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American Morning

Casey Anthony Trial Continues; Drivers Could Save at Pump; Tales of Brutality from "Southie"; Tales of Brutality from "Southie"; U.S. Citizens Charged in Terror Plot; Obama Backs "Equality," Not Marriage; Republicans Walk Out of Debt Talks; Political Deadlock, Clock Ticking; New York Same-Sex Marriage Vote; Tax Fight Stalls Debt Talks; Futures Trading Up; Stress and the City; Selling Your Prescription

Aired June 24, 2011 - 06:59 ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A bombshell at the Casey Anthony murder trial. Her mother, Cindy, says she's the one who searched the computer for the word chloroform. How much damage did that do to the prosecution's case on this AMERICAN MORNING?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome you to AMERICAN MORNING. Friday, June 24th. Kiran and Ali off. I'm Drew Griffin.

ROMANS: And welcome you to AMERICAN MORNING on this Friday. Nice to see you, Drew. Welcome.

GRIFFIN: Nice to be here.

ROMANS: Up first, stunning testimony from Casey Anthony's mother that could damage the prosecution's case as that trial wraps up week number four. On the witness stand yesterday, Cindy Anthony said it was her, not her daughter, who did an internet search for chloroform on the family computer. Now, prosecutors plan to use the searches to link Casey to the premeditated murder of her daughter, Caylee.

GRIFFIN: Yes. Meantime, the attorney for Cindy and George Anthony tried to clarify statements he made to CNN's Gary Tuchman concerning their daughter's innocence. Gary joins us from Orlando, and Gary, you're right in the middle of this trial, all of a sudden, because the attorney told you, right -- why don't you just tell us what he told you to begin with.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right. Well I'm going to save that for the end, drew, and Christine, because I want to start with this dramatic testimony yesterday. In this case, the prosecution says that Casey Anthony used chloroform to poison her daughter, knock her out, and then used duct tape to suffocate her.

But the major piece of premeditation evidence has been computer records from three months before Caylee died, that show that somebody was on the computer looking up the word chloroform and one case going on a particular chloroform Web site looking 84 times. They say that was Casey Anthony. That's why yesterday's testimony was shocking. Cindy Anthony was a sympathetic prosecution witness. Now she's a defense witness and she says she was the one looking up chloroform on the home computer even though records show she was at work the day she supposedly was looking at the computer. She said she was looking up chloroform because her dog was sleepy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you recall in March of 2008 you doing any types of searches for any items that might include chloroform?

CINDY ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY'S MOTHER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And could you explain to the ladies and gentlemen of the jury why you did that?

ANTHONY: Well, I started looking at chlorophyll. And I was concerned about my smallest Yorkie, we have two Yorkie puppies. And the smallest one was having some issues where she was extremely tired all the time and both of the dogs would eat the bamboo leaves out in the back. I started looking up sources from the backyard that could potentially cause her to be more sleepy than it would affect the larger dog. And I started looking up chloroform -- I mean chlorophyll, and then that prompted me to look up chloroform.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: A problem with that story, though, is that also in the same time, these terms were looked up on the computer, shovel, self- defense, household weapons, neck-breaking, too. Cindy said she looked up some of those terms because she claims a friend of hers was in the car accident, doing research, but did not look up all of those terms and it was looked at the same time.

ROMANS: Gary, bring us back to the lawyer for Casey Anthony's parents. They had given you some very interesting perspective on their daughter and her case earlier this week, and that lawyer is trying to clarify. When he saw it in the light of day and print, he didn't like what he had to say.

TUCHMAN: Frankly, I'll be really honest, I don't like being the center of attention. I like covering the story. I kind of became the center of attention here because I did do an interview with him. They're fascinating, George and Cindy, because it's so sad. They lost their grandchild, could lose their child to the death penalty.

George has been thrown under the bus by the defense attorney with no evidence so far that he sexually molested his daughter, and that's why it was kept a secret she accidentally drowned. That's the defense claim.

So I wanted to find out from the family attorney how George and Cindy felt about their daughter and he told me on the record, he said that they feel she's not innocent. But as soon as we aired that he called me and said I'm very upset, how could you put that on the air? Did you say I misquoted you? No. Are you saying it was off the record? No. It wasn't clear what he was upset about. He held a news conference to talk about what he said to me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK LIPPMAN, ANTHONY FAMILY ATTORNEY: I said that that they don't necessarily believe she's not innocent. But we didn't complete the conversation in that the full text of is they do not know whether or not she is guilty of the crimes that have been alleged.

Certainly we know she is not guilty of anything that the state has not proven yet. She is still not guilty until the jury comes back and makes a determination as to what they believe happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: That's still a little ambiguous from him but it's clear he's not denying he said to me they don't feel she's innocent. And there is a difference: guilty and not guilty are legal terms, and innocent is not a legal term.

