this is according to affiliate wftv. a fight broke out between a murder victim's family, the suspect's family. police eventually breaking this thing up, arresting two people that is it for me. now to wolf blitzer. "the situation room" begins right now. thank you very much. happening now, president obama draws a line in the sand, launching an election year battling over taxes. a woman accused of adultery is executed in public. now there's a man hunt for the taliban members suspected of killing her. and cloegs encounters with great whites. take the shark scare out on cape cod to a new level. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

they bear the name of his predecessor. president obama is seizing the bush tax cutted and calling for them to be extend, but not for everyone. the president wants to let them expire for the wealthiest americans. that puts him at odds with congressional republicans, as well as his rival mitt romney and sets the stage for a very heated battle with less than four months to go before the election. our white house correspondent brianna keilar is covering this for us. first of all, why is the president doing this today? >> reporter: well, wolf, this is certainly part of his narrative that he's trying to put out there as he runs for re-election. this is very much happening through that political prism. he tried to portray himself as really the one fighting for the middle class. now he's trying to portray his opponent mitt romney and congressional republicans as being defenders of the wealthy. so what he's calling for is for an extension of the bush-era tax cuts only for american families making up to $250,000.

and people -- families making more than that under his plan would see their taxes increase at the end of the year. here's how he explained why he wants to pursue this. >> it is a stalemate in this town, in washington, between two very different views about which direction we should go in as a country. and nowhere is that stalemate more pronounced than on the issue of taxes. many members of the other party believe prosperity comes for the top down. if we spend trillions on tax cuts for the wealthiest americans, that will somehow unleash jobs and economic groutd. i disagree. #. >> now wolf. president obama said the wealthy can afford to pay more. and this is an idea that historically, including in cnn orc polls has polled well on

how wealthier americans pay more money. but it also has trouble getting through congress. president obama backed the same idea in 2010. he tried but ultimately ended up signing a two-year extension for all across the board tax cuts from the bush era tax cuts. and wolf, i will say republicans now seizing on this. white house speaker john boehner saying this is just president obama trying to distract from the poor job numbers that we saw out on friday. >> what would happen -- i know you've been checking with your sources over there, brianna, if the house of representatives, which has a lopsided republican majority and the senate, which has a narrow democratic majority, but they're half a dozen democrats who may vote with republicans on this one. let's say they pass legislation to extend the bush tax cuts for another year for everyone. middle class as well as wealthy, would the president of the united states veto that legislation? >> white house press secretary jay carney said today he would

veto that, wolf. and it is a very good question since it's something that parking light obama passed in 2010, or signed into law in 2010, i should say. what's interesting and we pressed jay carney on this during the briefing. he said that the president would veto an across the board extension. i asked him, what about if the threshold were $1 million. what it for americans making $1 million and less instead of $250,000 or less. it appears the door is left open there. he said he wouldn't negotiate the particulars on that one. >> nancy pelosi, the democratic leader in the house, chuck schumer, the democratic senator from new york want the threshold to be $1 million, not the $250,000 threshold that the president has been pushing for. brianna keilar is at the white house. thank you. let's dig a little bit deeper with our senior congressional correspondent dana bash and gloria borger. why is the president trying to frame this debate right now? >> because it works for him.

and they also understand that summer is the time, when you're heading into a presidential election, when people's notions about who the candidates are really crystallizes. and they believe if they resurrect this fairness argument, which has worked for them in the past, for democrats in particular, and they can portray themselves as on the side of the middle class, on the side of the little guy, in concert with, of course, health care reform, which they're going to try to use in the same way, then they can try to portray mitt romney and his republican party as people who care about the wealthy, and believe in what the president called today top-down economics. back in the reagan days they called it trickle down economics, but it's the same thing. but whatever it is, it's people who believe if the wealthy do well, it trickles down to the middle class. the president says i believe it comes for the bottom up. >> it's interesting. the polls show that the americans are with the president

on raising taxes on the wealthiest americans. not necessarily obviously on the middle class. they believe this is a winning issue for them now. >> no question. the minute we found out about this i was getting e-mails from republicans engaged in getting republicans elected not just on the national level from mitt romney, but on the senate level. they not only welcome this. they are telling republican candidates out there to hit the president, hit democrats the minute this speech was out there because the point is that they believe that any tax increase will hurt small businesses. and throughout the day you saw republicans try to put some meat on that bone. for example, jon kyl, who is the number two republican in the senate said that it would hurt 940,000 small businesses. so they're trying to make this not just a theoretical argument, but a real tangible argument of how they believe this -- any kind of tax increase, even for wealthy people, will hurt people not so wealthy.

>> on the hill you're talking to democrats as well. they insist this is not a losing issue. >> they do. we were talking earlier today about that there are a number of democrats who are in danger in the senate who don't necessarily want to vote on the tax issue because they don't want to be portrayed as raising taxes on anybody. a democrat e-mailed me an example of how they're not running from this, but running towards it. claire mccaskill is one of those endangered democrats. watch one of her ads. >> they want more tax breaks for mul multimillionaires and oil companies. claire cuts taxes for the middle class. >> now just before coming on got an e-mail from a democrat briefed by the white house on why they did this today and what their point is, and i think the most interesting thing i saw tr the e-mail, wolf, in the source, is they believe this opens up a second front in the war on faxes. they were already getting hammered and will continue to be hammered by republicans for the health care law, which the supreme court said is the tax.

and now this allows them back on this. >> the lines are neon between the two parties on all kinds of issues. and, you know, the democrats clearly believe they have a winning issue here on fairness, but the republicans are saying, you know what, people just don't want taxes, and they don care how. >> tax reform, though, is something the democrats say they want. the republicans say they want. we've been hearing it for decades. there's got to be -- this irs code is way too complicated. way too unfair. these benefits and whatever they get -- some big corporations get, for example, the tax shelters, you have to have major tax reform. they're talking about it but it never happens. >> for years and years. the president had a tax reform plan presented to him by the simpson-boles commission. he decided to punt and not take it. he has the plan, mitt romney has the same thing. but the devil is in details of

tax reform. if you're going to lower the top rate, where are you going to get the money from in you're going to have to get rid of cherished deductions like home mortgage interest. so this is where it becomes a huge problem. i mean, i believe, and dana knows much more about this than i do, at some point when they look over the fiscal cliff and they're faced with $98 billion in budget cuts, which is going to come after the election, and expiration of tax cuts and all the rest, they're going to look at it, and they're going to say, we have to do something. but after the election. >> that's the key. that all is not going to happen. expiration date is the end of the year, which is two months after the election. that is key. the house is going to vote on this. the republicans are going to vote on this because they want tax reform. to end it where you started it, just to be clear, this is political posturing. unfortunately when it comes to real legislating, it's not going to happen. >> i'm shocked. >> after november 6th, before

december 31st, you guys thought you would be resting during the lame duck. forget about it. thank you. deeply disturbing video of a public execution. a woman is killed before a cheering crowd. it's a story shocking afghanistan and the world. also, foreign bank accounts and companies overseas. the obama campaign trying to shine a spotlight on mitt romney's wealth. last going on? and the unknown illness killing dozens of children. dr. sanjay gupta has the latest on the the race to solve this medical mystery. [ male announcer ] count the number of buttons in your car. now count the number of buttons on your tablet. isn't it time the automobile advanced? introducing cue in the all-new cadillac xts.

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good news for all of our viewers. jack cafferty is back from vacation. he's here with the cafferty file. we missed you. >> you're very kind. good to be back. thank you. put down the iphone or blackberry. look up from your computer screen or video game. stop texting, e-mailing, chatting online. it turns out that the internet could be driving us crazy.

"newsweek" magazine has a fascinating report on a growing body of worldwide research that shows how much the technology may be damaging us. researchers find that the internet may be making us more depressed, anxious, stressed, suicidal and prone to sicknesses, like obsessive-compulsive disorder and attention deficit disorder. the brains of internet addicts look like those of drug and alcohol addicts. americans spend eight hour as day, on average, staring at a screen. that's more time than we spend doing anything else, including sleeping. teenagers spend seven hours of screen time into the average school day. 11 if you include the time they're multitasking on several devices at once, and more than a third of smartphone users get online before they get out of bed. meanwhile, the average person sends or gets about 400 text messages a month. teenagers, the number jumps to 3,700.

time online includes exercise, face-to-face contact with real people. these are the reasons some of the countries like china, taiwan and korea have begun treating web use like a health crisis. it's no wonder the experts are alarmed as they describe the computer like electronic cocaine that fuels cycles of mania followed by depression. they say the internet, quote, encourages and even promotes insanity. here's the question. is the internet making us crazy? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my blog. go to a post on "the situation room's" facebook page. wolf? >> i read a story the other day that says if you keep your ipad or other smartphone device too close to youred by while you're sleeping, it may keep you up at night. not because of noises, but because of blue light coming out of it. you may get insomnia in the

process. some people wonder why they're not getting a deep sleep. maybe fast a factor. i don't know if that affects you. >> i don't have those things. i have none of that. i have a desk top computer and a room at my house away from the master bedroom. that's it. >> you're getting a good night's sleep every single night. and your brain is not cluttered. >> my brain is not in good shape. but it's not because of the internet. >> plenty of other stuff. thank you. a very serious story we're following right now. a woman today kaccused of adult publicly executed, apparently by theal pan. we have disturbing new details coming out of afghanistan. we want to warn our viewers this story contains graphic video. >> reporter: wolf, shock and outrage have mounted since a chilling amateur video surfaced showing an afghan woman being publicly executed. it was horrific.

and we must remind viewers this report includes graphic and disturbing content. a burka clad woman sitting on the ground, awaiting her execution. the man with a rifle is just a few feet away. a scene so disturbing we stopped it here. he begins shooting, firing again and again. she slumps over after the third shot, but the executioner isn't finished. in all, he fires nine times. around him, dozens of men on a hillside cheer. god is great, they chant. this amateur video was taken in afghanistan. in the village just north of the capital. afghan government officials are blaming the taliban. they believe the woman was killed because of f a dispute between two taliban commanders who had some kind of a relationship with her. that in order to save faith, they accused her of adultery and then swiftly executed her for

villagers in the area, they're outraged. >> what do they want to prove by this action, asks this man. we want rule of law. >> if our mother and sister watch this video, they will be shocked and will be scared. this is against the law. >> while this public execution may be the latest and among the most shocking examples of violence suffered by women in afghanistan, it's not an isolated case. a 2012 human rights watch report found that nearly nine out of ten afghan women suffer physical, sexual or psychological violence or forced marriage at least once in their lifetimes. afghan lawmaker and womens rights activist wept as she watched the video of the execution. >> i think there is little tolerance about such things and about the silence of government. this happened a few kilometers away from kabul. we will have to do seriously

something about this. >> afghan government officials are vowing to hunt down those responsible. >> we are going to investigate thoroughly into this video and we will find those culprits and those taliban who are behind this act of violence. >> despite the reassurances, many women are still fearful. there are renewed concerned about what the 2014 withdrawal of nay to troops will mean for women, who have basic rights after the fall of 2001. >> we have had very bad experience with taliban in the past several years. everyone is in shock and scared that, god forbid, if the taliban return, what will happen. >> reporter: but analysts warn the taliban don't have a monopoly on violence towards women. that in this deeply conservative culture women are constantly at risk. and the draconian justice is what they live with every day.

for many in afghanistan, this execution is just a reminder of what life was like between 1996 and 2001, when the taliban ruled that country, and when public executions were common. wolf? >> thanks very much for that report. a soccer star goes on trial. did terry hurl racial slurs at an opponent? a lip reader was called in to testify. and a meltdown at a little league game. it was the parents who were acting like children. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs.

