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American Morning: Wake Up Call
Mubarak Trial Under Way in Cairo; Osama bin Laden's Last Moments; Spyware Records Calls
Aired August 03, 2011 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to our viewers in the United States and around the world. It is Wednesday, August the 3rd. This is your A.M.: WAKE-UP CALL.
I'm Ali Velshi, joining you live this morning from New York.
We're interrupting our CNN international coverage of the trial of Hosni Mubarak. It is a story of historical significance unfolding this very moment in Cairo. We are staying on top of it, however. The deposed president of Egypt on a stretcher in a cage in the courtroom, on trial in the courtroom -- on trial on charges of corruption and ordering the killings of protesters earlier this year.
There you can see him. It's just an extraordinary turn-around in the fortunes of Hosni Mubarak, from long-time iron-fisted ruler to infirmed, elderly defendant. He faces the death penalty if he's found guilty.
CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom is in Cairo right now. He joins us.
Mohammed, what can you tell us about these morning's developments?
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, Ali, we can't stress enough just how historic this is. It's unprecedented that a ruler like Hosni Mubarak, the deposed leader of Egypt, would actually be in that courtroom wearing a prisoner's uniform in a cage on a stretcher as a defendant.
It's shocking to people here in Egypt. Many people we've spoken with today just didn't believe they would actually get to this point. They believed the trial might be delayed, might be adjourned, that maybe Hosni Mubarak wouldn't be transferred from his hospital bed in Sharm el-Sheikh. That all happened. He's in court.
We're outside the police academy, the venue for this court. There's about a thousand people here, pro and anti-Mubarak factions. Earlier, there was scuffle broke out. Rocks were being thrown, bullets rung out at one point.
That's calmed down. There are anti-riot police out here.
But this is something so symbolic and there's so much passion about this in the streets of Egypt, there's a lot of concern that there could be demonstrations. There could be violence later in the day. So, there is an intense and increased security presence trying to make sure any kind of demonstration or violence is quelled as quickly as possible -- Ali.
VELSHI: Mohammed, tell us about Mubarak's two sons? Are they also -- this case -- we're seeing a close shot of it with Hosni Mubarak. But there actually -- it's a big cage. There are a lot of people in it, including his two sons.
JAMJOOM: That's right. Again, this adds to how unprecedented and extraordinary this is, not just that Hosni Mubarak would be in that cage treated as other criminal defendants, other criminal defendants in Egypt. That's the protocol in the courtrooms here.
But his two sons are there with him. Gamal Mubarak, his son was seen for many years as the heir apparent of Hosni Mubarak. So, the fact that he's there, his two sons are there, former cronies are there, very symbolic to the Egyptian people that possibly justice is being done.
Still, a lot of skepticism as to how this will turn out, whether they'll see it be a speedy trial or not, but again, people here are just shocked and riveted to the television screen. There's a huge screen outside the venue. About 1,000 people out here, all of them watching the drama unfold inside the courtroom, really shock at what's going.
And right now, actually, the scuffle that's broken out, those scenes of violence might be on the rise again outside this venue. We're trying to find out what's going on. But another fight has broken outside the police academy -- Ali.
VELSHI: OK. Give me a sense again of the police presence outside the courtroom? And is it police or is it military?
JAMJOOM: We're seeing police. We're seeing military and we're seeing anti-riot police as well. It looks like a minute ago, they were deployed to try to deal with the situation. It looks now like it might be calming down, a lot of onlookers.
But it is very tense. It's a very sense mood outside this courtroom. There seem to be several hundred policemen. That includes military, that includes security -- possibly intelligence and anti-riot police.
As of a few minutes ago, the crowd was riveted to the big screen watching the trial unfold. Now, onlookers are going to where a scuffle broke out. But it seems to have calmed down with the deployment of the anti-riot police. Just (INAUDIBLE) again how tense is, how much passion there is in the streets of Egypt because of this trial and how worrisome it is for the security forces here to try to maintain order while this is going on -- Ali.
OK. It seemed there that some of the folks out there got very close to one position where media cameras were. Are you in a position that's away from that or are you in the middle of all that?
JAMJOOM: We're here with where there's a lot of media set up outside the courtroom. We're close to where the crowd was gathered around the huge monitor to watch the trial unfold. Everybody shifted their attention a few minutes ago to a scuffle that seemed to have broken out. But it's calmed down.
People now seem to be returning to watch what's unfolding inside. That's where the real drama is today, inside this courtroom. You see about 1,000 people out there, some of them carrying Egyptian flags. Some of them are wearing hats with the Egyptian flags on it. Others are carrying signs against Mubarak.
And the worry has been that because there are pro and anti-Mubarak people out here, there could lead to some more scuffles.
And one more thing I like to add, Ali, as far as Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the revolution here in Egypt, here in Cairo, that was cleared a couple of nights ago. It was quite shocking to see. I returned to Egypt yesterday. I've been here a couple weeks ago.