ROMANS: Thanks for that fantastic reporting. The story gets weirder and weirder as it goes on.

TUCHMAN: Let's bring in Sunny, shall we? On that note.

(LAUGHTER)

SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, TRUTV: On that note. You can't make this stuff up, right? It's sort of this trial has taken so many twists and turns. I think that's one of the reasons why America is captivated. It's actually become international. I mean there are international outlets now covering the trial.

GRIFFIN: Tell us about this mom now admitting she's looking up "chloroform," "chlorophyll," "chloro" this, "neck breaking." It's bizarre.

HOSTIN: It is. A lot of people think she's making this up. She's testing the line because she wants to save her daughter from the death penalty. Mark Lippman told Gary Tuchman they were against the death penalty and did not want their daughter to die.

But she did in 2009, Drew, say this to the prosecutor during her deposition, she did look up chloroform. But she also had said she was at work at this time and her work records reflect it. But it really put a hole in the prosecution's case, because the prosecution's theory is premeditated murder, and that means that they believe that Casey Anthony searched for chloroform in March of 2008 and then in June of 2008 put her daughter sort of down with the chloroform and then used duct tape over her nose and mouth to suffocate her. That's the prosecution's theory of premeditation.

And now with Cindy Anthony sort of taking the fall for the chloroform, that, I think, could take premeditation off of the table for this prosecution. GRIFFIN: Which takes the death penalty off?

HOSTIN: It could. The prosecution has also charged aggravated child abuse and in that sense, if this jury finds there was aggravated child abuse leading to murder, that could constitute felony murder, and that is death penalty eligible. So, the premeditation piece could be off the table, but with aggravated child abuse, I mean, if no chloroform was used it's possible that's off the table as well.

ROMANS: The body language of the jury, they were very --

HOSTIN: They were riveted. They leaned forward. Four of them were taking notes during Cindy Anthony's testimony. So imagine that after two weeks of this forensic testimony a lot of people felt at least on my Facebook page, they were bored to tears back in high school in science class, now talking about the emotional piece of this case. And I think that's probably the strongest piece for this jury.

ROMANS: Who do the jurors believe? They've heard so many competing theories and lies again and again.

HOSTIN: I'm a mom. You're a mom. If you're put in this position would you lie for your child? I've told people I would be in contempt, I wouldn't testify against my kid. She's trying to help. She has a dead grandbaby. This is such a difficult position for Cindy Anthony to be in. Who knows what happened on that stand? I mean, perhaps she was telling the truth, perhaps she wasn't.

GRIFFIN: Sunny, new term, test a line.

HOSTIN: That's a prosecutorial term we used to use that.

GRIFFIN: Insider.

HOSTIN: I used to use it when I was at the U.S. attorney's office.

ROMANS: Sunny Hostin, thank you, Sunny.

GRIFFIN: Well, 30 guns, fake IDs, $800,000 in cash -- that's what the FBI says they found inside the hideout of the notorious gangster Whitey Bulger. He could be inside a Boston courtroom within hours facing 19 counts of murder. The Feds finally caught up to him in California after 16 years on the lamb. The arrest is the talk of New England. People who were too afraid to speak out before his arrest, now they're coming forward, like a real estate developer who says he would have been dead if he didn't pay Whitey $200,000.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He comes out with a .45, puts it to my head, and he says "If you don't pay, I'm going to kill you and your family." He takes the gun out, hits me. He says because you're a good guy and standup guy, I'm not going to kill you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) GRIFFIN: Wow. Bulger was the inspiration for Jack Nicholson's character in the movie "The Departed," a gangster a step ahead of the Feds because of corrupt agents he planted inside the force. One Boston native speaking to KABC TV questioned whether the FBI wanted to see him get caught because of what he might say.

ROMANS: President Obama making headlines during a fundraising swing in New York City. He received a standing ovation for his comments during a gay rights reception. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I believe discrimination because of somebody's sexual orientation or gender identity ran counter to who we are as a people. It's a violation of the basic tenants on which this nation was founded. I believe that gay couples deserve the same legal rights as every other couple in this country.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Same legal rights but you didn't hear him say the word "marriage." President Obama has long said that he supports same-sex civil unions, not same-sex marriage.

The president's visit to New York and comments on gay rights comes as New York State sits on the verge of becoming the sixth and by far the biggest state to legalize same-sex marriage. Negotiations continued late into the night in Albany as protesters circled the capitol. A vote could come this morning. Tallies show the bill needs just one more vote to pass. And many people say if New York becomes the sixth state it will pave the way for other states to follow suit.

GRIFFIN: Talks to get the nation's checkbook in order on the verge of collapse. Why? Well, with weeks to go before the nation can no longer pay off its debt. A key Republican walked away from talks hosted by Vice President Biden. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor saying the president needs to be directly involved to salvage the talks on raising the debt ceiling, and that Democrats are refusing to drop their push for tax increases. Republicans want tax increases off the table. One Democratic involved in the talks accuse Republicans of walking away from the mess they created.

