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Final Shuttle Mission; Phone Hacking Scandal Shuts Paper Down; Murderer Set to Die Tonight in Texas; U.S. Default Deadline Nears; Senator Baucus Marries Former Staffer; Boehner Spokesman Pops the Question; Pawlenty Aide to Bachmann: I'm Sorry; Casey Anthony to Go Free Wednesday
Aired July 07, 2011 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
E.D. HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Now watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After 30 years of triumph and tragedy and American tradition, the very last space shuttle is scheduled to launch from just on the other side of that water, some three miles away from us here at Kennedy Space Center in hopefully a matter of hours.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. The countdown is on.
HILL: Brooke, the countdown is on in Washington. As fears grow, lawmakers battle over whether to raise the limit on America's credit card. Are they close to a deal? We will soon find out.
I'm E.D. Hill. The news starts now.
(voice-over): Tonight, a convicted killer is set to be executed in Texas, but President Obama is asking the state to cancel it, before it's too late.
New fallout and new allegations against the high-profile newspaper accused of hacking into voice-mails. This time, it involves the family of soldiers who died in war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought we were in a dark place, and I didn't think anybody could make it darker.
HILL: Now a media empire could be at stake.
And landslides, mudslides, torrential rain, you will see the video as chaos escalates.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: And welcome back. I'm E.D. Hill at CNN headquarters in Atlanta.
The final space shuttle launch ever is set for tomorrow morning, less than 20 hours from now. And right now, NASA is evaluating whether a possible lightning strike near the launch pad could cause any problems to the shuttle or any ground equipment there. Now, it's unclear if that lightning strike you just saw in the video is the same one that's causing concern.
But there's really a nasty storm there. It's drenched everything and it's hampering their efforts to check for damage. Atlantis' crew of four hopes to live off for the 12-day mission to the International Space Station. That mission will cap NASA's 30-year-old shuttle program.
And Brooke Baldwin is at Kennedy Space Center for that launch. As we have said, weather could be a big factor. And Brooke has been braving pretty bad weather to bring us a look at what is next for the program -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: Yes, E.D., not just me, but many, many people. There are probably 10 people in front of me here on this platform. We have dozens other here, part of our CNN crew covering this momentous occasion, hopefully tomorrow morning at 11:26 in the morning.
But, yes, that lightning was quite a spectacle in the sky. Thus far we're still a go for tomorrow morning and we're still wondering if this launch pad about three miles over my shoulder, launch pad 39-A, if it was at all damaged by that possible lightning strike. We know that there are crews there on that launch pad evaluating that, checking to see anything. We will keep you posted if we learn anything, certainly.
But, you know, as we talk about this era, this 30-year era of the space shuttle began April 12, 1981, with STS-1, and here we are some 30 years later with the launch of Atlantis, the final launch, STS-135.
And someone who actually his company built the engine that is in this massive piece of machinery, this is Jim Maser. He's president of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.
That's quite an accomplishment, being in the business of building rocket engines and such, but par for the course down here, working with folks like this.
I do want to talk about what is next. And a lot of people are wondering, OK, this is the end of the space shuttle. When will we see astronauts back up there? Do you have the answer to that, sir?
JIM MASER, PRESIDENT, PRATT & WHITNEY ROCKETDYNE: No, I do not. I wish I did.
We know we have to rely on the Russians to put U.S. astronauts in space after the shuttle quits launching.
BALDWIN: With the Soyuz.
MASER: With the Soyuz, right, which has launched many, many people into space over the years. But certainly we want to have our own U.S. system.
And so NASA has a general plan that they're working towards, but they haven't developed the capability yet.
BALDWIN: So Really right now it's a waiting game. We do know that we have heard from NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden in saying, yes, it's not an if, but when we send people back up into space, to deep space, as they call it, to Mars and back to the moon, et cetera.
What is it, though, that the community here and across the country, what is it that they're waiting on? What's the timeline? And if we don't get that announcement soon enough, I guess, from the government, what's at stake?
MASER: Right.
There's a few aspects here. One is, the space shuttle was designed to put up the International Space Station. And so it takes the people up and took the people up to assemble them. So that mission is complete. So now what the theory is and what the model is, now that that's complete, we should be able to take supplies and crew back and forth much more cost-effectively than we do with the shuttle with privately owned systems.
So the idea behind that, then, is that will save NASA a lot of money. And they can redirect their funds and their best and brightest to exploring back beyond Earth orbit again around the moon, asteroids and Mars.
