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Congress Fails to Fund FAA Before Recess; Job Cuts by the Thousands; Riveting Details of the Bin Laden Raid; Artificial Lung Mimics Real Organ

Aired August 03, 2011 - 13:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: So, the treasury is sending out checks today on schedule as promised, the will they or won't they default debacle is over, yet somehow there's just as much fear and uncertainty, economic anxiety as ever. We've boiled it down to three main questions we're going to tackle the next 10 minutes along with you. First, what's going on with the stock markets? The Dow is on track for its ninth straight day of losses. Any guesses how long it's been since nine straight days of loss in blue chip stocks? Thirty-three years, not since 1978. Lots of other scary numbers are behind these, and we'll get to those in a minute.

Question number two, who will make the cuts? The debt deal that saved us from default this time yesterday left a really hard decision on taxes and spending and entitlements to a 12-member Super Committee yet to be appointed. What comes out of that committee will depend in large part on who goes in.

Thirdly, why did Congress leave so much unfinished business? Lawmakers went on their August break leaving thousands of FAA workers on unpaid furlough. They're also leaving $1 billion in uncollected taxes on the table in a fight over $14 million. It's time to get some answers. Don't you think?

And Wall street is where we begin today. Alison Kosik is at the stock exchange. Alison, how we looking right now?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Randi, the sell-off continues here on Wall Street, the Dow down about 99 points. You know, if the Dow closes lower, we're in for that very bleak 33-year milestone that you just mentioned. And what's happening here is investors and every day Americans are worried out of this recovery is just stalling out. You know, we've gotten several reports lately on just how weak the economy is. We got spending numbers -- consumer spending numbers are down. Manufacturing is weak, economic growth is anemic, and of course, who can forget the jobs market? I am hearing the 'r' word being tossed around here, recession. And it's been a while since we've heard that serious talk about a double dip recession, but I'll tell you what, those whispers are picking up now with one economists telling me that odds of a recession has begun, and the third quarter already, or will begin soon, have risen dramatically.

And then of course, go ahead and throw in Moody stamping the U.S. credit rating with a negative outlook, and you know what you've got? You've got a perfect storm of negative news. One thing, though, everybody's waiting for, though, Randi, is the official government jobs report coming out Friday. You know, along with GDP, this jobs report is one of the most important reports that Wall Street watches. The expectations are for a gain of roughly 80,000 jobs, but you know what? It's not even enough for a meaningful recovery in the jobs market.

KAYE: But you look at the numbers today, Alison, and you wonder, did the whole debt and default deal mean nothing? I mean, investors seem like they're still spooked.

KOSIK: Investors are still spooked. What happened once you had investors really focused on the debt ceiling debate going on, and then once that kind of settled, you had investors really looking at the deal and saying, you know what? It really doesn't do much for the economy. It doesn't move the economy forward, it certainly doesn't grow jobs, so Wall Street not particularly thrilled with the deal in itself. But then you've the focus back on the broader economy, that's really always been there, the weight on the economy, meaning these reports, one after another showing that the economy is really in trouble at this point -- Randi.

KAYE: Alison Kosik of the New York Stock Exchange. Alison, as always, thank you.

To get answers on our debt reducing Super Committee, and the dispute that's costing the government $30 million a day, I want to bring in the man that knows the ways of Washington and has spent his career, in fact, trying to change them.

Ron Paul is a long-time GOP Congressman from Texas whose 2008 run for president inspired a movement, you know it today as the Tea Party. Paul is winding down his Congressional career, but running once more for president.

He joins me on the telephone from Lake Jackson, Texas.

Thank you for your time, sir. I want to start with the debt deal and the big decisions that you and your colleagues decided to put off. You write today that balancing the federal budget isn't as hard as most people think.

What do you think is the secret?

