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American Morning
Defense in the Casey Anthony Trial Rests; Casey Anthony Does Not Testify on Her Own Behalf; Timothy Geithner May Step Down as Treasury Secretary After a Debt Ceiling Deal is Reached; Texas Redistricting Battle
Aired July 01, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The case against the ex-IMF chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. It might come apart this morning. He's in court today, and now, the big question, will the hotel maid's story hold up on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It's Friday, July 1st. Christine is off today, because it's Canada Day.
CHETRY: That's not why she's off but good try.
Up first, a man who was once the world's most powerful banker, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, will be back in court this morning.
VELSHI: Big developments late last night. There's word that the sex assault case against him may be falling apart because of major holes in his accuser's story. Susan Candiotti who has been following this case right from the beginning is live outside the courthouse. Tell us what this is all about, Susan.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is big. This is big, Ali. It's a stunning development because two sources familiar with the case are telling us that there are serious credibility issues that have arisen with the hotel maid in this particular case, and especially important to point out is that we are told that it was investigators for the prosecutors that developed some of these problems with the woman's story.
Not necessarily about what she had to say about what happened -- allegedly happened at the hotel, Sofitel, her allegations about (ph) sexual assault, but because of issues that were developed when they started looking into her history and her background, and it could all impact her case if it came to court involving the felony charges. Prosecutors, we understand yesterday, called for and had a meeting with Dominique Strauss-Kahn's attorneys to discuss these issues. And disclosed about four or five things I am told, included among them a problem with the asylum application that the maid made from her native Guinea when she came to the United States. In that application, evidently she claimed that there was a sexual assault that had occurred in her past. I am told that involved outright lies. So today in court, prosecutors will be formally outlining what some of these problems are. And then the defense attorneys will be asking that bond be modified so that, in effect, they may even ask for him to be let out on his own recognizance. I am told that might not necessarily happen, but at the very least his passport might not be returned to him, but he might be allowed to travel, for example, within the United States. We'll have to see.
What's key to point out as well, what about this DNA evidence? That apparently according to police sources does exist involving some sort of sexual activity at the hotel. But what will happen as a result of this? You see how credibility issues can in effect impact an entire case. Ali, back to you.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Susan, thanks very much. We'll watch this very closely. You said it's expected to happen around 11:00, 11:30 this morning. The key here is that it appears to be investigators and the prosecution that is uncovered these holes, not the defense saying this is going on.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And the more that they interview her and they were finding these inconsistencies, they're raising a red flag on their own, which is pretty unusual as well.
VELSHI: We'll stay on that story.
We also want to talk about the other big criminal story going on right now. The defense rests in the Casey Anthony murder trial. A bombshell moment by the mother accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter in cold blood.
CHETRY: And it's Casey Anthony who did not testify in her own trial. David Mattingly in Orlando, Florida, with some of the highlights and what it could potentially mean as they get set to wrap this up. Hi, David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. What we saw yesterday was sort of a letdown to everybody who has been following this trial. We've had over a month of testimony, heard over 100 witnesses, and the question came up every day, will Casey Anthony testify in her own behalf.
Yesterday we got that answer. She was and the judge went through a line of questioning with her to make sure that she was the one making this decision. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE BELVIN PERRY: You understand that your decision to testify or not testify is solely your decision and your decision alone?
CASEY ANTHONY: Yes, sir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: The jury is going to have a lot to consider once they start deliberating after closing arguments. The closing arguments expected to happen Saturday. The jury will get this case and begin deliberating.
One of the things they'll be looking at is a suicide note left by her father George Anthony, this happened in January a few weeks sometime after Caylee's body was discovered in December. And in that note, as many pages, it rambles on, and in that note he said "I cannot function knowing our granddaughter is gone. Caylee Marie never had the chance to grow. I wanted to walk her to school on the first day."
He also said, "I hope you get to see Casey soon." All the people we met, writing us, say the writing is getting weird. He said "I love you. I am sorry. I will take care of Caylee once I get to god, hopefully."
The defense looked at this and said this was a man possibly trying to cover his tracks after assisting in the cover-up of an accident, the prosecution looking at this saying these are the words of a grandfather who is overcome with grief. So again, the jury is going to sort this out. We're looking at the prosecution to finish up today with the rebuttal witnesses and then Saturday, the closing arguments in this very long and detailed case. Kiran?
CHETRY: All right, David Mattingly for us this morning with those details. Thanks so much.
We want to bring in Sunny Hostin, legal contributor for "In Session" on TruTV, following this case with us all along and this morning we have Vinnie Politan, anchoring coverage on TruTV and on "Prime News" he's in Orlando. The defense rests and sunny all along you said that Casey Anthony had to take the stand because --
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION": I did.
