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Pope Expected to Draw a Million People; Facebook's Stock is Rising; "Get a Clue"; King Stands by Immigration Remarks

Aired July 25, 2013 - 16:30   ET



JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to THE LEAD, everyone. In "World News," you are looking at Pope Francis now. These are live pictures right now behind me. An estimated 1 million people are packed on Brazil's Copacabana beach where Pope Francis is expected to speak in just about half an hour. The leader of the Catholic Church is visiting Brazil through Sunday as part of World Youth Day.

And in keeping with his nickname, he spent much of his trip visiting some of Brazil's poorest neighborhoods. But in just a few moments, he will address the massive crowds of people who have been gathering since the wee hours of the morning to catch a glimpse of him. You can see the enthusiastic crowds out there. A lot of people getting a close look, some will see him from thousands and thousands of feet away.

I want to go now to CNN's Shasta Darlington who is on Copacabana Beach. These crowds are really big, the enthusiasm just enormous, Shasta.

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, John. The crowds have just been growing all day. Even at 6 a.m., you already had some people packing on here to Copacabana Beach and it's cold and raining. This isn't a place you'd be hanging out if you weren't waiting to see Pope Francis. This will be his first time here on the stage behind me. He will be here in a few minutes.

Even World Youth Day festivities kicked off two days ago, yet the momentum is really growing. People are excited. They've come from all around the world and, as you said, there are 1 million people here. So this is kind of the culmination of these last few days. It will be -- he's going to lead them in prayer. There will be also some messages in different languages, and we've been listening to this Catholic rock and pop all afternoon. People get being pretty psyched up -- John.

BERMAN: Again, we are seeing that in these live pictures coming back to us right now. We've seen him hold a couple babies already, waving to people, enthusiasm just explosive there. Shasta, you were with the hope earlier when he visited some of the poor areas today. He really is known as a hope who likes to get down in the dirt with the people. What was that experience like?

DARLINGTON: That's right, John. While this is exciting and you can really feel that enthusiasm, it's going into the shantytowns where you can see this is why this man is called the people's pope, the slum pope. He wants to take that message to the world, that the Catholic Church is here to serve the poor. He's a Jesuit and he really thinks this shouldn't be a papacy about pomp and circumstance.

So he really reaches out and touches people, gives them a message of support. He gave a speech about social justice, but he also had some very simple words. He told the people I wish I could just sit down with each and every one of you and drink a cup of coffee. He said there are so much solidarity here, when people come, you just throw more water in the soup and share it with everyone. He understands everyone. When he was a priest in Argentina, he worked in the slums and this is something that is very important to him -- John.

BERMAN: Shasta Darlington in Rio, thanks so much for being with us. So lucky that we get to see these live pictures coming back to us right now. Just the time we've been on the last few minutes, there he is kissing yet another child. We've seen about five children kissed by the pope. Shasta, thank you so much.

Coming up, it was a very good day to be Mark Zuckerberg. We'll tell you what sent Facebook stock skyrocketing?

And it was the hottest summer trend. What are we talking about? Lying, we'll tell you all about it coming up next.


BERMAN: All right, you hear that? Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm John Berman. In our "Money Lead," it is the sound of Mark Zuckerberg making even more money. Facebook stocks skyrocketed, nearly 30 percent today. It's up 17 percent from a year ago. Remember when Facebook first debuted on Wall Street last year? Not so good. Here's a refresher.


WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": The markets on Wall Street are now closed. While investors made a frenzied rush to get their hands on Wall Street's hottest new stock, the passion quickly cooled down.

JESSI HEMPEL, FORTUNE: Facebook has done some incredible and interesting things advertising-wise but it's still largely experimental. We don't know if it's going to work.


BERMAN: Well, advertising is working. Facebook stocks soared after news that the company is making a lot of money off of its mobile advertising. Facebook has 819 million mobile users and over a billion total members speaking of a billion.


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A billion dollars.


BERMAN: A billion dollars is very, very cool. So let's bring in a friend of THE LEAD and soon to be billionaire himself, one way or another, the Street's Rocco Pendola. Thanks for being with us. You know, people were counting Facebook out just a little while ago. Was it too soon after the IPO disappointment?

ROCCO PENDOLA, COLUMNIST, THESTREET.COM: Yes. I don't think it's ever been experimental, except back when Zuckerberg was doing this in his dorm room. Listen, there's something about separating the stock from the company that a lot of people, particularly investors, have trouble doing. You have to realize is that what happens with the stock isn't always in correlation with what is going on in the company. That's what happened.

The IPO had some relatively boring things that went wrong so the stock went south. But as this was happening over the last year, Zuckerberg was building a pretty impressive mobile advertising network. Even more than that, from a mass appeal standpoint, they have this mass market saturation that is bigger than the big brands.

