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Campaign Staff Exodus from Newt; NATO Now Targeting Gadhafi; Casey Anthony Murder Trial Ends Early; "30 Rock"-ing the Vote; New Syria Crackdown; What, Newt Worry?; Palin E-Mails Released; Wildfire Threatens Electrical Grid

Aired June 10, 2011 - 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: There's a lot going on on this Friday morning. Let's get you caught up.

Trying to decisively end the war in Libya, NATO turning up the heat on Moammar Gadhafi. One senior official saying he is a target.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: It's what you would call a campaign mutiny.

I'm Ali Velshi.

Mass resignation's from Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's staff, including all of his top advisers. Gingrich, though, promises to start the campaign anew.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans.

Alabama's governor signs what's considered one of the toughest immigration laws in the country. Let's hear what the governor has to say about it himself on this AMERICAN MORNING.

VELSHI: A whole lot going on this morning.

CHETRY: Yes, it is. It's Friday, it's June 10th. Welcome back.

VELSHI: Thank you. Good to be back.

CHETRY: Good to see you.

VELSHI: This Newt Gingrich story, fascinating. It changes the whole --

ROMANS: Sure does.

VELSHI: -- Republican field a little bit.

ROMANS: Everyone is watching to see where those aides are going to, to see whose support they'll be helping out.

But up first, new signs that Moammar Gadhafi's days in power are numbered. A senior NATO official now hinting that the endgame in Libya is killing the dictator since he's in charge of command and control in that country. VELSHI: New airstrike shook Tripoli overnight. The world may be getting ready for a Libya without Gadhafi. Now with allied nations pledging more than a billion dollars to the rebels, we're going to ask a NATO spokesperson if the target is on Gadhafi's back in just a moment.

But first, Nic Robertson live for us in Abu Dhabi this morning where he's watching the situation in Libya.

Nic, what's the latest?

All right. It doesn't seem like Nic is hearing us. We'll just -- we'll check on that in a moment. The developments -- we're going to be talking about what is happening in NATO now, but --

ROMANS: What is the endgame.

VELSHI: Right. The issue is --

ROMANS: And how can they achieve that endgame.

VELSHI: Can you do that with Moammar Gadhafi in office? And that's what is coming up.

ROMANS: Right.

CHETRY: And is this is really a change? Is this really a change in what NATO's goal and mission has been all along?

VELSHI: Yes.

CHETRY: We're going to check in with a NATO spokesperson in a couple of minutes. But first we're talking about national politics and the sudden mass exodus that we started hearing about yesterday afternoon of the presidential campaign of candidate Newt Gingrich.

Sixteen staff members in all, including his senior campaign staff, the entire senior campaign staff, all resigning. Citing a, quote, "different vision of how to win the White House."

Now Gingrich, though, is not backing down. He says his campaign will go on and he plans to take part in Monday's GOP debate in New Hampshire, which you can see only here on CNN.

Joining us from Washington, CNN senior political editor Mark Preston.

Mark, just put it in perspective for us. How rare is something like this to happen? This mass resignation of all of the senior staff of a newly declared candidate?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: You know, it's very rare that you actually see the aides fire the candidate. Usually it's the candidate who fires the aides.

We should go back to 2007, though, and note that John McCain had a similar problem back in the summer of 2007. John McCain, who eventually went on to win the Republican nomination, saw his whole staff leave.

But, Kiran, you're absolutely right. The fact of the matter is, when you have these aides decide that they can no longer work for Newt Gingrich, for a couple of reasons, they say that they don't think he was committed to fundraising and they don't think he was committed to doing the very hard work that's needed, Kiran, to be out there in the campaign trail, especially in a state like Iowa.

He wasn't expected back in that early proving ground until July. The staff then decided after trying to get him to try to re-vigor, try to get back into his campaign, they decided that he wasn't going to do it -- Kiran.

CHETRY: He's saying he's going to continue. So how does this happen? Does he have to scramble to try to get new people?

PRESTON: Yes, there's no question about that. He has to scramble. He has to figure out how to put his campaign staff together. As you said he will be at the CNN debate on Monday night. So we should see him there. He'll also restart his campaign on Sunday evening. On Sunday evening he will be out in Los Angeles for an event for the Republican Jewish Coalition.

But Kiran, with Newt campaign's -- campaign right now or Newt Gingrich's campaign kind of in this implosion mode, it could give rise to another candidate by the name of Rick Perry. He's the Texas governor. He's somebody who has said that he is not interested in running.