CHETRY: How much was promised in that opening statement. She didn't.
HOSTIN: It's her legal right not to. Make no mistake about that. She has a constitutional right not to testify. But in opening statements, the defense made so many promises, based, I think, only on Casey Anthony's story. They said that Casey Anthony acted the way she did for 31 days, didn't report her daughter's death or disappearance because her father sexually abused her.
The defense ALSO said that Casey did not murder her daughter. Rather she died this accidental drowning death. Who is going to provide evidence? Only Casey Anthony.
Because they promised the jury these huge promises and now they've broken those promises, to the jury, that makes me think that this jury, perhaps, may hold that against the defendant, the defense, I mean there are a lot of holes in this defense theory.
VELSHI: Vinnie, if you were only a casual observer of this trial, it becomes very confusing as to who is testifying for whom. Yesterday we were all sort of expecting that Casey Anthony might take the stand. She didn't. And the big witness ended up being the alleged mistress of Casey Anthony's father, George Anthony. You had a chance to sit down with her on your show last night. First of all, tell us why she was a defense witness and what she told you?
VINNIE POLITAN, ANCHOR, "IN SESSION": Well, here's what she's all about. George Anthony -- Jose Baez in his opening statement, made George Anthony, Casey's father, the villain, enemy, the guy that orchestrates the cover-up. The guy who sexually abused Casey since she was a little girl, he's the bad guy. He gets up on the stand and comes across very convincingly and denying all that.
They also said that he had an affair while his granddaughter was missing. He also denied that, Ali. What they did is they brought in the woman who says she had an affair with George Anthony. And what they're trying to do is attack his credibility and get in front of this jury some alleged statements that George Anthony made to this alleged mistress.
You hear all the "alleged" inside what I'm saying here. And that's part of the problem it's sort of a hearsay statement. So she gets in. And in front of this jury is this alleged mistress saying George Anthony allegedly said to her the whole thing was an accident.
CHETRY: I know you had an interview. Let's listen to what she said to you.
POLITAN: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a liar. He knows, come on, like he's wording it --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell me why.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, but I know he's lying, because he was in my bed and he was taking my money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOSTIN: Vinnie, you know that was pretty credible, Vinnie.
POLITAN: And here's the thing. I sat right next to her and yes, she came across convincingly. And yes, she's got some issues in her past. The question is, though, does the jury make the leap from the fact that maybe George Anthony wasn't telling the complete truth when it came to an alleged affair inside a courtroom with his wife in the back row?
VELSHI: This thing rests on what that jury thinks about every participant involved, Casey Anthony, her mother, her father, her brother. It's all a he said/she said operation. And you know, sunny made the point yesterday, she said if you make a big opening statement like Jose Baez did you better have the money in the bank to cover it and you don't think that the defense had the money in the bank to cover it? Sunny?
HOSTIN: Oh, yes.
POLITAN: Do I?
HOSTIN: I don't think so.
POLITAN: Sunny's analogy.
HOSTIN: I used to get that all the time, Vinnie, when a prosecutor. If you're going to make this opening statement and write this check to the jury better not bounce the check. You have to have the evidence in your bank account to cash it. I don't think the defense did that. I think the defense bounced the check to the jury and I think that's going to be extremely problematic.
I don't want to burden because the defense doesn't have the burden of proof. I don't think they met their burden either.
POLITAN: Sunny, I don't think they bounced the check.
CHETRY: Did the prosecutors give enough evidence to convict this woman in a capital murder case?
POLITAN: Yes, they did. First degree is going to be a challenge because of the jurors have to agree on all this thing, and if there's any room for compromise with July 4th weekend coming up, may compromise for something lower. But she's not walking out of that courtroom.
I want to say about Sunny's check that bounced, that wasn't a bounced check. That was a fraudulent check. That's what that was.
HOSTIN: I think you're right about that.
CHETRY: Sunny, Vinnie, great to talk to both of you.
VELSHI: Let's give you some news. In Minnesota, thousands of state employees are no longer being paid after the government shut down at midnight, the second shutdown in six years. It's all because state lawmakers, a Republican controlled legislature and Democratic governor couldn't come to an agreement on how to close the state's $5 billion budget gap.
What's closed this morning the Minnesota zoo, state parks, state lottery, rest stops, no driving tests available until government reopens. And if you're camping in Minnesota state park you have to get out.
CHETRY: So are they actively trying to get an agreement hammered out?
VELSHI: The legislation feels the governor pulled the plug too fast, there was work to do. This is what happens when you get down to the last minute and should be a signal to the federal side when you wait to the last minute things like this happen.
