Congresswoman Giffords Will Step Down From Congress This Week; Penn State Coach Joe Paterno Died of Cancer
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We're following two developing stories now. Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords is resigning this week. She says she's getting better, but wants to focus on her recovery. We'll talk about her legacy and what comes next. And an outpouring of grief for legendary Penn State coach Joe Paterno. Hours after his death, we're hearing from family, fans, players and people involved in the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse investigation. We begin with the Gabby Giffords announcement. Giffords released a video statement online just hours ago saying she has to focus on her recovery.</s>REP. GABBY GIFFORDS (D), ARIZONA: I don't remember much from that horrible day, but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice. Thank you for your prayers and for giving me time to recover. I have more work to do on my recovery. So to do what is best for Arizona, I will step down this week. I'm getting better.</s>WHITFIELD: Let's bring in CNN's Athena Jones in Washington. So, Athena, what kind of reaction is pouring in?</s>ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're getting a lot of reaction there was a lot of love and support shown to congresswoman Giffords after the shooting last year. And you remember in August when she returned to the house chamber to vote on the debt ceiling bill, she got a standing ovation from her colleagues. And so, today we have seen reactions from both sides of the oil. Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi released a statement saying in part, "I join all my colleagues in Congress in thanking Gabby for the honor of calling her colleague and wishing Gabby and Mark great success and happiness." And house speaker John Boehner released a statement saying "I salute congresswoman Giffords for her service and the courage and perseverance she has shown in the face of tragedy. She will be missed." And so, those are some of the kinds of statements that we're seeing. We also saw a statement from Arizona governor Jan Brewer thanking Giffords for her service. And now, as you mentioned Giffords' office released a statement to accompany this video and said in that statement that congresswoman Giffords, one of the last, will be to go and complete the Congress on the corner event she had planned to hold last January 8th at a Tucson super market and that event was interrupted by this gunman. He ended up killing six people, wounding 12 others in addition to Giffords. So, she'll be going back and having a private gathering with some of the people who had come to the event to see her and meet and greet her. One of the things she will be doing is that she'll be attending the president's state of the union address this Tuesday evening here at Capitol Hill.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much. Athena Jones.</s>JONES: Thanks.</s>WHITFIELD: So Gabby Giffords was elected in 2006 to represent Arizona's eighth district in the U.S. house. She was one of 13 people shot during that Tucson Congress on your corner event that Athena was explaining there at a grocery store. Six people died in that rampage. The alleged shoot, Jared Loufer in has been found to incompetent to stand trial. The prosecutor is expecting he will be restored to competency so that he can stand trial. If convicted he could face the death penalty. So, let's bring in our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash. She's joining us on the phone. So Dana, you've been covering Giffords' career. Tell us what some of your sources are saying about her announcement. Did they see this coming?</s>DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, I actually spoke with one of congresswoman Giffords' very good friends, the chairwoman at the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She actually told me that she knew about this for a couple of weeks and that congresswoman Giffords effectively made this decision or this idea came into focus when she returned to Tucson for the year anniversary of the shooting, which, of course, as you mentioned was a couple of weeks ago. And it was then that she sort of realized that going full force in terms of approaching her recovery and also trying to do her job as a member of congress, she couldn't really do the two things at once. As congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said to me, Gabby doesn't do anything halfway. And she also, what Wasserman told me is that, that she realized the recovery in really doing it right will take, quote, "years, not months." And so, that's why she decided to do this, to step down. Obviously, Athena was talking about the statements coming out from both sides of the aisle. Look. Politically, Republicans would love the chance to pick up a seat in the house that he is actually may do here. But nobody, even as partisan as things get on Capitol Hill, nobody wanted to see Gabby Giffords leave Congress this way.</s>WHITFIELD: Alright, so courageous. Everyone of course wishing Gabby Giffords the best. Dana bash, thank you. We're also following the loss of a college football legend. Penn State students, alumni and supporters are mourning the death of Joe Paterno, paying tribute at a statue outside beaver stadium. Susan Candiotti has been there all day. Susan, what are people saying there? And I can see clearly they're leaving lots of flowers and mementos as well.