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American Morning
Casey Anthony Murder Trial; Syria: Not Attacking Protesters; Greece Voting on Austerity Bill; Kabul Hotel Terror Attack; Talks Heat Up Over Raising Debt Ceiling; Newsweek's Diana at 50: Dynamic or Disturbing?
Aired June 29, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news now. We're following this morning out of Athens where the Greek parliament is expected within the hour -- next hour or two to vote on emergency measures in an effort to save the economy, but workers, protesters, anarchists, others taking to the streets. This is a decision that could send shockwaves around the globe on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: The issue is that Greece has to undertake these reforms.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: That's right.
VELSHI: In order to get a European bailout. They've got to pass this in parliament. They've got to pass, enabling legislation which will then lead the European Union to make a decision on Sunday about its second bailout, but these are preconditions. The problem is, the people of Greece are very uneasy with this.
It will cause them to pay taxes that they haven't been paying, cause them to pay more taxes, cause them to work longer. This is the second time Greece has gone through this, and it's getting violent in the streets of Athens right now.
ROMANS: It's essentially the parliament trying to do what it must do what it must do to win support from the European Union, and that is going against what the people on the street want. It's going to determine the financial future of Greece and have a major effect on the economic recovery here in the U.S. as well because the system is completely intertwined and people want to make sure that Greece does not default and spiral downward.
At any moment Greece is expected to vote on desperate measures to save that country from financial ruin. You're looking at live pictures inside the parliament right now, against the backdrop of violent protests, violent demonstrations in Athens. And that's where our Richard Quest is standing by. What's the latest there?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, in the last ten minutes, excuse me, in the last ten minutes things have taken a turn for the worse and it's not immediately clear why the riot police suddenly decided to push the crowd further back and fire volley after volley of tear gas and pepper spray which is not just wafting across central and downtown Athens.
Let me show you the pictures. The crowd has been pushed relentlessly back from that wall. You can see the riot police now moving into place. And what's happened is, that the people have just been pushed further and further back into the crowd. Over here you can see some orange dye. I'm not sure you can see it now.
But now they're firing orange dye canisters, huge amounts of tear gas. And over by the stairs there, if I can see the stairs in the middle, which is just pushing the crowd even further back. What the object is -- what the object is isn't clear, Ali and Christine, because the crowds will just move back into place. Even if they do get these people out from around the parliament building, they still have several thousand stuck in the middle of the square.
So a deteriorating situation as the politicians get ready to vote themselves. And it's looking likely, guys, that this will pass by a small majority.
VELSHI: Richard, what's the latest on when it's going to happen, or when it's likely based on what you can see and what you are hearing, what is likely to happen outside of parliament once that happens? Does the decision defuse the energy in that square or get people more riled up?
QUEST: That, of course, is the question. And frankly, we won't know until it happens. The anger amongst the two groups of people -- excuse me. You've got to watch which way the flags are blowing because that shows you which way the tear gas is going. It's coming in my direction.
Once the vote takes place, Ali, the anger is so deep seated, that there will certainly be the trade unionists, the legitimate protesters, who will be furious and may well take to the streets.
But there is a hard core of anarchists -- let me give you one example. When the fighting started I looked down and I saw one guy, he took off his shirt, put on a black shirt, gas mask, gloves, and he got a baton and went in to fight. And that's the call causing all this trouble at the moment.
I think what the police are trying to do, is prepare as best they can for when that vote happens. They want people as far away as possible. And if I look over, Ali, I think we are going to have to pause here. The tear gas is coming full right up here to where --
VELSHI: Get out of that and get cover and back to us as soon as you see any new developments there. Richard Quest and Diana Magna is there, a full team in Athens covering the story.
ROMANS: The issue for our crews on the balcony, yesterday one of our crews was roughed up as things got heated. We're covering it as closely as we can.
Right now we want to switch gears. A brazen and coordinated terror attack on the Hotel Intercontinental in Kabul, Afghanistan. Officials say Taliban militants stormed the hotel building armed with guns, grenades, wearing suicide vests. Some blew themselves up. Eight suicide bombers were killed in that battle with Afghan and NATO forces. Eight civilians and two police officers also died. One of the hotel guests telling CNN he could hear the gunfire from his room.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was on the fourth floor up in my room. I had just come back from dinner and the lights are out so it's pitch-black dark and we just heard gunshots sporadically and then some explosions from here and there. Then the thing that I think I'm sure made everybody scared was that the explosions seemed to be getting closer and closer and closer. Eventually I heard gunshots, it sounded like it was on my floor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
The smoke could still be seen rising at daybreak from Kabul's famous hotel. Afghan Hamid Karzai is condemning that attack. A reporter from "The Sunday Times" newspaper is live in Kabul.
What do we know at this time? We know they have accounted for everyone in the hotel. We know the fighting and the fire are over.
What's happening now?
