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American Morning
President Calls for Break in Debt Ceiling Negotiations; Casey Anthony Receiving Threats; Tim Pawlenty Discusses Federal Debt Ceiling; Interview with Tim Pawlenty; "Stone Cold Killer"; Debt Ceiling Talks on Hold; Casey Anthony Out of Jail Sunday; Planning Another 9/11?; News Corp Resignation; Hacking Scandal's First Casualty; Holder Confirms Hacking Investigation; Wild About "Harry"; News Corp Resignation; Shock Trauma Center
Aired July 15, 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: Another five meetings in five days, debt talk ceilings now on hold. The president pressing the pause button, telling Congressional leaders to talk amongst yourselves and figure out a way to move forward on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI (on-camera): Good morning. It is Friday, July the 15th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Christine is off today and Kiran is off today.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. I'm Soledad O'Brien helping out today. Lots going on this morning, so let's get right to it.
We begin with President Obama pressing the pause button, as you mentioned, on that debt ceiling debate. Everybody take to your corners, we have got to figure this out.
Here are the headlines. Just 19 days left before the U.S. hits the deadline, which would trigger at least a partial default. President Obama is scheduled to address the nation at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. There are no talks planned today. After five meetings in five days, congressional leaders have been told to talk to their colleagues to try to figure out how to move the process forward and do it fast. The president is prepared to reconvene negotiations tomorrow. And while nobody is sounding very hopeful about any deal, there is a compromise that's in the works.
VELSHI: And here's how that works. The Senate's two top leaders, Democrat Harry Reid and Republican Mitch McConnell are working on a fallback plan. It would give the president enhanced authority to raise the debt limit, and those powers would be linked to federal spending cuts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRY REID, (D-NV) SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: We don't have it worked out yet, but it's something that we're looking to. Hopefully we can come up with this robust deal we've been trying to do. But until we can do that we have to look at alternatives, and his is one of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The clock is ticking. Now a second credit rating agency, Standard & Poor's, is warning there's a 50/50 chance they will downgrade America's credit rating in the next three months. At a hearing yesterday the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned lawmakers that failing to raise the debt ceiling by August 2nd is not an option, using word like -- literally like "chaos" and "catastrophic" to describe what would happen. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN BERNANKE, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: I think it would be a calamitous outcome. It would create a very severe financial shock that would have effects not only in the U.S. economy but on the global economy. Default on those securities would throw the financial system into -- into -- potentially into chaos.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Soledad, it's -- he's not given to overstatement.
O'BRIEN: No. This is a very dire thing when he is saying "chaos" and "calamitous." They're very careful, any Federal Reserve chair, anybody working there is, about the words they use to describe an impending situation.
VELSHI: Because they know we will be talking about it the next day and newspapers will say.
The president is going to be making a statement later on this morning. He addresses the nation at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. We will be covering that live. So will Dan Lothian. He's live at the White House this morning. Dan, what are you hearing about what the president is likely to say at 11:00?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, a couple of things. First of all, we expect the president to use this public platform to prod Congress to get some kind of agreement or at least start moving in that direction to show some progress.
But also this is a chance for the president to update Americans on the process and to explain what you were just talking about, you know, what could happen or what they believe will certainly happen if that debt ceiling is not raised.
There is no formal meeting here at the White House today. That's the first time this week that has not happened, but sources telling us that the talks do continue informally behind the scenes.
Now, yesterday after the fifth meeting with congressional leaders, according to a Republican aide who's familiar with those talks, the president told congressional leaders to go back, to meet with their caucuses, and then to come back in the next, you know, 24, 36 hours, with some kind of agreement on how to move forward. And the president, according to sources, saying that if, in fact, they can't do that, then they might have to get together again over the weekend.
The bottom line here, though, the president is still pushing for the biggest deal possible, but he wants to make sure that they have exhausted all their limits, I guess you could say, so they can start looking at other options, because the president believes you to raise that debt ceiling or there will be huge problems for this country.
VELSHI: And he's getting more and more people who are telling the same story, that while the budget remains a major issue, this debt ceiling is not something to be toyed with. We'll stay with you on this all morning, Dan. Thank you.
When the president addresses the nation on the debt ceiling, CNN is the place to be. We will carry the speech live for you at 11:00 eastern. We'll also have a lot of analysis around it to find out what it is he means if it's not abundantly clear when he says it.
O'BRIEN: This morning, the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Istanbul, Turkey, the first stop on a diplomatic world tour. While in turkey the secretary will meet with the international contact group on Libya trying to increase the pressure on the Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi to get out. After Turkey, Secretary Clinton visits Greece, then India, then Indonesia, and then China, all of that over the next 12 days.
OK, what is next for Casey Anthony? We know she's getting out of jail on Sunday after three years. She walks out a free woman, and Anthony may be a rich woman after her release. There is speculation surrounding how she'll sell her story and for how much.
