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American Morning
Prime Minister Cameron Set to Face Parliament; Dueling Debt Plans: GOP Passes House Plan; Sixteen Arrests in Hacking Investigation; British PM Cameron In House Of Commons
Aired July 20, 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: And good morning to you. I'm Kiran Chetry. It's the prime minister's turn to take the hot seat in the U.K. hacking scandal. David Cameron just minutes away from a face-to-face showdown with Parliament. We're live in London.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi. Two major proposals in the trillion dollar showdown over the nation's debt. The first plan is being called a possible breakthrough. The second plan is under attack by Democrats. All of it on this AMERICAN MORNING.
CHETRY: And good morning to you. Thanks so much for being with us. It is Wednesday, July 20th. This is AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.
VELSHI: And I'm Ali Velshi. Christine has the morning off. But boy, do we have a lot going on today so let's get to it.
British Prime Minister David Cameron is about to get grilled by Parliament. The News Corp. phone hacking hearing begins in just 30 minutes and there could be fireworks. Cameron is expected to face tough questions about what some are calling a cozy relationship with Rupert Murdoch's media empire.
CHETRY: Atika Shubert is live for us outside of Parliament this morning. Boy, some fireworks yesterday obviously. Many riveted to Parliament and what was going on there. The consensus, though, is that David Cameron is not likely to lose his job over this but that he's under enormous pressure right now.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He definitely is. And he's got a lot to defend himself today. Basically, this is a special day in Parliament. They were supposed to go into summer recess but instead they're having this special address by the prime minister here. And he's really going to try and to prove a point here that he's going to underline the phone hacking scandal, say this is how I dealt with it and now we need to move on. Here's how he put it when he was in Africa for a trip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I don't underestimate the problem. Parts of the media committed dreadful, illegal acts. The police have serious questions to answer about potential corruption and about a failed investigation. Politicians have been too close to media owners. These are big problems but we are a big country and we're going to solve it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHUBERT: Now the main issue he's going to have to deal with is why he decided to hire Andy Coulson, the former "News of the World" editor who was later arrested as part of the investigation into the phone hacking. This is something that was brought up yesterday in the hearings and it turns out that his chief of staff actually warned the British police not to brief the prime minister on these phone hacking issues. So lawmakers today are clearly going to try and get to the bottom of this particularly as you can imagine from the opposition Labour Party.
CHETRY: All right. It will be interesting, in fact, as David Cameron covered to say he didn't know about this either. Atika Shubert for us this morning. Thanks so much.
VELSHI: I mean, I'm looking more to seeing what goes on but it's going to be hard to top the intensity of what happened yesterday. The theater of yesterday's phone hacking hearings. Two hours after telling Parliament it was the most humble day of his life, Rupert Murdoch took a pie in the face.
Take a look at the bottom left of your screen. It goes very quickly. You can see it there. A 26-year-old man armed with shaving cream with a pie of shaving cream -- there it is -- nails Rupert Murdoch from behind shouting, "You greedy billionaire" and it didn't take long for Murdoch's wife in the pink there, Wendi Deng, she leapt to her husband's defense, tried to clock the guy. In fact, you see her slapping his -- slapping his head.
CHETRY: She landed them.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: She landed a hit.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: And actually, it didn't actually hit Rupert Murdoch in the face.
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: People were running. But he did have to actually take off his coat.
VELSHI: He got some pie. He got some foam on him.
Police took the 32-year-old Jonathan May-Bowles of Windsor away in handcuffs, charged him with a public order office. Before the pie attack, Bowles, who's a comedian, tweeted, "It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever done before." CHETRY: It was interesting because they had some shots of him, of the guy who did that who is now in trouble for doing that. And he had pie--
VELSHI: He had pie on him.
CHETRY: He had the shaving cream all over his face.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Clearly shows how quickly people jumped to Rupert Murdoch's defense. But anyway, he said he was humbled, but Rupert Murdoch is not apologizing and he is not accepting a shred of blame for the phone hacking and corruption scandal that's rocking the media empire he owns. Murdoch and his son, James, faced hours of grueling testimony yesterday. Here's some of the highlights.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you accept that ultimately you are responsible for this whole fiasco.
RUPERT MURDOCH: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are not responsible. Who is responsible?
MURDOCH: The people that I trusted to run it and then maybe the people they trusted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Murdoch's heir apparent, his son James also testified yesterday. The key moment came when it was suggested that James turned his back when victims were hacked.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADRIAN SANDERS, BRITISH PARLIAMENT: Are you familiar with the term willful blindness?
JAMES MURDOCH, RUPERT MURDOCH'S SON: Mr. Sanders (ph), would you care to elaborate?
SANDERS: It is a term that came up in the Enron scandal, and willful blindness is a legal term. It states that if there is knowledge that you could have had and should have had but chose not to have, you are still responsible.
MURDOCH: Mr. Sanders, do you have a question?
