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American Morning
New Allegations Against DSK; Casey Anthony Murder Trial; Lagarde's First Day As IMF Chief; Economists Rank Greece As Scariest Risk; Bank Branch Closures Nation Wide; Interview with Rick Santorum; Her Debut International Thriller; Treating Soldiers with Brain Injuries; Space Shuttle: Final Mission
Aired July 05, 2011 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn about to be hit with a criminal complainant alleging attempted rape. This time in France. We're live in Paris with Strauss-Kahn's response.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans.
Parades and politics. A log jam. A Republican candidate for president spending Independence Day on the campaign trail in Iowa and New Hampshire. Among them, Rick Santorum. He's kicking off a 10-city jobs tour today and he'll join us live on this AMERICAN MORNING.
VELSHI: Good morning. It is Tuesday, July 5th. Kiran Chetry has the day off.
ROMANS: Hello. Good morning, everyone. But first, just as Dominique Strauss-Kahn was beginning his newfound freedom, the former head of the International Monetary Fund is about to be hit with a new criminal complaint alleging an attempted rape eight years ago in France.
VELSHI: Our senior international correspondent Jim Bittermann is live in Paris.
Jim, what's the latest?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ali and Christine.
Basically, we are waiting for this complaint to be filed. The lawyer for someone named Tristane Banon is being -- said earlier today that he's going to file that sometime today with the prosecutor's office here in Paris.
Now, what has to happen after that is the prosecutor has to take a look at this complaint and see whether there's enough evidence, if it's justifiable to bring charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn here.
So, we are still ways away from charges actually being laid and it could take a prosecutor sometime to evaluate things. After all, this incident that took place eight years ago is kind of a he said/she said incident as far as we know. We know nothing about any kind of evidence that might still exist eight years on. That could be used against Strauss-Kahn -- Ali and Christine.
VELSHI: Jim, what about the statute of limitations?
BITTERMANN: Well, on this particular charge, attempted rape, if that's what they go for, in fact, the statute of limitations does not apply because it's 10 years of statute limitations. So, that would go until 2013. However if the prosecutor decides it's not attempted rape but sexual assault, then, the statute of limitation would have already applied and, in fact, there not be a change to take Strauss-Kahn into court on that.
So, the fact is that they've got to really go for attempted rape and that might be a little bit more difficult to prove as well -- Ali, Christine.
CHETRY: All right. Jim Bittermann in Paris -- thank you, Jim.
VELSHI: We're on verdict watch. Jury deliberations resume this morning in the Casey Anthony murder trial. Jurors failed to reach a verdict after nearly six hours yesterday.
ROMANS: Let's bring in Sunny Hostin, a former federal prosecutor and legal contributor for "In Session" on truTV. We're also joined criminal defense attorney Paul Callan. They've been following this case all along.
Paul, let me ask you first: I mean, we keep saying after six hours of deliberations, no verdict. We don't expect a verdict right away.
PAUL CALLAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No, I'd be shocked if there's a verdict under at least three days of deliberation. When you have you a trial this long, the whole world is watching -- usually, they deliberate for quite a while. There's a lot of complicated scientific evidence.
ROMANS: They haven't asked for any read-backs yet, they haven't asked for any kind more -- I mean, usually, you'll hear from the jury starting to ask for pieces of testimony be reread and the like, right?
CALLAN: Yes, you see that. And, actually, one of the things that indicates usually is that there are jurors who have divided into camps and one camp wants this read-back to prove their point. And so, it kind of demonstrates division in the jury a lot of times when you see read-backs.
So, I don't know. No read-backs so far. No request for evidence. You know, it sounds like they are in the very early stages of deliberation and not really fighting too much.
SUNNY HOSTIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: You know why I think this may be different? This is a jury that's been sequestered together for 30 -- well, now, for 35 days. So, they have gotten to know each other. Typically, when juries aren't sequestered, they do have to get the time when they get into the jury room, to feel each other, to feel the camps out.
They don't have that now because they are friends. They've been living close for a long time. So, I'm surprised it has taken a long time for them to at least ask for read-backs because the evidence is already in the jury.
CALLAN: Sunny has a very interesting point and I think a lot of people would be surprised by this. Jurors are not allowed to discuss the case --
HOSTIN: That's right.
CALLAN: -- the entire time they are sitting on the case. Every day, the judge says do not discuss the case amongst each other. So, the central thing in their life while they're sequestered they have not been able to discuss until yesterday.
HOSTIN: They talk about their families. I was a sequestered juror, so I have a little bit of experience in it. You talk about everything else. You talk about your families. You talk about your job.
VELSHI: The food at the hotel.
HOSTIN: The food at the hotel. And so, there are bonds.
CALLAN: The attorneys -- they talk about the attorneys, the judge, the personalities in the courtroom.
HOSTIN: They are friends already. There are bonds that have been made.
VELSHI: All right. Bottom line, though, is that -- and maybe this is a good thing and maybe this happens more often than we think, but it does seem that the defense here has done a somewhat effective job in entirely muddying the waters and confusing. So, it's not two sides on this thing, right? It's maybe people who think she's guilty and maybe people have no idea what's going on.