O'BRIEN: Meantime she's received a number of death threats as well fueling a lot of concern about her safety. So joining us now, legal contributor for "In Session" on TruTV, Sunny Hostin, been following that case, knee deep in the case is a better way to put it. You know, she'll walk out the door. At that point does the legal responsibility for Casey Anthony's safety sort of end with the authorities who have been holding her? You're gone, you're on your own?
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION": Absolutely.
O'BRIEN: Good luck.
HOSTIN: It really does. I mean certainly when an inmate is in prison, prison officials are responsible for their safety. But realistically, once she's released into the public, she's on her own. I will say this, usually defendants are released, you know, from prison, no big deal. They walk right out. Family members are meeting them. That's not going to happen. Nobody -- that's really not going to happen this time.
VELSHI: There are a couple of examples more hateful postings we've seen on Facebook page. Here's one from Facebook. It says, "I got my gear and sights ready for Sunday," certainly the implication there about shooting. And the other one says, "Take her to where they found poor Caylee, strip her naked and nail her to a tree, let her suffer slowly." What does --
O'BRIEN: And they get worse from there.
HOSTIN: They do.
VELSHI: We can't put on TV. Does law enforcement have any obligation to consider that? And does this make her argument a lot stronger for getting out of dodge?
HOSTIN: I think there's no question about it. If there are credible death threats then certainly law enforcement will respond to that. And I think that's why this release is going to be unlike anything we've ever seen basically. I mean, there are rumors that there are going to be different convoys of vehicles. She may be released at very, very early in the morning on Sunday. I mean, they're really making a lot of plans. Her attorneys have been in and out of the jail trying to, I think, figure out sort of like an escape plan.
O'BRIEN: Unlike O.J. Simpson, she doesn't have a lot of money. She has no money. So she can't really on her own, right now, hire bodyguards. She can't really on her own, you know, change her identity. Some people talked about get plastic surgery and move somewhere else --
HOSTIN: Yes.
O'BRIEN: -- unless she does some kind of a deal to sell the story.
HOSTIN: That's right. And I think, let's face it, doesn't everyone really want to hear from her? But she's such a prolific liar, so when we do hear from her, is she really going to tell the truth? But I think she has to tell her story. How is she going to make any money? Who's going to hire her? Are we going to see her working anywhere?
So I think we will hear some more about her story. I think we're going to hear, perhaps, a book deal, hear about, you know, maybe a television deal. People are talking about reality TV. I don't think that's going to happen. Certainly --
O'BRIEN: Do you think she immediately goes public or do you think immediately goes quiet, tries to get all the hatred to die. She literally, I think it's fair to say, is one of the most hated people in America at this moment.
HOSTIN: And in the world. There was worldwide coverage. You know, I don't know. I think there have been some reports that she's going to just go into hiding for several months, maybe live under an assumed name, perhaps get some plastic surgery or live as a disguised person. But I think we are going to hear her story, because people have offered her $1 million already for her story.
VELSHI: There is one formal offer on the table.
O'BRIEN: And it all starts again.
VELSHI: That's right.
HOSTIN: She's going to profit for it.
VELSHI: Soledad, I suspect we'll be talking about this a long time. Sunny, good to see you.
HOSTIN: Thank you.
VELSHI: All right, some scary moments for passengers on board two planes that collided on the ground at Boston's Logan Airport. Officials say a Delta 767 was taxiing out to the runway last night when it clipped the tail of an Atlantic Southeast Airlines commuter plane.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were taxiing pretty slowly, and then we just felt a huge bump. Like it was terrifying. Like what happened? Everybody said at once, what happened?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The tip of the wing just was just sheared right off. And I think the whole tail section or the tail fin came off of the other plane.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: We keep talking about there's not much of a collision, but if you're in that little plane and the tails come off.
O'BRIEN: In a plane, not much of a collision can be a very big collision.
VELSHI: A very big one. One person on the Delta flight complained of neck pain, but there were no other injuries. The NTSB is investigating the incident, as they always do.
O'BRIEN: And still to come this morning, the tabloid phone hacking scandal claims its first big victim. A bad situation is getting much worse for Rupert Murdoch this morning.
VELSHI: And what made James "Whitey" Bulger the most feared man in Boston? Deb Feyerick is here with a sneak peek at her special "Stone Cold Killer."
O'BRIEN: Plus, the president and congressional leaders tangling over raising the debt ceiling. Our next guest says don't bother. Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty is here in the AMERICAN MORNING studios. It's nine minutes past the hour. We're back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: You've probably heard this before. I'm telling it to you, the debt ceiling talks have hit the wall. After meeting for five straight days, the president has pressed the pause button. He's calling on congressional leaders to figure out a way to get a deal done, to talk amongst themselves rather than with members of the other party for today. They could meet again tomorrow. And two Senate leaders are working on a plan to give the president enhanced authority to raise the debt ceiling in time to head off a default.