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scrambling for crews to find a child killer. lisa sylvester is monitoring

that and other top stories in "the situation room." doctors are baffled by a mysterious illness na has killed dozens of children in cambodia. since april at least 64 children have fallen ill and died within a day or two of being admitted to the hospital. cnn's chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta went to find out what is going on in cambodia. he will join us live at 6:00 p.m. in "the situation room." and a lip reader had eyebrow raising testimony at today's trial of john terry. john terry is charged with racist abuse for hurling obscenities at an opponent during a match last october. the lip reader translated what was caught on video for a magistrate in london, including two extremely vulgar words. terry does not deny foul language. if convicted he could be fined $4,000. and either some really good driving or just plain luck. averting what could have been a

disaster. in akron, ohio, take a look here. watch as the tractor trailer rig is captured by a gas station surveillance camera barrelling down a freeway exit ramp and trying to turn left. the driver told police his brakes failed and his car go caused the rig to fall on its side and slide to the gas pump. fortunately no one was seriously hurt. those are amazing pictures. and a little league official says a brawl that broke out after a game this columbus, georgia, over the weekend is an embarrassment for the city. the fight wasn't between the kids, but between adults watching the game. it's all caught on video. a verbal battle in exchange of blows over the last play of the game flchlt the end two men were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. they are to appear in court in august. what is really, really sad about that, wolf, is those kids were watching the parents go at it, and that's not what you want in a role model, wolf. >> not a good example for those

young kids. thanks, lisa. thanks very much. mitt romney has a huge personal fortune. president obama wants to make sure you don't forget about it. details of the democrat's emerging campaign strategy. and new sightings of great white sharks off cape cod. some are getting way too close for comfort. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] what's the point of an epa estimated 42 miles per gallon if the miles aren't interesting? the lexus ct hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet the house is considering a bill to close thousands of offices, slash service and layoff over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains $5 billion a year from post office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. house bill 2309 is not the answer. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered,

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washington. here's the stories we're working on for the next hour. a war of words and chest beating. syria fires up war games while the president charges the united states with supporting terrorists on his overthrow. so much for relief tr the heat. a cold front breaks the heat wave, but sets a punishing round of storms that near the nation's capitol. and congress is looking at closing the no sales tax loophole on internet shopping. standby. you're in "the situation room." protector of middle class. it's a title both president and mitt romney are trying to claim for the white house. the obama campaign feels it has an advantage because of romney's wealth. so it keeps putting a spotlight on the personal fortune. jim, what is going on right now with the romney campaign? >> wolf, the latest attacks on mitt romney's wealth, recent fund-raisers. even his calls to raise taxes

are a reminder the democrats want to portray the gop contender as a mr. 1%. but in an audio recording that's exclusive to cnn, romney tells one group of donors he's really looking out for the middle class. the audio is kind of low. while liberal activists tout mitt romney as out of touch, the gop contender was inside telling a group of wealthy donors his campaign is focused on less fortunate americans. the audio caught on tape by cnn. >> romney's comments follow a week of democratic swipes at his personal wealth. the jet skiing and boating on a family vacation in new hampshire to an article in van fi fair which shows he's only recently disclosed an offshore holding in bermuda. nobody knows why he has a

corporation in bermuda. why he failed to disclose that on seven different financial disclosures. >> romney's aides have said little. he hasn't paid a penny less in taxes. >> all of this nastiness and division about investments and money and rich versus poor. this comes down to how people feel in november. how do people feel about this president. >> an obama campaign official tells cnn even the president's call to end the bush tax cuts for wealthier americans fits into a larger narrative of who is really looking out for the middle class. >> that's why i believe. it's time to let the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans, folks like myself to expire. >> the romney campaign did react to his remarks, saying this is a massive tax increase. but for democrats, a strategy has emerged, to do to romney

what the gop did to a wealthy and wind surfing john kerry in 2004. that's despite the fact the president is also well off, and woos campaign donors with the likes of george clooney. but he's no fund raising match for romney, who raked in more than $106 million in june. 35 million more than the president. which may also explain romney's message at his fund-raisers and to voters who were never in attendanc attendance. >> there's dread setting in at the obama campaign over the fund raising losses to team romney. one obama campaign official says in an e-mail this afternoon to reporters and supporters alike, saying, quote, we could lose if this continues. wolf? >> and they're suggesting that the super pac money will be heavily in favor of the americans as well. beyond the campaign money, beyond the political party, the

super pac money is piling up for the republicans as opposed to the democrats. >> all along before the general election campaign battleground started between mitt romney and president obama, the conventional wisdom in washington was that president obama would have the clear advantage in fund raising. they were talking about raising in the neighborhood of a billion dollars. now it appears that edge is clearly with mitt romney, and he is showing it now month after month. he knows how to raise money, wolf. >> jim acosta, thanks very much. we'll talk about this and more in the strategy session. joining us now, two cnn political contributors. democratic strategist donna brazile and former speech writer, david from. you know, the democratic campaign, donna, came out with an e-mail, for the second month in a row, the republicans did a lot better, romney campaign than the obama campaign. good news first, june was the best fund raising month yet. bad news, we still got beat, handled. romney and the rnc pulled in a

whopping $106 million. so to recap. we had the best fund raising month yet, and we still fell about $35 million short. we can win while being outspent, but we need to keep it close. you ran the gore campaign in 2000. if the republicans dramatically outspend obama and the democrats is it over? >> absolutely not. george bush outspent us and we were able to keep it competitive by using our funds in a very targeted way. there's no question that the democratic super pac needs to raise more money. one of my good friends, my colleague, he's out raising money. i know the campaign is. but the truth of the matter is the republicans will always have a financial advantage. i think the weakness is on the platform, on the policy. that's where i think the president can make a lot of progress in convincing the american people he has the right policies for the country. >> money talks in politics.

you know that. donna knows that. i know that. we all though it. >> donna is wrong to say they always have a financial advantage. in 2004, the democrats had a small financial advantage. in 2008 they had a big financial advantage and the question i think about when looking at 2008, is the obama campaign is run by people who learned their trade, or who mast ired their trade with a huge financial advantage. they know how to go comparatively lean and run a more frugal campaign than they ran last time. >> was it a blunder in hindsight for obama in 2008 to forego public financing of the campaign? go for all the money he could raise and give up what earlier presidential candidates had done? >> well, you know, george bush, george w. bush. the other candidated optded out of the public finances. personally, i would have stayed in. but that's because i'm a different kind of democrat. the president had a lot of supporters, a lot of money on the table in 2008. in my judgment it was spent very

well. he won the race. this time it's a lot different. he will have to continue to raise money. maybe a lot smaller amount than he did before. >> is there a different optically, and people look at this. average folks for romney to go to a fund-raiser -- political fund raiser in the hamptons and he is a billionaire, as we all know. and going for fund-raisers there. what's the difference, if anything? >> i can't see it. reporters are able to get more unfortunate quotes from the people attending. that is for people attending the fund-raiser. here's the other thing to take in mind, and jim's report pointed to it. the obama campaign is in real danger of misunderstanding what happened with the bush campaign in 2004. the lesson they've taken is when you have a so-so economy, which the president had in 2004.

they have a terrible economy. you can still win by going relentlessly negative on your opponent's character. that's not why george bush won in 2004. they did do a negative campaign on john kerry. they also had an affirmative message about homeland security. keeping the country safe. what is president obama's affirmative message? it's got to be bigger than i'm going to raise some taxes on people some of my supporters may not like. >> there was a positive message as well. he kept us safe. this time, what's the positive message? >> he's managed to stabilize this economy after the worst financial recession since the great depression. and there's a lot in this record for him to talk about. look, mitt romney has contributed to this character of himself as being out of touch by not releasing his tax return, by not being forthcoming about all these exotic accounts that he has. no one is saying he's broken the law. at least i haven't heard that.

>> should he release his tax returns for all those years? >> it probably would help. there's a point that is sometimes made that i think is naive. saying, george romney, the candidate's father in 196 # row leased 12 years of tax returns. but remember, george romney is running against lynn zon johnson. one of the most secretive and disturbing personal finances. he wasn't doing it to make a good point. george romney had an edge. first he thought he was running against johnson, who didn't in fact run. the york finances are tangled. your wealth is mysterious. there's a lot of conflicts of interest. i'm going to prove i'm queen, as compared to you. >> it's time to come clean and show what they've always shown, which is the tax records. >> from this perspective, he

should do it earlier rather than later. if you want to run for the president of the united states, no more secrets. everything will come out there. >> thanks, guys. thanks very much. more close encounters of the frightening kind of cape cod. the great white shark scare gets worse. brian todd has an update. and a major air show. where you see the latest and greatest in airplane technology. cnn's richard quest is there. [ male announcer ] what if you had thermal night-vision goggles,

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people probably have never heard of farmboro. but now it's at the center of the aviation universe. the annual show draws airlines from around the world. american giant boeing is certainly there, taking orders, but also vowing it's learned from past mistakes that saw long delivery delays. richard quest is on the scene for us. and he's joining us.

>> reporter: at the air show, there are planes of all ages and sizes and from all countries. this is from brazil. the ssj 100 from russia. new models of existing planes. the boeing 737-900. and of course, the dream liner from boeing. the 787. boeing took the orders on the first day, 75 orders for the 737 plain. across the range of aircrafting made by boeing, the challenge now is how to ramp up production, increase the number of flames being produced. i heard from the president of boeing international is that that was the challenge. >> the same history of fears you saw is the history we lived and understand. we're not going to make that mistake. we're prudent in the manner in which we're rapping up and not telling the supply chain what

they have to do, asking them what they can do. >> and if you look at the development of the aircraft that you've got, are you confident that it will be on schedule? that it will make the target? >> yes, we are. >> why? >> lessons learned of the past. the manner in which we've done it. the thoughtful manner in which we said out the design and the commitment we make in terms of the 2017 delivery, all of which we believe we can do. >> reporter: there's one thing in which we can be certain, as they start to build more planes, we'll find out if they got it right this time. >> richard quest reporting. thank you. great white sharks coming within feet of people in the water off cape cod. it sends the shark scare to a new level. and a heated tv debate gets very, very scary. we have details of what one lawmaker did that sparked an investigation.

