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White House Releases President Obama's Long-Form Birth Certificate; Using Satellites to Guide Planes; Stakes High for Federal Reserve; CNN Sets the Record Straight, Donald Trump's Reality Check; Royal Wedding Preparations Underway at Buckingham Palace; Mapping Out Financial Future; Heavy Shelling in Misrata; Syria's Deadly Crackdown
Aired April 27, 2011 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Want to get you up to speed for Wednesday, April 27th.
The big story this hour, the White House releasing copies of President Obama's original long-form birth certificate. The administration is hoping to put the so-called birther to rest once and for all.
The president says the country has more important issues to deal with. "We do not have time for this kind of silliness."
I want to bring in our CNN White House correspondent, Dan Lothian, and our chief national correspondent John King, who is on the phone from New Hampshire, who will be interviewing Donald Trump, getting reaction from Donald Trump, who has been stirring up the birther issue.
Dan, I want to start with you here.
The president said that he offered his original birth certificate because when he released the budget two weeks ago, no one really paid any attention to it, that the birther issue was a real distraction. But this controversy started during the campaign several years ago.
Was there a threshold that the president reached and said, look, enough is enough?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, the bottom line is, at least from the White House, is that this is a debate that -- or a controversy that has gone from the Internet to the mainstream. And we saw that with Donald Trump, talking about this almost every day.
Yes, as you point out, this is not something that just came along yesterday. It had been around during the campaign. It had been around early in the president's administration. And they had released the short form, which is the legal document now that's recognized in this state of Hawaii. But the controversy, as you know, has been over that long form, which has been locked away inside a vault in Hawaii.
But as you pointed out, I mean, the president, releasing it now, because he believes that it was a major distraction, especially in light of all the critical things that are going on right now up on Capitol Hill, such as dealing with the budget, such as trying to figure out how to bring down those high gas prices.
Here's how the president explained it earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm confident that the American people and America's political leaders can come together in a bipartisan way and solve these problems. We always have, but we're not going to be able to do it if we are distracted.
We're not going to be able to do it if we spend time vilifying each other. We're not going to be able to do it if we just make stuff up and pretend that facts are not facts. We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: I want to go directly to our John King, who will be talking to Donald Trump for his show later today.
And, John, essentially, you know, he took credit -- he took credit. Donald Trump took credit for what is taking place, producing this birth certificate.
I want you to hear what we he told a group of reporters when he landed in New Hampshire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, ENTREPRENEUR: Today I'm very proud of myself because I've accomplished something that nobody else has been able to accomplish. I was just informed while on the helicopter that our president has finally released a birth certificate. I'd want to look at it, but I hope it's true, so that we can get on to much more important matters, so the press can stop asking me questions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, John, he is now saying that he hopes that this is true. And he is pretending here. He's brought up the birther controversy for weeks now. He is now pretending that it is the media that has been driving this.
What do you hope to learn from him in your interview?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's all our fault, Suzanne. We're the only ones bringing this up.
You know, Mr. Trump is very proud of himself. You just hear him there. And he's sort of pumping his chest a little bit and pumping his chest a little bit and taking credit for this. And the president's critics are giving Mr. Trump a lot of credit for this. OK, great. I'm going to ask him, number one, if he doesn't think he also, maybe, as he takes credit, owes the president an apology. He was wrong. He was wrong.
He questioned whether the president was born here. The White House obviously felt political pressure. They did not want to release this, Suzanne. You went through this during the campaign.
So, there was some political pressure on the president. But the facts that we now have is we have the long-form birth certificate. Mr. Trump said just the other day that it was missing. Well, it's not missing. And he has said a number of other things that have turned out not to be true.
There is no doubt when the president was talking about people who just say things, and sideshows and carnival barkers, that he had Mr. Trump in mind. And so we're going to press Mr. Trump that, you know, if he wants to be considered a serious candidate for president, doesn't he have to be more careful about what he says and not be reckless in some of the things that he says?
MALVEAUX: And John, his handlers, have they suggested that he has any additional information or evidence to back up anything that he said that has so far been proven false?