SANDERS: The question was whether you were aware --
MURDOCH: I'm not aware of that. I'm not aware of that particular phrase.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VELSHI: Rebekah Brooks, Murdoch's former newspaper chief also appeared before British lawmakers. She resigned a few days ago. She resigned on Friday and she was arrested on the weekend. Brooks denies responsibility for the alleged hacking at the newspaper that she once ran and insists she was shocked and disgusted when she heard reports about a murdered school girl's phone being tapped.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REBEKAH BROOKS, FMR. "NEWS OF THE WORLD" CEO: Of course I have regrets. The idea that Milly Dowler's phone was accessed by someone being paid by the "News of the World" or even worse authorized by someone at the "News of the World" is abhorrent to me as it is to everyone in this room. And this is an ultimate regret that the speed in which we have found out and tried to find out the bottom of this investigation has been too slow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: It's not clear if Rupert Murdoch helped or hurt his cause with his testimony. Many observers felt that he looked old even foggy at times. This tweet from Howard Kurtz, host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES." Quote, "Every detail of scandal that Rupert says he's not familiar with makes him look more disengaged as a CEO." Kurtz then elaborated on last night's "SITUATION ROOM."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Murdoch looked out of it. He looked like a CEO who was not in touch with what was going on in his own company even as the evidence began to mount of wrongdoing at the "News of the World" and overseen by people who he had put in place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Well, shareholders, ironically seem to like what went down inside Parliament. News Corporation stock plunge -- stock price rebounded by nearly six percent after a multibillion dollars worth of losses in the days leading up to the hearing.
All right. On another topic that is important to you. Dueling proposals this morning to keep the government from defaulting on its obligations with just 14 days to go before the U.S. may not be able to cover its bills. The House passed the cut, cap and balance plan. Now that cuts federal spending, then caps that spending and then calls for a constitutional amendment requiring Washington to balance its budget every year. This plan has virtually no chance of passing the Senate and even if it did, President Obama has repeatedly said he would veto it.
CHETRY: As a symbolic measure --
VELSHI: Correct. Yes.
CHETRY: -- the conservative Tea Party Congress people some cover.
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: If a deal does go through. And in the meantime, the president is praising a different proposal and this is the one from a bipartisan group of senators called the "gang of six."
A mix of spending cuts and tax changes along with upbeat earnings went well with investors. The Dow posting its biggest gain of the year up more than 200 points. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 were also up.
VELSHI: Let's go to the White House now. It's where Brianna Keilar is standing by.
Brianna, what's the sense at the White House about these two sort of things that have developed, the cut cap and balance but more importantly the "gang of six" proposal.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, more importantly because as you mentioned that cut, cap, balance plan that was passed yesterday by the House, very conservative plan. That's something that the White House, obviously, President Obama has issued a veto threat. It's not expected really to get anywhere.
But this was the big development yesterday. Shortly before that vote in the House on the cut, cap, balance plan, President Obama came out. He made this unscheduled appearance in the briefing room ahead of the briefing and really kind of threw his weight behind this "gang of six" plan. The "gang of six" being that bipartisan group of senators that for months had been working on a deficit reduction plan but had kind of floundered as one of the Republicans stepped away from the group. Well, that Republican, Senator Coburn, has rejoined the group and this group presented their plan for deficit reduction yesterday to a few dozen senators.
This is a pretty big plan, $3.7 trillion in deficit reduction or deficit savings over 10 years. That's pretty closely in terms of the number of the $4 trillion that President Obama was pushing. So President Obama saying that generally speaking he likes the idea here, but, Ali and Kiran, you have to take a look at this plan because it includes tax increases which is you know House Republicans have been completely resistant to and there's also entitlement reform which Democrats have been resistant to. This is politically very difficult on both sides and the clock is ticking.
CHETRY: So it would be possible then for Congress to tackle a plan like this, a big plan before the August 2nd deadline?
KEILAR: You know, if you talk to the two top Democrats in the Senate, Harry Reid and Dick Durbin, the answer is no. It was Dick Durbin, the number two, who said yesterday this isn't ready for prime time.
As we know, Congress especially the Senate doesn't turn on a dime. It takes a lot of time. And so, this would create kind of a further problem here. If you can't get something a big deal together or some sort of compromise in time for hitting that debt ceiling, how could you really go for this big plan because there are Republicans who are not going to want to increase the debt ceiling and some Republican votes are definitely needed in the House. They're not going to want to increase that debt ceiling without a deficit reduction plan. So all eyes right now also on this sort of fall back plan, a more modest deal with smaller cuts that Senator Reid and Senator McConnell are working out in the Senate. The president said that's still the fallback, the bare minimum he said that needs to be done.
VELSHI: It's just strange because you got some people saying can't get this deal done, not hopeful. Then you have other people saying there's stuff going on behind-the-scenes. Then we have this "gang of six" finally coming together with something that looks hopeful but then leaders in the Senate saying it can't be done in time.
Very hard to keep track of what's going on. We are grateful that you are there helping us to do that, Brianna.
KEILAR: Yes, we're trying. It is very difficult.
VELSHI: Yes. All right. We'll check in with you a little bit later.
KEILAR: OK.
VELSHI: Well, another budget fight. This time kids are caught in the middle. The Memphis school board voted to delay the start of the school year until the district gets $55 million it says that the city owes it. Now some parents said it's time to hold the city accountable but the only board member who voted no said you can't ask the city for money it doesn't have. Here's both sides.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone has to assume responsibility for the collective education of the children in the city of Memphis and I don't think the city council can be exempt from that responsibility.
MARTAVIUS JONES, MEMPHIS CITY SCHOOLS: I'm all in support of us having assurances and money in the bank. But I think that 55 was just an unreasonable amount to expect at this particular time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Now the school district doesn't get the money by August 1st when teachers are supposed to report to work. It says it can't cover their paychecks. They've also said that they've already laid off about 1,500 people.
