jackson investigation. police execute a surprise raid on the houston clinic that was run by the doctor who was with jackson when he died. we're going to tell you what police and the dea seized in the search of evidence in the singer's death. he's an american accused of giving al qaeda information about new york city's transit system and firing on american troops in afghanistan. now we are learning he was also a secret informant for the u.s. government. cnn's debra feyerick is working that story for us today. we begin with the hard sell of president obama's big promise of getting health reform passed, and quickly. he will be in ohio with the famed clinic and holding a town hall meeting. last night he reassured americans about his prescription for overhauling health care and also to keep the pressure on congress to deliver. the president also addressing allegations of racial profiling involving harvard professor henry loius gates jr., and is

also his friend. we have that live from washington this morning. it's sort of a slow and steady discussion. a lot of questions involving health care until quite near the end of that news conference last night when the president was very candid about how he felt about what went down. >> reporter: really a rare moment when you think about it, kiran. six months into his presidency, president sbm putting all of his political clout into overhauling health care. the stakes very high for him because it's going to test whether he can get the rest of his agenda through. the president made news addressing something that a lot of folks have been talking about, this controversial case of alleged profiling. it was the very last question that made the news, off script, off health care. president barack obama weighing in forcefully in race relations, commenting on the arrest of harvard african-american professor henry louis gates who was hauled off after mistakenly

breaking in his own home. >> the police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when they -- there was already proof that they were in their own home. >> reporter: the president made the point that even having a black commander in chief doesn't mean racism is history. >> i am standing here as testimony to the progress that's been made, and yet the fact of the matter is is that this still haunts us. >> reporter: but mr. obama also tried to differ fuse the controversial subject with humor. >> if i was trying to jigger -- well, i guess this is my house now. it probably wouldn't happen. but let's say my old house in chicago, here i would get shot. >> reporter: the remainder of the evening all about selling his top domestic priority, overhauling health care. >> absolutely, it's my job. i'm the president. i think this has to get done. >> reporter: mr. obama threw down the gauntlet. >> i'm not going to sign a bill

that, for example, adds to our deficit. i'm not going to sign a bill that doesn't reduce health care inflation. >> reporter: he did say he supported limited tax reductions for wealthy americans and imposing a sure tax for those making more than $1 million a year, efforts to raise money to cover america's uninsured. >> the plan that i put forward and that what we're seeing in congress would cover the estimates are at least 97% to 98% of americans. there might still be people left out there who, even though there's an individual mandate, even though they are required to purchase health insurance, might still not get it. >> reporter: he also praised republicans for their idea to create an independent panel of medical experts to advise congress to cut on medical costs and he called on our americans and doctors to not indulge on unnecessary and wasteful treatment. >> why would we want to pay for things that don't work?

>> reporter: at the same time mr. obama tried tory assure americans that despite the billions in federal bailout dollars, he was being responsible with the taxpayers' money. >> the debt and the deficit are deep concerns of mine. i am very worried about federal spending. and the steps that we take and so far have reduced federal spending over the next ten years by $2.2 trillion. >> today the president is taking his message on the road directly to the american people. he is visiting a cleveland clinic in ohio, he is holding a town hall on health care at a nearby high school. it is all part of testify for the to put pressure on congress to approve something sooner as opposed to later. >> thanks. the disorderly conduct charge lains henry luis gates jr. was dropped shortly after his arrest but is still demanding an apology today. the police officer sergeant james crowley said that won't

happen, quote, there are not many certainties in life, but it is for certain that sergeant crowley will not be apologizing. and professor gates speaking exclusively to cnn saying he is considering possible legal action and he is planning to keep the issue of racial profiling alive. >> i would be prepared as a human being to forgive him. that would not deter me as using this as an educational opportunity for america. if this can happen to me in harvard square, this can happen to anybody in the united states and i'm determined that it never happened to anybody again. what it made me realize is how vulnerable all black men are, how vulnerable all people of color are, and all poor people to forces like a rogue policeman. this man clearly was a rogue policeman. >> professor gates says the mayor of cambridge, massachusetts, called him to personally apologize about the incident. we'll be talking where the mayor coming up later on in this hour.

stay tuned tonight as "black in america" continues. that's tonight at 8:00 eastern right here on cnn. the investigation into michael jackson's death taking a turn. yesterday dea agent searched the houston office of jackson's personal physician, dr. ron rad murra murray. murray was with jackson when he died. this is the strongest indication yet that criminal charges may be on the way. here's cnn's ted roland with more detail. >> reporter: john and kiran, after weeks of investigation it is now clear there is a a very real possibility that michael jackson's death could be ruled a homicide and the doctor with him when he died seems to be front and center in this ongoing investigation. los angeles police and agents from the dea executing a search warrant at dr. conrad murray's houston clinic. then his lawyers issues a statement confirming a potential

case of manslaughter is being built against the doctor who was with michael jackson when he died. the statement reads in part, the search warrant authorized law enforcement to search for and seize items, including documents, they believed constituted evidence of the offense of manslaughter. >> this is the first confirmation we've had, and it's from the doctor's own attorney, that there's a manslaughter investigation. we're not talking about prescription medication and negligence there, actual homicide investigation. >> reporter: according to murray's lawyer agents took a forensic image of a business computer, hard drive, and 21 documents during the search. murray, who was being paid $150,000 a month to care for jackson, has been at the center of what, until now, has been simply characterized as a death investigation. murray's lawyers say they were surprised by the search, but they say they provided everything detectives have asked for. in another statement released this week, murray's lawyer said, quote, based on dr. murray's

minute by minute and item by item description of michael jackson's last day, he should not be a target of criminal charges. dr. murray was the last doctor standing when michael jackson died, and it seems all the fury is directed towards him. meanwhile, the coroner paid a visit to los angeles nutritionist cheryl lynn lee who said jackson asked her for diprivan. lee said she turned over her file on jackson. >> i actually did lab work and this is one reason why the coroner wanted all of my records. >> dr. murray is tentatively scheduled to meet with investigators for the third time this week. the coroner is still working on the autopsy report. it's expected to be released as early as next week. john, kiran? >> ted rowlands for us on that. thanks. we're going to have more on that with the attorney and the possible manslaughter

investigation, what that means for the case. new this morning, six people including one student are recovering after a shooting at texas southern university. violence broke out at a community rally on campus for a popular rapping was promoting voter registration. they they thi it was a gang-related drive-by shooting. u.s. counter terrorism official says one of osama bin laden's sons was probably killed earlier this year in pakistan. he is believe to have died in a missile strike by a predator drone. it's hard to be completely sure he was killed because it lacked dna. the battery operated e-cigarettes do more harm than good. these were cigarettes that are battery powered look alikes that produce nicotine and a puff of odorless vapor. tests on samples found toxic and cancer causing chemicals including an ingredient used in anti-freeze. they do contain nicotine and are not approved by the fda. cnn contacted the largest

manufacturer of e-cigarettes but they had no comment on the assessment. it is a video that has critics asking, governor, what were you thinking. but this morning arnold schwarzenegger is defending a clip he posted on his twitter page. >> here's a little bit of it. he was using a big hunting knife when talking about having to deal with the state's budget crisis. talking about budget cuts, what does he have to ax. slash it, right? some californians think the joke was a little insensitive. he responded saying, just relax, have a little bit of sense of humor. >> you send a governor to sacramento, not el stiffo, but someone who is a little bit more entertaining, and has a little bit of fun with the whole thing, not have fun with the cuts, that saddened me, but fun with the job itself. >> there you go. he needs to explain. what? >> nothing. i just love how he has fun with

it. >> then he says el stiffo. >> all i can say is get to the chopper. >> of course, after seeing that clip of the governor we were reminded of another famous knife. >> nick, give him your wallet. >> what for? >> he's got a knife. >> that's not a knife. that's a knife. >> that's a knife. >> crocodile dundee. >> yeah. who knows. >> all right. so the mayor of cambridge called the professor at harvard that was arrested by police the other day to apologize. we'll be talking with the mayor coming up in a few minutes. make sure you stay tuned to that. it raises a lot of issues whether or not police procedures are appropriate when it comes to cases like this. 12 minutes after the hour.

♪ good morning to oklahoma city this morning where it is clear. 64. and a little bit later it's going to be sunny and, wow, 90 degrees. there you go in oklahoma city. 14 minutes past the hour. welcome back. we have an update to tell you about. the oklahoma state trooper who got into a fight with a paramedic he pulled over while rushing to the hospital. you may remember the video. a spokesman says trooper daniel

martin has been suspended for five days without pay and has to undergo anger assessment. the trooper says he did nothing wrong. the emergency lights and siren were not on the ambulance at the time. a billion dollars worth of marijuana, that's more than 300,000 plants that have been seized from the sierra mountains from fresno county. they also arrested more than 80 mexican nationals for the drug cartel. it began a week ago that is aimed at eliminating drug operations from public areas rc. and president obama rejecting suggestions that he's breaking a campaign promise. at his news conference, he said the openness of both senate and house sessions are out of his control but he welcomes the idea of broadcasting the negotiations. last night, just the latest attempt by president obama to gain support for his plan to reform health care. it's an issue that is as crucial as it is complex. what would the president's plan mean for you? cnn's brianna keilar breaks it

down for us this morning. >> reporter: here's what democrats say their insurance overhaul would do for you, insurance companies cannot deny you coverage for pre-existing condition, and you would be required to purchase health insurance, or pay a fine. can't afford insurance? the government would chip in. and in most cases, so would your employer. how much would you pay? house democrats say they will cap your health care costs. >> there will be an annual limit on out-of-pocket expenses and no life-time limits on care. there will be no more co-pays or deductibles for preventive care that can catch devastating illnesses in time. >> reporter: if you don't get insurance through your employer, some in congress want to change how you buy it on the individual market by creating a simple clearinghouse. it's also called a gateway or an exchange where you can buy insurance after come parg different plans. many democrats in the house and senate want a government-run

insurance plan included among those options, insisting private insurers won't lower their prices without the competition. but republicans say it will drive private insurers out of business. >> you're going to lose your health care. you have a very good risk of losing your health care and ending up, if you're poor, your only option is a failed government program that none of us would join if we could possibly avoid it. >> reporter: but democrats and president obama say if you like the private coverage you have now, you can keep it. >> if anyone says otherwise, they are either trying to mislead you or don't have their facts straight. >> reporter: as you can see, this idea of a government-run health insurance plan is one of the biggest flash points of this health care debate. republicans oppose it, as do some democrats. that's why we're keeping an eye on a key proposal that democrats and republican tons senate finance committee are working out. it's likely to include a non-profit health cooperative approach as opposed to the government-run health insurance

plan. >> brianna, what do we know about this co-op plan? >> john, we know roughly it's going to include -- lit be a model, a health co-op model based loosely on what farm co-op, rural, electricity co-op, even credit unions use. the details, the senate finance committee has not released yet. >> all right, brianna keilar for us at criminapitol hill this mo. it's now 18 minutes after the hour.

