now is a time to send the voice of my generation into the political forefront of this upcoming election. >> that's alex, matt and elizabeth. you'll see more of them during the convention. and remember my colleague brooke baldwin will also be at the republican national convention. she'll be anchoring this show live from tampa. it kicks off august 27th right here on cnn. all right. much more straight ahead with joe johns in "the situation room." joe. thanks, fredricka. happening now, the obama camp tries to cut a deal to get mitt romney to release more tax returns. and all-out air war is underway against mosquitos carrying west nile virus. the death toll is spiking higher. and it may look like the western united states, but it's actually mars. brand new photos from the curiosity mission. wolf blitzer's off today. i'm joe johns. you're in "the situation room."

the obama camp today is trying a unique way to remind voters that mitt romney is refusing to release anymore of his tax returns. the president's team is in athens offering to help romney make the problem go away. but there is a catch of course. our white house correspondent dan lothian has more on that live now. dan. >> reporter: you know, joe, democrats say they want to know more about mitt romney's personal finances. they've been hitting him on news shows and political ads. now the obama campaign says they'll stop asking questions if mitt romney releases just three more years of his tax returns. it's the political version of "let's make a deal." if mitt romney releases more tax returns, the obama campaign promises to back off and stop l

5%, 0%, we don't know. >> reporter: the offer came in a letter from obama re-election to governor mitt romney's campaign manager matt rose. governor romney apparently fears the more he offers the more our campaign will demand he provide the letter ads. so i'm prepared to provide assurances on just that point. if the governor will release five years of returns, i commit in turn that we will not criticize him for not releasing more. governor romney has been under pressure from democrats to be more transparent on his taxes after he insisted on only releasing two years of returns. even republicans have urged him to do more to make this issue go away. mr. romney counters his personal taxes are not what voters care about. >> given the challenges america faces, 23 million people out of work, iran about to become nuclear, one in six americans in

poverty, the fascination with taxes i paid i find to be very smallminded. >> reporter: he did revealed he's paid no less than 13% of his income in tes over the past decade. but even ann romney admits that making more returns public is a bad political move. >> the more we release, the more we get attacked. >> reporter: which brings us back to this offer, which was quickly dismissed in a letter from governor romney's campaign manager. "it's clear president obama wants nothing more than to talk about governor romney's tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters." he signs off, see you in denver. john earnest was asked to defend this ongoing line of attack. >> the fact is governor romney has it within his capacity to put all these questions to rest before the end of the day today. and i do anticipate -- i do think that the voters do have an expectation about transparency.

that is important. >> reporter: now, republicans say here you have the white house talking about transparency when they charge the white house has not been transparent on things such as fast and furious or staffers using their personal e-mails for official business. and these republicans point out that you won't find a poll out there that shows voters care more about this than they do about jobs in the overall economy. joe. >> thanks so much at the white house, dan lothian. i want to remind our viewers right now paul ryan is actually speaking in northern virginia. we're going to go to him in just a second. i think we're listening to thank yous there at the very top of his speech. we can talk a little bit more about the presidential race until he gets to the meat of that. paul ryan as well. with me right now is john king. you've been out. you've seen ryan before. and i think we have to work off of --

>> the meat as you say, i just e-mailed with a senior romney advisor and he said this, it's stopped hurting. he didn't say it wasn't hurting at all. it may have moved some voters, but it stopped moving. just before i came out i got an e-mail from the veteran democratic pollster. this is 12 suburban women in wisconsin, a key swing state we call toss up right after the paul ryan pick. there's an issue which he says among some of these women created a sense of suspicion and doubt. for most of these women the question is what is he hiding? is he not forthcoming? i look at the president as a leader. that's not how i view a leader. not all said that, but most said. said it's part of the idea. this is governor romney's challenge heading into the convention that he's not very well defined. if you're not very well defined things like this can hurt. >> he also has a problem with women voters. that's another thing entirely.

the other question is, is it too late for him to release these returns? we've heard so much back and forth on it. are the voters starting to make up their mind on this issue? >> i think you have a base election where most -- >> all right. we want to listen. apparently a heckler. see how he handles it. >> thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. i want to tell you, i want to tell you about a couple people here. i want to tell you about a couple northern virginia ns. we have danny vargas here. some of you might know who he

is. danny rose up out of poverty, joined the air force, went to school at nights and weekends, took risks, worked hard, chased his dreams and started varcom solutions and he is a job creator in northern virginia. and, danny, you built that business, didn't you? [ cheers and applause ] we have mike jing here. mike jing, a well-known northern virginia entrepreneur. started one of our high-tech companies here. cyber data technologies. let me ask you, did you and your employees build that business? yes. you see, government was there, roads and bridges, those are essential. but they're not the knew

collious of our economy or our society. it's the hard workers of america. it's the hard working taxpayers. it's the entrepreneurs. the small business leaders. it's the people who get up every morning, bring their kids to school, go to work, work hard. that's what makes our society thrive and drive. that's what we're going to restore with pro-growth economics. now, we have a very serious choice to make. and what mitt romney is offering is to make a decision together. we will honor you with this choice. do we want to stay on the path that president obama has placed us upon? i take that as a no. it's a path that is putting us deeper in debt, further in doubt and more in decline. if we get this right, we can

turn things around and get us back on the path to prosperity and reignite the american idea. [ cheers and applause ] here's the problem, the problem is too many politicians in washington like president obama have been more worried and concerned about their next election than they have about the next generation. we're not going to stand for that. we will not do that. mitt romney will lead. and what we will do is we'll honor you by giving you the choice. we want to earn your support. we want to deserve victory. so that when we win this election, we have the authority, the mandate from the people to get america back on track, get people going to work and get the american dream turned back on for people. that's what we're going to do.

thanks, man. now, no two ways about it, president obama inherited a very difficult situation. 2008 was very tough. here's the problem, he made things much worse. so he can't run on his record. he's run out of ideas. and that unfortunately is why this campaign that he's waging is one based on frustration and anger. hope and change has become attack and blame. we're not going to fall for it, are we? no. i heard the president talk about medicare the other day. we want this debate on medicare. [ cheers and applause ] we want this debate, we need this debate, and we're going to win this debate on medicare.

i'll tell you why. there's only one person who treated medicare like a piggy bank. and that's president obama. he took $716 billion from that program to create obama care. that affects current seniors. and his campaign calls this an achievement. you think raiding medicare to pay for obama care is an achievement? why don't we get rid of obama care altogether? that woulbe an achievement. that's right. no tell prompters. everybody says that. everywhe i go. it's a recurring theme. here's the story. we can get back to work.

we can get back to jobs. we have to have the right leadership and the right policies. that's what this is all about. mitt romney is offered very clear solutions to get people back to work. it's the romney plan for a stronger middle class. the goal is more jobs, more take home pay. and the goal is to get 12 million jobs created in this country that amounts to about 345,000 jobs right here in virginia. [ cheers and applause ] grow the economy. now there's one thing we're going to have to deal with to make sure we protect jobs in virginia and around america. and that is these devastating defense cuts that president obama is promising. that is the lack of leadership that he's providing. they call it sequester and all of that. well, i tell you what, in the house we already passed the bill to cut spending in other areas of government to make sure that these devastating cuts in defense never occur so we don't

put virginians out of work and so we have a strong national defense. that's extremely important. now, it's not just jobs. it also is our national security. this is the first responsibility of our federal government. and one of the critical means and needs for a strong national defense is because the world needs america's leadership. in the past day iran's president called our ally israel "a cancerous tumor that must be excised." let me be really clear. under president romney our adversaries will think twice about challenging america and our allies because we believe in peace through strength. there will be no daylight

between america and our friends around the world. [ cheers and applause ] strong national defense, peace and strength, strong relationship with our allies. and, if we get back to work, we build our defense and we leave our children a debt-free nation, we will look back at this moment as the moment america got herself back on track. >> paul ryan spking there in northern virginia today. and off the top there was a heckler who was jelling something at him about taking money. how unflappable he's been tested before. >> he has been. on the substance of that paul ryan opposed the stimulus, said it was a huge mistake of president obama. there are some reports he wrote a letter to try to get some stimulus money. some say a ha, hypocrisy. to the point of dealing with the

hecklers. i was a couple feet away from him in debut in iowa, two women tried to rush the stage. the entire time he was speaking there was a guy standing about as far away i was from you about three or four feet screaming in his face the entire time. i asked him what did you think of the hecklers, he said if you've been to wisconsin lately, politics pretty poll larized. >> he says he wants this debatd on medicare. you reacted to that. >> it's risky. you can run from your problems or run at your problems. medicare has been a problem for republicans in recent years. democrats want to end medicare as we know it. republican argument is medicare will collapse if we don't change medicare as we know it because finances will tip it over. but democrats have used this issue successfully in the past. they say with the pick of paul ryan they can put it front and center. they think it will help in florida, an older state. iowa, an older state. even in virginia you have an elderly population. paul ryan is saying let's have the debate. notice what he said, it's about leadership. not so much about the nickles

and dimes, lin by line of medicare debate, the country has to make tough choices habit these programs and they're willing to make them. his argument is president obama has been unwilling to make them. it is a risky gamble by the republicans. but to look people in the eye and say we want this debate, look, the more we have policy debates, he's right. he's right. i'm not taking sides. he's right about if you have this debate, whoever wins will be able to say in january the people actually voted for or against something as opposed to more personal stuff we've had the last few weeks. >> chief national correspondent john king. thanks so much for that. >> thank you. it's the height of mosquito season. and the death toll from west nile virus keeps going up. we'll tell you what you can do to protect yourself. also, youtube is giving us an inside look at how the syrian rebels are improving their fire power. and find out what nasa is learning from the newest photos from mars.