I'm joined this morning by former Minnesota governor and current Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty. Governor, good to see you. Thank you for being here.
TIM PAWLENTY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good to be with you.
VELSHI: What do you make of this mess in Washington? I'm going to get tweets by saying "why are you calling it a mess?" It's a mess.
PAWLENTY: You're mixing your metaphors. You said the ceiling talks have hit the wall. So which is it?
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: That's true.
PAWLENTY: It is a mess. But it has got to be fixed. The problem is if they just put a Band-Aid over a broken bone it's not going to solve the problem. So I really hope that they'll use this moment. I wish they wouldn't raise the debt ceiling but, obviously, they're moving in that direction. And so they should fix the problem really and not just kick the can down the road.
VELSHI: When you say you wish they wouldn't raise the debt ceiling, look, you've been a chief executive. You kind of understand, Ben Bernanke said it, economists have said it, everybody has said this is too dangerous to not raise the debt ceiling --
PAWLENTY: They've already broken through it.
VELSHI: -- and risk -- They have. You're right.
PAWLENTY: That's what, you know, the reporting here is getting missed a little bit.
VELSHI: Well, let's be clear on that. You make a good point. We broke through the debt ceiling in May. The treasury secretary said he can juggle things around until August 2nd, and then we miss some payments. And Ben Bernanke said yesterday it would be calamitous to do so.
PAWLENTY: Look, I wish they didn't have to. I wish they wouldn't. But obviously they're going to.
My point is this -- fix the real problem and at least start down the road towards real structural change. And they're not doing that. We've got a country that has a federal government that is out of control. They're spending $40,000 a second or so that they don't have. In the hour of this part of your show, it's $144 million they'll spend that they don't have. It's ridiculous. So they have to structurally change things, and it doesn't appear like they are ready to do it.
VELSHI: Here's the danger, though. We were talking to a journalist in your home state, which is struggling at this point with a government shutdown that could end.
PAWLENTY: Did end. They got an agreement, a tentative agreement.
VELSHI: They got an agreement. They have got to really hammer it out. But, you know, this journalist said Minnesotans are a group of people who usually work things out. And it was under your tenure there that Republicans started digging in. You're a reasonable guy. You understand money. Why is it a good thing to dig in? Why are we not compromising?
PAWLENTY: Well, 40 years before I became governor the average two year spending increase was 21 percent every two years. It was out of control. And so you had to have some common sense. So this isn't a matter of just splitting the difference. We had to have transformational change in Minnesota.
So, I fought hard. We drew lines in the sand. I had a government shutdown. I set a record for vetoes. It took more money out of the budget using executive authority than all the other governors combined.
We had to dig in because the other way was out of control, excessive -- and somebody had to be the person who said, look, we got to get this thing back within our means. So, hat's what I did.
VELSHI: Let me show you a couple polls. First on is from Gallup. They both say the same thing. There's a Gallup and there's Quinnipiac poll. This one is asking about spending cuts versus tax increases.
By the way, this is of Republicans. Only 26 percent of Republicans say they only want cuts in dealing with the debt ceiling increase. Sixty-eight percent are prepared to accept some tax increases or elimination of credits and rebates -- 68 percent of Republicans.
Let's take a look at the Quinnipiac Poll now. Very similar, only 25 percent are saying they would only agree to spending cuts in order to agree to raising the debt ceiling. Seventy-seven percent say some taxes on the wealthy and corporations could increase. These are Republicans.
PAWLENTY: Yes. But part of leadership is you got to educate and you got to do things that you know are right, and the polls -- if you're going to govern by the polls, then you could just have a computer program that tells you what the outcome is.
VELSHI: Right.
PAWLENTY: You got to look at how we got into this mess. We didn't get into this mess because we're under tax and government revenues didn't keep up with the private economy. We got into this mess because politicians took government spending and grew it at three, four, five times or a multiple of the rate of growth of the private economy.
So, you can't say, here's where we are at this moment, let's split the difference and call it good. You got to look at how did we get here? And we got here by out-of-control spending that needs to be brought into control.
That's what I did in Minnesota.
VELSHI: I know -- you just said, you can't govern by polls. I want to ask you about latest polling.
PAWLENTY: Like I said, you can't govern by polling.
VELSHI: That's right. Also a Quinnipiac poll. You're struggling. You're getting into -- you're in a five-day swing in Iowa next week. You're coming in at 3 percent.
I think it's Michele Bachmann you've got to be most concerned about. She shares a lot of your views, at least economically.
PAWLENTY: Well, the polls bounce around a little bit.
VELSHI: Sure.
