i'm wolf blitzer in "the certainly in the leadership. situation room." i'll be back in one hour, 8:00 >> first of all, let me ask you some basic questions. p.m. eastern, to anchor our do you believe that john special coverage before boehner's republican bill will president obama's address to the necessarily even pass the house? nation. for our international viewers, >> no, that's what i was saying. >> and reid's bill -- "world report" is next. here in north america, "john >> what we're hearing from king usa" starts right now. people tonight who are republica republicans, because i don't think many democrats are going >> thanks, wolf. to vote for that, he'll need 218 thank you for joining us. john king is off tonight, i'm votes out of republicans. jessica yellin. yesterday he was calling on the tonight there is a growing sense conference call for sacrifice. the united states is facing what he wants some people who don't democratic officials say is an want to vote for any debt increase to support this. imminent threat of default. some of them are already saying in just a couple of hour, they won't. whether harry reid's plan can president obama is expected to make that point when he speaks get 60, i don't know. >> you don't know, okay. to the nation to talk about what so the question then remains, happens if there is no the person who's been sort of compromise on raising the debt silent in all of this is senate ceiling, and the stakes all of minority leader mitch mcconnell. >> yes. and he knows the rules. us face if the u.s. actually defaults a week from tomorrow. >> he's always the person to he'll also say this problem is watch actually, because he can easily fixable, and talk about make things happen. the different approaches >> absolutely. because he knows the rules congress can take. better than anybody. but up on capitol hill tonight, he came up with the first plan. lawmakers already are committed you know, i think they're all kind of waiting for him. to trying two brand new and very i don't know, carl, what you different approaches. think, but i think they're one from democrats in the waiting for him to come up with

a plan b or c. senate, the other from house >> go ahead, please, carl. republicans. but there's a big problem. >> i just think that they're -- neither of those plans may be i think that at this point they able to get through congress and probably have to go through some of these initial votes. the clock is ticking. and that's what i was referring to earlier, that the back cnn congressional correspondent channel communication that kate boulwan joins us now. continues and, you know, where senator mcconnell comes down i think will be important. let's start in the house where whether he helps harry reid or speaker john boehner has laid out his version of the john boehner ultimately get a republican solution. plan through. he has been very determined to spell it out for us. >> reporter: a lot of details to avoid a default. >> we all want -- go ahead. it, jessica, but what it really comes down to is the length of everybody in the city is talking about avoiding a default because the increase, if you will. the stakes could not be higher, house speaker john boehner is calling for two votes in order not just politically but for the american people. there's a lot of talk that to raise the debt ceiling. america will face a downgrade first, a vote that would come next week. >> yeah, i think, jessica, that there's a sense -- look, i think with $1.2 trillion in spending they're going to deal with the default one way or the other. cuts to get the country through it may take an extension of early next year and another vote time. we may have a brief default, but it will be done. would be required that would get but there's a growing sense in the to 2013. the city now among people who but only if, and this is the really understand this that we important part, if congress do face and we will go through a would approve the spending cuts downgrade in our credit rating. attached to that, or the deficit

reduction measures attached to the first time it's ever happened. that that would come from a we've been a aaa country since newly created committee, and 1917. that of course is the big hangup so this is already, i think, with democrats. they are very much opposed to what's baked in is not only having to vote for a second time to raise the debt ceiling. embarrassing to the country internationally but will actually damage the economy. they say it risks us returning >> and i think it's interesting to exactly where we are today, because i think what you're at a deadlock. seeing on capitol hill, >> and we do not, as i particularly on the house side, is essentially a leadership that mentioned, have any clarity that that version can pass. is auditioning to lead its even if it passes the house, that it could pass the senate. troops, because the movement that we saw on capitol hill so over in the senate there is another version, harry reid has among house republicans was laid out the democratic version. really formed outside the republicans already say some of them are rejecting that. establishment. they came to washington. what's that version? and i'm not quite sure that john >> reporter: yeah, that version boehner leads them or eric is only one vote and it's cantor leads them, i'm not quite clearly the reason why they don't want to see two votes sure who leads them. association harry reid's plan it's some of those people, i comes with one vote. believe, who aren't convinced $2.7 trillion in deficit that a default would be the reduction that would raise the worst thing in the world. debt ceiling and get us to 2013. >> eric cantor, we all thought it would not, according to this he could bring the tea party plan, would not cut any benefits with him. he's for the boehner plan 150% to entitlement programs, and yet carl is saying boehner medicare, medicaid, social may not have the votes in his security, that wouldn't be own caucus. >> so does anyone? touched. also no new revenues. >> i don't know if the votes are there or not, but there are some