However, he is now looking at the race and, in fact, two of Newt Gingrich's top aides who have left Newt Gingrich, are very close to Rick Perry. So it'll be interesting to see if Rick Perry will decide to seek the Republican nomination.

CHETRY: Stay tuned. Boy, a lot of changes going on. And we have that debate Monday night.

Mark Preston, thanks so much.

As we said, seven GOP candidates for president going head-to- head, Monday, 8:00 Eastern, live from New Hampshire, only on CNN.

VELSHI: You're going be there.

ROMANS: That's right. I'm going to be there and we'll be talking about the field and whether the field will grow from here on out.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: And how these candidates are going to differentiate their positions and what kind of influence the Tea Party politics.

VELSHI: Yes. ROMANS: And really cut, cut, cut the deficit politics will have in all of that.

But first, though, new signs that Moammar Gadhafi's days in power are numbered. Senior NATO officials, as we told you, hinting that the endgame in Libya is killing the dictator since he's in charge of command and control.

There were new airstrikes shaking Tripoli overnight. The world may be getting ready for life without Gadhafi. Or Libya without Gadhafi. Allied nations now pledging more than a billion dollars to the rebels.

Let's go to Nic Robertson in Abu Dhabi to talk about the latest developments in the Libya saga.

We know that the -- we know that the world leaders have said that they want him to go, but what about -- you know, the NATO mission for getting him out? That's what seems to be in play here.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this senior military commander within NATO with knowledge of the Libyan bombing says that the U.N. Resolution 1973 allows for Moammar Gadhafi to be targeted or is justified as a target, because he is the head of the military and as the head of the military is in charge of command and control. And command and control is all about killing civilians and the U.N. resolution is all about saving civilians.

And we've seen his compound targeted since the very early days and we were told it was targeted because there's -- because there were command and control facilities there. And over the past few months, that sort of main palace system that Gadhafi has in the center of Tripoli has been absolutely reduced to rubble and decimated.

But what the NATO spokeswoman is saying is look, we're not targeting anyone specifically, we're not going to move out of the way if Gadhafi happens to get in the crosshairs of the targeting, but we are targeting command and control, but specifically not Gadhafi.

So you do have the sort of a difference of opinion, but listening to the Libya contact group to this -- to the international diplomats, Hillary Clinton, her entourage, other people, listening to some of those speaking on the margins of the conference here yesterday, in Abu Dhabi, the word is look, if Gadhafi gets hit, that's good because this is all about regime changes, all about him moving on, and the international community getting ready to help the National Transitional Council, the rebels, begin to take over control of Libya.

So it's unwritten, unscripted. But that's what it's about at the moment, getting rid of Gadhafi as the next step undoubtedly -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Nic Robertson. Thanks, Nic.

VELSHI: Let's get a little more on this. Joining us to respond live from Brussels is NATO spokesman Oana Lungescu. Oana, I thank you for joining us. I guess we're trying to understand here, are we splitting hairs? The U.N. resolution says that the NATO can target the command and control of Libya and it does seem to be the world's understanding that the command and control in Libya seems to be very, very heavily centered, not just on the apparatus but on Moammar Gadhafi.

So tell me what's your interpretation of this is.

OANA LUNGESCU, NATO SPOKESPERSON: Ali, let me make this very clear. NATO does not target any specific individuals. We do target critical military capabilities that could be used to organize, plan, and conduct attacks against civilians and civilian centers.

And that is in full compliance with the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 that you are referring to, which authorizes all necessary means to stop and prevent attacks and the threat of attacks against civilians and civilian populated centers.

VELSHI: Yes. To say that you can take all necessary measures and that you don't target individuals, does this mean specifically that NATO will not target Moammar Gadhafi? Or does it mean specifically that NATO is not specifically going after Moammar Gadhafi?

I know it sounds like we're splitting hairs here but we're just trying to understand.

LUNGESCU: It means that we are not targeting specific individuals. Obviously, I'm not going to go into operational details here. That is for our commanders on the ground. But NATO is acting fully in compliance with all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, that is 1970 and 1973.

And since we heard from Nic Robertson in Abu Dhabi there earlier, you may have seen the statement from the contact group, which welcomes the fact that NATO has just extended its operation by 90 days and that it is making an effective contribution to protecting civilians in Libya and also to implementing those U.N. Security Council resolutions.

VELSHI: Oana, I may be asking you to go beyond the scope of what you're able to discuss, but in the case of a country where the command structure is so clearly centered around one person, how do you distinguish when that person may end up being in compounds that are targeted because they're command and control compounds, and because they're military installations?

