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American Morning
Taliban Tightens Pakistan Grip; GM Closing U.S. Factories for Extended Period This Summer; Obama Meeting With Credit Card CEOs; Palin-Johnston Family Feud; Student Opens Up About Attack by Serbian; GM Cutting Production; Photoshopping the President
Aired April 23, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome. Thanks so much for being with us on this Thursday, April 23rd. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. I'm John Roberts.
There is word this morning that General Motors plans to close most of its U.S. factories for up to nine weeks this summer. The move is because of slumping sales and a growing inventory of unsold vehicles. Sources say GM workers could learn as early as today which plants will be shutting down. GM normally closes plants for about two weeks in July to change from one model year to the next.
For the first time in five years, more Americans say that the country is headed in the right direction. In an "Associated Press" poll, 48 percent say we're on the right track. That's up from 40 percent in February. Forty-four percent of people believe the country is going in the wrong direction.
The numbers appear to reflect President Obama's popularity. The AP poll finds 64 percent of Americans approve of his job performance.
And 17-year-olds will soon be able to get the morning after emergency birth control pill, also known as plan B, without a doctor's prescription. The Food and Drug Administration says it won't appeal last month's federal court ruling that ordered the age limit lowered from 18. Those restrictions on over-the-counter access to morning after pills were imposed during the Bush administration.
CHETRY: And we begin this morning with the developing story in a high-stakes operation in the nuclear-armed nation of Pakistan.
Right now, Pakistani troops are on the move to try to muscle back government buildings. They're quickly falling into terrorist hands. The Taliban has been tightening its grip on an area some 60 miles outside of Islamabad. And in Washington, there's growing alarm over the Taliban's power grab.
On Capitol Hill, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is not mincing words about the disturbing developments.
Here's CNN's Jill Dougherty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A stark warning from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The prospect of a Taliban takeover in Pakistan, she says, poses a mortal threat...
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: To the security and safety of our country and the world.
DOUGHERTY: Secretary Clinton slammed the Pakistan government saying it's abdicating to hard-line Islamic groups by allowing them to rule tribal areas just 60 miles from the capital.
CLINTON: I think that we cannot underscore the seriousness of the existential threat posed to the state of Pakistan by the continuing advances now within hours of Islamabad that are being made by a loosely confederated group of terrorists and others who are seeking the overthrow of the Pakistani state, which is, as we all know, a nuclear-armed state.
DOUGHERTY: The U.S. has poured more than $11 billion in aid into Pakistan, but now the Obama administration is threatening to condition more money on how Pakistan fights terrorism. And in an unusual move, Clinton called on Pakistani citizens and Pakistani-Americans to speak out forcefully against seeding territory to the Taliban and al Qaeda.
CLINTON: I don't hear that kind of outrage or concern coming from enough people that would reverberate back within the highest echelons of the civilian and military leadership of Pakistan.
DOUGHERTY (on camera): The Pakistani leadership thinks this policy could buy them peace or at least some stability in those tribal areas. But Secretary Clinton wants to convince them they could be digging their own graves.
Jill Dougherty, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: This morning, President Obama is launching a new offensive to help keep more of your money in your hands. And in just a few hours' time, he's going to meet with executives at major credit card companies to try to crack down on high interest rates, penalties and fees, abuses that continue to heat up our show hotline.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
CALLER: Credit card is what's ruining this country. They need to put more green on the streets.
CALLER: I think credit cards should be just stopped, cut out. For some people, it's just another bill.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So what kind of relief and savings might be in store for you? CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis joins us now with a preview of what the president might say to the CEOs of these companies.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Yes, he's meeting with about 14 CEOs. It's going to be at 1:00 this afternoon. And let's take a look at why this is such a big deal right now.
Credit card issuers have been tightening the screws on consumers even the ones who are up to date and on time paying their bills. Consumers are complaining not only are rates rising, but limits are falling and that could hurt your credit score. Some issuers are closing accounts due to inactivity which can also hurt your credit score.
Here are some specific examples of the kinds of changes that are driving people up the wall. Take a look at this.
Capital One, for example, raising rates on its platinum prestige card from 7.1 percent to 11.9, and a host of other cards that they operate. BofA is raising rates on high balanced cards. Discover raising rates on balance transfer fee., so if you roll over your card.
Now for that reason, experts expect some kind of reform is coming. Already there are two bills in Congress, both would ban credit card companies from abruptly jacking up interest rates and fees and preventing young adults, college students from getting credit cards.
ROBERTS: But aren't there already some changes that are in the works that are going to come into effect I think is next year, isn't it?
WILLIS: 2010, Federal Reserve new rules. This is going to be interesting because they're really locking down some important issues for consumers. Here's what you can look forward to.
They would tell -- they would say that credit card operators would force them to pay high-interest balances first. So if you have a couple of different balances, one had a higher rate, your money would go to that first.