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asked russia to show leniency to a punk band on trial. but did a moscow judge listen? brianna keilar is monitoring that and some of the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. brianna. >> hi, joe. no, a moscow judge today sentenced the three female members of the punk band to two years in prison. they were found guil of huliganism. the trial has sparked international concern about freedom of speech in russia. and the u.s. embassy in russia calls the jail term "disproportionate." facebook's stock price has wrapped up a dismal week with a new low. it fell to $19 a share today. that's actually half its price when it first went public in may. and it's especially significant because restrictions on share sales by facebook's biggest investors ended yesterday putting a lot more facebook shares up for grabs. facebook's slide didn't hurt wall street though. the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 all closed higher.

a stunning admission from one of the nation's top colleges. emory university says the school's employees inflated data about its students so they would get a higher spot in critical college rankings. he says that's been going on for more than a decade. several other schools have also admitted recently to tweaking student data to climb up in the rankings. and take a look at this. it is a plaque marking the spot where president obama and first lady michelle obama had their very first kiss. it happened in 1989 during the couple's first date. they had ice cream at a baskin robins parlor. there's another twist to this tail, mitt romney's bain capital saved that site by buying baskin robin's parent company in 2005. kind of funny, huh? >> yeah. so what is the likelihood we'll be seeing that in a political ad any time soon? >> you never know. >> you bet. thanks, brianna. the obama campaign made mitt romney an offer he could and did

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dallas is launching an aerial assault on a killer disease. it's spraying insecticide from the air to try to stop the worst outbreak of west nile virus in years. let's find out more now from cnn's senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen at the cnn center in atlanta. elizabeth, two planes sprayed areas of dallas county last night, but they're going back up

again tonight? >> that's right. last night it started to rain so they had to stop about halfway through. what they're doing tonight is they're going to send four planes. they're looking to spray about 106,000 acres and that includes downtown dallas. >> is this insecticide dangerous to people? >> reporter: you know, it's never -- you never want to spray an insecticide unless you have to. and i thought environmentalists might be up in arms, but actually they're not. i talked to one and said you got to do what you got to do. at least 26 people have died. she didn't sound terribly concerned. and here's why. this is an insecticide that has been -- or pesticide i should say that has been approved by the epa for residential use. they're using very low volumes. they're using it at night when presumably people aren't usually out. and the chemical breaks down in the sunlight, which means that it wouldn't harm people. >> bottom line question, if you get bitten by a mosquito, what's the danger of contracting west nile? >> reporter: the chance you're going to contract west nile from

a mosquito bite, joe, is actually very low. then reason is that most mosquitos don't carry west nile. only a small per sen taj do. 80% of people don't even get sick at all. of the remaining 20% only one out of 150 gets severely ill. most people get a flu-like illness that goes away. >> any news you can use tips? what do you do from getting bit by a mosquito? >> reporter: spray bug repellant and it needs to have deet. wear long sleeves, wear long pants. and get rid of any standing water. if you've got a bird fountain or whatever, get rid of that. mosquitos love t breed there. >> elizabeth cohen, little tip to avoid getting bit by the skeeters, thanks so much for that. talk to you again. syria's rebels were badly outgunned. but they are turning things around and showing off their weapons on youtube. and startling new images from the red planet.

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the obama team is promising to back off if mitt romney releases five years of tax returns. joining me for today's strategy session to dig deep sbeer this, cnn contributor and democratic strategist mar ree ya cardona. and also erick erickson. so, about those taxes. we've got the e-mail trail, if you will, the latest talk between the campaigns over this. i'm going to start out now with

president obama's campaign manager writing to the romney team. he says if the governor will release five years of returns, i commit in turn that we will not criticize him for not releasing more neither in ads nor in other public communications or commentary for the rest of the campaign. pretty good deal, you would think. and then matt roads response, mitt romney's campaign manager. he says it's clear that president obama wants nothing more than to talk about governor romney's tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters like putting america back to work, fixing the economy, reigning in spending. governor romney will continue to lay out plans for a stronger middle class to save medicare and so on. maria, now, what's the point of all this? surely they didn't really think that romney was going to release more returns based on this e-mail exchange. >> no. of course not, joe. but i think the point is is to continue to illustrate to american voters that mitt romney clearly is not comfortable with something that is in his tax returns. and it's not that he's done anything illegal or that even he

hasn't paid the tax rate that he has actually said he would pay. what i hope the obama campaign does a little more aggressively is make the link as to why this is important and the issues in this campaign. it is a choice now between a campaign that wants to work and fight and do everything they can to make sure that the middle class comes out on top. and a campaign that through their own policies through now that the pick for paul ryan is now focused on doing what they can to help the wealthiest. and this is an issue that is absolutely linked to that. what is it in mitt romney's returns that makes him uncomfortable? what tax shelters has he taken advantage of that most voters, you and i and erick can't take advantage of. those are issues that are absolutely relevant issues. i hope the obama campaign continues to make those issues relevant for american voters. >> erick, is there anything you think that would get the romney campaign to release more returns? do you agree at least that this is hurting him? >> you know, i don't actually think this is hurting him

anymore. i think initially it started to hurt him. and the campaign didn't really handle it. i mean, ts might be the first time in a while he hasn't flip-flopped. i really thought by now they would have done it. he can probably come out -- i don't think he helped himself by saying he's paid at least 13.5% in taxes every year. he probably could have come out and pointed out he's paid more in taxes in the past year or so than barack obama's paid in his lifetime. which may or may not be true. i don't know. but i'm sure it's a large number. but i really don't think this issue helps barack obama as much. and i think the reason they're throwing it out today is we started the week with paul ryan as a pick. the white house tried to do a medicare pivot. they didn't do it very well. then joe biden opened his mouth on monday and then opened his mouth on tuesday and then opened his mouth on wednesday. and they're trying to now get away from the chains comments, the 20th century comments and the other comments by trying to pivot back to a tax issue that really is more of a distraction. they could be going after romney on medicare, but they're not.

which suggests it's not working. >> now, let's take a turn to that controversy involving the former u.s. military personnel who put out the ad. let's listen to this clip. it involves president obama. and we'll talk to you on the other side. >> mr. president, you did not kill osama bin laden. america did. the work that the american military has done killed osama bin laden, you did not. >> now, this group which our brian todd has actually linked to republicans includes navy seals. and there's a lot of talk this could sort of, if you will, mirror the swift boat ads that went up against john kerry so long ago. i guess the first question probably is, is president obama learning the lesson of history, maria? as you know john kerry didn't respond to the swift boat ads for a long time. it ended up hurting him. and we haven't heard much from the obama campaign at least so

far. >> well, i don't think they're learning it. i think they've learned it. and that's why you've seen such aggressive obama campaign from the very beginning because they're not going to let this kind of swift boating, if you will, bring down president obama and his campaign. they're going to make sure they're the ones to defend or to define the other side, if you will. and i think that this is a disgusting ad. and you're going to hear more from the obama campaign in terms of how disgusting it is. and brian todd, kudos to him. i think he did exactly the right thing in exposing these republican operatives for what they are. one was a spokesperson for the tea party. one of them worked for the george bush administration. and they are clearly very republic republican. and the american people will absolutely see through this. this is why they're afraid because president obama has a huge advantage on foreign policy issues. and especially on osama bin laden.

look at what admiral mcraven said to wolf blitzer not so long ago. he absolutely gave kudos to president obama on this and the american people know that. >> now, i want to get erick in here on this. do you see the situation with these ads as similar or different to the swift boat ads back in 2004 and why? or why not? >> i think they're trying to do the same. you know, i've got to agree with maria on a point though. i kind of am taken aback by the effort to try to disconnect president obama from getting bin laden. i see a lot of conservatives trying to do that. the president obama made the call to get osama bin laden. and i think conservatives may want to say he doesn't deserve the credit because they don't like him, but he's the commander in chief, he made the call. i think there is an argument they can make that resonates with the american people. polling suggests resonates with the american people and the democrats have suggested resonates with the american

people and that is the security leaks. there have been a number of national security leaks out of this white house designed to make the president look good that have undermined national security. and i think there's a way for them to pursue that. the white house will have difficulty pushing back on because there are democratic senators who have also piled on the white house on this. trying to discoect the president from the osama bin laden decision is a bad move. they can't sell me on that. >> if i could just say that the white house is the first ones to say that any leaks are inappropriate and this is a white house that has been more aggressive than any administration in prosecuting national security leaks. so that's another reason why these ads will not be credible. >> all right. thanks. thanks both erick erickson, maria cardona, always a smart conversation with you guys. >> thank you, joe. the syrian rebels are outgunned by regime forces, but they're beefing up their arsenal and showing it off on youtube. and we'll tell you what photos from mars reveal about the red planet.

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the opposition's fire power through social media. our pentagon correspondent barbara starr has been looking into that for us. barbara. >> joe, we've watched these youtube videos for months now that the rebels have put out. when you go back and look, you can begin to assemble a pretty clear picture of what they have in hand. you can see it all unfold on the street. syria's rebels are now heavily outgunned, but they are learning. in this video believed to have been shot near aleppo last month the first battle tank appears to have hit a rebel ied. the second is struck by a rocket. in recent weeks the free syrian army has attacked and captured perhaps dozens of tanks. this week a video surfaced showing fighters with a regime tank close to the turkish border and brandishing a flag often

used by al qaeda. but among the dozens of rebel videos, the tanks and armored vehicles appear to be often little more than trophies. this one needs to be towed. some get cannibalized for their heavy caliber machine guns and ammunition. rebels also have rocket launcher. impossible to know how many captured from the regime or smuggled in by supporters. here large cashes of ordinance in rebel hands. also captured or smuggled. the u.s. only admits to sending in communications gear. >> our goal is to try to do what we can to try to assist them in a way that can make them more effective in this fight. >> reporter: fundamentally the rebel dent in assad's forces is small. syria has as many as 1,600 soviet-made t-72 battle tanks and regular supplies of ammunition coming from iran and possibly russia. the pentagon says the regime is

militarily suffering, however. >> they are having morale problems. they are having the kind of wear and tear that would come of being in a fight for as long as they have. >> reporter: in the air assad's forces remain unchallenged. this was one attempt to bring down a helicopter from a pickup truck mounted with a heavy machine gun hidden inside a garage. the regime insists this jet crashed due to mechanical failure, but the pentagon believes the rebels did succeed in shooting it down. a rare video propaganda victory for a rebel movement still struggling to become a coherent fighting force. but there is something else at work here. you know, as long as those high-level defections continue from syria, that may be one of the biggest propaganda victories overall. >> barbara starr at the pentagon, thanks for that. an air france flight is