JEROME STARKEY, REPORTER, "THE SUNDAY TIMES": The fire is out, the building has been secured. But that was sounds far easier than, in fact, it was. There are 200 bedrooms in hotel behind me, and it took Afghan commandos and NATO special forces more than five hours, first to fight their way through the building to clear it. Of the eight it Taliban suicide bombers who had stormed the building, five of them who ran on to the roof.
It was only when a NATO helicopter equipped with snipers arrived on the scene after 3:00 a.m. this morning, that they were able to pick off those gunmen on the roof and finally the Afghan commandos with their NATO mentors were able to maneuver through the building, checking every single room not only for survivors, guests who had been hiding in their room.
We heard how terrifying it must have been to be in there as the explosions tore through the building, the corridors filled with smoke. But they were looking for remnants of the suicide squad. They didn't know how many people had come in and they were concerned there may have been more hiding out.
And in fact they were right. It was sometime before 8:00 this morning when the last suicide bomber detonated his vest. And it was that explosion which triggered the fire on the fifth floor which has charred the building black. You can see the damage on the building behind me.
ROMANS: Jerome Starkey in Kabul, Afghanistan, thank you so much for that. CHETRY: Meantime here at home in Nebraska, federal regulators this morning say two nuclear plants threatened by floodwaters from the Missouri River are safe. A watchdog group for the nuclear power industry visited the Fort Calhoun plant yesterday. Officials say that the facility is still safe. The plant's been off-line since April for refueling. It's not been up and generating power since then.
And now to the fires in New Mexico inching critically closer this morning to a major nuclear facility. The blaze is already prompting the evacuation of 10,000 Los Alamos residents, and now the flames are within miles of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. It's a nuclear science facility. Reynolds Wolf is live from Los Alamos, New Mexico. The situation, obviously, very serious, but what is the main concern today?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The biggest concern today is really the unknown of what the weather is going to bring, where the flames may spread. Certainly there's huge concern here in Los Alamos at the laboratory facility itself.
We've been talking over this big issue this morning having to do with the radioactive material. You've heard about that we had, of course, the lab director Charles McMillan, mentioned to us that the radioactive materials they've been storing there for many years are secured, in a safe spot.
Fire did come within several miles of that part of the facility, but thankfully that radioactive material is kind of on a slab, sort of a parking lot kind of area, away from a lot of the vegetation, from the foliage, so it's difficult for the fire to get to it. We're told those materials are secure. That was a big, big certainly concern for many people.
I can tell you in this area in Los Alamos, you can hardly see a car. We saw one that came by a few seconds ago. One of the first we've seen in nearly an hour. This area was evacuated back on Monday, Kiran, and I'll tell you it was a very, very orderly thing. There wasn't a single fender-bender, not a single problem. But 10,000 to 12,000 people moved out. The big concern they're going to have is what they might deal with, what they might be facing in the next several days and weeks as the flames continue to spread.
CHETRY: It sounds scary to say flames inching closer to perhaps the plutonium contaminated material. But can you paint the picture of how likely that is and how far we are away from that actually happening?
WOLF: Well, according to the research facility, they say it's highly unlikely that it ever will happen because it is away from the foliage, it is away from any kind of plant material that could provide fuel for those fires.
As a secondary measure, they've mentioned this is in a clear area, in a spot almost like if you will on a like a kind of a parking lot sort of facility. They also have flame retardant they can put on some of the waste if need to help ward off the flames. They insist that everything is secure for the time being. CHETRY: All right, Reynolds Wolf for us at Los Alamos, we'll check in with you later. Thanks so much.
VELSHI: A lot of news is going on this morning. We're covering Greece, the wildfires. We're also covering the Casey Anthony trial. Sunny Hostin, former prosecutor, great friend of our show, will be with us next for the latest on the Casey Anthony trial. There were some major developments yesterday and we're still waiting to see whether we're going to see Casey on the stand. It's 11 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Welcome back to "American Morning." A dramatic day in the Casey Anthony murder trial. Disturbing testimony from the meter reader Roy Kronk who discovered little Caylee's remains. He described that horrific day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROY KRONK: I held the bag out. After like the third shake the contents of the bag shifted, and I looked down at my feet, and that's when I discovered the skull basically at my feet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right, CNN legal contributor Sunny Hostin here with us this morning. The defense said they were going to paint this guy as morally bankrupt, trying to profit from all of this. Did they do that?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think they got that. They needed a homerun and I would like to say they sort of got a bunt. They said morally bankrupt individual, and they made such a big deal out of it in opening statements that I know when he got on the witness stand the jury sort of leaned forward. They were riveted, and it just sort of fizzled out. I don't think he appeared to be a morally bankrupt individual.
VELSHI: He sold the photo.
HOSTIN: He sold the photo. He got $15,000 from ABC, $10,000 from crime line. Certainly the circumstances around his discovery of the remains were curious. He called 911 three times in August.
ROMANS: Is that his fault he called 911 three times or the police fault for not showing up? If you get a call that says I think I found a human skull and it's sort of ignored --
HOSTIN: There was no follow-up. Then when someone did follow-up the police officer apparently tried to get up the embankment and slid down and fell and berated him for 30 minutes for wasting his time. And that police officer has been suspended.