that's harry reid trying to say, people who will definitely not vote for it. republicans you should be able and you're correct, there are to say yes to this but they are still very far apart this some people who don't think a default is necessarily a bad evening. >> all right, kate keeping us abreast of developments from idea. the entire house republican capitol hill. thank you so much. leadership endorsed that plan now, at one point today today and immediately people senator majority leader harry began falling away. >> bottom line, carl, one way or reid called speaker john paboe r another could you see this ending up as two votes, we will boehner's republican plan a naup face another -- we will be starter. a little later speaker boehner having another conversation in dismissed reid's plan as full of 2012? >> i don't want that to happen. gimmicks. the democrats say they will not so who's looking for a third way, is anyone? do that. joining us is david gergen, our now, depending on how it's ultimately presented to the president, you know, he may be chief political analyst gloria stuck with that kind of approach. they are really trying to find a way out of that. borger and carl hultz, a special harry reid, chuck schumer, they seem very determined and say treat to have you on with us, rips are now just trying to carl, thank you. let me begin with you, gloria, embarrass the president in the election year next year. here. it may be a two-stage process at two different plans, not enough time for either -- or not enough the end. how they work the vote, i don't votes for either, i should say. know. it may be that motion of disapproval in some way. where does it go from here? >> it's more passive or >> well, that's why the president is coming out tonight. automatic. >> they can't get there, i don't the president comes out tonight think, carl, unless they sweeten and you know this, he wants to the pot on the front end.

apply pressure. he wants to say the clock is in other words, unless they -- with more cuts up front. that's the only way i think -- ticking. he wants to say this is doable. and i think where it goes from >> what can the president do here is, believe it or not, some tonight? can he do anything to advance kind of compromise in which you the process? >> no, he can apply pressure. take the debt ceiling and you he can tell the american public where we are. separate it from the second he can try to convince the american public that he's still round of budget cuts that john the grownup in the room. but it looks increasingly like boehner wants. because the white house is very there aren't any grownups anywhere in washington. i think part of it is to insistent. i don't know that they can get convince the public that there this through, but the white is going to be a way out of it, house is very insistent, as one adviser said to me, we need to but to apply the tourniquet remove the debt ceiling from the there. >> my hope is he only applies pressure, which i think both he political fire ants that keep and boehner will do that. coming up, which is the bush tax but that both the president and cuts, et cetera, et cetera. >> you're shaking your head no, boehner don't box themselves in too much. there is more negotiating to do, david. can this be resolved in the next and i hope they don't box week? >> i think it's very doubtful themselves in and rule things out when in fact they may have that it can be resolved before the debt ceiling. to buy something like a to go back to your original short-term extension. >> short short term, two weeks. point, we have two competing plans, the boehner plan and the >> that's not long. reid plan. >> but the problem is, according it appears that neither has the votes to get through both to someone at the white house, you don't know who you're chambers and in fact each could negotiating with anymore, fail in its own chamber. because john boehner might say one thing but then he goes back the reid plan could fail in the to his caucus -- senate. >> well, you talk to people and what that means is toward the