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we're getting another fascinating glimpse at mars. brand new pictures have been sent back to earth from the rover curiosity. chad myers has been looking at them. those pictures are just amazing, chad. >> they really are. you have to understand that mars is farther away from us right now than the sun. the sun's light takes about seven minutes. this is actually now taking 14 minutes for just one pixel, one little blip of data to make it from mars back to us.

we put it back together and this is what we see. the latest picture from nasa today. this is a picture from the rover looking at mt. sharp. this is two kilometers from here to here. it's about a mile and a quarter to give you an idea of the size here. what i see here i seen lines. you can go to nasa.gov and look at the pictures. the lines here look a little bit like what we see at the grand canyon. different layers of rock. different layers of something deposited and eroded and we can see it. that's why nasa is here for the most part. they want to dig into these layers that as you go down the layers are going to be older. there's the top of the rover from the mastcam. you have to understand the pictures are going to get a lot better as we get all of the other cameras unveiled and unfolded and the lens caps off and that kind of stuff. couple scours they're going to

look at, those are actually some of the burn marks, the jet wash marks that blew away some of the top layers of the martian surface. now we're down a couple inches. not as far as that drill certainly will. no one else believes me, and i can understand why, but i believe that that right there is a dinosaur head. and that this would be the ribs. and this would be the hip. but i can't get anybody else to go along with that. >> oh, man. >> i guess i'm just a dreamer. joe. >> you certainly got my attention there. >> it's just a rock. >> well, you know, it would be nice. so are we learning anything more about say the atmosphere or the weather there, the conditions? >> yeah. this is great. i mean, we have now weather data coming from mars for the first time in 30 years. we had something a long time ago that gave us some data, but it's gone. it's been dead for a long time. we found out today that when the sun was out, the temperature was 1 degree, 1 degree above the freezing mark. so you could actually see some of this water being liquid.

that's what they want to be able to find. any liquid water. at any time in this past martian surface because that way that water could technically have caused and made some type of living thing. so we'll see. >> so that means we're going to have to stay tuned and keep looking for the dinosaur heads. >> long, long time. this is going for a long time. this is not solar power. thiss nuke powered. it's going to go for a long time. >> thanks, chad. >> you bet. he was a superstar in south africa, more popular than the beetles or rolling stones. a detroit musician never knew it until a documentary changed his life. find out how sixto rodriguez is getting a second chance at fame. and keeping u.s. troops safe from attacks in afghanistan. nato makes a dramatic move. n ac. but mr. single miles can't join his friends because he's getting hit with blackouts. shame on you. now he's stuck in a miniature nightmare.

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sixto rodriguez may be the most famous musician you never heard of. his first bid for fame in the u.s. flopped. but he became a true rock star in south africa, although he never knew it. poppy harlow has the story on the man people call sugar man. >> we thought he was like the inner city poet. >> he was a wandering spirit around the city. >> reporter: sixto rodriguez, a dylan-esque from the '70s. >> when we walked in and heard the songs he was singing and what he was writing, we had to record him. we had to make a deal. he's great. we said this is it. >> reporter: but it wasn't.

rodriguez's albums flopped in the u.s. somehow though his first album "cold fact" made it halfway around the world and became a massive hit. >> in south africa he was a rock god. >> to us it was one of the most famous records of all time. >> reporter: the sound track of the anti-apartheid movement fueling revolution. but at home in detroit rodriguez had no idea. he'd given up his music career. that was four decades ago. you used to play right across the street there, right? >> i played a lot of places in detroit. >> reporter: unaware of his fame abroad and getting no royalties, rodriguez lived on little raising his daughters doing demolition work. >> i'm not a stranger to hard work. >> reporter: he made failed bids for mayor, city council and state rep. you call yourself a musical political. >> musical political. yeah. i don't see anyone can't be.

>> reporter: then at 57 he was rediscovered by a south african music journalist and a record store owner who found clues in his lyrics. >> we found him. we found him. >> reporter: they brought rodriguez to south africa. and he played to thousands of adoring fans. >> thanks for keeping me alive. >> he's on stage. and the crowd is just going wild. and they're singing. and they're crying. >> it brings you to tears to see something like that happen to someone. >> yeah. >> well, it was epic. >> reporter: do you not think that your story is exceptional beyond belief? >> oh, it's pretty wild, the story. i'm a lucky man to be so fortunate at this late date. >> this is a true cinderella story. >> reporter: filmmaker malik tells it in his documentary "searching for sugar man." >> a construction worker, hard

manual laborer, without knowing at the very same time he's more famous than elvis presley in another part of the world. >> reporter: a beautiful story but also a mystery. where were all the royalties? >> i don't know. i don't know. i do think it's an important question because -- to know he was famous for 30 years he didn't get royalties. >> reporter: asked if he feels ripped off. >> oh, well, not in that sense of it. and hate is too strong an emotion to waste on someone you don't like, you know? >> reporter: do you want the fame and the fortunate? >> fame is fleeting. >> reporter: now 70, rodriguez may finally get his due. >> thank you, rodriguez. >> reporter: do you ever pinch yourself and ask is this real? >>um, is it real? it's certainly a different life.

it's certainly not what it was. >> reporter: poppy harlow, cnn, detroit. >> think about this, being as famous as elvis in one country but not knowing it could probably never happen again in the '70s. there wasn't any internet and rodriguez didn't even own a phone for years. now with youtube videos going viral, it's really not very likely that phenomenon could be repeated. you're in "the situation room." happening now, a bold security move at nato headquarters in afghanistan as two more u.s. troops are gunned down by insurgents dressed in afghan uniform. plus, president obama's interviews with "people" magazine and "entertainment tonight" fueling gop allegations he's dodging the tough questions on the campaign trail. and an air france flight is forced to land in the middle of a syrian war zone. and passengers are asked for cash decembsperately needed to refuel. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the

world. wolf blitzer is off today. i'm joe johns. and you're in "the situation room." extraordinary measures are being taken by the u.s. nato commander at nato headquarters following a deadly string of attacks on coalition forces by insurgents dressed in afghan uniforms. the latest incidents occurred just today when two u.s. special forces were shot and killed by an afghan police officer. cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr is at the pentagon. barbara, tell us about this latest move. >> joe, general john allen, the u.s. nato commander in afghanistan now starting with his own headquarters but at all bases across the country ordering all troops to carry a magazine of ammunition in their

weapon. this puts them about two seconds away to slide it back and drop a round in the chamber ready to fire. everyone will carry their weapon loaded at all times at nato headquarters and at bases around the country. you might think you know it's a war zone, isn't everybody already carrying a loaded weapon? but on these major bases like nato headquarters, generally it's only the security forces that carry their weapons loaded. now everybody, every job, no matter what they do, the crisis now over this whole issue of afghans killing u.s. troops it's affecting morale. it may be a small number of troops involved on the afghan side, but there's just a lot of concern that this is simply getting out of hand, joe. >> well, is there any way to sort of gauge or measure the effect on the morale of the troops? >> you know, i talked to one u.s. military officer today in kabul, afghanistan, and what he

said is now he's sitting at his desk with his weapon loaded. that's the order. and he said what you're seeing is everybody's just sort of watching everybody else. it didn't used to be that way. so you are seeing a waness. you're seeing a certain level of concern and caution. u.s. troops are in the field make no mistake with afghans across the country. the majority of them serve honorably. but this whole issue is now beginning to seep, if you will, throughout the whole organization. and it is beginning to have some impact on everybody's level of confidence in everybody else. >> potentially troubling trend there. thanks so much for that, barbara starr at the pentagon. joining me now is peter burgen. peter, give me some sense of what you're hearing on the ground about these latest security measures? >> reporter: well, i talked to nato military officials and they're obviously very concerned

about the so-called green on blue incidence which are afghan army or police shooting u.s. and/or other native soldiers. we've seen several incidents of this kind in just over a week in afghanistan. and the death toll now for american soldiers, about 10% of american soldiers dying in afghanistan now are dying at the hands of afghan soldiers or police, which is, joe, very worrisome. obviously particularly as united states and nato start drawing down and more and more, you know, advisors are embedded with afghan armed units, which is what is likely to happen here in the future. >> any sense of what can be done to prevent these attacks? >> reporter: well, nato military officials say first of all they're going to put more counterintelligence agents in the field to kind of winkle out

either taliban sympathizers. often the attacker dies in the attack or escapes. and so to determine motivation definitively is tricky. a lot of these attacks aren't really anything to do with the taliban. they're just afghan soldiers or police with a personal beef of some kind, a personal grievance. and that of course is quite hard to detect. >> how much damage would you say attacks like this are having on the larger war effort? >> reporter: i think it's quite damaging because, you know, there's nothing more damaging to morale than, you know, going on a joint operation with an afghan armed unit and being quite concerned that there's a relatively good chance something might go awry. if the present attacks of late

kept up, i think it would be very problematic for the afghan war effort. >> peter bergen in kabul. thanks so much. good talking to you. please stay safe there. >> reporter: thank you, joe. thank you. turning now to the dozens of wildfires scorching the western united states where firefighters are expected to gain some ground today battling the blazes before the winds whip up again. cnn meteorologist and severe weather expert chad myers is tracking the progress and the latest forecast. chad, looking at some of these pictures doesn't look good. >> no. getting a handle a little bit on some of the fire lines, 20%, 30% containment on some of these fires. but every dot you see here, everything that looks like a fire, that is one fire that is still not contained somewhere. i can't find a state anywhere west of the rockies that doesn't have at least one fire burning right now. and it's hot. this is the issue. it's not that windy today. i saw some pictures maybe winds are around 10 miles per hour, 15 miles per hour, that would be about it. we are seeing the hot conditions

