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L.A. Braces For Weekend Traffic; U.S. Women's Soccer Time in World Cup Finals; Debt Ceiling Negotiations Continue; Bin Laden May Have Planned Presidential Assassination; Casey Anthony Prepares to Leave Jail

Aired July 16, 2011 - 10:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good Saturday morning, everybody, and welcome to the CNN Saturday morning.

It's 7:00 a.m. in Los Angeles. And this is what they are dealing with today. You have heard it now. "Carmageddon" is what they're calling it. Now, it might not sound like a big deal to you that a freeway is shut down, but this is not just any freeway. We will take you there for what is sure to be an interesting weekend in L.A.

Also, an iPad 2 for $69. Sears was offering that deal yesterday. Today, they're offering an apology. The big mistake that had people thinking they had gotten the bargain of the year.

But let's now turn to the 405 freeway, the infamous 405 in Los Angeles. It is shut down this weekend. And you might be thinking, if you're not familiar with the area, big deal, freeway's shut down for construction. But think, folks, what if you are in New York and they shut down the Brooklyn-Queens expressway? What if you're in Chicago and they shut down the Dan Ryan? What if you're in Atlanta, they shut down 75-85. You're in the bay area and they shut down highway 80 over the Bay Bridge? That is what we're talking about. This is how important 405 is to the area.

You see pictures of the construction that is taking place -- 500,000 drivers go on to the 405 every single weekend, but this weekend it is not an option. The construction work is supposed to be done by Monday morning. There will be hefty fines if it is not done in time. Giving you an idea of the 405 here, a map of the area. But right now, let's take Sandra Endo. She takes you farther into this map and this "Carmageddon" for this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For 53 hours --

MIKE MILES, CALTRANS: Stay home if you can. Don't drive if you can.

ENDO: -- a major shutdown.

MILES: This is the one weekend we want to tell you really need to avoid the 405.

ENDO: One of the most congested arteries in Los Angeles, the 405.

MILES: Do anything you can to avoid driving through this area.

ENDO: Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is pushing the use of mass transit, but admits to the city's addiction.

MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, LOS ANGELES: We are the car capital of the United States of America and the single passenger car capital.

ENDO (on camera): Why are the warnings so dire?

VILLARAIGOSA: Well, you've heard the hype about "Carmageddon." If people don't heed the call to plan ahead, stay at home, get out of their car, there is going to be gridlock like we haven't seen, maybe the mother of all gridlocks.

ENDO (voice-over): The shutdown is part of a $1 billion project to expand the 405 by adding an HOV lane over a ten-mile stretch. Engineers are demolishing this bridge to make it happen. Transportation critics say expanding freeways won't solve L.A.'s traffic nightmares.

MICHAEL MANVILLE, UCLA INSTITUTE FOR TRANSPORTATION STUDIES: People in Los Angeles are much less likely to use our public transportation system.

ENDO (on camera): Why is that?

MANVILLE: It's much less expensive in Los Angeles to own a car. No amount of public transportation and no amount of freeway building is going to get rid of traffic congestion because there's just too many people and as long as the roads are un-priced, you're going to have congestion.

ENDO: What do you say to critics who say, look, L.A. is always going to be congested, people aren't going to take mass transit unless you do something about discouraging people from driving? How about tolls? How about make it more expensive to drive. What do you say about that?

VILLARAIGOSA: I say they're right. They're absolutely right.

ENDO (voice-over): There is tree bus and train service during the shutdown for affected areas. And despite the pending doom, after three months of warning the public, a good dose of optimism from the mayor.

VILLARAIGOSA: I fully believe it's going to be a successful effort.

ENDO: Sandra Endo, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: OK, of course, this is a serious situation for the drivers in Los Angeles, but you know, somebody's having some fun with this. Look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE COLBERT REPORT": This weekend in Los Angeles a short stretch of the 405 freeway will be closed for repair. Is everyone -- is everyone OK?

(LAUGHTER)

We prayed this day would never come. Now, sure, Californians have survived earthquakes, wildfire, Lakers' victories, even alien invasions, but this is the big one, folks -- increased traffic on two off-peak days.

(LAUGHTER)

You know what that means. Someone might have to walk with some place.

(LAUGHTER)

Think of the children. Pray for them.

JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Best way to beat this -- remember balloon boy? That's what I'm doing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you want to avoid the 405 this weekend, I suggest cutting through Coldwater Canyon. Just pull over and crawl down the embankment.

(LAUGHTER)

Once you're down, make your way through the tall grass to the old Beverly Bridge. Once across, jump in Deer Creek and swim through the underwater cave. This will take you to the main sewer line, which takes you out to the 101 freeway. It's as simple as that.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: We don't know why they're making such a big deal out of it. There's an easy detour that you saw just there. But this thing is just getting going. And as many of you know, the 405 is critical. We'll be checking in with them to see how they're doing in L.A. throughout the day.

Here are your two options right now, folks, you can resign or you can be fired. Those are your only options. That's the ultimatum given to nearly 200 Atlanta school educators tied to the largest school cheating scandal in U.S. history.

Days after replacing four district superintendents and a principal, the Atlanta school interim superintendent, Errol Davis, he sent a letter to the 178 teachers, principals, and administrators accused of cheating. The school system's media relations director says this is now part of a new focus on tone, culture, and performance, and a key is more accountability.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNETH BROMERY, DIRECTOR OF MEDIA RELATIONS: He's also establishing mandatory annual ethics training for all employees you have to go through, which will likely be an electronic course at which there's an assessment or a test at the end just to reinforce the fact that he has said often, yes, I expect my employees and I will set targets for them to achieve, but the repercussions will be a lot worse for people who fail to adhere to ethical standards than to beat targets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Also, we turn now to Rupert Murdoch and News Corp's really serious damage control that's going on right now because of that whole tabloid phone hacking scandal taking place right now in the U.K. Now, he has been apologizing. He apologized personally to the family of one of the victims, but he has also given a public apology.

What you're seeing here is a full apology that he put out, a full-page ad in at least seven U.K. newspapers. Now, this was put out today, but it was actually yesterday that he apologized to the family of a murder victim. That murder victim, Milly Dowler, her phone was reportedly hacked by journalists working for Murdoch. Now, I want you to look and listen to this video. This is Murdoch going into that meeting with the family and coming out, and listen to what he had to say publicly. Also, listen to the crowd reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Murdoch, will you tell us what you said to Milly Dowler's family?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop pushing!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you'll just keep silent for a minute. It was a totally private meeting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down. Get down. Get your head down, mate. Can you tell us specifically what you said?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I'm not. I'm the founder of the company. I was appalled to find out what happened. I apologize. I have nothing more to say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Murdoch, will you --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: We'll see where this scandal goes next. We're at eight minutes past the hour now. You've got to hear this. It's kind of an outrageous story. It has people asking a lot of questions. What should happen now, because iPad 2 was on sale yesterday for $69? You're hearing me right, folks, $69. They normally start at $699. It was posted incorrectly on the Sears website, and a lot of people had about 20 to 30 minutes to just rush on to the Web site and buy up those iPads.

Now, the others with the more gig, the 32 gig, they were being sold for $179. What you are seeing here is what one of our viewers sent to us. She actually has her receipt that shows that she bought two iPads for $179 each. Sears gave her a confirmation number, saying, "thank you for placing that order. Your iPads are on the way."

One problem. Sears realized the mistake after a short time and then sent out other e-mails saying sorry, it was a mistake by a third party. We're not going to be able to honor that price. That has some people upset. We will see if any legal action now comes of this and people have a claim.

Well, I wanted you to see something here now. Take a look at your TV screen. This is the top of a 300-foot TV tower that is tumbling down. This is in the Netherlands. This is from YouTube video. You can see it at the top there, at the beginning, that this thing was on fire, but we don't know exactly what caused this fire. And this thing came down. Fire crews did get out of the way. That's all they could do. And also, we can tell you nobody was hurt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEYONCE, SINGER/SONGWRITER: Good morning, Atlantis, this is Beyonce. Sandy, Chris, Doug, and Rex, you inspire all of us to dare to live our dreams.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Jay-Z cannot claim that he is the only person that Beyonce woke up this morning. The NASA astronauts, yes, they got a wake-up call from none other than Beyonce herself. Oftentimes, they get these wake-up calls, they'll play a song for them, but this came along with a Beyonce song, but, yes, in fact, the Beyonce message.