So, you're right. The circumstances around the 911 calls are explainable and then he found the skull in December, yet again in the same place where other searchers have been searching. So, it's still curious, but I don't think the defense got as far as they needed to do.
VELSHI: What are they trying to do? When they say he's rolling back, they're trying to say --
HOSTIN: Well, this is interesting. They're trying to say that he somehow got ahold of Caylee's remains, kept them and then dumped them in, you know, in the forest.
VELSHI: In order to gain fame and fortune.
HOSTIN: Fame and fortune.
CHETRY: The only good thing this does do for the defense, unfortunately, it basically brings up the reasonable doubt that those remains were not tampered with. And when you're talking about the duct tape and when you're talking about prosecution theory duct tape was around her face --
HOSTIN: Yes, they linked at some points there and that is because Roy Kronk admitted that when he found her remains, he used his meter reader stick and sort of put it in the skull, the little Caylee skull, in the eye socket, and moved things around. And so, I think the defense is going to argue, well, then the duct tape was moved and that sort of the instrument of murder for this prosecution, at least for the prosecution's theory. So, I think that in and of itself was good for the defense, but other than that lot of fizz, a lot of fizz.
ROMANS: What about the testimony that the jury didn't hear yesterday?
HOSTIN: Well, they didn't hear Jesse Grund's testimony. You know, there was a proffer outside of the jury's presence. The judge is determining whether or not that information is going to come in. He testified that Casey Anthony told him years ago that Lee Anthony sexually abused her.
VELSHI: That's her brother.
HOSTIN: Her brother. Tried to touch her, and that she didn't want Caylee around Lee.
CHETRY: And he's the former fiance, the guy who's testifying.
HOSTIN: Right. And that's significant evidence, let's face it, because she has said all along that not only Lee Anthony abused her, her father abused her. So, if that comes in --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: But they didn't let the jury hear it.
HOSTIN: That's right. Not yet, because they think it's hearsay and I tend to agree. The jury may not hear it. I mean, it's an out of court statement offered in court to prove the truth of it and I don't know that that's going to come in. VELSHI: All right. Sunny, good to see you. Thanks very much.
This may be the last week of this trial and we still may see Casey Anthony on the stand.
Here's what's all new this morning. The FBI is now reportedly trying to find out who is responsible for grave mix-ups at Arlington National Cemetery. "The Washington Post" says an investigation has been under way r six months. A Senate report found that cemetery had lost track of, or mishandled more than 6,000 sets of remains of military heroes. Many of them may be lost forever.
ROMANS: OK. Check your medicine cabinets this morning, especially if you haven't cleaned it out in a while, because Johnson & Johnson is recalling 61,000 bottles of Tylenol over a moldy musty odor.
VELSHI: But isn't this an old story?
ROMANS: No, this is a new story. I know Tylenol has had J & J has had so many recalls over the past year. The company says the odor may be linked to a chemical preservative that could cause minor gastrointestinal problems. The bottles are made back in February 2009, February 2009, but still may be out there.
VELSHI: Sure. People hang on to the stuff for a long time.
ROMANS: Sure.
CHETRY: A Southwest Airlines pilot is apologizing to his colleagues. You guys heard the rant, I'm sure. This was caught over the microphone back in March, where he made fun of gay, overweight and older flight attendants or in his words -- gays, grannies and grandes. He also singled out Houston flight attendants as the ugliest group of them all.
Captain James Taylor wrote a letter now saying, quote, "I deeply regret the derogatory remarks I made and hurt I caused. I would like to extend a special apology to all flight attendants and especially those of Houston. I hope you will allow me to maintain a working relationship with all of you that will provide me the opportunity to extend an individual personal apology to each one of you whenever we fly together."
VELSHI: When you got a layover in Houston, he may want to go back to his hotel early.
ROMANS: Yes. You know, that letter takes away all of the stings of the nasty things he said.
VELSHI: Yes. This was not -- I (INAUDIBLE) for this, this was a microphone that was internal, it wasn't heard by passengers.
ROMANS: Right.
CHETRY: Air traffic control, other pilots, yes.
VELSHI: Yes. Other people heard it. OK. Wow.
CHETRY: Enough people heard it, he's in trouble.
VELSHI: Right.
OK. No crying in first class on Malaysia Airlines if you're a baby. In fact, you can't be a baby in first class in Malaysia Airlines. They are banning them on their long haul 747 flights to places like Sydney, London and Amsterdam. The airline CEO says there were too many complaints of first class passengers who spent big money and couldn't sleep because of screaming infants.
You can still have babies, and they've got -- on their overseas flights, particularly those in the U.S., that got three classes. So, you can have a baby in business class, coach, or wherever --
ROMANS: But the parents of the babies also spend big money to be in first class, right?
VELSHI: Yes. You know, this is -- I travel a loon planes. I don't have an issue. I have been kept up by crying babies on planes. Babies cry.
