President Obama Attacked by Former Navy SEALs in Ad; Mitt Romney Confirms He Paid Taxes
JOHN KING, CNN HOST: You're in the SITUATION ROOM. Mitt Romney's beginning his final sprint to the Republican convention, but President Obama isn't about to let him have this week's spotlight all to himself. Also, Paul Ryan's presence on the Republican ticket, just one factor putting his home state back into play. See why we now call Wisconsin a toss-up. And smile for the camera. Stores now installing new technology that not only knows who you are, it will serve up tempting deals based on what you buy. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm John King. You're in the SITUATION ROOM. We're heading into a monster week for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, as they gear up for the Republican convention, now just a week away. To start building excitement, the running mates reunite Monday in one of this year's all-important swing states. CNN's Joe Johns is here to look ahead at what else we can expect in a big, big week ahead.</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. It certainly looks like the Ryan/Romney campaign could be changing its strategy already. Last week, Paul Ryan himself said, and campaign aides confirmed, that the initial plan was for the two men to split up, more often than not, in the few weeks leading up to the Republican national convention in Tampa. But now, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are already scheduled to reunite for a campaign stop in the Manchester area of New Hampshire and the campaign has left open the possibility of more stops together, later in the week. Early reports are those stops could be in the Midwest. New Hampshire was the place where Romney originally was supposed to make the announcement of the pick for vice president. They'd planned to do it last Friday, but that got postponed until Saturday, because of a memorial service for the victims of the Sikh temple shooting in Ryan's home district. So why the change? Ryan and Romney certainly work well together. I saw them campaign as a team in the primaries, just a bit, and Romney clearly appears to get some pep in his step when he's with Ryan. So there's some elevated energy there, for one thing. And the tandem of Romney and Ryan has also been drawing large crowds, conservatives certainly like Ryan a lot, and the Romney campaign is going to the try to capitalize on that. But, John, as you know, it's a gamble for the Romney campaign, because, obviously, the two of them can cover more ground in those all-important battleground states, if they're campaigning separately, rather than together.</s>KING: And so you see this whenever this pick is made. You want them to campaign together, you want people to get the optics, they're a good time, looks like they work well together. You're dead right about Ryan energizes crowds in Wisconsin and in Iowa watching him this week. However, how do they deal with that delicate balance? Because in the end, Americans pick presidents. It's governor Romney that has to step back front and center and say, thank you, Paul, appreciate the energy, but if he's going to win, it has to be him.</s>JOHNS: Absolutely. It's very clear they are walking a very delicate balance there, and I think you'll see it in the coming weeks, that Romney is going to establish himself has the man who's running for president, vote for me. Ryan is my sidekick. And that's generally the way it works. Though so many conservatives out there see Ryan as so important now to energize them and get them to the polls in November.</s>KING: And when you talk to folks, there's no question this pick was largely designed to give Mitt Romney someone he likes and can work with and to energize the conservative base. How did the Romney campaign deal with the questions of, well, might it hurt you in the middle, though?</s>JOHNS: That's certainly a possibility, but Romney is hoping that he, himself, can make the case to those voters in the middle and let Ryan worry about the conservatives as well. Romney thinks he can handle that, and he's certainly proven that, being a Massachusetts governor coming from a state where he had to appeal to both sides.</s>KING: Don't get any bluer than Massachusetts. Joe Johns, thanks so much. It may be the Republicans' turn in the spotlight, but don't expect President Obama to lay low during the week ahead. He's also visiting swing states and raising campaign cash with the help of some NBA stars. Here's CNN White House correspondent, Dan Lothian. Dan, take us into the week ahead.