PAWLENTY: "The Des Moines Register" poll, which is a credible poll in Iowa, had us in sixth or seventh place.
VELSHI: Right.
PAWLENTY: Now, this preseason is over. We've got to start showing progress and I'm confident that we will when my message of cutting taxes, reducing spending, doing health care reform the right way, no mandates, no takeovers, public employee pension and compensation reform.
When my record of results gets out in Minnesota, we're going to do better and you'll see that in the poll numbers.
But the point is, I'm actually the one person in the race who's actually done all of these things. And there will be other candidates, one of the strengths I bring to it, I just don't talk about these things I did them.
VELSHI: Governor Pawlenty, always good to see you. Thanks for coming in.
PAWLENTY: All right. Thanks for having me. My pleasure.
O'BRIEN: It is 17 minutes past the hour. Time to check in with Rob Marciano for an update on the forecast.
Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, again, Soledad.
Another gorgeous day across the Northeast. Low levels of humidity, a little bit warmer than it was yesterday -- enjoy that, you know, this time of year.
The heat and humidity typically builds back in. It's going to be building across the southwest, or I should say the southern plains. And up towards the northern plains where today we've got some severe thunderstorms that are bubbling across parts of eastern North Dakota, now moving into south central parts of Minnesota and some have been rough and we're also looking for thunderstorms to build across parts of the Southeast, along that stationary boundary.
So, that's where you'll see the airport delays especially in the afternoon, Atlanta, specifically, Minneapolis, two big Delta hubs, Miami, Atlanta, Minneapolis -- Miami, Orlando and Denver to a lesser extent in the afternoon. But Denver certainly had a streak of some thunderstorms pretty much the last couple weeks.
One hundred four again in Dallas. Dallas, Oklahoma City, seeing 100-plus days -- they each seen at least 20 so far this year. But notice Atlanta, a little bit cooler and drier, 85 degrees expected in New York City, and the heat again expected to build.
As a matter of fact, we've got excessive heat watches that are posted all the way to the Canadian border. International Falls, which we typically refer to as the ice box of the country, on Sunday could easily see heat index that will be up and over 100 degrees -- far from an ice box for sure. And because of that, Soledad, we broke out the animated fan here, which only do that for the most extreme heat, so that should be a warning to everybody across the northern plains.
O'BRIEN: Wow.
VELSHI: We'll take the wind here in New York.
MARCIANO: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
VELSHI: When it's getting that hot in Canada, you know we've got trouble on our hands.
O'BRIEN: Ice box is over 100 degrees.
VELSHI: That's it. Rob, thank you.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
VELSHI: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING: A major new development in the News Corporation phone hacking scandal. A Rupert Murdoch protege is out.
O'BRIEN: And a Florida lawmaker wants jurors banned from selling their stories immediately after a trial.
That brings us to the question of the day, which is this: should jurors be able to cash in on their cases?
We want to know what you think, send us an e-mail, or a tweet, or let us know on Facebook. We'll read your comments later this morning.
First, you're watching AMERICAN MORNING. It is 19 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-two minutes after the hour. Minding your business this morning.
The Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500 all closed lower yesterday, that's after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke backtracked on earlier comments the Fed may be ready to provide further stimulus to the economy.
Markets also pushed lower after Standard & Poor's put the U.S. on credit watch. The agency says there's a 50 percent chance that it will lower America's stellar credit rating in the next three months because of complications surrounding the debt ceiling talks. That is the second warning from a leading credit agency this week.
Market movers today: Citigroup reports second quarter earnings before the opening bell. And Google reported its earnings late yesterday, crushing estimates, with a 36 percent rise in profits last quarter. Its stock jumped 12 percent in afterhours trading yesterday.
Just in this morning: former "News of the World" editor and News International chief Rebekah Brooks is resigning. News Corporation stock taking a beating all week over the continued phone hacking scandal, dropped more than 7 percent in the past five trading sessions. The stock is currently down again in premarket trading this morning.
The new social networking site Google Plus is growing quickly. It's still in beta testing but 10 million users have already signed up for it. That's only about 1 percent of Facebook's 750 million global users.
Right now, Google Plus is only available by invitation. But the company says it will be open to the public soon.
Don't forget. For the latest news about your money, check out the all new CNNMoney.com.
AMERICAN MORNIG, back right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
It was said in south Boston, when he walked down the street, the sidewalk shook. We're talking about the notorious mobster James "Whitey" Bulger. He was arrested last month at his apartment in southern California after 15 years on the run.
VELSHI: Now, you know, you probably remember he was the inspiration for Jack Nicholson's character in the movie "The Departed." But in real life, he might have actually been more frightening.
Deborah Feyerick takes a serious look at his reign of terror in Boston in a special this Sunday night, CNN presents "Stone Cold Killer." She's here with a preview of it.
