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American Morning
Unemployment Up Again; Pakistan Frone Attacks; Sanford Scandal Details
Aired July 03, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN HOST: And that brings us around to the top of the hour. It's Friday, it's the 3rd of July, one day before the big holiday, though most people have today off.
Welcome, thanks for joining us on the most news in the morning. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN HOST: and I'm Kiran Chetry.
Here's what's on the agenda this morning. These are the stories we're going to be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes.
There are some disturbing revelations about Michael Jackson's possible history with powerful sleep drugs. Sources say that an anesthesiologist actually traveled on tour with Michael Jackson in the '90s. CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta tracked that doctor down and asked him tough questions.
He'll be joining us in a minute with more on what he found.
ROBERTS: The toll of the recession continuing to mount. Unemployment is now at its highest level in more than a quarter century. So where are all the jobs that {resident Obama's economic stimulus was supposed to produce? We'll find out.
CHETRY: Also, this South Carolina governor smack in the middle of a scandal with his mistress in Argentina packs up with the family and heads on vacation. Despite calls for his resignation, Governor Mark Sanford says he's not going anywhere except Florida with his wife and kids.
Now, new disturbing revelations in the Michael Jackson investigation, revelations that you'll see only on CNN.
We told you that a registered nurse was claiming that Jackson had begged for a powerful intravenous sedative that used in operating rooms right before his death. But now there's more uncovered by our own Sanjay Gupta. You tracked down an anesthesiologist who sources were saying actually went on tour with Jackson in the '90s, his "HIStory" tour, and there were some real questions about this doctor's past.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: We've been hearing a lot about insomnia, Propofol, talking to lots of different sources trying to piece this all together. And it sort of circled around this one person as far as we could tell. So here's what we know specifically. Sources close to Michael Jackson tell us during "HIStory" tour back in '96 and '97, Jackson was traveling with what looked like this little clinic, that's how they described it -- IV poles, drips, what looked like this rack with lights and monitors.
Sources who had the opportunity to see Jackson at various points on the tour said Jackson was traveling with at least two doctors, as well, one of whom was this anesthesiologist, Dr. Neil Ratner.
Now one source says he asked Ratner about this elaborate equipment, and Ratner said he was there because Michael couldn't sleep. Ratner went on to say, at least according to the source, "I take him down," referring to Jackson, "and then I bring him back up."
The source said Michael Jackson often appeared groggy. When the source asked Michael Jackson about the equipment he said, look, I just need some sleep.
CHETRY: And over the past few nights, we also talked about how dangerous these anesthetics can be. Do we know about any precautions taken for Jackson?
GUPTA: We do to some extent. We know what happens typically in hospitals. We know here as well, and sources say Ratner would keep equipment in his hotel room specifically, and that was used to monitor Jackson's vital signs when he was asleep or quote "under," as a source put it.
There's this "Vanity Fair" article, and a former business associate of Jackson said the singer had a sleep disorder, and Ratner confirmed that to me on the phone yesterday, as well. We did want to talk to him some more about this whole thing, so we tracked him down to Woodstock where he now lives with his wife. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: We've come here because your name was obviously associated with Michael Jackson, and people said that there was a question of whether or not you gave anesthesia to him while he was on tour. And we just wanted to come to the source, you, and hear and find out if that had happened.
DR. NEIL RATNER: I'm very upset. I'm distraught. Michael was a good person. I can't talk about it right now. It's really something I don't want to talk about right now. I lost a friend, and I feel very badly about that.
GUPTA: There were two people, and I just want to allow you to respond to this, and you can, or you don't have to. But I think it's important you hear this.
We have a couple of different sources that said they would see IV equipment, what sounded like what they described as sort of an audio rack sort of looking thing in a hotel room with Michael. And they made it sound like that was your stuff. Are they wrong?
RATNER: I really don't want to talk about this topic at all right now. I really have nothing to say about it right now.
The man hasn't had a funeral, and the man hasn't been buried. It's inappropriate. I don't want to talk about it right now. And I'd appreciate if we could end this now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: It seemed like he didn't want to talk to you. Who is this guy, Ratner?
GUPTA: He is this guy who has been written about to some extent before. He's a board-certified doctor. He traveled with Jackson back in '96, '97.
He's had a little bit of a checkered past, and he has been very forthright about that. He lost his license for a period of time because of insurance fraud back in 2002. He was given a three-year suspension.
But that's who he is, and he admits having traveled with Jackson, has talked about that before. But I think now as these concerns about these sleeping medications are starting to rise, he's you know, he may be sort of somebody who knows a lot.
CHETRY: And then the other question, of course, was about the various medications, these anesthesias. Do they know if they ac. saw any of those things. We've been talking about this diprivan, which you would refer to as milk of amnesia that is used to put patients under. Was any of that found?