Limits on over the limit fees. Those will be contained or slowed down. Let's keep going up, up, up.
Ends universal default. If you are late on paying, say, your water bill, your credit card rate goes up. That wouldn't happen anymore.
And also a longer billing cycle. You know, John, consumers out there are complaining that the billing cycle gets so short that it's hard to keep up with the payments because, you know, you get the bill and it's due immediately.
ROBERTS: Exactly. So, well, we'll see what comes up in this meeting today and I'm looking forward to these changes down the future, in the future, and see what Congress has to say about the whole thing too.
WILLIS: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: And we want to hear what you have to say about all of these big stories. Call our show hotline at 1-877-MY-AMFIX. Also, Gerri is going to be in our Twitter page all morning answering your questions. Follow us on "amfix" on Twitter.
CHETRY: And with car sales at historic lows and a massive backlog of unsold vehicles, General Motors is now set to announce the bulk of its plants will shut down for up to nine weeks this summer. GM's 55,000 workers could get the word on which ones will be affected as early as today.
Christine Romans is following the story for us now. Seasonally they do sometimes go idle, but nine weeks sounds like a lot.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Nine weeks at almost every single brand except for the best-selling brand of cars and trucks. So a lot of folks, a lot of those 55,000 folks will be affected. It's not just the people who work there, it's also the auto parts dealers, also the auto parts suppliers who are part of the food chain here who have already been really crunched.
So this is something a lot of people are very closely watching today to find out how many people will be affected, and we are simply awaiting word from this company, from GM, from the Treasury Department to find out what's going to happen next.
Employees could find out today just how long this idling would be -- nine weeks. Usually a couple of weeks in the summer that they're idle to retool but this would be nine weeks.
Now, the company also just so you know, this is what they're saying officially at this point. We have nothing to announce at this point. When we do, we will share the information first with our employees. So clearly, a lot of people are waiting to find out what happens next.
A couple of other things here. Buyers may become nervous. These are the risks. Buyers may become nervous and hold off on buying a GM car. That just makes the situation worse.
I told you about the suppliers. Also, where is this company preparing for bankruptcy? It has postponed a $1 billion debt payment as it's trying to work out a deal with its debt holders. So a lot of moving parts here and it's just inches closer and closer to that June 1st deadline before it has to figure out what to do or to file bankruptcy.
CHETRY: Well, all right, Christine. Thanks.
ROMANS: Sure.
ROBERTS: Also new this morning, a wildfire burning out of control right now near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The fire fueled by 30 mile-an-hour winds has already burned some 8,600 acres and it's growing. Officials say walls of smoke are growing over some of the area's busiest tourist spots.
Documents released by the Senate Intelligence Committee suggest Condoleezza Rice played a greater role in the use of alleged torture tactics than she has admitted to in earlier testimony. Rice reportedly approved the CIA's request to waterboard Al Qaeda terrorist Abu Zubaydah in 2002 as President Bush's national security adviser, personally giving CIA Director George Tenet the go-ahead.
And just when everyone was hailing the big thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations, Cuba's ailing former leader Fidel Castro says not so fast. We're on the ground in Havana with a report.
It's coming up on eight minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 11 minutes after the hour. Time to fast forward through the stories that will be making news later today.
President Obama will be on Capitol Hill to deliver remarks at the Holocaust Days of Remembrance ceremony. It's at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time.
At 2:30 p.m. Eastern, Attorney General Eric Holder heads to Capitol Hill for a House budget hearing. Don't be surprised if questions turn from budgets to potential prosecutions of Bush administration officials who authorized harsh interrogation tactics on terror suspects. Holder speaking publicly about the controversy for the first time yesterday saying, "No one is above the law."
At 9:30 a.m., the man in charge of monitoring the $700 billion taxpayer bailout appears before Congress to give a progress report today. Special inspector general for TARP Neil Barofsky says that the program has now evolved into a $3 trillion program of "unprecedented scope, scale and complexity."
And that's what we're following this morning -- John.
ROBERTS: And, Kiran, just when it looked like the United States and Cuba were on the verge of a diplomatic breakthrough, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro threw up yet another roadblock. And it's raising some questions about who's actually in charge of the island nation.
CNN's Havana bureau chief Morgan Neill is looking into that for us this morning.
MORGAN NEILL, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: Kiran and John, analysts had begun to talk about a thaw in relations between United States and Cuba. But now, ex-Cuban President Fidel Castro is weighing in with a new essay. The message that seems to be, not so fast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEILL (voice-over): Confined to the sick bed, no longer Cuba's official leader, Fidel Castro still carries a lot of weight and has a platform to express his strong views. He says U.S. President Barack Obama is misinterpreting these words from his brother, President Raul Castro.