</s>DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. You know, the president will be heading out to Nevada. That's an important state for the president. He has been going there quite a bit, talking about what he has done to help those homeowners who have their, those mortgages that are underwater, those upside down mortgages. That is a state that has been impacted by the downturn in the real estate market. So the president visiting that key state. Also going to the state of Ohio. That's a place where recently he had that bus tour. He has been spending a lot of time in that state. He's ahead in the polls there, but both of these states, critical to deciding who wins the White House. And of course, the president also going to New York. New York City, as you know, a lot of money there. So he'll be going to collect some campaign cash to fuel this very competitive race, John.</s>KING: New York, more of an ATM than a swing state, at the moment for the campaign. Dan, how do they view this, the Obama campaign? They understand the event flow of campaigns. If Mitt Romney is going to dominate, he'll get most of the spotlight, the lead up to his convention and then the convention week. How do they decide in the Obama campaign when to engage and when to step back and let the Republicans have their day?</s>LOTHIAN: Well, right now it doesn't appear they really want to step back. They're engaging very much either with the candidate himself or on the air with these very tough campaign ads. They've really been pushing this issue of Medicare. You know, that's something that has been part of this campaign cycle, but not the key focus. And when Paul Ryan was brought on as the vice presidential pick for Mitt Romney that became a central focus. We saw that from the president when he was doing that bus tour in Iowa, and the campaign plans to keep pushing that. Saying that under the policy of what Mitt Romney has, and Paul Ryan, they're painting them with one brush, that Medicare will be changed, as we know it, will be changed. It will be turned into a voucher program. The Romney campaign saying that the president has taken money from Medicare in order to fund, quote, "Obama care." So Medicare, a big issue that we'll keep hearing the White House and the president push in the coming days, John.</s>KING: And Dan, they also for weeks have been pushing Mitt Romney to release more of his tax returns. He put one year out, says a second will be coming. And now the Obama campaign having what I'll call a not-so-friendly exchange of notes?</s>LOTHIAN: That's right. I guess we could call this, let's make a deal. What you have is the Obama campaign really trying to push the Romney campaign into the corner. They have been asking for more taxes to be -- tax reports to be released, because they believe that the American people deserve to find out more about the financial background of a presidential candidate. And even some Republicans have been pressuring Romney to do the same, because they believe if Romney releases these tax returns, then this issue will just go away. So now you have Jim Messina, who's the president's campaign manager, firing off a letter to the Romney campaign, saying in part quote, "governor Romney apparently fears that the more he offers, the more our campaign will demand that he provides. So I am prepared to provide assurances on just that point. If the governor will release five years of returns, I commit in turn that we will not criticize him for not releasing more." They say he won't criticize him in ads, they won't criticize him in any commentary. But for the Romney campaign, Matt Rhodes, Romney's campaign manager essentially dismissing this letter, writing his own letter that said in part quote, "it is clear that President Obama wants nothing more than to talk about governor Romney's tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters, like putting Americans back to work, fixing the economy, and reining in spending." The Romney campaign, they have said time and time again, that this is not an issue. That what Mitt Romney wants to focus on is how he can go out there and create jobs for the millions of Americans who are still out of work, John.</s>KING: That's at least good to know, despite all the nastiness, they can have a nice exchange of notes.</s>LOTHIAN: That's right.</s>KING: Dan Lothian at the White House for us. Dan. Thanks so much. A group of veterans, including former Navy SEALs, now accusing President Obama for taking too much credit for the killing over Osama bin Laden. The group says it's nonpartisan, but a CNN investigation finds close links to the Republican parties. Let's bring in our Brian Todd who led this investigation. Brian, what'd you find?</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, we have just discovered tom links that this group has to the GOP links that the group has not freely acknowledged. Its new web video just rakes the president for his campaign references to the bin Laden raid.</s>TODD (voice-over): In a campaign ad, Bill Clinton praises President Obama's courage for ordering the Navy SEALs to launch against Osama bin Laden.</s>BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Suppose they'd been captured or killed? The downside would have been horrible for him.