They got an early wake-up call because they needed to get some work done. They had been out, they had to repair a broken latch on the ship. Also, they can call this moving day. They had to transfer a lot of equipment from the shuttle to the space station. So a heck of a day, a heck of the way to start the day.

Reynolds, what do you think those astronauts, when they're telling their grandkids of the great things they did, are they going to say, I was an Atlantis astronaut, or are they going to say Beyonce woke me up one morning?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Option two. And who needs coffee in a situation like that to wake up. You don't need caffeine in that kind of a deal. But that's really cool. And I'm sure that NASA, someone reached out to her and she jumped at the opportunity, because she didn't have to do it.

HOLMES: It's an honor for her. Last shuttle mission. It's going to be sad to see that thing land next week. I think Thursday is when it's coming back.

WOLF: I believe you're right.

HOLMES: You got the weather?

WOLF: That is if the weather cooperates. They've got three different landing sites, three options with, and hopefully one of those will be just fine.

(WEATHER BREAK)

HOLMES: It's 12 minutes past the hour now. Casey Anthony is just hours away from a being a free woman. We'll get the details, at least the ones we have, about how this release will take place. Some extraordinary measures being put in place for this. It's 12 minutes past the hour on this CNN Saturday morning. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: A quarter past the hour on this CNN Saturday morning. On CNN Sunday morning, Casey Anthony may be a free woman. We know she is going to be getting out of jail some time tomorrow. As you know, she was found not guilty of murdering her daughter, Caylee.

I want to bring in David Mattingly who has been on this case for us. He's live for us in Orlando. And I think I have that right. She could be, by the time we're on the air here tomorrow, a free woman or not. We don't exactly know how this is going to go down.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And this is an unusual case because of all the scrutiny that's on it and all the security concerns for her. Typically, an inmate here, when their time is up, they would just process out, they would sign a few papers, they would get their belongings back, they would walk out this main door where they would presumably catch a ride with whoever's taking them back home.

In this case, Casey Anthony will be processed out, but we're not sure, they're not saying exactly where she will be departing the prison area. There are quite a number of buildings and entryways and exit ways out of the facility that you see behind me. It is a sprawling complex.

But they have done something extraordinary here. They've allowed three journalists to be embedded, so to speak, at the jail tonight. They will go in tonight, they will be there to observe Casey Anthony's departure, whenever that happens. There will be a video photographer, a still photographer, and a reporter from the associated press. They will all be there to observe and record her departure. But they're not allowed to tell anyone what's going on or when this is happening until it's over. When it's determined that Casey Anthony is safely away from jail and on her way, then those journalists will be allowed to come out and share their experience and the material that they've gathered with the rest of the news media.

So it's very possible we won't find out about her exit until after it's actually happened, T.J.

HOLMES: And you made clear and you have been this morning in our conversations, they are responsible for her until she gets off of their property, off the grounds. But she has been getting threats. Do we have any idea what her plans are for when she gets out of jail, where she will go? And also, what about protection for her?

MATTINGLY: The protection provided for her by the authorities here in Orange County extends only to the edges of the property of the jail. After that, once she's outside of the parking lot here, the protection that they have to provide for her is the same thing they would do for any ordinary citizen. She can report a complaint about a possible threat. They can investigate that. But beyond that, they're not going to do anything different for her that they wouldn't do for any other citizen that's out there.

So what we're looking at now, there have been threats against her. We don't know how many. Yesterday one of her civil attorneys was in court and he revealed that he had received seven threats, seven, against Casey Anthony that day alone.

So there's probably going to have to be some long-term security measures for her. They've been very quiet about where she's going to go. When she leaves here, she's departing for parts unknown. And that is for a very important reason -- she needs to stay out of the public eye to handle all these other legal cases that are coming up against her and to find some way to get her life back on track.

HOLMES: All right, you talked about legal cases there. I'll ask you about one. We know about the nanny. I guess many people might be familiar with that one. The nanny she said took her daughter. The woman who has that name is actually saying she has a defamation suit against her. But there's also now an inmate in South Carolina who actually wants her served before she leaves jail tomorrow. Explain this.

MATTINGLY: Well, what he wants to do, he wants to have a DNA comparison done to show that he could be the father of Caylee Anthony. We've never heard anything so far definitive about who the father of that child actually is. But he wants a DNA test done. If it proves that he is the father of Caylee Anthony, then he plans to file a wrongful death suit against Casey Anthony for her death. There's been no discussion of this man prior to this potential for a lawsuit popping up, but just one more layer of questions, one more layer of legal problems for Casey Anthony to consider once she gets out of jail here.

