New Standards for Secret Service
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm John King. Tonight: new standards of conduct for the Secret Service. And a CNN exclusive: the identity of the agent whose payment dispute with a prostitute brought this whole scandal to light. Also, a rare report from inside Syria, as the regime there continues to defy the world and violate a cease-fire. Four years ago, Barack Obama condemned the use of Osama bin Laden in political ads. Now with Bill Clinton's help, a stunning about- face. We begin this evening with exclusive details about the sex scandal that's shaken the United States Secret Service. CNN has now identified the agent who triggered the prostitution scandal that exploded during President Obama's recent trip to Colombia. Drew Griffin of CNN's Special Investigations Unit has the exclusive report.</s>DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A hotel security guard at the Hotel Caribe says the commotion began in the seventh floor hallway where some of the agents were staying. Through hotel records CNN can now confirm at least three agents assigned rooms on that floor apparently left Cartagena early. Sources with knowledge of the investigation had indicated to CNN that two agents have been cleared, but that the agent who stayed in room 707 may already be gone from the service. According to hotel records reviewed by CNN, agent Arthur Huntington was checked into this room. Two sources with knowledge of the investigation say it was Huntington who had the dispute with the escort named Dania Suarez. Suarez has now hired an attorney and through statements credited to the attorney demands she was an escort, not a prostitute. Her attorney isn't talking. Earlier this week, a man who identified himself as Arthur Huntington declined comment to a CNN producer. Yesterday CNN returned to Arthur Huntington's home where the door was gently pushed shut without comment. The home was just listed for sale this week.</s>GRIFFIN: John, we have been trying to reach Arthur Huntington for comment from his representative even. Since Monday there has been none. As one former agent told me, this is not just a crisis for the Secret Service. This is a very real and personal crisis for the families involved.</s>KING: It certainly is, Drew. Excellent reporting. The reason we wanted to bring it to light is without this payment dispute in the hallway of the hotel we might not know anything about the conduct in Colombia. Drew Griffin, some great reporting. thanks, Drew. CNN has also learned tonight that new standards of conduct were passed out to all Secret Service personnel today. Two government sources familiar with the investigation tell CNN these enhanced standards of conduct designate areas and establishments that will be off-limits during future overseas trips. Also bans agents from bringing any foreign nationals into their hotel rooms. The rules say United States laws will be in effect for all traveling Secret Service personnel overseas and the new standards ban alcohol consumption within 10 hours of reporting for duty. The rules also say alcohol consumption is not allowed at all in any hotel where someone being protected by the Secret Service is staying and they also say not one, but now two high-level supervisors will be assigned to those so-called car plane teams. They go in several days ahead of the president with his motorcade. Sobering new economic data from the government this evening, the gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced here in the United States, grew at a rate of just 2.2 percent last quarter, below most predictions, and down from 3 percent growth in the last three months of 2011. Let's put this in a context with Mark Zandi. He's the chief economist for Moody's Analytics. Mark, when you look at the numbers, federal spending is down. State and local government spending is down. Consumer spending is actually up a little bit. When you look at it, what's the biggest flag, the biggest downside?</s>MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S ANALYTICS: Weakness in business investment. Business investment in equipment and software, it was up, but only a very little bit. I think it's a lack of business confidence, that businesses are so cautious that is kind of the missing link here. It's the reason why the economy isn't really fully engaging. To me that was the most disappointing aspect of the report that we are not seeing businesses step up more aggressively.</s>KING: You have got 2.2 percent projected growth in this quarter, down from the last quarter. We have seen weekly unemployment filings up. We had a tepid jobs report last month. Does it suggest to you that things will get worse going forward?</s>ZANDI: No, I don't think so. I think we will be OK. We got juiced up a little bit late last year, early this because of the extraordinarily warm winter weather. There will be a bit of a payback. That's what we are starting to see right now. I also think the higher gasoline prices are doing a bit of damage to the economy. But all in all I think the economy is in a much better place than it was this time last year. I think we're on pretty solid ground. I don't think we will backtrack in a significant way.