CHETRY: Meantime, the NBA has locked out its players. They had a collective bargaining agreement expire and talks failed to produce a new contract here. The two sides remain pretty far apart on every major issue to salaries to how the league shares revenue. The lockout puts the 2011/2012 NBA season in jeopardy.
VELSHI: Coming up next on "American morning," could President Obama be about to lose the sole remaing member of his original economic team? We'll give you details on what CNN is learning.
CHETRY: Also, a scare for the French president on the campaign trail. It was all caught on tape. Someone grabs him while he was shaking hands. We'll have more on the aftermath coming up.
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VELSHI: Digging in over the debt crisis with the fast-approaching deadline one month from tomorrow. The Senate has canceled its scheduled next week to work on a compromise. Right now talks are hung up on a democratic proposal to close tax loopholes for the wealthy, or as Republicans refer to it, tax increases, and that is something they insist they will not support under any circumstances.
CHETRY: Meantime a source is telling CNN's chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is thinking about stepping down after a deal is reached on the debt ceiling.
VELSHI: Jill Dougherty live at the White House with both of these stories. Good morning, Jill. First of all, let's just talk about this, where we are on the debt ceiling. We're a month away. What's going on?
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, debt ceiling they're still in these talks and still seem to be divided down the middle on the issue of the tax increases as you said. And until they can really work that out, there isn't going to be a lot of progress.
The president, as you know, is heading up these talks, and there's been kind of a brinkmanship, come on up to Capitol Hill and talk to us. But the president yesterday said he's not going to. Now we're getting into the weekend. But there is certainly a sense of urgency here, no question, Ali.
VELSHI: And the Senate says they'll stick around next week. We have not heard from the House what they're going do. And then I'm trying to make sense of this Timothy Geithner thing. What do you make of this?
DOUGHERTY: Well, the source says -- I mean number one, I think the headline is he's not leaving yet. He's -- but the -- just the fact this is out there with that velocity and noise, is -- really says something. He is a key member of the president's team. He is the last remaining original member of the team. Five others have departed.
He's also -- this happens at a time of a lot of uncertainty as we all know about the economy. You have certainly the debt talks, the debt ceiling negotiations, on raising the debt ceiling and that deadline looming in August. You have lack of jobs. And then you also have the Greek crisis.
So, there's a lot hanging out there. And that could explain some of the nervousness.
Remember, he, Timothy Geithner, was the person who came in and was really spearheading this administration's response to the financial crisis with all of its good sides and its bad sides. So there was a lot of criticism in the beginning.
When, well, could he leave? Well, when he was in a discussion last night, or yesterday, with former President Bill Clinton -- Bill Clinton played journalists and said, are you going to be going, and he said, "I'll be doing this job for the foreseeable future."
But what they're pointing out is they have to get through debt ceiling and the deficit reduction before anything could happen, realistically, Ali.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Well, we'll see where it goes as we said.
The Senate now is canceling the recess. Will the House follow suit?
VELSHI: And John Boehner the one says they're not making any deals. So, we'll all be -- you know what, Jill, we'll be working here for the foreseeable future until this debt matter gets resolved, I suspect.
DOUGHERTY: Right.
CHETRY: Thanks, Jill.
Well, a security scare for French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
VELSHI: That's an understatement.
CHETRY: A security scare?
VELSHI: Somebody grabbed him by the collar.
CHETRY: He grabbed him, but he's all right. Nothing happened.
VELSHI: Pretty good. Look at this.
CHETRY: Yes, a man grabbed him shaking hands in the crowd. There is a gate separating, there he is slammed up against that gate and his security detail swoops in, bodyguards came out, wrestled the guy to the ground in a matter of seconds -- there he is -- and police are holding that man for questioning. So, maybe we'll know more about why he decided that would be a great idea.
VELSHI: Yes. It's always curious.
All right. Rob Marciano, weather center, what's going on, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, we had Arlene yesterday made landfall across northeastern Mexico. We have some video coming to you, mild storm surge. We had winds some gusting at times to over 65 miles an hour. But for the most part, flooding was the main issue with this, with the tremendous amount of rain coming in. There's some of the wave action.
So, they're in a drought as well. But you up into the mountains of the Sierra Madre and it became a little bit more of an issue.
All right. That's the first tropical storm of the season. We'll have many more I'm sure. And I wonder if our streak of not hitting the U.S. again happens this year. We'll see.
All right. Hazy, hot and humid across parts of the midsection of the country. we have severe thunderstorms last night across Chicago with big-time hail, and we got the heat that's starting to build across the central part of the country and also the western Great Lakes. A matter of fact, from Tulsa up to Minneapolis, Chicago, we've got excessive heat watches and some warnings that are posted for the next 48 hours. It's going to be steamy for the holiday weekend.
