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President Obama to Hold News Conference; Raid Leaves Kabul Hotel in Flames; Casey Anthony Murder Trial

Aired June 29, 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: You are watching pictures now. This is the Casey Anthony trial in Orlando.

To the right of your screen, you see Casey Anthony there standing. And now she is sitting. Her father is on the stand, George Anthony.

We just watched very emotional testimony, as he essentially broke down, started crying, put his head in his hands, began to weep. And the judge asked him if he needed some time or a break, and whether or not he wanted to leave the stand. He at first, initially, said no, and then he just became overcome with emotion and bowed his head, and then just left the stand there.

This has been a trial that many, many people have been riveted by in watching the questioning about whether or not George Anthony at one point had tried to commit suicide in an attempt in January of 2009. That was a month after his granddaughter Caylee's remains were actually found. And his daughter, Casey, she is the one who is charged with killing the girl.

I want you to take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE BAEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: In January -- late January of 2009, you attempted to commit suicide? Did you sir?

ANTHONY: Yes, sir. I did.

BAEZ: OK. And you even left a suicide note.

ANTHONY: Yes, sir. I did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: We are following other news.

Thirty minutes from now, President Obama is going to hold his first full-fledged news conference since late winter. You're going to see it here, live on CNN.

Reporters are going to press the president on a number of issues, including the debt ceiling deadline. That is just 34 days away. Also going to be asking about Greece's economic meltdown, the drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and of course taking on the growing field of Republicans who want his job.

Well, President Obama is sure to comment as well on the stunning terror attack that left Kabul's Hotel Inter-Continental in flames today. Eight suicide attackers killed 10 people in that siege. It dragged on for six hours, convincing some hotel guests that they were not going to get out alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAIZ AHMED, INTER-CONTINENTAL HOTEL GUEST: None of us thought we were going to make it. Actually, I wrote my little will according to Islamic law, the little that I know. I put it in my pocket just in case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Chaos outside Greece's parliament today. Inside, lawmakers approve tax hikes and spending cuts to win a second bailout from Europe and emergency loans from international lenders.

CNN's Richard Quest, he is watching the vote and the turmoil on the streets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I apologize for the goggles but, frankly, you can just about talk with the tear gas, but the sheer amount of tear gas and pepper spray that is now wafting around the place makes it impossible, because, of course, everything that gets fired at ground level if the wind is blowing towards us, which it is, ends up just about where we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Flashback to January in Cairo's Tahrir Square today. Relatives of those killed in Egypt's revolution fought with police, leaving three dozen people hurt. Families are angry that the old regime is facing slow justice.

A wildfire will keep Los Alamos National Lab shut through at least Thursday. Officials insist that all nuclear material is well protected. But radiation detectors are being used to monitor air quality near the lab. All 10,000 residents of the New Mexico town have been ordered out.

More details now on our lead story. President Obama's news conference, it is set to start in about 30 minutes from now. We've got a lot of ground to cover, beginning with the president's debt, budget negotiations with Congress, his plan for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, the attack by the Taliban on the hotel in Kabul, the U.S. mission in Libya, the war in Iraq, financial crisis in Greece, nuclear safety, same-sex marriage, you name it. All of those things are very likely to come up in this news conference.

Our CNN's Jessica Yellin, she is joining us from inside the East Room. Jessica, we know the Q&A is going to start fairly soon. These are a lot of issues that the president is going to be dealing with. Why do you suppose he is holding his press conference now?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Long enough to- do list, huh, Suzanne? They usually say summer is a quiet time in Washington. Not so much this year.

A lot of issues, but overarching all of it are these debt talks. For most Americans, their economic concerns are what weighs on them most. And I think in the White House -- I know in the White House, everyone is well aware of it.

The president, for a number of months, all of the economic team, has been working on and helping to try to address these economic concerns with Capitol Hill. There have been these ongoing debt negotiations.

So, I expect the president to address in broad terms the need for both sides to reach a compromise and to address the understanding that, as we hear so often in Washington, both sides need to give a little to get something done. And the question is, from there, where does it go? And that depends on what we in the audience ask.

I think reporters are well aware as well that, on the campaign trail, with Republicans out there, what we hear as well are the economic concerns. So, a lot of questions about those issues. But these other topics about Kabul, about Iran -- we're hearing comments from the British about Iran and nuclear weapons, or nuclear capabilities -- will come up. Perhaps gay marriage as well, Suzanne. Quite some threats (ph) to cover.

MALVEAUX: And Jessica, I know from where you are perched there, give us a scene setter if you will. It's a really interesting shot. You're there in the East Room. You're facing all of those cameras there. What is the question that is mostly on your mind?