ROMANS: The FBI stopped a terror attack on a military recruiting center and the suspects are U.S. citizens. Officials say they planned to use grenades and guns to kill victims at the military processing station in Seattle. Authorities say the suspects tried to recruit a third member who confessed to police.

GRIFFIN: Overflowing rivers in North Dakota rising faster than expected. Federal officials plan to release more water on the swollen Souris River this weekend. No new flood evacuations ordered, but 12,000 residents are already gone from Minot. ROMANS: Actress Lindsay Lohan won't be going back to jail, but a judge has ordered her not to have any more rooftop house parties while under house arrest. Lohan was summoned to court yesterday after she failed an alcohol test. But the judge said she didn't technically violate her probation. She said Lohan was guilty of extremely poor judgment by having rooftop parties during home confinement.

GRIFFIN: Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, the U.S. tapping into emergency oil reserves. Should you take that summer road trip? We'll talk about the impact at the pump and whether this is good or a bad sign. It's now 11 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: A very controversial move here, the U.S. and other nations tapping emergency oil reserves, releasing 60 million barrels.

ROMANS: It could save you money at the pump this summer. That's the goal, right? But how much really? Gas prices already were coming down, oil prices were already coming down. And now this pretty big message from the president, and some other country, that they're going to try to keep oil prices down.

Poppy Harlow joins us now. A lot of oil traders I talked to yesterday were very skeptical about this. They said, wait a minute, where is the hurricane that's disrupted gasoline supplies. We do have gasoline supplies. Where are the real shortages? Libya -- we knew Libya was happening. They are a little skeptical.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: And we have an oversupply of domestic crude right now --

ROMANS: Right.

HARLOW: -- in Cushing, Oklahoma, where we hold a lot of this. This was a total shock to me, to oil traders, to Christine and most business reporters. You're going to feel it at the gas station.

But I want to show you something, I want to show where oil was going before we tapped these emergency reserves.

I think we have a chart we can pull up for you, because in the month alone, oil is down almost 11 percent. It fell 4.5 percent again yesterday. That means your gas prices folks have been down for 21 straight days. The national average today is $3.60 a gallon.

So, why did this happen? Was this political?

Senator Chuck Schumer has been pushing for this. He said, look, this is a shot in the arm that the American economy needs, if you spend less on gas, you're going to spend more on other things and prop up this economy.

Republicans don't agree. The Chamber of Commerce saying it's ill-advised. The American Petroleum Institute says it's a short-term fix at best.

Let's think about the timing here. We are tapping our oil reserves which we've only done twice in history since the 1970s, after -- during Desert Storm in '91 and after Katrina in 2005. This comes one day after Ben Bernanke said our economy is on very, very thin ice, that the job picture is worse than we thought, that we're going to grow a lot worse than we expected.

And, by the way, in about an hour, hour and a half, we'll get the number that shows us how much our economy grew. So, the timing is interesting. You're going to hear this, as you said, Christine, on the campaign trail.

ROMANS: Yes. What the White House is saying, look, we've been talking with other nations about this since April and this was the timing of it.

You know, apparently, President Obama reportedly called Saudi King Abdullah to talk to him. They usually don't like it when we tap these reserves. But this is far beyond what it's going to mean for you at the gas station in many ways. This is political and politically controversy.

And remember that Fed program to stimulate the economy, they nicknamed it Q.E. 2, it ends this month, June 30th. So, is this sort of the next bullet that the government has or only bullet left to try to bring down prices?

ROMANS: And we'll see if it -- I mean, it comes at a time when prices were already moving lower. I think it might send a message to speculators in the oil market, that don't get too ahead of yourself, bidding up prices, because if you have governments that are stepping in to sell, that could help speculation.

HARLOW: It could. And the government said we're going to watch this for 30 days. We're going to see what it does to oil and gas prices. And let's be honest, if it does prop up the economy as intended and then we may tap more. That's essentially what they're saying if you read through the lines.

Sixty million barrels is what's being released, half from us, half from other nations. To put that in perspective, t is not even one day worth of the oil used in this world. We use 87 million barrels.

ROMANS: And the other message that it sends, that they have to be careful when they do something like this, because it sends a message that the economy is having some sort of emergency.

HARLOW: It freaked out the market. Yes.

ROMANS: If this is an emergency situation, what are they saying about the economy and the slowdown of the economy and what they're trying to prevent, and that starts to make people nervous. We'll see that GDP in an hour.

GRIFFIN: It seems like another desperate move. They just try anything because they don't know what they're doing.

HARLOW: This morning, I was talking to someone about this and what they said to me was, do they know something we don't?

ROMANS: Right. I heard that, too.