though from seattle down through portland. temperatures well over 100. now, you have to think, okay, that's not going to make the fire get any bigger any faster just because it's hot. but you have firefighters on the line trying to work at 101 degrees trying to work, some of these spots have been well over 110 on the fire lines the past couple days. portland stays about the same right where you are. now, it isn't that dry out here. you think the drought must be the problem. no, it actually isn't the drought problem. there's not much drought at all where most of these fires are in washington, oregon, northern california. it's an old drought that happened years ago that killed so many trees because of these pine beetles getting into these trees killing the trees. now they're just standing up just waiting to catch on fire, joe. >> so what about those temperatures? are they going to go down any time soon? >> this ridge of high pressure has really been sitting here for quite some time. comes off the coast of california, up over here and it's hot. and that's -- you're seeing a cool down in the east a little bit. not a lot. but it's not 100 in the east

anymore. and this high pressure that's sitting right here is the sunshine beating on the ground, beatg on it all day long. and that has no forecast for to move. no chance of it moving in the next ten to 14 days. that's as far as our forecasts really go out. >> the next 10 to 14 days. that's a long time. >> it is. >> thanks so much, chad myers. >> you're welcome. the raging wildfires are not only taking a toll on the residents. hundreds of animals are suffering too. cnn's dan simon is in washington state where a makeshift relief center has been set up for those who have been displaced. >> reporter: well, hi, joe. you can see some of the smoke behind me as crews continue battling this wildfire. they're dumping water on it right now with helicopters. we should tell you that no humans have been injured in this fire. the same cannot be said about the animals. and treating those that have been displaced has been quite an effort.

from sheep to turkeys to kids, the washington fairgrounds have turn sbood into a giant animal refuge center. it all began when people were forced to flee their homes. while they went to shelters or to stay with friends or family, the animals too needed a place to go. so the county said they could come here. and since the fire broke out, it's been a temporary home to as many as 400 animals. how big of an event has this fire been for this community? >> it's -- i can't put it in words. i've never seen anything like it in my nearly 50 years. people have asked me have you ever done this before? i've gone through training and simulated exercises, but doing the real thing is a whole different learning process. >> reporter: mark kinsel is the lead veterinarian whose skills became vital in saving some of the injured animals. >> we had reports of large

number of burn victims coming to our triage. we had set up a triage center. and i had to go take a walk and kind of regroup. i was starting to tear up. and say, okay, you got to deal with this and put your emotions aside and get ready to go. >> reporter: these are the lucky ones. authorities believe many, possibly hundreds of animals, died in the fire. some owners racing to cut their fences to give their livestock or pets a fighting chance. >> there are probably still a large number of animals, horses and cattle, running around the county. there's a lot of good samaritans finding the animals just out in the field or out on the road. and we have the sheriff's department report them in. and we send crews out to go get them. >> reporter: kim just moved to town two weeks ago and was frantic to get her horses to safety. also at stake, her livelihood raising goats. >> we're with them from the time

they're born. we attend their births. we are there through the whole pregnancy and then we milk morning and night. >> reporter: kinsel says the animals can stay here indefinitely and the community has stepped up with tons of donations. well, this is a community that depends on its livestock. as you saw there are many different kinds. some of those animals have been able to go back home as the evacuation orders get lifted. but still some evacuation orders remain in place as crews continue working this fire, joe. >> so, dan, do we know numbers? the number of people evacuated who are going to be heading back to their homes? >> reporter: well, at one point you had as many as 500 people evacuated. that number has gone down significantly as some of these evacuation orders end. right now the fire we should tell you is about a third contained. but there are still some hot spots. and one of the big concerns this

weekend, joe, is lightning. and so there are more resources being put in place to deal with that kind of thing or be allocated elsewhere. so crews will be watching it very closely this weekend. >> all right. so just for our viewers who aren't familiar with the area, this is an area that is rural, is that the reason why we just have so many animals running around? or give us some sense of that. >> reporter: that's exactly right. you're talking about many acres of farmland. and as i said, this is a community that really is dependent on its livestock for the local economy. just about everyone you meet either has a herd of goats or a herd of pigs or chickens. and so that's why there are so many animals. when you saw those flames get very close to the homes, a lot of people really had no choice but to, you know, cut their animals loose to give them a shot at surviving. and you had people basically on the roads, good samaritans and

crews looking for animals and then bringing them to the fairgrounds trying to get them in a decent place and shelter, joe. >> it's really quite a thought. somebody just taking the horse that they've had on the farm for who knows how many years and setting it free because there's no other choice. thanks so much for that. paul ryan's first week in review as mitt romney's new vp pick makes his way across key swing states. his record i catching up with him. plus, a 9-year-old convinced he saw his father shot dead by police on tv. a woman's desperate search to find her husband in the wake of south africa's deadly police shooting. and could a car trunk be a possible means of escape from extradition for the notorious wikileaks founder? our brian todd gets inside one to find out.

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protest since the end of apartheid. dozens killed when police opened fire on a miner strike northeast of johannesburg. nkepile mabuse has the details. her report contains very disturbing images. >> reporter: joe, the situation here at london platinum mine is still extremely tense. the police maintaining a very heavy presence. the community still very shocked and angry at what transpired in this field where i'm standing with 34 people were gunned down. questions are being asked about who fired first. but still family members who don't even know what has become of their loved ones. this woman is desperate. her husband, a worker at the mine is missing. my children are asking about their father, she tells me. he hasn't come back home.

her husband was among the striking south african miners whose confrontation with the police on thursday left 34 dead and some 80 injured. she says her 9-year-old son is convinced he saw his father being shot dead on tv. we went with her to the local hospital. like many families looking for husbands, brothers and fathers. tension at the mine began to build a week ago when miners stopped work demanding more pay. by thursday authorities were no longer prepared to accept the occupation of the mine. >> we saw a whole group of them, police officers, carrying massive guns, r-5s we understand. and they just moved in immediately. >> reporter: were they provoked? >> we cannot say to you that the police were provoked. >> reporter: what followed was killing reminiscent of the apartheid era. the mine's owner blames the

violence which had already claimed ten lives on labor union rivalry. many of the striking miners had armed themselves with knives, clubs and according to police some guns. but one of them denies that workers were behind the violence saying all they want is more money. >> translator: in south africa we are supposed to be free, but people who are fighting for their rights are being killed whether what they did is legal or illegal, they should not have died. all they want is a wage increase. >> reporter: the national police commissioner says police used live ammunition as a last resort. >> this is no time for blaming. there is no time for finger pointing. it is a time for us to mourn the sad moment. >> reporter: this woman's search for her husband takes her to two hospitals. finally she discovers her husband is listed among the

injured. i'm very happy, she says. a rare moment of relief among the mourning. mine management is not expecting miners to go back to work. they're saying that this whole area needs to be declared safe first by the police. joe. >> thanks for that, nkepile mabuse in johannesburg. he's been out of sight since last spring. this might be the way you remember illinois congressman jesse jackson jr. the first pictures of him at the clinic where he's being treated for depression. and you might find paul ryan's list of favorites on facebook surprising. one of his musical picks sure did. we'll explain why. to safely and responsibly providing generations of cleaner-burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self-contained well systems. and, using state-of-the-art monitoring technologies,

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the first wave of charges filed in a pair of shootings. brianna keilar is monitoring that and some of the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. brianna, what do you have? >> joe, state police say seven people are facing charges connected to the shooting of a louisiana sheriff's deputy during the first of two shootings that left two deputies dead and another deputy wounded. five of those arrested are in jail. two others are hospitalized for gunshot wounds. officials say the attempted murder charges are for the initial shooting. they say the investigation is continuing and more charges are possible. representative jesse jackson jr. hasn't been seen on capitol hill since may. and now cnn has obtained photos of the illinois democrat meeting yesterday at the mayo clinic with former congressman patrick kennedy whose office released the pictures. jackson has been at the rochester, minnesota, facility undergoing treatment for bipolar disorder. and rage against the machine

artist is raging against republican vice presidential candidate paul ryan. ryan lists the rap metal group as one of his favorite bands. in a rolling stone opinion piece today he says ryan's message runs counter to what the bandstands for. he supported the occupy wall street movement and is well-known for supporting union rights. and i love this next story. britney spears is apparently a fan of the mars rover curiosity. recently tweeted so, mars curiosity, does mars look the same as it did in 2000? and curiosity did not take long to respond tweeting back, hey, brit-brit, mars still looking good. >> that's awesome. >> in her tweet she included this link for "oops, i did it again" and that's what the rover or whoever was tweeting for it references because she plays out this inner planetary love story and takes her to mars.