CHETRY: And the kids are caught in the middle.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: It's really disturbing. More trouble for air traffic controllers. The FAA says that it removed one from his post earlier this month when he failed an alcohol test during his shift. The controller worked at Denver's -- at the Denver Center which is in charge of high altitude air traffic over several states. Officials say that there weren't any problems with operations or any air during the shift but, again, testing positive for alcohol during his shift so relieved from duty.
VELSHI: Beware of little dog. Good thing they were wearing masks because it's pretty embarrassing. L.A. County police released the video of two robbers, one with a rifle who were chased down the street by a Chihuahua. They got away with some cash but they didn't stick around for the rest.
CHETRY: That little dog had no idea he weighed 10 pounds. He said, you know what, I don't know who you two are but get the heck out of my store.
VELSHI: It's even hard to see it when the dog is so small that you can't --
CHETRY: I know.
VELSHI: -- you can hardly see that it gets into the picture there. But boy, muscling off two guys, one with a gun.
CHETRY: Well, one out of every five fast food restaurants may be misleading you when it comes to counting calories.
VELSHI: What?
CHETRY: Because you go there to eat healthy.
VELSHI: Yes, totally. I read the calories.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, a nutritionist went from chain to chain. She collected the meal. She brought them back to her lab and she found 20 percent of the menus at those restaurants low balled the calories. More on what she found in our 7:00 hour. Actually we're going to break it down for you.
I don't know if you want to know this but if you do, it's pretty interesting.
VELSHI: It explains why I'm getting a little fat. OK.
CHETRY: You are not.
VELSHI: Our question of the day, we want to know what your favorite fast food guilty pleasure is. Send us an e-mail, a tweet. Let us know on Facebook. Tell us if you want to withhold your name but just really be honest.
CHETRY: We have some good ones.
VELSHI: Tell us what it is. We're already getting some great ones.
CHETRY: Yes. So are you are going to reveal yours right now or are you going to wait?
VELSHI: I have so many. I can reveal one every time you ask.
CHETRY: OK. Go ahead.
VELSHI: I'll start with the next one. I'm going to prioritize.
CHETRY: I'm going to do -- blooming onion.
VELSHI: Oh, that's a good one.
CHETRY: I can house an entire blooming onion. That's not good for you. That has probably two weeks worth of fat.
VELSHI: It's so good.
CHETRY: Yes. But it's an onion so it's a vegetable, right? That's what I always say.
VELSHI: That's right. Exactly. Exactly.
CHETRY: Still to come this morning, it's why they call it extreme sports. A motor cross rider flies off of his bike in mid-air. What goes up must come down. We're going to show you the rest of that video coming up.
VELSHI: And upstate Courtland, New York's normally buzzing this time of year waiting for the NFL Jets to open training camp this summer. More like a ghost town. We're digging deeper on the lockout's economic impact.
CHETRY: Also, hacking allegations this morning. Guess who they're claiming they victimized. We're going to explain a turning of the tables, so to speak.
It's 15 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
A potential break in a major hacking investigation that's underway here in the U.S., a different one. We've been talking a lot about hacking lately. The FBI arrested at least 16 people for alleged cyber attacks.
VELSHI: And most of them are thought to be connected to this notorious hacking group which you've heard referred to as Anonymous. It attacked PayPal and other credit card Web sites.
Susan Candiotti joins us now with more on that. It's always tricky talking about a group --
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
VELSHI: - that calls themselves Anonymous, but this is a sort of an umbrella hacking group?
CHETRY: And it's also --
CANDIOTTI: I guess some -- yes.
CHETRY: Didn't they try to claim today they hacked News Corp. or they hacked some mails at the News Corp. (ph)?
CANDIOTTI: There is some alleged connection to that, too. So, yes. And certainly they're not so anonymous anymore, at least some of the suspected members of it. They had names like Reaper and Toxic, that's sort of some of the suspects' names.
So by the numbers we're talking about nine states were involved. Thirty-five search warrants served in those states. At least 16 people have been arrested. And then more people in Europe as well. So this is a huge case.
And what happened was this, they spread out yesterday executing search warrants, seizing records and computers and making all these arrests in all of these states. A lot of these searches took place in the State of New York, but no arrests were made in those particular states.
And all of this had to do with taking revenge according to the FBI, taking revenge on -- on what had happened to Julian Assange --
VELSHI: Right.
CANDIOTTI: -- after the WikiLeaks scandal. And so people who supported him who were unable to make donations to PayPal, because PayPal cut them off, so these hackers are suspected of going into other computer systems and trying to mess them up.
VELSHI: Right.
CANDIOTTI: It's called denial of service where they overload the system so much --
VELSHI: So if you're trying to use PayPal you can't get to it. They said they did the same thing to -- to Visa and MasterCard (INAUDIBLE).
CANDIOTTI: Exactly, there too.
So this group got other people to support them and overloaded other computer systems. The Feds went in after them and that's how the whole thing came together. So they're charged with conspiracy and are in a heap a lot of trouble.
But does this mean the end of all this? No. Obviously, cyber security big thing and the Feds say the investigation goes on. CHETRY: And do we know anymore about this? Because they -- they are never ones to hide the claim of responsibility. They proudly say --
VELSHI: That we did this.