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very real shark scare on cape cod is rising to a new

level today after frightening close calls between the great whites and people in the water. cnn's brian todd is working the story for us. he's over at the national aquarium in baltimore. brian, more sightings, is that what we're seeing? >> that's right, wolf. authorities on cape cod are really keeping on their toes right now, monitoring exactly where the great whites are versus where the swimmers are. that's after a scare this past weekend when a kayaker had to paddle for his life. this was walter's first time kayaking. take a look at the size of the dorsal fin lurking just a few feet behind him. he says he didn't hear people screaming at him from the shore but made it back to the beach safely. >> i figured this is it. it was out of my hands. >> that close call on saturday led authorities to close the beach on cape cod. on sunday, the group kad cod shark hunters spotted three

sharks. the largest estimated at 18 feet. watch from the air as they move a fast moving boat to try to catch up to great whites and tag them along with the massachusetts division of marine fisheries. >> we use a harpoon method to tag the fish. it's very effective and it doesn't necessary handle them or stress them to a great degree. >> then they monitor the migration patterns with other devices. we were with john chism of the marine fisheries group when he deployed them. it may look like harpoons, but actually they're listening stations. they have acoustic receivers in them to receive the transmissions from tagged sharks. there are a lot of great whites in the area that have not been tagged. among the 20 odd great whites they have tagged here, chism says they've tracked them as far away as florida. it's not much of a mystery what draws them back to cape cod. >> as we've allowed the seal populations to rebound over the course of the last four decades,

i believe they've now hit threshold levels that are drawing the sharks close to shore. in essence, they've become a viable food source for them. greg says they're observing more great whites each year off cape cod. as menacing as they seem, they've had to be placed on the protective species list. i asked about the recent encounters. >> what can experts do to keep humans and sharks apart from each other? >> what they're doing up in massachusetts is a great strategy. a lot of folks are pointing to maybe we need nets at the beaches. that's a strategy that's been used in australia, and what scientists have found is the nets are doing a lot of environmental damage. they're killing sea turtles. they're killing whales. >> dart says the strategy in massachusetts of monitoring the sharks and pulling them in when swimmer get close, that should be done everywhere. there is no question which of

the two species is the dominant killer. he says about 73 million sharks are killed by humans every year. that's compared to about six fatalities among humans every year from shark bites. wolf. >> >> when you were on cape cod, folks were reluctant to go in the water. i assume that's continuing to be the case right now. >> that's right. i mean, they're going to the edge of the water. they may be wading in at most to the waist, then they get out. the authorities are keeping very close touch on what's going on. keeping a sharp eye out. the cape cod shark hunters are in the air monitoring planes to see where they are. they're in the water in boats. so they're keeping a close eye on them. as long as they're close to the seals and the seals are close to humans, that's a problem. there are a lot of seals in the area. >> we have great white sharks behind you over there at the aquarium in baltimore. brian, thanks very much. let's go to jack cafferty right now have. he's got the cafferty file. >> people could also swim in the

pool. the question is, is the internet making us crazy? and of course, you're asked to post your responses online. which many of you pointed out. gary in california writes, yes, because people just don't know how to turn it off. i'm still amazed when i go hunting and fishing with my sons and they give us a wi-fi access code when we check into the campgrounds. i miss the simple days when my mother would turn off the tv and kick us out of the house to play. jennifer in winnipeg writes i was crazy long before the internet. in my retiring years i find the internet acts like a sootheer to me. brad in oregon says i think the internet lets crazy people find one another and lets them reinforce the dysfunctions. i don't think it turn previously sane people insane. g.g. in oregon says i find after reading today's topic i have ocd. i can't wait to get my house work, shopping, et cetera done before rushing to see what strange topic jack will tickle my brain with today. i don't know if i'm crazy yet, but i do a lot of research and

reading that has replaced my love of old movie. do guns kill people? does drinking cause accidents? the internet isn't driving people crazy. people are driving themselves crazy. there are good ways to use technology and dumb ways. it all comes down to the people. always has, always will. lewis in toronto says social media sites are a breeding ground for a multitude of personality disorders. spend a few minutes on facebook and you'll be hard pressed not to notice the picture of budding narcissist and sociopaths. scared to think what society will look like down the road. d.c. write it's not causing insanity, it's just exposing. ed in maryland says yes, it is, and i can hear al gore laughing in my brain as his plan comes to fruition. if you want to read more, go to my blog at cnn.com/caffertyfile. some recipients of unemployment checks may have to give the money back. we'll explain what's going on.

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lisa sylvester is monitoring other top stories in the situation room. the u.s. labor department says about $14 billion was overpaid last year. the funds generally go to people who stop looking for work. those who have been fired or quit, or those who have found work and are still filing for benefits. the labor department says it's working to recoup the losses. a jordanian lawmaker is under investigation for pulling out a gun, yes, a gun, during a heated talk show debate late last week. check it out. [ shouting in foreign language ] >> oh, my, okay. well, prosecutors say they are now considering charges. and federal agents are looking for georgia banker who disappeared last month. 46-year-old aubrey lee price is suspected of embezzling at least $17 million.

the u.s. attorneys office in new york says price is expected of defrauding more than 100 investors over two years. he was last seen in key west, florida. and thousands of lives shattered in substantiate. -- in an instant. >> reporter: you're fast asleep in the middle of the night, rushed awake by the sound of rushing water. no time to think. just react. >> translator: that's how high the water level was. at first the stream threw me in the garden. luckily i managed to grab a rope tied there and crawled up over the railing and got inside the house. >> reporter: local residents tell the russian broadcaster the terrifying tale of what happened here in the pitch of night, early saturday morning.

>> translator: then i climbed up this ladder to the second floor. otherwise i would have drowned here. >> raging floodwaters sent this man clambering into his attic. the view from above shows the extent of the devastation. he toured the region of southern russia, surveying the damage from the air. back on the ground, the power of the water. the sheer impact was evidence along the roads. pump trucks rumbled in the streets of the district where most of the fatalities occurred, making it easier for rescue workers to use canine partners to help locate victims. >> there still may be oxygen under the debris, so there's hope that there could be survivors trapped underneath. >> residents raked the muck from their homes, trying to salvage what they could, with many asking the painful question, why weren't we warned? russian authorities have

launched and official investigation. the media reports more than 5,000 homes were overrun, disrupting the lives of 12,000 people. >> the government is promising about $300 to the victims. wolf? >> lisa, thank you. and you're in "the situation room." happening now, war games. mexican shows a deadly message to the united states and others, keep out of zir ja's civil war. he has a familiar name and bloodline that includes two united states presidents and a former governor of florida. george t. bush is here in "the situation room" this hour to discuss the future of the republican party. l and states try a new way of reaching into your bank account and taking away one of the biggest incentives for online shopping. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world.

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we begin this hour with new and alarming developments in the middle east. get this. syria's leader actually blaming the united states for undermining peace efforts in the country. bashar al-assad accusing the u.s. of supporting terrorists. that's his words. we're fighting to overthrow him. not only that, the syrians are conducting war games right now. let's go to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. she's monitoring what is going on. >> well, wolf, these are war games the u.s. is watching carefully and listening more closely to what is going on. a show of force from syria. new live fire exercises to send the message it can repel a foreign attack. along the coast, using chips, aircraft and missile batteries.

it comes as secretary of state hillary clinton ratcheted up the rhetoric against the syrian regime. >> the future to me should be abundantly clear to those who support the assad regime. the days are numbered. >> even as attacks continue inside syria, these drills are meant to show the regime is ready to fight. >> they're going to use everything they possibly can in their power to warn other countries away from syrian air space, syrian land mass, and the syrian seacoast. >> reporter: it's a message syria sent last month when it shot down a turkish fighter jet. don't get in our space. these shows of force are happening all over the the middle east as tensions rise. in next door jordan, jordanian and u.s. troops conducting weeks of training with nearly two dozen other nations. in the persian gulf, the u.s. navy has sent the "u.s.s.ponce",

a warship turned into a floating base, and iran continuing its ongoing weapons test, warning the world it can control the shipping lanes of the persian gulf, but iran is watching the latest syrian fire drills, worried the long time ally in syria is shaking. >> without syria, iran has some significant strategic challenges that it has to face. and they are very, very concerned that the syrian regime will not hold. >> but the risk, of course, always is this, and that is miscalculation with so many military forces out there. and at any moment a training drill, on exercise, can suddenly turn into a fire fight. wolf? >> i know the u.s. intelligence community is closely watching the syrian war games. what are they learning, if anything? >> 100%, wolf. that's right. the cia u.s. intelligence al

agencies keeping an eye on this. they learn not just the status of syria's weapons, but the status of their forces. do they have command and control? do they have communications? can they muster the forces and get out there and conduct these exercises and really be credible? is this really a show of force? is it something less than that? this will help them come to an assessment of how strong assad's forces really are at this point, wolf. >> barbara starr, thank you. despite the syrian war games the united states peace negotiator came to damascus for talks of reviving the peace plan. arwa damon is watching what's going on. she's in beirut. there's been absolutely no progress so far in brokering a peace deal. is there any reason for optimism right now? >> no, wolf. not if you ask the opposition activists who will tell you that this is effectively deja vu. that what they're hearing coming

is something of a broken record. you had these meetings with president bashar al-assad earlier today. at the end of which he said the syrian president had agreed to some sort of proposal, that he was going to be putting that forward to opposition activists. we don't know the details of it. what we do know is that the initial modified plan includesed, along with those original six points, the formation of some sort of unity transitional government. now president assad believes he already has a transitional government in place. the opposition, of course, refuses to negotiate unless the president does step aside, and lets those who are responsible for the violence held accountable. effectively we're at the the same point now that we were at before the meeting began. wolf? >> you know, arwa. the theory of president bashar al-assad. he's now blaming the united

states for the turmoil. he sold an interview with german tv. i want you to listen to this. >> it's part of the conflict. they give support to those gangs to create this create instable. >> i know you're in close talk with the syrian opposition. how are they responding to the latest accusation from bashar al-assad? >> reporter: well, wolf, they're quite frankly not at all surprised. they continue to be disgusted by what they hear coming from their own president, a president who, of course, they've been trying to remove from power pretty much since the onset of the uprising. they're blaming foreign forces for the unrest, refusing to take on any measure of responsibility for what is taking place. now again pointing finger of blame at the united states for the political backing of the opposition. also in that interview, blaming