RAUL CASTRO, PRESIDENT OF CUBA (through translator): We have sent word to the North American government in private and in public that we are ready when they want to discuss everything -- human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners -- everything, everything, everything they want to discuss but on equal terms.
NEILL: What Raul meant to say, writes Fidel Castro, was that Cuba isn't afraid to discuss anything. As far as so-called political prisoners, Fidel goes on, they're actually "in the service of a foreign power that threatens and blockades our country," referring there to the United States.
The essay published in state newspapers Wednesday comes just days after President Obama's words at the Summit of the Americas appear to signal a thaw in U.S.-Cuban relations. And it raises an important question for those dealing with Cuba -- who's in charge? Is it the country's president or the bedridden head of the Communist Party?
On the streets of Havana, no clear answer. Who's in charge says this man? In the end, he says, it doesn't matter. They're one in the same.
But this woman says she didn't agree with Fidel's essay. "The president is Raul. He's the one you have to listen to now," she says.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEILL (on camera): And it's not an academic point. If the U.S. and Cuba are to improve relations, those in Washington are going to have to figure out just who is it they're negotiating with -- Kiran and John.
ROBERTS: Morgan Neill for us this morning from Havana.
And at least one American company thinks that there is money to be made in Cuba if more restrictions are lifted. The CEO of AirTran wants his airline to be the first to operate regular schedule to Havana. He told the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" this morning that he expects Cuba to be a very popular tourist destination.
CHETRY: Well, President Obama is campaigning to cut wasteful spending, challenging his cabinet to find $100 million in collective savings. We're going to take a look at why people on the right and left are scoffing at that notion.
Also, Michelle Obama brings her own style to the White House and now high-end designers are taking notice. We're going to show you how the first lady is fueling imaginations and sketch pads.
It's 15 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Seventeen minutes past the hour.
And today, Michelle Obama will host the "White House Take Your Child to Work Day" for kids of executive office employees. And nearly a 100 days into her role as first lady, it's become clear that she's really a one-woman stimulus package for the fashion industry.
CNN's Alina Cho is following that for us.
Hey, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Kiran, good morning. That's not an understatement, by the way.
Good morning, everybody.
Michelle Obama's meteoric rise to style icon status has surprised even those in the fashion industry. For months, we've been watching everything she wears. And in many cases, we're going out and buying it. So designers are sitting up and taking note. They're thinking it's time to cash in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHO (voice-over): Check it out -- America's 44th president on the cover of the Washingtonian magazine because -- he's hot. YouTube is abuzz. Actually, it's been buzzing about that, well, forever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Now, Alina just apparently wanted to see the president shirtless because that was not the piece that we're doing right now. We will be doing that later.
CHO: Yes.
CHETRY: Style icons, both of them in the White House.
CHO: That's right. And in fact many designers are being inspired by Michelle Obama. You know, everyone from J. Crew. We've heard about Jason Wu obviously. Talbots, you remember that dress she wore on the cover of "Essence" magazine?
CHETRY: Great.
CHO: Three hundred sold in four hours. Three thousand have sold since people saw it on the cover.
CHETRY: All right.
CHO: But anyway, the bottom line is designers are looking at Michelle as a muse now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): In a matter of months, Michelle Obama has become one of the most photographed women in the world and an overnight style icon.
MIKKI TAYLOR, "ESSENCE" MAGAZINE: Anything that she puts her stamp on, women are going to buy. It's the most incredible kind of branding.
CHO: So much so, some designers are taking note, creating collections inspired by the first lady.
TAYLOR: She's just so for real, you know? There's no pretense. There's no distance between her and between real women.
CHO: Even when she misses, some fashion insiders say every woman can relate to.
ELIE TAHARI, DESIGNER, ELIE TAHARI: She's like a woman. She's curvy.
CHO: Elie Tahari is unveiling the Michelle dress.
(on camera): How did you come up with this?
TAHARI: Well, I noticed when I saw her that she wear bare shoulders, and she got great arms.
CHO (voice-over): Ah, those famous arms. The reason why the Michelle dress is one shoulder, in plum and floral, a not so subtle oh image (ph) to Mrs. Obama.
TAHARI: She's got great style. And what's great about her is because she is dressing like everybody else can dress.
CHO: Designers are making the most of it, J. Crew, Jason Wu, and now Talbots. After she wore this Talbots dress on the cover of "Essence," 300 of them sold in just four days. Talbots tells CNN the first lady is someone we refer to when designing clothes.
Fern Mallis who runs New York's Fashion Week says Michelle Obama has the Midas touch.
FERN MALLIS, IMG FASHION: I think designers have to be nuts to not be clicking in to her site, guys, right now and saying, OK, what is she doing? Let's make more dresses. Let's make more sleeveless dresses.
CHO: And it's not just fashion. There's the first lady lip gloss, a gym class called Michelle Obama defined arms and Michelle style, the book.