HARLOW: That's not a good feeling. I said, yes, I don't think so. I hope not. That's not a great feeling.

So -- but for you, your gas is going to be cheaper starting today. But you'll see it more in about two or three weeks.

ROMANS: Thank you, Poppy -- Poppy Harlow.

HARLOW: Sure.

GRIFFIN: All right. Rob Marciano, what you got for us? Nice beautiful weekend somewhere.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we're going to work on that. It's been slow to change some rain --

ROMANS: You got a very big map. Somewhere on that map is a beautiful weekend, I know it.

MARCIANO: Well, listen, if you guys -- if you guys are willing to travel, we could make it happen for you.

(LAUGHTER)

MARCIANO: This is the problem right here. This guy has been kind of meandering and spinning across the western Great Lakes and created this flash flooding in Upstate New York, actually just, you know, about an hour, not even north of the city. Nyack on the west side of the Hudson River there, it was coming down, two, three inches an hour.

And this created a flash flood situation there. Downtown, we had across Putnam, Orange, and Rockland Counties, a lot going of this on with swift water rescue crews out there in full force, even Fairfield County, Connecticut, seeing some stormy conditions with trees falling on the Merritt Parkway and a fatality there.

We are going to see more in the way of showers and thunderstorms today because this storm isn't really moving all that much.

And when it's not raining, especially along the I-95 corridor, it's going to be awfully steamy. You felt that the past couple days. So, humidity is definitely sky high and we'll see delays where those thunderstorms pop up in the afternoon. Temperatures will be in the lower 80s in New York City. But again, muggy, 87, it's cooler than it has been, 87, and 98 degrees expected, still hot in Dallas.

That's a check on weather.

AMERICAN MORNING is coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Minding your business this morning.

A wild day on the markets yesterday, but they closed mix after news that Greece reached a new agreement on austerity measures with the European Union. The Dow bouncing back from a steep drop in early trading, closing down 59 points.

The Obama administration dipping into the country's emergency oil reserves. The U.S. and other nations together will release 60 million barrels from their strategic stockpiles. The White House says it's taking this action because fighting in Libya has disrupted world oil supplies. Oil prices plunged nearly 4 percent to a four-month low yesterday on the news.

With weeks to go before the nation reaches its debt limit, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor walked away from budget talks hosted by Vice President Biden. Cantor says the two parties reached an impasse over tax issues, and now, it's time for President Obama to broker a deal.

The IRS hiking the gas mileage deductions for business purposes by about 5 cents a mile. Starting July 1st, drivers can deduct 55 cents per mile for using their personal cars for business travel. The IRS says the rare mid-year decision is fueled by higher gas prices.

And this is a first -- a new report saying Asia now has more millionaires than Europe and is quickly closing in on America. A survey by Merrill Lynch for 2010 says the Asia Pacific region is home to more than 3.3 million worth $1 million or more and that's not including the value of their homes.

Don't forget -- for the very latest news about your money, check out the all-new CNNMoney.com.

AMERICAN MORNING will be back after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Los Angeles, California, cloudy, 64, but a high of 76. Right now, it's just dark.

ROMANS: I want to hear your south Boston accent.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: There we go.

GRIFFIN: Wicked.

ROMANS: Yes.

The notorious mobster, James "Whitey" Bulger, he could be back in Boston this morning to face 19 counts of murder. His arrest comes 16 years after being on the run and it stuns that city. Stunning that city.

GRIFFIN: We're laughing but the guy is really --

ROMANS: He really is, yes.

GRIFFIN: Brutal, right?

Well, Bulger is the inspiration for Jack Nicholson's character in the movie, "The Departed." The stories we're hearing on the streets he once ruled make the movie seemed PG-13.

Deb Feyerick has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the streets of south Boston, in a largely Irish-American neighborhood, word of James Bulger, aka Whitey Bulger's arrest, spread fast.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basically it's just weird how they caught him. I never thought they'd catch him.

FEYERICK: For more than two decades, Bulger ran a notorious Irish mob known as the Winter Hill Gang. He paid off police and politicians and disappeared Christmas 1994 after a tip from a corrupt FBI agent alerting him federal agents were closing in.

BOB STUTMAN, FMR. DEA AGENT: The state police knew the FBI was in his pocket.

FEYERICK: Bob Stutman was in Boston, running the Drug Enforcement Agency and working with the task force to get Bulger.

STUTMAN: There was a saying in Boston that Whitey walked down the street, the sidewalk shook. That's how bad he was. That's how tough he was. That's also how mean, crazy and nasty he was.

FEYERICK: Bulger is said to have modeled himself after gangsters immortalized by Hollywood's Jimmy Cagney. Bulger's brutality was well-known. Like New York mafia don, John Gotti, he allegedly killed his own crime boss to take over the gang. He also reportedly once pulled out someone's tongue.

