Did Cheney Break the Law?; Obama Defends Stimulus
ROBERTS: Hey, look at the Supreme Court. That's where Judge Sonia Sotomayor hopes to be this fall after a confirmation hearings this week. It's partly cloudy, 73 degrees in Washington right now. Mostly sunny, a high of 86 later on today. And we'll be following those hearings all day today, by the way, on CNN, CNN.com/live beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern this morning. A political bombshell has Democrats calling on the White House to launch new investigations into the Bush administration. Lawmakers say they were told that Vice President Dick Cheney kept a secret CIA anti- terrorism program from Congress for eight years. Plus, two Democratic senators say the former VP may have committed a crime. Our Jim Acosta is following this one from our bureau in Washington this morning. Jim, the law pretty clear on this, right?</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, John. The law basically requires the CIA to brief Congress on its activities. So, the question raised by this latest revelation involving former Vice President Dick Cheney is whether laws were broken. And if so, what then?</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): In a closed door hearing late last month, CIA Director Leon Panetta told the Senate Intelligence Committee he had just terminated a secret counterterrorism program. So sensitive the panel was told that during the Bush administration, former Vice President Dick Cheney himself had ordered the CIA to conceal it from key members of Congress who hear top-secret briefings -- the so-called gang of eight.</s>SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D) CHAIRWOMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: He did brief us, and in the course of the briefing, he did say, because I believe somebody asked a question as to why it was never reported to us that the vice president had given the directive that the program not be reported to the Congress.</s>ACOSTA: The matter has once again put Cheney at the center of a heated debate on the limits of White House powers.</s>SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D), MAJORITY WHIP: There is a requirement for disclosure. It has to be done in an appropriate way so it doesn't jeopardize our national security. But to have a massive program that is concealed from the leaders in Congress is not only inappropriate, it could be illegal.</s>SEN. JON KYL (R), TERRORISM AND HOMELAND SECURITY SUBCOMMITTEE.: To somehow suggest that it might have been improper for the president or the vice president to keep an important program secret, I mean, that happens every day.</s>ACOSTA: Little is known about the secret program, only that it was initiated after the 9/11 attacks and that it may never have been fully operational. Former Cheney counselor and CNN contributor Mary Matalin accused the Obama White House of disclosing the program out of pure politics.</s>MARY MATALIN, FORMER CHENEY COUNSELOR: Every time they get in trouble, which the president's poll numbers are slipping, and his health care and global warming initiatives are under assault, they dredge up a Darth Vader story.</s>ACOSTA: But it's a story that comes as Attorney General Eric Holder just might name a prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's harsh interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects, something Republicans would rather avoid.</s>SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), RANKING MEMBER, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: So, the question is did they go too far in some of these areas? I hope that we don't feel -- the attorney general doesn't feel a need to go back into it.</s>ACOSTA: As for Cheney, he could not be reached for comment. But members of Congress are looking at changing the law to keep more of them in the loop. One proposal would expand the number of lawmakers who would be briefed on the CIA's activities from eight up until 40, but so far, the White House wants none of it, John. And once again, the White House is looking at another situation where it may have to look back to the Bush administration. This is yet another revelation facing this former administration the White House has to deal with, John.</s>ROBERTS: You know, as a candidate, the president said he didn't want to be looking back but may be forced to. Jim Acosta for us this morning. Jim, thanks so much for that.</s>ACOSTA: You bet.</s>CHETRY: Coming up on 29 minutes past the hour. We check our top stories this morning. A former boxing champ's wife now a suspect in his death. Arturo Gatti was found strangled to death on Saturday morning in a hotel room in Brazil. He was 37 years old. Brazilian authorities tell CNN that they took Gatti's wife into custody. Police have reportedly recovered a blood-stained purse strap from the scene. He also say there were some inconsistencies in her story.