♪

we're back. welcome back to the most news in the morning. a wild turkey ruffling some feathers in, where else? new jersey. people say they chased him down the street, pecking at the fires at a postal truck and blocked cars pulling out of driveways. thankfully no injuries have been reported. that's just the dumbest line ever, isn't it? police -- >> you could really get hurt with a turkey. >> you might get -- you might get hurt -- >> i know somebody who got their nose broken by her pet turkey. >> oh, get out. >> i swear. the pet turkey -- >> the only way you can get hurt with a turkey if someone has a frozen turkey and hit you upside the head with it. >> we know what happened when someone dropped one off a bridge. seriously, turkeys are dangerous. >> smother it in gravy and have too much mashed potatoes in one

sitting. >> which is not a bad idea. >> i'm bringing a wild turkey in and see who comes up a winner. >> okay. >> from bird flu to bird blues. >> you'll come out with turkeys -- like feathers stuck in your head. >> hi, gerri. >> i'm so sorry. i actually have something interesting to talk about today. >> i know you do. that's why you're here. >> yes. >> minding your business this morning. what's going on? >> find the turkey that's terrorizing the community. >> that was a good story. consumer product safety commission, you heard about that. the federal government wants to put in place a consumer protection agency for financial products. guess what, this idea is under assault. mainly from the financial industry, as you might guess. it would regulate mortgage, credit cards, insurance, and have pretty impressive powers. it could examine subpoena information from banks, power to ban products deemed deceptive. it's been a big wide-ranging

proposal out there from the president. it's under assault, as i said before. and now the house financial services committee chairman barney frank says, hey, we need a national debate on this. here's what the op situation says. the federal reserve should keep the powers. ben bernanke said just yesterday he would like to have the powers concentrated in the fed for consumer protection. it could stifle innovation and limit the availability of consumer credit. we are going to be debating this, i think, all this summer. some 200 sconsumer groups try t bring this issue to bear, get it debated. frank will have some kind of debate on capitol hill, certainly in a committee meeting. we'll get the detail on this. i have to tell you, this is going to be a tough fight because i think these financial services companies, they do not want to see this happen because they say this is going to really curtail what we do, really rein it in and they don't want to see it. >> one of the things we talked about as we were arguing over

the bailout, our government was, in the future we needed stronger regulation to make sure it doesn't happen again. >> exactly. remember ninja, remember no income, no job, anybody can get a loan, you know, stated income loans, all of these kinds of excesses, people say need some reining in of that. the industry says some of the products are the right kind of thing for people who have a lot of money, can make any kind of payment they want every week on their mortgage. we've seen excess in the credit card industry as well. question is, how do you regulate that, who should regulate it? should it be the fed, should it be other agent is? >> gerri willis for us, "minding your business" this morning, thanks. >> minding your business and your turkey. >> that's right. and how about this one? she was the most famous dog in america at one point. remember gidget, the chihuahua, yo quiero taco bell. she's now died. ♪

>> yo quiero taco bell. >> they say she had a stroke. it's so sad. anyway, she was a diva, her handlers say off screen, and she spent her final days like many hollywood star, retired, league in the sun. she was 15. >> getting up there. >> little dogs live a long time. but do you remember after the commercials people were buying chihuahuas like crazy. they were getting nervous about it saying people see this commercial and say they are so cute but they're really a lot of work. >> it was a girl dog, i didn't know that? >> if you're going to have the animal make sure you have the time to take care of it. coming up, deb feyerick on a crazy story of an al qaeda informant who was caught. was he an al qaeda informant or u.s. informant? stay tuned.

♪

a shot of the capitol building in austin, texas, this morning where right now it's clear and 75 degrees. going to be a scorcher there in the capital and in the hill country surrounding it. 97 degrees and sunny today. welcome back to the most news in the morning. president obama taking his campaign for health care reform to cleveland today after last night's prime time news conference. we've got reaction from some of the sharpest political minds today. james carville and bill bennett will join us. 7:30 eastern, david axelrod, and 7:38 real hear from former new york mayor rudy giuliani about all this. it's coming up on the half hour and checking the top stories. police in cambridge, mass marks quote, acted stupidly when they arrested henry louis gates jr. after a confrontation at his home. gates insists he was arrested because he was black and is considering legal action if he doesn't get an apology. the president says the incident shows how race remains a factor in america. in a few minutes we'll talk

with the cambridge mayor about the case. secretary of state hillary clinton is calling on asian nations to vigorously enforce the u.n. sanction against north korea after the north said that it will not resume six-party talks to end its nuclear program. that announcement came from pyongyang at a security conference in thailand where the deep-rooted antinorth korean policy of the u.s. for the reason why they rejected the talks. it reads like the plot of a thriller. new york man accused of giving al qaeda leaders information about the new york city transit system and the long island commuter railroad. turns out the suspect was also a secret informant for the u.s. government. cnn's deb feyerick has this story. >> he became an informant after he was captured. bryant kneel venice left i don't think island to train with al qaeda in pakistan according to the unsealed indictment. he pled guilty in january with conspireing to attack bases in afghanistan and also with providing details of the new

york transit system in long island railroad that may have led to a heightened alert in november. source close to the investigation says venice was arrested in pakistan about a year and a half after leaving long island and the mosque he attended there. >> honestly, you know that it's out there but you don't truly think it's in your own backyard or next door to you. that's a scary thing. >> i have a feeling that everything what he have done, he have done when he left the mosque about a year and a half ago. if when he was there, i don't think that he was. i don't think that at that time he was involved in any kind of activities which happened in afghanistan. >> imam described him as a convert in pakistan and european intelligent source tells him he was linked to moaz, a militant at training camps in pakistan. the source says venice also was tied to belgian cell and after

his capture he cooperate with european authorities in an operation that led to the arrest in one of the largest counter terrorist operations in belgium history. last december he trained with al qae qaeda. >> what happens to him now? >> he's being held. he's cooperating. he did plead guilty but he has not been sentenced yet. there you have it. >> deb, thanks so much. police building a manslaughter case against the doctor who was with michael jackson when he died. former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney paul cow win is going to be joining us next with the latest detail tons new twist in the jackson death investigation. right now, 1.5 million people are on a conference call. 750,000 wish they weren't. - ( phones chirping ) - construction workers are making 244,000 nextel direct connect calls. 1 million people are responding to an email.

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35 minutes past the hour. welcome back to the most news in the morning. right now authorities are stepping up their hunt for clues in michael jackson's death that may have related possibly to a criminal act. they are armed with a search warrant yesterday and raided the office of dr. conrad murray. he's the doctor who was with michael jackson at the time of his death. murray's lawyer confirms this, saying they were searching for evidence that would support a

manslaughter charge. here to walk us through the legal implications of this, paul cowan, former new york city homicide prosecutor, currently a criminal defense attorney. again, this was confirmed by the attorney for conrad murray and they're saying that they raided the clinic and looking for evidence of manslaughter. how kig significant is this? the this is a major development in the case. we have the attorney admitting there's an ongoing manslaughter investigation. beknow a los angeles judge has issued a search warrant. judges can only issue a search warrant where there's possible cause to believe a crime has been committed, in this case, manslaughter, and there's probable cause to believe that evidence of that crime is at dr. conrad murray's office. so i think we can safely say that authorities are looking at him probably as a suspect. they're certainly hostile to his position at this point. >> what's the difference between looking for evidence of an accidental overdose if you're dealing with drugs or if you're dealing with prescription

medication that was given, what is the difference in terms of whether or not it crosses that line and turns criminal? >> there's a major difference here because we know from the attorney's statement they're looking at this as a manslaughter. we would have to assume that if a doctor, in this case, if it were conrad murray, prescribed the drug, he prescribed it in a reckless or grocery reckless manner, know that it might cause the death of the patient. that's where it crosses the line. you can have ordinary negligence where a prescription drug is given to a patient and the patient gets hurt. that's a medical malpractice case. where it's gross or reckless conduct it crosses the line into criminality. >> lapd has to have some evidence, right, get permission to do that, right? what would the possible cause be in this case given the autopsy report has not been made public or releasees? >> my suspicion know that police know about aspects of the autopsy report. they have to go to a judge and prove to the judge that it's more probable than not, more likely than not, that manslaughter occurred here.

so i think you're going to see that they will toxicology reports and they probably have other corroborating evidence that michael jackson had access to illegal prescription drugs, possibly the a drug that is an anesthetic and caused his death. >> we have talked about other celebrities, anna nicole smith, her doctor's potentially facing charges, other situations in the death of elvis, his doctor was investigated. in this situation, a patient couldn't give them this drug because you have to inject it and you would be out. it's a sedative. >> yes. >> does that make a difference here in terms of negligence versus actual manslaughter? >> i think it makes a huge difference. usually in these cases you're looking at oa drug taken for pain. why would michael jackson have this drug? if he had this drug he had it improperly and self

administration would clearly be reckless and would implicate whatever individual gave him this drug. >> they also talk about a forensic image off of a computer hard drive and 21 documents from murray's clinic. what might these materials indicate, getting a forensic image off the computer? >> they are probably looking for a forensic paper trail that would link conrad murray to improper prescriptions given to michael jackson. obviously they must think that there's something on his computer. it might have something to do directly with a relationship with jackson. it might reveal sources of drugs, where did murray, if he prescribed this or gave it to him, where did he get it. remember, they have recovered this drug so they probably know where, what manufacture it came from. now they're trying to link it to murray through the computer. that's my bet. of course, we are speculating here and we have to make that very, very clear until an indictment is handed down, we won't know for sure. >> and more details about the toxicology and the full autopsy.

>> and he's presumed innocent under our system, of course. >> thanks for being with us this morning. president obama says the cambridge police department acted stupidly in the arrest of harvard professor henry louis gates jr. in a moment we'll find out what the mayor has to say about it. two freshmen congressman from two different walks of life will give youen inside of their walk if capitol hill. president obama makes a prime time pitch for health care reform but did he get the message across? reaction from both sides when we talk to bill bennett and james carville straight ahead. it's 20 minutes until the top of the hour. fancy feast elegant mes tuscany entrées restaurant inspired dishes with long grain rice and garden greens is it love? or is it fancy feast?

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. he came to talk about health care but the biggest news coming out of president obama's press conference last night was his take on the arrest of a friend, harvard professor henry louis gates jr. >> police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. >> gates was hauled off by police after mistakenly being accused of trying to break into his own home. he claims he was a victim of racial profiling and wants an apology from cambridge police. joining us now is the major of cambridge, massachusetts, mayor e. simmons. you heard what the president said, he believes the cambridge police acted stupidly in doing

what they did. what do you think? >> i'm not going to render an opinion on the president's. . the circumstances are certainly unfortunate. >> i wasn't asking you to render an opinion on the president's opinion. i was asking what you thought he said. do you agree that the police acted stupidly in this case? >> well, what i am saying is that it was an unfortunate circumstance of what happened. we're still try to -- i am still trying to talk to all of the individuals that were involved to find out what happened, how it happened,and how could we have prevented it from happening. >> professor gates said last night to soledad o'brien in our coverage that you called him to apologize. can we ask what you said to him? >> first i wanted to call him to see how he was doing, was he okay. i wanted to apologize from how he's been expoetssed to this circumstance. and when he got back to cambridge, that i would like to have the opportunity to sit down and talk with him. >> right.

did he seem amenable to all of that? >> yes, he did. >> sergeant crowley, who is the arresting officer involved here, has said publicly he is not going to apologize, he is not remorseful at all for what happened. he was simply following procedure. do you believe that he should apologize? >> what i believe is that we should continue finding out the facts, what happened so we can take the appropriate action. >> if he says that he's following procedure, that raises another issue, if you have a police officer there in cambridge who is following procedure, that the president of the united states says that the department acted stupidly in the carrying out of those procedures and you have to call the person who was arrested and apologize, does that suggest that maybe these procedures need rethinking? >> it suggests that we have to find out what happened so that we can make the proper decisions about what needs to happen differently so this sort of circumstance doesn't happen again. it might be a procedural change. i'm not going to say exactly

what we're going too moving forward but we need to find out all the facts puertaining to th incident. >> i know it's noisy there so i'll try to make myself as clear as possible here. on the surface looking at the incident that happened and the fallout from it, does it suggest to you at this point there may need to be some changes to these procedures? >> what it suggests is that something happened that should not have happened. >> right. >> that is very clear to me. the next steps are how to -- first we have to sit down, which i'm certainly going to do, sit down with the parties involved to have a discussion about how did this -- how did we get to this outcome, how did that happen. and from there, to look at -- to talk to the police commissioner particular and the city mayor to say this can't happen again in cambridge and how we're going to prevent it from happening. >> the president said last night from the press conference that this incident is an indication that race is still a factor in america. do you believe it's still a factor? >> yes, race is a factor. it's knowledge we all know that

black and latino, particularly men m historically had problems with police. and so you can't not talk about this without talking about it. >> do you believe that race was a factor in this particular case? >> i'm not going to make that judgment now. >> all right. mayor e. simmons from cambridge, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. appreciate it. >> you're very welcome. you may remember this. freshman congressman who become reality stars on cnn.com. we've been tracking their every move. they're polar opposites and they've been sharing a lot of very, very interesting things about their lives. for example, one of them literally lives in his office. we're going to check back in with him with alina cho coming up.

