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American Morning
Did Casey Anthony Get Away with Murder?; Breaking the Debt Ceiling Stalemate; Atlanta Schools Cheating Scandal; Terror Suspect Brought to U.S.; Arizona Sandstorm Grounds Flights; Oil Spill Stains Yellowstone River; DSK Attorneys Meet with Prosecutors; Arraignment Day for "Whitey" Bulger; Court Halts Loughner's Forced Medications; Facebook's Awesome Announcement; What Causes Autism?
Aired July 06, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Did the Casey Anthony -- did Casey Anthony get away with murder? A jury acquitting Anthony of the most serious charges in the death of her two-year-old daughter, Caylee. She could be released from custody as early as tomorrow. More on that on this AMERICAN MORNING.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It is Wednesday, July 6th.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Lot of people want to hear from the jurors and say how did they come to the decision that they came to. Ten hours of deliberations, obviously unanimous.
VELSHI: And they for the moment are not talking.
CHETRY: Up first, the Casey Anthony verdict proving to be one of the most divisive in years. Passions certainly running high, especially outside of the courthouse in Florida where you saw people literally crying, holding up signs, "baby killer." People were extremely personally invested in this one case of this one highly dysfunctional family and what the outcome was for this young mother.
The jury deliberated about 10 to 11 hours before delivering their verdict.
VELSHI: Anthony acquitted of murder, manslaughter, and child abuse charges in the death of her two-year-old daughter. She was however, convicted of lying to police. She could be released as early as tomorrow. CNN's David Mattingly is live in Orlando for us. Good morning, David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ali. In a case that has been so full of unpredictable twists and turns, yesterday's verdict still managed to surprise millions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We the jury find the defendant not guilty.
MATTINGLY: Tears of joy from a young woman on trial for her life, Casey Anthony, the mother so many saw as a child murderer, avoids the death penalty and may soon walk free. Also vindicated, her much criticized attorney Jose Baez.
JOSE BAEZ, CASEY ANTHONY'S ATTORNEY: While we're happy for Casey, there are no winners in this case. Caylee has passed on far, far too soon. And what my driving force has been for the last three years has been always to make sure that there has been justice for Caylee and Casey, because Casey did not murder Caylee. It's that simple.
MATTINGLY: But how the jury rejected the prosecution's claim that Casey killed her child Caylee with chloroform and duct tape and dumped her body in a swamp is a mystery. Afterward not one of the 12 jurors would speak. Prosecutors appeared stunned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're disappointed with the verdict today and surprised, because we know the facts, and we put in absolutely every piece of evidence that existed.
MATTINGLY: But it wasn't enough. Casey Anthony's parents, enduring accusations on the stand of lying, and her father accused by Casey of molesting her, left quietly, showing no emotion. Their attorney released a statement - "Despite the baseless defense chosen by Casey Anthony, the family believes that the jury made a fair decision."
Deputies patrolled the neighborhood where the Anthonys live. The Orange County sheriff appealed for calm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We ask for your continued peaceful acknowledgement of that verdict.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: And Casey Anthony will be back in court tomorrow. She faces a sentencing for those four counts of lying to investigators. Those are misdemeanors. They each carry a maximum penalty of one year. It's possible she could go free tomorrow based on the time that she's already served.
VELSHI: David, thank you very much for that. David Mattingly for us in Orlando.
ROMANS: We know that Casey Anthony jurors are not talking this morning. One of the five alternates, though, who sat through the trial but did not take part in deliberations, he says he agrees with this verdict. He says the case raised many questions about how Casey Anthony and her family behaved, but evidence of murder he says just wasn't there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSSELL HUEKLER, ALTERNATE JUROR: This is a very dysfunctional family. And they did not handle things well at all. Yes, we all believe, and I'm pretty sure I can this for all 17 of us, there was some type of horrific accident that they didn't intend. But overall I think the family knows a lot more than what came out at the trial. They didn't prove that there was a murder.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHETRY: So how did Casey Anthony manage to beat the death penalty, and what happens now? Joining us is Sunny Hostin, former federal prosecutor and legal contributor for "In Session" on TruTV as well as criminal defense attorney Joe Tacapina. Great to see both of you this morning.
So all the papers, one "No justice," the other "Not guilty as sin," the "USA Today" about how the case fell apart. And Sunny, we talked about this before, that there was no forensic evidence directly linking Casey Anthony to her daughter's murder. Can people get convictions, can prosecutors get convictions in this day and age in a CSI world, without that?
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION": Oh, absolutely. I mean, a lot of cases are circumstantial. I mean certainly when you have a murder, sometimes there aren't any witnesses, and, of course the main witness is the deceased. And so you oftentimes you have to deal with facts like that.
This case was a hard case. I've said it from the very beginning. A circumstantial case, a death penalty case, talking about capital murder, without being able to show the where, the when, the how, and especially the why, the motive behind it, is a very difficult case. So not only did they have a circumstantial case, they were unable to explain a lot of the very important pieces that a jury must have to, I think, decide first-degree murder.