CHETRY: You -- I know, you're very sweet, 99 percent of people do not agree with you.
VELSHI: Right. And I don't travel with babies.
CHETRY: And also, you know, you can deal with a crying baby maybe from Houston to Chicago. But I don't know about, you know, all the way to Malaysia.
ROMANS: When my --
VELSHI: Crying babies stop crying sometimes, don't they?
ROMANS: Sometimes. But when my father-in-law hears a baby crying, he says, ah, that's the sound of America singing.
VELSHI: Nice.
ROMANS: Isn't that sweet?
All right. Let's go to the sound of Rob Marciano giving us the weather for the morning. It's 19 minutes after the hour.
Hi, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys.
Well, let's face it, I don't know what kind of financial bracket you guys are in, but I get upgraded to first class but I never paid for first class.
(CROSSTALK)
MARCIANO: So, I think we feel a little differently there, you know?
VELSHI: That's nice. Is that what it sounds like up here, crying babies?
(LAUGHTER)
MARCIANO: Good morning, guys.
If you fly down to Mexico, be aware, Tampico, you're going to hit with a tropical storm. This is tropical storm Arlene in the Bay of Campeche, southern parts of the Gulf of Mexico, but it's heading due west. It will bring a lot of rain. There'll be a little bit of flooding with this, but it's not going to strengthen much more than tropical storm status at this stage of the game. It will make landfall tomorrow morning.
You know, some of this moisture we're hoping gets caught up in the monsoon and gets dumped into the areas that are dealing with the fires. It doesn't look like a lot of that is going to happen, but we're certainly hoping that may make a dent in this extreme drought and extreme fire danger, the call again today for much of the Southwest. And the heat is going to be building back up across the parts of the Southern Plains.
Meanwhile, you've seen a little front finally go through the Northeast and kind of clear things out just a little bit.
There's a heat building across parts of the plains, extreme heat watch in effect for this area, up right through Saturday morning.
New York, wind, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, wind, if you're travelling through there and some late seasonal rainfall across parts of San Francisco, 65 degrees for the high temperature there. It will be 81 degrees in New York. Nice. And 80 degrees expected in Chicago.
Guys, I'll talk to you guys later. First class, get out and enjoy it. Ear plugs, always travel with the ear plugs.
VELSHI: Yes, totally right. Good. Rob, thank you.
ROMANS: All right.
CHETRY: Hard to hear the movie though. That's true. That's true.
ROMANS: Hard to hear the businessman snoring.
VELSHI: You know, in first class, you see more with those noise canceling head phones.
CHETRY: Noise cancelling headphones, that's the smart way.
VELSHI: That drowns out anything.
ROMANS: Yes, even your own crying baby.
CHETRY: Hard to sleep with those. ROMANS: All right. "Newsweek's" new cover features an age projected Princess Diana, at 50 years old, alongside her son's new bride. And this is the subject of great controversy this morning.
And it's also our question of the day: Is this Diana cover a tribute or is it just tacky?
CHETRY: We've gotten a lot of lot of responses this morning. I would say 90 percent of the ones I'm getting on Twitter this morning say, tacky, tacky, horrible, tacky, tacky, is much too kind of a word, a harsher word is definitely in order.
ROMANS: Tina Brown issued a statement actually on this, saying that she wanted to bring to life the memory of Diana in a vivid image that transcends time and reflects her piece. And the story that most of the people who are writing into us don't like it.
VELSHI: Your e-mails, your tweets, tell us on Facebook. We're going to read some of your thoughts later on in the show.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Twenty-four minutes and a half minute after the hour. Here's the morning's business headlines.
The Dow rose about 1.2 percent, more than 148 points yesterday, riding good news on housing prices. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 also made some gains.
Protesters at this hour clashing with police on the streets of Athens. It's day two of a general strike there. Lawmakers in Athens have just started voting on tax increases and spending cuts.
You're looking at live pictures of the debate and voting going on right now in parliament. They need to secure more money from the European Union to avoid a default.
U.S. stocks are poised to follow gains in world markets on optimism that the austerity vote increase would pass.
And this just in -- Bank of America announcing an $8.5 billion settlement, $8.5 billion of settlement with professional investors over sour mortgages packaged up and sold before the housing bubble burst. Bank of America stock is up more than 2 percent in premarket trading, riding those reports.
President Obama will hold a news conference later today and could address mounting pressure about the federal budget. One Washington think tank reports the U.S. Treasury will not be able to pay about $35 billion of its monthly bills if lawmakers fail to raise the debt ceiling on time.
Social Security checks, Medicare payments, federal worker, military paychecks are all at risk. There simply isn't enough money without borrowing to run the government we have now. Also on Capitol Hill, Republicans and Democrats agree to reinstate funding to American workers who lose their jobs to outsourcing, a big win for the Obama administration. Debate over the trade adjustment assistance program which expired back in February has tied up free trade negotiations now for months.