♪ there's the white house this morning. what a hub of excitement last night. overcast and 73 degrees. a chance of storms and a high of 83. we'll be talking about everything that happened at the white house last evening all morning long. breaking it down for you, getting you good analysis and perspective of where we are with health care and other important items. >> exactly. meanwhi meanwhile, not too far away from the white house, congress, and you could call these two congressmen the odd couple. two freshmen lawmakers, polar opposites. they've been starring in their own reality show exclusively on cnn.com. alina cho have been following them since day one. you checked back in with the two

freshmen congressmen. >> one of them does save 1500 bucks a month by sleeping in his office on a cot, literally. >> i would have thought halfway through he would have said forget it. >> no, saving 1500 bucks a month, it's not a bad deal. good morning, everybody. three kids, by the way. with all the news and politics and serious soots elected leaders talk about every day it is nice to take a break and hear from these two freshmen congressmen who are wide eyed and over joyed at having the chance to be a member of congress and, of course, take in the dc scene. cnn.com has been following freshman congressman jared polis from colorado and 42-year-old republican jason chaffetz from utah. these two colleagues who are really polar opposites, opposites side of the aisle, of course, are arm we'd their own cameras, shoot their own video, they're giving us a great behind the scenes look as life as a congressman. that includes everything from committee meetings to white house lawn parties. take a look at this luau.

>> we're going to the white house, sot my son max. evidently the president is having a luau at the white house. i've been to the white house before but i've never been out here. >> you've been working hard, i wish i could give you all a trip to hawaii, but i figure, get our budget crunch, we can't do that. >> ladies and gentlemen, this is not a joke. please line up. >> is this a dunking of the rahm? >> yes. >> we've got a look at rahm being dunked. >> what happened? >> come on over here. >> decided to go another direction to watch the dunking of rahm emanuem. >> he needs to work on zooming out a little bit that will come with time. that was congressman chaffetz. as for konlg man pcongressman p

he had a third grader who inspired a letter writing campaign to marines overseas and the marine who got that letter during his tour of duty. watch. >> there's an 8-year-old here in summit county that started to be a pen pal with a soldier serving in the marines, serving in iraq. and it helped him learn to read and write. he was a special needs student. he's going to meet his hero serving in iraq that just got back. >> i have two flags that have flown of the united states capitol in washington, d.c. that's where i work most days. it did fly on top of the u.s. capitol. i'd like to thank you for your contribution. and most importantly for your continued service to our country as a u.s. marine. thank you. >> to watch the latest episode on all of the episodes of this reality series go to

cnn.com/freshmanyear. congressman chaffetz who lives in his office on the cot, as you will recall, have the pop tarts and slim fast, which is one of your personal favorites. >> yeah, right. >> not slim fast, i'm sorry, red bull. >> red bull, yeah, slim fast? come on. >> maybe it was slim fast. i can't remember. >> if she drinks slim fast, she would disappear. >> she would. it's early. it's red bull, i think. maybe it was slim fast. either way, it's red bull that's your favorite and quickly becoming mine. i should probably take one right now. >> no, but it is fun to follow them. they're really vigilant about keeping it every step of the way. >> i'm going to crawl back into my office now. >> oh, please. >> bill bennett and james carville coming up next. stay tuned. (announcer) illness doesn't care where you live...

...or if you're already sick... ...or if you lose your job. your health insurance shouldn't either. so let's fix health care. if everyone's covered, we can make health care as affordable as possible. and the words "pre-existing condition" become a thing of the past... we're america's health insurance companies. supporting bipartisan reform that congress can build on.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. president obama's prime time news conference was dominated by his push for health care reform. the president hammered republican attacks saying we just can't afford what's happening right now, but even some democrats aren't sold on this. so did his message get through and were the american people really listening? for reaction from the right and left, cnn political contributors bill bennett who joins us on the phone because we're having a technical problem with his camera, and james carville is with us this morning. good to see both of you, gentlemen. let me just put up here first of all the results of the gallop poll. when asked whether they approve or disapprove of the president's handling of the health care policy, 50% responded saying they disapprove. only 44% say they approve. james, his goal last night was to make people more comfortable with the plans? did he accomplish that goal? >> honestly, i doubt if you see the numbers move. see the numbers move a lot if he he succeeds. and he'll do a lot better. if he fails, it will be a lot worse than 50% disapprove.

i don't know if one press conference is going to change anything. i said all along i thought this was like an nba game, midway in the third quarter. tune in when there's 3:00 left to go and it will be fast and furious. he didn't hurt himself by any stretch of the imagination. >> bill bennett, what do you think? >> i don't think the numbers will move in his direction, john. i think they may move a little worse against him because the misrepresentations he made last night. read that magazine a list of errors or statements or false things the president said last night. all he succeeded in doing last night was defaming doctors and cops, cambridge cops and doctors. my phones are ringing off the hook this morning on the radio show from doctors saying that's not the way we operate, that's not the way we do business. misrepresentation. >> go ahead, james. >> i read the same story. couple of things was open to different interpretations. i think this president knows

what hess talking about. i think he exhibited a good command to the facts. i thought it was refreshing to have a president whose arguments are based on fact, unlike what we had before. the big fact is if we continue down the road of the last eight years we'll have health care costs of $26,000 for the average family and 22% of gdp. that's unacceptable to this president and that's not the standard the democratic party aspires to. >> let me ask bill about what the president said regarding republican, if you would. >> sure. >> he seemed to suggest that they're not trying to help at all. let's play a little bit of his comments last night. >> i've heard the one republican strategist told his party that even though they may want to compromise it's better politics to go for the kill. >> jim demeant, republican from the south carolina, said if we're able to stop obama on this, it will be his waterloo. we'll break him if does it look like they're trying to find solutions or trying to maintain

the status quo? >> they're not trying to maintain status quo. they're certainly trying to change things. that's the ryan coburn bill. they would like to dislodge obama on this issue because this vast expansion of the state are going to break the country. that is our genuine belief. on the one fact that james pointed out about costs, the congressional budget office, along with a bunch of democrats, have pointed out how much more expensive barack obama's plan is. if you project out across the last eight -- >> we seem to have lost bill bennett there. >> that's the problem. >> sorry, bill, we lost you there. let me ask james, does he have almost as many problems with democrats as he does with republicans on this? >> this this thing is stuff. it's going to come right down to the end. he doesn't have problems with republicans. none of them are going to vote for it. that's a given. he's got to do this and unlike the republican party, which is sort of orthodox talk radio,

southern-based party, we are a very diversed party that has a lot of different interest groups and we're going to have to deal with that. >> james carville and bill bennett, thanks for being with us this morning. coming up on a minute past the top of the hour. it's thursday. 23rd of july. thanks for joining us. >> here's what's on the agenda. here's the big stories we're going to be breaking down for you. part of the president's prime time news conference and we will have everyone talking about. right at the end when the president was asked a question off the topic of health care, addressing the arrest of harvard university professor henry louis gates jr. at his own home. the president said that the police act i police atted stupidly. today we're hearing from the arresting officer himself. dramatic developments in the michael jackson death investigation. dea agents raid the office of the doctor who was with jackson when he died. the attorney for dr. conrad murray now says investigators are building a case of

manslaughter against him. ted rowlands has details. american terrorist, new york man pled guilty in january and charged with aiding al qaeda and attacking a military base in afghanistan. this is all according to an indictment that was just unsealed. authorities say bryant kneel venus also gave al qaeda information on the long island railroad and the new york city subway system. the latest on president obama's urgent pitch to get health insurance to more americans and fast. the president hitting the road today, continuesing his campaign like pace to ohio to the cleveland clinic and on to a town hall meeting. last night in prime time he said getting a health care bill through congress is key to our economic recovery. the timing, critical. the public opinion on the issue beginning to slide. with the house and senate going on vacation in just two weeks' time, time is definitely running out. suzanne malveaux live in washington for us this morning with the latest. looks as though the president is beginning to concede he's not

going to get this before the august recess. >> reporter: you know, john, you're absolutely right. he certainly seems to be trying very hard. first six months of his presidency he's putting all of his political clout behind health care reform. this is a high stakes test for this president to see whether or not he can get his other agenda pushed through. it's interesting, last night the president made news addressing something that so many people have been talking about, and that is this controversial case of alleged racial profiling. it was the very last question that made the news, off script, off health care. president barack obama weighing in forcefully in race relations, commenting on the arrest of harvard african-american professor henry louis gates who was hauled off by police after mistakenly being accused of breaking into his own home. >> the cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home.

>> reporter: the president said the point that even have a black commander in chief doesn't mean racism is history. >> i am standing here as testimony to the progress that's been made, and yet the fact of the matter is, is that, you know, this still haunts us. >> reporter: but mr. obama also tried to diffuse the controversial subject with humor. >> if i was trying to jigger -- i guess, well, this is my house now, it probably wouldn't happen, but let's say my old house in chicago -- here, i would get shot. >> reporter: the remainder of the evening, all about selling his top domestic priority, overhauling health care. >> absolutely, it's my job. i'm the president. i think this has to get done. >> reporter: mr. obama threw down the gauntlet. >> i'm not going to sign a bill that, for example, adds to our deficit. i won't sign a bill that doesn't reduce health care inflation. >> reporter: but he did say he supported limiting tax deductions for wealthy americans

and imposing a sure tax for those making more than a million dollars a year, efforts to raise money to cover america's uninsured. >> the plan that i put forward and that what we're seeing in congress would cover the estimates are at least 97% to 98% of americans. >> reporter: he also praised republicans for their idea to create an independent panel of medical experts, to advise congress on how to cut medical costs. and he called on americans and their doctors not to indulge in unnecessary and wasteful medical treatments. >> why would we want to pay for things that don't work that aren't making us healthier? >> reporter: statement mr. obama tried to reassure americans, that despite the billions in federal bailout dollars, he was being responsible with their money. >> the debt and the deficit are deep concerns of mine. i am very worried about federal spending. >> reporter: john, today the president is taking his message

on the road. he's visiting a clooefr land clinic in ohio. he's also going to be holding a town hall meeting a a high school. all of this a big push to get congress to do something sooner as opposed to later, if at all. john? >> doesn't look like that's going to happen at the moment, though. coming up on the most news in the morning, we'll have rudy giuliani and senior adviser to the president, david axelrod, on the president's promise that this will not add to the deficit. it's a story that exploded into a debate on racial profiling. this morning, the president, the mayor, the arresting officer and henry louis gates jr. are all speaking out on the incident. here's a quick recap. gates, a noted black scholar and harvard professor, was arrested at his own home after having to force his way through a day he says was jammed. a neighbor thought she was seeing a burglary in progress and called the police.