You'll see some delays in Tampa, Orlando and Miami because of afternoon thunderstorms. And low clouds and a couple leftover showers in Chicago this morning and daytime highs, as mentioned, it'd be kind of hot across the midsection.
Not too shabby across the Northeast, 83 degrees expected in New York City and for the most part, we'll see fairly tranquil but pretty hot conditions as we go through the rest of this holiday weekend, right into Monday.
Guys, back up to you.
CHETRY: Happy Fourth, Rob. All right. Thanks so much.
MARCIANO: All right.
VELSHI: Just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, a high stakes battle in Texas over the state's new congressional map. Who stands to win and lose in the redistricting plan?
It's 18 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-two minutes after the hour. Minding your business this morning.
U.S. stocks rallying for the fourth day in a row. The Dow jumped more than 150 points. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 also making gains. That's on good news out of Greece and a positive economic report in the Midwest.
Lots of new economic figures coming out today focus on manufacturing data. A report releasing at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, investors looking to that number to signal whether the economy has been shrinking or growing.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan made some critical comments of the current administration. Speaking on CNBC, he said both the stimulus plan didn't work. And on Greece, Greenspan says a default is likely and will affect the whole structure of profitability in the United States.
Some state parks are closing for the holiday weekend due to state budget cuts. Higher fees and reduced hours, too, at some parks, Arizona, Virginia, California -- some of the states opting to make cuts to the programs.
AMERICAN MORNING right back after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-six minutes past the hour.
In Texas political circles, redistricting is a dirty word. There is a battle brewing right now over four new congressional seats.
VELSHI: CNN's Ed Lavandera looks where the battle lines are drawn in this morning's "Defining America" report.
Ed is live in -- how do you say its place you are?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Gruene.
VELSHI: Gruene. I've been to Gruene, the middle of oil producing parts of Texas.
LAVANDERA: Well, this is a small town between San Antonio and Austin and one of the real popular areas around here, Gruene Hall, great Texas music, most weekends, and you probably remember it well. I think I remember the last time you were here, Ali.
VELSHI: Right.
LAVANDERA: But, anyway, we will get back to what we're focusing on today, which is redistricting. One of the things that happened because of the 2010 census and explosion and growth in population here, Texas gets four new congressional seats and that's just something new to fight over.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Whenever a redistricting showdown looms in Texas, political pundits can't help but think there's got to be a better way. But each suggestion ends in a punch line as the editor in chief of the TexasTribune.org found out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe we ought to take the process of redrawing these maps out of the hands of politicians and put them in the hands of technocrats. What do you think about that?
REP. KEL SELIGER (R), AMARILLO, TX: We ought to take the calories out of fried chicken, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not entirely possible. LAVANDERA: The last redistricting battle in Texas ended with Texas Democrats fleeing the state to block the Republican's plan for a new congressional map -- 51 lawmakers secretly escaped to Ardmore, Oklahoma, they spent days hanging around the pool of a holiday inn hotel, trying to kill the bill.
Redistricting brings out the worst in politics, just ask long-time political columnist Dave McNeely.
DAVE MCNEELY, TEXAS POLITICAL COLUMNIST: The long knives are out. It's a time when people who have previously been friends can become enemies and it's a time when -- if revenge can be gotten by those in power, it will be.
LAVANDERA: So, welcome to the latest round of Texas redistricting. It's even more intense this time around because of the state's population growth. Texas will get four new congressional seats, but Democrats say at least two of the new districts should be drawn from minority candidates.
REP. TREY MARTINEZ FISCHER (D), SAN ANTONIO, TX: Ninety percent of all growth in the last decade in this state was minority growth -- 65 percent of that alone Latino. So, you would expect the new congressional district would reflect the minority populations that created the opportunity and unfortunately they don't.
LAVANDERA: Democratic groups have filed lawsuits to block the Republican's plan which is still waiting for Governor Rick Perry's approval. Republicans argue that because Texas is a conservative state, that the new district should reflect that. Republicans hold a super majority in the state legislature and were able to pass their plan without Democratic support. And now, they're prepared to battle it out in court.
REP. BURT SOLOMONS (R), CARROLLTON, TEXAS: Everything in context with this congressional map seems to be leading to the court house. No matter what Mr. Seliger and I or the legislature does, it's going to go to the courthouse because the group seems intent on making sure it goes to the courthouse.