More reports fueling talks of a tech bubble today. Zynga could be the next company to file for an initial public offering. "The Wall Street Journal" reporting this gain maker could file as early as today at a value of maybe $20 billion. That doubles the price tag of the start- up which makes online games like you know it, Farmville, and many others played on Facebook.
All right. Don't forget -- for the latest news about your money, check out the all-new CNNMoney.com.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Crossing the half hour this morning. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
A new denial coming from the Syrian government that it's targeting anti-government protesters. The regime is still insisting to CNN that it is only attacking armed groups.
But protesters who again took to the streets last night, are telling a very different story. CNN is the only U.S. television network in Syria.
Our Hala Gorani joins us live from Damascus this morning. You also had a chance to catch up with a congressman, a U.S. congressman who's on a fact-finding mission there as well?
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes, Dennis Kucinich, the congressman from Ohio, I ran into him in the lobby of a hotel here and before his visit was publicized. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw him standing there with his wife, Elizabeth.
I asked him what he was doing in Syria. He said he met with President Bashar Al Assad for three hours. The next day, he briefed reporters on what was said and there was some controversy in the United States over this trip.
That it was legitimizing a regime, a regime that is still cracking down on its citizens according to activists. More than 1,300 people have been killed in this country by various accounts since mid-March.
So I asked him how he responded to that criticism and what he was doing in Syria, what he hopes to achieve. This is what he said. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D), OHIO: Hear what they had to say. I think it's really important that people were involved in making policy hear from both sides.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: All right. I also asked him then about this controversy regarding his visit. He got some bad press, to be honest, in the United States and he said I'm here to listen to all sides.
I also met with (inaudible), but then I asked him if he met with opponents that represent demonstrators in the streets and he said he met with those opponents he was able to contact and that presumably did not include all opponents. There was a dissidents meeting in Damascus a few days ago and many of those who have been out on the streets, those who represent them abroad, say those who met in Damascus do not speak for them.
So that is really kind of the picture here regarding Dennis Kucinich's visit, as well as what's going on in the capital. All the while, demonstrations are continuing across the country, Kiran.
CHETRY: Pressure certainly still on. Hala Gorani for us this morning. Thanks so much.
VELSHI: Back to our breaking news right now in Greece. The vote to tighten that country's economic belt for a second time has reportedly been delayed. We're not sure for how long.
It was supposed to take place sometime around now as you can see pictures in parliament. There is still debate under way. Now outside parliament, outside the Greek parliament, police have been using tear gas in the last hour to keep thousands of protesters back.
You're looking at live pictures of it now. All morning there's been this back and forth between protesters and police. What has happened in the last hour is police have pushed the protesters some distance, trying to create a perimeter around the parliament building.
So that if the news comes out that the vote has gone through, something that has to happen for Greece to get its bailout, police are hoping to be able to control what's going on. I'm not sure whether these are live or earlier.
This is from earlier, a scuffle, one many we had seen between police and protesters getting violent. This is a general strike that's been going on for two days. It's unclear as to whether these people who are getting into scuffles with police are part of the unions who are on strike or protesters or anarchists, depending on who you listen to, could be any of that group.
We'll continue to follow that story for you and bring you an update as soon as that vote goes through.
Also breaking this morning, Afghan President Hamid Karzai is condemning the brazen terror attack on Kabul's landmark Intercontinental Hotel that killed 10 people plus the attackers.
NATO forces and Afghan troops engaged in a nearly four hour standoff. All eight attackers were killed. This new information this morning about the role that Afghan forces played in securing the hotel.
CNN's Barbara Starr is following the developments. She's live at the Pentagon. Barbara, initially we were hearing that this is being hailed as a success for Afghan forces. But ultimately we're hearing that until NATO forces showed up they weren't able to get this whole situation under control?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, NATO, ISAF forces are in fact making the case this morning, this was led by Afghan forces, the Afghan Minister of the Interior was on scene, the Kabul police chief was on scene.
They are saying that NATO did not come in and save the day, that the Afghans really led the way. That said, we have some new information about the role that ISAF, the coalition forces did play.
There was, in fact, an ISAF Special Forces advisory team on-site at the hotel, assisting with all of this, advising the Afghans on how to proceed. There was, we now can confirm, a U.S. military Blackhawk that overflew the hotel with a sniper team on board.
That sniper team came from another country. They are not disclosing, but it was a U.S. military Blackhawk that flew over the hotel at night, that sniper team shooting at least six insurgents on the roof.
What we also know is that a U.S. military predator, an unmanned drone flew over the hotel as the attack was unfolding providing critical intelligence about what was going on so that the Afghan and NATO forces, the ISAF forces could put the whole picture together and develop the counterattack.
As we look at this the morning after, it was essentially ISAF and NATO that were dealing with the situation on the roof as the Afghan forces moved into the hotel and drove the attackers up to the roof, essentially leaving them no place to go but make no mistake, this was one of the most serious situations in Kabul in some time. Ali --
VELSHI: Generally speaking to the bravely and capability of the Afghan forces, but saying that it was NATO technology that helped close that deal.