ROMANS: Joe, from a defense attorney's perspective, where did Jose Baez, where did he go right and where did he go wrong? Clearly he did right because this jury thinks she is not guilty.
JOE TACOPINA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think he was one of the most criticized defense lawyers of all time because he did some things that were clearly unorthodox, like making promises to the jury in opening that never came to fruition.
VELSHI: The fact that she drowned, the fact that the brother --
TACOPINA: By the way, it's still -- I will stand by the pronouncement that was still a risky move. You still are really --
VELSHI: Sunny has said --
ROMANS: Very risky.
TACOPINA: It's really walking a fine line saying things to a jury that you don't have any evidence of whatsoever.
That being said, it's really is not that shocking to me. I mean, you read these headlines and I laugh. These journalists who haven't spent a minute in the courtroom seemed to know what's shocking and what's not. Those jurors spent every second watching every piece of testimony.
And there were three things. There's no DNA linking this woman to that duct tape at all. And it would be almost impossible not to get DNA on a duct tape if you touched it or came in contact. There's no timeline and no cause of death. Those are things like this alternate said, I think pretty succinctly, there are reasons to believe something crazy happened here, that the family is dysfunctional.
HOSTIN: Something criminal happened. We have a dead baby tossed in the woods.
(CROSSTALK)
TACOPINA: -- over charging. And in this case they overcharged.
ROMANS: What should they have charged?
TACOPINA: I think the evidence was consistent with an accidental death. And there are charges that are associated with accidental death --
ROMANS: And there child abuse charges that could have stuck, not aggravated child abuse? She left her child. For 31 days she was running around not knowing where her kid was.
TACOPINA: Perhaps, or disposing of a body, different charges --
CHETRY: This is the other question I have. When you said the duct tape, the bottom line, what people are forgetting is six months went by where this basically, I mean the bag and the remains in the bag were basically in a swamp. There was a tropical storm and they were underwater. So obviously somebody tore off the duct tape. If there was no DNA at all, doesn't that help? Technically there was no DNA. So it wasn't that it wasn't just Casey's and there was somebody else's. There was none, no Caylee DNA.
TACOPINA: I understand, but so the lack of forensic evidence doesn't mean she probably did it but there's no forensic evidence to show it. It has to go the other way. That's what the system is about.
VELSHI: Sunny, if you were the prosecutor, and you have been a prosecutor, could you have done something differently?
HOSTIN: You know, hindsight is 20/20.
(CROSSTALK)
HOSTIN: I know. I think that -- I don't agree with Joe that it was overcharged. I mean Joe's been a prosecutor as well. And you know that bottom line is you have to fit your theory in with the evidence. Once they found the remains with duct tape attached to the face and they had the evidence of the chloroform searches, that could indicate premeditated murder.
So I don't think they overcharged it. I think they did a masterful job. Anybody that watched that closing argument by this prosecution they, were very, very good. The rebuttal argument was very, very good. This is a transparent process, cameras in the courtroom, everyone saw what they saw. But the jury system worked. You've got 12 people that sat there and decided not guilty. And I think while we're uncomfortable with the verdict, we should be very comfortable with the process.
ROMANS: Can I ask you quickly about the laugh, when the prosecutor laughed?
TACOPINA: You bet.
ROMANS: I've heard some people say they didn't like that. They didn't like that. If people watching it didn't like it, maybe the jury didn't like it.
TACOPINA: No. I will go on a limb and I say I guarantee the jury didn't like it.
CHETRY: We're showing it right now.
TACOPINA: I've dealt with this. When you look at that, what that is, that smacks of a lack of a professionalism. But more importantly, it's disrespectful to a jury.
Jurors across the board, I've been involved in high tension cases as recently as a month ago in New York City where when prosecutors do that, or any lawyer does that to the opposing counsel, what it's signifying is, one, that lawyer is uncomfortable with the argument. It doesn't mean the lawyer is confident. The lawyer is uncomfortable. The lawyer is really uncomfortable and he's trying to make light of the argument. And Jurors don't like that. They don't want to be told what to accept and what not to accept. They're the fact finders.
CHETRY: When I was listening to the talking heads beforehand, some pointed to that, but others pointed to Jose Baez choosing to call Casey an "s" word, s-l-u-t, and saying that that was slightly --
TACOPINA: Slut.
CHETRY: Yes. You said it. The kids are still eating cheerios.
(LAUGHTER)
But the bottom line is there were people who said that really, that he probably lost the jury there. He could have lost the jury there. That's so uncalled for. If he's calling his own client that what must --
(CROSSTALK)
TACOPINA: She is, perhaps. And so what? That's good. There's nothing wrong with a lawyer being honest to a jury. My client may be a liar, she may be this or she may be that, but she's not a murder, and certainly there is not enough evidence to convict her for murder.