More scary than he was portrayed in the movie?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. As a matter, I spoke to somebody who knew both Bulger and Nicholson and said Nicholson was a little tame in his depiction of the character of Whitey Bulger.
And, you know, when Whitey Bulger was arrested back in June, he remained defiant, he refused to get on the ground before being handcuffed and he told one of the arresting agents that, in fact, you did it the right way. And what he was referring to, was the fact that agents had lured him into the garage rather than arrest him in his apartment.
It's possible that Whitey Bulger, at 81 years old, may have been ready for a shoot-out. He had assault rifles, shotguns, a silencer, automatic pistols, revolvers, 30 altogether. The FBI knew that when they went to get him, that he would be armed and dangerous.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (voice-over): Bulger's life of crime started early. Arrested in his teens, he was robbing banks by age 20. His shock of blonde hair earning him the name of "Whitey," a name he's said to despise.
With his rugged good looks and reckless flamboyance, Bulger imagined himself Boston's version of Hollywood gangster Jimmy Cagney. But instead of red carpets, he was headed to Alcatraz, a string of bank robberies landing Bulger 10 years in federal prison at age 25. He did his time and upon release vowed he would never ever go back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had no hard proof.
FEYERICK: "Boston Globe" reporters Dick Lehr and Gerald O'Neal ultimately uncovered the deal he cut to make sure of that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He got out of prison in 1965, and we started doing research in 1988, and he hadn't gotten so much as a parking ticket.
FEYERICK: Whitey Bulger, fresh from prison, went to work as a mob enforcer. But Bulger wanted more. And federal investigators say he'd stop at nothing to get it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then he went on a killing rampage. I think it's like a month, he killed six guys in 1972.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was ambitious in making his move.
FEYERICK: And he was making his move with this man, Steve Flemmi, aka the Rifleman. Among their alleged victims, Flemmi testified his own girlfriend, Debra Davis.
TOM FUENTES, FORMER FBI ORGANIZED CRIME CHIEF: Back in those days, before DNA was in use, to identify victims, he would personally get involved in cutting off the fingers or hands of the victims and extracting their teeth.
FEYERICK: Tom Fuentes, now a CNN consultant, ran the organized crime squad for FBI headquarters.
(on camera): Give me three words that describe Whitey Bulger.
FUENTES: Stone cold killer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Now, the brutality of Bulger's alleged crimes, it happened in part because he felt protected, he felt he could get away with anything because he was a mob - he was an informant for the FBI.
It's his FBI contacts that made him especially dangerous because he knew he could get away with it by selling out other mobsters, especially the Italian mafia, which at the time was the FBI's number one priority.
And that's why he was seen as this big informant, this prized informant and that's why he was basically given cart blanche while some of his rogue agents simply looked the other way.
O'BRIEN: That is hard core.
VELSHI: Is the movie a fair representation or just loosely based on?
FEYERICK: It's loosely based on his life. It's loosely based on the life. The more you read about Whitey Bulger, the more you find out how dangerous he was. He killed -- allegedly killed Debbie Davis because she as the girlfriend knew the secret.
And that was, that he was the one thing, which in South Boston you could not be, and that was a rat. He was selling other people out and that's something that was not OK. You could be a killer. You could not be a rat.
VELSHI: Interesting. All right, we look forward to seeing it. It's going to be this weekend.
FEYERICK: Yes, Sunday. Sunday at 8:00.
O'BRIEN: We got three amazing stories, in fact, from CNN Present on Sunday night at 8:00, "Ice Wars," "Stone Cold Killer" and "Extreme Cheerleading".
VELSHI: Something for everybody in there.
Our top stories now, debt ceiling talks are on hold. There's no deal after five days of meetings. The president wants congressional leaders to get back to him with a way forward. Negotiations could pick up tomorrow.
Meanwhile a second major agency, Standard & Poor's, is threatening to downgrade America's credit rating. The president will address the nation on the state of negotiations at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time this morning and CNN will carry it live.
O'BRIEN: And Casey Anthony walks free on Sunday. She's going to be released from jail after nearly three years behind bars. No word yet on what she's going to do or where exactly she's going to go, but she has received a number of death threats.
VELSHI: And he was planning another 9/11. "The Wall Street Journal" says Osama Bin Laden was putting together a team of terrorists to attack the U.S. 10 years to the day that the Twin Towers came down. The intel comes from documents that Navy SEALs seized when they killed the terror leader.
O'BRIEN: Also, News International chief Rebeckah Brooks, she's a protege of Rupert Murdoch, considered to be almost like a daughter, leaving the company after this growing phone hacking scandal. She was the editor at the time of some of the most serious allegations against the "News of the World".