GUPTA: Well, the sources that I found, they weren't medical people. They didn't know any of the specific names of medications. And back then diprivan and propofol wasn't that commonly use, so it may have been other medications. There are lots of anesthetics out there potentially. But we just don't know which ones they were talking about.
ROBERTS: Is an anesthetic, that type of powerful sedative, effective as a sleeping aid?
GUPTA: It's a great point. And that anesthesiologists that I talked to said there's a difference between sleep and general anesthesia, or even just anesthesia. Sleep is this restorative thing that lets your mind and your body go to rest, whereas anesthesia is a medically- induced coma, so to speak.
And so he says they're completely different things, so they shouldn't be restorative if you're just using these drugs.
CHETRY: And we talk about this insomnia, this whole issue with insomnia. Michael Jackson reportedly complained about it. Heath Ledger, who eventually died tragically of an overdose of painkillers and some of those sleep medicines and anti-anxiety medicines.
Isn't insomnia itself necessarily not a condition that there's causes you kind of need to get to figure out why you can't sleep well?
GUPTA: Most people will say before you get the medications, as well, you could probably exclude 90 cases of insomnia because of exactly what you're saying, other causes and just simply using good sleep hygiene before you even need to go to something like Tylenol P.M. can solve a lot of these problems.
But having said that, there are people who have legitimate insomnia that require medication. And there is sort of this tree of medications you can use and slowly work yourself up the tree.
Propofol is not a medication I've ever seen on that tree as a sleep agent.
ROBERTS: Doc, good work on that chasing that fella down, thanks.
GUPTA: Thank you.
ROBERTS: New this morning, video taken less than 48 hours before Michael Jackson's death shows him rehearsing at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. That's where his memorial is going to be held on Tuesday. And "American Morning" will be there live.
Right now our Kara Finnstrom is live outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Kara, how is all of this going to work?
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, I can tell you this city is really starting to brace for all of those fans who will be walking here for the memorial services next week.
And we're starting to get some details. On Tuesday, Jermaine Jackson tells us that early in the morning there will be a private memorial for family and friends.
After that a massive public memorial that'll take place at 10:00 a.m. here at the Staples Center, and tickets will be free.
Now, there are 20,000 seats inside. We understand that 11,000 tickets will be given to fans. However, fans are going to have to register for those, and the details of how they do that are expected to be released in a press conference that's healthcare later today.
Staples Center here is the home to the Lakers and to the Clippers. But perhaps most poignantly, as you mentioned just a few moments ago, John, this is where that last videotape that we have of him before he died singing and dancing took place, here at the Staples Center.
We don't know yet what's going to take place inside during those memorial services, if there will be performances, who might be speaking, all those details yet to be released.
But what we can tell you is this city is already starting to make its preparations, knowing that there has been a huge interest for fans so far -- John?
ROBERTS: Kara, I can imagine if there are 11,000 seats that will be made available inside, probably ten times that number of people will come down to the Staples Center and at least see it from the outside, because, as I understand, they might be setting up some big screens there.
What about the crowd control plan? What about parking? What about dealing with all of these people, things as mundane as port-a-potties? Are the LAPD and the city ready for all that?
FINNSTROM: A lot of preparations and a lot of logistics that they're going to have to handle here.
Jermaine Jackson says the family is working with the city right now to pinpoint all of those details. We did put a call in to the LAPD this morning, and they told us at this point they don't have any plans they can release to us.
We can see, if you want to pan off to the side here, some barricades are starting to be set off just in front of the building here. So some of the initial preparations being made, but obviously it's going to be a busy weekend for LAPD trying to prepare for all this.
ROBERTS: Well, they handled the Democratic convention back in 2000, so they should be able to handle this one all right.
Kara Finnstrom for us this morning outside the Staples Center. Kara, thanks so much for that.
CHETRY: A bit of a lighter moment. When you think of the paparazzi's favorite targets, you probably think people like Brad Pitt, Lindsay Lohan, Kim Kardashian--
ROBERTS: Sanjay Gupta.
CHETRY: Thanks to TMZ, add our own Sanjay Gupta to that one. Let's look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Gupta, how are you doing, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dr. Sanjay Gupta. A lot of people know him from being on CNN. And so then our guy was like --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you a licensed medical doctor?
GUPTA: I am.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I have some advice, I need some help with something right now. I'm kind of -- I'm in a bind. All right, I spent the night -- I was with a girl last night, OK.
GUPTA: Oh, no. I don't know if I'm that kind of a doctor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I woke up with something in my neck. I don't know if you can help me.
So you don't know what this could be?