HOSTIN: I think that's right. And, you know, I think Jose Baez took a lot of flak when this case first started. They said he wasn't experienced enough for a case like this. I think, after seeing the entire presentation, while he may have misstepped by promising so much to the jury in opening statement, he has done a pretty good job with what little he had.
I mean, let's face it. This is a difficult case to defend.
CALLAN: I don't. See, Sunny and I have a big disagreement on this.
HOSTIN: You disagree with me on that, Paul?
CALLAN: No. I think that Baez is a rookie defense attorney.
HOSTIN: He is a rookie. CALLAN: I think he made errors that no experienced defense attorney --
HOSTIN: That's true.
CALLAN: Well, here's the biggest thing, OK? You got a case with a lot of holes in it. So, you got a lot of reasonable doubt you're putting up on the board. And the one thing you don't want to do is promise an alternative theory that you have to prove.
VELSHI: Right.
CALLAN: So, he gets up in his opening statement and does something no defense attorney would do. He says it's a swimming pool accident and we're going to prove it to you. And then he offers no evidence whatsoever on that issue. He loses his credibility completely to the jury.
HOSTIN: But maybe there's a method to his madness. I mean, it's sort of the pink elephant in the room. He didn't prove it up. That's right. But you can't un-ring the bell.
So, perhaps there are one or two jurors that are thinking, what about the swimming pool? What about the sex abuse? So, it's there.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Un-ringing a bell, this is like Easter Sunday.
HOSTIN: That's right!
VELSHI: They have put so many -- I mean, yes, he presented that as the alternative thesis but they colored this with potential responsibility from a father who might have been an abuser, from a brother who might have been an abuser. Is that brilliance, or is that --
HOSTIN: It's too soon to tell. I will agree with you, though. I have never seen a defense attorney write that check and there is not the evidence -- I'm surprised about that.
(CROSSTALK)
CALLAN: It's textbook. And anybody who's tried cases. I've defended and prosecuted murder cases. I'm always very careful in my opening statement, because when you try these cases, a lot of times, you have witness and the witness is going to come in and give you great testimony. The night before he gets sick or he changes his story, so you don't want to overpromise to the jury because you never know what's going to happen.
And here's this guy -- swimming pool accident, sex abuse and all of this stuff he never proves. So, I think a big mistake because he could have put reasonable doubt on the board without committing to a specific theory.
VELSHI: Right.
CALLAN: Now, I may prove wrong. But I think she's going to down. She's getting convicted, probably of a lesser count. And Baez will be criticized forevermore.
HOSTIN: We'll have to talk about it at the end of it.
VELSHI: But you think she's getting convicted?
HOSTIN: Yes, I think everyone can agree something criminal happened but I think the question still remains -- what happened?
VELSHI: And will it be capital murder.
HOSTIN: That's right.
VELSHI: OK.
ROMANS: All right. Sunny Hostin, Paul Callan, thanks so much you guys.
VELSHI: All right. Also developing right now, an autopsy is set today for a woman's body found in an Indiana creek. Police are trying to determine if it may be missing college student Lauren Spierer. She was last seen leaving a sports bar after a night out with friends in June. Dozens of searches and tips have turned up no new leads.
ROMANS: Right now, the Mexican Navy is still searching for as many as eight people missing after a tourist boat capsized off the coast of Mexico's Baja peninsula. Between 43 and 44 people are onboard that boat when it ran into bad weather on Sunday. Capsized and very quickly sank.
VELSHI: The governor of Montana wants answers. He's calling for more to be done in the Yellowstone River oil cleanup. ExxonMobil reports at least 200 workers are on-site. Nearly 42,000 gallons of oil leaked into the water after a pipeline cracked on Friday. High waters and fast currents have hampered that cleanup.
ROMANS: Ands the Service Secret this morning is now investigating the apparent hacking of FOXNews.com's Twitter feed for political news. Someone used that site yesterday to falsely announce that President Obama had been killed. FOX is also asking Twitter for a detailed investigation.
VELSHI: OK. You're going to want to stay with us if you haven't had breakfast yet. Bacon prices are sizzling. Why they are going up. We'll tell you about that after the break.
ROMANS: Plus, speaking of pork, he ate 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Joey Chestnut remains the king of competitive eating or does he?
VELSHI: There may be a dispute in this. We'll talk about that, too. And when Mother Nature strikes -- what does it look like? Well, when a sea gull steals a camera. It's kind of interesting. Get ready for a bird's eye view.
It is nine minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: The Tour de France getting off to a rough start. Check this out video. One of the cyclists clipped a spectator on the elbow Saturday and brought down an entire of group of riders. There we go.
ROMANS: Oh, my goodness.
VELSHI: Yes. The accident could affect the final results because the defending champion Alberto Contador was caught up in the crash and lost over a minute of time.
ROMANS: All right. Daniel Radcliffe, actor, better known as "Harry Potter," revealing that he struggled with a drinking problem during the last few years of the filming "The Harry Potter" series. In an interview with British "GQ," the 21-year-old actor says he, quote, 'became so reliant on alcohol to enjoy stuff." But Radcliffe says he know knows how to control himself mostly by avoiding alcohol altogether.