YELLIN: Well, I again believe that the economy and where they go with the debt talks from here is what most Americans -- while it seems very processy (ph), it's very focused on how he works it out with Congress. And that might seem a little inside Washington to most folks.

It really does have real world consequences for everyone at home, because whether or not they can get a deal done means a lot for whether Americans see job growth or not, and what happens with their taxes and with their paycheck in the end. So I do think that that is of paramount concern.

MALVEAUX: OK. All right. Jessica, we'll be watching. Make sure you get a question in there. We certainly hope you do.

All right. Thanks again, Jessica.

Be sure to stay with us for President Obama's press conference. We'll bring it to you live from the East Room of the White House. That's at the bottom of the hour. That's 11:30 Eastern, 8:30 Pacific, right here on CNN. Here is a rundown of some of the stories that we are covering in the next two hours.

First, hotel guests cower in fear for hours in Kabul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMED: None of us thought we were going to make it. Actually, I wrote my little will according to Islamic law, the little that I know. I put it in my pocket just in case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: We have a live report on the Taliban attack in Afghanistan.

Then, more drama in the Casey Anthony murder trial. Her parents take the stand again.

And later, police and protesters come to blows in the streets of Athens as the Greek parliament passes tax hikes and spending cuts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Two police officer and eight civilians are dead after an overnight raid by suicide attackers on the Hotel Inter-Continental in Kabul, Afghanistan. Armed with guns and grenades, the militants fought with Afghan and NATO forces for hours, leaving the hotel in flame.

Jerome Starkey with "The Times of London" is following developments in Kabul.

Jerome, thanks for being with us.

First of all, tell us what happened there last night.

JEROME STARKEY, "THE TIMES OF LONDON": Well, it was just before 11:00 last night when a group, we now believe, of nine insurgents crept up the Inter-Continental Hotel on the outskirts of Kabul. Evading the security, they crept through a forested area on one of the slopes beneath the hotel before storming into the building.

The first attacker burst into the ballroom, detonating a suicide vest. At least five of his accomplices then ran in and fought their way to the top of the building.

It was some five hours later, almost five hours later, when these five men were on the roof of the Inter-Continental, that a NATO helicopter was called out to support a combined team of Afghan police, special forces, and military commandos who were fighting their way through the building, but slowed down by the fact that it's a huge hotel. And they weren't sure who was friend and who was foe.

This NATO helicopter, with snipers on board, opened fire on the five insurgents on the roof, effectively ending the battle. But it wasn't until 7:00 this morning that the last insurgent was finally killed. Two Afghan policemen, doing a more thorough search of the building once the fighting had calmed down, found the man cowering in a hotel room on the fifth floor of the building. When they found him, he detonated his suicide vest, killing two of the Afghan policemen and wounded a New Zealand special forces soldier who was fighting alongside them.

MALVEAUX: And Jerome, this seems such like a brazen attack here. I mean, this is a hotel where a lot of people stay from around the world here. How are people reacting to this, that this happened here at the Inter-Continental?

STARKEY: Well, the Inter-Continental is indeed one of the largest hotels in Kabul. It's a landmark building. It's a very symbolic target.

There was at least one Spaniard among the dead. We know that the rest of the dead, we understand, were Afghan. There were Americans and Europeans in the hotel at the time.

However, the Inter-Continental isn't the most popular with international visitors. It has been superseded in recent years by other hotels that are better appointed and crucially more secure. However, those hotels have been booked out because there's been so many international conferences, so many delegations visiting, that, actually, there was spillover. And it's perhaps because of that spillover that there were Europeans among the dead.

MALVEAUX: All right. Jerome, thank you very much.

We are watching this. And the brazen attack in the heart of Kabul sends a strong message, seems to send a very strong message, about the Taliban's staying power.

And for that, I want to bring in our CNN national security contributor, Fran Townsend. She's a member of the CIA and Homeland Security Department Advisory Committee. And she is joining us from New York via Skype.

And Fran, you see this kind of thing, and you wonder here, what does this mean about this transition where we are going to go from security, from NATO international forces, to the Afghan forces. Is that even possible? Is that a good idea as the president had announced last week when you see something like this?

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Suzanne, you have got to assume that the Taliban is very deliberately trying to humiliate and embarrass the U.S. administration. I mean, this is second brazen attack inside Kabul.