GUPTA: I have some ideas, but it's not my area of expertise.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, cool. Thank you so much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: I know what you really wanted to say, but you were polite.
GUPTA: No, like he said, I was sort of surprised anyone knew who I was. Why is this camera in my face all of a sudden?
CHETRY: At least you looked nice rolling through the airport.
ROBERTS: We talked to Harvey Levin awhile ago, and he is the guy that runs TMZ. And they started doing this with lawmakers in Washington. They just want to sort of, you know, branch out a little bit from the traditional celebrity.
They're not asking them anything on Ford, not asking who's sleeping with who or anything like that, just kind of, what's life like. And I guess now they're branching out into the medical world.
GUPTA: By getting someone who is not scripted for a second, it's sort of interesting. You really get a good look at their character.
It's interesting, TMZ, because with the whole Michael Jackson stuff, they've had some stories on there that have been early and interesting.
CHETRY: That's right. They're always out there and they're always taping. And they hit pay dirt sometimes, I guess you could say.
ROBERTS: That's right. Harvey Levin runs a very aggressive shop.
GUPTA: They do. A 30 mile zone. Is that what it stands for, "30 mile zone." That's where -- what is that, John, is that the area where they can shoot in Hollywood for a period of time is a 30-mile zone radius?
ROBERTS: Yes. It's a real Hollywood reference. They're branching out now, I think, to 2,000 miles.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: Sanjay, good work this morning.
GUPTA: Thanks, guys.
ROBERTS: 12 minutes now after the hour. We'll be right back with a look at what the economy is doing and whether or not we're sliding back into a deeper recession just when it looked like we were beginning to crawl out. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 14.5 minutes after the hour.
Republicans are seizing on dismal new jobs numbers, using them to hammer away at President Obama's stimulus package, which was supposed to create jobs.
Right now nearly 15 million Americans are unemployed. Here to talk about what it all means, Chrystia Freeland. She's the managing editor at the "Financial Times" and Ryan Mack, an investment advisor and president of Optimum Capital Management.
So the headline in the "FT" today, your vaunted newspaper, says "Jobs data dash recovery hopes." May was looking encouraging. What happened in June?
CHRYSTIA FREELAND, U.S. MANAGING EDITOR, "FINANCIAL TIMES": Well, what happened was fewer jobs were created than we thought, and more people lost their jobs than we had anticipated.
It is really a sobering number, because a lot of data coming out, not just the U.S., but also Europe and China earlier in this week led people to say, you know what, this recovery maybe really is happening. Not only have we hit bottom, but maybe we're starting to come up.
I think what will be interesting to see is whether we see from the administration, from the White House people talking about the need for a second stimulus.
ROBERTS: We'll get to that in just a second, but let's look at the statistics Ryan, when we look at the number of jobs lost this year in total, 3.4 million, 2 million since the stimulus bill was signed back in the middle of February.
You know, what does this say about the stimulus package? There's some people who say wait a minute, don't judge this yet, that the job stimulus is just starting to kick in now, we're going to see a difference coming up in the fall.
RYAN MACK, PRESIDENT, OPTIMUM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: The economy is an ocean liner. It's not a speedboat. So it's going to take some time to gradually start to turn. And we are seeing some signs that things are turning. This is the first time we've seen year-over-year job increase since February of 2008 in terms of being able to -- lesser job losses year-over-year.
So it's the first time we've seen job losses under 400,000 back to back months in September and October. So we've still got 90 percent of stimulus package that needs to be put back into the economic, so it's going to take some time.
We're still going to see government and not-for-profit organizations and automotive and transportation and industrial production are still going to be suffering somewhat. But taking some time, we're going to gradually see, I'm saying we're going to peak out by at least the first quarter of 2010 in terms of the unemployment. ROBERTS: That's still a long way.
MACK: Definitely.
ROBERTS: Let's talk about this idea, then, of a second stimulus package. And this has been floated by Paul Krugman yet again today in the "New York Times." He warned that the first one was too small and that it needed to be bigger.
He says today, quote, "All of this is depressing familiar to anyone who studied economic policy in the 1930s. Once again a Democratic president has pushed through job creation policies that will mitigate the slump but aren't aggressive enough to produce a full recovery.
Once again, much of the stimulus at the federal level is being undone by budget retrenchment at the state and local level."
Warren Buffett also says we will likely need another stimulus package. David Axelrod from the White House didn't rule it out last weekend. Do you think one is in the offing?
FREELAND: Well, I think it's too early to judge for sure, and I think the politics will be difficult.
But if the recovery continues to be lackluster, I think that's something that we'll definitely see people talking about.
ROBERTS: What do you think, Ryan?