Elie Tahari is looking ahead to fall.
(on camera): Is your greatest hope to have her in this?
ELIE TAHARI, FASHION DESIGNER: It will be a great dream -- a dream come true.
(END VIDEOTAPE) CHO: Yes, it would. And Elie Tahari has been in the business for 35 years. Now Tahari says he's going one step further. Actually, he's designing his clothes with a little more give in the hip. The cut is a little more generous now, and that is something that is being inspired by the first lady and it's something every woman in America, in fact, every woman in the world, Kiran, can appreciate.
CHETRY: Yes. It's very, very interesting the whole notion that, I mean, we've seen first ladies and first ladies styles be admired. But it's almost that it's accessible now. I love it.
CHO: And in fact...
CHETRY: Look, for example, the J. Crew...
CHO: That's right.
CHETRY: Cardigan -- you're wearing it. That's a Michelle Obama.
CHO: That's right.
CHETRY: I wear it too.
CHO: Yes.
CHETRY: And so do a lot of people say, you know what, before, I was never going to buy an Oscar de la Renta.
CHO: That's right and there's an interesting point about that because a lot of designers were inspired by Jackie O.
CHETRY: Yes.
CHO: But what they say is that Jackie O's style was inaccessible to most of America.
CHETRY: Right.
CHO: Michelle Obama is different and that she's like most of us. Fashion insiders say, she likes to mix and match high and low. And who doesn't like that?
CHETRY: Exactly. Exactly. No one can spend $2,000 on a pill box hat these days.
CHO: No.
CHETRY: Thanks, Alina - John.
ROBERTS: You know, Alina could wear a burlap sack that said Idaho potatoes on it and make it look good.
CHO: Oh, see.
CHETRY: As long as she had her Hermes belt with it.
CHO: Oh, you know. You guys, see, she's nice.
ROBERTS: All right.
Twenty-two minutes after the hour now. Nuclear nation threatened by the Taliban 60 miles from Pakistan's capital. What can President Obama do to keep the country from falling into the hands of terrorists?
And it's being called an unlikely and incredible recovery. College student beaten into a coma beats the odds, and now he's talking about the attack and how it strained international relations. We'll have that story for you coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
President Obama is challenging his administration to cut wasteful spending. At his first cabinet meeting this week, the president told the secretaries to get out their budget knives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm asking for all of them to identify at least $100 million in additional cuts to their administrative budgets to go line-by-line with the budget and identify programmatic cuts that need to be made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: (INAUDIBLE) says that the president's $100 million commitment is a mere drop in the bucket and the proposal is actually being ridiculed by those on the right and the left.
John Avlon has written about the president's $100 million test for thedailybeast.com and he joins us now.
Thanks for being with us.
JOHN AVLON, AUTHOR, "INDEPENDENT NATION": Absolutely.
CHETRY: So $100 million, OK, for the average person is a lot of money. For the federal government, unfortunately, apparently it's less than three-thousandths of a percent of the 2010 budget. So why the seemingly symbolic move and then opening yourself up to this ridicule?
AVLON: Well, and he opened himself up to this political pinata news cycle because I think somebody thought it would sound like a lot of money but in reality, it's equivalent of a family that was $34,000 in credit debt and credit card debt, cutting back on one cup of coffee a year. It's not a lot of money. There's no way to spin your way out of that.
What it is is a good important symbolic first step. And in politics you can't make the perfect the animated good. President Obama campaigned on this idea of going through the budget line-by-line making sure every dollar was spent wisely. It's going to take a lot more than $100 million to do that. He should be cutting $100 million each quarter to create an environment of management accountability especially in the face of all this unprecedented spending.
CHETRY: A "New York Times" columnist, David Brooks, wrote, "Obama imposes hard choices on others but has postponed his own. He presented an agenda that bleeds red ink and a trillion dollars at a time. Now he seems passive as Congress cuts (ph) his few revenue ideas." He's referring to cap and trade and also agricultural subsidies which a lot of people say are untouchable.
AVLON: Sure.
CHETRY: And so, Brooks is one of the many voices out there sort of criticizing this. How does the president show that he's following through with his pledge to cut unnecessary spending?
AVLON: Well, I think he can't get distracted by people who say put forward a token, a token example of how your rhetoric means with your record. Obama is a brilliant politician (ph). The problem is when the rhetoric doesn't match the record.
He campaigned to bring in a new era of fiscal responsibility, and yet there's been this unprecedented frenzy (ph) and spending spree since he came into office. That's why he's really got to set a tone from this moment on challenging his administration to consistently find ways to cut spending. And this is all just a preamble for the much bigger fight.