KING: No. I mean, he had a conversation with our Anderson Cooper the other day where he said he had investigators in Hawaii, and they had found some amazing things, that he couldn't just disclose them quite yet.
Well, the president -- again, the president did not want to do this. So the White House saw some political damage in doing this. We need to be clear about that.
But in doing it, the White House has now called his bluff. And Mr. Trump said the birth certificate was missing. It's not missing. It's now part of the public record.
He said his investigators had found all these startling things about it. Well, what are they? We now can see the document.
He also said this morning, Suzanne, that he is told that the opposition in Libya, you know, is being run by Iran and al Qaeda. Well, the director of National Intelligence, who has this amazing array of international intelligence sources available to him, including satellite images and manmade intelligence and our ally intelligence, says there's a sliver of al Qaeda.
So, again, part of my job today is to suggest to this guy who is a serious businessman, is he really, really trying to present and build a serious campaign for the presidency, or is he looking to use this part of a maybe campaign as a publicity stunt? Because many of the things he has said, including on the birth certificate issue, simply are not anywhere close to reality.
MALVEAUX: John, I want to bring back in our own Dan Lothian at the White House.
Dan, is there any concern at all -- now Donald Trump is claiming that he has credit for this, he's taking credit for all of this, and now he's bringing up additional questions about President Obama's academic background, whether or not he got good enough grades to get into some of the Ivy League schools, which we know candidly, patently is false. Is there a worry at the White House that they have played into Trump's hands here? I mean, can he ever really satisfy him or his critics?
LOTHIAN: Well, I think, you know, first of all, I don't think that they feel concerned about playing into any sort of thing that Donald Trump may have been trying to spin. But the president admitted that even this document that he has now produced will not satisfy the real doubters. So he really understand that.
They will find some reason to look at this document and say that maybe it has been doctored. Why did it take so long? It has to be because they were doing something to this document.
And I'll tell you, White House aides say that this administration had much more to gain by hanging on to this document, because there were a lot of Republicans who were distancing themselves away from this whole birther controversy, and so the longer that this continued, it could hurt Republicans in the long run, in the upcoming 2012 election. So, by them hanging on to this, it would have continued to hurt those Republicans.
And so they release it now. Again, the timing, the White House says, because the president thought that this was really building, and it had gone from just Internet chatter and polling that we've seen that some Americans out there believe that he was born elsewhere, to the mainstream via Donald Trump. And the president didn't call him out by name, but certainly that is the loudest voice that we have heard on this birther issue.
MALVEAUX: Sure. Absolutely.
All right. Dan Lothian, John King, thank you very much.
John King goes one-on-one with Donald Trump in New Hampshire. Does the Obama birth certificate put an end now to the birther issue?
We want you to tune in to "JOHN KING USA" tonight at 7:00 Eastern, only on CNN.
The U.N. Security Council meets today to discuss the brutal crackdown in Syria. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice calls for the use of tanks and live fire on anti-government protesters abhorrent. Human rights groups say more than 400 people have died in six weeks of unrest.
A CNN correspondent traveled to Misrata, Libya, today and says he could not find a single building that wasn't damaged or destroyed. Rebels are fighting to hold the city center, and government forces rain (ph) Misrata and continue to lob shells in the city of 400,000. An Afghan military pilot opened fire at Kabul International Airport today, killing at least nine people, including six U.S. troops. Officials say an argument set off the rampage. The Taliban claimed that the shooter was an insurgent who infiltrated the Afghan military. NATO says that is not the case.
The United States is telling Americans to think long and hard about taking a trip to Mexico now due to the surging drug violence. The State Department has expanded a travel warning. It now includes parts of the nine Mexican states shown with the red lines and all of the states shaded red.
Severe storms and possibly tornadoes struck Mississippi and Alabama today. At least three people have been killed. Violent weather left one person dead in Arkansas last night, making the state's death toll 11 for this week alone. One expert calls the storms amazingly explosive.
