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American Morning
Debt Deal Becomes Law; Mubarak Trial Begins; The Cop Who Can't be Stopped; Default Averted, Battles Loom; U.S. Keeps Its AAA Credit Rating; FAA Funding in Limbo; Security Breach at the White House; Rhode Island City Files for Bankruptcy; "Negotiate Like Terrorists"; NOLA Police Shooting Trial; NBA Sues Players; Leo's Titanic Payday
Aired August 03, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: -- we eke out one gain after eight losing sessions in the markets. Carter Evans at the Nasdaq market society. "WAKE UP CALL" will be back tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. That's it for us. AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, Ali. A done deal, at least for now. I'm Christine Romans. President Obama signs the debt ceiling compromise into law, but the budget battle far from over. Plus, why the markets are less than impressed with the debt deal?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, good morning to all of you. I'm Carol Costello. Egyptians never thought they would see this, their former President Hosni Mubarak on trial this morning, he and his sons facing the death penalty. We are live in Cairo just ahead.
VELSHI: And I'm Ali Velshi. You're about to meet a cop who can't be stopped. Run him down with a speeding car, but you won't get away. The incredible video that has everyone talking on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ROMANS: Good morning. It's Wednesday, August 3rd. This is AMERICAN MORNING. A lot going on today. We should get right to it.
COSTELLO: Yes, we should.
VELSHI: Isn't the debt deal done?
COSTELLO: No, it's not done yet. They have to do that Super Committee.
ROMANS: And decide what they will cut, cut food inspectors, education grants, they are definitely going to cut some stuff out of education. Now comes the hard part, right?
VELSHI: At least some of it is done?
ROMANS: Some of it done.
COSTELLO: One of the bitter and dangerous debates this recent history is now history. The bill to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending is law. This is a picture of President Obama, he signed the bill in private. Nobody around him. Notice that. He doesn't look very happy either, does he? He called the compromise a first step toward fixing the economy, though, and argued more must be done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: This is, however, just the first step. This compromise requires that both parties work together on a larger plan to cut the deficit, which is important for the long-term health of our economy. And since you can't close the deficit with just spending cuts, we'll need a balanced approach, where everything's on the table.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So see, Ali, the debt ceiling fight is far from over, but the showdown over the national debt has only just begun. Now a group of 12 lawmakers, the so-called Super Committee, is responsible for identifying $1.5 trillion in cuts by the year's end. Send up to Congress to pass that plan or risk deep cuts to programs that are important to both parties.
ROMANS: All right, so plenty to talk about, right, for months to come. Because the debt ceiling bill is now law, at least one fear has been alleviated. Two of the nation's leading credit agencies decided not to downgrade America's credit rating, still at AAA.
By no means has the cloud of economic uncertainty over the nation cleared, unemployment still high, the economy barely growing and as Mohamed El-Erian, the CEO of the investment management firm PIMCO told our Piers Morgan last night, there are still jitters, the U.S. credit rating could be downgraded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMED EL-ERIAN, CEO, PIMCO: A negative outlook means that there's a possibility of a downgrade. S&P has taken an further step. They have put the U.S. on a negative watch. A negative watch means they will downgrade the U.S. unless good things happen, so the market is very nervous about what S&P is going to say and expect it to say something in the next few days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: He said all of this drama in Washington did more harm than good. Just raising a political problem caused by Washington, concerns about the economy that drove the Dow down more than 260 points yesterday and the Nasdaq was also down. A sell-off is also pushing the S&P 500 into negative territory, folks, for the year now.
VELSHI: And Congress may have finally acted on the debt ceiling, but the gridlock that continues to grip the nation's capital means that a number of important things did not get resolved. One of them is funding for the federal aviation administration. We've been talking about this because it's not only costing the government money, it's costing real Americans their jobs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY LAHOOD, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Four thousand FAA employees have been furloughed, through no fault of their own. Seventy thousand construction workers are out of work today, 70,000. And here we are, right smack dab in the middle of the construction season in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Ted Rowlands live at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport for us. Good morning, Ted. What's the impact of this lack of funding?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, we should point out right away that safety is not impacted at all at airports like O'Hare. That's a totally different pot of money. Passengers will not be impacted at all in terms of long lines, et cetera. That is off the table.
But what is impacting airports are these construction jobs. Basically stop orders have been put out on hundreds of jobs across the country at airports like O'Hare, meaning those construction workers, some 70,000 of them, are not coming to work today.
And those 4,000 FAA employees are furloughed indefinitely while congress continues and takes its August recess. Take a listen here to Randy Babbitt, the head of the FAA. He is very frustrated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDY BABBITT, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: This can't go on a day longer, much less six weeks longer. We're going to suffer a lot of long-term damages. We have billions of dollars in construction money that should be going out the door that's not. This is money that's available. It's simply we can't spend it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: And Ali, as you can imagine talking to passengers here, for those folks that are already frustrated with Washington, this really leaves a bad taste in people's mouths in that they just left on their August recess without getting this done.