And let's remember, the goal of the U.S. and coalition forces has been keeping Kabul safe, keeping the Taliban out of Kabul, and unable to operate there has been the last perimeter. And so the notion that in recent weeks, there have been two such brazen attacks, one before the president's announcement, and this one after, that required NATO to come in really and back up with air power, Afghan and coalition forces, this is a real strategic embarrassment. On top of which, let's remember, only recently now, just before this attack, did Secretary Gates and the president acknowledge that they have begun preliminary discussions with the Taliban.

The Taliban's message here is, we can and will -- we have the capability to attack anytime, anywhere of our choosing, despite the current military presence.

MALVEAUX: Fran Townsend, thank you very much.

President Obama, he's going to be discussing Afghanistan, among other issues, during his news conference at the White House. Now, that is scheduled to begin at the bottom of the hour. That's 11:30 Eastern, 8:30 Pacific. And, of course, CNN is going to bring that to you live.

Well, there is more drama in the Casey Anthony trial. Her father gets angry with defense questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY: You're trying to take this joy of my life away from me, sir, and you can't do it anymore.

BAEZ: Would you like --

ANTHONY: I'm going to answer it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: I'm going to go deeper into today's testimony after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: President Obama has called a news conference at the White House. We are standing by to bring that to you live here on CNN. The president is set to start speaking at the bottom of the hour. That's 11:30 Eastern, 8:30 Pacific.

Well, Casey Anthony's father, George Anthony, testifies again in her murder trial, going from anger to tears. The defense says his granddaughter, 2-year-old Caylee, accidentally drowned in the family pool, and he panicked and covered it up. That's what the defense is saying.

Well, George Anthony accused his daughter's attorney of trying to spin the statements of a man who is simply upset. Then the defense accused him of profiting from the case by giving interviews to the media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAEZ: Do you recall being on "48 Hours"?

ANTHONY: Yes, sir.

BAEZ: And do you recall being paid $20,000 for that appearance? ANTHONY: You know, Mr. Baez, I have been nice to you. I have tried to answer every question to the best of my ability. And for what my wife and I might have retained from a news organization to bring awareness of my granddaughter, my daughter, and other missing children, that is what that article was exactly about. It had nothing to do with guilt or innocence or anything like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Joining me now is criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, Holly Hughes.

Holly, you and I, we're both fascinated by what had just taken place. And we saw George Anthony actually break down after that.

What happened?

HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know, the defense is finally, finally getting to the point where they are trying to get evidence before the jury that they talked about in their opening. Jose Baez, lead attorney for Casey, got up and accused Casey's father, George Anthony, of sexually molesting her starting when she was 8 years old, Suzanne. He was very vulgar, he was very descriptive, and very distinct in his opening with these accusations.

He has now called George back to the stand, Casey's dad. And what we see is a broken man.

We see him -- you know, yesterday when he testified, he was a little defiant -- no, I didn't have an affair, that's laughable. Today, we are seeing real human drama unfold.

This is a man who is trying to say to this defense attorney, I did not ever do that, I would not ever do that. Then he is being attacked -- but you gave interviews to the media and you were paid for it. And what he is doing, Jose Baez, unwittingly, is rehabilitating this man in the eyes of the jury. The jury is getting to see the real George Anthony again.

MALVEAUX: So the defense is actually undermining its own case?

HUGHES: Yes, they are.

MALVEAUX: He's trying to say the father is guilty, that the father is breaking down on the stand.

HUGHES: Right.

MALVEAUX: Why did he get so upset? There was -- he essentially tried to commit suicide, and they brought that to his attention as well.

HUGHES: Yes. Absolutely.

And the reason we know that happened, one of the lines he just said, Suzanne, that is so powerful, he said, "Mr. Baez, you are trying to take my joy," meaning that little Caylee was the joy of his life. And he loves his daughter Casey, I believe, in a very fatherly, pure way. I don't believe these allegations of abuse.

And so when you are attacking him and saying you hid your granddaughter's body, you covered it up, you're letting your daughter take the fall, it's breaking this man's heart, because we know even from the jail tape, Suzanne, that Casey herself, the defendant herself, said to her dad, you have been the best dad ever and the best grandfather.

MALVEAUX: OK. We're going to have to leave it at that. We're going to be watching very closely who's on the stand next.

Thanks, Holly. Appreciate it.

About 10 minutes away from President Obama's news conference from the East Room of the White House. You're taking a look at those live pictures there. The president is going to discuss a wide range of issues from job growth to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

You can watch it live here, right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: President Obama's news conference is set to begin just a few minutes from now. He has got a lot of ground to cover from the high-stakes debt and budget negotiations that are going on, to the highly-anticipated drawdown of troops in Afghanistan.

Plus, also, the U.S. mission in Libya, the economic crisis in Greece. The list goes on and on.