countries like saudi arabia, accusing them of providing weapons to the opposition. so we continue to have this stalemate. both sides incredibly polarized. and as we've been reporting day in and day out, the violence inside syria continues. and it's violence that will continue until some sort of real plan that all sides can buy into is put into place. wolf? >> we know bashar al-assad and his regime have a lot of support from iran. what do we know about iranian involvement in trying to help bashar al-assad survive? >> well, there's been quite a bit of conflicting information out there. some intelligence agencies, analysts saying the iranians most definitely are providing weapons, are providing funding to the assad regime. the u.s. has said that as well. there has been some members of the free syrian army that i've been speaking to inside syria,

evidence that there are perhaps military advisers on the ground, helping the syrian government try to slim down, clamp down on this opposition. but that is, of course, one of the growing concerns here. the assad regime continues to rely on. and at this point in time firmly has the backing of the iranians. in fact, heading there for meetings there as well, trying to perhaps persuade the iranians to put pressure on the government to at the least adhere to some sort of cease fire. they can most certainly count on the fact they can enjoy a fairly relative position of power. >> arwa damon on the scene from beirut, watching all of this, as she always does. thanks very much. closer to home, the united states announced indictments of a million dollar reward for the accused killers of a u.s. border patrol agent in arizona. it's a case that has turned into a political piece of dynamite for the obama administration,

because a gun found at the scene of brian terry's murder came from the so-called fast and furious ill fated gun smuggling investigation. joe johns is here in "the situation room" watching all of this unfold. so tell you are our viewers what happened today. >> wolf, today in arizona, the justice department unsealed an 11-count indictment handed up in november of last year. it named four men believed to be on the run in mexico and two others already locked up. remember, it was december of 2010 that border agent brian perry was killed in a fire fight in arizona. as you mention, wolf, his death was the event that launched the investigation of the now infamous federal gun running operation known as fast and furious. and yes, this is the sams operation that led to a standoff over documents on capitol hill. a con cement of congress citation against eric holder. it charges first and second degree conspiracy, murder, robbery, assault on a federal officer, and related gun

charges. the government said the suspects were out looking to rip off drug sm smugglers when terry and other border agents spotted them. >> the indictment alleges that upon entering the united states these defendants armed themselves. they armed themselves with firearms, and they did so with the intention that they would use the firearms to rob marijuana loads from individuals as they were smuggling them into the united states. >> also, a surprising fact, the government says the agent first fired non-lethal bean bag rounds at the suspects before they started firing bullets. a government announced a reward of $250,000 for each of the four men still at large in mexico. for a total of $1 million. if all four are apprehended and the suspects caught in mexico. >> did the fast and furious

investigation come up during the announcement today? >> yes, in a sideways way. the investigation started. there has been one question never answered. were the guns for fast and furious, the operation involving gun running, actually found at the scene of the crime, were the guns responsible for brian terry's death. at today's news conference federal prosecutor duffy said it was one bullet that killed perry, but would not say if the b ballistics turned out to be a bullet from one of the guns. she did noelt that there were unprecedented atmospherics surrounding the case. but the government has not been distracted from the job of trying to catch the suspect. we talked to republican congressman paul gossar earlier today. he said he thought the timing of the announcement was politically motivated to, quote, take the

heat of attorney general eric holder. clearly the investigation and the fighting over this case are likely to go on, wolf. >> not likely. they will go on, i'm sure. >> i think you're right. >> >> nature strikes yet another blow right near washington. >> can't even tell you what we're feeling. i drove up and said it's got to be a dream. this cannot be real. we are in a state of shock. >> up next, the teenage girl who is came only seconds away from a possible tornado. plus, president obama announced the tax cut plan today. who will benefit the moegs? and two families go to blows in the middle of a courthouse. we'll explain what this is all about. you see us, at the start of the day.

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mitt romney is coming under fire from conservatives when it comes to the economy.

bill crystal says romney will not be table to win in november if voters don't think he has a clear plan to fix the economy. radio host laura ingram took a swipe at romney, wondering why he's taking vacations when, quote, we have a country to save. we? the "wall street journal" now owned by rupert murdoch, says romney needs to be more specific on how to do a better job than obama. the romney campaign thinks it can play it safe and coast into the white house by saying the economy stinks and it's obama's fault. some of the griping is coming from conservative corners that weren't too thrilled with him in the first place. romney has a plan for jobs and economic growth laid out in his website. and the likely republican nominee has talked about how he would do things like lower tax rates, lift the barriers for the keystone pipeline, curve the regulatory costs and repeal obama care. meanwhile, what about president obama? with another grim jobs report

for june out last friday, unemployment stuck at 8%, job growth remains weak. if unemployment stays where it is or goes higher, it may be tough for the president to convince millions of unemployed americans he can feel their economic pain. plus the national debt and annual deficits have spiralled out of control on his watch. a recent cnn poll shows americans are just about split down the middle when it comes to who would better handle the economy. and that's our question. whom do you trust more to turn around the economy. president obama or mitt romney. go to cnn.com/caffertyfile. post a comment on my blog. or go to our post on "the situation room"'s facebook page. wolf? >> that's a good question. it will determine who the next president of the united states is going to be, jack. >> i think you're right. >> thank you. after enduring almost two weeks of boiling temperatures, millions of people in the midwest and the east coast finally are enjoying cooler weather today. but the cold front that finally

broke the heat wave also set off a new round of some damaging storms. ross from a cnn affiliate shows us what happened just 50 miles south of washington, d.c. >> reporter: first, take a look at this dance studio. two walls collapsed and the roof was sheered right off. inside, about two dozen cheerleaders, teachers and parents. >> we were scared and we were praying to god. hoping we weren't going to die. >> the windows blew out, and the teachers ordered everyone to the front of the building. >> she was trying to tape up the window and saw the funnel, and she told everybody to get in the dance room. >> we weren't that close from it hitting us. we just stepped foot in there and saw it cave in on us. >> we're told two parents were injured as they pulled the kids to safety. the dance studio's roof blew a few hundred feet and landed on a hougs. the good news, no one was home

here. then about a half block north, the roof of the strip mall was peeled off like a tin can. equipment sent flying through the front windows. the perkins own this battery store. >> we just started two years ago. this is something we've been working forful we just lost it. >> can't even tell you what we're feeling. i drove up and said it's got to be a dream. this just cannot be real. we still just are in a state of shock. >> you heard from ross from kcn affiliate. today the government announced lower 48 states just reported the hottest 12 month since we began keeping records, that was way back in 1885. chad myers is joining us in the severe weather center. we just saw pictures of devastation not far from washington, d.c. who else is likely to get hit by some storms today? >> tonight the focus, just like last night, will be right along where the cooler air, and i use

the word relatively. 10 or 15 degrees cooler is still a boundary between where the hot air is down here and the cool air is here. so that's southern virginia. still without power in some spots. in northern north carolina. same deal. people without power. still trying to get the power back on. ten days later at times. people done take severe thunderstorm warnings, i don't think, strong enough. you hear tornado warnings and then you go running. but severe thunderstorms did all of this damage, all of these millions of people without power happened because of severe thunderstorms, like we're seeing now. the winds were 60, 70 and at times 80 miles per hour. south of richmond, that's the courthouse there. the storms continue to fire and move from east to west and a little bit further to the south again, even in north carolina, still seeing this hot, hot air. when you have 100-degree air, it has so much buoyancy. it wants to go straight up. when things go straight up, they go bump in the night.

they turn into severe thunderstorms. that's what has been happening. now the record heat is losing grip on the northeast. na heat is going to be pushed off to the west, all the way to california, into new mexico, and even into vegas. 110 degrees in vegas today. it's a dry heat. it's still hot. >> very hot indeed. most of the country is getting a little bit of a break from the triple digit temperatures, chad. there are still some rather dangerous hot spots out there. it's called death valley for a reason. you can't have a pet or child in the car at that temperature. and being arizona, here you go. this is phoenix affiliate, kpnx. just showed you las vegas. beautiful skies. but that sun is bright. and that sun goes right deep into the cars, and temperatures, i'm seeing a couple pictures today. 171 degrees inside of a car that

they left closed up on purpose. you can't do that to pets, kids or anybody. make sure they have water and pets have shade as well. >> it's a scene many in washington won't soon forget. an earthquake rattling the region, sending tourists scrambling inside the washington monument. up next. why this is the closest you'll get to see the inside of the very famous landmark in the nation's capitol, the closest you'll see it any time soon. plus, states try a new way of reaching into your bank account.

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preliminary election results are expected soon in libya. lisa sylvester is monitoring that and some of the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. what's going on, lisa? >> hi, wolf. early returns are expected today in libya's first parliamentary elections in more than four decades. final results may come by the end of the week. about 60% of libya's registered voters cast ballots on saturday. about 3500 candidates were running for only 200 seats. and the body of former palestinian leader yasser arafat will be exhumed and tested for radiation poisoning. several days ago investigators

said they found high levels of a radio active substance on some of arafat's personal belongings. he died at a paris hospital in 2004 of a brain hemorrhage. rumors are poisoning. but palestinian officials denied it. lance armstrong says the u.s. doping agency is targeting a big fish to justify its existence. he filed suit to have the doping charges against him dismissed. armstrong always insisted he never took performance enhance g ing drugs. they closed in february without bringing charges. and this was the scene inside the washington monument last august when an earthquake struck. it caused significant damage to the inside and outside of the d.c. landmark. now the national park service says the monument could remain closed for repairs until 2014. the cost of repairs is estimated

at a $15 million. the national cathedral remains open. the restoration is expected to take five to ten years, depending on fund raising. >> we didn't realize the damage was that severe. i feel bad for the tourists who come to washington and won't be able to go in until 2014. >> 2014 and a cost of $50 million. so i know you lived through it. i lived through it, wolf. a lot of people in the d.c. area were a little shook up, literally at the time, because of all of that. >> it could have been a lot worse. thanks very much for that. president obama outlined a scary proposition for millions of americans. if the middle class tax cuts aren't kept, your taxes are going to be climbing up. tom kcorban is breaking down th numbers for us. and will george t. bush jump into the political arena? here's in "the situation room."