You can cut ways for on the beast (ph) to kind of have a minuscule effect on the deficit. It's entitlement reform. He's pledged to pull a Nixon in China and push forward entitlement reform. That's the big deficit budget fight. That's where he's going to have to really build broad coalitions. And that's what I think the advocates of fiscal responsibility in both parties, both parties have abandoned fiscal responsibility. The advocates of both sides are going to have to get and work with the president to move that ball forward for the interest of generational responsibility.
CHETRY: And that is going to be a tough one as you said. I also want to get your take on this reversal from the president on leaving the door open to prosecute Bush administration officials on the issue of this enhanced interrogation, what some call torture.
President Obama promised change and then moving beyond partisanship. This has really turned though into a big partisan fight. So what are independents saying about where they like to see this end up?
AVLON: I think independents like President Obama's initial reaction which is let's not re-litigate the past and put the Bush administration on trial. Let's move forward. When these debates get hijacked by the net roots on the left and the far right advocates on the far right, that's when politics start to get moving into crazy town. We need to focus on moving the country forward, winning the war on terror.
On substantive foreign policy, he's following through on Afghanistan and Pakistan, dealing with the terrorist threat. It's the symbolic fights on the far left and the far right that get turned into a demagoguery that doesn't actually move the ball forward. That's where independents and centrists start getting frustrated. They don't want to see this being litigated endlessly by advocated on the far left and the far right.
CHETRY: All right. And your article again on thedailybeast.com talks about this $100 million test. It's a good one.
Thanks for being with us this morning.
AVLON: Thank you.
CHETRY: John Avlon, always great to see you.
Also, CNN will mark President Obama's 100th day in office next Wednesday with a primetime event, the "CNN NATIONAL REPORT CARD" as it's called, 8:00 Eastern - John.
ROBERTS: Twenty-nine minutes now after the hour. And breaking news as the Taliban strengthens its control over a district just 60 miles outside of the capital of Pakistan.
Officials there say the terrorists have set up checkpoints and then locked the courthouses. As we speak, Pakistani forces are on the move. In a moment, we'll get more insight on the high-stakes danger and the threat that it might pose to America.
General Motors reportedly set to close down most of its U.S. factories for nine weeks this summer. It's a move to combat slumping sales. So far, no word on which plants will be closed. The shutdown includes the standard two-week closure in July.
And you could call it a miracle bra. This morning, a woman is alive after her bra -- that's right, her bra saved her life. Police say -- police in Detroit say the metal underwire in her bra deflected a bullet that was fired at her during a break-in at a neighbor's home. The search is still under way for the suspects. Wow.
Returning to our breaking news this morning in the rapidly deteriorating situation in Pakistan. Yesterday, we learned that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's worst fears about the Taliban's power grab, how it's threatening an important U.S. ally with nuclear weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I think that we cannot underscore the seriousness of the existential threat posed to the state of Pakistan by the continuing advances now within hours of Islamabad that are being made by a loosely confederated group of terrorists and others who are seeking the overthrow of the Pakistani state, which is as we all know a nuclear-armed state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So, just how dire is the situation there? Robert Grenier is a former CIA station chief in Islamabad. He's now with Cole Associates, a consulting firm. He joins me now from Washington.
Bob, you know this area as well as anybody. You've heard the secretary of state warning David Kilcullen, who also knows that area very well, an adviser to the Obama administration, says Pakistan is in danger of collapse.
How dire do you think the situation there is?
ROBERT GRENIER, FORMER DIRECTOR, CIA COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER: Well, the situation is very serious, and I'm very concerned about it as are most of the specialists who study that region. The French are over that. I don't think that the country is in danger of imminent collapse, however.
ROBERTS: All right. So, Bob, we see the Taliban rolling through the northwest province in a similar fashion to the way that they rolled through Afghanistan when it took over after the Soviet Union rolled out. Once the Taliban starts gaining momentum, how quickly could it overrun that entire region?
GRENIER: Well, you know, this isn't like a civil war in the Congo. This is not, you know, a large rebel army which is somehow sweeping forward. The fact is it's actually more insidious than that. These are relatively limited numbers of well-armed fighters. They're winning the battle through intimidation. They're moving into areas where they're intimidating the local people. They're killing a few police and intimidating them, getting them to stay in the station houses or to flee altogether. And the state has not marshaled the forces available to it to effectively resist these people. They could do so if they chose to.
ROBERTS: Well, in fact, CNN spoke on the phone this morning with Major General Athar Abbas. He is the Pakistani military spokesperson. He said, quote, "The Taliban will either moved out or be thrown out one way or another." But, as you say, Bob, the Pakistani military has thus far been pretty ineffective against the Taliban in that northwest region.
GRENIER: Well, there are a number of reasons for that. One is that they don't want to take matters into their own hands. They only want to do things with civilian support and there's been a great deal of wishful thinking on the part of Pakistani politicians. We hope that is beginning to change. We're seeing some signs that it may be changing.