A couple of weeks ago, there were hundreds of protesters out here in the tent city. They were demonstrating. It was cleared by the military a few nights ago. They don't want anything out there while this trial going on, during the month of Ramadan. They're afraid that that will lead to violence. Nobody is out there except for security and they're trying to make sure nobody gets out there today and demonstrates because they're worried that will lead to violence as well -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right. Mohammed, stay there where you are, when you got something for us, just let our producers know. We'll get right back on with any developments in this trial that we're following live here for our audience here in the United States and around the world.
Now, in other news, the bloody conflict between the Syrian government and protesters might be coming to a head in the city of Hama. A human rights group says the government has sent tanks into the city and has cut off wireless and land line communications.
Now, CNN managed to reach one resident who said the city is running out of food and supplies.
The U.N. Security Council plans to meet again today to discuss the crisis. The secretary-general of the United Nations says Syria's president has lost all sense of humanity.
Time now for your debt ceiling update -- and there is one. The president has signed the bill, turning it into a law. You're witnessing a close call. The deadline was just hours away from when the president signed it.
The measure calls for up to $2.4 trillion in savings over the next decade. It raises the debt ceiling through the end of next year and establishes a bipartisan congressional super committee -- as they're calling it -- to recommend long-term fiscal reform, six local lawmakers from each chamber. A super committee as we call it. We'll know who is in it within a couple weeks.
CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger talked to Anderson Cooper about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: The question I have is that, is it a good political move for you if you're a member of Congress to actually be on this committee? Because, you know, you don't know what the results are going to be and it could be politically bad for you at home. There are some, Anderson, who have suggested to me, someone inside the administration, who said why not get those "gang of six" on the committee because they're the only ones who have come up actually with a bipartisan way to approach the deficit. So, we'll see if some of those folks get on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Take a look at the CNN-ORC international poll -- 77 percent of respondents said lawmakers acted like spoiled children during the debt ceiling debate. I know what you're thinking. That's an offense to spoiled children. Only 17 percent believe they acted like responsible adults.
The U.S. escaped a slap from Moody's. The credit rating agency let the nation keep its AAA credit rating for now. But it's lowered its outlook on U.S. debt to negative.
The Federal Aviation Administration got left behind in all this, by the way. The Senate went on recess without extending the agency's funding. That means, among other things, about 4,000 FAA workers on furlough probably won't be back to work for another five weeks until the government gets back. And the government will lose out on more than $1 billion in aviation taxes.
What else could this mean? FAA administrator, Randy Babbitt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDY BABBITT, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: We're going to suffer a lot of long term damage. We have billions of dollars in construction money that should be going out the door that's not -- this is money that's available. It's simply we can't spend it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: OK. Let's see how the world's money is doing.
The Hang Seng and Nikkei both closed lower. The DAX and FTSE right trading lower as well.
Let's go to Kristie Lu Stout. She is live in Hong Kong.
Markets are down again this morning. I thought after we got the debt ceiling stuff done, we'd start to see some relief, Kristie.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes. Well, here in Asia, investors are cashing out of the market despite that debt deal in D.C. The attention is fixed on weak global data and fears of a global economic slowdown. Most of the major markets here are down between 1.5 percent and 2.5 percent. The Nikkei closed down more than 2 percent with exporters especially hit hard.
Now, stocks in Europe, they are also in retreat. Investors there not only digesting news of the U.S. debt deal, but also worries of the debt situation in Italy and Spain. In fact, investors are selling down Italian and Spanish debt.
Ali, back over to you.
VELSHI: All right. Kristie, we'll check in with you as the morning continues -- Kristie Lu Stout joining us from Hong Kong.
Egypt's ousted president, Hosni Mubarak, on trial for murder and corruption. He's in court on a stretcher with an oxygen tank. There he is. He's in a cage inside the court. We'll get you the latest from Cairo on the other side.
First, though, here's our quote of the day, quote, "The president folded like a lawn chair." Find out which newsmaker said this coming up in 90 seconds.
It is nine minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It's 11 minutes after the hour. This is your A.M.: WAKE-UP CALL.
Now, back to our quote of the day, which is, quote, "The president folded like a lawn chair. Here's the full sound bite.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID STOCKMAN, FMR. REAGAN BUDGET DIRECTOR: I think the president folded like a lawn chair for the second time. He should be fighting for tax cuts since he doesn't believe in spending cuts of any magnitude. And yet, he walked away and allowed this travesty of a bill to be passed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: That was former Ronald Reagan Budget Director David Stockman.
Now, let's go to meteorologist Bonnie Schneider live from Atlanta, who is tracking tropical storm Emily on one hand and some very hot weather on the other.
What's the latest with Emily, Bonnie?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Ali, the latest is the center of circulation of Emily continues to churn out in the open water. It's not much of a change since our last report.