gates was arrested for disorderly conduct but the charges were later dropped. we talked with the cambridge mayor earlier on "american morning" about the arresting officer's behavior. >> do you believe he should apologize? >> what i believe is that we should continue finding out the facts, what actually happened, so that we can take the appropriate action. >> does it suggest to you at this point that there may need to be some changes to these procedures? >> what it suggests is that something happened that should not have happened. >> right. >> that is very clear to me. the next steps are how to -- first, we have to sit down which i'm certainly going to do, sit down with the parties involved to have a discussion about how did we -- how did we get this outco outcome, how did this happen? and from there, to look at -- to talk with the police commissioner in particularly, and say this can't happen again in cambridge and how are we going to prevent it from happening. >> we're also hearing from the actual arresting officer this morning. that's sergeant james crowley.

he responded to the call and was the one who originally or rested gates for disorderly conduct. sergeant crowley says he is not worried about any disciplinary action and added, speaking of himself in the third person, quote, there are not many certainties in life, but it is for certain that sergeant crowley will not be apologizing. meantime, professor gates spoke exclusively to cnn. he sat down with our soledad o'brien as part of our two-night special report "black in america 2." he says apology or not, he wants to keep the discussion about this issue going. >> i would be prepared as a human being to forgive him. that would not deter me from using this as an educational opportunity for america, because if this can happen to me in harvard square, this can happen to anybody in the united states and i'm determined that it never happen to anybody again. what it made me realize was how vulnerable all black men are, how vulnerable all people of color are, and all poor people

are to capricious forces. >> cambridge mayor denise simmons did call and told us on the show to apologize. she invited him to meet with her when he came back to cambridge. also new to morning. police in houston are investigating whether a drive-by shoot that injured two people is a rival between two gangs. it happened at a community rally at texas southern university. witnesses told police a car drove by and started spraying the crowd with bullets. none of the injuries, thankfully, are said to be life threatening. if you're using the e-cigarettes to kick your actual smoking habit, the fda has a worning, government watchdog found carcinogens in these.

the nicotine vapors are in them. even though they're touted as, quote, healthy alternative to smoking. the manufacturing had no comment when we called. the fed launched a surprise raid on a houston clinic run by michael jackson's former doctor, the one who was there when he died. could the singer's death be ruled a homicide? ten minutes now after the hour.

12 minutes past the hour. welcome back to the most news in the morning. taking a look at the health care debate this morning after we heard from the president last night. we want to pin down what the president and democrats say this reform will do. some points of their plan include insurance companies not being able to deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions. you have to have coverage or risk paying a fine. and the fed and your company will help pay the bill if you can't afford it. a lot of democrats in congress want to include a government plan that would compete with the private company, hoping to drive down the cost of private insurance. so, we wanted to take these ideas to the front lines, our team of experts, we have with us this morning at our panel, dr. kristina johns, e.r. specialist

at the children's national medical center. we also have with us dr. lisa sanders, assistant clinical professor at yale school of medicine. and paul kekly with with us there morning, health care economist. thanks to all of you for being with us this morning. >> good morning. >> thank you. >> one thing the president talked about last night, jump in. i'll start with dr. johns, kristina, in this one. the president made the case this trillion dollar plan, which is what many of the estimates are, is actually better than the cost of doing nothing. what is the cost of doing nothing as you see it from the front lines? >> well, i'll tell you. we absolutely cannot sustain the trajectory we are on. what i see is an emergency department that i work in that serves primarily children that over the last nine years, has grown in its volume of 63 %. why? because people can't get in to see their regular health care provider, they are waiting longer to seek medical care so they're showing up in my emergency room sicker with

longer wait times and requiring hospitalization when maybe, just maybe, had we gotten there earlier we wouldn't have had to do that, shell out off that money, loss of sick time, you name it, big problem. >> paul, the president says about two-thirds of the money to pay for this is going to come from overhauling, finding wastes, getting rid of wastes. do we have that much waste in the system right now that it would pay for two-thirds of a trillion dollar plan? >> i think so. the deloitte surveys we do indicate that the majority think more than half of what spending health care is wasted. in a report to the white house june the 1st, the major trade groups identified $1.7 trillion of savings that could come from the system over ten years. so i think there's adequate amounts of monies from doing better what we do. so i think the president's two-thirds may be actually understated. >> dr. sanders, from your point

of view, and you wrote a book "every patient tells a story," for fears that universal health care means less health care, what do you say? >> i think that it's clear that something needs to change. i have patients who stop seeing me for, you know, for a year, months at a time, because they lose their insurance or they have what's called a spend-down and they can't afford to come and get care until they go to the hospital with their chronic medical problems get them sick enough to go to the hospital. then they get to come back to see me because we have to see them, whether they have insurance or not. and so it's clear that something has to be done. i don't know that i'm -- i'm sure that whatever we come up with, it won't be perfect. but we can't let the pr fekt be the enemy of the good in this case. >> go ahead, paul. >> our data says 38% of the u.s. adult population believe the system could be graded "d" or

"f." >> i want to ask you about this. >> but it's interesting, the majority, though they believe everyone should be insured, they really do not want the government to play a significant role in a takeover, nor do they want to pay more taxes. so it's a really difficult delem pla what to reform a system where everyone is uncomfortable with it in its current state but they're not sure what is better. >> dr. johns, i want to ask you about that situation as well because, as paul alluded to, some of the polls, most people say they want health care reform, most people say we need health care reform. interesting part, omt eight in ten, this is a "washington post" poll conducted, say they're satisfied with the quality of their own care. how do you reform a system that people say can't be sustained, but at the same time many people don't want a lot to change for them personally? >> well, i must not know any of those people because they're certainly not showing up to my emergency department. i think that what we really need

to do is try to refocus a bit on let's look at primary preventive care. let's figure out the low-hanging fruit. ways that we can make things better, invest in our future so that, okay, the satisfied people may be able to continue along the current way that they're going. but let's try to -- we know that the numbers can't be sustained. so let's fix where we can, preventive care, health care for children, investing in our future. let's do it right so that we can continue to see those numbers. because i think we're not going to continue to do that. >> dr. sanders, i want to ask -- >> let's be honest about that. the data says that preventive and chronic care management does pay a substantial return, but it's long term. and what we have is a forecast of spending at 6% plus per year over the next ten years that is simply not sustainable. so we have to find near-term ways to save money, in addition

to long-term. it's not either/or, it's both. >> dr. sanders, go ahead. >> to go back to the point of what people want. people are afraid of the government telling them what they can and can't have in health care. but right now we already have rationing. it's not done by the government, it's done by corporations that have to react to their -- and look out for their shareholders. so we already have one kind of rationing. the question is, should we have something that is more rational, more rational form of rationing or, i hate to call it rationing, but a better way of distributing this limited resources. it's already being shaped by profit motives and things like that. is there a better way to shape this care? >> all right. we're going to have to leave it. >> i'm sorry, i just don't agree that that's a scenario of rationing. i think that's not accurate. the fact is that much of what we do is unnecessary. >> absolutely. >> and some of that is a result

of defensive medicine and clinicians put in a position where they can't do otherwise. >> yeah. >> but we can k. take costs out of the system and improve care. >> all right. it's a big challenge certainly and that's why we really try to tackle it and bring you guys on and talk about some of the real life consequences of all of this. i want to thank you for being here. thanks so much. we're going to take a quick break.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. another shocking twist in the investigation into michael jackson's death. police and dea agents have raided a houston clinic that's run by the singer's former doctor. >> and that doctor's attorney confirm that that indeed did happen.

and it's looking more and more likely that criminal charges could be next. ted rowlands has the latest this morning from los angeles. >> reporter: john and kiran, after weeks of investigation it is now clear there is a very real possibility that michael jackson's death could be ruled a homicide. and the doctor with him when he died seems to be front and center in this ongoing investigation. los angeles police and agents from the dea executing a search warrant at dr. conrad murray's houston clinic. then murray's lawyer release a bombshell, a statement confirm that a potential case of manslaughter is being built against the doctor who was with michael jackson when he died. the statement reads, in part, the search warrant authorized law enforcement to search for and seize items, including documents, they believed constituted evidence of the offense of manslaughter. >> this the the first confirmation we've had and it's from the doctor's own attorney that there's a manslaughter

investigation. we're not just talking about prescription medication and some negligence there, actual homicide investigation. that's a big development. >> reporter: according to murray's lawyer, agents took a forensic image of a business computer, hard drive, and 21 documents during the search. murray, who was being paid $150,000 a month to care for jackson, has been at the center of what, until now, has been simply characterized as a death investigation. murray's lawyers say they were surprised by the search but they say they provided everything detectives have asked for. in another statement released this week, murray's lawyers said, quote, based on dr. murray's minute-by-minute and item-by-item description of michael jackson's last days, he should not be a target of criminal charges. dr. murray was the last doctor standing when michael jackson died and it seems all the fury is directed towards him. meanwhile, the coroner paid a visit to los angeles nutritionist chelyn lee.

lee says she turned over her file on jackson. >> i actually did lab work. and this is one reason why the coroner wanted all of my records. >> reporter: dr. murray is tentatively scheduled to meet with investigators for a third time later this week. meanwhile, the l.a. coroner is still working on that autopsy report. it's expected to be released as early as next week. john, kiran? >> ted rowlands for us this morning. thanks. still ahead, we're going to check in with carol costello and the fact that this was prime time news conferences in six months in office, a lot we're hearing from the president. and she's going to talk about whether or not people are as interested in riveted as they once were. a lot of important issues talking about but, hey, must see tv. >> one network didn't tape it last night. is that going to be the trend going forward? fewer and fewer networks taping these press conferences.