Look at the Netflix red envelope when they were doing DVDs. The Amazon cardboard box now is in everybody's mailbox. Of course, there's Apple with the iPhone and the iPad. Google has become a verb, you know, but Facebook is bigger than that. I mean, nearly half a billion people check their Facebook every day on mobile devices only that's not even counting the desktop.

It's a mass appeal brand and that's going to draw in the advertising dollars, which is the reason why the stock went up so much yesterday and after hours, and then during the day today.

BERMAN: It is drawing the advertising dollars, apparently the advertising revenue up a big amount, 40 percent. You were not so sure that was going to work out at one point. What is working for them in advertising?

PENDOLA: Yes, I dropped the ball. You know, I have said in the past I think Facebook could be a $100 stock. I was on their side after the IPO. I wasn't really very negative. But recently I let my gut get in the way. I had this feeling that Zuckerberg wasn't focused. They had too many moving parts and it wasn't going to go in the right direction, but the funny thing is I buy Facebook ads for the Street.

If you type in "The Street" in the search box on Facebook, you'll go to our page. We're coming up on a hundred thousand fans, which is really good considering where we came from and it's largely because of advertising that leads to organic growth. So I shouldn't have said, my experience tells me one thing, but I'm going to let my gut tell me something else.

The question you have to ask, though, is can they keep it up? I know it sounds weird when you're talking about the multi-millions in mobile revenue they have, but are they getting low hanging fruits. Right now, there are only a few big players. Google is a big one. Twitter and Facebook, Pandora and to a certain extent Apple, once more players come in for fighting for mobile dollars, the growth that Facebook experiences might not be like we saw in this quarter.

BERMAN: All right, Rocco Pendonla, next time you go out with Mark Zuckerberg, make sure he pays. Rocco, thanks a lot.

Coming up, Nancy Pelosi's advice to Anthony Weiner, get a clue and maybe get some therapy. How much longer can Carlos Danger keep campaigning without infuriating the entire Democratic Party? Stay with us.


BERMAN: The "Politics Lead." Hell hath no fury like Nancy Pelosi scorned. The minority leader says her former House colleague, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner and Anthony "Danger" Weiner need to get a clue.


REPRESENTATIVE NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: The conduct of some of these people that we're talking about here is reprehensible. It's so disrespectful of women and what's really stunning about it is they don't even realize it. They don't have a clue and it is really -- if they're clueless, get a clue. If they need therapy, do it in private.


BERMAN: Not happy, that Nancy Pelosi. Let's bring in our panel now, CNN contributor and Republican strategist Kevin Madden, CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger and Democratic strategist, Matt Bennett. Gloria, let me start with you because you have a little bit of news in the Anthony Weiner story.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I have from two knowledgeable sources that Hillary Clinton whom as you know is very close to Huma Abedin, did not know that Huma was going to go on TV and defend her husband.

BERMAN: People have been wondering if Huma's been getting advice from Hillary Clinton --

BORGER: Not on this topic.

BERMAN: It seemed like Hillary Clinton was relatively in the dark here. Kevin Madden, there's a lot of bad things happening to Democrats in a very public way right now. Anthony Weiner, New York City, Bob Filner in San Diego. Stick with Weiner for a second. Do Republicans capitalize on this? Is there a way?

KEVIN MADDEN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think it capitalizes on it in the sense that Nancy Pelosi, the last thing she wanted to do today when she went up to the podium was answer questions about Filner or Weiner and then ultimately Spitzer somewhere getting thrown in there. So it distracts them from the message they want to deliver the message that they want to deliver.

But ultimately there are not a lot of voters that are looking at their particular situation in their home district or their home state through the lens of the San Diego mayor or New York comptroller race or mayoral race. The Republicans still have to focus on the issues and what matters to people and their bottom line economically in this country if we're going to take advantage.

BERMAN: Matt, does this leave a stink in other Democrats? Is every Democratic candidate or office holder around the country need to make a statement about Anthony Weiner?

MATT BENNETT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No, definitely not. The thing is, first of all, these are ex-members of Congress so they're not Pelosi's problems anymore. And the other thing is these are personal failings. They are serious ones. The things that Filner did are really reprehensible and Weiner too, but they are personal unlike some of the things that Pelosi's counterpart Speaker Boehner are dealing with, which are political and are kind of deal with matters of principle rather than personal failures.

BORGER: But don't you think this lowers the bar for politicians in the sense that people could look at this and go another politician, you didn't think this could get any lower than an 82 percent disapproval rate, which members of Congress have? And then you look at Weiner and Filner and you, the public just shrugs and says --

MADDEN: Yes, we have seen the public continue to lower their bar. Yes, that is an unfortunate occurrence here because of that. I think on the other point to what Matt said, you know, I do think that there is a level of hypocrisy from the Democrats who have been arguing war on women for so long, right? That takes a lot of sting out of that argument when they have three very prominent Democrats who have problems right now through the lens of many of those issues.