>> i love that. right. that's the best story of the week. >> i agree. >> thanks for that. >> thanks, joe. too much face and not enough substance. critics say president obama is keeping his press availabilities too campaign light. and later julian assange may be asking himself what good is asylum if you can't get to your host country? our brian todd looks at the wikileaks' founders escape options. there are a lot of warning lights

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as republican vice presidential candidate paul ryan campaigns through the swing states, his record is catching up with him. not only is it makes for some pointed questions on a range of issues from china to the stimulus, it's also been inspiring a few hecklers like this one at the ryan rally this afternoon. >> there are people just in this building who have epitomized what the american idea's all about. >> why did you lie about your -- [ audience booing ] >> i know. he's over there.

making me feel at home. thank you. >> cnn political editor paul stein hauzer is keeping track of what ryan's saying now and what he's said in the past. >> joe, it's been nearly a week since paul ryan's life dramatically changed. >> i am deeply honored and excited to join you as your running mate. his first solo act in the national spotlight was a noisy one. with the house budget chairman from wisconsin getting a taste of the often ruckus iowa state fair. he faced some tough questions in

his first solo interview. >> i get that, but what about balance? >> i don't know exactly when it balances because i don't want to get wonky on you but we haven't run the numbers on that specific plan. >> reporter: after criticizing the president's stimulus program. >> i oppose the stimulus because it doesn't work. it didn't work. it brought us deeper into debt. >> reporter: he had to admit that his office had in fact requested stimulus funds. and after slamming mr. obama over china. >> he said he'd go to the mat with china. instead, they're treating him like a door mat. we're not going to let that happen. >> reporter: reports highlighted his past vote against the bill that would have taken a tougher stand against beijing. ryan's plans to alter medicare put that combustible issue in the spotlight. with the romney campaign quickly fighting back what could be a negative into a positive. >> the president was talking about medicare yesterday. i'm excited about this. this is a debate we want to have. this is a debate we need to have. and this is a debate we're going to win. >> reporter: ryan drew big crowds at stops in colorado and

nevada and big cheers at a rally at miami university where he went to college. >> it is really good to be back here on campus. >> reporter: he ended this week where he began his new journey. >> virginia is a very important state. >> reporter: he got to show off once again he's a regular guy. >> i've caught some big bass here. >> reporter: while they went their separate ways this week, they reunite next week teaming up at a town hall monday in new hampshire. >> thanks, paul, for that. joining us now to talk about that and more "time" deputy bureau chief michael crowley. when you look at this campaign, we're only a week in now with ryan. do you think the campaign is getting the bounce that they expected to get from ryan? >> well, you know, there's good energy at the events and on the trail. people inside the campaign and outside of it say that mitt romney is really energized and seems to have some new life in him. the numbers aren't really bearing it out yet. but traditionally you don't get

a gigantic bounce from your running mate. i think that you know it's probably not their finest hopes, but it's somewhat still playing out. >> okay. i want to play a clip for you from a republican national committee web ad and then talk about it. >> okay. >> check it out. >> when is he going to be accessible for questions other than to "people" magazine and "entertainment tonight?" >> i would assume in a local market the reporters questions will be any less serious. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states of america. >> hello? >> hello. >> mr. president? >> how's it going, guys? >> our big question, red or green. >> every once in a while green is solid. >> a lot of different stuff there. the essential question among others is whether the president is giving too many fluff interviews. do you think he's mixing it up in a serious way with reporters enough? >> i think he probably ought to take some tougher questions, ought to face the white house

press corp. the white house press corp is not perfect. hec heaven knows. but i think they ask pretty good substantiative questions. local media interviews can be tough. i think they tend to be gentler. people get a little dazzled by the president coming in. the white house press corp is a little more jaded. they deal with the guy every day. i think it's an effective ad. republicans want to promote the theme the media is soft on obama and he's in there because he's not being asked the hard questions. there's a lot of points on him not getting vetted. >> the other question would be about mitt romney himself. i know when i was on the campaign trail during the primaries it seemed he didn't do very many availabilities at all. is he talking to the media enough about serious substantiative issues? >> he's quite wary of the media also. he did do one yesterday. you see what happened. you see why politicians are wary of doing these things. he came out with his whiteboard and thought i'm going to explain my position on medicare and drive the news on that.

he got asked a question on his taxes, a perfectly legitimate question, but he gave an answer on his taxes and it led all three network news broadcasts and was political story of the morning. and i think the romney campaign probably felt like we didn't get what we wanted out of that. i think they have an obligation to talk to the press, that's an example of why they don't like to do it. >> do you think the public give them credit for mixing it up with the media? or is it easier to give a speech and hope your whole message gets through unfiltered? >> well, i think by and large the public is not paying too much attention to how many questions are being asked. the public doesn't like the press very much. john mccain is one example where certain politicians make a big deal about how willing they are to take tough questions, fire away, ask me anything. i think they're rewarded for it. john mccain really was rewarded for it during that period of time when he did it. there is a model where it can be successful. by and large i think they feel it's easier not to deal with it. >> another headline we've had going for some time now is about the casino magnate sheldon

adelson. all the money he put in the campaign and whether the romney campaign is doing the right thing by working with him. listen to this, a careful presidential campaign would put distance between itself and a businessman like mr. adelson, instead this one is cultivating him. mr. romney recently met with him in israel. mr. ryan this week paid homage to him and other donors at a private casino on the 36th floor of his hotel by allowing him to have such an outsized role in the race the candidates themselves are placing a very risky bet. that's a "new york times" editorial. do you think there's a danger for paul ryan and mitt romney to get too close to sheldon adelson right now? >> well, i'm not sure how much voters are aware of adelson himself as an individual figure. but i do think in general people are realizing how much millionaires and billionaires are pouring into this campaign through super pacs through kind of dark money. and i do think -- and more of that money is coming on the republican side. i think there could be some danger if ryan -- if romney and

ryan are perceived as being working in league with these billionaires. people may not know everything about their backgrounds. it fits into the obama narrative that this is a campaign to cut taxes for the wealthy and benefit the wealthy. i have to say in fairness obama's done more than 200 fundraisers and those are not nickel and dime events. those are wealthy people also. but i think optically it does look like the republicans are cozier with these big ultrarich guys. and i think that that could be problematic for them. >> so it cuts both ways. thanks so much for that. >> controversial voter id laws gaining ground across the country could impact whether you're allowed to vote. is it lega i'll ask our jeffrey toobin just ahead. and an air france flight is forced to land in the middle of the syrian war zone. and passengers are asked for cash to refuel. are you okay, babe?

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this week's court ruling allowing a controversial voter id law to be implemented in the key battleground state of pennsylvania is reviving the emotional battle over voting rights just months before the presidential election. democrats argue it could disenfranchise up to 100,000 people especially minorities. and they're outraged. they say over republicans in the state who say this. >> voter id, which is going to allow governor romney to win the state of pennsylvania, done. >> the only people it disenfranchises are those individual who is are trying to perpetrate election fraud. >> pennsylvania is just one of more than a dozen states requiring people to show voter id. six of them are being investigated by the justice department. joining us to talk about that now senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin, he's the author of the new book "the oath, the obama

white house versus the supreme court," which is due out next month. jeff, when you look at these voter id laws that are sort of in various states around the country, yousk one thing, what's the intent of them? what's your view of that? >> well, that's the $64 question, joe. and you get very different answers. the democrats of course say this is a cure for which there is no disease. voter fraud is not a major problem. very few people have been caught trying to vote who are not entitled to vote. and they say the purpose is, as you heard that republican legislator say, is simply to elect republicans. to disenfranchise poor people, older people, black people who tend on the average not to have photo ids. that is -- the republicans who sponsor these laws say, no, we are just imposing ordinary rules that same as you need to cash a check at the store, you need to show somebody a photo id.

and that is nothing unreasonable about that. >> so do the states have any kind of a duty, if you will, actually to sort of prove that voter fraud is a problem? or can they just say, we think voter fraud could be a problem? >> well, it's interesting, joe. not a lot of people know this. there is no constitutional right to vote in the united states. there is not an amendment, there's not a provision of the constitution that says everyone has the right to vote. you can't be prevented from voting on the basis of race, but there is no affirmative right to vote. and the supreme court in 2008 and the decision by john paul stephens, one of the more liberal members of the court at the time, said that the photo id rule in indiana was constitutional, that at least on its face it did not discriminate against any group. and it was simply a way of maintaining security at the polls that the supreme court upheld. that has led most courts who have looked at this issue so far

to defer to the legislators. and these laws so far have been upheld. >> so what is the justice department's interest if there's no constitutional right to vote? what's the justice department's interest in taking a look at these laws? >> well, the justice department has a couple routes into this. first of all there's the voting rights act. the voting rights act says states with histories of discrimination, mostly in the south, they have a special duty to prove that any changes they make in their electoral system including these photo id laws don't discriminate against african-americans. that is a very active investigation certainly in florida, which is covered by the voting rights act. in other states like pennsylvania which is not covered by the voting rights act, the justice department has less of an obvious interest. but if they can prove that this was simply designed to hurt african-americans, poor people, people who tend to vote democratically, then the justice department could step in. but so far all of these rules

have been upheld except for wisconsin. wisconsin's courts have put it on hold. michigan, it has not been implemented. the governor actually stopped it. but most of the states that went republican in the 2010 election as you pointed out on the chart have put in these rules. >> well, jeff toobin, thanks so much for that. hope to talk to you a little bit more on that. i'm working on a documentary about the whole story. >> big subject, big stakes. >> we'll see you again. >> okay. can julian assange slip out of london without getting caught? our brian todd tests some ideas as the british authorities keep a close eye on the embassy where he's holed up. and the battle over tax returns turns into an e-mail tit for tat between both presidential campaigns. at shell, we believe the world needs a broader mix of energies. that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal.

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he may have been granted asyl asylum, but julian assange is still stuck julian assange is still stuck in london. the british government does not recognize the asylum if the wikileaks founder were to leave his safe haven, he would be captured and sent off to face rape charges in sweden. could he escape to ecuador? >> brian todd joins me now. is it possible he could get out of there? >> possible, joe, but very risky. julian assange might want to find good books to read. his chances for using slight of hand to escape the british police are slim and dwindling. >> reporter: he's reported to be tense and going a bit stir crazy. wikileaks founder julian assange holed up in london. he's been there for about two months. now that ecuador's granted him

asylum and britain's refused to honor it. if assange takes one step outside the embassy. >> my understanding is that the british would arrest him and extradite him to sweden. >> where assange is wanted for questioning over sexual assault claims. with the fugitive inside in what's at the moment considered ecuadoran territory and british police outside ready to pounce, scenarios are being debated over a possible escape. is this an option? getting smuggled out in the trunk of a diplomatic car. the car would be considered ecuadoran domain. police could stop it, but not search it. couldn't necessarily pull assange out. there's a hitch in that plan. the hitch, apparently there's no garage available to the ecuad ecuadoran embassy. only one entrance right here and that is not an option. the building is completely surrounded by british police. they're in the streets, the alleys, the side streets, if anyone was going to try to take assange from the building to a waiting car, the police would

get him. the police are also reported to be monitoring the so-called communal areas of the building, the hallways and elevators preventing assange from taking an elevator up to the roof where a helicopter could pick him up. >> police could monitor the hallways and elevators because it occupies only one floor. the first floor and not even all of that. it's here right where this window is. and assange can barely step into a hallway without risking apprehensi apprehension. if he did get to a car, there are airports large and small in every direction. but experts say once he got to one of those, he could easily be captured. he could, actually, be smuggled out in a crate or large bag. if it's labeled a diplomatic parcel, the british police can't open it. but -- >> i think they could delay it, hold it, keep it in a -- in a very cold or very hot place or something like that. >> but former british ambassador oliver miles doesn't see that happening either. one thing that could happen, he says, assange could simply take

refuge inside the ecuadoran embassy but indefinitely. it's happened before, in 1956 when the soviet union invaded hungary, joseph mensenti took refuge inside the american embassy in budapest. he was granted asylum, and he lived in the american embassy for 15 years. >> that's just amazing. >> i want to see the look on julian assange's face when someone says you may have to be here for 15 years. >> what happens here? is it possible they could force the issue and then create a big international blow-up or whatever? >> that's right. the british really hold most if not all of the cards here. if this drags on too long for them, they could cut off diplomatic relations or simply kick the eke wcuadoran diplomatt of the embassy. if the diplomats are gone, the premises isn't protected. that means they can go in and get julian assange.