HOSTIN: And the point is that Jose Baez's sweet spot is speaking to a jury. He -- his opening statement, people are disagreeing with it -- masterful. Closing argument -- masterful. That is his sweet spot. And every single day that that jury went in, he said "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the jury." They responded. They liked him.
CHETRY: My point was that people were glamming on to one moment in the courtroom, that prosecutor smiling and laughing was one small moment in a very long trial.
HOSTIN: He was a terrific prosecutor.
CHETRY: And so it's hard to say who did the right thing and who didn't and guess every gesture and moment. But, you know --
ROMANS: I think Mr. Baez can raise his hourly rates now.
HOSTIN: He may be bankrupt. I don't think he's been paid for a couple years.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Sunny, thanks very much. Joe, good to see you. Thank you very much.
HOSTIN: Good to see you.
VELSHI: All right, that brings us to our question of the day, to which we have been getting remarkable responses. Do you believe Casey Anthony's acquittal was a result of a good defense or a poor prosecution? Send us an e-mail, a tweet, tell on Facebook. We'll read more thoughts a little later in the show.
CHETRY: And up next on "American Morning," President Obama putting new pressure on lawmakers to get the debt ceiling talks moving again. They've been at an impasse now. We're going to be live at the White House with more details.
It's 11 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: A new move by President Obama to try and break the stalemate over raising the nation's debt limit and preventing what could turn into a new crisis for the economy. He's inviting congressional leaders to the White House tomorrow. Brianna Keilar is live at the White House being a good sport about this whole thing. Brianna --
CHETRY: Is the change of venue going to change the impasse they've clearly been at?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, I think it's hard to say. I think though he said, or Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said there were eight congressional leaders coming together here tomorrow. President Obama made this move yesterday of coming into the briefing room talking to reporters. This is the second time in a week he talked to reporters and he said his goal here is to really kick off an intense period of back-and-forth and try to get this done before the August 2nd deadline.
He said after talking with congressional leaders, Democrats and Republicans for days now, they've made real progress. But he also said there are real differences.
And here's what he's hoping will come out of this meeting tomorrow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's my hope that everybody's going to leave their ultimatums at the door, that we'll all leave our political rhetoric at the door, and that we're going do what's best for our economy and do what's best for our people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: But the thing is, publicly, not a whole lot has changed. There's still this impasse between Democrats and Republicans, Democrats, want to see some tax increases, they don't just want to go along with the spending cuts that Republicans want.
We've heard President Obama say there needs to be some tax increases. There have been barbs traded, very fiery rhetoric in the last few days between Democrats and Republicans, the White House and Republicans. But, you know, President Obama saying basically that there's certainly some areas of differences that need to be overcome.
I think what's interesting, guys, there's a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes here. I heard from a Republican source late last night that actually over the weekend, Speaker Boehner and President Obama met in person. So, there's a lot going on behind the scenes, but Democrats and Republicans being pretty mum about it.
ROMANS: We'll take your word, Brianna, it's going on behind the scenes. Wait, I thought they canceled their holiday and now, they're not meeting until Thursday. I mean, what, their Fourth of July holiday --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Tricky time of year, right, for vacations in Washington, Brianna.
KEILAR: Yes. However, there are -- there are discussions that we know. It's not like nothing is going on. There are discussions going on at the staff level between members of Congress, really these principal negotiators, and the White House, Democrats and Republicans. They are talking. This is really kind of now a public showing that we're going to see tomorrow where they come together.
ROMANS: So, for the record, Brianna says there's not nothing going on. There's just nothing happening --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: I think it's fair, because, you're right. There's got to be something going on. It would be absolutely irresponsible for there to be nothing going on.
Brianna, you'll keep us posted. Thank you. ROMANS: Thanks.
KEILAR: Yes.
CHETRY: Hope springs eternal.
Meantime, an inmate --
VELSHI: By the way, on the topic of hope springs eternal --
CHETRY: Yes?
VELSHI: This next story.
CHETRY: This is -- I had to do a double take. When you first look at the picture it's disturbing because you're not sure what's happening. You figure it out. An inmate in Mexico busted for an attempted prison break. But this is unlike many you see.
He got his 19-year-old girlfriend to come in with a suit case and try to take him out in it. The only problem is she was struggling with the suitcase on the way out and so when an officer stopped her --
ROMANS: The case moved, right?
VELSHI: It moved. Right.
She stumbled or something and the guy saw movement in the suitcase.
CHETRY: That's when they found the man curled in the fetal position.
VELSHI: He has a future as a contortionist.
CHETRY: He really does. That's very Houdinist (ph). She faces jail time now for her role in the attempted escape.
VELSHI: I got to imagine that if you walk into or out of a prison, with a suitcase big enough for a human, it's going to get checked.
CHETRY: They might ask you a couple questions.