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somebody didn't book with travelocity, with 24/7 customer support to help move them to the pool daddy promised! look at me, i'm swimming! somebody, get her a pony! [ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. from the price to the room to the trip you'll never roam alone. president obama picks a new fight with the republicans during a carefully staged white house event. he demanded a need for the tax cuts for middle class wage earners, but not for the wealthy. >> i'm not supposing anything

radical. i believe anybody making over $250,000 a year should go back to the income tax rates we were paying under bill clinton. the republicans say they don't want to raise taxes on the middle class. i don't want to raise taxes on the middle class. so we should all agree to extend the tax cuts for the middle class. let's agree to do what we agree on. >> the romney campaign's rejection notice came before the president spoke. and let me quote from a statement. president obama's response to even more bad economic news is a massive tax increase. it just proves that the president doesn't have a clue how to get america working again and help the middle class. the president's latest bad ideas to raise taxes on families, job creators and small businesses. that statement coming in from the romney campaign. you might call today's back and forth a starting point for negotiations between president obama and congressional republicans. the the way things stand right now, everyone, everyone's taxes will go up at the end of the year unless legislation is

passed. cnn's tom foreman is joining us to explain what's going on. start explaining. >> we've heard all about the bush tax cuts. the bush tax cuts. the bush tax cuts came to light in the early 2000s driven to give everyone a tax break, and it worked. millions of middle class workers have since saved thousands of dollars, money for houses, cars, gasoline. so when the cuts were set to expire in 2010, what happened is they were extended. both parties, mindful of the recession said, we have to keep that money in consumer hands, and president obama signed that law. but now these things are set to expire at the end of this year. right? in december. and that has raised alarm bells all over the land. and here is why. if the cuts expire, look what would happen here. according to tax policies. an average family, a couple of kids, parents, $75,000 income.

their taxes would rise 2, $2,60. you can imagine the impact on that. so neither republicans nor democrats want this to happen. they're not going to let it. however, that's where the agreement ends. because at this point, what you have is the republicans with a plan that says let's make these cuts permanent for everyone. that will spur the economy. it will encourage investment. everyone will get a break in the difficult time, pouring money into the system, that's good. that's what they want. but there's a cost. it would also push up the deficit, which many people are concerned about. keep that ballooning up there. so let's look at the president's plan, which is somewhat different in all this. in the president's version of it, he's saying let's keep the cuts for all but the very rich. for any family making less than $250,000 a year. let's keep it. that's 98% of the population. he wants the top earners to pay

more. it would spur the economy. it would encourage investment. by making the top earners pay much more, they would also help pay for the government, wolf. >> let's talk about the real dollars and cents. how much does he want those people to pay? >> well, that's an interesting question. if you look at the top two brackets. these are the top two brackets in our country. now we're talking about these rich people that the president is always mentioning. if you're a family making enough to rise above the $250,000 threshold, you're paying about 33% in taxes. he wants you to pay 36% instead. if you're above that. if you're in the uber rich territory, well over a million a year, something like that, you're paying 35%. he wants it to go up close to 40%. difference to the government, well, if the republicans get their way and everyone gets the break. the deficit rises about $3.7 trillion over the next decade.

the president gets his way, it rises by $3 trillion. so yes, there is a difference. it's not perhaps the massive difference that both sides try to make it out to be right now. this is really an awful lot of political posturing, wolf. if it comes down to it. yes, there's a difference. yes, you can make arguments for them. but the real difference may very well be this november and whether or not you're seen as a president of the middle class or a president of everybody or the president of everybody. that's what they're positioning for. >> thanks very much, tom foreman, breaking down the numbers for us. coming up in the new 6:00 p.m. eastern hour, we're going to break down the tax plan. that's at the 6:00 p.m. eastern hour. that, of course, for the north american viewers. but up next, this hour, george t. bush, the son of a former florida governor jeb bush, he's here in "the situation room." i'll ask him this question. is his dad interested in becoming vice president of the united states among other questions. plus, two families go to blows in the middle of the courthouse.

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it can be said that politics

is in george t. bush's vein. he's also the son of the former florida governor. he is here to talk about the future of the republican party, his family's role in all of that. he's a co-chairman of math pac. >> it's a federal pac engaged and focused on reaching out to younger professionals, mainly between the ages of 25 to 45 that feel disaffected from the economy. and that are engaged in politics, largely for the first time. standing for maverick. >> that's correct. >> the theory is that -- >> we're entrepreneurs. a lot of us are small business owners, launching business for the first time. >> mavericks. nothing to do with john mccain and sarah palin. >> nothing ideological. >> the latest gallup poll -- your mom is mexican.

your dad is jeb bush. obama is 65%. romney, 25%. romney has a problem in the hispanic community. why? >> he does. and i can draw upon my experience in helping out any uncle in 2004 where he established the high water mark for the hispanic community. in my opinion, i don't think there's that big of a difference between then and now, in a sense that the value -- the core values of the party still resonate in the community. i think it's about the packaging. a lot of romney surrogates will have more resiliency. when we have a full examination of the issues and where people stand, especially as it relates to spanish unemployment. >> you're fluent in spanish. >> si. >> so are you going to go out and campaign for for mitt romney in spanish? go to latino communities in nevada, arizona, florida, your home state? >> i'm on a committee for the cycle. if he calls me into action as a surrogate speaker, i will do so.

i'll serve in whatever capacity he asks me to do. i don't have any specific plans right now. >> i'm sure after this interview you're going to be getting a phone call. don't be surprised when you do. your dad told bloomberg eldtorial board, in june, ronald reagan, george h.w. bush, that would be your grandfather, would have a hard time, if you define a republican party, and i don't, that doesn't allow for disagreement, doesn't allow for finding some common ground. the suggestion being that maybe the current batch of republicans so ideological, so engaged with tea party rhetoric, if you will, that even ronald reagan or george h.w. bush would not have felt comfortable. >> politics at a national level is about building o coalitions. in this case the tea party has a strong influence within the party. when ronald reagan and my dad's quoting of him i think refers to the big ten theory. and i'm a huge advocate of that as it relates to outreach in the

hispanic community. that sociologically may not completely agree with where the party platform stands on a lot of issues. but they're far to the right on fiscal questions. and so, what i love about the party is that it's extremely diverse. what my dad is trying to say is we need to be the party more welcoming. that allows people from various backgrounds to come in, whether they have labels behind their name or not. >> when you say the party is extremely diverse. a lot of people would totally disagree with you. but we won't get into that right now. your father, a very, very popular two-term governor of florida. a lot of folks would like to see him on the ticket with mitt romney. is that, you think, even within the realm of possibility? >> i personally don't think so, wolf. i don't have a crystal ball, and he's not being vetted right now. he's one of the few politicians that does what he says. in a sense that he's not actively pursuing a higher office. i think he has a voice within the republican party as a conservative. especially as it relates to

education reform. i see him working hard on behalf of governor romney. but like me, he's going to do whatever he can when he's called to sfsz this fall. >> i know in florida. where he's very well liked, he would probably almost certainly guarantee romney's carrying florida if he were on the ticket. you don't think that's necessarily going to happen. >> well, we'll see. florida will be a key battleground state. he'll get along with senator rubio, i think provide a very diverse message on behalf of the republican party. any key veterans like florida and will represent the government well when he's outside the state. >> your uncle, former president george w. bush. we showed him in africa last friday, dealing with with cervical cancer of patients on his 66th birthday. your aunt laura bush was there as well. he's basically just walking into an elevator and said, i'm for mitt romney. but i haven't seen him out there campaigning for him or doing anything for him.

is that deliberate? >> well, wolf, there's always the awkward dance. every single presidential election cycle, even on the democratic side, sho, it's a th where you go out projecting your own voice and you look at uncle george's record in the last four years, really he focused more on staying out of the realm. that was his assurance to the american people, that he was going to honor the tradition that our parking lights takes on. >> helping people in the tsunami from haiti and south africa. i'm going to show our viewers a little video. 1988. you were a little boy. take a look at that. you probably republican the republican convention in new orleans in 1988. let's see a little bit of george bush. there your family is watching you. they're very proud of you. there he is. and you're about to lead the pledge of allegiance.

a lot of people look at you and say that was 1988. you're 36 # years old now have. you want to be a politician? >> well, i'm drawn to public service. whether it's being an inner city public high school teacher or serving in our nation's military. i've been attracted to politics and right now i don't have any goals that are specific. but i love helping out behind the scenes. >> sounds like a yes to me. >> so will it be in texas where you live now? would you go back to florida? where would you like to do political work? >> i was born in texas. there's a common saying sometimes you get back as soon as you can. and that's what i did in going to college eaj eventually meeting my beautiful wife in law school. if i were to do this, i would do it in the great state. >> we look forward to seeing what's going on. stay in touch with us. >> absolutely. >> thanks very much. george t. bush for coming into "the situation room." romney has a lot of money in offshore bank accounts. but how much does that benefit him? this man is about to be the millionth customer.

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democrats are hammering at

mitt romney to explain his offshore bank accounts. last year it was revealed he had accounts in bermuda and a swiss bank account. erin, what are the benefits to these kinds of accounts in general? >> there are benefits, wolf. and obviously they're benefits that are really only -- only some of the wealthiest people of the country are aware of and can capitalize on. we talked to daniel, a professor at nyu. he said sometimes people do this for illegal reasons because they want to hide money. nobody is suggesting any such thing in romney's case. it could save him a lot of money on taxes. three things he could benefit from. one, secrecy. he is getting that. no one knows how much money he has. also, you can avoid tax deduction limits, which can be significant. and the third one is avoiding tax on investment income. well, mitt romney has a lot of investment income. as we all know, that's the vast

majority of his income. he has a $1 million i.r.a. if that was in the cayman islands, he could be saving half his taxes on it. it depends what's in it. we don't know. it makes the point to say you could save a significant amount of money if you're someone like mitt romney. and the bigger bigger question . this man is known he wants to be president for many years. even if he was saving money, wouldn't he have realized the optics of this didn't look good and gotten rid of this stuff a long time ago? that's the main question out there. >> what's the romney campaign saying about all of this, erin? >> they've been very quiet so far. romney has said in the past he pays every dollar of taxes he owes. we're going to see when he relations more returns. he's only released an estimate for 2011 and 2010. the tax code is 62,000 pages long and it's that long for someone who wants to read them all to take advantage of everything in it. if most people could do that, they would do that. this is something someone only

as wealthy and sophisticated as mitt romney can do, and that is an optical problem. >> thank you. >> jack is back with the cafferty file. jack? >> this sort of fits with what erin was talking about. the question is whom do you trust more to turn around the economy, president obama or mitt romney? reggie writes at least romney has had some experience in the business world. let's give him that job to help get the country back on track. james in virginia writes, i trust the president on this one. he has been trying to get something done with no help from congress. romney has no plan and neither does the go. they think americans are stupid and that we'll vote for them in november. keep dreaming willard. kimmy writes mitt, of course. obama has almost four years and still doesn't get it. 40 years of working. for the first time in my life, i have no job because of this economy. do i blame obama? you're darn right i do.

ed in california writes certainly not a guy with a swiss bank account. willard brings his appetite to the tailgate party but no food. obama needs a dedicated congress that wants all of america to succeed, not just their big money donors. wayne in virginia says i don't know if mitt can, but i know that obama can't. we've seen that for the last 3 1/2 years. car anman writes jack, the economy will recover slowly over the next four years. nothing mitt romney or president obama does will accelerator the economy especially considering the world economic conditions. and gary writes republicans will say and do anything in order to get back into our financial kitchen like a bunch of raccoons. i like that. have you ever seen raccoons in a kitchen? if you want to read more, go to the blog, cnn.com/cafferty file. or through our post on the situation room's facebook page. wolf. >> thank you. penn state's handling of football player discipline now coming under scrutiny. lisa is following that right

now. what's going on, lisa. >> former fbi director louis freeh is looking at e-mails that jug coach paterno preferred keeping disciplinary matters private. he is leading an investigation into how the university handled the jerry sun dusky scandal. he was convicted of child sex abuse last month. >> a volatile scene at a florida courthouse today. wow. okay. our affiliate, wftv reports a fight broke out between the family of the victims in a double murder case and the suspect's family. a hearing in the case was canceled and a brawl erupted in the hallway. the victim's father and the suspect's stepfather were taken away in handcuffs. wolf? >> wow. pretty amazing. thank you, up next, depending where you live, shopping online will cost you more and believe it or not, some people aren't very happy about it.