REP. RON PAUL, R-TEXAS (via telephone): We have to just live within our means and live with our income like people are supposed to do. But you know, what really is difficult is the semantics are so bad because everybody is talking about cuts, and why didn't we cut this, and did we cut this much in set up, with this super commission and cut more. No place have we ever discussed any cuts whatsoever. It's always cuts in the proposed increases.

So, this is a difficulty for a person like myself who actually wants to have cuts, but you can't have cuts unless you change the attitude about the people, what they want from their government. If they think we have to be the policeman of the world, and you can't challenge the entitlement system, there's no way we can do this. Default is only inevitable. And I think the only argument about default was whether it would be by deflationary pressures by not sending out the checks, or what we are doing today, everybody opted for just printing the money.

So, the default is coming. We liquidate debt by printing money and having a devalued currency, and I think that's what the gold is telling us today. We're going -- we went with the option of the printing press rather than actually facing up to the fact that we are bankrupt.

KAYE: I know that you voted against raising against the debt ceiling, and you believe that a freeze in spending would be better than making these cuts at all, is that correct?

PAUL: Well yes, I would actually have cuts, but since nobody is about to do that, why don't we just settle for freezing it? Give everybody what they got last year. But you know, it seems like that would be an easy sell and the American wouldn't be so threatening. Now, everybody is saying, where are they going to slash, you know, all the entitlements? But they are not, they are just cutting what the proposed increases are. But you know, even if they talk about cutting the military, they get hysterical, but there are not cuts in the military, they are cuts in proposed increases. So, you know, it takes about four or five years. If we would had froze -- if we had frozen the budget about five years ago, it would have been balanced right now.

KAYE: So, what about this --

PAUL: That is one thing. The other thing you could do if you are so brave as to actually cut something, and all you need to do is cut one percent of the budget and do it for about five years and you would get to a balanced budget.

KAYE: What about this Super Committee? I take it you're not a fan. Would you join this Super Committee and be part of it if asked?

PAUL: Well, I'm not going to be asked, I've never even thought that through. But it's unconstitutional committee, so I would have my reservations. I just --

KAYE: Why is it unconstitutional?

PAUL: -- we're leaning (ph) on our responsibilities and giving it to a small number of people, authority that the Congress should have. So -- but this is a trend that we've been going through long time. We always deliver more authority to the executive branch in certain commissions and taking the responsibility away from the Congress. I think it's very, very dangerous and --

KAYE: What are you concerned the Super Committee will fast track?

PAUL: -- and I think it's the wrong way to go, so I doubt very much if they will. I know they will never ask me and I doubt very much if I would want to serve on something like that. KAYE: I also want to ask you about this, just this tiny dispute that apparently has now 4,000 workers at the FAA furloughed, the federal government isn't collecting more than $1 billion now in taxes from the FAA. The administration certainly thinks you and your colleagues should go back to work and figure this out. I want you to listen to a sound bite here and then we'll talk about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY LAHOOD, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: We heard a lot of great speech from members of Congress about creating jobs, they talk the talk, but they have not walked the walk. Their speeches ring very hollow to 4,000 FAA employees who are furloughed. Their speeches about jobs ring very hollow to 70,000 construction workers who are not working right in the middle of the construction season on construction projects all over America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Congressman, how is it that you now have 74,000 workers who are not collecting a paycheck, yet Congress is on vacation? How did this happen?

PAUL: Well, it's part of the process and it's the inability to admit that we're bankrupt and we do have to cut. So, the House did pass a bill recognizing the fact that some of these smaller airports are nothing more than boondoggles. Tens of thousands of dollars, you know, that are being spent, you know, per trip by planes going in. So, it's far from a market-oriented program. And the Senate could have passed it. If it would've been passed and it would've been more conservative and maybe backed off of some of these programs that aren't paying, that they are just draining, you know, the economy. So, it's not exactly that the Congress wouldn't do anything, it's the Senate that hasn't done it, but then again, anytime there's an attempt, everybody is screaming, cut back, cut back.

