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Russian Planes Attack Georgia; Detroit Mayor in Court; FBI Investigates Maryland Police Raid

Aired August 08, 2008 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

See events come into the NEWSROOM live on the 8th day. It is now time to tell you about what is on the rundown.

Mayor's in a muddle. Detroit's leader in court this hour and the FBI investigates a raid at a Maryland mayor's home.

HARRIS: Russian tanks on the move. Fighting erupts in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia.

COLLINS: Democrats get their house in order. Bill Clinton's convention role is set, life of the party, in the NEWSROOM.

A breaking story we've been following since last hour, escalating crisis in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. A Georgia official says Russia bombed one of its provinces then Georgian troops shot down two Russian aircrafts.

This follows this week's clashes between Georgian troops and separatist forces in Georgia's break away region of South Ossetia.

Just moments ago, the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, had a conversation with our Kiran Chetry. Here's a portion of that conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRES. MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI, GEORGIA: You know that this is Russia is fighting war with us in our own territory. And this -- we are in the situation of self-defense against a big and mighty neighbor. We are a country of less than 5 million people and certainly our forces are not comparable.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Can you confirm that Georgian troops have shot down two Russian aircrafts?

SAAKASHVILI: Georgia self-defense troops have informed us that they have fired back and shot down two Russian aircrafts. But this is a very small part of the inflights and basically didn't change much of the picture. Yes. But I have -- I can confirm that that's what they are saying, that's what they've been confirming.

And that, you know, this -- one of these aircrafts was specifically attacking the civilian hospital, wounding doctors and patients there with no real purpose.

CHETRY: What do you think the United States government should do if anything right now?

SAAKASHVILI: Look, I mean, this is complicated. It's not about tiny separatist area inside Georgia. There were -- the overall population there is less than 25,000 people, has never been more than 30,000. And it's ethnically diverse. And it's in the -- right in the middle of Georgia.

But Russia has been preparing for this for years and months now. You know they've been amassing troops at our border, at that place, for already four months. And they made no secret.

They are unhappy with our closeness with the United States, with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, with the west, in general. They're unhappy with Georgian -- they're unhappy with Georgia's democracy, and the way Georgia is run.

Georgia is, indeed, one of small but very prosperous Democratic neighbors of Russia. Not a good example for present people, apparently, in the family. And the point here is that, you know, they always told us, we'll hit at -- you because you're so close to the United States.

Yesterday, the whole thing started -- you know, they'd be shelling our position for weeks and weeks. And therefore -- especially the last hours, we didn't respond, we declared unilateral cease fire. And we only responded when Russian tanks started to move into our country.

I mean at 24:00 a.m., the very moment I got the news Russian tanks are in. I told, OK, let's open the artillery fire. This was not about separatist area. This was a very blunt Russian aggression.

So what Americans can do about it? Well, look, it's not about Georgia anymore. It's about the principles and values America has. You know it's like Finland in 1939, attacked by (INAUDIBLE). It's like Afghanistan in 1979. It's like Czech Slovakia in 1968, when Soviet and Russian tanks moved in.

We are right now suffering because we want to be free and we want to be a democracy, multi-ethnic democracy, that belongs to all ethnic groups and that's exactly what's happening there.

So basically, I have to -- I mean it's not about Georgia anymore. It's about America its values.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: OK. There you have it. Georgia's president, Mikheil Sakaashvili, in a conversation with our Kiran Chetry just moments ago. On the story for us CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr and CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance in Moscow.

Let's first go to Barbara.

And Barbara, obviously, the Pentagon is following these developments very closely.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Very closely, indeed, Tony. What I can tell you at this hour, there are about 130 U.S. military and civilian Pentagon personnel in Georgia that have been there for sometime as part of a training mission. They've been doing work there for many, many months trying to train Georgian forces, if you will, to be able to stand on their own.

The U.S. has counted heads at this hour. They believe all U.S. military and Pentagon personnel are safe, but officials at the European command in Germany tell us they are going back, making sure there's nobody in the outlying areas.

They are monitoring the situation around the clock, meeting throughout the day in case there is a need, which they don't yet see for any type of evacuation of U.S. personnel or U.S. citizens in Georgia. That would be a request that would come from the State Department and that the Pentagon might have to fulfill.