This is something that they've been haggling over since 2007. They've had Band-Aid extensions. They couldn't even get that done. People very frustrated. A lot of the flying public very frustrated at the inability for the two parties to get together.
And come up with something to at least keep these jobs going when -- as Ray LaHood said earlier, this is the middle of construction season in an industry that is really hurting right now, the last thing people need.
VELSHI: Ted, so the construction is not getting done. But the bottom line is the FAA has said safety is not in jeopardy. The air traffic controllers are on the job, the security workers on the job.
But I'm going to talk to a former FAA head earlier who says there are concerns, there are safety concerns, this could be a safety concern. Have you heard any of that?
ROWLANDS: Well, one thing that is impacted here is the inspectors that go around to different airports and they check the tarmac and the systems and the towers, those guys are working even though they're furloughed and their expenses right now are being shouldered by themselves.
There's an FAA memo out there that was leaked basically telling some employees, put the expenses on your own credit cards until we deal with this. With Congress gone and this could be a month now, there will some safety concerns as you mentioned. However, the official line from the FAA is no concern over safety.
VELSHI: Wow. It's a good thing the government has a good credit rating so people put things on their credit cards they know they're getting paid, but that does seem a little unfair. Ted, thanks very much for that. Ted Rowlands at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Can you imagine that?
ROMANS: No.
COSTELLO: That's like being in the government and not getting paid for three years.
VELSHI: How is that fair?
ROMANS: I read an article by one of these workers who are just waiting to see what happens. I mean, he doesn't really make all that much money. He said to put his mortgage on his credit card. It's really causing a lot of hardship to a lot of people unnecessarily.
COSTELLO: Biggest economy in the world. It's just --
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: Political gridlock.
COSTELLO: One thing that does work the secret service. It works well. Did you see this last night? A security breach triggered a lockdown at the White House last night.
It all unfolded during CNN's "JOHN KING USA" show. The program was being produced from the north lawn of the White House where this man with a backpack jumped the fence in front of the White House. It did not take long for secret service agents to come rushing in, guns drawn. Here's how it unfolded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, HOST, "JOHN KING USA": We want to alert you. We're not sure what's happening here. So I certainly do not want to alarm you. From time to time packages are left here and they go on to high alert. The secret service has rushed out of the White House moments ago, guns drawn. I covered this building for eight years. You see right there someone has jumped the fence, see on the video here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Well, the secret service did take him into custody. They did have guns drawn, they really did. They described this guy as a homeless man who was previously ordered by the courts to keep away from the White House.
Secret service is not saying he posed any sort of threat. He's being charged with unlawful entry and contempt and after living many years in Washington. This stuff happens pretty often.
VELSHI: Yes.
COSTELLO: Actually sadly and it's scary, but -- and, of course, they never treat it as routine.
VELSHI: Sure. Never know.
ROMANS: It's difficult to get inside of those gates. One time there was a production snafu, sent somebody flowers who helped me get a live shot located on the front lawn and I said did you get the flowers and they burst out laughing all those things are blown up.
Don't send flowers to the White House and don't take a backpack and jump over the fence. Your flowers, pizza, card will not be received.
It's being called the trial of the century in the Middle East this morning. Just a few hours ago in Cairo, ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak arrived in court along with his two sons to face murder and corruption charges.
Mubarak driven from office six months ago after three decades in power forced to lie on a gurney in a cage in a courtroom facing the death penalty.
CNN's Ian Lee joins us live on the phone now from Cairo this morning. Ian, what's the latest?
IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, Christine, right now the protesters are making their case. This is the preliminary session, so they're asking for different witnesses to be brought forward.
But both parties, both the prosecution and defense, have asked for field Marshall Kantawi (ph) to come in and give his statement and to give his account of the events happening. Both are asking for him to come in and he is the de facto leader of Egypt right now. These are progressing along.
ROMANS: All right. Ian lee, thank you so much. Really compelling moments from inside that courtroom and a remarkable change, gosh, change of scenery for the former Egyptian president on a gurney in a cage in a courtroom. In 30 minutes, we're going to talk about this trial and the impact it could have on the Arab world when joined by journalist and Middle Eastern expert Mona Eltahawy. I'll be talking to her. What a bizarre sight though, Hosni Mubarak lying on this hospital bed in court. We'll talk about that.