>> the sanctity of embassies is sort of shared and important all over the world. >> it is. it is. it has happened before, so they could do it. how badly do they want him? >> thanks for that. >> sure. beirut, too dangerous for an air france flight to land so it's diverted to the syrian war zone? and the passengers are asked for cash to refuel. and in our next hour, three members of a popular russian punk band sentenced to prison for singing a song about the country's president. now the white house is responding. [ annie ] this is the story of a girl named annie

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spilling over from syria. the plan was to land in jordan, but the plane and its passengers wound up laying over in of all places damascus. cnn's sandra endo joins me now. why did that happen, sandra? >> as you know, that region is very tense. the there's a lot of conflict. and sometimes flights get redirected, but now air france is apologizing to passengers onboard a flight from paris to beirut this week when the flight took a scary diversion, the airlines started asking passengers for cash. >> a pit stop in a war-torn country after running low on fuel. >> we stayed there for a couple of hours and we were really afraid. >> reporter: an air france flight was forced to divert because of this unrest. their first choice was to land in jordan, but the crew couldn't get a secure flight path. desperately in need of fuel, the plane was forced to land in syria's capital, damascus.

of course the country is in the midst of an uprising, and air france says the airport wouldn't take credit for the fuel, only cash. leaving the airline to ask those onboard to dig deep into their pockets. >> translator: they asked the passengers who had money in order to refuel because they didn't have an account there. >> reporter: adding to the tension, diplomatic relations between france and syria are sour. along with much of the world, french officials are demanding syrian president assad to step down. air france stopped all flights in damascus in march so the plane was sitting in unfriendly territory. >> translator: we landed and they told us quickly to close all the window shades and then told us not to take photos or video and if they did, they had to be deleted immediately or we risk prison. >> this doesn't happen often.

>> reporter: what do you think happened in this case? how did they get out of this situation? >> well, i believe what probably took place is that the right people got to talk to each other in the higher level between the governments and the airline and there were guarantees of payments made through wire transfers or something of that nature. >> reporter: finally, despite tense moments on the tarmac, the flight was refueled and headed to nearby cypress. the airline said in a statement, ultimately air france could pay the full amount itself and passengers did not have to advance any cash. >> air france did not disclose how the situation was resolved but says it was only asking passengers for money as a precautionary measure. joe? >> thanks so much for that, sandra endo here reporting in washington, d.c. happening now. the obama campaign offers mitt romney a deal on releasing his tax returns and it doesn't take long to get an answer. the punk rock band and the

protests. how an anti-government song landed three women in prison. and outrage after a police shooting is caught on tape. one man, six officers, and dozens of rounds fired. wolf blitzer is off today, i'm brianna keilar along with joe johns, you're in the "situation room." first, some breaking news here in the "situation room," mitt romney's running mate paul ryan has just released tax returns from 2010 and 2011. this is breaking, we'll be getting more information on this in just a moment. and we'll bring that to you. but first, we begin with an offer that took mitt romney's campaign team almost no time to refuse. >> president obama's campaign offered to stop hammering romney for not releasing more tax returns if he'd only go public with a few more years worth of

information. cnn white house correspondent dan lothian tells us why there's no deal. dan? >> reporter: you know, democrats say they want to know about mitt romney's personal finances. they've been hitting him on news shows and also in political ads, and now the obama campaign says they'll stop asking questions if mitt romney releases additional three years of tax returns. >> reporter: it's the political version of "let's make a deal." if mitt romney releases more tax returns, the obama campaign promises to back off and stop running ads like this one. >> did romney pay 10% in taxes? 5%, 0%? we don't know. >> reporter: the offer came in a letter from obama reelection campaign manager jim messina to matt rose. governor romney apparently fears the more he offers, the more our campaign will demand he provide the letter reads, so i'm prepared to provide assurances on just that point. if the governor will release

five years of returns, we will not criticize him for not releasing more. governor romney has been under pressure from democrats to be more transparent on his taxes after he insisted on releasing only two years of returns. even some republicans have urged him to do more to make this issue go away. but mr. romney counters that his personal taxes are not what voters care about. >> given the challenges that america faces, 23 million people out of work, iran about to become nuclear, 1 out of 6 americans in poverty. the fascination with taxes i paid i find to be very small-minded compared to -- >> he did reveal he's paid no less than 13% of his income in taxes over the past decade. but even ann romney admits that making more returns public is a bad political move. >> the more we release, the more we get attacked. >> which brings us back to this offer. which was quickly dismissed in a letter from governor romney's

campaign manager who wrote it's clear that president obama wants nothing more than to talk about governor romney's tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters. he signs off with see you in denver, the site of the first presidential debate. josh ernest was asked to defend this ongoing line of attack. >> the fact is governor romney has it within his capacity to put all of these questions to rest before the end of the day today. and i do anticipate -- i do think that the voters do have an expectation. about transparency. that is important. >> now, republicans point out that here you have the white house talking about transparency when they charge the white house has not been transparent on fast and furious or on white house staffers using their personal e-mails for official business, and these republicans say that you won't find a poll out there that shows that voters care more about this issue than they do

about jobs or the overall economy. joe? >> dan lothian at the white house, cnn chief national correspondent john king is here. and we're just now starting to look through all of these tax returns and i think the essential information we have at the top is an adjusted gross income for mitt romney in 2010 of $215,000 -- >> paul ryan. >> paul ryan is $215,000 in 2010, $323,000, in 2011, looks like his tax rate is around 15.9%, apparently. not really exciting, quite frankly. compared to what we're really looking for, which is mitt romney. >> a couple things to workere politically. the ryans pay 15.9% in 2010, so what democrats will say, well, he paid a higher rate than mitt romney who paid somewhere around 13% and they'll say, give us more. they're not going to stop the give us more. paul ryan had to give more years of these tax forms to the romney

vetting. democrats will say, well, if you got to see them in private, why don't the american people get to see them in public? paul ryan, couple weeks ago during the vice presidential process did amend his disclosure forms and says during the vettings he found something and said this isn't in my forms. they'll say did he know he was about to become in the public eye and is that why he amended them? we'll go through this debate. nothing shocking jumps out here. his wife inherited property, and so you do see a jump from 2010 to 2011 and she inherited a trust when her mom passed away. and some of that, i believe, is rental property. >> what he and his wife actually paid in federal taxes in 2010 and $64,764 in federal taxes on adjusted income of $323,000 in 2011. >> and this, i should mention, what you're seeing right now,

this is 2010. this is the 2010 tax return. >> so we're still waiting. governor romney released his -- he released his 2010 tax forms and he's 2011, he filed for an extension and they said he'll release his 2011 tax forms as soon as they're completed and filed. obviously you would expect that to happen before the election. this is part of a -- the ryan disclosure is on par with what pretty much happens. the democrats will say give us more years and this whole deb e debate -- when it comes to governor romney, release more, has been part of the obama campaign's two track. there's a two-track strategy. one is to say he's a rich guy, he doesn't understand, and the other part is, if you won't release them, are you hiding something? >> let's talk about the timing here, it's friday night, guys. >> friday night dumps are a long standing bipartisan tradition in washington. to put things out on friday night, summer friday night, it's a double-whammy. >> charity is interesting too. apparently donating $2,600 to

charity in 2010, but $5,000 in 2011. >> his income spiked a little bit from year-to-year. his charitable contributions. it's -- i don't know how you would characterize this, by no means in governor romney's league or president obama's league when it comes to income. three young kids, people will look through them, nothing jumps off the table at the moment. but guess what? every opposition researcher with accounting skills in the democratic party are looking at these documents. >> and we'll be going through them again and again and again. >> and still a lot of people would hope to make $215,000 or $323,000 a year. >> amen. >> we'll definitely say that. thank you, john, appreciate it. >> thanks, john. around the world today, rock stars and political leaders are condemning the prison sentences handed to three members of a russian punk rock band. their crime, singing a song critical of russian president vladimir putin in a church. even white house officials are upset about this.