STARR: Absolutely.
VELSHI: Interesting analysis on it. Barbara, thanks very much for that. We'll continue to check in as this develops.
ROMANS: All right, later this morning, President Obama holds his first formal news conference since he joined efforts to break the stalemate over raising America's debt ceiling.
And with the August 2nd deadline looming, quickly approaching, the president will again meet with Senate leaders today. Democratic Senate Dick Durbin is meeting with the president. He's part of the Senate leadership. He joins me now live from Washington.
Good morning, Senator. The president's influence in this debate, how important is it and how dug in are both sides? What we see from where we're sitting are Republicans who refuse to raise taxes and Democrats who refuse to make the deep, deep, deep cuts you to make if you're not raising taxes. How do we move these two sides closer?
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: Well, I thought we were moving closer last week and then the Republican Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia walked out of the vice president's negotiations and said I'm going to give this to the president now and the speaker. They better take over.
So now, we're into a new round of negotiations. I was on the deficit commission and I'll tell you what I believe. We need to put everything, everything on the table. Let's sit down like grownups and get this resolved.
If we let this debt ceiling expire, it will be catastrophic to the American economy and the global economy. And we'll be faced with a prospect of deciding whether to pay Social Security recipients in August or our troops in the field.
ROMANS: Right.
DURBIN: We never want to be in that position.
ROMANS: The first Wednesday of the month in August, if the debt ceiling isn't raised, the Treasury secretary has to decide which bills to pay. There's going to be about a $20 billion shortfall.
So you're going to have a huge payment that needs to go to senior citizens, and all these things you mentioned as well, troops in the field, lots of other things and also, the interest on America's debt.
Our understanding is the Treasury secretary would pay the interest on the debt first because if you default our bills skyrocket because we have to pay higher interest rates.
Every dollar America spends 38 cents is borrowed. Clearly though does not sustainable, you and your colleagues have to use your best political skills ever to try that fix the longer term problem and address the short-term problem. Can you do it?
DURBIN: We could do it. We have a road map. The Bowl Simpson Commission would reduce our national debt by over $4 trillion over a 10-year period of time and we would take it from spending cuts number one, on both the security and non-security side.
We take it for increased revenue, by taking some of what I consider to be indefensible deductions and credits in our tax code and reducing them.
ROMANS: But the Republicans are very firm, that's why Eric Cantor walked out last week. They do not want anything that smells like raising a tax.
DURBIN: But you see, that kind of a position means we're not serious about deficit reduction. There are two ways to reduce the deficit, cut spending, increase revenue. We have to do both if we're serious.
If we want to continue to posture for the next election to take positions that may be popular with our base constituency, we're not going to meet the needs of America. That's what the Bowles Simpson commission told us, I believe it. It's still true today.
ROMANS: Is it possible to have some sort of a short-term bandage. I know that some Senate leaders and I know also the White House have been kind of shy on this.
But could you try to push through something shorter term, address it again, but at least get -- I think you called it a down payment on this subject so we don't default or don't run up against that debt ceiling again in the beginning of August?
DURBIN: There are two guiding principles on Capitol Hill and Washington and that is, never do today what you can put off until tomorrow and when in doubt, split the difference. We've got to get beyond it.
We have a serious financial crisis. Listen to the news you're reporting from Greece and Portugal and Ireland. We are borrowing I think it's a little more than 38 cents for every dollar that we spend.
If we are serious about getting this economy on track then we have to be serious as legislatures. It means Congressman Cantor and others have to really kind of face the reality that we need to sit down in a room and face revenue as Democrats have to face entitlements.
ROMANS: But you know what, Republicans will say the reason we're borrowing 38 cents of every dollar because Democrats have been spending too much money.
DURBIN: Well I can tell you this, on January 1st this year, 9,000 Americans turned the age 65. January 2nd another 9,000 and every single day since and for the next 19 years.
The baby boomers who have paid faithfully into Social Security and Medicare are now arriving for their benefits. Now to say we're going to spend more to help them of course we are. It was a promise and contract made. Let's do it by saving money, by reducing spending and moving us toward a balance that we need for our economy to prosper.
ROMANS: All right, you'll be meeting with the president and other colleagues later this afternoon after that press conference. We will be, of course, eagerly awaiting to see what kind of progress you all can make. Senator Dick Durbin, thank you so much, sir.
DURBIN: Thanks, Christine.
ROMANS: All right, so coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, we are going to hear from the other side, Senator Kaye Bailey Hutchinson joins us right now as the pressure mounts as these debt talks continue in Washington. What are Republicans prepared to do? We're going to hear from her next. It's 41 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: It's 44 minutes past the hour. The pressure is on and a deadline is right around the corner, but lawmakers still cannot agree on the nation's debt.
Joining us now to weigh in on the budget talks, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas. Good to see you this morning, Senator.
SENATOR KAY BAILEY HUTCHINSON (R), TEXAS: Thank you, Kiran.