VELSHI: New this morning, a fireworks barge catching fire in the Charles River in Boston. Boston used the platform last night for its Fourth of July fireworks show. The fire department told WCVB in Boston that there were about 15 live charges on the barge. The fire was out in about an hour. It's not clear how it started or if anyone is hurt.
ROMANS: All right. Put another notch in the mustard belt. Joey Chestnut scarfed down 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes to win his fifth consecutive Nathan's famous hotdog eating contest on Coney Island. It wasn't a personal best for the champ but he still won by nine dogs. Of course, there was some controversy.
VELSHI: Yes. And the controversy is that Takeru Kobayashi staged his own renegade solo chow down at a rooftop bar in Manhattan. Look at the number on the top right there, 69. He ate 69 hot dogs and buns which would have been a world record.
But he is in a contract dispute with the group that runs the other competition. So, it's not an official record.
ROMANS: It didn't happen in Coney Island.
But back to Brooklyn, where the women may have really stole the show. They had their own eat-off for the first time ever. No surprise. The tiny Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas won the f first ever pink Pepto belt with 40 dogs.
VELSHI: Wow.
ROMANS: Wow, 40 hot dogs.
VELSHI: Jacqui Jeras in the extreme weather center.
I like eating hot dog, Jacqui. But I don't know. I think I could top out at six or seven.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: How do you train for something like this?
VELSHI: Well, the funny thing is that you're not even enjoying what you like about the hotdog because you got to dip it in water to make it work.
ROMANS: It's all about the rush of competition.
VELSHI: Yes, I'm not so into it.
ROMANS: The thrill of victory.
VELSHI: I can imagine. Anyway.
Well, what the people grilling dogs over the holiday weekend, a lot of people's plans spoiled by some thunderstorms. Did they wake you up last night or early this morning?
We've got some issues with that still across parts of the Upper Midwest. Just west of the Twin Cities, we've got showers and storms. Nothing really severe here but some heavy downpours and we do expect some airport delays in the Twin Cities as this next wave moves on through. So, be prepared for that.
Elsewhere, though, across the country today, we'll be really focusing in on the Upper Midwest for the chance of thunderstorms. We're also going to see some pop-up activity here into the Southeast -- so places like Nashville, into Memphis and into Atlanta, as well as Raleigh will see thunderstorms, especially this afternoon and will probably see a few of those across the Florida peninsula as well.
All right. Things are hot out there. Once again, go figure, right? Once you hit July, you know you're in for it. A lot of cities across the southeast and even into the Mid-Atlantic States having air quality alerts including you in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Meaning, the air is unhealthy to breathe especially between the hours of 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. So, don't go out for that jog during those hours. Out west, the best weather in the nation, guys, today. If I had to pick one city, Seattle, Washington. How about sunshine in 79.
VELSHI: What do you do the rest of the year?
ROMANS: Rain, rain.
VELSHI: Yes, that's right. But a good day to do to be in Seattle.
JERAS: Got to have a couple in there.
ROMANS: Right. Thanks, Jacqui.
VELSHI: Thanks, Jacqui.
All right. Check out this viral video. I can't even believe how this happen. A sea gull flies off with a filmmaker's video camera. I'm assuming it's a very small video camera. I haven't seen the size of it. This was happening in Cannes, France. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey! Hey!
ROMANS (voice-over): That's a pretty good bird's-eye view. He said he had climb up on a castle wall. That's where that bird just dropped it to get it back.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI (voice-over): Then he pushes it over.
ROMANS: He's like, wait a minute. This isn't what I thought it was.
VELSHI: But it's hilarious how it got a good shot, I mean.
ROMANS: That's funny. The original video already has close to two million hits on YouTube in over a week.
VELSHI: I hope this turns out to be real.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS (on-camera): Don't tell me it's not.
VELSHI (on-camera): It's very effective, though.
ROMANS: It is very cute.
VELSHI: All right. Still ahead, CNNMoney surveyed dozens of economists about threats facing the economy. What scares them most? We'll tell you on the other side.
ROMANS: Plus, former Pennsylvania senator and now presidential hopeful, Rick Santorum, he will join us live. He is on a ten-city tour of Iowa. He's fighting for American jobs. So, we're going to grill him. What is his plan? Sixteen minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-one minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning. The woman who is replacing Dominique Strauss- Kahn at the International Monetary Fund beginning her first day today. Former French finance minister, Christine Lagarde, is the first woman to run the IMF. She'll serve a five-year term. Economist survey by CNNMoney.com say default by European country like Greece ranks as the scariest risk to the U.S. economy. A close second is another oil price shock like the one following turmoil in Northern Africa and the Middle East.
More bank branches are closing than opening for the first time in 15 years. That's according to a report in "The Boston Globe" this morning. Banks are looking to trim costs to offset new limits on credit and debit card fees. Almost 1,500 bank locations shut down in the past two years across the United States.
A check in on the markets. Stock futures up slightly ahead of the opening bell. Investors waiting for a new report on factory orders for May to get a fresh look at the U.S. economy. Those figures come out at 10:00 a.m. eastern.
Just in time for BLT season, in case you didn't know there was one, bacon prices expected to sizzle this summer. A tight hog population and high feed costs are pushing bacon and other pork product prices higher. Hot temperatures are also hurting supplies. That's increasing prices, too.