VELSHI: What are you taking out of prison? I understand you're bringing stuff in, newspapers, mail files, what are you bringing out of the prison?
CHETRY: Clearly --
VELSHI: And apparently they told her.
CHETRY: Clearly a very flexible man.
ROMANS: Clearly, but he should have dieted for a few more days. He would have been able to make it.
Jacqui Jeras is in the extreme weather for us this morning.
Good morning, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, guys.
Yes, no tricks like that for me here today, but we do have a lot of showers and thunderstorms in the forecast. And that's the big thing we're going to be watching, especially this afternoon. Some of them may be severe across parts of the plain states and then we're also watching the east here, places like rally, up towards Norfolk, even into, say, Baltimore and then also into parts of Maine and even Boston may see a few strong thunderstorms. The monsoonal storms are also kicking up into the Southwest as we head into the afternoon hours.
If you've seen the video, take a look at the video. If you haven't seen this yet it's the best pictures all day you're going to see.
This is a dust storm in the Phoenix area that grounded flights downed trees and brought about 8,000 people without power as the thing moved through. The dust went up into the atmosphere, as much as 10,000 feet and this thing 50 miles wide at its greatest point. It's just amazing system out there. We could see a few more of those dust storms later today and a lot of airport delays as a result of that as well as a the thunderstorms across the east.
VELSHI: Haboob!
JERAS: It's Ali's favorite word of the day.
VELSHI: I'm going to use it a lot today.
ROMANS: Jacqui Jeras.
JERAS: Like a third grader with that giggle.
VELSHI: A lot of my life is conducted as a third grader.
ROMANS: It's true.
All right. Thanks, Jacqui.
VELSHI: All right. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING: teachers changing wrong answers so that they look better, making their schools look better. Principals either letting it happen or looking the other way -- a stunning investigation into system-wide cheating in one of the country's major school systems.
It is 20 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-three minutes after the hour. Minding your business this morning.
Markets closed pretty flat yesterday and right now, stock futures are trading down slightly ahead of the opening bell.
And investors are on edge over financial instability in Europe. Moody's cut Portugal's credit rating to junk. Portugal now, moving on to a different country.
Facebook about to unveil what it calls "something awesome." So far, the social network won't say what it has in store for today's announcement. The buzz is a partnership with Skype that's going to allow you to video chat with multiple awesome friends at the same time.
Verizon Wireless customers saying good-bye to unlimited data plans. Starting Thursday, the company is joining its competitors AT&T mobile -- I'm sorry T-Mobile and AT&T in eliminating that option. But Verizon says existing customers with the plan get to keep it and this only applies to new customers.
Netflix is expanding internationally to 43 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Members will have access to movies and shows in Spanish, Portuguese and English by streaming, not by mail.
AMERICAN MORNING is coming right back after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Beautiful shot of Atlanta this morning where it's partly cloudy, 73 degrees. A little later, there are thunderstorms in the forecast, going up to a high of 89.
VELSHI: It's going to be a lot hotter in the halls of the school district.
ROMANS: It certainly will be because there's a scandal there that may have kept 12,000 kids from getting the extra help they need.
VELSHI: It's incredible. Investigators say 80 percent of Atlanta's schools cheated on state standardized tests, faking scores and changing wrong answers to show fake improvement.
CHETRY: They also found that this was pretty systemic. Investigators said close to 200 teachers and principals either knew it was going on or should have known it was going on.
Ed Lavandera is live for us in Atlanta this morning.
Tell us about the scope of this. I mean, it sounds shocking, 80 percent.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, guys.
The -- this investigation has gone on for a year. They looked into 56 schools, and for the last decade, test scores here in the city of Atlanta were jumping. But according to this report, it was all too good to be true.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Two years ago, the head of Atlanta public schools, Beverly Hall, was named the country's top superintendent. Back then, she was credited for turning the Atlanta system into a model of urban school reform and accomplishing significant gains in student achievement.
But Georgia's governor says the state's just completed investigation into the Atlanta school district standardized testing process found widespread fraud dating back almost 10 years.
GOV. NATHAN DEAL (R), GEORGIA: Testing and results and targets being reached became more important than actual learning on the part of children. And when reaching targets became the goal, it was a goal that was pursued with no excuses.
LAVANDERA: According to the report, cheating was found in 44 of 56 schools investigated, involving almost 180 principals and teachers. Some of those educators could face criminal charges.
Superintendent Hall stepped down from her job in June. But in a farewell video message, she suggested the culprits acted alone.
BEVERLY HALL, FORMER ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: Segment of our staff chose to violate the trust that was placed in them. And let me be clear -- there is simply no excuse for unethical behavior and no room in this district for unethical conduct.
LAVANDERA: According to the investigative report, some teachers told investigators they felt pressured to cheat on the standardized test, and school district officials missed significant and clear warning signs of test score tampering.