But, right now, the storm center is 180 miles southeast of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, the movement to the west-northwest at 14 miles per hour. But, of course, as you see, the track changes are ahead. The center of Emily will move across Hispaniola later today and tonight, and then into the southeast Bahamas on Thursday.
And the track is also kind of working its way to the east of the U.S. coastline. That means that everyone on the Eastern Seaboard needs to be prepared and make sure you have a hurricane plan in place in case of hurricane watch or warning is issued for your area.
If you're traveling today, we are expecting major delays in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, some lighter delays in New York City, Denver, Orlando. And, of course, that fog can slow you down in San Francisco. We'll watch out for that.
Another hot one, big-time heat advisories once again for the mid-south -- cities like Memphis, into Tulsa, Dallas, all facing heat indices climbing all the way to 115 degrees this summer. We are certainly into August and no relief in sight.
We're also looking at heat advisories for areas into Georgia, the panhandle of Florida and even the beaches of South Carolina looking at some very hot weather. So, you're not going to get that much relief there.
High temperatures today are very hot, 110 in Dallas -- Ali.
VELSHI: Wow, there's some -- Dallas, what is it 33 days now above 100? Unbelievable weather.
Bonnie, we'll check with you later on. Thanks so much.
SCHNEIDER: Sounds good.
VELSHI: Bonnie Schneider in the weather center in Atlanta.
We aren't getting too far away from the main story right now and that is the trial of Egypt's ousted president, Hosni Mubarak. He's on trial for murder and corruption. He's inside a cage, what you're looking at, which is inside a courtroom. He's on a stretcher. That's him, with an oxygen tank.
There are some scuffles developing outside the court. We got a CNN team inside and outside. We'll bring you the latest on the other side of this break.
It's 14 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Stephen Colbert has a thing or two to say about America's credit. Here is your punch line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
STEPHEN COLBERT, "THE COLBERT REPORT": Now that it's done, all Americans are breathing a sigh of relief, because it may have been a painful, drawn-out process. But at least the economy is saved.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Dow today down 265 points.
COLBERT: What?
America is currently rated AAA, which means we're a very safe investment plus I believe we get free roadside assistance.
Greece now has such a low grade it may be held back and forced to repeat the last 3,000 years. And lowering America's grade is bad news.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That could mean that you pay more for your mortgage -- the cost of buying a car could rise, credit card rates could rise.
MOHAMED EL-ERIAN, PIMCO: If the U.S. loses the AAA status, it will be much more difficult for the U.S. to restore growth.
COLBERT: So, these unelected elites get to wave their Wall Street wand and tank our economy? Why? They're not special. They're not rich. They're standard and poor. No wonder they're so moody.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
VELSHI: All right. Time now for your Political Ticker with Tim Farley, host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius XM POTUS live from Washington.
Done -- deal done, signed and delivered just in time, Tim, for President Obama's 50th birthday party.
TIM FARLEY, "MORNING BRIEFING," SIRIUS XM POTUS: Yes, exactly. The president getting out of town, much like the House of Representatives and the Senate who decided it was time to leave until September.
But the president, who turns 50 tomorrow and has a nice big special section dedicated to him in "The Washington Post" today, will be at the Aragon in Chicago. And there are some special guests. Jennifer Hudson will be there, Herbie Hancock.
And interestingly, Ali, they've turned this into a political thing where you can actually go to the campaign to reelect and, I guess, host your own birthday party at home. They have the whole thing -- I'm not sure if they have special favors for you or anything like that.
But it is something, to turn 50.
VELSHI: And it is going to be -- he's having a party. It's going to be a fund-raiser. The Tea Party is protesting it, going to try to bust it up.
FARLEY: Yes. They're doing something across the street about the jobs which, by the way, is in advance of the report that we get Friday. If yesterday's consumer spending numbers were any indication, we're getting very good news at all this week on the economy.
VELSHI: No, not all. All right. We're expecting a tough number on Friday. It's not going to help markets.
Listen, this debt battle is going part -- part of it is going to be settled by the super-committee of six people from the House and --
FARLEY: Super committee.
VELSHI: -- people from the Senate. It's going to be split between Republicans and Democrats.
Who do we think is going to be on this? Because it's going to be pretty influential.
FARLEY: You know, there are some serious thinking there, obviously, a lot about this. But capturing the mood of this, I've been tweeting this and asking people to suggest names. And there have been a lot of -- the "gang of six," for example, who is a part of that three Republican and three Democratic senators who helped put together a package that didn't get adopted but at least went a long way in the discussion.
But I got one tweet that suggested some characters like Mr. Potter from "It's a Wonderful Life," screwed (ph), Monty Burns, Mr. Moonies, Silas Marner and Harpagon. So, we can dip in (INAUDIBLE) maybe, but French, of course, setting the example for the American way of life.
But I think this is going to be key, because Republicans are saying nobody who is going to approve taxes, and the Democrats are digging in their heels saying nobody who is going to really cut into discretionary spending. And really, that's a lot of -- and entitlements -- that's what a lot of this battle has been about.