So they're on the plan to resupply station with domestic cargo and ideally crew, but we don't know what we're doing next to explore beyond. And those two go hand in hand. It's not one or the other. They're linked intimately.
BALDWIN: So what's at stake if the timeline is not set out expeditiously?
MASER: Well, what's going on is, we were originally on a plan to replace the shuttle with a program called Constellation. That was canceled February 1, 2010.
BALDWIN: Right.
MASER: So it's been 17 months and we have been going headlong into the shuttle's last launch.
We have a lot of critical skills and capability, know how to do human spaceflight, know how to do, we at Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne, liquid rocket engines. We have been part of the human spaceflight program for 50 years, since the beginning. Almost every single U.S. astronaut has flown on our propulsion systems.
And we will be faced, if we don't moved on to the next thing soon, of letting them go, losing those critical skills, and seriously jeopardizing our capability.
BALDWIN: They're afraid of the A-team down here walking away and losing valuable, valuable people from this industry if we have to wait too long. What about this, though? Being down here the past couple of days, a lot of people say, look, Brooke, there was this whole dry spell, if you will, from, if you know your history, '75, the final Apollo launch, to '81, STS-1. There was a whole span of six years where we weren't sending anyone up and we ended up recovering six years later.
How is this different?
MASER: This is actually quite a bit different, because what was going on from what I call the Apollo to shuttle transition is industry knew that we could not sustain the budget of Apollo. There was a lot of money being spent that we couldn't keep spending. And so we knew we would have lower budgets.
But we knew what we were going to work on next. So the last Apollo mission was '75. The shuttle was turned on in a program in '72. So we were working a three-year overlap.
BALDWIN: Before Apollo even ended.
MASER: Before Apollo even ended.
BALDWIN: Wow.
MASER: So we had a gap in launch capability, but we knew what we were working on and we had sized our organizations for it.
Here, we knew what the funding is going forward. We know it's going to be flat, but we don't know what we will be working on. And I think that's a more precarious situation.
BALDWIN: What about just in terms of the launch? I understand you will be in -- and let me get this right -- the launch control center whenever this thing goes off.
MASER: Exactly.
BALDWIN: What is that and what will you be doing?
MASER: Well, it turns out the prime contractors -- NASA has major contracts with major system owners. We're the space shuttle main engines. There's the solid rocket boosters. There's the orbiter, the external tank. The leads or the top executives from those companies that are here for the launch have to all go in one room. And we have no responsibilities whatsoever near as I can tell, because all our people are doing the hard work.
BALDWIN: OK.
MASER: However, if something big comes up and we need to be consulted for a decision, the administrator knows where we are.
BALDWIN: OK. You will be there if Charlie Bolden needs to pick up the red phone and call you?
MASER: Yes, I seriously don't expect that to happen.
BALDWIN: Wonderful. Well, we're still hoping for 11:26 tomorrow morning.
MASER: Absolutely.
BALDWIN: Haven't heard anything differently thus far.
Jim Maser, thanks so much. Best of luck to you.
MASER: Thank you. Thank you.
BALDWIN: And, E.D., that is it thus far from us here. If we hear anything differently in terms of the shuttle launch, dream assignment for me, we will let you know -- back to you.
HILL: All right, thanks, Brooke.
Again, coming up, she will give us a look behind the scenes at how the coverage will come tomorrow.
And a reminder that our special coverage of the shuttle's final mission begins tomorrow morning at 10:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
Now, hours from now, a convicted killer is scheduled to be executed in Texas. The Obama administration is asking the state to call it off because the lives of Americans, they say, could be at risk. That's ahead.
Plus, celebrities, the royal family, murder victims, even the grieving families of soldiers killed in war all apparently targeted by journalists accused of hacking into their voice-mails. Now a bombshell development -- we will find out why one of the world's most famous newspapers is shutting down and what that means for major media empire. Richard Quest is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: Now: a scandal worthy of tabloid headlines itself. Journalists working for "News of the World," which is one of Britain's biggest tabloid newspapers, are accused of hacking phone voice-mails of everyone, movie stars, politicians, the royal family.
But when it came to light that families of British soldiers killed in action were also hacked, that was the final straw. Today, the scandal brought down the paper itself. In a surprising turn, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, owner of the paper, ordered it shut down. This Sunday is the last edition.
Mr. Murdoch owns News Corp., which includes "The Wall Street Journal," "The New York Post," FOX News and business channels and 20th Century Fox movie studio.
Richard Quest joins us now.