CHETRY: Yes. That we did this. And so, if -- if it is indeed true they claimed that they found the -- they hacked the News Corp., they had e-mails that they claim they're going to dump like a document dump today. I don't know if that's going to happen or not --
CANDIOTTI: Yes. We'll see.
CHETRY: -- but it will be interesting if it does.
CANDIOTTI: Oh, yes. And a lot of people will be watching. Yes -- and you're right. They don't like to -- they do like to brag about it. In fact, post it on other Web sites. Look what we were able to do --
VELSHI: Right.
CANDIOTTI: -- or they tweet about it. So, obviously, that doesn't help their case because you alert authorities about what's going on.
VELSHI: Right. And they get onto you.
CANDIOTTI: Right?
VELSHI: All right. Susan, thank you so much.
CHETRY: Thanks, Susan.
CANDIOTTI: You're welcome.
CHETRY: Well, a little more than half an hour, we're going to break down why the FBI is so concerned about these cyber attacks. We're going to be talking to the president of a cyber security group. The big question is, do we -- are we armed to deal with them? Or they're always one step --
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: -- ahead of authorities when it comes to trying to crack down on this?
VELSHI: All right.
But for now, let's check on what's going on with the weather. Jacqui Jeras is in the Severe Weather Center for us to keep an eye on some tropical storms developing that might be of concern to us -- Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We're watching a couple of them and we're also, of course, keeping our eye on the heat, which has just been so unbearably brutal, guys.
A really cool animation I want to start up by showing you to help put this in perspective. And this is from NOAA. And this shows you how the heat has been building since July 13th. Really, focus in on the Southern Plain, making its way on up to the north and then we'll start to watch this whole thing begins to build to the east.
So this is a huge dome of high pressure, which has been bringing temperatures in the 90 to 100 degree plus range, and there you can see the forecast by tomorrow finally bringing a little relief to parts of the Upper Midwest. But you got to get through today first.
And one of the big things that have been making this heat so brutal is just there's been no relief at all. Take a look at the current heat index. Minneapolis it feels like 88 degrees to wake you up this morning; 76 in Cedar Rapids; 86 in Omaha. Look at Chicago. It feels like nearly 80 degrees. So this heat still gripping the nation's midsection with advisories in effect here.
And you guys have been seeing great weather up there in New York and all across the East Coast, but the excessive heat watches have been posted tomorrow. It heads into the northeast and mid-Atlantic. It's going to stick around into the weekend.
Back to you, guys.
VELSHI: OK. Jacqui, thank you.
CHETRY: So this Motocross rider hitting the eject button. Check this out. He went air borne. This is during a jump at a race in Minnesota. Totally separating from his bike and falling over 30 feet to the ground. Apparently, he was OK. I mean, they're daredevils and they do this. And they always seem to know how to land.
VELSHI: But he got back on his bike and finished the race. That's how OK he was. But he did go from 35th to 14th after that. I don't understand that.
CHETRY: (INAUDIBLE).
VELSHI: Yes. It's so (ph).
CHETRY: Still to come this morning, Prime Minister David Cameron just moments away from testifying in the U.K. phone hacking scandal. And he's going to have to explain this alleged cozy relationship between members of the government including himself and Rupert Murdoch's media empire.
VELSHI: Plus, the space shuttle "Atlantis" on its way home. I spoke with the crew earlier this morning. Hear their thoughts on being part of the last shuttle mission of all time.
CHETRY: And our question of the day, we want to know what's your favorite fast food guilty pleasure. We're going to get a ton of response. And we thought it would be fun to take a break from talking debt ceiling, so now we're talking French fries. VELSHI: So e-mail us. And -- and we're getting a remarkable response, by the way. E-mail us, send us a tweet, tell us on Facebook. We'll share your comments throughout the morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-seven minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
The Dow jumped about 200 points yesterday making it the best day the year for blue chip stocks. Markets got a boost from good news out of the debt ceiling talks in Washington. Strong housing data and corporate earnings reports also pushed stocks higher.
Apple breaking records with its earnings report. The company announced that profits doubled last quarter. The stock also surged over $400 a share in after hours trading. Twenty million iPhones were sold last quarter. That is a new record.
More big earnings reports on tap today, Altria, which owns tobacco giant Philip Morris, investment company BlackRock and United Technologies, all reporting earnings in the next couple of hours before markets open. American Express, eBay and Intel report their earnings after the closing bell this afternoon.
Investors seem to like News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch's testimony to the U.K. Parliament Members yesterday. Company shares surged five percent. But the Murdoch family still lost about $750 million in company stock holdings since the scandal broke.
Maryland, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia are states under a review for a possible credit downgrade by Moody's Investor Services. The ratings agency says these states are most vulnerable when it comes to the debt ceiling talks in Washington because they rely heavily in federal funding and contracts.
Tens of thousands of people employed at a government data center or at government data centers across the United States will lose their jobs in the next few years. The "New York Times" reporting this morning that 40 percent of the federal government's data centers will be shut down in a move towards cloud computing, which means storing information remotely through Internet providers.
Well, don't forget, for the very latest news about your money, check out the all new CNNMoney.com.