Up next the key to space travel's future and Republican presidential contender, Rick Santorum, joins us live. AMERICAN MORNING back after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: On Friday morning, weather permitting, we'll be witnessing the end of an era in space travel when the final shuttle mission lifts off. The crew is being called NASA's final four. Astronauts, Chris Ferguson, Doug Hurley, Sandy Magnus, and Rex Walheim, arriving yesterday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
VELSHI: Exactly where we find CNN's John Zarrella this morning. John, this is a chapter that is closing in the space era, and a new one is opening up the idea of commercializing the transportation of car-going and astronauts.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's absolutely right, Ali and Christine. And you know what, though, it's a real risky chapter because NASA is basically saying, look, we're out of the lower orbit business. We're not going to be taking astronauts to the space station anymore. We're not getting into space tourism. We're going to start exploring, doing what we do best. And they're saying, commercial companies, it's up to you to take it from here?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (voice-over): Elon Musk runs Space X. Richard Branson heads Virgin Galactic. Both are using their considerable wealth to back bold attempts to make space travel as routine as boarding an airplane.
RICHARD BRANSON, VIRGIN GALACTIC: People used to say to me, look, it'd be impossible to build your own spaceship and your own spaceship company and be able to take people into space. You know, that's the kind of challenge that I love to sort of prove them wrong.
ELON MUSK, SPACE X: I want to see a future where we are exploring the stars, where we're going to other planets, where we're doing the great things that we read about in science fiction and in the movies.
ZARRELLA: There are several companies, some big, some small, who see as NASA moves on to distant planets that weightless region just above the atmosphere. Just out of the reach right now, becoming quite possibly a good investment.
GEORGE MUSSER, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MAGAZINE: NASA is still in there, still going to develop a heavy lift rocket, but we've also got this, hopefully, flowering the private space flight and that's what's going to get us the Hiltons and the Hertz rent a cars and whatever in orbit.
ZARRELLA: Space X and Virgin Galactic are on the verge of not just opening but stepping through that door to the future.
MUSK: We want to make space accessible to everyone. I mean, that's a revolutionary change, but it's incredibly exciting, and it brings space the possibility of space travel to all Americans which is fantastic.
ZARRELLA: Next year, Musk hopes to begin carrying cargo to the international space station, eventually astronauts, a commercial company replacing the space shuttle.
MUSK: We believe firmly we can send astronauts to the space station within three years of receiving a NASA contract to do so.
ZARRELLA: But unless it's safe, NASA's administrator says no U.S. astronaut will be on board.
CHARLIE BOLDEN, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: I cannot allow them to put us in jeopardy by not focusing on crew safety and the like. That's my job.
ZARRELLA: The stakes are high. There is no turning back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please welcome, the future of space shuttle.
ZARRELLA: With shuttle retired and astronauts left to ride in Russian spaceships, NASA is counting on commercial companies to get it right, make it work. And the more who make it work, the more affordable it will become.
BRANSON: That's the end of a particular era, and it's up to individuals like myself, if you're in a position to be able to, you know, achieve wonderful things, you know, not to waste that position.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liftoff.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ZARRELLA (on-camera): Now, the countdown to the last shuttle flight is going to pick up here at about one o'clock this afternoon. And Ali, I know you're coming down here for the last launch. Bring some extra clothes. The weather is iffy, as usual, for a summer day in Florida this Friday.
VELSHI: Sure.
ZARRELLA: So, we might be here a couple extra days.
VELSHI: All right. Good warning. John, I look forward to talking to you.
ROMANS: A weekend with John Zarrella in Florida is not a bad thing.
VELSHI: That's right. We'll find (ph) something, but we'll be there. For now, it's scheduled for 11:26 eastern time on Friday morning. John, look forward to seeing you.
And by the way, we want know what you think. It's our question of the day. Should the federal government get out of this business of space exploration? Based on what John said, they're shifting into something else. Send us an e-mail, give us a tweet, tell us on Facebook. We'll read through some of your questions -- some of your responses later in the show.
ROMANS: And of course, don't miss CNN's live coverage of the final launch this Friday, July 8th, at 11:26 a.m. eastern, the last shuttle mission ever.
VELSHI: All right. New video into CNN right now. Nine firefighters are injured after their forest service bus crashed in Palm Dale, Florida. It happened overnight. The crew was rushing to a fire when the bus crashed. The cause is still unknown.
ROMANS: Jury deliberations set to resume this morning, Ali, in the Casey Anthony murder trial. Jurors failing to reach a verdict after nearly six hours yesterday.
VELSHI: And sexual assault claim will be filed today against Dominique Strauss-Kahn. French journalist, Tristane Banon, claims that the former IMF head tried to rape her eight years ago. Strauss- Kahn has filed his own complaint accusing the woman of making false declarations.
ROMANS: In New Hampshire and Iowa, Independence Day parades were a popular campaign destination for several Republican candidates for president. Among them, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. He marched in three separate Iowa parades yesterday, and this morning he is kicking off a five-day, 10-city jobs tour.
VELSHI: Rick Santorum joins us live this morning from Des Moines, Iowa.