♪ good morning. fog in cleveland, coming to us from our affiliate woio. 56 there right now. later they're expecting rain and thunder. a high of 73. welcome back to the most news in the morning. the president was all over the television last night. you couldn't miss it even if you tried. health care is important but are people still as riveted when the president speaks in prime time. carol costello joins us now from washington with a look on that one. the first press conference, 50 million people watched it. >> but the fourth one he gave, not so much. tv networks were slow to say yes to a prime time news conference and that is your hint the president's popularity is not a given, along with polls that say the same thing. still, the president is using his still strong popularity to talk to you as often as possible, while critics say that is the wrong thing to do.

can you say ubiqutitous, the dogs, the kids, the date night and the mom jeans? even some of the president's supporters say enough potis tv. >> you don't have to be on television every minute of everyday, you're a president, not a rerun of "law and order." >> reporter: if you count wednesday's appearance, president obama made remarks on health care nearly every day since june 13th. if the latest cnn poll of polls show only 47% approve of the way mr. obama is handling health care. some say that number is relatively low because the president is talking so much, he's diluting the message. others say that number show the obama-thon is working, considering what the president is selling. >> i think he's keeping people calm and reassuring people he's in control. >> ridiculous to talk about over exposed. he's under exposed. >> reporter: still, there are

recent signs tv viewers are losing interest. the president's first prime time appearance drew 49.5 million, his second 52.4 million, third attracted 40.4 million viewers, his fourth 28.8 million. >> what he needs in his personality is a little george bush. >> reporter: as in way less tv. president bush did far fewer prime time speeches. mayor says president obama ought to stop talking and work og connicon i on coming up with a way of paying for maelt care reform. >> he needs to stop worrying about being loved and bring out that swagger that says, suck on it, america. >> reporter: and while this president is not exactly doing that, officials say mr. obama will be taking a more hands-on approach with members of congress in the days and weeks to come regarding the health care debate. that's right. the president plans work sessions with congress to push health care reform.

and today he'll hit the road to rally public support for health care reform in ohio and along with him, abc's terry. he will tape a day in the life of the president for "nightline." kiran? >> all right. we'll see how many people watch it. carol costello for thus morning. you can weigh in on this at cnn.com/amfix. we would love to hear from you. we're coming up at 29 minutes after the hour. north korea says it will not return to six-party talks over the nuclear program. it is firing back an insult the secretary of state hillary clinton saying she is by no means intelligent. pyongyang is upset after clinton compared the nuclear tests to the actions of small children demanding attention. she is pose for u.n. sanctions on north korea. hundreds of people came together for a vigil in idaho. the pentagon says bergdahl was kidnapped june 30th in afghanistan.

the hour-long vigilant started near a coffee shop where me used to work. president obama says the arrest of noted black scholar henry louis gates jr. is that racism still haunts us. he said they acted stupidly but admitted he might bias since gates is a friend. he was arrested after a neighbor called in a possible burglary. earlier on "american morning" we talked to the city's mayor and i asked her if she thought race was an issue in this case. >> yes, race is a factor. it's knowledge we all know that black and latino, particularly men, have historically had problems with police. and so you can't not talk about this without talking about or doing it with race. >> do you believe that race was a factor in this particular case? >> i'm not going to make that judgment now. >> professor gates says his arrest is a clear case of racial profiling. back to our top story now.

the president's push to get health care reform back on track, selling it to the country last night in a prime time news conference. joining us now from rnc headquarters in washington from with a republican perspective is former new york city mayor rudy giuliani. thanks for being here. >> nice to see you. >> last night the president tried to make the case that the trillion dollar plan to overhaul health care is better than the cost of doing nothing. i'm curious, how big of a priority to do you and other republicans think that health care reform is right now? >> health care reform is a major priority. one of the most important things we can do, which is why we have to do it right and it shouldn't be rushed. if the plan is such a good plan, it can stand the test of time. i don't understand this big rush to try to get it done. this is a very complicated thing. he is making claims about it that are hard to accept. i mean, hard to believe. it's not going to cost any money. makes no sense that it would cost no money to cover 20 to 50 million people unless somehow,

you know, the cost of medical procedures is going to go down to zero. he did not explain that with any kind of adequacy at all that anyone could accept. >> he talked about two-thirds of the costs would come from being able to reduce wastes in the health care field. and the other third, this is something he admitted for the first time last night, that he would be willing to raise taxes or put a sur charge on families and households making more than a million dollars. do you think that's enough to pay for it? >> no, absolutely not. he's goinot going to reduce was by two-thirds. it's gone up 10% a year under every president. his presidency has shown no ability to reduce cost. finally, he's not even accounting for the inflation that his tremendous spending he's done so far is going to cost. the cost of health care is going to go up over the next five to ten years. when you add the trillions of dollars that he's spending, i nation alone is going to drive

it up. so i think that's why, even his own democrats, he's got so many democrats that don't support this. he's not telling the american people really how it's going to operate. i think they left the press conference last night with more questions than they had before. >> the other interesting thing though, this is something that's co c confounded the country for decad decades. what is the republican plan or what would be the first couple of things that you think we should do that would be helpful and start reducing costs in the long term? >> first of all, republicans aren't in power so it's hard to pass something when you have as few votes as the republicans have. the plan that i believe would work is to deal with the tax impact and give people the same exemption for buying a health insurance privately that they get from employer plan. and i think that would drive down the cost of insurance

dramatically because you would also build in a health savings plan, which i think is a wonderful idea which the president has taken off the table, and he's also taken tort reform off the table. how are you going to drive down the cost of medical procedures and not drive down the cost of liability, the cost of judgments and claims. i ran a hospital system. the second largest public system in the world, the health and hospitals corporation. and the reality is, with these claims, we used to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars in claims every year and he's taking that off the table, i think because the trial lawyers have more influence than necessarily putting a good plan together. >> one of the things that the president did talk about, and i know that something that a lot of people are saying that you look at malpractice and try to come to some consensus of that and we don't have all details out of the committee yet. but to fight against some of the charges like one made by michael steel that this is socialism, is that it's not going to eliminate what people have now in terms of

a private plan. do you simply not believe that? >> well, i wouldn't use the word socialism. i think this is a -- >> michael steel said socialism. you talk about saying it's nationalized health care. but at the same time -- >> that's true. >> -- the president says private insurance is still going to exist. >> except in much diminished number. the largest insurance company in country will be the one here in washington, d.c. covering 40 or 50 million people. it will dominate the industry. this is like the takeover of general motors, the takeover of banks, the takeover of financial institutions. the biggest player in health care dominating the market will be the government programs, this new insurance program of 40, 50 million people, and then medicare and medicaid, which of course is a government program. you will have a very small tiny little private sector. he is going to basically import to the united states the canadian system when absolutely nobody from the united states goes to canada for health care.

this makes no -- yes, we have a crisis but you don't solve it incorrectly and make it worse the way his stimulus package made the economy worse. >> we can't get to all of that right now because i do want to get you take on this. the president last night talked about the arrest of harvard professor henry louis gates. here's what he said. let's listen. >> the cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. >> he already went out there and said that the cambridge police acted stupidly. the mayor of cambridge was not willing to go that far when we had her on the show today. what's your reaction? >> i wasn't there. >> to the president's -- >> my background is in law enforcement, not politics. i wasn't there. i learned a long time ago if you weren't there, probably you shouldn't have a judgment about it until you know all the facts. i simply don't. i mean, these situations sometimes are fault of the police, sometimes they're the fault of the person and the way they act with the police.

then there are sometimes two different versions of it. i wouldn't make a judgment about that. >> mistake for the president then the come out and say that the cambridge police acted stupidly? >> the president is a friend of the man arrested, so you give him a little scope there. if my friend got arrested, i would probably believe one version of it, which may very well be true, or the other version could be true. >> former mayor of new york city, rudy giuliani, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. coming up next, we're going to hear the white house's take on all of this when the presidential adviser david axelrod joins us.

from the white house straight to your living room, president obama hammered his critics and listed his reasons for health care reform in a prime time news conference. he's also lynching the reform directly to the country's economy, saying if we don't fix the health care system it would bankrupt the nation. would the president's plan really help fix both problems and can it be paid for? joaning me now is david axelrod. david, it's good to see you. the president has said he's not going to sign a bill that will add to the deficit, but we had this proclamation last week saying that the current proposals in congress would add almost $240 billion to the

deficit over the course of ten years. so what is there out there that he would be able to sign? >> well, first of all, as you know, these bills aren't finished. there are still two committees, one in the senate and one in the house, working on it. the president has said he won't sign a bill that adds a dime to the deficits in the short term or that doesn't bend the long-term curve on health care spending. that's what all the conversation is all about. >> so then the question becomes, how do you pay for it. the president said last night he might be amenable to the idea that speaker pelosi floated to put a tax surcharge on families earning more than a million dollars a year but people have questions as to whether or not that would raise enough money to pay for this. >> well, i think the -- what the president was saying that is in principle he believes that those who can most afford to pitch in should bear the greatest burden. i think most people agree with that. but there are a variety of proposals. he made one himself, as you

know, to cap deductions for the very wealthy at the same rate that middle class people can take their deductions. and there are others -- other ideas floating around. so you know, that is what we're thrashing out right now. >> so you suggest that taxing people over a million dollars might be appropriate. he also said last night he might be open to the idea of taxing employer paid health insurance which is thus far resisted. any idea what the income threshold for that might be? >> well, i don't know. you know, i don't know that he endorsed that idea at all. >> i'm not saying he endorsed it. he said he might be open to it. >> well, i think what i think is fair to say is he wants to see what proposals come to him. he's been very skeptical about taxing health care benefit, particularly when it applies to middle class people who are struggling so mightily right now. but we'll see what comes our way. one thing i want to point out though is that two-thirds of the cost of this program is going to be paid by reallocating money

within the federal health care system that is currently being wasted and doesn't improve patient care. what we're discussing is how to cover the remaining one-third to make sure that everybody has the security of know that they will never be without health care. >> so cost is one of the two big concerns that people have with the health care proposals that are out there. the other is that would people eventually be forced into a government-sponsored program because private insurance companies won't be able to compete? what would the administration do? you said repeatedly that people will be able to keep their health care. what will the administration, david, do to ensure that that, in fact, will be the case and the private insurance companies will not lose business to a government-sponsored plan? >> john, i think this is a strong man that's been set up by the opponents of health care, health insurance reform. and the fact is that the public choice, the public option would be part of a basket of

selections that people can make. it will not be subsidized any more than any other insurance policy would be under this plan. it will operate on the basis of the premiums it collects. and hopefully it will embrace the kinds of practices that will make it more efficient and make health care of a higher quality. right now, the insurance companies take a tremendous bite for administrative cost in their own profits. and this will encourage them to be a little bit more efficient about what they do. and that will help bring down the cost of health care generally, which is absolutely imperative. we're on a climb to disaster here. if we don't do something about health care costs that are growing, premiums 10% a year. >> critics also warn, david, one of the ways you might get costs under control is to limit service to cut out certain things that are allowed now. they warn about a diminishment of service is provided for.

what will this administration do to help that? >> i think under the health care reform the president is proposing, we want to enhance patient care, not -- not erode patient care, which is why the nurses association, the american medical association, have both endorsed this program. right now the insurance industry is rationing, the insurance industry is making doctors work fee for service, making volume rather than quality, the core of health care. we want to change that and free doctors and nurses to do what they are trained to do, what they took an oath to do, and that is care for people in the best way they possibly can. >> david, one other unrelated issue. yesterday we had a special inspector general aft trp program on and he was suggesting that there isn't a whole lot of dialogue going on between his office and the treasury secretary. i talked to him about how much the two of them talked. this is what he told us yesterday. >> well, i speak to other people

in treasury, i don't speak much to the treasury secretary at all. >> when was the last time you spoke to him? >> late january. >> wow. shouldn't there be a little more of a dialogue there? i'm not blaming you. shouldn't he be reaching out to you, saying, hey, neil, what's going on with the money here, i saw your report, let's talk about this? >> i suggested that we have periodic meetings to the chief of staff when he came on board. >> david, shouldn't there be a little more dialogue between the guy with his eye on what's happening to the t.a.r.p. money and the guy in charge of the department? >> i sfoek aw that report and ie with secretary geithner and asked him about it myself. he is constantly receiving reports from the inspector general. his top aides are in dialogue. i understand that the inspector general would like to have a more direct contact with the secretary, but the secretary is getting the benefit of his work as he's also trying to save the american economy, stabilize our

banking system and do all the things necessary to get the economy moving. >> would you encourage a little more direct dialogue? >> i think there's plenty of conversation back and forth between the administration of the treasury department and the inspector general. >> all right. that's no? you don't think there should be more direct dialogue between the two? >> it is what i said. i think that there is direct dialogue. i don't think that anybody should assume that if the chief of staff and the deputy secretary of treasury are receiving reports on a regular basis from the inspector general and talking to him, that the treasury department is not acting on his concerns. >> all right. david axelrod, good to talk to you this morning. appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. what do you think about the president's health care speech? we want your views. sound off at cnn.com/amfix. it's coming up on 48 minutes after the hour.