LAVANDERA: Hold on. It's going to be another bumpy political ride.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: And, Ali, it will take months, if not a little more than a year to have all of this kind of settle out and there's many different maps and proposals that are out on the table right now. But one thing is for sure, there will be four new Congress people going to Washington soon from Texas -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right. Ed, have a good time in Gruene, say hi to the folks on the bus for us and have lunch at the Gruene River cafe behind you.
All right. Top stories right now: The Japanese government says new radiation hot spots have been detected well beyond the mandatory evacuation zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Officials are recommending more than 100 homes be evacuated in four new districts. Trace amounts of radio isotopes have reportedly shown up in children as far as 24 miles outside the exclusion zone.
CHETRY: A stunning admission in a TV appearance yesterday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says that doctors in Cuba found and removed a cancerous tumor from his body last month. There's no word yet when he will return to Venezuela.
VELSHI: A court hearing scheduled for ex-IMF Chief Dominique Strauss- Kahn. A source tells CNN there are serious issues with the credibility of the housekeeper who claims he attacked her in his Manhattan Hotel suite.
CHETRY: That's right. Joining us now to talk about this major twist, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Paul Callan. You've also worked with clients who have been found guilty of falsely accusing people of sexual assault.
So you some have experience with this, but the prosecutors in the beginning really said they were standing by the witness. That they thought she had a very credible case. How surprised were you to hear about this turn?
PAUL CALLAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: This is a stunning development. You know, prosecutors went way out on a limb. You know, they pulled this individual Strauss-Kahn internationally known head of the IMF.
Maybe presidential candidate in France, off an international flight, placed him under arrest, basically throw him into Rikers Island immediately.
The defense has always been saying this is a phony case, a false case. It was consensual sexual activity between the two and now it appears that the prosecutor's case is completely falling apart.
I think on Friday, you're going to see a Supreme Court judge in Manhattan possibly releasing him from his home custody and I think this is a staggeringly important development.
VELSHI: Usually the defense comes forward and says we have evidence that this witness is not strong. We are hearing, our sources are telling us, it's -- this is coming from the prosecution and from the investigators.
CALLAN: Yes. The sources look quite reliable, actually, indicating prosecutors have asked the judge for a hearing on Friday. They would never do that --
CHETRY: Meaning today or next Friday?
CALLAN: Meaning this Friday. I think it's on for today. CHETRY: Yes.
CALLAN: Later today. And they would never do that unless there was something of enormous importance. Now the reports, by the way, are among other things, that she was tape recorded, talking to an incarcerated drug dealer about how she could make money going after Strauss-Kahn shortly after the charges were lodged. What she didn't know is that with incarcerated prisoners all telephone calls are tape recorded.
CHETRY: So they have that on tape. Secondly some --
CALLAN: Probably have that on tape.
CHETRY: -- questions in "The New York Times" reporting today also some questions about whether she received money, whether they were transfers into her account from some of these people, perhaps, doing time for drug involvement.
CALLAN: Exactly. The reports are that maybe as much as $100,000 transferred into her bank account across the country, which might tie her into money laundering with drug dealers.
Other questions though, she made an asylum application with the INS to get into this country. Apparently she claimed a prior rape. There's no evidence of the prior rape.
So there are just lots of issues here regarding her credibility that obviously have caused problems for the prosecution.
VELSHI: How committed is the prosecution in this high-profile case going to be though to saying we have something on this guy. We may not have had everything we thought that we had when we put him in jail the first time.
CALLAN: Well, they have gone way out on a limb in this case and they're going to be extremely embarrassed if they have to drop it. Now in the end, there were only two people in that room, the maid and Strauss-Kahn. So whether the sex was consensual or whether it was forced, it's her word against his.
CHETRY: Neither side is denying there was some DNA evidence of an encounter that took place. So the other big question, was this a setup?
CALLAN: Well, hard to say. I mean, it would seem that the defense in the case is claiming it was a setup. That she knew he was a rich individual, and she was going to shake him down. Now will prosecutors just back away and drop the case?
That remains to be seen. But I think what you're going to see today is either released on recognizance, Strauss-Kahn gets to leave his house, his confinement and the case will be put over while prosecutors continue to investigate.
When they come up with this kind of material, it's called brady material, evidence of innocence, they have to turn it over to the defense immediately and that's getting back to your question, Ali, that's why prosecutors --
VELSHI: May not want to but they have to.
CALLAN: They have a legal requirement to do it.
CHETRY: Would they have a legal obligation to pay, he's spending $250,000 to keep himself under this house arrest or is that --
CALLAN: You know, ironically if he turns out to be innocent, he spent $250,000 --
CHETRY: A month.
CALLAN: -- for his own confinement. They have no obligation to pay it. How does he get his reputation back? Every headline in America had him characterized as a pervert and all kinds of other things, everybody forgetting the presumption of innocence.