Atlanta's interim superintendent says any educator who cheated should never teach in the city's schools again.
ERROLL DAVIS, INTERIM APS SUPERINTENDENT: We have cheated students. This angers us all. It is hard for us to quantify and often express that anger.
LAVANDERA: Across the city of Atlanta, parents of schoolchildren are dismayed by the investigation's findings.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They clearly did not do their job and they accused their power.
DR. MARK ELGART, SOUTHERN ASSOC. OF COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS: It's a sad comment about what happens when adults put their own individual interest ahead of the children they serve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: And this report really puts blame at the top officials of the school district saying at one point as well. That there had been a fear of culture of intimidation and fear that trickled down through the school system that allowed this to happen. So guys, a scandal that has a lot of parents questioning the very schools they're sending their children to.
VELSHI: All right. Ed, thanks very much. What a story we'll stay on top of that with you. CHETRY: Crossing the half hour right now, a Somali terror suspect brought to the U.S. after being held secretly on a Navy ship for two months in the Persian Gulf has pleaded not guilty in a New York courtroom. He's accused of being a middle man between a Somali terror group and al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula based in Yemen.
There are more delays and storms possible in the southwest today. Flights in and out of Phoenix's largest airport were grounded last night as a massive desert sandstorm swept over the area.
It stretched thousands of feet high and more than 50 miles long. Flights were delayed for more than an hour at Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport as near hurricane-force winds kicked up all that dust.
Montana's governor declaring a state of emergency in seven counties after an Exxon Mobil pipeline ruptured last week spilling 42,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River. Environmental protection agency and the coast guard are trying to figure out what caused that rupture. Christine --
ROMANS: Thanks, guys. Senator Jim DeMint helped create the political wave that turned the House red this year. He was the Tea Party's kingmaker in the 2010 mid-terms and some conservatives say he should go for it himself in 2012.
Now he's out with a new book "The Great American Awakening, Two Years that Changed America, Washington and Me." Senator Jim DeMint, a Republican from South Carolina is here with us this morning. Welcome to the program, nice to see you this morning.
SEN. JIM DEMINT (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Thank you.
ROMANS: We know about the two years that changed America in Washington. The Tea Party Movement clearly has changed the political landscape. How did it change you?
DEMINT: Well, what I went through inside of Congress trying to change the establishment what is changed me, realizing that I wasn't going to change the people who were there. We had -- change their minds in effect. We had to change them.
And that's where the Tea Party came in. The "Great American Awakening" is designed to show people how Washington changes as they get more informed and engaged. As they came to rallies, town halls, as they called and e-mailed, we began to change things.
Things that couldn't be changed, I was told, like getting rid of earmarks. At least for now we've gotten rid of them because of the wave of activism, but now, the real test is in front of us. What do we do with this debt ceiling?
ROMANS: Right.
DEMINT: How do we balance our budget and 2012 could be our last chance. ROMANS: Well, it's this new wave of activism that you're talking about that has emboldened your colleagues over in the house to really hold the line on what they want.
They want deep, deep cuts, do not want tax increases in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. There are some who say that Democrats are giving ground, and the Republicans aren't. This new awakening is dangerous for America.
DEMINT: Not at all. This new awakening first of all, Christine, includes Democrats and independents and Republicans and a lot of people have never been involved in politics.
It's fun to go to Tea Parties and meet a wide diversity of people and hopefully, if they stay active it will give House and Senate Republicans the courage to keep fighting.
Democrats are talking about taxes, but Christine, last December, President Obama took taxes off the table. He said we couldn't raise taxes in a down economy.
They've just put those back on the table so they can have something to give up to show they're working with us, but we need to address the spending.
ROMANS: What have you given up to show you're working with them?
DEMINT: Well, it's not a matter of what we give up or they give up, it's a matter of national survival. We can't keep spending more than we bring in. They give a little we give a little we have to balance our budget. That's what needs to be the focus point right now.
ROMANS: David Brook's in "The New York Times" this week said if the debt ceiling talks fail, independent voters will see the Democrats are willing to compromise, but the Republicans are not.
If responsible Republicans don't take control, independents will conclude that Republican fanaticism called this default. They will conclude that Republicans are not fit to govern and they will be right.
DEMINT: I don't think he represents the American people. We don't have a revenue problem, Christine. For the last five years, we've had record levels of revenue and next year, is projected to be the highest level of tax revenues in history. But the problem is, spending has gone up 60 percent in the last eight years. We've got to stop spending.
ROMANS: We know why it's gone up. We know we've been fighting a horrible economy, a financial crisis, the president had a year and a half or two years to leverage that moment to try to turn the economy around, and now, now, the Republicans are leveraging a moment.
DEMINT: Right.
ROMANS: To try to get big, big cuts in attached to the debt ceiling. Would you be amenable to maybe a short-term fix just so that we don't tell the rest of the world that we can't pay our bills?