Richard, what happened? (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think, in the last 24 hours, it became clear we had gone from celebrity phone hacking to murdered victim hacking, to bomb victim hacking, to soldiers and dead soldiers hacking.
We have now got two investigations, public inquiries, that will be launched, one into the hacking and two into the payments that News Corp. or that the "News of the World" made to the police.
So, faced with this octopus of allegations and a cancer that was just eating away at the group, they took the decision just to cut it off. Now, one other thing. Murdoch is trying to BSkyB, a major British satellite broadcaster. That deal is now teetering, teetering on the edge, and the cynics say here it's to save that that he's lopped off the newspaper.
HILL: And to explain that a bit more, because I guess I'm a little skeptical of anything in Washington and anything to do with business, so when I looked at this, I thought, yes, he's trying to buy BSkyB. That is huge, big business deal for him.
The problem had been that people said he owns and controls too much media already. By shutting this down, he makes it look better, doesn't he?
QUEST: No, no. Well, sort of.
Look, he owns about nearly 30 percent of BSkyB. He was buying the bit he didn't own. And the real issue is, was there going to be too much plurality? Was there going to be enough competition?
Forget all those issues now. They were about to be answered. This is going to hinge on whether News Corp., News International, News Corp., Murdoch, is a fit and proper person to run another major operation in the media. That's what this is all about.
Now, by -- by getting rid of "News of the World," they look and they appear to have been very forceful, very decisive. They have got rid of something. I mean, to be fair to Murdoch, Jim Murdoch Jr., James, he says -- he's described the allegations as inhuman, no place in their company, sullied the good name of the company.
He says wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad. So, in an interview tonight, he also says, you know, he and his father pledge to sort this mess out.
I mean, the problem is -- and you don't want to necessarily have schadenfreude at this misfortune of one's competitors, but the problem is just take in the United States. Murdoch became a U.S. citizen, so that he could buy assets in the U.S. He gave up his Australian citizenship in doing so.
He has relentlessly cherry-picked top assets in major places. Nothing wrong with that at all, absolutely not. That's the free market, but this one has blown up in his face in the U.K.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: All right. Thank you very much, Richard.
Now, just about two and a half hours and counting, that is how much a man, a Mexican national, an accused murderer may have to live. That's the man. That's unless Texas Governor Rick Perry delays his execution. President Obama wants it stopped, so does Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. CNN's Jill Dougherty is digging in on this story. She'll update us on what is happening right now. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: A convicted murderer scheduled to be executed in Texas within hours is at the center of an international, legal and diplomatic dispute. The man is Mexican and while few deny he's guilty, when he was arrested and during his trial he was never told he had the right to contact the Mexican consulate, which could have provided more legal aid, and that right is guaranteed under a binding international treaty.
Texas Governor Rick Perry is refusing to stop the execution set for tonight at 6:00 Central. The president, meanwhile, and the secretary of state say he must, cause if not they fear Americans may suffer.
Jill Dougherty is following this story.
So can you explain the concerns for folks?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: We've been talking about this over at the State Department, and they would say and the administration would say that the United States signed this treaty, this international treaty, and so even though this man is obviously guilty, he did have a right to talk to representatives from his embassy to get advice and counsel.
And if the United States does not honor that and the state of Texas doesn't honor it, then if an American citizen were traveling abroad, committed a crime, ended up getting arrested, that they would not -- that potentially that government could say, well, you did not recognize the rights of our citizens, therefore we won't recognize the rights of your citizens.
It's really -- that's the simplest argument.
HILL: Now, if this is an international treaty was signed, how does the president not just have the right to say, I'm sorry, I'm stepping in and you're going to delay it?
DOUGHERTY: Well, that's an excellent question, and that is what the Supreme Court might be deciding, because there's a separate track here. The lawyers for this man, Mr. Leal, have got to the Supreme Court and they have said we want a stay of execution and we also want you to look at this broader issue. It's really a states' rights issue.
Does the president have a right to tell a state that they have to enforce an international treaty, that that president has signed on to? And that's a question that was decided a while ago in another case, but now there are different circumstances.
The Congress might pass a law that would make it more possible to deal with cases like this, put them in the federal courts. So there's a lot of legal maneuvering right now as the time ticks away.
HILL: I certainly understand the states' rights issue with this, but you said they already had one state's rights case, but it was slightly different. What did they determine in that one? Was it the international law that ruled or the state law?
DOUGHERTY: The state law. That the president of the United States could not tell a state what to do.
But there's a hitch. If the Congress were to come up with a law, and in this case there is a pending bill from Senator Leahy which says that federal courts would be able to hear these appeals, then you would have a track where the federal courts could deal with this and there would be appeals, and that would actually change the equation.