Floodwaters have overtopped or busted through several levees protecting Poplar Bluff, Missouri, from the Black River. Hundreds of people have fled their homes, fearing one of the levees could collapse. Southeastern Missouri has had 15 inches of rain since the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And everything inside is floating. Everything is destroyed. Everything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never left before, so it's all -- kind of makes me nervous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we going to have a home to go to? Are we going to have to relocate? When we get done here, are we going to have to relocate someplace else?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: CNN affiliate KHOU tells us that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords left a Houston rehab center today and is now flying to Florida. She's going to watch her husband, Mark Kelly, command the last flight of space shuttle Endeavour on Friday. And Giffords is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four hundred million dollars! Do the math. It's a math problem. And this is a problem we've got to deal with here!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: A noisy, gruff crowd shouts down a freshman congressman at a town hall in Orlando. Republican Dan Webster drew fire from Tea Party activists who demanded deeper budget cuts. Progressives in the audience complained that the proposed GOP Medicare changes are too sweeping.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This plan restores (ph) the money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what you want to do, is slash Medicare!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're all people. Let's conduct ourselves likewise.
REP. DANIEL WEBSTER (R), FLORIDA: I promise you not only will Medicare will not go broke, which it will under the current system.
(CROSSTALK)
WEBSTER: I understand. In nine years it's going to go broke.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In two years I won't have it.
WEBSTER: You will have it if this plan's adopted. You will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Here's your chance to "Talk Back" on the big story of the day.
President Obama now releasing his official birth certificate -- rather, the original birth certificate. Our Carol Costello is here with the "Talk Back" question.
Carol, I mean, this is it. Right? I mean, it's online. Everybody gets a chance to see it. It was locked in the vault before in the Health Department, but they had produced documentation before.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know. And talk about stunning news for President Obama to do this. I mean, no one was expecting this.
So, he releases his official birth certificate. And we were wondering, will that put all of this to rest? And that's what we're going to talk about right now.
The issue of President Obama's birth certificate just would not go away for months, years. The Obama team says the issue was settled, the certification of live birth they released in 2008 was enough.
Now, in this stunning turnaround, the president decided to release his original birth certificate. Was it because of Donald Trump, who has hammered away on the issue for weeks, or other Republicans like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, who flirted with birtherism? Or was it just, as the president says, that he had had enough of all the "silliness"?
Mr. Obama said the issue had become a distraction from the real problems facing our country. It could also be a distraction from the president's re-election campaign though.
In a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, one-quarter of Americans believe the president was not born in the United States. Not a majority, but a stubbornly significant minority.
So, is it over? "Talk Back" today: Does President Obama's move put the birther issue to rest?
Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll be eager to read your responses later this hour.
MALVEAUX: You know, covering the campaign, I remember when this first became an issue, and it was a sidebar issue and it was basically buried. And they had produced enough documentation to keep it on the fringe.
Now it's mainstream. And I think the White House really started to get worried that this was growing, this was becoming a bigger problem.
COSTELLO: And oddly enough, it was really born with the Clinton campaign. So, it came from Democrats. Not from Hillary Clinton herself, but one of her supporters.
MALVEAUX: Right. Certainly planted by the Democrats.
COSTELLO: Absolutely. And then it just continued to grow from there until, you know, here, today, the president -- I mean, did you ever think that the president of the United States would have to release his official birth certificate?
MALVEAUX: All of the documentation beforehand, you just didn't think it was necessary.
COSTELLO: No.
MALVEAUX: But it is here. It is here. And so we'll see if this puts it to rest.
COSTELLO: We will.
MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Carol.
Here's a look at what's ahead "On the Rundown."
More violent weather. Our Jacqui Jeras is tracking severe storms and the possibility now of tornadoes.
A teen boy in Ohio, trapped by rushing water. It wasn't easy to get him off that rock.
The Federal Reserve decision on interest rates and Chairman Ben Bernanke's news conference, that's coming up.
Plus, last-minute wedding details. Royal rehearsals, they're now under way. And the FAA's improvement plan, ditching radar for satellites.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Brace yourselves. Millions of you will be slammed with violent storms today. Our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras, she is tracking the latest round of severe weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MALVEAUX: Time to go "X Country" for stories CNN affiliates are covering.