By the way, we still don't know who's innocent and guilty here, but that's why we have a presumption of innocence until the evidence comes in?
VELSHI: Paul, good to talk to you. Thanks so much. It's going to be a big conversation all day today. Paul Callan, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor.
Still ahead, the reaction on the streets of France to that bombshell news against -- about Dominique Strauss-Kahn that the case against him could be on the verge of collapse. We're going live to Paris.
CHETRY: Also, what killed wrestle icon Randy "Macho Man" Savage. There are new details from the medical examiner this morning.
VELSHI: And young golf phenomenon Rory McIlroy is a hero in Ireland, but not because of his taste in beer. What he told our own Piers Morgan. It's 35 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Here's a shot of Atlanta. A little hazy out there this morning. Are you going anywhere this weekend?
VELSHI: I'm not.
CHETRY: No.
VELSHI: Beautiful, 75 degrees right now.
CHETRY: Yes, it's going to be 92.
VELSHI: You know, before 8:00 in the morning is always a beautiful thing.
CHETRY: And then the humidity kicks in. VELSHI: Yes, it's 92 like you said. Lot of people love it by the way. I love the city.
CHETRY: It's a wet heat.
VELSHI: Even in New York I don't like it when it gets hot and mug.
CHETRY: Very low humidity.
VELSHI: All right, well, hope you like the WNBA because that's all the pro basketball you might get for a while it seems. The NBA has locked out its players after the two sides failed to reach a new collective bargaining agreement. They're said to be far apart on pretty much every major issue and that's going to put the next NBA season in jeopardy.
CHETRY: An autopsy now showing that pro-wrestling legend Randy "Macho Man" Savage died of heart disease not a car crash. You may remember he died at the age of 58 after a car wreck in Florida last month, but the medical examiner says that the crash could have been -- could have been brought on by him having a heart attack behind the wheel.
VELSHI: That is an interesting story. OK, he's the biggest golfer in the world right now and his name is not Tiger, he's Rory McIlroy. He's the young Irishman who totally ran away with the U.S. Open earlier this month.
"Sports Illustrated" calling it golf's new era. Last night, Piers Morgan asked him how he celebrated and he may have shocked all of Ireland with his taste in beer. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIERS MORGAN, HOST, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": Irish way of celebrating things is to go and get completely hammered. I hope you kept up this tradition.
RORY MCILROY, U.S. OPEN CHAMPION: Yes, I've had a couple good night out with my friends since I've been home.
MORGAN: There is some conjecture about exactly what beer is your favorite.
MCILROY: Never Guinness.
MORGAN: You don't like Guinness?
MCILROY: No, I'm not a big fan. If I was going to drink any beer it would either be Heineken or Corona, usually Heineken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Wow. That's all right. I mean, you don't have to love Guinness just because you happen to have Irish roots. You know, sometimes you like a German beer.
VELSHI: Well, he's the youngest winner of the U.S. Open since Bobby Jones by the way back in 1923. You remember that, Bobby Jones.
CHETRY: Yes, that was -- I remember watching that sitting on the couch.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: The former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn expected in court as lawyers today talk about whether the victim in this case, whether or not her story is lacking in enough credibility for them to move forward.
VELSHI: Yes, these charges derailed any plans that Dominique Strauss- Kahn had of becoming the next president of France. That was at the time a very likely story.
There was a lot of outrage in France when he got the perp walk treatment you're looking at here. He was paraded in front of cameras in hand cuffs.
Jim Bittermann is now in Paris live with the reaction to the latest twist in the case. Jim, you've been sort of taking the pulse of the French all along. It was met with such remarkable shock when it first happened. What's happening now?
JIM BITTERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I don't think this is going to do a great deal for their concept of their appreciation of American justice. That perp walk you saw, in fact, is one thing they were very upset about because they have a law against that kind of thing here and, in fact, they think it implies guilt and to the extent so many people now thought that Dominique Strauss-Kahn is guilty.
I think that it may be correct to some extent in that. We have been out on the streets today, CNN cameras, and we've taken a look at what people are saying. The big question here is, can Dominique Strauss- Kahn come back politically and here's the kind of answers we heard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he can't come back. You mean in the presidential competition? No, I don't think so. I don't think so. I think it's not white and black.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he will be out of the presidency because everywhere, the story will have an input on his career and on his popularity. I don't think he will be able it to make it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think for him to political party is over.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): There will always be a doubt. Even if they say yes, he is innocent. There will always be people who will think the contrary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BITTERMAN: Despite that public criticism and public skepticism about Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the fact is the political class here, there is a growing feeling he will be able to come back somehow, especially if he's at least partially exonerated from these charges this afternoon.