In other words, if Moammar Gadhafi is getting in the way or is shielding himself by being in the kinds of places that NATO is going to target, will NATO continue to target those places?

LUNGESCU: Obviously it's very hard for us to say what exactly is happening in any specific command and control bunker because we do not have troops on the ground. But we are targeting the critical military capabilities that are the nerve center of Gadhafi's kill chain. The war machine that has been consistently attacking relentlessly attacking and systematically attacking civilians in Libya, and we've seen just the other day in Misrata that sort of indiscriminate shelling is still continuing. So the Gadhafi regime still poses a threat to its own people.

But NATO has made very clear it has three very clear military objectives and those are first an end to all attacks against civilians and civilian populated centers. Secondly, the withdrawal of all of the Gadhafi regime troops and mercenaries to barracks and bases. And thirdly, the full and unimpeded humanitarian access to people who need it across Libya.

Those are the three clear military objectives. There is, of course, a political track and that is what has been going on with the contact group in Abu Dhabi and the clear message from the contact group and from the G-8 previously has been that Gadhafi must go. And, of course, it's very hard to imagine that sort of indiscriminate attacks against civilians can stop while Gadhafi remains in power.

VELSHI: Understood. Oana Lungescu, thanks so much for joining us.

Oana Lungescu is a spokesperson for NATO joining us from Brussels.

CHETRY: Also new this morning the state of Alaska is getting set to release thousands and thousands of pages of e-mails from Sarah Palin's term as governor. This document dump includes Palin's public and private correspondence dealing with state business from December 2006 to September of 2008 when Palin was chosen as John McCain's running mate. Palin says she is not concerned about anything the six boxes of e-mails may contain.

ROMANS: New calls for Congressman Anthony Weiner to resign over the sexting scandal. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the most senior Democrat yet to say Weiner should go. But a new poll of voters in his district shows that most of them, they want him to stay in Congress. And according to a Democratic source, so does his pregnant wife Huma Abedin.

VELSHI: Alabama's Governor Robert Bentley signed a controversial new immigration law, much like Arizona's law. It requires police to check the status of anyone they suspect may be in the country illegally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ROBERT BENTLEY (R), ALABAMA: It is a tough bill. It is the toughest in the country, but we wanted a tough bill.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, civil rights group call the law unconstitutional and they warn it will cost the state millions of dollars to enforce and then to defend in the courts. VELSHI: Firefighters in Arizona working through the night trying to protect a number of mountain communities from the spreading Wallow fire as it's called. Officials say the fire could reach power lines today and that threatens electricity supplies as far away as Texas.

If the lines are damaged hundreds of thousands of customers in New Mexico and Texas would face rolling blackouts.

Rob Marciano is in the extreme weather center for us right now.

Rob, what's it looking like if conditions for trying to get that fire under control?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, today is the first day in a long time where we've seen winds that are actually favorable or at least not damaging. We're not going to see the winds that we've seen really for the past week.

Fire danger is not critical. It is still going to be hot, it's still going to be dry and winds will pick up I think tomorrow and over the next couple of days. But today is the day to get some work done on that fire.

(WEATHER REPORT)

VELSHI: Rob, thanks very much. We'll check in with you in a bit.

CHETRY: The Casey Anthony trial taking a turn yesterday. It was a very emotional day as jurors viewed crime scene photos of 2-year-old Casey Anthony's remains. They actually had to call a recess after Casey broke down.

We'll have more on that coming up. Fourteen minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Seventeen minutes past the hour.

It was an emotional day in the Casey Anthony murder trial. Casey wiped away tears as jurors were shown gruesome pictures of her daughter Caylee's remains.

ROMANS: That's right. Anthony got so sick during the testimony that the judge ended the session early.

CNN's Gary Tuchman has the details on yesterday's very intense proceedings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Casey Anthony spent much of the day tearful and emotional -- or appearing to be tearful and emotional, this day, much different than any other day of this trial. LINDA DRANE BURDICK, PROSECUTOR: Did the office of the medical examiner with you present, ultimately recover a skull from this area?

DEP. JENNIFER WELCH, CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATOR: Yes, we did.

BURDICK: Is the skull shown in this photograph?

WELCH: Yes, it is.

TUCHMAN: This was the day the disturbing, devastating and horrifying images of Caylee Anthony's remains were displayed to the jury. We are blurring the photos because of the graphic nature. This one showing little Caylee's skull. This one showing a close-up of her skull with duct tape on her nose and mouth areas. This one showing a medical examiner picking up her skull to take it to the lab.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, miss. This is Orange County Utility Emergency Dispatch. We've found a human skull.