HOLMES: Yes, one more layer, and as much as you've covered this case, you know it probably won't be the last layer either. David Mattingly for us in Orlando. We appreciate you, as always, buddy. Thanks so much.

So we're at 20 minutes past the hour now. How much does it cost you to park in your city? It depends on what city you're in. Here's a list of those cities where it's going to cost you most. You folks in Seattle, oh, $24 a day? That could add up to almost $300 a month. Philly, with you all are paying about $26 a day, that' just over $300 a month. Number three on the list, I can attest to this one -- San Francisco is no joke with the parking, $26 a day, $375 for the month. Coming up next, I bet you you'll be able to guess the number one, but what about the number two? Also, there's a place in the world that pretty much doubles that price. Stay with us on this CNN Saturday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Before the break we were telling you the three most expensive cities, three of the most expensive cities in the country to park your car. And here are the ones that are really going to hit you up. According to Colliers International, Boston is number two on the list, the second most expensive place to simply park your car. We're talking $34 a day. You add all that up, you could be out of $438 a month.

But no surprise here, you knew this -- midtown Manhattan. This is why people walk everywhere. This is why people take the subway and take cabs, because if you have a car, that car could cost you another car payment in parking, $41 a day, up to $541 a month. But in the world, look at this. Maybe we shouldn't be complaining so much. London, if you work or live there, a parking spot will cost you on average about $1,000 a month.

Well, we're 22 minutes past the hour.

(WEATHER BREAK)

HOLMES: Did you know that two-thirds of adults are actually overweight? That is from a recent study by the trust of America's health and the Robert Wood Johnson foundation. Even though the obesity rate increased in 16 states last year, some states are thinner than others, shall we say.

Look at this. The obesity rate in Ohio, 23.1 percent. That puts them at number four on the list. Then comes Massachusetts. After that Connecticut. And then, this is not a state, but still they get counted in some of these things -- Washington, D.C. with a low obesity rate there. And Colorado, would you believe, number one on the list with under 20 percent obesity rate.

But on the flipside of this, we're going to show you right after the break the states and maybe your state with the highest obesity rates. I've got that coming for you right after the break on this CNN Saturday morning. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: We're coming up on the bottom of the hour on this CNN Saturday morning. We were showing you the states that have the lowest obesity rates before the break. But Americans, it seems, are getting larger. That's the takeaway with by a study from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson foundation.

Here are the states with the highest obesity rates. Number five on this list is Louisiana, over 31 percent. And number four is Tennessee. At number three, West Virginia. Number two, Alabama at 32.3 percent. And then at number one, a state that's been at number one for a while, Mississippi, 34.4 percent is the obesity rate there. And this is the seventh year in a row that Mississippi has taken that claim.

Well, again, as we get closer and closer to the bottom of the hour here, we're talking about backyard gardens now for families in need. But listen to this story. This is the mission for this week's CNN hero. She has turned her own desperation into some inspiration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLLY HIRSHBERG, CNN HERO: I love the United States. I think it's a wonderful place to live. It's scary to me that with so much land, with so much abundance, that people are hungry. In 2008, my husband lost his job. It was a very, very difficult time, and the first thing we did was plant a garden.

If you grow your own food, you never have to worry about how you're going to feed your family. We thought if we can help others garden, then we can help them pull themselves up out of poverty. I'm Holly Hirshberg and we fight hunger in the United States by giving away seeds and teaching people to grow their own food. We pack enough seeds to provide food for a family of four. We want to help people provide for themselves.

This is an eggplant, and I've already harvested from it. My garden is in front of my apartment. I can grow tomatoes, bell peppers in just flower pots. If it wasn't for my garden, then I wouldn't be able to afford fresh produce at all.

Here we have a tomatillo plant. We have provided over 65,000 seed packs to families all over the country. We also have provided seeds for over 180 community gardens.

So who wants to grow vegetables?

We see a lot of families whose children only eat when they get a free meal at school. When they're at home, we want them to have the best nutrition possible, and certainly you can't do better than garden veggies.