AMERICAN MORNING back right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: The British prime minister making an emergency statement in moments on the News Corp phone hacking scandal, just a day after Rupert Murdoch said, "Don't blame me for what my paper did."
VELSHI: And, nearing the goal line. NFL players and owners closing in on a deal that could end the lockout, maybe saving training camp and the small towns that depend on it -- on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(MUSIC)
VELSHI: It is 32 minutes after the hour.
You are looking at a beautiful shot of New York City from our studios here in New York. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It looks nice but it is hot out there.
CHETRY: It is. It is going to get worse by Friday, I hear.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Well, we start the half hour with some breaking news. Crunch time for David Cameron -- he is the British prime minister and he's about to square off with Parliament in the U.K. phone hacking hearing. Lawmakers are determined to ask him some questions about what many consider an uncomfortably close relationship between him and Rupert Murdoch's empire.
Cameron ended a trip to Africa early to make this appearance and he's expected to open with about a three to four-minute statement before facing questions.
VELSHI: We're going to be bringing that to you live.
In the meantime, the prime minister of Australia will be monitoring Cameron's comments closely. Julia Gillard says Rupert Murdoch's News Limited in Australia has a lot of hard questions to answer. Australia's ruling party has already called on that country's Parliament to investigate Murdoch's media outlets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIA GILLARD, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: I do think that causes them to ask some questions here in our country, some questions about News Limited here. And, obviously, News Limited has got a responsibility to answer those questions when they are asked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Murdoch's company dominates the Australian media. It controls 70 percent of the newspaper readership and has vast holdings in TV, Internet and other media properties in Australia.
VELSHI: All right. Here are the morning's other headlines:
President Obama says congressional leader need to start talking turkey on raising the debt ceiling. Debt talks resume today with a default deadline just two weeks away. Last night, the House passed a largely symbolic "cut, cap and balance" measure as they call it.
The president says he's more encouraged by a Senate plan that would reduce spending but also make changes to taxes, something perhaps both sides could eventually agree upon.
VELSHI: All right. That heat wave that's gripped most of the nation's mid-section is now moving east. Excessive heat warnings are posted now for 13 states. High humidity is pushing the heat index to well over 100 degrees in plenty of areas.
CHETRY: And the U.N. declaring a state of famine in Somalia, amid the worst drought in decades there. Tens of thousands of Somalis have died from malnutrition and starvation. Many others are fleeing, trying to make ways to refugee camps in other nearby nation. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has promised an additional $28 million in U.S. humanitarian aid for Somalia. The problem is it's not that easy.
The rebel-controlled areas of the al-Shabaab group were restricting food shipments. They have said they have lifted those restrictions but it's a very difficult and heartbreaking situation there.
VELSHI: All right. There are new allegations of hacking this morning and they do not involve Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. This one is interesting. The Taliban claims it was a victim. The group accusing the U.S. of hacking in to its cell phones to send false text messages saying that its leader, Mullah Omar, was dead.
CNN's David Ariosto is following the story. He's now live now for us in Kabul, Afghanistan.
David, this one -- this one has got people wondering. What's going on?
DAVID ARIOSTO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, the news first broke by an Afghan television station and then later in the day, CNN and other media received an SMS message by an individual who's claiming to be a top Taliban commander. That individual said that Mullah Omar had died of heart failure last week and a successor had already been named. The Taliban, like you said, later came out and said they have been the victim of a hacking and their phones and emails have been tapped. In fact, they said (ph) this message was phony.
Now, CNN doesn't have any confirmation of the sort. We spoke with NATO officials and they have no operational knowledge on the ground.
So, the whereabouts of Mullah Omar are relatively unknown. He's last believed to be in Pakistan, where Taliban militants have launched attacks across that border against ISAF troops down in the southern region. It's really those southern and eastern regions of Afghanistan that have experienced some of the highest levels of attacks.
And this all comes at a very interesting time. We're seeing a hand over of seven key areas across the country to Afghan security forces. As those handovers have taken place, we've also seen an uptick in attacks and assassination attempts, and successful attempts at that. Half brother of President Hamid Karzai was killed last week, as well as a senior advisor to him earlier this week.
So, again, a critical time here in Afghanistan, and allegations of a hacking by the Taliban.
VELSHI: David, good to see you. Thanks very much. We'll keep on top of the story with you -- David Ariosto in Kabul, Afghanistan.
CHETRY: They're close to now a dozen declared GOP presidential candidates now, but still, many voters are asking: who else have you got? A lot of Republicans, especially those on the Christian right are saying they want Texas Governor Rick Perry to get in the race. We're going to have more on that.
But, first, some live pictures right now to show you. David Cameron, the prime minister of Britain, speaking now before the House of Parliament.
Let's listen.
It looks like we have a little bit of an audio issue. We're going to fix that right up for you and we're going to go back live there.
But, first, we're going to go back to what we were just talking about. There's a new ABC -- NBC, rather, "Wall Street Journal" poll up showing that Perry, Rick Perry, governor of Texas, running third behind Mitt Romney and Michelle Bachmann.
VELSHI: He's not declared, yes.
CHETRY: Not in the race yet.
VELSHI: Jim Acosta is following this for us from Austin, Texas.
Jim, good morning.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ali and Kiran.