DEMINT: We will pay our bills. It doesn't matter if we never raise the debt ceiling again. Our priority has to be to pay our debt. We may have to begin to cut other government programs, but the Republicans --
ROMANS: Are you willing to start doing that? I mean, are you willing to have the Treasury secretary decide, which programs to start cutting?
DEMINT: Yes, we're going to have to do that, but Republicans are willing to give the president and the Democrats an increase in the debt limit in return for some short-term cuts, caps on spending, and a balanced budget amendment.
That is the pledge that we're encouraging that's the commitment that we have to make. OK, if we have to give them one more increase in how much we borrow, let's make a permanent change so that we don't have to do it again.
ROMANS: Pew Research Center asked who would be responsible if no deal on the debt on raising the federal debt ceiling happens, Obama administration, 33 percent, GOP in Congress 42 percent, both, 13 percent. According to this poll, this Pew poll, at least the public would blame the GOP in Congress if something doesn't get done here.
DEMINT: Well, if Republicans can't convince Americans we have to stop spending more than we bring in then we don't deserve to be there. I think that's the message I would like to try to sell.
But what we're talking about are not draconian cuts next year or the year after, but let the states decide. Let the American people decide, do we need to balance our budget? Just like families have to balance their checkbook.
ROMANS: Sure.
DEMINT: But that's what "American Awakening" is about. If people understood what their involvement could do to change Washington and move it in the right direction that's what I want people to know. If they want to know what's been going on behind closed doors "The Great American Awakening" will tell them.
ROMANS: Sometimes you don't like to see what's going on behind closed doors. Quite frankly, I'm going to be really honest with you. Michele Bachmann has not signed on to your pledge yet. Are you disappointed by that?
DEMINT: Yes, I am disappointed. She said she wants to add things like repealing Obama care, but my point is this is not the conservative agenda.
What it is, is one focus we have to have we have to stop spending more than we're bringing in. Let's let the states decide. This is a point of leverage. If we don't get a balanced budget now we probably won't any time in the next few years, maybe never, and could bankrupt our country in the next 18 months.
ROMANS: Senator Jim DeMint, very nice to see you today. Thank you so much.
DEMINT: Thanks a lot.
ROMANS: Bye-bye. Kiran and Ali --
VELSHI: Coming up next, inside the mind of an alternate juror from the Casey Anthony trial. Does he think the system worked? You're looking at a shot from yesterday of all the other jurors, none of them have spoken. This one has something to say.
CHETRY: Also he was standing right near Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords when a gunman opened fire six months ago. Finally today, Ron Barber, one of her staffers is back at work. What it was like for him to return after that tragedy. It's 37 minutes past the hour.
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VELSHI: Casey Anthony could be sentenced to the time that she's already served and freed tomorrow after she was acquitted of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. The jury deliberated about 11 hours before reaching a not guilty verdict what shocked millions of courtroom observers.
CHETRY: One of the alternate jurors who heard all of the testimony, but did not take part in the deliberations says the prosecution gave jurors a reason to doubt Anthony's guilt. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSS HUEKLER ALTERNATE JUROR (via telephone): The prosecution did not prove their case, the big question that was not answered, how did Caylee die? I think there was probably a lot of discussion it was probably a horrific accident, that dad and Casey covered up and unfortunately did snowball and got away from them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe that Caylee Anthony's remains were in Casey's car in the trunk?
HUEKLER: I had a hard time believing that especially with just that one hair being found. I don't think there was evidence of the chloroform, you know. I meant to say I personally.
I didn't buy it because I thought there was such still low levels that it could have been contributed to possibly cleaning products and then with one hair, and we're showing pictures of the stain, I didn't see a picture of the stain. There could have been decomposing material.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about --
HUEKLER: If George was, you know, an ex-police officer if he would have smelled a decomposing body when they picked up the car from the tow yard, why didn't he and the tow driver call law enforcement right away? Why did they take the vehicle home and then try to clean it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: See, that's very interesting and fascinating because personally one of the most compelling things was to hear Cindy Anthony's frantic 911 phone call when she finally realized that her granddaughter was missing and she said it smelled like a body was in this car and she sounded very -- sounded very real and terrified then later backtracking.
ROMANS: Trying to link this together.
CHETRY: Again, she was convicted only, Casey Anthony, of four counts of lying to police and her sentencing is tomorrow.
ROMANS: So now our question of the day, what do you -- we want to know do you believe Casey Anthony's acquittal was the result of a good defense or a poor prosecution?
Here are some of your responses. Joyce on Facebook said, "The verdict did not surprise me. It was a circumstantial case. There was no solid link between Casey and Caylee's remains. She got away with it because the police didn't get to the body the first time Ray Kronk called and reported to the police. The police let Caylee down."