Our first stop, Michigan, where lightning struck and injured nine people last night at a soccer field. That was just south of Kalamazoo.
Adults and children were hit. Seven people, one with serious injuries, were taken to hospitals. Two sought treatment on their own.
Now to Ohio, where this teenager had to be rescued after running into a rain-fed creek near Cleveland and getting swept downstream. The current was just too strong for him to get out, so he grabbed on to rock and waited for help.
In Florida, a pizza shop owner thought something was up when a guy strolled through the restaurant with a red cloud billowing from his pants. It turned out a bank had just been robbed a couple doors down, and the cloud was an exploding dye pack. The owner chased after the guy and held him for police.
We've heard a lot lately about air traffic controllers sleeping on the job. Well, our "CNN In Depth" coverage, "Air Traffic: Out of Control," is a taking a closer look at the problem and some potential solutions.
Today, CNN's Jeanne Meserve reports on a new system to provide controllers and pilots with more detailed satellite information.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you are going to an airport, you can use your satellite-based GPS. But once you're there, navigation is done the old-fashioned way, with ground-based radar.
The Federal Aviation Administration is in the process of upgrading to use satellites, too. This system is called NextGen.
MICHAEL HUERTA, FAA: NextGen is the equivalent of moving to HDTV, a much more precise look at what's happening in the airspace system.
MESERVE: One of the building blocks is Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, or ADSB. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ADSB allows planes to determine their exact location using GPS. That information is broadcast to other nearby aircraft and ADSB ground locations, which relay the information to air traffic controllers.
MESERVE: Pilots can see and identify other aircraft equipped with ADSB and get other data that some haven't had before, like real- time weather information.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it's essentially sharing the same picture that the controller has with what's in the cockpit.
MESERVE: Controllers say the system will also give them better awareness of what's happening in flight and on the ground.
MELVIN DAVIS, NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSN.: This is a very intricate tapestry of different pieces of information. What NextGen seeks to do is cohesively integrate all that information to make the system smoother.
MESERVE: Because satellites provide data much more rapidly than radar, the NextGen system should allow planes to fly straighter routes and closer to one another, increasing the capacity of the system and saving fuel. Ultimately, the government says, passengers should benefit.
HUERTA: NextGen, nationally, is going to give us improvements or reductions in delays of somewhere between 20 and 30 percent.
MESERVE: But, of course, it will cost money, a lot of money. The FAA estimate is $11 billion to $12 billion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: And our own Jeanne Meserve joins us from the Aviation Summit in Washington.
And Jeanne, I understand you have demonstration to show us.
MESERVE: Right. We're in the simulator. This is a mockup of a 737 cockpit. We're going to show you how communications will change with NextGen.
With me is David Strider a pilot, Mike McNulty (ph), a retired controller.
How will this change the pilot's job communications-wise?
DAVID STRIDER, PILOT: What you are about to hear is the voice rendition of an air traffic control clearance as it's done today.
MIKE MCNULTY (ph), RETIRED CONTROLLER: Southeast 723, cleared to (INAUDIBLE) via Fort Lauderdale 1. Stafa (ph), maintain 3,000. Expect flight of 410, departure frequency 126.05 (INAUDIBLE).
STRIDER: Now, I would have to write that down, read it back, and make sure that it's correct. And today, we have an ATC message. This is in the NextGen scenario, an ATC message that gives us that same route that Mike just read to us.
We look at it. If we like it, we wilco (ph) it. And that sends it back to ATC, saying that we're happy with it, we accept it, we can print it so that we have a hard copy of it. And in some airplanes that are properly equipped, it can be directly loaded into the flight management computer, and the crew doesn't have to make any manual entries whatsoever.
MESERVE: Make your job a lot easier?
STRIDER: Much easier and safer.
David, Mike, thanks so much.
Suzanne, back to you.
MALVEAUX: All right, Jeanne. Thank you very much. Very interesting.
More of our in-depth coverage tomorrow. During this hour, we're going to talk with pilot aviation analyst and former CNN correspondent Miles O'Brien.