The other big challenge for the Pakistani army is that they simply are not equipped, either in training or doctrine to engage in an effective counter-insurgency campaign. It's a conventional army and it's equipped to fight with India.
ROBERTS: The secretary of state said at the end of her statement and a lot of people are wondering about it, Pakistan is a nuclear- armed nation. It's got somewhere between 50 and 100 warheads. Nobody is exactly sure. What would the consequences be of the Taliban getting their hands on one or more of those weapons and what's the potential that they possibly could?
GRENIER: Well, you obviously don't want to think about nuclear weapons in the hands of the Taliban. I should way that we're far from that point right now. Those weapons, as far as anyone knows, are firmly in the control of the Pakistan army. The Pakistan army is not about to fall to the Taliban. But that said, the current trends, unless arrested, could actually lead us to that point eventually.
ROBERTS: All right, Bob Grenier for us this morning from Cole Associates in Washington.
Bob, it's good to check in with you. Thanks for being with us.
GRENIER: Absolutely. Thank you.
CHETRY: Also making news this morning -- the Army says it's found no evidence of criminal activity in the disappearance of potentially dangerous virus samples from a lab at Fort Detrick in Maryland. The vials went missing last year. Investigators say they believe that they may have been in a broken freezer that was destroyed.
This morning, some congressional Democrats are splitting with President Obama over the interrogation techniques used during the Bush administration. President Obama has said that he'd like an independent commission to investigate what happened. But now some Democrats are pushing for separate hearings in both the House and the Senate. The president expressing concerns that a congressional investigation might break down along party lines.
And the teen father of Sarah Palin's grandson is speaking out again. Levi Johnston in his own words about whether he plans to take legal action to see his son more.
It's 34 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
There's a family feud brewing in Alaska between the governor, Sarah Palin's family, and the family of her new grandson. Levi Johnston now telling CNN that he's willing to go to court for custody of his son, Tripp.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEVI JOHNSTON, EX-FIANCE OF BRISTOL PALIN: This is getting worse. KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Levi Johnston, arguably a thorn in Sarah Palin's side, speaks out on "LARRY KING."
LARRY KING, CNN HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": They won't let you see your kid?
JOHNSTON: I can go over there and see him. But it's -- now, you know, it's kind of an uncomfortable thing for me. To go over there and I won't be able take him and do that kind of thing or do the father thing with him, I can't.
KING: Why can't you?
JOHNSTON: I'm not sure.
FINNSTROM: The soft-spoken father of Palin's grandson addressing a public standoff between his family and Alaska's first family.
Palin was on the GOP's presidential ticket last September when she revealed her then 17-year-old daughter Bristol was pregnant with Johnston's child and the two planned to marry. The couple has since split. Johnston was joined on "LARRY KING" by his sister and his mother, who was arrested last December on still pending drug charges that added to a media side show.
And earlier this month, Johnston told Tyra Banks he lived at the Palin house for a while.
TYRA BANKS, HOST, "THE TYRA BANKS SHOW": You guys sharing a room?
JOHNSTON: Yes. (INAUDIBLE) I just wanted to be around when she had to go to the hospital.
FINNSTROM: A Palin spokeswoman blasted those comments, stating, "We're disappointed that Levi and his family, in a quest for fame, attention and fortune, are engaging in flat-out lies, gross exaggeration and even distortion of their relationship."
JOHNSTON: I didn't ask to be thrown into this, though. I'm not out looking for fame. I'm just trying to get my story out there.
FINNSTROM: But is Levi's version of the story potentially damaging to Palin's political future? Political analyst Jack Pitney says that's up to Alaska's governor.
JACK PITNEY, POLITICAL ANALYST: By itself, the Levi Johnston affair is not going to bring her down. But the challenge for Governor Palin is to remain looking presidential. The last thing you want to do is get into a public spitting match with an 18-year-old kid.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FINNSTROM: We tried to contact the Palin family spokesperson for comment on Johnston's interview here at the CNN studios, but got no replay. Kara Finnstrom for CNN, Los Angeles.
CHETRY: Well, the Palin family had this reaction in response to Levi's appearance on "LARRY KING," saying, quote, "Bristol is focused on going to college, raising Tripp, and advocating abstinence."
Tonight, Larry King will be talking to singer and actress Beyonce Knowles. That's at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: Photo shopping the president. First, he's captured on video shirtless on vacation. Now, a magazine is doctoring up a shot for their cover. Have they crossed the line?
And General Motors planning a nine-week summer shutdown. We're looking at what it could mean to the economy and your money. It's 40 minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Forty-two minutes after the hour now. We fast forward to the stories that will be making news later today.