You know, aides to Rick Perry say the governor of Texas should make a decision by the end of the summer as to whether or not he's going to get in the presidential race. And if he does jump in, his faith just might take center stage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): For Republicans dissatisfied with the field for 2012, it could be divine intervention. At a press conference, Texas Governor Rick Perry confirmed what he recently told an Iowa newspaper, that he's feeling called by his faith and his friends to run.
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: There's a lot of different ways to be called. My mother might call me for dinner.
ACOSTA: So, there was no religious overtone.
PERRY: Oh, no, no, no. I don't get confused about -- I'm a man of faith.
Texas is where the game has been played.
ACOSTA: GOP insiders see a pro-business governor who scores with the Tea Party activists and Christian conservatives.
When Perry announced new jobs coming to the state's high-tech community this week, he got a cameo playing quarterback in a college football video game.
PERRY: This is Governor Rick Perry.
ACOSTA: But it's what Perry will do on another playing field that's come under scrutiny, at a stadium in Houston next month, the governor plans to lead a day of prayer, an event dubbed "The Response," for what organizers call a nation in crisis.
PERRY: We need God's help. That's why I'm calling on Americans to pray and fast, like Jesus did.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: All right. We're going to get back to that story about Rick Perry in a moment. Let's go right to London. This is where British Prime Minister David Cameron is speaking to Parliament.
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: -- for that complete independence from the interested party.
Mr. Speaker, I also said last week that the inquiry will proceed in two parts and I set out a draft terms of reference. We've consulted with Lord Justice Leveson, with the opposition, with chairs of relevant select committees, and the devolved administrations. I've also talked to the family of Milly Dowler and the hacked off campaign.
We've made some significant amendments to the remit of the inquiry. With allegations that the problem of the relationship between the press and the police goes wider than just the Met, we have agreed that other relevant forces will now be within the scope of the inquiry.
We have agreed that the inquiry should consider not just the relationship between the press, police and politicians, but their individual conduct, too.
And we also made clear that the inquiry should look at not just the press but other media organizations, including broadcasters and social media if there's any evidence that they have been involved in criminal activities.
Lord Justice Leveson and the panel will get to work immediately.
He will aim to make a report on the first part of the Inquiry within 12 months.
Mr. Speaker, there should be no doubt:
This public Inquiry is as robust as possible.
It is fully independent.
And Lord Justice Leveson will be able to summon witnesses under oath.
Mr. Speaker, let me now turn to the extraordinary events we have seen over the past few days at Britain's largest police force -- the Met.
On Sunday, Sir Paul Stephenson resigned as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
I want to thank him for the work he's carried out in policing over many, many years in London and elsewhere.
On Monday, Assistant Commissioner John Yates also resigned, and again I want to express my gratitude for the work he has done, especially in improving our response to terrorism.
Given the sudden departure of two such senior officers, the first concern must be to ensure the effective policing of our capital -- and that confidence in that policing -- is maintained.
I have asked the Home Secretary and Mayor of London to ensure that the responsibilities of the Met will continue seamlessly.
The current Deputy Commissioner, Tim Godwin, who stood in for Paul Stephenson when he was ill, and did a good job, will shortly do so again.
The vital counter-terrorism job, carried out by John Yates, will be taken on by the highly experienced Cressida Dick.
The responsibilities of the Deputy Commissioner - which the House will remember includes general oversight of the vital investigations both into hacking and into the Police -- Operations Weeting and Elveden will not be done by someone from inside the Met, but instead by Bernard Hogan-Howe who will join temporarily from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary.
We are also looking to speed up the process for selecting and appointing the next Commissioner.
But Mr. Speaker, we cannot hope that a change in personnel at the top of the Met is enough.
The simple fact is that this whole affair raises huge issues about the ethics and practices of our police.
Let me state plainly: the vast majority of our police officers are beyond reproach, and serve the public with distinction.
But police corruption must be rooted out.
Operation Elveden and Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry are charged with doing just this.
But I believe we can, and must, do more.
Put simply there are two problems. First, a perception that when problems arise it is still 'the police investigating the police. And second a lack of transparency in terms of police contacts with the media.
We are acting on both.
These were precisely the two points that my right honorable friend, the home secretary, addressed in her statement to this house on Monday.
We believe this crisis calls for us to stand back and take another, broader look at the whole culture of policing in this country, including the way it is led.
At the moment, the police system is too closed.
There is only one point of entry into the force.
There are too few -- and arguably too similar -- candidates for the top jobs.
As everyone knows, Tom Winsor is looking into police careers, and I want to see radical proposals for how we can open up our police force and bring in fresh leadership.
The government is introducing elected Police and Crime Commissioners, ensuring there is an individual holding their local force to account on behalf of local people.
And we need to see -- we need to see if we can extend that openness to the operational side, too.
Why should all police officers have to start at the same level?
Why shouldn't someone with a different skill-set be able to join the police force in a senior role?
Why shouldn't someone who has been a proven success overseas be able to help us turn around a force here at home?
I believe these are questions we should ask to achieve the greater transparency and stronger corporate governance that we need in Britain's policing.
Finally, let me turn to the specific questions I have been asked in recent days.
First, it has been suggested that my chief of staff was behaving wrongly when he didn't take up then Assistant Commissioner Yates's offer to be briefed on police investigations around phone hacking.
I have said repeatedly about the police investigation that they should purse the evidence wherever it leads and arrest exactly who they wish.
And that is exactly what they have done.