Now here's the issue on the table. As this violence escalates, when you are in a country where you see aircrafts being shot down, that's the type of thing that leads to closing of commercial airports, closing of...

HARRIS: Yes.

STARR: ... commercial air traffic. And that might be down the road when the U.S. military might have to send some planes in. They don't think they're at that point, but I can tell you, at the highest levels, this is getting around the clock attention -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK, Barbara, I'm just curious here. And you may not know the answer to this question yet. But I want to pose it to you.

The Georgia president said very flatly that we are under attack from Russia. And I'm wondering, do we know yet why Russia is in Georgia? Is it in somehow some response to some of the reporting that Russian peace keepers in Georgia have been killed?

STARR: Well, you know, this is what both sides are saying...

HARRIS: Yes.

STARR: ... in the situations. Everyone has their own point of view.

From the Bush administration's point of view, today so far, this morning, we haven't yet seen a public response from the White House, of course, the traveling White House in Beijing for the Olympics. But I can tell you I think there will be some mounting call for some type of statement from the White House, from the State Department on this -- on the diplomatic front.

The U.S. has, shall we say, very sensitive relations with the Russians, with Vladimir Putin and the government there, about all of this. It's part of the reason the U.S. military has been there for some time trying to train the Georgian forces. It's always been very sensitive.

The Russians have always been very -- very aware of the U.S. military presence there even though it is strictly a training mission. It's something that has not particularly sat well with Moscow. So everybody really walking...

HARRIS: Yes.

STARR: ... a very sensitive line here, but the bottom line is the Pentagon wants to stop seeing people shelling each other and doesn't want to see planes shot down out of the sky. That's an escalation that's not good for anybody in their view -- Tony.

HARRIS: And Barbara, I'm going to ask you one more quick one, and again, this is something that I'm sure that you will have the answer to, if not now, at some point today as you continue to work your sources at the Pentagon.

The back and forth between the Bush administration and Russia over Georgia and the back and forth there between Georgia and Russia -- is it the belief by -- held by anyone in the Pentagon that Russia has actually been supporting the separatist ambitions of some in South Ossetia?

STARR: I don't know that the Pentagon particularly has a strong view on that. This is something that it's -- in these situations always becomes very much a matter of international diplomacy. The State Department, I'm quite sure, does have a view about it.

HARRIS: That's a great point, yes. Yes.

STARR: And probably, I think, again, we're going to hear from them later in the day.

The focus at this hour, Tony, I have to tell you here in the Pentagon, is to get these tensions ratcheted down...

HARRIS: Yes.

STARR: ... and to not see this escalate any further -- Tony.

HARRIS: Barbara, that's terrific. Thanks for playing along as we try to run the clock a little bit to get to Matthew Chance. We've got a bit of a statement from a White House spokesman Tony Fratto who says we urge all of the parties to be open to a dialogue and to work together to resolve this situation peacefully.

OK, that is the White House response at the moment. And in just a couple of moments, we will get to our international correspondent Matthew Chance for the very latest.

If you want to know more about what triggered all of the bad blood in South Ossetia, we would have you go to our Web site. Just log on to CNN.com/world. And there you will find what we consider a pretty fascinating historic perspective on this developing story.

COLLINS: All right, it appears that we, in fact, do have our international correspondent Matthew Chance coming to us live right now from Moscow with more on this story and some of the reaction there, certainly, to what the Georgian president has said on our air here at CNN.

Matthew, tell us what you know at this point from there.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's been no reaction as such yet directly to what the Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili said on CNN within the last hour that it is essentially at war, under attack by - by the Russian.

The Russian Foreign Ministry hasn't commented directly on that. What the Russian's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, has said, though, is that -- in the past few minutes -- is that he believes that Georgia is conducting what it calls ethnic cleansing inside South Ossetia.

What he means by that, I think, is that a number of South Ossetians, ethnic Ossetians, from the area have made their way north to Russian territory as a result of the 24 hours of aerial bombardments and artillery attacks that have been conducted by the Georgian armed forces to try and regain control about break away Georgian territory.

Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, also being quoted by the state Interfax News Agency here in Russia, said that the international community must stop turning a blind eye to the massive arms procurement that are being made by the Georgian state.