Well, good thing we have a good team to describe and tell us what is all happening here. Jessica Yellin, joining us again from the East Room of the White House, waiting for that press conference inside. Our senior political analyst, Gloria Borger, she's also with us from Washington. And CNN national security contributor Fran Townsend, she's back with us from New York. She is a member of the CIA and Homeland Security Department Advisory Committee, and she is on the phone with us.

First of all, to you, Jessica, a lot of anticipation about this news conference. It comes at a critical time for the president. He is about to jump into some pretty tough talks with Republicans over whether or not tax increases should be a part of any agreement to reduce the federal deficit.

What do we think about the timing of this press conference? Is he going to use this to essentially put his message out there to the people that he knows the right way to get this done?

YELLIN: Yes. And to emphasize, Suzanne, in his view, that both sides, as they like to say in Washington, need to compromise to get something done.

You have to keep in mind that right now, we are entering the start of a very political season. The president's approval ratings are just in the upper 40s. This is his first solo press conference in about three months, and he is trying to get a message out there that he is doing what he can to try to get the economy going, to prevent the economy from stalling -- the recovery from stalling, and that he wants to see the Republicans do a little more on their end, as the White House would say, to do their part as well.

So, a message from the White House that they are doing what they can. How about you guys come along and do your part, too?

MALVEAUX: Jessica, that's an excellent point. Do you think that -- we're seeing these dramatic pictures out of Greece, the riot police, the tear gas, the protesters. They don't want to see any more dramatic cuts in their own government. They're trying to get more money, bailout money, from the European community. They managed to sign on to a plan today, but it simply means more and more severe cuts for these folks in Greece.

Is the president going to explain here what he can and cannot do when it comes to helping folks out economically? Because, surely, he has got no impact there on what happens in Greece. And that could really impact a lot of folks' 401(k)s.

YELLIN: That's not going to be the thrust of his main message. I think if that's a question he gets, he'll answer it. But his focus here is on the American people, the domestic economy, and flatly what he can do here in the U.S. Focusing on what Congress and he can work out, is my expectation.

But we all know that not only are there American efforts going on explicitly on multiple fronts overseas, but also on economic fronts overseas. Because the crisis in Greece has a ripple effect here. And I do expect he'll get a question on that and he'll have to address that.

But there is only so much the U.S. can do. And as much as the White House can, they will try to pivot back to domestic politics, domestic economy, and the areas where they have direct influence -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: That's an excellent point. I imagine the president will try to emphasize that.

Gloria, to you, Republican candidates, we've seen, they're getting organized. We saw Michele Bachmann officially making her announcement a couple days ago. Mitt Romney has already put out ads attacking the president.

Is this a critical time for President Obama? Is he essentially jumping into the campaign, turning a corner by having this press conference now?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure. Yes, they have been out there attacking him. They have been calling him a failed president. I think this is his first opportunity really to respond to them at this press conference.

I think the big thing I'm going to be watching for, Suzanne, is whether he really draws a red line in the sand about what he will and will not accept as part of any debt ceiling compromise. This is a president -- we're used to seeing he says, OK, this is the general outline, you guys go over there in a room and you work it out, whether it's on health care reform or during the lame-duck session.

MALVEAUX: Right.

BORGER: I think at this point, there are lots of Democrats who want him to come out and say I will not accept any cuts in Medicare benefits, for example, I do want to do something perhaps in the future on tax reform, I do want to push for a freeze on defense spending, which is one way we can save money. So, I'm looking for some details here from the president. Quite frankly, of the kind we're not used to getting.

MALVEAUX: I know, Gloria, that later today, the president is hosting a group of gay rights activist at the White House to celebrate Pride Month.

BORGER: Right.

MALVEAUX: In rights of New York State's new law recognizing same-sex marriage, do you believe that the president is going to be pressed on this issue?

BORGER: Oh, of course. I think the whole question is -- the president has said that his views on gay marriage are "evolving." And I think the question is, just what does "evolving" mean? You either are for gay marriage or you are not for gay marriage. There doesn't seem to be any kind of middle ground anymore.

And, I think, obviously, this is a question that he's to be asked. He will be compared to Governor Cuomo of New York, who very early on in his tenure got this bill passed through the legislature.

MALVEAUX: I want to bring in Fran Townsend into the discussion here.

Fran, in light of the brazen attack that we saw in Kabul, Afghanistan, just within the last 12 hours or so, what do you want to hear from the president? Does he need to justify pulling out U.S. troops surge of 30,000 by the end of 2012?