Senator, good to see you. RICK SANTORUM, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good morning.
VELSHI: You are -- you're a former senator. You know about how things are going in Washington. I have to tell you, Christine and I share a view. It's an absolute mess what is going on in Washington right now, specifically with respect to the debt ceiling and failure to reach an agreement is somewhat deplorable. My fear is that you support what -- what people who are blocking that increase are saying about the debt ceiling.
SANTORUM: Well, I don't -- well, who is blocking the increase? It takes two to tango.
VELSHI: The Democrat -- the Democrats are blocking the increase, Senator.
SANTORUM: Well, no. I think both sides are to blame.
VELSHI: I'm sorry, the Republicans are doing that.
SANTORUM: Well, no. I think both sides are to blame. I mean, the president of the United States is doing anything but leading on this issue. I mean --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: That wasn't the question, Senator. I'm asking you, what would you tell them to do right now. August second, we have to have an increase in the debt ceiling. Would you support it or not?
SANTORUM: Well, I would support a responsible increase in the debt ceiling that does something to do something about the basic problem as to why we have a debt ceiling increase, which is we are -- we are blowing the doors off spending in Washington, D.C. And continuing that is not going to be good for the markets, it's not going to be good for the economy. It's certainly not going to be good for bottom line.
VELSHI: Were we spending more -- we were spending more than we took in in 2002, Senator, in 2003 and in 2004 and in 2006? Do you recall?
SANTORUM: The answer was we were spending slightly more than we were taking and we were having debt ceiling increases that were modest by comparison.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: But you voted for -- you voted for them in all of those four years, correct?
SANTORUM: What we are talking about here, and if you go back -- you know, scale matters. Scale really does matter.
VELSHI: All right. SANTORUM: What you're talking about here is an enormous increase in spending. You're talking about a president who has blown the doors off of Washington spending. We are talking about 50 percent increase above what the normal spending is relative to GDP, and there is no end in sight to this.
And to continue that reckless spending, these huge deficits, we're talking about a president who doubled the -- almost doubled the amount of national debt in his term of office, vis-a-vis those who came before him. So we can't just say, well, we did it before, it's the same. It's not the same.
ROMANS: Hi, Christine here.
As a response to a financial crisis, the largest certainly in our memory and since the Great Depression at the very least --
SANTORUM: And made worse by this president.
ROMANS: How?
VELSHI: OK, he didn't double the deficit of his own choice. He didn't walk into office in January of the year that he took over --
SANTORUM: Yes, he did. As a matter of fact -- a matter of fact, he passed a huge stimulus package which now we know over the past two quarters has actually cost American jobs, and that's from the report of his own administration. They claimed in December that by the end of last year that they created 280 million jobs, and now they're saying they created only 240 million jobs.
So, look, I mean this is -- you are talking about huge increase in spending --
VELSHI: Senator, I'm going to ask you to restate that. Senator --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Do you mean -- do mean --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: What -- what -- I've never heard that in my life.
Tell me again what you just said.
SANTORUM: If you look at the report that came out on Friday, the president's own economic advisers said that the jobs stimulus package actually created fewer jobs as a -- over the period of time since the -- since the stimulus package went in place than it did when they reported back in December. In other words, there is 30 million less jobs --
VELSHI: That's not a loss of jobs, Senator. That's a smaller aggregation of jobs. You can't go on a campaign, a national campaign with this kind of math, Senator. It's just incorrect.
SANTORUM: Well, Sure you can, because it is -- that's not incorrect. I mean, they're claiming less jobs --
VELSHI: Senator, if you created 230 million jobs, it's not a loss of jobs. That's just not a loss of jobs.
ROMANS: We -- we --
SANTORUM: I don't know how you count -- one report says we are 280 and now there's only 240, that means that there's fewer jobs.
VELSHI: All right. I know you've got a lot of interviews to do. You might want to check that math.
ROMANS: Let me pull it back a little bit and talk a little bit about we know that job creation has been disappointing over the past few years, but we also know that it's much better now than it was when the president took office. We know that we were in a financial crisis --
SANTORUM: No, no that's simply not true. The unemployment rates -- hold on.
VELSHI: Wow.
SANTORUM: The unemployment rate is much higher than it was when he took office.
ROMANS: We are talking about -
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: -- look, we are slicing it two different ways. You're talking about the unemployment rate, and you're correct. I'm talking about the number of jobs lost every single month. You know, we're talking about the trajectory and how to turn it around, and there are huge ideological differences about how to do that.
I want to zero in on exactly --
SANTORUM: That's correct.
ROMANS: -- very clearly how you would create jobs. Because I'll tell you something, when I talk to businessmen and women around the country, I ask them about health care, I ask them about tax cuts, I ask them about tax hikes, I ask them about regulation. They have all different opinions, and then they say, I just need demand.
SANTORUM: Yes, well, demand is created by making sure that people have the resources to be able to create that demand, and when government takes more and spends more, then people have less. You know, under the Obamacare, taxes went up.
If you look at what we need to do, we need to create a dynamic marketplace, and I think what we do so by reducing regulation, like repealing Obamacare, repealing Sarbanes-Oxley, repealing big chunks of Dodd-Frank. I mean, those are the kinds of regulatory burdens -- look at what the EPA is doing, what the NLRB is doing, the FDA. You have -- this administration has exploded the regulatory process and has encumbered business in its growth, number one.