TUCHMAN: This was a 911 call when Caylee's remains were found in these woods in Orlando, nearly half a year after she disappeared. Casey Anthony is now claiming her daughter actually accidentally drowned in the pool at her house and that she lied about it and kept her death secret because of family turmoil.

But listen to what the jury heard today from a sheriff's deputy who examined the little girl's skull.

BURDICK: So what are we looking at in 196 in evidence?

WELCH: This is a close-up photograph of a duct tape that was on the front of the skull.

TUCHMAN: The prosecution is trying to show the jury that the duct tape on Caylee's face was likely used to suffocate the little girl. And if she drowned, why would there be tape at all?

The defense, though, will attempt to convince the jury that the man who discovered the body, a meter reader, did some tampering with the body and brought it to the scene in an attempt to gain fame and fortune.

JOSE BAEZ, CASEY ANTHONY'S ATTORNEY: If there is a body or remains that have been tampered with, that would affect everyone's ability to do their job, correct?

WELCH: Yes.

TUCHMAN: But in addition to Caylee's clothes that were found at the scene, other remains were found in bags near the skull and the prosecution is expected to link those bags to Casey Anthony.

TUCHMAN (on camera): It appeared to us in court that Casey Anthony never looked at any of the graphic images of her daughter. But she did hear the very graphic descriptions and she did not look good. TUCHMAN (voice-over): More than 90 minutes before court was scheduled to end for the day.

JUDGE BELVIN PERRY, ORANGE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT: OK. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, Miss Anthony is ill. We are recessing for the day. Neither the state nor the defense has any comments concerning her illness, nor do they want to be interviewed.

TUCHMAN: And with that this emotional day was over.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Orlando, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: It's just -- it's been a remarkable trial to follow, even people who don't typically follow trials --

ROMANS: That's right.

VELSHI: -- are sort of riveted to this one.

Coming up at 7:30, we'll be talking to former Federal Prosecutor and CNN Legal Contributor Sunny Hostin about the latest developments in the Casey Anthony case.

ROMANS: Up next on AMERICAN MORNING, your home, it's most likely your biggest investment, your best asset, but one expert is warning the value of that house, it might take another big hit.

It's 21 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Twenty-four minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business."

Stocks broke a losing streak on Thursday closing higher for the first time in six days. Leading the charge were banks, utility and energy stocks. The Dow, the NASDAQ, the S&P 500 all up at the closing bell.

Toyota announcing this morning a steep drop about 35 percent in its operating income for the upcoming fiscal year. Also, the company is slashing its revenue forecasts by almost $5 billion. The cuts follow disruptions in production and weaker sales related to the tsunami and earthquake in Japan back in March.

The government says it plans to withhold incentive payments to several banks because they've done such a bad job at foreclosure prevention. The Treasury Department said yesterday that Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and other banks need to improve efforts in modifying delinquent loans.

When it comes to the housing market, when Robert Shiller speaks, people listen. Speaking at a housing conference Thursday, Shiller, an expert on the industry said he fears another 10 to 25 percent plunge in housing prices is on the horizon.

Ford announcing this week it will soon produce a new car to compete with the Chevy Volt. The van-like compact car will come in two versions, the C-Max Energi pictured here is a plug-in, the C-Max is a hybrid. Both are due out next year.

The IRS may have awarded more than $150 million in tax reduction by mistake. Thousands of people were granted car purchase tax deductions without proving they actually bought the car. The loophole was during the stimulus period from February to December 2009.

AMERICAN MORNING is back right after the break. Is Alec Baldwin about to trade in "30 Rock" for politics? We'll explain.

It's 26 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Thirty minutes past the hour. A look at our top stories this morning.

New air strikes shaking Tripoli overnight. We had a chance to speak to a NATO spokesperson this morning to clear up some of the reports that NATO would, perhaps, be targeting Gadhafi. Well, she told us that Gadhafi -- they are not looking to assassinate Moammar Gadhafi, but it will do everything to take out Libya's command and control.

Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign now in disarray after 16 members of his staff all resigned in one day. That includes his campaign manager, his press secretary, top strategists in all of the early primary states. The staffers apparently are questioning Gingrich's commitment to the campaign. Gingrich says he's still in the GOP race and he plans to reboot his campaign this weekend.

And Alabama's governor signing what's being called the nation's toughest law against illegal immigration. It requires police to check the immigration status of anyone who can't immediately prove they're here legally. Also a crime -- knowingly providing transportation or housing to illegal immigrants. The law is set to take effect September 1st -- Ali.