50 minutes past the hour. time to fast forward to the stories making news later today. we're expecting more first quarter earnings reports to come in from major companies. results are expected from 3m, at&t, mcdonald's, the profit expected to be up this year in the dollar menu economy. summer vacation starts today for mark sanford, he's expected to head out for a two-week european vacation in effort to quote get some things right in the family.

after admitting to skipping out on father's day weekend to be in argentina with his then mistress. well, if you're in san diego today and happen to see hundreds of zombies stalking the streets, it's all part of a comic festivities. thousands of comic book and sci-fi fans descend on san diego to dress up and nerd out for the festival. rob marciano, what's the weather going to be like in san diego? probably perfect as usual. >> as usual. and when you walk in at the early morning hours, there's a number of zombies, including me, rocking it. i've got another chance of rain across the part of the northeast today. here's some of the rainfall totals yesterday, south carolina, indiana, and ohio. a squeeze play anywhere from 1 1/2 inches to 4 1/2 inches there on the radar. check out the scope, area of concern here and then a front here. yeah, we're squeezing it into

the new york area and that'll happen around 6:00 or so. and the eastern part, eastern long island, connecticut, anywhere from 1 inches to 2 inches, and we do have flood watches that are posted for that area. remaining cool today, 75 in new york, 65 degrees in boston. another picture of the eclipse, this still shot taken over japan, a squadron of air force f-15s blocking out that eclipse. cool, cool shot there. and we've been talking about how the eclipse has been doing weird things for the animals. these pictures out of new jersey. where this wild turkey, a 4-footer, apparently terrorizing the neighborhood. pecking at the mailman at the mail truck tires, chasing the mail carrier down the street at times and also provoking angst among the neighbors. they have not called animal control because apparently there hasn't been any physical harm to the neighbors there. nonetheless, that'll feed a lot of people. but it's one bird with an

attitude. you don't want to mess with a jersey turkey. that's for sure. i wouldn't come anywhere near it. >> you know the funny part, we're going to head to the control room. we're going to get an eyewitness report from jamie because he lives there. the boss of our show. he barely made it in today, he was dodging wild turkeys, trying to get across the lincoln tunnel. mess. >> did i score any points for showing that video, jamie? come on. >> he said no. >> enough about this turkey, i think, already. >> turkey. >> it's a turkey, come on. well, if you're arnold schwarzenegger, how do you address the budget gap? well, you start trimming, what do you use? how about a 2-foot long knife. we've got the governor coming up.

well, as we know, california's not having an easy time of it when it comes to dealing with the budget crisis there. and it's turning into serious territory, arnold schwarzenegger now promising he has to slash a lot of things, make some very big cuts. >> and when you've got to make some big cuts, what do you use? in a video on tuesday, she showed us how dire the situation is by brandishing an extremely large hunting knife. some californians think the joke was a little insensitive, but the governor says, hey, lighten up. >> -- send someone that is a little more entertaining and a little bit more fun with the whole thing. not that it's fun making the cuts, it's saddening me, but fun with the job itself.

>> after seeing that clip of the governor with the knife, we were reminded of another knife. >> nick, give him -- >> what for? >> he's got a knife. >> that's not a knife. that's a knife. >> crocodile dundee. i think they're the same. you have to careful lly roll the head bands and tie them around your head. >> if he's got it, it's going to be big, right? 57 minutes after the hour.

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bringing you the first and only wireless 4g network. get the palm pre from sprint. only on the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com. and good morning, we're coming up on just before 8:00 here in new york on this thursday, july 23rd, welcome to american morning. >> we are following several developing stories this morning.

we'll be breaking them down for you in the next 15 minutes. president obama weighing in on the arrest of a harvard professor who claims he was a victim of racial profiling. we'll tell you what the president and the mayor of cambridge are saying about the incident. and president obama keeping the heat on congress to pass health care reform. today he takes to ohio, to visit the cleveland clinic. who will pay for the plan, though, and how much? we're live on capitol hill to break it down. as the u.s. military steps up the search for the american soldier captured by the taliban, there are new concerns about how he may be holding up. inside information coming up on how the military trains the ranks on surviving as a hostage. president obama speaking out on the arrest of his friend, harvard professor henry louis gates. the president says he doesn't know all of the facts about the arrest, but offered this during last night's news conference. >> the cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody

when there was already proof that they were in their own home. >> well, gates was hauled off by police after mistakenly being accused of trying to break into his home and being arrested for disorderly conduct. demanding an apology from the arresting officer. that officer has refused to do so. the mayor of cambridge, massachusetts, did apologize. earlier on "american morning," john talked to her about what happened. >> do you believe he should apologize? >> well, i believe that we should continue finding out the facts, what actually happened so we can take the appropriate action. >> does it suggest to you at this point there may need to be some changes to these procedures? >> what i suggest is that something happened that should not have happened. that is very clear to me. the next steps are how to -- first we have to sit down and i'm certainly going to do is sit down with the parties involved and have a discussion about how did this -- how did we get this

outcome? and from there to look at -- to talk with the police commission in particular and the city manager and say this can't happen again in cambridge and how we're going to prevent it from happening. >> in the meantime, professor gates speaking exclusively to cnn saying he is considering legal action, and apology or not, he is planning to keep the issue of racial profiling alive. >> i would be prepared as a human being to forgive him, that would not deter me from using this as an educational opportunity for america. because if this can happen to me in harvard square, this can happen to anybody in the united states and i'm determined it never happen to anybody again. >> what it made me realize was how vulnerable all black men are. how vulnerable all people of color are and all poor people to capricious forces. >> claims there were fabrications to the police

report. stay tuned, soledad o'brien will be joining us with a black in america 2 special. it will examine today's pioneers, 8:00 p.m. eastern on cnn. president obama making his strongest case yet for a complete overhaul of america's health care system. speaking last night the president promised reform will not add to the deficit. so the big question, how will he pay for it? 2/3, according to claims will come from the government by eliminating waste and 1/3 from higher taxes. health care reform is key to rebuilding the economy. >> it's an economy that simply wasn't ready to compete in the 21st century. one where we've been slowed to invest in clean energy technologies that have created new jobs and industries in other countries, where we watched our graduation rates lag behind too much of the world, and where we spend much more on health care than any other nation, but aren't any healthier for it. and that's why i've said that even as we rescue this economy from a full-blown crisis, we

must rebuild it stronger than before. and health insurance reform is central to that effort. >> and while lawmakers from both parties scramble to find common ground, there are a lot of questions about what the president's plan means for you. cnn's brianna keilar breaks it down for us this morning. >> reporter: here's what democrats say their insurance overhaul would do for you. they cannot deny you cornell medical college for a preexisting condition and you would be required to purchase health insurance or pay a fine. can't afford insurance? the government would chip in and in most cases so would your employer. how much would you pay? house democrats say they will cap your health care costs. >> there will be an annual limit on out of pocket expenses and no lifetime limits on care. there will be no more co-pays or deductible for preventive care that can catch devastating illnesses in time. >> reporter: if you don't get insurance through your employer, some in congress want to change

how you buy it on the individual market by creating a central clearinghouse. it's also called a gate way or an exchange where you could buy insurance after comparing different plans. many democrats in the house and senate want a government-run insurance plan included among those options, insisting private insurers won't lower their prices without the competition. but republicans say it will drive private insurers out of business. >> you have a very good risk of losing your health care and ending up, if you're poor, your only option is a failed government program that none of us would join if we could possibly avoid it. >> but democrats and president obama say if you like the private coverage you have now, you can keep it. >> if anyone says otherwise, they are either trying to mislead you or don't have their facts straight. >> reporter: this idea of a government-run insurance plan obviously a big flash point in this debate. republicans oppose it, so do some democrats, and that's why

we're keeping an eye on a key proposal that some democrats and republicans in the senate finance committee are hashing out. it's likely to include a non-profit health cooperative approach as an alternative to this government-run plan, john. >> something that conrad's been -- what do we know about that plan? >> reporter: we don't have the details, but our understanding would be it would be based on other models. like farm, co-op, and still waiting for those key details. >> brianna keilar for us, thanks so much. in a moment, we're going to take a look at how president obama's plan can affect how you get health care. we're talking to bernadine healy. they're coming up straight ahead. also new this morning, a u.s. counter terrorism official says one of osama bin laden's sons was probably killed earlier this year in pakistan.

he is believed to have died in a missile strike. officials say it is hard to be completely sure he was killed because of a lack of dna. this other story related to al qaeda, reads like a plot of a thriller. a new york man providing al qaeda leaders with information about the new york city transit system and the long island commuter railroad. >> but after his arrest, he becomes a secret informant for the u.s. government cooperating in the fight against terrorism here and overseas. live to untangle the story. good morning, deb. >> good morning. that's what makes this so interesting. 26-year-old american has left long island, new york to train with al qaeda in pakistan. he pleaded guilty earlier this year with conspireing to kill u.s. soldiers in afghanistan during a rocket attack on a u.s. military base there last september, also admitted providing details of the new york transit system and long

island railroad to al qaeda militants, which may have led to a heightened alert last november. he went to pakistan about a year and a half ago after leaving the long island and the mosque he attended there. >> honestly you know it's out there, but you don't think it's in your own backyard or next door to you. that's a scary thing. >> i have a feeling that everything that he has done, he had done when he left the mosque about a year and a half ago. so it's when he was there. i don't think at that time he was involved in any kind of activity. >> now, he says he converted to islam, after his capture, he cooperated with european authorities and that to one of the largest counter terrorism organizations, and the arrest of two al qaeda operatives.

>> was there ever an imminent threat to the new york city transit system or the long island railroad? >> it doesn't appear so. but authorities are quick to tell you, that's why it's so important to find these people. it was good they beefed up security, but eminent, not quite. >> will he get favorable treatment because he helped american authorities? >> he has not been sentenced yet, he did plead guilty, that's to come. but obviously they thought he was a good value to provide the kind of information they needed. >> all right. fascinating story. thanks, deb. and we all know about the fight of a soldier bowe bergdahl being held by the taliban. we'll take a look at how he's been trained to cope with being a prisoner of war. nine minutes after the hour. (pouring rain)

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boston, massachusetts, 71 degrees, a little bit later, the temperatures will drop to 69 a little bit later in the day. welcome back to the most news in the morning. the u.s. military stepping up the search for the captured soldier being held hostage by the taliban. they're holding out hope in his hometown. more than 500 people attended a vigil for bowe bergdahl yesterday. there were concerns about how the 23-year-old may be holding up in captivity. barbara starr joins us live with new information this morning. and of course, soldiers are trained to deal with this. but when it actually happens, there are a lot of questions. how is that training working in the circumstances? >> that is the question. how much training would a young soldier like bowe bergdahl have really gotten to deal with the unlikely prospect of being held in captivity? the answer, not a lot of training. >> reporter: no one knows how much duress private first class

bowe bergdahl was under when he spoke. >> my fellow soldiers and friends i fight with, they all agree when i say this is a waste. we should not be here. >> reporter: when a u.s. soldier is captured, the code of conduct is blunt, it states i am required to only give my name, rank, service number, and date of birth. i will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. i will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country. he like all soldiers is taught to the code. but how prepared would he have been for captivity? robert conducts military security training. bergdahl, he believes, is doing the best he can. >> the evidence that i see that he's resisting is the fact he will not directly engage the camera with his eyes, that he tends to look down and look away. >> ever since p.o.w.s were tortured in vietnam, the

military has improved survival training. the most intensive is reserved for troops at the highest risk. special operations units. they learn to survive interrogation and even torture. junior troops like bergdahl who are at minimal risk of capture because they operate in large groups get lecture es on the co of conduct, but little other training. >> he does not know how to survive outside of his own whits and very familiar with what he shouldn't do as far as the code of conduct goes. outside of that, he's pretty much -- >> now, cnn has learned that the army, the u.s. military has already opened a separate fact-finding investigation separate from the hunt for private first class bergdahl, looking into what happened, what went wrong to make sure it doesn't happen again. the bottom line, kiran, this is a significant mystery to the u.s. military, how one soldier disappeared from his combat

outpost. this was not a combat situation. somehow he's appeared to simply have left his post and they want to know what happened. kiran? >> barbara starr for us this morning, thanks. talking a lot about health care this morning, because that's what the president was talking about last night. he's trying to get a new health care plan out of congress. he was trying to get it by august. doesn't look like that's going to happen. a lot of people have legitimate concerns where, in fact, these changes to health care might be going. we'll break that down coming up next with two very find minds when it comes to health care policy. bernadine healy.