Number two, we need to incentive not more government spending, but more private sector spending. You do that by reducing taxes. One of the areas that I think is very important is the area of manufacturing. On this jobs tour that I'm taking, I'm talking about creating a zero rate of taxation for corporations, individuals who manufacture in this country.
We need to create jobs, good-paying jobs, jobs that have strong multiplier effects for the economy, and manufacturing is the key to that. And so, part of what I'm suggesting here --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: But how do you -- how do you make sure that that is domestic? Because we've tried before with different tax breaks and allowing repatriation of profits before, and big multi-national companies have actually added R&D and added jobs overseas and really haven't been net creators of jobs in the U.S.
How do you make sure the jobs happen here and the money just doesn't help fund foreign operations?
SANTORUM: Well, remember, I just said we were creating a zero rate of taxation for manufacturing jobs created here in the United States. So if you set up a manufacturing facility or expand a manufacturing facility, you're going to have a zero capital gains -- not capital gains -- corporate rate or rate -- depending on if you are Subchapter S, whatever entity you pay taxes through, you're going to have -- if you manufacture here in the United States you're not going to pay taxes.
What we are going to do is create the multiplier effect of the dynamism of manufacturing to make America a place where we make things again.
ROMANS: In your view, would that be better than putting some sort of tariffs or anything on Chinese goods that would maybe level -- some manufacturers say that would level that playing field and allow them to create more jobs here?
SANTORUM: Well, yes. It would also dramatically increase cost of goods for workers, many of whom are struggling right now. I don't think we need to make costs, make things more expensive here. What we need to do is create incentives and a welcoming and dynamic tax code that creates jobs here.
VELSHI: Senator, you're not polling particularly well, but you're out there trying to get people to get to know you a little bit better. And in the process, they should probably know where you stand on gay marriage.
Can you make very clear what your view is on gay marriage?
SANTORUM: I believe that marriage is a union of one man and one woman. It's nothing else. You can call something marriage; it isn't.
Marriage is something that is intrinsic to society. It's a necessary glue that holds the family together. And, you know, we need to say to every child in America that you deserve a mother and father, and we're going to have a set of laws that encourage that to be the case.
VELSHI: Are you against gay marriage? Would you reverse some of these processes that have been underway to try to make it easier for people to either have civil unions or gay marriage, or are you not as troubles by civil unions as you are by actually gay marriage?
SANTORUM: I'm troubled -- I'm troubled by everything. I think we need to have a federal marriage amendment. Marriage cannot be defined differently from one state to another. I mean, that is a losing proposition. People, you know, can't be married in one state and then go to another state and say, well, we demand you recognize our marriage. It will not work over the long time. It has got to be sustained one way or another, and I believe for the interest of children, for the interest of society and stability of men and women and families, that marriage should be what it is, which is the union of one man and one woman.
VELSHI: Senator, I look forward to talking to you again. I would tell you, though, dangerous to go around saying the stimulus didn't create jobs. If it created fewer than you originally --
SANTORUM: Look it up.
VELSHI: -- suspected that's a very different story.
SANTORUM: Look it up.
VELSHI: I'm happy to do that, Senator, and when you do it, I'll be happy to hear from you as well.
SANTORUM: Their report says the that job totals have decreased over time, not increased.
VELSHI: Fewer jobs created than initially thought, not a decrease -- not a loss of jobs. Very distinct -- very big difference. Let's not make a campaign slogan out of something incorrect.
SANTORUM: If you say so.
VELSHI: I think you might thank me for the guidance, but it's your campaign, so you do what you see fit.
ROMANS: Rick Santorum, thank you so much. I know you're really pounding the pavement in Iowa, in New Hampshire working to -- you know, there's a lot of buzz around there --
VELSHI: Yes. Let's be just clear. That's just not right information.
ROMANS: Well, I'm going to get that --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: We're not -- yes.
ROMANS: OK. Thank you so much.
All right, "smart, sexy, sinister," just a few words to describe our next guest's new book. Globetrotting CNN journalist and our good friend Katie Pilgrim has racked up awards for her reporting. She's now giving fiction a try with her big debut novel, "The Explorer's Code." It's part thriller, it's part romance, it's all next.
Forty minutes after the hour.
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VELSHI: Well, she has gone from just the facts to fiction, and she's done it really well. Former CNN anchor Kitty Pilgrim has written a new adventure. It's her debut thriller, and it's called "The Explorer's Code."
ROMANS: And it's thrilling, actually. It takes you from the Norwegian arctic to a luxury yacht in Monaco to an archeological dig in Turkey, all in a quest for a dangerously valuable land deed. The characters are excellent. It is such a smart read. We want to welcome Kitty back to CNN this morning to talk about it.
As a television anchor for 20 years, I mean, you covered stories, I see threads of them throughout this novel.
KITTY PILGRIM, AUTHOR, "THE EXPLORER'S CODE": Well, that's true. I mean, I reported this book first before I wrote the fiction. But that's -- it's fact-based fiction. I really enjoyed digging out real details and then spinning them into a fictitious plotline so that people would actually learn real things when they read this book.