So we'll have to see how that happens. Ultimately, that might be resolved even after Mr. Leal could be executed. We'll have to see.
HILL: Jill Dougherty, thank you very much.
There are major developments in the sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn. His lawyers are making a strongly worded demand. We'll tell you what that is, next.
Plus, take a look at this video. It seems normal, right? Well, police say that a guy stole that Picasso painting. And now after a manhunt, there's a break in the case. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: If it's interesting and happening right now, you're about to see it in "Rapid Fire." Let's go.
In Georgia, a special board of education meeting is taking place to deal with a system-wide cheating scandal that rocked the public school system. A state investigation found as many as 178 teachers and principals at 44 schools were involved; criminal charges are possible. Atlanta's interim superintendent recommended now yearly mandatory ethics training for every school system employee and any students, he says, who have been harmed should get remedial training.
In New York, French financier Dominique Strauss-Kahn says he will not accept any plea bargain in the sex assault case against him, the statement made a day after his attorneys met with prosecutors for nearly two hours. No one saying if a plea deal was offered. Kahn is the former head of the International Monetary Fund who is accused of sexually assaulting a New York hotel maid. The prosecution acknowledges there are credibility issues with the accuser.
Now to the Netherlands, at least one person is dead, 14 injured after part of that stadium roof collapsed. Take a look at the pictures. That stadium is home to a Dutch soccer team. Crews were expanding the seating capacity when a roof section gave way early this morning. The injured are believed to be construction workers.
And there is unbelievable flooding in China, a week of heavy rain causing havoc across southwestern China. You can see the downpours are causing massive mudslides. Many houses, bridges, roads destroyed. State media reports at least eight people are dead, and more than 170,000 people have fled their homes.
There are big storms also rolling across Colorado, yesterday dumping hail up to one and a quarter inches in diameter in some places. Torrential rain also caused minor flooding there. Conditions in Colorado are unusually moist due to a cold front which also spun a pretty disorganized funnel cloud.
And take a look at this. You see that man? He's carrying what appears to be, well, an ordinary picture frame. That is a Picasso worth $200,000. The drawing, called "Tete de Femme," was recovered after being stolen from a local art gallery. Police have arrested a 30-year-old man in connection with that theft; bail is set at $5 million.
Coming up, find out why some bank executives may have to give back their salaries, big-time cash.
Also, the buzz is rising as the royal couple gets ready to arrive right here in America. First out, some of the things they'll be doing.
And the final shuttle launch could be in jeopardy. We'll take you live to Florida.
"Reporter Roulette" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: The government will be able to take back money from executives, wait until you hear how. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will dethrone celebrities when they hit L.A., and it's a wet outlook for the launch of the final shuttle.
Time to play "Reporter Roulette." Let's start with Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.
So, explain this executive pay claw-back.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: OK, so this new rule, E.D., comes out of the Dodd-Frank legislation, and what it does is it lets the FDIC to collect two years in back pay from executives that it sees as what they call substantial responsible if the company should fail. Now lawmakers, they've been trying to rein in executive pay after they blamed it -- blamed this incentive-based compensation on inspiring more risk taking at these huge banks like Lehman Brothers. Banks that, of course, were called too big to fail -- E.D.
HILL: Now, also, I saw something today that says that heard could be help for unemployed homeowners. What's that about?
KOSIK: Yes. So, these are for people who are out of work. The government is going to give you a break, a little breathing room, until you find a job. So, you would be eligible -- you could be eligible if you have an FHA or an MHA loan, those are those modification loans that the Federal Housing Administration had offered after the recession, to try and keep people in their homes. Those loans gave mortgage relief for four months.
Well, what's changing now, what was announced, is that -- it's going to be extended, actually, to 12 months.
So, this is known as forbearance and it's exactly is, it's an agreement that the lender and the borrower, you and the bank, come to. And the goal here is to avoid foreclosure.
Now, whatever that agreement is, it's really going to vary, depending on your individual financial situation. Now, in extreme cases, you may not have to make a mortgage payment at all during that 12 months. But at the end of that 12 months, E.D., you have to go back under review and come back to a different agreement -- E.D.
HILL: And that's because the administration feels that solidifying the housing market is just essential, otherwise each month they get a flood of new homes that are being put on the market.
KOSIK: Exactly. I mean, what you're seeing is, the housing market is just not recovering, so the government is stepping in, try trying to help people in their homes because when you have more foreclosed homes on the market, you not only have people who are not in homes, you've got housing prices being depressed, because you got more open properties on the market.