Now Georgia is a very tiny country and it's also very close U.S. ally. It's also a country that wants very much to join the NATO military alliance. And it's been trying to upgrade its military as a result of that. The Russians have interpreted this as rearming themselves, undertaking massive arms procurements, as they say, in order to conduct this kind of military campaign that we're seeing now underway in South Ossetia.

All this comes, Heidi, as Russian state television broadcasts very dramatic images of Russian tanks moving into Georgia from Russian territory. The Russian Defense Ministry says that those tanks are on their way to support the thousands of Russian peace keepers that are already on the ground in South Ossetia.

But this is being interpreted, as we've heard from the Russian -- from the Georgian president, as real act of aggression by the Kremlin, by Russia against the tiny Georgian state -- Heidi.

COLLINS: So Matthew, as we continue to look at those very images that you are talking about now, the tanks rolling in there, and we talk about, obviously, serious aggression here, is there any chance at this point or in the near future of knocking these tensions down a bit? What will need to be done? What sort of talks, if any, would need to take place?

CHANCE: Well, certainly, the parties involved in this conflict -- the separatist rebels, Russia, the Georgians -- they need to be able to sit down and stop the fighting, first of all, and then to sit down and try and work out a long-term agreement for the future of South Ossetia, and the future of the other break-away territories inside Georgia that have very much been frozen conflicts...

COLLINS: Right.

CHANCE: ... over the course of the past decade or so since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

To date, though, for several years, a solution to resolve all the problems has, you know, been very elusive and there's no real suggestion that that's just around the corner. In fact, what we're seeing today is a culmination of all the tensions that have been escalating in this part of the world for the past several years -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, understood. All right.

CNN's Matthew Chance coming to us from Moscow.

Matthew, thanks so much. We will keep in close contact with you.

HARRIS: And we want to have you hear more of what Georgia's president is saying about the situation of his country right now. More of the interview from earlier this morning, on AMERICAN MORNING, Kiran Chetry and Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAAKASHVILI: It's beyond what I could have imagined. This is really way too much. And if this been -- if they get away with this in Georgia, the world will be in trouble.

Georgia is not a state right now, although -- it's all about Georgia. It's about -- values, principles, and the world order. Is Russia going to get away with this kind of violation? Well, I don't think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: We will have more from the Georgian president here in the NEWSROOM and give you the very latest developments on the story.

Also, horrible crash in Texas overnight. We will give you an update on that story on what is shaping up to be a very, very busy morning right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: Unfortunately, just a terrible story to tell you about, tragedy, in fact, in Texas. A bus loaded with 55 church members careened over a highway overpass and rolled down an embankment. It happened overnight about 60 miles north of Dallas.

You are looking at pictures from the scene where police tell us at least 13 people are dead. They now believe a blown tire may have set it all in motion.

There is a news conference going on at this moment with more information coming out. We are monitoring it.

In the meantime, I want to let you listen into a few things that were said a little bit earlier in that press conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guardrail into the creek and embankment, did not go down into the creek as some were first reporting. Stayed on the embankment, looks like it had gone on to its side. At this time, we have 13 confirmed fatalities, 12 were confirmed at the scene, one was confirmed later that had passed away at Parkland Hospital in Dallas.

Fifty-five people on the bus that started out in Houston. The bus is Angel Tours, started in Houston en route to Cartridge, Missouri. It was Vietnamese Catholics that were on the bus en route to a church event in Cartridge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: So there you have some of the sound and talking a little bit more about what could have gone wrong there. But certainly we'll continue to follow that story and the news conference that is ongoing.

Just a tragedy there. Thirteen people dead, believably from a blown tire in Texas.

Right now, I want to get over to Reynolds Wolf, has a little bit of the weather picture out there. In fact, lots of storms to talk about, Reynolds.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: All right, Reynolds. Very good. Thank you. We'll check in later on.

HARRIS: U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by the end of 2010. Iraqi politicians say a deal is near.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The Summer Olympics are now underway, but it's not just the athletes seizing the world stage. Protesters are targeting China's human rights record. Some are demanding China end its rule in Tibet. Thousands of Tibetan exiles demonstrated at the Chinese embassy in Nepal's capital Katmandu. More than 1,000 people were detained.