If they don't come up with some sort of solution, there will be so the so-called draconian cuts that take place. They have until Thanksgiving. They've got a lot of work to do. They got to get them now.
VELSHI: Those draconian cuts many economists say could be quite dangerous if it becomes, that trigger gets hit and automatic cuts take place. So, it will be better that this group of 12 -- whatever you decide you want to call them -- do their job.
Tim, have a great show this morning -- Tim Farley host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius XM POTUS radio.
A chunk of the space shuttle Columbia has resurfaced in an east Texas lake that is drying up. Check out the silver sphere. It's about four feet wide. NASA says it's a tank that provided water and power to the doomed shuttle. Columbia broke apart and burned up eight years ago during reentry into the atmosphere.
The debris will eventually move from the drought-stricken lake to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the other shuttle wreckage is held. Crucial moments in a raid to capture -- the raid to capture and kill Osama bin Laden, what was said, how it went down, a detailed new article. And we're about to hear from the author.
But, first, we always tell you what national day it is. This one was a little complicated. August 3rd is -- we'll show the nice side of it -- August 3rd is National Watermelon Day. I don't want any tweets or comments about the resemblance.
National day of the watermelons. Happy watermelons!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Our coverage of the trial of Hosni Mubarak continues.
What you're looking at on the right of your screen are riot police now assembled outside of the courthouse. Mohammed Jamjoom has been reporting that there have been scuffles between protesters out there. Some protesting -- some apparently anti-Mubarak protesters and some -- we don't know who the others are. But Mohammed is going to clear that up for us very shortly.
You saw a picture of the courtroom which is very busy, very full. The defendants are being held in a cage -- you can see on the left of your screen. That's Hosni Mubarak on the stretcher with the aid of oxygen. He's 83 years old. He's not in good health.
He's in a cage with iron bars and mesh, dressed in a white shirt. He's also there with his two sons. They were placed next to him in a cage as well.
If he's found guilty of the charges against him, he faces possibly the death penalty. He has denied the charges against him right now.
So, we're watching both of those situations very carefully. The riot police assembled outside the courtroom. And on the left of your screen, what is going on inside the courtroom. As soon as there are any developments there, we will get right back into it with you.
In the meantime, the raid to capture and kill Osama bin Laden, a mission nearly a decade in the making -- now, a "New Yorker" article sheds light on what went down that spring night in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Brian Todd talked to the author and has play-by-play details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Less than 18 minutes into the raid, came the crucial moment.
Navy SEALs had fought their way through Osama bin Laden's compound, killed his courier, the courier's brother and bin Laden's son. They'd blasted through cage-like metal gates on the stairways.
As a small team of SEALs reached the third floor, one turned to his right.
NICHOLAS SCHMIDLE, WRITER, "THE NEW YORKER": He sees this tall individual poking his head out the door, tall individual with a fist- length beard.
TODD: The SEAL, says Nicholas Schmidle, instantly sensed that was bin Laden.
Schmidle's article in "The New Yorker" magazine presents nuanced, riveting new details of the bin Laden raid. He bases his reporting on sourced conversations with Special Operations officers who had intimate knowledge of the raid. Schmidle says he did not speak directly with SEALs who carried out the mission. The SEALs' identities are classified.
Some of this detail had already been reported by CNN.
Schmidle writes that, when the SEALs rushed down the hall and into that room two of bin Laden's wives had placed themselves between the SEALs and bin Laden.
Newly-reported by Schmidle -- an account of how the first SEAL into the room had to act in a split-second when he encountered bin Laden's youngest wife, Amal.
SCHMIDLE: Amal is yelling hysterically and begins to approach the first SEAL. And the concern is that they're wearing suicide explosive vests. And so, he shoots Amal once in the calf to disable her and then proceeds to grab Amal and the other woman, wrap them in a bear- hug and turn his back to the SEALs and sort of push them off to the side.
TODD (on camera): And he holds them there. Why does he do that?
SCHMIDLE: He holds them so that if they explode and blow up, that he'll soak up the impact of that blast and sort of the mission then can go on behind him.
TODD: He knows he'll die in the process.
SCHMIDLE: Pretty much.
TODD (voice-over): There were no suicide-vests on the women.
Then a second SEAL moved into the room, according to Schmidle, raised his M4 rifle, trained an infra-red laser on Osama bin Laden's chest.
(on camera): Is there anything said at that moment?
SCHMIDLE: There's nothing said. I asked and asked and asked and I kind of wondered if there was some "Dirty Harry" moment. And there just simply wasn't. It was all split-second.
Shoots bin Laden once in the chest, and then bin Laden begins falling back, shoots him once above the left eye, then bin Laden falls down and he steps up and says on the radio, you know, "For God and country, Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: Geronimo as you may recall was the code word for the fact that bin Laden had been sighted. Schmidle reports that President Obama met with the SEAL team a few days later but he says the president never asked who fired the kill shot.