VELSHI: So, the Alabama law is similar to the one in Arizona. Arizona was the first state to pass a law requiring police to question people if there is reason to suspect that they're in the United States illegally. Now, Arizona's law also allows police -- allows people to sue cities and towns if they believe the law is not being enforced.

The Department of Justice sued the state of Arizona, calling parts of its law unconstitutional and last month, the Supreme Court upheld a portion of the law that penalizes businesses for hiring workers in the country illegally.

Now, just last month, governors -- Georgia's governor signed a controversial immigration bill into law. It also allows police to check a person's immigration status and it would give them the authority to charge a suspected offender with a state crime if the offender can't prove their citizenship. It also makes it a crime for anyone to use false identification to get a job in Georgia.

The American Civil Liberties Union has already filed a lawsuit against Georgia to stop this law from taking effect.

And in March, Utah's governor signed four bills tightening that state's immigration laws, but allowing for needed legal immigration into Utah. One of the laws allows police officers to check a person's immigration status. Another one, however, creates a guest worker program which allows illegal immigrants to pay a fine and stay in the country and work.

A lot of other states are considering immigration laws similar to these various ones so the debate here is far from over.

ROMANS: All right. Before his sudden fall from grace, Congressman Anthony Weiner was considered by many as a leading candidate to become New York City's next mayor in 2013.

Now, Weiner's scandal could be an opportunity for another Democrat, actor and political activist Alec Baldwin. So, would he consider a move from "30 Rock" to city hall?

CNN's Mary Snow is following that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He plays an un-PC conservative TV executive.

ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR: I really resent the congresswoman's accusations. I have long been an advocate for diversity; it's made this nation great. The Chinese built the railroads. The Irish built and then filled the jails.

TINA FEY, ACTRESS: A guy named Juan built my armoire.

SNOW: In real life, Alec Baldwin is a long-time Democrat who may be considering moving from "30 Rock" to city hall. A spokesman for the actor says he wouldn't rule out Baldwin making a run for New York City mayor in 2013, and there's an opening in the Democratic field.

Up until last week, Congressman Anthony Weiner was seen as the leading contender, but chances of him becoming mayor are now slim to none. Baldwin's been eyeing the opening for a while. Just two years ago, he told "Playboy" magazine, "People misstep. Unfortunately, an opportunity for me may mean bad things for someone else. I don't wish that."

"New York" magazine was writing about Baldwin the potential candidate as far back as 1997. Just this January on CNN, Eliot Spitzer asked him if he was interested in running for political office.

BALDWIN: So, the answer is yes, it's something that I'm very, very interested in, because, you know, people would say to me all the time, "Why would you want to do that?" And sometimes I don't want to do it because to leave what I'm doing now would be extremely painful, because --

ELIOT SPITZER, CNN HOST: You love the --

SNOW: Baldwin's contract with "30 Rock," though, runs out in 2012. But could he really be a mayor?

CNN contributor John Avlon points to celebrities turned politicians like Jesse Ventura, Al Franken and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Just the fact he has high name I.D.; he's associated with New York. If he were to show he was serious and really take the time to learn the issues and you get him in a Democratic primary, he could get enough percentage to make a runoff, and he could even make a credible run as an independent. So, yes, no one should count this one out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: Alec Baldwin is currently filming in Florida, but he has taken to his Twitter account. He did weigh in on Anthony Weiner, writing he should not resign.

As for any chance about running for mayor, he writes, "It's a long way until November 2013."

ROMANS: Wow. And this is someone who friends have said he's really into politics, always been into issue. He's the kind of celebrity who likes to argue politics at dinner parties.

So, John Avlon said he'd have to learn the issues, but it's really something that -- it's something that elixir to him.

CHETRY: And it wouldn't be out of realm for New York.

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: In a lot of places, people would say, why does this make sense? But in New York --

SNOW: There you go.

VELSHI: -- anything is possible.

He does have issues or he has had issues in the past with his temper. I would assume if you're going to be the mayor of New York, or any kind of politician in New York, you kind of have to be able to deal with a lot of people. Did that come up in discussions?

SNOW: That did, and also personal baggage.

VELSHI: Right. Yes.

SNOW: And some very well-publicized fights with his family.

VELSHI: Phone calls.

CHETRY: He's become a huge advocate for divorced fathers and their rights and on and on. But, yes --

VELSHI: Lots to say.

ROMANS: I think a temper works for you in New York City.

VELSHI: Might do. Yes.

ROMANS: I mean, a little of that anger is good for you.

VELSHI: It does. It's an interesting topic, nonetheless. Very good to see you.

ROMANS: Thanks, Mary.