</s>KING: You say not going to backtrack, but we're stuck in a pretty low gear. To get it into a higher gear and to get growth above 3 percent and up to 4 percent, to get people feeling truly happy and growth to be robust what has to happen? In the answer, is there anything a president can do, anything Washington can do that would help in the short term?</s>ZANDI: Good question. I think it's really the animal spirits. Businesses have to grow more confident and begin to step up, begin to invest and hire more. They are nervous, in part, because of the policy regulatory environment particularly in the financial services industry, health care industries, some of the utility industries, energy industry. But perhaps more importantly than that, I think it's the nightmare of the very difficult times we have been through. It's very difficult for them to get over that and to really let loose and become aggressive. I think that's just going to take time. Thus to your second question, I don't think there is a lot that policy-makers can do except I do think they do need to nail down what they are going to do about the expiring Bush era tax cuts, about some of the spending cuts that are coming and also how we will achieve fiscal sustainability long run. If they can do those things after the election, then I'm confident by this time next year businesses will get their groove back and the economy will perform better.</s>KING: After the election, the key part of that phrase there and that answer. Mark Zandi, appreciate your time. Pretty fair I think we will have to wait for a lot of this until after the election. Thanks again, Mark.</s>ZANDI: Thanks, John.</s>KING: The big question now what about the political fallout? will Mitt Romney and the Republicans, for example, benefit from today's sluggish economic report today? CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger is here. Let's look at historically GDP in the first quarter of an election year. We show the numbers. This is why the Obama campaign has to be a little bit worried tonight. President Obama, 2.2 percent, as the government reported today. President Bush in his first quarter reelection year, it was over 4 percent. Bill Clinton in 1996, it was at 3 percent. George H.W. Bush, 2.9 percent. He lost. Of the presidents you're look at that on that scene, George H.W. Bush lost and look at that, a number below 3 percent. Ronald Reagan after dealing with 10 percent unemployment had a booming economy by this time in his reelection year.</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. That's very important, the growth rate because if you look back to Reagan his unemployment was 7.8 percent. It wasn't terrific. It had gotten an awful lot better since he had been in office. But that growth rate of 8.5 percent for Ronald Reagan gave people the sense that the recovery would be robust and sustained. And what people don't have right now with President Obama and a 2.2 percent growth rate which, by the way, is less than people anticipated, they don't have any sense of security that a recovery will be here a year from now. Most people believe things are sort of getting better, but they are not sure now how long they're going to get better for or whether we could start going in the opposite direction. That's the real problem for the president.</s>KING: I remember in 1992 people said they felt like they had been treading water for so long and getting hard and hard and so they wanted a change. They liked George H.W. Bush, but they said let's try something different. That's why the psychology is critical. Because we asked in our most recent poll essentially who do you trust? Who will be the best steward of the economy, more likely to get it moving? President Obama 44 percent, Romney 42 percent. Essentially a dead heat right now. If people start to feel worse about the economy, think it is sluggish or perhaps slipping the numbers could change. That's the president's worry.</s>BORGER: That's exactly what the Romney campaign has decided it wants to take advantage of. They are taking the president on frontally on the economy. Even on the fairness issue, they're taking him on, on that. There are a couple of things we are hearing. One is that the president is all about diversion, that, in fact, he's more image than substance. And the second is the president needs to explain his rationale for reelection, because if the economy isn't getting any better -- this is what the Romney campaign is saying -- then what's the president's rationale for becoming president again? The Obama folks will tell you, things would have been an awful lot worse. Thaw want to go back to the Bush years and Mitt Romney doesn't have a magic formula for getting us out of this. But again, if the president can't say I guarantee you that things are going to be getting better and the numbers don't back him up there is a real vulnerability there.</s>KING: The numbers, the numbers. A lot of times, we look at a lot of dynamics in politics. The speeches, campaigns, the ads. Watch the economic data. That's your single biggest indicator of where this year goes. Thanks, Gloria, so much for coming in. Up next here, a one-time aide to John Edwards tells a jury he felt threatened and feared for his life while helping the former presidential candidate cover up his affair with a campaign worker. And later, a powerful Republican lawmaker explains why he's threatening to hold the nation's attorney general in contempt of Congress.