COSTELLO: But now, it is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. Our question this morning, who do you trust to create jobs? As the Senate passed the debt deal, President Obama assured Americans you can trust him. He's working on it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Coming months, I'll continue also to fight for what the American people care most about, new jobs, higher wages, and faster economic growth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The president wants to grant loans to private companies so they'll hire people to work on the country's roads and bridges. Republicans want to cut spending and they don't want to raise taxes or eliminate any tax breaks, hence the debt deal.
A deal most economists say will not spur job growth. Republicans argue it's too soon to tell, but we do know this, most big companies are not hiring. They're actually laying off workers even though they continue to sit on piles of money.
Cnnmoney.com did some digging. Here's what they found. Since January of 2010, businesses with more than 500 or more employees, have lost 29,000 jobs. But get this, small businesses are hiring. They've added nearly 2 million jobs.
They're not sitting on piles of money like the big guys. The big guys are sitting on $1.5 trillion cash. Despite the fact President Obama created a commission to convince CEO to spend some of that money on hiring.
So, talk back this morning. Who do you trust to create jobs? Send us an e-mail, actually why don't you send your comment to our Facebook page, facebook.com/americanmorning, facebook.com/americanmorning. We'll read some of your comments later this hour.
ROMANS: Some of the big companies are sitting on piles of cash and they're opening R and D facilities in other countries where they're looking for investments and new ideas and innovation and talent not here. Some of the very companies are on the president's competitive council.
COSTELLO: Ain't that grand?
ROMANS: Yes. Up next on AMERICAN MORNING, Democrats venting their frustration over the debt debate reportedly comparing Tea Party Republicans to, quote, "terrorists." Will this help or hurt their movement? VELSHI: And you're about to meet one tough cop. You can't even stop him with a speeding car. Its' 13 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is 15 minutes past the hour.
Time to get up, pay attention a little bit, because I think the new catch word in the world of politics is "bizzaro" (ph) or maybe it's terrorists and I don't mean the Osama Bin Laden kind.
Tea Party politicians are up in arms over allegations Vice President Biden called Tea Party lawmakers terrorists during the debt ceiling debate - except he didn't. His people told our - told our people. The word was used by several members of Congress. The Vice President does not believe it's an appropriate term in political discourse.
No matter. Tea Party Caucus leader and presidential contender Michele Bachmann is using this drama to raise money and Sarah Palin is using it to thrust herself back into the spotlight. Here she is on FOX.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: Independent patriotic Americans who desire fiscal sanity in our beloved nation being called terrorists, heck, John, if we were real domestic terrorists, shoot, President Obama would be wanting to pal around with us, wouldn't he? I mean, he didn't have a problem palling around with the Bill Ayers back in the day.
No. If we were all domestic terrorists, I think President Obama wouldn't have a problem with us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Bam. Palin invoking Bill Ayers once again. And who better to talk about all of this than John Avalon, CNN contributor and centrist extraordinaire.
I know. It sounds silly on its face, but we're trying to restore civility in the world of politics. And now Democrats seem guilty of this.
JOHN AVALON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR AND SENIOR POLITICAL COLUMNIST, "THE DAILY BEAST": Yes. Well, we have this cycle of incitement in our politics right now, Carol, right? I mean, the extremes encourage each other. You have people sort of fear mongering and then fund-raising off that fear mongering and either side is immune.
COSTELLO: It's effective.
AVALON: Well, it is effective. You know, hate is a cheap and easy recruiting tool. But ultimately I think, you know, the extremes on each side are each side's worst enemy.
And, look, before Obama Derangement Syndrome, there was Bush Derangement Syndrome. This stuff does not happen in a vacuum. But it's becoming a real problem in our politics.
And, look, terrorists are terrorists. We're in (ph) 10th anniversary of 9/11 coming up. That's clearly unacceptable and should be condemned. The problem is, both sides sort of treat their own extremes as well, they may be crazy, but there are crazies.
COSTELLO: Well, I just want to read something that Jonah Goldberg wrote.
AVALON: Sure.
COSTELLO: He's a Conservative columnist. He says all over the place Conservative Republicans are hostage takers and terrorists - terrorists and traitors. They want to end life as we know it on this planet. That's what Nancy Pelosi said. Joe Nocera, who's a Liberal columnist, he writes today, that the Tea Party Republicans can put aside their suicide vests.
So, is it a case that liberals, let's say, or Democrats, are sick of the Conservative Right controlling the agenda, using these tactics. So why not adopt the tactics themselves and fight back that way?
AVALON: Because it's bad for the country. I mean, that - that's the problem we're seeing right now. I mean, you know, that - you know, when Sarah Palin criticizes, where we go back to death panels or Michele Bachmann taking umbrage on this stuff when she uses language like President Obama bringing tyranny and slavery to the United States.
You know, the problem is, is when you throw that card and you try to fund raise off of it, what you're doing is you're playing politics by talk radio rules in which there's no such thing as two extremes. And they have a very sophisticated fund raising apparatus off that stuff.