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and you never need a referral. see why millions of people have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. don't wait. call now. time from the convenience of one of the best things about online shopping is you almost always pay less because most states

don't charge their usual sales tax on internet purchases. but as lisa sylvester reports, that's changing and depending on where you live, this could cost you. >> how about an organic green iced tea. >> if you buy anything from a restaurant in washington, d.c., the sales tax is 10%. >> you can see the tax is 41 cents. >> bye clothing books or other goods in the district, the sales tax is 6%. but if you bought something online from a business that doesn't have a physical presence in d.c., the retailer wouldn't ask you to pay a sales tax at all. neil austin is with the national conference of state legislatures and says that's costing states $23 billion this year. >> look at california. california has a great deal of problems. this would mean $4.1 billion in revenue for california that they don't have right now. that can mean more teachers, more police, more firemen. >> he says more and more states are passing laws that would

require consumers to pay sales tax on all internet purchases. so far online sales companies have been able to get around that because of a 1992 supreme court ruling on mail order purchases. that decision said if a retailer doesn't have an actual physical location in the state, the retailer doesn't have to collect sales tax. legislation in congress would change that. say you are in washington, d.c. and you buy a $20 shirt online from an out of state company. who happens to be in california. well, as of now, you pay zero dollars in taxes. but if this federal bill became law you would have to pay d.c. 6% sales tax and that shirt would cost you $21.20. taxes go to the state the item is being delivered, not where it's sold. bricks and mortar retailers say the new federal proposal is only fair. >> all we're asking for is for the government to close this loophole, level the playing field and let everybody compete on price in a free market. >> but a coalition of internet

companies including ebay and overstock are lobbying against the federal legislation saying this is going to hit mom and pop op rags. >> nothing could be less fair to america's small businesses than forcing them to collect and remit and file sales taxes for nearly 10,000 different jurisdictions across the country. >> a claus in the senate bill exempts relatively small retailers with less than $500,000 in annual sales. and what do consumers think? ian kern says he buys everything from clothing to dish so online. >> as a consumer i wouldn't be super excited but wouldn't be shocked when that happens. >> now for americans used to tax free on line shopping, having to pay a sales tax online might be like a tax increase. state governments argue it's a tax that should have been paid all along. wolf? wolf? >> -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

happening now. manhunt for the taliban who publicly executed a woman. mitt romney's private comments about the middle class. and scary new sightings of great white sharks. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." > there's something president obama didn't tell you today. he walked into the east room of the white house and explained at length why he wants a one-year extension on the bush income tax cuts for americans earning less than $250,000 a year. listen to this. >> if congress doesn't do this, millions of american families, including these good looking people behind me could see their taxes go up by $2200.

starting on january 1st of next year. >> the president, though, never spelled out the cold political reality. there's no chance his plan will get passed by congress. here's why. while the president would let taxes go up for people who earn more than $250,000 a year, republicans want to keep the tax cuts in place for everyone, including wealthy americans. so the president's plan will never get through the republican-led house of representatives. and guess what, probably won't get through the democratic-controlled senate either. six senate democrats at least six have already indicated in the past that they don't necessarily want to raise taxes on anyone during these tough economic times. shouldn't surprise you that four of them are in very tough re-election battles. many independent economists have argued that this isn't the right time to increase taxes given the fragile economic recovery in the united states. the president himself made that point back in 2009 when he

agreed to keep the bush tax rates in place for everyone. >> last thing you want to do is to raise taxes in the middle of a recession because that would just suck up, take more demand out of the economy and put businesses in a further hole. >> the president is changing his tune now because he and his advisers think they have a winning campaign issue portraying the president as a friend of the middle class and mitt romney as a rich guy who is out of touch with hard-working families. the democrats are going on the offensive talking about romney's swiss and cayman island bank accounts, his refusal so far to release more than one year of his tax returns. they keep asking this question, what exactly is he hiding. so the stage is set for a brutal battle over the next four months. don't expect anything significant to happen in congress on taxes or much else for that matter till after the election on november 6th. kate bolduan has more on what's

going on. this is going to be a very, very rough ride. >> a rough ride and this is a very big story. as you said, the obama campaign is really playing up romney's wealth, but romney's private comments show possibly a different side of the candidate. i want to bring in our national political correspondent jim acosta. what do you have? >> kate, first it was romney's business career, now his transparency about his personal wealth that is under attack. he is out of touch near one of his weekend fund-raisers in the hamptons, the gop contender was inside telling a group of wealthy donors his campaign is focused on less fortunate americans. >> but i spent a lot of time worrying about the poor and those in the middle class. >> romney's comments follow a week of democratic swipes at his personal wealth and the jet skiing and boating on a family vacation in new hampshire to an article in "vanity fair" which

reported the gop con earned has only recently disclosed an offshore holding in bermuda. >> nobody knows why he has a corporation in bermuda. >> his aides released a lone statement to fox news saying he hasn't paid a penny less in taxes by virtue of where these funds are domiciled. >> this is going to come down to how people feel in november. >> an obama campaign official tells us even the president's call to end the bush tax cuts for wealthier americans fits into a larger narrative of who's really looking out for the middle class. >> it's time to let the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans, folks like myself, to expire. >> romney argues that will hurt the wrong people. >> that will be another kick in the gut to the middle class in america. >> but romney is not playing defense on fund raising with his total for june coming in at $106 million. that's $35 million more than the president. kate? >> we keep saying the money game is a big story this election

season. we'll continue to follow it. jim, thank you so much. >> also syria is sending a message it's ready to fight if attacked, at least 41 people were killed today in the government crackdown including deadly new shelling in homs. is the regime says it's conducted live fire war games to practice defense against foreign attacks. this show of force comes even as special envoy kofi annan says the president assad has agreed to a, quote unquote, approach to end the blood shed. a federal judge has just dismissed a lawsuit by lance armstrong to stop the doping case against him. the judge says the complaint was too long and full of allegations. the united states anti-doping agency announced last month it was opening proceedings against the seven-time champion. armstrong says the agency is out to get him to justify its existence. >> if you're thinking it's hotter than ever, it seems that you're right. government weather officials say the last 12 months were the

warmest in mainland usa since recordkeeping began 117 years ago. nationwide, there have been more than 4,000 daily record highs in the past 30 days. hope your air conditioning is working. a federal indictment unsealed today charges five men in the death of u.s. border patrol agent brian terry. his killing revealed the existence of the operation known as fast and furious. four of the defendants are fugitives. federal authorities are offering a $1 million reward for information leading to their capture. wolf, when the u.s. attorney was kind ofnouncing this today, they said their covert efforts had not resulted in arrests and that was one of the reasons they unsealed the case to ask the public to help out. in the afghanistan right now, a manhunt is under way for members of the taliban who took part in the public execution of a woman accused of adultery. the afghan president hamid karzai ordered their arrest today after the horrific video surfaced of the woman being shot

at close range in front of a cheering mob. our foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty has more on this source of international outrage what, it means for all of those secret talks that have been going on with the taliban. what is going on here, jill? >> well, number one, wolf, you know, afghan officials say that they believed that this happened because two taliban commanders were fighting over this woman. they both apparently had some type of relationship with her, and in order to save face, this accused her of adultery. so all of this is raising questions about that policy of talking with the taliban. this is the video that is shocking people around the world. a young woman accused of adultery shot up close at least nine times with an assault rifle. as more than 100 men cheer on the executioners. >> this cold-blooded murder is another reminder to the afghan people and the international community of the brutality of the taliban.

>> but even as it condemns the killing, the administration is defending its policy of talking with the taliban. into there cannot be peace in that country without reconciliation. >> the u.s. began secret talks with the taliban a year and a half ago trying to convince them to lay down arms, renounce al qaeda, and work with the afghan government to bring peace. but those talks broke off in march. the taliban accused the administration of backtracking on a promise to release afghan prisoners from guantanamo. it's not surprising those talks are dead in the water, one expert says. from the beginning, they were a long shot. >> it wasn't clear who within the taliban organization was willing to negotiate. would they be able to bring the bulk of the organization along. of course, we always had the problem of pakistan. pakistan was acting aggressively to eliminate any officials that were willing to negotiate apart

from pakistan. >> reporter: and there's another problem, another reason why those talks are in trouble. and that is there's a new generation of taliban. they are moral radical, more interested in jihad than in any peace talks. but the state department says it still wants to see afghans talking with afghans and secretary of state hillary clinton this be past weekend, wolf, said that there are some positive signs. >> she declared afghanistan a friendly non-nato ally of the united states. a significant development on that front, as well. jill, thank you. an unrule little passenger, an emergency landing and 19 hours of misery for people on board a flight. just ahead, you'll hear the pilot talk about the ordeal as it unfolded. plus, our own dr. sanjay gupta goes inside the hospital where dozens of children have died from a mysterious illness. sanjay is standing by to join us live from cambodia coming up next. and later, a well-known banker is missing.