</s>TODD: On the campaign trail, the president emphasizes it himself.</s>OBAMA: I promised to go after al-Qaeda and go after bin Laden and we did it.</s>TODD: Now, there's a counterattack.</s>BEN SMITH, FORMER NAVE SEAL: Mr. President, you did not kill Osama bin Laden. America did. The work that the American military has done killed Osama bin Laden. You did not.</s>TODD: That's former Navy SEAL, Ben smith, in a new video, slamming President Obama. The 22-minute film, titled "Dishonorable Disclosures" features former SEALs, Special Forces members, intelligence officers, skewering the president for taking credit for the bin Laden raid. The Obama campaign pushes back, saying that the president has repeatedly credited the SEALs for the bin Laden operation. The Obama team also point to this interview that Wolf Blitzer did recently with commander of the raid admiral William McRaven.</s>ADMIRAL WILLIAM MCRAVEN, COMMANDER, U.S. SPECIAL OPERATION: At the end of the day, make no mistake about it, it was the president of the United States that shouldered the burden for this operation, that made the hard decisions.</s>TODD: I pressed Ben Smith on that. Does the president get no credit here? Should he get no credit here?</s>SMITH: He gets the credit for having Osama bin Laden killed under his watch. And if he's -- if he gave the order, wonderful. But taking all the credit with the I, I, I, me, I, I about it and using us as a political ad is wrong.</s>TODD: The film also blasts the Obama administration for allowing classified information on the raid and other security operations to become public.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had tactics, techniques, and procedures that were compromised. We even knew the name of the dog that was on the operation.</s>TODD: The Obama team denies taking part in any leaks and says the Republicans are resorting to swift boat tactics, a reference to the blistering 2004 attacks on John Kerry's Vietnam war record.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry cannot be trusted.</s>TODD: This new ad was made bay group called OPSEC, for operational security. A spokeswoman for the group says, it is completely non- partisan. But CNN found many links between the group and the GOP. The president of OPSEC, a former Navy SEAL named Scott Taylor who appears in the video, once ran for Congress as a Republican. A spokesman for the group has done similar work for the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress. Ben Smith, that former SEAL, told me he's an independent voter, but says on his facebook page that he was once a spokesman for the tea party. And OPSEC lists its headquarters as being in this building in a certain suite, we found out that also in that suite are two Republican strategy groups and no other groups. We were not allowed to film inside, but we are told by someone in the suite that OPSEC doesn't have much more than a desk there and that no one from OPSEC was there to talk to us. An OPSEC spokeswoman told us where they're located has nothing to do with the message they're trying to get out. Could that message hurt President Obama like swift boat damaged John Kerry?</s>DARRELL WEST, BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: It could hurt Obama in the sense that it's a very competitive election, it's going to come down to 20,000 or 25,000 votes in handful of states, so we don't know how what's going to move those voters, but national security is a very sensitive issue for many people.</s>TODD: And OPSEC is now one of three groups of former special operations members coming out with campaigns against the president over the security leaks. Neither the Pentagon nor the CIA would comment on this latest video or confirm the military experience of those in the film -John.</s>KING: So Brian, this is one of those stories where the old Watergate rule applies. Follow the money.</s>TODD: That's right.</s>KING: Can you follow the money? Where are they getting it?</s>TODD: If you could follow it, that would be great, apparently you can't right now. The group is not disclosing its donors. It's set up as a special kind of nonprofit under the tax code where you don't have to disclose their donors. They did tell us they have about $1 million at their disposal and they plan to run ads in swing states in the coming weeks. We'll see if they do it. We will see what kind of resources they have.</s>KING: Excellent report, Brian Todd. Brian, thank you. Stay with us for a death-defying drive. CNN's Ben Wedeman and his crew drive to the city at the heart of Syria's civil war and run out of gas. You will see what people go through there every day. Also, candidates going negative. Well, it's been happening for centuries. We'll take a look at 200 years, that's right, 200 years of campaign mudslinging. And the battle for the state where Barack Obama scored his first big victory in 2008 could put the Romney/Ryan team in the White House in time.