I'm not a master gardener. I wouldn't even say I'm a good gardener. I'm an enthusiastic gardener. The seeds do all the work. We provide the seeds, we help you grow them. You eat the food. Goodbye, hunger.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, so far Holly's organization has sent seeds to 65,000 families. And a reminder, all of our CNN heroes come from your suggestions. So logon to CNNheroes.com and nominate somebody you know.

Well, are the Democrats and Republicans in Washington in D.C. going to argue the U.S. right into default? Well, we've got our favorite Democrat and Republican here with us. No arguments necessary, though. We're going to work this thing out this morning. Lenny and Maria joining me right after the break. Stay with us for that.

Also this morning, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has to deal with a lot of things as she travels the world, but she had a little something extra and a little special in this particular appearance. We'll show you who crashed the party.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Let's give you a look at some of the stories making headlines on this Saturday morning. Look at that -- construction, you know, road construction, we're used to seeing it, but this is a little different, because this construction closed down freeway 405. Yes, that's L.A.'s infamous 405 freeway. Crews started working on it early this morning. They're calling this "Carmageddon" because about a half million cars traveled this thing on any given weekend. It has shut down the 405. They have begged people to stay home, of if you've got to find another way around, it could cause a traffic nightmare.

Also, today is Casey Anthony's last full day in jail. She will be released at some point tomorrow. We don't know when. But before she's released, a South Carolina prison inmate wants a paternity test. He wants to find out, he says, if he is the father of Caylee Anthony, the deceased father. Now, the child's father has never been publicly identified.

Also, these are your options, folks. You can either quit or you can get fired. That's the option for 178 teachers and principals accused in that cheating scandal in the Atlanta public school system. And they have until Wednesday to make up their mind which option they're going to take. All these educators, many of them suspected of helping falsify answers on student standardized tests.

Well, this week President Obama held two news conferences to urge a deal on raising the debt ceiling. Between those events he told a reporter that those on Social Security on military veterans, they might not get their checks if a deal is not reached.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven't resolved this issue because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it. REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R) HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: This debt limit increase is his problem, and I think it's time for him to lead by putting his plan on the table, something that the Congress can pass.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right, let's bring them in. You know them, know them well, you love them like I do. Democratic strategist Maria Cardona joins us this morning from Miami. Hello to you. And a Republican strategist and good friend Lenny McAllister joins us from Chicago. Good to see you both. As always, the political headline of the week, Maria, what was it for you?

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: GOP risks major voter backlash for bogging down debt negotiation talks.

HOLMES: All right, Lenny, what was it for you?

LENNY MCALLISTER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Both sides inch forward, both insert whole foot in mouth.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: All right, we can understand that one. Maria and Lenny, I'm going to ask you both this question. I have been saying, they might be crazy, but they're not this crazy, OK? This thing is going to play out, but is there any way either side is going to let us get to August 2nd without raising the debt limit? Maria?

CARDONA: I think it's very possible, T.J., that this thing goes down to the 11th and three-quarters hour. But if it does, it's because the GOP has been so intransient in understanding that a real negotiation means putting on the table everything. And they have not been able to do that. They have gone to the mat to protect wealthy Americans, to protect oil and gas companies with their tax loopholes, to protect corporate jet setters, to protect hedge fund managers, while they are willing to have seniors, working class Americans, small business, middle class families be the ones to pay for everything.

HOLMES: All right, let me get Lenny in here. And Lenny, I know you'll probably want to respond to some of what she said, but do you think there's any way they actually let us get to that deadline?

MCALLISTER: Everybody's playing chicken. Well, what ends up happening is sometimes the chicken's crossing the road and gets run over because they're playing chicken. Yes, there's a possibility that we'll go past August 2nd. I don't think it's going to happen, but, yes, they're willing to risk this because both sides are not put everything on the table. There are certain things the GOP is refusing to give up, but there are certain thing the president is refusing to give up. He said everything's on the table except this and that and this and that. So everything's not on table for him either. So both sides are not willing to do this, but more than willing to blame each other for something going wrong.

HOLMES: Go ahead, Maria. CARDONA: But, T.J., when you have the president, a Democratic president of the United States, put on the table, be willing to negotiate changes in the most sacred of cows for Democrats and America's families, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, there is no way you can credibly say that this president is not putting absolutely everything on the table to get done what we need to get done, which is make sure that we do not go into a second great depression by letting our country go into default.