>> the united states is disappointed by the verdict, including the disproportionate sentences that were granted. while we understand the group's behavior was offensive to some, we have serious concerns about the way these young women have been treated by the russian judicial system. >> cnn's phil black is in moscow, and by the way, if you haven't heard the band's name before, it may come as a bit of a shock. >> reporter: whether the court would find these women guilty or not guilty was never really in doubt. but the punishment, that was still in play. the court could've given them seven years, it went for two. outside the court, a large crowd of suprters still wasn't happen with that result. >> the women of pussy riot spent hours in their glass box for the judge to read her verdict. they chatted together and wondered when they would next see each other and when that

would be. outside, a crowd of supporters gathered. police showed some tolerance, but they were easily provoked and many were arrested. they were also members of the russian orthodox church. this is why russia's religious were offended. a 30-second performance praying for president vladimir putin to go. the judgment took three hours to read. and throughout, there was little doubt it would find them guilty. the judge referred to the behavior insulting and disrespectful to the church and all of russia's faithful. criticized their short skirts and high kicks and said they were motivated by hatred for religion. she ruled they remain a danger to society and sentenced them to two years. the women smiled but looked a little stunned as people in the court shouted shame.

outside, much of the crowd also reacted angrily. this woman was clearlynspired by the example. the police waited for her to come down until she pulled on a pink cap. the women's families were in court. the father said his innocent daughter was being sent to jail. one of the husbands said he wasn't surprised by the outcome despite vladimir putin saying he hoped they wouldn't be punished harshly. >> two years of prison, it's somewhat of a lenient sentence. >> the time the women have been in custody will count toward their sentence. so that's about six months off the top already. it could be reduced further on appeal. but either way, it has a significant period of time considering that performance in the cathedral only lasted 30

seconds. brianna? >> phil black in moscow for us. >> both republicans and democrats have been caught stretching the truth in campaign ads, but that hasn't stopped either side from running the commercials. how they get away loose with the facts. and ahead, the half hour he's playing paul ryan in the presidential prep and has known ryan for years. we're talking to chris van hollen. and later, caught on tape. one man, six police officers, and dozens of shots fired. why the justice department is investigating. you'll see the cnn exclusive video at 6:45 eastern.

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repeat bogus or out of context claims like these. >> obama has cut $716 billion from medicare. why? to pay for obama care. >> if you had president obama's record, what would you do? deny reality? >> we tried our plan and it worked. >> running for governor, mitt romney campaigned as a job creator. >> i know how jobs are created. >> but as a corporate raider, he shipped jobs to china. >> i lost my health care. a short time after that, my wife became ill. >> with us now is lauren ashburn, president of ashburn media and editor in chief of the daily download. howard kurtz is also the washington bureau chief for news week and the "daily beast." >> let's start with you, howie, when we look at the ads we've showed you. they've all been fact-checked.

we've done some of the fact checks ourselves, they're either out of context or they're wrong. does this get through to voters? specifically of the welfare ad that the romney campaign has put out, the ad -- >> suggesting that mitt romney's responsible for a woman's death. >> the death of a woman. >> does this get through? >> it was a big deal if i said something was misleading or exaggerated. now the campaigns don't care. they can overwhelm and drown out those of us in the mainstream media who try to truth squad, fact-check these things, they have a lot more channels to do it. >> that takes the traditional media role and throws it out the window. >> it certainly does. does it mean we don't have the ability to really separate fact from fiction? >> no, it means the campaigns don't care. they have their own distribution networks right now with social media. barack obama has 27 million followers on facebook. who needs us?

when he has his message, he can send it out, if his believers want to believe it, they believe it. if they don't, okay. >> i would disagree who needs us. for all the time and energy for the campaign, the operatives, even though we have less access to the candidates these days, trying to spin the media or trying to do soft interviews with people and entertainment weekly. shows they understand we still have a megaphone. it's that our megaphone is so much smaller than it used to be because of youtube, instagram, twitter, and a bit of shamelessness on the part of candidates that don't seem to care that they've been called on factual claims. >> it's good for them. >> why? >> because it gets them in the game in the media. >> fund raising. >> they can repeat it and repeat it and repeat it. and if it's not checked, it's better. >> people like lies? >> people like to believe what they like to believe. and if -- that's what they want to re-tweet. and that's what they want to

re-post. and so it also is just the old attention gets attention. >> the challenge we face, joe, is some of this is complicated stuff. you show some of the clips of the obama cut $716 million from medicare, well, paul ryan makes the same assumptions about $700 billion less from medicaid. he does it differently. try explaining that in 30 seconds. an ad can make a claim, you can come on the air and say cnn's looked into this, it's not true, and yet for the voter, there's a lot of noise and the campaigns. more than any other cycle i've covered, seem to just keep pressing on with disputed and debunked claims. >> there are also shades of gray. a lot of shades of gray in this. >> thanks so much for that. good to see you both. >> thank you, both, for being with us. well, president obama is being criticized by the repuicans for a series of interviews that he's doing. you'll hear part of one next. and here's a hint. he's not talking about politics in this one. and how a professional clown ended up using an ipad stolen

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here's a quick look at the most popular stories trending on cnn.com. number four, facebook stock hits another all-time low closing at $19.05 a share. facebook founder mark zuckerberg

is telling a meeting it may be "painful to watch" as investors retreat from the stock. number three, turns out a guy who plays a clown ended up with the ipad stolen from steve jobs' home last month. he got it from the guy who allegedly stole it. he didn't know it had been stolen and used it to download music for his clown routine. what music, you ask? michael jackson songs and the pink panther theme. yeah. number two, you knew this was coming, right? i love this one. a sarcastic parody of the mars rover twitter feed complete with profanity, snide remarks, even a little science, that's good. one recent example, little known fact. sarcastic rover tweets, when i fire my atomic laser at a rock to vaporize it i go all pew, pew, pew and giggle manaically.

and here's a quick sample -- >> what's yourfavorite song to work out to? >> my ipod has a bunch of different stuff. i mean, i've got a lot of old school, you know, r & b, stevie wonder, earth wind and fire, marvin gaye, but i've also got a bunch of contemporary stuff, jay-z, beyonce, you name it, i've got it. so i will say right now that if i'm really trying to get my heart rate up that "craving love's" a golov crazy love" is a good song to work out to. i never heard the original version of the song. >> oh. >> i saw this version where they spliced up me from a whole bunch of different speeches i made. and they kind of mashed together an obama version of it.

but it looks like a cute pop song. >> and so you know, of course, we have to show you a quick sample of what the president's talking about. >> hey, i just met you. ♪ and this is crazy, but here's my number so call me baby ♪ >> you think it's like sasha or malia or one of his younger aides who says, dude, check this out? >> yeah, that's an excellent question. and it's so strange too. you wonder how long it took someone to sit down and edit that who thing. >> the other thing and we have to take a serious turn here, president obama's facing a tremendous amount of criticism from republicans because he hasn't answered serious questions. he hasn't had a press conference with the white house press core. he's been doing interviews, but we actually haven't as a member of the white house press corps, we love to have press conferences, of course, and we haven't been able to press him, especially on the economy since jobs numbers kind of started

tanking. >> well, it's rough out there when you're running for reelection. >> i'm sure that has to do with it. >> if you're the obama/biden campaign, who do you get to stand in for paul ryan? rehearsals? this guy. democratic representative chris van hollen is the ranking member on the budget committee and knows ryan well. he's our guest in the "situation room" next. and later, one man, six cops, and at least 30 shots fired. why the justice department's investigating a police shooting caught on tape. a cnn exclusive video ahead. >> put the knife down. babe? i'm fine. ♪ ♪ ♪ with a subaru you can always find a way.

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only at one place: one of our 400 sleep number stores. cnn has learned joe biden's campaign team will bring in chris van hollen to help him prepare to debate paul ryan. ryan is chairman of the house budget committee, van hollen is the committee's top democrat. >> and maryland representative chris van hollen is with us now. thank you so much for being with us, congressman. you know paul ryan pretty well. >> yep. >> you've worked with him for many years. >> so how are you prepping? and what do you see as his biggest weakness? >> paul and i get along very well personally, w resolved quite some time ago because of our deep differences, we would try to make sure we express them in a civil manner. my main responsibility was to make sure i fully inform all the

members of the president's team, vice president's team about exactly what that budget does, but more importantly how it is presented by paul ryan. the vice president's very familiar with that budget. after all, we had the biden group. i was privileged to serve on that. that will be the main function. >> and you're on the budget committee, he's the chairman of the budget committee that certainly suggests to everybody that you believe the ryan plan is going to be a big part of the debate. >> absolutely i do. i think by choosing paul ryan to be on the ticket, mitt romney sharpened the issues here because the fundamental choice they make in the ryan budget, the ryan/romney budget is to provide another round of tax breaks for people at the expense of everybody else. so this will really sharpen the issues. i think the debate's going to be good for the country. >> you said, congressman, that paul ryan iscivil, but he doesn't compromise. i want to ask you about

something because weulled something from your website, the committee website for the minori minority, for the democrats. and this is something you worked on with paul ryan co-authoring this bill giving the president line item veto authority to stop unnecessary government spending. i mean that kind of looks like bipartisanship there. >> actually, this was an important measure. it was not a huge measure, it was an important measure. i was glad we were able to do it. this is not an example of compromise, however, for this reason. paul ryan had a bill introduced like this, doing what this did. i had a bill doing what this did. we agreed on this policy, we were able to -- >> and there were problems with his. >> we were able to collaborate and come together on this particular bill. but it wasn't a question of either of us having to agree and compromise on something we disagreed with. we agreed on this. i'm glad -- there are some republicans against it, some for it. there are more republicans for it than democrats for it. but we were able to work together on it. that was a good thing, i

believe. but compromise, of course, requires give and take with respect to differences you have. and if you look at the ryan budget and the ryan/romney plan, this is an uncompromising plan. i mean, this has become the tea party manifesto in the house of representatives. and it's not because it's a document that has compromise, it's because it's a hard-edged right-wing approach to the economy. >> the story today, of course, has been romney's tax returns and he hasn'- auryan's tax returns. >> now i'm talking about romney'saxreturns.we don't want. >> lots of . >> ryas tax returns came out early, but the big issue has been whether romney would release more of his tax returns. and as you know, the -- the administration has put a lot of pressure on for him to put some more out. the campaign of romney put this out. we have a little graphic. it's clear the president wants nothing more than to talk about governor romney's tax returns

instead of the issues that matter to voters like putting americans back to work, fixing the economy, and reining in spending. so do you think this issue of romney's tax returns whether he should release more, is that the kind of issue that breaks through? do people really care about it that much? >> i think they do for this reason, tax policy and tax reform is a fundamental issue in this election. just the other night on "60 minutes, " you had paul ryan sitting next to mitt romney and he talked about how wealthy people use tax shelters to avoid having to pay more income tax than they should. you have a romney tax plan that would drop the top rate from 35% to 27%. how does that affect people like mitt romney? in other words, according to the tax policy center, that proposal would actually reduce the tax burden on the very wealthy and require middle income taxpayers to pick up the bill. now, mitt romney has bank