Number 10 has now published the full email exchange between my chief of staff and John Yates and it shows my staff behaved entirely properly.
Ed Llewellyn's reply to the police made clear that it would be not be appropriate to give me or my staff any privileged briefing.
The reply that he sent the reply -- the reply that he sent was cleared in advance by my permanent secretary, Jeremy Heywood.
Just imagine, Mr. Speaker if they had done the opposite and asked for, or acquiesced in receiving privileged information, even if there was no intention to use it. There would have been quite justified outrage. To risk any perception that Number 10 was seeking to influence a sensitive police investigation in any way would have been completely wrong.
Mr. Yates and Sir Paul both backed this judgment in their evidence yesterday. Indeed, as John Yates said, and I quote, "the offer was properly and understandably rejected." The cabinet secretary and the chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee have both now backed that judgment, too. Next, there is the question as to whether the ministerial code was broken in relation to the BSkyB merger and meetings with News International executives.
The cabinet secretary has ruled very clearly that the code was not broken, not the least because I had asked to be entirely excluded from the decision. Next, next, I would like to set the record straight on another question that arose yesterday, whether the conservative party had also employed Neil Wallis.
The conservative party chairman has assured that all the accounts have been gone through and confirmed to me that neither Neil Wallis nor his company has ever been employed by or contracted by the conservative party, nor has the conservative party made payments to either of them. It has been drawn to our attention -- it has been drawn to our attention that he may have provided Andy Coulson with some informal advice on a voluntary basis before the election.
To the best of my knowledge, I did not know anything about this until Sunday night. But as with revealing this information, we will be entirely transparent about this issue. Finally, finally, Mr. Speaker, there is the question whether everyone, the media, the police, politicians is taking responsibility in an appropriate manner. I want to address my own responsibilities very directly and that brings me to my decision to employ Andy Coulson.
I have said very clearly that if it turns out Andy Coulson knew about the hacking at the "News of the World," he will not only have lied to me, but he would have lied to the police, to a select committee, to the press complaints commission and, of course, perjured himself in a court of law. More to the point, if that comes to the pass, he could also expect to face severe criminal charges. I have an old-fashioned view about innocent until proven guilty.
But if it turns out I've been lied to, that would be a moment for a profound apology, and in that event, I can tell you, I will not fall short. My responsibilities are for hiring him and for the work he did in Downing Street. On the work he did, I will repeat, perhaps not for the last time that his work at Downing Street has not been the subject of any serious complaint. And of course, he left months ago. On the decision to hire him, I believe I've answered every question about this. It was my decision. Hold on. It was my decision. I take responsibility. People will, of course --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Apologize for interrupting the Prime Minister. The house must come to order and hear in silence the remainder of the statement. The prime minister.
CAMERON: People will, of course, make judgments about it. Of course, I regret and I am extremely sorry about the fury it has caused. With 20/20 hindsight and all that has followed, I would not have offered him the job and I expect that he wouldn't have taken it, but you don't make decisions in hindsight, you make them in the present. You live and you learn and believe you me I have learned.
Now, I look forward to answering any and all questions about these issues and following this statement, I will open the debate, but the greatest responsibility I have is to clear up this mess so let me finish by saying this. There are accusations of criminal behavior by parts of the press and potentially the police where the most rapid and decisive action is required. There are issues of excessive closeness to media groups and media owners where both labor and conservative have to make a fresh start.
There is the history of missed warnings, select committee reports, information commissioner reports, missed by the last government but, yes, missed by the official opposition, too. What the public expects is not petty political point scoring -- what they want, what they deserve is concerted action to rise to the level of events and pledge to work together to solve this issue once and for all, and it is in that spirit that I commend this statement to the house.
ED MILLIBAND, OPPOSITION LEADER: Can I start by thanking the Prime Minister, Mr. Speaker, for his statement. Recalling Parliament was the right thing to do, because re-building trust in the press, police, and politics is essential for our society. The most powerful institutions in the land must show the responsibility we expect from everybody else. That is why the country wants answers from those involved in the crisis to those responsible to be held to account.
And so, we, as a country, can move forward to address all the issues of the Prime Minister mentioned in his statement. That is why I welcome (INAUDIBLE) inquiry and the announcement of the terms of reference and, indeed, the panel members chosen by the Prime Minister for that purpose. It's why I welcome the Prime Minister's agreement with us about the press complaints commission, and it's abolition, and it needs to be replaced.
It's why I welcome the apology from Rupert Murdoch and the withdrawal of the BskyB bid. And it's why we respect the decision of Sir Paul Stephenson to stand down so that going forward, the leadership of the met can focus on the vital work that is necessary. So, we're beginning to see answers given and responsibility taken, and that is right.
But the prime minister knows that he must do the same if the country is to move forward. The Prime Minister -- I have a number of questions for the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister said in his statement --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said a few moments ago that the remainder of the Prime Minister's statement should be heard in silence. Order! I say the same to members who are now heckling. Think of what the public thinks of our behavior. Order! And stop it without delay. Mr. Ed Milliband.