CHETRY: Jury deliberations begin in the political corruption trial -- retrial now of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Blagojevich was thrown out of office back in 2009, accused of trying to sell President Obama's former Senate seat. Last August, the jury was deadlocked on all but one of the 24 charges he faced. Closing arguments in trial number two wrapped up yesterday with Blagojevich at times wiping away tears.

VELSHI: Just got back from Chicago. And that's all everybody was talking about while I was there. While everybody else is talking about Anthony Weiner, they were focused on Rod Blagojevich, and his hair.

All right. These things are thrilling for some people to watch, but they are extremely dangerous for police and for fellow drivers. The Supreme Court is now weighing in on car chases, saying that fleeing police is a violent felony. I kind of thought it was.

The justices heard an appeal from an Indiana man given a stricter sentence after he took off in a car, blew through yards with people in them, drove through a fence and crashed into a house.

Again, I'm not sure where the mystery is on this one. I think it's serious when you flee a cop trying to arrest you.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: Absolutely.

Well, President Obama got some personal finance advice and he was sharing that with others when asked about it. He was speaking to reporters yesterday and he shared a piece of advice his beloved grandmother told him. Quote, "Don't spend all your money. Save a little bit of whatever you're earning."

ROMANS: And, you know, people do not know this, but the president and his wife have almost $500,000 saved in 529 plans for their daughters. But they really racked up a lot of what he called "good debt" to put themselves through schools. So, this is a case of being really in debt to turning it around.

That brings us to our question of the day: what's the best financial advice you ever received and from whom? Let us know what you think. Send us an email, a tweet, tell us on Facebook, we'll read some of your thoughts a little bit later.

And, you know, advice I always got, don't spend it all in one place. Certainly save money for yourself first, right?

VELSHI: I guess the best question for me, because I think we've all had similar advice, whether you take it or not -- example of somebody who's taken good financial advice.

CHETRY: We always live below our means and you should do the same.

VELSHI: My mother is going to out me for all the bad financial things I do.

ROMANS: (INAUDIBLE) said that he didn't always take his grandmother's advice. There are times during their ascension he couldn't always take that advice. So, interesting.

VELSHI: OK. Coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING, we are really expecting serious stuff to be happening in Syria. The country has launched a new offensive against anti-government protesters. Civilians are fleeing to a Turkish border.

We're going to have a closer look at what's going on in Syria and what is expected to happen next, right after this.

It's 38 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: There are reports this morning of a new advance by Syrian troops on a border town where dozens of security forces were killed earlier this week. Residents are fleeing to safety over the Turkish border. Turkey's prime minister is accusing the regime of an atrocity against anti-government protesters.

Joining us from Beirut, Fawaz Gerges, director of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics.

Good morning.

And I want to talk about Syria in a moment, but can we start first with Libya? Because we just spoke with a NATO spokesman who was sort of giving us exactly what the NATO mission is. The world wants Moammar Gadhafi out, but NATO is clear that it is not specifically targeting Moammar Gadhafi.

Do you think, after all these weeks of bombing, he can still survive?

FAWAZ GERGES, MIDDLE EAST CENTER, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: I doubt it very much. But NATO is taking a big gamble. I think as you said, NATO has been relentless in its campaign against Gadhafi. They're trying to kill Gadhafi and the inner circle.

But I would go further and say, even if Gadhafi is killed, this would not be the end of the Libyan situation. I think Libya is already in the thick of civil war, and I fear that it's going to take many months, if not a year or two, before we see the end of the Libyan situation.

And final point, Gadhafi is not going to go anywhere. His back is to the wall and unless he's killed, I don't think there will be a resolution to the current crisis in Libya.

ROMANS: So, let's turn to Syria now where things seem to be escalating today. It is a Friday. The Muslim Brotherhood has called for protests in the streets as well. So, we're watching closely to see what develops today. Another teen was reported tortured and killed. There's reports overnight that the military has launched operations to retake that border town.

Has Assad's regime doubled down here on holding on to power, or is there -- is there any chance that he'll listen to the rest of the world and stop this?

GERGES: Christine, several points about Syria. The situation is very confusing. We don't have independent sources of information.

But we know several points about Syria. First, there is escalation, there is military escalation. The second point is that protests in Syria continue -- even though the protests are not as large as other protests in Tunisia and Egypt and Yemen.

Thirdly, we know that Assad regime has a social base of support, that is it's a -- you have a sizable number of Syrians, millions of Syrians, who support the Assad regime. We also know that the Assad regime has used massive force in order to silence the opposition and we also know in the last few weeks that hundreds of security personnel have been killed.