VELSHI: Susan Candiotti has been following this very closely a couple key developments the investigation into News Corporation in the United States and the resignation this morning.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This resignation that we found out about overnight, of course, and parliament, ever since the scandal started, has been calling for her head. After watching other people lose their jobs as the scandal broke.
But now finally she has fallen on her sword, taking responsibility in a resignation letter saying that she feels responsible for the people who have been hurt and then she added this, quote, "I want to reiterate how sorry I am for what we now know to have taken place." So, you know, the scandal keeps moving forward and forward.
O'BRIEN: FBI is now investigating that one of Rupert Murdoch's tabloids, claims, may have tried to hack in to the phones of 9/11 victims or 9/11 victims' families. What kind of details do we know because there's not much out there on this?
CANDIOTTI: There isn't much out there at all. But now we finally have Eric Holder acknowledging that the FBI is going to take a look at this, after getting a lot of heat from Congress, lot of senators, asking for an inquiry.
And they're looking into, as far as we know, an allegation that was made in one of Murdoch's own newspapers, another tabloid "The Mirror" claiming there was a private investigator who was asked here in New York to get phone records to hack into victims' voice males to see what they could find out after 9/11.
So now the FBI will try to find out whether this was true and they will see where the investigation goes. Here's what the AG is saying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, there have been serious allegations raised in that regard in Great Britain and there are -- there's an ongoing investigation as is appropriate.
There have been members of Congress in the United States who have asked us to investigate those same allegations and we are progressing in that regard using the appropriate federal law enforcement agencies in the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: And 9/11 families are also applauding the FBI's investigation, saying that this is gruesome and horrifying if true and they want the FBI to get down to the bottom of it.
O'BRIEN: Certainly add to the level of disgust that many people are feeling in the wake of all these allegations.
CANDIOTTI: Exactly. I spoke with the father of one of many, many 9/11 victims, Jim Riches, a former firefighter himself, and this is how he reacted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If somebody went in and took our information and took our last messages from our sons or our -- what we were talking about, it's not -- none of their business unless they can ask us and if we're willing to tell them we'll tell them. To invade the privacy like that, Americans have rights.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: And so now we will all wait to see where the investigation leads the FBI.
VELSHI: This thing, this plot thickens. The stock of the company is down 5 percent over the last five trading sessions, down again this morning. All right, Susan, I know you're staying on it. Thank you.
CANDIOTTI: You're welcome. VELSHI: Well, a major misstep by prosecutors led to the mistrial in the federal perjury case against Roger Clemens. This came as quite a surprise. The judge's ruling came yesterday on the second day of testimony after the prosecution showed jurors evidence that had already been deemed inadmissible.
Clemens was charged with lying to Congress, you'll recall, when he testified he never used performance enhancing drugs. A hearing to determine what happens next in this case is scheduled in September. But the judge had said that even a first-year law student would have seen this coming.
O'BRIEN: He was absolutely furious.
California's governor signed a bill that requires schools to teach gay history. Lessons in public schools will include the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.
Some religious and conservative groups are coming out against it. The head of the, quote, "Traditional Values Coalition" is calling for parents to pull their children out of public school over that.
VELSHI: Right. Let's be clear here they're talking about the contribution of gay and lesbians to history. It sounds like a --
O'BRIEN: Everybody else's contribution also.
VELSHI: It's the idea that everybody's contribution should be counted. I've been getting a lot of tweets about this to suggest that somehow history is being displaced as a result of it. I think this is just a move toward inclusion. You be the judge.
Minnesota may be back in business soon. Negotiators reached a tentative budget deal last night. State officials are hoping to get it passed next week to end the 15-day government shutdown.
If that happens, 22,000 state employees can return to work and nearly 100 idled road construction projects can resume and people can go back to camping at state parks in Minnesota too.
O'BRIEN: This is kind of a good idea with all the political climate and hate in Washington, D.C., hand out bats. That will work. No, actually it was all kind of peaceful, no bean balls or brawls at the 50th Annual Congressional Baseball Game.
Democrats beat the GOP, 8-2 at Nationals Park. Money raised went to the Washington Literacy Council and the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington.
VELSHI: The Democrats typically win this game. I'm not sure what that says, but the Democrats do, do well on the diamond in Washington.
Still ahead, he was greeted like a hero on the first tee, but golf super star Rory McIlroy got in trouble fast day one at the British Open. Round two is under way right now.
O'BRIEN: Also grief counseling, grief counseling, for Harry Potter fans, it's come to this. Grief counseling for "Harry Potter" because it's all come to the end so now they go into the grief counseling. People who are literally upset about the movie's ending have a place to turn a doctor to talk to.
VELSHI: My goodness.
O'BRIEN: What lessons can be learned from other sad endings like "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" and "Survivors" ending. There's a list and yet, people have gone on. We'll talk about all that ahead.
VELSHI: If any of you are old Trekkis or "Star Wars" fans got any advice send us to us on Twitter. We'll share it.