Republicans, many have said, Bachmann, Pawlenty and many of the freshman Republican have said that they don't believe that this debt ceiling is actually real. They don't understand the economic consequences of this.

MCALLISTER: But they're not at the table.

CARDONA: And thank god they're not at the table, but --

HOLMES: Lenny, go ahead. Go ahead, Lenny.

CARDONA: But they're influencing Boehner.

MCALLISTER: But those folks aren't at the table, Maria.

CARDONA: They're influencing John Boehner, who is the one who walked away.

HOLMES: Wait, guys. You usually don't talk over each other. Go ahead and respond, Lenny.

MCALLISTER: He's trying to negotiate back and forth. The president, is he willing to roll back Obamacare, things that we have already seen have not worked? Is he willing to go back to the stance he had in December 2010 when the unemployment rate was starting to come down when it comes to keeping the tax rates in place?

No. He's right back to the populous rhetoric because he's trying to get elected in 2012. And sure enough, when that rhetoric came back in the plans and said we need increased revenues, i.e. increased taxes, what did the employment do? It went right back up, the unemployment rate did.

So when we start talking about people having rhetorical arguments and keeping with their rhetoric, we have both sides doing this. The president was supposed to come in and be nonpartisan and get both sides of the table to get America forward. He's playing as the big bully for the Democrats, and this is not working. This is why we have another week full of not getting stuff done. He has to move above the partisanship in order to get us back to where America needs to be when it comes to our fiscal movement.

HOLMES: Let me leave that there. But I have to ask y'all, and maybe you can just give me a yes or no -- is the most viable option right now McConnell's plan to essentially put the onus completely -- to give the president completely power in his decision to raise the debt limit. Is that the best or is it a viable option even? Give me the short answer to this, Maria.

CARDONA: I do think it is a viable plan. But for the president and many Democrats, it's still the fallback plan. He still wants the big plan to make sure that we cut the deficit but that we do it in a fair way. That's what he was working towards with John Boehner when John Boehner walked away because he was listening to the rank and file Tea Party Republicans who have no idea of the economic consequences of going into default.

HOLMES: Lenny, is this a real possibility?

MCALLISTER: Republican hypocrisy. If you're talking about smaller government, why would you give one person in government all this power like this when it comes to the debt ceiling? This is why the Tea Party exists, because they feel betrayed by both Democrats and some establishment Republicans.

HOLMES: I'm going to leave it there, Lenny and Maria. Lenny, I have to always ask you. We have another poll that showed Michele Bachmann surging, again. She was up eight points in a national poll of Republican voters. You have said for a long time she is not going to win the nomination. And I have to keep asking you -- do you think there's a better chance now, Lenny, that Michele Bachmann could win the nomination?

MCALLISTER: Not when Michele Bachmann thinks that black families were better off during slavery than they are now. Anytime you say something like that, trying to acquiesce to the African-American family, you get the wrong message out there.

HOLMES: So that's a no, I take it?

MCALLISTER: That's definitely a no.

HOLMES: All right, Lenny, good to see you, as always. Maria, good to see you as well. You tow are fired a little bit this weekend.

(LAUGHTER)

MCALLISTER: It's the summer heat, T.J.

CARDONA: It's the Miami heat.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: It is the heat, OK. Guys, good to see you as always. Thanks so much.

CARDONA: Thank you.

HOLMES: We're at 42 minutes past the hour now. And kind of a special moment, if you can call it that, for Hillary Clinton this morning. She's doing a live television program in Turkey. She was answering questions from university students. But look who crashed the interview. Actually, two people crashed this interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have two new guests.

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Oh, hi. So we have the kitty question coming up.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you like cats?

CLINTON: I do. I do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Not two people crashed -- two animals crashed this party. It's live television. It happens all the time. You should see some of the animals running around in here during this show. This was -- the event was called "The Coffee Break with Hillary Clinton." This was being televised by CNN Turk.

Well, getting inside the mind of Osama bin Laden. Can you, really? We'll tell you what U.S. officials say the Al Qaeda leader had planned for president Obama before Navy Seals stormed in and killed him inside his hideout in Pakistan.

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HOLMES: About a quarter of the top of the hour now. Ever since Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden back in May, many have wondered, what information was discovered from his hideout in Pakistan. Well, CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports President Obama and General David Petraeus were high-value targets in bin Laden's deadly plans.