An announcement is expected today from the Federal Reserve. That could affect your mortgage, your grocery bill, even what you pay for gas. Alison Kosik is breaking it down for you, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Checking out CNNMoney.com's lead story here, the Fed's track record, how the Fed has and has not fixed the economy. That, CNNMoney.com lead story, "Fed Track Record."
Also taking a look at the stock market here. The Dow Jones now up by four points there. It's been going a little bit up, a little bit down here, but hovering right about breaking even or so now, up about three points or so.
Today also promising to be a tipping point for the economy. Stocks are at a three-year high, and Wall Street now is waiting to hear from Fed Chair Ben Bernanke. He goes before the media this afternoon to say where he thinks the economy is headed.
And Alison Kosik, she's at the New York Stock Exchange.
Alison, you know, when Ben Bernanke speaks, people are going to be listening. They're going to be listening for what he has to say.
Give us a sense of the mood on the floor now. What are traders hoping to hear from Bernanke and the Fed?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, Wall Street is expecting to hear two big things from the Fed today. First of all, the Fed is expected to keep its historically low interest rate right where it is, near zero, and it's expected to stay at that level for months to come, just because the economic recovery is still very sluggish. There is also an expectation that the Fed is going to announce -- confirm that it's going to wrap up its $600 billion bond-buying program that's been in effect for some time now. That's essentially where the Fed has been throwing a lot of money into the market to rev up the economy.
What it's helped to do is keep mortgage rates low and it's kept credit flowing to try to really keep the economy moving forward. It's also pushed investors into stocks. It's why we've seen the markets rally as much as they have.
You may have noticed your 401(k) is a bit higher. That was also kind of the residual outcome of this bond-buying program, to try to sort of restore investor confidence in the markets -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Alison, nobody can tell the future. We certainly hope that we have that crystal ball. But why does it matter? I mean, you hear from Bernanke. Why does he hold so much power, so much sway over investors and how they see the markets going?
KOSIK: Oh, sure. The Fed chairman has a huge impact, has huge power over the economy.
A couple of the goals of the Fed is just to keep the economy moving and keep inflation in check. And the way the Fed does that is it raises and lowers interest rates.
So what the Fed does, it really affects almost everything. You name it -- the housing market, jobs, stocks. Also, think about it. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, he is the country's top economist, and what he says matters.
And as you pointed out at the top, he's going to be coming out for the first time for the Fed to do ever. He's going to come out and have a press conference after the decision. The press conference is around 2:15.
And this is really historic, because the Fed has been around for almost 100 years. They've sort of kept this cloak of silence for a long time, so this is really going to be interesting. Wall Street is definitely going to be listening and the markets very well could move on what he says -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Alison, I know when people wondering if his head is going to explode with all this.
I want you to check out some video that we're getting out of Los Angeles here. This is KTLA. This is a huge, huge you can call it an explosion of water here coming from a water main break. We think it's from a fire hydrant that is just gushing, I mean, it looks like stories high into the air there. Unbelievable video that we're getting there. I know a lot of people looking at that thinking, wow, amazing.
All right. Alison, thanks. We'll bring you back.
The White House calling Donald Trump's bluff by producing the president's birth certificate. A CNN reality check on Trump's claims about polls showing him in a dead heat with the president.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Here's what we've got on the Run Down.
Setting the record straight. The president proves he is a national born American citizen. And we're proving that Donald Trump is dead wrong.
And the royal rehearsal, the wedding just days away. Preparations at Buckingham Palace now in full swing.
Plus, planning your future together. It's not going to be a problem for the royal couple but how should a normal bride and groom set up their nest egg? CNN's Top Tips.
Well, the White House tries to silence Donald Trump on the birther issue by releasing the president's original birth certificate. Trump has been stirring up the issue now for weeks and today he made another dubious claim about his poll numbers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, BUSINESSMAN: And I think if I do run, I'll do very well. And I think -- look, I'm already leading the polls and I'm not running. Am I leading the polls? Thank you.
QUESTION: Among Republicans, yes, you are.