CHETRY: So before the break, we just heard from Senator Dick Durbin, your colleague, he says, first of all, everything is on the table, it has to be in the situation, and that members of Congress need to sit down and act like grownups.
He's very upset that the gang of six talks broke up after Eric Cantor said that there is really nowhere to go with this. Is there room for agreement on this issue?
HUTCHINSON: Yes, there's definitely room for agreement. I think we all realize that a $14 trillion debt is unsustainable and we need to go forward with a plan, a reform, of the way we spend, which is why the balanced budget amendment is going to be introduced today.
That will put a cap on spending of 18 percent of our gross domestic product. That will put us on a glide path to never have this situation again.
CHETRY: So Democrats are saying that it needs to be trying to find new sources of revenue in addition to some cutting of spending. Of course, Republicans want to see much more cutting than revenue growth in the form of taxes. But I want to ask you about what you think of some of these specifics. Democrats want to end oil subsidies, they want to get rid of a tax break for corporate jets, they want to limit write offs if you make more than $500,000 a year.
What do you think? Are you opposed?
HUTCHINSON: Well, I think some of those things like corporate jets, I mean, I don't think anyone would argue with not doing expensing for corporate jets.
But when you talk about oil subsidies, oil and gas doesn't get anything that every business doesn't get. You deduct your expenses. Why should oil and gas be singled out, especially in a time when we need more sources of energy to bring the costs down. Why would you single out one industry? That is what we don't understand.
And why would we raise taxes on employers at a time when we have a nine percent unemployment rate in this country? We want to create jobs. We want to encourage business to hire people.
CHETRY: Well, let me ask you -- let me just say one thing. Democrats would say the reason that you single out that industry is because they are one of the most profitable and that you'd raise $72 billion over five years if you did eliminate that tax break. HUTCHINSON: Yes, why would you single out an industry because they do well? Right now, the Democrats with their leadership have put the big oil companies in a different category from the little oil producers,, the independents, because they think that big oil makes too much. Well big oil is a company that we want to be successful, we want their employers -- employees to make money, we want a pension plan. I mean --
CHETRY: Of course.
HUTCHINSON: Why would we single out one energy company --
CHETRY: Are you in favor of some of the plans, some of the proposals that say look, let's just end all the loopholes. Let's have a flat, across-the-board corporate tax break and forget all of the other loopholes and tack break along the way and see how that goes?
HUTCHINSON: I'd love it. I think that would be great because if it is low -- and you know our corporate tax rate is among the highest in the world -- if we had a low corporate tax rate, no deductions, everyone's treated the same --
CHETRY: Right. But economic experts point out to me that we say we have the highest but that in actuality people don't actually pay it. You see companies like GE that end up paying nothing.
HUTCHINSON: Well, that's because they're doing business overseas because it's more cost effective for them to do business overseas. If we could repatriate that money and tax it at a reasonable rate, I think we would have a lot more manufacturing and a lot more jobs in America.
CHETRY: Well, let's get back to the debt ceiling. We have this August 2nd deadline, it's just around the corner. The Treasury is warning that it runs out of money to pay its bills and the Bipartisan Policy Center is now predicting that if you fail to raise that debt ceiling, Treasury would have to cut 44 percent of federal spending to prevent a default.
So come August 3rd, what bills should not get paid in your opinion?
HUTCHINSON: Well, I think that we do need to send the signal that we're not going to raise the debt ceiling unless there is reform in spending. Otherwise, we'll be in this same position in six months. We cannot do that, we've got to get our house in order.
CHETRY: So You believe that this is chicken little? That they're saying --
HUTCHINSON: But secondly --
CHETRY: -- that they're saying that really, this is not as bad -- it's being described as potentially opening the door to chaos, that world markets -- that our markets will plunge.
You don't buy any of that? HUTCHINSON: You know, I think the markets should take the signal that we are going to hold out for real reform and not have this excessive debt, which is bringing down some countries in Europe and could happen to us, as well. We're on a spending binge that is unsustainable.
I don't think that we should do anything on the debt ceiling without the reform that will show we are not going to get in this position again. We cannot have inflation which will happen if we don't cover our expenses and show that we're going --
CHETRY: Right. So when we come down to the wire, though, on August 3rd, what bills don't get paid first?
HUTCHINSON: Well, I think you pay the interest on the debt so that you do keep your integrity in the market. You pay Social Security. You pay the people in the Military who are out there on the front lines fighting for our freedom. You do the things that are essential and this is where I think the administration will be tested.
If they won't make an agreement that will have spending reforms, if they start doing the chicken little thing by not paying Social Security recipients or people in our military or interest on our debt, and instead choose to cut the things that will hurt the most but not the things that they could cut responsibly, that's going to be the test that they're not serious.
CHETRY: I got you, Senator. I know you've come forward with a very interesting plan, laid out specifically about Social Security and some solutions for that. I know it's getting the rounds on YouTube and so we're going to link it up so people can check out your plan, as well.