And if he can travel back to France, he could actually get here in time to register for the Socialist Party primary. The deadline is the 13th of July. Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Jim, we'll follow it closely. We're a few hours away from that hearing in New York and I know you will be following it in Paris. Jim Bittermann in Paris for us.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, Prince William and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge are in --
VELSHI: Canada.
CHETRY: Canada this morning. And the reason you have the flag is because it's also Canada Day today.
VELSHI: That's right.
CHETRY: The couple's first official trip abroad since their wedding and they will be there for the next eight days with stops across the country. After that they head to California. Now didn't we think they're really going to California for a day? Did they extend it?
VELSHI: It's three days, but it's like the end of one day, one full day and then they kind of leave so it's --
CHETRY: Yes, it's really not three days. One day kicking back in Cali.
VELSHI: All right, coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
CHETRY: If you want to quit smoking, would getting a text on your phone help? Apparently, when smokers trying to quit gets texts it helps them kick the habit faster.
VELSHI: This I have to see to believe.
CHETRY: Hear about why coming up.
VELSHI: It's 44 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: It's 45 minutes past the hour. Here are your morning headlines.
The Japanese government recommending more evacuations from the area around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. They extend well beyond the mandatory evacuation zone immediately around it.
In a TV appearance yesterday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says that doctors in Cuba removed a cancerous tumor from his body last month. There's still no word on when he heads back to Venezuela. A bail modification hearing today for ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss- Kahn. A court hearing scheduled to talk about the credibility of the hotel maid who has accused him of sexual assault.
A source familiar with discussion tells CNN that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is thinking about leaving his post after a deal was struck to raise the debt ceiling. The source adds that Geithner has not yet made or has announced a final decision.
Let's check in on the markets, stock futures up slightly ahead of the opening bell. Investors are waiting on manufacturing and spending numbers that come out later this morning and how those numbers will impact the markets.
Former Boston mob boss "Whitey" Bulger in shackles and an orange jumpsuit. You see him, it's a new coast guard video of him getting dropped off for court. Yesterday a judge dropped old racketeering charges against him so that prosecutors could focus on his alleged role in 19 mob killings.
The defense rests in the Casey Anthony trial and Casey herself did not testify. George Anthony, though, her father's alleged mistress testified saying that he told her that Caylee's death was an accident. Closing arguments are expected to begin tomorrow.
The NBA on lockdown. The owners have locked out players after the league's collective bargaining agreement expired and they failed to agree on a new one.
You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back after the break.
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VELSH: It was -- I was -- we were commenting on Atlanta being hazy. New York is hazy too right now, sunny they say and 65 degrees. Maybe the camera is smudgy, 83 degrees today. No rain in the forecast for New York City.
CHETRY: Fourth of July weekend.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Going to look nice around here. All right, well, people who were near sighted, hello, have a tough time seeing objects far away.
Now there's a new concern. It's a new study found that nearsighted people may be twice as likely to develop glaucoma. It's a serious eye disease that can lead to blindness, pain and other problems.
Researchers say it doesn't necessarily mean that one causes the other, just that they often happen to the same person or co-occur. Although it's not clear why it happens, experts do suggest that you go for regular eye exams.
VELSHI: If you can't - seem to kick the smoking habit, your cell phone could help you. A new study found that smokers are twice as likely to quit if they receive motivational and supportive text messages.
Some of the texts used in the trial were words of encouragement, advice on keeping weight off while quitting and even ways to deal with cravings since the text method is cheap, researchers believe it may entice more smokers to get help. A little trouble believing that, but OK, they say it works.
CHETRY: All right, well, the government announcing that Medicare will pay for the expensive prostate cancer drug, Provenge. It is a drug that's been shown to add months to the lives of men who are suffering from advanced stages of the disease.
VELSHI: Well, the drug's cost is raising some question. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now from Atlanta.
Elizabeth, good morning. Tell us about this.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, well, this is a drug called Provenge and it works in a really interesting way. They take a patient's own cells and send those cells to the drug company and make a drug that is based on the patient's own biology.
So the question is, as you said, about the cost and about what you get for that cost. Let's take a look at some numbers. Provenge adds about four extra months of life. In other words, people who take Provenge lives four months longer than people who don't.
The cost for that four extra months of life is $93,000. Now, that's a high price tag but, of course, if you are the man who is living that much longer, you're saying $93,000 is worth it.
That $93,000 is usually paid by the taxpayers since 80 percent of prostate cancer patients are on Medicare. Ali, Kiran --
CHETRY: That is the only expensive drug out there for prostate cancer. There are others that are quite costly as well.