What this tells us is that there's a limited armed insurrection in Syria, and this tells me that we should expect more escalation in the next few hours and next few days.

ROMANS: Let me ask you about the "Arab Spring" in the next move for the "Arab Spring." I mean, it was seen as really changing, sweeping change, over the Middle East. It's something that has turned into a long, hot summer in Syria.

Is there a chance that the "Arab Spring" could not bring real change to Syria? Are we at a tipping point on that?

GERGES: Well, I think, Christine, we need to revive the Arab states into three parts. You have what we call the regime change. We have seen an ideal, wonderful situation in Tunisia and Egypt. Both Ben Ali and Mubarak were gone.

Now, you have the second type, what we call regime confrontation. You have it in Libya, you have it in Syria, you have it in Yemen. They are fighting to the end -- to the bitter end.

I would argue at the end of the day, for example, I think the Saleh regime in Yemen will be gone in the next few days and next few weeks and so is the Libyan regime in the next few weeks. The Assad regime is a very difficult situation because there is no daylight between the army and the political leadership, and the Assad regime has a solid social base of support. There's a third type of regime what we call is regime adjustment, like in Jordan, like in Morocco, and like in Algeria.

I would argue at the end of the day we have witnessed historic change in the Arab world. It will take, of course, a while, and there will be setbacks in the process, but there is no return. A psychological rupture has taken place in the Arab world.

The psychology and the mood of the Arab world has changed, and what you are seeing in Syria, despite the massive force, despite everything else, is a major awakening on the part of many people, including the Arab citizen, whether it's in Libya, in Yemen, in Morocco, in Jordan, in Syria, in Bahrain, in Oman, in Tunisia and Egypt. Historic change.

The situations in Yemen and Syria and Libra obscure (ph) the significant historical moment that has occurred in the Arab world in the last six months.

ROMANS: All right. We'll leave it there. Fawaz Gerges, London School of Economics, joining us from our Beirut bureau. Thank you so much, Fawaz.

We'll be right back. It's 46 minutes after the hour.

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CHETRY: It's 48 minutes past the hour. Here's a look at your headlines this Friday morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY (voice-over): Newt Gingrich scrambling to save his run for the Republican presidential nomination after 16 top campaign aides all resign in one day. Gingrich says he's still in it. He can win. He wants to reboot his campaign over the weekend.

Officials in Alaska today responding to a freedom of information organization request releasing more than 24,000 pages of e-mails from Sarah Palin's term as governor. They were requested by CNN and other news organizations when Palin was running for vice president.

Fire crews in Arizona stepping up efforts to control a massive wildfire that's burning dangerously close to electrical transmission lines. Now, if these lines are damaged, there could be possible power interruptions for hundreds of thousands of customers in Southern New Mexico and West Texas.

German health officials now say they've traced the deadly strand of E.coli to bean sprouts, but they still are not certain which farm is the source of that outbreak. So far, 27 people have died.

The Dallas Mavericks pushing the Miami Heat to the brink of elimination in the NBA finals. The Mavs beat the Heat 112-103 in game five last night. Dallas is now just one win away from its first title in franchise history.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY (on-camera): You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after a quick break.

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VELSHI: Mother's work is never done.

ROMANS: Yes, say that again.

VELSHI: I don't know why I'm the guy saying this.

ROMANS: A mother's work is never done.

VELSHI: My mother is still working on me.

(LAUGHTER)

VELSHI: Harder in stilettos.

ROMANS: But, now, there's a place where mothers -- new mothers can stay fabulous and bring the kids, too. Alina Cho --

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: That's funny that you're delivering that line as well.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: We should ask somebody who lives in stilettos. Check these out.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're stilts.

CHETRY: I know, they're not even -- they pass stilettos.

CHO: We're getting off the topic, but what I would say is when you're vertically challenged, this is what you have to do. Now think back, you two, about when you first had your first child. You have two, you have three, so it's been a while, but you know, the whole experience of being a first-time mom, you will say this, can be isolating. Your friends without kids suddenly can't relate, and those who've been moms for a while are just too busy with their own kids.

So, enter Lyss Stern. She's a 37-year-old mother of two. She felt the same way, so after she had her first child, she got out of her sweats and started divamoms.com, for moms, who are, well, divas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel so guilty because all I ever paid for was to have a family, and now, I have these two beautiful girls.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're driving me crazy.

CHO (voice-over): Call it "Sex in the City" meets mommy and me.

LYSS STERN, FOUNDER, DIVAMOMS.COM: We are the "Sex in the City" generation. Why should you stop being fabulous now that you had a child? You should be more fabulous.