HILL: Yes, and we're certainly seeing that.
Alison Kosik, thank you very much.
Next on "Reporter Roulette," the duke and duchess of Cambridge are wrapping up their last leg of the Canadian trip before heading to the U.S. tomorrow. Max Foster is in Calgary.
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A very colorful finale to this Canadian tour. When they arrive here in Calgary, they're going to be presented with white hats. Later on, you'll see them dressed up in jeans and cowboy boots, and they're going to see a few demonstrations of the stampede, as it's known here, a big annual event.
You're going to see them watching lassoing, some bull riding and they'll come a barrel into the back of a wagon to start a race. So, a big colorful event.
Tomorrow, they will launch the stampede parade. So, that's going to be a great picture event.
So, then after that, they head to California and Los Angeles, a very, very busy, long weekend for the royal couple there. You're going to see Prince William playing polo, and the duchess presenting the winner with a trophy. She'll be hoping it's her husband.
And on Saturday night, there'd be a big red carpet event. We're told there'd be full frocks and rocks for the duchess. So that's going to be a real highlight of this tour -- E.D.
HILL: Frocks and rocks. Now, I'm assuming even though he plays polo, he's not going to be doing any bull riding up in Calgary. So, we'll be watching to see what they happens when they hit L.A.
Now, up next on "Reporter Roulette," NASA engineers are evaluating whether a lightning strike near at shuttle's launch pad is cause for concern there.
Chad Myers is at Kennedy Space Center on what has been a very rainy pre-launch day -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It has been raining, lightning, thunder all day. It has been even a very loud day at times. We would see the lightning strikes in the distance. Count to five, if you get to five, that's one mile away. You count to 10, that's two miles away. And a number of them, right on the cape, were right very, very close to where that shuttle is sitting there on the launch pad.
At about 12:40 and 30 seconds, the lightning was striking. They think it was within one third of a mile of the launch pad itself.
Now, why does that matter? It didn't hit the shuttle. Yes, but there are fine, fine electronics all around this pad. Plus, lightning can go in other places than just where it hits, you know? Lightning can travel along the ground or along a wire.
And so, they have to check this out, to see whether anything was damaged. And they can't go out there to check it, because it's still thundering. You don't want to send any crews out there.
Now, if you're here at the village. This is the visitor center. You can still have fun, many things are still inside or you could scurry from one place to another.
From -- I would say 95 percent of the day, it is either dribbled, it has drizzled. It's just been one miserable day.
So, I guess we're glad and very happy today was not a launch day. There'd be a zero percent chance of launching in this weather. And, you know, still about a 30 percent chance that the weather is good enough for others.
That's a great view right there. What you're looking at there, that's the mockup of the shuttle that you can come into, walk in, walk around, see where the astronauts sit, see where the shuttle bay is looked like, the doors look like. And it's a great little exhibit there. People stand in line for half an hour to get in that thing. And probably tomorrow with the lines, they may be more like two hours waiting in line.
But getting back to my train of thought, there's one chance that we launch this tomorrow. That launch is, E.D., if it rains all night long, and then by morning, the rain stops, but there's a fog bank around. That fog will stop the sun from heating the ground. The fog burns away, and then we have a window literally of sunshine, and the sunshine is what we want to get this shuttle off.
There are so many bad things that can happen tomorrow with one cumulus cloud, with one cirrus cloud, you can't fly through ice crystals. And I just don't think that tomorrow is going to be the day. But we have Saturday and Sunday before they actually lose the priority on the launch pad. And we're not going anywhere before this thing goes.
I think eventually with all these people, they have to launch this thing.
I just talked to somebody from Auckland, New Zealand. They spent -- I'm not kidding you -- they spent $6,000 U.S. to get here and to watch the shuttle launch for the last time. This is all they're going to do. They didn't come to Disney World. They didn't go to Sea World.
They came to Cape Canaveral to watch the launch, and they spent $6,000 to do it.
HILL: And you're there for a lot less and still the fun. Chad Myers, thank you very much.
MYERS: OK.
HILL: And that is today's "Reporter Roulette."
Now, our Brooke Baldwin is part of that CNN crew at place at the Kennedy Space Center for tomorrow's final shuttle launch.
So, what does it take to pull off that huge event? She'll take you behind the scenes. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: So, this is the shot you're used to seeing over our shoulders, right? You have the countdown clock here, which, by the way, is much bigger in person than on television. And then just over the water, about three miles away from us here at Kennedy Space Center, you can kind of see Atlantis off in the distance.