So, they find some that where there's real waste and we shouldn't be spending in certain areas, then the special interest come in and they yell and scream and demagogue so nothing happens. So sure, the Congress is inept, and I complain about it all the time and I'm voting against all of that, but there special interests are part of the problem, too.

Even, like, Paul Ryan made an attempt to propose something, I didn't vote for it because I didn't think it was enough. But he got, you know, really hit hard with this, like, oh, you can't do this. So, the people whose programs are being cut come back in and this is why - this is going to be very, very tough. This is a reason why I don't predict we're going to get this under control. It's going to continue, and we're going to continue printing money, and it's going to stop by economic law which means the dollars won't work, and that's what we should be concerned about, not some of these technical factors.

KAYE: Well, I think the people furloughed right now are certainly very concerned about this. You heard the administration there, transportation secretary Ray LaHood, saying Congress should come back to work and figure it out. You're running for president, would you want to bring Congress back?

PAUL: For this, I think we could have accomplished it before if -- I think the pressure should have been put on the Senate to pass the bill.

KAYE: All right. Congressman Ron Paul, appreciate your time and your insight into these issues. We always enjoy having you on the program. Thank you very much.

PAUL: Thank you very much.

KAYE: Thousands of FAA employees are the latest casualty of political bickering on Capitol Hill. We'll talk with one of them directly right here in our studio, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Congress can talk about creating more jobs all they want but lawmakers are essentially holding thousands of jobs hostage when it comes to the Federal Aviation Administration and wasting more than $1 billion of your tax dollars. Think about it. Earlier we talked about how Congress let this happen, legislators are off on summer break, in the meantime, 4,000 FAA employees are in limbo on furlough for five weeks or longer. They are the latest casualty of Washington's infighting.

Neil Bolen is one of them, and he's here with me in the studio. He's an engineer with the FAA and vice president of the engineers union. Neil, I have to ask you, how are you and your colleagues doing?

NEIL BOLEN, VICE PRESIDENT, ENGINEERS UNION AT NATCA: Oh, we're horribly disappointed. A lot of us are really struggling to find a way to pay the bills. We're signing up for unemployment and in a little bit going down to CNN's human relations desk to see if I can find a job, because we are out of work for the next five or six weeks in the hopes that the FAA will bring us back on board, because Congress has failed to get the job done.

KAYE: How concerned are you about -- you mentioned your concern about paying the bills, you have mortgage payments, I don't know how your family will deal with this.

BOLEN: A lot of peanut butter and jelly. I got a friend I met at the unemployment office, it's one of the FAA colleagues, she cannot make a house closing because she was buying a house and can't go to the bank and say, yes, I've got a job. And two weeks from now, she doesn't have a job when her house closes on the 19th. How is she going to do that?

KAYE: You heard the transportation secretary earlier today, right here, telling Congress that they should go back to work and get it done so the FAA shutdown can be brought to an end. What do you think of that idea? BOLEN: I'm very thankful for the secretary and for the FAA administrator, both trying to get this Congress back on the job. I called my congressman, Lynn Westmoreland, a number of times and got the staffers. At first, they didn't know it was an issue. And, finally, they said, yes, we passed that on to the Senate. And the Senate, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, both of which said, yes, there is something -- totally unaware that this was the problem, at least that was the impression I got.

KAYE: And this was really over some minor issues, some differences. Do you find that even more frustrating?

BOLEN: It's incredibly frustrating. The whole concept that they are saying, oh, this railroad act of how to vote in unions, it's --

KAYE: Right, the sticking point comes down to language over the airline unionization rules.

BOLEN: And that doesn't pass the weasel test.

KAYE: Why not?

BOLEN: They're saying that if you don't vote, then it counts as a no. I'll ask my high school kids, how do you figure this? Your high school is making a new mascot, and do you keep the old one or get a new one. Twenty-six percent vote for the new one, 24 percent vote for the old one, 50 percent don't vote, what's the score. They said, they'll get a new mascot, 26 percent wins.