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BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: While hiding out in his Pakistani compound, Osama bin Laden was hatching up a new nightmare scenario. Bin laden didn't want to just strike the United States on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, he also wanted to kill the president.

A U.S. official confirmed documents seized at the compound found bin Laden was hoping to shoot down air force one while President Obama was traveling overseas. However, the official is adamant there was no specific assassination plot uncovered. Bin Laden was essentially brainstorming ideas.

But Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who commanded the bin Laden raid while heading the CIA, warns bin Laden was capable of more than just brainstorming in the years he hid out.

LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY: For a long time, the sense was that he was an inspirational leader, but he wasn't the guy who was managing operations. And what we found out when we went into that compound is that, in fact, he was someone that was operate on an operational basis.

STARR: General David Petraeus, the outgoing general commander in Afghanistan, was also mentioned in the bin Laden documents as a potential target to be shot down while he traveled in the war zone. A spokesman for Petraeus declined to comment.

The focus now for Panetta is to keep attacking Al Qaeda in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia.

PANETTA: Now is the moment following what happened with bin Laden to put maximum pressure on him, because I do believe that if we continue this effort that we can really cripple Al Qaeda as a threat to this country.

STARR: The U.S. believes Al Qaeda remains focused on high- profile attacks and would like nothing better than to bring down a U.S. aircraft. Bin laden even wrote about assembling a team of operatives to attack the U.S. homeland. But he was killed by those U.S. Navy Seals before any of his plots and plans could go any further.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

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HOLMES: All right, one game, folks, one game and you're World Cup champions. That is the mission of the U.S. women's soccer team tomorrow. But they have to go through Japan, even if it means they have to listen to a little bit of this.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Slow down, you move to fast you've got to make the morning last yes. Kicking down the cobblestone looking for fun and feeling groovy.

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HOLMES: You've got to love that. That is the U.S. soccer team coach, and she actually sings to the team to try to relax them. We're getting a live report from Germany. That is next. Stay with me.

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HOLMES: All right, we want to head now to Germany. Zain Verjee about to get hit by a vehicle there, it seems. Zain, you're out in the middle of traffic there. We just saw a car zip by. You OK?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, I'm fine. I do tend to stop traffic though, sometimes.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: You have been known to do that here in the states and all over the world. But here specifically we're talking about the U.S. women's soccer team. You had a chance to spend some time with them. Big game tomorrow, how are they doing?

VERJEE: Well, they are pretty excited and pretty confident too about the big showdown tomorrow, T.J. They have not won a World's Cup final since last century, 1999, and the players, they're feeling pretty good. Listen.

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HOPE SOLO, GOALKEEPER, U.S. WOMEN'S SOCCER TEAM: America likes championships. They like winners. They like comebacks. And I think we are the epitome of the American spirit. This team, we're full of fighters. We play with passion. And, you know, we feel all of the support back home. We feel the support around the world. And we feel powerful with that support and I think we can take it into the final.

ABBY WAMBACH, U.S. WOMEN SOCCER TEAM: You know, obviously, we're on the eve of one of the biggest games of our lives, but it's the game of soccer. We've done it thousands of times before. I know that the Japanese team is excited and they're going to come to play. We have to play good soccer. We have to play gutsy soccer. We have to go for it. It's no time to hold back. This is the time to take risks. This is the time to go forward, and hopefully we can get the win.

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VERJEE: T.J., this team is fit, they have great stamina, they hustle, and they have an attitude that is never say die. The U.S. are the hot favorites to win tomorrow. We'll keep our fingers, toes, and eyes crossed, OK?

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: They are the favorites, but maybe the sentimental favorites, the Japanese team. I'll probably be talking to you more. I wish I had more time now. I love this topic. But Zain, good to see you. We'll certainly see you throughout the day on CNN.

Well, as we get close to the top of the hour, "Harry Potter," the last one, finally, here.

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HOLMES: So as expected the final "Harry Potter" movie is breaking records after its first day. It's called "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2." It made $43.5 million after opening at midnight on Thursday. That's a record for the midnight openings.

A lot of people can't get enough "Harry Potter." You're in luck, our Larry King sits down with the actors from the popular characters tonight, 8:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

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