MACK: I think that the void is going to have to be filled by the spirit and will of the American people. I think whatever little bit of stimulus that we need can be fulfilled. If we need education, we can diversify their skill sets and go back to school, educate ourselves, and make sure we're doing all the proper things to fill that gap.
ROBERTS: Let's look at the spirit of the American people, because we just happen to have in our pocket here a CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll on that very notion. Whether or not people think that the economy is in good shape or bad shape -- look at this, good shape, 20 percent, bad shape 80 percent.
Recoveries are at least in part psychologically driven. Where's the psychology to drive a recovery?
FREELAND: Well, and unemployment numbers definitely are a problem there, and they're a problem in terms of how they feed into consumer spending.
I think Krugman's point that you raised, John, about state spending is also really crucial right now, because at the same time that we have this massive federal stimulus starting to kick in, and a critic might say that it was structured badly. We should have had more of the money spent up front, you have the states cutting back.
We have California having to issue IOUS. ROBERTS: Yes. And so it's somewhere along the line, the rubber's got to meet the road and probably increase taxes. What is that going to do to the recovery people don't have as much income?
MACK: Well, definitely it's going to slow it steadily.
But you know what? We have the highest savings rate in the past 14 years. The people have now retained themselves to deal with this thing more effectively and responsibly.
Fiscal responsibility is one of the main things that put us into this recession, it's going to be one of the main thing to take us out of this recession budges people just keeping close to the vest, putting six to nine months of living expenses to the side, saving up. And that's going to pull us out of this.
ROBERTS: A long way from getting out of the woods yet, though.
Ryan, Mack, Chrystia Freeland, good to see you. and I hope we see you before you pop.
FREELAND: I hope so too. A couple weeks to go.
ROBERTS: A couple weeks to go. Well, if we don't see you before then, good luck with everything, and we'll see you after the birth.
FREELAND: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Thanks very much.
19 minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, it is a beautiful day this morning, 21 minutes past the hour, Fourth of July weekend coming around.
Welcome back to the most news in the morning. And the movie "Mississippi Burning" is all about racial tension in a small town in the 1960s.
Fast forward to 2009, that same town will soon have its first black mayor. Ed Lavandera tells us about a day that many thought would never come.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, James Young still considers himself a small town guy. But since he was elected the first black mayor of Philadelphia, Mississippi, he's become a powerful symbol to many people across the country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES YOUNG, PHILADELPHIA, MS MAYOR-ELECT: There are times and seasons, I think, for everything.
LAVANDERA: As we sat on the porch of a friend's home in Philadelphia just days after election in May, the power of the moment his him, a black man elected mayor of the Mississippi town that was the center of white hot racism during the civil rights era.
YOUNG: The places that we were locked out, I'm going to have the key. The places that we could go, I've got the key. When you've been treated the way we've been treated --
LAVANDERA: After our interview, James Young says he got a call from the actor Jamie Fox, who invited him and his daughter to the BET Awards show.
JAMIE FOX, ACTOR: I saw his story, and I said please come out here and bless us in a completely different way.
LAVANDERA: There he was in the spotlight, receiving a standing ovation and the community humanitarian award.
FOX: Mayor James young, you make us proud, man.
(APPLAUSE)
LAVANDERA: Quite a ride for a man whose earliest memories of growing up in Philadelphia are of the Ku Klux Klan roaming his neighborhood streets.
He started out as a hospital housekeeper. Then he worked his way up to become the city's EMT director. Now he's the most important public official in town.
YOUNG: But it also sends a message to those who says what cannot be done if you prepare yourself. If you keep yourself in the right frame of mind, anything is possible in America. Anything is possible.
LAVANDERA: James Young will be sworn in as mayor today. He says it's a moment that proves hearts and minds can change, even in this once deeply segregated town.
YOUNG: Who would have thought a little country boy like me would be mayor of Philadelphia, Mississippi in '09? I couldn't have even wrote that in a fairy tale. It would have been a big fairy tale.
But that's why -- that's why it's overwhelming to be a part of this history.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: James Young tells me that the attention he has received since that interview that aired back in May has been overwhelming, strange, and truly humbling. But he does realize that after this fourth of July weekend, the hard work really begins -- John and Kiran?
CHETRY: All right, well, Ed Lavandera with that fascinating piece.
And also we want to let you know about our groundbreaking documentary that's going to be coming up at the end of this month, "Black in America 2." What's changed and what hasn't since President Obama took office? "Black in America 2" premieres July 22nd and 23rd only here on CNN.
It's 25 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Look at Centennial Park in Atlanta from atop the CNN center there in downtown "Hotlanta." It's going to live up to its name again today. Sunny at 70 degrees there right now, later On today sunny with a high of 89.