At 10:00 Eastern, the House Financial Services Committee will be focusing on predatory lending. He'll be examining a bill co-authored by Congressman Barney Frank to crack down on lenders and lax lending standards.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also on the Hill today. She'll be there to discuss State Department budget issues, but it's likely that she'll also be talking on issues involving Iran and Pakistan. You can watch it on CNN or check it out streaming live on cnn.com.
And all they long, we're keeping a close eye on the spreading wildfires in South Carolina. The coastal fires have torched more than 300,000 acres and more than 40 homes. The CNN Weather Center will be monitoring those fires all day long.
And that's what we're following for you this morning.
ROBERTS: Well, this morning, a young man who suffered a brutal beating in New York is taking the high road. And for the first time, he's speaking out about the injuries that left him in a coma and the attacker who quickly fled the company.
CNN's Jason Carroll joins us now with more on that.
Good morning, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you.
You know, this young man really beat the odds here. There was a time when doctors were unsure Bryan Steinhauer was going to live. While U.S. officials were unsure whether the Serbian student accused of beating him would be brought to justice. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): Applause for a young man who less than a year ago could not walk or talk. Now Bryan Steinhauer can do both though it takes some effort.
BRYAN STEINHAUER, VICTIM OF ASSAULT: I'm not full of hate. Hatred destroys all progress.
CARROLL: Last May, Steinhauer was a 22-year-old student at Binghamton University in Upstate New York. A fight with another student nearly killed him. It was with a Serbian basketball player, Miladin Kovacevic, who is 6'9", 280 pounds. Compared to Steinhauer's 5'9", 130-pound frame.
Witnesses say Kovacevic savagely beat Steinhauer, kicking him in the head. Kovacevic said it was self-defense. Doctors called Steinhauer's injuries catastrophic.
UNIDENTIFIED DOCTOR: He had hemorrhages and contusions affecting almost every lobe of his brain.
CARROLL: He remained in a coma for three months.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Believe me -- three months is a long time.
CARROLL: While Steinhauer fought to regain his life, Kovacevic was fighting to stay out of the United States. He had been charged with felony assault, but jumped bail and fled to Serbia. His lawyers said he was worried he would not receive a fair trial in the U.S., escaping with the help of Serbian officials in New York. Then senator, now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton worked to bring Kovacevic to justice.
RICHARD STEINHAUER, BRYAN'S DAD: The pressure they exerted on the Serbian government has ensured that Miladin Kovacevic will have to answer the call of justice, and will not get away with his flights.
CARROLL: Serbia's president said the case was straining relations between the two countries, even so, Serbia refused to extradite, deciding to try Kovacevic themselves. The Serbian government also paid the Steinhauers $900,000. Through it all, Bryan Steinhauer has not lost his faith or his sense of humor.
STEINHAUER: I just want to say, "I love you" to my mom and dad. And through thick and thin, they were always by my sides. And as my last words, live long and prosper.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: He does have a sense of humor in case anyone missed that. That is from "Star Trek," a little reference there to Spock.
A Serbian court has requested a list of witnesses through the U.S. Justice Department. Steinhauer's family has also filed a civil suit against the bar, where the beating took place saying Kovacevic should have not been allowed inside because he was underage.
Remarkable story there.
ROBERTS: Wow. I mean, such severe injuries that Steinhauer suffered.
CARROLL: Incredible that he is alive and that he is doing as well as he is. Still, a long road that he's got to go there -- long road to recovery.
CHETRY: And do the doctors think he's going to continue to improve?
CARROLL: Absolutely. That's what their thinking. And he's a hard worker as you can see.
CHETRY: Wonderful.
CARROLL: He's got a great disposition.
ROBERTS: Great story. Thanks, Jason.
CHETRY: President Obama is trying to stop credit card companies from putting the squeeze on you. We're going to ask one of his key economic advisors how this would work.
Also, a nuclear-armed nation forced to take on the threat of terrorists closing in. We're live from Pakistan with the struggling democracies army is taking on the Taliban.
It's 47 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: We've seen some amazing emergency landings recently. Pilots touching down on roads. Roads, rivers (ph). Of course, let's not forget the Hudson River. Those are pretty amazing one.
Here's Jeannie Moos with another.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You can bet it wasn't a pilot who said silence is golden. Not when it's your engine that's silent. You could copy Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes, crash landing and harvesting beets simultaneously.
(VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: But when a Florida pilot's engine died...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In that field?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to the...
MOOS: ...Kyle Davis opted for setting it down on the road he normally drives to work on. He ended up parked in front of a closed furniture store.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our motto around the office now with Kyle is, if you don't like the way he flies, stay off the road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch the wing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch the wing. Watch the wing.
MOOS: Watch the wing is what this pilot in England should have done during a forced landing in a pasture.
(on camera): Did you see that?
That plane clipped a cow.
(voice-over): Watch the pilot turn his head to see what he hit. According to the accident report, the plane was slightly damaged, but the cow was uninjured.