A decade in prison is a long time. And Georgia convict -- this Georgia convict really doesn't want to be locked up. Strapped in, helmet on. We'll tell you what went down in court.
We're taking a quick break. It's 27 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Good morning. It's Wednesday, August 3rd. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Ali Velshi joining you live this morning from New York. It's 30 minutes after the hour.
Let's update you quickly on a story of historical significance unfolding this morning in Cairo. Hosni Mubarak, the deposed president of Egypt, is on a stretcher in a cage with oxygen attached to him. He's on trial on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of protesters earlier this year. His two sons and some cronies are on trial, too. The trial is in a break right now. You can see on the right, there are riot police assembled outside the courthouse as there have been some scuffles, minor ones, this morning, but riot police are outside.
Mubarak faces the death penalty if he's found guilty. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him right now. There are fears at the moment that more violence may break out outside the courtroom, but that does not look like it's happening right now where, of course, we have teams outside and inside the courtroom, and we will bring you coverage of this as it continues.
Keep in mind, this is something many Egyptians didn't Think would ever happen. Again, history in the making here. We'll keep you updated throughout the morning. I imagine the folks in Syria are watching this very closely, because that particularly brutal regime is coming down hard on the citizens of the city of Hama.
Well, tropical storm, Emily, is pushing through Caribbean this morning and tracking toward the U.S. It's expected to get little stronger before reaching Haiti and the Dominican Republic later today where it might start to come apart if it hits some of the mountainous regions. Right now, forecasts, however, are showing Emily skirting Florida's Atlantic Coast on Saturday. Still no watches or warnings for the U.S. mainland at the moment.
So, for those of you who have travel plans, if you call up the airline, they may or may not be cooperative about changing your flights because there are no official warnings or watches. Usually, they wait for that before they say you can make changes, but you should keep it in mind if you're trying to get out of Florida or South Carolina on Friday or Saturday or into it.
It was a down to the wire, hold your breath, fingers cross, Washington kind of deal, but America did sidestep default with a last minute debt ceiling agreement. That means 28 million Social Security payments will be made today on schedule. Another 27 million checks go out later this month.
Now, sometimes, handcuffs just aren't enough to restrain a convict. This is how a Georgia man who assaulted a police officer entered court for his sentencing. Reginald Smith, look at him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're trying to kill me! Help! Help!
VELSHI (voice-over): Reginald Smith was wheeled in, bound to a chair, and wearing a motorcycle helmet, didn't do much to stifle his screams, which you can hear. It lasted through his entire 20-minute hearing. He was sentenced to ten years in prison and another decade on probation for aggravated assault on a police officer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI (on-camera): All right. Tell the social networking (INAUDIBLE) Pentagon wants you. It's planning to use sites like Facebook and Twitter as a resource in conflict, detecting and tracking the spread of ideas. And "The New York Times" says the military is offering $42 million to anyone who can help.
All right. No matter how good your poker face, it might be divulging a lot more than you think like your Social Security number? Carnegie- Mellon researchers says they developed an app that can identify complete strangers and some of their personal data. It uses facial recognition software, cloud computing and data from social networking sites to find out who you are both online and in the real world.
And while we're talking apps, keep an eye up for a new android app that secretly records your phone calls then let's hackers listen in. The app is not officially named, but security researchers say it may have a misleading name like system messages, which sounds innocent enough. Keep in mind, the app needs user permission before it installs, so it won't randomly pop up on your phone, but you may not know that it's the app that's recording your phone calls.
Is VP Joe Biden's second role as a landlord? Reports are out that he charges rent to the secret service agents who protect him. Here's what Jon Stewart had to say about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, HOST, THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART: Obviously, the economic whoa is not over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vice President Joe Biden has another job, landlord.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: That's not so odd. These are difficult times. Everybody is trying to make some extra coin. Not like it's coming out of our pocket.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Records show Biden charges rent to the secret service agents who protect him and his family.
STEWART: First of all, $2,200 a month to live in a cottage in Joe Biden's backyard in Delaware.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: How come he's such a good negotiator on rent?
(LAUGHTER)
And by the way, how do you collect rent from the guy you depend on to save your life. Hey, guys, it's August 1st, where's the rent? I'm sorry. I must have left my checkbook in my other bulletproof vest.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: In today's businessman's special, the ultimate piggy bank. Find out where people are stashing their cash. It's coming up in 60 seconds. Right now, it's 35 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Now, back to our businessman's special where people stash their cash. Capgemini and Merrill Lynch are out with their world wealth reports. Let's break down the numbers. 2010, people put 33 percent of their money in stocks, 29 percent in fixed income investments like bonds, 19 percent in real estate, 14 percent in cash, five percent other. I don't know what the other is. Could be a snake oil business or your cousin Harry's crazy tonic.