BERMAN: What we just saw here was a Republican trying to capitalize on some of these sandals right there. Let the record show.

MADDEN: That was a clinical analysis, John. There's a difference.

BERMAN: You brought up some issues that Speaker Boehner is dealing with because the Republicans have some issues with Congressman Steve King who has been talking about immigration. Let's listen to some of the sound here.


REPRESENTATIVE STEVE KING (R), IOWA: For everyone who is a valedictorian, there is another hundred out there that they weigh 130 pounds and have cavs the size of cantaloupes because they are hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the dessert.


BERMAN: Speaker Boehner not at all happy about that. Congressman Steve King was talking about the immigration issue, talking about dreamers, so-called dreamers, people who are maybe born in the United States or brought to the United States by their parents, immigrants, of course. And he spoke out against Congressman Steve King.


REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: There is no place in this debate for hateful or ignorant comments from elected officials. Earlier this week, Representative Steve King made comments that where, I think, deeply offensive and wrong, but does not reflect the values of the American people or the Republican Party.


BERMAN: Now Congressman Steve King sticks by these statements, Kevin, but Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, they came out extremely quickly to condemn these comments.

MADDEN: It goes back to the same comment was making about Nancy Pelosi. It becomes a distraction for John Boehner and Eric Cantor and others. It becomes a bigger distraction if they in any way hesitate and don't immediately distance themselves and the party from that. Now the challenge is to go out and create a greater market share of information about what the republican wants to do about immigration that's more solution oriented, that's more -- geared towards the economy. That is more geared towards border security and that's where the focus has to be.

BENNETT: This is more than a distraction. The problem for Boehner, and you could see it in his face, he looked pained, is that whether or not King actually speaks for other members of the Republican caucus, it sounds like he does.

BORGER: Exactly.

BENNETT: And people believe that he does. And that is a serious problem for national Republicans and they know it.

MADDEN: I think the advantage is that we have folks like Marco Rubio talking in a much more aspirational way about immigration.

BORGER: But this legislation is going to get stuck in the House.

MADDEN: But that's a bigger problem.

BORGER: But it points to the problem that Boehner has because it shows you his raucous caucus, right?

BERMAN: That has to be our last word, last two words, raucous caucus.

BORGER: I'm a poet.

BERMAN: We will leave you with that. Gloria Borger, Kevin Madden, Matt Bennett, thank you so much for being with us.

Coming up next, so what is it about summertime that makes so many public figures think you can't handle the truth, can't anyone be straight with us anymore? When we come back.


BERMAN: Welcome back to THE LEAD, everyone. I'm John Berman. That's actually the truth. These days the truth is starting to seem like a rarity, along with hip fads. One of the most pervasive trends in modern life these days seems to be lying.


BERMAN (voice-over): The legend goes George Washington was so incredibly honest that he once told his father "I cannot tell a lie. I chopped down the cherry tree." We now know that is probably made up, which is good for the cherry tree, but also much of modern society, which could never live up the example, seemingly unwilling or unable to speak the truth.

Among the sentences we did not hear initially, "I cannot tell a lie, I juiced," "I cannot tell a lie the government is involved in massive comprehensive electronic surveillance," and "I cannot tell a lie, I sexted photos of my junk."

If you're keeping score at home when former MVP Ryan Braun said this last year --

RYAN BRAUN, MILWAUKEE BREWERS: I truly believe in my heart and I would bet my life that the substance never entered my body at any point.

BERMAN: Then appears to be somewhere south of completely truthful, way south. He just agreed to a suspension from baseball from violating the performance-enhancing drug policy. Carol Cain and the Princess Bride might call him -- Braun is in MVP company. Alex Rodriguez had this exchange with Katie Couric on "60 Minutes" in 2007.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For the record, have you ever used steroids, human growth hormone or any other performance enhancing substance?


BERMAN: Rodriguez later admitted to taking drugs and now faces even more questions. Speaking of questions, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper asked about surveillance in March --





BERMAN: He later apologized for what he called his erroneous statement, erroneous as in false. That brings us to the world of Weiner, this week's news of Anthony Weiner's now apparently extended sext-a-thon. We're reminded how he first tried to dismiss the questions two years ago.

ANTHONY WEINER: Someone got access to my account. That's bad. They sent a picture that makes fun of the name Weiner. I get it.

BERMAN: No. Not true, didn't happen. In the words of the Princess Pride, he was a -- maybe we hold public figures to too high of a standard, maybe they have never been as honest as we like, from Washington to Weiner, or just maybe the "X-Files" was right, the truth is out there.


BERMAN: Scully never lied to me. So even with all the tales we've heard lately to claim the title the world's biggest liar, you have to earn it. You really do. The competition takes place in England every year and it's been noted that lawyers and politicians are banned because they have an unfair advantage.

That is it for THE LEAD. I'm John Berman filling in for Jake Tapper. I turn you over to the always truthful Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: John, thanks very much.