It's the footage that everyone is talking about today, the last known video of Michael Jackson shot just two days before he died, a final dress rehearsal for the show that would never happen. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL JACKSON: Some things in life they just don't want to be but it's hard to stop believing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, for those who plan to see that Jackson concert, and for those who didn't but want to honor him anyway, there will be a memorial on Tuesday. "American Morning" is going to be there live, and so will an estimated 20,000 others. That's just how many can actually fit in the Staples Center.
ROBERTS: That's the number of seats in the Staples Center, but there's going to be tens of thousands outside, I'm sure.
CHETRY: I think so.
So at what cost in the middle of the state's budget crisis? Who is paying for all of this? Our Thelma Gutierrez has that story this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: City officials expect it to be the biggest memorial service Los Angeles has ever seen -- an estimated 20,000 people inside Staples Arena, hundreds of thousands more outside.
How the area is secured and the massive crowds controlled will be up to Los Angeles police. It won't come cheap. Taxpayers will have to foot a big chunk of the bill for public safety.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are under some very difficult financial times.
GUTIERREZ: Los Angeles city councilman Jose Huizar, who is on the Budget and Finance Committee, says the city is in a financial crisis with a $530 million deficit.
JOSE HUIZAR, L.A. CITY COUNCILMAN: People's lives are being affected so, you know, we're saying we can't do any more this year, this coming fiscal year. GUTIERREZ: How much will it cost taxpayers? No one is saying for sure, but during the Lakers championship parade, nearly 2,000 police were called in at a cost of $2 million. But the city was reimbursed for most of that by the Lakers and other private donors.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think probably given the financial situation, that doesn't seem to me to be the best use of funds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love Michael -- for what he's done, I don't mind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't think tax dollars should go for any kind of tribute for Michael Jackson or anything like that. If there's a way to fund it privately, then that's fine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I wouldn't mind. It's just once in a lifetime deal.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The councilman says he hopes the private sector, the philanthropists and the entertainment industry come through for the city and help pay that bill.
John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Thelma Gutierrez reporting for us this morning.
Crossing the half hour and there's new information on this suspected U.S. air strike in Pakistan. The death toll rising in the past hour. Officials there saying at least 17 people are dead, 27 wounded in missile attacks from U.S drones. Officials also say the targets were a Taliban training facility and a militant communications center. The attacks come as U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano met with government officials in Islamabad.
CHETRY: Right now, U.S. troops are searching for an American soldier who was apparently captured by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan. The military says the soldier, a private first class walked off his base without body armor or a weapon.
ROBERTS: And the shockers just keep coming from Iran. Word just coming in to us from Iran that British embassy workers detained after the disputed presidential vote will be put on trial. That's according to a top cleric who is accusing the United Kingdom of helping instigate days of bloody election protests. British officials are very concerned and going to investigate. They are also asking for help from their allies.
CHETRY: Iranians can reportedly send text messages again. A semi- official news agency there report that services are back up, the same news outlet reported those services were cut a day before the presidential vote back on June 12th. No official reason for that ever given. Opposition supporters are posting online messages to sites like Twitter warning that the government may be still tracking those communications.
ROBERTS: And now, another episode of the ongoing television drama of the Sanfords. South Carolina's governor is going on vacation again. Out of state, but not seeing his "soul mate," rather he's going to be with his wife. CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley joins us live with this latest in the political soap opera. Candy, what now?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, you know, it has been more than a week since that tearful meandering news conference in which the governor of South Carolina confessed to adultery. But we are at this point as the holiday weekend opens, still left with two questions. Can he hold on to his job? Can he save his marriage?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY (voice-over): The Sanfords of South Carolina are on a holiday weekend in Florida together. Prior to the family vacation, the governor put out word that through his office that he's not resigning and "remains committed and determined to repair the damage he has done in his marriage and to building back the trust of the people of South Carolina." After more than a week of rambling apologies, unnecessary details, and purple prose e-mails to his soul mate mistress, trust is hard to come by.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think his mind is somewhere else. And it's not with the people of South Carolina. It's with the mistress in Argentina.
CROWLEY: Jenny Sanford, the wife the governor says he's trying to fall back in love with issued her own statement. She quoted the bible and Desmond Tutu on the subject of forgiveness and said for the sake of her boys she leaves the door open for reconciliation. "I am willing to forgive Mark for his actions," she said. "It is up to the people and the elected officials of South Carolina to decide whether they will give Mark another chance as well." Or not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, we didn't need one more thing to embarrass the state. My gosh, we're really good at embarrassing the state.
CROWLEY: Even in the face of Sanford's refusal to step down, critics have not backed down. One long time Sanford ally says there are two kinds of South Carolina politicos, those who have publicly called for Sanford's resignation and those hoping to talk him into it privately. The governor can cross one thing off the to do list, he got an A OK after an investigation into who paid for those trips to see the mistress.
