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American Morning
New Sexual Harassment Allegations Emerge Concerning Herman Cain; Greece to Hold Referendum on EU Bailout Package; Occupy Oakland Gets Ugly Again; We Understand What Constitutes Sexual Harassment?; Obama Meets with Sarkozy at G-20 Summit; Michael Jackson Death Trial; Luck of the Draw Benefits Bachmann; Boehner to Obama: "Are You Kidding Me?"; Royal Couple Visits UNICEF in Denmark; Lindsay Lohan Heading to Jail; CBS Wins "Wardrobe Malfunction" Appeal; Cain's Campaign Crisis; Third Woman Steps Forward Alleging Cain Harassment; T.D. Bank, Others, to Charge Higher Fees; Study: Chantix Linked to Depression, Suicide
Aired November 03, 2011 - 06:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you concerned about --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse me. Excuse me!
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Lashes of anger from Herman Cain as he tries to weather the political storm following a new allegation of sexual harassment.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Anger in Oakland. Wall Street protesters taking over the streets and one of the country's busiest ports. New clashes and more tear gas overnight.
COSTELLO: President Obama touching down in France for the start of the G-20 summit with Europe in crisis mode. What's happening there? The next two days is critical for your 401(k).
ROMANS: Shocking claims and a new study of popular drug to help people quit smoking is now being linked to increased risk of depression and suicide on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. Good morning, everyone. It is Thursday, November 3rd, 2011. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Ali Velshi is in Cannes, France, this morning.
COSTELLO: OK. Are you ready for this, because there are more than several new developments this morning in the controversies swirling around Republican presidential candidate, Herman Cain. The Republican frontrunner facing new allegations of sexual harassment.
The Associated Press is reporting a third woman says she considered filing a workplace complaint against Cain for inappropriate behavior back in the 1990s. In the meantime while Cain tries to campaign, he is clashing with the press.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me say one thing. Out here with these doctors and that's what I'm going to talk about. So don't even bother asking me all of these other questions that you all are curious about, OK. Don't even bother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you concerned about the fact these women do want to --
CAIN: What did I say?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you concerned about --
CAIN: Excuse me. Excuse me!
(CROSSTALK)
CAIN: What part of "no" don't these people understand?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Cain is blaming GOP rival Rick Perry for making the allegations public, and he is now demanding an apology from Governor Perry. We begin our coverage this morning with CNN's Joe Johns. So is Cain likely to get this apology?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol, this is a bunch of finger pointing and bunch of denials. The search for whoever leaked this story has entered a new phase, and politically this is a question that matters, especially since some conservatives think there is a plot to discredit Cain. The Cain campaign has actually begun blaming, as you said, Rick Perry campaign of leaking the story publicly.
Cain has pointed out there is a guy named Kurt Anderson who worked on Cain's unsuccessful campaign for the Senate in 2004. Cain says he briefed Anderson on the harassment allegations and now Kurt Andersen is working for Rick Perry's campaign.
And this is the odd part. Kurt Anderson says the first he learned of the story was in "Politico" when "Politico" reported it. He is basically saying he only had nice things to say about Herman Cain. He's an admirer of Herman Cain.
Then there is another guy named Chris Wilson who is an Oklahoma political consultant who is actually doing polling for a political action committee that supports Perry's campaign. Chris Wilson says he personally witnessed Cain engaging in inappropriate conduct towards a woman while Cain was the head of the National Restaurant Association. Wilson hasn't been real clear about what kind of conduct we are talking about here. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS WILSON, POLLSTER: I was actually around a couple of times when this happened. It was only a matter of time, because so many people were aware of what took place. So many people were aware of her situation, the fact she left after this, that it was -- everybody knew at the campaigns -- with their campaign this would eventually come up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Chris Wilson denies leaking the story about Cain. The Perry camp also denies as a campaign having anything to do with it. No one at our campaign, they say, was involved in this story in any way. Any claim to the contrary is patently false. The first they say they learned about it was in "Politico." So if you take all of this together, nobody knows nothing. Back to you.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Nobody knows nothing. So where do you suppose it will go from here?
JOHNS: You know, they are there are going to be a lot of questions for Rick Perry. Anderson is probably going to go under the microscope. And people will continue to search for the source of that story. In a way it is just sort of the side show. It may put an end to this question of conspiracy by liberals to discredit Cain as a strong black conservative, or what have you.
But the main story is about the women accusers and what they say. We have heard Cain's defense, but the question is when or if some of these women are going to be get on the record and explain exactly what he is defending himself about. That, of course, is what a lot of people really want to know because he's running for president of the United States.