Meanwhile, three Americans are back home after China expelled them for protesting in Tiananmen Square. They, too, were protesting human rights abuses. They say the Chinese government threatened them well after police dragged them away and threatened them with lengthy jail terms.

COLLINS: The opening ceremonies last hour considered the most lavish ever. World leaders turned out for the games and less elite visitors, too. Well, they're watching outside from -- watching all the events from right outside.

John Vause is standing by at one of the two dozen sites now where the games will be shown on giant screens.

Hey there, John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Heidi.

Yes, there's actually about more than 20 of these fan zones set up around Beijing and there's a whole lot more of them around the country. All the people here -- they've been watching the opening ceremony for the last, you know, hour and a half or so. It's very, very hot sticky night here.

But, you know, a funny thing has happened. They cheered for the fireworks and they really enjoyed the big picture stuff, but at about 50 minutes into it, we had Peking opera and it all slowed down, and now the place has pretty much emptied out. We've got all the teams coming out.

COLLINS: Oh no.

VAUSE: And -- yes, I didn't expect it. Apparently they spent like $100 million on the opening and closing ceremonies, so maybe this isn't quite the reaction they were hoping for. Interesting thing about the teams coming out, they're not doing it alphabetically, like they've done in any number of Olympics. They're doing it according to Chinese characters, which basically means that Australia, which is normally at the front, is now actually going to be at the back.

I'm actually trying to work out where the U.S. team will come out, because when it does come out, there's a great story there, because Lopez Lomong is actually going to be carrying the flag. He's a former Sudanese refugee. He's only been a U.S. citizen for one year. This is his first international event. So it was a unanimous vote by the U.S. team captain for him to carry the flag for the U.S. side.

It is probably the gold medal and a decent thing to do, and really, it's going to be the highlight of these Olympic Games.

Yao Ming will carry the flag for the Chinese side, and then, of course, the big mystery is who will light the cauldron, who and how will it be done. There's some talk that the cauldron will be lit then it will float across the stadium on helium balloon. So I guess we'll just have to wait and find out.

One last thing, even this opening ceremony wasn't without controversy. Cast your mind back to February when Steven Spielberg resigned because of China's role in Darfur. That should be all forgotten tonight. Many Chinese people hoping that once the Olympics get underway, all of those controversies will be done for -- Heidi?

COLLINS: Wow, I feel bad for the Peking Opera, though. Yikes.

All right, well, we will check in with you a little bit later on.

John Vause, thanks so much. Enjoy yourself.

HARRIS: Russian tanks on the move, fighting erupts in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Look at these pictures. Georgia's president says his country is under attack.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Want to go ahead and take a look at the opening bell about to happen any minute now on this Friday.

Boy, it's been all over the map this week, that's for sure. But it's not the first time we've said that, is it? Started off the week really, really high and then a couple of days after that, really low. And again, the close really low. Just the other day down about 225 points or so.

So we are watching, certainly, the numbers along with some of the other business headlines. We'll be talking with Susan Lisovicz coming up shortly.

HARRIS: Bottom of the hour. Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

More now on a breaking story across the world. A former Soviet Republic declares itself under attack and asks the U.S. to come to its aid. You are looking at Russian tanks rolling into the break away Georgian province of South Ossetia. Georgia's president says the region has also faced extensive bombing and there are scores of dead and wounded civilians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAAKASHVILI: These troops that are in Georgia now, they didn't come unexpectedly. Those troops were massed -- the border has been amassed -- they had been amassing at the border for the last three or four months. They were claiming that they were staging exercises there. And as soon as the suitable pretext was found yesterday, they moved in.

But, you know, it was meant to be this way as we found out all the way through. And they didn't hide it very much. They've been preparing. They've been looking at world opinion how they would react to this preparation. And in the end, they just moved in. It's unheard of, unparalleled. It's absolutely outrageous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Georgia's President says Russia has launched the attack in hopes of crushing democracy. Russia says it is protecting its citizens against the threat of, quote, "ethnic cleansing" in South Ossetia. The White House is urging the two sides to resolve the dispute peacefully.

HARRIS: A troop withdrawal deal. Iraqi officials say it is close at hand. U.S. combat forces leaving Iraq by the end of 2010. We are covering this developing story from all angles.