But this is part of the story you don't normally get to see. Take a look at the presence of the media. First of all, you have all these different satellite trucks. We rely on satellites in space to be broadcasting to you here on CNN.
And also, that is our platform. This is where our special will be head, myself, Anderson, John Zarrella, Cady Coleman. We'll all be sitting up there, and Eric Marrapodi, my intrepid producer -- walk in, because this is quite an event. And let or viewers and I'm a little freeze here, some CNN terminology, SPEV.
ERIC MARRAPODI, CNN PRODUCER: SPEV is special events. They're the Black Ops. They're our SEAL Team 6. When we need it done now, they're the ones who get it. They get you things like air conditioning outside on a platform.
BALDWIN: Air conditioning, because it's hot here. We're in Florida.
MARRAPODI: It's super hot. It's like Washington, D.C., but with gators here.
BALDWIN: There are gators under our trailers.
Speaking of the trailers, let's show them inside a SPEV trailer. OK, let's go.
OK. And ta-da, this is one of two SPEV trailer. This is Leslie. She's one of we'll call her one of the queens of SPEV right now. She's on the phone trying to set something up, busy, busy, busy.
But take a look around here, because this is where -- this is sort of the heart of our operation. We have all these different shots that you will ultimately be seeing on television. And behind you is Richie Phillips.
How long have you been with CNN?
RICHIE PHILLIPS: Twenty-fifth year now.
BALDWIN: This is the 25th year?
PHILLIPS: Quite happy.
BALDWIN: Quite happy. You have rearranged many a vacation because of launches.
PHILLIPS: Right.
BALDWIN: I mean, we talk so much about how this is bittersweet for the astronauts, but is it at all sad for you?
PHILLIPS: Oh, yes. We have a sense of adventure ourselves, too. You know, we like this stuff. This is a big deal, we like to be able to tell the story and tell it well. So, yes, we're feeling it ourselves, too.
BALDWIN: OK. I think we should show them the set.
So, Marrapodi took a call. I take you to the set. Let's go. And this is the final shot. This is the area you don't get to see because normally, I'm on the other side of the camera. But these are all the cameras up on this live platform. And this is where you see me, and you'll see the rest of us sitting for potential the next couple days. See you on TV.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: Thank you, Brooke.
And now, watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RON JOHNSON (R), WISCONSIN: Is that really how the financial fate of America is going to be decided? I mean, personally I find that process disgusting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: That is Senator Ron Johnson, blasting what he calls the secret talks President Obama and congressional leaders are having behind closed doors. And I got to speak with Senator Johnson last hour.
Up next, I'll speak with the Democrat who is pretty angry with President Obama and making demands. Congressman Paul Grijalva is standing by. He joins us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: Let me update you again on the reduction talks and the potential of default by the United States Treasury. High-level talks at the White House today, President Obama and congressional leaders from both parties met. Afterwards, the president said the meeting was constructive and they'll meet again Sunday.
As we told you, Mr. Obama has reportedly agreed to put on the table possible cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security to get a sweeping deal on debt reduction with Republicans. And some Democrats say that is too much.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RAUL GRIJALVA (D), ARIZONA: Cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid need to and should be taken off the table. And second, that revenue increases must a meaningful part of any agreement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Joining us now from Washington is that man, member of Congress we heard from there, Raul Grijalva, Democrat of Arizona.
Congressman, thank you for being with us.
GRIJALVA: Thank you for the invite, E.D. I appreciate it.
HILL: What do you think about this -- the meeting behind closed doors with the leadership, is that the right way to go about this?
GRIJALVA: Well, I think there's so much at mistake and so much posturing and political posturing that is going around raising the debt ceiling that more transparency is necessary, to all of a sudden be discussing Social Security for potential cuts, Medicare, Medicaid and where we have heard nothing about what revenue generation is going to happen as part of this deal I think concerns many of us.
And that's why enough of us are signing on to a letter to the president that if those items, Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, are part of the benefit cuts to the American people, we're not supporting any deal.
HILL: You know, I agree with you in the part that the president and congressional leaders have all been talking a lot, but they don't give many specifics, you know? We have -- we know the problems we know we need to fix. But how exactly are you going to do that?
So, when the president says, we'll put this on the table, and Republicans say, we'll put that on the table. Exactly how much will they give?
And I understand that you really -- you want to have personal time with the president. That more of the progressive Democrats want to get together and talk to him and tell him what you think.
Do you think that's going to happen?