VELSHI: Carmelo says on our blog, "Casey not only had a good defense she had an awesome defense. They offered enough alternative possibilities for the child's death that it created the perception of reasonable doubt. It was not really the defense's responsibility to prove the alternative possibilities, as much as it was the prosecutor's to prove their factual arguments."
CHETRY: Mike writes, "Just like O.J. Simpson the prosecution should have gone for a lesser charge and aimed for life in prison. And here is one - interesting one, Sage Anthony on my Twitter page wrote, "Neither, it was the result of poor jurors. Most people have been solidly in defense of the jurors saying that they did the job to the best of their ability."
VELSHI: We choose from amongst our peers. We don't have an expert class of jurors, right? They're supposed to be your peers and their judgment counts. I know that's a criticism some people will level, but that's the system we have.
ROMANS: All right, CNN learning lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn are going to meet with prosecutors today. Just days ago, prosecutors acknowledged that the maid accusing the former IMF chief of sexual assault, the maid might have some credibility problems.
Also this morning, prosecutors are refusing to give the accuser's lawyers a copy of a recorded conversation she had with her boyfriend. He's being held in an Arizona jail. A source tells CNN during that conversation, the alleged victim said she's fine and that, quote, "there's money to be made," end quote. A day many thought would never come in Boston, arraignment day for former mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger. He was arrested last month in California after some 16 years on the lamb. Bulger was the influence for Jacque Nicholson's character in "The Departed." He's expected to enter a plea on 19 murder charges today.
CHETRY: Jury selection begins today in the Roger Clemens perjury trial. The pitching legend accused of lying under oath before a congressional committee when he said he never used steroids or human growth hormones. The judge now says that he may not let some of his former teammates testify in the case since they could unfairly influence jurors.
VELSHI: A federal appeals court in San Francisco ordering a temporary stop to the forced medication of Tucson shooting defendant Jared Loughner.
The government has until tonight to argue that the medications are necessary and are going to make Loughner competent to stand trial. Loughner is charged in the January shooting that killed six people and seriously injured Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
ROMANS: You know, Ron Barber is back on the job, Gabrielle Giffords' district director. He was standing next to the congresswoman six months ago when that gunman opened fire.
Barber was shot in the cheek and through the thigh, still has some trouble walking, but he said he's glad to be back at work on a part- time basis and his staff was thrilled to welcome him back yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON BARBER, GIFFORDS' DISTRICT MANAGER: It was very emotional coming in. I was a little bit nervous. The staffs have been through a lot too. There's a special relationship between those of us who were shot that day.
PAM SIMON, WOUNDED GIFFORDS STAFFER: We'll never be normal again, but it felt like it was beginning to close the healing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Barbara says the only thing that would make his return to work sweeter would be to see Congresswoman Giffords come walking through that door.
CHETRY: All right, hopefully in due time she will. Morning headlines next. A little later we're getting brutally honest with parents. Do you like one kid more than the other?
ROMANS: No.
CHETRY: I'm an only child and my parents never had to worry. Why playing favorites may be completely normal behavior. The question is, should -- they always say they don't want to tell the kids and the kids say when they grow up, I always knew so-and-so was my mom's favorite.
VELSHI: But that may be normal and how you're supposed to deal with that. I'm looking forward to that conversation.
Plus Facebook has some awesome plans that it's unveiling today, their words. What is it? Well, we may have an early idea. We can tell you about it. It is -- we'll tell you about it on the other side of the break. It's 47 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: It's 48 minutes past the hour right now. A look at your headlines this morning. Near hurricane-force winds kicking up in the desert. A massive sandstorm grounding flights around Phoenix last night. The cloud is rising thousands of feet in the air and stretching over 30 miles.
Seven Montana counties under a state of emergency because of an oil spill in the Yellowstone River. Forty two thousand gallons leaked Friday night after an Exxon Mobil pipeline ruptured.
Governor Brian Schweitzer is criticizing the oil giant for what it calls a sluggish response. Exxon Mobil says 350 workers are involved in the cleanup and more resources will be added until all of the oil is gone.
President Obama reversing a long-standing White House policy of not sending condolence letters to the families of service members who commit suicide. The move comes after a bipartisan group of senators asked the president to change it.
Between 2005 and 2009, more than 22 percent of Army suicides occurred in combat zones. Overall across the military, more than 1,100 service members took their lives during the same time period.
President Obama inviting congressional leaders from both parties to the White House to try to kick start talks to increase the nation's debt limit. The meeting comes as CNN learned the president met with House Speaker John Boehner over the weekend to discuss reducing the deficit.
Let's check in on the markets right now. Stock futures trading down slightly ahead of the opening bell. Investors said to be on edge over some financial stability concerns in Europe.
Today, Facebook will hold a news conference to announce the launch of what it calls something awesome. The buzz this morning is that this awesome thing may actually be a partnership with Skype that lets you video chat with your Facebook friends.