TRUMP: Well, OK, OK. Well, I mean -- excuse me, CNN did a poll -- CNN did a poll recently where Obama and I are statistically tied. If you would like, I can send it to you. Just call up CNN.
QUESTION: How confident are you that you'll beat Obama?
TRUMP: I think I'd beat Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: I want to bring in our Paul Steinhauser, part of the Best Political Team on Television.
And Paul, give us a reality check here about what Trump is talking about when he mentions a CNN poll.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: We didn't conduct that poll that he mentioned. But Suzanne, this is what he may be referring to. Take a look at this. This is a poll from February by "Newsweek" and the Daily Beast. And this is a poll -- you can see right there the president at 43 percent. Donald Trump, if he was the GOP nominee, 41 percent, a hypothetical match-up. Obviously basically a statistical dead heat there, all tied up.
Now, this wasn't our poll. But, we, of course, and other news organization s reported on this poll at the time. And at the time back in February, Donald Trump referred to this as CNN poll. Remember, CNN, we conduct our own polling but we also report on others.
Take a look at this, though. Let's fast forward now to April. We're in April now. So what are the most recent national surveys say about a possible match-up between the president. Right there. There you go. "Washington Post" and ABC poll. You can see Trump down 13 points in this hypothetical match-up. Two other polls by two other news organizations have Trump trailing by a little bit of a larger margin, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And Paul, what does our CNN polling say about Trump?
STEINHAUSER: Well, just a couple weeks ago we did a poll. Not Obama, the president versus Trump, we did a poll looking at the Republicans presidential nomination.
Take a look at this hypothetical, because not all of these people are running yet, or may not run. And you can see Donald Trump tied with Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who ran last time for the Republican presidential nomination at 19 percent.
So this poll right here made news at the time. This, of course though, just for the GOP nominations, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks for setting the record straight.
Thanks, Paul.
STEINHAUSER: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: CNN Chief national correspondent John King goes one- on-one with Donald Trump in New Hampshire. Does the Obama birth certificate put an end to the birther issue? Tune into "JOHN KING USA" tonight at 7:00 Eastern, only on CNN.
Well, some 40 hours from now Prince William and Kate Middleton will tie the royal knot. Our Richard Quest joins me live from Buckingham Palace where the military is rehearsing now for the big event.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Kate and William's big day, it is happening on Friday. The royal military got up at the crack of dawn for a full rehearsal this morning. You're looking at live pictures of all of the activity, the hubbub that Buckingham Palace now, the staff making final wedding preparations. And that is where we find our own royal watcher, Richard Quest.
Good to see you, Richard. Tell us about the rehearsal this morning. I guess the military is getting ready to participate in all of this that's just right around the corner, huh?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. I'm not quite sure what time it is because that rehearsal was very early. It was 4:35, 5:00 in the morning.
Listen, shameless name dropping here. The Prime Minister David Cameron was telling me a short while ago that he was woken up with a "left, right" as they were practicing up and down on horse guards parade. Also that happened today, of course, they will be practicing the music. But the real practice and the real performances are happening all around us.
Suzanne, I have got a truly well-trained cameraman. Think of this cameraman like a well-trained dog. He will show you exactly what's happening. If I go like that, he will show you the crowds that way. I've only got to point in the direction of the balcony up there and we see the balcony. And if you look in the balcony of the palace over there you can see a door is open on the balcony. I can only assume that is for preparations. And we know the queen is in the palace because if we look at the flag, that is her royal standard.
Come back to me. So, as you can see, preparations are well and truly under way. It is going to be an amazing day if the weather holds.
Is the weather going to hold?
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Yes.
MALVEAUX: OK. Richard, what do we think? Where's the route? Where are they going to take this royal procession? How does that work?
QUEST: I'm sorry. Say that to me again.
MALVEAUX: Where's the route? Where are they going to go? The royal procession, how does that actually work?
QUEST: You want -- now she wants me to show her the route. OK, fine. The route basically is this. Think of this in reverse. They're going -- that's where they're going to end up, the end of it. Buckingham Palace. They're going to come around the other side of the Victoria Memorial. They will have come from up the (INAUDIBLE), which I can't really show you because it's quite a way, and then over towards Westminster Abbey which is in that direction.