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enterovirus. >> dr. sanjay gupta is in cambodia right now where health officials are scrambling to learn more about a mysterious illness that's killing children, attacking their bodies in a merciless way. more than 60 youngsters have died in cambodia over the past three months. it's not clear how fast or how far this deadly syndrome could spread and whether children in other countries may be at risk. our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta has traveled to cambodia for cnn. he's investigating what's going on. sanjay, first of all, thanks so much for doing this. what is going on? because a lot of folks not only in cambodia but all over the world are deeply concerned about

these kids. >> well, wolf, i'll tell you, it is an ongoing investigation, and i'll preface by saying i was in the hospital today where so many of these kids are being treated and as a parent, it's tough to see what these children are going through. they're trying to figure out why so many children, 64 children they say the number is, have died. very quickly over the last couple of months. many of them treated at a hospital here in phnom penh where i am now. they're starting to try to zero in on what is causing this. one of the things they have found is that 24 of the children had their blood samples taken. out of those 24, 15 actually tested positive for something known assent row vir enteroviru. it causes hand, foot-and-mouth disease, something that is more common but not nearly as deadly. they're trying to figure out how is this particular virus

possibly causing these deaths so rapidly. could it be another path jen on top of the enterovirus? could it be a combination of a drug that the kids are taking? they're not sure, wolf. so it's an ongoing investigation. i don't know if you're seeing any of the images from the hospital, but hospitals are crowded here as a general rule. so this is in addition to a lot of the health problems cambodia already faces, wolf. >> are international medical experts on the scene, the world health organization, others? are they deeply involved in trying to figure this out? >> reporter: well, you know, it's an interesting situation with regard to that. there is a world health organization office here in phnom penh. but the hospitals where so many of these children are being treated is a private hospital. so there's not necessarily a relationship between the world health organization and this hospital. the hospital reports what's happening to the ministry of health. and then they decide if they want to ask the world health organization to participate.

it's unlike a lot of situations that i've seen around the world. that's the way it works here in cambodia. to answer your question, the world health organization is involved. but the testing that found this enterovirus, the children are being cared for all through private facilities, wolf. >> what are the symptoms these little kids, what do they go through as they apparently get sicker and sicker? >> reporter: well, this is the tough part of it, wolf. i mean, the way it was described to me and i spoke to the doctor who has cared for 66 of these patients, 64 of whom have died, this is nearly 100% lethal. what was so dispartiening about this is literally within 24 hours of admission, just one day of admission, these children are dying. so it's very, very rapid. the children oftentimes come in with relatively mild fever, again according to this doctor, but then develop encephalitis often which is inflammation of the brain. the children become almost in a

coma-like state and from there, wolf, they develop a profound lung deterioration. as the doctor described to me, the lungs become completely destroyed and even putting the patient on a ventilator, these children on ventilators doesn't help because the lungs aren't exchanging air anymore with the blood, oxygen with the blood. so it's frightening, wolf to see and hear described. >> sanjay, thanks so much for doing this report. really, really appreciate it. we'll stay in close touch. get hopefully some follow-up tomorrow. dr. gupta on the scene for us in cambodia. kate, it shows you know, there's a crisis like this sanjay, he doesn't waste any time. he goes there. he's not only a great journal just but he's a neurosurgeon. a physician. he wants to get that story out. >> it's one of the stories when you put the eyes of the world on it, maybe something can be done. 64 dead already. thank you wolf. we're going to move now to

what is trending here in "the situation room." topping our list at number four, well, topping our list right now, at number four, l.a. clippers power forward blake griffin amazing dunk shot during team usa practice that goes off the wall a couple times. then he gets that dunk finally. but at number three, the fears of an internet outand, what really happened in the fbi turned off the intected servers and 211,000 computers lost internet service. 42,000 of those in the u.s. number two and number one on our trending list are just ahead. plus, you've probably heard that mitt romney raised mega millions last month. president obama's campaign numbers in and they're not as pretty. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." . according to ford, the works fuel saver package could terally pay for itself. jim twitchel is this true? yes it's true. how is this possible? proper tire inflation, by using proper grades of oil,

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>> i want to actually you show you the shot this time. there you go. amazing dunk off the gym wall. i think i might be able to pull it off. i'm going to be at the usa brazil game here in washington

next monday. the dream team getting ready for the olympics. how cool is that? >> it's great. where is my ticket. >> we can work on it. >> moving on to number three in our list, the impact of the internet outage, 211,000 computers lost service, less than expected but that's still a pretty big number. at number two in our list this man is lucky to be alive after falling more than 600 feet into a ravine in china. he wasn't wearing a safety harness when walking the tight rope backwards while blindfolded. chinese state media say he suffered minor injuries. at number one on our trending list, it only took 11 days for katie holmes and tom cruise to call a truce in what was shaping up to be a bitter divorce. the two have agreed to a settlement. don't expect any juicy details though. the terms of the deal are confidential. we wish them well. >> let's let them succeed

hopefully for the best interests of their duth. it's what turning out to be one of the surprises of the political year, the obama campaign's legendary fund-raising machine is getting clobbered by team romney. official word came out today romney's campaign and the republican national committee took in $106 million in june. the president's re-election campaign and the democratic national committee raised $71 million. a whopping $35 million less than the republicans. today an obama campaign official warned and i'm quoting now, if we lose this election, it will be because we didn't close the gap enough when we had the chance. >> president obama's campaign has been hammering on mitt romney's offshore accounts. should romney release his tax returns for more than just one year? you're going to hear what the former republican party chairman, governor haley barbour says about that and more. and here's something you'll never see on this program. a debate on a live tv show gets

so heated, it gets so angry, someone actually starts throwing things and then then one individual pulls a gun. you're going to see what's going on. that's coming up at 55 after. ♪ ♪ ♪

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happening now, new recordings of the pilot who made an emergency landing that left passengers stranded for hours.

a major republican and democrat working together to create jobs. >> and a terrifyingly close call with a great white shark. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." many republicans and democrats claim to know how best to create badly needed jobs in this country, but kate, you and i have seen a lot of partisan bickering going on that's preventing some of that. >> it's definitely preventing some of that. that's why it's interesting to see two former party chairmen cooperating on an economic venture. green tech automotive that makes small electric vehicles began production at a new plant in mississippi on friday. former democratic can national committee chairman terry mcauliffe is chairman of the

company manufacturing an all electric low speed vehicle that doesn't produce any emissions. he relocated the company's operations from china to mississippi with financial incentives offered under the former governor haley barbour of the state. the one-time chairman of the republican national committee. green tech says the move will create more than 400 new jobs in the short term. former president bill clinton was on hand to kick off production and congratulate long-time friend mcauliffe. >> it really matters that you can come to mississippi and come up with a new technology that offers the prospect of providing a product at an affordable price. >> let's bring in terry mcauliffe and haley barbour right now. terry, let's talk about politics first, a subject close to your heart. you're a former chairman of the democratic national committee. haley barbour is a former chairman of the republican national committee. is president obama doing the

right thing now, wanting to raise taxes on families making more than $250,000 a year? >> well, i think what he said today, the point is let's get those people making $250,000 and less, which are 98% of the population, let's go ahead, republicans, democrats agree that they ought to keep the tax cuts. let's do that, get that off the table. the issue of the top 2% is much more contentionious. probably not before the election. let's take care of those 9%. >> do you think in terms of economic recovery sort of fragile, is it smart to raisetachs on anyone right now? >> what he is saying -- >> what are you saying? >> he's the president of the united states? >> so you support him. >> of course, i support president obama. >> on this specific issue, raisingtachs on those making more than $250,000 at this time. >> i thought it was a brilliant move to say let's take care of the 98%. i spent a lot of years working with president clinton. our rate was 39.6%. we had the greatest economic expansion in the history of our country

22 million new jobs. you got to bring in revenue. let's make sure the 98% of people, small businesses, 97% of the people affected are small business. they create jobs. my business with the help of the governor, we're going to have 1,000 employees by next year. we want to be a big business but we're working together in i bipartisan way. >> we remember that 39.6% tax rate during the clinton administration. economy was doing just fine then. >> governor, i want to bounce off something terry just said. you two are working together in the spirit of bipartisanship. listen to something that president obama said today. listen. >> the republicans say they don't want to raise taxes on the middle class. i don't want to raise taxes on the middle class. so we should all agree to extend the tax cuts for the middle class. let's greet to do what we agree on. >> seems logical. is this an area where

republicans should take what you can get and then fight about the other stuff later. >> it didn't seem logical to president obama during the obama care debate when republicans said look, there are a lot of things we agree on. let's pass the things we agree on, and instead the democrats crammed obama care down the nation's throat despite its unpopularity with no vote to spare in the senate. it's always easy to say let's do what we agree on. he didn't do what they agreed on. this idea that they haven't raised taxes on the middle class, small businesses in america are about to have to start pay 3g,000 per employee tax. >> so you don't see. >> for every employee they can't afford to give health insurance to. >> american people want to see politicians doing what you guys are doing, working together. >> sure, american people want to see our economy grow. if you want to put $850 billion tax on employers, and remember that most of the small businesses in the united states

pay the tax return, pay on the individual rate. we already have the highest corporate tax in the world. so now he wants to raise the taxes. >> the president says 97% of those small businesses would not be ached by that. >> the president said 97 of people. >> he said 97% of the small businesses would not be ached. >> 97% of small businesses. >> i beg to differ. if you look at the returns. but you look at where the jobs are created in the united states, the people who create jobs, he's trying to saddle with the largest tax increase in american history. unless obama care turns out to be the largest tax increase in history. >> he's saying most small businesses don't show a profit of more than $25000,000. it the 2 or 3% of all businesses who employ a lot of people do show a profit more and they would be directly affected by this increase in the tax rate to 39.6% from 35%. >> unless this recession has been so bad that so many small

businesses now have had their profits reduced, during the clinton administration and the reagan administration, a whole lot higher percentage of small businesses made more than $250,000 a year. >> are you surprised terry, that the romney campaign and the republicans this month for the second month in a row raising a lot more money than the obama campaign and the democrats? >> no, in fact, when i was chairman of the democratic national committee in 2004, we outraised the bush the incumbent president campaigned every single month. we raised more the first time in history than the republican national committee. after you win the nomination, there's a lot of excitement. we did in 2004. i'm not surprised. still i know the president's raising a lot of money. a lot of grass-roots support. i've said this consistently. we're going to come down to a basket of six or seven states we're fighting over. both sides will have efficient funds. >> you don't think this says something about the campaign that romney and republicans are

outraising them by $35 million in june? >> kate, president obama has been raising money probably now for 15 or 16 months. he's got a lot of the people. this is brand new to bring all the other primary opponents together for mitt romney. >> they both have about the same cash on hand. where the republicans domuch better are the super pacs. they're going to raids a ton more than the pro-become super packs. >> that is the most frightening thing out there is the amount of money raised through the coach broth koch brothers are going to raise. >> let me ask you about this. the democrats really going after the going after romney that he's not releasing his income tax returns. one year he's released. they're saying he's got swiss bank accounts, secret business deals in bermuda. listen to robert gibbs, the former press secretary now spoirtz the obama campaign.