</s>SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are. In fact, everyone here had someone inkling that something was going wrong that Joe Paterno's condition had worsened when the family put out a statement late Saturday night that his health had turned serious, over complications surrounding the treatment he had been receiving for his lung cancer. And then we received word this morning that overnight the legendary coach Joe Paterno had passed away. Ever since last night, people have been coming to this iconic statue of Joe Paterno ever since, leaving behind as you said flowers and candles and all kinds of mementos. The family issued this statement about their loss, reading in part, "he died as he lived. He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been." Of course, all of this comes amidst that scandal that erupted here at Penn State, surrounding a criminal investigation of Paterno's former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky who is criminally charged with child abuse. That never touched Joe Paterno directly, but certainly indirectly and toward the end of his life, he had said that he wished he perhaps could have done more when he learned about suspected child abuse back in 2002. Yet many supporters here say they will always love him.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's more than a coach. His family is one of the families that aside from all that have happened, this is different. It is all the people that have come to pay respects to him and it is Joe -- Joe was Penn state. He made Penn state.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're still going to love him no matter what anybody else said. It wasn't Joe's fault. We're still going to love Joe Paterno forever and ever period because we are Penn state.</s>CANDIOTTI: We don't know about funeral plans as yet. And the university is also going to be scheduling a memorial for him at some point for the man who was considered to be the heart and soul of Penn state - Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: Susan Candiotti, thanks so much. So Paterno's history with Penn state dates back more than 60 years. He was named assistant coach back in 1950. He became head coach in 1966. Over the course of his career, he logged 409 wins, more than any other division one coach in college football history. Under his leadership, the team won two national championships, 1982 and then again in '86. Paterno was fired last year amid child sex abuse allegations against his assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. So given all that history, it is no surprise the world of college football and the wider sports world are mourning CNN's sports Mark McKay is here to talk about Paterno's impact. We're talking about half a century in football, college ball.</s>MARK MCKAY, CNN SPORTS: Known as JoePa fictionally enough by so many, you saw the emotion on the part of the fans and the coaching fraternity has spoken out, Fred. We heard from Nick Saban, the coach of Alabama, the national champion. He said, quote, "Paterno was going to do what was best for college football. I think that should be his legacy." We have also heard from South Carolina's Steve Spurrier. "It was sad how it ended, but he was a great person and great coach." It really does speak, Fred, to the dichotomy of this, such a world renowned person when it came to doing things right in the field, but toward the end, what he may have not done in such a wider scope is going to tarnish this legacy.</s>WHITFIELD: And it really is interesting because it was difficult for a lot of supporters of Joe Paterno to come out shortly after the allegations surfaced because people were quite reserved. They weren't sure what his role was, how much he knew et cetera. However upon his passing, just a flood of sentiment, of people who are trying to talk about his football legacy and less about the fall from grace.</s>MCKAY: Amazing that you said that. You and I have been a chance to talk that passed away. I just felt it today, since we knew about 10:15 Eastern time. We have seen sights like this. This is Indiana. They hosted Penn state in college basketball today. A moment of silence held for Joe Paterno. But, you know what he did, Fred? He did it right. He, on the field this was a team that, you know, he graduated the players. There was an incredible graduation rate. He had all Americans as well. So, when it came to a sterling program, on the field, there was nothing that anybody could say bad about Joe Paterno and his legacy on that side.</s>WHITFIELD: Yes. Franco Harris among those who are talking about the loss of JoePa. Alright, thanks so much, Mark McKay, appreciate that. Meantime there is new audio coming from that deadly cruise ship disaster in Italy that we want to share with you coming up. You'll hear from the captain who is accused of abandoning ship. You'll hear what he said when asked if he would actually stay on board. And, after taking heat on the campaign trail about his finances, Mitt Romney sets a date to release the tax returns.