COSTELLO: Yes. Well, supposedly one of the women who are accusing Cain will put up a statement through her attorney on Thursday. So we are awaiting that. Thank you, Joe Johns. Coming up at 8:15 eastern we will talk to Kurt Andersen the guy Joe mentioned, the Perry campaign adviser, who Herman Cain blames for leaking information about those sexual harassment allegations.
And tonight at 6:00 eastern be sure to catch John King's interview with Governor Rick Perry. It will be the first time we will hear from Perry on charges he, his camp, is behind of the leak of these sexual harassment allegations. Again, tonight 6:00 eastern, "JOHN KING USA" right here on CNN.
ROMANS: This morning it appears one of Cain's accusers may be ready to go public as early as today, as Carol said. Here's CNN's Brian Todd.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The other shoe may soon drop for Herman Cain. The attorney for a woman that accused Cain of sexual harassment has contacted the National Restaurant Association, which Cain once headed. The attorney, Joel Bennett, says his client wants to speak out and set the record straight. Bennett says he would like the association to release her from the confidentiality agreement she signed when she left that group.
JOEL BENNETT, ATTORNEY FOR CAIN ACCUSER: Naturally she has been very upset about all of this since the story broke last Sunday because Mr. Cain has been giving the impression that she's someone who came out and made false allegations. And that's certainly not true.
TODD: Joel Bennett said his unnamed client got a benefit from a sexual harassment complaint against Cain. He describes his client as married, highly intelligent, some one that doesn't go around making false claims. Bennett says she is a career civil servant, but asked whether she is politically active --
BENNETT: I have no knowledge that she's active politically. She is a current employee of the federal government.
TODD: By most indications, Bennett's client is not the same woman who "The New York Times" reports got $35,000, a year's salary, in severance pay after an alleged encounter with Cain. That person could be the woman who Cain has described as someone that worked as a writer in the communications arm of the Restaurant Association in the 1990s. Of that woman, Cain says all he did was make an observation about her height. And on the claims of sexual harassment --
CAIN: They were ridiculous. I dismissed them out of mind. I said if she can make that stick and call that sexual harassment, fine. But it didn't stick.
TODD: Cain has described the other woman as someone that worked in the Restaurant Association's governmental affairs department in the 1990s. I spoke with employment attorney Deborah Kelly about the request from the one accuser's lawyer, Joel Bennett, to lift the confidentiality agreement.
(on camera): What are the odds of the National Restaurant Association releasing this?
DEBORAH KELLY, EMPLOYMENT ATTORNEY: I can't see a reason in the world why the National Restaurant Association would want to release, because all of the stuff that they paid to settle and have go away and have not hit the reputational damages of the company would emerge. Then it would get back to the very did it happen, didn't it happen, who saw it, who didn't see it that they paid to avoid.
TODD (voice-over): Attorney Joel Bennett says he believes Cain might have already waived confidentiality. In a recent interview Cain said of one of his accusers "I do recall that her performance, it had been told to me by her boss, was not up to par." Bennett says there is a non-disparagement provision of the confidentiality agreement.
(on camera): Employment law expert Deborah Kelly says if Cain spoke negatively in public about an accuser's work performance, he might have violated that part of the agreement. Cain vehemently denies breaking the confidentiality deal.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Herman Cain has said he believes racism is behind the recent attacks as he rose to the top of the political field. CNN's Piers Morgan asked former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice if she thought there was anything to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I actually don't like playing the race card on either side. I don't like it when people say that the criticism of President Obama is because he is black. The criticism is because he is the president and we tend to criticize our president.
And so I really don't like playing the race card on either side, obviously. I view myself as a black Republican as someone that can stand up for myself. And as I often said, I don't anyone to tell me how to be black. I've been black all my life. And if you don't like my political views, then that's really too bad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Piers also asked Secretary Rice about the bizarre romantic crush Moammar Gadhafi had on her. Rice says Gadhafi once showed a video montage of herself set to a tune called "African Flower in the White House." Rice said his fixation was, quote, "weird, and a bit creepy."
ROMANS: All right, Greece is the word at the G-20 summit in France. President Obama touching down in Cannes overnight. Almost immediately he was face-to-face with French President Nicolas Sarkozy hashing out this Greek debt crisis. The U.S. is already on the record. It doesn't plan to offer any handouts. But the president's spokesman says there is still plenty the U.S. can do to help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We have a role here to play because of our experience and knowledge, and, of course, the fact that we are the largest economy in the world and can bring to bear insight and experience in a way that really no other nation can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Ali Velshi live in Cannes. I don't know if they are asking for our help because they thought they had this thing nailed down. And then Greece pulls a -- you know, a real U-turn here. The Greek prime minister now calling an emergency cabinet meeting. What can you tell us about that?