TOWNSEND: Well, Suzanne, I expect he's not going to -- he's going to try not to sound defensive about that. But quite frankly, I think people are going to listen for why we shouldn't view this second brazen attack in a very short period of time, the first one since the announcement of the drawdown, why this is not a strategic success for the Taliban.

After all, we still have surge troops there and they're able to do this. What are we going to expect with this precipitous drawdown that he's now announced? And so I think he's going to speak to the issue and he's going to have to explain why what he's announced still makes sense.

MALVEAUX: Let's talk a little bit about the mission in Libya. The president is facing very frustrated and impatient NATO allies. You have Britain and Italy, specifically, are giving this thing just a few months. Clearly the support for this mission in Libya is fraying. Even the House Democrats and Tea Party Republicans voted against the mission in Libya just last week in Congress. Now, they're not de- funding the effort, but certainly there seems not to be so much support for this.

What does he need to say to reassure allies that this mission is going well?

TOWNSEND: Well, look, I think, Suzanne, that's going to seem like an easy question. I mean, the one I think he's hoping -- the question he's hoping not to get is the question about is Gadhafi being targeted as part of the command and control structure when the president had said very clearly that targeting Gadhafi is not part of the mission.

And so now you've got a senior NATO U.S. admiral saying that is part of the mission to target him as command and control and that's inconsistent with what the president has said previously in public . And so you've got that question, which is a very difficult one for him in addition to sort of crumbling support in the U.S. Congress, as well as among his NATO allies.

And so this is a real difficult problem for him. And the mission is just going on too long. People don't see the progress we would have expected to see by now.

MALVEAUX: All right. Fran Townsend, thanks.

Stay with us. We are going to do to that press conference after the break. We're going to bring our panelists back, as well, to give you a sense of what we expect that the president will address. Some tough issues, some tough questions just moments away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We are watching the White House. The president will be holding a news conference very shortly from the East Room of the White House.

And joining us to talk about what we anticipate from the president are our senior White House correspondent Jessica Yellin, our senior political analyst Gloria Borger and our CNN national security contributor Fran Townsend on the phone.

Fran, very quickly, you know and have dealt with Libya's Moammar Gadhafi. He is now being charged potentially with war crimes in the International Criminal Court. He's pretty much in a box and he's really holding out now.

Is there any sense that the president needs to speak to Moammar Gadhafi or to the foreign audience, the allies, to try to explain that Gadhafi's running out of time here and he does need to go and that there's a strong enough coalition to make that happen?

TOWNSEND: Well, I think, Suzanne, that the president will not dignify Gadhafi by speaking to him. But I do think you should expect to hear words to sort of buck up the coalition, our NATO partners, that we are committed to resolving the situation, that Gadhafi does has to go, that there's the political will to see us through the mission.

I think our NATO allies are unsettled by the activities in Congress and the seeming -- the waning support here in the United States. And so the president will need to address certainly our allies overseas.

MALVEAUX: And Jessica, if we could bring you back into the conversation. You were saying that the president is going to be focusing on the economy.

Do we expect to hear anything different in terms of his own economic plans and what he hopes to accomplish to convince the American folks that, yes, hey, you know what, he gets it?

YELLIN: I think that we'll hear him once again insist that he thinks that things can be improved with more partnership with Congress. Again, he's facing this ongoing -- there's sort of a -- facing a deadlock in the sense with the Republicans in Congress. There are sort of -- these talks are sluggishly moving forward and they need to sort of break this deadlock and get something done. And he's coming here to say effectively we've got to -- excuse me, we're all waiting for him to come in -- we got to make some head way.

We're waiting for him to, as Gloria said, sort of lay out some markers. For him to be a little bit more specific about what he wants, where he will give and what he expect to hear from them. Exactly what it is specifically he needs the Republicans to do and maybe where he will make some compromises on his side to get that compromise on their side.

So we're all looking for a little bit more detail from the president on the economic compromise he is looking for in the budget talks that are happening around this looming budget ceiling, this debt ceiling.

MALVEAUX: And Jessica, of course, we have our eyes and cameras trained on the doors there, waiting for the president to walk through. I understand we might be as early as some 30 seconds away from the president.

Can you give us just a really quick scene setter from where you are?

YELLIN: There's a roomful of reporters who are waiting. I'm going to take a seat because I think he's coming in any minute. But I'll keep talking. There's a roomful of reporters waiting for him to walk in. A sea of cameras and people all expectantly waiting for the president to walk in at any minute. And everybody is staring at those of us are who are looking the wrong way, talking that way when the president's coming in this way.

MALVEAUX: Well, Jessica, thanks for sitting down.

The president is walking in right now.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)