ROMANS: Tell us about the seed vaults, because this is a real place.
PILGRIM: Yes. High in the arctic, it's part of Norway, it's way up before the polar cap, the last piece of land before the polar cap is a global seed vault. And the seeds are there to preserve the species.
ROMANS: So every seed we've ever found is frozen solid somewhere?
PILGRIM: Every seed from every country -- well, they're trying to fill it --
ROMANS: Right.
PILGRIM: -- so that if anything happens, we have these species. So I was very intrigued with that.
I went up to the arctic about 12 years ago and then just last February, after I wrote the book, I went with my son, William. And he took these pictures we are seeing now so that the enhanced eBook, the electronic book, actually has video inserts and you can see the locations of the book and some of the science behind the plotline.
VELSHI: But ultimately, it's a thriller. It's about bad guys who want to destroy this seed vault for whatever their reasons and it's people who are there to save it. This is a fast moving thriller. I wouldn't guess this was written by a journalist or somebody who only dwells in the world of facts. It's a really exciting thriller.
Where did you get this? This what part of you?
ROMANS: The mild-mannered Kitty Pilgrim coming up with murder and love affairs, I'm telling you.
VELSHI: Well, every time I ran through an airport on assignment, I would have a choice of either grabbing a sort of shoot 'em up, guy- oriented killer or a female romance. And I always, always yearned for a combination of the both.
So it's a romantic thriller, and so there is a lot of lifestyle, yachts, parties, and then there is also a lot of, you know, bad guys and chases.
VELSHI: And stuff we can't talk about on morning TV.
ROMANS: That's right. There's woman in the book named Cordelia, the protagonist, basically, and she is a smart woman's heroine, you know, very smart. And it's a kind of -- I would say a new kind of heroine for these sorts of books.
PILGRIM: I think so. I mean, I actually was tired of the walk- on parts for the woman in thrillers.
ROMANS: Right.
PILGRIM: And so I actually wanted to pick an occupation for my heroine that was intelligent, and she's an oceanographer. And I actually consulted with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institutions --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Right.
PILGRIM: And some of the scientist up there to actually make her character right.
ROMANS: Amazing, it's just an amazing tell. Now there's also an archaeological dig in Turkey; a mad dash basically around the world trying to find this land deed. Tell us a little bit about -- this world of, I guess, text messages and Facebook communications, this is a very smart commitment for a -- it's a (INAUDIBLE) -- but it's -- you walk away learning something. PILGRIM: I really wanted -- I've read a lot of fiction and it was fantastical. And you learn nothing --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Right.
PILGRIM: -- or you learned inaccurate information. Especially in thrillers. There -- there was a tendency to just go beyond what was credible.
VELSHI: Right.
PILGRIM: So I wanted to take a very exciting plot line but then base it in fact. So you have the 1918 pandemic and the decoding of the genome, you have the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Alvin Program. You have the global seed vault and the preservation of the species. You have real things that are really going on that you can learn about, but yet, it's a -- it's a fictitious plot.
So I -- I really felt that fiction could be more fact-based and serve -- be informative, as well as entertaining.
ROMANS: Well, that's us I mean, it's -- if I didn't know you, I would still say this was very --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: I was so -- yes. It was great. And I think I did it in like two days.
ROMANS: Ali was a couple of chapters behind me and then we start discussing it and then he'd say, stop, stop. Don't say it, don't say anything else.
VELSHI: Yes, excellent.
PILGRIM: That was very much fun. There's a second one coming.
ROMANS: Yes. I know it begs for the people, it begs.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: I was going to say --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: -- thinking, it definitely begs more. So congratulations.
PILGRIM: It is a thriller.
ROMANS: Kitty Pilgrim thank you so much. It's a very nice to see you.
(CROSSTALK) VELSHI: Who knew, all of these years we knew Kitty. Who knew that she was a novelist?
ROMANS: From straight news to a beautiful fact fiction. Nice to see you Kitty. Thanks.
PILGRIM: Thank you.
VELSHI: Our morning headlines are next.
It is 47 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Fifty 50 minutes after the hour. Here are your morning headlines.
A fireworks barge, catching fire this morning in the Charles River in Boston. It was part of the city's Fourth of July fireworks show last night. Boston firefighters say they put it out in about an hour. They are still trying to find out how it started.
The Montana Governor is asking for more help in the Yellowstone River oil cleanup. The water is back below flood level but strong currents are still hampering workers. Nearly 42,000 gallons of oil leaked into the water after a pipeline cracked on Friday.
New trouble for former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn who could face new sex assault charges in France. French writer Tristane Banon says Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her six years ago, eight years ago rather. Strauss-Kahn has filed his own complaint accusing her of making false declarations.
Back to work for jurors on the Casey Anthony murder trial. They failed to reach a verdict after nearly six hours of deliberations yesterday. Earlier the prosecution wrapped up its closing arguments calling Casey a pathological liar.
And markets open in less than 45 minutes. Right now, stock futures are up slightly in pre-market trading. Investors waiting for a new report on factory orders for May. That will help them get a fresh look at just how well the economy is growing. Those figures come out at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: There is a Facebook campaign under way to help returning veterans who suffer post-traumatic stress disorder. An organization called DogBlessYou.org has launched the effort. For every 5,000 people who've just pressed the like button, a specially trained service dog will given to a struggling veteran.