CNN's Arwa Damon live for us in Baghdad and our Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon.

First to you, Arwa.

A word of this possible deal, as you know, surfaced yesterday afternoon shortly afternoon Eastern Time for us here in the NEWSROOM. What are the Iraqis saying? And who is saying it?

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Iraqi lawmakers that we spoke to, all of them are saying that they're just days away from signing this deal. And earlier today, we spoke with Iraq's deputy foreign minister who is also the head of the Iraqi negotiating team when it comes to these talks. And he is insisting on that point, as well.

Saying that in less than a year, by June 30th, 2009, there would be no U.S. troops on the cities in Iraq. They would have all withdrawn to their bases. And then as you just mentioned by 2010, all combat forces would have left Iraq. The rest of American troops would be following them about a year later.

But he did add that there are a number of caveats. That is Iraq will still maintain the ability to ask the U.S. to stay on longer. And those dates are not necessarily set in stone. It would still depend on the security situation on the ground.

He is also saying that other contentious issues such as contractor immunity, the U.S. military's ability to detain Iraqis have all been negotiated. The points on those are all done.

The U.S. officials we spoke to here, however, are cautioning that there is still a lot of negotiating ahead even though much progress has been made. They are insisting that these timelines have not yet been defined. And that the issue of contractor immunity, detainee authority and other issues such as jurisdiction are still up for negotiation.

And another thing to point out, though, that this deal still has to pass through the Iraqi parliament, and they just went on recess and are not really due back for another month.

But what we're seeing here is really the Iraqis trying to put forward a very hard line. Remember, Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki has to create the appearance that he is standing up for Iraq. And he has to push this through parliament with all of its many various factions. But at the same time, the wording of this document is still fairly ambiguous. Because Iraq very much knows that it does still need the U.S. here. And privately, Iraqi politicians are telling us that they do remain very aware that this is a very dangerous time for Iraq.

HARRIS: And Arwa, one more quick question, you mentioned the domestic aspects of this. Domestically speaking, it sounds as though the Iraqi politicians would like to have some kind of agreement in place before the next round of elections.

DAMON: They do. We do have provincial elections coming up. And of course, we have national elections coming up after that. But what the Iraqis really want to do is not to be put in a position where they would have to extend the U.N. mandate that expires on December 30th.

They really want to have some sort of an agreement in place that makes it seem to the Iraqi people that they are actually standing up and taking these concrete steps moving forward. But as we have privately heard in conversation, even though they do have that timeline of 2011 set for all U.S. troops to be out of Iraq, realistically speaking they are telling us that they are still going to need America for things like air support for America to control their airspace just for pure logistics of what is going on.

Realistically speaking, it's highly unlikely that Iraq is going to be able to protect itself in the next three years.

HARRIS: Wow, that leads to a whole bunch of other questions.

All right, Arwa Damon for us in Baghdad. Arwa, thank you.

COLLINS: So, it would be very interesting to hear what U.S. officials are saying about all of this. We want to go live now to Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

Barbara, I'm not sure how well you were able to hear what Arwa Damon was telling us, but when we hear that there are private conversations being head in Iraq about how realistic this is, very interesting to hear what the U.S. side is at this point.

STARR: Well, Heidi, I think Arwa hit absolutely all the points to be said on all of this. From the Bush administration's point of view that, however, they are very firmly committed to condition-based withdrawals. Those words we keep hearing that any withdrawal of U.S. forces would be based in fact on conditions on the ground.

They are very aware that Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki has a domestic political situation so he needs to demonstrate to his people some certainty about U.S. forces getting out of the country. Nonetheless, as long as the Bush administration remains in office, they are going to consider those dates that Arwa mentioned to be goals, if you will, rather than firm deadlines. The question on the table, as always, is what happens after the elections here in the United States -- Heidi?

COLLINS: Yes. Certainly, we could talk about that forever. But, there's also another topic here. And that's certainly the need for troops in Afghanistan. We have heard it from military commander before. What are they saying now about meeting that need?

STARR: Well, we have taken quite a look at that situation. The other war, if you will. We've conducted an exclusive interview with General David McKiernan, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, and asked him if a surge worked in Iraq, would the same exact thing really worked in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice-over): The troop surge worked in Iraq but could it work again this time in Afghanistan. Top commanders aren't counting on it.