This lot will, of course, all be in the way trying to get into the shot and see. But what you will see is more than 160 horses. MALVEAUX: Yes, tell us what we're going to see.
QUEST: You're going see 160 plus horses. You're going to see the household cavalry of the life guards and blues and royals, a captain's escort, a sovereign's escort. You're going to see five carriages. You'll see the Queen, Camilla, Charles, of course, right at the front there will be -- now, what's their names again?
What's their names of the ones that are getting married?
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: William and Kate.
MALVEAUX: Richard, real quick here, now I know they're rehearsing and the rehearsals are great. Sometimes things go wrong though at royal weddings. And I know you're going to cover that -- a little bit of that tomorrow, yes?
A little preview, can you give us a little hint?
QUEST: Yes, I mean, all sorts of things can go wrong at a royal wedding. Tomorrow I'll tell you -- I'll give you an idea of some of them. But to give you an idea, what happens when you get the name wrong or, well, you'll find out tomorrow, Suzanne, just how it can be on things go wrong.
MALVEAUX: Such a tease. Thank you.
Richard, we will -- we'll be back. We'll get back with you tomorrow.
And of course, CNN is all over this romantic royal event. CNN's coverage beginnings at 4:00 a.m. Eastern Friday. That is 9:00 London time. Anderson Cooper, Piers Morgan, Richard Quest, Kiran Chetry and Cat Deeley will all be live from Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace.
Well, the royals, probably are not going to have this problem but a lot of couples, they do. They're talking about money. We've got some top tips to map out your financial future with your spouse.
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MALVEAUX: The buzz over the royal wedding is at fever pitch. The low end of the price tag for Friday's events is estimated at $80 million. Well, money problem is not going to be an issue for Will and Kate, obviously, but for many new couples, it can be.
So if you're planning on getting married soon, our CNN's Carmen Wong Ulrich has some tips about mapping out your financial future together.
Hi, Suzanne.
CARMEN WONG ULRICH, CNN FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the royal wedding is just days away, and if you're planning to say "I do" too, well, you need to have the talk about money before you walk down the aisle.
First up, ask each other about your financial past. How much debt do you have each, who is going to be responsible for what? Will you pull your funds completely together or keep your household funds separate and have separate accounts or put them together? It's a lot of questions. But knowing how you're going to bank once you're official and how you agree on managing the debt is vital to do before your "I dos."
Next, figure out who pays for what. According to Western Union's Money Mindset Index, when it comes to the concern over covering basic expenses, 22 percent of women say that this is their priority versus 17 percent of men.
Now, there's no one size fits all here, but think about what will minimize disagreements between you and feel most fair to you both. What if one of you makes more than another? How will you split the bills? By percentages?
Now even if you need to stay at home and take care of kids you still need to maintain your credit, so keep something in your name, whether it's utility bills or credit cards.
And finally, when it comes to the big day, don't go broke. While it would be great to splurge on a wedding like the royals, for most of us that's simply not the smart thing to do. Theknot.com says the average couple spent just about $27,000 on their wedding last year with 42 percent of brides going over budget, and that's not even including the honeymoon.
So don't start building a life together in debt. Pull together a reasonable budget that won't put you in the red. Become a master haggler and enlist family and friends who are good at getting discounts to help you. And pick one place to splurge, if you have to, while keeping the rest just under budget.
Do that and you're doing to start off in the green -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Thank you, Carmen.
Today's "Talk Back" question: Does President Obama's move subtle the birther issue? We're going to have your responses up next.
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MALVEAUX: You have been sounding off on our "Talk Back" question. Our topic, President Obama releasing his birth certificate. Out Carol Costello with the question and your responses.
Carol, we were talking about this, this is something that the White House, the president could have done a long time ago, they chose not to. They believe that they had enough information certainly to give the American public a convincing case that yes, in fact, he was born here.