More money news this morning. Let's go to Christine Romans. She's live here in New York with me. Christine, we thought after all this debt stuff was done, we'd be looking at stronger markets, and we have not been. The Dow has been down eight sessions in a row now?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yesterday was a really bad day overall. But, you know what, Ali, a lot of people are telling me that the whole thing with the debt deal was there was a lot of downside if you didn't do it, but not a lot of upside if you did, because the U.S. economy is still in pretty rough shape, so eight down days for the Dow.
Futures are looking a little bit higher this morning, but after a big day like yesterday, you know that futures at this hour can be kind of funky to predict three or four hours out what the stocks are going to look like. So, we'll continue to watch that. Watching that stock twits, I don't know if you follow that, but some of the spider, the ETF or the S&P is actually trending lower. So, we'll continue to watch to see how the market is going to be open. It's going to be hard to make a call this morning, though.
VELSHI: (INAUDIBLE) some major ones this week, and of course, Friday, we've got the big jobs report for the month of July.
ROMANS: Yes. Be careful about the ADP report. That's the private payroll report that's going to come out today. Remember, last month, it showed that maybe private sector was adding more jobs than we thought and that we got the jobs report, the real jobs report. It did not show enough jobs growth at all. So, be careful about false predictors this week. We're going to get a jobs report on Friday, likely to show still an anemic overall economy in jobs market.
Also, this morning, really interested. A lot of people talking about an op-ed from Larry Summers that reuters.com is running this morning. Larry Summers saying we have a one in three chance of slipping back into recession saying that jobs and economic growth still are subpar. We've got to get demand up again. So, that's what a lot of people are talking about this morning where your chances of falling back into recession.
I prefer, because it's the morning, I like to eat my cheerios. There's a two-thirds chance that we don't fall into recession.
VELSHI: All right. That's good. Two-thirds chance. We all take that. Christine, I'll see you in 20 minutes on AMERICAN MORNING.
ROMANS: You got it.
VELSHI: The Mubarak trial which we are following very, very closely has just restarted now. It was in a brief recess. Here, as you can see, are many lawyers, advocates up near the bar. Mubarak is 83 years old. He's on charges of corruption on ordering the killings of protesters earlier this year. Toward the back of the court -- he is being held in that cage. He's on a stretcher lying down. He's got the aid of oxygen.
His two sons who you're looking at here are also on trial along with him. There are others in the cage including some security. It's steel bars (ph) and mesh around them. Outside the courtroom, there are riot police assemble. There have been some scuffles earlier today. We have our CNN teams inside and out. We'll be following the proceedings and letting you know what develops. If Mubarak is found guilty of the charges, he can face the death penalty. He has denied the charges.
Here's today's "Get Smart" question. Which car ranked as the most stolen car in the United States in 2010? A. 1997 Ford F-150, B. 1994 Honda Accord, C. 1991 Toyota Camry? We'll have the answer for you in two minutes. Plus, you want to stick around to see if your car is on the top ten list of most stolen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: Forty-two minutes after the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. Now, back to our "Get Smart" question. Which car ranked as the most stolen car of 2010? A. The 1997 ford F-150, the1994 Honda Accord, or the 1991 Toyota Camry? The answer is B, the 1994 Honda Accord tops the list for the third year in a row. What is it about that car? Here's the list of the other top 10 cars. 1995 Honda Civic, 1991 Toyota Camry, 1999 Chevy Silverado, 1997 Ford 150 pickup. After that we've got the 2004 -- there's more than that. We just don't want to show it to you, apparently.
All right. Let's move on -- there we go. OK. 2004 Dodge Ram, 2000 Dodge Caravan, 1994 Acura Integra, 2002 Ford Explorer, and 1999 Ford Taurus. I thought nobody wants to steal new cars.
All right. Now, for our "Political Ticker," let's bring in our D.C. bureau chief, Sam Feist on the phone from Washington. Sam, I hope you got some sleep last night, finally, after this debt ceiling deal was finally done.
What does this do for the campaign right now, the Republican campaign? What does it allow Republicans to go out and say?
SAM FEIST, CNN D.C. BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Ali. We're finally catching our breath here in Washington. Well, you now, a new CNN poll came out yesterday that showed that the public really doesn't embrace this deal. And, I think that probably helps republican candidates because they can say, hey, look at Washington. Washington is a mess. The guy in charge there is not doing a good job, so elect me, and I'm going to clean it all up.
VELSHI: Who are they madder at about this? I know a lot of that polling indicates that they think that Washington was immature. They handled it like children. Who are they mad at?
FEIST: You know, it depends on who you're -- I think they're mad at everybody. They're not happy with the president. They're less happy with Congress. The president's approval ratings are low. They didn't really drop in the new poll, but Congress' approval ratings are in the low teens. So, I think they blame Congress, but overall, they blame Washington, overall, and I think that's what helps Republican candidates because they can come in and say that things are not going well in Washington now, but I'm the guy who's going to make things better.