accounts in switzerland, he has corporate investments in the cayman islands, various things going on in bermuda. let's figure out how his tax plan would affect him and how it would affect middle income taxpayers. >> we want to get your reaction to something that paul ryan said a couple of hours ago and we'll talk on the other side of it. here's what he said in virginia. >> heard the president talking about medicare the other day. we want this debate on medicare. we want this debate, we need this debate and we're going to n this debate on medicare. >> and so on this, you've got the romney/ryan campaign and they're embracing this medicare argument head on. he says we want this. they think they can tie president obama when it comes to obama care to medicare. what do you think? >> well, here's the problem, we

should have this debate. i don't think they're going to welcome the debate for two reasons. one is the romney/ryan plan on medicare saves costs, not by reducing costs overall in the system, but by transferring the costs to seniors. you would get a voucher, but the value of your voucher would decline over time compared to rising health care costs. and you, the senior, are left on your own. the other thing is paul ryan's budget included all $700 billion in medicare savings that they're now complaining about. >> and the romney plan does not, we should point that out. but let me ask you lastly, as well, i talked to a democrat who said they're actually warning some democrats from overreaching as this person put it on the medicare argument. that if the romney/ryan ticket is able to kind of frame themselves as these -- as i've said it grown-ups in the room who are trying to preserve medicare that democrats may be in danger. what do you think the chances of that happening? >> well, i think it's very important for people to focus on the facts. now, when mitt romney says that he wants to no longer keep those

savings, he's going to accelerate the insolvency of medicare by eight years. what he's doing now, is saying seniors are going to have to pay higher premiums so he can reinstate overpayments to private insurance companies and medicare. this doesn't just affect seniors ten years from now. for seniors with high prescription drug costs, they'll pay more now under that plan. for seniors who use preventive medicare services, they will pay more and all seniors will pay higher premiums because mitt romney wants to reinstate these overpayments to some of the private insurance companies. so this is a debate that is fundamental, they're proposing a plan that would be much worse for seniors on medicare than for members of congress. >> we'll be hearing a lot more from you, i'm sure. tell us how -- >> the debate. >> tell us how that debate prep goes, of course. i'm sure you'll keep us informed on that. thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. a warning for parents for

something you probably never think you'd do. >> i realized peyton was still in her car seat. and it was the last thing i remember. i heard someone screaming, it was me. and the rest is just a total blur. >> ahead, a government warning about the deadly trend that's killed eight children this week alone. ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays] ♪ lord, you got no reason ♪ you got no right ♪

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this next story is for parents or anyone who is around children. it's hard to believe it could happen to you, but the government says far too often children are dying of heatstroke in cars. and it happens to children of loving, responsible parents too.

cnn's sandra endo is joining us now. we were really surprised by the numbers herement of they're pretty astonishing. >> reporter: absolutely, brianna. and we've had record temperatures across the country this summer. and if it's hot outside, it's even hotter in your car. and today it's not that bad out. it's cloudy. you can take a look at the temperature in the car already 93 degrees this evening. these deadly temperatures are severe for young children. >> my kids got outside and they got in my car. i think they're both dead now. >> your kids. >> a 2-year-old and 3-year-old. >> police in tennessee rushed to the scene of two kids found dead in a car. the cause, heatstroke. >> it's really, really sad. i don't know how any parent could let their kids get in that situation and do that to their kids. >> but reggie knows it's the mistake even the most loving parent can make. >> i opened the back door of my suv to put my laptop down and that's the exact moment i will

never forget. to my horror, i realized peyton was still in her car seat. and it was the last thing i remember. i heard someone screaming, it was me, and the rest is just a total blur. >> mackinnon's 17-month-old daughter died after he absent-mindedly left her in car. now he and top administration officials are on a mission to end hot car deaths. >> we want everyone to think where's baby? lo before you lock. every time they get out of their cars. >> reporter: they want the practice to be habit-forming, and they're raising awareness about how quickly temperatures rise in closed vehicles. >> the temperature inside the vehicle can reach deadly levels in minutes even with windows rolled down. >> so even though it's a

comfortable day here outside, with it being 94 degrees, it's over 132 degrees right now in the vehicle. >> the way to prevent hot car deaths is to use baby reminder apps on your smartphone and never leave children allowed to play in unattended vehicles. >> very important reminder. thanks so much. coming up next, the cnn exclusive video of one man and six police officers. it's what happened next that had civil rights groups outraged and the justice department investigating. you'll see it right after the break. you're in the "situation room." the latest technology s on the biggest networks. i mean look at these smartphones. whoah! will you show them? absolutely. we've got great 4g lte smartphones like this droid razr by motorola from verizon. wow verizon? you bet. you love the price. he loves the phone.

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today's civil rights investigators for the u.s. justice department opened a federal probe into the controversial shooting death of a saginaw, michigan, man with a known history of mental illness. that incident was caught on video, and we want to warn you up front we're going to show it to you even though it's very disturbing. his mother calls the shooting "a firing squad dressed in police uniforms," at least 30 shots were fired. we feel we need to show you this video because it sheds light on how the police handled the case. here's cnn's national correspondent jason carroll. >> reporter: a joint investigation into underway into the shooting. amateur video details what happened during the final moments. i do have to warn you the video graphic. >> reporter: this amateur video purchased by cnn and not made public until now captured the confrontation between six saginaw police officers and milton hall, a 49-year-old man

who his family says suffered from serious mental health issues. hall seen in the middle of your screen had a run-in with the convenience store clerk. he was in a standoff with police and holding some a female officer is heard shouting. >> put the knife down! put the knife down! >> reporter: if you listen carefully, hall is then heard continuing to yell at police. >> i just called 911. my name is milton -- >> reporter: hall seems agitated, but not intimidated by a police dog. heard on the tape, a witness describes what he sees. >> karate stance -- >> reporter: as hall appears to take a few steps, everything comes to a head. [ shooting ] local media report 46 shots were fired. cnn counted the sounds of at

least 30 shots on the videotape. anthony witnessed the shooting. >> all of a sudden, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow. and he drops, you know? pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, and he drops. i was about where that blue van is. i was parked in my van. >> reporter: tabitha perry saw it too. >> i heard one of the officers say something to the fact where -- put the knife down, or i let the dog go. >> reporter: do you believe the officers were justified in what they did? >> no, i don't. because what they did, there was a better way to do it. i think their judgment is off. >> reporter: perry is not alone. hall's mother says saginaw police overreacted. >> emotionally, i have a lot of pain, and i'm stunned that six human beings were standing in front of one human being and

fired 46 shots. i just don't understand that. >> reporter: on the day of the shooting, july 1st, the saginaw police chief defended his officers' actions. >> he's someone, from our understanding, has a long history, not only with police from our department, but with the county, known to be an assaultive person. >> reporter: over the last month, members of the community have voiced outrage about the hall shooting. not satisfied with the police investigation into the officers' response. we showed the video of the shooting to city councilman norman braddic. >> i can see why people are traumatized at looking at something like that. and we need answers. >> reporter: braddock has been critical. could it be the investigators are trying to make sure they're doing a thorough job and that's why the investigation is -- >> i'm sure that has something

to do with it but at the same time it should be a top priority. >> reporter: the michigan state police lead investigator would not discuss the case. instead, referring us to the saginaw county prosecutor who told us, i can't tell you when the investigation will be completed. the matter is being investigated. hall's mother already feels she knows the answer to the question of whether police used too much force. >> it appeared to be a firing squad dressed in police iforms and there was another way. they did not have to kill him. >> reporter: jason carroll, cnn, saginaw, michigan. >> the six officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of that investigation and, again, the u.s. justice department is investigating as well. coming up after the break in "the situation room," know

research into an animal phenomenon. why do dogs, cats, do that? jeanne moos explains ahead. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. covering 2,000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon. at&t. rethink possible. and sounds vying for your attention. so we invented a warning you can feel. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with a patented safety alert seat. when there's danger you might not see, you're warned by a pulse in the seat. it's technology you won't find in a mercedes e-class.

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tori's life is one of nearly a million changed by donations from people like you. send your love to the rescue. donate today. dogs do it and so do a lot of other furry mammals. behave riiorists say all that shaking has a calming effect but if the animal's wet it's also better than a blow dryer. cnn's jeanne moos looks at the science behind the shake. >> reporter: it may not be research that's earth shaking but it's definitely dog shaking and pig shaking and even rat shaking. most of us try to avoid getting showered by the dog shake.

but researchers at georgia tech decided to study it. >> they can actually do a miraculous job of drying themselves. >> reporter: they used a high-speed camera to record the shakes. resulting in images so stirring that the journal "nature" put them to waltz music. a mouse shakes around 30 times per second. >> they basically compensate for their size by shaking faster. >> reporter: while dogs shake about four times a second, leaving them 70% dry within 1 to 4 seconds. now, we humans don't want loose flesh but on a dog it comes in handy. that loose skin increases the speed at which the water's whipped away. while the dog's backbone goes back and forth only 30 degrees -- >> the skin will go back and forth 90 degrees to the right and 90 degrees to the left. that's only possible because it's loose enough to perform this whipping action around the body. >> reporter: increasing the

force nine times. mammals have mastered what divo preached back in the '80s. ♪ whip it into shape >> reporter: hey, a vigorous whipping sure beats the blow dryer it the researchers recorded a lion. dr. hugh says furry mammals probably developed the shaking mechanism to avoid staying wet and getting hypothermia. got goats do it. they even x-rayed shaking. now, maybe you think a big butt is earlier to shake. but try telling that to a kangaroo. it's built for hopping, not shaking. >> it can't really shake. has this sort of large buttocks and it just can't shake that around so it just shake, its head. >> reporter: hey, whose butt are you calling big? jeanne moos, cnn, new york.