COHEN: Right, this actually has been an exciting time for prostate cancer research. There are several new drugs out there. They all do about the same thing and cost about the same amount.
Let's take a look at two other ones. For example, there is a drug called Jevtana and that gives you 2.4 extra months of life for $136,000 for 2.4 months. Zytiga for four extra months of life, $66,000 so as you can see these are all sort of in the same neighborhood.
VELSHI: That's a lot of money, but I guess, these average extensions of life when you're the one doing it, you don't think about the average. You I think that you want to be the high end of that. It's an interesting debate. Elizabeth, thanks very much.
COHEN: Thanks. CHETRY: Well, she's being called a monster-in-law. This mother-in- law to be from hell you may have seen this already because it went viral.
It was a letter that she sent to her future daughter-in-law absolutely tearing her to shreds and gets right to it in the e-mail. She says here is some examples of your lack of manners when you're a guest in another's house, do not declare what you will eat and will not eat unless you're positively allergic to something.
VELSHI: You do not start before everyone else.
CHETRY: When a guest in another's house, you do not lie in bed until late morning. In households that rise early, you fall in line with house norms.
VELSHI: You regularly draw attention to yourself. Perhaps you should ask yourself why. No one gets married in a castle unless they own it. It is brash, celebrity style behavior.
The e-mail ends with I pity Freddie. Freddie is her step-son. Now, we're characterizing this is a monster-in-law, but not all of have done that. Our question of the day, would you go through with a wedding if you received that e-mail from your future mother-in-law?
Here are some of your responses. Patrick says, "While manners are important and not practiced by many these days, I would follow through with the wedding, apologize and use this experience as a lesson in how not to act in someone else's home. This mother-in-law and daughter- in-law to be were both wrong."
I'm finding a lot of people with some sympathy with the mother-in-law to be.
CHETRY: People have asked, is this girl really that ill-mannered? Diana on the blog writes, "I expect that the future daughter-in-law has given a reason for her to respond this way. The daughter-in-law is probably immature and probably not the best match for her son.
Many of us have parents who have experience with our children not choosing a spouse for the right reasons and are blind to that until problems show themselves later."
VELSHI: Excellent responses from all of you. OK, we will take a break. Top stories right on the other side. It's 53 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: A case on the verge of collapse. I'm Kiran Chetry. Dominique Strauss-Kahn will appear in court later today and now lawyers are talking about serious credibility issues with the hotel maid accusing him of sexual assault.
VELSHI: First the NFL. Now the NBA has joined the lockout brigade. I'm Ali Velshi. The league and its players said to be far apart on almost every collective bargaining issue, putting the entire '11 and '12 NBA season in jeopardy on this AMERICAN MORNING.
CHETYR: Good morning to you. So glad you're with us. It's Friday. It is July 1st. Big July fourth weekend ahead of course and Christine Romans is off today.
VELSHI: We left a space for her. Up first, the man who was once the most powerful banker in the world, Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be back in court this morning.
CHETRY: Yes, what a bombshell late yesterday that word that the sex assault case against him maybe falling apart because prosecutors discovered major holes in the accuser's story.
VELSHI: Prosecutors, not the defense. Susan Candiotti has followed this case every step of the way is live outside the courthouse. We're expecting to see him in the next three hours or so. Susan, what is the story?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali and Kiran, there's no other way to describe it. This is simply amazing. We have two sources familiar with the case telling us about serious credibility issues with the hotel maid who has made those serious allegations against Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
And as you pointed out, what is particularly stunning about this development is that the prosecutors brought these problems up with members of the defense team. In fact, there was a meeting on Thursday called by prosecutors to make these disclosures to the lawyers representing Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Pointing out, among other things, according to a source, there are at least four or five problems, as I understand it and at least one of them, as an example, has to do with political asylum application that she made when she came to the United States from her native Guinea.
This involved what she claimed to be a prior sexual assault and sources say investigators learned for the prosecution that it simply didn't happen, there were admitted outright lies on the part of the hotel maid.
What is going to happen in court today is that prosecutors will be outlining formally some of these before the judge and the defense team will ask at the very least, that the bail for DSK be modified.
They might even ask for him to be allowed to go free on his own recognizance. It's unclear how the judge will respond to this. They might even ask for his passport back, but I'm told that is unlikely to happen.
Perhaps he might be allowed to travel in the United States. What does this mean ultimately for the felony charges against him? Well, according to a source, it could mean that this could all simply go away, but they are not at the stage. The investigation isn't over yet. Ali and Kiran --
VELSHI: All right, Susan, you'll be on top of it all today and we'll be following this very, very closely. Thanks, Susan.