COSTELLO: I know we had a lot of our viewers respond this way, they said they were sorry that we had to come to this point in our country, that the president of the United States would have to publicly release his birth certificate. So there are a lot of people are answering that way, other ways as well.
The "Talk Back" question: Does President Obama's move settle the birther issue?
This from Ron, "This will most certainly not make it go away. It will cool the fever, but it will not cure the disease."
This is from Kathy, "Trump owes Obama and all Americans an apology and then we can move on."
This from Dave, "People don't want to be distracted by facts. Poor prez. It's hard to be the only one in the room with a brain."
This from Daniel, "If anything now, more attention is going to be paid to his education, Obama's toothpaste, you know what toothpaste he uses, or even if he watches rated 'R' movies."
This from Eric, "The birth certificate issue is far from over. Mr. President, no. Why did you give in to The Donald? You didn't have to react. CNN's Anderson $Cooper was doing a great job helping Trump crash and burn on his own."
We'll have more of your responses in the next hour. Facebook.com/CarolCNN if you want to continue the conversation, and I'll be back again in about 15 minutes.
MALVEAUX: OK, great, Carol. Thank you.
And also, Donald Trump, the man who's been pushing the birth certificate issue, he's going to be the guest on "JOHN KING USA." John caught up with him in New Hampshire, and that's going to be at 7:00 tonight right here on CNN.
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MALVEAUX: Misrata is ground zero for some of the most intense fighting in Libya. You're looking here at rebels targeting pro- government snipers. Our correspondent in the besieged city says he cannot find a single building that is not either damaged or destroyed. Rebels say they have gained control of the city's center after the heaviest shelling yet by Gadhafi forces. Government troops now surround the port city on three sides.
The violence in Syria is getting even deadlier.
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MALVEAUX: Government protesters are reportedly being gunned down by government troops. The brutal crackdown will be discussed today at a U.N. Security Council briefing. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. says there is evidence of active Iranian involvement in the repression.
Our CNN's Arwa Damon has details on the crackdown.
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ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since Syrian military tanks rolled into Daraa, eyewitnesses say the situation is worsening by the day. And yet, as is shown in this YouTube video, whose authenticity CNN cannot independently verify, small acts of courage and cries of defiance.
As this group of demonstrators approaches the Syrian military chanting, "the army has sold us out," gunfire. The crowd scatters, and then we hear another chant, "we are not afraid."
The death toll in Syria is rising by the day.
(on camera): CNN has still not been granted access to report from inside Syria. An eyewitness in Daraa we spoke to said that the death toll there continued to rise. The more recent casualties, he says, caused by sniper fire, saying that snipers had positioned themselves on rooftops and were firing indiscriminately at anyone who dared venture out. Amongst the casualties, he claimed, was a 6-year- old child.
And he said that relatives continued to be unable to bury their loved ones because, he claimed, Syrian security forces are still occupying the cemetery.
(voice-over): Nearly halfway around the world, Syria's ambassador to the U.N. rejected calls for an independent investigation.
BASHAR JAAFARI, SYRIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: This is too early to decide on receiving anybody. We have our national investigation commission that has ordered the undertaken a full investigation about what happened, about all the casualties among civilians as well as among the military. So we are doing our homework, we don't need help from anybody.
DAMON: Syrian state TV broadcast video claiming to be the confession of an individual part of an extremist terrorist cell the government blaming for an interference, and armed gangs for the uprising.
But videos continue to emerge that depict a starkly different image. This one said to be shot in Homs on Friday. Demonstrations there and throughout the country on Friday quickly turned deadly as activists say Syrian security forces unleashed their weapons on them. The wounded are carried into what appears to be a narrow alley or walkway near a house trying to escape the carnage going on outside.
The Syrian regime seems immune to international condemnation and threats of sanctions. Rather than scaling back their brutal crackdown, Syrian security forces appear to be intensifying it.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Beirut.
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MALVEAUX: We'll look closer at the deteriorating situation in Syria as well as the stalemate in Libya in just a few minutes. We'll be joined by Fran Townsend, she is our national security contributor and a member of the CIA External Advisory Committee.