REGGIE LLOYD, DIRECTOR, SC STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT DIVISION: With regard to this relationship, we have found no improper use of public funds. That is the scope of our review.
CROWLEY: Terse, but helpful to a man who has not done much to help himself and who needs any help he can get.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: Still, even if he has been cleared of using taxpayer money to fund some of these trips to see his lover, Governor Sanford still has questions to answer in his state. There are still many professional politicians and people on the street who wonder why the governor left the state for five days without telling anyone where he was going. And they are upset, as well, by the way he has handled the whole situation, both of which some people feel really disqualify him for the next 18 months of his term. John?
ROBERTS: Yes, that really is kind of the killer part of this is leaving the state in a lurch without any plans for succession or what happened in an emergency situation. But we also should point out, though, that the vultures are really circling because there are a lot of people looking for his job in 2010, right?
CROWLEY: Absolutely. And that's really been interesting to watch because there are a lot of people who don't want the lieutenant governor, also a republican to come in and be the governor because he wants to run. And so it kind of gives him an 18-month leg up over everybody else.
ROBERTS: Yes, we talked to the attorney general yesterday. He wants to run, but so far he's, you know, refraining from weighing in personally though. He was the one who launched the investigation. Candy Crowley this morning in Washington. Candy, it's great to see you. Happy Fourth of July, by the way.
CROWLEY: Same to you, John.
CHETRY: So this situation with Governor Sanford and his family is sort of put in the spotlight once again. These allegations and admissions of infidelity and marriage that we've seen it with the Edwards, the Jon and Kate plus eight.
ROBERTS: The one thing that you got to caution here is be careful of the holier than thou syndrome.
CHETRY: Right.
ROBERTS: And look at Sanford with Bill Clinton and John Hansen(ph) and the whole thing, you know.
CHETRY: And the other thing is -
ROBERTS: -- throw stones out.
CHETRY: Are we not taking the institution of marriage seriously any more? Why it is so important still. We're going to be talking to the writer of the cover story of "Time" magazine, why marriage matters. She's going to join us in a moment. 36 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Well, as Beyonce put it, put a ring on it. But with high profile marriages like John and Elizabeth Edwards, Governor Sanford and his wife, Jenny, Jon and Kate Gosselin from TLC's "Jon & Kate plus 8" mired in these admissions of infidelity or whispers of it. So are people more and more taking the institution of marriage lightly? It's the cover story of this week's "Time" magazine, "why marriage matters." It's written by author Caitlin Flanagan and she joins us this morning from Calabasas, California. Thanks for getting up early with us to talk about this article.
CAITLIN FLANAGAN, AUTHOR "TO HELL WITH ALL THAT": You're very welcome. Glad to be here, thanks.
CHETRY: You say that there's no other single force causing as much hardship and misery in this country as the collapse of marriage. Explain that.
FLANAGAN: Well, I think we've had three presidents in a row try to tell us this most recently President Obama with his big father's day speech about the importance of having fathers in children's lives. And I think we see for the poor, marriage is really important because of the 39 percent of births to unwed mothers, they're overwhelmingly by poor women and it's really devastating that community. And then for the middle class, the more affluent people, we're finding, you know, things like affairs and divorce. They're really causing as we're all paying attention to these high profile divorces, they cause a lot of heartache and suffering and misery in the people who go through them.
CHETRY: So sort of two things going on. One is the heart ache that's caused when there's infidelity in a relationship but also the effect if a marriage dissolves and ends in divorce on the children. And this was really surprising because you have some research that's been done by many sociologists over many studies that shows in every significant outcome related to short-term well being and long-term success that children from intact two-parent families outperform those from single households.
And this is about longevity, drug abuse, school performance, dropout rates, criminal behavior and even whether or not they're going to go to prison. Why is it that kids living with two parents drastically outperform others?
FLANAGAN: Well, we used to always think that these were just effects that fell on the poor. And I think we all know that a lot of middle class single moms who are raising children and it seems like they're doing a really good job and the children are doing well, so we don't want to castigate every family that's had a divorce. But we're learning more and more that there is what they call a sleeper effect to divorce.
And even in relatively affluent families, going through that breakup of the home and having typically it's the father who leaves, it's really disruptive for a child. It causes a lot of wounding and psychic trauma for a child. And we're just kind of waking up to that now and seeing that it's not just the poor who suffer but across the board, kids really need and want to have mom and dad at home if it's possible at all.
CHETRY: And one of the things that your study talks about is how the face of the American family has changed over the past 40 years. It was an interesting book called "The Marriage Go Round," but they found that America, different from many other industrialized nations has a combination different from many other cultures of frequent marriage, frequent divorce, a high number of co-habitating relationships that create this type of turbulence. Do we have unrealistic expectations of when it's OK to walk away from a relationship? And also, what we're trying to get out of those relationships in the first place?