As the pilot put it: "I have to say, it's the first cow I have ever hit in 22 years flying."
The next best thing to putting your plane out to pasture -- playing fields in Anchorage, Alaska. Watch the home plate umpire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a plane coming down onto the field, folks, right now. We've got a crazy landing going on. Here it comes, right onto the field, right behind the field.
MOOS: All four people aboard the plane lived to tell about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, boy.
MOOS: Oh, boy is right. Look what the dash cam on a Wisconsin state patrol car captured.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. We had him landing on the highway.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gonalake (ph) 911.
Are you calling about the airplane?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. We've got it. It landed.
MOOS: License and registration, please.
Sure, James Bond made it look easy -- landing and rolling right up to the closest gas pump.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Fill her up, please.
MOOS: Now this is something 007 would attempt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Landing on the world's shortest runway. MOOS: But don't try that on Interstate 70 near Indianapolis, where this pilot was forced to land without so much as a turn signal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I stayed slightly ahead of the car for a little bit just to give the driver an idea that I was about to touch down.
MOOS: Of course, there's the little matter of taking off again. They had to close the Interstate. But watch your language when you land.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy shit.
MOOS: Better make it holy cow.
Jeanne Moos, CNN New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: They make it look easy.
ROBERTS: Don't they?
CHETRY: Wow.
ROBERTS: You are worried about that cow for a little while there.
CHETRY: I was. He's all right, though.
ROBERTS: It's surprising enough to see the president without a shirt. But get this, a photo was taken at the same time as this video and it was doctored up. Is the magazine making money by disrespecting the president? Or is he fair game for profit?
And General Motors ready to shift into neutral this summer. The auto giant expected to shut down most of its U.S. plants for up to nine weeks. What does it mean if you own one of their cars?
Fifty-two and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: You've all seen the photo. The leader of the free world in the cover of a magazine shirtless. But things are not always what they seem. The photo of President Obama without a shirt was apparently altered. Say it ain't so.
Carol Costello joins us now from Washington with more.
What did they alter?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm going to tell you in just a bit. But if you think about it, you can buy a camera at the store that can take the red out of your eyes, it enhance the color of your skin. And who wouldn't want that? I mean, what photo that you look at nowadays is real? And why does it matter?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Check it out. America's 44th president on the cover of the Washingtonian magazine because he's hot. YouTube is abuzz. Actually, it's been buzzing about that, well, forever.
(SONG PLAYING) I got a crush on Obama.
COSTELLO: The magazine said it meant no disrespect saying the picture exudes the New Washington, young, exciting, sexy. And critics say, not quite real. The president didn't pose for this cover. It's a paparazzi shot snapped back in December when Mr. Obama was vacationing in Hawaii, and it landed on Washingtonian's May cover with tweaked.
Notice Mr. Obama's swimsuit has magically turned red, and that unsightly hotel background has disappeared.
CATHY MERRILL WILLIAMS, WASHINGTONIAN MAGAZINE PUBLISHER: When you're in the magazine business, you're trying to get across a concept or an idea. And, you know, changing the color of his shorts, one, didn't change the overall image portrayed.
COSTELLO: It's not the first time in news magazine has tweaked someone's likeness. This photo of O.J. Simpson appeared on the cover of "Time" magazine in June of 1994. "Time" made Simpson's image appear darker. This is the same photo on "Newsweek's" cover without the darkness.
Critics say what "Time" did was wrong, just as wrong as it was to alter the color of Mr. Obama's swimsuit.
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST CNN, "RELIABLE SOURCES": While the alterations of this picture might seem to some people to be kind of minor, it is absolutely unethical. It is dishonest. It is not journalism. You cannot present a news photo, particularly of a president, but of anybody and alter it through digital technology without being honest about it with readers.
COSTELLO: But the Washingtonian disagrees. It's featured photo shopped pictures of presidents before -- yes, that's Ronald Reagan. Nope, that's not his body. But this image, like Obama's, was meant to show a stronger, more vital Washington embodied by a new president.
Yet critics say it's OK, and still not OK.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: So what do I mean by that? Well, that picture of Ronald Reagan, clearly, that's a photo shop picture and that's OK, because people know. Mr. Obama's picture on the other hand, when you look at that picture, it looks like it was taken yesterday on the beach. It doesn't look like it's been photo shopped at all, and that's where the problem comes in, John.
ROBERTS: So it's sort of that the greater the exaggeration, the more it's OK?
COSTELLO: Exactly, because that's really being honest with people. Now on the issue of the president on the cover of a magazine in a bathing suit, that's a whole different argument, John.
The president's staff has no comment, officially. This is according to Ed Henry who told me they've sort of laughed it off saying it all comes with the territory.
ROBERTS: All right. Carol Costello for us this morning. Carol, thanks so much for that.