STUTMAN: He could kill you for good reason. He could kill you for a bad reason. He could kill you for no reason. That was his reputation.

FEYERICK: Bulger's criminal operation included extortion, gun running for the IRA and drugs, charging traffickers as much as $1 million to bring marijuana and cocaine through Boston harbor.

HOWIE CARR, RADIO SHOW HOST: Who's laughing now? Whitey.

FEYERICK: Radio show host Howie Carr wrote a book about Whitey and his good brother William, a legendary Boston politician who always denied he knew of his brother's whereabouts.

Bulger was ultimately captured in Santa Monica, California, after the FBI ran a television ad seeking Bulger's long-time girlfriend, Catherine Greig. Neighbors describe them as the elderly couple on the third floor, known as Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Gasco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Among the many charges, Bulger is facing 19 counts of murder and attempted murder. Some former law enforcement officials believe the actual numbers could be higher. Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

GRIFFIN: Follow that story later today.

Top stories now, two U.S. citizens allegedly plan to shoot up a military recruiting station in Seattle. The city's mayor says they tried to hire a third man. He went to police. Court documents show the suspects wanted to retaliate for alleged crimes by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

ROMANS: President Obama placed right in the middle of the same- sex marriage debate in New York last night and he received a standing ovation for his comments during a gay rights reception. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And I believe discrimination because of somebody's sexual orientation or gender identity ran counter to who we are as a people.

It's a violation of the basic tenants on which this nation was founded. I believe gay couples deserve the same legal rights as every other couple in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: You didn't hear him say the word marriage. President Obama has long said that he supports same-sex civil unions not same- sex marriage. The New York state senate could vote on legalizing same-sex marriage this morning.

GRIFFIN: Talks to solve the nation's debt crisis on the verge of collapse. A key Republican has walked away from those talks, which were hosted by the vice president.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, you see him there with the vice president, says the president himself needs to be directly involved to salvage the talks on raising the debt ceiling and that the Democrats are refusing to drop their push for tax increases.

ROMANS: You know, Congress only has until August 2nd to get the nation's checkbook in order and we're already tinkering with the books to buy more time. Now, there's some serious political gridlock on this issue. GRIFFIN: Yes, joining us now in Washington, Democratic strategist KiKi MClean and conservative columnist Tony Blankly. This is very, very much a political thing now, which I don't think they intended when they went in.

But Kiki, let me begin with you, Eric Cantor says we went into these talks telling the Democrats, don't raise taxes, taxes are not on the table. According to Republicans, the Democrats refuse to take the tax hikes off the table so they walked.

KIKI MCLEAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, then Eric Cantor didn't go into the negotiations in good faith. You know, I work with an organization called "No Labels" and we've run a campaign recently saying no deal, no break and everything on the table and everyone at the table.

I think anyone who understands anything about our economy agrees that we have to deal with our spending issues and we have to deal with our revenue issues. Eric Cantor, what he did yesterday was he played to his own politics and his own only hyde and what he wants for himself not what he wants for the country.

Because if you go into a set of negotiations taking things off the table then you're not serious about getting a solution and I think he's going to pay a price for that.

ROMANS: You know, Tony, here's what's really irritating I think to a lot of Americans. They see politics and squabbling about how to fix this, but at its core the reason why we keep raising the debt ceiling over and over and over again is because Congress still keeps spending the money and giving the tax breaks over and over again.

They see very short term, they don't see long term and now here we are at the end of the road and the debt ceiling has to be raised?

TONY BLANKLEY, AUTHOR OF "AMERICAN GRIT": Well, look I've been warning for months a possibility that Washington will not be able to function politically and get this done.

On the other hand, keep in mind, I don't think this is a short-term issue about raising taxes. We had an election on this last time. I don't think the public is going to get taxes raised by a Republican Congress.

If they want taxes raised we're going to have an election in a year and a half and vote for the party that wants to do it. I think this is a fundamental polarizing issue between the country, the public, and I think we're in a very dangerous political moment.

GRIFFIN: So let me toss this out. The election is a year and a half away. This crisis is now. So any political games being played, I don't see playing a big part in this election unless the whole world falls apart here.

I'm asking you, Tony, who's going to be the bigger person and how is this going to get solved? Does it need to have a president step in and say guys, let's get this done?

BLANKLEY: Well, look, I mean, I was involved when Newt and Clinton negotiated the budget in '95. I was involved when Bush negotiated with the Democrats in 1990, and ultimately the president has got to be involved because he's the one who's going to be decisively speaking for his party.

Nonetheless, he has to pay attention to his rank and file in Congress. So we aren't going to get to the serious stage of the negotiation until the president and leading Republican, the speaker, presumably, and McConnell.

MCLEAN: But you know what, I have to say. I don't know that there's a lot of room for the president to be at the table if there's going to be disingenuousness on the part of the people who go to the table.