FLANAGAN: I think we have a more unrealistic notion about when it's time to get into a relationship. You know, among many poor women, they'll say, you know, marriage, that's the icing on the cake. First I'll have the child and then maybe I'll get a job, then I'll get my money right and at some point I'll get married. And that's disastrous for them. So that if they're choosing the wrong time to go in.
And for a lot of middle and upper middle class women and men, they're saying, oh, I'm in love, I'll have a big fancy wedding. And after that, everything will be really easy. And marriage isn't easy because life's not easy. And all of the hard things you go through in life that you have no control over whether it's illness or the economy or losing somebody you really love, those are things that are going to unfold over the course of your marriage. If you're expecting -
CHETRY: Right. What do we have to do? We have to get rid of the notion of romance and happiness and just say, you know, we have to remember sacrifice and obligation over being in love eventually down the road. I mean, things have certainly changed from the times when you lived on a farm, you know, a century ago and you needed, you know, to - you didn't live that long. You were married for economic reasons, as well as, of course, you know, trying to have children. And nowadays, I mean, we do have a different notion of what marriage means. Is that dangerous for us?
FLANAGAN: Well, I think the big question, I'm 47 years old right now, so I'm sort of, you know, I'm always grappling as I get older, what are the big questions in life and to me it seems the fundamental question of adulthood is how am I going to play the hand of cards I dealt myself? There are so many things in life that we can't control, but nobody puts a gun to your head and says you've got to marry this person and you've got to have children with this person at this particular moment. This is the hand we dealt ourselves. Are we going to stand up and play it in an honorable fashion or we're going to do something like what Governor Sanford did, which was to inflict so much suffering and humiliation on his wife and to really kind of pollute and destroy this home that his four sons are growing up in and a part of. And so I think part of adulthood is saying am I going to honor these commitments that I made?
CHETRY: It's a lot of good questions and a lot of good issues brought up. We're going to link your article to cnn.com/amfix. Caitlin Flanagan from "Time" Magazine. Thanks for being with us this morning.
FLANAGAN: You're very welcome. Thank you.
CHETRY: 45 minutes past the hour.
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ROBERTS: There's a lovely scene on the nation's birthday, or at least the eve of the nation's birthday, Lady Liberty saluting New York Harbor this morning. It's 72 degrees out there in New York City right now, later on today, we're getting some thunderstorms and a high of 77. There's folks in one of the water way ferries coming up there to say hi to Lady Liberty. And thunderstorms today in New York are going to mean maybe some travel delays later on. Good thing that most people got out of town yesterday.
Our Rob Marciano is tracking the extreme weather across the country. And we do look like we're going to have some airport delays in a couple of places, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: We probably will. If I can just tie in that Statue of Liberty into the immigrant angle we're doing here at Disney World. Behind me, they're just wrapping up a ceremony, which swore in 1,000 now naturalized citizens from 100 different countries. Quite a neat event to see.
If my grandparents saw that Statue of Liberty when they arrived in America some decades ago, and me to see immigrants here sworn in, as well. I want to show you some travel delays as John was mentioning. They're not happening now, but will probably happen later down the road this afternoon. This morning, New York, Boston, there's still some rain around. I think that'll be gone by tomorrow and then south and central Florida may see some afternoon thunderstorms pop up in the afternoon. San Francisco may see some low clouds.
All right. Your fourth of July forecast, again, most of the rain out of the northeast tomorrow, with the exception of Boston might have a few lingering showers. Other than that, it doesn't look to be too shabby for a fireworks display, maybe the central part in the Tennessee Valley may see a few showers there.
Also debuting today, John, the Hall of Presidents, and right now some of those naturalized citizens are going to the new Hall of Presidents which has our new president. That's a big deal here in Disney, as well. Happy fourth of July to everybody, back to you.
ROBERTS: All right. Rob, thanks so much for that. 49 minutes after the hour.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have an explosion. There's smoke all over the place.
CAROLYN MANNING, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: My brother-in-law was killed in Tower One on September 11th. After September 11th, I saw picture of an Afghan family who had also lost a family member because of the Taliban and they had to flee their country.
Our family has five kids, we lost a family member too. We've just naturally went from that to let's show the refugees that we welcome them.
My name's Carolyn Manning and I started the Welcome to America Project to help refugees in Phoenix, Arizona.
How are you? You doing well?
The families that we help come from places where there's been war and genocide. Some refugees have never lived with indoor plumbing and they've never flushed a toilet.
All right. Let's go.