</s>ROBERTS: Well, today would have been the opening night of Michael Jackson's 50-show run at London's 02 Arena. That show obviously not going to go on but some fans showed up anyway. The concert promoter, AEG Live, is selling merchandise through its Web site and offering fans a commemorative ticket as an alternative to a refund.</s>CHETRY: Well, Senator John McCain says he respects Sarah Palin's decision to step down as governor of Alaska. McCain says he doesn't think his former running mate is quitting her job as much as changing her priorities.</s>DAVID GREGORY, NBC HOST, "MEET THE PRESS": You must have been shocked to see Governor Sarah Palin resign as governor.</s>SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Well, I wasn't shocked. Obviously, I was a bit surprised, but I wasn't shocked. I understand that Sarah made the decision where she can be most effective for Alaska and for the country. I love and respect her and her family. I'm grateful that she agreed to run with me. I am confident she will be a major factor in the national scene, and in Alaska as well.</s>CHETRY: McCain says Palin is qualified to run for president in 2012, but he stopped short of endorsing her, saying it's way too early for that. This morning, President Obama is back home in Washington. But before he left Ghana over the weekend, he sat down for an exclusive interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper. The president talked about his tour of the Cape Coast Castle where Africans were held before being sold into slavery. He also touched on the economy. Here's a preview from Anderson Cooper.</s>ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, "AC 360": John, Kiran, the president and his family arrived in Ghana on Friday. On Saturday, they came here, Cape Coast Castle, which is a place where enslaved Africans were once held before being shipped off to the New World and shipped off to America. I had a chance to tour the "Castle" with the president. But first, we sat down and talked about the news of the day.</s>COOPER (on camera): Vice President Biden said you misread the economy. You've said no, no, no. We had incomplete information. And nevertheless you said that you would not have done anything differently. That seems contradictory. How can you say that if you had known that unemployment was going to go to 9.5 percent, wouldn't you have asked for more money in the stimulus?</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, it's not contradictory. Keep in mind that we got an $800 billion stimulus package. By far the largest stimulus package ever approved by a United States Congress. And the stimulus package is working exactly as we had anticipated. We gave out tax cuts early so that consumers could start spending, or at least pay down debt so that they could at a later date start spending. We put in $144 billion to states so that they wouldn't have to cut teachers and police officers and other social services that are vital, particularly at a time of recession. And we always anticipated that a big chunk of that money then would be spent not only in the second half of the year but also next year. This was designed to be a two-year plan and not a six-month plan. Now it may turn out that the enormous loss of wealth, the depth of the recession that's occurred, requires us to re-evaluate and see what else we can do in combination with the stabilization...</s>COOPER: ... a second stimulus?</s>OBAMA: You know, there are a whole range of things, Anderson, that we've done. The banks have stabilized much more quickly than we anticipated. They're not all the way to where we'd like them to be, but we've seen significant progress.</s>COOPER: Do you still see glimmers of hope?</s>OBAMA: Well, if you look at both the financial sectors, the ability of businesses to get loans, the drop-off of volatility that's taken place, the general trajectory is in the right direction.</s>COOPER: After our sit-down interview, the president and I had a chance to tour the castle together.</s>COOPER (on camera): Do you think what happened here still has resonance in America, that the slave experience still is something that should be talked about and should be remembered and should be present in everyday life?</s>OBAMA: Well, you know, I think that the experience of slavery is like the experience of the Holocaust. I think it's one of those things you don't forget about. I think it's important that the way we think about it and the way it's taught is not one in which there's simply a victim and victimizer, and that's the end of the story. I think the way it has to be thought about, the reason it's relevant, is because whether it's what's happening in Darfur or what's happening in the Congo or what's happening in too many places around the world, you know, the capacity for cruelty still exists.</s>COOPER: I also talked to the president about the personal impact of being in Africa with his wife and kids. We'll have that tonight on "360."</s>CHETRY: And again, you can see Anderson's entire exclusive interview with President Obama in Africa tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. It's 34 minutes past the hour.