GEN. DAVID MCKIERNAN, NATO CMDR. IN AFGHANISTAN: There is no magic number of soldiers that are needed on the ground to win this campaign.

STARR: In an exclusive interview with CNN, General David McKiernan says a different type of surge is needed in Afghanistan.

MCKIERNAN: What we need is security of the people, we need governance and we need reconstruction and development.

STARR: Added to which, more troops alone cannot solve one of the biggest problems, Pakistan's safe haven for militants. U.S. troops are barred from going after them in Pakistan. Meanwhile U.S. officials say militants crossed the border freely.

LISA CURTIS, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Unless you stabilize that border with Pakistan and uproot the terror safe haven, which has developed in the Pakistan tribal areas, you're not going to be able to stabilize Afghanistan.

STARR: Another problem, Afghanistan's uncheck drug trade is financing the violence. 90 percent of the world's opium comes from Afghanistan and much of that money ends up in the hands of war lords and other militants.

MCKIERNAN: There is a clear linkage between NARCO trafficking and financing of the insurgency.

STARR: There is one positive difference between the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, unlike Iraq, the Afghan Army is eager to challenge its enemies.

CURTIS: There is a sense of commitment from those troops and that when they go in for the fight, they go in with everything they've got.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: Now, General McKiernan says that they eventually the U.S. will win against the Taliban that the Afghan people want to see the Taliban defeated. But for now, the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan remains very closely tied together because as the General McKiernan says, he knows that any additional troops and additional U.S. combat troops for Afghanistan would depend on getting troops out of Iraq first -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. CNN's Barbara Starr from the Pentagon this morning.

Thank you, Barbara.

HARRIS: Mayor is in a muddle. Detroit's leader in court this hour. And the FBI investigates a raid at a Maryland mayor's home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A big city mayor in trouble with the law and a suburban Maryland mayor troubled by the actions of law enforcement. We are following both stories this morning. Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in court right now. He spent the night in jail for violating his bond.

Also this morning, the Feds say they will investigate a complaint from the mayor Berwyn Heights, Maryland. He says deputies burst into his home, shot and killed his two dogs. The mayor and his family apparently innocent victims in a drug smuggling scheme.

COLLINS: We want to go ahead and look at the legal problems facing Detroit's mayor now as we mentioned. He is in court right now. You're looking at some live pictures from inside that courtroom. Kwame Kilpatrick is challenging a judge's decision now to send him to jail.

Want to get details from Mary Snow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYOR KWAME KILPATRICK (D), DETROIT: All I'm asking for, you know, your forgiveness. It will never happen again.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Detroit's mayor appealing to a judge to prevent being sent to jail. Kwame Kilpatrick, who is at the center of a sex and perjury scandal, admitted to a judge that he traveled to Windsor, Ontario without first getting court permission. The terms of his bond require him to do so.

KILPATRICK: This court and my respect for you has been presented. And that was a (INAUDIBLE) that I don't. I don't know where that comes from, Your Honor. But I don't believe that there's a person who can sit in this type of scrutiny, this type of pressure and these type of issues where I have to deal with personally with my wife and children. SNOW: Kilpatrick said the trip wasn't a willy-nilly go frolic in Canada trip, rather he was trying to save a business deal for Detroit. But the judge ruled that Kilpatrick violated his bond and sent him to jail.

JUDGE RONALD GILES, DETROIT CIRCUIT COURT: If it was not Kwame Kilpatrick sitting in that seat, if it was John six-pack sitting in that seat, what would I do? And that answer is simple.

SNOW: Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, face felony charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct of office. They stand accused of lying about having an affair during a whistle blower trial. They both deny the charges.

Kilpatrick became embroiled in the scandal back in January after the Detroit Free Press published text messages indicating the married mayor and Beatty were romantically involved.

With Kilpatrick behind bars, his chief of staff Kandia Milton is now in charge of the city's acting mayor. Critics are turning up the pressure saying its time for Kilpatrick to go but Milton says there's no talk of that happening.