International Olympic Committee set to unveil the winning bid to host the 2018 winter games. Here are the three cities in the running Munich, Germany, Annecy, France and Pyeongchang, South Korea. The IOC announcement is expected at 11:00 Eastern Time.
You're caught up on today's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING will be back after a quick break.
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VELSHI: Look at that!
CHETRY: New York City, sunny, 78 degrees. You mean look at that beautiful sky?
VELSHI: Totally.
ROMANS: It's awesome.
CHETRY: Awesome like Facebook. Awesome announcement. Awesome is one word and haboob is another word.
VELSHI: That shut down with delayed flights. All right, take a look at this. It looks like any other sushi place in Japan. Show it to you. Look at that. It isn't raw fish, it's raw meat, uncooked chicken, pork, deer and horse meat.
CHETRY: Why are we showing this at 7:52?
VELSHI: Very popular with Japanese women apparently. The restaurant says it's safe and no one has been ever sick from eating their raw meat sushi.
CHETRY: Raw horse meat, I don't know if I can do it. There are many things I'll try, but I don't know about raw horse meat.
VELSHI: Big in France you know?
CHETRY: Do you have a favorite child?
ROMANS: All three of them.
CHETRY: Really?
VELSHI: Good answer.
CHETRY: Well, if you did have a favorite child, see, it's harder. I think it's easier. I have a boy and a girl. You have three boys so you can compare them a little more.
Anyway, Rose Emery says she is a writer of award winning blog "L.A. City Mom." She is saying it's OK at times to like one child more than the other.
But she says it's important to know the difference between favoritism and differential treatment, really? That is a parsing of words!
ROMANS: What is the difference exactly?
CHETRY: With favoritism may apparently just click better with one of their children, but differential treatment is when parents, obviously, give one for more child and that's when problems start. You can read more about it, you can check out the story that we linked with her story on cnn.com.
ROMANS: Do you think your parents loved your sister more than you, Ali?
VELSHI: I'm still trying to figure out the difference between favoritism and differential treatment. I will hold my thought on that one.
ROMANS: Good. I'll read the article though. A new study finds in a nonemergency situation nearly half of all procedures to widen a blocked or partially blocked artery may be necessary.
Researchers say reducing the number of unneeded angioplasty would not only save hundreds of billions of dollars, it would help patients avoid potentially serious side effects including blood clots and postoperative bleeding.
CHETRY: See I don't understand. Oftentimes you have to go in there to see whether it's emergency, right? I mean, you don't know how significant that blockage is. Sometimes people are trying to error on the side of -- you don't do it and then your patient has a heart attack. Scary.
VELSHI: All right. The number of people diagnosed with colon cancer is on the decline. It's a good news. According to a new study between 2003 and 2007 the number of cases slipped by nearly 3.5 percent.
The number of people dying from colon cancer is dropping about 3 percent a year as well. Researchers say these declines are the results of more people getting screened, obviously, a lot of efforts in the last few years to get people to try and get people do it.
CHETRY: Absolutely, well, as researchers try to unlock the mysteries of autism, a new study may shed some light on the causes of a childhood disorder, genetics may play less of a role than previously thought and environmental factors may be proving to be more significant.
ROMANS: Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us live this morning to help sort it out. Elizabeth, what are the other factors we are talking about?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. There is a whole host of other factors. Let's throw up the list that we have. Researchers are thinking that perhaps all of these things may -- and I emphasize the word may -- contribute to whether a child develops autism.
Air pollution in the area in which they live in, the age of their parents when they are born and their weight when they are born and all of these are put under this umbrella called environmental factors meaning the things around you rather than the DNA inside you that may help influence whether a child develops autism.
CHETRY: You say parental age because that's one theory the parents talk about. We have so many parents having children later in life. Is there some way that could somehow be connected with increased number of reporting? I mean, we don't know but interesting that is one of those factors.
COHEN: It is interesting. There was actually a study that was done that looks at paternal age and what they found was that older fathers were more likely to father children with autism and there have been some studies also that look at maternal age. But yes, that really is one of the things they are looking for. We are in the infancy stages of this kind of study.
CHETRY: Right. When you talk to advocacy groups like Autism Speaks and others, they have wanted more research in terms of environmental factors because parents have asked for it. So many people said is there something I can do differently?
Is there something I can do to keep my child from developing autism or if I'm already raising a child on the spectrum, is there something I can do to make sure another child doesn't get it?
COHEN: Unfortunately, there really isn't much we can tell parents to do right now except early detection. You know, the minute you think your child might have a problem, talk to your pediatrician.
Unfortunately, we can't tell them do this or do that while you're pregnant and your child won't develop autism. We're not there yet. If you take look at cnn.com/the chart you can educate yourself about autism and we know knowledge is power.
ROMANS: We love every scrap of information. Elizabeth Cohen. Thank you, Elizabeth.
COHEN: Thanks.
ROMANS: Top stories after the break.
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