VELSHI: Which we think underway. I don't even know what Jay Carney was talking about. The Greeks haven't asked for American help at all. The issue isn't American help. The issue is money. The money has been offered. The issue is that there are ties to getting that money, right? Greece has to do certain things in order to be bailed out, and if Greece gets bailed out it stabilize it is Eurozone and everybody gets to move forward.
All of a sudden after the thing is all nailed down October 27, earlier this week the Greek prime minister said that rather than just approve this in parliament they are going to put it to a vote to the Greek people. This has become very puzzling. This was unexpected to European leaders.
And the two main ones, two benefactors -- you know, the two countries that are the strongest in Europe, France and Germany, the leaders of those two countries met with Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, last night here in Cannes, and said, what are you talking about? What are you doing? You can't let this go.
He came out of that meeting. They agreed on one thing. If the Greeks agree not to go for this deal, they are essentially saying that we don't belong in the Eurozone. We are going to exit the Eurozone, go back to the Drachma, which was their currency, and this will be bad for everybody involved.
So here's how things are going to play out. There is an emergency cabinet meeting going on now in Greece. We are getting sort of unconfirmed reports out of there that there is a great deal of turmoil. This is far from settling of what will go on. Tomorrow there is a confidence vote in the Greek government. Papandreou only leads by two seats there, so that's problem number one. And if they go forward with the referendum it will be on December 4.
So at the moment, Christine, we have a great deal of turmoil facing Europe. All of the things that are going to be discussed at the G-20 are probably still going to be discussed, but basically they just take the back seat now. It is all a side show to what happens in Greece.
Remember, Christine, they were supposed to take this G-20 deal and present it. Europe was going to present this to the rest of the world and see we have our house in order. Now come and invest in Europe. They have nothing to present at this point.
ROMANS: And if Europe can't get its act together and falls into another recession it could be a steep and painful recession. The Eurozone is the biggest destination for U.S. goods. It is not good for the U.S. our biggest trading partner is not doing well. All of this is incredibly critical. We are talking about a two-seat edge in parliament in Greece, and literally the world is resting on that.
All right, thanks, Ali.
VELSHI: The world is. That is exactly right.
ROMANS: Talk to you very soon.
Still to come this morning, Occupy Oakland turning violent overnight, protesters hitting the streets by the thousands. Tear gas flies through the air. Police are in riot gear there again.
COSTELLO: Also, closing arguments in the trial of Dr. Murray. Did he give Michael Jackson the lethal dose of Propofol? The final dose, I should say. That question is in the jury's hands very soon.
ROMANS: And the half-million dollar Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction -- the ruling is now in on whether CBS should be fined.
You are watching AMERICAN MORNING. It's 12 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All right. Welcome back. It's about 16 minutes after the hour.
A new poll shows that more and more Americans are expressing support for Occupy Wall Street. Sixty-four percent of Americans now say they have heard of the movement versus 51 percent who had heard of it last month and 36 percent say, you know, they agree with it. That's up from 27 percent last month. Forty-four percent are unsure how they feel, 54 percent were unsure last month.
COSTELLO: On the subject of Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Oakland demonstrators started out peaceful, but, boy, did the protest turned violent overnight. Thousands took to the streets. A couple of businesses were vandalized. There were shops that had to close their doors. Police tried to get the crowd to disperse. They reportedly fired tear gas into the crowd. Dozens of demonstrators were arrested.
Dan Simon has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It was an incredibly large crowd here in Oakland, California. Thousands of people converging on City Hall.
Why are they here? Well, take a look at the sign. See at the top there, says, "Foreclose the One Percent." Then down here, "We are the 99 Percent from East Oakland to the Port, from Cairo (ph) to the Bay. We demand an end to racist profiteering off foreclosures, immigrant detention and dirty energy that fuels wars. We demand that banks be put in their place."
And that's what we've seen. We've seen protesters take to the streets going in front of banks, picket those banks and trying to get their message across.
You know, this is the place here at City Hall where police came in a week ago and swept up the tents. Now those tents are back. But one thing we've noticed today is there basically hasn't been a police officer in sight. They've taken a hands-off approach.
And throughout the day it's been a very peaceful protest. We haven't seen any violence whatsoever.
Dan Simon, CNN, Oakland, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ROMANS: All right. Seventeen minutes after the hour. And it is time for Reynolds Wolf in the Weather Center. Hi, Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys. It's time for some pretty pictures.
Let's show you some of the snow video we have from yesterday in parts of Mile High City of Denver. Looks great. Looks nice. But when you have to move it out of the way it becomes a bit of a problem.
You know, if you happen to be a skier you love going to the mountains and enjoying all the winter wonder - winter wonder. There's plenty of that. But there's also some tree damage along the front lanes - front range, rather, and with that, of course, you've got the cleanup. A little bit of slow going to say the very least in terms of traffic.
And now, that same storm system that brought the snow is going to move across parts of the Central Plains into parts of the Midwest and that's going to give as a few delays in some spots. Including parts of Texas where the back half of the system is going to provide something else. Cool layer, but also windy conditions. Windy conditions in spots like Texas, in fact, we've got the delays for you in Dallas. Delay system under an hour.
Basically the same deal in St. Louis and Memphis. But we're going to have some thunderstorms in that part of the world. And Chicago and Detroit, also thunderstorms. I think that the rain is going to start moving to Chicago early, but by late afternoon, in the evening, then it's going to be Detroit's problem, so just keep that in mind.
Let's go back to the wind again we're talking about in Dallas. It's going to be experienced in part of the south, also in San Antonio, Houston, even as far south as South Padre Island with the very dry conditions and the windy conditions combined we have a red flag warning in effect for parts of Southeast Texas. Just keep that in mind.
Now, in terms of the temperatures, well, in parts of Texas, moving north, we're going to see highs going to 68 degrees in Houston; 61 in Dallas; 48 in Kansas City; 52 in Minneapolis; nice and comfortable in Los Angeles, a little bit of marine layer, but it's going to be gone by midday with 73 degrees for a high; 48 in Seattle; 55 in Billings; 50 in Chicago; 63 in Washington, D.C.; 70 in Atlanta; and 59 in New York.
All right. My time is up. Your turn.
ROMANS: All right, Reynolds. Thanks a lot.
WOLF: You bet, guys.
COSTELLO: Sounded like he was sad and disappointed.
ROMANS: (INAUDIBLE) air time or off camera. COSTELLO: Thanks, Reynolds.
Now is your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. This morning's question - do we understand what constitutes sexual harassment?
1991, Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill, that Coke can? You think after all of that we'd know what constitutes sexual harassment.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
LAURA INGRAHAM, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR/TALK SHOW HOST (voice- over): We have seen this movie before and we know how it ends. It always ends up being an employee who can't perform or who underperforms and who's looking for a little green.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Conservative Radio Show Host Laura Ingraham is talking about one of Herman Cain's accusers. Of course, we don't even know the accuser's name or her version of the story, yet she is under attack and, yes, so is Herman Cain.
But let's put politics aside and talk about an issue that still seems to confuse us. As Senator Rand Paul told the National Review, there are people now who hesitate to tell a joke to a woman in the workplace, any kind of joke because it could be interpreted incorrectly.
Women's advocates say sexual harassment is the number one issue in the workplace for women. It denies them equal employment opportunity and if they file a claim it puts them in a no-win situation.
Want the legal definition? Harassment can include unwelcomed sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature. But it can also mean making offensive comments about women in general to the point where it creates a hostile work environment.
So the "Talk Back" question today - do we understand what constitutes sexual harassment? Facebook.com/AmericanMorning, Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. I'll read your responses later this hour.
ROMANS: All right. Still to come this morning, Lindsay Lohan slapped with jail time again. But it could be one of the quickest jail stays ever. Find out why.
COSTELLO: Plus, a royal couple in Denmark this morning. Find out why they're wearing hard hats and how that's helping to feed people around the world.
It's 21 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROMANS: Welcome back. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Right now, U.S. stock futures are mixed ahead of the opening bell. Markets have been rattled frankly all week since Greece decided to put the E.U. bailout to a popular vote by Greek citizens in December.
The FBI and federal prosecutors are now investigating how $600 million of MF Global customer money went missing. Investors fled the fund after news broke it had a large holdings of risky European debt. The company filed for bankruptcy then on Monday. The firm headed by former New Jersey Governor and Goldman Sachs CEO Jon Corzine.
In about an hour, we're going to get a fresh read on the employment situation in this country. The initial jobless claims report expected to show that 401,000 unemployment claims were filed for the very first time last week. Any time this number comes in above that 400,000 level, it shows you the labor market remains weak. The big monthly jobs report, the really important gauge of what's happening in the labor market, that comes out tomorrow.
More bank fees, TD Banks, showing no signs of fear about a customer rebellion. It's rolling out a brand new $9 fee on savings account transactions but it only kicks in after six transactions you made during a billing cycle. And the bank says then it starts to lose money after you make six statement account transactions. The bank also plans to hike four other fees that are already in place.
Good night, Filene's. All Syms and Filene's Basement Department Stores will be closed by the end of January. The company filed for bankruptcy protection for the third time in the past decade yesterday. Nearly 2,500 people work for those two stores and could possibly lose their jobs.
Research In Motion and - getting into the music sharing game over the next day or so that the company is launching a new music sharing feature for its BlackBerry device. It's for a fee of about $5. Users will be able to download up to 50 songs from a database and share with other uses through the BlackBerry messenger app.
Don't forget, for the very latest news on your money, check out the all-new CNNMoney.com.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is just about 30 minutes past the hour. Good morning to you. Time for your top stories.
Herman Cain's crisis management campaign, a third woman reportedly coming forward to say Cain made unwanted advances when she worked for him at the National Restaurant Association. Cain says the allegations of sexual harassment are baseless and accuses the Rick Perry campaign of being behind the stories. ROMANS: Your money hangs in the balance as President Obama arrives in France for the start of the G-20 Summit. He's already had face-to-face talks with the French President Nicolas Sarkozy who is warning Greece it will be kicked out of the E.U. if it doesn't accept a eurozone bailout package.
COSTELLO: A big day in the manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray. Closing arguments set to begin later this morning.
Prosecutors say Murray killed the king of pop by giving him a lethal dose of Propofol. Murray faces four years in prison if he is convicted. Let's bring in Casey Wian now. He's been following the Murray case since the beginning. He's live for us in Los Angeles. Good morning, Casey.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes, after six weeks of testimony, 22 separate days of testimony, closing arguments are finally expected to begin in the Conrad Murray manslaughter trial later this morning. Here is what has happened in the case so far.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN (voice-over): Dramatic moments at the Dr. Conrad Murray manslaughter trial including an audiotape of Michael Jackson slurring his words and disturbing pictures of the singer's dead body.
In court a procession of Murray's former girlfriends and a constant presence of Jackson family members. Outside supporters of both sides.
Several prosecution medical experts testified about the dangers of treating Jackson's insomnia with the powerful anesthetic Propofol, especially outside of a hospital. Murray declined to take the stand. His former patients did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm alive today because of that man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have an opinion about whether Dr. Murray treats his patients with care and caution?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have never had a doctor that was more caring.
WIAN: Prosecutors clashed with medical experts for the defense who sought to portray Jackson as a drug addict and could have injected himself with Propofol.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there any reason why it is so difficult for to you answer my questions and so easy for to you answer Mr. Chernoff's questions?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection, argumentative.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sustained. WIAN: The judge find defense expert Dr. Paul White, an anesthesiologist for suggesting that Michael Jackson had his own supply of Propofol, allegation not in evidence.
Prosecution also extracted a seemingly key concession from Dr. White that he never would have treated Jackson the way Murray allegedly did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If Michael Jackson had come to you, Dr. White, and indicated he would like to hire you to administer Propofol to him, to put him to sleep each night in his bedroom, would you do it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not. That would be a job that I would never consider accepting.
WIAN: Murray faces four years in jail and the loss of his medical license.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: Now those closing arguments later today are expected to be pretty straightforward. Prosecutors are expected to argue that no matter how Jackson received that fatal dose of Propofol, Murray is still liable for his death because he violated the clear standards of care for administering the very powerful anesthetic.
The defense on the other hand is expected to argue its theory that Michael Jackson was so desperate to get to sleep, to prepare for rehearsals for his upcoming world tour that he injected himself and, therefore, Dr. Murray is not criminally responsible for his death -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Casey Wian reporting live for us in Los Angeles this morning.
ROMANS: New Hampshire's primary ballot will feature Michele Bachmann's name near the top. Bachmann benefitting from the luck of the draw conducted by New Hampshire's secretary of state.
She has top billing on the ballot over all of the other major GOP contenders. Mitt Romney's name will appear near the bottom of the ballot and Rick Santorum's at the very bottom.
COSTELLO: More mocking and bickering on Capitol Hill. On Tuesday, the president told reporters he felt the country was better off now than before he took office because of his actions -- because of his actions and the actions his administration has taken. Listen to House Speaker John Boehner's reaction to that statement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: I was asked yesterday if the American people were better off than they were when he took office. He answered in the affirmative. Are you kidding me? Ask the 14 million Americans that are out of work. If they're better off today that they were four years ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: When the president made his remarks, he also admitted a lot more work needs to be done to get the economy back on track.
ROMANS: The British royal couple turning their focus on the food shortage in East Africa. The duke and duchess of Cambridge, William and Katherine, arrived in Denmark.
Stopping by UNICEF's global supply center to pack boxes of food and supplies to be sent to East Africa where millions are on the brink of starvation. More than 320,000 of those suffering there are children.
COSTELLO: Lindsay Lohan heads back to jail next week. Get this, the judge giving her time to finish a shoot for "Playboy" magazine first. But Lohan may only serve minutes on a 30-day sentence.
She could be booked in and out on the very same day because of jail overcrowding. The judge also telling Lohan to stop complaining via Twitter about her community service at the L.A. County Coroner's office.
ROMANS: A big win for CBS, an appeals court ruled against the FCC saying the agency wrongly fined CBS, wrongly fined CBS after that famous Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl.
The reason, the FCC wasn't clear on its policy for brief nudity. Jackson's breast was exposed during the live halftime show for a split second.
COSTELLO: I can't believe we are still talking about that. That was in 2004.
ROMANS: I know.
COSTELLO: Seven years later.
ROMANS: Still to come this morning, he is leading the GOP presidential race. All the attention right now is on allegations of sexual harassment against Herman Cain. So what's a frontrunner to do? Our political experts weigh in.
COSTELLO: A new study linking a popular anti-smoking drug to an increase in depression and suicide. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here with the latest next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. A third woman has reportedly stepped forward to say she, too, was the victim of unwanted advances from Herman Cain.
For Cain, it is one more example of what he calls an appalling smear campaign, one he blames on a Republican rival. When press bid reporters yesterday for answers, Cain got a little testy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Don't even bother asking me all of these other questions that you all are curious about, OK. Don't even bother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you concerned about the fact that these women do want to --
CAIN: What did I say? Excuse me. Excuse me!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. For Herman Cain should manage this campaign crisis, we are turning to two experts who have managed crises themselves. Republican strategist, Ed Rollins and Ronn Torossian, head of the PR firm, 5WPR.
Ron, you are sitting here shaking your head when you're watching that clip. Why are you shaking your head?
RONN TOROSSIAN, CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER: It's just unbelievable. In other words, you know, talking, excuse me, excuse me. He has no control of the message at all. He's allowed this sexual harassment scandal story to now go on for four days.
And it's going to keep going and keep going until he handles this issue and until he speaks to it and until he addresses what's going on. He's just completely missing the boat.
ROMANS: Part of the issue is we are not sure what he's saying he didn't do because we haven't directly heard from directly these women about what they're saying he may have done. So it is this scandal that just keeps boiling.
TOROSSIAN: There is no clarity at all. When you look at that first shot of him, he is like a deer in headlights. I mean, this man had 10 days to prepare for this story coming out. We still don't know what happened.
He still hasn't addressed the issue. If you watch that clip, you know, you see his security people sort of pushing reporters out of the way. How long do you think that's going to go on? I think if he does not address these issues very soon, his campaign is a wrap.
ROMANS: You guys did crisis management for a living. You've been inside campaigns. OK, when you're doing opposition research, you kind of know out there what could bubble up, what might not bubble up. How could this still be going on?
ED ROLLINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, this is not a real campaign, first of all. They take great pride in not being a real campaign. They don't have a war room. They don't have a response team. I'm sure they did go opposition research on him. First person to do opposition research is your own side to find out what the other side can come at you at. This is always going to happen. I think to a certain extent to Ronn's point they had 10 days. They had 10-day warning.
Ten days is a lifetime in politics. They should have been prepared for this. He should have sat down with the lawyers at the restaurant association and found out all of the details that he agreed to or they charged him with and he is stumbling around here.
One of the things put into the forefront is his likability. When he is pushing and shoving reporters like he is here. That's anger. That basically is not a good trait in a man you are looking at to be president of the United States.
ROMANS: One of the things you can do when something like this is happening. We've seen in a lot of the case, you have to focus your fire. You have to come back.
You have to appear strong and you have to make your statement and appear strong. I want to - Cain is calling this a witch-hunt. This is what he said on Fox News. Let's listen to this clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think that race, being a strong black conservative, has anything to do with the fact that you have been so charged? And If so, do you have any evidence to support that?
CAIN: I believe the answer is yes. But we do not have any evidence to support it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: And then there is the blame of the Perry campaign and then sort of this -- this left wing media attack making -- who would -- you have to focus the fire if you're going to fight back.
TOROSSIAN: Whether it is left wing media bias or whether it's racism or whether it is Rick Perry's campaign chief, bottom line, who cares? Did you do this? Did you not do this? What happened here?
I think all of this semantics is not relevant to what actually happened here. You know, many ways I think it is a Republican nightmare reliving itself.
When you look at the Sarah Palin selection of a few years ago and the pregnant teenager, which nobody seemed to know about, you know, this just -- same nightmare being repeated from a communications standpoint and he is still not getting it.
ROMANS: How does he get over it?
ROLLINS: Well, he has to respond. He has to have a press conference and open this thing up. Once he knows all the facts and tell the truth. So far there has been no truth telling. It has been -- their fault and it is not his fault. It's false charges all the rest of it.
Two women two different times within an organization filed charges against the CEO. There something there that has to be - it will come out whether he wants it or not.
And they paid them off and at the end of the day, it is now become a political issue and it is going to grow and grow and grow.
ROMANS: The National Restaurant Association has to agree to any kind of waiving the confidentiality. What does it -- they don't get anything from it?
ROLLINS: Well, the bottom line is he should sit down with them and he's been the chairman of the organization and he's been the CEO. He has obviously got friends on the board there.
Say I need some help here. I need to know what this is. I need to get the story out. If he doesn't get the story out, the media is going to go look at it. They're going to get the story out.
ROMANS: Does this matter to his supporters?
ROLLINS: Sure, because his supporters are the supporters who were for Trump, for Bachmann and for Perry and then came to him. They're moving all over the place and many of them are religious right. If there is any focus here that basically shows sexual harassment or some bad behavior, some of them will move away from Cain.
ROMANS: You can -- this country loves redemption is the other thing. So if he played this right, could he -- could he get over this?
TOROSSIAN: Look, let's not forget, you know, Bill Clinton obviously had a sexual issue while in the White House and he recovered and he had great ratings.
ROMANS: It wasn't unwanted sexual advances. It was different, you know.
TOROSSIAN: Much different, but I will give you two crisis communications nightmares, which grew from relatively small issues. Tiger Woods which became bigger than the death of Michael Jackson and bigger than the Princess Di scandal over not anything illegal.
And you look at Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods cheated with a bunch of women that became a three-month story. So both Tiger Woods and Anthony Weiner became national stories over relatively what should have been a two or three-day story became long nightmares. I think Herman Cain is making exactly the same mistake right now.
ROLLINS: And he is not going to be the nominee of our party. He's going to be frontrunner in polls for a period of time. But no one ever thought he was going to win this thing.
At the end of the day, he didn't have the campaign and the organization to do that, which we are seeing now. But he's going to basically diminish himself dramatically if he doesn't get back.
ROMANS: You're a discipline guy. You went to the Bachmann campaign to restore discipline, to bring discipline due to that.
ROLLINS: I did.
ROMANS: Did you succeed in getting discipline in that?
ROLLINS: Tried to.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: Do you think that Herman Cain's team lacks discipline too?
ROLLINS: Sure. Part of it is they -- they are not experienced veterans of running campaigns. The camp, they spent all last week worrying about the stupid commercial that the campaign manager put out, which was a dumb commercial, him blowing cigarettes, instead of focusing on this issue. They basically said that I think he is a good man so, therefore, the public will. That's ridiculous. There is no credibility to this thing until the story is out there and --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Do we hear from his wife? Do you think we should hear from his wife or should she stay out of this?
ROLLINS: I would keep her out of it.
TOROSSIAN: I would as well. But he has to address this issue. It is not going anywhere.
ROMANS: All right.
Ed Rollins and Ron Torossian, nice to see you guys this morning.
ROLLINS: Thank you.
TOROSSIAN: Thank you.
ROMANS: Thank you so much.
Don't forget, tonight at 6:00 eastern, CNN's John King will interview Texas Governor Rick Perry. It will be the first time we are hearing Perry's response to Herman Cain's charges that he is the one behind the leak of the sexual harassment controversy. That's tonight at 6:00 eastern, "John King, USA," right here on CNN.
Still to come this morning, a popular drug slammed with some alarming new health warnings. People hoping for help to quit smoking could end up feeling suicidal. And today's "Roman's Numeral," 24 bucks. Here's a hint. They just can't stop reaching into your pockets. They want another 24 of your dollars.
It's 46 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Forty-seven minutes past the hour. Here is what you need to know to start your day.
New allegations threatening to derail Herman Cain's presidential campaign. The Associated Press reporting a third woman claims Cain engaged in inappropriate behavior when she worked for him at the National Restaurant Association back in the 1990s.
President Obama is in Cannes, France, for the start of the G-20 summit. He's already had talks with the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who is warning Greece to accept a Eurozone bailout package or be kicked out of the E.U.
Violent clashes at the Occupy Wall Street protest in Oakland, California. Thousands of protesters shut down the city's shipping port. Police threw tear gas into the crowd. Demonstrators vandalized businesses. Many shops shut their doors. Dozens of arrests have been made.
Closing arguments are set to begin in the manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson's doctor this morning. Dr. Conrad Murray is accused of giving Jackson a lethal dose of Propofol. He faces four years in prison if he is convicted.
Militia members charged in a plot to attack the government are heading to court today. Preliminary hearings start next week. The four Georgia men have asked for court-appointed attorneys. Prosecutors say the men planned to use explosives and biotoxins to attack federal officials. Court documents show one of them said, when it comes time to saving the Constitution that means some people got to die.
You are caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING, back after a short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All right. This morning's "Romans' Numeral," a number in the news today. The number is 24 bucks. And it's -- yes, it's the amount T.D. Bank is tacking on in new fees for its customers come December.
(LAUGHTER)
You thought the fee thing was over, right? No. The big one is a new $9 fee for more than six transactions in your savings account and there's a bunch of other ones for wiring money and other kinds of withdrawals. But T.D. Bank isn't the only bank that's doing this. Bank of America, Wells Fargo have announced similar fees for tapping into your savings account more than a few times in a month. T.D. Bank is also increasing fees for wire transfers, certified checks, money orders and stop-payment transactions.
COSTELLO: It's not even worth it to put your money in a saving account because the interest rate is so low and now they're sticking on these -- tacking on these extra fees.
ROMANS: Who has even got any money to put in a saving account?
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: We should be thankful that any money at all is in savings accounts in banks.
ROMANS: But it's hard. When you look at these fees, if you're talking about an average family and you're talking about $20 in fees per month, you're losing money. You're losing money.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: So there you go.
ROMANS: In "A.M. House Call" now -- that's right -- a popular drug hit with some alarming health warnings in a new medical report.
COSTELLO: The study finds that Chantix, a drug to help people quit smoking, is linked to depression and even suicide.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here.
Tell us about this.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a medication that had a lot of promise certainly five years ago to help people stop smoking. A lot of people are focused in on this, but there has been a long list of concerns almost since it was introduced, guys. This is the latest in that long line. Talked about blackouts, people having blackouts, violent behavior, suicidal ideations and thinking about suicide and suicide itself. So, this study looked specifically at that issue. But, again, there's been a history with this medication. The FAA, for example, doesn't allow pilots to use this medication because of this concern about potential blackouts.
In this particular study, they looked at 3,000 patients who had either thoughts of suicide, who had depression, who had committed suicide and found that, if they also were taking some sort of smoking cessation therapy, 90 percent of the time it was Chantix. and that's what the study was all about. So they're making some very strong recommendations to the FDA to say, despite the fact that there is already a black-box warning on this medication, there needs to be more, because they think this medication could have serious problems.
ROMANS: You feel so bad for people who are trying so hard to quick smoking and they need help, and now they're confused again because it's contrary to a study out just last week by the FDA, right? GUPTA: Yes. And that's -- we followed that story along, as well. When the FDA released that study, what they did was they specifically looked at patients who had been hospitalized taking smoking cessation therapies and had some sort of depression, suicidal ideation or something like that. They did not look at the vast majority of patients who were not hospitalized. So this study looked at all the -- more than 3,000 patients who had had some sort of episode of depression and then traced it back. So it was a much more comprehensive study. And I think that's why there is the difference.
But I think they both seem to agree that more study needs to be done. The FDA specifically released a statement, because we asked them why this difference between what you're saying and what the researchers from Wake Forest are saying, and what they told us was, specifically, "We continue to believe that when used as directed, in the current approved labeling, Chantix is a safe and effective treatment to help patients stop smoking." No big surprise there, but look for that language to change a little bit, my guess it, over the next couple of years.
Pfizer, the company that makes Chantix, we reached out to them, as well, in light of this new study to hear what they had to say and they echo in some ways with what the FDA says: "It's important to remember that post-marketing results do not establish a cause-and- effect relationship between a medicine and a reported adverse event."
So they're saying while they don't dispute the study findings, they're not saying there is a cause and effect here.
COSTELLO: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks for joining us this morning.
GUPTA: You've got it, guys.
COSTELLO: We asked you to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. The big question for you this morning, do we understand what constitutes sexual harassment.
This from Jonathan. "We all probably have a different interpretation of what harassment is. But if three different people accused you of sexual harassment, you're probably doing something wrong."
This from Anna. "Sexual harassment is just another easy way to cash in on the system. It makes lawyers rich. People are way too sensitive and looking for a way to quit their jobs and make quick cash. Those ladies will break their agreements if the price is right."
This from Allison. "Sexual harassment does exist. However, the plight of feminism has contributed to the ability of any women making claims for actions that most of the time could be dealt with by confronting the offender and telling them such. If every woman ran and cried to a lawyer for an inappropriate joke or a slight made towards their sex, we could eliminate the job crisis by training every unemployed American to be a lawyer."
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Keep the conversation going. Facebook.com/Americanmorning. We'll read more of your comments later in the 8:00 hour.
ROMANS: I do think this is a moment for H.R. departments all around the country to freshen up their whole manual about just reminding people what it is. Because you can tell people have very different views about what is sexual harassment.
COSTELLO: It's a tough issue.
ROMANS: All right, ahead next hour, Herman Cain blaming the Perry camp for leaking this story to the media. He's pointing the finger at one adviser, in particular, and that one adviser will be right here to respond.
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