O'BRIEN: It's 38 minutes after the hour.
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VELSHI: Libyan government is warning NATO and opposition fighters against attacks targeting the country's oil. A spokesman says, quote, "We will kill everyone who comes near our oil."
O'BRIEN: CNN's Zain Verjee is following that for us this morning. She's live in London. Hi, Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, guys. The Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi is saying that he is going to dig in and fight until the death. He's also criticized NATO for some of its recent attacks calling the attacks really heavy and completely merciless and that's when a spokesman came out and said that we will kill everyone who comes near our oil.
In the meantime on the diplomatic front, you've got the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, she is over in Istanbul meeting with other diplomats. They're all feeling a little bit optimistic because there's this sense that Moammar Gadhafi is actually wanting to find a way out.
They're low on supplies. They're low on moral, and so they're looking to see whether or not there could be an opening. The secretary though has said, that Gadhafi has to stop the violence and step down first.
VELSHI: Zain, another story that I know you've been following all morning because it's, obviously, unfolding very quickly in London, is the resignation of the former editor of the "News of the World" and the head of News Corp newspaper operations in London, Rebekah Brooks.
VERJEE: Right. This has been a major and very significant development. She was the chief executive of News International and there has been so much political and financial pressure on her to step down and it's finally happened.
In a statement she said that she was sorry for the people who had been hurt and that she herself was becoming a distraction, so she has decided to step down. I mean, she was Rupert Murdoch's golden girl.
He really defended her and did not want her to resign, but she couldn't take the heat. There were so many people calling for her just to leave. She was actually editor of "News of the World" when young teenager, 13 years old, by the name of Milly Dowler was murdered.
And it's come out that "News of the World" had hacked her phone and was deleting all these messages that gave the parents hope that Milly Dowler was alive and she was the editor.
They want to know, still, even though she's resigned, what she knew, when she knew it, as "News of the World's" editor, she's got to have known what's happened.
They want to know how deep this has gone, but this is a significant move. Many are saying it's great, but it may be too little too late for News Corp.
O'BRIEN: Yes, even with that resignation, many questions remain for her. Zain Verjee for un in London. Thanks, Zain.
Second round play is under way at the British Open Golf Championship. Denmark's Thomas Bayorn sharing the first round of lead at 5 under par. He didn't know he was going to be playing until another golfer withdrew on Monday.
VELSHI: As for defending U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy, he has some ground to make up. He shot an opening round 71, six strokes office the pace.
O'BRIEN: Final chapter in the "Harry Potter" film franchise hits theaters today, this morning, midnight. People lined up to go watch it, flocks to the midnight showings of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2." The film had already grossed $25 million before that premier.
VELSHI: That was from advanced ticket sales.
O'BRIEN: They're going to have a great weekend.
VELSHI: There is help, by the way, for all you in mourning over the end of the films. I don't know who you are. We have help for you. A California culture expert says look at the Trekki and "Star Wars" fans to see how those franchises have lived on with conventions and other special events. He expects the Potter verse to live long and prosper and like those other franchises lots of costumes involved with "Harry Potter" fans.
O'BRIEN: I don't think it's over at all.
VELSHI: No.
O'BRIEN: I know she said it's over, it's not over. There will be much more.
Some morning headlines up next including reports of significant progress in the NFL labor impasse. Are ready for some football?
VELSHI: And the U.S. women's soccer team is one win away from taking the entire Women's World Cup championship, bring on the endorsements. Coming up in your next hour, the breakout star of the tournament, goalie Hope Solo joins us live. It's 45 minutes after the hour.
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O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. It's 46 minutes past the hour. Here are the morning headlines. A top Rupert Murdoch executive is now out over the phone hacking scandal. News International Chief Rebekah Brooks has resigned. She was editor at the time of some of the most serious allegations against "News of the World" newspaper.>
The FBI now investigating claims that the "News of the World" tried to hack 9/11 victims' phones. Murdoch told "The Wall Street Journal," also one of his papers, that his company has handled this crisis, quote, extremely well.
"The Wall Street Journal" says Osama Bin Laden was putting together a team of terrorists to attack the U.S. 10 years to the days that the twin towers came down. The intel comes from documents the Navy SEALs seized when they killed him.
Casey Anthony will walk out of jail on Sunday. Some experts are warning that her release could be dangerous. No word on what she's going to do yet or where she's going to go. Anthony was acquitted in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.
Still no deal on raising the nation's debt ceiling after five straight days of talks, the president has hit the pause button and wants congressional leaders to figure out a way to move the negotiations forward. They could meet again tomorrow.
U.S. stock futures trading higher ahead of the opening bell, getting a boost from stronger than expected earnings from Google. Second-quarter profits skyrocketed a whopping 36 percent, which is well above estimates.