GRIJALVA: Oh, I hope so. We made that request. We have yet to meet with the president or his economic advisers relative to what our contributions are to these discussions? We understand -
HILL: Well, what would you tell him? I know that you'd say, leave alone Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, you believe in revenue increases. Where do you think this is coming (ph)?
GRIJALVA: We also believe there's reductions, but they can't be done in areas that are important. We have -- we've talked about the subsidies to big oil and big gas, the billions upon billions that could bring back to the treasury, that could be used to reductions. We've talked about rolling back those tax cuts.
We've talked about issues allowing Medicare to bulk -- purchase pharmaceuticals in bulk, that would save billions of dollars for program, and instead of weakening of it, you would strengthen it.
We've talked about a transition fee for large movement of financials in the stock market. We've put on the table including getting us out of these two wars that are costing us billions and billions of dollars every month with no end in sight.
So we feel that there are specifics that need to be talked about, but the items I just outlined for you those are sacrificed. The Republicans don't want to talk about it. So therefore we don't talk about it.
So the only thing we hear coming out of these private discussions is Social Security's on the block, Medicare is on the block and Medicaid is on the block.
Many of us felt that it's time to push back to both the leadership, the Republican and to some extent the administration. And say, we cannot support a deal like that. It's skewed. It's out of balance.
HILL: I have heard little rumblings that Republican leaders may agree to talk about the oil subsidies and some other things, but still there's such a huge gap between, you know, what people on one side or the other one.
It seems it's almost insurmountable. Do you have much hope that by Sunday they'll come up with any more specifics? As the president said it's constructive or productive. Boehner said constructive, but no details. Do you think they'll get any?
GRIJALVA: I'm not overly optimistic that something is going to magically, a magic bullet would appear on Sunday that's going to get us out of this default crisis that the Republicans have created.
I think what the American people want to know is what specific items are we talking about. You know, things come forward, and they go away, and so I think by us saying we don't want Social Security on the table. We don't want Medicaid or Medicare.
We are actually responding to what 60 percent of the American people in the latest poll have said -- leave those off the table. I think this is more than enough that we can look at to generate revenue and to make reductions in our budget, including the military that isn't even talked about.
HILL: All right, Congressman Raul Grijalva, thank you very much for your time today.
GRIJALVA: Thank you for the invite. I appreciate it.
HILL: Well, it may be the summer of shouting in Washington, but love is in the air as well. A senator gets married and an aide to House Speaker John Boehner just proposed at a very interesting place. I've got the pictures.
Plus one of Tim Pawlenty's aides is apologizing for a comment he made about Michele Bachmann. It involves sex appeal. Joe Johns has the scoop. "Political Pop" is next.
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HILL: A summer romance is in the air in Washington these days. Joe Johns is here with "Political Pop." So what's going on?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: E.D., possibly one of the biggest big-deal weddings to date this summer happened over the July 4th weekend. Vice president of the United States went all the way out to Montana for this one.
It was the chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee Max Baucus of Montana tying the knot with former aide Melanie Haynes. She is known around Washington to former child abuse prosecutor. Not only did she once work for the senator as a state director, she's also a deputy administrator of the Justice Department.
And yes, there has been a little bit of controversy about this relationship, because a couple years back Haynes was one of the several people Senator Baucus recommended for a United States attorney's job.
She didn't get it and now she's over the Justice Department working anyway so another story. A big-deal wedding I think it's safe to call that.
HILL: What are the pictures of this unique proposal?
JOHNS: Right, right. This is Michael Steele, no not the former Republican National Committee chairman, another one. The spokesman for Speaker Boehner and one of the most -- isn't that nice?
HILL: Yes, that's so sweet.
JOHNS: Who knew he's got a romantic side. He proposed to his wife to be Mary Catherine Covert on what is known as the Speaker's Balcony. This is a spot on the second floor of the Capitol looking directly down the National Mall with an unobstructed view of the Fourth of July fireworks, pretty good idea, actually.
I talked to him today. He said they've been dating for a couple years and thought thinking about proposing right away Memorial Day. So here we are Washington is for lovers.
HILL: Fantastic. That is cute. Now also, I heard there was a Pawlenty aide who had to eat a little crow over some comments about Michele Bachmann.
JOHNS: Well, you know, there has been so much focus on the little gaffs that Bachmann has made, factual errors, and whatnot, a lot of politicians do this, but once again, we've seen another example of someone saying something about Michele Bachmann and having to clean it up later.