According to John Mica out of Florida, no, no, it's 74 percent against.

KAYE: So, how do you feel about this?

BOLEN: That's just silly. And the worst part is some many of these congressmen are not working for their constituents. A number of the airline employees live in Lynn Westmoreland's district here in Atlanta. And he's not looking out for his constituents, which are the airline employees.

KAYE: I mean, you look at the situation. You have thousands of people out of work. Important construction projects on hold, very important projects. And then you have Congress on vacation, they are still getting paid. They're collecting their paychecks. They might be taking their families on summer vacation, and you just told me today you might have to look for another job.

BOLEN: I'm having a great time on my vacation, oh, without pay, by the way. I'm not on a congressional junket sitting at the house watching the grass grow. So, no, I'm not terribly pleased with what they managed to accomplish.

KAYE: And you believe they should have and could have gotten it done before they left Washington?

BOLEN: They could have easily gotten it done. The debt ceiling argument ended on Monday and Tuesday. Well, where are you at on Wednesday? You don't have to go on vacation. Take another day, get it finished, because you are sitting around arguing, and gnashing a great amount about losing a few billion or -- cutting a few billion here over 10 years.

KAYE: Right.

BOLEN: But you are losing $1.2 billion this month. How do you figure that, folks?

KAYE: Well, Neil, we'll continue to watch your story. And do let us know how you are doing. This could be a long five or six weeks for you and your family, I'm sure.

BOLEN: Yes.

KAYE: So, do check back in with us.

BOLEN: Thank you.

KAYE: All right. We wish you luck.

A key U.S. ally forced from his power by his own people. All of Egypt watches as former President Hosni Mubarak goes on trial for ordering the killing of protesters. Details right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: About 20 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories.

Attorney General Eric Holder today announced that over 70 people in the U.S. have been charged in an online worldwide child pornography ring. Of those charged, 52 have been arrested. Holder said that many victims were 12 years old and under.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Dreamboard's members allegedly traded graphic images and videos of adults molesting young children -- often violently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Investigators discover nearly 600 people around the world used a private member's only Internet bulletin board called Dreamboard to access those images.

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak went on trial today for ordering the killing of anti-government protesters and corruption. He was wheeled on a hospital bed into a cage in the courtroom. Other defendants included his two sons and his former interior minister.

Mubarak pleaded not guilty to all charges. He faces the death penalty if convicted. The trial was adjourned until August 15th.

Excessive heat warnings stretch from the Southwest to the Deep South today. The heat wave now in its second month is responsible for record-setting electricity use in Texas, deaths across the country and turning landscape brown. In Dallas-Ft. Worth, it's been well over 100 degrees for 32 straight days. It was 99 at midnight. Today could be the day that shatters the all-time temperature of 113.

We have to go much more with meteorologist Chad Myers in just a few minutes.

But, first, in New York, it's a nice change from having a pigeon on your windowsill. A peacock went AWOL from the Central Park Zoo. It camped out for a while in a Fifth Avenue building and then flew back home this morning. Zoo officials did not say how the bird escaped or what type of enclosure it was actually in. But it is now home.

More bad news on the employment front. Job recovery slowed for the third month in a row. More than 66,000 job cuts were announced in July, up a whopping 60 percent from the previous month.

Poppy Harlow joining me now from New York.

Poppy, corporations are making money. Why are they opting to down size?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: That's a great question. We're seeing record profits this earning season for a lot of these companies across the board -- technology, banking and et cetera.

The situation there in is that there's a real lack of demand in terms of what consumers are willing to spend, and they just got this uncertain environment. You've heard them say so many times, we don't know what this regulation means for us, whether it's health care reform or Wall Street reform.

Believe it or don't believe it, the reality is, these companies are not only not hiring a lot, they are now announcing really drastic job cuts.

