely to get into the parliament, so even if the mainstream can hang on there may be many more anti-austerity measures in the parliament behind me with which to contend. interesting view of what can happen in bad economic times, austerity in greece has put us in a very tough position. you can see real radicals rising. that brings us to the fifth story outfront -- herman cain. what does he have to do with this? he has a strong position on debt

and he's a former presidential candidate. i wanted to show you what he's been put up to. here's a couple of ads. >> this is the average american taxpayer. this is the average american taxpayer feeding big government. [ screaming ] >> he's also out with a new book about his famous 9-9-9 plan. here it is. of course, herman cain is outfront tonight. hey, good to see you, mr. cain. >> thank you. the last time i saw you was at a presidential debate. good to see you again. >> yes, it was. let me ask you about the video, you're trying to use humor or shock to make a point. we showed our viewers before the

one about the stuff rabbit being shot, the gold fish dying. why are you choosing these over the top violent ads? what do you think you're going to get out of it? >> they're not violent because the gold fish didn't die, the rabbit was a stuffed toy and this is intended to cut through the clutter. okay. it was a stuffed toy, trust me. it wasn't a real rabbit. >> this an important distinction. i was concerned. >> you said earlier i murdered a rabbit. no, it was a rabbit. >> i did say you murdered a rabbit, you're right. >> our tax code is 99 years old this year. and the thing about it is we all have been complaining about the tax code for decades but we have not been able to get congress and the president to change it. so i am creating a grass roots movement and 9-9-9 because it became so popular when i was a candidate and it is still popular and the subtitle is an army of davids. we are going to have get rid of

this insane, complex, sick tax code with the people putting enough pressure on congress that's why i have created this series of ads also to cut through the clutter. >> all right. and obviously i know you believe in the 9-9-9. i wanted to read you a quote, larry summers obviously worked for the president. but a very respected economist. he said and i quote, a country that pursues austerity does the credits no favor. i even though you want to redo the tax plan, do you agree with that statement? >> i do agree with that statement. but that's two separate problems. one problem is how we raise revenue. the other problem is how we contain spending. that's two separate problems. we have to first get this economy growing at a robust rate and exchange a tax code, throwing out the current tax code is the best way to do that and at the same time address the issue of how do we contain the out of control spending. two separate problems and i'm addressing with the book 9-9-9

and one of the biggest domestic challenges we have. >> i want to ask you in a moment how you're doing this during the election season, but first i want to ask you this. your passionate about this. you made it your cause. will you work with if he's re-elected president obama on this issue? would you be an emissary, an evangelist for this if he said i want an overhaul in tax code? >> the answer is absolutely yes, but he'll have to start with the premise throw out the current tax code. see, erin, it doesn't matter who's president. i will work passionately with whoever the president if they start that -- with that premise. so if president obama were to come to me today and say that he wanted to adopt 9-9-9 i would work with him. i am on a mission to replace the tax code for the good of the american people and for the good of this country. >> and i want to ask, you made a few endorsements since you dropped out.

i was there with the day when you talked about the american people. i wanted to play something for you. >> my unconventional endorsement is the people. we the people of this nation are still in charge! that's who i'm endorsing. i hereby officially and enthusiastically endorse newt gingrich for president of the united states! i would support whoever the nominee is, and it looks like mitt romney is going to be the nominee and we need to get behind him. >> before you respond i want to play this what you said about mitt romney's tax plan which it does have a nine in it as in 59 points. here it is. >> the 9-9-9 plan that i have proposed is simple, transparent, efficient, fair and neutral.

my question is to governor romney. can you name all 59 points in your 160-page plan and does it satisfy that criteria of being simple, transparent, efficient, fair and neutral? >> all right. he laughed. are you for real about him? are you going to work hard for mitt romney? if he endorses the principle of tax reform, are you still going to be out there fighter for him? >> yes. and the word rotating endorsements is a misnomer. it's a revolving endorsement. i said i would support whoever gets the republican endorsement. and the fact that he hasn't endorsed 9-9-9, i'll still endorse him. we're talking to his staff, but yes, the process is it what is. when you're in the competition to get the nomination, yes, you go constructively against some of the people that you're working with, but in the end i

will support mitt romney who is the presumptive nominee for the republican party. >> and a quick final here. i wanted to ask you, well, what you think of this. let's play it so you can hear it. ♪ there's no pizza i couldn't if i tried ♪ ♪ i so in love with you >> does the president have what it takes? have a baritone? >> well, he's okay, but, you know, i have been a vocalist most of my life as sort of a vocation. i do it for fun and that clip that you played was when i first became ceo of godfathers pizza and the omaha press club did that event and they asked me to do that song.

i thoroughly enjoyed it because i do have a sense of humor. and quite frankly, i have a pretty decent voice for singing. >> yes, you do. i think everybody would say that and the president would agree. i think he would say yours is better tan his, but he did a better job there. >> he did okay, yes, he did. >> okay. thanks. good to see you. still outfront, iceland has a secret weapon. e-block is next. i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

so the thing was the president and herman cain started singing and we got a little heavy. but the iceland story is so good and so salacious that i won't waste time. i'll make ithort. we're going to save it for tomorrow along with the president's response to the jobs numbers. tonight a man who change canned television forever. ted turner created this network. >> here's the news. >> he's never been shy about speaking his mind. tonight, he tells all. >> the moneyed interest are taking over the un