I want to thank you for your time. Senator Kaye Bailey Hutchinson, a Republican from Texas, thanks for being with us this morning.
HUTCHINSON: Thank you, Kiran.
ROMANS: I want to show you guys some live pictures we're watching from Los Alamos in New Mexico. There's a nuclear laboratory there. Fire threatening this facility. We are told, of course, that the nuclear materials from 16,000 barrels of nuclear contaminated waste material is secure, it is away from foliage and the like that could burn.
These are live pictures right now from KAOT of the fire moving in on this facility. We're going to continue to monitor this for you and talk about the safety of the situation there and what they are doing to secure that material. But, clearly, that whole place has been evacuated.
CHETRY: And our Reynolds is there and said that right now it's not threatened and they have several measures in place, that the flames are not burning near it. But it certainly makes you uneasy to think this is how close these flames are getting.
VELSHI: We're also possibly very close to a vote in Greece. We've got teams live in Greece. Lawmakers right now still debating very, very tough measures that are needed to save that country from financial ruins. But as you can see, live pictures in the streets. Continuing protests and clashes with police. We'll be live with that when we come back.
ROMANS: And also our question of the day this morning: Is "Newsweek's" Diana at 50, where they've photo shopped her in there with her daughter-in-law that she's never met, is this a tribute to the people's princess or is this simply tacky?
E-mail us, send us a tweet, tell us on Facebook. We're going to read some of those comments right after the break.
Fifty-one minutes past the hour.
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ROMANS: Princess Diana would have turned 50 on Friday. The people's princess is now gracing the cover of ""Newsweek"" magazine but the picture is really, frankly, creeping some people out.
CHETRY: It's an age projected photo. It's digitally superimposed and she's strolling alongside Catherine, the daughter-in-law that she never knew and it's accompanied by a piece written by Tina Brown of ""Newsweek"" saying if she were alive today, what would she be like now?
CNN's Zain Verjee has more on the controversy over there. She is live in London.
When I saw that, I did a double-take this morning. It's actually -- creepy is a good word for it, but it's a little disturbing to see that.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: That would be the general consensus, at least from what we're seeing in the blogosphere and on Twitter . People don't think it's brilliant. The majority of people think it's a little bit of tacky and a little bit creepy. But you know what? it is grabbing the attention of so many people around the world, as well as here.
If you open up ""Newsweek"" magazine, Tina Brown has written a piece there, and talks about things like if Diana was alive today, she would have remarried twice, she would have had more than 10 million followers on Twitter. It also goes on inside "Newsweek" to say that comparing the fashion senses between Diana and Kate, there's a fake Facebook page, guys, of Princess Diana and there's also another doctored picture in there of her holding a white iPhone.
So, you know, it is causing a lot of outrage. What we did is contacted "Newsweek" magazine just to kind of get their take on the effect that it's having and Tina Brown, the editor and chief of "Newsweek" wrote this: "We wanted to bring the memory of Diana alive in a vivid image that transcends time and reflected my piece."
That's all she wanted to say. The backlash is big, but it's getting the attention, guys. ROMANS: It sure is. All right, Zain Verjee. Thank you, Zain.
VELSHI: The business guy in my says it's going to sell a lot of "Newsweeks" this week.
ROMANS: I think you're right.
CHETRY: Probably is.
VELSHI: All right. What's our question of the day? We've been asking you about it, as well.
Is this tribute or is it tacky?
Here's what I've got from Twitter. It says, "It's a tribute. I'd like to think Diana and Kate would have liked each other."
CHETRY: Also we heard from 24inmymind on Twitter. "That cover is just so horrible. Elevated the 'National Enquirer' to scholarly journal."
ROMANS: And Trina (ph) on the blog says, "I think it's tacky. The photo shopped work looks poorly done, which makes this 'tribute' distasteful. If the work had been done well, maybe people wouldn't be so upset. But as it is, the pictures look disturbing."
VELSHI: Can I put in my two cents?
ROMANS: Yes, please.
VELSHI: I didn't -- I wasn't bothered by it.
ROMANS: Really?
VELSHI: Yes, I like the concept of a projection. I like the idea that Tina Brown is talking about what Diana would have been like today, whether she would have been tweeting and what she would have been doing.
I think -- the picture of the two of them together definitely makes you think for a second.
CHETRY: The article is very interesting and -- you know, because she is such a figure that her -- the interest in her continues on, even though she's passed away. So I get that. The photo shopped picture, what she would retweet the Dalai Lama --
VELSHI: Don't judge an article by its cover.
CHETRY: That's what I always say.
ROMANS: Keep your comments coming. Send us an e-mail, a tweet, tell us on Facebook. We're going to read more of your thoughts later in the program.
VELSHI: Let's go right back to those pictures of Greece. We are continuing to follow this. Things are erupting there as workers fill the streets. They are fighting with police. Tear gas is flying. Europe's economy is hanging in the balance right now. And, by the way, if things don't go well in Greece, it's going to affect you right here. We're live in middle of it and we'll bring you up-to-speed on the other side.
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