This time it's former Congressman Vin Weber, a top adviser to Tim Pawlenty's presidential campaign, apologized for making a reference to Michele Bachmann's sex appeal during an interview with "The Hill" newspaper.
What Weber said was that Bachmann has hometown appeal, she's got ideological appeal, and quote, "I hate to say it, but she's got a little sex appeal, too."
And of course sex appeal is the dangerous part, because it raises questions about whether a man running for president would get tagged with that same kind of label. Weber said he made a mistake, called himself a Bachmann supporter in her congressional bids, and essentially apologized. He said he wasn't speaking on behalf of Governor Pawlenty's campaign.
HILL: I would assume not.
JOHNS: Right, yes, he's a former co-chair of Pawlenty's PAC, so you know, there you go.
HILL: Joe Johns, thank you.
JOHNS: You bet.
HILL: Now, watch this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her release date has been calculated as July 13th, 2011.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Check your calendar again, that's right, Casey Anthony will walk free in just six days. Not everyone thinks she deserves it. Up next, we hear from a prosecutor, a juror and the judge. Sunny Hostin is on that case. She's next.
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HILL: Casey Anthony will walk out of a Florida jail in six days a free woman. Sunny Hostin is on the case. Now, the judge sentenced her to four years in jail for lying to authorities, so how does four years shrink to six days?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: It does sound kind of weird, doesn't it? But she did get four years in prison, but she's been there for a long time, E.D. She's been in prison for almost three years. She gets credit for good time served.
She gets 1,043 days' credit. So when you do the calculations, and you put in state guidelines and good behavior, she'll get about six days in prison. But she has been in prison for quite some time already.
HILL: It seemed like though the judge was trying to really make his own statement with that. I'm sure he knew it would end up being six days, but he was making a statement of his own there, wasn't he?
HOSTIN: I think that's right. These are misdemeanors that she was convicted and typically people don't spend four years in prison, even if they're convicted of four misdemeanors.
The penalty is up to one year in prison, up to $1,000 in fines. She got the max that he could give her, up to four years and $4,000. So absolutely he did as much as he could with this sentence. HILL: So next Wednesday she gets out, but let's look at what's going on outside the courtroom. Look at this. They're not happy at all. A lot of talks that Casey maybe in danger. Let's listen to what Casey's attorney, Jose Baez told ABC's Barbara Walters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you worried about her safety?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am. I am. And I'm afraid for her, and I don't think it's fair.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you see Casey's future?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Casey can -- could have been anything she wanted in this world, and I think there are still plenty of things that Casey can do in life, and I think Casey can be a productive member of society.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: So Sunny, what's your take on that? Is he right on that one?
HOSTIN: You know, I'm not so sure. I mean, certainly she's what the most hated woman in America right now, the most infamous woman in America. I think the prime example of what could happen to her is what happened to O.J. Simpson.
Remember when he got out, E.D., I mean, people wouldn't even serve him in restaurants. So there will be a lot of informal sanctions waged against Casey Anthony, and I'm not sure they'll be able to do whatever she wants to do with her life. There will be a lot of people ostracizing her when she does get out next week.
HILL: You had a chance to interview the prosecutor Jeff Ashton on AMERICAN MORNING. Let's listen to what he had to say about his relationship with Baez.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOSTIN: What about the relationship between you and Jose Baez? I mean, I've been in the courtroom. Did you like each other? Did you like him?
JEFF ASHTON, PROSECUTOR: I don't -- I don't think we'll be vacationing together anytime in the near future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: So a contentious relationship, right?
HOSTIN: That's right. I mean, he was very honest. He said there were a lot of things that happened in the precursors to this trial. Remember this is three years in the making and while lawyers are sometimes friends, more often than not they're adversaries. These two lawyers were like gladiators in the courtroom. Anybody that watch them will attest to that and so certainly this was a very contentious relationship that may have gotten a bit personal.
HILL: And real quick, as a mom I was kind of scared by this. There's some word she might want to have another child, Casey?
HOSTIN: Isn't that incredible, E.D.? I mean, I'm a mom too, and I think most mothers sort of cringed when we heard this, apparently when she was in prison, she did write a letter to another inmate, and she talked about her dream of being pregnant again.
She also talked about the possibility of adopting another child. So certainly I think it's a bit bone-chilling given the fact that many people believe that she was complicit in this.
Something criminal happened and many of the jurors have said they thought that she did this, but they just couldn't get there because there was reasonable doubt.
HILL: All right, Sunny Hostin, thank you very much. And thank you for joining us today. Now we go to "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Candy Crowley.