DEP. MAYOR KANDIA MILTON, DETROIT: The spirits, you should know are high, and he stands committed to serve his citizen as he was elected to do six years ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Of course, we will keep you updated on that hearing for Kilpatrick.

HARRIS: Two dogs shot to death, a family terrorized. Now, the FBI is opening the civil rights investigation into that drug raid on the home of Berwyn Heights mayor, Cheye Calvo. That's Berwyn Heights, Maryland.

Earlier this morning, the mayor told CNN's AMERICAN MORNING he is grateful for all the attention the case is getting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHEYE CALVO, MAYOR OF BERWYN HEIGHTS, MD: The reality is, this happens all the time in this country and just unfortunately in Prince George's County. And mostly the people to whom it happens don't have the community support and the platform to speak out.

So I appreciate you paying attention to our condition, but I hope you also give the attention to those people who may not have the same platform and voice that we have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK, once again that is the mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland Cheye Calvo this morning.

COLLINS: Dr. Gupta goes Hollywood. A movie star gushes about his new son.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey embracing a new role, learning how to be a dad. And talking about it in his first TV interview since the birth of his son with our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

All right, Sanjay. How was it?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there you have it, you know. You have this geeky neurosurgery guy from the Midwest, me, talking to arguably the handsomest man in the world. It was a little intimidating.

Now, you know, look -- he and I -- you know, he talks about my daughters a lot with me. And having his own child, he talked a lot about this idea that he wanted to have along with Camilla, a natural childbirth and just how things would go. They had this whole plan and they wanted to sort of this combination of eastern and western medicine. We talked about it a lot ahead of time. But sometimes things don't always go to plan. Here's what we found out. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Did you guys have a plan ahead of time in was she going to get an epidural? Was she going to get pain meds? How did that all go?

MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, ACTOR: Yes, we did have a plan. It didn't happen. It didn't happen.

GUPTA: Sometimes the best laid plans.

MCCONAUGHEY: Yes, we had a plan. We had an ideal that we said let's go in and do this natural as possible.

GUPTA: Then, was it frightening for you? I mean, when you're hearing all this going on? Pulses dropping and they say C-section. What's going through your mind?

MCCONAUGHEY: You see a woman going, just really digging deep into her soul and bearing pain and being on top of it. You see a strength come out of a woman that you've never seen before. And I saw a strength come out of here that I'd never seen before.

Then the baby comes out and his eyes were wide open. He was crying. Glad to see the day, and then she was sewed up and that's all -- that's all been fine in post.

GUPTA: So, no regrets about the way that it went.

MCCONAUGHEY: Absolutely not. No, it went down perfectly. And even though we went 60 hours to do what could have been done in a few hours, it was a great journey for both of us. Her and I now have gone through something that we call it the best dance we've ever had. We have gone through something that we're like -- I know and you know, and only you and I know. And that's good for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Sixty hours of labor, Heidi. Remarkable. Three minutes after they started the C section to actually get the baby out. So it happened pretty fast. What had happened was the umbilical cord actually wrapped itself around the baby's neck. So every time they tried to deliver the heart rate drop, which is why she needs a C section. But, you know, they wanted to approach this completely natural and had the western medicine sort of standing by.

I will tell you in classic McConaughey style, he had a bongo drum in the delivery room, and he was deejaying as he said Brazilian music for almost the entire time trying to get into the rhythm of the entire delivery. So, I'm sure it was chaotic in there for sure, but he is a proud papa now, I can tell you.

COLLINS: You know, we had Enya playing.

GUPTA: (INAUDIBLE).

COLLINS: Is there anything in your chat with him that has actually surprise him about being a dad, so far?

GUPTA: Yes. You know, I asked him that same question. And he said the thing that probably surprise him the most is how little things have really changed. Now, you know, he's a movie star. He has a lot of resources. He has access to a lot of things.

He is changing diapers, he is swaddling the baby, he says. But he has made an appointment of continuing his life. He takes the baby to the beach. He's already taken this 1-month-old to a rock concert. A John Mellencamp concert. The baby is going to get a passport. They're going to travel all over the world. So, he's going to live that life.

He said all of his friends said -- men, your life is going to change dramatically. You're not going to be able to do the things you want to do. And he said he hasn't found that as of yet. As I was groaning as he was saying this, he recognizes that things are going to take a little longer than they used to in the past.