So, elect me, and it's all going to work out just fine or at least be better than the alternative because Barack Obama didn't do the greatest job, they'll say. Hey, quick, Ali, who do you think the biggest winners in this debt ceiling mess in Washington turned out to be?
VELSHI: I don't know. I'm trying to find one. Who do you think --
FEIST: There's someone winning big time. It's Washington. The lobbyists. The lobbyists are the big winners. They're now working overtime to make sure that their clients' programs don't get the ax in the next round of budget cuts which are coming up in November. So, the lobbyists, they're raking in the big bucks right now. So, it's good for them.
VELSHI: All right. Well, then, it's not fair to say there were no winners out of this thing. Sam, good to see you, my friend. Sam Feist is our Washington Bureau chief.
FEIST: Happy Watermelon Day, Ali.
VELSHI: Thank you. Happy Watermelon Day to you. You can use it in the heat that's out there today.
All right. Our continuing coverage of Egypt's ousted President Hosni Mubarak's trial. He's on trial right now. That's live in the courtroom. He's on trial for murder and corruption. He's lying on a stretcher -- there he is -- with an oxygen tank. He's in a cage in the back of the courtroom. We've got the latest from Cairo coming up.
But first, on this day in history, back in 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail for the new world, in history (ph). Forty-five minutes after the hour.
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VELSHI: Forty-eight minutes after the hour. Good morning. It's Wednesday, August 3rd. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Ali Velshi joining you live this morning from New York.
Let's go around the world with Mohammed Jamjoom. He is just outside the courthouse in Cairo where Hosni Mubarak is on trial. Right now, you're looking at the cage in which Hosni Mubarak, his sons, and some other co-defendants are being held. Mohammed, bring us up to speed with what's going on in the courtroom.
JAMJOOM: Well, Ali, just a short while ago, there were some brief clashes outside of the courtroom between anti-Mubarak and pro-Mubarak demonstrators here outside, but then riot police were called in. One of the riot police were chasing some of the people that are throwing rocks (inaudible), but that's calmed down. The trial is back in session.
Everybody who is out here, once again, their face is turned toward the big screen showing the trial, riveted towards the drama that's going on inside that courtroom. Just a few minutes ago, the prosecutor in the case actually said inside the courtroom that the former interior minister who's one of the defendants today should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and get the maximum amount of punishment to which the crowd outside cheered.
They were clapping and hooting at that, happy to hear that. A lot of emotions out here. A lot of people feel that this day has been long in coming and that this is justice finally being done. But it's also very tense atmosphere. Security forces are very worried that more clashes might erupt. People concerned that more protests might happen in other parts of the city.
There's an increased security presence throughout the city of Cairo today just try to make sure that demonstrations don't happen spontaneously in other parts of the city -- Ali.
VELSHI: Mohammed, tell me two things. One is how long are we expecting this trial to go for and is there a sense in Egypt that this is a fair trial?
JAMJOOM: Well, Ali, there was so much disbelief up until this morning that this trial would actually take place. So, many of the residents in Cairo that I've been speaking in the past few days were saying to me that they just didn't believe they'd actually arrive at this moment, that the former president would actually be transported from his hospital bed, that he would be in that courtroom.
So, right now, people that were so skeptical seem to be more reassured that this trial will be taking place. The people that are out here, the anti-Mubarak factions that are out here are very that gratified that this is happening, seeing this as reassurance that justice will be carried out. That having been said, though, no nobody quite knows how long this will go on. People thought it might be adjourned because it's happening during Ramadan. People weren't sure how long it will take.
Nobody, at this point, knows how long the hearing will take today or how long this trial will take place. Officials over the last few days are trying to assure the press that this will be a speedy trial. It will be done efficiently, but a lot of skepticism in the streets as to how quickly this will happen. This part of the world, trials of this nature really usually don't happen in a very speedy fashion.
So, yet, the mood here, though, a lot of people very gratified that it actually is happening, that they finally arrived at the day and the deposed leader of Egypt who ruled this country for 30 years with an iron fist is actually in that courtroom wearing a prisoner's uniform in that cage right now -- Ali.
VELSHI: Mohammed, we'll keep in touch with you through the course of the day. Mohammed Jamjoom outside court in Cairo, Egypt.
Time now for your quick debt ceiling update. There is the president raising it. Part of the deal establishes a bipartisan super committee to recommend long-term fiscal reform. Six lawmakers from each chamber will be on it. We know exactly who -- we won't -- we don't know, but we will know exactly who within a couple of weeks. CNN's chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, talked to Anderson Cooper about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: The question that I have is that, is it a good political move for you if you're a member of Congress to actually be on this committee, because, you know, you don't know what the results are going to be, and it could be politically bad for you at home.