So when Democrats start echoing that and - and ratcheting up that rhetoric themselves, the problem is, is that some Democrats are willing to excuse it because it comes from their side. And the point is we got to be consistent about condemning it or otherwise that cycle of incitement gets out of control.
COSTELLO: OK. So let's condemn - condemn those Democrats that are saying these nasty things about the Tea Party, but how much money did Michele Bachmann raise?
AVALON: $13.5 million last cycle.
COSTELLO: OK. So she knows what she's doing, right?
AVALON: There is - this is has become a business plan. That is the problem in our politics right now. This has become part of your fund- raising off fear mongering and it is a real problem in our politics right now.
COSTELLO: Well, and that's a sad thing if you look at the overall picture. Like let's go back to the health care debate. I know we must - we must do it for just a second, but remember the death panel thing.
AVALON: Yes.
COSTELLO: Totally untrue, but that phrase "death panel," it was hateful, it stood out, it stuck, and it really did make a difference in how we debated the health care debate.
AVALON: It did and that's the danger, right? It becomes a temptation to throw the bomb in order to try to - try to, you know, it resonates, it mischaracterizes, and it all of a sudden frames the debate. So this is - this is the problem.
And this goes back to something really old in our politics. This is, you know, what's called the paranoid style in American politics, and when you pander to that lowest common denominator, you can get great results in the short run. The problem is and I think this, you know, gets back to that 70 percent - 70 percent of Americans think that politicians are acting like spoiled children. People seem more interested in scoring points than in solving problems and people are increasingly offended by that approach. It doesn't mean it's not effective, but it does require you have to think a little bit bigger and be a little bit bigger.
And remember that, you know, sort of an old lost adage that Teddy Roosevelt used to say, that decency is the most, you know, the appropriate, influential kind of politics at the end of the day, but we have a complete breakdown on our civility. Because folks are playing politics by talk radio rules and this is starting to have a real impact on our discourse on both sides. So sometimes we've got to stand up (INAUDIBLE).
COSTELLO: Yes. And maybe it's the voters, because, you know, these polls came out and they consider lawmakers childish and stupid and idiots, but if this rhetoric works to fund raise, then politicians are getting a mixed message from voters. And really isn't it up to us to say stop it and then penalize the politicians in some way, which we kind of don't?
AVALON: Well, that's the problem. There is a lack of accountability, right? I mean, you know, they'll use fear mongering in one end and then they'll take great offense when the other side starts engaging in the same thing. And they'll take offense in order to fund raise off it by playing the victim card. I mean, you have - that is the part of this cycle of incitement we've seen.
Ultimately, I think it's only going to stop when - when both sides stop criticizing the extremes on their own sides. But, right now they try to use them. They're willing to use these folks to mobilize the base in elections. They're willing to fund raise off it, but that - that's really becomes the issue.
The cycle of incitement gets easily out of control. And we're heading into a new election cycle, people. And if folks don't think this is going to get worse, you got to wake up and you get those things coming.
COSTELLO: John Avalon, thanks for coming in. I knew you'd love this topic. I just knew it.
So I'm going to throw it back to my fantastic, fabulous and talented colleagues.
ROMANS: John Avalon, it's good to have him in the morning.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: He just like gets you ready to go -
VELSHI: Yes, yes, yes.
ROMANS: -- and gets you irritated right away.
VELSHI: He sounds like he's been up for a lot longer than all of us.
ROMANS: I know.
All right. Twenty-one minutes - almost 22 minutes after the hour. We're going to check the morning's business headlines right after the break.
VELSHI: And there are many of them. And historic drought in Texas unearthing a piece of American history from the doomed shuttle "Columbia" mission eight years ago. This was a surprise no one expected.
It's 22 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: "Minding Your Business" this morning.
U.S. markets took a nose dive yesterday. The Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500, they all dropped more than two percent to close out the day. A weak report on consumer spending pushing stocks lower across the board, even after President Obama signed the bill to raise the nation's debt ceiling. The S&P now, by the way, is lower for the year.
Credit rating agency Fitch confirmed America's AAA rating yesterday after the debt ceiling bill was raised and Moody's did too, but also lowered its outlook on U.S. debt to negative. Investors holding their breath for the third major player, S&P, (INAUDIBLE) to pipe in. The agency said this morning they are not commenting yet on the U.S. debt deal.
Right now, U.S. futures - stock futures are trading a little bit higher that's because America has officially avoided default for the new bill, at least for now, and retained its AAA credit rating. Also, the Dow down for, you know, eight days in a row now, so a little bounce back is - is probably in the cards. All three major market indicators are up so far in free market trading this morning.