I want you to take a listen to John Challenger. He issues this report every month and here's how he explains it, Randi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN CHALLENGER, CEO, CHALLENGER, GRAY & CHRISTMAS: One picture is we're in a rocky recovery or just in one of those retrenchments. But there's increasing concern that the economy may be heading towards recession. Major companies are now making layoffs rather than just holding on to their people. All of the government stimulus, both fiscal and monetary now is at risk, and maybe there is not going to be enough consumer and business spending to keep this economy afloat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: And, Randi, we're seeing this play out across the board. We've got this really interesting gallery on CNN Money. Job-killing companies today. I'm going just going to show three of the big ones. Let's start off with Borders. Obviously, they are liquidating. They are closing down. You've probably see this happening in your neighborhood. Borders closing 399 remaining stores. That's over 10,000 job cuts coming very soon.

And Goldman Sachs, Wall Street powerhouse, announcing they were going to cut 1,000 jobs, trying to save $1.2 billion.

Cisco, a huge technology company, saying they're going to layoff 6,500, or they'll take early retirement. They're cutting 15 percent of senior management.

So, Randi, the troubling part here is this goes across sectors. It's just not just banking or just technology or just retail. This really spans the gamut.

And this comes at a time when the economy is in such a perilous position that even Larry Summers, former economic advisor to President Obama, today said if things don't change and we don't see increased demand and pick up in the economy, we have a one in three chance of falling back into recession, Randi.

KAYE: Yes. And what about government workers? They could be affected, too, right, with the debt deal?

HARLOW: Yes, it's a great question, right? We have this debt deal and we thought Wall Street would cheer it on yesterday. That didn't happen.

And the reality John Challenger says of this debt deal is when you cut trillions of dollars in spending, you cut government jobs. The government last month bled a lot of jobs. He says, especially, on the state and city level, you're going to see a number of more job cuts ahead. If you just do the math, there is no way to get around it. When you cut spending, you are cutting jobs.

So, for all the government workers out there, you just talked to one who is furloughed. It's a very big concern, what's going to happen to their job where they already have seen a lot of shedding, especially now that we do have this debt ceiling deal. And that's sort of ramification it that I think hasn't gotten a lot of attention. But it's a reality that we're going to see play out over the next few months and years, Randi.

KAYE: Certainly. All right. Poppy Harlow in New York -- Poppy, thank you.

Coming up: where in the world is Casey Anthony? Well, someone may have found her. The details for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAYE: Time right now, about half past the hour. Let's check some of the news and other headlines you may have missed. The former president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, was wheeled into a Cairo courtroom today on a hospital bed. You see him there. He faces trial for alleged corruption and ordering the killings of protesters. But the proceedings were adjourned until August 15th. The 83-year-old Mubarak faces the death penalty if convicted. He pleaded not guilty today.

The cause of death in the case of 11-year-old Celina Cass is still unknown according to New Hampshire officials. An autopsy that was completed yesterday was inconclusive and a toxicology report is pending. Cass's body was found by divers searching the Connecticut River one week after she was last seen.

Bomb squad officers in Australia have freed an 18-year-old girl who was inside the house in Sydney with a suspicious device. Reports that the device was a collar bomb that was attached to the girl have not been confirmed. Authorities did say that the girl's life was potentially at risk. Police report the girl is now safe and back with her family.

Where in the world is Casey Anthony? Turns out she might be in Ohio according to photos published in gossip site TMZ. Casey Anthony is currently living in Columbus, Ohio. The photos will be the first since she walked out of the Orange County jail in July. TMZ published several photos of a woman resembling Anthony wearing an Ohio State University hat outside a Columbus store. Anthony's whereabouts have been unknown since her release and rumors have placed her all over the world.

A salmonella outbreak affecting more than half the country. What you need to know in just one minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: We have a health alert to tell you about today. An outbreak of salmonella poisoning has now spread through more than half of the country and it's been linked to ground turkey.

Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining me now.