There are some, Anderson, who have suggested to me, someone inside the administration, who said why not put those Gang of Six on the committee because they're the only ones who have come up with actually a bipartisan way to approach the deficit. So, we'll see if some of those folks get on there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: And take a look at the CNN-ORC International Poll. Seventy- seven percent of respondents said lawmakers acted like spoiled children during the debt ceiling debate. I know what you're thinking. That defense (ph) is to spoiled children. Moody's, by the way, has let the nation keep its AAA rating for now, but it's lowered its outlook on U.S. debt to negative. No word yet from Standard & Poor's.
But the Federal Aviation Administration got left behind in all this. The Senate went on recess without extending the agency's funding. That means about 4,000 FAA workers on furlough probably won't be back to work for another five weeks, and the government will lose out on more than a billion dollars in aviation taxes. FAA administrator, Randy Babbitt, talked to CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDY BABBITT, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: We're going to suffer a lot of long-term damage. We have billions of dollars in construction money that should be going out the door that's not. This is money that's available. It's simply we can't spend it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Let's go live to Bonnie Schneider. She's in Atlanta with the latest on tropical storm, Emily. Good morning, Bonnie. What are you looking at?
SCHNEIDER: Good morning, Ali. We're still tracking Emily, and the storm is being affected by some wind shear. So, we're seeing more of the convection or thunderstorm activity is shifting a little bit further to the east for that northwesterly shear. But right now, the storm is 180 miles southeast of Santo Domingo and the Dominican Republic, moving west-northwest at 14 miles per hour.
And because of that movement, we still have those warnings posted. Tropical storm warnings are now in effect for Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the southeast Bahamas including Turks and Caicos. So, this means this is the time to take those precautions and prepare for tropical storm force winds over 39 miles per hour. What we're looking at now in track shows a little bit more of a shift to the east, but more of the eastern seaboard could be impacted by Emily as the storm kind of hugs the coastline.
However, the track gets more uncertain as we go further out. Keep in mind, it's always good to have your hurricane, family disaster plan and preps in place now before the hurricane hits, because we are certainly in the heart of hurricane season. We're also in the heart of summer, and the heat indices are climbing all the way to 115 degrees across the mid-south for today. Get ready for some records to be broken, Ali, in Oklahoma City, Fort Smith, Wichita Falls, Dallas, and Shreveport. We are talking about more triple-digit numbers.
VELSHI: Unbelievable. Unbelievably hot. Bonnie, good to see you. Thanks so much.
All right. Let's take a look at the word of the day. It's pro forma. Find out what it means specifically in the context of this debt debate, and you need to know it today right after the short break. It is 54 minutes after the hour.
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VELSHI: Fifty-seven minutes after the hour. This is your AM WAKE-UP CALL. Now, back to the word of the day. Pro forma literally means inform only. Today, you need to know this word because the Senate scheduled nine pro forma sessions during their five-week summer break. This will give them the opportunity to consider the FAA funding bill.
The Senate went on recess without taking action on the bill, all that assuring that almost 4,000 FAA workers will be left out of their jobs for the next five weeks. This partial FAA shutdown also means the U.S. will lose out on more than a billion dollars in uncollected airline ticket taxes. Let's go to Carter Evans for a look at your money this morning. He joins us live from the NASDAQ market site here in New York. Good morning, Carter. How are markets shaping up this morning?
CARTER EVANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm trying to eke out a smile today, Ali, because yesterday was pretty rough, but our futures right now are looking a little bit better. This is the pre-market page on CNNMoney.com. S&P future is up 7, NASDAQ up 10 1/4, Dow up 55 points right now. You know, yesterday was really rough because of some economic reports that we got. Today, we're getting some more important ones, the ADP employment report.
We're also getting a report on factory orders which is very, very important, but that ADP report, last month, it showed that 157,000 jobs were created, but the government reported that only 18,000 jobs were created. So, there was big discrepancy there. So, we're not putting a whole lot of weight on the ADP report today. I also wanted to point out what's being covered on CNNMoney.com today. Here comes the hard part. We've got to pick the special committee, and they've got to pick the cuts.
There's a lot coming ahead, and we just don't know exactly what. You know, one of the interesting things or the ironic things I find about this, Ali, is that, you know, lawmakers knew about this debt ceiling and how it needed to be increased months ago, but they waited till the last minute. They said it with all these contingencies.
Now, they passed a bill that all of them say they do not like and is flawed just because they had to raise the debt ceiling. They could have done it first and wouldn't have had to attach all this legislation to it that no one likes.
VELSHI: One of the surprises, it was a debt deal that looks very similar to one that could have happened a month ago, a few weeks ago. We ended up costing $1.2 billion or $1.7 billion in interest because we had to renegotiate some stuff, plus these lost taxes from the FAA. So, we're somewhere close to $3 billion in absolute determinable extra money because we delayed so long. Carter, try and keep that smile on your face and see if we eke out one gain after eight losing sessions in the markets.
Carter Evans at the NASDAQ market site. WAKE-UP CALL will be back tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m. That's it for us. AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