Philanthropist Charlie Annenberg Weingarten is behind the program. He says he's doing it because he's seen the healing power of pets.
ROMANS: That's true. OK, doctors call it the signature injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 200,000 American soldiers returning home with traumatic brain injuries. Now, a scientist named Kit Parker (ph) is working on a new approach to treat these returning heroes.
VELSHI: And for him, it's personal.
Here is CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta with today's "Human Factor."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kit Parker always wanted to be a bioengineering professor at Harvard. He thought he was going to develop the next great heart medicine. But in 2002 when he was offered his dream job, there was a catch -- he was in the army reserves and he signed up with a unit that he knew was headed to battle. So Army Major Kit Parker told Harvard.
KIT PARKER, U.S. ARMY: Hey, hold the job, I got to go fight. And then I took off for a year to go fight in Afghanistan.
GUPTA: He spent much of 2002 and 2003 near Kandahar, hunting for Taliban. He came back to Harvard, but in 2009 with the National Guard unit, he went back to Afghanistan.
PARKER: I spent a lot of time with rout clearance units looking for IEDs and we got hit several times and vehicles in front of me blown up. My vehicle never got hit. I was very lucky; very, very lucky. When you run up there and pull open the door, that (INAUDIBLE) and see your injured buddies, you'll never forget that sight.
GUPTA: This time, back home, he began to explore the science of brain injury.
PARKER: What happens when the brain gets hit by a blast wave and slams up against the inside of the skull.
GUPTA: With colleagues at Northeastern University, Parker built new tools to study how a blast affects the brain. It could be years before this leads to new treatments, but Parker hopes that eventually it will have a broad impact.
PARKER: Concussions that your favorite football player suffers or the head injury you get when you're in a car accident and your head snaps forward or a shaken baby syndrome. These are all examples of non-penetrating head injuries that can cause a traumatic brain injury.
GUPTA: Today his Harvard lab is humming with young graduate students. More than half a dozen are veterans.
PARKER: We are very focused on this because these are our buddies, these are our guys. You know? This could have been us and it might still be us. So it brings a certain level of urgency to what we are trying to do.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Beautiful Atlanta, Georgia. Partly cloudy and 72. Sun is going to have no chance of peeking out behind those clouds. Going to be thunderstorms later on today which is not atypical of a summer afternoon in Atlanta. It's going to get up to 90.
ROMANS: Preparations are under way for NASA's last ever shuttle launch. The final four astronauts arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida yesterday and they'll spend the next few days preparing for Friday's historic lift off of the shuttle "Atlantis". It's the very last lift off for the shuttle program. The crew will deliver supplies and parts to the International Space Station.
VELSHI: You and your family do not want to miss CNN's live coverage of the final launch. It is this Friday, July 8th -- wait, there it is -- at 11:26 a.m. That is what we're aiming for, 11:26 a.m..
ROMANS: All right. NASA of course not abandoning space flight but this is a new chapter of space exploration for the agency. New goals include putting a man on Mars and sending a vehicle to an asteroid.
VELSHI: But some people say that private companies hold the key to space travel's future. So it's our question of the day. We want to know what you think. Do you think the federal government should get out of the business of space exploration?
Here are some of your responses.
On Facebook, Rusty says, "No. The government should be the one to lead exploration while delivering cargo and people to low earth orbit should be handed over to the private sector, which is kind of what's the plan, right?
ROMANS: Right. Josh on Facebook says, "The government should get in the business of space exploration for profit. If they invest in GMM track etcetera, why not invest in NASA Inc?"
VELSHI: The issue here is that NASA is saying and it's unclear whether as John Zarrella said, there is an appetite for this. But the idea is NASA says they want to do a man's space flight to an asteroid and to mars and things like that while companies like Space X and other private companies will take over the carrying of astronauts to the space center and cargo and others like Virgin Galactic will take space tourists for $250,000.
ROMANS: But some of you are saying that what they're real concern is other countries and governments in particular are spending aggressively right now. And then, you know, maybe the U.S. Government should be in it for the knowledge part of it.
VELSHI: Right. And if you fall behind, you may not be able to catch up. But there is a reasonable argument from others who say is this the best place right now in this economic environment to spend money? I mean shouldn't it go to other things? I mean, it's a valid debate.
Remember, at no point, other than I think when we landed on the moon, was everybody on the same page about space and how much money it will cost.
ROMANS: That's right. Well, this is what leadership is all about. President Bush, before he left, remember, he was very into Mars as the next destination, the next frontier for NASA and for the United States. Sometimes it takes the big think from above and we will see if this government weighs in too.
VELSHI: You know, interesting fact. The president who signed off on the idea of the shuttle.
ROMANS: Who?
VELSHI: The shuttle model? President Nixon. It was a long time ago.
ROMANS: Interesting, all right.
VELSHI: That does it for us. We'll be back bright and early tomorrow morning. But for now, Kyra Phillips takes over with "CNN NEWSROOM".
ROMANS: Good morning Kyra.
