[Malveaux:] A little bit of inside information. Prince William apparently had a nickname for Kate Middleton while they were dating. He called her babykins. That's right. How do we know this? Well, this is because a tabloid newspaper allegedly hacked into Middleton's voicemail.
[Holmes:] And a lot of other people's, too. Now, when it comes to royals the nickname and other private information all came out in court today because the tabloid "News of the World" newspaper well, it's out of business now but its editors, at the time, are now on trial accused of breaking the law to get their scoops. CNN's Erin McLaughlin following the story from London. More salacious stuff, but it's a very serious story and a very serious court case. What else did prosecutors say about these messages?
[Erin Mclaughlin, Cnn Correspondent:] Hi, Michael. This is really the first time we're hearing details, actual transcripts into allegations the duchess of Cambridge, then Kate Middleton, phone had been hacked by the now defunct publication the "News of the World". In open court today, the prosecutor reading some of the transcripts from voicemails they say was obtained by police during the course of this investigation. One of the incidents one of the voicemails, rather, dates all the way back to 2006 when Prince William was undergoing military exercises at Sandhurst, left a voicemail, the prosecution says for Kate Middleton in which he describes nearly being shot by blank rounds. Let me read you the transcript that was read in open court in London today. He left a message saying, "Hi, baby. Sorry, I've just got back in off my night navigation exercise." He goes on to say, "I had a busy day today. Again, I've been running around the woods of Aldershot chasing shadows and getting horribly lost, and I walked into some other regiment's ambush, which was slightly embarrassing because I nearly got shot, not by live rounds, but by blank rounds, which would have been very embarrassing, though." Very embarrassing now for Prince William to have this intimate phone message read out in open court. The prosecution later added that a similar news story appeared in an edition of "News of the World" in which Prince William is actually shot by blank rounds during a military exercise. Prosecution arguing that this shows that the "News of the World" at the time was using these kinds of voicemails to inform its news stories. It's the latest revelation of an ongoing trial of two "News of the World" editors, Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, and five former "News of the World" employees. They're charged with conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages between the years of 2000 and 2006, charges that the defendants deny. Michael and Suzanne?
[Holmes:] All right, Erin, thanks so much. Erin McLaughlin there outside court, been covering that all day.
[Malveaux:] Can you imagine? Embarrassing, indeed
[Holmes:] Yeah.
[Malveaux:] you know, it all comes now.
[Holmes:] It involved dozens of people, too, they were hacking into. The widespread collection, as we say, of these phone and e-mail records by the NSA, though, they need more judicial oversight, public transparency. They're just two of the some 40 recommendations in a new report about the agency's surveillance of electronic communications.
[Malveaux:] And this is a review ordered by President Obama in the wake of the stunning revelations by, of course, NSA leader Edward Snowden. Well, after the report was released, one prominent Democrat said it showed the NSA had overstepped its bounds.
[Sen. Patrick Leahy, -vermont:] The message is very clear, the message to the NSA is now coming from every branch of government, from every corner of our nation. NSA, you've gone too far.
[Malveaux:] And Wolf Blitzer joining us from Washington. So Wolf, give us a sense here of President Obama. He began the administration promising less secrecy, more transparency. How willing do you think the White House is going to be willing to adopt some of these recommendations? And how is the intelligence community also reacting to these reforms?
[Wolf Blitzer, Host, Situation Room:] I think it will adopt some of those, maybe even most of those, 46 recommendations. Some he clearly won't adopt, one already trying to split off the head of the cyber command from the NSA, make sure there are two people instead of one person in charge of both. That apparently the White House has already rejected. But I think a lot of these 46 recommendations he'll accept. He's taking all of these recommendations, all of the background reports, the information on vacation with him to Hawaii. They're leaving this week. Among those recommendations, greater judicial oversight, more public transparency, same privacy for U.S. citizens and foreigners who are in the United States urging government support for encryption standards and tightening the protection of classified information. Some of these certainly will go along; with others, he probably won't go along with because of there's strong resistance inside the intelligence community. They think the U.S. needs to do a lot of this to prevent another 911. So there's going to be a debate. There's going to be resistance. The president will presumably be delivering a major speech in January on what he has accepted, what he hasn't accepted, although he's going to have to show transparency given the uproar that has developed.
[Holmes:] Wolf, I suppose of course, it impacts people all around the world who were being, sort of eyes kept on them by the NSA. Is there a sense there in Washington that the NSA overreached I don't know if the word rogue, going rogue, would apply but that they overreached or that this was business as usual and got caught out by leaks?
[Blitzer:] Well, after 911 the business as usual changed11. So there are critics. You heard Patrick Leahy, the Democratic senator from Vermont, making his point that the NSA has gone way too far. On the Republican side, I spoke with Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky yesterday, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, the Homeland Security Committee. He goes one step further. He says not only did the NSA overreach, but the head of national intelligence, James Clapper, he should possibly even be criminally prosecuted for he says, lying to Congress. Listen to this.
[Sen. Rand Paul - Kentucky:] I do think what our government is doing is unconstitutional, and I really think that in order to restore confidence in our intelligence community, I think James Clapper should resign.
[Blitzer:] And when I pressed him who did more damage to the U.S. national security, Suzanne and Michael, would it be James Clapper or would it be Edward Snowden, he says both of them did some damage; both of them broke the law. He was almost equating the two of them, which was pretty stunning, if you want to take a look back and see how so many of the others have reacted in defense of this program.
[Malveurax:] Absolutely. All right, Wolf, thank you so much. Appreciate it, as always. A British soldier hacked to death in the streets near his London barracks, well, he was killed in May. And today the two men charged with his murder, they learned their fate. The jury's verdict up next.