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back to the president's prime time push on health care reform. we want to cut through the politics and answer questions about how this could affect you. in particular, will this reform force people to use a government-run plan, and will you get the care that you get from doctors? or at least the care that you're used to from doctors, or will that suffer? for some answers, let's bring in bernadine healy, the health editor, also the former president of the american red cross, and donna shalala, now president to the university of

miami. the two big concerns that people have. will private insurers be forced out of business because they won't be able to compete with a public plan? and the other one is, will there be a -- will private insurers be forced out of business because of a public plan? or will people not be able to resist the siren call because it'll be much cheaper than private insurance? >> well, i think what you said is correct. i think if the public option is going to be cheaper, we're talking about an 8% penalty if a employer doesn't offer insurance and that can be a lot lower than what they might be spending, maybe 10% or 12%. he said how can i not go into a public plan and save that amount of money that i'm currently spending for health care? so i think that is an unknown. and, in fact, those are the kinds of questions i wish the president had addressed last night. i don't think he moved the ball.

we heard the same things he's been telling us for six months, but tell us about that concern. because it is one that the american people are worried about. >> secretary, do you agree, disagree? >> i do disagree. first of all, we don't know precisely what the public plan looks like. i have a lot more confidence in the private sector. in their ability to design very attractive plans to make them efficient, to offer things that aren't offered by a public plan. right now, the private insurance companies run the medicare system. they essentially deliver those services. so i think it's quite possible that the public plan will be cheaper, but people don't necessarily take the cheaper plan. they'll take the plan that's a high quality and very efficient for them. >> would you agree, though, madame secretary, but it is at this point a bit of an unknown what the effect will be? >> well, we don't know every element of the new health care reform plan because we don't have bills out on the senate or the house.

what we do know is they're all trying to do the same thing. they're trying to cover more people and they're trying to hold our costs down. and that's what everybody wants. there'll be different kinds of delivery systems, different kinds of insurance plans that will be available to people. but most people who are employed will keep what they have. >> another thought here, dr. healy, and i want to move on to service. >> i think the big issue is the unknowns are huge. this is one of the plans over 1,000 pages. the president hasn't read it and even the cbo admitted they hadn't read the whole thing. i think everyone american should read it. it's online, but the unknowns are huge. and we hope there's good will here, i know there's good will, but we better project what this might look like. >> let's talk about service. the president was asked last night by abc whether americans will have to give up anything to get health care reform. let's listen to what the president said. >> they're going to have to give up paying for things that don't

make them healthier. you take one test, then you go to another specialist, take a second test, you take a third test and nobody's bothering to save the first test you took, same test to the next doctors? you're wasting money. >> madame secretary, the president indicating last night that the only changes, will be getting rid of these redundant tests. do you believe, in fact, that will be the case? i don't want to say health care rationing because it might not get to that point. but might people have to take a little bit less out of their health insurance than they have now? >> look, the president is going off to the cleveland clinic where dr. healy has spent much of her career. they have an excellent communication system. that means that the doctors, the specialists don't redo their paperwork or their tests. what the president was pointing out is anything that does not add value and quality to your

health care ought to be eliminated, ought to be integrated, smooth, well-communicated system. that's why he's put a big amount of money into health information systems. i think the cleveland clinic is a model, you can get more efficient. >> i think you would probably agree with that, dr. healy, that the cleveland clinic and the mayo clinic, as well, models when it comes to efficiencies. is that scaleable? is it repeatable? and don't a lot of these repetitive tests come from a fear about doctors have about being sued and nothing in any of these bills about medical malpractice reform? >> well, i think all of that is correct and even with the cleveland clinic, it's very coordinated when you're within the hospital. but the coordination of care when people go home is something the president is concerned about that health care wants to focus on, and i think that's very reasonable. so you don't have those redundancies, but i think to say that we aren't going to see restrictions on care, avoid the

r word, there's going to be restrictions on care. in this particular bill we're talking about having a health choice commissioner who is going to decide your health care. the federal government will be telling you what kind of a health policy you can have. and i think the president did not answer this last night, john, but he did answer the question directly when abc asked him and that was what happens if you want to get your grand mom's hip replaced and it's not approved by the public option? you know what he said, i'd put my hands in my pocket and i'd pay for it. >> dr. healy, isn't that true with private plans now? i know so many doctors personally who have gone to bat for their patients because the health insurance company won't pay for it. secretary shalala, are we talking about what happens every day anyways? >> employers put those restrictions on, bernadine. >> but, i think, john, what you said, yes. but right now, the health

insurance system in this country is broken. that's what we should be focusing on. we should be focusing on making sure that no one can be turned away, that everybody can -- that you can't have a preexisting exclusion. we also have to look at the cost of insurance. there is not an incentive for insurance companies to bring prices down. do you know, john, other countries who pay half of what we do for health insurance, they spend more time in hospitalizations, seek more doctors, and they use more medicines. our prices are too high, no one is looking at prices. >> well, i think that's exact exactly -- she has summarized what the president is trying to achieve. dr. healy is right on. we want to give access to people, but simultaneously we want appropriate pricing. in other words, we don't want to reward volume, we want to get value out of our health care system and to do that, we're going to have to get our arms around it. the public option is a very tiny

piece of this overall strategy. >> it's great to have these discussions. and thanks so much for joining us. really appreciate it. what do you think about the president's health care speech? we'd like to know. sound off at cnn.com/amfix. still ahead, we're going to show you the amazing video of a boy rescued from a burning car with the help of many. we're going to talk with the father, can you imagine what must have been going through his mind as people were struggling to rescue his son. dinner bell sfx: ping ping ping fancy feast elegant medleys tuscany entrées restaurant inspired dishes with long grain rice and garden greens is it love? or is it fancy feast?

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welcome back. 29 minutes past the hour. tracking several developing stories this morning. north korea says it will not return to six-party talks over the nuclear program and is firing back an insult at hillary clinton saying "she is by no means intelligent" pyongyang upset after comparing it to the actions of small children demanding attention. also pushing for asian nations to impose u.n. sanctions. >> not mincing words there. police in houston investigating whether a drive by shooting is linked to a rivalry between two gangs. it happened at texas southern university. witnesses reportedly told police that a car drove buy and started spraying the crowd with bullets. none of the injuries, thankfully, are said to be life threatening. a new autopsy on kathleen

savio, the former wife of drew peterson and this autopsy showed she was killed. savio was found dead in her bathtub in 2004, it was ruled an accidental drowning. cnn has learned that the re-examination revealed a blunt force at the back of her head. peterson is currently in jail awaiting trial for savio's murder. he denies he had any involvement in it. and he is also a suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, which is what led to the autopsy of his third wife. president obama said the noted harvard professor gates is a reminder that racism still haunts us. also added that cambridge police acted stupidly, but admitted he might be biassed because gates is a friend. he was arrested after a neighbor called in a possible burglary. earlier we talked with the city's mayor and asked if she thought race was an issue in this case. >> yes, race is a factor. it's knowledge we all know that

black and latino, particularly men, have historically had problems with police. and so you can't not talk about this without talking about it or dealing with it. >> and do you believe race was a factor in this particular case? >> i'm not going to make that judgment now. >> professor gates says his arrest is a clear case of racial profiling. >> professor gates sat down exclusively with our soledad o'brien. and this is the first time that he talked about his arrest on television. >> soledad joins us now to talk about that, and the second half of black in america 2, first of all, congratulations on last night's program. it was just fantastic. >> thank you very much. and what a real honor to have a chance to sit down with professor gates. we read about what he was saying, but to have him come and talk to us for the first time on television and told his story. and talked about how humiliating and upsetting it was to be

cuffed on the porch of his house. but also looking ahead, he mentioned thinking about lawsuits, et cetera, and i asked him, what about the -- what are you -- what happens there? here's what he said. >> i would be prepared as a human being to forgive him, that would not deter me from using this as an educational opportunity for america. because if this can happen to me in harvard square, this can happen to anybody in the united states, and i'm determined that it never happens to anybody again. >> you can hear the cheering there, obviously. and i think what has really touched people has been this sense that other african-americans and latinos as the president said last night have had similar experiences, maybe it's not being arrested in your own house, maybe it's somebody stopping you in a car thinking that you shouldn't own. stopping you asking for i.d. when you're in a neighborhood where maybe you don't look like you belong. in harvard in may, i had talked to the black students there and

they told me how they'd all been asked to show their i.d. when doing some group event on one of the lawns at harvard. if 50 kids had been -- white kids had been asked to show their i.d. on the lawn, it wouldn't happen. it just wouldn't happen. i think when the mayor talks about is race a factor in this case? how do you know? it's hard to say exactly. but you definitely have to raise the questions of this happens to a lot of people, and it's why some people are really outraged. >> right, now the president weighed in on this whole thing last night. he was asked at the end of the press conference, probably the most captivating moment of the entire night. let's listen to what the president said. >> the cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof they were in their own home. >> it's interesting the way he jumped in on it that way. he has avoided issues of race so far during his presidency and he's friends with professor -- >> well, harvard law school, so he knows it well.

gates is a friend. and here's a guy that spent a lot of his time precampaigning for the presidency dealing with issues like this. it didn't surprise me at all. i think people were surprised he jumped in. i was not surprised. we thought the timing was very good, actually, to lead us into our documentary. >> he also went farther than that and made a joke saying, okay, if i try to break into my house, at least here, i'd be shot. >> would that be race or pretty much anybody trying to break into the white house? you've got to agree with that. >> exactly. soledad, thanks for joining us. you must be on some red bull too because you're going nonstop. >> yes, i am. >> and she's going to be joining us tonight, as well, and you don't want to miss part two of part two. another special tonight and we're going to be profiling some of the pioneers today in "black in america 2," 8:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. we also have the video earlier this week that suv on fire as two off-duty firefighters are frantically

trying to get a 4-year-old boy out of the back of the car. we're going to be talking to his father coming up in a few minutes. we'll find out how the boy is. he suffered second and third-degree burns to 20% of his body. the father's got something to say about those firefighters who risked their own lives to save his son. coming up 35 minutes after the hour. may i help you? hello, down here! you hiring? good! yes, but... then i can set my master plan in motion. your master what? i got big dreams and everybody knows, if you work here, the sky's the limit. well, yes. my neighbor did... and now she owns three mcdonald's. plus, mcdonald's gives out scholarships. and who wouldn't want that on their resume? shouldn't you two be taking a nap? mcdonald's -- deeply rooted in the community.