If the president of the United States sits at the table then Mr. Cantor better show up and be willing to have everything on the table. I think that's what we haven't seen.

BLANKLEY: This town is filled with this disingenuous. You can't have at that table filled with people who aren't being disingenuous. That's the nature of the political process.

MCLEAN: Yes, but Tony, you also you know that you can also go to the table with a real commitment by people to come to a solution at the end of the day and I think what we saw from Mr. Cantor yesterday he wasn't willing to do it.

BLANKLEY: The Republicans are not going to raise taxes. This isn't a ploy. This isn't a game. The Republicans don't believe in it. Their voters don't believe it in it and we're not going to raise taxes. How we get around the problem is a real challenge for the political leaders.

ROMANS: I want to bring in another issue, the president where he is stepping and that is the strategic petroleum reserve. He steps in, taps it, only he can do it. He says we have a situation because of Libya that we want to get some oil into the market, 30 million barrels of oil.

And Kiki, he does that and he shows leadership on that and already you have all these people saying it's political, it's not going to make a difference, oil prices were already moving lower, what is he doing?

MCLEAN: Yes, one of the things people aren't talking about is the fact that requires the president's authority to do it and two, this is not a unilateral decision on the party of the United States.

This is us working in cooperation with other entities around the world, other producing nations. This isn't just sort of a short-term issue of gas prices.

ROMANS: My point -- BLANKLEY: A bigger discussion around the market.

ROMANS: What it does, Republicans bash him on it. If he steps in on the debt debate, I mean, is he really going to be able --

BLANKLEY: It's not Republicans bashing him. "The Financial Times" of London opposed it, "The Washington Post." I mean, everybody - but let me make another point about trying to manipulate the futures market, which is a lot of people think what this is about.

There's a real danger because the futures market rationalizes supply and demand through time and if you false the futures market to be too low you risk shortage in the future. So this is a very dangerous game that's being played.

MCLEAN: This is also a move that's in cooperation with the other producing nations, it's meant to look at this from a global point of view --

BLANKLEY: Not producing nations. The countries, the United States, Japan, Italy, France --

MCLEAN: In cooperation --

BLANKLEY: China is not involved, Saudi Arabia is not involved. This is the consuming nations with their stockpiles that are giving it up, not the -- Venezuela is not involved, Iran is not involved.

MCLEAN: Producing nations knew about it and were -- -- was done in cooperation.

BLANKLEY: This is against the interest of the Saudi Arabian government.

GRIFFIN: Kiki, Tony, very interesting conversation. We should know very, very soon what's going to happen with gas prices I think, and that one we probably won't have to argue about for the next year and a half. Thanks a lot, guys.

BLANKLEY: Thank you.

MCLEAN: Thank you.

GRIFFIN: Still ahead, must-see video, must-see video, first lady Michelle Obama, ends her week-long visit to South Africa doing sit-ups and push-ups with a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

ROMANS: And it's not her husband.

Plus, a buried mystery, Egyptian archeologists are digging a pharaoh's boat buried in the sand for thousands of years.

GRIFFIN: And how about great white shark cage diving.

ROMANS: No.

GRIFFIN: Come on.

ROMANS: No way.

GRIFFIN: It's the hot tourist trend sweeping the world and very controversial. We'll have that story, 38 minutes now after the hour.

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ROMANS: Good morning, Washington, D.C. mostly cloudy, 76, partly cloudy, 89 and a threat of thunderstorms over debt negotiations.

GRIFFIN: Yes, a cloud over the Capitol.

Well, we don't see this often, Democrats and Republicans getting together. They did it last night for a good cause, beating the Washington Press Corps in softball, which I find hard to believe. It must have been the writing press.

The Third Annual Congressional Women's softball game, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a big Yankee fan, threw out the first pitch.

ROMANS: From there, the lady lawmakers beat the press 5-4. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz got the game-winning hit. The game grew a bipartisan crowd with House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on hand. The game benefited the Young Survival Coalition, a group that assist young women facing breast cancer.

GRIFFIN: I can't believe the press lost to those guys. Well, far from the nation's capitol, first lady Michelle Obama wrapping up her goodwill visit to Africa. This morning, she's in Botswana after a enlisting a Nobel laurite to help deliver a message to kids about staying in shape.

ROMANS: CNN's Zain Verjee is following that. She is live in London. Good morning, Zain.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Good morning. Let's just go straight to this video because, you know, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu can do push-ups, so can everybody else, OK, guys.

He does it, but the first lady, Michelle Obama, is really spearheading this. She's at a football stadium with some kids there and there she goes, some sit-ups there. Doing them pretty well and then you see the archbishop himself, there he goes, down he goes.

GRIFFIN: Down he doesn't go. Down his butt goes up and down, don't see the hands moving.