At the goal line now, there is hope that the NFL lockout could end in the next 24 hours. There are reports that say that the players and the owners are making progress and getting a deal now could save the preseason.
You are caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this break.
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VELSHI: Washington, D.C., is cloudy right now, although our cameras aren't really focused on the clouds. There are clouds there, 71 degrees and a beautiful morning to wake up and get work done in Washington. It is going to be 87 later on today.
But if you stay in the capital and the White House and do work, it's air-conditioned and you get that debt deal worked out.
O'BRIEN: Yes. It's hot in there. Hotter, hotter than 87.
Well, nothing can truly prepare military doctors for the atrocities of war, of course. But there is one place that actually comes kind of close and it is the University of Maryland's Shock Trauma Center, which is in Baltimore.
It's here where doctors learn to treat multiple critical patients all at once all under a battlefield like conditions and intense training before deployed into the front lines.
VELSHI: CNN's Barbara Starr joins us live from the Pentagon with an inside look into the trauma center. It's quite fascinating, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, it really is good morning again to both of you. This is part of a special report we were working on with Sanjay Gupta for his upcoming weekend show of course.
We traveled up to the Baltimore Hospital to take a look at how military doctors are getting that very specialized trauma training before they go to the war zone. Here at home, a lot of them just work on military bases at hospitals, treating the typical sore throats and sniffles.
But once they go to the war zone they have to treat blast injuries and head injuries, the burns, the really terrible things that happen, sadly, to so many troops in the war zone. So we went to have a look at how they get that training.
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STARR (voice-over): Lieutenant Colonel Allan Ward is an Air Force flight surgeon who normally certifies that air crews are healthy enough to fly.
LT. COL. ALLAN WARD, U.S. AIR FORCE FLIGHT SURGEON: Even as a flight surgeon, I'm expected to be a jack-of-all-trades. But really in garrison when we are not deployed, I'm an outpatient internal medicine guy.
STARR: Before getting to Afghanistan, he says this will help him learn to prioritize multiple critical patients under battlefield conditions and sharpen his ability to make rapid decisions.
WARD: I expect to see gunshot wounds. I expect to see traumatic brain injuries from explosive devices, it means burns as well, a lot of orthopaedic injuries and really some horrific stuff. And what I'm doing here is getting exposure to a lot of things I would see over there. It's a high volume trauma center.
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STARR: Now we certainly hope that nobody here needs that kind of care in such a trauma situation. But if you do and you have to go these days to your local emergency hospital, your local emergency room, there is actually a pretty good chance one of the doctors, nurses, or medical techs will have served in the war zone, either as a reservist and have come back home or served on active duty and retired and come back into private practice.
What the military and the medical community is finding is after 10 years of war, really, the experience of war-time medical care now permeates the civilian medical system across this country.
VELSHI: Unintended, but not to negative consequence. All right, don't miss Sanjay Gupta, M.D. this weekend. Barbara Starr teams up with the Doc to continue their special series on military medicine.
They're going to explain how innovations from 10 years at war are changing your health at home. That's one of the way that Barbara was just talking. "Battlefield Breakthroughs" airs this Saturday and Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m. right here on CNN.
O'BRIEN: After nearly three years behind bars, Casey Anthony is set to be released on Sunday. Unclear at this point, what she plans on doing after she gets out. She has received a number of death threats.
VELSHI: Jurors in high profile cases like that can sometimes hope for a big payday after the trial. A Florida state representative is looking to ban future jurors from cashing in.
A proposed bill would make it illegal for a juror to accept compensation immediately following a case. There would be a nine-month cooling off period. Violators on either side paying or receiving money could face a heavy fine and jail time.
This way, lawmakers say jurors won't be biased during deliberations. This bill came about after Casey Anthony's juror sought and hired a publicist right after the trial.
O'BRIEN: I wonder if is that's because they wanted to make a lot of money or was it because the media was hounding them and they felt they needed a little buffer.
We want to know what you think. Should the jurors be able to cash in on their cases? Here are some of the responses this morning. This comes from Shelley on Facebook. She says, "No, but, at the same time, charging them with a felony, as it has been proposed, borders on stupidity."
VELSHI: A lot of very interesting comments. June on Facebook also says, "The judge gets paid, lawyers get paid, the court staff get paid. Why should the jurors who get nothing be allowed not to get paid? It's hard to serve on a jury for the ridiculous money that it pays. Let's now make them unable to be paid for their story? Freedom of speech, does that ring a bell?" Very, very interesting comments. I think the issue though does come down to would the potential payoff motivate you to behave differently during your deliberations?
O'BRIEN: The more dramatic trial, obviously the more audience for whatever book or interview you do later you might go in with a little bias.
VELSHI: Interesting. Your top stories are up after the break. It's 56 minutes after the hour.
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