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two offduty firefighters are being hailed as heroes after a dramatic rescue. take a look at this. we saw this video earlier this week. >> -- for the kid! >> a woman's suv burst into flames after she lost control and struck a tree. the mother and her 2-year-old daughter were saved first, but 4-year-old david harper, d.j. as he's known was trapped inside the vehicle. that's when two firefighters, two off-duty firefightered rushed rush ed in to rescue the boy. james -- chris, rather, it's great to talk you this morning. how is d.j. doing this morning? >> well, he's stable right now. he's still, he's been upgraded. he's had his first surgery last night, first skin graft surgery, and he's got a couple more surgeries, but right now he's stable.

he's heavy live sedated. and he's very comfortable right now. >> oh, my goodness. yeah, he was burned, i guess, over 20% of his body, second and third-degree burns just to tell folks at home, and his face, his arms, scalp, his back, as well. any idea, you know, you said it's his first surgery. what were they operating on last night? >> they were doing skin grafts on his arms and his shoulders las vegas nigh last night. >> oh, goodnd, he came through that surgery okay? >> yes, sir, the doctor said he did really well in surgery. right now they have him covered up -- like i said, he was sedated, feeling no pain right now. he needs to heal, and he's a strong -- he's a strong-willed boy. a lot of prayers. a lot of prayers. >> and ours go along with that, as well, chris.

we showed a little bit of that video. and when we first saw it this week, we could not believe what we were witnessing. and i know that you've seen the video, you know, it's to the point where you can't watch it anymore. what was the first thing that went through your mind? >> the first thing that went through my mind was the people, the community pulled together to get my son out of the car. there were so many people involved in that rescue. the firefighters, the people that -- i mean just good samaritans, the angels that -- they come to his rescue. and that's -- it shows what america's really about. >> yeah, joel and john, the two off-duty firefighters. we were hoping to get them on, they're apparently taking a few days off. they were on our sister network headline news yesterday and john said he cut the seat belt, d.j. was trapped in the car, held him by the seat belt, said i cut the seat belt, did everything i could. when i started feeling relieved

was i was inside the vehicle, able to pull him forward towards me. i rolled out of the vehicle with him in my arms. if not for them, chris, it might have been a completely different outcome, huh? >> oh, yes, sir. anything could've happened another minute another second. god was watching over us. and he provided us with these wonderful firefighters. they deserve so much. words can't explain the gratefulness that we have in my heart for these people. >> they risk their own lives to get d.j. out. i know they suffered some burns, a little bit of smoke inhalation. you had an opportunity to speak with them monday night, what did you say to them? >> there was a lot of crying and hugging. a lot of thankfulness. i talked with them again last night and their wives. and we have -- we've decided that we're going to relocate up here to milwaukee because we --

we want to be part of -- to help other people out, as well, up here, the citizens of wisconsin. it's amazing. and i want to be part of that. our family wants to be part of that. >> yeah, you were up from tennessee, said you were working a game at a carnival. you know, this could be a long road for your son with a lot of operations. do you have health insurance? are you going to be okay financially with all of this? >> we have a fund set up at u.s. bank. we do not have health insurance. so it's going to be a long road. >> well, folks at home will probably take note of that and maybe people can dig in and help out and pitch in. chris, it's great to talk to you this morning. it's a terrible time for you. we thank you for taking the time and again, our thoughts and prayers are with you and the family and d.j. in particular as he faces this long ordeal of coming back. >> thank you so much. thank you. >> god bless, thanks. coming up on 43 minutes past the hour. they're running multiple live applications at the same time.

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you make a grown man cry. well, you might not think that coffee and beer mix, but i guess in this economy, maybe. >> sometimes odd fellows here work. in our special money on main street, stephanie elam shows you how a woman got help from a big brewery. >> reporter: she is hooked on cough feoff. >> i had my first shot of

espresso when i was 14. and it was pretty amazing for me. >> reporter: with the dream of opening a coffee house, she went to seattle to learn at the aprons of the best. >> i saw this, and said not leaving this town until i learn how to do that. >> reporter: she returned to boston and last fall launched a catering company. her corporate headquarters -- >> this is where all of the magic happens, yes. >> reporter: she knew her business acumen could use a jolt. so with the help of a few aides. >> i wrote my business plan. >> reporter: she then took her plan to the small business administration and was directed to a company specializing in microloans. it had just begun a partnership with samuel adams to help small food and beverage businesses to get funding and free advice. >> i love lucy's dedication to the quality of her product and i'm a big believer that, you know, a great product and the

patience an entrepreneur can bring to that. >> reporter: she started with her $2,000 and the $4,000 loan she got through the sam adams brewing the american dream program. >> it covered the espresso machine, the grinders, my tables, the membership cost, licensing, and my costs for a few months with the commercial kitchen facility that i use. >> reporter: now she's focussed on a store front, but has to incorporate, find a space, and get a loan. >> i need to convince someone to give me $180,000, that's a good chunk of change. >> reporter: despite the economy, she remains undaunted. >> i'm going to keep working at it. i'm not letting up, i'm not letting up, boston. i don't care. >> reporter: stephanie elam, massachusetts. i think right now it's a phenomenal time

for somebody to buy a home. the first step in the process is to educate them. bank of america is highly committed. we do have a vast array of programs that will enable buyers to purchase a home and feel comfortable. for credit qualified buyers, the government will give you a tax credit up to 10% of the purchase price or $8000, and as long as they live in that home for 3 years or longer, they don't have to pay it back. due to the market guideline changes, fha has had a resurgence in the market place. va is also one of the things that's coming into vogue again. there's more veterans out there that qualify for these programs, and they'll come back and they'll utilize these. everything starts with the first time home buyer and moves up from there. sometimes these are the first people in their family to own a home and it's hugely rewarding. we are doing everything that we can to take the opportunities that are available and help the people. be there for them, and allay some of their fears and concerns. we're in that process every step of the way.

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our own sanjay gupta is about to hit a major milestone. sanjay is a couple of months away from turning 40. and his plan is to get into the

best shape of his life and he wants you to join him. so he's taking some of your questions on how do you do that? the first one came in from twitter. hey, sanjay, by the way. there is something to be said, it's harder to stay in shape, harder to keep the weight off, harder to build muscle. and one of the people who wrote to us via twitter wants to know what is your best advice for maintaining muscle mass? >> well, first of all, you're absolutely right. and you know, you do start to lose muscle mass naturally as you get older. that's unfortunate because the muscle is a metabolic engine for the body that burns calories at rest, even talking to me, you're burning calories, and people who have more muscle are going to burn calories. some of the advice will be exactly what you expect. you've got to do exercises that build muscle mass. for men and women, focusing on upper body training, whether doing push-ups, resistance training, resistance bands are a great thing, they can give you upper body training, but you're

also going to need to make sure your fuel is right, the right sort of fuel, mainly protein, if you're doing muscle training in general, you've got to make sure you're getting enough protein. you don't need to do a lot of this, ten minutes a day is enough, but make sure you're consistent. >> this comes from barbara in chicago, and she says she's lost 5 pounds since she jumped on board with your fitness forum. she wants to know how you're doing as 40 starts creeping up on you. >> practice what you preach, right, barbara. it's been a month so far, so that terrific. that's about on par. you don't want to lose 1.5 to 2 pounds per week. for me, you know, i think the biggest thing that i've noticed is i've been able to finally get on some sort of routine. finally saying, look, i'm doing this for the television twitter folks. so i haven't missed breakfast once since i started. it's been about a month. i work out most days a week, about five days a week. i think my intensity has

improved, as well. i've really tried to hold myself accountable. my biggest problem goes back to the first -- i'm probably getting a little too lean. i've still not found the right balance between aerobic and an aerobic activity. maybe even cut back on the aerobic stuff a little bit. it's been about a month so far. >> and for people who have the opposite problem. do you think it's more diet-based and your exercise around it? what you put in your mouth first and foremost the most important part? >> no question. i would say you cannot get fit unless you're focusing on diet. you can exercise all you want, but if you're one of those people who said i just ran five miles so i can have french fries and ice cream, it's not going to work. and i'm not going to pretend i don't do that myself from time to time, but it's not going to work unless you focus on the diet. do it for three more months and it'll become a habit. >> then you make the french fries the exception to the rule. we have to practice what we

preach, as well. hey, people want to follow you on twitter, twitter.com/ -- >> sanjay gupta at cnn. almost 500,000 followers. so join the movement. >> wow. you're creeping up into sanchez territory. great to talk to you. >> thank you. capturing the beauty of nature. that's my vision. every day, transitions lenses are there to help care for my sight. announcer: transitions lenses adjust to changing light to reduce glare and help protect your eyes from uv damage so you can see better today... and tomorrow. live your vision. transitions. healthy sight in every light. for help finding your right pair of eyeglasses, just log onto eyeglassguide.com and check out the new transitions eyeglass guide. turning eyeglasses into my glasses.

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four minutes before the top of the hour, and last night, cnn premiered a ground breaking documentary black in america 2, an interesting twist, the program debuted right after president obama criticized the arrest of a prominent black harvard professor at his own home after a call one of his neighbors made a call saying they thought his home was being broken into. let's listen. >> i would be prepared as a human being to forgive him. that would not deter me from using this as an educational opportunity for america. because if this can happen to me in harvard square, this can happen to anybody in the united states, and i'm determined that

it never happen to anybody again. >> cnn analyst roland martin joins us now. you had a chance to weigh in on what you heard from the professor. he said he is willing to forgive, but at the same time, he wants to make this issue of racial profiling, he wants to make it prominent and part of the national conversation. what do you think? >> absolutely. look, and it's real. i've experienced it. i remember in austin, texas, helping a girlfriend move into an apartment and somebody called the cops saying we were breaking and entering. we're taking stuff out of the car into the apartment. and so it is real, it does not matter if you live in the inner city or the suburbs or if you went to hbcu or harvard university. it is real, and some people say, well, it's not that big of a deal. trust me, when you've been pulled over unnecessarily and you've been accosted based upon your race, yeah, then it's an issue. >> what's the answer? what do you think some of the bigger things we can do about it

are? >> first and foremost, you have to confront the level of ignorance that exists, and that is you don't pre-judge someone. when i go in the store, i don't grab the first black person i see and say, hey, can i buy this? i don't make assumptions. we also cannot base things on stereotypes. you ought to see the e-mails i get every day from a lot of bigoted white people who say you're on cnn because you're a product of affirmative action. forget the fact that i've been working in terms of media since i was 13 years old, forget all of that, oh, it's just because you're black, you're on television. because they make these assumptions and so we have to eradicate hate every single day and that is don't allow some bigoted parent to pass that nonsense on to their child and that continues for the next generation. >> i want to ask you about this, because president obama weighed in on it, as well, when he was asked about the situation that happened to the harvard professor. let's listen to what he said. >> the cambridge police acted stupidly.

in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. >> we know he is a friend of skip gates, that's what his friends call him, the harvard professor. what did you think about what the president said that the police acted stupidly? >> this arrogant cop that says i can guarantee you i will not apologize because it's clear he did not want his authority questioned when he said give me your name and badge number. when we are told that's what officers are to do when the citizens ask for that information. that's what it boils down to. you must remove this kind of nonsense. and let me tell you something, skip has the opportunity to call his friends at harvard to sit with him in jail. some young black guy in chicago or oakville and houston, they don't have that opportunity. they're stuck sitting in that jail cell. >> very interesting it made it up to the presidential news conference last night. in a minute, you'll be holding a discussion about "black in america 2." this will be