VERJEE: Come on, Drew.

ROMANS: Give him a break.

VERJEE: He's like 80.

GRIFFIN: Is he going to do them or not? VERJEE: She looks amazing though. So the kids were there and they were all chanting, yes, we can. It was a good health message all around. Michelle Obama and the arch getting up.

ROMANS: Can you imagine, Zain, Drew Griffin as a judge on "American Idol." He'd be like, I know you're a great singer, but come on.

GRIFFIN: Look at the slouch next to Michelle Obama.

VERJEE: Drop down and give me 50.

GRIFFIN: Zain, they're digging up an old boat in Egypt. I mean, a really old boat.

VERJEE: It's 4,500-year-old boat and it actually belongs to the Egyptian King Kufu, otherwise known as (INAUDIBLE). When they used to die, they would bury all the treasures with the pharaohs and they buried a couple of his boats.

And they were discovered back in 1987 and the last couple of years, they've been excavating the important site and so they're bringing it up in little bits. Then they're going to restore it and reassemble it.

The whole idea of burying boats and other such treasures was so that it could be with the pharaohs during the afterlife. This guy was important. He built the Pyramid of Giza.

ROMANS: I hope he doesn't need those boats because now we're --

GRIFFIN: You know, we're going to learn something here. Chops, shops, what's his name?

VERJEE: I say Chops. You saw Chops. Let's call the whole thing off.

GRIFFIN: I want to make sure I got the right guy.

ROMANS: All right, Zain, what about shark cage diving? Ever been shark cage diving?

VERJEE: Well, tourists like this. I tend to just prefer a nice beach and cosmo and some great sun, but people, tourists go to South Africa and it's this huge controversy where they go down in this little cage into the Atlantic Ocean and the idea is, is to attract the great white shark. Isn't that fun?

So there they go. They kind of submerged and then they throw out this bait like fish oil or tuna heads and they attract the great white to it and then they get this sort of, you know, big rush and see it up close.

The reason it's a big fight, is because when you are feeding the shark, this kind of food, and they associate it with humans, and so when ordinary people go out into the Atlantic they become targets for sharks. So there have been more shark attacks because of this stuff. That's the big fight.

ROMANS: Also disrupts their natural feeding patterns. See this in the Bahamas and other places with sting rays or dolphins or whatever and you always have the local environmentalists saying we shouldn't be messing around with the food cues we're giving what can be dangerous creatures.

GRIFFIN: Still pretty cool.

VERJEE: Yes. It is cool. And you know what else is cool? There was some research that just came out about great white sharks and music and it turns out, according to researchers, that they love ACDC.

GRIFFIN: I knew it.

ROMANS: I'm not surprised.

VERJEE: Aggressive and more inquisitive, says this research and they don't actually have ears. It's the vibrations of the music. Apparently "Shook Me All Night Long" is a big hit with the great white.

ROMANS: It just sounds so classy when she says AC/DC.

GRIFFIN: Like they took a survey of the shocks and discussed this. Thanks, Zain.

ROMANS: All right, coming up, traffic noise, cramming into a subway car, getting jostled on the side walk, the stress of the city. But it turns out living in a city does more than just stress you out. It messes with your brain.

GRIFFIN: It's messing with mine right now. Plus your prescription drug information, that is for sale, but is it legal? Dr. Sanjay Gupta is coming up with that. It's 46, almost 47 minutes after the hour.

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GRIFFIN: Getting ready about 11 minutes before the top of the hour and here are the morning headlines.

President Obama getting a standing "O" at a gay rights reception in New York City last night after saying he supports equal rights for same-sex couples. He didn't say he supports same-sex marriage.

At the same time, New York state a vote away from legalizing same-sex marriage. A vote could happen this morning after the state senate puts it off for days.

There's a tax fight stalling talks to raise the nation's debt limit. Top Republicans pulling out of Vice President Biden's talks saying, they want the president. He needs to step in and settle the issue. A check on the markets, stock futures for all three indices are trading up right now. Riding on news of an agreement for austerity measures in Greece. You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING back after the break.

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ROMANS: Good morning, Atlanta, cloudy, 74, partly cloudy later today, we're told, 87. Wow.

GRIFFIN: Hot and steamy. Let me tell you. Want to feel less stressed? Move out of that city and every other big city. It's all about how our brains are wired. Scientists found higher activity in a part of brain that controls stress.

ROMANS: That's right and people who live in the city compared to those who live in rural areas, it's the first -- I know, doesn't even the video --

GRIFFIN: I could reach in there and take the horn out of his head!

ROMANS: First study that links city living with high levels of stress. No word on how long you have to live in the city to feel the effects.

GRIFFIN: Yes, so we've been asking you. We want to know is city living worth it even if it's more stressful and possibly harmful to your health, is our question of the day.