The Welcome to America Project is the community. And it operates by community volunteers. My husband and I many a time have been out here pulling furniture, before work, after work, this is our life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much for all your help.
MANNING: All right. Next family.
When they step foot in the United States, they have been invited here. I want the refugees to feel that this is their home.
Welcome to America.
And that's what America has been built on. It's our history, it's who we are, and they're a part of it.
ANNOUNCER: Tell us about your hero at cnn.com/heroes.
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CHETRY: So you want to take advantage of the government's cash for clunkers program? That's designed to help gas guzzlers off the road and at the same time allow people to buy new cars for less but watch out, because scam websites have sprung up and they're trying to take advantage of people.
Our Gerri Willis explain what's going on with this cash for clunkers fraud. What type of fraud are we talking about?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: I got to tell you, you know the program is not even operating yet and already scammers have set up websites to get your personal information and to pre-register you for the program. Guess what? There's no pre-registration whatsoever. You don't even have to do that. So don't go to these websites. You can go into cars.gov. That's the official website of the federal government for this program.
Let's talk just a little bit here about what you need to have to be eligible. Because a lot of people want to be in this program, don't pay any attention to the rove websites. Here's what you have to know, you have to have a trade-in vehicle that is less than 25 years old. It gets 18 miles per gallon or less, city and highway combined. It has to be insured and in use for one year. So you can go get some junk yard dog somewhere -
CHETRY: Right.
WILLIS: That's sitting on cinder blocks and take it in and try to get the money. Cars.gov, did I say cars.gov? That is the website for information. And of course, the voucher that you don't receive it. It actually goes right to the dealers. 3,500 for a vehicle that is four miles per gallon more fuel efficient than your old car, $4,500 voucher if the car is 10 miles per gallon more efficient.
CHETRY: So they basically want to get you take an incentive to take some of the gas guzzlers off the road and to get you to buy a more fuel efficient vehicle. It can really help you out, especially if you're looking to buy a new car. And so you were going to do it anyway and maybe you can end up saving a chunk of change. But when does the program actually start if people want to take advantage of it?
WILLIS: Well, big question there. I spoke to the administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. What a mouthful. They're starting it July 23rd. That's what they say. But Kiran, I got a lot to tell you, they got a lot to do before they get it underway. They've got to register all the dealers. They're going to do that and then put that on their website. They're going to set up an audit trail so that they can make sure that all of the deals done through this program are legit.
CHETRY: Right.
WILLIS: And then, they have to figure out how people are going to dispose of these cars, because that's part of the program too. They want to get the gas guzzlers off the road. So they have to decide, what are we going to do? Are we going to trash them or are we just going to change the titles and make them inoperative? What's going to happen? So, you know, this could go longer than you expect.
CHETRY: Well, they have 22 days.
WILLIS It's a lot of work to get done. Go to cars.gov if you want information to keep up to date. Because I know a lot of people out there want new cars.
CHETRY: Yes. And bottom line don't fall for any of these scams, cars.gov, the only website and you don't have to pre-register. All right. Gerri Willis, thanks.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
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ROBERTS: Top videos right now on cnn.com. The most popular -- hot pursuit of a stolen van in Texas. The suspect hit the guard rail, flipped a couple of cars trying to dodge the cops. Didn't get any prettier when they caught up to him. Police dragged him out, put him on the ground hard like they do in Texas.
Also from the red carpet, Christian Bale talks about the final scene in his new movie, "Public Enemies." And yes, it was suitable for television this time. He and other cast members said that reloading Tommy Dansen(ph) firing thousands of rounds in the set made the scene feel very realistic.
And chimp in retirement. CNN tracked down Michael Jackson's former pet, Bubbles. He's living it up in Wauchula, Florida with other great apes for other performer chimps and orangutans.
CHETRY: There you go.
ROBERTS: He's top chimp on the block though, that guy.
CHETRY: Go Bubbles.
All right. Thanks so much for being with us. We hope you have a wonderful fourth of July holiday and we'll see you back here Monday. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, we're going to be live from Los Angeles at the memorial for Michael Jackson. So hope you join us for that, as well.
ROBERTS: Yes, typically, because the show goes on the air at 3:00 in the morning in Los Angeles, there isn't nobody around but there certainly will -- you'll probably be surrounded by thousands of people.
CHETRY: I mean, they can fit 20,000 in the Staples Center and people are going to be lining up to make sure they can get in.
ROBERTS: Yes. They'll put big screen TVs outside and everything. I expect that there will be tens of thousands of people joining you on Tuesday morning. So it should be good.
To continue the conversation on today's stories, go to our blog at cnn.com/amfix.
CHETRY: And again thanks so much for being with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. We hope you have a safe and happy fourth of July and here's CNN NEWSROOM with T.J. Holmes.