This is a bit of an alarm. How many people have been affected so far?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Seventy-seven people have gotten sick and one person has died in 26 states. So, yes, this is a big outbreak. And we haven't had an outbreak of this size, of this strain since 1997. Because, Randi this isn't just garden variety salmonella, this is something called the Heidelberg strain and it's antibiotic resistant, meaning you've got to try a lot before you find one that works. So this is really more worrisome than just plain old salmonella.

KAYE: Yet, we haven't seen anything on a recall about this?

COHEN: I know. Usually at this point in a food borne illness outbreak you have a recall and they don't because they can't connect it. You know, they ask people who get sick, what brand did you eat and they haven't been able to draw any kind of a tie between all these people so no recall. KAYE: So it's not necessarily that there shouldn't be a recall, they just can't figure out what to recall?

COHEN: There you go. Exactly.

KAYE: OK. This could -- anything that they could have done maybe to prevent an outbreak like this though?

COHEN: You know, there are some advocates out there who say this could have possibly been presented if a couple of things had been done.

First of all, we give our animals, often in farms, antibiotics, to prevent illness. Well, when you give animals antibiotics, that can also make them develop antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. So a lot of people are saying, why are we giving antibiotics when we don't need to?

The other thing is, we don't test animals. We don't test the meat for these strains of salmonella. So we test it for certain kinds of e. Coli or whatever, but we don't test for these strains of salmonella that we know are deadly. And a lot of people are throwing up their hands and saying, why aren't we doing that kind of testing?

KAYE: Yes. That's a good question.

COHEN: It makes sense, right?

KAYE: So what can we do in the meantime? Anything to stay safe without the recall?

COHEN: A lot of depends on who you are. If you have an illness that makes your immune system weak, you might just want to decide not to eat ground turkey since you don't know what to avoid. I mean, that might be one way to do it.

If you want to eat your ground turkey since you don't know what brands are affected, you want to make sure that you cook it thoroughly. You want to make sure if it's frozen, you defrost it in the refrigerator, not sit out on the counter all day as many people do. And also, if you are using, for example, a knife or a fork to prepare that turkey, don't then go use it on your salad. While you're cooking that turkey, use those utensils and the cutting board and what not, clean them.

KAYE: The simple rules of the kitchen that we should all follow.

COHEN: Very simple rules. Exactly. For everything. Right. Not just for this.

KAYE: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you for the warning. Appreciate it.

COHEN: Thanks.

KAYE: A split second. That's all the time the Navy SEAL needs before pulling the trigger. New riveting details on the killing of Osama bin Laden. We'll have the details for you right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: He ruled Egypt with an iron fist for decades. Today former president Hosni Mubarak went on trial on charges of ordering the killing of his own people and corruption. The former president was wheeled on a hospital bed into a cage that you see there in the courtroom. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. Mubarak, who is 83, is being tried with his sons, who also denied charges against them. If convicted, Mubarak faces the death penalty.

Mubarak was forced to step down in February after days of massive anti-government protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Hundreds of people were killed. Today's trial, which many Egyptians believe would never happen was adjourned until August 15th.

It was the killing much of the world had been waiting years to happen -- the Navy SEAL raid that ended the life of Osama bin Laden. We've told you about some of the dramatic aspects of the top-secret operation near Pakistan's capital back in May. Now the "New Yorker" magazine has a gripping account on how the raid by SEAL Team 6 actually went down.

Brian Todd spoke with the author of the article.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Less than 18 minutes into the 38-minute 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 blasted through cage-like metal gates on the stairways. As a small team of SEALs reached the third floor, one of them turned to his right.

NICHOLAS SCHMINDLE, WRITER, THE NEW YORKER: He sees this tall individual poking his head out of the door. A tall individual with this length beard.

TODD: The SEAL, says Nicholas Schmindle, instantly sensed that 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. Schmindle 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.

Schmindle writes that when the SEALs rush 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 Schmindle, 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.