Investors will be sorting through more economic reports today. New data on the number of jobs created in July. There's also factory orders from June and information on the services sector, all of those coming out later this morning. But Wall Street still nervous about the big jobs report. This is the important report that comes out on Friday.
Investors hoping for a bright spot with earnings to boost markets today. Clorox, MasterCard and CNN's parent company Time Warner all release earnings before the opening bell, and later, Dunkin' brands will release its first quarterly earnings report since going public last week.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after this break with a city in New England declaring bankruptcy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Thirty minutes after the hour. That means it's time for this morning's top stories.
Now that President Obama has signed the debt deal into law, a so- called super committee of 12 lawmakers is now responsible for slashing $1.5 trillion from the federal budget deficit. They have until November 23rd to come up with their recommendations. Congress will vote the plan up or down -- the whole plan, no changes, no amendments.
COSTELLO: The murder and corruption trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons getting under way this morning in Cairo. Security is very tight.
Inside the courtroom, Mubarak is in a cage, on a stretcher, with an oxygen tank. He's facing the death penalty accused of conspiring to kill hundreds of protesters during the 18 day uprising that drove him from office.
Tropical storm warnings across much of the northern Caribbean as Emily moves closer to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Winds are now topping out at 50 miles per hour but flooding could be the major problem in the islands. The forecast says Emily could skirt the east coast of Florida by early Saturday.
VELSHI: Tough times for folks living in Central Falls, Rhode Island. We first told you about the story yesterday. The town was forced to file for bankruptcy after failing to get police and firefighter retirees to give up half their pensions.
Mary Snow is live in Central Falls this morning.
A name that will ring a bell with some people, Mary, this is not -- I mean, for a little town in Rhode Island it has had national headlines before.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Ali. This is a town where the entire school system had to fire its teachers at one point because the state was strapped for money.
Now, the teachers are under the state system, but police and fire -- and you've just mentioned those pensions, that became crucial and why this town filed for bankruptcy, state officials are calling this a cautionary tale for cities and towns across America that promised benefits on pensions 10, 20 years down the road. Now, the time is coming and the money just isn't there.
So, a tiny town, $80 million in unfunded pension liability. And there are also cuts to the police force, the fire force. They're talking about a 40 percent reduction. That's caused a lot of concern among the people here, particularly among some store owners, business owners, one of whom said he was recently robbed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody break in and steal cell phones, about three or four computers. I don't know what happened. The police is not (INAUDIBLE) in the streets. Who takes, you know, care about us?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They won't be here in time. I will have to wait a while before they get here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Now, one thing being looked at, can services be shared with other surrounding towns? Nobody's hopping on that because they're afraid of being dragged down themselves.
And this is not a problem confined to this one town. Rhode Island has been recognized with one of the most expensive retirement systems in the country, one of the worst funded.
The state treasurer has found $7 billion in liabilities. She has been tasked to reform the system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GINA RAIMONDO, RHODE ISLAND GENERAL TREASURER: Nobody wants to make the tough choices. Central Falls proves that. These choices will be made for you. If you don't act quickly enough, consequences will be devastating. And so, as hard as this is now for me, for the governor, for union leaders to come to the table to fix it, it is much easier to fix it now than when you're on the brink of bankruptcy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: And, Ali, state workers are looking at cuts in their pension system come this October. There is going to be legislative action to try and tackle this massive problem in the state -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right. So, the question is whether this is unusual with Central Falls or whether this is a picture of things to come in many other parts of the nation. Mary, thanks very much for that report. Mary Snow in Central Falls, Rhode Island. ROMANS: All right. The severe drought conditions we've been telling you about in Texas leading to a bizarre find. A remnant of the space shuttle Columbia which broke up upon re-entering the atmosphere back in 2003, that remnant has been discovered in a dried out lake bed in Nacogdoches.
NASA official says the object in a tank that -- it's a tank that provided power and water for shuttle missions. There it is there.
COSTELLO: Cool.
VELSHI: Yes.
COSTELLO: Who's keeping it?
VELSHI: It's going to go to Kennedy Space Center, which is where all the rest of the relics --
ROMANS: The Columbia" pieces.
COSTELLO: It's not finders, keepers.
VELSHI: No. Definitely not finders, keepers.
COSTELLO: Darn.
VELSHI: All right. You're about to meet Dan Pascoe. He may just be the most dedicated cop in England and the toughest. This happened last month.
Watch the passenger side of Pascoe's police cruiser. All right. Gets -- set up a highway road block when a man in a stolen BMW slams into the back of his vehicle.
By the way, the passenger side is what you think of as the driver's side because it's Great Britain.