MILLIBAND: Mr. Speaker, let me start with BSkyB. The prime minister said in his statement something that he said on a number of occasions, which is that he was excluded from the formal decision- making process. But with respect, that doesn't quite answer the questions he's been asked. Last Friday, he revealed that since taking office, he had met representatives of News International or News Corp including Rebekah Brooks --
CHETRY (voice-over): You're just joining us on AMERICAN MORNING. We just want you to give a little perspective on who's talking now. We just heard from be the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron. Right now, you're listening to a member of Parliament, Ed Milliband, who is currently the leader of the labor party, leader of the opposition, and he is giving a statement before he says he's going to be posing questions to Prime Minister David Cameron.
MILLIBAND: He discussed the bid with the cultural secretary or, indeed, any of his officials discussed the bid with the officials of the culture secretary. Let me turn now to Andy Coulson. Ten days ago, the Prime Minister said about his decision to employ Andy Coulson. I wasn't given any specific information that would lead me to change my mind.
Mr. Speaker, the country has a right to expect that the Prime Minister would have made every effort to uncover the information about Mr. Coulson to protect himself and his office. Yet, the pattern of events suggests the opposite. The Prime Minister and those around him made every effort not to hear the fact about. Mr. Coulson.
In the last week, we have become aware of five opportunities for the Prime Minister or his staff to have acted on specific information that would surely have led him to change his mind about Mr. Coulson. All were declined. His chief of staff, Ed Llewellyn, was told in February 2010 that Mr. Coulson had had a convicted criminal to work at the "News of the World" who was accused of making payments to police on behalf of the newspaper.
Even Rebekah Brooks said yesterday, this decision was extraordinary. Yet, the Prime Minister's chief of staff apparently did nothing with the information. In May 2010, the deputy Prime Minister warned the prime minister about bringing Mr. Coulson into Downing Street. He did nothing. On September the 1st, 2010, the "New York Times" published an investigation quoting multiple sources saying Mr. Coulson knew about hacking which was right (ph) at the "News of the World".
We now know from John Yates, that article was enough to lead the police to reopen their inquiries and, indeed, it led to operation weeding. We also know now it triggered the termination of the Metropolitan Police's contract with Neil Wallis, Mr. Coulson's former deputy at the "News of the World." And it led to the offer by Mr. Yates to Ed Llewellyn for the Prime Minister to be briefed.
Now, the cabinet secretary has said it is right that offer was not taken up. But the question is why? Because it would be seen -- because -- because the Prime Minister was compromised by his relationship with Mr. Coulson. And, therefore, could not be told anything at all about an investigation concerning a member of his own staff. He was hamstrung by conflict of interest (ph). But, Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister shouldn't have had to rely on briefings from his chief of staff.
Here was a major investigation, published by a leading global newspaper about the Prime Minister's director of communication. Mr. Speaker, the met fired Mr. Wallis, even though he wasn't mentioned in the article because of the associations he had with Mr. Coulson and the publication of the article. And what did the Prime Minister do? He did nothing.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, given "The New York Times" evidence, the public will rightly have expected very loud alarm bells to ring in the Prime Minister's mind, yet apparently, he did nothing. And then, in October, the Prime Minister's chief of staff was approached again by the guardian about the serious evidence they had about Mr. Coulson's behavior. Once more, nothing was done. Mr. Speaker, this can't be put down to gross incompetence. It was a deliberate attempt to hide from the fact about Mr. Coulson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Order! Order. Members shouting out shouldn't be doing so. They must calm themselves, keep on an even keel. It's best for their health and for the house. Mr. Ed Milliband.
MILLIBAND: The Prime Minister, Mr. Speaker, was caught in a tragic conflict of loyalty, between the standard and integrity, that people should expect of him and his staff and his personal allegiance to Mr. Coulson. He made the wrong choice. He chose to stick with Mr. Coulson. So, mr. Speaker, sir, my second question is, can he now explain -- can he now explain why he failed to act on clear information on why those around him built a wall of silence between the facts and the Prime Minister?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's conflict of interest had real effects. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner resigned on Sunday. The Prime Minister didn't talk about the reasons for his resignation, but the house must talk about it. Sir Paul Stephenson was trapped. He was trapped between a home secretary angry at not being told about the hiring of Mr. Coulson's deputy, Neil Wallis, and to false (ph) belief in his own words that doing so would have compromised the Prime Minister.
Compromised him because of Mr. Coulson. And why did Sir Paul think that? Because his own deputy, John Yates, had been told by the Prime Minister's chief of staff that the Prime Minister should be told nothing. So, Mr. Speaker, this catastrophic error of judgment, hiring Andy Coulson, hanging on to him too long, directly contributed to the position Sir Paul found himself in and his decision to resign.
So, my third question, Mr. Speaker, is does the prime minister accept that his conflict of interest for the Metropolitan Police Commissioner in an impossible position? So, three questions are about BskyB, the warning about Mr. Coulson that were consistently ignored, and about the met commissioner. These and many other questions will have to be answered by the Prime Minister over the coming months.
There's one other question which matters now. He says -- he says that in hindsight, he says that in hindsight, he made a mistake by hiring Mr. Coulson. He says that if Mr. Coulson lied to him, he would apologize. Mr. Speaker, that isn't good enough, because people -- it's not about hindsight, Mr. Speaker. It's not about whether Mr. Coulson lied to him. It's about all the information and warnings that the Prime Minister ignored.
He was warned, and he preferred to ignore the warnings, so that the country can have the leadership we need. Why doesn't he do more? Why doesn't he do more than --
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: It's top of the hour now.