SCHMINDLE: Amal is yelling hysterically and beginning 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.

SCHMINDLE: He holds them so that if they explode and they blow up, that he'll soak up the impact of that blast and sort of the mission can then go on behind him.

TODD: He knows he'll die in the process.

SCHMINDLE: Pretty much.

TODD (voice-over): There were no suicide vests on the women. Then, a second SEAL moved into the room, according to Schmindle, raised his M- 4 rifle, trained an infrared laser on Osama bin Laden's chest.

(on camera): Is there anything said at that moment?

SCHMINDLE: There's nothing said. I asked and asked and asked. I kind of wonder if there was some sort of 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 and shoots him once above the left eye and bin Laden falls down and he steps up and he says on the radio for God and country, Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo.

TODD (voice-over): Geronimo. The code word for the fact that bin Laden had been sighted. Schmindle writes that the SEAL then said Geronimo, EKIA -- enemy killed in action.

(on camera): At that moment, back at the White House, Schmindle writes President Obama said to no one in particular, we got him.

Schmindle says a few days later when the president met with the team at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, he spoke with the SEALs and thanked them, but he writes that President Obama never asked which SEAL actually fired the kill shot and the SEALs never volunteered that information.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Fascinating story. Well, the device the size of my phone right here that could save millions of lives. We'll show you straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Before the break, we told you about a device the size of my phone that could help save hundreds of millions of lives. The device is an artificial lung which has reached the efficiencies of the human organ. That's right, it can could breathe air rather than the pure oxygen required by current artificial lungs. And its small size makes it possible for it to be implanted into the 200 million suffering from lung disease.

This is no small feat. Take a look at this. An artificial respirator, commonly known as the iron lung, from the 1950s, a human would have to actually lay in one of these. In many ways, we can now fit that in the palm of our hands.

Joining me now from Cleveland, Ohio, the artificial lung lead researcher, Joseph Potkay, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Case Western Reserve University.

Thank you so much for joining us to talk about this on today's "Big I."

Help us understand, if you would, how this works.

PROF. JOSEPH POTKAY, CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: Hi. Thank you for having me.

So this device basically works like the normal human natural lung does. So you basically have a set of two channels. On one side of the device there's a series of blood channels and on the other side air channels, and they're separated by a very thin membrane.

So you take deoxygenated blood, just like in the natural lung, you feed it into the device. And air has oxygen and CO2 content in it and it diffuses through the membrane into the blood, enriching it.

(CROSSTALK)

KAYE: Do you have it with you that you could show us a little bit?

POTKAY: So yes, I brought a small -- this is our prototype device. It's a small-scale prototype. I am not sure if you can see it on camera there. But we still -- this is very small right now, but we still have a large way to go to scale this up to be able to use in humans.

KAYE: So you have tested this on animals. When might it be used in humans?

POTKAY: So far we have tested this with human blood -- or I'm sorry, animal blood and human tests are about eight to 10 years away.

KAYE: And how exactly will this be powered? Can you explain that just a little bit?

POTKAY: Sure. So this device will be powered by the natural heart. We're designing it so it has a resistance, (INAUDIBLE) resistance that is similar to that of the natural lung, allowing the heart to drive it.

KAYE: That's amazing. So your own body actually powers this.

Who is really the target audience for something like this device? Who can it help? POTKAY: Yes. So this work is funded by the Department of Veteran Affairs. And my goal is to help veterans with that, but it's obviously, it's applicable to anyone with severe lung disease, acute or chronic lung disease.

KAYE: So could this help someone who might be waiting for a lung transplant or someone who has had lung cancer, even?

POTKAY: Absolutely. So it could be used in short-term surgeries such as heart/lung machines, cardiopulmonary bypass, like a portable unit for that. It could be used for short-term support to help the lung heal. And like you said, it could be used for a bridge to transplant- type device.

KAYE: How long does something like this last? Once you put it in, will it last a lifetime for someone?