We got some interesting responses from Reallgood1185, "Absolutely, have more access to a wider array of services, medical, entertainment, transportation, et cetera."

ROMANS: Jason Deveau on Facebook, "Cities only make us stressed and unhealthy because of the kind of cities we build. More walkable cities with a more centralized, more urban population and better public transit are the solution."

GRIFFIN: Yes, Sharon Heisner, "I have lived in both. Give me the rural life. The city was scary at best. Constant police sirens. Even at one point gunshots. Fear of break-ins. No, they can keep it. Granted the job market in a rural setting is not as good, but the more peaceful lifestyle makes up for it."

ROMANS: I've lived in both and I have to say there are advantages to both and disadvantages to both.

GRIFFIN: You can make anyplace home.

ROMANS: I'm just going to switch back and forth.

GRIFFIN: Pharmacies sell your prescription information to drug companies. Did you know that? In a recent ruling, the Supreme Court decided it's OK. ROMANS: That's right. Perfectly legal. Joining us with more on from Atlanta, CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, why do the drug companies want this information? How do they use it?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think, again, I think you're both right. This is surprising to a lot of people, but this is an example of very targeted marketing and advertising.

The pharmaceutical companies want all kind of information, but what you probably didn't know is that when you go to a pharmacy and fill a prescription, your age, your gender, the type of medication, the dosage and also the doctor who prescribed this medication for you, that information is collected and could potentially be shared and exactly what the Supreme Court ruling was about.

They said that they wanted to say that this is OK to do. That this information can be shared and that drug companies can get the information on who the doctors are specifically.

Now, what you might guess, you're going to be right on this, let's say they find a particular doctor is prescribing a medication a lot but it happens to be their competitor's medication?

Then a pharmaceutical company can start going to that doctor's office and showing up, sending their reps and sales reps over there to try and tout the benefits of their drug to enhance that competiveness.

That's what happens. That's why a lot of these drug reps go to these doctors' offices and doing it with more information than you might think.

GRIFFIN: That stinks! I'm smelling a rat here!

ROMANS: I thought what happened between me and my doctor's office doesn't go past me and my doctor's office.

GRIFFIN: The HIPPA rules, right?

GUPTA: It's not your name, but it's more aggregate sort of information. You know, personal protection is there, but they are getting a lot of information.

GRIFFIN: But, Sanjay, all of this, right? The end game here is for a pharmaceutical company to use this information to get my doctor to sell me their drug.

GUPTA: Absolutely and what they have shown is that with this sort of information, it can be very effective. A lot of studies on this, Drew. One study was actually sort of looking at 29 existing studies and they found that when they send these sales reps out there, they definitely see an increase in sales.

And to put more specific on that, about a dollar's worth of effort in terms of sales reps and in terms of some of the targeted advertising can lead up to $10 and more than that in terms of sale.

So about 10-1 return on this sort of thing for the pharmaceutical companies. They will keep doing it. Now part of the issue here, it's not to say the drugs they are touting are not good or maybe the better drug, but you don't know for sure. That's part of the problem here.

ROMANS: How do you avoid being prescribed something that a drug company is pushing? I mean, how do you make sure -- I don't know. It's amazing! It's amazing how much information they have and how much leeway they have.

GUPTA: I completely agree. I mean, I think a lot of it is a little bit on the patient to just ask some questions. You know, why exactly am I being prescribing this drug? Are there cheaper alternatives?

You know, is there something that, you know, this is being created because drug reps visiting here? What are the options? But, you know, the cost here, I think, is an important point. For example if you look at certain blood pressure medications.

I was just doing some research this morning. Benakar which is a particular blood pressure medication costs about $142 for a month's supply. Lasix cost about $12 for a 30-day supply.

There are different types of drugs, but the Lasix may be as beneficiary for the patient here as the much more expensive one and the much more expensive one might be more costly in terms of out of pocket cost to the consumer, to the patient.

So just ask a lot of questions here I think about why you're being prescribed what you're being prescribed.

ROMANS: Well, the good news is there are all these rules. I mean, maybe they're five or six years old now, but these rules, the pharmaceutical reps can't be, you know, giving gifts to doctors any more.

There are a lot of things that they can't do to try to tamp down on some of the undo influence they have, but they still do have an awful lot of information.

GUPTA: Yes, it is remarkable. I got to tell you. I was a little bit surprised like it sounds like both of you as well that this ruling went the way it did.

I thought it might go the other way. But this idea that the pharmaceutical companies are going to continue to collect this information, it sounds like it's here to stay for now.

ROMANS: Yes, I'm not a lawyer, I'm a consumer. Obviously, the law went in favor of the drug companies. As a consumer, I will ask more questions. Thanks, Sanjay.

GRIFFIN: I'm smelling an opt-out law somewhere down the road. Sanjay, thanks a lot.

ROMANS: All right, top stories coming up right after the break.

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