The force lifted Pasco 10 feet in the air. That's when the police officer instincts kicked in, bounced right back to his feet, to chase down the car thief.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN PASCOE, POLICE CONSTABLE: Somehow I got back up on to my feet thinking, I'm slightly better off than I thought I was. So, I went back into police mode rather than sort of normal people mode and decided that it was time to go and arrest someone who put the public in danger.
He ran down an embankment and tried to climb over a fence and at that point is when I drew my taser and tasered him in the back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: As soon as the suspect was apprehended, Dan Pascoe collapsed. He was pretty banged up. He didn't suffer serious injuries. The car thief sentenced to 23 months behind bars.
COSTELLO: He's like Robocop there.
VELSHI: He was getting out of the car, right? So, he's out of the car when this guy hits him and then he bounces off. I mean, I'd still be sitting around thinking, my God, what happened?
COSTELLO: Your adrenaline kicks in, I totally get it. And you just want to get up and get this person who did this to you.
VELSHI: That is a tough cop.
ROMANS: But when the teleprompter goes down you know what to do.
VELSHI: My instinct kicks in.
ROMANS: Anchorman mode. Anchorman mode.
COSTELLO: Just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING: former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on trial for murder and corruption charges. Our next guest says the outcome could change the course of history in the Middle East.
It's 36 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: On the streets of Cairo, people are shaking their heads in disbelief. No one in Egypt thought they'd ever see this day -- actually no one ever saw quite a day like this in a courtroom.
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in a courtroom in a hospital bed, with oxygen, and he's inside of a cage, a jail cell. That's how he's being tried for murder and corruption after three decades in power. He faces the death penalty along with his two sons and he says -- and right now, he's pleading not guilty.
Mona Eltahawy is a journalist and an expert on Arab and Muslim issues and she is just back from Cairo.
This is just the most bizarre spectacle. Did you ever think?
MONA ELTAHAWY, COLUMNIST, ARAB AND MUSLIM ISSUES: Obviously, every Egyptian had a dream that someday Mubarak would stand trial. So, this is a pretty historic day in terms of symbolism, in terms of an Arab country putting its own dictator on trial without an invasion as in the case of Iraq when the U.S. invaded.
But in terms of what's been happening in the courtroom itself, I know for most Egyptians that I'm following on-line it's turned into quite a farce. But I think it's really important to focus on the historic symbolism of what's happening in Egypt today.
COSTELLO: OK. Before we do the important stuff, I just want to talk a little bit more about Hosni Mubarak because we've always seen pictures of him as a vital man, even though he's 83 years old. And here he is lying on a hospital bed, on oxygen, in a cage in a courtroom. Some people think he's pretending to be sick to garner public sympathy.
What do you think?
ELTAHAWY: Well, you know, it's interesting, during the 30 years of his rule, if anybody dared to question his health, he could face jail and many journalists were actually sentenced to jail terms for questioning how well he was doing. And yet since he was forced to step down, because of the revolution, we've been getting almost weekly updates on how frail he is, on how he's in a coma, on how he's depressed.
And I've got to wonder, you know, what kind of strings of public sympathy he's trying to pull today, because as you say, he's in hospital bed with an oxygen tank. But his hair is black, he's 83 years old. He's obviously dyeing his hair. So, how sick is this man?
COSTELLO: Well, he does have the energy to do that.
But I'm thinking -- you know, I'm thinking there's something like really wrong with him, but they say high blood pressure, he's depressed and not eating well.
ELTAHAWY: Yes.
COSTELLO: Well, there are a lot of people like that, like right now, working here, and we're not in a hospital bed on oxygen.
ELTAHAWY: Well, my sympathies are with civilians who are undergoing military trial in Egypt, simply for being revolutionaries and protesting against the military council that currently runs Egypt. We've replaced one Mubarak with a supreme council of Mubaraks, the military running the country, who are basically his buddies.
So, my sympathies firmly lie with the revolutionaries and the families of the martyrs. And Mubarak stands trial for conspiring to kill those people in the revolution.
So, you know where my sympathy lies.
COSTELLO: I do.
OK. So, let's say that Mubarak is found guilty of all charges, along with his two sons. Will this really make any difference? Things in Egypt as far as the pro-democracy protesters are concerned, are pretty much the same.
ELTAHAWY: That's the challenge in Egypt, that things are the same regime-wise because Mubarak's friends are the ones who are running the country right now. But why this trial matters is because Egyptians want to see a concrete result, at least one concrete result from the revolution, and putting on trial the dictator of 30 years who many people believe is responsible for the deaths of at least a thousand people, during the revolution, is really symbolic, not just for Egypt but for the other countries around Egypt because what's happening today is every dictator in the region is watching this in total fear, thinking that he could be next.
And all the citizens in the region, ordinary people in the Arab or Middle East and North Africa are thinking, wow, we wish we could put our tyrants on trial. And just think of Assad in Syria right now who is massacring his citizens in Hama and other parts of Syria, and probably using this trial as a distraction.
So, I think this is an important boost of revolutions across the region.
COSTELLO: It's interesting. It's just interesting as an aside that Israel is carrying this trial live.
ELTAHAWY: Well, you know, Israel -- I mean, most Egyptians have complete hate for Israel because they've been first of all because of the occupation, and second of all, because the Israeli government made it very clear they supported our dictator. Anyone who supported our dictator -- I mean, there were five U.S. presidents who supported our dictator and you have to wonder those of them still alive, what are they thinking now that the man they kept calling a reformer and a stable president, he's lying in a cage pretending to be sick. I mean, it's pathetic.
So, you know, this is a message to everybody who supports dictators and dictators themselves that you will be held accountable.
COSTELLO: Thank you so much for joining us this morning. Fascinating conversation. I wish we could go on.
ELTAHAWY: Thanks for having me. Gridlock on the streets of Washington, D.C.
ROMANS: All right. Gridlock on the streets of Washington, D.C. Coming up the worst possible time for a woman in labor rushing to the hospital. Twenty-four-year-old Jeromeka Chappelle was already five days past the due date for baby number two as her father called 911, she was giving birth in the front seat of the family minivan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Baby just came out.
JEROMEKA CHAPPELLE, GAVE BIRTH IN MINIVAN: I felt one push and I felt her head and I put my leg up further and pushed again and I felt her arms and stuff and the last push, she came out on the seat.
JEROME CHAPPELLE, DAUGHTER GAVE BIRTH IN MINIVAN: The baby's head was there. I'm still trying to drive. I'm like, oh, no. Oh, oh, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Oh, no, oh, yes! Oh, yes! When that baby is coming that baby is coming.
An ambulance arrived moments after the birth to transport them to the hospital. We're told mom and her newborn daughter are doing fine, although grandpa is still in shock.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Well done, grandpa.
All right. Coming up, a combat veteran winding up his second deployment to Afghanistan. Our Jason Carroll has followed him to the front lines for his special series "A Soldier's Story." It's 45 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Forty-seven minutes after the hour. Now that the president has signed the plan to raise the debt ceiling, Congressional leaders must establish a so-called super committee of six Republicans and six Democrats. The group's task is to find $1.5 trillion in deficit cuts spread over the next ten years.
The murder and corruption trial of former Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, is under way in Cairo this morning. Mubarak is pleading not guilty to -- while lying on a stretcher with an oxygen mask inside a steel cage.
Jury deliberations set to begin this morning in a police shooting trial in New Orleans. Five current or former cops are accused of shooting unarmed civilians as they crossed the Danziger Bridge in the days following hurricane, Katrina.
Tropical storm, Emily, heading for Haiti, and it could create more misery. Tropical storm warnings issued across much of the Northern Caribbean where flooding could be a major problem. It could be a close call for the southeast U.S.
And the NBA owners taking it to the courts one month into the lockout, and they're now suing the players' union and filing an unfair labor charge against the players saying they're not negotiating in good faith.
And Leonardo DiCaprio tops the Forbes list of highest earning actors over the last year, thanks largely to his success on the film "Shutter Island" and "Inception." DiCaprio earned an estimated $77 million.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI (on-camera): You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All this week, in a special series, we're getting an up close look at life in the war zone. Army Sergeant Randy Shorter is a combat veteran. CNN's Jason Carroll has followed him from here to Afghanistan.
COSTELLO: And they met up again as Sergeant Shorter was finishing up his year-long deployment. Jason is here now, and it's just fascinating to see the changes in these guys.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, incredible. And you know, Sergeant Shorter, you remember, was part of the surge, those thousands of men and women who headed into Afghanistan to see if they could right some of the wrongs that had been done there. And now, the question for First Sergeant Randy Shorter and his men as they wind down is, do they feel like they got the job done?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys ready?
CARROLL (voice-over): This village in Southern Afghanistan is a known safe haven for insurgents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was a nervous feeling whenever you come to this village.
CARROLL: For just days ago, these soldiers came under fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go. Go.
CARROLL: First Sergeant Randy Shorter and his men are back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch that alley way there.
CARROLL: On one of their final missions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're clear.
CARROLL: So, we just cleared that area.
SGT. 1ST CLASS RANDY SHORTER, U.S. ARMY: Yes, we cleared the two main structures. Now, we're engaged in the actual elders that actually live here.
CARROLL: It's pretty tense when you go there and do that?
SHORTER: It is.
All right. Hey, this is the last time in the state.
CARROLL: It was August of last year when we first met Shorter, just one of thousands of soldiers at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, having to say good-bye. Part of the so-called surge into Afghanistan, Shorter was leaving behind his wife and two girls, for this fourth deployment, his second to Afghanistan.
SHORTER: Whether it's one week, one day, doesn't matter. Saying good-bye is hard.
CARROLL: Shorter will soon see his family again, but first -- finishing the job after hundreds of missions, rooting out insurgents, and reclaiming villages once under Taliban control, Shorter's deployment is coming to an end.
SHORTER: Tell them I have friends. I brought friends with me.
CARROLL: One of the biggest challenges before leaving making sure the Afghan army and AUP, the Afghan Uniform Police, can lead security before more soldiers like Shorter pull out as part of the expected drawdown in U.S. forces.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's how you do it. Got it? From now on, always have (EXPLETIVE DELETED) AUP. Tell your boys to (EXPLETIVE DELETED) slow down.
SHORTER: As you can see, you know, this little rough spots in the beginning, but, you know, they're coming along.
CARROLL: AP, trying to get --
SHORTER: Afghan Uniform Police to, you know, take the lead. Sometimes, they're just a little disoriented on exactly what we want them to do, but it only takes a few minutes, and then, they kind of catch on.
CARROLL: Shorter is confident in how he has trained his Afghan counterpart police commander Saheed (ph). Saheed (ph) says he is ready to take over. But he tells me he still worries about fewer U.S. troops.
Are you leaving feeling like you've done all that you can do?
SHORTER: You know, Jason, at first, you know, I felt like I didn't do enough, you know? I can't change the whole Afghanistan, you know? If I do one small piece, I did my part.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (on-camera): Well, Shorter says he's made an impact not only by working with the Afghan police, but also by building strong relationships with Afghan civilians. His hope is that the company that takes over for him when he leaves is able to build on some of the progress that they've already made there.
COSTELLO: You know what I wonder? So many of our troops that come home suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome, and they have all sorts of other issues, like, what's being done to protect the people that you've met from developing this?
CARROLL: That's a very good question and that something that we explore, and you'll -- you're going to see that later on this week. The people that they can talk to, the army has set up, you know, special counselors, talk to when they get back stateside, get back on the ground here, but there are a lot of issues that they deal with and dealing with, you know, life being a civilian back here at home is just one of the issues. But, also, dealing with do they feel like they got everything done.
ROMANS: Right. Especially when you hear, like, one small piece to try to get his counterparts up to snuff, and he feels like they're disoriented. They're not quite getting it. I mean, it must be frustrating to try to get that one small piece. We've heard it from a lot of these guys that say, our job is to train the Afghans to protect themselves, and it's just not working.
CARROLL: Correct. Well, you know, look, I was there a year ago as you know, and between the year that -- in the year that I've seen, I have seen some changes in the Afghan police and the Afghan army. The question is, are the changes enough?
VELSHI: Sure.
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: All right. Jason, we look forward to two more --
CARROLL: Two more.
VELSHI: This week? All right.
ROMANS: Wow. Love it.
COSTELLO: That was fascinating. Thank you. I can't wait until tomorrow. And now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day.
With the debt deal signed and D.C. turning its focus to putting Americans back to work, we ask you this question today, who do you trust to create jobs?
This from Lee, he says, "No one. If the federal government was going to create a jobs program, it would have been done already. If corporate CEOs were interested in putting people back to work, they'd release some of the cash they're hoarding to make it happen."
This from Wayne, "Not the Republicans or their Tea Party sidekicks. Americans are still waiting for all those jobs that the Bush tax breaks were going to create."
And this from Rick, "Trust nobody to create jobs. They cannot do it, no matter what they promise. The greedy big companies are still taking their jobs overseas and will continue to do so until somebody puts a stop to it." Which, you know, that's interesting, because how can you put a stop to it? Private industry.
ROMANS: Companies only have to return shareholder value, and shareholder value doesn't mean using their cash to hire people and that is the unfortunate truth.
COSTELLO: OK. What if you gave tax incentives to companies to hire people who are unemployed?
ROMANS: And we've tried that --
COSTELLO: In America.
ROMANS: There was that in the stimulus, and small businesses are the ones hiring, and there have been some small business tax breaks, but we've tried to give tax breaks before for relocating jobs overseas or repatriates assets overseas so they hire here. That just didn't work. It was always a way around it, Carol.
VELSHI: And labor rates and people have to sort of --
COSTELLO: You're depressing me.
VELSHI: It is upsetting. Labor rates are that much cheaper elsewhere in the world. To make up (ph) for that, it's complicated. I mean, it's not as simple, but --
ROMANS: When you don't have any regulations somewhere else, you know, then, hey.
COSTELLO: Well, we want to keep the conversation going, and if you want to vent, please do it on our Facebook page. Facebook.com/americanmorning -- facebook.com/americanmorning. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be back with much more on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