POTKAY: We're still -- we still have a long way to go to achieve that. We're working on improving the biocompatibility right now. But initially this would be applications with short-term surgeries and then we're looking to extend the lifetime to hopefully months at a time.

KAYE: What about the reports that scientists are actually looking and hoping to grow a human lung? Would this be sort of one step -- is this an in-between step until we get there?

POTKAY: Yes. If they can do that, I believe that work is still in the early stages, if they can do that, that would be extraordinary. This would probably be an intermediate step until we're able to achieve being able to grow a custom natural lung.

KAYE: You know, we call this segment the "Big I." Do you feel like you're on to something really big here?

POTKAY: I hope so. I hope so. We're encouraged by the results, and we're going to keep working had so we can bring it to the clinical setting and help people.

KAYE: Professor, thank you very much. Appreciate your time. And very interesting product that you have there.

And for much more about the artificial lung, you can check out my Facebook page, Facebook.com/RandiKayeCNN.

Michele Bachmann did not vote to increase the debt ceiling, and she wants you to know that she is very proud of that fact. Wolf Blitzer joins us for a Political Ticker right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: After signing into law a bill to raise the country's debt ceiling, President Obama will hit the road.

Wolf Blitzer joins me now from the Political Desk in Washington.

Hi, there, Wolf.

The president will once again be talking about jobs, I assume?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": Of course, that's going to be issue number one, not just today or tomorrow but over the course of this long campaign leading up to November of 2012.

The president is heading to Chicago, he's going to be celebrating his 50th birthday. His birthday is actually tomorrow, but on the eve of his birthday, he's going to be doing some birthday parties, some fundraising, Democratic Party fundraising, presidential campaign fundraising in Chicago.

But the White House did announce, starting on August 15th, that's not that far down the road, he's going on a bus tour across the Midwest. Sort of reminds me of the bus tour that Bill Clinton and Al Gore did when they were seeking reelection back in '95 to '96.

So it's going to be a fascinating bus trip. We don't know yet where he's going. They haven't announced the stops he's going to. No doubt he's trying to shore-up support in a swing state like Ohio, to be sure, maybe Iowa, he could show up in Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota. I don't know where he's going to go, but some of those states likely. Maybe in Pennsylvania, I'll start in Pennsylvania, which is critically important to his reelection, Randi, as you know.

A couple of other political nuggets I want to get through. Sarah Palin, who has not yet announced whether or not she's running, she's still thinking about it, possibly she will. She did take a swipe at Mitt Romney, arguably the Republican presidential frontrunner, last night on FOX. She hit him because he was so late, she said, in deciding whether or not he would support the debt ceiling agreement.

"I do not have respect for what he has done in this debate," Palin said. "He waited until it was a done deal, and then he came out and made a statement he didn't like the deal after all. You know, you can't defer an issue and assume the problem is going to be avoided." A swipe from Sarah Palin against Mitt Romney.

She did praise to a certain degree Michele Bachmann for coming out early and often against any debt ceiling raising. Bachmann, by the way, is using her stance in Iowa in another TV set of commercials. She's going out there in Iowa, telling the various caucus-goers she never liked the deal to begin with.

Barack Obama, she said, has driven our economy into a ditch. "Someone needs to say no. I voted against raising the debt limit because it's time to balance the budget and pay down the debt. I mean it and you can believe it."

The Ames Iowa straw poll, by the way, August 13th, two days before the president begins his bus tour across the Midwest.

So a lot of politics. We're going to pivot now, Randi, from covering this debt ceiling crisis to a little bit more politics, gearing ready for what's going to happen in the Republican presidential campaign. As you know, no Democrat has come forward and challenged President Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. So he's got a free ride, at least for now.

KAYE: Just for a little while, maybe.

All right, Wolf Blitzer, pleasure to see you. Thank you.

Your next update from "The Best Political Team On Television" is just an hour away.