>> this is a guy whose slogan is believe in america. it should be business in bermuda. that's what mitt romney is all about. >> why doesn't he just release his income tax returns as every other recent democratic and republican presidential candidate has done? >> it doesn't surprise anybody in the united states that barack obama knows -- he wants to talk about romney's tax returns. he wants to talk about romney's bain capital. he wants to talk about romney's wife is an equestrian. they want to talk about anything except obama's record which is a record of failed policies that are hurting the american economy. and we're talking about them right now. we came on here to talk about his car business. let me tell you something about his car business. >> yes or no, tax returns, should he release the tax returns. >> i would. but should it be an issue in a campaign? i don't think it amounts to diddly. terry came to mississippi he

said because we had the best inventive package. our package was all tax incentives. if they did certain deals, they would forgive taxes, taxes that they wouldn't pay us if they didn't come to mississippi. that speaks volumes about how people create jobs. low taxes create jobs. $80050 billion tax increase plus obama care where you don't even know your obligations or cost for health insurance for your employees, no wonder our job market is being strangled by this administration's policies. >>. >> that's why we love the fact that the two of you, two former party chairmen are working to the in mississippi. you got a new car deal going on down there. i hope you make a lot of money. i'm sure you're pretty happy about that, as well. >> very. >> haley barbour, terry mcauliffe, thanks very much for coming in. just want to add one note. haley barbour has been involved in american crossroads that, karl rove-run super pac, pro-republican super pac. he's a former chairman of the

republican national committee as i said, as well. terry mcauliffe former chairman of the democratic national economy but now a major entrepreneur, this new car company. he's building new cars in mississippi working very closely with the state there. good work all around. >> meanwhile, a banker is missing. so is $17 million. and the feds are trying to figure out what happened. we have much more on that story coming up. at 6:41:00 p.m. eastern. >> an unruly passenger, an emergency landing and a nightmare flight. you'll hear the pilot talk about what happened during the 19-hour ordeal. stick around. you're in "the situation room." ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction

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we're learning more about the latest nightmare for airline passengers. get this people on board a spirit air flight were strapped in their seats for what they thought would be a five-hour flight from los angeles to fort lauderda lauderdale, florida. instead they wound up in texas and they were stranded for hours

and hours and hours. cnn's sandra endois here in "the situation room" with new recordings on what was going on. hard to believe that this could continue in the united states of america at this time. >> yeah, absolutely. you know, when it comes to air travel, all it takes is one person to spoil it for everybody. and that's what happened for about 100 passengers on board a red eye flight no less who were just trying to get to florida. >> man, what a mess. >> you can hear the frustration over the air traffic radio. >> i have no idea where we're going. >> spirit flight 310 was a red eye scheduled to go from los angeles to fort lauderdale this weekend. over texas, an elderly passenger in his 80s became disruptive. >> this man was touching everybody going to the bathroom. letting nobody go to the bathroom, come out to their seats. you know, kicking their walls

like you know like crazy. >> complicating matters, the man's condition. >> we think he's blind, think he might have alzheimer's. he's not getting up out of his seat because he needed a cheech to get to his seat so he's not threatening the flight deck. we think he might be off his medicine. >> and a language barrier. >> we believe the man speaks french and that's the only language he knows. so if you have anybody who speaks french down there, that would help us with this situation. >> pilots said they did not believe the man was a physical threat but i did verted the plane to houston. that presented other problems. spirit does not fly to bush intercontinental airport so it took additional time to find a gate and pilots who could fly the remainder of the flight without violating faa work rules. >> it was unreal. it was painful. 19 hours. 19 hours we were in this mess.

>> spirit said it flew in another aircraft and crew as quickly as possible to take customers to fort lauderdale. the airline said it apologizes for the inconvenience, but said safety is its top priority. and it will provide full refunds to passengers. as for the elderly man, houston police questioned him and he was released without charges. he said he was scared by the flying experience. wolf? >> all those hours on the ground in houston, how many hours on the ground in houston, the folks were just prevented from getting off the plane? >> covereding to some passengers, they said they were stuck in the tarmac in the plane without air conditioning or food for about two hours. eventually spirit let them out into the terminal. they were given some food and some, you know, some services at that point, but again, it's a red eye flight in the middle of the night in houston, an airport that spirit doesn't really fly out of. then cans were so tough. imagine all these passengers just wanting to get to florida. their original destination to begin with.

>> thanks for that report. appreciate it. >> thank you. now i want to turn to a full-blown federal manhunt. a georgia bank ser missing after being accused of stealing millions of dollars from investors, and that's just the start of this very bizarre story. david mattingly is joining me from atlanta. just a few weeks ago this man told friends he was planning to commit suicide. but the u.s. attorney's office thinks he's still alive. why? >> well, it's because of the way this has all been playing out. he sent this long and elaborate note to friends and family saying he was planning to kill himself, admitting he had lost millions in investors' money and said he was going to end his life by jumping off a ferry that went from key west to ft. myers, florida. there's evidence that his ticket was scanned, that he got on the boat. he purchased diving weights before getting on that boat. there's no way to track to find out if he exited the vessel later when it got to fort myers.

they're looking at his other habits. they think he owns property in venezuela. they also were looking at what he last told his wife the last time they had contact -- had he contact with her telling her that he had business in central america. so they cast a very wide net to see where he might be. >> it's really a phenomenal story. this man aubrey price is his name, he actually sent a confession with this suicide note? >> that's right. 22 pages. he sent it out to investors and to his family. and he admits, and this is from the sec, this is a statement they released. they said that it was in his words he called it a confidential confession for regulators. price admits that he "falsified statements with false returns in order to conceal between 20 to $23 million in investor losses. the fbi also is involved in this case. u.s. attorneys office was seek agarrest warrant and they also put out a statement saying this

man caused approximately $21 million of money belonging to a subsidiary of the bank to be sent to certain security accounts. the way this whole thing worked, he was supposedly trying to turn a failing bank around. he opened an investment company to take over that bank, attracted a lot of investors with millions of dollars and now that money is gone and so is he. >> wow, what a wild story. please stay on top of this. i want to hear how this ends up. thank you so much. >> interesting stuff. no doubt about that. >> there's another amazing story we're following that starts with a kayaker hitting the water for the very first time and guess what shows up right behind him. the great whites are out along a popular beach with more sightings just today. the capital one cash rewards card gives you a 50% annual bonus. and who doesn't want 50% more cash? ugh, the baby. huh! and then the baby bear said, "i want 50% more cash in my bed!"

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do not go in the water. that warning today on cape cod where sharks are lurking just offshore. shark hunters were out today tagging more great whites. brian todd is over at the national squariam in baltimore watching what's going on. just back from cape cod. what are you hearing from your vantage point, brian?

>> well, wolf, authorities on cape cod are really on their toes right now keeping a very close eye on exactly where the great whites are versus where the swimmers are. this is after a scare this past weekend when a kayaker literally had to paddle for his life. lity had to paddle for his life. this was walter's first time kayaking. take a look at the dorsal fin lurking behind him. he said he didn't hear people screaming at him from the shore but made it back to shore safely. >> i just figured, this is it or i'm going to make it. it was out of my hands. >> reporter: that close call on saturday led authorities to close the beach on cape cod. on sunday, the group cape cod shark hunters spotted three great whites in the area near nausette beach and chatham. the largest estimated to be about 18 feet. they use a fast-moving boat to try to catch up to great whites to tag them. >> we have a tagger place the

tag at the base of the dorsal fin using a harpoon method. >> reporter: then they monitor the migration patterns of these predators. we were with john when he deployed them. these may look like harpoon. but they're actually listening stations. they have acoustic receivers in them. john says there are a lot of great whites in this area that have not been tagged. among the 20-odd great whites they have tagged here, he says they've tracked some as far away as florida. it's not a mystery what draws them back to cape cod. >> as we've allowed seal populations to rebound over the course of the last four decades, i believe they've hit threshold levels drawing these sharks to shore and they become a viable food resource for them. >> reporter: they're observing more great whites each year off

cape cod, but great white sharks have had to be placed on the protected species list. i asked an expert at the national aquarium about the recent encounters. what can expert dos to keep humans and sharks apart from each other? >> what they're doing up in massachusetts right now is a great strategy. a lot of folks are pointing to, maybe we need nets at the beaches. that's a strategy that's been used in australia. what scientists have found is that those nets are doing a lot of environmental damage, killing sea turtles, killing whales. >> reporter: they should do that everywhere, what they're doing in massachusetts, monitor where the sharks are and pull people out of the water as needed. no question which of the species is the most dominant killer. 73 million sharks are killed by humans every year and only about six humans die of shark bites every year. >> what are the authorities out in cape cod telling people specifically about where the sharks are most likely to be?

>> reporter: very specific warnings, they tell them do not swim within 300 feet of the gray seals. the gray seals are all over the place up there right now and they're coming fairly close to shore, coming close to the swimming population. and still people are coming near them. the authorities say, get away from those seals. 300 feet at least or you could be in danger of getting attacked by a shark. >> pretty cool sharks behind you at the aquarium. >> i love sharks s. brian took my assignment today. gets get ready for "fifty shades of grey", the musical. jeanne moos coming up in "the situation room." aspirin is just old school. people have doubts about taking aspirin for pain. but they haven't experienced extra strength bayer advanced aspirin. in fact, in a recent survey, 95% of people who tried it agreed that it relieved their headache fast. what's different? it has micro-particles. enters the bloodstream fast

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a tv talk show debate gets way out of hand and emphasis on the way out of hand. we'll show you the video of the day. first varsity game. it isn't just your annual exam. it's your daughter's wedding. did you know with your health insurance you may now have some preventive benefits with no co-pays or out-of-pocket costs? it isn't just your cholesterol screening. it's all the tomorrows you're looking forward to. learn more at healthcare.gov. it's all the tomorrows you're looking forward to. you know what's exciting? graduation. when i look up into my students faces, i see pride. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate through university of phoenix,

that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor. i'm committed to making a difference in people's lives, and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now. political discourse takes a threatening turn in our video of the day. this was a debate on live jordanian tv. you're seeing it's heated already. as the talk gets more and more heated, a member of parliament starts waving a pistol at his opponent. it also involves shoe-throwing and throwing of furniture. the moderator scrambled to get

between them. no one was reported to be hurt. but clearly that was not the kind of debate you want to have. >> no. guy's got a gun. first, it's a book that's gotten people talking. now there's "fifty shades of grey", the musical. cnn's jeanne moos takes a closer look at the set. >> reporter: "fifty shades of grey" has gone from mommy porn to musical. at least it won't make you blush 50 shades. ♪ >> reporter: the musical pits a reader who loves the book against a reader who hates it. ♪ >> reporter: the makers of this 2 1/2-minute musical are

brothers. >> the idea came when i was in the subway and i saw all women reading it from literally teenage girls to grandmothers. ♪ >> reporter: eventually a gay character makes his entrance. ♪ >> reporter: there have been other musical tributes to this lady porn phenomenon, turning the verbatim words of the book into lyrics. ♪ >> reporter: jimmy fallon featured "fifty shades of grey" karaoke. ♪ seriously, that's from page 277, honest. comedians mockingly vie to record the audiobook version from gilbert godfried to ellen degeneres.

>> he guides his hands across my secret garden. i'm going to add some sound effect ifs that's okay. >> reporter: what's been whipped up are sales. "the wall street journal" reports the trilogy has sold almost 20 million copies in the u.s. in five months. it took the dragon tattoo books three years to accomplish that. while some couples say the book's done wonders for their love life. >> we don't have a big bed but we sure get around it. >> reporter: the musical has it both ways. they've written their mini musical but have they read the book? >> not the whole book. >> reporter: you read just a little bit -- >> passages here and there. >> some of it is awful. >> reporter: no shades of gray in that book review. ♪ fifty shades of grey jeanne moos, cnn, new york.