CHO: Lyss Stern is the founder of divamoms.com. for divalicious mom, a place where moms can go for advice on everything from the best strollers to the best stilettos. And attend events like this one. Cupcakes for the kids, couture for mom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you.

CHO: Stern says the idea came to her after the birth of her first son, Jackson.

STERN: Going out into the world, as a first-time mom, I don't know, I kind of felt that there was something missing. Like these breastfeeding classes that were there for new moms or, you know, learning about how to swaddle your baby. I don't know. I was meeting all these fabulous women in the sophisticated moms, and I said, you know, there has to be something else out there for moms.

CHO: That was seven years ago. Today, the diva moms site has 250,000 members in New York City alone, another 50,000 around the world. Membership is free. And stern has become something of a celebrity. A dear Abby for moms.

TAMARA BEHAN, DIVAMOMS.COM MEMBER: She gets it. She understands that just because you're a mom doesn't necessarily mean that you're a kumbaya mom or that you're, you know, (INAUDIBLE). There is an in between, and you can have both.

CHO: And find a diva deal, too.

STERN: So, for a mom out in Nebraska who might not necessarily be able to afford that thousand dollar stroller, I'm going to also be able to tell the mom, you know what, you can go to buy buy baby or you can go to target and you can buy that stroller for $85.

CHO: What about to the critics who might say what about your children? Are you focusing too much on yourselves? Is this about the kids?

STERN: Happy mom makes happy children. Stilettos and sippy cups go hand in hand. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO (on-camera): How about that for a catch phrase. You know, the response to divamoms.com has been so overwhelming that Stern says she often gets inquiries from places like Idaho, Chicago, L.A., Miami, even London, Paris, and Dubai, and they all want to know what about a diva moms for us. Stern tells me that Rome wasn't built in a day. It will happen. They will expand. Little by little. And Ali --

VELSHI: Yes.

CHO: How about this, divalicious dads.

VELSHI: Nice.

CHETRY: Thank --

VELSHI: Feeling left out of this conversation.

CHETRY: Wondering when you were going to get a chance in your stilettos.

CHO: That's right.

VELSHI: That's right.

CHO: For dads who want to go to sporting events together, and on a serious note, divalicious dating. That's coming, too, because the reality, as she says, is that many moms and dads are starting to get divorced.

VELSHI: Right.

CHO: And they need a place to come together and find other people and meet other people, and that's what she's great at. So, you know, she's built quite a business.

ROMANS: It's really incredible.

CHETRY: Nice. I mean, the whole notion that you touched on it being isolating and just feeling wow, you remember that first shower after you had a baby. I feel so great. I've washed my hair.

ROMANS: I don't remember the first three weeks after having the baby.

CHETRY: That's true.

ROMANS: This newborn bubble that you kind of come out of.

CHO: You know what she said which is interesting, she said that after she had her first child, she was in bed, she was in her sweats, she wouldn't put on lipstick, she wouldn't put on blush, and it was actually her mother who came to her and said, you have got to get it together.

CHETRY: I know.

CHO: You've got to get it together. This is not my daughter, and she thought to herself, you know what, why not still be fabulous even though I'm a mom. So, good for her.

ROMANS: Yes. It's cool to see all the moms pushing the stroller in the park doing, you know, like doing exercises with the stroller, everyone trying to get together and get themselves back. All right. Alina Cho, thanks, Alina.

CHO: You bet.

CHETRY: The president is offering up his advice when it comes to personal finance. He says he got it from his own grandmother. Don't spend all your money.

VELSHI: And it brings to our question of the day, what's the best financial advice you ever received and from whom?

CHETRY: Likes2comment from Twitter wrote, "If you can't pay cash for it, you can't afford it." He said he got that from his dad. That sounds like you, Christine, right?

ROMANS: I know.

CHETRY: You always say that to people.

ROMANS: If you don't have the cash for it, just don't buy it.

Burberrtlovah on Twitter says, "Have a healthy prospective. Your own. In other words, don't listen to financial advice from others."

VELSHI: Interesting. Marc Pitman says on our blog, "The best advice I ever received was: Marc, if you want your financial situation to change, you are going to have to change. The you that got you into this mess isn't the you that will get you out." From His father's close friend and business partner. That's an interesting one. Thank you, Marc. Keep your comments coming.

ROMANS: Send us an e-mail, a tweet, tell us on Facebook. We're going to read more of your thoughts later in the program.

VELSHI: All right. Top stories after the break. It's 57 minutes after the hour.

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