end of the week we'll have two everybody feels that way these plans that can't pass and we days, it seems. don't have a backup. >> that's true. >> and we all keep reporting. what that leaves them is a weekend to figure out what the >> if the president came out strongly against the boehner backup plan. >> i thought that was last plan, it might help mr. boehner, weekend. >> and then get it voted before because part of the problem up monday, tuesday. here is that the republicans i think there's a very good just are really -- the house rip chance the president is going to permit an extension of the debt republicans do not want to do ceiling, short-term, which he business with the white house and are very resistant to that. didn't really want to do as much >> that's what hurt the gang of as two or three weeks. six plan, right? >> very brief, two or three >> we will keep everybody posted weeks. and have continuing coverage all carl, let's bring you in to night and carry the president's arbitrate because you know plan at 9:00. what's going on up there, you live and broet it. carl, thank you so much. we'll continue logging on and what do you see happening? updating your reports as well. can either of these plans be pleasure to have you with us. compromised into a solution? and coming up, it is washington's fight, but it's your money. >> i think they'll have to find next, we'll take a good, hard some way. look at how you could be everyone is on pins and needles. affected by the threat of a default. stay with us. we're hearing from a lot of hey, check it out. she's using the mr. clean magic eraser bath scrubber. conservatives in the house who might not support speaker boehner's plan. i've heard of it, but i haven't seen one up close. i think you'll see both these plans hit the floor for some what's the word around the sink? votes, see where the votes are. that it removes 3 times more soap scum per swipe, in some ways the first one to and it came from outer space. pass and get enough votes, which it is not from outer space! would be 60 votes in the senate, no, man, it's from outer space. they're aliens on an intergalactic cleanliness mission. might have the advantage. but i think at the same time that these votes are going on they're here to clean up the universe.

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self-inflicted wound to the economy at a time when things are so difficult. >> self-inflicted wound he called it. the august 2nd deadline for raising the debt ceiling is now a week from tomorrow. yes, depending on what happens, your finances could take a hit. for a look at how there is no better person at cutting through the jargon than the host of american public media's marketplace. thank you for being with us, ky. cut through it for us, please. if this vote does not happen in time, will you spell out again what are the stakes for you and me and regular people. >> so let me ask you just because you're in washington and you guys love policy, let me ask you a policy question. when was the last time you heard anybody in washington talking about the jobless rate, education policy, let's see, what else, sustainability and the environment, take your pick. this discussion is crowding out so many other things that we need to deal with in our environment and our political

system that there's no air left. but here's the bottom line. let's think about what could happen come tuesday and for some reason the treasury stops paying the balance due on its debt. couple of things. one is we the united states have to pay more money to borrow money. that means eventually americans will as well. interest rates will rise. this will not be like the federal reserve saying we're going to increase the federal funds rate. it's going to be like over time. the bond rates are going to rise and, thus, we will all have to pay more money. it's a discussion of timing as much as it is instantaneous impact, if that makes any sense. >> so that goes to my next question. we don't go into -- if this deal does not happen, we don't go into default at midnight on august 3rd, do we? it doesn't happen instantly? >> right, right. >> explain. >> no, right. so default is a technical term in the markets. and we've all been bandying about with some degree of freedom but it means a very specific thing. not paying the service you owe on your debt.

believe me when i tell you treasury secretary geithner will stop payment on social security checks, he will stop payment to veterans and vendors and all of those things before he sacrifices the entire full faith and credit of the united states. so it means a very, very technical thing. and while that august 2nd date as you and i talked about a month or so ago, that august 2nd date is firmly fixed in people's mind, it's not like at midnight we all turn into pumpkins. >> i've talked to some senior people on wall street and other places. >> yeah. >> there's an increasing sense that we will be downgraded. come next week, we will be downgraded. i'm curious, if they come up with a deal, can it just be reversed in a few weeks? so we get downgraded for a month and everything is back to normal and our interest rates are better in a few months from now? >> so here's the thing, i've got news for you. we've already been downgraded. i had bill gross on "marketplace" this afternoon. bill gross runs the biggest bond

fund in the world. i said to him, listen, it sort of seems like what you're telling me is that you don't believe the united states has a aaa credit rating right now. he said, oh, no, it's not. we are going to pay more for our debt because of the politics of this whole thing. bill thinks it will eventually be solved and all this posturing is exactly that, posturing. the markets believe there will be a deal because there has to be a deal but it's too late. we've already done the damage. from now on it's just how well in fact we can manage that damage. >> so if a deal isn't announced soon, what do people need to do to prepare? can we do anything? >> you know, here's the thing. and people ask me the same thing during the financial crisis when literally we did not know what the next day would bring. i think the smartest thing to do right now is sit tight. obviously there will be some repercussions for, let's say, senior citizens who have a lot of treasury bonds and bills in their portfolios and

repercussions in the stock market. there will be a day, if this thing really comes to pass, there will be a day where we have a drop like we had the day the house voted down the t.a.r.p., when it went down 7 sfe77 points. but sit tight and take your time. there is no time like a crisis to do nothing. sit around and see what happens because if you make silly moves, you're not going to know what's going on. >> tell us when we have to start buying duct tape and stocking up on water. >> yeah, we're not there yet. >> thank you, kai, so grateful as always. ahead, tomorrow's headlines tonight, including new details about the death of singer amy winehouse. stay with us. it moves effortlessly, breathes easily. it flows with clean water. it makes its skyline greener and its population healthier. all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we've already answered some

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welcome back. here's the latest news you need to know right now. the funeral for singer amy winehouse will be tomorrow. her press agents tell cnn it will be small and private for a few family and friends. it may be weeks before lab tests determine what killed her. according to the british newspaper, "the sun" police sources report they found no drugs at her house. the paper also says winehouse last spoke to her security team at 10:00 a.m. saturday and was dead about six hours later. conservative groups today asked new york's supreme court to overturn the state's new same-sex marriage law. their lawsuit claims state senate rules were broken and open meetings laws ignored in

the rush to legalization. and it's game on for the national football league. the players and owners signed a new ten-year agreement today, ending a lockout that began last march. one of the owners hopes our politicians are paying attention. >> i hope we gave a little lesson to the people in washington, because the debt crisis is a lot easier to fix than this deal was. the suspect in the norway terror attacks appeared in court today and some long-time friends are providing new details about the person they thought they knew. that's next. [ barks ] ♪ [ cat meows ] ♪ [ whistles ] ♪ [ cat meows ]

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the main suspect in norway's terror attacks says he did it. anders breivik was in court today but the hearing was held in secret. later lawyers said he not only ak m acknowledges carrying out the bombing and the shootings at the youth island but he claims he worked with two other terror cells. he felt the attacks were necessary to prevent the call onization of muslims. he targeted a party-run youth camp. the 68 people who died at the camp are very much on the mind of norway's prime minister, who spoke with cnn's nic robertson today. >> i think that i never will be able to explain it fully to

myself how this could happen, the horror that so many people experienced at that island on friday. because many people were killed. but many more people, young people, teenagers and children, saw other children, young people, being killed. i think no one -- no one who wasn't there will ever be able to fully understand what happened. >> nic robertson joins us now from oslo. nic, we're hearing more details about the suspect's background and his possible motivations. what's the latest? >> reporter: well, the latest is that it seems certain now, at least by his own claims, that he wasn't acting alone, that he sees himself as some part of crusade to stop what he calls marxist governments in europe from handing europe over to muslims.

there is wide concern that there could be a potential pickup by right-wing copy cats. not necessarily here in norway, because he's spread information on the interpret and there is concern that other right-wing extremists could try to copy what he is doing. >> what could you tell us about the suspect's demeanor in court today? >> reporter: it's very difficult for us to say, because we just weren't allowed in there. and there was a huge expectation, a lot of pressure from the media and the public as well to go in but at the same time there was a facebook page signed by 60,000 people in norway who said they didn't want him to get another sort of public platform. he had already put his manifesto out online, 1500 pages. so really they were afraid it would just be a repeat of this vitriolic manifesto. ander bearing breivik is

believed to have posted these to youtube embedded in a 1500 page manifesto just hours before he began his deadly killing spree with a massive car bombing outside government offices. cnn cannot independently verify their authenticity. together, the video and manifesto appear to answer how and why the 32-year-old became a mass murderer. the video reveals an intense fear that muslims will dominate europe and anger at what the author calls marxist european governments he blames for doing nothing, and a belief that a christian crusade is the solution. a belief he hid when he met this mainstream right-wing politician eight years ago. >> i am actually sorry because if he had said something like that, maybe we could have

discovered it. >> reporter: kallmyr suspects breivik was attracted to his party's reputation but found them too moderate. >> i probably thought would find people inside our progress party that would be -- agree with him or something like that and he wrote in his manifest he was disappointed. >> reporter: the manifesto, titled "2083, a european declaration of independence" rails against such political inaction. and it's not just his manifesto that seems completely askew, but his defense lawyer after he appeared in court came out and said breivik himself expected to be tortured when he was picked up, even shot by police rather than arrested. that was his skewed view of how everything would go once he came into police custody and that was something he knew was going to happen. >> so disturbing. thanks, nic, for your great

reporting. joining us now to discuss this further, cnn national security contributor, fran townsend, who's a member of the external advisory boards for both the cia and the department of homeland security. also with us former cia and fbi analyst philip mudd, a senior global adviser now. all right, phil, let me start with you. when you hear nic robertson's reporting on this 1500-page manifesto, his plans for attack, what does that tell you about the suspect? >> i think it tells me a couple of things. first, we have a lot of people in this country and the same kinds of people in europe who have extremist political ideology but who themselves suffer from a mental problem that leads them to murder nearly 100 people. the second and final thing it leads me to think is what i saw at the fbi, is that a number of people in this country, white supremacists, people from sovereign nation movements, a number of people in this country who think like this, have access to weapons, numbers at least in the thousands if not in the tens of thousands.

>> that is a really disturbing thought. i'll come back to that. fran, breivik claims that he worked with two other cells. i wonder to you does that seem likely or do you think that someone like him tends to work alone? >> well, you know it's interesting. what makes these defendants like this difficult to catch is that they often, while they affiliate with a group, just before they have an attack they'll break away, like the holocaust shooter in washington, d.c. so that usually is a shooter. this was a large-scale attack. he had to amass a good deal of material for the bomb in oslo. he claimed early on there was more than one shooter at the island. one is alleged to have had a police uniform. and this was all timed to happen all, you know, all near simultaneously, and so all of that suggests to me, and phil and my experience and our experience has been in order to have those things happen, it's a

complicated organizational matter, you need more than one person to do it. >> let me ask you, phil, how difficult is it to track a domestic terrorist like this? if somebody wants to do something -- >> this is difficult to near impossible. think of a couple of ways. you might look at them on the internet. first you have a free speech issue. everybody talks about violence. it's not somebody committing a federal crime. and the second is the numbers of people sorting through that volume is incredibly difficult. the second issue that i'd point out is what fran said. you can look at groups, extremist groups, but one of the indicators of someone who's going to do something is the people who separate themselves off, not the people who participate in groups. an they're tough to follow. >> so going back to what phil mentioned earlier, fran, that we have people like this in the u.s., is this incident a reminder to the u.s. essentially we've had this problem before, we cannot be complacent about domestic terrorism? >> absolutely. the fbi and local law enforcement actually do devote substantial resources to this. there are many challenges, as

phil has outlined to you. probably the best known domestic terror incident of this kind was oklahoma city. and in talking to a norwegian journalist, as this was unfolding friday, it was said to me, you know, this is like our oklahoma city. look, they have all sorts of causes. there's white supremacists, there are environmentalists who burn down developments. all of them have free speech rights that phil points out. so this is a real challenge. it's very hard. look at the guy in norway. he didn't post this manifesto until shortly he began to execute on his attack. and so the notion of trying to intervene is very difficult, if not impossible, for law enforcement. >> phil, fran points out oklahoma city, there's also ted kaczynski. since those incidents, has the u.s. stepped up our watch on domestic terrorism? are we safer from it? >> i'm not sure we're safer from it, but in terms of looking at people like this, my experience at the bureau is these people take a lot of resources. they don't get the media print

because they're not islamic extremists like the ones that committed the attacks on 9/11. but if you look across this country, geographically the spread of these people and extent of them is very high and there's a lot of resources expended on them. >> fran, people like breivik, are they more a threat to security than people affiliated with al qaeda? >> it's hard to make a comparison of more or less. they're certainly more difficult to identify. there are a number of steps, though, that law enforcement in the wake of oklahoma city put in place like tracking the sale of large amounts of fertilizer, large amounts of precursor chemicals. so there are more trip wires in the united states now. it's an imperfect system, as phil points out. but we are -- we sort of have a system by which now we try to identify these people as they're assembling the materials that they need to act. >> phil, a court official told cnn that breivik was very calm and very concise in explaining why he was trying to do this.

if you listen tom this survivor and we can talk about it after. >> there was a panic, and he was walking very calm. he was calm all the time. he was walking behind us and was shooting. he had an automatic weapon, but he switched into the single bullets because each bullet was supposed to kill someone. >> so what is the suspect's calm, sort of methodical demeanor tell you about him? >> what it tells me is what we learned from looking at his web access and what he wrote about his motivations for the act. same kinds of things in some way i saw at the center of al qaeda. when people participate in closed circles where they're talking to each other and persuading each other that the murder of innocents is acceptable, you're going to start to say what i'm doing is justified, it's appropriate, and you start to persuade yourself that there's nothing wrong with the murder of 90 plus people. what i saw is sort of like what i saw at the high levels of al qaeda when they're contemplating the madrid attacks where 100

plus people are going to die. >> that's chilling. one last quick question to you, fran. if you think there could be other cells attached to him, is this the precursor for something else potentially? >> well, the first thing that law enforcement in norway undoubtedly has done is begun to look at every piece of evidence that they can find. it goes to searching his home, looking at cell phone records and other phone records, internet access. they will throw a wide net. i'm sure that identifying his co-conspirators, was the first priority of his interrogation. i imagine that there is a very intensive manhunt inside norway to identify those people so you can prevent them from acting. >> fran townsend, phil mudd, thanks to both of you. the woman of accusing dominique strauss-kahn of sexual assault is speaking out. she insists she is telling the truth. did he jeopardize her own case by going public? that's next. you name it.

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this is turning into a big week in the sexual assault case against former international monetary fund head dominique strauss-kahn. a source close to the investigation tells cnn there's a wednesday meeting between prosecutors and the housekeeper who accuses strauss-kahn of sexually assaulting her. she has also taken her case to the court of public opinion. let's get the latest from cnn national correspondent, susan candiotti in new york. susan, we are hearing the

accuser's name for the first time now and she is not backing down. what can you tell us? >> reporter: that's right. she came out without appearing in silhouette. she wanted to tell her story. there's no way she's backing down. in her interview, she says she suffered a violent sexual attack. she wants the world to know about it. look into her eyes, hear it directly from her and, yes, there is little doubt she and her attorney are worried the manhattan district attorney might not take her case to trial, so she wanted a chance to tell a jury what happened. she's not sure if that's going to occur. >> so what happens next? >> reporter: well, her civil lawyer plans on filing a civil lawsuit this week against dominique strauss-kahn. and she's expected to meet with the d.a., as you indicated, again this week and that would be the first time in about a month. relations strained after her lawyer held a press conference to accuse the district attorney of abandoning her. >> unbelievable developments. thank you so much, susan. s last thursday the

housekeeper spent three hours telling her story to "newsweek" magazine and "the daily beast" news director, john solomon. he joins us now along with cnn senior analyst jeffrey toobin. john, i want to talk with you. you spoke with nafissatou diallo more than three hours, i understand. >> right. >> what's your impression of her? >> i walked away with three impressions. at the beginning she was very reluctant, looking down, very shy. she was sort of evasive and reluctant to answer questions. we get to the point of the attack and it becomes almost a dramatic change. she falls to her knees and reenacts what happens in the hotel room, grabs her head, shows what happens during the whole incident and is clearly animated and says something really profound. the reason i didn't do more to fight back is i was afraid of losing my job with this powerful man. then we were talking about what's it like to be a housekeeper and you get a sense of how proud she is as an immigrant to have a $40,000 a

year job cleaning hotel rooms. >> so when she walked into the room, room 2806, and saw strauss-kahn she said oh, my god, i'm so sorry. then she turned to leave and said you don't have to be sorry, dominique strauss-kahn said, but he said -- he was, quote, a crazy man. he clutched at her breasts, he slammed the door of the suite. this is her account. then she gives a very graphic and vivid details. just a bottom line yes or no basically, did you find her account credible? >> you know, i let credibility in the eye of the other beholderers. her account does match the hospital records and what the physical evidence that the prosecutors found at the scene but that's a long way from convincing a jury. i know jeffrey will talk about that, but that's the big challenge here. >> strauss-kahn insists the encounter was consensual. his attorneys issued a statement calling diallo the first accuser in history to conduct a media cam tan to persuade a prosecutor

to pursue charges against a whom from whom she wants money. >> i think it's a desperation move that they may have had to do because this case is hanging by a thread. vance has to decide whether to go forward on not. this was an attempt to present her in a sympathetic light. i think she is a sympathetic person, but she has very serious credibility problems, and i think the fact that she's now told the story another couple of times is more fodder for cross examination down the line and also the fact that she's bringing this lawsuit now really drives home the message that she has a financial motive in this whole situation. none of that means she's not telling the truth, but all of it makes a trial, if there is going to be a trial, harder for the prosecution. >> but, jeff, is her position changed by the fact that she has also been dragged through the

court of public opinion? i mean the articles on her allege some unbelievably egregious things against her and she didn't speak out for the longest time. >> well, it wasn't just the press that gave her a hard time. this all started with a letter by the district attorney, by the prosecutor, saying that she had made a series of false statements, that she has all these credibility problems. so, yes, there appears to have been some irresponsible press reporting about diallo, but the core here is not bad journalism, it's problems that the prosecutors themselves discovered with her testimony, and those problems haven't gone away, even though she's presented what i think is clearly a very sympathetic face to the public. >> we have an exchange between diallo and abc's robin roberts from "good morning america" today. let's listen to this for a moment. >> when did you realize that he was one of the most powerful men in the world? >> i was watching in the news and then they say he's going to

be the next of france. then i say, oh, my god. and i was crying. i said they're going to kill me. i said they're going to kill me, i'm going to die. >> why did you think that, nafi? >> because i know if that was in my country, he's a powerful man like that, they're going to kill me before someone knows what happened to me. >> who's "they"? >> whatever forces she thought were behind dominique strauss-kahn. you have to understand from diallo's point of view, she group up in ghana where rape is very common and soldiers and oppression are very common. two things influence her story, that experience in ghana and coming to the united states and not wanting to lose that job. her behavior in that room were influenced by those two things. >> you write in your piece that she still is very angry is dominique strauss-kahn. quote, because of him they call me a prostitute. i want him to go to jail. i want him to know there are

some places you cannot use your power, you cannot use your money. she said she hopes god puppishes him. quote, we are poor, but we are good.said, quote, i don't think about money. if that's true, what does she gain by going public? >> i think going public was really two thing. one, jeff had the it on the head. she is shooting over the prosecutors to the court of public opinion and trying to sell people this. the person you my heard about that in that court filing in the newspaper, that's not me. i'm a real person and here i am. the second part is do you set up a case for civil court. you go to civil court, you raise the question of money. imagine if monica monica lewinsky had gone to civil court. >> thanks. in just over one hour, the president will deliver a people on, to the nation on the debt negotiations. then the speaker of the u.s. house of representatives will give a second address.

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we are awaiting president obama's speech to the nation at 9:00 eastern time. cnn begins at the top of the hour and the fight over raising the debt ceiling has revved up both the democratic and the republican p.r. machines. they are cranking out commercials using similar

imagery to make exactly opposite points. fasten your seatbelts. >> you're willing to risk it all to protect tax breaks for millionaires, oil companies and ceos who fly around in corporate jets. even if the rest of us crash and burn. tell congressman duffy, don't drive america's economy off a cliff. >> don't let obama drive us to disaster. change direction. >> for more, i am joined now by cnn political contributors. thanks, gentlemen. quite a night we face ahead of us. i know the politics are not the first thing over one's mind but it does play tonight and it plays during this fight. let's listen to the rhetoric on both sides today. first the democrat and then the republican. >> make no mistake about it. the two step plan outlined by

speaker boehner is a dodge. it kicks the can down the road. >> the president continues to pick politics over people. his only concern when you listen to him is he brings up the election. >> so he is to blame. is there any hope of a deal with that kind of talk to capitol hill? >> well, first of all, if an adult shows up and tells the children to calm down, recess is over. the reality is you have liberals on the left who really don't want any kind of cuts to retirement programs because they know how effective it will be come the 2012 election, as we saw in the new york race. and republicans understand -- >> we know the politics. >> an adult has to show up. >> be the adult. >> is there going to be a deal? yes, there is, because there has to be. both sides understand that. however, i think the president has made it harder because he has lectured that he is the only adult in the room. no one else understands how dangerous this is but him. that's not the way you bring people together.

this week something happened i've never seen before. yes, republicans refused to negotiate with the president but the democrats agreed to that. harry reid left ourgt left his president and went to speak with republicans alone. it is like leaving the president. >> i've talked to democrats and republicans all day. what you just said, i hear from democrats all day. what you just said, i hear from republicans all day. a lot of talking points in the city but somebody needs to get beyond the talking points. one person who is trying to rise above it is the mayor of new york city. he likes to be the adult. listen to what he said today. >> there will be no political gains from a prolonged crisis. no one will win. voters, i think, will blame all of the incumbents and they all deserve that blame. nobody is going to benefit by the brinksmanship that is being played out right now. and around the globe, our friends are watching this spectacle with amazement and our foes are watching it with glee. america is a great nation.

it is time our leaders in washington start acting that way. >> so he doesn't have to voefte. that's the beauty of it. >> i think republicans haven't been treated by the media on this at all. somehow it is only the republican who's are intransigent and ideological. when democrats say we don't get a tax increase, we'll take our ball and go home, too. that hasn't been out there. both sides want to raise revenue. they should be able to agree a way to do it. republicans -- democrats want to do it by creating new taxes. republicans want to do it by creating new and successful taxpayers. >> if you have a plan on the table where it is 3-1, three cuts to one raise in revenue, hold on one second. if you have that, loochblg you can sit here and try to debate it all day but the reality is there. it is not like someone is saying, three time more revenue than tax cuts. this is the problem. you have people who do not like the art of compromise.

mike bloomberg, i'm -- >> one of those people is him. when you go to the doctor, you don't want to compromise on your medicine. i'll take three good medicines and another third of poison. you don't want to do. that you think it is bad for the economy. the republicans, if a republican believes your plan is going to shrink the economy -- >> let me interrupt for a moment. >> on cnn.com. that's not what i said. >> the markets have already taken into tkt expectation that we will be downgraded one way or another. officially or because they expect us to continue to have gridlock. so will we have a deal in a week? yes or no? >> we have no choice but to have a deal. if they want to drive us to default, that's nuts. >> you would think so. i've talked to some senior policy make here's think it might take another two weeks. >> if they want to play with that,