COLLINS: Yes, yes. It takes about three hours to get out the door when you have a little one.

Hey, when are you going to air that part where he talks about me and pines for me, and all that. That's kind of later, right?

HARRIS: What?

GUPTA: Yes, we're saving that. That's a great tease, Heidi. That will be in the next hour or something like that.

COLLINS: I knew that he would go there. I just didn't know when. All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta --

GUPTA: I got a lot of e-mails from our female correspondents and anchors asking that same thing.

COLLINS: No, really? I am shocked. Sanjay,

thank you. Great interview.

And, in fact, if you would like to hear more of Sanjay's exclusive interview with Matthew McConaughey, you can do that. It will be coming up Saturday and Sunday morning 8:30 Eastern, 5:30 Pacific.

HARRIS: Russian tanks are on the move. Fighting erupts in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Georgia's president says his country is under attack.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A closer look now with what the presidential candidates are saying. It's part of our effort to help you make an informed decision on Election Day. Here's Senator John McCain talking to supporters in Lima, Ohio, about the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: What we need are policies that create jobs, what we need is an economic strategy, an economic surge, a successful economic surge to keep jobs here at home and create new ones. And I don't have to tell anybody in Lima, Ohio. I don't have to tell anybody how tough things are. I don't have to tell you how difficult it's been. And I want to look you in the eye and tell you that I'm going to restore our economy, and I'm going to restore it in the heartland of America, and we're all going to be part of a team in a bipartisan fashion that gets it done.

(APPLAUSE)

We need to reduce the tax burden on businesses that choose to make their home in the United States of America, we need to open new markets to U.S. products, and we need to reduce the cost of health care, and we need to stop the out of control spending in Washington that's putting our debt on the backs of our children. That's unconscionable.

Senator Obama says he wants energy independence, but he is opposed to new drilling at home; he is opposed to nuclear power. He has said the high cost of gasoline doesn't bother him. Only it just rose too quickly. Miss, tell that to the people that are driving the oldest automobiles in the furthest to work. Tell them that the only problem is the price of gas rose too quickly.

He actually thinks that raising taxes on oil is going to bring down the price at the pump. He's claiming that putting air in your tires is the equivalent, you see equivalent, of new offshore drilling. That's not an energy plan, my friends. That's a public service announcement.

(APPLAUSE) My friends, we need to -- we need to drill offshore here and now. We need to drill offshore and it can affect the price of a gallon of gas. And my friends, when we exploit and find these new reserves of oil off our coast, it will reduce the price of a barrel of oil. That's just a fact. When you increase supply, obviously, the price of whatever it is is going to go down. So we've got to do it and we've got to do it quickly. I don't have to wait.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: John McCain on the economy in his own words.

COLLINS: Barack Obama also talking about the economy. Here's what he said to reporters aboard his campaign plane en route to Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, we've been talking about the economy the entire campaign. And the stories that I hear on the campaign trail of single moms who can't afford groceries, or don't have health care, folks who have lost their jobs, and if they find a new job they're getting paid two-thirds of what they were making before with fewer benefits, that's been the constant refrain of this election season.

The American people are hurting and they're anxious. And our economic plans specifically provide them relief and meet the short term, putting more money into their pockets, and long-term relief in terms of serious health care policy, an energy policy that can drive down gas prices, making sure that we're investing in roads and bridges and schools and other infrastructure here in the United States that can put people back to work.

So, you know, my sense is, is that during the summer months, people are not going to be paying as much attention as they're going to be paying in September and October. And the key, not just for our campaign, but I think the key for this election cycle, is for the American people to be very clear about the choices that they face when they go into that ballot box on November 4th.

And, you know, the challenges are clear, that John McCain and I have a fundamentally different view of our tax policy. He wants to give tax breaks to corporations. I want to give tax breaks to middle class families.

We have a fundamentally different view on health care. I want to provide health care for all Americans and reduce costs for those who have it. John McCain wants to put forward a Bush proposal that endangers the employer-based system. So, on a whole host of these issues, there are going to be some very clear contrasts. And I think when the American people start focusing on those contrasts, they will see two fundamentally different visions of where we can take America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Barack Obama on the economy.

Good morning once again everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM.