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American Morning
Wildfire Shuts Down Los Alamos National Lab; Gabrielle Giffords Makes First Public Appearance; Bachmann is In; Violent Protest Breaks in Greece; Student Fired for Wearing Headscarf
Aired June 28, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: The latest twist in the Casey Anthony murder trial. Her own defense team raising questions about Anthony's mental state. What's behind the move and will they put Casey Anthony on the witness stand? Lot of new questions on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It is Tuesday, June 28th. A very busy day. We're following a lot of things including weather, some things at nuclear plants, and more things developing in the Casey Anthony murder trial.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. And a mystery solved. First, we'll start with that. We know why now the judge presiding over the Casey Anthony trial suddenly halted the proceedings over the weekend. It turns out the defense questioned whether Anthony was mentally competent to remain on trial, and a trio of psychologists were called in to examine her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE BELVIN PERRY, ORANGE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT: Based upon the reports that court has reviewed, the court will find that the defendant is competent to continue to proceed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY (on-camera): So, what was behind that defense move and will we see Casey Anthony's testimony? Sunny Hostin joins us again, federal prosecutor and legal contributor for "In Session" on truTV. And you said all along -- welcome, by the way, Sunny.
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION" ON TRUTV: Thank you.
CHETRY: You believe she should testify. Do you still believe she will testify?
HOSTIN: She has to testify, because I think the defense put her on the witness stand with their opening statements. I mean, who's going to testify that Caylee Anthony drowned an accidental death? Who's going to testify that George Anthony was abusing Casey Anthony since she was eight years old, and that's why for 31 days she partied and didn't report that her daughter had drowned?
Who can testify to that? Only Casey Anthony. So, I think, as an attorney, when you make these promises to a jury in opening statements, you better keep those promises. If not they're going to hold it against you. I think she still has to testify. But obviously something came up because they filed this motion.
VELSHI: Is this -- is the perfunctory? Do you file the motions because you get to the end of trial and you have to take every arrow out of your quiver?
HOSTIN: It's never happens. I've never seen it happen. I've been prosecuting cases, an attorney I guess about 20 years now, and I've never seen it happen in the middle of a trial. Usually these competency issues come up before trials. We've seen it with Jared Loughner, Philip Garrido.
If you look at the motion and I have a copy of it here, they said based on privileged communications between Casey Anthony and her counsel they reasonably believe Miss Anthony is not competent to aid in her defense. What does that mean? It's show time. She has to testify. The defense is going to complete its examination they say Wednesday or Thursday. They may be prepping her for her testimony and all of a sudden things don't seem night saying this isn't going to work. And they're questioning her competency.
ROMANS: Some of the pictures from the court yesterday, she's smiling, she looks kind of --
HOSTIN: Smiling Casey.
ROMANS: What is this about? How does that play with the jury?
HOSTIN: I think it's crazy like a FOX. We did see all of these smiles. She's never been this animated. But she didn't do this in front of the jury, Christine.
ROMANS: She didn't?
HOSTIN: Didn't do it in front of the jury. We're wondering what's going on.
CHETRY: We see a lot more than they actually see.
HOSTIN: Yes. We see a lot more.
CHETRY: The question about that. They didn't ask Casey a ton of questions and didn't sort of depose her before this? You're saying this is different, this possibly prepping to put her on the stand.
HOSTIN: You prep your witness from beginning to end. I mean you check in with your witness as an attorney. I'm sure they've been questioning her, checking with her. But over the weekend, is usually when attorneys start prepping, especially if you're going to go on the witness stand.
And all of a sudden, it seemed to me they're thinking oh, no, something is wrong, something is amiss. Three psychologists, not one, not two, but three of them, you know, made recommendations to this court. CHETRY: What would they be prepping her?
HOSTIN: Asking her questions. You ask your witness questions, you want to make sure that their story remains the same. You tell them, usually tell them -- which is a problem. Tell the truth. Tell me what happened. Let's go over it again. And perhaps -- of course I'm just speculating, I wasn't in the room with them, perhaps the story has changed.
CHETRY: If the story has changed, does the defense have an obligation to say to the judge, wait a minute, we may not think she's innocent anymore?
HOSTIN: You don't do that as an attorney because there's attorney- client privilege. You can still defend someone even if you do not believe that they are innocent. However, you can't put someone on the witness stand that you know is going to perjure themselves. Some attorneys find themselves in difficult situations. I still think she has to testify unless the defense is going to change its theory midway through.
VELSHI: It's all going to play out.
HOSTIN: We will know.
VELSHI: Sunny, good to see you, with "In Session" and former federal prosecutor.
The verdict in, by the way, for former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, he's guilty. He's been convicted on 17 of 20 public corruption charges, including trying to sell president Obama's Senate seat, a conclusion to a long-running legal battle. His first last year where the jury deadlocked on most of the charges. This time just deadlocked on a few.
Ted Rowlands joins us live from Chicago with more. The most surprising thing out of this was the reaction from Blagojevich and his wife.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Inside the courtroom it was very dramatic when the jury's verdicts were being read, guilty, guilty, one after another, Blagojevich was trying to catch the attention of at least one of these jurors, but I was watching the jurors and they were not looking anywhere near him as the verdicts were read. His wife Patti was in the front row. She sort of collapsed into the arms of her brother and she remained back that way throughout the entire process.
In fact, when the jury was excused to leave the room, you know, all rise, everybody up. Patti Blagojevich did not get up. She sort of sat in her chair, obviously disgusted with this verdict.
It took this jury 11 women and one man, ten days to come to this conclusion. The bottom line is the former governor of Illinois is staring at some significant jail time. Take a listen to Blagojevich after the guilty verdicts were rendered against him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROD BLAGOJEVICH, (D) FORMER ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: Patti and i, obviously, are very disappointed in the outcome. I frankly am stunned. There's not much left to say, other than we want to get home to our little girls and talk to them and explain things to them and then try to sort things out. And I'm sure we'll be seeing you guys again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: He mentioned his little girls. He has a seven and a 13- year-old. Even if the judge in this case goes with the minimum guidelines, Blagojevich is looking at missing most of those girls' years growing up in his house.
He is out on bond right now, so he is home with his family until the sentencing. There's a sentencing conference hearing scheduled for August. He's expected to be sentenced sometime this fall. He is home during that period of time, Ali. But the bottom line is he will be going to jail for an extended period of time unless something dramatic happens in this case with the sentencing process.
VELSHI: If there's a case where you can expect dramatic things to happen this might be it. Don't leave Chicago too fast. Ted Rowlands on that case in Chicago.
CHETRY: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords made her first public appearance since she was shot in January. She appeared at a NASA awards ceremony last night at the space center in Houston. So far we don't have pictures of the event, open these pictures that were released last week. She did not speak publically but she did get together with staff and report shed stood up from her wheelchair and waved to the crowd.
VELSHI: A win for video game makers, the Supreme Court in a seven-two ruling struck down a California law that would have banned the sale of violent video games to children. The law was called an infringement on First Amendment rights. The state maintains it has a legal obligation to protect children.
ROMANS: And two top staffers this morning for GOP candidate Herman Cain have resigned. One was the director of his campaign in New Hampshire, the critical first primary state. Cain is a businessman and former head of Godfather's Pizza. A spokeswoman for the campaign denied team Cain is in trouble and saying it already hired a new point man in New Hampshire.
CHETRY: Sarah Palin the movie hits theaters not in Hollywood but in Iowa. The former Alaska governor is expected to be there for a premier of the documentary about her political career called "The undefeated." The timing and location only adding to the buzz she could jump into the presidential race.
And President Obama also touching down in Iowa today. There's a lot of people in that state, right? Early primary state, hear a lot about it this time of year talking up manufacturing. He'll be visiting a factory in Bettendorf, Christine Romans' hometown.
ROMANS: One of the four quad cities. Big Alcoa plant there, a very big employer.
CHETRY: The White House insists today's visit is about the economy and jobs, not about politics.
VELSHI: Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann officially jumping into the Republican race for president, declaring her candidacy in a town she was born, Waterloo, Iowa. She hammered away on big government and president Obama saying spending our way out of the recession has not worked. But in an interview after the speech she slipped up a bit on a reference to her birthplace.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELE BACHMANN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What I want them to know is, just like John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa, that's kind of spirit I have too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Now, this is a big discussion about what she was referring to. John Wayne, isn't from Iowa. His parents were. John Wayne is from Winterset, Iowa, about three hours away. There is a John Wayne from Waterloo, Iowa, serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who raped and killed 33 men and boys. He lived in waterloo before his killing spree began.
The Bachmann campaign pushed back, saying the actor John Wayne's parents did live in waterloo. He never did. So that was probably what the mistake was.
ROMANS: Everyone tries to claim John Wayne and Ronald Reagan, both of whom born and raised in the Midwest as their hometown heroes. I mean, whatever.
VELSHI: Coming up at 7:30, we'll speak to candidate Michele Bachmann. How does they plan to be more than just spoiler in this race?
CHETRY: Also floodwaters from the Missouri River dangerously close to two nuclear plants in Nebraska. CNN's Brian Todd managed to tour one of those stations and will join us live.
ROMANS: A wildfire moves closer to a government nuclear laboratory in New Mexico. Officials are taking drastic measures to keep the nearby town safe.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: The people who operate two nuclear power plants in Nebraska insist they're safe and say the power stations are ready to handle whatever the Missouri floodwaters bring. CNN's Brian Todd toured one of the threatened nuclear power plants and joins us live from fort Calhoun, Nebraska.
Brian, everyone is on high alert because of what happened to Fukushima, it's got us looking at what the defenses are for our own nuclear power plants against mother nature.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Christine. If you look at the visuals from this place the comparisons are inevitable. Floodwaters around a nuclear power plant. We'll show you some of those right now. Our photo journalist mark will zoom in to that area where you 3can see the floodwaters really kind of engulfing this entire area here. The comparisons to Fukushima are inevitable.
But officials here insist this is not another Fukushima, insist the reactor core is safe, the spent fuel rods are safe. They're dry. One thing they're keeping a close eye on is the network of power transformers. Those are surrounded by water. They keep pumping water away from these transformers that run the pumps. Those pumps circulate the cool water inside to cool down the reactor core and spent fuel rods.
Again, they say the power transformers are working fine, on the power grid. But they are surrounded by water and pumping the floodwater away from those power transformers to make sure they still are running. This plant has been offline since April for a refueling operation so it's not functioning to power the homes around here. But it's that reactor core and the spent fuel rods that have to continually be cooled down. Those power transformers are what run the pumps that cool it and those are surrounded by water and keeping a close eye on those, Christine.
ROMANS: Thank you, Brian Todd, in Nebraska.
CHETRY: A raging wildfire is on the move and coming dangerously close to the Los Alamos national lab in New Mexico. More than 10,000 people in Los Alamos have been forced to flee their homes. The facilities are shut down for a second straight day. And right now officials say that hazardous material is protected, but of course they're keeping a close eye on the situation.
ROMANS: It's just a reminder that so much of what we're facing right now in terms of disaster relief is all because of Mother Nature. Fire, flood, nuclear power plants, nuclear lab in Los Alamos, very important.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: (INAUDIBLE).
A California college student is suing clothing giant Abercrombie & Fitch, claiming that she was fired for not removing her head scarf. Hani Khan says she was initially told that she could wear her hijab while working at Hollister, which is owned by Abercrombie & Fitch, as long as they were in company colors. But a visiting district manager then said the head scarf was not allowed during work hours. And when she refused to remove it because of religious reasons, she said she was fired over the phone. Abercrombie released a statement saying they're committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all individuals regardless of race, religion or ethnicity.
VELSHI: Apparently not.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, they -- that's what they said in their statement. We've reached out to them actually last night and so, hopefully, maybe we'll hear more about this case in particular, because she's suing, maybe not. But --
VELSHI: They're too busy spraying that cologne through their pipes and pumping the music and you can't see the --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Get a flashlight. We are so old, aren't we?
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: There are some things I'm old fashioned about, I don't think it's a well-run company. But they make a lot of money.
CHETRY: Coming up in our 8:25 hour, we are going to talk to Hani Khan about what she calls the shock of being fired by Abercrombie & Fitch and her lawyer is going to join us as well with more details on this lawsuit.
ROMANS: And it brings us to our question of the day. So, let's get to it. Should a Muslim worker be fired for refusing to take of a head scarf for religious reasons?
We want to hear what you have to say about it.
VELSHI: Send us an e-mail, a tweet or tell us on Facebook. We're getting a lot of comments from you and we're going to read them throughout the morning. A lot of varied and strong opinions on this.
CHETRY: Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING: Latinos living in some of the poorest border towns want no part of the U.S. Census. It's more risk than reward.
CNN's Ed Lavandera takes us inside one of these neighborhoods called Colonia as we go in-depth to defining America.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It's 21 minutes after the hour. Minding your business this morning.
Right now, U.S. stock futures are down following a big rally yesterday that was fueled by tech shares. The Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500 all made gains to kick start the week. Let's hope we can finish that way.
Investors on edge as protesters clash with police outside parliament in Athens this morning. Policymakers are meeting in parliament to debate new tax hikes and spending cuts. It's a critical step towards securing a second bailout from the European Union. Workers are starting a two-day general strike in the streets of Athens.
A vote on the next managing director of the International Monetary Fund is expected later today. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is gaining the most support. Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned over sexual assault and attempted rape charges in May.
In a new lawsuit to be filed in Paris today, French Internet company 1PlusV is seeking damaging from Google over anti-competitive behavior. The French company says this is the biggest claim of its kind against the search giant so far.
Google is refusing to comment this morning, saying they've received the complaint.
And California is reaching a budget deal. Governor Jerry Brown conceding defeat on his tax extension proposal. The new budget imposes $14.6 million in cuts. Spending plan was nearly two weeks past the deadline set by voters for lawmakers to come to an agreement or forfeit their pay.
Don't forget. For the very latest news about your money, check out the all-new CNNMoney.com.
We'll be right back after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Beautiful picture this morning of Houston, Texas. Right now, it's fair, it's 77 degrees. A little bit later, though, it is jumping up another 20 degrees, high of 97 in Houston today.
ROMANS: All right. Stand up and be counted for the thousands of Latinos living in makeshift neighborhoods called colonias, along the U.S./Mexico border. The response is simple; no thanks. They don't want to be counted.
VELSHI: It's a problem U.S. census takers trying to correct.
CNN's Ed Lavandera visited one of those colonias along the southern border in Texas just before the 2010 census was conducted.
CHETRY: It's part of our CNN in-depth look at defining America. Ed is live in the colonia of Green Valley Farms near Brownsville, Texas.
Explain a little bit why they don't want to take part.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's an interesting experience living in these colonias, mostly found along the Texas border. And in these colonias, it's probably some of the most poorest conditions you'll find in this country. Many of these neighborhoods, they don't have running water, they don't have sewage, and in fact, there's a lot of places just barely hanging on. I like to describe it on the fringe of America. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: I'm going to take you on an eye-opening journey into one of the poorest neighborhoods in America. This is the San Carlos colonia, along the Texas-Mexico border.
Walk through here and you'll feel like you're stepping into another world.
(voice-over): A colonia is a cluster of homes carved out of the most undesirable property along the southern U.S. border. In Texas, it's estimated some 400,000 people live like 14-year-old Anabeli Rendon.
(on camera): Who do you live here with?\
ANABELI RENDON, COLONIA RESIDENT: With my mom and my little sister.
LAVANDERA: The three of you live in here?
RENDON: Yes.
LAVANDERA: Wow.
RENDON: We have a one-bed. I used to sleep on the floor.
LAVANDERA: You slept on the floor?
RENDON: Yes.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Anabeli and her family are moving into a new house. For $200 a month, it's not much better.
(on camera): This is the house they're moving into. It's 264 square feet, there's going to be five people living in here. Three brothers and sister, two small children.
And they're still working on the house as speak here. They've been painting and this is the area that's of most concern. The big hole in the ceiling and it's been leaking water since we've been here.
Follow me inside here, and you can see this is what passes as a bathroom in colonias, and the owners aren't even sure that the septic tank or the sewage system here even works.
(voice-over): The roads aren't paved, there is no air- conditioning or heat, and finding water is a daily quest.
(on camera): So, this is life in a colonia. We've jumped in the back of this pickup truck and the man driving the truck is going to take us to the waterfront so he can fill up this tank and then he's going to start driving the neighborhood streets here in the colonia and fill up barrels of water for people.
(voice-over): Most of the people who live here make under $10,000 a year, finding work whenever they can. So, you'd think it the farthest thing from their minds would be the 2010 Census count. But Anabeli says the census sparks fear.
RENDON: I just think they're scared, like going out.
LAVANDERA (on camera): You think they're scared.
RENDON: I think so. Yes.
LAVANDERA: And why do you think they're scared?
RENDON: I don't know because -- I don't know, because most people (INAUDIBLE).
LAVANDERA: So they don't trust them?
RENDON: I don't think they do.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The census director traveled here himself to try to build some trust. Many in this group have relatives living here illegally, to try to assure them that the Census is not about deporting immigrants.
ROBERT GROVES, U.S. CENSUS DIRECTOR: The benefits of participating in the census are quite large. We return as a country over $400 billion a year to local areas, neighborhoods like this, cities and states dependent on census counts.
If you get counted, you get your fair share of that money.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: And now, census takers believe that their efforts to get into these colonias and do a better job counting that perhaps led to the increase in the number of Latino population here in the state of Texas. That stands now at 37 percent of the state's population is of Latino heritage. So, quite a drastic change that this state is undergoing, and this in-depth, the "Defining America" series, will focus on Texas all week long.
VELSHI: All right. Ed, thanks very much for that.
Good reporting on that. That's an interesting concept. Some people don't want to be counted and yet may be counting them gets them more benefit in the end.
ROMANS: A lot of people come from countries, quite frankly --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: -- right when the government is knocking on your door, you don't answer.
VELSHI: You don't want to be around.
CHETRY: That's a cultural concern that census takers have had to battle. VELSHI: In this country and it continues to be a concern. A lot of people who aren't from another place say I don't want to be on a list. Why does the government need me on the list? A very interesting discussion.
ROMANS: Top stories, out of control wildfire burning within miles of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. More than 10,000 people in Los Alamos forced to leave their homes.
The facilities are shut down for the second day. Right now officials say all hazardous material is protected. Floodwaters from the Missouri River continue to threaten two nuclear power plants in Nebraska.
But officials managing those plants say they're winning the battle with mother nature. They say protective measures will keep the water away from critical structures and prevent a disaster on the scale of the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan. They say they're not even comparable.
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords reportedly standing up and waving to an audience at a NASA award ceremony for her husband Mark Kelly. So far pictures from last night's event at the Houston Space Center have not yet been released, but it was Giffords first public appearance since being shot back in January.
VELSHI: Live pictures right now from the streets of Athens. These protests that we've been watching are heating up. Look at that, you can see people throwing things. You can see scuffles with police.
These protests have been under way for several hours. They are part of a 48-hour general strike in Greece. You can see what appears to be smoke canister, could be tear gas, parliament at the moment debating austerity measures.
New tax hikes and spending cuts. Something that Europe has insisted happen in Greece in order for that country to get its second bailout or risk defaulting something that could paralyze Greece's economy and Europe's economy.
The problem is, the people in Greece are not happy with this because they're going to see their government benefits cut. They're going to see retirement ages higher --
CHETRY: Minimum wage workers will see a new tax so even the lowest income workers will have to pay more to the government. Also today, you have air traffic controllers on strike in four-hour increments, doctors, taxi drivers --
VELSHI: Schools, ferries, trains.
CHETRY: So people in the streets. People aren't working and still very, very angry about the situation in Greece.
VELSHI: Well, they're keeping a close eye on this. This is a 48-hour strike that began in Greece time this morning. So overnight, we are expecting a vote from the Greek parliament, tomorrow probably morning our time. So they are calling a strike until that vote is over. This is a very difficult situation for Greece and for Europe.
CHETRY: Well, it's 32 minutes past the hour right now. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann from Minnesota officially jumped into the Republican race for president.
She declared her candidacy yesterday where she was born in Waterloo, Iowa and she's off to a fast start. She was virtually tied with Mitt Romney in Iowa in a Des Moines register poll.
Joining us from Manchester, New Hampshire this morning is Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. Great to see you again, Congresswoman. Nice numbers in Iowa.
When we take a look at New Hampshire you're polling at just about 4 percent. How do you get on the radar in that key primary state where things are very different compared to Iowa?
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hi, Kiran. Yes, we're here in New Hampshire. We've been here multiple times. I'll be doing a house party a little later today and then we'll be on our way for a bus tour through South Carolina and back to Iowa.
We've seen an explosion of interest in our campaign at michelebachmann.com., which is our new expanded presidential web site and also on Facebook and on Twitter, so we're very excited about the growth.
Again, we just got into the race yesterday and according to national polls, they're finding that we are second in the race, which we're very excited about, and so as we continue to expand our message, a very positive forward looking change, I think we're going to see greater and greater results and we've been very well received here in New Hampshire.
CHETRY: So you officially announced yesterday. You know, really there are two story lines about you out there right now. One is that you shot on to the national stage. You've a lot of enthusiastic supporters especially in the Tea Party.
The other is you're prone to misstatements and politicofact.com, which is a Pulitzer Price winning fact checking web site examined 26 statements that you made and they found only one to be fully true and 18 to be false.
Several of them relating to your criticism of President Obama, did you mean to make false statements intentionally or were you just misspeaking?
BACHMANN: Well, of course they were just misspeaking and that happens. People can make mistakes and I wish I could be perfect every time I say something, but I can't.
But one thing people know about me, is that I'm a substantive, serious person and I have a very strong background. I'm a former federal tax litigation attorney and I've spent considerable time in the U.S. Federal Tax Court, as well as being a successful small business owner.
One thing I am is a businesswoman. I've got good sense on how to turn the economy around and how to create jobs. That's the number one issue in our economy. I want to bring that sensibility together with a small town common sense good values that I learned growing up in Waterloo, Iowa.
And in Minnesota, I want to take -- I've take than voice to the halls of Congress very successfully. Now I want to take that voice into the White House where it hasn't been heard for a long time. I think that's why people are excited.
CHETRY: I'm not doubting that you're serious or that you're smart at all, but are these misstatements becoming a distraction and how do you move on from them?
BACHMANN: Well you know, not really. People are most concerned about my economic message of positive change in the economy. We are going on the wrong track and people are concerned that their children won't do as well as they have.
So people want to know, is there a person that I could trust who does know how to turn the economy, who can get me better wages and a better job? I understand how to do that. I've done that successfully before.
People want someone who can do that. They see President Obama has failed us and President Obama said himself in February of 2009, if he can't turn the economy around by the third year of his presidency, that he should be a one term president.
I agree with him. I think he should be a one-term president and I think I can bring that expertise that level of knowledge to be able to turn the economy around that's exactly what I'm going to do.
CHETRY: I know that you are saying people want to focus on those things and I hear you, but today people are focusing on the fact that you said John Wayne was from Waterloo when John Wayne Gacey, the serial killer lived there for a time. You know instead of talking about the economic message people are picking up on a gaffe.
BACHMANN: Well, again, John Wayne's parents first home was in Waterloo, Iowa, and he was from Iowa, and, of course the main point that I was making, are the sensibilities of John Wayne, which is patriotism, love of country, standing up for our nation, that positive enthusiasm is what America is all about and that's, of course, my main point.
CHETRY: I want to ask you about what Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace said. He asked you this weekend in an interview if you were a flake and you handled it pretty well in my opinion.
You kept your composure. I know he's apologized. You have since said in subsequent interviews you're a serious person, you said it to me right now. Do you think it's harder to prove you're serious because you're a woman? BACHMANN: You know, I think that people just need to know what a person's background is. And I'm introducing myself to the American people so they can know that I have a strong academic scholarly background but I have a real life background.
Where my husband and I who came from very low, middle income families worked our way through college, worked our way for everything that we have, and we are able to succeed in our business and raise a successful family with our 23 foster children, our five biological children. We started a charter school for at risk children.
CHETRY: I do want to ask you about that as well. As mother I marvel at the fact that you raised five kids, I'm busy juggling two, I don't know how you do it.
On top of that 23 foster children, you've said that to me before and I find that remarkable as a mother I often wonder how did you make that work?
For example, how long did they live with you and were they all there around the same time or did you just have a lot of foster children over the years?
BACHMANN: We had a lot of foster children over the years, Kiran. What we did is we had as many as four foster children at a time and then our five biological. The greatest number we had were nine children.
And it was a wonderful experience I think for us, for them, and we're so grateful that we could do it. They're really great kids. I encourage people to become foster parents and consider becoming foster parents.
CHETRY: Well, it was great to talk to you this morning, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. From Manchester, New Hampshire, this morning officially kicking off your campaign yesterday, thanks for your time this morning.
BACHMANN: Thanks. We'll do it again soon.
ROMANS: I want to jump back to these live pictures in Greece. We were telling you about that earlier 48-hour strike going on, general strike in Greece. The parliament is trying to work out a five-year budget and a deal so that it can qualify for another European Union bailout.
This is going to mean more painful concessions from every day working people in Greece and they are hot. They are angry about it. We were seeing some flames earlier. You can see some damage in the streets from the protesters. But again, this is sort of mounting all morning.
VELSHI: Yes, it seems people are gathering and then dispersed by police. We saw some smoke earlier. We saw fire some as you said, unclear whether it was a tree or flag or something. I will tell you the effect it's having at the moment, not having too much effect on markets. Markets in Germany, which are trading right now in London, they're basically flat. You can see what's going on in the streets there. Mostly the world expects that parliament is going to do what parliament needs to do.
But this is taped from a little earlier. You can see how it got a little crazy in the streets. The problem is the Greek people don't want parliament to do what the world wants them to do and this is where you're seeing this play out.
ROMANS: At its very simplest, this is a story of a country living beyond its means for a long time. Retirement age is going to have to be raised. Workers are going to have to take pay cuts or freezes in the public sector. People are going to have to pay taxes.
VELSHI: It's a low percentage of people in Greece paying taxes.
ROMANS: Only a few hundred people pay taxes on a swimming pool.
VELSHI: I want to show you what's going on. These are live pictures. You can see people bringing this what looks like an umbrella into the street and --
ROMANS: For protection from the tear gas or police, perhaps.
VELSHI: We're showing you what is going on right now. There are thousands, what appear to be tens of thousands of people in the streets at the moment. We're seeing a side shot of what's going on. You can see people throwing things.
CHETRY: You saw him walk past that, using as protection, sort of --
VELSHI: Making gestures.
ROMANS: That was an international gesture.
CHETRY: A mask on his face. There you see people trying to use that overturned umbrella as a barrier running there throwing things. Almost taunting the police and going back.
ROMANS: We've been here before. Greece this year, you remember, we've been talking about this, six months ago, we were talking about Greece. And you've heard about suddenly in the vernacular of our own economics, personal economics is pigs, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain.
VELSHI: These are all countries that have problems.
ROMANS: That have some budget issues. So the European Union, euro, the alliance of countries that share the common currency, they're all very concerned about how well Europe is staying together amid all of this and amid these problems.
VELSHI: Here we go. We have more -- something being fired. You see smoke in the street. And again, as Christine pointed out earlier, the reason this matters to you, we're hearing more live fire of some sort in the streets of Athens, people are moving towards something.
ROMANS: The reason why markets are watching this nervously is because traders and investors and fund managers have your money market funds can be invested in European banks, which are invested and exposed to Greek debt. So Greece getting its debt under control, this is something that -- all of the global markets are interconnected.
CHETRY: Greece doesn't have a choice. I mean, people protesting and you see it from the street view, which we literally are seeing right no. If you're struggling and don't have money, of course, you're upset.
On the wider view, on the 10,000 view, Greece doesn't have a choice. It's either get this in line or you won't get money to try to continue functioning.
VELSHI: Which is kind of why world markets are not reacting to this at the moment because they know the people inside parliament at the moment don't have a choice.
They've got to pass this bill by tomorrow night and what the people are doing in Athens is doing everything possible to say if you do this, you are politically finished.
But at this point they're either politically finished or economically finished so they're going to have to make a tough choice.
ROMANS: The size of the economy is about the size of Washington State, Oregon if you look at it that way. So the U.S. and Greece are not even comparable on that level.
It's more like a U.S. state. However, budget hawks look at this and say, very long term in the U.S., this is why countries have to get their debt situations under control because it's painful and you can't force these changes on people quickly.
You have to make sure that you tell graph out how people are going to tighten the belt so that you don't have strict austerity like this so quickly because it can lead to this.
CHETRY: All right, let's go to Diane Magnay right now who is there. Tell us a little bit more about what we're seeing, I mean, and now it looks like we see the smoke rising from, perhaps, tear gas as we see these protesters and police confront each other on the streets of Athens.
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's (inaudible) by riot police at protesters for the last 40 minutes or so. We were just in the midst of it. Protesters are extremely aggressive against cameras.
You know, they saw my cameraman filming and ran up to him, kicked him, kicked the camera and there is a huge anger here as you can see at these austerity measurements that the parliament is currently debating. Going to push through probably in a vote tomorrow and why people have come out on to the streets. Interestingly, the number of people who came out to this general strike today were actually quite limited. It was numbering in the sort of few thousand.
But that hasn't stopped the anarchists from pretty much throwing rocks and missiles at the police who responded in turn with tear gas. That kind of aggression is still going on around all the streets around Constitution Square, which is, of course, the square upon which the parliament sits where they are right now debating this very, very unpopular austerity program.
CHETRY: Tell us, what would change for Greek citizens if this new austerity plan is in place? What exactly happens that they're upset about?
MAGNAY: Basically what happens is that people who have already suffered big pension cuts, big wage cuts, many people who have lost jobs, that situation will be aggravated further.
Taxes have already gone up in the past year that they've had this first austerity program. Taxes are going to get hiked again. Wages are going to get cut again. In the public sector 10 percent of jobs are gone already and another 20 percent are set to go.
And apart from that there's a huge privatization program that people are very angry about. All the people in the public sector who fear that if their companies get bought up, their jobs will go, so that is why people are coming out to protest. They say we've had enough austerity over the past year. We actually can't take any more.
And these are measures imposed by the IMF, by the EU. They have banners up calling them thieves, they say bankers as they are. As you can see, this is just an expression of rage at the prospect of further austerity.
VELSHI: This camera on the left of our screen is your camera. That's exactly what you are seeing from where you are. We have been following these protests for some time. We saw some protests and strikes on the 15th of June. This is unlike anything we have seen before in Greece or anywhere else in Europe. This is taking it to an entirely new level.
MAGNAY: Well, this is certainly very violent, but I was here this time last year and when the first round of austerity measures were pushed through, and there was a similar amount of violence on the streets, but with more general protesters.
This time last week, there was another general strike and as you say there was far less rioting than we've seen now. I mean it's difficult to gauge, you know, at this stage when we're only sort of 45 minutes in, whether it's going to be bigger than those examples I've just cited.
But certainly from having been in the crowd this time around, I have never seen such aggression against our camera and cameras in general on the streets of Greece than I have experienced some (INAUDIBLE) in here.
CHETRY: Are they already making arrests and has anybody been wounded?
MAGNAY: This I haven't been able to check at this stage. I know that there are 5,000 riot police out on the streets. I haven't seen with my own eyes any casualties at this stage. So this is something that we are, obviously, going to have to check with police and this is quite early on in this demonstration and this riot.
It's interesting, as the camera just pans down to the left, you can see a line of protesters essentially trying to stop this rioting from pushing back. You know, a line saying look, this is where the rioting must stop. We're trying to maintain the peace. But as you can see they're being pushed back now. It doesn't really seem to be helping.
Tear gas canisters on the street being kicked around by people dressed in black. Some of them presumably, sort of self-declared anarchists who are fairly prevalent here in Athens and some of them were regular protesters.
VELSHI: These are just remarkable.
MAGNAY: Firing from riot police. So I can't actually see the --
VELSHI: Yes, we're looking at your camera and seeing those riot police moving into the street. We saw some sort of a fire, somebody threw something -- look may have been a Molotov cocktail.
Diana, one of the things that we've been discussing here is that the Greek parliament has no choice, the government has acknowledged what it has to do and that it is difficult and they are debating it, and by the end of tomorrow expectations around the world and certainly markets is that the Greek parliament will come through with these austerity measures, tax hikes, privatization, the tax increases, the wage cuts, the job cuts.
Clearly these demonstrators are hoping to intimidate parliamentarians into doing something else. Is there any indication that it could work? In other words, could this have some effect on the debates going on in parliament? Could they say we just can't do this, the people clearly don't want us to do this?
MAGNAY: Well, I think that it's fair to say that the people in that parliament building are well aware of the strength of anger on the streets of Athens. Whether it's from what they're seeing right now or from the sort of demonstrations, the scale of demonstrations they've seen in past few days.
But this morning, I was actually speaking to one (INAUDIBLE) member of parliament, the ruling party, who said that he is very much considering going against his party's wishes in the vote tomorrow, precisely because he feels that the EU is trying to blackmail Greece and that there is far more room for negotiation here.
He said, you know, there is no way, whatever Europe says, that they are going to forsake 350 billion euros worth of Greek debt for the sake of this 12 billion euro installment. So however much Europe says, you know, this is your only option, you must vote it through.
I cannot imagine that should that not happen, they won't have some kind of (INAUDIBLE) up their sleeve. As you can see that's the teargas really rising up for the central area in Constitution Square. The fight going on right in front of my eyes here. And the teargas pretty much blinding us up on this balcony position.
ROMANS: So in the streets, I mean, if you have to avert your eyes or move away, please do for your own safety. The -- so you have unions in the streets, different unions, public sector and private sector unions, you have anarchists and sort of the usual groups that tend to draw -- you know, come to these sorts of events.
People who, you know, protest for the sake of protesting but you have citizens who are also very concerned about what's happening. Government offices, schools, courts are all closed. Air traffic controllers periodically stopping work today. We've got the --
VELSHI: Every few hours.
ROMANS: -- air system that -- you know, the travel has been disrupted. Teachers. Hospitals are working on skeleton staffs but there are doctors, nurses and hospital crews who've also are abiding by this 48-hour strike as well. So the country has come to a halt essentially.
CHETRY: And Diana said that it's too early to tell from her vantage point, she's not seen any casualties, any injuries or deaths because of this. But, of course, pictures are dramatic and she said she's not seen to date as much aggression toward camera crews that are there.
So again, we're going to continue to follow this. We're going to take a quick break. We will check back in what is going on right now as protesters take to the streets of Athens, Greece.
VELSHI: Fifty-two minutes after the hour.
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VELSHI: It's 54 minutes after the hour. Here are your morning headlines.
We are following breakings news out of Greece this morning. Protests heating up in Athens right now. Police firing teargas on demonstrators. You're looking at live pictures right now. They are rallying in Constitution Square. They're protesting a debate going on right now in parliament about more tax hikes and spending cuts, beginning to get violent. We'll stay on top of that for you.
Let's take a check in on premarket trading. Right now U.S. stock futures are down amid concerns over Greece and its debt and what will happen if they don't make the fixes they need to make.
New housing numbers at a Consumer Confidence survey coming out this morning could move markets. The White House says President Obama believes a significant deal on reducing the deficit and raising the debt ceiling is possible. Congress has until August 2nd to raise America's debt limit or the country may not be able to pay all of its bills.
You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING right back after this break.
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ROMANS: A California college student is suing Abercrombie & Fitch claiming she was fired for not removing her headscarf. Hani Kahn says she was initially told she could wear a hijab or headscarf at a Hollister store which is owned by Abercrombie & Fitch, but a visiting district manager saw the headscarf, said it was not allowed during work hours, and when she refused to take it off, she was fired.
VELSHI: Coming up in about half an hour, we're going to talk to Hani Kahn about what she calls the shock of being fired by Abercrombie & Fitch.
CHETRY: And we wanted to ask what you think about the situation. Should a Muslim worker be fired for refusing to take off the headscarf for religious reasons? It's our question of the day. We want to read a few responses this morning.
One is from Thomas Galante on Facebook. "Baseball is my religion but I'm not allowed to wear a baseball cap. Company policy is company policy. If she was fired for being Muslim, that is wrong."
ROMANS: Benny on Facebook says, "The more I look into it, the more I believe that Hollister handled the situation incorrectly. If the scarf didn't match their dress code then they shouldn't have hired her."
VELSHI: Of course Hollister is the part of Abercrombie & Fitch she worked for.
Steve says, "She should just follow the dress code. Jobs are sparse. I would wear a clown suit if it paid the bills."
CHETRY: Thanks for --
VELSHI: (INAUDIBLE)
CHETRY: Yes, they are interesting.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: We're going to get some more coming up in the next hour as well. We're going to take a quick break. Top of the hour coming up in just a moment.
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